Another Sneaky Peek

Morning lovely Crafters. I hope I find you well this Tuesday.

As promised, here's another Sneaky Peek from Sheena's One Day Wonder on Thursday.

This one again combines the masks and stamps and of course the gorgeous Aquatints, just love playing with those. The colours are fantastic. I only have the Bright and Beautiful set and Essentials but they are so versatile you can do so much with them.

I just adore those spooky eyes!!! As always Sheena gives you lots of elements on the stamps that can be used in so many ways.

Thanks for having a peek and Happy Crafting!

Sheena's One Day Wonder

Evening all.

 Just popping by with a peek at what goodies Sheena has in store for us on her One Day Wonder on Create and Craft this Thursday. She has lots of shows throughout the day with the first one being 8am and has some gorgeous new stamps and amazing masks to tempt you. They work brilliantly together.

Here is one of my samples using the Aquatints in the background and then I have stencilled the trees using white acrylic paint. The lovely owl is coloured with pro markers.

I'll be back tomorrow with another peek so thanks for stopping by and Happy Crafting!

WOYWW 285

Morning crafters and dear WOYWW friends. Here we are at another Wednesday. The weeks are just flying aren't they?

I took my desk photo yesterday afternoon when there was some very welcome sunshine . We haven't seen that for a few weeks here in Yorkshire. Most days have been dark and dismal, typical November but not cold.

I'm working on some cards for my craft club ladies, yes it's that time again. My desk is full of stuff as always. There is a paper book tree I've been trying out and in front of that it a little wooden birdhouse I picked up for 42p. I'm planning to alter it and make it really pretty. You might also spot some decoupage amongst the debris which is the beginnings of a Christmas card. There I've said it, yes I've made a start at last.
These are the cards I'm working on, not sure what the style is called, no doubt someone out there will be able to tell me, but I decided to do a small one with just a sentiment on and a slightly larger one with a stamped and coloured design. Not everyone likes the same thing so I try to make sure they can choose what they make.

Well, that's me today. If you want to join in this lovely weekly desk hop, then pop over to see Julia HERE. 

I'll be round to have a look at what you've been up too just as soon as I've made a fresh cuppa.

Thanks for stopping by, have a great Wednesday and Happy Crafting.

WOYWW 284

Morning to all my WOYWW friends from a dismal Yorkshire. It's been typical November weather this week, but then it's perfect for crafting so I'm not complaining.

This was my desk as of yesterday.

We have been Nuno felting at night school and as always I never get finished, story of my life, so here I am finishing off my scarf. If you haven't heard of nuno felting, I must admit I hadn't until recently, it's wet felting fibres onto a piece of silk and we have been making a scarf. My bamboo blind isn't long enough so it's a bit fiddly to get the whole length properly felted but I think I got there in the end. I'm happy with the results anyway.

You may remember that I was prepping a hanger for my craft club ladies last week. Well, this is it finished.

Don't look too closely as it's a bit wonky and I did find that using scrapbooking card from a paper pad was too thick to roll properly so I took thinner stuff for my ladies and they did a lovely job of theirs and were very pleased with the results which makes me one happy bunny.

Well that's me today. If you want to share your desk with some lovely people then pop over to see the lovely Julia, HERE.

I will be round later to see what you've been up to so have a great Wednesday and Happy Crafting.

WOYWW 283

Morning lovely crafters and dear WOYWW friends. Sorry I was absent again last week. We were decorating our lounge, which is our main room and took all week to strip, paint and re wallpaper but we are all done now and it looks lovely, so I am back and raring to desk hop.

Here's my desk this morning.

I've been trying out a project to teach my craft group on Thursday evening. On my mat is a Christmas hanger I found on Pinterest. When you have to come up with new projects every fortnight and not necessarily papercraft, I don't know what I'd do without Pinterest for ideas. Anyway, I'm quite pleased with this so need to start prepping it now. You'll have to excuse the tip of my desk.....just how many pots of glue does one crafter need???????

I thought I'd also share a photo of my garden taken last Friday. You'd think it was still mid summer wouldn't you. My favourite rose has started to flower again and smells wonderful and all the bedding is still going strong, whether it will be after this week is another story. I may have to pop it all in the greenhouse to avoid the frosts that are forecast.

If you want to join in the wonderful world of WOYWW then pop over to see the lovely Julia, HERE.

Well, that's me this week. I'm off to work now so will be round to see what you've all been up too a little bit later on.

Have a great Wednesday and Happy Crafting.

Just a Note

Evening lovely crafting friends.

I'm just whizzing by amidst decorating chaos to let you know that the very talented Sheena Douglass will be back on your Create and Craft screens on Saturday and Sunday with another weekender. She will be playing with lots of Pebeo mixed media goodies and has some very exciting things up her sleeves. The first show is on Saturday at 9am.

I didn't have time to play with the new mediums due to being up to my eyes in wallpaper and paint but did get to play with the luscious new stamps.

Here are a couple of my samples using both the wonderful, HUGE flower stamps combined with some geometrical shapes from the second set. These were designed for the mediums but work brilliantly for cards too.

This first one was inspired when I saw Leann Chivers colouring on Kraft cards with the Spectrum Noir pencils after first painting out the flowers with watered down white acrylic. I have to say I'm not much of a pen colourer but absolutely loved the pencils and completely lost myself for ages.

This second sample is the tried and trusted bleached distress ink technique but I added some colour back into the flowers with the pencils, can you tell I'm a fan??

I hope you manage to catch some of the shows. I shall be glued as I've seen what the rest of the DT have been creating with the new mediums and have been blown away.

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Crafting

WOYWW 281

Morning crafters and dear WOYWW friends. It was so good to be back amongst all you deskers last week. I really enjoyed catching up with everyone so I'm back for more today even though I have to go to work very soon.

Here's my desk as of last night.

I am keeping up with my Project Life....just. I might be a month or so behind but all the photos and journalling are done so it just all needs putting together. I am amazed I've managed to keep up with this all year, I have struggled with a December journal in the past so to keep one going for nearly a year is good going for me. Mind you we love looking back at the pages and remembering stuff so it's definitely worthwhile.

And for those fellow felters out there, this is what we did at class this week, excuse the poor photo but it was really hard to get a decent shot. We dry felted a little robin. He still needs his eye!! Yesterday we went to find a fibre shop we have on our doorstep that after 40 years of living here I didn't know existed!!!! I'll tell you something, after paper crafting, felting is an incredibly cheap hobby. All this only cost £7 and that bag is stuffed with fibres. I just need time to felt it all now!!!!

Well, that's me today. If you want to share your desk with some wonderful people, then pop over to see the lovely Julia, HERE.

I'll be round to see what you've all been up to this week later on so thanks for stopping by and Happy Crafting.

WOYWW 280-A Change of Direction

Morning folks and dear WOYWW friends. I haven't shared in this lovely desk hop for months and boy have I missed it. I work on a Wednesday and although it's meant to be part time I'm usually there for a lot longer so I don't have time to visit all the desks I'd like too so don't feel it's fair to join in. This week my days have been changed so I have Wednesday at home...hurray...some desk hopping at last!!!!!

Here's my desk as of last night.

Bet that fooled you didn't it!!!! Not a bit of paper in sight. Nope. I'm wet felting!!!!!

I've started a new night school class and wanted to have a go at something completely different so am doing Creative Textiles and this week we have been wet felting which is great fun and a great work out. The idea is to then add all sorts of embroidery and beads to the felt over the next few weeks, so you may well see this develop.    Oh and if you wondered there is a very thick towel under the bamboo roll, I'm not soaking the table cloth!!!

Well, that's me today so now I need to come and see what you've all been up too.

If you've stopped by and wonder what I'm on about then pop over to see the lovely Julia HERE and join in WOYWW, it's great fun.

Have a great Wednesday and Happy Crafting!

North Meets South

Morning folks

Just stopping by to share some more makes with you made for Sheena's big Weekender starting tomorrow at 9am where the big stars will be the new Spectrum Noir Aquatints. I absolutely love playing with these and I know Sheena has even more tips and techniques up her sleeve to share so I shall be watching closely. I hope you like them as much as I do.

As I missed yesterday I'll share two more with you today.

With this first one I tried to capture the Northern Lights. Because the colours are so wet they blend so well and although can look at bit scary when wet they just to seem to work what ever you do once they dry. My kind of crafting....fool proof!!

This is a Canvas I did using both sets of stamps, a kind of North meets South. I coated the canvas with gesso first using an old credit card to create texture and although I had to add a little bit of acrylic paint just to blend the tissue I stamped the images on as the Aquatints moved slightly I kind of like the effect it created.

Well, that's me today. Enjoy your weekend whatever you are up too and Happy Crafting.

Another Taste Of Africa

Afternoon folks. Another lovely one here in Yorkshire again today. They talk of Autumn at the weekend but I'm secretly hoping this warm weather lasts just a little bit longer.

Just in case it doesn't, here is another of my samples done for Sheena's Weekender using the new Aquatints.

I used the Primary set for this one and brushed the metallic gold over the top. The colours blend effortlessly.

Sheena's show times are: Saturday 9am, 12 noon and 6pm & Sunday 11am, 2pm and 7pm so I hope you'll be able to catch some of them, the samples the rest of the DT have created are stunning.

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Crafting.

Some Exciting News!!!!!

Afternoon folks. Isn't it another glorious day. I have a million and one things to do but the sun was so glorious I took a book out into the sunshine for an hour...bliss.

Sorry I've been a bit quiet on the blogging front lately. I've been buried in my craft room playing with some fantastic new products called Spectrum Noir Aquatints which Sheena is launching in a Weekender on Create and Craft this weekend. Once I have the exact times, I'll let you know but there will be lots of shows both on Saturday and Sunday. She also has some fantastic new stamps to go with the Aquatints and I've been lucky enough to play with both sets.

Here is a sneaky peek of one from each set to give you an idea of what delights you have in store.

Now...what are Aquatints I hear you ask. Well, they are very vibrant pots of liquid watercolour which you can do all sorts with. We have been lucky enough to have had them to play with for sometime and have definitely put them through their paces. They will do all that Distress Inks will do so you can blend them and water spatter and faux bleach with them. There are also metallics in there too which I've used on both the samples above. If you like colour you are definitely going to Love these.

I'll be back tomorrow with some more cards so thanks for stopping by and Happy Crafting.

Another Sneaky Peak

Hello again folks.

I'm just stopping by again with another peek at the stamps Sheena will be launching tomorrow at 9am. As promised yesterday this is the last of the set of 3 I received and even my Hubby was excited when he saw this lovely dragon stamp.

He's a big dragon fan being a computer gamer nut for all those World of Warcraft type of games, not my thing at all but at least now I'll have the right stamp to make him birthday cards in future.

I painted this dragon with the Luminarte Silks and teamed it with the first set of Magical stamps.

The other set of 3 stamps include a Phoenix, New York Skyline and planets and an Angel. They really are something just a bit different.

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the weekend, we are nearly there again, don't these weeks just fly by?

Happy Crafting

A Spooky Little Number

Afternoon folks. No sun here today, just greyness, but it's still very mild.

As promised yesterday here's another of my samples from Sheena's new "Magical" stamps. Those of you who know me well know I don't do Halloween but I had great fun with this galleon. It reminds me of something from Pirates of the Caribbean.

The background is all distress inks and I faux bleached the boat and added lots of white pencil and pen.

Short and sweet today but I'll be back tomorrow with the last of the three sets of stamps which is a gorgeous dragon.

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Crafting.

A Little Bit Magical

Afternoon folks. I hope you are still enjoying the sunshine. It's been slow to break through here today but we've had a glorious few hours this afternoon. I'm loving this extended summer. Long may it continue.

I've just popped by to let you know Sheena will be back on your screens on C&C on 19th September at 9am. She only has the one show so set your record buttons!! She is releasing some gorgeous new " A Little Bit Magical"  stamps and I have absolutely loved working with these.

Here is one of the samples I made using the mermaid plate.

She has been coloured with Spectrum Noir pens and the background is all distress inks. I created the reflection by stamping onto acetate and then rubbing that image onto the card.

I shall be back tomorrow to share another of the plates. If you love stamps that are just that little bit different you are going to love these sets.

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Crafting.

A Bit More Christmas

Afternoon everyone. Isn't this Indian Summer just wonderful? I am supposed to be in my craft room disappearing under samples but I'm afraid while this weather lasts I'm spending much time in the garden and then having to craft late into the night to meet deadlines!! I have no will power but at this time of the year every sunny day is a bonus. I hope you are managing to enjoy it too.

I'm just popping by to share a couple of new samples I made for Sheena's shows on C&C tomorrow at 8am and 4pm where she is revisiting some of the beautiful Christmas stamps.

This is my first attempt at a candle. It was a scented one so filled my craft room with a lovely smell when I heated it up to put the images on.

I also made a tag/bookmark to go with it using the rest of the tissue paper images from the candle. It's the first time I've tried applying an image to a stamped background using tissue paper and a matt medium and it worked a treat. I shall definitely be experimenting more with this.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a lovely weekend.

Happy Crafting!

Experimenting With Mixed Media

Afternoon lovely crafty friends. Phew I haven't been on here for ages. Blogger lost all the blogs I follow for weeks and although they said they would return eventually of their own accord I felt completely adrift as I couldn't see what everyone was up too. Well last night, hurray, you all returned, where have you been?? I have missed you terribly.

Just to prove I haven't been craftless as well as friendless, I wanted to share with you a canvas I've been playing with.

I'm a big fan of Finnabair and have wanted to try her style for a long time but haven't really known where to start but after getting some inspiration from Pinterest I had a go.

I enjoyed rummaging through stuff I've had for years and actually using it, all those things that have gone out of fashion or you wonder why on earth you bought them, it was very good therapy.

I painted everything with black gesso and then had a compete panic that I'd completely ruined it

but once I started to apply acrylic paints, followed by some Luminarte silk paints and Glimmer mists followed by some gilding wax I was quite pleased. There are areas I don't like and things I would definitely do differently next time but it was a good learning exercise and ages since I've been able to play just for the sake of it. I must do it more.

Right I need to catch up with all the posts I've missed so hopefully I'll see you at a blog near you very soon.

Thanks for popping by and Happy Crafting.

A Peaceful Easy Morning

Hello everyone from a very soggy Yorkshire today. I hate that it keeps us indoors but the garden certainly does need it, my poor flowers are looking decidedly parched.

I've just popped by today to share my latest makes for Sheena Douglass who has another launch of some new stamps on C&C next Tuesday at 1pm and 7pm.

There are lots of images along with the main one so that you can make up different scenes. I coloured this one with H20's and used white gesso to create some summery clouds.

If you have time have a look what the rest of the DT have created. You'll be able to spot the other stamp sheet, which, if you have a steam train enthusiast in your lives will be perfect.

Thanks for stopping by and Happy Crafting.

Rooftops

Happy  Monday everyone. We are on the first day of our 6 weeks holiday. I love the fact that I break up when DD does, especially when the weather is a stunning as it is this morning.

Even though I am off work I was still up at the crack of dawn to catch Sheena's first show on C&C this morning. The samples the team have made looked amazing.

I'm sharing my favourite make with you this morning. There are times when you have an idea and it works out better than you imagined. This card was one of those.

Easy Peasey. Just Antique Linen for the church, Vintage Photo for the roof tops and Walnut stain with a touch of Tumbled Glass for the sky. The background is embossed using just the snowflake part of the Wellies embossing folder with more Vintage Photo Distress Ink applied.

Right I must fly this morning, it's my Mum's birthday today and we are taking her out for the day so enjoy your week whatever you are up to and Happy Crafting.

Oh Deer...another Sneaky Peek!

Afternoon folks. Well the rain has finally stopped here and the sun is out again. Thankfully, we missed all the storms but it's still very warm and sticky.

I've just popped in for another Sneaky Peek from Sheena's 4 Day Deal starting next Monday.

These lovely dear and trees are on the same stamp plate as the couple from yesterday. I stamped the trees and clear embossed them before adding more in Chipped Sapphire Distress ink and then masking a moon. Once more inks are added to the sky the clear embossed trees act as a resist. The deer are stamped in Gathered Twigs which is painted out a bit with water, which is a very easy way of colouring them.

I shall be back tomorrow with a look at the other stamp set, which, if you've seen any of the other samples, you will know is gorgeous.

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your Saturday evening.

A Sneaky Peek Of Sheena's 4 Day Deal

Morning folks. I hope you are all coping with this very sticky, humid day. I know some of you have had some fantastic storms but here in Yorkshire it is still very sultry, although there is a good breeze which is helping.

I'm just popping by to let you now that Sheena Douglass is launching a 4 Day Deal on C&C next Monday with some more new gorgeous Christmas stamps, although saying that, they could be used at other times of the year too, depending on how you use them, so they are very versatile. There will also be 8 new Embossing Folders.    

Here's one of the samples I made using just the stamps.

It's all coloured using Evergreen Bough and Chipped Sapphire Distress Inks, although the umbrella is Salty Ocean and then glossed, which the photo doesn't pick up unfortunately.

The rest of the DT have created some stunning artwork so don't forget to have a look if you can. The links to all their blogs are HERE.

Thanks for stopping by today and have a great weekend.

Happy Crafting

WOYWW 266

Morning lovely crafters and dear WOYWW friends. If you want to share your desk with a bunch of lovely people too then pop over to see Julia, HERE.

This is getting to be a habit but I have no desk to share with you today.....more samples in progress that I can't share yet. The dining table where I do my pleasure crafting just contains a pile of boxes where I've been re-organising my Project Life stuff and is not interesting at all so instead I thought I'd share my Tour De France pictures from the weekend as I know there are several cycling fans amongst you...Shaz you know who you are.

I've never seen so many people out, they were 5 and 6 deep but luckily we found a good wall to stand on.

Loads of people were dressed up.

We managed to get a few freebies as the Caravane went by

And then in a flash the cyclists came along to huge cheers

 and went whizzing by and were gone.

It was an fantastic day, well a weekend really as we watched it on the TV both days and recorded it so that we could watch it back and yes....we did see ourselves!!!! Yorkshire looked stunning and the crowds every where were amazing. It was an event we are not going to forget in a hurry.

Right, I'll be round to see what you've been up to after work so see you later and Happy Crafting.

A Touch of Ivy

Bonjour lovely crafters from a very proud Yorkshire Lass tonight. What a day we've had. I will share some photos tomorrow of all the crowds that lined the Tour De France route in town today, I've never seen so many having a great time. I even managed to snap the cyclists as they whizzed by. Someone even saw The Beckhams nearby but unfortunately I missed them, lol!!!!!!

Anyway, onto crafty matters, I need to share another sneaky peek of Sheena's lovely Christmas stamps with you.

This one is a huge sentiment that will make those important quick cards when you need to make loads in a hurry. I've gold embossed it and teamed it with the Ivy corner set from last year.

Don't forget to try and catch the Craft Clinic on Monday with Sheena to see lots more lovely samples and ideas from the lady herself and the rest of The Inkoids.

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Christmas In July mixed up with the TDF!!

Afternoon lovely crafters. I'm waving from a very excited Yorkshire as we prepare for the Tour De France tomorrow. Otley has gone totally mad, it's full of cyclists and people today and the shops are running out of food as no deliveries are being made and the roads are closing tonight until Sunday, good job we are well stocked! Apparently it takes over an hour to do a 5 mile journey along to Ilkley, not that we tried it, with all the cyclists trying out the route. We saw Chris Froome and the sky team whizzing by yesterday. The town looks totally amazing though and is full of yellow bikes, flowers and bunting and all the pubs have been re named in French.  I'll be waving madly tomorrow so look out for us on the TV!!!!

Now onto crafty matters. Our Sheena is launching some Christmas stamps on C&C on Monday where she is doing the 2 hour Craft Clinic at 11am. There are 4 sets in total and they are just lovely.

This is one of the samples I made, it's strange getting into the Christmas spirit when it sweltering outside but I enjoyed playing.

One of the sets is a set of baubles with all the pieces separately so that you can add the collars and the decorations as you wish. I stamped mine onto Christmas paper, added glossy accents and glitter and the background is created from another of the sets which has pine branches and music notes on stamped onto Kraft card.

I'll be back tomorrow with another sample or too so enjoy your Friday whatever you are up too and Au Revoir!!

WOYWW 264

Morning lovely crafters and dear WOYWW friends. Looks like the hot weather has deserted us after a gorgeous few weeks. I must admit it means the housework will get done, when the sun is shining it's just too tempting to be outside.

Although I'm joining in with WOYWW this week, I have no desk to show you. The dreaded C word has landed in my craft room but it's nothing I can share at the minute, just lots of samples in progress.

Instead I'm sharing the lovely collection of ATC's I received even though I didn't officially join in the birthday celebrations.

Thank you to Sandra De, LLJ, Diane and Sam, you are all very kind.

I also wanted to share some photos I've taken around town. We are preparing for the great excitement of The Tour De France on 5th July. It is coming right through the centre of town and for the last month or so yellow bikes have appeared everywhere and the flowers look fantastic.

This week we have flags flying and all the shop windows have been painted with Tour De France images.

It's going to be a real spectacle and despite the fact that the roads in every direction are totally closed for the whole day, we won't care as we will hopefully have a roadside viewing spot within walking distance of home.

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

I hope you will forgive my lack of desk but I'll be around to have a look at yours when I get in from work so thanks for stopping round and Happy Crafting.

WOYWW 263

Morning all. It's lovely to get back to WOYWW. I've swapped my days to work so have a Wednesday to myself at last....and the sun is shining again so what could be better, apart from hopping round a few desks.

First things first, I would just like to wish our esteemed leader Julia a speedy recovery after her Spanish adventures. It's good to see you home safe and sound, Julia.

Now, my desk as of last night. I am sharing it with my daughter.

We have been playing with some Lavinia stamps together. She had to make a birthday card for her Grandma yesterday and these came out and now there's no stopping her. You can see the pile on the table there. You can also see my Project Life things, I'm just about managing to keep up with my documented weeks. Hopefully I'll get some done later.

Here are a couple of Lavinia cards I made. I intend to have more of a play today while DD is at school.

You might also remember last time I joined the register I was in the middle of painting our new bathroom. Well, it's all finished now so here's a quick picture. We love it. A grown up bathroom at last.

I revamped the pine bathroom cabinet too. My Hubby thinks it's very funny.

If you want to join in the WOYWW fun then pop over HERE and see what it's all about.

I'm off to make a cuppa now and then I'll be round to see what you've been up too so enjoy your day and Happy Crafting.

My Birds Samples For Sheena

Morning folks from a very wet, gloomy Yorkshire. What a day after glorious sunshine yesterday. You really have to make the most of the nice days when you get them at the minute don't you?

I'm just popping by this morning to share the rest of my samples for Sheena's shows yesterday. I hope you managed to catch one of them. I had meant to share them with you earlier in the week but I was struck down with a horrible virus and had hay fever on top so have felt pretty rotten all week.

This first one is all distress inks.

A wall hanging on cardboard done with Luminarte silks. The birds are on acetate and coloured with Alcohol markers.

And these shrink plastic earrings that my Mum helped me with, I am a complete novice when it comes to jewellery but I think I need to learn

went into this wooden box which was again painted and stamped with Luminarte Silks.

I hope you like them.

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your weekend whatever you are up to.

Happy Crafting.