Dans Ma Maison il y a....Un Garcon

Well here is my first attempt at a house.
I couldn't resist putting "Adore" above "a door" !
(Of course I really do adore the boys in my life...)
I cut up a miniature postcard to make the window,rafters,chimney and door.
The boys face is a paper artsy stamp.

Christmas Card......!

OK....I know it's only June Lol...but Rainbow Lady set the challenge of making a christmas card using collage, or pretty much anything we enjoyed, so here is mine.
You will notice I managed to sneak a little book in....lol !

Got it !

Well we've got the caravan (except for finishing off the paperwork) so we are going down tomorrow to have our first day there. The weather is lousy at the moment but hopefully it will buck up later.
No crafting today then as I pile up hoards of stuff to cart down to Par. I have one more piece to post on here though so I will do that in a minute.
......now where's that tin opener.......?

Summer Respite

Here is my piece for the Layers of colour challenge this week..."Summer Respite"
I colour washed the board first then stamped flowers, leaves and stems. After that I knocked back the strong colours, and took away the sharpness by using chalks. Then I applied the lady, words and flowers.
Summer respite, for me, is sitting out in the garden, so I have tried to echo this.
Not much sitting out today though as it's pouring down and blowing a howling gale!

Favourite Holiday (Challenge)

My favourite holiday is christmas so here's a mini book/card I've made for the Theme Thursday challenge. (It measures 4 inches by 3 and a half inches when closed) I've tried to show the different phases of opening it. I tried to do an explosion card and after "messing about"(!) I ended up with a star shape so I have been here all morning seeing stars and ended up with this ...lol.
One of the pics is a bit fuzzy but I never seem to be able to take a decent pic of anything shiny....I will have another try later when the light changes a bit....but dont hold your breathe !
Hope you like it....and...Merry Christmas everyone...!
*runs for cover *

Tag in a Pocket

I have made this tag in a pocket for the challenge on "tag you're it "
It's made from K and Co papers.
Hope you like it !

Now for a bit of a natter......

I am making bags for my local scrapstore at the moment so it's a bit hectic...I am on bag number 54 so far ! They are given out to the children to put their things in instead of using carrier bags and the idea is that they use it to collect their scrap goodies when they call in. If you've never heard of scrapstores then please look it up and see what is in your area because there are goodies galore waiting there. The material I am using was donated by Mostyns...so there is some good quality stuff to be had. Our local scrapstore charges £5 a year membership and each bag of stuff bought is £1.50. It's good to re-cycle and it's lovely to see the children having fun. I will post a pic of one of my bags later on in the week plus the labels I came up with to put on them so watch this space ...lol !
Things are still moving forward on the caravan front and the owner of the one we are hoping to buy is back from France tomorrow so I don't think I will sleep much tonight ...!

Cake (Hat) !

The Layers of Colour challenge this week is "Cake"
Any excuse to think about cake is fine by me ....
so this has been a lovely challenge.
I hope you think my entry is good enough to eat.... Lol !

I have also entered this in the "Hat" challenge on Theme Thursday

I wonder if the birthday girl will put her "hat" away in a hatbox or a cakebox...?Lol

Lilac Card

I made this card using the Keepsake Majestic board. I used an Anna Griffin punch for the butterflies.
I have entered this for the SBS 18 Challenge for the theme "Lilac"

Balloons

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After posting an ATC I've managed to finish another entry for the "Balloons" Layers of Colour Challenge as well.

I've been blown away by the amazing little works of art everyone has made. I've thoroughly enjoyed buzzing from blog to blog and dropping in. I've said hello where I could.... and to the ones who didn't hear from me...well thats down to my non-existent computer skills I'm afraid....but I'm getting there bit by bit! Thanks everyone for a magical journey !

Domino Book

This mini book with tags in measures 2 and a half inches by one and an eighth inches. The covers are dominoes which have been sanded and inked to make them look like suede. The brad (an office paper fastener) was pushed through a die-cut flower and then through the ribbon. The "legs" of the brad were then pushed through the softwood domino after I made a hole with a bradawl. The ribbon has been wrapped around the whole book to tie it.
The "pages" were covered with mini tags (from K and Co.) flower brads and butterfly stickers.

Domino Crazy......!

We went to St Austell market and I couldn't resist a pack of wooden dominos for the princely sum of one pound.....heres what I have done with them so far.....
I have made this piece using three of them.
I stamped them with Stazon and then painted them with pearlised watercolours. After embellishing them I glued them to a length of ribbon and backed the dominos with some scraps of card to neaten the back. I used a bookring for the top so it can be hung up.
I am off now to see what else I can get up to ....lol !

Ribbon Box

Well a right old tangle of ribbons got me up the pole trying to sort it out, so I have done something I've been meaning to do for ages...I've made a ribbon box (out of an old shoe box) I know its been done before ...but not by me lol. I had loads of odds and ends to play with from my tidy up this morning so I got the "bits" together and had a go at doing something with it all rather than throw it away.
I think I quite like it and it works a treat (in spite of me threading loads of lengths through each hole) I took the box apart before doing it and found it easy to do as it really didn't matter how it turned out as long as it "worked".
I could do with making a couple more of them for the rest of the ribbon mound ....so I will be forced to buy some new shoes now....oh ain't life tough....lol!

I think I will put this on the ArtyGirlz re-cycling challenge cos I did recycle the box !

Tidy Alert ....lol !

I have been having a tidy-up (!) and came across a couple of books I made back in April for easycraftprojects for their DT call (made it to guest designer...Yay!)
The bottom one is covered with Anna Griffin fabric (from her pack of fabric squares)and the top one is from my material stash. I thought they may be worth blogging before they get lost again among the pile of stuff here......trouble is...even after a good tidy I bet I still can't find a thing ...!

L is for Love

Rainbow Lady asked me if I would like to join her challenge this week...making something out of board. "Oh yes please" I thought, because I love making things out of mountboard. So here is what I came up with....
I have cut out the "L" and then painted it. I stamped it in bronze with a swirl stamp and then added the ribbon and embellishments.
I decided not to go for the obvious red...but I still kept to warm tones. Anyway...I hope you like it !

Celebrate The Sea

This is my piece for the challenge on Layers of Colour.
I painted the background and then added the embellishments and glitter.
I gave the fish a pink eye cos I reckon this is the girlie part of the sea where the mermaids hang out ! I didnt see any while I was there though......lol
Hope you like it !

Something a Bit Different

Take a 12"x12" piece of thick paper or card and fold into nine 4"x 4"squares. Cut out the top and bottom middle squares and you should be left with an H shape.
This shape will fold all ways...up,down,side to side...until you have a 4x4 book so it is up to you how you fold it up and decorate the squares. An added bonus is it will fit into a CD case when its folded.
(I've done a pic of a rough template) Have fun...!

At Last ...!

Well this has taken quite a while to finish (see post further down !)but I got there in the end thanks to Laura who left such a helpful comment after I appealed for help.
It was the suggestion of a silver charm that did it ....suddenly I knew what I wanted to do......so here it is... all silver embossed...wire beaded... and sporting some fibres and ribbons.....and of course the silver "charm" ....I knew the silver cross would be just right.... especially with the sentiments in the book.
"So"....Laura wanted to know, " what does Jacob think of you turning his book into a girlie one"....well he's fine...he wants it for his mum (my daughter Nichola) as a present and I am delighted, because Jacob's little wooden book would have been thrown away and now, instead, its a keepsake that means something to three generations.

(posted on Arty Girlz ongoing recycling challenge)

What a Lovely Day...and Pleeeease Cross your fingers For Us

Well what a lovely day it's been!
We woke up to the sun breaking through and an hour later we were heading down to Par in Cornwall.
The roads were pretty much deserted so it was a dream journey down and we arrived at the "Duck Pond" to the raucous calls of the hundreds of birds that gather there.
We had a leisurely stroll over the nearby sand dunes and a wander on the beach along Par Sands and we realised we were starving !
So we went up to "Snowies" (a local campsite) and into Miss Tees cafe for some welcome food.
While we were at Snowies we got chatting and found out there is a massive caravan for sale so we belted over to the sales office only to find it shut as we had forgotten about it being Sunday ! There were pics posted in the window so we rang the number and it looks hopeful that we will be able to get it....and all we meant to do was go for a drive !!!!
After more walking (and stopping for hellos and chats to all and sundry along the way) we finally headed home. (where we are sat with everything crossed !)
So what the heck has any of this to do with crafting? Well nothing really...I just thought I would let you know I do get out now and again LOL !....and to ask you all pleeeeese will you cross your fingers as well for us to get the caravan...
We are so lucky to live 50mins away from such a beautiful part of the world.
As I said at the beginning....what a lovely day.

Sweet Nothings

The cord is wrapped around a brad which was raised by putting the "legs" through a flat bead before pushing it through the cover and fixing.

The inside back cover looks a mess but it will be covered by the last page when it is glued in place

I've been asked about cutting mountboard and if I have a special cutter. Well all I use is a trimmer and a craft knife. If you run the trimmer blade across the mountboard you can then bend it (as your trimmer will not cut deep enough to go all the way through) and make it into a cover (front, back and spine) or you can slide your craft knife through the partial cut ( just gently draw it through a couple of times till it parts) and use the pieces for a front and back.I took a pic of this and it seemed a shame to waste the mountboard so...that's how I ended up making this book !

Die-Cut Card Challenge

Here is my card using die-cuts, (using chipboard and paper on the Bigshot)
First I inked (with a stencil brush) around the diecuts to make the background paper and the insert.
Then I stamped one die-cut with a mini flower stamp, and the other was inked all over to make the large flower.
The smaller die-cut was just inked and the centre done in a contrast colour.
The embellishments were then added.
I must say I've enjoyed making a card for a change!

Made for PaperTake weekly challenge.

Jacob's Wooden Book....Altered !

When I told my grandson Jacob that Josh's jigsaw was on here, made into a mini book, he ran off and came back with a little wooden book for me to "play" with.
One of the pages was damaged but it left 4 to do something with so I cut off the cord holding it together and set about altering the pages.
I painted them and added the roses (cut out of wrapping paper) and photo-copied some poetry to put on them.
I covered them with 2 coats of PVA glue and when they were dry I scuffed them up a bit as I figured that the pages would scuff anyway when they were tied together!
........ But as you can see they haven't been "tied" together yet as I cant make my mind up what to do...I've tried book rings, ribbons and cord but didn't like any of that so I am still thinking about it..... Heeeelp.....!!!!!!