Friday 31 January 2014

12 Tag of 2014 Begins!

This is at the very last minute for the last day go January!  Talk about cutting it fine ;-)  So here is my version of Tim Holtz's January tag for the 12 Tags of 2014 Challenge.


I have had a lovely time getting inky and painty!  Tim's original tag had a pocket watch as the main element - I did not have the die or the embossing folder so as you can see I have improvised.  I substituted these little clock charms for the die and I have kept the pocket watch idea and as you can see my pocket watches are flying out from a pocket!  I love using Ranger Foil so I had to include that element which I embossed and then painted with Distress Paint before taking the sand paper to it to reveal the metal and the embossing.


I have included a photo of Tim's original on the back of my tag like I did last year, in addition to that I am going to use the little logo to make a tag charm to attach to each of my tags showing the month of the tag as you can see in this photo.  The Glossy Accents is still drying!


Tim used rub-ons to add numbers to the side of his tag and I have followed the layout but have used letter stickers that I have had forever which were the perfect shade of brown and had the look of a rub-on too!

Now where is the video I hear you cry????!  It is still on the memory card at the moment!  I finished the tag but not the video…..oh well better luck next month with my time management!  I will post my video later on tomorrow so please pop back if you want to see what I did to make my interpretation of Tim's inspiration.

For now I will leave you with one last photo of the lovely mess I now have to tidy up…..well actually I must confess that I will probably do that in the morning!



Don't let my mess put you off if you are thinking of playing along with Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2014.  It really is a great way to try out new techniques, to put on your thinking cap when you don't have all the products, and of course, to go shopping if Tim uses something you absolutely cannot live without!!! ;-)

Hope you like my tag and thank you for popping by X

PS Thank you to everyone that has been subscribing both here and on my You Tube Channel I look forward to sharing more creativity with you all through the coming year.

PPS I look forward to seeing Tim's February tag tomorrow!

Wednesday 29 January 2014

WOYWW 243

Morning fellow WOYWW friends!  I can't believe how long it has been since I have played along!  I have been busy making videos and they really do take up a huge amount of time but I do love making and sharing them.  I have a quiet day today and I thought I would treat myself and catch up with you all and have a look at what you have all been up to.  For my first photo - taken yesterday (if you are averse to 'messy' please look away now!)………


I know, I know, you can't even see a postage stamp of workspace left!!!  So I rolled up my sleeves and….

I promise that I didn't just sweep it all on to the floor ha ha!  I did put everything away which did take me a while!!!  And as it was so clear I decided to get out the scrubby sponge and to tackle the build up of glue and paint splatter.  I even scrubbed my craft mats!  How virtuous did I feel this morning walking in to my craft room????  Here is the long shot.


Here is the place I most often sit…..It is just waiting for me to get busy


And here are some goodies I collected together from under all that mess to play with later!


Now those with a suspicious nature will be saying why didn't you take a shot of your whole craft room looking fabulous?!!!!   Well I can only do so much scrubbing in one evening right?  I do not want to get Repetitive Strain Injury now do I? ;-)

So keeping my back to the rest of my room I think I can put my feet up and visit my WOYWW friends and if you want to make friends with lovely crafting folk around the world and have no idea why I am showing you the results of my cleaning frenzy then click on this link and be prepared to be amazed and enthralled as you desk hop around the globe….

Thank you to anyone that pops by to visit my extremely tidy return to WOYWW.  I wish you all an amazingly creative week X

Friday 24 January 2014

Gorjuss Gatefold Card Tutorial

Hi everyone.

I hope you are having a fab week.  I am sharing another You Tube tutorial today.  This one is for a gatefold card and features paper piecing.  If you have never tried paper piecing then this is the video for you.  It is a fab technique that is great for using up pretty scraps of patterned paper.  I think that smaller patterns work best.

Here is the card on the outside:


Here is the inside of the card which I have left blank ready to stamp the perfect greeting when the time comes for me to send this card.


I have decided to start giving measurements for my videos here on my blog as I think it helps to have them in one place rather than having to keep pausing and rewinding the video if you miss one!

Gatefold Card Dimensions

Brown Card Base: 8" x 11 1/2" scored at 2 7/8"
Green Card for front of Gatefold: 2 1/2" x 7 3/4" cut 2
Cream Card for Main Image: 3 1/2" x 5 3/4"
Cream Card for Inner: 5 1/2" x 7 3/4"
Brown Card Mat for Main Image: 3 3/4" x 6"
Green Card Strips for Inner: 5 1/2" x 1/2" cut 2
Patterned Paper Strips for Inner: 5 1/2" x 1/4"

This card can be made in any combinations of card colours using coordinating patterned papers and the stamps you have in your collection.

I used a Gorjuss stamp set from the Urban Rubber Stamp collection.  Hope you find the tutorial useful and easy to follow.


I would really like to thank everyone that has signed up to follow me recently.  It means a lot to me to have your support.  If anyone wants me to send them the free tutorial for the Chrysanthemum (top of the right hand side bar) then don't forget to email me.  My email is on my right hand side bar a bit further down.

This week I was really happy to see the results of one of my online workshops.  The lovely Anne made my day when I saw the great results she had.  What was even nicer was to see they were already full of her gorgeous tags!  It makes all the hours sitting here talking to myself and putting the online videos and instructions together worth it when they work and such great results are achieved.  I wanted to share the link to Anne's blog so you can see what a great job she did.  

Have a great week and thank you for popping by x

Wednesday 15 January 2014

Show and Tell Monday (on a Wednesday!)

Hi Annie  I just found your link on Google+ and I though I would join in your Monday Show and Tell even if I am a bit late.  I thought for a while about what I had that might be interesting enough to share.  This is what I came up with.


This belongs to my Mum but she has let me take care of it!  I have fond memories of leafing through it as a child.  I remember loving the glamourous photographs.  I don't remember actually reading any of the text!!!  This was my favourite photograph.


I just loved that dress!  Today I read the article which says that Eleanor Powell (in the photo) was going to give up her hollywood dancing and acting career to become a stay at home Mum.  The salary she was giving up was several thousand dollars a week!  I wonder how much of this was truly Eleanor's decision and how much was the culture of the time?  Now that I have started to read it rather than look at the pictures I think I might read a bit more to see what else has changed.  At a glance it is obvious there was definitely an altering of the photographs (pre airbrushing) which is the same as today and salaries equally exorbitant but I have to say that it is refreshing to see that glamour didn't mean exposing your underwear or any other assets.  In fact this is dress is probably the most revealing in the book.


As you can see from the inscription this book is 65 years old and is wearing well as is my Mum Norah!  The book was a present from her older sister Mary at Christmas.  My Mum was 11.

If you are reading this post then please follow this link to Annie's as she has a great Show and Tell.  I always say most things look cute in miniature!!!!  Ha ha now you need to look ;-)

Thanks for popping by X

Thursday 9 January 2014

Gorjuss, Simply Gorjuss (If I say so myself!!!)

Just a quick post before I go out and check if the sky is clear.  We have been watching Stargazing live and apparently due to a very large solar flare we may get to see Aurora Borealis here in the UK.  I have promised to wake Callum up if I can see anything.  It could happen tonight or tomorrow I think they said.

Just thought I would share one of the cards I will be making with my class on Friday.  It is made with one of the stamps sets from the Simply Gorjuss Urban Stamps Range.


I really enjoyed the paper piecing combined with colouring in with my water colour pencils (I didn't add the water as the old book paper I used is quite thin.  The patterned paper is from French Country by Graphic 45 and it was fun matching the colours to the paper.  I even finished off the inside of the card!


I think I like this method of finishing off the card rather than inserting an inner paper.  Keeping my fingers crossed my class like the cards and of course that we finish on time!!!!  I know, I know……..That would be a miracle.  I have a habit of making cards that take a while to complete but my class don't mind the odd bit of homework -luckily for me!!  It does mean we can try out lots of different styles and techniques which is alway fun.

Anyway I am off to check the stars so I will wish you all a goodnight and thank you for popping by X

Wednesday 8 January 2014

New Year Art Journal Page

This page was inspired by the fabulous fireworks display in London that we watched on the TV as our family toasted  in the New Year.  It was such a fab display that we are seriously thinking about being there next Year………There is a little issue of our great British weather but I think the atmosphere would keep us warm!!!

As usual I have made a video and I hope you like it.  I stuck with the music with hints and tips along the way as most of you seemed to like that format.


I have had some lovely feedback already this morning so I am a happy bunny!

Welcome to my new subscribers and I look forward to sharing more creativity with you this year.  Don't forget to leave me a comment as I love to chat!!!

Here's hoping my wish comes true for us all and that we all get more time to create in 2014!!!

Thank you for popping by x


Thursday 2 January 2014

12 Tags of 2013 - In Review!

Just sharing one final video of all the fun I had playing along with 12 Tags of 2013.  There are lots of links included so that if anyone wants to see a tag in more detail they can and I have also included some links to other tag review videos I made in 2012.

It is fun to look back at all the fun I had and I think you will agree with me I do love to make a tag!!!!


Short but sweet today - I have a messy craft room with my name on it!!!!

Thank you for popping by x

Wednesday 1 January 2014

Finally it is uploaded!!!!!


The video for my final 12 Tags of 2013 and I believe Tim will be posting the first tag of 12 tags of 2014 today!!!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!


Ooops sorry!  I hope that wasn't too loud for some of you ;-) tee hee!

Thank you for popping by X
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