Neelz Expressionz

Vintage wizardry

2012-03-09T11:59:00.000Z

Hi there folks.
Over at The Stamp Man the new challenge theme is vintage. I know this is a favourite with many folks so I'm sure you'll enjoy it. When I think of vintage there are a couple of things that spring to mind; firstly the colours, browns and burgundy; then of course there has to be flowers and lace....
So with that as my starting point I made this card.

I started off with a card blank and randomly stamped around the edges before making a black and burgundy mat. I embossed and painted acetate using a Tim Holtz folder and added that to the card with some floral trim along the bottom.

I do like the shabby distressed look that this adds (there is a step by step tutorial on my sidebar if you want to try it for yourself)

I stamped the wizard onto the dress form; coloured with distress ink and sprayed some perfect pearls mist to add a bit of sparkle. I used glossy accents on the base and top and attached with 3d foam pads.

So that's my take on vintage; there is plenty more inspiration from the DT on The Stamp Man blog so do pop on by and join in the fun; there's a £10.00 voucher up for the winner of the challenge too.

Textures

2012-03-09T06:42:00.000Z

Good morning folks.
Can't believe it's Friday already, where has this week gone? Not much that I can share with you at the moment so I thought I'd share these tags with you. I've been participating in Andy Skinner's Timeworn techniques online workshop and though I've not really had a chance to incorporate the techniques into projects yet these are a couple of my practice tags. So first is peeled paint. I did a few but these are the two I like the most. Playing with fire to do these but fun too.

What I'm really enjoying is discovering even more ways of adding dimension and texture. This next one is pitted and chipped; like an old gas bottle. Time consuming with 6 layers of paint and hairspray and salt in the mix too but the results are great!

So there's my latest playtimes, I've been doing these inbetween work and other projects so I am making use of the time. I'm looking forward to incorporating these techniques in a project soon! Have some creative fun this Friday everyone.

WOYWW #144

2012-03-07T00:57:00.000Z

Good morning all,
Wednesday has rolled along as it always does, it never changes but always catches us by surprise...... As always, Julia at Stamping Ground is the hostess for this mahoosive blog hop that we all love and cherish and are hopelessly addicted to too!
Here is my desk for you this week. Firstly the aeroplane shot.

All the usual bits and pieces are there. I've had to put my distress inks back; I've come to the conclusion that whatever I do they live there and I'm too used to it so everything else just doesn't feel right!

Now the colour is weird on these, I can promise you that these canvas flowers are NOT so orange IRL! They are on a tag and the tiny little tin is going to form part of this tag, still working on the details in my mind though!

Then this is the latest page in my art journal, the background is done with acrylic paints and the new Dyan Reavely stencils. The stamps are Celtic mythology ones from The Stamp Man. (and I drew the mountain for the dragon to sit on) I was just thinking about how we all have issues and problems that we have to deal with and that these are our Dragons...... but we can triumph over them and the page just developed from that. I like the way it ended up though, there are some lovely textures from the paint.

This last picture has some spare flowers; a flop paint technique and that interesting piece on the left is Tyvek, it does interesting things when you heat it so I was just having a little play! So there you have my little corner of creative paradise this week. I look forward to popping round to yours; though I'm busy preparing for Saturdays workshop and I have an appointment with a blowtorch too so I may not get round too many this week.

Just a little tag today

2012-03-06T11:10:00.000Z

Good morning all.
Well after yesterday when everything I touched went pear shaped and horribly wrong with the result that I closed my studio and went inside to mope in front of the telly; today is much much better I'm pleased to say. (Though I do have to redo one project I managed to redeem some of the others!)
So this morning I thought I'd share this tag.

The base tag has been embossed using a couture creations folder, I lost count of how many layers and washes of paint I used but in the end I thought I'd better stop! I then aged and distressed with black and sealed with a matt spray sealer which gives it a look of metal. I mounted it onto a mountboard tag to add strength too. I stamped the balloon which is one of Tim's new stamp plates (Remnants - a fab plate, already a favourite!) I coloured it with distress markers. I know that some people are thinking, yet another marker but what is really really cool is the fact that you can mix your colours and colour in great detail and then a quick spritz of water and it reacts exactly the way the other pads and sprays do so you get these lovely spots and age speckles!

I cut it out and attached with 3d pads to get that lovely raised shadow detail too. It's a pain to cut out but so worth it and you don't need to be too precise as you can blend some distress ink with a blending tool and it tones down all the edges (I used walnut stain)
To finish I made the "ribbon" using Tim's tissue tape. This is fab, just fold the tape back onto itself and it creates a great ribbon and pretty strong too. It's one of the things Tim shared up at the workshop I attended; a great tip! I covered the hole with a screw style brad/grommet - not really sure what it's real name is!

In other news; over at Try it on Tuesday it's all exciting new changes. We're introducing the new DT members and there's a new challenge format so do pop on over and say hi !

Right, I'd better get back into the workroom; still got loads to do! Have fun everyone.

Card for Katzelkraft

2012-03-05T15:41:00.000Z

Hi there all you lovely people; hope your week is getting off to a good and creative start.
I thought I'd share this card made for Katzelkraft with you.

I started off with a scalloped card blank and coloured it with Aged Mahogany distress ink before stamping the background in plum archival ink. I stamped and cut out the arch from white card and coloured with peeled paint distress before gluing down.
The horses head is stamped i plum and attached with 3D pads and covered with glossy accents to add shine.
To finish I threaded some ribbon through punched holes at the top and used a button in the centre.
All the stamps are from KTZ054 available direct from France HERE .

Right, I'd better lock myself back in my studio; deadlines are a looming and I've just messed up a project so need to start again; oh the joys!

Published in Creative Cardmaking

2012-03-02T15:54:00.000Z

Hi there,
Issue 39 of Creative Cardmaking is out today and yours truly has 3 cards for Easter in it (on page 64 -65)

Yay, I'm so happy; now if you like what I've done be sure to tell the peeps at the mag so! As you can understand, I can't show you them but here they are, all 3.........

Lovely distress inks, stamping, crackle paste and stencilling too. There's an "arty" card, cute card and a religious one too so something for everyone!

Clock for The Craft Barn

2012-03-02T08:19:00.000Z

Good morning
Over at The Craft Barn this week we've been making gifts and this week it's my turn to share. I made a clock for my gift.

Here's a sneak peek and for the full picture click HERE. I hope you all have a lovely day.

WOYWW #143

2012-02-29T06:32:00.000Z

Good morning
Well, I don't want to share my desk this week but in the interests of providing a fair and unbiased and non sanitised overview of my creative life I guess I had better........

Just one big happy mess really! A lovely pile of inks, paints, pre-embossed tags, mountboard cut tags and in amongst it all some little gems; like these

Faux leather, partially aged copper and really really oxidised copper - all paint effects..... then , there's my current favourite, rusty metal. I did the tag, the washer I picked up on the beach the other day.

Speaking of picking up things, look what I found in Brighton, proper old printers block letters, I managed to get this one word spelled out so just HAD to have it!

Then there's the beginnings of a journal page from some of the left over paints from some of the tags and a Tando mask.

So there you have my world this morning, If you want to see more creative places head on over to Julia's place to join in the party.
Have a great Wednesday everyone

Mosaic for Try it on Tuesday

2012-02-28T06:20:00.000Z

Good morning peeps.
It's altered week over at Try it on Tuesday sponsored by the lovely people at The Craft Barn who are offering a £15.00 voucher for the winner of the challenge. So lets alter something and use mosaic too...... well we want to stretch a bit don't we?
I altered a little wooden tray, you know the type that has lovely little embellishments in? I made my own mosaic tiles by using Crafty Individuals paper glued onto chipboard and stamped it with Family values from The Artistic Stamper before chopping it into little squares. The tray was coloured with inks and colour washes, stamped with a calligraphy stamp and flooded with a thin layer of glossy accents into which I laid the tiles. I coloured the corners with alcohol inks and glued to the tray.

And then, when I'd finished it, I decide to add it to a notebook cover just for fun to give myself an interesting chunky book cover!

Hopefully I'll see you over at the Try it on Tuesday blog, there's loads more inspiration there; and don't forget the £15.00 Craft Barn voucher up for grabs!
Have fun today.

Another page in my journal

2012-02-27T14:07:00.000Z

Hi there folks.
I trust you all had a marvellous weekend and are looking forward to the week. We took advantage of the sunshine yesterday and spent the day in Brighton enjoying the beach, people watching and perusing all the creativity of the city. There are some pretty amazing art galleries there.
Today I thought I'd share this journal page with you.

Some lovely textures and paints, I'm not usually too big on yellow but this evolved and I like the contrast of the yellow and black! A favourite Tim sentiment provides the beginning of the tale.....
Take care and have a fun afternoon.

Journal page

2012-02-25T21:31:00.001Z

Hi there everyone;
Hope you've been having a creative Saturday. Not had much time today but thought I'd pop some of my Journal pages on to show you.

I really like this sentiment, I first saw it in a book of poetry about 20 years ago and it struck a chord with me then and I've never forgotten it!

Of course anyone who has a vagabond will recognise these! I popped them onto the machine but they didn't stick well so I took them off and used most of them here along with a liberal covering of distress crackle and glaze!
See you later!

Spring Colours at The Stamp Man

2012-02-24T12:00:00.001Z

Hi there.
It's a new challenge over at The Stamp Man with the Colours of spring as the theme. I used the colours as the springboard for this journal page.

When I think of spring I always think of pastel shades; pale pinks, greens and sharper blues. Bright shades of green pop up too from all the new leaves on the budding trees too. The background had been built up with these colours along with some spray masking and stamped dragonflies. I filled my journal spread with scalloped circles and doodled them into flowers. Images are stamped onto them and I've left space on the flowers into which I've written my thoughts about spring; the colours, Easter of course, and that means and then looking forward to the sunshine days of Summer!

It's a pretty relaxed and casual page, no careful outlines just a page full of the joys of spring.

All the product details can be found HERE on the Stamp Man blog along with more inspiration from the design team so I do hope you'll pop in and visit and join in too. There's a £10.00 Stamp Man voucher for the winner of the challenge as well as the coveted blinkie for the top 5.

Getting more from your dies

2012-02-24T10:30:00.000Z

Good morning everyone
I hope this finds you well. In continuing my search for different ways of using dies you may already have I thought I'd share this card with you.

I'm sure that most of you will guess what I've used to make the Cross, but below are the steps. With Easter coming closer I think it's a good idea for cards and also suitable for sympathy and confirmation cards too. This card for me, with the darker purples, blues and black lends itself more to sympathy, but by changing the colours to lighter ones will give a much fresher feel.

So, to begin to make the Cross you will need the Sizzix Hardware findings die (of which we are only using the hinge) some mirri card and an embossing folder.

Die cut four hinges out of the card.

Cut then down as per the (blurry) photo above! 2 at approx 5cm, 1 at approx 6.5cm and one at approx 7.5cm. Run these through your machine with an embossing folder to add some texture.
To assemble the card create your background (This is made with Impression Obsession Geologic, and watered down distress inks) matt onto a slightly larger card.
The Largest piece forms the bottom, the medium piece the top and the two smaller ones form the sides. Glue into place on your card as seen and to disguise the joins I attached some small adhesive flat gems to the centre and added some square brads through the holes on the ends, though you could use gems too. Mount onto the front of the card blank and you're done.
Another thing to use your die for!
I'll be back at 12 with a new challenge for The Stamp Man so I'll see you then.

Embossed Acetate

2012-02-23T15:29:00.000Z

Hi there peeps.
I thought I'd go through the distressed acetate steps for those of you who've asked about it. I have to tell you; it's messy and you'll probably go through a lot of kitchen roll!
So to begin you'll need a fairly thick acetate (for this I've used 0.18); your embossing folder of choice; I tend to prefer the sizzix ones as they give a deeper press but I have used a cuttlebug one too; you just need to be a bit more careful when removing the paint. Acrylic paint, paintbrush, baby wipes, kitchen towel and an acrylic block. And of course something to emboss with such as a vagabond, cuttlebug etc.

Once you've embossed the acetate ; working on the "de-bossed" side, cover the surface with paint. (this is Americana - sand) making sure that you get paint into all the recesses.

Once you've done that you need to take a kitchen roll and wipe the surface a couple of times to remove some of the excess. Keeping it on the roll helps make sure you don't wipe paint from the recessed areas. You'll probably go through a few pieces of towel!

You can also wrap a baby wipe around a block and wipe more off too. Then set aside for a while to dry a bit.

Once it's dried a bit, if you wrap a bit of towel around the block and gently begin to buff in a circular motion you'll begin to get the rest of the surface clear and bring the shine back.

In the end you should get something like this; practice and experimentation is the key. But even the ones you are not too happy with will still make good backgrounds for tags and cards. Different colours will give you different effects.

Some of the colours look good on white backgrounds too!

So there you have the process I use to get the backgrounds.

I hope you give it a go, it gives a lovely texture to your cards and projects!
Have fun.

WOYWW #142

2012-02-22T05:51:00.000Z

Hi peeps,
Time to share your desks with the world again courtesy of Julia at Stamping ground. I took my photo's yesterday because I was feeling lousy and ended up in a dark room all afternoon. Hence the daylight sneaking in! Hopefully I'll cope with today better. I hate feeling under the weather. But you're not here to hear me whitter away so here's my place...

Slightly different angle this week.

I got fed up with having to open the cupboard everytime I wanted to get something out so I took it away and now its much easier to access, once I sort it out properly, that is.

Aren't those union jack buttons lovely? All different sizes. The tag (for Try it on Tuesday) is waiting to be put into my tag album.

Isn't this oversized spool of string brilliant? Susan got it for me over the weekend; next to that there's a little accordion book with an Egyptian theme. I love the face, from a polymer clay mould.

Then there are my goodies from the weekend. I have some stuff I want to try with those markers but not got round to it yet. I'm enjoying the masks and have had a bit more of a play with them.

Of course, having actually met Tim and Mario now; they are going into my journal, here you can see the beginning stages; again, I have an idea but not had time to do much.

And just a slightly different overall view! So there you have it; my place this week; now I think I'm back off to bed!

Dylusions and more......

2012-02-21T09:10:00.000Z

Good morning peeps and hope you are all well.
Today I've a nice mixed bag of stuff to share with you. Firstly; over at The Craft Barn this week we are exploring vintage and today I'm sharing a journal page in the vintage style. All the details are HERE and a little peek for you!

Then it's a new week over at Try it on Tuesday. This week is anything goes with the addition of acetate. So you can do whatever you wish but you need to include acetate on your project. There is plenty of inspiration from the team over HERE so do pop on by and join in the fun.
I made a tag

I cut two tags, one black and one in acetate. I embossed both with an embossing folder and used acrylic paint to distress the acetate. I just love the shabby look that the paint gives. I die cut the bird and stamped and coloured it with distress ink. I attached a small pine cone twig with wire and stuck the bird down.

I attached the sentiments with a tiny attacher and added some ribbon to the top. Can you see how shabby distress it looks in the close up! I love it!
Are you still with me? Now it's back to Saturday's Ranger workshop and session 2 with Dyan Reaveley!

This session was all about altering book pages; lovely, inky and messy! Using her range of spray inks and masks and lots of water we started to alter a book.

Here is mine in progress, I did get a bit further than this on the day but I actually finished it this morning; well, sort of finished it!

Lots of lovely layers of colour and masking and stamping. The little pockets for tags are a great way of adding interest too. The sentiment is very true; it's stamped onto a sticky back canvas ATC and I used the offcuts to doodle on and add to the page too.
So there you have it; hope you are still awake in the back there. Now I'm off, my studio is calling my name.
Have a blessed and creative day !

Project over at Katzelkraft

2012-02-20T14:07:00.000Z

Hi there
Just wanted to let yo know I'm sharing a project over at Katzelkraft today. Here is a peek but if you are curious to see inside do pop on over HERE

Thanks for looking! Remember, you can get these gorgeous stamps direct from Katzelkraft or if you are in the UK they are available exclusively from The Craft Barn.

Saturday was fun!

2012-02-20T07:06:00.000Z

Hi there everyone
I hope you all had a good weekend; I certainly did! So here is my Saturday.......... A loooooong one so pull up a chair and grab a coffee! woke up at silly o clock which was to be expected I guess and toodled off to the station to catch the train to the NEC.

Taking a photo of your reflection; that's what you do at 6:30am.......... then I was hungry so ate my breakfast and made a silver surfer to guard my ticket

Yes, I know; there's not much hope for people like me; still, I'm happy. We got there easily enough and ridiculously early so we went outside to the lake and then decided to do some geocaching while we were there. First find of the day was hidden here

Then it was back for a coffee; Starbucks was closed so had to settle for this; more caffeine, as if I was not wired up enough!

We walked around to the LG Arena and I loved all the different textures and colours on this living wall.

Then it was time for me to don my hiking boots and trundle myself over to the workshop room; Being my first time at the NEC, though I knew in my head it was a big place; walking seemed to take forever! I got to the other side at last, found the room and sneaked a peek through the door; yes!!!! Tim was there! So; I met up with Andy Skinner and had a good chat; more coffee with Kathy and then it was time to go in.
This is what we had waiting for us.

Some of Tim's new distress markers (Fab!), Ranger's new waterbrushes, The new Dylusians masks and a prepped kit. Tim took the first session and this is what we did.

Loads of fun stuff, playing with old favourites as well as some new stuff; I was really pleased to try out the markers; I think I'm going to have plenty of fun with them! I agree with Tim, Ranger's new glue stick REALLY DOES WORK! I had a good time and afterwards I had a lovely chat with both Tim

and Mario; could not forget him!

I had a fabulous time! The second half of the workshop we started on an altered book with Dyan Reaveley but I'm not finished mine yet so I'll share that later!
So all super excited I went back to my wife who'd been waiting patiently for me reading a good book (And being chatted up by a guy to boot; honestly, leave her alone for a few hours!) and we made our way back home with a little side stroll along the Thames..........

Modroc Journal

2012-02-17T13:07:00.000Z

Hi there everyone;
I'm gearing myself up for a GREAT weekend. Tim Holtz has landed in the UK and guess who is getting to see him tomorrow?! Well; I'm hoping it is going to be himself doing the Ranger workshop tomorrow at the NEC and my entrance ticket is safely in my bag and the excitement is mounting; either way I'll tell you all about it next week. Then on Sunday I've a class at The Craft Barn so all in all a fun filled exciting weekend!!!!!!!!
So today I thought I'd share the rest of my journal with you. Some of you will have seen bits on the Craft Barn blog HERE but I wanted to share these pages with you.
Here's the front cover

All the journal pages have been made out of modroc (Plaster of Paris bandage) and tied together with vintage lace. There are 10 pages all together. This is the cover and the medallion has been made with friendly plastic, a Sweet Peas stamp, black acrylic paint and plenty of Inka gold! I just love the way it turned out!

This page has some of my hand made papers, The image(also Sweet Pea) has been stamped onto mica and the back painted to highlight.

This page is similar but with some alcohol inks too. I just love these images! I like the textural contrast too between the mica and the roughness of the pages.

Again, I love the softness of the image and the subtle distress inks against the pages.

These pages use stamps from The Artistic Stamper and also Katzelkraft, again, gorgeous images that work well with the textures.

These stamps from Toodles and Binks work well too for layering up backgrounds; I just need to find the right journalling!

The lastly, the back page, another Sweet Pea and friendly plastic medallion. I really enjoyed making this journal and there is still place to add writing etc so it is very much a work in progress I love to look at it and run my hands through it to feel the textures!
Hope you enjoy seeing it too.
Have a fun and creative weekend!

Die cuts with a difference....

2012-02-16T08:03:00.004Z

Good morning everyone
Hope you are all well. Today it's my turn over at the Craft Barn where this week we are looking at die cuts but looking at them differently; trying to see the possibilities...........
So without further ado I'd like to introduce you to Olly the Ostrich.

He is descended from a long line of distinguished reindeer; also known as Sir Tim of Holtz, fanciful flight die! Isn't he cute? Then of course there is his little brother; now he's a little bit eccentric, and his fashion sense, hmmmmmmm

The details of the "how" are on the Craft Barn blog too but I've decided to add them here too.
The process is pretty straightforward as you will see from the next photo!

You can see by this picture what to do next. In the middle I've shaded in black the areas you need to cut away from the original shape on the left to leave you with the shape on the right.
(tip; keep one cut shape as a template so you can easily make more!)

For the first tag I kept it more realistic by using natural colours and a feather before mounting it onto a tag which I'd stamped onto with Katzelkraft stamps and then mounting that tag onto a second tag cut from corrugated card

For the second, smaller one cut out from the mini reindeer I had much more fun, using brighter colours and playing around with pens I created my "Zebritch" which worked together nicely with the sentiment for a fun and quirky tag which I popped into my journal because I liked it so much!
He (or she) is standing on a shape cut out of the Artful dwellings die and the tag has been inked and stamped with distress inks and a bit of masking added too.
Have some fun today!

WOYWW # 141

2012-02-15T06:07:00.000Z

Good morning peeps
I've not been around for a couple of days so I apologise, life has just been a bit manic but I'll try to get better, I have a list of things I want to do step by steps for but ....... well, let's leave it at that shall we as you've come to see my desk!

Surprised? Yes, I'm working indoors on the dining room table; not really because it's too cold outside but because I've been too lazy to unpack my bags from Sunday's class so I kinda just started working from them.

I picked this dress form up from a charity shop yesterday for the princely sum of £1.00 so am looking forward to transforming it.

This os one of the pages from Sunday's class which I am going to get finished, hopefully today.

Then I have an idea that I want to try with this embossing folder, isn't it lovely? it involves the little tree die so we'll see how it goes........
So there's my temporary workdesk; pop over to Julia's place at Stamping ground to see more and I'll try to pop in for a peek later.
Have a blessed and hopefully creative day!

Going for texture.....

2012-02-10T12:00:00.000Z

Good day peeps
Welcome to Friday and a new challenge over at The Stamp Man. It's my turn to play host and because I love texture I thought that's what I'd do and I made this tag.

So, if you are here because of this on Wednesday; now you know what I was hiding.

I started out with a large paint covered tag and then added some small beads to the base using a 3d glaze to secure.

I keep a jar of odd coloured beads in a jar just for things like this where I plan on painting over. When it had dried I covered the beads with gesso

Still doesn't look too exciting so I added some gesso detail using a mask into the top corner and added a piece of embossed paper too. Then I covered everything with a wash of forest moss and perfect pearls which then tied all the separate items together nicely!

I cut an embossed acetate tag and attached that to the tag with ribbons and added a metal flower that I added embossed detail to using distress embossing powder.
I die cut a coloured the trees and deer and added everything as seen. There's loads of lovely textures and layers going on.

So for more texture inspiration do pop on over to The Stamp Man and then why don't you have a go too, you may win the £10.00 voucher!
Hope you all have a great day, I'm teaching at The Craft Barn on Sunday; my art journalling #2 class. Still a couple of places if anyone is interested; details are HERE.

WOYWW #140

2012-02-08T06:00:00.002Z

Hi there everyone
Yes, it's that time of the week again where we drag our workplaces out into the light of day for everyone to oooh and aaah over............ Thanks to Julia at Stamping Ground.
Here we go then.

So here it is. Things to see this week that are finished and part finished......

On the left are these tags. The bottom one was from Lin; isn't it lovely. I spent ages chatting to her and Leandra at the bluewater hobby craft show. The top ones were some of the things I'd made for the weekend's minifest at The Craft Barn.

This is a secret still, but there are some tantalising bits peeking out!

My journal page is open still at one of my last pages; I am happy with the way it turned out so I like to look at it still.

On the right are these tags; none of which are actually finished but I did them over the weekend while demoing some techniques with embossing folders and these are some that I want to finish.

Then there's this, I actually really like the way it turned out though I was just playing so i'll finish it off sometime soon I think.
So, theres a peek into my world this week; I hope your world is full of creativity too.
Oh and a little heads up, over at The Craft Barn I'm sharing a journal made from Modroc, I'd love for you to take a look! The link is HERE and here's one page

Card for Try it on Tuesday

2012-02-07T09:00:00.001Z

Good morning peeps
It's a new week and a new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday with the theme of True Love. It's card week so we are looking forward to seeing your cards with the theme. (just in time for Valentines day!)
This is my card for this week

I used a Tim Holtz sentiment as my starting point and added more words using small alphabet stamps as a reminder that in the midst of the storms of life we don't dance alone if we are in a loving relationship. I coloured this with fired brick and stormy sky distress ink and stamped around the edges.
I coloured the main card with fired brick distress ink and stamps used are from Spring sprung (Tim Holtz)
I embossed and painted an acetate tag with paint and mounted it onto a black tag and layered the main piece on top of it. I cut and embossed a couple of small butterflies and a heart out of silver card and aged with black paint before fixing in place as seen.

There's plenty more inspiration over on the Try it on Tuesday blog so I hope to see you there.
Enjoy the rest of your day.

Scrapbook page for Katzelkraft

2012-02-06T10:02:00.000Z

Good morning folks
I've a scrapbook layout I'm sharing over at the Katzelkraft blog today. The details are here if you'd like to pop on over and take a look.

Take care and I hope you have a creative and blessed day.

Just another snowy day.......

2012-02-05T23:11:00.000Z

Hi folks,
well, as predicted there was a good layer of snow around this morning. this is the view from the house to my studio. Fairly early so still pretty blue tint to the pictures.

Far too cold to go out so instead; because I still had all my stuff in the house from Saturday's demo day at The Craft Barn I stayed inside and worked on my journals. I'm pretty pleased with the way this one turned out.

This page has one of my demo backgrounds added onto the page along with a mica embellishment and some painted and splatted details!

This page uses one of the new Paperartsy stamp plates from Thursday. I think this figure is just fab and the right size for these pages.
It was lovely to see everyone at yesterday's demo and thank you for all your lovely comments and all your questions too! I'll try to get some of the step by steps posted here this week so keep an eye open for them!
See you all later.

Metal and acetate at The Craft Barn

2012-02-01T09:04:00.000Z

Hi there.
Over at The Craft Barn blog this week we are exploring metal and acetate and today it's my turn. I made a tag using acetate and metal.
All the details of how can be found by clicking the link but here's a peek to whet your appetite!

Do pop on over to see the full tag let us know what you think. There are so many different things you can do with metal and acetate and there are plenty of fabulous ideas there this week so I hope you have fun playing along with us!
Have a blessed and creative day.

WOYWW#139

2012-02-01T05:35:00.000Z

Hi there everyone and welcome to the massive blog hop of desks in all their glory, big ones little ones, empty ones and full ones; messy ones and tidy ones; Julia over at Stamping Ground has the lot! I've had a load of fun this week and my desk reflects that so I make no apologies this week for the state of my place!

Has he NO shame I hear you say? Naah, not this week. What you see is the leftovers of a creative zone after being in full swing; I've managed to finish about 4 or 5 pages in my journals that have been brewing in my mind for a while now. I've made a book from scratch; finished off some class samples and managed to get ever so slightly ahead of some deadlines so I'm feeling pretty chuffed even if I'm so cold I can't feel my toes!

So in the middle is one of my pages (apologies for the weird colour, it looks much better but in this light if my camera wants to over compensate it will, no matter what I do!) The right hand side is finished and the left will be finished sometime soon; just brewing a bit in my mind still!)

On the right here is this box, which some of you will have seen before. I use it now to keep all the stuff that I use a lot of in my journalling classes as well as my own journalling, in one place, so all the old gift cards, lids, charcoal pencils and pens etc. Anything that I find useful to make a mark on a page will end up in here..... so won't be long till it's full I guess!
Anyway, better don the thermals and get back out there, I'd better tidy the mess up a bit and pack for my class on Friday at The Craft Barn; I'm also demoing there on Saturday the 4th February so if you are in the area do pop along for a day of fun and inspiration.
Cheerio folks; hope you all have a blessed and creative day!

Texture over at Try it on Tuesday

2012-01-31T09:00:00.002Z

Good morning peeps.
I hope this finds you all well and ready for a new challenge. This week over at Try it on Tuesday we are looking at texture for this weeks challenge. Sponsored by The Craft Barn who are giving a £15.00 voucher to the winner. Also just to tell you that there is FREE POSTAGE for all UK orders, for the EU, free postage on orders above £20.00 and for the rest of the world, free postage on orders above £30.00 at The Craft Barn until 6pm Thursday 02 February 2012!
There is plenty of inspiration over at the Try it on Tuesday blog HERE so do pop on over.
For my project this week I was playing in my journal and looking at ways of adding texture to a page.

I embossed some lightweight card with a clocks embossing folder and adhered it to my page with multi medium. When I blended distress ink over the page it gives you a lovely texture to the page without adding too much bulk. I cut out the clock and then covered with ink and distress crackle which also adds some lovely subtle textures too.

Hope you all have a lovely day and that you have time to create art!

A special book

2012-01-30T14:31:00.000Z

Hi there everyone.
I hope you all had a good weekend; not sure where mine disappeared to but I was reliably informed that I did in fact have one...... I'll take their word for it!
A while ago I was looking for something and found a pile of handmade paper that my father had made for me years ago and I thought I'd lost. As my father is no longer with us I wanted to do something special with them so decided to make a journal using them. I know that they have been sizes so I can write on them and this way I will be remembering him every time I use it.

I used 3 pieces per signature and sewed them together and used 4 for this book. I cut the covers and spine from mountboard and covered with texture paste and left to dry overnight.
Then I made the endpapers for the book by covering the page with Frayed burlap distress stain and stamped using Katzelkraft stamps from the Egypt plate. These lovely stamps are available direct from France HERE or if you are in the UK they are available exclusively from The Craft Barn HERE.

I assembled the book using binding cloth for the spine and additionally secured it with some brads too before painting. The finished book looks like this

The front

After painting I stamped the head onto tissue paper and attached with multi medium. I added some mica fragments too and highlighted sections with a gold pen before sealing everything with a clear glaze which will protect everything.
I did the same on the back cover too

Now I have a special journal that every time I use it will bring back treasured memories of my amazing father who I still miss very much. I have not decided what to do on the spine yet but I'm sure I'll find something for it somewhere along the line! As the theme this week over at Simon says stamp and show is kings and queens I'm going to enter this as The main image is of an Egyptian king I guess it fits the bill!
Hope you all have a blessed and creative week.

WOYWW#138

2012-01-25T07:50:00.000Z

Good morning peeps
Dull drizzly and damp around here so I hope you are faring better in your neck of the woods. Time for us to stand up tall and share our desks with the world; no matter what state they are in! If you've just landed from another planet and don't know what I'm talking about then just follow me through this door HERE to Julia's place where all is explained....

My desk is once again; a bit of a mess

Everything just pushed and pulled and dropped on top of..... just your average creative's desk after working on something but before the decontamination team has been in.
But on the left you can see my steampunk style box is taking shape nicely now

I'll be starting on the inside soon but as ever, I'll keep you posted.
On the right is a small jewellery box I did for the guest room using some fabulous Katzelkraft stamps - hard to believe this lady in the gondola is a stamp......

I just need to finish the bottom neatly before it goes into the room.
So that's my lot today. Now I need to tidy it up a bit before starting the next project........... though perhaps I'll pop into chat for a bit.
Whatever I do I hope you all have a great day.

Tongue in cheek

2012-01-24T09:00:00.004Z

Good morning all.
Welcome to my Tuesday world. Over at Try it on Tuesday the new theme this week is "it's in the mail" Now how many times have we heard that phrase before? I decided I'd do a slightly more tongue in cheek journal page of the phrase.

It was fun to do and the message inside is a reminder to me that as a Christian the Bible teaches us that our lives are lived in Christ which in this helter skelter world we live in is something that I need to remind myself of. Hidden journalling like this is good to do if there are things you want to say but do not necessarily want everyone to read.
So, there's plenty more inspiration over at the Try it on Tuesday blog so why don'y you pop on by and take a look?
Hope you all have a blessed and creative day today.

Jewellery box for Katzelkraft.

2012-01-23T10:58:00.000Z

Hi there peeps, told you I'd be back. Just wanted to share this with you. The main post is over at the Katzelkraft blog HERE with all the details but here's a picture of the finished project.

Have fun today everyone.

Cover a card stamps at The Craft Barn

2012-01-23T07:41:00.000Z

Good morning all
I trust that everyone had a fabulous weekend and that the coming week holds loads of fun creative stuff ! Over at The Craft Barn Blog it's backgrounds week so we are looking at different ways of using background stamps.
If you follow the link you will be transported over to the blog where you will find all the details of my cards.
Here's a sneak peek

I'll be back later with a project for Katzelkraft, I'm just waiting for better light as I forgot to take photos over the weekend!

New journal

2012-01-19T08:47:00.000Z

Good morning peeps
It'd dull and wet outside so I'm kinda putting off going out to my studio....... though I do need to go really, or perhaps I'll read a book........
Anyway, I thought I'd share my new journal with you. I like the size of the Bluebell book I got from The Craft Barn a while ago so last time I was there I picked up another and decided to cover it before I started inside.

So here is the front

And the back

I started by gluing some pieces of hand painted papers to the covers and stamping the images onto that using archival ink. The Stamps are from the Lynne Perrella collection by Paperartsy. I then covered the rest with some random peeloff alphabet stickers to give a bit of dimension. (I have loads of peeloffs and never use them so I find this is a good way of getting rid of them! I used the letters to spell out TRY on the front of the journal. To prep the surface I covered everything except the stamped paper with gesso and then hauled out a ton of acrylic paints and started to add colour until I was happy! The last thing I added to the cover was some Inka gold to highlight the letters more.
I covered the book with a gloss glaze and sprinkled some glitter into it and left to dry.

When it was dry I punched some holes with the Crop-o-dile and secured the key using some parcel twine (the one that Mario used to tie my gift/prize from Tim Holtz - well I wasn't going to just bin it, was I?) and I added the fragment of jewellery to the stamped lady.
I'm really pleased with the end result and the glaze keeps everything nicely protected too.
Since Simon Says Stamp and show anything but a card this week I thought I'd enter it for that too.
Right, I'd better get myself off to work now so have a lovely day everyone and I'll catch up later.

WOYWW#137

2012-01-18T06:00:00.001Z

Good morning peeps
Wednesday desk reveal time again; can you believe it!? Well, I was searching for something and made such a mess I ended up having a bit of a tidy just so I could think straight. I had to shove all my "secret" projects out of the way so as I was staring at the bare desk and had just a few moments spare I whipped out this journal and had a VERY quick little play.
Otherwise a very boring desk for this week.

My wife was going to dispose of this cd stand so I removed it and it now houses my dies....

This a detail from the page, Dreamweaver stencil, crackle paste and red acrylic paint, not sure whether I'll use it on this page in the end though.

Then I decided to start using these jars I did ages ago so decanted my Stampendous Frantage mica fragments into 4 of them, gluing samples onto the label for reference and writing the details on the back., two more house little bulldog clips and there's two left to fill which I'm sure will not take long! They look pretty cool there I think, much nicer than the original plastic pots.

Then, because I've moved my dies over I had space on this shelf so moved my books of Tim Holtz stamps over as well as the books that I made to house my embossing folders. They now fill the shelf below my A4 box files that house my other stamps so now all my stamps are together. Just need to finish labelling those new files now.

So there you have my space this week, looking a bit organised and neat though I can assure you it never lasts!
Have a fun day and I'll see you over at Julia's place for a quick natter (If I have time; I'll be honest there are so many now I can't get round to you all so I have to do a bit of a lucky dip!)

Fairies at TioT and a fish........

2012-01-17T12:43:00.000Z

Good morning folks
Bit late but my internet has been down for a few hours so I've been a bit stuck!
Over at Try it on Tuesday its a new challenge; do you believe in fairies? There's loads of inspiring projects from the team so do pop on by. There is also a DT call for some new members over at Try it on Tuesday so if you fancy a shot do follow the instructions on the blog so we can come along and find you!
This is my tag for this week; nice and simple as I don't have many fairy stamps in my collection!

Also this morning is the beginning of a new week of inspiration over at The Craft Barn blog, "Mechanical week" so cards and things that have interesting things happen when you open them..... I'm starting this week with a simple card , here's the front but to see inside you'll need to pop over to The Craft Barn blog HERE!

Yes, I know, i'm a tease but you are curious now aren't you?
Have a lovely afternoon everyone.

Journal page

2012-01-16T16:27:00.000Z

Hi there everyone.
I hope you had a lovely and creative weekend. I've had a good one, I had a nice full class for my art journalling class at The Craft Barn on Sunday; thank you ladies for making it such a lovely time, I couldn't do it without you!
So today I was fiddling around in my studio (Grandiose word for shed at bottom of garden!) and after I'd finished some of the stuff I had to do I finished off this journal page.

I'd started the background during the class yesterday, just showing some of the quick and cool effects you can get with distress stains, masks and babywipes...... so today I added the stamping using Katzelkraft mini 18 and mini 20 plates (The seagulls and ship) The torn paper pieces along the bottom are from one of the backgrounds I did yesterday too and the ship is also stamped onto that and cut out and stuck down.
Katzelkraft are a French stamp company that have really lovely and different stamps. You can get them direct from France HERE or in the UK they are exclusively available from The Craft Barn.
Hope you all have a great evening.

Seeing red at The Stamp Man

2012-01-13T12:00:00.001Z

Hi there
It's the first new challenge over at The Stamp Man today and it's a nice flexible one to get you going; Red. Appropriate for many who are thinking of valentine. I however, managed to forgot it's almost Valentine's day and ended up with this rather dramatic and perhaps more "disturbing" tag!

The tag is cut out of glossy card, then covered with fired brick distress stains to give the dramatic red colour. The colours really pop out on gloss card. I stamped the man in black archival and then used the harlequin stamp to ground it. The sentiment was added along the side and I stamped the hand on a separate card , coloured with distress ink in spun sugar and black soot and rubbed some glossy accents over to give a bit of shine. To finish I used black soot on the edges and spritzed with water to add interest, stamped some of the ink blots onto the tag and lastly decided to add some detail using the hanging sign die.

So definitely not a love letter! I guess I was thinking more along the "Red is for Danger" lines, but sometimes though we step out and follow a path that at first glance seems rather challenging and spooky; it is that very path that awakens our souls to the possibilities of life......... when personal or creative.
Remember there's a £10.00 voucher up for grabs for the winner of this challenge so I hope to see you there at The Stamp Man challenge blog; where there is loads more inspiration from the team too!

Another Altered bird.

2012-01-12T08:30:00.000Z

Hi there, yes, just little old me again playing catch up. Last year I found another bird shape while out so had myself a little play with it. It is similar to my first bird but different too!

I went for brighter colours this time with all the stamping done using a selection of Crafty Individuals stamps.

The wings and fringing are all done with grunge paper which is great for projects like this as it keeps the shape so you can get some really lovely details that will stay, like this fringing detail along the back of the head.

The "crown" and "breastplate" were made by bending some ornate metal corners and colouring with alcohol inks.

O used the same corners to add interest to the back section as well which I particularly like. I also embossed some of the grunge paper with the regal flourish folders to add some more texture too.

I used some idea-ology tokens and chain to dangle from the wings, made some grunge roses for the base along with some vintage tape measure and loads of sparklely gems (to cover the nails!) to finish.

So there you have it, the latest addition to my bird menagerie, hope you like it.

The colour wheel...

2012-01-12T06:50:00.000Z

Good morning everyone
I clean forgot about this yesterday! Mind like a sieve at the mo so thought I'll do it today.
Over at The Craft Barn blog this week we are exploring colours using the colour wheel. I have done 3 tags in different colour combinations to show how colour choice can impact on the feel of a piece.

Here's one of the tags, there are another two on the post so please follow the link and see how they work!
I hope you all have a brilliant day!

WOYWW#136

2012-01-11T06:30:00.001Z

Hi there folks;
It's time for the weekly round up of international desks hosted by Julia at Stamping Ground. Now to be honest I was not going to share this week as there is so much going on behind the scenes of my life that are taking much more time than I thought that I'm not getting much time to do some "me" crafting. However, my desk kicked up such a storm and tantrum when I mentioned it that for the sake of peace in the studio I thought I'd better come along and say hello. (If I didn't I'm sure my desk would begin to hide all my essential tools from me!)So here is my place

As usual, here is the overview; and no, I didn't climb on a chair; it's a small shed so I just need to lift my hands slightly...) What's lurking there today?

On the left are a couple of the containers I use to store my stamps and now my masks too. I love these but I had not seen them around for ages (well, not the cheap ones anyway) so when I saw them in my local 99p store I grabbed a lot! they are great as you can see the contents at a glance so I keep manufacturers together.

Then, this is for you Julia, after I confused you last week, it's my inka gold, along with some of my other glazes, glues etc.

This also arrived yesterday, the embossing folders from the Inspiration Emporium which were my prize from the 12 tags challenge they had and in which I won a $20.00 gift certificate; postage took up most of it but I am pleased to get these, and along with that came the lovely tag too. Underneath are some small vintage keys I found at a flea market the other day.

Then there's my steampunk box which is SLOWLY getting some colour, but still a long way from finished.

Then, lastly, I got another journal from The Craft Barn as I like the size and price so am just beginning to develop the cover, again there's a bit of work to be done but I have an IDEA! (Peel off's will be involved......)
So there's my place this week, lot's of unfinished stuff, the finished projects are hidden but I'll keep you posted as I finally get these finished. Hope you all have a blessed and wonderful day!

Upcoming classes at The Craft Barn

2012-01-10T13:06:00.000Z

Hi there
Just thought I'd tell you about some of my upcoming classes at The Craft Barn in case anyone is interested and give you a peek at them.

Friday 27th January

Details are HERE

Friday 3rd February - all day

Details HERE

Sunday 19th February

Details HERE

I'll also be at the first Minifest of the year on Saturday Feb 4th too. Details HERE

Have a good afternoon everyone.

At the starting point.....

2012-01-06T11:53:00.000Z

Hi there everyone
I don't usually do this but since I have not got anything finished yet (That I can share yet anyway!) I thought I'd tickle your tastebuds with the beginnings of a project.
A while ago now, I had a box of Turkish delight from Hotel Chocolat on my desk. It was lovely and proper stuff too so as you can imagine it did not last long. It came in a wooden box which was too good to throw away so it has been staring at me for a while now... until last night it caught my eye while I was waiting for something to dry and I started to play

So here is phase one of transformation

I've used a selection of die cut cogs and some chipboard alphabet circles and shapes to add the dimension and then everything has been covered in a layer of gesso. Then I added a few nuts and watch bits too.

Now I can start to add some colour and more bits to it so i'll keep you posted. Hope you all have a lovely and creative day and weekend.

Scrapbook layout at The Craft Barn.

2012-01-05T07:59:00.000Z

Good Morning folks
Hope you are well; it's another grey and windy day here in the UK but at least it has stopped raining here. Over at The Craft Barn blog we've been looking at various inks this week and today it's my shot! I've been playing with alcohol inks to create a scrapbook page. All the details of the various steps can be found HERE but this is the finished page to whet your appetite.

The photographs are from the Autumn colours at Sheffield Park, a National Trust property and I used similar colour inks working with 12 x12 acetate to create the page. I hope you'll take the time to pop on over and see more and leave a comment to let them know(and me!) what you think!
My studio is calling me so I'd better answer before Mr Mojo gets fed up waiting! Take care everyone and here's wishing you a blessed and creative day today!

WOYWW#135

2012-01-04T08:53:00.001Z

Good morning folks
The first WOYWW for 2012! (Follow the link to Julia's place to get the lowdown) I don't know about you but I always seem to take a while to get back into routine after the holidays so there's not much on my desk today other than a mess! I've done some stuff but unfortunately you only see the leftovers as the finished articles are for DT projects!
Still here we go.

I told you it was not too exciting! One of the nice things I picked up from the sales after Christmas were a couple of packets of these shiny baubles

Complete with a little hanger and just the right size for crafting so I was pleased with them as they were cheap and tie in with some of the idea-ology baubles.
Then there are new stamps and chipboard keys that I have not got round to playing with yet but hope to get them inked up soon!

So there's my desk today..... ready for action again!
I hope you all have a blessed and creative time this week and that the rest of 2012 is more of the same.

I'm back; did you miss me?

2012-01-03T09:00:00.001Z

Good morning everyone.
Yes, it's been a while since I've been on here with family stuff and all the rest of the fun that gets us going at this time of the year.
Now it's time to get back into the crafting groove and resume regular service and what better way to begin than with Try it on Tuesdays new challenge: A card using just your own stuff, no patterned papers, no bought embellishments ....everything made by you!
I decided to keep it simple and made this card using one of my new stamps from Crafty Individuals

I covered the card blank with the stamped words in Stormy sky and Chipped sapphire distress ink to create my background, On top of that I added a piece of silver card which I had embossed with a sizzix folder and aged with black and white acrylic paint. The Union Jack was stamped in black archival and added on top of that and then I stamped and cut out the medallion; coloured with watercolour and embossed with clear UTEE to create a nice shine.
All the stamps are from the set CI 334 and as this is the Olympics and the Queen's jubilee year I can see these getting a lot of use! There's plenty more inspiration over on the Try it on Tuesday blog and there's a £10.00 voucher for one lucky winner from our sponsors "One Stop Card Crafts"

Hope you all have a lovely day.

The Stamp Man's third annual awards.....

2011-12-31T08:42:00.000Z

Hi there everyone.
Hope you are all well. As this year draws to a close it's time to pause and reflect again. Time to look back over the last twelve months... Over at The Stamp Man we are doing that too and you can also join in by linking your favourite creation from the last year into the 3rd annual awards 2011.

There is a £30.00 Stamp Man voucher for one lucky person and 4 runner up prizes too.
It's been an amazing year for me and looking back there have been many highlights but in the end I think that the first project I did for The Stamp Man has to be my favourite! The embossed memo pad.

It's been a funny old year in many respects with plenty of ups and downs but as I look back I can see just how much fun I've had! So Happy New Year everyone and may 2012 bring creative joy and opportunity to you all.

WOYWW #134

2011-12-28T08:45:00.000Z

Hi there everyone.
I hope you have all had an amazing Christmas and are enjoying the holiday period. Though I have not had time to do anything in my room I have added to the general mess on my desk so thought I'd pop on and share it with you while the family are in slumberland still!

So; what's that I spy in the middle of the desk; something from Tim?!

Yes' just before Christmas; this package arrived from Tim and Mario with my gift from the 12 tags comment.
Ok ok, I know, you want to see what they sent.

Aren't I blessed; stamps and an embossing folder; neither of which I have so I am thrilled! Then also on my desk is this book which was from my wife, it's amazing and very inspirational!

I'm missing my space but am squeezing as much time with my family before elder daughter returns to Liverpool on Thursday and so hope to actually get some crafting done by next week's desk!
Be blessed everyone and don't forget there are more desks to be seen via Julia over at Stamping Ground.

Celebration Giveaway winner.

2011-12-24T23:48:00.000Z

Hi there everyone.
It's the final countdown to Christmas morning and I think we are ready..... the builders are gone and it is very weird in a nice way to have a whole new room to play in!
Thank you for all the comments on my blog's celebration giveaway. I said I would draw the names Christmas eve so here they are.
I got my wife and daughters to choose a number each which gave me a name from the comments. These 3 names were jumbled and my wife pulled the winner of the main candy which is .................................

Elizabeth R ( thecraftyrobin.blogspot.com )

Then because I thought it would be nice I have a little something for the other two ladies who's names were chosen too. So if Okinurse (okienurse.blogspot.com) and Jude (crafts-international.blogspot.com) would email me too I have a little something for you too.
Congratulations; please email me with your snail mail details.

I Hope you all have a blessed Christmas day tomorrow and my prayer is that the God who's birth we celebrate, will bless you richly with His love.

WOYWW #133

2011-12-21T08:34:00.001Z

Hi there.
I know I've been quiet here so I do apologise and it will stay a bit quieter for the rest of the Christmas season as there is just so much going on at the moment!
Here's my desk this morning

Power restored so I have light but still a shamefully neglected place these last few days. Still there are some early Christmas gifts that I am itching to use.

These masks were a secret Santa gift, aren't they lovely?

A gift voucher helped me pick up these lovelies too. What else is on my desk; well some silver card and some deer die cuts I'm playing around with.

And I finally got round to doing a cover for my journal. (Blurry pic but hopefully you can see it ok)

So that's my desk this week; kick started as ever by Julia at Stamping Ground, so for more do pop on over so see a gathering of international workspaces.......
My last class for 2011 was last Sunday where we made a candle holder; here they are all hard at work.

And this is what we were doing. Thanks ladies, it was another fun class; thank you for your support!
There's a couple of days left to enter my celebration giveaway if you like, details are here and I'll be drawing the winner on Christmas Eve.
So all I want to do now is wish you a Very Merry Christmas; may the Joy of Christ's Birth fill your lives with peace and meaning this festive season and may you be truly blessed.
Happy Christmas everyone.

Technique time at The Stamp Man

2011-12-16T12:04:00.000Z

Hi there everyone.
It's a new challenge over at The Stamp Man. This week we want to see your projects using a technique you've not used before.
I made a page in my journal using something I'd seen in a magazine ages ago using a glue gun.

I covered the page with distress stains before adding glue with the gun and allowing to cool. I used red acrylic paint to add more colour and then coloured the glue with autumn gold rub n buff.
I stamped various images from the aspects of design 55 plate around the edges of the page and some small butterflies in between.

I think it turned out ok, I like the randomness of the design and think i'll be playing around with it a bit more.

Over at The Stamp man there's plenty more inspiration too and a £10.00 voucher for the winner of the challenge too. Hope you all have a great day.

WOYWW #132

2011-12-14T05:54:00.000Z

Good morning everyone
Pitch black outside still and I can't quite believe I'm up THIS early but after the cat decided to wake me up properly I thought I may as well nip out to my studio and pop the light on and tidy up a bit and take a photo.... only to discover that yesterday while I was at work the builders had disconnected the power supply to my place. Not good at all!
So, I warn you now; the photo's you are about to see are none to pretty! UN-edited, UN-sanitized; here is my space; in the dark and gloom of this December morn....

I blame Tim of course; he got me doing the tags this year which was fatally addictive so my desk is a creative war zone! And taking a picture in the dark with a flash makes it look worse.

So there are inks, my favourite seasonal stamp plate; joyful song, some sparkly tinselly stuff peeking out at the bottom and on the right is some cut lace from the vintage lace die which is an amazing die.
The back shelf is a little less messy (Unless you look closely!)

Still, I forgive Tim for this mess because on the twelf day of tags Tim pulled my comment from the few thousands and I join the lucky people who get a gift from him! Yay! So; why am I showing you my desk this dark and gloomy morn? All because 132 weeks ago, Julia over at Stamping Ground, thought it might be fun...
Perhaps I'll see you there?
Today I need to get power back to my place down there as it's too dark to work but the deadlines don't understand that excuse! I also want to remind you about my follower celebration giveaway - all the details are HERE and it closes on Christmas Eve.
Hope you all have a wonderful and creative day today.

Last Sunday's class at The Craft Barn

2011-12-13T10:55:00.000Z

Good morning everyone;
If, like me, you were following along with the Twelve Tags of Christmas isn't today a "what do I do now?" kind of day? When I got up this morning I went straight onto the computer just to see if I'd missed a day and there was another tag hiding away......nope.
Anyway today I thought I'd share some of the photo's I took at Sunday's class at The Craft Barn. We used the Alterations Artful Dwellings die to create a seasonal banner. We spent the morning exploring some of the fantastic properties of distress inks to create depth and layers of colour before adding stamping and shapes and glitter.

Here they are all hard at work on their banners.

One thing that I love about teaching these classes is seeing how by the end of the day everyone has created the same thing, but they are all so very different just by changing colour choice and sometimes a different stamp everyone creates their own personal piece. So thank you once again ladies for a lovely fun filled and lovely day!

This was mine so that was the starting point.And for those coming to my Seasonal candle holder class on Sunday the 18th December I look forward to seeing you there. (There are a couple of places left if anyone's interested details HERE)
Here's a sneak peek at what we're doing

Hope you all have a lovely creative day.

Playing catch up! Tag 9 thru 12.....

2011-12-12T16:02:00.000Z

Hi there everyone. Can't believe it's the last day of Tim's 12 tags; at what a finale! Well; I never quite managed to get finished over the weekend and as the builders arrived today too it's been a bit manic here but I'm done. All 12 tags finished and hanging on my wall..... So a bit of a photo heavy post but here are the last 4 tags. All the details of Tim's tags can be found HERE
Tag 9

I've done this technique before and love the effect so it was fun. I used the seasonal silhouettes to create the background and cut the candle out by hand as I don't have the die.

Tag 10

I did not have a lot of the ingredients for this tag so I had to keep it pretty simple and just did fragments with Crafty Individuals images to create a nostalgic romantic Christmas feel. I love the way it turned out though!

Tag 11

This one's growing on me! I think it would have worked better with the retro style stamps Tim used but I have nothing similar and my background went a bit funny but hey; that's life.....
Couple of things I do like though. I used the wise men stamp from joyful song; inking up with black archival and then stamping onto that stamp with the flourish from reindeer flight to remove some of the ink before stamping onto the glossy card and I love the way it turned out!
The shrink plastic I had to cut by hand (not very successfully) and not having a melt pot I shrank it then used a watermark pad and UTEE afterwards before adding the alcohol inks. Again, I do like the way they turned out in the end even though the leaves are a funny shape........

Tag 12

I LOVE this tag! I stamped plain tissue paper for the background over the letter stamped background, added some blue and then glitter paste. The tissue flower is fab and I used a flower trim in the middle. The house shape is from mountboard and I coloured it with distress stains and used black soot on the edges before adding glitter paste.I do not have the doll so used a polymer clay face that I'd silvered with wings behind and a bit of a "crown" I love the lace die and the silver works really well though I used silver card I think it still gives a similar effect as with the letters. I stamped the "all is calm" rather than printing it and finished with some lovely translucent tinsel and the snowflake charm.
So that's all finished; what on earth am I going to do tomorrow!?
Hope you all have had a great time and be blessed in your creative journey!
Don't forget to enter my follower celebration candy (details on my sidebar) See you all later

Celebration giveaway!

2011-12-08T12:24:00.000Z

Hi there.
I promised a little follower giveaway when I reached 300 followers; 304 people have blessed me by deciding that they want to follow my creative journey. Thank you one and all for joining me; you are the encouragement and blessings in my days, leaving me such lovely feedback and keeping me going. So as a thank you I've put together this little pile of goodies which I will send to one of my followers.

There's rub ons; making memories stuff, glitter and flock, embellishments, card blanks, some of my own design lazer cuts and wood veneer embellishments too.
If you'd like to be in with a chance to win this lot then just leave me a comment on this post. (
Obviously you need to be a follower to have the chance too.)
I'll draw the name randomly on Christmas eve and post the winner on my blog. You'll need to email me to claim your prize within a week or I'll draw another name.
Once again thank you for your company; you've helped me have a fabulous year and I appreciate you all.

Tag #8

2011-12-08T12:11:00.000Z

Hi there everyone.
Another day and another interesting tag from Tim. I just love how different each day's tag is and I am enjoying something just for my own pleasure in amongst all the design work and class prep I'm frantically trying to catch up on!
Tim's tag details are HERE and this is my take on it.

I do not have the stamps used so did my background with a letters stamp from the David stamp plate and my men are from Paperartsy (So glad I ordered that one and it arrived in time when I saw this morning's tag!)
I used alcohol ink mixative for the clock and gears, philosophy tag instead of the number plate.

Cut the man out 3 times and the holly is from the festive foliage cut down a bit and flat pearls coloured with red pepper alcohol ink.

I had the hand stamp in the wooden version so was pleased about that. I just love the steampunk style wreath too. I stamped a ticket and edged it in red to mimic the label he used and the joy is from the Carnivalle die.
So there you have it; another day done and edging us closer to the big day. Have a blessed time whatever you are doing today.

Tag #7

2011-12-07T11:53:00.000Z

Hi there; only me again. I'm back with tag 7. I couldn't wait to do this one because I really love the stamp set and I've never really played with the Kraft Glassine properly before.
All the details of Tim's tag is HERE and this is my interpretation of it.

I don't have the holly die so I used tattered leaves instead. With copper mixative instead of gold so my leaves came out darker possibly because of the ink colours too but they look better in reality than in the photo. I decided to use the silver bells charm too as no baubles big enough .

I used bundled sage and frayed burlap for my background as I did not have the other stains and the joyful Christmas is just on plain card and as I have no black embossing powder I used some antique linen distress stickles to add a bit of sparkle.
I also did the second tag today because I made a second background tag with the left over stains on the mat so it was easy to do.

I did the same joyful Christmas; used the left over two leaves and stamped the images in black archival.

I love the background and like how this tag shows more of it too. I added some lace to the bottom to tie in with the tag tie and also to add a bit of lightness to the tag. To finish I added the muse token and pin.

So there you have my versions of tag #7. Now I'd better get back to reality and get some chores done before work. Have a great time everyone.

WOYWW 131 and Art Journalling at The Craft Barn

2011-12-07T08:30:00.000Z

Good morning peeps
In the middle of the international frenzy of Tim Holtz and his 12 tags of Christmas I do not want to miss the gathering of desk hoppers that is WOYWW by Julia so here is my desk

There's not too much to see really as I am making a bit of an effort to clear each day's tag mess so I can start the next day with a bit of space on my desk. So you can see my computer is here too so I can follow the tags.
On the left are a couple of tags in progress

These two I coloured with the paint left over on my mat from yesterday's tag. (I hate wasting paint and ink!)

In the middle is my pad of Glassine ready for today's tag which looks super cool and uses my favourite stamp set of his.
On the left there are some new stamps from The Craft Barn. Paperartsy; aren't they lovely and steampunky?

So that's my desk this morning. Don't be shy, let us see yours too......
This week too; over at The Craft Barn blog we are spending the week looking at Art Journalling and I have my turn there today. Here's my page

There are step by step details to show you how I did the background over on the blog HERE so do pop on over to take a closer look.
Right, I'm off to do tag 7 so I'll catch up with you all later. Whatever you do today; I hope it is blessed.

Tag #6

2011-12-06T12:34:00.000Z

Hi there everyone.
I don't know about you but I have to say I REALLY enjoyed doing this tag more that I thought I would! Especially as I did not have the foil, hole punch or embossing folders.....
All the details of Tim's tag can be found HERE and here is my version.

I used two embossing folders; the bingo and the collage one as I thought they'd be the style and I'd be able to create a festive feel with them. I mounted some metal (Can't remember what brand) onto glossy card using a double-sided adhesive sheet and embossed. I used Americana acrylic to paint; Tim's sanding block to take off the paint and embossed as per his post. I was amazed at the difference the embossing powder made as I was not overly impressed up to that stage!

I did the Christmas charm the same way but when I laid it onto the tag it just seemed to disappear and I couldn't punch a hole in it anyway so I decided to try popping it onto a rosette and that looked cool to me so I went with that. I cut out the 25 from some of the left over embossed bingo folder and put that in the middle and popped the wreath on top.
Now the wreath stands out nicely and some vibrant ribbon finished it off nicely!

Hope you are all having fun if you are doing the tags and if not I do hope you are finding time to be creative! Enjoy the rest of your day.

Tag #5

2011-12-05T12:45:00.000Z

Up to date! Here is tag 5

No reflections stamps so I used a flourish stamp instead.

I like the effect it gave. I used peeled paint distress stain on the grunge paper and as a last bit I added a piece of lace from the vintage die set to the bottom of the tag which gave it more balance to me.

So that's me, all up to date; now I feel better and am looking forward to tomorrow!
Tim's tag is HERE.
Have fun this afternoon!

Tag #4

2011-12-05T12:39:00.000Z

Hi there. Tag number 4 was one of my favourites to date and I enjoyed doing this one very much.

I cut the snowman by had out of grunge paper; painted with pear dabber and crackled. I do not have any on the edge dies Christmas or other so I cut and embossed a tattered floral out of acetate and cut in half and used that instead. I think it works well! The crackle worked ok too, if you look closer you'll see some bubble texture. I like it though to be honest it was accidental because I was impatient and got a bit over enthusiastic with the heat gun!

I used a button that I'd made out of polymer clay with ordinary ribbon as I had no netting.
Tim's tag can be seen HERE and next post is number 5

Tag #3

2011-12-05T12:28:00.000Z

Hi there.
I've been spending my morning playing catch up with the weekend tags so here we are with the first of 3 posts!
Here is my tag number 3
Now this one is not really the same as Tim's because I did not have the custom stamp pad ingredients nor the embossing folder. So I used distress inks to do the base tag by putting different colours on the pad and when dry colouring the tag with frayed burlap distress ink.

When I dried that instead of using perfect pearl mist I covered the tag with antique linen distress stickles and dried it with the heat gun.
This year I was not planning to buy any more supplies to do the tags but I do confess that after seeing how the kraft core worked on the foliage I did go and get some and I'm pleased I did! (I also slipped some flat pearls and bells in my basket too but shhhh, don't tell a soul!

I'm pleased with the way it came out and the colours. Tim's tag is HERE.
Next post is tag number 4 (I'm doing them separately to link up on Tim's blog.

Busy busy weekend

2011-12-04T22:31:00.000Z

Hi there; hope you are all having a good time this weekend. I've already got behind with my tags so tomorrow I'll be doing and posting day 3 4 and 5! I wanted to catch up today as yesterday was work and theatre but after church this morning my wife wanted to go to a Christmas market........ 'nuff said!
So; I thought I'd share this with you.

I made this for a wonderful blogger and fellow Katzelkraft design team member, Zuzu, for our Christmas swap. It's her very own toy-box! (I know she has received it now so I can post it here)
I started with a wooden box with a clear lid. I stamped and coloured the box with images on tissue and adhered down.

For the lid I coloured the clear perspex with alcohol inks and edged with strips of vintage lace die and carefully added the letters before covering the whole lid with a layer of 3d glaze to protect it. Now it is confession time! I only realised when the lid was almost dry that I'd put the letters on the wrong way round! Help; too late to remove them and no other box. So I used a carpet knife to cut it and managed to cut it out without shattering it all., I flipped it round, added a stamped card behind and filled it with more 3d glaze. I have to say that I like it more like this so it was a happy accident.

Some of the detail of the lid.
Then this is the inside

I like the way everything turned out; but there was still something missing; oh yes, "toys" So I filled it with

A set of mini dominos, vintage watch parts, vintage measuring tape, some metal charms, copper alcohol ink, a notebook for ideas and these unusual flowers which take inks really well!
So there you have it, one toybox for an amazing altered artist!
Enjoy the rest of your evening and I'll see you all tomorrow with tag catch up. I'd also like to take this opportunity to say thank you to all you followers out there that are inspiring me daily. I was thrilled to pass the 300 mark over the last couple of days and think that that is definitely worth celebrating so watch this space for my follower giveaway announcement; and thank you one and all for your company of my creative journey!

Christmas Ornament

2011-12-02T12:00:00.001Z

Good afternoon everyone.
It's new challenge time over at The Stamp Man and we thought that we'd stay with the festive season and do an ornament.
I made this ornament for my tree.

I started with a large chipboard circle and coloured it with wild honey distress ink and stamped the image from AOD-4 Celtic Christmas in archival jet black ink. I added colour detail with watercolour paint; some silver to the edges for a bit of shine and then covered it with 2 layers of UTEE to get a lovely enamelled look.
I did the same on both sides of the circle and added a ribbon to hang it.

Now it's hanging proudly on my tree. There are some fab projects over on the blog from the rest of the uber talented team so why don't you pop over to take a look. As always there's a £10.00 gift voucher to spend at The Stamp Man for the winner of the challenge so what are you waiting for?!
Here's a photo of the tree just because I like it.

It's a bit blurry as I took it last night. As you can see, it's a black tree and all the decorations are primarily black, gold and oranges. Usually this tree is in our dining room and we have a more traditional one in the lounge but as we have building work going on and the dining room is a storage place at the moment there's no room and so I popped it here as it is smaller than the other one so as there's more stuff than normal in the lounge it fits better!
Hope you are all having a lovely day today and finding time to create some art!

12 Tags of Christmas - day 2

2011-12-02T11:51:00.000Z

Hi there.
Don't you just love these tags?! I really enjoyed day 2 and am so pleased that I got the Reindeer die in time.
Here is my interpretation of the tag; oh but first; the coffee! I've decided I can't drive into town each morning for Starbucks so this morning I made a lovely layered vanilla coffee to get me in the mood!

Delicious! Now the tag.....

So; as usual I did not have everything so had to improvise. No kraft resist paper so I had to make my own. I inked the tag with Frayed Burlap distress ink and stamped the background from the seasonal silhouettes in coffee archival. I used the snowflake stamp from reindeer flight to create a resist with UTEE and then covered the tag with the picket fence distress stain and after it was dry I coloured with Iced Spruce distress ink. I love the way the picket fence toned down the colours!
I used the vintage lace die, inked in ice spruce again, for the bottom edges and used smaller brads to keep the proportions right.

I love how the sanding of the token really pops the words out and will definitely be doing that again.
But my favourite part has to be the deer

I just love how the canvas gives the impression of fur; I used tinsel for the garland and a small heart charm. I also decided to used the enamel accents to add some "Bambi spots" in white and black for the eye.
You can find Tims tag HERE and there's also a place for you to link up your project.
Have fun everyone who's doing the Tags; and if you aren't, I hope you have a blessed and creative afternoon.

Here we go; 12 Tags of Christmas day 1

2011-12-01T12:54:00.000Z

Hi there everyone; yes it has finally dawned; this morning at 8am UK time the world wide mania that is Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas has begun......... now I was so eager to get started that I did a couple of tags on "Tag eve" ie 30 November so I thought I'd share those with you before going onto my interpretation of Tim's amazing tag!

I was pretty pleased with the way they came out and it got me definitely geared up for this morning's launch!
I decided to start as I imagined Tim to start; with a festive Starbucks!

You can find Tim's post HERE with all the videos, step by step pictures and finished tag.
This is my interpretation of it

So; to begin my heart sank, I do not have the cardstock, pinecone die, noel die or banner die,nor the embossing folder, or even the same trim! But I do have the festive foliage die......
But I did follow the techniques in my own way. What I enjoy about the tags is being creative with my supplies so I coloured my base tag with stormy sky distress ink and embossed with one of Tim's flourish folders. I'd used the technique before but not with white powder and I love the way it turned out. I cut my Noel freehand and glittered with blue glitter.
Instead of using different coloured card I coloured a card with various distress inks before cutting out the foliage.

I used real pine cones and some pearl brads and an old earring at the top. The organza ribbon was coloured with distress ink too.
Here's some of the detail

So tag one is done and will be hung in my lounge; my first decoration of the season. Roll on tomorrow for day two!
Have fun everyone and if you are joining in with the magic I look forward to seeing your on his blog too.

WOYWW #130

2011-11-30T06:30:00.000Z

Good morning everyone and welcome to Julia's magic carpet ride that is What's on you Workdesk Wednesday.
Follow the link HERE to climb aboard.
So; my desk this week looks like this

I am sure that across the time zones of planet earth a large percentage of crafters are doing the same as me; prepping for Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas!
However, before I go into that I have this lovely stuff to show you.

I was lucky to be pulled out Jean of Crafty Individuals blog's hat for follower candy and it arrived yesterday; my choice of stamp and then along with that a packet of their lovely tags and a compact mirror. I can't wait to use the stamp!
Back to the desk; I decided to cut out all my tags in preparation for the start, so Bradley has been doing that for me, along with a few extras......

Peeping out at the back is some Christmas sparkle in the form of some tinselly stuff from the 99p store

They are Christmas tags after all! I also have my charms at the ready as I'm sure that they will be used by himself as they were new this year! They are resting on my new reindeer flight day, sent to me by the lovely Rachel; thanks for that, I've wanted them for a while now!

I think that I'll do a pre Christmas tag to get the creative juices going and pop some Christmas music on the Ipod to get the festive season going! If you are doing the Tags this year, have fun, if they are not your thing, have fun in whatever you create!

Altered Tin

2011-11-29T09:05:00.000Z

Good morning everybody;
I hope you are all well. I know it's that time of the year again when time just runs away from us and there are all the end of year dinners, school plays, gifts and cards to make and get; the list goes on and on. I do hope that you do manage to carve out some time just for your creative pleasure though.
Over at Try it on Tuesday it's a new challenge; to alter a tin. Sponsored by The Craft Barn there is a £15.00 voucher up for grabs to one lucky participant.

Here is my tin this week. I decided to alter an oyster tin to create a little Christmas montage.

I coloured the tin with alcohol inks to begin with and then added some shaved ice fragments and microbeedz to the edge and a thin layer of 3d glaze inside with a few bits of the same for added sparkle.
I cut some leaves from Tim Holtz festive greenery die for the top area.
I die cut two reindeer and the 25 from the small movers and shapers die out of card and coloured the deer with fired brick and brushed corduroy distress ink before covering with rock candy distress crackle and leaving to dry. when dry I used aged mahogany stain to colour the cracks and a bit of old silver paste to add some shine.

I coloured the 25 with fired brick and forest moss distress ink before adding some silver paste. I then used glossy accents to add shine and dimension.

I hope you have a great day and perhaps I'll see you over at Try it on Tuesday?

Vintage Circus

2011-11-28T10:56:00.000Z

Hi there everybody;
I trust that you all had a great weekend; I had a busy one; teaching at The Craft Barn on Friday; then a craft fair at my church on Saturday and finishing off with the Christmas tree light switch on and firework display yesterday; no wonder I'm shattered today!
Friday's class we made this printers tray (from Tando) using mainly Katzelkraft stamps (KTZ 67 and KTZ 68)

I'm sharing this over at the Katzelkraft blog today so for more photos and a more detailed explanation please check it out HERE
Last week was the final week of our calenders over at The Craft Barn blog so I've now bound all of my pages to create my desk top diary so thought I'd take photos of all twelve pages to show you!

I'm really pleased with the end result and now I can start to fill in the pages with all my crafting dates and deadlines for the year.
Hope you all have a blessed and creative day and have time to create something; no matter how small.

Tissue box cover

2011-11-27T09:21:00.000Z

Good morning everyone; hope you are all having a great weekend. Just a quick little visit here today. Last week I told you about the tissue box class I did at The Craft Barn but forgot to take the photo of the project; well I remembered to take photos while I was there the other day so thought I'd share them with you this morning.

Yesterday was our church annual art and craft fair at which I had a table. It was a lovely day and I was happy with the results and also it's nice to know that all the money we raised is going to a worthwhile cause. Here was my table in the morning.

So that was my Saturday sorted; now I have some projects to get cracking with so I'll catch up tomorrow. Have a blessed day everyone.

Just the ticket

2011-11-24T13:49:00.000Z

Hi there everyone
Thought I'd squeeze a tiny bit of time from my hectic schedule to enter a challenge as it seems forever since I managed to do that! So I headed over to see what Simon says and he says tickets; so tickets it is! Originally I made this little jar of Forest Moss re-inker and perfect pearls mix to add to my collection of washes (I use the empty jars of rock candy distress crackle for these as I like the fact that they have a brush inside!)

So the green one on the right is the newest on; but when I finished it I kinda thought, perhaps labels are not the same thing in their mind as tickets.......... so I made this ATC instead so now you get a twofa one!

I stamped Tim's Ticket ATC stamp in coffee archival ink onto the ATC and blended Aged Mahogany and Brushed Corduroy distress ink before added a wash of the Forest Moss perfect pearl mixture to it.
I threaded some vintage tape through the buckle (from one of my cats old flea collars!) and glued down. I added some leaves and flowers and micro beads and lastly added two more tickets stamped and cut out and added with 3d foam pads.

It's been a while since I made an ATC so I did enjoy it.
Hope you all have a great and creative afternoon; I need to get all my stuff done for Saturday's fair as I'm teaching at The Craft Barn all day tomorrow so won't feel like doing it after that!
Bless you all.

WOYWW 129.

2011-11-23T06:49:00.001Z

Good morning folks
Wednesday is hear yet again; travelling faster than the speed of light at the moment! I even saw the first Christmas tree up in someone's home the other day........ I feel a mince pie moment coming .....

Anyway back to my desk. I took these photo's yesterday because I knew I would not get chance to get in there last night after work.

So, here's the overview; do you like the cushion, I found it again the other day and decided it would be much better here. My Mom painted it and it was in my daughter's room on the bed for ages.
You'll see I've moved my DI back down as they were irritating me being higher as I then had to stand up every 5 seconds.

On the left is this little bird hanging which I'm trying to get finished; I thought it would be quick but Mr Mojo let me down a bit!

In the middle is this necklace from a charity shop and a box which I'm going to alter with bit's of the necklace. (And yes, the Turkish delight WAS delicious!)

Above that were some of the post it note pads done for the Craft Fair.

Lastly, I added this rack to the back of the door which I think works pretty well; after all, why waste space!
Other than that I've been working on the room, still loads to do but here's a few details if you are interested.

I rag rolled the walls which turned out well I think; the picture is one my daughter did which I really love and the metal "follow your dreams" we found in a tiny shop in Rottingdean.

So, there's my desk; all waiting for me to wake up enough to go out there; but I think I'll stay and visit you lot for a while first!
All desks can be found at Julia's place so do come join in the fun!
Just a quick little edit, my final calender page is on The Craft Barn blog today, hear is a peek but all the rest of the pics are there too with all the details so why don't you pop on over there too and say hi?

Shrink plastic at Try it on Tuesday

2011-11-22T10:31:00.000Z

Hi there
The new challenge over at Try it on Tuesday is Shrink plastic. So as it's a wild card week you can do anything; a card, altered project or as in my case, a tag.

I used a piece of textured paper cut with the alterations tag die to create my tag. I have a step by step tutorial on making the paper HERE if you want to have a go at making your own, it's great fun!
It is always difficult getting a nice stamped image onto textured surfaces so I stamped my image (I used Paperartsy Songbird) onto tissue paper in archival ink and adhered to the surface with matte multi medium. When it is dry you can still see all the textures but your image is nice and crisp!

I did do some extra stamping direct to the tag but they were patterns for added background interest so if a spot missed it was not too noticeable. I added a lace border to the bottom (Alterations vintage lace strip die - really lovely die!) I then cut a rosette out of stamped and coloured card.
I stamped the bird and the words onto white shrink plastic and heated to shrink. I added it to the rosette and attached to the tag.

The rest of the team has done some lovely things too so pop on over for loads of inspiration and to join in the fun!
Other than that I've not been up to too much crafting as I have been decorating on of the bedrooms but I have been doing some little bits for Saturday's craft fair
These little post it note folders, two using the same stamp set as for the tag

and the other 3 using these gorgeous Katzelkraft stamps.

I like these covers as they are great to keep pads next to the phone or if you stick magnets to the back you can pop them onto the fridge.
Katzelkraft stamps are available direct from France HERE or in the UK they are sold exclusively at The Craft Barn.
Hope you all have a blessed and creative day.

Based on Tim's tags at The Stamp Man

2011-11-18T12:00:00.001Z

Hi there everyone.

It's the start of a new challenge over at The Stamp Man. This time we are looking at interpretations of Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas.
I based my card on Tim's 2010 tag number 9 to make this card.

I used the Seasonal Silhouettes stamp for the background using Tumbled glass distress ink and then blended some peeled paint over the top. I added the snaps to it and mounted it onto silver card before adhering to the card blank.
I inked and stamped onto a strip of card and made the rosette using the Alterations die.
The letters were cut with Alterations Carnavale die and stamped with a flourish from the Mini holidays stamp set.

I used an Idea-ology charm to decorate and coloured the letters in the same distress inks before sticking down and then covering with glossy accents to add shine and depth.

So there you have an interpretation, I left off the tinsel and buttons mainly because my tinsel is still in the loft and I could not find buttons to match!
The rest of the team has come up with great projects so why don't you pop on by and join in. There's a £10.00 Stamp Man voucher up for grabs as always.
Enjoy the rest of the afternoon.

Andy Skinner week calender page

2011-11-18T07:50:00.000Z

Good morning everyone
Hope you are all well. It's my turn over at The Craft Barn for the calender challenge this week where we've been exploring the world of Andy Skinner.
So, here is a peek at my page. All the rest of the details can be found HERE

I just love the old metal effect and how it can be achieved with paints and bits and bobs!
Today is studio day, I've almost finished rag rolling the walls and though still lots to do, my studio is calling........ see y'all later; be blessed in your artistic journey today!

WOYWW #128 What's on your Wardrobe Wednesday.....

2011-11-16T08:34:00.001Z

Good morning everyone and welcome to WOYWW hosted by Julia at Stamping Ground so feel free to pop over and join in the fun.
To be honest, my desk has been a bit neglected for the last few day but since that's what you are here to see...

Just a messy desk with very little other than this little piece in progress using the winter distress inks.
So why such a neglected desk? Well, I've been working on a re-decorating project. Still a long way to go but I have done the wardrobe though. I was thinking to myself that most of us use distress techniques on tags which are lovely and small ; I must need my head examining as I decided to try it on a "slightly" larger scale!

Starting with this pine wardrobe. (Lighting not great as I usually remembered to take a photo when it was dark!)
I covered it with a primer and then painted it blue

I added some Vaseline to the wardrobe and painted it cream and rubbed some off.

It does not look too exciting yet, but then I added the magic........

Now I'm back to icky brown!

But after rubbing down and cleaning off I got the distressed aged look I was after; layers of blues and creams all stained with "age" for my Parisian vintage shabby room

I'm happy with the end result and am now busy rag-rolling the walls.........

Normal crafting should hopefully resume shortly!

Have a great day everyone!

Tissue box cover for Katzelkraft and Craft Barn class

2011-11-14T12:56:00.000Z

Hi there everyone
I hope this finds you well. It's been a busy weekend with it's own bits of drama so firstly here's a peek at a Tissue box cover I am sharing over at Katzelkraft; all the details and more photo's are HERE

Sneaked this photo in because the other photo doesn't show the textures!

So, back to the weekend; Saturday was spent painting the wardrobe (Almost finished!) and then off to work. Saturday evening packing for my class on Sunday at The Craft Barn. Sunday I woke up early so thought I'll go downstairs because I had forgotten to pack something for the class. Did not turn the light on so as not to disturb anyone and promptly fell down them catching my foot in the bannisters halfway down! It was rather sore (as an understatement) Still; I was not about to let that stop me so got myself up, popped some panado and went off to class!
The class was great fun; we were altering a tissue box cover using textures, friendly plastic and of course inks and stamps. Numpty that I am; when I got home last night I realised that I had not taken photo's of my sample to show you so you'll have to imagine how wonderful it is!
Here is the class photo though as I remembered to do that!

It was a fab day and as always I was amazed at how different everyone's turned out thought we all used the same techniques! So thank you Ladies AND Gentleman for making the class such fun!
At the end of the day I was very glad to get home to rest my aching bones and I now have some interesting bruises developing........
While I'm here I also want to tell you that The Craft Barn is celebrating over 600 followers on their blog by giving and amazing bundle of goodies to one lucky follower; over £200.00 of great stuff! All the details are HERE so do pop on over for a closer look and enter; who knows, it could be you who wins!

Have a lovely afternoon everyone and be blessed in your creative journey......

Frame

2011-11-11T12:45:00.000Z

Hi there Folks
Just a quick drop in today, I'm about to begin painting a wardrobe but this morning I've been finishing off a few bits that I started at The Craft Barn demo this weekend. One of them was this frame

Apologies for the lousy photo but the weather is miserable and this was the best I could get! I started out with a wooden frame from The Craft Barn and applied gesso with a sponge dabber to give some texture. When it was dry I painted it with acrylic paints. When that had dried I used Dreamweaver white crackle paste and a tando mask to add the cogs and left it to dry and crack. I then used Aged Mahogany distress ink to colour everything and added some inka gold to bring out the textures. The colours look much better in reality but still I hope you can see all the textures ok.
Enjoy the rest of the day everyone and be blessed in your creative journey.

WOYWW#127

2011-11-09T08:18:00.000Z

Hi there; I woke up this morning and was utterly amazed to discover that it is Wednesday AGAIN! So come on; 'fess up; who stole the last 3 days from me?
Time and tide wait for no man tis true and it seems the weeks are following suit........ Still, no point in waffling further is it so lets visit Julia and get stuck into "What's on your Workdesk Wednesday" Your weekly fix of creative spaces around the globe.
Here is mine

On the left are a couple of new bits; the new festive strip die which has some lovely versatile bits making it good for all year. Embossing folders and then these lovely glass test tubes which are from vanilla pods (I'm making some vanilla extract but it will only be ready in January!)

In the middle is this journal/ book. I did the cover a while ago and inspiration has struck again so I'll be working on it again. I just love all the textures on the cover made with beads, old watch parts and loads of gesso and inks and texture paints.

On the right you should see my new distress inks; yes, I got my paws on the winter set. I have not had time to really play with the colours but I do like them very much. Peeking out is a bird hanging I'm working on too.

So, busy busy again, I've been finishing off some other bits too getting stuff ready for the craft fair at the end of the month as well as trying to work on decorating one of the bedrooms too. I'll be tackling a wardrobe with distress techniques so that should be interesting! I'll keep you posted.
I hope you all have a brilliant day.

Try it on Tuesday with peeloffs

2011-11-08T09:00:00.001Z

Good morning everybody
It's a new week and challenge over at Try it on Tuesday where it is tag week. Peel off, I think we all have some in our craft stash and often they get ignored. (Well, I know mine do!) So this week, bring them out and lets get creative with them on our tags.
This is what I did

And here's the step by step pictures

I added my peel offs to the tag

Covered it all with gesso

Added a base colour of acrylic (Americana Jack 'o Lantern orange)

Added some areas of Napa Red

Added browns all over

Finally I rubbed some inka gold to highlight the textures and bring out the leaf design before attaching the small pine cones with wire and the button on top. I then stamped "Fall Colours" and added the ribbon.

Hope to see you over at Try it on Tuesday and to see your creative ways with your peel offs!

Calender page for The Craft Barn; Tim Holtz week

2011-11-08T07:50:00.000Z

Good morning peeps
Hope you are all well. This week it's Tim Holtz week over at The Craft Barn so here is my calender page for this week. Full picture and all the deets are on the blog here but here's a peek at the page to whet your appetite..........

It's also a new challenge at Try it on Tuesday so I'll be back at 9am with that. It's a wet miserable looking day out there at the moment so think I'd better take a flask of coffee to the studio...........See you all later.

Altered box

2011-11-07T12:32:00.001Z

Hi there everyone.
I hope you all had a creative and fun weekend. I had a great day over at The Craft Barn on Saturday so thanks to all those who came along; it was lovely to see you!
One of the things I was showing there was working with tissue paper when altering some of the lovely wooden items that The Craft Barn sells. I generally do this when I work with wooden items as it is often difficult to get good stamping results around corners and any routered decorative elements.
So today I thought I'd show you one of the boxes I altered using Katzelkraft stamps.

I stared with a plain wooden box and a piece of tissue long enough to go round the box and just over onto the lid. I stamped in archival sepia and black a selection of images from the Kopokopelli and vinci joconde plates. to cover the tissue. I covered the sides of the box with studio multi medium matte and adhered the tissue to the closed box. By doing this you can press the tissue into and corners and the top section and still have a cohesive stamped image.

When it is dry, use a kraft knife to gently cut the join line for the lid so the box can be opened easily but your image is perfectly lined up. You can add your colour, I used distress inks to colour and then Inka gold to add highlights.
Then onto the top; you can of course just do the same technique for the lid but I like to add a bit of shine so I cut a piece of chipboard to size. Stamped my images and coloured with the same distress inks used on the box. Using water and a brush I removed colour from the horse to make it stand out more before adding a couple of layers of UTEE. By using a decent thickness board it will stay flat so it's easier to glue down.

So there you have it, a lovely gift box ready for a Christmas gift for someone; fill it with choccies or soaps and it is a thoughtful gift that does not cost a lot to make!
These lovely stamps are available direct from France HERE or in the UK they are available exclusively from The Craft Barn.
Have a lovely afternoon everyone and I do hope you have time to create something today.
I'd also like to say hi to my new followers, welcome aboard and I hope you enjoy travelling along with me on my creative journey. I can't believe I'm almost at 300 followers now; thank you one and all; I really appreciate you all. 9 more followers and I'll be having a lovely giveaway to celebrate so do hang around!
Bless you all.

Collage at The Stamp Man

2011-11-04T12:00:00.003Z

Hi there everyone
It's a new challenge over at The Stamp Man where the theme is collage; Angela has a great explanation on the blog to get you going and as always, there is loads of inspiration from the team as well as a £10.00 voucher for one lucky person so do pop on over to see and join in.
I've done a page in my journal for this challenge; using Butterfly Garden stamps and layering up with tissue paper to add a subtle depth without being too bulky in the journal.

Here's the full spread. The background was created with acrylic paint and I stamped over with background stamps (Shipped Script and a mesh) in distress inks. I stamped one of the images onto the paper in coffee archival and the butterflies onto tissue in coffee and olive archival and glued to the page with Studio matte multi medium. The sentiment was stamped onto card and inked and then added to the page before adding the journalling.

Left page close up

Right page close up.
Hope you all have a fab weekend ahead; I'll be at The Craft Barn tomorrow so if you are in the area do come along and say Hi!
Bless you

WOYWW 126

2011-11-02T10:38:00.000Z

Hi there everyone.
Wednesday has trundled its way round yet again so it's off to Julia's we go to share in the fun of desk hopping.
Here's mine

There's not too much going on at the moment; some stamps and inks from yesterday's work on some class samples. Flourishes die cut with Bradley from mountboard; and as promised, my altered bottle no 2.

Behind you can see my ageing mix bottle complete with mr bones (I'll have to find somewhere to put him as he'll give me the creeps if I stare at him all the time!
Here are some better pictures of the bottle

It is smaller than the first one I did and very different too but I did have fun with it. The feathers are from my old home in South Africa so are very special to me.
Also this week I received a surprise in the post from Shaz in Oz who sent me this beautiful bookmark that she had illuminated. As well as some lovely goodies and this gorgeous card, aren't they lovely? So thanks a million Shaz; it was a lovely blessing and the bookmark will be going in my bible so thank you.

Thank you to all those who left such lovely comments last week and asked to be entered into the draw to get some ribbon; I'm sorry that I can't send to everyone but here are the names of the lucky 5; please email me your address so I can post it out to you. (email details are on the sidebar)
Scrappnbee
TaDa!crafts
Karen
Sam
Mrs A
Right, I have a date with the kitchen so I'd best be off. I'm making rum truffles so this should be fun as I have not made them for years!
Have a wonderful and blessed day everyone.

Calender page for the Craft Barn

2011-11-01T08:18:00.000Z

Good morning everyone
Over at The Craft Barn it's die cutting week for the calender challenge and it's my turn to share. Here is a peek at my page and as always you can find the details on their blog HERE.

It's also Tuesday which means the start of another challenge over at Try it on Tuesday. This week is card week and we are looking for unusual shaped cards. So moving away from squares or rectangles; this is mine.

I started with a standard blank and cut it into a wavy shape. I flipped one of the cut out bits around; stamped Tim Holt'z urban tapestry foliage onto it and the birds onto the base just peeking out before attaching the top layer with 3d foam pads. To finish I added the rosette and a metal charm.

I like the shape; quick to do but it gives a different look to the card and best of all; it still only uses one card blank!
Hope you all have a blessed and creative day, whatever you are doing today.

I don't really do Halloween; however.........

2011-10-31T21:15:00.000Z

Yep, me again!
As I've just said; I don't do halloween really but I just thought that I had better share this with you tonight as it fits the bill!
One of the things I discovered on the recent workshop was a really great ageing solution so I mixed up plenty and kept it in a jar. Obviously putting poison in a jam jar is not the best so I thought I'd better make sure that
no-one got confused.

So here you have my ageing solution. As you can see the effects of too much can clearly be seen. (I told him not to have so much!)

Seriously though, I made the label and the top with Tim Holtz stamps and a bit of distress ink. Mr bones came from the 99p store (99p for 6 of the little chaps) and I aged him with alcohol inks and a bit of paint. Hence the "rather gruesome " hands! Still, one should now have no cause to think that the contents of this particular jar is anything but BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!!!!!!
See you later guys. Have fun tonight.

Journal at Katzelkraft blog

2011-10-31T09:52:00.000Z

Hi there everyone
Being my Monday over at Katzelkraft here is a sneak peek at what I'm sharing. All the details and more pictures can be found HERE if you'd like to take a closer look.

The stamps used are available direct from France HERE or in the UK they are sold exclusively at The Craft Barn

We had a fun end to the week as my eldest daughter popped in to visit for a couple of days. One of the things we did was go down to Sheffield Park gardens for the Autumn colour which was glorious to see.

Now I need to get some serious crafting done so I'll catch up with you all later!
Be blessed in your art today!

WOYWW 125 and more

2011-10-26T07:58:00.001+01:00

Hi there folks; time for the international gathering of global desks (desks used loosely of course, any surface is appropriate) The speaker for the chair is as always Julia; her link and speech can be found HERE
Before we discuss my desk I would like to bring to the party attention my Calender page for The Craft Barn challenge. The details are all HERE but here is a quick sneaky peek. Do pop on over for all the details and leave a comment so they know you've been!

So, my desk this morning; taken at about 6:45 am so still dark! All set up ready to go this morning with a couple of bottles that are going through the "change of life". ready to be re-modelled today.........plastic surgery for art!

They don't look too exciting now but wait till you see them next week when the bruising and swelling has subsided.
On the left we have the book which is from the Try it on Tuesday new challenge; altered week sponsored by The Craft Barn with a fab prize. It's altering fabric this week and there are some great ideas on the blog!

This was a lace doily from a bootfair so it has been covered in inks and used as a decoration on the cover, when the glue dried I inked and dry brushed silver over the surfaces to bring out the highlights.
So then, lastly are these piles of ribbons.

4 Large rolls of the stuff which we found in an "antique" store in Faversham for a tenner. There's about 1000 m on them all in total! So if you want some then tell me in your comment and I'll draw 5 names next week to send to. (I have to limit it for postage, sorry I can't send to everyone!)
So that's me this week, I'm all excited as elder daughter gets home tonight for a few days!!!!!!!! Happy dance.
Oh, and as so many of you ask about the dolls house; here is the tale. I made it (from a kit) a good few years ago, pre Tim Holtz days but never really got it finished. The stuff is jolly expensive too. So it ended up out there and stayed when I took over the space. I have been thinking about "altering" it, but when I get inspired, or the time is another thing!
So, hope you all have a brilliant day, I'll try to pop over but i've loads to do so no promises!
Bless you one and all.

Craft Barn box class with Katzelkraft

2011-10-24T16:48:00.000+01:00

Hi there folks
Hope you all had a good weekend. Thought I share my box made at friday's class at the Craft Barn. We spent the morning and part of the afternoon creating our papers. I love to make my own backgrounds but sometimes it can be scary so we went through it all step by step using beautiful flourish stamps from Katzelkraft to build up 3 layers.
One thing I've learn't when doing this is that the effects are so much better when you stamp and then blend using the same colour distress inks.

By using 3 colours per sheet and 3 different images working from light to dark you build up a lovely depth.
This detail picture shows 2 different colourways; green tomes and orange tones.
After we'd finished the papers we then spent some time assembling the gift box with loads of folding (and some muttered curses too!)

We also made a loop and charm with shrink plastic to help open the box and to add interest.

Shot of the base. All the ladies who attended the class seemed to really enjoy it and came up with some beautiful papers and they all said they would definitely be making more of their own papers in future!
Katzelkraft stamps are available in the UK exclusively from The Craft Barn and also direct from France.
Hope you all have a creative week ahead of you and get to create something beautiful.....

New Challenge at The Stamp Man - Night time

2011-10-21T12:00:00.002+01:00

Good afternoon everyone.
I trust that this finds you all well. The new challenge over at The Stamp Man starts today; and for me this WAS a challenge!
Here is my card

I started out by clear embossing the trees from Aspects of Design 4 -Celtic Christmas onto white card. This was then inked with distress ink in stormy sky and black soot over that. I "bleached" out some of the colour by using a paint brush with water inside the trees.
I then used the same colour inks onto another piece of card and spritzed with water to give the illusion of a starry sky. I stamped the sentiment in perfect pigment and covered in perfect pearls blue patina and then highlighted with a white pen. Lastly I added some small gems to act as stars.
I laid the two pieces overlapping and cut out the wavy line and then stuck them to a card blank.

Some close ups to try to show details. I was trying to create the illusion of a moonlit night scene just softly showing the trees in the soft night sky!
There are some fab inspirational projects on the blog to inspire you so do pop on over and join in the fun. As always there is a £10.00 voucher for the winner to spend at the Stamp Man.

Hope you all have a lovely afternoon.

Dry Embossing at the Craft Barn and journal pages

2011-10-20T09:23:00.000+01:00

Good Morning everyone.
Over at The Craft Barn Blog, our calender challenge is in full swing and I can't believe we are past the halfway mark now! For my July page I used and alphabet embossing folder to emboss my letters and sentiments.
Here is my page.

As always, all the details of how I did the page are on the Craft Barn blog HERE so feel welcome to pop on over to get the details (And let them know you've been by leaving a comment there!)

I've also been catching up on some of my journal pages; for those who were at my class you may recognise some that were not finished but now are!
First up

My random thought page. The question just popped into my head one day while looking at the stamp so I stamped the image onto a page and wrote it down before beginning to doodle! (Doodling is very therapeutic I think!)
Then there is this simple page; again based on something I was thinking about in response to a situation.

The next page was something I demoed at the class and this morning, waking up to the first frosts in our part of town, I finished it.

Then; last one for today is this one from a recent trip to see The Rhythm of the Dance at the theatre. Afterwards they were giving out posters so I nabbed one and used it on the page.

I cut and glued the bits that worked for me. Hauled out some of my Celtic stamps and had fun. The background is stormy sky distress ink; there's Americana Jack 'o Lantern orange and some doodling, I also used a charcoal pencil and paper stump to ground the images into the page.
So, now you're up to date with my completed pages. I still have some backgrounds done but pages not finished but you'll be one of the first to see them, I promise!
Hope you all have a blessed and creative day.

WOYWW124

2011-10-19T08:15:00.000+01:00

Hi there everyone. It looks like today may be a day of sunshine here which will be lovely. We are definitely being spoilt with the weather at the moment, even if it is cold the sunshine warms the heart!
So what's on my workdesk (Hosted as ever, by Julia at Stamping Ground) this morning?

The overview

A bit of a mixed bag today. so shall we start in the middle; still sitting there from yesterday's post is the group of bits from the scavenger hunt (details are HERE)

Then on the left are some metal birds, a notebook and some chipboard circles.

Oh and a small old tin we found Sunday too.

But, of course, the biggest treat is now sitting to the right........

Meet Bradley, Brad for short. Now here's a tale of unexpected blessing. I have wanted said Vagabond machine since they were first launched. Seems centuries ago now but with one thing and another I never had managed to get one. So on Sunday as were on our way to Haywards Heath we drove past The Craft Barn and my wife told me to stop. (I was not going to, I promise!) So being the dutiful Hubby I stopped and Susan said we are going to pick up a little box here as it was on the list for the hunt. So we went in and as we entered my lovely wife said; right, get your Vagabond! Well, I was not going to argue was I? So that is how Brad joined the family! He works a treat too as I've just cut a gazillion tattered leaves to send to my mother in SA and my arms are not aching!
So, that's my beautiful world this morning and I look forward to seeing yours! If I can leave Bradley, that is!

Scavenger hunt...

2011-10-18T11:44:00.000+01:00

Hi there everyone.
I said yesterday that I'd had a bit of a busy weekend so I thought I'd share a bit with you today. I've been so busy with DT work lately and was feeling rather inspirationless so on Sunday I decided to be a bit different so told Susan we were going out and she was going on a scavenger hunt! (after staring at me blankly for a bit; I explained that a scavenger hunt was when you were given a list of things and you had to go out and find them; usually in teams but this was going to be a bit different)
So I duly presented her with a list of 10 things
A flower, a heart, a small book, a box, a figure, an old bottle, a little frame, some keys and a tiny spoon......oh and the last thing; a load of fun!
and we headed off towards Westerham which is somewhere we've been but not really explored.
So this is what she came up with

Heart and flower shaped mother of pearl buttons, a fabric covered book, two old bottles, the spoon and keys all were found in Westerham; then we headed down to Haywards Heath area and at a place near Sheffield Park Gardens found the box, frame and figure to complete the hunt!

At the end of the day, Susan said she had had a load of fun so that sorted the last item on the list too.

Now it is my turn. One of the things that has been intriguing me is the art of "assemblage" We fill our house with all sorts of bits and pieces that hold memories for us but assemblage takes those bits and creates almost a sculpture out of them. So my task is to take all these individual items we collected on the hunt and create a meaningful whole piece of dimensional art from them (And yes, there will be some ink and stamping involved; it is me who is doing after all!)
I'll be sure to let you know how I get on.
But one day perhaps if you are bored why don't you try this ; you'll have a great day out and make a lasting memory ( we are already planning the next one Susan giving me a list and I give her one and Battlesbridge antique village here we come!
Hope you all have a blessed day and create something wonderful......

Katzelkraft Tag

2011-10-17T12:30:00.000+01:00

Hi there everyone.
I've just posted this tag on the Katzelkraft blog. Here's a sneaky peek and all the details are on the blog HERE. I hope you are all having a good day today and finding time to create some art!

I'm running around a bit today after a busy day yesterday but hopefully I'll be back here later to tell you all about it!
Just a reminder that these beautiful stamps are available direct from France or if you are in the UK you can get them exclusively from THE CRAFT BARN

Journal page

2011-10-14T10:56:00.000+01:00

Good morning folks.
Hope you are all well. Thought I'd share this journal page with you. Last night my wife and I trotted off to the theatre to see The Eva Cassidy Story. It was a lovely, if emotional, production. The staging was kept simple and documented aspects of her life and musical development and of course, her tragic death at such a young age. So this morning I made this page

The background had been done a while ago using distress ink and water painted with a brush that had some inka gold on it so there is actually a lovely shimmer to the page.
I used a Dina Wakely stamp stamped 3 times without re inking. Journalling lines were drawn using a French curve and my thoughts were noted. Some doodled lines and designs and some gold painted and stamped highlights were added.

On the way back to the car we took a detour and walked past the stage door just as Brian Fortuna walked out so as an added bonus my wife asked him to sign the programme which he did with good grace and smiles. Strictly fans will remember him from 2010 when he got to the semi finals with Abi) We did not know he could sing and act; but yes he certainly can!
So all in all it was a lovely evening, even if some tissues were needed at the end as it brought back memories of the last time I saw my Dad too so double the emotional impact.
I hope you all have a creative and blessed day; wherever your journey takes you.

I'd like to welcome my new followers too. Thank you for deciding to join me on my creative journey and if I can, in any small way, inspire you to find your own creative voice; I am humbled and grateful.

WOYWW 123

2011-10-12T06:41:00.000+01:00

Good morning folks and welcome to Wednesday; kindly sponsored by Julia over at Stamping Ground.

So what's happening in my little world.........

I took these photos yesterday before going to work (so that's why the sun is shining instead of the gloomy darkness) because I knew I would not get chance to go back into it before later this afternoon.

So we have the journal page and tag I'm trying to work on...... though may have a re think as the image in my mind is not transferring to the page as I wanted.

Then there's my "Big Brother is watching" tag which I need to finish. (If you look closely you can see the face staring out from behind the advertising..... a reflection our society today,NOT the TV programme which I can't stand!)

Pride of place today is my bottle! Very pleased with it (More details are on the original post HERE)

Then I found some more birds to alter, Yay! So hope to get cracking with those later today. They are just the right shape.....

Lastly, I put hooks into the shelf to store my blenders nice and handy. So there is my little paradise today. Hope you have as much fun in your creative space as I do in mine............. See you later.

Craft Barn calender page

2011-10-11T08:49:00.000+01:00

Morning everyone.
Over on The Craft Barn blog it's my turn to share.

It's all about texture on my page this week. Here is my page and as always; all the details and more pictures are on the Craft Barn blog so I hope you'll pop on over and leave a comment so they know you've been to visit!
It is also tag week over at Try it on Tuesday.
This weeks theme is peace and tranquillity. I kept it very simple this week and made a pair of tags using masking and a bit of stamping. I like the way they turned out though.

There's plenty more inspiration over on the Try it on Tuesday blog so I look forward to seeing your interpretation of the theme!
Enjoy your creative journey today!

Altered bottle

2011-10-10T08:49:00.001+01:00

Good morning peeps
This morning I thought I'd share this altered bottle that I did last week. I had to carve out the time to do something just for me!
The techniques were from an online workshop by Andy Skinner called the "Evil Elixir Workshop" To be honest I don't usually do online things but I am SO glad I decided to do this and if you get the opportunity to do it if he does another I would heartily recommend it!
So, here's my bottle; dragged out of the depths of the sea!

I started out with an empty brandy bottle that had a pleasing shape to me. Obviously I cannot give too much detail away of the steps as that is not fair to Andy. Needless to say, there are plenty of stages and at one point I thought it was a total mess!

I can tell you a bit more about the plate embellishment as that is something I did. I learn't that you can't bent Tim's Idea-ology bookplates to get a curve as they snap! But I still used them. I aged it with paint to create a rusty finish. Then to do the inside I took some friendly plastic (Doesn't matter which colour; this was purple to begin with) I cut it to size and heated with the heat gun and stamped a Sweet Pea stamp from
The Artful Splodger into it to get the girl's face. I ran it under the cold tap to harden and then painted it black before drybrushing inka gold in old silver and lava green which really made the image stand out!

The lid has a polymer face on the top; a piece of string around it and some vintage measuring tape around the side. All distressed with the same golds and black paint. The ornate embellishment is a thin metal corner that was a bright shiny silver before ageing with paints and glueing in place.
I have to say that this has to be one of the most interesting projects I've done for a while. I've learn't some great techniques to use in other projects while working with products I never knew existed!
I still look at this and echo in my mind what my daughter said " I can't believe you made that!"
Hope you all have a fabulous day and are blessed in your creative journey.

Desk Tidy class at The Craft Barn

2011-10-09T20:02:00.001+01:00

Hi there everyone
Today I taught a lovely class at The Craft Barn. Using a set of 3 nesting boxes we spent the day sticking, painting stamping and texturising to create a desk tidy out of them.

We used fresco paints to colour, created aged metal finish from silver card. made roses and other flowers and butterflies. The images are all Tim Holtz and the end result is a great storage unit for your creative space!

Detail of the flowers and butterflies.

Side view showing the note pad we included!

The class in action (And yes, they did say I could post this pic!)
So. All great stuff.
I hope you all had a good and creative weekend too!