The Friday Post ~ 15th September 2017

Well a very happy Friday to you!  Another week has gone by,  and, here in my area of the UK (South), someone flicked the switch off for Summer, and switched on Autumn instead.  The result of this is the heating here in Cobweb Towers has been on several times this week, and the snuggly warm duvet has returned to the bed.

I can clearly remember that this time last year I was walking around in shorts and a T.Shirt and saying how wonderful it was.  Not too warm, but not at all cold.  The sun was out, my garden was loving the warmth and we were experiencing a wonderful Indian Summer.  This year, right now  …  even my cats and dog are snuggling into their beds.  Mr. Alf Capone, even with his fabulous thick, thick, thick fur coat is burying himself under the dogs blankets, along with the dog.

Maisie Dotes, (neurotic crazy cat who thinks the world is going to get her at any minute), on the other hand feels her place should be the sofa, where she likes us to plump up a cushion for her so that she can snuggle herself up the side of it to cut out any drafts.  Woe betide us if we don’t pick up the clear message she’s sending to us that she requires servament service.  She stands on the sofa in an odd slightly arched back sort of way, and stares at the cushion so that we are certain of which cushion she requires to be plumped and moved into position.  If we miss the message, accidentally (or on purpose), or if we get the message and put the cushion in the wrong place or at the wrong angle, she will show her clear disgust of us by turning and delicately but quickly jumping off the sofa and take herself into the conservatory where she will jump up onto the lovely desk, where I’ve laid a thick fluffy blanket on top of it, and she will curl up in the sunshine streaming through the window.  Telling everyone that we need to think about what we’ve done wrong and ensure that we don’t do it again!

Hmpffft.  Very well.

Aaaanyhoo…  you’ve come for some edumacation time, and I’m already stood at the blackboard, so find a seat, sit down, get your pens and note pads out and we’ll begin…  shall we?

On this Day in History

1830 – George Stephenson’s Manchester and Liverpool railway opened. During the ceremony, William Huskisson, MP, became the first person to be killed by a train when he crossed the track to shake hands with the Duke of Wellington.
1831 – The locomotive John Bull operates for the first time in New Jersey on the Camden and Amboy Railroad.

1835 – The HMS Beagle, with Charles Darwin aboard, reaches the Galapagos Islands.

1871 – The first British-based international mail order business was begun by the Army and Navy Co-operative. They published their first catalogue in February 1872.

1916 – World War I: Tanks are used for the first time in battle, at the Battle of the Somme.  Military tanks, designed by Britain’s Ernest Swinton, were first used by the British Army, in the Somme offensive.

1928 – Scottish bacteriologist Alexander Fleming discovered, by accident, a bacteria killing mould growing in his laboratory, that later became known as penicillin.

1935 – Nazi Germany adopts a new national flag with the swastika. The swastika is an equilateral cross with its arms bent at right angles, in either right-facing form or its mirrored left-facing form.  The swastika can also be drawn as a traditional swastika, but with a second 90 degree bend in each arm.

Archaeological evidence of swastika-shaped ornaments dates from the Neolithic period. An ancient symbol, it occurs mainly in the cultures that are in modern-day India and the surrounding area, sometimes as a geometrical motif (as in the Roman Republic and Empire) and sometimes as a religious symbol. It was long widely used in major world religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism.

The swastika was used as an official emblem of the Nazi Party, a use sometimes continued by modern: Neo-Nazis.

Though once commonly used all over much of the world without stigma, because of its iconic usage in Nazi Germany, the symbol has become controversial in the Western world.

There was quite a stink kicked up, a few years ago, about a naval building, in the U.S. that had been designed and built in the shape of the swastika. (built in the 1960’s). No one had realised this, it seems, until Google Earth showed the building up on one of its maps.   You can read about it in a Daily Mail report from that time.

1940 – World War II: The climax of the Battle of Britain, when the Royal Air Force shoot down large numbers of Luftwaffe. The tide turned in the Battle of Britain as the German air force sustained heavy losses inflicted by the Royal Air Force. The defeat was serious enough to convince Nazi leader Adolf Hitler to abandon his plans for an invasion of Britain. The day was chosen as “Battle of Britain Day”.
BBC News complete with Audio & watch, and timeline of events

1945 – A hurricane in southern Florida and the Bahamas destroys 366 planes and 25 blimps at NAS Richmond.
1947 – The U.S. Air Force is separated from the US Army to become a separate branch.

1947 – RCA releases the 12AX7 vacuum tube. RCA Corporation, founded as Radio Corporation of America, was an electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. Today, the RCA trademark is owned by Thomson SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Thomson.  The trademark is used by two companies, namely Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Thomson SA, which licences the name to other companies like Audiovox and TCL Corporation for products descended from that common ancestor.  More can be read, along with photographs,  HERE.

1950 – UN stages daring assault on Inchon. The United Nations landed up to 50,000 troops behind enemy lines at Inchon, on the west coast of Korea. The first major counter-strike of the war by the US.   BBC News complete with a timeline of events

1958 – A Central Railroad of New Jersey commuter train runs through an open drawbridge at the Newark Bay, killing 58.

1959 – Nikita Khrushchev becomes the first Soviet leader to visit the United States.

Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, following the death of Joseph Stalin, and Chairman of the Council of Ministers from 1958 to 1964. Khrushchev was responsible for the de-Stalinization of the USSR, as well as several liberal reforms ranging from agriculture to foreign policy. Khrushchev’s party colleagues removed him from power in 1964, replacing him with Leonid Brezhnev.

1960 – London introduced Traffic Wardens onto the streets of the capital.
1961 – Hurricane Carla strikes Texas with winds of 175 miles per hour.

1962 – The Soviet ship Poltava heads toward Cuba, one of the events that sets into motion the Cuban Missile Crisis.

The Cuban Missile Crisis was a confrontation between the United States, the Soviet Union, and Cuba during the Cold War. In Russia, it is termed the “Caribbean Crisis,” while in Cuba it is called the “October Crisis.” The crisis ranks with the Berlin Blockade as one of the major confrontations of the Cold War, and is often regarded as the moment in which the Cold War came closest to a nuclear war.

The climax period of the crisis began on October 8, 1962. Later on October 14 United States reconnaissance photographs taken by an American U-2 spy plane revealed missile bases being built in Cuba, the crisis ended two weeks later on October 28, 1962, when President of the United States John F. Kennedy and United Nations Secretary-General U Thant reached an agreement with the Soviets to dismantle the missiles in Cuba in exchange for a no invasion agreement and a secret removal of the Jupiter and Thor missiles in Turkey

1963 – The 16th Street Baptist Church bombing kills four children at an African-American church in Birmingham, Alabama, United States.

The 16th Street Baptist Church bombing was a racially motivated terrorist attack on September 15, 1963 by members of a Ku Klux Klan group in Birmingham, Alabama in the United States. The bombing of the African-American church resulted in the deaths of four girls.

Although city leaders had reached a settlement in May with demonstrators and started to integrate public places, not everyone agreed with ending segregation. Other acts of violence followed the settlement. The bombing increased support for people working for civil rights. It marked a turning point in the U.S. civil-rights movement of the mid-20th century and contributed to support for passage of civil rights legislation in 1964.

According to news accounts, the Sixteenth Street Church had been a center for many civil rights rallies and meetings, and after the tragedy, it became a focal point drawing many moderate whites into the civil rights movement.

Investigations into this case spanned four decades. Most recently, Thomas Blanton and Bobby Frank Cherry surrendered after an Alabama grand jury indicted them on first-degree murder charges and four counts of “universal malice” on May 17, 2000. Two others prosecuted in the case were Robert Edward Chambliss, sentenced in 1977, and Gary A. Tucker, both of whom died in the 1980s.
External Link:   The New York Times front page story.

1966 – HMS Resolution, Britain’s first nuclear submarine, was launched at Barrow.

1966 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson, responding to a sniper attack at the University of Texas at Austin, writes a letter to the United States Congress urging the enactment of gun control legislation. Gun politics is a set of legal issues surrounding the ownership, use, and regulation of firearms as well as safety issues related to firearms both through their direct use and through legal and criminal use.

In the United Kingdom
The UK and the United States share a common origin as to the right to bear arms, which is the 1689 Bill of Rights. However, over the course of the 20th century, the UK gradually implemented tighter regulation of the civilian ownership of firearms through the enactment of the 1968, 1988, 1994 and 1997 Firearms(Amendment) Acts leading to the current outright ban on the ownership of all automatic, and most self-loading, firearms in the UK. The ownership of breach-loading handguns is, in particular, also very tightly controlled and effectively limited (other than in Northern Ireland) to those persons who may require such a handgun for the non routine humane killing of injured or dangerous animals. Each firearm owned must be registered on a Firearms Certificate (FAC) which is issued by the local police authority who will require the prospective owner to demonstrate a “good reason” for each firearm held (e.g. pest control or target shooting) and may place restrictions on the FAC relating to the type and amount of ammunition that is held and the places and the uses the firearms are put to. Self defence is not considered an acceptable “good reason” for firearm ownership. The police may amend, or revoke, a FAC at any time and refuse a FAC for any reason.

United States
The issue of firearms takes a high-profile position in United States culture and politics. Michael Bouchard, Assistant Director/Field Operations of ATF, estimates that 5,000 gun shows take place each year in the United States. Incidents of gun violence in ‘gun-free’ school zones, such as the Virginia Tech massacre of 2007 have ignited debate involving gun politics in the United States.

The American public strongly opposes bans on gun ownership, while strongly supporting limits on handguns and military-type semi-automatic weapons.

There is a sharp divide between gun-rights proponents and gun-control proponents. This leads to intense political debate over the effectiveness of firearm regulation.
On the whole, Republicans are far less likely to support gun control than are Democrats. According to a 2004 Harris Interactive survey:

Republicans and Democrats hold very different views on gun control. A 71% to 11% majority of Democrats favors stricter gun control, whereas Republicans are split 35% to 35%.

The division of beliefs may be attributable to the fact that Republicans are more likely to own guns, according to General Social Surveys conducted during the last 35 years. Research seems to show that gun ownership has generally declined; however, Republicans – especially men – are far more likely to own “guns or revolvers.”

Incidents of gun violence and self-defense have routinely ignited bitter debate. About 10,000 murders are committed using firearms annually, while an estimated 2.5 million crimes may be thwarted through civilian use of firearms annually. The American Journal of Public Health conducted a study that concluded “the United States has higher rates of firearm ownership than do other developed nations, and higher rates of homicide. Of the 233,251 people who were homicide victims in the United States between 1988 and 1997, 68% were killed with guns, of which the large majority were handguns.” The ATF estimated in 1995 that the number of firearms available in the US was 223 million.

Fully automatic firearms are legal in most states, but have requirements for registration and restriction under federal law. The National Firearms Act of 1934 required approval of the local police chief and the payment of a $200 tax for initial registration and for each transfer. The Gun Control Act of 1968 prohibited imports of all non-sporting firearms and created several new categories of restricted firearms. The act also prohibited further registry of most automatic firearms. The Firearm Owners Protection Act of 1986 imposed restrictions on some semiautomatic weapons and banned private ownership of machine guns manufactured after it took effect.

1968 – The Soviet Zond 5 spaceship is launched, becoming the first spacecraft to fly around the Moon and re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere.

1972 – A magnitude 4.5 earthquake shakes Northern Illinois.

1981 – The United States Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approves Sandra Day O’Connor to become the first female justice on the United States Supreme Court.

1985 – Tony Jacklin’s team of golfers beat the United States in the Ryder Cup for the first time in 28 years

1987 – U.S. Secretary of State George Shultz and Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze sign a treaty to establish centers to reduce the risk of nuclear war.

2000 – In Great Britain, Home Secretary Jack Straw decided that parents would not be allowed access to the sex offenders’ register.
2001 – President George W. Bush identified Osama bin Laden as the prime suspect in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and told Americans to prepare for a long, difficult war against terrorism.

Born on this Day

1254 – Marco Polo, Italian explorer (d. 1324)

1857 – William Howard Taft – 27th president of the United States and 10th chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court

1881 – Ettore Bugatti  (d 1947}, Italian builder of racing and luxury automobiles

1890 – Agatha Christie, English writer (d. 1976)

1901 – Sir Donald Bailey, British engineer (d. 1985 in Bournemouth, Dorset) was an English civil engineer who invented the Bailey bridge.

1916 – Margaret Lockwood, English actress (d. 1990)

1946 – Tommy Lee Jones, American actor.

1972 – Jimmy Carr, English comedian

1977 – Sophie Dahl, English model

1984 – Prince Henry of Wales. Prince Henry of Wales (Henry Charles Albert David; born 15 September 1984), commonly known as Prince Harry, is the younger son of Charles, Prince of Wales, and his first wife, Diana, Princess of Wales (Diana Spencer).

Died on this Day and Remembered here

1794 – Abraham Clark, American signer of the Declaration of Independence (b. 1725)

1859 – Isambard Kingdom Brunel, British engineer (b. 1806) He was involved in dock design, railway engineering and marine engineering, building the Great Western (1837), Great Britain (1843), and Great Eastern (1858), each the largest in the world at launch date.

1885 – Jumbo, P. T. Barnum’s circus elephant (hit by a train) a very large African bush elephant, born 1861 in French Sudan, imported to a Paris zoo, transferred to the London Zoo in 1865, and sold in 1882 to P. T. Barnum, for the circus.

Thought for the Day

There is an indian belief that everyone is a house of four rooms:  A Physical Room;  A Mental Room;  An Emotional Room;  and a Spiritual Room.  Most of us tend to live in one room most of the time, but … unless we go into every room, every day, even if only to keep it aired, we are not complete.

This week has been a funny old week.  Way too much going on, and too little time to do the things I enjoy the most.  I know that crafting wise, the blog has been rather quiet and I offer my apologies for that.  I seem to be doing stuff, but some of them I’m unable to blog about until they’ve been sent or received as I don’t want to risk spoiling the surprise.

Before I go and leave the class room, and before you all yell Hurrah and mess up the classroom by throwing screwed up pieces of paper at each other…  I have, as usual, a bit of playtime fun.

With Halloween just around the corner, I offer you a fun little website where you can carve a virtual jack-0-lantern.  You can send it as an e-card, or if you can capture the screen and use it as your desktop on your computer;  or you can save the pic and use it as an avatar or graphic! You can even change the background and light a candle in it.

It’s good fun and I promise you there are no bugs or hidden nasties in this.  (I and a few friends have been playing with this website for about 9 or ten years).  Nothing will suddenly jump out and scare you half to death.  It does have Halloween sounds – music with a dog howling and birds … but it’s not scary.

If you have children or grandchildren then they’d have a bundle of fun carving pumpkins on this!

http://www.theoworlds.com/halloween/   …   the page will open in a new tab for you.

I wish you a very happy Friday.  May your day be sweet and all the people you come into contact with have either a smile on their face or one playing around their eyes.

See the humour in each moment today.  Even in those moments where you don’t think there’s anything vaguely resembling humour, there will be.  It’s there.  You just have to look at whatever it is from a slightly different angle.  See the humour.  Go on.  You know you want to.  😉

Wishing you a wonderful weekend.

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I love you to the Moon and back!

It’s true.  I do.  I really do.  Cross my heart, and pinky finger promise.

I wanted to make a card which was fun, but sweet.  Not sickly sweet, and certainly not cute, but something which had a nod towards the inner child of a ‘bloke’.  A man of years, but still a boy inside.

So I decided that the ‘Love you to the Moon and back’ sentiment sounded perfect … but instead of making the card a more serious ‘love you’, I made one which suggested a rocket …. going forth to the Moon, landing …. collecting moon and star-dust …. and then returning to Earth, spreading sparkly Moon dust as it flew through the atmosphere.

I began by hand painting the background on some watercolour paper, using a combination of purples, blues and white from my Kuretake watercolours.  Once dry I embossed all around the edge with silver Tonic powder, which was meant to look like star-dust and moon dust.

I threw a few pinches of embossing powders over the painted background and then heated them slowly and gently so that they melted onto the watercolour background, and looked like twinkly stars in the sky.

Apart from the  ‘happy birthday‘ sentiment (bottom right of the card), the stamps I used are from Altenew.  But the happy birthday sentiment ….well that came from my ‘sentiment stamps draw’.  I cannot remember who the maker was.  I just knew that I wanted swirly writing, which might look like the trail of a rocket as it swooshed and swooped and looped the loop through the heavens, and that stamp fitted the bill perfectly.

The Moon is stamped using two stamps, and two different coloured inks,  and then using an embossing pen I ‘coloured’ in some areas and then embossed it in Tonic Silver powder.

I used the embossing pen to add a Moon dust trail to the ‘happy birthday’ sentiment.  The words themselves were stamped and firstly embossed in black, then stamped over again, but this time I stamped slightly ‘off’ from the first stamp so that just tiny bits of the black (meant to look like a sooty residue) peeped from behind the silver.

I have no idea if space ships leave a sooty trail behind them, but the idea was ticklish to me so I went with it.  I loved the silver over the top of it because it kind of pushed the sentiment into the whole picture.  Instead of it standing out and shouting, it was just there ….  part of the whole moon dust/star shine thing.

And that, as I am want to say, … is all there was to it!

I trust you are well and that nothing is wonky in your world.  Although …  having said that I know that some of you are having a bit of a ‘wonky’ time at the moment.  Please know that I think of you often, and each time I do, I push a prayer out of my heart and head, and send it heaven bound, asking for help to be given to you.

There are some of you who are missing family members, and I know how difficult that can be to deal with the trauma of losing someone.  My thoughts are with you, and I send you my love.

One of our blogging friends suffered a stroke just a few weeks ago, while she was off on her holibobs with her husband.  There was no warning, nothing odd going on, when suddenly…  out of the blue…  a stroke happened while she was sat there in the car.  Thankfully she wasn’t driving the car at the time. 

I know that there are some blogging friends who suffer with depression, for whatever reason(s), and having a family member who suffers with this, I know only too well how difficult life and times can be because of that.

And there are more … lots of people, who have worries of one sort of another.  A difficult time. Some difficulty that they are experiencing.   Please know that I’m thinking about you.  About you all.  I may not know you personally, but I know you by heart.  By the words you type on your keypad.  And because of that I’ve come to care.

You … reading right now.  I care about you.  I may not always comment on your blog(s), but it’s not because I don’t care.  Sometimes I just run out of words.  Sometimes I think how grand or brilliant you are.  Sometimes I sit here on my side of the computer and smile, giggle, laugh.  And sometimes I cry.

But then … there are those of you who are SO amazingly talented that I just sit here wondering how I can possibly tell you how brilliant you are without sounding like I want to stalk you;  or those of you who I want to kiss all over the face, leaving visible lipstick marks,  for making me laugh like a drain.

Y’know … you’re all uniquely, amazingly, incredibly wonderful.  I’m SO so glad that I began blogging, for I’ve found a world of the most fascinating, beautiful people who I never knew existed.  Crumbs …. how did I ever get along without you all?  My life is so busy now, keeping up with you, sharing your days, getting to know you, your families, your ‘stuff’.  I have no idea what on earth I did before blogging.  I must have had hours wasted,  doing nothing at all!

Blogging really is a magical thing.

So … thank you.  Thank you for being the most amazing person.  Thank you for keeping me reading, entertained, teaching me, and giving me something truly extraordinary.    What would I do without you.? [shakes head while smiling to self].  I’d be terribly bored, that’s for sure!

I am so very blessed.  Thank you.  Each and every one of you.

Have an incredible day.  Be good to yourself….  and to everyone else you meet.

Much love from me in my corner to you in yours.  ~ 

 

Happy UnBirthday Balloons ~ an ATC for World Watercolour Month

Who said you could only have a balloon on your Birthday?  Actually .. why have balloons become a special occasion item at all?  When I go back to my childhood (not too great a stretch of my imagination, admittedly) I can remember the joy of being given a balloon!

I’d actually seen an image very like this painted onto a birthday cake for a little girls birthday.  It had obviously lodged itself in my brain, and because I’d been thinking about birthdays (my own only being a few days away.  not hinting or anything), and who can have a birthday without cake?  (NOW I’m hinting.  Cobs Snr. take note: CAKE – if I can’t have *this one*,  then I’d be very happy with *this one*  … or even *this one*)

Back to the ATC Cobs!  …. …  …  …  with the white mount:

Happy UnBirthday!  An ATC made for  #WorldWatercolorMonth

This little ATC took me a bit longer as I’d over wet the watercolour paper before I began so once I’d sploshed some colour on for the background, I had to wait a while for that to dry.  Patience not being one of my strongest points (I try.  I really do try) …  I eventually plugged my heat gun in and ‘helped’ it to dry.  (read:  forced the little bu&ger to do as it was told).

Happy UnBirthday!  An ATC made for  #WorldWatercolorMonth

Once it was finally finished I rather liked it.  It had a gentleness,  which I loved,  and innocence – which made me think of me.  (yeah,  I’m laughing at that one).

After trying the mounts ….  I think I actually like it naked.

Happy UnBirthday!  An ATC made for  #WorldWatercolorMonth

I think I’ll cut off the border (which I leave on so that I can handle the ATC while I’m painting it),  and I might even mount this one onto a card.  Perhaps a Birthday Card or a ‘hello I was thinking of you‘ card.  That sort of thing.

Thank you so much for coming and for sharing a few minutes with me.  I so appreciate your company.

I’d just like to say a warm welcome to some new followers which have joined our happy team here in the last few weeks.  I won’t mention you by name, but you know who you are.  It’s lovely to have you here.  Don’t be afraid to comment and let yourself be known.  I’ve found that I’ve SO enjoyed some comments on other people’s blogs that I’ve clicked to see what that person is ‘about’, and ended up following them.  So please do make yourself known.  Who knows … you may end up with a few new followers!

Well … it’s Thursday already.  Someone has stolen two days out of my week this week.  Tuesday and Wednesday have gone missing altogether.  If I catch that little rascal who’s snaffling days out of my weeks I’ll grab him by the collar and shake the little divil until all the days fall out of his hiding places!  pffft.

Have a wonderful day.  Remember … do it to them before they do it to you …  be nice to people that is.  Smile at them.  PLEASE!!!  This sort of thing  WILL  make the world a better place.  C’mon!  Let’s heal the world…  it has to begin before we can win.  Let it begin with us!

Sending great big Thursday Squidges ~

Racing towards a Birthday

Guess who had a play in their craft room?  [grins]  I’m still not feeling 100%  and the mojo is still M.I.A.  and hiding somewhere in the craft room, but I’m still on the case and, with the help of our dog (an animal who can smell a biscuit crumb from 30 yards) I’m hoping to find that missing mojo very soon.

In the meantime I put together a Birthday card made with components from Hunkydory.

It’s a 3D card which folds completely flat, so no need for a big box.  When opened up (into an X shape) the middle sections are hung from invisible thread (from my sewing threads box)  and the two dimpled gold rings, and the central disc picturing the racing car, spin around – in a slight breeze (from opening a door nearby), or if you blow very gently on them.

below are three photos which show each ‘quarter’ of the card so that you can see it from all sides.

So – finally,  one card done!  That’s a big move forward in the right direction.  I’m off again to the craft room this afternoon, so fingers crossed …  there might be something else to share on another day soon. [GRINS a very hopeful grin!]

Happy Wednesday the 18th of January!  Did you know that … on this day in History:-

• 1644 –  Perplexed Pilgrims in Boston reported America’s 1st UFO sighting
• 1788 –  The first elements of the First Fleet carrying 736 convicts from England to Australia arrives at Botany Bay to set up a penal colony
• 1896 – 1st demonstration of an X-ray machine in US.
• 1919 – Bentley Motors Limited is founded
• 1944 –  The Metropolitan Opera House in New York City hosts a jazz concert for the first time. The performers were Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Lionel Hampton, Artie Shaw, Roy Eldridge and Jack Teagarden.
• 1964 – Beatles 1st appear on Billboard Chart (I Want to Hold Your Hand-#35)
• 1967 – ‘Boston Strangler’ sentenced to life
• 1973 – John Cleese’s final episode on “Monty Python’s Flying Circus” on BBC TV
• 1980 – Pink Floyd’s “Wall” hits #1
• 1981 – Wendy O Williams arrested in Milwaukee for on-stage obscenity
• 1991 – Longest tennis match at the Australian Open, Boris Becker beats Italy’s Omar Camporese in 5 hours & 11 mins

That’s just a little handful of things which happened on this day in history.  Wikipedia    have a huuuge list, and if you’d like to read more about todays date simply click on the name.

Hope your week is off to a good start and that the weather is treating you kindly, wherever you are on the planet.  But … if the weather is fowl and you have bills to pay you’d rather not be paying … just think … you’re in a better place than you could be.  So please look at what you’re blessed with, and have a truly lovely,  blessed,  rest of your day.

Sending squidges from me in my corner to you in yours.

 

 

 

Love is like a butterfly, as soft and gentle as a sigh . . .

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Before I get to talking about card making ….  I’m sorry about the invite above saying: ‘Follow my blog with Bloglovin’ … I had to insert a bit of computer code into a new post order to ‘claim my blog‘. I’m not really sure why I need to claim my blog, but I noticed some other bloggers have done this so, in order to find out what it’s all about, I registered with Bloglovin. Will see what’s so exciting about it.  You can ignore it … you don’t have to click to follow me on there – unless you want to, of course.

There are cards for every sort of occasion and every type of person, (or personality) and I sat for 20 minutes trying to decide on what sort of card I was going to make for a relatives 89th Birthday.  I’ve made her cards  (Birthday, Christmas etc) for a few years, but I felt that she needed something different this year.  Not so fussy, but still with something going on.  Hmm… something with butterflies I think.

I knew I had a little kit which made up two jars of either butterflies or sweeties so I went in search of them among the box of Hunkydory stuffs.  I’d forgotten how pretty they were and the moment I saw them I knew that I’d make her one of these.

In ‘kit’ form this is what you get:

The pink jar is the sweet jar, and the blue, as you saw at the head of this post, is the butterfly jar.  But … there’s nothing to say that you can’t mix them up and swap butterflies for sweets.

Now … I have a bit of a problem in making ‘kit cards’.  I ALWAYS feel like I’ve cheated and let the whole crafting community down.  I don’t know why I feel like that, I just do.  But, I know that there very much is a place for kits and also know my relative will love this card.  It’s very ‘her’.

You begin by popping out the ‘front’ central part of the jar, and then cutting some clear acetate  to match the shape of the ‘hole’ in the front of the jar, you then fix that to the inside of the card front.

showing the rear of the card and the acetate fitted and fixed to the front of the jar.

It’s when you get to this point in the making that you need to stop and think about how you’re going to write the card out when it’s made.  Yup… you need to do that now before you fix any of the butterflies into the jar, because once fixed in place, you’ll have a difficult time trying to write on the back of the card.

The reason the card has that 3D effect is because of the roundedness of the front.  And that happens because the front is cut slightly bigger than the back. So once you’ve fixed the butterflies into the inside of the jar you then fix that card (jar) front in place.  If you scroll up to the photo of the unmade kits, you’ll notice that on the one edge of the card front, there’s a little flap.  That little flap allows you to adhere the front to the back … but because the card front is too big it ’rounds out’ and so gives the jar it’s shape.  (The use of craft clamps comes into use for this part).

This is the finished card as far as the kit is concerned, however you can then add your own touches to it to make it yours.

I added some deep pink with white dots ribbon ‘ties’ which I made (look like bows but not bows), and a silver metal, dangly charm fixed onto a large white paperclip,   which had a little more of the ribbon looped onto the top of it,  which I attached it to the back of the card so that the charm was dangling down next to the hand-written message.

I totally forgot to take a photo of the extra touches until it was packaged and sealed inside its postal box so you’ll just have to imagine the end result.  [sigh…  I’d be terribly dangerous if I had a brain]

And, as they say, that was it!  VOILA!  It’s an easy to put together card, the majority of the time is taken up with trimming off the little ‘tabs’ from where the die cuts were still attached to the cardstock.  Other than that it’s a simple card to make.  But looks so pretty when made.

As I was putting this card together I kept singing the theme song to a lovely, gentle sitcom, called Butterflies,  which was made and shown on the BBC, here in the UK,  between 1978 to 1983, and if I find it showing now, I’ll actually sit and watch it, just to be reminded of a more gentle time.  The theme tune is the Dolly Parton song Butterflies, but for this programme it was recorded by a singer called Clare Torry, and I think this may have been because Ms Torry had a little softer and more gentle tone to her voice.

It’s only 38 seconds long, so I share it with you here:

If I’ve got an earworm I think I should share it with everyone so that you can have it too.  I was taught that it’s nice to share.  [grins]

Have a beautiful Wednesday, whatever you’re doing.  Thank you for coming and having a coffee with me, I love having your company.

Sending my love,  from here in my corner to you in yours.

 

 

Say Happy Birthday with a Cath Kidston style coat (or 4) and a touch of Gingham!

Do I need to say any more?  Aw … ok, I will.

I’m still on my challenge to use ‘gifts’ which have come free with magazines. I’ve got a drawer full of stamps and loads of free decorative papers for use in card making or scrapbooking, so this weekend I decided that it was time for another ‘make it from magazine gifts’ challenge.

I looked through the stamps and came across a set which had come with a magazine about 18 months to 2 years ago.  (I know, I know.  I should have used them by now).  I can’t understand why I hadn’t unpacked and played with them when I got them to be honest, because they’re just so lovely.  I even remember the magazine had featured some photos inside the mag to show a sample of cards you could make.  One in particular stood out to me.  It had coats on the front stamped on flowery paper, and I liked it.  So I thought I’d make something like it because I have someone in my family who’s birthday is coming up soon and she likes Cath Kidston and cottage style, so my decision was made for me.

The coat actually wasn’t a stamp in itself,  it’s a clear stamp of a little girl wearing a coat,  so I masked off her head and legs, then inked up the coat in a Memento ink pad in brown and stamped out four coats on some creamy white paper which had roses printed all over it, and four coats on some blue paper which was also printed with roses.  Both of these sets of papers were again free but this time with two different magazines.

I had to ‘fussy cut’ the coats out, which was fine at first, but by coat five I began to wonder if this was such a great idea!   (Although you can only see 4 of the coats in the photos, there are actually 8 – they’re layered, using foam pads, to give a little depth to the card).  I chose some vintage style blue paper with creamy white polka dots for the background (which I distressed a little by using a colour duster brush and some ink from the same ink pad I’d used to stamp the coats out.)

After that it was just a case of assembling it all.  I found I had to place the coats at a slightly jaunty angle (and make them ‘hold hands’), because otherwise there wouldn’t be quite enough room for them to sit comfortably (with a little space between them).  I did consider starting again and making the card longer,  but I really quite liked the angle look so kept it.

While sat wondering what sentiment it should be   …  my eyes rested upon the friendly looking  ‘Happy Birthday‘ ribbon and it called out to me to use it,  so I chose the ribbon in place of a sentiment as it added a certain country cottage feel to it.  Finally, I added some gingham buttons to finish the whole thing off.

And that’s all there was to it!  But…  looking at this last photo↑  …  who on earth would tromp through the fields to get the sheep in for the night,  wearing a Cath Kidston style coat?  I mean to say …  look at the Quality!  The fit!  The colours!  These coats would cost an absolute arm and a leg if they were for sale in a Cath Kidston shop!

(The papers  aren’t  Cath Kidston .. but they remind me of her fabulous country-style.)

So that’s me done and dusted so let’s talk about you!   .. how did your weekend go?  Did you make anything?  Did you go anywhere spiffingly wonderful?  Buy anything?  Eat something naughty?  What made you happy this weekend?  Or … what made you sad?  Tell us …  we might just be able to make you smile again, or at the very least, we can all send you love and chat with you about whatever it is.  We’re all friends here.  I’ll put the kettle on, you slip off your shoes, sit down, put your feet up and get comfy.  Tea or coffee?  Sugar?  Milk?

Have a fabulous start to your week all.  Make Monday Memorable.

Sending squidges to your corner from mine,  

 

Suits You Sir!

Hello all.  It’s great to see you here.  Before I get into talking about this card I’d like to take a moment to say a very warm welcome to new followers.  I’m absolutely thrilled to pieces that you’ve signed up here, – so a big thank you!

I actually made this card about two weeks ago and I’ve been struggling ever since to get the photographs loaded, sort out the clearest ones, (most of them look like I was joggimg while operating the camera),  resize them (to make them smaller than the size of an Olympic swimming pool!) and then load them onto the blog here.  Time seems to have flown and before I could blink, every day came to its end about 12 hours before I needed it to.  But … better late than never….

The idea behind this card came from looking at cards which had been made for men for all sorts of occasions: Birthdays, Anniversary, Fathers Day,  ‘Congratulations’ cards, and also cards sent to celebrate Civil Partnerships. I always struggled finding a decent shop bought card for men, but making one is even worse!  So I thought I’d give myself a challenge to come up with a design which would be a little different.  Something  which had a bit of style (and a spoonful of humour),  but instead of it being for a specific occasion, I wanted to make a ‘multi-functional’ type of card, which would be great as a card sent on or for any occasion.  I especially wanted to include a Civil Partnership suitable card as I’ve grown so tired of seeing two cut outs of grooms in wedding attire on the front of a card.  They’re great, and they state what the cards for, but I wanted something different. I began by fixing two 6″x6″ cards together and cutting the flap to the left hand side of the fold in a diagonal from inner crease top, to the outer corner bottom.

2 6×6″ white cards glued to each other, then the centre panel lined with black card.

The right hand side of the card was firstly cut in the same way, but then cut again, as you can see in the photo above.  This was in order for it to become the folded over side of the suit jacket. 

Adding the ‘fabric pattern’ of the suit

I originally began this idea thinking I was going to make a striped suit, but instead I chose a more fun, spotty card – black with white dots. I added two silver buttons, and made a jacket breast pocket – with faux stitching, to make it look like it was stitched to the front of the card.  I made the stitch holes using a sewers marker tool:

the white card shows the little holes made by the tool.

The collar to the jacket was an easy make.  Two strips of cardstock, cut to the correct length and scored (with a 1cm fold which would be used to fix the collar to the inside edge), then cut and shaped, with a ‘v’ cut out at just the right point, to represent a collar on a jacket, and then fixed to the card. Then it needed a shirt.  I simply measured the width of the inner card, then took off around a centimetre and cut some white card to that width.  I scored the card across the width at the depth I wanted the collar to be, and then cut down the centre of the card just enough to make it look like the shirt was unbuttoned a the top.  I then rounded the corners of the collar with my Memory Keepers Corner Chomper.  Next: came the tie. Aww, now this proved to be a big pain in the rear end – because the only time I’ve ever tied a tie was when I was in my Secondary School, and it was around my neck.  I can tie ties around my neck … but doing it around this card was something of a skill that was lost on me.  It took me roughly seven or eight go’s before I got even close.  <sigh>  But .. in the end I managed it and gave myself a well deserved  ‘FINALLY!!!’  – out loud and very exhaustingly proud. The shirt was fixed into place.  The tie was fixed so that the knot would hang free, but that the body of the tie would kind of bunch a little over the jacket closure. and finally, the jacket was fixed into place and ‘closed’. Then came the tags for tucking into the ‘pocket’ which I’d just made within the card, inside the shirt. The larger of the two tags is for the ‘dedication’ of the card (to/from etc):-  I think I found that frame on the Graphics Fairy – but wherever it was, I changed it so that it matched the purple of the tie.  The long slim tag was stamped with an empty clock face – the idea being that the time could be filled by the sender drawing on the hands to mark the time appropriate.  It could be the time he was born;  Time the child sending the card was born;  Time of the Civil Partnership;  etc etc.  And above the clock face – details of what the time meant/means;  date of birth etc, or maybe: details of where the receiver of the card is meant to meet you (say for a meal) – etc etc.  Or even maybe a photograph(s) of children or of the receiver themself. The backs of the tags  … the larger one is a vintage image which I coloured to match the tie;  and the long slim tag is a copy of an original vintage postcard of the same length and width as you see in the photograph. I added a paper rose and some metal filigree leaves.  (Metal for the more masculine feel of them), and a fob watch on a chain, which I draped up to the breast pocket, and fixed in place with a ring.  (The chain hangs free, and gives movement to the card.) I made a tag for the breast pocket too and added some folded and stitched ribbon to the end of it, to make the handkerchief popping out of the pocket. And finally …  I made a matching box for the card. The tiny shirt fixed to the front of the box is actually one piece of folded paper (sort or origami style folding), and I made a tie out of two pieces of card which was closest in colour to the tie on the card as I could possibly get.  I added a blank tag to the front of the box so that the recipient’s name could be added, just as you would do on an envelope.

The whole set!

I have to admit that there were times, as I was making this card, that I began to wish I’d never started – it seemed to be taking me forever to do the smallest things.  However, once it was finished and I sat back and looked at it, I loved it. Thank you so much for coming today and having a look at this card.  Hope you like it.

Have a wonderful rest of your day.  May the weather be kind and may life treat you well.

Lots of love ~