On the inside looking out.....

Another memory box window card, this time I did a scene from the inside looking out. Someone asked for product numbers of the dies, I'm afraid I don't have them, I just look online for Memory Box and Poppy Stamps dies, there are loads of stockists, but I find Simonsaysstamp is very good in the USA (they mail to the UK as well), and I have always had good service from Oyster stamps in the UK.  The window is called Grand Madison Window, sorry I can't be more help on this

I used acetate behind the window frame on this one, and the white panel was sponged in a random way with stormy sky distress ink. The tree is the bare branch die....

I made a little pot plant from a cut-down Easter egg die!

What good news about the new baby prince - I felt quite sorry for Kate yesterday with the whole world urging her to push! I posted on FaceBook that I thought they would go for a victorian name like Prince Albert. Cue for some horrified comments from my kids 'you are joking mum?' and 'I take it you are being sarcastic mother?'
Well no, I thought Bertie sounded cute - until they told me that Prince Albert is the name given to a male piercing of a rather intimate nature. How was I supposed to know that? Well, well, you live and learn. Loads of bets have been made on the name apparently, I am so pleased that I didn't go into a bookies to put a bet on Albert being the name. Can you imagine?
See you tomorrow x

Memory Box Bike

Last Memory Box card for this week, I used the same window and shutters as yesterday's card, but this time used the bicycle die as well....

the blooms in the basket are just bits and pieces I had left over from making the other cards....

I love the Tim Holtz 'texture fade' brick embossing folder...

So it was that time of the year again - time for my mammogram. Now, I am eternally grateful to the Health Service for making these checks, and sending out the appointments so efficiently, BUT - it's a bit of a palaver isn't it? Ours are done in a mobile breast screening clinic parked in a remote corner of the local hospital, so remote that you could wander around for hours trying to find it. Then when you are checked in, and undressed comes the fun bit. I once made a duck terrine where you had to put a plate on top of the dish and then a heavy weight on the plate to press it - I know how the poor duck felt now (except he was dead and mixed up with breadcrumbs and smoky bacon, and I was very much alive and kicking). I have a feeling that these machines may have been invented by a man, and if a similar machine was used to check the prostate, I think he would have a rethink on the design pretty quick.

 So you stand there, turning slightly to the left, a delicate part of your anatomy squashed flat between two huge metal plates, and they instruct you to drop your shoulders (which are somewhere near the top of your head because you are so tense) wrap your left arm lovingly around the monster machine, and grip a handle thingy with your right hand. It all reminds me of that game the kids used to play, the one where you have this plastic sheet on the floor and you put your left foot on the red circle, right arm on the yellow....except that (in our house at least) you kept your clothes on for Twister! You do all this, knowing that in a few minutes,  the whole thing will be repeated on the other side. Oh Joy!

See you tomorrow x

Sitting in the sunshine.....

Another Memory Box dies card today, I used the Grand Madison Window and shutters, the scallop curtains die, park bench, bare tree, grass and flower mound. All papers are by Authentique, and the flowers and foliage were cut in white and coloured with ProMarkers.

I really like this little scene, I would be quite comfortable on that bench watching the world go by, sitting in the sunshine with my book........

I hesitated before buying the curtains die, but I am so glad I got it now, the tiny edging is in perfect proportion to the window - I have used a Martha Stewart punch in the past, and the lacy edging is a bit big for the window...

I cut the bench out of kraft cardstock and distressed it a bit with vintage photo distress ink....

and the plant with little white flowers is really a bare tree die - I cut it out three times to make it look bushy, and cut off most of the tree trunk, the tiny flowers were cut with the flower mound die....

The number of people I heard moaning about the heat today, about twenty. The number of people I wanted to slap for moaning about being too hot, about twenty. I didn't of course (I was too hot to bother, and I am really a very tolerant person...). After the terrible spring we had this year, and a rotten washout of a summer last year, I would have thought everyone would be thrilled to see the sunshine, but obviously not. 

My sister hates the heat, I love it. Isn't it strange that two people who share the same gene pool should be so different. Why did she get brown eyes, and me blue? Why has she got a gorgeous singing voice and I sound like a frog with a sore throat? Why do I thrive in sunshine while she retreats to the shade? Fascinating stuff genetics. I look at my grandchildren and see tiny gestures, a turn of the head, a little expression of their faces and see glimpses of my parents, their great grandparents who had died before they were born. Right, that's my random musing for today, see you tomorrow x   

So far, so busy.......

Well we have been here in the USA for four days and I have slipped seamlessly into my 'other life' So far, I have visited

Michaels (twice, shhhh)

Jo-Anns (three times, double shhhh)

Target

Big lots!

Time spent in bathroom due to dodgy airline chicken, hours and hours

Cards made, just one  - here it is!

I found these photo type papers by DCWV in my discard pile. They made me think that they would be quite useful with my Memory Box window die.......

 I have cut a load of Memory box diecuts, all in white, I colour them in with my Promarkers, that way you get a nice variation in colour on foliage and blooms.....

Put the two together and this is what I came up with. a window scene, but this time from the inside looking out.........

 The misty trees and sky outside look just like an evening sky.......................

 The bowl is a template from Craftwork Cards, I coloured it with Promarkers and filled it with assorted foliage and blooms. The strip of pink weathered wood is also by Craftwork Cards

and the window needed a blind, so I cut three strips of pattern paper and layered them with foam pads, adding some embroidery thread for the cords

Memory Box dies used

Grand Madison Window

Ivy tendril

Cherry blossom

Spellbinders leaf die

Martha Stewart fern punch

See you on Monday when I will probably have visited a mall or three, and hopefully spent less time in the bathroom and more in the crafty garage!