Lots of cards

Firstly can I say a big hello and thank you to Kim, Neet and Karla for following me.  I have had a really busy week with lots of things to organise for the parents association, my sons drama group where we need to make 20 costumes for his Romeo and Juliet play (gulp!) and our 2011 workshops plus having a decorator in so the house has been a complete tip too!  I then suddenly found myself having to make five cards this week - had a cousin (her 40th), a new baby in the family, Sister and two friends all with birthdays this week - here is the one I made for my friend Jane with whom I have a coffee with every Monday morning!

Dont you just love that Lili of the Valley stamp and of course a Tim ticket had to just creep on there!  Have been doing some other stuff too for workshops but will post those at a later date - will show the clock I am going to make at one at the crop tomorrow and I will also be doing the class which uses some lovely Fancy Pants papers from their Hot Chocolate range:

Thanks for looking and see some of you tomorrow :) we have a full house so be prepared for lots of fun!

Have been busy

My mojo seems to have come back in a big way - I have managed 3 layouts and a clock in a week!  Will show you the clock another time as I am thinking of changing it slightly - its for a workshop in February.  The layouts have already been filed away in their albums - they are only plain but I have rediscovered the ease of following sketches and have scrapped 2 awful photos which needed to be done as I want the stories to stay alive and one lovely photo on not so nice paper so I am not going to showcase them on here - they are for family eyes only!

This mini book is also for a workshop in February:

We will be organising our workshops dates in the very near future so watch this space.

I also need to give a big thank you to Spyder who so kindly gave me a blog award way back in December - sorry its taken me so long to get my act together to nominate 7 others, but here they are:

Nicks
Kim Dellow
Debs
Pam
Made by Karla
Stamping by H
Neet

and here is the magical blog award for you each to post on your blogs and pass onto 7 others.


all of the above I have "met" during my Wednesday Whats On Your Workdesk travels - their blogs inspire me, make me laugh and are a delight to visit any time of the week - not just Wednesdays.

Thanks for looking :)

Mojo is back!

Firstly a big hi to Shelley - thanks for following me! and secondly I have done a layout today!

My two little boys :)

This layout is so way out for me in so many ways!


1. I have mixed old (cosmo cricket) and new (basic grey) papers (well new to me as I only bought them in November).

2. I have used three photos that were *shock horror* all taken on different dates and *shock horror* are a mixture of colours and haven’t been converted to black and white!

3. I have used a sketch (Becky Fleck – page 33 of page maps 1 if you are interested) and *shock horror* broken away from it a bit by introducing an extra piece of paper and a journaling card and where there were flowers on the sketch I have used a cog! (first for me I usually have to follow a sketch and would normally have had to use flowers!).

4. The cogs aren’t Tim’s – oh no – I have broken open a pack of Maya Road cogs that cost me £3.25 and have been sitting in my chipboard drawer for months as they are too expensive to use! (go figure – but I am sure I am not the only one out there who does that!!).

5. and the biggest “so out of my comfort zone” thing on here is that there are no dates on the photos!! Get me! (although I do have to confess that I have written them on the back of the layout – couldn’t move on that much too early on a Saturday morning).

Oh yes that’s the other thing, this layout has only taken me about 4 hours! – this includes inking, cutting out, sticking down and faffing around trying to wind string and then a very expensive robot ribbon I have (again unused because, yes you’ve guessed it, it’s far too expensive and lovely to use!) around and through the cogs but they both just looked rubbish so I have gone for the metal spinners and cogs instead – no expense spared there either eh!

I am on a roll.....

Stash used:  Basic Grey – Inventory, Cosmo Cricket - Cogsmo, Distress Inks: Brushed Corduroy, Dried Marigold, Weathered Wood, Fired Brick and Shabby Shutters, Sizzix Ticket die, Stampers Anonymous Odds and Ends Stamp - Limited Edition, Stampers Anonymous Mini Muse Stamp – Embrace perfection,
Maya Road cogs, Silver cosmic shimmer, Metal cogs and spinners and, last but not least, Sizzix on the edge die - Ornate

Thanks for looking - am off to see if I can do another one now!  whoo hoo.

WOYWW and a Toot for me!

Morning everyone - it's a good week for me as I have been published in Craft Stamper :) - have been published a few times before but always in scrapbooking magazines which is funny as I usually stamp on everything and Craft Stamper is the one magazine I buy regularly!  However I sent in two projects to them last year and they kindly decided to publish my pirate bunting!  My son isn't too impressed but is pleased that he will be able to have his bunting back and on his wall again soon.  Let me know if you liked the article - it's on page 30.

Also along with the circular squash book (which I did manage to finish and have time to make a little box to keep it in - post of finished article is below if you are interested) here is something else I did on Sunday:

Birdcage

I bought the birdcage from Sema warehouse and thought it needed pimping so I have used Sizzix tattered flowers and bunting made from My Minds Eye papers, the vines are from a Martha Stewart punch and the metal birdies that were on the cage have been painted with inka gold paint - I want to paint the leaves too but have decided that I absolutely must use inka gold paint on them too and as I don't have a green I am going to have to treat myself to some when I go to ArstyCrafts and finish it then!  The birdies I bought at Artisan and have covered with music paper and inked.  Hope you like it!

My dining room table looks just as messy as last week despite having to clear it all off for a couple of dinners this week:

and yes that is an almost finished layout at the back there - I am so trying hard to get out of this scrappers block - I seem to be able to make projects just not scrapbook layouts at the moment!

That's it from me today - my little boy has been poorly and off school for two days (which is why I haven't had a chance to blog the birdcage before now) so today I need to catch up with some jobs around the house as I am having a decorator in tomorrow to do a few rooms for me - whoo hoo.

If you would like to join in the fun and frolics of looking at other peoples desks and see what they have been up to pop over to Julia's and show us your desk - go on you know you want to!

Thanks for looking :)

Its finally done!



Have managed to get my dinosaur circular squash book finished - papers used are Basic Grey Archaic.  I have to confess that this has been a work in progress for well over a year - guess I just lost my way with it, shoved it in a drawer and forgot about it.  Instructions were taken from UKS in June 2009 (thats how I know how long its been a wip!) and yes I am glad its finished and I am really pleased with the results:



Book closed

 

Front of book opened out

 

Closeup of front of book first section

 

Closeup of front of book middle section

  

Closeup of front of book third section


 

Back of book opened out





Closeup of back of book first section



Closeup of back of book middle section

Closeup of back of book last section

  And then I have made a quick and simple little box to keep it in:


Box

 Can I also just say a big thank you to Tracey and Becky for following me too - its great to know someone likes my work!

Thanks everyone for looking :)  off to work on my bird cage now!

Whats on your workdesk Wednesday?

Hello everyone!  I feel I have been away for so long!  I havent been anywhere but just havent been joining in the fun and frolics of snooping at peoples desks due to lots of other commitments before Christmas, I have, however, been busy crafting and, as you can see, am currenly residing on my dining room table again:

This book is a work in progress that has been going on for about 15 months now (if you cant tell from the picture as it is kind of blending into my table there isnt it - its a circular squash book) - I have decided that I really must finish it (mainly because Julie at my crop has told me I cant throw it away and start again so I am heeding her advice and getting it finished!).

Cant wait to start snooping around on all your desks later - I should have been catching up with the housework but my eldest son isnt back at school today due to a burst water pipe (my little boy is most upset as he still has to go in as he is in a different school! bless him) so I will no doubt have chance to put on my pc and have a snoop!  If you want to join in with the snooping leave your details over at Julias and we will come and have at look at your desk too!

On another exciting note - my tickets for ArtsyCrafts (my day class with Lin, Leandra and Tim Holtz) arrived yesterday - as you can guess I am very excited!!
Happy New Year and WOYWW everyone!  Its good to be back :)