My Creative Spirit (Blog Archive)

Evening my crafty friends, it's gawn right chilly here and just when I'm heading down to Cornwall for a few days with my little sis and a class on Sunday the weatherman has forecast snow.  I've taken Annie's advice packed Rug, shovel, old carpet, large bottle of water, something to eat, sleeping bag a torch etc etc ............ and with all the boxes of kits and my luggage there's no room left in the car for me lol!  OJ ing ........!  I'm really looking forward to Sundays class .  We're making fabric painted, hand stitched journals similar to the ones above that I made last year.  Don't forget to bring your aprons ladies, it could get messy :-)  Here's a few more pics:   The feature images on both books are from stamp plates by PaperArtsy, and hand painted on tissue paper. OMG the lovely man on the radio has just announced it's 7pm- where's the day gone.  I haven't finished working yet so had best get of and get a mov...

Evening everyone, my post today is dedicated to Armistice Day and the memory of the brave men and women who served our country and sadly didn't return.  My 'Peace' plaque was created using PaperArtsy stamps and paints in creams yellows and toffee. The background has five layers of stamping and paint wash on it to create the hazy effect. My poppy was stamped out three times on tissue paper, painted on the reverse and then curled and layered over the stalk. The centre was stamped separately, cut out, layered over the petals and then I used paper glue and flowersoft to create the texture. The poem and soldiers were stamped on tissue paper, painted on the reverse and then stuck in place so they appear in the foreground. When I'd finished I thought the plaque had a strangely ethereal feel to it.  Here's the full poem    by Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae I'm beavering away here on the larger projects for next week - they're looking good and ve...

Hi my crafty friends, just a pop up post from me today. I've been looking for some sea themed stamps to make some simple cards with for a while and found the Lawn Fawn ones I used in an earlier post and this stamp set by PaperArtsy.  I love the pesky seagull and his cheeky 'up to no good' look.    For my quick card I made Mr Seagull the main feature adding a hint of tumbled glass distress ink to a 4 x 4 white card square before matting and layering it up to create a really simple but effective card.  Here's the rest of the stamps in the set. Lots to play with.........................  CM-Ocean  ttfn and catch up again soon :-) C 

morning everyone, it's been a lovely week down here in the Cornwall.  Changeable weather but beautiful blue skies in between the showers.  Sadly not quite warm enough to go dipping in the sea though. (well not for me anyway).  Thought I'd share a couple of views across the mouth of the River Fal with you.  A Navy ship had just arrived for renovation in the docks.  It looks so small from the hill but was actually mahusive.   My card today was one we made back in January.  We took JOFY Stamps, chose one style and used two distress inks, Worn Lipstick and Evergreen Boughs to create two different looks by adding a distressed and water blown background to the one on the left. Simple but effective cards. Hope you like:-)   There's still a few days left to leave a comment on this months giveaway post.  Two winners will receive the digital PDF project sheet for my Communique Album, below.  If you haven...

  Hi Everyone, as you read this I'll be winging my way to Milford Haven on the west coast of Wales ahead of our two day Graphic 45 workshop with Cheryl, In House Interiors and all her lovely ladies.  Am hoping the traffic is all coming back into England and I get there in under 4 hours lol!!!!   I thought I'd share some crafty inspiration with you and how I made this bright and cheery tag from one of the new PaperArtsy stamp plates .  I can't quite make up my mind whether I was drawn to it because of the colours on the packaging or the challenge of fussy cutting out the fabulous feature flower stamp.  There are so many creative possibilities with stamping, maybe create some unique printing with a gelli plate I went for a tag for starters but am thinking I may have to do a page in my journal too. Here's how it came together if you fancy making one yourself.  For supplies see the list at the end of the post.  1. On an 8" x 4" piec...

Wishing you all a very Happy Easter.  With Storm Katie blowing a hoolie around us I'm wondering if the Easter Bunny decided to stay in his borrow and not hide his eggs around the garden.  Will go take a peek in a while :-) Yesterday I thought I'd give some of our new chipboard oblongs a makeover and morphed them into a wall hanging. I chose paints from the same colour family for my background to give a tome on tone effect and went with blue/greens, pinks for the raised tiles and silver for the edging and metals.  I've added a full supply list at the end of the post.  Here's a quick step by step on how it came together if you fancy making one yourself. Tape the tiles together on reverse, cover the front in a base coat of paint, I used Antarctic and Lake Wanaka. Stencil on detail using a flourish stencil and Inky Pool paint on cut & dry foam.   Add some random script to the background and  tile detail using the same piece of foam.  Re...

Altered Tryptich using our new Arch shapes Its a wet and cold morning here.  I'd planned to get out in the garden this morn but am thinking maybe not lol!!!  We've got some new packs of chipboard shapes in the shop so I thought I'd make a mini typtrich with them.  With the arches laid out in front of me I had no idea what to create and it was fun to see the project emerge ............ do you know that feeling lol!!  By the time I'd finished the table was covered.  It's amazing how many things you can use on something so small lol!!! Here's a list of what was around me when I'd finished.  Tryptich Supply List  Chipboard Arch Pack (3) Paperartsy Fresco Finish Paints in Caribbean Sea, Tango, Snowflake PaperArtsy Stamps ELB21, JOFY35 and CM-Ocean Archival Ink - Forgetmenot  Tim Holz Flourish Mask Stickles - Baby Blue  Sharpie Fine white pen  Graphic 45 metal keys May Arts silver chain ribbon & cotton lace Tiss...

Lily Easter Card - created using PaperArtsy Stamps, Gelatos and Copic Chio Markers Hellloooo and a very Happy Good Friday to you all.  We're a little late getting started here so apologies for the late post. It's winners day today whop whop...........  Huge thanks to all who got crafty and took part in our Scrapbooking party.  I've had a blast scrapbooking with Kathy and have definitely got back into the whole scrapbooking thing.  So much so that one of the two projects for my June retreat will be making a scrapbook from scratch and creating co ordinating scrapbook pages to fill it with.  Click the link for more info and dates if you're interested in coming along.  Now onto this weeks winner.   Random.org  selected layout No..... uploaded by Moira G.  Congrats Moira, take a look at the project sheets on my website and the ones on Cathy's Etsy store, chose one from each and mail me at mycreativespirituk@gmail.com  with your...

Shadow Box Altered by AJ at Sundays Class What a great weekend we all had a Jo's shop, Let's Create in Tattershall.  Saturday was all things Graphic 45, with demos covering cards, layouts, altered art in the new collections, Voyage Beneath the Sea, Enchanted Forest, Botanicabella, Communique and Cityscapes and then we had a full workshop on Sunday with all things PaperArtsy.  Using Lin Brown stamps and the new paint colours, Baltic Blue, Turquoise, Theresa Green and Granny Smith we painted and snipped our shadow boxes into shape.  Huge thanks Jo for inviting me over and thank you to everyone who came along and joined in the fun.  It was a real pleasure to spend the day crafting with you all. Here's a few pics from the day:  Just when I thought I had a few days to get myself ready to head off to Cornwall on Friday Harry gets an invite to an interview at Gloucester Uni on Thursday so that leaves me with two days to get sorted.  eeeekkkkk!!!! ...