Very Brave or Very Foolish??

Evening All,

Another glorious day, and Daddy was home working on a few jobs that needed doing around the garden.

One of those was painting the fence. 

Now either very bravely, or very foolishly he decided to let the kids help.

They certainly did remarkably well, so hats off to him for letting them anywhere near a rather large pot of grey paint.

In the garden at my house we have a birds nest cleverly concealed inside a bin bag of rubbish on top of a box. It was made by a pair of robins and is actually currently home to a clutch of 6 babies. 

Remarkably this is the second time they have laid eggs there this year. 

We only have a very small garden, and a dog, so I was rather surprised to see the robins fly in and out of this bag of rubbish in the first place. And now to be raising a second batch of young is nothing short of amazing in my book.

The kids were thrilled to see the picture that my daughter sent them today. She has been waiting for the eggs to hatch so that they had something a little more exciting to see.

I wonder what little tasks Daddy has in mind for tomorrow, and whether he will be brave enough to accept help from the 'Littlies'

Thanks for stopping by

Hugs Kimx

Birthday Leaves

Evening All,

Another lovely day with the Littlies, although it wasn't as warm as yesterday. We had taped the new Riverdance film to watch which they all thoroughly enjoyed. I then showed them the real people version on Youtube which had Emma mesmerised and then dancing round the room. Even Chloe kept trying to see how high she could kick her legs lol.

Tonight I have a couple of cards made using inks, stamps, dies and a stencil.

I did also say that this was one of my all time favourite Birthday dies.

I am really enjoying playing with stencils at the moment. They are so useful, and very reasonably priced.

This is just one of the ideas that we will be playing with in the stencil class next month.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs Kimx

Floral Birthday Wishes

Hi All,

What a gloriously sunny day we have had today. In fact it rather caught us all by surprise, since meeting Mummy on her lunch break, for a picnic in the park, turned into rosy red faces for us all lol. 

So here are a few bright floral cards from one of the Distress Oxide classes pre-lockdown.

I stamped and embossed the image onto a piece of cardstock using my Stamping Platform/Misti.

It is a fabulous piece of kit, especially when you have multiple images that you want to stamp.

It enabled me to stamp up several pieces of card stock quickly and easily in one sitting before using Distress Oxides to create the backgrounds and colour in the images.

I even cut one of the pieces in half for a couple of smaller cards.

I must remember to smoother everyone in sun tan lotion tomorrow, especially if they are going to be playing out in the garden again.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs Kimx

Oranges and ......... Oranges

Hi All,

It's been a lovely sunny day here today, which has certainly made a change. The kids played in the garden this afternoon............sunbathing, albeit under blankets. Their idea not mine lol.

The Girls have both been at school today so Jack has played on his own. He has helped make the lunch, and with putting the washing into the machine for me, but who knew that you could have so much fun playing with a few baby oranges and some jugs.

He has literally spent most of the day tipping them into a bowl and then portioning them out amongst his jugs, stolen from the kitchen cupboard.

They have been up and down the stairs a hundred times,

including getting ready for bed tonight where they have had to be lined up across the floor ready for tomorrow. It has certainly kept him happy, giving Mum the chance to finish sorting out the bedrooms.

I wonder what he will find to play with tomorrow, or whether these will remain his toy of choice lol.

Night, night.

Hugs Kim

Oxide Background edited with pictures added

Evening All,

Well I'm pleased to report that I have made it to Becki's completely unscathed. As I am still off work I decided to go over for my babysitting weekend a day early. Especially after I got a little phone call this morning from Chloe who asked me if I would come and pick her up from Nursery school. I must point out that she didn't ring me on her own, although I'm sure that even at 3 she is probably quite capable of it. Small children seem to be so good with anything technological, unlike a dinosaur like me lol.

Here is another card made a couple of years ago during a class on Distress Oxides. I do love my Oxide inks, they blend beautifully to make the most fabulous backgrounds.

We are playing with Oxide inks in class next time, so I had better get to work on the tag for it. I am determined not to get behind with things like I did prior to lockdown.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs Kimx

Good News and Bad News

Evening All,

Well there is good news and bad news on the wrist front. The good news is that it's not broken just bruised internally. The bad news is that I have the starts of arthritis in the joints in my hand. Oh the joys of getting older lol.

On the bright side, although I am still not able to lift anything very much at the moment, the virtual exercises that I have been sent recommend practicing hand movements such as 'Doing Crafts'. I am officially allowed to make my cards!!!!!

This is actually one made last year, but as it uses Distress Oxides which we will be playing with in class next time I figured that it would be a good one to share.

The panel on the card was created using Distress Oxide inks and watercolour cardstock which was then run through an embossing machine inside an embossing folder.

I also ran a sanding block over the embossing to highlight the images.

The large Birthday die is one of my all time favourites from Sheena. I stacked it and added a stamped sentiment.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs Kimx

B is for Baubles and Bells

Evening,

What grotty weather we have had again to day. My poor Mum tells me that her back garden has once again turned into a lake. I don't want it super hot, but I would like a bit of sunshine now and then. After all it is nearly June!!

Given the grotty weather, here is a Christmas card from my stash. It was actually made during my last visit to SirStampalot nearly 2 years ago!!!!

Some ink and mica powders to create the background panel which then forms a spotlight on the card.

Better get to bed, I've had to set the alarm for tomorrow, I don't want to be late for the hospital.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs Kimx

Black Magic Masterboard

Hi All,

Another slow but productive day in the craft room.

As you know I am still on a mission to use up bits and pieces from my craft room, so I want to try and keep on top of the classes now that they are back on.

Thankfully I had several stamped pieces in a folder from a previous class on the Black Magic technique, so I was able to do colouring during class, rather than stamping out loads more pieces that never get finished.

One of the things that I found, along with a few previously finished cards, was a whole sheet of stamped images just waiting to be coloured in.

Having finished the colouring in class, I decided to chop the panel up to make several different cards.

I even used up some of the scraps along with a small square die for this card,

and this one.

I even managed to use up a piece of embossed cardstock in the background to this card.

These last couple of cards were made using a couple of precoloured pieces that I found in the box.

I do love this technique, and as several of the ladies couldn't make the first class, I am sure that we will be repeating it at some stage.

For the moment it's back to working on something a little bit hush hush for Janice and Andy.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs Kimx

Black Magic Flowers

Evening  Everyone,

We had a lovely day in class yesterday, but who knew how long it would take to finish anything off when you have one hand in a splint!!

Colouring yesterday was quite therapeutic, and not too bad to do since I'm right handed, but mounting bits up today seems to have taken forever. These cards were made using one of Jane's fabulous Bold Blooms designs for Woodware.

Once again the image has been stamped on dark card using a white ink pad, and then coloured over with Spectrum Noir colouring pencils.

Same stamp and technique, only this time I used watercolour pencils. I thought that I would try blending the colours with a waterbrush once I had finished colouring the image in. It gives a slightly different look to that of the Spectrum Noir pencils.

Need to rest my arm now, then maybe I can do a little bit more tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by. 

Hugs Kimx

A Little Bit of Normal

Evening,

What a lovely day it has been. I don't care about the weather, it has been so wonderful to sit and craft with friends for the first time in over a year. We last got together on 14th Match 2020!!!!

We have spent the day colouring using the Black Magic Technique.

The technique involves stamping with white ink onto dark, or kraft card and then coloring over the top of the image with colouring pencils.

I trimmed this panel down and added twine and faux stitching before layering it onto a piece of embossed card.

I used the same image here stamped onto a panel of three colours of card stock.

I used plain old watercolour pencils here, but we also had Spectrum Noir pencils to play with.

It is amazing how everyone concentrates while they are colouring. There were several periods of quiet amongst all the talking. 

It's a shame that not everyone could come to class today, but it was lovely to get back to a little bit of normal, and there is always another class in a fortnight...........................everything crossed.

Thanks for stopping by. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Hugs Kimx 

New Designer Boutique Stamps Just Launched

 Evening All,

At last I have a date for the fracture clinic! In some ways that is bad news since it means that they suspect that I have fractured my wrist, but in other ways at least I will finally get it sorted out.

We have some new stamps just launched over at Creative Expressions in their Designer Boutique range.

I managed to get one sample made with them before I had my accident.

I did a little masking in the center of the panel and sponged the square with ink before stamping and embossing images around the edge. I added some fine lines to the edge of the panel and a sentiment to the center.

I die cut the panel and mounted it onto some more sponged and stamped card stock.

Better get to bed, it's an exciting day tomorrow. Our first class in over a year. I can't wait.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs Kimx

The Kindness of Friends

Evening All,

Would you believe I am still waiting for the hospital to contact me with the results of my Xrays!!!! I keep ringing to chase them up, but to no avail. Let's hope that no news is good news.

I went for my second jab tonight so I'm hoping that I react to it the same as last time...........no problems at all, not even a stiff arm. I think I've got that one covered already lol.

Our postman seems to be delivering later and later these days, so it was a lovely surprise to find a card on the doormat when we got back from my jab.

My lovely crafty friend Angela sent me this fabulous card as she thought that 'I might like a smile' and hoped that it might do just that.

Angela, it certainly did. How very kind of you.

Thank you so much for cheering me up. How kind crafty friends can be.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs Kimx

Sparkly Greetings

Evening,

Another miserable day, so here is a card to brighten you up, I hope.

It was made by stamping and embossing the image onto a piece of mop up background.

Having painted the image with a sparkly watercolour palette I cut it out using a shaped die,

and added some faux stitching.

I layered the image onto a piece of black cardstock that had been run through an embossing folder. I also added a sentiment and a single 3D flower.

Let's hope that we get some better weather tomorrow, this rain is getting very boring.

Thanks for stopping by.

Hugs Kimx

 

Embellish it for Cute Card Thursday

Afternoon,

Time for a few Christmas cards I think. These ones have plenty of Embellishments on them, which is the challenge over at Cute Card Thursday where they are looking for you to EMBELLISH.

I used up some pieces of vellum from my Christmas stash.

They were all stamped and embossed with some Moonglow Embossing powders that were all the rage some years ago.

They give a lovely pearlescent finish to the stamping,

and the mica in them leaves a sheen on whatever you have stamped and embossed on to.

I used various die cut sentiments,

banners,

sequins and gems.

I tore the vellum to give a ragged edge and then mounted the panels onto some small square cards from my stash. I rather like the combination of vellum and kraft card, and a bit of bling never hurts.

Thanks for stopping by on this wet and miserable afternoon.

Hugs

Kimx