Aprils ATCs

This months themes for Altered designs ATC mingles were eggs, postal and this weeks flowers. Here are my cards for these mingles

Easter cards

I made these little Easter cards as an Easter greeting and a thank you for my birthday presents, I just love my new White rabbit stamp !

Z is for Zips

The last page of my A-Z journal, Z is for Zips and the challenge was to use zips too. Quite a challenge to cut a zip off and it not fall to bits but in the end I think this is one of my favourite pages in the whole book. All I have to do now is bind it all together !

Y is for Yuletide

For the Y page in my A-Z journal it was my Mum that came up with the great subject of Yuletide ! My turn to set the challenge which was to show off your own style .

Mothers Day handbag charm

My Mum just loves Handbags , she has hundreds, in fact its the family joke. So when I saw these cute little charms I just had to make a handbag lovers handbag charm for her for Mothers Day tomorrow.

X is for X-ray

Almost there with my A-Z journal, my X page wanted to pay homage to the X-ray and the challenge was to use some form of x-ray . So here is my Dr Bones touting for business with his able assistant crow, he'll pick you bones nice and clean !!

Altered Spoon

This is the first time I have ever altered a spoon but Altered Design was running a swap and I thought I would have a go, so here it is. I wanted a "Alice in Wonderland" feel to it. I covered the bowl with stamped tissue paper, made the "eat me" and "dink me " tags , painted a wooded bead to look like a chocolate and painted the inside of a little bottle and added micro beads then attached them to the tea stained lace. Hope they like it.

40th Birthday card

For Sues card it had to be cats as she is a HUGE cat lover, I had just the right rub-ons that made a cute gate fold card for her.

Charm bracelet

It was my friends 40th Birthday the other day and I wanted to make her something special for her gift. I found a kit for this charm bracelet, I had to make all the little charms then hang them on the chain bracelet, I found I really enjoyed it once I got the knack. Then I made a little box with my box maker board and to finish off the little organza bag I had for it to go in I made the microscope slide tag. Hope you liked it Sue and had a great birthday and trip to New York ! Lucky girl !!

Chocolate box

Some weeks ago I made this for my sister. She thinks she eats too much chocolate and wanted to keep the children's advent calenders I made to ration it out each night. Of course any excuse to make something, so when I saw a kit to make the blank box draws I bought it, made up the draws and covered it with paper and images from the Joanna Sheen Fashion Boutique CDrom. I had also seen in one of the card magazines how to make felt chocolates, they were perfect to go on the top as just enough temptation! They look so realistic that everyone who sees them has to stop themselves from taking one !! I filled each numbered draws with a mini chocolate bar and when I gave it to her last week she loved it !

Distressed ATC

This weeks subject for Altered Designs mingle was the distressed look, here mine is

W for Wheels

The W challenge, for our A-Z journal, was to use wings, a slight problem when I wanted my W page to be the wheel, well where would we be without the wheel? In the end I had a great idea and am really chuffed with how it turned out!

House at No 2 ATC

This weeks theme for the Altered Design ATC mingle was the number 2 so here mine is, a water wax crayon background then stamps.

4x4 swap

I am taking part in a 4x4 swap in my Google group, the theme is "winged things ". I decided to do something slightly different to my usual style and chose images of angelic children to whom I have added butterfly wings. Then added them to a painted and stamped background. One is slightly different as I fell in love with the dream one and decided to keep her.

Recipe book

One of our New Years Resolutions this year was to be a bit more adventurous about what we eat each night. I love cook books but only use them on special occasions, Andrew loves to cook now too so we have been scouring the Internet and magazines to find recipes to use. So of course I needed somewhere to keep the ones we like and here it is, made with the bind-it-all and vintage kitchen images, now all I have to do is sit down and write them all in !

Valentines Card

This was Andrews valentines card for this year, he liked it but said it was a bit pink !! I ask you what colour should it of been black !!

V for Volunteers

V was for Volunteers in my A-Z album, I had to use the Red Cross in my page as it is very dear to my heart as I was a member for almost 10 years as a youth leader, instructor and first aider, so I found this wonderful poster on the net and as the challenge was to use vellum printed out on vellum and then used red German scrap as a frame, simple but I like it.

Snow in Bristol !

This past week Bristol has had the most snow it has had in years, so I have been creative in a different way, well I have to build a snowman where ever there is enough snow ! Has made up a tiny bit for not being able to get to Austria this year as I am now waiting for op number 3 in 18 months on my ankle, so I have been been stuck in the house all week as my ankle isn't strong enough to cope with the slippery pavements.

Fly ATC

This weeks mingle with my google group was wings so I just couldn't resist using my flying bus again, well it just had to be done !!!

U is for underwear

The U page in my A-Z album is underwear and the challenge was to use UTTI, so I made a tile of am image I had on one of my image CDs of a corset advert by building up 4 layers of UTTI and then cracked it so it looked old. I wanted the page to look delicate so I added some paperlace, chose a pretty paper for the background and added a title it. Aren't you glad we don't have to wear underwear like that any more !!!

T for Time

My A-Z journal took a brake while I was busy with Christmasy things but now I'm ready to get it finished. So T was for Time, the challenge was to use texture so the borders were done with silver lagging tape put through my Cuttlebug and then coloured with Alcohol inks, the time collage was stamped ( the stamps I made myself ) onto tissue paper then stuck onto a embossed piece of card coloured with paper stains.

50th Wedding Anniversary card

The card I made Mum and Dad for their Anniversary matches the Just add photos album which I can finish off fro them when they return from their trip.

Bon Voyage card

Mum and Dad are off this weekend to Las Vegas and Hawaii to celebrate their 50th wedding Anniversary. Someone in my Google group had spotted a website that you could print out first class tickets for free, so of course I had to have a go and then make a Bon Voyage card to send them on their way !

Collaged file folder

I saw this idea on Paper Imagery Designs blog, a file folder made from large envelopes and greyboard, a great idea for me to get my digital collage sheets sorted out so I will actually use them ! It was the largest area I had ever collaged and a bit scary but I printed out my collage sheets and then just cut out some images, put on some music and went for it with out thinking too much. I must admit I am pretty chuffed with the way it turned out. I have coated it with a coat of PVA to protect it. Now all I need to do it get organising !!

Guardian Angel keyrings

I just couldn't resist the little angel when I saw them in my local craft shop so I just had to make a keyring for myself and my friend Boo as part of her Birthday present, we could both do with a guardian angel at the moment !

Snowman ATC

The theme for this months ATC lottery with Altereddesigns it snow.So here is my snowman ATC made using the Cuttlebug cut and emboss snowman set. I used craft metal for his body which embosses very well. Not my usual style but I think he is cute.

Twit Twoo !

This weeks ATC challenge with Altereddesigns was to use transparencies. I had this 12x12 sheet of acetate covered with owls which fitted the bill so I stamped the background, added some distressing glitter stickles to the back of the owls and used that a long with some glossy accents to stick it too the card.

Re-cycle ATC

This should of been for the Alterdesign weeks mingle to make an ATC with re-cycled bits, but unlike me I missed the deadline. Never mind just been one of those weeks, not a min to myself till today. Still I enjoyed making it out of the side of my Bodyshop box, a gift for my Sister and the star is a chocolate wrapper stuck onto a piece of card from my scraps.The letters ,also from my scraps are cut with my Quickutz alpha. I did use new star buttons and some gold wax round the edge to finish it off. What a shame I'll just have to keep it all too myself, he he, perhaps it should be my phrase of the year ???

Domino ATC

I hosted a Domino ATC on Alternative in November, the idea is the ATC folds out in a domino pattern.We all did Christmasy themed ones so here is mine, I used the poem "Twas the Night before Christmas " for my theme

Noel card

When I had my operation on my ankle back in the summer a friend gave me the template to make this lovely card/album. As it took longer then the average card to make I made them for the family and of course for Jane who gave me such a thoughtful gift.

Christmas crafting !

Happy New Year 2009 to you all, may it bring plenty of time to play and craft !

Now I have time to sit and catch up I thought I would show you some of the things that kept me busy and happy over the Christmas festivities. The first things I made was 2 advent calenders, made out of matchboxes, for myself and my Nephews ( mine the green one theres the red ). Great idea at the time until it came to painting 48 matchboxes and finding chocolates small enough to fit 2 in a matchbox ! I ended up making them form some chocolate moulds I had bought years ago, Andrew remembered as we looking in the hundredth shop, finding nothing, trouble was I had lots of shapes but only 1 would fit and it only had 5 moulds in the one plate , so it took quite a time to make them !! Mind you the look on their faces when I gave it to them was worth all the hard work. I have it back now ready to stock for next year, think Ill start looking now !!