ArtyFartyAnnie

Hi Everyone, You may have noticed that there hasn't been much scrapping action going on around here just lately, which seems really peculiar when not so long ago I was making two or three pages a week! The fact is that there sometimes there just isn't enough time for everything I would like to do, so crafting and blogging have had to take a bit of a back seat for a little while. But I do miss my scrapping time and I do love to have a go at some of the many inspiring challenges out there. The one I miss the most of all  is CSI - Color, Stories, Inspiration - so when I found myself with a few hours to spare, I popped over there to see what was happening and was just bowled over by this week's Case File No.145 .... Beautiful, and just my cup of tea! In case you haven't had a go at cracking a CSI Case File before, the idea is to create a scrapbook page using all the colours in the Scheme, at least two pieces of Evidence and at least one item from Testimony.  ...

Hi Everyone, Another WOYWWednesday  already - how did that happen?! - time to show you what's on my workdesk today. Pop over to Julia's to see what everyone else is up to this week and link up to show us yours :o) Star of the show in my workroom this week is the gorgeous Gabriele. My wonderful husband spotted her in Norwich, picked her up, carried her all the way home in his arms and hid her in my room. He was a little concerned that he may have misjudged, that I wouldn't like her, but I fell in love with her straight away and I know that we will be great friends. Here she is in all her gorgeous glory... ... the Adler Gabriele 20, made during the 1960's. Some of her workings are a little stiff and her cover won't close, but she still does the job (we have so much in common already). I love her vintage style and the way she goes "ping"; it takes me right back to when I first learned to type many years ago. The classic typewriter font combined with ...

Hi everyone, If you happened to read my previous post a couple of days ago, you will know that my experiment with DIY enamel dots didn't go too well - the whole day went kind of pear-shaped and it's put me off the whole idea.  However, it seems a shame to waste the beads, because I know that lots of people have had great success with melting these beads to create their own enamel dots at a fraction of the price of the ones you can buy - here is just one of the many tutorials on YouTube which make it look really easy! They're very cheap to buy, but some of my international blogging friends have mentioned that they are difficult to get hold of outside of the UK and US - so, if you would like some of these to play with and can't get hold of them wherever you are, just let me know and I will be happy to post them off to you. It'll be first come first served and I will put them into bags of 500 in assorted colours. Just leave a comment on here if you...

Hi everyone, Well, today hasn't turned out quite as I had planned at all! A whole day to myself and I had such big ideas for all the stuff I was going to do ... The first thing I wanted to do was to finally get around to doing something with the Perler beads which have been loitering on my desk for months, waiting for an exciting experiment. I love adding enamel dots to my projects, but they can be a bit pricey and there are loads of excellent videos on YouTube showing how to create your own at a fraction of the price by melting these beads in the oven. You can also use pony beads, but apparently they release noxious fumes as they heat, whereas Perler beads do not (I guess because they are designed to be fused together with a domestic iron to create decorative projects so they would have to make them safe to heat up) I bought the Perler beads you see in the picture above from eBay - only 99p for a each bag of 500 and so many colours to choose from BARGAIN!!! The idea i...

Hi Everyone, It's Wednesday again, so it's time to show you what's happening on my workdesk today before I head over to Julia's Stamping Ground to see what everyone else is up to. There has at least been some activity this week as I have my craft room back to myself now ... You can see that I have at last made a scrapbook page after many weeks of no scrapping at all. This has been shoved aside along with the debris, to make space for some perler beads - because I have decided that today is the day when I finally get around to experimenting with DIY enamel dots. Pop back later if you want to see how I get on. In the meantime, pop over to Julia's Stamping Ground to check out lots of other workdesks all over the world and link up to show and tell what's happening on yours this week - see you there! Thanks for visiting today :o) Annie xxx

Hi everyone, You may have noticed a distinct lack of scrapbooking around here just lately - well, in fact no scrap pages at all since I stopped playing for the design teams I was on. It's strange and I can't quite explain it ... ok, so I've been really really busy, but I LOVE to scrap. Weird ... anyway, when I saw this sketch over at Scrap 365 ... ... I felt inspired to jump back in :o) Here's what I came up with ... The picture shows my son Tom back in 1984 on a day out in Cornwall with his Granny. Isn't he sweet?! Here's what I used - G45 Mother Goose collection patterned papers Wood veneer chevrons and happy face from Happy Scatter Dove Craft "Curiosity Corner" wooden frame Doily and twine from Papermania Woodgrain enamel dots Assorted diecuts and chippies from my stash Vintage buttons Circles cut from denim and corrugated cardboard Blue and green mists Black Precision Pen from Studio Calico Not my best eve...

Hi everyone, The theme over at Tag Tuesday this week is "Autumn Extravaganza", so I've taken my inspiration from the beautiful tapestry of leaves which Mother Nature has thrown over our garden on this fine October day - gorgeous shades of brown, orange, yellow, red and gold ... Here's what I used ... Leftover patterned papers Tag from a bottle of gin Salvaged foil wrappers Glass and paper beads Copper wire and header pins Distress Inks and applicator tools XCut Embossing Punches After covering the tag base with some of the patterned paper and colouring it with several shades of Distress Ink, I set about punching, inking, spritzing, crumpling and drying a whole pile of leaves, then used gel medium to stick them to the background ... Check out this post for some handy tips on creating realistic-looking leaves with punches and dies.

Hey everyone, Guess what?! I've been totting again and I couldn't wait to show you some highlights :o) I was thrilled to bits yesterday to be given a whole collection of "Golden Hands" - several volumes full of them, going right back to the very first issue of this crafty magazine from the 1970's ... ... and they're still brilliant! They have a great vintage style which I love, and they're full of ideas and inspiration. Don't you think this pretty jacket would be very wearable today? I do remember making macrame plant pot holders many years ago and putting spider plants in them. I love the "Bazaar" pages - have a look at this one ... What a cute idea - it would be a lovely gift idea wouldn't it? Here's another snippet ... These crocheted flowers would make great accessories or decorative embellishments for all kinds of projects. There's no end of inspiration in these magazines - I love the series called ...

Hello everyone, It's a lovely autumnal What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday here in Norfolk UK - not much happening on my workdesk this week, although it is very crowded and full of potential as usual! In case you're wondering why I'm rambling on about workdesks, check out Julia's Stamping Ground where it all happens every Wednesday and you can have a snout at creative spaces all over the world. Here's a picture of my chaotic shambles of a workdesk ... Now let's have a closer peek at some of my unfinished projects and half-baked ideas ... So, from left to right we have ... a partially-filled art journal  a plain gift box waiting to be upcycled some pony beads ready for an experiment in DIY enamel dots one of my nearly-finished tag books  a half-eaten pack of tic-tacs three bottles of PVA because it was on offer at Hobbycraft a little collection of second-hand finger puppets waiting for a revamp a handful of Hungarian Forints vintage chi...

Hi Everyone, It's not just Wednesday, it's What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday - time to head over to Julia's Stamping Ground and see what everyone is up to this week. Not much happening on my workdesk today as we've been away in beautiful Budapest, but I did bring home some souvenirs for my scrapbook and they are sitting on my desk waiting ... There is an amazing fleamarket on the outskirts of the city, where I found some treasures to bring home ... These children's story books are not in perfect condition ...

Hi everyone, A few weeks ago, my son Tom and I went to the wonderful Pollocks Toy Museum in London - a little bit tricky to find but well worth the effort. I can't find a current website for them, but they're at 1 Scala Street, London W1T 2HL. The Museum is actually two old houses which are joined together and it is just stuffed full of toys and games from the 18C right through to some I remember from my own childhood. We could have spent hours there and thought it great value for the £6 entry fee. One exhibit we found particularly touching - this little book with a collection of origami cranes made by children in hospital in Hiroshima ... This reminded me of the story of Sadako Sasaki, a little girl who was just two when she survived the atomic bomb, only to develop leukaemia some years later. Sadly, Sadako's wish did not come true and she lost her battle against the disease, but she remains an inspiration to future generations and the crane has become a symb...

Hi everyone, I'm scheduling this post ahead of time because we'll be away in Budapest for a few days - hopefully it will publish itself as we're on our way home and I'll be back in time to link up over at Julia's Stamping Ground before the witching hour! In case you're wondering - it's What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday - when arty crafty peeps from all over the world gather together at Julia's to share what's happening on the workdesks this week. Here's what's on mine as I'm leaving it today ... ... all ready to play as soon as I've unpacked next Wednesday! These are pieces were cut from my stash of paper scraps and I'll be using them to decorate the inside of my tag books. It really did a great job of thinning out my scrap stash and it's a fun way make good use of the last piece of some of my favourite papers ... I need the smaller plain pieces as well, to create a space for writing details about the tags...