a little teaser....

So here's a little sneak peak of what I was up to yesterday - this just a play piece, a 'getting a feel for it' piece from my sketchbook - so excuse the dodgy colouring, the pencil marks, the tippex... its just me playing around with 'stuff'... can you tell what it is yet! (yes, I know that's a cat doh! but what else.....)

Such a good day at the studio - so nice not to contend with a small cat who thinks pencils are for playtime and paper is for chewing!

off to the studio....

At last my desk has been put back in place, my dh has hung storage on the walls for me (to get it off the desk), I've tidied up (!) and cleared the desk (I forget how big it is when its not covered in creative crap! lol) and I am good to go - back into my creative corner with all by 'stuff' around me and get busy!!

So this arrived on my doorstep yesterday:

Look at all that lovely rubber!!! Thats the new PaperArtsy Ink and the Dog & christmas stamps (called Nut & Meg) - they are LOVELY so head on over to the site to check out the designs... I'm particularly liking the elf plate at the moment - maybe because in a class I taught last week the conversation got slightly bizarre and ended up with the conclusion that if elves vomitted, which they would never do 'cos they are too polite and happy, but if they did the vomit would be glittery/sparkly!
Yes, euch, I know! roflol Don't ask. But come to my classes, you learn all sorts! :o) lol

So, off to the studio...I've got my lunch, phone, camera, stamps, ink pads, sketchbook, (in fact I'm taking everything from home that should be at the studio anyway lol) (we'll have our kitchen back...lol.. yay) the cats have been fed (scrapping/ playing like all in wrestlers at the moment) so I'm off....

A whole day at the studio!!!!!!!! YAAAAAAAAAAAAY :o)

Sometimes its good to just 'create'...

... something. ...anything... a card, minibook, or even just play around with new equipment ... anything to get the inspirational juices flowing again.

I've been given a few things to work with that throw up a few challenges for me - and I like that - it pushes me creatively which is always a good thing. I'll make quite a few items with the given products to see what I can come up with.

Anyhoo, here's a card I created while playing around at incorporating hemp fabric (the dark blue top right of card). The main image is from PaperBag Studio. Now I need to create a v similar card replacing the two other fabrics and images with paper products. I really like the tassel on the card - created by using the threads torn off the hemp piece when fraying the edges.... I like to use everything! lol This card is quite unusual for me because of its size - A5. I rarely make cards this card and it was quite liberating to have all that space to play in. lol.

I've just bought the 'flourish' set of 4 cuttlebug embossing folders and I'm really please with them - lots of possibilities and its got me thinking - a lot - and I'm sure these will make their way into my next batch of Cuttlebug classes running at Card Inspirations. Dates to follow soon. Class sign up is 05 September.

Card Inspirations....

I've put down the fabric and am back to creating-with-paper mode!

I've just spent two really enjoyable days teaching at Card Inspirations, topped off last night when the CI team spent the evening upstairs in their paint-your-own-pottery studio - really good fun. I painted a mug - I'll post a photo when I get it back after its been fired. I'm excited to see how it turns out - fingers crossed.

So, I thought I'd show you a couple of photos of the shop - excuse the focus (or lack of!) of the overhead shot - thats what happens when you hold the camera over your head, point and shoot!
The piccy only shows half of the shop - you'll have to use you imagination regarding the products on the other side of the shop - but its just as packed with creative 'stuff'!...


oooh look at all the lovely Bazzill! mmmm


and speaking of lovely... here are the Ranger goodies...


just a small sample of what the shop stocks.

Sign up for the next term of classes is the 5th September, brochures coming out soon. Contact the shop for more details.

Better get back to the paper crafting - lots of deadlines looming.........

Happy Birthday Evie!

Its our goddaughter Evie's birthday and so I've made her this:

Its not too scary for a 2 year old is it? (I love her hair! - that trim was going to be part of her waist decoration but looks much better as hair!! lol)

(Note to self: Put the fabric down and move away from the sewing machine.... think paper, think card making....)

PaperArtsy

I've got my PaperArtsy hat on today, and here's a sneakpeek of what I created - the castle from Crowns & Castle plate No 4 was just crying out to be 3d decoupaged (the photo's not showing that up to great effect, sorry!).

Amendment: I've decided that the previous photo on this post wasn't showing enough! so here's the complete tag!!

Fancy Clancy!

It's the 16th so it's my day over at Banana Frog and I've made Doris (see previous post) a friend! His name is Clancy and he can be seen in all his Banana Frog fanciness over on the blog.

Clancy - I'll get your best side ... are you ready for your close up? Say 'Cheese'!


M, my dh, is working away at the moment and so he doesn't get to see our new kitten very much and when he does it seems to be the time when he and Lola are racing around like loons and 'fighting'.. .so M this piccy is for you, to show that they do love each other and aren't actually possessed by the devil!! lol Honest! lol

My new little 'friend'

This is a little something I made this afternoon. It started off as my BananaFrog project for this month and then I lost my way a little - got distracted by the fabrics - and in the end there wasn't enough stamping to be my project (just the flowers on her 'skirt' and her left eye)... She's not very big - 14 x 17 cm and made out of calico (of course) and other scraps (the lovely Ikea paisley)
Its my first plushy/stuffie/ softie (whatever you want to call them) - Matt's named her Doris (don't know why) & I like that she looks a little confused - thats why I've made her arms go up in a kind of 'I don't know' way... not bad for a first attempt and I really enjoyed making her.

back to the Banana Frog project......

I took some photos of the cards I've just been teaching but they're rubbish - the photos not the cards (lol) and so I'll try again tomorrow... how hard can it be to photograph cards?!! I might risk life and limb and get the photo tent out but then if I do that I'll have to leave it up 'til M gets home weekend after next (its a 2 person job to fold it down and its not even very big! lol)

I'm going to a Pecha Kucha Night this evening - this is where (quoting from their site): "each presenter is allowed 20 images, shown for 20 seconds each, giving 6 minutes 40 seconds of fame before the next presenter is up. This keeps the presentations concise, the interest level up, and gives more people the chance to show" so should be interesting.....

On another note, Christine Middlecamp (love her work!)(v inspiring) showed the latest releases from Crate Paper on her blog.... how gorgous is this new range!! That is ticking all the boxes on my favourite colours list - and it looks so nice I might even forgive the yellow thats in there......

not completely AWOL!

.... I wasn't AWOL, I was at Card Inspirations for 3 days teaching 4 classes, had a great time - nice classes, nice people, nice projects so all good and I didn't come home too kn*ckered either! yay!
Now I'm properly back into designing 'n' making mode after my little health blip (95% back to normal) and thinking about christmas - yes christmas!!!!!!!!!!

Tomorrow, once I've babysat little Ethan (a bless of a nephew!) in the morning I'll come home, take some photo's and post some piccy's of what I've been up to.

J

4+ hours in front of the TV....

Yesterday I had my day planned out - appointment with the optician (who said I looked 28 not 38, the old charmer!)(and he was quite old, and judging by that comment may have been the one in need of glasses!) (I'm getting that in before somebody else does!)(matt!) lol .. ..... aaaanyhoo I digress
so my planned day - opticians and then settle down to watch the Wimbledon Men's Final. I really wanted Federer to win - to get the record of most titles etc etc etc and for the fact that he is a joy to watch - makes it look sooooo effortless! But, I wanted to be doing 'something' to justify sitting there for what I imagined was going to be a long final - and in the end it was 4+ hours!!
So here's what I did: We had a bit of a bathroom clear out on saturday and threw away finished/spoiled fragrance bottles etc but I kept the packaging and during the tennis I die cut them.
So over the 4 hours the boxes went from this:

to this:

Lots of shapes for mounting and tags for greetings/ ribbons etc etc etc....

Fantastic match by the way if you didn't watch it.

Craft Stamper

Check out this month's Craft Stamper - another great issue, including a project by me - sneak peek left.

Magazine available in shops tomorrow.

JULY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Seriously? its July!!

Thats all I have! Can't believe its July already!

Oh, I feel I should also post a photo to make your visit here today to my little corner of blogsville slightly more interesting! lol
Here's the card I made my Dad for Father's day, using nestabilities, The Slice, and Basic Grey papers (embellishment sheet).