We shall have a fishy ...

But on a card and not a little dishy!

Two cards needed for two of the nephews and as both have aquariums I remembered I got these little cardboard fishes AGES ago!  Really wanted to stick to my much preferred "tag" style of card but wasn't at all sure if grunge + fishes would work ... still not sure but I gave it a go.

Did the splodging of Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pads on the craft mat and squirting with water thing and then swooshed around the tags ... just one of my favourite techniques and I love the moment when you turn the card over and see the result of all that swooshing for the first time.

I uummmmed and aahhhhhed for ages trying to decide whether to crackle glaze the tags or not ... eventually just decided to go for it and applied a coating of Rock Candy and then played Angry Birds until they dried.

I tried to transform the little cardboard fishes using my meltpot but had to admit defeat and ended up just using the UTEE and my heat gun ... managed to blow most of the coloured UTEE all over the place but think just enough colour is left to give the fishes a bit of ooomph.

One of my other favourite techniques is to emboss acetate so I put just a little on the tags and I stamped some little silvery dotty things around the edges of the tags.

I didn't want pretty, colourful, typically tropical fish so the nephews will maybe think "oh auntie" when they see their grunged-up, dark and gloomy specimens but, hey, who wants to be conventional?

Coloured and scrunched up some of Mr. Holtz's crinkle ribbon and managed not to set fire to it this time whilst encouraging it to dry with my heat gun ... gently does it!

The swirly bit on the right hand side isn't quite what I wanted but decided to leave it as it was rather than start again ... all about adjusting and adapting and tweaking as you go along, I guess, and nobody will ever know it didn't go to plan so ... ssshhhh, our secret ok!

WOYWW 189

Have absolutely no idea how Wednesday has crept around so fast again but here it is and for the second week in a row I'M HERE TOO!!!!  For those unfamiliar with our special Wednesdays and the wonderful world of WOYWW'ing it is the day we share our workdesks with fellow bloggers and have the opportunity of seeing crafty going's-on all over the world! Julia is to blame and links to loads of other workspaces can be found HERE

So to my own workdesk ... rather different this week because I am making some sugarpaste flowers for a cake and hope to have them all made by the end of today so I can colour and wire them up tomorrow.

Desk is a little blank as I've not yet really got going this morning having had a rotten night stressing about the flowers!  Didn't go to bed until midnight but woke at 2.10am and then 3.20am and 4.40am whenI finally gave up and played Angry Birds on my mobile until 5.30am ... nodded off and managed to sleep until 6.45am so my mood is not the greatest at the moment!

The roses hanging up need further layers of petals and will eventually be dusted pink:

And on the tray are loads of little filler flowers ... baby orchids, sweet peas, ivy leaves and tiny carnations ... haven't yet decided if the sweet peas and carnations will be pink or left white ... am favouring white at the moment!

I will post a photo' of the flowers wired up all ready for the cake once I've got it to that stage.

Thought I might send this card to the playground that is  PIXIE'S SNIPPETS... the idea being you make a card containing, er, a snippet of something you had left-over ... a bit of ribbon or lace or an off-cut of paper etc.,  Well this whole card was made from bit's and pieces I had left over from a previous, similar card ... I did order new papers and cardstock but it didn't arrive in time so I had to "make do" with what I had.  I was asked to make this card by Nicola, one of the nephew's girlfriends - she hasn't seen it yet so a nervous wait until she does!

It is one of my fold-out-tag-card-booklet thingies and has 6 little tags inside ... the last tag is left blank for Nicola to sign!

WOYWW 188

Well, it has sure been a while but here I am!!!!!  WOYWW'ing for the first time in ages and having totally forgotten how to do it!  I shall post my photo of my very messy desk right now and then head off to see if I can figure out how to add it to Julia's list!
Don't know what WOYWW'ing is all about? Well, each Wednesday, in the world of craftland, we share photo's of our desk and have the opportunity of visiting desks all over the world to see what fellow crafters are up to ... it is just fascinating seeing lots of items and products that we all use scattered far and wide and all being used to produce such different results.
Taking a peek at other crafter's desks has kick-started many crafter's-block moments and, of course, it's great just to be nosey!
So here is my work desk right now ... not much going on and not really happy with the card I am making so have yet to decide whether to go with it or bin it and start over!

This isn't yet my "normal" craft desk ... mild here in England but still too cold to work out in the conservatory where my huge table and storage cupboards are so am squeezed onto the end of the dining room table!

These are some of the cards I made just before Christmas for my January birthdays ... used the resist technique for the pink tag cards and had to experiment to see if I liked a cream background showing through or a white one ... decided I preferred the white so will be making more like these for further birthdays throughout the year.  Had loads of little strips of vellum left over from making some invitations so am using them up by adding the person's name ... super and quick to emboss and saves throwing away such lovely thick vellum.

It is not often my sister has anything nice to say about my cards but she did comment on the one I made last year for daddy ... I used a beautiful brass stencil that I have had for years ... so I dug that out and the men's cards this year will be based around that.  
I used glossy accents to highlight just the little hot-air balloon and left it at that ... well, after I'd distress-inked it to within an inch of its life, of course!

I used a linen-effect paper for the embossing and after I inked it with my much favoured brown tones of Tim Holtz's distress inkpads it resembled burnt wood and you can just about spot I used my new Martha Stewart punches I got for Christmas.
Right, am off to see if I can link this at Julia's Stamping Ground and then will pop back here to post the link to her WOYWW list!  
So,  Julia's Stamping Ground is where it all happens! (just hope that link takes you there ... SORRY Julia if it doesn't ... I will ask Maggie C to help me out!)

Happy WOYWW'ing everyone ... I've really missed being part of our Wonderful Wednesdays!!!!!

Sending thanks

Now I know she has received it I can share this tag I made for Maggie C ... without her I would not have my little blog and am finally, slowly, kinda getting to grips with my Wishblade (which is now a Sillhouette due to some unloading/downloading/offloading/uploading or whatever it is!).
Unfortunately I made this BEFORE finding out Maggie is not a fan of the Tim Holtz grungy style but I put so much work into it I decided to send it anyway (with an apology) rather than make something more to her taste.

If you look closely you can see my brads-bashed-with-the-meat-hammer ... was pleased how they turned out and it was very theraputic!
Well, won't be able to blog for a while as we are just popping off in the caravan for a little break and won't have any mains power.
No crafting for a week ... got withdrawal symptoms already!

Titanic Tags

What a rotten week!  Couldn't even blog but did manage to get some crafting done and as I am a massive TITANIC fan I just couldn't let the Centenary pass without doing something so made two tags ... one for me and one to send to another Titanorak ... an internet friend that I met briefly at the Titanic Exhibition at the Science Museum in London in 2003.
They are just my "standard" tag size ... distressed with various shades of blue (couldn't be any other colour really ... it's supposed to represent the ocean!) And I added some swirls and flourishes, some of which I dusted with gold perfect pearls to represent the waves.  Absolute artistic licence, of course, as there were no waves that night.
The clock shows the time the Titanic sank (I am having to explain that to just about everyone who sees them!) and the bow of the ship was a challenge but all the effort was proven worthwhile today when daddy saw them and asked where I bought them from!  I scored down the back of them and bent them a little bit and then covered them in glossy accents and just hoped it wouldn't all slide off as they dried.  I Walked Away so not as to fiddle with them and then when they were nearly dry teased them into the pointy shape I wanted.  Only problem here was I couldn't then attach the bottom edge of the ship to the tag and didn't want to rely on the great blob of silicone glue behind to hold them into place.  Super-sticky "red" double sided tape to the rescue and I "encouraged" the bottom edge of the ship flat and then quickly stuck the message label on with more silicone.  Seems to be holding so far so think I have got away with it.
Wasn't sure about the red flag and label and experimented with grey and white but eventually came back to the red ... it seemed all too wishy-washy otherwise.
They didn't turn out quite as I imagined in my head at 2am when I was thinking about making them but they will do as a little memento of the Centenary and I just hope my friend likes hers which will be in the post in the morning!

WOYWW 146

Oh for goodness sake, how can it be Wednesday AGAIN!  I said to daddy only yesterday "considering Easter is early this year it surely is taking ages to get here" ... and then he told me off for wishing the year away!!!  Don't have to wish because it is happening right before my eyes.
Anyway, am rambling ... here is my very empty workdesk this week ... was hoping a die I had ordered would come yesterday - which it didn't - but it has been despatched so am quite expecting it this morning and then I can get going.  
I have Been Sensible and not rushed ahead in making some little "remembrance" tags to send in memory of lost loved ones.  I know (I think) where I am going with them but decided to wait before cutting them all out as I am not sure how large the little birdie will be ... I want to do a smaller tag than I normally prefer and have already printed out the little messages to go on them and used a Martha Stewart punch to make the edges pretty.  I could have got them all ready just to add the die-cut birds but didn't want them too big so the bird looked ridiculously small or vice-versa and the birdie be too large.  Hurry up postman!!!!!

OK ... you get two shots this week ... an overall view and a close up!  The cross-stitch patterns came yesterday and I am trying to decide which of the two "Lavender & Lace" angels to stitch first ... I said I wouldn't do any more of these designs as I have no wall space left to hang any more but whilst searching and searching for a new project to work on these just kept going "Pssssst" to me.  The other two little patterns are for Christmas and designs I was waiting to come back into stock so rather than leave it until nearer Christmas I thought I would order them now so not as to miss out again ... clever, eh?!?!?


You may be wondering what the meat-hammer is doing on my craftdesk ... I wanted to bash some brads and went to order Mr. H's little hammer but couldn't really justify spending that much money just to bash a few brads now and again.  I asked hubby if he had anything in the garage I could use and he suggested the meat-hammer ... not that the meat-hammer was in the garage!  It worked a treat and, as it rarely gets used in the kitchen, it might well not ever find its way back into the kitchen drawer!
You can also just about see the messages ready for the cards and a pile of blue card that I might use ... not quite sure if I want white tags with little blue-birds on them or blue tags with little white birds on ... decisions, decisions!  It is not easy being a crafter, is it?
The white A4 sheet on top of my adhesives box ... of course you have no idea it IS my adhesives box so you will just have to trust me here ... is my card list for this year and I am happy to report all the names under April are highlighted-out now and all the anniversary cards for this year and then all the "In Memory" cards should also be crossed off by tonight!  Progress, I think they call it.
Well, must get over to link this to the wonderful Julia's Stamping Ground which you will find HERE ... happy WOYWWing everyone!  

Pixie's Snippets

Ok ... here goes!  Have been persuaded into the playground that is Pixie's Snippets and what a jolly nice place it seems to be.  I have been taken firmly by the hand and encouraged to join in the fun so here are my first two snippets EVER!!!!!


They all follow the "tag" style I prefer rather than being "proper" cards so I do hope that is ok?!?!?!?


The first one uses a snippet of painted, embossed acetate ... a tiny piece I had left over and below that is a really teeny-tiny snippet of a piece of card that I used when my hubby's brother and his wife came round for a curry and she made the mistake of asking a question about crafting.  To cut a long story short out came various crafting bits'n'bobs and I ended up demonstrating my Vagabond ... that little embossed and die-cut snippet had been put into the recycling but whilst tossing and turning trying to persuade myself to enter Pixie's Playground it occurred to me that it too was a snippet!


The butterflies are cut from snippets of card left over from birthday cards I have been making for this year and which otherwise would have gone into the biscuit tin of offcuts that I give to my friend for the kids at the school where she works to use for "sticking".  The string was also a bit I had lurking in my box ... must have been cut from the reel at some point and not used.

The next offering is almost a total snippet as I had thrown out the base tag which already had on the label with the wording "The Journey Awakens the Soul" stamped on it and the bird which I had glossy-accented.  I had no intention of ever using it and was only keeping it to remind myself what not to do next time.  It was more a reject than a snippet!
Whilst thinking about Pixie's challenge I realised the message on the card was representative of my little journey into the playground and I thought I'd see if I could tweak the tag back into life.  I have had a little battered pocket dictionary for years and years ... it was originally my sister's when she was at school ... it has sat on my shelf for 30 years or so but only this week I threw it in my "Tim" box.  So the tattered flowers are grungepaper onto which I have stuck pages from that dictionary ... hope they are classed as snippets!  The ribbon at the top was dyed with distress ink to match the tag and I added a little round disc that says "wander" as I thought this also described what I was doing by wandering into the playground.

SO here I am ... whizzing around on the roundabout and putting the straws into the little bottles of milk (someone promised I could be Milk Monitor as it was my first time!!!) and getting ready to sit in the naughty corner with a Dunce's cap firmly on my head as I find out I have totally lost the plot and missed the point completely when it comes to snippets.
I promise to try harder next time!