Spring has sprung


Over the last few weeks the weather has been lovely - well for March. Ok so it rained a bit and was windy too - stay with me here I'm thinking happy thoughts :-) As I sit and type the daffodils are in boom and the birds are busy fighting over the seed feeders and there is even a blackbird having a wash in the bird bath.

With this in mind I thought I would share some photos of blossom - I think they would make nice backgrounds so feel free to copy them if you fancy a play.

I should be making wedding invites but my lovely - NOT - e-mail system has deleted the attachment which contains the words for the inside! Oh well at least I can play on the pc a little longer with a clear conscience.

I hope you are enjoying your weekend.

Love Anne E x

Experiment

Jo mentioned that she had spiced marmalade (distress) ink and wild plum (adirondak) ink and I got to wondering what that combination would look like. I expected something firey but instead I got a kind of dull dark red where the colours merged and when I over stamped in black I got an aged sophisticated look that I really like. I hope you like it too.

The stamps are Elusive images and the ink was applied directly to the paper.

I wonder what other unusual colour combinations work well together? Any ideas?

Anne E x

With some birthday money I treated myself to the lovely Elusive Images Butterfly Poppy Collage plate from Graphicus

I've been playing around with the butterfly and flower stamps from the sheet and I think I'm in love!

The background butterflies are embossed in white and with various die inks dtp over the top. The sentiment taken from a large stamp by Paper Bag Studios.

As you might have guessed I have a thing about hot pink and yellow! The background pink does blend more in 'real life'. I hope you like these cards.

I have updated my photo with one taken on my birthday. It kind of makes me look odd in the small version, so please be assured I am not quite that scary in real life....well if you saw the 'before' pictures I took when messing about you might not agree...Not sure I'm brave/foolish enough to upload them.

Anne x

You know how sometimes you buy a stamp and wonder if you will ever use it....well that is what I thought when I bought this stamp. It was a bit pricy too!...but I couldn't resist as it made me smile. Turns out I've used it loads to make quick and easy get well cards.

These are destined for Afganistan - via Kirsty Wiseman.

When I was tiny my Great Grandad used to call me his little princess, so it might come as a bit of a surprise to hear that I have never had a crown! Well until now.

I had a fab weekend at a paperartsy/LB Crafts event, made lots of friends and even made a lovely metal crown.

The crown is metal backed with plastic, decorated with ten second studio tools and paperartsy letter stamps. I love the scrunched up balls at the top - these are made from 1/2 polystyrene ball and crumpled up metal. I used alcohol inks and black acrylic paint to decorate.

Never work with animals....

My cat Heidi was looking gorgeous sat in a flower tub surrounded by daffodils.

But when I tried to take a photo she got up and all I got was a photo of her eye.

Kind of cool photo but not quite what I was aiming for....

When I offered to make wedding invitations for my son I had no idea how difficult it would be to get burgundy light weight card! This is my final mock up. Please keep your fingers crossed that they like it as they asked for a redder burgundy - but it doesn't seem to exist!.

Inside will be the words on vellum that is attached with a burgundy satin ribbon bow.

Hopefully one down 39 to go! Good job I stocked up on stamps before the postage price increase next week!

Edited 8 April - Oh no! Now I have to make 50 of the booming things! I even have to cut and fold the card before trimming and have discovered I can't do this at night as the light from the new energy saving bulbs is rubbish - guess what I will be doing all over Easter!

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.