Stick it to me

This week at our tuesday afternoon craft club, it was Anita's turn to inspire us with a project.

And inspire us she did.

This cute little book is held together with wooden skewers, and bound with thread

Here is the progress I mad this afternoon, all the pages have been simply matted and layered with some inked cardstock and patterned paper and I have added a small accordian fold book on the first page.

I have decided to use mine as a little memory book from our camping holiday in the Lake District last year, so will be keeping mine in rustic colours and style.

I will share the completed book hopefully later this week.

Thankyou for the inspiration Anita.

Mission Possible

On Saturday my baby turned twelve, this is the card I made for my youngest - AJ

He is entirely obsessed with all things C.O.D

The image is one I purloined from google, I luckily had the perfect shade of bazzill to match the Modern Warfare logo.

In the little pocket on the right I included AJ's missions for the day.

The missions earned me massive brownie points, AJ was totally awed by the fact that I knew what a 'map pack' was and also what a 'drop' was, lol we won't spoil the moment by revealing I spent half an hour reading all the strategies on the C.O.D website !

Tag team

Today I have a little mini box and book to share. On tuesday afternoons, some friends and I get together and craft ( well we try to craft in between, chatting, giggling and eating !) We bandy about ideas until we have a project in progress.

This was the project we created this past tuesday, Nicki adapted a Laura Dennison project and we all made very different versions.

And these are the tags, fronts and backs

I shared this project with some extra photos and details as my DT piece on IACW today, please pop over there to see the full post and also to catch up with what the other girls have been sharing.

The real voyage of discovery

Consists not in seeking new landscapes

But in having new eyes

Nature does not hurry

Just a quick post from me this evening

The two class cards we made on tuesday and wednesdays classes

I played with some acetate and some new colour core cardstock for these two cards, the first one being an easel. I used a flourish stamp and white stazon to spruce up the otherwise rather plain plastic. Sorry the photo does little to bespeak the prettiness and delicacy of the fact that the basis of the card is transparent.

And on this second one the acetate is less apparent, being the overlay displaying the flourishes.

One of the raffle prizes has been claimed Linda Gilbert was the first winner - don't forget to check your tickets - there are two prizes left to claim.

There are lots of exciting projects in store for the shop over the coming months, the raffle and party being a mere morceau of things to come.

PLEASE DON'T FORGET THIS SATURDAY 25th Feb IS SALE DAY

It will be the last sale of this year and ALL stock is reduced by at least 20%

There will be further bargains to be had on the day.

Anyhow, signing off  ad rem, I will bid you good night and leave you with my quote for today

Nature does not hurry,

Yet everything is accomplished

Lao Tzu

Raffle Winners

As part of our birthday celebrations we recently held a raffle

There were three baskets of goodies to be won

Here is my little helper, giving all the raffle tickets a really good mix up

And the first winner is ticket number 

256

The second winner is ticket number

145

And the final winner is ticket number

284

We raised a total of £64.00

Which will be going to St Andrews Hospice, Grimsby

Thankyou to everyone who took part in the birthday celebrations and to those who bought tickets

Winners - you can collect your baskets from the shop whenever is convenient, please bring your tickets with you.

Please note YeeTing will be back in the shop this Thursday 23rd Feb for her monthly Stampin' Up class

YeeTing will be teaching the babywipe stamping technique with these gorgeous cards

Please call in or telephone to book your place, the class is £6.50 and takes place from 1pm til 3pm

All equipment and light refreshments provided

We seek not rest

Another page for my Life Book

I played with collage for this page, lots of layers of papers, book pages and magazine clippings

Colour was added with neocolours, acrylic paints and polychromos pencils

There is also some stamping ( text and small black butterflies)

And my quote for today

Flowers and butterflies drift in colour,

Illuminating spring

Anonymous

Roses on my table

I almost forgot to share this with you, just found it on my memory card !

This was my 'card' for Neil this Valentine's day.

It's actually a little tag book ( I think it is called a flag book in America) and was a class I attended with Linda, thanks hon - loved the class and the little book and so did Neil

I added a little pocket to the inside front cover when I got home, as I had bought Neil a magazine subscription as his Valentine gift and I wanted to include the details.

I added a photo of the two of us together in the back, he keeps nagging me for new photos and I can see why when I look at the photo. I was a size 16 here and a full two stones heavier than I am now, I have dropped down to a comfortable 12 and still have a little way to go. Why is it that we don't truly realise how chunky we are until we see a photo of ourselves ?

And a view of all the little tags (or flags)

They have all been decorated with Stampin' Up punches, stamps and die cuts.

The class was fabulous and fun, Linda is such a good teacher and has lots of tips and tricks up her sleeve, she also has oodles of patience. I did behave myself and Anita kind of did - just don't mention the glue !!!

It was also my lovely niece Katie's birthday yesterday, she turned 14  ( happy birthday Katie - love you xxx)

I created the background with Distress inks in Fired Brick, Worn Lipstick and Dusty Concord. I then spattered on some water and dried with my heat tool before stamping and embossing the images in black.

The sentiment was computer generated.

A second bouquet to share this week, this beautiful bunch of bulbs was given to me by Rose, thankyou so much, they are so bright and cheerful xxx

As I am signing of with a photo of some lovely flowers, I thought I would add a floral quote too.

I'd rather have roses on my table,

Than diamonds on my neck.

Emma Goldman

Heaven on earth

And again a few more cards to share with you this evening

First up the card I made Darcy for her birthday, Darcy's fave colours are black red and purple, so I thought - what the heck and managed to incorporate all three colours, she isn't keen on cutesy twee stuff either, so I went with a classic design

The 'happy birthday' sentiment is by Inkadinkadoo, the medallion is by Stampin' Up as is the flower stamped in versamark as a background on the Kraft cardstock

And I have the two class cards I taught this week

We used an embossing folder and brayered and stamped onto the reverse ie debossed side to create our own patterned paper

And, as masculine cards always seem to be a pain in the posterior, I also created this more manly style for our second card. We used white ink stencilled onto the die cut  fancy frame as a background for the vintage car, which was rubbed with coloured wax to highlight the embossing and to give a slightly metallic sheen.

And thats it for this evening, I will be back tomorrow with some more finished projects for you, but right now I have a book on my Kindle calling me, so I will bid you all a very goodnight and leave you with another quote from one of my little books.

On earth there is no heaven

But there are pieces of it

Jules Renard

I mentioned yesterday that February is a busy card-making month for me, here are another couple I have made this past week.

First up I have one I made for Andrea. Andrea is one of my special ladies from the shop and has recently celebrated one of the milestone birthdays.

I used Melissa Frances papers and lots of lovely flowers, the crocheted one was one from either Anita or Nicki, who both made me lots of flowers, they are all now mixed up and in one tin, so I can't remember which of my lovely friends is responsible for this particular one but I am grateful for them all, so thankyou girls xxx

I kept the inside simple with a stamped verse and some delicate stamped detailing around the edge of the insert.

It was also my granny's birthday on the 13th, she turned 96 bless her heart !

The image is a digi one and the sentiment computer generated, the papers are from a DCWV luxury stack and are beautifully pearlescent.

I added a little touch of stickles on the bouquet of flowers.

For my birthday Margaret gave me a gorgeous gift bag filled with quote books and note books. She knows me well, I love quotes and reading, I enjoy words fullstop but there is a special kind of magic when they are put together in quotes.

Quotes make beautiful and unusual sentiments in cards and interesting journalling for scrapbook pages, they are inspiring on many levels and have often been a catalyst for my art journalling pages, so the gift was both thoughtful and incredibly inspiring.

I have decided to share a quote from one or other of the books each time I blog.

In every out thrust headland,

In every curving beach,

In every grain of sand, 

There is a story of the earth

Rachel Carson

  

With all my heart

Happy valentines day to all my lovely blog readers, I hope you have all shared your day with someone you truly love - I know I have.

I have been in a crafting frenzy this week and have gazillions of little projects to share, february is a very very busy month birthday-wise in our house, but I won't bore you with all my projects in one post, I shall try and eek them out a little over the week.

First up I have a little mini book I made for my lovely friend Trish, it was her birthday on the 10th.

Trish has always been a big support to me and has become very dear to me over the last couple of years, I wanted to make a little something to let her know what a special friend she is.

The papers were really pretty colours and designs, so I kept my embellishments fairly simple.

I added lots of friendship quotes, mostly computer generated with a little stamping in there too.

And the little pockets on each right hand page house tags, which I have written messages on the back of.

Each page opens at the top to create pockets, each of which houses a larger tag.

I also have my next page for my Life Book to share with you this evening.

Anyone who knows me well, knows I am drawn to hearts and all things cordate, it must be something to do with me being a valentine baby but regardless of the why's and wherefores I do tend to end up with hearts in most of my projects.  

I drew my girl in pencil ( if you look closely, you can see her face is also heart shaped) I painted her with neo colours and added further colour with polychromos pencils.

The background was all doodled and then painted with neocolours, I redefined the doodled lines with a Pitt Artist pen, I like to use the Superfine nib and use a medium one for bolder lines or shading.

I have had an amazing day, thankyou to everyone for their birthday wishes, cards and gifts, I have been spoiled rotten all day by my family, friends and exoteric family.

We had a lovely afternoon crafting, we have a tuesday afternoon crafters club at the shop ( looking for a catchy name - any suggestions ???)

We actually managed to get quite a lot done, almost finished a mini book, thanks Anita for the tutorial. We laughed all afternoon and also managed to stuff our faces full of cupcakes - thanks to Leanne, Lindas lovely daughter who makes the most amazing little edible wonders.

( Sorry for the poor photo, I left my Leica at home and took this with my iphone, love love love my iphone but it doesn't take the best pics)

And then after tea ( Dominoes pizza yummmmmmm) Neil brought out this fabulous chocolate indulgence ( everyone knows me sooooo well lol)

I truly am blessed to have so many wonderful, kind and supportive people in my life - thankyou all.

I love you all, with all my heart xxx

Fun and games

Last weeks class card

Some beautiful new papers which arrived in the shop last week and we used Distress inks in embossing folders for a lovely two toned embossed look

Also this week

Beryl brought me in these gorgeous flowers, a lovely nod to spring when the weather outside is anything but springlike, the weather failed to hit positive figures here in frosty Lincolnshire today.

Today was the day we celebrated the shops birthday, 3 years old this week

The time has just flown by and has been filled with so many wonderful experiences, especially the new friends we have made along the way.

We have built up class members from a mere 6 right at the beginning to over 60 regular crafters on the books for various classes

We have gone from one weekly card class, to classes on almost every day of the week with regluar special classes, crops, workshops and demonstrations

The stock has tripled since we took over in Feb 2009

We have had a complete refurbishment from the front of the shop right the way through to the kitchen

And this has all been possible because of all the fabulous support of our family, friends and customers

THANKYOU  ALL so very much

We had organised some quizzes and games to play, although it was hard to tell who actually won any of them as there was some pretty blatant cheating going on. I cannot depone positively to the culprits of the said cheating on the grounds it may incriminate me, suffice it to say both Anita and I were reprimanded by Margaret on more than one occasion, we were on the receiving end of several of her infamous bossy but good natured screeds. ( At least we all now know what a 'fluffer' does - thanks Anita lol)

Lots of food, fun, laughter and excellent company, it felt a little piacular to be having such a good time at work - I guess I have the best job ever !!!

Thankyou very much to Trish who provided us with the most delicious parkin loaf and chocolate cake.

We have three lovely baskets of goodies to raffle, all proceeds will be going to St Andrews Hospice, the tickets will be available to buy in the shop until next saturday.

Sorry there are no snapshots of the party itself, we were all having such a giggle we completely forgot about the camera, story of my life lol

Huge thanks to my ever reliable right hand ladies Anita and Margaret who both go above and beyond to help me organise events like these - thankyou both xxx

Thankyou to everyone who donated raffle prizes too.

Birthday wishes to both Trish ( for yesterday) and Andrea for today who both shared their celebrations with us today.

So on that note I will bid you all a very good night and here's to another 30 years of fun and laughter and happy crafting ( Rose informed me today that she is not going to allow me to stop for a good while yet lol xxx)