Isis Imaginings

Birthday Bingo

2012-01-31T09:30:00.000Z

Happy Tuesday to one & all. Today's card went to another of the Grand Cinema team, in Tacoma, WA. My brief was "she likes Disney & casinos". Okaaaay.........:) My first thought was Disney as I knew I had a pack of Disney themed bottlecaps in my stash. So I went looking. And couldn't find them anywhere. They were nowhere to be found. After a few whispered "oh dears" & "what a shame" I decided it would have to be casinos. Or something in that vein.

Ingredients:

Tim Holtz Bingo texture fade embossing folder
Tim Holtz Kraft Resist
Tim Holtz Idea-ology Wordstick
Distress inks - Evergreen Bough, Seedless Preserves
Perfect Pearls mist Heirloom Gold
Spellbinders Nestabilities labels
Sizzix Broadway Melody alphabet dies

I started with the Bingo texture fade, using it to emboss a piece of Core'dinations Whitewash card stock, which I tore & distressed with some sandpaper. I chose the ledger page of the Kraft Resist paper stash because of the numbers. I blended the DIs over it, then sprayed it with the Heirloom Gold PP.

My initial thought was to use a word ticket with a memo pin, but I prefer the wordstick. I put a few drops of alcohol inks on to it. If you put another colour of AI on to another, the first colour disappears. Cool!

That's pretty much it. Hope the birthday girl liked it. Thanks for looking. Until next time,

Love & light.

PS Remember the Disney bottlecaps? I found them a few days after I'd mailed the card. They were under the printer. No, I have no idea how they got there.

Chocolate Baroque AlphaTags Swap 2012 'B'

2012-01-28T09:30:00.000Z

Brrrr, it's cold!! Yesterday morning I gessoed a canvas & it's only just dry. I shall be using the heat tool on it shortly; I want to take part in some blog challenges that end tomorrow, so I need to get a move on. But first, today's tag. It's the second of Chocolate Baroque's AlphaTag swap for January.

'B' is for:

Bird
Buttons
Blue
Brown
Banner
Bakers' Twine

Ingredients:

Elusive Images patterned papers
Chocolate Baroque 'Textured Fragments' stamp collection
Distress inks, clear embossing powder, Versamark
Hampton Art mini alphabet stamps
Bird from Glenda Waterworth designed 'Bird in Heart' stamp - freebie in Craft Stamper magazine, 2010

I stuck the brown, patterned paper to a manila tag, to make it a little sturdier. The blue paper was plain apart from a few streaks, so I stamped one of the TF stamps on to it with Versamark, covered the image with clear EP & then heat set. You can see the texture & shine in the above pic. I coloured the banner flags with distress inks & added a little detail with a black, fine liner pen, stuck them to the bakers' twine, which I then attached to the tag.

I came across the square button when I was looking for the round ones. I can't remember where it came from, but I think it looks good here. I wanted something else on the tag, so I stamped the heart & bird stamp, cut out the bird, coloured it with a blue Promarker & a silver pen & attached it to the banner with a little silicone glue. That, I decided, was that.

Have a great weekend, thanks for looking. Until next time,

Love & light.

Chocolate Baroque AlphaTags Swap 'A'

2012-01-27T18:17:00.001Z

It's Friday! I hope the week has been good to you.

Today, I'd like to show you a tag. It's my first contribution to the AlphaTags swap at the Chocolate Baroque forum. The swap runs until December & each month we make two tags - except for two months when we'll make three. The finished tags are swapped with other members & at the end of the year we will have a tag book filled with gorgeous creations. Over Christmas & the New Year I started an alphabetical list of colours, items, subjects, techniques, etc. I'm still having problems with a few letters - X & Z stand out :) - but the lists are quite long for others. So without further ado, here is 'A'.

A is for:

ART
Amber
Aquamarine
ATC
Acrylic paints
Alcohol paints

Ingredients:

Acrylic paints
Alcohol inks - Sail Boat Blue, Butterscotch, Espresso,
Tissue paper
Chocolate Baroque 'Textured Fragments' stamps collection
UTEE
PaperArtsy flower & leaf dies
Ribbons from my stash
TH Idea-ology tassel
Hampton Art mini alphabet stamps

I began by layering orange & blue paints on the tag. I used Picket Fence distress stain on the layers, heat setting each time until I decided there was enough. After stamping the decorated window on to tissue paper with Stazon, I covered the painted tag with PVA glue, put the tissue paper on top & crinkled it over the tag. This was something I first tried during Sir Tim of Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas 2011, on Tag #12.

When the glue had dried I decided I didn't like how the tag looked. The paint underneath the tissue paper was too pale & flat, so out came the alcohol inks. I smooshed them all over the tag a few times, letting each layer dry. The gold mixative gave the tag a lovely sheen.

Once the background was done & trust me, it took HOURS :), I finished the rest of the tag quite quickly. I used Elusive Images to make the ATC & stamped the quote, (by Anne Tucker) on to white card stock, which I then coloured with distress inks. When the words were in place I drew around them with a fine liner black pen, which made them stand out. The UTEE flowers were coloured with alcohol inks, I wanted to give the impression they were pieces of amber & the ribbon on the bottom of the tag was coloured with Spiced Marmalade DI, then stamped with another of the Textured Fragments stamps, as were the leaves under the top flower.

Now, all I have to do is hope the person who receives this tag likes it. Thanks for looking, have a great weekend. Until next time,

Love & light.

Inspired by Jo, Made by Me

2012-01-19T17:11:00.007Z

Evening all, happy Sunday to you. How's your weekend been? Mine has been interesting & maybe one day soon I can tell you why. Anyway, down to business.

Today I have the birthday card I made for a friend to show you. A few weeks ago, I was looking at this beautiful card on Jo Firth-Young's blog & it occurred to me that I had never used grey as the focal point on a card. After giving it some thought, I decided on a grey & blue colour scheme & began...

The ingredients:

Blue ribbed card from Limetree Craft
Spellbinders classic Ric Rac Edgeabilities
Spellbinders labels Nestabilities
Kanban stamps - Jasper collection
PaperArtsy flower dies
Marianne Design leaf swirl die
TH distress inks - Antique Linen, Stormy Sky
Promarkers - Satin, Cool Grey, True Blue
Versamark, silver & clear embossing powders

I wanted as little black on this card as possible, so I stamped the dress with Versamark, then covered it silver EP & heat set it. I coloured the image with the Promarkers a few times, trying to build up a depth of colour. When I was happy, I scribbled over the skirt with a Versamark pen, leaving patches here & there, before covering it with clear EP & heat setting. The result was a lovely shine, which of course, the pic doesn't show.

After stamping the stand on a separate piece of card & cutting it out I cut a tiny slit in the bottom of the skirt & pushed the top of the stand through, sticking it to the back & colouring over the slit. I then blended DI around the image; the white was too stark against the blue. When I matted it on to the silver card I decided the blue base needed something to break it up slightly, so I used the scalloped edgeability to cut the pattern along the side. To show the pattern I placed some of the silver card on the inside of the card, cutting the pattern on the other side. with the label diecut I think it gives a little interest to the inside of the card.

Once all that was done, it was a matter of putting it altogether; diecutting the leaf swirl, the flowers & the label for the birthday sentiment. The silver, metal flower was a Christmas gift from my mum a few years ago. I have a small bag of them that I use very sparingly indeed.

I do know that this final photo is, technically, not the best, but the sun was shining through the window behind me & I like the way it hit the dress. It looked terrific in RL, I promise. :)

That's it for now, thanks for looking. Until next time,

Love & light.

Birthday Bird Cage

2012-01-19T17:08:00.003Z

I did not realise my last post was a week ago, time certainly flies when you're busy. Today, I am showing another birthday card that went to a member of the Grand Cinema team in WA, USA. It was inspired by an article in a crafting magazine. I can't remember which one & honestly, I don't have the patience to look through the stack of magazines to find it, so if you know, perhaps you'd remind me.

The ingredients:

Shaped, 6x6 square card from Craftwork Cards
Kaisercraft patterned papers
TH Alterations bird & cage dies
Distress inks - Antique Linen, Stormy Sky, Vintage Photo
Sizzix Broadway Melody alphabet dies
Spellbinders Nestabilities circle die
Crown - Kanban stamp
Everything else - my stash

After layering up the papers on the front of the card I cut a hole in them, so that the greeting on the inside would be seen. Alittle bit of distressing here & there, added some embellishments & we're done.

Thanks for looking, until next time,

Love & light.

Indigo Blu & Flitter Glu

2012-01-11T13:25:00.002Z

New products appear in the crafting world all the time, some of them I can easily live without, some of them have the wow factor. When I got the opportunity to try Indigo Blu's new Flitter Glu, there was a definite wow.

IndigoBlu is a relatively new, English stamp company. They have a terrific range of vintagey, Steampunky stamps, as well as great metal embellishments & alterable items. I'm compiling a long, IndigoBlu wish list, but for now, the glue is what I want to talk about.

Flitter Glu is a glue that can safely be used on STAMPS. You can stamp an entire image with the glue, instead of ink or Versamark & then cover the image with gilding flakes or glitter, or probably even tiny beads. I love gilding flakes, but never use them as much as I'd like to, now I have no excuse. I get mine from Crafty Notions, by the way.

It takes a little bit of time & practice to learn to use the glue effectively - too much or too little pressure & the result is a blurred or incomplete image. But the glue pot comes with clear instructions on how to apply the glue & how to clean your stamps after use, so follow those, practice a little & you won't go wrong.

I wish the photos were clearer, but I think you can see the shine from the gilding flakes in this close-up. The stamp is one of Tim Holtz ATC-sized stamps & instead of making a card, I created a little wallhanging. I embossed the blue cardstock with a Cuttlebug folder, but didn't realise until everything was assembled that I had reversed it, so the debossed side is what you see. I liked it so left it as it is. I disliked the sentiment I used originally & replaced it with 'Soar', cut from the Broadway Melody alphabet set by Sizzix.

So that's it for today. I did use the Flitter Glu on some Christmas cards, but of course I forgot to photograph them. I will be using it on all sorts of stamps, so expect to see lots of gilding flakes & glitter from now on.

Thanks for looking. Until next time,

Love & light.

For One Night Only

2012-01-10T12:20:00.000Z

Hello again, hard to believe we're on the tenth day of January already. Today I have a birthday card to show you.

In recent years, it has become my 'job' to make individual birthday cards for colleagues of my friend Jen, at the Grand Cinema, Tacoma in Washington State, USA & it seems to have become a tradition that a new member of the Grand team gets a cinema themed card. Hence this card.

I folded a scalloped edge, square card into an easel & used red Mirri card & a fireworks patterned 12x12 paper as backing papers. Apart from the Nesties shapes, everything on this card was a gift from Jen at one time or another. She is very good at feeding my crafting habit. :) Unfortunately, packaging has been lost over the years, but I think the seats, spotlight & stage are from Jolee's Designs & the letter 'k' is from K & Company. I cut the flower from more red Mirri card, using PaperArtsy flower dies. Before layering them together I edged each diecut with a Krylon gold pen. The pearl in the centre is from Prima. I added a few aurora borealis adhesive gems to some of the fireworks for a little extra bling & that was it.

K's birthday was earlier this week & I am relieved to report that she liked her card.

Thanks for looking. Until next time,

Love & light.

Ballerina Calendar

2012-01-05T19:43:00.004Z

I had completely forgotten that I hadn't completed this post - and I started it five days ago!!! It's been a busy week. I hope January is treating you well so far.

I think this is the last calendar I have to show you. I did make others, but forgot to photograph them before mailing them.

Ingredients:

Marianne Design Creatables - Ballerinas, Music notes, Leaf swirl

PaperArtsy - Thorndon Hall papers

Sizzix alphabet dies - Broadway Melody

Spellbinders Labels dies

Gold Mirri card

My stash - everything else.

This was a very simple make, there are no particular techniques, but I hope you like it. Thanks for looking. Until next time,

Love & light.

Another Calendar

2012-01-03T21:02:00.003Z

Here is another calendar, this time using the TH birdcage & bird dies. I used one of PaperArtsy's Thorndon Hall papers for the background. On the area behind the birdcage I stamped a trio of birdcages, from Stampendous, with Versamark, then heat set with clear embossing powder. You can just see them in the above photo.

It's so long since I made this that I can't remember exactly what I used. I know the bird & cage are cut from Grungepaper. I probably coloured them with distress inks, after which I know I overstamped them with a crackle stamp - the cage - and a script stamp - the bird, before again covering them with clear embossing powder. The heart charm says "made with love", it's from my stash.

I made the hanging clock using Nestabilities circle dies & the clock face is a Kelly Panacci clear stamp. The brass charms are from Vintaj & the baker's twine from www.pur-ple.co.uk . The clocks image behind the calendar is a stencil from Creative Expressions, again I would have used distress inks.

Okay, I can't think of anything else to say about this calendar. Thanks for looking. Until next time,

Love & light.

Calendar Experiments, Part I

2012-01-01T22:57:00.003Z

As I type the first day of 2012 is almost over & what a day it's been. Interesting is all I will say.

Over the next few posts I will show you some of the calendars I made as Christmas gifts. It was the first time I attempted larger projects & I already know that if I could I would remake every one of them. But there are no mistakes, only experiences to be learnt from & I have lots of ideas for next Christmas.

All the stamps on this calendar are from U-Mount. I coloured them with Promarkers & Distress inks. The photo doesn't show the background too well, I used DI & assorted Glimmer mists to give it a nice sheen. The netting is a fruit bag & the hanging embellishments either side of the star are cut from grungepaper.

Thanks for looking, see you next time.

Love & light.

Christmas 2011 - The Final Card

2011-12-31T19:24:00.004Z

There's no stopping it now, 2012 is well on the way. In some places - Happy New Year Australia, New Zealand, Japan, etc. - it is already here. I'm creeping in under the wire with one last Christmas card. I should have posted it hours ago, but have had major computer problems - cookies, grrrrr.

This card was an experiment in minimalism. I'm not sure anything should be minimalistic at Christmastime, but I thought I would give it a go. The inspiration was this video tutorial by Linda Duke on the Spellbinders blog. I loved the rosette & as the only set of Edgeabilities I have is the Classic Ric Rac I had to have a go.

Ingredients:

Scalloped edge white cardstock, folded into an easel

White, hammered cardstock

Red Mirri card

Baker's Twine

Large brad, from Dovecraft I think

Hat pins, from an eBay seller. Apologies for not remembering the name.

Quickie glue pen & glitter.

Don't examine my rosette too closely. It was the fourth one I made & the only one to look even halfway like it should. Still, practice makes perfect & I shall make many more.

I've used lots of Baker's Twine on my Christmas cards this year & each time I've posted pics on my blog I've forgotten to say where I got it from. It comes from the wonderful Louise at www.pur-ple.co.uk. I got a metre of each colour she has available, which for me, is a perfect amount. And yes, you will be seeing lots more of it in 2012. :)

I used my scoring board to score two lines on the hammered cardstock, you can just see them in the above pic.

And here's the finished card, hope you like it.

To everyone who visited my blog in 2011, thank you & I wish you a very Happy New Year.

Love & light.

Steampunk Angel

2011-12-30T20:05:00.004Z

Happy New Year's Eve Eve! I wonder how many millions of resolutions are being thought about right now? :) I'm mulling over a few.......

Today's card is another Christmas one. I made this for my niece.

Ingredients:

Easel card folded from 6x6 white, scalloped edge cardstock

Blue & silver mirri card

Dress & crown - Kanban 'Vivienne' stamp set

Wings - Tim Holtz

Spellbinders Nestabilities label & scalloped circle dies

Ranger embossing tinsel

Promarkers

Versamark & gold embossing powder

I stamped the dress on to white cardstock with Versamark, before sprinkling gold EP over it & heat setting, then colouring with Promarkers. The wings were gold embossed too & after cutting them out, I scribbled over them with a Versamark pen, sprinkled over the embossing tinsel & heat set.

Adding the blue ruffled ribbon gave a little texture to the front of the card & the sparkling snowflakes & gems from my stash give the card some Christmas bling.

I tweeted a pic of this card to one of my crafting sheroes, Dawn Bibby, earlier today & she gave it her seal of approval. Which meant a lot, as she is responsible for me getting into this cardmaking lark in the first place.

You may have noticed a new button on my sidebar. I signed up today for Effy's Book of Days on her Wild Precious Life site. I have promised myself that I will start art journalling in 2012 & I think Effy's project is going to be ideal.

I have one more Christmas card to share with you, so I shall return tomorrow. Until then, thanks for looking & keep crafting.

Love & light.

Vintage Santa Claus

2011-12-29T19:33:00.003Z

Happy Thursday to one & all. I made today's card almost four weeks ago & I'm hoping it has reached its destination by now.

Ingredients:

Dear Santa photo chip - Darkroom Door

Backing paper - My Mind's Eye

Crealies flower die

Spellbinders Edgeabilities Classic Ric Rac

'Noel' - Elusive Images Christmas Reflections stamp set

Trees - Chocolate Baroque Fat Robin stamp set

Core'dinations 12x12 Core Essentials

Versamark watermark inkpad, silver & clear EP

Quickie glue pen

Glenda Waterworth's Snowflake glitter

I didn't set out to use as much green in this card as I did. My initial thought was to highlight the blue snowflakes on the MME cardstock, but I like the green. Hope you like it too.

Sorry this is so brief, normal service will resume in January. Thanks for visiting.

Love & light.

Light in the Darkness

2011-12-27T17:21:00.002Z

It's almost the midpoint between Christmas & New Year. How is everyone? I hope you had a wonderful time with friends & loved ones.

I still have quite a few Christmas projects to show you, but I'm taking a few minutes today to show you photographs that I took of some of the lights at a local shopping mall. The trees in particular looked beautiful.

Until next time, love & light.

Tag #6 - A Holly Wreath

2011-12-21T16:22:00.001Z

Happy Wednesday to everyone. Here I am again, this time with my final take on Sir Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas. Although I didn't manage to complete the challenge during the actual 12 days, I'm still glad that I made 12 tags. Above is Tim's tag & here is the relevant blog post. You will notice immediately that my tag is nothing like Tim's, except for the holly wreath. This time I couldn't even attempt the technique, as I have no paint daubers, or Christmas embossing folders, so I had to come up with something else. So, the ingredients:

Ranger alcohol inks - Eggplant & Purple Twilight
Ranger Inkssentials foil tape sheets
Distress inks - Seedless Preserves, Evergreen Bough, Gathered Twigs
TH Texture Fades embossing folder - Regal Flourish
TH Baubles
Dawn Bibby Designs Green Glitz shimmer spritz
Tattered Angels glimmer chips - Holly wreath
White, glossy cardstock
Spellbinders Labels nestabilities

I realised I had used the colour purple very little recently & as it's my favourite colour, there was no time wasted deciding on colour choices. I think the foil looks gorgeous after it's been embossed & inked. The photos don't show how it gleams.

I decided I wanted the background to really stand out, so I kept the labels diecuts small & unshowy. I heat embossed the 'Christmas Wishes' with silver embossing powder on to white cardstock, before blending Seedless Preserves DI over it.

Having the pack of glimmer chips from Tattered Angels has been really great this year, I never used them as much previous Christmases. They take distress inks so well & shimmer sprays so well. They are light, but not flimsy. I covered this one with Evergreen Bough DI, then spritzed it with DB Green Glitz mist. Again, the photos do not do it justice. I coloured the baubles with Red Pepper alcohol ink & attached them & the wreath to some baker's twine, & tied that to the ribbon, which was white before I coloured it with Seedless Preserves DI. I found the red glitter glue in my stash - one of the first things I bought when I started cardmaking, way back when. I think it stands out very well against the green.

And that's it, until after Christmas. I doubt I shall be doing any crafting, but I will have some cards & things to show. I would like to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas, thanks for visiting & keep crafting.

Love & light.

Tag #5 - A Mistletoe Wreath

2011-12-20T16:18:00.004Z

Hello crafty peeps, how's your Tuesday going? I nearly gave myself a heart attack a while ago; I thought my hands were bleeding, but in fact, they're almost covered in Red Pepper alcohol ink!

Today I completed my final two tags of Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas. You may remember I said I'd had problems coming up with ideas for tags #5 & #6. I finally came up with something today, so here is tag #5 & I'll show #6 tomorrow. Above is Tim's tag, he used his fab Reflections stamps - see the step-by-step deets HERE - which I don't have. The finished tag is my third attempt & I'm not entirely happy with it, but I had to leave it as it is. Maybe, in the year, I will remake it, along with tag #1. Anyway, the ingredients are as follows:

Elusive Images (now Chocolate Baroque) Winter Reflections stamps
Chocolate Baroque Fat Robin stamps
Alcohol inks - Red Pepper & Watermelon
TH Alterations die - Regal Crest
Everything else - my stash

Tim's technique on this tag is great, but I definitely need to practice it a lot more. I didn't get as clear a result on my tag.

I love the wreath that comes with the banner & crest dies & it looks lovely on this tag. Again, I would redo it with paper with a higher GSM, ie Core'dinations, which I seem to be out of, this paper is a little flimsy.

I obviously wasn't paying enough attention when I attached the wreath & the ribbon - the word JOY is almost completely covered. I shall have to do a little readjustment.

That's it, I'll be back tomorrow with tag #6. Until then,

Love & light.

Bits & Baubles

2011-12-16T18:19:00.003Z

Evening, I hope every one's week has been good so far & nobody is snowed in. It's VERY cold here, there was a little snow this morning, mixed in with the rain. According to the weather forecast we should expect more snow tonight.

I haven't done any crafting since Monday, so I thought I would share a few things from the start of the month. The first two I made at the crafting workshop I attend once a month. The snowflake in the centre of the card was cut from Spellbinders dies & I think Lisa said the cardstock is from Hunkydory.

I love the Christmas tree decoration. The frames around the domed circles were cut from Nesties, they are a very pale lilac colour & have a slight shimmer. I think I will be making a lot of these for next Christmas.

I made this tag when I first received Tim Holtz's Winter collection Seasonal Distress Inks. It started out as a practice tag, but I like how it turned out. I stamped the tree on to the tag first & heat embossed it with white embossing powder before applying the inks.

The ingredients:

TH Winter distress inks
TH Kraft Glassine paper
Crafty Individuals tree stamp
PaperArtsy flower & leaf dies
Everything else from my stash

That's it. Until next time, stay warm & keep crafting.

Love & light.

All is Calm - Tag #12

2011-12-12T14:59:00.007Z

Here we are at the start of another week, but at the end of 2011's Twelve Tags. Despite having two tags still to make, I have thoroughly enjoyed playing along each day. There have been creative challenges, moments - many! - when I've thought I was making a complete mess of that day's tag, but I've learned a lot. And I'm not just referring to techniques. I have decided to make Tim's words from the first day my motto - "USE WHAT YOU HAVE". I'm probably not the only crafter who thinks there's no point in attempting something because I haven't got exactly the items required. If nothing else, the last twelve days have taught me that I have PLENTY of things in my stash that make great substitutes. And with that, on to today's tag.

You might remember I said that tag #8 was probably my favourite? Well, today its place has been well & truly usurped. This is the tag Tim posted at 8.01GMT/12.01PST & I loved it immediately. I love the slight weirdness of these fractured dolls & also that the tag does not have an obviously Christmas theme. Please go to Tim's blog here, to see how the tag was made. He also posted some great ideas using his new Tissue Wrap.

My first thought on seeing the tag this morning was that it reminded me of a shrine. For quite a while, I've been getting ideas for making assorted shrines, so I have decided that this tag will provide the focal point of a bigger shrine. It will have to wait until January to move into its new home.

My ingredients:

White tissue paper
Black Stazon ink
TH Idea-ology fractured doll, wings, crown & baubles
TH Tissue Tape
TH Memento pin
Distress stickles - Rock Candy
Distress ink - Walnut Stain
Grungepaper
Spellbinders "Classic Ric-Rac" Edgeabilities
Spellbinders Circles Nestabilities
Crafty Individuals sheet music stamp CI -194
Hero Arts Old Letter Writing stamp
Tattered Angels snowflake Glimmer Chip
Hampton Art typewrite font alphabet stamps
PaperMania tinsel & ric-rac ribbon
Acrylic paints - pale blue, white, silver
Sizzix "Broadway Melody" alphabet dies

I know that I saw/read/heard somewhere about stamping on to ordinary tissue paper with Stazon, so that is what I did to make the background. I loved wrinkling it on the tag, but next time I will definitely use less glue. Such a terrific technique though.

I cut the dwelling for the doll from a piece of Grungepaper & then cut a larger piece from cardboard, to mount the grungepaper on. After I had painted the grungepaper dwelling with the acrylic paints, I remembered that the Rock Candy distress stickles reacts against ordinary acrylic paint, turning it yellow, so instead I scribbled over the paint with a Versamark pen, then heat embossed with a clear embossing powder that has a little sparkle to it.

Making the flower was interesting. I found myself trying to make it 'perfect' & ripping off the tissue tape time after time - until I gave myself a strict talking to, reminding myself I wanted the flower grungy & IMPERFECT. The flower is three Nestie circles, each with the Tissue Tape on, then stuck together with Glossy Accents. I found the brad in my stash, it could be from Dovecrafts, but the packaging is missing.

The box of Tattered Angels Christmas glimmer chips has been in my Christmas stash for a very long time. I can't even remember where I got it from. Possibly the snowflake is a little too big, but I can easily change it, if I feel the need to. I rubbed some silver acrylic paint over it & when that had dried, went around the border with a silver glitter pen. The effect is not overly dramatic, which is what I wanted.

So there it is, the final tag. I would like to say a big thank you first of all to Mario Rossi, who is responsible for sharing all the BTS, (Behind The Scenes), fun with us & secondly to the man himself, Tim Holtz, for all his hard work, creativity & inspiration, not just in the last twelve days, but all the year long. CHA 2012 starts in January & I know Tim will have even more amazing techniques & gorgeous items to show us.

Tomorrow I'm going to Bluewater shopping mall, for my annual visit - I loathe shopping & shopping malls, but a friend & I go to Bluewater once at Christmas. Wednesday will be busy, so I shall return on Thursday. Until then, thanks for stopping by &

Love & light

Tag #10 - Believe

2011-12-11T16:57:00.005Z

Two posts in one day, I don't think I've done that before, but I thought if I get the rest of the twelve tags posted in the next few days, it will leave me time for other things.

So, as per, here is Tim's tag & the link to his blog post. He is definitely coming up with some great techniques this year. This tag gave me the chance to use his gorgeous facets.

My ingredients:

Seasonal distress inks
Forest Moss, Antique Linen, Vintage Photo distress inks
TH Idea-ology facets
Perfect Pearls Heirloom Gold mist
Darkrom Door - Santa Claus image
Kraft cardstock
Sizzix Broadway Melody alphabet dies
Krylon gold pen
Glossy Accents
Baker's twine
Promarker 'Poppy'

I found a piece of holly patterned paper in my stash & stamped a flourish stamp twice, before embossing the flourishes with clear embossing powder. The paper was very bright, so I blended Seasonal distress inks over, before misting with PP Heirloom Gold mist.

In November, I won a selection of the new 'Dear Santa' images from Darkroom Door & this is the one I chose for this tag. The other image is from my stash, I've got lots of them & have them for years.

When I cut the letters I coloured them with a Krylon gold pen. I liked how the Krylon reacted to the Glossy Accents. I made the banner with a long strip of white card, scrumpled it & used distress inks over the creases.

I made up the little bundle of embellishments with things from my stash, colouring the 'berries' on the 'holly' with a Promarker.

Okay, I'm not blathering on any more. I'll be back tomorrow.

Love & light.

Tag #11 - Sleigh Bells Ring

2011-12-11T15:10:00.007Z

Happy Sunday to everyone, how's your weekend going? I'm amazed to say I have finished today's tag already. It was surprisingly simple & great fun to make.

Firstly, here is Tim's tag & here is the link to his blog post with all the instructions. Make sure you watch the video. All I will say is - UTEE!!!!My ingredients:

TH distress inks - Broken China, Stormy Sky, Chipped Sapphire
Shrink Plastic
UTEE
Tattered Angels Glimmer Chips - Sleigh
Alcohol inks - Lettuce, Citrus, Espresso
White acrylic paint
PaperArtsy leaf & flower dies
Signo white pen
Chocolate Baroque Snowflake glitter

Today was the first time I had used shrink plastic - yet another of those techniques that I keep meaning to try & this morning I had no excuse not to. I've seen shrink plastic demoed on TV, but to see the magic happen right in front of me was excellent fun. I actually found myself giggling as the diecuts shrunk.

One of the great things about this experience has been accepting that if I follow Tim's instructions, I can achieve similar results to his. Okay, they're not perfect, but for first attempts, they are acceptable to me. From now on, I shall have a lot more confidence & not be afraid to try new techniques & maybe even come up with a few new ones.
Today is one of those Winter days when the light is terrible, so these photos look very washed out. I inked the sleigh with distress inks & added some silver highlights. When I had attached it to the tag, I added a layer of white acrylic paint to the bottom & covered that with glitter - a sleigh has to be in the snow, right?

So that is it for today's tag. Thank you for visiting. Until next time,

Love & light.

Joy - Tag #8

2011-12-10T17:52:00.005Z

I intended blogging soonerthan this, but I'm not feeling great. So, while I was making Tim's tags, I was too tired to then blog about them. Naturally, that means I'm out of sync, but I did get some sleep, so I'm not complaining. I still have to make tags 5 & 6, but as I'm fairly sure of what I'm going to do, I'm happy to leave them until after Monday - the last day of the twelve tags. :(

This is Tim's tag & here is the link to all the details on his blog. If I had to pick a favourite of this year's tags, quite possibly this would be the one. I love it for all its Steampunky gorgeousness. And I wanted to copy it as much as possible.

My ingredients:

Seasonal distress inks - Winter collection

TH sprockets & gears

TH baubles

TH tassels

TH tickets TH film strip

TH Visual Artistry stamp collection

PaperArtsy Numbers Man

Seven Gypsies hand stamp

Kanban large sprockets & gears

Copper & gold acrylic paint

Sizzix Broadway Melody alphabet dies

Glossy Acents

The large gears from Kanban are gold Mirri card, so I covered two of them with gesso & when that was dry, I painted two of them with silver & copper acrylic paints. I applied the paint unevenly so that the gears would look textured.

I wanted the Numbers Man to have a top hat - he had to be dressed up for Christmas! - so I drew one onto white, linen-look cardstock & coloured it with black Archival ink. I think it resembles a top hat - if you don't look too closely. His holly sprig is 'confetti' from Paperchase, I think, I have a box full of different shapes.

There you have it. It's taken me ages to write this short post; I was distracted by "Singin' in the Rain" on Film 4, I never get tired of watching that film.

Happy weekend to one & all, see you tomorrow.

Love & light.

Down To Earth With A Bang

2011-12-05T17:48:00.003Z

This is the worst day I've had in a while. Physically, I feel awful & mentally, the "black dog" is refusing to shut up. All day I've been fighting the urge to scream, shout & throw things. The morning got off to a bad start when I looked out the kitchen window & saw yet another cat doing its business in my garden. I raced outside, screaming at the top of my voice, grabbing the hose as I went, but of course the cat took off. I'm going to buy the biggest water pistol I can find. I love animals, but why do I have to clean up after other peoples'?

After a few more disasters, I dropped the laptop on the floor. It's still working, but the screen is hanging on by a thread. Then I clicked on Tim Holtz's blog for tag #5 & I was well & truly stumped. The tag itself, that's it, above, looks fairly simple, but the technique threw me completely. You can read about it here, see what you think. I've read the instructions again & there is a vague idea simmering below the surface, so maybe I'll have a go tomorrow. I did manage to finish the project I started last night & I started a card for a January birthday, so at least I've achieved something.

Here's a tag I made a few weeks ago, when I was trying out Tim's Winter Collection distress inks. The stamps are from Chocolate Baroque's 'Fat Robin' collection. I can't remember where the 'Christmas Wishes' stamp came from, maybe PaperMania. I used my white Signo pen to make the falling snow & then put Anita's Snow Writer at the bottom of the trees. The flowers & leaf are from my stash.

I think the best thing I can do now is go to bed. Maybe I will feel better after a night's sleep. I hope your week got off to a better start than mine. Until next time,

Love & light.

Tag #4 - The Challenge Continues

2011-12-04T21:08:00.002Z

Greetings, I hope your weekend was a pleasurable one. I'm sitting here with inky, paint stained fingers, feeling the need for sleep & trying to compute that in FOUR weeks time it will be the first day of 2012. Yesss.....................

Let's quickly move on to today's tag. I have to say I am enjoying making these tags, I've never made so many before & I now understand the fascination. Tim has not one, but two tags on his blog today. He used the same techniques, but with different colours & they are gorgeous. You can see them HERE.

My version took only one attempt today & it ended up having quite a lot of bling, probably in reaction to the relative simplicity of tag #3 yesterday. Here are the ingredients:

Distress inks - Weathered Wood, Iced Spruce, Stormy Sky, Broken China
Distress stickles - Clear Rock Candy
Distress crackle paint - Clear Rock Candy
Distress stain - Picket Stain
Chocolate Baroque 'Fat Robin' Collection - Snowflakes
Tattered Angels Glimmer Chips - Snowman
PaperMania - Tinsel trim
Sizzix Alphabet Dies 'Broadway Melody' - 2 & 5
Crealies Flower Die - Snowflake
Stampers Anonymous TH Collection 'Sketch Elements' - Swirl

I can't find the Crealies die to tell you the exact details of it, will edit this post later when I find it. It's a terrific die, but I discovered today that it does not cut through acetate/scrap plastic. To make the snowflake border I cut out each snowflake with scissors, then cut in half & attached the pieces to the tag with a strip of double-sided tape. I used adhesive gems from my stash to cover the joins. Now that I have a blister on my thumb, where the handle of the scissors was pressing against, I want Tim's dies more than ever.

I'm going to finish here, my bed is calling me - loudly. I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who is visiting my blog from the link on my tag on Tim's blog. I very much appreciate you taking the time. I'm visiting as many as I can each day & it is great to see every one's ideas. I'm looking forward to the Christmas break when I can, with luck, actually have the time to leave comments.

Until tomorrow then,

Love & light.

Tag #3

2011-12-03T15:42:00.001Z

Happy Saturday to one & all. It's almost four in the afternoon, I've got a cup of Earl Grey tea beside me & I have finished tag #3 of the 12 Tags of Christmas, presented by my crafting hero, Tim Holtz. I actually got to meet Tim earlier in the year, which I must tell you about sometime. He is as lovely in person as you would imagine him to be.

You can see his tag here the technique he used is great - and totally beyond me. But I remembered the magic words; "Use what you have" & off I went to search my Christmas stash.

Here are the ingredients:

Tag cut from Kraft card
Core'dinations Core & Whitewash
Elusive Images/Chocolate Baroque word stamps
Distress inks - Gathered Twigs, Broken China, Evergreen Bough, Crushed Olive, Festive Berries, Fired Brick
Perfect Pearls - Heirloom Gold
Sizzix Embossing Folder - Dots Trio
PaperArtsy & Marianne Design Creatables dies - leaves, swirl
My stash - adhesive gems & pearls, ribbon, string, bells

I began by stamping the words on to scraps of paper in various layouts, before making a final decision. After I had distressed & inked the edges of the tag, I had the first disaster. As I didn't have Perfect Pearls mist in Heirloom. I had the brainy idea of brushing the tag with HG Perfect Pearls powder, then misting with water. HA!! I overmisted, the distress inks ran everywhere & I ended up with a mess.

So, attempt #2. Hmm, let's try a manila tag now. Stamped, distressed, inked. Another brainy idea: I have other mists somewhere.........Ten minutes later, what did I find?? Oh yes, a bottle of Perfect Pearls mist in.....HEIRLOOM GOLD. Memo to self: an inventory of crafting stuff would probably be a good idea in January.

Anyhoo, back to the tag. I sprayed with HG & disaster #2 occurred. I sprayed too close & ended up with huge splatters all over the tag. If I'd an empty space big enough on the floor, I would've thrown a major tantrum. Deep breath & on to tag #3............

Kraft card again & this time, no disasters. Yaay!! I remembered to keep lots of distance between the mist & the tag - I even put the tag in a cardboard box, so no splatters everywhere. Go me!!!

After embossing the tag, I left it to one side & die cut the various leaf shapes & swirl. After cutting the PaperArtsy oak leaves, I cut them into a sort of holly leaf shape. The words "sort of" are very important in that sentence. :) I used the red gems to symbolise holly berries & the white pearls indicate mistletoe berries. A length of string with bells attached by jump rings was threaded through the ribbon & tied in a bow. Tim has a great tip for the string on his blog, don't forget to check it out.

I am taking the rest of the evening off & I'll be back tomorrow with tag #4. In the meantime, thank you for visiting & enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Love & light

Tag #2

2011-12-02T22:57:00.000Z

Phew, I made it! It's been a long day & it's now after 11pm, but here is my take on Tim's tag #2. Go to his blog to see the original & the best.

I am going to keep this very brief, because I need to go to bed.

Again, I had none of the main ingredients, but I think today's substitutions work better than yesterday's did. Speaking of tag #1, I am going to remake it. I had lots of ideas last night, (typical!) & I will put them into practice over the weekend - at least, that's the plan.

'Christmas' was cut from the Broadway Melody alphabet dies from Sizzix. I used Kraft card, covered each letter with Versamark & heat embossed with clear embossing powder. I blended the winter collection of distress inks on the tag, misted with Perfect Pearls Biscotti.

I put the metal holly embellishment on the tag, because there's holly on Tim's Kraft Resist Christmas card. I used Promarkers, (Poppy & Pine), to colour the metal & I have a feeling I will be removing it. I don't think it fits the rest of the tag.

I found the bird in my stash & unfortunately, I have no idea where it's from. I'm guessing My Mind's Eye, but don't quote me.

Okay, that's it, I'm off to bed. Tomorrow, not only will there be Tag #3, there will also be the brilliant Barbara Grey of Clarity Stamps on Create&Craft.

Good night all. Love & light.

One Hundred Posts & Tag No. 1

2011-12-01T17:08:00.000Z

Happy December 1st! I can't quite believe it, but this is my 100th blog post!! It seems appropriate somehow to be combining this momentous (!) occasion with Day 1 of Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of Christmas. The excitement on Twitter last night was immense & by 8 (GMT) this morning goodness knows how many hundreds of thousands of crafters were hunched over their computers ready for the off. And naturally, Tim did not disappoint. To see his beautiful tag & the step-by-step of how he created it, go to his blog, here.

Firstly, and most importantly, I must state that my tag is nowhere near as fabulous as Tim's. It's a shocking admission, given that I admire him so much, but apart from his Muse Tokens, I have none of his Christmas products, (I wonder if Santa Claus will read this??), so I was slightly trepidatious. But in his blog post announcing this year's 12 Tags, Tim said the magic words: "USE WHAT YOU HAVE". If we'd been in the same room, I would have hugged him.

So, here is my version. No instructions, instead a list of 'ingredients' & a few words on one or two features.

Core'dinations Whitewash cardstock
Tim's Texture Fades 'Cracked'
Ranger's Embossing Tinsel 'Snowflake'

Elusive Images 'Noel' stamp
TH Baubles
The trim is supposed to be seam binding, but it's not, which is why it's a different colour to Tim's. The Iced Spruce DI turned the trim a very ugly shade of grey! I remisted it & used Chipped Sapphire DI instead.

Marianne Creatables 'Leaf Swirl' die
PaperArtsy 'Small Oak Leaf' & flower dies
Core'dinations Whitewash cardstock
Banner cut from My Mind's Eye Christmas Carol 12x12 paper
Hat pins from my stash

This flower requires an explanation. It's the one thing I'm not happy about. Today was the first time I had attempted this technique. I covered white cardstock with Walnut Stain DI, cut two sets of three from PaperArtsy's medium flower die & then sprayed them with Perfect Pearls 'Biscotti' mist. It was after I had put them together that things went haywire. Tim's instructions called for white paint dabber & Rock Candy Distress Stickles. I had to substitute white acrylic paint for the dabber & that caused a disaster. The paint reacted against the Stickles & turned yellow! On the second, smaller flower I tried Picket Fence Distress stain & that didn't work either, so I dashed off a few lines & squiggles with my white Signo pen. On the top of the wet Glossy Accents in the centre of the flowers I put some silver Beadazzles.

I had a lovely time making this tag, despite the flower disaster - more practice is definitely required. I'm looking forward to the next eleven days of tags, I'm hoping I'll be able to come up with enough substitutes. By the way, please excuse the terrible photos, the light is terrible here.

Thank you for visiting. See you tomorrow for Tag 2. Until then, love & light.

Star Light, Star Bright

2011-11-30T17:19:00.000Z

Evening peeps, happy Wednesday to you. I hope your week is excellent so far. I think I have recovered from the art workshop at the weekend. It was very intensive, very enjoyable & I was so exhausted when I got home on Sunday night that I slept for about thirteen hours. Not much was accomplished on Monday, that's for sure. Yesterday & today I managed to make two tags & start another project.

I'm taking a break from Christmas tags & cards today to show you a tag I made for Hels Sheridan's Sunday Stamper weekly challenge. The theme this week is 'Lucky Star'. Strangely for me, I knew exactly what I wanted to do.

The first thing I did was prepare the background:

Blend Stormy Sky & Chipped Sapphire Distress Inks
Spritz with water, leave for a few minutes, dry with heat tool
Randomly stamp star trails, from Inkadinkado's Beautiful Fairies set, with black Archival ink
Swipe entire tag with Picket Fence distress stain, to tone down the black & complete the blended effect
Randomly stamp large star stamp, freebie from Craft Stamper magazine, with Versamark
Brush entire surface with Perfect Pearl's perfect pearl powder. Spritz with water to set, leave for a few moments, dry with heat tool

I must say here, I have joined the Picket Fence fanclub. Distress Stains are at the top of my crafting wishlist, (closely followed by PaperArtsy's Fresco Finish paints), but because I'm trying to save the pennies, I decided to start with Picket Fence & I love it. I forgot to take a photo of the tag before I added the stain so you could see the difference, but so many of us are using it it should be very easy to find examples. Try Hels' blog, she uses it a LOT.

My next step was to use my Dymo label maker to print out the quotation. I played around with the pieces & the silver stars from my stash until I was happy with the placement. I stuck the stars down with matte medium & edged them with a Signo white pen.

The large stars were stamped on to the reverse of blue mirri card & cut out. I used some Broken China stickles for a little bit of bling & attached them with foam pads. The final additions were the TH 'wish' ticket, which I inked with Stormy Sky DI & added to the tag with a TH memo pin, some blue ribbon & the star brad. And that, as they say, was that.

I am ending this post with a Very Important Announcement. Tomorrow is December 1 & that means it is time once again for the Duke of Distress, Lord Tim of Holtz, to commence his 12 TAGS OF CHRISTMAS. This is the time of year those of us who admire, nay, ADORE Sir Tim & all his creative genius wait for. We never know what he is going to spring on us & we are always delighted, excited & in awe. This year I am determined to take part & I have a large bundle of tags waiting to be inked, torn, stamped, embossed & embellished. If you would like to join in the fun, go here, to Tim's blog, for all the info - you MUST watch the video he & Mario made, (Mario is Tim's righthand man & responsible for all the behind-the-scenes pics & info), it's BRILLIANT!! I know some of us are planning on staying up all night tonight, so they can see the first tag as soon as Tim posts it. I haven't quite decided if I shall do the same thing........ :)

So, until next time - tomorrow that is - stay safe & warm & keep crafting.

Love & light.

Let's Make This Brief

2011-11-25T19:29:00.000Z

Right, let's see if I can actually finish this post tonight. I've tried every night this week & gave up because I was so tired, I kept making mistakes. I'm still making Christmas cards - it's neverending! Today, I managed to finish one. One!!! I may end up giving people a Post-It with "IOU 1 Christmas Card" written on it. :)

Here are two of the cards that I was asked to make by a friend in the US. The reindeer in the centre of the circle was the freebie stamp in the December issue of Craft Stamper magazine. Or was it the November issue? One of them. I think it goes well with the My Mind's Eye patterned paper that I used on this first card. I made a tag from another piece of MME paper that has a Christmas carol on it & wrapped a piece of torn vellum around the tag.

Searching through my stash for an embellishment & found a pack of Dovecraft brads, one of which had a reindeer on it - perfect. I blended Vintage Photo distress ink around the edges of a white card, layered everything & that was it.

For the second card I used the MME reindeer paper again, on a white 6x6, scalloped-edge card that I'd blended Vintage Photo DI on to. I think I also blended Stormy Sky or Chipped Sapphire distress inks onto the patterned paper, but can't remember. I used Spellbinders Classic Ric Rac Edgeabilities to cut a patterned length of dark blue cardstock for the centre of the card. When it was in place, I used a silver Krylon pen to colour the paper showing through the holes. I die cut a shape from a piece of Core'dinations Whitewash with a Nestie & embossed it with a swirly embossing folder. Another few Nestie shapes on the centre & the CS reindeer stamp again.

I couldn't figure out where a sentiment would go, until another search of my Christmas stash uncovered another pack of brads & this square one seemed ideal.

And that's enough from me. I shall be spending the weekend at an art workshop in London & I am very excited. I'll tell you about it probably on Monday. Until then, have a great weekend & keep crafting.

Love & light.

All That Is Gilded......

2011-11-19T18:30:00.000Z

Is not necessarily successful. I've had some gilding flakes - from Crafty Notions - for ages, but hadn't used them in a while & I wondered if I could make a striped background with them. There was nothing for it but to grab a tag, some narrow double-sided tag & have a go.

My first step was to blend the distress inks from the winter collection on to the tag. I then used a piece of Cut & Dry foam to wipe some white acrylic paint on top of the inks, reducing the brightness of them a little. I did that a few times then dried the tag with a heat tool. My next step was to sponge some Gathered Twigs DI through some sequin waste on to the tag & stamp some snowflakes onto the tag using Mediterranean Blue Brilliance ink. As the ink dried on the paint, it faded, leaving a very pale image. Which looks better in RL than it does in the photo.

My next idea was to stamp the baubles onto the tag in black Archival ink, then removing the paper over the tape & adding the Copper Thunder gilding flakes. Like the Brilliance ink, the black Archival faded, leaving just a shadow. So I stamped the baubles, ( I think they're PaperMania), onto white cardstock, using Festive Berries distress ink, cut them out & put them onto the tag, over the original baubles.

I added a flower, a leaf & some embellishments from my stash & that was it. I'm glad I attempted my idea, but I'm not entirely sure I like the end result. Maybe I should have used different flakes, or maybe the distress inks should have been brighter. I will just have to try again & see what I end up with.

Hope you are having an enjoyable Saturday, until next time,

Love & light.

On The Trail of the Evergreen Bough

2011-11-18T20:07:00.000Z

A happy Friday to one & all, I hope your week has been excellent so far. Now that there is no avoiding it, I am going to be showing you assorted Christmas projects for the next few weeks.
Over on her blog, Ink on my Fingers , the crafting genius that is Hels Sheridan, posts the weekly Sunday Stampers challenge. She chooses a song title as the theme & the only other 'rule' is that you must include some stamping - naturellement. Every week, I tell myself I'm going to take part & every week I either forget or I'm too late. Until now. This week's theme song is "On The Trail of the Lonesome Pine", in other words, Pine Colours &/Or Pine Trees/Branches. Now, green is not a favourite colour of mine. I'm quite happy to use it for leaves & trees, but to use just green, on the entire project?? I was well out of my comfort zone, but I was determined to make something. I chose a tag, on the basis that it was a fairly small area to work on.

I created the background by first using Evergreen Bough distress ink, from the new Winter collection on a leaves stencil from Creative Expressions, then overstamping a crackle pattern, using a stamp from U Mount, using Iced Spruce distress ink, also from the new Winter collection. The tree is a stamp from Crafty Individuals, I covered it in Versamark & then used a white embossing powder to cover the image & heat embossing. Once the image had cooled, I covered the tag with more of the Evergreen Bough DI, trying to blend it with the background & buffing the tree with paper towel to remove any ink from its surface.

I considered using nothing but various shades of green, but it was a stretch too far, so I compromised by using silver. The silver leaves are from the large on a branch die from Marianne Design Createables, I cut the birds off & used one of them as an accent on the sentiment. I used PaperArtsy flower dies on green Mirri card to make the flower, with leaves cut from Kraft Glassine paper - they are coloured with Evergreen Bough & Iced Spruce. Everything else, the bow, the wreath, the silver ric-rac ribbon, adhesive gems, is from my Christmas stash.

So what do you think? I made this tag on Monday, (and it took me hours; despite its small size way too much faffing went on), so I've had plenty of time to study it & I've decided that on the whole, I'm happy with it.

That's it from me for now. Blogger has been acting up this evening, it's taken me almost three hours to complete this short post.

Thank you for visiting & until next time,

Love & light.

Tempus Fugit

2011-11-10T18:19:00.000Z

Time does indeed appear to be flying past at the moment. I didn't realise it was already a week since my last post. I have been busy making assorted cards & several other items, none of which I want to reveal just yet. Instead I will share a card that I made for a friend of a friend in the USA. The friend is a fan of The Beatles, so the card refers to songs they performed.

I printed the image on ordinary copy paper, covered it with Versamark & heat embossed it, using clear embossing powder. The car - I can't remember where I got it from - is keeping the card closed. The patterned paper is a mix of sun & moon images & is from Hot Off The Press.

This is the inside. I used Scattered Straw & Antique Linen distress inks on the honeycomb stencil. The hands & 'Do Not Disturb' sign are 7 Gypsies stamps.

On the right side; a piece of cardstock embossed with TH Texture Fades bark embossing folder, the bird is a Marianne Designs die-cut.

On the left side, a piece of Kanban's Industriana paper, the 8D is another 7 Gypsies stamp & the treble clefs were cut from Marianne Designs dies.

Do I need to explain the penny? :) With luck, the recipient will enjoy working out the song titles.

Until next time, love & light.

El Dia de los Muertos

2011-11-02T19:24:00.000Z

I know I said I wouldn't be back until Thursday, but I remembered that I could schedule a post in advance & as I have a card to show you that is relevant to today, I'm creating this post on Tuesday night.

When I was asked to make a Day of the Dead card my first thought was "OMG!" I had no clue what to do, or whether or not I had anything that was relevant in my crafting stash. I had a vague idea what the day is about, so I did some research on the Internet & some serious searching through the small mountain that is my stash. I quickly decided that skulls & skeletons were required & apart from a piece of paper I had nothing suitable. Until a quick trip into town & a visit to Claire's Accessories, where I found a pair of skeleton earrings - result!

After that, the card came together fairly quickly. The white shaped card is from Craftwork Cards, with black card & pink/purple mirri card matted & layered on top. I attached the skeleton onto the flowers with a card, added the ribbons & attached the 'L' - cut from the Sizzix Broadway alphabet set - with an Ideology memory pin.

Keeping it short & sweet today, see you on Thursday.

Love & light.

Happy November 1st

2011-11-01T17:44:00.000Z

To one & all. I can't quite come to terms with the fact that 2011 is almost over, especially when the weather is as good as it is at the moment. I still have lots of colour in the garden & my roses are blooming for the third time since July.

Today, I'd like to show you a project I made as a Halloween gift. Of course, it wasn't received until today - great job Royal Mail! Not.Anyway, as is usually the case with my projects, the end result is completely different to what I had initially visualised. I started with quite a solid piece of cardboard, onto which I stamped the spider border, (Hero Arts, I think), with black Archival ink, then blended TH Autumn distress inks in Seedless Preserves & Ripe Persimmon over the border. Have you seen the Autumn distress inks? The colours are gorgeous. Tim announced the release of the new set, Winter, today, you can see them here. If you want them, you better be quick, they won't be available for long & there will be NO reinkers for them.
Next, I stamped the web, (Hero Arts again), onto black cardstock with a Versamark ink pad, then heat embossed it with silver embossing powder.

The image is from Creative Impressions. I bought it at Ally Pally last year, can't remember from whom, but it was very cheap & I loved it. I stamped it onto a piece of Kraft cardstock & coloured it with various Promarkers & gold & silver pens, blended more distress inks, covered it with Versamark & heat embossed with clear embossing powder.

It was time then to start thinking about embellishments. I gathered together all sorts of things & spent an age moving them around, adding & taking away as I went. The female faces are from La Blanche, stamped with Versafine Vintage Sepia & embossed. The 'hats' are from a 12x12 paper called 'Uncle Fester' & the gears are of course, from the TH Ideology range.

The flower is made up of diecuts, cut from PaperArtsy dies. I used silver cardstock, coloured it with Ranger's alcohol inks, scratched a vague pattern as a border, used an adhesive pearl & some Beadazzles in the centre. The leaves are also from PaperArtsy & the silver leaf flourishes are from Marianne Designs dies. I bought the little brass owl when I was in the US last year, he was perfect for this project.

Finally, I added the sentiment from Kaisercraft; the recipient of this piece is a fluent French speaker, so voila! :) The skeleton is actually an earring, (I used the second one on another project, which I'll show you on Thursday) & two Ideology tiles attached to jump rings. Two pieces of ribbon & a length of raffia twisted together & attached to the board with a brad & that was it.

I'm happy to say it was received with delight & I feel quite proud of myself. :)

Until next time, happy crafting.

Love & light.

Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen

2011-10-18T18:13:00.000+01:00

Yesterday, my beloved niece & no. 1 Goddaughter turned sixteen. It's hard to believe that it's sixteen years since I first saw her, lying in her cot at the foot of my sister's hospital bed. She had a shock of jet black hair & as she lay there staring at me I fell in love. Since that day, she has given our family endless joy & one or two shocks, such as the day she wandered off in a department store, while holidaying with me. I found her within a few minutes, but boy, was I a wreck. She, of course, was fine & having a great time choosing clothes to try on.

She is now a beautiful young woman; incredibly smart, extremely talented, witty & wonderful to spend time with. I am so, so proud of her & I love her, to the end of the universe & beyond.

This is the card I made for her. The cardstock is a 'tent card' from Create & Craft
I used Kraft card as a mat & layered embossed paper from Kanban's Industriana paper pad. The stamp, also from Kanban, was stamped onto Neenah Solar white card - from Crafters' Companion - & coloured with Promarkers. I need to practice a LOT more with the Promarkers, I still can't get the smooth, line free appearance others achieve. The flower & leaves are made from Tim Holtz Kraft Glassine paper, cut with PaperArtsy dies & coloured with Distress Inks.

That's all for today, wishing everyone a great week.

Love & light.

The First Cards of C********

2011-10-11T20:42:00.000+01:00

I can't type the word, never mind say it. But you know what I'm talking about, right? The thing that happens towards the end of December, the thing that sends usually sane people into a frenzy of shopping, rushing around & generally panicking, as if the end of the world was nigh? Yep, that's it. And other than showing you two cards today, I'm not going to mention it, until mid-November at the earliest.

A few months ago, I was delighted to learn that a cardmaking workshop was being held once a month, not that far away from me. They are run by Lisa Baker, who designs cards for Craftwork Cards & Making Cards magazine. She also does tutorials for JandC Creations.

I've been to two of her workshops now & very enjoyable they are too. It's nice to spend a few hours with fellow crafty people, sharing hints & tips, mock moaning about the amount of stash we have & how we REALLY shouldn't buy any more, but somehow we always do. And Lisa has things to buy at her workshops, so the temptation is huge.

The first card I made I can't show you yet, as I've decided to give it to my sister for her birthday at the end of the month.

Here's the first of 'those' cards. There were no techniques to learn in this workshop, except perhaps learning more about the composition of the card, layering the various elements to create a whole. I think Lisa said the characters are called Nitwits, but I forgot to check that with her. I really like the different papers, they work perfectly together. Lisa calls me "The Rebel", as I like to do something different, even if it's just a tiny something, like here, the sentiment is off centre. I haven't decided who the recipient of this card will be yet, but someone will definitely receive it at C********.

This is the second card, isn't she a cutiepie?? Lisa offered me the pink version of this, but I chose the blue, because as soon as I saw it I decided it would be for Goddaughter no. 2 & she's not crazy about pink. You can't really see it, but the righthand edge of this card is embossed with holly berries & leaves. I'm going to brighten them with some Stickles & glitter.

That's it for now, thanks for visiting. Until next time,

Love & light.

Starting Over

2011-10-04T21:12:00.000+01:00

Well, it has been a while, hasn't it? I'm not really sure why. Things happen, days become weeks become months, life gets in the way. My health continues to be a problem, I'm getting to know the hospitals of Kent extremely well. Some days are very dark, others not so bad,

However, I have no intention of regaling you with all the messy details of my life. What I will do from to time is include a snippet of a story, the odd photo here & there & of course, some cards. Because, even though there haven't been a vast number of cards made, there have been some.

Here is a card for a swap. The subject was New Year, so I did a search for a sentiment or quotation that was appropriate & found this, TS Eliot. The little angel is a PaperArtsy stamp, I used Gilding Flakes to make her wings sparkle. Everything else is from my stash - in other words I can't remember where everything comes from.

These ATCs were also for swaps, earlier in the year. the bird in a heart stamp is by Chocolate Baroque & was a freebie in an issue of Craft Stamper magazine. My favourite thing in these ATCs is the Beadazzles, from Ranger. You'll be seeing these A LOT from now on.

I've spent too much time on this post - while I was away Blogger has been changed, so I'm trying to work out how to do everything. Good for the brain, I suppose.

Thank you to those who have visited & taken the time to leave comments, I will try to reciprocate.

Until next time,

Love & Light.

New Adventures

2010-03-05T18:45:00.000Z

Greetings & happy Friday to one & all. I hope everyone has had a wonderfully creative week. I have a piece of news that is both exciting & terrifying me at the same time. On Sunday, March 28, I am going to taking part in my very first market & hoping to sell some of my cards!! It's taking place in London, it's called the Underground Market & you can read all about it here .
So, between now & then, it will be all systems go; I'm going to make as many cards as I can. Easter is the following weekend, so I'll make Easter cards too. It would be lovely if some of my cards sold, but I think the event itself will be great fun & it's a terrific way of meeting people.
I was asked to make a card for a girl, who was going to be ten, is 'a bit of a tomboy' & likes blue & red. I immediately thought of this Manga Girl image; I stamped it onto heavy watercolour paper & coloured it with my Whispers pens, then cut it out. All that was easy, the layout took quite a while longer. Sometimes I get a LO straightaway, other times I'm moving pieces of paper around for hours. :) I had a good rummage through my papers & came up these. I love the red, it's from the DCVW Taj Mahal paper stack & I like the sharp contrast it makes against the blues, which are HOTP. I used Nesties Labels Two in my CB to make the diecut shapes. I stamped the '10' with silver ink & then heat embossed it with silver embossing powder. I think it's a little small, but I didn't want to use peel-off numbers. (Note to self, add larger number & letter stamps to wishlist). I didn't want to make a girly card, so I knew I wouldn't be adding ribbon or flowers & I didn't want to add any bling either, but when I had put all the elements together, I decided something was missing. After much staring & pondering I thought a tiny bit of bling would probably be okay & added the adhesive gems. Much to my relief, the card was a success.

I find it very difficult making cards for men. Sounds familiar, right?! Anyway, sometime last year, there was a card in the Craft Stamper magazine using a winged chair - I think, memory is a little hazy now. The idea stayed in my head until this week & this is my take on it. The chair is Whiff of Joy. I stamped it onto heavy paper & coloured with TH distress inks. I stuck a piece of gold paper onto heavy paper, then cut out the crown shape. I use the word 'crown' loosely of course, if I didn't tell you what it was you'd never have guessed! When I put the card together I put Ranger Crackle Accents onto the chair, to try to get the aged, worn leather appearance. I left it overnight to dry & was quite pleased when I saw it the next morning. The Crackle Accents had 'diluted' the distress ink a little & the chair does look worn. Overall, I'm pleased with this experiment, I will definitely make more cards with this theme, but I think I will use a bigger card, ie, a 6x6; I think a little more space would be better.

Tomorrow, I'm going to the Craft Barn in Surrey. They are having a Spring 'MiniFest', with lots of demonstrations & it's FREE! Always a good thing these days. I'm going with a new crafty friend, Marjorie, who I met at the BladeRubber shop in London recently. We got into conversation over the TH distress inks & we've kept in touch. Marjorie started her crafting journey by making dolls houses & now she does scrapbooking & decoupage. Like me, she loves the distressed/grungy look, so we have lots to talk about.

My inspirational artist today is Shayla Maddox. Shayla lives in Orange County, California & her light reactive paintings are AMAZING. I regularly visit her Etsy shop to stare longingly at 'Stillness', which is my absolute favourite & I dream of one day having it on my wall.

I'll be back on Sunday with more cards & I'll tell you about my day at the Craft Barn. Have a great weekend & thank you for visiting. Until next time,

Love & light.

Cold Sunshine

2010-03-03T18:49:00.000Z

Yes, the sun continues to shine on my corner of Kent, but my goodness, it is COLD!! I think even the birds are feeling the strain. They are flocking to the feeders in my garden & despite the efforts of a large blackbird, who seems to have decided that all the food is for his personal use, they are eating fat balls, sunflower hearts & robin food as fast as I can fill the containers. It's a very nice ritual for me now, to have my breakfast standing at the kitchen window, while watching the birds.

Today is my friend, Jen's, birthday. She is celebrating it with friends in Los Angeles. She's been to DisneyLand, but even better than that, in my opinion anyway, she met the gorgeous Mark Harmon, of NCIS fame, amongst many other tv shows. As someone who watches repeats of NCIS over & over, I'm quite jealous of Jen, but she has promised to show me the autograph he gave her. :) :)

So, in honour of her birthday, this is the card I made for Jen. Or rather, this is the card that became a plaque. :) I had originally planned this layout on a small card, but while trying to sleep one night, I suddenly thought; why not go bigger? The next morning, with perfect synchronicity, Jen sent me the verse in an email. Someone had sent it to her & she loved it. We don't know the origin of it, so if anyone recognises it, please let me know, so I can acknowledge the writer.

The base card is a piece of a cereal box, with a piece of distressed style DCWV paper on top. On top of that is a piece of blue HOTP paper & the verse is printed onto plain printing paper, which I coloured with distress inks, stamped with flourish stamps, which were then heat embossed with TH embossing powder in Tea Dye.

The bird is a self adhesive sticker by Christine Adolph for Creative Imaginations. I stuck onto heavy cardstock & mounted it on the card with 3D foam squares. The flowers, copper brads & the gold leaf are from my stash. I put another piece of heavy DCWV paper on the back to create a frame.

I cut the label out of heavy watercolour paper & coloured it with the same TH distress inks. The Letters are from HOTP, I inked them with Brilliance ink in Sky Blue & when the ink was dry, I covered that with Glossy Accents. The flourishes are Anna Griffin - the same set was on QVC's Craft Day last week. The back of the label is also decorated & that's where I wrote my birthday wishes to Jen.

The TH inks I used are:

Tattered Rose
Tea Dye
Antique Linen
Frayed Burlap
vintage Photo

As I finished, I wondered what on earth Jen was going to do with this thing, so, two tiny blue brads & a piece of blue ribbon later, voila! She can hang it up. Alternatively, of course, she can throw it in the trash. :)

Today's inspirational artist & blogger is Melissa at Yummy Goods . At the moment, Melissa has a huge crush on the story of 'Jane Eyre' & her art is reflecting that. Take a little time to visit her site & make sure you read her older blog posts, she has quite a story.

Thank you to all my blog visitors & to those who take the time to leave a comment. You have no idea how much your encouragement & kindness means to me. Until next time,

Love & light.

Oh, What A Beautiful Morning!

2010-03-01T19:03:00.000Z

When I woke this morning, it most certainly was. After yesterday's continuous rain & gales, the sky was blue, the sun was shining & everything looked sparkly & new. :) I threw open all the windows in the house & for the first time in months I didn't feel the need to put on every sweater I possess. :) The wind had blown down one of the bird feeders in the garden & there were lots of fallen branches everywhere, so I spent a few hours tidying up - and when I first went out I saw the first flowers of Spring; crocuses. Their bright orange petals are such a welcome sign after the gloom of the winter. As well as the crocuses, there are the green shoots of daffodils, tulips, hyacinths & more appearing. There are tiny buds on the roses & the acers & the buddleia are sprouting new leaves everywhere. And there's a huge amount of work to do, but it felt so good to be out there & to feel the skin on my skin; I think a few hours a day - weather permitting! - will see me achieve quite a lot.

Today's cards are the first of my Easter cards. I decided I wanted them all to be quite simple; I didn't want masses of flowers, or ribbons, or glitter, but I did want to invoke the appearance of Spring, of life returning to the world.

For the card above, I used the large stamp from last year's Papermania 'Poppy' collection. I used different shades of blue, (Whispers Pens), to give the impression of a field of bluebells. The greeting is on the inside, because the only Easter greeting stamp I have is too big, as you can see, for this card.

This next card is even simpler. The greeting is stamped in gold & heat embossed. I put a little TH Spiced Marmalade distress ink on the orange flower & distressed the metal brad slightly.

The third card I like, but I think it's a little too dark. I blended TH Broken China & Peeled Paint onto white cardstock for the sky & the grass. I stamped the cherry blossom stamp with Versafine Sepia & heat embossed it with clear embossing powder. The tree is a Dawn Bibby stamp, which I stamped onto heavy watercolour paper, which I'd already covered with the same TH distress inks as the card. I cut it out & used 3D foam squares to attach it to the card. I used TH Spiced Marmalade for the greeting & then decided the tree was a little bare, so I stamped two little birds on to it with Brilliance Mediterranean Blue.

That's all for today, thank you to everyone for visiting. I hope to be back tomorrow. Until then,

Love & light.

Caution! Brayer Novice At Work!

2010-02-27T19:33:00.000Z

I'm beginning to sound like a worn-out record, (pre-CDs to those too young to remember!), but where is the time going?? I cannot believe that my last post was eight days ago. It truly was not my intention to leave it this long, but the past week has not been without its stresses & right now I have a very strong desire to change my name & disappear. Anyway, on to nicer things...

Tuesday was the best day of the week for me. It was Craft Day on QVC & the TSV came from the brilliant Tim Holtz. It was his new book 'Compendium of Curiosities', together with a distress ink, crackle paint, distress Stickles, Glossy & Sepia Accents & tools. And I got them all as an early birthday present from Jen!! The TSV arrived on Thursday afternoon & I immediately sat down to look through the book. It is terrific! Tim gives clear & concise instructions on how to achieve his grungy/distressed look, along with great photos. There's a guide to his range of inks, paints, stamps, etc., a page for your own notes & at the very end, pics of some of Tim's new creations & they are stunning. If you've always wanted to attempt Tim's techniques, then I highly recommend this book. I've already got a few ideas brewing & hopefully, tomorrow I will send the day creating.The Craft Day itself was one of the best QVC as had in a long time. There were other guest designers, including:

SuzeWeinberg
Claudine Hellmuth
Lindsay Mason
Rachel Greig

& they gave us some fantastics hints & tips.

I was very smart & remembered to write down the various techniques that I liked the look off, especially Lindsay's. Rachel Greig was a new name to me. She is an Australian photographer, who has created rubber stamps from some of wonderful images. I was SO tempted by them, but I managed to restrain myself. :) While I watched, I made six Easter cards & one birthday card, which I will show you in a later post.

Now to the main topic of this post. I bought a brayer AGES ago & then was afraid to use it. :) Don't ask me why, I have no clue. Finally, a few weeks ago, I decided it was time I stopped being an idiot. The postcards in this post are my first attempts.

I used masking tape around the edges of glossy card to create the border. The images were stamped with Versamark, covered in white embossing powder, then heat embossed. I used Kaleidacolor inks in Spectrum & Caribbean Sea on the brayer, used a paintbrush for blending of tiny areas in some areas, then wiped over the whole area with a paper towel to create a shine.

The stamps are from Hero Arts, PaperArtsy, Inkadinkado, plus others I can't remember - and I've lost the packaging. I quite like the colours of the Caribbean ink pad, but I'm not sure about Spectrum. The end result is darker than I wanted; I think I used too much ink & over blended. Still, for my first attempts, I don't think they are too terrible.

My inspirational artist & blogger today is Tammy Vitale . Tammy paints, sculpts, makes jewellery & writes incredible posts that always seem to resonate with what's happening in my life. In her latest post, she asks the question, 'How Do You Know When Joy Arrives?' I hope you'll take a few minutes to read what she has to say.

I would like to end today by saying 'arigato gozaimasu' to my first visitor from Japan, I appreciate you taking the time to stop by. I hope everyone is having a nice weekend. Until next time,

Love & light.

That Friday Feeling

2010-02-19T18:47:00.000Z

Happy Friday folks. I tried to post last night, but Blogger didn't want to play. Hope everyone has had a good week & has a nice weekend planned. I'm thinking of going to London for a lesson on how to play the Djembe drum. I saw a movie called 'The Visitor' last year & fell in love with the drumming & via www.meetup.com I discovered a group in North London, where you have a lesson first & then join in with more skilled drummers - if you feel confident enough to have a go! I highly recommend the movie by the way, beautiful performances & a moving story.

I've been making cards the last few days; none of which can be shown at the moment. Today I made a start on Easter cards, which is at the beginning of April this year. I need to make about fourteen, so it makes sense to get going now. Yesterday, I took out a clear tree stamp, put it on the table beside me & five minutes later it had disappeared. I finally found it a few minutes ago - it was stuck to the underneath of the paper trimmer! And yes, it was the last place I thought of looking. :)

These cards are ones I made back in January; the thank you card for a friend & the Spring one for my mom. They're self-explanatory I think. I did use TH 'Dusty Concord' distress ink & then 'Broken China' stickles around the border of the thank you card. I think the little flutterby is cute, it makes me smile.

Speaking of the great man, Tim is on QVC's Craft day next Tuesday, Feb 23. He's starting at midnight on Monday with a TSV & I will DEFINITELY be staying up to see what it is! There will be other guests, including Suze Weinberg, during Craft Day, so hopefully, there will be lots of new techniques & goodies to swoon over. :) I just hope the demonstrators are given enough time to demo properly, without the QVC presenters talking over them continually. I know they are there to persuade us to buy as much as possible, but sometimes, the constant chatter & interrupting gets very irritating.

I took this photo on January 1st, near a bird sanctuary a few miles from my mom's house. It was so cold there weren't many birds around, but after I took the pic I realised there were two swans in the water, below the trees. The composition of the trees against the sky was the reason I took the pic in the first place.

My inspirational blog of choice today is Lisa Sonora Beam's. Lisa is currently in Mexico & she has set herself quite a challenge - to paint 1008 paintings by the end of May! Follow her progress & read her terrific advice on goal setting. She has also written a book, called 'The Creative Entrepreneur', which is full of great tools & suggestions on how to set a creative business.

I love how the Internet is helping me find all these amazingly powerful & inspirational women all around the world. They are incredibly generous; sharing with grace & kindness what they've learned & are still learning. Rock on, ladies!!

There are years that ask questions & years that answer.
- Zora Neale Hurston

Have a wonderful weekend, thanks for stopping by. Until next time,

Love & light.

Wednesday Already!

2010-02-17T19:12:00.000Z

How is that possible?? The days are definitely getting longer, but they are also whizzing by, seemingly faster than ever. What they're not doing, is getting any warmer; it is still so cold here in Kent. Last year, I got a gift of a pair of fingerless gloves & this winter, I've been wearing them in the house; they make painting & cardmaking a LOT easier. I must take a photo of them to show you; they're very cute.

On Sunday, I met a friend in Camden, London & we went to The Stables, which is full of shops of all sorts & various restaurants & bars. There is also lots of interesting sculptures, but it was so cold we couldn't walk around for very long. We had a bite to eat in a tiny Moroccan eatery - the mint tea, hummus & bread were delicious - and a great time catching up. I want to go back to The Stables, spend more time walking around & take photographs, but I'll wait until the weather improves a little.

I have got lots of new things to show you, but they will have to wait a little longer. There's lots of birthdays coming up in the next six weeks or so, so I'm going to hold onto the new cards until they have been received. I've also been trying a few new techniques, but the photos are still in my camera. I'll download them later & hopefully show you tomorrow.

These cards are very simple, as you can see. I don't have a lot of baby stuff in my stash; I bought some toppers when I went to Ally Pally last year & Jen included some papers in the huge collection of 12x12's she gave me, so I put them together with a few other things to make these two.

The wedding card went to friends who got married in January. They had a black & white theme, which explains the card. I had made their wedding invitations, which incorporated a black heart on white card, so I decided to include a heart on their wedding card too. The heart is only attached to the ribbon, so it swings freely.

Do you remember last week I highlighted the work of Kelly Rae Roberts? Well, this week she told us that her decorative girlies are featured on the cover of the March issue of 'Somerset Studio' magazine. Needless to say, she is very excited & her fans are thrilled for her. I predict the magazine will sell very quickly! If you haven't visited her website yet, please do, I'm sure you'll be inspired.

Thanks for visiting me & a special thanks to those who have visited for the first time. I appreciate you all. Until next time,

Love & light.

Tweets & Hoots

2010-02-12T19:24:00.000Z

It's Friday! Hope everyone has had a good week & has a terrific weekend planned. I've had a busy few days since my last post. Yesterday, I went with a friend to the Stitch & Creative Crafts exhibition at Excel, London & I have to say it was very disappointing. The admission was £9.50, which, in my opinion, was extortionate for what they had. I arrived about noon & I was surprised to see so many people leaving & even more surprised to see how few people were in the hall. I went with the intention of not spending a lot, but I thought I might see something that I just had to have (!). I spent nothing, which is a good thing, but also disappointing. I've already got a ticket for the Stitch & Craft show at Kensington Olympia, London in March & now I'm wondering if I should bother going.

Anyway, here are two cards I made recently. The owl is a Dawn Bibby stamp, after stamping & colouring it I cut it out & put it on to the card with foam pads. I put a few gems onto the stamped cherry blossom image to highlight it. The sentiment reads 'Distance means little between friends' & I don't know why I chose to emboss it with silver. It should have been gold or copper.

For this birthday card I embossed a piece of Core'dinations Whitewash paper & sanded a few areas before stamping the bird on top & colouring it with Whispers pens. Stamped & heat embossed the sentiment, added a few hand drawn music notes with a gold pen, added a ribbon, done.

Following my rant at the universe at the start of this week, I was wandering around Facebook & came across Ken of Mildly Creative, who, in my opinion is a genius. I don't know he does it, but he gets straight to the point of all the stuff that goes round & round my head. This is the post that arrived in my inbox this morning & if you like what he has to say, subscribe today!

"If I create from the heart, nearly everything works: if from the head, almost nothing."

- Marc Chagall

Until next time, love & light.

A Semi-Successful Experiment

2010-02-09T19:10:00.000Z

Hope everyone's Tuesday is going well so far. Thanks to Katy, Julie, Sarpreet, Karen & Jen for their very kind comments on my last post. There's a lot of kindness in the Blogoverse. A lot of weirdness too, but that's for another day. :)

This is a card I made about two weeks ago & while I like the distressing etc., I messed up with the image. It's a rubber stamp of a sun through trees & I decided it went very well with the sentiment - from Inkadinkado, a gift from Jen. I stamped it onto handmade paper, heat embossed with gold embossing powder, then covered it with Crackle Accents. I made the card & it looked great. Until the next morning, when I realised the image had blurred. I thought about what had gone wrong for ages, then realised I probably should have used TH distress inks & embossing powders. I tried again, this time painting a thin layer of Crackle pain onto the paper first & stamping & embossing when the paint was dry. It worked; no blurred image. When I make up the card I'll show it to you.

Isn't the sentiment nice? I hadn't seen it before. The printed paper is from an old Russian dictionary; when I tore it out I noticed one of the words was 'happy' - a nice coincidence. The paint on the corners is Terra by Viva; it can be sanded, torn & layered with a brush or a palette knife. The pin is Tim Holtz & I picked up the silver charms when I was in the US last summer.

I finished the paintings I mentioned on Monday & oh my goodness, they are TERRIBLE! I said I was trying to play with paint like a child & they definitely remind me of the daubings of a three-year-old! While I'm trying not to judge myself, I really haven't the courage to put them on my blog; trust me, if you saw them, you'd tell me not to show them to anyone. :) I think I will just continue my efforts quietly & unpublicised & who knows? Maybe one day........ :)

Another book I got for Christmas is 'Journal Bliss' by Violette. Like Kelly Rae Roberts, Violette is a truly inspirational woman. She also has a blog & this is her latest post, I'm guessing it will ring quite a few bells for a lot of people.

Until next time, Love & light.

Children, like animals, use all their senses to discover the world.
Then artists come along & discover it the same way, all over again.
-Eudora Welty

Oy Universe, Stop It!!

2010-02-07T19:12:00.000Z

Let me start with a question.....Why is it that just when you think you've got a handle on things, you can finally see a light at the end of the tunnel, the universe turns around & slaps you upside the head?? Five weeks ago, I got the news that I'd been waiting eight months for; weirdly, it threw me for a loop slightly, but once I got my head around it, I was ok. Then the whole thing collapsed around me & now I'm back where I started. I've been angry, upset, frustrated, but now I am trying to find the lessons in this whole experience. I have made decisions that will make some of the people in my life unhappy, but at the age of almost 46, I have finally decided that I cannot live my life for other people. I have spent my life doing what was expected of me, agreeing with & to, things that made me very unhappy. I have been incapable of making virtually any decision, in case other people didn't like it. I now firmly believe that the way I lived my life is one of the reasons I got breast cancer. I've been a second chance & I'm hoping that, Goddess willing, the people who love me will respect my decisions & respect ME as I am expected to respect them.

During the last four weeks of turmoil, I have been creating; not much, but a few bits & pieces. The first objects I made still make me smile, even though they no longer exist. One night during the snow I was waiting for a train, (long story; I got the wrong train originally & ended up in the middle of nowhere - almost!), feeling like I was slowly freezing to death, when it suddenly occurred to me that I could not remember the last time I made a snowman/snowperson. There was plenty of snow on the low wall beside the train track & these are what I made......
An angel & a.............. Fertility figure. They certainly wouldn''t win any sculpture prizes, but I like the basic nature of them & I enjoyed the few minutes I spent forming the snow - they are MY little pieces of art & as I said, they are no more, except in these pictures & my memory.

This week, for the first time in about thirty years, I picked up a paintbrush, dipped it in acrylic paint & put the paint onto pieces of cardboard - I've been saving cereal boxes for a while. :) It's a strange feeling, I'm battling with my inner critic, who takes pleasure in repeating what my art teacher told me all those years ago; "I don't know why you're in this class, you're completely hopeless at art". So, while thanking the IC for sharing, I tell myself that I am simply playing with the paint; putting colour on card, making shapes & not being concerned with whether or not the end result is any good; in effect, being a child again. So far, so fun!

I'm getting a lot of help from a number of creativity books that I received as Christmas gifts. At the top of my list at the moment is "Taking Flight", by Kelly Rae Roberts. In many respects, Kelly's journey mirrors mine, although she is further along the road. She is inspirational & hugely creative. Her book combines her story with that of other artists, as well as easy to follow techniques, which add great depth & layers to her work & I'm excited about trying them for myself. Please visit her site & if you like what you see, you can purchase her pieces & her book is available on Amazon, & no, I am NOT on commission!! :)

That's it for tonight, I've waffled on enough. Until next time,

Love & light.

First Card of 2010!

2010-01-06T18:45:00.000Z

Yes, I did say in last night's post that I probably wouldn't have any cards to show this week. That was correct until Jen reminded me she needed a birthday card for one of her work colleagues. I had a hospital appointment today, which was cancelled due to the bad weather, so it was a perfect opportunity to get crafty. I ended up making two cards, the first of which is this one.

The LO was inspired by a card I saw in the second edition of 'The Complete Cardmaking Handbook'. I stamped the swirl with Versamark - my placement is not as good as it should be - covered the swirls with clear embossing powder & used the heat gun. I used a blending tool to cover the card with TH 'Peeled Paint' & 'Frayed Burlap' Distress Inks. The pin attached to the sentiment is also from TH. I coloured the Manga Girl image with my Whispers pens & attached her with foam pads. When the card was finished, I thought it looked a little flat, so I added the three adhesive pearls.

I know today is officially the last day of Christmas, so it seems fitting to show you some pics I took of the Christmas tree outside the General Post Office in O'Connell Street, in Dublin, Ireland. It's a tree-shaped grouping of lighted spheres that change colour every few seconds. Naturally, it has divided the opinions of Dubliners, including my mom, (!), but I like it a lot. I'm developing a real fascination for contemporary forms of lighting & this ticks a lot of boxes for me.

I've waited until now to mention the 'R' word. You know; "Resolution", (I'm whispering). Last year I made all sorts of new year's resolutions & didn't manage to keep any of them. So this year I have decided to keep it simple & uncomplicated. I hereby resolve to:

Avoid Procrastination
Be Creative

I admitted to myself towards the end of 2009 that I have real problem with putting things off - my failure to make enough Christmas cards is a classic example. I also know why I do it; fear of not been good enough, fear of being laughed at for daring to think I could possibly have any artistic talent, etc., etc. All the classic neuroses & insecurities that have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. If I have learned nothing else in the last two years, it is that time is finite & I have a lot to do, so more wasting it. To quote the late, lamented tenth Doctor Who, aka the gorgeous David Tennant, "Allons-y!!!"

You'll have seen the new picture at the top of my blog, the one that says 'Creative Every Day 2010'. I visited Leah's blog from time to time last year & this year I decided to join her challenge of creating something every day - or as often as you can, in my case! I like that we can create anything we want, from a card, a poem, a painting, to a story, anything. Leah chooses a monthly theme, but we don't have to use it, it's only in case we get stuck. Her theme for January is 'Body' & it has actually given me an idea for a series of paintings. I've been turning the idea over & over in my head since before Christmas & I'm going to have a go. They're probably going to be awful, but I'm going to be very brave & put them on my blog, where everyone can criticise them as much as they like! Of course, if you'd all like to lie & tell me they're fantastic, I'd be thrilled!! :) :) I hope to start working on them at the weekend, wish me luck!

Thank you for dropping by, I appreciate it. Until next time,

Love & light.

Happy New Year!!

2010-01-05T21:11:00.000Z

To one & all. I hope you had a great Christmas & that you have recovered from any over-exuberant New Year celebrations. ;)

Jen & I had a nice time with my family, but my poor mom got 'flu on Christmas Day & the weather was horrendous; ranging from gale force winds, non-stop rain, freezing temperatures & inches of ice everywhere. We ate too much, drank too much alcohol, watched too much tv, but we also walked a lot, (should that be, we slid a lot, I wonder??) & did some touristy stuff. Jen took lots of photos & when she puts them on her blog I'll let you know.

We also saw a movie; 'Nowhere Boy', about the young John Lennon & his troubled relationships with his mother & his Aunt Mimi. It's directed by artist Sam Taylor Wood & she gets good performances from all her actors. Kristin Scott-Thomas plays Aunt Mimi, Anne-Marie Duff is Julia, John's mother & Aaron Johnson plays the young John. See it if you can.

Since I got back, I've been trying to get back to 'normal'. I had so many emails, etc., to catch up on. I spent a lot of time while I was away bemoaning the fact that I had no Internet access, completely forgetting that my mom's local library has many computers & they're all free to use!! Mom reminded me of this fact only a few hours before I left for the airport, so I'm blaming her for my poor memory. :) I definitely won't forget next time! So, yes, I've been going through my inbox, replying to many & deleting even more. I also had a huge pile of mail to sort through & yes, most of it was rubbish, but I did get the new issue of 'Craft Stamper' magazine & it is wonderful. For my money, it's the best craft magazine on the market & the free stamp is always good quality. This issue, has a good article on stamping with bleach. The results are lovely, so I must give it a try.

Talking of stamps, I have fallen in love!!! I discovered Stampotique stamps & they are TERRIFIC!!! I love the weirdness of images such as 'Lunchbox Girl' & 'Sheer' & the unusual beauty of 'Three Goddesses', but it's impossible to choose favourites. They're not cheap, but I'm going to create a wish list & maybe treat myself to one occasionally.

I doubt I'll have time to make cards until the weekend, but I do have quite a few ideas swirling around my brain. I've got to make cards for a birthday & a wedding next week & I already know what I'm going to do for the wedding card.

So, instead of a card, I'm going to share with you something I wrote a few months ago. It's in the style of a Haiku & while it's not very good, it make raise a wry smile amongst some of my blog visitors & followers.

Happy new beginning,

Resolution over by four.

Ah well, maybe next year.

Thank you for stopping by. Until next time,

Love & light

2009-12-22T10:54:00.000Z

Good morning to all my followers & visitors. A very quick post today as I'm busy making the final preparations for Christmas. My friend Jen arrived on Sunday & it's great to have her here. Thankfully, the snow seems to be melting, although travel conditions are still bad, everyone is hoping we don't get more snow.

These are my last two Christmas cards of the year. There should be a lot more, but as I said in my last post, I got fed up & inspiration dried up, so this is it. I do like these though, so I'll probably use them as inspiration for a few cards next year.

This one was inspired by a card made by Katy Harrison. The angel stamp is from PaperArtsy, the houses are a clear stamp from Lavinia Stamps & the trees are a Stampendous stamp - I think. All my Christmas crafting stuff has been put away & will not be looked again for at least a few weeks!! :)

I made this card for my mom. I got the little girl stamp from http://www.artjournal.nl/ - some of you may have seen it on a recent issue of Craft Stamper magazine. She reminds me of my niece, so I thought my mom would like this card. Another very simple card, but I wanted the image to be the focal point.

Okay, that's it for now, got lots to do. i hope to post again before Christmas, but if I don't, I want to say thank you to everyone who has read my ramblings and/or said such nice things about my artisitc efforts. I appreciate all of you so much. Have a wonderful Christmas & I wish you nothing but good things for the New Year.

Love & light.

Eight Sleeps To Christmas!

2009-12-17T20:15:00.000Z

Gifts bought, wrapped & under the tree? Cards made/bought, written & mailed? No? Me neither!! Well, that's not strictly true. Most of the gifts are bought, but only a few of the cards are made & right now, I'm thinking there won't be any more until NEXT Christmas. I've left it too late & I don't have the time or the inspiration to make more. Instead, I'm going to spend the next few days catching up with friends & then enjoy the time spent with my family.

In an attempt to get some Christmas spirit on this blog, here are some photos I've taken in London the last few weeks. The first one is the Natural History Museum in Kensington. They have an ice rink at the side of the building, but I was interested in the lights in the trees & the building itself.

This is the tree at the Houses of Parliament in Westminster, with the London Eye behind Portcullis House. I was a little worried about taking this photo, due to the police seemingly spending a lot of time these days questioning anyone with a camera under the anti-terrorist laws. It is a completely ridiculous situation, but hopefully, because more & more people are speaking out about it, it will stop. Anyway, in the end I had no problem.

Yesterday I went to Covent Garden before the Life Clubs workshop & took this photo inside. I like the contemporary appearance of the decorations & the red chandelier was dazzling; looking at it I forgot the rain & cold outside. In the courtyard below a soprano was singing carols, which added to the festive feel.

The LC workshop was my most challenging yet. The topic was 'thinking outside the box' & Nina asked us to choose one unsolved problem & then brainstorm with a partner in an attempt to find possible solutions to the problem. I chose finding a new career as my problem & that was pretty much the end of my participation in the process! Apart from getting incredibly emotional that is, because right now the problem seems insurmountable. BUT. My workshop partner was very helpful & has recommended some books that I might find helpful. So watch this space.

Okay, enough seriousness. Let's end this post with an "awww" moment. This is a pic of my Mom's dog, Cara. She's a gorgeous Pomeranian with the sweetest temperament, despite being thoroughly spoiled & definitely my Mom's best friend. And yes, she does like to be comfortable!

Thank you to everyone who is visiting my blog, I appreciate it very much. I hope you are all having a great week.

Love & light.

PS The Artistic Stamper has some terrific blog candy to give away. Have a look at her gorgeous creations & leave a comment.

'Twas Less Than Two Weeks Before Christmas....

2009-12-13T19:27:00.000Z

And in Kirsten's house, all was chaotic, with a pile of Christmas gifts at the foot of the stairs & many piles of Christmas crafty stuff all over the livingroom. Kirsten sits among the debris & hopes she can dig her way out before Christmas 2010!! She promised herself LAST year, that THIS year, she would be SO organised that EVERYTHING would be done by the end of November & is it? NO, it is NOT!

Seriously, it's as if some part of my brain refuses to accept that 'that day' is almost upon us & I'm now thinking "stuff it, I can't really be bothered". The week ahead is going to be hectic & what's not done will just have to stay undone. However, I am looking forward to spending time with my family & Jen is joining us from the US, so I know we're going to have a great time. And when I win the Lottery, I'm going to pay someone to organise Christmas for me!! ;)

I attended the Life Clubs workshop on Wednesday & it was another opportunity to do some serious thinking, this time about change. Nina based the workshop on the medieval wheel of fortune, (or, as I thought when her email arrived; the wheel of TORTURE!!). Happiness is at the top of the wheel, loss is at 3 o'clock, suffering is the bottom & hope is at 9 o'clock. The wheel only goes in a clockwise direction & Nina explained that in any stage of our lives, we can be at different places on the wheel. There are two kinds of change: change we want to make & change that is forced upon us & our happiness or otherwise depends on how we cope with these changes, particularly the second one. I am finding these workshops & the opportunity to discuss these topics with other people invaluable.

This week I also had the pleasure of seeing the great James Earl Jones play 'Big Daddy' in Tennessee Williams' play 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof' at the Novello Theatre in London. Phyllicia Rashad, (Mrs Huxtable in 'The Cosby Show') & Adrian Lester are also in the cast, which is wonderful. The play is directed by Debbie Allen, (remember Lydia from 'Fame!'??) & she has created a great production. Afterwards there was a Q&A with most of the cast & the producers & it was fascinating listening to their stories of rehearsals, etc. They all seem to be enjoying their experience very much.

I spent the weekend making Christmas cards & I have ten more to make. This card shows my first attempt at using Gilding Flakes. I treated myself to some when I was at the Ally-Pally exhibition. Looking at this photo I realise I should have taken it without the flash.

This card uses the lovely Hero Arts Russian dolls & the tree stamp is from Inkadinkadoo. The paper is Core'dinations Whitewash & the little owl is from a pack of assorted owl stickers from Paperchase. I'm seeing gorgeous cards on other blogs, but all of mine are very simple this year.

Thanks for visiting & I hope everyone has a great week.

Love & Light.

The Universe Must Have A Plan

2009-12-08T18:31:00.000Z

I only wish it would tell me what it is. Just when I thought I could see a glimmer of light at the end of the seemingly endless tunnel, along comes something else to slap me upside the head. However, I have taken the necessary steps & will try to remain positive & believe that everything happens for a reason.

I did get some cards made today & I uploaded the pics from my camera - all 126 of them! Don't worry, Blog Visitors, you won't be inflicted with all of them; I deleted at least 50%. In an earlier post I mentioned that Jen had brought me a 'mahoosive' pile of crafty goodies, here's a few pics of them.

Underneath the clear & rubber stamps, the embossing boards, the distress inks, crackle paints, embossing powders, stickles & embellishments are almost 3 kilos of 12x12 papers!!!! Plain papers, patterned papers, doublesided papers, papers of all colours, papers for babies, men, Christmas, birthdays, Easter, in fact any subject you can think of, I guarantee I have a paper for it! ;) I knew Jen was bringing me paper, but I had no concept of just how much & all the other goodies were a complete surprise. Needless to say I was & am thrilled with all the new additions to my stash & they will be appearing regularly in my blog posts! They're safely stored in their boxes now & every so often I take them out to look at them & run my fingers over the patterns & the glitter. That will sound strange to 'normal' people, but paper crafters will understand completely. :)

This is the thank you card I made Jen. She likes blue & oriental images, so this seemed appropriate. The Geisha image was a recent freebie clear stamp from Craft Stamper magazine. I stamped it with Versafine Black Onyx & heat embossed it with clear embossing powder, then coloured it with Whispers & a silver glitter pen. The background paper is HOTP, as is the plain darker blue paper, which I stamped with my cherry blossom stamp, then heat ebossed with siver embossing powder. A few embellishments & that's it, except that you can see I used my CB quite a lot for this card!

That's all for today, thanks for stopping by.

Love & light.

Manic Monday

2009-12-07T21:25:00.000Z

Apparently, today was the day when millions of people go online to do their Christmas shopping, I was not one of them. I can't seem to get my head around the fact that Christmas is in just over two weeks. Having said that, I did go into Maidstone on Saturday & managed to buy some gifts before it got too busy, I also ordered a few things online. I have made no cards for family or friends & that really has to be sorted by the end of the week. It's stupid to make excuses, but I'm convinced the rotten weather has a lot to do with my lethargy & procrastination; it's so depressing & has gone on for too long! Last year I thought about getting a lightbox, but didn't, this year I think it would be a very good idea.

The best part of being in town on Saturday was listening to the Salvation Army brass band play carols outside M&S, all that was needed was some snow to make the scene perfect. In an attempt to get into the Christmas spirit I'm reading Jostein Gaarder's 'The Christmas Mystery'; the story of a boy & his adventures with an advent calendar. I first read it years ago & I highly recommend it to young & old.

The pics of the cards I have managed to make are still in my camera. I hereby promise myself that I will upload them this week. I also promise myself that I will make at least four cards tomorrow. It's crazy wasting time like this, especially when I have so many ideas in my head. I've been looking at Tim Holtz' blog, where he is doing twelve days of Christmas tags; they are gorgeous & his work is always so inspirational.

I think my cardmaking is going to be changing; I'm becoming much more interested in vintage images & distressing techniques. I also have some ideas for creating my own images - not something I ever thought would be possible a few years ago! It must have something to do with all the art exhibitions I've been seeing recently. So, as someone once said, watch this space!

Until next time, love & light.

Would Old Father Time Please Sit Down

2009-12-03T21:30:00.000Z

And give me a chance to catch up?? I refuse to believe it's over two weeks since my last post; I know I've been ill & I've been busy; making Christmas cards, (there's a shock for you!), attending various exhibitions & workshops, but still. And, AND, I realised earlier that this time three weeks is CHRISTMAS EVE!!!! I have no gifts bought & no cards made for family & friends. The house is in need of a serious tidy-up; if a burglar were to break in he'd take one look at my front room/crafting room & think "Blimey, someone's been here aready, I won't bother"!! ;)

So. Last Saturday I attended a one-day clown workshop & it was wonderful. I had so much fun & laughed so much & had fascinating conversations with very interesting people. We wore our red noses & danced & played like children. The facilitator, Richard, had a such a calm energy that within minutes of meeting, eight strangers felt like we'd known each other for years. If you like to have a go visit Richard's website & sign up for updates: http://www.foolsense.co.uk/

On Monday night I was at the Vic-Wells Assoc AGM at Sadler's Wells, London, in my capacity as Honourary Social Secretary. Following the meeting itself, we listened to a fascinating talk by choreographer, Gillian Lyne CBE. She came to us after spending the day at rehearsals for 'Cats' & her energy & passion for her work was palpable. She has so many fascinating stories about her life & career - she was in the Vic-Wells ballet company with Margot Fonteyn! - that I'm sure her autobiography is going to be a bestseller when it's released next year. It was wonderful to meet such an inspirational, gracious & charming lady.

Last night, after my theatre history class at the V&A, I attended a Life Clubs workshop in Westminster, held by Nina Grunfeld. Nina set up the weekly workshops to help people focus on what they want to achieve in their lives, they last ninety minutes & focus on one topic each week. It can be a slighty intimidating process for the beginner, as you talk about things that are very important to you with complete strangers. However, I have quickly realised that it is very freeing & I am gaining valuable insights & making new friends.

Today's card uses one of the lovely stamps from Hero Arts Russian Dolls set & I *think* the little owl was a freebie stamp from Craft Stamper magazine. Speaking of Craft Stamper I won the Wild Rose Studio set of clear stamps, (Louis with Chester & Cat & Flowers), they had as a giveaway in a recent edition, I was delighted; not often I win something!

That's all for now, thanks to everyone who left comments on my last post & to those who have visited my blog in the last few weeks. I hope you are all having a wonderful week.

Love & light.

Tea & Sympathy

2009-11-17T18:38:00.000Z

Well, it's official; I have a chest infection. I've been feeling very rough the last few days, so I saw my GP today & I've got to take antibiotics for a week & use an inhaler every four hours. On top of that, I have to have an xray on my left wrist. I started to get pain in September & instead of getting better, it's just got worse. Doing anything now with my left hand is very difficult & painful - btw, did I mention I'm left-handed? And did I mention that because of Lymphodema, I'm not supposed to use my right arm or hand to any great extent?? Honestly, there's never a dull moment with me!! Anyhoo, on to happier things.

Have you seen my blog counter? Over 1300 visitors!! How fantastic is that? AND I had my first visitor from Turkey last night! I'm so honoured that people take the time to have a look at my cards & read my ramblings. In the New Year, I think I'm going to have to organise some blog candy as a way of saying thank you.

Remember in last Saturday's post, I said I'd made a huge decision? Yesterday, I took the final steps in that decision. I can't remember if I've said on this blog what I did for a living before the cancer diagnosis. I worked as a dental hygienist. It's not something I find easy to say - or type! - because although I was very good at what I did, I felt like a square peg being forced into a round hole, every single day. In fact, my first thought on waking the morning after my graduation was that I had made the biggest mistake of my life. I couldn't have said this last year, I was too angry, but I now believe that the universe was screaming at me, trying to make me hear that I needed to change & when I refused to listen & just kept working, working, working, the universe gave me breast cancer. And even then it was almost too late; a month or two later & I wouldn't be typing this right now.

So. A huge lesson & that's why I finally made the decision last week that I will NEVER, EVER, NO MATTER WHAT, work as a dental hygienist again. I have cancelled my registration, my insurance, everything. In other words, I have burnt all my bridges behind me, there is no going back. And I feel such huge relief. It seems a strange thing to say, but the fact that I will be having more surgery soonish is a blessing; it gives me more time to sort myself out, organise my CV & send it out to M&S, Waitrose, etc! I'm also thinking of ways that I can use my crafting to make a little money, it won't make me a millionaire, but every little helps.
Oops, I've been rambling again. Here's today's card. It went to a friend of Jen's I met when I was in the US. Can you tell that I used my CB for this card?? :) I think the little cat stamp is Stampendous, but I can't remember where I got it. I stamped it in gold, then heat-embossed it. Everything else is from my stash.

Once again, thanks for visiting. I hope everyone is having a good week.

Love & light.

Gales, Wheezes & Sniffles

2009-11-14T16:51:00.000Z

I have achieved precisely nothing today. The weather has been atrocious - half the fence panels in the back garden are on the ground - so I decided to cancel my artist's date, (ref. Julia Cameron). Instead, I've spent most of my time either on the phone or on the computer & drinking mugs of lemon & ginger tea. I foresee a head cold in my near future & I'm trying to head it off at the pass!

I'm very grateful to those who struggled through my very long post on Thursday, I'll try to keep things short & sweet today. I must also thank those who visit my blog from so many countries around the world. I am amazed that my blog counter is heading towards 1300 visitors, so thank you all.

This is the card I made last month for my niece's 14th birthday. The image is one of the Manga Girls from Funky Kits & everything else is from my stash. I stamped the swirls on to plain paper, then heat embossed them. I tried not to be too OTT, as my niece doesn't like anything too blingtastic. :)

So, as I promised to keep it short & sweet today, that is it. Until next time,

Love & light.

We Have All The Time In The World

2009-11-12T19:03:00.000Z

That might have been true for Louis Armstrong, but certainly not for me. Where has the last month gone?? I signed into my blog tonight, expecting to see that my last post was about three weeks ago, but it's exactly FOUR!!! So what have I been doing?

Well, for a start, I spent a fantastic week in London with Jen, my friend from Washington State. We did so much, we needed another week to recover. We went to the theatre a few times - saw 'Speaking in Tongues' at the Duke of York's theatre & 'Inherit the Wind' at the Old Vic. We saw the Anish Kapoor exhibition at the Royal Academy of Art & went to the craft fair at Somerset House. We saw the movie 'Creation', which was about Charles Darwin & has excellent performances from Jennifer Connolly & Paul Bettany. And, in what was probably the craziest thing we've ever done, we went on a day tour to Wales! Yes, most of the time was spent in the tour bus, but we saw Cardiff Castle & St. Fagan's History of Wales park. Our guide was terrific & I learnt a lot from him.Jen brought me a load of crafty stuff & I have taken pics of all the goodies, I'll post them later.

When I returned home from London I had a few days to make the cards Jen had requested & then I was off again, this time to Dublin. My sister was 40 on October 31, so she had a party/quiz night on the 30th & then we had a family dinner on the 31st. The quiz night was a great success; my brother & I ran the quiz & were the masters of ceremonies & had great fun. My sister decided that she didn't want birthday gifts; instead she asked for donations for our local hospice. So far, people have donated over €1000 & money is still coming in. We spent the rest of my week recovering from the party & just hanging out & catching up. It had been eighteen months since we were all together so we had fun. And we'll be together again for Christmas.So, they were the two big events of the month. I've also been attending a weekly History of British Theatre at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London & I'm loving every minute of it. Last weekend I was back in London for Julia Cameron's first ever creativity workshops in the UK. Julia wrote 'The Artist's Way' some years ago & has been helping people unblock their creativity ever since. I found the workshops a great help & I've made a lifechanging decision as a result, more of which later.

Since Sunday, I have written four poems & I have lots of ideas for cards, which I've had to write down, so that I don't forget. I've also been having vivid dreams & their messages are very interesting. Watch this space, there's going to be a lot going on.

I've been to the Moctezuma exhibition at the British museum, which was very interesting, but the exhibition which blew me away was 'Wild Thing' at the Royal Academy of Art. It is a collection of sculptures by Jacob Epstein, Eric Gill & Henri Gaudier-Brzeska & it is GLORIOUS. That may sound over the top, but believe me, every piece is still glowing in my mind. I had never heard of Gill or Gaudier-Brzeska before & I was mesmerised by the beauty & power of their work. All the pieces were created in the early years of the 20th century & it's astonishing to see how modern they appear. All three artists were fascinated by the modern world, by the human condition & by the new technology that was appearing & the effect it had, and would have, on people. The tragedy of the show is that Gaudier-Brzeska was killed in the trenches of WWI, in 1915 at the age of 23. The world lost an artist of staggering talent. It's weird, but I feel the need to see this exhibition as many times as I can before it ends. 'Wild Thing' is at the RAA until January 24 & I urge you to see it if you possibly can. And if you can afford to, get the audio guide. It is full of clear & concise information about the artists & their work & is well worth listening to.

I've scattered the Halloween cards I made throughout this post. Yes, it's 2 weeks late, but I had a very enjoyable time making them & I think they turned out ok. Astonishingly, other people thought so too & bought them!! For which I'm very grateful.

This has been a very long post, apologies for boring whoever takes the time to read it. But if you reached this point, I appreciate you staying with me.

Love & light.

I Finally Did It!

2009-10-12T21:15:00.000+01:00

Bought a Cuttlebug that is, what did you think I meant?! Yep, I went to the Stamping & Scrapbooking Exhibition at Ally Pally a few weeks ago. It was the first time I'd been to a craft exhibition & I was like a child in a sweet shop; so much to see & so little time, so much to buy & so little money, lol! I had a wonderful time wandering around all the exhibits, watching the demos, (excellent demos at PaperArtsy), chatting with other crafters & creating a wish-list in my head. I could have spent an absolute fortune, but I managed to restrain myself & bought a few clear stamps, the Cuttlebug & some Nestabilities. I've been having a look at prices on various sites since & I feel I got a bargain.

A friend who's getting married in January asked me to make the invitations & I got them finished on Saturday, so Ive had time since to upload the pcs of the cards I've made in the last few weeks. They're mostly birthday & Halloween cards & they've all - except one - gone to the USA. I'll save the Halloween cards until nearer the big day, but here's two of the birthday cards.

I think this is my first proper attempt at distressing. And it's definitely the first time I've used Tim Holtz products - inks & the stamped images.

This card is for a cat-lover & unfortunately, I can't remember which online craft store I got the little cat stamp from. This is also the first time I used my Cuttlebug & everything else is from my stash.Thank you for looking & I hope you like them. I won't be around now until next week, so have a great week & thanks for stopping by.

Love & light.

Please sir, I want some more.

2009-10-06T22:54:00.000+01:00

I don't have a card to show you - I haven't uploaded the pics yet - but I want to thank Rica, Joy, Ruth & Gina G for welcoming me back to the blogging fold, I really appreciate it.

Jen's comments made me laugh, so I thought I'd show you a pic related to them. BTW, it is true that she had to drag me out of Jo-ann's & Michaels; never before has one woman been faced with so much temptation!! :) Here's the pic.................

Jen mentioned the coconut shrimp & this is it. It is found at a fab fish restaurant called 'Steamers', on Titlow Beach. But oh, the coconut shrimp! Jen had been telling me for ages how delicious it was, but I couldn't get my head around the combination of shrimp & coconut. Until I tasted it. It is utterly DELICIOUS!! The sauce is sweet chili & the flavours work so well together. We went to Steamers twice more before I left. :) It's a terrific place, the staff are wonderful & on a summer's day you can sit outside & enjoy the sea breeze & the beautiful view of the Puget Sound & the Narrows Bridge. And they have very nice ice cream too. :)

I won't be here for the next few days, got things to do, so I'll be back over the weekend. Hope everyone is having a great week so far.

Love & light.

Own up, whodunnit??!!

2009-10-04T14:48:00.000+01:00

Who stole the last six months??!! Honestly, I have never known time to go by so fast. I won't bore you with all the gory details; it's suffice to say I'm back, I'm feeling LOADS better & I hope to be here for a LONG time to come.

What I will tell you is that, thanks to a very kind invitation from Jen, I have been to the USA!!! It was BRILLIANT & I loved every second of it. The weather was perfect from start to finish; I actually got a TAN!! Yes, I wore a hat, as my hair is still in its horrible, post-chemo state, & used factor 15 sunscreen, but because we spent so much time outdoors my usual snowwhite skin turned a gorgeous golden brown colour & it's true, a tan makes you feel so much better. Jen lives in Washington State & it is beautiful. We went to so many places, including Mount Rainier & Seattle, and it was just fantastic. I met lots of Jen's friends & her colleagues at The Grand Cinema, Tacoma & her gorgeous daughter, Jessica; they're all wonderful & made me feel very welcome. I visited museums & art galleries - I was particularly impressed by the art of Preston Singletary & Nancy Wolden's jewelry. I saw a stunning exhibiton of Andrew Wyeth's paintings at the Seattle Art Museum, which is a museum I definitely recommend if you're ever in Seattle.

If I were to tell you everything I did, this post would go on for days & you'd be bored rigid, so I'll move to the two most important places I visited: 'Jo-ann's' & 'Michael's' - the craft stores! I won't tell you all I bought, (stamps, papers, ribbons, TH distress inks, etc.), but you'll get the picture if I say that I spent $50 in my first 10 mins in Jo-ann's & I had to pay excess baggage at the airport when I was leaving!! Enough said, right??!! :)

I took lots of photos while I was there & I might post one or two here from time to time.

I really had the best time & while I have thanked Jen privately for her generosity I'm thanking her again now publicly, so she knows how much her invitation meant to me. (I hope I get invited back again!)

On to the purpose of this blog: I am proud to say that I have made cards this week! Astonishingly, I got requests for cards from Jen's colleagues, so I've been working on them. I've also been asked to make the invitations for a friend who's getting married in January. And of course, people are beginning to ask about Christmas cards, so I will have to start them soon.....I seem to remember making a new year's resolution that I would make one or two Christmas cards a week, starting in January. Needless to say, that didn't happen.

This card was for someone who's become an Eagle Scout in America. I printed off the motto & the eagle from Google, mounted them onto stiff card & covered them with Anita's 3D Glaze to give them a metallic appearance.

The next two cards are self-explanatory, but can you name the two Beatles referred to on the first card??!! Yes, it's not difficult is it?! :) My initial idea was to make a B&W card for the second card, but when I saw the Andy Warhol image, I knew what I wanted to do & Jen had given me the strawberry paper, so it was easy to come up with the rest.

When I post my newer cards you'll see they're completely different from these. I'm doing a lot more stamping, embossing & distressing & I'm loving it. But that's for another day.

I hope everyone who visits my blog has had a good summer. Apologies again for not being here & for not visiting your blogs. I am no going to promise that I will blog every day, or visit your blogs every day, because there just aren't enough hours in the day. But I will do my best to blog a few times a week & I would love it if you popped in from time to time. Thank you.

Love & light

Return of the Prodigal Blogger!!

2009-04-16T19:01:00.000+01:00

Yes, it's me, I have returned. Many apologies for not being here for the last five weeks & for not visiting the blogs I follow, I have a lot of catching up to do. I got bogged down in various issues & couldn't decide what to do, (I still haven't solved the problems, but I'm a little less stressed about them now). Then I spent a week in London with my friend, Jen. We had a terrific time & did so much, I will post about it day by day & show you some photos - that I took! Yes, I bought a new camera & took LOTS of pics! Hopefully, some of them will be half decent. :) It seems to be quite a good camera, but the test will be when I photograph my cards, which I haven't done yet.

Since I got back from London I've tried to spend a few hours each day working in the garden. It needs a LOT of work after the winter, but it is so nice to be out there & see lots of green shoots appearing. I have hundreds of daffodils, the tulips are almost open, for the first time my Hellebores have flowered & they are GORGEOUS & there are lots of new Hosta shoots peeping through the soil - now, if I can just protect them from the snails!

For today's card I have to journey back to the distant past - well, early March! I promised to make cards for the daughters of some of the people on the DC forum & this is one of them. It's the first time I used a House Mouse image - they are SO cute! I used watercolour pencils & Whispers pens to colour the image & when the cupcake was dry I rubbed glitter glue over the 'icing' to make it shiny. It doesn't show here, but it looked quite good in RL.

That's it for this post - short, but sweet, lol! The next ones will probably be longer, because tomorrow I will download my London photos & start to tell you about our week. I promise I won't go into too much detail, otherwise you'll all be bored to tears! :)

Thank you to everyone who has visited my blog since I've been gone, I truly appreciate it. Until tomorrow, love & light.

Friday Sketchers # 42

2009-03-08T19:42:00.000Z

Hope everyone is having a great Sunday, sorry I didn't post yesterday; it was another one of those days & I didn't get a card made. Can I start by saying that I dislike this font intensely? I know, I know it's stupid, but I do. I always use Trebuchet to write my posts, but today my font options have disappeared. It's very irritating. :)

A huge thanks to everyone who commented on my 'Tilda in the Garden' card, it is much appreciated. Now that a little time has passed since I made it, I'm actually quite pleased with it. So thanks again for all your encouragement.

On to today's card. For the first time, I have attempted the Friday Sketchers challenge. This is the sketch that Mumur designed. There are a lot of elements, but I really like the layout.

I chose black & pink, because it's been a while since I used those colours. Initially, I was going to use a 6x6 square card, but as I put the card together it started to look very crowded, so I switched to a C5 card instead.

Materials used:

C5 white cardstock
Patterned paper - Tesco
Black circular Nestie & pink frame Nestie - RAKs
Black swirls - gift from Eisbaerin
Corner swirl stamp - Inkadinkadoo
Long floral swirl stamp - Marie Curie for Cancer Care by Papermania
Whispers pens
Bright pink & clear embossing powders
Versafine ink pad - Onyx Black
WOJ sentiment
Prima & Papermania flowers, adhesive gems & pearls, pink brad, black & pink ribbons - from my stash.

Unfortunately, the scan has bled the colour from the long, floral swirl; in RL it's a bright, zingy pink. And the black corner swirls aren't placed exactly where they should be. Apart from that, I think it's turned out pretty well. Hopefully, the recipient of this card will like it.

That's it from me for tonight. I'm going to have a read through the Sunday papers & watch some TV - LA Ink is on at 10. :)

Love & light.

Me & My Bright Ideas!

2009-03-06T18:02:00.000Z

Happy Friday folks! I hope everyone has had a good day. Did anyone who has the BBC see the weather forecast yesterday where they said it would be -99C in Kent this morning?! It WAS a little chilly when I got up, but I wouldn't have thought it was that cold, lol!! :)

On to today's card. Surprise, surprise, it's another Tilda! The Tilda challenge at DC this week was hosted by Jennie & she chose 'In The Garden'. So, flowers, grass, trees, etc., it should be easy to come up with an idea, right? Wrong. Jennie posted the challenge on Friday morning & it took me 'til Wednesday night to come up with something, which went completely out the window when I started making the card yesterday!

My first bright idea was to use my cherry blossom stamp & turn it in to a tree by hand drawing a trunk & I coloured it with my Whispers pens, then I tried to find a garden-type paper in my stash; something green & grass-like. Nothing. Instead I found this HOTP 'Ladybugs' A4 sheet that Jen had given me & the swirls made me think of the wind. That gave me my second bright idea - I would stamp the cherry blossom twice more, cut out the tree & then cut out the flowers from the other images & use Tilda with a broom, so that she's tidying the garden. Brilliant, no?! :) :) Yep, I thought so. Until I started the cutting & the trimming.......Oh. My. Goodness. :) It took HOURS! Then I had to place 1mm foam pads on to the back of the tree & the flowers - my fingers were sore afterwards! Thankfully, the rest of the card was very simple, especially as I decided not to strain my brain further by trying to come up a sentiment! I'll probably just put something in the inside at some stage. So, that's it, hope you like it.

Here is some astonishing blog candy! Sassy is offering this on her blog until midnight, March 21. Visit her blog for all the info & follow her instructions.

Before I say goodbye, I must tell you I have been given another award. Kay is a crafting buddy at DC & she very kindly gave me this. Thank you so much Kay!

Isn't it pretty? I have to pass this on to my Top Ten favourite blogs, so I will make a list & post it tomorrow.

I'm going on my blog tour now, to see what you've all been up to today.

Until tomorrow, love & light.

Tilda In The City

2009-03-05T17:47:00.000Z

Sorry there was no post yesterday, it was one of those days. Many thanks to those who've visited my blog & left comments in the last two days, I am very grateful.
Today's card is one I made a few months ago for the Tilda Challenge at DC. I couldn't show it before now, because I made it for Jen's birthday & I didn't want her to see it. Well, her birthday was on Tuesday - she spent it at Disneyland in California! ( She said it was nice being ten again!) - so here's her card.

It won't surprise anyone who follows this blog that I chose London for the city & I chose the London Eye because Jen & I love walking along the Southbank when she visits & the Eye is always the start & the end of our walk. This is a gorgeous photo of the Eye at night, so I used colours that fit with the image. The papers are Core'dinations Hocus Pocus & Papermania Blue Tones. I coloured Tilda with my Whispers pens & everything else is from my stash.

I've got a blog candy alert for you. Janet is offering these gorgeous to celebrate 50,000 hits on her blog. She estimates that her counter should reach that number around March 17. So visit her blog, follow the instructions & good luck.

I have nothing else to report, except that it's ****** cold today! So I'll end here, see you tomorrow.

Love & light.

Colour Create #5 - Blue & Brown

2009-03-03T20:12:00.000Z

Hi, the wind is howling & the the rain is pouring down, so I hope everyone is cozy at home today. I had to go to the hospital this morning for a bone scan, but I got home before the weather got too bad. I had to have a bone scan because the meds I'm on cause osteoporosis, so I'll have to have my bone density levels checked regularly. I was a little concerned about the scan, but it was fine & only took ten minutes. I'll get the results in April, so I'll forget about it until then.
I thought I would get a card made this afternoon, but by the time I'd got some bits & pieces together it was almost dark, so today's card is the other card I made yesterday - I know, two cards in one day!! Amazing!! :)

This week is the fifth week of the Colour Create challenges & the colours are blue & brown, with optional extras of pearls & lace, which was great, as I had the pearl string & lace left over from the Magnolia vs Stampavie challenge. I've just realised that ALL my recent cards are Tilda cards, I do love them, but maybe I need to use a different image once in a while. :) I coloured this Tilda before I had decided what I was going to do with her & then I couldn't decide what she was to sit on. After faffing about for ages I remembered seeing a card somewhere where she was sitting on a flower, so I went with that. I'm sorry I can't tell you whose card I thought of, but I hope they won't mind me using their idea.

Materials used:

6x6 white card
Patterned papers - HOTP 'Swirly Tan' & Deja Views 'Blue Raspberry Paisley'
Papermania flowers
Sentiment - WOJ
Whispers pens
Everything else from my stash

So that's it for today, hope you like the card, thanks for visiting.

Love & light.

Magnolia vs Stampavie Challenge 15 - 'Lace & Pearls'

2009-03-02T19:02:00.000Z

Happy Monday to one & all, hope everyone had a great weekend. Today's card is for the new Magnolia vs Stampavie challenge - lace & pearls. I wasn't sure about this at first; I knew I had a piece of lace - bought for a card that never got made - but as far as I knew I had no pearls, other than adhesive ones & a few pearl brads. So I did what all good cardmakers should do - I searched my stash & BINGO! I found a string of tiny pearls, I have no idea where I got them from, but they must be from when I first started crafting.

I am trying very hard at the moment to use colours that work together, so I spent quite a while putting papers together, before I coloured the image - which I've decided I've messed up. I should have used the paler blue on Tilda's tights & vice versa, the more I look at it, the worse it looks. I think tomorrow I'll take this image off the card & replace it with one that I've coloured better. I used a cotton bud to smudge Versafine 'Vintage Sepia' ink around a piece of watercolour paper, then matted & layered it onto cardstock from my stash, before threading the lace through it & attaching the image with 3D foam pads.

Materials used:

Backing paper - BG Sugared collection
Patterned paper - Seven Gypsies 'Karachi'
Sentiment stamp - WOJ
Lace - C&H Fabrics
Everything else from my stash

I'm very honoured to say that Lisa L has given me another award. It's a nice feeling when you get an award, to know that someone thinks of you. As Lisa did, I'm going to pass this award on to the followers of my blog, with thanks. Apologies for not listing you all individually, but you know who you are!

Until tomorrow, take care of yourselves. Love & light.

New Blog Candy!!!

2009-02-28T19:55:00.001Z

Try not to drool too much over this picture of deliciousness! Michelle is offering these gorgeous goodies to celebrate the first anniversary of her blog. Michelle's blog is one of my favourites. Not only does she make the most beautiful cards, but she & her hubby raise miniature donkeys & they are beautiful too. AND they have a new puppy called Libbie who is a complete & utter cutie, with the bluest eyes I've ever seen!! So, don't walk, RUN to Michelle's blog, lol! :) Check out her cards, her donkeys & her puppy and I better not forget Gato the lovely kitty. Follow the instructions on her blog candy post, you have until March 14. I'd like to wish everyone luck, but as I want to win I won't!! HAHAHAHA!! :)

Here is more gorgeous blog candy. This time it's on SemSee's blog, she's offering it to celebrate her birthday next week. The 'rules' on her blog, so check it out & have a look at her cards, she creates beautiful works of art.

Love & light.

February Friendship

2009-02-28T17:54:00.000Z

Yes, I know this is the last day of February, but I forgot to post this earlier in the month & I didn't get today's card finished. Apologies for the terrible photo. This card went to a DC'er in this month's friendship swap. Again, I wanted to use colours that make me think of Spring. I'm really enjoying these colours at the moment & I think it's because this time last year I was going through chemotherapy & I didn't make a single card for months. Anyhoo.

This morning a DC'er asked how we start a card; image first or paper? I usually start with colouring the image & then choose the papers, but this time it was the other way round. Jen had given me this sheet of HOTP Yellow Daisies 12x12 paper & I built all the other elements around it. I coloured the image with Whispers & everything else is from my stash. I couldn't decide what sentiment to put on the card, but then I found these chipboard letters, which came in an oriental kit from QVC. I think they fit with the rest of the card.

That's all from me today, it's a very short post, but I'm off to the Stamping Chic launch party. You can join in the fun here. Hope everyone is having a good Saturday.
Love & light.

Magnolia vs Stampavie 15 - Feel The Sketch!

2009-02-27T18:40:00.000Z

Evening! Hope everyone has had, or is having, a good Friday. Today was a beautiful Spring day here, the daffodils will soon be in flower - that's if the cold weather predicted for next week doesn't kill them first!

I managed to fulfil yesterday's challenge to myself - to complete this week's
Magnolia vs Stampavie challenge, which is a sketch.

After last week's dark colours I decided to make this card as Spring-like as possible & i changed the size to a 6x6 square card, so that reduced the proportions a little. No matter how I tried, I could not get a good pic of this card. I used both the scanner & the camera but every picture is dull, possibly because the colours are pale. This pic is from the scanner; I changed the setting to 'Magazine colour', which scans the image very slowly & it's the best of a bad lot. I wish you could see all the different tones of green on the striped paper, it's very pretty.

Materials used:

Tilda with cupcake - a RAK from a friend, coloured with Whispers pens
Pale blue & gold backing papers - Papermill
Swirly patterned paper - Seven Gypsies Touquet
Striped patterned paper - SEI Chick-a-doo
Flowers - Prima & Papermania
Charms - from Jen
Flowers & swirls (bottom right corner of image) - from a set of Inkadinkadoo clear stamps, also a gift from Jen
Birthday sentiment - Papermania clear stamp
Sunflower Yellow & Rocket Red Gold Brilliance inks
Orange adhesive gems - Kanban
Green adhesive pearls - Papermania
Gold ribbon - Crafty Ribbon

Tilda looks a little flushed because she's been busy baking lots of delicious cupcakes, lol! :) I think I'll give this to a work colleague whose birthday is two days after mine. Hope she likes it.

Just a short post tonight, because I only managed to visit a few of the blogs I follow last night. The computer was being extremely contrary & kept shutting down, I gave up in the end. It hasn't been as bad today, so I'm hoping to see all the blogs on my list. If you hear screaming followed by a crash later on, it will be me having a temper tantrum & throwing the laptop out the window!! :) :)

See you tomorrow, hopefully. Love & light.

You Shall Go To The Ball!

2009-02-26T19:56:00.001Z

After my last post on Sunday, my mojo went walkabout! I had no ideas, no inspiration, nothing, even the various blog challenges couldn't get the creative juices flowing. But I HAD to make a card for a friend who will be 40 next week, so today I forced myself to sit down at my craft table & I didn't leave it for most of the day. I spent what felt like hours moving pieces of paper & flowers & bits of ribbon around, until finally I came up with this card. It's very simple, but at least it got me started & in future, I am going to try very hard to make a card at least every other day.

Materials used:

White C5 card

Image - Madison Goes To The Ball download from Charmed Cards & Crafts

Papers - Imaginisce & Tesco

Flowers - Prima & Papermania

Adhesive gems & spotted brad - Papermania

Adhesive pearls - Papermania Gun Metal

Ribbon - Crafty Ribbon

Silver peel-offs

When you buy the Holly & Madison images from CCC you get the B&W AND the coloured images. I chose to use the coloured image because not only do I think it looks like Emma, but it was so much easier for me, especially today! There is a terrific selection of images in this download, so if you like this one check out the CCC website.

I watched Craft Day on QVC while making the card; disappointingly, there was nothing that I just had to have - not even ribbon! Well, disappointing for me, relief for my credit card. :) The TSV in particular, was disappointing. It was yet another Kanban kit & they have so many of those. I think it shows how far I've come in my card making, that they don't interest me anymore. I still have some that I bought way back when & I will use them, but in a different way.

Before I go, I have to thank Lisa L for this lovely award. She gave it to me last week & I kept forgetting to put it on my blog. Lisa's blog is one of the first I started watching - my friend Sarita told me about her - and I love her work. So, thank you again Lisa, I really appreciate it & I would like to pass this award on to everyone who visits my blog this week! I love looking at the counter on my blog, I find it fascinating that there are people in so many different countries who have visited me. I want you all to know that I am very grateful to you all & I hope you like what you see here.

That's it from me for today. I have challenged myself to make a card for the current Magnolia vs Stampavie challenge tomorrow, so hopefully, I'll be back tomorrow night.

Take care, love & light.

'And The Oscar Goes To.....'

2009-02-22T16:56:00.000Z

Hope everyone is having a nice Sunday. I've spent most of the day searching for a piece of paper. Not a nice piece of patterned paper, but an important, legal piece of paper. I've decided to stop looking for it, in the hope that I'll remember what I did with it in the first place. I have no idea why it isn't with the other papers. Grrrrrr.

On Friday I was asked to host the new Tilda challenge at DC. After panicking for a few minutes I was ready to say no when I remembered that tonight the Academy Awards are happening in Hollywood, so I decided the challenge would be to use Tilda to illustrate a film & you could be as obvious or as obscure as you wanted. My attempt ended up a little more obscure than I originally intended, but I'm happy to say, quite a few people guessed the film correctly.

Materials used:

C5 white card
Backing paper - Imaginisce Swweeet Spots
Patterned paper - Seven Gypsies St Martin
Navy cardstock & white tissue paper - from my stash
Ribbons - Crafty Ribbons
Whispers pens
WH Smith watercolour pencils
White gel pen
Anita's 3D Gloss
Papermania flowers, star brad, adhesive gems
Rose - from my stash
Brilliance ink - Starlite Silver
Silver embossing powder
Sentiment - Studio g clear stamps

So, have you guessed the film?! ;) Here are the clues..............

American film
Won Best Picture Oscar in the '90's
Stars my favourite actor - he won the Best Actor Oscar for his role in this film
Name of the rose is also the name of the film
Torn tissue paper symbolises a plastic bag
Sentiment - what the main character did

Got it? It's 'American Beauty'. I have seen it countless times & I still love it, although I wish the ending was different ;) (no spoilers in case someone who reads this hasn't seen the film!) . Kevin Spacey was perfect as Lester Burnham, IMO & Alan Ball wrote a great screenplay. She doesn't know it yet - well, she will when she reads this! - but I'm sending this card to Jen. She's a Spacey fan too, so I think she'll like it.

Right, I'm off to visit the blogs on my list & also to think about the Magnolia vs Stampavie challenge. It's a sketch this week - thank goodness! No 'difficult' colours to worry about. :) A big thank you to everyone who left comments on my card yesterday.

See you all tomorrow hopefully. Love & light.

Magnolia v Stampavie 14

2009-02-21T11:59:00.001Z

Greetings to everyone who reads this. Apologies for not posting a card & for not visiting the blogs I follow in the last few days. I've been having a pretty stressful time & I wasn't in the right frame of mind. Anyway, on to today's card. I made it earlier in the week for the Magnolia v Stampavie challenge. You had to use the colours below, or as close as possible & I was definitely out of my comfort zone with them!

I wish the image was clearer, but after photographing it dozens of times I ended up scanning it. I am definitely going to do some research & buy a new camera. As usual, I spent ages playing around with papers & layouts before settling on this. I decided on this Tilda because the card is going to my mum, who is itching to start work on her garden after the winter. Tilda's gardening clothes ended up a little scruffier than I intended, but they will make my mum laugh - both of us get VERY scruffy when we garden!! :) I hope you can see that the edges of the paper are torn & edged with pigment inks. Unfortunately, the green circular Nestie shape is a little too green, but I didn't have anything else suitable. I dusted the white embossed circle with chalk.

Materials used:

C5 White card
Navy backing paper
Patterned papers - Seven Gypsies Boulogne & St Martin
Whispers pens
Pale blue chalk
Ink - Brilliance Mediterranean Blue & Coffee Bean
Flowers - Prima & Papermania
Heart charm - Mad About Cards
Sparkling & pearl brads, ribbons - from my stash
Sentiment - Inkadinkadoo - I *think*.

There you go, hope you like it. I'm off to have a wander around your blogs to see what you've created in the last few days. Thanks to everyone for their comments on my Colour Create 3 card, it's going to a new home in the USA soon. Hopefully, I'll be be back tomorrow. Have a great Saturday.

Love & light.

Colour Create 3

2009-02-17T18:40:00.001Z

So it's week three at Colour Create & I've actually managed to complete the challenge before the end of the week. The challenge is red, white & blue, with the optional extra of travel/holidays.

Until yesterday I couldn't find anything in my stash that would fulfil this challenge, but then a very nice DC'er sent me this piece of paper & searching through my stamped images I found this Edwin. I coloured him with Whispers pens - the centre of his sweatshirt looks pink in this pic, but it's definitely red. I stuck the image onto the paper with 3mm foam pads, but left the balloon free-standing. The flower is probably out of place on a male card, but it's so dark I think I can get away with it. :)

A very brief post tonight, I was too tired last night to visit my favourite blogs, so I'm off to do that now. Hope you've had a good day.

Love & light.

Tilda on Safari

2009-02-16T19:11:00.000Z

Hope everyone is having a nice Monday. Just a quick post tonight; I was at the hospital again today & I always come home tired & with a headache. So without further ado, here is today's card. Over at DC, the Tilda challenge this week is 'safari'.

At first, I had no ideas AT ALL! I had a look at Google images & found the pic of the baby elephant at www.lucytravels.com , then I did a search for African trees & up came images of acacia trees & an idea began to form. The idea is that Tilda hasn't seen the baby elephant sheltering from the hot sun under the acacia tree.
I chose this Tilda because her clothes are similar to a safari suit & I gave her a girly sunhat, because I've decided Tilda is a girly girl! :) (Don't look too closely at her 'camera' - it's a perfect example of my atrocious drawing skills!) The flowers are meant to represent the African sky & sun & because there is no bling on this card, there just had to be a ribbon, so I chose a brown one to represent the dry African soil. I haven't chosen a sentiment yet, but when I do, I will put it opposite the little bow.

Materials used:

Backing paper - BG Sugared collection
Flowers - Prima & Papermania
Whispers pens
QVC ribbon
Papermania brads

So, a very simple card, but I think it's cute.

That's it for tonight, take care.

PS I've just a thought - I hope this elephant is an African elephant, not an Asian one!!