THE END OF ANOTHER MONTH

So far so good I have managed to complete another month of my Art Calendar, now comes the difficult bit, how to load it on to FLICKR lol :) When I read it I think what a boring life I lead, no not true I went to see Elvis in concert that's so exciting. Now I have to go and prepare my March pages so I am going to be up all night, good thing I'm not working until the afternoon tomorrow.

THE KING

Yesterday I went to Manchester Arena with 4 girl friends to see ELVIS IN CONCERT. He wasn't there in person of course but it was fantastic the way they did it using footage from his concerts in America, they were even able to have him walk the corridor in the Arena and on to the stage, it was incredible. There were plenty of "look alikes" in the audience but it seemed that the real one was on the stage. His backing singers were there in person "The Sweet Inspirations" and so were the "Jordanaires". I had the time of my life as he was from day one and still is my idol, the KING. When you hear his voice, his singing it was incredible especially as he didn't have all the electrical and computerised system that they have today. It was such a waste and so sad that he died so young.

WOYWW that time again

I am early this week as I have a terrible cold so I'm not doing much today (housework) and the DH has taken my dogs for a walk and has now gone to Sainsburys for me so that leaves me free to do whatever, don't feel so bad that I can't craft!!!! On my work desk this week are my Art Journals there are 3 two A5 Moleskines and a small homemade journal. The one with the grey pages is for a "Circle Journal" at AFTH, I will be there on Sunday for the monthly journal workshop and I need to finish these 2 pages ready to pass on. The one with blue pages is my own personal journal. You may also see TIM's new book which Ben at AFTH saved for me, there are a couple of Stampotique stamps which I will be using in my journals and over to the right you may also glimpse my new "Somerset Apprentice"mag and "Somerset Studio" Wendy at the Stamp Attic very kindly posted to me this week. I seem to spend more time reading than crafting. I took a photo today of a cupboard, well actually it used to be a wardrobe as my craft room used to be my son's bedroom years ago and my DH very kindly (I say kindly because he doesn't think much to all the crafting I do or the money I spend LOL) built shelves for me to store some of my stash, next week I will show you the other half.

PRETTY PINK

This is a canvas I have done for a swap at the Cubby Hole Cheshire. This month we were asked to produce a set of nine inchies and mount on card, canvas, whatever but the theme had to be love and romance, so here's my interpretation. I am not into Valentine, pink or pretty so this was quite a difficult one for me plus I did not have any INCHIES, I had to go and buy some new stamps. The hearts I have used are not exactly inchies but they fitted my 1"squares of Blonde Moments paper, all the stamps I have used are from Paper Artsy. I painted with Tim's Dabbers and collaged the 6"x6" canvas with torn music sheets. I used a few of 7 Gypsies rub ons here and there. Using double sided I placed the 3 strips of lace all the way round, stamped the hearts with Versamark and embossed with Blonde Moments Sugar Lilac Lustre the same for the wording "Amore" fixed them on to the lace with Bostick. I cut out a Blonde Moments heart and placed one of Tim's Spinners over the middle and fixed with a brad then used Glossy Accents to highlight the edge of the heart. I made a 3 tier row of flowers and attached with Bostick and the same for the red heart pin. Now the difficult part, packing and posting to Crewe.

Fun with ATC's Challenge

It's time for another challenge over on "Fun with ATC's", this is their third challenge unfortunately I missed the first one. The 3rd challenge is to use anything of Tim's,you know the man who ----- as Linda E would say. My background colour is Pumice Stone one of Tim's new Distress Ink pads, I bought them all!!! I applied the ink using a piece of Ranger foam, stamped the background script (one of Tim's) with Archival Coffee. The faux stitching and the rabbit are both from Tim's new stamps. I stamped the rabbit again with Archival coffee, painted the image with Old Paper Distress ink cut him out and used mini pads to mount him on to the atc. I then stamped the rabbit again using Archival Cobalt blue, cut out the coat and glued it on to the main image. Finally I used Ranger stickles Frosted Lace on the white parts of his coat and Scattered Straw stickles on his paws and powder puff tail. I am quite pleased with the result I just hope my camera does not change the colours, in my last post the ATC looks to be pink and it is actually green and gold, my DH says it is because it is not natural light when I take the photos!

Something completely different

Friday is time for a new challenge over on "Something Completely Different". The challenge is to make an ATC with a given theme and this week it is Keys. For my entry I sprayed a plain card with CraftyNotions Grass Green and Gold, stamped the door, a Crafty Individuals stamp, with Adirondack Coffee ink. Using my Crop-A-Dile I punched a hole and inserted an eyelet in the top corner. I threaded a piece of Tim's Idea-ology ball and chain throught the eyelet and added my Key. I have titled it "My Door Key". Now I am going to look for some more ATC challenges as it is SNOWING like H--- here and there's nothing much else to do, that's my excuse anyway.

A DAY WITH CLAUDINE

Yesterday as you all know I went to a Claudine Hellmuth workshop at AFTH. It was a wonderful day apart from the fact that my friend Ann Briggs should have been there with me but I expect you know that she is in hospital. I heard today that she is now starting to improve and we all hope she makes a full recovery soon.

We began the day by watching Claudine demonstrating background techniques on an 8x8 canvas using book pages, torn music sheets, maps and old phone book pages, paints, gel medium and a resist technique using vaseline. We then had a play ourselves on our box canvas, on an 8x8 mountboard sheet and sticky back canvas. In the afternoon we learnt various transfer techniques. We were all provided with a printed book detailing all the techniques we had learnt. It was really relaxing as there was no pressure to make anything and so we just played but actually produced something in the end, see my photos.

Dyan, bezzie Sue and Dy's girlies put on a great lunch and also provided a coffee and crumpet breakfast. Bezzie Sue did a great job by continually replenishing all the paints, papers, gel medium etc, etc. that we required. A good day was had by all and now I am looking forward to the next one with Dina Wakely.

What's on my work desk today

Not a lot of crafting going on today as you can see. There's a canvas which I have painted and is waiting to have inchies stuck on it for a swap. Kate (The Kathryn Wheel) is doing a piece in Craft Stamper about art journaling so I have a started book which is on my desk waiting for the front cover to be finished. I have a pile of photos and a box with odds and ends, I am sorting all of these to take with me to AFTH tomorrow as I am going to a full day Claudine Hellmuth workshop at Dyan's studio, exciting what!!! I have taken a photo of what's round the corner from my work desk and this is a small shelving book case where I store my Claudine paints, gesso and lots of other stash.

Oodles of Doodles

These ATC's are for a monthly swap over on "The Artist Trading Club" organised by Chris Rollins. Each month you send in 4 of 5 ATC's made, one you keep and the others are swapped. I won't go into detail as to how I did each one but mainly the backgrounds are done with the acrylic Dabbers and the doodles are done with Sharpie pens and white Inkessentials pen. On the turquoise and yellow ones I have stamped circles over my doodles using pen, glue stick and dabber tops. Now it's a question of which one do I keep?

PDCC 16

This week seems to have been ATC's galore, I think I have made 6. Here's another one for the Play Date Cafe Challenge, the colours chosen this week are red, silver and lavender. The background of my ATC is a Brilliance ink Pearlescent Lavender. I stamped small hearts using Versamark and embossed with Blonde Moments Silver Lustre on the background. The house using jet black Adirondack ink and 2 frames were stamped on to a piece of old book page which I swiped with a lavender ink pad, cut out the windows and in the house window I have glued a silver heart which is threaded with red ribbon. The two hearts are Tim's Grunge painted with Claudine Hellmuth's Dash of Red. The wording I stamped on to a piece of inked lavender card and mounted on to a silver square. I edged the whole with a Milled Lavender distress ink pad. All the stamps I have used are from Invoke Arts Stamps.

FUN WITH ATC'S

Susi from "Fun with ATC's" blog left a comment on my blog today and became a follower so of course I had to go over to have a look, it appears to be a German blog! They run a challenge for ATC's so I decided to take up the challenge which is using purple and brown, the colours of their blog. I used a Versacolor chalk ink "Pretty Petunia" all over the card stock, stamped various clocks in Versafine Sepia, the stamps are Crafty Individuals. The title at the top is "Time Flies". I fixed with tiny brown brads 2 of Tims Idea-ology clock parts then covered another piece of card stock in the same purple colour and stamped the Paper Artsy parrot, he has a name but I can't remember what it is, in Sepia cut him our and mounted him on the atc using mini mounting pads, I gave him a nice brown eye using my Viva Pearl Pen. The two colours I would not have thought about using them together but I really like them.

SOMETHING DIFFERENT ATC

I was blog hopping this morning and saw a new challenge on Gezzy B's blog. The challenge is actually over on "Something Completely Different" blog, the new theme this week is WINGS. Here is my entry done very quickly before dashing off to pick up my 2 grand-daughters. I covered the ATC in layers of acrylic paint starting pale turquoise, yellow, darker turquoise and splodges of red. The heart and wings are Tim's grunge wings painted silver and Claudine's red on the heart, birds are a Tim's stamp in black Adirondack, flowers at the bottom are stamped in Versafine Spanish Moss this is a Wendy Vechi mini art stamp. I printed the words on the computer, coloured the white card with a red chalk and drew round it in black. Now I must dash as I am late.

STAMPOTIQUE DESIGNERS CHALLENGE

This is a new blog and the first day of the very first challenge. I love Stampotique Originals and have quite a few in my collection and I can't wait to see all the new ones. The challenge is to make a themed card "Love" is the word. I mounted a piece of Elsie Flannigan printed canvas on to black card. I have had this canvas for years and never found a use for it but I thought it was perfect for this card. I machine stitched all the way round twice, fixed 4 pink heart brads at each corner. I stamped the 2 images using Adirondack Jet Black and coloured them with my Copic Markers. The large heart I cut from a piece of TSS bright red metal and embossed it with the music folder in the Cuttle Bug which I thought was appropriate as my title is "Love is in the air". The title is also a play on words as I placed a red heart on Spikey's hair so you get it "hair/air". The Heart Boy I glued a tiny Blonde Moments heart on to his chest and coloured it with a red Sakura pen and went over all the red bits on Spikey and him with the same Sakura pen to make them shine a little.

WOYWW this week ?

The weeks fly by here we are again with wot's on my workdesk and a swing over to the right where you can see my roll top cupboard but unfortunately it's only the middle bit which belongs to me the other 2 parts are my DH's. On top of the cupboard are my "Really useful Boxes" with my MS punches, Blonde Moments, Crafty Individuals and Paper Artsy stamps. The files are full of stamps too and there's my Graphicus Guild file. There are Ikea drawers at the side and they are full of ink pads of various makes and all sorts of other stuff. On my workdesk this week are all my TSS metal sheets and equipment along with Walnut Hollow and a Bean tin. I am altering this Linda E style for my grand-daughter to keep her pencils, paint brushes etc so as she doesn't keep borrowing mine when she is here crafting. I also have some Stampotique stamps waiting to be used for the first challenge on Stampotique Originals blog. I could go on forever but I won't I think that's enough for this week. Byeeee.

Ready Steady Stamp Challenge 14

I hope I am not too late with this post, I think the finishing date is the 10th but here goes. The ingredients were children, copper, sand, green, a die cut or border punch, heat emboss on metal and funky foam. My card base is sand coloured. I then cut a piece of white card covered it with Versa color Sage, stamped using one of Tim's new flourishes from Urban Chic using the Versa color Sand Beige. I tore round the card and edged with Antique Linen Distress ink pad. The image is one of Lisa's Altered Art children images which I mounted on to copper Mirri card after punching a border with one of the MS punches. The three flowers are sage and sand Funky Foam and last but not least the butterflies which I really enjoyed doing I have not heat embossed on metal before but I will be doing this again. The stamp is a Wendy Vechi from Make Mine Mini Art, two of the butterflies I stamped using Adirondack ink Olive and embossed with a clear Blonde Moments powder and the third butterfly I stamped with Versamark and embossed in copper on copper.

A VINTAGE VALENTINE

This is an ATC I have made for Quirky Crafts challenge which I found on Gez's blog. The challenge is Valentine/Foreign. I made my ATC from a free image on Valerie's website "The Sum Of All Crafts" which can be found on my side bar. I stamped the heart, "be my valentine" and the word "amore" (Italian) from Paper Artsy stamps using an Adirondack ink in grape which I then embossed using a Blonde Moments clear embossing powder. I machine stitched all the way round the edge twice and fixed the rose in the top corner. I hope now the photo does it justice.

PDCC 15

Here is my entry for this weeks challenge on Play Date Cafe. The colours are blue, green, light brown and dark brown. The stamp is a Magnolia which I have coloured using Copic Markers. I coloured the white card with a light brown chalk and used a Basic Grey flourish stamp and Versafine Sepia. I layered this on to a light brown card and used a MS punch on the corners and around the edge. The green/blue paper underneath I machine stitched on to brown card, the paper is My Minds Eye Laundry Line. The whole has been layered on to Kraft card, the three flowers with brown brads attached at the corner and the background for the birthday circle was done on the Cricut using Essentials Accents. I am happier with this than the last entry I did, I just think that the centre card should have been edged in a brown distress ink, too late.

Can't wait!

I am so excited and I don't often get excited about anything, only new puppies. So what am I excited about, I am going to Dina Wakleys workshops at AFTH, I am going on both days YEAH. I was a bit worried at first that I would only be able to go on the Wednesday, you see I teach every Tuesday at the moment and Tuesday 2nd March is one of Dina's days but I rang school and asked if I could swap my day just for that week and they said yes yipee! It does help that the deputy head is a friend of mine. I am really looking forward to it as I love Art Journaling. I am also going to Claudine Hellmuth's day at AFTH in Feb. Aren't I the lucky one all I need now is for DH to say he is going away on business and it will be divorce or I will kill him LOL.
Sorry no pictures at the moment.

Craft Drawer

Here I am again I didn't realise that we were supposed to be showing our "drawers" this week for WOYWW so here are mine and a few peeps inside them. You maybe able to see all of my Stampotique stamps please don't tell my DH how manyof these stamps I have.

WOYWW

Well it's that time again for what's on your worksdesk. I nearly missed it as I suddenly thought "Oh it's Wednesday" and lucky me I have only just arrived home as I have been out for lunch. It is snowing heavily here, I digress. On my workdesk at the moment is a 15x21cm Journal book it is for a "Round Robin" which we are doing at AFTH. Dyan set this up for all of us who go to her Art Journal workshops and before the next session we have to have decorated the covers inside and out, journaled on the first page doing a "this book belongs----", completed a double page spread and the very last page which is a signing page for all taking part. I am using Dyan's Ephemera pages which are on my desk, Sakura pens, Sharpie and Dabbers, Huggies of course no crafter should be without them. I also have a 6x6 canvas which I am collaging for a Valantine swap so far I have gessoed it and painted with pink Dabbers I am going to use Paper Artsy heart stamps which you might be able to see. Ok here are the photos I hope they are better than yesterdays.