Creative Chemistry Day 2

So here are my first set of tags for this fun class:

Tag 1: Peeled Paint, Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed, Barn Door, Broken China, Tea Dye and Vintage Photo.

Tag2: Mustard Seed, Peeled Paint, Barn Door, Spiced Marmalade, Broken China, Forest Moss and Iced Spruce - stamp is from Artful Flight by Stampers Anonymous mounted onto barn door inked tag.

Tag 3: Wild Honey, Milled Lavender, Peeled Paint, Mustard Seed, Barn Door, Broken China and Vintage Photo.

Desperately want to add a bit of perfect pearls to the two end tags - but I won't! Honest! will keep the tags as taught in the class.

Have done all these techniques before but still learn't a couple of things today so am very glad I took the plunge to take the class.

Thanks for looking - Loving to learn from Solihull.

March Crop Class

It's my turn next week to do the crop class and my technique this time is a different way to distress edges - I have already uploaded a picture of this on the What Housework blog but I looked at it yesterday afternoon and decided it needed something else so this morning (it's looking like my mojo has returned as I have done this and now have the urge to do a scrapbook layout too! we shall see though as I have a busy two days this weekend (don't we always!!), so I have added a little cluster of handmade embellishments in the bottom left hand corner:

and have added some journalling to the hidden tag:

Thanks for looking - Feeling creative from Solihull

Tims March Tag

The theme over on Tim's blog this month is mosaics.  In order to keep my British theme I decided my mosaics would take the form of Union Flags in a bunting:

For this tag I have used:  Artemio London Stamps (the crown, Tower Bridge and the Union flag), Creative Journey London Stamp (the Police Box).  The inks I have used are:  Black and Crimson archival inks, Stonewashed Adirondack, Walnut Stain and Frayed Burlap distress inks along with Barn Door and Broken China stains for the ribbons.  The tag is sprayed with Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls, the background image is actually a Couture Creations embossing folder of a World Map which I inked with Broken China and used as a stamp.  The flags are finished off with Judikins White embossing powder and glossy accents and then I finished the crown with bling and the bunting is held up with hemp (the expensive one no less!).  The tag is laid out on my dining room tablecloth which explains the leaning Big Ben next to it!

Took me an age to get the flags right - here are some disasters along the way:

The first one shows that Tim is right and other double sided tapes shrink with the heat!, the second is how all of my flags actually turned out until I realised that I could peel off the top layer of all the card pieces to get it looking better (as they are covered over in glossy accents it doesnt matter that they have been peeled down a layer), the third flag is a proper mosaic (using tiny pieces of cut up card) again this time I filled in the gaps with glitter but I still preferred the finish of the embossing powder so I redid the tag with larger pieces of mosaic bits which looked far better but then I didn't like the way I had cut the middle section into five so then I had to make another three flags which were the ones that have ended up on the finished version - took me hours this!  still they were happy hours.....

Thanks for looking - Relaxed from Solihull

Two years in the making

and it's still not quite finished but here is my Mandy Shaw quilt that I have been working on lately:

it's not quite finished as I still have a few ends to sew in on the back and also I need to add quite a few buttons (for birdies eyes, apples on trees, door handles and such like) and also add some charms to the title piece and centre piece.  I will have this as a work in progress though so it might still take me another two years to finish it completely!

Here are a couple of closeups:

This is the centre piece, it represents my family and the things I love - it still needs quite a few buttons and I have a load of lovely charms to add to it too.  Still pondering on how to jazz up the mannequin - any ideas gratefully received!

I like to think that this is me and my friend Louise going off to the quilt show!  (Malvern quilt show is only in a few weeks too - whoo hoo).

Sewing machine block - this just needs a button on the cupcake and it will be done.

I would also just like to say thank you everyone for all your good wishes, cards, flowers, emails and texts during this sad time for me - they have all helped immensely.

Thanks for looking - a bit chirpier and all sewn out from Solihull

TimsTag

It's true what they say about creating helping with the healing process - I actually made this last Thursday when I first got a few hours to myself to just sit and reflect.  I enjoyed every step of what I did on this tag and also found the whole process a lot more calming and relaxing than normal.

Here's my tag:

Tag is inked with Spun Sugar, Festive Berries and Barn Door.  The stamp is an old Tim one called Bank of True Love that I bought when I went to a class he did at Craft Fairy many moons ago (for those that know me this was the Weetabix fiasco weekend!), the envelope stamp and With Love are by PaperMania and then the Union Flag and Heart are by Artemio - I treated myself to these last week as I love the fact that you can stamp the first half of the flag in blue and then the other half in red giving a true Union Flag that is actually the right way up too!  All of my tags are going to have a British theme with a Union Flag somewhere on them as it's the Queens Diamond Jubilee this year and I am feeling rather patriotric.

Big heart is cut from grungeboard and inked with Spun Sugar and covered with distress Rock Candy stickles, the wooden heart I got in parcel from Art From the Heart, the other heart is chipboard and covered with tissue paper.  Tag is finished with Vintage Lace in Frayed Burlap, Spun Sugar muslin and some Primark beads.

Thanks for looking - still sad from Solihull

A tribute to Nan

My Nan used to love everything I made for her, in fact when we cleared her flat out I noticed that she had kept everything I had ever made for her including cards in an album so that she could flick through it to look at occasionally.  So I have decided to make her a little something to place on the coffin amongst the flowers and here it is:

I am sure she would have loved this too.

Rest In Peace

my lovely Grandma

26.7.22 - 18.2.12

If Roses grow in Heaven
Lord, please pick a bunch for me.
Place them in my Nan's arms
and tell her they're from me.

Tell her that I love her and miss her,
and when she turns to smile,
place a kiss upon her cheek
and hold her for awhile.
Because remembering her is easy,
I do it every day,
but there's an ache within my heart
that will never go away.

Author: Unknown

Says it all really - Sad from Solihull

It's been a while...

sorry not been in a particularly chatty mood recently - lots going on but I have still been doing a bit of crafting here and there.

Here is card I made for my friend who is the big 50 on Thursday:

as you can tell she is one of my sewing buddies!

I have also been having a play with masks and masking fluid recently - nothing is particularly finished but here are a couple of my works in progress:

this is done using Tim's dies, masking fluid, a couple of distress inks and a script stamp.  I don't know if any of you watch Bored To Death which is a quirky little detective show that is on Sky Atlantic - it's actually worth watching just for Ted Danson who plays a fantastic odd ball character in it.  Well anyway the starting titles are just a fantastic piece of artwork - they start off with a detective novel book cover then go on to an animated sequence which is what I have tried to replicate above (this is my second attempt) basically the houses and street lamp are pencil drawings and my reindeer is actually a man on the original and they are all coloured in with varying amounts of script - I did a pencil drawing but the images are a lot clearer with the backgrounds inked with a light distress ink first - not sure which one to go with or what do with them yet - I am thinking of making a larger version as a picture for the house and will probably turn the above into a Christmas card.  I have made several other backgrounds using masking fluid - I actually bought it for part of my art course but have found it to be great used in conjunction with masks.  I have no mojo at the moment though so nothing is getting finished.

Here is another background I have prepared just using a creative expressions mask and some masking tape:

goes well with my tablecloth doesnt it!  Will probably put some London ephermera on this using my London stamps - we shall see.

A big hello to rhiannynn - thanks for following me :)

Thanks for looking - Tired from Solihull

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Happy New Year everyone!  sorry it's belated but it has been that long since I have joined in.

Here is my desk this dark morning:

I haven't done any scrapping since my little flurry of activity doing 5 layouts in the style of the first 5 tags of Christmas.  Instead I have been getting on with my quilt (I am currently doing all the binding at the moment - very exciting) and also getting on with my art course.  I haven't been posting what I have been learning on that which I must remedy soon - yesterday I sat down and did a new colour wheel and the picture in the background is a practice of one that we started at the class last Friday and will be finishing this Friday.  The sewn organisers are there because I don't know where to put them - I have had them finished for ages but they have been in the back of a cupboard unused since then so I have got them out during my clearout to see if I can use them or I will sell them.  The packet of crisps is actually a pencil case!

These lovely new toys finally turned up last Friday:

Not had much chance to play though - I did a few background sheets at the crop on Sunday but that was all I managed and then I stamped on a few yesterday - will probably mount the finished pieces on birthday cards.

That's it at the moment - hope you all like the new tablecloth!  If you want to know why I am showing my desk to the world then pop over to Julias and see all the fun of showing your desk to the world!

Thanks for looking - Loving my watercolours from Solihull.

Christmas Layouts

A couple of weeks ago I decided I was giving up on scrapbooking for a while - I have loads of photos all printed out ready to scrap, loads of stash piling up and gathering dust but just no scrapbooking mojo.  So I had a clear out - I threw out inches of paper, I have bagged up even more inches of paper in the hopes of selling some at my next crop, I have thrown out old stash, I have organised old stash and given up two valuable storage box spaces to them - one with the intention of using the stuff in it in the immediate future and the other if it's not used in six months time (1st July) it's going in the bin no questions asked.  So after all that sorting and organising I suddenly got the urge to erm do some scrapbooking! 

I also had the idea that I could turn the 12 tag of Christmas into 12 layouts of Christmas, after all I can't be the only one who finds Christmas photos extremely hard to scrap.  Lets face it most of them are out of focus, blurred, have far too much clutter in the background, are full of garish and clashing colours (I could go on here...... but you get the picture).  So I dug out my pile of Christmas photos - all in all there are 66 of them (which doesn't include any from 2011 - that alone is enough to put you off isn't it! no wonder I have scrappers block here....), then I dug out some old Christmas papers and embellishments that I haven't thrown out yet!, sorted out a few printouts of some pagemaps and got to work.  Here are my results since last Sunday:

Layout 1 (based on tag 1)

am surprised I managed to carry on after this one - the big letters that don't fit on the tag are so out of my comfort zone, and I used the Santa and Reindeer mask on the top left when sticking down as I thought it looked bare there completely forgetting about the angel drying on the window sill that should have been there - but then I thought in for a penny in for a pound and used them both (because I had thrown out the rest of that Basic Grey yellow card and didn't have anymore (but since then I have found the said pile of Basic Grey old papers in a "safe" place! knew I wouldn't have thrown that out despite it being about 7 years old!) and as for the green embossed Love Elsie cardstock - what possessed me???  but all in all I have, after struggling past these little hurdles, ended up with a layout that although very plain I actually really like! Shame the picture is such poor quality (our carpet was a dusky pink and not black as it looks on the photo!) - still lovely memories are now captured forever and that's really what scrapbooking is all about isn't it!).

Layout 2 (based on tag 2)

This one I have used a whole sheet of kraft resist (I know!), managed to put a little reindeer in the corner and used up five different previously unused alphabets too!  The tag pulls out from behind the picture to read SANTA - forgot to do it for the purposes of this photo!  Again a fairly simple layout (although it took me hours!) but again I really like the result.

Layout 3 (based on tag 3)

Couldn't do this technique properly on Tag 3 as I didn't have the stamp or embossing folder but Ellie at the crop (** Hi Ellie! waving madly **) lent them to me at our December crop and I had a little play so it was nice to use it on this layout.  I also added some festive greenery in the corner - these are such a nice corner filler.  The tag has a lovely Stampin Up stamp on it but I made it without checking whether it fitted or not and when it came to it it was far too big on a plain layout so it had to be tucked out of sight!

Layout 4 (based on tag 4)

this is my favourite.  I couldn't do the tag to this one properly either as I didn't have the snowman die (do now though!) or the snowflakes but Bernice lent me these at the last crop too (** Hi Bernice! waving madly to you too!**) but I love this photo of the view out of my bedroom window and I really needed to use the Kaisercraft wooden lamppost that has been sitting in my stash since September (quite new really then!), the title was bigger than I wanted but such is life when using old stash!

Layout 5 (based on tag 5)

here I used the fragments from T!ms bonus tag rather than a background from the main tag and some lovely Magnolia papers.  I have been hoarding these for ages because they were just too nice to cut up (I am sure you all know what I mean!) - but now I have and on a double layout too! no stopping me was there.

However, I got half way through layout/tag 6 yesterday and decided I had had enough of "old" and whilst I still have some mojo left I would rather put it towards something I am going to enjoy making rather than carrying on with something that I probably won't (I have enjoyed making all of the above but know if I carry on I will get bored so it's time to move on).  So all Christmas stuff has now been put away and I have a tidy desk.  Maybe I will finish them in a few days time, maybe a few months but all I know is I have started and really enjoyed myself whilst I was making them too.  They may not be masterpieces or win any prizes but they are special memories that I have taken the time to capture, put on a fancy background and explain about them through journalling - either hidden or on the page.  The cloud has lifted.......

Thanks for looking - all seasoned out from Solihull.

How disappointed am I????

Postman rang the doorbell about 8am this morning and I went running to the door, frantically undoing all the bolts and chains before he disappeared thinking we were still in bed, all the while thinking it must be my order from the Craft Obsessions sale and what a fabulous morning to receive it on as children are still off school so no school runs or afternoon clubs to worry about, it's pouring down with rain so they aren't going to want to go out so I can sit and play with my new toys - yippee!!!

So here was the parcel:

bit lighter than I thought and in an Amazon box but it had my name on it so it must be my order and anyway I am all for recycling cardboard so it doesn't matter what box it comes in, so - wait for it....... - I open the package (after having a quick chat to the postman who is looking after his grandsoon who is now 5 - gosh doesn't time fly I remember him being born!) only to find it contains this:

damn, had forgotten all about these ordered online last week.

Am now desperately trying to think of an excuse not to do the housework and start crafting instead.

Thanks for looking - now really having no excuse not to have clean a kitchen floor from Solihull.

12 Tags of Christmas - Day 12

and last but certainly not least:

 only T!m could manage to persuade me to get the iron out on New Year's Day!  Background is made exactly the same as T!ms apart from I don't have his tissue paper (are you all feeling a bit sorry for me now???) so I made my own.  I also don't have the Vintage Market alphabet but I do have Santa's Workshop one (yippee!) so I used that with glitter paper and black card.  I used the big Snowman (which I treated myself to after tag 4) rather than a little figure (mainly because I don't have one of those either but I was going to ask DS2 if I could borrow his Star Wars Wompa figure but then I thought he would only want it back and I would have to rip it off the tag so I used Snowy instead!).  He is made from grungepaper, Broken China ink, crackle glaze, with Vintage Photo and Snow Cap paint around the edge.  The Let It Snow is a stamp again by Anita and is on glossy card stock, inked with Broken China and stamped in Archival ink.  Tag finished with that fabulous tissue flower and a lovely button, two pieces of greenery from the Festive Greenery die and some tinsel.  I died some muslin with Broken China to finish it all off.  Am well pleased with this one! 

Now all tags are on my tree (apart from tag 8 which I put on my "Magic of HoLTz" layout because it would just look plain silly on the tree!):

along with lots of lovely pinecones!

tee hee!

I would just like to say a big thanks to T!m and all his BTS helpers for putting all this together and inspiring me to get creative through what has been quite a stressful month for me.

Thanks for looking - already ready for bed from Solihull

12 Tags of Christmas - Day 11

and here is tag 11:

Didn't think I would like this so much as I am really fussy about my colouring in and don't like going over lines and I knew I would using distress inks and blending foam but you know I am really, really pleased with this.  I used an old Santa stamp I have and coloured him with Black Soot and Barn Door.  The Happy Christmas is by Anita and is coloured with Evergreen Boughs - both are stuck on with 3d foam.  I put layers of fluffy fibres on the bottom to ground Santa and the background of the tag is done exactly the same as T!ms. 

I had such fun making the little holly and branch embellishments.  I have had a melt pot for years - bought it when I went to a class by Suze Weinberg - but imagine my horror when I plugged it in a few months ago and it was broken!  But I emailed Ranger and they replaced it for me so I have had my new one for about three months now but not had chance to play with it - so today I played!  Have made a lovely assortment of little reindeers, snowmen, flowers, cogs and houses to play with another time and I also made the holly and branches for this tag.  The branches are handcut and didn't look the best before I shrunk them but now that I have they look fabulous - these are inked with Bottle and Hazlenut alcohol inks.  Finished the tag off with some red and green twine.

Thanks for looking - been up for even more hours from Solihull.

12 Tags of Christmas - Day 10

Here is my next tag for the challenge:

I already had the fragments prepared for this one but it still took me ages to complete!  I stamped the music onto a cream tag and dried it with the heat gun.  Then I stamped out the holly in Peeled Paint and poured on embossing powder - I was expecting it to stick all over the tag and not just on the ink but how wrong I was!  Am very impressed with this technique too and will be using this a lot in the future too!

The whole background is made as on T!ms tag, the fragments are made using images from Crafty Individuals pictures I have left over from a class I did there last year (or was it the year before??).  The ribbon and brads are old stash.  I don't have the banner die (it's such a shame for me isn't it!) so I handcut a banner out and stamped it with the same music stamp - wish I had used a different colour on it now to make it stand out more but it still looks ok in real life (I know it looks the same on the picture but it is different - honest!).  The alphabet is again Once Upon A Time and painted with copper paint.  Finished the same as T!ms with tulle, pearls and tinsel.

Thanks for looking - still been up for hours from Solihull.

12 Tags of Christmas - Day 9

I saw T!ms post yesterday about been entered in a surprise draw if you entered all 12 tags and thought I would give it a miss as I had only completed 8.  But then when I woke up this morning at 5am and lay there thinking "but I have got tags 9 and 10 half done....." I just had to get up and finish them all off - 7 hours later here are the results:

I made a few of these backgrounds and used them on Christmas cards - wish I had used this one now and kept the red one (or remade the red one) as I think it would have stood out better - still I am pleased with the results.  I don't have the candlestick die - boo hoo - but I do have the lovely lamppost so I cut it down and made it into a Christmas lantern.  The letters PEACE are cut from Once Upon A Time alphabet and the swirl is one of T!ms too.

For the tag background I used copper embossing powder and Vintage Photo distress ink - love this double embossed effect and I will be using it a lot more in the future too!  The lantern is coloured with Black Soot distress stain with mustard seed card behind it.  The holly is cut from green cardstock but inked with Peeled Paint and finished off with seed beeds.  The swirl is coloured with Festive Berries and some bling stuck on.  The letters were cut from an old hymn book and covered with glossy accents.  The other large leaf is from the pinecone die and is coloured with Peeled Paint.

Thanks for looking - been up for hours from Solihull. 

Happy New Year Everyone

Just posting to wish everyone who reads my blog a very Happy and Prosperous New Year.

I would also just like to share my favourite 10 creations for this year:

Advent calendar - front (or is it the back??)

Advent calendar back (or is it the front??)

This had a personal thumbs up from Tim so just has to be my favourite creation this year really - it still has pride of place in my lounge and will have until the 12th day of Christmas!!

The rest in no particular order are:

Benjamins birthday card

My friend Julie's birthday card

A Crop class layout I taught earlier this year

A tag I made for a swap on WOYWW

A Crop class layout that I will be teaching on 15th January

A tag I made and have kept for myself!

A favourite mainly because I love the story behind the photo!

Another personal layout - I love this one as I adore the papers and the resins

Another card I have made and haven't the heart to give away as I like it so much - might just have to send it myself next year!

Well that's me signing out for 2011 now and I will be back, hopefully firing on all creative guns, early in the new year.

Thank you all for looking and all your lovely comments throughout 2011 - Wondering if I will stay awake until midnight from Solihull xxx

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Here is a picture of my desk actually taken this morning and not the day before!  Bit easier when you get up a bit later isn't it!

Card there is a new home one for my Nan who moved into a nursing home last Thursday - haven't had chance to go and visit her yet with the children been off but she is settling in ok.

That roll up piece of kitchen roll at the back there is full of new coins! whoo hoo and the twine you see at the right hand side of the table is the expensive one from Hobbycraft (just thought I would share that!) and the little mushrooms beside it were also a Christmas present - they are little pots of rubbers and I got three of them as the children couldn't decide on which colour to get!  they will make little pots to keep "things" in and feed my mushroom addiction nicely!

If you are wondering why I am sharing a picture of my desk with the world then please pop over to Julia's where all be revealed!

Hope you all had a great Christmas.

Thanks for looking - a mushroom fan from Solihull

Happy Christmas Everyone!

Sorry I am late posting this - I didn't schedule anything for the big day and obviously have been a bit busy the past two days (to say my 7 year old has been excitable is an understatement!).

Here he is with our tree - as you can see I have finished the decorations (the children did all the rest which is why they are all precariously hanging off the edges and most are back to front!) with some of my T!m tags and lot of lovely handmade pinecones!

Here are a few of the cards I made:

Benjamin's

Jayne's (who loves purple!)

My parents - my OH parents had the same card but with Mum and Dad instead

OH's sister and brother in law card

Card for my Nan

and here is my favourite present:

a little R2D2 tin full of little tiny R2D2 mints! how cute is that - thought he would look nice talking to my table decoration snowman - and look 2 days on and there are still chocolates in there! (don't think the children have realised yet!!!!).

Thanks for looking everyone - overfed from Solihull.

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Only four more sleeps!  whoo hoo.

Here is my table in front of telly as of yesterday afternoon:

Bargain Hunt on the telly there! I wasn't watching it but turned off Glee as I suddenly thought about taking a picture in the daylight!  Here I was working on my Nan's calendar - only two more months to do now and it will be finished.  Usual clutter on desk and also the last four Christmas cards that I had to make peeking out there in front of my portable bin.  In the background you can see my advent calendar has pride of place on the bookcase (in fact it's taken over from the configuration box I made at Artsycrafts earlier this year which has been temporarily laid down for a month!) - the advent is popular with the boys which I am pleased about as it has had to compete against a Star Wars lego one with one boy opening it on even numbered days and the other on odd days - thank goodness! It makes all the effort worthwhile doesn't it!

Also on the bookcase is a half decorated sleigh that I really must get around to finishing (I seem to remember that I said that last year too!).

Looking forward to visiting some desks today - all my presents are now wrapped and under the tree and also all the eight tags that I made following Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas are hanging on the tree - they look really great mixed amongst the assortment of Disney, other handmade, Starbucks, Knitted, Babys firsts etc ornaments.

To join in all the desk hopping fun pop over to Julias.
Thanks for looking - Excited from Solihull.