Wednesday 20 December 2017

Wooden Blocks For Christmas

Hello Crafty Friends

Are you all set for Christmas?  Not much left to do here, so it's time to catch up with a bit of blogging!


A few weeks ago I was lucky enough to attend a workshop with Jo Firth-Young at The Craft Studio where we decorated blocks of wood!  I kid you not! 


Jo brought along different sizes of rough sawn wooden blocks that had been sanded on the surfaces that we were to paint.

Firstly we painted them with a wash of PaperArtsy Fresco Finish paints and then had a lovely painty day stamping and decorating to our hearts content.


As I am such a slowcoach with my crafting - I wander off into my own little world of daydreams -  it is quite lovely there, I had to finish my blocks at home.  As I didn't have enough JOFY Christmas images available I am afraid a few rogue snowmen have crept on to my finished blocks. Sorry Jo!


Here are they are photographed from various angles.
























If you would like to check out how the professionals do it then pop over and have a look at Jo's blog.


Hope this finds you well and feeling festive!

Thanks for visiting me today
Bye for now
x Anne




































Thursday 23 November 2017

Jump For Joy



Good Evening!


A fairly quick card from me today using a much more recent stamp set from Visible Image.




I have die cut a square using one of Sue Wilson's pierced dies and then blended 3 colours through a stencil using the Kaleidacolor ink pad shown below.






The image is stamped in Versafine Onyx black and embossed with clear powder.  The sentiment has been stamped and then snipped into sections and arranged across the card.  To finish I have mounted it on to black card and then on to my base card.  Job done!


Thank you for taking the time to visit me today. Your company and comments are very much appreciated.



Bye for now
x Anne


Tuesday 7 November 2017

Butterflies

Good Evening!

I am back today using a stamp set that I have had in my stash for some considerable time but this is the first time I have used it.


To create the card I have cut a shaped base card using a die from Sue Wilson's Noble Collection and then used the same die to cut a piece of backing paper to completely cover the front of the card.  

On a piece of white card that has been die cut using a smaller die from the same set, I have stamped the girl using Memento ink and coloured the hair and skin with a mixture of alcohol markers and Spectrum Noir pencils.


As the dress on the little girl is perfect for paper piecing, I have used some fairly plain paper do this, but next time I would like to try some pretty floral papers as I think they would work well with the summery image of this stamp set.


I then randomly stamped the butterflies on the white card and coloured them to give a base colour.  I repeated the stamping on the co-ordinating papers and fussy cut them and adhered them to those already stamped and coloured, lifting the wings to give a little dimension to the project.


To finish the card, I have added the sentiment from this Katie Kisses stamp set which I bought from Visible Image quite a few years ago.  So many stamps in my stash, so little time to use them all!


Thank you for taking the time to visit me today. Your company and comments are very much appreciated.




Bye for now
x Anne

Sunday 8 October 2017

100 Years Old And Counting


I made this card for my best friend's Mum who recently celebrated her 100th birthday. 




 


The main consideration when planning the card was the fact that it was for a lady who is partially sighted.

It needed a bold colour, contrast and lots of texture. The elements needed to be well spaced so that by touch she could identify the flowers and patterns.  Apparently she loved it - so visually it may not be the best card I have ever made but I am so happy that it ticked the right boxes for this lovely lady.


Thank you for visiting me today, your company and comments are very much appreciated.


Bye for now
x Anne



Sunday 1 October 2017

Joy To The World



Hello and thank you for taking the time to visit my blog today.


I made this card for the Claritystamp challenge to celebrate 'All Things Jayne Nestorenko'.






The main image is Jayne's Carol Singers which I have coloured with alcohol markers and then added some depth and shadow using pencils. 


The frame and banner stamp is called Jayne's Postcard Framer and comes with ready cut masking sheets which makes the stamping process so much easier!

To complete the card I have die cut some pearl cardstock to frame the project and also added a few touches of sparkle using a clear glitter pen.


I haven't been around much lately so I apologise for not visiting your blogs but I will be playing catch up over the next few days and very much look forward to seeing what I have missed!

Bye for now
x Anne
 


 

Wednesday 13 September 2017

Shrink Plastic Rules!


Good Evening,

Autumn is well and truly with us and as if we needed a reminder, last night the strong winds rattled roof tiles and howled down our chimney! Luckily, no damage done to our little abode and pleased to report that the garden fence is still standing!


So after a wild and windy, sleepless night, today I am turning my thoughts back to Summer and sharing a card I made for a release of some of Leonie's stamp sets.







Lots of shrink plastic here!  The stamp set used is Fly Free and from this set I have stamped the dragonfly three times and the flower head five times - all on clear shrink plastic.  I have coloured them with alcohol pens, cut them out and then heated to shrink.  When they had cooled I added glitter to the wings of the dragonfly. 

The background has been created with Distress Inks, a blending tool and some masking to create hills and sky. The sentiment is from the same stamp set.


Once I had adhered my shrink plastic pieces to the background, in order to create stems for the flowers, I masked and stamped areas of the frames from the Banners and Frames stamp set and for a really quirky finish the grass is actually the pigtails of the rag doll from the stamp set of the same name! Why did I do that?  Just for fun and because I can!
 

I hope this finds you safe and well,
 

Bye for now
x Anne

Tuesday 5 September 2017

Bits From My Stash


Hi Folks,

After the rush of blood to my head having posted twice in one week, I'd like to report that I am now fully recovered and back to my usual bad ways. Oops - more than two weeks have slipped by but I'm back again at last and I will try to get round to visiting your blogs very soon!


My card today is made using a stamp from my stash that I think is ideal for paper piecing.  I have used this technique for the skirt and blouse on the stamped image and have coloured the rest using alcohol markers and a gold metallic pen on the girl's boots - although that doesn't show up very well in the picture. 




The embossing folder used in the background is one of my favourites. It's an A4 folder called Heart Lattice EF-009 from Creative Expressions, but I have had it for ages so I'm not sure if it is still available.  I do like the bigger format folders for embossing as I find it much easier to cut down to suit the size of the card I want to make.  

The sentiment is a Peel Off I found in my bits box - so that has obviously been around for quite a while too!


To finish the card I have mat and layered the image and sentiment onto some brown cardstock to bring out some of the colour used on the image.


Thank you for visiting me today your company and comments are very much appreciated.
 


Bye for now
x Anne

 

Monday 21 August 2017

My Notes


Hi Folks

It is almost unheard of for me to post twice within a week but I wanted to share one of my projects to brighten up a new notebook that I had just started to use. 



I have used a piece of Neenah Desert Storm cardstock cut to the size of my notebook and adhered to the original cover.  I have then cut a couple of stitched hills using an unbranded die and blended around the edges with Distress Ink, Gathered Twigs and added these to the bottom section of the cover.  The Stamps are from the lovely Lisa Horton who designs some of my favourite images - ever!  Most of the stamps are from the Gnome Spring Chicken set but the wee bit of foliage in the top corner is from the Mushroom Village Set.


I have coloured the images with alcohol markers and then added a bit of depth and shading with Spectrum Noir pencils.

Finally I cut the letters for the word Notes from an alphabet set of dies from my stash.

Thank you for visiting me today,  your company and comments are very much appreciated.

Bye for now
x Anne
 

Wednesday 16 August 2017

Imagination


Back at last!

Apologies for my absence but I have hardly been around for the past few weeks - we have been gadding around the country looking at houses, trying to find our forever home.  I would really like to have a proper craft room (wouldn't we all!) and hubby would like enough space to have a decent woodworking workshop - nothing grand, just enough space for his workbench and tools with power and light so he can have a bit of warmth in there during the winter months and when it gets really cold he can crank up the heat and still feel his fingers when he is working - a bit dodgy using chisels when you can't!

Oh yes, the rest of the house is important too but please note that we have our priorities right!  After all, retirement should be the time to pursue our hobbies. 


Well now, that is my excuse for not blogging for an absolute age!!


Back to the crafting, my offering for today is a card I made a few weeks ago for one of Leonie's shows on Hochanda.  






It is a bit of pure fantasy being my take on the Loch Ness monster!  This certainly isn't a masterpiece but created just for fun and to show how you can take elements from your craft stash and use them in a slightly different way with a bit of imagination and quite a bit of masking!  The head of Nessie is the seahorse stamp which I have masked so that it appears above the waves and the humps for the back and tail are the crescent shape from the Bohemian Doodles set, masked in a similar way.

Details of stamp sets, masks and stencils I have used can be found by clicking on the following links:


The Deep Blue, Bohemian Doodles and Imagine.

Hopefully I will be back more frequently - until the next lot of houses come on the market and we are off again!

Thanks for visiting me today - your company and comments are very much appreciated.

Bye for now
x Anne



Friday 21 July 2017

Santa Claus

  

Today I bring you Santa Claus in one of his earlier colour schemes and a chance for me to play with some of my green pens!




With a mind to batch making my Christmas cards I have kept this very simple. The stamp I have used is from Hobby Art and I have stamped this directly on to an A6 card blank.  Lots of glitter, a sentiment and a blended blue background with some faint hues of pink to complete the card.


I think I had better return to the more traditional red when I get round to making the rest of my cards as I don't think the children in the family will appreciate Santa dressed in green!


Thank you for visting me today,
 


Bye for now
x Anne
 

Thursday 13 July 2017

Robins from Leonie

Good Morning,

The card I am sharing with you today is made with products that will be appearing on Leonie's shows today on Hochanda TV.  Live shows are at 8am 12pm and 4pm.  




I have used Kraft card as the basis for this card and also for the fussy cut images. These have been coloured using Crafter's Companion Spectrum Noir alcohol markers and then further detail added with Spectrum Noir pencils.  The holly leaves, berries and robins are from the Perch rubber stamp set and the stamped sentiment is from the Christmas Borders photopolymer set.  To add a bit of shine I have foiled some areas using P­­ebeo Mirror Effect Leaves.

There will be lots more samples and inspiration from my teamies on the shows, so I do hope you will have time to watch them either live or via the Hochanda website using Rewind.

I will be back shortly with another sample using more of these lovely products.

Bye for now
x Anne

Sunday 2 July 2017

Hummingbird


Good Afternoon,

I hope this finds you well and enjoying your Sunday.  

This will be brief as I am running late - now there's a surprise!

I wasn't sure if I should share this card with you as it hasn't turned out quite as I had planned - but I didn't think it was quite bad enough for the bin. Anyway, I will share it with you and then you can see how not to do it!

It is made using one of the dies from Sue Wilson's beautiful stained glass range and if you want to see how the professionals do it then check out Sue's blog.




 
Why don't I like this card?  The colours I have used are too bold and varied for my taste and the glitter is too chunky, so I haven't achieved a very crisp finish. I will try again with more subtle colours and maybe use a finer grade glitter such as the polished silk glitter from Creative Expressions. 

I will be back soon with something completely different!

Thank you for visiting me today.

Bye for now
x Anne 
 

Thursday 22 June 2017

Lots of Love


Good Morning,


Today I would like to share another of the samples I made for Leonie's TV shows last week.




I started with an A5 card base and worked out my sizes from there. I cut a piece of black card and arranged the heart dies to create a series of apertures and I kept the 3 die cut hearts to use later.




I ran each of the die cut hearts through my cutting machine with an embossing mat instead of the cutting plate having first overlaid each piece with the Bark Texture die. 



Using a sentiment stamp from the Hey There Dreamer set and a swirl from the GimmeTexture set I have stamped with Versamark ink on the black card and then carefully sprinkled with lines of gold and silver embossing powder, shaken off the excess then heated.

The next bit doesn't show up very well in the photo but I have mat and layered the black aperture piece on to a copper coloured mirri card to fit the A5 card base leaving a narrow border and then I have inset the die cut hearts using foam pads so that they are slightly raised. 


The texture on the hearts has been emphasised by adding some Pebeo gold and silver gilding wax and the finishing touch was a small die cut heart at the end of the swirl and if you look really closely - you may need to enlarge the picture for this, I have added a couple of tiny beads at each end of the swirl.


I hope you like this one and if you can spare a moment I would be very pleased if you will leave a comment so that I know I'm not alone!

Thank you for visiting me today,


Bye for now
x Anne



Thursday 15 June 2017

Have Fun with Leonie


Good Morning,

Today Leonie has  three live shows on Hochanda TV with some of her lovely stamps, dies and stencils. Show times are 8 am, 11 am and 3 pm, so catch them if you can!

Here is one of the samples I made using the 'Fun' mask and stencil.






Firstly I debossed the word on to a piece of white card by running the mask and card through my embossing machine.

I then carefully positioned the matching stencil over the debossed word and spread sparkle glitter paste through the stencil.

To finish I used a die cut frame from my stash and then added two fussy cut balloons from the Flower Burst stamp set.

I hope you like it and are able to check out the fab products on the shows today and if you have time please pop over to my teamies blogs as I am sure they will be showing some of their samples too.


That's about it from me, I will be back soon to share another of my makes from this range as they really are a joy to use.

Bye for now
x Anne

Monday 5 June 2017

Harbour Scene


Hello Folks,


Before I begin my usual ramblings I would like to welcome my most recent followers Val and Helen and also to thank them for their kind comments.  If you have time to pop over to visit their blogs I am sure you will enjoy their designs.

This week I have decided to stick with the nautical theme and would like to share a card made using the Hobby Art Harbour Scene stamp.




Although this is a card I have made, it is in fact one of the projects from Hobby Art's Monthly Specials dating back to 2016.  I love the inspiration from their gallery and these tutorials are always a great place to learn.

Hope you like this one and if you care to leave a comment it would be very much appreciated.

Bye for now
Anne
x

Thursday 25 May 2017

A Nautical Theme


Hi Folks

Today I would like to share a nautical themed card using a JOFY stamp from PaperArtsy for the main feature.  In case you would like to get your hands on this stamp and it is certainly one of my favourites, it is JOFY Mini 17.



For the background I have used a Creative Expressions pinpoint embossing folder called Ocean Waves and to finish I have die cut the ship's wheel from Sue Wilson's Nautical Accessories CED21004.  I cut this from white card, coloured it with a brown alcohol marker and when it was completely dry I put a good thick coat of Glossy Accents on it.  Sadly the gloss is completely lost in this picture but it did look like polished mahogany on the real thing - honest!

Well that is my little offering for today - I hope this finds you fit and well and enjoying the sunshine.

Bye for now
Anne
x

Monday 15 May 2017

A Mixed Bunch



Hello Folks,

Days have slipped by and the days have run into weeks since I last posted a card to my Blog.

I could give a whole bunch of excuses - but I won't!  I have just been so busy, which is great because it means I am never bored.  In fact I can't ever imagine being bored, so much to do, so little time!

Today, at last, the sun is shining here in Bedfordshire and there is actually a bit of warmth to the sunshine without the wind that often blows from the Downs and cools this little village! 

So to celebrate the late arrival of Spring here are a few flowers using a Woodware stamp called Mixed Bunch (JGS473) coloured with Spectrum Noir Aqua Markers.






Thanks for visiting me today.  I will be back soon with another card - or at least that is my intention!

Bye for now
Anne
x

Wednesday 19 April 2017

Typography With a Twist


Good Morning Folks,

Today on Hochanda Leonie has two more shows at 10 am and 5 pm featuring her range of Typography products with the addition of items from Sara's Signature Collection, Shabby Chic.

There was an earlier show at 7 am that can still be viewed using the rewind function on the Hochanda website.

My share with you today is a couple of the samples I made using a whole bunch of products featuring on the shows.

The first is an 8" x 8" canvas using dies, the sun embossing folder and the Funky Tree stamp. 



The second is a card, again using the Funky Tree stamp set plus one of the stamps from the Banners and Frames set.  I have also sneaked in some colouring using the Spectrum Noir metallic pencils.




Hope you are able to watch the shows and some great demos from Leonie.

Thank you for visiting me today.

Bye for now
Anne
xx

 

Wednesday 12 April 2017

Make a Wish



Shame on me, nearly two weeks have slipped by and nothing posted!!

I haven't been idle - really I haven't.


As my blogging chum Barb from, Farawaycrafts mentioned, we both went to a very busy Dabble Day at Loobi crafts a week or so ago.  It was a lovely surprise to meet up with her as I didn't know that she would be there.  It was a chance to catch up, eat cake and of course to craft.


This Sunday I was at Ally Pally (Alexandra Palace) in London for one of my favourite craft shows.  So many lovely goodies to buy and lots of opportunities to meet up with friends old and new. 


In between times I have been busy making DT samples and generally losing track of time!


So for today, I will show you a card I made for the last DT call using Leonie's Make A Wish stamp set, sparkle pens and a die from her Entwined Collection.






Thank you for visiting me today,

Bye for now
Anne
x





Saturday 1 April 2017

Birthday Boy


Hello Folks, 

I hope this post finds you all fit and well.

As always I have been a busy bee and loving every moment of this retirement lark!

A couple of weeks ago it was my hubby's birthday and as I was so busy with other cards and projects, I had left his card to the last minute.  Now, it wasn't that he was way down the queue in my list of priorities but I had this card in mind for him and I knew it wasn't going to take me long.  He is a keen photographer and a great fan of Nikon cameras and lenses so when I saw this stamp from Visible Image, I knew it would make the perfect birthday card for him.




One of the things I particularly like about this stamp set is the great effect of texture on the body of the camera. It is worthwhile clicking on the image for a close up view as I think Visible Image have done such a great job manufacturing this stamp!

The image and sentiment were simply stamped in Onyx Black Versafine ink and heated embossed with clear powder then mat and layered and job done!  Hubby was dead chuffed with it and loved the take on the camera brand!  

And to show you the sort of thing he gets up to when he is out and about on one of his photographic jaunts, he has given me permission to share one of his photo images with you. 






If you would like to see more of his work there is quite a range of subjects on his flickr page. Obviously I am biased but I think it is worth a look!

Thank you for visiting me today

Bye for now
Anne
x

Thursday 23 March 2017

Embossing Folder Art


Today on Hochanda there is a One Day Special of Leonie's products that are selling like hot cakes!

This is one of the samples I made using the Growing Love embossing folder and some of the sparkle pens.






Using white card, I have run the folder Growing Love through my die cutting machine twice. 


I have then cut some of the hearts from the second piece of card and coloured them with the sparkle pens.  These have been decoupaged over the matching hearts on the first piece of embossed card and I have added a few black highlights with a fineliner pen.

I have finished the card by mat and layering and added a sentiment using one of the stamps from the same range of products called Make a Wish .


I really love this range of products and I hope you like them too!


Thank you for visiting me today

Bye for now,

Anne
x

Friday 17 March 2017

Banners and Frames



Good Evening Folks,


I would like to begin today by welcoming my latest follower Sue. When you have time perhaps you would like to pop over to her Blog and check out her beautiful card designs.  

The project I am sharing with you today is one of the samples I made for Leonie's most recent release of products, Typography.






I have used mainly the stamps from the Banners and Frames set.  Stamped in black, with the addition of a bit of doodling and some red highlights using fineliner pens.  The Happy Birthday and buttons in the corners are from the Rag Doll set and finally I added some swirls using the antennae from the dragonfly in the Fly Free set by masking the main part of the image. 


To complete the card I have mat and layered with red and black card to continue the colour theme.


Thank you for visiting my blog today,


Bye for now
Anne
x

Friday 10 March 2017

A Morning of Crafting with Loobi

Hello Folks,

Today I am sharing the cards we made at our monthly craft class at Loobi Crafts, Craft Studio.

As usual it was a fun morning with Lisa teaching and the rest of the group enjoying a good natter while playing with new products.

Now, I must admit to being first and foremost a stamper, so card kits and toppers aren't usually very high up on my list of 'things to buy' but I did enjoy making these cards.  Yes, and maybe - just maybe, I bought a couple of packs to take home!

The first picture doesn't show clearly how this card is constructed. We cut out a centre panel horizontally from the front of the card and discarded that part for a future project.  The remaining top section and the loose bottom strip of card were covered with backing paper and then fixed in place by carefully aligning the topper to form a bridge between the two pieces of card.  

The flower to the right of the topper is actually on the inside of the card and there is also a sentiment stamped inside the card, behind the front panel but stupid here forgot to take a photo of it!



The second card is made with strips of patterned paper adhered to a Kraft card base and the topper decoupaged and layered on top.  A stamped sentiment has been added to finish.



And for our final card of the morning we did a bit of stamping and colouring on white card.  With the addition of some brown cardstock we mat and layered over four patterned paper panels.  The cute little fox stamp is from Stampendous.




That's it from me today,
Thank you for visiting.


Bye for now
Anne
xx


Friday 3 March 2017

Terrible Twins



My offering today is another sample using Leonie's latest release of products.

If you read my post yesterday you will know that the Funky Tree stamp set has become a bit of a favourite with me.  So, although the main image has been created using the Rag Doll stamps, I have managed to sneak in the tree as well!


I have started with a fairly large piece of white stamping card and stamped the trees and lots of the foliage circles in Versamark ink.  When this was dry, I used a mixture of ink dusting brushes and cut and dry blending foam to colour the card in a range of blue Distress Inks with just a hint of yellow across the centre.  Some of the colour has been lifted from the trees using a damp paint brush and blotted with paper towel.  I have tried not to overdo the colour lifting as I wanted to keep it subtle so that it remained in the background.


The Rag Doll has been stamped twice on scraps of smooth watercolour card, coloured with watercolour pens, fussy cut and then mounted on to the background.

Finally, the words have been die cut using the Typography Alphabet dies which are part of this new release from Leonie.






I hope you like this range of products as much as I do - it has been great fun working with them.

That's about it from me today, thank you for visiting.

Bye for now
Anne
xx

Thursday 2 March 2017

Funky Tree



Tonight is the launch of Leonie's exciting new range of products on HOCHANDA.  The first live show was at 8 pm and there will be lots more tomorrow at 9 am, 12 Noon, 4 pm and the Final Call at 7 pm.

If you miss any of the live broadcasts you can catch up by going to the website and use the Rewind option to see Leonie's demonstrations.

This collection of Dies, Embossing Folders and Stamps have been really fun to work with and I had to stop myself from using the Funky Tree stamp as it is truly addictive!


The card I am sharing with you tonight is one of my DT Samples using - yes, you have a guessed it - the Funky Tree stamp!  I have also thrown in a bit of die cutting using letters from the Typography alphabet.


I have started by creating two panels, mat and layered onto green and black cardstock.  On one of the white panels I have stamped the entire tree in black Versafine and heat embossed with clear powder.  For the second panel I have masked part of the tree, stamped the overhanging 'foliage' and once again embossed with clear powder.  The colouring has been done with alcohol markers and glossy accents added to the foliage and tree trunk.


To complete the card I have stamped the word 'Life' from the stamp set and die cut letters to make the words 'Tree of' from the Typography alphabet.

I was in a bit of a dilemma as to which photo to post as one shows the rich colours I have used but doesn't show the glossy accents and the other is all shine but the colour is bleached out.  So, here you go.......have one of each! 










If you get chance, please check out some of the fabulous samples on the rest of the design team blogs.
 




I will be back tomorrow with another sample from this range.  I hope you can join me.

Thanks for visiting me today.
Bye for now
Anne
xx