Drop a pebble

Isn't there a saying about drop a pebble in the water and the ripples reach out so far that it can cause a tsunami the other side of the world?

Well I guess people must have been throwing boulders in recently! I just wish that before people acted in haste they would consider how their actions affect others. Wheyher it be a little girl in a playground calling some other child names, to a drink driver killing a mother, or a radcal thinking that Allah would reward him if he maims and kills innocents.

People who no matter how many times someone hels them, just kick out either physically or verbally. Hurting those who have cared enough to help them time and time again.

Acts such as all these make you lose faith in the decency of peole. It makes you no longer to want to interact with others, jst in case they hurt you in some way.  Some lies can be proven as such. Others due to their very nature never go away. They are always there blighting the life of those who they have been made about as well as the lives of those closest to them.

The children no longer with a parent, the mother who loses a son, a daughter. The person who can no longer walk.  The family who now have to live with the stigma of  lies made in haste.

As I said a small pebble but such large ripples.........

Drop a pebble in the water: just a splash, and it is gone;  But there's half-a-hundred ripples Circling on and on and on,  Spreading, spreading from the center, flowing on out to the sea.  And there is no way of telling where the end is going to be.  Drop a pebble in the water: in a minute you forget,  But there's little waves a-flowing, and there's ripples circling yet,  And those little waves a-flowing to a great big wave have grown;  You've disturbed a mighty river just by dropping in a stone.  Drop an unkind word, or careless: in a minute it is gone;   But there's half-a-hundred ripples     circling on and on and on.       They keep spreading, spreading, spreading         from the center as they go,           And there is no way to stop them,              once you've started them to flow.                Drop an unkind word, or careless: in a minute you forget;  But there's little waves a-flowing, and there's ripples circling yet,  And perhaps in some sad heart a mighty wave of tears you've stirred,  And disturbed a life was happy ere you dropped that unkind word.  Drop a word of cheer and kindness: just a flash and it is gone;  But there's half-a-hundred ripples circling on and on and on,  Bearing hope and joy and comfort on each splashing, dashing wave  Till you wouldn't believe the volume of the one kind word you gave.  Drop a word of cheer and kindness: in a minute you forget;   But there's gladness still a-swelling,     and there's joy circling yet,       And you've rolled a wave of comfort         whose sweet music can be heard           Over miles and miles of water              just by dropping one kind word.                ~By James W. Foley~

Presents for a very sick friend

i just added butterflies to this pretty tissue box!

 So a very good friend of ours had a freak accident a few weeks ago whilst on holiday. She got run over by her caravan as her husband drove off! She had a smashed pelvis three breaks in her back, damaged spleen and kidneys and other internal injuries!,

So far from home, which is Liverpool,mshe is in Southampton general hospital so only her husband is there to be able to visit her.

I sent flowers but she was unable to have them in the intensive care unit. So i put my mind to getting parcels of things that she can use now. I didnt want boring things like wet wipes to look boring so i spent some time making bags and boxes for the items.

Pootles Design Team July Week Four Just a Little Note

Well here we are at the fourth week of my time on the Pootles Design Team. i have really enjoyed stretching my creative muscles and would like to thank Sam for giving me this chance to show off my creative side!

This week I thought I would take advantage of the fact that all crafters are hoarders and are unable to throw away any paper or card no matter how small! With the small elements in the Every Occasion stamp set I thought I would blend these two things together.

Ok I know what I have done is nothing new, I cut old DS paper pieces into 2cm wide strips. Used my triple banner punch to notch out the ends and randomly stuck them to my cards.  Oh my cards only measure 3 1/4 x 4 1/2 inch, yet again used from left over pieces of my A4 cardstock!!

I used a black art liner pen to put faux stitching on the banners, just to make them a little more funky.

I stamped the star using Tangerine Tango ink and cut out using a small circle punch.  I then double heat embossed the circles and mounted them onto a slightly larger circle cut from some left over Old Olive card.

A strip of Old Olive card across the top of the banners.  Once again marked with faux stitching and the star fixed on using dimensional.

Just a note.... Stamped from the Better Together stamp set and the cards were done.

I made a box ( I need to make a second one as I produced so many cards lol), by randomly stamping the wreath image in Emerald Envy, putting a belly band using some leftover Hello Honey cardstock.

Whilst not all my papers are current items I think that I have proved that this stamp set can be one of those go to sets when you need to make a quick card for virtually any or should I say Every Occasion!!

To pass on the "love" I have two sets of these notecards that I would like to send out to two randomly picked people who post a comment.  So please post and I will get my grandaughter to draw out two names.

Thankyou for joining me and........Happy Crafting!!

Pootles Design Team July week three Thank You Sir

Well here we are and its week three already! Considering that I really didn't "get" the stamp set Every Occasion when I was first introduced to it, I have to admit that now it is growing on me.  If you want to make a BIG statement, then this stamp set is not really the one, but if you want a smallish card and to cover just about any occasion then this set ticks the boxes.  So far I have done easier themes but this week I chose to use the satchel.  My first thoughts were starting school.  But then I thought about the fact that all the children are getting ready to leave classes, and leave schools.  Well its always reasonably easy to get that gift for the female teachers but the male one, maybe not such an easy thing.

So here is my offering for an idea for the male teacher in your childs life!!

First of all I stamped the satchel image over some A4 card.  i used Early Expresso ink and stamped off three times thus getting different density of colours.

I scored my box using my Score board and put it together so that it has points as opposed to making a tidy box!  To see how I make this box please go to my youtube video where hopefully I can explain it to you!

A band of Soft Suede card around the box with a Thanks stamped using  the Crazy About You stamp set,  onto a punched circle and mounted onto a scalloped circle.  This box fitted a coffee mug quite happily into it, wrapped in plastic wrapping and tied off with some Linen Thread with a tag with a satchel stamped onto the circle and mounted once again on a scalloped circle, and the gift was complete.

With the card once again being for a man I knew it had to steer away from flowers etc, so I made my card base using my Soft Suede cardstock.  A border at the bottom using some of my stamped card and the word Thanks cut using my Hello You thinlets.  The only other thing I did wa draw some dashes above and below the stamped border, using a white gel pen.

There you have it a respectable pressie for that much loved male teacher!

Use up and catch up cards

So its that time in my craft room when i use up all those bits and pieces of paper and card thhat have been kept as you just can't throw them away when you are a crafter....right?
So when looking on Pinterest i came across a card making lolipop flowers, i liked the idea but decided to do it my way.
So using a selecyion of punches i got cutting. As i built up the flowers i drew dashes using a white del pen.
I like the finished items but which is better? The scalloped flowers or the circle ones?

Pootles Design Team July Week Two Goodbye and Goodluck

So its the second week of July and here I am again stretching the old grey matter and creating my offering from the Every Occasion stamp set.

Just like last week I am using the stamps to decorate my card so that I can use on my project.

When I was shopping the other day I found myself in the wine section, heavens only knows why, because we rarely drink wine. But anyway I saw these small bottles that hold a glass of wine, depending on the size of your glass! So I picked them up, thinking that they would make a nice little gift for someone. So with that idea in mind that is the idea i went along with.

I measured out a 2" strip of card and used 2 my Banner Triple punch to puch the bottom of it. A. 1 3/4 circle punch dor it to go over the neck of the bottle and the Decorative label punch with 2" circle punched and coloured with my Delightful Dijon ink pad.

I stamped over in the sam ink the sunflower image the banner, then stamped the glasses onto the circle. Plus "enjoy" from the Endless birthday wishes stamp set. A piece of ribbon threaded through the label to hold around the body of the bottle and the label fixed to the front using dimentionals and that part of my project was finished.

Finally a strip of dtamped card mounted onto a piece of Deligful Dijon cardsrock. The sentiment stamped from the Greatest Greetings set and final some petite petals punched out and mounted onto loops of linen thread.

Quite a simple project but a lovely gift for a work collegue who is moving on.

Every occasion flower box

Today i made a slimline box measuring 5.5 x2 " i put panels on it using the sunflower stamp from the every occassoons stamp set then i made some flowersusing my circle punches and stamped a star for the centre of the flower.

Held together at the top of the box by another flower, the box holds tealights so is a fun box for a relatively cheap gift.

Baby cards galore

Well i have recently been asked to supply a good friend with a selection of baby cards in various colours. Those being pink, blue, lemon and pale green.

So having just made some pink cards i set my mind to making the blue and green ones.  Here is a slection of those, so now all i have to do is create some lemn ones!

Pootles Design Team July week one baby gift set

Well the stamp set being used this month is "Every Occasion". I have to be honest looking through the catalogue I passed them by each and every time. They were certainly not high on my want list. To be honesy they weren't even low on my want list!

But these are the stamps that Sam has given to her July Design Team. Oh how I regretted putting up for that job! I really had problems seeing how I could use these stamps. But then slowly a lightbulb moment started to flicker into life, and once one idea popped up others started to follow!!

So after that lengthy procrastination, here is my first offering for the month of July!!

So first out I have to admit that I am short on supplies at the moment. Yes I have SU papers but they are not ones from the new catalogue! But I did buy the new n colours ink pads, and so therefore I have recently been making all my own dsp using the pads along with various stamp sets.

So first of all I made some gingham card up. i taped two strips of card 1 cm apart and sponged between them using Sweet Sugarplum. I continued down the length of the ard until it was striped, then turned it around 45 degrees and started again!! To make it pop out a little I then drew lines using a white gelly roll pen. Final result a piece of gingham card that will match exactly to the rest of my project.

lines being sponged onto card.  

finished dsp

 i cut some A4 card to make 4 3/4 inch square cards. Cut a strip of the gingham, a strip of white card onto which I stamped the babygro and fixed a strip from the card that I had used to mark off my lines as that was nicely inked up! On one card I have used my scallop edge for my trimmer on the other i have left it straight, just to show how slight changes can make a big difference.

With a greeting stamped from the Better Together Set that was my cards complete.

I then started on my little gift box. Using my Curvy Keepsake thinlets dies, I cut out half of the die using the gingam card and the other half using plain white card (making sure that both sets of pieces had the square base cut out on them). A quick bit of glueing together, a quick stamp of the babygro on the front and the boxes were complete apart from a rose I made for the top using a large circle punch and the pansy punch,  on the top and a little gift tag.  The greeting is part of the congratulaions on your new arrival stamp.

The Curvy Keepsake box will hold either a bib or a pair of baby socks, a nice little gift for the new mum and baby.

Finally I made up a small box using the leftover gingham card around the edges.  Decorated using the Petite Petals punch and candy dots made using my smallest circle punch.

All in all quite a simple make and all that was used was two stamps sets, an ink pad and some white card.  

Its a challenge

So I decided to take up the challenge set by Sam Hammond of Pootles!! Use any combo of four colours she said!! So as I only own three of the four that sort of decided my colour pallette!!

Colours used....

So Saffron

Pink Pirouette

Pool Party

Apart from two sheets of card coloured in Pool Party all I used was white cardstock.  I stamped an A4 sheet  using Playful Backgrounds, using a different colour and background for each sheet.  Then I randomly chopped up all the card and made a selection of cards.

I used the Hello You thinlets dies and Swirly Scribbles thinlets dies and the Endless Birthday Wishes sentiments stamp set.

I have managed to make 7 cards 4 3/4 square, plus 6 notelets 2 3/4 x 4 1/2 made using the off cuts from my white cardstock.  The only pieces of card that I had left I punched out a few small flowers so there is absolutely no waste at all!! 

I don't know what you all think, but I am pretty happy with todays work!!

30th Birthday card

I have just completed an order for a birthday card for a female. The remit was put the picture on the card, make girly and put the words Big Sis on it.

Hopefully I have managed to tick all the boxes and that the card will be well recieved.  All I now need to  do is make a box for the card and then I will be finished!

After some measuring, cutting and more measuring I made a box to hold the card. Hope everyone likes it!!

Mums birthday card and 21st card

Well I haven't yet got round to making the boxes that I mentioned yesterday. Well I have made the prototype, so all I have to do now is work out how I want to decorate them.

But before I can get those done I needed to complete some orders. That being a mothers birthday card and a 21st birthday card for a male.

The mothers card I used my butterflys and flowers. Plus I pushed my poor brain to its limit by making a step card!! Of course then there was all the measuring of the matting and layering. Plus when finished it didn't fit in any of my envelopes and was too big for me to make an envelope. So with two sheets of 12 x 12 paper I ended up making a bag for it to go in.

The birthday card for a male 21st was in some ways harder. i had no idea of the likes and dislikes of the person it was going to be given to. So I went for simple blue papers with a cut out 21. All in all I am quite pleased with the finished article and the bonus was it fitted in my envelopes!!

Schedule checkin

so I need to check if i can schedule a post to come on at a certain time. I thought i had done everything correctly until i realised that blogger is set to pacific time and not GMT!! Which means a seven hour difference!! So therefore to set a post to come live at 7.00am gmt i need to set it at 23.00 the previous day!

Swirly bird thankyou cards

  So The past eleven weeks I have attended Cardio rehab. Which means that twice a week I have found myself at Chester University Gym. Working out on the treadmill, rower, bikes and all weights equipment!! I have muscles that I never knew I had, and apparently all this fitness lark strengthens the other muscles around the heart as well as the heart, thus keeping me alive a little longer! people there include those who have suffered heart attacks, had pacemakers etc fitted or like me have heart failure.
Well next week I complete my twelve weeks so I wanted to make some thankyou cards and little gifts.  tonight I made the cards and tomorrow I will make up some matching little boxes to put some small gift for the girls and lads that work there.

the fact that I just had delivery of Swirly Birds Stamp Set meant that there was no contest in what I was goung to use for the cards.  Stamping in Flirty Flamingo and black memento ink, I then used a black pen to put dashes around the outside of the flowers.  A strip of black card and the thanks cut using the Hello You thinlet dies, plus a little punched heart and my cards are complete.

In all honesty I wish I had used better card to stamp on as it was not as crisp as I would have wished, but I was using up some card that I had been given before buying in some better quality. i hope you like my finished cards, hopefully I will be able to post in the next few days the boxes that I have made to match.

Paper flowers a la Stampin Up

So every so often I have a paper flower binge, where I use up paper scraps to make flower embellshments for my cards.

On this occasion I used the five petal pansy flower punch

I punched four flowers out of card. Did a bit of fringing of the petals, a few minutes of manipulating the punched shapes and suddenly i had some rather pleasing flowers to use on my cards,

Obviously you dont have to make fancy dancy flowers with your punch. But it just goes to show how versatile this Stampin Up product is!

If you would like a better explanation of how to make these flowers go to my youtube tutorial for a step by step guide.  I guarantee before you know it you will be knee deep in flowers that you have made!

https://youtu.be/hxAKwZjlqZY

You tube go slow

So today i did what i thought was a quick video tutorial.
Recorded without mishaps and pleased with the finished item. Then to upload to youtube.......nightmare!
All evening and still not loaded.
So all i can say is help! Surely there are faster ways to get a video up.

Anniversary cards

Well today has mainly been spent looking after my ten month old grandson. He is now toddling and so there is little chance to get crafting whilst he is awake! 

But once my son collected him I was able to put the finishing touches to three anniversary cards that I had started.

I am really pleased with them, hope you like them too!