Home Sweet Home – an Apron, using Graphic 45

One of my lovely neighbours is moving to a new home.  She put her property up for sale just a few weeks ago and it sold really quickly, too quickly for me, because I’m not ready to lose her yet.  (She has a lovely home so I’m really not surprised it sold so quickly). 

Obviously I wanted to make her a ‘New Home’ card, but I didn’t want the usual sort of ‘new home’ card that can normally be found on the mantel shelves of new homes.

So I put my thinking cap on and came up with the idea of making her a shaped card using my Graphic 45 ‘Home Sweet Home’ papers.  And here’s what my fingers came up with…

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An Apron card, made using Graphic 45 Papers

Fortunately for me, I already had in my stash some Apron shaped cards, so I didn’t have to measure and cut that, it was already done.   I chose my patterned papers ensuring that the patterns were of the right size for the card and the plan I had in my head.  I used 4 different patterned papers from Graphic 45, and one paper from another brand of papers, which I had in my stash.

The pocket on the front of the apron was easy to make.  I simply drew half around a big pot of paint in my craft room and cut it out.   I added a toning paper to the top of the pocket, and then added some lovely green seam binding which I’d had in my ribbons for ages but never had the chance to use that particular colour of green.  It was a total delight to use it, as it’s such a fabulous vintage colour.

The Oven Glove (mitt) I drew out onto some card, then traced around the card in order to get a glove which matched the patterns on the card itself.  The additions of some buttons helped to hang things off the apron, and also anchor the ribbon neck to the top of the apron.

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Inside the Home Sweet Home card.

Again, the inside of the card was decorated with Graphic 45 papers and I added a Recipe Card for ‘Grandma’s Apple Pie’.  Yum!

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On the facing (inside) page is where I wanted to write the dedication (To/from) and the best wishes etc.  But I also wanted to add some little wooden embellishments which I had in my crafty stash, and thought they might look kind of cute, and tie the front of the card to the inside of the card ….Home Sweet Home 2

If you look on the ‘scoop’ you can just see a scoop of …. something ….

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. . .   is it sugar?  Salt?  . . . .  Maybe Grandma seasons her apple pies with something more ‘exotic’!  Who knows.  It’s her secret and it will remain her secret.

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And that’s all there was to it!

I haven’t taken it to my neighbour yet.  I’ll do that on Thursday as she’ll be busy moving on Friday.  I shall be so sorry to see her leave.  She’s an incredibly lovely lady and so kind.  I’ll miss her very much.

Anyhoo …. Here in the UK and Ireland, we have received a bit of a bashing from Hurricane Ophelia.  Although it was no longer a Hurricane by the time it reached the land of my heart and home, it still brought with it devastation and took 3 lives in Ireland.

On Monday afternoon here in the south of England, it went very quiet outside.  No bird song was heard.  Nothing.  Inside Cobweb Towers it became black as midnight and we had to put lamps on around the cottage because we just couldn’t see.  Outside – now that’s where things got a little freaky.  Everything turned, first, a warm orange colour.  But then it got darker ….  and darker …. and darker as the minutes passed until it became almost blood orange colour.   It was very strange and rather unsettling.

This didn’t look at all like a regular ‘natural’ phenomenon.   And from what I’ve read in the news this happened over quite a large area of the UK.  Apparently, in London, they experienced a double sun. 

The weird thing is … that those  ‘in the know’  are telling us that it’s dust picked up perhaps in the Sahara,  by the Hurricane, and it was being carried in the winds.  But, and here’s the thing … it really wasn’t that windy here where I live.  I had washing on the line (which was brought in when it began to get ‘orange’ outside) and it was barely wafting in the gentle breeze we had going on here.  The breeze did pick up a little – but it really was only a little.  But the orange … well I’ll be truthful and say that it felt almost apocalyptic.

The rain came later in the day, and it was a good old downpour, but not for long.   Then … just to add a bit of interest to the day (as if we hadn’t had enough) …. we lost all power to our cottage.  Mr.C popped to the neighbours and they’d lost power too, and our other neighbour had obviously lost power as her burglar alarm was announcing it’s shock and horror at what had happened!  We got the candles out, and for a time we were living back in a strange Victorian age.

Of course … the power would go just when I was three quarters the way through on a ink painting!  tsk tsk.

It’s been raining again here today (typing this on Tuesday 17th Oct.) –  a downpour again this afternoon, but turning into just regular raining after that.

Here in the South, we’ve been really lucky, and I’ve given thanks over and over, because I was seriously worried that it could have been very much worse.  But, that orange  …  that is still puzzling me.  I checked my car over today to see how much of this  “dust”  had landed on my car, and considering how orange it got outside … there was very little dust on my car.  Certainly not enough to tell the tale of what happened here on Monday.

The more I think … the more difficult it gets to understand it.  So I’m stopping thinking.

Thank you so much for coming to visit and staying to read.  I truly love your company and love to see you here.  So thank you.  Without you, blogging would be a very lonely, silent affair, and I’d probably give up.  I continue to blog because I love the wonderful people I’ve met through blogging and have made friends with a lot of them.  Of course … there are one or two who I love to pieces … but they know who they are.

Wishing you a truly wonderful Wednesday.  May you be in receipt of joy, supplied to you from someone who likes you.  May you also be free of Orange Air and Red Suns.  Avoid those.  They’re freaky and I’m really very unsure about what they are caused by.

Have a truly blessed day.  ❤

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Nice Day to Bake . . . a card.

Haaapy Monday!  Can you believe it’s already the 22nd of May??  I had to do a double take when I looked at the calendar.  (Although why it’s called a Calendar I don’t know.  Surely it should be called a CalenDAYIt makes sense!  Calenday.  “Sweetheart . . . What date does it say on the calenday for a week on Monday?”   See?  CalendayI think we should start a movement and all begin to call it a Calenday.  That will get things put right!)

[thinks to self:  perhaps I should write to Mr.Trump, and Mr.Putin,  Prime Minister May,  Prime Minister Justin Trudeau,   South Korean President Park Geun-hye,  Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe,  French President Francois Hollande ….. and of course I shall drop The Queen a note about this.  I’m sure Her Majesty will agree that this is a grand idea!]

Aaaannnyhoo….  I made a card and I promised myself that I wouldn’t do a big long post and bore everyone to tears, so I’ll get on with showing you the card.

It was all made on a scored 6″x6″ white card.

Measured, cut and fixed in place the hessian you see in the photo (below), and while that was drying,  I distressed some pale(ish) blue gingham paper, tearing it and rolling it in places,  added some blue gingham ribbon and fixed the paper and ribbon two-some, in place, on top of the hessian.

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Next came fussy cutting some honeycomb from a sheet of honeycomb printed paper then adhered it to the gingham paper.  Time for a little decoupage: to make the dresser, where the chicken has laid her eggs, and one little chick has already hatched.  🙂

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If you look really closely you just might be able to see that there’s a cobweb in the space where the drawer is missing, – to the right hand side, in the upper corner of the drawer space.  I thought that was a nice touch considering who was making this.  lol

Can’t see it?  . . .  here it is . . .

cobweb Nice Day to Bake

I added bits of straw in various places,  and a tiny wooden rolling-pin – hanging on some cotton.  The silver bumble bee you see hanging below the large red petal flower is also hanging on a thread, so giving the buzzy bumble a ‘flying’ movement.

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The lovely, fluffy marmalade coloured feather was donated by one of our chickens: Miss Edna BIG BIRD, HUGE EGGS Chicken.  She’s so accommodating.  I ask for a feather and she does the ‘chicken wiggle’ and out pops something perfect.  lol

The flower adornment was made using some pretty coloured stamens, some loofah strands,  a tiny piece of muslin which I pulled some threads from to make it kind of ‘feathery’ around the edges, and that lovely ‘blousy’ flower from my stash.

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Finally,  it was time for some attention to the inside:  using some distressed yellow gingham paper,  cut to size,  I made an insert which I then stamped and added a Country Chicken ticket in the lower right hand corner.

OH!   And I added a bow made from the ribbon, to the front of the card!

And that,  as they say,  is all there was to it!

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The papers and ribbons are all part of the DoCrafts ‘Home Sweet Home’ range.  I bought them about a year ago and used some of them, but then Summer moved to Autumn and so I put them away reminding myself to get them out again this year.  And … as strange as this might sound I actually remembered!  Ha!  Miracles really do happen.  😀

Everything else came from my stash.

So, changing the subject  ….  I was thinking about Mondays,  and I’ve worked out that Mondays were invented as a punishment for all the fun we have at the weekends!  Seriously.  It makes total sense when you think about it.  We all do have more fun at the weekends, and we obviously needed something to kind of get us back into line – so Monday was invented.  SOO….  Just get it over with and within 24 hours, it will be Tuesday,  after that  . . .  it’s all heading towards Friday  😀  … can’t get better than that!  So lets change things round a little.  Smile today.  Be happy.  Be all twinkly eyed and joke around.  Beat the system!

Oh … and just to get you started, here’s a Monday Special:

Q: What do you call a parade of rabbits hopping backwards? . . .   A: a receding hare-line.

Have a great day out there.  Be nice to yourself, and each other.  And … remember to look both ways when you cross the road!

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A Card with a ‘twist’: Book Marking Vegetables!

I sat at my desk towards the end of last week wanting to make something different in the ‘handmade card’ category . . .  and I came up with  A Card for a Gardener – but one with a difference.   It’s slim and tall, and stands up all by itself, just like a card is supposed to do, but if you pull on the ribbon at the top, you find that there’s a bookmark hiding inside!

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pull on the ribbon and SURPRISE! something is hiding inside!

Trying to make a card suitable for a lady or gentleman, either of which gardens, seemed a challenge at first, (I instantly thought of flowers … and flowers on a card is something one normally associates with a ladies card),  but as I was gazing around my craftroom looking for inspiration, my eyes rested upon my collection of Graphic 45 and one of the Graphic 45 collections is a particular favourite of mine, it’s called Home Sweet Home.

Home Sweet Home by Graphic 45
photograph credit: Graphic 45

So … the choice was made!  The Card (base) is made out of craft card, which I measured, marked and cut to size, scored and folded, then glued all the parts which needed to be fixed together.

I then chose and fixed to the ‘base’ layer of paperthe papers behind all the adornments.  The deeper green paper on the front and back of the card (the holder of the bookmark) are from a selection of papers by Dovecraft, called Couture de Jour.  But the paper used on the bookmark itself is again from Dovecraft in their range called Floral Muse.

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Distressing and inking up took place, and made everything look like it had enjoyed a good ol’ time in the garden with it’s gardening friend. (I almost feel like the distressing looks like soil covered fingerprints!)

I cut out the images I wanted to use from the Graphic 45 papers, and placed them where I eventually wanted them to be, – then leaving them there, I turned my attention to making some vegetables out of Hearty Clay.

Hearty Soft Clay

If you haven’t already tried this clay then I can highly recommend it.  It’s easy to handle and will dry quickly – I always give it overnight, simply because I want to ensure that all the moisture has had chance to evaporate.  (You really don’t want to put wet clay on a card!).

It’s also very light in weight so it adds little to the weight of a card.

Once the clay vegetables were dry I painted them and put them on one side for the paint to dry.  While I was waiting, I fixed all the fussy cut items to the card.  Then I sprayed the dried vegetables in a quick dry glaze, and once dry I added them to the card, then turned my attention to the bookmark.

6 Back of card and front of bookmark
showing the back of the card and the front of the bookmark.

Again, wanting to make sure that the card could be given to a lady or a man, I chose the stamps carefully.  All the stamped images you see are Graphic 45, and from the same Home Sweet Home range.  I stamped the images in black dye ink, then hand painted them using watercolours.

6 The Back of the Bookmark Card
showing the ‘stand’ for the back of the card.

Finally … I made a fold out stand for the back of the card so it could stand up by itself, or if preferred it could lean against a book or a shelf, wall,  etc.

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trying to show the glaze I gave the card.

But . . .  there was just one last thing I wanted to do … I glazed the front of the card so that it gave it an extra sort of ‘aged’ look to it, and especially so to the craft card (see above photo)  It made it look like I’d found it in Grandads shed, a left over from the 1940’s.  It was a bit difficult to photograph the glaze, but the photo above was the best out of the ones I took.

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And that’s all there was to it!  🙂  The bookmark can be separated from the card holder, and the card can stand there all by itself without the bookmark.  So your gardener friend or relative can use the bookmark in his/her  [gardening]  book and not lose the page they were reading , –  AND …  they will carry your inscription around with them tucked into the pages of their book!  Something which would make me smile over and over!

Actually …  perhaps we could make this card a give-away!  Yes … let’s do that.  If you’d like to enter your name into the mix for this card to be sent to you, simply add the word GIVEAWAY either to the start or end of a comment,  and we’ll give it till Thursday of this week – so the 4th of May – at 6pm (UK time), at which point I’ll get a number generator to pick a number and I’ll announce the winner on Thursday evening!  Oh … and those of you who’ve won a previous give-away, please enter if you’d like to win this card … you’re not excluded just because you were picked out before.  It’s all just down to the luck of the generator.

I can either write the card out to whoever wins …  or I can leave the card blank, and the winner can give it to someone else as a gift for their birthday.  Winners choice.  😀

Happy Monday, and …. HAPPY MAY DAY!  In case you didn’t look at the calendar this morning, today is the 1st of May 2017.  This day won’t ever happen again.  It’s the only May Day of 2017, so beg you to enjoy this day like it should be enjoyed.

“The world’s favorite season is the spring.
All things seem possible in May.”
Edwin Way Teale

I feel the earth waking up truly now.  Everything seems brighter, lighter, more joyous.  People seem to be happier too.  Oh … and the little cottage along the road has some holiday makers in it already!  I saw the people there walking their dogs earlier.  (I wanted to run off with the dogs!  Two fabulous White Highland Terriers, all snuffly and smiley).

Oh anyhoo …. I’ve yapped enough.  I shall shut up and leave you to enjoy the last gulps of your coffee.

Thank you so much for coming and having a coffee with me.  I absolutely love seeing you.  It brightens my day and makes me so happy to share some time with you.  It’s like having an open house and all my friends popping in, sitting around the pine kitchen table to share a few smiles and giggles together.  What a great way to start the day!  ❤

Sending lots of May Day love and buckets of squidges, from me here in my corner, to you there in yours.  Be good to each other and … may your God go with you.

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Edit to add: —> GIVEAWAY now closed! <—

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