ArtyFartyAnnie

Hi everyone, Just in the nick of time to catch Mr Linky for March on the Counterfeit Kit Challenge blog , here is the last page I've made with my Flea Market Finds kit - I've cheated and incorporated Challenge #2 and Challenge #3 in the same layout as I was running out of time ... Challenge #2 was to be inspired by something on Jennifer Grace Creates - well that wasn't difficult because Jennifer's blog is always inspiring and although our styles are very different, her influence can be seen on my page. Challenge #3 was to add texture to your background, so I brought that in as well. My other goal was to use up as much of my kit as possible, ready to start a new one for April! So, here are a few close-ups and details ...

This week's Case File over at CSI has a really bold colour scheme with a technical/industrial feel and musical elements - quite unusual and perfect for a boy page I thought. Here's the Case File ... Debbi Tehrani , CSI mastermind, takes inspiration from the Scene to create a colour combination, design elements and journaling prompts. To crack the case, you have to use all five colours in the Scheme, at least two items from Evidence and one from Testimony. Here's how I cracked it ... I've used the sketch for the Scrap365 April Sketch Challenge so I will link this up there as well - why not have a go yourself and maybe win a fab prize?! So did I follow all the clues? Scheme: all the colours are there, plus some neutrals Evidence: circles, metal, buttons, diagonal crosshatch Testimony: IW "Think"- this picture of my baby step-grandson makes me wonder what was going through his little mind and I've dotted my journaling over several spots ...

Hi everyone, In case you didn't already know, today is your 251st opportunity to show the world What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday and better still, have a nosey around other people's creative spaces all over the world and see what they've been up to - to join in the fun, just pop over to Julia's Stamping Ground and check it out for yourself. Here's mine this morning ... ... full of promise! I've PROMISED myself I will get around to playing with the gorgeous set of gelatos DH gave me for my birthday - it came with lots of extras, like a spritzer, stamp, dropper and some swatches of different materials to experiment with. I dug out a watercolour pad when I was putting my Counterfeit Kit together, so that's there as well AND the the gorgeous prize from DoCrafts (lots of goodies from the Papermania Bare Essentials range which I reckon will be the perfect blank canvas for some Gelato techniques). I also really need to make a wedding card for Satur...

The first challenge this month over at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog was use a watercolour technique on your page, so I dug out the old watercolour paintbox and had a lovely time making drips and splats all over the place. Here's the first page I made with my March Counterfeit Kit  ... I used a sketch by the lovely Lizzy Hill for Scrap365  - Thanks Lizzy!!! Patterned paper from the Maggie Holmes Flea Market collection by Crate Paper Stickers and cut-apart from the Teresa Collins Daily Stories collection Chipboard stickers from Simple Stories Daily Grind  and Homespun I've had this little watercolour paintbox for years, and plenty of gorgeous textured watercolour paper ... It was easy to make some fabulous watery splashes of colour for the background...

Hi Everyone, Case File #115 over at CSI this week is all soft, romantic and dreamy ... ... so it was perfect for a page featuring a double selfie of me and DH! CSI Mastermind Debbi Tehrani has taken inspiration from this dreamy scene and put together a gorgeous colour combination, ideas for design elements and techniques, as well as some journaling prompts to make sure we tell our stories. To solve the case, you must follow all these clues - All five colours in the Scheme At least two items from Evidence At least one from Testimony Here's how I solved this case ... So, did I follow all the clues? Scheme: all the colours are included, plus white Evidence: hearts; grid; flowers; pen work. Testimony: IW dreamy, imagine and curly handwritten journaling along the top and bottom of the page, which reads, "you are my dream come true. i cannot imagine life without you." Here are a couple of close-ups so you can check for clues under the magnifying...

Hi everyone, You know how sometimes when the sun comes streaming in the windows, you suddenly realise how grubby everything looks and you get the urge to clean and organise? Well, it doesn't happen to me very often, but it did yesterday, so I spring-cleaned the kitchen and even sorted out my spices, cleared out the old ones, refilled and labelled all the jars ... ... it's not a great picture, because my spice shelf is in a dark corner of the kitchen. The basket is where I keep the refill bags ...

Hi Everyone, Here are my forgeries inspired by the  Counterfeit Kit this month - I'm still running to catch up after a late start, so these are just a few bits and bobs which were quick and easy to put together to go with my " Flea Market Finds " kit ... The cute little paperclip flags were very easy and I will definitely be making more in different sizes and colours, it's a great way to use up scraps ...

Hi everyone, I'm a bit slow off the starting block this month, because we were away for my birthday and then I was a bit poorly for a few days, but I'm back and raring to catch up! The inspiration kit over at the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Blog this month is from Cocoa Daisy  - and Wow! what a LOT of inspiration, because as well as the main kit there are lots of "add on" options here . Here's the main kit "Color Swatch"... I decided to start with the main kit and then "go shopping" amongst the add-ons to create my own version, which I'm going to call "Flea Market Finds". Here are my papers ...

Hi everyone, I've been a bit poorly for a few days, so there hasn't been much action on the scrappin and bloggin front, but I wanted to share these pics we took on my birthday a couple of weekends ago. We decided to have a totally self-indulgent weekend away to celebrate, so we booked three nights at the Beechwood Hotel in North Walsham, and it was FABulous! Here's our room, with a four poster bed ... ... a beautiful bathroom ...

Hi Everyone, What's On Your Workdesk this fine Wednesday morning? If you would like to share it with the world, or just spend a happy half hour checking out other people's crafty spaces, nip over to Julia's Stamping Ground to join in the fun. Here's my desk this morning ... Still finishing my page from the crop last weekend (been feeling a bit poorly the last couple of days so my desk hasn't seen much action) - on the left you can see a pizza box full of my March   Counterfeit Kit . One of the challenges this month is to use watercolours, hence my old paintbox came out of hibernation - I'd forgotten how portable and brilliant a simple paintbox is. On the right of the picture is some very happy post I just opened - a lovely prize from DoCrafts ... It's a gorgeous selection from the "bare basics" range by Papermania; alterable pieces made of hessian and canvas which I can't wait to experiment with - time to break out the new Ge...

Hi Eveyone, Case File #114 over at CSI this week is colourful and quirky and includes a fun sketch from Emma Stafrace at Page Drafts ... CSI mastermind Debbi Tehrani has found this intriguing Scene for us to explore - from this image, she takes five colours for the Scheme, as well as ideas for design elements, techniqes and journaling prompts. As it's the second week in the month, we also have one of Em's amazing sketches. In order to solve the case, you need to follow all these clues to create a scrapbook page ... The Sketch All five colours in the Scheme At least two items from Evidence At least one item from Testimony I decided to scrap this photo of my younger son Tom taken around 25 years ago at a clown Festival ... At the time, I was working as a children's entertainer, doing puppet shows and parties, and often had to collect him from school still in my "uniform", but Tom didn't mind at all. A couple of times he dressed up as ...

Hi everyone, Spring is in the air and this week's Case File over at CSI  has a suitably light-hearted feel to it, with a palette of fresh pastels, butterflies, birds and a generous sprinkling of fun ideas ... Each week, CSI Mastermind Debbi Tehrani finds a new Scene for us to investigate. From this inspiration image, she takes five colours for the Scheme, as well as ideas for techniques, design elements and journaling. To solve the case, you need to follow all these clues to make a scrapbook page, then upload it to the CSI Gallery - All five colours At least two items from Evidence At least one from Testimony I love the look of the deep pink and aqua against the grey and fresh white and I thought it would be perfect for this picture of my favourite Uncle at our pre-wedding party ... The patterned papers I used are from the Teresa Collins Daily Stories collection  which were in the Feb kit from SJ Crafts - the colours and the recurring butterfly motif were j...

Hi Everyone, Amongst the gorgeous goodies in my parcel from SJ Crafts  last week was one of the new Flip Book Albums from Teresa Collins - I've had so much fun trying it out and I'm really pleased with the end result :o) These little books are so cool - all the clever stuff is already done for you, so you can choose to keep it plain and simple or embellish to your heart's content - I decided to use the February kit from SJ Crafts, which just happens to feature the Teresa Collins "Daily Stories" Collection You can't really see how it works in a still photo, so here's a short vid of the naked Flip Book Album and my other ingredients ... ... and another one showing you how it turned out ... If you would like to see more details and a bit of a tutorial, check out my post over at the SJ Crafts blog - and while you're there, check out the March challenge - there's a chance to win a crafty prize, donated by Yours Truly to celebrate m...

Hi everyone, What's On My Workdesk this Wednesday? Sunshine! It's a beautiful day, I've already put a load of washing out and now I'm going to spend the rest of the day playing in my room ... what will you be doing in yours this week? Pop over to Julia's Stamping Ground to see what everyone else is getting up to and link up to show the world What's On Your Workdesk today. Here's mine ... On the left you can see some of the pretty free papers that came with Scrapbook Magazine this month - Websters Pages, not sure what I'm going to do with them yet, but it will be something gorgeous! The sellotape dispenser is there because it's a vital piece of equipment when using my iPad to make YouTube vids - I've discovered that if I prop the screen at an angle I can film the cutting mat area and just get my hands in the frame (plus the odd glimpse of Christmas onesie!) In the centre of the desk is a Blast from the Past - who remembers floppy discs? ...

Hi everyone, The March challenge over at the SJ Crafts Blog is to be inspired by this photo collage ... You can use the photo collage to be inspired in any way you wish, here are some ideas - Scrap a photo of a place you love to visit. Take a walk at a place near where you live and take some photos of your surroundings to make a layout. Be inspired by the colours : greys, beige, stone, creams. Scrap  a photo which has no people in it. Scrap a photo of a beach, sea, sky, clouds, sunset etc As an extra motivation for this month, I'm donating a prize to celebrate my birthday - not sure exactly what yet, but I promise it will be some crafty gorgeousness which you will love! Just pop over to SJ Crafts and link up your project inspired by this challenge and you'll be in with a chance to win!  For my take on the challenge, I decided to take inspiration from the layout of the photos and made this very quick and simple multi-photo page featuring "double-selfies...

Hi everyone! The March challenge over at the 1-2-3 Challenge Blog is delightfully dreamy ... It's really simple - all you have to do is make a page using frames, pastel colours and the word "dream" - then link up your page before the end of March to be in with a chance of winning one of the fabulous prizes on offer this month. Here's how I was inspired by the mood board ... Sorry the photo is a bit dark cos of the dreary weather today, but you get the gist ... this is one of my favourite pictures of our wedding day in August 2011 - we were being "papped" by all our friends as we signed the register and at this point we had a fit of the giggles! To create this page, I mostly used papers from the Maggie Holmes "Flea Market" collection by Crate Paper . I really love this combination of faded prints and vintage china motifs, with some zingy colour thrown into the mix for a modern edge - I may be needing some more I think ;o...

Hello everyone! It's time to unlock Case File #112 over at CSI this week - it's full of muted shades and softness, very pretty ... From this inspiration image, CSI Mastermind  Debbi pulls colours and ideas for techniques, design elements and journaling. The challenge is to create a scrapbook page using the clues in the Case File (click on the image above to see the detail more easily) - all the colours in the Scheme at least two items from the Evidence at least one item from the Testimony I also used this sketch by Riikka Kovasin for the Scrap365 March challenge ... My background looks a bit dark - I haven't ended up with the soft, ethereal quality of the inspiration image ...