WOYWW 195

Morning everyone,

Bit of an empty desk for me this morning as I haven't been working on anything much over the half term (apart from our lego project!) and then I tidied up the table on Sunday so that we could eat Sunday Lunch at it and haven't gotten around to mess it up again yet!

Hopefully I will have a play later today though which is why I have put my inks and mat out (at least you have something to look at then rather than a very bold tablecloth!).  You will see I have printed out a couple of pagemap sketches and have the latest copy of Craft Stamper - I am hoping to get the mojo together to do a layout!  I know! I only did about three all of last year.

We shall see!  If you want to join in the fun of having a nosey at what folks are getting up to this week then pop over to Julias and link up a picture of your desk.

Thanks for looking - Feeling Scrappy from Solihull

Getting the family involved

My OH and children have also been inspired by all the attention my Windows Phone quilt and phone cover have been getting that we decided to make a new one together out of Lego! (after all we own nearly every set of Star Wars lego that has been made - so it should be easy right?).

DS2 (aged 8) and I started on a snow day a few weeks ago - I did the phone and email tiles, he did the really cool jedi tile on the top left.  We also started working together on the two people tiles - a lot harder to put together than they look! Then DS1 returned home from school and he got involved making the four squares on the top right.  OH finished work and reckoned that a Lego logo would look good instead of the 20:12 and 20:13 tiles I have used in the past - so he got busy on that one.

We finally got to put it all together this half term - discovering that we were short of black bricks - problem solved though as one of our trips away this past week has been up to the Lego Discovery Centre in Manchester (DS2's second favourite place in the whole wide world - the first being Legoland!) so we went and got a load of pick a bricks on our travels.  Imagine our dismay upon our return to find that we were about sixty short!  Not to worry though as yesterday we finally managed to get down to London and go on the London Eye, we also took a trip across town to have a look at the Olympic Park (albeit six months late!) where we also knew there was a Lego shop nearby! so another box of black pick a bricks later and we were able to complete this:

cool eh!  Why oh why Lego did you shut down the Lego shop in the Bull Ring, Birmingham???? this project would have easily been finished weeks ago if it was still there!

Still we have all had such fun working on this - the children are hoping that it is as popular as my sewing creations have been - so if you find this post please like us on facebook here, retweet us @SunshineGirlUK or whatever else you can to get it showcased - they are both so excited!

Btw it measures 25.5" x 13.5" so not very pocket friendly and no I won't be sewing a cover for this one!

Thanks for looking - Surrounded by bricks from Solihull

Lots going on

Hi everyone,

Sorry I haven't been posting much but I don't seem to have stopped the past few days. Children are currently on half term so we have been busy visiting museums and Lego Discovery Centre in Manchester, I managed to get a play pass out on Monday and went to the Stitches Trade Show with Bernice and Jackie - which was a lovely day out looking at lots of new goodies.  We also had a lovely day out with the grandparents in Stratford on Tuesday and yesterday DS1 was invited round to a friends so we had a good sort out and went to the tip! It's always refreshing to have a clear out isn't it. 

Anyway I have been busy on the crafting front - here is my next class for the crop on 17th March:

lots of T!m goodies on here - talking of which I have arranged to run some T!m workshops in my local Hobbycraft - how cool is that!  I will firstly do a demonstration of T!m stuff on Wednesday 6th March, 11am - 2pm so if you are in the area (Unit D3, Solihull Retail Park, Marshall Lake Road, Solihull. B90 4LD) please pop in and say hello - this doesn't require any booking but I will have on display some cards I will make at workshops which will require booking.  Here are a couple of the cards:

a sewing one (of course!)

then a clean and simple one (look at all that white space though - still might have to ink and fill it with text or something....... we shall see!).

Then on another, very exciting, note Microsofts media company have commissioned me to make one of my now infamous phone covers for a prize in a competition that they are going to start running next Monday (25th) - to join in go check out http://www.facebook.com/windowsphoneuk then (no doubt I will repost on here again then too!).

I also have loads of other things lined up for the next few weeks so I might not be overly active on here - Bernice has asked me if I would like to join in with her 12 Months in View year long challenge blog, she also has a call out for guest blog posters so if you are interested check out the link here http://12monthsinview.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/guest-post-call-out.html.  Then I have been commissioned to write an article for a sewing magazine (never been published in a sewing magazine before so that's another woot!) and also yet another blog hop with the quilting girls over at http://www.sewwequilt.com/ so I am going to be busy, busy, busy. 

Yes you could say my mojo is well and truly back and I now finally feel I am ready to step back into the world of crafting and get creative!  Monday was the first anniversary of my Nans death - last year was such a roller coaster of emotions for me and she is still so sadly missed, but I am starting to feel that there is a light at the end of the tunnel and I am approaching it, albeit slowly!

Thanks for looking - Lego Lord of the Rings Champion from Solihull

WOYWW 193

Hi everyone,

Gosh it seems an age since I have joined in for the weekly snoop!  Main reason is that I haven't been doing much paper crafting, and although lots of sewing has been going on it has been for blog hops and publications so I haven't been able to showcase it.

I have, however, spent the last two days trying to get some cards done but I seem to have spent hours fiddling about with bits and pieces and not actually sticking anything down - but still lots of fun has been had!

Here is my dining room table so you can see some of my creations dotted around but I have to confess yesterday I had my big craft table out in front of the tv so this has been piled up on the table ready to work on a bit later today (after coffee and a luxury manicure!):

I will be doing some Tim Holtz demonstrations at my local hobbycraft store in a couple of weeks so I need to get prepared for that too! whoo hoo, so there are some Tim bits and pieces dotted around - newest being the frosted film - very nice to play with and the modelling paste is because I need to prepare 20 backgrounds for my next crop class (luckily I have five weeks to get those ready!).  Hope you all like my new extremely bright and funky American Diner table cloth too!

Leave me a comment if you have enjoyed your snoop here today and if you want to join in yourself (go on show us your workspace - you know you want to!) then link up and join in the fun over at Julias.

Thanks for looking - Enjoying the fun in Solihull

Tims February Tags

Yes I said tags!  Whoo hoo - this months challenge has helped kill five birds with one stone! (such a strange saying that isnt it!).  Be warned this a very long post......

The first one is that my mojo is back! whoo hoo, the second is that I have finally gotten around to have a good play with my distress markers that I bought a few months ago, the third is that I have entered T!ms challenge, the fourth is that instead of a valentine tag I thought I would use a Christmas theme instead but then I remembered that I had set myself the extra challenge of using a British or Nursery Rhyme Theme - doh - so I went scouring the internet and this is what I came up with:

Tag one - snow:

Incy wincy spider climbed up the Christmas tree
Down came the snow and incy wincy freezed
On came the Christmas lights and melted all the snow
So incy wincy spider had another go

Tag two - Snowman:

To the tune of I'm a little teapot
I'm a little snowman round and fat
With a wooly scarf and a little bobble hat
Can you count my buttons 1 2 3
pick up some snow and throw it at me!

Tag three - Christmas Tree:

to the tune of 5 currant buns in a baker's shop:
5 christmas trees stood all alone
their hearts were sad cos they didn't have a home
chop went the axe, down went the tree
off it went to a happy family

4 Christmas trees...

and finally, tag four - Soldier:

Five little Soldiers stand in a row,
Four stand up straight and one bends low.
Along came the Seargent and what do you think?
Up pops the Soldier, as quick as a wink

or I could have gone with Nutcracker and:

The Nutcrackers sat by a plate on the table.
The Sugartongs sat by a plate at his side.
And the Nutcrackers said, "Don't you wish we were able
Along the blue hills and green meadows to ride?
Must we drag on this stupid existence forever,
So idle and weary, so full of remorse,
While every one else takes his pleasure, and never
Seems happy unless he is riding a horse?

"Don't you think we could ride without being instructed,
Without any saddle or bridle or spur?
Our legs are so long, and so aptly constructed,
I'm sure that an accident could not occur.
Let us all of a sudden hop down from the table,
And hustle downstairs, and each jump on a horse!
Shall we try? Shall we go? Do you think we are able?"
The Sugartongs answered distinctly, "Of course!"

So down the long staircase they hopped in a minute.
The Sugartongs snapped, and the Crackers said "Crack!"
The stable was open. The horses were in it!
Each took out a pony, and jumped on his back.
The Cat in a fright scrambled out of the doorway.
The Mice tumbled out of a bundle of hay.
The brown and white Rats, and the black ones from Norway,
Screamed out, "They are taking the horses away!"

The whole of the household was filled with amazement.
The Cups and the Saucers danced madly about.
The Plates and the Dishes looked out of the casement.
The Salt shaker stood on his head with a shout.
The Spoons, with a clatter, looked out of the lattice.
The Mustard pot climbed up the gooseberry pies.
The Soup ladle peeped through a heap of veal patties,
And squeaked with a ladle-like scream of surprise.

The Frying pan said, "It's an awful delusion!"
The Teakettle hissed, and grew purple of face.
And they all rushed downstairs in the wildest confusion
To see the great Nutcracker-Sugartong race.
And out of the stable, with screamings and laughter,
their ponies were cream colored, speckled with brown.
The Nutcrackers first, and the Sugartongs after,
Rode all round the yard, and then all round the town.

They rode through the street, and they rode by the station.
They galloped away to the beautiful shore.
In silence they rode, and "made no observation,"
Save this: "We will never go back any more!"
And still you might hear, till they rode out of hearing,
The Sugartongs snap, and the Crackers say "Crack!"
Till, far in the distance their forms disappearing,
They faded away and they never came back!

who would have thought that there were Christmas nursery rhymes?  anyway each tag uses a variety of stains, inks and markers.  Kraftcore cardstock embossed with one of T!ms Christmas folders, Christmas twine, Christmas tissue tape, Noel Ideaology adornments (coloured with promarkers and either bottle, snowcap or ginger alcohol inks). 

On the snowman tag I added one of T!ms diecut snowmen which was done in shrink plastic and melted in my melting pot (such fun!) and two old epoxy stickers I found in my stash, on the Nutcracker tag I added a T!ms Christmas ticket inked with Festive Berries, on the Tree tag I added a fragment with a Father Christmas image and one of T!ms epoxy stickers and metalz framez - remember them? must be about 8 years old - found those in my stash too! and for the Snowflake tag I added another epoxy sticker and frame along with a glass bead mounted onto a Lily of the Valley Christmas quote.

All in all a fun day's play!  What is the fifth bird I hear you ask - well come December all I have to do with these tags is mount them onto a piece of music paper and then onto a card and I have four Christmas card done! Whoo hoo.

Sorry this has been such a long post - hope you have stayed with me until the end......  A big hello to all my new followers who have joined me from the Dare to Dresden blog hop - so glad you all liked my cog quilt! That was such a fun hop wasnt it!

Thanks for looking - Feeling Christmassy again from Solihull

All the above poems were taken from the following websites:

http://www.nursery-rhymes-fun.com/rhymingstories-nutcrackers.html
http://rhymeslyrics.blogspot.co.uk/2008/01/five-little-soldiers.html
http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/Christmas/a1630524-Anyone-know-any-Christmas-versions-of-nursery-rhymes

oh and I have just noticed that this was my 400th post! whoo hoo.

I dared to dresden!

It's my day!  whoo hooo

 

For the past couple of weeks I have been busy preparing for a fun blog hop over at Madame Samms which is being hosted by the fabulous Christine - here is my take on dresden plate:

sorry trying to get an arty shot in so you can see my snow covered wishing well out on my front lawn but it didn't turn out the best!  Anyway as soon as I tried a dresden plate last June I saw it's potential for being a cog, and being rather partial to cogs I knew I had to make some.  I practised with some left over spotty material I had from a blog hop last September and cast them to one side.  When I saw this blog hop I knew it was the push I needed to finally get them finished.  I planned to make a whole new bunch of grey and blue cogs but when I had made three I realised that they went nicely with the spotty ones I had previously made so I put them all together on one quilt to save leaving them on a WIP pile for even longer!

To make the different sizes of cogs I put a dresden plate template into photoshop and resized it three times, printed them out and then laminated them.  When cutting out the bits for each plate (20 for each one) I cut 10 full size and then trimmed off either 3/4" or 1" off the other ten and pieced them together accordingly.

When done I then quilted the cogs onto a piece of cog material that I picked up in California last year:

it was bought a whim (told you I like cogs!) and I had no idea what I was going to use it for until this hop when I just used it as a plain back - I haven't measured it but I bought a yard and it's almost square (seems to have gone a bit wonky after cutting although I did use my big mat and ruler - think it's because I trimmed it down after quilting around the cogs as the material on the other side frayed like anything so I left cutting it until I was ready to bind it).  I used a left over green material to bind it so all materials have been found in my stash for this quilt - what a bargain!

Anyway I have then had another bash at free motion quilting:

hope you can see all my little cogs there! honestly doesn't it take an age - two days plus just to do all these fmq cogs.  For these I die cut out lots of three different sized cogs in paper and then pinned about 10 at a time on the quilt and sewed around their edges.  I would be grateful for any feedback on whether this is a good way to go about free motion quilting or whether I should invest in one of those pens with the ink that disappears and then draw them on first?  I must admit I did have sore fingers from lots of pin pricks and also there is a spot of blood somewhere on the quilt (in my eyes though you know you are a true crafter if you have a cut or a burn somewhere about your person! or even go to collect the children from school with inky fingers and glitter all over your hair! which happens to me frequently! tee hee).

Hope you like my take on the dresden plate - for a whole other bunch of fabulous sewers please check out these links for today's showcasers:
 

A Reformed Heath'n

Meadowbrook

Rosemary B @ “that Other Blog”

Stitch Duchess' Crazy & Sane Quilting World

Grammie Q’s

Bumbleberry Stitches

Sunshine Girl  (you are here)

Spiral

Butjenter Quilter

Blooming Where I am Planted

Quilting Lodge

The Tilted Quilt

Life in the Scrapatch

Pretty Bobbins
In The Boon Docks

Sew Much and More

Threading My Way
Pink Ribbon Quilts

thimblemouseandspouse

For a full list of all the other quilters taking part please see Christine's blog above.

Thanks for looking - Cogging on from Solihull

A new blog hop

Hi everyone,

Sorry I haven't been too active on my blog recently - mainly because I haven't had any mojo to do much card making or scrapping yet this year.  I have however been busy sewing and have managed to get a great project done for a blog hop that starts today over at http://www.sewwequilt.com/. 

The blog hop is called Dare to Dresden and involves over 100 of us making up quilts, pillows, table runners in fact anything that takes our fancy with some type of Dresden plate on it.  My showcase day is next Monday (the hop doesn't run over a weekend) and if you want to join in some of the fun then the full schedule is over at Christines blog http://www.quiltmonstercloset.com/.

Am hoping to have a delivery of some new T!m stamps and stains today (snow permitting!) so hopefully my mojo will get a kick start to do some papercrafting later!

Hope to see you all Monday and if you get chance beforehand go check out some of the blogs over at Christines - they are all very inspirational.

I would just like to say a big thank you to my two newest followers Anita and Sue, thanks for joining me on my crafting journey!

Thanks for looking - Still enjoying the snow from Solihull

It's a snow day - what to do?

well you need to keep your Windows Phone warm of course!

I noticed earlier that I have another mention on WindowsPhoneUKs facebook time line (link here) about my phone cover, however they thought that it was knitted, so I decided (at 1pm today I hasten to add!) to show them just what a knitted phone cover would look like (after all there is only so much a grown woman can take sitting playing Lego Lord of the Rings with an eight year old!) - so whilst I supervised him playing Minecraft out came my knitting needles and less than 3 hours later I have another phone cover:

There it is next to my original one and resting on a lovely Windows Phone messenger bag I have (that will soon be decorated in true Sunshine Girl style so watch this space!).

And here is the back:

added the button so my phone doesn't fall out! 

Hope you like it - it's the best I could do with the materials I had to hand (no way am I going out to brave a trip to my local craft store with two children underfoot - had enough snowballs thrown at me on Friday!).

Thanks for looking - Still Snowed In from Solihull

Tims January tag

Have spent a lovely morning on this very snowy day completing my T!m tag:

I decided to try and make my tag look like Big Ben and incorporated the nursery rhyme Hickory, Dickory, Dock (the mouse ran up the clock!) with three (blind?) mice dotted around it to compliment the time theme - not sure if I accomplished that or not but I like it! 

I used some House Mouse Personalities stamps, the time quote is from T!ms Going Somewhere set, Artistic Outpost London Elements stamps (the Look Right pointer, telephone box and clock), Archival Ink in Coffee, Crimson and Jet Black.  Gathered Twigs, Frayed Burlap, Walnut Stain and Fired Brick distress inks with Frayed Burlap, Tea Dye and Tattered Rose Distress Markers.  The tag background is done with a brick embossing folder - I think by Creative Expressions not sure as I have reused the packaging! 

To define the bricks I inked the whole tag with Frayed Burlap ink, then used a Frayed Burlap distress marker to highlight the left hand side and underneath of each brick, then I reinked it all over again with Frayed Burlap and then inked the whole edge of the "clock tag" with Walnut Stain to define it further.  To finish the clock face I inked it very lightly with Frayed Burlap and then edged it very lightly with Walnut Stain and then used pen nibs to set the time to 1 o'clock covering the join of the nibs with two mini gears. 

I positioned a mouse looking like he was waiting for the phone to ring to give him the go ahead to race up the clock (how many hours do we spend in our youth waiting for someone to call??? or was that just me?), then I positioned the mouse in pride of place at the top of the clock to look as if he had just made it to the top for 1 o'clock! and then the (tired) mouse I rested on the scroll end of the Time quote (picture doesn't show this very clearly does it, but it is a rolled up scroll - honest!) to look as if he had just completed a run up and down Big Ben.

It seems I am still carrying on with my London theme with this tag! not sure whether I will manage that again for a whole year though as it required a lot of extra thought!  But I will try and either do British themes again or nursery rhymes (that sounds really tricky though doesn't it!).

All in all very good fun!  It didn't take too long as I have had it planned in my head for a couple of weeks but havent gotten around to completing it as I have been busy sewing a quilt for a blog hop I am in on 24th January more details are here - come back then and check out what I have made!

To check out the rest of the entries for T!ms January tag click here.

Thanks for looking - Snowed In from Solihull

edited to add - after posting I remembered I had a mouse footprint stamp so I have dug it out and this is now the finished tag:

cute eh!

Happy Birthday Tim

It's T!ms birthday on the 7th so the final CC2C challenge over at Linda's is to create a card for T!m - here is mine for him:

The technique used is on page 42 of Book 1 - Spritz and Flick distress as I know T!m likes to use this technique a lot so I figure it's one of his favourites!

I used Black Soot, Vintage Photo, Fired Brick, Walnut Stain and Frayed Burlap inks and a Black Soot Marker.  There are lots of T!ms mini cogs on here as I know he loves metal, and I finished the name TIM off with a key, pen nib and spinners.  A Cuttlebug cog embossing folder was used for the background.  The Umbrella Man is inked with black soot and then highlighted on his hat, boots and umbrella with glossy accents.  The stamp on the background is Watch Gears by Hero Arts and then I also used T!ms ticket and die stamp along with the Going Somewhere "Enjoy the Journey" stamp where I used a stamp repositioner to change the first word to "enjoyin".  I finished the card off with some brown twine with a metal disc saying "Made for You" on it.

There we go - my inky card for the man of inks!

I would also just like to say hello to my newest follower Peg - thanks for joining me!

There was great excitement in our household again yesterday when my phone cover on the previous post was tweeted by Nokia_UK! how cool is that.

Thanks for looking - Inky Fingers from Solihull

So did he get the message?

Well yes, yes he did!

Imagine my delight on Christmas morning when I unwrapped a lovely Nokia Lumia phone!

I just had to make a cover for it so after all our Christmas and New Year festivities were over I got busy with my sewing machine again:

I kept it the same colours as my quilt although I must admit I much prefer the Nokia blue tiles on my actual phone. This was far harder to sew than the quilt as the tiles are just under 1" square therefore I just chose a selection of the easiest tiles to replicate from the Windows catalogue rather than struggling with Internet Explorer, Star Wars Angry Birds and the Sudoku tiles that are on my actual phone.

I decided to include my name on it too (just in case I forget who I am! tee hee).

 

and as you can see peeking out from the flap on the right there it is fully lined in bright orange too!

Have had a great few hours styling the phone to suit me including the easy transfer of all my email and phone contacts, which is fab as you can link all your conversations with people in their contact entry, so see facebook, twitter, texts all in one place, and, joy of joys, imagine the excitement when I discovered I could download a free Phineas and Ferb soundtrack app to use as individual ringtones for everyone. So Ferb, I know what we are going to do today.....

Thanks for looking - A Windows Fan from Solihull

ps if you have no idea what I am talking about the original message is here

Its Oh So Quiet

on the crafting front I mean - not my house that's as hectic and noisy as usual! In fact more so with the children being off school.  I haven't had chance to play much this week - in fact the white tablecloth from Christmas Day is still on my dining room table so I can't get my inks out until I move it!

I did however paint two lovely pictures at my last two art classes which are on proud display in my dining room so I thought I would post them on here to show you all too.  Here is the one I did a week last Friday:

and the one I did the week before that:

both are done in acrylics.

Had a great time at the Solihull Pantomime on Friday and tomorrow I am taking DS2 to see the Gruffalo's Child in Birmingham, then we only have two more days until they go back to school! Boo. Oh well such is life as I will then have to catch up with the jobs I keep putting off as we are on holiday! 

So that's from me until next year! hope you all have a good one!

Thanks for looking - Off to play Lego Lord of the Rings from Solihull

WOYWW 186

Morning everyone, Hope you all had a super Christmas - we had a great time in our house apart from little one having a slight tumble down the stairs but apart from a red mark by his eye he was fine!  Bless - we had all the grandparents round for a lovely lunch and had a wonderful day opening presents and playing with the new games with the children.  Children got the Turtle Beach headphones and Hexbugs that they asked for, OH got his new tops and I got a new Windows Phone! whoo hooo.

I wont show you my table this week as we ate at it for Christmas dinner so it basically just has a white tablecloth on it and a neat pile of Christmas placemats, but as I would still like to join in I thought I would show you the Christmas table decoration I made (although he can also be used as a doorstop!) - Charlie the Turkey:

front

side

back - isnt that tail feather super!

I used some Westminster Fabrics that I won in a blog hop way back in July and a pattern fromThe Quilters Trader Post I bought whilst at the Malvern Quilt Show. He was called Lurkey the Turkey and I couldnt resist him but I am calling mine Charlie - much friendler!

I hope everyone has a great week off - the children are off until next Thursday now so we have a pantomime trip planned, a trip to see the Gruffalos Child at Birmingham Town Hall and various meet ups with friends and family so a nice fun packed week.

Hope you all got everything you wished for and more.  If you want to join in the fun and show your workspace to the world then pop over to Julias and join in the all the fun.

Thanks for looking - Feeling chilled from Solihull

More Festive Creativity

Felt like playing again yesterday so I gathered up all my spare configuration boxes that were left over from my gravestone and decided to make a Christmas Tree table decoration:

Just used various bits and pieces that were lying around really - T!ms pinecone, the mover and shaper Reindeer and 25, the large reindeer, ticket (and stamp), festive greenery, snowflake and Halloween shadows dies, two polysterene balls covered in glitter and made into a snowman - used bling for his nose and eyes, ribbon for scarf and buttons for his hat.  Parcels are simply handcut pieces of kraft card stock with the edges inked and tied with festive twine and a tag, the little jars are filled with glitter - here is a close up of their tags:

The Santa's washing line is made up from some old Penny Black (I think) stamps - inked with Jet Black archival, coloured with distress markers and then covered with glossy accents to add shine and puff paint to create a fur effect:

I only really used Vintage Photo ink on here with Broken China and Brushed Pewter stains on the snowflake. Finished the tree edges with festive pom pom ribbon, T!ms lantern - how cute is that! and a robin that I bought in a set of three last year.  The tree itself was made up from spare configuration boxes, painted green using PaperArtsys Fresco Finish Hyde Park paint, the insides were covered with some pages from Hamlet and then the whole thing sprayed with Old Lace glimmer mists - it has a lovely sparkle!

All in all a very nice days play - sorry for poor pictures its another rainy day here!

I am going to enter this into the following challenges:
http://pennybfriendssaturdaychallenge.blogspot.co.uk/ - Glitter and Sparkle
http://simonsaysstampschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/ - Anything Christmassy
http://stampinfortheweekend.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/challenge-24-anything-oes.html - Anything Goes
http://delightfulsketches.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/anything-goes-2-week-challenge.html - Anything Goes
http://sirstampalotchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/december-challenge.html?m=0 - Treemendous
http://abc-challenge.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/d-for-deck-halls.html - Deck the Halls
http://christmasatsweetstampinchallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/its-anything-goes-for-challenge-1.html - Anything Goes
http://pennyschallenges.blogspot.co.uk/ - Merry Christmas
http://ladybugscraftsinkchallengeblog.blogspot.co.uk/ - Anything Goes at Christmas
http://www.craftingforallseasons.blogspot.co.uk/ - Green and Red plus Glitter and Sparkle
http://divasbydesignchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/ - Anything Goes

Only three more sleeps - whoo hooo.

Thanks for looking - Feeling Festive from Solihull

My mojo is back!

whooo hooo!

It's about

been having a lovely crafty play on this dark and dismal day, and I have had over 3000 blog hits on my Santa Sleigh post via T!ms blog - how cool is that!

Used a new Timepiece embossing folder, lots of gears and new mini gears, Recollections Time Flies stamps, new bit of lace, T!ms alphabet die, Vintage Photo and Salty Ocean inks, some new Blue Patina perfect pearls and a new bit of ribbon.  So much new stuff - so little Time!!!! Where did it all come from I wonder? just sort of found it all lying around.....

Thanks for looking - Finally doing something from Solihull

WOYWW 185

Happy Christmas everyone!

Haven't joined in so much this year as I really haven't been as creative as I usually am but I have had so much fun when I have - not much on my desk this week:

am still struggling to get creative - in fact yesterday I wrote out a list of things I need to get done as I had a free afternoon and I still couldn't muster up the enthusiasm so I read a book instead!  That little pile of stuff in the middle is some new goodies I have to play with - kraft glassine, the Tim Spooky sizzix die, the two T!m snowflake dies (not new but so need to make my little Christmas trees still!) and some art parts.  The pile behind are my Christmas cards, no idea how that Santa hat got there and the pink pile at the back is a basket I have been crocheting - I have only just learnt how to crochet and I didn't have a pattern to follow so it's a bit rubbish but it will do the job!

Hope everyone has a great Christmas and new year.

If you want to join in the blog hopping fun then pop over to Julias.

Thanks for looking and keeping with me throughout 2012 - All ready for Christmas from Solihull

Dashing through the snow

Well here it is - my twelfth T!m tag of the year:

For this one I have used Barn Door and Tarnished Brass stains, an Artist Cellar Old World Map Series (London) mask, Evergreen Bough and Tea Dye distress inks, T!ms Reindeer and On the Edge Tree dies, 7 Gypsies tissue paper over grungepaper, Creative Journey London Stamp, Jet Black Archival Ink, Rock Candy Crackle Paint, Pearl Glitter, White Acrylic Paint, Muslin, Black Bling and a Red Seed Bead for the Reindeers eye and nose.

The colours arent the best on this photo so here is a shot of the tag before I added the trees and reindeer:

They are so vibrant in real life - photos never really give our tags justice do they!  I have added the stamp and mask to keep in with my British theme.

If I had realised 11 months ago that when I said "My 2012 tags are all going to have a British theme" just what an extra big challenge I had set myself I might not have attempted it.  However attempt it I did, and what a wonderful extra push it gave me - yes it was tricky and some of the tags actually took me a couple of weeks to ponder over just to come up with a British theme but it took me out of my comfort zone and made me a lot more creative.  I haven't made as much stuff as I usually do this year - I think losing my Nan in February has had me on an emotional roller coaster this year but when I havent felt like creating much I have just wondered off and done something else - I know creativity doesn't have a switch that you can just press when you want to make something but I do know that lack of creativity happens occasionally and not to stress about it but to go and do something else that fills your time and gives you pleasure rather than sitting at a desk for hours getting frustrated when nothing goes right (yes have been there too!).

Anyway I am digressing - all my T!ms tags this year have had a British theme:

February - Hearts with Union Flags
March - Tower Bridge with Union Flag bunting
April - "Keep Calm and Carry On"
May - Red, White and Blue
June - London scene
July- London eye scene with fireworks over the Thames
July again - City of London stamp with fireworks
August - Sherlock Holmes (which was a winner too - whoo hoo)
September - Union Flag done in metal
October - United Kingdom as a huge graveyard
November - London telephone box in Autumn
December - Snowman with Tower Bridge in the background with baubles hanging from it like the olympic rings
December again - Reindeer dancing over the streets of London.

Whew - I am amazed that I managed this myself - but what fun it was.  Wonder what the theme will be next year??  I also think it's funny that I have got to the end of all twelve without a Winnie The Pooh, Peter Pan or Alice In Wonderland one done - these were my main ideas to use way back in February!

A big hello to my newest follower Linda F - hope you enjoy my blog and also a big thanks to everyone who visited and joined me from T!ms blogworthy link, I am just 73 hits off 3000! how amazing is that!  Beats my link from www.Microsoft.com which is just under 2000.  Who would have thought my little blog would generate that much interest - I am so pleased and grateful to you all for your lovely comments.

Busy day ahead for us as we are off to Cadbury World - whoo hoo.

Thanks for looking - Off to eat chocolate from Solihull

December Doings

Well it has been a busy week in our house - DS1 turned 12 on Friday so we were busy celebrating that Friday and Saturday with parties and then today we treated ourselves to a Christmas meal in Wetherspoons and had a visit to see Father Christmas too - all very enjoyable.

Yesterday I had a bit of mojo return although he seems to have wandered off again today but I have stuck some tissue paper onto some grungepaper in the hopes that he might return later!  Anyway here is my first T!m tag of December:

I kept the colours the same as T!ms as they are just wonderful also it gave me chance to play with my new Burnished Pewter stain which I have to say is my favourite at the moment and also I kept the Snowman as he is so cute.  To keep with my British theme for these tags I had a long think and then suddenly remembered that Tower Bridge had the Olympic Rings hung from it this summer so I replicated that by hanging three baubles spelling out joy.  I also changed the snowmans hat from his traditional square one to a typically English bowler hat - although I cut out and kept the holly on his new hat. 

The Tower Bridge and Snowman arms were stamped directly onto the tag using Jet Black archival and then I restamped the Snowman onto watercolour paper and coloured him using markers (Black Soot, Broken China, Spiced Marmalade, Barn Door, Pine Needles, and Vintage Photo), cut him out and mounted him in the correct position on the tag.  I then stamped out three baubles and coloured them with Barn Door and Pine Needles markers and used Picket Fence to write the letters JOY, when the white had popped out I drew around the letters with a black pen to make them stand out even more.

Stamps used were T!ms Snowman and baubles, Artemio London Stamps (bowler hat and Tower Bridge).  I finished the tag with three red seed beads on the holly on the hat, Pom Pom ribbon, white ribbon, stain dyed ribbon to match and a Christmas muse token.

I must admit that although this tag is really plain and simple its one of my favourites so far - the colours are just fabulous and I love my baubles hanging from the bridge!

I would like to say a huge thank you to all my new followers - so many have you have joined me this past week! and also a big thanks to all of you subscribing by email - I didnt realise that there were so many of you until I found a link and kept on drilling down until I found my subscribers email list - wow!  And also a big thanks to everyone who emailed me asking for instructions on how to make a sleigh using T!ms signpost - there were so many of you! I hope you all have fun making one and come back and let me know as I would love to see them.

Thanks for looking - Still on Cloud Nine from Solihull

WOYWW 183 and a Toot!

Hi everyone,
I wasnt going to join in today even though I am planning a crafty day in my dining room but I have just seen that I have had a mention on T!ms blog and its put me in an incredibly happy mood that I feel that I can conquer the world! (that and I am addicted to peeking at others mess - sorry creativeness!)  plus I need some inspiration..... mojo has seriously left me these past few days although I have been doing an online Christy Tomlinson course and my normal painting class on Fridays so its not all bad!

Anyway here is my desk/dining room table:

as you can see not much craftiness going on!  I have printed out T!ms december tags there to get on with today and the pagemaps sketches were used to make a card yesterday but I have had to move that in case the recipient reads this!  The snowflake has been sitting there for almost two weeks - its part of a Christmas Tree decoration I am making similar to T!ms rosettes one last year - the tin is full of my handmade Christmas cards and a couple we have already received - including a birthday card for DS1 who will be 12 on Friday.  At the back are two presents waiting to be wrapped and a new phone and ear phones that are all mine - whoo hoo!

Thats my desk - hopefully it will be messier in a bit - if you want to join in the fun pop over to Julias and join in the fun!

Thanks for looking - a Happy Blogger from Solihull!

ps If you want instructions of how to make the sleigh using T!ms sign die on this post here http://www.sunshinegirlnicola.blogspot.co.uk/2012/10/a-sign-that-christmas-is-on-its-way.html please email me and I will send you a pdf.  Thanks and Happy Christmas!

Art Journalling

I am still branching out slowly and getting into art journalling - here is my third attempt:

OK to me this doesn't look much different to the tags I make apart from the fact that it's bigger and has no ribbons on the top! 

Anyway for the background I used Melted Chocolate, Postbox Red and Pure Sunshine dylusion sprays, then Broken China distress ink through some sequin waste which I then added a white pen to.  I then used texture paste and puff paint through a Wendy Vecchi Brick Wall stencil and a Glitzcraft Santa_Sleigh stencil, heated it so it puffed up and then painted the house roofs with Angelic Teal Lustre Blonde Moments pearl pigment.  When dry I then painted the wall and snow with white acrylic paint to brighten it up a bit.

The reindeer is a T!m die and is coloured with Tarnished Brass metallic stain, edges inked with Vintage Photo distress ink and then a red seed bead for his nose.

The Snowman is also one of T!ms, cut from card covered with music paper, with the numbers 25 from the Reindeer die cut out from his tummy.  His hat is coloured with Black Soot distress stain, all his edges done with Vintage Photo ink and his nose with a Spiced Marmalade marker.  His scarf is some fibre called Let's Grow from Hobbycraft and his eye some black bling.  I finished with some black pen lines to ground the snowman and reindeer and an Inkylicious Santa's Sleigh stamp in Jet Black archival.

I have moved away slightly from a tag as the edges aren't inked or distressed but as you can see I haven't added any journalling! Oh well, small steps......

A big hello to my newest follower Joe whom I have actually met in real life as he used to work in a scrapbooking shop in California!

Thanks for looking - Cant believe it's December tomorrow from Solihull