Special thanks

This week I was asked to make a card to thank a special member of our school community who has been a part of the School Council for years..... and seen us through three different Principals and quite a few staff.  He's not a parent or a teacher, but a community member who joined the Council to give his time and expertise if it was wanted.  For once the elements of the card came together quickly, and I hope he likes it. 

I used the last of my big 6" pre-folded cards, very hard to find at the moment (I like them because they give me a big canvas to play on) and another piece of the lovely La Creme stack, plus some gold and black scraps.  The DP is another sheet from the holiday stack I found a couple of weeks ago and the image is part of a compass.

TE Sketch Challenge #108

Cant seem to break away from the busy room today, despite the large basket of ironing, the complaining cats ("Food... NOW"), the parsley and rosemary pots I should have planted (tomorrow.....).  I needed a special card for a good friend and came across this sketch to motivate me.  It will appeal to my friend because she's very obsessive about lines and spacing, but she'd have been horrified to see me winging the positioning without a ruler.  The way I see it, I try to get it right and if its a little off centre, then its clearly handmade and unique!  Any old machine can get perfection!

It was also the perfect way to use lots of black and white scraps which I cant bear to throw away just in case, and here's the case in question.  Two pieces are from a sheet of Bella! Grace Paperz called Dandy, and the image across the bottom is from a little pad of squares with a holiday theme.  There are a few brads and sequins and a little bow just because...  The only thing that hasn't shown up is the real colour of the background which isn't blue at all but rather a lovely shade of purple.

ABC Challenge - R is for red

Lovely excuse to play with red and black for this challenge...... Found these black cards and envelopes today and hunted through the card scraps to find some reds that complimented eachother.  There's a piece of parchment textured red, and a tiny square of DP from Paper Chic, as well as flowers and a white brad to hold it all together.  And yet another little piece of ribbon finds a home, well two little pieces to be truthful. 

Thank heavens the challenges at ABC last for two weeks because it gives slow people time to organise themselves!!

MMSC #48 - the simple version

Further to this morning's post, here's another attempt with the same paper but a bit of what I like best too... BLACK!!  And I dont know that it works either, maybe my mojo has up and gone walkabout, maybe the paper didn't inspire me, maybe I should just stick to black and white. 

I was so pleased to see a simple layout from Priscilla that I seized it and was cutting paper and ribbon when I should have been getting dressed to go out, but I was only a little bit late afterall.  

This is for the Midnight Madness Sketch Challenge which I love because of its name before anything else.  I chose the simpler layout because I struggle with bows and embellishments.  The DP is the last interesting bit of Tangerine Flowers, and there is even a cuttlebugged layer under it all.  Ribbon and foil bits from the come-in-handy box, and some decoupage cutting practice in evidence too.

Opus Gluei # 49 Sparkle

I hate how my camera has a mind of its own and doesn't see the colours I do.... have been wandering the house searching for good light because my usual spot "Doesn't do yellow".  Now there ladies (I'm addressing this to the Poobahs), that's one VERY GOOD REASON why monochrome is me!  Its so easy to photograph! 

Okay, whinge over.....

So the card.... well it looks better in real life, bit like its maker, and it has a huge list of ingredients.  There's some Francheville Tangerine Flowers DP, assorted bits of custard coloured card bits, and the SU sentiment from their Inspired by nature set.  I matched the iridescent embossing of the flowers by stamping the sentiment in the background as well as in copper on the centre strip.  The butterfly escaped from my March kit from Taylored Expressions, and the gold gauze ribbon was hanging about looking for a home and so was the foil.

I wanted to avoid anything remotely black and white, but I think this would look more "passionate" if the tangerine leapt off a black page.  Next time.

Goodies to play with

Spent last Sunday crafting with the lovely Ali and Ev after several weeks of doing absolutely nothing except work-type work.  

While Ali played with her newly acquired monotone Copics and Ev painted and varnished, I played with my newly received parcel of Key Ingredients from Taylored Expressions.  The February pack could have been personalised for me (but it wasn't) because it was a great collection of black and white things, with some good solid colours thrown in too (think red, yellow, pink, green).  

Here are two cards I made with a tiny part of the parcel.  The bird stamp is SU one I dont own but borrowed one day from Debbie P, but the satin spotted flowers are in the kit as is all the spotted ribbon.

Cant show anyone the other things I made until they go where they're meant to be.............

Opus Gluei #48 Felt up

Once I'd stopped snickering (what a great word that is) about the Challenge title I started thinking.  L-o-n-g s-l-o-w process today....  First I went off on a felt tangent and fancied finding a felt mouse shaped pin-cushion I once made, but that was doomed to failure from the start.  Where to start looking?  About this point I began to wonder where the felt actually was........... PRESTO!!  Very top shelf as you can see (that's it in the plastic bags which try to prevent dust).


Then I thought I'd be very clever and combine an old challenge with this new one because I really liked the basket of flowers from a couple of weeks ago (look here) but when I tried colouring yellow centres, well, it all went pear-shaped.  Trust me, you had to be there.

So...... when in doubt, resort to comfort zone!  Here is my slightly felted offering with profuse apologies for the same old thing in similar packaging (ie black and white again).  I really like this figured paper, and its a scrap of wrapping paper that I had to keep.  The flowers were going to be Mary Quant ones, but morphed into these instead, with little button centres.  The sentiment is just a sticker from the days before I owned any stamps at all.  Have to use them up!!

Then I made some other little things, but that's for another time.

Dragonfly Card Drive

Its the little gestures that really matter in times of great stress, and particularly when we deal with the sickness or loss of someone we love.  Life seems to stop for us, and we cannot understand how other people around us can still laugh, sit in the sun with a coffee, or even find matching shoes......  Taylor over at Taylored Expressions has a habit of finding good causes to support, and this one is such a simple idea, bringing with it the chance to gift a little light into a sad time.  She writes:My sister-in-law and a high school friend both work as labor and delivery nurses at Sanford Medical Center in Sioux Falls, SD. When they told me about the wonderful work they're doing for parents suffering the loss of a newborn, I knew we could help! The cards we gather will be donated to the Neonatal Intensive Care nurses where they use the dragonfly as a symbol of hope for families who have lost a child during delivery or in the early stages of life. Families are given a dragonfly card while they are in the hospital as something to hold on to, cherish, and comfort them after the quiet time spent with their son or daughter. In addition to a card, the parents receive a small ring with a poem, a prayer shawl for the mother (to symbolize God wrapping his loving arms around her), along with baby footprints and baby molds.   

 
The full story is on this special entry from her blog.  Find the details of what to make and where to send it there.

I bought these dragonflies many years ago at the first ever Stitches & Craft Show I went to and I've struggled to find a way to use them.  They were forgotten at the bottom of my come-in-handy box.  I used a couple of different ways to attach them, with glue featuring VERY HEAVILY because I'd hate them to fall off before the cards were passed on.  I used some ribbon from my friends Rosemary and Jana at Opus Gluei and a collection of flowers, brads, diamonds and card scraps.  The stamp is one of the SU Pocket Silhouettes in my favourite olive green.

Last year when I needed the help of my friends to help me come to terms with overwhelming sadness, it was little things that made the difference on really dark days.  I hope I can repay their kindness and love by paying it forward.

Opus Gluei #42 Asian Motivation - second attempt!

And then of course I began cleaning up the mess I'd made and there in the back of a pocket was this lovely piece of tiger-ish paper.......  The GPs did say they'd allow tigers (if pushed) so I played around with the scraps and this is what I had in the end.

I know I bought the patterned paper on impulse several years ago, SURE that I couldn't live without it, and the rest is just a collection of handy sized pieces that have been lying about.  I think the gold foil might actually be from a box of chocolates but that makes me sound like a funny old lady hoarding paper from here and there...... WHICH IS NOT TRUE!!

Opus Gluei #42 Asian Motivation - first attempt!

Something oriental.........

The tiger is considered to be the most noble of animals because he bears the symbol for king on his forehead.  People born under the influence of this sign are said to be dynamic and to have strong leadership qualities.  They are born optimists who make daring plans; they are attracted to danger, excitement and adventure.  Applying the Earth Elemental Signs to the zodiac indicates that those born in 2010 (and also 1950) are metal tigers.  Beware them... they are said to have added strength, to show little sentimentality, and can be inflexible.

.....which explains why I'm quite happy to be a horse, and a wood horse at that.  No prizes for working out when I was born.........

And here's my take on the challenge:  the gray circles are cut from a piece of beautiful paper sent to me by my friend Lisa (a La Creme stack) and the sentiment is from the SU Symbols of Solicitude and stamped on a scrap of red and gold soft hand made paper.  The very best thing is the tiger stamp in the corner.... its one of a set of 12  and I like the fact that its hard to see it clearly.  Its a modern "aged" stamp.  The red ribbon is from the bottom of a box on the busy-room shelves.