Tag #9 of 2013

Morning ..... and a happy weekend!

I'm across in the UK again for a few days.  I had to be up at stupid o'clock this morning - it was still dark!!!  I was at the airport for 6.30AM, at least it wasn't a long flight. 

It's getting towards the end of the month again, and as I won't be home until Monday evening I thought I'd better get my Tim Tag done before I left.  I did have an extra pair of hands this month though.  Here's Alex giving the finished tag the once over .......... did it get his seal of approval?

  
Yes!! It did.  Here's my finished tag for September ........ Alex liked the butterfly the best

It was all about using stencils and masks this month, to create layers and texture - so much fun.  All the details for the products and techniques can be found on Tim's blog.
As I haven't got my hands on any of the brand new Tim Holtz Layering Stencils yet (shame on me!) I had to search through what I had got.  I used a mixture of Studio 490 masks, Dylusions and a couple of designs from Imagination Crafts.

I started with the Diamonds are Forever stencil from Wendy Vecchi and the White Texture Paste ...

I thought this was going to pick up all the colour with it going on first, was I in for a surprise.  Once the stains were dried off using a heat tool, the texture paste seemed to absorb all the colour and the white came through again - clever eh!

The layers were gradually built up using various stencils and inks with the last layer being the stamped butterflies

I added another layer to mine ...... acetate (Alex liked playing with the wings, he said it was flying off the tag!)

The sentiment was made up using Chit chat stickers, which I mat onto some black card and used foam pads on some to add a bit of dimension

And the whole tag was finshed off with some white crinkle ribbon, coloured to match using Distress Stains, then one of the stencil designs added with a touch of Distress ink

That's my September tag done. Off to shop now!



Thanks for popping by today.  Have a lovely weekend and I'll see you all again next week. 

Cheerio for now

Linda

xx

I'm glad that week's over!

Phew!  Thanks goodness it's Friday,

I hope you've all had a good week, mine just wasn't quite long enough, I could have done with another day or two to get everything finished.  Oh well, I've done what I can, I did make time to do my Tim Tag this afternoon though, I'll be back over the weekend to share that with you. 
The old craft room is tidy - sort of, and the door is closed again for a couple of days  It's time to finish off the ironing pile this evening and pack my suitcase again.  I've got an early flight tomorrow (not looking forward to that!)   It's the Happy Stampers Show at Port Sunlight all day Saturday - now I am looking forward to that!  Me and the girls are off again for a spot of crafty retail therapy, and lunch out somewhere nice.

The reason for all my days being spent in the old craft room this week is Kay's back on the telly on Sunday, witgh IndigoBlu - I know, talk about me being busy - IndigoBlu are at Port Sunny on Saturday then Kay is off to Peterborough for two shows on Create and Craft on Sunday.  According to the TV guide she's on at 10am and 2pm.  Set your Sky boxes, or equivalent, there's brand new stamp designs, a little bit of Christmas, and some old favourite's back in stock.  Here's a couple of sneak peeks of what I've been up to

These will be flying over with me in the morning, then I just need Kay to remember to take them with her on Saturday evening!!! Fingers crossed they'll be on the show.

Before I go, I said I would share some of things I got up to on my recent trip across to the UK.  Things got off to a great start with an all day workshop run by the lovely Sarah McCrossan.  I always enjoy Sarah's classes, we always have a good old chat and a catch up, and at the end of the day everyone leaves with 5 or sometimes 6 gorgeous cards.
This time it was a Christmas theme, using Stamps by Chloe   This was a new range for me, nice simple designs, my favourite was the Starburst Baubles,  and Sarah had created some stunning cards for the workshop ......... see what you think .....

The colour combos we used were deep red and cream, stamped in brown - very rich looking

And turquoise and white, this time stamping in grey ..... a nice frosty looking mix.

What are your Christmas colours for this year?

Well that's me done I think.  Off to pack my suitcase, then it's time for a nice glass of red and settle down to watch the brand new series of Strictly! Enjoy your evening.


Thanks for popping by.  Don't forget about Kay on Sunday, and if you're off to Port Sunlight tomorrow, I'll see you there.

Cheerio for now

Linda

xx

Hi Bloggers ....... I'm home!

Yes, I'm back on the Isle of Man after a craft filled, two whole weeks (17 days to be exact!) over in the UK.  I've had a ball!
We've done Craft Shows, workshops, I've tried my hand at Parchment Craft and the Gelli Plate, touched on jewellery making (well Susan did most of that!!!).  We caught up with family and friends, and had two birthday celebrations while we were over there.  It's been great but ..... it is nice to be home - even if it is only for a few days!
It's taking a while to get back into the swing of things though - too much washing and ironing to do.  I haven't even unpacked all my crafty stuff yet!  I do need to get my suitcase ready for weekend though - I'm off again on Saturday morning - Port Sunlight this time!

I thought it was going to be quiet when we got back home - no Chris and all that.  Chance would be a fine thing!
We had two extra people in the car on the return journey ........ Lauren and Alex decided to come back with us for a few weeks.  Long story, I won't bore you with all the details, but I'm glad they're here, and hopefully things will settle down now.

Like I said, I haven't unpacked all my crafty stuff - I've just got out what I've needed. 
There's no rest for the wicked, it's been full on since I opened the old craft room door.  I've just done a post on the Craftwork Cards Blog, it's a Christmas one I'm afraid, but ...... as it says at the top of my blog ....... there's only 91 days to go - eeeeeeek!!!
Here's a little sneaky peek

If you'd like to see more pop over to the CWC Blog where you'll find all the details, and loads of photos.

Next big job on the list is IndigoBlu.  Kay's back on our screens on Sunday 29th.  Not sure of the show times yet, I'll keep you posted on that one.  I can tell you though, there's new stamps on the show - soooo cute!! 
I suppose I'd better get back in the old craft room and finish off my samples - it's a tough job but someone's got to do it!

I'll be back later in the week to show you some of what I got up to over in the UK. 
Enjoy the rest of Tuesday.

Cheerio for now

Linda

xx

Things With Wings

Morning everyone,

Yes it's that time of the month again when the new Forever 21 Challenge is launched over at IndigoBlu.  We had lots of fabulous entries last month for our 'Shabby Chic' theme, but as usual there can be only one winner.  The lucky entry last month came from .........

Number 16      Lucy Edmonson

Congratulations Lucy,  and thank you for taking part in the challenge.  Enjoy your prize.

On to this month's theme now ......... we'd like to see all your entries for ....

Things with Wings

This could be anything from birds to butterflies, or use your imagination and add wings to your favourite IndigoBlu image - a pocket watch, or the hot air balloon maybe. I can't wait to see what you all come up with.

Here's my DT piece to hopefully inspire you all to give the challenge a go ......

I was totally inspired for this by an article from the fabulous Hels Sheridan in the September issue of Craft Stamper magazine (have I mentioined that this is my favourite Craft Magazine!) ......

To start I coloured an 8x8 box canvas using the English Garden Artists Acrylic Paints.  I used Wimberry Pie, Grandma's Teacup and a touch of Pantry White shades. 

I put the paint onto my craft sheet, spritzed with a little water then applied it to the canvas using make-up sponges.  Once this was dry, I stamped randomly over the canvas using the IndigoBlu Script Background stamp in both Black and White Stazon inks.
I then took a stencil and inked through using Black Soot Distress ink and also used the same design with white texture paste to give a nice contrast

The sentiment is from the IndigoBlu stamp set - Discover Your Passion, and has been stamped onto white cardstock, cut out using an oval Nestabilities die and then colour has been added using Distress inks -  Dusty Concorde and Stormy Sky.  It was then mat onto some black cardstock and attached to the canvas using foam pads.  I added a couple of metal fasteners from the Tim Holtz Idea-ology range to finish it off.

Next came the butterflies, lots of them!  I coloured some pieces of white card using the Distress Inks again and then stamped lots of IndigoBlu butterflies - the large one is from the IndigoBlu Wild Meadow stamp set, there's also one from the Discover Your Passion set and last but not least, I used the free stamp that came on a copy of Craft Stamper magazine a while ago.  These were then cut out and arranged on the canvas, 'flying' around the sentiment.  I've attached each one just along the body, and lifted the wings slightly to add movement and dimension .......

You can see I've also added a few punched butterflies in there too, to fill in the spaces and add contrast.    Some of them have been layered .......

  ......and you'll also find a couple of acetate ones on there too

I finished the piece by adding some pretty paper flowers, in co-ordinating colours along with a lovely Ornate Plate with one of the Adage Tickets from the Tim Holtz Idea-ology range.

I painted the sides of the canvas, in true Hels Sheridan style, using the Acrylic paints again ........

and finished off the edges with a touch of Black Soot Distress.

Hope you like it.

I'm also going to enter this into the Country View Crafts Challenge for September.  Their theme this month is

Layers

and there's a few of those on my canvas.

I hope I've inspired you to get those IndigoBlu stamps out and see what you can come up with for our new 'Things With Wings' challenge.  There's another fab prize up for grabs so why not give it a go. You have until 8.00pm on October 20th to get your entries in ......... Good luck!

Cheerio for now

Linda

xx

Oooops! ......

Hi everyone,

Not quite sure what's going on with Blogger at the moment, or whether it's just me pressing the wrong buttons - it has been a long day!! (I'm sure I didn't press the 'Publish' button - honest!! I'm always so careful)

So .... don't worry, you're not seeing things.  There WAS a post here that should have only gone live on Saturday morning (it wasn't even finished! LOL) 
Please forget everything you've just seen, don't tell anyone what you've read, otherwise I'll have to shoot you - only joking!  And when it all appears again correctly on Saturday,  please act surprised!!! 

Like I said, it has been a long day.  It all started with a blog post this morning, over at IndigoBlu
which took a while .......

sneaky peek

Then I spent the day getting to know my Gelli Plate, with a lot of help and tuition from my crafty buddy Susan.  And after dinner we've been trying out new cutting dies on the Ebosser machine - it's hard work but someone's got to do it!

We got all inky after lunch and had a good old play.  Here's some of the results of our afternoon's work

I'm still covered in paint, and Susan's kitchen floor is a little more colourful than it was this morning!  But we've both got a great collection of prints we can use on future projects - result!

We're off to a local craft club tomorrow so it's time to pack up the old craft trolley again, and then I think it's time I went to bed before I do any more damage!
Night Night!!

See you all again soon. 

Linda

xx   

Not more new stash ........

Evening everyone,

I can see that Blogger's up to it's usual tricks again.  Not only is the internet toying with me while I'm over in the UK (3 hours it's taken me to get this post up) but the text on my Blog posts has a mind of it's own too!    Arghhhhhhhhh ......... I hate it when my posts are messed up!! I've tried my best to sort out the last post and it's having none of it!   But, I'm on holiday ...... so it's not going to get me all worked up.  I'm going to chill, and leave it as it is and see how this post goes - so there Blogger!!!  Do your worst! 

What a fab day we had yesterday at the Craft Show in Manchester, and I came back with money in my purse, which was a bonus. I think that may be a first!!!  Ah well, more to spend at Port Sunlight.
The show was HUGE!!  It’s on until Saturday, if you get the chance to pop along it’s well worth the visit.

Here’s some of my stash, Susan’s still got hold of some, we’ll be going through that during the course of next week I’m sure ........

Wasn’t I good …… no stamps, or 12x12 papers. No Tim Holtz goodies.  Only a couple of small pieces from the MDF Man …….. I know I can hardly believe it myself.

I did get this little chappie though, he's going to make a rather nice necklace I think ..... 

 and I did treat myself to the lovely new handbag ……… 

Well ………. a girl can never have too many handbags (as I told the other half when I got home!) 

I’d spotted it first thing, so when it was still there at the end of the day it was a done deal I’m afraid. (I had sort of hidden it amongst all the other bags though, well they only had the one! – oops!)

With the new stash carefully packed away, the old craft trolley came out this morning. I had my weekly DT post to do over at CreativeStudios.

Sam’s designed some fabulous new Halloween themed stamps that the rest of my teamies have been playing with this week, unfortunately mine didn’t arrive before we left the Isle of Man, so my post this week is completely different – pop over and take a look, I promise it’s not scary at all.  It’s not Christmas either!

Speaking of Christmas though, I’ve been published in Simply Cards & Papercraft again.  In Issue 115 (in the shops now)  you'll find projects from all the girls on the IndigoBlu DT - Clare Horner, Nikki Killinger and of course little old me! 

SC&P Issue 115

There’s a fabulous article all to do with IndigoBlu the company, an interview with Kay and Alfie, then loads of ideas using the latest IndigoBlu products.  

some of my designs

Oh well, an early night tonight I think, well early ish.  We’re off out for a drink this evening with Lauren.  I can’t be too late though, I’m on  a workshop tomorrow with the lovely Sarah McCrossan, at Inspirations in Preston (my old workplace).  Haven't seen Sarah in ages so it'll be nice to catch up.

Thanks for popping by today.  

I notice I have another new follower too - welcome along.  I really do appreciate you all taking the time to read my posts. It's nice to know I'm not talking to myself.

Have a great weekend, and I'll see you again soon.

Cheerio for now

Linda

xx

Time for a bit of R and R

Hey! it's Wednesday already

How's your week going?  Mine's speeding by. We've been over here for 5 days and our feet haven't touched the floor.  Time for a day of rest and relaxation today, and as we've finally found the internet 'hotspots' in the cottage where we're staying, a chance to catch up with emails, Facebook and of course my blog.

Well, everything fit in the car - eventually.  I told you it would ........ including my craft trolley

There was just enough room left for Stephen and I in the front - it was a good idea to book Chris a flight over to the UK because there was no way he was getting in there too!

Thankfully the weather was kind to us, and Friday's crossing was fine.  We waved Goodbye to the island for two weeks and set off on the first leg of our journey.

Douglas Bay

Chris was safely deposited in Sheffield on Saturday, and he's settling into his new home nicely.  
He's moved into a newly refurbished, 'boutique style' (that's what the property company call it!!) student accomodation building.  He's one of the first ones to move in so he's virtually got the place to himself.  We've had a few texts from him and a couple of phone calls - he seems to be managing OK without us.

We've been spending time with Lauren and Alex going here, there and everywhere, even met the new boyfriend!  
Over the weekend, we went to Knowsley Safari Park  and got up close and personal with the animals there.  It's been a while since we were there ......

here kitty kitty .....

stopped for the zebras crossing

this is a Bongo ..... apparently!

Unfortunately we left the park minus a rear number plate.  Yes, you guessed it, we drove through the Baboons - twice!!!

  
First time through was fine ........ second time the car was covered with the little devils, which really amused Alex, and one of them decided he wanted a souvenir ...... our number plate!!

  

The nice kind ranger went in to retrieve it for us, and we only got stopped once by the police before we got it fixed back on -
(Policeman) Excuse me sir, do you know you have no rear number plate?
(Stephen) Yes, sorry officer, but a baboon took it off ............
It was in the boot so we were fine.  So funny though, it's right up there with 'sorry sir, but the dog ate my homework'.

It made for an interesting conversation later in the evening.  We called in on an old friend and spent the evening playing in a pub poker tournament.  It's been along time since I've played cards live, but I did ok.  I knocked Stephen out of the game which he wasn't impressed at - oops!  He finished third, and I came in second.  Not a bad result considering.

Ah well, time for some lunch I think.  We've had a nice lazy morning and I think the afternoon is going to be much of the same.  It all gets busy again tomorrow ..... I'm off to Manchester, to the Creative Stitches & Hobbycrafts Show at EventCity.  Time for some Crafty Retail Therapy I think.

Enjoy the rest of your day, and I'll see you all again soon.

Cheerio for now

Linda

xx

The important stuff's packed ......

Happy Wednesday everyone,

Hello and welcome to my latest followers.  Thank you for taking the time to join me on my crafty journey.

It's time for a quick coffee, and a break from all the sorting and packing that's going on here at the moment.  The house is begining to look like the day we moved in - stuff everywhere!  I'm washing and ironing for England, and there's going to be nothing left in my cupboards by the time I've kitted Chris out with all the stuff he needs.  We've already had one shopping trip into town, no doubt there'll be another.

There's not much going on in the old craft room this week I'm afraid, apart from me packing up my craft trolley ready for the trip across to the UK on Friday.  That, and my suitcase is the only thing that's all ready to go.  Hmmm ....... there's still a little bit of room left in there........ what else am I going to need?

  
Stephen keeps reminding me that we're going across in the car NOT a removal van!  It'll all fit, it always does!

I have spent a little time at my workdesk, I'm trying to get the rest of the month organised ...... it's sort of going ok.   I managed to make another birthday card, for that special little man who's 3 in a few weeks .....

Even though Uncle Chris might not make the birthday bash, he won't forget to send a card.
This was really quick and easy, using the 'uplifting' die again, from Penny Black.  I used my trusty old hand cut cloud to ink around for the background, and then added some faux stitching around the edges - job done!

I've also been trying to get my DT projects done, or at least started before we leave - yes, I will be blogging as usual whilst we're away (hopefully!)  Here's a sneaky peek at something that's coming up later in the month  .....

Speaking of blogging, it's my day on the DT Blog over at IndigoBlu.   I'm afraid it's another Christmas design, my favourite one actually, out of the last lot of samples that I sent to Kay ......

You'll find all the details over on the DT blog.

Oh well, I can't make the coffee break last any longer, my cup's empty.  Back to the ironing board it is then.

Enjoy the rest of your day, and I'll see you again soon.

Cheerio for now

Linda

xx