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HAPPY HALLOWEEN

UP, UP AND AWAY

My regular followers will remember that I have some lovely neighbours who spend 12months - every year - in the sunshine (that counts as 12 if our summer actually IS sunny!!).
The 6 months they spend here has disappeared again because this morning they flew off to the heat of Goa, India, yet again. I have had a lovely time with Val nipping here and there over the summer months and will miss that very much for the next 6.
Here she is on the plane this morning, just before take off.

Have a wonderful time and don't forget to send home some of that sunshine. See you in April xx

WICKED WEDNESDAY ATC CHALLENGE - SET OF 3

The challenge this week over at Wicked Wednesday ATC challenge is to make 3 ATCs which have a theme running through them. They can be the same design with different colours, tell a story, or whatever comes to your mind so long as they are linked somehow.
This is only their third challenge but already the blog is becoming very popular. I love it because it keeps the old grey matter alive!!!!
Any way, here is my effort:

I wanted to tell a story but couldn't get my thoughts into gear so ended up making 3 cards using The Beast from the Octopode Factory. There are only 4 colours throughout plus black around the edges, these were all paint dabbers except for ripe persimmon DI which I used to highlight the embossing.
Another smashing day especially as I spent it all in my little craft room - a rare thing nowadays.

TOOT-T-T-TOOT (supposed to sound like a trumpet!!)

I am blowing my own trumpet and making no excuses for it because I am over the moon to say the least.
If you read the few words at the top of my blog (the ones that go right over Toby's picture 'cos I can't get them to do anything else), you will see that I make no bones about being an amateur crafter. Just a lass that has picked up a hobby that totally suits and sometimes makes a project worth shouting about. Well I did just that - aparently - a couple of weeks ago. This was it:

I entered it into the stampotique designers challenge.
Just look what I got in return:

I made the favourite 3.
Some of you will know how much I love the quirky Stampotique designs, so will understand how much this means to me.
THANK YOU.

WOW ANOTHER WEEK BITES THE DUST

Can you actually believe another week has gone by? I can't. I had every intention of visiting at least half of you folk since last week, but didn't manage a third.... You may do  better than me this week just as I hope to do. Our inventor of this wonderful Wednesday, Julia, has opened the doors of the world's crafters so we can all have a nosey at each other's spaces. Join in the fun, 'cos that's just what it is.
This is what was on my space yesterday.

and this is what is hanging from the ceiling today:

I needed the space on my tiny work surface so asked my DH to alter my hanging DI tool holder to accommodate all the extra ones. I now have a blending tool for all 39 DIs plus extras for the next 3 due next month and a couple more. Goodness knows what will happen if Mr Holtz brings out more ink pads next year....
Well, must get on, my little car is having an operation today - in order to pass it's MOT - and I am having a new hair do. Big day then.

WICKED WEDNESDAY ATC CHALLENGE

Thanks to Hazel and Gez for blogging about this new ATC challenge blog. Called Wicked Wednesday ATC, it's week #2 and the theme is Halloween. Pop over to them and have a look, but prepared to see digi images.
I rummaged through my collection and came upon quite a few images that would be good to colour, but I just couldn't re-size some of them. I bet I've saved them wrong in the first place. Anyway, I found a little witch riding the skies on her broom whilst reading the latest spell book. LOL.
Here she is:

I coloured her with Sakura pens, cut her out and stuck her over distress inked base card which I had stamped with Tim's web and bats. The word is from a little set of studio G stamps I sent to the US for. Seems to have come out ok and I had fun again.

GRUNGY MONDAY 24 - PERFECT DISTRESS

Another Monday already, but it means another Tim challenge over at Grungy Monday.
This week it's PERFECT DISTRESS. Have a look at Tim's video - here - to see what this is all about and have a go with those perfect pearls.
I made a tag in autumnal colours so that I could let Hels see it for her Sunday challenge too. I now she usually joins in with grungy Monday, being a Tim fan (and Ranger educated to boot).
Here is my piece then:

Not sure whether the perfect pearls are shining on the photo, but they are on the twigs and the bird's wing. I used a lot of products on this so please bear with me:
DIs
dried marigold, spiced marmalade, ripe persimmons, seedless preserves, gathered twigs, pumice stone, vintage photo, brushed corduroy.
PERFECT PEARLS
forever violet, heirloom gold,
STAMPS
flights of fancy, lost & found, dots, twigs.
Another crafting bit of fun.

A GORGEOUS DAY OUT

We decided to go for a drive up to Kendal yesterday. From ours, it's a lovely trip up the A6 if you want to avoid the motorway. It's also one of my favourite journeys as the scenery is stunning. Better still, the day was gorgeous too. Blue skies and relatively warm sunshine. Super all round.
2 reasons for going. The first was to try and find some furniture and the second was to visit the Paper Warehouse who were having their Christmas spectacular and celebrating with lots of demos. Couldn't miss the chance to catch up with some of the latest samples, but more especially, see the lovely Lindsay Mason sharing her expertise.
I'd seen some of her latest samples on her blog but seeing them and touching them is more special. They were stunning up close. I bought some black card - completely run out - some good quality printing paper and a set of Lindsay's stamps - Christmas Post. Hope to have a play with these today.

PS. still looking for the furniture!!!!

BATCAT

Had a bit of fun with this. The cat is one of Tim's stamps as are the little bats. Simply stamped onto grungepaper, distress coloured around the edges, a brad through the back legs, tail and head and a bit of acetate to hold the bats.

Here it is in motion.

I wouldn't like this kitty to come to live at my house.

A PAPER TOWEL XMAS CARD

I've had this card laid out for about a week now but have been 'scared' to actually put it together. I wasn't sure whether it would work nor how to achieve the look I wanted. In the end I just went for it and gave up wondering.
The whole thing came about after making a gorgeous card that Andy Skinner had given instructions for. The amazing orange sky attracted me and I had just the thing I wanted to use - kitchen towels - that I had used to dry ink on both backgrounds and my work sheet. I put 3 of them together to form the sky and began.

The kitchen towel sky is on the right of the A4 card that I blended Distress Stains on to in  order to make the rest of the sky. Does that make sense?
The cardstock is not really thick enough for a base card, so I generally fold another piece to A4 and place it inside.
Anyway, I then got to work stamping, cutting out and sticking in place. This is the finished card front.

In the end I was really pleased with it. I thought the inside 'stiffener' needed a little something, so added this.

I am on a roll with Xmas cards just now so if I know you and you follow my day to day ramblings, one of the cards I make and show may just pop through your letter box this year. This one knows it's destination so I hope the recipient(s) like it.

WOYWW - I'VE MANAGED A BIT OF CRAFTING THIS WEEK

If you are interested, have a look at my previous posts.
Not sure whether I will manage any more for the rest of the week though. What I hope to do (she say's tongue in cheek) is pop over to yours - courtesy of our leader Julia - and have a look see at what you are up to.
My little space is tidied up after yesterday but now looks like this:

and this:

I got fed up with all the dust so had a mad moment and got the du***r out, swished it around a bit and hope to be a bit more tidy when it's all done. My DH is going to fasten my ink blender stand to the bottom of the hanging one, make me another layer and hang that too. Just a quick post this week. I need some 'ME' time to try and think - something I'm usually good at but find I can't do it lately. It's quite worrying so I have to do something about it.
Have a happy woyww everyone.
x

A DAY TO PLAN JUST 10MINS

That's how long it has taken me to plan a card to make in just 10 minutes for the Grungy Monday challenge. The title of this week's challenge is TIM IN 10, the idea being to make something in just 10 minutes using at least 1 Tim Holtz item.
I needed to make a birthday card for an 80+ yr old man, so decided that would be my challenge. Here are the items I gathered:

I borrowed my hubby's clock, waited for the top of the hour after showing him how to use my camera and asking him to take photos over the next 10mins - including the time - and off I went.

Ooh! look, I had 30secs to spare.

All that planning and I didn't know where to start....... I did in the end begin by painting the edges of an 8"x8" card with Americana and Adirondak paint, rubbing some off with a baby wipe. The Crowded Attic square on the right was covered in Picket Fence Distress Stain and left to dry.

3 mins in and still doing the edge!!!!

But another minute later and the Crowded Attic paper is going on.

8 minutes in and I've die cut the hanging bracket from Tim's Hanging Sign die and am adding a couple of eyelets using my crop-o-dile. How I wish my fingers would work quicker....

10minutes have gone and my card looks like this. Not finished, but - remember I had wasted 30secs at the beginning - so I rushed the last bit and here is the finished result.

Yippee!
I used the following Tim items:
papers: lost & found/crowded attic
distress edger
tiny attacher
pumice stone DI
scissors
picket fence distress stain
mini paper clips
jump rings
hanging sign alterations die
I also used:
crackle accents
adirondak black dabber
ink applicators
What a blast this was. Roll on next week.

SHOW ME HOW TO MAKE THAT ANAN.....

That's what our Susi wanted when she was looking through my copy of Heather's book.
She spied a tag with bead flowers on and also loved the dragonflies, so we sorted out the correct beads and I showed her what to do. Here's the tag as it was completed:

We found some background paper which she embossed in white with some flowers.

She then began to add buttons, dagger and bugle beads along with some sticky gems.

At the bottom of the tag, she added lots of seed beads.

It was left to dry whilst she had a go at making the dragonfly. Didn't take long although it was fiddly. A couple of ribbons and jump rings and she fastened the insect to the tag. Job done.

I think she did really well, don't you?

STAMPOTIQUE DESIGNERS CHALLENGE #40

It's Tag Time - that's the SDC #40 challenge.
Any stamps can be used for this challenge, so out came Bow Tie, embossing folders, inks, Copics, embellishments, ribbons, etc. and I ended up with this:

The light wasn't very good for this photo so the colours appear rather muted.
Off to link it to the SDC blog site now.

A HECTIC WOYWW SINCE THE LAST WOYWW

For all you wonderful crafters out there either on the verge of retirement or just waiting for the moment - stay at work!!!!!!!!!!
I have had the luxury of being retired for 5 and a half years now, but this week has seen me wanting to go back to work for a rest.................
Madness struck when my step-daughter and family finally 'came back home' at the beginning of September. The new house they moved to - courtesy of a housing association which gave priority to separated families through work and/or ex-forces, proved a no, no, due in  part to it being a  tiny box, so, another house move to a larger, privately rented home took place a week ago. Since then it's been 'Dadi, can you or, Anan can you'. Hey, we are absolutely loving it. The down side is, neither of us have time for hobbies. Perhaps when my special pal (that's my step-daughter) gets her business up and running, she will not need as much support as now - boo hoo!!!!!
Anyway, yesterday, she helped me cover a bedding box that her dadi (my DH) had made. What do you think???

Here's a piccie with the lid open - still needs hinges:

I am over the moon with it as it fits perfectly into our newly refurbished bedroom and I also reckon it counts as craft.
Whilst Susi was here today she had a look through all my craft cupboards and found my bead stash and Heather's book. I now have another dragonfly to make for her friend!!

So, my craft space is 'smothered' with beads today.
Julia started this little nosey around the craft desks of the world, allowing us a peek into the lives of like-minded folk who enjoy crafts of all kinds, not just paper. Thank you Julia for that 'cos it's such an enjoyable time each week despite the fact that not many of us actually get to visit all of them - so what?? If I get around to a handful, I'm happy.
I'll leave you with a photo of my ever increasing wall of art. This is a minuscule show of the amazing ATCs, cards, etc I have from numerous clever crafters - enjoy.

JOURNAL JOURNEYS OCTOBER CHALLENGE

This month's challenge over at Journal Journeys is autumn/nature plus the use of stencils.
Although, unlike many, I actually don't like Autumn. I hate the thought of everything dying plus the cold, wet and wind. The dark doesn't help either. I much prefer spring when everything is happy. Having said that, I do adore the autumn colours which are some of my most favourite ever especially the deep reds.
Still not really into this journaling lark but I keep having a go, so here are my pages for the challenge this month.

I used a mixture of distress inks, colour wash and Terra to create the background and I used a flower stencil plus the remains of grungepaper once I had die cut leaves and a swirl as another set of stencils. The dots are the remnants of red rubber once I had mounted the alpha stamps it contained and I also used a plastic letter stencil to spray some perfect pearls through - which hasn't shown too well on the photo. The 'rutting' deer are from Tim Holtz reindeer flight die and their antlers are from his branch tree die. The words are one of Andy Skinner's stamps.
Although I said autumn means everything is closing down ready for the winter and dying, I think the amazing colours have brought this little scene to life.

WAS HOPING FOR A CHALLENGE

I have struggled with this little tag through all the upheaval at home these last few days, so was hoping for a challenge so I could enter it - just love the extra excitement of challenges - but I haven't found any so thought I may as well blog it instead.
I've used Tim's fantastic new autumn distress inks - seedless preserves is to die for - to make a Halloween-style tag.

All the elements are either Tim dies or stamps.
I used shrink plastic to make the leaves but simply stamped the leaves onto it using distress ink. They have come out perfectly.

The spider and witch are metal charms.

The owl is from Tim's Halloween set from last year.

I used some of the seam binding I bought when on holiday and coloured it with a the 3 new colours of distress ink, coupled with some more ribbon and fibres, it compliments the tag perfectly.
I had loads of fun with this, especially by using goggle eyes on the tree. Just need some time now to craft properly.
A great big thank you to Sioux for reminding me about Grungy Monday because I've just loaded their logo into my sidebar and entered this weeks challenge - Halloween - as my tag is just right for it.

MY SWAPS HAVE ARRIVED

from Heather's September challenge.
We had to make 3 tags that could be used in a journal. Here are the ones I've received:
#1 - Season of mellow fruitfullness by craftydawn

#2 - vintage birds by Heather

#3 - the daydreamer by Alison

Thank you ladies and a big thank you to Heather once again for taking time to run another successful swap.

WOYWW AND WHAT A MESS

Happy WOYWW everyone. Once again, a great big thank you to Julia for organising our Wednesday trips around craft spaces everywhere. I'm sorry I didn't manage to visit very many through last week but the past few days have been amongst the most hectic I have ever spent.
My pal Susi moved house - again - last Saturday. This time we were able to help. However, the temperature on Saturday was well in the 80s making every move exhausting. Her dad and I were so tired that night we just couldn't sleep. Everyone worked really hard, including the children.
I mentioned last week that my DH was at last coupling the new radiator on the bedroom - after 19 months. Here is the proof:

He made a brilliant job and we had no leaks. However, we had no hot water either from last woyww to this Monday. The boiler decided to blow a safety part and we had to get a fitter out. All is well again  now though.
Another however, is the fact that the boiler is in my little craft room along with the drier which is in front of some of the pipework, so my room has looked like this all week:

Actually, hubby hasn't been on the floor with his head stuck in the cupboard for a week, but you get the idea.

There is a wip on the tiny bit of work space you can see. I may get chance to finish that now, but you can also see my set of the new Tim distress inks. That seedless preserves is amazing. Roll on knowing what the new winter set is like.
Well I must go and get ready for another day of exciting stuff. Going with DH and Susi to pick up her dog cages for her dog van which she is preparing for her new business. I'll try better this week to pop round and see you. x