Were bloggers create 2012!

Wow I cannot believe it has been a year already since the last "Where Bloggers Create" blog hop.  If you have not joined in the fun yet you do not know what you are missing. 

So much has changes in that time at least for me. We moved back to the states from our lovely home in England. I really miss it so along with my nice and bright craft room I had there.The weather is been a big change for us too as the weather here is horribly hot and sticky. I used to love crafting with my windows open but lately we have had to have the air-con on to stifle this heat.

 This year I will be showing you my new space in our house here in the states, the northeast coast to be specific. So as you walk in you are of course greeted by our Lovely Lab Sun and our latest foster Mona, a 2 year old black shepherd mix. Yes that is another change from last year. We have become foster parents to lots of furbabies. Most only stay a few weeks but occasionally we get one like Mona here who has been with us for months. It has given us such a sense of accomplishment to be able to aide in saving some of these poor soles. All they need is a little extra time till the perfect family comes along. So we try to provide them with all they need until that time comes. Just look at those sweet faces. Bet you would not guess who the trouble maker of the 2 is?

So before we begin may I offer you a cup of tea or perhaps a slice of cake? 

My new craft room is just down the hall and to the right. Please do come in.....

On the door hangs a very precious gift given to me by the wonderful children and staff at the school I volunteered at in England for a few years. It really was a joy working with them.

This is the view as you walk into the room. Much smaller than my old room and darker too. Could use some more windows for sure but at least it is mine(or at least mine and my daughters as we share the space together for our crafting needs. it gives us some much needed bonding time especially now since she is getting older and moving onto other things ) I do so love the wood floors instead of carpet. They make cleaning so much easier.

My desk is the one with the back towards the window(with the black cardi on the chair) and my daughters is the one facing the window. We face each other as we work making conversation easier while we work together and share ideas.

This next picture shows the view to the left of the door. This is where we have our sewing and miniature work area and some altered project storage.

Behind the curtain we keep all the sewing stuff such as fabrics and accessories.more fabric are stored in totes in the bottom of the closet just behind the basket shelves.

 We also store extra paper boxes and misc craft supplies in the bottom. the rack contains assorted ribbon and yarn spools as well as other sewing paraphernalia.

This green hutch holds our alterables such as books, wooden boxes, slide mailers and lots of other things. It also holds a selection of our Stickles, Smooch inks and liquid pearls.

This is the view now looking from Belles Desk over to mine and out the window. To the left here is another shelving unit housing our Emphemera, Magazines and misc art supplies. (not sure why I missed a picture on it but will try to add it later. )(you can see it in the above picture of the corner.)

Favorite projects and inspiration up above.......and below

Here is a shot of the project shelves that are on both walls facing each other. This room used to be Belles nursery so it had some nice shelves already existing. It also had this nice molding on the wall that I use to display projects on also. Up on top of the shelf of the bookcase are all my old cameras from my 35 ml to digitals through the years. Not sure why I kept them all.

Now continuing around the room we go around to my desk

Not normally this neat as there are usually multiple projects being worked on. We just happen to be away this week so I hate to leave it messy when away and not working on anything. 

I like to keep my distress inks, and other most used items close at hand.  To the right of my desk is a rolly draw holder with scrap paper sorted by colors. My clip it up sits atop of it. 

I store my quotes on my Cllip it up along with misc embellishments and flowers. I love collecting quotes of all kinds to use in my projects.

To the right of that along the wall are my Paints, Dylusions inks and paints(love love love these!!!, Stencils, Primas and chipboard items. Above the shelf unit on the wall is my Signed Tim Holtz Die I won.

I also store my adhesives and used kitchen roll papers on this shelf unit. 

On the wall above hangs a frame holding some special notes I found in my boxes while unpacking after our move back to the states last year. They were from a dear friend Sandra who helped me pack over the final days there. I miss Sandra, Anne and my other Yorkshire friends very much still. 

I hope to be able to get back and visit them soon. 

In back of my desk sits the window, the only source of natural light to this room. I also store my cut ribbons on hooks on the curtain rod. (can be seen better in first photo)

 Below the window sits another set of shelves containing my 6X6 and 8X8 paper pads as well as gems, brads, charms, ribbon snippets, baby wipes, heat tools, alcohol inks, dabbers and extra inking and painting supplies.

Next in comes my stamping corner. I so do love stamping! 

Here you can see a better shot of the ribbons on the window. The draw unit to the left holds misc sewing bits, tools and beading bits. For my stamps the wooden blocked ones are stored in square red shelves I picked up at a home store on sale. I store the remainder in baskets along with my Stampers Anonymous and clear stamp sets. The cd cases also hold stamp sets atop the shelf unit. Embossing powders are below along with extra adhesive tools, flocking /Flowersoft and more stamps. 

 Continuing along the last wall We have some more draw storage holding Pearls, Glitters, hand Punches, Christmas crafts and lots of pictures. On top is a tin of brushes and masks/stencils/doilies behind. There are also boxes of Brads, trinkets and buttons topped by my travel table top storage tote.

 The remainder of the wall contains Papers(sorted in holders by theme), Embellishments(also sorted by themes in folders), Boxes of beads, Travel totes, Albums, My diecut machine Embossing folders and dies, misc tools and saws, Dremmel, Drawing tablets, cutters and albums. 

The middle of the unit also opens to supply another desk top if needed. Great if one of belles friends is over.

Back around to the door you can see my Sewing table again which also doubles as my miniature work station. We store all the miniature supplies under the table. Our cardstock papers are stored atop the table with one of the sewing machines. My other machine is kept in the closet as it is very heavy and old.

Are you tired yet? I tried to make it just a little whirlwind around the room. Just a little bit more I promise We will be finished soon. 

Some favorite projects of mine can be found around the room maybe you spotted some....

 I love altering things from masks (above) to books (below)

Recycling materials for projects!

plastic packaging(above) and inky Kitchen roll(below)

 This is a layout project I did for Ranger's Melt art contest years back. It won first place. (I almost did not send it because my dog ate my original just before mailing it off. My daughter cried and begged for me to remake it, funny how things work out) The layout in the lower corner is another favorite of mine of some happy times spent in England exploring the countryside.

 Below is another layout of our final days in England last summer and the ending of an amazing 3 year journey. 

On the clips is a copy of Scrap 365 June 2012 issue, where my Beach Album was published. I just love this magazine along with its sister Craft Stamper so it was a complete honor for me. If you looked around the room you may have seen the original mini book .....Did you spot it?

This final project I will share today is sadly a re-work in progress....

It was broken last year during our move back to the states. This greenhouse was one of my first miniature projects I did over in England and one of my finest to date. I have not had the time to fix it yet but I will begin work very soon to restore it to its former glory as you can see it here. 

Now on a final note some items you can never have too much of......

 Kitchen roll, Glossy accents, Melting pots and perfect pearls Heirloom Gold just to name a few.....

Well I hope you have enjoyed your visit and do thank you for stopping by. 

As a little thank you for taking the time to stop in, I will be giving away some goodies including a 6X6 paper pad of Prima's Fairy Belle along with some great accessories to go with. 

Just leave a comment and your name will be entered in the drawing. Become a follower and you will be entered twice(if you are already a follower just leave a note in the comment) I will draw the winner on August 14th. 

A huge thanks to Karen at My Desert Cottage for once again organizing one of the best blog-hops. I thoroughly enjoy looking at all the fantastically create spaces each time. 

If you want to see some amazing spaces just hop on over there and join in the fun!

Have a wonderful day. Angela

The Stamp Man fortnightly challenge

It's time for another challenge over at The Stamp Man and the Them this fortnight is "Anything goes with Summer Colors". What colors remind you of Summer?  Summer to me is Bright Skies, Green trees and fluttering butterflies. Here is my card for the challenge.

For my materials I used: Aspects of Design stamps - "On Gossamer Wings", Tim Holtz Stamps - "Urban Tapestry" & "Winter Sketchbook", Tim Holtz Distress inks - Salty Ocean, Mowed Lawn, Squeezed Lemonade, Peacock Feathers, Dusty Concord, Picked Rasberry, Ripe Persimmon, Walnut Stain and Brushed Corduroy., Clear Embossing Powder, Black Archival ink, Dymo Label maker, Baby Wipes, Tule


Now if you head on over to The Stamp Man Challenge blog you can see some more great summer projects from my team mates.  


Speaking of summer I will leave you with this shot. We are spending the week with my dad and here is a little snippit of the humming birds that frequent his property. there are tons of them and they fly all around you although it is hard to get good shots as they are so fast. I just love watching them flutter and zip about. 

Thanks for stopping in and have a wonderful day. Angela

TIOT Challenge

This fortnights challenge at Try it on Tuesday is up and the theme is a Bingo card with a twist. First off you need to pick a line from the card below and incorporate all 3 items into your project, then just add a butterfly. Yep the butterfly is the twist. 

So here is my project. I chose a layout.

I chose the center line - Flower, background papers, lace. 

For my papers I used Prima. The flowers are made from more papers and fabric run through my Tim Holtz Tattered florals Die. I also added Prima Gems, Fabric, brads and glossy accents. The title is hand drawn, colored and gone over with glossy accents. I also cut out some of the flowers on the background paper and added more from underneath. The butterfly is also cut from a scrap of Prima paper.

The picture was taken during our last outing with friends in England before moving back to the states. We had hiked down to an old abandoned village. This shot was taken in the church with my daughters friend.

Now if you hop on over to the Try it on Tuesday blog my teamies have more great inspiration waiting for you. We cannot wait to see you there.  

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day. 

Angela

Oops, I am late

I had all intentions of getting this posted early this morning but working into the wee hours of the morning then a storm rolled through taking half my back garden with it this morning I found myself oversleeping. Unfortunately the storm took our new gazebo down (not sure if it is mend-able) and threw my ceramic planters over 25 feet. What a mess. This is a busy weekend with the recital show tonight and tomorrow. I hope it goes better than the rehearsal last night which started with a mess when the venue was not open as planned(nothing was ready for us) and ended with the show running over and the end being cut.  I have to say the venue place has not been very organized and they seem to blame everything on us or other people but never themselves. Don't you just hate people like that? Anyway, Fingers crossed all goes well today for the girls and poor Helen's sake. I have to work both days so time will be sparse for me till Sunday.  So with that little o course conversation out of the way I had better get to this weeks challenge over At The Stamp Man. 

This week over at The Stamp Man the challenge is "Bling" 

We want to see all your projects that include a little bling in them.

I made this card....

I used distress inks for the background and Tim holtz stamps for the tree and leaves. Being summer here we see lots of fireflies around at night so I wanted to create that effect by adding the bling on and around the tree. Unfortunately the flash on the camera sis not take such a good pic and without the flash was way too dark as you can see here.

This was more of the effect I wanted but too dark. 

Now if you head over to The Stamp Man Challenge blog you can get some more great inspiration from my team mates and Jill and then link your project up. We cannot wait to see them. 

Now I am off to work and the show. Thanks for stopping in and have a great day. Angela

My materials used:
Tim Holtz Distress inks - Faded Jeans, Dusty Concord, Black Soot, Peeled paint, Forest moss, Walnut stain, Old Paper.
Tim Holtz Stamps - Urban Tapestry, Winter Sketchbook
Marc Richards Bling - Yellow.
Clear embossing powder
Versamark Distress ink

New Challenge at Try it on tuesday

Hello! 

 It's time for another challenge over at Try it on Tuesday and this fortnights theme is once again "Anything Goes". What could be easier?

 Here is my layout for the challenge

.

Now if you head on over to the TIOT Challenge blog you will find some more great inspiration from the team as well as our challenge rules and prize info. We cannot wait to see your entries. 

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

New Challenge at The Stamp Man

It's that time again and we are ready with a new challenge over at The Stamp Man challenge blog. This time it's Frankie's turn and the theme is "Time or Travel. Since its a dual theme you can use one or both ideas.Here is what I came up with

I decided to start a new altered book. I am loving this as I can play with lots of techniques throughout the book as I go along. This page is time related. I loved this quote. I started with an old book that was going to be recycled and added my stamping and napkin collage to create the final project.

Here is a closeup of the collage work on the page. I decided to work the 2 pages together by adding the tree with the butterflies flying towards the other page. the texture on the bottom by the tree and around the pages was added using burlap dipped in Distress ink.

Here are the materials used:
Distress inks - Walnut, Faded Jeans, Peeled Paint, Pine Needles, Broken China, old Paper, Dried Marigold, Mustard Seed, Ripe Persimmon and Fired Brick.
Tim Holtz stamps: Mini Classics, Winter sketchbook, Fairytale Frenzy and Urban Tapestry
Non-Sequitur stamp set - Across the Miles
Aspects of Design Stamp set - On Gossamer wings.
Stampendeous - Cling Dream Stamp
USArtquest Napkin Collage kit
Black Archival ink
Clear embossing powder
Feathers.
Burlap

Now we would love to see your projects. Just head on over to The Stamp Man Challenge Blog and link them up. You can also see some other great inspirations from my team mates.


Only one more day of school for the kiddies. I am surely looking forward to not having to drive over to the school every day. I still have to go in but that should only be one time a week so not bad. That means more crafting time for me finally.  Now I am off to another day of school and work. Least the weather is clearing up. Maybe we will have a nice weekend after all.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day.  Angela

Anything goes at Try it on Tuesday

The new challenge is up at Try it on Tuesday and the new theme is "Anything goes". We want to see all your projects! Just upload them here. 

For my project I make a mini book using left over bits and extra wallets from photo shoots. 

What will you make? The team over at TIOT cannot wait to check it out. Now head on over and check out the projects from the rest of the team. They are sure to inspire. 

Thanks for stopping in and have a great day. Angela