Christmas Medallion

Happy Christmas everybody! It will be here soon - that's why I haven't blogged for ages, been pretty busy, like everyone else, preparing for parties and family visits. This is a card made with the Medallion Stampin' Up! stamp, embossed in white and embellished with walnut stain distress stickles and icicle stickles. Ribbon is SU and sentiment is Stampington.

It's certainly looking festive when I look out of the window:
Poor Santa is covered in snow:
Have a very Merry Christmas, and thank you everybody for all your kind comments. I have loved having my blog this year and I've met lots of lovely people via the blogging world - looking forward to chatting again with you all next year.

Lots of love, Anne xxxxxxxxx

Completed Noel Tags

Here are the rest of my Christmas Tags that I started a couple of weeks ago. It was very hard to take photos because the light here has been shocking for about a month - we just keep having torrential rain day after day, so I took some very quick (i.e. rubbish!) pictures during a short brighter spell.
All the papers and images are Graphic 45 again - just love their papers and can't get enough of them this year.
The little bells on the "N" and the "E" are from chocolate santas and reindeers by Lindt. You see I have no willpower and thought it was a good excuse to eat the chocolate so that I could use the bells. LOL! You will notice that I have only eaten 2 though, so I have shown a little restraint (so far!)
We've just spent the weekend in the Lake District - those rivers are certainly swollen!
We went to a wonderful Dickensian Christmas Fair in Ulverston. All the shopkeepers were dressed in Victorian clothes, there was a fun fair, stalls, mulled wine, roasted chestnuts, carol singers, a Punch and Judy show, a coconut shy, to mention just a few attractions. The whole thing was rounded off with a procession which included Santa Claus and Queen Victoria. It was just the thing to put me in a festive mood, so I think I'd better be finding those Christmas decorations in the loft pretty soon.
Hope you all had a great weekend too. x

The Play Date Cafe Challenge No 6.

Sarah chose the beautiful colours this week, and you know when the idea you initially have just doesn't work? Well that's what happened to me this week - I had such a lovely ATC in my head last night but all the colours had other ideas. LOL!!!! It just didn't look anything like how I wanted it to, so I abandoned it and had a go at something else this morning instead.
Hope you like my "cheeky" girl. Have a great Friday. X

Play Date Cafe Challenge No 5

The lovely Julie has chosen the colours this week for the Play Date Cafe Challenge- Silver, Blue, Purple and White.



I've had this little canvas for ages so I thought I would use it this week.
Background is Claudine Hellmuth paint, and Glimmer Mist using a Glimmer Mist Screen. The little image is from Crafty Individuals, and I outlined the image and the canvas with Stewart Gill paints.
I coloured the lace with Glimmer Mist and then used Martha Stewart Snowflake and Snowflake border punches. The white transparency swirl is from My Little Shoe Box. The Joy stamp is from Elusive Images.
The charms are to add a touch of silver.
I really enjoyed using these colours, so thank you Julie for the challenge - oh and by the way, did I beat the lovely Paul? LOL!

Tuesday Taggers Colour Challenge

A chipboard star decorated in the colours red, gold and green for Tuesday Taggers this week.
Paper, image and letter are all from Graphic 45. I only needed to add a little ribbon and some gold stickles and it was finished.
This is the first star of four that I am going to decorate to spell Noel. Thanks for looking. x

Tuesday Taggers No Patterned Paper

No patterned paper allowed this week on Tuesday Taggers.
I did the background using the resist technique with Inkadinkado stamps and colourbox inks. Image is from Crafty Individuals framed with a Crafty Individual white frame that was punched with one of my Martha Stewart border punches, coloured with Dusty Concord distress ink, then a little glitter was added.
I used two colours of American Crafts ribbon for the bow and brads are by American Crafts too. Flowers are some of the Prima ones I bought at Ally Pally.
Thanks for looking. Have a great weekend x

Play Date Cafe Challenge No 4

I just love the colours this week from the Play Date Cafe. The light is so bad here today though (very dark and rainy) that it's been really hard to take a decent photograph of my effort.
I have altered the negative of a chipboard letter A to make a little wall hanging.
I painted the background with Claudine Hellmuth paints, then stamped over the top using Adirondack inks. I followed this with Creme de Cacao, Robins Nest Blue and Spring Mint glimmer mists but it's really hard to see in the photo.
I stamped on the dark cardstock using Champagne Versamark ink.
Stamps used were by Crafty Individuals, Cavallini and Prima. I stamped the butterflies on paper that I'd coloured using Claudine Hellmuth paints and then punched them with my Martha Stewart butterfly punch. Finally I added some Tim Holtz metal, a flower, a part of a tag and some ribbon through eyelets set with a crop-a-dile.
The lace on the bottom is by Melissa Frances.
Hope you're having a good day and that you have a lighter, brighter day than we have here!
Thanks for looking x

Just Us Girls Challenge no 6

The challenge this week at Just Us Girls is based on the sketch above.
Stamp is by Hero Arts and I used it as a background first, stamping with Versamark ink and dusting with bronze pearl pigments. Then I used it with a rust coloured ink for the main image.
Patterned papers are 7gypsies and Graphic45, both punched with Martha Stewart Punch, and the greeting is stamped on to a 7gypsies sticker.
Had to scrape ice from the windscreen this morning - what a shock, but at least it's stopped raining and we have a beautiful sunny day. Hooray!

Play Date Cafe Challenge No 3

The Play Date Cafe challenge colours this week are black, white and red. At first they reminded me of Art Deco things, but the more I thought about it the more Alice in Wonderland kept popping in to my head so I made this wall hanging instead.
Paper is Graphic 45, alphas are my little shoebox and stamps are by Stampattack. I've had the stamps for ages but never got around to using them until now. I also used my Martha Stewart heart border punch.
Have a great weekend. I have some sorting and clearing to do and an appointment with a skip - lucky me!

Simple Tuesday Taggers Handbags and Gladrags

The Tuesday Taggers theme this week is Handbags and Gladrags and I decided to keep it simple.

Sorry the photos are a bit washed out with the flash - wasn't home in time to take photos in daylight and I wanted to post them tonight.

The first Card uses an image by Clarity Stamps which I coloured using grey shades of copic markers, added black stickles and four black gems, and then mounted on grey and pearlised cream cardstock. The final layer is some yummy FLOCKED (woo hoo) 7gypsies paper, then black cardstock.

The second card uses Anna Griffin handbag stamps coloured with copics and with some glamour dust added. As you can see I just mounted them on squares of black cardstock straight on to a white card base.

I usually don't know when to stop adding things so it made a change to be a bit of a minimalist!
x x x

Beep Beep!

This is a card for the grandson of one of my friends. I've used American Crafts ribbon, Sassafras and Stampendous stamps and the background is Brilliance ink and Distress ink. I had another go with my Copics to colour the image.
Happy Birthday Freddie!

Just Us Girls Challenge No 4

I saw this challenge on Sarah Anderson's beautiful blog, and thought I would have a go. The Just Us Girls Challenge this week is to use a 3D flower.
The flower is made of grungeboard using Elusive Images stamps, Distress Inks and Stickles.
Lace ribbon is salvaged from a bunch of flowers (LOL!), number stamp is Wendy Vecchi, background paper is Black Market Paper Society and rub on is Daisy Bucket.
Hope I'm in time for the challenge!
Edited to add - I wasn't! But never mind, I had fun making the card! LOL!

Play Date Cafe Challenge No 2

These are the colours this week, chosen by Sarah. They are perfect for Halloween, so I decided to make a little tryptych:
I painted the background with Claudine Hellmuth paint, then stamped black images from Lavinia stamps. I added some text coloured with Mustard Seed distress Ink and then stamped Boo using Tim Holtz letters in black and inked them with a little yellow too.
I added a little German Scrap to the middle arch.
I used some stickles on the webs and on the bodies of the spiders. Finally I attached some hinges using brads. X

Happy Birthday Sarah B.

It was the lovely Sarah B's birthday earlier this month and this is the card that I sent her. It is actually more shimmery than you can see from the photo.
Background is paper by Sassafraslass, the leaves are stamped on Old Olive Card using a Wendy Vecchi stamp, and the sentiment is stamped using a Stampington and Co stamp, again on Old Olive, and cut out using a ribbon Tag Die.
Pink Ribbon is SU, and I edged everything with brown distress ink.
I added a little glamour dust to some of the flowers, so it really sparkles in real life.
Hope you had a fabulous day Sarah!

Tuesday Taggers Bursts of Colour.

Tuesday Taggers challenge this week is "Bursts of Colour" sponsored by The Craft Barn. I coloured the background of this tag using the faux bleach technique and Mustard Seed and Broken China distress inks and edged it with Spiced Marmalade distress ink.
The stamped images (Wendy Vecchi Studio 490) are stamped with the lush Nick Bantock inks and the butterfly was painted with glimmer mist, although you can't tell in the photograph. Brads are by American Crafts.
Thanks for looking x

Tree Trimmings and Christmas Jingle

These are a some of the cards I made last Saturday on our lovely 12 hour day. I used the Christmas Jingle Scrapbook kit from Stampin'Up! and the matching Tree Trimmings stamp set.
They were REALLY quick to make, and all I added was a little bit of Stickles.

Play Date Cafe challenge No 1

My attempt at the first challenge for The Play Date Cafe - see Julie's Open Window lovely blog.
Swirl stamps are Basic grey I think, and I bought the Lord of Non Linear Thought stamp at a show from Paddy's Stamping Place about 3 years ago. Paper is 7gypsies and cardstock is Stampin'Up!
Inks are Colourbox and Distress Inks.
Brads are MM.
I panicked earlier today because I couldn't get on blogger! Hot sweats and withdrawal symptoms were the order of the day - can't do without a good blog hop! LOL!

A little witch for Tuesday Taggers

The theme on Tuesday Taggers this week is "Things that go bump on the night" so here is a little Halloween Card. Background is Distress Inks covered by fusible fibres, the image is from a Vintage Holidays CD, the sentiment is Stampington and Company (love that font), and the black has some opal dust and some little halloween charms that I found in an old box of craft things.
It's a lot more glimmery and shiny in real life. x

A Jar Challenge

Last Saturday I went to a 12 hour craft day in Stockport and spent a fantastic day in great company. We all just played with our stash for 12 hours - brilliant!!!!!!!
Alison had brought various challenges for us to draw at random and try if we wanted to and the one that I drew was to decorate a glass jar.
I used alcohol inks to cover the glass first, then I decorated the jar using MME and seven gypsies papers. I added gold paint to the rim, stamped some 7 gypsies tags with a holly stamp and a blonde moments sentiment, and finished it off with American Crafts ribbon.
I'm not sure what I'll use it for - might save some pennies in it to buy Christmas goodies, or I might just fill it with yummy chocolates ready to hand round.
I also made some Christmas Cards and decorated a 7 gypsies portfolio, but I'll post those another day. x

A quick thank you card

This was a card I made using Stampendous stamps for my son to give to one of his classmates.
Sentiment is a Craftwork Cards handbag with the handle cut off but don't tell the boys!

Winter Girl dressed for Autumn

I love this Whiff of Joy girl (Lizzie with muff) and thought that I would try her with some autumnal colours. Image coloured with distress inks and distress stickles, all backing paper is K and Co, the sentiment is Craftwork Cards and I have used a swirly punch, Martha Stewart border punch and Stampin' Up! circle and scallop circle punches.
Flowers are Prima and I bought the little gold leaf charm YEARS ago from the Stampman.
The small leaves on the side are Lavinia stamps.
By the way, lovely blog candy on All the things I love.

Whiff of Joy Winter Girl - first attempt.

I've had a play with this lovely girl today. My background paper was a bit too grey, so I sprayed it with Frosty Night and Robin's Nest glimmer mists, plus a little Pearl.
The swirls were punched from acetate and sprayed with glimmer mist,and the snowflakes are punched with a Martha Stewart punch from card and acetate and sprinkled with glamour dust.
The flowers are Prima, and the brads and snowflake charm are from Hobby House.
I also used my Martha Stewart snowflake border punch and I coloured the image with Copic markers.

Circle Circus for Tuesday Taggers

The theme on Tuesday Taggers this week is Shades of Autumn . I thought it was a good opportunity to have a play with my new stamp set "Circle Circus" from the brand new Stampin'Up catalogue. Inks are SU and Nick Bantock.
I love autumn colours but hate that chill in the air!

Metal Covered Notebook.

Here is my first attempt at playing with my Ten Seconds Studio Stuff and all the fabby metallic paints that I bought at Ally Pally.
Now I do not have ANY patience and I can never wait to be finished, so this really does need some refinement, but to say how little time and care I took I am quite pleased.
The large monogram is supposed to be a letter A - it's not very good, and the UTEE that it is sitting on looks like "purest green" - do you remember Blackadder II when they were trying alchemy? LOL! But I just didn't want to do it again, I wanted to get everything stuck on my notebook! Out came my heatgun to dry everything, even the polyfilla on the back of the metal sheet to prevent it from "de-bossing", and the glimmermist that I sprayed over the top of everything.
I love the effect, and now that I've had a go I hope I'll think more carefully about the next project and take more time over it.

Ally Pally - I didn't have a list!

Last weekend I had a fabulous trip to London with my friends Michele, Karen and Ali to visit the Alexandra Palace Show. They were all very organised and had lists of what they wanted to buy, but I really couldn't think of anything to go on my list and thought I would have a fabulous time looking at all the samples and watching demos, and end up not buying much. We..ell ... above is a picture of the result of my visit to The Hobby House stand, and below is what fell in to my basket at LB Crafts.
Then I went to have a look at Lavinia Stamps:
I picked up these other items throughout the day too:
I think I'd better take a list and stick to it next time! LOL! x

Quick Stampin'Up! Layout

Last Wednesday I went to Skipton to Janet's Craft Club to spend the evening with12 ladies doing a layout based on my sample above using Stampin'Up! products.
We used Haiku papers, It's Beautiful wheel, Baroque Motifs and School Serif alphabet stamps, 1 and a quarter circle punch and 5 petal punch and the smallest circle punch.
Very simple, but can be embellished in various ways.
It certainly wasn't a difficult layout, and thank you ladies, I really enjoyed my evening.
x

My Jems Challenge

Well this time it was my turn to send Julie's Jems their stuff for the challenge. I sent a heart blank, an "Adore" ticket by Tim Holtz, a black fleur de lis shape, Pink punched heart border, pink hearts and black and pink ribbon.
Here's my effort and I'm so sorry this post is short - have to go and sweep up some more grime and debris :-(.

Look what my sister made!

I'm not doing any crafting at the moment - got builders in changing boiler and all kinds of boring things like that, but this is an Ikea mirror that my sister decorated.
She used stamps by Stampin' Up! (Carte Postale and French text background), Elusive Images and Clarity Stamps........... and she stamped the images on........................old cereal boxes!!!!
Isn't it fabulous? I love it.

Art Journalling with Dyan.

Had a fabulous day with Dyan yesterday doing one of her Art Journal classes. We made some pages first using newspaper, glue and gesso. When they were dry it was time for the paint- yay!
Then it was time to "blind" pick an emotion from Dyan's basket of prompts and add images and journalling. I picked Passion (the page above is the result) and Calm (the page below)