The secret of getting ahead!

I found this quote from Mark Twain
" The secret of getting ahead is getting started"


Here is a card I made using that quote........



I made this card using two stampotique stamps that I bought at the weekend from Art from the Heart in Harrogate, Yorkshire, UK. This is the first time I have purchased this make of stamps, I have seen them used in magazines but have not found a shop selling them until this weekend! When I found the huge array of them in the shop, it took me ages to choose which ones I could buy, as there was such a fabulous range! My purchase made,I just had to try them out today! I would love to own more they stamp just perfect ....

Here is a few step by step photos so you can see how I made this card.












Once the background was dry I stamped the images onto white card and coloured them with Prisma pencils and blended them with blending fluid and blending stubs then, cut them out. I typed the quote and cut it out.






I then put the card together...... And here is my first card using the Stampotique rubber stamps !



I think I will link it to the stampotique designers challenge design team call, you can find out more by going to ........
http://stampotiqueoriginals.blogspot.co.uk

Although I have had lots of my work published....
It would be a great opportunity for me to move out of my comfort zone, and challenge myself, if they feel they can give me a chance! They are lovely stamps and I highly recommend you pop over there and have a look :)

What's on my work desk Wednesday

Here is my desk this week, it's an aerial view this week!




You can see Christmas stamps to the right ( Heartfelt Creations, Molly blooms, JOFY to name but a few) I have been using, Prisma crayons to the right, a memory box die and a few other bits and bobs. Top right are some images I have stamped and being colouring with the Prisma pencils.
The scrapbook layout I still need to put in a shadow box. I have put all my daughters wedding cards in the album that was sitting on the desk last week so I did achieve that! You can also see a card on the Big Shoot, that I have starting putting together, it's the Heartfelt Creations snowy cardinal set!



I also went to Alexandra Palace on Saturday to the Creative Expressions Rubber stamp and Scrapbook weekend with a group of friends here we all are ..... Me... Margaret.... Tanya....Jan... And Sue who took the picture. Such a lovely venue!




If you would like to look round some more crafty desks, then just click on the link on the right hand side of my. Blog marked Stamping Ground.

Sepia Saturday

This week this is the inspirational photo



After looking through my photo's the best I can do,is this group of men!



This is a picture of my Great Great Grandfather Robert Edwards and crew members of the ship he was on.
He is the one with the x above him( my Great Aunt put the x there) I did show a picture of his wife last week on my scrapbook layout. She was a nurse, and on the 3 photos of her i have, she looks like she is of mixed race. I think he must have been a strong character to have married someone of mixed race back in those days, as it was not the done thing. I know she came from a good family and she was well educated, which was not the norm for young ladies. She went away to study and train as a nurse, when nurse training very first started.As a couple they had servants in their home .As well as having her children she did midwifery and laid out the dead locally.
This is the Scrapbook layout of the photo I made, I tried to make it represent that Robert was a fisherman.



If you would like to see more old photos then pop along to the Sepia Saturday blog.

What's on Your Work desk Wednesday

Here is my desk from a different angle than usual....




I have a selection of Christmas stamps at the forefront as I have started to make a few Christmas cards!!!! A bag of Natasha and Lewis wedding cards from June I need to put in the album next to them and a layout of their wedding I need to put in a shadow box. My family history albums are on the desk as I dip in and out of them, it's my ongoing project!
If you saw my desk last week covered in scrapbook layouts and wondered if I got them sorted ...



I did ......in fact i got all my albums out of the cupboard .... There is 30 of them!!!



I went through them putting the layouts into the appropriate folder, I have one for each of my husbands Grandchildren,our wedding etc I had a reminisce at some of my first albums.....like this page, in the album i did about building our own home, about 8 years ago!



Looking at layouts, like the one above made me think how my style has changed and how there is such a choice of products we can buy these days.Twenty years ago before the Internet It was difficult to find anywhere to buy even rubber stamps!



And I added a new album to the collection...
I will scrapbook the first photo for that album, in the coming months when I am a little more confident all is well with Natasha and her baby ( my first Grandchild) ...... I'm a bit excited to say the least !! But natasha has been in hospital on a drip with awful sickness and has lost well over half a stone in just a few weeks. She is very weak, and struggling with being so ill, but thrilled about having a baby ! She has not long recovered from a life threatening illness, thus not as heathy as most people, so I must take each day as it comes with her, although hospital say baby is doing great!


If you would like to look at some other crafty desks around the world, just click on the link on the right hand side of my blog marked Stamping Ground and the lovely Julia will explain all.
Thank you for taking the time to visit and leave a comment

Sepia Saturday

This is the prompt for this weeks Sepia Saturday photograph, it's a lady sewing the American flag.
Mine is a tentative link.....



This is a picture of a tapestry my Grandmother made when she was a young girl, its now over 80 years old and I keep it to remind me of her, although one night it fell off the wall at about 2am, the glass smashed and it scared the living daylights out of me !!!



Here is a scrapbook layout I did of my Great Great Grandmother who was a nurse, she is sat at a small table in her nurses outfit like the lady in the prompt photo is sat at a small table! As a nurse she mainly dealt with child birth and lying out the dead. I decided to use the yellow, pink and blue buttons on the layout because of her being a midwife most of her time!

If you enjoy old photographs and family history please pop over to the sepia Saturday blog where you will find links to many more.

What's on your work desk Wednesday

Here is my desk this week...
The last bit of tidying up I have to do is put away all the scrapbook pages I have just been pilling up!!! I must have about 20 layouts waiting to be put in a album here on my desk. Each member of the family has an album, so I need to just put them into the respective one! What I have noticed as I look through them is I love using the Heartfelt Creations flower stamps ... They seem to be my 'go to' product, I wonder if other crafters have a 'go to' product that they just love using?



You will also see I have put my craft bag on an old lazy Susan, it's so much easier to get what I want!
There is a bag of wedding cards there from my daughters wedding I need to put in an album for her as well

I haven't achieved much this week as I have had these three come to stay for three days and nights while there mum and dad moved house!( you just wouldn't want to move house with an 4 year old 7 year old and one 18 months, would you)


As well as this I've had my daughter in hospital,



so it's been a bit of a 'busy' sort of week.... Not my normal sort of week at all !
Looking forward to getting back to doing some crafting,this week!
If you want to have a look round some other crafty desk then click onto the link on the right hand side marked Stamping Ground and Julia will explain all.

What's on your work desk Wednesday

My desk looks rather different this week.......




I have just dumped stuff on my desk this week due to having to make space all round my craft room for the skirting boards to be put on as you can see, in the next photo, so it means you get to see some bits that are normally stored under my desk like my print tray with lovely old wooden print in it.



I have not been able to do any crafting this week as I am now in the throws of putting it all back, sorting it out, cleaning etc etc !
I did do a little craft shopping this week that I can share with you. I purchased these Heartfelt Creations stamps and matching die. I just love the flower stamps they make, the quality is just the best and think this set of leaves with be so useful.


Come back next week and see how I use these!

If you would like to visit more crafty desks then just click on the link on the right hand side of my blog marked Stamping Ground and the lovely Julia will explain all.

Thank you for visiting me and leaving a comment !