ArtyFartyAnnie

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, 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, Vicky Papaioannou is one of my favourite You Tubers and I'm also nuts about Tim Holtz , so I nearly wet myself with excitement when I saw this super cool giveaway on Vicky's blog ... This week, Vicky is featuring lots of stuff from the latest release of TH products, so as well as checking out her wonderful YouTube toots, you can enter this giveaway to be in with a chance of winning some of those goodies. You have to be in it to win it, innit?? Thanks for popping in today, see you again really soon :o) Annie xxx

Hi everyone, Back in December when I launched my Georgie Stamp Set  I invited readers to enter a draw to win a free set and the first name pulled out of the virtual hat was Zsuzsa from Inky Dinky Doodle . Zsuzsa worked her mixed media magic on Georgie and shared it in this blog post back in December. I was bowled over by this beautiful canvas and couldn't wait to show it off on my blog, but I was away from home at the time, so I shared it on FB and planned to do a blog post all about it when I got home - and I've only just realised I never got around to it (well there has been an awful lot going on just lately one way or another and my brain has been somewhat addled). So without further ado, please may I introduce Her Royal Gorgeousness, Princess Georgie ... ... isn't she absolutely lovely? I'm a huge admirer of Zsuzsa's work and it was such a thrill to see what she did with my stamp - check out Zsuzsa's post to read about how she created this c...

Hi Everyone, Thank you so much for all your kind comments about "Georgie" - I really appreciated all your words of encouragement. All of the people who commented were entered into a draw and I am delighted to announce that Zsuzsa is the winner of a "Georgie" Mix It Up stamp set - I can't wait to see what you create with it Zsuzsa! I'll pop a Georgie in the post for you as soon as I have your snail mail address :o) Thanks for visiting today, see you again soon. Annie xxx

Hi Everyone, Imagine how excited I was to find a package from the lovely Lizzy Hill in Australia waiting for me when I came home yesterday - and when I opened it up I was just blown away!! Lizzy had a giveaway on her blog a few weeks back, and I was lucky enough to win one of the packs of goodies. Just look at this pile of gorgeousness ... I would say I was "chuffed to bits" but last time I used that expression on here, it caused some consternation and confusion amongst my non-UK friends who suggested I should go to the chemist  and buy some cream for it hehehehehe :o) Anyway, as if that wasn't fabulous enough, Lizzy also sent one of her beautiful cards - I always love Lizzy's cards so it is wonderful to have one of my own ... Check out Lizzy's blog if you haven't already - it's bursting with ideas and fun and Lizzy's distinctive style - and you'll always find something there to give you a kick up the mojo if you need it!  Than...

Hi everyone, Today I am VERY excited because at last I can share with you a project I've been working on for quite a while - in fact, I'm SO excited that I want to run about squealing like a piglet wooHOO wooHOO!!! So, without further ado, please allow me to introduce "Georgie" - my brand new stamp set ... Georgie is the first in a series of Arty Farty Annie "Mix It Up" stamp sets - so called because in each set, the central character is made up of separate components, which are designed to be put together to create different poses and gestures. They can also be combined with components from other sets in the series to give endless creative possibilities. As well as the whimsical character which is the main focus of the stamp set, I've squeezed lots of fun images into every spare inch of space! I wanted to make these stamps as useful and versatile as possible, so I've included design elements and motifs which will lend themselves to all...

Hi everyone, If you happened to read my previous post a couple of days ago, you will know that my experiment with DIY enamel dots didn't go too well - the whole day went kind of pear-shaped and it's put me off the whole idea.  However, it seems a shame to waste the beads, because I know that lots of people have had great success with melting these beads to create their own enamel dots at a fraction of the price of the ones you can buy - here is just one of the many tutorials on YouTube which make it look really easy! They're very cheap to buy, but some of my international blogging friends have mentioned that they are difficult to get hold of outside of the UK and US - so, if you would like some of these to play with and can't get hold of them wherever you are, just let me know and I will be happy to post them off to you. It'll be first come first served and I will put them into bags of 500 in assorted colours. Just leave a comment on here if you...

Hi everyone, Just been having a wander around Blogland with my morning cup of coffee and spotted this gorgeous giveaway from Helen Tilbury over at Scrap Addict ... Helen's giveaways are always amazing, but this does look particularly yummy, doesn't it? It's open internationally and all you have to do is to make sure you're a Scrap Addict follower and leave a comment - go on then, go for it!  Thanks for popping in, see you later :o) Annie xxx

Hello Everyone! To celebrate joining the SJ Crafts DT, I offered a little prize for the March challenge on the SJ Crafts Blog  and it's time to announce the winner! The challenge this month was to use this photo collage in any way you like to inspire a scrapbook page or card ... This image inspired some wonderful pages and I really enjoyed looking through all the different interpretations. Today I'm very excited to announce the winner of my prize, selected by a random number generator ... True Random Number Generator Min:   Max:   Result: 8 Powered by So the winner is ...

Just a quickie to let you know that Lou Collins has a new blog and she's doing a gorgeous giveaway to celebrate ... To be in with a chance to win, all you have to do is nip over to Lou's new blog and leave a comment! Cheerio for now :o)xxx

Check out this amazing giveaway over at Keren Tamir's blog Keren is a very talented lady, as you probably already know because you will have seen her work all over the place!  Anyway, she's had a fabulous year - all her scrappy dreams have come true and it's so sweet of her to want to share her happiness with us all by offering not just one, not two, not even three ... but four prizes!!! This one is my favourite ... ... but I'd climb over hot coals for any of them. Is it really bad if you actually dribble whilst looking at scrapping goodies .... ??? Check it out - you have to be in it to win it as I always say! :o)xxx

...at  ScrapFriends ! Check this out - you have to be in it to win it! Includes: Amy Tangerine - Sketchbook - Daybook Stitched Chapter; Crate Paper - Peppermint - Buttons; Hello Dreams - Badge Buttons; Basic Grey - Serenade - Mixed Brads; Basic Grey - Lucille - Mixed Brads; Basic Grey - Serenade - Flags and Banners; Basic Grey - Lucille - Embroidered Tags; Heidi Swapp - Sugar Chic - Stix; Cosmo Cricket - Wood Charms - Snowflakes; Studio Calico - Chevron Mask; Teresa Collins - Memorabilia - Sequins; Teresa Collins - Santa's List - Sequins. WooHOO! I'm off to enter right now! :o)xxx

I thoroughly enjoyed the Frosty Festivities over at Jennifer Grace Creates at the weekend - hope you did too. At one point I was Extreme Blog Hopping - whilst hurtling through the night in torrential rain, because I just didn't want to miss anything! There were so many creative ideas  to check out, giveaways and challenges all over the place - Big Fun - thanks Jennifer! It was also very exciting to see that 45 lovely people from all over the world would like to win my Winter Sparkles kit ... ... and make their own version of this little tag book ... I couldn't wait to see who the winner would be. Plan A was to do Pooter Wizardry and use some kind of Random Number Generator spell, but after a long day at the grindstone I just couldn't get my tiny brain around it, so I decided to ditch the hocus pocus and opt for a low tech solution ... I wrote all 45 names on pieces of paper ... ... folded them up ...  put them in a suitable receptacle ... ...

WooHOO! I'm very excited to be part of Jennifer's Frosty Festivities 2013 Blog Hop - it promises to be a weekend full of fun, inspiration and PRIZES!!! You probably arrived here via Jennifer Grace Creates - if not, you should pop back there right now and start from the beginning, because if you comment on all the blogs on the hop and then go back and let Jennifer know you've been all the way around, you'll be in with a chance to win this brilliant prize ... Simple Stories December Documented and Elle's Studio Noel items, worth over £28!  Jennifer challenged us to create a Christmas or Winter themed project and I know how much she loves a bit of sparkle, so here is my Winter Sparkles Tag Book ... ... and the chance to win this kit to make your own version! I raided my stash and pulled out two identical piles of stuff, one for me and one for the lucky winner, so this includes everything I used to make my book, plus a few extras which I didn't...

Great excitement - it's nearly time for the Frosty Festivities blog event over at Jennifer Grace Creates wooHOO!!! :o) A weekend full of fun, inspiration and prizes - I always enjoy Jennifer's blog events, but I'm especially excited this time because ArtyFartyAnnie is going to be part of the Blog Hop kicking off the weekend at 6pm on Friday 8th November. I am planning a special project to share with you and a fun prize to go with it which I hope you will like :o) So, put the date in your diary and make sure you don't miss all the fun! Check out the Frosty Festivities 2013 Announcement today - Jennifer has started the ball rolling already with a giveaway which you can enter right now! Good luck and see you soon :o)xxx

Yesterday was the Big Day - the "Grand Opening" of my new workroom which I've been SO looking forward to. I spent a happy few hours making cakes ... I've never made Strawberry Shortcake before so I was well chuffed with this one ... I also made Lemon Drizzle and Chocolate Fudge Tray Bakes and of course tested them all thoroughly - well, I did use half fat cream ... and our own home-grown strawberries :o) Then I got some little surprises ready for my girlies, all about storage and ribbons of course! Bottom left of the picture you can see the little tickets I stamped and cut out ready for everyone to write their names on for the Prize Draw; to the right of them is my favourite pair of scissors spruced up for the occasion; above that a gift-wrapped Second Prize of a stack of mini pots of buttons and beads; at the top right is the First Prize - a Boxful of Bits n Bobs; on the left is a basket of tiny token goodies as consolation prizes - here's a close...