In the teens…….

Only Eighteen Days to go to HugBinders – gulp its looming fast, so I thought I better get my A in G and get a prize made for the raffle – we have so many gorgeous prizes donated already it was a bit  daunting!

 Really had no idea what to do, so I just went to my secret stash of ‘stuff I will do something with one day’ closed my eyes and grabbed something – the first thing I laid my hands on was this fabby little box…..

Perfect!

Still no idea of what I was going to do with it, I grabbed some paint, rifled through another pile of secret stash of ‘things that can be used on projects involving the ‘stuff I will do something with one day’ stash’
As often happens my hand went towards my most favourite colour from the Eco Green range of paint - Green Patina.
Fancied  a play with some metal, which I haven't done for a while – tragedy I was nearly out of silver aluminium - how did that happen?? I hate running out of stuff! I did have enough to cover the sides of the box – so all was alright with the world.

Then as you can see I filled it with a bit of this and a bit of that and the end result is a bit of Nicks Tat (hey I'm a poet and didn't know it)


Right, off now to do the exciting things in life like get a new tyre for the car!

Cake Anyone????

It's Upcycle time again...  

Regular readers may remember the Upcycle course I did recently with the wonderful Meg and Jess, well yippee they have decided to do another 6 week course but this time with a theme and the theme is 'Picnic' every week we can choose from a couple of projects and this week I decided to dust off the knitting needles and make use of some recycled wool and make a cupcake - sweet eh? (oh just realised the pun LOL)

I got back from staying with the Best Ones on Tuesday and had a fabulous weekend celebrating the old dears milestone birthday - after months of planning which involved the odd snatched conversation with Mr Bessie it went without a hitch, surprise party, trip on a childrens steam engine and a trip to The Craft Barn and Wakehurst place it was lovely to see her enjoying being spoilt, nothing less than she deserved xxx

 Came home to major problems with my Dad and his health issues, its so sad when your childhood (and adulthood hero) gets old, so its been all go since I arrived home sorting him out, but I am determined to find a couple of hours crafting to myself today, and what better excuse than starting playing with this months DT pack from The Altered Element!

Lynne has sent me some mouthwatering CraftyNotions Spray paints, puffy paint and gilding flakes - yum! and for this months upcycling challenge she has found this...

a games compendium...

lots of scope if only I had any inspiration, but something will come to mind. I am rather behind on my self imposed challenge of working through my stash of books, so I feel a combined project coming on!

Watch this space!!

Not a Domino in sight (or Triomino!)

I am known for changing my mind, and I know only this morning I was planning to alter some Triomino pieces for an Altered Game Piece swap... but that was because

a) we weren't allowed to alter domino's - why? cos that's what Trish the Host said, and if you host a swap then you make the rules

b) because I couldn't find the Da Vinci games pieces that I really wanted to use.
but then, I found the Da Vinci bits I really wanted to use

Da Vinci Game pieces? Ever heard of them? Nope didn't think you had! A few years ago during the height of The Dan Brown 'Da Vinci Code' mania, I found a game of the same name in a bargain bucket and purchased it as a stocking filler for D.H.  Well we soon found out why it was it the bargain bucket, it's probably the most boring game in the whole wide gaming world and actually 'bargain' could be stretching a point, unless of course they fall into the hands of someone who rather likes altering things and sees them as (potentially) very cute little 'shrines'

As always I had - not a clue - what I was going to do with them when I managed to grab a bit of me time tonight, but I came across these three lovely - albeit bloomin miserable looking - ladies who fitted beautifully inside the pieces.

I randomly tore a page out of an old book I use for text pages and challenged my self to find some apt text to make a mini collage inside each one. Each one as had a few layers of UTEE which gives the glassy look

All three ladies are I am sure unrecognised Angels, even if they do look like three miserable old buggers, so they all have stamped and embossed wings.

Off to have a think about another challenge - take a look over at Gingersnap Creations - Metallics... yum!

Thanks for stopping by and leaving comments, I really do appreciate it xxx

All Present, Delivered and Correct....

Well maybe not correct, but pressie has been delivered to Katherine T.

Another altered box, which was just a plain pine jewellery box to begin with.

Katherine gave me some model magic so I wanted to have a play with that, and it ended up on her birthday present.

I rolled it very thinly, stamped into it and folded it, tweaked it, painted it.

This sits on a layer of painted and heated Tyvek.

I made a mould of a Gargoyle fridge magnet and used the model magic in that... its a very details and in parts undercut mould, and it came out much better than the ones I have tried to make with oven baked polymer clays.

Inside there is a removable tray. There is a working clock inside one of the compartments, the face of the clock is embossed metal, which i just doodled on. The bottom of the other compartments are filled with UTEE, coloured with Mica powders.

The lower tray has been lined with metal from Tomato Puree tubes... I love the colour of these and usually flatten them in my Wizard, but have left them creased here and covered them with clear UTEE and a few micro beads.

I have just noticed that some of these photos were taken whist the outside was matt black.. I have since sprayed it with a green mica spray.  The sides are metal, wire, beads, embossing powder and some fab felt like stuff that you can heat and it melts... oh I am so sad getting excited about such stuff!

Frivolous Feet

I fancied having a go at a blog challenge so had a look yesterday at Ink on my Fingers Sunday Stampers.

This week the challenge was entitled 'Tiger Feet' and being a Mud fan in my day I just had to have a go.

Luckily you didn't have to include the Tiger bit just the feet bit.!! Now... I am not over-run with feet stamps, but I did come across these lovely Stockinged Legs that I bought from Dimension Forth ages ago and never quite had a reason to use them. So I am hoping Hels will allow these stockinged feet!??

(If you click on the photo, you will see there are various references to feet)

Now to me Feet means travelling, and if you have had a look at my blog before you may remember 'Auntie Gertie' - I have been thinking about her since I found the stamp which reminded me so much of her and have wondered what her life was really like, she died before we could have a 'proper' adult conversation.

I wonder if that spinster lady who looked after her parents until they died and as far as I can remember hardly ever left her home town, never mind her home county, had a secret desire to (or in fact actually did) wear frivolous /daring underwear and dreamt of taking off and travelling the world.

We will never know, but if she did then this collaged mirror is a tribute to her secret desires.

Done it.... I hope it meets approval!

Well I took the plunge and once I got started it was alot of fun. I had no idea where I was going when I started (and I am not actually sure where I finished up!) but I decided to go with the colour scheme of purple and gold so that would go in my newly decorated bedroom.. which is surprisingly enough, purple and gold.....

The frame, which was already highly decorative and needed no addition of embellishments apart from colour, was decorated with Viva paints, Alcohol inks,  Rub 'n' Buff, Metallic Rub Ons, Gold Krylon pen - you name it and it is there! - Oh forgot to mention a few blasts with some pink/purple/gold mica sprays.

The centre piece has one of my favourite PaperArtsy stamps (well all PA stamps are favourites!) which although I love I never quite know what to do with it. But I think it sits quite nicely here stamped on some gold metal and glued on top of some model magic (see post below) which I rolled out, trimmed into a rather organic shape with some decorative scissors and stamped into using a PA squiggly ink tree and a leaf texture mat. The pierced holes around the stamped house are there because I was going to try and stitch it to the clay base, but I quickly realised that it wasn't going to work. It may be because I didn't leave the clay to dry enough, but I didn't want it to dry completely.. so whether you can sew into it is still up for experimentation!

I painted it with Viva Bronze precious metal paint and Viva Bio colour black/gold.. which I have to say I am not at all impressed with, it doesn't to my mind give the illusion of black and gold, but looks OK, just doesn't do what it say on the tin!

Gold Croco Crackle paint behind the lot and voila!

I am happy with it, and it looks lucsious on my bedroom wall, it has just got to pass inspection from Teacher!

Make it Scary Mum...

Well that is what Edward told me when I suggested making a canvas for his newly decorated bedroom, but we have placed it our of direct eye-shot as he falls asleep just in case of nightmares!  I was feeling a bit mojo'less this morning so went blog hopping and hopped over to Hels blog (ink on my fingers) - and as a result I have done my first ever blog challenge - Sunday Stamper - Halloween. I had made this piece of fabric paper (blogged below)  and it just cried out 'Gothic/ghosts/skull/Halloween.. or something! it just was never doing to be pretty. I like skeletons so I made another sheet of plain white fabric paper and cut a skull from it, coloured it a bit, machine stitched it onto the background after stamping some cobwebs using a previous unused embossing powder, called snowflake - white and glittery - I expect you are supposed to used it on Christmas cards! - anyway.... now what do I do with a piece of skull embellished FP?? ..... Put in on a canvas of course!!

.......and so we did. Edward and I are both very happy with the result. The canvas was sponged with some left over orange emulsion from his bedroom. 'Tims' cobweb masks in each corner and as Edward is going through a bit of a 'gargoyle' phase at the moment I used some new Gargoyle stamps mummy just had to buy, stamped onto cream coloured metal and 'puffed' out, filled from behind with lightweight polyfilla and then cut close to the edges, they look really effective I think. They are standing on two pillars of my new Ferro paints. Grungepaper bats and a few stamped skeletons.. Skeletons, bones and hands are Halloween bits and pieces from the £shop an odd bit of broken bamboo I found in the garden - beautifully weathered, and it all hangs from a chain found in the garage left over from a party..... (no not that sort of party!! - a 70's Birthday party where Matt and I dressed up as punks!)

Throughly enjoyed myself this afternoon!

This and Tat and a bit of the Other

Just a little something for ... well I guess some of you may recognise them (and the photo - I still think it is a lovely picture) It started out as one of those brown card blanks.. sure they have a proper name but I can't think what it is.
My favourite paints of the moment - Claudine Hellmuth Acrylics and after seeing a demo at Ally pally by Lin of LBcrafts, stamping into Viva Ferro paints, some stamping into Viva Ferro paints!
 Haven't had my shrink plastic or Friendly plastic out for a while, so added a bit of that, Some Tim ideology hardware (i must love these Guy's cos I don't use such precious stuff very often, I just like to look at it and save it for another day - I mean what would happen if the world ran out of Tim's sprockets and spinners??)

I was also very good and mounted all my new stamps on EZMount, so I had a play with some new stamps from Paperartsy. (arrggghhhh Just seen they have brought out yet more which I don't think were at AP - Lovely lovely but I must NOT spend anymore!!)

Added some gilding flakes I got from another favourite stall at AP Crafty Notions and a splodge or two of Tim's new Rock candy (thank you Jennie for remembering I was after it and bringing it to AP), oh forgot the spray of cosmic shimmers....
and there it is, another bit of tat for them - or in her words 'where on earth am i going to hang that?'

oh and just in case you thought you had got away with it... yep I have been making more fabric paper

Poor in pocket...

but rich in friends..... had just the best weekend with Mr and Mrs Bessie, some of you may have read about the Bessie's but don't know who they are... well I just had to share this lovely picture of them

that's them, bless their old hearts!

Ally Pally was as good as usual, met up with some friends and spent far too much, esp at LBcrafts and The Artistic Stamper.... yummy paints and yummy stamps and yummy goodies that one just had to have! Can't wait to have a play with them............ and my friend Debs gave me the most awesome thing to alter that she picked up from a car boot sale for me, so I have no excuse to get out my new paints!

Now AP is over, I can post a few things that I made and gave to some special people at AP... two very late birthday presents!

A pressie for Dee62 who had a 'significant' birthday last month

An altered Tuna Tin... grungeboard. For a smaller friend who we tease that she must live under a toadstool, who's birthday was in July!

No prizes for guessing who this is for, not a Birthday pressie, just a pressie for her new purple bedroom!

I was very chuffed with the 'Best Mate' bit, do you recognise it? I managed to take a mould of a 'Love Heart' sweet (which I have to admit I loved as a child and still love them, they are my guilty pleasure!) - anyway I took a mould and then made a polymer clay embellishment from it. Obviously you can't make and sell them, but great fun for personal projects.

Oh well back to real life again now... off to pack tomorrows lunches, check school uniforms, polish shoes etc etc

Four Flat Feet

I may have just mentioned that I am staying at Mrs Bessie's ready to go to Ally Pally tomorrow, well we spent a lovely morning shopping in Canterbury and she happened to spy some boring white plimsolls.. much the same as my boring white plimsolls - as were. Hers aren't boring anymore because we have been playing together this afternoon with glimmer mists (now all down my green tee shirt) and fabric paints (the gold of which is now down my navy tee shirt) copper tape and grungeboard... cool aren't they! I like hers better but she won't let me wear them! Just as well really cos my name isn't Sparkles and they are two sizes too big for my delicate little pinkies!

It's Ally Pally time and ......

these boots were made for walking....

or should that be, these boring old white plimsolls were made for altering??

Just a bit of fun, I doubt they will survive too many wearings, but after recent events in our lives it's time for a bit of fun and not taking things too seriously!

Off to stay with my lovely mates Mr and Mrs S... that's always a treat in itself! So it's woodcarving and then a drive down to Kent tomorrowand a girlie day out on Friday and Ally Pally on Saturday, leaving family to fend for themselves, doubt they will even notice I have gone!

Now...... where did I leave my shopping list????

Blog Candy, Workshops, Clever Tots and Bargain Buy

Another workshop all done and dusted and they have booked me again for a double session next time for a Christmas Project, so much more can be accomplished in two hours! I love to see what people come up with when they are given a free hand to do what they like, more than that I love to hear those words 'Gosh I didn't realise I was Artistic'

Everyone has an artistic side - look how young children love to paint and draw without really caring what it looks like as long as they like it and mum and dad are sure to praise that's all that matters, sadly sometimes along the way the creative side is squeezed out of us and it needs to be rediscovered.

Talking of young people, have a look here at a selection of peoples finished projects and tell me which was done by a four year old who came along with her dad.!

.......

Oh and I would like you to meet Billie....

First Issue of a new mag called 'How Your Body Works' you know the sort , you have to buy every issue to build your complete skeleton, which @ £4.99 an issue will end costing you hundreds of pounds, but issue 1 and Billies skull is only 99p... ripe for altering!!

...............

and the answer to which project was completed by 4 year old Charlotte is...
.

When asked if it was for her mummy, she said..... 'No it's for me!'

and lastly.... just to check whether or not you are still awake....

If anyone would like one of the sample projects that I did for the workshop (apart from the bird one, that's going to the Art Raffle) then leave a comment and next saturday I'll pick 3 names using random.org)

Still trying to get out a Creative Rut

And having a play with different colours. I have been caught up using mainly autumnal colours, so I am trying to get out of my comfort zone and have a little experiment with some colours.

 I saw an article in the most recent Somerset Studio, where the artist loved pink and green. It looked nice, I thought I would have a play. Mmmmmmmm....... been messing about with this for a few days now, experimenting with different shades of both the pink and the green. The Artist (I'll get up out of my comfy armchair in a mo and go and get the mag and tell you who she is..) did say it is very dependant on particular shades of both the pink and green, and I have to agree. I don't think this is quite what I was after, sometimes I like the whole thing, other times I don't... just not sure. Is it the colour? Is it the whole thing? I suspect it may grow on me, but then again maybe it won't.

 Can you tell I am rather undecided??

Still I have had fun doing it.

 Still rather Kelly Rae Roberts influenced but I hope I have put my own slant on it. The face is on a mini canvas so stands out from the rest and the little girl stamp is on Stampboard.

The whole thing is supposed to tell a story, and it does to me, so I guess I have got quite alot out of making it

Found her - Lisa Kaus - wow check her blog!!

Update from when I wrote this last night! -

 Looking back at the mag i have totally overdone the pink and green, but having said that, looking at this in the daylight I am getting rather attached to it. It's interesting having a play with colours you don't usually use or don't think you like, give it a go!

Not Sure If I Have Succeeded!!

Georgina - "Mum, can you alter this bag for me ready for school on Monday"
Mum       - "Yes I'd love too, can I do what I want?"

Georgina - "Yes - whatever as long as..... "

1. It's not too pretty

2. It's not too grungy

3. Don't go mad

4. Leave the word Danger

5. No embellishments added cos they will fall off

6. I want skeletons but not gruesome

7. Oh and I have been looking at your new Somerset Stamper Mag (YOU WHAT?? THAT'S MINE AND SACRED!!!) and I like the colours on this project, and can you do stitching like this project

8. Stitching mustn't be neat (no worries there- mum is not a seamstress)

9. Think that's it.... you can do what you like

10. Oh can it have my favourite word on it? ....... NO MUM NOT 'WHATEVER' ... that isn't my favourite word

10. No mum you do not need to find out how to spell 'uhhh???'

11. Thanks Mum

Why Because??? Because she loves me I expect.... who am I kidding!! -

JUST BECAUSE!

Well I now await the return from guide camp of my fiercest critic.. will she or won't she???

.

.

.

.

***UPDATE ***

It was met with cries of -

'Wow that is so cool, I am going to look the bizz on Monday'

So I guess it passed inspection!

Had the best weekend...

Nowt better for the soul than spending a few days with treasured friends.

Just back from our yearly camping trip with 'The Friday Friends' Five families who all met after the birth of our first babies and four of us had our second babies within 9 weeks of each other.

It is lovely to see all the kids together - 11 of them now, they only meet up in school holidays but when they do it's like they have never been apart, it's lovely to see. As for us adults.. we just drink and eat and laugh, it's a tonic being with these guys!!




Been having a little play in the last couple of days altering a notebook... I haved loved this colour combination of Red/yellow/orange, ever since Sian made me a BRAK using these colours a few years ago. I've had these face stamps for a while now but because they are square I've never been quite sure how to use them, so I had a play with them altogether on here. Quite pleased with the result, not sure the photo does it justice though... I should be more patient and wait until I have daylight to photograph my stuff!!

The seven weeks of school holidays have gone so very quickly and my little buddies will be back at school next week... I'm very sad, but then again I am quite excited about having a bit more craft time to myself!

But before then I have a school bag to alter for number one daughter who is off to high school, so I better get on.... the order of the day is Skeletons, but that may well change!!

Oh and have I mentioned it's only 25 sleeps till Ally Pally and 24 sleeps till I make my way to Kent to see my Number One bessie???