Lots to Do - Embossing

Apologies that this week I was not prepared earlier and that ive been so busy that im afraid my entry for Lots to Do - Embossing is one that I made earlier.

My Grandfather James Wilson was the local funeral director here where I live, as was my Great Grandfather before him.

My cousin whilst clearing out his fathers garage ( the garage passed to my uncle from my grandfather) found some old glass slides from a camera with images on them.
Many of you who read my blog regular will remember these slides.

I took them to a specialist developer as they were in perfect condition and had some prints made.
I was overjoyed to find the images of the horse drawn hearse that my great grandfather and grandfather used to use for their business.

We did have the inmage of my grandfather in his funeral dress, so it all came together very well. The photo of the grave , is the grave of my Great Grandparents , so because of the nature of the layout I thought it was fitting to include that too.

I used black embossing powder and some angel images as they always remind me of the angels and statues in graveyards. I used white 12x12 and edged it with a black marker to tie in the old sympathy card that I had included on their aswell.

The addition of the black ribbon behind the photos adds to the sombre feel of the layout.

This is one of my favourite layouts, coming from a line of funeral directors I was always wondering why after all of the hundreds of photos that my Grandfather and his father before him took there were never many of their work. I was overjoyed when Tom found these and I am so pleased at long last be able to see those carriages that are becoming popular for funerals once again.

Thank you for stopping by my blog , I hope you have a nice (all be it cold
and snowy) weekend, and once again apologies that this is one I made earlier.

Baby Edie has arrived

My new Granddaughter Baby Edie has arrived.
Born Nov 19th at 1.17pm weighing 7lb 6 1/2 ozs she is absolutely gorgeous.

Lots to Do - Favourite Technique

These are my entrys for this weeks Lots to do which is favourite techniques. I must admit I dont have a favourite technique I enjoy all aspects of crafting just as much as the other. I do like working with vintage stuff tho and this is the card I have made for the arrival of my new granddaughter Edie.





The rest of the cards are for a project to be used later on , ive been filling in my spare time lately by making this selection of cards.
Its been fun and ive made quite a few , although its made no impression on my drawer of bits and pieces to be used for cards.





























This last one is the card I made for my Mam to give for her Great Granddaughters arrival. Im pleased with it.



Thanks for stopping by my blog and for leaving any comments its much appriciated. Have a lovely weekend

Lots to Do - Friends / Friendship

This is my entry for this weeks challenge over at Lots to Do which is Friends / Friendship.

I thought long and hard about all of my friends , past and present, old and new and couldnt make my mind up which one of them should be the topic for this layout.

Not wanting to leave anyone out or make anyone feel as though their friendship wasnt as important as someone else i struggled with my choice.

Then I woke on Wednesday morning and my choice was made. Who had been my best friend the longest? who had been there from the beginning? who will be there as long as I live? There was only one person who fit that bill, the answer was very clear, it had to be my Dad.
So I set about designing a page that would try to capture what his friendship had meant to me.
Once i had chosen my photos the rest was easy.





I used a gold dabber to colour some grungeboard flourishes, I had chosen a dark purple dotted swiss paper so I thought by adding the cream and gold it would lighten the layout, I didnt want it to feel too dark and gloomy.



I added the strips of both plain and patturned paper to the 12x12.



Next I added this script , which was taken from the opening scene of a movie and adapted slightly so that it fit in with how I felt.
The first time I watched the film this made me think of my Dad and I found myself watching the beginning over and over until I had a record of the actual script written down.



I added this picture of the two of us when I must have only been a few weeks old.
My Dad worked long hours and I was often asleep when he got in from work. Yet my Mam always said within minutes I would be awake, oddly enough Dad always claimed I woke myself, Mam said she knew better he woke me so that he could spend time with me. He then went on to fall asleep shattered and Mum had to get me to sleep all over again.
I also added the 'Friends Forever ' die cut I think it kinda sums everything up.



Although the theme was Friends / Friendship the title I added was 'Always' as theres not a day goes by that this friend isnt in my thoughts.



The trust tag , because I trusted him totally, his judgement , his opinions, his knowledge, his understanding , his faith , his support, his love and of course his Friendship.



This photo was of his 80th birthday, I made a ' This is your Life' book for him and organised a surprise party , the kids all read from the book for him and we even had messages from his brother in Canada. He enjoyed his birthday surprise. His birthday cake showed a picture of him in his Army uniform looking very smart.













Added to the grungeboard signs I added the words ' From as early as this....All through my life....My Dad was my best Friend.


A selection of photos from days out and in the garden etc when we were together.
I usually try and make a 12 x 12 layout to mark his birthday , xmas and his anniversary etc as I am unable to send him a card, this year I didnt get around to doing his page for his anniversary which was Oct 23rd,
Im happy that this layout covers both the challenge and also it markd his anniversary this year.



My Friend has been gone 6 years now, it feels like yesterday most days , but when friendship is as strong as this one was, he doesnt need to be here physically because he will always be here in spirit , more importantly he will always be in my heart.

My new granddaughter is due any day now , Im sorry she didnt get to meet him , but Im sure in years to come when she is old enough to read through these family Scrapbooks she will understand that her Grani once had a very special friend that was her Great Grandfather, Eddie.

Thank you for taking the time to read this long post this week , I hope you are all lucky enough to have a friend who means this much to you.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend.

Lots to Do - Autumn

This is my entry for this weeks Lots to Do which this time is Autumn. I have used a photo of my Grandmothers cousins , the oldest children from the Cain family.





I cut some leaves with the cuttlebug , and used Vintage photo distress ink to colour them down. I was pleased with the result , it reminded me of the fallen leaves on the path that people have walked over which have become dirty and discoloured. This was the look I was wanting to achieve so Im happy with that.



I added a couple of strips of this lettered paper for one reason, If you look carefuly at the photo you will see that my Grandmother (who this photo belonged to ) had inked on the front of each child in the photo their initial so that she could remember which of her cousins this was. I had a little laugh to myself when i saw what she had done , bless its a shame she had spoiled the photo but in a way it adds character to the picture and i dare say as her memory was going, it was maybe what was required to help her.



I added some fibres which are some of the most beautiful autumn colours I have in my kit.I was almost sorry to use them.





I had a thin sheet of cork which had been in a Scrapaholics kit last year which was perfect to cut the lettering and i thought it blended in quite well.



I used a small square punch to add some colour to the corners of the dark brown 12 x 12 using some of the scraps of colours I had been working with ( I waste nothing lol)



I added these delicious flowers , they are Mulberry Street paper flowers which I bought from the Scrapbook Garden they are stunning flowers and come in a range of colours and always look good , I have them in many colours and cant choose a favourite they are all so lovely.







The inked leaves turned out quite well and even the ones i had cut from foil paper , coppers and golds inked well with the distress ink.



Once again I used my Dads old typewriter to do the journalling.......although I really miss not being able to click a button and get everything lined up ok. Computers have made such a difference in this area.



I layed the leaves across the bottom of the 12 x 12 . I fastened the photo down with raised pads so that when I added the leaves it gave the effect of them lying on top of one another etc rather than just looking flat.



This odd little butterfly was just in my scrap embellishments but the colours matched well. I know you dont get many butterflies in Autumn but I dont mind.





I also added some orange ribbon to the corner of the picture , so that it was just 'on the side' as you will notice each one of the little girls in the picture has such a ribbon on the side of her hair, I wanted to tie that into my page.



And thats it im afraid.......sorry about the messy desk behind this one , but hey who wants a clean desk? Not me lol.

Thanks for stopping by my blog and I hope you all have a lovely weekend.