A Lot of Tim and a bit of Wendy!

I had a fab time last week designing this piece for the workshop I taught in Olney ... they asked for a Lord Tim style Configuration ... and that is pretty much what I gave them! In amongst my collected beads; trains and Maya Road Spools ... there was lots of Lord Tim of Holtz goodies ... you know Tim ... the man that can walk across the channel while repairing the wings of a Red Admiral Butterfly with just a long legged brad and a 1" length of Tissue Tape. Of course I had to pop one or two THE Wendy Vecchi butterflies in there too!
Anyways ... this is also my submission for the Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge this week ... the theme is anything goes ... so if you make anything ... yes people ... anything ... just link up here for your chance to win a $50 Shopping Spree to spend at the fabulous palace of stash otherwise known as Simon Says Stamp!
I must away ... I am determined to get caught up this week and I am off to see a lovely lady tomorrow about teaching some classes in her store ... so watch this space!
Have a great week ... whatever you are doing ...
Laters!

Simon Says ...

I can't quite believe it has been a week since I posted the last Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge theme ... time is certainly flying! So here we are ... another Monday and another theme. This week the theme is Simon Says Stamp and Show your Favourite Stamp.
I had no trouble with this one I can tell you! My favourite stamp ... erm ... stamps are Lord Tim of Holtz's Mona ... the very first Lord Tim stamp I ever bought ... you could only get them on wood back in the day and it changed the way I would craft forever! You know Tim ... the man that can ice sculpt a leaning tower of Pisa with water while single handedly saving the world from Alien attack with just a one inch piece of ball chain and a spot of Glossy Accents.
My other favourite stamp is indeed The Wendy Vecchi's mini butterfly from Make Mine Mini Art ... it is my go to stamp ... LOVE LOVE LOVE it! But then you knew that already ... right???
This was in fact a fat canvas about the size of an ATC which went horribly wrong a long long time ago! It has been sat in my unfinished and unloved box ... the one that things get thrown in when I don't like them ... but I have usually formed some kind of attachment :0) Anyways ... I got it out the box and slapped black paint all over it ... it works well as a base on which to add some chip and some Grunge paper.
The whole piece is coloured using Faded Jeans and Peeled Paint Distress Ink and was really simple to make.
Don't know about you ... but I plan to spend the entire Bank Holiday in my craft room ... actually if you are planning to do the same thing ... then grab your favourite stamp and enter the challenge ... you could win a $50 shopping voucher from Simon Says Stamp for your trouble.
Right ... well I am away ... hoping that Mr Blogger is going to behave himself this week ... Last week ... I could n't post ... could n't comment ... talk about withdrawal!
Have a great day everyone ... whatever you may be doing ...
Laters!

Simply Amazing!

WOW! What a wedding! How amazing was that! We may not be good at organising road repairs or other day to day stuff ... but we sure can lay on a fabulous royal wedding!
The bride looked stunning in her McQueen dress and what a fabulous tribute to the late fashion designer!
And the groom ... well don't get me started ... having felt compelled all those years ago to get to London by whatever means necessary to pay a personal tribute to Diana ... well ... she would have been soooooo proud of both her boys today ... and I have to admit ... I pretty much cried from start to finish! As for the new titles ... Duke and Duchess of Cambridge ... C'mon ... Hands up ... Who heard it here first :0) I am incredibly proud that they have that title ... having been born in Cambridge ... well it just makes the whole day even more special!

Onto crafting royalty now ... I am giving you a heads up ... just in case you have n't seen it ... THE Wendy Vecchi has reached her 700th post! If you pop over there and congratulate her ... you could win ... drum roll please ... a Vagabond donated by the ever generous Simon Says Stamp! Wendy has added her own candy as second prize ... but I have my eye on that ... so if you win ... expect a visit :0) In all seriousness it was THE Wendy Vecchi who truly bought Grunge paper to life for me ... she is my inspiration ... one of the nicest ... most genuine people I have had the pleasure of spending time with and UBER talented! Way To Go Wendy!
Are you impressed? I even managed to remember to blog the tag book from inside yesterday's Maya Road house ... or should I say Hice! The chip tags were stained ... inked and spritzed into submission and then stamped with Lord Tim of Holtz's Bitty Grunge ... you know Tim ... the man that stopped the rain from falling during the Royal Wedding while ensuring the sun shone at exactly the right time with just a Charm Clip and a Bauble! The other stamps used are indeed THE Wendy Vecchi!
Right ... I have spent far too long sat gawping at the big screen this morning ... I need to go do some work! Oh! Oh! Before you go ... opinions of THE dress please ... in the comments ... I tried discussing it with John ... but he is more interested in the bloomin snooker!
Laters!

One's Hice!

Thought I had better put on me posh voice today ... roughly translated ... blog heading means "My House". I am getting right into the spirit of the whole Royal Wedding thing now ... we could all do with a bit of pomp and ceremony to brighten up the news ... don't you think!
I have had bad news though ... in fact I can safely say ... I am devastated ... just had the call that the Royal party were concerned by the amount of attention Wills was giving me in my bridesmaid frock at the rehearsals ... and my bridesmaid services are no longer required! What's a girl to do? Too late in the day to organise one's street party now! S'pose I will just have to watch it on the telly after all!
I can tell you that The Queen was in Cambridge yesterday ... just up the road from me in fact ... so I am pretty sure Wills and Kate will become the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge ... How exciting ... oh and ... don't forget ... you heard it here first!

Wish I had planned a street party now! Talking of which ... this is the second Maya Road House that I have decorated! So I nearly have a street! This time I went for a different Lord Tim of Holtz On the Edge die to create the roof! You know Tim ... the man that can rescue the smallest Eland from the jaws of the biggest Crocodile while hand stitching all the pearls and beads and sequins on the frocks of the entire Royal guest list including the Queen with just a Memo Pin and a spot of Glossy Accents!
All of the stamps are THE Wendy Vecchi ... including the grass ... you don't get a base with the house so I made my own! In fact you don't get a house any more because Maya Road have stopped making them! Great shame in my opinion ... but no amount of begging on my behalf could change their minds!
There is a little tag book included with the house ... I may show you that tomorrow ... but then again ... tomorrow is tomorrow and I may have forgotten all about it!
I have about 5865 things to do today ... and I appear to have lost my oomph ... if anyone spots it ... please return it immediately! That's me then folks ...
Have a great time at the wedding where ever you are and whatever you are doing! I hope the happy couple will live happily ever after!
Laters!

Simon Says ...

A busy weekend for me ... hence the lack of blog posts ... note to self ... must try harder!
I had a great time teaching my suitcase class on Saturday ... so a big Thank you to all my lovely ladies!
So here we are ... Monday again ... and we all know what that means ... a new challenge at Simon Says Stamp and Show! This week the theme is anything but a card and I had a blooming lovely time playing with THE Wendy Vecchi stamps ... Grunge paper ... and the circle frame Art Parts! Geddit? Blooming? Flowers? If you squint and tilt your head to the right ... I do hope at least one of you is actually doing that ... then you will see some Lord Tim Tissue tape. You know Tim ... the man that can conduct an orchestra playing Beethoven's fifth symphony while standing on his head and writing with clouds with just a Rain man die cut and a squish of Distress Stain!
Talking of Rain man dies ... I got him ... and I LOVE him! Just need to find five minutes to use him!
The prize this week is indeed another $50 shopping spree ... they are a generous bunch over at Simon Says Stamp and lovely with it!
Righty-ho ... I am off ... I have things to do and people to see ...
Laters!

Manic Monday!

Just a quickie one from me today ... I have been nattering on the phone for most of the day and am only on the third thing on my to do list which has soooooo many things still to do on it!

Anyways I liked my desk calendar WOYWWAC wotsit colours so much I decided to use the same combination on my Bubbly Scrumptious blog post today too. I am totally in love with the Zutter Rivets ... just snap through the middle of all your little Grungepaper flowers and you can still twizzle the flowers round ... and you all know I am a sucker for dimension and movement :0)

I used A Lord Tim of Holtz frame too ... purely so I could say ... you know Tim ... the man that can make, fly and land a hot air balloon in a 15 minute tea break while entertaining the old folk in the local home with just one adage ticket from the entire book and a single book D ring!

Eleven more sleeps too ... How cool ... this time in two weeks I shall be on my way home ... good job Tim can slow time down or my time in Distress Ink Paradise would just fly by!

See you tomorrow ... when we will start the final countdown ...

El Scorchio!

They reckon it was the hottest day of the year so far ... and I reckon they may be right!

I spent most of the day sat out on Hels' new and rather lovely decking rather than making the projects she had organised for us ... but it was too nice to go inside!

I made this little book a while back with summer colours in mind ... so today seems like a perfect day to blog it! I was thinking Mediterranean sun rather than the UK ... but the sky was so blue today and yesterday ... we could have been somewhere in the Med! Anyways ... the book was such fun to make ... it became a class!

To make the book I cut a sheet of grey board in half and coloured it with Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink. I then decorated it with Maya Road chip, Idea-ology corners and lots of yummy Grunge paper from Lord Tim of Holtz. You know Tim ... the man that can catch a Fly with a pair of chopsticks in his sleep while creating a scale model of the leaning tower of Pisa with just a demo sized bottle of Sepia accents and a "Hope" Adage ticket!

The flowers, frame and journalling ticket are coloured with Fired Brick, Spiced Marmalade and Antique Linen ... The pages inside are also coloured with a selection of the same inks and some Glimmer mist!

Of course it is bound with my fabulous Bind-it-all and I have used the 3/4" antique brass wires that are my new favourites!

OK ... I am going to stop typing now because I am beginning to melt ... Have a fab weekend everyone!

39 Sleeps!

Did you think I had stopped counting? Huh? Did you? And if you don't know what I am counting down to ... Where have you been???

Oh yes people ... only 39 more sleeps and I am off to Distress ink heaven where Lord Tim of Holtz will be waiting to teach me everything he knows :0) You know Tim ... the man who would need no coalition to form a government as 100% of the UK population would have voted for him without a manifesto ... just a pot each of white and black enamel accents! Talking of which ... I picked mine up Saturday ... Yum Yum!

Right ... down to business ... I have my tickets and my hotel reservation and I have paid to attend Ranger U ... but I don't have a passport ... well technically I do ... but it is out of date. So ... anyways ... last week ... I put my Julia Roberts looky likey make up on and went to the local supermarket ... sat in the little photo booth and tried about a kerzillion times to get a decent photo but ended up with 4 passport sized pictures of an axe murderer. Anyways ... it took about 920 million hours to get that far so they would have to do ... popped into the Building Society where I used to work and got my old mate Roy to sign them and the forms ... Blah Blah and so on!

I then drive to the next village and walk into the little Post Office. Now UK Post Offices are not best known for their friendly service but this one was quite the exception. I was greeted by a lovely man and lady ... the lovely man checked the forms ... told me he had a camera and in future he would be happy to take the photo ... told me my eyes were a standard width apart ... and that should be some small compensation for the fact that I did n't look like Julia Roberts in the pictures ... yes he actually said that ... out loud!!! Which also begs the question ... What do you do if your eyes are not a standard width apart??? I mean you can't move your eyes closer together just for the passport office now can you??? Anyways he then asked me when I would be travelling ... when I told him "42 more sleeps" he and his lovely lady assistant fell about laughing ... when they composed themselves he assured me that my new passport should be with me in plenty of time ... Phew! They were lovely but they had no idea what Ranger U is!!!

Okey Dokey ... the chip hangy thing in the pictures is what I blogged on the Bubbly Scrumptious blog earlier today and a list of the ingredients and the how to's etc can all be found here.

I also have news of a fab new scrapping and mini book site which is run by the uber talented Isa Norris ... I thought I may give it a go ... Why don't you join me??? You can find it here.

And that my friends as they say ... is that!

Have a wonderful evening and wrap up warm ... apparently it is going to be a very cold night! Oh and if you are the owner of non standard width eyes perhaps you could tell me how you get around that problem when applying for your passport :0)

Monday Monday!

I bet you have all noticed that I am getting a bit lazy with this whole blogging lark just lately! And it simply won't do ... so here we are ... the first day of the week and I am blogging nice and early and will continue to blog daily for the whole of this week ... well ... that's the plan anyway!

I have just finished blogging this chip piece for the Bubbly Scrumptious blog and thought I would share it with you guys too! You are looking at Maya Road Chip; Fired Brick ... Peeled Paint ... Brushed Corduroy ... Fired Brick and Spiced Marmalade Distress inks and lots of Grungepaper. Clearly I have also used oodles of Wendy Vecchi stamps and a few bits of Idea-ology from Lord Tim ... the man that can name all the stars and planets in English as well as Latin while walking on water with just a curio knob and a sheet of paper from the Lost and Found stack. Oh yes people ... I got the Curio knobs and the Lost and Found stack yesterday ... to say I LOVE LOVE LOVE them would be an understatement of mahousive proportions!

While we are on the subject of yesterday ... can you believe it was my last class ... already ... well take a lookie at what three of my lovely ladies created yesterday ... meet Mel ... Debz and Chris ... they did a fab job and we had such a good time! It was only a small class ... I think word got out that I may sing ... but it really was good fun! My new classes should be going on sale on the 29th May ... I cannot wait :0) I should apologise to Debz for being out of focus ... she was n't on the day ... out of focus ... so it must have been my bad photography skills ... sorry Debz!

Well ... that's me then ... Have a fab Monday whatever you are doing and I will hopefully see you ... erm ... about the same time tomorrow!

Gossip and Chips!

I like Mondays ... because I don't need to do any sensible chatter on here ... Mondays is the day I blog for Bubbly Scrumptious ... so if you want any ingredients details or instructions ... you can find them all here.

So without sensible chatter ... I can stick to pure unadulterated gossip ... but you can't tell anyone I told you!!!

Yesterday I was at LB Crafts Head Quarters ... making the projects that Lin and Leandra have designed for the imminent ArtsyCrafts weekends. The projects are always kept under wraps until the weekends and it is all secret squirrel stuff and uber exciting :0) I had the pleasure of the company of the Wonderful Lin and the Lovely Karen ... :0) So  ... Do you want to hear all about the projects??? ... well ... I can't tell you ... so don't even ask :0) A tease??? Who me???

I can tell you that there is a humungus B Line Bargain Bonanza planned for the 30th of May ... The wonderful Lin, the lovely Karen, myself and I think quite possibly the marvellous Mark will all be there ... huuuuuuuuge reductions in B Line stamps apparently and free demos all day ... so check your diaries!

Righty Ho ... I am off to bed soon ... it is now only 52 more sleeps to Ranger U ... Did I mention I was going and that Lord Tim of Holtz will be there ... you know Tim ... the man that rescues ickle fluffy kittens from 200 ft trees while balancing on a high wire and creating Grungepaper magic with just the lid off a bottle of Glossy Accents and one piece of Mica from a small jar of Perfect Pearls.

Have a good one!

A Record Breaking Short Post!

I was going to tell you about my class on Saturday ... my lovely ladies and their lovely final projects ... and Dan's visit ... and my not very productive crafting sessions ... and the day we had in Kent yesterday for Tina's birthday ... the yummy lunch etc., ... and the tale I had about the pokey tool and the broken tooth ... but look at the time! I still have 101 things to do today and I have no idea where the time went. So you will just have to amuse yourselves piecing together the above to work out what I am actually on about.

Because I have n't got time to tell you about all those things then I thought I would go for the shortest blog post ever and perhaps break a world record or something. Then I realised that not telling you stuff was taking just about as long as telling you stuff!

This chip hangy flowery thingy wotsit is my project for the Bubbly Scrumptious blog this week ... so I have listed all the how to's etc., here.

I can't believe I have n't blogged since Thursday ... and I have missed out on all your posts too ... I promise to catch up this week at some point ... but by the looks of things ... well it aint gonna be today!