Patrick.

Don't you find that mothers always have the last word? Mine certainly does.

Mum has recently because of ill health had to go into a nursing home. The first home we found for her was not to her liking as they had a bunny in a cage for the other residents to enjoy watching. Not so Mother as she doesn't hold with animals being in cages so refused to be in the same room as him and let everyone know why. A space came up in another home so we moved her into the second one. They have a cat but as he roams freely around the rooms and garden he was grudingly allowed to be  present. All well and good until a few weeks back when the home decided to get a budgie!  Mum was not slow to voice her displeasure at the new arrival but the home prevailed and in due course the budgie and cage were installed in the dinning room. The residents were all asked to choose a name and put it in the hat for a name to be picked out.  This was done and Timmy was the name chosen.

On next visiting Sis asked by way of interest what name Mum had put in the hat only to be told her slip of paper had been omitted from the selection. Sis thought this to be a bit odd so asked her what name she had written down. Back came the reply The Prisoner!!!

Now if only Mum had put down Patrick she might just have gotten away with it!.

This brings me nicely to the card I have made below using a freebie backing paper, snippets of lace and ribbon and the bird/cage are gifts from my lovely blogging friend Nicola of Sunshine Reflections. When Nicola found out I couldn't get my hands on certain Tim Holtz dies she popped  a few die cuts in the post to me.  Hugs NicolaXXXXXXX.

I used my new distressed marker pens to colour the bird and cage and then gave the cage a coating of glossy accents. Sentiment was computer generated and cut with a nestie die.
Playing over at Pixes Crafty Workshop as I have used up some of my snippets stash.

Sea Glass.

On holiday in Italy a few months back we spent 3 afternoons in a quiet cove beachcombing for

Sea Glass. This is the haul that we found along with a few shells and bits of stonework that appealed to my "I could make something with that ". The pile of glass in front of the tray was the reject pile to be left behind but of course whilst The Doc's back was turned  I snucked it into the luggage anyway!

 I made this tag a few weeks ago for Tag Tuesday using some of the sea glass up.

As sea glass is technically snippets of glass and its now in my stash I'm going to sneak into the playground over at Pixies Crafty Workshop and share with the girls. If anyone would like some Sea glass then just email me your snail mail and I will put some in the post to you.

Heres looking at You!

Here is my latest picture finished at last. I painted this one for my Mum.She has recently gone into a care home at the age of 92yrs and as she is originally from Australia thought this might cheer her up.

As with all my other painting I have taken snapshots of it as I go along so that I can see the different stages and how the picture builds up.

So here is the first stage of the line drawing and the koala bear given a base coat of plain grey paint on his fur.

 Eyes, nose and the beginings of his fur emerging.

A bit of his fur. The coat is quite thick and dense so needs to be built up in stages. Started a bit of the background colour too where his fur will cover over.

 A bit more fur and the background completed and darkened down  to make him stand out more.

Leaves and tree filled in and the edges of his fur blended against the background. Nearly done now.

Just a little bit more tweaking of his fur, nostrils added, eyes brightened and

Heres looking at You!

Entering into the following:

Homemade Harbour: Mondays. 

2 More Wins.

I was a top three winner at Simply Create Too #18 with my " Brave heart " card and
I won at C.R.A.F.T. Challenge #165  with my "Water Babies" tag.
I'm still taking it all in.

Shrink Plastic Butterflies.

One of the mediums that I love working with is shrink plastic. Add butterflies into the equation and I'm away. I made a batch up the other day using up some off cuts of plastic. Instead of making into buttons I left them blank to use as decoration.

 This card uses up three of them as the colours just happen to go  really well with the snippet of paper I had left over from another card. The  butterflies were made using a large die, coloured using promarkers and then shrunk with my heat gun. Glossy accents (another of my must haves)
was coated over each one and left to dry to a lovely  high sheen. The lace had been white but I scribbled a promarker onto paper, wet it a little bit and then dunked the lace over it until it  covered.

Everything I have used has come from the snippets drawer so am entering into
Pixies Crafty Workshop. Snippets #31.
Also entering into the following challenges.
Come and get it challenges: Adult Birthday.
Sirstampalot challenges: Take flight.
That craft place: Things with wings.
Corrosive Challenges: Birthday.

Last orders for Fish & Chips!

I was  checking Dawns blog for the latest totals on the Fish and Chip baby jumpers and beanie hats only to find that the deadline for making these and sending to her is fast approaching.

Dawn needs them to be with her by mid August as the consignment is being shipped out to Africa during September.

As at 30th July the totals stood at 581 jumpers and 576 beanies.

I quickly got my second set sewn up and sent off last week.

Entering into the following to catch anyone out there still making theirs:
Homemade Harbour : Always anything goes.
Pixies Crafty workshop:  Use your snippets (mine was the brown wool for the stripes only just).

The Godparents.

I have made this card for Fluff's Godparents. It's their Wedding Anniversary today. Happy Anniversary to you both as I know that you will be logging on at some point today. A quick look on the  World Wide Web told me that 37yrs is Alabaster so that set the colour scheme.

 I  printed up a page in word of sentiments appropriate  for the occasion  and downloaded onto cream cardstock in brown lettering. I used a Martha Stewart punch for the edging and some cream lace and then made a rose using the same cream cardstock You can see a close up of the rose below. I added a pearl in the centre and lightly brushed some pearlised chalk paints over the petals and leaves.

As I have used up small pieces of cardstoke for the rose petals and the border punch I am entering into Pixies Crafty workshop: Snippets #31.
Also entering into the following challenges:
Crafting when We Can: Monochrome.
The Stamp Man challenge: Celebrations.