ArtyFartyAnnie

Hi everyone, My friend Trina and I had a scrappy session last week and we decided to follow another fab class with Shimelle Laine . We really enjoyed ourselves and as always our pages ended up looking completely different from Shimelle's and from each other's. Here's mine ... ... featuring one of my favourite photos of (L-R) me with my good friends Emma, Chel and Polly. It may not be the best quality, but I love how this picture shows each of us looking happy, relaxed and just being ourselves - we don't get to see each other very often these days, but when we do, we are comfortable with each other straight away, as if it was only a week ago that we last got together, not a whole year. We've shared some tough times and some joyful ones and I really miss these girls. The photo is pretty rubbish, but you get the gist - this was meant to be more of an L shaped composition, but as always I had to go a little off piste! It was great to use some Quirky Kit g...

Hi Everyone, Some friends of mine are getting married in September and I was really chuffed when they asked me to make their wedding invitations. Between us, we came up with this fun and pretty design ... ... which opens up like this to reveal the invitation and all the necessary details ...

Hi Everyone, Is it really Wednesday again already?! In that case, it's time to show the world What's On Your Workdesk and then pop over to Julia's Stamping Ground to see what everyone else has been up to. This week I set up a temporary crafting camp in my room at Keble College Oxford where I was staying with three of my dearest friends for a few days ... This picture was taken before I had unpacked - it looked a bit different later that evening, when the four of us gathered here for some serious crafting (and a glass or three of course) and we had lots of fun making these Japanese paper dolls ... These would be great as bookmarks for little gifts or fundraisers. They're so easy and fun to make and a great way to use up scraps of paper and ribbon. I might do a little tutorial soon, so watch this space if you fancy having a go!

Hi Everyone, Here's another finished page from the Scrapstars weekend back in April - this class was with the talented Tracee Provis ... Tracee always comes up with such clever ideas and stylish pages. This time, she showed us how to cut the patterned papers into strips and assemble them to create pockets across the page and we made little cards to tuck inside the pockets - a perfect way to add journaling and extra photos to tell your story. Our kit included a cute little wooden camera stamp - we stamped this in black ink onto plain white card to create these fun embellishments ... ... and I love the tiny wooden frames Tracee found for us - I added a hint of colour to mine with Distress Inks ... We created a cluster with images cut from the patterned paper, one of the little frames and a scattering of enamel dots. Tracee added lots of stitched detail to her page, but I was too lazy to get my machine out, so I did lots of doodling instead. I love the end result ...

Hi Everyone, It's Day Four of our sojourn amidst the dreaming spires and it looks like the sun will be shining for us again today. Yesterday we visited the Pitt Rivers Museum - we hadn't heard of it, but as it's very close to where we're staying at Keble College , we thought we'd pop in on our way to the Ashmolean. Four hours later, we finally managed to tear ourselves away - it was amazing; stuffed full of fascinating artifacts ... After a spot of lunch, we went on to the Ashmolean Museum , where there was a wonderful exhibition called Great British Drawings. My feet were very weary by the end of the day, but my head is full of ideas and inspiration. I am also full of cakes and pies, but let's not go into that! Once we've fortified ourselves with a delicious breakfast in the Great Hall ... ... we're off to check out a couple of interesting shops which we noticed yesterday, possibly have more cake, then head off for the highlight of our...

Hi Everyone, Back in April, my friend Trina and I had the most wonderful weekend at Scrapstars 2015. We made lots of pages, and because I'm not the fastest scrapper on the block, I had several projects to finish off at home. Here's one from a class with the lovely Louise Collins ... I always get messy in Lou's classes and I always have fun and learn new techniques. In this class, we tried out a crackled background with PVA and paint on a piece of corrugated cardboard - it didn't come out quite right, but I still love the effect ... The photograph shows my sister Mandy with her newborn granddaughter Leila. Lou showed us how to use scraps of gauze, gesso, misting and stamping to give even more texture ... ... and fussy cut images and altered chipboard pieces to add some interesting details to the page. I'm really happy with how the page turned out and will definitely be incorporating these techniques into my pages more often. It's a sun...

Hi Everyone, A couple of weeks ago, my good friend Trina and I spent a very happy evening scrapping along to an online class called Ready Set Scrapbook with Shimelle Laine  - check out her blog for loads of inspiration. There are three pages in this class. Here's my version of the first one ... ... showing my gorgeous little grand-niece Leila blowing out her birthday candles - cute or what?! Our results were very different from the original as we used different supplies. We were both delighted with the outcome and can't wait to do the next one! Ok, short and sweet today as I'm off to spend the day at Warwick Castle with some lovely friends from Cornwall today. Have  a great day wherever you are! Thanks for popping in, see you again soon. Annie xxx

Hi everyone, Ooooohh I've missed Blogland while I've been away doing Other Stuff and it's good to be back! One of the things I missed most is catching up with friends over at Julia's Stamping Ground for What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday. First of all, I want to say a belated thank you for the last two ATCs I received for the WOYWW 6th Anniversary ATC Swap. The first one was from Jan  and the second was from Zoe - they're both just beautiful and I will treasure them thankyou ladies ... From Jan From Zoe Strictly speaking, I don't have an actual workdesk to show today as I'm busy packing again for a few days amidst the dreaming spires of beautiful Oxford with some friends. So, instead of cutting and sticking this morning, I was busy gathering essential supplies ... ... various devices, chargers, umbrella, Oyster card, Zentangle stuff - when the postie arrived with my Quirky Kit wooHOOO!! So of course everything had to stop while I...

Hey Everyone, One of the many things which has been keeping me busy over the last few weeks was preparation for John's 60th birthday party. We decided on a retro theme and had loads of fun coming up with ideas for food, music, decor and stuff to do. We set up a table where our guests could have a little saunter down Memory Lane and let their inner children out to play - do you remember these? ... When I was a little girl, I used to spend hours playing with paper dolls. These particular ones came from Tin Teddy on Etsy. And for the boys, there was a Robby the Robot and K-9  ...

Hi everyone, It's been an extremely busy few months and I haven't blogged for AGES - or indeed done very much to blog about - but it's time for a catch-up so brace yourselves for a little flurry! Firstly, I have a couple of pocket letters to share with you. I'm really enjoying making these and it's even more fun recieving one in the post hehehe! This one went to Louise back in June ... Front view