Candy Winner

Thank you all so much for leaving comments for the candy - there were 31 comments, four of which came from two people, so I did a random draw from 1-29 which resulted in:

which is CAROLYN- whoo hoo.

Carolyn please contact me via the contact button at the top of this blog and I will get it sent off to you as soon as I can.

Thank you everyone for joining in - am already on 311 posts now so there might be another set of candy up for grabs again soon too!

It's my 300th post!

Whooo hoo!

To celebrate I am giving away some blog candy:

will pop a few diecuts in with this too.

To be eligible you need to be one of my lovely followers and leave a comment on this post.  The blog candy winner will be chosen at random on Sunday 13th May.  If you could leave a link to this and/or a photo on your blog I would be grateful but its not essential.

Thanks everyone for joining me on my creative journey!  The Tricentennial Poster from Solihull

Compendium of Curiosities Challenge week 5

The technique this week over at Studio L3 is Shattered Stains which is on page 48 of Tim Holtz's A Compendium of Curiosities, Volume 2.  It is also sponsored this week by http://www.simonsaysstamp.com/ with a $25 gift certificate for a randomly picked winner.

Here is my take with a shattered stain lampost:

Bit of a motch potch of colours this week but I like it!

Lampost is T!ms sizzix die and coloured with Mustard Seed, Broken China, Vintage Photo, Spiced Marmalade and Peeled Paint distress stains.  The tag is coloured with Squeezed Lemonade, Tea Dye, Peacock Feathers, Shaded Lilac and Broken China inks. 

The Ticket stamp is by 7 Gypsies from their Ephemera collection stamped in Indigo Color Palette ink. The Bus, small line of lamposts and Carnaby Street sign are by Creative Journey from their London collection and the Bowler Hat and Look Left sign are by Artemio from their London collection.  All stamped with either Crimson or Jet Black archival ink.  The Union Flag ribbon is from Dandelion Designs and the red, white and blue twine is from Creative Craft World.

I made this tag and got half way through T!ms May tag (my melt pot dipped flowers are looking fantastic!)when I realised that it's T!ms monthly tags that I am supposed to be doing with an English theme and not necessarily CC2C!!  Might just have to go and make another May tag now as I have done one a green one with birds on!

Don't forget to check back tomorrow if you have left a comment on my candy post as the winner will be drawn then.  Also can I just say a big hello to Franzesjoi, Beth and Buttons - thank  you all for following me.

Thanks for looking - All melted out from Solihull

Some USOs (Unfinished Sewing Objects!)

Well what a weekend I have had - I have been busy preparing for some new workshops I am planning on holding soon and also finishing off lots of sewing:

Here are two of my sewing pieces:

The finished dresden plate table mat - needs an iron but I am sure that won't happen!

A table mat to keep my sewing machine on - this was actually on my table runner but I decided it was too long so I took off the last 7 pieces and made this - the back has the same light blue background but no houses on this one!

I have also completed my Red, White and Blue table mat for a blog hop I am in on 1st July so I can't showcase that one yet.

My plans have all changed for today so I now have the day in so after a bit on ironing I will be getting out my inks and having a play - whoo hoo. Oh and my other bit of news is that I bought a new car on Monday - double whoo hoo!!  will be going and picking it up next Wednesday (rather pleased as I have a full tank of petrol in my current car so I have decided it would be rude not to visit a few crafty shops this next week just to use it up!  tee hee).

A big hi to Silvia and Heidi - thank you both so much for following me.

Thanks for looking - Tired after a sleepless night from Solihull

New distress inks

Treated myself yesterday to the new seasonal distress inks - well it's rude not too really isn't it!

Have spent a happy Sunday morning making a tag - using the same techniques for CC2C yesterday:

Colours used are Squeezed Lemonade, Peacock Feathers, Shaded Lilac (all yummy!) with a bit of Vintage Photo (of course!).  Stamps are Indigo Blue from their Wild Meadow range, Picket Fence is T!ms on the edge Fence die which I have discovered you can turn around and get longer fence poles so I am well pleased with myself.  Bird cage and birdie are also one of T!ms dies.  The mask used (which you can't really see) is a Creative Expressions one with no name but it's basically a foliage one.  Finished with a rather small set of alphabet stamps, bling, rose ribbon (another of my fabulous finds in Wolverhampton market) and a strip of canvas inked with Vintage Photo.

All in all an enjoyable and relaxing Sunday morning although I have to admit I have slightly, just ever so slightly, fallen out with the chaps with Ranger because remember this?

Yes my lovely, handmade from mountboard, portable box to transport and store my distress inks in:

well as you can it was a very snug fit with the two other sets of seasonal distress inks in, so I spent hours the other weekend making a completely new one:

and guess what, yes you have guessed it, my three new inks are now a very snug fit!

Darn it - however haven't got the time to remake another one at the moment so they will just all have to squeeze in there for the time being!  Oh well am sure I will forgive Ranger soon.

A big hello to Leanne and Michael - thank  you both so much for following me.
Thanks for looking - Inky Fingers from Solihull

Compendium of Curiosities Challenge week 4

Have managed to get cracking on this this afternoon so I am ahead of myself!  Two posts in one day too - get me!

This tag is made from the technique Faded Layers which is on Page 43 on T!ms Compendium of Curiosities 2:

Background is inked with Spun Sugar, Victorian Velvet and Crushed Olive.  Then I used a Creative Expressions cog mask with Vintage Photo ink.  The background stamp was Watch Gears by Hero Arts and then I used three of T!ms Mini Muse stamps all inked with Black Archival.  The cogs are from T!ms sizzix die and are inked with Vintage Photo and edged with Black Soot, the tag is also edged with Black Soot.  I used metal washers coloured with Slate and Snow Cap alcohol inks and the screw brads are some old Karen Foster ones that I have squirreled away in my stash.  Finished the tag with a steampunk badge from Hobbycraft, a T!m metal cog, some pink and kraft twine and a bit of doodling with a white pen. 



To join in the fun pop over to Studio L3.

Thanks for looking - Cogging along from Solihull

May the fourth

be with you!

 Gotta be done hasn't it!

A big hello to Fat Dormouse, Lacramioara, April, Needlewings and Fairy Thoughts - thank you all for following me.
Thanks for looking - Off to find danish pastries to put in my hair from Solihull

Compendium of curiosities 2 - challenge 3

Here is my take on this weeks CC2C - which this week is taken from page 46 of T!ms book - marbled stains.

I had to enter as this is my favourite technique and I use it all the time however I do tend to favour using Picket Fence, Broken China and Vintage Photo distress stains, so for this tag I decided to push the boundaries and after applying Picket Fence to my craft sheet I then shut my eyes and went for three pot luck colours - very adventurous for a Tuesday (when I made it!) if you ask me:

I wanted to use my new Graphic 45 bottle stamps (bought in March and still not really used) and all I could think of was Alice in Wonderland and the "Drink me" bottle so out came my old Non Sequitor Alice stamps (bought years ago and still a firm favourite) and away I went.  Background is done in Picket Fence, Mustard Seed, Fired Brick and Faded Jeans stains then inked around the edges with Vintage Photo.  I have inked Alice and the bottle with Tea Dye.  The skull is a T!m diecut and I used his shattered stains technique (from the Creative Chemistry course last month) to give it a bit of colour and sparkle, then mounted it on black card to make it pop.  Have finished the tag with various ribbons and trims.

If you would like to join in with the challenge the details are here.  This week's challenge is sponsored by http://www.eclecticpaperie.com/, who are offering a $25 gift certificate to one lucky participant in the CC2C #3! So go on give it a go and join in with the fun.

Can I just say a big thank you to Elizabeth, fishcake_random, AJ and 505WhimsyGirl - thank you all so much for following me.

Thanks for looking - Looking through the looking glass from Solihull

WOYWW 152

I wasnt going to join in today but I have been up for an hour and then got twitchy so thought it best to jump in and show you this (be prepared you might be shocked!):

Ta Da!!!!  Got a bit scared watching Silent Witness yesterday so I thought I would have a tidy up instead!  I have the second part to watch today when a. OH works from home and b. Have small pile of ironing to do so I can stand there safely armed with a hot implement if anything untoward does happen whilst watching it (its a bit spooky!).

So the possibilities are endless today for me with an empty desk - I could get my sewing out, make some tags, prepare a class - one thing I do need to do is sort out a project for an interview I have next week - yes watch this space I might soon be joining the work force again and get to have adult conversations and everything!

One other quick thing to show you as I have a bare desk (oh that is the back of the table runner I made last week by the way - yes I don't know why I put more effort into the back of it and not the front but then I have always been a bit odd like that!) - is this little find from B&M Bargains:

Obviously it didnt come with tags but I thought it useful to show my recent creations and be a place to photograph them easily (it's not it's rubbish for that!) but at least now new tags are on display for a while and not just shoved in my tag box!

Thanks for looking and if you would like to join in with the world wide phenomena that is WOYWW click here to visit Julia and link up.

Thanks for looking - Up early and feeling quite chirpy from Solihull

If anyone is interested there is some blog candy for any of my followers on this post here

Finding Fun

I thought I would join in with this fun challenge over at Mess, Muddle and Fun, the theme this week is walking.  I already do lots of walking and the first four parts of the challenge were probably written with me in mind as I take full advantage of having two little boys and already go skipping down the street with them, play i-spy, go looking for lions and tigers in the local woods, hunt for mushrooms and go jumping in puddles too - funny the looks you get from the grumpy car drivers that stare at us whilst they are stuck in the long queue waiting to turn right from the lane into the main senior school road!

Anyway the sixth part of the challenge was to draw a pirate map - I have been meaning to make a pirate map to go in my pirate themed bathroom for ages now (the bathroom was painted bright yellow over a year ago and just has my pirate ship cross stitch on the wall and a half painted pirate ship bird box on the windowsill so far! although DS2 has now decided that he no longer wants the pirate bunting up in his room anymore (remember that??) so I am going to take his name off it and put BATHROOM on it instead too (that has been sitting on my to do pile for about six months so shouldn't be long now......)), anyway I am digressing, I started my treasure map on Sunday at my crop and have managed to finish it off this morning (quite quick for me!!):

For this I have used:  Vintage Photo, Tea Dye, Mustard Seed, Crushed Olive, Black Soot, Broken China distress inks.  Magnolia Message in a Bottle stamp, Pirate stamp – cant remember the make, Pirate ship and flag are a Mickey Mouse cuttlebug die, Quickutz Skull, Sizzix Palm Trees.  The Compass Stamp I think is Unity inked in Chocolate Archival Ink.  Promarkers used: Black, Chestnut, Berry Red, Lipstick Red, Saffron, Blush, Sunkissed Pink, Ice Grey 1, 2,3, 4, & 5, Moss, Gold, Cyan, Aegean, Sky Blue, Marsh Green and Cinnamon.

Had great fun with this and its helped cheer me up as yesterday was another sad day in my house as I went to my third funeral in as many months.  Yesterday was for my Great Uncle Wilf who was my Nan's brother-in-law so the funeral was held at the same crematorium, the wake at the same Working Mens club and the family members were much the same who attended my Nan's funeral so it bought it all back home to me, so where I finally felt last week that I was getting to the edge of the forest and could see the light through the leaves, yesterday I felt that I had taken a wrong path right back into the middle of the forest again and now have to find my way back out.  Oh well it's just life isn't it and thankfully I feel a bit better again today (especially since I have just been to Starbucks and had cake!!).

A big hello to Carolyn, Ruby, Tgerber and Madame Samm - thank you so much for following me.

Thanks for looking - Can't see the woods for the trees from Solihull

12 tags of 2012 - april

Here is my tag for the April tag over on Tims Blog:

I actually made it a couple of weeks ago but wasnt keen on the colour scheme and was going to redo it using reds as it would go more with my British theme but the tag has grown on me since then and I don't want all red tags so I have kept it as is.

Stash used was Wild Honey, Crushed Olive, Brushed Corduroy, Broken China, Tea Dye distress inks. Tea Dye embossing powder.  Pinecone leaves from Sizzix die (have since bought the bird on a branch die for the crop but its still unused in the box!), bird and wing are the from Birdcage die.  For the background I used Couture Creations World Map embossing folder with the Numbers reflections stamp inked with Jet Black Archival Ink.  To keep with my British theme I used the Inkylicious Union Jack 2 part – Keep Calm and Carry On stamp and the Artemio - London Landscape stamp.  Metal crown is from one of T!ms metal sets.  To finish the tag I used a piece of muslin died with Broken China and Wild Honey distress stains, a vintage lace diecut inked with Mustard Seed and Vintage Photo and then the lovely little soldier you see standing in the bottom right hand corner is cut out from a ribbon.

Thanks for looking :)  Off to Tennis from Solihull

If anyone is interested there is some blog candy for any of my followers on this post here

Compendium of Curiosities 2, Challenge 2

Wanted to take part in this challenge earlier in the week but Mr Mojo took a little holiday! Oh No! all day Tuesday to myself to play too but nothing happened I just ended up shuffling around in my button tin trying to organise a piece of crazy quilting but nothing was sparking my imagination - in the end I put it all away and put the telly on instead!  Thankfully though he has come back to visit this morning (yes this tag was done this morning before my school run!) so I can enter the super challenge here at Studio L3.

                                                 

Tag background was done with Mustard Seed, Vintage Photo and Picket Fence distress stains and then the edges inked with Vintage Photo distress ink, the background stamps are from the Wild Meadow stamp set from Indigo Blu - inked with Vintage Photo.  For the metal frame I used Snow Cap Mixative, Butterscotch and Hazlenut alcohol inks, the Butterfly word is stamped on kraft cardstock with a Cavallini & Co stamp in Chocolate archival ink and then inked with Vintage Photo.  The butterfly is a mover and shaker of T!ms coloured in Barn Door with a script stamp stamped with Vintage photo ink and some bling to finish.  The Flowers are another T!m die coloured with Faded Jeans, Spiced Marmalade, Barn Door, Scattered Straw and Vintage Photo stains - I was going to keep the colour scheme all yellow and browns but decided to add a bit of colour in at the minute to make it all pop!  The flower centres are old Basic Grey brads.  The large flower is T!ms Tattered Flower die coloured with mustard seed distress ink, edged with Vintage Photo and finished with a Making Memories glass bead.  Tag is finished with two brown ribbons, a Barn Door inked piece of muslin and a Making Memories pearl drop bead.

The faux patina technique on the metal frame is taken from T!ms new book Compendium of Curiosities 2 - page 58.  If you enter you will be in with a chance to win an Idea-ology messenger bag that has been autographed by T!m!!! whoo hoo.

Thanks for looking :) 

Just Tagging Along from Solihull



WOYWW 51

Morning everyone,

I have to confess I wasn't going to join in this week as my mojo was on fire the end of last week and the weekend - for the first time ever my children were happy to entertain themselves during the last couple of the days of the holidays so it left me time to get on with crafty things and I did loads of sewing! will blog more about that later - anyhow yesterday I got the house to myself and my mojo mysteriously disappeared! How annoying - instead I spent most of the day sat on the settee doing some hand embroidery whilst catching up with the all the crime dramas I had taped over the holidays - how lazy!  Still I am hoping for  better things today....

Here is my desk with everything just dumped on it so no specific project at the moment:

Yes the table runner is new, that was just one of last weeks creations and its embroidered on the back too!  Mannequin is new - a great find for £3.99 in B&M bargains can't wait to pimp her up!  That lovely tin from Paperchase holds all my buttons, that plastic bag is a little giveaway as I am two posts away from 300!  The material piece to the left is a new project I am working on I think its called crazy quilting - not sure - anyway that was the one that stumped me yesterday - I got all all my buttons and ribbons to funk it up and kind of lost interest - hopefully that wont last. 

Thanks for joining me again this week - if you too would like to join in the fun of sharing your desk with the world pop over to Julias.

Can I just also say a big hello to Scrapfanaatpeter - thanks for following me :)

Thanks for looking - Rained in from Solihull

I have a confession - it was me!

This morning, after relooking at the picture I posted yesterday of my dresden plate,  I decided to

so I sat and unpicked my slightly puckered dresden plate, reironed it all (and cleaned the iron in the process too!).  Whilst I was doing this I quickly reread through the instructions and realised that instead of sewing around the outside of the circle template I had in fact sewn inside it with a quarter of an inch seam - therefore my circle was too small!  So I redid another circle too (properly this time!), ironed it and I have now completed my dresden plate (again!):

looks much better now doesnt it.  This time I used some 505 to glue it to the backing material along with a pin in each plate.  Just need to get some matching fabric to bind it into a little quilt and turn it into a little table mat (I feel a quick trip out to Hobbycraft coming on!).  Now need to decide whether the plates are big enough for me to cut my Alice in Wonderland material into without losing too much of the design.

Such fun!

Thanks for looking - Sad it's the last day of the school holidays from Solihull

May crop class

Enjoyed myself yesterday putting together the class for our 20th May crop, I rarely scrapbook these days so its nice to have play with 12x12 papers again once in a while:

Have used some lovely My Minds Eye "Follow Your Heart" papers.  For those that come to the crop hope you have all seen that we are now moving permanently to Shelly Farm Community Centre in Monkspath - more details are here http://www.whathouseworkblog.blogspot.co.uk/.

Also how annoying is this:

and I followed a pattern and everything!  my sewing skills aren't perfect though and the background material is slightly puckered (the instructions said use one pin per dresden piece however I think I should have used two or three!) - luckily for me this is actually a test piece as I wanted to see how it easy it was to put together (very in fact! and also this only took me a couple of hours including all the cutting out) - but I wanted to try it out on scrap fabrics first so that I could size it all and see if I liked it enough before cutting out all my Alice In Wonderland fat quarters.  Think I will be doing another one though as they do look effective don't they.  I will repost the finished version of this when I have made a slightly bigger centre and edged it.  Will probably use it as a table mat when its completed.  If you want to have a go I got the pattern from here: Sew Mama Sew - I am sure yours will turn out just fine!

Also talking of disasters - spot the mistake on this one:

ho hum (and yes it is the same way up (or is that down?) all the way round - no putting it up against a wall and pretending its ok!!).
A big hello to Suzanne - thanks for following me, hope my disasters don't frighten you away!

Thanks for looking - Slightly askew from Solihull

Compendium of Curiosities Challenge week 1

Bernice sent me an email yesterday which I read first thing this morning asking if I was taking part in the new Compendium of Curiosities Challenges over at http://studiol3.blogspot.co.uk/.  I wasn't going to but when I read the challenge I had one of those moments of inspiration and creativity strike and I thought "ooooh I could make..." and so I have spent the last hour and half (yes I got up early today!) making this:

For the tag background I used Picket Fence, Barn Door, Faded Jeans and Vintage Photo stains and then I have inked the edges with Vintage Photo distress ink.  The stamps are by Artemio (stamped in Crimson archival and Vintage Photo) and the telephone is custom die made from a mover and shaker (only bought it yesterday and its already been used! whoo hoo!) stamped in Black Archival and the letters are again from a new die bought yesterday which is the new Word Play die (again whooo hooo!!) - these are inked with Vintage Photo and then stamped over with T!ms reflection number stamp (thought that was cute using numbers and telephones) again in Black Archival, the alphabet stamps are a little boxed set that I have had for years.  Finished off with flower ribbon, Barn Door and Black Soot muslin ribbons and then the two cutest English ribbons I have of soldiers and, of course, Tea.  Thought I would go along with an English theme like I am with T!ms monthly tags.
In order to take part in the challenge you need to use the technique on Page 66 of T!ms new Compendium of Curiosities 2 book and then you will be put into a random draw to win a $25 gift certificate from Simon Says Stamp  so go on have a go - it's lots of fun!

Thanks for looking - Having Fun from Solihull

WOYWW 150

Chaos!

start of a dresden plate quilt on the left hand side there so a bit of sewing going on, some new ribbons on the right from a fabulous little stall find in Wolverhampton market, I am testing out some new sizzix dies I have bought for the crop and preparing the next class layout so a bit of allsorts going on today! (well yesterday afternoon in the light but the desk still looks roughly the same this dark rainy morning!).

If you would like to see why I am baring my chaotic mess to the world then pop over to Julias and join in all the fun of her weekly desk blog hop.
A big hi to Kaz - thanks for following me :)

Thanks for looking - hoping to get a bit tidier today from Solihull

I've done a challenge

First time in absolutely ages - quite possibly a year in fact!  I realised yesterday that I still hadn't opened the new dies and stamps that I bought at the NEC last month so I got out my craft table in the lounge, whilst the rest of the family were watching Moonraker I thought I would do some papercrafting.  I got out all my bits and pieces and then sat there completely flummoxed (happens far too often at the moment!) and my mind went blank so I went online and looked through some of the challenges on my challenge page and went for a sketch from Sketch Saturday:

Here is my take on their sketch.  I used a book page, Sizzix doily die (my new purchase!), sizzix circle, T!ms butterfly kraft cardstock which I coloured with Vintage Photo distress stain, ribbons, T!ms butterfly mover and shaker die, script stamp, Indigo Blu grass and dandelion leaves stamps (another new purchase), the sentiment is by Whimsy Stamps from their Birthday Letter Seals collection.  The inks I used on this card are Crushed Olive, Ripe Persimmon, Vintage Photo and Tea Dye.
I would like to enter it into the following challenges:

Sketch Saturday for the sketch

Moving Along With the Times  - Shabby Chic/Vintage

Scrapbook Sisters - Anything Goes

and then as I sat there the film still hadn't finished and my mojo had started flowing slightly I actually did two more cards albeit the same but in different colour schemes:

here I used Broken China, Tumbled Glass, Vintage Photo and Crushed Olive inkpads.

and for this one I used Spun Sugar, Worn Lipstick, Vintage Photo and Crushed Olive ink pads.

So I am happy today that I have a little stockpile of cards for those birthdays that creep up on me when I have no mojo!

Thanks for looking - Happy Crafter from Solihull

And yet another sewing accomplishment

This bag has been on my to do pile for a while now:

it's rather sweet isn't it!  It's a bolster bag that is fully lined:

I got it from my Quarterly Crafting club which is Daisy Chain Designs - I don't think I would have particularly chosen it as a kit normally but am still rather pleased with it.  I am going to keep my distress ink foams in it which I know is a bit extravagent but let's face it I really don't need another bag!  I started it yesterday afternoon and then spent two hours last night turning out that handle! and then have just finished off the rest this morning.

Learn't a really good tip making it on how to sew circles - could have done knowing about that on Tuesday when I made three of these:

See it's been a busy sewing week for me!  Five projects completed oodles more to go.....

Thanks for looking - Happy Sewer from Solihull

Meet Peggy Sue!

isn't she lovely:

she is my new peg bag - complete with zip and she is fully lined! Well that was my Wednesday - what did you do on yours?

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

Thanks for looking - All pegged out from Solihull