December Birthday Cards

I couldn't post this until my Mom received it, but now I can. I made this card using a using an image from Digital Two for Tuesday blog and printed it out twice. I coloured them in using ProMarkers. I used Bazzil dotty cardstock and My Minds Eye's papers. The scalloped circle was cut using a Nestabilities die in a Cuttlebug machine, embossed using Snowflake Dots Cuttlebug Folder and then inked with Tim Holtz Distress Inks. The card was finished off with gingham ribbon and Basic Grey letter stickers.



The next card was for a good friend and was done using Crafty Individual stamp, Tim Holtz Distress Inks, Basic Grey papers and Cuttlebug embossing folder. It was finished off with paper flowers, leaves and a button.



The third card was for my brother in law. I always find it hard to make cards for men. I did this one using a Paper Artsy stamps, Tim Holtz Distress Ink, Tim Holtz die cut, Time Holtz Tissue ribbon, EmbelliScrap swirl shape embossed with Cuttlebug Snowflake Dots folder, ribbon and scraps of paper.

Three more birthday coming up soon in January, so I best be getting on with making some more cards.

Scrapbooking Catch Up

RIMG6125, originally uploaded by Bio-hazar.

Just thought that I'd post some of the Scrapbooking pages I've been working on the last couple of months. I've not done a lot of scrapbooking this year, so to do 3 LOs in a row was an accomplishment. This one is for my dh album from when we was young and on holiday in Cornwall sailing on a friends boat. The LO was done using some very old papers I had, and I don't know what make they are, but they go with the sailing theme. I printed out the poem "I must go down to the sea again" and inked the edges with Tim Holtz distress ink. I used felt and ribbon to do the edging and the title is Basic Grey sticker letters.

The second LO is from when my nephew was born back in 2006. It was done using Cosmo Cricket papers, rub-ons, paper flowers and brads. The title was cut on the Craft-Robo.

The third LO is a simple LO using up scraps of Basic Grey papers, Hero Art stamp, felt flower and a Basic Grey tag with acetate overlay.

May Birthday Cards

RIMG5940, originally uploaded by Bio-hazar.

Today I had a day off, so I've used the time to get caught up with some Birthday cards in May. The first one is for my Father-in-law, who spent his birthday in Cornwall, which gave me a few extra days to get a card made. The image was downloaded from Digital Two for Tuesday and coloured in with Promarkers. I used this weeks sketch from the CPS blog as a base of my layout. I cut out the wave pattern with the CraftRobo and the papers used were from the Basic Grey Wisteria collection. The card was finished off with ribbon and marbled tiles. Inside the card I put the poem "Sea Fever"

"I MUST down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky, And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by, And the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking, And a gray mist on the sea's face, and a gray dawn breaking. I must down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied; And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying, And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying. I must down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life, To the gull's way and the whale's way, where the wind's like a whetted knife; And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover, And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick's over."
John Masefield

The second card I made today was for a good friend. The image is my new Wiffs of Joy stamp coloured in with ProMarkers and accented with stickles. I used Crate paper and stamped the background with Sandilion stamps and Distress Ink. The sentimates were printed from the computer. The card was finished off with ribbon and My Minds Eye croched flowers.

April Cards

At the beginning of April there are quiet a few birthdays that I needed to make cards for. The above was done for a good friends birthday. The image was a free download from Digital Two for Tuesday blog. It was printed on Stampin' Up cardstock and coloured in with ProMarkers. The image was mounted with 3D foam onto card stamped with Crafty Individuals Friends stamp inked with Ranger distress inks. The background on the card stock was done by stamping with embossing ink and then bushing it over with Ranger Perfect Pearls medium in gold. The background paper is Create Paper Static Collection inked with Tim Holtz distress ink. The "Happy Birthday" sentiment was glazed with Sepia Accents to give it a more muted antique look. The card was finished off with ribbon, a Prima paper flower and a brad.


The next card was done for my sister. It was done using another free digital image I downloaded, but I can't remember from where. The image was coloured in with ProMarkers. I just love the way this one turned out only using a couple of colours, but they build up and blend so well it makes it look that I've used more. The papers are My Minds Eye Bloom and Grow collection, and the edges were inked with ProMarkers. The card was finished off with a sisters quote sticker and some ribbon.


The last card is for my brother-in-law. It's always hard to do cards for men. This one I have used a Paper Artsy stamp on top of some cardstock that was blended with Ranger Distress Inks. Then the image was covered with Ranger Rock Candy Crackle paint and left to dry. The background was done using Tim Holtz gear masks that were again inked over with Ranger Distress Inks. The background paper is My Minds Eye Wild Asparagus"Our Family" collection stripe paper. The card was finished off with ribbon with brass rivets and metal establishments inked with Ranger Alcohol Inks.

1st Brithday

RIMG5596, originally uploaded by Bio-hazar.

I've done this card for a friends little boy's 1st birthday. The image is a digital download from Mo Manning and was coloured in with ProMarkers. The layout is from this weeks Sketch Saturday and again the papers and cut outs are from the Create Mia collection. The "1" was cut using the CraftRobo and was using the font Cosmic Sans. The "Happy Birthdays were added by hand as an afterthought, so they are not 100% positioned right, but I think it does the job. The card was finished off with some buttons.

Another Owl Card

This one is about two weeks over due. I did it for my mother-in-laws birthday. I used that weeks sketch from CPS and another one of my ProMarkers coloured owls from Pink Cat Studios. Papers are from Create Mia collection.

8th Birthday Card

Here is a card that I made tonight for my Nieces birthday on Saturday. In case you can't tell her favourite colour is GREEN. The background is Cosmos Cricket Girl Friday collection "Tuesday" double sided paper. The base card and the "8" are Stampin' Up cardstock. The "8" was cut on a Craft Robo and accented with Rangers Diamond Stickles. The boarder was done using a Fiskars leaf punch. The image was a free download from Mo Manning and was coloured in using ProMarkers. The title was done using K&Co K-ology chipboard Addison Alphabet. The card was finished off with a button tied with floss and ribbon.

Owl Birthday

Lots of Birthdays in January, so here is another card I've made. This one is also done with a digital image. This time the image came from Pink Cat Studio and is called "Cuddles". I feel in love with the whole owl set, so got them all! I've coloured the image in with my ProMarkers and cut it out. The back ground papers are Cosmo Cricket Girl Friday "Tuesday and Create Paper Static Collection "Reaction" and the card is Bazzil Bling. The blue side bar was embossed with the Cuttlebug Embossing folder "Birds And Swirls" and then was sanded down to show the pattern. I used a Basic Grey clear "leaf" stamp to accent the circle punches and finished the card off with some ribbon and a Basic Grey Wisteria Glass Brad.

Belated Birthday, again!

Well it's been ages since I've blogged. I can't believe this is my first entry for 2010! I'd like to wish everyone lots of Blessings for 2010 and hope you all have a great year. I was so busy before Christmas making cards, that I never even took any photos of all the cards I did. Then I got sick just before Christmas, but I'm feeling a lot better now.

This is another belated birthday card. I haven't started this year off any better than last year, already behind with my cards. This one is done using a wonderful free digital download stamp from Mo Manning. The stamps was printed out onto Stampin' Up card stock and coloured in with ProMarkers. The background was stamped with some wonderful new stamps Basic Grey stamps I got for Christmas (thanks Mom, they finally arrived). I used Tim Holtz Distress Inks in Broken China and Spiecd Marmalade. The rest of the card was made with Prima Artful Collage Flower, button, left over scarps of paper and ribbon.

Thanks for looking and I hope to be more active!

Sketch Saturday Happy Birthday

Here is a card I've made this week for an upcoming birthday. It was done using this weeks sketch on the Sketch Saturday blog. The main image is Wiffs of Joys "Willow with hot chocolate" stamp coloured in with ProMarkers. The papers used are from the Infuse collection and are Extract, Invest and Salt. The Fancy Pants chipboard pieces were painted with Ranger Acrylic Dabbers and Tim Holtz Distress ink "Peeled Paint". The sentiment stamps was from the Papermania Sweet Nothings set and was stamped with Distress Ink and coloured in with a marker. The card was finished off with ribbon (although you cropped in the photo).

CPS 140 Birthday Card

RIMG5444, originally uploaded by Bio-hazar.

It seem I've not made very many birthday cards this year, but as it's a special friends birthday this month, I just had to sit down and make one. I made this one based on the CPS sketch #140. I used Whiff of Joy "Willow with hot chocolate" stamp and coloured it in with Promarkers. I'm just loving using my Promarkers these days and seem to spend more time colouring in images than making them into anything.The papers are Basic Grey Wisteria Cornflower and the brads are also from the BG Wisteria range. The backing card stock is Bazzil Swiss Dots. I inked the edges of the scallop and the paper with Tim Holtz Dusty Concord Distress Ink to finish it off.

ISMAKI, Penny Black and more!

RIMG5353, originally uploaded by Bio-hazar.

Well it's been a busy weekend of card making. With Father's Day tomorrow and a couple of birthdays as well, it's been a mad rush. For inspiration, of course, I went straight for the ISMAKI challenge blog. I made this first card based on their sketch and used K&Co paper scraps I had left over. I also embellished the card with EmbelliScrap shapes. The stamp images I used are Penny Black "A Great Surprise" stamp, which I've had for some time and not used yet. I coloured in the stamp image with Promarkers. Since I was using a Penny Black stamp, I decided to see what the Penny Black Saturday challenge was this week as well. The PB challenge was to use embossing, so I embossed the large big circle in the back with Cuttlebug Floral Fantasy then inked with distress ink. Which was the option for the ISMAKI challenge to use distress inks.

As it's Father's Day tomorrow, I've made two cards for that. I was a bit cheeky and made two of the same design. I got the idea for this card out of the latest edition of Canadian Scrapbooker, which my Mom so kindly brought over with her. I used Basic Grey paper and the rest was made of scraps of left overs I keep. The edge of the circle is hand drawn stitched and the edges of the card are inked with distress ink.

The fourth card I made was another birthday card. I got some new stamps for my birthday which I used to make this card. I then coloured the image with my Promarkers. The circle was embossed using Cuttlebug "Diamonds in the Rough" embossing folder and then inked with Nick Bantock ink. The rest of the card was made from left over scraps of paper from Sassafras and My Minds Eye.

More Birthday Celebrations!

RIMG0005, originally uploaded by Bio-hazar.

Well the celebrations for my 40th are still going strong. After a shortened work week, it was time for more festivities. This time at the London South Bank. We went down to the South Bank Centre to check out the Slow Food Market. I was especially looking out for a little van that I knew was going to be there called Jimmy! He is a converted ice cream van that now brings chocolate joy to the world and is called Choc Star! As we drove through the South Bank, we saw Choc Star right away, so after some time finding a parking spot, off we headed straight for Jimmy. I had the original chocolate brownie sundae with hot fudge sauce and Peter had the Blondie brownie with caramel sauce. It was a bit of a cold day, so we stood in a sheltered area next to a exhaust vent to keep warm. Then we walked around the rest of the Slow Food Market and has some samples of bread, humus, venison and pigeon sausages. After looking around we decided to have kofte lamb burgers for our lunch/tea. It started to lightly spit, so we bought a couple of coffees and retired inside the Royal Festival Hall. After some browsing in the bookshop and a nice long leisurely stroll along the river, we headed back to Choc Star for a nice Jamaican Hot Chocolate. Petra even threw in a gorgeous chocolate truffle made with amazing Willie's pure cacao chocolate free for my birthday. Thanks again Petra!

Then it was back to the Festival Hall for the main event of the evening, seeing the Kodo drummers. Peter knows that I'm am a big fan of the Kodo drummers, and when he found out they were coming to London so close to my birthday, he knew it would make a great birthday present. He managed to get seats just 4 rows from the stage. They weren't even the expensive seats. They were the row behind us. When we were aloud to go into the Hall, I was surprised just how good the seats were. We had left our camera's in the car, as no photography was allowed during the show, so we only had our phone cameras. We took this photo before the show started to prove were were there. The concert was amazing. The show started off with the usual drumming you would expect from Kodo and then three guys came out with about about 2 meters worth of bamboo strapped to their backs and sticking up above their heads all decorated with flowers. The were also wearing very brightly decorated costumes, as well as carrying drums. You think at first that the bamboo is just for decoration, and then all of a sudden one of the guys bends right over and slaps the bamboo on the floor of the stage by just using his back. All through the rest of the number the three drummers with the bamboo slap the floor in different patterns. Some times alone and other times together in a circle. It was just jaw dropping, heart pounding excitement. The concert just got better and better from then on. It definitely was the best birthday present EVER!

Gourmet Burger Kitchen

Well today is my birthday and also my last day to have our fourth meal out. This time I decided to go out for lunch, as it's back to work tomorrow I didn't want to have a late night out. So we headed over to Beckenham to the Gourmet Burger Kitchen. We got there and it was very quiet. Only one other table was occupied. We found a nice little corner booth and perused the menu. We first ordered a couple of shakes. I had an oreo and Peter had a banana. Then we made our order, a Buffalo burger for Peter and I got a Greek Lamb with houmus, tzatziki and a tomato relish. We also ordered a portion of chips to share. The burgers came they they were so huge, you couldn't get your mouth around them. I opted to not eat the big white bun and use a knife and fork for the rest. Where as Peter ate his in layers from the top down.

After lunch we went around to the in-laws who were baby sitting my neices. They had taken them up into town and had brought back some Cin-a-bons. They put in some candles in the buns, sung me Happy Birthday and my neices helped me blow out my candles.

This brought an end to my four meals for each decades. Peter asked me which meal represented which decades. So I thought about it and came up with this order. I think the brunch would represent my first decade. As it was made up of eggs, which is the beggining of life. Then the Gourmet burger was my teen years. The picnic would be my 20's because during most of this time in my life I lived by the lakeshore. That would leave the Tapas to represent the last 10 years of my life. I think this is good because in the last 10 years I've moved to England and visited European countires.

I hope that you have all enjoyed reading all my adventures for my 40th birthday.

Picnic in the Park

RIMG0008b, originally uploaded by Bio-hazar.

Sunday saw another beautiful day of sunshine, so we made plans to meet some friends at Danton park for a picnic. After church we picked up a few things from home and then headed to the park to meet our friends. We got there just on time, but our friends who live closer to the park and have been before got lost and was late. LOL

We found a nice bit in the park under some trees and set up for the day. We had some lunch and then played a bit of cricket. We split up into teams and played an over each player. In the end we ended up in a draw. Almost like proper cricket! Then the kids ran around for a bit, played on the monkey bars and kicked around the football for awhile. While the adults had a lazy day sitting in the shade and having a nice chat catching up. We spent the whole afternoon in the park. Then after our friends to take the kids home for a good bath, Peter and I took a nice walk down though the park, by the manor house and along the boating lake. Where we saw lots of different ducks, Coots, Geese, Mute Swan. We also saw lots of baby ducks as well. It was a nice way to finish off the day. I think I got a bit of sun though, as when we got home I felt very wiped out, but didn't do anything all day so it must have been the heat.

Birthday Brunch

DSC00045, originally uploaded by Bio-hazar.

After a bit of a lay-in on Saturday morning, we decided to get up and get out. It was another beautiful day of sunshine and blue skies. Not a cloud was to be seen. We had one errand that we had to do first. That was to go to the postal sorting office and pick up a couple of packaged that were delivered this week. We thought that while we were there that we would go to the restaurant beside it for some brunch. However, when we got there the restaurant still had it shutters down. We thought maybe they open later and went to check their opening hours. Only to find an eviction notice on the door. So instead we went across the road to what looks like a very small cafe with a few chairs outside. Looks can be very deceiving, because as you walk into the cafe and pass the counter/ grill, you go down a few steps. Then you walk along a hallway which has about 4 other rooms off it which you can sit in all done up nice and cozy. We carried on down the hallway and found another room at the end off of which is a conservatory room. Then off of that is another door leading outside to a patio area. We decided to sit out on the patio and found a nice table in the shade, next to some lavender. It must the be the spot to go to after the post office, because we saw lots of other people come in with packages and others we recognized from the post office queue. We ordered our breakfast and Peter nipped out and got a paper to do the crossword. We spent a nice lazy morning enjoying the peaceful soundings and each others company. Just after mid-day we decided to head back home as we were no longer in the shade at our table, the sun was getting hotter and we had been there already for a couple of hours.

Tapastry

DSC00246, originally uploaded by Bio-hazar.

Well another year has come and gone. Which means on Monday it's my Birthday. This year it's a BIG one. The big 40! I can't say that I've been very excited about my birthday this year. I didn't know what to do to celebrate it either. Then on Friday night I came up with an idea. For the next four days we'd go out for a meal each day, one for each decade of my life. Last night I decided to try the local Tapas bar called "Tapastry". We were seated and ordered a pitcher of Sangria and was left to peruse the menu. We ended up choose meatballs in tomato sauce, chorizo in honey, tortilla and egg white baby bell peppers. The evening was a nice lazy evening people watching and seeing the sun down. We were still a bit hungry so we also order the Tapastry Meze which was two different cold meats, fete cheese, olives, houmus and a few more bell peppers. We finished the evening we me trying my first Mojito and Peter had a Baileys latte. After two and a half hours, we walked hand in hand back home.

Another Birthday Card

Another card this week for another belated Birthday. This time I've based my card on this weeks CPS sketch 116 . I used a Penny Black hedgehog stamp and coloured it in with ProMarkers. I also used Banana Frog Greenwich Park stamps, again coloured in with Promarkers. The papers are scraps of left over papers from My Minds Eye and K&Co. I also used Hero Arts alphabet stamps, Nick Bantock inks, DCWV ribbon and buttons.

Belated Birthday

I made this card while I was on holiday in Cornwall. It's for a friends belated birthday. I took my Letraset Promarkers with me on holiday to practice using them. I was very happy with the results on this Magnolia stamp, that I decided to make it into a card. The basic lay out was based on an example in the latest issue of Stamp Crafter magazine. I used My Minds Eye Bella Bella Bellezo paper, MME Wild Asparagus die cut, organza, ribbon, alphabet stamps, Prima Artful Collage flowers, Prima Daisy Crazy Mackenzie flowers and a brad.

This Week's ISMAKI Challenge

RIMG5006, originally uploaded by Bio-hazar.

Wow it's been ages since I've made a card, but with a special birthday around the corner I just had to make one. I also have some nice new Penny Black Hedgehog stamps to use. So I headed on over to ISMAKI and was pleased to see it was my friend Isa who did the sketch for this week. I first coloured one of my new Cuttlebug Embossing border folders with Nick Bantock ink using a brayer. Then embossed onto my card. I've used my new Promarker to colour in the stamps and built it up with 3D foam. The papers are some left over pieces of My Minds Eye and Sasserfrass papers. I finished off the card by stamping the sentiment using Studio G alpha stamps.