48 More Sleeps!

I was planning on blogging a whole lot earlier than this ... but the blooming tinternet had other ideas! This is another card that I made for the Summer Sizzle kit that I designed for Creativity Boutique. Not my usual type of card ... but I did slip a bit of Lord Tim of Holtz's Grungepaper on it and even though it is very very pink ... I actually quite like it! You know Tim ... the man that can make dreams come true while rescuing little fluffy puppies from big grizzly bears with just an Idea-ology jump ring and a manilla tag.

It has been a busy day here ... I discovered that my very talented fellow Craft Stamper DT member Anneliese Bates will be going to Ranger U too ... her email got lost in the webiverse and she did n't know until last night ... so after many excited emails we have booked our flights ... the hotel and everything ... it's official ... oh and the song has obviously changed to ... We are going to Ranger U ... We are going to Ranger U ... eeiiaadio ... We are going to Ranger U :0)

Amongst all the excitement there was some bad news too ... apparently they are making John's shift redundant ... so he may have to start working days instead of nights ... work is work I s'pose ... but the really bad news is that I may actually have to start cooking .... or worse still ... doing a bit of housework ... my head hurts just thinking about it!

I am off now for a quick blog hop and an early night ... I have a class at Olney tomorrow ... they are just gonna love my singing :0)

WOYWW and FMS :0)

Ha! You were n't expecting this ... now were you! Just call me Smugger than smug or a simple Miss Tidy for short! I know you uber tidy WOYWWers will still have to look away ... but the rest of you messy peeps will think like me ... just fabulously tidy dahling :0)

You see I have a new carry wotsit ... so instead of taking a kerzillion hours to pack my bag when I head off to Olney ... well I can just grab and run. I am of course talking about that black baggy wotsit on my desk ... Marie Osmond made that don't ya know! Don't give me ... I bet she did n't! I bet she only endorsed it and has n't even seen it rubbish ... I just know she designed this one ... sewed it with her own fair hands and probably hummed paper roses at the same time :0)

I have also been asked to show some close ups of the Beer mats adorning my wall ... now you regulars will be sick of the sight of them no doubt ... so I have just attached a couple and shrunk them down ... if anyone wants a closer look ... just click on the pictures.

So ... it is Wednesday ... the world and her mother will be joining in with WOYWW and if you are from another universe and have no idea what WOYWW means then just pop over and see the Matriarch of Mothers ... Mrs Julia and she will tell you what to do.

Can you work out the other acronym ... you know the FMS one ... Can you huh? Can you???

Gossip and Chips!

I like Mondays ... because I don't need to do any sensible chatter on here ... Mondays is the day I blog for Bubbly Scrumptious ... so if you want any ingredients details or instructions ... you can find them all here.

So without sensible chatter ... I can stick to pure unadulterated gossip ... but you can't tell anyone I told you!!!

Yesterday I was at LB Crafts Head Quarters ... making the projects that Lin and Leandra have designed for the imminent ArtsyCrafts weekends. The projects are always kept under wraps until the weekends and it is all secret squirrel stuff and uber exciting :0) I had the pleasure of the company of the Wonderful Lin and the Lovely Karen ... :0) So  ... Do you want to hear all about the projects??? ... well ... I can't tell you ... so don't even ask :0) A tease??? Who me???

I can tell you that there is a humungus B Line Bargain Bonanza planned for the 30th of May ... The wonderful Lin, the lovely Karen, myself and I think quite possibly the marvellous Mark will all be there ... huuuuuuuuge reductions in B Line stamps apparently and free demos all day ... so check your diaries!

Righty Ho ... I am off to bed soon ... it is now only 52 more sleeps to Ranger U ... Did I mention I was going and that Lord Tim of Holtz will be there ... you know Tim ... the man that rescues ickle fluffy kittens from 200 ft trees while balancing on a high wire and creating Grungepaper magic with just the lid off a bottle of Glossy Accents and one piece of Mica from a small jar of Perfect Pearls.

Have a good one!

Sensible and Informative :0)

It struck me earlier that some bloggers out there may not want to read the nonsense that I write! They may in fact want to know what I actually used and how I actually made something. So ... I am not going to mention the fact that it is only 56 more sleeps until I go to Ranger U and I won't be sharing the second verse of my song ... which goes ... I'm going to Ranger U ... I'm going to Ranger U ... Eeiiiaddio ... I'm going to Ranger U ... yes I know it is very similar to verse one but apparently there has to be a song writer's hook to get other's to sing it ... and I am pretty sure my hook is ... I'm going to Ranger U.

OK ... sensible and informative ... I used Scattered Straw ... Rusty Hinge and Forest Moss and blended them together. I then used a mask and blended Brushed Corduroy over the top. I removed the mask and stamped Tim's flourish in Gold acrylic dabber and then Tim's shabby french script stamp in jet black archival. Finally I added one of Tim's ornate frames with an adage ticket and a Jenni Bowlin butterfly.

So apart from the butterfly all the products are Lord Tim of Holtz's ... you know Tim ... the man that could slay two dragons while standing on his head and reciting Macbeth word for word with just a long legged brad and a sprinkling of distress embossing powder ... What??? I reeeeeally tried :0)

Have a good weekend everyone!

Just 57 more sleeps!

You would think as I am blogging these cards today ... that I actually had made them today ... but I did n't!

I have been far too busy composing a new song ... counting sleeps ... ringing everyone I know and just generally celebrating!

"Why's that then Linda?" I hear you ask ... well ... get this ... in 57 more sleeps ... I shall be going to *fan fare please* ... Ranger U :0)

Oh yes ... not only will I get to see Lord Tim of Holtz creating his magic ... you know Tim ... the man that can turn clouds into Strawberry Angel Delight while building a full scale Cadbury's chocolate model of the Isaac Newton bridge with just a Pumice Stone Distress Ink pad and one half of a pair of Tonic Studio non stick scissors. But I also get to see Suze ... the mistress of the melt pot and Claudine ... the paintess of paints! I know ... I know ... I made that up ... not the seeing part ... the paintess part!

So ... I gets the email and to celebrate I composed a little song and choreographed a little dance! And then I discover that everyone is a critic! John reckons the words are repetitive and annoying ... and actually he is my only critic ... no one else has actually seen it or indeed heard it ... unless you count the window cleaner ... but I was unaware that he was watching ... he smiled ... so I reckon he enjoyed it!

The song goes ... I'm going to Ranger U ... I'm going to Ranger U ... eeiiiadddio ... I'm going to Ranger U ... repeat etc., and it is performed to the tune ... The farmer wants a wife! I think it may well catch on and am considering doing a You Tube version.

The cards are both coloured with Distress Inks ... I have n't even mentioned the fact that I shall be on the same site that they create the products that we all know and love ... Oh My Goodness ... I shall be in Distress Ink heaven :0)

The stamps are ... of course ... by the wonderful Wendy Vecchi and the tree and flourish on the first card are Paper Artsy. I am guessing you have heard about enough from me now ... so I shall away ...

Have a wonderful evening y'all!

It's Wednesday! It's 10am! and it's ...

Time for WOYWW! Can I just say I did that in my bestest it's Friday, it's 5 o'clock and it's Crackerjack voice. I say that like I actually said it ... which of course I did n't ... so it was in my bestest Crackerjack font really! I do hope you are all impressed!

Never heard of WOYWW??? I find that terribly hard to believe ... I mean it is nearly a year old ... Where have you been? Our lovely hostess with the mostest Julia has been working on the arrangements to celebrate the movement with the help of one of the original WOYWWers ... Angie ... to make this an anniversary we will never forget ... so make sure you check her out and join in ... you still have plenty of time before the big day!

OK ... the desk ... is a hive of ... erm ... nothing really ... half started cards ... a finished card that I cannot photograph well enough to blog ... a row of Tildas. I don't actually plan on making a Tilda card any time soon ... I might add ... but the lovely Dan reorganised my Pro Markers and in an effort to master shading I decided Tilda was as good as any to practice on!

There is also a piece of Lord Tim of Holtz paper ... I have used it on a card which is currently under construction ... oh yeah ... and the bird house which I have also half started with Timmy papers ... you know Tim ... the man that took a few days off from emails and blogging to successfully calculate the effects of volcanic dust clouds on the jet engine while building a life size model of the Taj Mahal with just the star adornments charm and a solitary droplet from an Aged Mahogany re-inker.

I swung today too ... just behind where I sit ... you know me ... any excuse to photograph my yummy blending tool storage ... which I still love! That is rare for me too ... I am a bit fickle when it comes to loving things ... usually LOVE them for a week or so and then they become part of the furniture.

Righty-ho ... last week I was a terrible WOYWWer ... I did n't leave a comment on hardly any desks ... although I did visit them all ... this week I am going to visit and comment and just generally make up for being so lax.

Have a good day everyone and if you want to join in this crazy thing we call WOYWW ... go check out Julia ... innit :0) That was me trying to be hip and trendy by the way!

See yas!

A Record Breaking Short Post!

I was going to tell you about my class on Saturday ... my lovely ladies and their lovely final projects ... and Dan's visit ... and my not very productive crafting sessions ... and the day we had in Kent yesterday for Tina's birthday ... the yummy lunch etc., ... and the tale I had about the pokey tool and the broken tooth ... but look at the time! I still have 101 things to do today and I have no idea where the time went. So you will just have to amuse yourselves piecing together the above to work out what I am actually on about.

Because I have n't got time to tell you about all those things then I thought I would go for the shortest blog post ever and perhaps break a world record or something. Then I realised that not telling you stuff was taking just about as long as telling you stuff!

This chip hangy flowery thingy wotsit is my project for the Bubbly Scrumptious blog this week ... so I have listed all the how to's etc., here.

I can't believe I have n't blogged since Thursday ... and I have missed out on all your posts too ... I promise to catch up this week at some point ... but by the looks of things ... well it aint gonna be today!

A Lovely Day ... But ...

Boy! Did n't it fly! One minute I was eating brekkie ... the next thing a drugged up man ... at least he looked like he was ... crashed his pick-up truck with a broken down car on the back into a lamp post right outside the house ... by the time he had been arrested ... well it was to time to go to Maccy D's for lunch! Two cards [that I can't show you yet] and a tag ... which I can show you ...  later and it is after 10pm.

So just time for a quick post and hopefully a blog hop before bed!

The tag is a real mixture of Distress Inks ... Dusty Concord, Frayed Burlap, Tumbled Glass ... some Gold Dabber ... a few new Timmy stamps ... you know Tim ... the man that could clear the entire UK of Volcanic dust and get all the flights back on schedule with just one pump on a can of air and a quick wave of a heat gun. The rose is made with yummy Grungepaper and a Paper Artsy Flora and Fauna stamp ... the larger of the two. I LOVE the text stamp ... a lot! And that is about it really ...

Righty-ho ... I am off for a blog hop ... enjoy the rest of your evening whatever you are doing and have a fab Friday!

Oh Yes ... It's Wednesday Again!

Does n't it come around quick? Well ... it certainly does when you take your piccie and type late Tuesday night because you won't be around on Wednesday for WOYWW :0)

While you are reading this I shall be in Olney taking a class ... and probably having a lot of fun ... so I shall come visit you on my return :0)

First things first ... I finally got around to using my Take Flight Die from Lord Tim of Holtz ... you know Tim ... the man that can swim the Atlantic in under 10 hours while designing dies with just the clasp from a swivel clasp and a jump ring.

I LOVE the die ... I used it on Grungepaper and coloured the cage with Frayed Burlap and then embossed with Tea Die Distress Embossing Powder ... I coloured the bird with Broken China and wish I had stamped him too now ... but I was just so excited about putting him in the cage ... I forgot! The rose is Aged Mahogany spritzed with Glimmer Mists and laid on top of a Dark Room Door Frangipani flower ... also made of Grungepaper.

Anyways that is enough of the tag ... it did n't turn out how I imagined and looks a bit bottom heavy at the moment ... perhaps I will add something else later!

I just have to show you this fab picture that the lovely Glen took of me on Saturday while I was demoing at Ally Pally ... I am chuffed that she got my good side ... I told you that Birthday makeover was fab and that I was the image of Julia now did n't I??? :0)

I have put this off for far too long ... I have waffled on and on in the hope that you got bored before you reached this part and abandoned the post before you looked at my desk ... probably the less I say about it ... well ... the better really ... I have Dan arriving this evening too ... I wonder if Destiny will do some tidying while I am out!!!

Well now you have seen mine ... best you show us yours ... you can proudly display your creative space ... be it a desk or anything you work on really ... over at Lady Dunnit's bloggeroony here ... Julia is very good at explaining the rules etc., ... Actually that's a point! ... I don't think there are any rules ... but that is certainly the place to link up :0)

Have a good day ... I will see you later!

Glimmer and a Giggle!

Let's start with the Glimmer. This is my pin badge glimmery chip thing that I made for my contribution to the Bubbly Scrumptious blog this week ... all details for making this and the stuff I used etc., are listed here.

Spot Lord Tim of Holtz's Idea-ology stash ... you know Tim ... the man that can speak 572 languages at the same time whilst climbing up Mount Everest in just a T-shirt with a single corner and a solitary foundation.

I have a bloggy shout out to make at this point too ... the very kind Annette sent me some stash and challenged me to use it ... so I hope she checks in and recognises a couple of the items on here ... Thank you Annette ... oooh and while I am Thanking her you should check out her blog too ... she makes yummy stuff ... really yummy.

Well that was the glimmer ... now for the giggle :0) This is a bit mean but it is also truly funny ... DD rang me up with it last night after she had successfully tried it on her boyfriend ... I told her how mean she was after I had finished laughing and then as soon as John walked in from a long hard night shift when I knew he would be perfect for catching out ... I tried it on him too.

"Morning" I says ... "Morning" he says ... little bit of chatter etc., and then I says "You never guessed what I found out yesterday!" "No!" he says. So I says "If you shake your head while you say Gullible it sounds like Oranges!" He says "Oh!" I thinks it is n't going to work and then I says "Try it!" and he did ... at 8am this morning and I am still laughing now ... go on ... try it ... I know it's mean but it is a lot funny too!

Have a great evening!

Ask me Where I Ache!

Actually don't! It will take too long for me to reply! Ask me where I don't ache ... it will be much quicker ... I don't ache in the little toe of my left foot ... every where else ... I really really really ache!

Ask me if it was worth it! Oh yes! I have to take my hat off to all of the exhibitors at these shows ... having been a shopper for a good many years I had no idea the amount of work that goes into setting up a stand at a show. I just wandered round and shopped in the past. I ache after two days of just demoing ... I cannot begin to imagine how the wonderful Lin and the now marvelous Mark do it! You are wondering how he came by that title are n't you? ... Hot Black Coffee ... enough said!

I have been really good and taken some pictures today too. First shot is a bit dark ... it was n't dark ... so I have no idea why the shot is ... and how I managed to chop half the stand out of said shot is beyond me too ... but this was about 8am this morning ... even before the show opened and the wonderful Lin was already giving demos ... wonderful ones at that!

The rest of the pictures are just a few of the samples I made and gave away today ...

The high points of my first demo experience were definitely seeing my art work displayed alongside the amazingly talented Lin Brown's ... I still have to pinch myself! Meeting lots of you guys ... putting a face to some of the comments was great! Some of the new products ... totally love Viva and I reinvestigated Glimmer mists ... and I bought a few more ... liking them a lot! All of the encouragement from my lovely ladies from my classes! Texts from friends and family wishing me well! Catching up with some old friends! And these are just a few.

The low point ... to be fair there was just the one ... the Glimmer mist appeared to jam ... I turned the nozzle squirty bit to face me ... to investigate you understand ... pressed the button down to check what the issue was and managed to Glimmer mist my entire face and glasses ... Was anyone watching at this point? Oh yes ... Doh! :0) Still ... at least now they know what not to do :0)

Righty-ho then ... that is me for today ... Have a good week people ... until next time!

A Bit of a Numpty!

It's official ... I am a bit of a numpty! I did take my camera to Ally Pally ... I did n't take any pictures ... and if I had ... well you could n't see them anyway ... because I left said camera there!

So ... no pictures tonight I am afraid ... but Thank you all so much for wishing me well ... I had a wonderful time ... did lots of demos ... made lots of new friends ... met lots and lots and lots of bloggers ... and the best bit ... I get to do it all again tomorrow...  Thank you to everyone who popped over to the stand to say Hi!

What I did discover today was that lots of people still want to know how to make roses ... so as promised ... here is a quick tutorial to get you on your way!

1. Stamp/die cut three 6 petaled flowers ... there are lots of stamps out there and dies ... dig through your stash ... you will be amazed how many you can find.

2. Find the centre of each flower ... this does n't have to be precise and cut as illustrated. One flower has one cut to the centre line. The next you remove one petal and finally remove a two petal segment from the third. You will need all these pieces to make your rose.

3. If you are working with normal card stock you can skip this step. But if you are working with Grungepaper you need to remove the top off each petal left of the cut on each of the three larger sections ... again as illustrated. These bits can be put to one side or in the bin ... you won't need them.

4. Now is the time to colour and stamp on your pieces. This way you will ensure you have no dodgy grey bits showing up in your final rose.

5. Take your three larger pieces and over lap a full petal onto the section where you have removed the petal end... they should look kind of cone shaped. Glue with Glossy Accents and clip. These will take about 10 minutes to set enough for you to finish your rose.

6. Take your two petal section ... patterned side facing you and curl the left petal back. Be nice and firm ... they call it paper but trust me ... it is very strong and the firmer you are the better the curl. The better the curl ... the better the rose!

7. Now roll the petal that you have just curled in towards the flat petal and form a cone shape as illustrated ... where this touches the second petal add some Glossy Accents and clip.

8. The final single petal just needs to be rolled. You don't need to glue this ... but if you clip it for a while it will hold it's shape better. As you make more roses ... you may want to change this step ... there are lots of tutorials out there ... just pick the method that is best for you. But starting out ... this is definitely the easiest way.

9. When your pieces are dry ... Curl all the petals back as in step 6. Cut the bottom off each section. Don't be frightened to cut a good amount off and sit them inside each other ... before gluing them to see how they lay. If your rose looks more like a cabbage ... cut a bit more off ... offset the petals ... imagine a real rose and just sit each piece inside each other. With the single petal roll it up tightly ... cut it in half and put it inside the cone of the two petal section ... this will form the centre of your rose. If you did n't stick it ... it will open just as far the the cone allows and gives your rose a nice centre.

10. Once you are happy with the way your rose is sitting ... glue each section together with Glossy Accents. These little flowers really are very simple to do and sooooo addictive ... Enjoy :0)

Righty-Ho ... another early start for me ... if you have any questions I will do my best to get back to you quickly ... and I promise to take piccies at Ally Pally today :0)

Have a good day and Thank you again for all your lovely comments.

More Dresses!

Sorry about the piccies people ... I am going to try and do them again later ... well not tonight later ... more tomorrow later :0)

This first dress is Rusty Hinge spritzed with gold perfect pearls and sadly you really cannot see the shimmer ... tis quite pretty. Below are Dusty Concord ... Stormy Sky and Chipped Sapphire either mixed or neat. Stamps are Paper Artsy ... Tim Holtz and Wendy Vecchi ... apart from the dress which is B Line. These would make fab invitations ... I digress ... I just thought of that !

While I am here ... I need to right a wrong ... you all say such lovely things in your comments ... but it was n't my idea to use these dresses as tags! I have about one idea that good each decade and I think my one for this decade has been and gone ... mind you I cannot rightly remember what it was :0)

Anyways ... the B Line lady demoed the dresses instead of tags at CHA ... Lin Brown from L.B Crafts came up with the stamp idea ... they talked and hey presto we have a fab dress tag stamp thing ... which is great fun and yes they do come in different sizes ... little and large though ... not 8,10,12 and 14 :0).

I am now very terrified now about my demoing debut at Ally Pally tomorrow ... if you are going and you see me ... please come and chat ... talking I can do ... at least ... I usually can :0)

If you are not going ... I am taking my camera and will show you lots of piccies tomorrow night ... Have a good weekend everyone ... whatever you are doing ... and if you are not going to Ally Pally ... treat yourself to some online stash :0)

Dressing up!

Well ... I never actually got around to playing with my new Timmy dies ... but I still managed to have fun :0)

I have been playing with the new B Line dress stamps ... using it like a tag and generally getting inky and messy with Distress Inks ... Timmy stamps ... Wendy Stamps and Paper Artsy Stamps!

I am now in love with the Wild Honey and Fired Brick combo as well as the Crushed Olive and Broken China combo ... all very bright and very yummy ... of course I had to have a Peeled Paint moment too ... I don't want my old favourite feeling left out ... now do I?

I am also in love with Paper Artsy's little biddy flower stamp from the Flora and Fauna plate ... it has the same fab shaped petals as the larger flower which means making a little biddy dimensional flower is really quite easy :0)

Only one more sleep until Ally Pally ... depending of course on what time you are reading this post ... or if indeed you are like the Midnight Caller and require no sleep whatsoever ...

And I really am going to die cut everything in sight when I get up ... and then I am going to try out some lush new Viva paints ... coooool!

See ya's!

Remember the Midnight Caller?

You know the guy that used to have a radio show ... never slept and solved murders and things on his days off! Well I am the midnight crafter! I am not actually ... I made it up ... I am safely tucked up in my bed ... either sleeping or still gawping at Wendy Vecchi's fabulous article in Stamper's Sampler! Have you seen it? I managed to get my grubby little mitts on a copy today ... boy does that lady rock!

I also need to apologise ... I was out today ... seeing the wonderful Lin ... who is poorly and needs lots of wishes of wellness to make her better and the lovely Karen ... my super duper personal shopper ... she is just the best when it comes to stash!

I got side tracked ... sorry ... I need to apologise to half the WOYWWers ... for the first time ever ... I did n't get to you all in one day ... tinternet was on a go slow and I lost patience ... I promise I will finish the rounds in the morning!

Anyways ... now we have established I am sorry and that Lin is wonderful but poorly and Karen is lovely and fabulous at stash shopping and I am not the midnight crafter ... I need to tell you that tomorrow will be spent ... die cutting everything in sight ... I have nearly all the new Lord Tim of Holtz dies ... got them today :0) You know Tim ... the man that could make the UK's general election campaign interesting with just an inch sized piece from his paper stack and a tiny attacher staple. Talking of Tims papers ... guess who got those too :0)

The card is Crushed Olive and Broken China Distress inks ... Olive archival ... Ranger of course and the new Paper Artsy Flora and Fauna stamps ... layered and coloured in with Marvy le Plumes ... how cute is that little owl???

I will be seeing you all in the morning ... sweet dreams! Only 3 more sleeps to Ally Pally :0)

WOYWW - Warts and All!

Well ... you have all heard of Tracey Emin and her unmade bed! I am Linda Elbourne and this is my untidy desk!

We are 9 minutes away from Wednesday (Well I am!) and I am feeling very brave this week ... Everything ... and I mean everything has been left exactly where it was for the world to see.

So WOYWWers ... feast your eyes on this lot. I know there is no hiding place from all your prying eyes so I am even going to include some places of interest ... stuff gone horribly wrong!

Firstly I have made a new friend ... no seriously I made her ... in a moment of insanity ... burning my fingers and everything ... I created this ... erm ... thing from a truly beautiful stamp. I have no idea what possessed me to think it was going to be good ... but as I said this week you are getting warts and all. Her first name is Destiny and her surname is Dabin :0) I must admit she is very good at ballet ... but that is where her strengths start and sadly finish!

And for my next trick ... I took a truly beautiful flower stamp ... and decided to paint the Grungepaper a disgusting yellow ... made it up and decided it was disgusting so I edged it with red ... at this point it was even more disgusting than ever. Not one to give up easily ... I threw a pot of copper embossing powder at it ... it did n't smell too good under the heat gun I can tell you and it looks ... well minging!

So there you have it ... my desk and my out takes ... so c'mon ... be a sport and show us yours! We all meet up over at Julia's place every Wednesday ... I will see you there!