Decoration Oblivion

Hello on another cold day - ut at least it is wintry now instead of being extra damp!


We have spent the day over in Leicester trying to organise bits for the wedding - provisional date of 19th March. Need to check with registry office etc before confirming though.

I have made a little glass bottle decoration today - not sure what t do with the bottle now though. Do I use it as a vase, or do something else with it?

Anyway - here it is:

I used a navy blue ribbon with white metallic thread running through it as the wrap for the bottle. The bottom flower was created with a sizzix die on orange patterned paper (stuck over Kraft card for stability), and the outer petals coloured with a navy papermania glitter marker. The second flower is a Marianne Creatables die and was cut from navy and white floral paper. A teal button was added to the centre of the flower to finish.

This decoration is to be entered into the following challenges:

Always playing with paper #56 Colours

CRAFT 346 Not a card

craftyribbons #141 Anything but a card

crafting by designs Jan- Anything Goes

country view #35 Inspired by bottles

And once again I have an AUDIO BOOK REVIEW

Oblivion by Arnaldur Indridason

This story is set in Iceland, near an American military base. When a body is found in a hot spring used for healing by several people the clues lead to the military base. However, being American land the Icelandic police find their investigation being blocked at the highest level. With no information being given as to the why, or if the base even considers the murder as anything to with itself, the Icelandic police are forced to use devious measures to find out the truth about what happened. At the same time, one of the newly recruited officers is looking into a cold case of a missing girl, and some hidden papers turn up a new route of enquiry. After all this time, the murderer will not wish to be brought to the light and so care is needed. A captivating book to listen to, with some very strong characters. It emphasises the restrictions caused by having foreign entities within an area, but also highlights co-operation to some degree. A worthwhile book to try.

Hugz Tinz

Stitched up Bear

Here is another update for my cross stitching. The Dinosaur height chart is now at about 43 hours:

He is getting there slowly lol.

The final design from my Desk Calendar has finally been completed:

 This last design took 19 hours 45 minutes to complete! But she does look good :)


Here is the completed piece - now to decide what to do with it???

Thank you for looking
Hugz Tinz

Nancy's Heart

Hello again guys,

I have made my second Christmas card of the year. The only problem is I am going to end up with more cards than I will use. I obviously need more crafting friends. I do not like to give my cards to people that do not appreciate them, so end up giving hardly any away - I probably only used about 20 homemade cards this year lol.

So here is the card:

I went for a CAS design for this card. The stamped image came free with a magazine and I have heat embossed with red embossing powder. The centre is supposed to say 'With Love' but I chose to leave it blank so that the card can be personalised nearer the time. To finish I simply added a sentiment peel-off.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:

simply less is moore #258 One Layer Flourish (the heart is made of flourishes)

crafty hazelnuts christmas 263 RED

jingle belles Something old, Something new (old stamp; new card blanks)

the card concept #46 A warm heart - CAS inspired by heart and red

abc christmas A for Anything Goes

I also popped down to the allotment today - I took some pics of how it looks now, and will take some each month so you can see how it changes through the year.

 Garlic crop

 Plot side 1

 Plot from top

 Plot side two

Today's work done

AUDIO BOOK REVIEW

Nancy’s War by Anne Baker

Nancy is married to an RAF pilot, but when he is killed in a silly accident her life turns upside down. Firstly she has to compete with her mother-in-law who has never liked her, seeing her as being below their standing socially, and harbouring a deep resentment. Secondly she has to cope with World War II, which leaves her on edge due to bombing close to home. She also has to deal with her father’s failing health and keeping her daughter Caro safe and educated. The more her father-in-law and his twin help her and her immediate family, the more the mother-in-law’s resentment grows, and Nancy has no idea how deep the hatred goes.

A good historical fiction, which is captivating and keeps you on the edge of your seat. With many sorrowful events throughout the book a happy ending is well received.

Thank you for taking the time to look at my blog.

Hugz Tinz

Blue Nose Bear Birthday

Hello again everybody,

I have created a birthday card this time, as I have decided I actually need to make more birthday cards this year lol.

So here is my first birthday card of the year:

I went for a blue base card as everybody knows this little guy and his friends all have blue noses :) Plus blue felt perfect for the way I am feeling after falling down the stairs - not just once but twice in one week! Massive bruise on my backside, but I will spare you the picture :D

The teddy is a foiled peel-off, which was adhered inside a die-cut frame (using scalloped and plain oval dies. I used papermania glitter markers to add some sparkle to the frame. The ribbon was from my stash and over this I added a parchment butterfly, created using the free stencil from Papercraft Essentials 81, and the new parchment tools my mum got me for Christmas. I coloured the butterfly with papermania watercolour brush markers. Finally I added the sentiment, layering part of it onto the ribbon. This card used the sketch from catch the bug SSS#401


I would like to enter this card for the following challenges:

SOS #233 Colour me monochromatic

winter wonderland Spring is in the air

613 avenue create #157 CAS

abc-challenge Y-Your Choice
OLL #195 Girlie
artistic inspirations #147 Winter Blues
Quirky crafts #1 Let's quirky celebrate

This card also fits the theme for my Monthly Themes for Crafting facebook group - three different materials used (any craft counts). It would be great to see some of you joining in also!

And here is an update for my fish tank cross stitch - just over 116 hours

Thank you for looking

Hugz Tinz

Nurse Mouse

Hello everybody,

The new year has started properly now, and we have lost a good colleague at work. When I saw this image at QKR stampede I knew it would make a perfect new job card. This is also my first challenge as a DT member over at Creative Moments where the twist for the next two weeks is (always anything goes) New Beginnings.

I added glitter strips in the traditional nursing colours of red and white, and also added a computer generated sentiment and some four-leaved clover sequins, as a sign of good luck. Unfortunately I think if it was not for the fun image and sentiment on this card it would be quite disappointing, but I am not sure if I am being over-critical, as we can be of our own work, or if there is actually something missing?

It is certainly a fun CAS card that was reasonably quick to make - the colouring took the longest (which was done using Promarkers).

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges also:

Digi Chooseday Week 1 CAS

crafty calendar Something new (digi stamp)
Simon Says Monday Something new
CASology 179 Simple
LOC #111 All things new
allsorts What's new?

Thank you for looking

Hugz Tinz

Height chart update

Hi guys,

Thought I would pop on quickly with an update of my height chart. It is now at 41.5 hours!

Check back on Wednesday for my first DT post :D

Hugz Tinz

Resistance is Floral

Hi there,

I got my new Big Shot Plus out to have a play today! It is so much harder to move around and store than the normal one (and it s not as nicely coloured either - I have the black and pink normal big shot), but it is nice to be able to die-cut from A4 sheets of card, without having to cut them down first. So although my creations are not actually obviously requiring the large big shot plus it was more useful :P.

This is my first ATC collection of 2016 - Glitter Flowers:

 I embossed some Kraft card using the new Tiddly Inks embossing folder free with Quick Cards 148, and cut two ATC sized pieces of card. A small piece of patterned paper from an ATC pack was used for the background squares and the centre patterned paper was free with a cardmaking magazine a few years ago. I used a Marianne designs die for the main image, cut from glitter cardstock, and a quick-cutz die for the smaller flower that was layered over some ribbon from my stash.

These ATCs followed the sketch #233 from Sweet Sketch Wednesday 2

I would also like to enter the following challenges:

mod squad At least one die-cut

deep ocean #119 Anything Goes

live and love crafts #43 Something New

Here are some close-ups of the ATCs:

 This ATC had the embossed design side up, had some tweed ribbon to break up the paper squares, used the patterned paper side that had yellow accents and gold glitter card for the die-cuts.

ATC #2 did not have ribbon to split the squares, used the de-bossed side of the Kraft card and red glitter card for the die-cuts, as well as using the opposite side of the patterned paper, which has pink stripes.

This one was for the sketchy colours challenge 262 Red, brown and white - I accidentally used the green ribbon but I couldn't take it back off, I hope this is ok?

Audio Book Review

Resistance is Futile by Jenny T. Colgan

Connie is recruited, along with five other astonishing mathematicians, to break a code, for which they all have to sign a secrets act declaration. Connie is used to be seen as weird, but here she is accepted just as she is, especially as Luke s even weirder, even for a mathematician. When Connie manages to crack the first part of the code, at the same time as their employer is drained of colour, and life, chaos breaks out. A fun story that you can imagine playing out exactly the way it does if it was real-life. There are twists to the plot, the people you start off disliking become more likeable as they are put under pressure and still hold out for their friends. This is not quite a happy ending book though unfortunately, but it does leave itself slightly open for further interpretation and imaginings. I would recommend this book as an amusing and thought provoking listen on long journeys.

Thank you for taking the time to look at my blog,

Hugz Tinz