After a lot of research he did it (didn’t doubt it for a minute ) and so you now have the option to tick one of the “reaction” boxes below (directly below each post) and let us know what you think. It takes ½ a second but still shows you’ve been here and also shows your appreciation.

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Thanks.

Greeting Card Holder

I saw this great idea posted at Stamper’s Quest and just had to try it. The hardest part of all was choosing the hard-backed book to desecrate .

If you know me well, you’ll know that I have a library in my house and it’s full of books – obviously – but I kept picking one out and then deciding I might want to read that one again etc….. So, Modern Basic Mathematics seemed like a good choice after a lot of dithering, I’m pretty sure I’ll not want to read it.

The instructions for this project are at the site linked above so I’ll not go into too much detail. It didn’t take long at all to fold the pages and – once I’d got past my squeamishness at destroying a book – I really enjoyed making it.

The book

Folding

Choices

White or white

Underneath

Filling the gap

Ribbon

Die Cuts

Details

The snowflakes are doubled up die-cuts glued together and dotted with stickles; the deer are by Tim Holtz for Sizzix and, after cutting out of plain card, I ran them through a Texture Fade which I’d inked on both sides with a Brilliance Ink Pad in Galaxy Gold.

Deer and Snowflakes

Poinsettia

Greenery

Decorations

One end

Other end

Extras

The photos below show different views of the finished item – the last few with some cards in to show how it works. I think it looks pretty without the cards just as a centrepiece.

Card Holder

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Our baby is like a little rocket when she’s crawling but her poor knees really need a break This walker has been such a great tool to aid the process – although she still isn’t walking unaided – it’s easier to drop onto all fours I guess.

So this little video shows how much fun she was having – watch out for the little dance in the middle of the stroll and the casual wave of each hand to her adoring fans – that’s us, the Grandy’s!

While she was staying with us last week she got the giggles at something soooooooo silly

Roses from my son

I got a lot of lovely birthday cards last week so thought I’d archive the hand-made ones so I won’t forget them. I also was bought a lovely bunch of flowers by some friends and my son came home with a dozen roses for me – I was very touched (it was a definite first!!!).

I’m afraid some of the cards do not show to their full advantage – the shiny, blingy one especially! I tried a couple of angles for that one but it is soooooo much nicer in ‘the flesh’.

Birthday cards

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Santa Millie

We have had this little ‘angel’ staying with us for a week – what a joy and a great pleasure it was to care for her while her parents had a nice, warm holiday in Egypt. I know I shouldn’t have bought a silly little dress for her to wear for such a brief period of time but I couldn’t resist – just knew she’d look as cute as she does in it.

Santa Millie

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Well, she chatted-up a storm – told this strange little creature with the big eyes all sorts of stuff, it was so cute that we had to film it.

I apologise for being a truly besotted GrandMa.

Holly Wreath

Many years ago a lovely lady called Pauline started to run a Holly Wreath Class in the community hall of Llanasa. She advertised it through the W.I. and it was incredibly popular. Obviously, being near Christmas, the weather was cold, and the hall was equally cold and totally charmless! We huddled near the wall heaters, sat on hard benches etc.. but came home with some beautiful wreaths.

Pauline ran these for many years and then took the odd holiday (from the UK and from the classes!) and so, when she phoned me to say she was doing another one last December I jumped at the chance of going again. Although I know how to do the assembly myself, and certainly could manage without her tuition, the very act of sitting in a nicely decorated and warm room (same hall having had some money spent on it) with a bunch of other ladies making holly wreaths is a great start to the ‘Season’ and sooooooo much fun!

So, on December 18th Jan and I drove along to Llanasa, met up with Denise and Sue and sat in our ‘naughty corner’ ( I don’t know why Polly – she’s changed her name – thinks we deserve to sit at the back of the room on our own, we’re not really disruptive ) and were met with the usual strange collection of items.

Necessary items!

Garbage bag?

Are we all confused?

The base ring

Closer view

The bin-bag

………is used to wrap around the hoop as a base for the greenery. It was cut into strips, tied on at one end, wrapped and then tied off again when completely covered. Once that was done then the fun starts. A huge mound of ‘green’, foliage which smelt wonderful but which I can’t remember the name of!!! was added in smallish bits around the whole of the plastic-wrapped wreath.

I almost forgot! Before we started anything we had to have a cuppa and a warm, handmade mince pie and Mum, sorry – Polly – insisted we drank the bottle of water she’d provided too!

So, after the base layer of green was firmly attached then we got to add some holly. The variegated leaves and the lovely red berries made a super contrast to the plain greens of the base.

Denise and her holly

Always in threes

Holly added

The Holly and the Ivy, now they are……

sorry, must remember that it’s January and I shouldn’t be singing Carols any more Obviously, the next step was adding some ivy, Polly and her family managed to find some lovely pieces with the berries (seeds? not sure what you call them really) and although they didn’t look awfully exciting at first we knew that with a few squirts of paint later on they would really stand out proudly.

Adding Ivy

Sue + holly & ivy

Pretty already

The ladies

………did look very serious but it was purely concentration, there was a lot of laughter and chatter. There were far fewer ‘students’ this year than previously and it was lovely – so much more intimate and it gave Polly time to visit all who needed her.

Lunch Time

The first year or two we took a packed lunch, then Polly started providing soup and rolls for our lunches. We used to have to clear a space in front of us and eat there but now…. how upmarket is Llanasa? A separate room, tablecloths, tureens and posh soup bowls! The soup was every bit as delicious and it looks on the photos and there was masses of it. We had to follow this with a cuppa and mince pies.

Politely waiting

Thick, hot & hearty

Jan playing 'mum'

Back to work

……all refreshed and ready to go. Pine cones, cinnamon sticks, dried orange slices got wired and nestled in amongst the foliage. Again, these looked so very different when sprayed with paint but lovely in their natural state too.

Pine cones

Here? or here?

Closer view

A Bow

….is all that’s needed to finish the wreath. I am notoriously bad at making bows and have always had to have help but this year I arrived with mine all prepared! I have some glorious ribbon from CostCo and a bow-maker so mine came ready tied in my basket.

My Bow

How pleased am I?

Denise is happy

This one's lovely...

...so is this one

Sue's is pretty too

Jan is concentrating

Getting help with a bow?

Chaos versus Calm

…try as she might, Denise cannot be untidy or unruly with hers. I am the opposite – my wreath is always rather wild! It really doesn’t matter, each and every one of the wreaths was different and each beautiful. A quick blitz with some gold or silver spray paint and the cones and berries got a lovely highlight.

Then, we were forced to have another cuppa and eat more mince pies!

That was before making a table centrepiece using a candle which we had been told to bring with us and more foliage etc… unfortunately, I don’t have a single photo of any of them! Must have been too busy trying to get it right that I totally forgot to chronicle it.

I’d like to say a huge thank you to Polly/Pauline, the day was fantastic. Also to her family; two daughters who helped us all out with everything and to her husband, Peter, who knows his place is in the kitchen and stays there brewing-up and washing-up with the odd foray out into the cold for more supplies when requested!

Comparing chaos & calm

Chaos!

Calm!

Inspiration

It was David’s birthday on the 30th and so we took the opportunity for a ‘family meal’ with his brother, Stuart, and his fiancée, Amy. We walked across to a local hotel – Plas Ifan, Northop Hall – and had a fabulous meal and whilst there Amy was compelled to buy one of their home-grown pumpkins and have a go at carving it – they had done some beauties!

On the way home, David managed to catch the moon and hold it for a moment, just the right sort of gift for him! Our food was very good, we all chose something totally different – Steak & Guiness Pie; Pork Steak; Peppered Chicken; Chicken Curry and a Mushroom Nut Roast.

David's lunar moment

Great carving

The meal

Preparation

I went online to find details of how to carve a pumpkin – neither Amy nor I had done one before – and all instructions said to start simply, usually with one of those gap-toothed faces you see everywhere.

I told Amy this and so she chose her extremely complicated company logo – Amy pole dancing – as the simple image! She attached it to the pumpkin with a pin and used another to pierce the skin around the design outline.

The Beginning

Simple!!!!

Outlining

Nearly there

1st stage done

Hollowing

For some reason, Amy thought I’d be a good person to cut the circular lid! As you can see – I can’t actually cut a decent circle. Still, I did manage to angle the knife so that the lid would have some flesh to sit on and not fall back through. We thought about using the flesh for something edible but ended up not actually removing too much of the meat of it, just the seeds and fibres. It was soooooo hard to dig out with a spoon so we just thinned it a little around the area we were working on and left the rest intact. (do you like the way I say ‘we’, as if I actually did anything towards it!?)

Circular!

the Lava Pit

Yuck!

Work in Progress

The following photos show Amy attacking the pumpkin with great gusto – it really doesn’t look much and I’m convinced it’s going to be a failure. At the very least, she’s going to slip with that knife at the last minute and make a mess of it!

See - I was there!

Amy Pumpkin Head

Result!

Well, we all had to take our doubts back! Every one of us is so impressed with the finished product. Can you see all those fine details in the fan and the hair? For a beginner, this is outstanding – well done Amy!

Hair by Honda

Most people who travel by motorcycle will understand the term ‘helmet hair‘ – it’s something which cannot be avoided and which we all tend to ignore – we get used to everyone looking as if they’ve been dragged backwards through a hedge or, as in some cases, like they’ve been strangely coiffured by someone with a plough! A certain friend of ours likes to use hair gel and so, when he removes his helmet, he has these lovely ridges running along his head.

I had this idea to make some “Hair by Honda” badges and so produced about a dozen which sold in no time at all. After that, some friends came around and we had a major crafting session and produced hundreds of them. Unfortunately, I didn’t get photos at the time so the pictures here show mainly the dregs of the bunch but you can get an idea of what we did.

Using Shrink Paper/Plastic from Crafty Computer Paper I printed loads of different, amusing messy hair styles. The most popular were the scruffy cat (you can maybe spot my own personal cat badge in the middle of the group) and the equally scruffy Yorkshire Terrier. The small amount of ‘male’ badges all sold very quickly too.

So, after the printed papers were dry they were cut into rectangles and coloured in various ways before shrinking them with heat guns. The edges were dipped in embossing powders or coloured with a gold or silver marker and then the whole thing dipped in UTEE (Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel) and melted as a glaze.

Mine has been through the washing machine more times than I can number as I don’t always remember to remove it from the shirt it’s pinned to – doesn’t seem to have harmed it much except that I have had to renew the gilding and the glazing ‘cos it was looking just a little faded.

After covering the costs of the supplies, the monies raised were donated to our designated charity – North Wales Air Ambulance.

Last Few

Front & Back

GoldWing with bling

As I’ve mentioned before on this blog, Nigel and I spend a lot of time on our motorbike and – as naff as it sounds – the trend is to wear clothing decorated with images of one’s vehicle (well, you wouldn’t tackle a Hells Angel about the clothing he wears would you? ).

I recently purchased some  TAP – Artist Transfer Paper from Crafty Computer Paper and decided to decorate a new t-shirt. The instructions on the website are very informative and you get full instructions with the papers (which are US Letter sized therefore not quite A4 so you need to be aware of that when you’re printing).

I found a photo of a GoldWing which looks a lot like ours and printed it out as large as possible on the paper and then followed the instructions to iron it onto the shirt.

I realise now that the red of the bike would have shown up a lot brighter if I’d used a white t-shirt but I rather fell for this blue.

Anyway, after it was ironed on, didn’t take long at all, the fabric is still nice and soft and I will say that it’s just been through its first wash and looks just the same.

I then got out my HotFix Wand and crystals etc. and blinged-it-up – doesn’t it catch the light nicely?

A couple of weeks before I found this TAP I had made another attempt at a crystal Wing. I took about 6 hours to do the black one below – there is no way I will do another this way! I laid out all the ‘jewels’ on a line-art image of a GoldWing and then transferred them onto the shirt using sticky paper – bad idea! I thought I could heat the top of this sticky paper and the crystals and studs would adhere themselves to the shirt – they didn’t! I had to peel them off the sticky paper, peel the sticky paper off the studs that it had welded to, individually heat set each stud and crystal……..nightmare! Still, I do like the end result and I should think it’ll stay unique to me – I can’t see anyone else being daft enough to try what I did!

Before blinging

Nightmare