See it, Pin it, Do it - February

Fiona from Staring at the Sea has started a new blog meme SIPIDI or See it, Pin it, Do it.  We all have loads of stuff on our Pinterest boards, so the idea is to actually get inspired by them and then share what you have made.

I have quite a few jewellery pins, especially memory wire bracelets and I needed a new bracelet to wear to a ball to match the pearl necklace and earrings that I would be wearing.  I took inspiration from this pin and this one to create this -

Made with freshwater pearls and gold spacer beads

 

Thanks for setting the challenge Fiona - I am looking forward to actually making some of my other pins.

Bike Ride

The January week 4 challenge on UKScrappers was

• Use a black & white photo
• Frame the photo
• Use inks/mists
• Use bling
• No more than two flowers

This is my take on the challenge using a photo of me in the box on the front of my Dad's bike.

The papers are Prima 'Bloomin Retro' from a very old Sarah's Cards kit.  I framed the photo with a square frame cut with nestability dies and made the file tab using my WRMK envelope maker.  The ink splats are from the Stampin' Up set Gorgeous Grunge and the swirl was made using a photocopy of pre-done swirl and then pricking out the pattern (thanks Anita M for that idea).

The journaling reads 'We were living in Winchcombe Road at the edge of the town centre.  Dad's pushbike had a box on the front of it and he use to put me in it and take me for rides.  Dad says I use to scream with laughter but my memory is that I was screaming with fear that I would fall out.'

Week 4 - 52 cards challenge

The week 4 challenge was to take inspiration from this picture

I loved the white on white, the lace of the doily and the little pop of colour, so these are my cards that I hope reflect that.

The floral hearts were a monthly freebie from DigiStamp Boutique, coloured with promarkers and then matted onto two hearts cut from white cardstock with some Cheery Lyn doily heart dies.  I embossed the background with a heart embossing folder.

For my Christmas versions I made wreaths of punched holly leaves (Woodware), the red berries are flat backed pearls (Sarah's Cards) and the embossed background is a Sizzix folder.

All the sentiments are by Stampin' Up.

Live well, Laugh often, Love much

Another class taught by the lovely Anita M last year.

I'm afraid I have no idea what the papers are as I failed to keep the strips, they might be WRMK????

Thank you Anita for another lovely class xxx

The Dreaded Male Cards

I found some male cards that I made end of last year lurking in my 'to be blogged' folder.  I don't know why I have always struggled with making male cards - it might be because my favourite embellishments are butterflies, blossoms and bling and they don't go down too well with the men LOL!!

I thought I would share them just in case anyone else is struggling with making them.

Warning - this post is picture heavy!!

All the stamped images are by Penny Black, except for the last card which is a digi-stamp from DigiStamp Boutique.  The papers are all kit leftovers or free papers from magazines except the two footballing dogs and the crossword hedgehogs and they are by Wild Rose Studio.

Christmas Day - a layout

This layout was a class by Anita back in January last year, but sadly I had to miss the class as I was ill and then I spent most of last year taking the page kit to crops with me and not getting round to doing it.  Anyway it is now finally done!!

 

The papers used are Fancy Pants 'St Nick' and the photograph is from our Christmas cruise taken in 2012.  This is Anita's layout.

Thank you Anita for another lovely page - sorry it took so long to get it done!!

Cool Yule Penguins - Beat the Christmas Rush

This year I am going to take part in Beat the Christmas Rush and make some production line cards so that I don't have to rush around so much towards the end of the year.

I recently treated myself to a lovely penguin stamp and die from Papertrey Ink and as soon as he arrived I wanted to get him inky and use him. 

I ended up making 6 cards -

The penguin's hat is a separate die and stamp so I used Stampin' Up markers to make each hat a different colour to match the cardstock mat.

The 'cool yule' sentiment is by Personal Impressions

The embossed background was done using a snow flurry Cuttlebug folder

Happy Valentines Day Mr P xxxxx

As always I have made a Valentines Day Card for my beloved.  I used a new (to me) Penny Black stamp called Love and Roses.

I cut a heart using my CM shape cutter and then matted onto two hearts cut with Cheery Lynn Doily heart dies.  The top sentiment is by Crafty Impressions and the Purrr-fect sentiment is by Penny Black.  I punched out both sentiments with SU punches. 

The image is coloured with Promarkers and the roses lightly glittered with Stardust Stickles for a bit of sparkle.

I am also entering this card into a couple of challenges - the Penny Black Saturday Challenge is 'For Someone Special' and the Penny Black and More is 'Make it Sparkle'. 

Champagne Charlies

I'm still catching up with blogging layouts from last year.  This is one that I did for the October Sketchy Scrappers monthly challenge.

I set the sketch that month and used this one from the 4x6 photo sketch blog

And this is the layout - myself and my parents on New Year's Eve on the cruise we did last year, we really enjoyed all the free champagne that was given out at the deck party that night!!

I have no idea what the paper is - I just know it is from an old Sarah's Cards kit - it might be Crate.  The title was done using AC Thickers and the stars are a Stampin' Up punch

Rhine River Cruise

This is the sketch this month on My Creative Sketches

And this is my take on the sketch using Pebbles 'Family Ties'.

This will be the title page for the pages from this holiday taken in 2010.

One Photo and Twenty Words

It's the 9th of the month so time to hook up with Abi from Creating Paper Dreams and post one photo with 20 words.

Only 26 sleeps till we meet again.  Looking forward to the madness, mayhem, crafting and lovely time we will have.

Week 3 - 52 cards challenge - Christmas Crackers

Week 3 of the 52 cards challenge was to use this sketch -

I had enjoyed using it so much for the general cards that I made 5 cards for the Christmas Cracker challenge.

Papers - Craft Creations
Cardstock - Bazill embossed with Sizzix folders
Dies - SU framelits, Rectangle Sizzix framelits
Stamps - Penny Black Teddy Santa and Merry Wishes (Pig)
Sentiments - Kaisercraft and HOTP

Happy 75th Birthday Dad!!!!

Today it is my Dad's 75th Birthday!!!

This is the card that I have made for him using a lovely digi-stamp from DigiStamp Boutique

The papers are by Crate Paper but I have no idea of what range as they came from my kit leftovers bag.  The mats are cut with Stampin' Up frame dies.  The stars are from Poundland and number 75 is AC chipboard Thickers coloured with a Sky Blue Promarker.

January 2014 - My Month in Numbers

I fell by the wayside at the end of last year with Julie Kirk's My Month in Numbers but am back to start afresh in 2014.

Usually January is a pretty quiet month for us but we have had a lot going on this month.

My parents are up and down to London at the moment as my Dad is being considered for a cochlear implant.  For as long as I can remember my Dad has always had a hearing problem - he was in the army in the 50s when ear protection on firing ranges was unheard of and when he left the army he worked for the water company, then the railway and then back to the water company - working with heavy noisy machinery with no ear protection.  He wears bilateral hearing aids but has no hearing at all in one ear and only a tiny fraction in his better ear.  The good news is that the hearing loss is now so profound that it makes him an ideal candidate for an implant.  So in January I had 1 trip to London to St Thomas' Hospital to take part in a family session with the implant team.  It was a fascinating afternoon, I learnt so much about how hearing actually works and all I can say is that it is a miracle, an absolute miracle - that little hairs in our inner ear depending which way they bend is translated into the spoken word and music by our brain.  We met a man who had had the operation 5 months ago and heard about how it has transformed his life.  It will not restore his hearing as we understand it, and he will have to relearn how to hear and interpret sounds into words, he may still not be able to listen to music.  BUT he should be able to have one to one conversations again, watch TV that doesn't have background music and get some independence back.  So fingers crossed that his appointment in February to give him the yay or nay to the op will be good news!!

My Daddy xxx

It was a busy month for eating out with 5 meals out - not good for the waistline but very enjoyable.

1 trip to the local pantomime - a very enjoyable evening watching the Polegate Drama group do Robinson Crusoe and the Caribbean Pirates, they are a very talented bunch of performers.

Not so good was 2 trips to the dentist.

And crafting wise I have been busy this month and seem to have my enthusiasm for crafting back - my crafty totals for January are -

7 layouts
14 cards
15 Christmas cards

I usually have some countdowns going - sadly no booked Marillion gigs yet for this year (but a hint that there will be a short Christmas tour to be announced soon).  So my big countdown for Month in Numbers will the number of days to my BIG birthday this year - Mr P is taking me on a Baltic cruise and we will be in Copenhagen for my birthday.  They spoil you rotten when you have a birthday onboard so I am really looking forward to it - only 204 days to go!!!!!!!!!

Jack on Tour

The December/January sketch set in our Sketchy Scrappers Facebook group was this one chosen by Julia -

And this is my version of it using another heffalump photograph from our day spent at the Trafford Centre elephant hunting last September.  Jack was another favourite of ours and I had the perfect paper for him.  They are Do Crafts papers that came out in 2012 for the Diamond Jubilee - sorry I can't remember the name of the range as they were leftovers from a class page and I had just enough to do this layout. The title is done with a Sizzix 12" alphabet die - Wingo Zingo and the stars were cut with framelit dies.

Week 3 - 52 cards challenge

Week 3 of the 52 cards challenge was to use this sketch.

I got a little bit carried away and made five cards!!!

 

Both stamps are by Penny Black and the sentiment stamp is Hero Arts apart from the last one which is Penny Black.  I used square nestability dies apart from the last one which is a SU framelit.  All the papers used are magazine freebies.