Hi crafty friends, well we seem to have a bit of a holiday themed update today :)

Halloween Candle

Supplies
Candle
Inkadinkado Stamp set: creepy Crawley #98303
Black organza ribbon
Adirondack Black archival ink
Stampendous Disco Black embossing powder
White tissue paper

I actually decorated this candle a few weeks ago but never got around to taking any photos, so as I was testing out my new light box I thought I'd take a few.

So this was a cheap candle from Wilkinsons, I stamped the bat on to white tissue paper with black archival ink and embossed using disco black embossing powder.  I then cut out the bat roughly and used some pritt stick to temporarily hold it down while I used my heat gun to gently warm the wax so the tissue 'disappears' into the wax.  I just finished the candle with some black organza ribbon.

Flower/Ribbon Embellishment

Supplies
1 yd white seam binding
1 yd 1/8 peach organza ribbon
1yd white lace
8in gold bead trim
large pearl for centre

Here's a lovely flower/ribbon embellishment I made following this tutorial by cynthialoowho, I didn't have tulle so I used some seam binding, lace and some organza ribbon.  I didn't wrap the bead trim around as I couldn't get it to look right so I cut about 8 inches in to 4 pieces and hot glued them to the back of the flower, I added a large pearl to the centre. I love how this came out, it's so pretty :)

Christmas Candles Scrapbook Page

Supplies

1 sheet of 12 x 12 patterned paper

Cream, red, light green, dark green and yellow card stock

Ribbon from stash

Glossy accents

Stickles 

Distress markers

Distress inks, Festive berry, peeled paint, antique linen 

This was made using the new Cricut cartridge A Quilted Christmas, as soon as I saw it I knew I NEEDED it lol!  This is the project that is at the front of the handbook that comes with the cartridge, I have to say I'm loving the new style of handbooks, much easier to find things.  I am going to be making a lot of projects with this I can tell you, I'm also thinking of making a quick video review of the cart for my Youtube channel, so keep your eyes peeled for that :)

Anyhoo, that's all for today

Happy crafting

Anna x

New Video on Youtube

Here's a video showing my Halloween mini album Hope you enjoy
Happy crafting
Anna

Ladybug Crafts New Monthly Challenge

Hiya, well no new projects to post as I've been super busy with work but just wanted to give anyone out there reading this a heads up. The lovely lady, Sam, who owns Ladybug Crafts is starting a new monthly challenge on the 1st of September, go check out her blog and join in :) Happy Crafting Anna xx

Home decor, vintage fun and Rock Candy

Hi, back again with a few bits and bobs.  Firstly a altered frame and kiddies plastic dress form I got from a Girl Talk Art mag, I had to make a new stand for it as the part of it was missing lol!  I painted it with black acrylic, glued on strips of torn paper from the DCWV black currant paperstack and stippled more black acrylic to make it look like lace, then added small roses and lovely trim I bought years ago, from my stash.

This is the frame , I picked it up in Poundland, added some Wild Orchid Craft roses, small roses, pink feathers, acetate butterflies and a hand made flower and butterfly which I made with some Tim Holtz trimming, miniature roses and pearl trim.  Added a beautiful pin, silk tassel, and some prima bling to finish it off.  Matted and layered a quote on to some black cardstock and the black currant paperstack as I couldn't find a piccy I wanted to add in there.  The flourishes around the quote are from MCS.

Supplies

Dress form

Plastic dress form

Deco Art crafters acrylic in black

beaded and fringed trimmings

small tea roses in fuchsia

DCWV black currant paper stack

black satin ribbon bow for back

miniature cream rose from Wild Orchid Crafts

Black diamond stickles for base and top of dress form

Frame

Black damask frame from Poundland

small tea roses in fuchsia and pale pink (I think I bought the fuchsia roses from Hobby Craft and the pale pink ones from Works)

DCWV black currant paper stack

miniature cream roses and white roses from Wild Orchid Crafts (sorry I don't have the numbers for these)

pale pink feathers

Prima pearl and lace swirls

Rhinestones in clear and black

ribbon rose in pale pink

Tim Holtz Trimmings 

Pearl bead strings 

Acetate butterflies from Works in mixed pinks

Finished Frame and dress form to match the deco in my loo lol!

This is one of the background stamps I bought at the Doncaster show last weekend, I LOVE it lol!  Just stamped with espresso ink on very vanilla card stock, I stamped it twice and cut out some of the bobbin labels, coloured them with promarkers and distressed the edge with antique linen.  Added a pin which I coloured with a promarker, seam binding coloured with antique linen and some home made glimmer mist, mounted on early espresso and Sahara sand card stock and finished with a handmade flower.  Very simple and quick.

Supplies

Stampin Up cardstock in Very Vanilla, Early espresso, Sahara

Stampin Up ink pad in Early espresso

Stampin Up Tea Shoppe stamp set for sentiment

Distress ink pad in Antique linen

Promarkers in sandstone, khaki, pastel beige, ivory

buttons

heart pin from Wild Orchid Crafts

seam binding

Just Rite BG stamp Grandma's Attic

Flower Shoppe Cricut Cart for flower

Burnt sienna promarker, Adirondack copper mixative, espresso alcohol ink to colour flower 

I have never attempted any of Tim Holtz 12 tags but love looking at them so thought I would give one a go.  Very pleased with how this came out and I'm thinking I may use this as a starting point for my special Xmas cards this year.  I am in LOVE with Rock Candy crackle paint, the deer is so pretty in RL, I also did a deer in alcohol inks and used rock candy over the top and it looks awesome, I may post piccies later.  

I followed most of Tim's directions except I stamped my snow flakes with distress ink pad instead of the stains as I couldn't get a nice impression, I also stamped some more snowflakes with SU white craft ink rather than the stains too. I spritzed the tag with home made glimmer mist rather than water.  I didn't add white paint dauber to the acetate as I didn't like the way it looked, so I added stardust stickles instead and also added them to the grunge paper reindeer and snow flake along with some frosted lace stickles too.

Supplies

Distress Stains in tumbled glass, weathered wood, picket fence

distress inks in weathered wood

Stampin Up craft ink pad in whisper white

Distress crackle paint in rock candy

Grunge paper

Stampin Up card stock in very vanilla to cut the tag or #8 manila tag

rhinestones mini silver sleigh bell, beads and wire to make a snowflake (I used an old Xmas decoration I got off the front off a House Beautiful mag )

Jump rings

acetate

TH Sizzix alterations snowflake border die ( I don't have this so I made a border on my gypsy using snowflakes from the Winter Wonderland Cart and a rectangle from the Gorge and Basic shape cart and welded them together)

Reindeer cut from Gypsy Wanderings, if you don't have a gypsy you could use the reindeer from Winter Wonderland or one of the other cricut carts or the TH Alterations sizzix die

Buttons

Organza ribbon in white, ivory and aqua

Dovecraft tea party bakers twine

Stickles in frosted lace and stardust

peal glimmer mist ( I made mine with a small amount of Deco Art dazzling metallics white pearl mixed with water in a mister)

small beads in silver, clear and pearl

Inkadinkado Snowflakes stamps (large snowflakes and snowflake flourish)

Papermania sleigh stamps (small snowflakes)

 Deco Art crafters acrylic in white

 

So there you go, it seems like a lot of supplies for 1 tag lol! But in actual fact you could do this with what you have lying around.  I used grunge paper but you could use chipboard (cardboard as we call it over her in the UK)  from a cereal packet.  I used white acrylic paint to paint the snow flake and reindeer before crackle glazing them. Buttons, ribbons, beads, acetate, cardstock and embellishments I had in my stash.

I like to use what I have, as much as I would love the Tim Holtz dies, I don't have the money or space for them and this is why my cricut is invaluable to me.  For what I pay for maybe 2 dies I can buy a cartridge with dozens of images, add in the Gypsy and the Cricut Craft Room and SCAL (Shame Provocraft were too greedy for their own good, they should have endorse SCAL rather than bring a law suite against them!) and I can come up with anything I want :)

Anyhoo enough of my waffling, i must get my desk cleaned up, I can't move for crafty junk lol!

Summer Fun, Distress markers and inky fingers

Well I was going to make a video of my crafty haul this month as I have been on a bit of a spending spree and also spent the day at the Summer Craft show at Doncaster race course.  However, I was so excited to have new goodies to play with I went and opened everything before I could film anything lol!

I did have a lot of fun making a very crafty mess yesterday evening though :D  I bought quite a few stamps, some more stickles to top up my dwindling supply, some mica masks by Creative Expressions and some Tim Holtz distress markers YAY!!!  So I was a very happy bunny last night :)

I also got a few fun things from Poundland, Works and HobbyCraft, including mini frames and a larger frame to alter, mini paper roses and glittery butterflies.  I stocked up on black and white core'dination and got a beautiful DCWV black currant 12 x 12 stack which is stunning.  I also got a reduced Xmas back ground stamp and some £1 stamps.

Just something fun, I was trying out all my new goodies I bought at the Summer Crafting show at Doncaster race course. Inked, stamped, grunged, water coloured, masked, stickled, misted and crackled lol! Flowers are coloured using TH summer distress ink pads leaves are alcohol inked, butterflies water coloured with distress markers and then added a bit of black diamond stickles and rock candy crackle. Fringed trim is some very old stuff from when I used to do dress making :D I had a lot of very messy fun making this :D

Cute window card with a difference, using SU card stock, ink and ribbon, spellbinder dies, Fiskars stamp set

Gift bag with matching photo album, the album isn't finished so I will show that another time. Stampin up DSP, stamps, ribbons and cardstock used.

Well I think that's it for tonight, shattered now as I've just cleaned all the downstairs so it's a cuppa and bed for me I think.

Happy crafting

Anna x

Huge update, long time no postie :)

Hi, well I kind of lost my mojo over the last few months and haven't done much crafting.  I've been feeling a bit down and the house is a mess, plus I'm working more hours and between that and the fibro I'm constantly exhausted and in pain.

Anyhoo, this isn't a pity post, we had a week away in the Lake District which was awesome (slide shows of photos on my you tube My channel ), we did lots of walking and had a lot of fun and it's given me a bit of a boost :)

These are the latest things I've made and or finished off lol!

First up are some cards made using the Portabello Rd collection from Docrafts, I adore these papers, so much so I ended up ordering more lol!  

Supplies

Portabello Rd papers

Stampin Up card stock in very vanilla

Core'dinations cardstock from the Tim Holtz craft core collection in red and blue

Stampin Up ink pads in not quite navy and riding hood red

seam bining dyed with TH distress ink pad tea dye

Roses and hear stick pin  from Wild Orchid Crafts

brads and buttons

Tea pot cut on Cricut from an SVG file

Stamp edged mats cut from Ribbons and Rosettes cart

Next up is a card for Father's day for my Dad

Supplies
Core'dinations cardstock
Image by Bill Holms sourced from internet
Circle shape cut from Accent Essentials cart
Dad plate cut from Plantin Cart using end cap feature
Textured strip made with TH texture fade checker board
Brads, feathers and button

This next card was for my Brother-in-law

Supplies
Stampin Up card stock in crumb cake, chocolate chip, not quite navy
Core'dinations craft core in No 10
Crackle glaze
Acrylic paint
Bakers twine
Stampin Up ink pad in Early espresso
corner punch
Cricut cart Ribbons and Rosettes for border
Stampin up Stamp set Nature walk and happiest birthdays

Dads birthday card, I wanted to add lots of texture and make this feel seasidey (is that a real word lol)

Supplies

Core'dinations Cardstock kraft core in No 16 and 10
Stampin up classic ink pad in not quite navy and craft ink pad in whisper white
TH distress ink pads in weathered wood and bundled sage
Bakers twine
Buttons and brads
Image from MCS water colours
Cricut cart plantin school book

This is my first ever mini album :) and I actually started it about 10 months ago lol!  Anyhoo, I've finally said it's finished and now just need to add my photos.  I'm quite pleased with how it's turned out, there are things I would do differently and I've learned a lot of new stuff along the way lol!

Here are most of the supplies I used.
Hero Arts: Large Web #CG234, Bat background #CG385
Inkadinkado: creepy Crawley #98303, All Hallows Eve #98627, Creepy Lane #60-30185
KanBan: Tickets #AS6008
Stampers Anonymous: TH French Connection #CSS278050
TPC Studio: Patterned Borders #ST93455
Stampin UP: Sanded BG stamp (retired)
Clarity Stamps: Small naked pine, remountable set of leaves, small moon shadow
Stampin Up: Pumpkin Pie, Whisper white craft
TH Distress: Peeled Paint
Memento: Tuxedo Black
Stazon: black
Glossy Accents
Versamark: embossing pad
Stampendous: Disco black embossing powder, clear embossing powder
Card Stock:Cord'inations in grey,black,orange, Stamping Up black,cajun craze, lucky limeade, cardstock, Stampin Up Fightful Sight DSP, Create & craft Super Smooth 120gsm paper for digi scrap kit.
Cricut carts: Fabulous Finds, Happy Haunting, /Ribbons & Rosettes
Basic Grey Figgy Pudding Fibers, Divine twine orange, HobbyCraft Ribbon

I think I've covered everything, just ask if you don't see it on here.


One thing I do want to mention is the digi scrap kit I used for most of the paper in this album, I don't think the site is there any more and I don't have the files on the computer at the moment as my external hard drive died on me :( I'd love to to give credit, so if anyone knows who made it just leave a comment thanks :)

A card for my Mum-in-law, I love how this turned out :)

Just a silly card I made to try out my new Robotz cart, which I got on Ebay for a bargain price :D

This is the first scrap book page for a new project, I've been meaning to make a scrapbook of our visit to London a few years ago and want to do sections on the Natural History museum, the British Museum and the Science museum, yes we did 3 museums in 3 days lol!  I am mad about dinosaurs so was thrilled to go to the Natural History museum.  I got the dinosaur tracks cart especially for the scrapbook as I took loads of pictures of all the dinos lol!  I've even made up a list of all the dinos on the cart and prited them out ready to label all my photos lol!  I know! I know!  A grown woman getting over excited about a lot of old bones lol!  Sad really isn't it :D

A quick project the other day to cheer myself up, I finally got around to blinging up my expression :D

A quick birthday card made with the sweet treats cart.

Lots of flowers I made yesterday, I was very tired and I've been poorly the last couple of days so I just wanted something to keep my hands busy while I watched tutorials on youtube :)

All cut from the flower shoppe and mother's day bouquet carts.

Well that's me all caught up, having a bit of a rest today, although I did go out and try to cut the hedge a bit earlier, shattered now though so won't be doing much else today.

Happy crafting
Anna xx

First cards of the year

Happy New Year, just a quick update with a few cards, these were all made using MCS World of Watercolour, Catch a Dream and Celestial Horizons. Some of the backgrounds were made using Tim Holtz Distress pads, cardstock is mainly cord'inations, I used plain white 8 x8 card blanks and glossy photo paper to print the images. These are for a customer and will be winging their way to Manilla and Japan :)

Last of the 2011 cards

Firstly I will apologise for the quality of these photos, they were taken on my phone as I was so busy I didn't have time to set my camera up lol!

These are the last of the cards for 2011, roll on 2012 :)

A cute snowman, he folds down to fit into a C6 envelope, I followed the tutorial an Tami Whites Stampin Up blg to make him and just change a few things to make him mine :)



A cute owl in a santa suit, I used a Tim Holtz embossing folder for the chimney and the stampin Up owl punch and tags till Christmas stamp set for the owls outfit, the sentiment is from a Pink Stamper set

This card was one of 25 I made for a customer, Stamped on glossy cardstock and glittered, it looks awful in this photo but I was really pleased with how they looked in RL lol!

A very quick card made using the Nostalgia CD from Joanna Sheen

And lastly the card I made for my Hubby this year(on Christmas morning, how bad is that lol! ) I used a Molly Bloom stamp on Stampin Up cardstock and the lovely glittery striped paper was from the I Believe stack by My Minds Eye.

Happy New Year, I hope it's a healthy and prosperous year for you :)

Anna x