Polkadoodle Friday

Our challenge this week is

IN AN ENGLISH COUNTRY GARDEN

So we could use anything you find in the garden in the Summer - flowers, butterflies, bees - I wonder if anyone has done a wasp, there's plenty of them around here. It's also our Stashbox Stamp week, which means the design team can use any manufacturers stamps for the challenge. I seem to be in a Magnolia phase at the moment, so I used Tilda with a bee, and sat her in a garden of hand doodled flowers. The papers were printed from the Sundae of Seasons CD. Be sure to pop over to the challenge blog to see all the gorgeous samples on there

I put some doodle dewdrops in the center of each little flower

We are off to Yorkshire to see old friends for the weekend. When I was doing my major clear-out last week, I found lots of photos of all of us from much earlier days, at various weekends we have spent together, which will be going up with us, should be good for a laugh. My main focus in looking at these photos is the clothes, I look at myself in amazement and wonder whatever possessed me to buy the outfit. Even worse, there are some clothes that I don't remember ever owning. It's as though I have had my head superimposed on someone else's body.

I was running some old video tapes which I am having put onto DVD's, and in the Christmas 1988 one, my shoulder pads are the star of the show, they seem to have a life of their own, everywhere you look, there I am decked up in my best for Christmas Day looking like an all-in wrestler! Mike came in to see what was making me laugh 'It's the boys fighting again' - it makes me laugh fondly, watching them now, at the time I wanted to bang their heads together.

See you tomorrow

Tilda on a log..............

I don't often use Magnolia stamps, I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with Tilda. This one is okay because it doesn't set me off thinking 'oh no, no mouth'. Did you know that the idea behind them is that they are all angels, and angels speak with their hearts not with their mouths?

Sounds a bit fanciful to me!

Anyway, here she is perched on a log (not sure who made this stamp, the image was given to me.) The base card and sentiment button is by Craftwork Cards , and the papers are My Minds Eye

I do love the way the artist puts them in the funkiest clothes though

I have been having a clear-out in view of the imminent arrival of the new carpet. So loads of books and old DVD's and VHS tapes are all sorted out ready to go to the charity shop. Then I got to sorting out old photographs - boy, was that a walk down memory lane. By the time I had discarded views of places I couldn't remember visiting, anonymous babies who refused to be identified, people smiling happily for me when I haven't a clue who they are, two great carrier bags had been decanted into one neat little box. very satisfying. I tell you what I did find lurking, two of the earliest cards I ever made. They are truly terrible, I can't believe I made them, and you won't either when you see them - yes, I will take photos, I can take ridicule.

Tilda - and sandals!

Here's Tilda, a Magnolia stamp. I perched her onto a little rock by a stream - this was a friends stamp and I don't know what make it is, but she fits nicely on there

I coloured her with Promarkers

Hair - cocoa, cinnamon and tan

Skin - blush and soft peach

Clothes - powder blue, pastel blue, denim blue and ice grey 2

Scene - blue pearl, powder blue, apple green, marsh green, coral, ice grey 2, 3

The papers are from one of those packs, where you get sticky alphabets, which I never knew what to do with. I decided to use an assortment of these, quite randomly for the sentiment

I can't believe I am doing this, but so many of you have said 'well come on then, let's see the sandals.......................................here's some of them

snazzy pink to match my mosquito bites............

and I liked this huge grey flower so much..................

I had to get it in blue as well!

I see that I have just made my 1,000th post. By my reckoning, allowing for time to make the cards and do the posts, that means (allowing for a 36 hour week), I have spent a total of 2 years and 3 months, full time work, doing this blog! Gulp. I think it calls for a bit of a giveaway though, so watch out for that next week.

See you tomorrow

Tilda and Bloom

Here's another card made with that fence from the Bloom lite cartridge. This time, I used it as a perch for Tilda, who was coloured with copics then cut out. The fence was cut at 3" and shadowed in taupe. Papers are by My Minds Eye.

I cheated and gave her a nose! some of the Tilda images are just too much for me with no nose or mouth. I heard that the concept is that they are all angels, and angels speak with their hearts not their mouths. Seems a bit far fetched to me, but there you go, mine has at least got a nose.
I am so busy here, trying to pack a quart into a pint pot............one suitcase has already made the journey up to the supermarket to be weighed, luckily it came in at a few pounds under - I soon fixed that by stuffing more craft stuff down the sides of the case
I was doing a last minute shop, one place I was in was quite quiet, and I had a little chat to the checkout person. She was asking about my accent/where I lived/how long I was here for..........the usual questions. I said I would be back in the UK on the 1st July. 'oh good' she said brightly 'you'll be back for the 4th then'. Well, yes, but we won't be celebrating a whole lot over there!

Exciting News, a Tilda Card and little munchkins.......

First of all, some news, that for me is very very exciting. I am going to be on the design team for Craftwork Cards, my favourite online store for all sorts of goodies, you have seen their name pretty frequently on here, as I use no other cardstock, and the sentiment buttons and card candy feature pretty regularly on here as well. I am joining a very elite band of fabulous designers, and am so very thrilled about it, a bit nervous, but nerves are never a bad thing in my book, gives me an edge...........so wish me luck

Not a typical card from me today, but every so often I get the urge to make a pretty Tilda card, with frills and flowers, and here it is....................

I cut the aperture with a plain nestie circle, then cut a larger scallop circle, with the plain one in the middle, to make a frame for the aperture. The paper is a lovely Bazzill bling, so it has a beautiful sheen. My lovely little Tilda was sent to me by a blog friend, Cheryl, thank you so much Cheryl, doesn't she look sweet?

I had the flowers hanging around waiting to be used, they are white mulberry paper, but I inked them in aqua, and added a couple of strings of little pearls and a scrap of coffee coloured lace

The aqua border is done with a MS punch, the glittery pink one is from a pack of borders by Bo Bunny

Scallop card base - craftwork cards
Magnolia Tilda stamp - sorry I don't have the name
Copics - E00, E02, B02, BG05, E71, E31, E43, R32, RV06 and R20
Martha Stewart dots border punch
Bo Bunny borders
Nestabilities - large plain circles and large scallop circles
mulberry flowers - Wild Orchid Crafts

and on to the main focus of my day, Max and Milo. Boy oh boy, that was exhausting. We saw a lot of little Milo looking a bit puzzled and pensive..............'Where is my mummy?'.........................................

but gradually he accepted us, and was a little angel. Here he is playing peek-a-boo with me, my favourite photo is on my sidebar



Max refused to pose for photos, point blank, couldn't see the point, wasn't going to do it, no way. I managed to sneak this one of him 'reading', it was about the only time he stopped running around. At one stage I popped into the kitchen to get their tea started, and returned to find Max had a great new game - called roll your baby brother all around the floor like a sack of potatoes.................

Every time I visit the grandchildren, there is one intense feeling of gratitude that almost overwhelms me when I get home - I can once again go to the loo (bathroom) without having to organise safety gates or answering questions -'Where you going Ma? Why? You going to do a wee or a poo Ma? Why? Can I come in with you Ma?

Now I am going to take my book and lock myself away in blissful solitude, and don't dare ask what I am doing in there..............
Have a great weekend

Folds for Daring Cardmaker and Kraft for Allsorts

Over at Daring Cardmakers, one of my favourite challenge blogs, the dare this week is 'folds'. It's ages since I made a tri-shutter card, and after faffing around with this one I remembered why....... ! I played around with the folding, because I wanted the bottom central strip to fold over the front when it was closed, and to perch a Tilda on the side. If you play around, there are a lot of variations on the folds for this card.

I went to visit a crafty buddy Phyllis today, and she had had the brilliant idea of using Tildas to perch on one of these cards, so of course I could feel a scraplift coming on as I looked at it. Thanks Phyllis. Unfortunately, she won't start a blog, which is a great shame as her work is fabulous

Back to the card, I made the base from brown cardstock, and used various coordinating papers from a Martha Stewart stack to line all the little boxes

The colours are a bit off, their faces aren't orange in real life - it's the flash

The ribbon is a dark brown felt I picked up in the dollar bin at Michaels, and the 'brads' are card candy from Craftwork cards in the UK
and here's what the card looks like closed.
do a search for tri-shutter cards and there are quite a few you tube videos out there
The sentiment is stampin up - a bit twee, but it was the right size for the space! Believe me, whoever gets this will be one of my special mates, I don't faff around this much for just anybody :)


Next, a brand new challenge for me, Allsorts. I have seen loads of great stuff on this site, but have just never had the time to play before now. Their theme for this week is Kraft, so I made this...........


The kraft is actually a torn kraft envelope, the gorgeous giraffe (Rubber Cottage)was stamped in black and clear embossed, then coloured with chalks. I ran a tag through a corrugator thingy after stamping a few leaves on it
The papers are by MAMBI

Tomorrow is a bit of a craft fest, I am going to join a group of buddies for a session, but first it will be up to the pool for a swim, it's still reaching record high temperatures here. Please don't hate me, all my UK pals....
So I'll be back on Friday, Polkadoodles day

Happy Retirement Anne

My BFF Anne retires today from her teaching job, and this is her card. I had to use a Tilda stamp by Magnolia as she loves the 'little girls with no faces'

The retirement circle and the sentiment are both from the Cutting Cafe and were printed out on my computer

The children (6-7 year olds) at school had all painted her a picture and written a letter to her on the back. Some of the comments had me crying with laughter

"You are the best teacher in the universe, sorry you are leaving, have a nice time in bed"

"I am sorry you are retiring, you don't look that old"

"We will all miss you. Well, the girls will"

Of course, I am delighted she is retiring, lots more time to do stuff together, like shopping, and shopping and...did I mention shopping

HAPPY RETIREMENT ANNE XX

Two days, two cards......

Time to share the very unproductive results of a two day swarm (cricut crop) that I went to in Ocala at the weekend. Two cards in two days, and I had taken enough stuff with me to make a card for the entire population of the UK, well the world probably. It was fun of course, so who's counting...... . Anyway, here is my first card, Tilda sitting on her swing (the swing was stamped for me by my lovely pal DawnyP). I used the MS hearts border on the edge. Normally I would have machine stitched around the white panel, but the sewing machine was about the only bit of kit I didn't take with me.

The second card is the result of a challenge that I found really hard, we were presented with an envelope containing random papers, diecuts, brads, ribbon and so on. We had to use them ALL on our card, which even for me, who likes to throw a lot of stuff at a card, was a stretch too far. Anyway, Tilda came to the rescue again and I managed to use everything in my bag, plus Tilda. I added some glitter to the stars, and glossy accents to the balloons and popped everything up off the card. I chopped the metal rim tags in half and added some tiny sticker letters.

I think I left my mojo behind in Ocala though, (I may have lost it on the way there come to think of it), and have had a totally useless day today, there are about 5 torn up projects in the trash can, and you may be able to see the blue cloud above my house from where you are............

Saturday is national scrapbook day, and I am going to another all day crop, may as well take advantage of these things while I am here, when I am back in the UK I am a very lonely little crafter.

Green Brown and Orange for Colour Creat

I bought this magnolia 'scene' stamp with the clouds, bench and grass, and when I had stamped it thought I would cut the front of the card totally away around the stamped image. I put some wild asparagus green spotty paper on the inside of the card, and perched Tilda on the bench. The scallop border is Martha Stewart doily lace. The sentiment circle was from Craftwork Cards.

I coloured Tilda in greens and orange to fit in with this week's challenge over on colour create which was to use these colours. Funnily enough, the plainer I left this card, the better it looked, I tried adding flowers and bling and it just didn't work. Sometimes, less is best.

I had a great time at the swarm, although, all I managed to produce in two days was two cards and the base of two word books. We did do a LOT of shopping though. There was a 'bring and buy' table, and someone had bought along a Zutter bind-it-all, which I have been looking for for ages at a good price, so now, that is my new passion, expect to see a lot of books on here anyday soon.

Easter Blessings - Magnolia and Wildcard

Two Tilda cards for you today. The first one is a stamped image I got in a swap with DawnyP, the sentiment is by great impressions, and I do know that there isn't an Easter Bunny to be seen, but this card is for little children and it was the only Easter sentiment stamp I have. The image was coloured with copic markers, and the papers are just scraps really from my box labelled 'I've been hanging around forever, please use me'. You can tell by the fancy stitching that I am back in Florida with my beloved sewing machine. I can thread it in about 30 seconds, unlike my little Janome mini at home which takes me about an hour of squinting and trying to push one of those needle threaders through the eye, let alone get the cotton through. The dots are some plastic type dotty things that I found hanging around in a drawer. One of these days I will set myself a challenge to use up every one of these bits and bobs I have cluttering up the place.

This is the oval cut from Wildcard. I cut it again in shadow in a darker lilac, to add a contrast to the inside of the card. Tilda is coloured with copic markers, and the sentiment was a home made rub on done on the computer.

Tilda Card For Papertake Weekly and Colour Create

Well I finally managed to combine two challenges, I am not normally organised enough for that. Papertake weekly is a sketch by my mate DawnyP, and Colour Create wanted a colour combination of Navy, Lime and Turquoise (with an added twist of no pattern paper, which I fail miserably. Holding my hands out to be slapped!).

The turquoise Paper is a download from one of my Funky Hand CD's, I can always rely on those to come up with exactly the right paper and colour. Funnily enough, when I looked at the sketch I wasn't sure if I was going to like the card layout, but now that it's done, I love it and will use it again.

Wildcard Cupcake Card

Here is the cupcake card from wildcard, cut at 5 1/2". Since I am always on the lookout for things for Tilda to sit on, it seemed just right to perch her on the top. Some sewing and a bit of glitter and she looks all ready for a birthday party.

I caused great confusion yesterday by posting a St George's Day card on St Patricks day! No, they are not on the same day, St George's day is on the 23rd April, let's say I was flying the flag for England a little early.

St Patricks day here meant that all the pubs locally were festooned with green, white and orange balloons, and there were a lot of young men wearing leprachaun hats weaving rather unsteadily about the town from 10am - goodness knows what they would have been doing by 10pm!

Happy St George's Day

There is a thread over on the Cricut message board for UK crafters, and I set a challenge to make a card using red, white and blue. I spotted this little Tilda waving the Swedish flag, at the NEC and thought she could be waving the flag for England. So here's what I came up with. The papers are by Reminisce, border punch is valentine hearts by Martha Stewart, and she was coloured with copics. The lovely shaped labels that Tilda is mounted on are by Go-Kreate and were cut using my cuttlebug.

Now Tilda stamp collectors may be scratching their heads at the sight of her pigtails. It's true, she started life with bunches of hair, but then I coloured her in, cut her out, and after a lot of work saw that she looked as if she had a bad case of jaundice. By this time, I really couldn't be bothered to start the whole thing over again, so I cut the head off another Tilda and stuck it on. Now you would never have known if I hadn't told you would you? I like to think it shows a imaginative, resourceful side of my nature, but in my heart know that it shows a lazy streak!

Tilda on a bridge - Happy Birthday

So I was given two Tilda stamps, I have never owned any of these images, and resisted buying them as I felt the craze had been and gone in Europe, without me even being aware of it! Having said that, they sure are cute. So I fancied making a scene type of card, you can buy bridge, fence, bench stamps from Magnolia, but I wasn't about to go there, so I turned to my cricut and cut the bridge at 4" from the Paper Dolls cartridge out in cream, and some grass at 1" in green.

I coloured the bridge in with every colour of grey and brown copic markers that I have, and was quite pleased with the result. I used the bubbles embossing folder to emboss a scrap of blue for the water, added a few flowers. The words Birthday Girl were cut in pink using the Skipton alphabet from Go-Kreate, and again in black as a shadow. The background paper is from DCWV Nanas Kids stack.

So Valentines day has been and gone, I hope you all had a lovely day. I received my usual bunch of flowers bought from the local garage - bless him, he doesn't know you can buy them from special shops called florists. So I suppose this is the time for us to dust off those cute little bunny stamps and stock up on yellow and green paper.