ArtyFartyAnnie

Hi Everyone, I'm still enjoying finishing off some of the projects I started at Scrapstars a couple of weeks ago. One of the highlights was Saturday Night Takeaway - we were each given a mystery bag and then before we opened the bag, we could choose a piece of 12"x12" cardstock in either black or white (I chose black, just to be contrary!). We were then given a couple of hours to create a project using only these items. Trina and I do not "do" spontaneous scrapping, and by this time we had a couple of glasses of wine on board, so we slightly panicked at this point, but we had so much fun with this in the end :o) Here's my page, which features a picture of my brother Ivan with his little girl Alice ... The takeaway bag contained some lovely 6" patterned papers, black ricrac and buttons,chipboard flowers and a pin. We were allowed the "usual suspects" - pens, glue, punches, stamps and such. The best bit of all was when Trina's ...

Hi everyone, I am going to be in London for most of the day tomorrow, so I am scheduling this ahead to post itself in the wee small hours - I feel like some kind of bloggy time traveller! Wednesday is the day when deskers all over the world gather at Julia's Stamping Ground to show what's been happening in their creative spaces and then have wander about to see what everyone else has been up to this week. Hopefully I will get time for some catch-up snooping later :o) Here's my desk then as it was earlier this evening ... ... still in the throes of unpacking from a wonderful weekend away at Scrapstars (see previous posts) - there is a pile of UFOs and class kits on the left there, and I have to find homes for all these goodies I brought home ...

Hi everyone, Here's another finished page from Scrapstars last weekend - this one was from a class taught by the talented Louise Collins and I really enjoyed making the artsy page ... Lou's classes are always full of ideas and new techniques and although I didn't quite get the hang of all of them (my ink dribbles look more like a dead spider), it was so much fun to try them out. The paint brush was a really cool idea ...

Hi everyone, One of the pre-retreat challenges for Scrapstars last weekend was to make a 12" layout called Guilty Pleasures. There was no hesitation for me as to what mine would be about ... I spend a lot of time feeling guilty about the hours I spend "playing in my room"  ...

Hi everyone, I am not the quickest scrapper in the world, so I returned home from Scrapstars on Sunday with a stack of UFOs (as in UnFinished Objects) - but I had managed to finish a couple of the pages whilst I was still there. This one was from a class taught by the lovely Tracee Provis ... It was such a fun layout to make, full of ideas and techniques to try. I loved the idea of cutting out a photo to fit into the "U" ...

Hi everyone, My good friend Trina and I got home yesterday evening after an amazing weekend away with Scrapstars . What a wonderful time was had by all :o) My name badge There were lots of fun challenges with fab prizes to be won - the first one was to make a name badge featuring a butterfly, a flower, a brad and a button. Trina and I had a great time making ours one evening a few weeks ago. The winner was a gorgeous badge in the shape of a five bar gate, really beautifully done, wish I had a picture of that to show you. Scrapstars!! This was our first scrappy retreat and we had been looking forward to it for months - we knew it would be good, but this surpassed all our expectations. From the minute we arrived on Friday, until we left on Sunday, we were showered with lovely things and treated to a constant supply of chocolate and cake (essential crafting supplies!) and the whole weekend was packed with fun activities - classes, challenges, games, make-and-takes - and punc...

Hi everyone, The theme over at Tag Tuesday this week is "Insects". I was really looking forward to getting my teeth into this one, but yet again I've had such a lot of other stuff going on that I haven't had time to play in my room - so I've decided to be a bit cheeky and resurrect this one which I made a couple of years ago ... This stamp doesn't get used very often, but I still love it - if you would like to read more about how this was made, please go to the original post. Check out all the other tags over at Tag Tuesday - I can't wait to see how everyone else has interepreted this unusual theme! Thanks for popping in today, see you again soon :o) Annie xxx

Hi everyone, It's What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday time!! That's the day when Deskers all over the world link up at Julia's Stamping Ground - you're welcome to join us, show the world what you've been up to, or just have a little snout at other people's craft spaces. Not an awful lot been happenng on mine this week, too much Life getting in the way again, but for what it's worth, here's how it looked yesterday evening ... On Friday, I'm off to Scrapstars  for the weekend with my friend Trina, so the crafty tote you can see in the foreground is stuffed full of scrapping necessities, its little wheels groaning under the strain! I guess I should really think about some clothes and suchlike at some point - but I plan to be mostly in old shirts and leggings, possibly even a onesie, and after the choices I made from the menu, elasticated waists will definitely be de rigeur :o) Here's a closer look at what I've been making with tho...

Hi everyone, It's that time of the week when Deskers from all over the world gather over at Julia's Stamping Ground to show-n-tell for What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday - anyone is welcome, make yourself a cuppa and pop over to Julia's Stamping Ground to link up and show us yours, or just have  a good old nosey around and see what everyone else is up to! :o) I haven't been able to join in for a couple of weeks, but I'm recovering quickly from my surgery and I have been tinkering a bit in my craft room this week. Here's my desk as it looks this morning I'm about to embark on a fun project as a gift for a friend. The gorgeous papers are from the Graphic 45 Mother Goose collection which I've been hoarding for ages, and a stack of greyboard which I got from Every Crafts A Pound  - hopefully I will have something fabulous to show you next time! Another project this week was to make a little something for a friend's new baby. I found a patt...