ArtyFartyAnnie

Just a quick post as I've finished this without a minute to spare (seems to be a pattern emerging recently!) This is my tag for February, inspired by the amazing Tim Holtz and his 12 Tags of 2013 . Every single month he comes up with something new and fabulous to have a go at, and even if I don't have all the supplies (yet!) I always have fun and I always learn something. For this tag,Tim used some gorgeous Distress products which I have yet to treat myself to, but I just I used my normal Distress Ink Pads in three ways - direct to the background, spritzed with water whilst heat drying; with the Ranger sponge Applicator Tool to distress the edges; using Ranger Cut'n'Dry Nibs to colour the stamped image (Chronology stamp new from Papermania) with diluted DI (the image has to be stamped with Archival Ink so it won't smudge when you add the DI). I didn't have any embossed Kraft Coredinations either, so I used Fiskars Texture Plates (haven't had them out in...

Last Saturday was our first Scrap Club meeting at the brilliant King's Head at Bawburgh   - six of us had a great day scrapping to our hearts' content and the friendly, helpful staff looked after us really well. Of course it would have been rude not to sample the deLISH lunch menu( I may have sampled a bit more than some of the others I admit!) and have a nice glass of wine with it, and then we just had to have another glass or two in the bar afterwards whilst waiting for DH to pick us up! All in all, a lovely day AND I managed to finish TWO scrap pages ! Here's the proof I love these pictures of hugs with two of my best mates , taken during a gathering in our garden an hour before our wedding in the summer of 2011. The idea was to thank everyone for everthing they did for us, but  I just kept dissolving into tears ... emotional incontinence it's called! This page was inspired by the February Simple Recipe at UKScrappers  which is a challenge designed by Leo ...

Case File #59 over at CSI was full of inspiration as always - I didn't have much time to play this week but I just couldn't resist having a go anyway! Here's the Case File (click on the image to enlarge) The wonderful Debbi Tehrani came up with yet another fantastic Scene to inspire us - she pulls out colours and elements from this image to create clues which you must use in order to solve the Case - The Scheme : you must use all five colours (bright red, pale pink, greyish green, charcoal and pale grey) and Debbi even gives the colours funky names. The Evidence : you must use at least two of these elements on your page (this will get you rummaging through that stash!) The Testimony : you must use at least one of these ideas to inspire your journaling (telling your story is a very important part of CSI and it's really helped me get over my issues with the writing bit!) Each week, you can also download the CSI Coordinates - fab free printable elements and ...

I love these fun pictures of John with his grandson Bailey, who was about three at the time - he has this ear-to-ear grin which we call his "flip-top smile". This was my page for Case File #58 over at CSI  where the incredible Debbi Tehrani  comes up with new ways to inspire us every single week. Here's the Case File (click on the image to enlarge it) Debbi takes elements from the inspiration image to come up with Clues to get your mojo going. In order to solve the Case , you have to include the following: All the colours in the Scheme At least two pieces of Evidence At least one item of Testimony As this was the second Case of the month, we also have a fabulous sketch to follow from the amazing Emma Stafrace And last but most definitely not least, every week you also get a new set of CSI Coordinate s, free printable elements and pp designed by the talented Michele Singh to help you solve the Case I had a lovely time solving this Case - here's what...

We're on the letter G this week over at Tag Tuesday and the first G that popped into my head was.... Garden. One of my most favourite places to spend time and get my hands dirty (along with my kitchen and my workroom of course). Another favourite way to spend time ever since I can remember is reading - I can't imagine my home without books in it and I find other people's bookshelves fascinating ... anyway, this quote from Cicero really speaks to me, which is amazing when you think that he would have said it around 50 years BC. I really enjoyed experimenting with pages from an old dictionary and Distress Inks. The cute little hamster is from a pack of die cuts I've been using for ages (bought them in a Lakeland shop I think!) and I drew the little seedling on scrap card, coloured it with inks then added die cut leaves. Of course it had to be real garden twine through the top! Then I carried on and made a couple of catch-up tags ... E for elephant - this one was a...

My lucky streak continues - there was one of those fab pizza boxes (if you're a scrapper you know the ones I'm talking about!) waiting for me when I got home today and guess what?! It was my parcel from the amazing artist Aida Domiewicz of 13 Arts - Ayeeda on the CSI design team - I left a comment on Aida's post as part of the CSI Birthday Blog Hop at the end of January and I was lucky enough to be picked out of the hat ! Here is a picture of the goodies I found inside - There are two whole collections designed by Aida herself - "Frosted Life" and "Love is All" - lovely quality papers, stickers and journaling spots - and a fab collection of trinkets, trims and flowers from 13 Arts, which is Aida's online shop. This photo doesn't do them justice - click on the links and check it out for yourself. Aida's little note says she hopes I will enjoy playing with her papers - as you can well imagine, I can't wait! Thanks SO much Aida ...

I found this gorgeous image on Graphic Fairy (thanks Karen!) and couldn't resist! If you haven't checked out this fab site already, you should do - Karen sources incredible copyright-free images which you can download free and save to your PC to use for whatever you like. There's all sorts of interesting stuff on her site - just have a look (there's a button on the RHS of this page which you can click on) May all your dreams come true on St Valentine's Day xxx

Well! I got in a right strop last weekend trying to solve Case File#57 over at CSI - I think because this particular page meant such a lot to me I just wanted it to be perfect ... Here's the Case File (click on the image to enlarge it) Each week Debbi Tehrani comes up with a new Case File inspired by an image such as this one. The idea is that in order to solve the case you must use all five colours in the Scheme use at least two pieces of Evidence use at least one item of Testimony On the second week of each month, you also have to use a sketch by the amazing Emma Stafrace (I first noticed her work in Scrap365 and always lover her pages) and every single week there is a set of CSI Coordinates to help you solve the Case (accents, images, journalling spots and background papers which you can download and print off or use for digi-scrapping if that's your thing) - these are designed by the talented Michele Singh for CSI members. Ok, so now I'm going to s...

I can't belEEEVE my luck just lately - I got home from work this evening to find a parcel full of goodies from Scrapbook Magazine which I wasn't even expecting! There was a compliment slip in with it saying "For being in our Scrapbook Magazine issue 70 activity pack" Well, I only recieved my copy a few days ago and we've been so busy I haven't had chance to peruse it yet so I didn't even know I was in there! Woo HOOO!!! There are some gorgeous papers and stickers from the Authentique "Seasons" collection A fab HOTP stencil for making Bodacious Blooms which I'm itching to have a go at And these scrummy Color Me papers in Chocolate - they look like the design has been stamped in melted c chocolate! - these will be lots of fun to play with... This was the layout which went into the magazine And here's the one that went in the last issue 69 I got some lovely goodies for that too Some gorgeous die cuts from the Papermani...

This weekend I've been "off the page" - making a keepsake box to safely store all my vintage family photos and other memorabilia.  Of course, I could just go out and buy an archive file or something, but where's the fun in that? I had been hoarding a little stash of Graphic 45 Olde Curiosity Shoppe papers for a special project and it occurred to me that I could use them to create the perfect storage for my own Vintage Curiosities and Unusual Oddities. It all started with a boxfile ... ... and ended up (eventually) with this ... A lot of cutting and sticking was involved so I was in my element. All the background patterns, contents and signs were cut from Graphic 45 papers - mostly Olde Curiosity Shoppe, but also a smattering of Steampunk Debutante, a dash of ABC Primer and a smidgeon of La Cirque. The sides are all covered in matching papers and the edges all sanded and inked. The window frames were cut from black cardstock, layered up with foam dots...

This is a page all about the day Trina and I went to Cromer - one minute, there we were paddling in the sea and writing our names in the sand, eating a delicious lunch outside in the sunshine - and the next, we were running through torrential rain back to the train station, with our umbrellas turned inside out, wet through to our knickers! It was hilarious and I hadn't laughed so much in ages ... what a brilliant day! Thanks Trina :o) I made the page for Case#56 over at CSI  - here's the Case File The idea is to use all five colours in the Scheme, at least two items of Evidence and at least one piece of Testimony. Every week you can download the CSI Coordinates - a set of free printables to help you solve the case, especially designed by the very talented  Michele Singh . Here is my solution to the Case The Scheme: all the colours are there The Evidence: clouds, umbrellas and teacup all from the CSI Coordinates; doodled dashed lines;plain cardstock. The Testimo...