Thursday 12 December 2013

This Little Fishy.....

Afternoon crafty friends. You must forgive me for being such a rubbish blogger at the minute, some days I don't even get time to turn the 'puter on. Somebody popped into work yesterday and said "This time in two weeks time you'll be sitting down to your Xmas dinner" I nearly fell off my chair, who pinched all those weeks??

Anyway, I've just popped by to share a couple more of my fishy samples for Sheena's C&C shows tomorrow at 10am and 4pm.



Here's another H20 background. The seahorses are painted in silks and I've thrown in some embossing for good measure.


For this one I made a tag out of some corrugated cardboard which has been painted with white acrylic, some silks and then had some silver embossing powder applied to the corrugated bits. I added some torn book pages to the background and then stamped and cut out the seaweed, fish and shells which have been painted with the silks.

I hope your week is going well so far.

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Crafting.

Tuesday 10 December 2013

A Fishy Tail

Afternoon folks.  Are you feeling like Christmas? It still isn't feeling very seasonal in The Craft Garden yet, I think it's the weather, it seems more like early Autumn than December. I still have lots of flowers blooming and on a good day can still dry washing outside!!!  I hope you survived the horrible winds last week without too much damage. We lost a few fence panels but nothing serious thank goodness.

I've spent the last few days cocooned in my crafty room getting all fishy with my last lot of DT samples of the year for Sheena's shows on C&C this Friday at 10am and 4pm. The new stamps compliment the last Coastal set beautifully.

Here is just a sneaky peek to wet your appetite


My favourite watery H20 background makes a lovely sea for these elegant fish to swim in. These is also a silhouette stamp of the fish on the plate which I have stamped with h20's on the background.



Thanks for stopping by and Happy Crafting.

Tuesday 26 November 2013

Sheena's Back On The Tele

Afternoon folks. I hope you are keeping warm on this chilly November day. I've had a lovely day out with a very good friend of mine who I met through blogging, a bit of lunch, lots of chat and a bit of crafty shopping...what could be better?

Anyway, I just popped by to share a few samples I've made for two shows Sheena has on C&C tomorrow at 11am and 6pm. She is revisiting some lovely stamp sets and it's been nice to play with them again. I also hear on the grapevine that she has some packs of Kraft card on the shows. Happy Days!!

I have used H20's on most of the cards and these first two are from the Happiness plate.


 I made a clingfilm background for this first card and then black embossed the image on top and painted the arch way in with more of the purple colour. I then painted the orange H20 over the black card to highlight the embossing.


This is the corner stamp on the Happiness plate which I stamped with H20 to build up a pattern. The clear glass bead in the middle has been recoloured with a spectrum noir pen.

The sun caught the twinkle in the H20s. I love these colours.



The rowing boats from the Peaceful Shore plate from the Lakeland sets very simply stamped in Stormy Sky distress ink and painted in with water. The background is the water splats from Ageing Beautifully.


The background on this last one is the same technique but using Forest Moss DI instead. The paint fusion Poppies have been black embossed and painted with H20s. The background is another stamp from Ageing Beautifully.


Thanks for stopping by and Happy Crafting.

Wednesday 20 November 2013

WOYWW 233

Morning lovely crafters and dear WOYWW friends. I've managed to get back onto the register today after some busy weeks kept me absent and it's so good to be back. If you want to join in with the wonderful desk hop of WOYWW, then pop over to see the lovely Julia, HERE. 

My desk this morning is a sunny one, love this cold bright weather.


I thought I'd give you a long shot today so that you can see the greenery that now adorns my craft room. Jozarty's Wax plants have thrived this year but have now had to find a warmer spot for the winter. I'm in the middle of prepping for Craft Club tomorrow. We are making the tattered flower wreath that I've done the last two Christmases in various workshops. My Craft Club ladies saw it and wanted to make it but as there are so many of them they will be doing a smaller versions otherwise I think I'd be cutting tattered flowers from now until Christmas!!


This is what they are making, regular visitors will remember it I'm sure.

Well short and sweet from me today. I have DD at home. It's their Targets Day at school so they get the day off and we have to go into school for a 10 minute chat with her form teacher!! DD is not complaining as she is having a lie in. Neither am I as I have the day off too although have to work tomorrow to make up for it.

I'll be round to catch up with your desks as soon as I've made a fresh cuppa so have a great Wednesday and Happy Crafting.


Monday 18 November 2013

Beside The Seaside

Afternoon folks. I hope you are well and preparing for the chilly weather we are being forecast here in the UK.

I just wanted to share with you a few more of the samples I made for Sheena's recent shows on C&C. These stamps and the new Luminarte Silks have been such a joy to work with that the cards made themselves really.

This first one you may recognise if you saw the shows as I was very honoured that Sheena demoed a version of it.


It's such an easy card to make, just Chipped Sapphire Distress ink brushed out with water and then coated with the ice silks. The shells were black embossed and painted with the silks.


This second card is along the same lines but using Stormy sky and adding the ice silks to the shell embellishments. I love making these tone on tone cards.


And last but not least my favourite, the boat painted with H20's with the puffin, who can resist him. I blended the Ice and African Jade silks over the embossing folder in the background.

Thank you for stopping by and Happy Crafting.

Wednesday 13 November 2013

A Shining Light

Afternoon lovely crafters. I hope you are having a good week so far. It soon gets round to Wednesday doesn't it?

As promised here is another of my samples using Sheena's gorgeous new stamps. This set is coastal but works with the shells from yesterday beautifully.


I used the distress inks bleached out with water technique that you have seen me use many times but it's one I love and works so well with the lighthouse. I painted over all the bleached out areas with the new Luminarte Silks Ice which is clear but full of diamond sparkles so that whatever you paint it over shines beautifully.



Don't forget to catch Sheena's new shows on Create and Craft this Friday and Saturday. I will let you know as soon as we have the times.

Thanks for stopping by.

Tuesday 12 November 2013

Shells and Silks

Afternoon folks. Sorry I've been absent again lately. I've been buried in my craft room with some lovely new goodies and a tight deadline so blogging got left behind yet again.

But I can share these lovely new goodies with you now so hold on to your purse strings 'cos you are so going to NEED these. Sheena is launching Luminarte silk paints on Create and Craft on Friday and Saturday and they are fantastic. Up until now they've only been available in America but now we have them. They are shimmery and shiny and great for so many projects from altered art, journalling and card making. They can be put on any surface but clean up with water so are brilliant.

We have been playing with them with Sheena's new coastal stamps and here is my first sample.


The background has been stamped with the gloss gel medium and over painted with H20's and the shells are air dried clay. I pushed the stamps into it and then cut round with a craft knife. Once dry they have been coloured firstly with distress inks and then the Jade silk painted on top. It doesn't disturb the distress inks but changes their colour. Because we have been enjoying lovely sunshine today I think I managed to catch the effect for you.


I have had such a lovely time playing with these that there are lots of samples to show you so I'll be back tomorrow with some more. Don't forget to have a look at the rest of the teams blogs too if you get a chance, they have been creating some stunning things.

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Crafting.

Wednesday 23 October 2013

WOYWW 229

Morning WOYWW friends. Another Wednesday whizzes round which means it must be time for some desk snooping, yeah!!!! I'm still battling internet problems but managed to hijack Hubby's laptop last week to do my desk visits. Don't know what's up with my 'puter but it can pack it in!!! They are so annoying when they play up aren't they?

Anyway, on to my desk this week. I cheated and took the photo yesterday afternoon when it wasn't pitch black.


At last I've managed to finish off the big cog I started weeks ago, it only needed bits sticking down but I kept adding a bit more so it was one of those never ending projects.

I have the obligatory cup of tea of course and the usual crafting paraphernalia, nothing very exciting.

Short and sweet from me this week but I'll share the finished cog with you before I go.


If you want to share your desk with lots of lovely people from all over the world then pop over to see our Desk Headmistress, Julia, HERE.

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Crafting.

Wednesday 16 October 2013

WOYWW 228

Morning folks. Here we are at Wednesday again. Apologies for not getting round many desks last week, we had internet problems for a few days, but thankfully my resident handyman has put it right now so I shall try to do better this week. If you want to join in the fun, then pop over to see our Desk Headmistress, the lovely Julia, HERE.

My desk is a hive of activity this week as I'm trying to restock my supplies of cards while things are quiet on the DT front. I have so many ideas of things I want to try that the days are flying by.


I've been inking through a die cut aperture with my ink dusters. I don't find I'm as heavy handed with these and get a nice soft look with the inks. 


This is the end result. My new favourite ink colours, Peacock Feathers and Squeezed Lemonade. 

I also got into the garden yesterday to take some pictures of the lovely flowers that are still flowering their soaks off despite the rain. 

Love this apricot rose against the Acer in the background.


The baskets are still looking good. Hope the frosts stay away a bit longer to keep them going as long as possible. 



Right that's me this week so I'll see you at a desk near you very soon.

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Crafting.

Monday 14 October 2013

A Few More Sheena Cards

Morning all. Sorry I've been a it quiet, we had some internet connection problems last week which caused the phone line to stop working. BT told us there was a fault on the line and they would send an engineer!!! What a mistake to make, we now have a bill for £130 as the problem was inside the house. Trouble was the helpful customer advisor didn't tell me about the fee or the fact that I should check the sockets inside first. We could have saved ourselves a lot of grief if he had. You live an learn!!!!!

So with all this I didn't get to show you any more of the cards I'd made for Sheena's excellent shows on C&C last Saturday. I was very honoured that she demoed the church and poppy card I did manage to show you last week.

Here are the rest of them anyway.



A field of H20 poppies.


Daisies from the same stamp plate painted with white Acrylic on a distress background.


The church coloured with promarkers and then a distress sky added and acyclic ivy.


The Lake shore on a stamped Primary Elements background. I was wiping up red pigment powder for days after making this!!


The tall tree on an alcohol ink background, thanks to an idea I found on Pinterest.


The tall tree again on a book background that has been painted with Gesso & H20's.

I hope you enjoyed seeing them all in one go. I really enjoyed making this little lot.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great week.

Happy Crafting.





Wednesday 9 October 2013

WOYWW 227

Morning WOYWW friends. I nearly forgot it was Wednesday this week. It surely can't be a whole week since we last desk hopped around. I'm sure someone pinches a few days each week they seem to go faster and faster. Anyway, luckily I did remember at the last minute but you'll have to excuse the brightness of my pics as it was very early when I took them and still dark!!


There's not much to see on my desk this week, I'm just revamping some old cards I discovered in a box that will be fine with a makeover so I thought I'd step back and show you my complete crammed in little space. As you can see it's totally full, although after my tidy up I have managed to get my craft trolley stored away under the desk instead of living in the doorway where I fell over it everyday. I also have to store my washing basket under there, thankfully empty which means I have done my housewifely duties for this week, phew!! As long as I still have room for my knees under the desk all's good.


This is the other side of the desk to the one you usually see. My lovely DH built me the ink storage unit out of my DD's old cabin bed, waste not want now!! The rest of it is currently holding up our porch...but that's another story!!

Before I go I can share with you now one of the DT cards I was working on last Wednesday. I'm really pleased with this. The main image is stamped with Distress inks and brushed out with water but the rest of it is done with real watercolour paints!! My WOYWW friend Sandra De does some stunning watercolour art and she inspired me to have a go, baby steps as yet but I shall definitely do more.


Right , that's me today so don't forget to join in with this wonderful world of desk hopping by visiting the lovely Julia, HERE and I'll be round to see what you've been up to later in the day.

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Crafting.

Monday 7 October 2013

Don't You Just Love Poppies?

Evening folks. I hope your week has started well. We are being well and truly spoilt with this wonderful weather aren't we? Although it sounds like we have to make the most of the next few days judging by the weather forecast.

I spent the wet days last week cocooned in my craft room having a lovely play with some stamps I'd almost forgotten about. Sheena will be on your screens on C&C this Saturday 12th October revisiting some of her older stamps, amongst them the Poppies and Daisies and the beautiful Church. The Lakeland Silhouettes are also due to make an appearance.



I combined the Poppies with the Church for this sample. The church being stamped in Walnut stain and the colour pulled out with water. I then distressed the edges with scissors and added stamping and water blobs to age it. All the backing papers are stamped with the Ageing Beautifully set except for the embossed piece. The poppies are painted with Poppy H20, what else??


There are always so many beautiful new stamps to tempt us that we forget about the ones we already have. I have thoroughly enjoyed revisiting these and will share some more during the week.

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Crafting.

Edit-I've had a question in one of the lovely comments you've left from a lady called Annette. I can't track her blog to reply personally so hope you call back here so that I can answer your question. The poppies on this card are embossed with black embossing powder on scrap card, painted with H20's, cut out and stuck on with 3d glue. I haven't used any acetate overlays although I know Sheena did when she made her version of it. I hope that helps and thank you for your interest, I really appreciate it.

Wednesday 2 October 2013

WOYWW 226

Morning lovely crafters and WOYWW friends. It was an absolute delight to be back amongst my WOYWW friends last week. Thank you so much for welcoming me back into the fold again, I hadn't realised how much I'd missed being part of this lovely desk hop each week. If you haven't discovered this amazing group of people yet, then please pop over to see our Desk Headmistress, Julia, HERE.

My desk this morning, well yesterday afternoon to be honest, but it hasn't changed any.



I have been trying a new technique using the Luminarte Primary elements. It was something recently demonstrated by Sheena Douglass and I've been dying to have a play. It's ages since I've made something just for the fun of it so this MDF cog is going to become something....watch this space. I have some vellum flowers cut and plan to use the Julie Nutting Prima doll stamp on it but I have some DT work waiting so will have to come back to this later in the week.

Here's a close up, the shimmer and shine is amazing.



Last week I mentioned I'd been tidying up my craft room to make space for a new 12x12 cabinet so here it is in it's new home.



And this is how it started life after DH had kindly sanded it down for me.



You can see what colour it was originally though, not pretty. It had been a pastel display cabinet at my local craft centre and they were selling it off at a bargain price. I'm dead chuffed with it, it's taken all the 12x12 paper I have and I have a lot!! It also houses my rubbish bin at a perfect height to my desk.

Well that's me for today so thanks for stopping by and I hope your Wednesday is a happy one. I'll be back after work to have a good nosey round some desks.

Happy Crafting.

Wednesday 25 September 2013

WOYWW 225

Morning lovely crafters and WOYWW freinds. I'm back...phew it's been months since I was present for the the WOYWW register, did you miss me?? I'm afraid summer hols and the stunning weather we've had over the last few months have kept me away from all things crafty and the computer but now that autumn has arrived I'm back in residence in my craft room and enjoying playing with inks and paper again.

If you want to join in all the WOYWW fun then pop over to see Julia, HERE. 

Here is my desk this morning.


I'm making a card for my lovely neighbour who is a surrogate Grandma to my daughter and looks after us in many ways. She adores Poppies so it was a no brainer what sort of card to make her.

I spent last weekend tidying up my craft room and making some room for a new cabinet I've just acquired to keep all my 12x12 papers in although you wouldn't think it to look at this photo, why do we always surround ourselves with all the stuff we are using, I think it must be a bit like a comfort blanket.

Here is the finished card.


Right, short and sweet from me as I'm off to work in a minute so I'll be round to have a good catch up with you all later.

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your Wednesday.

Tuesday 24 September 2013

A Layout at Last

Afternoon folks. I've been busy in my craft room today with the radio on listening to all the fantastic weather around the country and feeling gloom as we have sat under cloud all day for the second day on the trot. Yesterday morning was fantastic but by 10am we were back in the cloud. If you've got the sunshine send a bit up North...pretty please!!!!

After all the sample making for Sheena's brilliant POW that lasted all of 4 days!! I had a pile of scraps from the gorgeous paper pad left so thought I'd use them up on a layout. I haven't scrapbooked for ages so really enjoyed creating this. The photo was from the retreat we went on up in Newcastle back in May and it brought back such happy memories.


Sheena kept whipping her camera out and Diane was insistent that she needed to put some lippy on before any photos were taken.

I stamped the background with some of the Oriental stamps and distressed the edges but everything else is from the lush paper pad.

Hopefully, fingers crossed I will be back tomorrow for WOYWW, I am having major withdrawal symptoms after missing it for months so I'll see you there.

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your Tuesday evening.

Thursday 19 September 2013

A Flurry of Blossom

Evening folks.

Just one more sleep before Sheena hits our screen with her Pick Of The Week. She showed a photo of all the demos she's got planned for the next week on her Facebook page today and it looks like we are going to be in for a treat, there is a huge pile of them.

Here's my sneaky peek for today. If you are regular visitors you'll have seen this technique before but it's my all time favourite and works with so many stamps, I love trying out new colour combinations.



H20's have been used for everything from the water sprayed background to the stamped flowers. They give an amazing shimmer.



I finished the card by black embossing the beautiful verse and Flower symbol and the edges. The blossoms build up so well you could make this as big as you wanted. I might have to try it again on a larger scale to go in a frame.

I hope you've managed to catch up with the rest of the Inkoids, their work is absolutely amazing, we have such talented crafters and artists on the team.

Thanks for stopping by.

Wednesday 18 September 2013

Sneaky Peek of Sheena's Pick Of The Week!!!!

Afternoon folks. The sun's out, hurray!!! They are even promising a bit more summer next week. Happy Days.

Just popping by with some big news. Sheena's Pick of The Weekend has grown into a Pick of the Week which is very exciting. Her first shows are this Friday, 12 noon, 3pm and 5pm so I hope you can catch one.

My sneaky peek today is from another beautiful plate which has a huge weeping willow.


I stamped it in various blue distress inks and triple embossed it to make it look like a tile. The embossed water panels were painted with Rainy Days Radiant rains and have a lovely shimmer which the photo doesn't pick up unfortunately. I love this water embossing folder, it's one of those that will look good with any sort of stamp I think.

Well, that's me for today so thanks for stopping by. I hope your week is going well, only two more days until the weekend, where do the days go too?

Happy Crafting

Tuesday 17 September 2013

A Bit More Oriental Peeking

Evening folks. I hope you've had a good day. It's been miserable here, cold and wet, so I've made the most of the weather and been holed up in my craft room all day trying to create some order from the chaos.

Before "Bake Off" starts on the TV though I thought I'd better share my next sneaky peek of Sheena's new Oriental collection which she will be launching as a Pick of the Weekend this Friday. The first show is 8am and there are plenty more over the three days, although I have a feeling these stamps won't hang around for long, they are gorgeous.


For this one I used Mown Grass and Salty Ocean distress inks. I love this colour combination. The flowers were bleached out with water and then re painted with pearly H20's. I rubbed a little bit of distress ink over the embossing folder to pick out the design.

The rest of the DT have created some stunning work and if you want to have a look pop over to Sheena's website HERE where you can find a link to everyones blogs.

Thanks for stopping by.


Monday 16 September 2013

A Sheena Sneaky Peek

Morning folks. Hope you are keeping warm today. Our heating came on for the first time this morning so it must be chilly. At least the sun is shining in between the showers so it's not all bad.

Sheena has been keeping her team of Inkoids very busy lately, hence my lack of blogging activity. She has a big launch on C&C this Friday of a stunning set of new stamps, all Oriental in style, along with embossing folders and gorgeous papers. They have been an absolute joy to work with and the team have created some stunning samples.

Here's a first sneaky peek at one of mine.

I used the blossom stamp, which has become a firm favourite along with the blossom and water embossing folder and some matching paper. The background was created with a solid blossom stamp on the same plate and some H20's.


I will be back later in the week with some more so thanks for stopping by and Happy Crafting.

Thursday 12 September 2013

A Bit More Tangling

Afternoon folks.

Looks like autumn has arrived now. It's turned really chilly hasn't it? I've even had to put some soaks on.

I've been spending the last couple of weeks deep under a pile of DT work that I can't share with you yet, but after my last Zentangle attempt, Sheena asked me to do a couple more for her Create and Craft shows this Saturday, 11am and 5pm which will be featuring the gorgeous Floral stamps that were launched a few months ago.

These are what I came up with.




Still not sure I have the patience to do zentangling on a regular basis but it certainly passes the time, the hours flew!!

Rest assured I am definitely back with the inks and paints now and am a very happy girl.

Thanks for stopping by.

Friday 30 August 2013

In A Bit Of A Tangle

Afternoon folks. I hope you are all keeping well and enjoying this lovely long summer we are having. It's another beautiful day here in Yorkshire and I'm just heading outside into the garden again. Lets hope it continues for a while yet, although while the sun shines, little crafting gets done in The Craft Garden until it gets dark.

I've been having a play with Zentangling this week which is definitely something new for me and this is the result.


I used Sheena's Daffodil stamps from the Floral range as they are nice and big and kept the tangles fairly simple being a complete beginner. It's taken me absolutely ages, nearly three nights in total but I'm quite pleased with the results. I'm not sure I've got the patience to do it on a regular basis but I've enjoyed doing something completely outside my comfort zone for once.

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the weekend whatever you are up too.