The scarecrow

 This month I have been the guest designer for 3D JEAN......I'm running a bit behind as it's the end of the month and I've only made 2 of the 3 pieces I should have done so it looks like I will be running over into October!

This time I've made a book using the scarecrow,one of THE OCTOPODE FACTORY stamps.... and Studio2Mers 12"x12" papers. 


Pop over to 3D Jean blog........SCATTERED SCARLET.......to see more of the project.

Stampotique and sculptures

First things first........I've recently made quite a hard decision and have stepped down from the Stampotique design team. I'm going to miss working with the rest of the fabulous design team but the time has come for me to move on. I will of course still be working with Stampotique images as I love them to bits!

 Onto other things...........today I visited an open garden with a friend....it was a joy walking around in flip flops in glorious sunshine at this time of year. The garden hosts a sculpture exhibition at this time of year and these are a few of the things I saw. I wanted this hessian hares head to come home with me......but.....it was TOOOOO expensive!

There was also this hares head.....it was BIG.....about 4' long!

 This rope spiders web.....thank goodness there wasn't a spider to match!

 and these really fun wooden....huge.....conkers, on the ground and hanging from the trees

 a lovely carved wooden owl.....again huge!

and finally this metal seed pod thingy........I wanted this one too!

Nonsense

 The challenge on ALTERED ALICE this month was to use text as nonsense - not to read but as pattern on your project,  you could still have words or sentiments, but the main thing was to use text used in a non-reading way. The challenge is now closed but I have had such a busy month I didn't get to show my project before now!

 My piece started out as this book.......it was in THE WORKS.....as you can see it was a buy one get one free bargain! I turned it into one of my fav folded paper page thingies! The pieces out the sides are the book covers.

 This month ALTERED ALICE was sponsored by a UK stamp company.........
STAMP ATTACK......they have several Alice themed stamp sets...I used Mad Hatters Tea Party and Alice 2 sets

 These silhouette images are a bit different.....I love them! I used them stamped in black for dramatic effect around the centre of my piece.................

 and also stamped on thinner paper in a pale ink and added to the sides of the piece to give a shadowy effect

STAMP SALE

This past few months have seen big changes in my life.......moving back to the UK in June being the biggest one..............and these changes have prompted big sort outs here! We are about to start on some building work at the house and as you have seen I have been having a HUGE sort out of my home studio space........sooooo this leads me onto the purpose of this rambling...............
This SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 25th I am going to have a  
STAMP SALE combined with a  
FREE TO A GOOD HOME EVENT........I did this before I left for Kazakhstan and there is still more to go!!

Stamps are going to be SILLY prices!

I know it's short notice but I just realised how little time there is till the builders come in!
If you want to pop along and need the address email me.......I'm in Crewe in Cheshire just to give you a rough idea!

And just in case you thought my studio space was perfect...............

 this is the view of the other end of it.......you can see my desk on the left.......I have to share space with a fridge/freezer, washing machine, boiler and assorted shoes, coats and fishing equipment!
Such is life!!

This is the storage that sits to the right side of the pic above!

Stacks

Stacks of what you might wonder!
Well, I just discovered Seth Apters blog (via INGRID DIJKERS blog)............THE ALTERED PAGE.........where he has a thing going called the PAPER STACK PROJECT........the idea is to take a pic of  your favourite stack or stacks... cos we all have them lurking in our creative spaces.........post the pic(s) on your blog, email Seth the link and he will add it to the list on his blog for others to visit and gather inspiration!
So, here are my stacks!!

 A stack of journals waiting to be worked in................

 .......a stack of worked in journals..............

.....and a stack of one of my fav things.....old books to be used in my work!

It's getting to that time of year!

Hallowe'en that is!!

I do LOVE Hallowe'en and I can't wait to get my Hallowe'en crafting into full swing!
In the meantime it's STAMPOTIQUE CHALLENGE time again and I'm using this months challenge of "black and white with a hint of colour" to show some more of the new stamps.

 For my trick or treat card I have used FRANKIE 9219, CORIE 9217, COOPER 9218 and SKULLBOY 9221 which are new stamps and then ALPHABITTIES 6010 which is not new!

 Stampotique stamps are available in the UK from THE STAMP ATTIC

Look.....

where I've been!
Last week my husband decided we needed to get away for a little while before he heads back to work in Kazakhstan on Thursday so he booked us a hotel overlooking this.......................

 The Angel of the North

 In fact this is the view of The Angel from our hotel window.........it was called The Angel View Inn!

 it's been a bit of a standing joke between the two of us......every time The Angel has been mentioned on TV or wherever my husband would groan as he knew I was going to say "you've never taken me there!!"

 now he can say........"you've been so shut up!!"

 I have to say it's a fantastic sight!

 On the way home yesterday we decided to stop off at Killhope Lead Mining Museum(I am married to a geologist!)..........to get onto the site you have to drive through a ford in a stream, which we did........at the ticket desk the girl said we had just beaten the bloke who was putting out a sign to say the ford was too deep to cross and that we probably needed to wait a couple of hours to let the stream go down before we could get out!!!

 This is that now innocent looking ford two hours later after the sun came out!

So, to kill the time we took a tour underground of the mine......this involved white wellies, hard hats, miners lamps and wading though cold water in the dark!

 We also walked through the forest in search of red squirrels.........not a one to be seen!

A fun day.......with a story attached!!!

The makeover continues.........

.

 and has become something of a major re-shuffle.......much more than first planned! Yesterday we decided that I needed a new chair......previously I used a high stool but its too high for the desk.........not ones for "new" furniture we headed to a local antiques/collectables place and found this lovely cane seat and back chair.

 Of course while there it would be rude not to have a root about among the other stuff.......found this lovely "thing".....not sure exactly what it is but I think something to do with loom weaving.......plus the other stuff on the chair.

 We also found this printers tray........here it is getting a bit of a clean!

 So, here is the re-modelled work space.......there is still PLENTY to do but it's getting there and I'm really happy with the way it's looking!

 Mexican papercut skeleton with porcelain doll collection underneath..............

 ......the printers tray in place............

 ........close up of dolls............

.......old Meccano box.......mirror...........other "stuff"!!!!!

This is one reason

 for my lack of creativity lately! My creative space is having a makeover! There is so much STUFF in there that is never used and is using up space while I have other STUFF that there is no room for...........so the time has come to be ruthless! I also wanted to fit in a desk that had been lurking around getting in the way.

This is it part way through............more work on it today will hopefully see it looking better! And I can then get back to making stuff in a better feeling space!

Shuttle-cock?

 Nooooo shuttle-owl!! 
I can hear you wondering what the heck I'm on about........well the feathers I used to pad out the wings came from an old shuttlecock........I heated the feathers till they shrivelled somewhat and then painted them...............................

..............I have to tell you that burning feathers STINKS TO HIGH HEAVEN! 
I did one indoors and had to do the second outside!

 The owl is mounted onto a small cigar box (one of my Portugal purchases) that I covered with braille paper.....a pressie from a friend........if anyone knows where I can get more I'd be very grateful :)

 Sides of the box covered with some tape I bought a while ago........it melts if you heat too much but I liked the effect!

More braille paper inside the box. So, why did I make this box.........JUST FOR FUN!!!!!

Guest designer

I have been asked to be the guest designer for SCATTERED SCARLET...the DT blog for 3D JEAN. This is the first of 3 pieces that I will make during the month of September.

Visit SCATTERED SCARLET for more pics.

Art from the Heart blog hop

Welcome to a very exciting blog hop in Celebration of 10 years of Art from the Heart!

Lots of exciting things happening at Art from the Heart next weekend where the big birthday bash is happening. Want to know more then do click here 

So in Celebration we are having 5 birthday blog hops.

You should have reached my blog from here  and are on the STAMPOTIQUE hop

here is my project

I used some of the new stamps that I am lucky to have now as I'm a member of the Stampotique DT......they will be available in the next couple of weeks

Bat like wings 6131

 Mela 6134

Skullboy 9221

Frankie 9219

Tetewea 6132

Before you move on - you will need to collect a letter from me which is W

This is part of an anagram of a STAMPOTIQUE product

Once you get back to Dys blog please email your answer to Ben.

So after leaving me a comment you need to move on to

SHEILA

Have fun hopping!