ArtyFartyAnnie

Hello everyone, I've recently started having the monthly Tonic Craft Kit (as a little reward to myself for walking to work it seemed like a great idea to spend the bus money I've saved on crafty goodies). The first one I had (back in April) was #08 - the Trinket Drawer Kit. There are just so many things you can do with this set. One idea I had was to make this sweet little Lavender Box ... I've made a 10 minute video tutorial showing how I made it if you'd like to see ... There are loads of other ideas on the Tonic Craft Kit website and I have a few more up my sleeve to show you another time ... That was April's kit, I've hardly touched May yet and June will be on its way next week  - better get my crafty skates on! :o) Thanks for dropping in to see me today, see you again soon! Love Annie xxx

Hey everyone, Like many of us, I love crafty magazines, but will only let myself buy one if there's a free gift on the cover which really appeals to me, as I reckon that even if I only make 3 or 4 cards with it, I've justified the cost of the magazine :o) However, I've accumulated a little pile of said magazines, which I haven't even opened yet, let alone tried out the free gifts. So, to motivate myself, I've decided to make a YouTube video every Friday, featuring one of these lovely magazines and showing how I get on with the free gift. On the top of the pile on my workdesk was the April 2018 issue of Crafts Beautiful, which included a gorgeous Pop-up Box Cards Kit, full of butterflies and flowers, very pretty and surprisingly quick to make. Here are the four cards I made in a couple of hours ... If you would like to see how I made them, click on the link below to see my YT video ... It's only about 15 minutes long, so grab a coffee and check ...

Hi everyone, The challenge over at GoGoGetaway this month is to be inspired by this sketch ... Here's my take on it, featuring a very cute pic of my little step-granddaughter Macy - and LOTS of fussy-cut butterflies. To make the large circle, I made a mask with my Fiskars Circle Cutter, then applied Distress Inks through it and finished by using the circle as a guide to add scribbly pen lines. The small circle I cut through the white background so that the gingham paper would show through, again finishing with pen lines drawn around one of the Fiskars circle guides. I used Distress Inks to make the splatters as well, then just sprinkled with butterflies which I'd cut the night before whilst binge-watching YT. You have until the 31st May to have a go at this sketch yourself and be in with a chance of winning a prize - everyone who enters is automatically entered in the big draw to win a place at next year's GoGoGetaway as well, so why not give it a shot?! :o)...

Hey everyone, I've not had much crafting time lately - been busy doing other fun stuff - but I have been working on these little bookcase charms, using a free download from the talented Nik the Booksmith ... They still need to have some dangles added, but this is how they look so far. Nik's download includes all the tiny book spines and some gorgeous decorative elements to create the dangles. Click on the link below to see her tutorial on YT ... Mine don't look quite as gorgeous as Nik's, but they were so easy and fun to make. I got carried away and did a couple with little jars made of beads, instead of books. I think these would look great as charms on a handmade book or as wearable art ... Check out Nik's channel , she is such an inspiration - thanks Nik! :o) Thanks for visiting my blog today, see you again soon! Love Annie xxx

Hello everyone, It's the 15th of the month, so it's time to reveal the new Case File over at CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration ... Is that a totally lush inspiration image or what?! :o) I was so keen to make sure I had a page ready for the reveal before we went away on holiday to Cornwall last week, that I inadvertently made TWO pages!! Here's the first one ... ... which documents the moment my crafty BFFs and I realised that the teatowel in our rented holiday cottage exactly matched my shirt :o) New for 2018 - you can pick and choose which clues to follow, or just pull your own elements from the inspiration image in order to solve the case. I went "old-school" for this page and used several items from the evidence list, added soft turquoise to the colour scheme and for my Testimony I used the inspiration word "Style".  Here's my second page .. ... this time featuring a photo of the gorgeous goodies awaiting me on a ...

Hi everyone, A couple of weekends ago, my good friend Trina and I spent a very happy two whole days playing  with watercolour paints. The goal was to make 6 scrapbook pages using our shiny new Prima watercolour paint sets and NO patterned papers at all. We tried all kinds of techniques - smooshing, spritzing, flicking, washing, lifting, sponging, splattering, stencilling, stamping, dropping, dripping, dipping, resisting, wet-in-wet, wet-in-dry, ombre effects, brush lettering, blowing paint through a straw, altering alphas and wood veneers, and even dying fabric. Phew!! WHAT a messy weekend :o) I've already blogged a couple of the pages I made, but here are some more I've just finished off ... This layout features my step-grandson Bailey a few years back, with his BIIIIIIIIIIGGG happy grin. As well as the paint, we also used up lots of washi tape and eyelets on this one. I was inspired by an Amy Tangerine process video on You Tube, where she first placed the washi, ...

Hello Fellow Deskers and Bloglanders, I haven't had time to join in with What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday for a couple of weeks, but today I am on leave, so I get to play :o) If you fancy sharing your Workdesk with the world and checking out what other creative peeps are up to in their craft rooms this week, pop over to Julia's Stamping Ground join the party! Here's my messy desk as it looks this morning, after a late night craftathon ... Note the essential piece of equipment - not the ATG, but just to the left of it ... well, I'm in holiday mode! I was trying out my Tonic Craft Kit 08 for the first time, JUST before 09 arrives later this week - time has just got away from me AGAIN this month. This one makes cute little decorative trinket drawers, but there are loads more things you can do with it. I managed to make one little drawer and a LOT of mess (not sure how much the G & T helped), but now I've got my head around it, I will experiment with ...

Hi there everyone, It's the 1st of the month, so it's time to reveal a new Case File over at CSI:Color, Stories, Inspiration . I loved the colours and the hand cut elements in the inspiration image which Debbi has found for us to investigate this month ... If you head over to the CSI blog post , you'll see the full Case File, with lots of clues for you to follow if you would like to - or you can just take your own inspiration from the Scene in any way you like.  I went old school and followed the clues to make my page featuring Yours Truly and my good friends Trina, Karen and Emma at a recent scrapbooking event with GoGo Getaway ... All the colours in the Scheme are there; from the list of Evidence I chose scallops, wonky dots, handcutting and hand-drawing; for my Testimony I chose to document one of my creative hobbies - scrapbooking of course!! :o) Why not have a go at solving this case yourself - you have until the end of the month and there are ...