TMTA - Lovers

Think Monday Think ATC, theme Lovers.

Paper is red music, HOTP. Small stars

from a Xmas gift wrapping kit.

Image courtesy of Vintage Resources.

I had real fun getting a photo of this as the flash kept making the stars shine too much!!

I love this image & think it would make an excellent design for a Wedding or Anniversary card.

Thought of the day, "It is high time I tided out my craft drawers" as I found things last night that I forgot I had. Little accents for adding to cards & scrap pages I'd bought & they are tiny & got hidden under something else!!

Art Journal wk30 - Blessings

Blessings is this week's prompt. I sat & wrote a list while waiting for a document to load at work.
Many are basic, such as roof over my head, food to eat. A job. No real Debt. To a warm comfortable bed to sleep in at the end of each day & God to watch over me.
Papers, K&Co La Boutique. Blue Blossom, Scrapfairies. Silver gem, papermania. Scrap blue ribbon from market stall. Blue photo turn & brad, papermania. Quote from a book of quotes I bought with half the pages & both covers missing. The top of the card also has some blue ribbon but it is so sheer it isn't showing up. I loved doing this one.

One Little Word - Automatic

I started out with gusto on this layout & then got quite fed up at the end as I realised that despite using the word stickers from the same sheet, the "m" appears far smaller than the other letters.

Paper is chatterbox Chateau Upholstery, which I scalloped myself using my Ek success corner rounder. (tip I picked up from sisterhood of scrap) Brackets are cut from cereal box & painted brown then 3D gloss added. Tags are from clothing.

Behind the photo is a journal tag which tells the story of how I had to save for 5 years before I could afford a washing machine. I have had it 5 years now & can't imagine how I managed before. I had to hand wash everything & my sister took my bedding & towels. I got this one from our local Water Authority. It cost £100 less than in the stores & is ECO FRIENDLY....

My friend Joy, also share some fab news with me earlier today. Lewis (Bradley, of Joseph) is to star as Joseph in the West End as Lee, who won the part ,doesn't think his voice is up to the extra performances that the show has been extended by. I am so thrilled. Well Done Lewis, see I knew I had faith in him for a reason!!!

Playing with Vintage

At the weekend I was making a few more cards to take into work & I bought this new paper pad. Its the Papermania Inspirations warm tones.

I just had to have them & quite fancy the earthy ones too.

As soon as I saw this sheet of pink I immediately thought of a story for my card. The picture is a World War 1 soldier & the card is designed around his girl. She is waiting back home for him.

This is her writing desk.

I loved the modern print mixed with the old photo & the vintage ephemera.

I plan a few more to go with it.

This weekend I must complete my CJ entry & also get some rest. But I so want to play too!!!

DCM -Checkers

Not a very good photo, the light is appaling here tonight.

This is my card for the latest dare over on DCM.

The checks are the mini gingham bow & squares are on the paper I cut the kite from.

Sheep paper is from a baby girl kit by Traditional American Designs.

Kite tail is a piece of jewellery wire. Kite mounted onto card using

foam pads.

TMTA - Holiday

I found this challenge site on Rein's blog. It is called Think Monday Think ATC. I was very impressed with the cards people are doing & fancied playing along. The theme is holiday.
Now as some regular readers may know I work as an Administrator in Marine Insurance. My company has its own Personal Watercraft Scheme (Jetski's) I've never been on one but like the look of them. So it was only fitting I start with this challenge of holiday & use a Jetski pic!!
Image of girl was taken from a web-link also on Rein's blog, Bill's Antique Photos.
I'm quite chuffed with this & might even make a greetings card from it!

All About Eve Challenge - Escape

I actually got my act together this week & made time to do this fab challenge from the brilliant challenge site All About Eve. I know several of the ladies on the DT & admire there work very much.
Where do you escape to? was the prompt. Well I love my fabby sofa, but I also love to sit in my window seat, read a good book, drink tea & watch the world go by.
Papers are CherryArte Classic Coffee. Red swirl is papermania foam stamp. Red bloom folded behind clock also papermania. Clock is a transparency inked with raisin & espresso alcohol inks & attached with a metallic brad onto a metal circle tag. Rub on brackets & arrow are Bella. Title is printed onto transparency. Font is Bradley Hand & the flowers are digital doodles by I Made This Today. I even included some hand journalling!! See I'm getting brave!
Had great fun with this.
The layout is based on the fabulous sketch from a site called Gettin' Sketchy. They are brilliant & I hope to use several of them.

Numbers are Fun, DCM extra

I stuck with the fun element for this one. Having been in a shop recently looking at cards, I noticed that once you get passed 16, the cards go serious. Yes you grow up, but we all still have a child inside!

so I thought at 21, you still want a fun design.

The 1 is on foam pads to raise it ever so slightly above the 2.

Today, is coloured square stickers I picked up somewhere, might be papermania & I adore them for adding colour. They work fabulously straight onto photos. I am using them in my Happy minibook which is a year long project.

The cake was a 3D sticker.

Papers were free with Scrapbook Inspirations a few issues ago & I thought they were quite good for quick cards.

I inked the card edges to give dimension.

I don't know about anyone else but I'd love a card like this instead of a boring "key to the door"!!!

Happy Birthday, Louise!!

Happy birthday to my friend, Louise.
We met through work & we have such a great laugh when we get together! She, together with her partner, Pete are my partner's in crime!!!
I finished work last night, nipped to the supermarket, ate my evening meal & then took round her card & part of her gift!
The other half still hasn't arrived. It was ordered just before the postal strike & got sent back to its origin!! So I had to re order as they credited my card back. I'm hoping if it comes today at least she can have it on Wednesday when she returns to work.
The card is made using 7Gypsies paper & some Hampton Art clear stamps. Inside the envelope is a funny suprise gift. I didn't want to untie it as it took an age to get the bow fastened!!
Hope you have a great day, Lou & we wil be doing lunch on Wednesday.

Art Journal WK 29, Define Perfection

The prompt this week, Define Perfection. What is perfection to you right now?

Well I had several thoughts on this one, but my mind kept coming back to the same photo so I knew this was the one to go with.

No matter how dark & grey the days, or how tired & weary I sometimes feel, nothing puts a smile on my face quite like a pansy/viola. They have such little, cute smiling faces & they are my second favourite flower, after the daffodil. My third fav being purple/lilac tulips.
This particular one is a photo I took of my friends patio tub. I love the colour.

Esther's Miss Maisie & A Team Scraplift

This is the card I made using Miss Maisie. A picture given by Esther for a competition on her blog. I loved the image so much I just had to play. Take a look over on her blog as she comes back off holiday very soon.
This is my third team scraplift. Helen selected the layout this time & it was done by a lady over on UKS by the name of bertiegertie123. Her page is a fabulous colour combination, but if you are not a registered user you can't view the page unfortunately. I chose this picture of my sister's Nephew & Niece, Lewis & Amy on her wedding day at Langley Castle. Papers are SEI, Granny's Kitchen. They really did look like mini royalty on that chair. It reminded me of the Enid Blyton stories I read as a child, The Adventure's of the Wishing chair.

You might have to click on the image to get a better look. I hadn't realised it was quite so small once uploaded.

DCM - Pockets & A Pic to Share

This is my pocket card. I like to make them as I am well known for making bookmark cards. Many people who I send my cards to & also those who buy them are avid readers & find my little tags useful bookmarks. This one was made for the very purpose. Papers are K&Co. Various stamps from a travel range of clear stamps.

The picture is Nina. Rein, very kindly shared this image with us back in June. Pop over to her blog, it truly is gorgeous & if you love ATC's it is the blog for you.

This is a picture I have amongst some ephemera & you are welcome to use it if you want to. Just right click on the image & save to your computer.

A little lower down my blog you can see the 3 ATC's I made with it & even further down my last Friday DCM dare card.

A Set of Vintage ATC's

After making my Habberdashery card for the DCM dare, I fancied playing a bit more with this image. So I made these 3 ATC's.
The small white shirt buttons have been alcohol inked using
espresso to age them slightly. This is the only piece of lace I own, sadly, but is the perfect colour.
Very pleased it is Friday today. I feel like it has been two weeks rolled inot one! But, I have almost achieved all my goals. Had no time to throw any extras into the mix, except for my friend Louise's birthday card, but next week will start a relatively blank canvas!
The card for Louise can't be shared until 24th.
Micayla has tagged me as a Rockin' Girl Blogger, so that is twice I have been bestowed & feel truly grateful. Thanks hun.x

DCM little Extra - Faux

The challenge was to use "fake" items on our cards.

Faux, being my favourite thing in the absence of real ones,

I still didn't find it easy. Sure making faux buttons, ribbon & photo turns was easy. It was putting them together I had the problem with.

My card mojo is still straining toward the vintage look & I didn't find vintage faux easy to create!! I have got the layouts I planned completed.

I'm all signed up for Shimelle's class, "A Thousand Words" starting 30th July. I only really have my CJ entry & signing in pages to create & I have completed my goals from my AJ card. Then I look forward to all my team mates' CJ's coming my way. We exchange the books in February at our retreat in York. Something to really look forward to.

One Little Word - Simplicity

Although I am totally happy with this layout, I am not too happy how dark the swirls came out.
I had no textured white cardstock so had to go with plain. I wanted the photo to be the focal point so chose not to use any patterned paper. I picked the flowers (scrapfairies) to mirror the daffodils. The purity lemon bazzill, is a large tag that tells my love of these simple flowers.
Font Scriptina, printed directly onto the cardstock. Swirls are papermania foam. Buttons also papermania. Letter stickers £1 shop. This was one of my goals. I now how 3 ATC's completed, a card, for a challenge Esther set before going on her hols to use an image Miss Maisie & almost another layout, the inter team scraplift. Just the DCM mid week extra which is nearing completion & then onto the home straight with my CJ entry!!! Phew, this way I get to rest at the weekend.

AJ Wk 28 Goal of the Week

Emily is back with us for this week's prompt & it was very fitting for me.
My goal for this week is to get craft projects completed.
I have several in varing stages of "just begun" & "almost finished". My goals are balls in the big net of completion!
This week I want them all done. As I am a bit behind on several card sketches. However, at the weekend I did no crafting due to a meal out with all my work colleagues to say farewell to our retired bosses.
They paid for the meal as there way of thanking us for all the work & friendship we had given.
It was a fabulous meal & great, fun night but something disagreed with me & I ended up with mild food poisoning.
Two others also did, so Im not a wuss!!
Anyhow, I feel fine, bit bruised but slept all day yesterday & gladly could have done today too.
I was meant to post a card in this post too but it disappeared.!

Update to Pixie's Gallery

I've added another slideshow of my cards to the gallery today. I found some I forgot I'd ever made!!

DCM - Haberdashery

It's been pouring with rain, here in sunny Scunny & everywhere you go, you get wet through. So I was pleased to finish work & come home . First job was big mug of tea & then I settled down to make something pretty for this weeks main dare. Gillian set the task of using haberdashery.
I have absolutely no idea where my sewing basket is. I have loads of press studs, hook & eyes etc.. but where??? So I made this using K&Co Life Journey papers, some old lace & older shirt buttons & in view of my lack of supplies, I used some vintage ephemera to add to the piece.
The photo is some ephemera I picked up along the way. I adore old pictures.

I must get sorted out & tidy up, but the Hospital Consultant insists I rest up every chance I get & to be honest, I find my energy levels somewhat lacking!! Oh well, look on the bright side, this way I get to avoid the big C, & it will only be another 4-6 months before I'm back to normal.
Then I can try & shift this extra weight my body has loaded on to pad the poorly area!!!
I should see this time as an excellent excuse to sleep lazily on my sofa, which is about to have its 1st birthday soon, read books galore & when the energy is high, scrap & craft to my heart's content.

Tagged by Michelle

Two posts in one day!! Crikey!

I had the honour of being bestowed with this tag. I am in Michelle's eyes, a Rockin' Girl blogger.

Thank You, Michelle. Her friend Vee, bestowed it on her. These two ladies are incredibly talented.

I now pass this tag on to Lisette, Gillian, Pearl,& Ronda.

Another Layout Using Old Pics

I think I was a bit brave using pink & green together like this. I made the layout last month & thought I'd blogged it but hadn't. The paper is Dene's Closet. Buttons are the new papermania tubes. The sisters icicle is by KI Memories. The title was printed directly onto the page.
I actually struggled to get a photo of this page as the green doesn't look true. It is far paler IRL & the pink is less acid. But it shows Then & Now pics of my sister Tracy & I. The bottom pics were taken at her wedding in October last year.

As for anything new, I have two layouts on the go. I have a circle journal practically ready for my first posting. I also have a double page that I started in May & have reached the cruicial stage where if i mess it up, I wreck the whole lot so put it away from meddling pixie fingers!!
I also need to get some more cards made as I sold 20 in two weeks & need to replenish the stocks!! I leave a basket on the filing cabinets at work & people can look whenever they need one.

DCM Little Extra- 60's Inspired...

The mid week extra was to get retro & be inspired by the 60's...... Technically I'm very much a 70's girl, despite being born 1967 & looking at the colours & fashions of the 60's, I'm very glad!!
I drew my inspiration for this card from the vivid tangerine orange & the abstract designs & patterns of the decade, which did carry on into the 70's, but was the brainchild of the flower power generation.
My butterflies are tea bag folded. The antenna are small orange & tortoiseshell coloured beads. I stamped the flowers in bright orange directly onto the square blank card & 4 small orange eyelets hold a piece of plain vellum over the top.
The greeting was created in Wordart.

Art Journal Wk27, Junk Mail

Had a whole lot of fun with this one today. Week 27 was brought to us by Ali Edwards on behalf of the new mum, Emily. Ali said use that junk mail!
Well I got a La Redoute catalogue through the door & drooled over these t-shirts while watching telly. It was a while before I realised they were actually for kids!! They never had hot clothes like this when I was small. So I cut them out & found all the words from various magazines. (that was the hardest bit, finding the words I wanted!) It was great to make a fun edition to my deck.

Inter Team Scraplift Challenge

My teamies & I do a fortnightly scraplift challenge. This time it was my turn to select a layout for the lift. I chose one from the 2peas gallery by a fab lady using the name Mabaco. I am not a member of the forum, but have seen several pages done by this lady & they are all fantastic.
This is me aged 4 1/2 sat on my scooter. Papers are Daisy D's Market Place. The fibre behind the pic was from a bouquet of flowers a colleague recieved for her birthday. It was pink but with a spot of chocolate acrylic paint you'd never guess!!

DCM Dare - Text

This weeks's dare is to use text, blocks of text.

Well it certainly got my creativity going this time after the mid week flop. I adore text papers & happen to have these gorgeous 7 gypsies papers, classic. The frame was cut from brown card & had three sides covered with black text & just a stip of the red on the fourth side. The card background was a torn strip of red text & those gorgeous spots. The stamps are various that I have in sets of Travel & Time. The corner was given me by my teamie, Rach. I thought this card had an autumnal feel so went with the pumpkin corner. The weather has certainly been autumnal but if you look closely at my card, I captured a shaft of sunlight!! I aged the stamped clock & the Time is The Key to Life with brown ink but used blakc ink on the rest of the edges.

I used 3D foam to raise the quote & the clock. Well, it is finally the weekend & I can set about decorating my CJ & finishing a scraplift challenge. But first I deserve a well earned soak.

Happy Birthday, Sis!!

Today is my sister, Tracy's birthday.

My cat, Thomas was also born this day, he would have been 17 if he were still with me.

I had real fun making this card & didn't really want to give it away when complete!!

I used alcohol inks on the frame. The iris is stamped using the brushless watercolour tehnique onto artists watercolour paper.

Everything was inked within an inch of its life & collaged together. I used an inked ghost heart, my favourite tiny gingham bow & cute letters in shades of purple.

I've been busy making things but everything is in stages of completion. From sketched & materials selected to almost done!!! Some I can't share & some are preparations for my team CJ. I am also doing a 10 wk project about work but haven't got anything other tha ideas down.

I haven't done the DCM mid week dare this week as it just didn't appeal to me. I struggled enough with the last one. I didn't do the One Little Word either as nothing came together in my head & I was too busy preparing for my bosses retirement.

Art Journal Wk26 Celebrate Daughters

Congratulations to Emily, Mick & Ivy, on the birth of your new daughter/baby sister, Yindi.
This week's prompt was brought to us by another kind friend of Em's, Margie & the prompt is simply, Celebrate Daughters.
Well I have no daughter, but am one. So here is my sister & I, from many years ago, doing what only daughters do best!!!!
Papers are my absolute favourite cherryArte, classic coffee java blooms.
Im feeling a little bit better today, but can't wait for an early night.
Going to work was perhaps a bit too adventurous & I got soaked to the skin twice!!

Inspiration Alley Dinner Menu Challenge

This is my layout. I am very pleased with it. My menu numbers were 2, 3, 4
2= B&W photos, 3= Plain cardstock only 4= Include flowers.
Both photos have transparencies overlaying them. The font is Scriptina printed directly onto the page & tiny yellow seed beads are glued onto the tails of the swirls on the font.

Im not well today & have spent half of the time asleep in bed. I have only got up for a warm bath & some food before going back to sleep again. I find sleep the best medicine.
I slept most of yesterday so must have some sort of bug, or am just exhausted. I ache everywhere & feel rough!! Hopefully back to normal tomorrow as I haven't made a thing since Friday. I am so pleased this got finished Thursday night as the deadline is tomorrow!