ArtyFartyAnnie

It's my Dad's birthday next week - he's very patriotic, so I thought he might like a card made out of some of my Red White and Blue stash! For the base, I used a "stepper" card blank - 3 in a pack from   www.everycraftsapound.co.uk They're brilliant - so easy to use - I know I could probably score it from scratch myself, but hey....

We've just come back from a wonderful week away in London - catching up with my family, eating, sightseeing, eating, drinking, eating, shopping, eating and taking lots of photos of course. One of the highlights was going to the Gala for St. George at the Royal Albert Hall with my Dad and his wife - very rousing, very patriotic and not a dry eye in the house! John, Mary and Dad at Windsor Me and Tom in London This being 2012, the year of the London Olympics and the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, there are loads of GB-themed scrapping goodies around, so I thought it would be fun to do some Red White & Blue layouts... First, I went shopping for a basic kit (I only spent about a fiver because I split packs with friends) A selection of papers and a die cut from the Portobello Road collection by Papermania (split pack) 2 sheets Kraft cardstock (from a pad of assorted designs) 1 sheet of red shimmer cardstock (eBay!) Some ShrinkArt shrink plastic in cream and...

Close Up Inspired by the UKS Simple Recipe for April by Sarah of SJ Crafts - thanks Sarah! www.ukscrappers.co.uk I've enjoyed this challenge so much, this is my third go! Sarah's sketch and colour combination worked really well and got me using up loads of old stash.  I love this picture of Tom enjoying a day with his Dad. The papers have been gathering dust in my workroom for ages, as have the Magic Mesh and Beatrix Potter scraps. The butterflies are Anita's Dimensional Stickers and the daisy and leaves are from an artificial bouquet which I found in a tacky gift shop somewhere or other. For a bit of punch, I added some of my new Washi tape and some little words which were downloaded free from  www.scrap365.com

Trina and I had a FABulous time at the International Craft and Hobby Fair at the NEC Birmingham in March. Essential Equipment Comfy shoes and a large bag on wheels - we filled it full of food to take with us, then ate the food and filled it full of shopping. Make & Takes We had such a brilliant time - we got there early so we could book up four of the free workshops. They were all great fun - we had the chance to play with some new products and picked up lots of tips and ideas. The results were proudly taken home so our husbands could practice their "oooo-aaah!" techniques. AND we still had plenty of time for some serious crafty shopping in between workshops. The  box frame  you can see at the back was made from cardstock, using a Martha Stewart scoring board (thanks  Oyster Papercrafts  - now I really need one of those!)  and Memory Box dies. The greetings card was done with stamping and embossing at the  WOW  stand - so many idea...

Meeting Crafty Bob Trina (top) and me (bottom) - phner phner I said "me bottom" - meeting the lovely Crafty Bob from  www.craftsuprint.com  at the ICHF at Birmingham NEC in March. I think I got a bit of a special hug as you can see - possibly because I was a bit over-excited! Bob gave us a purple Crafty Bob Bag and a little pressie - mine was a Crafty Bob bone folder. Then we decided we just HAD to have the Crafty Bob Golden Bag with the lovely shiny paper and the free CUP downloads (which I haven't got around to using yet). We also bought one or two other bits....see the next post

Quirky! Very excited! I have just subscribed to Quirky Kits and now can't WAIT to get my first bi-monthly kit at the end of May. They look really inspiring and - well - quirky I guess!  http://www.craftytemplates.co.uk/quirkykits.html

Two layouts inspired by the April  And Now For Something Completely Different  challenge by Shimelle at UKS  http://www.ukscrappers.co.uk MUSIC FESTIVAL Background paper by Rayher from  http://www.calicocrafts.co.uk Borders and other embellishments were all from an old paper stack I bought 5 years ago when I first started scrapping and I also used a piece of some old jeans.  The only new thing here is the Kraft Resist Chipboard letters from my shopping spree yesterday - they don't show up too well here, but were lovely to use  www.timholtz.com MY BROTHER ROCKS This one uses Wisteria by Basic Grey for the background. The other patterned paper and matching vellum were papermania ones which I had in a kit ages ago.  The challenge required 3 borders so I had to get a bit inventive - Tim Holtz Alterations 'Filmstrip" die Self-Adhesive Lace Paper by  www.papercellar.com Washi Tape

Congratulations Wedding card for my stepdaughter and her new husband who married on 20th April 2012 - congratulations Mr & Mrs Yallop! The hearts idea was copied from a very clever lady on YouTube http://valitasfreshfolds.blogspot.com/2011/01/valentine-heart-punch-couple.html The stepped card was from a pack of three blank pre-scored cards which I got from  http://www.everycraftsapound.co.uk Guess how much?! I wanted to use purple to match their colour scheme, but didn't have any suitable patterned paper, so did a lot of embossing in clear, white and silver to add a bit of interest to the background.

Shopping for Essentials Yesterday I went to the craft department of Jarrolds in Norwich, because I really needed some double sided tape. They had a lot of new stuff since my last visit, so it would've been rude not to have a look around ... It took me less than 40 minutes t o find all these shiny things   Washi Tape by mt deco (so many kinds to choose from so really I did well to take only 4 - a couple of patterned ones and a plain black and plain white for stamping/embossing) Tim Holtz Alterations Sizzix Bigz Die "Fanciful Flight" (works in my Cuttlebug and cuts almost anything) Huge Archival Ink pad in Jet Black by Ranger  Cut-n-Dry pen nibs by Ranger (20% off - how could I resist?) Couple more colours of Tim Holtz Distress Inks by Ranger (Peeled Paint and Worn Lipstick - love the names!) 3 pots of embossing powder in copper, gold and pewter (essential with all the Steampunk stuff I've been doing) Distress re-Inkers were also 20% off so I w...

Garden Party Inspired by the UKS Simple Recipe for April by Sarah of SJ Crafts http://www.ukscrappers.co.uk/

Well I've just popped in to see how my shiny new blog looks in the cold light of day and initially I got all excited because there had been 16 views since I created it last night - then I realised that they were probably all me! I may put my pride on the line and ask my sons to have a look and see if they can suggest any improvements ....

Granny's Kitchen   Inspired by the UKS Simple Recipe for April by Sarah from SJ Crafts. http://www.ukscrappers.co.uk/

Say Cheese!    Based on a sketch by Lisa Saunders for  the April Scrap365 sketch challenge http://scrap365mag.com

Well, here is my first ever post on my first ever blog - and it's only taken me about FOREVER to work out how to do it. If only there was a five year old child nearby, I'm sure they would have been able to help ... and they probably would have come up with a LESS REVOLTING COLOUR COmbo (sorry just realised I was SHOUTING!). Right then - with no further ado I am going to click on the Publish button and see what happens - probably nothing. Just realised that this is just like talking to yourself in public. Nothing new there then.