"THE BAG LADY"

This piece was originally called "The Tag Lady" as opposed to the bag lady but with the addition of a beaded bag she reverts back to being a bag lady!!

This weeks theme on Wednesday Stamper is (hand)bags so this is my entry.

Small beaded bag I made from a kit, not the best picture, sorry!

Her tag skirt!!

ANOTHER SNEEK PEEK!!

FANCIFUL WHIMSEYS

It's a good week for published stuff!! This time it's the Spring issue of Paper Creations. I made a series of cards and a decorated box using the Fanciful Whimseys stamps by Sandra Evertson (by Stampington). This is just one of them and actually it's my favourite of these stamps.

ALTERED ARTS

WHAT? NEVER SEEN A DIVA BEFORE?

This is a sneek peek of a canvas that has been published in the latest issue of Altered Arts e-magazine

I love this stamp.............it fits perfectly with the Stampotique girls stamps

HOME IMPRESSIONS GOTHIC ARCH

I was recently asked to join the design team for HOME IMPRESSIONS, a stamp store with their own range of stamps based in Holland and run by my friend Ria.

See the design team blog here.

The first sets of stamps arrived yesterday and I just LOVE this Gothic Arch set so decided to have a play with them today.

This effect on the crow is done by inking the stamp with black ink and then pressing the un-inked rose stamp onto it, this removes some of the ink. Then stamp the crow image onto cream card, I find a slightly glossy card works best.

These pics were taken in my garden, this ring of rusty barbed wire hangs on the back of the shed door and I think it makes a great place to display these cards!!

What the shed door normally has hanging on it!!

HEART AND HOME

THANK GOD IT'S FRIDAY!!! Great name for a challenge site and they have a great theme this week..........BOOKS. This is my entry, a CD book, I am still amazed that the Zutter machine will punch through a CD!

THEME THURSDAY AND WORKSHOP SAMPLE

Something my friend Jo Capper-Sandon said on her blog the other day struck a cord, she was saying that the piece she was showing was made just using what was left on her desk, it made me think.

This morning I saw the challenge on Theme Thursday was to create a piece that is only 2"x4", in itself a challenge!

Well, I had to finish off a workshop sample this morning so thought I'd have no time to make something for the challenge. After the sample was finished I was clearing up and thought about what Jo had said................so..............here is my entry for this challenge made from only the stuff I had lying on my desk!!


And so here is the workhop sample I was working on that gave me the left over bits!

I will be teaching this next week on Thursday and Saturday at Paddys Stamping Place in Prestwich near Manchester, if anyone fancies joining in the fun then give Paddy a ring on 0161 798 5115.

If you look closely you can see what this started life as!!

SHE SELLS SEASHELLS

The challenge on Wednesday Stamper this week is to use lace somewhere in your work.

I quite like to use haberdashery bits and pieces in my work so this appealed to me!!!

These cards were made a while ago but I still like them, they have not only lace but buttons, press studs and buttons and even some machine stitching on them!

BOUQUET OF DREAMS

Created by hand challenge site has a theme of "Hearts" today.
My entry is this heart shaped board book.



This is the front of the book

couple of the inside pages

and this is detail of another page with stamped vines and small punched hearts added as leaves.

OH DEER, WHAT CAN THE MATTER BE?

Oh dear, what can the matter be? is actually on old English nursery rhyme but when I saw that the challenge on Crazy Amigos this week was "oh deer" it was the only thing that came into my head.............and then it wouldn't go away!!!

So, here is my entry!

ALTERED BOOK

Wednesday Stamper has for its theme this week "openings". My entry is this altered book that when opened reveals a niche cut into the inside, the niche has a lid which is made from some of the book pages glued together and the lid opens to reveal a photo inside.

The photo inside the niche is my grandmother, though you can't see it very well here she is wearing a pearl necklace (which I still have) and so I hung a string of pearl beads over the lid to the niche. The other bits and pieces are just to decorate the piece!!

COZY?

The Crazy Amigos theme this week is "cozy". At first glance I decided not to take part as I couldn't think what to do but then it came to me!! Why not just go with the word itself? So, here is my version of cozy!

I used the big safety pin knitting thingy for the hanger on this piece, no doubt it will get re-used elsewhere at some time or other, mmmmm wonder how many times I can find a use for it??

I just LOVE this Cuttlebug embossing folder!!!

WITH BRASS KNOBS ON!

Because I like the theme on Gothic Arches this week so much (it's GRUNGE) I got carried away and made a second piece!!





This one is called "With Brass Knobs On"!!

MY SOUL HANGS BY A THREAD

The title of this piece is"My soul hangs by a thread" and it sounds like I am majorly depressed, I'm not, I just like the title!!

The challenge theme on Gothic Arches today is "grunge"..........yes!! A theme very close to my heart as it my preferred way to tio work and no matter what I try to do it comes out grungy to one degree or another!!

MOON TREE

The challenge on Mixed Media Monday this week is moon/lunar. I am a bit late with this entry as only just found a bit of time to play but I think the challenge runs all week so hopefully it will be OK!!

WEDDING BOOK

The challenge on Wednesday Stamper this week is to you use gesso in your work. This piece is a book I made using my Mum and Dads wedding photos (well copies of them). I love black and white photos but that is not the reason the book ended up completely black and white!



I confess it was one of those happy accidents that I love so much! I started putting the book together, stuck something in, decided I didn't like it and tried to remove it only to rip the page it was stuck to. So in an effort to repair the damage I was adding gesso thinking I would paint over it with some colour when I stood back and looked at it and thought " you know I like it like that" and so carried on in the same way throughout the book adding the gesso around and over the edges of the photos and words.

Have to say that my Dad doesn't like it, his comment was that they were perfectly good pictures before I got at them and splattered that stuff all over them!!! Oh well, can't win them all, at least I like it!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

BIRDS AND GIANT SAFETY PINS

A little late I know but better late than never to wish everyone a HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Everything I am working at the moment seems to be for future publication so I can't share them with you so thought I would show you these litle beauties that I bought over the new year break while in London.
I am always on the lookout for things I can alter or adjust or add things too and I have been looking for some wooden birds for a little while now for a project I have in mind and when I spotted these I was jumping up and down, not only cos I found some but cos they were cheap too! Ok, so I know they are pink but that can VERY easily be changed!! For an idea of what I want to do with these go to Wendy Vecchi blog and see the piece she made in a workshop with Tim Holtz
All I need now is an old phone!!!!
Also while I was away I saw some handmade birds with very long wire legs and BIG feet that quite took my fancy as well so might have a go at one of those too!! A case of watch this space!

And then there is this!! A giant safety pin, it's about 13.5cm (51/4") long and apparently it's for holding stitches while knitting!!! I can just see something (not sure what yet) hanging from it or.........whatever!! Another of those things that you just have to buy when you see them.