Blog Give-Away. " Victoria "

Hello my fellow bloggers.  Since I'm  approaching my 200th follower I thought I'd like to have a Give-Away.
As most of you know I was a British Bear Artist, under the name of Wisdom Bears.  And due to a bad fall that broke my wrist in 3 places I was unable to hand sew my beloved bears.  Being a qualified seamstress it really got me quite depressed. So my challenge to myself was to see if I could hand stitch a miniature bear.  I managed it, and I'm really pleased to say that " Victoria " is now complete and ready to go to a new home with one of my followers.
She is only 4.5 inches and is a mohair bear with loving glass eyes and her pads and paws are ultra -suede. She was totally all stitched by hand and she wears a little old ribbon on her head and her old lace shawl is adorned with a little cream rose.
Sorry she does not come with the Victorian cup and saucer that she is sitting in ,it's purely to let you see her size.  So once again I Thank-you All for being such great friends and followers of my blog.
Once I reach 200 followers, I will make the draw using Mr Random .Feel free to add the picture on your blog. 

Beautiful Lilies

Hello Again Folks.  Not a bad day here at all, mostly sunny and blue skies, certainly warmer than of late.  My card to-day is one for my box as it's getting on the low side.  The card is a white 8 X 8 and I've matted on a pink layer that was put through the swirls embossing folder by Embossalicious.  I made the frame with Spellbinders and the trellis is also SB.  The image and background papers are both from the Flowers in Bloom CD rom, that is one of my favourites. by Card Creations..  Now I'm off to re-arrange my craft room before it gets any worse.  I've been making flower's from Susan Tierney Cockburn dies and the petals are all individual, so you can imagine the mess.   Hope you are all well, and those not so well, I send Comforting Hugs.  Rita xxx 

All your comments are appreciated and I'll always try and visit your blogs. Thank you again.

My Favourite Little Box

Good Morning folks.  Its been a lovely sunny morning ,but I see some dark clouds entering the lovely blue sky.   But Hey Ho, that's our british weather at the moment.  Annie and Ronnie are doing fine and we both spoke to them over the weekend and it was great for us to hear.  My Grandson arrived back on Sunday night and came to visit us yesterday.   So hopefully things are on the up for them all.
This was a little box that I made for Annie's birthday and I filled it with some of my hand made flowers. Needless to say she was delighted with it and has always encouraged me in all my crafts. Both daughters are crafty and of course it means we are always happy to help one another.  I've spent the weekend mostly out in the garden and apart from a wet morning yesterday its been lovely. So once I finish my ironing I will be back to creating again in my craftroom.
Hope you are All well and sending comforting Hugs to anyone feeling under the weather..   Hugs Rita xxxx

Tea Dance card.

Hello again folks.  Good News to-day, my SiL's ops have all been done now and the consultant is pleased with the outcome.  He can now look forward and hopefully have a good recovery.   Big Thanks to all of you for your continued support for Annie and the family, its meant so much to us all.
Anyway, I am still excited about my new kit and have now made card using mostly the papers, embellishments, even the matching card candy is all from the kit.  I think the colours etc suit this style of card, although you do get cards and envelopes with it.  You have seen me make this style of card before and all it takes is one sheet of A4 card (350gsm).
It's such a beautiful summers day here, the third day of sunshine, and rather than join the hoards of people heading for our coast we will spend the day in the garden.
 Hope you all enjoy the week-end whatever you choose to do.  Hugs Rita xx

Tea Dance Tag

Good Morning all my blogging friends.
Annie said to let you know how much she appreciates your wishes and will update you soon. To-day is her husbands biggest operation, so positive vibes would be so much appreciated by us all.
To-day is beautiful, with lovely blue skies and lots of sunshine.  My 'Tea Dance kit arrived yesterday and I cannot tell you how much I love it already.  As most of you know I don't use kits and have only ever bought one from Hunkydory before.  After looking at Kath's blog and seeing her cards I knew I needed this one, but I was so surprised by the amount of goodies that came with it. You can find it here at Craftworkcards and if you buy it you certainly won't be disappointed.. Apart from the lace and gems and of course my alphabet, everything else is in the kit.  Even a pad of with 2 sizes of mannequins and patterned and plain ones too. Can you tell how much I love it.
Well, I better show you what I have done with my Tag.   Hugs Rita xxxx

ps: Thank you all again for your kind thoughts.

Tag Holder book

Hello my friends in Blogland.   Sorry for being a bit behind with my blogging, I have tried my best to get round as many blogs as I can, but if I have forgotten to leave you a comment I'm terribly sorry as it was not my intention.   Annies husband has made a little progress since his op on Monday and we can only hope that he continues to do so.
I'd like to show you my Tag Holder that was a kit by Kath Stewart that I won in her recent give-away.  I already had instructions for one from my very good friend Anne Redfern ,and you can see the one Anne made Here.  But,this kit came ready to put to-gether and I make my own mark on it too. It was such fun to make up and I still have the 6 tags to make to go inside.
Maybe I could start on them now that the Tag holder is finished.  Its been a beautiful day with lots of sunshine and blue skies. Went shopping (food ) and then got my hair done, so I feel a lot better now.
Enjoy your crafting my friends and I'll keep you updated.  Hugs Rita xxxx

Get Well card and Tissue Box

Hello again Folks.  Annie has left a message on my last post thanking everyone for the kind wishes.   We all feel so helpless here and can only support them in any way we can.   To-day I am visiting my best friend Jan who is also in hospital, and so I made a card and matching tissue box  to take with me.   Both were very quickly made ,using 'Flowers in Bloom' cdrom.

Hope you are all well and busily crafting, and to those of you not feeling so well Take Care.  Hugs Rita xx

You never know the minute.....

Good Afternoon Folks.  Early Friday Morning I got a phone call from my eldest daughter Annie to say that she had to go to Hamburg as her DH had a bad fall,  so she had to book a flight etc and notify her work etc. But nothing prepared her when she saw the extent of hubby's injuries,  he cracked his skull, broken jaw, broken ribs amongst other injuries.  However, the good news is he can move his arms and legs.  At the moment he is in a neck brace and still to get some ops etc.  So Annie has asked me to pass on a message saying she will speak to you all in a few weeks, when hopefully she will return home.  Her son has flown out to be with her, so I'm relieved that they can support each other.

As most of you know I was at Arran yesterday with my other Son-in-law Neil who was running in The Scottish Championship Hill Race up Goatfell. We had to be up and leave early to get the 9.45 ferry from Ardrossan ( just a bit along the coast from us ). The rain was torrential for most of the day, but we were all prepared with our waterproof gear etc. There was 250 runners in all taking part from all over Scotland and it was quite a sight to see. Happily Neil came in around 1hour 23 mins and was about 38th man back, beating some of his rivals.  You have to respect these Men and Women too for taking on these challenges in such bad conditions.   Had a great Day, even though we got soaked till we could not get any worse, but we didn't melt and we didn't drown, so all in all we came home happy.   Just some pictures  of our day.   Hugs Rita xx

 

Arriving on Arran,  Neil in the red cap

                                          Hamish and Molly with Dad

                                         Goatfell in the background

 This was the entrance to where the race started with Goatfell in the distance.

How on earth do the know where their running to.

                                         Neil finishing the race.

                                       The Isle of Arran Pipe Band.

Anniversary Card

Good Afternoon my Friends.  The sun is shining, the birds are singing and we had lunch in the garden for the first time since last summer.  Its really warm to-day as well.   So I'm not complaining.
This is my younger daughter Carolyn's 16th Anniversary to-day and I'd like to show you the card that I made.  It was a You tube tutorial ,but I have made a few changes to size etc, and I'm really pleased with how it turned out.  I also made a box because of the rose, and I needed to post it, but it really does fold flat as you can see in my photos.  Been up since silly o'clock and done a baking, prepared to-nights meal and made up the beds etc for my grandchildren and their dad Neil, who are arriving later.  I'm now going to Arran with them, Molly was upset when I said I would stay with Papa. So I relented and said I would go.
. Hope the weather keeps up for our trip to Arran to-morrow.    Enjoy your Day and I'll be back soon.  Hugs Rita xxx

Rose Box

Good Morning Folks. Its blue skies here at the moment ,but still a nip in the air.  To-day I want to show a box I made, so that I could put my latest Rose creation on the top.  I was like a kid in a sweet shop when my new Susan Tierney Cockburn dies and flower tool kit arrived from Country View Crafts.    So everything else was put on hold till I made the rose.  I think maybe I should have added some more petals as fillers, as it was not till I saw the pictures that it looks a wee bitty sparse in some places.  Once I had finished I gave it a spray with Spray &Sparkle  ( iridescent ).  My box is a 4" X  4" so it gives you an idea of the size of the Rose..
 I think most of you know my how much I love making flowers and this one really is my favourite at the moment.  Any comments regarding the fullness of the rose would be really helpful.
 I'm having my Son-in-law and Molly & Hamish to stay to-morrow night as Dad is running a race in Arran on Saturday.  Hopefully it stays dry for the runners.  Goatfell had snow on the peak yestrday.  Hope you all have a creative day. Hugs Rita xxx

Easel Card with 4 drawers

Hello Again my Friends and Fellow bloggers.  I've spent most of the day making up a tag book, but I still have the 6 tags to do for the inside.  However, I do have a easel card with four little drawers that I lined and put some Yankee tartlets inside. The tutorial for this is from Hougie book 3 and was so easy to make.  I used 350gsm card to make the box and the card and the papers were ones I've had for a while.   Using the Spellbinders Floral Ovals and Classic Ovals on the front of my card. I think the image is from Dezina's World but I can't be sure as I had it already cut in my box.  Finished off with lace and flowers from my stash along with the lovely little pearl brads from the Ribbon Girls.   Hugs Rita xxxx

French Country Card

Good Afternoon my Friends.  Still wet and windy here with the occasional bursts of sunshine.  When oh When is summertime going to begin
I'd like to thank every one of you for the lovely comments left on my Poppy brooch post. I truly appreciate each and every one one of them.
So on to my card for to-day.  Of course it had to be Annie's birthday card.  I so enjoyed creating this card and although it  varies slightly from the one I saw on You Tube, I sized it to suit myself.   Its called a Magic card and it can be decorated on 4 sides, although I only did 3. I used basic ivory hammered card to cut out all my pieces and the papers were of course French Country. by Graphic 45.  The stamp I used on the front was a Paris stamp by Tim Holtz,  I tried to use co-ordinating colours to enhance the beautiful papers.  I mounted the sentiment on a piece of hessian and added some embellishments from my stash. The front of the card folds over the back and reveals more of the FC images . To say Annie lovcd it was understatement and it gave me great pleasure to make it.
Hope your all getting some Crafty time when the weather's so bad, and maybe when we get some sunshine we can all relax and enjoy it.  Hugs Rita xxx

Poppy Brooch

Hello to you All.  Hopefully you have had better weather than us to-day, its rained on and off for most of the day.  Annie and I went up the coast to Gourock and visited the lovely  Cardwell Garden Centre.  I don't think we missed a thing and as always we had a few good laughs too. However, we put our purchases back  in the car and went back in to the Craft Centre and Restaurant and again  had a super time , bought more than I needed before going for a much needed coffee. On the road home we stopped at the  smokehouse in Fairlie and bought some beautiful fish.  So all in all we had a lovely day out.
My post to-day is a Poppy brooch that made for Annie's birthday to-morrow, and as she has already seen it I thought I would share.  I started out with 3 red card circles that I cut using my SB. The leaves are also SB and after I put it to-gether I used about 4 coats of pinflair glaze to give it shine.  I absolutely adore poppies and thought this would be nice to wear for Remembrance day.   I ran out of time to make my own box so ended up recycling one from my stash. 
Hope you all have a lovely week-end no matter what the weather.  Hugs Rita xxx

Baby Card & Box

Good Morning Folks.  Well ,in reality the rain is torrential and its quite a high wind too, so I guess I can spend the day in my craft room. Oops, I should have said after my chores are completed.
My card to-day is a commission card for a baby boy christening, and of course Daddy is an Aston Villa supporter so I was asked if I could add a little something referring to the FC.. Card is 8 X 8 white hammered card and I've matted and layered it with the colours required.  Using my Enchanted Labels SB dies and a Nellie Snellen Heart, I used a Joanna Sheen baby boy image to add to the heart, the label and sentiment I hand cut using the template from the SB. I finished off by adding some candy to the corners.
The wallet was made to fit the card and hopefully keep it safe for years to come.  It's Annie's birthday on Sunday, so that will keep me busy over the next couple of days.
 Enjoy your crafting and hopefully we get some dry weather this week-end.  Hugs Rita xx

French Country Tissue Box

Good Morning Folks.  I hope you all had a lovely Bank Holiday week-end.  The weather here was very changeable with rain, sun and wind.  To-day is beautiful sunshine and bright blue skies.  I think we all benefit so much from sunshine too.
My post to-day is another tissue box that I made for my lovely daughter Anne or Annie as she is known to everyone else. I used the Graphic 45 French Country papers for this one as it was Anne's choice and it will suit her decor perfectly.  I think you'll agree those papers are absolutely stunning and a joy to work with too.
Hope you are all enjoy your day and busily crafting and to those of you not feeling up to it, I hope you feel better soon.   Thank-you for the lovely comments left on my posts,  I really appreciate them all so much.
Hugs Rita xxxx

Card for a Friend

Hello again folks. Weather has not improved very much since yesterday when it rained all day, most of it was torrential too. Its dry at the moment, so that is something I suppose.
In my craft room to-day,  but as yet I cannot show the things I have done.  My card to-day was one that I made last week and had actually posted it when I remember I had not taken a picture. So this was one taken by my grandson on his i-pad and sent to me.  Luckily it was to a friend of my younger daughter and he was able to get me a picture. Isn't technology a great thing.
It was an 8 X 8 card and was matted with a lovely deep wine core card.  The image was one that I bought from the lovely June McFarlane over at Dezina's World and the images are all so beautiful.   I added some snippets of black lace and a couple of memory box scrolls to add a bit of interest. The beautiful pins were a gift at Christmas from dear blog friend Sassy who makes them herself.
I dearly hope you all have a lovely bank holiday week-end whatever you do and I'll be back soon to show more of my creations.  Hugs Rita xx

J

Sunflowers in Bloom

Good Morning my friendly bloggers.  Thank-you all for the lovely comments on my last post, they mean so much to me.   I hope you are all crafting in some way or another.  I firmly believe that crafting of any kind relieves some of the stress that most of us suffer at sometime in our lives.  Anyway, my card to-day is one that was sent to one of our crafty friends, just to cheer her up a little bit, so my first thought was Sunflowers, they never fail to make you smile. 
The image itself is from Flowers in Bloom CD by Card Creations. All the images are water colours done by the artist Jan Harbon and each one is just so beautiful.
The card is a 6X6 scalloped ready made card and the image is layered on a mustard coloured card then put on to the card itself.that I dry embossed.  I decoupaged some sunflowers  and  added it round the piece. The corners are a lovely die from Joy Designs, and I added a few golden pearls and a double organza bow to finish off my card.
Looking at the picture now, it does not look to straight, but maybe my glass of Kopperberg had something to do with that.  Hope you all have a lovely day whatever you do.  Me , I'm off to play with the pushy thing that keeps your clothes looking nice.   Hugs Rita xxx