Not long now

:-(  Only 3 days left of Wimbledon!  Then what do I do?   Tomorrow is the mens semi finals...   will have all fingers and toes crossed for Murray. 

In meantime, back at the craft table I have finished my inspiration book, here is the final page.   Went for black cardstock,  then stamped with a flourish, using gold ink pad,   cut out oval and stuck on sentiment/quote, again used same flourish with a reddish ink pad,  more rust than red methinks.   But it is now done... !    It is the first mini book I've made,  well except for one I sort of put together, but that was with the help of a few friends.   This time it was all me.   Stuff like this is a measure of how far we've come on our crafting journey,  or so I think.  This is something that would not even have been on my radar when I first started crafting,  I wouldn't have known what a mini book was or had the confidence to tackle one.   My first scrapbook was 8 x8 and I avoided using it for nearly 2 years,  preferring to use the 12x12 album instead.  I felt afraid of the smaller albums and unsure how to use the space.  If I do make one then I reduce the size of the photos,  tho this had very few,  just some very small photos.   But it did force me to use my creativity,  and employ a few techniques.  

It kind of went well with the tennis also,  not too complex so as to totally distract me from the tennis match, but enough so I could ignore the tense moments of the match!   I am a failure as a couch potato,  I can't just sit and watch the box, I have to be doing something else at the same time.

Weather is also on the up.  I chanced washing my car on Tuesday, feeling sure that would bring on the rain... but nope,  it has remained dry.  The Beeb forecasters keep saying to expect rain, but Fred says that it will remain dry,  so far Fred has been proved right.   Oh also vacuumed car!     Amazing,  well it does entail several extensions linked together to make it to car from flat...    so Little Mo is now tickety boo, all happy and shiny.   I'd check the oil and stuff if I could open the bonnet,   no I am not useless I do know how to do this stuff, but it is a new car and has and odd opening mechanism,  and since I am no longer able to kneel down it means it is very hard to open the bonnet!    Going to get friend to take me through it. 

Had my Tai Chi session today,   finally getting to grips with the warm up,  so feel like I am making progress.  It is so calming, I can recommend it to anyone who wants to reduce their stress.  

Well time for a cup of tea...    talk to you all over the weekend.

Melting point

Ugh, the sort of weather I am not keen on, very muggy,  we had a thunderstorm earlier but hasn't made any difference to the humidity or temperature.  It seems to have got worse since the menopause,  my intolerance to muggy weather. 

So felt that it was better to keep movement to a minimum today,  and decided to put together the last few pages of my inspiration book.  I found some nice quotes and printed them out onto some super smooth white card,   which I picked up for a bargain price at the craft fair.   I kept to the autumnal colours,  did some inking on this page,  rusty red I think,  added a nice butterfly,  used my flourish stamps, then added the fairies.  Rather pleased with that.   Next up was the inside of the back cover. 

I was going to use a border punch strip,  but once I'd made it I didn't like it, but I used the left over bits instead!   Again I printed out the quote,   cut a circle, inked it,  cut a larger circle from some glittered acetate,   made use of a stamped sentiment,   stuck glossy ribbon down edge and that was it, oh and the Angel.  She was originally silver, but I used a tan pro marker to recolour her - I had to have an Angel in the book somewhere!

Just got to take pic of back cover and that will be that.  I said I'd got another mini book kit, but have decided to make an inspiration book for a friend, well for two friends, so I will have to get another kit but they are only 2.99.   I've really enjoyed making this book,  really boosted me.   I love any form of scrapbooking,  it gives me the freedom to create what I want,  I still make cards and enjoy it, but I am not going to sit here any more and turn them out like a production line. 

Did watch the Bibster's first solo effort on CnC, she's fitting in nicely,  and has time to craft!   I do hope she is allowed to show all of her skills,  we never saw her able to do proper crafting on QVC,  at least CnC knows that we crafters want to see stuff being made, and we are still happy to keep buying.  I felt she was much more relaxed and happier, so well done Dawn. 

I hope that you are managing to stay cool wherever you are right now.... I am still melting!

Stayathome Saturday

Another gloomy start to the day,  wall to wall cloud. Faced with that I decided to stay at home,  had been hoping for a sunny morning so I could enjoy a walk.  Fat chance of that! 

So just after lunch I decided to rework two of my inspiration book pages  wasn't happy with the lettering on the Be Free page,  so ripped it all off and started over!   This time I used the scroll stamp along the side and top,   kept the lettering the same,  did a much better stamp of the little bird and put the metal tag at the bottom, and the quote at the top,  much better result. 

Next I turned my attention to the front cover,  the original was like a film strip, but it didn't suit what I was doing.  I didn't want it too fussy or cluttered,  just used black card,  pin flair peel off, some ribbons, the photo and some lettering,  which I recoloured.  Think that now looks tons better,  also trimmed the photo a little and rounded the corners. 

So having ripped apart the front cover it meant I had to redo the back of the cover.  Wasn't entirely happy with first effort anyway,  I was really just getting into my stride with the book and how I wanted it to look.

This is very different from first effort, used a different picture,  a gorgeous sunset, pic was taken by a friend on her holidays.  Used the Slice to cut out some flourishes, then altered them slightly,  and cut a tag and stamped on it,  just used a dotty background stamp round the edges.   Much better. 

So just got one page left,  though I did buy another mini book yesterday!  So maybe a second volume? 

Last night was a bit draining, watching Mr Murray,  a bit stop/start at time,  sheer brilliance and real dunce stuff all mixed together.  The guy he was playing is a very good player and a fighter, so it was never going to be easy. 


Well after a gloomy day we now have a lovely evening,  not even a fluffy white cloud to be seen!   And one more week of tennis...  

Have a lovely weekend,  thanks for stopping by

What happened to summer?

It is June I just looked at the calendar,  but the weather appears to have not noticed.   Today started with lovely blue sky and sunshine, by lunchtime the clouds had rolled in, temperature dropped, and by 5pm it was raining...  

It was also raining at Wimbledon!    Thank goodness for the roof,   so Murray is at last winning his match,  took him a while to get going tho.  Not sure he likes having to wait to start his matches to fit in with TV schedule. 

Well I did manage another page for my book.   I did try yesterday but just wasn't happy with what I produced,  not entirely happy with this page,  just the lettering, think it needs to be changed.  The rest works,  but it might need a bit of edging.  I did pop up to the Range hoping to find some nice stuff... well I found some nice card stock,  and the tweet stamps, plus a few BOGOFs (buy one get one free),  and that was it,  they are definitely winding down the serious card craft stuff.  There weren't many stamps,  the tweet/bird stamps where less than half price.  Their fault that they're not selling stuff as they have mucked round with the craft stuff far too much.    Then had disappointing time at a certain well know supermarket, went to a different branch and the choice of ready meals was absymal,   this is tennis time so one needs to  have instant food,   the choice was rubbish,  as was layout of veg/fruit section - I do wish they'd stop faffing with it,  you go to where the mushrooms were and find yourself with a handful of leeks.

 Anyway came away disappointed from The Range,  just nothing there.   New craft shop has realised it needs more space in the garden centre it's based in, so I hope they do expand it.  They're having a review soon, very sensible,  it is very popular,  but it is getting a bit samey.   Any wonder why CnC does so well?   But not all of us want the huge kits,  and the hard sell does start to grate...  look if we want to buy we will, if we don't no amount of plugging is going to make us buy stuff we don't want or like! 

Murray about to serve for match...  about time!   Have a good weekend.

New Balls please

Yes my favourite two weeks of the year,  Wimbledon!   I had a busy morning, got all housework/washing etc out of the way and then settled down for the tennis fest at noon...  

But I did make two more pages for my Inspiration book.  I decided to use one of the Reiki symbols, Choku Rei, the power and protection symbol.  I just found an image on Google and printed it out onto the canvas paper,  inked the edges,   used a TH stamp,  and a lovely sentiment, recoloured the flowers with pro markers and that was that.

For the next page I chose  yellow piece of light card,  then I used some peg stamps with a versamark pad, so as to do a resist technique,  using a paper mania ink pad I blended in some ink,  using 3 of TH stamps, the car, birds and bitty pattern,  I worked round a circle with a quote in it.  The resist technique hasn't shown up well in the photograph, but it is there.

That was yesterday, and suddenly it was Wednesday!   Had a yucky day yesterday,  had picked up a bug of some sort,  decided that rest may be the best way to go, any exertion resulted in me dripping in with perspiration.   So a rain day at Wimbledon...   but there was tennis cos they have the roof.  Watched some of the first match, then postie came, and he brought my new stamps!   Well time to go crafting.

It was back to inspiration book,  I'm loving this at the moment,  it is made for just me, I'm not attempting to please anyone just myself.   I started this page and trust me, it was totally different than this.  I didn't like what I'd done, it just didn't work,  so took everything off and started again.  While looking for some mirri card I came across the glittered acetate,  then was searching for stuff and found the flowers and butterflies... so slowly a page came together.   Much happier with this than with first effort,  the quote came from an old QVC kit, bought  a few years ago now.  I inked up some parchment paper and then stuck on the quote. 

Then it was time to move on to my new stamps...

Which were a set of owl stamps, got them of ebay from a lovely seller.  The set had 4 stamps,  two owl images and a leaf,  I stamped the owl on to white card, then cut round it, then inked it,  next I used the leaf stamp to make a border, then added to it with some peg stamps, and used the TH bird stamp, and a sentiment stamp I bought ages ago.  I added the lettering courtesy of the Slice!   I just love the owl stamp, it is so detailed and works well with the sepia stamp pad.   I had to add an owl as I keep seeing them,  saw one on my way home from my drumming class a couple of weeks ago, it flew right in front of my car, it was such a breathtaking sight.

The tennis is also going well,  Murray is making steady progress,  and Laura Robson also got through, sadly Heather Watson injured her elbow, she was doing so well in her match before the injury,  certainly one to watch.   The Japanese player was unlucky to lose to Venus, there wasn't much in it.   More tennis tomorrow and more pages of my book, going to be sad to come to the end of it!

Crafting on a Sunday afternoon...

 Yesterday I came up with the idea of making a mini book,  I'd bought a chipboard book a while ago but it had just been gathering dust.  I wanted to make the book personal to me,   wasn't sure if it should be about my spiritual growth, the family stuff, in the end I settled for an Inspiration book.

I've used photos and quotes that I've found inspiring or motivational.  I've printed the photos onto canvas paper,  which has given them a warmer feel.  For the front page I chose a picture of the last eclipse,  not taken by me (Andy Logan),  and used the quote 'Are Comes from the Heart',    I covered the front with light black card,  coredinations card,  which had a pink alternative side.  Used the other side to give contrast on the film strip edges. 

This is the first page,  using black as the base, I stamped a dotty background,  used a border punch on some gold card, printed a small photo of a waterfall, then used a Tim Holtz stamp,  bits at side are the leftovers from the border punch,  also used a TH embellishment, I like this discs,  thought about recolouring it but felt it worked fine as it was.   Just about remembered that the page has holes already punched!   It nearly slipped my memory.   Just used the Kodak software to print the photos, it allows you to go down to a fairly small size and gives you the option of printing them like a contact sheet.

This will be page number 3,  backing card is papermania capsule collection,  used the plain side and used a sepia archival ink pad on the edges.  I stamped the image of a heart, again using sepia ink pad,  and then stamped the quote on to a small piece of canvas, used a pinflair peel off round the edge, recoloured the metal butterfly and flower with promarkers,  also did same with ric rac.  This is my favourite page so far,  the colours are warm and liked the stamps.  They are from Creative Expression,  Vintage Hearts,  and are unmounted stamps.    It had a nice selection of different hearts, keys, backgrounds and quotes.   I've also ordered a set of stamps from Ebay of owls, as I keep seeing them so figure they must mean something.    All in all an enjoyable afternoon. 

I also did some sorting out,  got a set of 5 A4 storage boxes,  so my stamps are now all in one place, as are my inkpads,  gems and embossing powders.   Hopefully that will stop me losing stuff,  or rather wondering where I put it! 

Will be carrying on with book for rest of week,  while watching the tennis.   Yes there will be tennis,  Wimbled on has a roof!

Hot, cold, hot, cold... damp, dry....

What sort of summer is this?   Oh yeah, a British summer!   Well the weekend was half nice,  glorious on Saturday, bit of a damp squib on Sunday.  As was the tennis,  the Fed was injured...   disappointing.  He'd got off to such a great start as well.  Oh Wimbledon is on the horizon. 

Before the tennis I tuned in to watch Barbara Grey on CnC,  I do love watching what she does, she is so creative.   But to my joy she showed how to make a Jacob's ladder card, I'd seen them, seen the instructions and not managed to make one.  So was watching carefully,   and here is the result!   Needed a birthday card so it seemed like a good idea,  bit more involved than I thought, and I would have taken a bit longer over it, and would have coloured the stamped images,  but it wasn't bad for a first go.  This is the outside, well I think it is!    Was just about to print off a sentiment when I remembered I had a nice stamp,    just punched the white card top and bottom.

This is the 'first' side, so to speak,  made good use of my shopaholic stamps, and my peel offs!   I did experiment with colouring the images but the promarkers were coming through,  with a bit more time I'd have matted the stamped images, far too fiddly to cut out!   Used some pin flair flexi peel offs,  really like them as they just finished things off. 

Just got my nephew's wedding photos, so I may make one for him and his new wife.  Always chuffed when new stuff turns out okay.  Was the same with my first exploding box!  Used a kit at first, then used that as a template to make a second,  now they are just so easy that I can't believe I thought they were so complicated.


Had my drumming class last night,  really enjoyed myself,  the group has a nice relaxed feel to it.  We had some one new join a few weeks ago, she seemed to be the missing piece of our jigsaw, she's really nice and very useful as she is an expert gardener, so I think everyone is making use of her expertise.   We went through all the routines we've been learning,  never thought I'd remember any of them, but to my surprise I did,  some were easier to recall than others,  but only need a few prompts.   The time flew by,  couldn't believe how light it still was when we left, and a waxing moon,  so lovely to see it. 

Well thanks for stopping by, your company is always appreciated.

Oh sunny day

Well yesterday was a surprise, first really sunny and warm day for weeks.   Quite a shock to see clear blue skies lasting all day.  Typically I was pulled to stay indoors cos there was tennis,  the French Open and Andy Murray was finishing off his match, that was followed by Federer...  so I watched the sunny day from inside. 

I did make use of my time, watched Tennis and crafted.  Wanted to to a 'take' on a scrap challenge page, was happy with it yesterday, now I'm not so sure.  Like most of it, but not sure about the bit under the photos...    Made use of the second set of 12x12 templates to make the border,  and I'd bought a load of white flowers ages ago, they are proving very useful,  just used ink pads to recolour them.   And the pin flair bendy peel offs are also coming in handy to finish off the edges.   I think I've now got the hang of the pinflair steppers,   now they've loosened they are easier to use. 

Also popped over to watch Dawn's first appearance on CnC, I was hoping to see her do more crafting, but she seemed eager to stick to her QVC format.  Hope she breaks away from that,  to me CnC is about watching the crafters craft,  and leaving the presenters to flog the stuff.   Early days I guess.  

Got meditation and Tai Chi tomorrow morning,  lovely way to kick off the day.    All for now.