ArtyFartyAnnie

Hi everyone, The June issue of Craft Stamper featured an article by Lisbeth Fidder, showing how to use household bleach to add accents to stamped images on a Distress Ink background. There was also a free stamp designed by Riikka Kovasin on the front cover of the magazine. I decided to use the bleach technique AND the free stamp to create my ATCs for the WOYWW 6th Anniversary ATC swap ... I used the colours in the May Colour Challenge over at Rubber Dance , so I'm going to link up over there as well, as there is a chance to win a FAB prize! Here's how I made my ATCs ...

Hi everyone,  The great day is finally here woooHOOOO!!! WOYWW 6th Anniversary ... WOYWW 6 blog badge by Nikki C To celebrate, we are having an ATC swap - do feel free to join in, dip in as much or as little as you like or just find out what I'm on about by popping over to Julia's Stamping Ground , because that's where it's ALL happening :o) Ok, so this is the bit where I have to show you What's On my Workdesk this Wednesday ... hmmmmm .... bit embarrassing this week .... I had meant to tidy up and have some gorgeous ATCs lined up all ready for the Big Occasion but it just didn't happen. Although in my defence, there was actually quite a lot going on here - I'm part way through putting together a project based on Helen Allen's clever Pyramid template. If you look very closely, towards the front of the cutting mat you can see a tiny baby which I made with Fimo and will be curled up sleeping inside the pyramid eventually - watch ...

Hi Everyone, Today I am excited to announce the winner of a  Georgie stamp set  from my post on the FYC&S blog hop over at Jennifer Grace Creates The draw was open until Sunday 24th May and 25 lovely peeps left kind comments on my post so I put them all in the virtual hat and the winner is ....

Hi Everyone, Just a quick post to show off the wonderful happy post I received yesterday from the lovely Lesley who I met at the recent Scrapstars retreat. A few of us have decided to send Pocket Letters to each other and we're having so much fun with it - if you don't know what on earth I'm on about, just click on the Pocket Letters tab at the top of the page to find out all about it and if you would like to arrange a swap, please feel free to email me at the address on the left hand side. So here's my fabulous PL from Lesley ... ... how sweet is that?! I couldn't wait to get in there! Here's the front ... Just look at all those cute details - the teeny spools of twine, the pretty trinkets, I love the idea of the fancy tea bag ... and inside each of the pockets is a little hand made booklet or envelope. Here's the back view ...

HI Everyone, Here's my last project for today, inspired by the Focus Your Craft free blog event over at Jennifer Grace Creates. This card was inspired by a challenge to create a Bokeheffect on an ombre background - I have never tried this before, so I thought it was about time. Here's my card ... ... and here's a quick look at how I made it ...

Hi Everyone, It's been a fun-filled weekend over at Jennifer Grace Creates , where the Focus Your Craft & Soul free blog event has been full of ideas and inspiration. One of the challenges which  took my fancy was to use Shrink Plastic to create an embellishment. This was the card I made using some tiny sweeties made of Shrink Plastic ... The stamp set I used came free on a magazine - bonus!!

Hello everyone, I've had a lovely afternoon making some cards inspired by some of the posts over at Jennifer Grace Creates for the Focus Your Craft blog event which has been going on all weekend. Here's my first card, inspired by the challenge to use a 3x4 card as the sentiment on a card. I've also used a frame and an arrow to focus on part of the design ... This is going to be a wedding invitation acceptance card - I made the wedding invitations too, so I've used some of the leftover materials to make this, which I thought would be fun. I'm off to link this up over at Jennifer's blog now - there are some amazing prizes to be won and there's still plenty of time to join in the fun, because the challenges and giveaways are open until Sunday May 24th at 10pm BST. Thanks for visiting my blog today, see you again soon Annie xxx

Hi Everyone, Today I'm very excited to be joining in with a Blog Hop as part of the Focus Your Craft & Soul free blog event which kicked off at 4pm today over at Jennifer Grace Creates Jennifer's blog events are always fun, so I'm looking forward to a weekend full of ideas, inspiration and great giveaways. Just look at this one - a WRK Insta Album Kit - which Jennifer is giving away to one lucky person ... The giveaway closes on Sunday 24th May at 10pm BST and is open internationally - all you have to do to enter is to comment on each of the blogs in the Focus Your Craft & Soul hop. I'm the last blog in the hop - if you've worked your way through the list and arrived here via Claire's blog , all you need to do now is head back to Jennifer Grace Creates to complete the hop or find the complete list if you've got lost along the way! But don't go yet! I have a project to show you, my first ever scrapping process video, a mini pho...

Hi Everyone, After the recent Scrapstars retreat, a few of us have agreed to swap Pocket Letters. This I sent my very first one off to Kathy and received my very first one from Caroline, so I took some pictures to share with you today. If you have no idea what on earth a Pocket Letter is, just click on the tab at the top of the page to find out all about it :o) The whole concept of Pocket Letters was dreamt up by Janette Lane - check her YouTube channel for lots of ideas and inspiration if you fancy having a go yourself. I was totally bowled over by the PL which Caroline made for me - every single pocket contains a little work of art ... I love the shabby chic style and the gorgeous soft pinks and greens. The pocket at the top contains a letter from Caroline and some pretty trinkets ...

Hi everyone, I'm still working on UFOs from Scrapstars, not quite so much time to play this week, but I have another page to show you - this one was from a class with Louise Collins and shows my sister Mandy holding her little granddaughter Leila for the first time ... What I love about Lou's classes is that she always gets us trying new techniques to make our own embellishments and create interesting backgrounds. For this page, we used paint, gesso, inks, misting and stamping on a 12" square of grey board to make the back ground with lots of cool texture. Here's a close-up ...

Hi everyone, It's already Week #309 over at WOYWW - soon it will be time for the big 6th Anniversary ATC swap and I really want to join in with that this year. In case you're wondering what on earth all that's about - have a wander over to Julia's Stamping Ground , where you can check out crafty workdesks all over the world, and you are welcome to link up and join us - show the world what's happening in your creative space this week. Here's mine this morning ... Not too messy this time (for me!) - this week I have been mostly finishing UFOs from the Scrapstars retreat and making my first Pocket Letter. If you don't know what these are, check out Janette Lane's You Tube channel - she's the girl who invented the idea only a few weeks ago, but it's really taken off in a big way. The sealed envelope you can see at the front of my desk has just gone off to my first Pocket Letter Pal Kathy - I really hope she likes it! I'll post some pi...

Hi Everyone, Still working my way through UFOs from the Scrapstars retreat and I have another finished project to show you - a handbag mini with a surprise inside :o) I bought this kit from the sale box, because the mix of Websters Pages papers, pretty ribbons and gorgeous metal trinkets caught my Magpie Eye. Someone told me it was from a previous retreat workshop with the talented Emma Trout , where she made a beautiful handbag mini album. I didn't have any instructions, but some of the Scrapstars girls sent me photos of their finished projects, which were so inspiring that I decided to give it a go. I was thrilled to bits with the result and made this little film, as the photos don't really show it properly ... Here are some close-ups and a look at the surprise inside ...