Clarity Christmas Challenge

Here I am again at the very last minute I have just realised that it's the end of December and the Clarity Christmas Challenge is almost closing. I remembered doing this little piece of Groovi work to sooth me when the Christmas panic was really full on. I am a great admirer of Emma Burns' work and this is very much inspired by her. I just love the way the heart shapes in this groovi plate have layered up ..... and for me the Mother Baby image is what Christmas is all about

Christmas is over again for another year and this card has been sent and received so I am safe to post it on here.  I love the time spent playing groovi it really does  allow me to calm right down truly is 'Me time' wish I could devote more time to it and get to grips with the lovely cut work and whitework that true parchers manage to do.

Well it's nearly the end of 2015, it hasn't been the greatest of years for our family so we are looking forward to 2016 with renewed hope. Happy New Year to you all xxx Annie

Fussy and Fancy Challenge #154 Happy Holidays

I cannot believe that this is the final challenge of 2015, Christmas is nearly with us and I seem to have lost a whole month, I am so behind with making my cards. Anyway back to the challenge Lovely talented Theresa is hosting this Challenge, what a task, Theresa especially as this challenge is running for Four weeks to cover the holidays. Just take a peek at what Theresa has made as inspiration .... it is amazing.
This is my sample made with a cute Stampendous stamp for one of my granddaughters:

it is one of those cards that just came together and I enjoyed colouring in and making all the snowflake embellishments. I hope she likes it she is getting a bit old for cute cards but as the youngest grandchild she will always be my baby girl xx

Entering our challenge is so easy all the details are here All our lovely Design team are involved in this one so we will all be popping over to your blogs and leaving comments. I know everyone is so busy right now but why not enter one of your favourite Holiday makes and because the winner is randomly chosen everyone has the same chance of winning whatever your ability.

I better get back to my cardmaking, just a few more now for hand delivery and then I'm done, then it will be just the last few things to buy it wouldn't be the same if I didn't have some last minute things to do. Have a lovely Holiday time however you choose to spend it and I will speak to you all again when it's all over, by then it will be 2016 Love and Crafty hugs Annie xxx

Fussy and Fancy Challenge #153 Words ... it's all about the sentiment

I am very happy and excited to be hosting Fussy and Fancy Challenge #153. My favourite cards to receive have words on the front so I have chosen 'Words.... It's all about the Sentiment' as my theme.
I have chosen one of my favourite Clarity sentiments:

Here is the finished card:

I stamped the sentiment onto this pretty  new Spellbinders diecut mat, I also cut a second diecut in charcoal card and slightly offset it to make a shadow. The lilac embellishment was made using Sheena Duncan's Perfect Partners .... stamps and matching dies, I loved decoupaging it up to form a 3d embellishment. The pansy is a new Sue Wilson die.
Hope you will join us and enter this challenge, it's very easy you can find more details here . I know everyone is busy preparing for Christmas right now, just take a little time out to create a card, tag, piece of altered art and join in the fun, I look forward to seeing your creations and visiting your blogs. Everyone has an equal chance of winning whatever your skill as the choice is made randomly and I get to choose my top5 .... that is going to be really tough for me.
Right better dash and get off to bed , but I have just had a thought ... there is only time for one more challenge after this one .... Where did 2015 go to??? Night Night, sleep tight xxAnnie

Clarity Challenge ... Stencils

Last night I passed an hour or so catching up in Blogland and happened to see that the latest Clarity Challenge was Stencils. I looked in my box of gelli prints and found a lovely delicate one I had made some time ago using a Clarity dove stencil, So I went to bed thinking what I might do with it, I didn't want to overwhelm the background as the stencil was the main element for this challenge. here is what I came up with:

It was a real walk down memory lane looking through my Clarity stamps  ... I used Fantasy Fibres to create my dove on the topper and I clear embossed the Peace stamp onto a piece of white card for the base mat and lightly brushed Adirondak Stonewash ink over it to make the stamped image Pop ... I love that technique .... the old ones are sometimes the best!!

Right I had better see if I can remember how to enter the challenge as I haven't done it for a few months and the deadline is looming just hours away. Happy Crafting xxx Annie

Fussy and fancy Challenge #151 Flowers

This Friday's Challenge is hosted by the lovely talented Jo and she has chosen Flowers as her theme.

Here is my version a very simple card that has taken me right back to the basics I first learnt:

 I have always loved making my own paper flowers and some of the dies available today enable you to make very realistic flowers.

For the background  I have used Sue Wilson's Greek Island Background die, it's very unusual in that it has a deep debossed area of ivy leaves with a central diecut section of trelliswork. I matted and layered this up on green and Pink mats and then arranged my flowers and some beautiful diecut ivy, added a sentiment and I was done.

I hope you will join in with us, entering is so easy all the details are here The DT team all look forward to seeing your entries and leaving comments on your blog if you have one, otherwise you can enter via email.

That's all for today, till next time ... crafty hugs and hoping you all have a lovely weekend xxx Annie

Game of thrones Card!!

Card for my son David .... again I was uncertain and I do like to make them personal. He is always stripping down engines and putting them back together, getting all oily and greasy in the process. This is not his work this is what he does for fun!! Anyway I digress and this is what I made for him from a few sheets of black card , some gilding wax and my trusty silhouette machine and ebosser:

October Cards

Late September & early October is a very hectic time for birthdays in our family . On 2nd October my granddaughter Lorna celebrated her 22nd birthday ....what to make for her?? I dithered and then a lightbulb moment ....all those 100s of 'selfies' that all young people take ... it had to be a Selfie Wordbook in fact a #Lorna wordbook.... Here it is first in its raw state and then decorated:

 

Then I had to decide which photos to include out of 1000s available, logically I had to start at the beginning and Rolly her grandad insisted 'Don't forget the on of her with the blue hat'. Then Lorna arrived at our house to introduce her new boyfriend Ant to us I surprised her by playing an old tape I had of her singing along to the spice girls. My sister Sue who is more techie than me got a couple of stills from it and one of those was included:

 

 

 

I had collected lovely little frames with cutout words and symbols which I made on my Silhouette Cameo machine, the letters of her name were also built up in three layers  and added to the page bases which were shaped on Cameo. Lorna's sister Kate and Aunty Sue chose their favourite pics. One page was of the two sisters and the last page was  and then of course the last page was of Lorna and Ant.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are the tiny pages behind the hashtag ... I used them to write my Happy Birthday:

 

 

She seems to be very pleased with it so I am a very happy Bunny. xx

Fussy and Fancy Challenge # 149 Autumn Colours

I can't believe it's already nearly October, the evenings are getting really chilly here in the UK so it really is Autumn .... I think this is my favourite season, I just love Autumn colours and as it happens that 'Autumn Colours' is the F&F Challenge this time, hosted by the lovely Eileen. Here is my card
 sample for this challenge



  

I was reorganising my craftroom recently and found a little pile of gelly prints that I had done a few months ago, this was one that I was most pleased with and I thought at the time it reminded me of Autumn because I had used a leaf stencil to make it:

That was it I was on a roll!! it really was an easy card once this decision was made ... I cut out several leaves with a punch using vellum in a selection of Autumn colours. I made a loose arrangement with them and then remembered my favourite Sissix Bigz die which makes pinecones (usually at Christmas time) but pinecones are everywhere on the country paths at this time of the year too. So I set about making some I love the way they come to life in your fingers as you roll and tease them, I added a few red berries to brighten it up...and I was nearly done. I love the dimension of the topper:

 

 

 I stamped and embossed a lovely Clarity stamp which says it all :

So there it is, I have a beautiful niece called Meg and she loves all things Earthy and Organic, it is her birthday in mid October so Meg this is for you, my lovely with all my love and Happy Birthday xxx

Hope you will enter this lovely challenge it's so easy to do you can find details here and the winners are selected randomly so everyone has the chance to win.

Just off to have a cup of coffee in the garden .... the trees are full of berries so the birds will have a feast: Must dash xxx Annie

Fussy and Fancy Challenge #147 School Days

So here we are it's already September , in the UK this means the children are all back to school after their long Summer break. So the theme for challenge #147 had to be School Days / Back to School hosted by Tammy and sponsored by Fresh Brewed Designs and Sweet Lilac flowers.
This year my eldest granddaughter will not be returning to school or college because way back in July she graduated from Hereford College of Art we are so proud of her. So this card was made with Rhiannon in mind  .... She's arty and a Day Dreamer with her own sense of style ... here is the card I made:

I used a new IndigoBlu stamp called 'Lost in Thought' which really reminds me of Rhiannon ... I stamped it and coloured it with Promarkers and then I cut her out.

Then I needed a background, I looked through the box of Gelliplate prints I had made earlier in the year and I found just what I was looking for ... a lovely textured  brick wall made with a Clarity stencil and lots of layers of acrylic paint!! My idea was to create a wall with Graffiti on it but not any old graffiti I used Clarity word chain stamps which use random fonts and lovely arty inspirational words. I stamped and embossed them onto my background ... they look lovely and grungy. I matted and layered my background onto the card and placed my arty girl as if she was leaning on the wall, daydreaming.

We would love you to join us in this challenge, it doesn't have to be a card it can be mixed media, 3d whatever you like to do, details of hoe you can enter can be found here it realy is very easy to do.


Here is Rhiannon at her graduation we are so proud of her

Well since making this card I have just heard that Rhiannon has got herself a contract illustrating a book (can't say anymore), she has found herself a little place and is moving back down to to Hereford to start her new working life.... 'Fly high little one ' xx

Right I really must fly now, hope you find sometime to do some crafting ... till next time xxx Annie

Fussy and Fancy Challenge #145 Lazy Summer Days

Another Friday and this time it's the lovely Beth hosting our Challenge and she has chosen 'Lazy Summer Days'. This challenge is being sponsored by Magnolia-licious.

Here is my offering for this month:

As soon as I read that the theme was Lazy Summer Days I knew at once which stamps I wanted to use, they are Clarity stamps of a daydreamer lying under a tree. I started by making the reflection in the water using my blending mat ... then I positioned the actual main stamp image, followed by a lovely big sun. The effect of water is made using a brayer and some crumpled copy paper.

This is the clarity quote stamp which really adds to the atmosphere I was trying to create:

The base card of my shutter card was made using a Tattered Lace die, it cuts the base shapes and also contains dies for all the matting elements. it was a bit of a luxury buy but it was a special offer price and I have always loved these type of cards because it offers so many surfaces to decorate. oh yes and the die set even includes the alphabet which I used to spell out Lazy Days. So this card really wasn't as complicated as it might look.

I really hope when you see all the design team's efforts you will feel inspired to join in the fun you can enter here The winners are randomly selected so no matter what your crafty ability is you all have an equal chance of winning.

That's all for today I look forward to visiting your blogs over the next fortnight. xxx Annie

Fussy and Fancy Challenge #143 Beach Fun

Well it's Friday again and time for Fussy and Fancy Challenge #143 Beach Fun hosted by lovely Gina..... As I am  sat making this card we are in the middle of a bit of a heatwave here in the Uk ...... it has been  hotter here than in the Mediterranean ....so the beach is really the best place to be.

As I was rooting for the stamps I was going to use I found a lovely piece of text and my whole piece is built around this ... I do like beautiful words on my cards. So here it is :

I have used some Creative Expressions stamps and some inking techniques to create my background. Next I stamped the text (an inkylicious stamp) I had found onto a separate piece of card which I had prepared with a watery background, I tore the edges and inked them.

Then I found my favourite Clarity shell stamps .... which I coloured and cut out a couple of times so that I could decoupage them up.

We really would like to see  your Beach Fun projects ...what ever you enjoy making,  it can be a card, a mixed media canvas or boxes or other 3D project ..... surprise us. You may like to use a digi stamp from this month's sponsor Sherri Baldy, you will find details of how to upload your work here. The winners are selected at random so that everyone has an equal chance of winning.

Right it's time to get the hosepipe out and give the garden a good soak, the plants are wilting a bit in this hot humid weather ..... so am I. Until next time xxx Annie

Card for a very dear friend

Yesterday and today have been the hottest days of the year so far... so I did a little bit of quiet crafting . July is a busy month for family cards so I thought I better start ... this one is for my very good friend Ellen, so something soft and feminine was called for:

I used my favourite Crealie Modern patchwork die for the base card and a lovely hydrangea die from Impression Obsession made the flower.
I love making paper flowers, moulding them and shaping them .... this die uses a very simple  flower shape .... but a lot of them &  putting them  through my ebosser was a bit of a chore but now I have found the answer for all my small dies : The spellbinders sapphire, it is so small it looks like a toy but its a real little workhorse and made short work of the 120 little flowers I used

So that's 1 card down 7 more to go.

While I have been blogging the weather has changed from hot & humid now I think there is a storm brewing so I best go down and close all the windows because we've been promised thunder , lightening and hail stones when it arrives .... that's a whole years worth of weather in one go ... a very good start to July . Happy crafting xxx Anne

Fussy and Fancy Challenge #141 Distressed

It's Friday again and time for challenge #141 ... this time the theme is Distressed and it is being sponsored by beautiful Aurora Wings. I find this type of project quite hard because I like everything tidy and distressing means roughing up and inking edges. Some people are so clever at it and their projects are amazing. Anyway this is what I finally made after several other attempts ended up in the bin!!!  I decided to go with a tag for a change:

 

 

After so many failed attempts I settled on one of my favourite colour schemes Teal and Brown, the papers I used are all by Bo Bunny so I knew they would co-ordinate and then everything else sort of fell into place. I also decided to use some new dies I had bought recently ... Sissix alteration dies 4 different thinlits to give a distressed detail, I used the distressed diamonds effect on the second layer. The sentiment was cut using an only words Diesire die and the flower was cut with my faithful old Tattered Florals Bigz die.

Rooting around in my stash I found just the right colour crinkled ribbon, some twine, string of pearls and a watch charm. A very simple project in the end and I was quite pleased with it.

Why don't you give it a go and enter our challenge it's easy to enter you can find out more here

Well it's a beautiful afternoon and I did promise to go and help in the garden about an hour ago but got a bit distracted. I am sure a cup of tea for Hubby and a dog biscuit for my faithful friend Jasper will make sure I am forgiven.

Bye for now Crafty hugs Annie xxx

Fussy and Fancy Challenge #139 Lavender and Yellow

Lavender and Yellow these are such lovely zingy colours to work with even for someone like me who is usually more comfortable working with girly pastel shades. So the lovely Diane is hosting this challenge and the  sponsors are Sweet Lilac Flowers and  Freshly Brewed Designs.
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I went back to an all time favourite stamp Indigoblu's Summer Lovin' stamp, it is so lovely to work with, it's a collage stamp so I stamped it several times using Stazon Royal Purple. Then I set about making my background paper ... a plain  piece of white card can easily be transformed into a background paper. I used Squeezed Lemon distress ink and a blending tool for my base colour, then using Milled Lavender distress ink (second generation ... stamped first onto a scrap of paper to give a fainter image) I used unmounted stamps, without a block ... (Indigoblu, script and mesh) randomly to form background ... then using the collage stamp again I stamped random section of the stamp using slightly darker Dusky Concorde distress ink.

 

I decoupaged some of the flowers on the main image and then used the rest of the flowers together with some diecut swirls to embellish my card. I was quite pleased with the result and I know a person who would appreciate these zingy colours on her birthday card.

 

Right it's lunchtime and Husband has kindly made us a snack so I better not keep the chef waiting. Please enter this challenge it's so  easy to do ... more details here  then the fussy and fancy girls can get to view your blog and email entries. As the winners are randomly chosen it is very fair whether you are a beginner or an experienced crafter you have an equal chance of being a winner.

 

Bye for now and crafty hugs, Annie xxx

Fussy and Fancy Challenge #137 Springtime flowers

Springtime Flowers .... What a lovely challenge this is, just when we can see our gardens are starting to come to life again. This time our host is the lovely Vanessa and sponsored by Marianne Designs and Sweet Lilac Flowers.

So here is my offering for this time:

I have had this lovely collage stamp (Marianne Designs 'With Love' stamp CS0866) for a while now, I bought it originally because the little girl reminds me of a photo of my niece, Meg as a bridesmaid. I decided that this might be time to use it, I also used Marianne Dies: Foliage ... LR0151 & LR 0271 &
Mats........LR0236. Having stamped the image with Sepia Archival inkpad, the rest of the colour scheme just fell into place. My choice of flowers was based on the earliest flowers in my garden which are daffodils & the blossom on my trees.

So there it is a very simple card using very different colours for me, sometimes it's good to get out of your 'comfort zone'. I would love you to give this challenge a go it is so easy to enter, more details here . The F&F girls really love looking at your blogs or you can enter via email, and because the winner is randomly selected everyone has an equal chance.

Must dash now as Jasper our Black Lab has decided it's time for a walk
Bye for now xxx & crafty hugs
Annie

Fussy & Fancy Challenge #135 Girly

So it's Friday again and time for a new Challenge #135 on Fussy & Fancy. This challenge is being hosted by the lovely Celine and sponsored by Freshly Brewed Designs. Celine has decided that this challenge should be 'Girly', a lovely theme for all those pretty stamps, colours and embellishments.

Here is my version of a 'Girly' card:

 

 

 

I have used a beautiful new Heartfelt creations stamp, it is so detailed and so I stamped it onto vellum three times , using Versamark inkpad and white embossing powder. I then decoupaged the butterflies which I had coloured from behind with pink & purple oil pastels. I tore the edges of the background to give it a different look, the white lattice diecuts are cut using Heartfelt Creations dies. 

 



 

All these elements were mounted onto a pretty pink and lilac patterned paper finished off with some ribbon, gems and flowers which had been stamped and diecut in white vellum.

 

It was a very quick and easy card to make .... I hope you will enter this challenge and show us your take on Girly cards entering is so easy you can find out more here the winners are chosen randomly so everyone has a chance of winning whether your a beginner or a more experienced crafter ...why not give it a go our design team love visiting your blogs and leaving a comment for you.

 

Well that's it for today, the sun is shining outside so I am off to sit in the garden with a cup of coffee

 

Bye for now xxx Annie

Fussy and Fancy Challenge #133 Tic Tac Toe

I just love the idea of this challenge which is being hosted by the lovely, talented Beth. She has chosen Tic Tac Toe as her challenge it's easier to explain by using the little sketch she has given us:

You can choose to include any line across/ down/ diagonal or go all out for a Full House.

I was inspired by a sheet of Graphic45 paper from the Secret Garden Collection which I used as my backing paper .... it has flowers, birds and birdcages on it, I knew I had a lovely Birdcage charm I had bought from Live and Love online shop ... who just happen to be our sponsors this time. I made my easel card with a scalloped die.

Here are the nine items I have included:

There is my treasured birdcage charm, I diecut the butterflies and the poem, I used lace and ribbon, framed my poem with some pearls. The poem was wet embossed with gold embossing powder, and although it doesn't show up very well the butterflies are sparkley . I dry embossed the base of my easel and just to be sure I added a 'With Love' sentiment in case my poem didn't count

 

 

here is a photo to prove my butterflies were sparkled

dry embossed base and gold embossed sentiment

So there you go... as simple as that ... I had so much fun ... I hope you will have a go too, entering is easy more details here we would love to see what you make for this lovely challenge.

That's all for this time crafty hugs xxx Annie

My New Guilty Pleasure

This past week I have kept myself  'playing' and I do mean playing with some ne,w silicone moulds brought out by Katy Sue Designs they have been cast from polymer clay characters made by the very talented Kathryn Sturrock. I have long admired Kathryn's whimsical characters, but knew that there was no way I could make models like hers freehand. But with these moulds ...well I am in my second childhood, I had planned on using air dried clay which is a very quick process but once I tried Fimo polymer clay I was hooked. The set of moulds came with a lovely project book ... now I don't DO instructions but this book is so well illustrated and written well it's literally child's play.

These are my first attempts:

Then I realised I couldn't just keep turning out these little people I needed to use them in some projects

This was using a 99p frame which I painted and distressed using the Vaseline technique

This project recycled a pickle jar and is one of the projects in the book, using Kathryn's step by step worksheet I was able to do some freehand modelling of the little animals and mushrooms

This is it as seen from above

Then I got a bit more adventurous and made some 3D letters using my silhouette machine they are ideal because they are not as big as the bought letters , I painted it white and painted some clouds on it, created some grass and stuck my little woodland fairy on ... then the real fun thing making all her little animal friends ....

Here is a sideways view

So there it is my one regret is that I didn't have these products when I was helping look  after my grandchildren because they would have had so much fun we spent so much time together making things .
Ah well back to reality then, I better  get off downstairs and make a brew ... it has been a while since my last one .... time whizzes by when you're having fun Bye xxx Annie