Fiddling is in the Blood!

I haven't done anything crafty for it seems like an age, apart from a couple of hours on a Thursday at my woodcarving class which is coming on very slowly!

Life is getting busier and busier at the moment, with Christmas looming very quickly (I'm only a little excited!) and all that comes with it when you have children at school, school plays, carol concerts, school shops and a business that peaks when people are doing their present shopping, and a workshop which the group has brought a week forward to next week.. eeekk, better get organised! A good time to start redecorating as well.. and redecorating means sorting stuff out and I came across this photo of my family. It has always been a favourite photo of mine, maybe because it's the only one I have of us all together.

I am the small slightly grumpy but still very cute one on my mums lap.

It was from my mum that I inherited my love of crafting and of trying lots of new things. Here are a few bits and bobs of her work that I have. Embroidery was maybe her first love. Her is a sample of her work that she made as a firescreen for my Nanna - her mother. That is how I remember it, but my Aunt had it framed and left it to me before she died.

She also had a dabble with lace making, this piece is only about the size of a £2 coin but took her an age to do, I think it was the only bit she did !

Metal Embossing.

I used to love it when she got out her pewter.. yep pewter!  I don't think maybe there was aluminium around (or at least readily available) like we tend to use these days. I can't believe that she used to let me play with her off-cuts, I bet I made some treasure with the middle of this mirror frame. I can still remember being captivated by the way the metal could be eased into shapes, and  I still get a kick out of doing it all these years later

And finally... my favourite piece of all,

My Teddy,

as you can see he has always been very much loved

Thank you for letting me share these treasures with you. Last weekend was the 31st Anniversary of when she died, so I didn't have her for long and still miss her all these years later. But she left me with lots of lovely memories and instilled a love of crafting which can never be taken away.

See I told you!!!

A few weeks ago I posted about a stamp that I just had to buy because it reminded me so much of my Great Aunt Gertie of whom I was very very fond. Well just recently I have been having a bit of a spring clean whilst number one daughter has been recuperating form an operation and I came across this photo of Auntie Gertie enjoying an ice-cream on Great Yarmouth sea front, probably in the 1950's, and I just had to share it with you.

The photo is also of my Aunt and Grandad and Nanna, the chap in the darker suit is Uncle Percy, who was obviously on holiday as he was a Station master in Cornwall.

Apart from my aunt (in the middle) in her teens and Gertie in her 60's the rest  would all only be in their middle/late 50's... didn't they look alot older in those days??

Auntie Gertie in stamp form! available from Scrapz

Not often I Blog about Candy

but wow, have you ever seen such generous candy in your life?? http://crafterskitchen.blogspot.com/ and it's a lovely blog to wander through as well.

Not alot of crafting going on here as I am being nurse to number one daughter who had an op on Tuesday, but I have a nest of tables right in front of me that need updating....

Make it Scary Mum...

Well that is what Edward told me when I suggested making a canvas for his newly decorated bedroom, but we have placed it our of direct eye-shot as he falls asleep just in case of nightmares!  I was feeling a bit mojo'less this morning so went blog hopping and hopped over to Hels blog (ink on my fingers) - and as a result I have done my first ever blog challenge - Sunday Stamper - Halloween. I had made this piece of fabric paper (blogged below)  and it just cried out 'Gothic/ghosts/skull/Halloween.. or something! it just was never doing to be pretty. I like skeletons so I made another sheet of plain white fabric paper and cut a skull from it, coloured it a bit, machine stitched it onto the background after stamping some cobwebs using a previous unused embossing powder, called snowflake - white and glittery - I expect you are supposed to used it on Christmas cards! - anyway.... now what do I do with a piece of skull embellished FP?? ..... Put in on a canvas of course!!

.......and so we did. Edward and I are both very happy with the result. The canvas was sponged with some left over orange emulsion from his bedroom. 'Tims' cobweb masks in each corner and as Edward is going through a bit of a 'gargoyle' phase at the moment I used some new Gargoyle stamps mummy just had to buy, stamped onto cream coloured metal and 'puffed' out, filled from behind with lightweight polyfilla and then cut close to the edges, they look really effective I think. They are standing on two pillars of my new Ferro paints. Grungepaper bats and a few stamped skeletons.. Skeletons, bones and hands are Halloween bits and pieces from the £shop an odd bit of broken bamboo I found in the garden - beautifully weathered, and it all hangs from a chain found in the garage left over from a party..... (no not that sort of party!! - a 70's Birthday party where Matt and I dressed up as punks!)

Throughly enjoyed myself this afternoon!

Painting and Decorating

Haven't been very creative this week apart from decorating a small persons bedroom, which of course means the rest of the house is in turmoil - HOW MUCH stuff can a small boy collect??? I think the contents of our recycling bin have migrated into his room under the pretence of 'I might need it one day' - now who does he take after I wonder??- anyway we will skirt around that issue!!

 I will be quite happy if I don't see bright orange or bright green for a while... interesting colour choice for a boy that is red/green colourblind, but that was his choice from the shelves of the paint shop, so although he can't 'see' green, whatever he does see is very appealing to him cos he loves his new bedroom.

I can now post a card I made and sent last week but whoops I got the date wrong and persons birthday was not until this Friday... I pretended I was just being very organised for a change and had posted early because of the Postal Strike... that didn't work, she knows me too well!! Using a chipboard 'arch' pink metal/cuttlebug embossing board and grungepaper to make the flower, similar to the ones made by Jennie aka Artistic Stamper

I haven't done much but I have had some spare time to play with the fabric paper I made last week, Kelli who wrote the book uses alot of artist inks, something I don't use so don't have, but I played with some calligraphy inks, alcohol inks and distress inks that I had in my stash, along with paints and goodness knows what else... You will get a better view if you click on the photo.

now got a few ideas of what I will do with the papers I have made, but that will have to wait because the decorating bug has hit and our bedroom is next on the list...

Needles and Nicks don't Mix

hey, I'm a poet and didn't know it!

Now, if I had any talents at all I should speak several languages like my father, be able to draw like my father and do beautiful things with a needle in my hand, as did my Mother, Nanna and Aunt as as does my Sister.... unfortunately these genes seem to skip me, and I am rather 'sewing challenged'. Now I am not too bothered by not being able to speak other languages, that's what phrase books are for and when Matt and I went travelling we could always say Hello, Goodbye, Please, Thank-you, 2 beers please. But I have always yearned to be able to sew. That is why when the 'Stitch Alchemy' Book study came up I jumped at the chance. So today I borrowed a sewing machine from my MIL and had a go. So here is a piece of fabric paper that I made earlier in the week. I have been thinking alot recently about Matt's Late Nanny Molly, who loved Owls, so I thought I would do 'something' with owls... This is 'something' I agree, but it's just a practice piece and I'm not desperately unhappy with it.

But you know what they say... Practice makes perfect...

This and Tat and a bit of the Other

Just a little something for ... well I guess some of you may recognise them (and the photo - I still think it is a lovely picture) It started out as one of those brown card blanks.. sure they have a proper name but I can't think what it is.
My favourite paints of the moment - Claudine Hellmuth Acrylics and after seeing a demo at Ally pally by Lin of LBcrafts, stamping into Viva Ferro paints, some stamping into Viva Ferro paints!
 Haven't had my shrink plastic or Friendly plastic out for a while, so added a bit of that, Some Tim ideology hardware (i must love these Guy's cos I don't use such precious stuff very often, I just like to look at it and save it for another day - I mean what would happen if the world ran out of Tim's sprockets and spinners??)

I was also very good and mounted all my new stamps on EZMount, so I had a play with some new stamps from Paperartsy. (arrggghhhh Just seen they have brought out yet more which I don't think were at AP - Lovely lovely but I must NOT spend anymore!!)

Added some gilding flakes I got from another favourite stall at AP Crafty Notions and a splodge or two of Tim's new Rock candy (thank you Jennie for remembering I was after it and bringing it to AP), oh forgot the spray of cosmic shimmers....
and there it is, another bit of tat for them - or in her words 'where on earth am i going to hang that?'

oh and just in case you thought you had got away with it... yep I have been making more fabric paper

I Know I am boring you to tears now....

But I am excited... getting a bit ahead of myself with the course so I will make a few more pages but stop adding colour to my pages and work along with the syllabus!! but I can't help it cos I am a bit obsessed!

Here are a few before and afters

(L) Alcohol inks/silver pen  (R) Lumiere Paints (had these ages but rarely use them! Why not?? They are luscious!)

(L) was sprayed with ink whilst wet, dried nicely- just added Cosmic Shimmers, highlighted creases with gold ink, sprinkled with embossing powder

(R) added green paint to the PVA.. not very exciting - Painted with Glass paints, lovely translucent finish

(L) Brusho Paints - yum! (R) Walnut Inks - not the proper stuff but 'tints' looks nice and grungy!

OK OK I promise to stop now (for a bit)

Think I Am Getting Addicted!

Oooeerrr Missus this is fun! Complete serendipity! More linen on the line and I have very inky and painted covered hands ... I am in my element!

I used all my muslin and freezer paper yesterday (freezer paper is not an English thing - least I am not sure what we call it if it is - hence it is not readily available and horrors of horrors my usual supplier is out of stock, but I found a supply on Ebay at a good price if any of my fellow patriots want some!)

 Too impatient to wait for new supplies I have used some thin (ish) calico and some palette paper, hopefully that will work if not I am stuffed! I realised after yesterday that I was concentrating too much on what the base layer was, when in fact it's mostly going to be covered in colour, plus my first attempt was too much of a 'picture' so can't really be cut up. Its all a matter of experimenting and learning. Helli (author) suggests adding colour whilst the cloth is still wet, Belinda seems to prefer not to, so I thought I would add some colour to a couple of my sheets today and form my own opinion. They green one has acrylic paint added to the PVA and the blue one has been sprayed with Adirondack Inks - I'll report back!

Last night I had a play with the sheets I made yesterday. This one has been painted with diluted Claudine Hellmuth paints - I bought these at Ally Pally, wow they still keep their vibrancy even after being mixed with water. I also highlighted the words with permanent pens and framed the woman with 3d fabric paints but didn't like that so added some micro beads, don't like them much either!

Here is number 2 - before painted and after painted. Boy I LOVE this one, makes my mouth water! I will have to say the picture does not do it justice in anyway whatsoever. Adirondack inks sprayed on and sponged off the excess           I wanted it to be a bit glossier and experimented by covering one half with a gloss medium - well that didn't work, in fact it looks duller, so I sprayed the whole thing with Cosmic Shimmers. That made the half which had not been 'glossed' very vibrant and did improve the glossed area slightly.

and finally number 3, which was very purple/pink. It's not now!

In one of my insomniac moments last night I thought I would use green and blue on the ones I made today - colours I rarely use, but I am trying to get out of a colour trap - and then I realised that I never use Yellow.  So this is my Yellow one - oh no it's not  I hear your cry. in my defence it started off yellow and does look more yellow in real life, but I concede a bit of orange/red/copper/gold has crept in!! This is using acrylic paints and stamped with stazon with a bit of copper/gold/orange utee sprinkled on (doubt you can see that) I think its looking good.

Fingers drumming now whilst I wait hopefully for the other pieces to dry - not much chance of that on a dull autumnal day here in the UK..... will the palette paper work or not??


Stitching next - anyone got a machine I can borrow??

Blowin' In The Wind

You may remember I mentioned a few weeks ago that I was taking part in an online Book study being run by the very talented Belinda . Together we will be working through  a book by Kelli Perkins called Stitch Alchemy.
First job to do was to make some Fabric Paper - if you are interested check out Belinda's Blog - Basically you layer paper onto muslin and all is coated with PVA glue. These are my first efforts drying on the linen line because I am far too impatient to let them dry over night.



My first piece is the black and white one, which is basically stamped images onto tissue paper, I realised that after I had done it that maybe this is too much like a 'picture' to be able to use the fabric paper when it is complete .. not sure I'll have to wait and see. The one on the left is just torn papers. Mmmmm we shall see! The third and final piece for today because I have used all my muslin is pure serendipity. It is just squares of the odd bits and bobs that were in my bits and bobs of paper drawer (which needed to be used because it was overflowing! I just went with it and purposely did not give much thought to where I placed things, I wanted it to be quite free.


None of these pieces are anywhere near finished, we have a lot of work to do to them, but that's stage one and it for today until they are properly dry


I'm really looking forward to working through this book with a group of people, I am guilty - and I am sure alot/most of you are as well - of buying a book and browsing through it maybe picking up a few ideas, but never working the book to it's full potential, and it will be great to see how other people tackle the various processes.

If you can get hold of a copy of the book, why not join in?? check out Belinda's Blog for details!!

hey you!

http://www.justgiving.com/Regret-This-24/

got a quid or two to spare for a worthy charity?? .... why not just donate the cost of a bottle of wine (of which a few/most of my friends have a couple of times a week) This very special charity is helping a very special friend of mine ATM and it's his son is doing the ride... I pray that none of my other friends ever need these special nurses cos I love you all too much, but sadly most of you will know someone who needs them at some point - please help a quid will do!

For any American/Australian friends... read Dollar instead of Quid... we don't mind dollars!

PS.. this is the fabulous charity they are raising funds for
http://www.macmillan.org.uk/Home.aspx


and just in case you missed the link, this is where you donate

http://www.justgiving.com/Regret-This-24/


Thank You
 I knew you would xxx

 

Poor in pocket...

but rich in friends..... had just the best weekend with Mr and Mrs Bessie, some of you may have read about the Bessie's but don't know who they are... well I just had to share this lovely picture of them

that's them, bless their old hearts!

Ally Pally was as good as usual, met up with some friends and spent far too much, esp at LBcrafts and The Artistic Stamper.... yummy paints and yummy stamps and yummy goodies that one just had to have! Can't wait to have a play with them............ and my friend Debs gave me the most awesome thing to alter that she picked up from a car boot sale for me, so I have no excuse to get out my new paints!

Now AP is over, I can post a few things that I made and gave to some special people at AP... two very late birthday presents!

A pressie for Dee62 who had a 'significant' birthday last month

An altered Tuna Tin... grungeboard. For a smaller friend who we tease that she must live under a toadstool, who's birthday was in July!

No prizes for guessing who this is for, not a Birthday pressie, just a pressie for her new purple bedroom!

I was very chuffed with the 'Best Mate' bit, do you recognise it? I managed to take a mould of a 'Love Heart' sweet (which I have to admit I loved as a child and still love them, they are my guilty pleasure!) - anyway I took a mould and then made a polymer clay embellishment from it. Obviously you can't make and sell them, but great fun for personal projects.

Oh well back to real life again now... off to pack tomorrows lunches, check school uniforms, polish shoes etc etc

Four Flat Feet

I may have just mentioned that I am staying at Mrs Bessie's ready to go to Ally Pally tomorrow, well we spent a lovely morning shopping in Canterbury and she happened to spy some boring white plimsolls.. much the same as my boring white plimsolls - as were. Hers aren't boring anymore because we have been playing together this afternoon with glimmer mists (now all down my green tee shirt) and fabric paints (the gold of which is now down my navy tee shirt) copper tape and grungeboard... cool aren't they! I like hers better but she won't let me wear them! Just as well really cos my name isn't Sparkles and they are two sizes too big for my delicate little pinkies!

It's Ally Pally time and ......

these boots were made for walking....

or should that be, these boring old white plimsolls were made for altering??

Just a bit of fun, I doubt they will survive too many wearings, but after recent events in our lives it's time for a bit of fun and not taking things too seriously!

Off to stay with my lovely mates Mr and Mrs S... that's always a treat in itself! So it's woodcarving and then a drive down to Kent tomorrowand a girlie day out on Friday and Ally Pally on Saturday, leaving family to fend for themselves, doubt they will even notice I have gone!

Now...... where did I leave my shopping list????

Winners of Tat...

poor poor people that random.org chose are

http://vickiholdwick.blogspot.com/
http://mistressdebrina.blogspot.com/
http://faerieworldcards.blogspot.com/


all these ladies have awesome blogs, check them out!
Please ladies send me your address and I will send you the bit of old tat!

Meet Auntie Gertie!

Meet my Great Auntie Gertie from Great Yarmouth, a spinster, a stanch church goer, who died age 93, looking after herself impeccably until the day (or night) she died peacefully in her sleep. A lady of whom I  have very fond memories, and also very strong memories even though I was only about 11/12 when she died. She made a great impact on me.

Well OK.... so this isn't actually my Auntie Gertie (oh I also had another Aunt Gert from my mums side of the family... she thought she was 'posh' so we had to call her Gert, cos she thought Gertie was common ) sorry I digress, this rubber stamp from Scrapz (brill  great service, quick delivery.. .... and fab stamps) is so much like Gertie (the common one, not Gert the posh one who had hugely red cheeks, frizzy hair - strawberry blonde not ginger! - and who made her lemon squash much too weak) that I just had to have it.
Had a little play today making a shadow box out of foam board (dastardly stuff) and tried the 'peeled paint' effect using vaseline, to I have to say, not much effect, but it does look well worn and well loved like my AG was.

You may be pleased to hear (well I was relieved) that I still have 8 fingers and 2 thumbs intact after starting my woodcarving class on Thursday. I was the only newbie there, all the others have been doing it for years it seems, but that  was no bad thing because there was alot of advice and encouragement from everyone including alot of 1:1 from the tutor, think I am going to enjoy it.

Here's my Green Man after the first lesson... even I was impressed with my drawing, cos I was caught on the hop a bit and was supposed (it seems) to have come armed with drawings and ideas and wood. I came with no drawings, a germ of an idea and no wood. Luckily someone had a spare piece of wood, so all I had to do was the drawing!

He is going to take a long time!

Did I mention that the craft show at Ally Pally is coming up?? No? Surely I did?

Well maybe I didn't cos I am not at all excited.................

Spending time with Crafty Friends, Spending on Crafty Goodies and a weekend with Mrs Bessie, what is there to get excited about??

Well It Started Off 'Nice'

The very talented Trudy (see some of her stuff here) challenged us to a Beer Mat Book Swap. No Problem, Lots of fun. I have a load of new/unused beermats that I picked up a while ago at a car-boot, so decided to gesso them with some Black Gesso that I bought a while ago cos I it seemed good idea at the time, but  I have never used cos I am not sure what to do with it and I am not a 'black' person.

It covers beautifully... black, and I mean real black, proper black--- BLACK, think that's why I am not usually keen on Black/White, cos often Black is grey and white is white with a hint of grey.

Back to the plot, this was black, so I had in mind a finished result which was proper Black with another solid colour.. white? pink? blue? green? and it would be nice to do something pretty with Black...

Well obviously all did not go to plan!

But in my defence, it does tell the story of a flower...

Think maybe I should stop even trying to do 'pretty'

Bloggy Hell, where did that all come from.....????

Matt and I have been sorting out the garage today, we are terrible dumpers and it was literally bursting at the seams, plus I knew I had the odd bit of stuff in there ready to be played with but it was all under piles of other family junk, so I had persuaded Matt that I needed a little corner of my own so I knew what was there and also I could transfer some more old tat out of my craft room (Matt used to call it his office.... it's now Nicks Craft room with a small area allotted to Matt) which is also bursting at the seams.

Well.... we emptied the garage... his pile, car boot pile and my.... err...... ummm... 'spose you could call it a mountain!

So........... NO MORE COLLECTING STUFF until this pile (which I would like to add is now beautifully ordered and labelled in boxes in MY part of the garage) has been depleted somewhat.

So if anyone see me buying anything/anywhere please slap my wrists!!

and to think this is where is all started

these drawers used to contain all my bits and pieces.... why didn't someone warn me that it starts off with a few bits in a box and very quickly fills house/garage and potentially a shed??

Blog Candy, Workshops, Clever Tots and Bargain Buy

Another workshop all done and dusted and they have booked me again for a double session next time for a Christmas Project, so much more can be accomplished in two hours! I love to see what people come up with when they are given a free hand to do what they like, more than that I love to hear those words 'Gosh I didn't realise I was Artistic'

Everyone has an artistic side - look how young children love to paint and draw without really caring what it looks like as long as they like it and mum and dad are sure to praise that's all that matters, sadly sometimes along the way the creative side is squeezed out of us and it needs to be rediscovered.

Talking of young people, have a look here at a selection of peoples finished projects and tell me which was done by a four year old who came along with her dad.!

.......

Oh and I would like you to meet Billie....

First Issue of a new mag called 'How Your Body Works' you know the sort , you have to buy every issue to build your complete skeleton, which @ £4.99 an issue will end costing you hundreds of pounds, but issue 1 and Billies skull is only 99p... ripe for altering!!

...............

and the answer to which project was completed by 4 year old Charlotte is...
.

When asked if it was for her mummy, she said..... 'No it's for me!'

and lastly.... just to check whether or not you are still awake....

If anyone would like one of the sample projects that I did for the workshop (apart from the bird one, that's going to the Art Raffle) then leave a comment and next saturday I'll pick 3 names using random.org)

That wasn't easy!

I have been asked to do another workshop for the teachers and staff from our two local schools, seventeen people, mixed ability and sex, only got an hour and a very limited budget.

mmmmm only an hour? That's not long in a crafty world, how often have you started something and lost track of time and then looked up to see it has gone dark, family have given up any hope of eating and gone to Pizza hut and a new layer of dust has settled on the furniture?

It's not easy trying to find something that looks worthwhile but can be done in such a short time, costs virtually nowt and appeals to a wide range of people types!

Sorted now, making a cool 'hangy thing' bit of painting, bit of collage, bit of stamping, bit of altering (glass microscope slide) and open to them putting their own 'stamp'  (excuse the pun) and personality on their own bit of work

Hope they enjoy!

Talking of enjoying, I have signed up to do a 'book study' with an online mixed media group that I belong to, though you don't have to be a member of the group to take part, I really enjoyed doing the online Altered Book Course through this group, working with other people does help me be a bit more disciplined and focused. It's being run by Belinda Spiwak who has a blog where all is explained http://alteredbelly.blogspot.com/

To take part you obviously have to obtain a copy of the book 'Stitch Alchemy' by Kelli Perkins, my copy has just arrived, so I am off to have a cuppa and a browse!!

Still trying to get out a Creative Rut

And having a play with different colours. I have been caught up using mainly autumnal colours, so I am trying to get out of my comfort zone and have a little experiment with some colours.

 I saw an article in the most recent Somerset Studio, where the artist loved pink and green. It looked nice, I thought I would have a play. Mmmmmmmm....... been messing about with this for a few days now, experimenting with different shades of both the pink and the green. The Artist (I'll get up out of my comfy armchair in a mo and go and get the mag and tell you who she is..) did say it is very dependant on particular shades of both the pink and green, and I have to agree. I don't think this is quite what I was after, sometimes I like the whole thing, other times I don't... just not sure. Is it the colour? Is it the whole thing? I suspect it may grow on me, but then again maybe it won't.

 Can you tell I am rather undecided??

Still I have had fun doing it.

 Still rather Kelly Rae Roberts influenced but I hope I have put my own slant on it. The face is on a mini canvas so stands out from the rest and the little girl stamp is on Stampboard.

The whole thing is supposed to tell a story, and it does to me, so I guess I have got quite alot out of making it

Found her - Lisa Kaus - wow check her blog!!

Update from when I wrote this last night! -

 Looking back at the mag i have totally overdone the pink and green, but having said that, looking at this in the daylight I am getting rather attached to it. It's interesting having a play with colours you don't usually use or don't think you like, give it a go!

Not Sure If I Have Succeeded!!

Georgina - "Mum, can you alter this bag for me ready for school on Monday"
Mum       - "Yes I'd love too, can I do what I want?"

Georgina - "Yes - whatever as long as..... "

1. It's not too pretty

2. It's not too grungy

3. Don't go mad

4. Leave the word Danger

5. No embellishments added cos they will fall off

6. I want skeletons but not gruesome

7. Oh and I have been looking at your new Somerset Stamper Mag (YOU WHAT?? THAT'S MINE AND SACRED!!!) and I like the colours on this project, and can you do stitching like this project

8. Stitching mustn't be neat (no worries there- mum is not a seamstress)

9. Think that's it.... you can do what you like

10. Oh can it have my favourite word on it? ....... NO MUM NOT 'WHATEVER' ... that isn't my favourite word

10. No mum you do not need to find out how to spell 'uhhh???'

11. Thanks Mum

Why Because??? Because she loves me I expect.... who am I kidding!! -

JUST BECAUSE!

Well I now await the return from guide camp of my fiercest critic.. will she or won't she???

.

.

.

.

***UPDATE ***

It was met with cries of -

'Wow that is so cool, I am going to look the bizz on Monday'

So I guess it passed inspection!

Had the best weekend...

Nowt better for the soul than spending a few days with treasured friends.

Just back from our yearly camping trip with 'The Friday Friends' Five families who all met after the birth of our first babies and four of us had our second babies within 9 weeks of each other.

It is lovely to see all the kids together - 11 of them now, they only meet up in school holidays but when they do it's like they have never been apart, it's lovely to see. As for us adults.. we just drink and eat and laugh, it's a tonic being with these guys!!




Been having a little play in the last couple of days altering a notebook... I haved loved this colour combination of Red/yellow/orange, ever since Sian made me a BRAK using these colours a few years ago. I've had these face stamps for a while now but because they are square I've never been quite sure how to use them, so I had a play with them altogether on here. Quite pleased with the result, not sure the photo does it justice though... I should be more patient and wait until I have daylight to photograph my stuff!!

The seven weeks of school holidays have gone so very quickly and my little buddies will be back at school next week... I'm very sad, but then again I am quite excited about having a bit more craft time to myself!

But before then I have a school bag to alter for number one daughter who is off to high school, so I better get on.... the order of the day is Skeletons, but that may well change!!

Oh and have I mentioned it's only 25 sleeps till Ally Pally and 24 sleeps till I make my way to Kent to see my Number One bessie???

Well I have done it....

I've gone an done it! Booked myself onto a Woodcarving Course.. This may be the last time I ever type with a full compliment of digits on each hand!

Something Different Again Today

Finally finished Astrid's 6x6" Round Robin swap that was started yonks ago but as always people's lives en-route have got in the way and it has taken longer than expected.

But here are two i have done today, I used the same background technique for both pages, marvy metallic pens dabbed on the card, spritzed with water until they ran together and then I placed 'cling film' over the top and scrunched it... left to dry, Voila! a beautiful background. I used the same colours on both.. one was white card the other black, so they look completely different.

Yvonne's theme was 'Memories'


I have had this 'photo stamp' for a while now but have never known quite how to use it, but she looks like she is daydreaming and thinking of times past, so she seemed right to use here. The background is so lovely I decided to make them as much of the page as the focal image, so both layouts are simple and unfussy.

Cindy's theme was 'Women'

The photo does not do the colours of this page justice, I wanted to make it look as if this lady was coming out of the water. I think I have just about succeeded. I had to cut her out as she has a border around her on the original stamp (Click here to see the stamp from The Artistic Stamper)

and the wave is a quote by I can't remember who ???? but I altered it to suit her!

So sorry girls that you have had to wait for your fianl pages, not sure these are worth the wait but I hope you like them a little bit!