Tea Gate - The Evidence!

First up ... here is my canvas for the Wednesday Stamper Challenge ... where this week the theme is Spring! LOVE my white Sharpie Marker ... probably more than is healthy to be honest! Please Michaels come open a branch in the UK!

Second up ... is the evidence of exactly why Tea Gate occurred ... now I want you to look at the exhibits and the facts and then put your hand on your heart and tell me ... Was my mistake really that stoopid? And don't say "no" just to be polite ... you are on the stand ... so you have to tell the whole truth and nothing but :0)

Exhibit A is the box ... all writing in Japanese ... it was handed to me and I distinctly heard the words ... Green Tea! Now bear in mind ... that on the news we are seeing just how progressive and efficient Japan is! I mean they have already rebuilt a major road for goodness sake! Here in the UK ... we would still be talking about who was going to be on the committee to work out where we were going to hold the road rebuilding meetings!

Exhibit B are the contents of said box. Now I just thought it was genius ... that they had worked out how to freeze dry tea or summink ... Is it or is it not a Green Tea kind of a colour? Once you had seen these guys ... would you buy a pack to put in your lunch box?

And now people ... it's over to you!

Laters!

Love at First Sight!

It was fabulous to have so many comments left yesterday ... Thank you guys for sharing the love! You all know what a loose woman I am ... it's true ... I blog for comments ... simply can't get enough of them :0) Oh and a big welcome to all my new followers too!

Anyways ... remember this Studio 490 book ... I thought it was high time I showed you what was in it!

You guys know how much I LOVE Ranger tags ... it's the surface ... just perfect for inking ... so when the guys at Ranger came up with the manilla tag card stock in A4 and 12X12 sheets ... well quite frankly ... I wanted to marry them and have their babies!

And that is precisely what I plan to ... erm ... make all my pages for my book with! I have used only THE Wendy Vecchi stamps ... it only seems fair as she is the brains behind the whole book thing ... oh and Lord Tim of Holtz designed the ring binder bit ... you know Tim ... the man that can perform a heart and lung replacement operation while flying to South Africa without a plane with just a teensy weensy washer and a butterfly die cut!

Talking of butterflies ... does n't Claudine Hellmuth's sticky backed canvas make the bestest butterflies!

I really must away ... I have deadlines coming out of my ears ... and classes to kit for ... and ... oh my goodness ... PANIC!

Laters!

A Right Muppet!

I have done some stoopid things in my time ... but this one takes the biscuit ... literally!

We accommodate foreign language students  from time to time ... and a few weeks ago we had a lovely Japanese lady staying. Quite often when they arrive they bring gifts ... which she did! The gifts are usually a small insight into Japanese culture ... which is lovely! Anyways ... she handed me a green box ... about the size of a box of tea bags and said "Green Tea". I placed the box by the Tea Bags and told her to help herself! Well ... the two weeks went by and she appeared to prefer English Tea so the box remained unopened and then she went home!

On Sunday ... just gone ... I had a new Japanese student arrive ... this time a young man ... only 17 ... he bought a letter with him from his parents. They stated that things were difficult in Japan and they had considered not sending him ... but thought Cambridge would be a rest away from the troubles and would I take good care of him! Well ... at that point ... every maternal instinct in my being took over ... and when he got up for breakfast the next day ... I thought I would make him feel right at home! He sits down at the table and I ask him what he would like to accompany his breakfast by way of liquid refreshment! The moment I asked ... I got all excited because I was in a position to offer him Japanese Green Tea! He looked delighted ... so I showed him the box and asked him how I make it ... he is very shy ... so he shrugged his shoulders!

I then opened said box ... thinking ... it can't be that difficult ... and instead of finding Tea Bags ... there was flat papery looking wafer jobbies ... green ... and I thought ... oh ... you must just add hot water. So that is what I did! To be honest ... it did n't look very appetising ... so I made him a cup of English tea as well... the cup of Japanese Green Tea remained untouched!!

After breakfast ... I showed him the box and said ... perhaps you could translate the words and next time I will make it properly! He turned to me and said ... "This is not a drink ... this is a snack!" Oh My Giddy Aunt ... I had only gone and given the poor boy a cup of hot water with the equivalent of a potato chip floating in it! Whatever will his mother say!

As for the tag ... well this is my entry for the new Studio L3 challenge ... Grungy Mondays! I did use all the techniques that Lord Tim of Holtz used ... you just can't see the masking very well! You know Tim ... the man that can read every packet in every language while on life saving missions to rescue small kitty's from precarious positions in trees and the like with just a star charm and a stamped letter "T". LOVE my new Dyan Reaveley wing stamp by the way!

Hopefully you have now stopped laughing ... erm ... at me ... I might add ... tell me the daftest thing you have dome all week ... go on ... you know you want too!

Laters!

Monday ... Already!

Yup ... it is Monday already ... dunno where last week went ... or most of the weeks this year really ... but they appear to be going at an alarming speed!

Monday means a new theme at Simon Says Stamp and Show and this week it is hats! My sample was a long time in the making and to be honest ... I am not at all happy with it ... but I ran out of tweaking time ... so this is it!

I have mainly used THE Wendy Vecchi Art Parts and THE Wendy Vecchi stamps ... I have also included a couple of bits of Lord Tim of Holtz Tissue Tape and Idea-ology! You know Tim ... the man that can right all the wrongs in the world while saving nigh on extinct reptiles in the Amazon with just a jump ring and a single letter doodad!

Went to the NEC yesterday with the lovely Karen and have to admit to being a tad disappointed by the repetition of product in the stamping bit! I pulled my long sulky ... I don't wanna go face when the lovely Karen dragged me into the fabrics and textiles hall ... but OH MY GOODNESS ... Yummy or what! So much colour and texture all in one place ... LOVED it! There was even a marquee sized knitted aquarium ... mind boggling! I bought stuff to sew ... and I can't even sew ... that's how good it was!

So ... are you going to join in with the Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge this week? There is a $50 shopping spree up for grabs ... Thanks to the lovely people at Simon Says Stamp.

I am off to bed ... just hoping I have calculated the change in time zones correctly!

Laters! 

Anaphylactic Shock!

I spent the day at Olney today ... not as warm as it has been ... but still pretty nice! I was doing a wonderful Lin Brown journaling class with the lovely Karen ... not much to show you to be honest ... just a couple of bits of first level backgrounds ... but I had a reeeeally good time ... great fun as always ... and that's what matters  ... right?

Anyways ... at lunch time ... I was eating my ham and mustard rolls and my crisps ... then went outside for some fresh air ... as you do ...  when I felt what I thought was an insect bite my tummy! I went to brush it away and this sharp bite happened again! Now this may come as a big surprise to you guys ... but I can be a bit of a drama queen ... so ... at this point I am starting to panic ... it won't brush away and it bloomin' hurt ... I am thinking anaphylactic shock ... a large bee ... a wasp ... possibly a hornet!!!

On further investigation ... I realise it is in my top ... so I hot foots it back up the stairs to the workshop and runs into the toilet ... totally panic stricken at this point... ready to run out of the loo half undressed if needs be to seek medical assistance ... I pull my jumper out from my jeans and ...

A smallish ... but very sharp you understand ... piece of McCoys Cheese and Onion chunky crisp falls out!! I did tell you I was a bit of a drama queen... I maybe should have mentioned my very low pain threshold at that point too!

If you are wondering why am I waffling on late on a Saturday night ... well Mary and the lovely Karen said I did n't blog enough anymore ... so here I am ... showing willing :0)

I am off to the NEC tomorrow ... so early to bed for me!

Let me know if you are going ... we could meet for coffee or summink ...

Laters!

Studio 490 = Play!

Morning all! This week Simon Says Stamp and Show ... a word! My word is play! And Play I did!

To make my little book ... I played with THE Wendy Vecchi's studio 490 Art Parts ... both the small creative covers and the bottles and borders packs! I played with lot's of Wendy's delicious new stamps too! I think you may call my design half a book lift ... because the bottom half is the design on the packaging ... Wendy always has the bestest ideas on her packaging ... and if you are stuck ... like I was ... it is a great place to begin!

Then I played with Lord Tim's new large ring binders ... you know Tim ... the man that can walk barefooted across hot coals while balancing 26 small children on his head with just a Wild Honey Distress Stain and two long legged brads!

Not having played enough at this point ... I also played with Claudine Hellmuth's sticky backed canvas and lots of Ranger inks, Distress stains and card!

It's not all play for me today though ... Oh No! ... I am off to teach two workshops in Olney ... I know that sounds like playing and not working ... but ... erm ... actually ... it is a lot like playing too :0)

Righty-ho then ... pick a word ... any word and get creating ... you could win a $50 shopping spree at the Simon Says Stamp online store!

Laters!

Just a Quickie!

Nothing very exciting to show you today I am afraid! But I don't like to post without pictures of summink so ... this is just a ten minute tag that I made in class a few weeks ago while showing my lovely ladies how quick it was to make a background with Lord Tim of Holtz's Bitty Grunge set. You know Tim ... the man that can polish the moon to make it appear clearer and shinier while balancing on a high wire over the Tate Modern with just an inch long piece of tissue tape and a 2" square of Grunge paper!

Talking of Lord Tim ... have you seen him? Have ya? Huh? Oh yes lovely people ... Lord Tim now appears every ten seconds or so ... on this here blog ... sporting a crown ... just stay here for another ten seconds and he may pop in. Rumour has it that I am indeed a genius for making it happen ... but sadly ... they are indeed just rumours ... he was in fact an early Birthday present from my uber talented friend Dan.

Righty-ho ... on to my big Thank you ... Thank you to everyone that left a comment on my last post ... Between 6.40pm ish and midnight on Friday ... you left 60 comments which made 12 pounds ... I decided to round it up to 25 quid ... so between us we bought 5 life saving mosquito nets ... not bad huh?

Okay ... that is me for today ... I am smack bang in the middle of creating ... erm ... a mess mainly ... but just creating sounded better!

Laters!

Cash for Comments!

You have all heard about the cash for questions scandal ... well I am about to offer cash for comments!

I have been wracking my tiny brain all day in an attempt to work out what I could do to support Comic Relief ... and this is what I came up with!

Firstly I made a tag ... I just love playing with Lord Tim of Holtz's Distress Stains and the new Adirondack Colorwash sprays ... I say playing ... I just kind of slapped them all on a tag and this is what I ended up with! You know Tim ... the man that can turn Nobby's Nuts into solid Gold while painting a light covering of frost on every blade of grass around the world in one night with just a craft sheet and a glass vial.

All the stamps you can see are THE Wendy Vecchi and the red nose ... Do ya like it??? Huh??? Do ya??? Well I made that ... when I say made ... I did of course just colour in a hole from a standard hole punch ... obviously it is not a hole ... it is the waste from the hole ... they must have a name ... I just don't know what it is! Oh and I added a touch of white Sharpie Marker to make it look dimensional!

Anyways ... For every blog comment you guys make between now and Midnight today ... I will donate 0.20p to www.comicrelief.co.uk ... Now I am sadly not a millionaire ... so just one comment per person please!

I am off ... to slap a few more tags with some colour ... all you need to do is get commenting :0)

Laters!

Happy Birthday!

I thought I would join in the Simon Says Stamp challenge this week as it is in honour of Lol's Birthday! Lols runs the site ... and I had the pleasure of lunching with her at CHA ... So Happy Birthday Lols! I would sing at this point ... but as you all know ... I am completely tone deaf and sing like a football hooligan ... and it would be just plain cruel to put Lols through that ... especially on her big day!

My card is packed to the rafters with Graphic 45 Curtain Call papers and stamps ... I totally adore their 8 X 8 pad ... which is the perfect size for making cards and all manner of other  things ... but also being far easier to cut into than a pristine sheet of 12 X 12 ... don't ask me why ... that is just the way it is! I have distressed the edges and blended in some Vintage Photo Distress Ink to add to the whole aged effect! The Old Orleans badge is indeed a Lord Tim of Holtz Salvage Sticker ... which fitted in rather nicely! You know Tim ... the man that can win the Cricket world cup single handedly while nailing down the Grand Slam ... alone ... with just an edge distresser and a philosophy token.

Talking of Birthdays ... it's mine next week :0) I thought I would just mention it :0) Anyways ... I have a whole present worrying thing going on here! John ALWAYS asks me what I want and I ALWAYS give him a humungus list ... do you remember last year? ... he got me the whole set of THE  Wendy Vecchi stamps ... well this year ... he has n't asked! Which means one of two things ... one ... that he has forgotten my birthday completely ... in which case I will kill him ... slowly and painfully ... or two ... he has got me a surprise ... YIKES! Bless him ... he tries ... but the boy ain't great on surprises and I am frantically trying to work out what I may/may not have inferred that I needed! You know like make-up ... underwear ... clothes ... coz to  me ... they are necessities ... and not worthy of the whole surprise present thing ... they are just stuff that I have to buy on non-birthday days ... and to be truthful ... the first year we got together ... he bought me a surprise ... clothes ... and it was very surprising just how awful they were ... OH MY WORD ... he should have a sensor implanted ... you know that like buzzes when he goes in a woman's clothes shop ... his taste is that bad!!

Enough with my waffle already ...

Laters!

Numbers!

I managed to find some time yesterday afternoon to play ... then ran out of time before I got chance to blog!

Hey-Ho ... I am here now! Have I mentioned the fact that I LOVE The Wendy Vecchi's Art Parts ... sooooo versatile. I started with the waste from the square frame I used for Monday's challenge piece ... I know ... Can you believe that ... it's waste ... talk about value for money! Anyways with some leftover Lord Tim of Holtz papers and some Vintage Photo Distress Ink ... I set to work! You know Tim ... the man that made time stand still in London yesterday ... while explaining the meaning of the universe to Prof. Brian Cox with just a game piece and the top from a Sharpie Marker!

Talking of game pieces ... all the numbers I have used have a relevance ... I am 32 years old and John is 79 and we live at number 53 ... actually ... that is a lie ... we don't live at number 53 at all!!!

Okay ... hands up those who love Lord Tim's new Butterfly die and that cute ickle rosette ... Got your hands up ... good ... actually ... erm ... could you put them down now? ... and type a comment maybe??? Any gossip will do ... I have had a quiet day and could use some juicy gossip ... I am not fussy either ... does n't have to be true ... just juicy!

That's me then people ... I have a date with some tags and both Sunday's and Monday's Silent Witness ... so if you could leave the ending of that out of your comments so as not to ruin it for me ... I would be very grateful :0)

Oh and just before I go ... I have some places available on two half day workshops this coming Monday ... details are here ... if you are interested just call the Wonderful Lin or the lovely Karen on 01234714848 ...

Laters!

Late Arrival!

Not often I name the stuff I make ... but I did name this week's Simon Says Stamp and Show Design Team Piece! "Late arrival" kind of fits ... don't ya think?

This week's theme is stars and I have adopted a belt and braces approach! Not only have I stamped stars ... Lord Tim of Holtz stars to be precise ... you know Tim ... the man that can traverse rainbows one handed while collecting all the pots of gold at the bottom with just a bauble and a Charm clip! Talking of which ... I am rather pleased with how me charm clips turned out!

Anyways ... back to the stars ... some stamped ... some THE Wendy Vecchi Art Parts and Charlie Chaplin ... you know ... like the silent movie star :0)

Now ... the paper ... not often I use paper these days ... but this is the delicious paper that we saw when we went to CHA! Curtain Call by  Graphic 45 ... I adore it! I even only used one ink pad ... I mean ... me ... and one ink pad ... whatever next! Actually ... the second I finished typing that ... I realised ... that was a lie ... I meant one Distress Ink pad ... I obviously used a jet black archival ink on those fabulous chappies ... and a coffee archival ink on the stars!

Righty-ho ... it is 3.30am ... I am rather late for bed ... but before I go ... don't forget to enter the challenge this week ... Everyone must have a star of one sort or another and Simon Says Stamp are giving away another $50 shopping spree ... you gotta be in it to win it!

Laters!

What? No Cake?

I have had the bestest time playing with The Wendy Vecchi's new Cake Stand Art Part! I neeeeed another 264 of these babies ... coz the possibilities are just endless.

I painted mine ... all black ... then I aged some of Lord Tim of Holtz's new Crowded Attic papers with Vintage Photo Distress ink and the Paper Artsy mini cogs stamp! You know Tim ... the man that can get this country out of the economic shambles it is in ... in his lunch hour ... while painting a replica of the Mona Lisa with just a pen nib and a jump ring.

I digress ... once attached to the stand ... I aged some of the black paint with Inka Gold in Aged Silver. That always sounds a bit odd ... Inka Gold ... in Aged Silver I mean ... but if that is what it is ... what's a girl to do!

I had a ball filling Lord Tim's Cork Vials with watch parts; Pen nibs and screws ... the screws were a tad too new looking ... so I added a drop of Coffee Archival Re-inker and a spritz of water to age them too. The bottle labels are from the Crowded Attic Salvage Sticker collection ... I distressed those and the corks with some more Vintage Photo.

Don't you just ADORE the Penny Farthing? ... a little bird told me that LB Crafts will have one or two of those beauties at Ally Pally! Talking of Ally Pally ... if you are going ... do pop by the stand and say "Hi". And if I don't recognise you straight away ... you have my permission to ... erm ... well shake me and tell me who you are! I will be demoing both days with the wonderful Lin Brown... and we have some lush stuff to play with!

Righty-ho then ... back to my to do list ... it has a stack of things to do ... including a few class kits for tomorrow ... Yikes ... a slight miscalculation on my part ... but I do promise me 10 students that by tomorrow ... I will have that one sorted :0)

Laters!

Simon Says!

Goodness Gracious Me! I thought last week went fast ... this week seems to have gone even quicker!

I have had a busy time teaching workshops over the weekend ... three in two days to be precise ... sooooo much fun ... so excuse me while I wave to all my lovely ladies and Baby G ...

I have had the RSPBN ... chasing me ... not heard of them? Neither had I until they raided the house in the early hours! They are apparently The Royal Society for the Prevention of Blog Neglect! Oh yes people ... Guilty as charged.

I am going to get my act together this week though ... make a real effort to blog regularly once more ...

Anyways ... Mondays mean ... Simon Says ... and this week over at the Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge blog ... the theme is Metal. So I got my grubby little hands on this little Papier Mache book blank and gave it a new metal jacket which was totally inspired by one that sits in the work shop created by the wonderful Lin Brown! I also had a play with THE Wendy Vecchi's new Art Parts ... Oh my  goodness ... I am in LOVE ... even more than I was before!

Do join in this week if you get time ... see what I did there? ... huh? ... did you? Time? Geddit? ... because the fabulous site sponsor, Simon Says Stamp is once again giving away a $50 Gift Voucher and that means $50 of stash entirely of your own choosing!

The eagle eyed among you will have spotted the clock which is indeed a Lord Tim of Holtz stamp ... you know Tim ... the man that can name the entire Solar System and then name the Solar Systems of those Solar Systems without taking a breath while calming the world's oceans with just a copper coloured brad and one piece of Idea-ology foliage!

I must away ... I have more Art Parts to play with ...

Laters!