Learn Something New Every Day

If you have been an avid follower of my blog for a while you may remember that last September I did this Shimelle class (see the side bar for a link). To be honest I had forgotten all about it until I found a little reminding e-mail in my Inbox when I got back from my hols. Well I wasn't going to bother....but then I would find myself thinking how I could do it this year.....when I might fit in the crafting time and before I knew it....BAM I went and made the cover! Now I know this is nothing like my usual style but I have to confess I made the pages first and when you see them you will understand the cover. And actually I quite like it!

I have been desperate to try this crackle effect with PVA for a while so I did! Basically you paint the undercoat and leave it to dry. Then paint over with thick PVA and straight away paint your top coat colour on. As the PVA dries it crackles. I think it was in Craft Stamper a month or two back if you want a better description! Still I had a bash on the cover.

These are my pages...they will be landscape in the book and as is my usual with these projects I was a good girl and used up my scraps. The scrumptious papers on the cardstock are bits and pieces left over from the soap wrapping my daughter does. I decided that they looked best on pink yellow and green cardstock so rummaged for those colours in varying shades. Now you see where my cover idea came from....

The last bit I have ready is some journalling cards made from record cards cut in half and then I just did the edges with that nice Alterations die Gilly lent me again! I couldn't decide which edge to do so I have a selection!
Now all these ingredients are in a box with some very plain cream flowers and other bits and bobs ready to go on Sept 1st. Do pop by and see what I am learning!

ATCs

I know, don't faint! I have done some ATCs! Now some of you may or may not know (or even care) but ATCs are what got me into papercrafting. I was reading a magazine and there was an article about them with a website address....and the rest is history! I moved from ATCs to Inchies and then after a long while I took the even bigger step to Scrapbooking! Now I probably have not done an ATC for a couple of years. UKStampers was where I did a lot of ATC swapping and after a short break their swap has re-started with the theme Shades of Blue. As I am on my hols still, I thought I would join in and who knows....maybe I will be able to do some each month now. So a quick BG using spritzed Distress Inks then stamped over with a flower stamp and spritzed with a blue glimmer mist.

I cut out the fabric flowers from some scraps I discovered kicking about and then stitched beads in for the middles. Finally I added the dymo tape strips.
I really enjoyed doing these so let's hope I can keep up with the swaps. I am anticipating that now all the children will be at the same school and my hours have changed slightly life might provide me with a little more free time!

Potatoes!!!

Over on UKStampers Gail challenged us to do something with a potato. I don't mean eat; something arty! Well there were some very arty carvings done so I went a whole lot simpler and cut mine into a leaf shape, some flowers and some potato shapes.

I decided to use them for a page in my Art Journal to celebrate the potato! I did the background with pastels and used Sharpie pen for the stalk and added the stamped leaves and flowes.

The roots were a combination of gel pen and felt pen (pinched from the children) with the potao stamped randomly over.

The centre of the flower was a blob of acrylic paint added with a toothpick and it was finished with some "interesting facts" from Wikipedia about the potato. Who needs rubber stamps!

A Holiday Journal

The other day my friend Gilly came over for a day of crafting. She brought with her the Tim Holtz edge dies and said that I could borrow them for a week or two. So I HAD to make a little book didn't I? I also used the tattered floral die for the cover and all was good until I got to cut the pages. Now maybe I am just fussy but I found it REALLY hard to cut all the pages so the holes on the scallops matched up exactly. And that bothered me so I am not sure if I will bother buying this particular die; although it might be good just for edging one page when scrapbooking....

Anyway I decided to use it as a journal for my holiday in N Yorkshire and duly scribbled and doodled away all the things we did and left a few spaces for pics and tickets. It was also quite nice to sketch a bit....not that I can draw but I like to try now and again!

So a proper scribbly scrawly "diary" in my awful writing but I hope it will be nice to look back on in future years!

Something small and hangy...

Sorry for the delay but I have been on my hols and NOW I have issues with internet connection on my PC. All my pics are naturally on it and not on the lappy so every time I want to update I have to take them off the PC and load them onto the lappy before I can blog! Anniying huh? Anyway when I was doing the skeleton CJ I needed a few little practises as it is ages since I stamped and embossed especially with white. As I looked about the table there was a square of mountboard there so I painted it black and had a trial run with the little skellies; and then the cobweb; and then I decided it looked too nice to chuck so I made it into a hangy thing for Katy!

I was rather proud of this teeny back rose glittered with v fine black glitter!

The next CJ

This CJ had a rather cute dancing skeleton stamp. Not something I would normally use but this CJ has been nothing other than challenging! Now it is getting rather near the end, many skeleton phrases had already been used; Lazy Bones, Knee bone connected etc, Bone Idol (my personal fave with Jon Bone Jovi!) and Skeleton Crew so the only one I could think of was hiding your skeletons in the closet. I constructed a wardrobe by painting card with acrylic paint and scratching wood grain in it. I stamped a Paper Artsy stamp and cut it to make doors. The knobs were just brads with some embroidery silk and a tiny key added. Then when you open it...

...ping! This little chappy will hopefully pop out at you! He is mounted on some black plastic (from some hairbands belonging to Eliza!) and I hope he will at least wobble a bit! I just added a silvery cobweb and a second skeleton peeping round the corner! I did need to practise my white embossing and the effect of the silvery web on some scrap....but I will show what I did with that another day!
So another CJ away and I think there are only a few more to go now!

A little Book...

I'm afraid that I have pinched another idea from a forum friend, Flo. A few months ago she was talking about a brilliant postcard site called Postcrossing. Well I had to go across and have a look and before I knew where I was I had signed up to sending and receiving postcards from all around the world! I always get really boring post so for me this was minimum effort for a few moments of excitement dropping through my letterbox. Ahhh but then I had to do something with all those lovely cards. Now when do I ever need an excuse to make a little book and then I saw this fabby new Doodlebug paper....

...and here are the pages made from the postcards. I have had some lovely ones so please pop across to the Postcrossing site. I bet you sign up too!

Creative stuff for a change!

On Friday I went to see Burn in her Craft Cabin (as I think I already mentioned!) Well whilst I was there I HAD to play with some of her toys. Terra is something I keep hearing about so she let me use hers.....and I painted it with pink acrylic paint. Then I rubbed some shimmery stuff (don't remember the name) in silver, plum and a tad of turquoise on it.

Well then I had to have a go with her metal too! I have made these roses from card stock but there were a fair few more bits to do when you make a metal one.

Then it was hometime so I brought the bits home to assemble into a finished piece and added the eyelets and the key and word.
Jess has already nabbed it!

Guess what I am going to buy now.....

L Fortnight

Again it was rather a failure of a fortnight! It was the last two weeks of term so just too busy. But Jasper and Eliza leave Primary School so they had their Leavers Service in the Church, where they are all presented with a Bible.

Then the whole year sang a song...I missed this bit; the service had already been well over and hour long so I was just sooooo late that I HAD to go to work.

This was Jasper and Eliza (with their friend Haidee) on their last ever hometime from Primary School. Was I tearful and sad to have my "babies"leaving? Was I 'eck....13 years I have been going back and forward to that school and it has changed dramatically from a school with 68 pupils, all housed in huts, only just having indoor toilets added, to what it was when we left; 90+ pupils and a brand new, completely rebuilt school.After school the whole year group drove to Pevensey Beach for a Leaver's Party and fish and chips. All the children swam (mad things).Not all the Mums went; some of us are closer friends than others and sadly we lost one of our Mums to breast cancer 2 years ago but we thought we ought to have a last photo of those that were there. We have all been a fairly social group over the 7 years since Reception (apart from Julie on the left in the pink jumper whose son only joined this year!)so it will be odd not to see each other each morning as we drop off. Mind you, I haven't done a drop off for 3 years since I started working elsewhere and I will still see those I am closest too.

Our last feeble attempt in L fortnight was to make some lemonade. Jess got zesting...

...then we put it through the seive. Very easy, I don't know why I haven't done it before really! Eliza did make some lemon cakes...but we ate them before we took a pic!

Another fortnight done; we did plan to go to the Long Man of Wilmington but just ran out of weekends. Jasper went to Littlehampton to stay with his Grandad too but we took no pics of that either.

Bit more 2009

Nearly there now with 2009! Another snow LO and yes, I KNOW it looks like "Cops-a-daisy" but it is meant to be "Oops...". Quite pleased with this one!

But not too sure about this one...I had just a few nice pics of Christmas Day and as ever none of the colours matched so finding paper was really hard! I like the design etc but I wonder if it needs a bit more something? And I don't know whether to add a title/journaling and if so, where and how!
Yesterday I finally went to visit Burns Cabin! And I did some creating too which I will show tomorrow if I get a mo to finish it tonight. I am a bit snowed under with soap-wrapping at the moment....