Quilt Card

I received the papers today from QVC - a real bargain that was posted on our forum. As soon as I saw them I thought of this quilting - an idea from one of my blog hops and I can't remember where I saw it, so apologies to the originator.



I cut the squares with my nestabilities, stuck them on a backing card with a tiny dab of glue in the centre- well away from the path of the needle - then zig-zag stitched them along all the joins and the edges. Really love the result.

A Step Ahead

I seem to get so little time for crafting these days that when I had a day to myself I thought I ought to make my eldest grandson's birthday cards, even though it is still a month until the day.
The first one is from me and once again - what do you do for a 16 year old? Well he has just joined the Electric Nightmares Band as guitarist, keyboard player and vocalist so music was an obvious choice. I used the sheet music of 'The Entertainer' and typical 'man' colours.



The second is from Louise and I couldn't resist the cow stamp again - with slightly different wording and colour.



Message inside continues - '.... so just had to wish you a happy one'.

On a Happier Note

Today is my younger son's birthday and these are his cards.
This one is from me - I wanted something a bit different - have done the racing cars, computers, cats etc. so thought that plain and masculine might do the trick...........although I did add a bit of sparkle on the dots.



On Saturday we were in Papermill at York and spotted this stamp that we couldn't resist and it made a great card for Louise to give to James.



..... inside it says 'to wish you a Happy Birthday Brother'.

Stamps: PTI Rustic Branches Penny Black

One I Didn't Want to Make

Just a few weeks ago I posted a card which was for a friend who had had bad news. Her husband was diagnosed with cancer towards the end of August. This week he died, all very sudden and progressed far too quickly for any treatment to help. This card is for her and her two teenage boys.

Something Different

These birthday cards are very different from my recent makings. The first is using PTI Flower Garden and Marvy inks with a little Stickles (thanks Jak) in the flower centres and shadowing around the edges. Nestabilities circles for the sentiment which is from the same set.



The second came about when I was rooting through my 'bit' box and found a piece of printed, embossed vellum. Only small but used in an aperture cut and embossed with my Nestabilities - again.

Manchester and more

When in Manchester for our crafting weekend, seems ages ago now, I made this trinket box using Stampbord and a super lion's head stamp which is apparently out of production. Shame because I would have liked one.



I really liked the effect so used a similar idea to make my teenage grandson a birthday card but with a tiger's head stamp - so difficult to find something they will like.



This card is for a member of my team, a farmer's wife who is 60 this week. Used a watercolour image that was shared on the 'Imag-e-nation' forum, painted by Hilary's mum.



When you undo the ribbon and look underneath you can see how old she is!!

Busy Week.

Had a wonderful weekend in Manchester with crafting friends, especially Liz, Jak, Pam, Sue, Joy, Kath and Greta, and it was lovely to meet up again with old friends and some new ones.

Back to school Monday only to discover that Ofsted were coming for an inspection on Wednesday. Stacks of files, policies and paperwork to check and tidy and deliver to the room assigned for the inspectors - late nights Monday and Tuesday. Didn't help that one of the areas noted was Learning Difficulties and Disabilities, so was fully expecting to have everything scrutinised.

Wednesday arrived and by end of day I had had a nodded 'Hello' exchange with one of the inspectors as we passed in the Reception area. Nothing more. Wow - was that a good sign......or not?!?!

Head called a break-time meeting today to give us the results and we were given Grade 1 - Outstanding -for all five areas of inspection with - surprisingly?? - an overall Outstanding. So we can all breathe easily again.
That was my very last Ofsted as I will be retired before we are due another, so not a bad one to go out on.

Now I have developed a really bad sore throat and stuffy head. Just had Lemsip and going to bed with a supply of Strepsils. Hope it goes away. I have the family coming over for Sunday lunch and my son and his wife are bringing all the wedding photos. They have just got 195 proofs and a disc is coming shortly with several hundred more on it, in fact everything the photographer (my ex-daughter-in-law who has now qualified and started her own business) took on the day. Could be the entertainment for several family Sundays!

Perhaps next week I'll get time to make a card,