ArtyFartyAnnie

Hi everyone, We had a few days away in London over last weekend - staying in one son's flat overlooking the Olympic Village and popping back and forth to the other son's flat in Walthamstow (home of the famous dog racing stadium). There were several highlights of the trip - my first ever visit to Ikea, where I collected some extra paper tape measures which are certain to come in handy for something ...  dinner at a VERY hip restaurant called Bistrotheque (very difficult to find because it's way too cool for signage) where I started with the most delicious gin cocktail, called a Cucumber Flip, and ended with an Espresso Martini for pudding the Sunday Farmers' Market in Walthamstow, where we bought the most delicious artisan bread and cakes, sausages, delicious un-diet butter and the mouldiest, mankiest-looking (but most delicious) goats' cheese EVER the ribbon shop on Walthamstow High Street, tiny frontage but goes back miles and miles Here are some of my f...

Hi everyone, The February challenge over at 1-2-3 Challenge Blog is a little late going live, so Mel is going to run it until March 22nd - giving you plenty of time to have a go and maybe win one of the fabulous prizes on offer this month! Here is your inspiration ... ... and here is my take on the challenge, featuring two very brave friends of mine ... Click on the image to see the details better ... about to jump off a high building on purpose! The journaling is written along the edges of the paper and reads, "Real courage is when you're bricking it but you go ahead anyway. Kate and Rosie just before they abseiled off the EDP Building." I think you can see that I've totally embraced the colour purple , I've used texture paste with a mask to create the brickwork effect in the background, and the word "Spirit" is in a contrasting lime green to make it pop. So now it's your turn - you have until March 22nd to link up your page ov...

Hi everyone, I can't wait to show you what was waiting for me when we got home on Monday after a weekend away! My fabulous parcel from SJ Crafts :o) wooHOO! This is my first month on the Design Team, so I was very excited to see what Sarah had sent me to play with (and of course I had ordered one or two irresistible extras - well, it would have been rude not to!) .... What a pile of gorgeousness! Here's a closer look ...

Hi everyone, Happy What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday! If you fancy a little wander around Blogland and see what other crafty peeps get up to on their workdesks (and maybe share what you get up to on yours), pop over to Julia's Stamping Ground to check it out :o) Not a lot going on on mine so far this week, because we were away over the weekend - this is the shameful mess I left it in on Friday evening ... ... and it looked exactly the same when we came back on Monday - obviously the Tidying Elves didn't turn up! Towards the left of the picture, you can see the little Meander Book which I made for the Counterfeit Kit Challenge Members' Blog Hop. If you would like to watch me Extreme Crafting for the 10-Minute Challenge check it out here ! Towards the top right are a couple of pop-out surprise cards I made for a friend, using Helen Allen's amazing template - here's a one-minute vid of me showing what happens when you open the envelope (my filming t...

Hi everyone, Welcome to my post for the February Counterfeit Kit Challenge Members' Bog Hop! You probably found your way here from Tina's Scrap Corner  - if not, you should pop back to the CKC Blog and start from the beginning, so you don't miss any of the fun! Next stop is Lesley , and if you get lost along the way, just pop back to CKC to check out the list. Here's a little peek at what I'm going to show you today ... As always, we had a choice of three challenges to inspire us to make a project using our  February Counterfeit Kits .  I decided to go for this one ... 3. Challenge #3 Ten minute speed challenge  -  You have  TEN  minutes to create something.  No more.  If it is not done in 10 minutes, you have to share what it looked like at that stage anyway.   Now, I'm not the fastest crafter on the block, so this is a BIG challenge for me, and just to make it even more challenging, I thought I would make a little...

Hi everyone! I love this picture of my brother Ivan, my sister Mandy and me on my wedding day in the summer of 2011 and I thought it would be the perfect fit for Case File #111 over at CSI this week. Here's the Case File, put together by CSI Mastermind Debbi Tehrani - full of delicous summery sorbet shades and icecream inspirations ... To solve the Case, all you have to do is follow these clues to create a scrapbook page ... Use all five colours in the Scheme Include at least two items from the Evidence list as elements in your design Take at least one item from the Testimony list to inspire your journaling Here's how I cracked the case ... I started with one of Emma Stafrace's amazing sketches over at Page Drafts ... This sketch is part of the "Love is Everywhere" 2014 Valentines Release - lots of lovely sketches, inspiration and prizes wooHOO!!! So, did I follow all the clues?

Hi everyone! When a friend at work asked me to make a couple of cards for two special birthdays, she said she would like something "a bit different" - so I straight away thought of this clever template by Helen Allen ( check out her demo here ) The template comes with instructions and a link to a video, so it is quite easy to do, but the results are very impressive - although you really need a video to get the full effect! Here are the envelopes, which are included in the template ... ... and when you open the envelope ... WOW!!! Check out my YouTube video here to see what happens Here are some more pictures showing the pop-up boxes released from captivity!