Circle Journal

Where does the time go? It's a whole week since I was at Ally Pally for the weekend, meeting my three blog sisters Elaine, Jo and Lesley with whom I run Craft Stamping Quartet  We stayed overnight, and made a weekend of it, and spent some precious time together. We hardly ever see each other, which is why we set our joint blog up in the first place, to feel as though we were crafting together, by completing projects together. We are planning a mini Retreat in June during the half term holidays, and have been busy planning projects that we want to make together while we are there. One of the items we intend to make is a circle journal, but we are going to end up with one each! This means that we each have to complete one page in each others journal, so that everyone has a completed journal at the end of the trip as a memento of our time together. Our covers, and a double page inside are to be completed in advance to give the others a guide as to what kind of person we are. What we are drawn to in terms of colour and style, stamps and papers, to give each other a starting point.

I have finished my covers, and will be starting my inner pages next. My front cover is very different to my back cover, as I have two very different sides to what I like. On the one hand, I love deep jewel colours, teal and aubergine, I love metal embellishments, Tim Holtz ideology, grungepaper, Paper Artsy stamps, etc. On the other hand, I love  the shabby chic, distressed look, handmade flowers, cream lace. I like creams, pinks, browns, printed book pages, script that has been torn and aged with Distress Ink.  Think Webster's pages and you aren't far off the mark. I like butterflies and dragonflies. So I have two completely opposing sides, so my friends should have lots of scope there!

I made a little motivational tag for one of my friends, using some of the things that I bought from Ally Pally. I used some of the new Paper Soft Colour, this is gorgeous, and so easy to work with. I blended the blue and green together on a chipboard tag. I then cut a dragonfly out with my new paper artsy die from some silver metal. I coloured it with Inka Gold in blue and green, lovely! I stamped some inspirational words over the tag courtesy of Wendy V and hung a Tim Holtz ticket from the bottom corner with some jump rings. This was also edged with the Paper Soft.I had fun making my bits and pieces. I should have been at a Donna Downey weekend of classes which were unfortunately cancelled. She is stuck in Germany due to the volcanic dust cloud. You can't control Mother Nature. Thanks for looking, Judith x

Just a reminder

Just to remind my followers that I've posted my Art Doll on our sister blog Craft Stamping Quartet today. Please pop over and have a look if you are interested. There is a detailed explanation of how I made her on the blog. Don't forget to leave me a comment over there if you take a look! Thanks, Judith x

My Dad and other matters

I am a bad blogger at the best of times, and I appreciate my loyal followers who put up with that, and still take the time to comment on my cards and other bits and pieces. I am posting today, because I don't know when I shall get the chance to post again. I have to go and stay at my Mum and Dad's house which is an Internet-free zone, aaaaargh! Seriously though, some of you know that my Dad is unwell, he has had two bleeds into the brain, and last week, he had a serious fall, banging his head. He was rushed into hospital, and had some blood clots removed from his brain. The fall itself brought the bleeds to the Doctors' attention, or they may have gone unnoticed for goodness knows how long. Dad then unfortunately got the dreaded bug that goes around hospital, and had to go into a side ward, as the ward was closed down. Eight other people got it too. He is making a good recovery now, and I am waiting for his impending discharge from hospital, before going back up to help out for a few days. I was actually staying at their house when he went into hospital, but was out for the day at the Harrogate Show. I live four hours drive away from them, and it is very hard knowing when to be there for them.
I am posting a couple of pictures today of Tent Cards . I made these with my class last week, having seen samples throughout Blogland, and thought that they looked fairly simple. I have not gone overboard with the embellishments, as I wanted to make them as samples for the class to follow. I have used a LOTV stamp in one and an Elusive Images Butterfly in the other.

I am also posting a few sneaky peeks of my Art Doll project which I will be posting in it's entirety tomorrow on our sister blog Craft Stamping Quartet It's an Art Doll with a twist, a bit quirky, but aren't they all? Elaine and Lesley have already posted theirs, they are gorgeous, and Jo will be following me on Thursday, (shh, that's April Fool's Day!) I will also be announcing the project that I have chosen for us to tackle in April.

She is a tall lady,  she stands about 32 cms high on her cotton reel! But as you have read in previous posts, my cotton reels are larger than life anyway. I needed a large cotton reel because of a certain element of the construction, and I can say no more at this point! You will have to wait until tomorrow. Bye for now, Judith x

Mother's Day

Well, I hope all of you Mums out there had a lovely Mother's Day, and everyone else had a lovely weekend. I thought I'd show you my two 'babies', firstly about eighteen years ago, (Megan, if you're reading my blog, look away, now!) and then a more recent, much loved photo that I have near a favourite seat of mine. I had a very lovely card from Megan that made me a bit teary, because the sentiment was so thoughtful, and a hand written letter from Ryan. Both told me how they felt about me as a Mum, and I was quite taken aback, and very moved that they wanted to let me know.
I must have done something right over the years! I am very proud of them both, and don't show them to you, but this once, I'm making an exception.

I've been playing with a newish stamp today, it's the Hero Arts Dandelion Frame Cling stamp. It's a lovely stamp, and I'm sure that I will make lots of cards with this stamp. I have stamped it a few times using different coloured inks onto patterned paper for potential cards, I also plan to stamp it onto acetate as an overlay.

 On my finished card however, I have stamped it onto a piece of card that I have sprayed with Glimmer Mists. I have mounted this onto a piece of pearlescent card, punched out some little butterflies with a Martha Stewart punch, and added an Elusive Images fairy, whose wings I have coloured with Inktense pencils. I have matted the whole thing onto a piece of patterned Artylicious paper from The 'Echoes of Italy' pack which I have stamped with a thistle stamp. This again was matted onto the pearlescent card. I have used a little bit of Stickles on the butterflies and the fairy's wings. The detail on this stamp is fantastic, if you click on one of my pictures, it will enlarge it for you, so that you can have a better look. I have really tried to get my photos in focus for you! Thanks for looking, Judith x

I love wood

Today is a good day, I got home from work in the rain, to find a post box full of post, containing my ticket for the GNPE Show at Harrogate next weekend. Next, there was a carrier bag on my door handle from my woodturning friend Tony. I am so happy! On Tuesday evening, I was discussing the possibility of him making me a large replica of a wooden cotton reel for a project on our sister blog Craft Stamping Quartet because a normal cotton reel would be too small for the project that I have in mind, and three days later, he has made me three beautiful, gorgeous, lovely, marvellous, to die for,  large cotton reels. Wow!

See what I mean? He is such a gentleman, when I went on the Graphicus Retreat, in November, I asked him if he had any ephemera that I could use, and he gave me approx 30 half wood turned mushrooms which I shared out among everybody and we used them on our mini canvases.Most of us used them to look like trees in the end, but they look just great. I love the tactile nature of wood, especially after he has polished it . We live in a house with oak floors, and oak beams. We have oak doors with latches on them, so we have a woody theme going on there too. Our garden is full of fruit trees, (and chickens!), and when I look out of my craft room window, I can see trees. The rain has stopped now, and the sun is shining, see, I told you it was a good day! Judith x

Mother's Day

THIS IS MY SECOND POST TODAY, PLEASE SCROLL DOWN TO READ MY EARLIER POST.

Well my Mother's Day cards this year were dictated by what I was teaching my card making class. I am currently going over backgrounds. Last week, we covered direct to paper with ink pads, and then stamped over the top with images to create a fabric like background. We then used some lovely Elusive Images Flower stamps as our main images which we either watercoloured with Distress Inks, or coloured with Inktense pencils. I have done one of each. Personally, I prefer the orange toned card, which is unlike me, because I used Glossy Accents on the bulb jar, and the Distress Inks ran slightly. I also prefer the backing paper on the orange one. That one is intended for my MIL, but as my Mum doesn't read my blog, she'll never know!

I also had another attempt at making one of those faux porcelain flowers with my brand new Melt Pot. I have lots of ideas for what else I'd like to try, but not enough hours in the day. Maybe another time. Thanks for looking, Judith x

Totally Gorjuss Challenge

I decided to enter the following card into this week's Totally Gorjuss Challenge using the sketch provided.

 I love the DPs that I have used, which I have hoarded for ages by Kelly Panacci. I have used an image from Mo Manning which I have coloured with Coloursoft pencils and Zest it. A piece of velvet ribbon and a flower made with my Blossom Nesties, edged with DIs and Glossy Accents finishes the card. The huge brad is from a pack that I bought at the Hobby House stand at Stamperama a couple of weeks ago. Thanks for looking, Judith x

Stamperama

Well, I'm back from a day going around Stamperama at Stevenage, which is about an hour and a quarter from where I live. I had a really great time; I saw Kay Carley, and the Stamp Addicts girls, the folks at LB Crafts, where I picked up my new Distress Inks ooh la la!

I spoke to Bev Rochester at The Hobby House stand, and ogled her gorgeous cards IRL, and had a good look at what there was to see.

I had the best time at the Artistic Stamper stand, watching Jennie deonstrate the Melt Pot, something that I've been interested in for a while, but didn't know much about. Her demonstration pieces were fab, and she gave me a piece to bring home! Thank you Jennie, so much! I just need to add some beads to the piece that she gave me, and it will make a lovely brooch.

 I also sat with Hels, who is so lovely, and had a go at her make and take.

We made a faux porcelain flower, similar to the grungepaper flowers doing the rounds at the moment, but made with thin card, coloured with DIs, overstamped, then dipped in clear UTEE in the melt pot. The final step was to add a glass bead in the centre, they are gorgeous! I bought a Melt pot, needless to say, and will be making lots of these. I bought tons of other things too, including Paper Artsy stamps, Tim Holtz ornate plates, a couple of punches, Nesties, and lots of other bits and pieces. What a good day, Judith x

Flowers

I always seem to be telling you that I've been ill whenever I write a post, and today is no exception. However, I'm not going to ramble on, I am feeling a bit better, so let's hope that it stays that way. I've just got back from a short break with my OH to London and the trip probably did me some good too. We had a lovely time going to the Science Museum, we saw the West End show Jersey Boys, did a bit of shopping, and I got to visit Blade Rubber Stamps and trawl around Liberty looking at the gorgeous haberdashery department. I had some gorgeous cupcakes in Selfridges, my favourite one was called Red Velvet, which had a cream cheese topping on it, need I say more!

Anyway, onto the subject of this post, Flowers. I have made lots of flowers recently, in various shapes and sizes, using several different methods and materials, so I thought that I'd have a chat about one or two of them. I love using my Nesties with scrapbook paper, newspaper, or even computer paper to cut several layers, scrunch them up, distress the edges, and then use Distress Inks, or Glimmer Mists, before layering them together with a brad, or putting a button on the top. I often make lollipop flowers along a similar vein, just using circles instead of Nestie shapes.

Recently, I made a metal flower with my Nesties, painted the layers with precious metal paint, and then moulded the layers with an embossing tool, before fixing the layers together with a brad. I used the flower on a project on my other blog http://craftstampingquartet.blogspot.com/ which I run with three very good friends. There is a step by step tutorial for the metal flower over there, but I'll show you a picture of the flower here, in case you haven't had a look, (if not, why not?)! 

The other day, while blog hopping, I came across a stunning card made by Linda Ledbetter on Linda's blog I don't have the exact spot sorry, but just scroll back a few days, you'll see it. Anyway, she found a great tutorial here  I have a few step by step pictures myself, so here goes with an explanation. These are fabric flowers made from old chiffon scarves, dig them out of your wardrobe if you have them. I have loads from the days when I did a proper job, and had to wear a suit.

Cut several circles of different sizes from your scarf.

Burn the edges with a lit candle, carefully, with a bowl of water standing by. I used tweezers to hold the fabric.

Layer up and sew through a few times, finish off by adding beads or buttons in the centre.

                                                     

I've made a card with the two red flowers, as I thought that they looked a bit like poppies, which are my favourite flower. I started off with a piece of Kraft card, which I stamped with a Grungey Flower from Elusive Images in Versamark and embossed with clear embossing powder. I  then coloured the card with dried marigold, spiced marmalade, worn lipstick and fired brick DIs. I then ironed away the clear embossing powder under greaseproof  paper to get a flat surface, and stamped a flourishy flower from the same stamp set in fired brick onto my background. I finished off by edging the background with black soot. I stamped a sentiment onto watercolour paper and edged this with DIs, then mounted it onto pearlescent card. I punched four flourishes and set two behind each flower in opposite corners of my card. Hope you like, Judith x

Valentine's Day Card

Well, I hope you are all having a Happy Valentine's Day, whatever you are doing. I am still recovering from being rather poorly. I had a bad migraine a couple of weeks ago, which was really bad. I was left with severe nausea which just wouldn't go away. I couldn't face food, even the thought of it made me feel bad.  seem to be getting over that now, thankfully, but I have a rotten cold! Oh well, life goes on.
My daughter Megan has just been home on one of her flying visits, bringing her boyfriend and her washing with her. It was lovely to see her, as she has been a bit down lately, and I think she just wanted to come home. She was really chirpy, and it was great to hear her laughing about the house. I got her washing done, and she was off again for a few weeks, back to Uni. We keep in touch, but I miss her, and there's nothing better than that first hug when she walks in the door.

I made Terry, my hubby a Valentine's card based on an Elusive Images themeplate 'Weekend in Venice' this year. We have been to Venice several times; I love going there, and we have some very special memories of our times there, and of being in Italy in general. So, I felt that this card was me being romantic for him. I used a background paper from an Artylicious paper pack 'Echoes of Italy', which looks like old plaster, and stamped a rose silhouette up the side. I watercoloured the main image with Distress Inks after stamping it on watercolour paper.

As this next week is half term, and I don't have to work, I am really hoping to join in some challenges. I always say that, and it becomes the kiss of death to my ambitions! Everything goes pear shaped, and I end up getting nothing done, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed... Bye for now, Judith x

Fairy Card

Well I had a migraine last week, and was unable to finish a card that I had wanted to enter into the Quixotic Challenge which was to include butterflies. This week's challenge is 'I believe in Fairies', so I've included a fairy image on my card, and hey presto, it qualifies! The basic principle of the card is based on an idea that I cased from Jane at Jane's Lovely Cards and a card she made a while back. She makes gorgeous cards, and if you haven't visited her blog, you should. The card is relatively simple because I also wanted to use it to teach to my card making class this week. Therefore I have not used Bazzil card, or one off scrapbook papers which I might have done otherwise. I have used Distress Inks to edge my plain card, around the edge and inside the oval, all around the flowers, leaves and butterflies. I have then used Stickles to edge my flowers and butterflies, and used some flat backed pearls on my flowers.

There is also a second version below, which is not related to the challenge of course, using one of the new Manga stamps from Suger Nellie, these stamps are gorgeous, and I'm itching to use some of the others when I get the time.

 Don't forget to pop over to my other blog, Craft Stamping Quartet to see how we are getting on, Judith x

Time for a facelift

My poor little blog has been sorely neglected lately. I have been working quite a bit and then this week, I've has a terrible migraine. I suffer quite badly from migraines, but can normally control them with medication. Sadly not this time. However, I'm getting over it now, and hopefully I'll have a couple of cards to post over the weekend.
I thought I'd give my blog a little facelift, the website that I got this free background from has some lovely backgrounds, you just request the code, the blog owner emails it to you, and hey presto, you have a new background. You can request two, so I have another one saved for later, and I may switch between the two of them, depending on how I'm feeling at the time.
I hope you're all fine, and keeping busy, bye for now, Judith x