My Lovely Chunky Book ..... with thanks

Sorry not to have posted sooner, but life is very hectic here at the moment, with little time for any crafting, journalling or blogging.  However, last week I received a lovely and unexpected surprise, from Sheila and hand-delivered to me by my sister Lindsay.  Last year Sheila decided to host a chunky book swap, having previously joined in the one that I ran - I signed up but unfortunately had to drop out when I realised, primarily for health reasons, that I wouldn't be able to complete the number of pages required.  So you can imagine how surprised and delighted I was to receive a book after all ...... everyone had kindly created an extra page for me so that I wouldn't miss out!

The theme I chose for my book was "Heavenly Bodies" and these are the pages in my book ........

Sheila's page

(Sheila also did a wonderful silvery textured front page and a back page for the book)

Gez's page

Lindsay, my sister's page

Elaine's page

Hilda's page

Cheryl's page

Joanne's page

Zoe's page

Sonia's page

Karen's page

Thanks, girls, you all did wonderful work - I love my book !

I'm Still Here!

Yes, I'm finally back, posting again - nearly two weeks since I last posted (shame on me!), but I've been suffering with the same "lurgy" that struck down David and Lindsay (and numerous other folks too).  So I'm afraid I've been doing very little craft-wise, but I am at last feeling more normal again so hope to get caught up on some crafty projects over the next week or so. 

I've been receiving some absolutely gorgeous ATCs in the post this week for the "Things that Go Bump" swap - I really don't want to part with any of them! - so if you want to participate and receive some of these spooky cards, there's still plenty of time - the deadline isn't till the end of October.

Rather belatedly, here are photos of all the wonderful and varied pages in my Grunge Chunky Book - I intended posting these sooner, but what with a combination of being unwell and the new Blogger uploading system which played up last time I tried to use it, this is the first opportunity I've had to show them off to you all. 

Grunge Chunky Book - Front Cover

The Timekeeper - Susan Jenneys (Artyjen)

Heart & Soul - June Benton

Heavy Metal - Sheila King

It's Only Words - Hilda Moffett

Ghost in the Machine - Ali Brandist

With a Little Flourish - My Page

I Dreamed a Dream - Lindsay Mason

Vintage Journeys - Sandra Zengler

Take Flight - Joanne Parkin

As you can see, everyone created some beautiful grunged up pages - thanks to each of you for making these books so gorgeous!  Now Sheila is running another chunky book swap (sorry, folks, it's already fully-booked!) with a deadline next March, but this time there are 12 of us in the swap and we've each chosen a theme for our own books (mine is "Heavenly Bodies" - interpret how you will, angels, planets, stars, sun and moon, glamorous ladies ......!!!) - there are some really interesting themes this time including "steampunk" (which I love but have never been confident enough to have a go at before - so time to jump in and play)!  Anyhow, I'm sure we'll all end up with a marvellous book each and lucky Sheila gets to see everyone's pages too (the biggest perk of hosting)!

Well, enough from me for now ...... I'll be back posting again soon (and I haven't forgotten that I promised you another challenge with a Christmassy theme, so watch this space)!

Grunge Book Update

Just to let all those taking part in the grunge book swap know that I've now received everyone's pages - and what a wonderful lot of pages they are too!  What a job I'm going to have sorting them all out into books (81 of them - pages, that is)!  I've been working on the covers this week and I'll be setting aside a few hours over the next few days to put all the books together - I really can't wait to see what they all look like.  Some I'll be delivering by hand when I come over to Oswaldtwistle next weekend (18th Sept) for Lindsay's latest workshop at the Dawn Bibby Studio/Topaz Crafts and the others I hope to post out after the weekend (so keep a watch out for your postmen delivering some goodies next week) ..... :o)

I also just found out that some of my emails weren't being delivered, for whatever reason, so if you've sent me an email and not had a response - that's the reason why and NOT that I was ignoring anyone!  Suze, I know you left a comment to say you received the seaside atcs - yes, I did get your email and replied, but that's one that apparently just vapourised into cyberspace - grrr!!!

For anyone who's been wondering, the teenager who attacked Graham appeared at the youth court last week but his case has been adjourned until next Monday (13th Sept) at the magistrates' court, pending more reports from Social Services, etc - I hope this doesn't mean there are some "do-gooders" there trying to come up with justification for what he did (deprived childhood, etc, etc) - as my son says, lots of people have a bad start in life one way or another, but they don't all use it as an excuse for a life of violence or crime.

And finally, if anyone wants to join the "Glitter" ATC swap, there's still loads of time to play - just drop me an email to let me know and I'll sign you up!

GRUNGE CHUNKY BOOK PLACE NOW FILLED !

Wow, that was quick!  No sooner had I posted that there was a place available for the Grunge Chunky Book swap than I was emailed by two people wanting to take part.  So congrats to Hilda for being the first person to get in touch and sorry to Elaine for missing out by 10 minutes - hope you're not too disappointed, but would love to have you join in any future challenges I post.

For all those of you in the Grunge Swap - please make a note that the new deadline for this is now 7TH SEPTEMBER, which I'm sure will be appreciated by those still working on their pages !

CALL OUT - ONE MORE PERSON NEEDED FOR MY "GRUNGE" CHUNKY BOOK SWAP

Unfortunately, one of the ladies who originally signed up for the "Grunge" chunky book swap has just let me know that she is unable to participate due to unexpected personal issues.  I know this is very short notice now as the pages are due back to me on 31st August, but is there anyone out there who fancies the challenge of making nine pages (each with a particular theme) for this swap?  I promise you will be in for a treat with the finished book you receive back, judging by the pages I've received so far.  If it makes it any easier, I can extend the deadline by an extra week, but must restrict it to people in the UK due to the time factor.

For those already in this swap, I'm sorry for this bit of disappointment - if I can't find another person to participate, you will each be receiving one set of two pages created by the same person (if that makes sense?).  Here's pics of my latest pages, which might inspire someone to have a go:-

"Take Flight"

"The Timekeeper"

So - if anyone wants to take part, please email me ASAP - it will be a case of first come, first served - and I will send you full details of the page size, themes, etc.  You will find brief details in the sidebar on the right, but please ask, if you have any more questions.  

Now - have I tempted anyone?

Tangerine Dreams .... do come true!!!

Okay, I admit it, I'm "out of the closet" now - I'm a football fan!  I'm really looking forward to the World Cup next month (much to the disgust of the men in my house, who both have no interest in the game) - I remember seeing England win the Cup back in 1966 (oh dear, doesn't that date me)?!?  When I was in my teens, I was a huge fan of Blackpool Football Club (we were in what was then the first division), my friends and I would travel to lots of the away matches too - mum and dad were big fans as well (only Lindsay who wasn't - and still isn't - a fan). 

At the beginning of this season Blackpool were on the cards to be relegated but today they've confounded all the critics by going down to Wembley (with their tangerine army in tow - Blackpool's colour) and beating Cardiff City 3-2 in a fantastic play-off final to take them into the Premier League of English football next season ..... I watched the match on TV at home, a nerve-wracking but exciting experience, which brought back many memories of the times I stood on the terraces at Bloomfield Road, cheering Blackpool on. 

WELL DONE, BLACKPOOL!!! .... it'll be great to see you playing against the "big boys" next season!

Temperatures have soared the last couple of days, even with windows and doors open it's been hot and sticky, so not much crafting going on - just bits here and there.  I have managed to complete another couple of pages for my chunky book swap though, so here's a look-see ......

"I Dreamed a Dream"

(I added one of my dragonflies to this page and took it with me as a sample for the "make and take" table I ran at the residential weekend)

"With a Little Flourish"

(I've added a few little adhesive pearls to the large flourish and side of the frame since I took this photo)

Well, I'm popping over to the Windmill Craft Centre in nearby Thornton tomorrow, as Lindsay will be there most of the day demonstrating a variety of products, including distress inks, stickles and stamps - I always like to see her demo if I can, as I learn new techniques and tips (not that I remember them all once I get home again)!  Hopefully we'll get the chance to grab a spot of lunch too.

My Little Helper ..... and another Grunge page done!

I recently joined a round robin swap run by Ali Brandist, to create an altered book.  It's the first real book that I've actually had a go at altering ..... we each had to choose an old book, not too big, and it had to be stitch-bound rather than glued.  The first task was to pull out a lot of the pages (leaving about 30 double pages or so), to give enough room for adding embellishments later on.  We then had instructions for completing the first two pages in our own book, along with giving it a title/theme.  After a bit of pondering, mine is going to be "Flights of Imagination", which I hope will give everyone plenty of scope for creating their own style and ideas in my book.

Anyway, to begin with, I had to cover up some parts of the text with torn post-it notes, collage over the rest of the pages with scraps of different textured papers, then gesso over that.  I then painted over the top of the gesso, once it had dried, using some lush coloured Paint Dabbers - Pink Sherbet, Raspberry, Wild Plum, Citrus and Pool - followed by a wash of Twinkling H2O's - I absolutely adore the finished effect and as you can see, my little helper was on hand to help with the painting!

I blended some of the acrylic paints together using a baby wipe and as you can see it ended up very colourful indeed - once dried, it can be turned into a background for an ATC or card (I'm all for recycling where I can and not wasting anything that might come in useful - one day)!

The next step was to add a couple of torn strips of paper, with inked edges, one on each page, then choose two or three stamps and stamp them randomly all over.  (I chose a dragonfly, the word "imagine" and a swirly stamp).

Finally, I added an image to each page, plus a quote, all relating to the title I chose for my book (this quote is apparently one of Jane Austen's but it just seemed to fit perfectly for the theme of my book).  A few embellishments .... and my pages are complete, just waiting to be posted out to the next person in the swap next week.  We will receive more instructions from Ali after that about altering the pages in the next book we receive.

I definitely had a lot of fun making these pages - I wasn't worried about everything being perfect; I wanted everything to look a little messy and imperfect - a good lesson for me as I have a tendency to be 'picky' and want everything 'a particular way' ... so I'm looking forward to seeing what comes next.

Then today, I got on a roll and made another Grunge page for my chunky book swap - this one is "It's Only Words" - I spritzed Mustard Seed, Broken China and Denim distress inks onto my craft sheet, then rubbed the mountboard page into the ink, front and back, then heatset it.  I stamped a Tim Holtz alphabet stamp all over, using Versamark, then embossed with an aqua embossing powder.  I also coloured some Stampbord with acrylic inks, then stamped over with the PaperArtsy 'writing hand' stamp and edged with Krylon gold pen.  I glued this over an image of a man, which I had peeled from a rather torn and tatty carte de vue that I had.  I glued a strip of text from an old book to some paper, painted it lightly with acrylic paints, gessoed, stamped, tore off bits, added more stamps, and stuck it along one side of the page.  I rubbed in some Frayed Burlap distress ink around the edges, along with a border of gold Krylon ink.  Other embellishments included pen nibs, a German scrap nib, a Rangers Muse Token and tag.  (I may add a little something more yet before it's finally finished, not sure yet).  But I'm happy to have more or less completed another page.

Now I was going to have another go with the Meltpot, but when I looked in my box of embossing powders I realised that I only had a very small amount of Clear UTEE left, not enough to have a proper go with (honest ..... it's not an excuse so I don't have to use the Meltpot! ... LOL!).  However, I am going to the craft show at Aintree Liverpool on Saturday, so I shall keep an eye out in case there's any on sale there - if not, I'll have to check out the local craft shops next week.  (I really do want to finish my mirror frame)!

A Little Bit of "Grunge" ..... and more Vintage Gentlemen

First of all, I hope everyone has had a lovely Easter break, whatever you've all been up to - mine has been fairly quiet and I was able to spend some time creating a few cards and another page for my "grunge" chunky book (so now I have two pages completed).  Here they are .....

"Vintage Journeys"

"Heavy Metal"

Here are a few more vintage gentlemen images for you to make use of - if you fancy joining the April Fools ATC swap (details in the sidebar), remember that you can use any of these images on your cards if you wish.  There's still plenty of time to take part in this swap - the closing date is not until 30th April. 

Here is a card I made for the April Fools swap, using one of these vintage images .......

Thank you to everyone who joined in the Butterflies and Dragonflies swap - I received some wonderful cards and I'm happy to say these have all been swapped out now and flew out to you all today.  I'll wait a few days, so as not to spoil the surprise element, and then post pics of all the cards that were created for this swap.

Mia has been causing havoc again! ..... she zaps around so fast, she can hardly keep up with herself.  One of her favourite things to do is to launch herself at top speed into the kitchen (it's a long narrow one), jump onto the wastebin and then onto the windowsill, still at lightning speed.  So last night, I was there in the kitchen, making a brew, when she tore past at what seemed like 100mph and the next thing I knew there was a tremendous crash and the sound of something(s) clattering down onto the stone floor - Mia had been unable to put her "brakes" on and had collided with a jar of marbles I have sitting on the windowsill - the jar amazingly was not broken but there was a shower of marbles spilling out all over the floor in every direction - of course, by now Mia had flown out the room and was hiding upstairs ("nothing to do with me, mum"!) - what a handful Mia is, the mischief she gets up to .... we just wonder what to expect next!

New ATC Swap - Butterflies & Dragonflies

Okay, it's the 1st of the month and, as promised, I'm posting a new ATC swap - this will be the first of a regular monthly swap slot - sometimes they'll be atc swaps, other times they might be for something different - but hopefully you'll find them interesting enough to join in, whether you're beginners or more advanced.

So ...... we've begun March and the sun is shining, the skies are blue (never mind the sleety stuff I got caught in this morning, that's all gone now) ..... so there's a definite "springy" feel in the air now.  Which made me think about lots of colour - bright blues and pinks, soft greens and lemony yellows, and the shimmer of light on a pool of water, the flash of irridescence on a dragonfly wing and the fluttering of a butterfly resting on a flower.  So what better theme could I start of with than "Butterflies and Dragonflies"?  (Quite an interesting contrast to the "grunge" book swap as well)!

Details of the swap are posted in the sidebar, the deadline will be the last day of the month, so if you're interested, then please email me to sign up.

Here are pics of some items I've made in the past, where dragonflies or butterflies feature:-

This piece was created on canvas, using decorative papers, paint, embossing, Crafty Individuals stamp, stamped quote, microbeads, paper flowers and brads, edged with gold Krylon pen.  The collaged butterfly was covered with Glossy Accents.

These were all atcs that I've made for swaps in the past.

I had a lovely surprise in the post this morning - I won a prize in a magazine giveaway.  Look what I got ...... these are going to come in so useful for my art, specially for any journalling (or squiggles!) that I do! 

It really perks your day up when the postman brings you something lovely and unexpected (and that's NOT a bill!).

Sign up for the "grunge" chunky book swap will close after tonight, at the moment there's one place still available if anybody wants to have a go, and then I'll be sending out full details of this swap to all those who are participating - so get ready to "grunge"!

One Place Left ......

The response to the "grunge" chunky book swap has been great and there's only room now for ONE more player ...... so if you want to join in, then you need to contact me quickly.

Tim Holtz's new book arrived this morning (yay!) - have only had time for a swift peek through it all, but it looks great, really clear photos and instructions for loads of techniques - can't wait to try them all out!

Grunge Chunky Book Swap

Can't believe how quickly places are filling up for this chunky book swap - I guess there are a lot of Tim Holtz/grunge fans out there! ...... I've still got room for a couple more people before sign up closes, so if you're thinking of having a go, you need to jump in quick and send me an email to let me know you want "in"!

Also, check out the link in the sidebar to The Stamp Man blog, which I just discovered, where he's running a givaway to win the 12 new Tim Holtz distress inkpads (such gorgeous colours!) - all you need to do is leave a comment to be in with a chance of winning them. 

I just got word that my copy of Tim Holtz's book is on its way, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed it might arrive tomorrow - can't wait to have a look at it!  And if you'd like to see a little of what goes on "behind the scenes" on a QVC craft day, then check out my sister Lindsay's blog to read all about it.

Let's get "grungey" ...... a NEW Swap

After seeing some of Tim Holtz's demos on the QVC craft day yesterday, and knowing that others love his "grunge" style just as much as I do, I've decided it would be wonderful to create a chunky book inspired by Tim and his techniques.  I need about 8-10 players, max, to join in this swap and the idea would be to create pages following particular themes, using Tim's techniques, "grungey" style and (where possible) products (stamps, inks, paints, Stickles, embellishments, etc).  I intend to give a long deadline (eg six months) for this book so that no-one need feel pressured to have to produce all the pages very quickly.  

If you're interested in taking part in this swap, please drop me an email to sign up - once I have enough sign ups, the swap will close and I'll send out full details of what's required for this swap.  If you've got any other questions about it, then please ask - I hope this appeals to several of you and I'd encourage anyone who's unsure, to just have a go - getting messy and playing with all these inks, glues and paints is really good fun!  And at the end of it, you'll have a beautiful chunky book to keep and treasure.

I enjoyed what I saw on the QVC craft day - well done, Lindsay, for your appearance with your new stamps, they proved very popular! ..... and I couldn't resist buying Tim's new book (A Compendium of Curiosities) as it came with extras, so seemed like a good deal - can't wait for it to arrive now, it looks like it'll be a great reference book for all his techniques. 

These are pics of some Tim Holtz inspired tags I made for a recent swap hosted by Ali in one of the groups I belong to - Ali is going to bind all the tags together with nuts and bolts to form tag books so I'm really looking forward to receiving mine in the next week or so.

Monday, Mia went to the vets to be spayed and microchipped.  It was of course a bit of an anxious time until we knew she was safely through the op and we could pick her up from the vets.  She was wearing one of those cones round her neck to prevent her picking at her stitches (in her tummy rather than her side, because apparently her fur, being a Siamese, would grow back much darker and spoil her markings) and feeling very sorry for herself, she hated it and kept trying to walk backwards to get out of it or was bumping into furniture with it.  It was so big I'm sure she'd have found it difficult to eat any food at all out of her bowl. 

Poor Mia! - we left the cone on for the first night whilst she was still a little subdued from the op and I stayed up with her all night, watching bits of QVC and the Winter Olympics and dozing for a few hours on the settee with Mia on my lap - but the next morning Graham removed the cone and, what a transformation, she was straight back to her cheeky, mischievous self, tucking into her food and wanting to play again.  You'd never know she'd had any surgery at all.  We're just keeping an eye on her to make sure she doesn't pull at her stitches, but she's being pretty good really so we won't be putting the cone back on her again.

And finally, I've also decided to put up an ATC swap on the first of each month ..... I'll be posting the first of these swaps on 1st March, so check back then if you fancy joining in. 

An Unusual Necklace

Can't believe it's a week since I last posted; the days are just flying by and, frustratingly, I've not had a lot of time to sneak off into my "craft room" (AKA the spare room) to do much art ..... and as for the speed Christmas is approaching, I daren't even think about that ...... I'm really not organised at all (I think I get less organised every year)!

Anyhow, it's an early start in the morning for me as I'm off to the Knitting & Stitching Show at Harrogate with a friend - the coach picks us up from the centre of town at 8.15am.  I've not been to many shows this year, but this one has to be one of my favourites - there are so many stands to visit (and spend money at) as well as lots of interesting exhibitions.  It's quite a challenge to get round it all and have a good look at everything before it's time to catch the coach home again.  I've got a sort of list to take with me of a few bits and pieces that I'd like to buy, but if I'm true to form, I won't stick to it at all and will end up buying something entirely different! 

I plan to wear this piece of jewellery tomorrow and I wonder if any of you know what the centre piece is made of (or maybe you've seen it before ...... I was commissioned to create a necklace using this unusual "cabochon" by the UK "Bead" magazine a year or two back).  The colours weren't ones I normally would have selected to use together - the bright reds and blues - but I had some large dyed fossil beads in these colours in my stash and they were perfect for what I envisaged.  Part of the necklace was created using Zulu Stitch and the cabochon was embellished with clusters of pearly shells.  The necklace is reversible as the patterning on the cabochon is different on either side.

Well, did you guess yet?

Can you believe that it's actually made of CAR PAINT?  It's called Fordite (of course, what else?!) and was only available in limited quantities.  Apparently, it's composed of layers of car paint retrieved from an old car manufacturing site which were compressed together to create these amazing swirly patterns.  It's also a very light material so extremely comfortable to wear.

Finally, if any of you are interested in creating chunky books and want to learn a little more about the process, then pop over to Treez Malyon's blog where she's running a very thorough tutorial on a Marie Antoinette book she's creating.  It's very inspiring and might whet your appetite for having a go at making one yourself in the New Year!