New photo Layout - Pixie

Photo taken by Captured By Kirsty {Kirsty Wiseman}, thank you for making me look so natural, girlie! Papers, 7Gypsies. Ric rac, clock from my teamie, Rach (clocks are clear stamps)

Leaf scroll stamp. Title BG Scarlet letter pack. Time stickers, from Anne, another teamie. "T" from Queen & Co. My only problem with this is taking photos of photos always makes them come out darker.

A Moo & A Forum Swap

Make A Moo or Two theme this week is text. I had started making two but have lost one & so I just decided on the one. I stamped script randomly onto some script paper & created a frame from another script piece. Bride is a vintage image from an ATC set. I still find this small size a struggle.

On the mixed media forum, I am part of, I took part in a monthly swap. The theme was Spring Collage. This photo doesn't do it justice. It is a 5x7" canvas inked with distress inks & most of the images & text are all from my RSPB magazines. The photo of the housemartins nesting was taken by myself at my dad's house. The nest is made with craft feathers the diamonds are stamped onto tissue & glued on i love how the seams vanish. Words & corner decoration are stamps. All other bits from my scrap stash.

I'm Guest Designer at Tamara's.

I was very excited to recieve an email from Tamara (Sketches {by Tamara}) 3 days before my birthday asking if I would be her second Guest Designer. I love her sketches, although am guitly of missing a few due to work, commissions & poorly eyes which are still not a great deal better. Optician says my sight is fine, just strained, a few more weeks & should be back to normal.

This card is my favourite sketch of Tamara's sketch 32. I have done 3 versions of this one & this card was made specially for today. Papers BG Blush. Tag made using a script stamp & strips of pp. Sentiment stamp, Stampin' Up. Corner stamp, Design Objectives. Pearl Brad, Papermania.

Flowers, Scrapfaries. Ribbon scrap from clothing.

Thank You Cards

Here are the Thank You cards I made for my sister, Tracy & teamies, Anne, Rachel & Pauline, for the gorgeous birthday gifts. I made a copy of one of the tall cards for my mate Louise too.

Tracy's Card, paper HOTP Wedding, Stamp Elusive Images Leaf Scroll.

The teamies cards.

Paper BG Sweetpea Jack collection,Vines. Stamps Gel-a-tins Big & Wild Things.

Anne Rachel Pauline

The stamps were gifts bought using my birthday money.

The hardest decision was who to send which card too!!

Theme Thursday - Choc n Pink

This has to be my lucky week as so far the three challenges I have been able to take part in have all been using my favourite colours. It was chocolate on Tuesday, Purple Wednesday & today one of my fav of all Chocolate & Pink. My eyes still ache quite a bit & after a 7 hour day at the office the text on screen swims. I have been doing quite a few page layouts recently & will share soon. First off I have something else to do, well two things actually, but the first will be revealed on Saturday. The second Im not too sure about as it was something I was asked to do in beginning of Feb & nothing has come of it yet!

So Theme Thursday Choc n Pink, background paper is BG LilyKate. Mix of stamps, Design objectives & Crafty Individuals & the image is from an ATC pack.

WS - Purple

For my entry in this week's Wednesday Stamper I want to share this purple card I made for one of my forum friends. It was her birthday the day after mine & I forgot to blog it. I have been very preoccupied with work & having eye strain has kept me from my computer.

I do love purple so thought I'd cheat & enter this. I inked the vellum with dusty concorde distress ink & the pattern picked up the colour. It was plain white vellum to begin. I made the background piece to attach the vellum to & stamped the tag with part of a stamp. Purple is one of my most favourite colours as well as yesterday's chocolate.

I hope to get back to crafting again soon but you don't realise just how much you need your eyes until they hurt!

Arty Girlz - Chocolate

I have sat out all challenges for the last week as I have had far to much to do & being my birthday last week, too many places to go & people to catch up with. Work was busy running up to the Easter break & my eyes still aren't better. I did get my commissions done & another piece of art that I can't share until 29th March. I have been completing forum & team pieces so I can start fresh.

However I couldn't resist this week's Arty Girlz as I adore working with chocolate browns. I used HOTP paper & a mix of stamps. The image I think came from Rein.

More Birthday Cards

The slideshow in the post below are cards given to me by my forum friends. These cards are the handmade ones from my teamies. I have eyestrain & am finding being on the computer to much to cope with so I shall keep this brief! I have managed to make a few cards to thank people for my birthday gifts & also a page layout but I can share them another time. I only have today left before its back to work so I need to rest my eyes.

Chrysalis Cards

Birthday Time Again

I can't believe it's a whole year since I celebrated my 40th birthday. I had such a fabulous day & a great start to a new year. Then I had health problems & the rest of the year went by in a blur. So now, today I am 41!. Celebrations will be more sedate. I am going into work late, working half a day & taking a long lunch with my best mate & partner in crime, Louise. As I'm on the diet still, I won't be eating very much of the pictured cake. It is tradition in our office that the birthday person takes the cake & money is put in a charity box per slice or cake. I can't afford cream cakes its costs in excess of £15 these days & most of us are all healthy peeps who eat very healthy & drink lots of water. I have some gorgeous cards & some money to buy myself something for a change. Usually my birthday cash ends up going towards the water bills that arrive the week before. Not this year, I want some art materials to keep me going while I clear the decks!! I've been having a bit of a blog/challenge/blog hopping break to make team/forum/design stuff, but needed some ME time too. It is starting to get busy at work & Im shattered in an evening adjusting to my more hectic work pattern.

A Retreat Layout

I have been MIA since I did my moo. I am working on quite a lot of stuff which I am not able to share. I have this layout though which I thought I had already blogged, but in fact had only uploaded to share with my teamies! It was taken on the retreat. One of the team is missing from the photo as she was busy giving birth days before. Papers are BG Black Tie. Background sheet & title stickers are BG Scarlet's Letter. Blooms, from Rach. Brad centre & metal flower, Papermania. As you can see we are totally crazy & had a fabulous time. The minibook of the entire retreat photos is nearing completion in between other bits & pieces.

Make A Moo - Numbers

Hard one this week over at Make a Moo. I had made two backgrounds but only one image would work so the other has gone to live in the bottom on the bin. I have learned to stop stressing as time seems to get shorter at weekends.

This was made with Crafty Individuals diamond background stamped in Stazon Timber Brown & inked with Fired Brick Distress ink. Sanded slightly & then over inked with Brushed Corduroy. I added a piece of ruler paper by K&Co. The image is my Dad in his school uniform.

Theme Thursday

This week's theme is Torso - Mannequins. I was quite thrilled to see this as it makes such a change to try working with a different shape. I also planned to do two but my check up with the nurse made me very late home. I had plans for a Parisien themed one as I love last weeks Paris theme. So I might just do another one just as soon as Im caught up with all my current commitments. I went for floral. The whole torso is coverd in 7Gypsies scrpit paper & inked with distress inks. I then built up my design using various stamps. The butterfly lady is mounted on foam tape. To me she represents the centre of a woman.

I was so late I had no time to get to the bank & my bank is murder on Fridays, you know the one, queue out the door on only one cashier!! I will be throwing teddy out of the pram tomorrow. I did however get weighed at my check up & am now 9 stone. I'm not certain that is correct as last week at Boots I was 9 stone 4lbs. Still I have practically lost one stone & have only 4 or 5 lbs to go! Quite an achievement in 9 weeks.

WS - In My Garden

The Wednesday Stamper theme this week is In My Garden. I no longer have a garden. I did have a walled raised bed but my landlord's workmen keep dumping chemicals over my plants. I got tired of replacing them so I stopped.

I have this stamp Postcard Collage, Jan Weiss by Stamps Happen & it is the sort of thing I would love to see out of my window. I stamped it in Stazon Timber Brown onto some pastel coloured paper, Exquisite by Papermania. I then shaded it carefully with distress inks to give a watercolour effect to it.

Arty Girlz - Stars

Stars are this week's Arty Girlz theme. I struggled with this as I have recently done stars for two other challenges. But, I had lots of off cuts from my Crate & Fancy Pants Scrapbook papers & came up with this. My internet is intermittent & emails only when they fancy, (which isn't often!) but I have managed to get round most of my regular blogs.

Meanwhile I am working on forum stuff I am unable to share & a few projects that are for people that are regular readers of my blog, again I can't share.

APOLOGIES

.... to all my dear friends in blog land. I have had email problems for a couple of days. My internet provider is having server problems due to the weather. I can sympathise fully with them as my job is completely internet based & reliant on the server working! Last night the internet fell off while cooking my tea & I have only just managed to get back online. Im trying to get round all the blogs I have missed before the net falls again.

TMTA - Fashion

This weeks' TMTA theme is fashion. I had none of the gorgeous stamps Ive seen with fashionable women but I did have some fake stitching with hearts. I used a photocopied old Singer Sewing machine leaflet inked it with tea dye distress ink & the image of the ladies was from my friend Gillian. I am unable to recieve emails right now, still a problem with the main server. They hope to have it soon.

Bird Inchies

Okay! So blogger is being childish & only letting me upload one picture at once, Hmm!

Here are my inchies for the March swap over on Joannes' blog. they were such fun to make. Come along & join in the fun. Just click on the link in this post for the rules. I used this Crafty Individuals stamp & a made the backgrounds from a few other stamps I have in my collection. The script is CI, the swirls were free with last Months Craft Stamper. My forum friend Carol (Who made the fab jigsaw pieces & gave one to me) has a fabulous ATC box featured in this months magazine using a BIA & my favs Alcohol inks.She has not blogged it yet but there are other things to take a look at until she does. That is unless you already have the mag in your clutches. I put these links on nearly all my posts but I wonder does anyone ever use them or even notice them?

Now for a quiz. Jeri (who made the fab Paris book for me) sent me this. Im not tagging anyone as I don't like them, but if you want a go feel free.

WHAT IFs????????
What if I could meet anyone in the ART world to chat with?
Wouldn’t have to be anyone famous. I loved meeting my team & sharing the love of creating art.
What if I could have one wish granted to benefit all mankind?
Stop violence. This world is becoming a dangerous place to live.
What if I could travel anywhere in the world?
I really want to see a Tuscan Landscape, stay in a rustic cottage on a vineyard in Brittany & visit The Mermaid in Copenhagen.
What if I could live in a period other than present for 24 hours?
I love the 1930’s it always looks exciting in costume dramas.
What if I could make over 3 areas of my body?
I’m done with all that. It has taken me all of my 40 year (nearly 41) to accept the way I look. I hate red hair & freckles & I was given both. I can live with them now. My weight loss had dealt with the other unhappy bits!
What if I could become an animal for 24 hours?
No way, the cruelty to animals is unbelievable.
What if I could bring back someone to life for 24 hours?
Well as over half my family are dead, all of them would be good. But I want to tell my mum how glad I am she had me & how much I have missed her all these years.

Happy Birthday Dad

Something is wrong with blogger right now & I struggle to upload anything. It tells me I have used far more space than I have as if the pictures are on here. So I'm rather peed off to say the least. Need to get into the pic account & delete anything not on here.

Friday was the 34th Anniversary of my Mum's death. Today is my Dad's birthday, this is the card I made him. I used BG Blush & Periphery paper & I stamped elements & cut into squares.

Make A Moo - Children

Make a Moo has the theme of Children this week. I struggled for images small enough but by printing at index size they fit, though I think perhaps a little small. Here are my two.

I made matching backgrounds for these two girls. They are two of my favourite printable images. I got mine from Vintage Resources. I made the background by covering each moo in a piece of paper from an old book & covering them with 2 thin coats of gesso. Once dry I built up some colour using my distress inks Peeled Paint & Faded Jeans. I stamped a portion of this Crafty Individuals background stamp on either side. To select the best bit I inked it & laid it down on my table. I then pressed my prepared moo over the top, it works reasonably well for small areas but I have never managed anything larger! I stamped the word believe on one as it appeared to have too much space. Then I added my girls.

I'm working on some Inchies for a swap over on my forum friend, Joanne's blog. Anyone can play along go have a look. I will be able to share sometime this weekend. I also have recieved more Make My Day awards from Rosie & Pearl. Anyone who reads this blog makes my day & all the people in my sidebar both on this blog & on my gallery make my day.

Theme Thursday - Paris

Paris is this weeks challenge over at Theme Thursday. I created the background using the Tim Holtz technique resist embossing. However I didn't intend to do so when I initially inked my stamp with clear embossing ink. So it didn't turn out right but I am pleased with the effect Im left with. I used a Crafty Individuals Diamond Background stamp. After heat embossing with clear powder I built up my colour using Tattered Rose/Fired Brick/Peeled Paint & Spiced Marmalade Distress inks. I overstamped a corner floral & a bit of text to give depth but the light is too poor for it to show on this photo. Then I collaged my Paris bits which I purchased from art-e-zine & added a small image from CI coloured with brushmarkers. I used gesso around the edges & over the corners to ink up & add a vintage look to it.

WS - A pair of Glasses

The theme at WS is quite fun this week, glasses. I used Crafty Individuals paper & stamps & added a Design objective corner stamp, market stall ribbon & a pair of glasses charm hanging from the ribbon that I was given an age ago. The smallest image of my favourite girl is stamped on acetate. She looks so like me when I was small.

Arty Girlz- Spring & Another Recent Layout

This weeks' Arty Girlz theme is spring. I really wanted to play along but got home late from work wet through. By the time I ws dried off the light was fading so I made just a quick spring-like card with the gorgeous BG Lilykate paper some prima flowers & decorated brads. I finished it off with a Stamp It up Greeting.

I published this earlier this morning & decided to add the card to the post as they are both on the same day. didn't think it would work but it proved me wrong!!

The recent Layout

Another recent layout using old photos. (1987) All paper is 7Gypsies. Off cuts from part sheets no longer wanted by members of my team. Stickers I got from CraftsULove. I did hand stitching on this one as my machine is still broken.

TMTA - Triptych

TMTA theme this week is Triptych. I felt a bit daunted when I got home from work as I have had a very hectic day but all the stress washed away as I created my background. I used TH Distress inks, Brushed Corduroy, Peeled Paint & Spiced Marmalade blended several times & sprtized with water in between. I decided on an Autumn feel so stamped the dried background with text, leaves & ferns. Added a few butterflies & then stamped my trees. The centre tree is Peeled Paint & each tree either side is Brushed Corduroy. The only annoying things ws it almost fell as this picture was taken. The light is fading so it is the best I could get!!

Another Layout

Happy Mother's Day to all mums new & old, to me & to the memory of those no longer with us,but always in our hearts. Always a sad day for me. So here is a page layout I created from the retreat. The photos were taken on route to the farmhouse. It was freezing cold & snowed half an hour later but well worth the stop. Papers are all BG Periphery.

Retreat Layout

I had the best night's sleep I have had in ages. I didn't wake up until well after 9.30am. I am up every week day at 5.00am so it is great if my body clock goes wrong & I get a sleep in once in a while, though it doesn't happen often. It is still very windy here but bright & sunny. It ws great to ake up to a fresh spring morning but I also felt a tinge of saddness as today is one whole month since I went away on my Team Retreat. Nic, who couldn't come along with us due to her pregnancy has been a mum to gorgeous Isabella for 4 whole weeks already!!!

So here is a page layout I made the weekend after I got back. Patterned paper is BG, Urban Couture, Cashmere, Chiffon & Pashmina. The Grey strip is also BG but just a cut off piece in a bits pack I picked up from the team "dont want anymore" section. I got lots of bits big enough for card making!! I used a digital overlay on the photo from a free download on a digit scrap website. Title made from the following Alphabet Stickers, Karen Foster, Safari & Rebecca Sower, Nostalgiques.