Hurrah!! blogger has let me in again!!!

Has anybody else been having trouble getting photos to load on their blog. I have spent the last few days trying to get in but no good - blogger won...
BUT..... just now when I tried I managed so here goes - lets hope I get to the end before it has revenge on me or something!!!

This morning I woke to a most beautiful sky coming in through the bedroom windows but as I reached for my camera my cat Tia decided she wanted to be in the photo too...This is the beautiful sun rise I was trying to capture...just look at that paintbox coloured sky... Whew! - yesterday was one busy day for me. In the morning I had a group of ladies from Jalon U3A to learn about distressing...
they bought a Big Shot machine and dies from me earlier in the year and I did a class for them then to demonstrate that...
and now they want to progress with their card making so I added a little distressing to the die cutting and you have some fabulous cards and some very happy ladies...
and then the usual youngsters class in the evening...
I haven't done tea-bag folding for years (I was asked how to do it by one of the regulars a week or two ago) and I taught the littlies to make a pillow box and a card and some teabag folded flowers and it was a really quiet class!!! Just look at the concentration.
We had a problem in the loo last week as you could hear water running but couldn't work out where from...well today I had a builder with a Kangol hammer and a plumber and we now have a few tiles missing from the floor but...Friday ladies if you are reading this... the water is back on and the loo is functioning again - no more trips to Mr Punch, the local cafe/bar to use their ladies.
Bye for now
Sue

The last couple of days

I've been working hard making up for the down-time when I was so empty.
Yesterday morning as well as teaching a class of children and serving in the shop - with help from the lovely Yaa - I made four Christmas cards for my immediate family - 3 children and Mum - all very similar but all different and using the lovely Autumn limited edition colour Distress Inks - we have just a couple still in stock at the shop ladies - the ripe persimmon colour really brings the tattered floral die into life as a poinsettiaIn Friday morning's class the ladies made three of my twelve Christmas tags - here's one of them...very bright and cheery...6 happy ladies showing their tags...Mu, Maxine, Ruth, Pat, Shirley and Rena...I love the colours on this one... this looks so pale but it's just a bad photo...

Well, the washing and ironing is done, Craig has been voted off the X-factor - boohoo! and now I am going to snuggle up in bed with my kindle and find a new book to read - just finished The Winner by David Baldacci about a lottery scandal - very interesting

Bye for now

Sue

my mojo has returned...

Woohoo - it seems that painting the wooden boxes worked as my mojo is back - the ideas are now tumbling fast as ever - faster than I can make the samples.
With teaching classes and working in the shop - there are just not enough hours in the day now.
I found a Maya Rd accordian album that I had attached Basic Grey kraft papers to in a drawer and as soon as I saw it I knew what I wanted to do with it - strange as it had sat there unloved for absolutely ages!
Fast as you like I unclipped the jump rings and started by distressing all the edges with a new favourite Distress Ink Pad - Gathered Twigs - one of the limited edition for autumn range.
This is the front of the album with a grunge stamped man - glossy accented later -
a bit of stamping and a bit more die cutting,a shrink plastic dangly and a metal star.The inside pages came together really well with more stamping, die cutting, a few bits ' n'
bobs and some Broken China and Shabby Shutters to liven it all upLast night I had three very quietbut very giggly girls to class. They were making Christmas cards using Wet Look Markers.

Here are Arlette, Alice and Celine showing the zillions of cards they made...
and here they are giggling again as Alice dropped hers.....

and here's the sample board they were using to make their cards...... loads of quick and easy and light to post Christmas cards- just what you need.....

Mum has hurt her back and Colin has gone to sort her out so I need to give the littlies their dinner so

Bye for now

Sue

Christmas in September

These are my first four Christmas cards for 2011. I shall be posting more of my Christmas projects throughout the week so keep watching... Bye for now

Sue

Just one word...

TIRED!!! so I will just show you this week's project and then buzz off for a much needed restso Bye for now

Sue

3rd week of SSSS challenge

For those of who who do not know what the SSSS challenge is I suggest you visit simonsaysstampandshow.blogspot.com and see for yourself - it's a newish challenge blog just overflowing with great ideas and artwork. It's a site for people who love Tim Holtz, Wendy Vecchi, 7 Gypsies and Graphic 45 and all things vintage. Each week a challenge is issued and anyone can put a photo of their artwork on there and each week some lucky people win prizes - this is my way of doing something for myself. I make so many things to demonstrate techniques for my classes I need an outlet just for me to be me and this suits me down to the ground.

The theme this week is Anything Tim Holtz inspired - and I remembered he made a quilt out of grungepaper so thought I would try to use that as my inspiration. This started out as a 4 x 4 book cover - I had too many images and ideas so I then decided to use the 7.5 x 5 Bind-It-All covers and ended up with the 8 x 8 ones!!

This is the back and front cover unbound as I haven't yet decided what to do with the inside pages. I made the tag to go on the inside front but liked it so much I decided it would be good on the back cover instead. The tag has been inked with Distress Inks over Tim's mask, stamped, the edges distressed and some alterations attached and ribbons added.

On the front cover the grungeboard heart has been crackle painted and distressed over, the grungeboard wings have been Dabbered and sewn with wire, there is some stamping with Tim's stamps and some texturing with Tim's texture fade dies, the top right corner is a fragment glossy accented over stamping, the 13 was textured faded, distress inked with glossy accents over, the FLY letters were cut with a Tim Sizzix die called Vintage market alphabet I think, I added some paper clips to hold the typewriter key letters and a few staples and the rest has papers from Tim's paper stack and some embellishments from- yes you've guessed it , the man himself Tim.

I was a little panicky at first as I thought I was very low on Tim's bits and bobs but I needn't have worried - I had plenty.

Thanks for looking and have a go yourself - its good fun

Bye for now

Sue

ps just looked at the blog and think I might put some cinammon stickles on the crown tomorrow.

Simon Says Stamp and Show

It's Monday and already the second week of the new Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge. Here is my entry for this week's challenge which is The Wendy Vecchi ; Studio 490 Style!

Wendy Vecchi style courtesy of Tim Holtz!!!

I only have one set of Wendy Vecchi stamps which are very useful words so I used that stamped onto paper from Tim's retro grunge book which was attached behind a hole cut in Grungeboard with my Sizzix Baroque die. The Grungeboard itself is inked with Vintage Photo.
I cut Tim's Sizzix flowers which are inked with Stormy Sky then run through the Big Shot through Tim's texture fade dots (as I don't have the dot stamp Wendy uses) and inked over with Chipped Sapphire to accentuate the dots. The smallest layer and the pointy layer are misted with gold Perfect Pearls as are the leaves cut from another Sizzix die. Behind the flower is a Tim stamp from Artful artifacts - a flourish stamp that I just love and is my new favourite.
On the other side the hearts are cut from grungepaper - one is coloured with Distress ink and over stamped in Brown Stazon with the alphabet from Artful Artifacts and the other has a page from an old Spanish book glued on, coloured with Distress inks and stamped with the numbers from another of Tim's stamp sets. The 45 is accented with an embellishment from Tim.
Around the edge and the "hole" is a dotted line drawn with a fineliner pen. Finishing touch is a small heart button from my stash.

This now hangs next to last week's submission and I am going to put a poster on the wall explaining just what these pieces are for and with a link to SSS.

I have added two photographs of it because I couldn't decide which looked better - the darker one which is more the true colours but where you can't see the details or the paler one where you can.

Bye for now

Sue

Some lovely people making some lovely art...

My side step card....

and Eileen, Jean, Margaret, Lorraine, me and Mu yesterday with our beautiful cards..

I was so proud of the lovelies that came to today's class as they made this complicated tri-shutter card. I taught the mechanics of making the card and then they changed tables where Yaa was waiting to help them stamp, distress, cut out and paint the various elements on it. Here's Yaa helping the girls and Mario... and these lovely girls - Sophie, Becky and Lauren are here on holiday from Oban in Scotland

Two great mornings work and some happy people

Bye for now

Sue

Boy, are we motoring now!!!

I have been in work, work, work mode for the past few days and today made a couple of cards for tomorrow's class.

Last Friday Mu asked if I could show them how to make a sidestep and a triple shutter card so tomorrow that is what we are making.

A sneak peek of two more completed projects for Autumn workshops but the light is too bad to photograph them tonight so they will have to wait till tomorrow. Just look at the Distressing technique with the blending tools and the concentration shown by the girls.... and here's Marta and friends showing their cards Sven here on holiday from Germany...Somehow Bad Blogger deleted the photos of Beni and Celine so they will have to go on another post. It is so frustrating not to be able to move photos around any more if you forget one or accidently delete or if blogger does it for you.
If anyone out there in blogland knows how to get around this problem please let me know - thanks.

Bye for now

Sue

Wooden house

WooHoo!!! I finished a project in just two days....
I decided I was going to do something other than a project for classes and I have had a blank wooden house in my craft room for quite some time so yesterday I painted it with Pebble Dabber and stamped a few images onto card and tissue to play around with.
Today I went to the shop half an hour early, assessed the bits from yesterday and then Distressed and Dabbered and Stickled between customers, went home late for lunch (a Crunchie ice cream - well its too hot to eat!) left the house early on the pretence of having to buy a new clip to put my hair up and dashed back to the shop. Did some more, helped the Wednesday youngsters with assorted projects - catch up day for them - and then having told Colin I would be home for dinner about 9ish - well it was 9ish - well 10.30ish really! So that's it then....the black flourishes are painted on the wall and not part of the house... just look at the mess I created making it...but worth it I think.

Well its now 23.34 and it is still sooo HOT I think I might skinny dip before going to bed so

Bye for now

Sue

Hot, Hot, Hot...

Here at last is my July 365 day challenge page.

Its HOT here and the page reflects that. It has been painted, sprayed, stencilled, stamped. distressed, doodled and ticketed.

It was done a few days ago but Tanya and I have been having such a great time lazing around reading - well falling asleep a lot, swimming - well no that's too strenuous so lying chatting in the pool, playing with inks, paints and other messy stuff and there's so little time - her holiday is half over already.

Tanya is such a WUSS!!!!! its only a henna tattoo after all!!!

While the tattoo dried Tanya had sex on the beach..... and I had a brandy and Sprite...Cheers!

We are having a great time. More tomorrow.

Well, we are going to play cards so

Bye for now

Sue

One stamp - four looks

Just a quick post today. Here are four cards I made this morning for Friday's class. They are all made by painting with Distress inks - great fun.

Looking at them on here I'm not too happy with the mustard seed and broken china one - I'll let you know what I do with it on Friday.

Bye for now

Sue

A bit of scrapbooking

In amongst all the lists of things I have to do are

samples of scrapbooking

display boards of cards showing different techniques

decide upon and make samples for the next few months workshops

ditto Christmas card classes and workshops

finish!!! previously started projects (I am hoping Tanya might help give me the kick I need when she comes at the end of this month!)

get a pedicure and manicure - omg the state of my fingernails!!!

make up the bed for my son and his girlfriend who are coming tomorrow for 2 weeks

and to top all of this my car wouldn't start this morning so I had to call a taxi to get me to the shop...and to top even that Colin has been trying to get my car working and.....trying to do this without our battery charger - now who did he lend that to??? your guess is a good as his or mine??? he tows my car up the drive without properly closing the door , it swings back, hits a tree and the door has been broken!!!! aaaggghhh!!!

so now Sue BREATHE!!! ohm ... let all be peaceful and calm.

Anyway, I am trying to get my scrap crop established and to that end I have been making loads of different scrapbook pages to display. These are a few of the ones I made using die cuts.

Nadia wanted to make a canvas for her and her husband's anniversary so she came to the shop on Thursday - traditionally a very quiet day. Huh! did I say quiet - poor girl was left on her own so much but she did a wonderful job and left very happy....

so happy in fact that she came along to class the following day.we coloured glossy card from a technique with Distress inks and re-inkers that I found on Annaliese's blog and using Tim's dies and stamps we made it into a box.

I am off to a new restaurant that a friend is opening tonight so

Bye for now

Sue

Yes, I'm back!

this is a pps. at the beginning haha!! Blogger is not playing the game and I can't seem to move pictures or text!!! what IS going on!!!


my 365 day challenge for May and June - sorry Kate but April got lost about 3/4 way through.

Yes, I'm back.

It has been a bumpy few weeks but we have survived the move and are almost there. Just the air con to have fitted (hopefully next Wednesday) and then that's all the major things done. We have probably made a few mistakes along the way but heyho! what's done is done and we will just have to live with it.

The work above is mine - gasp - yes at long last I have made something. What started out as a front cover for the Ranger techniques I have been demoing on tags changed when I realised I had fastened the flower through the hole for the book ring - out of practice is my only excuse!!!Lol!...so I coloured and stamped some card and glued the tag on and I think it looks OK.

I had an amazing class today. 8 ladies came and we distressed, we diecut, we stamped, we embossed, we drank coffee, we ate ginger biscuits and generally had a fabuloso time. I managed to remember to photograph a few of the ladies work before they left ...

all different but all very beautiful - just like the ladies themselves...a few photos of the girls and their projects... It is sooo hot here at the moment - around 30 degrees and not even a little breeze to help - so from a very sticky me I'll just say

Bye for now

Sue

ps won't leave it so long before I'm back