ArtyFartyAnnie

Hello fellow deskers and lovely peeples, It's Tuesday evening and I'm scheduling this to post itself tomorrow morning as I will be at work by then - and hopefully the lovely Zsuzsa over at Inky Dinky Doodle will check in and link up for me, then I will catch up with everyone over the next few days. Thanks Zsuzsa :o) If you would like to show us What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday, just post a pic of said workdesk and link up over at Julia's Stamping Ground - or just pop in for a good old snout around some of the many crafty spaces around the world, it's fascinating and quite addictive! My workdesk however is not at all fascinating this week, very little going on ... You may recognise this as a GIANT box of Thorntons chocolates - but in fact it is empty, it was just salvaged for me by a friend who knew I would make good use of it, which indeed I will. I did make this tag over the weekend, inspired by the Tim Holtz Tags of 2016 July edition, which is slig...

Hello Bloggy Peeps out there! We just got home from our little holiday and as always, it's lovely to go away, but it's great to be home :o) Buckinghamshire is beautiful, and full of National Trust places to visit, so we made very good use of our NT membership this week. We went to Stowe, Claydon, Waddesdon, Wimpole, Hughendon and the old courthouse at Long Crendon. Each one fascinating its own unique way - I love how these places are like windows through which we can peek at the people who lived in the past. When I was a kid, I spent many happy days visiting places like Ham House and Hampton Court Palace with my beloved Gran, it really brought history to life for me. As a huge bonus, many NT places now have second-hand bookshops, and look what I got for only three quid ... We also visited Bletchley Park on the way - the home of the "Code Breakers" during WWII - absolutely fascinating, well worth a visit if you get the chance. Click here for a short film ab...

Hello lovely Bloggy Friends, For week 37 of Life Book 2016 , we had a lesson with the talented Angela Kennedy  and I loved it. Firstly, Angela showed us how to create subtle texture for the background, then we sketched out a face and figure, filled in blocks of colour with matt acrylic paint and then added detail and shading with coloured pencils. Here's how mine turned out - a smiley one for a change! Angela started the background with white gesso, then brushed in a touch of black and whilst it was still wet she used a fan brush to make circles - I love how they look almost like bubbles in the air! In fact, I liked the effect so much that I decided not to add any more detail to my background ...

Hello Fellow Deskers and Bloggy Friends, I'm not about on Wednesdays any more, since my day off changed a few weeks ago, but the lovely Zsuzsa from Inky Dinky Doodle has kindly offered to link up for me. so that I don't have to miss my weekly WOYWW fix - although it may take me a few days to catch up with visiting (ie snooping) fellow deskers. If you would like to join in, just post a pic of What's On YOUR Workdesk this Wednesday and link up over at the lovely Julia's Stamping Ground , or just pop in for a little nosey around some creative spaces all over the world  - but be warned, it is addictive! Here's what's on mine this week ... I can't take a pic of the actual desk to show you, because I stupidly left my iPad at my son's place, but it's boringly between-projects tidy anyway, so you're not missing much! These books are piled up at one end of it, waiting to be transformed into something amazing, like I've seen other people do...

Hello Everyone, I'm still playing catch-up with the Tim HoltzTags of 2016 - I did January, February, March and April, then skipped a few, did September's and promised myself I'd go back to the rest. Instead of tags, I'm making little pages to go in a gorgeous leather journal I was given for Christmas. This morning I found myself with 40 minutes to spare before I had to set off for an appointment; just enough time for some speedy crafting I thought! Here's the result; my tag for June, only three months late ... This year, Tim has been picking two techniques at random from previous years, and combining them to create something different. It really inspires me to dig out those supplies, rummage through my drawers and try something new. Usually I don't have all the stuff Tim uses, so I have to get a bit inventive with what I do have, but then that's half the fun isn't it?! Here's what I did ...

Hello my friends, This week I've been working on the lesson for week 36 of Life Book 2016 , in which the fabulous Annie Hamman created a beautiful intuitive portrait with acrylic paints. It was fascinating to watch the process, as Annie showed us how to make a wet palette and mix our colours, then build the face in stages, starting with the darkest values and working towards the lighter values. Annie made it look so easy, and I loved watching her painting unfold so much that I watched the lesson videos three times!! Putting the techniques into practice wasn't quite so easy, and my picture went through some VERY ugly stages, but I persevered until it got to a point where I could call it done and move on ... When I saw this little person looking back at me the next morning, I found myself wondering who she is and what she is thinking - she looks a bit kind of wary and watchful I think. I would really like my next picture to come out happy, but I don't seem to have m...

Hellooooooooo my lovely bloggy mates, This year I was TOTALLY going to keep up with the Tim Holtz Tags of 2016 , but somehow yet agian I've fallen behind - which is a shame, because they are really quite quick to do, they get me using up all that stuff I have stashed in my craft room, and they always give me a kick up the mojo! For 2016, Tim is doing a "technique remix" each month, where he takes two techniques from previous tags and combines them to create something new and exciting. Yesterday, I made this one for September ... ,,, as you can see, this year I am not actually making tags - I decided to create little pages instead and file them in the gorgeous leather journal which my good friend Trina gave me for Christmas. This month, the talented Tim showed us how to use Yupo paper for a marvellous resist technique. As always, I didn't have all the supplies Tim used, so had to improvise - but that's half the fun isn't it?! I did have some yupo p...