I've been up to so much lately...

I've been so busy lately that I've not had time to blog! I won the lotto and a new house plus car!

Sadly, I didn't win the lotto but if I did, I'd buy something for all my crafty friends!

I have, however, done some digi-scrapping, card-making, sewing, crocheting and cross-stitching...

And I  went to another of Karen's (Karen the Clock Lady) wonderful workshops... And as with last time my daughter came along too.

We had a brilliant time and met some ladies who we met last time plus a few more and they were all lovely.

This time we did a unit for storing Brushos... each draw holds 12! and as I have 24 I used 2 drawers but that left me with space! I decided to try my wow embossing powders and they fit perfectly too. I have 12 and they took up a drawer which will now mean that I have another drawer empty to fit some  more Brushos... There is a set of 8 that I still have to get so who knows.... ;)

I forgot to take some before pics and only remembered these work in progress pics but I got a pic from Candy Box Crafts site to show you what the box looks like before you decorate it. They are made by Roy at CBC (http://www.candyboxcrafts.co.uk/four-drawer-chest-brusho-264-p.asp)

So this pic is of what will go on the left hand side of the unit.

 These pieces are for the fronts of the drawers

This is what the front looks like now.

This is the left hand side





















And this is the right hand side

Karen gave us all nuts and wingnuts to add to the front as pulls but me being me I used some beads that I had in the colours to match the unit.

I used a variety of Tim Holtz stamps and Designs by Ryn stamps too.

I had a fabulous time and can't wait til Karen comes this way again soon

Lisa
:D

 And as with last time, Jan brought some wonderful cupcakes and here is the one I had, I've never seen edible glitter before!

and here is Jan herself, just as she is about to tuck in to her own cake.

As always, Thanks for stopping by and hope you'll see me soon :D

Its been sooooo long and I've not got much to show for it really but these.....

At the beginning of September I took a workshop with Karen Clare aka The Clock Lady doing a Mixed Media Book Cover! I loved getting messy! here is the link to the workshop on Karen's blog and my book is the 9th pic down... It was a long day out for me but so worth it and great fun, even better, my daughter came along too (hers is the pic above mine on Karen's blog) and we had a lovely Mother & Daughter day but when I got home I was so tired...A few days later I dug my book out and looked twice and thought...hmmm I had gotten a bit too heavy handed with those colour wash sprays! it looked messy and that's not what I had planned... the rest of the groups books were lovely and mine reminded me a bit of Ria from Butterflies! Particularly the episode of the Strawberry Jelly and Ria ending up with a Strawberry Trifle!

So I decided to think about what to do and how I could rectify (what I call) my complete balls-up! I removed some of the chipboard elements and the metallic charms and gesso'd the cover and decided to do a different colour scheme of warm sunrises and the pics below are the result....

Better? yes, so much more and doing the class has given me the confidence to use different mediums more often too! So, if you see Karen has a class near you, go! I can't wait til she comes back this way again...

Over the next week I had a yen to do another book! I still had a few bits and pieces from the class that I bought and didn't use,  So the bed was covered with my crafting sheet (Yes, I craft on our bed lol) As I looked at them I realised I had enough to do a few more books.... So the husband duly pillaged my bookcase and the pics below are the result. On this first book I got my spellies out and duplicated some of the cuts and stuck them down to make a deep enough design for the peacock feather and swirl (on the back) I particularly like the antique rose on the bottom of the spine that has a look of patina to it as does the mini camera and the small metal key on the back, the key on the front is a chipboard one, the tiles around the mirror square are little plastic squares that I've had for ages and not really sure how I got them but they look good, don't they?

I used my own concoction of texture paste on this book and the circles on the front and squares on the back worked out quite well.

So a couple of weeks later, I was having another root thru my craft goodies and spotted the gesso! 
This time, I decided on a theme... Hallowe'en! Out came the bat, moon and haunted house sizzix dies plus the hallowe'en colours of orange black, green and purple.. does any one else think these are hallowe'en colours or is it just me ;) By this time, I had taken delivery of some gorgeous Perfect Pearls too and Oh boy, how I love them, I could use them all over the house! But Mr W. reigned me in and put a book in my hand... how apt... Ozzy Unauthorized! very Prince of Darkness. What do you think?

 The daughter says she's not sure about the back.... but I like the effect the stronger colours make.

Later in the week.... A die arrived from IconUK, perfect for a theme of time, don't you think? I've recently started to like plum and teal/turquoise colours together, so I dig out my distress stains, paints and gilding wax along with some sizzix dies (gadget gears, elegant flourishes and frameworks trellis) x-cut chronolgy cogs & pocket watch sets and a clock mask from clevercut. Throw in some chains and a couple of clock embellies and voila!

Then earlier this week Mr W and the daughter took an evening trip to JB Sports at The Mall and via HC, a no.2 pallet knife and a new pot of gesso arrived! So, out came the misters and some empty bottles and I made some lighter shades and mixed a few together... I also used a new mask from The Crafters Workshop that came via That's Crafty, some  beads on a string, lace pieces, some plasterboard tape, cobweb ribbon, a piece of orange netting that had previously held some mandarins! Some die-cut made from using a cereal box and a large metal washer! I am testing some home-made texture paste too and have found the cornflour makes it a bit smoother than I'd like and if the mask designs are too close, they tend to find their own level so I think I might have to try some plaster of paris next time... 

I should also say that I have used Cosmic Expressions Gilding Wax on all of the books.. it's fab and if you add your heat tool to it for a few seconds it will soften but please be careful when touching it that its not too hot to touch, I 've found that if I get some on my finger and rub it over the surface I want gilding then add the heat to it, sometimes I move it around a bit with a tissue then wait about 20 minutes to buff it and it looks fab.

That's all for now... I hope to be back soon

Lisa

Birthday Boxes

Over the last few days I managed to make and send some exploding box cards for my lovely friend Jessie (a fellow twilighter) and Mr P (husband of another twilighter, Krafty Karen) Now then if you know Mr & Mrs P, you'll know they are big fans of Marillion so that inspired me to make a card for him :D and I couldn't miss Jessie's birthday without a twilight inspired card so here they are in all their glory.... I hope the birthday people have had good birthdays cos they are both such lovely people too.
ps... I did write on Jess's card "Why have one Edward when you can have 6!"

Thanks for stopping by.

Lisa.

Ooh and lastly before I forget I would like to enter both cards in the Scrapology "exploding box" card challenge too.
:D

Bloglovin'

I've just started to use bloglovin' Follow my blog with Bloglovin and hope that is will help me to remember to visit blogs more!

Lisa
xx

Visible Image Stamps...

These are some of my very favourite makes and designs of stamps... they are so versatile and great to colour in using copics (I'm not sure about other pens as I only have copics) Anyway, I used Clayton, Tala, Silverheels and their sets plus I need another female character so I added Clara and cut away her parasol and put a gun in her hand, the Clayton stamp already has a gun in his hand.

I love these characters so much.

Thanks for popping by

Lisa
xx

How long??? Time to start crafting again!

Too long... I've finally got the impetus to craft again... not sure how long it will last but it all started on Saturday (17/5).

I was playing about sorting my punches and hoping to garner some inspiration when Mr W passed me a box of stamps... Visible Image stamps!

So I stamped out Visible Images' Bradley and Emma sets and some fab backgrounds, and a few more of their gorgeous designs too then I dug out some pink and navy card stock and my WOW embossing powders that I got just after Christmas... (cos I really needed them and Sooze twisted my arm thru the powers of the internet!) anyway 12 hours later and this is what I came up with... I'm loving this style of cards lately and anyone having a birthday lately has got a card in this style from me!

I'm entering the Visible Image Anything Goes Challenge and also
The Scrapology Challenge too (cos Krafty Karen said I should lol)

Bye for now

Lisa
xx

February already!!

I can't believe that January went so fast!! I've spent the last month had sewing a quilt for my youngest son... he wanted white, grey and black fabric so I decided that I had a good excuse to use up all those outgrown school uniforms!! each square is 8cm and so far I've done 16 across and plan to do 26 squares down although this may end up being wider and longer at the rate his is growing!!

However, there has been one project that was finished and given to a friend of my daughters, her friend was taken into hospital and let home over Christmas but had to return to hospital as she has Cystic Fibrosis. Anyway she was very pleased with it as she had admired the one my daughter has on her bed.

 

Anyway, I'll say bye for now and get back to colouring in and quilting for a while .

ttfn

Lisa

xx

So, last year is done with..

And the last month of 2013 was sadly post free... I was laid out with my back at the beginning of the month and then we headed over to my sisters for a few days and it was lovely but.... my back couldn't take sleeping on such a soft bed allbeit with soft lovely bedding and a kingsize bed too and when we came home on the Monday...(2 days before Christmas) I headed straight to bed with the hope of being able to spend the big day downstairs... after 3 hours of watching t'kids open and play with their pressies I sadly had to return back to bed and have been there ever since.... To date this is the worst fibro flare up I have ever had...the only thing that has given me any relief is hot water bottles on my lower back! the lateral side of my right leg feels like its is burning but freezing cold too... wth? so I thought that as I was laid up I'd make a start on Ethan's quilt... I got about 10 rows of 16 8x8cm squares hand sewn and then.... my right thumb said "you will not sew til the swelling has gone down!" I got a tape measure out and my right thumb is actually a whole centimetre bigger than my left thumb! so, It may be a while til I'm back blogging so I'll say ttfn and look longingly at my crafty stash and my crafty Christmas presents :(






























but... I hope all my dear friends has good christmas and new year celebrations.

bye for now

Lisa xx

 ooh I nearly forgot to show you one of my favourite pressies... look what my fabulous friend sent me for Christmas!! I wondered what was inside and look!! Isn't my friend a clever and wonderful person too!

Wow... this year is going fast...

'Can't believe that I will be having a birthday next week.. seems like only last year I was 21!! hmmm what would I like? love, peace and happiness and maybe a dishwasher to help with clearing up after meals... Well, I am a lucky lady as I have the first 3 already and tbh I don't honestly know where a dishwasher would fit in our kitchen so I guess I will be happy with my life and the good family and friends I have already....

til next time then