oooh baby its cold outside... so I've been staying in and making stuff....

I'm in Essex and I realise we don't have half the amount of snow as the rest of the country - yesterday on my way up the garden to feed the birds I stuck a ruler in the snow, when M told one his colleagues (based in Pickering, Yorkshire) how much snow we had the colleague scoffed a little & said "call that snow we've got 3ft's worth!"  !!

Ooh I'm glad I'm in Essex!  lol

but it looks like it warming up if these are anything to go by:

and below is the mother of all local icicles (from neighbours guttering) which is getting longer as the day goes on, thankfully its not anywhere that people could be walking under as it could do someone serious damage! (as anyone who has watched Grey's Anatomy knows! (remember Christina & the icicle!!) ouch!)

and one more snow picture:

small spiders web - I tried to find bigger ones but with no luck..... I wish I could remember where I saw a photo of spiders' webs on traffic lights - very cool - on someone's blog -sorry I can't remember who's it was (EDIT: it was Angela Weimer's blog! - go take a look: http://pagesbythesea.blogspot.com/2010/11/its-begining-to-lok-alot-like-christmas.html  its a really great picture...)

Aaaaanyhooo, enough about the weather...

I made this for M, its an advent thingy-ma-jig and each little box contains little notes or treats.  Made out of matchboxes and coasters, its small- measuring just under 10x10x10cm. The little boxes' labels work as a tab to pull them in & out and text was created on the PC. 
Papers are My Minds Eye, snowflakes are Nestabilities and Martha Stewart, ticket stamp is Purple Onion.
I'm pleased with how it turned out but next time I'm going to use sturdier and bigger matchboxes! lol

(if you want to know how to make one of these look in back issues of Craft Stamper (I'll look back when I get a minute and let you know which issue).

cool photos!

I've recently-ish been converted to the iphone... I said I wouldn't get sucked in to the whole 'oooh I've got an Iphone and it does EVERYTHING and its the best thing since sliced bread'  but now I have and I'm now not sure if I could live without it! lol (I could live without it, don't worry - but it would be hard!) .. aaaanyhoo I was reading Shimelle's site yesterday and she mentioned an ap she had for taking photos so they look like prints from the 60s/70s - Hipstamatic - so off I trotted to take a look................ and a purchase followed. laugh.... Here's a couple of piccies I took, and O.M.G how cool are the effects- LOVE THEM!!

In the name of science lets do a compare and contrast shall we:  picture above left is taken on the Iphone as normal, the one on right is taken with the Hipstamatic ap - all aged and discoloured (sun bleached look?) - love it much!  There's another 'lense' to buy which gives the photo a pearly/sparkly effect.... I think I may be trotting off to buy that soon!... .. just as soon as I've finished playing 'angry birds'.. on my iphone of course... lol

SPRING!!?!!...its a blog hop!

...is here... hopefully, ... fingers crossed, ... wind in the right direction (but not the wind bringing the ash cloud - enough said about that on here already! lol)

Spring is lovely - all the buds are coming up and out, and even the weeds are worth a photograph!

Aaaanyhoo - in honour of Springs arrival and to make it feel welcome and encourage it to stay Banana Frog has picked SPRING as its theme for this months Blog Hop (drum roll please)

So if you're here on your trip around the Lilypond or are a regular visitor : welcome!
Here is my 'spring' themed project:

These were created by making a really simple masterboard panel - a wave of stamped flowers (super dreamy stamp set) with spots (Shimelle's background set) stamped underneath, over-coloured with distress inks (green).. Simples as the tv meerkats would say.

The cards have been embellished with gems & pearls (gotta have some bling!), paper flowers (never seem to run out of these however much I use them.. lol), and stickles (love the stickles!).
Card,bottom right photo: I shaded the petals of the orange flower to add a bit more colour.

The stamps sets I've used to create these cards are:

Super Dreamy,  Simple Greetings and Backgrounds by Shimelle

Thanks for visiting:  its been nice having you here, please leave a comment - you could win a prize!

Your next lilypad to visit is Katy's

Enjoy the rest of your visits!

During my current 'tidying up' project (and I'm using the term loosely because I just seem to moving things around according to M - but its all part of the process!) I found this photo (on the pc - tidying that up too!) of a book I made from lots of bits of cardboard, all different sizes, bound together with the bind-it-all. Its a book that I keep on my studio desk to try out bits and pieces in rather than on random bits of paper/ card or in my sketchbook (different surface). This page was created using a scroll cuttlebug die I'd just bought (so of course had to use straight away! lol) and Banana Frog alphabet stamps - these ones are great because they are quite large (about an inch-and-a-bit tall)... I like the page because of the metal effect to the scroll (didn't photograph too well) but at the same time am not too keen because it looks a bit 'halloween' - due to the colours - I might go back to it and try and alter it in some way.......

Round up...

I'm sorting out my home studio and so its time to tidy up! and I keep coming across projects that I've completed but don't seem to have posted about - such a lot going on and a lot of it I can't share because its going to be published, used for classes etc etc etc ..... So here are some pictures (apologies if I have shown them before - I did do a quick check back through the blog - which has made me realise I must start tagging things....)
(btw:I'm not supposed to have a 'home' studio because I have studio space that I rent and therefore all my creative bits and bobs should be there but over the past month or so a lot has made its way back home (in my defense the studio can be quite cold)

Firstly here are some of the spreads from a mini-book I made of a day trip M & I took to go and see Seth Lakeman perform at the open air theatre in London's Regents Park - fantastic day and a great concert. Its 6x4in (approx) & I love that the pages show around the front cover - not all the same size.. books like that make me want to look inside! lol (btw - the flowers on the last 2 spreads shown now have buttons or pearls in the centres)

Next is a card I've made for my new nephew. I'm loving using acetate for cards and minibooks but they can be challenge to photograph! Aaaanyway his name is Ethan and he's bundle of cuddly loveliness! - though I may be biased of course! lol

Sometimes it takes longer to make one card than it does to make ten!!
I was asked to make a card for a friend's son's birthday - which I'm more than happy to do...... but I find male cards really quite hard... I didn't realise how often I put flowers, gems, ribbons or other 'girlie' items on a card until I came to make a male card!
Must practice and make more mens cards.... which hopefully will be helped by the fact that a man has signed up for one of my courses - I think this will be good for me and the students - a different perspective.

These cards were made from sample/ test pieces I made while preparing for a class using Ranger's Perfect Pearls powders. Love these powders - the way they change colour and react to light - especially when used on black/dark paper.... and they are really versatile - lots of uses....

When I Grow Up.......

Now, I'm not saying I had wanted to be a Cream Cheese Triangle when I grew up... but I was fairly convincing aged 6 or 7!