Winter is over in the craft room!

I have had enough of snow! I struggled with it in my winter scene, which is part of a challenge I am sharing with my little sister. I am not 100% happy with the result but need to move into spring!


I have tried to let it flow on from the Autumn scene, but couldn't get Hugh Grant in! (See the Autumn post - shades of Nottting Hill!)
I used paperbag studio stamps, Tim Holtz tree die, a post box I have forgotten where from (I shall have to be more vigilant remembering now I blog, sorry), distress inks and loads of white acrylic. I made it snow with an old toothbrush, even the cats are covered now! The school railing were coffee stirrers and the entrance to the school was a paperartsy stamp.
I grew up in London and moved to Wiltshire when I was 12. My first school was at the end of a road of terraced houses and was a big Victorian building behind railings, and the trees seemed to me to grow out of the pavement! Magic.

Here it is next to the Autumn one. I hope to get them all mounted together when I have finished.

I hope I have managed to convey the glow through the windows as the afternoon starts to close.

Sunday Stampers

I love my job but the problem is I only seem to have time to play at weekends! Just in time again here is my entry for Hel's Sunday Stampers, theme Nature.


I used an old stamp, haven't used it for ages, by Inkadinkado, stamped in archival black and coloured with Copic and promarkers. The tag was inked in crushed olive distress ink and then parts of paperartsy hot picks grasses over stamped in the crushed olive again. The sentiment and the butterfly are Tim Holtz tiny clear stamps and the word Nature hung on Tim's tiny safety pins. The tag is finished with a piece of 'bird fatball' netting and garden string! I tried to get a bit arty by taking the photograph over a lovely old book called 'The Calender of Garden Lore.'
Well, the housework beckons, but I am going up to the craft room to play! You never know I may be able to put something else on my blog later! I gotta work out now how to get Hel's Sunday Stamper logo on my blog, bet it's easy but I can't seem to make it appear! Yes, you've guessed, computers are not my thing!

The tale of Eric, the configuration box and my Stampotique surprise!

Here at long last is a photograph of the box I did at the paperartsy day with Tim Holtz!Fabulous day, I really enjoyed myself and met some lovely people. The man himself is lovely, really friendly and nothing too much trouble. Lin and Leandra were lovely, their workshop was awesome too!


However, when I got back to the craft room and put the box up I noticed Eric was looking very depressed.

He had dressed himself in my grey promarker set and had a gloomy cloud over him.

He wanted to know why I hadn't taken him to the workshop and why couldn't he be in the box? I tried explaining that although I was an eclectic stamper, some styles didn't really go together. He got very cross with me and said that I hadn't even tried. To try and cheer him up I popped him in the box next to the bird cage.

Well, the language! He complained that the bird cage kept banging him on the head and the d****** bird was giving him a headache! If he went on like this it would be more than 'After therapy mints' he would needing! Oh dear, so I offered to shrink him so he would fit in another space.

This didn't please him either, he said he was a 5" stamp and that was how I should use him! So I got out my grungepaper and used that, telling him that I would be able to bend him a little then.

He started to complain of backache and headache and everything ache, although he said the colour of the grunge suited his mood completely. Was there anything I could do to cheer him up?

Oh yes, I told him that the wonderful people at Stampotique had awarded me a $30 certificate for my entry into the Stampotique designers challenge for valentine love. I noticed then that he had blushed a rosy red colour, even his knees were blushing!

I knew what was up! He had formed an undying passion for Olivia, so I told him I would order him for her and they could stand together on my shelf in the craft room. Worked a treat, next time I saw him he was clutching a red rose and a box of choccies! Thand you so much lovely people at Stampotique, you have saved the day!!

All peaceful in the craft room for a while!

Hels sunday Stamper challenge

I'm having a lot of trouble with Eric in the craft room. Before I tell you all about that I wanted to post my first attempt at the Sunday Stamper challenge, this week anything Parisian!
here is my tag.


I used spiced marmalade, dried marigold and mustard seed distress inks for the background, spritzed on my craft mat and swiped. Then Tim Holtz Moulin Rouge and Paris stamp in brushed corduroy, then a prima stamp of the can can girls. Coloured these with promarkers and fiddled with bits of feather (it's all over my work desk now!) and gems. The paper lace round their skirts was a challenge and it doesn't show so well on the photograph. Then oh la la letters covered with glossy accents and red white and blue ribbon accented with an old earring that I coloured to match in alcohol ink in red and blue.
I'm still finding it difficult to assemble my posts! Practice makes perfect! This weekend I shall post my box I assembled with Tim Holtz and tell you all about the trouble it gave me with Eric!! By for now.

Four seasons project

Got back today from the artsycraft event! Amazing, awesome, will post pictures of the projects asap as my lovely daughter has lent me a camera.

Here however is a project I am sharing with my sister. We have challenged each other to create four interpretations of the seasons in any medium not more than 10" square.
Little sis is doing some beautiful embroidery, but I have decided to use my stamps and to make it a little more difficult I am trying to recreate urban scenes. Here I have used paperbag studios, paper artsy and Tim Holtz stamps, distress inks, Martha Stewart railling punch and Tim's alterations die and embossing folder, plus a small leaf punch I have had for years!
My current challenge of winter is proving difficult as I want the pictures to carry on from each other (rather like that scene in Notting Hill where Hugh Grant walks through the market!).
I shall post it shortly, I'm struggling with the snow at present!
Back soon with photo's of my alteration box!

Great start

I would just like to say a HUGE thank you to all the kind folks who commented on my first blogs. It was very exciting and I really want to get going, but alas!! I have lost (mislaid?) my camera and I am so frustrated as I have a project I want to share!

Also I am going to a workshop on Friday with yes, you've guessed it - Tim Holtz! I am so excited and can't believe I've lost my precious camera, how will I record this great event?
I will be back asap and hopefully said camera will reappear or I will get paid and try and buy a new one!
Best wishes to you all, and thank you again.

Moth Fab

This is my friend Moth Fab and she has been feeling a little flat and colourless too.


So I thought I would cheer her up with a nice cake from an old cook book I recently found.



As I turned to the cake page and old envelope fell out with a recipe on it!
Well I thought, must try this!
Remember my little man Twinkie I caught in a mason jar? Well, he is missing a hair as we speak!
3 Mwah's. mmm, all I had were these dehydrated ones..........
However, they plumped up nicely after a good soaking!

1oz of Passion, that's a challenge. I looked everywhere and then found this couple, we
I thought they looked pretty passionate!
Now for 2 tbsps of heart, luckily I had just been to my local supermarket and had one!
So after simmering and sieving I gave some to Moth -


She soon got her colour back!



So off I went for a cup of tea, but when I got back to the craft room Twinkie had escaped as I had left the lid off the jar, and the pair of them had taken up residence in my art journal, and made a right mess of the page. He won't give me my stamp pad back either!

Ah well, at least they look happy!

I'm going to have to work on how I present photo's and text and take better photographs!

Never mind, hopefully I will soon get the hang of it!