Will be Back

Sorry I have not posted since Wednesday.  Had a workshop on Thursday which I had forgotten about (thanks Sarah it was great), today was aunty's 80th birthday and tomorrow I am on a course all weekend.  Hopefully will post on Monday when I will have pictures of the Artsy Weekend I am on - should be good!

Thanks for all the entries for my blog candy and the new followers.  I do appreciate all my followers and wish you all well.

BLOG CANDY ALERT

As it is my birthday I thought I would offer some blog candy.

There is a Tim Holtz stamp (because I bought it again when I already had one), a set of Heidi Swapp clear alphabet stamps (bought at CHA Super Show purposely for blog candy), a Tonic Distresser (given to me in TH class but as I already have one thought I would share), a Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Ink (because it is a duplicate, again), one of those mini bottles of Claudine Helmuth's Studio Muli-medium matte (only obtainable in this size at CHA - darling little bottles) and my wooden bracelet made with Claudine at CHA (just because).

All you have to do is become a follower and leave a comment underneath to say you want to be included in the draw.  If you are already a follower perhaps you will mention it to me to make life easier for me when you leave a comment.

As I am mega busy with workshops at the moment I will make the draw in two weeks time, 24th March - which coincides with my friend's birthday.

I'll do another later but wanted to make this one a bit connected with my recent trip to America and CHA.

Sharing

Thought I would just share with you my handmade birthday cards.  Sorry if some of the photographs are a bit dark.  It is so wonderful to think that so many friends have spent all that time making a card for my birthday and I would like to thank every single one of them for sending me a card.  They mean so much.

If you click on the pictures themselves they should open up in a new window and then you can see them in all of their glory.  I just hope I have not missed one.

My Tidy (?) Craft Room

You all saw my untidy stash when I came back from America - well, I have kind of tidied up since then and thought I would give you a tour of my craft room.  A few years ago it was on a Make Over programme "Big Strong Boys" and they put me a laminate wood floor in, counter tops, a (Gavin) floating shelf and open shelving.  It looked beautiful - but then I had to move all my craft stuff back in!  Still the same colours on the walls, left over paint enabled me to paint some cupboards I added but now there are other things in that do not match.  Ah well, a girl just has to have storage for the craft addiction.

This is what they called my "inspiration wall"  (Sam, see your picture is up there) and the line they put up (Ikea) is supposed to have cards hanging from it but now houses all manner of things - kind of my noticeboard.

Moving in a clockwise direction here are my Tim Holtz tins containing my Alcohol Inks, Dabbers, Crackle Paint, Distress ep's, Distress Stickles etc.  My trusty little Cuttlebug is there, as are my gel pens and my card index system.  I write down in pencil where I store things that are out of sight.  That way, hopefully I can find my magnets, Mitzy cord etc.  Otherwise I would be looking everywhere.

Above are white (Ikea kitchen) containers holding brushes, foam brushes, Sharpies, ColorBox things etc and above them the coloured containers hold my clay tools.

Underneath is one of the open cupboards.  On the side of it is a chrome towel rail which is ideal for folding over my paper that is too large to go anywhere else, mulberry paper etc and inside the first section you can see my Ten Second Tool Kit, computer leads, inks etc and in the blue bag my Cricut with my cartridges (a good buy at £12 from QVC shop a while ago - it's really a travel bag).  Under that is one of those nappy cases - my Paddy Workshop stuff, and a couple of silver tins (Ikea) which contain my Acrylic paints.

The next lot of tins have fibres, specialist paints, utee, clay molds, charms and embellishments in and the black ones have Cuttlebug Folders (bottom one) and Spellbinders dies (top one) in.  Oh, and the tins on the top plus the fancy box all contain books I have made (stitched star, flag tag, piano hinge etc) and some materials for making more.

Back to the counter top - next to my TH tins we have more silver tins.  These house my UM's.  I stamp them on an A5 piece of paper and laminate them, then stick the stamps on and stack them on their side in the tins (each categorised).  The black box houses my Tim Holtz stamps (need another now) and the cream ones my Paper Artsy (full so need another of those).

The plastic drawers are from when I first began stamping - these have my (few) mounted stamps in and  UM's which are on A4 sheets - things like small words and Non Sequitur plates (don't ask how many I have).  You can just about see my big Scor-it, new MS score board and my Marble box for when I do those backgrounds (not done them in over a year - must revisit).  The brown box is an old one where I store my ribbons (loose), cording, lace etc.

Stacked on top are boxes with my Journalling and Suzi stuff in and at the extreme right my Altered Books, spray booths, flower press etc .

Underneath you can just about see my cardstock storage.  A neighbour made me this and I love it, everything to hand and stored in colourways.  The first grey cabinet houses all my clay stuff then there's chipboard, small Scor-it and Tonic cutter, Ideology, Grungeboard, glossy card, Designer papers (and at the bottom UM's waiting to be put away, oh heck!).  You can also see that I have other cutters/guillotines on top of these cupboards, they just fit nicely below the counter.

Turning the corner is a concertina file on the floor which has lots of projects in it, things I have taught, things I have picked up here and there.  All alphabetically filed!  The black bag is for my Wizard and its plates and the bin behind holds rolls of paper.

Back up to the counter - this is where I work.  Acrylic blocks in a container to keep them together, Mini Mister block, my carousel which I won a couple of years ago at CHA (don't ask what is in it - but I will say it has so many things to hand for me), my heat gun on the stand my dear friend Ronnie made me (sadly Ronnie is no longer with us but I have this as a constant reminder of a very very dear friend), pasta machine for clay and loads of stuff in the window.  I leave this big Green cutting mat on the whole time, love my foam pad to stamp on and you can see my ATG gun is in constant use.

Keeping up on the counter and moving right we have cubby holes (Ikea again) stacking my ink pads which I use on a regular basis.  Stamp cleaner in a regimented row, Suze's fantastic glitter glue, mainly black and Versamark inkpads in a container top left so I can just reach them, most used Dabbers that won't fit in the tin on the other side, Prima flowers, ds tape, glues, sticky buddies, Post-its for masking, Bedazzles, Embossing powders, a revolving water pot holder (actually contained mustard pots at one time), Cut and Dry, a spare heat gun holder for when friends come and eight containers full of books.

Moving round mountboard on the floor, three sets of drawers (dominoes, brads, eyelets, Cropadile, beads, metallic cardstock, templates, Polished pigments, H2o's, Perfect Pearls, Rub Ons, Spray Inks, punches, Tyvek etc).  Incidentally underneath the silver tin are a pile of old placemats.  I cover them (cork side) with aluminium foil and use them for heating when embossing, using utee etc.  Saves my green mat warping with the heat.

Inside the cupboard are spares for various things, loads of Designer papers in boxes, Encaustic stuff, Melt Pot, travel iron, peel offs, Dremel, Suze's hot tool etc.

You can see more cubby holes, again storage for coloured card, this time A5, outsized Magenta stamps, Viva paints (new so need to play) and spritzer bottles.

 

Continuing round, cubby holes for envelopes, Adirondack spray inks, reinkers, inkpads not used much, new MS punches, all manner of technique stuff, brayers and ... more books.  The blue drawers have silk flowers, bolios and cubes and wires in and the black drawers house things like Friendly Plastic, tags, slide holders, library pockets, TS molds, watercolour crayons, Parchment craft things, ATC stuff, cello bags, and so on.

The cupboard is full with more projects, magazines, canvases etc

Back to the beginning - if you have stuck it this long I bet you are glad this is it!  The old computer table now just holds the printer/scanner, bags and boxes ready for taking to the club, and my Art Box which contains loads of Laser cuts that I keep forgetting about.

Hope this wasn't too boring, but I did want to show you my tidy room - well, it was tidy the other day.

My Weekend

Well, on Saturday it was Vicky Stampers and we had Margaret from SU doing the workshop.  We made a lot of things which I will upload another day as I still have to finish some things off.  The timing was perfect but as I had to leave early I didn't quite finish.

The morning began with presents and cards being given to me for my upcoming birthday and then Jayne presented me with a book which she had made for me.  Now, if I say this reduced me to tears, it wasn't just the once, I had three separate weeps.  It is a paper bag book and is cram full of things, tags, little books, pull out pages - you name it they are all in there.  BUT ... she had been in touch with my friend, Mary, in America, and Mary had got friends and relatives to send messages to me for my birthday.  These are now in the little books and on tags etc all enclosed in my book.  Mary's grand-daughter (in law) had made posters and taken photographs of her two little ones holding them up for me.  It is so overwhelming what has come across the pond via the internet.

I hope this picture does not detract from the book but I used some of the books given to me by my lovely friend Paul for my birthday as a backdrop.

Can you see all the lovely embellishments, some of the tags and pages etc.  No - then go to You Tube and put in dizzyrus1001 and find the book for Neet that she has on video.  Jayne will explain it all to you.  I never thought anyone would do something like this for me and even yesterday I was still very tearful (joyous) and sitting there in amazement looking at it, undoing it, putting things back and then watching the You Tube video again and again.

Please put a comment for Jayne on her You Tube page - this is a work of art and must have taken weeks to do - so many techniques, so much stamping, handmade flowers etc.  Can't thank Jayne enough for all the work and thought she has put into this - and Mary for all the collecting she has done.  True friends!

Busy Day Today

Up at the crack of dawn to feed the cats for a neighbour then off to Victoria Stampers where we are having a guest tutor today.  Margaret Rose is coming to do a Stamping Up Workshop for us so I am really looking forward to being there.  Afterwards I have to dash home, feed the cats forthe evening and then we are off to my son and dil's for dinner.

In the meantime here is a RAK I made for a friend.  I hope it is ok to upload it as she should have it by now.

I used Wild Plum, Sunset Orange and Sunshine Yellow Adirondacks to make the background colour but I don't know who the stamps are by.  They are clear and were given to me by my friend Cath ages ago.  I just love that face stamp.

Right, off to feed the moggies!

At Last - Done a Challenge Again

Had been waiting to hear from Ready Steady Stamp to find out what was meant by "frame it" - think I have fulfilled the challenge now.  The ingredients are listed below:

My Entry using Crafty Individual Stamps

I had this box type container which had held Guest Soaps at one time and so I made it into a frame and put some torn pieces of Designer paper over it in a random fashion.  Then I got another piece of Designer paper, which was beige, and coloured it all over with Peacock Distress Inks to make it fit the parameters of blue and green.  It is lovely paper and has Chinese Kanji on which you cannot really see in this scan.

Then I cut out the letters from yet another piece of Designer paper, mounted them on thick cardboard and edged the green shapes with Broken China Distress Ink.  The images were stamped in black on white and mounted on black foam core.

The bird at the top is a laser cut I bought in America last year, painted with Sailboat Blue (Dabber) and the two Daisies are from a Sizzix Die.

I do hope some more people join in the Ready Steady Stamp Challenge or else this is going to be the last one.  This is a "real" challenge and one which I thoroughly enjoy - different from the rest.