We all scream for ice cream

I have finally got round to creating an Ice Cream ATC card for the Live & Love Crafts challenge. I used a fleur di lis backing paper and an ice cream image that I obtained from Google. I layered the image over the backing paper and added a text box sentiment. The image was coloured with promarkers and the top edges rounded to finish.

This challenge is being entered into the following challenges also:

CCC #88 For a Teen

aud sentiments 132 Cute

simply create too #86 Keep it simple

C4C288 Vacation

cute card thursday Too Cute!

I am off to the Great British Craft Festival tomorrow with my mother :). Let's see what I bring home lol.

Audio Book Review

The Constant Princess by Philippa Gregory

I have read one of Philippa’s books before and found it very entertaining, and this one kept up the standard. This book is about Catherine of Aragon, Henry the eighths first of his seven wives. It starts with her life as a young girl in Spain with her campaigning parents, and then progresses to her move to England and marriage to Arthur, Prince of Wales. She eventually falls in love with her young husband and they start planning for England, before he is suddenly taken before his time. Katerina makes a deathbed promise and then finds she has to wait six long, detrimental years before she manages to marry King Harry (Henry 8^th). The book continues through to her court hearing.

I am not sure how much is fact and what is fiction, but the story is very captivating and interesting and there is enough fact in there to keep it stimulating. These books are always full of scandal and intrigue and old fashioned politics and it is fun to imagine how things were back in the 1500’s. A very good book to listen to.

Thank you for looking

Hugz Tinz

Height Chart Update

Hi guys,

As promised I have an update on the height chart  for you all. I do not have any challenge entries this time though unfortunately as I am quite busy this week, and then taking my mum to the craft show on Sunday (which involves a long drive Saturday and then again Sunday evening :( ), but should be fun nevertheless.

So here is my Trex at about 5.5 hours (I think although it may be 6.5 hours - my book is downstairs!).

Big Hugz
Tinz

Snow much Joy

The weather has turned cold again brrrrrrr. But that is ok as I was making a Christmas card today. I did clear a little more of the allotment pond this morning though - managed to catch a colourless mole on the side of my face and had blood everywhere!!! Not pleasant when you are busy de-cluttering lol. Here is the pond now:

And now for my Christmas card. I wanted to use some of my peel-offs but still enter various Christmas challenges, so here is what I came up with:

The snowman is a peel-off, and he was a little so-and-so to get off the backing sheet!!! He originally said Merry Christmas in his tummy, so I cut this out and added a 'Joy' star instead. The image was coloured using promarkers, including a metallic to add some glitz, and then cut using the X-cut large frames die.This was mounted onto gold mirri card, and then onto a purple card blank. To finish purple diamantes adorn the top corners and a brown pearl was used for the obvious eye.

This was created with the following challenges in mind:

Card Mania - Pearls and swirls (the swirls are on the joy sticker)

abc-challenge J for Jewels

Jingle Belles Let it snow

alphabet challenge G for Glitz and Glam

abc-christmas J for Joy

TPE300 Anything Goes
CRAFT 312 Christmas - no green or red
Creative Corner Anything Goes
completely christmas #64 Include a candle
crafty hazelnuts 230 Die-cut or punch

I also started designing my next tattoo last night. It is going to be a phoenix for my ankle (I already have a butterfly on my right ankle), but I haven't decided how I want the wings yet. I also think the tail may need to be a little longer (or body a little shorter lol).

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. I will post an update on my height chart on Wednesday for those who are following the progress.
Hugz Tinz

Butterfly Time

This time I decided to do a more subtle card, on the sunshine theme. I used a pale orange base card and die-cut a circle aperture. Then I cut the vellum butterfly from the HOTP booklet and cut the edges of the wings to allow them to sit over the front of the aperture, whilst the image was secured to the back. A moon and a sun peel-off were used to decorate the corners. A stripe of butterfly washi tape, and one of butterfly ribbon finishes the card.

And I think I may have a smudge on my camera lens! lol. Anyway this card was created with inspiration from:

ooh-la-la #180 Use a pre-coloured image

crafty ribbons #119 Animals

MMM Thing with wings

simply less is moore 224 Sunshine (a more abstract entry).

Sunny Bee under the Olive Tree

Well the weather has certainly warmed up again. It has been really cold in the mornings this week, but hopefully we are now on the move to Summer properly! The rain really brought the grass up down on the allotment - I ran out of battery before I had got even half-way round the plot!

I am also loving the warmer weather and was inspired to make this lovely bright card:

I made a gatefold card from Gold Mirri card. A yellow patterned paper by Helz Cuppleditch was cut into a square, slightly larger than the bee image and the image was layered on top. The image is a pre-coloured vellum from HOTP and so vellum tape was required to adhere it without leaving any marks. However I also added two sunshine-like flowers to the top corners to secure the top of the panel. A sunshine peel-off was placed over one of the flowers, and the panel adhered to the left flap of the card. Finally a yellow ribbon was tied around the card to hold it closed.

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

Simply Less is Moore 224 Sunshine

glitter n sparkle 137 Use some ribbon

crafty ribbons #119 Animals

creative moments 68 Teentastic (nice and bright and interactive)

Crafty Calender Things With Wings

AUDIO BOOK

The Girl Under the Olive Tree by Leah Fleming

This is a drama based on the Second World War and the occupation of Crete. It is written as memories from the main people involved, as they go back to the island of Crete 60 years later. The story focuses on the life of an English debutante who wishes to make her own way in the world and ends up in Athens as the Germans make their crusade against the Greeks. She finds that she has useful skills that can help the natives and so decides to stay in Athens, against her fathers’ wishes. She has many close calls and meets many people, a few of which are also on the island for the 60^th Anniversary remembrance.

This is a heart-wrenching story of love and loss, and of the cruelties of war. It goes into some detail of the efforts the local people had to put in to try and keep the country independent of the Germans, but also shows the occupation from a German perspective, showing that not all Germans believed in the Nazi cause. A very good, captivating book to listen to, especially if you like drama and suspense.

Thank you for looking

Hugz Tinz

Zipped with love

Only eight more days to enter my zipper challenge over on facebook, which is being sponsored by Dis Digi Stamps. Check out the store:


The challenge closes at midnight on the 28th May, and all types of craft medium is welcomed. All you have to do is use a zip as a focal feature.

Here is my latest inspiration creation for the challenge:

Obviously this is a bracelet, but you can also make necklaces and belts the same way, if you have long enough zips. First you need to establish how long you need your zip to be, and then cut off any excess, as well as all the edging fabric. Use a lighter to singe down both sides of the zip to seal the fibers (be careful, the metal may get hot). This also gives a neat finish to the edges. Take a large edging crimp bead, and place on the opposite end to the zip pull, crimping tightly in place with flat-nosed pliers. If the crimp slips when you pull on it, you need to press harder with the pliers! (Can be a good biceps work-out). Once this is in place add rings to both the crimp and the zip pull. Add the clasp and a charm to the ring on the zip pull, and close the ring to finish. I did try to add a real feather to this one, but it wouldn't sit nicely, so I think it will have to be saved for a necklace project instead!

I am also going to enter this for the following challenges:

Things with wings @ crafty calender, polkadoodle and MMM

crafting by designs - Anything Goes

Simply Create Too #85 Favourite colour combo (i love combining pale purples with any dark colour)

Creative Moments 68 Teentastic

simonsays Monday X, Y, Z - Zipper
papertake weekly With a heart

Thank you for looking
Hugz Tinz

Distressed in the Garden

Hi there,

I have had a day off work today, and it has turned out to be lovely! I went down the allotment for a bit and netted off my Gooseberry bushes before the birds get to them. I was also hoping to plant some pea seeds against my pea netting, and strim the grass, but it is amazing how long it takes to find poles and netting that are the right size in the storage bench! And then having to fight with the nettles to secure the netting once you have found some that fits properly (or as near as possible without buying some new!) lol.

I also decided to try putting up my new greenhouse. It was freecycled to me, and so there are no instructions and we didn't think to take a photograph before dismantling it in the first place! Here is what I have got:

As you can see it is not going well. I decided to come indoors and upload my latest ATC duo - Light Distressed:

 This ATC duo is almost identical, which I do not usually do, but I thought that I would see how different I could make them,using all the same things, and the same layout. So the base card for both of these cards is standard 2.5x3.5 inches, cut from Core'dinations cardstock. Both were distressed using fine sandpaper, but the first used an up/down motion, while the second used a longer side-to-side motion, to give a slightly different distressed effect to the cards. The image was stamped onto pink core'dinations (which was slightly distressed with the sandpaper) and heat-embossed using a coral embossing powder, however the second image was also kissed with a crackle effect stamp before applying to the card, to give a more distressed effect to the image. In both cases this image was layered onto white cardstock, which had been stamped with a crackle-effect stamp, and heat embossed with enamel embossing powder, before being painted with yellow ink. The first ATC has a scalloped circle mounted onto a larger scalloped circle, while for the second one I decided to use a plain circle for the yellow-crackle.

These ATC's are to be entered into:

Vs sweet ideas #34 Emboss it!

The Card Concept #35 'Frilly and Fabulous' - scalloped circle inspired by the frilly edges and the colours from the flowers

Creative Card Crew Embossing

CCM #138 Make your own background

LOC #78 Distress it
Glitter and Sparkle 136 Embossing

Also, here is an update of the height chart:

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

Hugz Tinz