Is there a Birthday celebrated with Chocolate? If not … there should be!

It was recently a male relatives Birthday, and pretty much like most ‘made by hand’ card makers, I  don’t like making cards for men.  They all seem so twee or predictable – so …  ‘forgive me Crafter for I have sinned’  …  I will normally buy the men in my life a card for their birthday.  And …  this is the story of how this card came to be.

I knew I’d bought a card for this particular relatives Birthday.

Mr. Cobs knew I’d bought a card for this particular relatives Birthday.

Could I find said card?

Not on your nelly!  (I have no idea where that saying came from – but it’s most definitely a saying here in the UK, and has been since dirt was invented.  It means:  ‘Not on your life’!).

So, with very little time left before a card had to be delivered by hand, I got my thinking cap on and came up with a card which, I have to admit, looks better in real life than in the photo.  But … and this is the important bit …  it practically made itself.

It began with a cut and scored white card.  I chose the cafe latte coloured, striped with cream stripes card for the top part of the card, and the rich chocolate-brown Happy Birthday card, in different font styles for the bottom. (You can buy both these cards in a huge variety of different colours – so check out the options if you visit the website).  Both of these cards are from the Anna Marie Designs range.

I cut these different cards to size, then layered them onto some black card stock, then fixed them to the white card.

Then cut the tag from some white card stock, using a Tattered Lace Peach Sorbet Torn Edge Tags die.  I don’t think Tattered Lace make these anymore, but I’ve had a look round and found some on Amazon  here.

The ‘Birthday Wishes’ was stamped using a stamp from the Wishes and Vines by Silhouette Stamps.  I’ve had these stamps for a while, but you can still buy them in one or two places, both in the US an in the UK – so ask Google to be your friend and I’m sure he’ll help.

I stamped and then layered the tag onto some black card, which I then carefully cut around, attempting to match the wiggly outside of the tag itself.

Then I added a ribbon made from some wide silk ribbon in my stash and …. That’s all there was to it!

I would have posted this a couple of days ago …  but I couldn’t find the place I’d saved it to on my computer!  {sigh} …  It would seem that Birthdays are going to be a nightmare when card giving this year.  First Birthday of the new year and I’m already ‘fudging it up’!

I know I don’t normally do Jokes on any day but Friday … but I heard this one and I need to share it with you ….

Why did the cow cross the road?
–
It wanted to go to the mooovies.

Yup … still finding it funny and still laughing out loud.  lol

Have a really great rest of your day, and thank you so much for coming and having a coffee with me!

Sending you lots of squidges in a huuuuge bucket  ~  

 

 

Advertisement

InkTober 3rd 2017

InkTober caused me a moment today.  I began with an idea in mind and started to draw it ….  kind of liked it … but not enough.  So I scrapped it and decided on something different instead. Don’t you hate it when that happens?

Its like knitting … and getting eight rows in then realising that you made a mistake on row 2 so having to pull it all back and re-knit. grrrr!

So anyhoo ...  this is what I ended up painting….

#InkTober2017

 

… but .. that’s not everything …

The photo above was taken with the desk lamp as lighting, but the next photo is taken with the flash on the camera …  and it shows you what the photo above can’t….   that I broke open the Kuretake, Gansai Tambi Starry paints (watercolours) – for just the one colour – White Gold, – so that I could use a teeny tiny bit around the edges of the moon, and onto the clouds.  And this next photo, taken with the flash, shows you the difference that this one colour can make …

#InkTober2017

 

It just gives the moon and clouds a more magical feeling.  Slightly more depth.  And … well, I just had-ta!  lol.

The apparent ‘bend’ on the left hand side of the painting, isn’t a wonky bit of water-colour paper, it’s actually how the paper dried.  I’ll bury it between the pages of a book, weighted down by a couple of book, and it will then magically become flat again.

The pens used to create this bit of Inktober Art are by Kuretake, apart from one Sakura Gelly Roll Ink Pen, in white, which I used to add some ‘moon shine’ hi-lights to the trees and parts of the landscape.Pen

So far I’m quite enjoying InkTober  . . .  it’s a bit like doodling, only trying a bit harder.  But I can see me getting tired of black a bit quickly.  But that might just be me wishing to break out and crack open the bottles of blue and brown ink which sit on the side of my desk.  I wonder if that would be against the rules.  I mean to say … it’s still ink, isn’t it?  I could rather go for a nice inky denim blue drawing.  Or a fabulous vintage looking brown bit of fun!

Ahhh .. I’ll be good as long as I can .. then I’ll break the rules and be naughty.  lol.

Thank you for coming for a visit and sharing your coffee moment with me.  I just LOVE seeing you here.  Blog land has turned out to be one of the nicest places on the web.  I’m not sure what I expected when I began The Cobweborium Emporium – certainly not being part of such a great community of bloggers who are truly amazing, and so very talented!  Cooks, Knitters, Writers, Bakers, Farmers, Artists in a variety of forms, and .. well just genuinely nice people.  I’m SO glad that I began this blog, for without it I wouldn’t ever have even known that you existed.  And that thought alone is SO painful to my heart, because I love knowing you.  Truly.

Thank you for being exactly who you are.  For who you are is  . . . perfect.  I tried you on and you fit perfectly, and I love you for it.

Have a truly great day out there!  Sending squidges ~ as always …

 

 

Lunar C ~ an ATC/ACEO – painted for World Watercolour Month

Can you hear dogs howling?  Are there rappings at your window?  Do you see strange shapes, female like, travelling past the moon with only a broom as transport?  Do you have bats in your belfry?

Throughout history,  the occurrence of the full moon has been linked to all sorts of strange behaviors. It’s said that some police officers believe that a full moon leads to more crimes being committed.

Me personally?  I think it’s all rubbish.  The only thing that happens during a full moon is that I can see better in the dark, and I don’t reckon that’s because I ate all my carrots either!

Lunar C.  … an ATC for  #WorldWatercolorMonth  –  lit with the dullest of table lamps – so that it lights the photograph but doesn’t over light it.  It leaves it a little dark and moody.

I was sort of vacant of thought, gazing at the moon through the window and this gave me an idea to paint a [bit of fun] night sky with silhouettes on the ground in ATC size.  So I did.

However not only did I use regular water colours,  I also used a tiny bit of a different type of water-colours, called Gansai Tambi Starry water-colour –  in White Gold.  I used this for the moon and a little on some of the stars,  as I wanted the moon to GLOW.

Lunar C.  … an ATC for  #WorldWatercolorMonth  –  This photograph is taken with a bright desk lamp – so it shows the moon being a little brighter than the last photo.

The Gansai Tambi Pearl and Starry colours have mica mixed in with the water colours and can give you a truly lovely glow to parts of your paintings which you want to draw attention to.

Lunar C.  … an ATC for  #WorldWatercolorMonth. This photo taken with the same brighter lamp – but I’ve put a mount around the ATC to frame it better.

I’ve been using these types of ‘twinkly’ water colours for a while now….   I found my very first set years and years ago, packaged up as ‘children’s paints’ and I bought them for just £1.49 from a shop here in the UK, called The Works.  You can see a little ATC here  (click and the link will open up in a new tab) on which I first used those mica paints to paint with.

But the paints I used for brightening the moon in this painting was part of a boxed set of 6, made by Kuretake.

I LOVE Kuretake products.  The company was sited not too far from where I used to live, and every year they would have a monster sale and invite crafters to come and buy.  I must have kept that company going for years!  I spent so much money with them, and learnt so many amazing techniques from their fabulous staff, to do with paints and pens.  They are very much a company who I highly recommend.  BUT … although I know you can buy from that well-known TV Craft Channel (Create and Craft), I urge you to shop around before investing your money there, as I’ve bought some Kuretake products for half the price that they’re selling them on C&C, AND –  I’ve got FREE postage on top too!  So do please shop around if you decide to buy any of the Kuretake items.  The company itself is truly brilliant.  Their customer service and the products are perfection.  —> Link to Kuretake website HERE.<—  (You can buy direct from them on that website too – check-out the sales items!)

This last photo was taken with the flash on as it’s the brightest light I had on a dark evening a couple of nights ago.   I so wanted to show you how the light plays with the Gansai Tambi Starry water-colours and makes something so simple become something quite stunning….

Lunar C.  … an ATC for  #WorldWatercolorMonth.

…  and …  what you see in the photograph isn’t the true story.  That moon looks like MAGIC!  So magical that it makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck!

The only thing I would change about this tiny ATC (2.5″x3.5″) is …  that I wish I’d have gently dotted stars into the scene, instead of dragging my fingernail over the bristles of the damp brush to get the ‘splots’.  I totally forgot that I was working small-sized and because of that I should have dotted the stars in individually using a tiny brush or dotter.  tsk tsk.  By the time I’d got to that part, I couldn’t change the dots as it would have spoilt the sky … so I left it as is.  But to be honest .. in real life, the dots aren’t as ‘in your face’ as they appear on the photo’s.  It’s my own fault for being away with the fairies as I was painting.  lol

The next full moon, here in the UK, isn’t until the 7th August 2017 – so make a note and …  don’t forget to howl at the moon!  (Google will be your friend if you want to know when the next full moon is where you live).

Thank you SO much for coming and sharing a coffee with me. It’s so fabulous to spend time with you.  If you fancy a wee chat, then please leave a comment in the comments box below and I promise I’ll reply the very next visit I make to the blog here. (and I come here regularly – so you won’t have to wait long! 😉 )

Before we part …  I need you to know that I receive no incentive, payment or encouragement from Kuretake, or any other company,  when I recommend products to you.  I speak to you as a fellow crafter, with many years experience.  I research and buy all my own supplies – and if money would allow I’d buy even more supplies just so that I could share them with you and share the results I get from using them.

Of course,  if Kuretake,  or any other craft product company, happen to be reading my blog and would like to share some of their products with me so that I can share [honestly]  the results I get from using them, with you – then I’d be more than happy to do that.  (but the chances are very slim that any craft company will be reading my blog so I won’t hold my breath!)  🙂

Have a truly brilliant Saturday.  I hope the weather is just right for you – not too warm that you’re uncomfortable, and not too cold so that you require a hot water bottle for your feet!  May your day end with you looking back over the hours, and smiling a satisfied, contented smile.

Be kind to yourself, . . .  and each other.

Much love ~

Let’s Light up the Christmas Village

I’ve been finally making Christmas cards (did I hear someone say “about time too!” at the back there?!).  At the moment I seem to be having a love affair with white and most of the cards I’m making are, in the main, white.  Maybe with a touch of colour from a ribbon, or some such, but on the whole I’m loving the white, so I’m going with it because it’s the path of happiness – and, I’ll admit, ease, because ease is what I’m aiming for right now.

I’m here sharing the card which, inside my head, as I planned it out, I could see how easy it would be to do what I wanted to do.  The planning was easier than the making, for once I got to the making, cutting, piecing together, sitting back and thinking it out a bit more and trying again …  well, I’m willing to share with you that I left this all in a pile on my desk twice and walked off to do something else because I fell out with it – due mainly to my lack of patience I think. (And a die which took six passes through the machine – I have no idea why because the second time I cut it out, it cut it out properly on the very first pass! doh!)

I know that looking at this first photograph, you’re perhaps wondering why I was having such a struggle with this card.  After all …  it’s just a fairly simple card, with a black silhouette of a village scene, and a couple of die cut ‘wreaths’ in white.  Ahh …  but it’s not…

Getting any clues from this silhouette now?  (sorry about the fuzzy photo …  the camera didn’t want to focus on the village, it wanted to gaze longingly at the flame on the t.light, like some love struck nincompoop!)  Shall I give you a clue?  ….  ok …. look at the colour of the card, compared with the colour behind the (black) silhouette.

“Ahhhhh!”   . . .  I hear you say

OK … well this one will give it away ….

The t-light is actually a battery operated t-light,  so safe to use with (or in this case inside) a card.

Made using a 7″x 7″ folded white card;  parchment (for behind the silhouette) and die cut wreaths which I overlayed, in different positions, and used one for the inside of the card also, in order to finish off the inside, around the parchment, in a decorative fashion.

If you look really carefully at the house on the top  ‘snow’ drift slope (over to your right as you’re looking at the photo above) you can see some ‘smoke’ coming out of the chimney pot!  Sadly, what you can’t see in any of the photo’s, even though I tried my very hardest, is the snow which I drew on the back of the parchment, which you can actually see even if the t-light isn’t lit.  It just wouldn’t make itself known to you in the photos.

Taken with the t-light inside lit, and a desk lamp on, so that you could see it as you’d see it if it were on your shelf at home.

To be fair – I could have made this easier for myself to make, had I not wanted to die cut a wreath into the card itself, so making it able to see the light from the flickering t-light through a die cut wreath shape as well as a silhouette through the ‘picture’ window, and also wanting to use acetate to suspend the village scene in the window.   Yes … I really could have made this SO much easier on myself.  And believe you  me …. I’m going to on the next one, I’m telling you!

Well that’s me done and dusted for today.  All that’s left for me to say is:   Happy Monday.  May today bring you a cup filled with happiness,  with a few spoonfuls of joy, and as many dashes of love as you can fit into your hours.

Say something nice to someone today and make them smile.  I bet it will make you yourself smile more than you would believe.

Sending warm squidges to you in your corner from me in mine.

Things I’ve Learned this Week

Well, looky here!  It’s Friday again, and we all know what Friday means ….  it means that you come to school to learn all the valuable life gems that I’ve learned this week (whether I wanted to or not) so that you don’t have to!  (It’s my personal kindness to society.  I learn all this stuff and just tell you about it so that you’re warned!). lol

So … what have I learned this week?

I’ve learned:  That I shouldn’t eat Magnum Ice Creams  . .  because …

. . . .  the Gods of Ice Cream and Chocolate all get together and have an absolutely bally hilarious time laughing at me as tiny bits of the chocolate covering drop off the ice cream lolly, straight onto my top;  my decolletage;   or, if they manage to actually get past my chest, straight onto my lap.  And … sometimes all three!  I end up looking like I can’t feed myself and need a carer to assist!

I’ve learned:  That a silhouette isn’t just the title of an image of a person, or dog, tree, building etc.,  that you can only see in a solid colour – normally black, grey or brown (but I’ve seen them in other colours).

In actual fact Silhouette is the name of a French Minister of Finance, way back in the 1700’s.

Etienne de Silhouette (French Minister of Finance) put up taxes massively for the French upper classes,  during the seven years war.  Because of these high taxes,  paintings (a favourite of the upper classes)  were way too costly (and there were no cameras around during that time – surprising as that might sound),  so they came up with a very cost-effective way to have ‘pictures’ of their loved ones,  family, friends and pets.  They had picture cut outs of them instead of paying a ludicrous amount for a painting.

Having a talented artist cut out your daughter/son, dog, mother etc, out of paper,  was an exceptionally cheap way of getting around the taxes put on paintings.

So because of this ‘high tax’ time in France, anything that could be made cheaply was always linked to Etienne de Silhouette, however the little paper cut outs have retained the name Silhouette to this day and it’s known all around the world.

The final thing I’ve learned this week  . . .  is that when I see something (craft related) which I instantly fall in love with,  but I tell myself that the set is too expensive;  –  and  besides which:  what if I don’t use them enough to get my monies worth out of them?;  –  and … well,  surely I have enough things in my amazing craft room that I really shouldn’t be buying anymore ?. . . .

I’ve learnt that I should bally well ignore myself and my guilt conscience and purchase the very things I so desperately want when they’re available – and before they’ve sold out. The promised new supply of said things (I was notified by the craft store) would be here in … July. No ..  August.   No ..September …  and then when the date in September rolls around and you call the company up, with your bank card clutched in your grubby little fist … the company say that “the suppliers are really messing around and only half of the stock has turned up from over-seas!” …  AND THE MOST WANTED THINGS OUT  OF ALL THE THINGS I WAS GOING TO BUY,  ISN’T EVEN BEING MADE AT THE MOMENT BY COUTURE CREATIONS (in Australia) YES, STAND UP AND OWN THE SHAME THAT COMPANY!

And the craft store where I was going to buy them from has said that they’re actually not really very sure if the company  (Couture Creations) will even put them through for making them again as they were originally out (in Aus) in the very early part of this year so to Cout.Crea., they’re kind of ‘old stock’ and they may be moving on to a new range now. (These products [dies, papers, embossing folders, chipboard decorations etc]  only came to the UK around the early part of June, and then at that time they were only available from Create & Craft.)

I nearly cried when I got off the phone today. It made me cross and miserable,  I think simply because I was getting so excited as the day drew nearer for me to be able to buy them.  I’m now faced with either doing without;   buying them from an eBay seller in Australia (at a higher price and then add the postal charges for posting to the UK);  or … buying a set of these from Create and Craft at a higher price than I could have paid if I’d just have bought a whole bloomin’ lot at the beginning when they were on a Special Offer price.  [sigh]

Ahh [sigh] we live and learn, we live and learn.   Time for more chocolate I think.

Well …  I don’t know about you, but I’ve had trouble with my days all week.  I thought Tuesday was Monday – all day I kept saying that it was Monday. I’d gone back a day!

But then …  I thought Wednesday was Thursday – so I went forward a day.

And yesterday I thought Thursday was today, Friday,  and I began to panic that I hadn’t got various things done and had run out of time!

Something is wrong with the wiring in my brain.  It’s shorting somewhere.  Either that … or I’m a dope.  Hmmmm … [thinks for a moment  . . . .]   Yes, I agree with you.  I’m definitely a dope.  Hang on, hang on a cotton pickin’ minute  …  what’s all this talk about a BRAIN?  I’m getting rather ahead of myself here, aren’t I?!   I don’t have ‘a brain’.   I have …  A BRAIN CELL.  That, dear reader, is a very different thing altogether!

Ahhh, life could be so much more simple if I just listened to my brain cell.  But I insist on confusing it and making it feel like I expect more from it.  Poor New Ron.

Aw look …  Have a wonderful weekend my friends.  If trouble comes a calling, don’t answer the door. Decide to have a great day, each morning you wake up.  It’s as simple as that.  Two choices.  Decide or have:  A)  a good day.  – or – B)  a bad day.  I know which one I’m going to choose. …  well, New Ron does.  lol

Sending my grandest of squidges to you.  Be nice to each other.