June Craft Stamper..

... is a bumper issue as the magazine is TEN YEARS OLD - how fantastic is that!

Its a great issue, and I have an article in there too- my butterfly mobile which must have have been a nightmare for the team to photograph with all its dangles (which rotate in even the slightest breeze!) so well done to them for doing such a great job with it - I'll try not to create something so 'unstable' in the future.. lol

I loved creating the project... it brought together lots of my favourite items to create with....

Go check it out...   and I'm looking forward to another 10 years!

this 'n' that...

... yesterday I posted pics of my worktops as part of WOYWW and because my desk is 'quite' messy you couldn't really see the wood for the trees on there! and so I thought I'd post a piccy of my desk when it was slightly tidier (it does happen) and what my pens and tools are kept in (amongst all that mess...  lol)(you see there is a little bit of order on the desk) .. I have a bit of a fondness for mugs - (my girl guide mug is in the attic somewhere - probably with M's Blue Peter badge - oh yes, my DH is the proud owner of a Blue Peter badge!!)(not top of the list why I married him obviously! lol)(but if there had been a list it would have been on the side of 'reasons to' rather than the 'reasons not to' lol) aaaaanyhoo .. back to the mugs:  .. I like ones that are pretty/ coordinating/ inspiring and hence they've crept onto the desk - they have dual purpose - inspiring (see here) and useful!- the handles make them easy to pick up to rummage through..  :o)

The big pink mug in the centre got quite a few comment yesterday - here its storing glue dots, but lately its been looking after the cut'n'dry.  The mug (well, milk jug actually) on the right - the one with the lovely little retro print.... its been made into a pin cushion by a colleague at work - how freakin' cool is that!! LOVE IT!!! 
and finally will you please note the lovely clean clear space in front of the mugs - note it 'cos it doesn't get seen very often! lol

..after I'd been in the hairdressers this morning I popped into the charity shop next door (love a bit of a charity shop rummage!) and picked up these:

The wooden shape/window toy thingy is shaped like a house and will look great altered don't you think? Such a great shape and I could use the blocks as feet.. or ...something... haven't got that far yet.

The glass dish will be for holding buttons, suffolk puffs or crochet flowers in at sales - both bought for under £3.00  - not bad eh!

The next 3 days will be a bit quiet on this blog as I'm off to ArtsyCrafts this weekend - if you're going too I look forward to seeing you there - and if you're not you should definitely come next time they are reeeeeaaaaally good weekends packed full of creativity and fun! what more could you ask for!

1st time for everything...

.. and for me this 1st time is showing my desk(s) on WOYWW (whats on your workdesk? wednesday)..

Neither of my home work desks is particularly tidy today (laugh, are they ever?...oh yes there was the day they were set up - they were clear then!) but here they are today in their creative mess glory....

This is the main desk, facing the window...
Things I like about the desk are the undershelf wire rack (on right) - its great for stashing colouring equipment - pencils, felt pens, promarkers etc.. it has adjustable height options (got to love Ikea), the tressle legs have shelves and there's still enough space underneath for my legs and a wire trolley for some of my punches.

On the desk:

My trusty Cuttlebug (shush! don't tell the Bug but I'm going over the dark side and buying a BigShot! I'll keep the Bug (LOVE my bug) but I'm having a Big Shot too - all in the name of research and business etc.. ahem.

Massive plastic pink spotted teacup bought recently in Matalan - it made me laugh - its meant for plants  but its a perfect size for keeping bits of Cut&Dry

PaperArtsy HotPick stamps (of course - always seem to have PA stamps on the desk somewhere)

Drawer of Stickles waiting to be put away - there's a lot of stuff on the desk waiting to be put away lol

Jar of buttons - love buttons!

Nestabilities dies

Old linen top being cut up to make suffolk puffs (or yoyo's - whatever name you prefer)

Equipment wrap - A wrap I made to keep all my tools in - a couple of people have commented on how much they liked it and so I'm going to start making and selling them.

rotating tool caddy in the top right hand corner (by Pampered Chef) ...rofl ... cooking is not high on my list of things to do but I went along to a party to support a friend who is a PC consultant and I couldn't resist the rotating tool storage thingymajig. Perfect for storing rulers, scissors, crop-a-diles, paint brushes etc etc etc.

Here's the other desk.. this is the 'clean' desk that I use more for sewing. I've got a mini table top ironing board (thank you again Ikea) and the buttons storage (some of) is on here too.  Another linen top being cut up, cottons, paints (unopened - waiting to be put away) and a rack at the back with loads of recently made cards...

Organised chaos! but in a good way  :o)   Hopefully next wednesday the desks will have changed - and I won't give you such a full tour next time! lol  I don't think the desks will be any clearer though - I'm a bit of a hoarder - I like to save things 'just in case'!  lol

See you next Wednesday - I'm off to look at other peoples creative spaces.

Has anyone else seen Eliot Kid??

He's a cartoon kid with (I quote) 'a wild imagination' ...
I don't have kiddies and so there is no good reason why I should be watching cartoons in the morning but I may have to make an exception for 'Eliot Kid' - but purely for design research purposes obviously...
The cartoon has a great retro feel to it (and I do love retro) - the colours used for the background are all on a very 50/60s palette but what I really like are the trees!!(I'm so easily pleased aren't I! lol)

Sorry about the dodgy photo quality - taking photos of the tv again! - but come on you have to admit those are great trees aren't they?!

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!

flowers, bags and an MGM star...

A few good things have come from this whole Ash-cloud-stopping-holiday 'fiasco':

* we have time to paint the outside of the house (actually when I say 'we' I mean DH will have time...)(chuckle)
* I'll have time to paint the back fence in the garden (and I mean 'I')
* I had time to baby sit nephew number 4 (such a cutie, funny little chap) who then gave me these (how gorgeous are the colours!):

* I was available to see Debbie Reynolds in concert at our local theatre... I was really disappointed that we'd be on holiday when she was in town - but see: every cloud has a silver lining! lol  bought the ticket at 7.50pm and she came on at 8.00pm! rofl  I do like to cut these things fine don't I (especially as I thought the concert was the 23rd not the 22nd!! eek almost missed that one!)(and I was brave and went by myself - M was not coming with - no way jose! not after the Art Garfunkel concert: red hot pokers in his ears would have been preferable apparently! rofl)

Sorry about the very dodgy photo - but I chose this one because it shows her in front of a screen playing 'Singing in the Rain' which she's in and that is one of my all time favourite films. I do love an MGM musical!!!

aaaaanyhoo - a very entertaining evening - she still has a great voice... slightly mad but a great voice!

Yesterday I altered a waitrose bag that I'd had my eye for a while thinking that I could make it look prettier than it was:

I like it - linen, buttons, sewing and an applique bird (Prima) - though less gathering of the base fabric (white linen) next time...

Thats it for today I think - the scaffolding for house painting has just arrived so I'd better go take a look..... and its such a gorgeous day - I might go and paint the fence!

ArtsyCrafts....

... is happening next month - check out PaperArtsy's and LB Crafts' blogs for more details... I spent yesterday at PaperArtsy HQ working on the projects - and they are FAB.U.LOUS - if you are booked on either of the weekends start getting excited NOW as you are going to love it!!

What no holiday??!!

You know how a few years ago the trains here in the UK were held up and disrupted due to the 'the wrong type of snow'?  Well now planes can't take off and fly because of the wrong type of cloud!!

You couldn't make this stuff up could you!

I would make more light of it but I'm sitting here looking at 2 cases full of holiday clothes, passports and tickets for 2 weeks in Mexico....

excuse me while I go and unpack the cases......

Banana Frog day....

My project of the day over on the blog is one of my more simple- but its quite versatile - go take a look.....

What no stamping?

Nope, none at all!!  ...on this card I made my mum for Mothers Day - just lots of die cutting/ embossing.. that butterfly die is a complete bitch to work with but worth it!  It has a blue finish of 'something' which is really thick, makes the die hard to go through card stock (or even paperstock) and comes off when it does.. gggrrrr) I'm considering taking paint stripper to it....

mmm nice!...

ooh feast your eyes on these lovelies.... or if you don't like buttons look away NOW!

I sat down the other evening and sorted my buttons into colour jars..(yes maybe I had too much time on my hands that evening! lol) (but I found it very relaxing.. ) normally I keep them in jars sorted by brand but I suddenly realised it makes much more sense to store them like this.. but that was really hard for me to do - to split the brands up and just see them as colours of buttons... they are now just a big lovely button stash.. Nice ... VERY nice!!

I really like the yellow/orange group which suprised me because I don't like yellow very much...

This is just the new buttons - there are several other cookie jars with old, vintage and gifted buttons to be gone through yet!  I might keep those seperated from the new ones.. don't know yet - I'll sort them into colours jars and then decide whether to combine them or not.. decisions... decisions....

In the meantime I'll just sit back and admire them.. maybe run my fingers through them... .. or line them up in rows of light to dark.. or possibly go and find something more constructive to do.. lol

NEW PaperArtsy Stamps.....

PaperArtsy have some lovely new stamps out this month - these quick cards are made with the 'Flora and Fauna' stamps and the 'Rum and Raisin' paper packs.  The colours on these are more muted/pale than I would normally use but I'm working on a completely different project that is really quite vibrant and so these were a bit of a counterbalance I think.  These were really quick cards made from explorations I was having using the new stamps... going to be used a lot I think!

I also have the two new 'hot pick' sets - more 'stuff' made with those at a later date.......

All good things must come to an end....

... but sometimes they end too soon don't they!

Yesterday - Saturday - was my last class at Card Inspirations ... actually its the last class ever at Card Inspirations as they'll be closing their shop doors at the end of the month.

This is sad because
1) its always sad when a good, friendly shop closes
2) I've really enjoyed teaching for them over the last 2 and a half years.  It was a great team to be part of and a really nice place to work... the ladies I've taught have been a pleasure and I will really miss it. 

So thank you to everyone who made being there so enjoyable- I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!

L to R:  Some of the CI team:  Sarah, Me*, Lynn, Christina and Katrina

* (looking a bit red nosed because I got a bit teary when I left! lol)