Day 4 & My Favourite. . . . .And a Prize

Good morning lovely blog friends. Hope you are all well.

Another warm welcome to some more new followers, Lynette, Alison, Deniseann and Gill. Thank you for taking time to visit and clicking that button.

As I am now over 150 followers, I am offering a little Paddle Prize, details of which are at the end of this post.

Now, today's creation is my favourite made with John's stamps and I have made it for my living room so, Mr Lockwood, you can keep your paws off this one lol!!!

I used the clock mechanism from one of the Pound World clocks in an 8x8 box frame.

I've gone for this colour as it matches our decor. Apologies for the white stripe at the bottom left of the photo. Its a reflection that I just couldn't get rid of.

Ingredients

White card

White 8x8 deep box frame (The Range)

Clock mechanism 

John Next Door Spring, Summer and Autumn Flowers stamps

John Next Door Quattro Drops mask

Peacock Feathers distress ink

Black Archival ink

Magazine freebie numerals die with numbers cut from black funky foam

Teal gem on centre of hands

I just made a hole in the hardboard backing to accommodate the mechanism and painted the red second hand white with Tippex (hey, whatever is to hand has a use lol!!!).

Hopefully, it will get shown on one of John's shows. I am (hopefully) going with John today. An early start but a Maccy D McMuffin is adequate compensation for getting up before the birds lol!!!

Now, here is a snap of the little Paddle Prize for my reaching over 150 followers.

To be entered into the draw for this, you just need to be a follower and leave a comment on this post before 6am (GMT) on the 25th July.

Mr D will perform his pulling duties and the winner will be announced on the next post following the 25th. Thank you all and good luck!!!

I will be giving you a break tomorrow as I shall be back on Thursday with 2 posts, one at 6am and my usual MAWTT DT post at 9am.

I have some exciting news, well for me lol!!!, on the 6am post. . . . . . lets just say, today will not be my only sample appearances on Hochanda this week but shhhhh, don't tell anybody lol!!!

On that note, I need to get to bed (scheduling this Monday night). 

Be good and thank you, as always for your encouraging comments.

TTFN

Ang x

John's Launch Day 3. . . . .A Little Pot

Good morning one and all. Hope this finds all your ticketys boo on Day 3 of John's launch. Yup, I'm like buses with 3 coming along at once lol!

Some more welcomes are in order so thank you to all new visitors and to Lynda, Albright of Diss and h.12 evans for pressing the "follow" button.

As I am now approaching 150 followers, I shall offer up another paddle prize for when we reach 150. I'll pop a picture on tomorrow's post.

Now, I know some of the ladies who have been plotting to ram raid my garden for my wisterias may have seen the title of this post and got excited thinking I was growing something else of interest but the pot is of the terracotta variety. . . . . . sorry to disappoint gals lol!!!

A plain pot, painted with satin wood paint (it was a tin I'd had knocking around from decorating a couple of years back . . . . . what can I say, I'm tight lol!!!), rim coated in gilding polish and one of John's masks stencilled around the bottom, again using the gilding polish (a tricksy procedure as its not a flat or straight object).

To finish off, one of John's stamps also decorates the rim. . . . . .tricksy again, stamping on a curved surface.

Ingredients

Small terracotta pot from B & Q (21cm dia £1.40)

Satin Wood paint (but any will do)

Cosmic Shimmer Mint gilding polish

John Next Door Quattro Stars mask

John Next Door Autumn Flowers stamp

Memento Dew Drop Teal Zeal ink pad

If you wanted to use it outside, a couple of coats of clear varnish should seal it.

Hopefully, its given you another idea of how to use the stamps and masks, other than on cards.

Well, what an exciting British GP, especially the latter stages. Brought back fond memories of the atmosphere (and hailstones!!!) from last year. Hope Jackie and Wendy got to watch it. I won't comment on the winner lol!

Wasn't a well girlie on Saturday but better yesterday. Can't complain though at one bad day in the past 2 weeks.

That's all for today folks. Hope you can join me again tomorrow for day 4.

TTFN

Ang x

P.s. . . . I just wanted to clarify, I've got John's stamps and masks only. I haven't got the media plates (though I shall probably be buying them, even though I'm not a stamper) and my stamping is all commando as I haven't got a stamping press either but all blemishes and smudges are entirely intentional lol!!!

John's Launch, The Sequel. . . . . . . .

Good morning everyone. Have you got over the excitement from yesterday's news?

Its lovely to see John's own brand being so well received. Thank you also for your kind comments on yesterday's post. Don't get used to me posting everyday lol!!! Its just for a few days to show some of John's products in use.

Welcome to those new visitors who have popped by and to Trace, Sarah, Wanda, Rhanna and Hazel.F who have kindly pressed the "follow" button. Thank you all.

Now, today's card is, I think, my first Christmas card of the year (and its only July lol!!!) but its a start and I was encouraged by these delightful stamps.

Ingredients

White, aqua and platinum card

John Next Door Waves Duo Mask

John Next Door Winter Flowers stamp set

Memento Dew Drop Teal Zeal ink pad

Silver Sharpie pen

Teeny weeny silver bling

Teeny star bling

Pearlage

I used the mask to emboss the aqua card. I use masks more for embossing rather than stencilling as I don't like to get too inky lol!!! That's partly down to my then leaving inky fingerprints everywhere. CSI would have a field day lol!!!

I must also say, there isn't a mucky smudge on the card above the sentiment. It was the way the the light was coming through the window when I snapped the card (probably a mucky window lol!!!) and I've only just noticed it on screen.

Hope you like my contemporary take on Christmas.

British GP today so I shall have custody of the remote. I think I have also twisted Mr D's arm to go to Silverstone again next year but sometimes when he says "Ok" with a glazed look on his face, it doesn't necessarily mean that he's heard or taken much notice of what's been said.

How many of us gals use that to our advantage, hahaha!!!

Tune in tomorrow for another John Next Door inspired creation, same Duck time, same Duck channel.

TTFN

Ang x

John Next Door Goes Large. . . . . . . .

Good morning everyone. Hope this finds you well. Welcome to Joan. Thank you for clicking "follow". Very kind of you and much appreciated.

What an exciting day as today is the day that the John Next Door brand is launched. Its been a long time coming and such an achievement for John. He's been teasing you all for the past 5 days but I think most of you had guessed what was coming.

I'll be featuring some cards and projects over the next few days made with John's terrific new products.

Now, today's card was the first one I made as it was the first design that came into my head as soon as I saw the stamps.

Ingredients

White and black card

John Next Door Summer Flowers stamp set

Black archival ink

Various distress inks

A very simple card but hopefully it showcases the stamps in all their glory.

So lets raise a glass, of whatever your tipple is, to John and his new venture. He's a genuinely lovely guy who deserves every success and as John would say. . . . . . . enjoy!!!

TTFN

Ang x

P.S. Maureen, Pinky maybe, Perky debatable. . . . . . .in fact, I only keep them larger so the weight pulls the wrinkles out of my face. I'm 86 but I only look 45 !!!

Pink Box. . . . . . . . . . . .

Good morning dear blogging chums. Hope this finds you as fit as a butchers dog (apologies vegetarians).

Still seem to be ticking along nicely but I don't count them chickens any more as they can be pesky little cluckers!!!

Had a lovely day on Sunday with Nursey Harrop. I'm sure that Christine won't mind me mentioning, now that she has told folk on her blog, that her dear Sister passed away a couple of weeks ago, just 10 days after being diagnosed with cancer.

Another blog friend had also lost her brother a couple of weeks ago too, so its been sad times.

I had hoped that Christine would be up to meeting at the Motorcycle Museum craft show and thankfully she was, armed with some non Geisha factor 50. . . . . .thank you.

John was also demoing at the show, so we kept popping by to heckle him lol!!!

As Myra wanted me to confess all, there is a photo below of my purchases.

Now, as I said on the last post, I had made a box for Nesta's Auntie's card as I would never have got it in an envelope without more squashing than the mammogram lol!!!

I made this some time ago and hadn't snapped it stage by stage but I'm happy to do a tutorial if anyone is interested. 

It takes one full sheet of A3 sized card as the card inside was 8x8. The flap could be edged with any die but I used the SW Ara Gemini die.

I hadn't got any of that velcro thingy or I would have used that as a fastener so instead I taped some ribbon to the back and tied it at the front.

Hoping to get over to Breedon today to see John's workshop ladies and also, there is a lovely pie shop/cafe on site and there is a piece of quiche with my name on it . Mrs J, I shall be equipped with the triple stamping card, carnation and clock.

Kate, haven't really named "The Girls" although I quite fancy Cagney and Lacey or Thelma and Louise.

Donna, it would take more than a hat to make me look stylish. I put the shabby into shabby chic lol!!!

Maureen, I will happily make you a 70th birthday card; I take it that its somewhat belated? Hahaha!!! Just you stop plotting with Bonnie Fletcher and Yorkie Clyde. As Mel Braveheart would say "You may take away my life, but you'll never take my wisteria!!!"

Anyhoo, snap below of said craft purchases. Not too bad or indulgent, methinks.

The card packs are 50x300gsm purple and 50x300gsm white at £2.00 per pack. . . . . .Bargain!

The cream pack is 8x8 cards and envelopes.

Enjoy the rest of the week and see you soon . . . . . . . . British GP this weekend so guess what I'm doing (sadly from my armchair rather than actually there this time).

TTFN

Ang x

Flowers and Rosy Cheeks. . . . . . . .

Good morning good blogging folk. Hope you are all well?

I have to say, I have had a wonderful few days. I think the iron tablets have kicked in and I've been full of beans (where did that expression come from???) and breathing has been just about normal. The cardio consultant appears to have been correct when he said my feeling rough after the cardioversion was down to the anaemia rather than heart.

I would say I'm feeling almost normal but I know that will attract comments from various quarters lol!!!

I did see John on Thursday and he commented how I had got the colour back in my cheeks (on my face, lol!!!).

Funny story about colour in my cheeks. The tablets I take make your skin photosensitive so I'm supposed to wear factor 50 block on my exposed areas (ooooh, errrr!!!) when I go out. The first time I tried this, having never used above a factor 8 before, I put some on my face and the bloomin stuff just wouldn't rub in. Its thick and white so I ended up looking like the love child of Marcel Marceau and a geisha girl !!!

Needless to say, I had to wash it off and I've taken my chances with daylight since.

Now, today's card has been in lurking in my files for a while. Nesta asked me to make a floral card for her Auntie's 70th birthday so as I like a bit of floralage and foliage, I was happy to oblige.

Ingredients

White and pink card

SB Classic Diamond dies

SB Carnation Creations dies

HC Delicate Aster dies

Various foliage dies 

Tonic flower punch

CE Stitched Bunting Numbers Stamps

John Lockwood Sentiment stamp

Card-io butterfly stamp

Various distress inks

Bling and pearlage

I love making floral cards and apparently, Auntie was very pleased with this.

Had my mammogram results through yesterday (posted from Bristol, had to laugh in a Sid James manner at the irony lol!!!) and The Girls are ok and clear so thankfully, that's one bit (or 2 bits actually) of me that's working properly lol!!

No pictures of birdie buffet today as getting a downloading error again from camera to laptop.

I'm also trying to get a snap of Scruffy Robin. He's a sweet little thing but looks like he's stuck his beak in a socket as all his feathers stand on end.

June, if Mr F looks carefully, that is the trunk and branches of the "you know what" on the last birdie photo. How are yours. Maureen and Yorkie Wendy's smash and grab plans going? I'm guessing Maureen needs to be a bit steadier on her pins first.

Oooh, and I would never try and out do Flash. I think if I got The Girls out in public, it would devalue the property prices in the area lol!!! Mind you, with all the ECGs I've had, I think half the hospital have seen them!!!

Well, off to a craft show at the National Motorcycle Museum today and hopefully meeting up with Christine H and John (he's doing some demoing). Don't need anything but its rude not to look lol!!!

Will be back in time for GP highlights at 5.30. Hoping its as exciting as the last one and hoping I can avoid any news bulletins so I don't find out the result beforehand.

Hope you all have a lovely Sunday and that the week ahead is kind to you.

TTFN

Ang x

Ps. . . . . . .box for the above card on the next post. x

Blue Tit. . . . . . . .

Good morning my paddling chums. Hope all is well with you.

Thank you for your kind comments and concern. I wish the consultant would give it a try without the tablets to see if I can stay in rhythm but I suppose I have to trust in his experience when he says he would bet on the A/Fib returning within a couple of months.

On the upside, the iron tablets seem to be kicking in as I am starting to feel better with energy and breathing.

Now, on my last post, I did mention blue tits (behave yourselves!!!). This was the other topper in the set that Jenny gave me so I used it to make this pretty (hopefully) little card. I have used dies in unusual ways to get the patterns by extending one and chopping into others.

Ingredients

Cream and aqua card

Hunkydory blue tit topper

SW Indian Ocean Background die (on the bottom layer,cut twice lengthwise to extend)

SB Mary Border Strip die (on top and bottom of top layer and chopped halfway                                                                through the pattern)

SW Tahiti die (half of centre die of set used on edge)

Presscut Square dies

Tonic flower punch (in the gaps)

Pearlage

I hope you got the gist of what I did. Just thought it made for an unusual frame around the topper.

On the birdie theme, this is a snap I took a couple of months ago of Mr B and Monty, before I constructed a new birdie feeding station for them.

Form an orderly queue chaps!!!

Will post some pictures of their new buffet facility next time.

Have a good day and be good.

TTFN

Ang x

Ps. . . . . . Thank you Barbara. I should be seeing John this morning so I shall mention the pate to him. Its very kind of you.

Happy Birthday Darnell. . . . . . . . . .

Good morning everyone. Hope all is well with you?

Before I forget, the lady who asked about the embossing folder on my MAWTT card, its called Lattice and is an Embossilicious one. 

What a mixed bag of weather. I had to give in on Thursday evening and have the heating on ......... nearly July (as it was) and heating on!!! I nearly had to get the smelling salts out but I was colder than a penguin's chuff so what can you do.

Thank goodness it was better yesterday as we (well, Mr D in the main) had a tonne of blue slate to spread over the front garden. We do have pea shingle down but the local feline population have taken to using it like a giant litter tray so we decided to give them something a little less inviting to walk on. I did say to Jackie D that it was either slate or a Rottweiler on a long chain but I decided the Rottweiler poop would probably be bigger and more abundant than the cat plop!!!  

Now, today is bloggy chum Darnell's (djkardkreations) birthday. I had the pleasure of meeting Darnell last Summer and this very funny lady is also very lovely.

Those who are familiar with Darnell know that she loves hummingbirds as she is lucky enough to live where they live.

As luck would have it, the Peacock kit that the lovely Jenny sent me also had a hummingbird topper on so what better way to use it than a card for Darnell. I know its safe to show as she has received the card and she's about 8 hours behind the UK.

Ingredients

White and aqua card

Hunkydory hummingbird topper

SB Reflective Moment die (cut in aqua and the white as a shadow))

Presscut rectangle dies

Lots of pearlage

A small card for me but the topper fitted nicely. There was also a blue tit in the set that I have made another card with.

Talking of blue tits, the mammogram wasn't as bad as I was expecting. I had prepared myself by using Andrea's technique (see last blog post), which drew some strange glances from Mr D as he tried to retrieve the milk for his cup of tea. 

I do have more than a handful in that department so don't know if that helped cushion the clamping but compared to some things I've had done in the last 12 months, it was a breeze.

Sadly, the Cardiology appointment didn't go as well as I'd hoped. The consultant thinks I still need to have a Catheter Ablation for Pulmonary Vein Isolation as he feels that the A/Fib will return if he takes me off the tablets. If I were 20/25 years older, he would leave me on the tablets as by the time the nasty side effects kicked in, I would be at an age where they wouldn't matter.

I was put on the waiting list for this procedure back in January in case I needed it, so it could be in the next couple of months that its done . . . . . . eeeeeek!!!

Scared witless but no choice really but on the upside, he thinks the not so good days I've had are down to the anaemia so once the iron tablets have fully kicked in, he thinks I will feel better.

Ah well, that's the way it goes so onwards and upwards. Ohhh, and the lovely Mr D happened to mention to him that I snored so I'm being sent for sleep testing now as well ............... remind me not to take him to any future appointments lol!!!

Hope you all have a lovely Sunday. Davey (the hairy Judith Chalmers) will be on his way up the Fjords (on a cruise rather than anything rude lol!!!).

TTFN

Ang x 

Ps.......Barbara, that's very kind of you (is it Martine's workshop you're going to?). John and I live about 15 miles apart so meet up regularly. I know John has made pate and likes black pudding so I think he eats pate too but I wouldn't want to put you to any trouble or expense.

Live For Today . . . . . . . . .

Good morning everyone. Is it wet where you are? I think our moment of Summer was last week.

Another dear blog chum has had some sad news so to all of you that are having to cope with sadness, I send virtual hugs.

It's a bit of a quicky today as I have my Cardioversion follow up appointment with the Cardiologist today. Its been 3 months now since I had it, so I'm guessing he may take me off my antiarrhythmic tablet. Double edged sword as without it, the A/Fib may return (quite a high chance) but its a nasty drug and he doesn't like someone of my tender years being on it for longer than 6-12 months. I've done 6 months so we shall see what he says.

Also got a mammogram on Saturday. Never had one before but they have dropped the age you start having them so I've had an appointment. Heard varying degrees of horror stories about them (being wedged between house bricks and bruising to name two lol!!!) so I'm really looking forward to it!!!

Now, this is another one of the samples I made for John's shows at the end of last year (there are a few more to come).

Ingredients

White, sky blue and cobalt card

SW Indian Ocean Background die (centre one from set)

SW Mauritius die (centre one)

John Lockwood Fern Frames Elements stamp set (leaves and sentiment)

Memento Dew Drop inks

Thin white ribbon

Pearlage

A simple looking card that I think you could get away with for a fella.

According to Chef Lockwood, after he finished laughing at my pate pebbledashing, I should try adding some cream next time to stop it turning solid. Not sure when or if there will be a next time. Maybe I should leave it to folk who know what they are doing lol!!!

Anyhoo, I'm offski. Keep everything crossed for me being manhandled over the next few days. . . . . . . now, if Daniel Craig were doing the examinations. . . . . . . . . 

TTFN

Ang x