Blue and green should never be seen ........

Morning folks,
I think it's still morning - I've been awake since the early hours so it feels like it should be well into the afternoon.  Two lots of washing done and out to dry, house tidy and my Less is More  challenge entry is all ready to upload.  Not a bad mornings work there.

As it's the first LIM challenge of the month, it's  COLOUR, and the girls have chosen ...

BLUE  and  GREEN

There is an old saying .....  Blue and Green should never be seen, Unless there's a colour in between!

Rubbish!  I like blue and green together although they're not colours that I tend to use a lot of, especially green.  Hmm ...... not sure why that is though.  Anyway, I've used them today and here's the result

I must say it doesn't look very green in this photo, it's alot brighter in real life - honest!

I used Tumbled Glass and Peeled Paint Distress Inks around the edges and then coloured the image with Distress Markers in the same colours.
The stamp is called  day-dreams  and is from Penny Black (3947K) and the little sentiment is from a clear set by Kaisercraft that was one of my bargain purchases at a craft show.
I'm really pleased with the result, a nice CAS card for any occasion.  Maybe I'll use blue and green more often.

I'm off to watch the girls from Stamp Addicts, they're on Create and Craft with some new Christmas stamps.  They've got Nigel as the presenter so it should be a good one.
I think I'm going to tackle the ironing pile while I'm watching.  I got it out last night and wasn't sure whether to climb the thing or iron it!  It's huge ........ I'm afraid it's been the last thing on the list, I've had other things to do.  I'm running out of things to wear now,  so I really need to make a start.  Wish me luck. 
I'd rather be in the old craft room.

Have a lovely day and I'll see you all later.

Thanks for popping by

Linda

x

Just in time .........!!

Well, I made it! Indigo Blu samples - DONE!

Hi everyone,
I have some new followers again this week - yeah!  Welcome to my little part of Blogland, I'm so pleased to have you with me.  
I've had a busy few days, but hopefully things will calm down a little now and I can catch my breath.
Things got a little bit frantic in the old craft room yesterday afternoon. The clock was ticking and nothing was going right.  It could have had something to do with the fact that I was working in a space about 6" square with stuff piling up around me, but, at approx. 5.45pm the last of the samples was finished - Phew!!    They're now all safe in a box, in the hands of the Royal Mail, on their way to Kay - I hope she likes them.

Here's a few little teasers ...........

oooh .... shiny!

not just Christmas ......

and .......  not just cards

Don't forget, Kay is back on Create and Craft on Saturday 11th August.  It's a 2 hour show and I think it's 11 till 1.00pm. It's Christmas again this time, with more stock of the stamps that sold out in July and, there's some lovely new designs to tempt you all into the festive spirit.

While I've been busy making these samples, Stephen's parents have been visiting us here on the island.  I haven't seen that much of them, but we did manage a couple of afternoons out.  We took the steam railway down to Port Erin - something Stephen and I have been meaning to do since we got here.  It was sooo cute, I don't think the train has changed much since it was built.

in the station at Douglas

It takes about an hour to do the 15 mile journey, from the old Victorian Station in Douglas through the Manx countryside, down to Port Erin and it is just like going back in time.  It's a really nice way to travel, if you're not in rush that is.

Sunday we went in the opposite direction, to the most northern part of the island - the Point of Ayre.  Apparently, it's the closest point on the Isle of Man to the British mainland, 16 miles south of Burrow Head in Scotland (according to Wikki).
There's not a lot up there except a couple of lighthouses, and a lot of stones.

The name Ayre comes form the Norse word Eyrr, which means gravel bank.  Because of the strong off-shore currents up there, there's an ever changing build up of shingle, which literally means that the beach changes shape with each tide.
The last time Stephen and I were in this neck of the woods, it was very windy and the waves weren't half crashing on the beach. Sunday was a little calmer.

this is know as the 'winkie', the smaller of the two lighthouses

And, just in case you lose all sense of direction ........

........ there's something to put you on the right track.

Finally, my husband knows how to treat a girl, dinner and a show.  We went to the opening night of 'Evita' at the Gaiety Theatre in Douglas.

It's only a small theatre but it was packed!  We had a box (oooh!), never done that before.  I loved it,  will certainly be doing that again.
I really enjoyed the show, I'd never seen it before, not even the film.  'Eva' was brilliant and so was the guy that played 'Che'.  We might even consider going again before it closes.

Well, that's me up to date I think.  Off now to catch up with some blog challenges.  I'll be back later in the week to share.

Ooh, just one more picture for you ....... a rare photo of my CLEAN desk.  Taken Tuesday night after I'd had a good clean and tidy and put everything away.

This didn't last long, unfortunately.  I'm already back to stuff everywhere.  Not even 24 hours.  Ah well, it's more fun when it's messy!

See you all later. Enjoy your evening.

Thanks for looking

Linda

x

Time for a Twinchie

It's weekend!!!
Hi everyone, just having a quick break from all the madness that's going at the moment.  Busy is not the word.  I am on schedule though, I think, sort of, which is a bonus.  Just hope the old mojo holds out for a couple more days.  I'll let you all have a sneaky peek when I've finished.

I have managed to squeeze in an entry for the latest Show us Your Twinchie Challenge
Challenge #3 is ..........  BRIGHT COLOURS.  The design team have done a fantastic job on theirs, you may need to put on some shades to view, they're certainly bright!
Here's mine  ..........

I used the Summer Collection Distress inks, a Magenta rubber stamp and Copics to colour the flowers.  I stamped the flowers twice and layered them up just to add a little dimension.  Added a little bit of bling and some doodling - twinchie done! 

Sorry it's a bit short and sweet.  Well, I said it was a 'quick' break.  Better put my Christmas hat back on and find the festive spirit again - no, not the alcoholic type, not yet anyway!  However, I may need a small G&T at the end of all this lot though! (Hic!)
Have a lovely weekend, hope the sun shines for you.  I'll see you all again next week.
Bye for now

Linda

x

PS  While I'm here, there's a couple of new pages in my Altered Art Dictionary ........

support

bouquet

Thanks for looking!

Sshh ......... it's sneaky peek time.

Hi everybody,
Just finished one batch of Design Team samples so I thought I'd take a break, sit down with a coffee and share with you some of what I've been up to.

It's been pretty hectic the last couple of days.  Lauren and Alex flew back to the UK first thing on Tuesday and I've been in the old craft room ever since!  It's very quiet in here now though ......  Alex likes Grandma's 'play' room.
He quite enjoyed himself with some of my punches .....

....... and my Distress inks .......

....... we made flowers to take back to his other Grandma.  He's quite the little crafter!

Now that I've managed to get back to my desk, it's all systems go.  I've a few deadlines to meet in the next couple of weeks so it's definitely a case of ....

 KEEP CALM 

and 

KEEP CRAFTING!  

There's stuff everywhere again, the place is covered in glitter, gems and gilding flakes - yes, you've probably guessed, it's Christmas again. 

I'm busy doing samples and I'm trying to stay up todate with Challenges too,  the 'to do' list just keeps getting longer.  If I didn't have my list nothing would get done!

I love it all really, I do work better under pressure! Plus of course I have all these fabulous products to play with - what's not to love!

I've been busy with some Stamp Addicts designs.  The girls are back on Create and Craft (Sky Channel 671/Freeview 36/Freesat 813) on August 9th.
Here's just a little tease of what I've parcelled up and sent to Sarah .........

Most definitely Christmas, very festive!  Don't forget, it's August 9th on Create and Craft. Sorry, but I'm not sure of the time.

Well, I'd better get back behind the desk and swap my laptop for rubber stamps and ink - tough job I know.
It's Indigo Blu this afternoon, so more gilding flakes.  I think I might just have a bit of a tidy up though before I start again - can't actually see my desks at the moment.  You have to look pretty closely to see the floor even - that's also covered in stuff.  Never mind, at least I know where everything is.

Thanks for stopping by.  Enjoy the rest of your afternoon.
Happy Crafting!

Linda

x

PS  Ooh, forgot to mention I did my first Blog post for Indigo Blu yesterday.  If you fancy taking a look here's the link.  Let me know what you think.

(drumroll please) ...........My 100th post!!

Good morning eveyone,

Yes, that's right. this is my 100th post - Wow!  It only seems like yesterday that I started this little record of what goes on in my crafting life.  It's been great fun and I've 'met' some fabulous new people and made lots of new, very talented  blogging friends.  I'm really glad that you're all along for the journey. 
So, here's to the next 100 posts!

I really should be busy at my workdesk, lots of Design Team samples to do.  But, I'm slowly disappearing under Christmas stuff and I'm covered in glitter again, so I thought I'd  take a sneaky break and quickly share with you this weeks Less is More challenge entry.

It's Week 78 and we have a lovely SKETCH to follow .....

This is a really pretty, simple sketch.  A horizontal band across the upper part of the card and a sentiment.  This is my take on it ......

(Sorry about the photo quality, the lighting is rubbish this morning).
I embossed some lines directly into my card blank first leaving a nice space for my main design.  I used a piece of pretty inked card from my stash to stamp onto.  Not sure if you can see the effect clearly in the picture, but it's kind of a mother of pearl look.
I used one of the SU stamps from the Vintage Vogue set (one of my favourites) to add a little bit of detail to the edges, and the butterfly is last months free stamp with Craft Stamper Magazine, designed by Indigo Blu.
I added a fancy punched border underneath the embossed lines, along with another strip of the background card, and a tiny SU sentiment from the Petite Pairs set.  This is a lovely sentiment set, you get lovely little sayings for the front of your card along with a matching one that can go in the inside .......

I've spritzed the inside of my card through a mask, with the same Distress inks that were used for the piece of background card (Spun Sugar, Worn Lipstick and Peeled Paint).  Added the little floral stamp to tie in with the design on the front, and used another sentiment stamp.  See what I mean about there being matching pairs.  There's a lovely mix of stamps, that will cover loads of occasions, so it's a great value for money set.

Speaking of Craft Stamper, this months free stamp is designed by none other than LIM's very own Chrissie.  It's a gorgeous little floral spray, so cute. Grab yourself a copy of this months magazine, you won't be disappointed.  I can't wait to start playing with mine, but I have to finish all my samples first.

And on that note, I think I'd better be off.  Hope you like the card.  Thank you so much for popping by.  I'll be back later in the week  with some sneaky peeks of what's keeping me so busy.

Bye for now.  Have a lovely day.

Linda

x

PS  Forgot to mention ......  I'm going to be doing posts on the Indigo Blu Blog, hopefully starting sometime this week, if I have a spare minute.  Check it out here for inspiration and fabulous creations, details of events etc.,  and to see what the rest of the Design Team are getting up to.  It's a great read.