Frozen Peas

Here are two journal pages I made for a swap.  I made the backgrounds ages ago, but didn't know what to do with them.  In truth I liked them too much to use!  In real life they are brighter and the stars have a lovely mica sheen.

I love the quirky Stampotique girls and have to give them red eyes!  The quotes are Dylusions stamps and say 'change for no one and believe in who you are' and 'never be too proud to serve frozen peas'.  The peas one is my favourite; not sure why as I don't even like peas!

I am looking forward to Shimelle's Journal your Christmas which starts on Saturday.  Last year I made it to day 11 and filled the rest of the book with pages made by my younger relatives - ages 6 to 27!  I just handed over a box of lovely Christmas crafty things and some background card cut to 8x8.  They all dived in and had a great time.  I also added in a cross stitch Santa my mum made years ago.  The pages made by my relatives are my favorites and it was a great way to keep them busy while dinner was cooking.  Can't wait to do it again this year.

I hope you are having a lovely week.  Anne x

Happy Halloween

Ok I know I'm a bit late, but 'better late than never' as my Gran would say. 

I love the colours of Halloween, especially the pumpkin orange, so couldn't resist treating myself to a few Halloween papers and stickers.  Thanks to Shimelle's Remix class I am finally getting the hang of clusters - I suspect I was just trying too hard really.  Anyway I'm loving the class and learning a lot.

Had a quiet Halloween, with only two 'trick or treaters' so I gave the rest of the bags of treats to the workmen who are resurfacing some of the pavements round here.  They must have liked the treats as they have stopped blocking my drive with their vans!

Have a lovely week, Anne x

OperationChristmasChild

One of my favourite charities is Operation Christmas Child.  I think I have as much fun filling the shoe boxes as the children do opening them.

This year I got a bit carried away making hats as I have knitted 16 beanie hats and 3 crochet ones. 

Here are a few of the knitted hats.  I used a lot of Patons Fab as I love to watch the way the multicolour patterns emerge.  It's great value too as House of Fraser are selling it for just £1.60 per 100g.  One ball will make three hats.

 

I also like to crochet this cute girl's hat.  It takes me about an hour whilst watching TV.  It's done in a circle so has no seams to sew.

I designed a small bag to go with one of the hats.  It's a great way to use the novelty buttons I have had for years.  These buttons are two wrapped sweets from a Halloween set.

I also knitted some cute purses that are just big enough to hid a small box of crayons.  I will share a photo later as blogger will not upload it at the moment.

 

Hope you are having a nice day.  I have to take the cat to the vet for a check up later and all I can say is she doesn't travel well!?!?!  Wish me luck.

 

Anne x

MemoryLane
A few weeks ago we spent a lovely morning in Ross-On-Wye.  Paul went to an autojumble - bit like a car book sale for car parts - and I had a mooch round the shops.  It's a really lovely shopping centre full of lots of lovely independent shops and perfect for buying small gifts.

In the afternoon we took a trip down memory lane to Monmouth.  We used to go every month when we lived in Wales.  I haven't been back for about 15 years so it was interesting to see what had changed and what was still the same.  Lovely town but mainly the same shops as any other town.

Here is a layout I made of the photos I took of the main street in Monmouth.  I was pleased to see they still had a tiny market.  The layout is from Shimelle's UKScrappers series called 'and now for something completely different'  This is her August layout.  UKScrappers is free to join and this class is free too.  As far as I know you don't have to be in the UK to join.

UKScrappers are having a birthday celebration with lots of free classes and an on-line crop.  I'm in the Scolars group and decided to purchase the mystery kit.  The contents are gorgeous and I will do a blog post, after the deadline, with details of what I make.  For now the contents are top secret.

I hope you are having a lovely weekend.

Anne x

MoxleyCrop

Each month I love attending the Moxley Crop.  Lisa and Debs who run it are so lovely and put so much thought and effort into the day.  This Saturday it was a Halloween themed day.  The crop meet in a small hall near Wolverhampton, on the first Saturday in the month.  Please let me know if you are interested in joining and I will send you more information.

We also have the option to buy kits from Total Paper Crafts.   This is my finished double page using one of our October kits.  The photos are of the baby monkeys at a nearby monkey forest.

Here is a closer look at each page.  Can you see the tiny monkey on the back of the adult?

This is a photo of me showing how the monkeys are free the walk anywhere they like.  Humans have to keep to the paths.

 

 

 I hope you are having a lovely weekend.  I need to get off this pc and do some crafting.

Anne x

DrawingInMyArtJournal

It took a bit of juggling, but at last I could visit my Yorkshire relatives at the same time as Kate Crane held a workshop at Art From The Heart in Harrogate.  Great you might think, but just one tiny snag - Yikes!?! it's a drawing workshop!?!  Oh well never mind I thought I can manage to draw a few houses - like on her DVD...

Well to cut a long story short we didn't draw houses, instead we had a great time drawing faces.  Some of the class were so good that they could teach drawing faces!  Here is my first attempt at a free hand drawn face.  It can't be too bad, because even my mum liked it.  I know it's a bit unfinished but I've decided to leave it as it is.

The saying comes from a random page in an old book and says 'Mr Banks wondered why it was that every time he discovered an attractive woman Mrs Banks said her hair was dyed.'

Here is a closer look - please be kind, I know her eyes are a bit scary in bright blue and that she looks rather sad.  Next time I will try giving her a fringe and put the pink bits in her ears.

The background is a Kate style arylic painted page - I discovered I need to use way more white than I expect to get a nice blend.  I also used Dylusion stamps and stencils, and a few coloured pencils.

 

Now I'm selling off the family silver ready for the next time I'm 'Up North'. - hahaha!  Just joking.  Seriously if you get chance to take one of Kate's classes you will be in for a treat.

 

Have a lovely day.  Anne x

BagsOfFun

The knitting bug has struck again.  So while I've been watching TV each evening I have also been knitting lots of colourful charity jumpers and hats. 

I fancied knitting something else so when The Little Knitting Company asked on FaceBook for sample knitters for a Create and Craft TV show I thought why not.  Then I got the kit.  I immediately loved the cotton tape yarn but the pattern - yikes!  Cables I remember how to do but bobbles...no idea!

I had a practice with some scrap yarn and got the bobbles on the second attempt - read the pattern carefully Anne - LOL! 

I love the finished result but know that if I'd bought this I would have given up after the easy iPod holder. So it was a lesson in how not to give up because the yarn is too nice and I might spoil it!

Here is the finished bag along with the phone holder and iPod holder. 

 This is my iPad modelling the bag.

Finally here is a close up of the stitches.  The colour is a lovely gold and much nicer than it looks here or on TV.  I think it was the mustard option.  It was odd seeing it on TV and knowing I knitted it.  Hopefully it will return here one day to keep my iPad warm on these cold winter nights.

Anne x

SmileRoundRobin

In January I sent off my circle journal out into the big wide World - well mainly round Wales - but you get the idea.  Here is a link to my introductory pages.  Now it's back in all it's gorgeousness, the swap is over, so  I can share the pages I made in everyone journals.

My first page uses Dylusion stamps and some discontinued printout houses.  I paper pieced all the leaves using paper I had painted and inked.

The lovely quote is "There is always music amongst the trees in the garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it"

As usual I had no idea what to do for page two.  The theme of trees was a bit of a challenge for me, so I decided to do a scrapbook page of the bluebell woods at the end of our road.

The next page used lovely paper from my monthly kit.

I think this was my favorite theme as it was the easiest!

I used my silhouette to cut the title.

Also used my silhouette to cut buckets.  The jars are from American crafts.

My current passion is making yoyo flowers.  I didn't like them when I was a quilter, but they look lovely on scrapbook pages.  Very easy just cut a circle of cotton fabric, do a running stitch near the edge (don't turn under a hem or it will be too bulky) pull up the thread and attach a button.



The quote is "Flowers that bloom in the Springtime, fade in the early fall. But the lovely flower of friendship, never fades at all."

Here is a close up of the flowers.

I keep using my favorite papers for this swap and I love the Graphic 45 background flying pigs paper as it is so quirky.

This time I used the flower border I was saving for a wedding page.

I doodled the song words between the rows of music.

I bought the heart in Aberystwth for a wedding page, but had to use it here as it looked a bit plain without.  Guess who bought the set of six types of wood shapes from Create and Craft?!?!?

Here is a close up of the figures made using a Tim Holtz die and Dylusion stamps.

I love the saying and it is so true of my friend Sara.

Finally a close up of my metal flower heart.  I'm still looking for another one, but so far the only one I've found was bigger.

This swap was great fun and really challenging.  It helped me use up lots of new papers and things I would likely have kept as they are 'too nice to use'.

 

I've been taking the tiles off the wall in the bathroom and chopping down bushes in the garden.  I think I must have a destructive gene as it's great fun and I can't wait for the rain to stop so that I can fill up the green bin, with my latest victims, yet again.

 

Have a lovely week, Anne x

JournalSwap

Is it just me or do swaps always seem easy when you sign up?  I'm full of enthusiasm and ideas but as the swap starts my perfectionism takes over and I find it difficult to even get started. 

After months of being on the naughty step - due to late posting - I am finally up to date and starting to enjoy this journal swap. 

Here are my pages from the last three months.  I used the ink, stencil and stamp backgrounds left over from the Dylusion cards shown on my last post.  The borders are hand drawn with posca pens.

Karin is my favourite Stampotique stamp because she has such a forced smile on her face.

The one on the right reminds me of me hiding away at home taking a year off work.  At the moment I just want to carry on having a nice quiet easy life.  Unfortunately, I'm too young to retire so I've had to stop relaxing and start looking for a nice new bill paying job!  Wish me luck... 

Twinkie is another favourite stamp as he looks like he is dancing very badly - like someones dad at a wedding.

Have a lovely day. Anne x 

ArtFromTheHeart

Last week I spent a few days in Yorkshire visiting my family.  I also fitted in two workshops with the lovely Dyan and got very inky, messy and Dylusional!

At the first workshop we made lots of lovely inkly backgrounds and then played with Dyan's stamps to make quirky cards.

Now you have to understand that I was having far too much fun socialising and stuff so I only made two cards; but I did take home lots of stamped images to make up the other four cards. 

 

I love this adverture saying and it is far too true of me some days, especially when I get behind the wheel of a car!  The frog image looks so cute peeping out from behind things.

 

I love Dyan's saying stamps so I treated myself to a set and then had to go back for the second - good job my hubby is not reading this LOL!  I need to get a job to finance my continued stash buying despite the fact that I already have enough to last a lifetime and beyond...

Have a lovely day.

Anne x

MyNewNoteBook

First a proud mum request :-D  It's my son Mike's birthday today and he has challenged himself to get his eBook in the Amazon top 100 today. Here is the UK link to the eBook please click the link even if you don't buy the book. More details and the US Amazon link can be found on Mike's web site

Now back to crafting.  I was reading Kate Crane's blog and decided to try making my own version of her inky little book.  I made a few pages but they just didn't work for me - too green! 

Instead I made my book with scrapbook papers, stamps and rub-ons.  I used fours sheets of scrapbook paper cut into 6"x4" pieces.  I dug out my beautiful, but much neglected, sewing machine and in no time at all had this lovely little book.

I cut two of the 6"x4" pages into three to form the pockets.  Sewed along what would be the top side of each pocket and then placed two pieces together and sewed round attaching the pockets to six of the pages.  I didn't use any glue.  The pages are a bit rough round the edges and the stitching is wobbly and just cut off at the ends to keep it from looking too neat.

I stamped randomly with a selection of stamps including Tim Holtz, Dylusions and Club Scrap.  The papers are from American Crafts and Lily Bee.  I used an old partially used sheet of 7 Gypsies rub ons to add a bit of extra detail to the pages.

 Here are the finished pages.  Click on the photo for a closer look.

This photo is close up showing some of the stamping.  I will add more and some doodling as I go along.

Finally here is my favourite page.

I plan to use the book to record three nice memories of each day, along with a bit of doodling and a few photos.

Have a lovely weekend and enjoy the Olympics.  I'm going to see the Basketball on Wednesday and I'm really excited :-D

I watched a brilliant video from Shimelle that was included in her Cover to Cover class.  I originally bought it separately from TrueScrap1.  Several of the layouts are inspired by Shimelle's blog and classes.

I started with 9 older patterend papers from American Crafts and K&Co

Adding in three partial sheets from the same collections.

 

A selection of letter stickers from American Crafts, LilyB, October Afternoon and Cosmo Cricket.

 A few stickers and embelishments.

I cut up all the full sheets of patterned papers; using the ideas from Shimelle's class.  I have some big boxes, 12" wide strips and samller boxes.  The layouts will give you an idea of the type of dimensions I used.  If I did it again, for my scrap style, I would like more 12" strips. 

Here it is all cut up and for some unknown reason it makes me so much happier than the full sheets!  Possibly because I like using up scraps and used to love making scrap quilts.

 Here are the B sides.

The first pages I made where of photos from an owl evening.  I had been meaning to make this page for ages but didn't know what papers to use.  The photos are not great quality and hubby had acidentally put his camera on the 'majic' setting - which seems to make everything orange.  However, It was a great evening so I wanted to include the photos in my scrapbook.  The first makes me laugh as hubby is licking his lips as if he wants to eat the owl!  This was an amazing evening that I would recommend to anyone who likes birds.  The owls are suprisingly light and one flew to our arm and we held others.

Here is the co-ordinating page.  The evening was a gift for my birthday last year, taken just before my birthday this year.  As explained above my hair was not that orange!

This is the starting point for the next layout.

And the finished version.  No idea where or when this photo was taken.  I've written about how hubby loved and kept his 'tash' for 25 years and how much I hated it!

Here is an old photo of my grandma and her friend.  I think it would have been taken at Blackpool.  It makes me laugh as here she is on the motorbike but she never ever wore trousers and if you look closely she even has a skirt on in the photo. 
A note of caution doillies tend to tear so you have to commit quickly when you add letters stickers.

This next one is just a starting point so far.  I also have three card starting points using the same background card and flower paper.  The patterned papers seemed to be wider than the StampinUp card and when I tried to shave off a tiny bit my trimmer just chewed it up.  So I've cut it up and will share the cards when I finish them.

Still loads of pieces left.  Not sure yet if I will keep going or add them to my rather bare scrap box.

Yesterday we braved the rain and went to see the Olympic Torch.  We had planned to go to Newtown but decided that we were not brave enough to cope with The Wanted's teenage fans.  It is nice to note that the man (Jim)  who we saw carry the torch has done a lot for children's sport over the last 50 years.  Our photos are rubbish but it was a great atmosphere and fun to be there.  Later we went shopping in Lichfield. 
Have a lovely day. x