Tag Tuesday - Letter Q

Hi everyone.  I did think I might have trouble with the letter Q and this weeks alphabet tag.  There are not as many words that begin with Q so I thought I might have the same problems with Zentangle Patterns ........but no there were 3 Q Patterns and I have used them all on my tag this week.  QUANDARY is on the top bow, QUILTZ on the bottom and my favourite this wee (coz it was easy peasy!) was QUEEN'S CROWN which I made a frame around my tag with.

My other inspiration was of course origami paper bows!  I have made tons since I learnt how to make them last weekend!!!  I think I am just about bowed out for a while but they made a cute embellishment on my tag this week.

I made a little fast forward video of this one if you care to follow this link (for some reason the usual direct link to You Tube isn't cooperating today!).

On the subject of tags.  I was blog hopping and found some gorgeous tags inspired by Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2013 and thanks to Theresa  I am hooked again.  If you want to pop along and see what I mean follow this link.   I am working on my catch up tags and am looking forward to playing along again on the 1st of May.  I think its official I am a tagaholic because I am also creating some online classes for some of the tags I made last year!  Gotta love a tag!  If you love tags to then why not follow this link and visit a lovely bunch of tag artists also inspired by the letter Q this week.

Thanks for popping by X

Homage to My Distress Inks

Hope everyone is having a fun weekend.  For the past couple of days I have been working on a project inspired by the challenge over on the Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge Blog.  The theme this week is colour and I was worried for a while there I was going to miss the posting deadline!

Colour made me immediately think of my Distress Inks as they are my go to item when I want to add colour to a project.  I can paint with them, stamp with them, make inky gorgeous backgrounds with them,  dye ribbon with them and do this with them!

I had a wonderful inky time putting this together.  As you can see I was quite a while making all these teen tiny paper bows.  I learnt how to make them last week and now I think I am a bit bowed out!!

I loved the dimension of this piece and I think that the liberal use of cream highlights the Distress ink colour pallet.  It makes a great reference point when I want to create Distress Ink colour combinations too.

If you want to try something like this I made a video of how I put it together.  I like making these videos as it shows the design process and how fluid it is.  You may start out with a firm idea in your head but the practicalities of creating that vision may take you in a completely different direction.

There is also a video on my You Tube Channel to show you how to make the origami paper bows.  I would suggest starting with a larger bow first though!!

This project reminded me of another piece I made inspired by my treasured Distress Inks.  Another celebration of the gorgeous rainbow of colour at your fingertips.  This piece has hung in my open plan Kitchen Diner next to the Conservatory window and there is no hint of any fade at all......Might be a bit of dust though!

Click Here if you want to know more about this piece.

A big thank you to everyone over at Simon Says Stamp and Show for the inspiration.  I do love a challenge.  Be sure to pop over and check out all the colour inspired pieces.

Wishing you all a colourful weekend.....I am hoping for sun to get out in the garden as it needs a bit of a tidy before nature gets to spreading its beautiful colours all around.

Thank you for popping by X

Christmas in April!

This seems a little strange to post in April but I noticed that I had a video waiting to be edited that I made Christmas last and rather than keep it until next year I thought I would share it now.  Late for last year and early for this year!

I designed this tag for the Christmas Swap over at Tag Tuesday and I had forgotten I taped the process so I could make a tutorial.  Still better late than never.  I am sure that you could make the shaker portion of this tag and display it on a Christmas Card rather than a tag.

Hope you like the tutorial.

Off now to make more bows or I will not get my challenge piece finished!

Thanks for popping by X

WOYWW 203

Morning All.  There is a queue for the shower this morning so I thought I'd nip down and post this picture of my desk.

My desk is rather Distressing today!!! ha ha.  I am making a project for a challenge and am in the process of making some teeny tiny paper bows in all the colours of the Distress Ink Rainbow!  It is a labour of love.  I learnt how to make these bows at the weekend and they are so fab I just had to share.  Last night I uploaded a video tutorial and so today I am sharing it.

Hope you all enjoy it and give it a go.  Don't forget to subscribe to my You Tube channel if you want to hear when I upload my next video.  It doesn't seem long ago that I shared my first ever tutorial.  I am really enjoying making them even if it does take forever to upload them to You Tube!

I'd better go and chase my son out of the shower if I want to have some hot water!  See you when I am decent!  If you want to find out more about the greatest desk hop in the world then please follow this link and enjoy!

If you leave me a comment, and I hope you do, I would love to know where you are in the world today.

Happy WOYWW to you and thank you for popping by X

Tag Tuesday - Letter P

It's the letter 'P' this week so I am sure there are going to be some funny posts over at Tag Tuesday.  I think the hilarity us Brits find in funny phrases that occur when talking about the letter P is typical of our humour.  It reminds me of those wonderful old seaside post cards.  Just a touch naughty and a lot childish fun!

Dare I say 'My P is green this week!!! ;-)'  

I blame it on the Peeled Paint Distress Ink!  My Zentangle patterns are: around the border PIA and in the centre POKELEAF.  I kept it simple today as I liked the natural looking leafy pattern and wanted to feature it.  I added colour and glossy accents to the leaves and I tried adding a little texture to the border pattern with white PVA glue.  It's not as perfect as I would have liked but it did add another dimension to my tag.

I am off to work on a piece I want to enter into a challenge and to finish editing a video tutorial for a fun paper bow I learnt how to make at the weekend.  I just got my 25th subscriber over on my You Tube Channel so I am all excited this morning.

Wishing you a wonderful day and thank you for popping by X

WOYWW 202

Good day to you all.  I am taking a while to rev up this morning.  I hope you are faring better!  So what is Wednesday like in my craft room?  Well there is this new addition!  It is on wheels and is proving to be very useful.  I have all my scraps in the files on the top all nicely colour and pattern sorted and then I have decided to use the rest of the trolly to put the tools I use most on as I seem to spend quite a bit of time transferring tools back and forth between where I craft and where I video.  It is working well and I am using up and putting away my scraps more too.

Then there is my desk!  Covered with......crikey what a mess!  I have been playing with a set of Baby Jane papers from Cosmo Cricket and have had fun making a layout and some cards.  Now I have to clear the desk so I can finish prepping for my card class on Friday.

This chair is in a reasonably tidy place in my craft room and has everything cut and sorted for the first card we are making in class.  See I am a bit organised!

 Here are the cards I made with my Cosmo Cricket Papers.  I love the cheery patterns on this yet another grey day - who has pinched the sun????  Let me know if you have it ;-)

I had fun making the spinner which I haven't tried before.  So much fun I made another one!!

I made an embossed grid on the front of this card which made it easy to create a neat patchwork border.  I think you can just about see the grid on the photo.  It has a pop up heart in the middle.

I think all these designs would be a great way to use up mix and match scraps of paper too.  Where is that trolley of mine!

Now the question is  To Tidy or to Desk Hop..........Desk Hop it is then!!!!  Follow me to try desk Hopping for yourself.......especially if you too want to put off the tidying ;-)

Thanks for popping by x

Announcing the Daisy Projects

The Daisy Projects is the latest (third) item to arrive on my virtual shelves!  Learn how to make a fabulous Daisy Embellishment (Video Tutorial 1), Gift Box (Video Tutorial 2) and Matching card (Video Tutorial 3) and if that wasn't enough the photo instructions that come with the tutorials show you how to change the Daisy into a Gerbera!  All this for the bargain price of £3.50.  You do need to have or have access to being able to use the Tim Holtz Tattered Florals and Tattered Leaves die to make this Daisy.

I hope you like the projects enough to buy my tutorials and join me in my virtual classroom.  The beauty of my lessons are you can take them any time, in any country and you can pause me anytime you like to take a coffee and cake break!  Oh and I will not mind one bit if you make me repeat myself over and over again! ;-)

I am trying to get PayPal buttons to work on my blog but they are still on trial at the moment.  I hope to be able to try them at the weekend on a different computer to make sure they work so in the meantime if you want to buy this tutorial click on this link to my ETSY shop!

More fabulous flower projects coming soon.

Thank you for popping by x