It's Halloween ........ whoooooooo!

Morning everyone,

Can someone please slow down this week, it's going far too fast for my liking.  Too much to do, and not enough time to do it in ........  arghhhhhh!!!

I'm still busy with DT stuff.  I need to get everything done and dusted by this evening, then it's off to the post office first thing Thursday, so that Kay will get them on Friday ready for the show on Saturday.   Phew!  I'm exhausted just thinking about it.

Are you looking forward Halloween?  I must admit I am - I'm off out!  No, not on a broomstick ....... we're off to Castletown on a Ghost Tour around Castle Rushen.
The Castle was originally built for a Norse King in 1265, and during it's time it's been used as a fortress, a royal residence, a mint and even a prison.  It's said to be haunted by a Grey Lady, who was hanged there for killing her son.  She claimed she was innocent but no-one believed her.  Later it was found that the boy had died from natural causes, but of course it was too late.  
She is said to be seen most frequently by the drawbridge, sometimes with a small boy.  Other sightings have been reported in the Eagle Tower at the top of the castle, and also in the dungeon below.   Spoooooky!!!
We don't start the tour until 9.30pm so it's going to be very late when we get out (if we get out !???!)

I managed to get my pumpkins done, although they're not very scary.  See what you think.

Enjoy your day, and if you are doing anything special this evening - have fun.

See you again soon.

Happy Halloween!

Mwahahahaha….

 

 Linda

x

Everything comes at once!

Hi everyone,

Just a quick post this morning.  I have a busy couple of days coming up so I may not get chance to blog again before the weekend.  Didn't want you all thinking I'd forgotten about you!
I'll be busy locked in the old craft room, not allowed out until everthing's finished.  Good job I'm feeling a little better this morning.

After a bit of a slow start yesterday,  I did manage to get a few things finished and out of the way.  Just as well, as I found out that Kay from Indigo Blu is back on our TV screens on, wait for it ........ Saturday.  So you've guessed it I'm busy doing DT stuff.
On top of that I have some wedding invites to mock up before we go across to the UK next week, and my brother has asked if I can make a special Christmas card for him to send.  No pressure then.

I've finished off my Dylusions projects from the weekend .............

I made another little wall hanging, this time in autumnal colours.  Again some of the leaves have been coloured using the inks directly from the bottle, then layered up to add dimension.

Little Ruby (the Gorjuss Girl) has been stamped and coloured with Copics, then cut out and attached as though her swing is in the trees.  I've used another of the borders from the Dylusions 'Around the Edge' stamps set and the words are from a set called 'The Right Words'

The other item I made was a hinged tag.  I love making oversized tags, this one is approx 31/2 inches by 7 inches, with the bottom inch and a half cut way.

 
The hinged tag originally came from an idea by the talented Hels Sheridan, I think. 
I was inspired to try them by one of my Blog friends, the lovely Anne. She's made a few of these now and they're stunning.  Check out her wonderful blog  here.

Ah well!  As much as I'd love to stay and chat I really should be making a start in the old craft room.  The clock is ticking!!

Before I go though, here's a couple more pages from my Altered Art Dictionary.......  I'm back in the swing of things.

poinsettia

Santa Claus

Thanks for popping by today.  Enjoy your Tuesday, and I'll be back later in the week.

Have fun

Linda

x

A little bit Dylusional ..........

Hi everyone,
How are you all on this Monday morning?
Did you all remember to put your clocks back at the weekend? It was nice to have that extra hour in bed, but didn't it go dark early last night?  Winter is here.

I haven't spent much time in the old craft room over the weekend.  I've been fighting off an annoying tickly cough that started last week, that's now decided to stick around and turn into a full on cold - Great!!
I've sat curled up in front of the TV for most of the weekend, I haven't felt like doing much at all.  My pumpkins are still sat on the worktop in the kitchen.  I must get those done today.
We also have our Ghost Tour planned for Wednesday night.  Hope this cold's on it's way out by then.

I did spend a couple of hours yesterday just playing around with stuff on my desk.  Got a few things started, but not much finished.  Hopefully, as the week goes on I'll have something new to share with you.

In the meantime, here's something I made the other week using my new Dylusions Ink Sprays.  If any of you are on Facebook, you may have already seen this as I did post it on there.
I messed around with the inks just to get used to them, and coloured a few pieces of card to use as backgrounds.   I had great fun spritzing and spraying, the colours are fab,  so vibrant.  I just had one little accident, I managed to spill one of the inks all over my workdesk, thankfully nothing was in the way (paper or card that is) and not too much ink was lost.  My hands however, looked like they belonged to the Incredible Hulk - GREEN wasn't the word!
I suppose it's one way to get called 'green-fingered'.  I'll never manage it the other way - I'm useless with plants!

Here's my first make using some Dylusions stamps along with one of the Gorjuss girls ..........  

Just look at those colours!
I stamped the leaves from the stamp set  Around the Edge .  Some of them have been coloured in using The Dylusions inks straight from the bottle (that's when the accident happened - I hadn't put the top back on properly - oops!).  And you can see I've also layered some to add a bit of dimension, and I've done a little bit of doodling using a white gel pen.

The words are from Quintessential Quotes, another of Dyan Reaveley's fabulous stamp sets.
The Gorjuss Girl has been stamped on a seperate piece of card, coloured using the inks again with a waterbrush, then cut out and attached with foam pads.

Her little crown was made using a Tim Holtz stamp, coloured and cut out.  I added co-ordinating gems for a bit of sparkle.

The whole thing was then mat onto some black cardstock, a couple of holes added at the top and some ribbon tied  through so that it can be hung on a wall.

I've started a couple more, another wall hanging and a large tag, once they're all finished I will share.

Whilest I was in the craft room, I also managed to do a couple more pages in my Altered Art Dictionary.  I've let this slip recently as I've been really busy with other stuff, but hopefully I can get back to altering pages more regularly again.

reindeer

mistletoe

If you don't know what this is all about, there's a Facebook page here that you can look at (there's quite a few members now, and it's full of brilliant artwork), or you can get more details over on the lovely Eileen Godwin's blog.  She's the lady that started the FB page.

Basically, you need a dictionary, and some rubber stamps.  Choose your word, highlight it, and stamp the image - simples!  I will warn you though, it's so much fun, but it soon becomes addictive!

Well, I'm off now to carve scary faces (or not) into two pumpkins.  If I don't get them done now, Halloween will be over with!!

Enjoy your day.

Thanks for popping by.

Linda

x

Another week over!

Morning everyone, (or should I say afternoon),

I've had a busy old morning, it's my day to post on the Design Team Blog over at Creative Studios, and  I still had to put the finishing touches to my project this morning.  Time just ran out yesterday.   Here's a little sneaky peek of what I've done for this week ........

If you pop over to the DT Blog you'll be able to see it in full along with all the details.

Things are slowing down a little, thankfully, in the old craft room.  The 'To Do' list is getting shorter, which means I can concentrate on my Christmas cards soon.
I do have a couple of things to do before my next trip across to the UK (less than 2 weeks to go - yeah!), one of them being, to mock up some Wedding invites.  One of the girls who was bridesmaid for my brother and his wife asked if I'd make her invites etc.  She has sent me a picture of the style and colour she would like so at least I have a starting point.

One of the outstanding jobs on my list that I have managed to finish is a Memory Box for Alex.  Lauren asked me to do one of these absolutley ages ago, and finally it's done.  Sorry about the pictures, they were taken in a bit of a rush (don't look at all the stuff around the box!)

Stephen's Dad made the box, and it's just been sat in the old craft room waiting to be decorated.
I've kept it quite simple really, because it's for a boy.  The outside's been painted blue then washed over with white to give it a worn look, and the edges have been distressed a little with Stormy Sky DI.  The ABC stamps are from a set I got in the sale, ages ago, from that well known shopping channel.  They've been stamped randomly all around the box using a black Archival ink.  The little nursery rhyme stamped around the bottom is from the Indigo Blu  - Vintage Nursery Rhymes I set.
The lid has had a little bit of the Fran-tage treatment (Shabby Blue) on a couple of the corners just to add a bit of texture, make it a little 'touchy feely'.

The verse is from Clarity Stamps.  When I spotted this it brought back a few memories.
When Lauren was at primary school, she made a calendar for me with this poem and her handprints on and I thought it was so sweet (I still have it somewhere, tucked away with the rest of my keepsakes).  My idea was to do something similar in Alex's scrapbook.
The little hand prints and the sentiment are from an SU stamp set that my lovely friend, and SU Demonstrator, Sally-Jo has kindly lent to me. (Thanks Sally, I'll bring it back when I come across in November!). You also get footprints in the set too, you can see I've put these inside .......

The inside has been covered with scrapbooking papers and some co-ordinating Bazzill cardstock.

It was meant to be a surprise, but Lauren spotted it when she was over here last.  It wasn't decorated then so I hope she likes it.

Well, I think that's me done for this week.  I'm carving out pumpkins over the weekend, ready for Halloween.  It also means I'll be making pumpkin pie too - yum!

Don't forget to pop over to the Creative Studios DT Blog and have a read of my latest post.

Have a lovely weekend, and if you're off to see the new James Bond Film - enjoy!  I tried to book tickets for Saturday night here, but it's sold out.  I'll have to wait until next week for my Daniel Craig fix!

Thanks for popping by.  See you again soon.

Linda

x

Another week closer to Christmas (eeek!)

Hi everyone,
I can't believe that it's Thursday already, this week is flying by again.  Mind you I have been busy.
I've also booked my tickets for the HobbyCrafts Show at the NEC next month - yeah!  I'm not missing that one.  Two weeks today and I'll be doing some serious craft shopping - can't wait.

I notice I have some new followers too.  Thank you for taking the time to visit and read my ramblings.  It's nice to know you're with me on my crafty journey.

I've come over all festive again today.  Could have something to do with the fact that I went to a Christmas Preview evening at  the local Garden Centre last night.  It was all mulled wine and pastries.  Christmas decorations, and carols, all very festive.  I'm sure these things start earlier each year, we haven't had halloween yet!!

Now, I don't really NEED any more Christmas decorations, especially for the tree, but you know how it is, you always have to have a least one new sparkly bauble.   Well I couldn't resist this .......

How cute are they!  Of course they didn't come as a pair, but I had to get two, which is very unusual for me as I always buy baubles in 3's (the rule of thirds, odd numbers and all that!)

Today's card is for October's Penny Black Saturday Challenge
This month we have a sketch ........

Usual rules apply - use at least one PENNY BLACK IMAGE, LARGE SENTIMENT or STICKEROO.

I've made another Christmas card - whoo hoo!! (is that a total of 4 now?!)

It's a nice big 8x8 card, covered with some Christmas paper from an old Magnolia range.  I didn't want to add too many colours on this one, so I just kept to the red and white.
My second layer is a piece of  Stampin Up! Cherry Cobbler cardsock, one of my favourites for Christmas cards, it's such a beautiful rich shade of red.   I've embossed it with a Sizzix Snowflake embossing folder and then added just a touch of the new Distress Stickles Clear Rock Candy Dry Glitter in places.  I love this stuff, it's glitter, but with a vintage feel, not too sparkley.  And if you read yesterday's post you'll know that it's easy to change the colour of it too.

The stamped image is  Penny Black's Snow Family (2526K).  These little guys are sooo cute.
I've stamped them twice, cut one out using a Spellbinders circle Nestabilitie die along with a matching scalloped cirlce, and the other I've cut out the two smaller snowmen and decoupaged them for a little dimension.  They've all been coloured using Copic pens, and I've added pom poms to their hats - very cosy looking aren't they!

I've added a scalloped border from the Cherry Cobbler cardstock, wrapped with some pretty white organza ribbon, and attached a  lovely big matching bow.  A silver metal snowflake, and a festive sentiment finishes everything off nicely. (the sentiment is from the new 'T for transparent' set from Penny Black called  Christmas Cheer  30-140)

Autumn has arrived well and truly over here.  One of the views I have from the old craft room window is getting nicer each day .......

The colours are gorgeous especially when the sun's shining on them.  Although we didn't have any sun yesterday morning when I took this.  It was quite grey, and if  I looked the other way, the clouds were rolling in over the mountains.

At least we didn't have any rain!

Thanks for popping by today.  I may be a little later with tomorrow's post.
As it's Friday, it's my day on the Design Team Blog over at Creative Studios. Not sure what's going to be on there yet, that's todays task.

Enjoy the rest of your Thursday.

Linda

x

BOO!! It's tag time .....

Hi everyone,

Yes it's that time again - Tim's 12 Tags of 2012. And mine is actually finished.  I'm a little bit earlier than last month, not by much though.

I've been looking forward to this month's tag, I knew Tim would do something spooky and Halloween themed.

Here's Tim's inspiration .....

spooky!!!!! ......... and this is mine

I took the pictures outside and I don't think the colours have come across very well, they're a lot darker in real life.  I'm useless at photography!

This was so much fun to do, and some fasbulous techniques too.
I pretty much followed Tim's instructions to begin with.  Covered the tag with the Tissue Wrap, creasing it up as I stuck it down.  I then used orange and purple acrylic paints to add some base colour, blending with a damp baby wipe.
Next came the Distress Inks, Ripe Persimmon, and Seedless Preserves, with a little bit of Black Soot around the edges.
The spider's web is from the Indigo Blu set of stamps - Hocus Pocus.  I stamped randomly over the background with Black Archival ink and also stamped one web using flitter Glu and followed with Winter Dawn Gilding Flakes.

There's also a spot of Fran-tage on there too (oops!) couldn't resist

I didn't have the large 'Boo' Alterations die so mine is cut using 'Wordplay'.  I decided to use two zeros instead of the o's because they were bigger and filled the width of the tag.  And it meant that I had room to put the googly eyes !!??!!! (again, I couldn't resist)  The spider and the 31 come together in a Movers and Shapers set.  But the coolest thing about the die cuts is .......... the glitter. 
It's the new Distress Stickles dry glitter in the clear rock candy.  Yes, it was actually white when I started out.  But after following Tim's instructions, I made this fabulous sparkly black version.  It's so easy to do, just pour a little into a plastic pot, add a few drops of alcohol ink and stir,  however I did have an OMG! moment when it all went 'lumpy'.  But, it came good in the end ........

........   I'll definitely be using that technique again.

The die cuts were then painted with black acrylic paint, covered with glossy accents followed by the glitter.
While these were drying, I made the ticket.  As I didn't have the new Seasonal Chit Chat, I just wrote the work 'spooky' by hand.
Everything goes together so well for this tag.  I love the colours, the techniques are fab and I'm really pleased with my finished result.

I love Halloween, although over here in the Isle of Man, the Manx people celebrate Hop Tu Naa instead.

It's an ancient Celtic festival, celebrated on 31st October, which used to be the Celtic New Year's Eve.  It would mark the end of summer and the beginning of winter, and was traditionally a time to celebrate the safe gathering of the harvest and a sign that preparations had been made for the long winter ahead.

For the last 100 years or so, children have carried out the Hop Tu Naa ritual, not unlike Halloween these days, where they go from door to door, somtimes dressed in costume, looking for sweets.  Instead of pumpkins they carry hollowed out turnips lit by a candle or a torch, and they sing Hop Tu Naa songs about 'Jinny the Witch'.
If you want to know more here's some links for you
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hop-tu-Naa
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-isle-of-man-15337057   (last years report from the BBC)http://www.isleofman.com/heritage/ePedia/Arts/Ceremonies/hop-tu-naa.aspx

We're actually going on a Ghost Tour on Halloween - whoooo ooooo!!  We're off to Castletown for the Castle Rushen Experience.  I can't wait.  I'll problably be scared to death but it'll be worth it I'm sure.

First though, I have to carve my pumpkins .........

....... here they are with my Timmie Tag  (the colours look a little darker on this shot!)  Then of course there's pumpkin pies to be made - yummee!!

Well, that's my tag done for another month.  What will be November's theme? ........ I'm going for Thanksgiving.

See you all again soon.  Thanks for popping by.

Linda

x

Hobbycrafts Show SECC Glasgow

Hi everyone,

Just wanted to let all you Craftwork Cards fans out there, know that the lovely Julie Hickey and the rest of the Craftwork Cards team will be out and about this weekend.  They're off to the SECC in Glasgow for the Hobbycrafts Show.

If any of you are planning a trip there yourselves then here's a little something special for you ......

Are you going to the Hobbycrafts Show at the SECC, Glasgow?

Craftwork Cards have a special discount voucher for you to use on their stand D28 during the show.

Simply right click the image and print it out, bring it with you to the show and present it at Craftwork Cards till when paying for your crafty goodies and you will receive 10% off all products purchased!

Enjoy your shopping!

Wow!  Wish I was going (sigh!)
If you do pop up there, please say 'Hi' to everyone for me.  Fill your baskets with lots of the gorgeous CWC goodies that will be available.

Here's a little something I made with the latest Project of the Month Kit - Memory Lane. A little Keepsake Book

This is a lovely collection of papers and card, mini photos, die cuts and of course candi.

If you are planning on going to the SECC this weekend, have a fabulous day out and Happy Craft Shopping!

See you soon

Linda

x

Less Is More

Morning everyone,

Are you well?  I'm struggling with a flippin' cold at the moment.  Well, it's not actually a full blown cold as such, I've just got this tickly cough that comes at night, just when I go to bed.  It  keeps me awake, and then leaves me with a stuffy nose and a sore throat for the day - delightful little bug!
At least I don't have to go anywhere this week, so I can stay nice and warm tucked away in the old craft room.

Todays card is for the latest challenge over at Less is More
It's Week 90, and we have a Theme 

AUTUMN

We can take our inspiration from the colours, the festivals, seasonal images etc., but, we still have to keep things Clean and Simple (CAS), and leave lots of white space.

This is my favourite season of the year, I love Autumn.  It's time to get those winter woolies out, dust off your boots and dig out your scarf and gloves.  No more salads either.  The slow cooker's out of the cupboard and it's roasts and stews on the menu- yummee!!   We also have Halloween just around the corner too, looking forward to that.
I love the Autumn colours too, all those golden browns, oranges and shades of red, alongside the evergreens, just stunning!

I think I've used all of the above Autumn colours on my LIM card.

I masked off an area using post-it notes and then blended Distress Inks for my background - Scattered Straw, Dried Marigold, Rusty Hinge, Aged Mahogany, Forest Moss and a little bit of Gathered Twigs.  Then, with the masks still in place, I used the same inks to stamp the leaf randomly over the background.  I love this little stamp from the Stampin Up! set 'Autumn Days'.  Unfortunately I think this set was one of those that got retired last month, which is a shame. 
The sentiment is one of my recent purchases from Inkylicious and I think it describes Autumn perfectly.

I decided to decorate the envelope too.  Haven't got anyone in mind to send this to yet, but when I do, it's all ready to go.

I think the other half is coming home for lunch today.  I'd better get a move on soon, I'm still in my PJ's! (not that it's lunchtime yet but, I can at least look like I've been busy!)
We had a minor disaster last night.  I went to make the dinner and I noticed that the freezer door wasn't closed properly.  The last person to use the freezer was Chris (our son).  He made himself a pizza in the early hours of Monday morning, after coming in from a night out.  You know what it's like, late night drinking means early morning munchies.  Well, he mustn't have closed the door properly - muppet!!
You can imagine my reaction.  It was like the North Pole in there.  There was ice everywhere, but some of the food inside had started to defrost. 
Dinner had to wait, all the food had to be transferred to my second freezer in the garage.  Thankfully there wasn't much that had to be thrown away, but I now have a fridge full of stuff that needs eating pretty quickly.
That's one of the reasons why Stephen is coming home for lunch - there's a load of smoked salmon in the fridge!!
I remember Chris doing this sort of thing once before.  He was only about 2 at the time, and he had a thing for switching off plugs.  It was a lot worse that time, we didn't notice for a couple of days, everything was ruined, and the freezer was FULL!  They don't get any better as they get older do they!?
Looking on the bright side, it's one of my 'Jobs To Do Before Christmas' done at least.  I always defrost the fridges and freezers before the big shop for the festive food.  I've just done it about 6 weeks early.

The Autumn theme continues tomorrow as it's 12 Tags of 2012 time (that's not easy to say!).  Yes, October's Tag is finished - whoo hoo!

Thanks for popping by today.  Enjoy your Tuesday.

Linda

x

Another week, another challenge

Hello everyone,
A bit of a slow start this morning, but welcome to a new week.  Let's hope this week carries on to be as productive as the last.
Did you all have a nice weekend? I hope so.
Mine was lovely, very relaxing.

Hubby was back from his business trip on Friday evening.  It's nice to have him home, and he even brought me a present, a lovely bottle of perfume.
We had a quick ride out on Saturday to do a spot of shopping.  My boys in blue (Chelsea Football Club!) won their match, we're now 4 points clear of Man Utd (who we play next weekend) and we're still top of the league - well done boys!
Sunday, we had a lazy morning, lunch out which is always nice as it means I don't have to cook, ooh, and I bought my pumpkins for Halloween.

Traditionally on the Isle of Man it's called Hop Tu Naa and they carve out turnips instead of pumpkins. Have you ever tired carving a turnip?!   This year however, there's a shortage of them, due to the bad weather we've had.  Now, I'm not saying this is a quiet place to live but, this made headline news. It's even on the BBC News website.  It's up there with other major headlines we've had, like potatoes washed up on the beach in the North of the island.  Exciting or what!!
Anyway, enough about the IOM.  On to things of a crafty nature. 

Last week saw the launch of the latest In the Pink challenge.
It's Challenge #6 ........

BUTTONS AND BOWS

You know me, I love my ribbons and I have been known to use the occasional button or two.

Well over the weekend I spent a little bit of time in the old craft room - can't keep out of there lately!

And I came up with this ........

Cute isn't she?!  I used to love my Magnolia stamps but they don't seem to come out of the cupboard much lately.  I don't seem to do cute anymore.
Obviously Pink always makes me think of girly cards so I had a rummage and found this little sweetie - Tilda with the Rose.
She's been coloured with Copic pens, using various shades of pink - something else I don't seem to use much of these days.  Too much other stuff I suppose.  Anyway, she's been die cut using a Marianne's Creatables die.  I cut this twice, once around Tilda and then again just on plain white card.  I also embossed the plain one, and while the die was still in place I used a little bit of Spun Sugar DI to highlight the raised areas.  The one with Tilda in the middle has had the fancy edge cut away, leaving just the circle so that I could layer up my design and add a little bit of dimension.
Tilda's rose has also been stamped again and layered and I add a tiny silk bow to the stem.

The papers I've used are from Making Memories - the 'Je t'adore' range.  I've just done a simple layout, added a scalloped border and some pretty lace.  There's a spot of Fran-tage on there too (Shabby Pink).

I spent quite a while with my button collection, and as always couldn't find just the right shade of pink.  In the end I gave up and made my own buttons.  Cut from chipboard covered with one of the background papers, using the Tim Holtz Alterations Die - Sewing Room.  They match perfectly now!

My final touch was to add the sentiment, which is from a Paper Artsy set of stamps, and of course I couldn't just leave it with the one small bow now could I.  So I added a beautiful pink silk ribbon bow, finished off with a sparkly Dazzler.

Well, that's one thing crossed off this week's list already.  Good start.  I'll be back tomorrow with this week's LIM card.

Thanks for popping by.  Have a great Monday.
See you soon

Linda

x

What a busy week I've had

Hi everyone,
Happy Friday!  This week has flown by, but it's been fun.
I'm still busy in the old craft room, at least the 'To Do' list is going down (sort of) - yeah!
There's a project on there that's been on for weeks, I just haven't had the time to do anything about it.  It's a Memory Box for my Grandson Alex. 
My father-in-law made the box last time we were across in the UK and up until yesterday I'd only had time to put a layer of primer on there.  Now it's had a coat of colour - whoo hoo!  I'm trying to get it finished before we go across again - November 7th.  I'll keep you posted!

In the meantime, here's something I did a couple of weeks ago.  I think I'm safe posting it today - the lady who it was for should have seen it by now.

It's an anniversary card for the wife of someone who hubby works with.  It was their 1st Wedding Anniversary on the 14th (I think) and Baard asked me to make a special card for him to give to his wife. I even made a matching box with Gift Tag for it to go in.

When I started out I was going to keep it quite simple, but I think I got a little carried away. There's a bit of everything on here .....

As you can see, my 'Fran-tage' phase is still in full swing.  I used the Shabby Blue on the corners of the background paper and the black card.  Everything was distressed around the edges using the Tim Holtz Distressing Tool, and then inked with Victorian Velvet Distress Ink to soften it and give an aged look.

There's some embossing on there (Birds and Swirls embossing folder).  There's some die-cutting (Weathered Clock, and the Tree Branch).  Rubber Stamping - the hearts were done with a Stampendous stamp and heat embossed in white, the sentiment is from Penny Black.
I used punches for the birds and the blossoms on the branch, and I added ribbon and gems to finish it all off.  It was pretty when I'd done - I was pleased with it anyway.
It's always a bit of a worry when I'm making something for someone else, especially when I don't know them that well.  But, I know that Baard likes it, I just hope Alena, his wife, thinks the same.

As it's Friday, it's my day for posting on the Creative Studios Blog.  I had fun yesterday finishing off this week's project.  I've gone all frosty looking this time, same stamp sets as last week but a competely different look.  I can let you have a sneaky peek, but if you want to see it in full, and read how it was done you'll have to pop over to the Design Team Blog later and have a look.

Phew! I think that's me done for this week.  Not sure what we have planned for the weekend.  Stephen's back from his London trip this evening, so no doubt the washing machine will be going on a some point - I get all the good jobs!
If I do get time over the weekend  I'm hoping to do my Timmie Tag.  I've made a start.  I've coloured my glitter .......

....... it was white when I started!
I had a bit of an 'OMG! I've done it wrong' moment when it all started to clog, but it all came good in the end - Tim said it would!
Full instructions are on Tim's Blog post for this month's tag.  What a fabulous technique, I'm now looking at all my alcohol inks and thinking what fab colours of glitter I can make.  I'll be using this one again!

I hope you all have a lovely weekend.  Thank you so much for sticking with me this week, all your fab comments really do mean a lot.  I always look forward to hearing from you.
I'm off to do my DT post, then it's back to the old craft room.  It's a hard life! 

Bye for now

Linda

x

When the cats away ..........

Hello again everyone,

Things are still moving along in the old craft room.  I'm really enjoying myself this week, it's a mixture of doing things that have to be done, deadlines to meet and all that, and doing some stuff just for ME, because I can! 

Stephen's away in London for a couple of days.  He's on a business trip with his boss (alright for some!).
Christopher is working every night this week, so come 6 o'clock it's just me and my stash.  I can spend as much time as I like in my craft room, and not feel guilty about it - heaven!
Don't get me wrong, I do miss my other half when he's not here.  In fact, he'll probably read this on his iphone, if he has a minute.  He says he has to check my Blog as it's the only way he finds out what's going on. Hmm!  He does actually read it - usually when he comes in from work.  He's one of my followers too, bless him! (mwah! xx - just for you Stephen).

I'm still playing with my new Halloween stamps, I love em!  For those of you who don't do the whole spooky, Halloween thing I'll try and make this the last one, for a while!

It's the Witches Brew set from Chocolate Baroque and I think I've used all of the stamps on this card, except the words.
I love the spooky scenes you can create.  On this card I've just stamped the images onto white card, and then used some torn paper as a mask, along with some Distress Inks to do a spot of shading here and there to create the background, and to colour the sky.
I've then gone around the edges and stamped the spider's web in black, and sponged a little Black Soot DI over the top.   The scene has then been matted onto a piece of black card leaving quite a large border, about 1/2 an inch or there abouts.
I've then used one of my favourite products at the moment (I have so many I know), Flitter Glu and Flakes from Indigo Blu.
I've used the spider's web stamp again, this time with the Flitter Glu and I've stamped around  the edges of the black card, but also, stamped over the black web in places.  Then used Sheffield Steel flakes over the top.
To get the best results with the flakes, once you've stamped with the Flitter Glu cover the whole area with the flake.   Rub over with the palm of your hand to make sure all the glue is covered, then use your scoochy sponge to remove all the excess and bring out your image .......

The added extras are from the Penny Black 'T for Transparent' set - the pumpkin, and the bats.  The words are from an old Inkadinkadoo clear set - 'Cats and Bats'.

I thought I'd enter this in the latest Blog Challenge over at Ladybug Crafts.  It's Challenge number 2 and the theme is .....

Halloween and/or your favourite embellishment

I think this qualifies, don't you?

Ah well, back to the craft room.  I've done all my household stuff that needs doing.  

Today I'm working on my latest project for Sam over at Creative Studios.  You'll be able to see the finished results on the Blog on Friday.  I think I'm going for a frosty look ..... hmmmmm, we'll see.  

Thanks for popping by today, I really appreciate you all taking an interest.  I get a real fuzzy feeling when I see how many views I've had, and your lovely comments too - I love my Blog buddies! 

Bye for now

Linda

x

Mwahhaha ........ it's Twinchie Time!

Hello again everyone,
Middle of the week already, doesn't time fly when you're having fun.
I told you I would be spending most of my time in the old craft room this week and I wasn't wrong. It's great, things are actually being crossed of the 'To Do' list, which makes a change!

It's Twinchie time again and the new theme is ....... 

SPOOKY STUFF

If you haven't tried this Blog Challenge yet, you should give it a go, it's so much fun.

Twinchies are little 2inch x 2inch pieces of artwork.  Now you may think that's not a very big space to put anything on but, once you get started you'll be amazed at what you can do.

Why not pop over to the Show Us Your Twinchie Blog and have a look.  The Design Team had done another fabulous job with their Twinchies for the new challenge.

Here are mine ........

You can see I've been playing with my Chocolate Baroque stamps again, and my Dylusions inks, which I am loving by the way.  The colours are fabulous.
I've also used a couple of Penny Black clear stamps (for the Happy Haunting and the Bats).  And the spider is from an Indigo Blu set (Hocus Pocus). 
Definitely getting in the mood for Halloween - can't you tell!  The other half says it's the perfect night for me to go out!  Cheeky!!!

And on that note I'll say Cheerio for now.  I'm off to the old craft room to do my weekly project for Creative Studios. I'll be posting it on the blog on Friday so don't forget to pop over and take a look.

Enjoy your Wednesday
Bye for now

Linda

x