Friendship

Hello Everyone

Firstly,  a huge welcome to my latest Followers, it is a pleasure to have your company.  I have made the most wonderful friends through my blog and I count my blessings every day.  Tomorrow, I will have been blogging for one whole year!  I cannot believe how much has happened in that short space of time......

Well, it was very exciting the other day when I got my new Tim Holtz Distress Paints, only a few to start with and I also got my set of bunny and duck stamps from Crafty Individuals that I have been drooling over since my lovely blog friend Carole started using them a few weeks ago.

There are two challenges that I wanted to enter.  One is Fun with ATCs where the challenge is 'Something Red' and the other is Crafty Individuals where the challenge is 'For My Friend'.  At CI if you enter the challenge you can get a code which entitles you to 25% off their products for the current month, just for entering the challenge!

Also, over at Anything But a Card the challenge No. 12  is to 'Share the Love' and as I am sharing one of these with my own love, who is also my best friend, then I am entering it there as well.

I thought I would combine the two challenges with my rather bright entry.  It is certainly red!  I intended that one half should be kept by me and one half given to a friend and I think the CI stamps work perfectly for this.

 I made two ATCs using 480 gsm card for stability.  The backing is coloured with my new Fired Brick Distress Paint.  This paint is wonderful to use, it goes on a bit streaky but when it dries (very quickly) it dries  to a lovely smooth finish.  It has the added bonus of smelling very nice too.  Genius idea Tim!  I stamped the bunnies onto some dotty paper, cut them out, coloured their crowns with Spiced Marmalade Distress Marker and then glued them in place.  The words are from the duck set of stamps, I stamped these, cut them out, edged them with Black Soot DI and glued them to the ATCs.

I covered the whole of the ATCs in clear embossing powder and heat set it.  This really brought out the rich red colour of the background.  This was an idea I picked from another blog friend Mark - thanks Mark.

I thought the cards would be a bit of fun, I have given one to my lovely DH already and although he would have preferred powder blue (his football team's colour) rather than red (the opposition's colour) he loved the sentiment.

Thank you for looking, hope you all have a lovely weekend and get some time to get messy and crafty.  Hugs, Anne xx

WOYWW - Week 193

Hello Fellow WOYWWers and Bloggers

This is the time of week we share our work spaces with Woywwers and Bloggers around the globe.  If you want to join in then go over and see our Hostess, Julia, who will give you all the details.

Julia likes us to keep it short and mine is very short this week, because the Builders are in, they are using drills and diggers to dig up the foundations today and we are out of here for the day!  I will catch up with as many of you as possible later today and this evening.

No new work on my desk today, but tomorrow I am doing a little workshop with Woywwer Lynn (Doodly Birds) and two other friends.  We will be doing a version of my pin cushion that you see on my desk.  That is what the spools in the background are for, together with all the lace at the front.  I hope we have time to make some gift bags too, using the papers at the front  and also the flowers, ribbon and lace in the box.
A sample of what we will do is just behind the lace box.  Right at the back you might be able to see my new Tim Holtz Distress Paints which arrived today but I have not had the chance to play with.

I bought some of the lace at the Event City craft event in Manchester last week, where I went with my lovely friend and fellow Woywwer Mo of Almo Crafts.  We met up with Lynn, Susan and Ruth and also with Ann B and Jo of Jozart (both Woywwers).  It was lovely to meet up with all these lovely ladies and chat about crafty things. Sadly, I missed meeting up with a blog friend Rachel, neither of us realised there were two cafes, she was in one and we were in the other........apologies Rachel.

So that's it from me, will do my best to visit you later on.  Have a good WOYWW everyone.  Hugs, Anne x

Playing with new Tim Holtz CHA 2013 dies

Hello Everyone

A huge welcome to my latest followers, it is a pleasure to have your company!

I have had some new Tim Holtz Winter CHA released dies for a few days now and just wanted to have a play with them.

The dies are the Movers and Shapers  Mini Clipboard Top and Bottom die and the Bigz Picture Wheel die.

Had I not seen a video of Tim Holtz using the Mini Clipboard die I would not have known how to use it, in fact when I first cut the die out I thought that my machine had not cut through properly - but it cut exactly how it is meant to cut and I will show this a little later.

I made this tag, to incorporate both dies.  As a child my Mum and Dad had a very old view-finder which used a picture wheel and so this new die brought back those memories for me.  I found some mini photographs at Craftwork Cards and they were a perfect fit for the picture wheel. If you click on the picture you will get a better look at the photos.

The picture wheel is cut from TH Grunge paper which I distressed with Picket Fence Distress Stain and then randomly coloured with Brushed Corduroy and Gathered Twigs Distress Inks.  I touched the photos here and there with the same colours to give them a more aged look.

The base tag is a No. 10 tag which I have embossed with a TH Sizzix die.  I did the top first and then put the bottom in again - this is a great embossing folder for doing this without leaving a line across where the join is.

The embossed base was then aged using Antique Linen, Gathered Twigs and Aged Mahogany Distress Inks.

The words Remember and Vintage were added with black embossing paste through a Wendy Vecchi stencil. Wendy's stencils are amazing and so easy to use.

I cut out a topper for my tag using the Mini Clipboard Top and Bottom die.  As you can see from the photo on the left (I have put arrows) the die does not actually cut out where the arrows are indicating at the top and the bottom.  This makes it ideal for mounting items such as gift cards.  I have never seen anything like this before and I just love it!  You can space the dies as close or as far as you want, or, as I did with my finished tag, miss out the bottom piece altogether.

I embossed my cut out piece using a harlequin pattern embossing folder and coloured it using Gathered Twigs and Aged Mahogany Distress Inks and used Brushed Pewter Distress Stain to colour the 'clip' element.

I trimmed the top of the topper so that the clip element was more prominent as you can see in this photo.  I really does look like a proper clip on a clip board.

This close-up also gives you a better look at the tiny photos I have attached to the Picture Wheel.

To finish the tag I coloured some vintage ribbon with Gathered Twigs Distress Stain placed directly onto my craft mat, spritzed with water and then the ribbon was dragged through it and then dried with my heat gun.

The Cherish token is a TH Idea-ology one and I coloured it silver with Brushed Pewter DS to match the clip.

I did make quite a mess when I made my tag, with the Distress inks on all the pieces, dying the ribbon and using the embossing paste (I am fairly new at this and always make a mess!) so I am entering this in Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge this week where the theme is Something'Messy'.  It does not have to be messy as a project but just messy getting there! There is a great prize of $50 on offer for a randomly selected individual and also a top three will be chosen from the entries.


I really enjoyed having a play with these new dies and I am looking forward to seeing what other people do with them.  In the meantime I hope you like my effort.  Thank you so much for visiting me, I hope you will leave me a comment and if you are new then I hope you will leave a link so that I can return the compliment.  Hugs, Anne x

Valentine's Day

Hello Everyone

Thank you for visiting and a big thank you to my latest followers, I am so glad that you have joined me and I hope I will not disappoint.

Is it just me or has Valentine's Day come around very quickly?  I made my lovely DH a card this year, instead of a piece of altered art (he is running out of room).  He loves hares and I love Alice in Wonderland so I have combined the two.

I went with my lovely crafty friend Mo to a craft fair at Event City in Manchester this last week, with the intention of buying a set of gorgeous rabbit stamps by Crafty Individuals, but alas, no-one there was selling it so I resorted to buying a sheet of decoupage instead.  I have since ordered the stamps on-line but don't want to risk them not turning up before Valentine's Day.   This is the card I made with the decoupage (click on the card for a clearer view):

For the background I used a faux airbrushing technique that is illustrated in Craft Stamper magazine this month (page 62 & 63) and a Crafter's Workshop Template (it is meant to look rather distressed, that is how the template is designed).  On the left hand side I used Fired Brick Distress Ink and on the right hand side I used Pumice Stone DI.  It is a great technique and well worth trying, it gives a lovely muted background and it really does look like airbrushing.

The hare was cut out and mounted in layers with tiny black foam squares.  I added two black distressed hearts cut from Tim Holtz core-dinations card and two red/black hearts that I made myself.

The red/black hearts were created using Cosmic Shimmer ultra Thick Embossing Powder in Lava Black mixed with Tropic Red.  I don't have a Melt Pot so I placed a liberal amount of the powders in a small foil tart dish and heated with my heat gun.  Once melted I poured the liquid into a small heart shaped metal cutter.

I really enjoyed making these hearts and was very pleased with the way they turned out.





I then took a piece of dictionary page - with the definition of  Valentine, outlined the words in red and then cut this to size and made a small scroll which I glued in place on the card. with a small piece of black ribbon.  I added a Tim Holtz Idea-ology metal heart which I coloured with Alcohol Ink.







To finish off, I stamped a small Happy Valentine's Day onto the card and placed thin black ribbon along the spine of the card.  The three small red dots are made in the same way the red hearts - they were happy accidents - if you just dribble a little of the molten embossing powder onto a craft mat, it makes lovely little domed dots.

I am entering this into Craft Stamper's first challenge - Faux Airbrushing.  There is a fantastic prize of an Indigo Blu stamp. This challenge is open for two months so plenty of time if you want to enter, but you must use Faux Airbrushing.

I am also entering this into Sunday Stampers challenge Week 244 where the challenge is 'Endless Love - Love and Hearts'  (I have added some teeny tiny stamping Hels, hope it is OK!).

Lastly but by no means least, I am entering Pan Pastel's Love and Romance Challenge 6.

Thank you for your visit, I really appreciate it and I hope you will leave me a comment.  Have a great week! Hugs, Anne xx

Tim's Tags - February 2013

Hello Fellow Bloggers

This has been one of the most challenging of tags that I have been involved in!  I have mountains of Tim goodies but I did not have the items required for this month's tag.  I have the Distress Inks of course, but apart from a Valentine embossing folder I was really scratching around to find something to use that would even remotely resemble Tim's gorgeous tag which you can see here, for all the details and it is also pictured below.  I did not really want to use a playing card as a substitute and in the end I employed the 'Adapt and Overcome' as my lovely blog friend Kath Stewart would say and I have to be honest, I really enjoyed the process.

Tim's Tag:

My tag looks quite different........

I did the base exactly as Tim did his.  I then used my TH Valentine embossing folder and embossed some TH core-dinations card stock, sanded down the words and ripped a small piece for the bottom.  I took the thinner embossing folder (hearts) in the set, embossed more card, again ripped some, cut out the small hearts after sanding and added them to the strip.

The white piece is cardstock hand cut out to resemble a playing card, it needed this to make the hearts stand out a bit against the red background.  I added the crown and the larger heart from the heart wings die and the smaller heart from the Mini Hearts set.  I added some ripped dictionary page showing the words 'queen' and 'of hearts' to mimic Tim's Queen of Hearts playing card. The edges were covered in Black Soot DI to make them pop a bit more. (If you look closely enough you can see my name on the right hand side of the ripped page too - only just noticed that)

I added the stamped hand to the bottom, on white and mounted this onto black card, then wound black and white twine around the tag.  The hanging  'I heart you' piece is made from a clear plastic oval, to which I have added an oval of paper coloured with Festive Berries DI, chit chat stickers added and then glued to the plastic oval with Glossy Accents.  I gave the edges a faux metal look by dabbing around the edges with Silver Mixative Alcohol Ink and attached the piece with a jump ring to the twine.

I finished the tag off by folding up some tissue wrap and threading it through the top of the tag.

I would like to enter this tag into Inspiration Emporium's challenge - Spread Some Love...

Well, I hope you like my improvisation!  If you do visit it would be lovely if you left me a comment so that I can return the compliment.  Thanks for looking.  Hugs, Anne xx

WOYWW - Week 192

Hello Woywwers and Fellow Bloggers

Apologies for not joining in last week, but as some of you already know the Builders start some fairly major work on our house tomorrow and the garage and the conservatory needed emptying. Yikes, has anyone tried to actually empty their garage before?  I don't think I need to say any more........

If you are just passing through and wondering what WOYWW is, then please go and visit our wonderful leader, Julia at http://stamping-ground.blogspot.co.uk for all the details - but beware, it can be addictive!

I have had very little time for crafting as you will note from my lack of blog posts, so there is nothing but piles of paper etc all over my desk.  I did however, finish my little quilt for Lillybo, an amazing project which is being handled and run by fellow WOYWWer, the lovely Jo of Jozart, so I thought I could show you that this week.  The photos are taken in my craft room Julia so I hope this qualifies!

This is my first ever quilt, it is cot sized.  I have not had my big machine out for about 25 years so I was quite pleased with the end result.  I backed it with some very fleecy fabric to make it warm and cosy for the little girl that will receive it.  Jo asked us to make bags for our quilts too so that when the quilt is put inside it will act as a pillow, so here is a better picture of the bag.

Well, Julia likes us to keep these short so that's all from me folks.  I will visit as many of you as time allows today.  If you do visit I hope you will leave me a comment and if anyone can sew and you want to help Jo by making a child's quilt then please follow Jo's link above.  Happy WOYWW.  Hugs, Anne xx

What is Art?

Hello Blog Friends

I would like to say a big welcome to my latest followers, thank you so much, it means a lot that you are interested in my crafty journey.  Thank you too, to those of you who have taken the time to leave comments on my last few posts, you have made my heart smile!

I don't have a great deal of experience with Embossing Paste with masks but I got a Crafters Workshop mask a while back, called 'Mini Art Is' and I thought I would have a play with it this weekend, when I was allowed a break from clearing out the garage.......

The words are perfect for all Crafters and I really like the style of the writing:

I created a background on a 6" x 6" flat canvas, with pink, cream and white acrylic paints and then applied black embossing paste through the mask.  Not as easy as it sounds but if you hold the mask down with some masking tape, it does make things easier.  I mounted the canvas onto some strong black card, to give a lift to the words.

Well I couldn't leave it at one so I did another larger 8" x 8" canvas and this time I used Fresco Paints in Mermaid and Beach Hut to colour the main canvas (I am in love with these paints).  I added some torn book pages and chicken wire stamping with black acrylic paint.  The topper was coloured in Mermaid, Beach Hut and Limelight and then swiped over with Peacock Feather Distress Ink. I then spritzed and flicked water over, before applying the black embossing paste.  I mounted it onto black card and then onto white card, again to give the words a lift and then mounted the topper onto my canvas.

So then I tried a third time, this time with white paste on a black background.  This is probably the most effective but I have not mounted this one as yet, but I thought it would be good to let you make a comparison.  The photos were taken this evening so the white looks a little cream but in real life it is a crisp white:

Hope you all had a good weekend, it is back into the garage for me tomorrow,  we are nearly finished, thank goodness, I really miss my Craft Room.  Hugs, Anne x



 Footnote, just in case the words are not clear, they say:

Art is just another way of expressing our innermost thoughts onto concrete media.  Where form and function come together in beauty, color and shape.  We put our feelings and experiences onto paper, canvas, surfaces of all kinds.  Allowing ourselves to release and surrender to this all encompassing force.  This need to register what was today what might be tomorrow.  And what was yesterday and the day before that.