NEW ! - Zsuzsa's Sunday Sentiments

Hello fellow bloggers,

Today is the start of Zsuzsa's new weekly link party,  Sunday Sentiments. Everyone is welcome and the rules are very simple: post a link to your crafty project that includes a meaningful sentiment. 

If you would like to know more and would like to join in click on this link > Introducing Sunday Sentiments to be taken to her information page.

Zsuzsa has created a beautiful vibrant canvas with of course an appropriately lovely sentiment.  

Click on this link to take a look  >  Inky Dinky Doodle

So, for my offering I am linking this 60th Birthday card that I made for a male friend as it has the required meaningful sentiment (I hope). My card base was coloured with Denim and Vintage Photo DI, then embossed with the Pocket Watches embossing folder. I used the movers and shapers mini pocket watch die to cut some foil covered grunge board which I then embossed with the Gears folder. I  used Tim's industrial technique to finish it off. I also used this technique on the numbers 6 and 0.

The sentiment I created on the computer and printed on to some Vintage Photo Distress inked manilla card stock and placed behind a  black card, pocket watch die cut. To finish off I added some idea-ology gears and a piece of chain.

I hope you will join in with Zsuzsa's new Sunday Sentiment link party, she even allows you to link to a previous project you have made, which is excellent, as I think most of us have probably said "sometimes there just aren't enough hours in the day"!

Thank you for stopping by 

Happy Art making

Hugs Lottie x

WOYWW # 278

It's Wednesday and that means it's WOYWW  which stands for .......
'What's On Your Work desk Wednesday'.

If you too would like to join in the fun then, take a picture of your work desk, table, etc. and share it with lots of other like minded people.

Hop on over to Julia's blog   Stamping Ground  for more info. Hope to see you there

Hi WOYWWers,

It's been a while since I last played along so I thought I had better get my act together and join in with some desk hopping. 

First though I must apologize for the rubbish quality of the photo  today, as I took my camera out of it's case I managed to alter "something" ??!  Every photo was terribly out of focus so I messed about trying to put things right, but seeing as I hadn't a clue what setting it had been on (did I mention I am technically challenged) I was stumped! This pic was the best I could do, so I'm afraid it is  WYSIWYG ................... What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get, which is pronounced wiz-ee-wig in case you were wondering lol

 I am in the middle of making a 60th Birthday card for my friend Joe and have just added the piece of chain hence all the bits of jewelry. The little jam jars house various sizes of split rings, the tall container holds brads, the tube at the back is a file set. The skeleton languishing on my phone is to remind me Halloween is just around the corner and the two Christmas cards are to remind me Christmas is just a little bit further round the corner........... only kidding (though these days I seem to have to make a heck of a lot of "reminder" and "to do" lists) 

The Christmas cards are from Darnell's  NBUS (Never Before Used Schtuff) challenge, from last week, she had hit the 600 follower mark and to celebrate decided to have her second NBUS challenge which had an amazing 300 entries, Way to go Darnell!!

 

So my desk hopping friends, that's about it. I must away back to my Birthday card as I need to make a suitable insert and cut a card base to finish off, then I'm off to the post office with it. 

See you at your place later

Happy Art Making

Hugs Lottie x

NBUS (never-before-used schtuff) Challenge - Anything goes

 

http://www.djkardkreations.com/p/nbus-rules.html

Hello to you, I hope all is well with you and yours on this rather cool and dull day ( well it is here  in Yorkshire) you can definitely tell Autumn is fast approaching. Don't get me wrong I love this season it's just that you know that winter will soon be following eek!

Any way I am here with two cards to link up with Darnells NBUS ( Never Before Used Schtuff ) challenge. I am very late entering but if you would like to take a look for yourself you can follow the link above. 

I have chosen option  #3 Make two Christmas cards using the same stamp

   

                                     

 

 On card  #1  the Reindeer is from a set of Christmas  stamps that came with a magazine (NBUS) I used Imagination crafts snowflake stencil (NBUS) for the background with Texture paste and glitter, the larger die cut topper is cut from Sizzix Labels also NBUS, the smaller one I used is Spellbinder labels 18 .

 

 

On card  #2  I used the snowflake from the above mentioned stamps to create a background and Spellbinder Nested Hearts (NBUS) to cut a vellum topper for the Reindeer, I also used the embossing paste through the pattern of the die to create the pretty filigree border. as you can probably see I managed to smudge some ink from the Reindeer, I wont tell you what I said !! my black Stazon had dried up so I had to use my Versafine pad and the ink just would not dry. The sentiment is also (NBUS) from Stamptivity which is no longer trading.  

So that's about it, I enjoyed making these two Christmas cards, and maybe this will be the incentive for me to carry on and make some more (don't hold your breath) lol. 

Thank you for stopping by, hope you have a great weekend

Happy Art making

Hugs Lottie x

 

 

Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2014 July

Hello friends,

Well I could almost cut and copy the first sentence from my June tag post, as I am so 'last minute Lottie again' !! I shall blame our hot sticky weather for sapping all my energy, also a family funeral to attend, but on a happier note an enjoyable day out to Lincoln with Katie for a workshop making  a mini storage box designed by Anne go  here   if you would like to see what it looks like. 

I still have quite a bit to do before I finish mine, so watch this space.  

Sorry I didn't get to meet you Anne, hope there might be a next time x

Any way something I have managed to finish just in the nick of time is my July tag, 

And here it is.

I have a thing for seahorses so this tag was a delight to make I followed t!ms tutorial here  

His tutorials are excellent, very easy to follow and with the added bonus of step by step photo's.

 My tag is more or less the same as t!m's I just added some seedless preserves DI to my sea horse and seaweed. I didn't have the linen ribbon so I used a net bag from a bag of onions, the bag was orange so I coloured it with my Promarkers which gave a key to the plastic so  I could then use the same distress paint colours as the background of my tag. I am quite pleased with the effect.

I just had one problem and that was with the distress crackle paint which did crack beautifully but unfortunately fell off in places when I inked it with the pumice stone stain. I think maybe I applied too thick a coat or possibly the D paint wasn't quite dry when I applied it. I reapplied a thinner coat in the places it had fallen off and it was ok but it didn,t crack as much.

 

 

Overall I am happy with my little sea horse and the clever way t!m showed us how to "create" sand, I wonder what he will come up with next? Only a few more hours and I will find out lol

Wishing you a great weekend

Happy Art making

Hugs Lottie x

WOYWW # 268

It's Wednesday and that means it's WOYWW  which stands for .......
'What's On Your Work desk Wednesday'.

If you too would like to join in the fun then, take a picture of your work desk, table, etc. and share it with lots of other like minded people.

Hop on over to Julia's blog   Stamping Ground  for more info. Hope to see you there

 

Hello again,

 

So here we are again, it's Wednesday and we are having another beautiful day. My hubby finishes work on Friday for two weeks, what's the betting the weather breaks on Friday tea time. Can you tell I am a pessimist?  I shall keep my fingers crossed and see if that works, lol.

Any way lets get down to business here is my desk

 

                                              

To the left. My very sophisticated set up for taking the pics of my cards etc. The little tub on the windowsill is a decorated tub of cotton buds, ok until it needs refilling, I can NEVER transfer the contents over successfully! Most of the schtuff on my desk is the fallout from another pop up box card I made for my bloggie friend Anne's birthday   http://bollyanne.blogspot.co.uk/ 

scroll down for pics of her card.

                  

The centre. The little pots hold Black and Gold glitter, in front of them are a set of files, and my monica that I have stamped onto sticky label sheets and punched out ready to use, then more leftovers from the box card.

To the right. Bits of coloured waste from some of the flowers and butterflies I used on the box card, tools, washie tape, foam pads, embossing tools  under the papers sits a black stationary tray for rulers, erasers and othe bits n pieces. There's a mock up of the box card, my printer, which decided it would no longer accept card and refuses to work ! score boards on top,  and on the windowsill the box where my scissors, knives, tweezers etc live. My notepad is at the ready for noting down the names of the WOYWWers I visit (my memory is not what it used to be). Where was I ?? Oh yes, well that's about it for this weeks desk, thank you for paying me a visit today and I will do my best to come visit you and your desk.
For those of you that would like to take a peek at Anne's card ..........Here it is...............
             
                                            Front            

                                          Front     underneath key hole flap        

                                                    Left side

                                          Left side under heartwings              

                                                 Right side

                                         Right side under frame and crown

                                          Back

                                         and back to the front again       

  

 I must apologise for the quality of these photo's, I kept retaking them but just couldn't seem to  make them any better. I think maybe I need to upgrade my very sophisticated photography set up!!!

 

I tried to make this card using everything t!m holtz as Anne is a t!m  groupie, I mean fan lol, I almost managed it apart from the tiny butterflies (stampin up) the hello my friend which was computer generated to fit the film strip. Also the Take time sentiment, which is from Paulette over at

http://createwithtlc-createwithtlc.blogspot.co.uk/ was printed on to tissue paper and adhered with Ranger multi matte medium , and the scrolls above and below are a spellbinder die.

 

Phew!! I don't know about you but I think I need a cup of tea after all that.

Thank you if you stuck it out till the end, I hope you have fun desk hopping and have a great weekend, come rain or shine! or should that be shine or rain, I wonder if whoever thought that up was a pessimist??

Happy Art making

Hugs Lottie x

WOYWW #266

It's Wednesday and that means it's WOYWW  which stands for .......
'What's On Your Work desk Wednesday'.

If you too would like to join in the fun then, take a picture of your work desk, table, etc. and share it with lots of other like minded people.

Hop on over to Julia's blog   Stamping Ground  for more info. Hope to see you there

Hi there,

Hope everyone is enjoying a little sunshine this week, we have had some here in Yorkshire, plus a huge thunderstorm which helped clear the muggy air and freshened things up a bit. Today was very windy but beautiful, so all in all a bit of a mixed bag so to speak.

But you are not here to talk about the weather so I will quickly move on and show you my desk.

So, strictly speaking this is not what's on my work desk Wednesday, more what's on my work desk Tuesday night!  I know that's not strictly how it should be done but what can I say call me a rebel !!

What you see is Rufus in determined pursuit of a moth, this was late last night I had my window open as it was so warm and in flew a huge moth. Rufus and Jasper his brother, who by the way was fast asleep on the floor and in any case is too fat and lazy to be bothered with moth's, are  indoor cats so this is the closest they come to hunting. However fate decreed this was moth's lucky night as it hid at the back of the drawers and I turfed it back outside this morning, where it fluttered off, no doubt to find it's friends and tell them of the terrible ordeal that had befallen it ! 

There isn't a lot to see really, I store my alcohol markers, stamp pads, tools etc etc in the drawers, underneath are my D Inks ( still trying to finish building the rest of the storage trays for them.) Under Rufus are some bits and pieces from Katie's pop up box card that need putting away, and that's about it. 

I did take a photo of said pop up box card so if you would like to take a peek,

here it is.

I was really happy how it turned out, though with it having all the buttons as flower centres it finished up being a bit bulky, not so good if it had to be posted but as I gave it to Katie it didn't matter and she loved it.
We went to  a Mongolian all you can eat Buffet for her birthday, the food was really good and Katie was presented with a desert with a fire work on top by the manager, we all sang happy birthday, much to her embarrassment lol and a  good night was had by all.
Wishing you a happy week, enjoy your desk hopping and hope to see ya next time.
Happy Art making
Hugs Lottie x

 

WOYWW # 265

It's Wednesday and that means it's WOYWW  which stands for .......
'What's On Your Work desk Wednesday'.

If you too would like to join in the fun then, take a picture of your work desk, table, etc. and share it with lots of other like minded people.

Hop on over to Julia's blog   Stamping Ground  for more info. Hope to see you there

                                            ............................................................................

Hello again desk hoppers,

Well friends that's another week flown by. Last week I read that we are exactly half way to Christmas, Eeek surely not ! now don't get me wrong I love Christmas but I remember when old people used to say  "ee bah gum these years don't half fly by when  tha gets older" I used to think to myself a years a year how can they get any shorter? I hate to say it but I now know exactly what they meant !!

Anyway enough of Christmas, let me show you what's on my desk.

First off I received another ATC, this is from Kay @   http://505whimsygirl.blogspot.co.uk/
Thank you Kay, love your butterfly girl ATC and the lovely card ( which yes I am sure I will use) and also the feathers from Poppy the parrot which match the colour of the bird on the card to a T.
My T!m tag for June is at the back of my desk as I only just finished it this Monday, think my nickname should be 'last minute Lottie' ! Everything else on my desk is for a card I am making for my daughter Katie's birthday. I am making a pop up box card and am just trying to decide what to decorate it with, hence the flowers and die cuts. Guess when her birthday is ...............TODAY !!!!!!!
I did present her with this card this morning

She thinks 'last minute lottie' suits me

So I had best get off and finish her  'Original' one off, handmade with love birthday card, before she returns home.
Oh ! one more thing I just want to wish my bloggy friend Darnell
@  http://www.djkardkreations.com/

A very HAPPY BIRTHDAY and hope you have a fantabulous day (((((((Mwahh)))))))

Maybe you nice people could hop on by and leave a little birthday happiness too.
I will try to visit your desks but it will probably be in the next few days as we are taking the birthday girl out for a meal this evening.
Have a happy day desk hopping, see ya next time.
Happy Art making
Hugs
Last minute Lottie x

TIm Holtz 12 Tags of 2014 June

Hey, Happy  Monday to you, hope you had a great weekend.
I am so last minute (again) posting my June T!m tag, good job there is the difference in time zones is all I can say.
I followed T!m's tutorial  here  but I must say getting a result that I was happy with from the water colour monoprint technique took me 3 attempts. I used the speckles stencil first but thought the colours were  too muddy so I tried the doily stencil (twice) and didn't like those either. I decided to stamp up my first attempt thinking the butterflies would cover most of the muddy part and see how it looked. I thought it wasn't too bad so carried on and finished it off.
I really enjoyed making this months tag and realise I definitely need those mini Distress inks, it would have  been much easier to  apply smaller amounts of ink to the stencil.
I love the Paula Cheney bow, so easy when you know how eh.
So  am I happy with this tag?
Yes I am!  and the funny thing is, is that the thing I love most about my tag
is that area of muddy inking at the bottom of the tag.
Ahh well alls well that ends well, as they say.
Have a great week
Happy Art making
Hugs Lottie x

NBUS Challenge # 1

I am here with a card today to join in with Darnells brand new NBUS challenge, Darnell coined the acronym heself, which by the way means  "never-before-used schtuff"  as a way to motivate herself  to use products that she had bought, won or received as a gift that had been put away and forgotten about.

 I think most of us will be a tad guilty of that.

 So when she reached the awesome target of 500 followers she wanted to mark the occasion with something different and came up with the "I love to play at NBUS" challenge.

 If you click on the link bellow it will take you to Darnell's blog where you can find out all the information you need to take part.

                                                              NBUS Challenge # 1

 

Challenge # 1 is 

"ANYTHING GOES" and the theme is Friendship.

For my card I have used my NBUS Chocolate Baroque Home Sweet Home stamp set ( I think I've only had them for about two years (eek, slap my wrist)

I coloured the image using distress markers also NBUS and a water brush, I used Tim Holtz Rays embossing folder with distress inks for the background and the sentiment was a digital freebie from' t tinterweb ( bit of Yorkshire speak ). I am unusually quite pleased how it turned out.

So  I must dash I am so last minute I think I will prolly be the last person to use Mr Linky

Thank you Darnell for having this super idea and encouraging us to play along I think it's gonna be a great success. Mwahhh

Happy Art making

Hugs Lottie x

WOYWW # 264

It's Wednesday and that means it's WOYWW  which stands for .......
'What's On Your Work desk Wednesday'.

If you too would like to join in the fun then, take a picture of your work desk, table, etc. and share it with lots of other like minded people.

Hop on over to Julia's blog   Stamping Ground  for more info. Hope to see you there

                                            ............................................................................

Hello desk hoppers.

 

I hope everyone is tickety boo today, I am feeling somewhat less frazzled as it is a little cooler today so I feel less like a wet dishcloth!  Why do we get such horrid humid and muggy days for our summer? 

I haven't been too busy in the craft room department either, but I have managed to photograph the ATC's that I received from the WOYWW anniversary swap.

It is so exciting finding one of these little beauties behind the door.

 

From the left

Anne @ Copper Beech Crafts  

BJ @ ccraftcorner

Darnell @ djkardkreations

Bella @ Bella"s Scrappin Space

 

In the foreground are 6 cutlery pouches that Bella sent me, aren't they great and I love the elephant card, as I told Bella I was born in Africa but don't remember much as we returned to the UK just before my 5th birthday, but I do feel I have a connection with the country and would love to one day go back.

Thank you again ladies for your gorgeous mini works of art x

Looking forward to receiving yours Kay I see it is in the post :))

 

So, also on my desk are are some NBUS stamps, hi Darnell ;) from Chocolate Baroque a T!m Holtz embossing folder and my circle dies that I am trying to create a card with.

You know when you get an idea for creating something in your head, only it doesn't work when you actually try it out ? well I am at that stage at the mo. Ah well, back to the drawing board as they say.  

I will leave you with a pic of the ATC's I made for the swap, 

 

 and hope my swapee's received a colour they liked and are not looking and wishing, "Ooo I wish I got the  yellow, blue, plum, pink, purple one" !!!!! lol

Enjoy your desk hopping

Happy Art making

Hugs

Lottie x

WOYWW #261

It's Wednesday and that means it's WOYWW  which stands for .......
'What's On Your Work desk Wednesday'.

If you too would like to join in the fun then, take a picture of your work desk, table, etc. and share it with lots of other like minded people.

Hop on over to Julia's blog   Stamping Ground  for more info. Hope to see you there.

Hello desk hoppers,

So, are all you organised ATC swappers sitting back and breathing a satisfied sigh after the  flurry of  what to make, what to use, what colour, what style etc. etc. is finally achieved, accomplished and posted. I know some ladies actually posted their ATC swaps in time for their recipients to actually receive them on or even before the actual swap date................ or, are there others out there who like me are playing catchup, I hope I am not alone! Any way I have finally finished mine and they are on there way (sigh). 

Thank you BJ for your perfect ATC love it, yours should be with you soon.

Better get down to business, here is my desk.

My desk is still as it was yesterday, apart from the new goodies at the back that Malcolm the DPD delivery man brought me today. I know what you must be thinking, that I must get a lot of parcels if I am on fist name terms with the delivery man, but no, with DPD you can track your parcel on line and they tell you who your delivery man will be, what number parcel you are, where he is on his route and what time he will arrive, Malcolm arrived within a minute of the expected time. Brilliant!

The butterflies and wink of stella are from a birthday card I made for my friends birthday (see pic below). 

My T!m tag is still on show as................. I only went and "bloomin" got picked as a WINNER on his blog! I couldn't believe it, Woohoo, THE MILKY BARS ARE ON ME!!!  :-)))

That's pretty much it really, the plastic box has card scraps in for using with the butterfly die and the other box has all the waste bits from the die cut which I keep to use on future cards, like this one.

Hopefully next week I will be able to show the ATC cards I made and the swaps I'm looking forward to  receiving.

I'm off now to have a play with my new goodies and make a cuppa to have with my Milky Bar! Seriously, I really want, no make that neeeed one of those bars of chocolate. nom nom! 

Have a happy desk hopping Wednesday and

Happy Art making

Hugs Lottie x

WOYWW # 260

It's Wednesday and that means WOYWW which, I'm sure you are dying  to know, stands for .......
'What's On Your Work desk Wednesday'. If you too would like to join in the fun then, take a pic of your work desk and share it with lots of other 'nosey', I mean like minded people.

Hop on over to Julia's blog   Stamping Ground  for more info. Hope to see you there.

To mark the fifth anniversary of WOYWW, which is this week we are going to trade or gift ATC's if you would like to join in the fun click here for more info.

 

Happy Anniversary Julia

Hi desk hoppers,

It's hard to believe another year has rolled by and WOYWW is in it's 5th year, doesn't time fly when your having fun!  So without further ado...............................Here is my desk.

My desk is fairly tidy (for me) as I just finished my May tag for T!m Holtz 12 Tags of 2014 on Monday and had to seriously tidy up. So on my desk you can see my new DI storage system. They are laser cut ready to assemble MDF, I have made up five of the trays so far only another 45 to go eek! I'm gonna need a bigger bottle of glue me thinks.
The block in the middle of my desk is my home made glue bottle holder, which I found out while assembling, was something I absolutely needed. This was a joint effort by Mr and me, he knocked together some bits of wood and I artistically decorated it with paint and pretty paper, perfect!
The mobile phone stand is all my own work made from a mini easel, chipboard, the same paint and paper line.
The basket to the right has my paraphernalia for T!ms April tag in it (and some of the new shadow press folders from this months tag) err yes I know it's May but I have been otherwise occupied,  I will get a round tuit ....honest!
In front of the basket are my blending blocks another team effort from Mr and me (what would I do without him x)
The picture of a girl on her bike is a cross stitched piece I made for my daughter quite a number of years ago, and is waiting to have the frame re painted to match her bedroom.
The black plaque to the left I bought to maybe alter as it was only £1 as was the ribbon, just loved that shade of green.
And that as they say, is that !
I will be taking part in the ATC swap and look forward  to finding out who my recipient will be.
If anyone else  is interested I would be happy to do a swap with you too just email me with your address.
Enjoy your desk hopping and
Happy Art making
Hugs Lottie x

Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2014 May

Youhoo !!  Hi, Hello there, G'day Bonjour, Gutentag, Ciao, Hola, 

How is everyone on this fine (well I hope it is where you are) Bank holiday Monday? enjoying doing something you like, I hope.

Ok so that's the pleasantries out of the way, now down to business!

I am listening to Glen Campbell while I sit here playing on my blog, I would insert a smiley face here if I only knew how :-) best I can do lol. 

As you can see I have managed to make this months T!m tag, pretty much as per his instructions here.

I  used the oval frame from the Tag and Book plates die and used the same technique as T!m used on January's Pocket Watch Tag, 

 I liked how it turned out but it did seem to take up more space on the tag and I was limited then on how many embellishments I could fit on. I didn't have T!ms wallflower paper stack so used Docrafts Madame Payrauds paper line and shock horror you will no doubt have spotted the imposter trying to blend in as a bona fide T!m trinket, yep the heart wings lol, in my defence they were just the right size and hey I like them ! I used Milled Lavender, Dusty Concord and edged with Frayed Burlap DI though in the photo's my tag looks very pink. Love the new shadow press de-bossing folders, you get a great look and there are some fab words.

I have just spotted in my photo's that the trinket pin is missing from the top of the tag, all I can say is that it refused point blank to be seen on the same tag as "the imposter" and muttered something about did I not know about it's famous lineage, or maybe it's just because I forgot!!

So, overall I enjoyed making T!m's May tag, it was a little bit fiddly and I can't tell you how many times I moved everything round trying to find the right place for each piece  but I suppose there isn't really a right or wrong way and I'm fairly happy with the end result so it's all good and I'm looking forward to the next one.

I'm now off to see if I can upload it over at T!m's place and have a shufty at everybody else's masterpieces. Glen has packed his guitar away and is heading off back to the homestead so I will say ta ta for now. Take care and

Happy Art making

Hugs Lottie x

Purple Poppy

I love the colour purple, I love Poppy's and I love my mum!

 

Hello peeps,

 

Goodness me I can't believe we are into April already, it doesn't seem like two minutes since we took the Christmas tree down, then all too soon the Easter bunny will be hopping along.

So seeing as my New Years resolution was to try and post more frequently (trying but not always succeeding) I thought I would share  this card with you today that I made for Mothers day. 

My mum passed away suddenly in 1995  and I usually make a card for her birthday, mothers day etc.

I recently bought this lovely new Memory box Perky Poppy die and seeing as Poppy's represent remembrance  I thought it would be ideal for my Mothers day card.

I started by cutting the whole shape out of my white card front topper, I then cut a piece of  paper slightly smaller than the topper and used a tape runner all over one side and stuck it to the back of the topper so that the sticky tape is showing through the poppy aperture. I then cut the Poppy out again in purple, green and black card, edged with DI then popped the different pieces back into the main die cut Poppy shape.

I cut the stamens and a couple of the leaves again and decoupaged them for added dimension. 

The sentiment is from Lili of the Valley and to finish off I added some shading round the Poppy and Distress inked around the outside of the card and sentiment. 

I love how it turned out and think mum would like it too. 

As I already said, I love purple, I love poppy's and I love my mum.

 

By the way I must say a big "THANK YOU" (said in a hi pitched giddy voice) to Katie and Oliver for my own wonderful Mothers day gift of,  the full set of t!ms Distress Markers !!!!!

Woohoo! doing a happy dance :-))

Hope your week is filled with crafty delights too.

 

Happy Art making

Hugs 

Lottie x

Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2014 - March

Hello peeps,

Well here we are once again, t!m tag time. 

I decided to make both of t!ms tags, the full strength first generation stamped tag is on the left and the paler second generation tag is on the right. I love the Bird Feather stamps, the nest is so detailed and stamps wonderfully.

 I followed t!ms tutorial here  but if I'm honest I'm not too sure  I like my efforts, to me the first tag looks too "grubby" ? I think maybe I over spritzed it. And the second tag is too "wishy washy"? 

I know what your going to say, "that's the nature of second generation stamping". Mmm, don't know, maybe I over smudged it,  or maybe I'm just too critical of my own work.

I didn't have t!ms word bands, so used silver card and stamped a couple of word stamps from Debbi Moore, then die cut with the Spellbinder double ended tag die. My stapler wouldn't go through the tag so I had to put them in manually a bit faffy but it worked. I don't have any of t!ms tissue tape (shock horror!) so with the "wishy washy tag" I stamped onto some Scotch magic tape, which I thought turned out pretty good but after sticking it down you can't really tell, and looks like I stamped straight onto the tag. On the "grubby" tag I used  some butterfly trim coloured with DI. I also coloured the twine and my raffia ribbon to match.

All in all I really enjoyed the process and the making of these tags, I'm learning new techniques and styles and that is what it's all about, I guess! Oh, and enthusiasm I have lots of enthusiasm, which I have somehow passed on to my daughter lol, she too wanted to have a "play".

So I thought I would share with you her first ever tag.

I LOVE IT !!!  Well done Katie, You see, I told you what would happen when I dragged you round the craft shows with me didn't I !  Love you x

Mmm but wait, there is a down side to this happy union.  Katie told me today she was excited to think that all my craft stash would be hers, when I'm...... dead!!!!

Wishing you all a great weekend

Happy Art making

Hugs to all

Lottie x

Anita's Card

Hello peeps,

As it says in the title, this card is for Anita and if you are wondering who Anita is, I would have to say........... I don't know!

Let me explain.

I am bloggie friends with Darnell over at djkardkreations, Anita of My papercraft World  is also a bloggie friend of Darnell's. 

Anita celebrated her birthday in February but apparently kept that snippet of information to herself.

Darnell, when she found out, being the thoughtful soul that she is, (and also happens to have an InLinkz button)  offered to host a surprise belated birthday party, so that Anita's friends and any one who would like to leave a little blog love in the form of a card can do so via said InLinkz button 

Are you with me so far?

Now I don't know about you, but I for one love receiving cards and think this is a lovely idea.

So, this is my card for you Anita, I don't know you personally but through Darnell I now know who you are and  I wish you a Happy belated Birthday and hope you enjoy all the lovely cards from friends and fellow bloggers who wanted to leave you a little crafty love.

If you would like to link a card and leave a bit of crafty love for Anita just follow the link to Darnell's blog.

Wishing you all a happy weekend

Happy Art making

Hugs to all 

Lottie x

Tim Tag #2

Hello peeps,

After making a version of t!m's February tag as a Valentine for my hubby (see previous post) I realised I would need another Feb tag as I am going to try and 'tag' along (pardon the pun) with t!m for all 12 tags, and would like to keep them all together at the end. Any way I followed t!ms Tutorial with just a few differences and thought it turned out not too bad. The chalkboard technique went better than I expected, though I seem to have lost some of the definition, I think through handling. I also wish I had put more colour on the stencilled background too, I had a problem with the ink not being wet enough to hold the embossing powder, maybe I faffed about too long lol.

I enjoyed myself though and that is what it's all about don't you think?  Looking forward to March for the next instalment !

I also recieved Happy mail today from my card penpal Darnell who is a master in  the art of creating beautiful QACAS cards.

She also has one of the most entertaining blogs, and never fails to bring a smile to my face and leave me in a happier place.Thank you Darnell.   mwah!

Happy Art making
Hugs to all
Lottie x

Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2014 - February

Hello peeps,

Well, here is February's tag for Tim's 12 Tags of 2014, and I've managed to kill two birds with one stone, as they say, because this tag is what I gave my hubby for Valentine's day.

I didn't have most of t!m's ingredients to make the Feb tag so I bought the mini hearts die, which cost me £13.49 eeek!  if I had been smart enough to predict t!m would use hearts for his Valentine tag (derrr) I could have bought it from Country View Crafts for £7.99 free postage before it sold out.(idiot) I also bought the hearts stencil and  prepared to improvise.

I cut my tag 4 1/2 x 8 and made a mat with one of the designs from Docrafts Madame Peyrauds paper pack ( love these papers ) and stencilled the hearts over the top. I used the pocket watch die and one of the mini hearts to cut the heart in the middle and followed last months technique for the effects apart from the heart which I coloured with red alcohol ink. 

The wings were a pair of earrings I bought as I thought they could be used on a project sometime ;-) 

The border at the bottom is foil covered card and punched with a Fiskars heart punch, but I've only just noticed in the photo, that the hearts are upside down Ooops! wrong style of punch. 

My hubby hadn't noticed but said if it made me feel better he would hang the tag upside down !!!

The flower is cut with a Spellbinder flower die and embossed and inked to match the PW. I wonder if you can guess what the circular flower centre is (was) ?? It's a metal button from a pair of jeans and the the metal emblies in the bottom corners are rivets from same said jeans. I can't tell you how long I laboured getting those damn things off, and I swore (literally) I wasn't doing that again, but I really like them on this tag so maybe I will. lol I added the little red metallic flower to match the red of the heart. The from the heart sentiment is from t!ms Simple Sayings set and the other sentiment is from a Hero Arts set called Special Time. Last but not least I coloured the trim to match and stamped it with xox. I am really enjoying making these tags and I will be trying t!ms February tag techniques after all as I  received a happy surprise in the post last week from my Daughter, of t!ms Random Quotes stamp set, and a jar of  Antiquties frosted crystal. Thank you Katie, LoveYou xx

I wish you  a Happy week ahead and hope the weather will be a little kinder to us all.
Happy art making
Hugs to all
Lottie x

Coffee Break

Hello Peeps,

Thought I would share this card I made, the image is a Lili of the Valley stamp called Coffee Time which is very apt for me at the moment as I have acquired an addiction....... a coffee addiction . I have always been a tea  kinda girl, but one particularly cold day I decided to have a mid afternoon milky coffee. Little did I realise how quickly I would be hooked, now every day I find myself clock watching until  'COFFEE TIME' .

                      Hello my name is Lottie and I am a COFFEE HOLIC !!!

Any way back to the card, 

I coloured the image with my ProMarkers and die cut it with a Spellbinders Hexagon die then cut another which I ran through a dots EF to make a mat. The swirl is a Die-namics die cut. I embellished with punched flowers also embossed with the dots folder and coloured with DI. The Special Day ticket is a digital image from Pink Gem, and the  backing paper is from Fancy Pants Design which came free with Cardmaking and papercraft magazine, a bit of gross grain ribbon and  voila.

Lastly here is the 'something' I said I would post, that I thought my Blog buddy Darnell would find amusing. This so put me in mind of you Darnell with your funny interpretation of words.

 I don't know if  any of you will recognise yourselves  in any of the below,  but personally I scored a nine!

My Travel Plans for 2014-2015 

I have been in many places, but I've never been in Cahoots. 
Apparently, you can't go alone. You have to be in Cahoots with someone.

I've also never been in Cognito.  I hear no one
recognises you there.

I have, however, been in Sane.   They don't have an airport; you have to be driven there.  I have made several trips there, thanks to my children, friends, family and work.

I would like to go to Conclusions, but you have to jump, and I'm not too much on physical activity anymore.

I have also been in Doubt.   That is a sad place to go, and I try not to visit there too often.

I've been in Flexible, but only when it was very important to stand firm.

Sometimes I'm in Capable, and I go there more often as I'm getting older.

One of my favourite places to be is in Suspense! It really gets the adrenalin flowing and pumps up the old heart!  At my age I need all the stimuli I can get!

I may have been in Continent, and I don't remember what country I was in.   It's an age thing.   They tell me it is very wet and damp there.

PLEASE DO YOUR PART!
Today is one of the many National Mental Health Days throughout the year.  You can do your bit by remembering to send this e-mail to at least one  unstable person. 
My job is done !

Happy art making

Hugs to all x

My name is Lottie and I am a COFFEE HOLIC !!!