October page for my Year of Studio Calico

I have had a week off work from 24th Oct until today and I went away to visit my sister, Tracy in Newcastle for a very long weekend. Bless her, she had got Swine Flu and despite nasty hallucinations from the Tamiflu drugs, she looked a lot better by the time I got up there and we had an amazing girly time together. I had the pleasure of relaxing, listening to the sound of silence interupted only now & then by the sound of cash tills as we shopped. :) :) Once I got back home I decided on a total break & spent my hours home making. I love burning scented candles while reading in a corner wrapped in fleecy blankets. I find it the only way to truly recharge my batteries. The home making bit was defrosting the freezer & cooking to fill it up for the winter months ahead.

I took some lovely photos while up at Tracy's and this one of the hens waltzing into the house to see what she was doing just begged to be scrapped.

The materials are all from the October SC kit- Yearbook and the add on Fall Festival. (Another page will foloow once I can get photos) I only got this kit when i got home as the postman left it with my designated safe place but we kept missing each other the whole week.

It was great to get it & have a few days to sit & decide how to use it.

Jenni Bowlin calendar page (Dec 08 kit)

Paper - Jillibean Soup, Lentil Soup-Vegetable broth.

American Crafts Remarks Garden Walk journal block.

Sassafrass Lass Paper Whimsies Beatnik Buds.

Prima Flower centres.

Title both stamps from the kit.

Paper edges & calendar distressed & inked with Versamagic Chalk ink in Gingerbread.

Guest Designer for Little Shop of Sketches

I had the pleasure of being guest designer over on Little Shop of Sketches this week. My dear friend Pearl contacted me early last month to ask if I would return the favour as she had kindly done a GD spot for me on mojoholder. The sketch was fun to work with & I kept my page simple to show off the tranquil photo that I had taken at Xmas while staying with my sister, Tracy.

Here is a close up of my simple cluster of embellishments.

The materials I used are all from my last 3 SC kits.
I have been away from blog land for a while as I am rather tired. I am at the stage where getting out of bed is difficult in a morning and I'm finding myself late getting ready for work. The warmer duvet is partly to blame. I'm only up this early today because I have a train to catch in an hour!

Thankfully I am having a week's holiday from work starting with a long weekend this Saturday, when finger's crossed I am going up to Newcastle to stay with my sister, Tracy. I say finger's crossed as right now she has the flu & as a precaution the doctors have given her the swine flu drugs, Tamiflu. Once I get home I have a day out at Meadowhall shopping and plan to rest. I made a layout just for the hell of it last weekend but so far haven't had the right light for a photo then the day it was perfect, both sets of camera batteries were flat!!! Still they are fully charged & ready for my trip.

3 days & counting!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ANGE!!

Today is my fellow Scrapbooking Teamie, Angela's birthday. I made this mini layout card for her as I know she is at her happiest near water. Paper is Dovecraft, Sequin waste from haberdashery. Photo was taken by me at Christmas during my stay at my sister's house.

Welcome Millie Jane - Crazy Amigo Challenge

One of my teamies, Nic & her husband Ian welcomed their new daughter Millie Jane into the world on Sunday. She will be adored by her big sister, Isabella. This is the card I made for them all. I hand stitched the row of tiny buttons onto the lace. It was rather fiddly but worth it as it looks unique.

A friend of mine, Rein, stopped by to tell me that the challenge over at Crazy Amigos is baby/ birth cards. So I am adding the link & entering my card.

Travel Project

This is a recent project I made to give away to a friend of mine, Marjolein & it took a while to get decent photos as the camera had flat batteries. The moment they were charged the weather was too bright or too dark, typical really.

The first picture shows the front cover & the tag I made to send with it.

This is page 4 of the 6 page book.

This is page 5.
The other pictures are really not good enough quality to blog. Shame but that's how it goes sometimes. I hope you are all having a relaxing weekend so far. I am having a great time. I had my feet up all afternoon flicking through a magazine & I feel like I have had a more than a day off work.

A Challenge

I am a team member of Scrap Shoppin' Girls and we haven't done a lot of team stuff in a while. You know how life gets in the way & time flies by. Babies are born to some ( well one born & another due VERY soon), Grandchildren for another. University study for one and new jobs for myself, followed by a career for the university student. So we decided to do a sketch to get the creativity flowing. The sketch we picked is an old Pencil Lines one. Here is my version below.

My designed is made mainly from my August Studio Calico kit -Over the Rainbow & the add on No Place Like Home.
Patterned Paper; Knave of Hearts, Summer's Day, Crafty Strips & Collage Cuts - Tell Your Story-Collage Press.
Making Memories -Great Escape -Compass Foil.
Large Brad, Cherry- American Crafts
Title - Bamboo Alphas - Making Memories
Reverse Tiny Circle Alphas, Jenni Bowlin.
Ric Rac from my stash.
Photos - from my sister, Tracy taken in France 2007.

Two pages from last weekend

I unplugged the phone last weekend for some chill-out "me" time. I am frazzled from the last few weeks of staff coverage & needed to shut myself away.

The first page is using my FountainSquare/Hobson Grove Studio Calico kit from November 2008 but I used the photo frame from this months kit as it fitted with my design. Leaves are stamped with some Habico clear stamps I bought over two years ago. Title was using the Making Memories Bamboo alphas that went perfectly with tis photo.

This 2nd page is from my latest SC kit. White cardstock. MM eyelet die cut paper which I inked with Broken China distress ink to make it stand out. The papers are Basic Grey-June Bug Aggie & Anna Griffin- Darcey Multi Floral. Yellow trim is Maya Road. Title June Bug chipboard Alphas.

Photo is my sister's cat, Kia.

I just need to say sorry to my regular blogs that I visit, but some of them I just can't get onto to comment. I get so frustrated when my computer freezes & I ended up having to shut down so I have not blog hoped very much lately. Time is a little too short, any spare time I have, I want to spend creating, while listening to music, breathing in the scent of burning incense.

Finally.... Something to share!!

I have had a busy few weeks at work as it is peak holiday time & everyone is jetting off to warmer climes. I have also been busy completing a travel project, when I could fit in some crafting time, which I can't share until it reaches its destination. I really need to get it posted off ,but I was run off my feet yesterday & missed the post office!!! Still I can get it all sorted out & post at work in the week. Someone should receive it throught the letterbox soon ;)

Anyway here is a page to share from my new September SC kit, Cotillion. I really want to create with this one as the papers that came are far nicer in reality. Sometimes photos just don't do things justice. I love the last kit too, but am lacking inspiration for it right now. But, the beauty is these kits don't really date so I can always use them anytime in the next year.

The page is another for the Year of SC album & again is made from the Jenni Bowlin calendar that came in the 2008 December kit.

Materials List;

Patterned paper, Studio Calico double sided Papillon.(butterflies/stripes)

Mini Frame stamp, Studio Calico.

Title, "you & me" & red flowers; Anna Griffin Darcey flocked stickers.

Sub title; sisters, Jenni Bowlin reverse black stickers.
Inks; Rangers black archival. StazOn Teal Blue.

Year of Studio Calico - August

As I only got this kit two days ago I am late making a contribution to my Album. I chose this photo taken by my sister, Tracy on her trip to France in August 2007. This is the first time I have created anything in days. I had my sister with me over BH weekend & the mojo forum took a break. I have two pages ready for when we get back so Im glad as time is very short for me right now.

We had sad news on our forum, our dear friend Suse passed away and we had little to say & crafting seemed a little pointless. I found creating hard as I was also very busy, actually am still very busy at work covering staff holiday time in our office & another of our branches in York. I have several projects half started & I'm certain I will get round to completing them eventually.

Just two more weeks to go & life should be back to normal at work & I will have some time for myself.

Materials; From the SC August Kit "Over the Rainbow" & add on kit "No Place Like Home" except for the Jenni Bowlin calendar page which came in the December 2008 kit.

Mini Compass Mask; Tim Holtz

Fired Brick Distress Ink.

Paper; Making Memories, Great Escape- Foil Compass. Collage Press, Knave of Hearts Collection-Crafty Strips.

Black cardstock. Black ink.

Title - Making Memories, Great Escape- Bamboo Alphas.

Mojoholder # 122 Kelly Goree

Something went wrong and this did not upload on Friday evening!!!!! I only found out 5 minutes ago!!

This week over on Mojoholder, we are featuring guest artist, Kelly Goree. Make sure you duck over there and see what the other DT ladies created. My page features another Australian photo that my Dad took but printed on my printer..... yup MY printer is back in action. Seems the problem I have had was simply that the ink cartridges I used were remanufactured ones & it upset my printer real bad. I won't be doing that again, in a hurry, I can tell you. Any how, I love this picture taken at Billabong Koala Park, New South Wales, Australia. Dad stayed with friends in Poret Macquarie and he went along with his camera for some excellent photos.

Materials List; (I'm being good & using up some old stuff!)

Bazzill Kraft cardstock.

Bazzill Rain Forest cardstock (photo mat)

Patterned Paper strips;

Basic Grey -Urban Couture-Pashmina

Basic Grey -Mortifica -Jade

Basic Grey -Scarlet's Letter-Desire

Basic Grey -Scarlet's Letter-Repose.

Inks; Rangers Archival black. Rangers Adirondack dye ink, Meadow.

Fiskars border punch

Title:- K&Co Adhesive Woodgrain Alphabet.

Green & silver embellishment - The Range as one of the Craft Works products that being at 99p Super, smashing, nice value!! :0) They do tiny foam alphas brads & all sorts.

I'm very impressed that this layout used up old papers but I kept looking longingly at all the new stuff!!

SaWo #68 Make a Journal Page

This week over at Saturday's Workout, the theme is to make a journal page.

I don't have a journal but I have always fancied making random pages & making them into a minibook. The page below is a kind of mix of all that is in my head right now.

I used to live on a Dairy Farm & I love Friesian Cows. I was very lucky to find this image of a cow in a magazine a few days ago & cut it out hoping to use it with the sellotape transfer method that I used on my tag for the TIO challenge on Wednesday. Perfect for this journal page. I have painted gesso over a book page & applied distress inks in a rainbow effect to illustrate that I love all colour. The travel words, bicycle & Paris ticket stamp are because I'm working on travel themes for my DT layouts & two other (secret for the moment) travel themed projects. The thistle picture, again sellotape transfer method as i just loved the picture as soon as I saw it. The clock because time is important to me, I have a fixation with images of clocks. The heart because mine is sad right now but all the happy colours cheer me. The rest are fill in pieces that represent things I like really.

I really enjoyed making this. It was great & I will make more now I have tackled my first!

Daring Cardmakers - Lace

The theme on Daring Cardmakers blog is Lace. It's been a year or more since I entered a challenge on this fabulous site. They are all very talented ladies & I had the honour of being Guest Designer in September 2007!

The main reason, for my not having entered any challenge o this fabby blog is, I just don't seem to make cards anymore! If I do make them its for a particular birthday, but I no longer make them every week. However I feel quite nostalic today as sadly my BIL Nigel passed away 5 years ago on this date, & I thought I would enter my Paris Postcard.

I made this postcard to pop into an envelope with some documents for my sister & as it has just a strip of lace I thought that it might just pass! Background is pink core'dinations card (Earth tone pack)The Gold Floral stamp is Elusive Images Damask Florals stamped in Adirondack Butterscotch dye ink. The torn page is from a book. I have painted it with artists Gesso & inked the edges with Adirondack Wild Plum dye ink. The torn paper ontop of that is some handmade paper using Adriondack inks & perfect pearls spray.
The Eiffel Tower (Elusive Images, Paris Stamp Collection) is stamped onto watercolour paper & coloured loosely with inks & a waterbrush. The blossoms are stamped with a script stamp. I layered up the whole piece with the strip of lace & added a gem for the flower centre. I stupidly forgot to take a photo of the back of it as it was stamped to look like a postcard!

Wednesday Stamper - Paisley

Here is my entry for this week's Wednesday Stamper Paisley theme. I had stained a piece of card with coffee and used a section of it for the Birds tag in the post below. Having enough left to cut into a 4x4 I decided to use this paisley stamp from a free Papermania pack of stamps that I got as a subscription gift. I thought at first that the stamp set would be too "cute" but teamed with natural colours & my favourite image (I call her gypsy) I think they look quite grown up. I watercoloured the images with a selection of Adirondack dye ink pads. I used my favourite Colourbox Fluid Chalk Ink pad , Dark Brown to ink over some sequin waste to add a bit of contrast.

TIO #16 Strictly for the Birds

This week's theme on Tag it On challenge is to make a tag with birds in mind. My tag is white card, stained with coffee & left to dry naturally for a day. Then I overstamped the whole piece with a crackle background stamp & Distress ink, Brushed Corduroy before cutting into the shape of a tag. The tree stamp (CI) was stamped onto some very thin paper & glued directly to my tag. I stamped the bird (CI) cut out & coloured with adirondack inks. The bird is meant to be a member of the Tit family but I have coloured it to make it look more like a Jay. The large bird was a picture in a magazine & I used a large piece of sellotape (clear parcel tape) to make an image transfer. I layered it over the other image to give a collage feel to my piece, but as the tape is clear it gives a more transparent look than a thick layer. I could have used tissue paper for a thinner layer, but I have no large bird stamp.The flower (CI) was stamped on cream card & I water-coloured a very loose thin brown ink over to give it a more vintage look. I then stamped a leaf design in the bottom corner. As usual I haven't made my mind up how I want to use the tag so I have not finished it at the top with ribbon, fibres or brads.

Mixed Media Monday

I made this little watercolour last night for a travel project that I am creating & this morning when I checked the lastest challenge for Mixed Media Monday, I saw that it fitted the theme of Blues & Greens. I stamped the Italian Building image (Cherry Pie) in Black Versafine ink & then using a water brush (Royal & Langnickel) I watercoloured using Distress inks, Faded Jeans & Broken China for the sky. Brushed Corduroy for the building & a mix of two Adirondack dye inks for the grass, Meadow & Lettuce.

SaWo No.67 Textured Paint

The challenge this week on Saturday's Workout is Textured Paint. I can tell you that earlier this evening, this piece of work was sat in the bin as a piece gone wrong. Then I had an idea & it was resurrected. I didn't use paint, I used a very thick layer of gesso but it dried too flat really for my liking. Still, after adding red acrylic paint in two shades the texture stands out far more.

Stamps, Cherry Pie. Paint Folkart & Anita's. Ink, Rangers Adirondack Dye pads, Cranberry & Currant. I wrote the words Dream & Wonder in the wet gesso.

Mojoholder Challenge 121 - Micayla

It was a major rush this week for me to produce my Design Team piece as when my ink replacement cartridge finally arrived, it was no better than the other one! So I had to place an emergency order to another company to see if I could get it here in time to do a page. Then I ended up having to go to work by bus as there are no trains in our area for quite a while due to track repairs. It means leaving home at 7am & not returing home until 7pm so I am a very tired, grouchy pixie right now! Everything was against me from the weather to the sheer cost involved & the total lack of daylight to take photos after 7pm at night.

On Mojoholder we are featuring one of my friends tonight, Micayla Metcalf. She makes some ubberly gorgeous things and has a very beautiful daughter who I'm certain will provide her with enough scrap matrial over the next 20 years to sink a ship. Do pop on over to her blog, the link to it is her name.

Due to lack of time it is a pretty simple layout but I am totally happy with it :o)

Materials List;

Bazzill Cardstock-Lagoon? not really certain on that one

Patterned Paper - Jenni Bowlin - Navy Harelquin (Studio Calico Kit Aug '08)

Title - "Venice" - American Crafts Patchwork black fabric thickers (I adore these & want some in every single colour!)

"beautiful" rub on by Crate Paper.

Corner swirl stamp- Kelly Panacci -clear Damask Set

Word stamps- Travel, Discover, Destinaition, Explore from travel sets by Royal & Langnickel & Clear Design.

Inks - Rangers Adirondack Dye- Denim, Rangers Archival -Black.

As my journalling says, I have never really cared for going abroad on holiday, I love some of the beauty this country has to offer & there is so much I haven't seen, but I would love to go to Venice & float down a canal on a gondola. I would love to see Paris too!

TIO #15 Nature's Beauty

The Tag it On challenge this week is be inspired by something you consider to be natural beauty & make a tag. If you can add a piece of nature to the tag. I'm a bit late with this as I got home too late last night for me to create my piece & get a decent photo of it.

So tonight, despite very horrid dark weather I have managed to get my photo.

Stamps are Cherry Pie. Shells from my own little collection that I keep in my bathroom.

Inks, StazOn Timber Brown & Teal Blue. Distress ink, Broken China.

Mixed Media Monday

The theme over at Mixed Media Monday is Nature's Blues & Browns. I have carried this idea in my mind all day at work & am thrilled that it translated to the "page" exactly as I planned it. (A rare thing for me!) My ATC is made from a book page coverd with gesso. I stamped my images in Timber Brown StazOn. Once the images were dry I sponged on blue distress inks Faded Jeans & Broken China. Straight after this I sponged areas in Brushed Corduroy. I then spritzed it with a little water & mopped the puddles with kitchen towel. Before it was dry I re-applied more Brushed Corduroy to add to the distressed look. I decided to keep the design minimal & kept to just the teasels & butterflies. (Teasels from Big n Wild Things, Gel-á-Tins, Butterfly from Crafty Individuals CI-226)

SaWo No.66 Peeling Paint & Petroleum Jelly

Here is my entry for this week's Saturday's Workout challenge. To create a background using paint & petroleum jelly (vaseline). I made this 4 inch canvas. It is actually a piece of canvas board and is a cover for a Bind it All book. They come in packs of two for you to use with your BIA. I haven't made the holes as I wanted the image to go to the very edge before I did. I plan to make a mini travel book so this stamp of Sacre Coeur was perfect for the front. I had bought the stamps in April & began an envelope book, but when my printer refused to recognise the ink cartridge I had to put it to one side as I needed some photos of France printing. My sister took a few pics of some stunning buildings while on holiday last year. Now the ink is back I can get it completed!

I first painted the background with Peach Bellini acrylic paint by Ranger. Once dry, applied the vaseline in random areas & then painted Anitas Lemon Yellow acrylic paint over the top. Once that was dry I removed the vaseline areas of paint to allow the background colour to show through. Once my images were stamped I coloured bits in with cotton wool balls & Adirondack dye ink pads. Adding a touch of blue to the sky area. I used my favourtie Stampers Anonymous Artful Mosaic stamp & several travel words from various sets. (its good to be using those words as I have owned the sets for nearly 6 years!!)

You may need to click on the picture to get a clearer view.

I noticed that in my Design Team page below. I have used fabric rip strips in place of patterned papers & you can't really see that unless the photo is larger!