Well in my busy w/e I did get the chance to finish off putting my blog candy together…because I have also won some from Karen at "My beautiful place" as well as Shirley's "Shirley's cards and Crafts", I reckoned I better put together six lots….so although I had stamped in readiness last week, I did end up taking over the kitchen again on Saturday night and the smell of stazon and baby wipes permeated the air (giggle).
I was considering restricting sending it to the UK only but what the heck, I am sure any of you over the water won't mind waiting a bit longer and somehow it doesn't seem to be in the spirit of it. So it is open to all - if you are outside the UK, it might just take a bit longer to reach you tho'. The first six of you to comment win it but the idea is that you in turn send blog candy to 3 other bloggers (I am only doing six cos I have won two lots). Please leave a comment if you want to take part. If you are in the first six, either PM via Docrafts (chrissymarie) or email me here chrissymw45@yahoo.co.uk with your address..
UPDATE
The following have all won blog candy, please let me have an address to send it (those that haven't already done so)
http://shari-anne-happycrafter.blogspot.com
http://fairymadjojo.blogspot.com/
http://craftyshell.blogspot.com/
http://stampincats.blogspot.com/
http://angiec-crafting.blogspot.com/
http://hilmarose.blogspot.com/
http://ladybug-spots.blogspot.com/
The eagle eyed amongst you will see that this totals seven but hey....no matter I have one PIF in hand, LOL
Monday, 31 March 2008
A Spring Day
Yesterday was one of the nicest days of the year so far and we should really have been out and about flying our planes but neither one of us could raise the enthusiasm and we also had an hour where we were committed to collecting some stuff. So we decided the day was a bit of a write - off but we would potter about. Andy is fixing up a working area in the garage at the minute, so I decided I would do a little gardening….so I did the gardening I like best (nothing useful like cutting lawns). I repotted my fuchsias and planted a few bits 'n bobs. Last week I had thrown in a few bits out of my pots ready to sort them and I noticed that this little violet had come out that I had thrown in the border, so thought I would share.
Then, when I went into the shed I spotted the most perfect butterfly. I didn't realise until I took it outside that it had just emerged so after it dried its wings for a few moments, off it went……very beautiful and one of those most fabulous moments in life!
Sadly, I didn't get time for a photograph but a good time for a butterfly card :-D
I wish I could say that all the embossing on the paper was my own work but in fact I bought it like that and the 3d butterfly came that way too, so it was one of those cards that took minutes - lazy girl!
Then, when I went into the shed I spotted the most perfect butterfly. I didn't realise until I took it outside that it had just emerged so after it dried its wings for a few moments, off it went……very beautiful and one of those most fabulous moments in life!
Sadly, I didn't get time for a photograph but a good time for a butterfly card :-D
I wish I could say that all the embossing on the paper was my own work but in fact I bought it like that and the 3d butterfly came that way too, so it was one of those cards that took minutes - lazy girl!
Spoilt icle thing - I am!
Well I have three posts for today!!
Firstly I received some pay it forward blog candy from Shirley when I got home on Friday…..it was really exciting, I do love getting nice post. So thank you very much Shirley and I hope you had a great birthday.
There are lots of great stamped images in there and things that I might not normally have chosen and yet I know I am going to have fun with!
Then On Saturday my order arrived from Happystampers which I wasn't expecting cos I only ordered on Friday afternoon, one of which was a flower stamp which I had seen an image of on Shirley's blog, liked it and tracked it down, hehehe.
I also ordered some lovely K & Co papers and a gold leaf marker pen as well but I didn't go too mad, did I?
Anyway, the weather wasn't up to much so we were off to look at wardrobes (we are still living with clothes in various bags, lol). While we were over that way, we stopped off at Hobbycraft. Now, I don't get to go there too often so I did buy a few bits 'n pieces that you can't get anywhere else. But, on top of that Andy kindly bought me a prezzie when we were there of a shape cutter and some templates…….so I reckon iz well spoilt!
But, it isn't just the nice things I was given, I am so happy with my life at the minute that it is almost frightening!
On a more sobering note I have been giving some prayers to a few friends who are not having a good time just now, almost entirely because of family illness. In particular, my thoughts are with a flying friend, his mum is terminally ill with a brain tumour and life is very tough right now. As he says remember to give all your loved ones big hugs.
Firstly I received some pay it forward blog candy from Shirley when I got home on Friday…..it was really exciting, I do love getting nice post. So thank you very much Shirley and I hope you had a great birthday.
There are lots of great stamped images in there and things that I might not normally have chosen and yet I know I am going to have fun with!
Then On Saturday my order arrived from Happystampers which I wasn't expecting cos I only ordered on Friday afternoon, one of which was a flower stamp which I had seen an image of on Shirley's blog, liked it and tracked it down, hehehe.
I also ordered some lovely K & Co papers and a gold leaf marker pen as well but I didn't go too mad, did I?
Anyway, the weather wasn't up to much so we were off to look at wardrobes (we are still living with clothes in various bags, lol). While we were over that way, we stopped off at Hobbycraft. Now, I don't get to go there too often so I did buy a few bits 'n pieces that you can't get anywhere else. But, on top of that Andy kindly bought me a prezzie when we were there of a shape cutter and some templates…….so I reckon iz well spoilt!
But, it isn't just the nice things I was given, I am so happy with my life at the minute that it is almost frightening!
On a more sobering note I have been giving some prayers to a few friends who are not having a good time just now, almost entirely because of family illness. In particular, my thoughts are with a flying friend, his mum is terminally ill with a brain tumour and life is very tough right now. As he says remember to give all your loved ones big hugs.
Friday, 28 March 2008
A fairy for Spring
I also did a fairly quick water colour before going to canvas with my emerald fairy...You can see that she has got similar characteristics.
But, although she is similar in many ways, I reckon she has a character all on her own...
With her ribbons, she reminds me of May day...... I thought I would leave you all on that note, have a good one, whatever you are up to .... :-D
But, although she is similar in many ways, I reckon she has a character all on her own...
With her ribbons, she reminds me of May day...... I thought I would leave you all on that note, have a good one, whatever you are up to .... :-D
Some Tildas for Friday...
I thought I would leave you with a few others created recently....
While I have been offline so to speak the Magnolia Challenge blog ran a challenge on a spring card, which I saw briefly and then was unable to take part in any challenges as I had no access to the internet...
Anyway these were two that I did with that challenge in mind....
Well ya know I love Yellow!
Have a fantastic weekend everybody, I don't think the weather is going to be too springlike here in the UK but hey good for getting some crafting done! :-D
While I have been offline so to speak the Magnolia Challenge blog ran a challenge on a spring card, which I saw briefly and then was unable to take part in any challenges as I had no access to the internet...
Anyway these were two that I did with that challenge in mind....
Well ya know I love Yellow!
Have a fantastic weekend everybody, I don't think the weather is going to be too springlike here in the UK but hey good for getting some crafting done! :-D
Tuesday, 25 March 2008
Emerald fairy watercolour
Well this is the fairy created over Easter. I bought some canvasses and decided to see what I could achieve. The real silly think was, I didn't know if water colour is suitable for canvas.....so I did it anyway! In fact in most of my paintings I can use anything from watercolour, acrylics, touches of oil for white highlights, pens, ink and even pearlised paint....sometimes I feel like a numpty for not knowing what mediums are right for surfaces but hey...
I created her with the intention of going in the hallway so I wanted her eyes to give the impression that she is watching you, wherever you may be standing. I think that I managed to achieve it, she could be described as a little spooky, LOL
I wanted her to be pretty and I agonised over her at one point because she looked very striking but not pretty, I ended up taking Andys advice and toning down some of the facial lines....she did take up rather a lot of my hours!
I have already taken a photograph and used her to make a card, I'll try to post it up sometime...Bye for now :-)
Postscript added 26 Sep 09. I looked back on this posting courtesy of linkwithin some 18 months later. I felt sad because when I looked at her, her eyes were just bizarre, so I did small rework....
I created her with the intention of going in the hallway so I wanted her eyes to give the impression that she is watching you, wherever you may be standing. I think that I managed to achieve it, she could be described as a little spooky, LOL
I wanted her to be pretty and I agonised over her at one point because she looked very striking but not pretty, I ended up taking Andys advice and toning down some of the facial lines....she did take up rather a lot of my hours!
I have already taken a photograph and used her to make a card, I'll try to post it up sometime...Bye for now :-)
Postscript added 26 Sep 09. I looked back on this posting courtesy of linkwithin some 18 months later. I felt sad because when I looked at her, her eyes were just bizarre, so I did small rework....
Mystical Fairy
In between my cardmaking, I am working on various fairy projects. I have since moved away from using other peoples compositions and concentrated on my own. This one was inspired by a lovely piece of Mic ribbon that had stars on it!
I think when painting, there are always a few things that you get right and a few things that you struggle with. I look back and don't like this now, probably because I know I have since produced better, so I almost binned this post. But, that would be a shame.....I sometimes like to see the journey and not just the destination on other peoples blogs, so I have shared anyway!
I have a fascination with crystals and mystical type things so I think this will become a major source of inspiration. I put the card together using a photograph print, some very shiny blue holographic card and the Mic ribbon. I not sure if it shows but this card was full of bling, LOL. Its kind of strange, I am not considered to be very girlie under normal circumstances but I love fairies and mystical creatures, I think its because it creates a little bit of magic. Anyways, apparently my friends daughter is very similar, so it got sent across to her for Easter, I hope she likes it ;-)
I think when painting, there are always a few things that you get right and a few things that you struggle with. I look back and don't like this now, probably because I know I have since produced better, so I almost binned this post. But, that would be a shame.....I sometimes like to see the journey and not just the destination on other peoples blogs, so I have shared anyway!
I have a fascination with crystals and mystical type things so I think this will become a major source of inspiration. I put the card together using a photograph print, some very shiny blue holographic card and the Mic ribbon. I not sure if it shows but this card was full of bling, LOL. Its kind of strange, I am not considered to be very girlie under normal circumstances but I love fairies and mystical creatures, I think its because it creates a little bit of magic. Anyways, apparently my friends daughter is very similar, so it got sent across to her for Easter, I hope she likes it ;-)
1st Card in New House
Hi all, I hope you have all had a great Easter. Sadly I was full of cold which was the third time in four weeks. I found it really quite a struggle this time as I hadn't recovered from the previous bout....but hey! I decided to have a go at a full size painting on canvas, which meant I could laze about a bit! It was quite a challenge but more about that later, I am still catching up with loads of photographs of other stuff so am trying to work in order, I am trying (and failing), LOL.
Anyway this was my first card that I made in the new house, I couldn't find anything at all when I started it, so surprise, surprise (NOT), I do think the card is a little disjointed.....but, I look at it and smile :-)
Anyway this was my first card that I made in the new house, I couldn't find anything at all when I started it, so surprise, surprise (NOT), I do think the card is a little disjointed.....but, I look at it and smile :-)
Wednesday, 19 March 2008
Quick easy cards
Well all my fairy painting exploits really did take some hours, years ago I used to paint things in an hour, I don't know whether I have become more meticulous, fussy or less dextrous! So to counteract, for light relief I did make some make some quick and easy cards.
For the first time ever I had a go with some penny black stickaroos and also some jolees embellishments.
I wish all of you a very Happy Easter, have a good one whatever you are up to :-)
For the first time ever I had a go with some penny black stickaroos and also some jolees embellishments.
I wish all of you a very Happy Easter, have a good one whatever you are up to :-)
Tuesday, 18 March 2008
Cute card Thursday
Well, as I said previously, I have loads of cards to show you so they are being uploaded in no particular order. However, as there is a rather nice new challenge being run at the minute, I thought I would submit this one for Cute Card Thursday and the challenge for this week is "new beginnings":
Happy day to everyone :-)
Happy day to everyone :-)
An award - Art Y Pico (Art & More)
Joan at Mi Rincon de Papel gave me this award and I was delighted. It was quite funny as in the meantime I had nominated her for one too, her blog is great. "Arte y Pico" (Art & More) is given to blogglers who shares their art and creativity making their contribution to the blogger world. So thanks Joan, it is very much appreciated :-)
Now, for the rules:
1) You have to pick 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also contributes to the blogging community, no matter what language. 2) Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone. 3) Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award itself. 4) Award-winner and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of "Arte y Pico" blog , so everyone will know the origin of this award. 5) To show these rules.
And my award winners are.....
Sadie B Creations
The Creative Corner
Blue Daisy Crafts
My Paper World
The World of Twiggy Peasticks
I was also tagged by Lastel, one of my SBS sistahs, well this is the first one, I think I have another one to catch up on yet!
1. Stamping style - Well I don't think I have one! I seem to just go where my fancy takes me, perhaps you all think differently?
2. Inspiration, fantasy, fairies, other blogs, paper, ribbon, lol anything really
3. Colour - Yellow
4. Work space - everywhere!
5. A perfect day- is by the sea watching the waves with the sun shining and a glass of wine….ooooh
6. First job - Saturdays in Woolworths
7. Wildest dream, to paint well enough to live off it!
8. Ink - Stazon & brilliance
9. Family, My man Andy and my son Cal 21, My Mom & Dad (and not to forget my brother Graham who lives in my memories)
10. Beverage - decent coffee
11. Biggest challenge - being a parent!
I think most of you have done this tag in my absence but if there is anyone nominated for the award above who hasn't done it yet, consider yourself nominated…
Now, for the rules:
1) You have to pick 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also contributes to the blogging community, no matter what language. 2) Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone. 3) Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award itself. 4) Award-winner and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of "Arte y Pico" blog , so everyone will know the origin of this award. 5) To show these rules.
And my award winners are.....
Sadie B Creations
The Creative Corner
Blue Daisy Crafts
My Paper World
The World of Twiggy Peasticks
I was also tagged by Lastel, one of my SBS sistahs, well this is the first one, I think I have another one to catch up on yet!
1. Stamping style - Well I don't think I have one! I seem to just go where my fancy takes me, perhaps you all think differently?
2. Inspiration, fantasy, fairies, other blogs, paper, ribbon, lol anything really
3. Colour - Yellow
4. Work space - everywhere!
5. A perfect day- is by the sea watching the waves with the sun shining and a glass of wine….ooooh
6. First job - Saturdays in Woolworths
7. Wildest dream, to paint well enough to live off it!
8. Ink - Stazon & brilliance
9. Family, My man Andy and my son Cal 21, My Mom & Dad (and not to forget my brother Graham who lives in my memories)
10. Beverage - decent coffee
11. Biggest challenge - being a parent!
I think most of you have done this tag in my absence but if there is anyone nominated for the award above who hasn't done it yet, consider yourself nominated…
Monday, 17 March 2008
Spring Fairy
The good thing is that because I am unable to get on the net, I do seem to be getting rather a lot of things done, both house wise and crafting wise, LOL...
So I am continuing to work with my new book and some cards too....so I have lots to share.
This one is a tutorial within the book that is really one of Linda's creations. I don't normally do a copy, I prefer to make original images but I wanted to practice the dewdrops technique so on this occasion I did use Linda's composition to save time. The one thing that I felt I shouldn't do was to use the green wash all over the skin of the fairy and I confess that afterwards, I wished I had followed my instincts.
However, as this one was to perfect the art of dew drops, I do think its ok. Besides it provided some inspiration for my next fairy with a crystal ball....which I confess I have done already but that will be another day as I am running out of blog time......
Anyway, I thought I would add a little Basic Grey paper and a flower or two.......
Take care everyone .....
So I am continuing to work with my new book and some cards too....so I have lots to share.
This one is a tutorial within the book that is really one of Linda's creations. I don't normally do a copy, I prefer to make original images but I wanted to practice the dewdrops technique so on this occasion I did use Linda's composition to save time. The one thing that I felt I shouldn't do was to use the green wash all over the skin of the fairy and I confess that afterwards, I wished I had followed my instincts.
However, as this one was to perfect the art of dew drops, I do think its ok. Besides it provided some inspiration for my next fairy with a crystal ball....which I confess I have done already but that will be another day as I am running out of blog time......
Anyway, I thought I would add a little Basic Grey paper and a flower or two.......
Take care everyone .....
The bad, the good and the lovely....
Well the bad news is that I am blogging in my lunch again.....Orange and BT have still not managed to get our internet operational after a whole month......so they get the big boos and thumbs down, the service is quite dreadful and if you are thinking of moving house, I would give some serious thought to your future provider.
The good, my thumbs up badge goes to Sky who managed to reconnect us within two days, their engineer was unobtrusive, tidy and took his shoes off before coming in the house, big cheers for them and him! I do think it is important to acknowledge good service as well as bad, don't you?
And the lovely was two things, I placed an order with the Glitter Pot on Friday afternoon, got a friendly phone call because a small part of my order was not yet available and it all arrived Sat Morning....what a service, big cheers!
Finally as lovely I wanted to share a New Home card with you that a friend made for us......I was so pleased with it because as remote control flyers it is just so personal. I love the decoupage which I simply cannot do (no patience), ......and inside it says "The eagles have landed". :-)
The good, my thumbs up badge goes to Sky who managed to reconnect us within two days, their engineer was unobtrusive, tidy and took his shoes off before coming in the house, big cheers for them and him! I do think it is important to acknowledge good service as well as bad, don't you?
And the lovely was two things, I placed an order with the Glitter Pot on Friday afternoon, got a friendly phone call because a small part of my order was not yet available and it all arrived Sat Morning....what a service, big cheers!
Finally as lovely I wanted to share a New Home card with you that a friend made for us......I was so pleased with it because as remote control flyers it is just so personal. I love the decoupage which I simply cannot do (no patience), ......and inside it says "The eagles have landed". :-)
Thursday, 13 March 2008
You make my day award
Shirley nominated me with this award whilst I have been away moving house and I want to thank her for nominating me, it was a lovely thought and I was very honoured. She has a great blog, you should check it out :-)
I now have to nominate five more blogs that make my day for the award...this has been very hard because there are so many talented people and I have spotted some fabulous blogs lately. But for now...I nominate:
1.White Dazzle
2.Joan
3. Trudi
4 InknRubba
5.Creative corner
What you need to do :-
1) Write a post with links to 5 blogs you find of interest and that inspire you.
2) Acknowledge the post of the award giver.
3) Display the logo 'You make my day'
4) Tell the award winners that they have won by commenting on their blogs with the news.
Well done to you all and have a great day!
Wednesday, 12 March 2008
A world of fairies.
Well as I previously alluded to, in the middle of our move, two books that I ordered arrived. One of which is "How to draw and paint fairies" by Linda Ravenscroft. It was quite fortuitous as I was struggling with card making, all my boxes were in different parts of the house and understandably I couldn't find anything!
So, despite being somewhat busy I did take some time out to relax and a bit of drawing and painting fit the bill somehow.
I decided to put some effort into following some of the tutorials properly which are excellent and I did have fun doing it, in fact am still having fun.
Anyway this is my first journey.....
Firstly, I decided my fairy had to be smiling as Andy is forever accusing me of producing miserable fairies. So the following is an initial sketch of her face and then the image drawn out with the first applications of paint.
I then further worked on adding layers of watercolour to try and give some depth. I had a lot of problems with the leaves and definately need some practice!
The book has lots and lots of tips, it is proving to be an invaluable resource and I do think I am going to learn lots from it.
Finally having got the image to the best state that I thought I could, I decided to print some off and I added some BG, two scoops paper as a background........so here is the card as a result.
Am I happy with it all? ........Well marginally, I like the toadstool, I reckon I got that pretty good............
I am aware I still have loads to catch up on and some tags etc to sort but I am still not back online at home yet so I will do it as soon as I am. Hope you are all doing ok :-)
So, despite being somewhat busy I did take some time out to relax and a bit of drawing and painting fit the bill somehow.
I decided to put some effort into following some of the tutorials properly which are excellent and I did have fun doing it, in fact am still having fun.
Anyway this is my first journey.....
Firstly, I decided my fairy had to be smiling as Andy is forever accusing me of producing miserable fairies. So the following is an initial sketch of her face and then the image drawn out with the first applications of paint.
I then further worked on adding layers of watercolour to try and give some depth. I had a lot of problems with the leaves and definately need some practice!
The book has lots and lots of tips, it is proving to be an invaluable resource and I do think I am going to learn lots from it.
Finally having got the image to the best state that I thought I could, I decided to print some off and I added some BG, two scoops paper as a background........so here is the card as a result.
Am I happy with it all? ........Well marginally, I like the toadstool, I reckon I got that pretty good............
I am aware I still have loads to catch up on and some tags etc to sort but I am still not back online at home yet so I will do it as soon as I am. Hope you are all doing ok :-)
Monday, 3 March 2008
An update...........
Well firstly can I thank everyone who left me good wishes for our move. It was so nice when I took a peek at my blog and saw them all, I was really uplifted :-)
I confess I am cheating a little bit and writing this from my works terminal in my lunch!
All went well, it was just exhausting, I am getting too old for this diy moving stuff, lol. But, am loving the new house and it does look as though for the first time I will have a bit of a craft area which will defo beat crawling around the lounge floor as I used to.
I am getting withdrawl symptoms from crafting thats for sure, about two days afer we moved two books turned up that were an order for how to draw & watercolour fairies. They are just so inspirational...........and with all the work I am just so damned tired that I have yet to do anything with them. I even have Magnolia stamps that I haven't used yet! Then I took a sneaky look at the Magnolia Challenge blog and it looks so much fun, I just have to have a go........it just might not be this week ;-)
I can see by my comments that I have also been tagged a couple of times, I'll sort that as soon as I get back online properly too.....I am surprised how much I have missed this blogging lark, its like a community somehow!
Our telephone line is back on....but our internet provider says it can take up to 14 days to reconnect..eeek! I do hope not but by the time they do, I am sure I will have started to put a few cards together to show you, there are a few in construction, hehehe. Hope everyone is great, so sorry to my SBS sistahs for not dropping by lately, I do hope I will get the chance soooooon. Take care all X
I confess I am cheating a little bit and writing this from my works terminal in my lunch!
All went well, it was just exhausting, I am getting too old for this diy moving stuff, lol. But, am loving the new house and it does look as though for the first time I will have a bit of a craft area which will defo beat crawling around the lounge floor as I used to.
I am getting withdrawl symptoms from crafting thats for sure, about two days afer we moved two books turned up that were an order for how to draw & watercolour fairies. They are just so inspirational...........and with all the work I am just so damned tired that I have yet to do anything with them. I even have Magnolia stamps that I haven't used yet! Then I took a sneaky look at the Magnolia Challenge blog and it looks so much fun, I just have to have a go........it just might not be this week ;-)
I can see by my comments that I have also been tagged a couple of times, I'll sort that as soon as I get back online properly too.....I am surprised how much I have missed this blogging lark, its like a community somehow!
Our telephone line is back on....but our internet provider says it can take up to 14 days to reconnect..eeek! I do hope not but by the time they do, I am sure I will have started to put a few cards together to show you, there are a few in construction, hehehe. Hope everyone is great, so sorry to my SBS sistahs for not dropping by lately, I do hope I will get the chance soooooon. Take care all X
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