Turning The Page!

You guys are just THE best! So many encouraging words yesterday ... Thank you! And aint it nice when you do something that you LOVE doing and other peeps like it too? I am feeling tres bonne this morning I can tell ya!
There were a few questions yesterday too ... would be rude not to answer them me thinks ... so ... Yes, Tracy, all the dotty lettering were hand written ... but the larger stripy font was indeed die cut waste from Lord Tim's Carnivale Strip Die ... you know Tim ... the man that can open any door in the whole world that he likes ... while saving the very small population of toxic primates ... the slow loris ... from extinction with just a Ranger White pen and a Mustard Seed Distress Stain.

And Angie ... you wanted to know what I intend to do with my scraps and pages ... well ... and this may be a long shot ... I am planning on binding them in a book ... kind of journal stylie ... but we will see ... I may get bored before I get that far!

Anyways ... todays page was all about playing with hidden journaling ... something that appeals very much to me. This was indeed a double page spread ... but I am not quite happy with the opposing page ... something else that I am getting to like a lot ... just keep going back ... looking ... weighing up the options and add or don't add ... no rules ...but then ... that is the kind of girl I am!

Righty Ho then ... I am off to make ... erm ...stuff! I probably ought to think about tidying up a bit first ... Yuck!

Have a good Sunday people!

Laters!

The Workshop; Pancakes and the Wall!

It has been a great day in Ede today! This morning was Make and Takes and this afternoon was my Stampotique Screen Workshop.
Before I tell you more ... I should clear up a small matter regarding the handbag! Yes ... I used artistic licence when describing the graveness of the whole bag incident and now feel compelled to clarify that ... well ... okay ... is was n't really ten karats of diamond that Anneliese destroyed ... or ... erm ... actually ... erm ... the bag at all ... it was a £4.99 hand bag charm that I had added to the strap and the Fossil bag is indeed in tact! But if you are reading this Lin ... another trip to the Fossil shop sounds like a plan regardless :0)

Okay ... onward and upwards as they say ... the workshop went very well ... a really great group of ladies ... I had a fab time and everyone finished and were very happy with their projects!
We distress stained ... sprayed and Perfect Pearled happily  and by closing time I was even feeling brave enough to tackle the wall! Thank you for your fabulous suggestions... I ended up going with my own ... yours were definitely  better ... but using my own words seemed more appropriate in the end!
Once everything was tidied away we set out for Pancakes ... oh my goodness ... I have one word ... Yummy! We are talking proper pancakes ... the size of a small dining table ... I had Peaches and it took me every last ounce of effort to eat it all ... but eat it all I did!
Next it was off to the town centre to sit outside some lovely little bars to chill and chatter and generally unwind!
So that is all for now folks ... we are off out in the morning to do the whole tour with Lia and Joan ... I will hopefully be back with piccies tomorrow night ... but if not ... I will see you first thing Monday with the new theme for Simon Says Stamp ...
Laters!

A Card in under 15 Minutes!

Well guys ... this is a first ... I have nothing to say! Seriously ... absolutely nothing! I did think about posting just pictures without any words ... but then I thought ... you can't do a blog post without any script ... so ... I then decided I would be sensible for once and tell you how I made this quickie card! I know I run the risk of you not wanting to know ... but here goes!

1. Cut a white card blank 12,5cm (5") by 25cm (10") and score at 12.5cm (5"). I reckon that takes about 1.5 minutes.
2. Cut a black square of card 10.5cm (4-2/8") and stick it on the front. Where are we now? About another minute!
3. Cut a white card 10cm (4") square and spray with Dylusions Post Box Red then blitz with your heat gun. That should take you up to about 5.5 minutes in total!

4. Stamp Lord Tim of Holtz Itty Bitty grunge stamps randomly over the red square ... You know Tim ... the man that can paint the ceiling in the Sistene Chapel ceiling in 10 minutes while listing the world's football teams with just a Philosophy Tag and a mini clip. I used Ranger Maroon archival ... distressed the edges with an edge distresser then blended a bit of Fired Brick around each side before stamping the Birthday Text. Where are we ... about 8.5 minutes.
5. Finally I stamped the little Stampotique man ... cut him out ... coloured him in ... and stuck him on with 3d foam pads! He took 5 minutes tops which takes us to 13.5 minutes in total!
You can of course substitute the little Stampotique man for virtually anything ... not the most exciting of designs ... but I would be happy to send it!
Thought I might have thought of something to say at this point ... but no ... I promise to try harder tomorrow ... In fact I will most probably have too much to say tomorrow ... I am out for a girlie day and a spot of shopping with the Wonderful Lin and the Lovley Karen!
Laters!

Here and There!

Hello all ... Just a quick one from me today ... another screen ... this time in shades of purple ... Ranger purple to be precise!
The stamps used are the same as yesterday ... Stampotique with Lord Tim of Holtz's Bitty Grunge on the background! You know Tim ... the man that makes all of the chocolate eggs for the Easter bunny while walking on hot coals with just a texture hammer and the safety cap from a pair of Tonic Studio scissors. No shrunken flowers today though ... just shrunken skulls ... this time on clear shrink plastic.

So ... That is the "Here" and the where is ... erm ... "here." My good friend Nathalie Kalbach is gallavanting around the other side of the world somewhere exoctic mostly and before she went she asked a whole group of fabulous people and ... erm ... me to answer five questions for her blog! So if you are interested in seeing the mess I work in ... or indeed my creative highlight ... then you now know where to go! Not here but there!
Right ... now I need your help ... I cannot move for unneeded craft stash ... so where do you go to sell your unneeded stash! If I do a car boot ... I will get pennies for some good quality items ... and not neccesarily any customers that are interested in crafting! So ... Do I ebay the stuff? Has anyone tried selling from their blog? Would you buy stuff from a blog? I did think about selling it on a forum ... but there really is a lot to shift and I am not sure that is the best method! Do tell ... if you think I am wrong!
Okey Dokey ... I must away ... stuff to do and people to see!
Laters!

An Altered Car!

When I got my car back on Saturday ... I was a tad horrified that it was so dirty! No wonder it had felt poorly ... It was definitely in need of a good clean and a makeover! So I set about rearranging the garage in a bid to find some decals I purchased yonks ago ... when I eventually found them ... I set about convincing John that he really needed to wash said car for me!
To be honest ... that was a lot harder than it sounds ... I had to do the whole ... by the time you have shown me how to use the jet washy thing ... it would be quicker to do it yourself chestnut! A bit late in the day for me to get the jet wash out and make a complete pigs ear of it ... so he had to step in ... and I was n't sure how successful my mission was until Sunday morning :0)
I obviously had n't told him about the decals ... John would wonder why ... in his view ... I was going to mess around with decals and a perfectly good car ... so I waited patiently for him to finish and while he was out walking the dog the makeover began! I am rather pleased with the results ... What say you? It is definitely the biggest "altered art" project I have undertaken :0)

Right ... onto more ... well usual stuff ... the screen is stained ... misted ... and colour washed within an inch of it's life and the adorned with fabulous Stampotique images! If you look really closely ... you can see how cute The Wendy Vecchi's flowers look on white shrink plastic with ickle bitty gems in the middle. The background is stamped using Lord Tim of Holtz's Itty Bitty grunge stamps ... you know Tim ... the man that can roller skate up Mount Everest while drawing all the white lines down the middle of every road with just a Inkssentials white gel pen and a jump ring!
I must go ... I have a date with some of Claudine's Sticky Backed Canvas and some more Colour washes and a whole handful of tags!
Laters!

Snow Stops Play ...

... Well almost!

Sadly our Christmas feast was disrupted yesterday by the snow and freezing conditions in Kent. Instead of our usual group ... it ended up with just the three of us ... but we still managed to eat ... drink and make merry ... raising a glass to absent friends ... oh and Tina :0)

Luckily my Secret Santa weathered the storm ... so I got to play with some of it today. I have wanted this little Stampotique Crown ever since I first laid eyes on it ... and once in my grubby little mitts ... well I could n't wait to start playing ... lucky I have left my Christmas cards till the last minute again then huh????

These cards really did only take minutes to make ... white card squares sprayed with different Dylusions watercolour Sprays ... building them up and splattering them too ... then stamping and colouring in Rocky ... at least I think he is called Rocky and adding the crown to turn him into a king ... bit of doodling and ta da ... finis!!!

I am off to stroke the IPad that Santa has bought me for Christmas ... it is still in the box ... and I have been told in no uncertain terms that it has to stay in said box until Christmas day ... Talk about torture!

Have a good evening all and stay warm ...

Laters!

My Cockles are Warm!

Oh yes people ... someone well and truly went and made my day ... They did in fact warm the cockles of my heart!

They don't have a blog ... so I can't add a link ... but one of the comments from yesterday's post read ... and I quote "the card is great-love your narrations-I feel like we are sitting there having tea (coffee for me please). Thank you for sharing yourself with all us." Now when I set this blog up ... several years ago now ... July 2007 ... I think ... I called it a Crafting Journey and added the strap line ... with coffee breaks along the way! Linda ... that was who left the comment ... no ... it was n't me ... ratified that I have finally achieved what I set out to achieve ... and I am dead chuffed ... so Linda ... wherever you are ... THANK YOU!

Now ... today's card is take two of my entry to Theme Thursday ... if you popped by yesterday ... you will have acknowledged my self professed Numpty status when I made a card for the previous weeks challenge ... der!!!

So I have checked and double checked and the Theme this week is definitely red and black ... and my card definitely qualifies ... phew!

The background was made using Dylusion's Pomegranate spray ink ... Yummy ... and Lord Tim of Holtz's Bitty Grunge stamp set ... you know Tim ... the man that could visit 6 Primary school assemblies ... all on the same day and all at the same time with just a miniscule amount of Black Enamel Accents and the packaging from a set of foundations!

The characters are indeed Stampotique and rather than start that whole cute but not debate ... I need to tell you that one of them is supposed to look like a girl ... they don't do a little short girl so I thought a ribbon bandana and a bead necklace would do the trick! I know the beads look a bit like a beard in the picture ... but trust me ... in real life ... it ...erm ... really ... erm ... does n't!

C'mon you guys ... what craftiness are you planning on this weekend? Tell us ... you know how I like to know these things!

Laters!

Kinda Cute ... But Not!

LOVE this little chap ... rather more than is healthy to be honest ... and he may well appear on just about everything I make from here on in! Actually he probably won't ... to be fair ... he is not everyone's cup of tea! Great for a boy card though! And we all know how tricky they are ... Don't we! I wonder why that is??? He is in fact sporting a hat stamp designed by THE Wendy Vecchi ... LOVE Wendy's stuff!

As you can see I went to town with the Ranger Black Enamel Accents ... I was n't too keen when I first purchased them ... but now I am sold! The background was made by spraying Vanilla Custard Dylusions ink spray ... LOVE that stuff  ... onto white card and then adding some Wild Honey Distress Ink over the top blended through sequin waste. The letters are from the Sizzix Carnival Die and the background stamps are all Lord Tim of Holtz ... you know Tim ... the man that can turn rain into wine while rescuing stranded golfers on the Ryder cup course with just a Word Stick and a pair of Tonic Studio Non Stick Scissors ... LOVE Lord Tim ... but then you knew that anyway :0)

Talking of cards ... I have one spot left on my BLine Designs card class on Monday ... if anyone wants it ... please ring the Lovely Karen at LB Crafts. LOVE Karen!

That's me for today ... I am all out of LOVE ... you see I am still singing ... and this probably ends my musical week ...

Laters!

Wednesday ... Wednesday!

Is that a song? I am just kidding of course ... and if you did n't visit on Monday or Tuesday ... well ... you are going to think I am nuts! Today is Wednesday and that means it is time for the weekly pilgrimage to Julia's place to have a right old nosey at other people's stuff!

My stuff this week includes these fabulous Dylusions spray inks that the lovely Dy Reaveley gave me to play with at Ally Pally ... so I am ... erm ... playing ... just look at all those yummy colours ... I have also spritzed over the top of a couple of them ... with a Perfect Pearl and water mixture ... I used Lord Tim of Holtz's favourite ... Heirloom Gold ... he told me that was his favourite ... yes I know ... he was on QVC at the time and there was a few million other people watching him as well ... but I choose to believe he was indeed talking to me :0)

I thought I would share my Stampotique haul too ... Are n't they just the dog's dangly bits!

Anyways ... I am supposed to keep this brief ... so I will love you and leave you ... I may be back shortly with some finished tags :0)

Have fun ... Laters!

Oh My Goth! Another Screen!

It had been a while since I used my Stampotique stamps so when I was designing my Zutter DT samples last month I decided to dust them off and get them out! In fact there was quite a bit of dusting going on because my Pro Markers got to see the light of day again too ... never before has such an expensive set of pens seen so little use! Oh and my Darkroom Door Rockstar stamp collection had it's first outing ... Note to self ... try and only buy what you are actually going to use regularly!

There were several items that required no introductions ... because I use them all the time ... my trusty Bind-it-all being one ... and if you squint and press your nose right up to the monitor you may just see my little Lord Tim of Holtz Skull and Cross bones all shrunk ... I say Skull and Cross  Bones ... I actually cut off the bones part and just  went with the skull! Well nine of them actually but they have proven a little tricky to photograph! You know Tim ... the man that can converse with the animals while holding welcome talks with beings from another planet with just a jump ring and a teeny tiny piece of rubber ... without an image :0)

I must away ... I did n't get around to any desks yesterday and plan to rectify the situation by visiting them all today ... oh and then stop by and say Hi to all my regular haunts ... it is all go in Blogland :0)

Have a good one whatever you are doing ...

Laters!

A New Challenge!

There is a new and very exciting challenge in blog land! Can you tell that I am a tad excited. Mind you it has taken me 24 hours to actually make the card. I started it several times and in the end just decided to enjoy myself ... which I did and this is the result.
The blog is called the Stampotique Designers Challenge and the maiden theme is Lurve. You don't have to use Stampotique stamps ... but they are sooooo darn cool ... why would n't you?
If you are wondering why it looks like two separate cards ... well basically ... I can't take a decent photo of the whole card so I have had to scan it and the red has gone all orangey on me ... you need to squint at it really and then pretend it is the same red as the part card in the small picture ... and if you just read all that and understood it ... I would be totally impressed :0) And actually you can ignore all that now because I did n't like the scanned image so I had another go with the camera!
My excuse is that it is way past me bedtime and then it will only be 9 more sleeps :0)

Timmy's Tags I - IV '09

If I thought I was ill Friday ... well that was nothing compared to Saturday ... it was Sunday before I felt remotely human again ... that means with enough energy to craft ...  and although I had the energy my MOJO had scarpered ... so I turned to Tim ... the man that can cook up crafty goodness during a long and complex design meeting where he could create a further 7 wonders of the world ... in a hour ... if he wanted to!

Anyways ... when I say I turned to him ... he was n't next to me or nothing *swoon* I mean I went straight to his 12 Chrimbo tags and created his backgrounds for the first four ... as closely as I could ... materials allowing etc.,

Next I added this lovely little chappie ... full of Joy ... from Stampotique ... and turned the tags into Christmas cards for my and OH's sons! They will all look like the image at some point over the holiday season ... trust me! I just added a dabber and distress background to each ... a Wendy Vecchi text stamp and I am rather pleased at the result.

Now I just need to either find my MOJO or turn the other 8 tags into Christmas cards for my daughter ... our parents ... you get the picture :0)

I am also finding my new Scor-it a god send .... it does n't matter what I create .... no more digging through pre cut card stock for the right size and inevitably chopping a lump off... the Scor-it makes life soooooo much easier!

Thank you for all your well wishes ... the chocolate has n't arrived yet ... nor have the grapes come to think of it ... maybe tomorrow :0)

It is snowing again here and Christmas is only 4 days away and I have still not wrapped any presents ... or delivered them .... which is quite obvious if they are n't actually wrapped! If I get snowed in now ... well that would be a complete disaster! I would actually have to cancel Christmas.

I do hope it is not too bad near you ... take care and have a great week!

Don't Panic!

Mr Daniel Torrente's design has a place for life in my stamping drawer ... he will never have to find himself a new home during a clear out!

This card may look somewhat familiar ... that is because it is an old design ... I have just remade it in different colours.

I love all things cup cake at the moment so it only seems right that I should take part in this weeks Cup Cake Challenge. The theme is numbers ... so my card for a 14 year old chappie fits the bill!

The paper is from the Rock Star stack ... but don't tell Cass because it may spoil her day ... when she finds out I had to cut it! The image is coloured with Pro Markers, of course!

I am not sure what happened to the weather today! It's raining here ... not Bank Holiday weather at all!

I hope the sun is shining wherever you are and that you enjoy the rest of your Monday!

Mirror Mirror!

The challenge on Cute Card Thursday is all about using something shiny this week!

I have used Stampotique and Stitchels stamps together with some flock paper from the Rock Star stack!

To qualify for the 'Something Shiny' challenge I used Silver Mirri board to matt and layer and Metalic Dew Drops in a fab Turquoise blue.

The Stampotique image is coloured with Pro Markers and for the Stitchels I used Dusty Concord and Broken China distress inks!

I am off to play with a CD now ... See ya's!

Penny Black Saturday!

It has been a while since I have found enough time to join in the Penny Black Saturday challenge so I thought I would give it a go today.

The challenge this week is "Anything goes!" I took a Stampotique stamp, a Penny Black sentiment, some Stitchels flowers and a bit of bling and this is what I came up with!

The very lovely young lady is embossed and coloured with Pro Markers [No surprise there then!] and the Stitchels flowers are coloured using Timmy's distress inks in Broken China and Dusty Concord.

The paper is from the yummy Rock Star stack [8x8] which is the perfect size for most standard cards.

Not So Cute!

What is it about boy cards that make them so tricky? Is it because there are only so many TV remote cards that you can make?

And why are teenage boys even trickier? Is it because they rarely do much other than grunt [in my experience] and it is difficult to work out what they like? Answers on a postcard please :0))

Well I can't be accused of only making cute cards now can I? This is one of my favouritist stamps [today anyway!]... He is from Stampotique, designed by Daniel Torrente and I love him! Not Daniel ... Although I am sure he is quite lovely I have n't actually met him ... it is the stamp I love :0))

He certainly aint cute but he seemed just right for the boy aged 16 card that I have on order ... yes you know who you are!

I am having a play around with more boy 16 cards tonight ... so watch this space!

One Card; Two Challenges!

The Sunday Stamper Challenge this week is Purple and the Wednesday Stamper Challenge is Goth! What a fabulous combination!!!

My card Layout was designed by Jayne at a workshop I went on last weekend ... but we made a Christmas card with it. I thought I would try totally different elements and see if it worked [Jayne assured us it would!]  ... I think she is right ... I think it did!

I have been stroking this paper for years and going on the workshop has made me brave enough to start cutting up some of my favourites!

I have run out of Grungeboard Skulls so I used the waste as a template and made my own!

Does anyone know if that is illegal? I know I am unlikely to get hunted down by embellishment police; but I would hate to breach anyone's copyright either ... If you know the answer ... pray tell :0)

SpoooKay!!!

Theme Thursday challenge this week is Halloween! Now any challenge with the word Halloween in it is a hit with me coz it gives me the chance to get my Stampotique stamps out!

I have also recently acquired the Cherry Pie Gothic Halloween collection. I say acquire to cover myself ... I can't actually remember if I told my other half that I won them or bought them! So acquired is a safe bet!

For this challenge I made a couple of ATCs which I was n't thrilled with ... to be honest I rushed them a bit ... so I made a card too! A very bright card but a Halloween card none the less.

It is still raining here ... so we did n't make the seaside today either ... hopefully the weather will improve next week and we can do all the things we should have done this week.

Thank you for dropping by - catch you later!

Theme Thursday ... on a Sunday ... again!

The theme for the Theme Thursday challenge is hearts ... now I have taken a close up for you first ... just in case you cannot see the hearts on my card through the dazzle of my flash on the Crystal Lacquers I have used on my young man's suit **deep breath**

I love these stamps ... I am not sure I will sell many cards with this couple on ... but I would buy them and I love making them ... so there must be someone else like me out there ... Must n't there???

Anyway ... the arrowed hearts were put on the background first using snow cap dabbers and the resist technique ... then stamping and some matting and layering :0)

Have a good week everyone!

Happy Halloween!

Yes I do know that Halloween is in October! I also  know that I am English .... so it is not a holiday either - but I love my new Stampotique stamp sooooo much I have stretched my entry to the Theme Thursday Challenge to the limit!

The challenge is favourite holiday and although I love Halloween, my favourite holiday is in fact, Christmas!

Hey Ho!

My new stamp is fab though is n't it????

I am not sure the skull and crossbones are very halloweeny either - but I like them too.

If you are not convinced ...... Here is a pumpkin for good measure!!!