Happy New Year

Wishing you all a Very Happy New Year

May 2017 be a good year for everyone

from Gloria

member showcase - hat trick

Good afternoon everyone.

I am  back today with the member showcase I mentioned yesterday.

I first heard about it in an email from Rita (Mold II club), who had just had another of her cards & letter published, as had Annette (also Mold II club). Then a little later I heard from Carolyn (of Mold II club) with more news.

Here is Rita's letter & card;

a nice mention of the club there, Rita!

Here is Annette's letter & card;

I do't know about Harry aged 7 I have a "mature" son who is mad about Minions - he would have loved it too

This post is about a hat trick - so here is the third letter & card that was published;

Well did you ever -- I got one published as well!

I think it was Annette that suggested that I send the card in - so thank you Annette.

Well done once again to Rita & Annette for their success not just this time but throughout the year. Hope to see more of your work in 2017.

OK - that's me for today.  'Bye for now.

RIP Carrie & Debbie

How sad is the news of the death of Debbie Reynolds only 3 days after losing 

her daughter Carrie Fisher

It shows that there must be such a thing as a broken heart.

member showcase on its way.

Good evening ladies.
Oh my goodness I do hope you are all keeping well wrapped in this very cold spell today & more is forecast for the next couple of days.  Do, also, take care if you are out driving in these conditions.

I have given this post the title I have because I have had emails today from Rita & Carolyn (both of Mold II club) about some member showcase news.

I have been sent some information about it & as soon as I can get it onto my computer to blog it I will.  Probably tomorrow sometime.  It is a slightly bigger showcase than usual.

Just thought I would raise your curiosity.

'Bye for now.

Christmas cards - the final set

Good evening everyone.

I do hope you all had a lovely Christmas & that Santa brought you all that you had wished for.

Today I have the last set of Christmas cards that I made, to show you.  It is the last set - but after that I have one more card to show you & that will be the one I made for Bob.  Perhaps tomorrow.

Earlier today I started on birthday cards for friends & family who have birthdays in January.  I love the Christmas season but when so many cards have to be made I do feel at the ed of it that I don't want to see another snowy scene or snow flake or Christmas tree. But it won't last long & then I will start wondering what I will do for 2017 Christmas. So now the flowers can come out again & perhaps some "different" images.  I am quite looking forward to what 2017 will bring in ideas & techiques.

That is me for today.

'Bye for now.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to you all

Have a wonderful time

best wishes from Gloria.

birthday greetings

Today is not only Christmas Eve - 24 December

but it is also the birthday of a Mold II club member

Happy birthday Dot

Enjoy your day!

member showcase

Good morning ladies

This morning the member showcase is from Rita of Mold II who has just had another of her cards featured in a current magazine;

Well done Rita

We are all looking forward to seeing your work continuing to be featured during 2017.

How to leave a comment update

Hi everyone

Earlier I asked Bob if he would check the instructions on how to leave a comment & then leave one for me.  He was successful.

But he noticed a difference in the wording o my tutorial & the actual screen.  I had stated that when you had typed your comment to select the "post as" box, & then select Anonymous & then click on "post comment".  The option in that box now reads - "Publish".

I have accordingly changed the tutorial & the change is marked in red.

I will also repeat here - that your comment does not immediately appear in the bllog.  It appears in a list of comments that only I can see & I have to select it to be published.

I chose this method because there used to be people who would come across blogs like ours & then leave unconnected & sometimes unpleasant comments.  This way none of them get through to your pages of the blog.

Another recent problem was that Blogger - through whom I create the blog - made some changes to the area n the background of the blog where I write all my posts & add photos etc.  They changed the first screen that I see when I sign on & the comments page used to be on that screen - now it is hidden in a sub-menu.  So until I discovered this change any comments being left were not being seen by me & therefore not published.  I have now sorted that area as well, & I did mention it in a post a few weeks ago when I apologised to those ladies who had left comments.

Hope this helps - but please let me know either by email or at meetings if you are still experiencing problems.

night night.

a message for Mold II members

Hi ladies
Sylvia of Mold II club has been trying to leave a comment on the blog & has had problems - so she sent me an email.  Here is her message ....

"Hi Gloria

Tried to leave message on your craft page but as usual with me, couldn't figure it out.

Just to wish you and all the Mold II members a Merry Christmas and healthy and happy 2017.

Sylvia"

I am still looking into why some of you have problems leaving comments o the blog.

more cards

Good afternoon ladies

Just popping in with a couple more of my cards to show you. I think apart from the one for Bob - most of the remaining cards I have to show you are all Card-io style.

I still have a few more as well.

'Bye for now.

birthday greetings

Today is 20 December

& a Mod II club member has a birthday

Happy Birthday Chris

enjoy your day!

a couple more cards

Good evening ladies

This evening I have a couple more of my Christmas creations to show you;

This Christmas wreath was part of a freebie set on a magazine recently. I found that one of my scalloped circle dies was just the right size to cut it out.

This was another of my "quick" designs.  I coloured the background card with Fired Brick Distress Ink & then used a circle stencil / mask with a wet wipe to remove some of the ink & create the circles of light. The Christmas & the Poinsettia clock are from a Steam Punk Christmas set I bought a couple of months ago.

Well that is me for today.  I hope your weekend is going well.

'Bye for now.

more cards & a thank you

Good evening ladies

This afternoon I cleared away most of my Christmas card making items - stamps, inks, cards etc & so one part of my craft room is a whole lot tidier.  I still have one card to finish - the one for my DH.

I also sorted through the various magazines I have collected over the last couple of months - taking out any articles that are of interest & that also cleared a space in the craft room. Who knows if this continues I could have a really tidy craft room to start the New Year with.

Before I show you a couple of my recent cards I would like to say a very big thank you to all of you who gave me a Christmas card.  They are all absolutely beautiful & it was lovely to see some of the techniques & styles we have tried throughout 2016 used in many of them. They look really lovely all round my dining room.

Now, here are 2 more of my recent creations;

The Card-io stamps were well & truly used this Christmas & as I have a selection of everyday stamps I can see this use will continue into birthday cards.

This is one of the card designs that I call clean & simple, that I have created.  The bauble is a die & I used Fired Brick Distress Ink to add the colour around it. The border stamp was also stamped using the same ink -  it was apart of a freebie set recently.  The corner designs were also part of that freebie set & the angel was one of a freebie set last year. The corners & the angel have been embossed with gold EP.

I think I still have some designs to show you - so will probably show them over the weekend.

Have a lovely weekend.

'Bye for now.

a couple more cards

Good evening ladies.
Well, I braved the local shops this afternoon for some bits & pieces .... I really do not enjoy shopping much these days, which doesn't sound full of Christmas spirit does it?
I picked up the last of the Christmas presents I had to buy & also sent a large pile of cards.

By the way are you aware that the Post Office (that's the shops - not the Royal Mail - which is the post) are going on strike from Sunday 19th for a week.  (Edited after posting - that should read Monday 19th)  So make sure you go to the Post Office for anything you need before Sunday.

I thought I would underline that paragraph to make it stand out.

Here are 2 of my recent cards on which I used dies & embossing folders;

I really like this embossing folder - but I did use it for some of my cards last year - so this is probably its last outing for a while.

Despite some very frustrating attempts to use this Crafters Companion die I finally managed to get one image cut & embossed.

So this will probably get used again next year.

I still have some more to show you - so I will do that tomorrow.

That's me for today - bye for now.

Some more cards

Hi ladies.

Before I show you the cards I have to apologise to Rita, Carolyn & Yvonne who left comments on the blog at various posts which I have only just found.

Blogger, every so often changes the way things work & it has changed the first screen that I see when I log on to work.  Before when there were comments waiting to be published they were very clear to see - it is now behind another tab.  So thank you ladies I have now published them under their original post.

So a few more cards that I have made for Christmas;

A pretty easel card - I really like that little angel stamp & have used it just recently again on other cards.

I don't think I have shown these before.  

These are the ones I made for then non-crafting group I am part of. I seem to remember talking about them but don't remember, & cannot immediately spot having blogged them before.

That's me for this afternoon - more tomorrow.

more Christmas cards

Good evening everyone - I hope you are all well & not feeling to rushed as Christmas weekend draws closer.

I have some more of my creations to show you tonight. I still seem to be making cards but when I looked at my list as I finished some this evening I find I am almost done.  Just a few more - then I must sit & think of how I can going to make the card for Bob. We learnt some great things this year - techniques & designs that I am spoilt for choice as to what to use.

Here are some more of my cards;

As you can see I am completely in love with Card-io stamps & ideas.

Have to go out tomorrow for some shopping & post some of my cards.

Will show you some more of my cards tomorrow.l

'Bye for now.

some of my cards

Good evening ladies.

Tonight I have some more of my Christmas creations to show you;

I have quite a lot of these DL cards & often forget to use them.  For this one I embossed the top section leaving enough room at the bottom to stamp the sentiment.  The snowflakes were part of a freebie on a magazine which I die-cut out along with silver mirri card to back them, then hung them on silver ribbon.

For this card I actually had some silver poinsettias left over from the ones I stamped for the frame card that Carolyn introduced us to.  So waste not want not - I cut them out & trimmed one of the layers a little smaller then put them together with sticky pads.  A spare piece of white card was embossed then layered onto silver paper, along with the sentiment being layered in the same way.

Then I made this card taking a totally different approach. A red card, with a gold layer & a piece of white embossed card coloured with red Distress Ink & some gold gilding wax.  The poinsettias stamped in black on red card & cut out by hand.

I still have some cards to make so busy crafting weekend for me this weekend.

Have a lovely time with whatever you are doing & with whomever you are doing it.

'Bye for now.

csnw photos

Good evening ladies

Yesterday evening was the last meeting for 2016 of the CSNW club & a very pleasant evening was had too.

I haven't put part 1 in the title of the post as I only have a few photos to show you from the evening. The evenings Show & Tell was a floral theme card using just black & white & the project was Carolyn's box frame card.

I experienced quite a lot of problems with my camera & had to bite my tongue so that I didn't say naughty words as it played me up several times.  On uploading them onto my computer I find I only have 2 of the 4 show & tell cards plus the one project that I took.  The other ladies were still working on their project & will bring them back in February at their first 2017 meeting.

I have decided to start bringing my tablet to meetings in order to take the photos with, for 2 reasons - it shouldn't play me up & I should get better photos.  So I will start doing that in the New Year.

Here are the photos I did get;

The embossed background in this one has been treated with some type of silvery Gilding wax - really lovely card.

This is a diorama card & the card is black - it looks grey in the photo.  Beautiful layout.

Joan was the only lady to finish her box card - she is one of those ladies who does seem to be able to work quite a bit faster.  Sadly the acetate always spoils a photo - but I think you can see her decoupage clearly.

Definitely looking forward to seeing the other cards in February

Thank you once again Carolyn for showing us a great project - I am actually showing my garden centre workshop ladies tomorrow.  I will take photos - fingers crossed.

I will show you some of my other Christmas cards tomorrow, & then we have another weekend on us.

'Bye for now.

Some recent cards

Hello everyone.
I am sorry I haven't been popping in since Saturday, but as for everyone, the days are getting a bit busier now with Christmas less than 3 weeks away.

My posts will be a little sporadic from now on until the New Year - but I will pop in here as often & frequently as I can.

Tomorrow sees the last 2016 meeting of the CSNW club over in Rhuddlan - so Thursday there should be some photos of their Show & Tell & project for the evening.

In the meantime here are the cards that I made on Saturday at the Card-io workshop;

Sorry this one is a little blurry.

This just requires a greeting on the front to finish it.

I fell in love with those candles - so had to buy a set.

I have never used Liquid Pearls before - so had to take a deep breath & go for it.

Turned out OK - which pleased me.  Just a "Merry Christmas" to go on this one.

I really liked doing this one & thought I was doing it in black as the name of the ink pad didn't really make it clear what colour it was.   But it turned out to be this rather nice dark blue. The baubles are going to have Glossy Accents on them to make them stand out.

That's me for tonight - more tomorrow.

'Bye for now.

Just chatting

Good evening ladies.

This week has been one of  bits & pieces.

I did get Bob's cold & had a couple of days when it was almost impossible to do things because of a runny nose.  Fortunately it has gone now - so I am pleased about that.

I mentioned in an earlier post about the trouble I was having with my Gemini & how I had been in touch with the retailer that I had used through Amazon.  I received an email from them saying that they had been in touch with Crafter's Companion & if I sent them (the amazon retailer) my telephone number they would get CC to ring me.  I did this & then later that day I had a phone all from Paige at CC who asked about the problem. She felt that CC should have the machine to look at it & test it.  So I was asked to pack it up & they would arrange collection.  It was collected the next day & on Wednesday I had another call from Paige saying that she had tested the machine & didn't have a problem. Immediately I thought ............... here we go.  Then after a little pause she said ... BUT I tried it again a little later & agree there was an awful noise coming from it.  We cannot expect you to work with that. So if you still wish to have a machine we will send you a new replacement.  Wow! things are looking up.  She then arranged with me for it  to be delivered on Monday next week.

Yesterday Bob & I had a nice day meeting up with my niece & my brothers girl friend whom we hadn't seen for about three & a half years.  They had been over here shopping in Liverpool & Manchester.  So we met them for a long lazy lunch then took them back to Liverpool airport for the flight back to the Isle of Man.

Today I have been at a HSNW days workshop with Wendy from Card-io.  A brilliant workshop & she is going to contact me in the New Year with dates to do a workshop for us - probably around March. Wendy said that by then she would have new products available.  It was a lovely day & I made 5 cards. Wendy had demonstrated 10,  3 or 4 of them just briefly - just the special effects on them.

At the end of the day Bob picked me up & as we drove home he informed me that my new Gemini had been delivered during he morning.  So really good service.  I am, as you now, not a great fan of some of CC's things especially some of their dies which do not seem to cut properly.  But I cannot fault them on their dealings with the Gemini.  That was a 5-day turnaround to correct the problem.  I don't think you can ask for much more. Tomorrow I am going to try the "rogue" dies in my E-bosseer before putting it away again & then I think I will give the Gemini a test go with them as well.  You never know it could have been my original machine - but I need to be convinced

Have a lovely weekend.  I will get some photos sorted of the cards I made today & show them in the next day or so.

'Bye for now.

birthday greetings

Today is 2 December

& a Mold II club member has a birthday

Happy birthday Elizabeth

Enjoy your day!

an aniversary card

Good afternoon ladies.

Last week Bob started going down with a cold.  I told him I didn't want it & as he was going to be working away for3 days I thought I would be OK.  Oh, no! Yesterday I started sneezing, so dosed myself up & today it is down to one of those states where you need a paper hanky handy all the time. Fingers crossed it will go as quick.

This morning I took a break from Christmas cards & made an anniversary card for our daughter who lives in the USA. It will have to go in the post tomorrow, along with Christmas cards to make sure it gets there on time.

Here is the card;

The base is a black 15cm  (6") square card & the background paper is one of the many in my stash. I am trying to use them a little more as I have far too much.  

The flourish is a Tim Holtz die that I treated myself to last week.  It came with 2 other dies & they leave the pattern in the paper. I just love them & I have 4 others of his dies that leave the image in the card - they are a little more abstract in their design. 

So the black you can see is the card showing through the paper. The paper is a delicate shade of pink with other colours on it in the butterflies.  I die cut the  "Anniversary" & the butterfly from black card & brightened them by using a lilac Inca Gold gilding wax on them.

Tomorrow I will show you the design for Christmas cards that I chose for the ones I make for one of my non-crafting groups.  Each year for a while now I have made them to be given to those people attending the get-togethers.

That is me for today - more tomorrow.

'Bye.

a birthday card

Good afternoon everyone.

The last few days I have been doing well with die-cutting & stamping for Christmas. Then sitting down to do some more, after my shopping spree yesterday, my Gemini started making the most peculiar noises. It sounded like a mixture of the rollers slipping but then something really grating.  So I stopped using it. Thank goodness I still have my E-bosser which I hope will hep me finish the work.

I bought the Gemini through Amazon - so went on line & sent an email to the retailer.  This morning I had a message from them to let them have my telephone number (I gave my mobile) & they would talk to the full retailer - which of course is Crafter's Companion!  A company I am not much fond of at the moment due to my problems with their dies.

Anyway my troubles dealt with here is something much nicer - the card I made for Nadine to give her mum on her special birthday;

This is the box I made to put it in.  After I took the photo I added a gem to the centre of the bow to add some bling.

This is the card sitting in the tissue inside the box.  It was made using the Tattered Lace Book die. The flowers & Ribbon we bought to match the card which is a purple mirri card with dots.  Nadine wrote her own message which I have die cut & layered onto the same purple card & is attached to the back. I also made a shaped stand for it to go on. I was very pleased with the result I hope her mum liked it.

There are loads of book layers on the die as well as other little things - so this is going to get used a lot next year.

That's me for now.  I have been sorting my desk, taking the Gemini off & putting the E-bosser back, so I now need to see if I can  finish the work I was doing.

'Bye for now.

a recent card

Good evening ladies
I hope you all had a nice weekend.

I spent a lot of it die-cutting for some of my "other" Christmas cards & printing inserts for cards, so quite busy sessions.

This morning I braved the shops to do a bit of Christmas shopping that I couldn't do on line.

Anyway I have a recent birthday card to show you today - it was for Nadine's mother who had a big birthday this weekend.

I decided to go with a simple design & chose to die cut my flower sprays out of white card to give a sort of Wedgwood style.  Some blue gems added for bling.  I chose to put her age rather discreetly on the inside, on the insert.

The floral spray die is from Tattered Lace - it was free on one of the Tattered Lace magazines.  The petals of the roses have been lifted to give dimension.

Tomorrow I will show you the other card I made for her, for Nadine to give her.

There was a beautiful sunset tonight - so it looks like being another nice day tomorrow.

I had an email from Dot of Mold II answering my question about the pretty card that was used in one or two of their project cards last Tuesday.  I have put her answer under the appropriate post - here.

That is me for this afternoon 'bye for now.

member showcase

Good afternoon ladies & what a lovely sunny day it is.  Crisp, cold & frosty - but sunny. That will shorten the winter.

Today I have a member showcase for you & one again it is Rita of Mold II club but this time not a card that she has had published in a magazine.

The card I am showing you today is one she made after the club night on Tuesday using the frame box design that Carolyn had shown everyone;

Another lovely card Rita & that angel is just perfect for the card.

That is the nice thing about this design - because of the space behind the frame you can use the slightly larger embellishments that normally would get left out.

I hope you all have something nice planned for the weekend that is upon us.  Have a nice weekend.

'Bye for now.

mold II photos - part 2

Good morning everyone.

This morning I have the photos from the project in Mold II's final meeting of the year - when Carolyn showed them how to make that lovely frame card.  Here are their cards;

A lovely silver peacock sits inside Helen's card.

Annette used these lovely teddies for her card & I love the way the one that is sitting down is on the outside of the frame.

Sue chose some pretty pink roses for her card with a matching greeting.

I can't remember the name of the Company that made these images - they have a foiled style finish.

It will annoy me until I remember - they used to be very popular.

Carol has the same style of image as well - this time delicate lilac flowers & matching greeting.

Dot's card is very wintery with its all white finish.  Lovely card.

Rita's card uses the "Me to You" bear & is stunning. The box itself was made from black card which really adds drama to the finished item.

Sylvia's little patio scene in her card looks so peaceful you just want to step inside, sit down &  relax.

Christine's card with it snowy acetate really is Christmas in a box. Lovely card.

Carolyn - thank you again for your idea - it was most enjoyable to make & the samples above show that.  I did prepare card for another one whilst I was there at the meeting but it is for someones birthday (once it is finished), so you will have to wait a while before I can show it.  I do have 2 others cut out waiting to be put together which I must try & do perhaps during the coming weekend.

The ladies rounded the evening off with a group photo - which was taken for us by the caretaker as she had arrived to lock up;

What a lot of lovely happy faces.

But I wish I had stood at the back - this photo will have to go up in the kitchen - I must lose that weight - so hopefully it will help.

Great evening ladies.

Sometimes when I am typing these notes I have a word whose spelling I may be unsure of  & I have to do a little research as to which is right.  I put this here because I had that problem with describing Dot's card.  I used the word "wintery" & blogger spell checker underlined it as an error. So I changed it to "wintry" which waas what they offered & it was of course happy with that.  I didn't like the look of "wintry" though - so off I went to Google - 

"Wintery vs wintry

In modern English, wintry is the preferred spelling of the adjective meaning of, like, or relating to winter. Wintery has a long history in English, but it has never been the preferred form, and it has no meanings of its own."

So, there we have it - I still prefer "wintery"

'Bye for now.