Daring Cardmakers.

The challenge this week is a postage theme..so I thought I would have a little fun with this.  I coloured and decoupaged the snail, used backgrounds from my stock and finished it off with post it notes so that it looks like a rushed effort. 

Daring Cardmakers

The colour of the month challenge at Daring Cardmakers is red and pink.  I used my newly acquired Encaustic Art to make the following picture.  This is mounted on black gloss card decorated with ribbons and card candy.  I need to keep practising with this but feel I am making some progress.
Darn it!!  ..I fiddled around too long and was too late to add it.  That will teach me to procrastineate!  LOL.

Friday Flashback.

This is a picture of my Uncle Frank - my father's elder brother.  He is proudly posed with his bike..which has solid tyres, no mudguards and only a front brake.  On the reverse is written "To Daddy from his beloved Child wishing him Many Happy Returns.  Also a safe and quick return.  Taken June 4th 1918."
This must have been sent from my grandmother to my grandfather whilst he served in WW1.  Frank was 5 1/2 years old when this was taken.  More pictures and history of  Frank to come at a later date.

Friday Flashback.

This weeks picture is of my Mother aged 2 years.  She was born in 1916 and died in 2010.  She was the youngest of 14 children.  I love the bow in her hair and the little pinefore she is wearing.  This is the only picture I have of her as a child.



Welcome Baby Harry

Harry Owen Weeden made his entry to the world at 2.30 pm on 25th January 2012 weighing 8lbs.  He is our first great grandchild and the first boy in our family for 4 generations.  How blessed are we!!
Welcome to the world baby Harry may you be blessed with a long healthy and happy life.

Daring Cardmakers Challenge

The theme this week is Kitchenalia.  I decoupaged the graphic and mounted it on paper from my stash. I used red velvet vinyl scraps to mount this on.  The card is covered with the same paper turned sideways.  I like to make cards that I will use and I know this will bring someone calling soon!

Friday Flashback

My picture this week is of my father when he was 5 yrs old and started school in 1918.  The school was run by the church and was a small flint building that housed two classes.  The younger children were in one class and the older children in the other.  Children left school at aged 12 years then and went to work.   This was the only school in the village.  The village has grown so much now that it supports 3 very large primary schools each accomodating over 500 pupils (aged 5 - 11 years)
 My father is the second child on the left in the front row.  I love the expressions on the children's faces in this picture.  No one has a smile!  Even the teacher look glum.

Daring Cardmaker Challenge

Over at Daring Cardmakers they have a challenge entitled Miraculous Social Networks,  I thought I would submit my humble effort.  I made the background with Paint Shop Pro and decoupaged the birds.  It has not scanned particulalry well but I did enjoy making it.

Grandad's Van.

My picture today is a follow up to last weeks.  This van was used by my Grandfather for his newsagents business.  The Registration plate shows PO which was used in West Sussex ( registered at Portsmouth Office) between 1903 and 1932 and the number is the number of registrations used.  I dont know the extact date of this registration but as there were only 1451 vehicles registered to the whole of West Sussex it was probably close to 1920.  How quiet and uncongested the roads must have been!

Kusudama Flower Balls

I love making Kusudama Flower Balls and have made several now.  Each petal is folded seperately ( 60 of them) and assembled into the flowers.  12 flowers make a ball.
This one was made from wrapping paper covered in a buttons design.  Different paper gives very effects.

Encaustic Art

I got a little more ambitious this time and added a tree!  The work looks much better when mounted up even if the Robo did throw a hissy fit and cut the border a little wonky.

Quilling

Continuing with my quest to challenge myself with something new I had a go at quilling.  I have had quilling trashed away for a while but never really persevered with it.  I found sticking it in place more difficult than the actual quilling.  I think I may try more of this.



 Friday Flashback.

It has been a long while since I joined in with Friday Flashback.  A lot has happened in my life but I am pleased to be back again now.

The photo I have today is one of my Grandfather's shop.  I had no date for this but one of the billboards on the wall refers to "King Removes Kaiser from Garter Roll".    A bit of research found that on 13th May 1915 King George V removed the German Emporer Wilhelm 11 from the Rolls of the Garter due to the events of WW1.  As this was hot news the picture must have been taken on 14th May 1915.  My Grandfather is standing in the gateway to the shop.  Although he closed the shop in the 1940's  to enable him to help with the war effort  ( WW11),  he rode the trade bike until he died in 1953.  The small child in the picture is my father's elder brother.  I have no idea who the other person is.

Encaustic Art

I must have been good because Santa brought me an Encaustic Art Set for Christmas.  The most creative thing I have done with an iron until now is to render clothing unwearable.  Once I got my head around the realisation that I was just gently spreading wax onto paper and not desperately trying to eliminate dents in sun-baked jeans my muiddy puddles began to improve.  Today I have produced something that is almost recognisable and I am quite pleased with.  O.K.  I know they are not perfect and the birds and dragonflies need more practice but it is a start.   I will keep at it and hopefully improve further.



If you keep doing the same things in the same way you keep getting the same results.

New Year is the time to make decisions about what you wish to take forward with you into the future and what is best left behind.  We need the challenge of change in our lives to grow, learn and develope.  Sometimes the choices are easy - sometimes very hard.
Since I retired I have had a very laid back attitude, ambling through each day and often achieveing nothing whatsoever and yet I am very aware that the older I get the less time I have to do all the things that I want to get done.  It is almost as if I am in denial and that the time that I waste now will just serve to waylay the end a little longer.  My head tells me it just doesnt work that way.
Procrastination is a dirty word for 2012!  New challenges here I come.......