Make A Moo - Favourite colours

Make A Moo.... or two! this week has the fabulous theme Favourite Colour!! Well I have adore all colour but as time is short I narrowed it down to two. Both are pieces of card coverd with gesso. Once dried I inked one with Dusky Concorde & the other with Faded Jeans. Once they were dry I built up the colour in places over inking & spritzing water to make some parts paler.

The flowers are from a See D's set & the beach items were from around my flat. I added a foam stamp to the background to give a look of waves. I find both these colours very restful.

I love how the flower has dried darker in some areas than others, thats the fab effect you can get form just one shade of ink!!

Theme Thursday - Letters of the Alphabet

Last night ws a bad night for creating! Nothing worked out how I wanted to & as I grew more tired the toys flew out the pram! It all ended up in the bin & I went off to bed disgusted & very disappointed. Then this morning I saw the new challenge for Theme Thursday & the inspiration began to flow. So at 6am, I settled to make this. Was almost late for work but I'm pleased with the results.

"F" is for Friends, Freedom, Flight, Forever!

Tag is inked using direct to paper technique, then spritzed with a little water to help blend them together using kitchel towel, Inks used, Peeled Paint & Fired Brick TH Distress inks. I then stamped script (CI) Butterflies (free) Flourish (Papermania) Flowers & foliage (See D's) before stamping script onto the relief "F" in Versamagic Tea Leaves chalk ink & gently over inking with fired brick rubbed on with a piece of tissue just to take away the harsh white of the letter stencil. I added red ribbon & small red flower & tied the top with green sheer to finish.

I also made last week's sampler with my Warm Colours piece.

Wednesday Stamper - Stars

WS this week is stars. I have very few stamps suitable for this theme but decided to go for a starry night theme. The background is denim, stream & silver mixative alcohol inks. I got inspired to play with them after Kaz, one of my forum friends showed us fab examples of using black. Mine didn't turn out quite as planned, Im not in a craft mood. It annoying when you have to allocate time to craft & find inspiration totally lacking & other days plenty of ideas & no time at all to play!

Arty Girlz & A Bizzare Day

Yesterday I had such a violent migraine, I had to take the full day off work & stay firmly tucked up in bed. I was quite sick with it & decided home was the best place for me. I did get up at tea time to try & eat something & by 8pm felt well enough to complete this card which I began just for the hell of it on Friday night. It fits the Arty Girlz new theme, Circles so I am entering it. Im in shock this morning after been woken by the mini earthquake this morning. My bed shook so violently I was quite scared. The noise was awful, like a horror movie.

I was certain I had had a bad dream but it definately happened as my bookcase has walked forward fro the wall 3/4in! All in All a very bizzare day!

Close up of the aperture, sorry not great pictures.

TMTA - Africa

Africa is this weeks theme over on TMTA. I had no related stamps but did have this faulous map one in my travel set. Background is Distress inks, brads, Papermania. Buildings stamp from same travel set.

I have spent the majority of the weekend in bed as the headaches were preventing my eyes focusing. I got plenty of sleep & did manage to scribble ideas for my retreat minibook. I got up for two hours at tea time for a bath & hair wash & did make the book up but it is now sat waiting for more hours in a day to add to it. I'm excited about this project, I don't mind if it takes all of March to complete. It is going to be full of pockets, tags & matchbooks. All made from 3 DL envelopes. I'm using a pack of paper I adore & I hope to share this time next month...or sooner if my head clears!!

At least an ATC this afternoon eases me back into crafting.

Rainbow Lady's Challenge Blog

A dear blog friend Cynthia has started up a new challenge blog on a Thursday. I thought I'd try my best & support her in its early stages. Things havent' gone to plan & Ive been suffering with migraines again. I reckon its because of the icy cold weather we just had as I ran a temp & couldn't keep warm half the week. So Im getting this done & going to bed for a few hours sleep to see if I can get rid as I have a minibook to design & make for my recent weekend away with my team.

The first theme is Acetate & I just happen to have this card half completed using acetate as a window. Sadly the light is poor & you can't pick up the gorgeous gems on the ribbon!!

Stamp is Crafty Individuals. I stamped it twice cut the border off & mounted it around the aperture I cut into the card front. Very simple but effective.

The inside.

Make a Moo or Two - Travel

I made these earlier this evening & then forgot about them! They are for the New Challenge blog run by one of my forum friends, Nellie, Make a Moo or Two. The theme is Travel & I used some postcard paper & stamped travel designs on them & coloured them with inks.They are only the second Moos I have made.

Theme Thursday & Sketches {by Tamara}

Theme Thursday this week is use some warm colours Red, Orange & Yellow. I selected Fired Brick & Spiced Marmalade distress inks to make my background. I love how these two colours have bled into one another & made the gorgeous pinky red bits & the marmalade has gone quite yellow in the top corner. They fascinate me! Then I stamped script in an orange pretty colur ink cube. Happy is in terracotta. Image courtesy of Vintage Resources. Floral corner along with other two stamps, Crafty Individuals.

Another fantastic card sketch #32 from Tamara this week. I got making it quite merrily using some of the Crate paper Avenue Collection, which my team mate, Anne gave me on our retreat.

Then I realised after I embossed my swirls that the sentiment was not going to look right at the top so I have placed it at the bottom sort of upside down to the original sketch.

Wednesday Stamper - Bookmark

Fab theme for this weeks WS, bookmarks. I make quite a lot of them but fancied another! I used scraps of paper left over from cards & scrap layouts. Stamps are Crafty Individuals & Studio G. Trim is very old & from lakeland & I had to alcohol ink the discs blue as they were lilac. The blue on the image is alcohol ink & i shaded the rest in moss green with a fab red coast to make her stand out. I wish I used my red spotty paper now but that it already earmarked for a card.

My Gift in Yesterday's Mail

No Julie, the scrabble letters don't spell out boring old Paula, but something far more exciting!

Here's the reveal anyhow!

These photos just don't do the book justice. You need to hold it to feel the texture on every page. This arrived from a very dear blog friend, Jeri. Thank you so much its gorgeous. I love the colours & all the gold touches. The stamping around the page edges is fab love the design of it.

Front Cover

First side
Back Cover & Reverse Side

Arty Girlz - Green

What a fabulous theme for Arty Girlz this week & an amazing Guest Designer too. I have had the pleasure of visiting Fabrizio's blog & he makes some fabulous stuff! I love green. I looked back over the last couple of weeks & a lot of my designs contain it. It used to be my favourite colour signifying fresh new growth/birth of nature in spring. Now I love all colour. This card is a real mish mash of offcuts from Basic Grey Papers & some green bazzill card. I have used Mortifica, Jade. Blush, Lucky & a flower brad from Papermania to match. The ribbon was free the stamp is from a Studio G set. Button & bow from my collection.

I have a love affair with circles & am cross that I don't have a punch in between the two I have punched here. These are the fabulous Fiskars Squeeze punches, I love em... The card is cream but the light is so wierd no colours are coming through true.

I recieved something totally wonderful in the post today & until I get the pictures edited I will leave you all with this sneaky peak. I will reveal my awesome gift tomorrow!!

TMTA - Insects

TMTA this week is insects. As I only have butterfly stamps I went with these. Background is Honeysuckle. Both stamps are Crafty Individuals.

Cynthia gave me the Make My Day Award over the weekend. Thank You. See her blog for details if you wish to play along. I had this several times over the last 3 months & for a while I had the picture in my sidebar but it kept knocking off other things & I have to lose a slideshow now before I can have anymore blog links on here. I have a whole forum of friends who have amazing blogs & I just can't get this blog to allow me to add them on without taking off everyone else! Don't know why, one of them things. I won't blog the picture in my main posts for a good reason. Each time you add a picture of your art work, you are using up mgb's of free space. Once that space runs out you have to pay for more. So I only blog my work. I came to blogger because it was free originally!!

For inspiration you only have to look at all the people who take part in these weekly challenges, books, magazines & I look at my team mates that don't have blogs. A lot of people that really inspire me have closed their blogs due to nasty comments etc.. The arts & crafts world sees full of nasty, jealous individuals who like to spoil it for other people. I have all my inspirational links on my gallery now until I can sort out the problem on this blog. But life comes first. I try not to spend more than two hours a day on my computer these days. My spare time is for crafting in. Having been ill for a long period last year has taught me better time management! I owe a few people some craft items that are quite outstanding too!

My Book of Promises Cover

I made this Book of Promises at our retreat. I don't make Resolutions but firm promises.

I made up the covers & put the book together using my Bind It All ready to take with me so I didn't have to pack too much stuff. I kept the pages plain white with decoration. I wanted the pictures & the journalling to be the "selling" feature of this book. I had the use of my teamies (Angie a.k.a Hair Bear) journal spots to add a bit of jazz to it.

The full book can be viewed in a slideshow over in my gallery. I like to keep my craft books together.

Sketches {by Tamara} & Paper08

Here is my card for this weeks card sketch #31 over on Tamara's blog. Very simple card made with 7Gypsies offcuts from a bag of bits I came home with from our team retreat. Chipboard star, BG. Silver swirl is stamped & embossed. "Star" spelt out in script gel alphas, Papermania.

Two weeks of Paper08 pages. Colour & Make a Bold Statment.

Front of pages.

Reverse of the pages.

I am still struggling to fit these in on time each week. I think its because they are on a Tuesday & my Tuesday's are very busy. I struggle to do two craft pieces on the same day. My Bold statment was how proud I am of myself. I have lost a further 2lbs this week & have only 8lbs to go. I can go on & lose a further 6lbs if I wish, but Im happy to get back to my starting weight pre-steroids!!

Final Team CJ

This is the last one! Not as bold & bright as yesterdays', but pastel colours with impact. I like each & every entry to be different.

This is Anne's CJ - When I Was Born.

Anne said to go with whatever you associated with the title. I went with my birth. I copied the colours from my very first layout of the year to keep it fresh. The background was hard to work on as it wasn't as white as I'd hoped. Its Papermania effects paper & the other papers are all BG Lily Kate.

Inside the file folder. My journalling is on the reverse of each of these ATC sized cards that I made. The child with the clock signifys myself as I was born at midnight & the country put the clocks forward one hour making me an hour old the second I was born! And you wonder why this pixie gets confused!

Stamps inside are Crafty Individuals, corner stamps Design Objectives.

Theme Thursday - By The Sea

Theme Thursday is By the Sea this week.

This is one project I really wish I hadn't started as it went totally different from what I planned. But, its is late & Im tired out from a day at work, so Ill enter it anyway.

I have "lost" my paper08 page for last week & wasa going to take photos fo the two together. Im sure it will turn up when I stop searching for it.

Meanwhile its tea time & I want to curl up with my magazine & am hoping for an early night. Lack of sleep is begining to get to me & its making me very moody.

2nd To Last Team CJ

Val's CJ theme was Time Traveller. If you could go anywhere in time who would you be, where would you go?

Difficult one this. There was a problem with the posting & I only got 1 weekend to work on this CJ. I had planned to do Elizabeth Bennett, but Pauline had already covered her & Mr Darcy perfectly so then I turned to one of my fav films, Fried Green Tomatoes, but couldn't find anything decent to print off, desperate times called for desperate measures & I decided Vivian Leigh was the only way to go. She was such a beauty & got to star with the top leading men.

I adored her portrayal of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind. Having seen the movie several times you realise that instead of being a hard faced cow, Scarlett was in fact, a love torn woman who fell for the wrong man. Now, haven't we all done that ladies!

Double Page Unopened.

The ribbon opened to reveal a gallery of photos & a bit of personal history.

Under her main photo was her main life story.

I ended up very pleased with how this came out.

Wednesday Stamper - Valentine

I couldn't wait to get this Wednesday Stamper challenge done tonight. I saw the theme this morning & when I came home for my lunch, I pulled out a few papers & cut them to size. Then when I got home just after 3.30pm, all I had to do was cut the hearts & stamp the red one with the free swirl stamp from Craft Stamper Mag. I love this freebie & wish I had it in a larger size. I then stamped the large swirl in silver & heat embossed it. I have left the greeting off as I'm unsure whether I can sell this card if it had Valentine on it. Keeping them blank gives them lots of scope. I feel this is a masculine card but would suit a woman too.

and Another Team CJ!

This is Nikki's CJ & her theme was Mad Moments to be interpreted as you like! I picked Xmas Eve 2006 when I was in a room alone having had far too much to drink! I am enjoying looking at these pictures because once the books leave your house the only time you ever see them again is the actual hand over. We all sat & looked through the completed 9 as none of us ever got to see what came after our entry. If you were the first in a book you never saw anyones work but the CJ owners.

The double page.

The inside of the Angels card.

I had no knowledge of these photos until I uploaded them 5 days later. I had taken them. I was clearly doing Tonight Matthew I Will Be.....

On a down note, I have been off the steroids 6 weeks & my nose problem has flared up again. I have barely slept the past 5 days or so because I can't breathe. I refuse to go back on the steroids as I gained a stone in 3 weeks, putting me overweight! I have managed so far to lose 4lbs & so we are going down the antibiotics route again!! I hate lack of sleep it makes me moody & Im glad I have lots of pretty paper to play with when I finally get home from work. I am finding working quite a trial!

Arty Girlz - Stamping

This week's Arty Girlz theme is Stamping. It is very rare that I will make the same card twice, but when someone saw this card I made for one of my Teamies to say Thank You, she wanted one identical. I was in the fortunate position to be able to do so. I often can't match the embellishments on a second. This card is a new design of mine. I sketched it late one night & realised it was the perfect template for many alternative themes. The very first card I made using it is for my Dad's birthday. You can't see this until 9th March, but I was so pleased with it I turned out two more designs.

The square panels are stamped with a free floral swirl & one of my girl heads from my favourite Crafty Individuals stamp. The corner stamp is Art Deco, Design Objective corner set. Thanks so Much is a word stamp from a Studio G set. Papers are BG Blush. Gorgeous colours & suits my little girl perfectly.

Pearl brad, Papermania. Flowers, from one of my teamies a few months ago.

Another Team CJ

Angie's theme was to do a double layout about something special that you have been given/bought.
I chose my 40th birthday present of make up, manicure & photo shoot. I used these fabulous Urban Lily papers to give it a real girlie feel as I felt very pretty in pink that day! The tag was one given me off some underwear that I covered with the patterned paper & my journalling is written under the main photo.
I'm not sure what blogger has done with this there isn't meant to be such a large gap between these pictures!!

TMTA - Kind (Child/Children & Bird)

TMTA challenge is to use Child/Children & Birds together on an ATC. This was quite easy for me as I had the background pre-made with distress inks & the girls were already stamped & cut out. All I had to do was colour them & find a bird image. So it was a nice pleasant piece of art to create in my lunch hour.

We have glorious sunshine this morning & I hope it remains bright when I finally get to come home to stay. It's handy I only work ten minutes away.

Floral piece & girls are Crafty Individuals stamps. Bird is from Vintage Paint Workshop.

Team CJ's Part 2

Here are the next two of my entries in some of my team mates CJ's. As I said previously, I will not be showing my actual CJ for some time. The whole book needs photgraphing & bits finishing off.

Nic's CJ - Once Upon A Time

She wanted to know our favourite stories as a child or for our children to read to her expected baby. Her daughter, Isabella was born two weeks ago.

I made two cards for this entry. Using DCWV Once Upon A Time paper.

Inside both these flaps houses a tiny story book. I hand typed my two fav pixie stories, turned them into removable tiny books.

Rachel's CJ - Scrap Your Fav Photos.

Rachel asked that we selected our favourite photos & jsut scrap them. It was harder than you imagine selecting just two!

This one is a spring picture I took & I had to hand make the two strips of paper that the photo sits on as I had nothng to match the background piece. The other side of this gorgeous swirly paper was black stripes & I considered it too dark for the delicate blooms.

This picture was taken of my sister kitten, Max. It was the day she moved & he made himself right at home straight away. I loved this page so much, I went on to copy it for a full sized 11x8.5 for an AAE challenge My Hero.

Team CJ's

Our team decided to do Circle Journals. I will be showing photos of all my work in their CJ's. I won't be showing mine for sometime as I don't have the pictures taken & can't be bothered with that kind of stuff right now. I desperately want some "ME" time to craft & watch telly & recover. I have a whole list of projects lined up. I am planning a minibook of the retreat but it won't be of any interest to anyone else but myself as it contains photos of the Farmhouse we stayed in which includes photos of all the rooms etc.. It is my personal momento of the weekend. I will show the completed book but it will probably be next month. I am still working on my 40th birthday minibok from last year. I don't like to rush some things.

Helen's CJ - Guilty Pleasures.

All journalling is hidden in the handmade matchbook along with several of my guilty pleasures such as sausages! The two most guilty ones are hidden behind the floral tags on the first page.

Helen asked that we keep our entries in red, black & cream. I enjoyed working with this colour scheme.

Pauline's CJ - Pet Peeves.

My reasons for these things really annoying me are written & placed in the alcohol inked glassine envelopes. The brads & tiny mirrors are also alcohol inked to match the ribbon I bought to tie the bows with.

Pauline wanted to know what sot of thing really annoys us. I hate Steam Irons as they always say they are non drip, but I have yet to own one that doesn't. Im sick of ruining my work clothes with wet spots hours before Im due to wear it.

In other peoples' work I like to keep a lot hidden behind tabs & things. Mainly as it is their book & I like to keep it neat & also because I like to add interest with openings, tags & pockets.

card #30 Sketches {by Tamara}

This is my entry for the latest sketch over on Tamara's blog. Hope you are soon well & out of hospital Tamara. Paper is a double sided piece of Scenic Route, Charlotte/ Boston Common which was given to me by one of the team. IT was only 1/2 sheet but perfect for a card or two! Blossom is also a given one & I stamped the scroll onto it using Versamagic chalk ink Tea Leaves & this months free stamp onthe cover of Craft Stamper. Greeting is stamped in Timber Brown StazOn from a See D's set.

Theme Thursday - Spring

Theme Thursday - Spring. Traditionally I do my spring cards in fresh greens & lemons but fancied a splash or rich red for these stamped blossoms as they go well with the 7Gypsies papers I so wanted to use. They have lurked in my stash since July when I made my Circle Journal. Blossom, Rub on Letters & Brads all Papermania, Stamp, Crafty Individuals

Wednesday Stamper- Asia

This is only quite small as it is a little out of focus. I can't use the flash on it so it appears blurry. This is my entry for WS Asia. Its a bit of a cheat ATC really as I have no Asia stamps at all. However, at the weekend I got these two bits from one of my team. They are stamped & the Geisha is coverd with glaze before being cracked. The fan is also stamped. I jsut added a corner scroll from my own stamp set. Background is an offcut from my distress inked pieces I made before I went away.

I can't get back into challenges & am struggling to get round all the blogs I missed as I am shattered. I started with a cold before I went away & it is full force now. So plenty of rest & quick to make art for the time being. I have a minibook to plan for all the photos I took on the retreat. We had snow the morning we arrived so were lucky it brightened up.

Arty Girlz - Frames

Papers are all BG Blush. The flowers sit inside a frame cut from blush & attached with mini brads by papermania. This is for the Arty Girlz frames challenge.

I have a bit of work to share over the coming weeks as not only did I make two minibooks at my team retreat, I also have my full CJ to show once photographed & all the entries I did in the other 8 CJ's. We were all thrilled with the finished books & are quite happy to do another. Anyhow, I have no photos as I didn't get home until after 3pm yesterday & was back to work 7.30am this morning.

I believe from the team that the photos are ready for me to select from Kirsty so I must get that done & she can process them before her trip.

Retreat

We had photos taken on our retreat & as I haven't got them yet, you can view a couple here. Once the lady has got back from CHA, we will get our pictures.

Suprise in the Post!

As I am going away this morning, my craft gear has all been packed away. Therefore I will miss doing the Theme Thursday, Sketches {by Tamara} & 4x4 Friday challenges. I have a few bits of art I haven't shared yet but today I will leave you with this. When I made an altered puzzle piece a week or so ago, I raved about some gorgeous pieces my forum friend had made. Links to her blog are in that post. Well I recieved this from her in the post. The photo os a touch blurred as it didn't like the flash in such poor daylight. But as you can see, it is stunning & it has my favourite child face.

A positive note I have now lost another lb in my weight loss quest. I had a bad start as the diet suggested to me actually made me gain weight despite all exercise. Then last week I damaged my knee & have been unable to do anything other than walk to work. But I am still losing 1lb per week, nice & steady. The Boots machine is playing sensible now & measuring me at the correct height. It makes all the difference to your BMI index! So I feel great, I'll be back to 9 stone before I know it & who knows the clothes I couldn't wear (which we expensive suits for work) might just fit as the weight is coming off the "problem" areas!

Now I must go dry my hair & get it straightened & its good bye from me until Monday. I will miss my computer & my morning blog hops!