Patchwork Christmas Card

I really love these new stencils on a ring from Clarity.  I had a play with colours to create the patchwork background for a Christmas card.

Home is Where the Heart is

I made a new home card for my stash using a recent addition to my Claritystamp collection.

WOYWW 695: Looking Forward to the Crop

 And so life resumes some semblance of normality.  I am so looking forward to the WOYWW crop this weekend and I am sure next week's posts will be full of photos and reminiscing. 

The pages of my #dailychallenge2022 journal have turned to cake and celebrating in honour of the get together having been on a space theme more recently.

School is well back into a routine following last week's bank holiday.  Busy with meetings, lessons and books.  It was my turn to lead the whole school assembly on Monday.  Normally I would have taken the theme of European Day of Languages but I decided to go with languages of the Commonwealth instead given recent events and Birmingham hosting the Commonwealth Games last summer.

Please join in with Julia at Stamping Ground to visit desks or even share your own as part of WOYWW. I'll be round to visit as soon as I can!  Stay safe and Happy WOYWW everyone.

Two Mini Crackers

These mini crackers are such fun to decorate.

Wishing You Well with Trees

I combined the simple frames stencil with the KISS Build a Scene Grunge Tree stamps for this card.

Ribbon Frame Penguin

I was honoured that Barbara Gray chose this card to demo on the last Clarity shows on Create and Craft TV.  Here is the step by step again.

Elf Hat Christmas Card

I love these cute elf hat letterbox stamps and thought they worked well with the designer paper.

To the Sweetest Friend

I combined some of the smaller stamps from one of Tina's KISS stamp sets with some masking and a stencil to create this card.

Slip, Sliding Penguins

I love the cute smaller sliding penguins that are part of the Penguin Family stamp set from Clarity.  I just had a play with a stencil background.

WOYWW 694: Paying Our Respects

 Well, it has been a week of mourning, but also celebrating the life of a steadfast monarch cumulating in the magnificent State Funeral on Monday where the armed forces did HM proud, as did the crowds of well wishers who lined the route.  We watched at home.

My desk this morning shows the pages that I made in my journal to reflect our paying of respects and the day of the State Funeral.  The wrist band is the one I wore in 'The Queue' for the lying in state at the weekend.  Neet asked me to share the experience so here goes...

We travelled down to London by train on Friday evening and then took the tube via London Bridge to Bermondsey as the end of the queue was in Southwark Park (actually the queue to the queue to the queue to The Queue).
 

Zone 3 in the park

Looking across at zone 1 from zone 2 in the park

We eventually made it to the point of getting wrist bands after 3 miles of walking backwards and forwards and nearly 3 hours. 

We made it as far as the next lot of backwards and forwards walking an hour and a half later at nearly 4am.  Things slowed down then as I think rehearsals were taking place. 

The Globe Theatre kindly opened its facilities to those in the queue so I managed to avoid having to use the Porta Potties along the route (The Tate Modern did the same). 

There were at least loads of landmarks to see along the route.

James had had enough by the time we hit the 11 hour mark and were told it would be another 6 hours.  He took himself off to explore Trafalgar Square and walk along the other side of the Thames crossing by Westminster Bridge.

We continued along past the Houses of Parliament where the queue was pushed up together.  Paul was busy getting footage of the royal hearse when there was a great surprise.  The King came to speak to people in our part of the queue.  I was at the back but managed to stand on something and catch a glimpse (about 5' away and with five rows of people in front).  I didn't see the Prince of Wales when he arrived, as by that time I was crushed against the river side of the path.  I must admit to having a bit of a panic attack at that point but the stewards were really good and myself and another lady in the same boat were moved to the other side of the barrier, checked out and then  walked around to rejoin the queue on Lambeth Bridge where it thinned out a bit.  By the time we got to the grounds of the Palace of Westminster Paul was starting to struggle a bit and we had 40 odd backwards and forwards sections to negotiate still.  Luckily they saw he was struggling and he was given an accessibility queue wristband and we were taken round to the separate queue for security and able to use the steps free access.  It took another hour from that point but by 3.30pm we were paying our respects in Westminster Hall. Total silence and reverance from all the people there.  We were absolutely done by then (a total of 16 hours and 10 minutes in the queue) and took an Uber back to Euston.  Luckily we managed to catch a train almost immediately.  I made sure Paul got a seat although I had to stand until Milton Keynes and James was on his feet until Rugby.  Luckily my brother came and collected us at the station.  It was exactly 40 hours since I got up on Friday morning when I made it to bed on Saturday evening and we still have sore legs but I am so glad we went.

Sorry this has been a long post.  Please go and visit Stamping Ground where Julia keeps charge of the WOYWW desks.  Stay safe and Happy WOWYW.

Bird on a Stand

This time I used the large bird and stand die as intended.  I had fun decorating both.

Celebrate: Thinking of You

It seems to me that this card is the most suitable of the cards I have made recently to share as the people of the UK and all around the world remember and celebrate the life of Her late Majexty Elizabeth II today.

A die cut Mandala Scene

I decided to do something a little different with my final sample using the Mini Mandala Rings dies.  I also used a second background which I created at the Clarity retreats in the summer.

Christmas Elf Candle

I decided that the new elf letterbox stamps and dies were perfect to decorate this small church candle to create some Christmas decor.

Latest Daily Journal Round-Up

 Having started my fifth 6" x 6" kraft card scrapbook from The Works I am at the start of the home straight as far as my quick journal page #dailychallenge2022 is concerned.  As always each page is completed with one or more of the Claritystamp Words stickers - there are now five collections.  Here is the story of September so far.

I started by continuing my drinks theme from the end of August.

I thought an Autumn theme would be appropriate so used more of my Studiolight papers and die cut elements.

A tribute to HM Queen Elizabeth II following her death the day before.

A page for our new King Charles III.

In memory of those who lost their lives on September 11th 2001.

I moved onto a wedding type theme.

Similar stickers on pairs of background paper pages.

Blackbird Thinking of You Card

For this card, I used one of the backgrounds that I created at the Clarity retreats.  I also used the negative of the die cut large bird rather than the die cut itself.

WOYWW 693: The End of an Era

 Such historic, sad and tumultuous events have been happening since last we met together for WOYWW.  I am sure that I am by no means the only one who was brought to spontaneous tears by the announcement of Hm Queen Elizabeth II's death last Thursday and who spent much of the rest of the day watching the news continuously.

I spent some time trying to find suitable materials for my #dailychallenge2022 on Friday and Saturday.

I couldn't sleep on Thursday night so was awake at 4am putting together something a little more fitting than my original plan for Friday morning. 

I decided to pay tribute to our new King Charles III for the page on Saturday.  On Sunday and Monday I shall produce another two similar pages to mark the end of the mourning period and the State Funeral.  On Friday evening we will be heading down to London to pay our respects at the Palace of Westminster by train.  Our youngest son will be with us as he has no memory of our last visit to pay our respects to HM the Queen Mother in 2002 as he was only two at the time.

I was lucky enough to see the late Queen in person once.  Back in 1980 when I was at school she visited Shugbourough Hall, home of her cousin Lord Lichfield.  Our school lined the streets as she drove through Rugely to get there.  I remember seeing Prince Charles drive through on a private visit too (the royal train used to stop at Rugeley Trent Valley station.

Please share any memories of HM as I would love to hear them.  Stay safe everyone.

Happy Birthday Blossom

I love the combination of the new Kiss Flower stamps and words stickers from Claritystamp.

Rainbow Penguin Prints

I had more fun with the penguin family stamps creating this rainbow coloured card.

Classy Black and Gold Mandala Card

I thought this mini mandala ring die set worked really well in gold to create a clean and simple, classy looking card.

Large Die Cut Butterfly and Stand

I love the effect of the large die cut butterfly layered up on its stand.  Here I combined the Waimea Falls designer papers with the plain companion papers.

Friendship KISS Flowers

The small stamps that come with the KISS flower stamps are perfect for creating a repeat background - as I did for this card.