Baby Blue Eyes!

Well at our first Art Journaling club we were set some homework.  The theme was to create a page that summed up our summer!  There hasn't been much chance to take part in holidays or activities this summer with our little baby bear making her appearance so she has been my summer!

So this is my page about my summer! I have used the pink and yellow dylusions sprays to create the background and then used some techniques Kaz taught at our last class.  I have used dylusions stamps to create the borders of the page.  The writing is in posca pens.  The writing at the top of the page is 'unconditional love' with the oxford english dictionary meanings of each word written next to them. 

The dylusions quote stamp sums up how much of an adventure Emily is and how I'm happy with just her at the moment!!

I can't wait to play again but today with the glum weather I am going to tidy my craft room!!

Happy Inking!

Beth xx

Time for Gold!

Well we have had a great summer of gold everywhere!

The Queen's Jubilee was amazing and the celebrations occuring were to be marvelled at.  We then smashed it at the Olympics gaining many gold medals so I thought this should all be celebrated in my journal.....

This is the first time I have done a journal page actually based on something! So I am learning slowly!  It is all very new to me so I don't expect to be fantastic but I try!

I used Dylusions inks for my background then found the picture of the queen and an athlete to mix together. I have used Dylusions stamps and then free hand written typical british phrases around the edge.

I am working on another and hope to blog it over the next couple of days!

Happy Inking

Beth xx

It's been a long, long time......

Well, as the title says it has been a long, long time! I cant believe the last time I posted was 22nd May!!  Well I can believe it as a lot has happened since then!

The day of my last post I remember getting very naggy at my Mom as my sewing machine wasn't playing fair, it was very hot, and I was 38 weeks pregnant!  I was gearing up ready making plans to go see the Olympic torch come through Shropshire the following week and maybe even a boat trip at the weekend.....well none of that happened!

At 39 weeks pregnant I went into labour (very long labour) and finally my little princess was born!  Emily was born at 23:08, 28th May 2012.

So my life has been consumed by this tiny human and at 3 months old I am finally starting to think about carrying on with some of my likes and loves!

I haven't been getting very inky recently but this is changing!

I have joined an Art Journaling class with the fab Kaz Hall.  I went to the first one last week and loved it!!  I have since done a couple of pages but they need some tweaking and some finishing off and then I will blog them!

 I am really starting to get to grips with the Dylusions inks and am quite frankly loving them!

I'm getting excited with my birthday coming up as I know my Darling Mr Man has promised me my yearly crafting shopping spree....I have a mental list building in my head!  I just will have to make sure Kaz Hall isn't about as last year my budget was spent in 30 seconds flat! 

I have also been doing some making and been playing about with some canvases......

This is a mini canvas..I have covered in Craft resist paper which has been stained with white picket fence.  i then taped round the edges to seal it and cover my lazy corner cutting of the paper!  The bird cage is a Tim Holtz die cut out of his papers and the salvage sticker of the butterfly stuck on top.  The letter is grungeboard and then stained with white picket fence.  I added some buttons from docrafts and also the winged heart which is a charm from beads unlimited (they sell loads of great steampunk bracelet charms which are greats as features on projects and fairly inexpensive as far as steampunk goes!).

I have a few more half finished upstairs and they will, along with the journal pages, eventually make their way onto here when eventually finished!!

Well that is all for now....a long post but well overdue...I have missed the last few tags of 2012 too..so i have some catching up to do but may start in September a fresh with them!

Right Ta ta for now!!

Beth xxx

12 Tags of 2012 - May

Well after waiting very patiently for Mr Holtz to upload this months tag....I have finished! Yey!

I really enjoyed making this tag although in my heavily pregnant hormonal state I nearly threw my sewing machine out of the window as it just wasn't playing...(I forgot to knock the catch up so i could redo the bobbin!!)...!!!

So here it is!

Happy Inking!!

Beth xxx

Journals......

Well I bought some dylusions a few weeks ago and thought it was time to test them out.  After a few false starts and muck ups I finally produced two journal pages!! hoorrayyy!!

I really enjoyed playing with these and got a little more confident on the second one as I actually doodled a little bit!!!

Happy Inking!!

Beth xxx

New additions!!!

Well i have invested in..............DYLUSIONS!! yey! I decided I'm not going to have much time to actually make stuff and get too inky whilst on maternity so I'm going to try my hand at Art Journalling.  With all the excess hormones rolling about in my body the outcomes should be rather fun!!

I've got inks, stencils and stamps!  I also invested in my new little journal and some posca pens and am ready to go!! woohooo!!

But I have been making too!

I bought an egg house from the local charity shop for a couple of squids (pounds) and thought...hmmm...what can I do with this! I've been looking for somewhere to store my paint dabbers and perfect pearl mists and this looked perfect.

So i gave it a coat of white acrylic, added some Tim holtz stamps to the side, tissue tape and then some ink and idea-ology.  The inside shelf had holes in for the eggs so I covered the shelf with manilla card, white paint dabber and some tissue tape and voila....my new little home for my odds and ends!

I have a stash of things to alter....most of which have got as far as being coated in white picket fence stain but hopefully I will be able to do some more.

This little bump is due out at anytime but I finish work this week so I'm hoping (fingers crossed!!!) that she lets me have a little 'me time' before she makes her appearance and I might get a chance to play some more!!

Happy Inking!

Beth xxx

Canvas Madness!

I recently (I say recently, but I think it was back in March now!!) went to a canvas workshop with Kaz Hall.  We made a fabtabulous canvas and since then I have been addicted to making them and now want to decorate my whoooolllllleeee house with them!  So here is the one I made on Kaz's workshop....

I love the Broken china stain on the craft resist paper as it comes out a teal colour, which is my favourite colour and think Mr Tim Holtz should have brought a teal colour out!

So after doing this I decided to make my own....

ta daaaaa!!!!!

Happy Inking

Beth xxx

12 Tags of 2012 - April

Well that time of the month again! The creation for Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2012!

I have tried to stick to his creation as much as possible.  I had to order the embossing floder...hence the delay in making the tag!  But here we have it!  And I love the embossing effect with the stamping!

I love the tag this month! Such a shame we have to wait another 2 weeks for the next challenge!!

Happy Inking!

Beth xxx

Wedding Bells!

Just a quickie!

A friend asked me to make a wedding card (at very short notice as usual for her! hehe!)!

I got in my craft room first thing and this is what I've walked out with!

I've used Tim Holtz Idea-ology and grunge paper.  The bird cage is stained with picket fence and then spritzed with heirloom gold perfect pearls mist.  Some ribbon and manuscript paper to add to the wedding theme and voila!

Beth xxx

The sun has got his hat on!!

Hip hip hip hip hoooorrrraaayyyy!!

Well what a gorgeous week of weather we have had! The sun has been shining, the birds are singing! OooOOoo just makes you smile!!

Well I hope you have been enjoying the weather and making the most of dusting down the patio set and maybe even the BBQ!

I had a little creative weekend but not with inks this time, I was bought a sewing machine as a gift and so decided to play with that and think about how I'm planning to make the curtains for baby's room!  The need is fast approaching!

But I did make something inky this week I want to share with you!

I wanted somewhere nice to keep all my Stampers annonymous Tim Holtz stamps, and due to overspend on these stamps, could not afford to buy the binder! So I decided to make my own!

I ripped apart an old A4 file to get the card board out of the middle.  I cut this down and then covered with craft resist paper and inked with broken chine distress stains.  Some tissue tape round the edges to mask my awful cutting and also add a different element.



I added some idea-ology and also some stamping.  The buttons I love and found them in a vintage shop.  I pierced the holes and then used the idea-ology d clips to fasten together! Ta daa!!

I love this book as my favourite colour is teal.  The broken china distress ink on the craft resist paper makes the perfect colour!

For anyone out there taking part in Creative Chemistry 101 by Mr Tim Holtz I hope you are enjoying it as much as me!!!

Well I hope to be back soon with some more makes, I still have a couple of canvases backed up ready to be put on here so no doubt I will be back tomorrow with more funky inky!!

Beth xxx

12 Tags!

Well here is my entry for the 12 tags of 2012 for March for Mr Holtz's blog!

Beth xxx

It's been a while!!

Well hello!!

It's been a while since I blogged!  I have been creating though so I have a few things to show you!

I played around with a little notebook taking on Alice in Wonderland!

This is the white rabbit note book for  making notes on all your important dates so you don't miss anything out!

The base is manila cardstock with some distress inks.  I distressed the lettering and picture, added a few stamps and some idea-ology!

I got my needles out and sewed the pages into the book and think it's kinda cute!

Well this week has been quite crafty!  I had a visit down south to see some family but since then I have been ctaching up on Tim Holtz's Creative Chemistry 101 course which is great!! A massive excuse to get ink....EVERYWHERE!!

Love

Beth xxx

Inky Fingers!

Monday Monday!

Well Hello!!  It’s been a whole week since I have been on here and updated my new creations and plays!  It’s been a very busy week and I have made a few things so I’ll drip feed them over the next couple of days (that way it looks like more and means I get to blog more!!)

I hope everybody had a fabaroonie weekend.  I spent lots of time playing this weekend…a quick 30 minutes easily turns into 3 and half hours!

Saturday was a good day.  I went to the Crafty Bunch and had a play with some of the Craftwork Cards collections and very quickly added some inkyness to it all!

Sunday I went to Kaz’s workshop which was great and created a lovely canvas, just got to pick which wall to hang it on!

I have a fair few card orders at the moment so am going to spend this week getting them done so on my next week of (that’s next week by the way…that’s 6 days, and counting!) I can play until my heart’s content!

Well…a friend a work asked me to make a Golden Wedding anniversary card…..here it is……….

I have used manuscript paper for the backing but spritzed the card with some perfect pearls.  Also adding some gold paper to stay in line with the theme.  I love grungeboard so all the letter and number is grungy!  The heart is coloured with distress inks and then perfect pearls.  The ‘50’ is embossed with WOW powder and the rest of the lettering with heirloom gold perfect pearls.

  To finish I added the birdcage which has had a bit a picket fence treatment and yet more perfect pearls and the two lovely birdies!  A little Idea-ology and it's done!

That's one down...I have a few more to fill you in on!!

OoooooOOOoooo.....I signed up to Tim Holtz's Creative Chemistry today! So am mucho excited about this, especially as I have the week off when it starts!! Yey!!

Happy Inking!

Love

Beth xxx

Monday.......................again!

Hello!

Where did the weekend go again??  It goes far too quickly! Especially when you have a million and one things you want to do!

Saturday was a nice day, started by going down to the Crafty Bunch Telford for the demo day where I saw the lovely Nicky and her creations and where Sue also robbed my debit card in exchange for some Tim Holtz stamps! 

Sunday was confusing, snow, rain and sun all in one day?!  I woke super early so found myself at 6 and half months pregnant building flat pack furniture for the wee ones bedroom!  It's actually starting to look like a nursery now! :)

I did some crafting over the weekend and made a card for a friend.  She has a twin sister and finds it really hard to find something personal for her twin so I had a go and here is the finished thing!

I have created this using an 8 x8 card blank.  I distressed the edges with Victorian velvet distress ink.  I have then used the new papermania papers and ripped them into pieces and distressed them with milled lavender and dusty concord.

I have die cut the Tim Holtz caged Bird with grungeboard.  The cage has got a layer of picket fence on it and the bird a layer of the matching papers for the card and then distressed with antique linen and vintage photo distress inks.  I added some pearls to the bottom to give it a bit of elegance.

I loved making this personal to my friend by adding the 'to my twin' letter in grungeboard.  I layered them with picket fence (at which point I also layered my fingers!) and then went over with Victorian velvet dabbing the letters with cut and dry.

I finished it off with some idea-ology and also a Tim Holtz rosette distressed with Victoria velvet!

I loved making this card and think it's really pretty and I would love to receive it.  I think part of the reason I enjoyed making it so much was the fact that I accidentally used silicone glue and wondered why I started to feel a little bit light headed!

Well hopefully I'll do having a play this week and be able to post some more of my makes!

Happy Inking!

Beth xxx

Queen of Hearts

My latest play!

The Queen of Hearts (wall hanging thingy!)

This is just a piece of ranger manilla card stock cut into a square.  I ahve use distress inks (old paper, peeled paint, crushed onlive, bundled sage and forest moss) to distress it in many layers!  I was looking very green!!

I have misted it with a layer of perfect pearls mist (the green one!).  My Tim Holtz stamps arrrived so I used them to back ground the card in forest moss using straight ink for stamping and also watercolour stamping!

That's the back ground, now for the embelishments!

I have used grungeboard lettering distressed with peeled paint and fired brick and then also used grungeboard with the Tim Holtz heart dye.  I have coloured them with perfect pearls using the very sticky perfect medium!  Some idea-ology with the spinners, safety pin and lock.  The playing card is a picture of the queen of hearts, distressed and then stuck onto one of the acrylic fragments.  The final addition (which took forever to finish) was the vial!  One of the simplest things but it took ages to stick the label on the bottle as I had misplaced my double sided sticky tape!!!  It is a very appropriate love potion!

Well I added some steampunk chain and jump rings to make it into a wall hanging!

I like this muchly so it will probably end up on my wall by my craft desk!!

Happy Inking

Beth xx

Journal book!

I have rolled into work with ink stained hands this morning!  They are very colourful!!

Well I turned my hand to making a book as my latest project......

I ahve used scattered straw, brushed corduroy and walnut stain to distress the book cover.  The cover is just made from Ranger manilla cardstock.  Down the bottom I have used Tim Holtz lettering stamps in walnut stain.  The Arc de Triumph is a paper artsy stamp which has been stamped with watercolouring effect in rust hinge.  The french themed are also paperartsy.

The edges have been finished with Tim Holtz stamps in black archival ink and walnut stain.  I have sued perfect pearls on some of the stamping to give it some glam!

Idea-ology pins, spinners, corners and book labels to finish it off and also some shrink plastic.

I even handstitched the paper into the book! Get me working with the needle too!!

I am really chuffed with this book and am dying to get onto the next thing (which has been started but my parcel didn't arrive yesterday which meant that I couldn't finish it! :( )

Anyway, hopefully be back on tomorrow with some more if I get into my crafty room!

Happy inking!

Beth xx



Taggy Book

First post of creativity!

Here is my first attempt at actually making something!

For this book I used ranger card to create the cover.  I distressed using mulled lavender and water and then built up the layers with dusty concord and chipped sapphire.  The music stamp is a papermania urban stamp realeased in their post Christmas campaign.
Using some Tim Holtz stamps I have stamped the birds with chipped sapphire and then used perfect pearls to accentuate the image.  A couple of phrase stamps from the Tim Holtz range in archival black ink stands out in comparison to the purple background.

For the bird I have distressed a piece of ranger card using the same inks as the colour.  I have stamped the music stamp in chipped sapphire and then the bird on the branch in black soot.  Using a nestabilities die I have cut this and then a piece of core'dinations in dusty concord slightly bigger.  A little bit of sanding and distressing and then it was ready to stick on.

To give the perfect finish to the book I have covered the spine with canvas which has been distressed and then covered the ink splodges inside with core'dinations. 

Cheap value envelopes have been distressed using brushed corduroy and then stuck in an accordian effect using extra strong double sided tape (I did use normal tape but it just was no good!).

So there we have my first creativity post on my new blog! I hope you like my creation!

It would be great to get to know more crafters on here so if you want to get in touch then please....!

I will be back with some more creations soon!

Happy inking!

Beth xx

New Blog....

Hi all!

I decided to finally join the world of blogging after spending lots of time reading others and going through all their crafty makes!

I have been making some bits and bobs over the last week and hopefully will be sharing these with you over the next couple of days.

I'm no pro by all means but enjoy what I do and what I make and just hope that others can appreciate my creations as much as I do!

I'm very excited about getting home tonight because hopefully my order will have arrived from ali craft who stocks most of the Tim Holtz range at a fab price.  I was lucky to join in their workshops at the last craft event at the NEC.

It's pay day tomorrow so I have spent the last few hours looking at what this can be spent on!  After all, in 3 months time this day will mean that I just have to restock on nappies and baby wipes!

Well hopefully I will post some pictures of my makes on here soon!

Happy Inking!

Beth x