Mini wall hanging

Today was not as productive as I had hoped. I had a whole list of things to accomplish but I guess it went out the window as I was running around. where does the time go? Anyway I did manage to complete a mini wall hanging for a swap I am in over at UK Stampers.

For the middle I stamped a Hero Arts image onto frosted memory glass and embossed. I then added stickles and glued it to a sheet of clear acrylic adding a backing with another piece of memory glass. The silver edging is foiling. After the foiling was done I cut out around the edges and added the ribbon. It is simple but I was trying to create a floating effect with a bit of elegant. what do you think? Now I am off to see what else I can get done and prepare for my class tomorrow before my eyelids give way. Hope you all have a wonderful evening and thanks for stopping in. Angela

good Morning and Guess what?

I am Excited and honoured to say that I have been asked to join the Try it on Tuesday team. It is amazing to be among such a group of talented people. It is also a great chance for you to try something and challenge your creative inner Artist by joining in the challenges. This weeks challenge is sponsored by the Craft Barn

and 1 lucky winner will get a £15 voucher from them. I was on their site earlier and there is so much good stuff to pick from . This will sure be one lucky person.

This week the theme is "Altered Frames" so the sky is the limit. the main rule is to go and have fun with it.

Here is my contribution to the team. I hope I can do them proud. Since I have just joined the team, I did not have much time to create it but anyone who knows me, Knows I work best in those circumstances.

So, Has that got you a bit interested in joining in the Challenge??? Now hop on Over to the Try it on Tuesday Blog and checkout the rest of the teams inspirations and then join in by adding your own. I cannot wait to see what lovely ideas will show up.

Here is what I started with. Just a plain black frame I picked up in a dollar store back in the states and this picture of Belle at the Eiffel tower was my inspiration. First I removed the metal insert and painted the frame a dull black and brown. In place of the metal I used a printed paper(sorry I Cannot give details on it but it did not have any printed on) The paper was then crackled with clear distress crackle. It is then hit with a heat tool to get the edges to curl and buckle a bit to look worn. I added some brown bead cording to mimic the texture from the photo. the cards are made using Tim Holtz classic Mini stamps inked with black then blended with Old paper and walnut Distress inks. The edges are then crumpled and worn with a distressor. The organza flowers are some that I made with Michele and Janet at the retreat this past weekend. I just love them . The other paper flowers are some old primas that I cut down. I will post a simple tutorial on this in a day or so as it is a good way to alto all those old flowers. The swirls are wires dipped in glue and flowersoft(Ivory). The leaves are from prima too but since they were a bright green I altered them by adding Picket fence Distress crackle paint and then inked them over with Walnut. On the top cluster I trimmed a piece of lace then added some fibers and charms. the Eiffel tower charm was silver so I added some gesso and then inked it. The Paris stamped piece is cut from a portion of a stamped paper again using the Tim Holtz Mini classics and placed in the Tim Holtz Pin. If there is any technique you would like to know more on please just leave me a comment and I will try to pull together a tutorial or quick post. I really hope you liked the inspiration and will be able to join us over at the Try it for Tuesday blog. I am looking forward to seeing all your altered frames this week. Now I am off to finish my cleaning and get a bit of crafting in before heading off to work. Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!

What a weekend.....

This weekend Belle and I attended the lovin Ink weekend retreat up in Bolton Abby. It all began on Friday afternoon after sitting in 2 hours of traffic we arrived at our destination a bit stressed. But after stepping out of the car all the tension began to melt. Such a beautiful peaceful place with Rolling fields in all directions.

Then there was the retreat place. The Beamsley project. It is a converted church.

And here were our wonderful hosts Michelle and Janet.

There were even homemade buns for Birthday Boy Neil. How cute are they? and scrumptious too.

So What was the retreat all about you ask? Well we began on Friday with a bag full of supplies and a box. This retreat was so much fun and packed full of tantalizing techniques in every turn. Friday we made our box and learned lots of layering techniques. Here is Belles Box. And here is my completed box.

And inside.....packed full of some of the goodies we made over the weekend. (Sorry for the turned photo, Blogger seems to not like this one) There were so many techniques over the 3 days and we came away with some really wonderful items and the best part was that everyone had made totally different things. Michelle and Janet just showed us a technique and we went at it. The hands were inky the fingers painty and the artistic concentration was in full swing throughout the room it was awesome. I have to say I think this was the most relaxing creative weekend I have EVER been to. We even managed to fit it a little shopping with a trip to the stamp Man on Saturday. Inbetween all the wonderful techniques of course.

If you are looking for a artistic getaway where your imagination is the limit then you have to check out the next lovin Ink retreat scheduled in September. I would definately make a return trip...I am hooked. Oh almost forgot, We were also treated to a wonderful series of Meals from Chef Andy who also spent the weekend with us. There was so much freshly made food we were definately well fed.

So now onto some of the goodies we made. Here are some of the flowers. there are paper and lave ones, Organza and more. Aren't they fab? Here is a closeup of some. We all used own own ideas and played around to make our own custom flowers. I used some Fusible webbing, lace, Distress inks, stamping and more.

And here are some of the buttons we did. We got to play with so many fun techniques from Fimo clay to paper and pro markers to Friendly plastic he sky was the limit. Here are some of my clay, altered, chipboard, stamped, Embossed and hand panted ones. My only regret was that we did not have another weekend to play even more.

To sum it up it was just an amazing weekend of crafting, making new friends and bonding. What more could you ask for right. I cannot wait to play some more during the week.

If you want more information on Lovin ink retreats you can click here. I am also posting links to some of the groups blogs. Why not Stop by their blogs and see how the rest of the projects came along.

Some of the groups blogs can be found here: (Although since everyone came from al over you might want to give teh a day or so to blog it)

Michelle

Janet

Emma

Neil

Belle (will blog about hers on monday)

I will post some links for the rest of the group of crafters as soon as I get them. Now I am going to head off and try and get some sleep as it is back to work tomorrow. Thanks for stopping in and have a wonderful evening.

Angela

New journal pages and more

Today was time to catch up on my weekly journal challenges from UK stampers forum. The prompt for week # 11 was "Scary"

1 What makes you scared? List your top 5
2 Use a scary colour on your background.
3 Use paint to stamp with.

So here is my page...

I used Tim holtz Halloween and Christmas stamps with white acrylic paint for the branches and webs. I then used paint to fill in the branch middles. The Bug stamp is from Lovin Ink and embossed with Moon glow Emerald obsidian EP.

The prompt for week 12 was "Home"

1 What does home mean to you.
2 Use a picture of a house on your page.
3 Use a heart stamp on your page.

And here is my page for this weeks....

I used Dyan's(Art from the Heart) heart stamp to create the flowers and butterflies. The background is inked with Distress ink. the house is also from Dyan.

This is the quilt I made that is headed over to the states to my new little nephew. I love this pattern from Cath Kidston.

Finally this is a master sheet created fro the Craft class I am teaching tomorrow at the School. We are going to make 2 master sheets to use for the projects over the next 3 weeks. We are going to do a lot of techniques. This sheet includes some stamping with flowers, texture with tissue paper, glitter, stamping, spray inks, stencils and more.

Now Belle and I have been counting down the days till this weekend as we are heading off to the Lovin Ink retreat up by Skipton. We have really been looking forward to it and to spending the weekend together doing something we both love.

Now I must be off together my supplies for tomorrows class.

Thank you for stopping in and have a wonderful night.

Angela

GNPE show and puppets...

Today Belle and I went to the GNPE show in Harrogate. We took an early class with Dyan from Art from the Heart and played with her Dylusions sprays and some fun techniques(I will post that project later in the week)After the class we walked around the show and picked up some of the necessities(glue, tape, paper, cards, etc)After finding the things we needed we got a few extras....

Here are some snippets of the goodies.


Picked up a few more Pro-markers to add to my collection. Also restocked on Dylusion paint. Found some fun Satin ribbons to use in my upcoming classes at the school and also found some Prima paper pads, More Moon Glow EP's, TH Tissue tape, White paper roses to Colour and a white pen.
Here are some of the stamps we got(Sorry the picure had a mind of its own and turned on me when I uploaded it, annoying Blogger)Here we have some Dylusions Art Journaling stamps, TH Botanical stamps, Vintage Planes, A fun mesh(Have a beachy idea for this one) and a cute bee(Belle liked it). We also got some texture folders to play around with.

Here are some more stamps we picked up. See that Duckling in the middle? I saw this on Siobhan's blog for the Stampotique designer's challenge. I thought it was so cute then I found it at the show so I had to have it. I also love those Vintage Beach stamps to the right of it( I am a pushover for anything Beachy). Belle loves the Flower fairy stamps also shown.

I guess Jacket potatoes and beans will be on the menu for the next month....Actually it was not too bad. We did get quite a few things on sale.

So now onto the puppets. Sock puppets to be exact. Last week my project with the kiddies at school was to make sock puppets. We had a lot of fun with it and they came out Brilliantly! Here are some....

A fancy Cat(Year 1)

Fancy Pig going to a party(Year 1)

Feathery snake(Year 1)

Cuddly Bunny(Reception)

We had just gotten the pictures on Friday Red nose day before the kids took them home. They have done such a great time with this theme at school. We made Push/Pull toys and stuffed toys too. I will see if I can nab a picture of them. For the infant class they are really doing an amazingly creative job.

I will leave you with this cute picture of the Pooch that I just took while I was sitting here writing this post. Looks like she is holding Belles Place in the book. Too cute.

Hope everyone had a good weekend. Thanks for stopping and and a big thank you for all the lovely comments people have been leaving. I read every one.

Have a great week. Angela

Lets get Shabby Challenge number 21

Wow it has been so long since I have done any scrapbooking....Thought it was time to play around with it again. This month over at Lets get Shabby the theme this month is "Denim and Lace". I was going to use this cute little Denim pocket I cut from a pair of Belle's toddler overalls but when I was looking through the pics I decided to use some wedding pictures. It was a perfect fit because we did the dress up thing for the wedding but then had a big BBQ where I wore Denim shorts. I had allot of fun with this one and here is my take.


I used pictures of us dancing from our wedding both in fancy dress and then in our normal clothes. Once we got to the reception place for the BBQ we changed into comfortable clothes. For the lace flowers I used some of the original lace flowers from my dress(we cut it up years ago to make a Christening gown for my daughter). The background paper is of unknown origin(no name on it)I then layered Some Burlap, Mesh and Denim stitching it all in place. The large lace piece goes under and then folds partly over the side. The large roses and white non sequin flowers are Prima, While all the others are either from my dress or handmade from Denim scraps. The chipboard letters are from Girls paperie. The "Denim" title is hand drawn, coloured with Pro-markers and stitched. The Lace Doily is from a lace shop in Amsterdam or was it Brugge? The pearls in the prima flower centers are also from my dress. The Skeleton leaves are from my stash as is the misc lace. Leaves are Prima.

Here is a closeup of the "Lace" title. I layered some Primer, with bits of mesh cut up and Distress stickles Rock Candy. The little blue roses are made from bits of Denim scraps.

Here is a close up of the "Denim" title and more of the flowers. I also added little wire twists and swirls here and there to the Flowers.

Well this is the only crafty thing I got done today. After cleaning, organizing my craft room and Zoning out it was already 1:00....Where did the time go. Maybe it was the gloomy weather....Oh well, Maybe tomorrow I will be able to get more done after work.

Thanks for stopping in and have a wonderful evening.

Angela

I made this card for the Stampotique Designer Challenge, the theme is make something using an animal stamp. Insect or birds were also allowed for the Challenge. So here is my take:

I used Stampotique girl(with scissors and heart)stamp along with stamps from Tim Holtz and mesh stamp from the Stamp Man (Christmas set). The Dog is from a free set from a card/papercraft magazine awhile back. The background is done using Dylusions spray inks and water. I also added 2 little butterfly charms.

I am really mad I smudged the top square on the card as I was placing it together. Me and my inky fingers. ....

Now I am off to wash up the dinner dishes. Thanks for stopping in and have a lovely evening.

Angela

Journal week 10 and ATC swappers March ATC's

This week is week # 10 over at the UK Stampers forum weekly Journal challenge. This weeks prompt is "One week.." with the following criteria:

-List seven things you did last week.
-Provide evidence for at least two of those things ( eg. till recipt, bus ticket, car parking ticket)
-Use an old calendar as your background

And here is my page....

Luckily last week we were still on holiday so there was allot to chose from. Normally my week would be pretty bland. I used Graphic 45 paper to accent the page as well as a photocopy of a calendar page(I did not want to cut up my calendar)I also used Distress stains, Tim Holtz stamps and some doodling. I included a copy of the stamp from my passport and copy of receipt from Disneyland for the 2 items of proof. Not one of my most favourite pages but I did get to play with some products and make some mistakes in the process. Oh well better next time.

Next is my ATCs for the ATC Swappers march Swap. This month the theme is green in honor of St Patrick. i did not have anything Irish related so I opted for some green bugs on a mix of green leaves.

I used a mix of Distress inks and Moon glow embossing powders with stamps by Tim Holtz(leaves) and Lovin Ink(Bogs). The bugs are done in 3 layers to make them look a bit more realistic. I like the way they came out. Hopefully they are green enough. They are a bit greener in person than in the photo.
Now I have to go bake some biscuits for school tomorrow.
Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day.
Angela

March ATC swap for The Stamp man and questions.

Today was a pretty busy day. After Laundry, cleaning and taking the dog in for her annual Jabs appointment, I finished my ATC's for the March ATC swap over at The Stamp Man. This months theme is "Wise words". I had a really hard time narrowing down my selections of "wise words" to 1 so I decided to do 3 different cards with 3 quotes. Here they all are together:

The first card is the simplest. I used different distress inks to create the rainbow effect. I then stamped the zig zag stitch in each colour using the Distress inks and Tim Holtz stamp. The butterfly is also from Tim Holtz and embossed with clear powder.

The quote reads:
If you hear a voice inside you say
“You cannot paint”,
then by all means paint,
and that voice will be silenced.
-Vincent Van Gogh

Here is a closeup of my next card. (Ok, I have no idea what happened to the bottom of it there, chalk it up to computer glitch)

I Inked the background using Tim Holtz Distress stains. I then stamped the background using one of his stamps and embossed with Light green Moonglow. After that I embossed the same image using Emerald Green Obsidian Moonglow. The Butterfly is from Tim Holtz and stamped on a plain napkin then coloured using my Pro Markers and decoupaged in place. I then added another layer of the same stamp on clear plastic and coloured with Alcohol inks. this was then added on top to create dimension. this is one that looks better in person. I inked the edge of the card using the same Alcohol ink.

The Quote reads:

Sometimes you just have to take the leap
And build your wings on the way down.

My final card is my favourite.

Again it is better in person. For this one I inked the background with Distress ink. I then stamped the eyes using the free stamp from last fall in Craft Stamper(I only inked up the eyes in black) I used my Pro Markers to colour them. Next, I added the Branches using the Large Tim Holtz Bird branch stamp and Walnut ink. The leaves are done next using the spatter stamp and 2 shades of Green distress ink. The Quote is from Aspects of Design Ramblings and stamped with Stazon on a blank napkin then Decoupaged on. the bird is from a Napkin in my Napkin Collage kit and also decoupaged on. The edges are inked using Walnut Distress Stain by Tim Holtz.

So now onto the questions. I will be teaching 4 weeks of crafting classes over at the school at night beginning soon. I am trying to narrow down some ideas of what to teach.....Here are some of my sketchings for ideas. I keep a sketchbook for ideas and I jot them in as I come up with them or see an idea somewhere. (sorry Blogger is not liking my photos today and flipped my picture)

My question is what classes would you be interested in seeing as a tutorial. (I am still working on tutorial's and ideas for the other ideas requested by some of you previously, I have not forgotten about those.)So here is my list for now. I need to narrow it to 4.

1. 3D Paper birdhouse- creating a birdhouse using card, stamping, paint, inks, beading and more.

2. Altered Book collage - Create a decorative Book Collage.

3. Altered box with window - Altered box using various stamping, inking and folding techniques.

4. Mini Ribbon book. Create a mini book using card, ribbons, stamping and more.

5. Torn critter cards - Create cards using various torn paper critters.

6. Gift bags and flowers - Create gift bags using various floral techniques.

7. Mini pocketbook - Create a mini Pocketbook from card, lace, paper florals and more.

8. Spring wreath - Create a spring wreath using various flower techniques, ribbons and papers.

9. Paper Quilling - Create cards using paper quilling.

10. parchment cards - create card designs using parchment paper and piercing/embossing techniques.

So what would be your top 4??? I will do a little giveavay drawing for anyone who answers this either in comment or emailing it to scrapbookcafe2@yahoo.com . I will enter the name of everyone who replies by next Monday and draw a winner Monday evening. I will send the winner a special little package of goodies specially for them.

Thank You for stopping in and taking the time to write me your lovely comments. They are really greatly appreciated. Wishing you a wonderful evening!

Angela

Journal week 7 and 8

This morning I went to school to help the kiddies finish their gingerbread cookies. they smelled so good and came out wonderfully. When I got home I took a bit of time to catch up on my weekly journal challenges over at UK Stampers.

Week 7's prompt was: BOOKS
-List your top 5 books...what & why
-Use a quote from one of them on your page.
-Use an old book page as your background.

and here is my take...

I used an old book page on the back then added some inked and torn papers and some paint. The bottom picture is from my Napkin Collage kit(US Artquest). I also added some stamping with Tim Holtz stamps and distress ink. The quote I used is from "The diary of Anne Frank". The horse is a hand drawn doodle in black ink. It was hard to choose just 5 books because I love reading and have many favourites. I chose 5 from childhood.

Week 9's prompt was: FASHION
-What was/is your fashion disaster and what was/is your favourite piece.
-Use some fabric on your page.
-Use a picture from a magazine.

So once again here is my take. (Sorry my camera over flashed causing all the black to fade out in the photo, it looks more solid in real life. My camera is acting up again)

I used some lighter Dylusions paint scraped across the page to begin with. I then added the magazine cutouts and stamped images from Tim Holtz Halloween stamps. The title and umbrella tops are also cut from magazines. The skirts on the skeletons are made of fabric clippings. The accents are done using 2 colours of Dylusions paint and scraping them onto the page with a plastic card. The misc black accents are added with a ink pen. I am really not a fashionable person so I did not have too much journaling. Hopefully the page tells the story.

So that has been my crafty venture for the day. Belle had some friends over today so timing was very limited. I am hoping to do some more work tomorrow after school. We shall see. For now I bid you good evening. Thanks for stopping in and I hope you have a wonderful day tomorrow.

Angela

Lots of catching up

Sorry I have been MIA for a bit but we went on holiday. Stupid me thought I would have internet access but my converter would not work and my laptop only lasted for the train ride. So much for keeping caught up. I had all good intentions.


Last wednesday We got to tag along with DH to Harrogate for a work show. What to do while in ?Harrogate? Visit Art from the Heart of course. Belle and I got to take this wonderful class that Sandy taught. We absolutely loved the class. It was full of Fun 7 Gypsies stuff. Here is my box. I did not finish the outside as I am not sure what quotes I wanted to use yet.



It opens up to reveal a mini book complete with lots of fun tags.

I just loved the papers we used. They were fab.

Here are some of my tags. I did some paper weaving with the scraps on the tag. (sorry the picture turned wrong)

After the class Belle and I went back to the Hotel and played with all our goodies from the shop while DH had to go to a business dinner. It was really relaxing and fun. We started on some more boxes until we realised we had no card with us. We contemplated using the brochures in the hotel room but decided to wait. (Chuckle there). We had to get to bed anyway as the next day we were leaving on Holiday.

So Where were we off too?

A short stop in London to start it off.

Then on a train......

And where would we wind up???

Here is a little peak.....Where could it be?? Big clue on the clock there.....

Disneyland Paris was our stop.

Being the Disney freaks that we are we just had to check it out. It was ok but I still like Disneywork Florida as my fav. Unfortunately the weather was terrible. Rain and cold prevailed throughout our visit.

And the wait for the rides was the worst I have ever seen for Disney. (worse than even Disney World at Christmas). Yes that says 100 minutes and that was during the Extra magic hours in the morning. Alot of the rides were 70 min and up. Belle only got on about 5 rides in 4 days.

So what else to do if you cannot get on the rides?

Belle decided upon eating.....

and Eating....

And still eating. Yes this was a Mickey pastry complete with some lovely Chocolate filling.

Then we hopped another train and headed into Paris.

Yep, Belle is still eating....

Still going....

We then took a stroll down the river to work off some of the food she had eaten.

We saw le Petite Statue De Libery at the end of the walk.

Even outside of the parks you could find Mickey

The day in Paris was probably the best of all the days we had there weather wise. It was so cold and wet for the rest of the time. It was nice to get a break for a bit. Although I had alot of catching up to do when we got home and we also managed to catch some colds. It was also back towork and school today. I got to bake Gingerbread cookies with the kiddies. Tomorrow will be a crafting catch up day and I will finally get to dig my hands into those fun new paints and things I got last week. So for now I will bid you a good evening and thank you for stopping by. Have a lovely day.

Angela