Post-Christmas blues (& sneezes!)

Well, after a relaxed & enjoyable Christmas up in Dumfriesshire, I've been stuck inside for the past three days with the worst cold I've had in years. Must be a Scottish bug. After 25 years working in Nottinghamshire schools I reckon I've built up immunity to most of those down here.

Anyway, at least I've managed to use the time productively and made a nature themed calendar. I made an A-frame out of thickish card for the base and decorated the pages with stamps from various companies, mainly Crafty Individuals and Graphicus. Most of the Graphicus stamps are from their new "Nature Table" and "Autumn Hedgerow" themeplates, which are simply gorgeous. The month names and numbers were a set from Hampton Art's Creative Cafe collection. I then used my Bind-It-All to assemble the calendar.

Hidden Assets

A deceptively simple card for this week's class, the final one of the year.

The front is covered with a printed background paper, over which is placed a co-ordinating stamped element. A spot of glitter adds the finishing touch. Simply elegant.



A surprise awaits, however. Open up the card to find a forest scene glimpsed through a window decorated with details of the trees.



It's one of those cards which is actually much easier to make than it looks!

Class samples for 26th November

Christmas cards for my next class. I've been using the Crafty Notions Creative Colour Sprays. There are several other types on the market, but I think these are the nicest. The colours are gorgeous and they have a wonderful irridescent shine, to which unfortunately the photos don't do justice.

I can't usually get into the mood for Christmas before December, but I enjoyed playing with the sprays (messy but the results are worth it!) and the short-lived flurry of snow we had this morning helped a bit.

Remembering

I made this set of Artist Trading Cards a few years ago, but today being Armistice Day seems an appropriate time to post them here. The people depicted are all members of my family. The couple top left are my paternal grandparents. My grandfather served during the First World War and my grandmother was a Post Lady. She is also in the picture at bottom right, in her postlady's uniform. Unfortunately she died young, a few years after the war, when her sons, my father and his elder brother, were aged just 3 and 5. I wish I had been able to know her. The other two pictures show my great grandmother, my grandfather's mother, who by all accounts was a remarkable woman who held the family together after my grandmother died until my grandfather remarried. He lived into his 70s.

I find it thought provoking to look at pictures of my family from the past. Life must have been so much harder then, especially during the war years, compared to the relatively easy way we live today, yet people seemed contented with their lot & just got on with things. A lesson to be learned there, I think.

Class Samples

Here are two of the cards I'll be demonstrating in my next card class. The class meets fortnightly on Wednesday evenings. It's more like a club really. As much chatting and laughing is done as card making, which is great. We share ideas, have a cuppa & generally put the world to rights. It's therapy!

I missed the previous class, being away, & Sally took over for me & did a wonderful job. Thanks, Sal! Check out her blog - Sal-utations.

For both cards I've used the Cuttlebug cutting and embossing machine, along with stamps from my favourite company, Crafty Individuals, owned by Jean and Malcolm, who have an amazing range of stamps and accessories - truly individual! And they're lovely people too. The gallery on their site is one of the best on the web, I think, well worth looking at for inspiration.

Good Intentions!

Well, I started out full of enthusiasm for my new blog, but then found myself with no time to do anything with it. Ah, well. Anyway, here's another photo I took up in Scotland last week. It may seem nothing much, but somewhere amongst the leaves there's a little face looking right at you! It's a stoat. It ran across the road in front of me, & when I got to the place where it had disappeared into the wood beside the road I was just in time to see it disappear down a hole. Then it popped its head up again & stared at me, & I just managed to get the picture before it went down again. Can you spot it? If not, you'll find its whereabouts here.

Am up in the Scottish Borders this week. A chance to get some more photos to add to my Geograph Profile. The Geograph British Isles project aims to collect geographically representative photographs and information for every square kilometre of Great Britain and Ireland. I've been a member of the project since June 2005, and really enjoy participating in the creation of what has become a tremendous resource of photos and information.
Here's one of the photos I submitted to the site today. It shows the River Esk at Longtown, Cumbria, and was taken on Friday. No pictures from today, however. Torrential rain and gale force winds all day.

Well, I've gone & done it!

Got myself a blog at last. The blank canvas is quite intimidating, but I'm sure I'll soon get used to it. I make cards, music and photographs, so they'll all figure here at some point. That'll be when I get time in between being a wife, mum, grandma and primary school music specialist.

As for anything else - watch this space!

A couple of my cards to start things off, then.