Claire's HUGE COMPETITION - Favourite Stamp

The so talented Claire at Waltzingmouse Makes is having a competition to celebrate her new release of 6 (yes 6!) stamp sets on Tuesday - can't wait! She's asked us to use a favourite stamp and the colour green. Its easy to see from previous posts that I love my Papertrey Ink Vintage Picnic stamp and use it all the time. When I was little we often had picnics on a Sunday afternoon and I remember a big tin Mum used to put the sandwiches in - not exactly like this but its still a nice reminder of happy days long ago. Here we are - Mum, 3 sisters and my Mum's cousin Elma - on a picnic, in a daisy covered field, summer 1954.

As well as my favourite stamp I've used stamps from Waltzingmouse Gingerbread Joy set to fill my picnic hamper. Its just about the best Gingerbread Man stamp set around and was my first introduction to Claire's brilliant blog.

Copic Colour Challenge 31 - Kate to a Tee

This digital stamp from Mo's Digital Pencil just reminds me so much of my neice Kate that I couldn't resist colouring her up for this challenge. Hope she doesn't see it though as I know she won't be amused! I'm a real fan of digital stamps as they are so reasonably priced and, even better, don't take up any storage space! And you can resize them to suit your project. Perfect.

As well as my Copics I've used Papertrey's Tea Dye Duo ink for the background stamps and to age the edge of the Nestabilities scallop circle. Stamps are Polka Dot Basics and the text background stamp - can't remember what its called.

A Passion for Papertrey Challenge - Cherished Colours

I'm finding it really difficult to find time for crafting at the moment so apologise for the simplicity of this little thankyou card. However I'm pleased to see that Aqua Mist and kraft seems to be one of the top colour combinations with PTI fans and I really like it too. But I've got lots of other favourites - just haven't got the Papertrey goodies to go with them! I've this daydream that if I win some money on the lottery I'm going to order one of EVERYTHING from Papertrey Ink's store and to hell with the expense! AS IF!

Apples & Pears All Wrapped Up

Here are some of my amigurumi apples and pears all wrapped up ready for the Christmas Fair in November. I hope they appeal to the buyers. I've used three of Lauren's Timeless Templates that are the right shape to fit the fruits and my new Fruitful Papertrey stamp set is just perfect to decorate, along with my favourite Vintage Picnic of course! I was lucky enough to get into a group Papertrey Ink order a few weeks ago - thanks to the lovely Steph again - (that woman is an angel!) and I also ordered the Tea Dye Duo Vintage Touch ink cubes and I must say I'm absolutely loving the way they age the edges of the cardstock. I used acetate to make the lid for the tall box so that customers could see what was inside more easily and I'm really pleased with the way that turned out too.

Blists Hill

Blists Hill Victorian Town near Ironbridge is a lovely place and Saturday was a lovely day - the sun shone and the sky was clear blue - as you can see in this photo. I couldn't resist snapping this gentleman and his lady enjoying the warm sunshine. If you haven't visited lately, there is a new street full of wonderful shops, including a chippy! I was disappointed that the Ironmongers was closed as my Father's family ran such a business in Llanrwst from the mid 19th century until around the 1930s, but the grocer's, draper's and Medical Hall more than made up for it.

We spent so much time wandering around enjoying the atmosphere and listening to the "inhabitants" that we missed the cafe and gift shop, which were both closed by 4.15 pm!

Copic Colour Challenge 30 - Digital Pencil Too!

I discovered this lovely image by Mo Manning in her digital stamp shop this week. I suspect I will be spending quite a bit of time there in the future as lots of her illustrations appeal. I especially like Mummu, a rather mature lady - there's a lovely one of her teaching her ?granddaughter to knit. Definitely on my wishlist! But this card is for my sister who has been undergoing torture this week - no, not really! She's been having intensive physiotherapy in hospital to start her leg bending again and I know the physios working with her couldn't have been bettered anywhere.

I have to admit that I really need to practice my copic techniques and I haven't found a decent white card locally that doesn't make the ink bleed a bit. I've used Memento ink on this one as it seems to be recommended by a lot of people but again there was a bit of bleeding over the lines. I've had a birthday this week and the scalloped circle Nestabilities is something I've been wanting for ages - a gift from my son, although I had to purchase it myself! The sentiment is from PTI's Tea for Two set and the background stamp from Hero Arts.

Let's Do Lunch

I met with two of my special friend ex-colleagues today at our favourite cafe, Maria's. She does a yummy egg & chips and I always order that when we meet up there.

Here's a little gift I made for my friends as I hadn't seen them for a while. Chocolate chip cookies in a glassine bag and decorated with my favourite Papertrey Vintage Picnic stamps. The baskets are cut from Stampin Up paper and I coloured with Copics and added a touch of Sakura glitter pens.

A New Piano

Last week I drove my sister and her daughter to Stuart Jones Pianos in Newtown, Mid Wales. A new piano has been on the wish list for a long time. My niece has managed to reach Grade 4 on a very old and dilapidated piano - the pedals don't work and even one or two of the keys. So she has done amazingly well to get thus far and really does deserve to go forward on a decent instrument.

We had a lovely time trying out all the beautiful pianos. Although Stuart was not there on the day we met Mrs Jones, his Mum, who stands in for him when he is out and about. She couldn't have been more kind and had a vast knowledge of all the different instruments. With her help this shiny black little number was chosen in the end - its a Jouette. I can tell you there was MUCH excitement in the car on the drive home!

For this page I've used 'Symphony' by Ninascraps Designs, 'Sale Bundle No1' by Sue Cummings (both at Oscraps) and 'Watch Me Now' by Michelle Underwood Designs at 2 Peas in a Bucket.

Passion for Papertrey Challenge 12 - Clean & Simple

Here's a card I made for my niece who has just had her GCSE results. She did great and even got her name in the local paper as one of the school's star pupils!

Leanne Ellis' Annie stamps (from Sugar Nellie) are some of my favourite images, especially as she has my name! However as the star stamp and sentiment are PTI I hope I can squeeze it into the Passion for Papertrey challenge this week.