Shake your tail feathers...

This little chap was given new, fancier, tail feathers - and then I forgot to blog him/her! shame on me! so it gets its own little blog post! lol

ps - do not adjust your sets - the photos are black & white! :o)

7 hearts for 7 years..

... back in 2005 I married Matt.
Here's the card I made for him this year - I always try to include the same number of heart motifs on the card as the number of years we've been married - this may get trickier the longer we've been married - I imagine the card for our 25th Anniversary will either be reeeally big or the hearts will be reeeeeally small! lol

The pattern on the hearts is quite significant - my lovely husband has over 20 work shirts in his wardrobe and they are nearly all white shirts with variations of blue check/stripes.... that man loves blue!
& I love him.

Its beginning to look a bit like Christmas!!

On the first Saturday of each month The Craft Barn has in-shop demonstrations and this month I was providing one of them... I had a lovely day, lots of lovely peeps came and watched the demos - bought the products I was demo'ing which was great - but in the afternoon it meant that it was as much an improvisation as a demonstration! lol
Here are some sneak peeks of my samples - a few of the originals will go to the shop...

Lots of techniques & products on these - Rosettes - created with Tim Holtz die (I think I've mentioned before how much I like these! lol); Distress Inks (antique linen, frayed burlap, weathered wood, black soot); dry embossing - with Sizzix folders - these give a really good deep impression; die cutting - Spellbinders - great flourishes (love); and wet embossing - covering the die cuts making them look like metal - this effect was achieved using Stampedous 'Fran-tage' embossing enamels in 'aged silver' and aged black (which is a really lovely colour.. we're talking reeeeeeally nice! (& so is the 'aged silver' judging by how fast it sold out!)

Thanks to everyone who watched the demos, I hope you were inspired.  Demo's wouldn't be the same without you!

xx

Happy Birthday!!...

... to my Hubby - who turned 40 yesterday - here's the card I made him - quite simple.  I love this card structure - deceptively simple...

So its fairly simple but it took quite a few bits of equipment - the big numbers are cut with the Slice, the panel they sit on is a Nestabilities die, the big 'happy' is a new stamp by Imagine That (love those stamps - they have a great 'christmas' set of the same design), 'happy birthday' is a Hero Arts stamp... I think that's enough for one card!  Oh no, hold on, 'happy' was stamped in silver ink & I brushed Perfect Pearls over the top. yep thats all.
I love/chose the colours for the card because my Hubby has a fondness for shirts that have a blue check pattern! Seriously - I think he might have cornered the market in them! lol

Take care - enjoy the long weekend.

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

A Rosette tutorial...

There areother tutorials out there on the www (Tim Holtz has one on his site - bit tricky to find but maybe that's because I was looking on the ipad (!!) lol) but I had a few questions /comments about the rosettes after my previous post (as they can be tricky little devils, getting them to lay flat etc etc) & I thought I'd just share with you how I do them - other people may do it differently but this is how I make them....
I hope you find it helpful.

Die cut the rosettes - I've used the original die and the second die with smaller rosettes. (btw when I'm die cutting them I put a bit of sticky tape at either end of the paper to hold in place on the die - stops it wandering/slipping).

I don't use the seals from the dies - I punch out circles seperately (from standard card (Papermania 12x12 packs)) that measure 1" (for the smallest rosette) and 1.5" (for the largest and middle rosette).  These will form the base of the rosettes and give them stability.

Run a line of sticky tape along the wrong side of the rosette - it protects the perforation - prevents them from tearing/splitting.

Fold the rosette & press it firmly between fingers - it helps to keep the folds tight.

Attach slim (5mm) double sided tape to the first panel of the rosette strip, cut to size, remove backing and lay the  last panel of the strip over the top (I prefer to use double sided tape rather than glue - quicker drying time)

Work on a piece of acetate (or a craft non-stick sheet) for the next few stages - working on a slippy surface makes it much easier to push the rosettes down into their final shapes (less resistance).

Use a hot glue gun to attach the base to the rosette.  Run it around as shown - don't put the glue in the centre - you don't want it coming up through the hole in the centre & you might want to add brads through there and they'll be difficult to put through glue.  Also because its liquid it allows time to wiggle the folds into place, get them evened out.

 Position the rosette ring over the base.

Gently push down into position.

Just in case that's as clear as mud here's a little video of the last stage!! 
(I thought it might help to show how I position my fingers on the rosette to get an even spacing of the folds)

I hope you find my little (& first blog) tutorial helpful - if you have any questions please leave them in the comments & I'll get back to you.

Bev asked what background paper is it that I use in photos - its vintage book pages glued to an A2 sheet of card (& Bev, you know how I like vintage book pages! lol)

Happy rosette creating.  I warn you- it can be addictive! 
I'd love to see what you're doing with the rosettes you make- so please leave a link - or follow the blog.

A this'n'that catch up.... Part 1

... so lots of little bits and pieces going on & being made/created and I've been a bad blogger and only been putting things up on Twitter - cos its so quick! 140 characters and its done... but that makes my blog a bit dull for you lovely peeps out there who aren't on twitter and so stop by this blog (and to be honest with you I'd get more done if I wasn't on twitter lol) - and I'm very grateful to you for popping in.  :o)

Right here's the this'n'that round up:

It was my lovely god-daughters birthday last month so I made her a bunting banner with her name on it..
It started off life like this - a lovely little dress that I bought at the charity shop (reduce, reuse, recycle!), washed and ......

 

....ta-daaa!!  its now very cute bunting for a very cute girlie. Her favourite colour? yep- pink! of course! lol

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I've started teaching a few classes at Hobbycraft in Chelmsford, only a few, its good fun... different style and products to the other classes I do.
First class was a 'Die-Cutting' class aimed at people considering buying a machine or who had one but wanted to know more.  It was a mix of demo'ing the machines (cuttlebug & bigshot) and teaching.  2 hours of fun. Lovely ladies who went home happy (and inspired) - job done!
Here are a couple of the cards we made:

I'll be doing a couple more classes soon - I'll keep you posted.

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I haven't bought stamps for a while but in the past few weeks I seem to have bought loads a few - some I've bought just because they're soooo useful - like these from Papermania - big numbers.. You don't get plain numbers like these very often do you? they're about 3 inches tall - really versatile - just the outline - great for journaling, paper piecing etc. I bought all of them (£2.00 each and buy 2 get 3rd free! kerching! love bargains like that)

so i settled down on the sofa and just doodled inside the numbers - just to see how it felt, how easy it would be to fill the numbers with just black ink. like these a lot - just good simple BIG numbers.  I'm sure there are lots of other filler patterns but they're for another day....

Thats all for now - thanks for stopping by - please 'follow' the blog - its nice to know who pops by & it'd be nice to visit your little corner of www.

xx

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

You can never have too many hearts....

When I get a product I like to try it out on & with anything I can get my hands on... The above are what I made before (and after) I went to ArtsyCrafts with one of the new PaperArtsy Heart dies - like this one a lot...
So these dies cut through:

Claudine Hellmuth sticky back canvas

Brooch I made with the stickyback canvas mounted onto Grungepaper for stability (might even've been grunge board?!?)

Grunge Paper

PaperArtsy's Metal Card

Metal Card embossed with a Tim Holtz embossing folder (its also been painted with acrylic paint, sprayed with Perfect pearls in several colours and sanded back)

Card stock (stamped with PaperArtsy images and coloured with distress inks)

Card stock (stamped with Fresco Finish paint & coloured with distress stains (Fresco Finish paints resist the stains! lush)

Shrink plastic x 2

Just wanted to show you how versatile these dies were (and no prizes for guessing which of the hearts were cut from shrink plastic! lol)

ooh - corrugate cardboard  - cuts through that too... how could I have forgotten to show that - I do love a bit of corrugated cardboard! lol

Tags... Part 3

Today's tag is decorated with the lovely new PaperArtsy OakLeaf dies - love how they've made them in 3 sizes!

Went a bit old school with this tag - scrunched up and distressed the tag - haven't done that for ages - I liked it! - Looks the tags been under a leaf pile for ages.. lol
The word 'nature' is printed with the PaperArtsy Words plate 2.
I've always wanted to use the plate to create words, and toyed with the idea of cutting the plate up to use as an alphabet, but I really like to use it as a background and so didn't want to cut it up. But, after seeing Joanne Wardle use it to create words it made up my mind - I bought another one and cut it up - really glad I did!! ("its only rubber - cut it up!" said the little voice in my head!!)
So now I have 2 - one for building words and 1 for creating backgrounds! Ta Daaa. Simples! lol
The leaves are sticky back canvas stamped with the co-ordinating images for the dies, and coloured with distress inks - very autumnal. Little leaf is attached with a Tim Holtz teeny tiny safety pin, the big leaf with a clip.  The tag is also stamped with a Tim Holtz image - from the new Papillon plate.

Tags.. Part 2

This tag, created again for demo'ing at the AC/TH event, is a bit of a sampler:
the tag has been partially embossed accented with Distress Inks & Lava Gold 'Goop' (love that stuff - so shiny!!) (& versatile) (and now comes in smaller pots - yay!)
painted & water splashed Distress Stains (top blue half)
Die cutting (the flourishes)
Tim Holtz tissue tape & Adage Ticket
and a distressed flower created with the spiral technique - I flatten/ distress these by hitting them with a small hammer... which is quite satisfying! lol

2 tags down, 2 tags to go... see you tomorrow.. same place same time.....

Tags... Part 1....

... well not technically Part 1 as I've put up a lot of tags during my time on this blog but its part 1 for this week - there are going to be 4 tags going up this week!!

This is one of the tags I made for demo'ing at the ArtsyCrafts/Tim Holtz event (& how freakin' good was that!!!)(the event not my tag & demo'ing lol)

The bird is the small bird die and co-ordinating stamp - one of the new PaperArtsy dies. I trimmed off its legs so it can sit on the branch*, which is actually the Tim Holtz tree die turned on its side (tilt your head to the left.. there you go.. now you can see it! lol)** and trimmed! (the other off-cuts made it on to a smaller tag that was a page in a mini book I created - more on that later in the week).  Background is painted in Distress Stains & inks. The bird is 3d mounted to give a bit of depth, branch is cut from Thorndon Hall with a bit of Distress Stickles added for texture...
All stamps are PaperArtsy.

The weather here in Essex today is glorious sunshine (but frosty! who'd've thought!) but not a cloud in the sky! Love that! Gives me such a positive feeling.... And its perfect for taking photos so thats what I'm going to do before I have to start working through my 'to do' list!
I hope its nice where you are!


* Don't worry no birds were harmed in the creation of this tag!
** It makes me chuckle to think that everyone reading this blog post will be tilting their heads to the left... thinking 'oh yes' and straightening up again..lol  ... its the little things that make me smile...

Things that make you go 'hhmmmm'

Another 'something' where I was just playing with 'stuff'.... acrylic paint resist, stamping & resist, cuttlebug embossing, die cuts, shimmer sprays, perfect pearls sprays - you name it I used it - layer on layer, on layer, on layer...
Sometimes you have to get inky, and random, and Embrace the Inks!

oooh baby its cold outside... so I've been staying in and making stuff....

I'm in Essex and I realise we don't have half the amount of snow as the rest of the country - yesterday on my way up the garden to feed the birds I stuck a ruler in the snow, when M told one his colleagues (based in Pickering, Yorkshire) how much snow we had the colleague scoffed a little & said "call that snow we've got 3ft's worth!"  !!

Ooh I'm glad I'm in Essex!  lol

but it looks like it warming up if these are anything to go by:

and below is the mother of all local icicles (from neighbours guttering) which is getting longer as the day goes on, thankfully its not anywhere that people could be walking under as it could do someone serious damage! (as anyone who has watched Grey's Anatomy knows! (remember Christina & the icicle!!) ouch!)

and one more snow picture:

small spiders web - I tried to find bigger ones but with no luck..... I wish I could remember where I saw a photo of spiders' webs on traffic lights - very cool - on someone's blog -sorry I can't remember who's it was (EDIT: it was Angela Weimer's blog! - go take a look: http://pagesbythesea.blogspot.com/2010/11/its-begining-to-lok-alot-like-christmas.html  its a really great picture...)

Aaaaanyhooo, enough about the weather...

I made this for M, its an advent thingy-ma-jig and each little box contains little notes or treats.  Made out of matchboxes and coasters, its small- measuring just under 10x10x10cm. The little boxes' labels work as a tab to pull them in & out and text was created on the PC. 
Papers are My Minds Eye, snowflakes are Nestabilities and Martha Stewart, ticket stamp is Purple Onion.
I'm pleased with how it turned out but next time I'm going to use sturdier and bigger matchboxes! lol

(if you want to know how to make one of these look in back issues of Craft Stamper (I'll look back when I get a minute and let you know which issue).

Tag-a-liscious 2/too...

As promised here is the other tag I made with the lovely embossing folders that the Postie delivered in a snow 'storm'...

All the embossing folders are Cuttlebug, tags cut with Tim Holtz tag die (big fave of mine!), inks are Distress (pitch black, peeled paint).

I like how the flame of the chandelier candles are deeper embossed than other bits (?) and so colour doesn't settle into them making them look bright.  Nice.

Bit of crochet, some vintage buttons, gems and a length of bobble trim - lush!

Hope you're all warm and safe.

Tag-a-licious! & bbrrrrr

It feels like I should be posting something festive today as its 1st December.... Eeek! 1st December!!

aaanyhoo,  I'm not going to! but here's a picture of our snow! lol  I'm in Essex and our snow isn't nearly as deep/impressive as some parts of the country but its enough (and too much at the same time! lol)

None of us has ventured out into the garden - not Me, M or Lola (fat chance of her braving it) or Bertie (give him half the chance & he'll go take a look) - but I will later to feed the wildlife.

The Postie made it round yesterday - he's a hardy soul (part of a Postie's job description?) and so I thought I'd make something with what he delivered so his delivery wasn't wasted (lol)... more tags.
btw Tim Holtz 12 tags of christmas started today over on his blog so if you're interested (and how could you not be) go and take a look - lots of loveliness and make sure you watch the video from a couple of days ago... genius)

aaanyhoo - tag:

The Postie delivered a parcel from Craft Obsessions - the romance/love pack of embossing folders for the Cuttlebug... had my eye of these for a while! I need/want to make an engagement card for a friend and they are perfect! (and on sale!) ... but I made a tag first..

 

I really like how the Glossy Accents sits on the lettering and gives it a bit of pop. I intended this tag to be more pink than red but could find the pink inks - but its a happy accident because I really like it.  The colour combo's like Basic Grey's Scarletts Letter papers - LOVED that range.... oooh ooh I could have used a bit of that on the background... ggrr why didn't I think of that earlier......

I also made a really nice green & black one which I'll show you tomorrow.....

Take care and stay warm!

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas!...

Here's a pretty tag I made with things that came in the post last week - making a tag lets me quickly use new 'toys' ahem sorry, craft equipment.  Snowflakes are Martha Stewart Scandinavian snowflake punch (large) lovely, lovely snowflake (and it looks like these are the only snowflakes I'm going to see - our area of Essex seems to be the only part of the country that doesn't have snow - humph).  The blue panel is a Tim H punched tag embossed using one of his embossing folders - love those!

There's an acetate tag peaking out on the right handside (sanding picks up the embossed design), and some scallop edged cardstock 

Its christmas and glitter is expected, no - its an essential requirement! I really like glittered chipboard but it can be a bit of a pain when the glitter ends up EVERYWHERE! But I discovered the solution (and duh! how could I not have realised/used this before) when I went to Imagine That on their birthday weekend..... STICKLES!!!!  Emma had covered a chipboard Eiffel Tower in stickles and it was soooooo lovely! I can't believe that I've only use stickles to dot accent things! Oooh so much more to do (and cover!) with stickles! (or any glitter glue for that matter)  Pretty!!
So I glammed up a chipboard 25 (sizzix dies) with Stickles. Lush!

I think duck-egg blue & pale gold are going to be my christmas colours this year - on a white tree....