BIA Note Book

Here is another note book I have made for a very special little girl. I took a photo of her little chicken, printed it on photo paper then mounted it on card. The paler patch at the side is 'light' glare from the thick acetate cover I made to go over the photo. I punched out the holes in the BIA, ditto for pages in the note book. Made a back cover, put it all together and added the ribbons - she is only a youngster and likes bright colours and pink - so I added a strand of pink ribbon too - plus a couple of silver charms.

It doesn't sound like much work - but it took me a few hours in the afternoon.

I know it isn't all arty farty - it's not meant to be - its a little present - but I know she will love it!

BIA Note Book - Mermaid Goddess

If you click on the image you get a better idea of the 'wet' looking texture. Any white spots are reflections of the light - as the embossing is really lovely and shiny.



I have spent all day making some BIA note books. In fact I have been busy doing quite a few things behind the scenes - but as they are presents I can't risk posting them on here.

The photo above is of one I made earlier - and the photo below is the same notebook which I 'tweaked' a bit today.



This took me hours to make - but I am quite pleased with how it turned out in the end.

The imaged is stamped and embossed - and in 'the hand' its a great texture and looks lovely with a 'wet' look to it all. Took me so long to cut, make, and decorate the covers. I tied up the threads twice then added the fish bone and hand made with love silver charms. I spent a lot of time trying to create an initial for it - but after three aborted attempts I gave up and put the silver charms on.

As it will be a present and it's going in a box - it qualifies for this week's challenge in One Powerful Hour.

Noel Accordian Christmas Card

Over on Time for Crafting They have an online magazine - and a forum which I belong to.


This month's magazine has a down load template for an Accordian NOEL Christmas card - it really took my fancy as it was something different - so I thought I would give it a go. There is also a template for a little envelope - sorry I forgot to take a photo - but you all know what a square envelope looks like don't you?

This white one was made by Sara - who hosts the site - she has run it through an embossing machine.

It gives it a great texture - and looks fantastic in 'real life'

The templates are in GSD and PDF - so use your 'Robo' or similar to cut it out for you - or use the PDF file if you use scissors like me.

Here is my version - I don't have an embossing machine so I improvised.



I followed the instructions and cut mine out using white card - then I coloured it using Distressed Red Brick - by putting some on a non-stick mat, spritzing with water, then dragging the colour onto the letters with a sponge.


Using the same ink pad, I stamped the letters with a pattern, then triple embossed them.


Using the same colour to stamp with, gave it a nice vintage velvet look. Looks so much better in natural light and feels great.

I outlined the letters with a gold pen.


I made some ivy leaves this morning - to put on top of the 'N' and bottom of the 'L' but I decided that I preferred it just the way it was.


In fact I am not evening going to send it to someone - I think I will punch a hole in the top of the first and last letters, add a gold grommit, and some ribbon and hang it up as a decoration.

I might even cut out individual letters - stick them to a length of ribbon and make a garland - if I get time!

So why don't you pop over to Time for Crafting, have a preview look at the magazine - and have a nosey on the forum - its a very friendly place to visit.

Christmas with a 'twist'

It is the last day of the Christmas Term at the class I attend each week. As this is the last Christmas as our tutor is retiring at the end of the academic year, I wanted to make it a memorable one for her.




There are 15 of us in the class, and it is the norm to pay £1 or £1.50 towards a bunch of flowers, so I offered to make an arrangement instead as it will last longer.


I only joined the class a few weeks ago - but have really enjoyed it.

This arrangement is for a dining table centre piece. The foliage I have used is:
holly, ivy (wild and variegated), rosemary, conifer, myrtle, robinta and bottle brush. (I might have missed some out -basically its greenery from the garden and the wild ivy and conifer came from a alley way in the village.)



The flowers are orchids, and deep red spray carnations. I have to say it smells wonderful and Christmassey.



This arrangement is HUGE and covers my range cooker top. It just about fits into a 3ft wide box and it is 18inches deep.

Of course I have blown the budget with all those orchids - but hey - I think it was worth it. Do you?

One Powerful Hour

The challenge this week on One Powerful Hour is Altered Dominoes and here is mine.




Which I have made into a vintage pendant

A Moment in Time

Lime, pink, and chocolate - for This Thursday's Challenge



I took this photo before I finished it - as it will take me a couple of days to complete this book cover for a BIA notebook I intend making with it. This is the before photo.

It will get at least two coats of varnish - which takes a day for each coat to dry, but its worth it as it not only gives it a lovely 'oil painting' look - but also gives it a wipe clean surface.

I used milk chocolate and plain chocolate colours - I love all chocolate!

Tim Holtz clock mask - used it for the first time!

Hope it makes your mouth water!

Another sort of art - Flower Arranging

I spent a pleasant couple of hours this afternoon in a village hall flower arranging.
The theme this time was Christmas - and there were all different shapes and styles of arrangements being made.

We just had to do whatever we wanted - but had to bring a in picture or photo of the design we were going for.




The spikes of yellow flowers are Mahonia, and the foliage you can see is bay, rosemary, Australian bottle brush sprayed gold and some hypericum berries. You can click on any photo for a close up






Yellow cymbidium orchids and red spray carnations.
This will reside in my porch on the window ledge where it will keep nice and cool and will last right up to to and over the Christmas holidays.

You can also see conifer, variegated holly from my garden and fir cones sprayed gold.


Its a bit early for Christmas decorations for me - but this, I feel, is not a traditional arrangement.

When the flowers fade I can remove them and the ribbon, and by adding a few flowers, it will last through spring.



And the cost? Not as much as you may think.

Stem of Orchids £4.95
Spray carnations £2.50
Foliage from my garden and hedgerow

The ribbon I already had - so too the candle which is years old.

And the best bit is - I have enough of the above flowers to make either one more large arrangement like this - or two smaller ones for either side!

The porch smells amazing when you walk in there with all that foliage.

Something completely different!

This Thursdays Challenge is 'Playing with Paint'



This is something completely different for me! If you click the photo you can see the embossing texture.

Colour washed background paper.

Then I used my just arrived Tim Holtz masks - aren't they BIG! I don't do big - and when I saw them I thought - I won't be using them! But encouraged by my very talented friend Paula and being snowed in - I thought I would give them a go!

I placed a tiny part of the mask onto the paper and then applied more paints in different colours.



With a white pen and using the bandanna method, (it was my first attempt) I dotted around the masked areas. Then embossed the areas which were outside the mask.

It's given the book cover a lovely texture on the dark areas which emphasise the masked area.

I assembled the notebook with my BIA and added an acetate cover - to finish it off.

UK Stampers Challenge

The challenge on UK Stampers is to make a piece of art using an old stamp which you have not used before.



The photo stamp I used on this note book I made, was one I bought second hand on impulse.

I had to take the photo in artificial light unfortunately - which does not show it to its best advantage.

I stamped the vintage image with sepia archival ink, then embossed it - the spots you see are not spots on the image but where the light is catching the embossing.

I then 'inked' all over the cover, and embossed it with gold to give it a vintage 'leather' look about it - well that was the aim and added a gold strip of ribbon.

In 'real life' it looks so much better - clear embossed in the middle with a clear photo stamped image - and the textured gold page.

Blog Candy

Angel Drummer is celebrating her birthday with a blog cand giveaway! Happy birthday

Shades of the sea - 'Friend' tag.

I can't get a true to life picture of this, couldn't take it in daylight - so this is a scan.

I have shaded it from left to right with sea green, blue, then sea blue - then stamped it and added the wording.


The wording cut outs are not are showing up quite white - think its the scan light and flash light, in reality they are shaded with sea green and blue to match the tag.

Matchbox project - Blending Foam Storage Box

Remove all the matches from the boxes and store in a sealed tin for safety.
Glue your boxes together - Use any multiples you like. I decided on 16 boxes.


Cut a strip of paper to cover the top and sides and overlap at the bottom about 1/4 inch. I decided to decorate my strip but you can use pre-printed paper of course.
For a stack of boxes this size my strip was the length of an A4 sheet cut 2" wide - which made it easy! You need to cut a strip to go across the bottom too (on top of the overlap from the longer strip.)



Next I glued the strip and covered the box overlapping at the bottom, then glued a piece to cover the bottom


Once inked and stamped I decided it looked a bit pale - so added another layer of ink
and over stamped it.



And then one more! As I am a mucky worker and often have ink on my fingers I painted the top with Shellac to protect the surface.



Then all I have to do now is to ink the little drawers as I go - with a blending foam pad then pop them into the appropriate box.

The match boxes push out from either end with your finger or you can add a little brad.





On the reverse of each box I put the make and colour of the ink I have used on the pad.

BIA Note Book - Vintage Gold

I did another little notebook - today - again just experimenting and it fits the challenge on This Thursday which is Marvelous Mettalics.

I used a piece of scrap paper I had - which was pale blue to start with. Dabbed on a bit of colour here and there, then stamped it, and embossed in black the 'lady'.

Swished over some gold and then heated up the embossing again so that it came through the gold.

Stamped and embossed the patterns at the top, then with a complimentary chalk blue/green, I stamped and embossed a little trio of leave stamp which came with my prize Trees Stamps from Stamping up Stamps around the page to create a vintage look wall paper effect.

This positively shimmers in daylight sunshine.

Elaine is having a birthday giveaway

Elaine is generously giving away some blog candy to celebrate her 40th birthday.

Her blog is so inspiring - take a look HERE

BIA Note Books

I have been experimenting and making a few note books.



Some photos make the books look a bit 'wonky' - its where I had them standing up like tents - they are fine in real life. The one above is embossed with gold.




This one has been stamped then heavily embossed with clear powder. It has a lovely effect in 'real life' and looks very textured.






This one has been stamped and painted - took quite a while - and the colours are more subtle in natural light.



This last one has been stamped and embossed too - and it is hard to see but I have outlined the book edges too and embossed those - again for a nice texture which makes the image 'jump' off the paper

Tree Stamps Prize - From Time for Crafting

I subscribed to the online Time for Crafting magazine and entered a competition and won a set of Tree stamps.

I was so excited - they are wonderful stamps - I just couldn't wait to try them out.

Here is the first thing I have made with them - so far!



The far skyline and tree line I have made misty purposely - so it looks like an autumnal misty sunrise. (which you can't see in the photo) I achieved it by swiping some white chalk over the layered colours.

I drew some birds - some of which got caught in the wire silly me - I should have punched the holes first!

There is clear embossing to give it texture and in the foreground I have stamped a clear embossed tree.

Inside there is another image I stamped and painted with inks. The stamp is from the Goddess plate I have used quite a bit lately.


Her face is flesh coloured but doesn't show up in the photo.

The background painting is a dark shade of brown at the bottom gradually fading into a watery pale hue ar the top - and all with green tints just washed over to give a nice autumnal soft effect. For some reason it looks grey and blotchy in the photo!

Think I might make some more of these.

Bamboo tiles/Dominoes

On the One Powerful Hourthe challenge is to make a Christmas ornament in one hour.




So take your pick - these took an hour each to make - over several days though.




This is the reverse of the bamboo tile below. I can see a left side of a face in my marble-ing - can you? I can see half her face peeking out from a door - an eye, tip of her nose and half a mouth - and the has an old fashioned hair style - long and wavy right down to her shoulder.

Oh - now on the right hand side of her, I can see a young child (boy?)with hands in the pockets of a long white coat that reaches down to the floor - over dark clothes.

His head is tilted downwards as though he is looking at the floor,and he/she has a floppy fringe, or it might be a hat. To the right is a white wall like the side on the house and he/she is walking on a white pavement. LOL Or is it a man in a white coat coming to take me away!

Its a pure fluke

Does that ever happen to you - seeing faces etc in clouds or flames or wallpaper?




Each little tile has at least three layers of varnish - some have five coats.
This little lady I have made into a mobile phone charm.




Each coat of varnish takes 24 hours, at least, to dry.



And I can only do one side at a time obviously.




Although some images appear on more than one tile - every single one is different. I put gold or pewter leaf on them, beads or charms, to make them all individual.

They are such a joy to alter - and patience is needed - in bucket loads.



I have been experimenting as you can see - and not all of them are Christmas themed - and not all of them are finished yet - so come back soon and see how they all turn out.

View from my studio window soon after 6am today

I was in my studio early this morning putting another coat of varnish on the bamboo tiles.

When I looked up I saw this



I ran indoors for my camera.




It looked even better in 'real life'



In a few minutes when the sun rose - it was gone




I am so glad I didn't miss this



Isn't it wondrous? It made me feel so happy - and was such a wonderful experience.

There was total silence - the birds were just waking up - and as soon as the sun was up they started singing - I felt like singing myself.

By 9am it was dull and grey and raining.