Worth waiting for? I hope so!

My apologies to every kind person who keeps popping back to my little web space to find ............. it's the same old, same old post but I have finally managed to finish a project. I did make a card I was very pleased with last week but forgot to photograph it before I passed it on to the person who ordered it, Doh!!!! So that one was a missed posting opportunity.

Before I post my own project though, I'm going to share another couple of things from my lovely Son. As mentioned in previous posts, he and his little family had to stay with us for about 8 weeks and while he was here it was his wife's birthday so he asked if I would help him make her a card. Actually, all I did was show him the gallery on the Graphicus website (fabulous place full of inspiration) and he picked a card he liked. I then showed him how to stamp and emboss, gave him a few pointers about matting and layering and off he went.

This was the result and I think he did brilliantly.

His second project was another pencil portrait, this time of his own beautiful little daughter, Alexa, which he did for his wife, Krystle's birthday too.

This is the original photo

And this is the beautiful drawing which captures one of Alexa's gorgeous expressions perfectly.

I'm very proud of him, er ........ does it show?

Now on to my own efforts. Last Saturday I went up to Graphicus for my final workshop from this block. It was called 'Hanging about with Lynn' and once again I had a fantastic inky playday with guidance and wonderful inspiration from Lynn Robinson-Hunter. There were 9 of us and we each made a wall hanging using all sorts of goodies and techniques and it's amazing how different each persons canvas was. I blended Distress and Dye Inks, stamped on canvas, card and tissue. Hand drew and coloured with Adirondack pens (lovely on canvas). I used metallic paints and texture paints, Pearl Pens, Paint Dabbers, Glimmer Mists, screens, copper foil with TSS molds and heaven knows what else. It was great! As usual, I didn't finish mine at the workshop but was enjoying doing it so much I couldn't wait to finish it at home. Although nearly everything (and there was a lot) I used can be purchased from Graphicus, I did have to use a couple of Lavinia stamps because they were the only ones I had at home that were suitable for what I wanted but I do know Graphicus have perfectly suitable ones available on their website from their own stamp range or the others they stock.

As there were so many items, I'm going to list the ingredients below for anyone who's interested in what I actually used so now here are the photos of .......

MY SECRET 'DREAM' GARDEN.

Ingredients :-

Dream sentiment - Tim Holtz Mini Ornates

Tattered Angels Blossom Trees

Tiny trailing vine by Clarity Stamps

Wild Meadow )

DREAM word )

Fuchsia Plate )

Let Your Heart Sing) All these are Elusive Images themeplates

Tattered Angels Glimmer Screens

Distress Inks

Adirondack Dye Inks

Metallic Paint

Viva Ferro Metal Effect

Paint Dabbers

Glimmer Mists

Pearl Pen

McGill Robin Punch

Crafty Individuals Chipboard Frames

Copper Foil

TSS molds

All the above available from Graphicus

The wrought iron gate stamp and the leafy spray are from Lavinia stamps.

The ribbon, beaded trim and Epoxy Dream definition sticker (Tim Holtz) were from my own stash.

Phew! I think that's the lot!

After so long, I hope you like it 'cos it will be a while before there's another post as I'm off on holiday next Friday and not only have I not finished anything else to post, I haven't the foggiest idea how to schedule them! If you are kind enough to leave me a comment after Thursday it will show when I get back from sunny (I hope) Orlando. I'm off to see Mickey & Co with my little Granddaughters!

Take care everyone.

Lesley Xx

A Birthday Gift from my Son to his Sister

As I am still finding it difficult (nay make that impossible) to find crafting time and space because of my lovely 'lodgers' I'm going to post my son's work again. I like showing it off anyway, Lol!

This time he did a pencil portrait of my daughter, Jenna and her daughter, Isabella, as a birthday gift for Jenna at the beginning of the month. I think it's absolutely beautiful and so did Jenna.

This is the original photograph.

And this is the lovely drawing

Oooh, I wish I could draw!!!!

Golden Wedding Anniversary Card & Box

Last weekend was the 50th Wedding Anniversary of my Hubby's Aunt and Uncle and this is the card and matching box I made for them.

Unusually for me, this card has no stamping whatsoever. I used a lovely pearlescent pale gold base card and gold mirri for layering and all the flowers, leaves, hearts and butterflies were punched from different shades and types of gold papers.

I thoroughly enjoyed making this card not least because I knew Aunty Janet would be expecting one handmade by me. She always says she loves receiving my cards to see what different designs I come up with and she keeps all the Christmas cards I've made for them and gets them out every year. Ah, isn't that nice of her?

I've had a really lovely day today. My friend Jo and I have been to the Artisan show, which was sponsored by Craft Stamper and Beads and Beyond magazines. There were some wonderful exhibitors there including the brilliant Leandra Franich (PaperArtsy) and we watched some fabulous demonstrations and made a lovely Stampbord brooch at a 'Make and Take' with Katy Fox, the Editor of Craft Stamper and Helen Chilton, whose work both Jo and I greatly admire. For anyone interested in jewellery making there were some wonderful items available. Some of the beads were stunning and there was a wide range of equipment as well. Unfortunately, it appears that attendance had not been good and I have to admit, it was very quiet today. Now this was lovely for us as shoppers as we could easily get round to see all the goodies and watch all the demos from the 'front row' but I am sure it was not so good for the exhibitors and must put in jeopardy the prospect of another Artisan show which is a great shame. We found the venue easy to find and accessible by road and although I drove us there today, Jo had checked out trains and buses and could have got there quite easily if I hadn't gone. There was also a very nice restaurant area with a pretty good menu available, including cooked meals at reasonable prices. I really hope that they do try again.

At last - Something to post!!!!

I've had a funny time during the last bit of August and Sept, some of it lovely and some not so. The 'not so' was a nasty bout of some 'flu like' virus which made me feel really poorly for several days and has left me with an annoying cough but, thanks goodness, it seems to be going away now.

The good parts though were brilliant! Over the past few weeks I've been to three workshops at Graphicus in Barnard Castle. With Lynn Robinson-Hunter it was called My Secret Garden and then I had a day spent half with Glenda Waterworth and half with Lynn which involved all things Christmassy. The last one was with Glenda and was called Glimmer Misterie, absolutely fantastic. I have another two workshops booked in October and can't wait. I will do blog posts about these wonderful workshops at a later date, but I need to work on the projects some more before that.

In the meantime, this is a card I was asked to make by a lady I used to work with, for her Sister-in-Law's 40th Birthday. It's quite a simple card really which mainly involved stamping and embossing with Copper Kettle Detail EP and Crystal clear EP but I was really pleased with the result. The stamps I used were from a design sheet called Butterfly Garden which is from The Stampman's own Aspects of Design range.

Other items I used were one of my Nesties labels dies, ribbon, butterfly charm, peeloffs for the sentiment and a lovely clear sparkle border peeloff.

This is a closeup of the lovely intricate butterfly which I also stamped randomly over the background with Versamark and embossed with Crystal clear EP.

This is the insert which I again stamped with images and sentiments from the same Butterfly Garden themeplate.

I'm not too happy with the light quality of these photos but I had to take them without the sunshine on the card otherwise the mirri card glared and most of the detail was lost.

Makes from a recent Sheila Oliver Class

On the 18th August I went to a cardmaking class with my crafting buddy Jo. The tutor was the very talented Sheila Oliver. This is the second of Sheila's classes we have been to but for this one we indicated to Sheila the techniques we would like to have a go at and she tailored the class specially for us. Two other ladies joined us on the class and we had an absolute blast! Customers going into the shop (Monk's Den at Ashby-de-la-Zouche) downstairs kept asking what all the noise and laughter was. It was an absolutely brilliant day so thankyou Sheila and if you check out her blog here you'll see what I'm talking about.

This first card was using Cuttlebug embossing folders on card and chipboard shapes. We used a mixture of inkpads, acrylic paint, Rub n Buff, gilding flakes, embossing powder and stickles to colour and texturise the various elements.

The second card was beautifully simple and so effective. Again we used CB folders but before placing the card in the folder we tapped embossing ink inside the folder and then embossed. We then covered the embossed area with clear sparkle EP and heated. Result - gorgeous!!! We used a single large snowflake folder for the top part of the card. I absolutely love this Christmas card.

The third card uses CB folders as well but this time with wax paper. We ran a piece of wax paper through the CB in a folder and then ironed it onto a piece of semi-gloss card. We then blended ink onto the card and the wax created a resist. Finally we stamped and embossed our image.

The final card used a totally new technique to me in the final stages. First of all we built up a collage of images and once we were happy with it we covered the whole piece with Bond-a-web and heated it with a heatgun until it bubbled and the bubbles burst. This meant there were areas where you had the shiny melted Bond-a-web and bare areas of card where the bursted bubbles were. We then blended ink over the whole piece and, of course, it settled into the bare areas to leave you with a sort of faux rusted tin effect.

I you click on any of the photos you can see a closeup of the techniques used, especially the sparkly snowflakes and the faux tin. Sheila's classes are so enjoyable and she's a really good tutor. I only wished we lived closer so that we could get to more of them.

Finally, I want to show a pretty pair of earings which were a RAK from Kathryn. She and I shared a series of workshops at Once Upon a Stamp earlier this year. She's been making some really beautiful jewellery and hasn't been blogging very long so please pay her a visit here and leave a comment.

Thankyou for the gift Kathryn, I shall enjoy wearing them.

Not My Own Work (Unfortunately)

Life has been pretty hectic at our little homestead this week. I've been helping out at my old job over their holiday period and I had a lovely crafty day with Jo on Wednesday. We went to Once Upon a Stamp (which is very close to me) for a good browse and some crafty shopping, called for some lunch on the way back and then spent a smashing afternoon playing with shrink plastic, acetate, gold leaf, Inkadinkado Snow Fall set and some of my new Elusive Images Christmas stamps. We didn't actually finish a card (too much chat and not enough work) but had all the bits ready to put a couple together. I will blog mine when I get chance to finish them but...........................

In the early hours of Wednesday morning I got a tearful phonecall from my lovely DIL. They had a pipe burst and the lounge had a huge hole in the ceiling with water running everywhere. Absolutely everything was soaked including all the electrics so I had to go fetch her and little Alexa back here whilst my son stayed to wait for the emergency plumber - thank goodness for home insurance! The outcome is that they will be staying with us for a couple of weeks at least, which is lovely, but not condusive to my getting much crafting done.

So, as I haven't made any completed projects recently I thought I would share someone else's work with you. My son, Jamie is quite a talented artist (he has a Fine Art Degree) and although he is not employed in any artistic field but works as a Personal Development Outreach Worker, a couple of weeks ago they had an Open Day so Jamie did some graffiti demonstrations but onto boards instead of walls. The following are photos of the pieces he did plus a couple of pencil drawings of children in the family (taken from photos).

I'm very proud of the artwork Jamie produces when he has time and keep trying to persuade him to set up a blog but unfortunately, at the moment, spare time is in short supply so I'm enjoying showing it off instead.

A couple of weeks ago I did go to a cardmaking class with Sheila Oliver as the excellent (and lots of fun) tutor and as soon as I have time to sort the photos of the cards we made I'll post them.

Creeping round the Boss!

This card had to be a bit special because it was for my boss, Lol! Actually, I retired at the beginning of May but was asked if I could help out over a difficult staffing time they're having just now, so although Jayne is technically my boss she is and has been a very good friend for a number of years now.

Jayne is also a friend who, although she isn't a crafter herself has always taken great interest in the things I make and has been very encouraging so I like to make sure her cards are a bit special.

This design is a card within a card. The outer card is folded gatefold style and the inner card is a normal C5 fold. For this card I used a precious sheet of my Graphicus Guild BP pack in a beautiful grey. It almost seems to shimmer like silk. I'm not going to bore you with details of the cutting and stamping as I think it's fairly obvious what I did but if there's anything anyone would like to ask me, please feel free to email or leave a question in the comments. I did also stamp the image I have used below and another sentiment into the inside of the C5 fold card.

Once again everything, stamps, inks, etc., I used on this card are available at Graphicus but you have to join the Guild to get the paper. They have just brought out a beautiful new cd though, called Decadent Brocade, and there are several paper designs on it that are very much like (if not exactly the same) the one I have used, and lots of others that are absolutely gorgeous.

I was really pleased with this card because I thought it suited Jayne's taste perfectly and I was right because she really loved it.