Advent

A few weeks ago I went to Dyan's to make this fab advent calender. Above is the before being filled picture and below is after it is filled and tied up. I cant wait to start opening it now!!

A Humbling Day

Tomorrow is my Grandads 80'th Birthday, Today is Remembrance day. We had a lovely dinner with tables full of guests their to celebrate (actually 5 birthdays in November in my family!!) So it is kind of a joint part too, but special this year as we didn't expect Grandad to actually still be here. Anyway one of his best friend came to the party, but I have never met this man before and I couldn't tell you his name, everyone called him Colonel He was sporting loads of medals but one in particular is very humbling, He received a medal from the Prime Minister of France for being one of the first to land at Normandy. Very humbling.

OMG ! WON!!!!

Oh wow i actually won something!!!! Feet hurting from slogging it around the Harrogate papercrafts show and an hour fighting with my pc as it ''couldnt find the internet'' i managed to get on-line. What do i find as i scroll down my favourite blogs??? THIS!!! I WON!!!! Whooot.

Big thanks to Paper Artsy.

Sketch Saturday Challenge

Well I haven't uploaded a card in a long while and thought I should get myself into gear, so here we are. The picture isn't very good, I will take another in the morning with better light. Image is Magnolia, Papers from K & Co.

Sad state of affairs

Well I am taking an art class, a proper one not a card making class. So needing some supplies I thought ahh lets head into town and go to the art shop, now this shop is an Aladdins cave ranging from professional art supplies to card making to scrap booking to jewelry making. To my horror when I arrived the sign said ''CLOSING DOWN'' ''EVERYTHING MUST GO''. After speaking to the staff the shop has gone into liquidation and they will be closed forever this time next week. This is a very sad day for a shop that has been trading for almost 15 years. So if you are local to me get yourself down to the The Art Centre, Halifax before its gone.

Support your local shops or you too will experince the shock I did.

Craft Room Clear Out

Well it is that time of year... No not really, I have changed my crafting style and interests from when I first started card making 3 years ago. So good news for everyone else I am having a clear out. Visit the link on my sidebar to go to my e-bay shop. I am slowly going through my vast masses of stuff. So far i have uploaded some stickers (more to come), Sizzix original red dies including the very rare snowman and santa head, Some encaustic wax (more to come) and i plan on going through my stamps tomorrow.

Enjoy the bargains, i hope others get as much joy out of everything that i used to!!

Book review - Taking Flight by Kelly Rae Roberts

A friend told me about this book awhile ago, being skeptical me it has taken ages to get it. Now I do have it all I can say is wow!! Packed full of techniques with easy to follow instructions and pictures, full of inspiration and challenges. This book is a must for anyone interested in mixed media. I purchased this from Play.com for £11.40 with free postage.

Just Magnolia Week 4

This weeks Just Magnolia challenge is to add stitching to your card. I wanted my entry to be different and didn't fancy getting the bulky sewing machine out so I used a stitching template and cut out a section of the card adding decorative paper behind. Paper is from the graphicus guild paper pack, flowers by prima, stitching template is trapeze by avec.

Just Magnolia Challenge 3

I really wanted to join in last weeks just magnolia challenge but time ran away from me so i didn't get chance. This weeks challenge however, is a fab sketch. I just got my hands on the dragonfly Tilda, but it does lend itself to being a bee also which inspired the yellow colour scheme. I had originally done this image with darker shades of yellow and black and blue but i broke the cardinal rule in my rush to colour the image..... I did the black first which bled into the yellow and that was a ruined image, so learning my lesson i took more time on this one and followed the basics of lightest colour first and bingo done in no time at all.

Sorry for the dark image, its gray and raining cant get it any brighter.

Image: Magnolia Dragonfly Tilda
Card: White 5 x 7
Ribbon: Some paper ribbon from the bottom of a drawer
Gems: Papermania Silver stones
Paper: From a do crafts goody bag
Vellum: From a do crafts goody bag
Flourish: Stamped in Versafine Sepia.
Flourish Stamp: From the garden set by fancy pants designs

What a day!! Part 2

Also at the class yesterday we got to play with the new alcohol ink colours and loads of Tim Holtz stamps. Varying techniques in both the inks and stamping, I have fallen in love with the linen card stock we used, the way it took the ink gave such a distress feel to the finished look, love it love it love it! Lucky for us but not the bank manager the new inks arrived while we were in class so given the bad year I have had so far, decided to buy the whole lot. Ben kindly opened it all up and sorted all the inks for us ready for the end of the class, hes so kind. Also I had a lovely suprise when I walked into the class to see the wonderful Joyce aka: Ribbon Lady sat at the table, so nice to spend the day crafting with a lovely lady and a lovely teacher. On a whole much fun was had by all!!