I love a rainy day....

Especially on a weekend once in awhile because it lets me slow down and spend a bit of time in my craft room with my daughter just playing around. Today we worked on some ATC's. Here are the 4 I did for the ATC Swappers October swap. I lover making Halloween stuff so I think I will make another 4 too later in the week if I have time.


It is hard to see but the all have a lot of flocking on them.that is why they look like the are not stamped very clear. It is just the flocking effect. I wanted to use my new Tim Holtz stamps for some. I also used stamps from Stampin Up, Little Yellow Bicycle and Close to My Heart. the flock is from Doodle Bug and Stampendous. to colour the cards I used Distress inks and Gesso. I also used Making Memories flocking and foil kit rub ons for the house, witch and some word images and Stickles accents. For the card with the jar I stamped with Stazon on plastic packaging then used alcohol inks for colouring and cut out.

Here is a closeup of the cards to see a bit of the flocking. Some of it locks like glitter but that is just a reaction from the flash on the camera.

finally I have a few pictures to post from the Chinese State Circus. We took Belle on Wednesday and all had a wonderful time even though it poured rain. Unfortunately I did not get good pictures as we could not use a flash during the show. I modified my camera setting but these are the best I could get. Most of the others were very dark as the lights were low and there was a lot of movement , a combination that does not work well together.

The Acrobatics were splendid to watch quite amazing. Especially the girls. Well I am afraid that is all I have right now so I will return to my crafting until later. I have to finish up my matchboxes. Thansk for stopping by and have a wonderful day. Angela

Clattering on......

Well not quite but I have been very busy working at the school and finishing up my matchbox swap for "A swap for all seasons". I said clattering on because over at the school we have been working with the kids on their songs and props for the Harvest show and "Big red combine harvester" is one of the songs and the lines keep playing over and over in my head. Yesterday was the show so hopefully the song will not be stuck in my head too much longer. As far as this swap goes It is getting harder to come up with the little trinkets to put inside each one. The decorating is the easy part. Here are some of my completed matchboxes. We have to make 25 of them. I am using Graphic 45 papers to decorate them with.

And here are some of the little trinkets I have put inside.... just a little peek as I do not want to spoil the surprise for whomever gets them.

I have also been working on a couple of other projects but I am unable to post the yet. Tomorrow my DH has taken off to spend the entire day with me, well at least until Belle is out of school then we are taking her to the Chinese Circus. She just loves a good circus and this one looks like a lot of fun. but Shhhhh.....Its a surprise for her. She will just love it.....Well I better get back to my work and finish up these matchboxes so I can get them in the post. Thanks for all the comments lately I really look forward to reading them and appreciate each and every one. Thanks for following and have a great day. Angela

September ATC Swaps

I forgot to link up my September ATC swap for The Stamp Man when I posted them on the other blog so here it is again. The Theme was "The Look". I used the monthly freebie stamp in Craft Stamper Magazine along with various Tim Holtz Stamps. To colour the cards I used my Altered originals spray inks and Smooch accents along with Some Distress ink. Simple but I like how they turned out.

My next set of ATC's are for the September swap over at ATC Swappers. I have been procrastinating over completing them for awhile now. The Theme is Coffee/Tea break and I really did not have anything for this. Believe it or not I had no stamps. I wound up using various papers from Graphic 45. On the first 2 I cut out various sections from Domestic Goddess and layered. I then added a reg Gingham ribbon. For the other 2 I used the Halloween in wonderland and layered 2 colours of the same image. I was not thrilled with the outcome but decided I have spent enough time procrastinating on it. Next months theme is Halloween so that I have tons of ideas for. Now I am off to create some more while enjoying my day off.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day. Angela

Crazy week and Lets Get Shabby Sept challenge.

Well it has been a crazy first full week of school and I was totally shattered come Friday. There are so many kids this year and many of them are just 4. I was planning on getting to the Lets get shabby challenge a bit earlier. when I saw the theme "Music" I had this idea of what I wanted but after several trips around I was unable to find a mini dress form to complete my idea. No problem I figured the Harrogate papercraft show was coming up and they had them last year. Well not this year. We scoured the whole show and could not find any for sale. Finally on Friday of this week I tried my last hope and found one. So here is what my idea was.


A close up of the skirt reveals the layers. Each individually folded and layered on.

I used some of the paper to trim the flowers too to tie it all together. The Picture is of Belle dressed in a "Belle" ballerina costume that was a bit too big for her at the time. It is one of my favourite pictures.

A side view of the dress.

I wanted to create a Ballerina dress and wanted the tutu to be made from layers of Music paper. I used 7 Gypsies papers and tore them in strips. I then layered each with torn strips of mesh and lace. I alternated light and dark patterns. the top of the dress is made from a fancy paper I found at a local store although I do not know the manufacturer. It is a really delicate flocked floral. the flowers and leaves are Prima. Some were trimmed and layered as needed. the charm is Karen Foster and the Ribbons and Lace are from my stash. The dress form is a wire form from Range. Well I hope I made it in time over at Lets Get Shabby. I had all good intentions of getting done early with this one but finding the materials proved to be my roadblock. Thanks for stopping in and hope you enjoy the remainder of your weekend. Angela

Anything goes weekly challenge

A bit of spare time is a wonderful thing. I managed to get this layout completed for the Anything Goes Challenge this week which is "Autumn". Now Halloween is in the Autumn so I guess that makes it Autumn related??? I'm going with that. I had these pictures of Belle attempting to hand out Halloween candy one year. She could not decide if she wanted to give it out or keep it.Since these are not the greatest, I have kept putting these pictures aside and finally decided that's it I am forcing myself to scrap all the hard to do stuff. So here it is.

I used the Graphic 45 Halloween in Wonderland papers along with Graphic 45 accessories. The flowers are mostly Primas with some misc handmade thrown in. I got the wonderful black Lacey trim from Scrappers Cove in the states and the Zebra trim was from my stash. The chipboard letters are from The Girls Paperie and the gems are Kaiser Kraft and Basic Grey. On a side note, I also wanted to take a moment and thanks for all the lovely comments you have been leaving. I do read each and every one and really appreciate them. Hope you have a wonderful weekend. Angela

Our Vintage Affair Vintage tag

In between getting ready to head back to school with the kiddies I have had a bit of time to work on some projects. First thing I completed was my Vintage tag for the September challenge over at Our Vintage Affair.
I created this tag while making the how to instructions for the Faux sand technique I shared earlier in the week. If you missed it you can click here to view it. For my tag I used Graphic 45 papers(I love them), some trims and ribbons from my stash, some charms from my stash and my Faux sand and shells.

In my other spare time this week I have been working on my matchboxes for A Swap for all Seasons due in October but I am not ready to show them yet. I have 4 done and 21 more to go. I have also completed my ATC's for the Stamp Man September swap. those are posted over here. So as you can see I am keeping busy. Now off to finish up some stuff and then out for a cup of tea. Have a wonderful day. Angela

Some goodies and some atc's

Well I am still playing catchup trying to get everything put away so I can do a little creating but I just had to take a little blogging break. Here are some ATC's I had done for the August swap over at ATC swappers. I am not overly crazy about them. The theme was sports and as I am not much of a sports fan all I could find some stuff for was Dancing. Dancing is a sport isn't it?? I have to say that this was the hardest one yet as it was definately not one of my favourite topics but I gave it a go and this is what I came up with.

I used my Altered Originals spray inks and used the ballerina sticker as a mask for the background. Then I layered some gold on another sticker and placed on the card. the edges is bordered and then layered on glitter card. I then added some gems as a finishing touch.
On a side note while I was back in the states my sister and I went to one of my favourite stores Scrappers Cove and I was able to get a few goodies. Here are some.....

Lots of Prima flowers and some fun papers and ribbons. I aslo found some clear albums and Chipboard albums on clearance(not pictured) during my travels visiting family. I even found some fun stuff for future giveaways and my sister gave me some great stuff for my Bday which you can see here(and sont forget to enter ourblog candy for a great Pirate Princess kit). I was also able to go through all my crafting stuff back in the states and bring some of it back with me to use. Did you know how quickly the weight of the paper adds up in your suitcases.....Now back to putting it all away......Hope you have a great day and thanks for stopping in. Angela