Green as Grass

Hi all, thank you for stopping by.  Today's offering is for the Anything But  A Card blog challenge, and this time the theme is - green.

Green isn't may favourite colour, I have to say.  I wasn't even thinking of entering the challenge.  In fact, I was trying to overcome crafter's block that had set in while trying to produce my mum-in-law's Mother's Day card. When I was making my tag for Tim's 12 tags, I'd accidentally printed out too many sheets of the background paper (from Sheena Douglass's Paint Fusion CD), and was trying to base the card on the papers I had left over (waste not, want not).  I eventually abandoned that idea, but used some of the paper to cover a tag I'd made a mess of for another chllenge (Tag- You're It!) - so this is green in more ways than one!

What else?  Well,  I stamped the fern frame around the edge of the tag (stamp from Kanban) with some Peeled Paint Distress ink; the roses are from My Paper Stash, the silver mesh was a scrap left over from another projct, and so was the silver bead chain.  A scrap of ribbon from my stash and that was it - and I wasn't even trying!

Mothering Sunday

The Third Sunday in Lent is Mothering Sunday - it was the day when people were supposed to return to their "Mother Church" to worship.  Servants were given the day off to go home and visit their families for the purpose - in many cases this would be the only opportunity they had all year.  They would pick wild flowers on the way - originally these were to decorate the church, but later became a gift for their mothers.  These days it's become known as Mother's Day in the UK.

My mother is no longer with us;  she passed away a few years ago (aged 92).  However, my mother-in-law is still very much in the land of the living, and this is the card I made for her. 

Did I get anything?  Well, I got a lovely card from the cat, and one from my in-laws cat as well.  And some of my favourite choccies.  All this, and breakfast in bed!

M is for..

You might think that I've chosen "Mother" as my word of the fortnight for the .Craft Barn Alphabet Blog challenge, but that would be wrong.  No, those worthy challenge-setters have decreed that the "M" word must begin with letters from the range MA-to ME.  So I've chosen "Maternal".  (I can be sneaky too!)

I love the image on this stamp.  It takes me back to the time when my boys (now grown up) were babies.  I don't often get the chance to use it, so I wasn't going to miss this opportunity.  Because it's so intricate, I didn't do much more than just stamp it in Wild Plum Archival ink, and I'm making no apology for the fact.  Sometimes the trick is knowing when to stop.

WOYWW - 6 March

Hi folks!  Sorry this week's WOYWW offering is rather dull (see here for details, if you don't know what WOYWW is all about).  You've caught me between projects, as often happens midweek.  By Wednesday I've usually finished last week's projects and haven't begun on what'll keep me amused at the weekend (BTW, I did finish the box I was working on last week -I'll be photographing it soon to show you all).  Also, on Wednesdays I have a dancing lesson (it's Jive and Tango this week) so I do have to blog and run. 

So today you can that I still haven't put the rolls of sticky tape away and the glue is still out.  However, the stamp, stamp mat, craft mats and dicitonary are there in readiness for my entry in the Craft Barn alphabet challenge (it'll be great when it's finished, I promise!)

Anyway, thank you for visiting - I hope next week I'll have something a bit more exciting for you to look at!

Tagging along

Hi everyone, and welcome to my blog!  It's good to have you visit, and I hope you enjoy yourself while you're here.  Now, if you think I'm going to miss an opportunity for a play on words, you think wrong.  And when The Artistic Stamper Creative Team set "Tag" as their blog challenge theme for this month's challenge, well...it just had to be done, didn't it?

This took me back to my childhood;  we loved playing chasing games when I was small.
(Actually, we didn't play "Tag" in my part of the world. We called it "Kit". But it was the same game.)

I wanted a nostalgic, 1950's-postwar-schoolbook feel for the tag.  I began with a rummage in my collection of alphabet stamps, and stamped out the letters in Vermilion Archival ink.  (I love red, it's my favourite colour).  The March hares were a free covermount from Craft Stamper - they reminded me of the kilnd of illustrations that appeared in children's books in my childhood and I thought they looked as if they might be playing a game too, so I stamped them in Coffee Archival. 

Once that was done, I took Cloudy Blue Adirondack ink and two Artistic Stamper unmounted background stamps (sequin waste and houndstooth) and, using them without a mount, dabbed them more or less randomly across the background.  Finally, I blended Broken China, Peeled Paint and Weathered Wood Distress Inks over the background.

And that's it!  Hope you like it. 

Tim's 12 Tags - March

OK, it's March already and so far I'm managing to keep up!  This is my version of Tim Holtz's tag for March (you can see Tim's original here).  And the ONLY thing I had on hand that was the same as the example was the Kraft Core card and the little flowers.

 I am not a bunny fan, sorry. So while I had the fancy label movers & shapers die, I didn't have the little rabbit, and don't really want to buy it.  And while I DO want to buy the fringe die, I would have to wait for it to be delivered, and I had a day off today...But, fear not!  I turned to my trusty Cameo.  The Silhouette online store had lots of bunnies and grassy border cutting files for instant download, so I chose my favourites.  I already had the banner and label files;  I added the word "Ostara"* to the banner and cut everything out using Cammie.  LOVE that machine! 

I didn't have any Tinsel Twine either, but I did have a giant tinsel chenille stem which I chopped up to back the bunny cut-out.   The background paper is from Sheena Douglass's Paint Fusion CD.  I coloured the vintage ribbon like Tim's and made the flower pins just like he did.  Then I put it all together and there it was!

* Why "Ostara"? The story goes that the goddess Ostara was challenged to demonstrate her power, which she did by transforming a bird into a rabbit. However, thereafter, the rabbit continued to lay eggs - which is why Easter eggs are brought by the Easter bunny!

Dragons and Daffodils

Dydd Gwyl Dewi Sant hapus - or, Happy Saint David's Day!  We make a big deal of our patron saint's feast day in Wales.  Everywhere you go, you will see people wearing daffodils (or leeks).  Children go to school wearing national dress, and will be taking part in school eisteddfodau, celebrating the Welsh language and culture. 

When I was in school, St David's Day was a half-day - we all got the afternoon off, which was a definite reason for celebration as far as we were concerned.  At the High School I attended, every other year we had a full-on Eisteddfod, with competitions in all sorts of activities (not just music and Welsh poetry) - art, needlework, public speaking, as well as just about everything on the curriculum.  The half-holidays are no more, but the celebration of our culture continues.

So today, rather than my usual mucking-about-with-card-and-ink type of project, I'm sharing a digital scrapbook page I made a couple of years ago.  The Welsh flag is the Red Dragon, and Rugby is a national obsession.  And James Hook is one of my favourite Rugby players (even if he has left the Ospreys, sob, sob - but we still have Adam Jones!)  Normal service will be resumed later, meanwhile, I'm off to make some cawl (lamb soup) like my Nan used to!