Candelle Creations

My Eyes Adored you - Sunday Stamper

2012-01-22T23:08:00.000Z

Well, here we are again - Sunday Stamper time run by the super talented Hels Sheridan. Haven't managed to do all the art work that I made the resolution to do at the beginning of the year but this is my second Sunday Stamper entry for 2012!

The tag is coloured using distress inks Tattered Rose, Wild Honey and edged with Peeled Paint. The border from "It's More Flower Art" was then stamped with Shabby Shutters . Embellishments next: Tim Holtz rosette coloured with Wild Honey, highlighted with Aged Mahogany and one of his buttons in the middle, Shabby Shutters coloured grungepaper leaves made from Wendy Vecchi "Natures Art" stamps with Peeled Paint and over-stamped with Pine Needles. Tim's bookplate is filled with a Wendy Vecchi "An Eye for Art" eye stamped with Coffee Archival with a hint of Aged Mahogany for the pupil. The seam binding bow is coloured with Aged Mahogany and Wild Honey distress inks. Finishing it all off is a memo pin with a ticket with the wording from "An Eye for Art".
Loved the challenge this week - as soon as I saw "Eyes", I knew straight away what stamp set I wanted to use!!

That's all from me for now - thanks for visiting

Caz
xx

Yesterday's ATC

2012-01-03T15:22:00.001Z

Well - I managed two days of "art" even if this is being posted late! And today isn't over yet so I might manage something for a third day!

I decided not to waste the remains of the tag's die cuts so the ATC makes use of what was left. Not sure where the idea for the white leaf veins came from - it just happened! I've bought a pack of kraft ATCs but I'm not sure about them yet - I don't think I like the textured side so I'll have a go using the back as the front (if you see what I mean) before I make my mind up.
So with the remains of Tim's foliage from yesterday is the heads Stampotique background, Cherry Pie Art Believe stamp (stamped with Imperial Purple Versafine) and some black soot distress stickles round the edge and leaf tips, the background is Iced Spruce and Evergreen Bough distress inks.

So that's my second piece of the year. I need to do something bright now!!

TTFN

Blog Revamp in Progres...........not!

2012-01-02T22:17:00.000Z

Just realised that all my graphics programs still need loading on this new laptop! Bummer!!!

Have made an ATC today but it's still drying so I can't take a photo yet - at least I have managed to make some art two days in a row!!

Update - revamp has been put off as I like this design better than anything I've sen so far! And, to be honest, having to find the discs for the graphics programs has put me off a bit - I put them somewhere safe so I wouldn't lose them........................

TTFN

:-)

First Tag of 2012

2012-01-02T00:15:00.000Z

Not a new year resolution in sight but I thought I'd start the year off with a tag I made today and enter into the Sunday Stamper for the first time.
So this is it - doesn't really show up the true colours but it's the best photo out of five taken with various lighting/flash etc!

It's actually more burgundy than it looks here! It's only the second time of using the rosette die and there were a few choice words as it would NOT stick and kept pinging up until I managed to get it pinned down with a bottle of stamp cleaner on top while it dried! It's all Tim's inks/dies/stamps apart from the words which are a Cherry Pie Art stamp (I think).
Happy New Year to all who visit my blog - not making any resolutions this year but I do mean to make a lot more art this year so there should be plenty of reasons to come back for another visit or two!!

Best Wishes for 2012

Caz

2011-10-19T22:22:00.000+01:00

Here's my entry for this week's What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday... or WOYWW for short...devised and hosted by Julia Dunnit, If you click HERE you can visit the website for more about it and links to other "players". I've had very little time or energy since my last posting - I did manage to do a workshop last month with Hels at The Stamp Attic with Distress Stains and Fresco paints but apart from that.................... :-(
So I decided I needed to take back some "me time" and do another one of the little books that we made in the workshop but using a pink and brown theme which is not my normal choice of colours - this is the work in progress:

The mauve book from Hels' workshop is at the back for inspiration and these are all the cardboard pages with their first coat of paint.
I'm taking pictures as I go so I'll try and be back tomorrow with the progress photos. Off for a quick look at some of the other entries then I need my beauty sleep - I was up at 5:45 this morning!!
TTFN
Caz

WOW.....WOYWW for the first time!!!

2011-08-31T18:45:00.000+01:00

Here is my first ever entry for What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday... or WOYWW for short...devised and hosted by Julia Dunnit, If you click HERE you can visit the website for more about it and links to other "players". I've been 'lurking' for ages and admiring all the workdesks but not wanted to put up a photo of my tip! Not that there is anything on the workdesk but as it took me 2 days over the Bank Holiday to clear up the almighty mess in the den, I felt my hard work deserved to go on display!!!!!

Hopefully next week will have something "in progress" to put on here but it's been so long since I've had more than a few inches clear to craft on, I just had to take the photo!!!

Off to look at what everyone else has been making

Caz
xx

The Elements of Art Journaling

2011-07-04T23:42:00.001+01:00

I'm so lucky to have won a place on Effy Wild's course -The Elements of Art Journaling - see the link on the right! I have been doing a little beading lately but not much on the paint/paper/glue front but this has kick started me back into it!
We're starting on making a journal and doing some "clustering"(sort of brainstorming) around each of the elements. Each week we will be working on one of the elements - earth, air, fire, water and spirit and learning techniques to make an art journal.
This is my journal front

It started life as a pink/purple background with jade and lime green swirls and then sat at the back of my desk for weeks as I didn't like it and didn't know what to do about it!! In the first lesson, Effy showed us some good background ideas and how to add layers (and more layers) to our covers ......and how to cover it up if you don't like it! I didn't go as far as covering it with gesso but I used matte gel medium to cover it with tissue till there was only a little hint of the previous "art work". It has ripped pieces from an old book, a piece of music in the bottom left corner which I found - "Who is Sylvia" from a The Two Men of Verona (Shakespeare) - my Mum's name was Sylvia so I thought that needed using - all added with gel medium. I tinted the papers with Caran D'Ache Neocolor washed in with a babywipe. It then had skeleton leaves and some butterflies (to represent the Spirit element) added and lightly sprayed with green and yellow Glimmer Mist.

Nearly finished but it looked a bit incomplete so I finished off (nearly) with some magic mesh (bottom left) sprayed with a red and gold glimmer mist - that's the fire element. Still not happy, so I added the gold netting over some of my butterflies: that's Spirit trapped as I feel mine is sometimes. The back was made in a similar fashion but without the net and butterflies.
OK - now to put it together - out came the Bind-It-All which struggled a little with the front, punched all the holes along the top until I decided I wanted to side bind it!! Also managed to punch the back on the wrong side which would have made it upside down! Oh dear - working late and brain already gone to sleep. It has watercolour paper at the front and lined paper for notes at the back. So, I put it together with a matching red wire and then decorated (ok - covered up) the wrong holes by crocheting some pretty fibres through. Tied a few fibres along the edge with some flower beads attached - finished!! Oh - lastly some acrylic words I found that I'd forgotten I had so they had some little brads added and stuck on!
Very pleased with it although it's taken me a lot of the evening to clear up the mess on my desk!!! So now I have no excuse for neglecting my blog as I'll have photos of all I'm doing that I'll be putting up for my lessons so I can add them here too!
Well, that's about it for tonight - I'll trying taking more "in progress" photos next time to cut down on the words!!
Happy Arting

Caz

Busy, busy but not much crafting

2011-04-07T20:51:00.000+01:00

Well, life's been very busy for the last month. Unfortunately, there's not been a lot of time for crafting. I love my new job but it's been a bit hectic, mainly because I'm still learning so I don't get through the work as fast as others do and also I've been out and about visiting my new Delivery Engineers and seeing my new area. I've had some really good feedback though so I'm happy I'm getting to grips with everything OK.
I've recently learned the Journal Writing workshop that we thought was happening in March will not now be happening at all as Sarah (that was going to be doing it) has a new full time job so I will have to do some practising on my own from the couple of books I have then take the plunge and do the writing on my pages!
I have made a couple of jewellery sets in the last week so I'll get some photos done at the weekend and get them posted. Oh, almost forgot, my wonderful husband has made me some more shelves so my inkpads have now moved to their new home and I have more space on my desk. He is such a sweetie - especially as I tried to help make them and somehow managed to put the markings for the dowel holes in the wrong place - so when he'd drilled them and tried to put the shelves together, they wouldn't fit!!!! Oh dear - what should have been a couple of hours work took twice as long. I did varnish them myself though so he could get on with building his latest plane!! - I'll put pics up at the weekend too.
TTFN
Happy Crafting
Caz

Art Journalling update

2011-02-21T21:12:00.000Z

As promised, some pics from the journal in progress. I've been reluctant to add writing to many of my pages as I'm waiting to do a workshop at The Stamp Attic with Sarah Anderson on journal writing. She does some great work and is going to do a workshop next month so I'll post the updated pages then. I put a couple of these up when I did Sarah's first journalling workshop but I've been gradually improving (?) them. I started doing the right hand side of this "Live the Life you've imagined" with the baldy heads under the flap and black and white faces. I decided this wasn't spooky enough, hence the added colours! The left hand page was the "imagined life" - all feminine beads, flowers and sparkles which I couldn't get to - being represented by the birds behind the netting.

Not sure of what words I want to add yet. This is how my days can go - little problems buzzing around at the start but only tiny (compared to me). Then gradually as the day goes on I shrink under the (perceived) ever growing problems. I love the Stampotique stamp range so I very much enjoyed doing this one.

I also started doing the Art, Heart and Healing course with Tam at Willowing. This is a free course you can join at any time. This was my first attempt at face drawing that actually didn't look like something from a horror movie!! I loved doing this and am half way through doing the next one - I know what I want it to turn out like but again, I don't want to spoil it with my writing so I have the words planned and will do it after my workshop.

So that's a small taster of what I've been up to while I've been away. There are some grunge flowers on my desk and my steampunk journal in progress which will go up later this week if I can grab some time.
TTFN
Caz

Gems with a wiggle

2011-02-13T22:38:00.000Z

Ok - slightly contrived title......Joanna wanted to see what gems I'd been creating and Anette said get a wiggle on so............ :-)
I will say my new job has been the cause of a real lack of crafting time - I'm loving it now I've got to grips with it but there's been some serious hard work going on! In the little bit of spare time I've had, I've been making some use of all the beads I've collected and not done anything with! It's been practice, practice, practice but now I'm fairly proficient at making loops and I'm making things now that I'm happy to wear to work and I get compliments for them so I must be getting it right!! I've mostly been using semi precious stones and swarovski beads as I was going to try selling them at work but so far I've kept everything I've made!!

These were the first couple of attempts ( above) which were just simple stringing of beads really with a couple of loops. Then I progressed to using more loops (below left) and the one on the right was a bit of a show off as there are about 20 eye pins in there, each needing a "hand made" loop on the end - it turned out well (blowing my own trumpet there-sorry!!)

Sodalite with glass and silver beads

Showing off as I'd mastered loops

Once I was happy with that technique I went a bit mad and made the copper set which took ages to make and I've got nothing to wear it with but it's hanging on my jewellery stand waiting for me to buy a top in a suitable colour!! I wear a lot of black so the last set I made has ended up being kept as well to compliment any back top I wear!

copper colour chain with glass beads


Snowflake obsidian with glass beads

So that's some of the "gems" I've been up to lately. I've also done some work on my art journal and I've being doing the Art Heart and Healing free course that's been running on the Willowing Ning site. I'll post some pics tomorrow.
Hopefully now that my job has settled down, I'll be able to spend some more time in the den and have more pics to post.
TTFN
Caz

New Look Blog

2011-02-10T00:52:00.003Z

Just in the middle of revamping the blog. I thought as I was making a new start and going to make a huge effort to keep it up to date, it deserved a new look. I then found that the old background/theme coding was well hidden in amongst the normal template code and the new theme's code wouldn't override it. It's taken me over an hour to get it off and put something new on. The heading is still a work in progress as it's got a bit late to carry on.

Still alive and kicking

2010-11-17T22:42:00.006Z

6 weeks into the job and I am brain dead!!!! I've done a couple of workshops - Sarah's Steampunk Journal and Hel's Rosy Heart Art at the Stamp Attic - and nothing much else. I'm enjoying the job now but I've taken over a mess and a half! It's starting to fall into place though and my first review last week was good. The people in my new team are really helpful and supportive so I think it's going to be a good job.
Two workshops coming up this weekend - Journal Lettering and A Basket Full of Books - both with Sarah at The Stamp Attic. Must remember to charge up my camera on Friday night.
Hopefully they will give me a kick start back into the Den - if nothing else, I must start the Christmas cards.
Check out the Blog Candy link in the side bar too

Happy Crafting :-)

New Job

2010-07-29T23:56:00.003+01:00

Just a real quick post as it's late and I'm stiff from physio and I've not been on here for a while so there's a few things I should put up - like the pictures from Sarah's workshop a couple of weekends ago etc etc...............

But news for those who have been bored to tears with my ranting and rumbling about the job interview I did a couple of months ago and I was so close to getting it (scored the same as one of the guys in the interview but he got it 'cause his technical knowledge was better than mine!!). Well, a second post in the same department came up and the company rules are if you had an interview in the last 6 months for a similar job and there's no-one on the re-deployment list that's suitable for it, they can give you the job without another interview or advertising it! So after a few days of nail biting and major stressing 'cause the dept head was on holiday.......I got the job!!!!! YAY!!! more pennies to spend on "crafty bits" (shouldn't say that too loud - it should be going into my pension fund savings!!) less stress so more energy to spend creating in the den. Less overtime......... Steep learning curve to start with but it's similar to what I do now so shouldn't be too bad once I get my head round a couple of new systems.

As you can tell - I am REALLY pleased!!!

Hopefully get some time over the weekend to put the workshop pics up - and sort out the blog - put a new background on as the old one had disappeared and now need to sort out the header etc!!

TTFN

Caz

If it ain't broke, don't fix it!!!!

2010-06-09T23:13:00.003+01:00

Just spent over an hour putting my blog back together!!! Whilst blog hopping, I found a link to a site for free blog stuff and in particular, a great owl theme Leelou Spring Owls. This is the main site Leelou Freelayouts. Followed the instructions exactly but all it did was try and install the new background as well as my old one - what a mess!!!!! So I guess if I really want to change to one from another site, I'm going to have to learn how the coding works so I can delete the bits that are conflicting - deep joy!!

As usual work has taken overjust recently but I'm hoping to get photos off the camera over the weekend to show what Lou and I did on Saturday - a bird house kit from Graphicus, a few Scrap FX bits and some dabbers..................

Watch this space!!!!

Birthday pictures etc.

2010-05-17T22:03:00.007+01:00

Well, better late than never, here's the pics from my birthday. As usual, some of the presents were late due to Amazon not being very speedy but on the day I was very lucky, here's some of my presents:

The biggest surprise was a new external hardrive from Ian - 1 terrabyte or in other words, bigger than I can fill up for some considerable time!!! I also got Jamie Does, Nadia Sawalha's Stuffed Vine leaves, 2 Needle felting books, Image Transfer Workshop, and some CDs. I was very spoilt!!! The best part (besides the triple chocolate birthday cake!) was Lou having a day off with me so we could "play" - or rather, she could teach me to do needle felting. The white tub is a large pot of gesso - amazing how enthusiastic you can get over receiving a large pot of gesso! There was also a lovely packet from Lou with the foam to needle felt on, some needles and some lovely packets of mixed fibres which I'm saving until I'm a bit more proficient and some blue/green rovings to get started with!!

My very first piece - which I managed not to get blood on! My goodness, those needles are SHARP!!!

Not being the world's most patient person, I then had to jump straight in and do a "big piece"!!! It's not finished yet and the pictures don't really do it justice but it's a base of blue to which I then added some greens for seaweed that I stitched over with some metallic thread and added sequins. The "shell pile" at the bottom is made from pieces of shell embroidered into slices of silk cocoons. The seahorse is based on an Elusive Images stamp and is still a work in progress as it doesn't stand out well enough so it's in the middle of receiving an extra layer or two of beads.

Lou made a fantastic piece - it doesn't show up that well in the photo but it's a blue fly on a wonderful mix of rovings and ribbons - I don't know where she gets the inspiration from - I just sit and look at all my bits and pieces and wonder what to do with them, Lou just cracks on and "makes"! The sparkle on the fly is Distress Stickles - I bet Tim Holtz didn't ever imagine his stickles would get used on woollen fly wings!!!

OK- that's me for today - I've got a meeting I still haven't sorted out my notes for so I'd better go and do some work or I'll still be doing it at midnight.

TTFN
Caz

My First Award!!

2010-04-26T23:25:00.013+01:00

I am so pleased to have been given my first award:

This has come from Tink - the lovely lass I met at the recent Art Journalling workshop with her Mum, Ruby. Both of them are very talented people - check out their blogs. Tink produces some lovely cards for her age.

The second part of the award is I have to list 10 things that make me happy - well, here goes:
1. Ian - my long suffering husband!
2. Rich and his girls - my son and grandaughters - Bryanna, Destiny and Ella-Elise
3. Lou - my daughter, crafty buddy, and big source of inspiration and encouragement.
4. My persian pusscats - Jasper and Felix
5. Chatting with friends
6. Making cards & Art journaling
7. Holidays (I hate work!!)
8. Sunshine (when it's not seen through the office window)
9. Weekends
10.Chocolate!!!

And for the third part - I'd like to pass the award to:
Some lovely ladies that I met at the Graphicus retreat last Year
Jo
Judith
Elaine
Lesley these four ladies produce some brilliant things and have a joint blog as well as their individual ones
Ann - a special pal from across the water - she puts my blog efforts to shame!!

Thankyou Tink for the award - that was very sweet!
Bed time now - not that I will sleep as I'm excited because I've got tomorrow off as it's my birthday and I know I've got some crafty "bits" for presents and Lou's having the day off work as well and she's going to teach me how to do needle felting so hopefully I'll have some photos to put up on the next post......and I've got a big chocolate birthday cake - bliss!!!!! :-)
Happy crafting
Caz

Art Journal Photos

2010-04-17T22:55:00.003+01:00

After half a day in the Den (sometimes you just have to do some housework!!), I managed to start making the covers for the Art Journal that I made at the workshop last Saturday and also took some photos. These haven't come out as well as they might have done as I need to put the pages under something heavy for a while to flatten them. The covers are nearly finished, they just need a few bits added - I have some ideas but as usual I can't find anything as I've had a tidy up!!

In the main I've used Adirondack Dabbers with just a few touches of white and black gel pen and some distress inks to tone down the scrabble letters. Even the texture stamping has been done with the dabbers - I'd never stamped using acrylic paint before the workshop!!

This was my first ever journal page! We used baby wipes to spread and blend the paint and then"inked" up an unmounted texture stamp with paint and rolled it in half so we could stamp with just the fold so only a small area of the stamp came out - you needed to see it demonstrated really!!! I've not decided yet what else to do with this page but it makes a good background.

This page had a fold on the left. I started off using pinks which is not one of my usual colour choices and was going to go with flowery images but after seeing some of the Stampotique stamps I decided to do something different!

Well, that's the first lot of photos - I've still got to tidy up the others. Hopefully I'll get time tomorrow but I've got to work for part of the day to prep for some meetings next week so the free time I do have will be a fight between ironing or sorting out the photos.....no competition really!!!

TTFN
Caz

Nearly back to normal!!

2010-04-15T22:53:00.005+01:00

Hopefully the new look blog will encourage me to visit it a bit more often!

Well, after weeks of work being utterly manic, quite usual for this time of year, I went to a brilliant Art Journaling workshop at The Stamp Attic with Sarah Anderson. My first attempt at doing it and I could be hooked!! It was a wonderful day - Sarah gave us so many ideas and brought along loads of her own work as inspiration. Sarah's daughter came too and gave us a demo on "dabber splats" - very effective!! We created backgrounds with Adirondack paint dabbers applied with wet wipes and build layers up from there. We also had loads of stamps - Tim Holtz, Stampotique, Wendi Vecchi and more that my senile memory can't remember! Hopefully it will be a nice sunny day on Saturday and I will take some photos and post them. Meanwhile, Sarah has posted some photos on her blog. Unfortunately I can't make the Art Journaling 2 day in May but Wendy from Stamp Attic has promised there will be further day 2 and 3 sessions. I met some lovely people there and it was really interesting to see all the different pages everyone created in different styles. Ruby and her daughter Tink were so much fun and created some lovely pieces. Have a look on Ruby's blog, I love her cards!

So that's a start back on the blog. I've just applied for a new job which I've got fingers and everything else crossed that I get because, although it's promotion, it will be a lot less hassle than what I do now, less overtime and far less stress. It will also mean I have more time (and energy) to keep the blog up to date and try some more Art Journaling!

TTFN

Caz

Winter Wonderland Challenge - just in time

2010-02-06T01:25:00.004Z

My playing weekend started early - I've just managed to finish a card for the challenge at Winter Wonderland. I had a pile of card magazine freebie papers which I was going to pass on to a friend at work who also makes cards but then I decided to do this challenge at the last minute and the top of the pile of papers was a Christmas with red and white.............. no stamping on this one as all the Christmas stamps are in a box with other boxes piled on top - that would make too much mess getting them all down! The scanner wasn't really being co-operative but I managed a reasonable scan in the end!

Perhaps I should look through the papers again before I get rid of them! At least I've managed to make a start on next Christmas's cards now!

Happy Crafting

Caz

Back Again

2010-02-06T01:14:00.002Z

Yet again work has taken over and everything has gone on the back burner! I worked last Saturday and this week has been manic - Wednesday and Thursday we were both involved in presenting some training at our training centre near Newark. It was a good two days but the preparation and setting up took a lot of time and effort, especially while trying to do the normal day job too! One of the advantages of us both doing it was staying away on Wednesday night - the Saracen's Head Hotel is a historic building and we had a four poster bed and a huge tapestry on one wall! The bathroom was a little better than we usually get in company booked hotels:

Next week is going to be just as bad with three days out on meetings so this weekend is going to be play and no work starting with Lou and I going shopping tomorrow!

First Challenge

2010-01-17T22:40:00.000Z

Well, it may have taken nearly all weekend but I've managed to complete my first ever challenge!! I came across Friday Sketchers on one of my blog hopping sessions and decided to have a go. So this is it although I couldn't scan it as the flowers were too bulky and even with a little bit of pressure to hold the scanner lid down, it still wouldn't focus properly so out came the camera!

I've posted the picture taken with the flash as the one taken without looks very flat and boring!

I used one of the Whiff of Joy Angels coloured with pro markers and some Stampin Up backing papers. The little flowers were an impulse buy from Joanna Sheen's special offer section ages ago that I'd never found a use for and I decided to give it a little bit of sparkle with clear glitter wings, a little bit on the flowers in her hair (although the flash is making it look more than it is!) and some liquid pearl dots on the petals around the "for you".

It's taken so long as I was having trouble finding any card in my stash that the pro-markers didn't bleed with but I managed in the end although I don't know where I got the card from........ I was pleased with how the colouring came out though as I haven't used the markers very much at all.

Even though it took a lot longer than my normal cards, I've quite enjoyed working from the challenge's sketch and think I'll do some more - it's better than staring at a blank card and wondering what to do!!

Well, I'm pleased to say my arm has not given me any trouble today and no pain killers so I hope tomorrow being back at work on a PC all day doesn't cause any problems - I don't mind the time off work, but not being able to craft is no fun at all!!

Happy Crafting!

Caz

Snow Victim

2010-01-16T00:38:00.004Z

Not much happening here this week! Last Saturday I took a slide on the snow and landed heavily on my arm so no crafting this week while I nursed a very sore and stiff arm and shoulder, not to mention a stiff hip and back but fortunately no blood lost - too well padded to do anything more than bounce!!!
The advantages (?) - no work (yay!!), no ironing (yay twice!!), catch up on some reading (yay!) and remind myself why I stopped watching Create and Craft some time ago (is that an advantage?????).
The disadvantages - no crafting :-( and no cross trainer use............. yes, I know you could say that's an advantage, but for a seriously lazy person like me that had just got into the right frame of mind to do something about the few extra pounds (stones?) that I need to lose, that is definitely a dis-advantage as I will really struggle to get motivated again!

Well, the arm/shoulder has definitely responded well to being rested on a hot water bottle for a few days and I have actually managed to gesso 4 6"X6" canvases today which were the ones that have been sitting very forlornly in the corner of the den since they were bought back from the Graphicus Retreat in November. (Don't ask what was on them - let's just say it wasn't very artistic!!) Now I've got over the sheer panic of being faced with not one, but four blank canvases to fill, I think I might actually do something with them!!

So maybe I'll have something to post on Sunday as I'm hoping I will get the chance to have a little play in the den over the weekend!!

It's so nice to see some grass in the garden now - the snow was very pretty for a couple of days but not for weeks - especially when you have a daft husband that gets his car stuck in the snow and has to walk home ;-) I didn't laugh- honestly!!!!!

Hope everyone else is thawing out too

Caz

Snowed in!

2010-01-06T22:06:00.001Z

We were sent home from work early yesterday and today we've been working from home. Unfortunately we can log in to the work system from home so no day off for crafting etc - shame!! We had 4-5 inches snow last night and some heavy snow showers this morning but it's been clear all afternoon. We went for a walk through the village at lunchtime just to see how bad the roads were - I think getting out tomorrow after the predicted freeze tonight is not going to be very clever so maybe it'll be another "work at home" day.

It doesn't really show to good effect here, but the tree outside our dining room window looks really pretty.

This is the path up to the village - I was busy making a mini snowman on top of the post while waiting for Ian to finish taking his snow pictures, not realising I was being photographed! It was so pretty and such a shame we had to get back to do some more work!

I'm off now to try and get an hour's crafting in before bedtime. I'm still trying to get the projects finished from November's Retreat weekend. I've finally got my last assignment sent off for my Psychology course now so I should have plenty of time to finish off the projects and get some photos posted.

TTFN - stay warm!

Caz

First Post of 2010

2010-01-01T23:13:00.000Z

Well, this has got to be good - not only another post so soon, but a few more photos that I found buried in the wrong folder on my laptop and also a facelift for the blog - impressive!!!! Just a couple of cards and a reminder of what the Den looks like on a "good day"!!!
I hope everyone enjoyed their New Year celebrations - whether partying or quiet. We went for the quiet option apart from when Big Ben struck, then we were swapping mobiles as we spoke to various family members scattered around the country and it got a bit manic for a while!!
Today has been spent trying to get my head round WordPress as I was going to swap the blog over to there - I must be really stoopid as it's supposed to be easier to use but I got so tied in knots, I ditched it and am staying with Blogger!! Also had another little play with my Christmas present - the wonderful Wizard - I'm looking forward to Sunday when Ian's Dad has gone home and I can spend more time in the den having a good session with it - I must remember to put the camera on charge and keep up the good work of putting photos on here.
Well, that's my bit for today - just off to wash the kitchen floor - it never ceases to amaze me how much mess two cats can make!!

How Long??????

2009-12-30T22:09:00.008Z

Well, I can't believe how long it's been since last posting on here! This year seems to have flown by as we have been so busy.

The most important event must be my "baby" leaving home and moving into her own flat. After the three of us having a week's "holiday" and putting in a lot of hard work cleaning, painting, rewiring and wood floor laying, and then Lou having an extra week off too to finish off moving and us helping out in the evenings, it was finally in a fit state to move into and we've been "on our own" since 13th December - not that we've had much time to think about it with all the Christmas preparations that seemed such a rush this year.

I did have a long weekend away at the Graphicus Retreat in November which was a weekend of learning new techniques and for meeting up with lots of people from the Graphicus Guild Forum which was great for putting faces to names!! I've also been spending time doing an Open University Psychology course which has been very interesting but hard work - hopefully after my last assignment is finished and submitted for middle of January, I will be back on track for blogging and picture posting more often.

Happy Christmas and New Year to everyone following my blog!!

A few pictures from this year - mostly my cards are finished "just in time" so I never manage to get photos!!:

Ink Pad Storage Unit

2009-04-19T22:47:00.028+01:00

Well, work has well and truly taken over for the last few weeks but things are improving now and the new computer system that I have been helping to test will be rolled out on 3rd May whether or not the bugs have been fixed!! No more testing now so time for me!

I have had a little bit of me time in the last couple of weeks though and the above photo is the result. I was fed up of lifting the box of ink pads down from the shelf and getting concussion from escaping pads - plus one pad hit the floor and its lid flew off and no matter how hard Lou and I search, we just can't find it!! The unit is based on one for Stampin Up pads found on Rebel Inker's blog which I've adapted to fit Ranger and Stazon type ink pads (hopefully the link works). It's made from foam board that you can by packs of in Hobbycraft. 5 sheets in a pack which is plenty for one unit but unfortunately we needed two!!! I didn't realise we had so many ink pads (plus Lou has the Whispers carrier of 30 pads on her desk-they're half dried out though so they don't count!!!).

I've also spent some time this weekend finishing off all the monthly club cards from Little Clare so they're all in the 'completed' box now. I was a bit lacking in inspiration after I did the last Guild one stamp challenge so these were quite good to get me back into making cards again! So out came the elephant stamps - Pickle and Onion - from Papermania to go with the elephant cards from Little Clare. I think that's enough cute cards for the moment and I might now get back to something a bit different.

Valentine Card by Caz

2009-02-10T22:03:00.006Z

My turn now! I think it's safe as I don't think "he who is never obeyed" is likely to come looking on here!!! ;-)

This is my first card with the beautiful Harlequin Rose stamp. I have to say I was quite pleased with this (but it was the second attempt!). I stamped it first on scrap paper with stone grey Stazon. Then, without cleaning it, I re-inked with Versamark and stamped it onto white card so it gave a faint grey impression and I could see better where I needed to sprinkle the powder! Next came the fiddly bit. I carefully sprinkled silver embossing powder (Stampendous Detail EP) on everything but the rose and leaves and tapped it off. I then sprinkled red on the rose and sort of quickly flipped it upside down so it didn't catch on the silver bits. I did the same with green on the leaves and for once didn't get those irritating stray flecks when I heated it. I used Inktense pencils to colour it and a little bit of water to blend the colours in. I thought it looked a bit stark so I've used Lou's technique with the Whispers ink pads round the edges.
It's matted on black, red and silver and the black background on the left has large flowers on it but they're quite a delicate pattern.

I used this stamp on the inside. I'd stamped it on something else with silver ink, thought I'd cleaned it off well enough and re-inked it with the stone grey Stazon. Although it doesn't show up in the picture, it's actually got a silver sheen to it which I was quite pleased with. (I've cleaned it properly now!!) I just gave the rose a bit of colour with the Inktenses again but no water this time.

Hopefully it'll make up for all the times he's come in the den and been told, not always very politely, to "go away"!! He doesn't come in for days, and then when I'm trying to make him a card, he's in and out like a yoyo!!!

Some of Lou's Cards

2009-02-07T15:54:00.007Z

More of Lou's creations!

Penny Black stamp with some magazine freebie papers - we've got so many of them that Lou's been trying to find uses for them. The flower centre is one of the jelly tots.

This one is using stamps from the "Every Woman is a Star "stamp plate from Non Sequitur with papers from the Papermania Simply Elegant paper pack. The letters are an alphabet set which was one of those"shall I buy, shan't I buy" debates but went in the basket in the end!!

This one went to a friend of mine from work who has a huge collection of shoes - she loved it!! The card and flowers came from a kit we bought in a sale. The background paper was done using a technique Lou uses a lot. We have a set of the Whispers inks - the set of 30 that comes in a case. I was going to throw them out as a bad buy from Ebay as they had dried up a lot so they were probably old stock. Lou has been using them to 'tint' background papers as they just give a delicate colour rather than their bright original strength. So they've had a reprieve from the rubbish bin for the moment and have been given their desk space back.

Lou's Little Ponies

2009-02-06T23:21:00.009Z

This is Lou's latest creation - an altered My Little Pony! She takes a pony, completely cleans it of all decoration (they look really funny bald and eyeless!!!) then creates a new look pony. Not sure where she gets the patience from - definitely not inherited from her mum!!! It takes ages to re-thread the mane and tail.

I'm going to be allowed to keep this one - she is on display in the Den at the moment but will end up on my dressing table!

There's another one that she dyed black then decorated but it's not quite finished yet. If I can work out how to get a second photo on here, I'll add one - the eyes are beautiful!!

Result!! Although it's taken a few attempts to get the pictures in the right order! We'll post a picture of her when she's finished.

Snowy View

2009-02-06T00:10:00.003Z

So now I've learned that you need to put a title on the post - totally missed that box first time round!!
This was the view from our bedroom window this morning. The black car had tried to get off the estate and not got very far, so he came home again and couldn't get back on the drive!
We ventured out on foot and had a walk in the fields nearby, threw a few snowballs, helped push a couple of cars, then came back in the warm for the rest of the day.
More snow due tonight so tomorrow's view will be even whiter I should think. I've booked a day off tomorrow so I won't need to log in and work from home ..... I can spend the day in the den - yippee!!!

Wedding Invites

2009-02-05T23:24:00.004Z

I thought it was about time we put something on here so this is the result of trying to work out how to get going.

I was particularly pleased with these invites as it was my first attempt at mass production and it was also important to get them right as it was for our wedding!

They were pearlised card and matching paper from the Paperbox stand at NEC cut down to A5 size cards. I was really lucky to get exactly matching card and paper at such a saving.

I used plain vellum for the wrap - nightmare to get them embossed well without any stray flecks even though I used the anti-static bag every time. Finished off with 3mm coffee coloured ribbon.

The only thing I'd do differently if I used the design again would be smaller text but I couldn't find a smaller stamp at the time.

Fingers crossed now that this will post properly!