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

Fussy and Fancy Challenge #131 'Wings and Things'

So here we are the second F&F Challenge of 2015 .... I am so excited to be hosting this Challenge which is being sponsored by Sweet Lilac Flowers & Fresh Brewed designs. I chose 'Wings and Things' as the theme because here in the UK at this time of year we are looking forward to Spring returning, seeing the garden coming back to life after the Winter always amazes me and the thing that gives me greatest pleasure is seeing all my feathered friends nesting and feeding their chicks.

So here is my card, it is a 7x7 card with the front folded back.

The stamps I used are all Clarity stamps, this set called Garden Birds is amongst my favourite ever stamps ... I love Bluetits they are so acrobatic. I set the scene by masking off the stamped birds and creating a cloudy sky using torn paper as a mask whilst adding stonewashed adirondak ink with a make up sponge ... I'm afraid you can hardly see it in the photo. I then dabbed a bit of pink ink onto some pretty plain white Sweet Lilac Flowers to give a little dimension.

 

 

Here is the card folded flat ready to slip into the envelope ready to send to my dearest Mum in Law Marie who is 94 this February ... she isn't so mobile these days and loves to watch the birds on the feeders through the window of her little flat, in the sheltered housing complex where she lives.

 

Well February is a very busy month for family and friends birthday ... there are five cards to be made for the period of 14th, 15th & 16th so I better  get  my thinking cap on ....

 

The Fussy & Fancy Girls would love you to enter this challenge, I know I love looking at all your work and leaving comments on your blogs you can get details of how to upload your work here it's really easy so why not give it a go.

must dash now

Crafty hugs

Annie xx

Fussy & Fancy Challenge #129 Snowflakes and Ribbon

Can't believe it's already time to make our last challenge cards of 2014. This time the challenge is Snowflakes & Ribbon ... a lovely combination for Chrismas cards.

I was very late starting my Christmas cards this year as we have all been struggling with a horrible virus and even worse my MOJO decided to go on holiday, in fact it was making this card that got me going again, now I have made all my Family friends and neighbours cards so I can relax ... not for very long though as I have 3 birthday cards to make for the first week in January so I'll have to get my thinking cap and  a wiggle on.
Anyway back to my Snowflake card here it is :

 

The cute little Robin image is a Stampendous stamp .... they are amongst my favourite stamps, the deeply etched rubber gives a great image every time, I coloured him with Spectrum Noir pencils, they are so waxy and easy to use. The background is a piece of music about a robin which I distressed with antique linen distress ink, I scuffed up the edges and randomly embossed the edge in gold.

 

Over the years I have collected many Spellbinders Snowflake dies ... I cut out several in silver card and then I did my favourite thing .... covered some plain white card with double sided adhesive paper, put several more different snowflake dies through. Then the magic bit ... I peeled the second backing sheet off each  diecut and carefully put them in a tray of microbeads and they suddenly looked like frosty snowflakes that shimmer in the electric light. I then stacked them up in different combinations.

Why don't you give this challenge a go, the winners are selected randomly so everyone has an equal chance of winning. Then our lovely talented DT member Mary Lou will choose her favourite Top 5. More details about our sponsors and how to upload your entry can be found here .

Well it's time to dash off and do some Christmassy things before the Big Day so I am wishing you all a Happy and peaceful holiday however you choose to celebrate it and I will be back in 2015
Crafty hugs from me and my crafty companion ... our lovely Black Lab Jasper who spends his afternoons at my feet while I'm crafting ... you can imagine that he ends up covered with glitter and paper bits ... here he is:

. Bye for now xxx see you all in 2015 Annie & J xxx

F&F Challenge 127 Pairs .... Two of a kind

To begin with I was unsure what to make for this challenge .... A card for twins? Two Peas in a Pod card for an anniversary? Then I remembered Jayne Nesterenko's Best Friends stamp which was free on a magazine, Jayne Nesterenko was one of the first people I saw demonstrating stamping on the TV I thought she was amazing & very talented and I still do. Stamping will always be my first love because of her and she is why I got into papercrafting. The papers I have used are called Nitwits from Lili of the Valley and they were also a freebie on a magazine ... so this card has cost very little to make ... I do like a freebie. :)

 

 



When I saw this stamp I immediately thought of my sister, Sue she is not only my sister but my very best friend and has been since the day she was born all those years ago :) I am allowed to say that because you see I am the older sister so however old I say she is I know that I am 5 yrs older !!

It was easy once I had decided on the stamp ... which was 2 girls, 2 sisters 2 of a kind I went on to use 2 of everything!! I used a stepper card which is one of my favourite cards .... it folds very flat but when it's on display it is quite 3D



So why don't you give this challenge a go, our lovely design team love visiting your blog and leaving comments and then the winners are randomly picked so everyone has an equal chance. For more details go here hope to see your entry up there soon .
Right well by the time you re seeing this it will be mid-November and I hope I will be well on my way with my pile of Christmas cards, in fact hopefully the overseas ones will have been sent off. Bye till next time, enjoy your crafting xxxx Annie

Fussy and fancy Challenge 125 ... Orange and Black

Challenge #125 is Orange and Black, hosted by the lovely talented Jo Rice and sponsored by Marianne Designs.

As soon as is I saw the theme I thought of Halloween, which is just a few weeks away now, I always like to have some sweets at the ready for any spooky callers and I thought this accordion card would just brighten up the table in the hall ready for visitors!!

I made my paper pumpkins by die cutting some scalloped circles, folded them in half and glued together along the spine of each folded circle. I made one flat backed so that I could attach it to the front of my card. The base of the card is made using a clever Sissix die which cuts the outer frame and the flipping centre piece all in one...

I cut some patterned Graphic45 paper to make frames and backgrounds for the centre section. Then it was just a case of adding my letters to spell the word BOO

Here is a photo taken from above showing how the two interlocking accordions fit together

It squishes down into a small 5x5 card,  a very useful type of card for words, because you can make them as long as you like by adding more frames.
Well that's it for this time, between now and next time I am going to start making my Christmas cards, I can't believe it's that time of year again 2014 has just flown by
Till next time Bye for now xxx Annie

PS  Why don't you give this challenge a go ... you can enter any of your crafty makes that fit the title and the winner is chosen randomly so everyone stands a chance, you can find more details of how to enter here

Fussy and Fancy Challenge #123.... Mainly Red

 

 



Today's challenge #123 is being hosted by the lovely Celine and she has challenged us to make cards and projects that are 'Mainly Red'. Well conveniently for me a friend asked me to make a card for her to give to her parents who are about to celebrate 40 years married that's their Ruby Wedding Anniversary ..... and what colour is Ruby ... you're right it's RED.

So here's what I made as a lot of my crafty Stuff had to be put away whilst we had visitors I decided to make a card using Dies to cut out lacey background and more dies to create the paper roses... something I really enjoy doing it enables you to make flowers of exactly the right colour, Anyway here it is

Now I am going to have to unpack he rest of my crafty stash as I have loads of cards to make for family birthdays and a wedding ... more about that to come in a later blog. Then of course it will be Christmas cards to make .. I have to start early as  some of my cards have to travel to Australia, California & Thailand!!

Well I had better get off and start unpacking and sorting, bye for now Annie xxx

Fussy and fancy Challenge #121 ... Pets

 

The next challenge #121 is being sponsored by the lovely talented Beth and she has chosen Pets as the theme. Suddenly realised I needed to get a wriggle on to meet the deadline because in two weeks time we have visitors arriving from Australia & America. We haven't seen them for 30 yrs so you can imagine we have a lot of preparations to do.

I decided to go with one of my favourite Clarity stamps of a kitten and it has a lovely sentiment stamp with it. Growing up we  had various cats, we loved them all but they were very independent not like our current pet Jasper a black Labrador who loves his creature comforts and human company.

Anyway back to the challenge here's a photo of my finished tag:

 

 

 

It was a very straight forward project , kitten stamped onto a smaller tag and coloured with Promarkers, the sentiment was stamped and embossed onto vellum, torn and wrapped around the main tag. I diecut a butterfly and various feathers ... they are my new favourite Spellbinders dies ( they are so detailed when embossed)

Then it was just a case of what went where ... here is a closeup.

Hope you will be inspired when you see the lovely work of my Design teamies, why not give it a go. The prize winner is selected by Random.org so everyone has an equal chance however experienced they are, I look forward to seeing your take on our Pets Challenge
Must dash... xxx Annie