SSC 100

We made some tags at Craft Den last week and as usual I didn't finish mine, but for once I managed to finish it off at home.  Rather like the result, so am going to enter it into Hels Sunday Stamper challenge.

Started with a chipboard tag, covered half with TSS metal in pink, other half I used Viva Terra, painted the terra with Espresso acrylic, also put some of this onto metal, then wiped it off.  Swiped some Viva precious metal paint in blackberry over painted terra.  Made a tape sandwich with new Paperartsy bird die with brown TSS metal, put through Big Shot in a Cuttle Bug folder.  Finished off with a T!m flourish painted with Espresso, T!m tag and corner piece, added sentiment.  All ingredients used can be found at Craft Den.  

Look what I've got

When my friend Jill arrived yesterday she brought me an old newspaper she had found around her house, as you do.  I couldn't believe it!  It was an issue of The Times dated Monday 27 March 1882.  She thought I could cut it up and use it.  Cut it up, has the woman gone mad????  So thought I'd scan a couple of bits and share it with you all.  Please feel free to take it and use it.  Sorry it's not very straight, but it's early, sure you'll be able to still use it.

WOYWW 47

This is my desk first thing this morning.  I'm following Dina Wakley's on line journaling course which I would recommend to anyone, very informative and full of ideas.  

You can see from this photo that I'm managing to fill the storage unit that my hubby made for me, he's already got an order in from one of my friends, lol.  Stamps, Viva paints and pastes, Moleskin journal, Big shot.

I've got a friend coming today and we're going out for lunch, so she will want to have a peek in my craft room, oops, sorry studio, so have had a mad tidy and quick vac and this is the result.

Couldn't help just placing the new T!m papers on my May page for the 365 Art Journal which I am taking part in which is being organised by the wonderfully talented Kate Crane.  And don't you just love my fabby pink leather journal?  I can't stop stroking it.

Don't forget to take a look a Julia's blog to see what other people are up to.  Now you all have a good day.  I'm over the moon because I've been really ill for the last 10 days or so because I've had a terrible reaction to the chemo, so after seeing the consultant yesterday      he's stopped it and hopefully will not have to go back on it again, fingers crossed, just having to cope with the steroids and the 2 stone weight gain!!!!!

Sunday Stamper Challenge Week 100

I didn't know what to do for this special challenge, it's week 100 and Hels has got some great candy up for grabs, pop and take a peek at some stunning work.

This is one of the hearts I've made for my grandchildren.  It was very difficult to photograph because the light comes straight back when the flash hits the metal.  It's much more vibrant in real life and the gold viva paint down the left hand side really stands out,and you probably can't make out her name under the red heart.

Below is the one I've done for Charlotte, who we call Dinky.

New Home - SCD challenge 48

My friends who moved to Hampton around a year ago have moved house again!  I've told them I'm fed up of making welcome to your new home cards.  They haven't been able to find a house they like to buy so are renting, I now call all their houses, costa fortune because rents  down there are horrendous compared with up north.

Background coloured with DI's, old book page, again DI's, Wendy Vecchi stamp and sentiments, clock stamp is Paperartsy.  I decided to put a couple of tickets on seeing as they say 'northern' that's just in case they decide to come back here.  They will see the irony in that, lol.  What's interesting is that their new landlord is one of the actors on East Enders, I told them that's good enough reason not to take the house, now if the landlord had been on Coronation St, that would have been different.

I'm entering it in this weeks SCD challenge, which is 'H'.

WOYWW Week 46

I'm afraid this is a 'staged' photo as I'm working on something which I have to finish for tonight and and I don't want the recipient to see it.  So some things are works in progress....

I've decided to catalogue my stamps as I seem to be buying some of them twice, I'm sure none of you have ever done that, yeah right.  So some of my latest purchases already stamped, 365 Art Journal front, a piece of paper I bought yesterday, a magnolia image, I know not my style, painted with DI's waiting to be made into a card, and on the left hand side is a little book we made last week at Craft Den.  I used the new Sir T!m papers which are fantastic, I love them, just waiting for photos to be added then I shall give it to my sister-in-law.  

Yesterday we went to Barnsley flea market, well what an experience.  Now I don't want to upset anyway, but can you explain why someone would want to buy a pair of second hand shoes that had holes in the soles?  Anyway, I was hoping to pick up some interesting second hand books, particularly with tables in.  When I explained this to Maurice he said he'd got some old text books from his student days which I could have.  Couldn't wait to get home and get my hands on them.  This is one of them...

He's written his name and the year on the inside cover, bless.  5/- was a lot of money in 1961.  Besides lots of pages of tables, there are adverts and I think the one on the right hand side is brilliant

I love the book so much that I don't want to destroy it by using any of the pages, so will have to go searching again.

Hope you all have a good day and take time to pop over to WOYWW and have a nosey.

SDC No. 5 It's a Girl Thing!

Just managed to get this uploaded before the Stampotique challenge ends tonight.  It's supposed to be 'girly' but somehow I may have put too much black on it, lol.  Still I've put some bling on the corners, but it may not show up too much.  First time I've entered, but I love all these stamps. 

Lots to Do Challenge Week 15

Decided to enter this challenge because I just love alcohol inks and the different effects you can get....

Why not pop over to Lots to Do blog and take a look.

Craft Den stock all the alcohol inks, Crafty Individual stamps, and ric rac used on this card.

Wendy Vecchi Stamps

Don't you just love all her stamps and the new ones are fantastic.  Here's a card I've made with some machine and hand stitching on

I went to Art From the Heart yesterday and had a really relaxing day playing with Wendy Vecchi's new stamps.  Dy has some good ideas on how to use the stamps and here's just a sample of what I made

We coloured with DI's, acrylic paints, misted, sprayed, used acetate, old book pages, sticky backed canvas, you name it, we used it. We mixed some of the stamps with T!m's

Pat picked me up and did the driving because I'm still not well enough to drive, take a look at some of the beautiful work that Pat has done, she's really into Stampotique.

What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday

Still a bit messy, lots to finish off though.  The two hearts are for my granddaughters, still need lots of work, but at least I've started them, lol.  They'll be teenagers by the time I finish them at this rate.  Another Zentangle, but this time I've used black paper and white pens.  

I wanted some additional storage and the mere mention of a trip to Ikea to Maurice, sent him scuttling into his garage, came out asked for some measurements and said he'd make me a unit, anything preferable to going to Ikea he said.  Well I measured very carefully, a few times, he didn't trust my measurements (the space is very tight you see and I wanted it the same height as my desk) and he then made the unit, only.........he'd forgotten to take into account the casters, huh, typical of a man, so unfortunately the unit is higher than the desk.  Glad he used his measurements, because me being so clever, I'd taken them into account, ha ha ha.  Shalln't let him forget this in a hurry, so maybe will still get the trip to Ikea. 

Why not pop over to Julia's blog and see what other people are doing.

Can't stop laughing!

Well, those of you who know me, know that my mind is all over the place because of the cocktail of drugs I'm on at the moment and I seem to be away with the fairies most of the time.....so just to prove it to you, my dog, Charlie hasn't been too well the last couple of days so I decided to cook him some chicken.  Now this is a rare treat for him and I thought I'd microwave it.  My microwave is a very clever one and you just put the food in, put in the weight and it cooks automatically.  But what I had forgotten was that if when you choose this setting, it uses a combination of different means of cooking, i.e. microwave and conventional.  Put chicken in a microwave dish and hey presto, pinged after said cooking time and look what we have.....

chicken in a melted dish!!!

Told you I'm away with the fairies most of the time.  Chicken looks good though.

Something Completely Different B and Tuesday Taggers

Here's my entry for this weeks SCD challenge, take a look to see some inspiring work, and you have to use the letter B

I coloured the tag with DI's in forest moss and rusty hinge, my fav at the moment, attached with machine stitching a piece of muslin, over stamped with a T!m stamp, stamped T!m's butterfly image onto calico, popped on a button, so think I've covered B with butterfly, button and brown,lol.

I'm also going to enter this into the Tuesday Taggers challenge, why not pay them a visit to see some wonderful work.

Happy Birthday Jill

Today is a friend of mine, Jill's birthday and I decided not to make a card, but a wall hanging.  Jill is incredible talented, but doesn't believe in herself, suppose I should have used that sentiment, lol.

Used a Maya Road chipboard piece, painted with trad tan acrylic paint, then put on some perfect pearl heirloom gold, which I absolutely love, around the edges.  Stamps used are Invoke background, the rest are Studio 490.  Grunge paper flowers in various colours of DI's, ditto heart and butterfly.  Sentiment is Studio 490 in a brass frame then covered in crackle accent.  All products used available from Craft Den Studio.

Happy birthday Jill, have a lovely day

Art Journal Circle

I am part of the Art Circle Journal which is being organised by Dyan at Art from the Heart and bezzie friend Su, and this is the first page in my journal.  The journal is then sent to another member, they do a page in their style, then they pass it on to the next person, and so on.  I found it very stressful because other people get to see your work, up close and personal.  

I have done a page in Clare's journal, but I will not post that until she receives it.

WOYWD - Before and After

This is how I left my studio....I've decided to call it a studio, sounds better than a craft room, lol, yesterday, what a mess....

I had been using the machine and managed to place it on a small space on the desk...

I'd had loads of stamps out, water colours, just about anything you could name....

and more stamps...

Decided then I better have a bit of a tidy up and ta da...... here's the result..

A couple of chipboard hearts which I've going to cover, decorate and give to my granddaughters (this should have been for Easter, but got a bit behind), some TSS metalwork which I was playing with, so just a bit of a sample really.  Anyway, nothing very interesting, but at least tidy.

Why not pop over to Julia's blog and see what everyone's up to.

Sunday Stamper Challenge No. 98 - Lace

Here's my entry for The Sunday Stamper Challenge hosted by the very talented Hels, where you have to use lace.  The background, as always, is various colours of DI's, stamped over with a T!m dress pattern stamp, the top, skirt and sentiment are all Studio 490.  I love anything to do with dressmaking, think it's because my Mom was a dressmaker and taught it for most of her life.  Although I can sew, and do tailoring because she made me, I was never particularly interested in it when I lived at home, but once I had children of my own, I spent hours making clothes for them.  She was also very interested in any types of craft - I wasn't, and when she died I cleared out her workroom and took everything to the dump-it site.  I have since got interested in crafting and could weep about the stuff I threw, she would have loved to have crafted with me.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter everyone.  Hope you have a lovely, relaxing weekend and get lots and lots of chocolate because as we all know, no calories this weekend.......and if you do eat too much, take a leaf out of the chickens book.....

Goodbye March, Hello April

Here's my finished March page, as part of the 365 Art Journal as hosted by Kate Crane, visit her via the link on my side bar to see some fantastic artwork.

I've decided that I'm going to do every month differently and going to be more adventurous than I've been in the past, so here's April, not quite finished and very bright, too bright I think so may have to calm it down a bit, lol.  Again I haven't used any papers, masked and painted with acrylics.