A sad one this time,

I got word last Friday that a friend on the PCP Site had suddenly pass away. It was a shock to say the least. I had never met Cathie, in real life, but as I read her posts, her comments, received mail from her and joined in swaps with her, I got to know her.

What is a friend? Do you have to have physical contact to be friends?
I don't think so.
I think friends are people you have a connection with, you have commonalities with, share a sense of humour maybe. It is someone you choose to spend time with, in this case on the computer, spending time making something special for them, "speaking" to them, taking time out of your life to read what they have to say and telling them whats going on in your life.
OK, you cannot run over for a cut of tea and a chat, you cannot be a shoulder for them to cry on or someone to give a hug of congratulations when something wonderful happens for them but with the advent of the Internet and skype it makes meeting people from all over easier. Also makes life a little more interesting.

But I digress.

As last Saturday was International Card Making day, I decided to make a card in Cathie's memory.

 

I used Kraft card for the base and Graphic 45 paper as the designer paper. Cathie had just started a discussion group on PCP for Graphic 45  as she really liked it. I agree, it is very nice paper, the quality is great and the colours are vibrant and easy to work with.

The image is an original by Cathie, herself.

 

The teddy is setting on a "cushion" reading his book. When I was attaching the teddy to the backing paper, it just looked as it was floating in mid air, it need to be grounded, could not figure out how to do this for ages, I did not want to use ribbon as I wanted to keep the card a masculine card, the bakers twine did not suit. I did not have any chair images that he could sit in.  I was looking around my craft room for some inspiration when I spotted Tiny's bed that he had chowed on while board one day and some of it contents lay on the floor. Light bulb moment, a cushion, Teddy could sit on a nice soft fluffy cushion. That's what he is sitting on, some of Tiny's bed. Sorted!

 

The card fold, is like a smaller card within a larger card, hopefully this image will show it better.

Sonny saw the card on Sunday and his comment was, "its a nice card but a bit plain" and I agreed at the time, it was missing something, but I always use glitter or ribbon on my cards but I think that the vibrancy of the colours of this paper makes up for that.

 

Recipe:
Card: Anitas Kraft card blank.
Designer Paper: Graphic 45 - Domestic Goddess.
Image: Cathie.
Colour medium: ProMarkers.
Cushion: Tiny's bed.

Cathie, my friend, you will be missed, may you Rest in Peace.

More to show

Must say, my post titles are so unimaginative, they are ridiculious.

Life has gotten back to routine after the summer holidays. Sonny has settled very well into his new school. Hubby is working away, night and day. Day in his daytime job and night (well evening time) making his timber creations. He has decided to show his work at a craft show in Dublin (Ire) in December, so he has a lot to do for that, not just making his usual products but making new products. He also has to source gift boxes and packaging for some of his products. He is also creating a new brand for himself so he has all that to deal with. It is an interesting transition moving from hobby to semi-professional. I have also started a part-time weekend job, so it is all going on here in, Tigh O Connor.

Between all that, I still gotten some time to visit other blogs and take part in a swap or two and also sent out some secret cards.

Here is just a sample of what I have been up to.

 

I took part in a tea swap hosted on PCP, the theme of this swap was ATCs, we had to include two ATCs in this swap along with some tea.
The background is a freebie from a magazine, as are the papers I used on the left ATC. I stuck the backing paper onto a card blank and then edged the bottom of the card using Martha Stewart edging punch. I make a little pocket on the front of the card using acetate to hold the ATCs I used ribbon to edge this and little flower brads to decorate the corners. The middle flower is made from 3 paper prima flowers held together using another flower brad, this is then stuck onto the front of the card to separate the ATCs.

The ATC on the left as I explained is made from some freebies from a magazine. The green glittery band in the middle is made by shaking and pressing glitter onto double sided tape. The sentiment comes from a stamp set called "Coffee Cafe" from TPC Studio.

The second ATC was made, altogether, differently. 
I dabbed some distressed inks on a mat and while they were wet I "smooched" the ATC in the ink. I know, a very technical explanation! Are there technical words for this technique? lol
I then sprayed some Smooch Spritz on to the ATC.
When it was dry, I heat embossed the flower image using gold embossing powder. I added a spry of flowers and attached a ribbon with two butterfly heart buttons just to finish it off.

I attached the tea samples to the inside of the card.

Recipe:
Backing papers: Freebies from Cardmaking and Papercraft Magazine
Inks: Rangers Distressed Inks - Shabby Shutters and Peeled Paint
Splitz: Smooch Spritz - Sun Sugar
Ribbon: Stash and local haberdashery
Stamps: TPC - Coffee Craft, and Docrafts - Victoria and Albert Museum clear stamps collection Potpourri
Embellishments: Stash.


Hope you like,

Catching up.

Hi,

I have a few things to say first:
I want to thank all my followers, readers and commenter's here, I love hearing what you have to say and it makes my day when I read your comments.
Second, sorry for not reading and commenting on the blogs that I usually do but I have been working for the past week and just don't have the time that I did, to follow up on all the blogs.
It is great to be working again even if it is only for a few weeks.

I actually have some cards, to share with you tonight and I will keep some until tomorrow or Sunday, just to keep you following! hehe.

Over on PCP there is a Tea Party Group and they have swaps once a month and I have taken part in 2 of the 3 swaps so far.  This is a strange group to have on a crafting site but it is surprising how many enjoy the cuppa while crafting.

This is the card I made for my first swap. The criteria was to include, 2 different samples of tea along with something nice to eat! And as it was in summer, flowers had to be included somewhere on the project.

I used DoCrafts "Hot Diggity Dog" by Andrea Jayne designer paper as the main focus for this swap. I folded it into a "Tea Bag Baggie" I used a template from Watlzingmouse Stamps.
On the front is an image of a teacup, which I cut out using my nestabilities circles, I inked this with Tattered Rose distressed ink. I mounted this onto a scalloped circle die cut also from my nestabilities set. The "Baggie" is closed with a white brad. The tea bags themselves are wrapped in other designer paper, K&Company Designer paper which I have for so long I have no idea where I purchased. These are tied with bakers twine.

On the back is just a flower Rosette which I make from Cosmo Cricket Early Bird Designer Paper.

I, in turn, received these from "RATS" (not real name!). This is the front, isn't the little teapot charm the cutest?

and it opens to this,

Recipe:
Designer Paper: DoCrafts - Hot Diggity Dog by Andrea Jayne, Cosmo Cricket - Early Bird, K&Company.
Baggie template: Waltzingmouse Stamps.
Colouring Medium: Distress Inks - Tattered Rose, ProMarkers.
Miscellaneous: Brad - No idea, Bakers Twine - PCP Secret Pall 1st.

Hope you like,

Fathers Day approaching fast.

So yesterday, I decided to make some Fathers Day cards. I got the idea from the PCP Newsletter, Susanna Boyd had a video showing how to make them. She made it look so simple that I just had to give it it a try, in fact a made a few of them.

 and this is a throw back to the 70's. lol

I know that there are lots of origami shirts out there but this was much simpler, not much folding. wow, I sound so lazy, :0, don't like cutting now I don't like folding. lol

I sent one, like the top one, to my Dad yesterday and this morning I received a text from my Mom - background story: last Christmas when my father was very ill and spent so much time in hospital, he lost loads of weight so now all his clothes are falling off him but he hates shopping - thanking me for sending the card, and that she is going to frame it hang it where he can see it when he is getting dressed. :0
Yeah! we have  a strange family!

Hope you like,