Ho Ho Ho....

 I hope you all had a wonderful festive period, with 4 trips to different family homes on Christmas day alone I am really looking forward to some time at home (not to relax....but to craft, I am having withdrawal symptoms!).

One of my recent makes was this delightful deer I made out of felt.

 On the back I embroidered "Ethan 1st Christmas 2011", why I hear you cry?  No, it wasn't some random thought, this was made especially for my new nephew (only 4 months old and cute as a button) to be hung on their tree.

 Isn't he a bonnie lad, only 4 months old but already with a little personality!

My next make was this folder I made for my Nan in New Zealand.  I have no idea what to buy a 87 yr old for Christmas so I decided to make her a folder and a dozen mixed cards.....I even included a 'with sympathy' card (well I wanted to cover all occasions!).

 The final make is the Christmas card I made for my hubby.  I used my stampotique stamp, stamping him on a vintage page and colouring him with inks.  I added a party hat and some stickles for a little festive bling!  I coloured the background with stains and painted some sequin waste with picket fence stains and used this to transfer the print to the page.

I finally added a strip of music score to the bottom and added a Ho, Ho, Ho-I think he's sweet!

I took this final photo in my new photo light box that my parents bought me for Christmas-no more shadowy photos or having to wait until I am at home during daylight to take the shots (once I have sussed the proper way of using it!!).

Happy Crafting

Li'l pidge x

A couple more tags

 Finally I have had a few minutes to myself and managed to make the next 2 of Tim Holtz tags (I am SOOOO behind on these!)

 Yet again I didnt have a lot of the supplies, so instead of kraft paper I used some normal TH papers, I stamped a greeting on the right and embossed it with clear embossing to help it resist the distress stain, I stamped a holly leaf of the top left and coloured it as TH did.

 The deer is only card distressed and the bell was silver but I coloured it with butterscotch alcohol ink.

 

On the next tag I stamped the background (no felt so I couldnt make my own coloured ink pad like TH) inking different parts of the stamp with different colours (using dew drops as they have a great narrow point to them so it makes them great to colour in detail).  I distressed the edges of the tag adding some foliage and furry red berries, adding some more coloured bells suspended on wire.

I am loving the tags and the way it makes you think differently about your stash....finding the time to make them however is a different matter all together!

Now, off to dust, wrap some pressies and maybe some ironing...all before bed!!!!


Happy crafting
Li'l pidge

WOYWW

Its a simple question I have for you.....How come I have an entire computer desk to craft on (yes it is a small computer table from a swedish store....but its still a table) yet I only appear to have a space the size of a postage stamp (and I mean a bog standard stamp,not one of those fancy larger Chrimbo ones you get this time of year!!) to craft on?!?!?! 



So, after following Tim Holtz 12 tags of Christmas (which is now finished but you can find all of them, and previous years on his blog, www.timholtz.typepad.com) I have finally managed to start on mine, so here is my first one of twelve.

I dont have much TH products (honest, I dont!!) so had to make it using none of the actual products he used!!  I didn't have a snowflake enbossing folder, any of the dies (I cut the banner from music paper and the pine cones are real!) and I used a left over Christmas message instead of his Noel.

But all in all I was really pleased how it turned out, I like to be inspired by TH (lets be honest its not difficult) but his products can be  a tad on the pricey side here in the UK so I tend to use his ideas as a starting point-a good example is the ribbon, his, whilst lovely is a few quid over here so I used really cheap ribbon from the fabric shop which was only a few pennies a meter-not the same, but I think it works.

If you fancy a legal snoop around some very creative workspaces then please pop over to Julia's blog (link over on the right) for WOYWW (What's on your Workdesk Wednesday).

I have a day off so intend to squirrel myself away in the craft room and get very inky and messy-its better than medicine!!

Happy Crafting

Li'l Pidge

A quick raven card

Just a quick post, this is a birthday card I made for my goth friend Nigel (and honourary Crafting Coven member-he's actually the hubby of coven member Becky, but as a stone mason he is surely a master crafter?!).

I couldn't resist the octopode stamp and the skulls from bombshell stamps (both NEC purchases).  I thought the purple was a perfect goth colour. As its now past his birthday I can finally post this make (hope he like it).

Happy crafting
Lil pidge x

WOYWW

Let's be upfront and honest, this isn't my desk and the photo wasn't taken today!!!!  The desk is my entire dining room table (fully extended-so it seats 8) and it was taken on Saturday-does that make me a bad person?

The reason is, I had my 2 nieces over for a days crafting on Saturday, we made cards and gift tags and got very inky and a little covered in glitter glue!!!!  This is the disaster zone afterwards.....I bet you can guess how long it took me to take it all back upstairs to my craft room-but oh what fun we had!

It's always lovely being able to share your crafting with others (it can be a lonely existence when you craft) and even more so when its with family!

On a sad note, Sarah Lawrence died suddenly last Friday. A fellow WOYWWer.  Our thoughts are with her family and friends.

So, if you fancy a nose around some desks them please pop over the Julia's blog (link over on then right).
Happy Crafting

Li'l pidge x

ooh...a market

Only a quick post...the other night I took my hubby to his gig in Bath (he plays bass in a couple of bands) and whilst he sound checked I decided to have a nose around the Christmas market in Bath.  Wow...SO pretty...its held in the street surrounding the abbey and there are about 140 wooden huts selling food, crafts and local products (and the inevitable imported tat!!)

I was SO impressed with myself as I spent NOTHING!!!!  The gig was free, parking was not too bad and a couple juices at the pub...so a lovely cheap night out-the first one I have had for SO long-and the bands were great also.

If you get the chance to pop into Bath then its worth it before the market goes (some time next week I think-google it...there is a dedicated website!).

Anyway...a quick post....off for an early night as I am exhausted.
Happy Crafting
Li'l Pidge x

Some new techniques

I have made a few cards recently trying out different techniques.  This is stamped using 2 ink colours onto fabric and mounted onto some card which I sanded back around the edges.  Not sure how to attach the fabric without it showing through so decided to use brads.

 I'm loving the stamping onto fabric, its so tactile and adds another dimension to your card making.

Now, my first love for many years is photography, I loved transforming my bathroom into a dark room (complete with a red light...goodness knows what my neighbours thought I was doing!!) but after the initial flush of success with digital I found I was getting bored.  So, after flicking through my dad's camera magazines I noticed someone creating scenes with every day objects and 00 gauge railway 'people' (had to use '' around the word people....they're not real are they.....I mean, they don't wait until my back is turned and play around with my crafting stash do they?  They'd better not....my hubby knows what happens when I find him ferreting in there looking for a pair of scissors!!).

So this is my first attempt.  The 00 gauge construction workers have been placed on some black kale (tastier than it sounds...honest!!!). A nice different male card I think, do you?

Next, this is a card I made for my Dad's birthday.  The frame is a copy of a medium format negative, the background paper is a downloaded from some clip art I found.  I couldn't find any vellum (I wanted to somehow 'dull down' the background) so I used the backing sheet from some rub-ons I had and mounted a clip art of a retro camera.

So, a few different techniques...I need to decided on one as I have my 2 lovely nieces over at the weekend for a crafting day...not sure whether to do some altered art or Christmas cards (get them to make mine.....oh, now that is a good idea!!).

Thanks for stopping by and happy crafting

Li'l Pidge x