ArtyFartyAnnie

Hi everyone, It's coming to the end of the month and I still had quite a bit left of my take on the Counterfeit Kit  for January, so I thought I'd make a few cards to use up some of that stash. Challenge #1 for this month was to be inspired by "New Beginnings", so I made a little series of cards with this idea in mind ... The first two I made have the sentiments stamped on the inside - one says "Life begins at Retirement", and the other says "Good Luck" ...

Hello Bloggy Friends, This year I've promised myself I'll have a go at some of the challenges over at Daring Cardmakers , as they always look really fun, easy, and inspiring. There's a new challenge every Friday, this week was to make black and white cards with a pop of colour. Here's my take on the idea ... Very quick, very easy, using some old scraps, my new watercolour paints, and the free stamp set from a magazine. Here's another look ... These will joing my little store of cards ready to send out whenever I need them, and cards a a great way of trying out techniques and using up stash. Can't wait to see what idea they'll come up with nex time :o) Thanks for visiting my blog today, see you again soon! Love Annie xxx

Hello everyone, I've been playing with my January Counterfeit Kit , which I called " Fresh Start ". Challenge #2 for January was to be inspired by nature, and I needed a special card for a good friend who loves her garden, so here's what I came up with ... I made this exploding box card with papers from my kit, along with a stamp set and some watercolour paints to create the beautiful butterflies. The original kit included some gorgeous organic watercolour effects, so I had already pulled some mixed media paper and a new set of paints I was dying to try out. After spritzing the paper with water, I just brushed different colours of paint on and let them play together ... Then I did the same on the other side (you'll see why in a minute) ...

Hello Fellow Deskers and Bloggers, It's Wednesday, so it's time to share What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday - pop over to Julia's Stamping Ground to check it out and join in if you feel the urge, everyone's welcome. So here's mine today ... I have made a lot of progress in my clearing and tidying mission since last Wednesday as you can see. On the left, my 2017 December Daily just waiting for a couple of finishing touches; on the right, my new hand-drawn diary pages waiting to be filed in my planner for 2018. So, out with the old, in with the new! :o)

Hello Boggy Peeps, Today was my day off, so after I'd done a couple of little chores, I spent half of the remaining time tidying my craft room and the other half messing it up again :o) I put a few finishing touches to my 2017 December Daily, then sorted my planner ready for 2018, and finally thought I'd dip into my January Counterfeit Kit "Fresh Start" and make a scrapbook page featuring a photo of my good friends Trina and Kate during a teabreak at work ... I used this sketch by Laura Whittaker for Stuck?! Sketches ... Laura's sketches are always brilliant and so easy to work with. I was also inspired by this month's GoGoGetaway challenge ... I loved the simplicity of this challenge and couldn't resist the temptation to paper-piece the shape and finish it with some hand-stitching to create my own embellishment. Thanks very much for visiting my blog today, see you again soon! Love Annie xxx

Hello Bloggy Friends, The mid-month challenge has gone live over at CSI:Color, Stories, Inspiration , so it's time to reveal this fun Case File which celebrates Lewis Carroll and the wonderful world he created ... Isn't that image fabulous?! There's a new development over at CSI, called Freestyling - so now you can choose either to follow the traditional clues, or to pull your own inspiration from the Scene in any way you wish. More details over at the CSI blog . Here's how I solved the case, showcasing a favourite picture of my sister Mandy with her little grandson Logan several years ago now ... After a thorough investigation of the Scene, I decided to follow some of the traditional clues, which you will find if you scroll to the bottom of the reveal on the CSI blog . Scheme : I loved the combination of muted red, sky blue and olive green and touches of beige against a white background, so I used all five of the colours Debbi pulled from the i...

Hello Fellow Deskers and Bloggy Friends, It's What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday - time to show the world what's happening in your creative space this week. Pop over to the lovely Julia's Stamping Ground - check it out, have a snout at other people's craft rooms, link up and join in if you would like to, everyone is welcome :o) So here's mine today ... I've deliberately gone for what I hope is a nostalgic atmosphere in my desk photo this week, to signify that this jumbled mess of a desk is a thing of the past - well, that's my intention anyway ... This picture was taken on Tuesday afternoon, after I'd spent several hours on my day off sorting through all Stuff in my craft room. For some reason, the actual desk got worse as everything else got better and in the end I just ran out of time ... and steam. You know how sometimes a task becomes so overwhelming that you wish you'd never started on it?!? If you were to peek to the left of th...

Hello Everyone, One of the promises I've made to myself this year is to make time to join in with the Counterfeit Kit Club challenge again - it's such a brilliant idea don't you think?! Gets you looking with fresh eyes at all that stuff you have stashed in your craft room and finding new ways to use it all up :o) Here's my first Counterfeit Kit for 2018, which I'm calling "Fresh Start"... The inspiration kit for this month was this one from Cocoa Daisy  called "Fair Isle" ...

Hello everyone, It's the first day of a bright new year - time to look forward to everything 2018 has in store. It's also time to check out the first Case File of the year over at CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration - I'm especially excited about this one because I am rejoining the team of CSI Detectives and this is the first case I've cracked as a Detective for quite a while. So, without further waffle, here's Case File #245, compiled by the lovely Debbi Tehrani and full of inspiring and intriguing clues ... New for 2018 - Freestyle !! You can use whichever clues take your fancy; as many or as few as you like from Scheme, Evidence and Testimony - or simply draw your own inspiration from the Scene. Here's how I cracked this case ... The picture shows Yours Truly having Big Hugs with my little Great-Niece Leila during a visit to Cornwall. The photo isn't great quality due to the lighting, but it's precious to me all the same, especially...