Pull Out Card

I've been visiting my family in Brighton, and house hunting along the South Coast, this week so I missed WOYWW for the first time since I joined in the fun many months ago. I haven't had internet connection as the hotel's Wi-fi is limited to 20 minutes in their reception area.

I'm now linked up in my daughter's home whilst baby sitting so thought I'd post the card from last Sunday's fab fun workshop we had in Padgate organised by my friend Jayne. 

It was really great that Tracey, who I linked up with through WOYWW, came along to the workshop. Lovely to meet up and nice to get to know a WOYWW personally, face to face and we had such a lovely day together.

This card is an attempt of a pull out card that I did some year's ago in a workshop given by my lovely friend from Vicky Stampers....Lynne, aka Wacky Wilkie! I had to figure out for myself how to make another so I played around and finally cracked it. I was hoping Lynne would be there on Sunday to advise me but as she wasn't I just had a go and it didn't turn out too badly.

There is a rotating band inside which moves out the inner panels if a tab is pulled.

 First I made the background from Silkies. They didn't give the great marbled effect that the Smooches so I just dabbed them onto my non stick sheet, spritzed them a little then moved my card around over the colour. You can see the effect achieved in the photo below 

 The card front with the sides closed away.

I'll be back in a day or two to catch up on all I've missed in blogland so I hope you've all been busy making lots for me to see.

WOYWW 89 & Smooches

Shock and amazement!! Feeling proud and shouting out loud from the rooftops that my desk is clear, not just swiped aside but it has had a good tidying and putting away session before there was an utter collapse of all that I brought home and dumped on it, from CHA. I wanted to finish this project that I started at the Hampton Arts booth with the lovely Diana and, other half finished Make & Takes too, so the decks HAD to be cleared.

Here's the evidence... .completely clear ready to start. No Jayne it isn't an old photograph!

A few more pages to complete the mini album then I cleared away!!! Do I hear jaws dropping and do I spy mouths open... Quite right too. 

Call in on our Super Star Supervisor Julia's blog, Stamping Ground, if you'd like to see other extremely tidy desks like mine (and a few messy ones too just for the voyeurs out there). My tidy space won't last long I assure you and I'll have to admit it if it's a mess again as this WOYWW madness comes weekly!.

This mini album we made at Hampton Art was such fun and the pages were coloured with an effective but simple technique using Smooches and Smooch Spritzers. I now NEED some Smooches to try it all again.

We had a shallow dish of water big enough to fit the square pages of card stock. 

We dropped the colour from the tips of three colours (Pink, Orange, and Yellow) of Smooch pearly paint into the water then swirled it a little with the brush tip.

We then lightly laid down the card onto the water to pick up and create easy, fabulous, marbling as you'll see on these pages. The pages were then spritzed with the Smooch Spritzes, which I must add, sprayed beautifully, but the lovely iridescence doesn't show on the photos.

 

 

 OK .. I own up to the ink blot but it just proves it to be hand made!

Barmy Llamas and Cards etc.

This is a card I made for my DD2's birthday before I went to US which I couldn't post it until she had received it. I also decorated the envelope which you can see behind the card. 

I made her a post it note pad too, in the form of an easel card, to send along with a couple of little goodies and her main money gift. 

 

It's so hard to slot back into my normal life pattern after such a mind blowing holiday and I still have so many freebies and results of workshops to tidy away. I'm still trying to find time to make notes on techniques and ideas before I do box them all up.

Here, below, are some of the cards I made with the one and only amazing John at the Tsukineko booth at CHA. It's always hard for me to make a prescriptive card but it seems that is what happens in the workshops over there. Everyone makes exactly the same. Here we have more freedom to use the demonstrated techniques to express your our style and design of card. However, John made the classes such fun and gave lots of hints and tips for using Tsukineko's products and it was really relaxing to just go with the flow.

Some of these cards have a wonderful iridescence which doesn't show on the photos.

Yesterday DH and I spent a lovely day out in the Lancashire countryside, just an hour's drive North of where we live.

We visited my animal mates at the barmyllamafarm at Backridge Farm not far from Clitheroe. Backridge is a great set up of farm buildings recreated into units for artists and restaurants and in one building is Melt which sells the best candles I have ever used.They smell fantastic and I am never without stocks! I must admit that I buy the seconds/rejects at the farm shop much cheaper!

The llamas are so friendly, curious, and such characters..... BARMY!

Just look at those eyelashes!

Just for Neet... here are the earrings I got at the Melt shop. I wanted a simple solid silver pair to wear day to day and I couldn't have made these at the good price that they cost. I just liked them and they are so comfortable to wear. 

This is Waddington, a nearby village, and it often wins prizes for the best kept English Village. It is so quaint and really pretty and even better in the Summer when all the flowers are in bloom.

At least there are lots of snowdrops at the moment promising Spring won't be too far away.

Smile and add this button to your sidebar to pass on some love around the world... I picked it up from Wipso!

WOYWW / Home Sweet Home!

Home Sweet Home. 

So glad to be home but it was a wonderful adventure going to CHA, however it's chaos on my desk as a result. The first photo shows some of the projects from the workshops I attended and the Make & Takes, in various stages of completion. I've quite a job ahead of me to finish the ones I didn't complete in the classes but they will be worth doing.

 Here's the bigger picture of my desk piled high with the freebies I brought home, the items I bought and the projects from the classes. The Craftwell bag is full too! Well I did wear 6 layers of clothes to come home to make more room in my case ( and incase we were stranded somewhere cold due to the severe weather conditions through USA.)

I've really got some sorting to do but I thought I'd be honest and show the utter mess my desk is in as I know you'll understand. Well just this week anyhow and it will make you sink into false security and think that your desk is uber tidy.

Every week so many crafters bare their souls to cyber space by exposing their crafty spaces so, if you fancy joining in this giant snoop, go over to our leaders Julia's blog, Stamping Ground to see over 100 more.

Last few pics to follow from CHA.....I've so many more but will call it a day now as you all must be fed up of seeing them but I hope you found some inspiration from all my posts from the convention, as I have. Sometimes it is just a tiny element in a photo which inspires me but that's all it needs.

Thanks so much to all who commented and I apologise for not replying to you but computer time had to be paid for whilst I was in America and so I just managed to upload my posts and keep in touch with my family. I'll catch up with everyone this week, I hope! 

The wonderful Japanese friends we made who have a scrapbooking shop in Tokyo. Great to have made email contact too.

One of my mad moments! Liberty Jo!

and finally the Queen of Michaels.... moi! I wish I'd had space in the cases for that crown!

It was all such fun, an adventure, an experience, so interesting, a completely different world and culture, but I'm so happy to be home again, back to life, back to reality.

Glad to be Home!

This is some of my stash of freebies from CHA which, above, includes a 12 x 12 pad from Graphic45, Tsukineko ink pads and reinkers, pliers, Prima flowers and papers, etc., etc., ... below are all the totes I was given by many of the manufacturers. I also bought quite an amount so you can understand why I wore 6 layers of clothes to come home! Well .. really it was incase we were stranded due to the snow, in NY or diverted to anywhere cold!!

Arrived Friday morning in good old Blighty (that's a slang and very fond term for homeland England, incase you don't know) after an eventful flight. 

In LAX Carol was taken to another place and given the full search treatment to her bags and her person so it was not too pleasant. With lots of crafty bits and bobs in her cases it took ages as they dusted and checked over every item. Eventually focusing on the Martha Stewart score boards in there so I don't know if they thought they were hollow and holding illegal substances. Luckily they did repack her cases but we barely got to the gate before boarding was announced.

In JFK we boarded and waited for takeoff for nearly an hour then had to get off with all our baggage as there was a problem with the cabin air pressure. Worry, worry..... so another wait before we finally took off, 90 mins late, for a VERY turbulent flight due to all the storms across USA. Amazingly, the plane made up time and we arrived home only 20 minutes late from sunny LA to cold wet Manchester.

CHA was a wonderful experience after a relaxing and fun visit to our friends in the San Fernanado Valley but it really is good to be home.

I loved the warm open friendliness of all the people we met and all the wonders we saw in that different world apart but I'm glad to get back to life without air conditioning drying out my lips, skin and hair. It's lovely to have cold drinks without more ice than liquid, fresh cooked food, a lovely cup of tea, and most of all my DH... I really missed him. Oh yes... it's good to speak and hear REAL English too. I'm longing for fish and CHIPS!!!! real chips, not crisps, fresh cooked CHIPS not skinny fries!!!

Thanks to Carol introducing me to Melatonin, which we took on flights outbound and homeward, I slept solid Friday night from 11.30pm until 9am, bringing me right back to the UK time scale, then I went to Victoria Stampers on Saturday for a full day's workshop. No jet lag, feel fine and slept last night from midnight until almost noon today. Last us trip I was a zombie for 3 weeks and it put me off flying long haul.

A few more CHA treasures....

 These acrylic memory books are a really excellent idea.

 Claudine Helmuth's retro style stamps and new rocker blocks (these work so well and even if you get excess ink round the image the ridge on the rocker stops it transferring to the card when stamped)

 Save all your cotton reels for this great idea

Some of Wendy Vecchi's great artwork

I'll keep adding CHA pics day to day until I run out but here's a place we loved ...

we visited Golden Spoon where Mary treated us to their specialty, low fat absolutely delicious frozen yoghurt.....

 Mary, Neet, Jo and Caz

If you ever spot a Golden Spoon  be sure to pop in as it was the most delicious and lowest calorie item I ate in America.

So many flavours and lots more choices of toppings. I chose fresh strawberries and blueberries for mine but the lovely server, Josh, let me sample, for free, 4 other ice creams and about 10 toppings, so much so that I could only manage to eat a mini serving that was paid for!

 All served with the Golden Spoons by the lovely, charming young guy we all fell for..... Josh!
 I bet there's a pic on Neet's blog of him.

37,000 Feet High Post!

This is a great way to fill the time on a long flight! We are en route from LA to NY, 37,000 feet high, passing over Oklahoma (whilst singing the tune softly)! We have sung our way around and now across America as there's a song for almost every place. We took the Metro Red Line to Hollywood for a touristy day of fun and we went through Vermont (as in Moonlight in Vermont) McArthur's Park (was melting) .....and lots of other song titles. 

Here's an amazing display above of paper cuts at the Vintag booth
Below some more bottle top art....

Quite simple but so effective 

Had a hug from Shrek

Met up with our NBF!

Last time I was in America people told me I looked like Shirley McLaine... it happened again this time! 

I don't get it myself but I thought I'd better compare my handprints with her's at Grauman's.

Clint's were ginormous

We picked up a few Oscars

Then went on to celebrate at the Hard Rock Cafe.

I was chased and yelled at by SpongeBob as I had taken his photograph... he expected payment... Tough!

Hooray for Hollywood!!!.. can you see the sign at the top of the hill?

On to China Town via our $6 day pass for the buses and Metro... other than some of the food items, this was about the cheapest and best value item we found.

I loved Union Station.. .just like you see in the movies! Amazingly it still has the original leather chairs.

China Town, where we had a fabulous meal, a lunch special for under $5 dollars each... jasmine tea, chicken sweetcorn soup, spring rolls, rice, sweet and sour chicken for Carol and chicken cashews for me. We didn't expect so much and the portions were HUGE and we were embarrassed to leave more than we could possibly eat.

Kung Hey Fat Choy or Happy New Year! It's Chinese New Year today, the year of the rabbit, and we just missed the celebrations. Maybe these characters are all waiting for the parade or even a bit part in a movie! Bruce Lee filmed some of his action movies right near to this shop and round the restaurant we visited....it said so on the wall!!