A Chip and Cheerful Christmas!

I had a right 'ole panic first thing this morning ... the flippin' internet decided not to play ball and today is my day for contributing to the Bubbly Scrumptious blog ... luckily ... it is all sorted now and my panic has passed!

The piece I have designed this week is Christmas Studio 490 style ... and blimey did I get messy???  ... in fact ... I have showered and slept and breakfasted and dressed and washed my hands a few hundred times in between and my fingers are still the colour of Pine needles distress ink ... or is it Marvy Le Plume green? ... to be honest ... it could be either!

I had great fun with this piece ... I even played with shrink plastic and it has been yonks since I have done that ... it could be a new phase though ... I had a great time! All the details for making this piece can be found here.

I am off to do some ... erm ... stuff ... Have a great day!

The Date Anniversary!

I bet you thought I had n't blogged all weekend because he whisked me off to a romantic destination for our 10 year date anniversary? What were you thinking ... Prague? Paris? Venice? Rome?

Those of you that did n't think I had been whisked off ... probably thought I was totally engrossed in my fabulous present and could n't pull myself away? You were probably thinking ... Pink Diamond? Aston Martin? Hot air balloon ride?

I would n't blame you ... I thought 10 years of sharing your life with someone is a pretty substantial amount of time ... the celebration should be pretty substantial too ... Don't ya think?

Well ... if you promise not to laugh ... I will take you through the facts ...

I bought him a humungus clock ... that he loved ... to mark the passing of all the moments we had shared and all the moments we would share in the future. He bought me a paper trimmer ... because my old one squeaked when in use and it annoyed him!

I cleared my diary so we could have a leisurely and romantic breakfast ... he got up early so he could go and play ... erm ... golf.

I spent a relaxing day bathing in soapy bubbles and doing a spot of crafting ... he came home ... fell asleep on the sofa ... dribbling and snoring!

I waited for my invitation to go somewhere romantic for dinner ... with candle light and champagne ... he said ... I will treat you to a chinese take away ... What do ya fancy? No candles ... just trays on laps while he watched the TV!

Then he went out ... to the pub ... alone! To be fair he did ask if I minded! Of course not! ... you have a lovely time!

On Saturday I bought a new pink polo neck ... you know ... as compensation to myself ... I kinda thought it would keep me nice and toastie ... if he ever does surprise me with a trip to the Ice Hotel in Sweden ... he said "You look like that bird out of Scooby Doo in that jumper!" Trust me ... He did n't mean Daphne!

I consoled myself in my craft room ... My intention with this piece was to go all Steam Punk ... it is in fact ... more steam flunk ... I started with the fab pocket watches and the bright background ... and then I got side tracked with the purdy Artistic Stamper butterflies!

You can see plenty of Idea-ology bits ... including the mask ... from Tim ... the man that can build an ice hotel any where in the world ... even in a temperature of 100 degrees ... with a pokey tool, some rock candy crackle and a pair of round nosed pliers!

The hanging contraption is bamboo ... threaded with eye pins ... which in turn have been threaded with beads and attached with jump rings. Don't you just love the colour of the word imagine??? ... well that is triple embossing with Copper embossing powder ... I then added the optical lens and the film strip ribbon.

Have a fab day people :0)

Wanted Dead or Alive!

That is right Bloggers ... I want the culprit responsible for RANSACKING my craft room caught and brought to justice!

Just look at my desk ...

I whistled when I went to play this morning ... my heart was full of happiness ... I was buzzing with adrenalin and creativity and when I opened the door ... I was faced with total devastation! Who would do such a thing ...

There are lids off things ... bits of glue where they should n't be ... things taken out of drawers and discarded ... some of them not even used ... it really is bad ... but if you thought the desk was bad ... LOOK WHAT THEY did to the FLOOR ...

I am thinking of offering a substantial reward for anyone offering information leading to the capture and prosecution of the person ... or persons ... responsible ... I find it hard to believe that this could be the work of one man ... I am pretty sure judging by the mess ... it was a gang! I apologise for all my shouting ... but I am feeling a tad hysterical!

Moving on ... It is Wednesday ... it is WOYWW ... you can join in here :0)

On a happier note I can tell you that over on the Zutter Ning site we are on Day 7 of the 12 days of Christmas ... that is right ... 12 projects all using your Zutter bits ... What do you mean? You have n't joined yet? Best you get over there ... like NOW! Before you miss out on all the fun!!!

I am now going to lay down in a darkened room ... hopefully lightening won't strike twice ... Have a Good Day everyone ... and Happy Thanks Giving to all our U.S friends!

Fit To Burst!

I am sooooo excited ... I can hardly type straight! If I was clever at this point I would have made the text wavy ... coz that would have been reeeeeeally funny ... but I am not that clever!

Why am I sooooo excited??? ... well ... after lots of talking and planning with Lin Brown from L.B Crafts ... I can now announce that I will be doing some classes there ... in the new year ... How cool is that?

I am totally honoured that Lin chose me ... I LOVE her classes ... the organisation ... the planning ... the way they are run ... her teaching style ... the individuality of her projects ... the chocolate fix ... it is all wonderful and I hope that some of her flare, creativity, style and fabulous ideas will rub off on me ... If I ever get in the same division as her ... let alone the same league ... well I will be one happy lady!

Remember the Grunge paper pieces ... well ... you lot made me howl with laughter ... No Helen it is not grunge meccano ... and Carmen ... wings for Tim??? I will have you know the legend that is Mr Holtz can fly without wings :0) A crocodiles snout was close ... NOT! ... so no cigar for Nigel!

I was in fact ... as many of you guessed correctly making some roof tiles for this little bird house.

The roof is made entirely from spiced rum metal and grunge paper using a Wendy Vecchi stamp. Her stamps are the best ... so versatile ... tile ... Geddit???

The walls are made with Dijon TSS metal ... which is my new favourite and the fence and window box is made from craft sticks ... I had so much fun making this ...

I have probably bent your ears enough for one day ... so I am off to make ... erm ... something else :0)

It Must Be Love!

I really wish I had n't used that as my title! I have got the words going around and around in my head now!
Luckily John is computer illiterate so there is absolutely no chance that he will see this post! I have actually made him an anniversary card! He is going to be sooooo surprised ... the last couple of anniversaries and birthdays ... I have been out and bought one ... I know ... I know!
This Friday will be the 10th anniversary of our first date together! I turn it into a big event every year because I really like presents and this is a fab way of getting some :0)
I know I sound really shallow and greedy ... well ... that is because ... erm ... I am :0)
I had a great time making this card with the August Bubbly Funk kit. You should be able to spot a few Wendy Vecchi stamps too and the How Do I Love Thee quote is from Technique Tuesday.
You know I did n't mention the rain in my post yesterday ... in case I jinxed it ... well it did n't make the slightest bit of difference ... as soon as I hit the publish key ... it poured and poured! And it is still raining!!! Just in case you thought I was having a nice sunny day when the rest of you were n't!
I hope you all have a good week whatever you are doing ... Byeeeeee!

Cute Ickle Fella!

This rather cheeky little chappy is a new release Mabel Lucie Attwell stamp!
Aint he cute? The Holly is rather lovely to chop about and layer up too.

I am not going to mention the fact that it appears to have finally stopped raining here ... would n't want to jinx it or anything ... but at the moment if I glance up I can see a clear blue sky ... I say "up" because my Craft room is in the roof ... so the windows are up too ... I don't know why I told you that ... but you know what I mean ... Don't ya???
Do you remember my first Christmas card? ... weeks ago? ... the start of many? ... well that is what I said at the time ... and this is my ... erm ... third! Doh!
This card is my entry for the Sunday Stampers Challenge this week which is The Holly and The Ivy ... Do pop over and look at Hel's sample this week ... tis gorgeous!
I know some of you don't just pop in for my sparkling personality and witty rapport :0) ... so the image is coloured with Pro Markers ... the paper is from the Paper Artsy Rum and Raisin Range and the card is Bazzill. I have added a few Rock Candy Stickles but they look pretty naff in this picture ... I promise they look Ok in the flesh!
I hope you have a good day whatever you are doing ... I have an anniversary card to make and a serious amount of blog hopping to catch up on ... Have a good one!

Just a Quickie Post ...

Morning all! Just a quick peek this morning of the card that I have blogged for Creativity Boutique ... information regarding products etc., is on the Kreative Kaboodle blog here ... please pop over and say Hi to me if you get a minute!

And if you don't ... well have a lovely day anyway :0)

A Bit of a Squeeze!

I know ... I know ... I am late blogging and there is not much improvement in the state of my desk compared to last week.

I really cannot believe it is Wednesday again already ... and time for WOYWW. My desk has been tidy once or twice in the last week ... but not for much longer than about 5 minutes ... if I am absolutely honest!

I have been really industrious today too ... I have finally gotten around to clearing my paper work drawer in the kitchen ... you cannot believe the relief ... I had some letters to write that I have been putting off and finally got around to sorting ... Woo Hoo ... it is one of those jobs that you dread ... but to be quite honest it's never as bad as you imagine ...

On my desk is my project from the wonderful TSS Master class I have been on at LB Crafts in the last couple of days ... Lin really is the master when it comes to working with metal and there are sooooo many different techniques ... another fabulous class ... and of course you get to shop at the end ... which is just the cherry on the top of the icing on the scrumptious cake ... I still had a bit to finish at the end ... mainly due to the wonderful company of Diane, Sue and Flo ... too much chatting ... but hopefully I will add all my finishing touches tonight ...

The box part is finished ... but I put that on my desk quickly for the photo ... coz I totally love it!

So come on guys ... I have shown all ... visit Julia this week and join in the fun!

How About a Guessing Game?

I am not ashamed to say that I like blog comments!

I particularly like the comments that you lovely people leave on my blog ... so I thought ... purely for my entertainment ... all me me me :0) ... that you could look at these grunge paper shapes and try and guess what I have used them for :0) There is no prize ... but the funnier ... the better!

This is a ploy really to cover for the fact that I cannot actually share much of what I have been making ... apart from another piece Of Maya Road chip and a sneaky peek at my post for Bubbly Scrumptious ... as you know I blog there on a Monday ... but you really should pop over and look at some of the other days too ... they have some fabulous designs on there and the tutorials are fab.

Have a good week ... I am off to learn something new ;0)

Mother's Pride!

If I work on a scale of 1 to 10 on the mother's pride'ometer ... well I was nine million, nine hundred and ninety-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine times more proud than I ever thought possible.

I could never be described as a shrinking violet and on Wednesday ... as the list of names was read out in Cambridge ... there was clapping and the odd shout as daughter's and son's graduated. I was determined to Whoop and Cheer as loudly as I possibly could when Samantha's name was called ... I wanted everyone to know just how proud I was ... the moment arrived ... she started her walk across the stage ... I opened my mouth ... a lump appeared in my throat ... my eyes welled up ... and I could n't manage a sound ...

Here is a girl that has worked relentlessly hard at her education ... no tests, exams or assignments came particularly easy for her. She is practical and sensible and beautiful ... but could never be described as particularly academic. This picture represents the fact that if you want something badly enough and you are prepared to work hard enough ... well anything is possible!

We had a lovely meal to celebrate ... time to put your feet up was the thought on everyone's minds ... you have a wedding to plan ... Oh no! ... not my Samantha ... we had hardly finished our starter when she announced that the next step is a master's degree ... I shall be taking a football rattle to that one ... trust me!

All That Glimmers Must Be ...

... Walnut Gold!

I had been so good not buying loads and loads of glimmer mists ... I bought one when they first came out and decided that a nice gold colour would go with everything.

I used it a few times ... but could n't really get excited about the effect I was getting ... until I went on the ArtsyCrafts weekend and learned how to use them in several different ways ... well that's when I decided to buy just one more!

After a conversation I had with Burn about how much we loved the colour we had on our table ... I decided to get another bottle ... you are never gonna believe me ... I mean ... I must come across to you guys as well educated, sensible, attractive and intelligent ... Well ... I only went and bought the same colour ... two years on ... with a gazillion choices ... I now have two bottles of Walnut Gold ... doh! Good job I like it then Huh?

This is another Maya Road Chipboard tag from the lovely Wendy Gale ... decorated with Wendy Vecchi stamps and Tim ... the man that can make clouds appear and disappear with one click of his mouse, some glossy accents and a foot spa ... Holtz's delicious Rock Candy crackle paint ... that is one of his dream tickets too.

Don't worry if you think you are having a Deja Vu moment ... this is very similar to this tag that I made the other day ... but I am building up to a grand finale ... and I want to get as many blog posts out of this piece as I can :0)

How Did That Happen?

Anyone that suffers from any allergies what so ever should look away now!

I have no idea how this happened. One minute I was playing nicely and the next minute I looked up and my craft desk looked like this! I am guessing that mischievous Pixies have been in and got stuff out that I have neatly put away.

I am really sorry if this picture offends any of your sensitivities ... like it does mine ... but it is WOYWW ... What's a girl to do? ... Julia and her followers make me share!

If you have no idea what I am talking about ... you need to follow the instructions here and join in ... Coz you are not telling me yours looks worse than mine and then expect me to believe you without pictorial evidence :0)

Have a good day ... I am off to a graduation :0)

Something Very Different!

This certainly is something a bit different for me ... hardly any stamping or inks or nuffink!

That is one of the best things about being on a design team ... you get sent goodies that you would overlook when laid out in a shop. I received these Nikki Sivil chipboard trees ... the 6X6 papers ... some breadless tags and some journal stamps! The remit was to create a challenge for the Fall Fling ... an online crop that was held on the Kit 'n' Kaboodles forum Saturday last. Thank you all for your well wishes by the way ... it all went very smoothly and was really good fun!

I went through so many different ideas before I settled on this mini book.  I am still not sure if I like it ... LOVE the pictures of my babies of course ... they will moan ... publishing pictures again without consent ... but if you read my lovely daughter's comment here outting me ... well you will see it as reasonable retort I'm sure! What they have to complain about is beyond me ... they are sooooooooooo cute :0) And is n't it a mother's duty to embarrass her children from time to time?

Anyway this particular cutie is graduating on Wednesday and I am extremely proud of her! I shall move swiftly on before this post gets really slushy and sentimental!

The lovely, very funny and ever so slightly mad Carmen gave me a blog award at the weekend for which I am truly grateful ... I shall ponder what to do with it and pass it on in due course! Thank you Carmen.

If you have missed me talking about Tim ... the man that could construct London Bridge with a spare half hour and a handful of brads ... Holtz ... have no fear ... I got to talk all about him in my blog post for Bubbly Scrumptious today ... do pop over and say Hi!

I hope your week's all started well ... and they continue that way!

Keeping Promises!

I am not sure how many of you will remember this card ... from last Christmas ... hands up please :0)

Well ... just to update those of you still with your hands down ... I made several ... all very similar but in different colours and blogged them all.

So Why are you blogging them again? I hear you ask ... probably those of you still with your hands up anyway :0) ... Well they were a bit of a palaver to make to be honest ... and everyone asked if I could explain how I made them ... I promised I would ... and then never did!

This week the lovely people at Scor-it sent me one of their Scor-it mini embossing boards to play with ... it makes the whole card really easy ... I am soooooo chuffed with it ... I can't put it down and have started making these cards in time for Christmas again this year ... I say card ... it is more of a fancy fold book thingy!

I always keep my promises ... I may be a bit slow sometimes ... but I always keep them ... So I thought I would do you a little tutorial to show how they are made ... it is here ... as promised :0)

If you make one ... please come back and share it on this thread and if you don't Hey-Ho or HO HO :0)

Have a good evening ... oh ...

You can put your hands down now :0)

Chip and Bling!

Shall I tell you where I am? Shall I? Huh? Shall I?

I am at my first ever online crop with my CB teamies ... exciting huh? I have to admit to being a tiny bit terrified ... I am posting both my projects between 9pm and 10pm GMT ... which is 4 - 5pm on the message board. I have been pacing up and down for most of the day ... I have checked my internet access 60 zillion times and right at this precise moment ... I will be posting my first challenge thread!

One of my challenges is called Chip and Bling ... hence the beer mat/coaster ... in Aged Mahogany, I might add ... so it will fit in nicely with my Distress inked collection ... I am adding cup hooks to my shelves and when I feel strong I put another one in ... they are a bit tricky to get the thread straight ... but it is too late now to ask John ... Can you imagine the fuss he will make when he see's I have n't measured them or used a spirit level? Nah ... I shall suffer in silence!

The stamps I have used on this mat are mainly Wendy Vecchi ... but the cute little cherries and the sentiment is from Nikki Sivil's "My Sweet Cherry Pie" set. Of course the philosophy tag and the grunge paper are from Tim ... the man that can make the earth move with one finger, some stickles and a vintage game piece ... Holtz.

I hope you are all having a pleasant day - see ya!

Just For the Record!

I have had so many comments of concern about my diet ... whether just eating beans is good for me??? ... the simple truth is I don't! I don't eat many beans at all ... in fact I rarely eat beans ... unless of course I am in the mood for altering a tin and my supply of empty tins has run out! Then I pretend to have a sudden craving and have managed to convince John to change the menu on at least one occasion!

I am a bit fussy about the tins I use too ... they have to be the ring pull ones ... so that I can get rid of any sharp edges with a pair of pliers ... round nose or otherwise ... in fact anything that comes to hand at the time.

John recently purchased a new tin opener though ... he insists on saving the pennies and not buying ring pull versions of tins and this method leaves a nasty and potentially hazardous sharp edge ... I moan ... and stamp ... he takes no notice whatsoever and continues to irritate me with his new toy!

The simple truth is I have empty bean can suppliers ... otherwise known as friends and family ... that collect the tins and even deliver them at no extra cost ... How cool is that?

My best supplier is a lovely lady that I don't even know ... she is the cook in a children's nursery where my daughter works ... she washes the tins and puts them to one side for me ... now that is real recycling.

The next question I get asked ... lots ...  is what I do with the altered tins ... most of the ones that you have seen on this blog are displayed either at shows or in shops ... I get to keep the occasional one ... I use those for storing pens and tools and brushes etc.,!

I have also given a few away as gifts for crafty mates and that is about it!

The tin I am displaying today was made with my lovely Bind-it-all ... some TSS pearl metal which I painted in Turquoise Precious metal colour and then decorated with the Swiss dots Cuttlebug folder ... the snowflakes were made using a Spellbinder die.

If you have a spare five minutes don't forget I am blogging here today too and I sure could use some of your lovely company! I am off to make a family tree ... nothing to do with beans what so ever :0)

Have a good weekend y'all!

Perfect Timing!

As many of you know I recently attended the ArtsyCrafts weekend at Newport Pagnall ... for those of you that don't know ... where have you been :0)

This time piece was the main project for the weekend and the making of it really was timed to perfection. I am not the fastest crafter and quite often I have to leave a workshop with a half finished piece ... but the weekend was so well organised that even I got to finish!

And let's be honest this is n't your run of the mill average workshop project either ... we played with canvas and gesso and paint and ink and glimmer mists and stamps and moulds and cuttlebug folders and that was just the canvas at the back. *Deep breath*

For the clock face there was Terra and paint and stamps and metal and glimmer mists and precious metal paints and even a sandwich ;0)

I learnt so much on this one project ... well to tell you about it all would take hours and hours ... best you go on the next ArtsyCrafts weekend and find out for yourself!

Have a great time [geddit???] whatever you are doing!

By Popular Demand!

I love that blogging peeps are so honest about being really nosey ... and being open and honest about nosiness has been transformed into the fashionable thing to do on a Wednesday by Mrs Dunnit ... it takes the form of WOYWW and all voyeurs will list themselves throughout the day on this link! So don't get left behind or be last season daahling ... join in :0) A quick aside to Trish here ... I don't watch Strictly but I do keep up to date with it and I love CRH on BBC breakfast on a Monday!

My desk today is rather dull ... it looks pretty much the same as it did last week ... only with a different project on it ... I am getting rather good at finding places for bits and bobs on the edge of my white space as Kathy .... so nicely puts it ... so I have gone for the please let's look in your drawers request ... I could not face opening each drawer ... taking a picture and then showing you the contents ... I have 69 drawers in my craft room ... yes ... I just went and counted them ... so you will have to squint to look at the contents ... having said that I am rather proud of the fact that they are all neatly labelled :0)

The mini arch book is another project from the ArtsyCrafts weekend ... this was the final project ... I still have the main project to blog ... but I am saving that for another day! It is definitely something I will be making again and again in different themes.

More Tin-kering!

First things first ... I am rather proud of that heading ... I was running out of bean headlines :0) I wonder if you are as impressed as I am? I am thinking probably not *LOL*

Lin and I thought that it was time to show you another metal bean tin ... this was actually the first of the three metal ones that I made. You can see the other two here and here ... just in case you missed them first time around!

This one is made with the yummily luscious plum metal from Ten Second Studios and Big Daddy number 1 mould. The rose is made with the Wendy Vecchi dimensional rose art sheet as are the leafs. Both the leafs and the roses are backed with Claudine Hellmuth's sticky backed canvas.

This time the corset sides were bound using my crop-a-dile and large eyelets and then tied using 7 gypsies waxed cotton with a few beads to pretty it up a bit.

In case you are wondering how the synchronised blogging campaign is going ... well I am planning on lobbying the government ... it would be great to have it as a sport in the 2012 Olympics and Lin and I are just so good ... well we would definitely be favourites for the British team ... I have always wanted to be in the Olympics and the lack of any physical exertion involved in this new sport is very appealing to me :0)

Anybody else who has got any ideas for Olympic events ... which would be related to crafting and blogging and not actually moving from my craft room ... would be very welcome in the comments ... just in case I get turned down :0)

There Ought to be Clowns!

It has been a while ... but when Moira sent me some canvases to play with ... well I got stuck straight in! And play I did! The canvases came with an ickle mini easel which is totally cute!

This canvas is 10cmX10cm and I covered it with Claudine Hellmuth's matte multi-medium before painting and stamping... and then again to seal it. The stamps I have used are Artistic Outpost "Send in the Clowns" and they are my new favourite! 

I know there are probably several bloggers out there that don't like clowns ... perhaps you could tell me why in your comments ... I have never really got that one ... I get Marmite and Tilda ... but clowns are just there to make us laugh ... are n't they????

The harlequin border around the sides is a Crafty Individuals stamp and the text stamped on top of that is from the "Send in the clowns" sheet too. You get loads for your money on that sheet I can tell you!

You will all be totally relieved to know that I am still showing no signs of man flu ... well I say that ... I sneezed earlier when a bit of dust went up my nose ... perhaps I have got man flu and should lay down in a darkened room :0)

If you want to read some more of my inane drivel ... I can't believe I spelt that right first time ... truly I did ... without spell checking and everything ... I will now be appearing on the Bubbly Scrumptious blog ... starting today ... every Monday ... as part of the Bubbly funk design team ... it would be totally cool if you popped in and said Hi.

Happy Monday people ... see you tomorrow ... or later if you have blogged :0)

Nawty Blogger!

This time I am not the nawty blogger either ... tis blogger ... I wanted to post this card yesterday ... but blogger went down for hours and hours ... for me anyway! It was most frustrating ... and I hope somebody somewhere is doing their utmost to prevent it happening again ... ever :0)

Now I have got that off me chest I can tell you about this totally cute stamp ...

I have used most of the lime green promarkers on my card and I have added some paper flowers which were made using Basic Grey 6X6 Sultry range and the Artistic Stamper's flower power stamp. The totally cute stamp is again from the Artistic Stamper ... but this time from the Mabel Lucie Attwell range.

John has got man flu ... I am not good at sympathy ... so I am hiding in my craft room ... he is still managing to cook the dinner ... so you can all rest assured ... I won't starve :0)

Enjoy the last little bit of your weekends ... Byeeee!

**Blog Candy Winner**

I am delighted to announce the winner of my test card Halloween Blog Candy as chosen by Random.org was
**Drumroll**
Tanja Congratulations Tanja.

Thank you to everyone that took part!