What no stamping?!?!!

... Nope.  No stamping at all.. not even a teeny tiny detail stamp!

I bought a large Dylusions journal recently and this is the first spread I've created in it - its liberating!! All that space to create on!

I've had a rotten cold all week (actually lost my voice for a few days!) so these pages were almost a kind of 'therapy' - made me feel better to do 'something'... so its not overly complicated...

I painted and stencilled 2 pages (Fresco Finish paints, Stencil Girl stencil, Crafters Workshop stencils).  Not planning, just playing - I sketched flowers onto scrapbook papers (siiiiigh... oh, Basic Grey.. how I miss your gorgeous papers..) and cut them out.

The journal is BIG.... here's my hand on the spread to give you an idea how big...

... well its big for me - I usually use the small or square journals... and my junk journals are only 4x6 (ish) inches.

I glued down all the flowers and then set about sketching and shading in the details.  I took before and after photos to show the difference - amazing what a bit of doodling can do:

I think adding the details is my favourite part of the page creation... though it is hard to know when to stop!

Here's the finished spread... it makes me happy - all those big bright juicy flowers!

See (or not see actually, lol!)  No stamping!!  (It was hard not to reach for the stamps.. but fun too!)

This was a lovely, fun way to attack 'The Stash' of papers.

Thanks for stopping by

Christmas cards....

.... are on the {ever growing} christmas 'to-do' list... and I wanted to share with you a couple of cards I made using stamp set JOFY69 and the smaller of the two trees...  they're quite simple, a little bit 'less-is-more', bit of paper piecing and a sprinkle of glitter...

When I designed these trees this is how I planned to use them - layering up different patterned papers.  I picked out some papers from the 8x8in pads I have in my stash (Basic Grey... sigh.. I miss their papers). 

I chose three patterns that I thought worked nicely together and, using my stamping platform, stamped 3 trees and cut them out.

I cut the trees up ready to be layered - leaving a tier above or below the required tier so that there is something to attached it to (that's quite hard to explain lol) 

The trees below are created from the trees above... (I used a Tombow glue stick to attach them together as it gives a bit of wiggle time)

The trees looked a bit flat so I added depth by shading below the line of each tier to create shadow. (Tombow Brush Marker in pale grey) - simple but makes a big difference when you compare the above and below photos.  (I also added a white top tier to one of the trees, I thought it didn't have enough pattern changes).

I stamped the tree trunk several times onto brown printed paper and cut out leaving excess at the top (looks like a little mushroom!) so the trunk could be attached to the tree.

Here's the trunk from the front.

These trees are a bit time consuming but worth it! (in my humble opinion).

To make the cards I took a 10cm panel of kraft card and stamped JM07 down one edge (this snowflake stamps is a definite 'go-to' for me!), mounted it onto a 12.5cm card and 3d mounted the tree on top - overlapping the edge to tie the two panels together.

This card is the opposite colour combination to the card above - they're the same but different.  I like that.  I added a touch of glitter (Stickles) and gold paint (PaperArtsy White Fire Fresco) for a bit of sparkle.

I think this is a good card to make sitting down in front of the tv with a nice christmas film... a bit of stamping, bit of fussy (but not too fussy) cutting and some sticking!... and you can attack the stash in the process.!  ho ho ho!

Thanks for stopping by!

ALBOTAT: Doodle Flower....

I'd been wondering what the big blousy doodle flowers from on JOFY64 would look like if the two parts were combined to make an even BIGGER doodle flower...

Well, they'd look like this:

REALLY like how this looks!   Created with four of the 'half' flowers underneath one of the complete flowers, raised on 3d foam with the little background flower used on the centre....  the leaves are from JOFY61.

 Sometimes you just have to play BIG!!

ALBOTAT: Scraps but not so scrappy...

... that they couldn't be used...

I love this pad of basic grey Aston Frost paper, it's a christmas pad but many of the papers can be used all year round and I especially like the green spot and the two striped papers... (do love a spotty paper!)

While I was tidying my desk the other day I found a strip of it the diagonal stripe paper which got me thinking.. you don't always need to always use it diagonally - so I cut some more strips to see/realise how it looks with alternative orientation....(its these little things that keep me distracted from the tidying up!)...

Another scrap on the desk was this red & white patterned piece which was very nice (more about why it was on the desk in the next few days) but the scrap I trimmed off was cute! - nice little scallop border: 

It was perfect for covering over a line of small text on this upcycled tag - it came on a christmas ornament - I like it when that happens: a nice ornament with equally nice tag! bazinga! lol

Sometimes 'scraps' are perfect for a project however small they might be...

xx

Father's Day was a happy day...

... it was also a busy day.. 2 Dads to visit...

First was a visit to Matt's parents....Matt's Dad - here's his card:

(I love paper piecing to decorate the boat - can alter the sail's patters to suit the person.)
Toddles the tortoise (oldest member of the family) put in an appearance - basking on the warm patio... wierd but wonderful creature lol

They have a peony bush in their front garden:

How beautiful and 'juicy' is that flower! Love it - I'm going to try and grow some of those! A garden full of those would make me VERY happy!

Then it was off to my parents.. here's my dads card:

 ... an easel card - I like how a normal single fold card can be adapted so simply into something dimensional... I love this PaperArtsy image.. and of course a button or two..
... I 'attacked' the stash for these letters (basic grey)

... and as we were leaving the youngest members of the family couldn't resist posing in our car....  COOL DUDES!!  lol
Not sure about the 4year olds driving abilities though - his legs barely reach the end of the seat let alone the pedals!

I hope you all enjoyed Father's Day...

Father's day....

I didn't get to see my Dad on Father's Day, and that's ok as he was watching & supporting my brother who had cycled from London to Brighton (for charity, so well done to him!). But I did call my dad and sing 'happy father's day' - and who wouldn't want that! rofl
Here's his card:

ACP Week 2: Grey + B = Bunting

There were so many crafting options to choose from beginning with the letter B including bottles, birds, bleach, buttons (of course! lol), bottles tops - but on this run of the alphabet this is my choice.

B = Bunting

I think I've mentioned several times (at least lol) how much I like (love!) bunting - it makes me smile - its such a happy joyful decoration - village fetes, christmas,etc etc etc... I have several projects lined up this week featuring bunting...

I teamed grey with pinks for todays project- pink and grey seems (to me) such an 80s colour combo but like everything else 80s its seems to be making a bit of a comeback....

Today's projects are nice, cute, & simple cards. 

Stamps are Purple Onion & papers are Basic Grey (6x6 Bittersweet) & card is from the stash.

I hope you like today's projects - if the design or colour combo has inspired you please leave a link to your blog in comments & I'll pop by and have a snoop at your creation :o)

Thanks for popping by!

Jo

"its nice,.. but what is it? What is it for?"...

... which prompted the response -"its a little house... and it doesn't have to be for anything does it??" Which prompted a further discussion about whether 'things' have to have a purpose, or use.  Can't it just be an attractive/cute/pleasing-to-the-eye object. (in my head i was already thinking 'its something I made that's going to sit on the mantlepiece so I can look at it (proudly) and think 'I made that'. :o) )

Here's the 'house' that prompted the conversation:

I was at my parents house and my dad let me loose with his scroll saw (supervised I might add, lol) (& add 'scroll saw' to the birthday/christmas list) and I cut of some bits of wood that were there - wasn't sure what I was going to use them for but something'll come to me...
So, its a house - or a potting shed that time forgot and the plants took over.  The metal leaves are a Habitat lampshade that has been many things in our house but never a lampshade - its thin die cut metal and I've used it as a stencil & mask, I wrapped it around a coloured ball in the bathroom.... and now I've added it to a house..- actually these pieces were laying on the desk - they're the sort of fiddly bits and pieces that are hard to file and tidy away so end up in a corner of the desk getting in the way - turning them into a piece of 'art' seems a much nicer place for them.

Its a small piece - only stands about 8cm high, the base is stack of buttons, and its covered in Basic Grey papers & corrugated cardboard.
I can feel a whole lot more of these coming on...
Continuing of my 'obsession' with houses...

So many rosettes, so little time....

Love how this tag turned out - I used Tim Holtz stamps, Nestabililies dies, and the 'cafe' set of Perfect Pearls powders - the Cappucino colour is LUSH- a deep brown.

Last year I made a group of cards (of which these are some - I'd show you more but I can't find the photo's on the pc, grrrr):

and as usual punched out extra pieces which I've now used on these:

(I don't think they're nearly girlie enough - really should try harder.. lol)

(maybe I could make them a bit goth by using Basic Grey's Scarlet's Letter paper - all red black and grey... - embrace my inner goth!! lol)(cut the wings to look sharper and they'll start to look like bats instead of butterflies.. mwahahhaaaa (that's my evil laugh in case you were wondering!)
(no butterflies were harmed in the making of these tags & embellishments)

Take care

Attacking the Stash!!...part 1

 ... its an ongoing task - to attack/use the stash I've accumulated (all part of 'reduce, reuse, recycle') - and over at Banana Frog today I've created some 'scrappy' cards

Thanks for stopping by

Tidy it. Finish it

Today I decided to blitz my workroom... mainly because I couldn't see the wood for the proverbial trees or to be more specific the desk top for the inkpads, stamps, paper, bottles of inks & sprays etc etc etc - if you've ever seen my desk on WOYWW you'll know exactly the sort of things that are on my desk (&sometimes there's even a cat!)
While I was tidying up I kept seeing a project that is 90% finished - just tweaking needed..... in my head I could hear my little inner critic shouting "just finish it, for the love of all thinks inky FINISH IT!! Move on - its not permanent if you don't like it 6 months take it apart, change it - JUST FINISH IT"
so here it is:

(nb - I don't like the butterfly - wrong paper its days are numbered .... & I didn't need my inner critic to tell me that! lol)

and the workroom is still needs tidying! lol

Scrap Cards...

I was trying to tidy my workroom the other day and I started with all the best intentions..... but I was constantly side-tracked by the bits and pieces I kept finding in the piles (which I swear arrive overnight and have nothing to do with me... at all).... I found a booklet of Making Memories notelet thingies and in another box I was clearing I found the matching flowers! Kerrching... so I made the above cards (stamps are Banana Frog, Basic Grey, Imagine That & I think the spots is Hero Arts..??)
Excuse the crease on the first card I didn't notice that until I photographed them - & thats because I didn't have my nice new glasses (reading glasses!!!  for goodness sake - I know they say it all goes wrong once you're 40 but seriously- its only been 3months!! gggrrrr)
(the glasses are nice tho- got sparklies on!... no not Dame Edna Everidge stylee.. but I thought if I had to wear them then I might as well have statement ones! rofl)
aaaanyhoo, the cards are the Kraft type from DoCrafts/Papermania - not as thick/heavyweight as I'd have liked - they've gone a bit bent - I'll put them under something heavy and flat which will hopefully sort that out - & I hope so 'cos I've got 100 of the devils! lol