May I just wish all my lovely blogging buddies the very happiest 2012, Gay xx

p.s I'm trying to visit and catch up , I took a week off  but I'm baaack ! LOL Gay xx

Happy Christmas !

Hi there my crafty friends! Just a short last post of the year to wish one and all a very Happy Christmas. Thank you for your company here on my blog, it would have been awfully lonely without you :0). 

Thank you also for your encouraging comments and wonderful inspiration. I hope that 2012 is a really good year for you all, Gay xxx

p.s I heard a rumour there will be a holiday challenge over on the Craft barn blog you might like to check it out :0)
pps, This is not my sitting room but oh I wish it were! LOL

Craft Barn DT Showcase

Hi, hello and welcome here, Today I'm looking back on my first 6 months with the Craft Barn Design Team. It's been wonderful, better than I could have hoped for and what a lovely bunch of people:0)
I chose some of my projects to share.
I'm not alone the other members of the Design Team have posted their favourite projects on the Blog, worth a look if you have a minute or two :0) We have all got quite differing styles of crafting.

This card for me is the essence of what I try to achieve when making a clean and simple card:0)

and here is one of my first projects, something a bit fishy LOL

















Last is one of my favourite  pages from the Calendar project that we have just finished. I like the colours of the fall leaves with the contrasting background, they aren't dissimilar to the first card,


It has been a revelation to me, I thought the calendar was a huge undertaking but I'm so glad to have attempted and finished it all and am really pleased with the result! My lesson learned, don't be put off by a large project and take small steps to achieve. Thanks to the support of the lovely team members and Sandy and Isabelle for coming up with the inspiration.

I have thoroughly loved being part of the Craft Barn team and I feel so privileged to have been chosen. It's six months since I joined the design team and it's flown by so quickly. Working with the really talented team has truly inspired me and so have our wonderful customers when they have participated and by leaving kind comments. Learning to work to a time limit and incorporate new products into my work is good because I have been known to prevaricate if left alone too long!

Next year I'm hoping that our journals will play a part in the design team repertoir. This is a new adventure and I'm loving playing with it so far. Colour is going to be explored soon and I'm really looking forward to expanding my knowledge.
Well done if you made it to the end of this post and thank you for joining me on my journey, Gay xxx

LIM 45, let it snow

Well here we are, hello, lovely to see you:0) I should be writing my cards and shopping :{ Much rather be crafting. So I made a very quick one layer card for LIM which this week is

Let it Snow

If you haven't any idea about LIM challenge I think you might like to check it out, loads of fun over there! Chrissie and Mandi have come up with some great ideas to test our skills, I love it!

I used a Waltzingmouse sentiment and the little penguin is a mystery I'm afraid I have had him a long time but no clue where he's from, other than the South Pole of course!

Have fun with your Christmas preparations everyone, Gay xx

Hi Sheila in Cyprus, Thank you for your lovely comment, I wouldn't be complaining about the warm you lucky lady  LOL I'd love to be missing this cold weather!! They've forecast snow for tomorrow ooeerrrr Gay x

More Journalling

Hello crafty people, I'm Baaack LOL Some more work in my journal, I'll keep it really short and just say all the info is on the Craft Barn Blog,  :0)

I'd love to know what you think about the whole idea of a journal ?

Thank you for looking, I hope that you liked my pages, I will be adding the journalling later!  Gay x
I used;
Artco book Bluebell A5, long edge.
Paper Artsy Fresco finish paints, Crackle Glaze, Moonlight
Crafty Individuals stamps CI173Swirls and CI 228 London Paris, New York, Rome.CI 307 Postcard Ephemera.
Distress inks

Green, one of my favourites:0)

Hi, hello and welcome here, it's lovely to see you:0)
I have been making cards like crazy today but I can only share one with you I'm afraid, (you might be glad!!!) LOL
This card is my LIM 44 offering, this week Chrissie and Mandi have chosen the colour

Green

Here we go

I have used the Tim holtz Noel die again, I just love it, inked with a rainbow inkpad  and TH distress stickles in crushed olive. The background is embossed with a new folder that I bought at the Craft Barn, Not online yet it's by Couture Creations and called Vintage plumes. Martha Stewart snowflake, no stamping at all here today.

Update; the embossing folder is now online, check it out HERE 

Another update: Thanks to Sheila in Cyprus, lovely comments:0) Glad you enjoyed your visit to the CB, I know the lighter in the pocket feeling LOL I can't access your blog( if you have one) to leave a comment so I'm doing it here, Gay xxx

 Just a note:

I would like to say how much I love hearing from you and would like to say a big Thank You for all the comments. It really makes a difference to be able to share and get feedback from like minded crafty people like YOU! If I don't get back to you rest assured I will have tried and will try again because I know how rewarding it is,  often a kind comment makes my day:0) Lately it's been a bit difficult to keep up with everyone I used to visit, it's been manic here. I'm sure most people will be just as busy as me and I hope you'll understand why I've not visited quite as often as I would like but I sit at the computer soo long  poor hubby doesn't get a look in :{ I rather like to be crafting as well :0)

Stampotique Christmas!

Hi there and welcome,
This is my second post today please scroll down for my new journal adventure with the Craft Barn

I've made a card for the Stampotique designers Challenge
 Where Vicky has challenged us to make a Christmas card with no RED or GREEN

 No red or green here then, this was fun!
The stamp is Snowy Fran and she's a real cutie, so quirky and loads of fun. I've used her on the background too because she is the only Christmas stamp that I have from Stampotique, I need more LOL, I hope you like! Thanks for stopping to look:0) 

Here you can just pick up her cute face on the background LOL



I used Snowy Fran Which I bought from Happy Daze
Punch Martha Stewart
Cosmic shimmer pearl mist from the Craft Barn
Distress Inks, winter limited edition.
Vellum sentiment, Papermania
Copics

A new adventure :0)

Hi folks, Today I'm sharing a new adventure for me, my art journal. This one is for the Craft Barn I have now completed some more pages. The first page I did was a few weeks ago and it was really full on and elaborate and covered the whole page, you can check it out  HERE. Now I've started to pare down and make clean and simple.
These are my second pages.

 The idea was to concentrate on backgrounds, with buildings being  the focus. So I started with mica mists, I wanted to paint with them, so I just diluted the blue and went gently with the green.  Here is the step by step

I stamped the houses onto tissue paper, whilst I was stamping them I was thinking about my weekend in Stratford and the little house we stayed in and all the history it contained so with this project I stamped the houses again and layered them on top of the original to convey the layers of history hidden by the years. I left the images partially unstuck so that you could lift them and see underneath, peel away the years!
This week at the Craft Barn all the design team will be using their art Journals, I hope that you may be interested enough to have go too :0)
The stamps are Crafty Individuals and I used Letraset and Ranger inks. More info on the blog! And on Saturday I'll be back with some more pages, yes I liked it so much I played some more LOL x

OLW 72, Variations on a sentiment, That's it!

Hi and happy Saturday to you, I've just spent a very happy few hours at the Craft Barn  where Andy Skinner, Jo Firth-Young and Carole Cann were getting all inky, wonderful inspiration and lots of new goodies , yum!

Today however I am here to share my One Layer Wednesday card and this is what Susan challenged us to do

OLW 72

1) use ONLY a sentiment stamp on your card...no other stamps or embellishments allowed!

2) use a NON-STANDARD size for your card

3) make at least two cards using the same stamp that vary something (color, type of ink, technique, placement of the stamp, size of card)

I can't tell you how much of a challenge it was to NOT add anything else to this sentiment, I succumbed and added just a couple of very light snowflakes to the black card, I know I shouldn't, I just couldn't stop myself LOL I can just imagine it now Susan will be reiterating, no other stamping allowed, I know I know :{ I'm a bad stamper :{
I love Susan's challenges they invariably make me think, hard !! LOL Have a happy weekend folks, Gay x
The stamp is from Hobby Art. The first card is white embossed and the second is a Versacolour rainbow pad, Lollypop.

I'm late I'm late for a very important............ well you get my drift, LOL

Hi everyone,
The challenge over at LIM this week is a recipe and a bit of

How much fun is that!!! I've had a challenging week so I'm glad to be here although a little late, I made it!!

  My card uses a die from Cheery Lynn B140 Christmas sleigh, I love the shape of the sleigh it's just how Santa's transport should look, I think! I cut it out of white card and inked it up with the new winter distress ink, festive berries  brushed when wet with gold mica powder and the flourish on the side is evergreen bough and crushed olive, red gems for my bit of bling. The sentiment is PTI and I used Versamark ink and mica powder :0) The light is very challenging, the lighter parts of the black card are sunlight, that's how watery it is! So it looks a little lacklustre:{ in reality it's quite shimmery.

Leak update Feel free to wander off at this stage if you are on your LIM commenting, I'm only having a waffle about my plumbing woes, LOL
We had another water leak, I could not believe it when water was leaking down into the kitchen but that's how life is sometimes! It was nothing to do with our recent troubles it was coming from our main bathroom . This time it's nothing really bad but we need to get the pipes leading away from the bath and handbasin changed to plastic from the old lead, big sigh, more plumbing, I suppose it could have been much worse, if we hadn't had the new bathroom we would be without a bath or shower, not good!
I just need to paint the sitting room and then we can begin to think about Christmas and trees and all the fun stuff, I can't wait LOL Gay xxx

More gifts???? Oh Yeah!!

Hello everyone, I'm back  and with more gifts, well that's not strictly true, I've made one more gift!(for a cool cat!! LOL ) This time it's for a slightly older child, early teens perhaps. The tin is actually a scrapbook in a tin but I've chosen to make it into a CD storage box. More details on the Craft Barn Blog and some more gifts to check out, we (the team) have been very busy and it's been fun:0)

I used Woodware scrapbook in a tin and Ranger and Letraset alcohol inks and Katzelkraft stamps.
Thank you for dropping by, Gay x

Gifts for Kids

Hello and welcome, Christmas gifts and hand made, mmmm I wasn't too confident with this idea but I actually had a lot of fun making these. Filled with chocolate or something similar they could be a lasting gift for a child and maybe a keepsake for next year ?
All the details are at the Craft Barn blog where you will find more beautiful gifts from the design team throughout this week.

This wooden box is a set of two and they nest beautifully.
The  Santa stamp is an Impression Obsession, it made me smile. Santa's beard is glittered and really sparkly.

The red box is the smaller of the two as you can see:0) and I've used white glossy embossing paste through a couple of Dreamweaver stencils and glittered librally.
Over at the CB Blog Michelle has made a brilliant gift for a child, do have a peek, I think you'll like it:0)

Finished :0)

Hi there and hello, today I have my finished calendar from the Craft Barn Blog to share, I hope you like:0)



October with Tim Holtz products.












Here is the March page, I used Impression Obsession stamps and some acetate for this month,












                                                                
and finally the front cover a Tim Holtz embossing folder and Cuttlebug numbers cut out of black velvet paper with copper mirri behind.

Here is the mosaic of some of the pages kind thanks go to Isabelle for this collage :0)

And for the landscape version:0) A few random pages

 More details at the Craft Barn, I have really enjoyed this project it's been a lot of fun. The rest of the design Team have made some wonderful calendars have a peek on the CB Blog
Have a great Sunday people :0)
Gay x

It's December, Last page of the calendar!!

 Hello there! Happy Weekend to you!


 Here is December the last pages of my calendars, LOL  Made it at last :0)
This page is using Impression Obsessions stamp by Hanna Davis. Simply stamped and coloured with copics glittered with Stickles. Details on the Craft Barn Blog











 I'm quite sad the calendars are done it's been a fun journey I hope you have enjoyed it too:0)


Tomorrow will be the finished calendar post!







This is my landscape page. Using a Tim Holtz die and glitter card a snowflake stamp from Crafty Secrets and irridescent glitter.

 

  Just to remind you the Craft Barn FREE POSTAGE offer continues to run until Midnight on Sunday December 18th and applies to ALL UK orders, EU orders over £25 and for all other destinations orders over £40.

One more for Less is more :0)

Hello again!  I'm back :0)
I've been playing today and after searching for a long time in my stamp boxes I turned up this little gem. It's  a Cherry Pie stamp:0) My second submission for LIM42 Silhouettes.

I didn't know which background looked best so I've left both:0) Which d'you prefer? Burgundy or white? Or maybe it's not your cup of tea at all LOL I thought it would make a card for a chap who'd had promotion or some success ??

Update on the flood damage, on Friday the decorators come, what a treat we've only ever done it ourselves before! The room is finally getting dry and it's nearly 3weeks since it flooded. Let's hope when they take the rest of the paper off the walls they don't make it too wet or we'll be back to square one! Wish us luck :0) XXX

I used
Cherry Pie Chat Noir
Katzelkraft KTZ86
Sentiment PTI

I see a little silhouetto of a man, Scaramouch, Scaramouch will you do the fandango

Thunderbolt and lightning - very very frightening me
Gallileo, Gallileo,
Gallileo, Gallileo,
Gallileo Figaro - magnifico

And so on, LOL I've had fun with this today!
Chrissie and Mandi have a challenge, number 42 no less, for us over at LIM and it is

Silhouettes

 n. A silhouette is the image of a person, an object or scene consisting of the outline and a basically featureless interior, with the silhouetted object usually being black.

My first card is for a chap, I find men's cards a bit of a challenge, but I'm going to keep trying.

Stamp by Papermania

Tim Holtz Bitty Grunge

This card is quite vintage in style, when I think of silhouttes I tend to think of the Victorian era when they were a popular item, so I've teamed mine with lace and an ornate frame.

My silhouette is a peel off, I have hardly any stamps that are silhouettes.

The lace stamp is from Katzelcraft I got mine from the Craft Barn:0)

My frame came from QVC many moons ago, I've painted it in black acrylic chalk paint and rubbed antique gold wax to highlight the relief. The peel off is mounted onto gold glitter card, which I shaded with copics.

Thank you so much for stopping and visiting, I really appreciate you taking the time to have a look at my cards:0) Thank you too for all the lovely comments it really means a lot, Gay x

November calendar pages with Andy Skinner!! Brrrrilliant!

Hi how are you? I'm happy to see you here:0) It's November at the Craft Barn Calendar challenge and here are my pages.

We have been using Andy Skinner's Stamps , there has been, throughout the week, great inspiration from my team mates at the Craft Barn Blog, check it out if you have time.
Here for the Landscape page I used Andy's Stamps and a clear glitter gel pen.
Andy Skinner stamps Winters Tale and Back to Nature  and distress inks, more details on the blog.

On the protrait version I used Andy's Stamps again and this time some Deco art Americano acrylic paint, Tuscan Red. The film strip was stamped onto acetate adhered to the painted card with Diamond glaze and then mounted over the stamped plants. Some Honey distress to warm up the background and the gorgeous geese flying off into the sunset!

Next week is the last of our calendar:{
I've had great fun making these pages and I hope you like them, Gay x


Don't miss the opportunity to be in with a chance of wining the Craft Barn candy
Just click on the link and GOOD LUCK:0)

HERE is the link for the Calendar challenge on the Craft Barn Blog

LIM 41

Hello crafty people, how good of you to drop in :0)
I have made a card or two  for LIM, Chrissie and Mandi have challenged us with a one layer card and they said

 

 The theme for your cards this week is 

LEAVES

 

I had some fun with this one, my stamp is from Elusive images, Wild Meadow and this is one of the ferns, sentiment from Hero Arts, Live Life.  Ink is Adirondak rainbow pad Cabin Fever.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The second version uses a PTI Mat Stack 2 set and VersaColor rainbow set, Limone, great colours, 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm still struggling to get back to complete health. Went away with my friends at the weekend, we had a gorgeous little cottage in Stratford-Upon-Avon, it was so cute. A two up two down which had originally been a one up one down LOL even after they extended into next door it wasn't big!! The weather was brilliant, warm and sunny.

But I was feeling rough and we came home early, such a shame. It's a gorgeous place to visit with lots of history, we saw some of the town and Shakespeare's legacy but need to do it all again now :0) SOOON!!! LOL

Candy at the Craft Barn YAY:0)

Hello and welcome here, I'm hoping that this scheduled post arrives on time, with luck I will be off on a girly weekend, whooppee!! Two wonderful friends and I in a little timber beamed cottage, chilling out and having a great time just being together:0) We promised ourselves many years ago, when our children were small and at school together, that we would do this, it's taken so long to make it happen. I hope to be able to share some pics when I get back!! If my tum doesn't hurt too much from all the giggles LOL

In the meantime I just wanted to share with you the news! There is brilliant Blog Candy at the Craft Barn.
Having reached 600+ followers the candy is over £200 worth of crafting goodies, check it out................

You have until November 25th to enter.

Click HERE to check out all the details