ALBOTAT: Happy Fathers' Day

Yesterday was Father's day here in the UK,  here is the card I made for my Dad... 

If you look closely you notice something unusual for me.. NO stamping!!  The lovely blue/brown splat (for want of a better word) on the back ground is PaperArtsy's new Infusions - I'm liking those very much!!

 (wood strip is Washi tape, 'happy' is die cut, sentiment banners are computer generated, stag head is from stash)

x

ALBOTAT: From little acorns....

... lovely dibbers are made.

I'd like to tell you a story...

Once upon a time, not so long ago- back in the mid 1970s - a little girl planted an acorn in the back garden of her parents house....

Fast forward forty (OUCH) years and the little girl (thats her in the photo above in the garden, on her first day of school) has grown up and so has the tree.  The garden and tree, in the rear right of the photo below, have blossomed and the tree is big and strong....   gone is the 'Good Life' vegetable patch, now replaced by lawns and flower beds...

The not-little-anymore-girl now has her own house & garden and asked her Dad to make her a dibber to help plant seeds....
So he used a branch that had needed to be trimmed from the tree, turned it on his lathe and created lovely dibbers...

And that is how the acorn that I planted when I was five, grew big, and became my plant dibbers!

How great is that!

Love that my Dad thought to make the dibbers out of a branch of the tree I planted - circle of life, personal history/attachment...

x

ALBOTAT: Testing testing 1 2 3 ....

... these 2 pieces started out as a couple of 'tester/ lets try this and see what happens' pieces... but I liked them so much I thought I'd show them to you...

The board canvas (5x7inches) was painted with Fresco Finish paints (Blood Orange, Orchid, Tango (loving Tango at the moment!), Claret, Chalk, Tinned Peas) , the tile effect on the background is the 'blocks' stencil  by Georgina (available from The Artistic Stamper).

Stamps are all JOFY - JOFY13, 14, 26,  JM40

This little block of wood (5x4cm) is an offcut from recent work on our house (I 'rescued' it from a pile of 'stuff', receiving strange looks from our builders lol) .. enjoyed painting this ... it felt as if I was proving a point - it was not rubbish - too good to throw away!  (I have another block in this February's Craft Stamper magazine)
I added strips of lazer cut greyboard flowers on each side (from buzzandbloom.com) - cute little strips out of the 'lasercut elements' box on the shelf...

Don't throw away offcuts - upcycle them!

Weekend spent at Coleman's Craft Warehouse...

.... was a weekend well spent... 

Saturday was the shop's monthly demo day, nice to see familiar faces and new ones... lots of questions  asked & answered... I demo'd with stamps, stencil and paints until they ran out!..  all projects in this blog post were created on the day and will be on display in the shop very soon.

Thanks to everyone who came and watched, and asked questions (no, sorry, I haven't written a book - but maybe I'll think about that in the future...), and the fun ladies who came to the workshops on Sunday.

An enjoyable way to spend a weekend... lets do it again soon!

I was trying NOT to find out who won the Wimbledon Men's Tennis Final (on communication lockdown!) lol  but decided I couldn't wait so I listened to the match on the drive home - very strange listening to tennis on the radio!
Disappointed at the result but it sounded like a fantastic match... sounded so good I watched the final set this morning - and it was brilliant!.....

really MUST try and get tickets for next year (we say that EVERY year! lol)

x

Pegs, pegs and more pegs...

.... and pretty pegs too!

Another idea that has been bouncing around in my head - & seeing a bit of  a trend for painted pegs in scrapbooking and card making - I thought I 'needed' some JOFY pegs!

These are just normal wood pegs (maybe a little bit smaller than some available 1x8.5cm) that I bought in Sainsburys (other supermarkets are available lol)

I like these because they have bit of detail on them - 2 lines carved in...

I painted them all in Fresco Finish JOFY Limited Edition paints - no need to prime the wood - nice and easy. Then I added pattern and detail with stamped designs (again with JOFY paints).

On paper: JM34
On cardboard, top row, left to right: JM16, all other pegs are JOFY10

On cardboard, bottom row, left to right:  book text (couldn't resist!), JOFY24, JOFY14, EEV06 (love little spots!)

I could use them to hold notes together, or on a 12x12 scrapbook page, or I could attach them to an indoor 'washing line' and hang sketches, tags and other interesting bits and bobs.

Enjoy your weekend.

x

A Touch of Teal...

... well, more than a touch really... all is revealed over on the PaperArtsy blog tonight - you can find it HERE

East meets West...

.... JoFY stylee...

I like the simple wood Japenese Kokeshi dolls (2 on left of photo are traditional dolls)

and I couldn't resist these blank ones when I saw them at Its Crafting Time in October last year (I was lucky to snag the last remaining pack, sorry) - I thought I could paint 'JOFY' ones...

... and that's what I did on Thursday.  I painted the small dolls (4 & 6 inches tall) with Fresco Finish paint, and stamped the designs (JOFY22) using Archival black ink.  I love the simplicity of the design- just the 'chalk' & black, before colour was added- very tempting to leave it like this:

.. but I didn't- I painted them in shades of Dusty Teal and Chalk, hair is Little Black Dress & French Roast.

I'm pleased them - they make me smile - & I think they'll hold their own next to my traditional dolls....

xx

A Dabble Day.....

... is right up my street - a little bit of this & that... and resulted in a fun, busy, inky, painty card making day at Birds in the Barn on Saturday..

I like making cards that have movement or texture so to start the day we made this, & I also created a hand-out (due to lots of measurements) as something for everyone to refer to...

It looks like this:

 ... and when you pull the ribbon... this is revealed:

Painted with Distress Inks it has a lovely fresh feel.

Card on right created using Dusty Teal & JOFY stamps to paint a bespoke background paper that co-ordinates with one of the JOFY mini 'mesh' stamps.. I love this card - lots of my favourite 'go-to' elements - tags, buttons, stamps, scallops, wood flowers and resin flowers.

This card combines new JOFY stencil with recent stamp releases...

...and every now and then its nice to have a bit of glamour on a card! and I think my little birdy deserves a golden cage:

.. the cage's golden effect is created with variagated gilding flakes (adhered with Stamp & Bond) - a very special cage :o)

A really fun day.  I'm back at Birds in the Barn on June 1st - looking forward to it...

x

Catch up post 2

I spent a lovely weekend at The Stamp Attic in late November running a card workshop on the first day and on the second day we made this box frame...

it was a lovely weekend of christmas crafting, cracker pulling & general 'ho ho ho'ness.

Here´s the group embracing the festive theme of the class:

(& the lovely Wendy was fully embracing Christmas by wearing the stickers that came inside the crackers lol)(the crackers that had surprisingly funny jokes - ´how do monkeys make toast?... they put it under the gorilla´!... lol -  aaw come on - its a cracker joke - its supposed to make you groan! lol)

If you´d like to see another version on the box frame there is a photo in this blog post.

xx

oh Christmas Tree ...

... our little black tree (only 3ft tall) is the first to be brought out of storage this year - purely for prop purposes - Decorations that I made with my stamps have been hanging on random door knobs around the house for a while - they need to be photographed and blogged... easier said than done!

I saw this deer head in the Poplar Garden Centre where Birds in the Barn is based - they have a really lovely christmas decoration selection - really nice & unusual ornaments.. - I was quite taken by the angel wings (big enough to wear - & no I didn't try them on!)

 and I was especially with the pairs of polystyrene ice skates - I thought I should have these just to remind me of the day Matt & I went ice skating at the Natural History Museum... I use the term 'skate' loosely - Matt skated - I just clung on to the side for dear life..:o)  & then fell over!  Always graceful! lol

aaaanyhooo - where was I .. deer head - I really liked it - the shape and because its cut from wood .... I bought it even though the strong red is not our festive colour scheme (we seem to have many other colours but not red! - I would love a tree where all the decorations are red, white and wood...hhhmmmm)... so I bought it home and..... ta daaaaa:

I Crackled Glazed it! Simple and effective... Much more in keeping with our other decorations...

I decorated one of the wooden hearts (available from the PaperArtsy website soon) with crackle (I do love a bit of crackle!), I stamped JM32 (Angel) onto the crackled wooded heart and onto book text, I cut out & matched up the two images (as shown below), I used Nougat Fresco Finish and Pearl Glaze for the wings

 for the reverse of the heart I covered it with book text which I colour washed..

... below is an ornament I've waited 11 months to make (I've had the baubles that long - since last xmas!) and this was the tricky customer when it came to photography...  Its a bauble that you can put images and 'stuff' inside and close up again! love!  Comes in two halves.. I die cut 2 scallop edged circles of white watercolour card (for the texture) and gave them separate treatments:

I stamped my Angel mini image (JM32) onto book text and mounted it onto the diecut circle,  I coloured her body with watercolour pencils and her wings with pearl glaze - and some stickle spots for a touch of sparkle.  I also added some 'fluff' (cobwebs at halloween, clouds at christmas!) with a few sequin stars scattered in to fill the available space..(hubby's suggestion).

Inside the other half I have stamped the scallop circle with distress ink and JM07 - snowflake background - love this stamp - its one of my favourites.. On top of that I glued a diecut word (sizzix 'word play') and stickled again - like I've said before: its christmas and christmas expects sparkle!

Bauble was so hard to photograph!  a reflective little devil! lol

I hope your christmas plans are coming along well... I'm popping to Southend tomorrow - rumour has that Father Christmas is visiting and he's bringing reindeer!!
(no seriously - Southend does have real reindeer .. not two-people-in-a-panto-suit reindeer!... can't vouch for the Father Christmas though...)

xx

Here come Santa Claus...

... and this year he's taking his boots off at the door (or should that be at the chimney???)..

('hohoho' is from Dovecraft, papers are EchoPark/CartaBella(?), buttons are from my never-decreasing-stash! lol)

I think my new craft 'addiction' may be spotted paper! big, small, varied - love them all! lol
its a happy little pattern and on the card above its suitably festive.

The Holly and the Ivy....

...  ready for christmas crafting... & on JM28 they're much less prickly than the real thing!

Its a useful stamp, great for backgrounds or for motifs on cards and projects:

(fyi: 'joy' is by Dovecraft, snowflakes are Tando)

So much Christmas... so little time!!....

... phew.. its been a busy few weeks.. christmas is all over the place.. the crafting shops have been stocking it for a while but now its creeping into the department stores...

Leader of the pack is Primark - or Premarche as we like to say here in Essex lol - with some fab christmas sweaters - this is my choice - and at £12 its cheap'n'cheerful festive fun!  and its has bells and sequins!!! purrrfect.. get it? cat.. purrfect?! oh nevermind
hohoho

I've been running a few workshops.. at Birds in the Barn where it was christmas workshops one day and summery the next:
Here is one of the cards from the class (lighting fail on the other photos I took!)(note to self - pack camera!!):

The 'summery' class was the triptych- the class was quite small but it was great as the attendees had time to play with colour options (Denise's on the right, Deb's on the left):

.... and here are the lovely ladies with their finished triptychs:

They created lovely finished pieces - the black/white polka dot washi tape is really dramatic with the purple flowers.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

... and I've just returned from another weekend in Warwickshire at Pink Tulip Creations... where I taught a lovely Christmas themed weekend!
Thanks to everyone at Pink Tulip for their help and for being such a fab group, and thanks to all the lovely ladies that came along... some dressed ready for christmas:

(if you would like to know what your elf name is (that's what the above label says!) go here ... and from 01st December you can call me Puddin'-Sparkely-Toes!  (hubby is Twinkle Sugar Socks! lol  LOVE!)

Saturday was a card workshop - cards created included this one made using the Sizzix Accordion Album Flip die - such a clever-effective-simple die! I can see me using this A LOT! lol

On Sunday the group created a wooden box frame - its so festive!! it has presents, a sleigh, snowflakes, a christmas tree - the only thing missing is Father Christmas! lol

.. and finally here are some (not all) cards created for the two classes at Birds in the Barn and Pink Tulip...

Hopefully everyone left inspired & geared up for christmas crafting...  especially as the perky christmas app on my phone tells me that its only 65 days..... #justsayin'  #don'tshootthemessenger

xx

A fun filled weekend...

... full of arty-craftiness..

Saturday was spent at The Craft Barn as one of the demonstrators for a festive MiniFest - was good fun - lots of people came and watched the demos - lovely to see everyone....  and thanks for all the lovely comments about the new Christmas JOFY stamps.
If you fancy a day of card making using the stamps then come along to the Craft Barn on 10 November - call the shop for more details.
ho ho ho!

(Please remember:  designs shown in demos are to inspire & encourage you to get crafty.

please don't recreate for classes or projects for publication online or in print. ta muchly)

I'll blog better photos of the samples in another post.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

Sunday I ran a workshop at Its Crafting Time - 'Sun, Sea & Sand'.. a fun day - nice to see everyone.. and one of the lovely ladies bought some VERY yummy bakes! too yummy! Thanks for that! (yum yum yum)

Lots of lovely beach huts were painted by everyone (and 2 of the ladies gave the sand on their project a 'pebble' effect because that's what their local beach has, instead of sand - love the effect they created):

Thanks to everyone for coming along!

What better way is there to spend a weekend!

xx

A colourful bit of this and that....

Several days of last week were spent making samples for The Craft Barn demo day on saturday but I also had a few cards to make to send to family and friends - 2 of our nephews had birthdays (on consecutive days!) during the week...
I used one of my favourite 'go-to' stamps for boys - he's such a dude!  from Stampotique.

Happy there was a number '10' on this Bingo card - perfect for the card! Love it when things come together like that. 

The cards are both on a theme.. but different... lots of splashed ink, resisted layers, and boyish colours....

I've just run a distress ink workshop and I think the techniques are still running around in my head because all the cards I've made recently have been influenced by that.. here's a couple of 'thank you' cards I made:  LOVE how they turned out...

(apologies for the weird angle of the photo!) The colours were really quite vivid - Wild Honey & Picked Raspberry Distress Ink (with a touch of Barn Door)... hot pink & orange - LOVE!

... and finally a quick photo of a late arrival in our garden - I do love Dahlias - such 'juicy' flowers! The petals of the flower are orange/pink in the centre fading to yellow - its just gorgeous and I've managed to keep it safe from the slugs (I'll take a picture of how and post it on here tomorrow - such a simple idea!)

I bought the plant at the Hampton Court Flower Show, really pleased it has flowered this year.

... and last but not least... I have a couple of Japenese Kokeshi dolls which I love.. and when I was at 'Its Crafting Time on sunday I noticed a box on a shelf - a 'paint your own' Kokeshi doll kit!!!!! OMG!!! I could paint a JOFY one!!!!! How cool would that be!!

Here they are (with my 2 dolls) - lovely plain wooden blanks - just waiting for a bit of Fresco Finish, a JOFY stamp or 2....  made me very happy to find these! lol

(I'm itching to paint them but I have to be good and clear my 'to-do' list first....)

xx