All Hallow's Eve!

I have been pumpkin carving and this is the end result ... Happy Halloween everyone!
At midnight tonight I will be wrestling with Monsieur Random-org to find out the winner of the candy ... you still have time to join in ... just click here.
As part of my Zutter submission I made a little candy box from beer mats ... I see it is on the Bind it all blog too ... which is very exciting :0) For me anyway ... possibly not so exciting for you :0)
I stamped with those stamps again ... you know the ones that are grey rubber when you buy them at a show with the price scribbled on the back ... the ones that I can never remember who makes them and Hels has told me at least twice and I still can't remember ... old age don't you know!
The letters, bats, pumpkin are all grunge board die cuts from Tim ... the man that can make candy with a glue stick and some stickles while riding a unicycle up a very steep hill ... Holtz.
There was a slight problem with this piece though ... I had to open a rather large bag of chocolate to fill the box and then I ate the said rather large bag ... now I need to tell John that I have eaten it ... because I need him to go get more before all the littlies start knocking on the door later :0) Oops ... they were n't half good though ... especially the Skittles ... it has been yonks since I had them!
All that is left is for me to say a big Thank you so much to everyone that popped over to the Kaboodles blog yesterday ... to say Hi ... it really was very much appreciated.
Have a spookilicious day whatever you are doing!

Blogging on Another Blog!

I am a member of the new Design Team at Creativity Boutique ... I have had sooooo much fun playing with Stampendous stamps and the other goodies I got to mess around with! Which I can't tell you about yet :0)

Totally yummy goodness!

But there is a scary side too ... I blog on their blog ... now ... you know me ... I ramble about all kinds of nonsense here ... well it's home ... and I can do what I like ... but now on a Friday ... I shall be appearing there too! Do you think they are expecting a grown up?

Later today is the first day and I am a little bit terrified ... I drafted my post yesterday and have checked it somewhere between one and two thousand times for spelling errors ... I keep making sure I have added my card ... oh the trauma!!!

You know what's coming ... don't you? ... please pop over and say Hi to me on there ... I don't want to be a "Billy no mates" as well as traumatised!!! Oh ... the shame!!!

You can read all about this card over there too ... My first ever Thanksgiving card ... I could do with a fanfare as well as the hard drugs that it is going to take to stop me worrying all night!

Do you know that is pretty Bonkers when you think about it ... well now I have typed it actually... so it does n't post when scheduled at 7am U.S time ... I can just publish as soon as I realise it failed ... so there is a typo ... so I shall just correct it ... so no one comments

... Well ... That will be YOUR fault won't it :0)

Have a good Friday everyone ... and don't forget ... you have another 24 hours exactly to register for this candy!

My Favourite Colour!

It has been ages and ages since I joined in the Theme Thursday blog challenge ... but today I have made myself find time!

The theme is your favourite colour ... no ... not your favourite colour ... mine :0)

My favourite colour at the moment is Brown ... I should put in a note here ... that it does change ... sometimes ... on a daily basis ... but today it is brown ... brushed corduroy brown in particular!

I have used a chipboard shape from a tag book ... another supply from the lovely Wendy Gale and then I have Made Art - Wendy Vecchi style ... I LOVE that lady.

I used all Wendy Vecchi stamps and Ranger inks .. just added a scrap of lace and a few buttons. Not forgetting the fabulous grunge paper of course from Tim ... the man that can tip toe on a high wire... oozing inspiration while designing works of art with his little toe ... and then I blitzed the whole thing with some glimmer mists. Nearly forgot the sewed on pearly beads ... oh yes ... I sewed ... with a needle and cotton and everything :0)

I am now off to argue with the man at Parcel Force ... or lady ... I am not fussed ... please just don't ask ... you really don't want to know!

Have a good day y'all!

This is it!

No ... Not the new Michael Jackson film documentary thingy ... but the state of my desk today!

I can't believe it is Wednesday already and I have only posted once since my last entry into WOYWW!

You are right ... my desk is a complete tip ... but I am in the middle of creating ... I will tidy up when I have finished ... erm ... possibly :0)

I am going to change the subject really quickly now ... the second ArtsyCrafts weekend took place last weekend so I can now share my finished projects with you. Out of the four fab projects we did this is my mostest favourite piece. I LOVE it! Now the regular viewers among you will know ... that for me this is a rarity ... I am my most severest critic and it is not often that I like some of the things I make and I rarely LOVE them! 

This project was called a "bit of me time" and I was lucky enough to be near Dan for this one! Why lucky you ask? ... well it was n't just his scintillating company, charm and talent ... and I am not shallow or nuffink ... but he had the letter "L" in his kit :0) Thanks Dan :0)

I added the little glass jar when I got home and filled it with the little watch parts we were given for decoration ... I have always wanted to bottle time ... well has n't everyone!

To think this started life as a little white box ... clearly demonstrating what wonderful artists and teachers Leandra and Lin are!

Right ... I need to finish creating and then tidy up the mess and then hopefully create some more ... Catch you later!

Bad Blogger!

Sorry guys ... I have been a really bad blogger lately ... in my defence it was n't all my fault ... firstly my t'internet connection played up for two solid days ... I could n't even hop let alone Blog! Then I went to a party where I was plied with copious amounts of alcohol ... I did try to resist ... honest ... I then had to pay for my indulgence with about 16 hours of hang over and finally I have been busying myself making my first DT submissions for the Zutter Design Team ... of which this is one!

In the latest edition of Stamper's Sampler there is a little Christmas Screen and I was completely inspired to go away ... create a larger version and instead of just folding the screen ... binding it ...

I need to start telling you now exactly what I used coz there is a lot on it ... but basically ... chipboard; Bind-it-all; Round-it-all; ribbons; Grunge paper; bells; 3 sets of Dark Room Door stamps; Paper Artsy Egg and Nog plate 2; Gold embossing powder; Ranger Distress inks; Promarkers; Fired Brick Stickles and my favouritist ever Chrissy paper from Cosmo Cricket ... aptly named ... Be Good! ... Trust me ... I do try :0)

I hope you are all having a good week ... I promise I shall visit you all very shortly :0)

WOYWW!

I have n't gone mad ... I will show you my work desk in a mo ... it is just that the picture was pretty naff so I thought I would show the finished card first :0)
This is my entry for the Passion For Promarkers challenge this week where the colour challenge is Poppy red and Forest green.
Those Distress ink fans amongst you will also spot an abundance of Peeled Paint ... I have got a thing about stamping my own background papers at the moment ... I am sure just like all my other things ... this one will pass in time too :0)
All stamps used are by The Artistic Stamper ... the backgrounds and the Mabel Lucie Attwell chappy in his car!
The stitching is faux ... I am loving that word ... faux! I used my inkessentials white pen and my Timmy ... the man that can walk on hot coals with bare feet while making a souffle and grunge paper flowers at the same time ... ruler and pokey tool :0)
Now to the extremely bad piccy of my desk ... this card was on my desk when I entered my craft room this morning in an unfinished state ... along with my ATG gun ... that I LOVE ... and a load of other half finished embellishment things ... that will probably remain half finished until the end of time!
I am off to look at other people's desks now ... with the magic of the tinternet and if you all fancy a nosey then just visit Julia's blog ... where every one links up! And if you fancy joining in this week ... well please do ... the more ... the merrier :0)

Hi Honey ... I'm Home!

I had the best time at the weekend ... great friends ... great classes ... great teachers ... great projects ... great fun ...
And I cannot tell you anymore because I don't want to spoil anything for those lucky people that will be attending this weekend coming!
So instead... let me tell you how I managed to get in the bad books within a couple of hours of getting home. Well first ... I have to tell you that John works nights ... he usually works on a Sunday ... but he missed me soooo much he took the night off ... arrrr ... sweet :0)
I gets home ... totally shattered ... in a good way ... and within an hour I fell asleep ... oops!
Apparently I was snoring all night ... which I find hard to believe ... but the worse thing is yet to come ...
On Saturday I had set the alarm for 6 a.m! Classes were starting at 8 ... breakfast was at 7.30 blah blah blah ... you get the picture! Well the alarm did n't go off ... but that was n't a problem because I had n't slept so good and I awoke at 5.50 a.m anyway!
What I did n't realise was that I had set it for Monday morning! I usually get up at 7.30am ... unload the dishwasher ... sort the dog etc., for when John comes home at 8 a.m! Well ...
When the alarm went off this morning ... John got up and did all those jobs for me ... it took him a while before he realised it was only 6 a.m.
Let's just say he was n't best pleased when I got up at ... erm ... gone 10a.m :0)
Moving swiftly back to the crafting ... this is my Black Soot beer mat ... I have embossed the pattern in clear embossing powder ... coz you would n't be able to see it otherwise ... the metal is TSS Rock Star Black ... which I just had to buy at the weekend and I have embossed it with a Cuttlebug folder and backed it with Claudine Hellmuth's sticky back canvas. The trinkets are all Tim...the man that can craft in one continent whilst doing Karaoke in another ... Holtz! And the stamps are from the extremely talented Mrs Vecchi!
I am really surprised at the results I have achieved with the Black Soot ... who would have thought you could do so much with it!
Have a good week everyone ...

*** Blog Candy - NOW CLOSED ***

You guys all know by now that I have my own way of doing things ... this is my version of the old BBC Test Card! I will be away for the next few days having a simply fabulous time and unable to blog so I am leaving this here for you to enjoy.
Basically it is a pile of yummy stash that you could win!
Included is:-
A Spellbinders Shapabilities Sunflower [Set 2]; A Penny Black Hedgehog wood mounted stamp; 3 Reels of American crafts Elements Premium Ribbon; A circle chipboard tag book; 2 Sheets of un-mounted Design House stamps with an Art Deco theme; Paper Artsy un-mounted Femme -Plate 3; 1 sheet of EZ mount; 1 Pack Daisyd's Mistletoe memories chipboard frames; 2 packs of K & Co Beyond Postmarks card blanks and envelopes and 10 metal charms.
All you need to do is place a picture of this candy ... with a link to my blog ... on your blog ... leave a link to the candy in your comment at the end of this post so I know where to find you :0)
If you don't have a blog please leave a comment I will enter you into the drawer :0)
I will be drawing the winner for the candy at midnight on 31.10.09 ... I will post anywhere in the world.
I will be back and blogging on Monday or Tuesday next week. Good Luck and Thanks, as always, for visiting :0)
I am off to have a fabulous Artsy Crafts Weekend :0)

The Big Daddy Of Tins!

It is time to show you another metal bean tin!
Lin and I are having so much fun blogging these tins ... I don't get to see her post until it's blogged ... and we are becoming experts in synchronised blogging ... I am not one to brag ... but if they make it an Olympic sport ... we will probably win ... so as soon as 8.30pm comes and goes I shall be tearing over to her blog to read her write-up!
This tin was made using my favourite Big Daddy mould ... number 4 and Skinny Mini number 6 in Dark Chocolate metal ... yum yum :0)
This time the corset sides were joined using the Crop-a-dile and I hung a few of Tim's... the man that can water ski without water or skis... Idea-ology philosophy tags around the top to add a bit of interest. The beads were in my stash ... well they were n't actually ... they were on a bracelet that I chopped up because I needed brown wooden beads ... like now ... don't worry I will find a use for the rest of them too :0)
Am I alone thinking about Wrestling on a Saturday afternoon at the mere mention of the name Big Daddy? I am sat here desperate to say "A one-er, A two-er ... NO, NO, NO ... ask him ref" ... and Was n't his real name something girlie like Shirley Crabapple???  Anyone out there care to admit that they know what I am talking about??? Erm ... please??? Oh C'mon ... you have to remember Giant Haystacks surely???

WOYWW!

This is going to be a short post today ... my computer is on a go slow and it is driving me around the bend ... I need to "Stand Clear" before I inflict serious damage upon it!

After last week's WOYWW I had several requests to look in my drawers ... ooooer missus! Who am I to disappoint others with their wishes ... so here you go ...

These drawers are full of wooden stamps ... in fact I am contemplating buying a third set because as you can see my collection is over flowing on the top and on the floor ... and my Christmas stamps are very unsuitably stored in an entirely different place.

Look closely ... second drawer open on the right ... Tim ... the man that can perform life saving operations on cute fluffy  things with a paper punch and a pokey tool ... signed it for me ... in person ... oh yes ... when I met him ... Have I mentioned that before? ... at all? ... ever? ...

The Date - Part 2!

For those of you who visited me yesterday ... I thought it only right to update you on my date with the dishy Doctor.

It did n't go well ... it lasted for about two minutes before he palmed me off on one of his un-dishy Doctor mates ... who insisted I lay down ... a bit too early in the proceedings for my liking ... and with a local anaesthetic and a scalpel ... he severed all ties ... apparently he does n't want to see me again! I'm not a complete moron ... a polite ... let's just be friends would have been sufficient!

Anyways I had to stagger from the hospital with a rather large eye patch and copious amounts of surgical tape stuck on my hair and in my face ... with my glasses over the top ... from the hospital to ring OH to come and get me ... Do you know what he said ... "I am just mashing the potatoes ... I will leave in about five minutes". I can't tell you what I said because I clicked that button on blogger that says ... No adult content!

Luckily after a night of no crafting my eye is healing nicely and I am pretty much back to normal today ... well normal for me anyway :0)

So this is my Spiced Marmalade Beer mat ... for the eagle eyed among you ... I shall apologise for the still wet glossy accents ... not much to say really ... you know all about the trinkets by now and the Wendy Vecchi stamps ... apart from the pumpkin which is indeed a flower turned upside down ... well kind of anyway ... another genius idea from the crafting goddess herself.

That's kind of it really - Have a good evening! And if you want to get any silly eye jokes out of your system ... just pop them in the comments :0)

Boo!

Did I make you jump? Huh? Did I?

This will be my one and only Halloween card for this year... I don't tend to make Halloween cards, but this year I have a little Japanese friend who is very excited by the whole pumpkin carving ... trick or treating experience so I have made this for her.

It is also my entry for this week's challenge over on the Allsort's blog where the theme is indeed Halloween :0)

The very cute stamp is by Whipper Snapper and the background stamps are from who knows where ... they are on grey rubber ... the sort you buy at shows without packaging and they have the price scribbled on the stamp ... I really have no clue who made them!

Colouring as  usual is with distress inks and Pro Markers ... the cat, lamp post and bat are all from the holiday grunge board set.

The sun is shining here and I have a date with a very good looking Doctor this afternoon ... he is going to look into my eyes ... sadly only for medical purposes ... S'pose you can't have everything!

Enjoy your week!

Tick Tock Tick Tock!

I am in an altered CD swap ... Sid always runs fabulous swaps ... by the by ... I altered my CD to make a clock! I am just testing it now ... but it seems to be functioning correctly :0) I am not entirely sure Mr Rolex-Quartz-Seiko would be entirely happy with the accuracy ... but I don't think he is in the swap ... so that's Ok then :0)

Finishing it is a bit of a relief because I have just spent half an hour crawling around on my hands and knees looking for my last purple eyelet that I dropped during the construction process ... which then bounced on the laminate floor ... and to be honest ... I thought it had gone for good ... but luckily ... at the 11th hour [Geddit???] I managed to find it ... amongst other things ... there are some lovely gems to be found under units etc., which you thought you had lost forever!

So my clock consists of a Tim ... the man that can save small children whilst standing on one leg and making a mini domino book ... background stamp ... an ISC flower and a diddy Wendy Vecchi butterfly.

I have also used some scraps of TSS plum metal, Dusty concord distress ink and a cuttlebug folder.

This is my entry for the Sunday Stamper challenge this week ... the theme being circles ... which was very handy because I am rather late getting this swap ready ...

Look at the time ... must fly :0)

A Full Saturday Workout!

You thought I meant a fitness workout did n't you? You did n't? You must know me too well!

When I got up this morning I fancied just playing so for the first time in ages I joined in with the Saturday Workout.

This is a challenge site with a bit of a difference ... it is not about a theme ... usually it's a technique or something similar. This week it's all about ATC 9'ers! If you don't know what that is ... well neither did I! An ATC 9'er is a group of 9 ATCs that make a complete picture together but also work individually.

So I got out my distress inks and my Timmy stamps and set to work ... You know Tim ... the man that can fly without the use of an airplane :0)

When I first got into ATCs it was all about sharing techniques with fellow crafters ... so I went all out to layer up as many techniques as possible. If you want more detail ... just click here!

That's it then folks ... I am off to make something else now ... or I could tidy up the complete mess I have made ... Nah! Making more mess is much more fun!

Have a good one!

An Apple a Day!

The lovely Wendy sent me some grey chipboard shapes to play with. Included were these fabulous apple tags ... so I set to work with my inks, blending tools and perfect pearls ... oh and my Timmy mask and this is the result.

Tim, the man who can create magic with a paper clip, has started his Halloween trick or treat candy already ... so being a bit of a stalker ... erm ... I mean ... follower ... I decided I would start Halloweeny craft today too :0)

I lurve grey chipboard so I have added a Maya Road frame and some grunge board shapes ... only a couple of Wendy Vecchi stamps and ... drum roll please ...

Rock Candy Stickles :0)

Oh yes ... I got them in the post this morning from my lovely mate Hels ... so I just had to use them immediately ... actually when I rang her to thank her ... she challenged me to use them :0)

It is a very grey day here in Cambridge ... but I have a weekend of crafting ahead ... so who needs the sun?

And check this out ... Totally cool and very exciting!

Cute Card Thursday!

I have been meaning to take part in a card challenge all week ... but with sooooo much excitement ... I kept starting cards and then struggling to finish them!

Anyway ... I saw the Cute Card Thursday challenge this week was charms ... and I thought about my Mabel Lucie Attwell stamp instantly ... I think the image is really very charming. Now I know that is not what they mean ... so I have added a couple of charms to the card too :0) I had you going there did n't I?

I often wonder where people's inspiration comes from and I picked this paper ... purely because it is by October afternoon and it is ... an October afternoon ... so I thought ... Cool!

The best thing about Pro-Markers of course is that you can match them to more or less anything ... hence the apricot and cool aqua dress :0)

It is lovely and sunny here by the way ...  Have a great afternoon!

Full Metal Jacket!

Lin Brown from L.B. Crafts called me out of the blue and said ... "I've got an idea ..."

Blow me ... Are her ideas good ones?

She asked me to alter a bean tin using Ten Second Studio metal ... some Big Daddy moulds and The Paper Artsy Flower stamp.

She also said ... "You could make a feature of the lines in the tin" ... pure crafting genius! So with metal and tools in hand ... I got to work.

I used this yummy barn red metal, my Bind-it-all and Ta da ... this is the result... well one of the results ... I am saving the other two for a later post :0) The leaves are made with Wendy Vecchi's leaf stamp. To back the flowers I used Claudine Hellmuth's sticky backed canvas ... which I think worked a treat.

Working with the metal is soooooo addictive and the fact that I can feed my stamping habit at the same time ... makes it just the perfect thing to while away the crafting hours.

Usually I would Thank Lin for the inspiration ... but on this occasion ... seeings as Lin taught me how to use the metal in one of her classes too ... it really is a case of Lin ... Thanks for every tin ... geddit??? tin as in bean tin ... Who said they did n't get it?

WIYWW?

Staunch supporters of WOYWW movement are going to be jumping up and down at my header! Trust me ... all around the world there are hundreds of people shouting at their computer screens because I have put WIYWW instead of WOYWW!

My reasoning for this is that I wanted a change this week so instead of What's on? I am going with What is?

My work desk is a pasting table ... in fact I have two. I started crafting with a tray on my lap and then as a temporary measure purchased a luxury pasting table for 20 quid from B&Q. That was about five years ago now and they are still doing a great job ... so I have no intention of upgrading them. The best bit ... as you can see ... is that you can store loads of bits underneath them :0)

I am actually going to do some crafting now ... Have a good day and don't forget to join in the fun ... here!

*Doing a Happy Dance*

 

I am chuffed to bits to be able to tell you all that I made the Zutter Design Team 09/10.

I have been dancing around the house all morning ...

I ummed and ahhed about applying - there is so much Zutter talent out there ... but with encouragement from my mate ...  I just went for it ... Thank you so much Dan ... for your belief in me!

Happy Card Making Day!

To celebrate world card making day ... I have up-cycled ... a ... erm ... Beer Mat! I know, I know ... I did set out to make a card ... I just got slightly side tracked!

This Beer Mat is coloured in Faded Jeans distress ink and will be added to my Beer Mat colour chart :0) I was quite liking this piece until I photographed it ... and realised I had attached my Maya Road frame upside down ... What a Numpty? ... With a capital N ... Hey Ho!

All stamps used are Wendy Vecchi and all chipboard shapes are Maya Road.

Many of you have asked how I cover the Beer Mats ... so as promised ... I have done a few piccies ... if you CLICK HERE ... you will be magically transported to them! They really are very basic ... I promise you ... tis not difficult at all!

So come on ... tell me ... What are your plans for the weekend ... if you are not doing anything special ... well please make it up ... I am sat here all on my tod and could do with something to read :0)

And whatever it is ... that you are really doing ... Have a great time doing it!

Go On ... I Dare You!

When I first saw the mini luggage from Zutter ... Well I just knew I had to have one! They are sooooo cute!

As many of you know I am on the DT for Aussie Dares and the dare for October is "I Wish ..."

Now I bet the rest of the DT wished I would get my act together ... there I was merrily putting the finishing touches to my submission ... which is due on the 2nd October 2009 ... then I see it is already the 2nd October 2009 in Australia and I am late! Whoops!

Anyways ... back to the Dare ... I wish ...

I thought it would be really nice to be able to give someone a book of wishes ... so I made one ... then decided to give it to myself :0)

I made a rule that they had to be proper wishes ... none of this ... I wish I had more money kind of a jobby ... but more childish wishes ... so I started my book with ... I wish my legs were longer! And continued from there! What would you wish for?

The hardware on the cover of the book were not only made by The man that can turn water into PVA glue ... Mr T!m ... but I also pinched the design from his blog too ... I hope he does n't mind ... actually I am pretty sure he won't notice ... Mmmm ... Is there another wish brewing?

Stamps are also by Mr T!m and the very talented Mrs Vecchi and I have used Fired Brick distress ink through out.

If you get chance this month please join in with the challenge  ... you can find the dare here!