Week 4 art class

Well this is what we did in our art class on Friday:

which was using watercolours with a wax resist - am very pleased with this too.  There isn't a class next week as our tutor is holding an exhibition at the NEC but I will be trying to get new recruits at the schools PA coffee morning so it's still all go!

I have also managed to get the crop layout done even though the papers only arrived on Wednesday (that's super fast for me!):

uses some lovely Echo Park papers along with some stamping, distressing and inking (of course!).

Have spent quite a few hours this week sitting with my Nan so I have also managed to get quite a lot of hand sewing done too so my owl and my Mandy Shaw quilt are coming along very nicely now!  Will probably be able to show pictures of them later this week.

Can't believe the weather we are having at the moment - I have even managed to put some washing on the line this weekend - thought I ought not run the tumble dryer during a heat wave!

Thanks for looking and don't forget my challenge below runs for until 11th October if you would like to join in.

WOYWW 121

Wasn't going to join in today but DS1 isn't feeling very well so is going to stay at home and miss the school trip!  Bit sad - we were off to a WWII museum in Staffordshire but he got sent home early yesterday for feeling sick and it looks like he still has the bug today :(  Oh well at least I get a bit more play time I guess!

Here is my desk today:

I have moved my main project as I am going to write an article about it and hopefully get it published.  The canvas bird you can see there is the startings of an owl - very excited about it although lets not talk about the glimmer mist spray that I used yesterday which sprayed in the wrong direction so that I now have a slightly sparkly owl - when will I ever learn to move items either before I spray or move the item I am spraying to another room to spray! never I guess.......   The cards on my table are just inked up pieces that need some finishing off so I will probably get on with those today and the pack of Prima canvas pieces are a new purchase I am playing with too - they are really nice so hopefully I will be able to do something fabulous with them and then get some to use in a up coming class at the crop or a workshop.

If you want to know why I am showing my desk to the world then pop over to Julias where all will be revealed!

Also I have restarted up my fortnightly tag, card and layout challenge on the post below to try and get my mojo moving again if you would like to join in with me please feel free - would love to see some creations if you do.
Thanks for looking :)

Lets Think Creatively challenge is back!

I have found that I only seem to produce scrapbook layouts if I enter challenges at the moment so as I haven't really found any that give me something to think about (all the challenges I seem to find are all sketches which is fine but sometimes I just need that little bit more to make it interesting), so I am going to run my own fortnightly challenge again:

I will start where I left off last May which was to use this image as inspiration:

and I have finally done the layout (had it planned in my mind for months but life just got in the way!):

Think I overdid it with the glimmer screen in the top left hand corner (that and the fact that I sprayed it with the screen the wrong way so I had to reverse stamp the image over it three times before I realised that it wasnt stamping properly as I was using bazzill cardstock! hey ho - obviously a bit out of practice with scrapping at the moment!).  I also found the mojo to produce these two backgrounds:

a boy card

 and a girl card - they arent finished yet as I am not sure who I am going to send them too but I have left a space on each to put either a name or a greeting on - feel quite ahead of myself now!

I would love it if you find inspiration from my challenge and join in with me, if you do then please leave me a link here so I can come and have a look at your creations:



Thanks :)

Whooo hooo

It's back!  Thursdays are bright and cheery again!  Even better for me my other half wasn't feeling well last week so went to bed early and I could watch it 'live' I was so happy! does that make me a bad person? mmmm not sure but still I enjoyed myself!

Anyway had a very eventful week last week as it was the open day at the local senior school and as my little boy will be 11 this year he will be off to big school next year! gulp - how did that happen??  anyway we looked around our catchment school and it was lovely so we are happy and hopefully he will get in there without any trouble.  Then we had the PA meeting where quite a lot of changes are going to take place this year, one of which is me no longer being on the committee - such a relief - however there is no-one at the moment to take over from me so no doubt I will get involved some where along the line.

Then Friday it was my art class - as promised here are my creations:

 can you believe this I did this in my second week and I have never used pastels - or drawn for that matter - before! I know its not perfect but I am well proud of myself.  Then last week we did these:

a pencil scene

same scene in watercolours - isnt that little boat so cute! although drawing those posts is rather scary to start with.

That's probably it for me today although it's raining here so I am hoping for a day in of crafty fun - am hoping to start doing my fortnightly challenges again from Tuesday so I need to try and prepare something for that, currently DS1 is playing on the pc and DS2 is painting some little boxes - bless I will make an artist of him yet and then hopefully I am going to get DS1 to watch

later and lets hope he becomes a fan too!

Thanks for looking :)

LSNED and some thank yous

Had a great time at the Charity crop last week - for those who haven't seen or heard we managed to raise a fantastic £900!  a big thank you to everyone who supported us.

Whilst there I was given some lovely gifts:

The ruler was from Sushi and was from Malaysia (fancy thinking of me all the way out there!), the ribbons were from Julie a fab find down the market and the bag of buttons and mushroom were off Lisa (Lisa always buys me mushrooms when see shes them!) - thank you everyone it's much appreciated and it is nice to know you appreciate all the hard work these events take to put together (am still worn out now!).

In the week Bernice also gave me all these lovely charms:

see there are some mushrooms in there too!  fancy that - anyone would think I have a thing for them!  She also knows I am a big fan of skulls too - I know I am strange!

Then I have also received a fabulous tag for the birdcage tag swap from Mrs A

go check out her blog it's really cool - and also a big thank you to Mrs A for following me too :)

Then yesterday I got up at 4.30am and managed to catch up with some of my LSNED tags - I have already completed days 1 - 9 last year so I am going to use those for the start of the book (if you are interested then they are here http://sunshinegirlnicola.blogspot.com/2010/09/learn-something-new-everyday.html and here http://sunshinegirlnicola.blogspot.com/2010/09/learn-something-new-everyday_11.html) then I made these 4 (all of them only took me 1.5 hours so they are really all quite quick and simple but it's all I can manage at the moment!):

Might have to funk up those houses a bit more if I get chance but I have visitors today and my crop tomorrow so I won't have much  play time.

Also had a fab time at my art class yesterday and I have drawn a vase! Honestly! am really quite pleased with it will post a picture on Monday.

Thanks for looking.

A card and gift for my Mom

It was my Mom's birthday yesterday so I made her this card:

It's based on the sketch over at http://sweetstopsketches.blogspot.com/ so I would like to enter it into their challenge this week and I also based the colour scheme and used butterflies to fit in with the challenge over at http://daringcardmakers.blogspot.com/ so I would like to enter it into their challenge too.

I used Echo Park Victoria Gardens papers and stickers, Spun Sugar and Barn Door distress inks, the black lace was given to me by my friend Julie and the butterflies are Papermania chipboard ones.

I also made her a bag:

excuse my rather garish dining room - sorry craft room! - table cover there but I took the photo in a hurry! the pattern and materials were from a kit I received from my quarterly sewing club details of which are here: http://www.daisychaindesigns.co.uk/.

Thanks for looking :)

WOYWW

I wasnt going to join in this this week as I feel I am running behind on everything again at the moment- why does that always happen?  I am stepping down as chair/secretary from school next week and we held our Charity crop last Saturday (we raised a massive £900 for Cancer Research!) so I thought I would have some spare time but its not happened?  Anyway here is my desk this morning:

It's actually very tidy for me - not much on it as I have busy doing some sewing (hence the pattern, cotton reels and bobbins there that need putting away), the sizzix machine is out as Bernice popped round yesterday afternoon for a quick lesson on crease pads, the empty box is a gift I got last night from OH which is another car mouse as the one on the picture is playing up and my phone is on charge.

I was busy sewing a gift for my Mom who's birthday it is today - Happy Birthday Mom! - so I can't show that yet and I still have done no more on LSNED or the Jennifer McGuire Inspiration Showcase course I should have started on Monday.  Let's hope I catch up later today after I have made Mom's birthday card!

However here is my birdcage tag that I sent to Tertia

There was quite a lot of pink on her blog so I went for these colours - am not sure if she has received it yet as she lives in South Africa and I didn't post it until last Friday but the swap was done via the lovely Frankie's blog and the rules are to show and tell the tag you have made today.

If you want to know why I am baring a rather boring workspace to the world then pop over to Julias where I assure you there are lots of really fun and interesting desks to look at!

Thanks for looking :)

Fantastic News

drumroll please ........
Yesterday we raised a staggering £900!
Thank you all so much for all your support, kind wishes and donations. We had a fabulous day and hope you all did too.

Nicki and Morag
x

One more day to go...

Big charity crop tomorrow - can't wait.  Am all organised - kits are packed, raffle tickets are sorted, hall booked, lunch booked, biscuits purchased and all seats sold.  Just need to print out my notes for everyone for my class today and I am done.

It's been a busy week though, packing the kits took a day - thanks for your help Bernice - and the raffle prizes took Morag and I another morning to sort through.

I thought I would also show you the other card I was working on last week as it has now been delivered to it's new home - tee hee:

lots of inking and stamping on this. 

Here is the inside which I am really pleased with too:

Using my Claudine Hellmuth stamps which I still consider new even though I bought them in March as I have only stamped them out on one half finished project (there is a surprise!) am really pleased with how the Sold sign turned out though - it has a lovely Lili of the Valley stamp saying "As you unpack your things and settle right in, may happiness follow and good times begin" - isn't that lovely, also a new stamp ahem.

This week the only crafty stuff I have managed I can't show as one is for a birdcage swap that is currently on it's way to South Africa and another one for a project I am working on that I am hoping to get published - we shall see.  Will be able to relax and concentrate a bit more next week - oh who am I kidding - it's my Mom's birthday, I will be helping out in school and I am starting an another online class on Monday and also a painting course that is starting today at my local craft centre.  It will be all go as always!

Thanks for looking :) am off to get my brushes sorted....

WOYWW - I've moved

my craft room that is!  It was all getting too much sharing an office/craft room and having stash dotted all around the house so I have decided to move into my dining room - it's a bit of a squeeze and I haven't got all of my stuff in here yet but I am a lot happier!

So here is my progress this week:

If you want to see why I am showing my desk to the world then pop over to Julia's and join in the fun.  I have a busy few days ahead of me as I am running a Charity Crop at the weekend in aid of Cancer Research so I need to get packing up kits, sorting out notes and organising the raffle prizes but I do hope to pop by a few desks along the way.

Thanks for looking :)

Children went back to school today

house is very quiet.

It's been a busy week

It's actually been all systems go here the past couple of days - firstly my phone had blown up, I managed to get into it and handwrite down all my list of contacts and then put my sim in an old phone which I had completely forgotten how to work and muddle by and then OH sorted me out with a new suitable phone (I haven't a clue and was quite happy to delegate this problem!) but they were out of stock at Tesco's and their's was the best deal so I couldn't have it then and there.  I could however get myself two new pairs of glasses that I am desperately in need of - although this meant a trip home and back again to get our Tesco's vouchers as there was a double up offer on them that finished on that day.  Yesterday OH took the little one to Tesco's for our weekly shop whilst I cillit banged the bathroom (how fab is that stuff! looks like a gleaming new little palace now - at least it did yesterday!) and they had my phone in stock so I am now the new proud owner a new phone that I again can't work!

On Friday I tried to make some cards - needed to make 4 but really struggled and only made two and finished this:

Will show you the other card when it's been delivered (it's a New Home one so guess who it is for!).



I struggled because OH works from home on a Friday (and Mondays and Wednesdays too!) and I had the two children at home and mainly because my stash is stored all around the house at the moment - inkpads and dies are in the utility which is a bit of a dumping ground and the cupboard has a football table in front of it so I can't get in there easily, most of my other stash is up in my craft room which doubles up as a study now so as OH was at home and spends most of his day on the phone its difficult for me to rummage through what stash I need and then I had to make six trips up and downstairs so I spent most of Friday in a bad unproductive mood.  As life it too short to feel this way we sat down yesterday and had a rethink about the organisation of our house.  So little one is going to get the big second bedroom so that we can move all of the lego pieces out of the lounge and dining room into there with him, OH is moving his desk into little one's old room and its becoming a dedicated study and I am going to move most of my stash into the dining room and get rid of my craft table upstairs *gulp*.  That said we had a quick trip to Ikea last night for some more storage units and today I am going to be putting them up in my dining room.  It means dinner parties will be a bit of a squeeze but we don't have that many anymore and I would rather be happy crafting for most of the year rather than keeping an empty dining room so we can have 9 people round on Christmas day. 

Hopefully this week will be the whole start of something new for me, the children go back to school on Tuesday and I was hoping to enrol for an Interior Design course for Wednesdays morning but now I can have a dedicated craft room again to myself during the day I dont think I will (actually its mainly because its £125 and I have bought new glasses (small fortune), a new phone (another expense), new furniture (another small fortune), 3 fantastic new books to inspire me (can't say how much they are in case OH reads this!), some digi papers as Nitwit collections had a sale on and I so needed the pirates! oh and a new blender (more for OH than me really), so all in all I am a bit skint!  Might have to go out and get a job.

Thanks for looking :)

LSNED and a challenge card

I have made this card for my inlaws anniversary which is next Monday:

It's based on a sketch over at www.sweetstopsketches.blogspot.com and also includes three natural items (the card, the birdcage, and the flowers) to fit in with the challenge over at http://daringcardmakers.blogspot.com/ however both challenges finished yesterday and I have only made the card today so I can't enter it into either! hey ho.

I am also going to retake part in Learn Something New Everyday - I only managed up to day 9 last year so I am going to cheat and reuse the album cover that I made for then:

I can't put my hand on the other book I have made way back in 2008 but when I do I will put up the pictures from that too to compare them.

Thanks for looking :)

It's all going wrong

This morning my phone broke - I can send texts but can't do a backspace so if I do a typo I can't delete it therefore I am starting to send garbled messages (nothing new there really!), I also can't make or receive calls :(

Two friends have nipped round this morning and my doorbell doesn't work :(

Last week my melt pot broke - I melted some UTEE, poured it out, added some more and then just nothing happened.  All the lights are on but there is no longer any heat :(

Two weeks ago the door knob fell off the front door and although it can be screwed back on the thread has obviously broken as it has fallen off another four times since so has now been taken off but I have left the screw sticking out to save having a hole in the door :(

Three weeks ago the grill on my main oven broke - it comes on but at full blast so basically burns anything - good job I don't use it very often :(

So it's all going a bit pear shaped here at the moment.  Am off to do the ironing - am secretly hoping that that might break too!

My budding little actor

A while ago (March in fact) Oliver was in a school production of Romeo and Juliet - he was the Narrator so had quite a big part at the very beginning and again at the very end but then had to sit very quietly for about an hour and a half during the rest of the production! 

The whole school did fabulous show and when you think that they were only in Years 5 and 6 and the script was all in olde English we were all so proud!

Anyway for my Color or is Colour week 5 - which was Purple - I have done this layout:

should have been done 3 weeks ago - oops!  It was based on a sketch provided with the course but I have promptly lost my paper copy of it and the connection took too long to load on DS's PC earlier so I have stuck this down by memory so it's probably completely different!  I did the base of the layout and most of the bits at my last crop but have only just gotten around to sticking it down and finishing it today - honestly going away on holiday really messes up your crafting doesn't it!

Stuff used:  My Minds Eye 29th Street Market papers, purple cardstock, Purple texture paste, Red inca gold paint, Basic Grey Archaic brads, Prima "Make Me Happy" flowers, Making Memories Passport Alphabet, various Promarkers, Sepia Archival Ink, a Primark necklace key (how quickly have I used one of those!!), Earthy Pastel Hemp.  Distress Inks: Old Paper, Fired Brick and Vintage Photo.  Stamps: Non Sequitor, Stampers Anonymous, Magnolia, and Creative Expressions.

Thanks for looking :)  I have just moved all of my crafty bits and pieces that were in the dining room back into my craft room so I am hoping this will get my creative juices flowing and I am planning on making something else this afternoon too.  Don't you just love bank holidays :)

Oooh you heard it here first!

Primark have some lovely new jewellery in store:

just look at those fab keys! that necklace was £4 and has 9 fantastic keys on it, the long brown necklace was on sale for a £1 and I think the leaves were £2 and the silver one £3 (I actually wore that yesterday too!) - going to have a lovely sit down later this afternoon with my little pliers and take them all to pieces - can't wait to start using them on projects - just think how fabulous those leaves are going to look when I have applied alcohol ink on them - whoo hoo.
Also a big hi to Bekca - thanks for following me :)

Have been awol this week as I have been in sunny Cardiff and Swansea (visiting Primark!) with the family. This week I am hoping to catch up with some more sewing - finally treated myself to a thimble at the Festival of Quilts (fantastic quilt show - well worth going to if you love sewing - the winners quilts were stunning - put my cushions and organisers to shame!). To the girls at my crop I am still working on the Shakespeare layout too! maybe this week eh!

Have also updated the WhatHouseworkBlog so please check that out if you are coming to our charity crop - we have just one space left now!

Thanks for looking :)

I so wasn't looking forward

to going into Birmingham town centre last night, but

was worth it!  We drove in and parked at the Arcadian car park which is right by the Hippodrome, they kept shutting the shutters to lock everyone in!  We then sat in the car and ate our tea (chicken sandwich and a bag of crisps - so romantic!) then walked round to see the show - which was great we really enjoyed it.  I feel like rummaging through the boxes in the loft to see if I can find my 18 Queen LP's! When we came out the streets were eerily deserted but when we drove up to the main Pershore Road we saw that the police had cordoned off the street, then when we drove round towards the Blues ground (we thought that going up the Coventry Road would be safer than driving up the Stratford Road) every road was cordoned off hence an empty town centre.  Quite spooky - feels like quite an adventure now that I am sitting here typing about it!

Thanks for looking :)

WOYWW 114

Well I had a busy day yesterday - my Mom phoned first thing and asked if she could have the children for the day and who was I to argue?  My first thought was "great I can catch up with the housework I need to do" so I will let you guess did I a: get out the duster and cleaning stuff and do those jobs or b: get out my craft table, watch a few episodes of Glee and New Tricks and get creative???

Yep you are right I caught up with this housework:

so that was my craft table in front of the telly yesterday afternoon.

These are the few bits and pieces I made/finished off:

made this from scratch - I did up a bunch of tags in Mustard Seed, Wild Honey and Rusty Hinge covered with a lemon mica powder and just went to it with some bits and pieces I had to hand.  The bird was inked with Spiced Marmalade, Tea Dye and Vintage Photo then covered with Rock Candy crackle glaze - when dry I went over the legs with Walnut Stain, the flowers were black and white so I covered them with Barn Door to add a bit of pizazz.

same colour inks over a tag covered with a sewing pattern then I splattered some Wild Honey reinker on the tag and blew it around with a straw.  Coloured the mannequin with Wild Honey and edged with Rusty Hinge finished simply with the tulle, some orange washi tape, four pearls and a metal heart, the bottom is just a tissue tape layered with ribbons and jems.

finished off this embellishment as I had actually made it a couple of weeks ago whilst working on my Colour or is Color? course about layering embellishments.  This one was just one of a few I made and was the most simplest - just used up some old stuff lying around apart from the butterfly.  Yesterday I just glued the nib on the clock and adhered the clock and butterfly down.

Thats it from me today - hoping to catch up with a few desks later as I haven't been joining in for the past few weeks and can't see me joining in again for the next few either!  Both children and I now have bikes so we are spending most of our days out and about.  If you want to join in the weekly fun of looking at crafters desks then please pop over to Julias we would love to see you!

Thanks for looking :)

Its been all go here!

Have been really busy this past week - visiting my Nan for a couple of days, taking the children out on their bikes (how stressful is that!) and also busy beavering away getting my class layout completed for yesterday's crop and also finishing off the mini book I am going to be making at our Charity Crop on 10th September - 4 spaces/kits left if you are interested!

Here is my class for yesterday:

Gorgeous Prima papers which basically did all the work, all we had to do was some cutting and layering, and aren't those new butterflies just fantastic too!  Love this layout and it's even got me on it!

Then on Friday whilst the children were pottering around the house and doing their own thing I actually got on with some sewing - I find sewing far more relaxing than scrapping at the moment - probably because it's far less stressful to follow a pattern rather than designing something from scratch.  Anyway get ready because my little machine was a busy little thing (I even got through 3 needles!). 

First I made this:

Isn't that spotty material just fab - it was a bit of a faff but worth it!  If anyone knows where I can get a cushion to fit it apart from Dunelm Mill (cause I am not sure how to get there!) please let me know.  It needs to be 13" x 20" - thanks!

Next I made two of these:

piping and all!  I even discovered that I have a piping foot after making both of these (can only happen to me can't it!) - now need to make something else with piping just so that I can use that foot!  Now need a trip to Primark (whoo hoo) to get a cushion to fill the second one.

Then I made this:

a quick and simple little basket - looked so much better at the Malvern quilt show though!  still I have enough material to make another one and it will come in handy.

And now I am half way through this:

it's a Mandy Shaw organiser - cause I need another one!  I love making these and they are so useful to keep bits and pieces in - this one will have a notebook in the third section so I will use it to keep notes and pens in rather than sewing accessories.

Phew - told you I had been busy didn't I!

Thanks for looking and please leave me a comment if you pass by.

Colour is it colour? Blue

I am a bit behind this week as its been a bit hectic here with the children being off school and my Nans 89th Birthday, but I have managed to get this completed today:

excuse the shadows this was taken a few minutes ago in my lounge and I have a tree on my front lawn! 

I scrap a lot of blue so I decided to stick with Nic's sketch and also almost her colours too but where she used orange I used green (just so I could use up some old Daisy D baby boy papers I have been hoarding forever!).  I made the tag on the left at my last crop and it really has nothing to do with a theme park but the colours matched so I decided to use it on this layout - although this isn't one of my favourites or indeed one of my best pieces of work I am pleased that I have managed to use some templates and stamps I have had unused in my stash for a while, a premade tag and also use up five difficult to scrap photos in one go too!

Not sure I have learnt much about the colour blue this week as I have been a bit too busy to concentrate on it but I am pleased that I got a chance to have a play! 

Our fabulous kit turned up yesterday for our charity crop so I can't wait to get playing with that tonight too - if you are interested there are just 6 spaces left - details are on the right hand side just click on the picture.

Thanks for looking :)

Another quick layout

Not!

Isn't it typical that I thought I would just do another quick green layout (get me - I never do green so I am definately learning on my Colour or is Color? course!).  Anyway four days later here is the finished article:

Not sure why it took so long because it's not really complicated but I did faff around deciding upon the zoo/trees/leaves as for the first two days I was planning on using birds.  Also the fact that I have hand cut out all the leaves/animals and trees slowed me down too!

Anyway stash used was:
My Minds Eye Quite Contrary papers - "Little Man" Journaling card and Zig Zag paper and "Curious" Who Loves You paper.  Distress inks used were: Vintage Photo, Forest Moss, Tumbled Glass, Worn Lipstick, Pumice Stone and Frayed Burlap.  The doily was sprayed with an orange glimmer mist and I used orange bling for the coconuts in the trees.  Stamps used were: Autumn Leaves Mindy's Zoo, Stampers Anonymous "The journey...", Woodware Woodland Mushrooms (the leaves) and Creative Expressions Vintage Aviation (the balloon).  The two chipboard accents are by Colorbok part of their my Wild Life range. Layout is based on a July 2011 Page Map .  Hope you like it!

Also I finally have put the finishing touches to my red layout from 3 weeks ago:

so it finally has the birdcage and a few extras on the top right and the red on the left hand side didn't sit right with me as I felt it needed a bit more but another material flower was too much so I added another birdcage and a few bits there too.

Thanks for looking - am off for a sit down now as we have all been out our bikes today as we managed to get DS1 and OH new ones yesterday thanks to the 20% off sale at Toys R Us. Whoo hoo.

Green layout

This week on my Colour or is Color? course its green.  Here is my take on the sketch we were given:

You will have to forgive the rubbish quality but I dont know how to edit on Windows Live Photo Gallery and thats all I have on my laptop which is why I couldnt remove the school name from the sign nicely!
Anyway I have used:
Creative Imaginations - Narratives "Remember Ledger" cardstock and some K & Co. papers.  Bundled Sage and Vintage Photo distress inks, Tim Holtz car embossing folder, Stampers Anonymous Reflections stamp and tickets, Time stamps are Recollections "Time Flies", Martha Stewart vine punch, I paper pieced the owls, dymo labeller, hemp twine, tissue tape (hidden underneath the brown pom pom ribbon), brown pom pom ribbon, acorn buttons, black bling for the owls eyes and a few staples.

Thanks for looking :)

Sketchy Thursday

Thought I would have a go at the monthly challenge over at http://sketchythursdays.blogspot.com/.  Now I have learnt from my colour course - honest I have, I really, really have.  I read and understand that red, orange and yellow are best used as accent colours otherwise they are very overpowering - and I did that in my layout for the course last week (in fact deep down I already really knew it too) but I have to admit that I just love bold bright colours so, even though I have learnt and know the rules to using bright colours, as the above sketch is their monthly challenge and needed to include red, orange and/or yellow I thought I would go for a bright Disney layout, and here it is:

The criteria for the challenge is to use the sketch (had to change the circle to a rectangle as I have used a postcard - the 2008 one which is one of those changing images so it shows either the number with the hats on or with the characters faces on depending upon which way you tilt it), then it had to be a summer topic - these photos were taken in the summer of 2008, use red, orange and/or yellow - think I did that! and also to use a journal spot which again is my red postcard as the title says it all really!

I used a yellow core cardstock, Echo Park "A Walk in the Park" papers and stickers, Creative Imaginations epoxy rocket sticker, orange hemp, red ribbon, Crafters Workshop template (the clock), Brushed Corduroy and Spiced Marmalade distress inks, the Mickey ears were cut on my craft robo, Reminisce Real Magic "My Favourite Ride" sticker, staples, the stamps I used were: Recollections "Going Places" map, Cloud 9 Designs "Travel" We Love it Here, K & Company "Happy Trails" Photo Op, My Minds Eye "Lost and Found" Fun and Family.

Thanks for looking and I hope you like my bright funky layout!

A card for my Father in Law

Had a lovely play day yesterday - finished off the layout in yesterdays post below, made some tags - did some nice ones and also made a couple of disasters too - will post those later in the week.  My mojo seems to have come back this weekend though so I have managed to join in with a challenge too:

The challenge over at http://daringcardmakers.blogspot.com/ is pack your suitcase and this quick and simple card fits that bills nicely so I am entering it into their challenge - haven't entered a card for a few weeks now so have been getting withdrawal symptoms!  Uses a le Blanche stamp, My Minds Eye papers, inked and glittered chipboard letters, some hemp and a charm - nice and simple!

Am hoping to do another layout today too in between the cooking, gardening and water fight I need to do (that's the trouble with having two boys and buying them water pistols you have to get wet! doh).

Thanks for looking :)

Colour or is color? Orange

Here is my layout for the orange part of the course:

am much happier with this one as I have had more time to spend on it and make it my own rather than scraplifting which is what I did with the red one.  Would have been better with a black and white photo too but hey ho I want to reduce my current photo pile not add to it!

Stash used was:  Black cardstock, white cardstock, Imaginisce Hallowhimsy "Eat, Drink and Be Scary" and "Velcome Inn" papers, Magnolia ink (I know! have actually cut into a sheet - wow!)So Spooky "Halloween Star" paper and My Minds Eye Haunted "Raven" this is the main kraft sheet which is really cool as the raven is flock and very touchy feely (again I have the whole pack of this set of papers and I bought them in November and this is the first time I have used them so I am well pleased about that too!), also used a couple of the bits from the accessory sheet too. For the top I used my Martha Stewart gravestone punch, I hand cut out the Magnolia paper scallops in the hope that they would look like gravestones - not sure whether this is conveyed or not though!  The stamp in the bottom left hand corner is a Lavinia cobweb.  The mini birds and Upon A Time Alphabet are Sizzix dies and the ghosts, pumpkins and spider are quickutz. Have used Rusty Hinge, Black Soot and Mustard Seed distress inks and Orange, Lava Green, Black and Gold Inka gold paints.  The letters and spider have been covered in glossy accents so are nice and sparkly too.

Whole layout is based on a sketch by Nic Howard.

Thanks for looking :)

If that's not enough

I am doing another online course too!  This one is over at www.bigpictureclasses.com/ and is the Colour or is it Color? course by Nic Howard.  I only enrolled yesterday but the course actually started last Thursday so I hurriedly did the first weeks colour (red) last night by making my quick 6x6 pages like this:

The heart isn't stuck on yet because it needs to have red bakers twine wrapped around it but I definately got it out and put it on my craft table last night and as I had to leave the crackle paint on the heart to dry overnight I came to wrap it around this morning and I have lost it!  the whole reel!  if you see it let me know!

And here is the layout I did:

This is basically a complete scraplift of the one done in the class due to me wanting to finish it by today (this took me all night and then I left the sewing until today so that I didn't wake the children up using my machine!).  Not sure I like the placement of the red flowers by the birdie so I might have to add another one there and also I meant to put a small birdcage on the sewn strip on the right hand side and for some reason that completely slipped my mind today but I am sure I can manage to add one on there tonight.  Birds, swirls and flowers are sizzix dies - the birdies have been inked with Pumice Stone and covered with Burnished Bronze mica powders, the flowers are made from red fabric and inked with black soot, the swirls are inked with Pumice Stone and covered with Glittering Gold mica powders.  Papers are My Minds Eye and Basic Grey.

I have then spent about three hours today doing these two quick?? 6x6 pages:

have no idea why I had to spend so long messing about with them but they just weren't talking to me today and I did have the tv on so I guess I was just wasting time really.  Still onwards and upwards hopefully these courses will get me out of my scrappers block!

Thanks for looking :)

Looking to learn

Oooh am quite excited as I have signed up for this course:

http://limegreenbogiegirl.blogspot.com/p/online-classes.html

and am going to go to this workshop:

http://shop.afth.co.uk/sat-30th-july---kraft-resist-journal---10-3pm-5887-p.asp

can't wait to get started on the first one although it won't be today as the girls and I are off on a jolly to Bramble Patch in Northampton - it's our Summer Fayre is over treat!

Whoo hoo.

Also can I say a big hello to Sam - thanks for following me :)