WOYWW - Week 189 and a special mention

Hello Fellow Woywwers and Bloggers

It is that time of week again where we share our work spaces with Woywwers and Bloggers from around the world, courtesy of our Hostess, Julia at http://stamping-ground.blogspot.co.uk.  If you would like to join in then please pop over and see Julia and she will explain all to you.

My workspace this week has a few bits and pieces on it.  You can see some fabric and a few bits of lace for a project I am working on.  A few months ago I started a canvas which I created after watching Trish Latimer's DVD - Create with Paint.  Unfortunately I did not complete it but as I have resolved to use things in my stash that I have not touched for ages (or ever) and this was top of my list.   Here is my desk with the completed canvas on it.

I used a fabulous Christy Tomlinson She Art stamp (called SHE was a daughter), which I stamped on various patterned pieces (again unused and unloved in my stash) and then paper pieced it together.  The face and legs are coloured with Promarkers.  I stamped out the butterfly in her hair several times and cut out a couple and added them to the words.

A better picture here shows the design and the wording:

I would like to give a special mention to a fellow Woywwer, Darnell who celebrates her anniversary today.  Darnell is a wonderful lady, a brilliant blog friend and she writes in the most humourous way, which is guaranteed to put a smile on your face every day.   A couple of weeks ago Darnell blogged a picture of her husband when he was a little younger and it was a lovely sight for my and lot of other ladies eyes.......

Edited to add:  I have entered this into Eclectic Paperie's Get Altered Challenge - use canvas and where the winner will receive a $15 certificate to spend in the Eclectic Paperie shop.  My inspiration came simply from my desire to finish off things I had started and to use up products that I have had in my stash forever.

That's it from me.  Hope you all have a Happy WOYWW today.  Thanks for visiting, I hope you will leave me a comment so that I can visit you too.  Big hugs, Anne x

A New Year and New Challenges

Hello Everyone

I don't really make New Year Resolutions but I have resolved to stretch myself this year and do some different things, apart from the normal cards, tags and chunky ATCs.  I have also resolved to use up all the products lying in my cupboards, untouched and unloved, or things that I bought on a whim, thinking it would come in useful one day..........

Now, I hope you will forgive me but I have a new computer, brand new yesterday and I have not yet figured out how to edit my photos with it, so my photos may appear quite amateurish - and uncropped - sorry, I will eventually work it all out.  However, if you click on the photos you will see them better.

In my stash, lay a Journal, unloved and never used together with some stencils, embossing paste and some Fresco Finish paint together with my newish Wendy Vecchi stamps and some Tim Holtz stamps that I have never opened - shocking I know!  So I set off to make some journal pages.  It was a lot more fun than I expected it to be, it was very messy and I learned that you need to clean stencils immediately after using them with embossing paste........but that's another story.

I started by coating the pages with Gesso, then Fresco Paint in Mermaid, stuck on some ripped pages from an old dictionary and I then smudged some white acrylic paint all over to add some contrast.  I randomly stamped a harlequin design using Peacock Feathers distress ink.  I outlined a few of the harlequin shapes with a black pen.  I took a Crafter's Workshop stencil and used matte black Dreamweaver embossing paste to create a random design.  I really love the contrast of the black against the blue.

I stamped four Wendy Vecchi hearts in Ranger Black Archival ink, cut them out, then triple embossed with clear embossing powder and added these to my pages.  I added the Tim Holtz saying - 'Wishes are the magic in our heart that cause beautiful things to happen'.












To finish off I drew a squiggly line around both pages with a black fine-line pen.

I am entering this into Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge where the challenge is to Embrace the Old and which can be something old or can simply be stuff that's been around a long time or has been forgotten about.  Check on both those counts!  There is a $50 prize draw and the DT will choose their favourite pieces too.

I am also entering this into Pan Pastel UK Challenge 2 which is New Year - New Technique.  This suits my effort as I have never done Journal pages properly before, nor have I successfully  used embossing paste, or  paints to create a background on paper so I think my entry qualifies.  The prize is a starter kit of Pan Pastels and the winner will be randomly chosen.

Thank you for looking and double thanks if you leave me a comment!  Hugs, Anne x

Tim's Tag January 2013

Hello Everyone

Tim Holtz has delighted his many followers by doing 12 Tags again in 2013.  Last year at this time I did not even know who Tim was - oh how things have changed - I don't seem to be able to do anything these days without using at least one of his products and I am totally addicted to doing his tags.

Here is Tim's actual tag for January:

 

 

Once again, I did not have all the products that Tim used but I did use Tim's recipe for the tag, so here is mine:

 

 



The background is embossed with a clock embossing folder that I bought from Creative Expressions some time ago, it is quite large but I cut the top of it so that my No. 10 tag would fit in.  I then cut an inch or so from the bottom of my tag to balance the embossing element.  The cogs are die cut from Spellbinder Sprightly Sprockets because the TH cogs that I ordered during the sales have not yet arrived. 

Apart from these items and the stamps Tim used to overstamp the ribbon (I used a mini typewriter style stamp set) , everything else is pretty much as Tim did his so I won't go into any further detail. There have been some fabulous entries this month, do go over to http://timholtz.com/12-tags-of-2013-january/ and have a look, if you get the time.

Thank you, as ever, for looking and for all the lovely comments you have left in my last few posts, it cheers me up and keeps me motivated!  Take care.  Hugs, Anne x

WOYWW - WEEK 188

Hello Fellow Bloggers and Woywwers

Thank you to my lovely latest Followers, it is a real pleasure to have your company.

Before I start today I want to send my heartfelt wishes and thoughts to all our lovely friends in Australia who are being devastated by horrific fires at the moment.  The wonderful Julie from Time to Create is right in the thick of it and  she is also worried about her Brother who is on a walking/fishing holiday.  I hope that they are all safe and keep well, that the winds soon die down and the fires are stopped.

If you are wondering what WOYWW is then please pop over and see our lovely hostess, Julia who you can find at http://stamping-ground.blogspot.co.uk.  Julia will explain all to you.

Not much has happened in my room since my last post.  We are having some major work done to our home and we are having to clear out our Garage and Conservatory, ready for the work to begin in February.  I cannot tell you how much junk we have accumulated over the last 16 years living in this house!  I expect many of you are the same......   so this is my desk this week:

 

A couple of background tags (with some beautiful hand rolled beads on top) that I did just for fun and have yet to complete.  Some Goosebumps Texture Spray and some Stampsmith Stamps which I got in the sales.  A Tim Holtz word stamp for a project I have just completed but can't show just yet, a Halloween paper pack (again from the sales) and lastly my new Chocolate Baroque stamps which I used in my last post.  These stamps are so much fun - there is a mobile phone, a mobile home and a skylight to name but a few.

 

So that's it from me, thank you for having a look, I hope you will leave me a comment, I got round quite a few people last week and will try and do the same again this week.  Happy WOYWW everyone.  Hugs, Anne xx 

I Love My Mobile Phone

Hello Lovely Blog Friends

I love my mobile phone - well truth be known I don't love my mobile phone at all, it does have it's uses but I could live without it most days.  BUT I found some brilliant stamps in the sales and one of them relates to a mobile phone and I thought it was so funny that I wanted to use it straight away!

Hel Sheridan who runs Sunday Stampers each week (yes, THE Hels Sheridan who is off to the CHA in a day or so!!) has chosen 'Things that Fly' this week for her Sunday Stampers challenge Week 239.  I could not resist using my new stamps.

This week at Anything But A Card the theme for the challenge is 'Things with Wings' and I hope this qualifies me to enter that challenge too.  I was lucky enough to win in their last challenge and I was so thrilled that here I am back again.

    To get a better view, click on the picture.

                                                    

 

The stamps are from Chocolate Baroque.  I made the background using Faber-Castell Soft Pastels and also Pan Pastels, overstamped with a bubble wrap stamp by Creative Expressions.  I sealed the whole tag with Ranger Glue and Seal as the soft pastels are not permanent unless sealed.

 

I coloured the heart and wings (which also has little cogs on it) and the mobile phone with Tim Holtz Distress Markers and Distress Inks. The vintage silk ribbon is dyed with Peacock Feathers and Dusty Concorde Distress Stains.  The words - mobile and phone are part of the stamp set and the other words are stamped with my bargain typewriter stamp set that I found on that well known on-line auction site.

 

I hope you see the amusing side of this stamp set, there are plenty other unusual stamps in the set too.  Thank you for visiting and  if you leave me a comment, I really appreciate it and will always do my best to return the compliment.  Hugs, Anne x

Friendship and Art - Pocket Watch

Hello Everyone!

I have not had the time to do much crafting over the Christmas holiday and I should now be making birthday cards........ but, a lovely blog friend Chris sent me a tag (which I showed on my WOYWW post this week) and I was so inspired by it that I wanted to try and re-create the background.  I admit, I failed to re-create it as beautifully, but I did make something that I am happy with.  Thank you Chris for your inspiration!

I am sure that, like me, many of you are excited to see all the new products that Tim Holtz has been previewing this week, prior to the CHA.  I think I am going to be bankrupt soon because I want one of everything he has designed!  Seeing what he has come up with reminded me that I had an Idea-ology Pocket Watch still waiting to have a make-over.  

This is how it looked before I altered it.

And this is the 'after'.

 

 

I used Ranger Alcohol Ink in Silver Mixative to colour the outside of the pocket watch and also part of the flower inside (part of the flower is coloured with  Sail Boat Blue Alcohol Ink).  The flower is made up from three flower Idea-ology pieces.  I used a small circle of the background paper that I created, to line the watch (the pocket watch is standing on the rest of the background paper).  The sentiment is made from Tim's chit chat words and these are edged with Peacock Feathers Distress Ink.  The pearl brad in the centre of the flower is from my stash. 

 

The pearls attached to the top are Idea-ology ones and I coloured one with the Sail Boat Blue AI. I attached a long length of chain which I purchased from my local DIY shop.

 

This was such an incredibly easy piece to make up and the beauty of it is that the top is easily removed from the watch base so I can create lots of different designs for the inside, making it a very versatile piece of jewellery.

 

I am entering this into Hels Sheridan's Sunday Stampers  where the theme this week is 'Writing' as it has some words on it.

I am also entering this into Anything But a Card Challenge 9 where the theme is Anything Goes!

 

I know a couple of people have had problems with Blogger today and I had the most horrendous problems doing this post and getting the photos into this post.   Don't you just love Blogger.....

 

I hope you like my altered pocket watch and if you do please leave me a comment, I love to read them all and will always try to return the compliment.  Thanks for taking the time to look.  Crafty hugs, Anne xx

 



WOYWW - Week 187 Happy New Year!

Happy New Year Woywwers and Blog Friends!

Hope you have had a good Christmas and New Year.  I missed WOYWW last week because we were preparing to go around the Country, visiting our three Children and their families.  It was fun but exhausting and we are only just back.  I have tried to keep in touch with blogland but it is difficult with family around most of the time.

If you are wondering what WOYWW is then please have a look to see what our Hostess, Julia has to say over at http://stamping-ground.blogspot.co.uk.  It is fun, but addictive too.

My desk has not seen much action since my last post. 

There are quite a few new dies and embossing folders, some more Clear Rock Candy dry glitter, a Christmas card I made using my new poinsettia embossing folders (I did a card in case I forget next Christmas that I have the folders!).  The tag in the middle is from my wonderful blog friend Chris whose work is a joy to behold.  To the right is a card and two ATCs from a blog friend, Julie, in Belgium with whom I did a swap through the Haunted House blog.  The card was done using glow in the dark card and it does look great in the dark.  Right at the front are two little notelet holders I made using my new Harlequin die, which I love and think I will get lots of use out of.

I was lucky enough to win $50 from Simon Says Stamp and I also got some vouchers for Christmas to spend in my favourite craft shops.  It is going to be difficult to choose what to buy, from my ever lengthening list of wants/needs.

If you do visit I hope you will leave me a comment, I do love to read them all and will always try to return the compliment.  Happy WOYWW to you all and wishing you all you wish for in 2013.  Hugs, Anne xx