Rubber Stamping - North Wales

Hi - thought I would pop in for a few minutes - we have just had a nice evening with Russ & Nadine, & Bob has just left to take the home.  Other than their visit we have had ourselves a pretty lazy day. Which was very much the case yesterday too.  Although I did meet up with a friend for coffee down at Daleside Garden Centre in the morning - where we had a nice coffee, a cherry scone & a really good natter. Tomorrow we are going to have a run out - probably over to Cheshire Oaks - well M & S actually.  Then a fairly relaxed rest of the day & weekend. In a way this is the last weekend we can be so relaxed & laid back.  All the different elements that make up Thursday 25 April are coming together now.  So! it's dotting the i's & crossing the t's really. Next week sees the postponed Mold II meeting on Tuesday & then on Wednesday it is the April meeting for CSNW - so a busy week. Did you all remember to alter your clocks? ...

I hope you all have a pleasant Easter weekend. Don't eat too many of these..............

...................... Elma, a  Mold II club member have a lovely day Elma Happy (Special) Birthday!

Don't forget tonight

Hi everyone Just popping in briefly to say good morning & I am not ashamed to say - blow my own trumpet. I discovered this morning that one of my digital challenges was chosen this week as a featured page, then voted into the top 3.  Details are on my digital blog which you can get to by the link on the side of the home page. I hope you have some lovely things planned for Easter - at least the weather looks a bit brighter.  We have a fairly busy weekend but I will pop in when I can - especially if there is anything of interest to report. Take care & enjoy yourselves.

Hi again - a quick post - to let you know I have updated the projects page.  Not all the projects have photos at this point - but I have added what I have to hand.

Just popping in quickly to let you know the Mold II club page has been updated with your programme for April through to June.  I will be bringing your personal sheets with me to the meeting on Tuesday. Let's hope this snow is gone - or at least enough - for everyone to make it to the meeting. Photos of projects will appear over the next few days.

When I posted the photos of the Mold March project last week I mentioned that 2 ladies were finishing their tea-light card/gift at home & would send me photos.  Tonight I have received one of them & here it is - it is from Joanna; Joanna sent a little write up with the photo which said - that she stamped a small heart onto some mulberry paper & punched circles out around them.  Then she heated the tea-lights & popped the mulberry paper circles on top (having punched a hole in the centre for the wick).  She then heated the wax again briefly just to sink the paper into it a bit.  Joanna then closed this description with the words - What do you think?  Well I think they are beautiful & what a difference it makes - a much prettier gift.  Just miffed I didn't think of it. Only joking.

Just popping in to let you know I have updated the Mold Club page with the details of their programme for April, May & June. Photos for projects will be added soon.

........ finally. I pulled out on of  my stand-by stamps that I like using because I thought that would kick start me again.  I stamped it 3 times & coloured in 2 of the images then created 2 cards with them.  Here they are; The background paper I had printed to use in a digital design but it went so well with the flowers I used it for this card instead.  I decided to stamp the image on a separate piece of card & cut around it.  When I looked at it laying on the card front I thought it reminded me of a pocket - so I put it on sticky pads leaving the front open.  Then I created a little tag & inked it with Distress Ink Victorian Velvet which I also went around the edge of the background paper with too.  I then created a little tag & added some pink ribbon.  The tag will have a sentiment stamped on it when I decide what to use it for. The image was coloured in with water colour pencils & a water brush. This is the s...

................................... Rita a Mold II club member have a lovely day Rita Happy birthday!

Hello everyone - well it is starting to thaw - but we still cannot move our cars, & it is very cold especially now (about 8:00 pm) I didn't get round to doing any stamping today after all - although I did stamp an image 4 times on something I was making.  But not proper full blown stamping.  I was going to have a session but I suddenly had an idea for one of the CD Sunday challenges I have to do for May.  So with everything that is going on & not wanting to leave it till the last minute - I decided to make it now & schedule the post.  I cannot show it to you now - but you will be able to see it on 19th May.  Actually I had got so inspired I actually made 2 things for the challenge.  Not often that happens. So after clearing up after myself I prepared things on my desk for a stamping session tomorrow.  That will have to be after I have done some printing relative to the wedding.  We were going to be very informal about seating but d...

Hi everyone - especially Mold II ladies I have just spoken with Karen at Parkfields Centre & we are booked in for next Tuesday - that is - TUESDAY 2 APRIL. Karen said it is deep there & we wouldn't get in.  She lives just across the road from the centre - so can walk in. I have heard from most of you as to whether you are free or not & to make sure I will email everyone again with the confirmation of next week. Take care - it is beginning to thaw - but if it goes really cold it will freeze.  I don't want to hear of any of you falling & hurting yourselves & that is not JUST Mold II ladies - its ALL of you. 'Bye for now.

Good evening everyone - how are you all? Well I have not ventured out of the house over the weekend - the snow is piled up around the cars & if we clear it off the cars it will merely get in the way of moving the cars.  Stale mate then. Will have to see what tomorrow brings & the rest of the week of course. I will be ringing Parkfields Community Centre tomorrow morning with regard to Mold II's meeting which I am postponing until next week - but need to make sure that the room is free for us.  So keep an eye on this space. This afternoon I worked on a couple of digital / CD cards, as I have been asked to be a guest designer over at CD Sunday challenge blog for May.  I think I did already mention this.  One of the cards was for May so I cannot show you that one - but I also entered the challenge set earlier today for this week.  So I thought I would show it to you here. I am actually hoping to do some stamping tomorrow - so watch this space. Here i...

Hi everyone With the amount of snow we have had I am wondering whether we may have to postpone Tuesdays meeting.  I don't think it would all be gone by Tuesday even if we didn't get any more - but I believe there is more to come tonight. I will try & get hold of the centres office on Monday - & see if the following week is available in case we decide to move it. Let me know what you think if you read this.  Plus I will send out some emails a bit later today.

Hi - I'm back again This time I have the photos of the project last night at Mold club which was the Tea-light gift card.  One or two are not completely finished but it gives you a good idea of the design in mind.  Two ladies were still decorating theirs - they are taking their own photos & sending the to me later.  So they will appear on their own in a future post. Here are the cards; Isn't that image delightful & what a lovely CAS card. Another Teddy & some very nifty gluing of ribbon around the aperture - that took patience. This image is beautiful & doesn't the colour of the card go so well with it.  A very rich looking design. Very glamorous design & the tea-lights have been put on the right-hand side on this one. Some more lovely rich papers.  Sorry it is a little blurry. This one was made by a visitor.  One of our ladies asked if she could bring her daughters along to the meeting as ...

Hello again As I sit here writing this post the church bells are ringing.  It is not their usual practise time that is normally Monday evening.  So I wonder if someone is getting married & ended up getting a whiter wedding than they planned for. Right! the photos to show you in this post are the ones from the Show & Tell of the evening where the theme was "a card depicting a film title".  I did mention in the quick post I did last night that I had forgotten to take my camera - so these were taken on my mobile phone.  Therefore I apologise if they are just a little blurry at times.  I do find it hard to hold the phone & touch the screen without moving the phone. Here are the cards; No need for any guessing on this one - "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" One of my favourite films - I absolutely adored Howard Keel. Another great film - "Herby" I used to have a Herby - mine was a very deep orange - I absolutely loved it - was s...

 ................... it looks very pretty & picture postcard & Christmasy. Yes it is the snow - back again - if you have to go out in it please wrap up warm & take great care. I must take a photo this morning though because areas of the garden do look pretty, & when it snowed earlier in the year there wasn't enough of it in the garden to produce a nice picture. I will be back later with photos from the Mold meeting last night. Have a good day.

Hi everyone - what a very unpleasant night.  That's the weather I am talking about - that wind is bitter cold & I haven't long been in from the Mold meeting & it was very sludgy rain that I drove home in. It's the first day of spring today - why snow! My daffodils were just starting to lift their heads & open up - this cold will kill them off.  It looks like we are definitely going to have quite a lot over the weekend - so please please wrap up warm if you go out & stay safe. We had a good meeting at the Mold club this evening where we made the tea-light card - I have some great photos to show you tomorrow after I have loaded them onto my laptop.  Nearly didn't have any photos because I hadn't taken my camera with me - just don't know where my head is at the moment.  Good job I updated my phone a while back & the camera on it is quite good. Well it is once I can remember how I actually take the photos with it. Right I am off to bed - ho...

Hi Another peek into the preparations for my big day. As I had planned I managed to get the cake covered today & it went well & covered first time.  In the past I have covered cakes & had to take the fondant icing off, re-roll it & try again.  But today, thank goodness, it worked first time.  I have added the base design to it & it has the ribbon around the bottom where it meets the board.  But - I am not going to show you the photo of that - as the cake from now on stays secret.  Well - you have to have a bit of mystery at these times don't you?  Especially at my age. But I thought I would show you a photo of the roses now they have been dusted with the pearlised ivory dust. This photo shows 3 of them dusted & one not dusted - the one at the back.   Perhaps not as clear as it could be  ...             ....   & here are 2 photos - the one on the left is not dusted ...

Hi, how has your day been? Mine started well - I finished dusting roses, so will probably be able to show you a photo tomorrow. Then I went to Mold & met Sue for a lunch get-together & natter which was very nice.  Sue has asked me to send a "hello" & best wishes to all you Mold & Mold II club ladies who know her. During our short drive (& in fact my drive to Sue) guess what happened?  My car happened.  Those car repair people have not solved the problem of my locking system.  Sue wondered what the noise was as we drove along. It really was quite good to have someone else hear the noise & know that I am not going crazy.  But I am going (& have got) - mad.  I will be going back to them tomorrow when Bob gets home from work.  You may remember I told you that their card machine wouldn't work with my credit card - they had been having problems with that particular card all day. They had left me to send a cheque or drop the mo...

Hi again I hope you all had a good weekend & got lots of lovely things done. Tonight I have my Happy Stampers club night so have put the few things ready that I need for that - I think we are doing something with colour. During the day I have been working on the flowers for my cake.  I think I have enough now & all but the last 4 are now dusted with colouring as are the few leaves that I will be using.  When I make roses I always add the calyx as if for no other reason it tidies the back of the rose.  When I went to do that today - couldn't find my calyx cutter.  I did sell off a lot of my cake decorating things a while back as I figured I wouldn't be making any more wedding cakes.  How wrong can I be!  One for Nadine & Russ 3 years ago, one for my god-daughter last year & now one for me!  They say necessity is the mother of invention - so I look through the cutters I have retained & found a smallish blossom cutter that was ju...

Just popping in quickly to let you know that I have updated the Mold club page with details of the 2013 Project. At the last meeting we agreed the ATC's could be brought in each month - but if you would prefer to work on them through the year & bring them in in February 2014 - that is fine.  I will be saving the photographs for publishing on the blog until that time. At our meeting on Thursday this week I will be bringing the programme information for the April to June meetings & then that information will appear on the blog by the weekend. Back later.

If you are Irish, have friends or family who are Irish or just love the Irish Happy St Patricks Day OK - so I chose this one because of the Yorkie

Hi everyone Phew! I am just having a sit down & a cup of tea after working on the final 4 roses & starting on creating some leaves.  I say "phew" - it is not hard work but it affects my back with the standing.  I have in the past tried to do these sugar flowers etc whilst sat down - but I cannot work the same. Tomorrow I will be covering the cake & putting the initial decoration on it. I got my car back OK yesterday afternoon. The man knocked off quite a bit of the labour charge so that was something - but still a bill I could have done without.  Mind you I haven't paid the bill yet as their card reader wasn't accepting Mastercard & as I didn't have enough money on me he said either send them a cheque or pay in cash next week.  So the money is mine  - all mine - for a bit longer.  :) I need about 4 birthday cards over the next couple of weeks - so Monday I hope to do some stamping. That will make a change at the moment.  There wa...

Well another stage reached. This morning I worked on the latest set of roses getting them to look a little fuller & there will be one more layer to go on them.  I have left 3 as buds.  I have also got 4 more to bud stage - they too will have more layers by the weekend.  Then that is the roses made, which gets me to the leaves. After sorting the roses to their different stages I then dusted the flat blossoms.  This is a bit like adding pearl-ex powder & similar to your stamped image.  (See the link to stamping there????). Here is a couple of photos of the blossoms; this photo shows the undusted ones by the side of the dusted ones It has a pearlised lustre to it - in Ivory - which just darkens them a little. a closer view Just a short while ago I took another look at my shoes & they have dried lighter than I would like - so I have put another layer of dye on to see if that darkens them.  I think they will look just right - ...

Hi again Firstly I am sorry I did not write a post last night - but hey - they are just like buses - first there are none then 2 come along together.  Te he. I am afraid I was not in the right frame of mind to write last night.  On Tuesday as I drove home from Mold I had a repetition of my cars locking system problem.  It drove me mad - so by the time I got home I was at boiling point.  It was too late to ring the garage that had been working on it & thought they had cured it - so I couldn't do anything until yesterday morning.  So! consequently I basically seethed all evening.  Good job I was on my own. But in a very lucid moment I grabbed my laptop & "googled" the problem. Within minutes I had loads of info on what the problem was likely to be & how to cure it.  So yesterday I phoned the service people, had a good old moan, told them I wanted it sorted & did not expect a big bill.  (This in reality means I do not expect any...

Hi everyone I have some member news for you this afternoon.  Joanna from Mold club has had one of her cards chosen to be on the home page, for a month, of the Michael Strong group she belongs to.  What is more it is her Show & Tell card from February when the theme was Daffodils. Here it is; Lovely Well done Joanna. Back again shortly.

Hi everyone I must apologise I do not have any stamping news to give you.  It has taken rather a back seat at the moment which I hope you will understand.  Although having said that I can show you some digital work I have done - which makes me feel a bit guilty - but I can do that when I am sat quietly in my arm chair in the evening.  There are some birthdays coming up in the family & amongst friends - so I am going to have to set to & do some stamping in the next couple of days. Today I worked on my sugar roses again.  I added another layer to 6 of the rosebuds that were left as buds as I have finally worked out exactly how many I want to have.  Then I also made another 4 bud cones to make 4 rosebuds which I have decided I might want. I also tried the dusting powder on the sugar paste to see the difference between dusting the roses & painting the roses - you mix the powder with spirit - eg - Vodka.  The Vodka allows you to paint but disso...

Good morning!  No snow where I am but despite the sun it is a rather cold day & the wind is slowly building up which will make it feel colder.  So make sure you all wrap up warm & keep safe, especially if you have the snow. I have recently been asked by ladies in the club what my stamping blog is called so that they can go & have a look.  Well, of course I also have the digital blog now too.  So this morning I have put a link on the side bar of this blog which will take you to whichever one of them you want to have a look at. If you decide to visit them I hope you find it interesting.  The rubber stamping one is not getting a lot on it at the moment because of the wedding preparations.  I post the cards I make as I make them but I am not doing very much in the way of "play" with the stamps at the moment.  Will return to that in May.  The digital blog gets reasonably regular posts as I can do that work on my laptop even whilst "watc...

Yesterday afternoon I received a very nice surprise - this lovely bouquet for Mothers Day from Gareth & as it was time for a digital sketch challenge, this morning I sat & created a page using the photos of the bouquet that I had taken.  The sketch required 6 photos which is something that would normally put me off - but because I had taken a lot of photos of the bouquet I had what was needed. Here is the page Aren't they beautiful? Hope all you Mums are being spoilt today.

Happy Mothers Day Here is a bouquet for all you Mums, for all of you who have Mums & those of you who like me have lost their Mum. They might not be with us in person but are always in our hearts.

.........................  Carol a Mold II club member have a lovely day carol Happy Birthday!

............. Rhiannon, a Mold club member Have a lovely day Rhiannon Pnblwydd Hapus!

Good evening everyone. Well! I managed to get my roses on another stage & thought I would show you some piccies. I managed to make 8 of them a little larger with another layer of petals. Here is a close-up of 2 of them then a close-up of the left hand one from the 2 above. The small ones in the back of the first photo will be turned into buds with just one more layer of petals.  Once I have done that I will have to make some leaves then the final stage will be to dust them into their finished colour. I must say a thank you to Verena from CSNW who noticed that on their club page I had labelled 2 months as May.  I have now been & changed the second to June. I don't know if any of you go back now & again at look at older posts - it is a good idea to do this as people do leave comments. The reason I point this out is that there is a comment on the post for 2012 Project -Mold II - Dot, & the comment is for you Dot so do go ...

...................... International Women's Day Have a wonderful day celebrating all women everywhere - whether famous, a neighbour, family, someone you know or indeed yourself.    

Hello again I have sorted out the problem I had earlier & the CSNW club page has now been updated with details of the 2013 project & the programme for April, May & June. CSNW ladies please note in your diaries the change of date for the May meeting - it will be held on the second Wednesday of the month rather than the usual first Wednesday. Mold & Mold II ladies I will be updating your club pages straight after you have had your March meetings. I am off to bed now - well fairly shortly - so sleep well.  Night night.

I have just started to update the club page for CSNW - Blogger has been playing me up & the wording is all over the page on my screen when I preview it.  Plus some type looks bold when I don't want it to be. I will go back to it later & try to make it look neater. Then I will be gradually updating the Mold & Mold II pages as well.

Here I am again. The theme of last night's project was that card that I couldn't think of a name for.  The one with the folded centre with an aperture in it? Here are the photos of their cards & I have taken the front of the card & then the card open to show the inside. I love these teacups all nestling inside each other.  The little cupcake still has to be coloured. More cakes inside - don't they make you feel hungry looking at them? A pretty thank you card & those butterflies really suit the floral paper. The inside - that circular framed greeting is very nice too. A very delicate design & I like the bow behind the square - a nice monochrome card. This card isn't finished & therefore the folded section has not been glued together yet. That delicate colouring also taken through to the inside. I love that flower & the delicate shading with inks is really effective.  The border has been ...