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Monday 31 January 2011

trying to get ahead

hi world

this week i am trying to get ahead with the card making, i always seem to leave stuff till the last minute, so this year I AM  going to get ahead. there are a couple of cards i made today



 the stamps are from the artistic stamper, the mabel lucy attwell collection. i won the whole set last year . . .  in a lucky dip competition.
the pictures are simply coloured in with pencils.
 the top card has a  paper flower which is inked with distress inks. the tag underneath is cut from the backing card from papermania diamonte spots.

the  flower on the bottom card is die cut  synthetic leather, melted with a heat gun. the backing paper has been embossed using tim holtz music folder. 

i have recently taught myself (if you know what i mean) to stamp onto a bigger piece of card than i used to, so i can cut any shape i want using the nestabilities.
oh well 2 more to add to the card stash . . .  i should say first 2 in the card stash
janet

Sunday 30 January 2011

finally finished

hi world
i have  finally managed to finish a piece of beading. i started this bracelet several months ago.
 it is a very simple piece (i know , i always say that!). . . circular peyote, not as complicated as it looks, the twist comes from using different sizes beads. the center beads are swarovski crystals, they are very sparkly but also a bit scratchy. but i love it anyway. must get on with the next unfinished piece!

Saturday 22 January 2011

lovely blog candy


hi there
i found this interesting blog http://anartsoul.blogspot.com/ while hopping around WOYWW 85 http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com/
 there is some interesting stuff on the workdesk, well worth a little look
nothing to show today, lots of house work etc etc, and lovely coffee meeting with old friend ( as in, i have known for a long time . .  not her age) i have not seen her for a while., so lots of catching up to do.
well you cant do everything, back to crafting tomorrow

instead here is a picture of sunset over phoenix, arizona. it was taken in the car so a bit fuzzy. eventually i hope to turn this into a hanging quilt. . . .part of my 12 year plan lol

janet

Wednesday 19 January 2011

WOYWW85


Hi world
well again there 's no work going on on the desk today, at work all day.
last week i decided to make a journal of all the 'stuff' i buy for my mad hobby. 
just stuff like; things i brought and where and how much it cost. it could be useful and interesting in the future ( as long as it doesn't get in the 'wrong hands', especially the how much i have spent bit!).

yesterday i went craft shopping, like you do!
 on my desk is lots of lovely 'stuff  i  brought, i like to keep it on my desk for a while to admire it. then it gets 'stored' away for use later. i think i'm a bit OCD with the storage thing. but not tidy. . . you cannot be creative and tidy.



i needed to record my purchases in my journal before i stored it away.

anyway i put little scraps of ribbon, paper etc, i didnt put the gems in 'coz that would be a waste! i cut the paper i brought with the nestabilities i brought. i need to make another die book ( see previous post) as it 's full.
 i stamped all the stamps (from kars) and added some crackle glaze to the one i painted just to see how it worked as i have not used it before.  then i had to make dinner (which was late suprise suprise ) so i just left it as it was.
 how it should be messy!

Monday 17 January 2011

a book to die for or a book for dies

http://stiggyscrafts.blogspot.com/2011/01/getting-organised.html
hi world.
if you have nestabilities or similar and dont have a good way to store them, check out this blog, it is brilliant.

here is the one i made earlier (sorry vicky and blue peter)
it only took a few hours to do.



 i already had the book i just had to take some pages out to allow for the extra thickness of the dies and the mount board.



i made a sandwich of mount board and 2 pages of the book. (used loads of double sided tape)!!! then i decorated the page.
 there was a picture of a little dog in the corner, but i didn't like it so decided to cover it up. i used some oriental stamps i brought in a sale recently.
i already had some thin  magnetic strip so i stuck that on and hey presto magnetic storeage book for dies, i love it 






Saturday 15 January 2011

left overs

i had a bit of a left over day today.
what if i actually use up some of this stuff i have been saving from old cards and left overs etc. etc
still trying to make some cards to sell for breast cancer so i needed to make 'em quick!
the picture on this card is from the artistic stamper, i coloured it in ages ago but never got around to finishing it.... well now i have, the other elements are also left over from other projects. the background paper has ben embossed with a tim holtz music die
 the next card is pretty much the same . . .  left overs, cannot remember where from ,the background paper has been sprayed with cosmic shimmer
.
 ditto
ditto the stamp is from butterfly kisses and the paper from papermania a couple of years ago.

well they didn't take too long to do. i really need to use up all this stuff. . .  so i can buy some new stuff of course hehe! well things change dont they!

barely there

http://stylesink.ca/2011/01/12/one-layer-wednesday-36-barely-there/here is a challenge i found on joanne wardles blog, some lovely simple cards on one layer wednesday. the theme was bare trees or foliage. i made some cards the other day that fit so i thought i would enter one.. have a look at the other cards in the challenge they are really good
the sunset is very simply sponged with distress inks on to shiney card. i hope this qualifies as one layer.the foliage is from a german set i brought at the artisan show last year. the dragon flies are from a set i brought recently at a shop near me in their sale for 10p for a set of 6 oriental stamps what a bargain. i think the quote is from crafty individuals.

Wednesday 12 January 2011

WOYWW 84

to be honest, not much happens on my desk on wednesday as i am at work all day and dont get home until gone 6, then have to cook dinner. . .  the too tired to anything much except eat chocolate (next best thing to crafting). oh and blog!
anyway i had a good crafty day yesterday and this is how i left my desk.
i am fortunate enough to have a whole room. a friend sells some of my cards at work for breast cancer care but has run out so i need to do some quick makes.
the cards on the left are  made using shiney card and distress inks to make a sunset background and then stamped a sillouette with black stazon (idea was from craft stamper mag a while ago. i like the dragonflies best, they were partof a set of 6 stamps i brought in asale for . . .  10p. . . yes 10p. bargain huh!

the card on the right took a bit longer. i cut out the big flower using a quick cutz die (up cycled shiney card from packaging) and then used it  as a mask to make the background. the card was white but had amix of colours from the mask. i over stamped the background with a black swirl, added some gems and a paper flower and hey presto.

actually i think it needs something else, maybe the black should be smaller or less obvious, needs more thought i think, hey -ho.
maybe i should stick to eating choc!

Tuesday 11 January 2011

january's atc's

well the uksn books have been piling up over christmas.
 actually, not too many as everyone is in the same position with lots to do.
anyway as i was having withdrawl symptoms from crafting .... due to flu, i thought i would make some atc's.
i am trying to use up lots of little bits and pieces. i was given an old recipes book that was falling apart, so i decided to make the atc's themed around that.

the first one is called 'cure for freckles.


the picture has nothing to do with freckles, except that i was always told they will go in time. the clock hands are a cuttlebug die cut and the stamp from craft stamper a while ago. the shooting star was 'up cyled ' from a christmas card



 this one  is called jellied eels
the stamp is from last months craft stamper. i think they used to be sold in cups, so it seemed appropriate


this one is called treacle pudding, the stamp is an image pac one i made. the big flower is a tim holtz tattered flower cut from some 'up cylcled' packaging and sprayed with cosmic shimmer and melted, then fixed with  brad.

this one  is called spiced pudding, the flower  topper is 'being used up' and the paper flower is from the paper cellar with distress inks on top. 

the last atc is called fish cakes. the patterned paper was from a tag off a top i brought in primark...... very pretty. the stamp is an oriental koi from image pac and distressed with inks. i highlighted the fish with glossy accents.
i think i am going to get a lot of use out of this old book.
well thats all folks. 

happy new year

well it has taken me a while to get here, but happy new year world.
just before christmas daughter no 1 got engaged and is getting married in august....... not long to get everything organised!
anyway the first thing i was asked to do was make some save the date cards.
we had lots of discussions over the festive time while she was here but she ad to discuss everything with gary first (who was at his parents!)
they both wanted something simple , just to let everyone know the date incase they were booking a holiday and didnt want to be double booked.
the colour scheme was easy too as everthing emma does is purple.... sorted


 the tag has been cut out with the big shot (i love it ). the clocks around the edge are embossed with clear powder over distress inks and 1 mauve one.
the ribbon is sheer with a slight glitter to it.
i only had about 26 to make and they didnt take too long... 2 afternoons i think. luckily i had a pile of envelopes that match.