Winter cozy

When the weather turns cold my thoughts turn to jigsaws and knitting.  I have lovely memories of Saturday afternoons spent watching my gran bake and then helping her with a jigsaw.

This jigsaw was a Christmas gift from my mum and it proved to be quite a challenge due to all the tiny food packets.  It took as long as three wasjigs!  

This year my aim is to use more than I buy, so I decided to start with this lovely King Cole sock yarn from my stash.  It knits up lovely and I'm up to the heel shaping already.

Hope you are having a nice day.  

Wow! It's been a while

I was going to delete this very neglected blog, but then I had a browse through lots of my old posts and enjoyed having a nice stroll down memory lane. 

I've just posted this picture on a Shimelle on-line course web site and thought I would add a copy here.

The photos are from August 2015 and show a public footpath near our home.  There were fields of broad beans and corn on one side a free range pigs on the other.  I'm amazed it took us 27 years to walk this path.  The wood is tiny and hidden away in the middle of lots of farm fields.  We also walked past old farm houses, one of which had an ancient fuel pump in the garden.  At the end is an old quarry, that's now a lovely lake for wildlife.

The papers are old Simple Stories Destinations papers.  The page is a bit brown, but it matches the busy pocket page opposite as that includes red and kraft,

Have a lovely week x

My lucky day

Today I received a beautiful card from Nicki.  As always it is more gorgeous in real life.

Thanks Nicki, you made my day. x

Andy Skinner Workshop

On Saturday my local scrapbook crop held an Andy Skinner workshop.  It was great fun as Andy has a nice relaxed style and we had plenty of time for chatting as each coat of paint dried.  The very best thing was that I went home with a gorgeous finished project.  This book has lovely thick pages so will be perfect as an art journal - if I can bring myself to use it...

Here are a few photos:

The front is made from torn embossed white card, a diecut, four baby blue gems, a small square of scrapbook paper, and lots of paint and mediums.  It has a lovely deckle edge and looks really old - like something found in a dusty attic.

 Here is a close up of the compass and the shading.

As the weather turns colder and the leaves start to fall from the trees my thoughts turn to Halloween, so I couldn't resist using this skull stencil on the back.  Up to this point I thought the book would make a nice gift for my hubby, as he likes old rusty car parts, but I'm not sure he would appreciate the skull (perhaps I secretly wanted to make sure I kept the book for myself)

 For a bit of whimsy I added a tiny bat rub-on in his eye socket.

Here is BOOffle having a read.  I wonder what's inside - spells, potions or scary stories...

Today we spent a lovely sunny afternoon walking round Blists Hill Victorian Town.  I love seeing people doing traditional crafts like sewing, baking, jam making, etc.  Even though it was busy it still seems very tranquil.  This beautiful little chapel tucked away down a little path is adorable. It was lovely inside too, but I wasn't sure if the man there was a real vicar so I didn't like to ask if I could photograph it.  Bliss and lots of photos to add to my scrapbook.





Apologies for neglecting my blog for such a long time. 

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