Wednesday 12 April 2017

Hello Blogland

Oh my, I can not believe it has been a year since I last posted on my blog! Wherever has that time gone?
Anyway I am back now with a card I made for some dear friends who recently moved house.
Luckily Darnell of http://www.djkardkreations.com/  is running her NBUS #11 challenge

 
and as I have used some of my Never Before Used Schtuff  on my card I qualify to play along.

I apologize for this photo, I wasn't set up properly for taking a photo and I have had to crop it really close to get rid of  the clutter around it so it looks a little odd (I think). 
 


 Maybe this looks better?


Mmmm not sure. Anyway......

 My NBUS is
Tim Holtz Window and Windowbox die
Tim Holtz Small Tattered Florals Thinlits dies
Memory box Woodland Branch Die

Other
Brick Embossing Folder
Distress Inks
Various flower and leaf punches for window box
Wooden Planter embellishment
My Minds Eye Ooh La La PP

I enjoyed making this card for our friends Janice and Philip, glad we could help them with the move and enjoyed our evening with them in the pub later. Wishing them all the very best in their new home.

After being MIA for so long I hope I still pop up on a few blog lists, so if you have called in to say hello a big thank you to you for your visit.

Till next time
Happy Art Making
Hugs Lottie x

Thursday 10 March 2016

NBUS = Bird Crazy Birthday Card

Hello Blog Friends, 
Just popping in to share this Birthday card I made for Jim's birthday I thought I would enter it into Darnell's NBUS challenge #6 here at djkardkreations .


NBUS is a anachronism that stands for .......
Never Before Used Schtuff  and that is mostly what I used for Jim's card.


This happy little chappie is of course one of Mr Tim Holtz crazy birds, I got him into the party mood by dressing him up in a party hat and matching tie (crazy bird not Jim!) 
I coloured him with Distress markers gave him some odd googly eyes and popped him up on a boingy spring for fun  (Jim not crazy bird)!!! 
Boy do those Distress markers do what they say on the tin, after spilling his party drink down his front whilst doing the Hokey Kokey dance he was well and truly blended!
Least said soonest mended I think! 

Soooo my Never Before Used Stuff are
Tim Holtz Crazy Bird and Crazy Things Stamps
Tim Holtz Happy Holiday Thinlits Die
Hobbycraft, musical notes stamp 
Other
Basic Grey Sweet Threads paper pad
Tim Holtz Distress core'dination card
Tim Holtz ShadowPress Sentiments set
Tim Holtz Distress markers and inks
Action Wobble spring

I would just like to Congratulate Darnell on NBUS challenge  #6 and it's hugely successful response.
Thanks for your visit today hope you have a great weekend
Happy Art Making
Hugs Lottie x


Friday 5 February 2016

Crafty Cardmakers Challenge -156


Hello Blog friends, 
After visiting Angela's blog  here  aka Felix the Crafty Cat last week and seeing her post for the Crafty Cardmakers Challenge  #156. I decided to make this card to play along.
The theme is Punches and/or Dies


I have used both die's and punches to create a card which is feminine and reminds me a little of the  Victorian style of cards.
My elements are
Tim Holtz :-     Caged Bird die
Marianne Designs :-    Swirl Leaf
Sizzix :-    Butterfly #12
Stampin Up:-     Bird builder punch  (leaves)
Crafty Individuals :-    Springtime background papers
Sentiment :-     Dimension Fourth (I think)
Flowers and bling from stash

I am linking up to play along in the http://craftycardmakers.blogspot.co.uk/

Thanks for looking, have a great weekend
Happy Art Making
Hugs Lottie x

Wednesday 3 February 2016

WOYWW #348

 
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.

 Hellow desk hoppers, 
It's been a while since I joined in with some desk hopping, so here I am today with my desk.
I am just in the process of making a card for the Crafty Cardmakers challenge so on my desk are various die's and punch, papers and flowers etc. At the back of my desk there is a new stencil from Docrafts some new, sale die's (not put away yet) my jar of Starburst Sours sweets (love these) a glasses case that I want to try and re-cover, a stack of embelishments and my January Tim tag along with the stamps I used.
Hope you have a great day and have fun desk hopping, t, I'm off to do some desk hopping myself so see you soon. 
Happy Art Making
Hugs Lottie x

Monday 1 February 2016

Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2016 January

Hello blog friends, 
Just making a quick post to share my 1st Tim tag of 2016.

I followed Tim's tutorial  Here
He says -
 "i’m going to be taking you back into the archives of my blog to explore techniques that might be new discoveries for some, and re-discoveries for others.  each month i will be “remixing” two previous 12 tags techniques to show you an entirely different outcome using the same techniques.  i plan to highlight new ideas i may have, perhaps show a new product that might exist now to achieve a similar effect, or just helpful hints i’ve learned since i originally shared the technique.  my goal is to empower your creative way of thinking and remind you that inspiration is right at your fingertips".

So, having spent a few happy hours in the archives with Tim, exploring his techniques, re-discovering the things he taut me and waiting with bated breath to be whisked away on a whirlwind of new discoveries I'm feeling empowered and inspired, my creative juice is flowing and with my fingers tingling in anticipation, here goes! 

I remember these two techniques from last year and in fact the Industrious Metal technique is one of my favourites,  though the Chalkboard Technique is one of my least favourite.

I used the gears from the Industrial Blueprint set of stamps for my image and  had to throw away my first attempt at the Chalkboard Technique before realizing my second attempt which wasn't much better could be covered by the decoupaged layer which was my third attempt and as it turned out was the best one,so as the saying goes 'third time lucky' was for me! 
For the top and bottom part of the tag  I used  a Cuttlebug  (Clockworks) embossing folder, and managed to complete the Industrial Technique without a hitch. 
The gear embellishment is cut from Tim's Gadget Gears die and put through the same Industrial process  (really happy with how that turned out). 
I didn't have any appropriate coloured ribbon so sprayed what I had with some DecoArt media carbon black mister along with a spritz of water and after drying I ran some brushed pewter Distress Stain over the top (love how that turned out too)  a gunmetal sort of grey with a subtle shimmery sparkle, just a pity it doesn't show that in the photo's. All that was left was to add a couple of metal gears and a word band. 
Eh Voila! my January 2016 tag is finished.
Ta Dah!

I thought I had done my best not to have the little smiley face in the middle of the cog but I see now I have uploaded the photos that he was determined he would. It is rather cute though dontcha think?
 
I am cutting it fine I know, that's one of my New Years resolutions out of the window already. 
All I can say is it's a good job Arizona is 7 hours behind us!!
Thank you for the ride Tim!
Hope you have a great week
Happy Art Making
Hugs Lottie x

 Edited
Can you believe it blogger decided to teach me a lesson by refusing to play nicely. I could not get it to publish my post last night, Sunday, until now 11.40 am  Monday so of course I have missed being able to link up at Mr Tim's.
I have heard these things happen but I've never had a problem until now.
So lesson learned I must not leave things till the last minute.
TTFN

Tuesday 26 January 2016

Made but not Blogged !

Hello Blog friends,
I hope you are well and surviving the January blues?! 
January always seems to be a miserable month everything seems so drab once the Christmas decorations are down the presents are put away, people are back at work and wondering how long until the next holidays and the weather decides to give us everything except sunshine.
It's hard to feel motivated by anything! well almost anything as there is always crafting and the excuse to try out the new craft products that father Christmas so thoughtfully left under the Christmas tree. ( only if you were good of course)
So that is how this post came about. I received a new camera and took some practice pics and when I uploaded them to my computer I ended up sorting through all my uploaded pictures and found the following pictures of cards I made for friends but had not put them on my blog.
A lot of people show their favorite makes of the year, so I thought I would post these cards today.
WARNING! picture heavy but not much reading.
Anne of  http://bollyanne.blogspot.co.uk/   and   Darnell of http://www.djkardkreations.com/  you may well recognize some of these lol.

 



























So there you have it, my first post of 2016 showcasing  cards from last year and even a couple from the year before that. 
And here are some of the pictures of the Barron family on Christmas Day

Jim, Rufus and Jasper, Jim is the one with least hair!
Number 1 Son Oliver
Favorite Daughter Katie
 Tree and Rudolf



Stella, Rufus and me
 Santa Stella-me-bobs
 Reggie
He's behind you!


 So now we have come full circle, I  think I need more practice with the camera or at the very least get my subjects to stay still lol.

I hope your January is going well so far 
Thank you for your visit today
Happy Art Making
Hugs Lottie x


Friday 18 September 2015

A card for NBUS

Never-Before-Used-Schtuff (Stamps, Dies, EFs, etc.) 


 
Hello friends and a Happy Friday to you all.
I am whooshing (that's a Darnell-ism as if you didn't know) in today to link up my card with Darnell's of djkardkreations NBUS challenge. If by chance you are wondering who Darnell is and what does NBUS stand for let me explain.
 Darnell is one of the most entertaining bloggers (IMHO) in blog land, she runs a happy, entertaining, fun and witty blog with never a dull moment in sight, and as an added bonus she happily shares her amazing clean and simple style of card making art on an almost daily basis. Add to that the regular photographs she posts of the wonders she sees from her Playhouse and the tall tales she tells of her sidekick and muse, Hammy, who resides there, well aren't you just dying to go check her out ?!
 
But wait ! I haven't told you about NBUS. 
This is an acronym coined by Darnell and stands for Never-Before-Used-Schtuff and the challenge is to encourage us to use our NBUS from the back of the cupboard - bottom of the draw - top of the wardrobe - under the bed stash and create something with it.
If you want to go check out Darnell and the NBUS challenge click  HERE 
This challenge is massively supported by her many friends (followers) and this time for challenge number 5 has many well known sponsors who are generously donating prizes too. 
 
The Card
This is my first attempt at using Brusho powder inks and I would  like to thank Eileen Godwin of Eileen's Crafty Zone   for the inspiration to try these powdered inks. Her art work is amazing.
 
 

I used :-
Penny Black - Floral Display stencil  (NBUS)
Brusho - Lime Green and Lemon    (NBUS)
Clearley Besotted - Sentiment
 
I wish I had used a plain white card stock for this card front  instead of  pearlescent.  I don't like the gold sheen of the card with the Brusho colours, also the black ink didn't cover very well on this card, I had to try several different black inks'  and it didn't photograph very well either.
I have a lot to learn, ah well, I know for next time eh !

Congratulations Darnell on your 5th NBUS challenge and the great response it's achieved.
Hey you've even managed to drag me out of the doldrums and make a card. lol
 
Thanks for stopping by, have a happy weekend  and
Happy Art Making 
Hugs Lottie x