Mini Blog Hop Giveaway Winner !!

Hello Friends!

Today is the day where my friends Jenny Marples, Tracy Evans and I announce the winners of the fabulous Eileen Hull Journal die!!

Remember, if you were not lucky here, you may have been lucky on Jenny or Tracy's blog, you can find their results here:

Jenny

Tracy

The response was wonderful and I thank each and every one of you for taking the time to enter, I just wish I could give a die to each of you!

  I took all of the names who correctly followed the rules and excluded those who already have the die, and used Random Number Generator to do the selection, so without further ado, the winner is.....

Margaret Mifsud

Congratulations Margaret!  You can find my email address in my Profile on the sidebar, please let me have your address and I will get the die posted off to you on Monday!

Thank you again to everyone who joined in.

Hugs, Anne xx

Tag Friday at A Vintage Journey

Hello Friends!

When there are five Fridays in a month we share tags over at A Vintage Journey.

At this time of year when most people's thoughts turn to beautiful autumnal colours - mine turn to Halloween!  I was inspired by a beautiful card by Richele Christensen...here.

To create the tag I used a Tim Holtz Etcetera tag (the smallest size - 10" x 5.1/2").  The background was created with Distress Oxide in Spiced Marmalade, Wilted Violet and Iced Spruce.  I used a separate piece of card, placed the inks on my craft mat, spritzed with water and dragged the card through, drying before applying another colour.

I die cut the spider web by Tim Holtz from the new Halloween range and glued this to the top of the tag.  The word 'wicked' was cut from a Tim Holtz orange deco Sheet and mounted, slightly offset onto black cardstock.  The word 'witch' is from Tim's chit chat stickers.  The stars were cut out using the Tim Holtz Witchcraft die.  Once cut, I put them back in, randomly, mixing the colours.

The spider at the top is from Tim's Ideaology range, he is attached by some thin wire, which gives him some movement.

I do love this fabulous witch with her cat, this is from Tim's new Halloween release (Witchcraft), as are the gravestones, gate and fencing (Village Graveyard).  The fence and gate are mounted with a slight bow to give some dimension and I added Tim's Twisted Thorn Edge to the base to give the look of tree roots.

I hope you have the time to go and visit my Teamies over at A Vintage Journey, they have some fabulous, inspiring tags to share with you!

Thanks so much for your visit, I really appreciate it!

Hugs, Anne xx

Eileen Hull New Release - Book Club Part 2

Hello Friends

This is my second post this month, showcasing Eileen Hull's fabulous new Sizzix Book Club collection.  Eileen designed this new release to be three-in-one dies - dies that serve multiple purposes, making them extremely versatile!  If you missed Part 1, it is here.

Within the new release in Book Club are three new Scoreboard dies (which Eileen is famous for) and these dies can be used to create gift boxes, storage boxes, home decor projects and more!  A further three sets of dies can be used to embellish them - there are so many possibilities!

The dies will be released before the end of this year and the whole Inspiration Team are sharing little peeks to tempt you.  Today I am sharing three projects, I don't have any details to share, just pictures today!

First up is the Scoreboard Book and Pages die, I used this die to create a Birthday Planner Book, this book really is a great size that will fit into a handbag/purse.

The next project uses the Trinket Box/Frame die - I used it in a slightly different way, to make a shadow box (it actually lights up too!).

This is the same die as the Trinket Box/Frame above but I turned it into a pretty tissue holder.  I am sure there are lots of other ways to use this fabulous die!

Over on Eileen's blog, each week, there are lots more projects that my amazing team mates have created.  If you would like to see all the different ways these dies can be used I hope you will visit www.eileenhull.com for more sneak peeks!

As always, thanks so much for your visit, I will be back soon to share some Halloween projects.

Hugs,  Anne xx

Eileen Hull New Release - Book Club

Hello Friends!

As many of you already know, Eileen Hull's Journal die  (and others in the range) has been a huge success and in November, Eileen releases her new range - Book Club!

The Inspiration Team are sharing some of their makes, as sneak peeks, to whet your appetite, tutorials will follow once the release is out.  Book Club is a range of dies that have multiple uses - such a great idea which makes dies even more versatile!  I have a couple of pieces to share with you today.

First up is another Scoreboard die which is called Card Box, Planner Storage & Organiser.  A very versatile die - I have used it to hold a mini album made with Eileen's Passport Die, it fits perfectly! The assembled measurements are 5" x 4.5/8" x 7/8".   These are just like mini magazine holders - wouldn't they look beautiful all lined up in a row, holding your handmade cards or notebooks?!

Next up is a Scoreboard L Die called - Stamp & Photo Storage.  It measures 4" x 6" x 1/2".  As you can see I have added it to the Journal Die and it is a perfect fit.

  In this case it becomes a watercolour storage compartment, with my brushes attached to the top of it and my watercolour booket at the front.  You could use this as storage for photos, notebooks etc., and it is a stand alone product which you can use for storing stamps, small dies or anything else you want!

Here is the front of the journal, I added some stamped paint brushes and the cover is brayered with paint before some random stamping was added.

 See what I mean about versatility!!

I hope you like these new additions to Eileen's range!  If you have not joined in yet, in my previous post I am doing a Journal die Giveway along with my friends Jenny Marple and Tracy Evans who are also doing Giveaways.  You can find all the details on how to enter the mini blog hop here:

Tracy Evans

Jenny Marples

Anne Redfern - that's me!

Thanks for your visit, I look forward to sharing more sneak peeks with you soon.

Hugs, Anne xx

EILEEN HULL MINI BLOG HOP - with GIVEAWAY

Hello Friends!

Eileen Hull is currently on the Paper Trail, driving the whole width of America and travelling up into Canada in her now famous Scotty, a 1976 Serra camper van! You can find out where Eileen will be visiting and teaching classes by visiting her website www.eileenhull.com or by following her adventures on Facebook, where she will be doing regular Facebook Live videos.

Following on from the hugely successful release of Eileen's Scoreboard XL Journal Die and Katie Skilton's sell out shows on the Craft Channel, Hochanda, here in the UK, we want to continue to celebrate the success of Eileen's Journal Die, both here in the UK and elsewhere in the world.  Jenny Marples, Tracy Evans and I are doing a Blog Giveaway and each of us is offering one of Eileen Hull's Scoreboard XL Journal dies, by Sizzix as a prize!  We are happy to post to winners anywhere in the world.

                                                                             
To be in with a chance of winning one of these THREE prizes you need to:

1.  Be a follower of one or (better still) all of our Blogs
2.  Comment and tell us whether or not you already have the Eileen Hull Journal die.
3.  Be a member of Eileen Hull's Fan Club on Facebook.  It is very simple to join and there is a lot of fabulous inspiration there as well as amazing prizes.

If you are here, don't forget to visit:
Tracy Evans
Jenny Marples
Anne Redfern (you are here!)
                                                               
Would you love to have one of Eileen's Journal dies?  Then please do join in the fun!  Prize winners will be announced on 30 September 2017, on each of our three blogs.  Do please check back to see if you are a winner!

If you would like some more inspiration for using Eileen's Journal die, you can purchase Eileen's eBook, Journal Treasury by clicking HERE or by clicking the link in my sidebar, above left.  The eBook has over 80 different designs to inspire you!

Thanks for your visit, hope to see you again soon - and good luck!

Hugs, Anne xxx

Mini Album Makers Challenge - Exciting News!

Hello Friends, this is one of two posts today.

I have some very exciting news to share with you today!  I am thrilled to tell you that I have joined the brand new Mini Album Makers Challenge Design Team which was set up by the very talented Autumn Clark.  I am so excited!!

There is a lot of information over on the main Challenge Blog Launch where you will be introduced to the other members of this wonderful team, along with all the details about our first challenge.

Mini Album Makers Challenge will focus on handmade mini albums, scrapbooks, journals and book arts.  It is intended to be a place to share and learn more about creating such books.  Our monthly challenge theme is 'Any Handmade Book Goes'.  In addition, each month on the 14th, one member of the team will share a full tutorial on the challenge blog which we hope will inspire you to join in and / or make your own handmade book(s).

For the month of September our Sponsor is the amazingly talented Designer, Seth Apter!  Seth is a Mixed Media Artist/Designer who travels the world, demonstrating and teaching.

Website - http://www.sethapter.com/

Blog - https://thealteredpage.blogspot.com/

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/sethapter/

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/thealteredpage

Twitter - https://twitter.com/sethapter

Here is the amazing prize on offer from Seth for one lucky winner!

We would love to see you join in our very first challenge HERE.

For our first month, the Design Team will be sharing mini albums, a favourite that we have created in the past.  I chose a journal album I created a few years ago, to house some very special memories when I lived in Canada.

If you would like to see my little album in more detail, you can see it HERE.

Another favourite is a sea themed project which you can see HERE.

And finally, a recent favourite, using Seth Apter stamps HERE.

Please do join us, share your art with us and pick up useful tips and techniques too!

Thanks so much for your visit, I hope to see you again soon!

Hugs,  Anne xx

Altered Art for A Vintage Journey

Hello Friends, this is one of two posts today!

This month at A Vintage Journey, the very talented Alison (Butterfly) is asking us to:

  Turn something unloved and unwanted into a piece of art.  Try some re-purposing - make something new out of something old, or incorporate an unwanted object into your artwork.  Think tin cans and jars, old bottles, toothbrushes - the more inventive, the better!

Since it is near one of my favourite times of the year, Halloween, I created a 3D project by re-purposing an old gift box and some match boxes.

The gift box had two compartments which gave me the idea of creating a 'Welsh Dresser' type project.  The matchboxes are from a Tim Holtz die and were the perfect size for my dresser base.  After constructing the matchboxes and gluing them together in pairs of four, I gave all the pieces a good coat of Tim Holtz Distress Paint in Black Soot.

Next I covered the top and bottom of the dresser with some gorgeous Halloween paper, part of Tim's new release, gifted to me by my dear friend Kath Stewart.

I then glued the top part of the dresser to the bottom and it was ready to decorate (my favourite part)!  I have lots of pictures to share....

For the top shelf I created a 'ook of poison, a couple of little jars of potions (Distress Spray Stain filled) and a jar of broken bones.  The 'spells and fortunes' metal word band is from Tim's latest Halloween Idea-ology release, a gift from my lovely friend Jenny (Buttons).  I used Distress Crayon in Spiced Marmalade to highlight the wording and attached it with Tim's new string.

The bottom shelf contains a vase of flowers, using Tim's Thinlits flower die, the dome is from last year's Idea-ology release and the fabulous skulls are part of Tim's latest release.

The book was created with card and some book pages, decorated with an Idea-ology skull charm.

I just had to add the fabulous witch to my scene, she was die cut several times, once in Kraft card to create the face and hands and twice in thick black card so that I could make her 'stand' up.  The fabulous cage is from Tim's Assemblage range, which I love!

Inside the bird cage is a Raven, stamped on (with Tim's new Ravens stamp set - gifted to me by the lovely Jenny) and cut from shrink plastic, he fits perfectly!

To finish off my little scene I die cut and coloured some leaves, in Autumn tones and added a broom and pumpkins,  from Tim's Idea-ology range.

I hope you like my re-purposed gift box and that you will join in the fun over at A Vintage Journey, where my teamies have created the most fantastic projects!

Our sponsor for this month is Simon Says Stamp Store who are offering a fantastic £25 gift voucher to one randomly selected winner!  If you love Tim's Assemblage range but cannot get to a Joann's store (like me!) Simon Says Stamp Store does stock some of the range.

Thanks so much for your visit, I really appreciate it.  I hope you will have a look at my other post   (HERE) too, it contains some wonderful NEWS!!!!

Hugs, Anne xxx