My Craft Room

Thought I'd share some pictures I took today of my craft room. I love looking at others' rooms so thought some people might like to see my one.....and also beacause I just gave it a quick tidy LOL
My tables are from Costco - cost under £20 each and are well worth it - they can fold away too.

My new purchases ready for art journalling came today. I couldn't get Sharpie poster paint pens in the UK so chose another brand. Sonja I'll let you know how I get on with them LOL.

Here is an art journal page I did in August (my one and only page LOL) I made it to give to Dyan Reaveley. All the ladies that attended Scrapattack in Macduff in September made a page about ourselves to give to her.
Click on it for a larger image and who knows you might read something about me that you didn't know......x

Art Journalling Challenge - January's pages

I have completed January's pages ready for starting the 2010 365 day art journalling challenge inspired by Kate at the Kathryn Wheel

I made my pages about A4 size and glued 8 sheets of newspaper together with a blue glue stick (totally covering each page). Once dry I painted them with a white undercoat so they were ready for each month.

For January I painted the background in shades of blue and printed with bubble wrap and antique white paint. Once dry I stamped snowflakes randomly over the top using silver ink and a Tim Holtz stamp. I repeated with a Tim Holtz script stamp with navy ink.





I went through a pile of patterned papers and cut 4cm squares and also punched 1 1/2" circles. I have sorted these into cool and warm colours and chose a selection of cool colours for January. To finish off I doodled a border and added American Crafts glitter letters.





And today is also WOYWW (what's on your workspace Wednesday) Although I enjoy looking at everyone else's photos on a Wednesday I didn't sign up as I knew I wouldn't be able to keep up. However since my camera was out I snapped a picture of it just now too. (LOL Can you see the pink pages ready for February LOL Also painted chipboard black ready for decorating the covers *polishes halo* LOL)

Art Journalling Challenge

I have decided to sign up for a 2010 365 day art journalling challenge over on Kathrynwheel's blog.
I hope that I manage to do it! Two friends Kirsti and Sonja are also taking part and they have already made a start on preparing January's pages - Girls give me a nudge every week to make sure that I have not fallen behind LOL

ETA: Flickr group is here

Blog Candy

Tracie Hudson has a beautiful Jolly by Golly minibook kit giveaway on her blog here



The giveaway closes at midnight on 30th December.

Craft Stamper have a blog giveaway here too.


It ends at midnight on 30th December

All About Us Minibook

Here is another project I made for the Tando Creative Blog as DT work. This time I used a small chipboard word "US." I decided to use it on the cover of a minibook about my two sons, which is full of photos taken of them in Orlando this year.

I kept it simple and painted the word with acylic paint and then stamped a grid pattern on top once dry.

I have filled the book with photos and included loads of journalling pages too. I have completed some however I plan on getting the boys to write things in it too. They have made a start but between writing Christmas cards for their classes and doing homework etc I can't expect them to do it all in one sitting. ( more to the point they probably won't do it all in one sitting!! LOL)

Papers and journalling cards used are from the Rough and Tough range by Fancy Pants.

Here are some of the pages:

As always thanks for looking.

xxx

Layout of my Mum and Dad's Wedding Day

I have made another layout for my mum's surprise album. This time it is of my parents' wedding day.






Papers used are My Minds Eye from the Andrea Victoria range. They are the perfect colour choice as they match the colour of the bridesmaids. I will be doing another LO with a colour photo of the wedding party. I really like the pattern of these papers too - perfect for a 1970 wedding photo!

I might still add stamped swirls to the Wedding Day mat - am still undecided but have left it alone for just now.

Thanks for looking.
x

Winter Wall Hanging

This week I made a vertical wall hanging using chipboard letters and snowflakes from Tando for the Tando Creative blog

First I painted each snowflake in baby blue acrylic paint, once dry I sponge painted antique white over the top fading at the edges. To give each snowflake an aged look I inked the edges roughly with creamy brown chalk ink. I then decorated each snowflake with glitter dust over glossy accents.

To make each letter I triple embossed them with Blonde Moments Sugar Cool UTEE. To make the swirl effect I stamped in to the hot UTEE before it set with swirl stamps, I also dropped some gems for extra sparkle.

I attached each snowflake with wire and pearl beads adding tulle and jingle bells to every second snowflake. Every other snowflake was decorated with Christmas Prima flowers and stars. I fastened a beaded tassle to the bottom and tied several coordinating ribbons and jingle bells to the top.

Click on the pictures for close ups.
Thanks for looking.
x

A Scrumptious Thank You

I got a chance to play with a beautiful THANK YOU sentiment for Tando Creative
and immediately knew that it would be perfect to team up with a gorgeous paper cupcake gift holder that I saw on the Bubbly Funk blog, (Bubbly Scrumptious) here.
It was created by the Stamp Goddess - her blog and instructions are here
Written instructions are also on ScrappyCath's here.

At 85mm the chipboard sentiment is the perfect size to add to the cupcake. I applied a few coats of Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel (UTEE) to the chipboard in a few different shades including dark pink, light pink and dark brown and fastened it to the top of the paper cupcake with a cocktail stick.

There is a polytyrene ball inside the cupcake that hides a gift card inside it. The outside is decorated with paper, ribbons, flowers, brads and of course glitter! I made it slightly differently from the tutorial - instead of paper flowers I used a small oval punch from Stampin Up to punch out the icing.

It was a bit fiddly to make but I think it is well worth it in the end. A perfect gift to say THANK YOU to someone special!!

For full instructions on how to make the cupcake please visit the tutorial at Bubbly Scrumptious here.

Mum 60th Birthday Card

I received lots of pieces of chipboard from Di at Tando Creative yesterday and couldn't wait to get started on my first DT project. I made a card for my mum's 60th birthday using the small chipboard word MUM. I knew that I wanted a feminine card and of course a glittered word!

I painted the chipboard with two coats of Buttermilk acrylic paint and inked the edges with Chestnut Roan chalk ink. I then applied glossy accents and Crystal Glamour Dust for sparkle. The chipboard piece is really thick and sturdy and really stands out on the card.

The paper base is Pandora from the Victorian 7 gypsies collection.
The flourish border and 60 have been cut using the Storybook cartridge on the Cricut. The butterflies have been punched using a Martha Stewart Butterfly punch, stamped, blinged and layered.
I also added ribbon, tulle and a heart pin for a soft, feminine effect.


I have really enjoyed making my first DT project which can be seen on the Tando Creative blog here.
Thanks for looking.
xxx

Graceland Gates

Here is a double layout that I have made as part of a surprise album for my mum's 60th birthday (she is 60 on Boxing Day and will probably give me a row for disclosing her age LOL) She had better not read my blog between now and then!!!

When my dad was 60 a few years ago we (that is my 4 sisters and myself - we let my brother off!) made an album for my dad. It was a whopping 120 pages big and took almost a year to complete! It spanned from the arly 1900's to present day. My dad was overwhelmed and said that it was THE BEST present he had ever received so it was certainly worth it in the end.

For my mum's album we are covering her heritage up until she met my dad. At this point the albums will combine and we are also making layouts featuring special events in the past 3 years since my dad's 60th.

For his 60th birthday my mum had secretely booked a holiday to Nashville, Memphis and Las Vegas. He is a HUGE Elvis Presley fan and has always wanted to visit Graceland. He found out about the Graceland trip in the last layout that was made for his album and took a while to realise what it meant!!

As with a few of the layouts for my mum I have omitted journalling as these can be added later and if necessary be hidden behind the photos. I would prefer to add this once my mum can give more personal details etc.

Click on the image for a larger view and as always thanks for looking.
x