Hello again - 2nd post today - mainly to show you my wee Snuggly Dolly I knit very recently - I read Tina's blog - she lives in the North of Scotland and her blog is a joy to read each day.....Tina is a knitter and has some patterns of knitted dollies for sale and some time ago I downloaded this one and here she is - she wants me to tell you she is very shy about being on the internet.....she is just 8" tall (an inch shorter than she should be, don't know why) and is lovely and squidgy....not firm at all as I'm told she should be able to be hugged by a small child etc Here is the link to Tina's blog http://thequiethome.blogspot.co.uk/ I hope you will pay her a wee visit and enjoy reading about her life in rural Scotland That's all for now.

Hello Everyone - although 'everyone' may have given up on me! Here I am back with some photos (?) of a couple of things you may like to see. A neighbouring church has a small knitting group and they decided to knit 8" squares in all the 40 shades of green. Then Joshua told them of an idea to make a Christmas tree out of these squares and this is how it looked. They held a little viewing afternoon the Saturday before Christmas accompanied by a cup of tea of course and some goodies to eat. You can see Margaret in the photo too admiring the tree.....she is one of the leaders of this group and much more if you but knew! The ladies have done a magnificent job of knitting these squares with the help of some others...me, sadly I only had time for 4 of them... In one of the close-ups of the tree you will see a little bag in fair-isle - Margaret's daughter Ruth is a Doctor and has been doing duty in the hospital in Shetland and a kind lady taught her the fair-isle technique. There is a practical element to these squares of course. They are being taken down and along with many others - well over 1,000 - will be sewn into blankets to be sent to Africa. They'll be much welcomed there where nights are cold.

Taking a Break

Hello those of you who 'follow' me......I know I am not a great blogger - I just don't have a lot of time especially at the moment.
I am moving my craft room and have to decorate two rooms so I think it best I tell you all that I am taking a prolonged break to complete the work. My craft stuff is all packed away but still have to honour my calligraphy customers...i.e. the Gallery I work for. So have a little corner of the living room set up to do calligraphy.
Take care everyone....I will be back - sometime!

Another Card and an Idea for You

Hello everyone.....I just wanted to say at the outset that some of you may be thinking the cards I post all have a sameness about them....the reason....all the cards are for customers who are expecting to have all the elements you see on a card - they are all for different people so while you see some, but not all, of them obviously each person has only one card (well, sometimes it can be up to 3 for someone, a situation I don't particularly like but however).
Yesterday I received some lace from www.fabricsandfancies.co.uk http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/35mm-Ivory-Guipure-Scallop-Edge-Lace-Ribbon-Trim-Metre-/150761321674?pt=UK_Crafts_Cardmaking_Scrapbooking
I wanted to show you how it looks on this card. The ribbon roses are in pale peach and as it is a 50th Birthday I wanted to add a little gold as one usually associates gold with 50!
It is beautiful cotton lace and I toyed around with some of it after finishing the card and trimmed 7 motifs and attached them together with hot glue by gluing each motif in the centre - I started out with 5 and that would do 'in a pinch' but I don't do 'in a pinch' things so went on to 7 which I think looks so good. I do apologise for the photograph...neither I nor DH can get a decent in focus snap of this delicate bit of lace...so sorry...we have tried a lot of colours behind it and flash, no flash.....nothing works!!
That's it for now...time for lunch on this very sunny but cold Saturday!

60th Birthday Card

Hello Everyone....had an order just last night for an urgent card....said I'd manage a 'simple' one....don't think I know how to keep it simple....I've cased this one from Debbie Olson with changes. I've used the All Booked Up die from PTI as is the little circle stamp surrounding the cameo. The cameo is from Waltzingmouse but I needed a circle to surround it rather than the oval with the set.
The flowers on the parchment were stamped using Fresh Snow Ink from PTI and the stamp is Waltzingmouse Roses in Bloom. To cover up the way I've adhered the parchment to the card front I've added little punched 'daisies' and a pearl on top.
I made an envelope as well - dp from stash. It is very muted, sorry the envie photo is so bad....that's my poor photography. I've just puched out two circles of pink cardstock, one for top closure and one on the bottom closure to reinforce the dp....then stuck on a circle of velcro in white. I've found that this is the easiest closure...indeed it only needs a little pressure to hold the envie closed and can be opened and closed quite a bit (Research and Development Department of Shikishi assures me of this LOL !!) . I've magnets which I find are much too strong for this kind of closure ( and some of them are hard to get stuck on anything) so I prefer the velcro...and for those of you in the U.K. I got two packets of 70 each of these (1 packet black and one white) for around £5 - they are in Lidl (German store) this week. I thought that wasn't bad value compared with our local haberdashery place so got one of each colour....if you know of better value let me know.
Hereabouts it is wet and miserable - just the day for getting some cards sorted..next in line is a Christening Card for a little boy called Harry and it needs to be ready for tomorrow....so Joyce, get your skates on!!

A Gingerwoodies Kindness

Sorry for being so long in posting but I've had flu - where did the last 3 weeks go to?
Now, I want to tell you about some friends of mine....they are all 'Gingerwoodies'.
For those of you who don't know who they could be we are all members of a stamping, scrapping (though I don't scrap) forum who support each other in our creating. We also support each other personally as well and I consider it a privilege to be a small part of this caring group of people.
Over the years I've been shown many random acts of kindness and I thank those who have blessed me - you know who you are - the latest kindness arrived with me last week. It all started when I posted a thread on the Gingerstamp forum saying I had found 'Hershey' kisses (chocolate - American fashion) in Asda here in the U.K. Hershey kisses are favoured among stampers as being one of those little treats one makes decorative packages to present them in.....well, MA from the forum asked me for my address and the end result is that this lady went to considerable (and Ireally mean 'considerable') personal expense in posting me a box (Medium Priority for those of you in the U.S.) of goodies all the way from Conneticut - gosh was I surprised at the size of the box....I was really flabergasted (do you know that word?) indeed. I have photographed the contents. She has also spent so much time prettying up all the little packages which filled me with so much joy and happiness...chocolate and more chocolate.....crafting goodies by the score....goodness it was endless opening it all...it was like Christmas - my birthday (which I spent in bed with flu) and much more all rolled into one....it really lifted my heart. So in this world of much corruption and hatred there is still goodness to be found in the hearts of caring people. These people spread happiness worldwide. I really cannot come to terms with this generosity...I expected a little envelope with a few Hersheys but was gifted with a mountain of delights.
What are we in this world for but to gladden the hearts of others and I've experienced this last week and indeed will for some time to come. Thank you MA for this generous act of kindess. May God bless you for all your endeavours.

A bit of Reorganisation!

I had been asking around for ideas on storing my 12 x 12 card as I was totally fed up searching this box and that box and that try for suitable card for a project.
Not being able to justify spending £7.95 per acrylic tray I wanted it to be cheap.

Nerine of the WMS forum suggested pizza boxes and I went on e-bay and bought 25 13" boxes some of which I have made up, I folded in the top and bottom flap as it were and this makes the edges very sturdy. Then I stuck down the sides with hot glue. It turns out that one of the edges sits out more than the other and this is perfect for being able to see what is in the slot and gives a little more hand room for getting a sheet out. I am delighted with them. I had intended to adhere them all together but hope to move to a smaller room soon so won't decide until then in case I need to make the pile smaller etc....they are sitting on a bed at the moment and are quite stable. So, for the princely sum of 71pence each I have my storage.
Hope you all are well into 2012 - this will be a very special year in the U.K. We have the Queen's Diamond Jubilee and then The Olympics...busy time.....if you like crowds go to England this year..hmmmm...not me...I prefer to watch it on tv....if you don't like crowds why not come to Northern Ireland where the roads are always uncrowded....best weather in May and June (usually!!) and very long nights....sometimes not dark until 11 - 11 30 p.m. - come and enjoy 'the gloaming' - that wonderful time of half light which we get (and Scotland too) each evening...not light and not dark....a special time. However you spend your holidays have a wonderful year full of great memories.