An Autumn Walk

I have been neglecting my camera a bit recently so I decided I needed to get out today and get a few photos. Here's a sample of them:

I had a little play in photoshop to a fake lomo effect on this one:

It makes me realise how lucky I am to have such beautiful countryside right on my doorstep.

Thanks for looking,

Ruthie x

Another Christmas Card

I made this card during the week but now it's getting dark early there hasn't been enough light to get a decent photo until today.

Ingredients: brown craft paper from stash, patterned paper - Basic Grey Wassail, mini clipboard made from scrap card and a Paperchase mini bulldog clip, mini calendar designed in Photoshop, Sizzix stocking die, recycled coffee cup liner punched with Fiskars scalloped lace punch, brads and ribbon from stash, inking and pen stitching.

Thanks for looking,

Ruthie x

A Week of Cards

I spent last Saturday tidying my craft room and it's obviously had the desired effect as I have managed to make a few cards this week:

A Get Well Card:

Ingredients: Paper -Daisy D's (I think!); chipboard frame cut from scrap mountboard using nestabilities dies; lace from local market;  fabric flowers - WH Smiths; flower with pearl centre from local market; satin ribbon - The Range; Pearl brads - Papermania; greeting designed in PhotoShop;  pen stitching.

A couple of Christmas cards (yes I am scared that a I made Chritsmas cards in October):

Ingredients: Paper - Basic Grey and K& Co; Fiskars scalloped lace punch; chipboard frame cut from mountboard using Nestabilities dies and painted with white acrylic paint; chipboard snowflake cut from mountboard using a Sizziz die and triple embossed with holographic powder; flower with pearl spray from local market; ribbon - hobbycraft; pin from local market; sentiment designed in Photoshop; pen stitching.

Ingredients: Paper - Basic Grey; chipboard trees cut from scrap cardboard using a Cuttlebug die: ribbons and button from stash; Fiskars scalloped lace punch; inking and pen stitching.

An autumnal birthday card:

Ingredients: Paper - My Mind's Eye; Flowers and button from stash; Stamp - Papermania; assorted die cut shapes (Cuttlebug, Nestabilities and Sizzix); Brads - Dovecraft; Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder; Fiskars scalloped lace punch; inking and pen stitching.

And last but not least, Mr Crafty Blogger celebrated a big birthday this week:

Ingredients: Paper - American Crafts, Chipboard letters cut from mountboard using Cuttlebug dies; Brads - Dovecraft; Alphabet - Quickutz Metro; Cuttlebug Swiss Dots embossing folder; inking and pen stitching.

Thanks for looking,

Cheers,

Ruthie x

Summer Crafting

I haven't really done much crafting over the summer but here's a quick round-up of a few bits I did:

Eighth wedding anniversary card from Mr Crafty blogger:

Vegas/Casino themed 21st card:

Birthday card for my Dad:

Bridesmaid's hairclip and matching necklace:

 

Cheers,

Ruthie x

Tomorrow never happened - so here's a summer catch-up!

Well, on my last post, which I think I wrote sometime in the Ice Age I promised to come back with photos from my holiday to San Francisco which was way back in May/June!

In place of the post which never happened here are the pics, along with a few more which comprise my summer catch-up

Warning, lots of photos, not of crafting. Navigate away now if you want craft pics - perhaps to HERE my new favourite card blog.

First up, a few from San Francisco.

We had a fantastic time which included, biking across here and around the Marin Headlands:

When we had enough of cycling we caught the ferry back (along with quite a few other cyclists):

Of course you can't go to San Franciso without visiting 'The Rock':

and having your photo taken in a cell:

(here I am modelling my Bagladee custom camera strap)

We also saw the sealions at Pier 39:

and stopped and shopped here (Union Square):

Spent a lot of time riding around town on these:

and spent a day exploring the Yosemite National Park:

We did tons of other stuff too, but that was the edited highlights.

Now onto June and the 2009 Blackpool Mini Run:

Over 200 cars made the journey from Liverpool, Penrith,and Skipton via Preston to Blackpool's South Pier raising money for Breakthrough Breast Cancer:

Here's a couple of my car  parked up (I am second from the right on the 1st pic):

We left Preston in lovely sunshine, but by the time we returned later in the day we we confronted by this:

In July, Mr Crafty Blogger and I celebrated our eighth wedding anniversary at the Midland Hotel in Morecambe (subject of many a previous blog posts).  As I've always wanted to stop at the Midland I splashed out on one of the roof-top suites and wasn't disapointed:

View from the front of the balcony:

View from inside the room, looking out over Morecambe Bay:

The biggest bathroom I have ever seen:

and finally, we even got a rainbow:

At the end of August we went down to Cornwall for a week and camped in a Yurt:

We did some walking and cycling which quite often involved battling with the elements.  Fortunately the stove came in very handy for drying trainers:

We did get some sunshine and it managed to stay (mostly) fine when we visited one of my favourite places, The Lost Gardens of Helligan:

Well I am exhausted now, it has taken ages to get this post done due to mainly wrestling with blogger and uploading pics.  (I still don't know why some of them are not centred!)

Thanks for looking.  I hope you didn't fall asleep!

Ruthie x

Completing the Statement of Intent...Part 1

Well, in my last post I promised an update of what I've been up to recently and so here goes.

First up, as it's a craft blog, I'd better show the few bits of crafting I've done recently.

I was asked by a friend at work if I would make some personalised gift tags for her daughter's school leaver's prom, and here they are:

While we were chatting about the prom, my friend was saying how here daughter wanted personalised cupcakes for all her friends at their pre-prom tea. She had phoned round various cake shops and couldn't find anywhere which would do cakes with individual names on.

I suggested I could make cupcake flags and she could add them to shop bought cupcakes* (M & S do very nice pink ones!). Each flag had the guest's name on the front and the prom date and venue on the back:

*Please note - this is a felt stunt cupcake, used for the purposes of photography, not one of the nice M & S edible ones!

June is also the month of father's day and that means making the dreaded men's cards. After much paper shuffling and muttering I came up with two basic and not very original cards:

For my father-in-law:

and for my Dad:


I also finished the invites for my sister's hen party. In the end we used the design I showed on a blog post here way back in March!

Thanks for looking. I'll be back tomorrow with the next installment of my statement of intent featuring my San Francisco pics.

Cheers

Ruthie x

Statement of Intent

I have been neglecting my blog and for once I actually have stuff to share. This post will not contain any of that, but it serves as my 'to do list'. Here goes.......

I will, in the next couple of days, blog the following:

• My recent crafing ie: Father's day cards, cupcakes flags and gift tags
• Very edited highlights of my holiday photos from my trip to San Francisco
  They need to be very heavily edited as I have over 600. Yes, there is Alcatraz from every conceivable angle, except perhaps under water!
• Photos from THIS which I am doing today

See you later.

Ruthie x