Last Post Before Christmas!

Hello everyone,

It's been a busy but fun day and now we're ready to close the door on the rest of the world and settle in for Christmas. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, so I'll be pottering in the kitchen most of the day, prepping for the Big Dinner on Monday, with my iPad on one side and a glass of something on the other ... perfect!! :o)

I did manage to finish my last scrapbook page for this year  ...

It was inspired by this fun sketch by Laura Whitaker at Stuck?! Sketches ...

... and also by a gorgeous colour theme challenge by Janice at GoGo Getaway ...

Check out the Stuck?! and GoGoGetaway blogs for loads of inspiration and the chance to win some fabuous prizes.

Meanwhile, have a wonderful Christmas and I'll see you in 2018!! :o)xxx

Love Annie xxx

WOYWW #446 - Happy Christmas!!

Hello Fellow Deskers and Bloggy Friends,

It's the last What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday before Christmas YAY!! :o)

Here's what's on my workdesk ...

I finally finished off my miniature caravan, which I made with a kit from AliExpress. It's so cute, I love all the tiny vintage-style details. Here are some close-ups ...

Isn't it sweet - looks even better IRL. Click below if you want to see more, or just pop straight over to Julia's Stamping Ground and show the world What's On Your Workdesk today ...

Rainbow is my Favourite Colour - Tassel Time!!

Hi everyone,

It's a bit Brrrrrrrrr here in Norfolk this morning - but it's cosy indoors so that's ok :o)

Last night, I made a rainbow ...

A couple of friends had given me a whole lot of embroidery threads, and they've been really useful for adding stitching and texture to various projects, but I thought it would be fun to have a go at making my own tassels. I started by cutting suitable lengths and laying them out in rainbow order, jut because I coudn't resist ...

I LOVE that, just as it is :o)

The tassel tops came from AliExpress, very cheap, less than a couple of quid for a bag of 100. You can see them in the pic below ...

December Daily Catch-up

Hello everyone,

Another catch-up on my December Daily - here are Days Eight, Nine and Ten ...

Day Eight is on the left - you can see a brochure about the Gousto Festive Box we just decided to splash out on for NYE celebrations with friends - the menu looks delish and it will be fun to spend time with my son Tom, making all the dishes from the recipes and ingredients they've put together.

Day Nine on the right - there's a picture of my finished pile of handmade Christmas cards - I made masses of them this year and will actually have some left over!!

Day Ten was a lovely day - we had lunch with my Uncle Ian and Aunt Sally, who made the most delicious meal for us. Sally has such a great sense of style - her Christmas decorations are gorgeous and she always sets a beautiful table.

And finally, I went back a few pages in and slotted in a selfie of John and me on the page I had set aside near the beginning of the book ...

I'm really enjoying making this book - I hope to improve my printing of photos now that I have invested in some better photo paper, and I will probably go back in and add more embellies later (I have SO many to use up after all) - but the bones are there.

Thanks for popping in today, see you again soon!

Love Annie xxx

December Daily Catch-up

Hi there my lovely Bloggy Friends,

I've been keeping with my December Daily much better than I thought I would, but haven't had time to share them for a few days ... soooo .... here's Day Six ...

Our Veg Box was delivered and included a "sprout tree" - yum! My kind of Christmas Tree - one you can eat :o) This was the day I started to think about decorating the house - we don't do a lot, but there are a few special things I like to put out and I add to our little  collection every year. First to go up was the cute mini stocking crocheted by Nancy at GoGoGetaway - there was one for each of us on the day we made our December Daily books.

Very ExCSiting News!!!

Hello Arty-Farty Friends,

I am SO excited to reveal that I will be rejoining the happy and creative band of CSI Detectives starting in January!! :o)

CSI (ColorStoriesInspiration) has always been one of my fave challenges and I really enjoyed my time as a Detective before, so I was really happy when the lovely Debbi Tehrani invited me back on the team - I feel like I'm coming home!

There have been some changes since I last Cracked a Case - for one thing, there's a brilliant FaceBook page now, which is a great way to keep in touch with everything that's going on. One of the most exciting changes for me is that CSI has gone "Free Style" - which means that you can still be inspired by the Case File, but you have more freedom to solve the case your own way.

I've already made my first page ready for the Big Reveal on January 1st 2018 - I just couldn't wait to get started! Can't show you yet though, it's Top Secret :o)

Thanks for popping in today, see you again soon!

Love Annie xxx

December Daily Tuesday 5th

Hi there Arty-Farty Friends,

Last page of my December Daily to share with you for now. Day Five was a Tuesday, so I was off work and played in my room for most of the day, making cards, finishing a festive miniature room box for a friend - and working on my December Daily of course :o)

I've included pictures from the mixed media workshop which my friend Trina and I actually went to last Tuesday - but as it was a very Christmassy project we were working on and we had such a lovely day, I wanted to remember it in my December Daily, so I just pretended it happened this Tuesday ...

These brilliant classes are run once a month by Di Oliver from Tando Creative and we always have a fabulous time. We take along a packed lunch, and Di provides everything else - packs of Tando laser-cut pieces to put together, loads of media, stamps and stencils to play with, hot drinks, and of course her expertise and creativity - we always learn new techniques and ideas. Di is on the left of the photo and Trina is in the middle. The other photo shows the beginnings of the snowy scene I was creating - I'll post pics when it's finished.

December Daily Monday 4th

Hello again Crafty Bloggers,

I'm keeping up with my December Daily, but still catching up on my posts so I have a couple more to share with you.

On Day Four, I was at work, so not a lot to add to my book, but I did finally strain and bottle the Slow Gin and my version of a Polish drink called Pigwowa, which was made with quinces from our garden. As an experiment, I cooked up the fruit afterwards, added spices and sugar and turned it into a jelly to have with cold meats and cheese ...

I've left the rest of the page blank to write my menus for the festive season and will probably clip in shopping lists and so on. The opposite page with the little pockets is meant to hold tiny pictures, but I had so much fun decorating them that I've decided to leave them as is for now :o)

December Daily Sunday 3rd

Hello Scrappy Friends and Bloggers,

On to Day Three of my December Daily, and this was the Morning After the Night Before, so we were feeling slightly fragile. John's way of dealing with this is to get out in the fresh air and keep busy, and my way is to play quietly in my room, so added a picture of John in the garden and one of my desk, where I was working on a festive miniature room box ...

The pictures are just taped in at the top, so that I could lift them and add journalling underneath. The little pockets in the page opposite are supposed to have pictures in some of them, but I really enjoyed decorating them, and I just love them as they are :o)

December Daily Saturday 2nd

Hello Fellow Scrappers and Bloggy Friends,

It's a VERY chilly day here in Norfolk UK and I've been keeping warm in the kitchen doing some cooking for the week ahead.

Time for a coffee break and a catch-up with my December Daily - I've been doing the pages, but haven't had time to post anything since Day One!

So here's Day Two, Saturday 2nd December ...

John and I went out to a "Narnia-inspired" evening to celebrate Christmas with friends. It was decorated beautifully, but as it was really dark, I couldn't get any good photos of everyone. Still, these are enough to remind me of the wonderful time we had, and in the brown bag opposite I've put some mementoes such as cracker jokes, menu and so on.

We did a selfie of the two of us as well, but that didn't come out at all well due to lack of light and slight inebriation, so I'll take another one soon and I've saved a space for it just over the page ...

The album I'm using is a Simple Stories one, and most of the papers and embellies are from the Crate Paper Falala collection - they came in a GoGoGetaway kit and I've just added in a few bits from my stash here and there.

I'm finding the clips very handy for tucking things under, so I may add more of those and decorate them up a bit more. I also want to add some charms to the outside and possibly decorate the cover, but I may leave that until the end - perhaps cover it with leftover gift wrap or something.

I'll tag these posts, so if you want to have a look at any other days, just click on December Daily in the tag cloud to the RHS of your screen -->

Thanks for dropping in today, hope you're having a happy December :o)

Annie xxx

WOYWW #444 - The Goose is Getting Fat and all That

Hello Fellow Deskers and Bloggy Friends,

It's Wednesday again and only a couple more to go before Christmas .... ?!?!?!?!?! OMG however did that happen?!?!??! :o)

Anyway, I've started playing in my December Daily so that's what was on my desk on Tuesday when I had chance to take a picture - I'll be at work when WOYWW kicks off, but hopefully my lovely friend Zsuzsa will do the honours and link me up over at Julia's Stamping Ground.

So here's my desk, just before I trashed it started working on the first five days of December ...

It's a funny thing, but I was kinda resistant to the December Daily idea - we don't especially "do" Christmas, we don't have littl'uns around, and I wasn't sure I'd have enough going on to record something every day.

However, in fact, I've been really surprised at how much I want to include and make sure I remember, and I only wish I had done this when my boys were little.

Another job ticked off my list today was finishing this little Christmas scene room box for a friend who is going to give it to one of her grandchildren ...

If you are still wondering what on earth WOYWW is all about, hop on over to Julia's and check it out - show us What's On Your Workdesk if you like, you'll be made welcome :o)

I'll be at work when this goes out, but I'll be back later to see what everyone else has been up to this week :o)

Thanks for calling in today, see you again soon!

Annie xxx

December Daily Friday 1st

Hello Bloggy Peeps,

Well, the whole December Daily thing has rather taken me by surprise - I don't really "do" Christmas, so wasn't sure I would have enough to say about it every single day of December. However, my good friend Trina and I went to a fabulous Go Go Dayaway a couple of weeks ago.We were given a generous kit full of Crate Paper Falala collection, lots of other fab embellies, a Simple Stories album and lots of inspiration. I came home with a gorgeous album all stuffed and ready to go ...

I've also acquired a new mobile phone recently, so I've been learning to take pictures with it and working out how to access them easily and print them off on my home printer.

The first day of December was a Friday, so I was at work, but Trina and I managed a couple of pictures all the same ...

That's enough waffle for one post, but I'll do another one tomorrow with the next couple of December Days ...

Thanks for popping in today, see you again soon :o)

Annie xxx

CSI Case File #241 - Be Happy

Hello my friends in Blogland,

When your Mojo is MIA, a challenge or a sketch is often just the thing to kick-start your creativity, and CSI is one of my favourites. The Major Case File comes out of the 1st of every month, includes a sketch, and you have until the end of the month to complete it and link up, share your page and be in with a chance of winning a fab prize.

Here's the Major Case File for November ...

There is a new twist beginning this month, where you can choose to investigate the Scene for yourself and draw your own inspiration from the image. I like the traditional clues though, as shown above - use all the colours in the Scheme, at least three pieces of evidence and one from the testimony list. 

Here's how I solved the case ...

The Scheme: all five colours are there, plus a tiny touch of leaf green, neutral browns and gold.

The Evidence: stripes, watercolour, leaves, stars, hearts, wood/woodgrain, vellum, something fuzzy, white rub-ons .... and I've just remembered that I had planned to cut some chevron arrows and put them on either side of the title. so I will have to go back and do that ... but right now I'm running out of time!!! UPDATE - I've since gone back in to add some handcut woodgrain chevrons :o)

Testimony: this is a picture of my son Tom. My journaling is a bit personal to share in detail here, but I was inspired by the word "wish" and on the back I have written down some of the things I wish for him - the main thing being that I wish that he could learn to love himself as much as we all do.

I had great fun doing the "watercolour" part of this challenge to create a background for my page. In fact I loved it so much that I took a picture just before I started covering it up again! 

This was done on watercolour paper, using Distress Oxide in Frayed Burlap and Distress Ink in Gathered Twigs, using the "packaging" or "smooshing" technique and stamping. If ou look carefully, you can see the white rub-ons resisting the inks. Very happy with that effect, almost couldn't bring myself to move on :o)

Well I feel I have my mojo back, just need lots of practice now to get back into the groove!! 

Thanks for stopping by today, see you again soon. 

Annie xxx

WOYWW #442 - Wonderful Wells!

Hello my Arty-Farty Friends,

It's a beautiful day again here in Norfolk UK, crisp and sunshiney. I'm writing this ready for tomorrow when, whatever the weather, it will be time for What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday. Hop on over to Julia's Stamping Ground if you would like to join in.

My workdesk looks a bit different this week, because I'm just back from a wonderful weekend in Wells-next-the-Sea, where I spent the whole weekend scrapping with these lovely ladies (and no, it's not some kind of Fight Club) ...

L-R: Karen, Mel, Emma, Trina and Moi. 

We stayed in a gorgeous house called Regal Cottage which was just a stroll away from the beautiful beach, fab shops, fish'n'chips on the quayside and the Golden Fleece where we had the most delicious Sunday lunch.

When we weren't eating, drinking, walking or shopping, we were busy scrapping. Luckily, there was a huge dining table at the house, which we totally trashed within about five minutes of arrival ...

As you can see, plenty of room for essential supplies such as gin, prosecco and chocolate buttons as well as some paper and stuff :o)

Thanks for visiting me today, see you at Julia's! 

Annie xxx

CSI Case File #242 - Love This!

Hey everyone,

It's been a while since I've had time to join in with regular scrapping challenges, but CSI is still one of my favourites. There is a new twist starting this month, where you can choose either to investigate the scene yourself and draw your own inspiration, or follow the traditional clues to solve the case.

Here's Case File #242 ..

.... and here's my solution ...

Clues I followed -

Scheme: all five colours included.

Evidence: text pattern; textured paper; clothes peg and paperclip; leaves; tag; bird; ruler; string; fussy-cutting (you may particularly notice the window frames, which came from a very old CSI printable image I had been hoarding)

Testimony: I bottled out of handwriting straight on to my page, so wrote it on the back instead. 

It reads as follows, 

"This photograph was taken from our front door, after I'd walked home from work at the hospital early because of the snow. The whole world was muffled and quiet and put me in mind of the saying 'there's nothing so quiet as softly falling snow'. It was a wonderful feeling to close the door to our cosy cottage, shutting out the world outside."

These weren't colours I would have chosen to work with, and I think everything I used was old stash, but I really enjoyed this challenge and it helped me to rediscover my missing mojo! :o)

Thanks for visiting my blog today and see you again soon! 

Annie xxx

Yamas!!

Hello Bloggy Friends,

This month's challenge over at GoGoGetaway is a mouthwatering mood board designed by Madie ...

Isn't it gorgeous?! I loved the colours, and I have a thing for beach huts and tassels ... couldn't wait to have a go at this. Here's my take ...

The photo shows Yours Truly almost 30 years ago (I had to double-check that, it really doesn't seem that long!!) on holiday on one of the beautiful Greek Islands.

There was so much inspiration to be taken from this mood board - for my page, I used the holiday theme, the juicy colour scheme, the arrow, map, beach huts, pineapple and of course those tassels!

The beach huts were from a Tando Creative die-cut greyboard pack, finished with scraps of paper and Distress Inks. I made the tassel myself, with embroidery floss glued into a metal tassel top and then threaded onto a paperclip (I could get addicted to making those!)

Several of the embellishments came from the Challenge Jar my lovely friend Emma gave me on our Seaside Scrapbooking weekend in Wells - the paint sample strip, the acetate overlay, the paperclip and the "remember" word magnet.

What about that perm though?! :o)

Thanks for popping in to see me today, see you again soon!

Annie xxx

Recycling Old Envelopes

Hello Bloggy Friends,

Here's a fun idea for what to do with all those old envelopes, rather than just chucking them in the recycling bin - turn them into dinky mini window envelopes to hold journaling cards for scrapbook and PL pages. These are all about 2" or 3" long ...

After opening the envelopes out flat, I used my WRMK Envelope Board to cut and score them (you could make them without the board, but it does make life a lot easier!). Some I turned inside out as I like the look of the printing.

Playing with Paper Artsy Stamps

Hello everyone,

Hope you're all enjoying a happy and creative week out there.

My friend Trina and I recently went on a trip to Ally Pally to see one of those giant arts and crafts shows and we had wonderful time. We bought loads of stuff we really really needed and got to do some "make-n-takes" as well. One of these was at the PaperArtsy stand, where we tried out several stamps and had a go at colouring them with Distress Oxides.

Yesterday, I decided it was time to do something with these sweet little images, so I finished colouring them and turned them into a set of quirky Christmas cards ...

I didn't buy the stamps - only because I'd already bought several other sets of stamps by that stage - but I did buy three colours of Distress Oxide, which I used to create the backgrounds for these. I cut the solid shapes out and mounted them on foam pads for dimension, adding the scribbly lines back in by hand with a Micron pen. Final touch was a subtle shimmer with my Wink of Stella pen - doesn't show in the pics really, but looks fab IRL.

The insides will just have "It's Christmas!" in black Micron pen. Not traditionally Christmassy I know, but I think they're fun :o)

Thanks for popping in today, see you again soon.

Annie xxx

WOYWW #441 - Messy Rooms and Missing Mojo

Hello Fellow Deskers and Bloggy Friends,

It's been a while, but I'm back in the room:o)

For those not in the know, it's What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday and you can find out all about it over at Julia's Stamping Ground. It's been AGES since I last joined in, largely because my Mojo has been missing. I have still managed to make a HUGE MESS of my desk though ...

... and it's not just the desk. Take a peek to the left ....

... and behind me...

Sigh. I really need to tidy my room - again. Maybe my missing Mojo is hiding in there somewhere ...

Anyway, if you would like to show the world YOUR workdesk, or just have a nosey at other creative spaces all over the world, just pop over to Julia's, everyone is welcome. See you there! 

Thanks for visiting me today, see you again soon :o)

Annie xxx

It's Just a Balancing Act

Good Morning Lovely Bloggy Friends,

Another beautiful though chilly Autumnal day beginning here in Norfolk UK and I have a fun day out with my good friend Trina to look forward to.

My Missing Mojo is just beginning to think about tiptoeing back into the house I think. I've beeen enjoying playing in the art journal I made out of recycled Amazon packaging a while back - it's become my collage book and even when I can't seem to do anything else, I can always do a bit of cutting, sticking and colouring in there. Here's one I finished last night ...

For this page, I used a combination of printable collage sheets from Crowabout StudioB which I bought from Mischief Circus, pieces cut from magazines, and some of my stash of alphas.

Chasing my Mojo and Catching Up!

Hello Everyone,

It's been a strange few weeks for me and not much at all going on at the ArtyFarty Front - due to a combination of lack of time, lack of energy and a Missing Mojo. All is not right with my world if I'm not doing a bit of something creative every day, so it's been a bit weird.

Anyway, I thought I'd have a play with some alcohol inks and Yupo paper, inspired by a lesson with the lovely Azoline for Week 35 of Wanderlust 2017 -

It was a bit of a battle, I couldn't get it to come out "right" at all and it's NOTHING like Azoline's beautiful, whimsical piece, but hey, at least I had a go and it was fun to play with the inks on this strange shiny not-paper stuff.

Today I plan to pack my kit ready for a couple of crafty jollies I have coming up - hopefully that will get my creative juices flowing again. Meanwhile, I'll go tidy my room in readiness ...

Thanks for popping in to see me, see you again soon. Have a wonderful arty-farty week wherever you are :o)

Annie xxx

Theo's Theatre

Hello my bloggy friends,

It's another beautiful autumnal day here, and my Mojo still hasn't returned from her holidays yet.

I just don't feel "right" if I don't do something creative every day, I can't settle, it's like there's something important missing, but it's not something you can force is it? What to do then? The lovely Helen Wallace had a good suggestion - she always has a tidy-up when her mojo does a bunk. Having a good old sort-out in your craft room when you don't feel like doing anything else in there can work wonders - you may rediscover stuff you'd forgotten about, you may end up inspired and at the very least your room will be all lovely and ready for your Mojo's homecoming.

Another trick is to work on a project which doesn't require any thinking at all, but still feels creative and produces something you are happy with. Here's one I did a little while ago, after a trip to beautiful Lacock in Wiltshire with my girlies ...

All over Lacock, there were all kinds of things for sale - set up on little tables with an "honesty box", or just laid out on window-ledges with instructions to pop the money into the letterbox. There were gorgeous home-made treats, home-grown veg, old books and toys, hand-made souvenirs and all sorts. I was chuffed to bits to find not one but two pristine copies of this sweet book by Prue Theobalds, for only £1 each!!

Snap Snap SNAP!!

Hello everyone,

Well, so much for my Big Plans to spend loads of time in my craft room, capturing my memories of beautiful Poland in various arty farty formats - in fact, I've hardly had any crafty time at all over the last couple of weeks, and when there has been time I've been getting that thing where you just can't decide what you want to do, so you get sucked into YouTube instead.

On Saturday I met up with some of my artyfarty friends for our monthly crafty day. I took along loads of scrapping stuff and more of my Big Plans but apparently forgot to pack my Mojo ... we were there from 9.30 until 4pm and I just about managed to finish one scrapbook page!

I started with this fabulous sketch from Laura Whitaker at Stuck?! Sketches (always love Laura's sketches) ...

And I had loads of lovely papers and embellies to play with, plus some photos of Yours Truly on a Greek Islands holiday around 25 years ago (eeek!!) ...

There is a new challenge for October over at GoGoGetaway which I wanted to have a go at. This month we had an Elements Challenge set by Essie -

Getaway!

Hello Bloggy Friends,

We just got back yesterday from our trip to beautiful Krakow - we fell in love with the place and the people and I have come home with my head stuffed full of memories and images which will probably inspire a few art journal pages. More about that over the next couple of weeks :o)

As always, I couldn't wait to get into my craft room this morning. Today is the deadline for this month's challenge over at GoGoGetaway. This time, Giselle set us a sketch challenge -

I decided to turn the sketch 90 degrees clockwise and flip it vertically ...

The papers I used were from my latest Quirky Kit, mostly the Carousel collection by Maggie Holmes for Crate Paper. The bright pastel doilies were from the kit too, along with the ticket (from a Pretty Little Studio pack I think). The clouds, sun and raindrops were diecut from white cardstock (dies from China via Ali Express) - I used my Prismacolour pencils to colour them in. And finally the title is a chipboard sticker from a lovely set which was a thankyou gift at the last GoGo retreat I went to earlier this year.

The story behind these photos of my good friend Trina and Yours Truly is that we were on a day trip to Cromer on the train (was meant to be Sheringham but I got confused and bought tickets to the wrong town but we had lovely day anyway). One minute, the sun was shining and we were paddling in the sea, the next the heavens opened and we were running for the train, soaking wet but laughing our head off! What a fabulous day!! :o)

Thanks for popping in to see me today, lots of crafty catching up to do so I'll be back very soon!

Have a wonderful creative week my arty-farty friends!

Annie xxx

Dreaming in Colours

Hi everyone,

Brrrrr it's definitely autumnal out there today, but we can look forward to cosy nights in with lots of time for cutting and sticking :o)

Continuing my current obsession with collage - here's another one I finished over the weekend ...

Again I started with a background of paint and "Gelli dellies" arranged various printed images - some of them came from magazines (I don't tend to buy women's magazines, but I found the Sunday supplements particularly bountiful) but most of them on this one were from collage sheets by Crowabout StudioB which you can buy and download from Mischief Circus.

I love the whole process - cutting out all the pieces, playing with the arrangement, then enhancing the whole thing with coloured pencils and doodling. Brilliant fun which I can't get enough of at the moment!

Hope you're having fun wherever you are today, thanks for popping in to see me :o)

Annie xxx

WOYWW #432

Hello Fellow Deskers and Bloggy Friends,

It should be WWOYWW this week cos it's blowing a gale out there today - a Windy What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday :o)

I'm off out for the day with my son in a bit, but I just have time to do a quick post and then I'll be back to catch up with everyone later. For anyone reading this who has no idea what I'm on about, this is the day we gather over at Julia's Stamping Ground, share pics of our creative spaces and then have a wander around to see what everyone else has been up to this week - it's brilliant fun and everyone's welcome, so jump in and join us if you dare!!

Without further waffle, here's what's on mine -

My current obsession is collage, so I've been cutting printed images out and filing them away in clear pockets. For anyone who was interested to see how the Trash Dolls turned out, here's a couple of peeks, but I'll do a full reveal when they're all done ..

Queen Bee

Hi Everyone,

You know that thing that sometimes happens, where something inspires you and you become obsessed with it and just can't get enough of it? Well, that happens to me quite often and this week it has all been about collage with printed images. Here's my first one ...

There are many YouTube tutorials and process videos, but one of my favourites is CraftyHodges - check out her channel for loads of inspiration. Here's what I did ...

Trash Dolls Are Coming!!!

Hi Everyone,

It's been a busy summer, but I have still managed to squeeze in some crafty time. One of my favourite projects recently has been turning a pile of assorted empty boxes into a crowd of colourful characters I've decided to call Trash Dolls (because they were made from recycled trash).

Here are the first four finished ...

My son says they're creepy, but I love them, they're my weird children :o)

Here's how they started out ...