Why do I keep leaving things to the last minute?

I did promise myself that I would not leave things to the last minute this year.  Failure already.  The images on these cards are both from the Crafters Companion Flower Fairies series of CDs.  I did not want to use the rather fussy backing paper, nor did I want them on a plain white background.  So my solution was to make a wrap for the card, and brayer and sponge a background, using Adirondacks.  

The first one is the Almond Fairy - both cards are decoupage, shaped and then glued with Pinflair Glue Gel.  I added a little extra green under her feet to"ground" her in the very plain landscape.  The sentiment is a Clarity stamp, deliberately faded and uneven.

Card number 2 is the Lavender Fairy, done in much the same way.  However, whereas the first card almost put itself together, this one was a right pain.  The fairy herself was fine, but the background just did not work.  On the second attempt, I managed to get a big splodge of dark blue in just the wrong place.  By then, I was in a hurry to get to the post, so it was out with the tree stamp (Clarity again) and the leaves to go on it. I managed to stamp it in just the right place to disguise the smudge.  I don't think it is too bad.  I used the same sentiment from Clarity.

It was good to combine techniques and ranges of media, and I think they work together.  Certainly, the Splodge Away mat makes brayering so much easier and effective.  I just need now to be more organised and allow myself enough time to get things right and without panicking over mistakes.  What chance do I have, do you reckon?

Pixie's Snippets - Week 55 or 56 (I am not sure which)

My Snippet was quite a rush as I had lost track of days again this week.  The base card is one of those precut, pre-folded cheap hammered ones that we all have. 

All the embellishments come from a kit I bought when I first started doing the cards.  Nothing goes with the cards that came with them, so I have been struggling to use them up.  I also have a problem with them as it is just not a style of card that sits well with me several years on. 

I have a feeling that I might admit defeat and pass them on to others to use up.  As Shaz (Silverwolf) has been having a clearout and getting things together for my daughter (her daughter-in-law), she suggested that I create a box of things for the other grandchildren instead.  So most of my bits and pieces look like heading up to Derby for them to store for the future.  They don't know this yet.

The flowers are quite good as the petals fold up away from the paper to create some dimension.  they will lie flat to go through the post, and then bounce back when the card is taken out of the envelope.

If you have read this far, then you might like to go over to Pixie's Snippets Playground to see what all the other classmates have done this week.  Can I have a go on the slide, please, Di?   It looks a lot of fun.  And we need to build a snowman.  See you on Sunday.  xx

PS Take care of yourselves in the snow and ice.

Friday Smile

I have just seen Annie's Friday smile photos over on Stitch in Time, and decided to show you some of what makes me smile.  The first one is a real "Aaahhh" one for me.  Our two youngest granddaughters, Charlotte and Rosie, having a totally spontaneous cuddle.  Children and animals are the best for cheering us up, they are never anything but natural, and that is how it should be.

Another happy smile from Charlotte, when she was a bit younger.  Just try not smiling back at this one, I defy you.

Hope these two make you smile too.  Thank you, Annie, for starting this blog.  We all need to take a moment and look for the joy in life, rather than letting it knock us down.  If you are reading this and want some more smiles, just go over to see Annie (Wipso) and join in. 

PS do take great care out there today.  Our roads are lethal and full of people who have never tried to drive in snow before.  If you must go out, take plenty of warm clothing, space blankets, hot drinks and emergency food, and your mobile phone - make sure it is fully charged.  Be safe.

Much better today, thank you.

Thank you to all those who visited and commiserated with me after my bad day.  After a frustrating day yesterday, things finally went much better today.  In view of the weather forecast, DH decided that he would do the shopping today rather than wait for the snow tomorrow morning.  that meant a length trip round the town, to the butcher, Pet City (or whatever it is called these days), the cornstores for bird food (they are eating us out of house and home), then the supermarket for our food.

Then we decided to re-arrange the proposed vet visit from tomorrow morning to this afternoon.  He was very pleased with the way the wound is now healing, and basically told us to carry on with what we have been doing, so that was good news.

In between all that, I did manage to have a very satisfying craft session, completing one card, and half finishing the second.  I had the chance to really have fun, especially with my beautiful new Tonic guillotine.  I cannot believe how thin a piece I can cut off the paper, just tiny slivers.  I have never been able to do that with any of my previous rotary cutters.  This makes it so much easier to get very thin borders on my matting and layering.

To thosse of you who commented that I was very organised in getting my stamping masks done so soon.  You can take comfort from the fact that I still had to cut another four today to do the small project for the second card, doing them as I needed them.  Back to normal, except I should be able to keep them all together with the stamps in a plastic bag, ready for next time.

Hope you can all settle down and snuggle in front of a warm fire while the snow falls around us.  If not, take great care.  If you have to travel, take warm clothes, blankets, spades, a warm drink and some emergency food.  Oh yes, and make sure your phones are fully charged.

What a day!

This is my second post today.  If you would like to read my WOYWW post from earlier please look below or click on this link.http://silvercrafter.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/woyww-189.html

Life can be very tricky at times.  I did manage about half an hour of crafting this morning before breakfast, then everything fell apart.  One good thing was the arrival of my new guillotine so perhaps I can cut paper in a straight line without tags on the edges.

DH should have been going out at lunchtime to meet the folks he used to work with but some of them were ill so that was called off.

We had an appointment at the bank this afternoon, so I knew there was no chance of any crafting. Got ready, coats, gloves, scarf, etc on, only to find that the Freelander refused point blank to start.  Even worse, we had moved it down the drive yesterday to allow our visitors to park so now it was blocking in the other car.

Tried to ring the lady at the bank on her mobile only to be told she was busy somewhere else.  Rang the bank who wanted details that we cannot remember or find before they would even speak to us.  Finally got through to a human being who spoke English, who said he would cancel the appointment for us and get the lady to call us back to make another appointment.  To make absolutely sure that the message woudl get through, I texted her as well to explain.

Half an hour later, we got a call from her asking why we had not turned up or cancelled.  More explanations and apologies, but what else could we have done - carrier pigeon perhaps.

The AA turned up very quickly and got the motor started so then DH had to take it over to our usual garage to get the battery changed.  Tracker should have called us when the battery was off but they didn't so that was another call to find out why.

Big dog cannot be left on his own as he is having to wear a collar to stop him scratching a wound so still no chance of crafting.

Definitely FED UP!!  Don't like this year already.

WOYWW - 189

Our visitors left early tonight due to the icy roads, so, without realising it, so my post is showing Tuesday, but it is not likely to change till perhaps Wednesday afternoon, so I hope I will be forgiven.

My desk has deteriorated since last week - entirely my fault.  You can see some of the things that have contributed to the mess.  There is a brown box from Clarity Stamps, full to the brim with unmounted stamps from the half price sale.  I have gathered a lot that fit with sets I already own, and one or two more that I wanted first time round, and some that I just NEEDED.  You know how it is when you need these things.  I think there are still a couple to come of the tiny stamps ready for ATC making.  My phone needs putting back on charge before it dies.

This second photo is just to the left as you can see, and the rest of the desk is just as bad.  In case you are wondering why I am showing you all how bad my housekeeping is, then just go across to Julia's Stamping Ground, where you will find links to lots of other desk, some tidy, some even worse than mine from all over the world.  Do take a look and leave us comments to read, and we will try to visit your desks too.

I have tried to keep it fairly short this week to get a bit more time to find my desk and do some crafting.  I managed to get round quite a lot of desks last week, and hope to visit those I missed on this week's journey.  Have a good week, all of you, and I hope the weather and illnesses are all kind to you.  xx

Snowy Cottage No 2

This is my second card for Craft A Scene's January Challenge - Snowy Cottage.  I used one of the images we were donated by  our sponsor for this month,  Delicious Doodles.

It is all done with Twinkling H2O's and mica paints, with some crystal heat embossing., and sparkles beautifully.  However,as usual, the sparkle does not show up on the photo, but it is there, honestly.

I  mixed the colours, and media to get the colours I wanted, as my colour palette is very limited, and my bank manager will not allow me to get any more colours (actually, I did weaken and bought some more cheap, with a damaged package).  Still, it is good to use what you have and alter them to fit.

Hope you all like this one and it might inspire you to join in with our challenge this month.  Even the weather is joining in at the moment with a sprinkle of snow.  I just hope that is all we get as we are supposed to be travelling up to Derby on Monday to have our delayed Christmas with our son and his family.  It was delayed due to the two littlies going down with Norovirus all over Christmas.  Fingers firmly crossed tonight.

WOYWW - 188

It really can't be Wednesday again ...... can it?  This year is promising to gallop even faster than last year, and I have still not completed anything in the crafting line.  The only thing I have done is to make the masks for a new set of stamps, which you can see attached to the remains of the post it note in the box.  Today will be the first real card making session .... I think and hope.

Mind you, I think a good tidy up is in order yet again as you can see from the general mess on show.  My room has descended into a dumping ground again.  We needed some more copy paper for the printers so where has the large box been dumped?  You've got it - my room because it is paper and I use paper in crafting. 

I am not showing you any more this week, I am too ashamed of how messy the whole room is.  In the meantime, why don't you slip over to see our wonderful Wednesday hostess, Julia and join up with all the other international jet set there.  See you all soon.  xx

Craft A Scene - Snowy cottages week 1

Happy New Year to you all.

This is my first offering for the year for the Craft A Scene challenge - Snowy Cottages.  Hope you are all going to join us here this year. Our sponsor for the month of January are Delicious Doodles, who generously gave us some beautiful images to play with.

I decided to combine two images by changing the postbox.  The original scene had a US mailbox.  I  liked the background, but I really wanted the British postbox (I did debate making it a golden one in celebration of all those gold medals, but I thought the traditional red one was better).  One of our other donated images had this beautiful GR box, so I cut it out digitally (using My Craft Studio) and superimposed it on top of the US mailbox.   I did not want to go over the top with colour as the shading on the original is so good, so went with my Daler-Rowney watercolours and paint brush (I use a waterfilled brush rather than risk a pot of water on my table - it works for me).  I have not used those for a while, so it was almost lie starting at the beginning.

I heat embossed the snowy branches first with kaleidoscopic embossing powder to protect them from the paint (and the snowy bits on the conifers), and finished off with some speckles of glitter (which, as usual, does not show up on the photo).  I also added a little Polar White Flower Soft on the top of the postbox. 

I was not at all sure about the result after I had finished, but I took it down to show my wonderful husband, who is my most trusted critic, and he liked it, so I left it alone and just mounted it up on the card. 

I had another go with oil and pencil pastels afterwards to see how they would work.  As you can see from the smudges, I need a lot more practice to get that right.  Pastels are a totally new medium for me - only just arrived in the post today (an early Christmas pressie).  

Please come and join us this month with your interpretations of the challenge.  All you have to do is to create a scene, with a background and a foreground in whatever medium you choose.  Try something you have never had the courage to do before.  You will be amazed what you learn and find you really love.  I am hoping to really come to terms with drawing my own scenes this year.  I know what I want, but you will be able to judge as the year goes on whether I am succeeding.  

My resolution for this year is - Don't be scared, Have a go.  Come and join me with that.

Pixie's Snippets - Week 54

It seems ages since I joined everyone in the playfround for a go on the swings.  I think I might need to stay in at playtime though this week, as someone has been generous to give me another present - the coldy fluey bug.  Hot soup, hot lemon and honey are the order of the day.  Bagsy the spot nearest the tortoise stove in the classroom (showing my age here).

This is a very tiny card (about 3 inches by 2 inches), so I think it might qualify as a snippet.  It is a left over piece of hammered white card, on which I have used the Clarity mini village set.  The figures were sketched in afterwards to see how they would work.  I used my favourite Derwent watercolour pencils to colour everything in.

I am hoping to get round as many of you as possible this week, in between sneezing and cutting out stamping masks.  Happy New Year to all of you.  xx

WOYWW - 187 - Happy New Year

Happy New Year to you all, to those who have been around for ages and to anyone who has come across this WOYWW  (What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday) phenomenon by mistake.  If you are new visitors, please feel free to join in, by going to Julia's hospitable home and posting a picture of where you work at your crafting of any kind.  Then follow the links there to visit lots more like-minded people.

Just one photo from me this week.  I had meant to schedule this post last night, but the Borrowers have been at it again.  Not sure why they need the cable to attach my camera to the computer, but it has vanished.  It ALWAYS lives in the camera case, but has gone walkabout.  Fortunately, this morning we found another cable which will do until the Borrowers return the original.

 

No work going on yet, just a lot of tidying, so I thought I would show you some of the goodies I was lucky enough to receive from Santa and my lovely family.   You can see two sets of Hobby Art Scenic stamps, ready to join the other sets I already have - they are so good at creating small scenes on a card as hey mix and match among the various sets.  I also was lucky enough to get several of my favourite stamps from Clarity, which are actually in their boxes on my shelf - I will show you that lot another time.  There is one set of Clarity stamps there, which is the set of mini lesson stamps, which will be so useful to mix with the full size versions and to create smaller cards (helps to use the offcuts of card in my box).

 

Other goodies on show, are my tin of Derwent Pastels,, a set of Derwent Watersoluble sketching  pencils, and a DVD of Maddy Prior and the Carnival Band on their Christmas tour - that is a brilliant show for anyone who has not yet seen them.  Oh yes, and in the background you can see two sets of luscious Daler-Rowney acrylic inks.  when you thin you saw those before Christmas, you are quite right, but they were for a present to my crafty daughter.  I was lucky enough to get a set too.  I can't wiat to get playing, but I do have to have a tidy up first in all the areas I have not shown you.

 

I am off now to have breakfast, but then I will be back to do some visiting with the rest of you.  See you soon.

WOYWW - 185

For anyone who is wondering why I should possibly want to show you a random heap of stuff on a work surface, where have you been?  It is for a wonderful weekly blog where we all show everyone else what we are working on, what we are not working on and what has been left behind by the aforesaid activity.  We are hosted by the wonderful Julia at Stamping Ground, where you will find links to others who have been far more creative that me this week.

You may notice that a lot of the things from last week are still here, because the focus of work has moved downstairs for the writing of the cards and the wrapping of the presents - no time to create masterpieces (what masterpieces do you create, I hear you say).  There are a number of things underneath the piles which I cannot show you until they "go live" or until they are delivered to the recipients.  My previous post does show a collage of some of the cards done for this Christmas, if you have time to look back.  For those who are short of time (aren't we all?), then have a wonderful Christmas and I will see you all afterwards.  Now it is time to visit Julia to follow those links, but I hope you will find time to leave a comment before you go. 

Done it - well, nearly!

I have finally finished writing the Christmas cards.  Well almost!  There are about five that I need to make, two inserts to do and a few ecards to send.  The worst is over, however. 

I could not show you all the cards I had made, and I showed most of them throughout the year as I made them anyway,  This is the next best thing, a collage of some of the better ones.  They are all in their envelopes with their address labels on and stamped, ready to go (we bought all our stamps last year (just after Christmas).. 

We still have three small presents to buy and then we can wrap everything and label them - must make some labels tomorrow.   There are a few things still to arrive to make up some mixed parcels.   They are all promised in time for Christmas, so I am not panicking yet. 

The best thing is I can now allow myself to do a little of what I want to do.  I have new stamps to try out, and paints and inks to get messy with.  Yippee!  Watch this space for the fun I intend to have.

How are you all doing with your preparations?  I must sit down now and make out my menu and shopping list for feeding the family.  I intend to make it as easy as possible, doing as much beforehand as I can, to allow us to enjoy having the family together.  I fancy that sleep might be in short supply.  Our youngest granddaughter wakes at around 5 am, and I am certain that the dogs will wake up too to tell us, so sleep will be finished.  We have thought about decamping to the caravan on the front drive for the night but it depends on how cold it is.

Card of the Week

I was so chuffed today to see the write up for the Card of the Week on the Robyn's Fetish Challenge Blog this week, featuring this card using their images.  This was a card I did as a member of the Craft A Scene Design Team for this month's challenge

I was contacted on Sunday by Susan Paulson of Robyn's Fetish asking if she could feature my card on their Challenge Blog as the Card of the Week.  I had to give my permission, send a copy of the card, and details of how I made it, and the write up is now "live" on their blog.  As a thank you, I was also given any image of my choice from their online shop.

It is good to know that the sponsors are really interested in what we are doing with their images. good. The other DT members have done some awesome cards, as have all those who have entered the challenge this month.  Do take time to go over to Craft A Scene to see them all. 

WOYWW - 184

As you can see, my desk is a total wreck at the moment, due to trying to write Christmas cards and do the inserts at the same time, and a few other jobs too.  I won't list all that is there and just let you wander and wonder.

I am sure most of you have finished all your preparation by now and can sit back and pity me..........  did I hear hysterical laughter there?  Oh well, I was hoping that others might have been better off than me.  Anyone got any ideas on how to wrap a huge ride on tractor and trailer for our littlest granddaughter - that could be fun.

If you want to see loads of other desks, some in the same state as mine, some much tidier and interesting, just follow the link  and call in on Julia, our esteemed leader.  She will be delighted to see you.

To anyone I don't contact before the great day, have a wonderful Christmas and see you in the New Year with lots of resolutions (to write the wretched cards in March in 2013, for one).  I hope to get round as many of you as possible this week, panic permitting.  Have a great day.

Craft A Scene - DT - Winter No 2

This is my second offering as a member of the Craft A Scene DT for the Winter challenge for December.  Our sponsors for this month are Robyn's Fetish, who very kindly gave us a number of their designs to play with.    This card is a combination of two of them (Christmas Cottage and In The Cold), after a fair bit of computer playing.

I used My Craft Studio to cut out the first cottage, and then duplicate it twice to produce the row of cottages of graduated size.  I did the same with the In The Cold image, placing it digitally in front of the cottages.  Then I printed it out twice, once on cheap copy paper and once on the good card for the finished design.  The image on the copy paper was cut out and used as a mask so that I could brayer the sky behind it.  I started with Adirondack Cloudy Blue, then Denim, and then finally part of the Sunset Big and Juicy ink pad.  With the mask still in place, I stamped the trees behind the cottages, using a new Clarity stamp.

The colouring in was done with Promarkers.  I started with the windows,with two shades of yellow to give some shading, and then embossed them with clear embossing powder to give them the shine of glass.  I had also embossed the chimneys and the smoke in the same way to make the sky easier to brayer - too idle to cut the mask for those.  The wellies were embossed with iridescent powder to make them a little sparkly.  It also protected them while I was adding the blue shades to the snow.  I love using Promarkers.  It is so easy to achieve good shading with them with a little patience.  The only other thing I added was some Polar White Flower Soft round the bottom of the cottages, and dots of gold for the door knobs, and silver for the sled.

This is, I think, a better picture, having scanned it this time.  Hope you like this effort and it may give you ideas for cards that are much better than mine.  Have fun and let us see what you can do over a Craft A Scene.  Come on, you know you want to have a go.

WOYWW - 183

This is the parlous state of my desk this morning (well, last night, and it hasn't changed since).  Binoculars to watch the birds on the feeders outside, keyboard to write this post, paintbox used for the last project (cannot be shown yet) and to be used on the next one, and sundry other bits and pieces that need putting away.  Still cannot find that foiling kit, drat it!

If you are wondering why I am showing you this dull mess on my desk, then you had better go over to Julia's desk to see loads of others showing you their desk on Whats on Your Workdesk Wednesday.

It is now official, there are not enough days this month to get everything done, presents still to buy, cards to write and to send, life to live .......   HELP!!!!!  I need more time.  Hope to see you all later around the blogs.  Love and hugs to you all.

Craft A Scene DT Card 1 for Winter

This is the first of my two scheduled DT cards for December for the Craft A Scene Winter Challenge.    The original image was one of four donated by the sponsor for this month, Robyn's Fetish.  As soon as I saw the images, I knew what I wanted to do with this one.  It positively cried out to have the doors opened and the windows cut out to reveal a scene inside.  Fortunately, I had just replaced the blade n my Fiskars finger blade so it went through the card like a knife through butter (probably better as our butter is rock hard in the fridge).

The scene for the inside came from a My Craft Studio CD Rom (Craft' E' Christmas Crystal Sparkles), and the digi stamps of Santa and his elves were from the same source.  The Christmas tree you can see was part of the background sheet, and just needed a bit of glittering.  Can anyone tell me how to get glitter to show up on a photo?  I have failed miserably with that task again.  All the colouring in was done with various Promarkers, some of which needed the extra thin nibs added.  In fact, some while ago, I treated myself to a bumper order for those nibs as I was fed up with having to swap them around and get rid of one colour before I could use them.  On more than one occasion, I forgot to cleanse them before trying to add a different colour to a nearly completed image - not a good look.

Santa's beard and the fur on his clothes and on one of the elves was added with a Quickie glue pen and some Polar White Flower Soft.  I kept the colours very simple, more in keeping with what we think of as a child's colouring.  I also added some glitter (Martha Stewart fine red glitter)  for the tree stars and the decorations, and, of course, the holly berries on the fir branch.

I had intended to put all the elves inside, but then the doors looked so bare and dull that I decided to put two of them at the front, ready to go in.  The background and the digi stamps were all printed separately, cut out and added by using extra sticky tape, shaker tape and Pinflair glue, according to the effect I wanted, and whether I needed the extra moveability of the silicone.  I did want to add dimension to the background scene, by raising the figures above the background, and the shaker tape and the Pinflair do that job brilliantly.

I hope you like what I have done with this card and that it show you that you can mix and match different media, and do not have to stick to one set of stamps to produce a reasonable card.  The original image gives you chance to really work your imagination, and I look forward to seeing lots of you joining in with this month's challenge over at Craft A Scene, and seeing how you interpret "Winter".  Come on, join in, and have some fun with us.

What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday - WOYWW 180

One hundred and eighty!

That is quite an achievement.  Congratulations to everyone and a very big thank you to Julia, who started it all. 

I have just had a horrible shock.  It is not Monday, as I had thought, but Tuesday (this post will be a scheduled one as I may not be around tomorrow).  Where has this week vanished to and I have done nothing on my desk at all.   In fact, the only craft thing I have done this week is to make the Christmas cake, which is now sitting in the kitchen waiting for its daily dose of brandy.  then two weeks before Christmas, it will get marzipaned, with home made marzipan, and then royal iced.

This first picture is not, strictly speaking, on my desk, although the camera that took it is.  However, I reckon that a project using it will soon be here.  These leaves taken on telephoto will make a brilliant Autumn background, and I love the way the sun just glows through them.

Now we get to the nitty gritty mess that is my desk this week.  I am not sure what has happened but I have done nothing in here for a whole week, not through lack of mojo or from lack of things that need to be done, but other things just seem to have got in the way.  so all I have to show you is my babywipe box, two bottles of nail varnish remover (for craft purposes), some papers hurled in the general direction of a spare bit of space, my heat resist mat rolled back out of harm's way, and whatever is on the shelves behind.  Not exactly inspiring.

Now we come to the unit on the other side of the room, very cluttered - files of peel offs, reference books and things, that have no other home, just shoved in the middle.  The filing boxes underneath now actually contain what their labels say they do, which is a novelty.  I still cannot find my foil or the large roll of bin bags, but never mind - they will turn up some day.

This last unit, a Really Useful drawer unit, has now been moved to within reach of my desk, and contains things like my Promarkers, Aquamarker, and Sakura pens among other things - the stuff that I use almost daily.  The cupboard underneath which is mostly out of sight has the rest of my colouring stuff, apart from the boxes of Derwent Pencils which won't fit there.  Also peeping out here is a roll of cling film, a roll of baking parchment and a roll of kitchen foil.  If you look hard enough, you will also see my old red Sissix, and the green Cuttlebug on top of that.

Apart from the shock of finding out I had lost a day completely already this week, it has been a bad day on the technology front.  My computer flatly refused to talk to the network or to the internet, no matter what I did.  Then I realised it was the 13th of the month.  Perhaps, I should not have bothered at all, and just stayed in bed.  A lot of work later and sorting out the network, I am back on line. Normally, I work up here in the afternoon, but I think I am going to have to change and do it in the morning to get everything done this weeek - two DT projects needed, homework for Clarity Classroom, and this month's Clarity Clallenge.  then I just have to persuade my printer that it can work with the refillable inks so that I can do the inserts for the Christmas cards.  Not a lot to do then!

I am off now to schedule this post and get ready for our visitors who I thought would be here tomorrow..  If you have read this far, sorry for going on a bit, but I am sure you will thoroughly enjoy all the other desks on show over at Stamping Ground with Julia.  Please leave me a comment, I love reading them, and I will come to visit you in return.

Craft A Scene - Troubled Skies card 2

This card took me back to my childhood straight away, to my favourite little shop (which does not exist any more).  That was where I first bought charcoal pencils - charcoal covered in nice clean wood to keep your fingers cleaner.  In those days, I only remember just the plain black to use for shading.  Now I have a nice little set from Derwent of tinted charcoal pencils.  Same thing but with added tints to vary things.

When I was lucky enough to be taken on to the Design Team for Craft A Scene, I decided that I needed to really come out of my comfort zone and stretch my brain.  So I have tried to use different styles and different media for each project.  I have never been comfortable with charcoal, so it was always going to be a steep learning curve.  In fact, as a result of this card, I treated myself to a book on the subject, step by step.

I used watercolour card for this one, and stamped the images of the church, tree and clouds with Adirondack Pitch Black. and pulled some of the ink out with a water brush to soften the hard lines..  Then I started on the sky with the dark blue, with some highlights with a slightly paler blue.  Dark green took care of the tree by the church and some of the foliage around the church, while the dark brown shaded the tree in the foreground.    Although the pencils do make it a less messy medium, I still ended up with a mucky finger after smoothing across to break up the harder shading lines.

I used several different colours on the ground, two different shades of green, brown and sandstone, trying to give the impression of grass blowing in the wind.  

I only decided to put in lightning towards the end (see, I don't really plan - things develop).  Having just got hold of a battery eraser from Derwent, I thought this was the time to bring it into use.  It took a bit of time and care to sharpen the point of the eraser to give as narrow and line as possible.  A bit more practice would give a much better result, I am sure.  

The main aim of this card was to produce a sky I saw once up at Haworth outside the Bronte Parsonage Museum there, what I would call a real "Wuthering Heights" sky, which made me understand why the Brontes wrote in the way they did, especially Emily.   I think it does have some of that feel, although I did not put in any of the tombstones you can see at Haworth.   More practice needed, though.

Nuisance calls update

While trawling the web for solutions to these nuisance calls, I came across a site - www.192.com

I would urge you all to go and have a look, and you will be horrified at the amount of data held on you on that site - who lives there, telephone number, how long you have been there, amongst other things. It even has your previous addresses and who lived there with you. As far as I can gather, it is information from Electoral Rolls from before 2002.  That is when a box appeared on the Electoral Roll form, allowing you to opt out of appearing on sites of this kind or allowing your details to be sold.

To get this information removed from public viewing, you need to go to http://www.192.com/downloads/C01.pdf and download this form, fill it in and send it off.   Mine is already in the post.

Worcester Black Pear and Clarity - Birthday card

The main stamp on this card is one of those that comes as part of the Clarity club membership and is a sprig of pears and leaves.  It arrived at just the right time for the birthday of one of our friends.  They are involved and have been for years with the scouting movement locally, and the Black Pear is one of the badges used in the Worcestershire area.  It also appears on the badges of Worcester city, and the trees are grown in local traditional orchards.  The fruit itself is not truly black but at one stage is a deep mahogany.

Its importance to Worcestershire is due to Queen Elizabeth I, who saw a black pear tree with fruit on when she visited the area, and gave the emblem to Worcester for their coat of arms. 

The Worcester Black Pear was known as the "Warden Pear" and was first recorded in the 13th Century at Warden Abbey in Bedfordshire.

I used Clarity silk card and stamped the pear twig with Adirondack Pitch Black. I also used the naked tree stamp, also from Clarity to extend the twig into a branch.  When the ink was dry, I used the Quickie glue pen to cover the pear fruits themselves, let the glue dry off and applied gilding flakes (without breathing).  One that was cleaned off and dry, I filled in the tiny specks of white with a similar colour Promarker (I need more practice with the glue pen and the flakes).  The leaves and branches were also coloured with Promarkers.  The bottom corner border was done with another twiggy Clarity stamp, and  the same glue and gilding technique used to highlight that part too.   

I brayered the sky and covered over a couple of black marks with a flock of birds - very useful, they are.  I polished the finished card with a tissue, before mounting it on black card and copper coloured mirri card.  The background of the main card was following another of Barbara Gray's techniques.brayering the colour on to a sheet of Clarity silk paper, and then applying scrunched up wet cling film, and leaving it to dry.  That was also polished and then glued to a white card as a wrap.  I stamped the pears again randomly over the paper with flitter glue and fine glitter, before attaching the main image.

I was pleased to be able to do a card that could be personalised to the interests of the recipient.  That is what I do try to do as a norm, but this one was special to us all.  I did a similar card afterwards for the Clarity Challenge.  I don't often repeat cards but this one was not the same, just using some of the same stamps and techniques.  I really, really like this pear stamp, and I suspect it will appear a lot in the future.

WOYWW - 179

Good morning, it is Wednesday again (or it will be by the time this post goes live) - doesn't time go fast.  Anyway, it is time to join with all the other (now famous - it was on the radio) members of Julia's club over at Stamping Ground where we all get together to see what has gone on since last week, and show what we have on our desks.

This is not actually my desk today.  That comes later.   I thought you might like to see the fascinating occupation I gave myself on Monday.  During my hunt for my (still) missing foils, I came across  a couple of sheets of mirri card with embossed sentiments and embellishments on.  I have had them from the very beginning of my paper crafting and forgot they even existed.  I thought that if I chopped them up properly and put them in a small box on my desk, I might actually use them and get rid of them.  In this first shot, you can see all the tiny bits of left overs, ready to be swept into the rubbish bag.  I started by cutting them with my Fiskars finger knife, but rapidly descended into the scissors mode.

Monday Part 1

The second shot shows other things that have surfaced from the dross of years, mainly freebies from magazine fronts - things I have not thought about and will probably never use.  So they go into a separate pile to be passed to our eldest granddaughter to experiment with.  There is also another sheet of gold sentiments waiting to be chopped up. 

Monday Part 2

Now we come to my desk as I left it on Tuesday evening - it is still untouched today.  A little more exciting. I think.  No actual crafting yet, but a delivery that arrived today from Create and Craft, containing two sets of gorgeous stamps from Clarity and a box of spare mounts for the remountable stamps.  I also use those for stamps from other companies as they are so much easier to use, light and easy to handle.

 

Tuesday/Wednesday

I need to get going with those sets of stamps this week.  One set is for the December Classroom lesson with Barbara Gray on Create and Craft and I want to really experiment with it and see how I can adapt it to what I fancy doing, maybe adding other stamps to the mix.  The second set blew me away when I saw them demonstrated at the weekend - fab!

The little picture in the silvery frame is actually not my work, but was done by my DH's aunt, who was very clever with her fingers.  She was also a talented watercolour artist, although she never passed her creations on, thinking they were not good enough.  This little embroidery is one of three embroideries we were given after her death and we do treasure them.

Now I am going to finish with a rant for the week - hope you will forgive me, Julia.  If you don't want to read on, then nip over to Julia to see what she has on offer this week.  However, I bet you will know what I am talking about and probably have suffered too.

Does anyone know how we can stop all these nuisance calls that come from abroad. We bought our present phone system because it shows the telephone number of any caller. We now let our answer phone take all calls where the number is not displayed or whenever it says "International. Out of Area" The caller never gets as far as the answer machine and always hangs up. However, we are now getting these calls at 7.30am or earlier. At this sort of time of day, we immediately think there is an emergency with one or other of our family and get worried. We are told there is nothing that can be done to stop these calls. Isn't it time that the government or the Telecoms people actually sorted this nuisance out and put a stop to this intrusion?  Is it just in the UK that we have to suffer this intrusion and disturbance?   I, for one, have NOT had an accident that I want to claim for, I do NOT need to claim back mis-sold PPI's, I do NOT want a free holiday that will cost me a small fortune, and I do NOT want any of the other things they are trying to sell me. 

I would love to know how all of you around the world deal with these things and if you have an answer for us over here.  (We are registered with the Telephone Preference Service, but that does not stop these international calls, which are mainly random number generated - we are told there is nothing that can be done to stop the international ones)

Have a wonderful week, all of you, filled with good crafting and good company.  xx

Craft A Scene - Troubled Skies 1

Dad's Photo

This dramatic picture is not my card but the inspiration and starting place for it (finished card is at the end of this post if you are short of time)

It is my first DT offering for November's Craft A Scene challenge and had to reflect the theme which is Troubled Skies.  My mind went straight to this photo taken by my father many years ago of a really threatening and dramatic scene.  It was taken up on the moors in Cornwall, and you can see how the prevailing wind has driven the trees into strange shapes.  My aim was to get as close to this image as I could and, hopefully, to encourage others to look at their photos and use them in a different way, as inspiration, not just printed toppers.

The first task was to print out a couple of images on copy paper to chop up to use as masks for brayering over.  Then I attached a piece of Clarity coated card to copy paper to hold it firm.  I cut the silhouette of the moorland trees and standing stone and put that aside, using what was left as a mask while I brayered in the silhouette with Adirondack Pitch Black.  I found that the image was not quite as dark as I wanted it, so I took my black Promarker and, using the chisel end, went over the brayered area to darken it.  I found that the promarker bled slightly, an effect that I accentuated by using the thin nib to add the tree branches and twigs.

Part 2

Stage two was to put back the piece I had put aside of the silhouette, and cut away the two side pieces, retaining the centre section too as a mask while I brayered in the very dark threatening clouds. 

Part 3

I added Adirondack Denim to the the Pitch Black for this section.

Part 4

I then took away all the masks and laid down a light layer of the same colours over the whole image.  Then I needed to work out how to put in the highlights to mimic the bright edges to the clouds in the centre of the image.

First try - miserable failure!

This was the first result, created by added more of the Denim/Pitch Black, dabbing it on with a make up sponge.  When I had done that, I rushed to mount it up, thinking I had done it.  Wrong!  I stood back and went "Yuck".  It was half way there, but too bland and flat.  Back to work, trying to protect the clean white card it was mounted on.  I tried a mixture of media - white Sakura pen, but that only had limited effect - white Derwent pencil, again limited effect - and finally white pastel in a random way.  I decided that I had probably reached the limit of what I could do, so I sprayed it with Crafters Companion Spray and Shine (that reminds me, I must order more as the can is almost empty).

This is the final result.  I can see things I would do differently next time, but I hope I have done justice to the original photo, and Dad would have liked it.  What do you think? 

Final result!

Why don't you see what your imagination can produce for this theme and join in at Craft A Scene, whether you use stamps, inks, draw your own design - the world of crafting is open to you to create a scene with "Troubled Skies".

WOYWW - 178

Why I am showing you a picture of a boring desk top with not a lot to show.  In case you have not heard already, it is just one of around 200 desks on show, courtesy of a very kind hostess, Julia.  When you are bored with this desk, there are loads more fascinating desks to drool over and enjoy if you pop over to Stamping Ground  and follow the links you will find there.

Not too much on my desk again today, really because I am on the home run to finish all the birthday and anniversary cards for 2012.  That really worries me, 'cos it feels as though this year has totally vanished without trace and at great speed.  I cannot believe that we are so close to Christmas, and I don't remember summer.  Is it just my age or does anyone else feel the same?

The last four cards were quickly done as they were mainly standard computer generated cards, mainly to cut down the cost of postage.  Even if they are based on CD images, I always try to make them different in some way, to try to show that I am thinking of the people involved. 

You can see my heat resistant mat on top of my self heal mat.  Underneath all that, but hidden is my precious Splodge Away mat, which really does the business.  If I could fit it in, I would have the A3 size, but sadly I have to be satisfied with the 12 x 12 mat.  Really, it is quite big enough to do whatever I need.  I can't believe how much paper and ink I am saving by using it, and the ink is still useable two or three days later, so you can do several projects along the same colour lines, without having to remix.. 

To change the subject and finish, I hope all of you out there, your friends and families are all safe and well, especially all those in the path of that horrendous superstorm.  Our nephew is just outside Philadelphia, but is fine so far, apart from expecting to lose power, which apparently happens a lot round there.  Keep safe, everyone, and keep in touch.  

Talking about keeping in touch, did you hear that WOYWW was being talked about on local radio on Merseyside this week.  Fame at last, Julia.  Hope lots more crafters come to join us as a result.  Please leave me a message so that I can come round to see you later.

PS I found my missing labels today.  Now what else have I lost..... Oh yes, has anyone seen one of my small Really Useful Boxes that fits in the little unit on the top of my shelves.  I know it is around somewhere.

Pixie's Craft Snippets - Week 45

I have been MIA for some weeks now, due to the need to finish all the cards for the rest of this year, and my DT commitments, but this is one of those cards that actually used up bits that were lying round. It is a mix of bits from everywhere.

The base card was cut down from a set I bought cheap ages ago, and they do look a little dog-eared now (nothing wrong with dogs' ears, but not on a card), so I just chopped off the raggedy bits.  The sparkly bits were stickers left over from a kit I bought several years ago.  They are one of the reasons I no longer buy kits from anywhere, you always end up with pretty bits that you have no idea how to use.  I sometime think that kits are made up of things that companies are trying to clear out anyway.  These stickers certainly did not go with anything else in that kit.  The cards were pretty, the borders were pretty and the stickers were pretty, and so were the 3 dimensional flower stickers, but none of them really went together.

Anyway, I also had a pack of pearlescent card samples which had started to haunt me - they always seemed to be on top of every pile on my desk.  So, in a moment of diminishing mojo, I decided to put the two things together and see what happened.  The resulting topper was mounted on a scrap of black card and then on to the base card.  It is not a card that I am particularly proud of, but it is using up things that would otherwise sit around for another year or more.

Before I finish, I hope that all of you on the east coast of America and inland from there are all safe and sound, and that anyone you know out there comes through this dreadful storm safely.  Property can be replaced but your lives cannot.  Take care, everyone.  xxx

Craft A Scene - Majestic Mountains No 2

This is my second offering for the Craft A Scene Challenge blog.  This month's theme is Majestic Mountains and this mountain is truly majestic in real life.  I just wish the temperature today was as good as it was when I took the photo that this card is based around.  We might have had sun today, but it is freezing, and my finger tips got frostbite while I was down in the greenhouse getting things emptied for the winter.

Many, many years ago, I went off to France to stay with my French pen friend for three weeks.  I flew from Heathrow to Paris, expecting to be met by my pen friend and her family, get on a train and head off for Nantes, where they lived.  Instead, I was met just by her father, whose English was non-existent.  He worked for the French National Railways (SNCF) so travel on the trains was free, so I was not surprised to head for the Gare d'Austerlitz.  However, I soon realised that we were not going to Nantes but, instead, were heading much further south.  At some stage the engine was actually changed for a steam engine, and we had to change trains at Toulouse to get to Narbonne, where we were met by my pen friend.  From there, it was a local train and bus up the Pyrennees to Vernet Les Bains, where the family had booked a flat in the main square for Easter.  We had a wonderful time there with quite good weather.  My pen friend, her two sisters and I were free to walk in the foothills, even getting right up to the snowline of Mont Canigou.

My original photo was taken one evening at sunset, and is actually far more dramatic that my interpretation.  The basics are there, the fantastic sunlit snow covered peak of Canigou, the folds of the surrounding mountains, and even the building to the right.  However the mountains were far darker, but when I tried to replicate that, it just looked an evil mess.  That was when I decided that I had to start with just the shapes, which I drew in lightly in pencil.  All the colouring in was done with Derwent watercolour pencils and my trusty water brush.  The vividness of the peak was difficult to portray.  I used several thickish layers of white, and then added highlights in quite a bright orange,blending it in.

The trees were two different stamps from Clarity, stamped in Adirondack Bottle, with quite a lot of masking to achieve the smaller trees in the distance.  The birds came from one of the Hobby Art sets.  So all my stamps were easy to place, all being clear, see through polymer.  I started using the burnisher all over and realised VERY fast that ordinary graphite pencil smudges under the burnisher, and I had drawn in the tiles in pencil.  So I had to leave the roof of the cottage unburnished.

Normally, I use quite a narrow border, but I thought this time that a wide black border would suit the image better, and kept it simple by mounting on to plain white pearlescent card.

This is the photo with which I started, and I hope you think I did it some sort of justice.

Spectacular or what?  Mt Canigou at sunset.

 Although we were there for 10 days, this was the most dramatic shot I got.  As you can see, from the next two shots, luck played a great part.

Good shot, but definitely second best

Then, of course, there were the times when the clouds came across -

Not to mention the times when it vanished completely in the gloom

We had a great time up in the mountains, and I always wanted to go back, but I suspect I might lose the magic from my memories if I did.  Still I have my photos to look at and to use.  Hope you like them, and the card they inspired.  I just hope it might have encouraged you to creat a Majestic Mountain scene for this month's Craft A Scene challenge.

More water colouring

Why is it that when you photograph a card, it never looks straight?  The card is straight, but this photo seems to have distorted it it slightly.  Never mind, you all know these problems.

This is the card I have done for our daughter's 40th today.  Now I have had a tidy up, I can get to my watercolour pencils more easily, and there is room on the desk to put the case.  With that in mind, they have figured more in  my more recent cards.  All the stamps used came from a mixture of Hobby Art sets, which do work together well.

I did drop one clanger, though.  Knowing I was going to colour with watercolour pencils, I should have used a permanent ink pad, but I just grabbed the nearest which was the Adirondack.  Bother!  OK, then, change of plan.  No water, just the colour and a bit more careful blending. 

I needed to extend some of the lines to join stamps into a cohesive image, but most of it was just suing stamps carefully.  Being clear stamps makes things so much easier to position things.  I use the Clarity mounts for all of them as they are light and easy to manipulate.  I also needed to extend the road/pathway in both directions, keeping the right perspective.

While I was tidying up and moving things around last week, I decided to put all my Derwent things together, and realised that I had the blender and burnishing set.  I used the burnisher on this completed scene, and was delighted with the result, a smooth protected surface. 

This is one card that I actually trialed on scrap paper before actually going for it.  With so many small stamps involved, I think it was a wise move.  It did end up roughly as planned with a couple of slight adjustments.

We went over to Webbs Garden Centre yesterday morning, (one of the biggest in the Midlands) to have a look at their Christmas stuff.  Didn't get any Christmas things, but did manage to get into Hobbycraft, who have a large presence there.  Surprisingly enough, there really was not a lot that made me want to spend, apart from pencils, paint and that sort of thing.  I had to keep my purse firmly closed there.

WOYWW - 177

I hate glue ......I hate glue ....I hate glue  .... with a serious passion.  Sorry about starting with a moan but I have just spent two hours scraping at, spraying, scraping some more, spraying more to remove a complete can of Stick and Stay from my cupboard top, not to mention all the things around it that were contaminated.  For some reason it sprang a leak and I had not noticed until I decided to have a move around, went to move my Fiskars shaped scissors and found they were well and truly stuck.    One can of Spray Away, half a kitchen roll, and most of my nails has finally removed it all.

Having finished my moaning, I must get to the point of this post, which is to take part in the best blog hop of all.  It is called What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday - WOYWW, and is hosted by the very clever Julia at Stamping Ground.  Do pop over there and take a look at the amazing desks exhibited by friends from all over the world, showing their work, their workspace and beautiful photos and ideas.  When you have had a look, we would love you to leave us a little message so that we can return the call and make friends with you as well.

As a result of my sticky crisis, I have done no crafting at all today, although I have 11 cards to do in a hurry for myself, and three cards to do for the December Craft A Scene.  Mind you, I probably could not show you any cards even if  I had done them, as they are either for future publication or for people who might see them before they open the real thing.

I am in process of reorganising things in my room, to put the things I use very frequently close at hand, and to label boxes with what is actually in them, not what used to be there.  No wonder I can't find things (my labels are still AWOL).  By the way, does anyone have any clever ideas on what to do with all the original tops from Promarkers when  you have replaced them with the fine tips - I have dozens, and like a true crafter, I feel that there must be a good use for them rather than to just bin them.

This is actually a scheduled post, as I shall not be fit to write anything up on Wednesday morning and I am hoping to link up a bit earlier this week, perhaps before I get to bed.  I also hoped that I could get a photo without flash, but the daylight is just too poor today.  Roll on Spring, although given my advancing years, perhaps I should not wish any part of my life away.  Must make the most of every second.  I reckon care homes will have to change to accommodate us with our computers, internet access, wifi technology and our large crafting stash.

Hope to see you all later as I wander round your desks.  Have a good week.  xxx