Altered Spoons – Cobwebs Spoonie Spoons

In my last post I told The Story of the Spoons, which, if you missed it, or would like a refresh of the story,  you can find HERE.  (it will open up in a new window for you).

I shared a glimpse, at the end of The Spoon Story, of my own personal spoons which related to me and my own story, and promised that I would share each of the spoons in the photograph with you in a separate blog post — and here I am, as promised, sharing my spoons.

In the photograph above, I’ve numbered each spoon so that you can check it against which spoon you’re reading about and looking at.  There are 12 (twelve) spoons in total and each one is decorated differently than any other in the set, and each of them has a meaning to me.  I’ll give a little explanation of each spoon as I share them.  Shall we get on with it?

SPOON 1

The photo on the left shows spoon 1 and a spoon before I’ve given it a make-over.  (The purple rule at the bottom is showing measurements in centimetres).

The close up photo on the right, is the best one out of about ten that I took.  I think it’s the glitter which made this spoon difficult for the camera to know where to focus.  All that twinkling.

The spoon was coloured using Alcohol Inks, then the bowl of the spoon was treated to three different colours of glitter, and I would like to believe it looks like a magical Fairy sky would look at Sunset, with twinkles of many colours.  The crescent moon is a Tibetan Silver charm, of which:-  the moon part I covered in very fine silver glitter dust.  The bright yellow/gold, is a star.  And the Fairy Wings were given a white glitter covering.

SPOON 2

Spoon 2.  This second spoon talks of my love of Poppies. 

My mother grew some spectacular Poppies in her garden, and after she passed, Mr.Cobs collected the dried out Poppy heads so that I could grow her Poppies in our garden.  And then, after we sold our old cottage a few years ago, Mr.Cobs made sure that I had a plentiful supply of Poppy seeds from dried out Poppy heads to take 200 miles to our new cottage and we began to grow those Poppies all over again in our new garden, here in ‘Cobweb Cottage’.

The handle of the spoon is painted in the Poppies and the colours of them – red, black and yellow – using alcohol inks.  The Poppy in the bowl of the spoon is decoupaged, using printed tissue paper and Modge Podge.  The plant pot on the bowl of the spoon which the poppy is ‘growing’ out of, was made by me from clay and I ‘mossed’ it up a little to give it a bit of texture.

SPOON 3

Spoon 3:  Spoon three is about being a Spoonie – as you might have guessed by the teeny tiny spoon on the handle.  I talked about and explained what being a Spoonie was in my last post:  The Story of the Spoons (link supplied in the first paragraph of this post).  The colours of the spoon don’t quite show up as the true colours – but they represent pain, discomfort, golden days of fabulousness, and a touch of black because pain can be a real meanie.  The teeny tiny spoon on the handle basically tells you what the tea-spoon is about.  Again, the colour on the spoon are made using alcohol inks.

SPOON 4 

Spoon 4 is Butterflies.  I love butterflies.  They have a love of life which shows itself in the way they get so excited when they’re flying.  It’s as if, with every flap of their wings, they’re mind-blowing, excitedly saying, over and over,  “I’m alive!  I’m Alive!  I’M ALIVE!”.

I think it was my very first visit to a Butterfly Farm many years ago, which sealed the deal for me regarding butterflies.  I never knew there were SO many  truly  AMAZING  species of butterflies in the world,  and … I found out on that visit, that some butterflies love painted toe nails!!   One butterfly kept me captive, sat on a bench, with my leg stretched out, while it investigated the pinky red nail polish which I had on my toes.  I think it was at that moment that my heart was stolen by that butterfly and I have an allegiance to them for ever more.

Spoon 4 was created using Alcohol Inks,  and I decoupaged the bowl of the spoon.  The silver butterfly is a Tibetan silver charm, and I added those teeny tiny balls, in three colours.  There’s a name for those teeny tiny balls, and right at this moment of typing I cannot remember what the dickens they’re called.  (sigh – brain fog). If any of you can remember, do give my brain a prod in a comment, and I’ll add it here.  (Big Thank You in advance!)

MICRO BEADS!!!  They’re called Micro Beads!   I would dearly love to tell you that my brain started working again, but I won’t tell fibs.  It was the FANTABULOUS  BEVERLY PARKISON from More Ink Please who has a fully working brain and instantly knew what these brilliant beads are called.  Thank you Bev!  ❤

SPOON 5 

Spoon 5  . .  awww, I love, love, love this spoon.  It’s WAY prettier and filled with heaps more magic, than the photo’s show it to be.  It’s what I think a Galaxy should look like.  And … Magic.  I reckon every magic spell should work only after you’ve waved your wand and a flash of magic happens in the colours and ‘amazingness’ of that spoon.

The colours are all made using alcohol inks,  and I then added different types of glitters and teeny, tiny sequins to, and finished it off with some flat backed pearls on the handle.

SPOONs  6  and  7

Spoon 6  (above)  – is one of a pair.  There’s Mr.Bear (as seen on Spoon 6 above),  and there is a Mrs.Bear which is . . .  SPOON 7 (below)

These bear spoons talk about my affection for Teddy Bears.  Not all of them, but there are some bears which ‘speak’ to me and it’s those bears which I fall in love with.  I don’t collect bears though.

I still have my very first Teddy Bear which was given to me not long after I was born, and is actually older than me – (so there IS something which is older than dirt then!).  As a child I loved that bear so much and he went everywhere with me.  Many years have passed since I arrived on this planet, and I still love him (‘Teddy’ – his name is simply ‘Teddy’)  just as much now,  and there are times that I will pick him up and give him a hug – just like I used to all those years ago.

I did have another bear, bought as a Christmas gift by Mr.Cobs, some years ago.  However, one incredible little boy,  Grandson: Little Cobs,  fell in love with him and,  following an urgent phone call one night from his mummy,  I ended up driving like a speed demon, carrying a certain bear on board, to Daughter (No.2) and Son-in-laws house and taking that bear to a sobbing Little Cobs.  He apparently couldn’t continue in life without it.  Being 2 years old, as he was at the time,  is so tough.  😉

Mr and Mrs. Bear spoons were both made using alcohol inks and decoupaged with bear patterned tissue paper, and finally, some of those tiny beads (which I still can’t remember the name of).   amended to add:  They’re called Micro Beads – thank you Beverly Parkison of More Ink Please, for your brain power!

SPOON 8

Spoon 8 . . . tells of my incredulous awe of Dragonflies.  I  LOVE them! They’re the most astonishing, magical little creatures,  made by One who knows more than any artist will ever know.

Dragonfly’s are incredible insects and I am convinced that they’re magical beasts made for fairyland flight.  (hey, Goblins and the like, who have no wings,  have to get around somehow!)

Alcohol Inks were used to create the magical colours to spoon 8.

SPOON 9

Spoon 9 . . .  kind of speaks for itself.  It has a Cobweb (guess why) on the handle, and a tiny handmade (by me) Fairy House nestled in the bowl of the spoon.

I couldn’t get all the colours to shown up in the photo’s, but there’s blue, green, red, yellow, and peach – all of which were obtained using Alcohol Inks.  The bowl of the spoon is decoupaged in tissue and the tiny Fairy Home is finally attached to the bowl.

SPOON 10

Spoon 10 . . . well there had to be a ‘loving spoon’  somewhere in the mix,  because ‘love’ is what I’m all about!  Again, this spoon has some really beautiful colours to the handle, and I love the way the Alcohol Inks blended together in the forming of the pattern down the handle.

The bowl of the spoon was decoupaged with tissue, and I added a wiggly line of three different colours of glitter all around the edge of the spoon.  Finally, I fixed the pink gemstone heart, set in a rose gold colour metal bezel, to the centre of the bowl, added two gems to the handle and VOILA!  Spoon 10 was complete.

SPOON 11

Spoon 11 … is another spoon which features a Dragonfly.  But this one is flying ….and there’s a story behind it:

I once captured a dragonfly – well … I’m not really sure I ‘captured’ it or if it simply wanted me to share its beauty. . . .

It landed on the windowsill outside the dining room window, and I put my hand slowly and carefully next to it as you would if you wanted a bird to step onto your hand.  The dragonfly did that very thing, and I then got Mr.Cobs to put some leaves into a large round glass vase thing.  I offered up the big glass bowl/vase to the dragonfly and . . .  he walked in!!!  (The dragonfly walked in, not Mr.Cobs! eeek! lol).

I knew that Daughter No.2 would have loved to have seen it, but she was only (around) 8 years old at the time, and it was a school day  . . .  the school was only across the road. . .  and I was known at the school as I did some voluntary teaching there with children who had learning difficulties,  . . . so  . . .  I walked the glass vase/bowl over the road to the school, knocked on the classroom door and spoke to the teacher, showing her what I’d got.  She was thrilled to bits, and asked if perhaps I would leave it with them for the afternoon.  I did …. and then when I collected daughter No.2 at the end of the day I took the vase/bowl outside and we released the dragonfly together.  He took off and we watched him until we could see him no more.

That Dragonfly put a memory in my heart so strong and so magical, that I simply had to dedicate a spoon to it.

And finally . . . 

SPOON 12

Spoon 12. . .    the final spoon in the set of twelve spoons, and is a celebration of my love of Pearls.  I have long strings of pearls, short sets of pearls;  medium lengths of Pearls.   One strand, two strands, three strands and four strands.

I have my Grandmothers Pearls (which I got married in, despite everyone telling me that it was bad luck to wear pearls on your Wedding Day).  I’ve got Pearl Earrings – drops, studs and clips, and pearls in different colours.  I have rings with pearls in them – my oldest is a Pearl and Ruby ring bought for me for Mothers Day when our girls were little.

And I have a brand new set of Pearls, shorter than my smallest set, but they’re BIG pearls and the lustre is like they’ve been dusted in Fairy Dust.  They were bought for me as an early Christmas Present, last month.  I saw them, fell in loooooooove with them, and then discovered that they were (just for ten days) on sale at 50% off!  BARGAIN OF THE YEAR!  Mr.Cobs said ‘yes’ straight away when I mentioned them to him, and so the deal was done.

I only have one set of ‘pretend’ pearls – which I wear when I’m with Little Cobs.  Not saying that he would break them – but I would cry a lot less about those being broken than I would about any of my other pearls being broken.

BIG TIP OF THE DAY .. for all you fellow necklace of any sort wearers:  If ever you break your string of beads or pearls, and A) can’t get them re-strung for whatever reason;  and  B) don’t have the special beading string to re-string them with;  then you can use the second best thing….  Dental Floss to re-string them yourself!

Yes, I kid ye not.  Dental floss is really strong and thin enough to go through a bead/pearl and hold a whole length of beads/pearls.

And that’s it.  Cobs Spoons because she’s a spoonie.  (again, if you don’t know what that is, see the link at the top of this post and you’ll be able to read).

Of course …  you don’t have to be a Spoonie to have a set of decorated spoons.  You could have a set just to celebrate who you are.  Or maybe tell a story which is a favourite of yours or someone elses:   Maybe Christmas Bear Spoons?:  Night Before Christmas Spoons?:  Hungry Caterpillar Spoons?:  Harry Potter Spoons:  Wuthering Heights Spoons?:  Apostle Spoons?  – or any thing,  any person,  any story etc etc which means something to you.

You could make one, two, three or as many spoons as you would like, to keep or to give as a gift to someone else.  For a child.  A Wedding Couple.  Anniversary.  Birthday (maybe even give one each year).  Easter.  Christmas.   Spoons in a theme – cats;  dogs;  birds;  cars; fancy handbags;  expensive shoes;  etc.  A spoon for a nurse, your doctor, your childs teachers.  ANYONE.  Obviously, if it’s a gift you’re going to want to present it nicely,  simply wrapped in beautiful tissue and a ribbon.  But it would make such a great gift and because you were making it for a particular person, for a particular reason, it would be personal, and how much more perfect could that be?!!

Do let me know if you feel inspired to make a spoon or two.  You don’t have to spend tons of money.  Just some Tissue Paper, some Modge Podge,  maybe a little glitter or a small decoration (try looking for junk jewellery at your charity shop which  you can break apart and use some of the elements from), and that could be all you need!  Obviously you can get as decorative as you like.  But these metal spoons are a really easy project to make.  Even a total non-crafter could make these.  Truthfully.

Thank you so much for coming and spending some time with me.  It’s great to have your company. 

Wishing you a blessed rest of your day, and a truly fabulous new week . . . 

[Cobwebs:  Cleverly Disguised as an Adult]

The Fairy Wish Tree ~ a handmade card with a difference.

What would you wish for if you were stood under the boughs of a Fairy Tree?  Only one wish.  That’s the question I asked myself as I was in the middle of making this card.  I still haven’t actually come up with an answer that I’m happy with.

The Fairy Wish Tree. ~ the tiny white dots, aren’t white dots at all …. it’s very fine glitter.

I have to admit, that this card was one of those cards where I liked the idea of what I’d planned … then began to make it, and found that I fell out of love with it. So I put it on one side and began something else.  Then, a few days later I told myself that I’d ‘made it that far, so you might as well get on with it’ … so I picked up where I’d left off and continued with the plan.

Three times I fell out of love and three times I tried again, and again, and again … until I’d finished it.  And I’m SO glad that I did because now … I love it.

Where the front is more ‘quiet’ in colour, the inside is a riot and has colourful flowers, bird houses and dragonflies with multi coloured wings.

The little Fairy sat under the tree, is a very lightweight material – almost like a paper/wood mix.  I was making an order, on-line, and added her into my basket simply because I liked her.  I had no plans about what I’d do with her at the time.

The tree is a Tattered Lace die (I don’t own too many of that range of dies as I find them a little too fussy).  Cut out of white card and coloured by me.   Once I’d had the idea of putting her beneath a Fairy Wishing Tree, my next decision was that I wanted the card to have two ‘looks’.  One for day, and one for evening …. so I ‘built’ the card with a window, then put a little piece of shimmery stuff – I think it may be a plastic type of thing – which I bought years ago from Hobbycraft, in one of their sales.  I’ve used bits of it every now and again until I now only have a teeny piece of it left.  But it worked so well for the magical shimmery look I wanted to the opening  (see photograph above) and for hiding a battery operated T-light inside the card.

The T-light makes the glitter inside the card twinkle merrily too.

The card is a 6″ x 6″ plain white card,  which I die-cut to the size of the Fairy sat in the oval.

I’ve left the front without any sentiment so that I can be creative with the card and use it for any occasion what-so-ever.  Birthday, Anniversary, Thank you, Cheer you up,  Hello, ….  all sorts of things.  The design is such that it will ‘fit’ many occasion.

Thank you so much for coming and sharing a coffee moment with me.  I love to see you and chat with you.

I make a wish that your day goes well – or went well for those of you who live on the opposite side of the world,  and will go well for those of you who are just waking up and about to go out into the world.

What ever you’re going to do today, do it with joy.  Even if you’re not really enjoying it,  find the joy  –  and then the task will be much sweeter …  and will be over with a lot sooner than it would if you did it in a grump.

Go bravely into the world and smile.  For the World becomes so much easier to deal with if you’re in a smiley mood.  May your God go with you.

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What’s a Sentiment between friends? (~a handmade card for lots of reasons!~)

I wanted to make a ‘versatile’ card.  A card for almost any occasion.  So … I knew I’d have to be able to change the sentiment on the card in order to make the card versatile.  So this is the ‘story’ of one card, and,  just for the photos – four different sentiments.

Hello …. friend?  Maybe?  Haven’t seen you for ages?  How are you?  Or maybe  ‘Hello’ on the front, and ‘Get well’ inside?  Or ….  Hello,  Happy Birthday?

Made on a 6″x 6″ white card, and using Dovecraft  ‘Couture du Jour‘  papers and decoupage pad as a background paper, and for the pocket (for the tags).

I decoupaged the main focal image, and it has 5 layers in total.

“With Love” …. because you’re not feeling too well?   “With Love”  because … I love you?  “With Love”  …  just because?   “With Love” … on your Birthday?

The tags (in the pocket on the front) were stamped on plain white card, using stamps by Viva Decor.  They’re really fabulous crisp images which stamp clearly from the word go.

The tags were then ‘vintaged’ and layered on some green print paper, again from the Couture du Jour papers by Dovecraft.  I used some pastel chalks on the tags, in various places – on the one tag, I turned the stamped image of a bird into a blue bird.  And on the other tag, I coloured up the stamped image of a rose, using three different colours of chalks.

These are chalks I’ve had for … y.e.a.r.s!   I have two large sets of them – both made by Dovecraft.  They give a lovely soft, fuzzy sort of colour to things.  I really like them.

“Thinking of You”  . . .   well this one speaks for itself.

The heart hat pins are ones which are generally available.  I think I bought mine on Ebay years ago.  I wanted some red ones, but had to buy a whole set in order to get the red ones.  tsk tsk.  No wonder my craft room has no space … it’s filled with ‘left overs’!  lol.  🙂

“Just for You” . . .   because you deserve it.  “Just for You” because you’re amazing.  “Just for You”  . . . to say thank you for looking after out house while we were on holiday?   “Just for You” … because you’re a great help to me?  “Just for You” … just because.   . . .  or for a million other reasons.

The dragonfly over on the right (about a quarter of the way down) is from a selection by Anitas,  and the peg with the pink heart on it – down in the bottom left corner, is from the Santoro range.  And it’s this mini peg which enables me to change the sentiment on the card.  Virtually any sentiment can be held by that peg and it makes the card suitable for pretty much anyone.  I’ve just stamped four different sentiments to show you … and added some really pretty glitter – but you could stamp anything you wanted.

And that, as they say ….  is all there was to it!  Ta daaaaah!

Anyhoo ….. Happy Tuesday, 13th June.

Could someone please tell me who stole January to May?  And do the police know about this major robbery?

Do you know what’s made me a bit cross and fed up?  Create and Craft are having their CHRISTMAS  IN  [fricken]  JUNE  event.   Ho, Ho  bl**dy  Ho!

Now they  (Create & Craft)  say  (on their website)  that it’s only till the 25th June …  however, I remember last year and the year before … they said the same sort of thing, and Christmas never went away after their Christmas Event, so I have no hope that they’re going to change their ways and make Christmas in June, July, August, September, or October disappear.  [grouch, grouch, grump]

Ah well… I’m sure we’ll survive it.  I just won’t be buying anything from them until they stop the madness.  🙂

Wishing you a terrific Tuesday.  May the wind be a lazy breeze.  May any rains be soft, and feel like a caress as it touches your skin.  May the skies be a beautiful blue,  and may your day be free of anything which makes your heart ache.

Have a truly blessed Tuesday, all  ~

Things I’ve Learned This Week.

Aaaaand   ….  it’s Friday again.  They roll around as regular as clockwork, don’t they?!  They turn up, uninvited and then stick around for a whole 24 hours!  Crumbs, if that was someone who was being a pest and kept coming round to see you, you’d soon begin to hide behind the sofa when they knocked on the door!  But Friday is always welcome.  Maybe it’s because it’s a gift.  What do you think? 

Anyhoo …  we’re here to find out what I’ve learned this week, so put on your full armour. With your breastplate in place.  Take up your shield, and, wearing your helmet, your sword at your side,  gird your loins  . . .   and  . . .   we shall begin with  . . .

Doris Day.

I’ve been in the mood for a lovely Doris Day film (or films) for weeks.  Every week, when Mr. Cobs comes home from the newsagents on a Saturday morning with the coming weeks TV schedule magazine, I’ve looked through it in the hope of finding a Doris Day film, but none was to be found.

I checked out the scheduling on the TV – and even done a ‘search’ on the TV Menu bit, to see if her name threw anything up.  It did. YAY!!  FINALLY!  However it gave me two movies that I’d have to pay for to watch.

Now a Doris Day movie or two are normally there somewhere … so what the heck’s going on?  We have twenty million channels  (ok.  that might be a bit of an exaggeration) … we have enough channels to sink a ship (no, possibly not, but you get what I’m saying here), so why can I only find two Doris Day films, on Netflix, (which we’re not members of) where I’d have to pay to watch those two films?  I mean to say..  it’s DORIS DAY for goodness sake!!  They (the TV folks) put Ms.D. Day films on (normally) all the time.  They fill spaces with them.  So why can’t they fill some spaces for me dogam it?!!   Grrrrrrrr!!!

Well just to spite ’em, I’m going out tomorrow and going to buy as many Doris Day DVD’s as I can and I’ll watch them all day, every day if I want to.  pffft!  Stuff the TV channels.  pffft.

I learned this week . . . .  That Al Capone’s Business Card said that he was a Used Furniture Dealer.   This new-found knowledge has led me to think that I should get my cat (he’s called Alf Capone – in case you didn’t know) an extra collar tag with that engraved on it. [giggling like mad at the thought]  . . .    Imagine it ….   A cat with an engraved metal tag  . . . .  saying that the cat’s   a ‘Used Furniture Dealer’!    [still giggling myself silly]

Alf Capone (in hiding).   Used Furniture Dealer

I also learned   . . . .  That a Dragonfly has a lifespan of approximately 6 months.  That’s, of course, presuming that other cat here at The Cobweborium (Princess Tippitoes Maisie Dotes) doesn’t catch it first.

She’s an ever so teeny tiny cat, but she’s a Dragonfly Slayer.  I don’t think she actually means to kill them,  and in fact I don’t think SHE herself, does.  But she does bring them home,  . .  they’re so quick-moving,  and they make an attractive noise to her,  and they are a little sparkly in sunshine,  – so as far as she’s concerned, they were made just for HER.

However, when she brings them home, her brother, Alf Capone – Used Furniture Dealer, then steals them from her  (if I don’t get there first)  and sadly . . .  he does ‘the deed’.

Princess Maisie Dotes,  on Fairy Watching Duty.

I’ve found out this week (and so ‘learned this week’)  that a snail can sleep for 3 years.  Now if this is true … WHY DON’T THE BALLY SNAILS IN MY GARDEN SLEEP FOR 3 YEARS AND LEAVE MY PLANTS AND FLOWERS ALONE???!  (I shall be talking to God about this when I chat with him later, and, I can confide in you, that I’m a bit grumpy about this matter.  A very bit grumpy indeed!).

I learned a very important Life Lesson this week too:  ….   –  after a long break from using my BIG BEASTY sewing/embroidery machine  I got the (bloomin’ heavy) machine out (well actually no, that’s a lie.  It’s too heavy so Mr. Cobs has to get the machine out,  and put it up onto the table for me), I set it up, take half an hour to remember how to thread the machine so that it self threads the needle … then remember how to select all the settings;  then get the right presser foot;  double-check that I’ve got the right colour in my bobbin . . . and FINALLY set to in the sewing   . . .  AND THEN . . .  just two flowers into the stitching and feeling a warm happy feeling thinking that I’d ‘still got it’ . . . just at that point where the glow of happiness was surrounding me like a golden, heavenly halo and I could almost hear the Angels singing,   . . . . .  S.N.A.P.!

The ‘rasser frazzer grisser bazzer’ needle breaks and I find I don’t have any spare ones left.

[great  BIG  s.i.g.h].  It’s now 7.45pm and the shops where I could get a box of needles from are all now closed for the night.   I had to un-thread the needle, and put away the cotton back in the cottons box.  Then sadly put away of all the bits and pieces of my machine, and hope that I can get some spare needles in the right size in a couple of days time, so that I can do it all over again.  [double sighs and thinks  of as many great BIG swear words as possible… just doesn’t say them].  The moral to this tale is:  To always go and buy new needles for your sewing machine the moment you use the LAST BUT ONE needle.  Don’t wait.  Don’t think that you have one needle left and that you have loads of time to buy a new pack.  Go straight away and buy new needles, because if you don’t, the minute you put that very last needle into you machine  . . .   S.N.A.P.!  Then where will you be?

 And finally …

I’ve learnt this week that Tesco own brand of ‘Easy Seal Ice Cube Bags’ – those bags which you fill with water, put into the freezer and they turn that water into individual ice cubes, ‘those’ bags.   Well I found out this week that they’re suitable for use in the freezer!  That’s a bit of luck, isn’t it?!!

I’ve learnt quite a lot this week….  can you tell I’m more cleverer than I actwally woz last week?  🙂

Oh .. Oh … I nearly forgot …  I learned that you should always leave folks laughing .. so with that in mind I thought I’d do my best cheesy jokes … get ready ’cause these are my bestest ever:-

There was an explosion in the Cheese Factory! . . .  There was de Brie everywhere!

What did the Queen say when a man threw cheese at her?   . . .   “How dairy!”

Why didn’t the cheese want to get sliced?   . . .   Because he had grater plans.

How do you handle dangerous cheese?   . . .  Caerphilly.

Which Cheese is made backwards?  . . .   think about that one and I’ll tell you in a minute.

What kind of cheese would you use to try to disguise a small horse?   . . .  Mascarpone.

Which cheese would you use if you wanted to coax a bear down from a tree?  . . .  Camembert.

How did Mr. Cheese paint his wife?   . . .  He Double Gloucester.  (for those outside of the UK,  you say Gloucester like this:  Glosster.  now say the answer to the joke again and you’ll get it then).  Link: Gloucester Cheeses

And finally ..  back to Which Cheese is made backwards?  . . .  the answer is …  Edam.  Get it?

Have a truly fabulous Friday.  I hope that today leaves you feeling happy, tired, and ready for a nice weekend doing something you enjoy.  Remember to make a memory along the way.

Look after each other.  Be kind.  Try to make someone happy.  And … whatever you’re doing  and  where ever you go,  may your God go with you. 

Blessings, my friends ~

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Two Hand-made Plant Pot Cards for Autumn Gardeners

As any gardener will tell you, gardening doesn’t stop when the summer sun does, and it was this thought that made me realise that there were very few gardening or ‘plant growing’ cards for gardeners in the autumn/winter months to be seen on the high street (or on hand-made card makers blogs that I’ve come across) at these times of year, so I thought I’d make some cards for those of us who garden and pot all year round!

Card one:

I decided upon warm terracotta and copper tones for this first card and hand painted the little pots on some Neenah card then cut them out and shaped them (just with my fingers) to give them that dimensional look.

The deep ruby-red flower is made from felt with three glass beads in the centre, and I teamed it with two lovely burnt orange skeleton leaves.

The little Bumble Bee actually started off life as a photo corner –  ones which I’ve had for a gazillion years! (ok, I might be stretching that a little, but I’ve had them so long that I can’t even remember when I bought them nor where from).

The rim of the pot is made from coppery coloured corrugated card with the addition of a little brown and dotty ribbon, which brings a bit of happy whimsy to the pot rim.

I added a little smile to the inside by adding another hand painted pot, to which I added a ‘seed packet’ –  cut from some cardstock which had little seed packets all over the page.  I fixed the seed packet at an angle so that I could ‘sprinkle’ seeds falling out of the packet and into the pot.  The addition of the sentiment  ‘Sow Lovely’ finished the little inside scene off.

Card number two:

The second card began life in the same way (as a Craft Card terracotta pot shaped base) but for this card I cut out papers for the rim and the base then coloured them up so that the pot took on a much deeper colour than a normal terracotta pot in order to give it a more autumnal feel.  I added three half daisies along the rim (with Candi to the centres) and added the Happy Birthday sentiment so that they looked as if they were tucked behind it.

The watering can at the bottom of the card is actually a wooden one, which I coloured silver by using a silver marker pen, and added a flower to the centre.  The dragonfly, (like the bumble bee in the first card), began life as a photo corner – and again, I’ve had them for ever so can’t tell you where I bought them from – but they’re so adorable and I’ve used them lots of times.  I hope that I can still get those from somewhere because I’ll buy them in a heartbeat.  They’re perfect for that little accent when you need one).

This time, the inside of the card was a pop up – in the shape of some flowers….

These flowers started life as:

…7 x 2″ square pieces of decorative cardstock,   folded and then trimmed to shape, then cut, coloured . . .

. . . and then glued to turn them into ‘cone’ shaped flowers . . .

Then they’re re-folded and glued together in a specific way in order to make them close up and open again as ‘one’ pop up.  Once the flowers were in place I added the little heart shaped sentiment to the inside, on a belly bar, over some printed gardening themed text paper.

And that’s all  there is to it! 

Two cards, both really simple,  but both with friendly little smiles to brighten the birthday of someone who still likes to garden even when the sun isn’t there!

Thank you so much for taking the time to visit and check out my blog, it’s really lovely to see you here!

Have a wonderful Friday, and a truly fabulous weekend, doing whatever makes you happiest.

 

A bit of Vintage, hand made – For You!

There was a supplement with my Sunday Newspaper this week which had a nicely written article about the war years, and accompanying it were some fabulous pictures of posters from the same time.  They absolutely fascinated me.  I was sat there, with my magnifying glass out, reading each poster with gusto.  (They were all printed small size – hence the magnifying glass!)

Well they obviously had an effect on me because I sat in my craft room with just one thought…  make a card which had a vintage feel about it.  Something which had that wonderful romantic feel about it, but a card which could be sent even to a friend for a birthday or any other reason.

I started with my stash of card stock,  looking for ditsy prints.  I chose a Tilda, duck egg blue with a little flower pattern down the side, and another Tilda print from the same range, this time with teeny tiny ditsy flowers on it.  They needed ‘ageing’ – so I firstly took my scalpel to them both and roughed up the edges.  Then I chose two colours of dye pads and blended around the edges.

I used Memento Dye Ink Pads in Rich Cocoa and Rhubarb Stalk.

I wrapped the duck egg blue card stock with two short lengths of narrow lace, then attached it to a craft card which I’d already scored ready to make the card.  (The finished card will measure 5½” square).

With the ditsy flower card stock, I curled the edges and corners by gently pulling and curling them between my index finger and thumb.  I then wrapped a wider, short length of lace around the ditsy flower card stock,  and fixed it to the duck egg blue, using Collall glue.  (I love Collall all-purpose glue.  It’s not an instant fix, it gives you just enough wiggle time – but it’s an instant fix within a minute.  So if you use it – get your wiggle done asap!)

The little postcard was cut from another piece of Tilda cardstock, and I just inked around the edges (again using Rhubarb Stalk) and blended, then curled the edges and stamped  ‘for you’ using a sentiment from a gorgeous little selection of stamps from the Lillibet range.  Originally the sentiment read:  ‘Just for you” – but I snipped the ‘Just’ off (I kept it and still use it when I need to) so that I had more options with the stamp.  I then fixed it in place.

Then came the flowers…

I sorted out a little selection of paper flowers which I’ve had for … ohhh, for ever!  but realised that I had no leaves of the right size so I called on an old trick I’ve used for donkeys years.  I got out my tins of silk flowers and looked through them for flowers which I could cut up to make leaves.  I didn’t need tons, just a handful of small and slightly bigger than small ….  I then ‘dyed’ them using my ink pads:

There’s one green leaf in the photo above – which is one of a few that I dyed before I thought of taking a photograph to explain what I was doing …..  So the flower heads you see – the white and purple – are going to become leaves, using the two ink pads you see in the photo.  Memento New Sprout and Bamboo Leaves.

Now – before I show you the next photo,  if you try this yourself,   you’ve got to  HAVE FAITH.

If you try this yourself . . .   You’ll think at first that you’ve completely messed up and made the worst leaves in the whole world – but give them a few minutes and they become much nicer.

Here’s what happens when you first do them . . .

Don’t they look awful?  They’re too strong.  Too … aw, just ‘too’!  But …  have faith.  Put them to one side and get on with something else.  Don’t keep looking at them.  Just leave them alone and do something else.

While they were doing their ‘thing’, I got on with the card. 

I wanted to add a little glamour – but not too much.  So I decided that I’d add a very gentle twinkle to the card by using a Graph’It Glitter Ink pen, in Silver.  I touched really lightly all around the distressed edges of the cardstock – VERY lightly.  It left behind it the faintest twinkle, but it was enough to make it feel ‘perfect’.

 

I’m not sure if you can see it in the photo above, but if you click on the photo, it will open up much larger and you’ll then be able to see the faint twinkle to the distressed edges. (Don’t forget to click back again so that you come back here).   You’ll also be able to see that I lightly dragged the same pen over the embroidery on the lace you see in the photo.  It just gave it that teeny bit of twinkly glamour which I wanted to add to the card.

Now then  . . . .   Do you remember those awful, horrible looking leaves?    Well this is what happened to them after a few minutes . . .

See what I mean about having faith?   Those leaves are all made from petals of flowers.  The larger ones in the first photo are the very petals you saw before they’d been attacked with the ink pads.  I just inked them.  Snipped them, and then left them alone while I did something else.  Voila.  Instant leaves.

The green twiggy things are Blossom Twigs from Anna Marie Designs.

The two hat pins:  The one is a heart-shaped regular, but fancy, dressmaking pin, but the other,  the beaded hat pin was in a little set I bought from Hobbycraft about 10 months ago, for just £2 for a set of six.  (They were my bargain of the day, in the sale!)

The pink Dragonfly is one of a small selection which I’ve had in my stash for ever and ever and I can’t even remember where I got them from.

The Pink; Rose; Cream; Lilac; Blue; Red pearls which I’ve used as the centre of the flowers, and on all four corners of the card, are from a wheel of pearls made by Anita’s (I bought them from The Range – although you might be able to buy them from other places).  There are literally hundreds of these little pearls, in an amazing array of colours (all colours in one wheel – and more colours than I’ve used here) for £3  (English pounds).  You even get the storage wheel – imagine a grapefruit cut through the centre so that you can see all the segments – well that’s what this wheel is like, and each segment contains a different colour of pearls.  It’s a totally fabulous design idea and I love the pearls.  Oh .. here y’ go … I  found a link:  http://www.therange.co.uk/anitas-assorted-coloured-pearl-gemstone-wheel//the-range/fcp-product/67347

And that, as they say, is ‘it’!  One Vintage, made For You, hand-made card.

I really like this little card.  I wasn’t sure I was going to, about half way through, but I kept on with it and I’m now thrilled that I did because it’s darling.  My mum would have loved this card.  So .. Mum … this one’s for you!

Thank you so much for coming and staying for a while.  Hope you like the card.

Much love ~