ArtyFartyAnnie

Hello my arty crafty friends, This week, I got my first ScrawlR Box to play with and I thought you might like to have a peek inside. If you click on the link above, you can check out the contents of previous boxes. Here's what I got in the September 2018 kit ... I thought it was really good value for £15 including postage - if you add up the RRP for the separate items it's way over that amount - and I love how it's put together. This month, the theme is "Complete Blackout", so all the pens are black, but they are all different shades of black, with very different properties, so it was fun trying them out and mixing them all together. Here's my very first experiment ... The ScrawlR Box includes a challenge each month to inspire you - this time it was "Jazz Noir". As you can see I went completely off-piste, but that doesn't matter, it was just a starting-point. Opening the box was very exciting :o) Here's how it comes, with c...

Hello Crafty Friends and Fellow Deskers, Long time no see!! I've missed so many What's On Your Workdesk Wednesdays I can't even remember how many, but Things have settled down a bit now, so I have time to play - if you would like to join us, just hop over to Julia's Stamping Ground :o) Here's my workdesk on Tuesday evening .... You may just be able to make out that I've been playing with my new glass dip pen - I LOVE it, because it's so beautiful, it works really well and it was less than seven squids from Amazon. With just one dip in the ink, I managed to write over twenty words before I had to dip again - brilliant! Here's another view of my room, looking over my left shoulder as I sit at the desk ... I guess it still looks a bit chaotic, but everything is accessible now and I'm gradually working on finding storage solutions which are pretty and practical and don't cost too much. Like those magazine files I got in the Pound Shop...

Hello Scrappy Friends, There's a new Case File #262 over at CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration and you have until the end of September to solve it and be in with a chance of winning one of the fabulous prizes on offer. Here's a quick look at the Case File ... For full details and loads of inspiration, check out this post on the CSI Blog . You can choose to follow all the clues, or just pull your own inspiration from the Scene. Here's a closer look ... Personally, I really enjoy following the clues, so that's what I did. Here's how I cracked the Case ... Scheme : all the colours are included, and I threw in a splash of the aqua blue. Evidence : stripes, dots, insects, swirls, Perfect Pearl drops, hearts, flowers, leaves, layered/dimensional stickers, bow, buttons. Testimony : I wrote my journaling in cursive around the edge of the page.  It's all about how much I love pictures like this one of my little Step Granddaughter Macy - t...

Hello Crafty Peeps, Yesterday our little craft group got together to join in with the Craftathon for Breast Cancer Care - we have £70 to donate to this very worthy cause and we had a lovely time ... We were making mini books and I love how they all turned out so differently, even though we were working from the same kit. Julie very kindly hosted our mini Craftathon and we completely took over her dining room for the day. Here's the table before we trashed it got started ... Julie had made us these sweet tissue holders as a memento of the day which was a lovely surprise ... It was extreme crafting to get the book done in a day, but we had lots of fun ... ... and we were sustained by delicious home made cake :o) Cake break #1 ... ... and Cake Break #2 ... We started on the easy pages and worked our way up to the more tricky ones. It was satisfying to see them start to stack up ... We tried out a few different tools and techniques to crea...

Hello my Crafty Friends, Next Saturday 15th September, some friends and I are getting together to join in with the Craftathon for Breast Cancer Care - check out the FB page to see what it's all about. It all came from an idea hatched by the lovely Di Oliver and has grown into a massive event, which hopefully will raise lots of money for this very worthwhile cause. To give us a fun project to work on as a group, I've put together some kits to create a mini book ... We'll each have 18 sheets of double-sided patterned paper including lots of different colours and designs, so there will be plenty of scope for each of us to put our own twist on the design. Here's my first prototype, after I'd added some scraps of ribbon to the binding ... And I used some of the leftovers to create photocorners, pen clips and paperclip flags ... If you would like to join us, you would be most welcome - I have put together a Word doc including all the instructions an...

Hello everyone, A new Case File has opened over at CSI: Color, Stories, Inspiration and you have a whole month to solve it to be in with a chance of winning one of the fab prizes on offer. We have an unusual Scene to investigate this month and I had loads of fun with it ... Pop over to the CSI Blog to find the full case file and all the clues you need to crack this case, as well as lots of inspiration from the rest of the CSI Detectives. Here's how I cracked it ... The photo shows my little step-granddaughter, Macy, a couple of years ago, and this page is documenting some of the things we love about her. It was also a great excuse to use up about a million diecuts! New for 2018, you can choose to follow all the Clues in the Case File, or just pull your own inspiration from the Scene. As always, I went old school, as I really enjoy following the clues. Scheme: all the colours are there. Evidence : teacup, paper clip, leaves, hand-drawn elements plus a couple ...