Sunshine reflections

WOYWW 137

2012-01-18T07:22:00.002Z

Happy New Year everyone! sorry it's belated but it has been that long since I have joined in.

Here is my desk this dark morning:

I haven't done any scrapping since my little flurry of activity doing 5 layouts in the style of the first 5 tags of Christmas. Instead I have been getting on with my quilt (I am currently doing all the binding at the moment - very exciting) and also getting on with my art course. I haven't been posting what I have been learning on that which I must remedy soon - yesterday I sat down and did a new colour wheel and the picture in the background is a practice of one that we started at the class last Friday and will be finishing this Friday. The sewn organisers are there because I don't know where to put them - I have had them finished for ages but they have been in the back of a cupboard unused since then so I have got them out during my clearout to see if I can use them or I will sell them. The packet of crisps is actually a pencil case!

These lovely new toys finally turned up last Friday:

Not had much chance to play though - I did a few background sheets at the crop on Sunday but that was all I managed and then I stamped on a few yesterday - will probably mount the finished pieces on birthday cards.

That's it at the moment - hope you all like the new tablecloth! If you want to know why I am showing my desk to the world then pop over to Julias and see all the fun of showing your desk to the world!

Thanks for looking - Loving my watercolours from Solihull.

Christmas Layouts

2012-01-08T08:56:00.004Z

A couple of weeks ago I decided I was giving up on scrapbooking for a while - I have loads of photos all printed out ready to scrap, loads of stash piling up and gathering dust but just no scrapbooking mojo. So I had a clear out - I threw out inches of paper, I have bagged up even more inches of paper in the hopes of selling some at my next crop, I have thrown out old stash, I have organised old stash and given up two valuable storage box spaces to them - one with the intention of using the stuff in it in the immediate future and the other if it's not used in six months time (1st July) it's going in the bin no questions asked. So after all that sorting and organising I suddenly got the urge to erm do some scrapbooking!

I also had the idea that I could turn the 12 tag of Christmas into 12 layouts of Christmas, after all I can't be the only one who finds Christmas photos extremely hard to scrap. Lets face it most of them are out of focus, blurred, have far too much clutter in the background, are full of garish and clashing colours (I could go on here...... but you get the picture). So I dug out my pile of Christmas photos - all in all there are 66 of them (which doesn't include any from 2011 - that alone is enough to put you off isn't it! no wonder I have scrappers block here....), then I dug out some old Christmas papers and embellishments that I haven't thrown out yet!, sorted out a few printouts of some pagemaps and got to work. Here are my results since last Sunday:

Layout 1 (based on tag 1)

am surprised I managed to carry on after this one - the big letters that don't fit on the tag are so out of my comfort zone, and I used the Santa and Reindeer mask on the top left when sticking down as I thought it looked bare there completely forgetting about the angel drying on the window sill that should have been there - but then I thought in for a penny in for a pound and used them both (because I had thrown out the rest of that Basic Grey yellow card and didn't have anymore (but since then I have found the said pile of Basic Grey old papers in a "safe" place! knew I wouldn't have thrown that out despite it being about 7 years old!) and as for the green embossed Love Elsie cardstock - what possessed me??? but all in all I have, after struggling past these little hurdles, ended up with a layout that although very plain I actually really like! Shame the picture is such poor quality (our carpet was a dusky pink and not black as it looks on the photo!) - still lovely memories are now captured forever and that's really what scrapbooking is all about isn't it!).

Layout 2 (based on tag 2)

This one I have used a whole sheet of kraft resist (I know!), managed to put a little reindeer in the corner and used up five different previously unused alphabets too! The tag pulls out from behind the picture to read SANTA - forgot to do it for the purposes of this photo! Again a fairly simple layout (although it took me hours!) but again I really like the result.

Layout 3 (based on tag 3)

Couldn't do this technique properly on Tag 3 as I didn't have the stamp or embossing folder but Ellie at the crop (** Hi Ellie! waving madly **) lent them to me at our December crop and I had a little play so it was nice to use it on this layout. I also added some festive greenery in the corner - these are such a nice corner filler. The tag has a lovely Stampin Up stamp on it but I made it without checking whether it fitted or not and when it came to it it was far too big on a plain layout so it had to be tucked out of sight!

Layout 4 (based on tag 4)

this is my favourite. I couldn't do the tag to this one properly either as I didn't have the snowman die (do now though!) or the snowflakes but Bernice lent me these at the last crop too (** Hi Bernice! waving madly to you too!**) but I love this photo of the view out of my bedroom window and I really needed to use the Kaisercraft wooden lamppost that has been sitting in my stash since September (quite new really then!), the title was bigger than I wanted but such is life when using old stash!

Layout 5 (based on tag 5)

here I used the fragments from T!ms bonus tag rather than a background from the main tag and some lovely Magnolia papers. I have been hoarding these for ages because they were just too nice to cut up (I am sure you all know what I mean!) - but now I have and on a double layout too! no stopping me was there.

However, I got half way through layout/tag 6 yesterday and decided I had had enough of "old" and whilst I still have some mojo left I would rather put it towards something I am going to enjoy making rather than carrying on with something that I probably won't (I have enjoyed making all of the above but know if I carry on I will get bored so it's time to move on). So all Christmas stuff has now been put away and I have a tidy desk. Maybe I will finish them in a few days time, maybe a few months but all I know is I have started and really enjoyed myself whilst I was making them too. They may not be masterpieces or win any prizes but they are special memories that I have taken the time to capture, put on a fancy background and explain about them through journalling - either hidden or on the page. The cloud has lifted.......

Thanks for looking - all seasoned out from Solihull.

How disappointed am I????

2012-01-03T08:38:00.001Z

Postman rang the doorbell about 8am this morning and I went running to the door, frantically undoing all the bolts and chains before he disappeared thinking we were still in bed, all the while thinking it must be my order from the Craft Obsessions sale and what a fabulous morning to receive it on as children are still off school so no school runs or afternoon clubs to worry about, it's pouring down with rain so they aren't going to want to go out so I can sit and play with my new toys - yippee!!!

So here was the parcel:

bit lighter than I thought and in an Amazon box but it had my name on it so it must be my order and anyway I am all for recycling cardboard so it doesn't matter what box it comes in, so - wait for it....... - I open the package (after having a quick chat to the postman who is looking after his grandsoon who is now 5 - gosh doesn't time fly I remember him being born!) only to find it contains this:

damn, had forgotten all about these ordered online last week.

Am now desperately trying to think of an excuse not to do the housework and start crafting instead.

Thanks for looking - now really having no excuse not to have clean a kitchen floor from Solihull.

12 Tags of Christmas - Day 12

2012-01-01T14:39:00.003Z

and last but certainly not least:

only T!m could manage to persuade me to get the iron out on New Year's Day! Background is made exactly the same as T!ms apart from I don't have his tissue paper (are you all feeling a bit sorry for me now???) so I made my own. I also don't have the Vintage Market alphabet but I do have Santa's Workshop one (yippee!) so I used that with glitter paper and black card. I used the big Snowman (which I treated myself to after tag 4) rather than a little figure (mainly because I don't have one of those either but I was going to ask DS2 if I could borrow his Star Wars Wompa figure but then I thought he would only want it back and I would have to rip it off the tag so I used Snowy instead!). He is made from grungepaper, Broken China ink, crackle glaze, with Vintage Photo and Snow Cap paint around the edge. The Let It Snow is a stamp again by Anita and is on glossy card stock, inked with Broken China and stamped in Archival ink. Tag finished with that fabulous tissue flower and a lovely button, two pieces of greenery from the Festive Greenery die and some tinsel. I died some muslin with Broken China to finish it all off. Am well pleased with this one!

Now all tags are on my tree (apart from tag 8 which I put on my "Magic of HoLTz" layout because it would just look plain silly on the tree!):

along with lots of lovely pinecones!

tee hee!

I would just like to say a big thanks to T!m and all his BTS helpers for putting all this together and inspiring me to get creative through what has been quite a stressful month for me.

Thanks for looking - already ready for bed from Solihull

12 Tags of Christmas - Day 11

2012-01-01T14:23:00.001Z

and here is tag 11:

Didn't think I would like this so much as I am really fussy about my colouring in and don't like going over lines and I knew I would using distress inks and blending foam but you know I am really, really pleased with this. I used an old Santa stamp I have and coloured him with Black Soot and Barn Door. The Happy Christmas is by Anita and is coloured with Evergreen Boughs - both are stuck on with 3d foam. I put layers of fluffy fibres on the bottom to ground Santa and the background of the tag is done exactly the same as T!ms.

I had such fun making the little holly and branch embellishments. I have had a melt pot for years - bought it when I went to a class by Suze Weinberg - but imagine my horror when I plugged it in a few months ago and it was broken! But I emailed Ranger and they replaced it for me so I have had my new one for about three months now but not had chance to play with it - so today I played! Have made a lovely assortment of little reindeers, snowmen, flowers, cogs and houses to play with another time and I also made the holly and branches for this tag. The branches are handcut and didn't look the best before I shrunk them but now that I have they look fabulous - these are inked with Bottle and Hazlenut alcohol inks. Finished the tag off with some red and green twine.

Thanks for looking - been up for even more hours from Solihull.

12 Tags of Christmas - Day 10

2012-01-01T14:16:00.000Z

Here is my next tag for the challenge:

I already had the fragments prepared for this one but it still took me ages to complete! I stamped the music onto a cream tag and dried it with the heat gun. Then I stamped out the holly in Peeled Paint and poured on embossing powder - I was expecting it to stick all over the tag and not just on the ink but how wrong I was! Am very impressed with this technique too and will be using this a lot in the future too!

The whole background is made as on T!ms tag, the fragments are made using images from Crafty Individuals pictures I have left over from a class I did there last year (or was it the year before??). The ribbon and brads are old stash. I don't have the banner die (it's such a shame for me isn't it!) so I handcut a banner out and stamped it with the same music stamp - wish I had used a different colour on it now to make it stand out more but it still looks ok in real life (I know it looks the same on the picture but it is different - honest!). The alphabet is again Once Upon A Time and painted with copper paint. Finished the same as T!ms with tulle, pearls and tinsel.

Thanks for looking - still been up for hours from Solihull.

12 Tags of Christmas - Day 9

2012-01-01T14:10:00.000Z

I saw T!ms post yesterday about been entered in a surprise draw if you entered all 12 tags and thought I would give it a miss as I had only completed 8. But then when I woke up this morning at 5am and lay there thinking "but I have got tags 9 and 10 half done....." I just had to get up and finish them all off - 7 hours later here are the results:

I made a few of these backgrounds and used them on Christmas cards - wish I had used this one now and kept the red one (or remade the red one) as I think it would have stood out better - still I am pleased with the results. I don't have the candlestick die - boo hoo - but I do have the lovely lamppost so I cut it down and made it into a Christmas lantern. The letters PEACE are cut from Once Upon A Time alphabet and the swirl is one of T!ms too.

For the tag background I used copper embossing powder and Vintage Photo distress ink - love this double embossed effect and I will be using it a lot more in the future too! The lantern is coloured with Black Soot distress stain with mustard seed card behind it. The holly is cut from green cardstock but inked with Peeled Paint and finished off with seed beeds. The swirl is coloured with Festive Berries and some bling stuck on. The letters were cut from an old hymn book and covered with glossy accents. The other large leaf is from the pinecone die and is coloured with Peeled Paint.

Thanks for looking - been up for hours from Solihull.

Happy New Year Everyone

2011-12-31T17:53:00.002Z

Just posting to wish everyone who reads my blog a very Happy and Prosperous New Year.

I would also just like to share my favourite 10 creations for this year:

Advent calendar - front (or is it the back??)

Advent calendar back (or is it the front??)

This had a personal thumbs up from Tim so just has to be my favourite creation this year really - it still has pride of place in my lounge and will have until the 12th day of Christmas!!

The rest in no particular order are:

Benjamins birthday card

My friend Julie's birthday card

A Crop class layout I taught earlier this year

A tag I made for a swap on WOYWW

A Crop class layout that I will be teaching on 15th January

A tag I made and have kept for myself!

A favourite mainly because I love the story behind the photo!

Another personal layout - I love this one as I adore the papers and the resins

Another card I have made and haven't the heart to give away as I like it so much - might just have to send it myself next year!

Well that's me signing out for 2011 now and I will be back, hopefully firing on all creative guns, early in the new year.

Thank you all for looking and all your lovely comments throughout 2011 - Wondering if I will stay awake until midnight from Solihull xxx

WOYWW 134

2011-12-28T08:42:00.000Z

Here is a picture of my desk actually taken this morning and not the day before! Bit easier when you get up a bit later isn't it!

Card there is a new home one for my Nan who moved into a nursing home last Thursday - haven't had chance to go and visit her yet with the children been off but she is settling in ok.

That roll up piece of kitchen roll at the back there is full of new coins! whoo hoo and the twine you see at the right hand side of the table is the expensive one from Hobbycraft (just thought I would share that!) and the little mushrooms beside it were also a Christmas present - they are little pots of rubbers and I got three of them as the children couldn't decide on which colour to get! they will make little pots to keep "things" in and feed my mushroom addiction nicely!

If you are wondering why I am sharing a picture of my desk with the world then please pop over to Julia's where all be revealed!

Hope you all had a great Christmas.

Thanks for looking - a mushroom fan from Solihull

Happy Christmas Everyone!

2011-12-27T09:14:00.000Z

Sorry I am late posting this - I didn't schedule anything for the big day and obviously have been a bit busy the past two days (to say my 7 year old has been excitable is an understatement!).

Here he is with our tree - as you can see I have finished the decorations (the children did all the rest which is why they are all precariously hanging off the edges and most are back to front!) with some of my T!m tags and lot of lovely handmade pinecones!

Here are a few of the cards I made:

Benjamin's

Jayne's (who loves purple!)

My parents - my OH parents had the same card but with Mum and Dad instead

OH's sister and brother in law card

Card for my Nan

and here is my favourite present:

a little R2D2 tin full of little tiny R2D2 mints! how cute is that - thought he would look nice talking to my table decoration snowman - and look 2 days on and there are still chocolates in there! (don't think the children have realised yet!!!!).

Thanks for looking everyone - overfed from Solihull.

WOYWW 133

2011-12-21T06:00:00.001Z

Only four more sleeps! whoo hoo.

Here is my table in front of telly as of yesterday afternoon:

Bargain Hunt on the telly there! I wasn't watching it but turned off Glee as I suddenly thought about taking a picture in the daylight! Here I was working on my Nan's calendar - only two more months to do now and it will be finished. Usual clutter on desk and also the last four Christmas cards that I had to make peeking out there in front of my portable bin. In the background you can see my advent calendar has pride of place on the bookcase (in fact it's taken over from the configuration box I made at Artsycrafts earlier this year which has been temporarily laid down for a month!) - the advent is popular with the boys which I am pleased about as it has had to compete against a Star Wars lego one with one boy opening it on even numbered days and the other on odd days - thank goodness! It makes all the effort worthwhile doesn't it!

Also on the bookcase is a half decorated sleigh that I really must get around to finishing (I seem to remember that I said that last year too!).

Looking forward to visiting some desks today - all my presents are now wrapped and under the tree and also all the eight tags that I made following Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas are hanging on the tree - they look really great mixed amongst the assortment of Disney, other handmade, Starbucks, Knitted, Babys firsts etc ornaments.

To join in all the desk hopping fun pop over to Julias.
Thanks for looking - Excited from Solihull.

The Magic of hOltZ

2011-12-17T13:11:00.001Z

I have enjoyed myself so much recently making 8 of the 12 Tags of christmas, then a couple of days ago I was having a little rummage through my smallish pile of papers as I need to start planning the calendar I make for my Nan as a Christmas present when I came across the Graphic 45 The Magic of Oz papers I have - then something just clicked and I thought that really Oz is just a secret code for hOltZ- after all he is a wizard at inspiring us all isn't he! So, all thoughts of the calendar disappeared (after all I still have another whole 8 days to worry about that!) and I decided to make this instead:

and as you can see I have managed to incorporate T!ms Day 8 steam punk tag on it too.

Papers used are: Graphic 45 - The Magic of hOltZ Collection namely The Magic of hOltZ and Journey to hOltZ, A Proper Gentleman Collection - Timely Point of View and Steampunk Debutante Collection - Mechanical Mind. The Magic of Oz cards and header were cut from the Oz papers and I have cut out and added the hlt letters from T!ms Once Upon A Time alphabet, inked them with Aged Mahogany and Black Soot to match the other letters and adhered them to read hOltZ. Of course as its a layout with T!m on it it needed lots of metal so I have used cogs, a crown - finished with a Primark pearl - and some spinners from T!ms metal collections, a metal clock charm (think I got this from Art From The Heart) and a metal pen nib. The tag I based on the Day 8 Steampunk tag and didn't change it much but used Alice from the papers to point to the name hOltZ and a ticket - using T!ms ticket die and a stamp from the Odds and Ends collection - saying Artsycrafts and the date. The clock is T!ms sizzix die as are all the cogs which I have painted with silver, bronze and gold metallic paints then inked with Vintage Photo distress ink. I used a burgundy earthy pastel length of hemp which I always like to wrap around cogs and lay around a scrapbook page if I can. Have inked all my edges with Vintage Photo and the tag background was made using Vintage Photo, Picket Fence and Broken China distress stains.

Hope you like it! Thanks for looking - Enjoying the magic of hOltZ from Solihull.

12 Tags of Christmas - Day 7

2011-12-11T07:33:00.003Z

Oooh glassine leaves! I thought these looked lovely when I watched the video but, alas, I have no glassine! However look at my results using freezer paper:

As I have a huge roll of freezer paper (150 metres! - well actually I have already used some so I probably only have about 148 metres now!) I thought I would give it a try instead of glassine paper, so I inked it up with Meadow and Bottle alcohol inks with some Copper mixative and then heated it - I half expected it to burn but no it was fine! so I turned it over and inked the back (something I always do!) and then when I had heated that side, I turned it back to the front and added blending solution, heated it, crumpled it and cut out some holly leaves with my sizzix die - I was very impressed with the results and have now made loads of these! (well with 148 metres of freezer paper I thought it was rude not too!).

I did the pearls the same way as T!m too with Red Pepper alcohol ink in a little bag. The tag background is done in Wild Honey and Vintage Photo distress strains and stamped with a background stamp in Vintage Photo, edges are inked with Vintage Photo too. Santa is from an Anita's set of stamps and he is inked onto kraft cardstock with Brown ink and cut out with a sizzix die. Tag is then finished with the holly leaves, pearls (again taken from a trusty necklace from Primark), a bit of ribbon with silver stars on and some twine. The top of the tag is finished with red and plain twine with two more pearls from a Primark necklace and a bell that I have coloured with Red Pepper alcohol ink too.

If you want to join in with the 12 Tags then pop over to T!ms and join in the fun.

Here are a couple more of these I have made too:

Thanks for looking - Loving my holly from Solihull

12 Tags of Christmas - Day 6

2011-12-11T07:20:00.001Z

Am running a bit behind with these due to DS having a birthday in the middle and lots of celebrations going on all round!

Here is my take on Tag six:

The photo really doesn't do this tag any justice as it is really, really nice in real life. I was actually quite surprised how nice it turned out as during it's creation it wasn't the best I can tell you! Firstly I hadn't got a suitable colour metal so I used a dusky pink and then the only acrylics I had to hand (without going and moving presents and things to get in my craft cupboard) were pastels and browns, however I put the metal through the word embossing folder and then coloured it with stripes of sandal, espresso and hazlenut paints (and yes it really did look awful!). I then sanded away and to be fair at that stage it already started to look better even with my strange colour mix. I then thought in for a penny in for a pound and covered the whole tag, rather than just one area, with Festive Berries ink and embossed it and the transformation was fabulous and I ended up with a rather lovely piece of artwork just in itself. So I have just finished the tag simply with a bit of black flower ribbon I bought in the rag market, two fabulous pinecones (spent a happy evening making up a few of these from the new T!m die, the pinecones are cut from Kraft card, inked with Gathered Twigs and then finished with Snowcap paint and rock candy stickles (they look very effective!) and the leaves are inked with Peeled Paint. I used another of my metal angels which I painted with Snowcap, Pearl and Pitch Black acrylics and then tied on to the tag with red and black twine to tie all the colours together.

All in all I am very happy with the results! If you want to join in with the 12 Tags then pop over to T!ms and join in the fun.

Can I just say a big hello to RumTruffle - thank you for following me :)

Thanks for looking - Running behind from Solihull

WOYWW 131

2011-12-07T06:06:00.008Z

Here is a view of my working desk as of yesterday afternoon:

Stripy piece of painted metal there is for T!ms tag yesterday (still not finished it!), the normal bits of clutter that surround me when I am crafting, the little box with flowers on next to my ink pads I made for our bumper crop last year out of the kit we made up - it contains my alcohol inks (for Monday's tag!), two extra alcohol ink tags are drying on top of my ink pads as I really loved making them, the Haribo's are for DS1 to take into school as it's his 11th birthday today - whoo hoo, and then to just to entertain and delight the other messy crafters out there here is a full view of my dining room, sorry, craft table!

Big shot, fold away bin, present for DS1 off DS2, DS2's book bag and letters home from school..... you get the picture!

DS1 is still in bed at the moment so am just waiting for him to wake up and open his presents - aren't birthdays just wonderful! then when they are both in school I am nipping to Morag's as our pinecone die turned up yesterday so I am off to have a quick play! Whoo hoo - hopefully will visit a few of you later - managed over 100 last week!

Thanks for looking everyone - Mom of the Birthday Boy from Solihull.

12 Tags of Christmas - Day 5

2011-12-05T17:14:00.000Z

Love this technique - first learnt this in 2005 at one of T!ms classes at Bonanza but haven't used it much since - not sure why really as I do like it!

Anyway here is my tag for today - sorry the picture isn't the best but I took it at 3.30pm (had lunch out with the girl's today so did half this morning and half this afternoon before the school run) so as it's already getting dark by then it's not easy to get a good picture even with daylight bulbs!:

The bird is a sizzix one and I prepared this and a couple of others yesterday when I was doing the house tag - today it just needed a swish of black soot distress stain over it and his little eye - the tag is hazlenut alcohol ink and T!ms original script reflections stamp. I needed a bit more fuss though so I have added some festive greenery finished off with a bit of doodling and pearls (off a necklace from Primark) and then the fence is a Wrought Iron Fence die from Memory Box, all mounted onto a white tag. Nice and simples! Will probably do a couple more these too later (especially as I have already prepared another 3 acetate backgrounds and have another bird ready too!

I would also like to say a big hello to Nicki - thanks for following me!

Thanks for looking - Full up from eating far too much at Giraffe from Solihull

12 Tags of Christmas - Day 4

2011-12-04T12:00:00.001Z

Gosh I never thought this would dry in time! (family party in 1hour 22 mins and counting...)

Have used a cream cardstock for the base and inked it with picket fence, broken china and vintage photo distress stains (aren't these just the best!). Then stamped with a swirl (have prepared quite a few of these and some I used a script stamp here instead - not only do I prefer a script but I always find that I have never got the right kind of swirl!) - however the swirl is one I made myself ages ago now and actually looked really good (shame its covered up really!), then I stamped several different snowflakes with broken china.

The house was painted with hazlenut acrylic dabber (at least I think it was - I found it in my 'bung it in there it will come in useful one day boxes') and had already been run through the notebook embossing folder. I then cut out the house (don't have that fabulous snowman die - boo hoo) and covered it with crackle glaze, when dry I rubbed over vintage photo distress strain. Then when all that was dry I put the music paper behind it and filled all the windows with glossy accents - and then left aside to dry yet again! Then I finished it with some metal smoke from the chimney (so love doing this to house chimneys!) and some liquid pearls and glitter for the snow.

The large snowflakes are cut from glitter paper with sizzlets and the smaller ones are from a Martha Stewart die - all finished with bling - I did try and cut them out with acetate but no joy as it's too thick for punches and sizzlets. The little silver brooch I have had in my stash for ages and I thought it looked a bit like a wreath - have no idea who the lady in it is. I added a T!m Christmas tag in Festive Berries in the bottom corner to give it a bit of colour and finished with 2 holly leaves and some berries (out of my comfort zone here as I always use three holly leaves - who knows maybe I will have to add one later after my guests have gone.....).

Have finished it simply with plain ribbons - this was just one white ribbon and have I coloured two bits with vintage photo and broken china to tie the whole tag together.

Am so loving making these tags - if you want to join in pop over to T!ms and get crafty!

Thanks for looking - Sparkly from Solihull

And there's more

2011-12-03T15:17:00.000Z

Just to show how quick these are to make I have been to Tennis (sat for an hour teaching myself how to crochet whilst watching DS1), nipped to Toys R Us for the free lego and then to Hobbycrafts to replace a faulty promarker (didn't think till I got home that I could have treated myself to a Barn Door or Fired Brick reinker - still never mind I will make sure it's in my stash for next year!!!) - have then got home and made some more of these:

all done in the same way just different colours and powders here and there. Thought they would look good popped on a kraft card for some Christmas cards for friends, I have also prepared about 8 more of the backgrounds, cut out 10 lots of festive greenery as it looks like they will be used a lot over the next 9 days and have now just cleared away all my craft stuff ready for the 10 and 11 year olds coming to the party in 15 mins. Phew.

Thanks for looking - Creative from Solihull.

12 Tags of Christmas - Day 3

2011-12-03T09:21:00.002Z

Oh my goodness - how quick are these to put together?? Managed this one in less than an hour because I have had to sort out a couple of things since 8am and still have managed to produce this by 9.10!

Have seen the technique of inking a piece of felt a few times but have never tried it before - now I am addicted! This will be appearing a lot in my artwork from now on - believe me! I was a bit worried to start as I only have three distress reinkers - Rusty Hinge, Wethered Wood and Wild Honey - not really Christmassy colours are they! I also thought they might clash but no they look great!

Have used a Crafty Individuals stamp inked in the above colours, to keep it matching I have inked the tag with Wild Honey and then the edges with Rusty Hinge and then covered it with the lovely Dyan's (Blonde Moments) Festive Candy Lustre Pearl Pigment. Admittedly the lampost was already cut out and inked so I just had to add the snow (with SnowWriter and glitter) and put on the holly leaves and finish with bling. The snowman was also already cut - a left over from my advent calendar (for which I have had a personal email off T!m saying how much he liked it - whoo hooo can't get higher praise than that for a configuration box can you!!!), I just had to colour him in with promarkers and finish with bling and a pom pom (gotta be done hasn't it!). Then I have just finished it off simply with a piece of calico inked with Vintage Photo and another Fairy (and yes it is another fairy as I bought 10 of them so they will be appearing on a few more tags yet - I haven't just pinched it off day 1 - honest!).

Well that's it for me at the moment am off to take DS1 to tennis, then the school Christmas Fayre then back for his Xbox party and sleepover and then prepare for our family birthday party tomorrow - gosh it's all go - thank goodness for a quick technique! If you want to join in with the fun then pop over to T!ms.

Thanks for looking :) Mojo's on fire from Solihull

edited to add I have since done loads more of these! four more are displayed on the post above.

12 Tags of Christmas - Day 2

2011-12-02T13:30:00.000Z

Whoo hoo - two posts in one day! that doesn't happen very often does it! Well if you are following along with T!ms 12 tags (and if not - why not??) then this is my take on today's:

As you can see I have kept mine nice and simple and basically copied T!ms by following his techniques.

I have used Kraft resist cardstock (not got the Seasonal one!), covered it with Picket Fence distress stain (so love this stuff!) and carried out the technique as described, inked the edges with Festive Berries and then, when distressed with my trustly old knife blade, with Vintage Photo. I also sprayed the tag with Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearl Mist (both the Vintage Photo distress ink and the Perfect Pearl Mist were given to me by T!m at ArtsyCrafts earlier this year so I had to use them!). I don't own the Reindeer die but this was cut out for me by Jackie at a crop a few months ago (thanks Jackie!).

I used the On the Edge Ornate die on grunge paper and painted it with the mouldy red inka paint that was sitting on my desk (as you do! and no I still haven't emailed them yet.....). I tied a Lets Grow rope string around his neck with a yellow heart hanging off it (from Hobbycraft and the Works respectively) and then added a bling eye and a red pom pom to turn him into Rudolph.

I am not sure who manufactured the stamped circle but it is inked with Evergreen berries, mounted onto a sizzix pinking edge circle inked with Iced Spruce and then covered with glossy accents (which is still wet!), the holly is from T!ms Festive Greenery die and the 3 berries were added with my Bejeweller. I finished the tag with some earthy pastel and earthy hemp from which I have hung three pearls off a necklace from Primark and I think the Hope tag was given to me at a class sometime ago and never used!

Whole tag only took an hour which is very quick for me and I have also had a lovely morning at my art class learning (finally!) how to use water colour pencils - will post about that at a later time.

Thanks for looking - Inky from Solihull

12 Tags of Christmas - Day 1

2011-12-02T06:42:00.002Z

I ummed and arred yesterday about making this tag - Morag and I looked and cooed over it yesterday morning and it took us about half an hour to cave in and order the pinecone die online between us (we sat and tried the Marianne rose die wrapped around a cocktail stick but despite the fact that it did look a bit like a pinecone it wasn't good enough for us so we had to treat ourselves!!), so I was going to wait until the new die arrived until I did the tag but then inspiration struck last night and I got on with it using stamps instead (this was after I had walked home from school frantically looking for some small pinecones but alas there aren't any on Widney Lane!) - in fact I sat down with both children to try and get them to join in and make a tag each too but after two mishaps with the embossing powder (I used the wrong ink) they were off to watch cartoons!

Anyway here is my tag (had to finish it this morning due to using crackle glaze!):

Used kraft cardstock for the tag and label, T!ms Christmas embossing folder and white embossing powder, Gathered Twigs, Festive Berries, Evergreen Bough and Iced Spruce distress inks, the Festive Greenery sizzix die, some scalloped lace inked with Evergreen Bough, one of T!ms Vintage Laces to edge the greeting, the greeting is an Anita's clear stamp (see Morag and I were very restrained not giving in and buying the NOEL die too although can I just say that it will be brilliant if T!m decides to use the Reindeer mover and shakers die one day too! wink, wink). The string of pearls I picked up at a local haberdashery and the fairy I bought at Hobbycrafts at the NEC back in March. The pinecones are a stamp (not sure what make) which I have coloured with Gathered Twigs and Evergreen Bough inks and then crackle glaze and then have mounted on using two heights of 3D foam so that they are 3D. The red and green twines are by Creative Expressions.

Really enjoyed making this so can't wait for the next one! Children loved opening the advent calendar yesterday (I have filled it with chocolate and some mini figures) but it still didn't compete with the Lego Star Wars one - in fact little one is up already this morning desperate to open it as it is his turn on even numbered days for the lego one!

Also can I just say a big hello to JB - thanks for following me :)

Thanks for looking - Pineconeless from Solihull.

WOYWW 130

2011-11-30T05:52:00.003Z

Here we are again with yet another week gone! That means it's only one more week to DS1's birthday and 3 weeks (just over) to Christmas!

Here is my desk as of yesterday afternoon:

I had a little flurry of activity on Sunday and have finally started some Christmas cards! All very simple at the moment and everything I used was done last year and are leftovers in my Christmas box - very useful when you are busy! There are some new distress stains by my inks and some new stamps there on the left which I treated myself to from AFTH on black Friday (facing the wrong way sorry!) and the inka gold paint is there for me to make a decision about whether to email a complaint to them as its gone mouldy (went mouldy about 4 months ago but I keep forgetting about it) - other than that its all much of a muchness this week as I haven't had much time for crafting.

If you want to know why I am sharing my desk with the world then pop over to Julia's and join in the fun - be warned though it's very addictive and you will lose a few hours visiting other desks!

Thanks for looking - Worn out from Solihull

A new arrival

2011-11-25T09:35:00.000Z

My DS1's headmaster's wife gave birth to a little boy on Monday - I already knew that they were expecting a boy so here is the card I made for them last week:

I havent got a baby boy stamp but I thought little Hamish with tractor would suffice and this card actually fits in with my challenge from last week (Time is the Tim tag which I will circle with 21st Nov as this was the date he was born, I - it's well inked!, M - two of bits of metal there and E - the handmade embellishment is this tag:

- as you can see the baby's name is William!).

I had also got out my knitting needles and made him this:

haven't ever knitted grey for a baby before but this wool was just so lovely and also Mr C (the headteacher) has a thing for wearing pink ties so I thought they would coordinate nicely! Didn't want to post the pictures earlier in the week as I have only gotten around to delivering them this morning!

Another exciting thing to happen this week is this:

yes its a first tooth! - finally! Sorry for the poor quality of the picture I have tried to fiddle with it in Windows Photo Gallery but its not as good as Photoshop and I havent had time for that yet! and just to prove that it was his tooth here is little envelope to the Tooth Fairy:

how cute is that!

Thanks for looking - Glad its Friday from Solihull!

WOYWW 129

2011-11-23T06:09:00.004Z

It seems strange posting this picture as I took it yesterday afternoon and what I am working on is actually now finished and on the blog post below! Oh well - at least the photo was taken in daylight and you get a gist of what I am/was doing:

today I will probably start my Christmas cards if I get time. This is actually a very tidy desk for me and its even tidier now that my advent calendar is already proudly on display in my lounge (there is a really big reason for that which I am very excited about!) although I do now need to fill it with goodies - might just go for the easy option of chocolate as lego mini figures would be a tad expensive!

If you want to join in the fun and have a lovely peek around the world of desks out there in big wide world then pop over to Julias and join in all the fun!

Thanks for looking and have a great week :)

You know when....

2011-11-22T16:34:00.001Z

you get an idea and it just has to be done regardless of other things going on around you? Well I looked at Tim's blog last week and he had a link on there to thegentlemancrafter and I looked at the lovely robot on there and suddenly had the inspiration to use some of my configuration boxes into a snowman (how I got to a snowman from a robot I will never know - but get there I did) - so for the past 5 days whenever I have had a few spare minutes to sit in my craft room I been working on this:

this is the front of the advent - have made the brush from a paintbrush and raffia, the lantern is made from three of Tim's birdcages - honestly it was a lot trickier than it looks! the buttons and eyes are made from Tim's rosette dies and buttons (with stickles around the edges of the button rosettes), the mouth is made up from Tim's metal lock and spinners and the nose is an old metal disc with the word Wonderful on it. The scarf was some fabulous crocheted material given to me by Chris at my crop and the robins I caved in and bought.

So, where is the advent calendar? I hear you ask, well if you turn the whole thing around you get this:

The Snowmen are from a sizzix long die and coloured with promarkers, I have doodled around the edges to define them and added pom poms here and there and used bling for their eyes and buttons. The numbers are made from Tim's Upon a Time die and covered with glossy accents so they are nice and shiny. The other bits decorating the boxes are from Tim's Festive Greenery die with some bits finished off with pearls and bling. All the boxes, except the hat one, are painted white and inked with iced spruce - the hat is just painted black with one of Tim's Vintage Laces around the edge which is inked with Tea Dye.

Hope you like him! Now just need to go shopping and get all the bits and pieces to go in him!

Thanks for looking :) Oh and I won't be setting a fortnightly challenge today - sorry but too much going on at the moment! thanks for understanding.

Inspired!

2011-11-16T14:15:00.000Z

Well so much for me putting out the papers on my desk this morning in order to spend some time this afternoon on a layout - I spent the morning look at 70 or so desks with WOYWW when I came across Tuire's blog and you see the little face with wings on the desk there? Well it inspired me to make this:

what a lovely way to spend an hour! Am really rather pleased with myself - now need to tidy up the table as DS2 has a friend over for tea - oh well it was great while it lasted!

Thanks for looking :)

WOYWW 128

2011-11-16T06:51:00.019Z

Morning everyone - here is my desk on this very cold and dark morning:

think I might go back to photographing my desk on an Tuesday afternoon next time! Promarkers are out as I have made a baby boy card to fit in with my fortnightly challenge - details here if you are interested in joining in!
Papers are out to hopefully inspire me to do another quick and simple layout - although these papers do all the work for you they are quite hard to use though - I am definately a sheet of plain cardstock and ink/paint it up girl at heart really! Other than that its much the same as normal with my other new seasonal inks there (yes I caved in and treated myself to both sets - decided that I actually use my inks more than anything else so as I had spare money left over from my trip to Hobbycrafts at the NEC I thought I would spend it wisely on something useful!). Have had a busy week mainly sewing and knitting and the only papercrafting I have done is the card you can just see peeking out on the right - will blog that when baby is born and I can complete the tag with the name!

If you would like to join in with the addictive Wednesday fun of showing your desk off to the world and then going and peeking at lots of others then pop over to Julias and join in the fun. Not sure how many desks I can get round to this week as my Nan is in hospital but I am hoping to catch up with a few of you.

Thanks for looking :)

Lots going on

2011-11-13T18:18:00.001Z

I am still here but have actually been too busy crafting to stop and blog! Bought some lovely wool on Friday night from Hobbycraft so I am busy knitting a lovely grey baby cardigan for an imminent arrival at school, my quilt is coming on well so there will pictures of that soon too and then at my art class I learnt how to do a portrait:

Am really pleased with this as its my first attempt at drawing a face.

Thanks for looking :)

Lets Think Creatively challenge no 9

2011-11-08T13:22:00.000Z

It's Tuesday so,

My Grandma died 30 years ago today which has made me think about Time as it seems like just yesterday but also such a long time ago.

So the challenge this fortnight (I am going to back to my old style of complicated challenges - I find I am much more creative then than when I set a simple challenge) is TIME with each letter being used to give me the theme - so we need to make a layout, card and/or tag that includes some kind of reference to time (T) on it, must use Ink (I), include some Metal (M) and have a handmade embellishment (E) on it. If you fancy using an extra twist the item you create must be made in 30 minutes or less (bit difficult for me with the layout as they take me hours so I might skip that part then!).

I hope you will join in with me on my creative journey, if you do please leave me a link so I can come and have a look at your creations:

I have managed to get a quick tag done this morning to fit in with the last challenge (housework) - I wouldn't mind but I went to my weight watchers meeting (have lost 3lb! whoo hoo) and caught up with the housework so had some spare time so I got out the craft table and then got stuck despite having lots of ideas spinning around in my head! how annoying is that! Anyway yesterday I put together some backgrounds on some tags using my new Autumn inks (Gathered Twigs, Ripe Persimmon and Seedless Preserves) and then stamped on them using bleach (it was a housework challenge remember!), so I already had one of these to base my tag on (I used salt on the last one on the right rather than bleach):

excuse the darkness I took the picture in my lounge which is quite dark! and then I got out a couple of baskets in which I house a few bits of pieces of things I make but don't use immediately, bits of ribbon, die cuts, flowers - you get the picture! so I decided to use only items from these baskets and made this:

the two brown birds and leaves are Prima Resistant Canvas pieces, the rest were just already prepared and just needed a touch of ink to tie in with the tag.

Thanks for looking :)

Busy Weekend

2011-11-06T17:10:00.001Z

Spent the day yesterday (after DS1's tennis lesson) sorting out bedrooms and generally tidying up and clearing clutter, so today we are a little bit tidier and a little bit less cluttered! bin is full though! Have had a lovely day today catching up with my Mandy Shaw quilt and organising the bindings and background squares - involved lots of ironing (could use this for my challenge couldn't I!), lots of cutting and getting busy on my sewing machine. There is still a long way to go on the quilt but three of the applique squares are now completely finished and five just need a bit of tweeking - buttons and extra embroidery will all be done when the quilt is all put together - will be doing a bit more of this this week I think - it's been very relaxing!

Had a great day last Thursday at the NEC - bought a few bits and pieces but nothing major and actually came home with some pennies left over! A trip to Hobbycraft or Bramble Patch is on the cards I think!

Also did a fair bit of scrapping/crafting last week too - here I have two more items for my challenge, firstly the layout:

not much housework inspiration on there I hear you say but on the tag that is tucked away I crumpled and ironed it:

not very creative considering this is the same technique that I used on my tutorial but time wasn't really on my side last week!

Then I haven't managed to get a tag completed yet (still a day to go though!) but I have done these:

please excuse the background I don't know why I didn't put them on a sheet of paper first! but they are little envelopes for when my children lose a tooth, we find it easier to put the tooth in an envelope and then the fairy finds it no problem! These have again been crumpled, inked and ironed then I used some lovely Lavinia stamps and the two larger fairies are by Personal Impressions. Also on all of these I put a cobweb - see I knew I would be able to get dusting in there somewhere! And you see the little boy fairy on the first envelope well those little mushrooms either side of the big mushroom are actually my all time favourite stamp and I used to use it all the time - then I lost it! can you imagine the disappointment - I never caved in and bought another one as it was actually £4 for such a tiny stamp - anyway it was lost for over a year and then we moved study/DS2's bedroom around last week I found it! Right there under the desk (I blame OH for knocking it off and not noticing!) - so then I put it in a safe place in DS2's bedroom as now all my stamps are housed downstairs and when I went to get it to use it - it was gone again! Honestly talk about having a life of it's own! I didn't panic I just assumed I had moved it previously (as it was too high up for DS2 to interfere!), had it in my hand and then did another job (our work is never done is it!) and put it down somewhere - anyway yesterday I looked in a little basket full of some goodies I had put in to bring down to the craftroom (aka dining room) and it was in there! such a relief again - it is now in it's right place along with all my other Lavinia's.

Anyway enough of me waffling - I will finish here to give you all a breather! A big hello to Susan - thanks for following me - hope I haven't waffled too much!

Thanks for looking and don't forget that there is still time to join in with my challenge of using housework as your inspiration - details are here.

Bye and thanks for looking!

Today

2011-11-03T07:31:00.002Z

I am off to Hobbycrafts at the NEC - whoo hooo!

Challenge Number 8 card

2011-10-30T15:38:00.002Z

Here is a quick and simple card I have made for my Uncle (it's the closest I can get to a single layer card!):

Have decided it counts towards my challenge as I have dusted it with Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls! hee hee. Also used Kraft card, music paper, T!m tag, Vintage photo dyed ribbon, Making Memories celebrations stamp, T!ms Artful Flight bird and birds nest. Distress Inks I used were Vintage Photo, Frayed Burlap, and Walnut Stain.

Thanks for looking :)

Away with the pixies!

2011-10-27T15:38:00.002Z

Have completed the pixie layout that was on my desk on Wednesday:

Not really much to it as the gorgeous Prima Pixie Glen papers do it all for you really.

Here I used a sheet of "Garden Gate" with my photo mounted on two pieces of white cardstock, one inked with Bundled Sage and Vintage Photo and the other just edged with Vintage Photo. Then all I had to do was cut out a few elements from a sheet of "Psyke Cuts", ink over a Tattered Angels Ironworks Gate, stamp out the Lavinia Fairy Washing Line (see it in the bottom left hand corner there? it's my bestest, bestest stamp! so cute), then added some Shabby Chic Treasures (a bird, a birdhouse and a mushroom all lightly inked) and some prima flowers (Annalee Essentials 9 and Melody).

I finished off the birdhouse by placing it on some branches (from T!ms Autumn Gathering sizzix die) and some punched out and handcut leaves. Really pleased with the finished result even though it has got a pink background!

Also a big hello to Bridget - thank you for following me :)

Thanks for looking :)

WOYWW125

2011-10-26T05:48:00.000Z

Well here I am for the fourth week running! not bad considering I was only able to play along once every few weeks earlier in the year! didn't visit many of you though last week as things kind of caught up with me.
Here is my desk as of this morning though:

half way through a layout there (couldnt resist these Pixie Glen papers even if they are a bit pink!) - I say half way as it looks finished but nothing apart from the photo is stuck down yet! The reversed tag there is from a quick tutorial I put together for my fortnightly challenge (on the post below if you are interested) and is nothing to do with the layout, other than that just the tools I am using and some stuff out that really should be tidied away but I am not sure where to put it! Just out of shot is some material I bought the other day in the hopes of sitting down for a sewing session and making a nice big pile of leaves to use with some of those fabulous Prima flowers I have, UTEE is also out as I now have a brand new melt pot thanks to Ranger replacing my broken one and just piles of stuff really.
If you would like to join in the fun over at Julias then pop over and upload a picture of your workspace so we can all come and have a good nosey!

Thanks for looking :)

Lets Think Creatively challenge no 8

2011-10-25T11:46:00.001Z

It's Tuesday! so

Am really rather excited about this next challenge as it's all about housework! Yes honestly! The challenge this fortnight is to make either a tag/card and/or layout using your worst housework chore as inspiration! My worst chore is the dusting - what a waste of time that is, once you have dusted 2 hours later the dust pixies have been again and no-one can tell! my house is constantly dusty as I refuse to give in to the dust mites and refuse to dust everyday! so you can bet there will probably be lots of cobwebs on my challenge creations!

This challenge is not as difficult as it might sound - so here are some other ideas that you could use:

Worst chore ironing? then how about this trust old background technique:

Take your background paper (here I am using a tag) and crumple it up:

ink it, here I have used tea dye and vintage photo distress inks:

then get out the dreaded iron and iron it!

you now have a flat aged piece of cardstock to kick start off your fabulous creation!

Other ideas are:
Hate cleaning? try stamping with bleach
Hate Washing up? use a cloth or some string (am thinking of those string mop brushes here!)
Hate dusting? put some cobwebs or dust some perfect pearls onto your creation
Hate cooking? use a food theme or stamp with chocolate coloured ink

see the world is your oyster here - this challenge has already got my creative juices flowing - can't wait to start playing and er dusting! tee hee.

If you would like to join me on my journey to get creative whilst thinking about housework then please leave me a link here so I can come and have a look at your creations. The challenge is to make either a layout (let's), a tag (think), and/or a card (creatively) - you can make just one item or all three or even lots of each them if you so wish!

Thanks and have fun! :)

Challenge Number 7 layout

2011-10-24T11:29:00.001Z

Well again I was the only one who played along with my challenge this fortnight - but hey ho at least it got me creating stuff which is the main reason why I set these challenges!

Here is my layout, which I managed to do in under 2 hours yesterday!, which is why its quite plain for me - but it does have three different types of texture on so I am pleased with it:

Texture is on the T!m car embossing folder piece, the leaves on the palm tree are triple stamped - inked, cut out and mounted on top of each other and then the other texture is on the soda flavour labels for which I put coordinating paper through the dymo. Papers, diecuts and alphabet are Crate Paper - Static Collection, The palm tree is an Autumn Leaves Mindy's Zoo image, also used a compass mask and vintage photo and forest moss distress inks. Layout is based on an October 2011 page map. Can't believe I got it done so quickly yesterday - these photos have been in my "waiting to be scrapped" pile since May 2009!

Thanks for looking - and I will set a new challenge tomorrow.

It's been a busy week again

2011-10-22T12:58:00.002Z

Spent Wednesday morning at DS2's school watching the harvest festival then was out and about, Thursday involved a trip to the local farm with Year 2 (had 7 children to look after all day!) which was really good fun and my usual Friday of going for a swim at 8am, my art class then visiting my Mom, Dad and Nan in the afternoon - so I haven't had much time to craft as the evenings have involved another parents evening, disco (for my eldest - not me!) although yesterday his football wasn't on so we did actually get a Friday night in! whoo hoo.

So last night I managed to finish off these two projects (they have been on the go since I set the challenge 10 days ago!). The challenge is to use texture in some form on a tag, here's mine:

(isn't that Martha Stewart gravestone punch just the best!)

and also on a card:

haven't gotten around to doing a layout yet although I have done the layout for my next crop class - will post that another day. If you would like to join in with my challenge then the details are here - I would love to come and see what you come up with!

Yesterday was also rather fab as my brand new replacement melt pot turned up! had only emailed my address back to Ranger on Thursday too! It's out of the box but currently just sitting waiting on the dining room table as today we are moving the study into DS2's old bedroom and vice versa - bit of a nightmare!

A big thank you to Lou P for following me - it's nice to have you onboard!

Thanks for looking :)

WOYWW124

2011-10-19T06:49:00.000Z

Well I am here for the third week running! only managed to look at about 60 desks last week but it was still all very inspiring!

Here is my desk this morning:

the makings of a card there and still the little pile of backgrounds I made last week waiting to made into something more fabulous! The tin at the back I found in Sainsburys last week and treated myself - its still full of the biscuits (which I dont want!) at the moment but will soon have something a lot more yummy in. The blue folder at the back is because I took myself off last week to join weight watchers (been trying to lose some weight for years!) and have already lost 3lbs - whoo hoo.

If you want to join in the fun at peeking at other desks around the world then pop over and visit Julias blog.

Thanks for looking and also a big thank you to Cindy - thanks for following me :)

WOYWW123

2011-10-12T06:32:00.001Z

I didn't word my post last week very well as some of you thought my mojo was visiting somewhere else whereas in reality it was with me - however, as usually happens!, I was really busy with other bits and pieces so didn't get to use most of it and then yesterday when I had a free afternoon (whoo hoo!) I found I had lost all my ideas! Oh well I sat and put these pieces of cardstock through the big shot to put texture on them (my challenge for this fortnight is to make a tag, card and/or layout with some texture) so I prepared these in readiness. A few will be for Halloween which we don't really celebrate in our house but I so love making spooky things and then I have finally started on the Christmas things - 74 sleeps left!

So here is my desk this morning:

If you want to join in the fun of looking at other desks around the world then pop over to Julias.

Thanks for looking :)

Lets Think Creatively challenge no 7

2011-10-11T12:22:00.001Z

It's Tuesday! so

Can't believe I had no takers for my challenge during the last fortnight - where have you all gone? Anyway this fortnight to get our creative juices flowing the challenge is to use texture on your pieces - by texture I mean by using embossing folders, texture plates and such like. Here are photos of all mine:

Texture plates and Tim embossing folders

Cuttlebug and other embossing folders

smaller sizzix and cuttlebug folders

Now I am not bragging here - I know I have a lot of these however they have all been accumulated over the years as I love texture backgrounds on my artwork however these have kind of been neglected of late and hardly used at all therefore over the next two weeks my challenge is to fall back in love with them and start using them.

Luckily I have some new stash to help me:

whoo hoo pretty neat eh! have coloured those mushrooms with inka gold red paint - as you can see I haven't used any of the goodies yet - shame really as my mojo seemed to be visiting last week but I was busy with other things - not least this little munchkins 7th Birthday celebrations:

here he is with his big present and his homemade bunting! And now I have an afternoon with the house to myself today I can't seem to get motivated to start crafting - so enough of my waffling texture/embossing folders here I come!!
My challenge is to make either a tag, card or layout using a texture technique on them (you can make just one item or all three or even lots of each them if you so wish!) If you would like to join me on my journey to rediscover texture then please leave me a link here so I can come and have a look at your creations:

Thanks :) and also a big hello to Sarah - thanks for following me :)

WOYWW 122

2011-10-05T05:52:00.000Z

Here I am again - two weeks running so I am really pleased - looking forward to some desk inspiration as my mojo is visiting again at the moment!

This is my desk actually this morning (I usually take a photo on Tuesday in the light) and I am surprised just how dark it is this morning at 6.48 - surely it was lighter than this yesterday??? anyway:

Tag is left there from my tutorial that I put together yesterday (blog post below if you are interested in joining in with my challenge) - pile of stamps in the middle of the table, Horace the owl (on another post), a ball of string as DS2 has made a bunting to hang on the wall for his birthday - bless him - the A4 notepad on the other side of the table is my things to do list - its over that side as thats the side that I put the laptop, just an everyday dining table of clutter really - need to tidy it all up by Sunday as thats when DS2's party is as he is 7 on the 10th.

Thanks for looking and if you want to join in with the fun pop over to Julias for a weekly desk hop of fun.

Thanks for looking :)

Lets Think Creatively challenge no 6

2011-10-04T11:37:00.001Z

This challenge No. 6 has still got a week to run but so far I haven't had any one join in :(. So I thought I would put together a quick tutorial on how to make a tag, this one:

took me less than half an hour although I have to confess the calico ribbon was predyed (leftovers from my owls legs!) and the crackle paint on the butterfly isn't quite dry just yet!

So you start off with your tag, card or layout base that you want your feature on and the shape you want to use as a mask:

Photocopier paper is ideal for this mask as anything too thinner and the inks will bleed through it and anything much thicker won't let you stamp right up to the image but will leave an extra space around it where the stamp can't quite reach the tag - this is also fine but you might end up with a mask slightly larger than you anticipated.

Next affix the mask down lightly on the tag - I use a tiny piece of double sided tape in the centre or a flat blob of blu tack if there is any close to hand (there isn't usually though - my children have a thing for sticking up posters everywhere!) and then stamp around the edge with a selection of stamps in a variety of colours, here I used Crafty Individuals flowers with distress inks:

Stamp completely around the mask to get the full effect, with some images overlapping onto the mask and some directly on the tag itself (in this case the two red butterflies):

then remove the mask:

now you have a beautiful image and all you need to do is finish decorating the tag, so add some colour around the edges and add further stamped images if necessary, then place a slightly smaller shape in the centre of the masked outline. Here I used a circle cut from calico with a simple quote and inked edges:

then add some embellishments to give your creation a wow factor:

and as I said earlier this whole tag took me less than 30 minutes. This technique is ideal if you have a batch of Christmas cards or similar to make where you can make a whole bunch in hardly any time at all.

Here is one of my finished cards using this technique too:

not sure if it's a bit too yellow for my sister in law though (had to do that due to a big finger print on the outer white (why does that always happen???)) so it might get redone tonight! I kept all the embellishments plain and simple as I thought we would be posting the card but she is now coming to my son's party on Sunday (even though it is actually her birthday) so I can have another play if necessary - we shall see.

Thanks for looking and if this tutorial has inspired you to have a go please join in with my challenge and link up so I can come and see your creation.

All sewn up

2011-10-03T12:46:00.000Z

Just a flying visiting from me today as I need to tidy up before the school run, so firstly a big thank you to CraftyWomble and Marjo for following me - welcome to my little world!
So did I spend the weekend outside making the most of the fabulous weather we have been having? Nah of course I didn't instead I finished this:

His name is Horace - isn't he adorable, and here is a view of his beautiful tail too:

Pattern was taken from a book called "The Artful Bird" by Abigail Glassenberg and the materials used were plain canvas and a charm pack I had lying around.

Thanks for looking :)

Week 4 art class

2011-10-01T16:02:00.000Z

Well this is what we did in our art class on Friday:

which was using watercolours with a wax resist - am very pleased with this too. There isn't a class next week as our tutor is holding an exhibition at the NEC but I will be trying to get new recruits at the schools PA coffee morning so it's still all go!

I have also managed to get the crop layout done even though the papers only arrived on Wednesday (that's super fast for me!):

uses some lovely Echo Park papers along with some stamping, distressing and inking (of course!).

Have spent quite a few hours this week sitting with my Nan so I have also managed to get quite a lot of hand sewing done too so my owl and my Mandy Shaw quilt are coming along very nicely now! Will probably be able to show pictures of them later this week.

Can't believe the weather we are having at the moment - I have even managed to put some washing on the line this weekend - thought I ought not run the tumble dryer during a heat wave!

Thanks for looking and don't forget my challenge below runs for until 11th October if you would like to join in.

WOYWW 121

2011-09-28T06:19:00.002Z

Wasn't going to join in today but DS1 isn't feeling very well so is going to stay at home and miss the school trip! Bit sad - we were off to a WWII museum in Staffordshire but he got sent home early yesterday for feeling sick and it looks like he still has the bug today :( Oh well at least I get a bit more play time I guess!

Here is my desk today:

I have moved my main project as I am going to write an article about it and hopefully get it published. The canvas bird you can see there is the startings of an owl - very excited about it although lets not talk about the glimmer mist spray that I used yesterday which sprayed in the wrong direction so that I now have a slightly sparkly owl - when will I ever learn to move items either before I spray or move the item I am spraying to another room to spray! never I guess....... The cards on my table are just inked up pieces that need some finishing off so I will probably get on with those today and the pack of Prima canvas pieces are a new purchase I am playing with too - they are really nice so hopefully I will be able to do something fabulous with them and then get some to use in a up coming class at the crop or a workshop.

If you want to know why I am showing my desk to the world then pop over to Julias where all will be revealed!

Also I have restarted up my fortnightly tag, card and layout challenge on the post below to try and get my mojo moving again if you would like to join in with me please feel free - would love to see some creations if you do.
Thanks for looking :)

Lets Think Creatively challenge is back!

2011-09-27T06:54:00.001Z

I have found that I only seem to produce scrapbook layouts if I enter challenges at the moment so as I haven't really found any that give me something to think about (all the challenges I seem to find are all sketches which is fine but sometimes I just need that little bit more to make it interesting), so I am going to run my own fortnightly challenge again:

I will start where I left off last May which was to use this image as inspiration:

and I have finally done the layout (had it planned in my mind for months but life just got in the way!):

Think I overdid it with the glimmer screen in the top left hand corner (that and the fact that I sprayed it with the screen the wrong way so I had to reverse stamp the image over it three times before I realised that it wasnt stamping properly as I was using bazzill cardstock! hey ho - obviously a bit out of practice with scrapping at the moment!). I also found the mojo to produce these two backgrounds:

a boy card

and a girl card - they arent finished yet as I am not sure who I am going to send them too but I have left a space on each to put either a name or a greeting on - feel quite ahead of myself now!

I would love it if you find inspiration from my challenge and join in with me, if you do then please leave me a link here so I can come and have a look at your creations:

Thanks :)

Whooo hooo

2011-09-25T08:40:00.001Z

It's back! Thursdays are bright and cheery again! Even better for me my other half wasn't feeling well last week so went to bed early and I could watch it 'live' I was so happy! does that make me a bad person? mmmm not sure but still I enjoyed myself!

Anyway had a very eventful week last week as it was the open day at the local senior school and as my little boy will be 11 this year he will be off to big school next year! gulp - how did that happen?? anyway we looked around our catchment school and it was lovely so we are happy and hopefully he will get in there without any trouble. Then we had the PA meeting where quite a lot of changes are going to take place this year, one of which is me no longer being on the committee - such a relief - however there is no-one at the moment to take over from me so no doubt I will get involved some where along the line.

Then Friday it was my art class - as promised here are my creations:

can you believe this I did this in my second week and I have never used pastels - or drawn for that matter - before! I know its not perfect but I am well proud of myself. Then last week we did these:

a pencil scene

same scene in watercolours - isnt that little boat so cute! although drawing those posts is rather scary to start with.

That's probably it for me today although it's raining here so I am hoping for a day in of crafty fun - am hoping to start doing my fortnightly challenges again from Tuesday so I need to try and prepare something for that, currently DS1 is playing on the pc and DS2 is painting some little boxes - bless I will make an artist of him yet and then hopefully I am going to get DS1 to watch

later and lets hope he becomes a fan too!

Thanks for looking :)

LSNED and some thank yous

2011-09-17T10:06:00.000Z

Had a great time at the Charity crop last week - for those who haven't seen or heard we managed to raise a fantastic £900! a big thank you to everyone who supported us.

Whilst there I was given some lovely gifts:

The ruler was from Sushi and was from Malaysia (fancy thinking of me all the way out there!), the ribbons were from Julie a fab find down the market and the bag of buttons and mushroom were off Lisa (Lisa always buys me mushrooms when see shes them!) - thank you everyone it's much appreciated and it is nice to know you appreciate all the hard work these events take to put together (am still worn out now!).

In the week Bernice also gave me all these lovely charms:

see there are some mushrooms in there too! fancy that - anyone would think I have a thing for them! She also knows I am a big fan of skulls too - I know I am strange!

Then I have also received a fabulous tag for the birdcage tag swap from Mrs A

go check out her blog it's really cool - and also a big thank you to Mrs A for following me too :)

Then yesterday I got up at 4.30am and managed to catch up with some of my LSNED tags - I have already completed days 1 - 9 last year so I am going to use those for the start of the book (if you are interested then they are here http://sunshinegirlnicola.blogspot.com/2010/09/learn-something-new-everyday.html and here http://sunshinegirlnicola.blogspot.com/2010/09/learn-something-new-everyday_11.html) then I made these 4 (all of them only took me 1.5 hours so they are really all quite quick and simple but it's all I can manage at the moment!):

Might have to funk up those houses a bit more if I get chance but I have visitors today and my crop tomorrow so I won't have much play time.

Also had a fab time at my art class yesterday and I have drawn a vase! Honestly! am really quite pleased with it will post a picture on Monday.

Thanks for looking.

A card and gift for my Mom

2011-09-15T07:00:00.000Z

It was my Mom's birthday yesterday so I made her this card:

It's based on the sketch over at http://sweetstopsketches.blogspot.com/ so I would like to enter it into their challenge this week and I also based the colour scheme and used butterflies to fit in with the challenge over at http://daringcardmakers.blogspot.com/ so I would like to enter it into their challenge too.

I used Echo Park Victoria Gardens papers and stickers, Spun Sugar and Barn Door distress inks, the black lace was given to me by my friend Julie and the butterflies are Papermania chipboard ones.

I also made her a bag:

excuse my rather garish dining room - sorry craft room! - table cover there but I took the photo in a hurry! the pattern and materials were from a kit I received from my quarterly sewing club details of which are here: http://www.daisychaindesigns.co.uk/.

Thanks for looking :)

WOYWW

2011-09-14T06:21:00.004Z

I wasnt going to join in this this week as I feel I am running behind on everything again at the moment- why does that always happen? I am stepping down as chair/secretary from school next week and we held our Charity crop last Saturday (we raised a massive £900 for Cancer Research!) so I thought I would have some spare time but its not happened? Anyway here is my desk this morning:

It's actually very tidy for me - not much on it as I have busy doing some sewing (hence the pattern, cotton reels and bobbins there that need putting away), the sizzix machine is out as Bernice popped round yesterday afternoon for a quick lesson on crease pads, the empty box is a gift I got last night from OH which is another car mouse as the one on the picture is playing up and my phone is on charge.

I was busy sewing a gift for my Mom who's birthday it is today - Happy Birthday Mom! - so I can't show that yet and I still have done no more on LSNED or the Jennifer McGuire Inspiration Showcase course I should have started on Monday. Let's hope I catch up later today after I have made Mom's birthday card!

However here is my birdcage tag that I sent to Tertia

There was quite a lot of pink on her blog so I went for these colours - am not sure if she has received it yet as she lives in South Africa and I didn't post it until last Friday but the swap was done via the lovely Frankie's blog and the rules are to show and tell the tag you have made today.

If you want to know why I am baring a rather boring workspace to the world then pop over to Julias where I assure you there are lots of really fun and interesting desks to look at!

Thanks for looking :)

Fantastic News

2011-09-11T11:38:00.002Z

drumroll please ........
Yesterday we raised a staggering £900!
Thank you all so much for all your support, kind wishes and donations. We had a fabulous day and hope you all did too.

Nicki and Morag
x

One more day to go...

2011-09-09T06:07:00.000Z

Big charity crop tomorrow - can't wait. Am all organised - kits are packed, raffle tickets are sorted, hall booked, lunch booked, biscuits purchased and all seats sold. Just need to print out my notes for everyone for my class today and I am done.

It's been a busy week though, packing the kits took a day - thanks for your help Bernice - and the raffle prizes took Morag and I another morning to sort through.

I thought I would also show you the other card I was working on last week as it has now been delivered to it's new home - tee hee:

lots of inking and stamping on this.

Here is the inside which I am really pleased with too:

Using my Claudine Hellmuth stamps which I still consider new even though I bought them in March as I have only stamped them out on one half finished project (there is a surprise!) am really pleased with how the Sold sign turned out though - it has a lovely Lili of the Valley stamp saying "As you unpack your things and settle right in, may happiness follow and good times begin" - isn't that lovely, also a new stamp ahem.

This week the only crafty stuff I have managed I can't show as one is for a birdcage swap that is currently on it's way to South Africa and another one for a project I am working on that I am hoping to get published - we shall see. Will be able to relax and concentrate a bit more next week - oh who am I kidding - it's my Mom's birthday, I will be helping out in school and I am starting an another online class on Monday and also a painting course that is starting today at my local craft centre. It will be all go as always!

Thanks for looking :) am off to get my brushes sorted....

WOYWW - I've moved

2011-09-07T07:05:00.000Z

my craft room that is! It was all getting too much sharing an office/craft room and having stash dotted all around the house so I have decided to move into my dining room - it's a bit of a squeeze and I haven't got all of my stuff in here yet but I am a lot happier!

So here is my progress this week:

If you want to see why I am showing my desk to the world then pop over to Julia's and join in the fun. I have a busy few days ahead of me as I am running a Charity Crop at the weekend in aid of Cancer Research so I need to get packing up kits, sorting out notes and organising the raffle prizes but I do hope to pop by a few desks along the way.

Thanks for looking :)

Children went back to school today

2011-09-06T12:06:00.002Z

house is very quiet.

It's been a busy week

2011-09-04T09:40:00.000Z

It's actually been all systems go here the past couple of days - firstly my phone had blown up, I managed to get into it and handwrite down all my list of contacts and then put my sim in an old phone which I had completely forgotten how to work and muddle by and then OH sorted me out with a new suitable phone (I haven't a clue and was quite happy to delegate this problem!) but they were out of stock at Tesco's and their's was the best deal so I couldn't have it then and there. I could however get myself two new pairs of glasses that I am desperately in need of - although this meant a trip home and back again to get our Tesco's vouchers as there was a double up offer on them that finished on that day. Yesterday OH took the little one to Tesco's for our weekly shop whilst I cillit banged the bathroom (how fab is that stuff! looks like a gleaming new little palace now - at least it did yesterday!) and they had my phone in stock so I am now the new proud owner a new phone that I again can't work!

On Friday I tried to make some cards - needed to make 4 but really struggled and only made two and finished this:

Will show you the other card when it's been delivered (it's a New Home one so guess who it is for!).

I struggled because OH works from home on a Friday (and Mondays and Wednesdays too!) and I had the two children at home and mainly because my stash is stored all around the house at the moment - inkpads and dies are in the utility which is a bit of a dumping ground and the cupboard has a football table in front of it so I can't get in there easily, most of my other stash is up in my craft room which doubles up as a study now so as OH was at home and spends most of his day on the phone its difficult for me to rummage through what stash I need and then I had to make six trips up and downstairs so I spent most of Friday in a bad unproductive mood. As life it too short to feel this way we sat down yesterday and had a rethink about the organisation of our house. So little one is going to get the big second bedroom so that we can move all of the lego pieces out of the lounge and dining room into there with him, OH is moving his desk into little one's old room and its becoming a dedicated study and I am going to move most of my stash into the dining room and get rid of my craft table upstairs *gulp*. That said we had a quick trip to Ikea last night for some more storage units and today I am going to be putting them up in my dining room. It means dinner parties will be a bit of a squeeze but we don't have that many anymore and I would rather be happy crafting for most of the year rather than keeping an empty dining room so we can have 9 people round on Christmas day.

Hopefully this week will be the whole start of something new for me, the children go back to school on Tuesday and I was hoping to enrol for an Interior Design course for Wednesdays morning but now I can have a dedicated craft room again to myself during the day I dont think I will (actually its mainly because its £125 and I have bought new glasses (small fortune), a new phone (another expense), new furniture (another small fortune), 3 fantastic new books to inspire me (can't say how much they are in case OH reads this!), some digi papers as Nitwit collections had a sale on and I so needed the pirates! oh and a new blender (more for OH than me really), so all in all I am a bit skint! Might have to go out and get a job.

Thanks for looking :)

LSNED and a challenge card

2011-09-02T13:18:00.001Z

I have made this card for my inlaws anniversary which is next Monday:

It's based on a sketch over at www.sweetstopsketches.blogspot.com and also includes three natural items (the card, the birdcage, and the flowers) to fit in with the challenge over at http://daringcardmakers.blogspot.com/ however both challenges finished yesterday and I have only made the card today so I can't enter it into either! hey ho.

I am also going to retake part in Learn Something New Everyday - I only managed up to day 9 last year so I am going to cheat and reuse the album cover that I made for then:

I can't put my hand on the other book I have made way back in 2008 but when I do I will put up the pictures from that too to compare them.

Thanks for looking :)

It's all going wrong

2011-08-30T11:01:00.000Z

This morning my phone broke - I can send texts but can't do a backspace so if I do a typo I can't delete it therefore I am starting to send garbled messages (nothing new there really!), I also can't make or receive calls :(

Two friends have nipped round this morning and my doorbell doesn't work :(

Last week my melt pot broke - I melted some UTEE, poured it out, added some more and then just nothing happened. All the lights are on but there is no longer any heat :(

Two weeks ago the door knob fell off the front door and although it can be screwed back on the thread has obviously broken as it has fallen off another four times since so has now been taken off but I have left the screw sticking out to save having a hole in the door :(

Three weeks ago the grill on my main oven broke - it comes on but at full blast so basically burns anything - good job I don't use it very often :(

So it's all going a bit pear shaped here at the moment. Am off to do the ironing - am secretly hoping that that might break too!

My budding little actor

2011-08-28T15:41:00.001Z

A while ago (March in fact) Oliver was in a school production of Romeo and Juliet - he was the Narrator so had quite a big part at the very beginning and again at the very end but then had to sit very quietly for about an hour and a half during the rest of the production!

The whole school did fabulous show and when you think that they were only in Years 5 and 6 and the script was all in olde English we were all so proud!

Anyway for my Color or is Colour week 5 - which was Purple - I have done this layout:

should have been done 3 weeks ago - oops! It was based on a sketch provided with the course but I have promptly lost my paper copy of it and the connection took too long to load on DS's PC earlier so I have stuck this down by memory so it's probably completely different! I did the base of the layout and most of the bits at my last crop but have only just gotten around to sticking it down and finishing it today - honestly going away on holiday really messes up your crafting doesn't it!

Stuff used: My Minds Eye 29th Street Market papers, purple cardstock, Purple texture paste, Red inca gold paint, Basic Grey Archaic brads, Prima "Make Me Happy" flowers, Making Memories Passport Alphabet, various Promarkers, Sepia Archival Ink, a Primark necklace key (how quickly have I used one of those!!), Earthy Pastel Hemp. Distress Inks: Old Paper, Fired Brick and Vintage Photo. Stamps: Non Sequitor, Stampers Anonymous, Magnolia, and Creative Expressions.

Thanks for looking :) I have just moved all of my crafty bits and pieces that were in the dining room back into my craft room so I am hoping this will get my creative juices flowing and I am planning on making something else this afternoon too. Don't you just love bank holidays :)

Oooh you heard it here first!

2011-08-21T13:48:00.004Z

Primark have some lovely new jewellery in store:

just look at those fab keys! that necklace was £4 and has 9 fantastic keys on it, the long brown necklace was on sale for a £1 and I think the leaves were £2 and the silver one £3 (I actually wore that yesterday too!) - going to have a lovely sit down later this afternoon with my little pliers and take them all to pieces - can't wait to start using them on projects - just think how fabulous those leaves are going to look when I have applied alcohol ink on them - whoo hoo.
Also a big hi to Bekca - thanks for following me :)

Have been awol this week as I have been in sunny Cardiff and Swansea (visiting Primark!) with the family. This week I am hoping to catch up with some more sewing - finally treated myself to a thimble at the Festival of Quilts (fantastic quilt show - well worth going to if you love sewing - the winners quilts were stunning - put my cushions and organisers to shame!). To the girls at my crop I am still working on the Shakespeare layout too! maybe this week eh!

Have also updated the WhatHouseworkBlog so please check that out if you are coming to our charity crop - we have just one space left now!

Thanks for looking :)

I so wasn't looking forward

2011-08-11T07:28:00.000Z

to going into Birmingham town centre last night, but

was worth it! We drove in and parked at the Arcadian car park which is right by the Hippodrome, they kept shutting the shutters to lock everyone in! We then sat in the car and ate our tea (chicken sandwich and a bag of crisps - so romantic!) then walked round to see the show - which was great we really enjoyed it. I feel like rummaging through the boxes in the loft to see if I can find my 18 Queen LP's! When we came out the streets were eerily deserted but when we drove up to the main Pershore Road we saw that the police had cordoned off the street, then when we drove round towards the Blues ground (we thought that going up the Coventry Road would be safer than driving up the Stratford Road) every road was cordoned off hence an empty town centre. Quite spooky - feels like quite an adventure now that I am sitting here typing about it!

Thanks for looking :)

WOYWW 114

2011-08-10T05:56:00.002Z

Well I had a busy day yesterday - my Mom phoned first thing and asked if she could have the children for the day and who was I to argue? My first thought was "great I can catch up with the housework I need to do" so I will let you guess did I a: get out the duster and cleaning stuff and do those jobs or b: get out my craft table, watch a few episodes of Glee and New Tricks and get creative???

Yep you are right I caught up with this housework:

so that was my craft table in front of the telly yesterday afternoon.

These are the few bits and pieces I made/finished off:

made this from scratch - I did up a bunch of tags in Mustard Seed, Wild Honey and Rusty Hinge covered with a lemon mica powder and just went to it with some bits and pieces I had to hand. The bird was inked with Spiced Marmalade, Tea Dye and Vintage Photo then covered with Rock Candy crackle glaze - when dry I went over the legs with Walnut Stain, the flowers were black and white so I covered them with Barn Door to add a bit of pizazz.

same colour inks over a tag covered with a sewing pattern then I splattered some Wild Honey reinker on the tag and blew it around with a straw. Coloured the mannequin with Wild Honey and edged with Rusty Hinge finished simply with the tulle, some orange washi tape, four pearls and a metal heart, the bottom is just a tissue tape layered with ribbons and jems.

finished off this embellishment as I had actually made it a couple of weeks ago whilst working on my Colour or is Color? course about layering embellishments. This one was just one of a few I made and was the most simplest - just used up some old stuff lying around apart from the butterfly. Yesterday I just glued the nib on the clock and adhered the clock and butterfly down.

Thats it from me today - hoping to catch up with a few desks later as I haven't been joining in for the past few weeks and can't see me joining in again for the next few either! Both children and I now have bikes so we are spending most of our days out and about. If you want to join in the weekly fun of looking at crafters desks then please pop over to Julias we would love to see you!

Thanks for looking :)

Its been all go here!

2011-08-08T11:59:00.001Z

Have been really busy this past week - visiting my Nan for a couple of days, taking the children out on their bikes (how stressful is that!) and also busy beavering away getting my class layout completed for yesterday's crop and also finishing off the mini book I am going to be making at our Charity Crop on 10th September - 4 spaces/kits left if you are interested!

Here is my class for yesterday:

Gorgeous Prima papers which basically did all the work, all we had to do was some cutting and layering, and aren't those new butterflies just fantastic too! Love this layout and it's even got me on it!

Then on Friday whilst the children were pottering around the house and doing their own thing I actually got on with some sewing - I find sewing far more relaxing than scrapping at the moment - probably because it's far less stressful to follow a pattern rather than designing something from scratch. Anyway get ready because my little machine was a busy little thing (I even got through 3 needles!).

First I made this:

Isn't that spotty material just fab - it was a bit of a faff but worth it! If anyone knows where I can get a cushion to fit it apart from Dunelm Mill (cause I am not sure how to get there!) please let me know. It needs to be 13" x 20" - thanks!

Next I made two of these:

piping and all! I even discovered that I have a piping foot after making both of these (can only happen to me can't it!) - now need to make something else with piping just so that I can use that foot! Now need a trip to Primark (whoo hoo) to get a cushion to fill the second one.

Then I made this:

a quick and simple little basket - looked so much better at the Malvern quilt show though! still I have enough material to make another one and it will come in handy.

And now I am half way through this:

it's a Mandy Shaw organiser - cause I need another one! I love making these and they are so useful to keep bits and pieces in - this one will have a notebook in the third section so I will use it to keep notes and pens in rather than sewing accessories.

Phew - told you I had been busy didn't I!

Thanks for looking and please leave me a comment if you pass by.

Colour is it colour? Blue

2011-07-28T17:23:00.000Z

I am a bit behind this week as its been a bit hectic here with the children being off school and my Nans 89th Birthday, but I have managed to get this completed today:

excuse the shadows this was taken a few minutes ago in my lounge and I have a tree on my front lawn!

I scrap a lot of blue so I decided to stick with Nic's sketch and also almost her colours too but where she used orange I used green (just so I could use up some old Daisy D baby boy papers I have been hoarding forever!). I made the tag on the left at my last crop and it really has nothing to do with a theme park but the colours matched so I decided to use it on this layout - although this isn't one of my favourites or indeed one of my best pieces of work I am pleased that I have managed to use some templates and stamps I have had unused in my stash for a while, a premade tag and also use up five difficult to scrap photos in one go too!

Not sure I have learnt much about the colour blue this week as I have been a bit too busy to concentrate on it but I am pleased that I got a chance to have a play!

Our fabulous kit turned up yesterday for our charity crop so I can't wait to get playing with that tonight too - if you are interested there are just 6 spaces left - details are on the right hand side just click on the picture.

Thanks for looking :)

Another quick layout

2011-07-24T16:12:00.001Z

Not!

Isn't it typical that I thought I would just do another quick green layout (get me - I never do green so I am definately learning on my Colour or is Color? course!). Anyway four days later here is the finished article:

Not sure why it took so long because it's not really complicated but I did faff around deciding upon the zoo/trees/leaves as for the first two days I was planning on using birds. Also the fact that I have hand cut out all the leaves/animals and trees slowed me down too!

Anyway stash used was:
My Minds Eye Quite Contrary papers - "Little Man" Journaling card and Zig Zag paper and "Curious" Who Loves You paper. Distress inks used were: Vintage Photo, Forest Moss, Tumbled Glass, Worn Lipstick, Pumice Stone and Frayed Burlap. The doily was sprayed with an orange glimmer mist and I used orange bling for the coconuts in the trees. Stamps used were: Autumn Leaves Mindy's Zoo, Stampers Anonymous "The journey...", Woodware Woodland Mushrooms (the leaves) and Creative Expressions Vintage Aviation (the balloon). The two chipboard accents are by Colorbok part of their my Wild Life range. Layout is based on a July 2011 Page Map . Hope you like it!

Also I finally have put the finishing touches to my red layout from 3 weeks ago:

so it finally has the birdcage and a few extras on the top right and the red on the left hand side didn't sit right with me as I felt it needed a bit more but another material flower was too much so I added another birdcage and a few bits there too.

Thanks for looking - am off for a sit down now as we have all been out our bikes today as we managed to get DS1 and OH new ones yesterday thanks to the 20% off sale at Toys R Us. Whoo hoo.

Green layout

2011-07-18T15:24:00.001Z

This week on my Colour or is Color? course its green. Here is my take on the sketch we were given:

You will have to forgive the rubbish quality but I dont know how to edit on Windows Live Photo Gallery and thats all I have on my laptop which is why I couldnt remove the school name from the sign nicely!
Anyway I have used:
Creative Imaginations - Narratives "Remember Ledger" cardstock and some K & Co. papers. Bundled Sage and Vintage Photo distress inks, Tim Holtz car embossing folder, Stampers Anonymous Reflections stamp and tickets, Time stamps are Recollections "Time Flies", Martha Stewart vine punch, I paper pieced the owls, dymo labeller, hemp twine, tissue tape (hidden underneath the brown pom pom ribbon), brown pom pom ribbon, acorn buttons, black bling for the owls eyes and a few staples.

Thanks for looking :)

Sketchy Thursday

2011-07-14T17:29:00.000Z

Thought I would have a go at the monthly challenge over at http://sketchythursdays.blogspot.com/. Now I have learnt from my colour course - honest I have, I really, really have. I read and understand that red, orange and yellow are best used as accent colours otherwise they are very overpowering - and I did that in my layout for the course last week (in fact deep down I already really knew it too) but I have to admit that I just love bold bright colours so, even though I have learnt and know the rules to using bright colours, as the above sketch is their monthly challenge and needed to include red, orange and/or yellow I thought I would go for a bright Disney layout, and here it is:

The criteria for the challenge is to use the sketch (had to change the circle to a rectangle as I have used a postcard - the 2008 one which is one of those changing images so it shows either the number with the hats on or with the characters faces on depending upon which way you tilt it), then it had to be a summer topic - these photos were taken in the summer of 2008, use red, orange and/or yellow - think I did that! and also to use a journal spot which again is my red postcard as the title says it all really!

I used a yellow core cardstock, Echo Park "A Walk in the Park" papers and stickers, Creative Imaginations epoxy rocket sticker, orange hemp, red ribbon, Crafters Workshop template (the clock), Brushed Corduroy and Spiced Marmalade distress inks, the Mickey ears were cut on my craft robo, Reminisce Real Magic "My Favourite Ride" sticker, staples, the stamps I used were: Recollections "Going Places" map, Cloud 9 Designs "Travel" We Love it Here, K & Company "Happy Trails" Photo Op, My Minds Eye "Lost and Found" Fun and Family.

Thanks for looking and I hope you like my bright funky layout!

A card for my Father in Law

2011-07-10T07:28:00.000Z

Had a lovely play day yesterday - finished off the layout in yesterdays post below, made some tags - did some nice ones and also made a couple of disasters too - will post those later in the week. My mojo seems to have come back this weekend though so I have managed to join in with a challenge too:

The challenge over at http://daringcardmakers.blogspot.com/ is pack your suitcase and this quick and simple card fits that bills nicely so I am entering it into their challenge - haven't entered a card for a few weeks now so have been getting withdrawal symptoms! Uses a le Blanche stamp, My Minds Eye papers, inked and glittered chipboard letters, some hemp and a charm - nice and simple!

Am hoping to do another layout today too in between the cooking, gardening and water fight I need to do (that's the trouble with having two boys and buying them water pistols you have to get wet! doh).

Thanks for looking :)

Colour or is color? Orange

2011-07-09T09:34:00.001Z

Here is my layout for the orange part of the course:

am much happier with this one as I have had more time to spend on it and make it my own rather than scraplifting which is what I did with the red one. Would have been better with a black and white photo too but hey ho I want to reduce my current photo pile not add to it!

Stash used was: Black cardstock, white cardstock, Imaginisce Hallowhimsy "Eat, Drink and Be Scary" and "Velcome Inn" papers, Magnolia ink (I know! have actually cut into a sheet - wow!)So Spooky "Halloween Star" paper and My Minds Eye Haunted "Raven" this is the main kraft sheet which is really cool as the raven is flock and very touchy feely (again I have the whole pack of this set of papers and I bought them in November and this is the first time I have used them so I am well pleased about that too!), also used a couple of the bits from the accessory sheet too. For the top I used my Martha Stewart gravestone punch, I hand cut out the Magnolia paper scallops in the hope that they would look like gravestones - not sure whether this is conveyed or not though! The stamp in the bottom left hand corner is a Lavinia cobweb. The mini birds and Upon A Time Alphabet are Sizzix dies and the ghosts, pumpkins and spider are quickutz. Have used Rusty Hinge, Black Soot and Mustard Seed distress inks and Orange, Lava Green, Black and Gold Inka gold paints. The letters and spider have been covered in glossy accents so are nice and sparkly too.

Whole layout is based on a sketch by Nic Howard.

Thanks for looking :)

If that's not enough

2011-07-07T17:07:00.002Z

I am doing another online course too! This one is over at www.bigpictureclasses.com/ and is the Colour or is it Color? course by Nic Howard. I only enrolled yesterday but the course actually started last Thursday so I hurriedly did the first weeks colour (red) last night by making my quick 6x6 pages like this:

The heart isn't stuck on yet because it needs to have red bakers twine wrapped around it but I definately got it out and put it on my craft table last night and as I had to leave the crackle paint on the heart to dry overnight I came to wrap it around this morning and I have lost it! the whole reel! if you see it let me know!

And here is the layout I did:

This is basically a complete scraplift of the one done in the class due to me wanting to finish it by today (this took me all night and then I left the sewing until today so that I didn't wake the children up using my machine!). Not sure I like the placement of the red flowers by the birdie so I might have to add another one there and also I meant to put a small birdcage on the sewn strip on the right hand side and for some reason that completely slipped my mind today but I am sure I can manage to add one on there tonight. Birds, swirls and flowers are sizzix dies - the birdies have been inked with Pumice Stone and covered with Burnished Bronze mica powders, the flowers are made from red fabric and inked with black soot, the swirls are inked with Pumice Stone and covered with Glittering Gold mica powders. Papers are My Minds Eye and Basic Grey.

I have then spent about three hours today doing these two quick?? 6x6 pages:

have no idea why I had to spend so long messing about with them but they just weren't talking to me today and I did have the tv on so I guess I was just wasting time really. Still onwards and upwards hopefully these courses will get me out of my scrappers block!

Thanks for looking :)

Looking to learn

2011-07-05T05:28:00.003Z

Oooh am quite excited as I have signed up for this course:

http://limegreenbogiegirl.blogspot.com/p/online-classes.html

and am going to go to this workshop:

http://shop.afth.co.uk/sat-30th-july---kraft-resist-journal---10-3pm-5887-p.asp

can't wait to get started on the first one although it won't be today as the girls and I are off on a jolly to Bramble Patch in Northampton - it's our Summer Fayre is over treat!

Whoo hoo.

Also can I say a big hello to Sam - thanks for following me :)

Craft for a Cure

2011-07-01T12:10:00.000Z

Well I finished my stint as Chair on my sons PA yesterday with a really good summer fayre - weather was great, turnout was great, everyone seemed to enjoy themselves which was great! so I am rather relieved (and very tired!) today.

As they say when one door closes another one opens so this brings me onto my next fund raiser which is Craft for a Cure - Morag and I are doing another charity crop this year, once again all proceeds will go to Cancer Research UK - much more poignant to me this year due to losing my friend Cathy last Christmas to this horrible disease.

Here is the flyer that has been wonderfully designed by Morag:

If you would like to come along and support us in raising money for this very worthwhile cause please email either myself or Morag (our What Housework website is currently down at the moment due to technical issues but it will be resolved soon so watch that space too!) - Cost is just £40 which will include a lovely venue, lunch, a fabulous paper kit and two classes.

I will leave this post at the top of my blog for the next few weeks so for later posts please scroll down.

Thanks

Sorry I am awol

2011-06-27T18:26:00.000Z

No problems here I am alive and well! just not been scrapping or papercrafting for the past couple of weeks - I am on DS1's school parents association and it's our summer fayre this weekend so I am busy with that and also all the running round that usually happens in schools this time of year - today I have had a parents association meeting, been to Aquafit and done Forest School this afternoon at DS2's school so I am absolutely shattered! Most evenings I have been too tired to get my scrapping stuff out so I have been sitting on the settee and catching up with my Mandy Shaw "A Quilter Lives Here" quilt which is coming along quite nicely now - when I remember I will take some snaps of the finished applique blocks I have already completed - I have done 4 out of the 8 so am half way now!

Just thought I would show you a picture of a layout I did back in May when my mojo was visiting:

These pictures were only taken in January too - how up to date am I!

Thanks for visiting :)

Still no mojo

2011-06-11T15:44:00.000Z

but I have spent most of the day doing this layout:

Have found it quite a struggle as I seem to have scrappers block again but I just had to use the new Creative Journey London stamps I bought with my birthday money, shame I haven't really done them much justice as they are fabulous - my top tip from this layout is do not, under any circumstances, stick down a huge flower and a chipboard sign with glossy accents without standing up to check that the layout is balanced first! - I wouldn't mind but I rarely stick anything down with GA but I was too lazy to go upstairs and get the glue dots, which might have ripped some of the paper, but at least would have enabled me to reposition them! I have tried to rebalance it all with extra stamps and cut out images so it is ok now but without my usual mojo and enthusiasm its been a pain!

Anyway hope you like it, my children do thankfully (at least I think they do, they might just be saying that so that I stop scrapping and start playing Lego Pirates of the Carribean with them on the xbox instead!).

Thanks for looking.

My PIFs Here!

2011-06-10T16:20:00.000Z

It actually arrived yesterday but I haven't had time to photograph it until this afternoon - here it is:

I have a fabulous notebook which I will use to keep track of challenges in, a lovely card and some papers to play with. The tag is also handmade so thank you so much Kyla - it's all fab.

I have also decided that the layout I partially showed on Wednesday is complete so here it is properly:

have decided that if I do eventually want to put dinosaurs and ladybirds peeking out I can! Unfortunately this decision hasn't made my mojo magically reappear as I had hoped! I have just inked a tag this afternoon using some of Tim's fabulous kraft resist cardstock that I have managed to get my hands on (thanks Bernice!) and I love it (both the cardstock and the inked tag) but don't seem to know where to go from there so it's sitting on my ~~desk~~ dining room table waiting to be finished - am off to take DS1 to football now so maybe the inspiration will strike when I get back!

Thanks for looking :)

WOYWW 105

2011-06-08T05:30:00.000Z

Well how much fun was last week! I have to admit my experience was a bit stressful too due to being on holiday and reliant on free wifi at breakfast and my OH's phone! but still I managed to join in, get my pif sent - from lovely Looe in Cornwall - and get in touch with my sender too, so phew. In fact looking back now me frantically waving a phone in the air to keep a dodgy connection whilst stuffing my face with a full english in the middle of a Cornish Premier Inn restaurant was probably quite a funny sight to see! Honestly the things we do for our Wednesday fix of snooping!

I also didnt manage to get to visit many of you either due to being on holiday and then taking two days to celebrate my birthday but I will endeavour to try harder this week!

Here is my ~~desk~~ dining room table as of yesterday afternoon:

- the black and white ribbon I have just bought today (Tues) from the rag market in Birmingham, the plant is a gift from my two little boys (it has pink glitter on it too - very sweet!), the Tilda box kit is a birthday present from a quarterly sewing club I am in, the yellow album and plastic bag should really be in the bin/recycling, the layout I have got very stressed about as I started it a couple of weeks ago and still cant seem to find the missing things to finish it (I envisaged little dinosaurs and ladybirds peeking out through the branches but cant muster up the energy to put them there!) so I have decided whilst taking this picture that actually the layout is complete as is and I am going to move on - no wonder I have no mojo if I am stressing over bits peeking out!!, the pile of stamps were bought before my holidays and I have yet to use them - oops. Thats about it really - if you want to join in the fun and show your desk to the world then pop over to Julias and join in the fun. We should all be showing our PIFs today but I havent received mine yet but will post it when I do!

Have a great day and thanks for looking :)

It's my birthday

2011-06-06T05:22:00.002Z

Yay!

Not much craftyness to show today as we were away in Cornwall last week so I havent been making stuff (apart from some material flowers whilst sitting in the hotel room at night but they need sewing up) but still I thought I would share!

Had a big urge to do something creative last night (after I had finished unpacking and had started on the five loads of washing we bought home with us!) so I think my mojo is back - however I spent the night organising and filing away layouts as I managed to get three d ring binders (£2 each what a bargain!) from TK Maxx in Bristol last week. Lets hope I get chance to craft later today - whoo hoo.

Here is a layout I did before we went away:

Nice and simple showing my two enjoying themselves at the Krispy Kreme factory at the really huge Tescos in Slough (no doubt we were on one of our many trips to Legoland last year! in some ways I am rather relieved our Merlin annual passes have run out as visiting so many theme parks in the short space of one year is really very tiring!).

Anyway am off to open my cards and hopefully will be going shopping for some new crafty goodies later for new stamps I am sure I need. Hope you all have a great day too.

WOYWW 104

2011-06-01T06:02:00.002Z

Happy Birthday WOYWW!!!! Whoo Hoo two years old today - how fantastic is that!

Here is my dining room table this morning:

As you can see my scrapping mojo is still awol but these are a couple of the bags I have been working on for my little boys. Yes I know the digger material is upside down but he is only 6 he might not notice! Have had the material for about four years now and thought I ought to use it as my two little boys are growing up so fast and its already a bit too "young" for them - anyway this pattern uses up four fat quarters which is ideal for me at the moment - at least when I get these finished I can get on and use some of the new stuff I bought at the Malvern Quilt Show a couple of weeks ago - or the stuff I bought last year come to think of it!

Thanks for looking and come and join in the birthday party fun over at Julias and show us your desk too! Can't wait to see who's pif I will be getting! Whoo hooo.

Challenge Number 6 again

2011-05-31T06:48:00.002Z

So sorry everyone but I havent done my last challenge! therefore I will roll the same one over for the next fortnight too (only because I know exactly what I want to do on my layout in my head but havent put it into practice yet - am too busy sewing all the lovely goodies I bought at Malvern a couple of weeks ago!).

So again the challenge is to use the following image for inspiration:

If you would like to join in with me then please leave me a link here so I can come and have a look at your creations:

Thanks :)

WOYWW 103

2011-05-25T08:48:00.000Z

Oh no mojo has gone again! It was a very short and sweet visit from Mrs Mojo I had last month! Oh well I am sure she will come knocking again soon. This is the sorry state of my dining room table this morning:

The pirate book is one of the childrens and I didn't want to throw it away in case they want it, the distress inks are just there because I ran out of enthusiasm when tidying up (think I got distracted and went off to dust the lounge....) so that should really be upstairs, wristband, lego and notebook - well where else do I put those???

Wasn't going to join in today due to lack of mojo (had a lovely time at Malvern last week and bought some stuff to sew so maybe my mind is on that at the moment - not that I have started any of it (or any of the stuff I bought last year come to think of it....)) but have now decided to join in (which is why I am later than usual) in the hope that when I come and visit your desk I will have a flurry of inspiration! Fingers crossed....

If you want to join in all the fun too then pop over to Julias. Thanks for looking. Oh and can I just say a big hello and thank you to Sam for following me - I am sure I will be back with a better post soon!

WOYWW 102

2011-05-18T05:52:00.000Z

Here I am again! third week running - so much for only once a month eh! I managed to visit around 70 blogs last week and comment on all of them and then blogger crashed and deleted them all! Oh well such is life.

Here is my dining room table as of yesterday afternoon:

I was making a card to enter into a challenge - don't ask why I didn't use my craft room with my lovely new cupboards as I don't know! I even had the house to myself for 7 hours too! But I sat here and listened to the radio via the telly - I have found that when listening to that I am much more constructive than sitting in front of the telly and watching a Midsommer Murder (I have 70 episodes taped to watch - might as well delete them all now!). Anyways thats me for today (and yesterday!) - hoping to get around to a few of you later won't have chance tomorrow as I am off to the Malvern Quilt Show - whoo hoo.

If you are wondering why I am showing my desk to all and sundry then pop over Julias she will explain why!

Thanks for looking :)

Challenge Number 6

2011-05-17T16:02:00.000Z

Ok my mission for this next fortnight should you choose to accept it is: Use the following image for inspiration:

Can't wait to give this one a go!

If you would like to join in with me then please leave me a link here so I can come and have a look at your creations:

The challenge runs until Tuesday 31st May so have fun!
Thanks :)

Card challenge

2011-05-17T15:51:00.000Z

I still seem to be addicted to challenges at the moment and the one over at Daring Card Makers has again caught my eye. This week the challenge is "The Darling Bugs Of May" as soon as I saw it I knew what stamps to use:

Have had this Tilda for a while now and have only used her once so I knew I just had to dust her down and ink her up! I love Magnolia stamps but they are so big once masked and stamped with backgrounds aren't they. This card is A5 and the main image is so big it doesn't leave much room for anything else - I am saying that because I don't think she would normally sit quite so near to a bee hive would she!! Anyway for this card I have used the sketch SSS108 over at Sweet Stop Sketches so I would like to enter it into their challenge too. Other stash used is:
Fancy Pants papers - Road Show - Delicate dots and Chic Stripes, sizzix beehive and bees, Tilda with Bee, Spring Tree and Old Stand stamps (all Magnolia), Just bee cos I care stamp is by Little Claire Designs. Promarkers used are: Blush, Saffron, Buttercup, Canary, Cinnamon, Caramel, Terracotta, Ginger, Spice, Sandstone, Pastel Blue, Denim Blue, China Blue, Cornflower, Meadow Green, Apple, Sunkissed Pink, Blossom and Black. Distress inks used are: Wild Honey, Mustard Seed and Peeled Paint. Have finished the card off with bling for the bees eyes and string for their flying paths which I have stapled in place with my tiny attacher.

Thanks for looking :)

Flower card

2011-05-12T12:17:00.000Z

I seem to be keeping my creative juices flowing at the moment by looking around at the various challenges set each week. The one at http://daringcardmakers.blogspot.com/ caught my eye this week as it is for May flowers - which are hawthorns or lily of the valley - I thought this fitting to make a card for my Nan (albeit early as her birthday isn't for a few weeks yet) as her name is Lily. So here is my entry:

Papers are Prima - Flights of Fancy as are the butterly, tag and chipboard letters, the Lily of the Valley image has been taken from the internet, printed onto Stampin Up paper and coloured in with Promarkers - Forest Green and Lush Green, I have used a nestability die to cut it out, a sizzix tag for the tag, a Viva My PaperWorld script stamp for the background and used Tea Dye and Tattered Rose distress inks, string and staples.

I have based the card on the sketch over at http://thepinkelephantchallenge.blogspot.com/ so I am entering the card into their challenge too.

Thanks for looking :)

WOYWW 101

2011-05-11T05:18:00.000Z

Morning everyone - wasn't going to join in this week as I have cleared my dining room table and my desk is tidy too - however I am hoping to have a play later today, can't do too much as both my sons are having friends round for tea after school, but am I am hoping to get a couple of things finished so I have staged this photo to show you what I will be working on.

Yes it yet another configuration box - a Time one this time! this just needs some stamped out clocks and watches added to it and the mannequin (which I got from Sainsburys) has been covered in music paper for a skirt (this is my fourth attempt - I did it like this first and wasnt keen, so I changed it to one whole piece which looked dreadful, then I made a skirt out of tags (inspired by the Apprentice dress - remember that one with the ties?) well I can't begin to describe how rubbish that looked so she has sat bare on the shelf for a few weeks whilst I lost my mojo but now I have gone back to the original fitted one). This now just need some lace, ribbon, tulle and bling to finish it off so hopefully two quite quick projects which should get done sometime today.

If you would like to show us all whats on your desk pop over to Julias and bare all!

Thanks for looking :)

Another layout for my week five challenge

2011-05-10T16:14:00.002Z

Here is another layout I have done with crowns on:

have blurred the faces of the other children and teacher. This is my second son receiving an award at his birthday celebration assembly - I thought it was just a birthday certificate so you can imagine my horror (after spending hours sorting out that chipboard no. 6 that took 2 attempts at crackle paint until I finally gave in and painted it with inka gold paint instead and using the birthday themed papers) when he said "that's me receiving an award in assembly" - however I think he is right and it is a certificate of achievement but it was also given to him during his birthday week assembly (the dates of the photographs tell me that) so I am covered! Phew.

Papers are from the Bo Bunny Its a Party range - had them leftover from a class I did at the crop last year - arent they fabulous - I love bright! Managed to sneak on some old stickers that I have had in my sticker case for a while now too! Also - first time ever this - I got my copy of Craft Stamper through the post on Thursday and I have used a new technique from it within the week! It's the painting on the journaling circles - not sure it works as well on the brights as it does on the darker colours in the article but I am still pleased with it. Have also done another double layout too will post that up soon and now I need to go and make a tag to fit my challenge theme - watch this space.....

Thanks for looking :)

Challenge Layout

2011-05-08T10:18:00.001Z

Firstly a big hello to Noukie - thank you for following me - that's a very cute little boy you have there! :)

It's not very often I manage to do a layout in about 30 mins but here's one:

Papers are from the My Minds Eye Lost and Found collection as are the glitter die cuts. Yesterday I made the mat for the picture, cut out the nestibility shape and popped out all the die cuts and then distressed and inked them. This morning I placed all the items in place with every intention of adding some homemade flowers but I thought it looked fussy enough as is so I have just stuck all the pieces down and not even put my title on - have just gone with the die cut texts. Am quite pleased with myself! Now have the rest of the day to create another layout rather than faff around for hours with this one (which would normally be the case!). This also suits my challenge of Crowns or Castles as there are 2 crowns on it.

Happy Sunday everyone and thanks for looking :)

A robot layout

2011-05-06T16:05:00.001Z

I made this layout last week alongside the robot card - it just needed a bit of finishing off which I managed to do today:

The robot papers are by Lilypad but I don't think that they are available anymore. Other stuff I have used is: robot twill, Tim's on the edge Ornate die, Green hemp - vintage, boy brads (robot and funny) Around The Block, Round brads O'scrap - baby boy, Tim embossing folder, Tim reflections stamp, Distress inks: Mustard Seed and Pumice Stone, a blue sakura pen - gelly roll blue star and I based the layout of the sketch on Page 10 of Pagemaps 2.

Again this is a really old photograph that has been in the pile to scrap for about four years! so another one done!

Also there is a fab giveaway at http://ribbongirls.blogspot.com/2011/05/strawberry-molly-giveaway.html - here's a picture:

hurry though it closes on Sunday night!
Thanks for looking :)

My Challenge Card

2011-05-05T09:12:00.007Z

Here is my challenge card for my theme of Crowns and Castles - as you can see I have opted for castles on this one!

Stamps used are: Paper Artsy Crowns and Castles 2, 4 and 7, Magnolia frog, butterflies, toadstools and brick wall, Elzy Bells George and Dragon, Woodware Woodland Mushrooms and I am not sure of the make of the alphabet but I know it came from the Studio Cards catalogue.
Distress inks used: Weathered Wood, Tumbled Glass, Broken China, Frayed Burlap, Bundled Sage and Pumice Stone.
Promarkers used: Blue, Khaki, Ice Grey 2, 3 & 4, Baby Pink, Gold, Apple, Grass, Forest Green, Terracotta, Honeycomb, Coral, Pastel Beige, Pastel Blue, Red, Buttercup and Leaf Green.
Have also used my sizzix cloud die - the Happy Birthday banners are handcut.
This is a three tiered card - here is an aeriel view:

sorry for the poor quality but the weather isn't so good today is it!

Apart from my own challenge here http://sunshinegirlnicola.blogspot.com/2011/05/challenge-number-5.html
I would like to enter it into the following challenges too:
http://daringcardmakers.blogspot.com/ - a patriotic theme (I figure George and the Dragon is patriotic!)
http://www.stampchallenges.blogspot.com/ - something with wings
http://abc-challenge.blogspot.com/ T is for two or more images
http://flutterbywednesdays.blogspot.com/ - a butterfly
http://crafts4eternity.blogspot.com/ - anything goes
http://cupcakecraftchallenges.blogspot.com/ - anything beginning with C (in my case Castle!)
http://pollycraftchallengeblog.blogspot.com/ - Anything goes
http://atsblog.typepad.com/wednesdayschallenge/ - Anything goes
http://scrappyfrogschallenge.blogspot.com/ - Anything goes

Phew - think thats it!

Thanks for looking :)

WOYWW 100

2011-05-04T05:46:00.001Z

Morning everyone, and Happy Star Wars day! - May the 4th be with you!!!

Well there's lots going on in my craft room this week! I have gone from this:

to this:

and then after a sleepless night worrying about all the weight and whether it was going to go crashing through my ceiling or not, to this:

Have moved the heavier weighted stuff such as paints, sizzix dies and lots of the childrens school stuff and some holiday memoribilia downstairs (managed to fit those original white drawers into two old wardrobes we have in a spare room after a big sort out) so I have slept peacefully since!

For some reason I am still scrapping on my dining room table at the moment though probably because the children have been off school for the holidays - hoping to get round to a few of you today and tomorrow but the children are off yet again tomorrow for voting so it depends upon whether I take them out for the day or not!

If you want to join in the fun and show off your workspace to the world pop over to Julias for this fun and addictive once a week excitement!

Thanks for looking :)

Challenge Number 5

2011-05-03T15:52:00.000Z

Well for the last challenge I managed lots of layouts and cards but no tag! Oh well let's hope I have time to make a tag with this challenge - after all the excitement on Friday I am going to have a royal theme so your challenge is to create anything with a Crown or Castle on it.

The challenge runs until Tuesday 17th May so have fun! and dont forget to put your link here so I can come and have a look at your creations:

Thanks :)

Paperartsy House

2011-05-02T16:09:00.000Z

Last week I finally finished off my Paperartsy house (yes the one I bought at Hobbycrafts in March last year!) - it's been on the go for ages as I lost momentum half way through after covering all the edges with musical sheets, putting in the backgrounds which consist of inked and embossed (Tim's texture plates of course!) cardstock and even putting all the stamped metal on the roof - yes I gave up when it just needed the fun part of adding all the embellishments to it! Still mojo is back in fine form so here it now is:

I love to sew so this one is going to go up in my craft room and hopefully have pride of place in my new cupboards (if I can find a space that is!).

Here is a closeup of the roof:

used metal from Paperartsy and a Magnolia brick wall stamp. The edges are cut using a border punch - there is a better view here:

sorry for the blurry picture!

and here is a closeup of the metal sewing machine - got this at a local charity shop for 49p!

I am just not sure whether to add a cotton reel chimney or not (you know me it will have to be put on so that it stands up straight so will entail lots of faffing about) so I would be grateful for any opinions on that!

and my bargain tip of the day is these:

aren't they fabulous! got them from Poundland so get there quick - well at least before Morag.....

Thanks for looking :)

And here is another card!

2011-05-01T18:47:00.002Z

Firstly can I just say a big hello and thank you to Sandy O for following me - it's lovely to have you on board! I have had a busy weekend - have had a good sort out in my craft room - will post some pictures on my next WOYWW post and have also done a layout and a card over this weekend too! It's all go here I tell you!

Here is the latest card:

I would like to enter this into the following challenges:
Daring Card Makers whose challenge is a patriotic theme- so I have used red, white and blue colours
Sketch and Stash Challenge this time sketch no. 7 and its all old stash - nothing new on here!
Delightful Sketches which is distressing (although very minimal distressing on here for me!)
Moving Along With The Times which is Anything Goes
Cute Card Thursday which is use any sketch (not sure if I can also enter the cards I made on 28th and 29th to this too or whether that is backlinking? would be grateful if someone from Cute Card Thursday could let me know please).

I know it's a very plain and simple card for me but lets face it you've got to be in it to win it! Have not done much shading or embellishments as I don't know the child that well and I think it might just end up in the bin so I couldn't bear to spend hours on it (you all know how it is I am sure!).

For the card I have used red, white and blue cardstock, Maya Road cog chipboard, silver embossing powder, bubblegum embossing powder (this is from the English Stamp company and is great for a little boy as it smells of bubblegum!), Stampendous Robot stamps, Heidi Swapp chipboard number and the promarkers used were Ice Grey 1, 2, 3, 4, Cool Grey 4 and Grey Green.

Thanks for looking :)

Still cardmaking!

2011-04-30T07:48:00.005Z

Wasn't all the pomp and circumstance fabulous yesterday! Hope you all had a great time - we had a good day although we didn't watch all the wedding as it was going on (went to Ikea instead and am now sitting here waiting for my new craft room cupboards to be delivered sometime today - whoo hoo - I am going to be having a day sorting out new and old stash - can't wait!).

I have made yet another card and here she is:

My two best friends birthday's are in May so I thought I would get them done early - this one is quite similar to the other one I made (used the same papers!) but I don't see my friends together so I should be safe! This is based again on sketch no. 5 at sketchandstashchallenge so I will enter it into their challenge - I don't usually enter 3 cards into the same challenge site in one week so this is a first for me! but they have a choice of about 10 sketches to choose from this week so it's great to get your creative juices flowing so go and check them out if you have time (challenge closes on Monday).

The new stash I have used is the butterfly and the Lili of the Valley stamps, the old stash I have used are all the flowers and the papers.

This card also fits in with my own challenge as follows:
Something old - the papers which I think are by DCWV
Something new - the Lili of the Valley stamps
Something borrowed - the lovely Magnolia stamp - thanks Jackie!
Something blue - the cardstock

Promarkers used were: duck egg, cyan, powder blue, sky blue, vanilla, mustard, ginger, baby pink, rose pink, pastel green, soft green, cool aqua, aegean, pastel beige, khaki, sunkissed pink, blush and saffron.

That's it for today then - off to take photos of my "old" craft room before the new cupboard arrives! Have a great day everyone. Oh and if you fancy joining in with my challenge the link is here challenge number 4 and this one runs until Tuesday so please join me if you can.

Thanks for looking :)

Card challenge

2011-04-28T06:16:00.001Z

Have made a pact that Wednesday night is going to be craft night from now on. With this is mind I had a look around at some other challenges and created this card last night:

The challenges I have taken part in are: daringcardmakers whose challenge is Speaking Professionally - so I have used my new Magnolia travelling Tilda stamp to make a card for an Air Stewardess. For the card I have again followed a sketch at sketchandstashchallenge this time sketch no. 5 so I will enter this into their challenge too. I would also like to enter it into the delightfulsketches challenge which is distressing and the movingalongwiththetimes challenge which is Anything Goes.

Papers are Passport by Making Memories, Stamps are by Stampers Anonymous, Recollections and TPC Studio, Flowers and butterfly (sprayed with Jazz Blue Glimmer Mist) are Prima, Metal embellishment is an old Tim Holtz one, Bling, ribbon and hemp are just from my stash. Promarkers used were: cool aqua, duck egg, pastel blue, blush, saffron, sunkissed pink, pastel yellow, baby pink, mustard, pastel pink, ginger, spice and gold.

Thanks for looking - am off to get ready as its soon school run and then coffee time at Starbucks this morning! whoo hoo.

A peaceful day in

2011-04-26T16:02:00.002Z

Children both went back to school today after the holidays and I have to admit I have missed them, the house has been very quiet! - I spent the morning catching up with housework and then settled down in front of the tv to catch up with some shows I have taped and made this:

it is based on a sketch (no. 42) over at sketchandstashchallenge so I would like to enter it into their challenge. The new stash I have used is the butterfly and the Lili of the Valley stamps, the old stash I have used are all the flowers and the papers.

This card also fits in with my own challenge as follows:

Something old - the papers which I think are by DCWV
Something new - the Lili of the Valley stamps
Something borrowed - the lovely Magnolia stamp - thanks Morag!
Something blue - the cardstock

Promarkers used were: Powder blue, cyan, azure, aegean, sky blue, arctic blue, pastel beige, khaki, sandstone, caramel, cocoa, henna, baby pink, rose pink, sunkissed pink, blush and saffron.
Thanks for looking :)

Easter Weekend Layout

2011-04-25T08:11:00.000Z

Had a lovely day on Saturday spent most of it scrapping this:

Yet another double layout in two days and 8 more photos scrapped too! how happy am I :)

Layout is based on a pagemap - page 61 of Page Maps 2. Papers used are a sheet of Basic Grey Basics and then the rest are from the new Echo Park Off the Record set along with the stickers and journal cards. Have used some old Prima flowers, bling and some sizzix butterflies to finish it off. Stamps used are my new Pink Paislee Daily Junque, Tims Mini Muse "The Journey" quote and the This Day in History stamp is by Glitz. Also managed to use up a few pieces of metal on this one too. Note that there is no distressing on this one either! unusual for me although I did crease up the journal card and This Day in History card a bit and used Brushed Corduroy and Old Paper distress inks.

Thanks for looking and I hope you had a great Easter too.

Challenge Number 4 second layout

2011-04-22T10:27:00.009Z

As I am clearly in the mood to get some unfinished projects finished I took this (again been in the drawer for about 2 years!):

inspiring eh! and took a sketch some Nitwit papers I have had for a while and made this:

I know it won't win any prizes and there aren't really enough twiddly, hidden and dangly bits on it for me but it's another layout done and five more photos scrapped! Notice how the photos are all very similar - does anyone else take loads of photos of the same thing and then just cannot choose between them? I think this is what causes my difficulty in scrapping sometimes - there are too many photos of one thing for a layout or mini book - but just look at my little munchkins on these piccies- I have a typical Oliver dancing around being followed by Benjamin, two fabulous facial expressions from Oliver but not Benjamin, a great picture of Benjamin but Oliver looking down and then just a daft photo that completely sums up my boys - just how do you pick one? I certainly can't and I know I could spend hours on Photoshop sorting out the faces to turn three photos into one but why bother I have better things to do like, erm, spending two years faffing on the said photos!

Anyway this layout (note its a double one too!) fits in with my current challenge like so:

Something old - The green tree (a tag set from Poundland years ago) and the Christmas Tree brad (been in my brad box for years too!)

Something new - Nitville houses - these weren't originally meant to be on this layout which is why they arent really the right size but I printed them out this week on the same sheet of paper as the scarecrows as I didn't want to waste any paper (I am sure I am not the only one that does this am I?) and then after cutting out a row of Tim sizzix houses suddenly remembered them so used them instead (they are by Nitwit Collections)
Santa & Sleigh/Reindeer - Not actually a new purchase but the first time they have been used (again they are by Nitwit Collections)
Ginger Fella - again not new but first time used! (again Nitwit Collections)
December embossing folder - bought this at Christmas but am not sure if I have used it or not?
Bauble Decoration stamp - again not new but unused!

Something Borrowed - the alphabet (think it's from the crop but I am pretty sure it isn't mine)
Santa is Coming to Town stamp - thanks Jackie!

Something Blue - ink and cardstock.

Layout is based on a pagemap - page 24 pagemaps 2. Think I am finally getting to grips with sketches now!
Just need to look up what year these photos were taken now, I am guessing 2006 due to Benjamin's curly hair!

Thanks for looking :)

Challenge Number 4 layout

2011-04-21T08:14:00.000Z

Ok here is the finished scarecrow layout! wont know what to take to push around the table at the crop now!

Scarecrows, pumpkins, leaves and grass are all from a digi kit and hand cut out. Background is Basic Grey and has been sewn onto the brown card (this was what I did about 2 years ago and then left it in a drawer and forgot about it!). Will enter this into my own challenge as:

Something old - the layout itself and the digi images
Something new - the Pink Paislee Daily Junque stamps (how fab are they!) and the Tim reflections stamp
Something borrowed - the Car embossing folder from Bernice (although I have to confess that these are so fabulous that I have a bought a set myself and they arrived Tuesday and are still in the packaging - lets hope I get a chance to play again later today!)
Something blue - that was going to the be butterfly which is coloured with Tumbled Glass and Stormy Sky distress inks but then I decided to carry on and add the stamped images (car, live the life quote and the two tickets) so I coloured those in the same inks too.

I also went round to Morags yesterday morning so we could stocktake our workshop stuff and I came home with some papers for my next class (which will be at our June crop) and, lo and behold, I actually did the layout yesterday afternoon! whoo hoo for me! will post that at a later time though - dont want to overdo the old blogger do I!!!

Thanks for looking :) and please join in with the challenge if you can - runs until 3rd May.

WOYWW

2011-04-20T06:44:00.002Z

Where on earth has April gone? I am only taking part in WOYWW once a month at the moment and it struck me last night (when I took this photo) that this is the only day I can play as I am on a school trip next week. Anyway hope you are all well and I am hoping to look round quite a few desks later today or tomorrow even though the children are off school.

Here is my craft table which I was working on yesterday and probably still will a bit this afternoon so that I can craft and catch up with the tv programmes I taped last week whilst we were away in sunny Bournemouth:

The layout on it has been ongoing for about 2 years - seriously I am not joking here - it really doesnt do much for me but I am still battling on and getting on with old photos that might not look good aesthetically but really tell an important story about my children growing up. I am also going to turn that butterfly blue and use this layout in my challenge below - as I noticed I have already used something old, something new and something borrowed on it! I am also sure I will get more layouts done to suit this challenge as my mojo is back with a vengeance at the moment.

Thanks for looking in and I hope to pop by your desk shortly too. If you are reading this not via Julias then pop on over and join in the fun too!

Challenge Number 4

2011-04-19T07:17:00.000Z

My challenge this week is really quite simple (for me anyway!) - as the wedding fever is starting to take over in a big way my challenge is simply to produce a card, a tag or a layout (or all three if you can!) using:

Something Old
Something New
Something Borrowed and
Something Blue.

Have fun! and dont forget to put your link here so I can come and have a look: