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 !!!

Tim Holtz 12 tags of 2014 - January

Hello peeps,

Well I have to say I am thrilled to have  made my FIRST Tim Holtz tag. I have wanted to join in the fun for some time but felt a little nervous when looking at everyone else's wonderful contributions. Any way I took the plunge and I really enjoyed myself.

For my first effort I tried to stick religiously to Tims tutorial, but had to improvise a bit as I didn't have the stamp he used or one that was suitable so I asked my friend google for help and created this quote in Microsoft word, my hubby added the clock for me which I really liked. I didn't have the Type charms or remnant rub numbers either so improvised again by creating the text in M Word  then punched it out and stuck it to the back of one of Tims sprocket gears, and finally stuck a Papermania domed sticker on the front. I couldn't believe my luck, it fit perfectly in the hole! The only other thing I did was to stamp some chevrons onto my trim as I thought it looked a bit plain.

 

I would just like to say a big thank you  Anne  for inspiring me, through your blog and beautiful pieces of art work, to try out for myself something new.

For all the other crafters out there who make and post their wonderful art creations in whatever form,

thank you :- To be inspired is great, to inspire is incredible !

I loved making Tims tag but it's made me realise my Tim Holtz list of  "things"  I  "need"  is gonna have to get a whole lot  longer lol.

Happy art making

Hugs to all

Lottie x