A common thread...

I was blown away earlier this week when I visited Travelingmama Tina's blog and discovered her plans to help support a deprived Moroccan school through her newly opened Etsy shop.

For those of you not familiar with Travelingmama: Tina and her family live in Morocco and document and share their daily lives through their wonderful photographs and blogs.

Living in a country where 80 % of the women cannot read or write Tina was encouraged to hear that the government was to offer money to help repaint all of the public schools. However, Tina had heard about a school not too far from her own home that was in need of even more support.

To quote Tina 'The children walked miles and miles to attend school, but there was no fresh drinking water for them nor a restroom. Their school supplies were scarce and they had very few books to read'.

This is when Tina and her family decided to use their creativity to offer help to these children by opening an Etsy shop and by encouraging people to donate to their project.

If you want to read more of Tina's inspiring story or wish to make a donation please head on over to Travelingmama and the Travelingtribe blogs.

This week Tina has a new Inspiration Challenge running. It is based on these evocative pictures of the Medina.

Originally I was going to create a card inspired by the colours and textures of the picture above, but then I was drawn back to this amazing picture taken by Tina's son.

Look closely and you will see two tiny threads, which appear to run the length of the shop.

These tiny threads got me thinking about a poster that my Dad brought home for me when I was a teenager. I had this poster on my wall for years and it's message had a powerful effect on me as I grew up.

The poster depicted God 'knitting' all the people of the world from one long, unbroken thread. You may already be familiar with the quote which was 'We are all linked by the common thread of humanity. If we break it, we are all undone'. I decided to use that quote on my card as it seemed to fit with Tina and her family's story. I think that the way they are living their lives in Morocco is helping to keep those threads nice and strong.


After that big build up my card looks a little bit tame, but I wanted the quote to be the focal point and for it to be held by thin silver thread. I'm not going to send it to anyone, just keep it in my craftroom so that once again I can look at these words on a daily basis.

I just want to wish Tina and her family every success with this wonderful and generous project.

Traveler's Inspiration challenge #5

Isn't this a wonderfully evocative picture taken by Tina's friend Katie while she was holidaying in Ireland?

I love the steely blue-grey of the river and the pink and green of the flowers.

My parents took many fishing holidays in Ireland before the 'Troubles'. They speak of Ireland with huge affection and have always said that the countryside was beautiful and the people warm and generous.

Here is my card, as you can see I went with the pink and green of the flowers and the white of the houses. The paper is S.E.I Kitty's place - Catnip. I love it, and am currently planning a card that uses the little kitty border that appears on another sheet. The chipboard shape is Maya Road and all the stamps are from Hero Arts. The teeny, tiny bling is from Papermania and I have added more gel pen then you could shake a glue stick at! (Bless you Kristina Werner, what did I do for finishing touches before you opened my eyes to the wonders of faux stitching?)

I have made this little card for my sister-in-law who is currently rather poorly. She had to be admitted to hospital a few days ago, but is back home now and seems to be improving.

I feel the need to give the Custard the Cat Worldwide Fan Club (Hi Elise!) an update on his recent exploits...

Two nights ago he had an encounter with a Kung-Fu mouse!

At first I thought that he was terrorising another frog, but it turned out to be a tiny grey mouse. This gutsy little fellah was repeatedly jumping at Custard. By the time I had run across the lawn Custard had backed off and was just sat looking at the mouse while it hopped up and down. He gave me a look as if to say 'aren't I supposed to be in charge here?' Needless to say the mouse escaped and Custard was left looking very confused and more than a bit embarrassed! I've promised not to tell any of his cat friends that he was outsmarted by a mouse...

Traveler's Inspiration Challenge 5#

You will not be surprised to hear that it is raining here again today...

I was at an Institute of Customer Services (ICS) training workshop in the city centre this morning and because I have accumulated so much 'time owing' from work I decided to take the afternoon off to do a little crafting!

I am not sure how I turned this fabulous photograph by Claudia aka Clouds, into my two little plain Jane cards. The picture is of Belize, where Claudia spent her childhood. As usual Tina has all the info about the picture over at Travelingmama. You might also like to make a call over at Claudia's blog and leave her a message. She has just lost her Grandma and so is making an unexpected trip home. I'm sure she'll appreciate a cyber hug or two at this sad time.

My first card takes inspiration from the idea that this wonderful beach is somewhere to relax and to 'take time to smell the coffee'. The stamp is from a lovely Impression Obsession Clear set. I have added some very subtle shimmer to the coffee cups with tulip glitter paint.



My second offering again picks up some of the colours from Claudia's picture. It is a card for my friend Mo. She has rather suddenly decided to leave work and I just want her to know how much I value her friendship and how much I will miss her. These two sweet little owls from a Hero Arts clear set and the friendship sentiment seemed just right. The flower is from Prima and again I have added some sparkle with my Tulip paint above the scalloped edge.


Both cards are much brighter in real life, it is just so dull here today even though it is early afternoon.

Finally, here is a picture of Custard the amazing paddling cat!
He is lying on the rug at the top of the stairs and looks a bit shocked as he doesn't often get his picture taken! He has given up on the garden today as it is just too wet for him.

Here's hoping for some sunshine!

Travelingmama inspiration challenge 4#

....and still it rains!

Isn't this an amazing picture from Savitri? She took the photo in Rothenburg, in Germany and has the full story over on her blog.

Thanks to the lovely travelingmama for another great inspiration challenge.

I am really enjoying all of the chat about creativity that is taking place over on her blog at the moment. I love my virtual visits to Tina's place in Morocco!

I wanted to make a card featuring a door, but the nearest that I could find in my stash was this cute little window stamp from Sugar Nellie. The colours aren't quite right but hopefully they are close enough. It was good to get my watercolour pencils out again and I had loads of fun adding the 'bling' and the little flower in her hair.

This card is for my beautiful god-daughter, Sarah, who is 27 next week. She is a lovely young woman who calmly takes life's stresses and strains in her stride. When her parents decided to move abroad she made everything right for them, even though she didn't really want them to go.

She was the cutest baby with masses of spiky brown hair. This little girl reminds me of Sarah when she was a toddler and had her hair in a sweet little bob. She also had a mean temper and really did the terrible two's with style!

I'm not sure where my cat spent the morning, possibly he was out buying a small cat-sized boat to sail around our waterlogged garden?

Traveler's Inspiration 3#

Better late than never!

I love the photograph of Amy's son that Travelingmama Tina used for her third challenge picture.

To read the story behind the picture visit Amy's fabulous blog.
What great childhood memories this little guy will carry with him as he grows up!

Here is my take on the photograph, don't you just love that cheeky little duck from Hero arts?

Traveler's Inspiration 2#

I love the photo that Tina has picked for her challenge this week. It was taken by the very talented Anthonette Chavez and is a picture of Taos Pueblo, in New Mexico. Visit Anthonette's blog to read all about it... and to see the pictures of her visit there with her family. I have to say that I am totally smitten with her gorgeous little boy, he is such a cutie!

I decided to use the colours from Anthonette's photo, but also to use the shapes. I added the middle panel to mimic the shape of the pueblo. I wanted to use blue card to match the vivid blue sky, but it didn't look right. Instead I went for tone-on-tone, using kraft after seeing Kristina Werner's stunning tone-on-tone card. I've also taken inspiration from Anthonette's card here. It's such a simple, beautiful card and really echoes the embroidery on the slippers in Tina's photo.

I wanted rectangles on my card to reflect the doors and windows of the pueblos, so opted to use my stamp punch. Kristina created this great card over on her blog using a stamp punch. She bought her punch sometime ago, but hadn't got around to using it until now.

My punch has a similar story: my hubby bought it for me a few years ago. Although I liked it and have made a few 'joke' stamps to go on envelopes, I couldn't really think of what else to do with it.
Kristina challenged everyone to use something that had been hanging out in their stash for a long time - so I decided to use this punch!
Needless to say my hubby is delighted that I have finally used it!

Traveler's Inspiration Challenge

Don't you just adore this picture of Tina's?

I got back from Italy yesterday and wanted to play along because this was Tina's 1st challenge, even though I've missed the official deadline. If you have never discovered her wonderful site just click here and enjoy!

I love the colours of those slippers, and tried to get as many into my card as possible.



The card is for my friend Sally, who worked with me at the library for about 10 months before she retired last year. She is very stylish and feminine, and I know she will love the colours from Tina's picture. Actually I think she'd love a pair of those slippers too, but then wouldn't we all!

This is my first experiment with chipboard - it's a bit odd to work with as the surface is so soft. Any tips and hints would be very welcome!
As you can see I had a bit of trouble with my gel pen faux stitching. I will cover the bit I messed up with a gem or a teeny heart before I send the card.

I am still searching for the ultimate gel pen as none that I have tried so far seem to flow very well and I end up going wobbly. (Also I am still having a bit of trouble with my hand/wrist after being in plaster earlier this year).
It's hard to tell on this picture but the 'happy birthday' sentiment is over stamped with the Hero Arts Raindrop stamp. The chipboard is Maya Road (beautiful shapes) and all of the cardstock is Bazzill. The paper is so old that I have no idea where it came from, it's really pretty and is ideal for using in little strips as I have done here. I will be very disappointed when it all gets used up.

And here I am on the hotel balcony overlooking beautiful Amalfi. My hubby always picks the best holiday locations!