Stamps Ahead

 It is New Years Eve (morning) and I have completed this layout for a challenge over at Soul Scrappers .  The challenge was a Christmas themed layout. These photos were taken on Christmas Day.  My sister came to my home and we had breakfast together. The first unexpected moment - apologies from my sister she left my gift sitting under the tree at her home. No worries, I said, we are heading over to yours after breakfast with our brother and sister-in-law.  The bottom right shows my table decorations, including the beautiful poinsettia I received from the executive of local community group where I lead the card classes. Now about the photos of my sister and I. The mask  was a gift from a friend, so the unexpected moment - I decided a photo of me wearing the fun Christmas mask was required to say thank you and I sent a photo message to her.  My sister, is displaying the Santa with mask decoration I gave her.  We are mask wearers and very aware of pr...

 Here is a layout I have created for a challenge at ARTastic Challenge blog.    It is for the final challenge of 2020 (and what a year it has been).  This challenge blog is taking a little break over Christmas/New Year so if you want to play along you have until the end of January, to submit a layout.    The inspiration for this month came from Salvatore Zofrea with Christmas Bells 2011. Criteria was "Anything goes" so surprise us! Surprise...I used a kit and a really old spray bottle of Tsukineko Walnut Ink Antiquing Solution and its cost $USD4.50.  Does anyone remember these inks?                                            A little about my layout.  The photos were taken at my 21st birthday party - I recently recovered them from an old style photo album.   They would be considered 'vintage' as this month I celebrated by 71st bi...

 This layout I created today for a challenge over at Paper Issues (Friends and Fans) . The challenge was to inspired by this monochromatic mood board: The colour of sea foam is muted on my layout and unfortunately it does not show up the colour to its best advantage.  The papers and embellishments (except for pearls) are from 49 & Market -Vintage Artistry - Sky. The photograph is one of many vintage photos I want to get into album as quickly as possible.  Ena was my maternal grandmothers younger sister. Unfortunately, the photo does not have any details on it as to when or where it was taken.    I remember my dad, talking fondly of his Auntie Ena.   Thank you for looking, Margaret 

Making the scrap fabric cards the other day, really got my fabric on..... here are some mini projects I made last night and this morning. I started knitting and needlework from an early age. For many years I was a patchwork and embroidery teacher, also completing several commission works and selling at markets.  The call of new car and a holiday beckoned me back to the corporate world.  After 10 years I left to care for my father, teach English overseas and become a lover of papercraft and mixed media. Recently my friend was given a card for her birthday by her aunt (I cannot post that image here) that was embellished with a small, 2" or thereabouts, of stitching.   This got my fingers itching to do some embroidery again.   So, off to the internet I went.  I found references to 'slow stitching', sashiko, and boro stitching that inspired me to get out the needles, embroidery threads, scraps of fabric, lace, beads, etc and get started. The following desc...

 I have created this layout for a challenge over at Soul Scrappers This was for a Tic Tac Toe (TTT) challenge - here is the TTT grid: I chose the centre across.  The papers I have used are from Kaisercraft called Peace and Joy, the matched the photos of my great nephew Oscar so well. These photos show him with the presents that I gave to him at our family get-together last Saturday.  It has become somewhat of a tradition that I give him a Christmas Tee Shirt each year...2020 The Wiggles green Tee Shirt won the day! Oscar is not yet three and already has great dexterity and social skills.  He loves to read, colour in, dinosaurs, The Wiggles and play.   Thank you for looking, Margaret

So what do you do when it is 4am and you wake and remain wide awake?  Of course, Pinterest browsing.   I found Sew Me Something Good blog and there were posts about making cards using fabric scraps and so much more . I have left some thanks for the inspiration. This got my thinking cap on.  Here are a selection of cards I made this morning. For the past year I have been involved in cutting out donated fabric into fat quarters, fat eights for a local op shop. These cards have been made with the scraps of just a small selection of those fabrics - I chose to select Christmas colours.   The construction is very simple: Take a piece of cardstock (cs) and cut it to size you want - I used 9.5cm x 13.8cm.  However, you could cut as squares, rectangles  etc. Cut or tear fabric scraps into any width.  I tore my fabric and left the raw edges to show. Sew onto the cs leaving some fabric hanging from cs.( I lengthened my stitch so it was easier to sew)....

 Recently , I posted a photo of a card I made for a friend who is turning 70 this month.   I loved it but did not think it right for my friend.   So, I have created another one for her.   This one is a little more feminine.                                           I changed up the embossing from black embossing powder to the white and added a bit of lace and pearls.   The inks are again Ranger Distress Inks but this time in softer colours.    Inside, I added my greeting and a few things about the number 70 that I searched for on the internet: 70 years 840 months 3,652 weeks 25,567 days 613,607 hours 36,816,444 minutes 2,208,986,640 seconds *** 70 is only 13 in Scrabble *** Turning 70 is like turning, 21 in Celsius. *** Thank you for looking, Margaret Happy birthday to everyone who has a birthday in December.