Altered, (well sort of), coat hanger

If you look back on my previous post you will see the coathanger Polly gave me to alter. Well I've finally finished. It's still a coat hanger though, but altered from its original state. I painted it, overstamped with Crafty Individuals large swirl, then added words from the cuttlebug, a bit of lace flowers, blah blah blah.............

Gina, our eldest daughter is getting married next May, and I thought if I decorated the hanger, it would be nice to take a photo of her beautiful dress hanging on it for a scrapbook page. Oh I'm gonna get into scrapbooking eventually, I am determined.

This is one of the hearts. I made them in clay and added Crackle paint and wax rubs to age them a bit. I kept them simple, and stamped some Crafty Individuals words onto card and mounted them with 3d pads. I know I use these words all the time, but they are just so versatile. Nothing like getting your moneys worth out of a stamp eh?

Again a Crafty Individuals stamp, CI-186. I just used the sentiment from it as I thought it was apt, and made the butterfly.

A couple of flowers and sentiment again, just to add a bit of interest.

I added a fancy centre and some lace to the large Bazzill flower heads as they looked a bit plain, and that seemed to be enough. Just think, only 9 months and I can blog the photo of the actual dress on the hanger lol.

Sue x

Still no sign......

Well today is the 'due date', but the midwife was correct, Faye will be late and attending another appointment with her tomorrow. But on a positive note, the 40 weeks have flown. I can't believe how quickly they have passed.

4o" circumference lol. It was 39 at the last measure. Everything is in place now, and awaiting (nervously) the big day.

On a lighter note I met the Green Giant alias Sam on Saturday to paint a step in marion's craft hideaway. She loves gettin her hands dirty, unlike me lol.

I had to stand on her hands to put enough pressure there for them to print, and it worked really well, a great idea.

All she needed here was a baby wipe or two, or maybe a few more.

Sam had kindly made Maz, Polly and myself one of her works of art. I've now got 3 altogether, and need to put thm up. They'll have to go above the picture rail in my crat room as that's the only wall space I have in there. Anyway, thanks Sam I love it!

I have been given another challenge by Polly. She picked up a pack of these cardboard coat hangers recently, and shared them out between us all. Bit unsure what to do with it yet, mmmmmmmm.............................

Come on everyone, any suggestions??????? nice ones only please!!!!!!

Sue x

Scrapbook page

I have been wanting to use my 'spritzers' on a scrapbook page for ages now, I expect that's because I don't scrapbook often enough. Today however, I took the bull by the horns and just went for it.
You can see the effect in this close up. I also added a paper doiley, and coloured it a bit with some ink pads. I added flat backed pearls to add a bit of interest.

This is a close up of the flowers, all from Running With Scissors, I love the 'chunky' small roses.

This is the finished page. It's simple I know, but so is the photo. It's one Janice, (we have been friends since we were just 16) gave me of her daughter Ella. Isn't she beautiful. I'm sure she will be a model one day!!!!

That's all for now, time for a bit of dinner!

Sue x

Well, I've finally finished altering my bird house, kindly given to me by my good friend Polly. This is the front view. I put on an opening door, made with a couple of manilla tags and an acetate window, made with a circle punch.

The letter box is made of balsa wood, a brad for a door knob and an old brass hinge. The round window frame's made of a couple of curtain rings. The little 'door bell' came off a Christmas card I think.

As you can see, I used corrugated card for the roof, thanks again Polly, and edged it with a border punch. The photo is of Faye when she was two. She's 25 this year and expects her first child in just FOUR DAYS!!!!!!!!! Where have the years gone?

And the other side, Gina this time aged five, and she's 29 this year!

The back view shows Gina at the top and Faye at the bottom, giggling as always. This photo was taken while she was rib to toe in a frog plaster, after enduring lots of treatment and surgery to correct dislocated hips which had not been diagnosed at birth. The rubber stamped sentiments is another favourite from my collection.

Now, (and I mean this, really mean it), don't repeat this to anyone! I used the dreaded 'flower soft' to create the foliage lol. (I'm certainly going 'soft' Sam, you are right). The pink 'flowers' were done by dabbing liquid pearls here and there. Windows are slide mounts, painted and distressed a bit.

The Magenta metal hearts on the roof I have had for ages, they have been coloured with dabbers and distressed again.

The plaque is shrink plastic, tinted with chalks.

Here's the door open, with another sentiment, and finally the three cards I taught in class yesterday. Real quick and easy using the Cuttlebug, but effective.

Thanks for looking!

Sue x

I've not been slackin' honest!

Sorry for the length of time since my last post, but I seem to have had lots going on lately, and have struggled to blog.

I taught my class at Running With Scissors again this morning, and the class all managed three cards today. I will try to put them on tomorrow as I forgot to take the photo's and it's too dark now.

This afternoon, four of my friends came around and finished the card we started a couple of weeks ago. It was quite involved so took two sessions, but turned out really well.

Here's the mob, (l to right) Becky, Lisa, Pam and Maz

Pam decided on a pink and black theme for her card, which turned out really well.

Marion stuck to the original pink and green theme,

And so did Lisa.

Becky has taken hers home to stick together, but has promised to let us see it when it's finished. I need to get my thinking cap on again now for next week.

Black and white cards

These are the cards I designed for todays classes. It was a change for us to do basic cards as I tend to teach mini books, altered arty bits etc, and my ladies seemed to enjoy going back to 'basics'. The morning class finished two but the afternoon ladies tipped it by managing all three!

The morning ladies desperately wanted to make the butterfly card, so I'll take it next week along with something else and make their day, lol.

Sue x

Seaside slide mailer

Used some of the new images from Crafty Individuals 'People and Places 2' book to alter a double microscope slide mailer. I painted the whole thing blue and added a bit of distressing with some dabbers. The frame around the beach huts is CI - 181, the one with the bird in the middle.

Obviously the bird has been hidden with an image from the new book, but it shows the versatility of rubber stamps, as it's a lovely frame. I added garden string as a tie, finished off with coupons from the CI-239.

The middle of the mailer.......the sentiment was stamped using a small lower case alphabet.

And the back, the beach huts simply keep the twine in place.



That's all for now, but I can tell you I have used the chipboard frames, they are gorgeous, and will be sharing them with you all soon.

Sue x

On arrival at the class on Saturday, Kate set us a challenge. She gave us all a lovely feather butterfly to use on a project in any way we choose. I decided to add mine to a card for Polly's birthday.


Here's the result. Surprise surprise, I used a Crafty Individuals stamp, cut the wings that were on the stamped image off and replaced them with the feather wings, which were just the right size! Pretty simple, but it got the challenge done.

Need to get on with my bird house, tea light holder, new Crafty Individuals projects, scrapbook pages, Wednesday's class......................................How did I have time to run the shop???????

Sue x

Alittle visitor and tissue box cover class

This wierd little creature appeared in our conservatory the other day. The photo's a bit blurred but it was so brightly coloured, red and green, I thought I'd grab a quick photo.

This was him, (or her) from the front, wierd or what? It almost looks like he was trying to frighten me away, lol. Any way back to crafting..................

Here are the girls in full swing at the altered tissue box cover class. It was a fantastic day, full of chatter, fun and most importantly lots of lovely techniques.

Look at the concentration on their faces!!!! We used the brilliant Jo Sonja paints, (they truly are the best), stippled, chalked then over stamped to give us a good base to work on, then used varios techniques and mediums to create the collaged sides. Everyone chose 'Angels' as their theme, but used different papers and colours. This resulted in some great variations. It was a fantastic day, ending later than expected, but then my classes always have an 'ish' after the finishing time lol.

Polly's hubby called after lunch armed with a stash of Jo Sonja paints for Polly from Running With Scissors, so we got him on tea duties and he stayed for the afternoon. He makes a mean cuppa, thanks Steve!

Here are the finished boxes..............................

And here are the finished off ladies!!!! Thank you all for a great day, looking forward to the clear book class soon........................

Sue x

Last two weeks card classes.

It's a bit late, but here are the cards I taaught at Running With Scissors recently. These are the front pages of a little accordion fold card I taught two weeks ago now.

They open up to reveal four pockets which contain individual tags.

I have left the tags blank on this one, ready to personalise,

and on this one added different hearts and pearls, you can see them better on the photo below.

Then last week we made a criss cross card containing a tag. It took up most of the morning, but in order to fit in an extra card we left the water colouring to do at home and moved on to another card.

It's a very simple gatefold card, covered inside and out with patterned paper. It's tied at the front with ribbon, held in place by a scalloped oval punched shape, simply stamped and edged with liquid pearls in each scallop.

Again, simplicity inside in the form of a stamped sentiment a couple of flowers, self adhesive pearls and liquid pearls.

A real quick and easy last minute card !

Back soon.

Sue x

New releases from Crafy Individuals

It was fantastic to receive my latest goodies from Jean and Malcolm of Crafty Individuals today. The unexpected package of 'hot off the press' stuff took my breath away to say the least. It containes a sheet of whiteboard press out's in the shape of ornate frames in different sizes to suit the images from their fantastic 'PEOPLE AND PLACES 2' book.

Just look at these!!!!! My head is buzzing away with ideas for these beautiful frames and swirls. They also sent me a pack of paper slide mounts, but rectangular shape rather than square, and these will be perfect to use with the long narrow images in the new book.

And how beautiful are these images? There are an amazing 158 in the book in a variety of sizes, and styles from vintage to modern. These are just a few of them.........

Can you tell how excited I am?

Thanks again Jean and Malcolm for giving me the opportunity to design for you!

Sue x

Envelope card tutorial.

The sun has left the sky, so I have finally left the sunlounger and returned to my craft room after what seems ages. I've finished the envelope card, so here's the instructions if you fancy having a go at making one.

This is the inside of the card, simple in design, showing the pocket on the left.

I've put the finishing touches to the front of the envelope card as below. I used a variety of Crafty Individuals stamps and pre printed images, they are just the right size for using on the little 'tiles'. Unfortunately I won't be giving individual instructions for the tiles as it would take too long.

It's really difficult to gauge the actual size of stuff on my blog. to give you some idea, the card above was made using large envelopes which hold an A4 card folded in half lengthways, so in all it's about 12" high. I'll have to try and remember to put a ruler at the side of my work to help a bit. The individual tiles are 5cm x 7cm.

Right, on with the card base tutorial.......................

You can use any size envelope, either rectangular or square, they all work. The only problem with this is that the 'card' won't fit in an envelope.

Start by laying out the envelopes as shown below.

Stick the flap on the right hand envelope inside the base of the left hand envelope. This will leave an opening pocket.

Turn it over then stick the loose flap down to the outside of the envelope.

Ink or chalk around all edges and folds of the card, and inside the 'open' area of the pocket, as some of this will be seen when the card is finished.

Take a sheet of patterned paper and cut two pieces just smaller than the envelope and stick onto the front and back of the envelope card, leaving the inside with the open pocket uncovered.

With a sheet of co-ordinating paper, cut two more pieces to fit the inside of the card and stick one inside, over the right side of the card. (the side without the pocket).

Find the centre of the other piece of patterned paper and pund half a circle as shown. Turn it over and add narrow two sided tape to the 3 straight sides only.

Then add glue stick over the remaining white part of the envelope, not onto the chalked inside area, as this will need to open as a pocket. Sorry forgot to rotate the photo.

You will end up with something like this, below. Sorry, forgot to rotate the photo again.

The opening flap is great for holding a gift voucher or extra 'tag' etc. I decorated the inside very simply by adding a strip of co ordinating paper, two trims, a Crafty Individuals sentiment and a ribbon bow, as seen at the top of this post.

I really enjoy making these envelope cards, hope you do too.

Sue x