Gingerbread houses

I'm finally making a start on getting lots of Christmas cards made instead of the odd one here and there.  These are all made from one sheet of 12 x 12 DSP from SU which will be available to buy from 1st September - this pack of paper is just gorgeous.  really sweet designs and I love the Kraft and red colour scheme.

I cut this piece of paper into strips to make DL cards and added some co-ordinating cardstock which I used a punch border to create a decorative edge.  The sentiment comes from one of their new stamp sets which will also be available from 1st September.

After I had taken the photo I decided to add some Stickles to the rooftops for a little Christmas bling.  I managed to get five cards out of the strips and there are just a few scraps left which I will challenge myself to make something out of tomorrow.

On the reverse side of this paper are gumdrops, which would be great to fussy cut out and put inside a jar stamp that I know I have in my stash somewhere!

Series end

This was certainly the case with The Little Village.  Last week I finished the third book in this series The School Inspector Calls 

Over the weekend I indulged myself and read A Lesson In Love.

 It's  been a wonderful series and I will definitely look out for other novels from Gervase Phinn.

Whatever the weather

Saturday was a gloriously sunny day to have a BBQ, but typically yesterday the day we had planned to go round our eldest son's house for a BBQ it rained for most of the day.  Never one to miss the opportunity for a BBQ regardless of the weather David put together a makeshift shelter so that he could still cook outside.

On Tuesday it is Elisha's 7th birthday, but we will be unable to get out there on the actual day so this was our way of celebrating with them.

Here she is enjoying cuddles with her younger brother Theo.  This is the card I put together for her birthday.

A simple card and a great way of using up some of my paper scraps.

Out and about

Yesterday Max took us for a walk around Devonport Park and Mount Wise.  There are some places we never tire of visiting.  The original bandstand in Devonport Park was dismantled in the 1950's but a new one was put up in 2012.

We found a tree which we couldn't decide on whether it was growing plums or damsons but it was bountiful.  We picked one of them and thought we might try and plant the stone to see if we could grow our own.

We think this beautiful flower is an Echinacea, if its not then please let me know. It certainly looked very colourful and pretty.

I love the pretty Lower Park Lodge building at one of the entrances which dates back to 1858 and was designed by Alfred Norman of Devonport in the style of a Swiss lodge - symbolic of the new Park being a place for healthy recreation and taking

the air. 

As we walked along to Vintage Brew for lunch this horse and carriage went by, no doubt on their way to collect the bride on her big day.  The horse's were looking very resplendent.  It was a beautiful day to get married.

We enjoyed a lovely doorstep sandwich at Vintage Brew, I could only manage to eat half of mine as it was humongous.  They kindly wrapped the other half up for me to enjoy later.  I had bacon, brie and cranberry sauce while Ian enjoyed chorizo, pepper and cheese.  They make their own breads which are delicious.  I went back later in the day to collect a loaf I ordered from them which they freshly baked for me in the afternoon.  Fabulous guys that run this place and a bonus that it is dog friendly.

While we were there we were able to watch the cricket match being held on the green opposite the cafe.  So far a great bank holiday weekend which I hope you are also enjoying.

Friday fun

On Fridays I look after Harlee-Jay and also meet up with our daughter and Lincoln.  With it being the school holidays it also means I also have the pleasure of seeing Logan and Savannah more too.  With it being a lovely sunny day we took them to one of the nearby parks to burn off some energy.

I'm not sure we tired them out but it certainly tired me out pushing them around on the tyre swing.  Meeting up with his cousin's each week certainly tires Harlee-Jay out because as soon as I pull away in the car from Colette's he is asleep in minutes.  This means an easy afternoon for daddy!

Pocket letter

Inside the pocket letter Hazel gave to me on Wednesday was a lovely personal note with very touching words. 

 Lots of other goodies were in sweet little envelopes which I  shall definitely be able to make good use of.  Here is just a small selection of the contents.

If you want to find out more about pocket letters you can find out about it on Janette Lanes blog .  I loved taking out the little envelopes and seeing what surprises they held, thank you again Hazel.

Canvas

I've  finally put the finishing touches onto the first of three mini canvas.  I've used a quote from John Lennon which derives from his song Mind Games to pull it all together.

I've still got a few of the Infusion flowers left from my first playing around with them and will make another card or two.

It was really nice catching up with Hazel yesterday and getting to know each other more.  A big thank you Hazel for the gorgeous gift of a pocket letter which I will share a photo of in another post.

Minor changes

Last week at Mullion I started to make the cards Margaret had designed for the previous weeks workshop.  Here is a photo of the cards Margaret made.

I didn't  have time to finish them in the afternoon  (I'd already made cards in the morning with the Bo Bunny papers) so I took the components home with me to finish.  I made a few minor changes to mine.  The Santa one I hadn't stamped sufficiently over on the cardstock so I had a bit of a gap so I filled this by adding some ribbon decoration to the left hand side.

The wreath card I decided to keep clean and simple and used a different sentiment.

The reindeer card instead of having the ribbon flat I decided to ruffle it a little and used a different sentiment.

A big thank you to Margaret for allowing me to CASE her cards.

Today I am meeting up with my new crafting buddy Hazel of My Card Attic blog for a coffee and chat.  A big thank you to Darnell of djkardkreations for bringing this new friendship together.

Special commission

My mother-in-law asked me to make her friend a 90th birthday card, her friend really enjoys knitting so that was the remit.  I remembered I had a set of stamps which I'd bought from Paperbabe Stamps many moons ago.  The set is called Design A Knit and I used two of the stamps to create the stocking stitch background using Rich Razzleberry and Daffodil Delight ink pads from SU.  The image stamp is from a retired SU stamp which I also thought very appropriate.  I knitted my own embellishment and used cocktails sticks for the needles and some thick bakers twine for the yarn.  A coiple of beads added to make sure the thread doesn't come off.

I hope my MIL likes it and I hope her friend does too and that she also has a wonderful birthday.

Time out

I've decided give myself a break from Landscape this month, maybe I'll  pick it up again in September.   On a positive stitching note I finally finished stitching my first Christmas decoration (it might also be my only one lol).

Ideally I'd like to make it into a round decoration but there's only a small border to work with but we'll give it a shot.

Final two for box

It's Landscape day today but I'm finding it hard to get motivated with it this month.  I think it's partly due to not doing any the first week, only managing to catch up with a few extra stitches last week and knowing that next Sunday I am unlikely to get anything added to it.  It makes me feel I need to get all this months stitches done today and it seems massive.  Then the realist side of me says it doesn't  matter if I don't get it done there is always another day.

On the positive side here are the final two cards to go in the box and I am already planning on making more as I have plenty of paper left over.

World Honey Bee Day

To celebrate this day I might just try out this recipe for Devonshire honey cake.  It sounds simple enough and living in Devon it seems appropriate - I'll  let you know the outcome.  This is what it is supposed to look like.

I added some glossy accents to some of the hearts on the canvas yesterday.  As I was placing the flowers and leaves on the canvas I felt the hearts were being lost.  I'm  hoping the glossy accents will give them more depth.

Today I am having some pamper time, feet and hands, always so relaxing.  This will be followed by a little retail therapy . I'm taking the honey bees advice and sipping life's sweet moments.

Next two

Two more of the cards I made to go in the little box.

Short an sweet today.

Beautiful Dreamer

While at Scrapbook Magic yesterday I made six cards with the Beautiful Dreamer papers from Bo Bunny - the papers that I  came away with last time I was down there.  They are to go in the box I was making earlier in the week which I  have yet to finish decorating.  Here are the first two I made.

I've used SU cardstock for the card bases, in this case Soft Suede and Rich Razzleberry for the matting.  Those colours went so well with the papers.  I will share two more of the cards with you tomorrow.

I also made some Christmas cards but I need to add some bling to them before they are fully complete.  I changed a couple of elements to the ones Margaret made.

No further update on the canvas having been out all day yesterday and I  was way too tired in the evening when I finally got home.  I was delayed by about half an hour due to a car having broken down.

More spritzing

The three canvasses I am working on came wrapped in plastic but held together with some corrugated card.  I'm loathe to throw away some of the packaging items come with so I have cut out some leaves using the cardboard packaging.  I then gave them a coat of white gesso and used the Infusions to colour them.

These will be used on the canvass which I have used some texture and script stamps on yesterday.  I've  also gone round the hearts with a grey distress pen, a little more blending I  think is required to get the effect I'm after, but it's  coming along.

I'm off down to Scrapbook Magic today where I hope to make some Christmas cards.  I wasn't able to go to the class last week and I really liked the samples Margaret had made.   While other people are doing the scrapbooking class Margaret has kindly said I can make the cards  - should be another fun day.  

Today is....

...Tell a joke day.

A long, long time go I made this box which holds co-ordinating cards in with SU papers and stamps.  I did it as a class for a few of my friends.

I thought I would make another one with a set of cards as a gift for my friends birthday next month using some of the lovely Bo Bunny papers that happened to come home with me after my last visit down at Scrapbook Magic.

I have assembled the box and added the spotty paper to the outside of the box.  This evening I will continue to decorate the box and work on the cards during the week.

I also added some colour to one of the canvasses, lots more to do before it is completed though.