ArtyFartyAnnie

Hello to all my lovely friends out there in Blogland, I would like to wish you all the happiest possible Christmas wherever you are and whatever you're doing, followed by a happy, healthy and creative 2019 :o) Here's a little felted friend I made for Christmas. He hasn't told me what his name is yet ...  One of my Big Plans for 2019 is to really get into felting - what creative plans do you have for next year? Thanks for visiting today, see you again soon! Love Annie xxx

Hello to all my Bloggy Friends, I've been almost totally AWOL lately, lots of other stuff going on and not much time to play at the moment, let alone blog about it, but I did want to quickly show you what I got in my last couple of ScrawlR boxes, because I am so smitten with these little kits - for £15 a month, you get a neat box full of a variety of pens, pencils and other art supplies, along with some inspiration to get you started. Here's the November kit ... Lots of things in here I haven't tried working with before - such as coloured biros, a graphite stick and an eraser pencil, along with some gorgeous coloured pencils, a white gel pen and several other useful items, plus a really nice quality plain paper notebook. The featured artist for November was  Taylor Brooker , and the challenge to inspire us was "Body Parts". Here's what I came up with, using only items from the kit ... I did use the coloured pencils to add some subtle tints of ...

Hello Bloggy Friends, It's time to reveal the latest Case File #267 over at CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration and you have until the end of the month to have a go at cracking this case yourself to be in with a chance to win one of the smashing prizes on offer. Hop over to the CSI blog post to find all the clues you need to solve this case and be inspired by all the other CSI Detectives' pages. There is a definite festive feel to this month's Case Files, but I chose to go in a different direction with this one and scrap a picture of Yours Truly and my good friend Trina on one of our crafting jollies this year ... It looks a bit flat in this photo, but in fact this page is quite three-dimensional, with the outer frame raised off the page and embellishments tucked in and around all the layers. The background of the photo was very busy, with an area of very lurid green and some people I don't know, so I cut us out and backed us with a softer green which...

Hello Bloggy Friends, Last weekend I spent a couple of wonderful days in Wells-next-the-Sea with these lovely ladies ... We spent the whole weekend doing what we do best - scrapping, chatting, eating, drinking, walking, shopping and various kinds of crafting. I took along a miniature kit from China and finished it off after I came home on Monday ... Check out this 30-second video of the finished result ... How cute is that teeny kitchen?! I wish I was Mrs Pepperpot so I could move in :o) Here's one more picture of us Extreme Crafting - believe it or not, this was just the beginning, and it got a LOT messier as time went on ... Thanks for visiting me today, I've been a bit AWOL just lately, but hopefully things will now settle down a bit and I'll see you again soon! Love Annie xxx

Hi there, There has been so much going on and not much time to blog about it, but here's a page I made for the November GoGo Getaway challenge. This month, Madie created a colour board to inspire us ... The colours reminded me of one of those bright, crisp, sunshiney autumn/winter days. I pulled out lots of scraps of patterned paper, cut them into triangles and created a chevron pattern with them. I saw this idea on Paige Evans' YouTube channel - it was a very relaxing process, used up scraps, and I loved the quilt effect, so it was win-win-win! The patchworked piece was mounted onto black cardstock, then on to a drippy splatty background I created using coordinating inks. The photo shows my husband and my son and was taken during a happy family gathering around this time last year - at the same time as the one in my previous post, so I think they will look good together in my album.  Thanks for checking out my blog today, hopefully things will calm do...

Hello everyone, It's a lovely sunshiney autumnal day again here in my part of the UK, hope you're having a lovely day wherever you are in the world :o) There hasn't been much spare time or energy for blogging around here just lately, but I do have a new challenge to share with you - Case File #266 from CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration . It's full of fun elements and gorgeous colour, perfect for this time of year ... If you scroll to the bottom of the CSI reveal, you'll find all the clues you need to solve this Case - or you can just pull your own inspiration from this colourful Scene. I really enjoy following the Clues, so that's how I cracked this Case. I thought this would be the ideal opportunity to scrap a picture from around this time last year, showing my Uncle Ian and his wife Sally in their beautiful cosy cottage. I always love spending time with them and we can always be sure of a warm welcome. In the summer, we sit in the garden enjoying ...

Hello lovely peeps, I haven't been able to blog so much recently, but today I have a new CSI Case File to show you. This month over at CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration , we're celebrating Home Sweet Home, which is perfect now that the chilly weather is finally beginning to bite here in the UK. I love the colours in the Scene which Debbi has found for us to investigate this time ... Nip over to the CSI blog to check out the full reveal and find all the clues you need to solve this case, or draw your own inspiration from the image to create a scrapbook page. You have until the end of the month to link up and be in with a chance to win one of the brilliant prizes on offer.  Here's how I cracked the case ... It was really tricky to get a good photo as the light was really dull when I finished making this page, but hopefully you will get the gist!! This photo shows my great-niece Leila, who has such a sweet nature and always a smile on her face. As al...

Hello Fellow Deskers, Hope you're having a lovely day wherever you are in the world. I'll be at work by the time this posts itself tomorrow, and it will be Wednesday, time for What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday - nip over to Julia's Stamping Ground to see what it's all about, check out all kinds of creative spaces and see what other crafty peeps have been up to this week. Here's mine as it was on Tuesday afternoon ... Quite messy I know - I've been busy using up scraps of patterned paper and some of my maHOOSive pile of alpha stickers to label up the boxes I keep my scrapbook pages in ... The pretty butterflies came from China via Ali Express. Next job is to add coloured stickers to all the shelves below, where I store cardstock and patterned papers. Then I need to build an extension :o) I'll be back over the next few days to find out what everyone else has been up to. Thanks for visiting me today, see you again soon! Love Annie xxx

Hello Arty-Farty friends in Blogland, It's time to reveal the latest Case File #264 which came out yesterday over at CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration . I LOVE the unusual inspiration image which the lovely Debbi Tehrani has found for us to investigate ... As you can see, Debbi has pulled a gorgeous colour palette from the Scene - you can choose to use any or all of the colours as you wish.  If you hop over to CSI and check out the full Case File, you'll find clues which you can follow if you wish, or if you prefer, you can take your own ideas from the Scene. I really enjoy following the clues, so that's what I did. Here's how I cracked this Case ... This page shows my good friend Trina and Yours Truly, all excited as we've just arrived for last year's Go Go Getaway scrapbook retreat. We're off on another one in a couple of weeks, so it was fun to scrap this now. Scheme : All the colours are there, plus some black and dark grey.  Ev...

Good Morning Fellow Deskers and Friends in Blogland, It's Wednesday, so it's time to link up over at Julia's Stamping Ground and show the world What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday . Here's mine ... You can see I've been working on some teeny weeny miniatures, and I've included my glass dip pen as several people asked about it on my last WOYWW post. Here's a closer look ... Isn't it beautiful? I don't have great handwriting, but I will enjoy using this to write quotes in my notebooks and journals, and it will be good for drawing as well. It produces a fairly fine line with no variation in the thickness, so you can't use it in the same way as a flexible metal nib, but it writes smoothly and I wrote all this with just one dip in the ink (using Ph Martin's India ink). You can get them in lots of different colours and designs, I've seen them priced from around £4 upwards, so I am going to collect a few and I'll need a way ...

Hello me again, This month over at CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration we are very excited to be collaborating with Page Maps . I always enjoy working with Becky's brilliant sketches and really loved the sketch which I was allocated ... If you have read my previous blog post, you'll already know that somehow I managed to completely miss the point and made two separate pages - one for the CSI Case File and another for Page Maps. I was so chuffed that I had got both done ready for the October 1st reveal, and the penny didn't drop until I saw the pages being uploaded by other DT members and noticed that they had combined the two challenges ... which is, of course the WHOLE POINT!! How could I have missed that?! :o) Here's the page I made using this fab sketch ... This layout is all about how much fun we had spotting all the beautiful owls on a recent stay in Bath with some of my BFFs. The three smaller pics are little accordion books which open up to show lot...

Hello there, The first Case File for October has just been released over at CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration and as you can see, we are celebrating Autumn with this beautiful inspiration image ... Check out the post over at the CSI Blog for the full Case File with all the clues you need to solve this Case. Here's how I cracked it ... A few weeks ago I stayed in the beautiful Bath for a few days with some very good friends of mine. One of the many things we enjoyed was finding all the wonderful Owls which were dotted all over the city.  You don't have to follow all the clues to enter this challenge - you can choose to draw your own inspiration from the image, or just pick whichever of the clues appeal to you - but I always love to follow the clues, so here's what I did ... Scheme: the colours are all there. Evidence: woodgrain paper, flowers/leaves, twine, frames, text print, wood veneer, grid design, distressing. Testimony: my journalling is in ...

Hello my arty crafty friends, This week, I got my first ScrawlR Box to play with and I thought you might like to have a peek inside. If you click on the link above, you can check out the contents of previous boxes. Here's what I got in the September 2018 kit ... I thought it was really good value for £15 including postage - if you add up the RRP for the separate items it's way over that amount - and I love how it's put together. This month, the theme is "Complete Blackout", so all the pens are black, but they are all different shades of black, with very different properties, so it was fun trying them out and mixing them all together. Here's my very first experiment ... The ScrawlR Box includes a challenge each month to inspire you - this time it was "Jazz Noir". As you can see I went completely off-piste, but that doesn't matter, it was just a starting-point. Opening the box was very exciting :o) Here's how it comes, with c...

Hello Crafty Friends and Fellow Deskers, Long time no see!! I've missed so many What's On Your Workdesk Wednesdays I can't even remember how many, but Things have settled down a bit now, so I have time to play - if you would like to join us, just hop over to Julia's Stamping Ground :o) Here's my workdesk on Tuesday evening .... You may just be able to make out that I've been playing with my new glass dip pen - I LOVE it, because it's so beautiful, it works really well and it was less than seven squids from Amazon. With just one dip in the ink, I managed to write over twenty words before I had to dip again - brilliant! Here's another view of my room, looking over my left shoulder as I sit at the desk ... I guess it still looks a bit chaotic, but everything is accessible now and I'm gradually working on finding storage solutions which are pretty and practical and don't cost too much. Like those magazine files I got in the Pound Shop...

Hello Scrappy Friends, There's a new Case File #262 over at CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration and you have until the end of September to solve it and be in with a chance of winning one of the fabulous prizes on offer. Here's a quick look at the Case File ... For full details and loads of inspiration, check out this post on the CSI Blog . You can choose to follow all the clues, or just pull your own inspiration from the Scene. Here's a closer look ... Personally, I really enjoy following the clues, so that's what I did. Here's how I cracked the Case ... Scheme : all the colours are included, and I threw in a splash of the aqua blue. Evidence : stripes, dots, insects, swirls, Perfect Pearl drops, hearts, flowers, leaves, layered/dimensional stickers, bow, buttons. Testimony : I wrote my journaling in cursive around the edge of the page.  It's all about how much I love pictures like this one of my little Step Granddaughter Macy - t...

Hello Crafty Peeps, Yesterday our little craft group got together to join in with the Craftathon for Breast Cancer Care - we have £70 to donate to this very worthy cause and we had a lovely time ... We were making mini books and I love how they all turned out so differently, even though we were working from the same kit. Julie very kindly hosted our mini Craftathon and we completely took over her dining room for the day. Here's the table before we trashed it got started ... Julie had made us these sweet tissue holders as a memento of the day which was a lovely surprise ... It was extreme crafting to get the book done in a day, but we had lots of fun ... ... and we were sustained by delicious home made cake :o) Cake break #1 ... ... and Cake Break #2 ... We started on the easy pages and worked our way up to the more tricky ones. It was satisfying to see them start to stack up ... We tried out a few different tools and techniques to crea...