A little bit of Playtime.

Hello Lovely Visitors,

I hope it's sunny in your neck of the woods this morning.  It's just broken through to smile on us here today and it's much more cheerful than the dark, dank day we had yesterday. Makes you feel so much better I think.  We've just about got rid of the flu bugs here too apart from the really annoying and persistent coughs.  Alexa (granddaughter) and I seem to spend our time together having coughing competitions ........drives us both potty!

Because I felt a little better I also felt a bit more inclined to play with some lovely goodies I received from PaperArtsy just before the bugs struck and last night I finished decorating a chunky heart.  I'm only just learning what can be done with acrylic paints but have tried one or two types and these Fresco Finish paints from PaperArtsy have to be my favourites.  I love the chalky finish to them and if you've used them on a flat surface it's perfect for stamping straight onto.  However, in this case because of the puffy shape of the heart I had to do the stamping onto tissue (PaperArtsy Crackly Tissue) and then adhere the tissue to the heart.  Everything I used for my heart came from PaperArtsy except I used Studio Multi-Medium Matte to adhere the tissue and unfortunately I find although it says matte finish it is actually still shiny when dry to some extent.  Next time I'm going to try Leandra's Fresco Satin Glaze (as she shows in her video) and see what the difference is.

The Fresco colours used were Pansy, Moonlight, Snowflake, Hey Pesto and Limelight and I used Claret to colour the gorgeous JoFy stamped images.  The touches of greens don't really show up on the photos but they are there ........... honest, lol!

I was really tempted to started adding flowers to where the hanging loop is as well as some background masking/stamping (as is my usual habit) but I love the simplicity of the JoFy stamps and didn't want to start going too fussy with other stuff so apart from the simple ribbon and a few half pearls I managed to resist, lol! 

The flowers are from the JOFY09 set which is the first A5 non-Christmas set and I'm now longing to buy all the new sets that have just been released.  The quote is from PaperArtsy Hot Picks HP1203.

Well, I hope I'm not tempting fate here but on Friday evening I should be wending my way down to Swindon with my buddy Jo.  On Saturday we are doing the fabulous Steampunk Mask workshop with Val at Snazzy's.  You may remember we should have done this workshop a month ago but the snow decided to totally disrupt our travel.  I refuse to be stopped this time, lol!  I'll try to remember to take some pics on Saturday but if past hisory is anything to go buy ....... don't hold your breath ;D.

Till next time, take care lovely friends.

Hugs
Lesley  Xx

3rd Snazzy's DT piece showcasing the gorgeous Prima Engraver Collection

Hello Lovely Visitors,

Well, I did manage to finish my 3rd project using the fabulous Prima Engraver Collection  which the Snazzy's DT are showcasing this month.  I have to say we get some wonderful kits to play with from our brilliant Bosses but this one has to rank at the top of the list of favourites.  The papers are beautiful and the flowers, out of this world scrummy.  Eeek!!*** .............. I just realised I missed the all important and gorgeous blingy flourishes from my last project, Boo Hoo!!!  They are so lovely and I had saved them for this last femine style make.  Blame it on the flu!  Back in a mo ...........................

Right, a small last minute adjustment which will be revealed over on the Snazzy's DT Blog if you care to pop over, lol!  Here is a teeny taster of my project.

I hope to be back again over the next few days with something I've been having more fun with recently.  In the meantime I hope you are all staying warm and cosy.  The wind outside is fffffreezing!  See you again soon.

EDIT :  I nearly forgot to mention that I've been having more and more problems with spam comments for a while now and recently one or two have been getting past the spam detection so it is with reluctance I have turned on comment moderation.  I can't stand word verification myself so I won't impose it on lovely people who are kind enough to leave me a comment so the alternative is to moderate them.  Hope you all understand. ;0)

Hugs
Lesley  Xx

Ooops, nearly missed it!

Hi Everyone,

Just dashing in here by the skin of my teeth!  By some lucky happen chance I scheduled my midweek post over on the Snazzy's DT Blog last weekend and boy am I glad I did because since last Sunday I've been struck down by the lurgy.  Over the phone diagnosis from GP is 'viral flu' and I have to say I have never felt so wiped out in my life and such a myriad of symptoms I don't know which is the most miserable.  It seems to be sweeping the family now as my Son's lovely partner got it the same time as me and she's barely left her bed yet and today my OH has started with it.  He's spent all day in bed and has now fallen asleep on the couch!  Looks like it's gonna be a looooooonnnnnngggg week, lol!

Anyway, when I scheduled the Snazzy post I completely forgot to do a sneak peek on here so here it is now.

Do pop over to Snazzy's DT Blog to see the whole thing if you get chance and if I can pull myself together enough to finish the half made project I have on the go I'll be back before the end of the week with my final piece from the latest fabulous kit.

Thanks for popping by and cheering me up (crafty people always seem to know how to do that don't you find) and I hope to see you in a couple of days.

Hugs
Lesley  Xx

It's Snazzy's time again ....

Hello lovely visitors and welcome,

I hope all of you have had a really good weekend.  I'm currently enjoying some valuable time with my Daughter and her two children.  They live an hour and a half's drive away so because of Jenna's work commitments and Izzy's schooling at their end and my commitments down here I don't get to see half as much of them as I'd like so this few days is very precious.  I might even remember to take a few pics to bore you all with next time I blog, lol!

Anyway, it's my week to blog over on the Snazzy's DT Blog.  The Bosses, Val and Don sent the DT a wonderful kit to work with this month.  The kits are always good but this one is exceptional ;-).  Here's a sneak peek of my first project.

I hope you get chance to pop over to Snazzy's DT blog to see the whole project and leave me a little comment, ;D.  In the meantime, here's a mega quick little card using the offcut from a 21cm square base card and a scrap from the Snazzy project.

I'll be back later in the week with another sneaky peek.

Hugs

Lesley  Xx

Unexpected post!!!

Hello Lovely Visitors,

Well, I hope you've all had as pleasant an afternoon as I have!  I was in my craftroom bright and early this morning as I have to get cracking on some DT stuff but inspite of a tidy up and good search in a few nooks and crannies I came up with a big fat nothing in my search for Mr Mojo.  I just couldn't get going and left it for a quick visit to Facebook where I left a comment on one of lovely Hels Sheridan's posts mentioning that I was struggling and bless her, she gave me a recipe challenge to try and kick start the creative juices.

I will confess here and now, I think I have only made something specifically for a challenge maybe twice in the past and never to a recipe and add to that the pressure of a challenge from THE FAMOUS HELS SHERIDAN, lol!  Her recipe was a tag, the scraped paint technique, background of stamped flourishes, paper flowers and the word 'believe'.  Strictly speaking I think I might have broken the rules a bit because I used more than a flourish stamp for my background but I've had loads of fun this afternoon and got really messy with the scraped paint technique ...... something else I've never done before ....... and at one point I thought it was going to end up in the bin.  However, I persevered and this is the result.

I used Claudine Hellmuth's Studio paints starting with covering the whole tag in Trad Tan and then using an old credit card to scrape on Real Teal, Smidge of Blue and Blank Canvas and sometimes a mixture of the blue with the white.  I added a few streaks of Trad Tan with the edge of the card.  I had to fight very hard with myself to stop from blending it all together with a wet wipe, lol!

I stamped some flourishes from a Tim Holtz set using Versamark Cloud White and then again with second generation Archival Cobalt.  I did the same with a small Tim crackle stamp and then stamped the same flourish fully inked with Cobalt down the left side and a stamp from one of Tim's Classic sets down the right side.

The word 'BELIEVE' is from one of Tim's Christmas stamp sets, stamped in Black Archival onto white card which I then trimmed and inked round the edges with a dark blue Versamark.  I attached this with foam pads and set about layering and placing my paper flowers.  Most of these have been in my stash for years and I rarely use them because I usually make my own flowers.  A quick spritz with a Dew Drop Glimmer Mist mainly over the flowers and the addition of a few Ideology pearl drops and some ribbon and that's my tag.

What do you think?  Any constructive criticism welcome and I have had a lot of fun.  Didn't get any DT stuff done but maybe I've broken through the block so thanks a lot Hels!  Just one thing ....... I've been lucky enough to receive a few pieces of Hels' art and they are always so clean on the back.  I'd love to know how she does it 'cos mine is covered in paint, lol!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend folks and I do hope you don't get any more of the white stuff ...... unless you want it of course, in which case you can have whatever is coming my way ;D.

Hugs
Lesley  Xx

Wonder how long this will last!

Hi Everyone,

On the Chocolate Baroque forum quite a few members were saying how stressed we were before Christmas because we had made the usual mistake of leaving it too late to make our Christmas cards.  I was soooo guilty of that particular sin last year and even my special people didn't get handmade cards (hangs head in deep shame). So, lovely Sandra set up a friendly challenge to try and motivate us to get started early this year and today I'm going to share my first card for Christmas 2013!

We can make our cards to our own design choice but Sandra has also given a suggestion for each month and January's theme is Red and Gold so I decided to go along with that with the addition of ivory.  I chose a deep burgundy red card for my A5 base and then stamped my chosen image from one of my oldest CB Christmas stamp sets (I can't find it on the website so think it's discontinued) onto parchment using Versamark ink and then heat embossed with Ranger Queen's Gold EP.  I die cut the image using a Nestability label die and coloured the poinsettias with Sakura Sparkle pens.  I haven't used these in ages and I do love the subtle sparkle you get with them (glitter is too much for me usually).

I then cut a different label die from ivory coloured card, edged both this and the parchment one with a gold Sakura Pen Touch pen and laid the parchment one on top, adhering with micro dot tape just under areas covered by the stamped image.

I then die cut some poinsettias from burgundy and ivory card using a Marianne die, with the centres cut from gold pearlescent card.  I edged all the petals with the gold Pen Touch, shaped and layered them before adding them to my card.  I die cut the swirls from gold pearlescent card using my Tim Holtz/Sizzix garland strip die.  I love the two little swirls on there and use them a lot. 

Then when everything was stuck onto the base card I risked the whole thing because I decided I didn't like the sentiment stamped onto a label but preferred it stamped direct onto the card so I took a deep breath and went for it, lol!  Luckily I got it straight and in the middle ........... big relief! 

This card turned out a whole lot more elaborate than I intended but at least that's one made.  I do hope I can discipline myself to keep it up and actually increase my monthly Christmas card makes.  After all 12 won't go far will they, lol!

Well, that's it for today.  I hope if you're here in the UK you haven't been too inconvenienced by the snow this past week. Those of you who know me will be aware that I hate the blooming stuff.  I agree, it has looked very pretty but not enough to make the inconvenience worthwhile.  Yesterday I was pretty scared doing the school runs because I could barely stand up in either of the car parks and now the snow is starting to melt and it's raining so those poor folk flooded before Christmas (plus many more) have it all to go through again no doubt. 

Enjoy the rest of your weekend folks and I'll be back again soon.

Hugs
Lesley  Xx

Really quick post ..... Honest!!!

Hi Everyone,

By the skin of my teeth, I've just managed to post a second project for this week over on the Snazzy's DT Blog.  Here's just a little taster.  Hope you'll get chance to visit the DT Blog to see the whole thing.

My friend Jo and I have been texting back and forth for the past couple of hours trying to decide whether or not we dared risk our proposed journey down to Snazzys tonight for a workshop tomorrow.  Common sense has prevailed even though I kept hoping against hope we could do it and Val is kindly rescheduling for everyone.  At 64 years old you'd think I'd have more sense than to even consider it with today's driving conditions, lol, but I've been so looking forward to it.  Never mind, heaven knows how long the 3 hour journey would have stretched to if we'd attempted it.

I hope everyone is keeping warm and cosy apart from all my Twitter friends who I am discovering all like this blooming white stuff!!!

Hugs
Lesley  Xx