Butterflies lovely Butterflies

Over on my challenge blog the challenge today is 'Butterflies' and is sponsored by my lovely friend Caroline.  She gave the DT some super images to work with so here is the card I made with mine.
The actual card base is from a Dawn Bibby kit and I thought it went well with the fairy image paper that is added inside the aperture. I printed and cut out the base butterfly from Caroline then made another one from Clearly For Art film for the top layer and heated and moulded it into shape.  I attached it to the card with a dragonfly brad in the centre.
I added another butterfly image from Caroline on the inside together with a message card again from Dawn. Some decoupaged flowers on the front and a couple of gems completed the look.
Do pop over and enter my challenge this week... there are some digi images from Caroline up for grabs. x

WOYWW Journal pages

On my desk this week are the starting pages of my journal for April....why would you want to know that?  well check out Mistress Julia of WOYWW blog fame to find out what I am talking about. We snoop around other folks desks to see what they are up to... and it is all legal too lol.
I have used the fab new sprays from Dyan Reaveley.... I am in love with them.... to create the background.  Stencils and more sprays have been used over the top of the left hand page... the right side is waiting to be completed.  I decided to add some of the fab little houses, also from Dyan but these are not actually stuck down yet... just checking out the placement of them.... and a few more to cut out.  Then I will need to add the squares for the days of the week.... a work in progress as you can see.
I have been away at the NEC hence the delay in completing these before now - my excuse anyway.
Thanks Julia for my fab new badge too... it arrived just yesterday... woo hoo I am now a fully fledged WOYWW er.

Around the world in 80 days

'Simon Says Stamp and Show ' challenge is asking for a tag this week so here is my entry. I made this whilst down at the NEC this weekend and love it.
The cream tag was coloured and blended with three colours of super Fresco paints from Paper Artsy, then overstamped using a script stamp and Distress Inks.  The edges of the tag are also distressed then covered with clear embossing powder and embossed.
I stamped the balloons from Crafty Individuals together with the message 'Around the world in 80 days' in Distress inks and again coloured with the paints and distressed the edges. One balloon is flat, the other decoupaged to give dimension.  I added some coloured fibres that I also bought at the NEC from Stef Ramsden and added the hole protector which was also distressed in I think Vintage Photo. I hope you like it as much as I do.

Downton Abbey costumes at NEC

Photos of our NEC meet today

BERYL AND CYNTH

ELIZABETH AND TONY

ELIZABETH AND TRISH

TERRIE, BETTY AND BERYL

TRISH AND WANDA

Friends at lunch at the NEC

Jennie and Mike

Trish and Tony (sherpa)

little old me

We had a lovely lunch break with lots of chat and hilarity.

And get to do it all again tomorrow.

Today's buys at the NEC include some lovely stamps, Fresco paints, MDF books and hearts and some fab chipboard shapes.  Also I got some large tags and a fab ATC kit from Leonie which will do for cards as well as for ATCs. Pleased with all of them... more tomorrow x

Goodies bought today

Yummy goodies including stamps by Wendy Vecchi and Indigo Blu, ink pads, masks, Smash book bits, brushes and some Glassine paper from the man himself Mr Tim Holtz.
I have enrolled for his first online class but not had chance to start yet... but sure Glassine will feature somewhere and if not... well I can still have fun with it.
More to come tomorrow I am sure lol.

Day one at the NEC

I managed to do a couple of workshops today, the first one a tag using Fresco paints from Leandra at Paper Artsy. Sadly Leandra was not there but I met a lovely lady called Charlie who ran the workshop....her first ever. and she did do well.
I love the effects these paints give and together with the clear embossing round the outside edges  made a super tag.

The second card I made was on Marion's workshop for WOW embossing powders... I love the card. and the colour of powders we used were super.
I managed to keep Marion in order lol and posted her picture on FB to get my own back for the last time we were together lol.

Two great workshops and a fun day.. roll on tomorrow x

House and Home

I had a super birthday last weekend.. thanks to al for their good wishes, gifts and cards.
The best gift was that my husband came home from overseas most unexpectedly... and a wonderful time we had together too. And the best news of all he is coming back to work in the UK this summer... roll on I say.

This week over on my challenge blog you will find the challenge to be HOUSE AND HOME... so here is my DT card... well two tags actually lol.... yes still in tag mode.
The base tag was cut using Tim's tag die and some of the fab Candi Core card stock from Kanban... I love this stuff.  This purple has small checks in the background and I embossed with the diamond folder then sanded the top to get the worn look and paler purple.  The houses, bird and leaves and bunting are from Dyan Reaveley as is the sentiment.  Finished off with some super threads from Dyan and Craft Obsessions... they add a card with this thread tied to each and every order they send out... I love it.
I plan, eventually, to add these tags to a journal I am creating.
This next week I am off the the NEC yet again... this time to the retail show.. so see you there if you happen to be going.

St Patrick's Day....my birthday

Well this week my challenge is St Patrick's day or anything Irish - as I am celebrating my birthday I could not miss out on this challenge now could I???
My DT entry is one half of my journal page for March.... showing the shamrock for the 17th.  There is a lot going on here, stamping, colouring, peel off's rub ons, flowers with a painted and glimmer misted background.
Do pop over to my other blog and give the challenge a go... there is a super cd up for grabs this week courtesy of Elegant Inspirations. Thanks Trish for giving the cd.

Dyan's fab new inks

Here are the altered book pages I made at the NEC recently with Dyan Reaveley and her new inks.  I also used her fab new stencils, stamps and cut out faces. I loved these inks so much I ordered them as soon as I could and they just arrived today...woo hoo I am delighted.
The page is not finished yet as I have to add the canvas sayings that you can just see peeping out from under the folds. Will take another picture when complete.

WOYWW - and WOW my new inks are here

So here is my WOYWW desk today (ok I know it is Thursday but what is one day between friends? oops ok then it is Wednesday thanks Beryl for letting me know... confused.com here) ....woo hoo I am uber excited today as my wonderful new set of inks from Dyan has just arrived... can't wait to play.... yummy colours. Don't need to show anything else today... just these babies.
If you don't know what I am talking about re my desk just check out the boss Julia and her fab blog WOYWW , go check out the super crafting friends desks... go on have a little snoop x

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Red Brown and Cream

Here is my DT entry for my challenge this week, Red, Brown and Cream.
I actually made this at the fab Tim Holtz workshop at the NEC recently and thought it would be just right for this week's challenge. The two canvases were covered in tissue tape then distressed with Distress Inks. The tag on the top canvas had distress stains and the new Picket fence stain over the top to give the aged look.  The heart had been embossed and I added some inks over the top so that they fell into the cracks and added to the colours.. lovely effect.  A couple of washers and cogs were added then  tied around with string.
The red push pin was used to make the holes to add the brads and the heart but I liked the effect of leaving it there. The wing and the number were also distressed.
On the bottom canvas the butterflies were painted using the new Distress Pens and distressed round the edge.
Now my sheet of butterflies was not cut through completely so after colouring it I mentioned it and Tim gave me his demo piece to use instead... how wicked.
I added the film strip and pen nib together with the metal corners. The ribbon was wet and scrunched and coloured with purple stains (what else?), dried  and attached through the loops at the top.
Then came the tricky part for me aaahhh I screamed .... jump rings...I DO NOT DO THEM... Tim laughed and said 'I always use them' to which I replied 'I know lol' I have great difficulty with them so this time the lovely Mario fixed my key with the rings... thanks my friend.
The whole workshop was wonderful and Tim, Mario and of course the lovely Alain, Ranger Director were super. I will feature Dyan in the next blog piece... but she was mad as a hatter and lovely with it lol.
So that is my DT piece for this week... do pop over and enter the challenge yourself... you will surely enjoy it... thanks for looking.

Day two with Dina

Not my best day or work.  Not finished yet so may end up ok - she hopes. Tis a little watercolour paper journal.

Back for more inky fun today.

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Day one with Dina

Here is my first venture into drawing and painting birds - hope you like it

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Challenge 194 St David's Day and March Journal pages

Here are my March journal pages for Kate Crane's challenge which are also my DT entries for my own challenge this week.
The theme for my challenge is St David's Day and as this was fitting for both challenges I combined them.
I used Distress inks to create the background on watercolour cardwith some dabs of Gold Dabber as well. I used a stencil in the background to get the ghosting effect with the diamond shapes and oversprayed with gold glimmer spray. I added some rectangles in shades of yellow then attached some cut out flowers and leaves, epoxy flower stickers and some rubons.....decided this was a good way to use them up as I have boxes of them that I never use.
I stamped using a brown Versafine ink and  a well used flourish stamp from Stamp Addicts and a new Dyan Reaveley border stamp.  The shamrock is for St Patrick's Day which is also my birthday and the clock is to remind me to put the clocks forward.... spring forward remember. I added the chipboard letters for the month and some distressing round the edges of the pages and added the dates in pen. A few stamps with my 'wishing you rainbows' completed the look.
I hope next month I will have the fab spray inks from Dyan to work with.
Oops just realised I forgot to put the full moon on which is the 8th March so I have added it now.
I hope you like my pages... check out Kate's blog to enter her challenge and my blog for my challenge.