I am so excited, in a couple of weeks I'm going to a craft weekend organised by paperartsy and lbcrafts. There are a few places left on the second weekend - late March. Last year I learned loads of amazing techniques but my favorite thing was making this amazing frame. I'd never done any metal work before and to be honest I couldn't see the point. But now I am hooked. Here are a few close ups.
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The embossing was done with a combination of cuttlebug embossing plates and plastic stencils which I rubbed over with Teflon tools - you could use an embossing tool but it squeaks and may tear the metal. The metal was then roughed up with a brass brush and then coloured with black acrylic paint.

Late last year I went on a crab apple crafts weekend. It was great fun and all the people were so nice and friendly. Above is a collage I made of my cats Heidi (tabby) and Paws (black) . My photo is rubbish but you get the idea. It has a flower bottom left but it fell off and I have put it somewhere safe!!

I also made this cute little book to find in this altered tin. Also made lots of other nice things which I will share when I come across them. I'm going again in November - can't wait.

Here are a few of my favorite snowy images. We had about 5" of snow in the midlands, but in Huddersfield they had even more. I had fun taking pictures from a moving car as we drove over the penines. I would aim at a nice scene and by the time my camera worked I would have a picture of just a fence post. The picture above is my favorite.

This is the view from my house, with the postman's footprints in our garden looking towards the road. I had to drive to work down that non-existent road. I'm a real scardy cat so I didn't enjoy it one bit. My hubby however looks on it as a challenge and likes driving in snow!

These are ice patterns on the roof of my car. They are so pretty.

Yorkshire

Last weekend we went up to Yorkshire for my brother's birthday party and also had a quick visit round some of our relatives. It was lovely to see everyone and the party was fun.


As the midlands is a craft wilderness I booked a fab workshop at Art From the Heart with Kirsty Wiseman. Here is a page I made using papers from Kirsty's fab new CD. This is me and my lovely hubby Paul enjoying afternoon tea at the Dorchester for our last wedding anniversary. The photo quality is rubbish, but it doesn't look too bad in black and white. I've now made six 12" x 12" pages - I am a miniturist at heart and this was doubly difficult for me as it has blank space!

This wibbly wobbly flowers sits inside this lovely box. The stem is made from twisted overhead projector file. This was also made using Kirsty's lovely papers.

Kirsty's workshop was great fun and I'm so please she chose to spend her birthday with us. As always Dyan was fun too and they both put up with me sneeking off to shop with good grace - well until Dyan told me I'd spent £4563.52!!! When I picked myself off the floor I was pleased to hear that she'd pressed the wrong button!

Dyan now does mini ranger university weekends, first one starts 13th March, which I can't make so fingers crossed I can go to next one. I love learning new things but the laughs are even better.

I really enjoyed making this card based on the tutorial on Dyan's blog I didn't have any suitable Blonde Monents stamps, but I suspect that will change on 8th February as I've booked in for a Kirsty Wiseman workshop and I am excited already :-) I live in a workshop/craft shop wilderness. :-(

The stamps are from onefourzero. I don't normally like clear stamps, but I have to say these stamped a treat. The spray is embossed in pink Blonde Moments ep. The card is from Alexander paper mill. They don't make it any more and I have only about 60 cards left :-( I suspect that will keep me going for years, but I don't like to think I'm going to run out!

The card is really pink rather than purple - I think my scanner is colour blind!

Had to work yesterday so I'm so looking forward to having a day off tomorrow.

Now I wonder what happened to the other image I stamped! Is it just me who has a craft fairy who hides my stuff? I suspect not.....

This is my first card of 2009. I had a whole lazy week off work and only started crafting late in the afternoon of the last day!

Julie

Suzi

Ruth

Margaret

Janet

Hazel

Nicki

Neet

Maureen

Carol

Jeannie

Janette

Renate

Here are some of the beautiful handmade Christmas cards that I received this year.

I used to love skipping when I was little. Now I can't believe how difficult it is - LOL! This is my only Magnolia Tilda stamp. Guess I will have to buy more ;-) I paper pieced her dress and the trellis is ribbon.

This Stella with an olive stamp from StampingBella is so much fun and she would make a great Christmas card too. The red background is also stamped with a martini glass and the word cheers. I coloured the image with a mix of copics, gel pens and SU markers. I hope she makes you smile.

I love this Tilda stamp as it reminds me of hours skipping fun when I was a child. Now I can hardly skip at all! I have recently discovered ribbon and somewhat over indulged! Next time I make this card I will put more layers and paper piece her dress.

A paperartsy stamped card. I could have used it for my wedding anniversary - oh well I can keep it until next year ;-)

Paul and I enjoying pink Champange and afternoon tea at the Dorchester on our 25th wedding anniversary. In the evening we went to see the musical hairspray. It was a faboulously memorable day.

This is my latest page in the PaperArtsy Deco swap.

My tabby cat Heidi is so cute. She loves to lay in the tub by my front door. Can you see her hiding behind the fuschia?

I have been busy making pages for a 'fat book' swap on kayscorner (http://www.kayscorner.co.uk/) I have to make 27 similar pages and surprisingly after 18 I'm still enjoying myself. Here are a selection - I will upload a better photo when I can. They have a blank area at the left so that they can be bound using O rings. The stamped image is TinkerBella from http://www.stampingbella.com/ The background is scrapbook paper from Blonde Moments (http://www.blondemoments.com/) which has been overstamped with a butterfly. The images are coloured with copics and gell pens. I can't wait to see the finished book.

These are the pages I made for Liz's round robin. I cut up the house from the card below and added the houses as a fence. The house is acetate with perfect pearls on the back. The dolls reminded me of the paper chain dolls I used to make when I was small.

Here are the finished pages for my book. I adapted the layout below to make a flower sign in page. I'm quiet pleased with the pages, but wish I'd overstamped the back ground. The front is UTEE and the wedding photo is one of my relatives.

My pc has been a nightmare the last few weeks - had to reinstall just about everything! You would not beleive how much I missed it...

I've joined a paperartsy swap (http://www.paperartsy.co.uk/) where I have to use a set pack of stamps to make four 5 1/2" square pages. The pages have to be fairly flat so that other people can work on the back of the pages. Cath and Lynne were having a good laugh at the difficult challenge and also helping me with some ideas. This is the first mock up I've made. I like the flower idea but think it needs some darker colours for contrast. The squiggly ink stamp sets are lovely, but this is not one I would have chosen, so it's a real think outside the box experience.
Please share any ideas you have for using this set. I like a challenge and this is certainly challenging.

After a bowl of the most amazing fat and crispy chips I enjoyed Lynne's workshop where I enjoyed making a cute 3D card.

I really enjoyed the workshops (www.katyscorner.co.uk) and a quick mooch round Cath's shop where I bought some fab distress inks. Was lovely to see so many friends as I haven't found any workshops in sunny Wolverhampton - well it was sunny today!

On Saturday I went to Cath and Lynne's workshop. In the morning I had a lovely time playing with some of the new squiggly ink paperartsy stamps and acetate. The first card has perfect pearls under the acetate.

Sorry Alison I forgot to be noisy!

I have been busy making cards some quick and easy cards using my cuttlebug embossing folders. These Bella stamps (http://www.stampingbella.com/) are lovely and perfect for quick and easy cards. Trouble is I just want them all!

I've been making a few ATCs for a black and white swap. The original theme was 'humour' but sadly lots of people don't seem to have funny stamps! Here I've combined the two themes. It has a white border but my scanner cut it off. Stamps from StampinUp.

Happy New Year

Well it's 10:48pm and 2007 is nearly over. I have to say it's been a fab, if demanding, year on lots of levels.

Today has been spent working on a huge Christmas jigsaw, watching tv and making a few cards. I have always loved Angi-b stamps and decided to indulge with some advance Christmas money. Really sad to see they are no longer producing stamps, but they still have some lovely ones available at http://www.angi-b-co.com/ . The stamps I have are quite small so I have used a layout I found on http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/ The actual card has a white border, but my scanner cuts it off!

Here's to 2008!

After all the wonderful excesses of Christmas I thought it would be nice to make some spring cards. Here are two made with my new stampendous ‘flower fluffles’ stamp - unfortunately the glittered vellum doesn't show very well. My cat Heidi loves to sleep in a terracotta flower tub by our front door, so I just had to have this stamp. I will upload a photo of Heidi when I can find my phone to pc lead.