Getting Messy

How's your weekend going so far, good I hope. It's been wet and gloomy here and all the snow has finally gone in the valley although there's plenty still on the hills. It just looks very soggy and wet. I know, we're never pleased are we.

One of the things I wanted to do this year is make more practical things rather than just cards all the time that sit in boxes because I can't part with them, yes I know it's very silly, but I do get attached, that's why I prefer scrapbooking, I don't have to give those away!!

One of my blogging buddies Lesley has a lovely blog where she posts photos of her garden throughout the year, and layouts she has done and she is going to keep a journal with photos in instead this year. I loved that idea and thought I'd do the same. I always keep a note of what has done well in the garden and what I need to do but the idea of making a book and including photos really appealed.

I then saw the article in this months Craft Stamper about making a journal and hey presto I thought, that's perfect. I'll make my own.

With this is mind I spent a lovely morning yesterday playing with my glimmer mists and screens to make the covers and pages for my book. Here they all are drying on the kitchen surfaces while I had my lunch!!


It's coming together today so hopefully tomorrow, I'll be able to show you the finished article. I can't wait to get filling it in.

Thank you for stopping by. Enjoy your Sunday.

Birds and Pearls

Brrr it's so cold isn't it and we've had no daylight here today, it's been dark, damp and foggy all day so apologies for the photos tonight, I've scanned one and photoed the other with flash to get the best results but nothing like taking them in daylight.

Before I get going with this post I must just say a huge thank you for your support, I was feeling really bad over that cake but I know I did the right thing. Family time is so precious at anytime but more so at Christmas.

Following my last post, I have been asked whether the clear embossing powder sticks to the mica powdered card from the original inking. I made the card such a long time ago I couldn't honestly answer 100% so I had another go last night and found out two things, yes the clear EP sticks but to get the best results with the mica powder you need to use watercolour paper. Not sure why this is but ordinary card just doesn't work. So here are step by step instructions.

1) Cut a piece of watercolour paper the required design size you want.

2) Liberally ink with versamark or similar.

3) Apply mica powders with a large brush until they cover the paper really well.

4) Ink a stamp with the versamark and stamp into the powder. This will remove it to show the stamped design (If you are really organised and have a piece of triple embossing to hand stamp the mica powdered stamp into this so as not to waste it). Otherwise clean the stamp each time before reinking & restamping into the powder

5) Sprinkle clear EP over the whole area and heat emboss from underneath to get a glossy finish.

Hope this helps.

Here is the piece I did last night and a piece of triple embossed chipboard I made after stamping the dragonfly card in the last post.


The Tag It On challenge theme this week is birds and this is what I came up with.


The tag was glimmer misted with various shades of pink. The Crafty Individuals stamp was inked in Brilliance pearlescent Ivy and Crimson and clear embossed. The little hearts were then decoupaged.

I realised after I'd finished it that the stamp is very swirly so I've added some pearls and am also entering it into the Allsorts challenge. Their theme is swirls and pearls this week. You have to be a speedy crafter at this time of year when time is so precious so hope this is ok.

Thank you as always for stopping by and I hope you are all wrapping up well and keeping warm.

Feeling Very Honoured

Yes...I am very honoured today to be the guest designer on Tuesday Taggers after winning the Handbags and Gladrags challenge a few weeks ago.

This is the card I made for them which had to include a Christmas Tree.


This is where the peel off got used from the last card. I sprayed Key Lime, Starfish and gold glimmer mists all over it and let the card dry thoroughly. Crimson brilliance ink was then gently rubbed over just to highlight the design a bit more before the peel off was removed. I coloured some of the baubles with a gold gel pen and added stickles and some gems. The BP was Dovecraft again I think.


I'm pedalling very hard to try and keep up with everything at the minute. Those dreaded Christmas cards have been finished at last. The problem was I didn't like what I'd done and didn't know how to rectify them. A bit of ribbon and a greeting sorted the problem.

My JYC has been started but I still want to have a go at Tim's tags and those gorgeous roses that Brenda has shown in a brilliant tutorial today. You can see them here.

Then there's housework, Christmas preparations and all the other usual jobs to be done. I really don't know how you hardworking Bloggers find time to do everything AND go to work!!

Happy Crafting and thank you for stopping by.

For The Love Of Grunge!!

What a week.

People always say to me, oh you must have so much free time now you don't go out to work!! If only they knew. I think I'm far busier now than when I did work everyday and you don't clock off and relax at 5pm either. Not that I'm complaining, I love being at home, but this week has been mad.

I was a parent helper on Wednesday taking 50 children to the theatre in Bradford to see The Gruffolo which was fantastic. The kids loved it and joined in heartily and I think the grown ups enjoyed it just as much. It was so cleverly done, full of humour and catchy songs. We then went to the park for a picnic and a walk. The weather was cloudy but it stayed fine so was a lovely day out and the kids are great fun. I love helping out but it's really tiring. I was asleep in front of the telly by 8pm!!!!

Yesterday was a visit to the dentist, shopping and Parents Evening. I'm glad all thats over. Teachers (apologises to all you teachers out there) have a knack at making you feel inadequate as a parent sometimes. It may be partly down to the fact that Freya goes to the same school as I did many moons ago and some of the same teachers are still there. You never loose that feeling of being a lesser being I suppose.

Then to cap it all, we had to call the TV repair man out, we have a very fetching pink line down the middle of our TV and when he came this morning he said it has to be taken away to see if they can repair it which means we're back to watching a portable for a week. We don't watch it that much but I love my Strictly Come Dancing and it'll be weird to watch it on a a little TV. Still we'll manage, it's hardly a problem in the scheme of things.

Oh dear, I do seem to have had a moan this morning, I'm so sorry, some of you are having really difficult days I know so I have nothing to complain about.

So down to crafty things!! I've just discovered the fantastic grungeboard. What wonderful stuff. There is no limit to what you can do with it and it feels and smells just like leather.

I've started off with having a go at making some jewellery with it, inspired by the watch straps Sheena Douglas made on Create and Craft some weeks ago and these are the results.


The circles were cut using Nestabilities. They didn't cut right through so I finished off with a craft knife but you still end up with a perfect circle which is impossible to get with scissors. I embossed them with the swirls folder and then spritzed with glimmer mist and over sprayed with gold spray to get a lovely sheen. The swirls were highlighted with a matching gel pen. You can play to your hearts content, it was great fun. I punched a hole with a crop o dile and attached a brad to strengthen the hole.


For this one I drew round one of the leaf designs on the Elusive Images Diamante Delights sheet, cut it out, embossed and sprayed it in the same way.


The last ones were stamped with the same stamp and then inked with distress ink. I then overstamped the design and embossed to get a bit of a shine. The green one had copper cosmic shimmer sprayed on it.

I like the rougher surface of these, they look like leather in real life.

I have played with other things but I'll save these for another day. I've rambled on enough today and I don't want to bore you to tears.

Thanks as always for visiting and have a great weekend whatever you are doing.

Framed

I hope your week is going well so far. I just want to know where the sunshine is they promised us from today onwards. It's been cold and grey here but dry so I suppose we need to be grateful for that!

On our crafty trip to Harrogate the other week, amongst all the lovely things we saw that provided bags of inspiration, the one that stuck in my mind was on the Once Upon A stamp stand where they had made decorative frames by putting different shaped Nestabilities together. They were fantastic and another use for these wonderful must have craft items. My sister took some photos for me for future reference but I had to have a go as soon as I got home, so these are from memory.


The first one was sprayed with turquoise, meadow green and gold glimmer mists. The green layers were cuttlebugged with the textile folder and denim distress ink rubbed over to highlight the embossing which was then used to stamp the swirls on the turquoise layer and then clear embossed. I then dipped the edge of each layer in clear ink and gold embossed to give a random frame.


The dragonfly was stamped on acetate twice and cut out with stickles added. I then cut out just the wings on the second one and attached them with silicone glue. Two holes were put through the top with the crop o dile and brads added and gold wire put through to create a hanger.


The second was layered up in the opposite way with the scalloped square as the base and the red layers were run through the cuttlebug. I used Candy Apple Red and Suede Glimmer mists and ran Walnut ink distress ink around all the edges and used it to stamp the swirls. The flower was sprayed with gold glimmer mist and the gems added. As usual with glimmer mists the photos don't do the glimmer justice, they really do sparkle.


Now I've got my hands on the photos I shall have another go but I think the sky's the limit with these, you could do anything, the only problem is it makes you want lots of new shapes to play with.

Before I sign off tonight I'd just like to send my blogging friend Brenda lots of love for her surgery tomorrow. My thoughts are with you Brenda.

Thanks as always for visiting.

Up Up and Away

What a way to start a Monday morning. I was drinking my tea, minding my own business listening to the radio when dear old Terry W made his announcement about leaving the Breakfast Show. Now I know this is not earth shattering in the scheme of things but I am one of those people who was brought up with Tel in the'70's, he then accompanied me to work in the 90's and since 2001, when I became a stay at home Mum has got us going every morning with many a smile. He will be sorely missed in this household. Mornings will never be quite the same. We wish you well Terry.

Now down to crafty things. The theme for this weeks Tag It On challenge is Up Up and Away. My first thought was hot air balloons, but I have no stamps of them so I'm afraid I resorted to the trusty dragonflies again.


I glimmer misted the background and then stamped the Stamptivity lady in dark blue brilliance ink. I silver embossed some more of the flowers on the same stamp on the bottom, embossed some dragonflies on scrap card and cut them out and attached them and then added a bit more foliage in black down the side.


Freya has also done a tag this week with a different lady from the same sheet. She painted her background with cosmic shimmer watercolours and stamped just the lady (missing of the rest of the stamp) with crimson brilliance and the butterflies with the Marvy shades of sunset blending blox.

Thank you so much for stopping by.

Just One of Those Days

It's back to school day for us and there was one little girl who wasn't too keen to go. I think she's enjoyed her Summer holidays, which I'm pleased about, six weeks can be a long time to keep children entertained as I'm sure many of you are only too aware.

Anyway, the rain was lashing on the window and bed pulled but off up the hill we went and she was soon smiling once she was back with her friends.

I came home to cleaning and two bored cats who are stuck in doors until the rain at least eases off a bit. I had laid a scrapbook layout out last night and left it on the dining table to be stuck down today and I just happened to glance at it as I walked past and thought "why is that photo all curly?". When I picked it up it was all wet, as was the rest of the layout. My dear cats chasing each other had knocked over a glass of blackcurrant squash left on the table from breakfast all over the place. Yes I know, my fault for leaving the glass there!!!!!

I now have bits of paper all over the place drying to see what I can salvage, I shall probably end up having to start again. Just one of those days!!!!


As I have nothing new to show you today I thought I'd show you a layout I did just before we went on holiday. I'd seen some photos taken of big rain drops in a magazine recently and wanted to have a go myself and these were the result. I thought they were a good way of doing a layout about the wet summer. Trouble was we spent days walking round singing "Drip drip drop little April Showers" while it was on the table, it was very catching.


The title was taken from a free digital kit I've acquired at some time. I typed the title in and then printed it off and cut it out. It was coloured with watercolour pencils and then the whole lot was covered with glossy accents. The journalling was written with a Sharpie pen on acetate.

The backing papers were from DCWV, the All Dressed Up stack and I also used some green mirri card and a piece of green glimmer misted card to mat the photos onto. The GM drops look like rain drops in real life.


The flowers and swirls were cut with a Sissix flower die using scraps of patterned paper and gems just added a bit of bling.

Thank you for stopping by and I hope everyone who has returned to school today or this week, young and slightly older, have gone on OK.

Crafty Sunday

Yet again I sit here typing listening to the rain. Still mustn't grumble, we had a wonderful day out in The Lake District again yesterday and the sun shone all day. We had planned to visit Sizergh Castle near Kendal, trying to avoid the really popular areas as the traffic was very heavy and we didn't want to sit in the car all day when the weather was so nice.

Unfortunately, the castle was closed on a Saturday!!!! How daft is that. Well let's try Levens Hall I suggested, that's only 5 minutes away. Guess what, that is closed on a Saturday too!!!! Not to be put off we headed for Lakeside and the Aquarium and had a really lovely day. We had lunch overlooking the lake, saw a steam train, enjoyed the Aquarium and then went to look round the other side of the bay where we could see lots of people and discovered Fell Foot. This is National Trust parkland with lovely access to the lake, the children were all paddling quite safely while parents picniced on the grass. There are lots of boats moored and beautiful views, well worth a visit if you are ever in the area. We had a very welcome pot of tea and yummy cakes sat outside on a terrace right on the lake enjoying the last of the afternoon sunshine. Pure Bliss. I had to be dragged away for the drive home!!

We were so glad we made the most of the weather yesterday because it's been wet, windy and cool all day here. Perfect crafting weather and for once I had a really productive afternoon.


For weeks now I've been trying to find time to enter the Tuesday Taggers challenge, but just somehow always ran out of time so this week when I saw it was Swirls and Curls I was adamant I would have a go and so here is yet another tag!!! I promise something different next time.

I used part of a tattered angels mask to get a swirl on the edge and over sprayed with sapphire glimmer mist and the stamped round with a swirly inchy in faded jeans distress ink and then again with my favourite Heidi Grace swirl in black. The wording was from elusive images and the chipboard swirl was inked with brilliance pearlescent orchid and a dark pink chalk ink.

I hope you all had a lovely weekend and lets hope the sun is back tomorrow.

Dots and Swirls

This weeks Dragonsdream TIO challenge is Pink swirls and dots to celebrate the anniversary of the moon landing and the eclipse earlier in the week.

Because it's been such a wet start to the summer holidays here we haven't been out much so decided to do some crafting yesterday afternoon and Freya asked if she could make a tag too, so we have two entries this week.

Both were cuttlebugged with the swirls folder and then sprayed with pink shades of glimmer mist, Freya had three and mine had two. I think hers probably came out best to show up the embossing. (Freya's is the one below)


She then stamped a creative expressions swirl down the centre and finished off with some star and dot brads.

(Mine is the one below) I stamped round the edge with a different creative expression swirl using pink and crimson brilliance inks. Different sized holes were punched with my crop o dile and glitter paper stuck behind with the holes outlined to make them stand out a bit and I then added different sized brads for two different types of dots.
I'd lost the embossing by this time so I tried to highlight it a bit with brushed out felt tip.


I have to be honest and say I'm not sure about the end result but the moon's surface is a mishmash so it probably works ok for what it is supposed to represent.

Freya thoroughly enjoyed joining in the challenge and I'm sure it probably won't be the last time during the summer. It made for a nice afternoon of crafting together.

By the way, those of you waiting for cake pics. I will post them after the weekend when the recipients have had time to see and eat them!!!!

Decluttering The Garden

My Dragonsdream blog friend Frankie invited me to look at her slide show of her beautiful garden last week. I had a lovely time browsing and was very envious of the order and space she has created, which shows her stunning bamboos, maples and wisteria, all my favourites. It looks a serene and calming garden, unlike my own jungle stuffed with as many plants as possible.

Why am I telling you this, you might ask, well I went into the garden on Saturday afternoon, very dischuffed with what I saw and decided to go a bit mad and actually take out some rather large overgrown plants so that I can actually see what is flowering and looking beautiful. By Sunday teatime, a very large honeysuckle smothering a lovely red climbing rose had gone (I still have one up another archway) and replaced with a pale pink climbing rose and a lovely but totally unpratical golden hop up an obelisk had also bitten the dust. Other plants have been dug up and divided and everything cut back and tidied up. My brown bin is full to overflowing but the difference is amazing.

After digging, climbing ladders and heaving out giant roots I had not an ounce of strength left after tea to lift any craft tools until tonight so my tag for Frankie's Tag It On challenge has been very last minute this week.


Her theme is Passion so I have done my take on it and my tag represents my passion for life. Lovely fresh, bright colours and dragonflies which somehow seem magical when you see them hovering in thin air in their brilliant suit of clothes.

I've used some Elusive design stamps and distress inks which have been applied to the stamp randomly. I stamped onto some spare paper first, spritzed the stamp with water and then stamped on the tag and I love the watercolour effect you end up with. Some Kay Carley swirls were stamped round the edge with whispers blue ink and then the dragonflies were stamped onto vellum, cut out and painted with glimmer mists, which makes them curl beautifully (thank you Brenda for this tip, I love the effect). I applied a bit of diamond stickles to their wings for a bit of bling. The wording was done on the computer.


I really will try to be a better crafter this week. I have several teachers Thank you cards to do, so no excuses!!!!

Say It With Flowers

The theme for this weeks Tag It On challenge is Say It With Flowers. The theory behind it being to celebrate the fact that we always enjoy receiving flowers. As a flower lover I love having them in the house, but usually have to buy them myself, as readers of my blog know, I have a Hubby who doesn't buy flowers feeling they are a waste of money. He does buy me other things I hasten to add.


I, however, buy flowers for other people, either when they are poorly, feeling sad, or just to say thank you for something so I have based my tag this week on that. I've kept it simple with a lightly inked background of vanilla whispers and a loose rose stamp which was from Lakeland in the good old days when they sold craft stuff. The roses are painted with cherry red glimmer mist. I choose roses because I did get a bunch of red roses from my other half on the day we got engaged! See, he can be romantic! The tag was cut free hand and added with some red organza ribbon.

Thank you as always for visiting.

Allsorts Challenge

The challenge on Allsorts this week is "Wings" which was too tempting not to have a go at.

This is what I came up with. I wanted to use my favourite Butterfly Beauties stamps again so decided to combine them with that Crafters Workshop stencil I used in the last scrapbook layout.

This time I used the stencil as a template on folded cardstock to make a shaped card. I drew round the design on the stencil and coloured it with felt pens, then spritzed it with pink bubblegum, cherry and key lime glimmer mists and went over the original design lines again just to make them stand out.

As usual I stamped the butterflies on scrap card and applied some Blimey Limey Green (what a great name) moonglow mica powder just to give them a shimmer. They were cut out and stuck on randomly with an Artylicious word of inspiration, although I did shorten it slightly.

I tried to do something a little bit different than just a standard card, the trouble was with this theme I was a bit spoilt for choice and I'm still not sure what I think about what I've done. Still I suppose that is the whole point of a challenge.

In The Style Of Tim Holtz

This is the theme of the challenge over at the Simon Says challenge. I am slowly being sucked into these challenges, Oh Dear, but when Tim Holtz is involved I find it very hard to resist.

I decided on another Tag. For me these seem the easiest medium when you just want to play and this is what I came up with.

I used a technique that Tim demonstrated on his fabulous blog where by you stamp your initial image using white acrylic paint. I chose a grungy heart. You let this dry and then spritz your colour over the top. I've used Turquoise and Suede Glimmer Mists with a hint of Gold. I let this completely dry and then inked round the edges with the trusty chestnut whispers ink. When you wipe the sponge over the painted image it wipes off any colour on top revealing the image underneath.


I stamped part of a Prima build your own swirl down the side and an Artylicious Inspirations stamp for the words in black pigment ink.

Lastly I stamped the heart again on a piece of scrap card and cut it out. It seemed a bit heavy so I decided to cut the middle out too. It was then painted with the turquoise glimmer and diamond Stickles applied. I attached it with a brad for added interest.

I don't think I've quite got enough things added to it to be completely like Tim's wonderful creations, but I love the colours and when the light catches them they really shimmer, the photos don't quite do the glimmer mists justice.


This challenge was a great excuse just to mess about and see what evolved. Great fun.

Walk Like An Egyptian

This weeks Tag It On challenge was Egyptian.

Oh did my heart sink. At least last week I could borrow some Oriental Stamps but I knew I was completely snookered this week because nobody in the family had anything Egyptian, let alone some stamps. It is just not something we do!

I was determined not to be defeated though so had a trawl through the Internet for some ideas. All I knew about Egyptian design was sand coloured and the Sphinx and they did not inspire me. I was pleasantly surprised by what I found. Lovely oranges and Turquoise and then I found the Eye of Horus, which I really liked and I was away.


This is what I have ended up with. I sprayed the tag with orange glimmer mist and traced the eye on to card, coloured it black, cut it out and stuck it on.
The border was stamped in gold brilliance ink so I managed to get a stamp on it in the end. I then coloured it with orange, navy and turquoise pens, edged it with a gold gel pen and stuck gold peel offs on each square.
The area above the eye was painted with turquoise glimmer spray and the text was printed on the computer.

These tag challenges are totally addictive and they certainly challenge you to come up with something out of your comfort zone, which I really enjoy.

Fairies at the Bottom of the Garden

Week 2 of the Dragonsdream Tag It On challenge is Fairies at the Bottom of the Garden. Perfect for a family that share their home with so many fairies. No, I have not lost the plot, regular readers will know what I mean.

Anyway, I had a rough idea of what I was going to do and had a lovely afternoon just playing with lots of stamps and glimmer mists and this is what evolved.


I sprayed the tag with Cherry Blossom glimmer mist and let it dry and then Key Lime Pie. It was then stamped with Artylicious meadow flower stamps using green colorbox chalk ink for the background and then brighter pigment inks for the thistles. I coloured the flowers in gently with pencils to make them stronger.

The fairy was a stamp I have had for years and years. I stamped and cut her out and coloured her in with Sakura stardust pens but then spent ages trying to get her on the tag. She just wasn't right with the stamping. In the end I decided to hide her so stamped another stalk and leaves for the thistle and popped her behind it. I think this worked in the end.

The words were printed off the computer onto more glimmer misted paper and inked. The edges of the whole tag were then inked with green & chestnut whisper ink.

These tag challenges are becoming quickly addictive. I lost about 3 hours somewhere yesterday afternoon and still haven't found them!!!!

A Card At Last

Well I've finally got my act together and produced a card with my cuttlebugging-told you I was a slow worker. Cards do not come naturally!!

For some reason I could not get my brain into gear and work out how to colour the embossing folder so that it left the embossed bit white like you clever people have done-----so I cheated and painted the background with Key lime glimmer mist. Well I ended up with the same result, just took a bit longer.

With the swirls I wiped over a Marvy Shades of Green Blending Blox ink pad.

The words were from my trusty Artylicious Inspirations themeplate and then I just used some green organza ribbon and gem stones as embellishments.

I shall have another go at colouring the actual embossing folder and see if I can unblock my mental block!!

SPRING CARDS

With all this lovely weather about it really makes you feel like using lovely light, bright spring colours doesn't it?

We've been having a Cuttlebug session for the last few nights. My Daughter has been making Mother's Day cards for both her Grandmas, so when my help was not required I had a play and ended up with 2 cards made from the same embossed card.

I used my favourite folder which is Stylized Flowers, and painted the image with glimmer mists, Key Lime Pie and Peach Delight. I don't use orange very much so it was nice to have a change.

I put non specific greetings on both of them so that I've always got that emergency card for any event I've forgotten. The top one was from the Artylicious Inspirations themeplate and the matting was gold mirri card which hasn't come out very well on the image. The bottom one was at bit from the "You" Embossing Folder that I just rubbed ink over and cut out.

Two cards in one night, not bad for a slow coach like me!