Domino Accordian Book and Birthday Goodies

Hello Friends

Thank you so much to my followers, new and old.  I don't say it often enough but I really do appreciate that you take the time to look at my little offerings and to follow me.

I think I must be the luckiest crafty girl in the world, I had a birthday whilst I was away on holiday last week and I got some gorgeous cards, wonderful gifts and lovely messages - more about that later in my post.

Before I went away I was inspired by the amazing Candy Colwell to make a domino accordian book. Candy made the most wonderful domino accordian book for Simon Says and I used her exact instructions to make mine.  They were so easy to follow, Candy does the most detailed of tutorials, so I am not going to go into too much detail here.  Please do have a look at Candy's creation.  I did not have any small stamps but I wanted to make a little gift for my wonderful DH who has a birthday in a couple of weeks, so this is themed for him.

Please click on the photos for a better view.

This is the front of the domino book, which has been coloured with alcohol inks and I used one of Tim's Remnant Rubs (love them!).  We did a hot air balloon trip a few years ago and loved it.  The tie closure is elastic and I added a Greek 'eye' bead to remind him of our many wonderful holidays in Greece.

The edges of the book were covered with self adhesive Ranger metal sheet which was embossed and coloured with alcohol inks, basically following Candy's design and technique.

The inside is coloured with various Distress Inks/Stains and I used the spritz and flick technique to create an interesting background.  I then stamped with various Tim Holtz stamps from my stash and also stamped the words 'I Love You'.

I kept the inside back quite plain and I used another Tim Remnant Rub on the back, to represent DH's love of all things railway.  Thank you so much to Candy for her amazing inspiration.  If you have never looked at her blog, please do, she is one heck of a talented designer!

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Now, on to my birthday treats.    I did try to keep my birthday quiet this year but it was not to be.  Not only did I receive some gorgeous cards and gifts but lots of lovely birthday messages from so many crafty friends too - thank you all of you!  Crafty friends are just the best ever!  I am going to show you a few items, listed in the order I received them.  This is going to be picture heavy but I just wanted to do them justice and they each deserve to be seen!

This beauty is from my best and very talented friend Mo, there is so much to see on this fabulous card, she knows how much I love butterflies!   There is even a little calendar with my birthday marked on it.  Click on the photo for an even better view, there is so much detail.

These are from my wonderful and talented blog friend (one of my first blog friends) Rita.  Rita made me this stunning wall hanging (it is truly breathtaking), she makes the most gorgeous hand made flowers and I just love the card too.

This gorgeous card is from my talented and wonderful blog friend Jenny (Buttons).  This photo simply does not do this card justice, it is full of wonderful elements including the beautiful image from Nicecrane Designs, from the Ladies on Old Postcards design sheet - such a lovely touch by Jenny as we are both on the Design Team.  Isn't that dribbled embossing powder just fabulous?  I love Jenny's unique style.

The fabulous tag on the left was made by Rita's Daughter and my lovely friend, Annie.  I just love the wonderful image and the whole tag is very tactile.  Annie has such a wonderful eye for detail, as those of you who follow her will already know.

On the right is a beautiful card from one of my very first blog friends, Darnell.  Darnell writes the most amusing blog posts most days, she always keeps my (and many others) spirits high with her wit and charm.  Darnell loves clean and simple, this is another card that looks so much more beautiful in real life.  The colours are gorgeous.

Finally,  my lovely Flickr friend Mo (TwinkleToes2day) has made the gorgeous pink card for me, the butterfly is so beautiful!  On the right is a card from my lovely Craft Group ladies, Lynn (of Doodly Bird fame), Susan and Ruth.  I do believe that the card is actually created from a photo of a piece of Lynn's wonderful stitch work.  I am so excited because we are all meeting next week for some crafty fun.

And this is a shot of the fabulous gifts I received  from some of the wonderful crafty friends above but also a couple of RAKs (random acts of kindness) from Sandy (who sadly fractured her hip recently) and Suzanne, who is an absolute wizard with a Gelli plate.

So there you have it, I am so lucky - I have never had so many beautiful crafty things for my birthday! Thank you to all of you for your cards, gifts and so many lovely messages.  Big hugs, Anne xx

Tim's Tag July 2013

Hello Friends

This is a scheduled post as I am off on my holidays, visiting my Son and doing a spot of  'chicken sitting' and enjoying some family celebrations.  I did my tag a week ago but wanted to post something whilst I was away.

Of all Tim's tags I found this to be the most challenging, we do not celebrate 4th July here in the UK but we do have troops abroad, like many other countries, so I wanted to create something to celebrate our heroes, on both sides of the Atlantic.  My own lovely Brother spent nearly 40 years in the Canadian navy and saw a lot of action over that time so it is a fitting tribute to him too.

I pretty much followed Tim's recipe for colours and techniques so I won't go into too much detail, as you can see for yourself where the similarities are.  You can see Tim's wonderful original HERE.

I had great fun with the brayered background, it works so well and creates the most wonderful finish.  I will definitely be using that one again.

The crackle technique with the stain on top looks amazing too, the colours remain so rich and vibrant.  I just love this heart and wings!

Of course I had to use the Remnant rubs too and I did a bit of random stamping in the background.

And of course, it would not be me if I did not put a big bow on the top to finish off!  Love how the vintage seam binding takes the stains.

Hope you like it!  I will be dipping in and out of blogs, as time and internet connections allow whilst I am away, but if I miss you I will try to catch up when I get back in a week or so.  In the meantime take care and have lots of fun creating and if you are in the UK hope enjoy our rare Summer!

Big hugs, Anne xx

Captured Memories for Our Creative Corner

Hello Friends

It is the 15th of the month, so it is time for more inspiration over at Our Creative Corner and this is my latest Design Team piece.  I hope you will pop over to see what my very talented teamies have made this month.

Linda is hosting this month, where the challenge for July is Captured Memories.  Linda says: 'Memories are fleeting, but photographs help us hold dear those special people and times in our lives.  Our project this month is for you to share a special memory, captured in a photo.  All types of art are welcome: cards, tags, canvases, mixed media etc., but your project MUST INCLUDE A PHOTOGRAPH'.

There have been some lovely entries so far but there is still plenty of time to enter so I hope you will go over, have a look, hopefully leave a comment and then create something for us to see.

I was thrilled when I saw Linda's challenge, I got my box of family photos out and had a great trip down memory lane.  My Brother lives 5,000 miles away, so I don't get to see him very often these days and I just love this photo.   It brought back wonderful memories.  The sentiment is just so true for the two of us and really makes me smile.  I made this cabinet card for his next birthday, hope it gives him a smile too!

The base is made from the Tim Holtz Vintage cabinet card die and the frame was made by using the Movers and Shapers mini cabinet card die.  I made a 'spine' to hold the two parts together and covered the frame with some beautiful BoBunny script paper which has been distressed with Broken China Distress ink and placed the photo inside.  The sentiment was added to the facing side along with a Tim Holtz Idea-ology clock face and clock fingers. It is not quite set to his birthday age, but it is close.   I added a Tim Holtz  photo strip to the bottom to balance it out.  The back of the card is plain and it folds nicely to fit into an envelope.

Just for fun I thought I would let you see what we look like now (me without my glasses!).  We don't see each other any differently than we did way back then but you might notice a slight difference..... lol.......!

Thanks so much for looking.  I really do hope you will join in the challenge for July, it really is worth taking a trip down memory lane, you never know what you might find!   Take care and hope to see you soon.  Big hugs, Anne xx

Butterflies galore......

Hello Friends

For quite some time now I have been lusting after a butterfly shadow box in a famous UK retailer that is 'never knowingly undersold' but I did not want to pay the price.  So I challenged myself to make one from an 8" square blank shadow frame that I had in my stash along with a Martha Stewart around the page butterfly punch.

The frame was base coated with Fresco Finish in Mermaid as a base, covered with a crackle medium and then over painted with Fresco Finish Vintage Lace. (click on the photo for a closer look)

I took a piece of white card and worked out where I wanted the butterflies to be and then punched them out (not easy to get it mathematically correct but I was happy with the result).  To create a background for the cut out butterflies I took some Bo Bunny paper from the Country Garden Almanac collection and placed this behind the punched areas.  I stamped over the parts of the paper not already covered in script, with a Hero Arts Newsprint background stamp, using Ranger Black Archival Ink.  I then took the cut butterflies, raised the wings and then glued down the body only, back onto the cut out shapes.  I coloured some pearls with Broken China Distress Marker and placed three on each body.

To finish off I added some ready made flowers and twisted the stems to add some interest.

I would like to enter this frame into the following challenges:

Sunday Stampers - Show some depth
Ali-Craft - butterflies
Altered Eclectics - Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp and Show - a little stamping (behind the butterfly wings)

As ever, thank you for looking and a special thank you if you take the time to comment.  Big hugs, Anne xx

A Roosevelt Bear for Nicecrane Designs

Hello Friends

Firstly, congratulations to Andy Murray for being the first Brit to win Wimbledon in 77 years, quite the achievement and huge commiserations to the wonderful Novak Djokovic for being so magnanimous in defeat!

I also want to say a very public THANK YOU to three lovely ladies - Nicola, Darnell and Jenny (Buttons) for your wonderful thoughts and efforts on my behalf recently.  You each know what you did and you warmed my heart and lifted my flagging spirits.  Your thoughtfulness will not be forgotten.  Thank you!

On to my card which is my Design Team piece for Nicecrane Designs for July.  I was thrilled when Karen Burniston (the designer of the accordian card die) commented on my last accordian card so I thought I would use it again but with a bit of a twist this time.  Karen shows some hints and tips on her website and one of them is how to 'extend' the height of the accordian card die so I had a go and created this card using one of the fabulous Roosevelt bears from the lovely Ignacio at Nicecrane Designs:

It was amazingly easy to extend the height - well, OK I did have to have a few practice runs first but I managed it in the end!  You are left with creases across the middle of the finished card but this is easily rectified by embossing the surrounding frames and hand cutting the mats for the images.  I used a Spellbinder M-Bossabilities Bricks and Bark embossing folder for the frame.  I added a touch of Treasure Gold to highlight the bark.

This Roosevelt bear comes as part of a black and white set which you can find HERE.  I coloured him with Aqua Markers and then finished off with Tim Holtz Distress Markers to give him a little definition.  He really does not need much work because the shading is already done for you - thank you Ignacio!

I don't know whether he has a name but I am calling him Dandy Bear, he looks like he is off to enjoy a wonderful picnic, hence my choice of words from the lovely song - The Teddy Bear's Picnic.

I made the card with a friend in mind, who has bears regularly visit her property, looking for food.  This card will be winging it's way to her, to hopefully give her a smile when she returns from her holiday.

As always, thanks for looking and special thanks if you take the time to comment.  Big hugs, Anne xx

Wendy Vecchi Art Parts

Hello Friends

Thanks so much for your comments and concern recently, I really do appreciate it.  Still suffering but definitely on the mend and the weather is set to improve so that's just a bonus.  Thank you again for all your kindnesses.  Happy 4th July to all my lovely American friends too!!

Mr Mojo showed his head briefly this morning so I took him by the scruff of the neck and dragged him out of hiding.  The lovely Jenny (Buttons) and Trace (Inkypinky) both did design pieces for Frilly and Funkie using Wendy Vecchi  products and I was so inspired by what they did, I just had to get my large box of Art Parts, stamps and Clearly For Art out to have a play. Thank you ladies for your wonderful inspiration!

This is what I started with, along with my Tim Holtz Cabinet Card die and various TH paints, stains and inks and I created this little frame.  The 'rules' stamp is one of my favourites by Wendy.

I painted the base board with Wild Honey Distress Paint, painting one way and then the other - this created a 'wood' like effect.  Art Parts take the Distress Paints so well.

It shows up a bit better in this picture.  I painted the frame in Walnut Stain DP and then over-stamped with the Wendy background stamp from her Nature's Art set.  It does not show up too clearly but it looks slightly textured.  I used the same background stamp on the right hand side of the base frame.  I think it is interesting how the Wild Honey looks a different colour.

For the flower, I used an Art Part flower and then over-stamped it with the same flower from the Art in Bloom set of stamps.

The flower and stem is coloured Barn Door and Peeled Paint Distress Paint.

I stamped the flower head again on Clearly for Art, cut this out and added it to the flower head with Glossy Accents.  The Calgary post mark is one of Wendy's Embellish Your Art range by Blossom Bucket.  I love that it is a Canadian postmark.





The little butterfly on the left of the frame was a gift from my lovely Blog friend Kath Stewart.  It is part of the Squidgy Pin range.  In a nod to Trace I wrapped the butterfly with rusty wire and formed antennae to give some dimension.  I finished the back of the piece by painting it in black Distress Paint and added a little stand in black card.

I would like to enter this into Frilly and Funkie Challenge - Get Your Wendy On.

I would also like to enter this into Simon Says Stamp and Show where the challenge this week is Anything Goes.

Big congratulations to all my lovely blog friends who managed to get places for Tim's event here in the UK at the end of August, I admire your perseverence!  Sadly I was not lucky enough to get through, despite many of hours of trying, but am on the wait-list so fingers crossed.........

Thanks for looking, hope you are all well!  Big Hugs,  Anne xx