All Heart.....

This week at the Sunday Stampers Challenge, the lovely Hels has challenged us to incorporate HEARTS into our art work.  This gave me the chance to test out a stamp I bought last year at the craft show in October.......sadly I never even took it out of the packet until today!!  Anyhoo a tag is my substrate & my faithful distress inks, some Tim Holtz tissue tape & chit chat stickers, a bit of doodling and there you have it!!  I hope you like it as I was really quite happy with it myself and thoroughly enjoyed playing.........so good to be crafting again.

Have a lovely weekend everyone, take care & as always....Happy Crafting!!!

Hugs
Ann xx

Journal heART 15

Hello friends!!!

I decided to start the year the way I mean to go on, and one of the things top of my list this year is to complete an Art Journal.  With that in mind I decided the the best way forward would be to join a group of like minded people from whom I can learn & share techniques & promps with, thus my title Journal heART 2015, a group set up by the very talented Rae Dalal.

Above is my first double page spread in said journal using prompts from Rae which were favourite colour combo's and mine are blues & greens.  I created the backgrounds by splodging  a few distress paints onto my craft mat then spritzing water & dragging my pages through a few times (drying in between) to get the effect I was happy with.  I then added interest with a few stencil, some stamping & a small bit of doodling.  Hope you like it??

Hope to get some feedback from your comments......as always, Take care and
Happy Crafting!!!

Hugs

Ann xxx

Belated Happy New Year my friends!!!!

It's been such a long time since I last blogged and there's tons of reasons why, last year I moved house, had another knee operation, my fur baby(now 14yrs old) is seriously ill amongst many other hectic goings on.  So It's a New Year - onwards & upwards friends..........and back to some serious crafting.

Take Care & as always I wish you all Happy Crafting.
Hugs

Ann xxx

Hello - I'm back ......

Where have I been? No where really, but I have moved house....hence my abscense.  I am just getting my crafty goodies organized, and hoping to get back crafting & blogging again!!
I am looking forward to catching up with all your blogs & challenges too.  Take care my friends & Happy Crafting!!

Ann xx

Whats On Your Work desk? Wednesday 231

Welcome Julia, and fellow WOYWW'ers

I hope you've all had a productive and crafty week, doesn't time fly when you're enjoying yourself???  I can't believe it's that time of the week again when we get to snoop around everyone's craft space.  If you're not too sure what I'm blabbing about, then drop into Julia's blog Stamping Ground
where all will become clear!!

So can you guess what I've been doing today?? Die cutting for Christmas cards......ooops I said the 'C' word!!! but it really isn't that long away and I've not made one card yet.....anyhoo, here's another close up -enjoy your travels around the world snooping, I know I will!!!

Thanks for dropping in, have a lovely week. See you on my travels :D
Take care and as always......

Happy Crafting

Ann xx

Spooktacular Times..........

I'd like to share this two page layout I made for my Journal I started in Finnabairs' class when she visited Glasgow earlier this year.  My son had to dress up for work (he works in a cocktail bar/night club) and I was really impressed with his simple but effective outfit, his face paint was really amazing!!!  The opposite page I thought I'd just make good use of my Tim Holtz dies, mask & scrapbook paper,and the ickle spider is a Wendy Vecchi stamp!!!  I used pan pastels to create the background.  Hope you approve??!!!

I thought I would enter my pages into two challenges this week too.......
Artful Times has the theme Spooktacular and That Craft Place has the theme Halloween.....so I think I've got them both covered!!!

Thanks for dropping in and I hope you have a Crafty week, take care and as always...

Happy Crafting

Ann xx

Just hanging Around.......

Hello Crafty friends, Hope all is good in your crafty corner of the world??
This week over at Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge is -  Anything Goes,
so in that spirit I thought I'd share a little hanging thingy I made from a re-cycled A4 Prima paper pad back cover.

Above is the top half of my project.  I primed the card with gesso, then added some book pages here & there.  Then I created my background using a few colours of distress inks (peacock feathers, salty ocean, pickled raspberry, squeezed lemonade & shabby shutters).  Next I cut out some images & sayings from Finnabairs' paper pad, placed them down and started to add texture by creating layers with stencils, buttons, washers, die cuts & other bits n bobs.  I didn't intend this to be a hanging thingy, but I wasn't pleased with a wee section so I cut it out, then joined the two halves together with jump rings!!  For good measure I added some random stamping too. oh and a final spritz with Luminarte primary colours mica.

Below is the bottom half........hope you like it?

Thanks for dropping in.....have a lovely weekend.

Happy Crafting

Ann xx

What's on Your work desk? Wednesday 230

Good Afternoon Julia & fellow Crafters,

I hope you're all well, I'm looking forward to another week of snooping around everyone's desk......If you're new to this WOYWW, then do drop by Julia's blog Stamping Ground to get all the deets, basically it's crafters of all sorts from all around the world sharing their work space, it's great fun to see what everyone else is working on and what goodies they have on show!!!

As you can see from my photo above I have a very messy & busy desk!!!  On the left hand side are some lovely Tim Holtz stamps I bought at the weekend for the bargain price of £7-50p each, I was over the moon as I've had my eye on them for some time but couldn't quite afford them.........Bargain = Happy Dance ;-)

Here's a closer shot of my goodies.........Well that's all for this week folks.  I'm looking forward to my travels around the world, see you at your place soon!!!  Take Care and as always.....

Happy Crafting

Ann x

What's on your Work desk Wednesday 229

Welcome Julia & fellow WOYWW'ers!!!!.........I just can't believe it's that time again and my 2nd week of taking part too.  I have quite a few bits n bobs on 

my desk, nothing completed of course!!  My distress paints are still on the desk as I'm still taking part in CC102, I'll be lucky to finish by the end of the year the rate I'm working at.

Above are another two tags from Day 1.  Thanks for dropping in and I hope to visit as many of you as I can.  Have a lovely week and lot's of crafting too!!

Take care & Happy Crafting!

Ann x

What's On your Work desk? Wednesday 228

Hello Julia & fellow crafters!!!  This is my first ever time posting on WOWW, I know, can you believe that?? So as you can see I've been playing with my distress paints, inks, TH stamps and some die cuts......Mainly because I'm taking part in CC102, which no doubt lots of you other crafters out there are too.  I've had a pretty hectic few weeks recently as my fur baby has been ill and we've had lots of vet visits, but thankfully he's on the mend again, he's 13yrs old this year, so he really is my baby & big part of our family!!

Above is Jake having a wee snooze in the afternoon.  Well I look forward to visiting as many blogs as I can & hope you will enjoy your visit here too!!
Thanks for dropping by - Take care & Happy Crafting!!!

Ann xx

Crafting with Finnabair.......

The amazingly talented Finnabair recently taught some workshops in Damselfly Crafts shop in the west end of Glasgow and I was lucky enough to attend the Sunday class which was all about creating your own personal journal using Finns range of materials from Prima.  In the above photo you can see my journals front cover, which as you can see is heavily embellished and spritzed with Luminarte primary colour pigment sprays.

Below is the back cover, created in the same way but with a lot less embellishments......

And now a closer view of the embellishments ....

Finn is an amazing tutor, if you ever get a chance to attend one of her workshops, believe me you won't regret it!!!
The lovely ladies over at Artful Times Challenge blog have set the challenge 'feeling distressed' , I'd like to enter my journal into the challenge.

Thanks for having a look.......hope you enjoyed your visit!! Take care and as always...Happy Crafting!!

Ann x

In the Pink

Oooh I have been a nawty blogger, haven't I? Appologies to all who dropped in looking for some new cards etc.  I have been busy crafting but 'real life' kinda took over & with lots going on I'm afraid my blog suffered. I'm back now and raring to go :)

My son was watching me whilst I was playing with my distress paints and inks, and commented that I always stick to blues & greens - they are my favourite colours!!!  So he challenged me to create a tag using Pink & Black, with a some amount of white..........

So this is what I came up with.  The stamp I've used is from Stampington Company, the background was created by swooshing pickled raspberry, black soot & picket fence distress paints onto my craft mat & spraying with water.

I also used masks from Prima & Dylusions ranges to break up the background of the tag, ribbon is from Creative Studios by Sam Poole. Hope you like my tag???  I've just discovered a lovely challenge blog called That Craft Place and their current theme for October is think PINK!!  So I thought I'd enter my tag, why not drop by their blog and see the gorgeous samples made by their design team.
I'm off to catch up with some more crafty goings on......Take care & Happy Crafting

Ann xx

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Many thanks 

Ann xx

Thanks to my lovely friend...........

Hello Bloggers/Friends,

I shared a topper with you I'd made whilst playing the other day and promised to share the finished card, so here it is......

My friend Jane bought the stamp for me last week as I admired it whilst we were at a Craft demo event in Glasgow......she sneeked up to the till & bought it whilst I was trying to decided which other stamps I could afford!! So I thought it only right to make a card using the stamp to say thank you!!!  I used an 8" x 8" card base, which I partly covered with the lovely pink bazzil card stock and then stamped the other side of the card with versamark and dusted over with Heirloom gold Perfect Pearls.  The main image was  stamped with memento black ink and coloured with promarkers and mounted onto a mat cut using the Timeless Rectangles Spellbinders die cut, and to finish it off I used a sizzix corner die and some black pearls.  Hope you like the card as much as Jane did - she was thrilled with it!!! 

I'd like to enter this into the Craft Room Challenge where the theme set by Nikki (former DT member) is stamp your own background.  Their fab sponsor is The Stamp Man who is offering a £10 voucher to spend online to the lucky winner!!!  Thanks for dropping in, hope to see you again soon.
I'd also like to enter this card into Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge, which is Favourite ink , (memento used when coloring with promarkers)

Take care & Happy Crafting!!

Ann x

Paris in the springtime........

Over at Out of a Hat creations, the design team have set the challenge of A Postcard from France........welcome to my interpretation of that!!  I used the new Distress Paints to create my background, I swished broken china, mustard seed, pickled raspberry & spun sugar onto my craft mat then spritzed with water & wooshed my cardstock through it, dried with heat tool, then added more water & heated again, repeating this process this I got the desired effect.  Using Clarity stamps & archival ink I stamped my images & edged my card with chipped sapphire distress ink.

I thought I'd also share this topper which I made today also.......still to be added to a card, it also has the Paris theme.  My friend Jane bought this stamp for me at the weekend, so I thought I'd use it to make a thank you card for her!!!

I will post a picture of the completed card later too........
Thanks for visiting - hope to see you again soon!!
Happy Crafting

Ann x

Artful Times.........

This is just a quick card I'd like to share with you today.  Over at Artful Times Challenge Blog, the theme this week is "Less Is More" and I hope my card fulfills just that!!  The stamps are from Damselfly Crafts and I've used vintage photo distress ink to stamp and water colour my image.  Hope you like it?
Thanks for visiting.......all feedback much appreciated.  Have a great day!

Happy Crafting

Ann xx

It's not unusual.........

.......For me to try something different!!!  Well as you probably realise I'm not really a scrapbooking type of gal, but I do like to think I can give most things a go, so I'd like to share a layout I made 'Finnabair' stylee.  It's one of the very few photo's I have of my mum, dad & son together before my dad became very ill. (my son is 26yrs old now).  My dad passed away in 1990.

 The paper I used for the Layout is from the 7 Dots Studio, Domestic Godess range. A variety of embellishments from Prima & Tim Holtz, some masking, spritzing using distress inks. Luminarte sprays and a few Prima stamps too.

Please let me know what you think of my attempt at scrapping......all feedback appreciate, good or bad!!  I'd like to enter this into The Allsorts Challenge 204 - Anything But a Card.

Have a great day!! ......Happy Crafting.

Ann xx

Turquoise Fusion..........

Over at Country View Challenges, this month Brenda & the design team have set the theme of butterflies...........as I have quite a few butterfly stamps, easy peasy, right???  Almost....but not quite!   At the weekend my Godmother gave me some money for my Birthday, so I bought my first few Distress Paints, which I've been itching to get my mitts on and today I got the time to have a wee play - oh my, they are just lush!!  I made my background using, broken china, chipped sapphire, spun sugar & pickled raspberry.  I squished them onto my craft sheet & spritzed them with water then just dragged my card through the paints until I got the desired effect.  Then the problem arose, I didn't want to stamp too much over them, as I loved the effect I'd achieved........sad I know.  So I opted for a saying & a butterfly embellishment instead, LOL!!!  Hope you like the finished result.

 The flourish stamp in the corner is from Wendy Vecchi Studio 490, Botanical Art set. Doily is a memory box die & sentiment stamp is from Inkylicious.  The butterfly is a bead from my stash.

I'd also like to enter this card in Sunday Stampers challenge, where HELS has set the theme BLUE.  Thanks for looking, hope you can drop by again soon!!

Happy Crafting

Ann xx