DragonsWeb

WOYWW - Honey, I'm Home!!!

2012-01-18T00:38:00.001Z

Happy New Year to you all...especially those visiting from Stamping Ground, courtesy of the wonderfully chatty Mrs Dunnit... I have only just got back from my trip, and hope you all had a super break. We went to Gran Canaria to visit the fragrant Freddie's family. His two sisters have lived there for 40+ years!!! I finally met his older sister this time and here is a pic of the view from her balcony!!!

Not a bad little vista eh??? She owns appartments just below so we might take all my family over in the summer. My poor daughter could do with it as her one break in that ancle has not healed AT ALL!! So a bone graft is needed soon, and then more plaster for 6 weeks!!! A serious break indeed!!! But that would not include my mum... not feasible and we need the rest away from it all!!!!

These two pics are from New Year's Eve. Freddie's nephew-in-law always throws him a fabulous party, and we are ready to go on these photos... we stayed until 6.30am and I was dancing and everything!!!! There is a video of that which I might share at a later time!!! The climate is so kind to my poor old joints...

Aww... bless... if you look closely you can see me in the reflection in his glasses!!! Fun...

We went to St. Augustin, in the south, to this fab hotel, where you can hire a lounger, brolly and towel for the whole day... it was AMAZINGLY hot all day and I was in my natural element... I was unaware of THIS shot being taken though!!!! tee hee...

Wooo... I should have been more careful about the dumplings boiling over eh??!! But at least I knew this shot was being taken!!!

He didn't though!!! Got my own back but was kinder with the angle eh???!! The lady at his side is the younger one of his sisters.

On our final day we went to the Guanches caves in the north of the island, with a couple of Freddie's rellies... they don't speak much English and we had great fun understanding eachother!!! But the day was wonderful - hot and dry (32deg) and so interesting, with paella and sangria to boot!!! I think you can see here how brown we were getting!!?? What a wonderful holiday...

This last pic is after all the eating and such... we were very happy, if you take my meaning...!!! What a shock when we came home to 2deg!! And then we had to get mum back.... she is settled but very difficult - as always, even before she developed her dementia!!! Oh well, I will cope.

Anyway, I look forward to visiting you all again now I am home, and hoping blogger lets us all make the lovely comment we all crave and love

Love and SunLight

Frankie

WOYWW - Something to See, Hurrah!!!

2011-12-20T23:23:00.000Z

Hi everybody... Last post for me before crimble and last showing of my disreputable desk!!! Curtesy of the madame de desques, Julia de Dunnit, Le Stamping Ground de blogue... opps, got a tad oo la la then, eh!!?? So eyes down for a look see at what I am doing, and a winning SSSS tag made into a card - it really did look like a Victorian invention for something or other!!! tee hee...

So here we are... still as untidy and dishevelled as ever but full of goody goodness - beads galore for making pressies - some for my lovely daughter and some for Freddie's sisters and niece in Gran Canaria!!!! YAY and thrice... I have a place (if blo-dy expensive) for mum to go whilst the fragrant Freddie and I get away for relative visiting and some sunshine in just a few days after crimble!!! Ah, dear readers, I REALLY need that sun and a rest from all the havoc since we got back from Egypt in September...

There are some beautiful colours ready to use, and some super silver fillers too. I have earrings and necklaces, as well as bracelets to make, so I should have a whale of a time with them!! It's the sort of thing I can do sitting watching tv, or in mum's room.

I have even found a watch in the same genre for the wonderful daughter... might get myself one too, after crimble... The green beads are for her, as she already has a bracelet in greens. she was very disappointed on Thursday, that she still can't drive, as one break is mending nicely, but the bone that pierced the skin is not showing any sign of healing yet, and her ligaments are still shot to pieces!! She did weep a little in frustration and shear fed-up-ness at being stuck indoors and loosing her independence!!! Poor love...

The blues are very pretty too - I have my eye on them!!! Ok.. on to that card, made from the TIO and SSSS tag a couple of weeks ago... I too some of the elements apart and then made an easel card...

I LOVE this stamp... what a fabulous face...

The flying clock always makes me smile... The chap this is for has just been 67, so my idea was time flying...

The "buttons here are the waste from the cogs. I love the texture...

And here is the whole thing, with that huge cog - it's so spectacular. I wish they did more this size and texture. So much to see and so mysterious... I realy like the finished thing - interesting to use the same elements but make them look so different...

So there you have my little offering for now. I hope you all have a fabulous Christmas and a Happy New Year. I also hope that 2012 brings us ALL much better luck, health and prosperity. I know a lot of you have had a torrid time like us, so here's hoping all is more tranquil nest year...
Love and Light
Frankie
xx
PS... HURRAH it's now the shortest day!!!!!!! so we can all begin to look forward to the summer!!! Merry Yule everyone!!!!!
xx

WOYWW #132 - Metal Wonderfulness (cheating again!!!)

2011-12-14T00:32:00.001Z

Hi all, and welcome to the phenomenon that is WOYWW, brought to us bloggers all over the world by the wondrous Mrs. Dunnit - sounds magical, rather like Father Christmas eh???

I have given up on declaring time is rapidly running away with me, or that I am not ready for the festive season, or that I have absolutely NO IDEA where we will put 1 tree this year, let alone the usual 2!!! My mother's new chest of drawers is where one usually goes, and our much reduced and diminished eating arrangements leave much to be desired, being a smallish table in my (cold) conservatory!!!! So no room in there then either - rather like at the inn!!! Well, where's the crafty stuff I hear you cry, so here is a ickle bit of past history and nostalgia, otherwise known as Lin's last class at the Olney shop!!!! And here is the lovely lady herself...

The very last class was destined to be the metal stuff I have been trying to do with her for ages but operations and holidays have always got in the way...

So here IS my desk, just not at home!!! sorry... we have puffed out some images then filled, and left them to dry.

This is what we were aiming for... lots of different techniques and ideas - 11 in total, apparently... this is Lin's piece, of course!!!

I will share a couple of ideas with you... this is a die cut shape, in thin card, covered with the metal, then embossed -

and scribbled to get this fabulous texture. The colour comes from painting over with marvellous Fresco paints from Paperartsy...

This is Lin's piece, in situ on her canvas... distressed with some black paint and distress inks... Thanks for this great idea, Lin...

And another FABULOUSLY simple technique is to crumple up humble tinfoil, then alcohol ink it!!! Brilliant, and so easy... it's just mounted on to some card to keep it rigid!!! Thanks for this one too, Lin...

And her amazing flowers... how great are they... I have decided to curl over the bottom petals, and roll the top ones, instead of the way round I have it here... look back at Lin's piece to see how much better it sits like that!!!

This beauty was done through the Big Shot - I MUST tell you at this point that my 3rd - yes no. three VAGABOND IS DEAD DEFUNCT and is NO MORE! What a pain that is, eh!! Must be a bad batch or it is just NOT fit for purpose... I wonder if Sir Tim knows that so many are rubbish???!!! So I am in the market for a new machine - any suggestions??

Anyhow, here are a few more pieces we did. They look so much better when they have been grunged eh?? So now I have to finish and put it all together... twill be easier said than done, as I am getting NO me-time to speak of just now... mum is quite a handful, and time just slips away seeing to her needs. I MUST be better at looking after me in the new year... the fragrant Freddie and I are still hoping to slip away for a couple of weeks to Gran Canaria to see his family for their crimble... that's if the care home comes up trumps!!! Cross everything you can, dear reader!!! I REALLY need the break...

Have a fabulous week and don't work too hard on those preparations... it will all come good in the end... Thanks for stopping by, and commenting, you KNOW I LOVE to hear from you all...
Love and Light
Frankie
xx
PS ... WOOO I was top three AGAIN at Simon Says Stamp and Show... I am THRILLED, probably even more than the first time, cos there are so many wonderful entries each week!!! Thanks everyone for your support!!

WOYWW - Art!!! Something crafty to Look At - About Time!!!

2011-12-07T00:34:00.000Z

Hi Everyone... back again at the end of a week that flew at the speed if light, or so it seems!!! No sooner have I paddled mum to the loo than it's time to GO again!!!! Tee hee!!!!

Seriously folks, it IS that time of the week when we bare all for art's sake and show our desks/workspaces/rooms/etc for the rest of the crafty world to peruse!! All that courtesy of the arch-desk-keeper Julia at Stamping Ground, and I finally have stuff to show and share that is arty and extremely untidy, but very welcome in my eyes!!!!! I have my crafty'oom AND a piece of work to show you - a tag for TIO and SSSS some elements of time.... HURRAH!!!

Well here it is then.... it all it's "glory" !!!!some new papers from Kanban, a new toy - the circle pro, my box of masks, new scor tape and stamps and all my usual chaos!! Just finished my TIO time tag...

This view is just inside the door, to the right of the desk, and looking to the cluttered floor!!! Drawers pulled out and used as a shelf for some stamps... how slutty is that?? All those bits of paper on the floor, and such clutter!!

and this is from the door to the left - the box about to fall off the shelf is my kit from Laura Denison... It's SO yummy, can't wait to start, but time is VERY short just now, as mum is keeping me on my toes!!!

So this is what I made today - first piece for a while...

The TIO challenge is to make a tag with the theme of the film Time Changer - which is Victoriana/Steampunky/Hugoesque (Jude Law's new film) ... my ickle clock is flying away!!!

The concept here was time changing/travel so the lady is morphing into the top hat man!!! all helped by the cogs and wheels and the time pieces...

This is a view of the whole tag, set out on a fave sheet of paper from DCWV Tattered Time. It's a huge clock and cogs... I LOVE it!!

This clock is from a Kanban set, modified by taking the central piece out and distressing it then raising it above the rays and adding a central shiny brad...

Those of you who follow me or visit often will know I LOVE texture and this tag is just full of it... I used some clear ep on many of my images, and some of the cogs are beautifully textured...

So there we have it again - full frontal... I had a great time making this and hope you like it too... why not find a little bit of time to do non- Crimble stuff and join us at TIO!!?? Please leave a comment, I am craving some crafty chat just about now!!!
Love and light
Frankie
xx

WOYWW - Follow-up from Last Week!!

2011-11-30T00:42:00.000Z

Hi everyone, followers and WOYWWiggers!!! It's THAT time of the week again when the crafty bloggers of the world unite to bare all... steady!!! only in their crafty spaces/rooms/floors/desks/suites etc... all courtesy of the lovely Julia, desky-in-chief at Stamping Ground... and where has the time fled to this week, again... ???

I am fast running out of time to get mum's room ready... however, we are doing ok and are nearly there!! Here's my workspace this week, then... mum's room

This corner is opposite the door into the room, and this lovely new screen will make personal stuff a bit more private for mum. It is very pretty and it's something I have thought of buying for my conservatory for a long while...

This is the far corner of the room, with the new chest of drawers and mum's tele on top. I think we shall move the drill etc before she gets into bed, LOL!!!

And here is the far corner at the other side of the window, with her easy chair from home... we went up there Sunday and it was VERY odd, to say the least...ah well!!! I think we shall have to move the drill boxes when she wants to sit down... ok, it's wearing thin eh!!??

But I am still reeling a little from the burning of the horse box yesterday... if you are interested in the latest tale of woe, see the post below, or click here... sad. sad day, and the boys are still really upset. Jay made a list of all that was lost and took it into school to discuss with his teacher - victim support rang us today, we were referred from the police - perhaps it would do the boys good to have a chat to someone neutral about their loss...

Anyway, I have to go today, and pay for the van windscreen to be mended from Sunday's trip, as we had a stone chip it and they are making me cough up £145!!! It has made it a VERY expensive trip to get mum's stuff!!!! Oh well, bring on the next bad thing...

Please send calming, healing vibes for shattered nerves and hacking cough!! I know everything will be ok, but it's getting very difficult to trust and keep the faith... there is a purpose but I can't see it just now!!!
Love and light
Frankie
xx
PS - I WILL do crafting soon, I promise, meanwhile don't stop coming to visit, please. xx

Just When...

2011-11-29T11:37:00.000Z

Just when you think things can't get much worse... they get worse!!!! I must have inadvertantly killed loads of robins this year for all the disasters that have occurred!!!

So what is it this time I hear you shout... come on tell us - well, early hours of yesterday (Sunday/Monday) morning, our farmer called us to say the horse box, our old but much loved lorry, was ablaze!!! We dragged on clothes and drove up to the farm to find the lorry completely burnt out and steaming gently. The firemen were just finishing dowsing it down. It had taken 3 tenders of water to put it out, and there had been more than 1000 degrees of heat at the fire's height!!! There was NOTHING left in there... not even the steering wheel!! The partitions were warped and twisted... and no sign of ANYTHING that had been inside...

There had been some pieces of show equipment in there, obviously. The season was not finished when we came home from Egypt, but we had to stop and not do the last two shows because of my and Miranda's broken bones!!! Well, things can be replaced, but we cannot replace the rosettes that Freddie, Miranda and the boys worked SO hard to earn

For example, this was our BESTIST day, with a haul of 4 firsts!! That was a SUPER day, and at the edge of the photo you can see just a fraction of the others we won this season... we can never replace them... and how did all this happen you may be asking??? The fire chief said it was arson!!!so someone cut the door to break in and set it aflame, for some reason... The boys were devastated, and so were we adults. Mindless violence and vandalism...

So now the fight starts with the insurance company, to recoup some of the things lost and get enough back towards another lorry, cos we are not giving up!!!!!!! Burnt lorry and my mum will NOT get in the way of us having great family times with the horses we love...

Please send some positive healing and protective vibes to help us have nothing more horrid happening, cos I am rapidly going under!!! Have got a chest infection just now and started taking the happy pills yeserday, to try and get my act together!!!

Love and light

Frankie

Finally, Fragrant Freddie's Fab Birthday!!

2011-11-25T13:00:00.000Z

Hi all... as promised, finally that birthday card for the fragrant Freddie's birthday. I have never done a double tri-shutter before and it was so interesting...

I am posting this as I NEED a break from the brick walls at the end of each phone call I have made this morning!!! Not least of which to a van hire company, who seem to have no humanity at all!!! They want the van back by 8.30 on Monday morning, or else they will charge for another whole day... even when I said that Freddie has to be in work before they open at 8 and I have to take the boys to school at the same time that they need the keys!!! Total intransigence - oh well... I am trusting the Dao and just going with it, and something will turn up...

So that card... get a cuppa and sit a while as there are quite a few photos... well there was a lot to decorate... hurrah!!

Tim Holtz and Kanban... + some bundled twigs to distress... I made it 8x8, which is a size I love to work with...

This is the first layer, just inside the left front, with letters from DCWV Tattered Time stack - I LOVE that paper!!! I have a kit, from the wonderful Laura Denison, I am about to start on, which uses that stack... amazing!!

This is inside right, with his age and homage to our fabulous balloon ride in Egypt - onwards and upwards!!! Of course, I made this when I thought things were going up!!! Nothing feels up just now, but I know it will again soon...

The papers at the back and beind the wooden "love you" letters, are stamped by my own fair hand with a variety of stamps and techniques... fun to do.

This is as full on open as I managed to photograph... it's a great fold this one... I shall try it again.

Here is a close up of that stamped paper... with the ghost of a lady, lurking!!! Freddie only noticed her 3 days later!!! She is from a cube by Stamp Addicts and I have used her a lot lately - she reminds me of the cogged-haired lady in the Graphic 45 Steampunk Debutante stack...

This is the intriguing back view of the folds, with one of the dangly watches showing...

The previous 2 photos are of the back of the card.... I made a pocket and put a journaling ticket in it with my message to Freddie...

So there we are, full circle. He LOVED it and was mystified how it was made... I made him an oriental "thank you" card but forgot to take a picture!!! Still, he will bring it home and I will show it you then. His workmates were also astounded as to how it was made and I may get some commissions in the new year, as so many of them were impressed, not only with this one, but with the decoupaged oriental one too...

Well, dear friends and followers, hope you are not too bored, and thanks so much for coming over for a peep. Thanks also for all the wonderful words of compassion and support you have all left, to help me get through this difficult time, preparing for my mum to arrive next week. I am by turns angry, anxious and upset with all the stuff to do, and all the obstacles people want to put in the way, but I expect I shall cope in the end!!! Thank goodness, too, for the fragrant Freddie - he is just a total good egg!!
Love and light
Frankie
xx

WOYWW - Cheating Again!!!

2011-11-22T23:25:00.000Z

Well, that week went by like the clappers which means I only have another and two days before mum is whisked off in a puff of smoke and lands here in her new home!!! HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! For those who are in the dark, please see my previous post. Yep, mum is coming to live with us... eeekkk, frightening...!!! So what do I have for your delectation this week, chez Julia at Stamping Ground...?? well it's this...

And the cupboard was bare!!! We have stored the stuff in the boxes and the men are coming on Wednesday dinner time to take the furniture etc off to storage. The top, middle cupboard is a booze cupboard, with a dropleaf door... the booze is now relegated to the garage!!! Gulp!!

Standing in the doorway, this is the view into the room, with yet another empty cupboard... to your right, but out of shot, is the previous cupboard... So this is my workspace this week, getting the room cleared and making room for new stuff, coming on Thursday... Those eagle eyed amongst you will spot my Misty "Fluffy" cat - the grey one of the kittens I thought would die cos of his poorly back legs... just look at him!!! Big fluffy lump!!! He thinks he is staying in here, but I am about to disabuse him!!!

Well that is it for today. Not much crafting done, I'm afraid, but I WILL get to it soon, when I have done a few more phone calls, filled in more forms and sorted more stuff!!!... please keep sending those great vibes to keep me going, I can feel them and really appreciate it...
Love and Light
Frankie
xx

A New Direction

2011-11-19T08:15:00.000Z

Hi All... thanks for popping over. I won't keep you long, but just want to share with you some news.... Many of you will know that I have had issues with the care of my mum recently, and went up to sort things out last week... well, she can no longer live at home because she is too confused, so I decided to have her live here with Freddie and myself...

It's such a big step, and is quite frightening, however I can't face putting her in a home, and must try to care for her here. I am trying to get some help with that, as I am not brilliant myself, and all that begins on 2nd December!! I love her dearly, but she should not be in this position, and I managed to get her present doctor to agree that fitting a pacemaker to a lady in her condition was unwise!! I shall be following that up in the weeks to come!!

Meanwhile, I am sure I will get into a reasonable routine so that I can craft as much as I can... we are busy stripping my dining room and putting furniture into store, and getting new stuff for her. I am hoping she will be comfortable, but will not linger too long, because her life now has little of the quality one would wish for her.

So that's my news, dear readers and followers. I would love you to send us some positive vibes to start us down this path, and shortly I will share with you that card I made for the fragrant Freddie's birthday...
Love and Light
Frankie
xx

WOYWW - Oh Dear... Oh Dear

2011-11-15T23:00:00.003Z

Do you remember the yellow pages ad when the girl followed the lad into his grotty flat, and said the imortal line "you don't want to see what they have done with your bathroom!!!" ?? He was, of course, simply untidy.... well you don't want to see what they did in my craft room!!! It's been done over I think -

OMG!!! What a dreadful slutty crafter I am... sorry you had to see this... and all courtesy of the wonderful Julia at Stamping Ground... I am truly ashamed, but it is really never far from being like this, actually!!!! I have been doing birthday cards, one for Matthew for Monday, and this one for Tim, my son, for Tuesday... so that's my sort of excuse!!! Lots of opportunity for spying though... wonder what will take your fancy?? will it be the chompers, or the TH florals. the glass mat or what??

Here is the card up closer. It is an ordinary easel card. You can just notice my punches station at top right, and lots of other stuff. I WILL get straight, I do promise, but just now life is too busy!!! As you read this on Wednesday morning (perhaps!!) I will be on my way to see my mum and have a VERY important meeting about her future... REALLY scary. Daughter is going with me, as I am bound to get upset and she can keep me straight!!! They will tell me she has to go into a home - why did they fit a pace maker for her just to sit and be demented?? Unfair... and very upsetting...

Ah well... I shall show you the Fragrant Freddie's card later in the week, and I am also late again with my TIO tag... it's Oriental this week, so I shall want to do it, but I just can't craft quickly enough at the moment!!! I am healing quite well, and Miranda is now weight bearing, so things are looking up a bit, but not for my poor old mum... please think about us!!!
Love and Light
Frankie
xx
PS just found out I was chosen at Simon Says Stamp and Show, again last week!!! Yippee, it is great news on a dismal day... I am totally chuffed!!
F xx

A Tag for TIO

2011-11-13T23:26:00.002Z

Well, better late than never, is all I can say... but I have managed a tag for DragonsDream Tag It On this week, even though it should have been done by Wednesday last!!! I have been so busy and so Seasonal Ajustment Disorderly!!! as well as still not having much thumb use... and Freddie's card finally got finished and he loved it... so I shall show you that another day.

So, the theme is romance because the film title is "Letters To Juliet"... lots of scope there for people to go to town on all aspects of the theme... My DreamTeam did a splendid job, all round, and I love what they have made. I really wanted to join in, so kept to the romantic face images and the letters/postal idea... the TH nibs are always a winner!!

I used the bricks folder with brown coredinations and sanded back for texture. I cut a hole in the bricks and stuck in it a ickle postcard stamped piece... it's just SO dinky!!

Time is involved quite heavily in the story, so a TH clock sets the scene, trimmed with a ickle flower, aww!!
Below is the whole thing...

I used my new postage stamp punch to make the shape with the enigmatic lady on... most of the stamps used are by Artemio, but that one is on a cube from StampAddicts... it is an oldie but a goodie, and so useful...

I am loving the colours, which are mainly the new twigs - I LOVE LOVE LOVE it as a colour - and milled lavender, which is echoed in the ribbon through the top.. I stamped in sepia and black archival, and the background to my tag is from the Tattered Time stack by DCWV, which is my new FAVE, being clocks, and a bit steampunk and definitely from the decade I was born!!!!. My Laura Denison kit using that paper, has not come yet, but I will give you a stash haul when it arrives!!

So, off to bed now as I still have to go take the boys to school in the morning, but they are both back living at home now, so that lets me off a couple of hooks!!!... Thanks for coming over, hope you enjoyed my newest tag... and thanks for your lovely comments, which I crave, quite frankly, tee hee!!!
Love and light
Frankie
xx

I shall also enter this for the following challenge(s)
Simon Says Stamp and Show - women only
Fashionable Stamping Challenge - Times Gone By
Rileyand Co - an oldie but a goodie (an old stamp)
Its All About the Vintage - dreams, brown, cream, pink

WOYWW - Crafty Work... Hurrah!!

2011-11-09T01:00:00.001Z

Finally managing to do a little bit more with my wrist... still not up to full on regular stuff, but happy to be making again... just wish I had the time!!! STILL looking after the grandsons and feeding 5 each night... my day finishes at 3.10pm so I can pick them up from school - normally I am just in full swing making mode at that time!!! Anyhoo, time to share the altered piece I started at the weekend, in a class with the lovely Linda Elbourne!!! Been trying to get to meet her for ages...

Well, the class was really interesting and VERY challenging - not because of the art and craft, but because we had to deface a book!!! I have NEVER done that before, but am getting into the swing of it... It started out a most LURID lime green, under it's dust jacket, when I paid £1.50 at the charity shop... it's not a very interesting book, so I sort feel justfied in altering and up-cycling it... Not yet finished but here is what it looks like now -

I painted it in London Nights paint from PaperArtsy, then distressed it with vintage lace paint, vintage photo distress ink and some of the wonderful Inca Gold in bronze, put on with my fingers... I stamped with a script stamp, off the block, so I could get only partial prints...

Here you can see the steampunk charm I was given. I cut out the large clock to go round it and then made a rosette when I got home, to mount it on... The lovely Linda cut minute pieces of foam for me to make the TH clock stand off the page - patience of Job that girl!!! Anyway, it worked...

We stuck many many many pages down, and I have begun painting one lot here. I am going to make some Laura Denison pockets for some tags on the first 5 sets of pages, and then...

We cut an aperture from the middle!!! This really WAS difficult to start, hurting the book so badly!! but I shall LURVE it when it's finished... I shall put time type stuff in my little niche... well they can't touch you for it!!! Tee hee

And here are my signature roses!!! Made from grunge paper as ever... they look really grungy and vintage IRL... The rest are die cut and painted with distress inks...

I am loving this project and look forward to finishing it... but crafting is only bit at a time at the mo, and I am madly working on a masterpiece for the fragrant Freddie's birthday Thursday!!! Show you that after the event!!! Can't get back to DT stuff yet a while... then there's crimble cards to do/finish etc... it's all go!!!

Well, I hope you have enjoyed your little sojourn... if you don't know about WOYWW, pop over to the Stamping Ground and see our lovely Julia, whose wondrous idea this ~~spying~~ sharing all is!!!Thanks for the visit and I hope to see you chez vous very soon
Love and Light
Frankie
xx
I shall enter this into the following challenge(s)
Simon Says Stamp and Show - some up/re-cycling

Back in the Crafty'oom again

2011-11-02T11:23:00.001Z

Yey!!! I have managed to get back to do some stuff this week, in my crafty'oom, and have done a tag for DragonsDream Tag It On... it's STEAMPUNK, so on trend just now, so why not have a go at getting inky and sticky... I might find a ickle prize if we get enough entries!!...deets over there...

Anyhoo... I really enjoyed myself, using some of my new stash... I have spent WAY too much recently, but I don't care, cos I am worth it... so get a cuppa and have a look at the photos...

This first pic shows one of my new stamps from sets by Creative Impressions... great steam engine (NOT "train", cos this is only the locomotive... my dad drove them for YEARS and he hated it when peeps called the engine the train... so back to the plot!!) I used my fab distress inks - mainly pumice stone, black soot and a smidgin of vintage photo...

Wonderful Wendy Vecchi art parts watch here, left completely untouched, as the colour is just right for my scheme. Inside is a cog from a set from C&C and the lock is from Sir Tim, of course.

Here is the whole tag, in all it's glory... I am LOVIN the colour, which is not really much colour, but so subtley yumminess...

A detail shot here of the TH bulbs and a Vintaj dragonfly... the bronzy cogs are from a strip of the Kanban sticky vellum - is it vellacitate?? - from their steampunk set... I love it and wil use it more and more, now I have tried it... but perhaps I will cut into it a bit more, cos the straight line does show up a bit!!

New clock hands here and one of my new, ickle metal butterflies, and a TH clock from his paper stash... all so grungy and attic-looking. Hope it fits with the emporium, Wanda??!!

The three fellas are from a set by TH, obviously, it's a well known image now, and I love how they just fit at the end of a tag, as if by magic???!! ... I did have a go with a couple of my Pan Pastels that I bought when I went to do a session with Lin, at LB Crafts, last week.. It is a wonderfully soft grey colour and I pressed through a new floral stencil, as you can spy by the long key...

And this shot??? Well, it's NOT my tag extended, it is a wonderful page from the DCWV Tattered Time stack... I LOVE it... it's a fantastic set of images. I am expecting a kit - my first - from the incomparable Laura Denison, of The Paper Trail. It's a mini book full of space for tags, journalling and piccies, using this fabulous paper, and I will have some to use and some to stroke!!!! Tee hee... So I will be making that when it comes. I am also about to start the Vintage Suitcase I had the pattern for, some time ago, to store a mini of piccies of Egypt I want to make... So much to do, so little time!!! But lots to keep me going, and getting back into gear.

So there we are, finally some craft to share with you!! been a long time eh.?? Not yet ready to take up my DT duties yet, because there are many things I can't do well at the mo, but I am keen to get on with making stuff. So please leave me a comment and I look forward to visiting you too...
Love and Light
Frankie
xx
I have had a scout round and would like to add my tag to the following challenges:-
Divas by Design - Use Metal
Ruby's Rainbow - Use Metal
PanPastelUK Challenge blog - Distress it
Take a Word - Time

WOYWW - A Desk At LAST!!!!!

2011-11-02T05:45:00.001Z

Hurrah... I am back into my crafty'oom, albeit in a limited edition!!! However, I AM back and I have got lots of lovely new stash... I have also made a tag for TIO... it's a great theme, so why not pop over and join in!!?? also fly off on the wings of a steampunk heart and visit the Stamping Ground, to see the lovely Julia, whose blog that is...

On Friday last week, I went to do a class with the wonderful Lin of LB Crafts (well for now anyway!!!) We did Pan Pastels and I just had to buy a few with some tools and a few more stencils... I have built up quite a few of the latter for use in my art journal... I bought a new one of those too, which you can just spy beneath those WONDERFUL new stamps...

I am expecting a kit soon from the incomparable Laura Denison, and she uses this Tatterted Time paper from DCWV... it's WONDERFUL too!!!

I could not resisit adding to my dies and here are my latest ... think the deer will be my crimble cards...

You do spy the old jalopy and the ickle pine cone... So there you are... I have some great stuff ready to use, so I shall be working up to try to get to full speed in the weeks to come... still not back to DTs except my own, cos I don't think it's fair when I am not yet fit... but the wrist is improving, and I am hoping it will let me do twist stuff and scissors really soon...

Thanks for hopping over... I really appreciate you spending your time... and love reading your comments... and look out for me visiting you this week!!
Love and Light
Frankie
xx

WOYWW - Still no Desk, but Art to Share!!

2011-10-26T00:37:00.000+01:00

The art I am sharing this week is, again, not my own, sadly!! And why am I sharing anything??? well, if you have had your head in the sand for many moons, you won't know about the wonderment that is The Stamping Ground... And what am I sharing??? It's the art of the chap who was our cabin steward on board the Orchid, on the Nile...

He started, simply, with a lotus flower, and he added a ickle vase to the centre... very beautiful, eh??

Next was an elephant... my fave of the week, actually. He was quite large, and his trunk was very clever. My stick was incorporated into the design, as was a toilet roll for the ickle man on top!!

Actually, he was not just towels, but had an added pillow... the cover was the throw, folded up. The eyes in all the animals were made from the lids of the bottles of water that we were given each trip...

So here is the Nile crocodile, the only one we saw the whole week, cos they can't get down to the other half of the river since the building of the dam... what a fantastic creature to be made out of towels...

Think this was the Fragrant Freddie having a nap!!! Cool dude with those sun glasses... no not really, just a towel man on his bed!! But I bet you guessed that, eh??

And finally, a scorpion. What a talented chap our steward was. He gave us a demo on the last but one morning, and he did a lot more animals and people, but I did not have my camera with me, so I missed taking photos of those...

And finally for this week, I want to introduce you to my latest fur baby - Bella The Beautiful Belladonna... She is one of my daughter's cat's second litter!!! NO it was not meant to happen but that cat is totally SHAMELESS!!

So sweet, and tired out!!

See the markings on her tum?? She is a calico tortoiseshell and SOOOO cute!!

She has many lovely ickle bits of ginger stripes... and she is so cuddly.

This ickle face is so sweet, with this lovely ickle white nose and a patch of ginger stripes over her left eye. I know!!! I have too many cats, but she really IS beautiful, and her big brother (a ginger from the previous litter) loves to play with her - hope he does not think she is food!!!!

Thanks for coming to look and commenting... I should be able to get to more of you this week as my plaster is off - I persuaded the doc to let me wear my braces, and have to go back in 4 weeks to check on the healing... still not sure it was broken, but just SO arthritic, they could not tell!!! No wonder I have so many probs, eh?? Still hurts like h--l though!!!

Love and Light

Frankie

WOYWW - Howard Carter's Place!!

2011-10-19T10:07:00.001+01:00

STILL no desk!! Why is that important you may ask... well see here at the Stamping Ground... However, my wrist is feeling a bit better and I am so yearning to get back into my craft room!!! Perhaps next week... Meanwhile I thought it might be interesting for you to see some of Howard Carter's stuff... some of my photos are not as clear as I would like, but they were taken indoors and we were not allowed to use flash... so here goes...

Obviously, a typewriter, upon which he wrote his notes and letters...

This was beside his bed, with little bottles and razors etc... I LOVE this sort of thing, old cases and boxes with jars, bottles etc.

A wireless, a fan and a lamp... how beautiful they are...

This is his actual easel!! I was so overjoyed seeing this, as I felt I could paint really well using it...

Not really sure what this was... but how beautiful all those wires bits and boxes...

His cooker in the kitchen - but I expect he never used it himself!! Wonder if he could cook??

No idea what this was but I love it's design... any ideas??

Yours truly sitting on a bed in the house!!! I WAS invited to do so and my photo was taken by the chappie in charge of the room... they all wore white gallibayas- traditional dress... well, the man in charge of this room said I could sit there and he offered to take my picture... it was very soft but was probably not very comfortable.

Tee hee!!! here is the very fragrant Freddie, standing outside Howard Carter's study, and pretending to be the man himself... well, the hat fits the bill as you see below...

These are the great man's actual hats... Howard Carter, not Freddie!!! It was a fascinating place and remarkably cool, as the design helped greatly, with lots of doors and windows, so that what breeze there was could come in and waft round...

Well, thanks for popping by and commenting. I am very grateful for your visit. I will try to write a few more comments myself this week, instead of just peeking!!!
Love and Light
Frankie
xx

WOYWW - No Desk Yet but New Pot!!!

2011-10-12T05:45:00.001+01:00

Nice new, lightweight pot/plaster... now-a-days made from polyester...

Corrr!!! look at 'em poor ole swollen fingers eh??!!

Not much movement for that thumb!!!

Hi all... thanks for your visits last week. I really appreciated them... I am STILL up at the crack of doom to get the boys to school then collapse for a while before trying to do a few jobs... then it's off to get my daughter, make lunch, get the boys, cook for 5 people, and stagger to bed!!! Miranda's letter from clinic last week anticipates her having no load bearing for another 9 to 12 weeks, as apparently, she has damaged a ligament which attaches her leg to her foot, and they take longer to heal than bones... her xray was awful!!!

So we are both locked into this dreadful cycle for the forseeable!!! I might not get to Gran Canaria as I had hoped with Freddie, to see his family, after crimble... don't see how I can leave her and the boys... my mum continues with her pace maker!!! I worry ALL the time about all those indignities she is suffering, that she NEVER wanted or looked to have - so unkind...

Well, that took forever, but I am hoping to do a bit more commenting next week... I have visited many of you but just looked for now - please forgive my voyerism!!! Thanks for coming over...Thank goodness for the place which allows us to share like this.. good old Stamping Ground!!!
Love and Light
Frankie
xx

WOYWW - Great Holiday Shame about the Fall!!!

2011-10-05T05:45:00.003+01:00

For my story, please see the post here!! It's funny but not fun!!! So now you know...Sorry still no desk then, obviously, to show at The Stamping Ground but here is a little snippet of my snaps to whet your whistle!!!

Egypt was utterly AMAZING, especially the wondrous sky...

Who is this woman??? Woo tis me in a daft hat!!! It was so hot to wear, but I needed it ...

Amazing carving...

And on the last morning, a journey into the sky, in a hot air balloon - always wanted to do this!!!!

Lifting high into air, above the Valley of the Kings... marvellous

Sunrise over the Nile, how beautiful and how quickly it comes up!!... If you did not read what has happened to me, please look now and PLEASE leave a comment, as I love hearing from you, as always... sorry, but I can't write any more just now
Love and light
Frankie
xx

Bad Things Come in 3s!!!

2011-10-03T10:53:00.000+01:00

Here I am on the last evening in Egypt in Luxor Temple, as the sun is falling fast... Now, speaking of that falling malarkey!!!... see the bandage on my right hand??? Well there IS a story...

My phone refused to get service when I was away, so I did not manage to contact my family all week... dodgy on-board Internet also precluded me from that too... so as I land last Wednesday, I start to get messages, as you do. They are all about my mum from the neighbour, asking me to contact her as soon as I can, so it does not sound good, eh?? When I ring her, I find out mum had collapsed earlier in the week and had been resuscitated no less than three times that very day!!!! After speaking to the hospital, I find she is comfortable and sleeping... but not out of the woods...

I finally get a text from my daughter saying all is well, she has had a little accident but not to worry.. PANIC PANIC WORRY WORRY!!!! so of course I ring her straight away and ask if she has pranged the car!! Hesitation.... deep breath... come on what has happened?? and finally a mouth full of medical stuff which mainly means she tripped and fell and broke BOTH tib and fib bones in her right leg, which pierced and popped through the skin, leaving her foot hanging off at an awful angle!!! - backwards!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ARRRR!!!, terror, worry etc etc...

Anyway, she had done that the morning after I went on holiday, and had been in hospital until late Monday, getting the swelling down then being pinned and braced etc... weeks to heal and no load bearing for a couple of weeks.. She has two young children, my boys whom you have met before if you follow regularly!! 7 and 5 and no partner... temporary measures applied until I finally came home... we both wept copiously as you can imagine - her with relief I was back and me with guilt that I was not there!!!

And what of that bandaged hand??? Well, I fell on the boat, on an uneven corridor floor, did a superman flight through the air and landed on my face and hands, and flat on my front body with such an enormous BANG, that my head bounced twice and blood shot from my nose!! I thought it was broken at first... I now have a creeping black cheek/eye!!! And the hand?? Yes, I finally was dragged to hospital by the fragrant Freddie, on Friday, and I have broken my scaphoid bone in my wrist/base of thumb!!! Heavy heavy plaster till next Friday and no crafting for six weeks!!! I shall go MAD!!

And so dear reader, that is the sorry tale. 3 rubbish generations ... they fitted a pace maker to mum on Saturday!!! We went to see her yesterday and I did not recognise her at all... she is so diminished, rambling and vacant... NOT my mum... I am afraid I wish that her God had taken her on Wednesday, as she has been begging me for the last 3 or 4 months... bald but heartfelt believe me... Miranda is healing, and getting around with a zimmer!! Laughing about that, as you can image. Unable to do much though as she has to hop at the mo, climbing stairs on her bum... and me??? Well it has taken a couple of hours to write this, and frustration has already set in!!! NOT supposed to drive, but I am doing the short trip down to daughter's, cos I have the boys here sleeping , getting ready for and taking to school!!! Just hooking with right fingers and driving with left... hey ho!!! I am back to bed at the mo to rest... this plaster is SO darned heavy, I need a crane to lift it by the end of the day...!!

So, dear reader... PLEASE don't desert my blog.... I have been SO pleased and flattered to have your company recently, and so many wonderfully supportive comments, I would HATE it if you strike me off your list cos there will be little art to see for a while!!! I will try to share some photos etc with you and look forward to visting you all, with perhaps a short comment or two!!!

Thanks for popoing over and reading this tome!!!
Love and light
Frankie
xx

WOYWW #121 - Not a Desk, but A GREAT Day!!

2011-09-28T06:00:00.001+01:00

Well, I am just getting back today, and have no desk yet, so the lovely Helen has linked me here and THANKS to her again... This is my younger grandson, starting a GREAT day of red rosettes for the family!!! he does Best Turned Out Pony, Tack and Rider Lead Rein and the judge was MOST impressed with the way Rosie looked... well done Fred, with tack and Miranda with horse!! Also Matthew for being just SO cute!!

Fred took her in the ring, in hand, and won... she trotted so nicely... see how beautiful her white socks are?? Jayden washed and washed them till they shone!!

Jayden carried on the day with Best Rider Lead Rein and I think you can see just HOW PLEASED he is!!
His new jacket matches Fred's and he is very proud!!

Then this is the Fragrant Freddie on Jade... I am about to buy her, as her present owner needs to sell and has given me a great price... Miranda and I LOVE her and could not think of letting her go!! Miranda is learning to ride her. Fred had no pressure then, us having won 3 reds so far, but you can see, he DID win Senior Best Rider!! Woo Hoo...

So here we are back in the lorry with our haul of 4 first places!!!! Best day ever. Miranda is holding the set of reds, and me??? I am taking the photos, I am chef d'equip, and picnic maker, and I pay to enter the classes!!! But we have a good time together.

Hope you did not mind me having a bit of a brag??!! No art, just my lovely family chez Julia this week, so thanks for looking and I shall pop and see YOU when I get home
Love and Light
Frankie
xx

WOYWW #120 and Second Art Journal Pages + Birthday 66

2011-09-21T06:00:00.011+01:00

Well, officially I don't have a desk today folks, even though it has rolled round inexorably to that mid-week day where we all go a-spying courtesy of Julia at Stamping Ground. That is because I am from home... and off to cruise down the Nile!!! I feel a Laura Denison vintage suitcase coming on, with an ickle scrappy book of photos and LOTS of Egyptian stamping going on, when I get back!!! I have the pattern all ready to start!!!

So what can I show you today? Well, I have been playing again - only for a little time, as I have had another awful week with mum, and could not settle to much at all... even TIO has taken a back seat, but the team has done good stuff as ever!! so here goes with my Time to Make Art pages...

This is the double spread then... lots of clocks and stuff... I MUST get a couple of large alphabets for the lettering... anyone any suggestions at a reasonable price!!??

Here's how I started, with gessoed page and blue acrylics... great fun splashing and smooching on the paint... VERY theraputic... did this background a couple of weeks ago...

Then some copper, and afterwards, some blue and pewter Viva paste, through a mask... it was doing this that gave me the idea for the VERY red tag on TIO a couple of weeks ago... that's when I realized the FULL import of this stuff!!

Left hand...

Right hand

and now for some detail... a TH dotty stamp and some gesso and mica smooched across the page behind the writing, printed on my inkjet, and distressed...

OOO, I LOVE all this great texture - well you know me folks, it's one of my fave things that is!!! and a TH clock stamp for good measure.

Here is a wonderful conglomeration of all those pastes and stamps and clocks, etc ... I am lovin it!!! WHY did I dally and refuse to try out this lark?? I am not into the diary side of the journalling, but want to do pithy sayings and phrases to inspire and remind myself of stuff...

By the time some of you read this, I should be sunning myself, I hope. We have just looked up the weather and it is VERY hot, so I shall be in my element... a whole week where my arthritic aches and pains (and my poor old mum!!) will take a back seat!!! Thanks for looking and please do comment... I am hoping for some internet time to visit you back...

OH yes... and it's my 66th Birthday today, so Huppy Burpday to ME!!! (equinox baby, and it's all downhill to crimble now!!! boo...)
Love and light
Frankie
xx
PS if you have not linked your birdcage on the appropriate linky thingie... would you please do it, so they are all there together like a gallery for us all to see... taa
xx

WOYWW #119 - Tim Holtz Birdcage Swap Results

2011-09-14T05:45:00.003+01:00

It happened, and without too much of a hitch!! One poorly person, and one person away because of a new-born, but otherwise I have not heard of any problems... I expect not everyone has received their birdy cage yet, as many were coming from overseas, but hopefully they will all show and tell about the one they made, here today, via the linky thingy at the bottom of this post... They could be tags or postcard sized. So here is the one I made, and sent to Hels...

Yup!! Guess what??? It's a tag!!! Hels VERY kindly called me the "Queen of Tags" and said I do the most AMAZING taggy art, on her blog!!! WOO I was SO pleased... but, you are now asking yourself, but where is the birdy cage, arn't you?? Well, you see, the truth is I CHEATED!!

Yes, I made a tag, but also made a 6"x4" postcard, so I could fill up all the spaces with the ideas I had for this piece!! So above, and below, are both pieces in process of being painted, ready for thier embellies...

I used some acrylic paint in brown first, then a layer of pva glue with another layer of paint on top, then dried to get these fabby crackles. The thicker the glue, the bigger the cracks so I went for a mixture...

I had several ickle birdies to make and here are two of them - the larger one was for the front, as you can see below...

So how did it work with two pieces then?? Well, I decided to fasten them together with some hinges. I would have liked to have real hinges, but don't have any just now, so I made them by cutting a TH die top on each end of the grunge paper, then painted...

So this is how it stands up to be displayed. It was great having 4 sides to deorate!!

Here is the inside, showing the bird letters, which were TH alphabet pieces fixed to the grunge blocks, painted and distressed...

I used rub 'n buff and Viva Inca Gold pastes to colour over the paint...

Voila, finally, my birdy cage, complete with ickle bird, who sits outside, looking at the bits and pieces... the "lock" diamond is a Vintaj filigree, distressed with paint and paste. Hung from the holes is a chain with a pen nib, bead, metal disc, light bulb and tiny penny farthing!! At the top is a hitch fastener for the cage to hang from. I also added a spinner and gears and a pocket watch I made from an idea-ology type tag... the 300 is to commemorate my 300 blog posts to that date...

Just a small view to show the key, lock and metal tag on the right hand side... I put the tag through a folder, then shone it up... well thre HAD to be a tag somewhere, eh??

And now for the back of the project... one of the ickle birdies has sat on the clock hands, mounted on to a large rosette, escaping from his cage beneath!!

I embossed with several different powders, as on the large one... the green is a wonderful verdigis one I have had forever, it's wonderful stuff... oo I do love embossing... I pressed a stamp into the birdies whilst they were still hot, to make the illusion of feathers... I think embossing powder is like using alchemy...

Hurrah, you shout, this is the end... well yes, this is the last photo of the piece. I think I have showed you most of it... and I hope you liked it. I LOVED it and Hels tells me she loves it too!! Most people who have contacted me say they really loved doing the swap, and want to do another one, so I shall organise that soon... not sure whether to do another birdy cage or to do a different die?? Let me know what you think, if you are interested at all. I would like to put this piece into a challenge or maybe two, so I have chosen

Shopping our Weekly Stash - vintage/distressed/shabby
Make it Monday - anything goes
Gingersnap Creations - crimping/pleating

Now for the real reason for WOYWW - chez Julia (who joined the swap, so that was gudd!!) there is an admirable opportunity to snoop around others' workspaces and stuff, so hop over and take a look... below is my disreputable desk!!!

However, it's full of good intentions, as I am sorting my stamps into disc cases... found LOADS in Pete's cupboard, so I am turfing out the discs, and popping some stamps in... this set on the left is from the ineffable Wendie Rhodes in conjunction with Kanban... so glad to see her back!!

So that really IS the end... Thanks for coming to look and getting here, because it has been a marathon!! I am thrilled that so many of you visit me these days and I look forward to seeing your work too...

Love and Light

Frankie

Simon Says and TIO # 96

2011-09-14T01:02:00.001+01:00

Wanda has chosen to challenge us to show some fashion at TIO this week, and Simon Says Stamp and Show some steampunk, so I just had to conflate the two... especially as I just had some new stamps from Wendie Rhodes at Kanban Crafts. So my tag is on the right, attached to a frame of the tray...

Wendie's images are very steampunk fashionista... I just added some metal elements to dress them up a little, chains. a key, roses, necklace etc...

I made a terrific pair of backgrounds, for the tray and for the tag, by stamping layers, as always and embossing in clear ep...

I also made some more of my roses!! well Lynne's really but I have adopted them as my own!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE making them, and they look so good with these metal twists... I have been asked to show how I make these with my twisty thing, and I will, soon...

Here they are close up and personal... don't you think they are yummyiness??? and they go so well with the TH gears...

Here you can see the paper I made and the ickle pocket watch... . nice Martha Stewart flutterbies too... also, some more gears and cogs...

So here is my tag for TIO #96 as part of my project for Simon Says Stamp and Show some Steampunk... hope it goes down well in both challenges, and any others I might find where I can slot it in!!! Thanks for looking and commenting... I am thrilled by the reponses I am getting to my work these days...
Love and light
Frankie
xx

I also want to enter this piece into the following challenges
Fashionable Stamping Challenges - tag
Anything goes Challenge -

Art Journaling Page Debutante!!!

2011-09-10T01:03:00.002+01:00

So, she said she wasn't going to do this, didn't she???

But she has gone and started a journal!!!

I know I have been saying I would not start an art journal, but the temptation to play got the better of me, folks!!. This is NOT the first page to be started, it is the second in the book - which I made myself, incidentally, from cut down A3 watercolour paper, and bound using my Bind it All FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME!! Yey!!! Cynthia (aka Rainbow Lady) will tell you I have had that beastie almost as long as I have know her, and NEVER had the gumption, nouse or wit to use it before!!!

Well this was the page at an intermediate stage - thought I had taken a piccie before this one, but no!! I began by drizzling pink and orange acrylic paint randomly on the page, and smoochy-spreading with an old RAC card!! I then dried it and dribbled a bit more - the paint, not me, you understand!!! The odd red dots you can spy are my fired brick distress stain, which dried with a shine on the acrylic base... very interesting... I also did a little direct to paper with a multicoloured, shiny ink pad...

This shot looks different colours, but it's just the lighting, when the sun's not in my craftly'oom... the difference really is down the centre, where I hated the white join, so I took my inktense pencils and scribbled and washed with a water brush... Then the tearing began. I recently could not resist some oriental papers Dawn was showing - might have been last at QVC - well they are beautiful, but just had to be used - it's ok, she has two other sheets in the pack!! One is patterned and the other has faint oriental script on it. The stamped script is a true old favourite called plum blossom from Stamp Addicts.

Next it was even MORE of a wrench to cut into a sheet or two of my Kodomo, 12"x12" papers, bought for me moons ago by my lovely daughter, Miranda... The lady was the main image to use, but I cut up the patterns round her for a "Teecha Moore" border. I also dotted some of the flowers around...

This is my mantra - "Keep Your Balance" but I am finding it very hard with all that is going on with my mum... so I thought I should remind myself, on my debutante page... oriental is all about balance, so it seemed fitting... I don't yet have any large alpha sets of stamps, so I used my TH die, cut out of black card... I think it works...

So, here is one of those blousey butterflies, up close and personal... I saw Hels use it a long time ago and HAD to have it - great saleswomanship there, darlin!! - I think it is by Jo Capper Sandon for Stampotique - oh my, there are SOOO many of her stamps I MUST have... I stamped and embossed with black archival and clear ep - well it would be rude not to now, cos she always does folks!!! - then scribbled inside the images with my inktense pencils and Lyra crayons, wonderful for this kind of work... my waterbrush smooched the colour around, making the images pop, but stay strangely semi-transluscent... How could I have refrained from playing like this for so long, silly ole me!!!!!!!

There are other ickle flutterbies knocking around, and the JCS one here is stamped separately and cut out.
To follow, are some more detail shots showing the collage and stamping, and the JCS butterflies up close again, just cuz!!!

So there you have it - my first ever finished page. I am lovin it actually - and she's not at ALL big-headed folks!! - it's a long time since I did something so purely and blatently oriental, but it is STILL a great GREAT favourite of mine, and what I was originally known for - hence the name and the blog design and music ... which seems to soothe and please a great many people, I am told!!

Well, that was a marathon, but I hope you enjoyed my journey, and will pass a comment, as usual, cos that's what it is all about - sharing and caring... Thanks for looking. I am for my bed now, perchance to sleep, let alone dream!!!

Love and Light

Frankie

I would like to share this at

Stamp Something - anything goes, cos they are closing... :(

Stampman DT Piece - Monochrome +1 "Lost in Time"

2011-09-09T01:14:00.001+01:00

Wanted to do something different this time... you know how you sometimes get stuck in the mud, and always seem to make the same sort of thing?? Ok, maybe YOU don't but I do... so I went for my melting pot - inspired by Jennie at The Artistic Stamper, who has made a fabulous melty tag+butterfly, and entered in to TIO... well it IS very RED!!! I used some black UTEE and my faces mould, and poured into these three faces - they are a bit odd looking eh??

I smooched them with purple Viva Gold paste, to show their features and wrinkles... The background is a mixture of dusty concorde, chipped sapphire and black soot surrounding purple and hemetite Viva, scraped on with an old credit card.. do you know what?? I think she is a little obsessed with this Viva stuff!!!

The stamps are a mixture of Wendie Rhodes (@ Kanban Crafts) cogs and gears and Katzelkraft, clocks etc, stamped in black archival and clear ep'ed... well, that's a first, she NEVER does that technique!!

This shot shows my lighting scheme!! I have a couple of daylight lamps and an ordinary light - NO prizes for guessing which side is the latter!!! But I like the play of light on the shiny surfaces... it adds a bit more dimension... ohh get her being all arty then!!

So that's me for tonight.. must get off now and try to sleep!! But why not go over to the Stampman Challenge blog and see my teamies' work, it's always inspiring, and then join in, cos Jill offers a great £10 voucher to spend for a lucky winner... The theme is monochrome, hence my restricted colour pallette, however, either I boobed - well THAT's nothing new!! or Lisa slightly changed the rules when she wrote it up, cos I did not know it was "white and a colour"... oh well, not making another piece cos I like these guys - perhaps "like" is a bit strong!!!

Thanks for visiting and commenting... I am really grateful for all your wonderful support...
Love and light
Frankie
xx

I shall also enter this into
Try it on Tuesday - monochrome

WOYWW #117 - Seeing Red!! and Ready to Swap

2011-09-07T05:49:00.001+01:00

Someone on the wireless this morning, said there are 108 sleeps until ... well you know when!! I can't bring myself to say it... but the way this year is flying, it will be here before we know it!! And whatever happened to the summer???... two weeks today, it's my 66th birthday!!! so I KNOW the year is fleeing.

Not surprising then that another week of WOYWW has come around!!! Visit Julia, the misress of the desks if you are new to this... it's the best blog hop every week!!But to join in, you have to show your ~~shame~~ desk!!! So here's mine, uhggg!!!

It's a small area you can see and I can actually fit all my bits for the tag on to it... but, to the sides of this bit, it is rather grim!!! The tag is for TIO, chosen by Helen - one of her famous, or infamous colour challenges, to use mostly red... well I DID!! starting with fired brick stain..

I stamped with an Artemio script clear stamp, and a Stampman stamp, which is a net... one of my first ever from Jill. Next, I took a lovely mask and some wondrously red Viva Inca Gold paste... a palette knife did the trick.

The script shows very well from under the paste, and some perfect pearls in red. add a wonderful lustre...The paste dries with great texture, which can be smeared with other stuff!!

LONG time since I made my fab Lynne F roses - do go check out her tutorial - so out came the grunge paper and glue. Umbrella man makes an appearance, minus umbrella!!! Stamped amd ep'ed, I thnk he looks great!!!

So here they are in all their sprayed and smeared glory... so yumminess, thanks, Lynne xx....I seem to have got a lot of texture this time, too...

Here it is then, all put together... umbrella man sporting a fetching flutterby!!! More of them hover top right corner, with fetching spinner bods!!

Here is a closer up vision of umbrella / butterfly man, stamped, embossed and smeared with rub 'n buff and Viva Inca Gold...

I coiled some copper wire and added it like hat pins of a different sort. I love wire, and my coily thingie makes it really easy to work with...

The ribbon bow is made from dyed seam tape - lurrve that stuff!! - and a letter R for red swings from it...

So that's it for that... it really is VERY red, Helen!!! And so full of texture - you might know that's one of my fave things... I enjoyed this one and look forward to hearing what you all think of it...

Bird Cage Swap News
By now, you should all have received your swap partner!!! cos today is finally THE day, so take some photos and send your cage off to it's lucky recipient!! I have THOROUGHLY enjoyed organising it, and hope you will join me again for another great adventurous challenge, in the not-too-distant future!!! So we shall show and tell next week, by linking our OWN make here...

And Finally...
I offered my followers and commentors a shot at getting my tag book, from the travel set I made with the suitcase... I have done the draw and the lucky recipient is.... tada!!

Helen of Stamping by H...

So let me have your addy babe, so I can send it off to you

Well, that's about all for this week - hurrah I hear you cry!! Have a great week and thanks for coming over again ... please leave me a comment, cos I love to hear what you think... and the more you visit, the higher I jump up the rankings!!!! tee hee (gosh, but I am vain!!!)
Love and Light
Frankie
xx

Birdcage Swap News

2011-09-03T02:11:00.001+01:00

Well, the time is fast approaching... I hope you have yours ready. There are 26 of us in the swap and we each send to someone different than the person who sends to us... I have done the partners and I will email you your partner in the next couple of days.

I hope you have your offering ready, or almost ready, so that we can all post off as soon as possible after 7th September... When you know your partner, you will need to get their address, obviously!! Then the cat will be out of the bag- so don't let it catch your ickle birdie!!!

I would like to have a "show and tell" on 14th September -

Take a photo of your OWN birdcage, and post it here on my blog, that day... Some of us will have received ours already, and some of us won't, but we will be able to see what we will be getting!!! OOOO, it's so exciting isn't it ... want a sneaky, eaky peaky at what I am doin?? Oh, ok then, just an ickle one... shhhh!!! just don't tell my partner...

So that's all you're getting for now. I will post again about the swap on Wednesday 7th September to remind you all to send off your birdcages... but don't forget to take a picture or two of them beforehand, so we can have a linky thingie to see them all the following week...

Thanks for joining in and thanks for your support... I needed an even number for the swap to work, and had to turn down the last person who asked if it was too late...it was only this Thursday when she asked!!!... if anyone new wants to make a birdcage BEFORE next Wednesday, let me know and I will see if we can make up anymore pairs...
Love and Light
Frankie
xx

THIS SWAP IS NOW CLOSED

WOYWW #116 - Heavy Metal Working for TIO

2011-08-31T05:50:00.003+01:00

Where is the year racing off to??? It is impossible to keep up, and I am hanging on to the handle with my feet flying into thin air - you get the picture??? Now stop giggling and get set for my desk exposee!!! Not know what I mean? pop over to see the wonderful world chez Julia, where ALL will be revealed - well only very decorously and in the best possible taste!!!!

This week, on TIO, we have 3 new Design Team members, Aj, Silvia and Lyn / Blackdragon!!! Fabulous or what??? Do please pop and see their wondrous creations here...We are starting a new round of challenges and the girls have asked to ~~baffl~~e inspire you with song titles, for the next few weeks... It's Elizabeth's turn to start off and she has chosen Bon Jovi, Red Roses, and is DEMANDING some metal of us!!! Always keen to oblige, I decided to do an hommage to the wonderful Lin at Yours Artfully, and use terra, ferro and stuff as well as metal embossing. The bits are out ready to start...

Here, the metal has been embossed, with the "scribbly scribbly thing" pattern in some of the diamonds, and some line and wheelie patterns... I just MUST go on a course to know when to use the mats and when not!!!! I am almost there, but not precise enough...

Like the divvie that I am, I got so carried away, I forgot to take any more photos until I was well on in the process, but basically I used my pallette knife to ladle on the terra and ferro then stamp into the wet stuff with a clean, but watery wet stamp or two...

I used the rose harlequin set from Elusive Images, always one of my faves ( that and the butterfly harlequin) so as to fulfill Elizabeth's dream of roses and metal... This blousey flower is also cut from metal using a PaperArtsy die, with the scribbly scribbly thing on it again... I rubbed with the Vintaj sand block then added some wondrous red Viva Inca Gold paste. The centre is made from a TH metal flower and a Graphics45 button, also coloured with VIG red... absolutely yumminess!!!

This is it close up and VERY personal, what wonderful colour and texture. I am LOVING working with metal, Elizabeth!!

This wonderful textured part is the small rose stamp, pressed into the wet terra, with a wet stamp, well- cleaned afterwards... the relief really shows up well when the different metallic pastes are added and a little smidgen of black acrylic paint, all gently rubbed and smooched...

Well here is the whole thing, head on, so you can see the way it fits together. The terra is on the right side in sahara colour, and the hematite ferro is spread on the left, where the large rose harlequin stamp was pressed, along with the writing...

This shot shows that and the actual metal embossed piece, also smooched and rubbed with black acrylic paint and various metallic pastes... ooooo, I LOVE the texture, don't you??

Some of the texture was made using the cup end of the metal working ball tool. The bow and tie top closure of the tag is made of that wonderfully expanding metallic ribbon, in a glorious goldy brown... The tag is larger than the #8, so I could get more yummy stuff on to it. I enjoyed making it immensely, and it did not take over long, for once!! Often I phaff about and haver quaver, but I just got on and got messy and mucky... so my stamping required no ink this week, but water saved the stamps from a fate worse than death!!

Thanks for coming over today, and looking at my metal piece. I hope you have a super week and that the weather and earth a re more peaceful for you if you have been troubled... Pretty Please leave me a comment and do try to visit my wonderful TIO DreamTeam to join in with this song...
Love and light
Frankie
xx

300 POSTS, a Give Away and The Birdcage List

2011-08-26T19:58:00.003+01:00

Hi Everybody... this is my 300th post!!! Quite a milestone, and how far I have come since the first one... It was in January 2009, and that's a long time ago and far away...

To celebrate, I am organising a TH bircage swap and the details can be found at the very top of my blog, or here... I now have a list of more than 20 people, and the list follows below... I do hope no-one pulls out, but please only enter if you intend to make and send your birdcage... you STILL have nearly two weeks to get inky!!! The closing date will be 7th September, and we will all send out asap after that date.

On Tuesday 30th August, I will be drawing names for partners and letting you know who yours is...So it's now or never, leave your name on the list and join the mighty birdcage swap, you KNOW you want to!!!

Now for the give away - If you want to have an opportunity to own the tagbook which I made to go with the suitcase "Travel" challenge, then leave a comment here and I will make a random draw for that next week.

I am NOT giving away the suitcase, however, it's way too cute!!! The tags are stamped both sides, so you will get a double whammy, and I might add one or two more, as this is such a big milestone... Woo, I have never done this before, so not sure if any of you loyal followers actually WANTS to own any of my tags!!! Perhaps I should not presume... tee hee - but the offer is there anyway... phew!!

And now, that list in no particular order

1Vickie -okienurse
2 Elizabeth - silverscrapper
3Sarah - sasa
4Julia - stamping ground
5Sherry - sherrysimplelog
6 JenW - alteredspirts
7Kezzy - kezzycraft
8Neil - neelzexpressionsz
9Lyn - blackdragon
10Jona - artworks
11Sam - hettiecraft
12Nicola? - sunshinegirl
13Helen - stampingbyH
14 Tertia - tertiacraftingran
15Cynthia - rainbow lady
16DeeDee - deedee430
17Aj - fistfulpfglitter
18 Jude - craftsinternational
19Janet - dashpaw
20Jen - timeoutcrafting
21ElizabethR - craftyrobin
22Alison - alison horne
23She - craftyshe
24 Mrs A - itsanalienlife
25Frankie - Dragon
26Anneliese - l'atelier
27 Jane
28 Hels

Sorry this has got so long, but that's the only way it would all fit in... If anyone wants to add themselves to the list, or I have missed you off, let me know before the end of Tuesday 30th August... likewise if you are pulling out - but PLEASE don't, because it's going to be awesome - and I don't use that word often!!!

So make your birdcage, leave a comment and most of all ENJOY!! I will be in touch with you all very soon...
Love and light
Frankie
xx

WOYWW - Travelling On... Simon Says!!!

2011-08-24T02:01:00.004+01:00

Another day another dollar... oops wrong intro!!! But it IS yet another Wednesday in this fast retreating year!!! Soon be my birthday (the equinox, for goodness sake!!!) and sailing down the Nile!!!... but I digress - yes, it's that day when we all do lots of bunny hops to others' blogs, in order to ~~snoop~~ admire their tidy and creative desks, courtesy of the wonderful desk-headmistress, Julia...

So sit back and take a ride with me... bring a cuppa, cos I have gone to town this week!!!

Desk with beginnings of the project on Sunday... beautiful sunshine ready for streaming through my window... we were at a jumping show, later, with the horse and she and Freddie did very well, whilst the rest of the family, and me, did really good at the picnic!!! tee hee...

So, the larger of the pair of suitcases then, and generally inspired by my heroine, Laura Denison at Following the Paper Trail - actually, she designed a suitcase herself, and I have bought the pattern to make one ... it is bigger than this one, but the ideas are based on her's... I gessoed it inside and out, and gave it some texture... gosh did I get in a mess with the gesso AND paint!! Thank goodness for scrubbie!!!

The texture shows up well on the lid...

Next I painted it -yup!! you guessed, brown, cos all the old suitcases we ever owned at home were simply, always brown... now it's all that black fabric stuff and you can NEVER recognise your own case on that dratted carousel!!!

Back to the plot... inspired by Laura again, I decided to make a mini album for the inside, from the TH Adage tickets leftover packaging!! Here is her You Tube link... great little video!!! the booklet uses envelopes, and mine are much smaller than hers...

So here is the inside of that ickle suitcase /valise... in the lid are pen bibs, tickets, a watch, a camera, a tag, a compass, a key and some scissors...

In the bottom is the mini book, all decorated up, with TH letters, coloured with distress inks...

Above are the two "pages" I have made so far... plenty of room for pictures and some journalling,with a pocket inside the envelope... great little project this one...

Here is a peek at the whole project... the suitcase with it's sewn leather taglet - not sure that's actually a word!!! with a TH ticket in there and a wanderer disc... actually it's grunge paper, but it does look real eh??!! The tag booklet is also backed with a leather-looking tag... below are all the other tags in the booklet/travel document...

So that's it for another week... I didn't win through at SSSS again, last week with my blingyfied piece, so let's hope I fare better this time, tee hee... At the end of the week, Travel will be the theme I have chosen at the Stampman, so this is a sneaky pre-view of my DT piece, and DragonsDream TIO's challenge is also Travel, cos I chose this week there too... I thought it was spooky that Linda and I had had the same thought... well I MUSt go to bed now, cos I am getting less and less sleep!!!

Thanks SO much for coming, commenting, and looking and lasting this long, quite frankly!!! My tea has gone cold writing so I hope you kept sipping yours!!! tee hee

Love and light

Frankie

I shall also enter this project into

Take a Word - old-fashioned

Incy Wincy Designs - anything but a card

Art Journey DT - anything but a card

A Theraputic Piece

2011-08-19T22:37:00.000+01:00

Hi... not like me to post at the weekend, but I have had such a weird couple of days... bad, bad, bad with my mother on Thursday morning, starting before I got up... 8.15am on the phone cos she had no knickers, or could not find them... SOOO distressed, I was overwhelmed!!! Then many more of a similar ilk until after lunchtime... I was exhausted.

Went to bed reasonable time Thursday night, but only drifted along the edges of sleeping ALL night, my friends...even MORE exhausted!!! so this morning, I collected up some bits pieces and tools, and set to work on my creation...whilst resting in my bed!!! How jolly decadent is THAT!!?? And this little beauty is what I made... Lots of beads and bits, strung on wires then added to the chain...

I chose a mainly neutral set of colours, with some of these fab shiny ones... you can see the honey and dark ones, all looking very established. The rose ones have wrapping wire around their loops...if you look carefully you can see me taking the photo in that big, shiny bead, centre picture...

I made three teeny tiny tags yesterday and popped them into my VV in the time Holtz embossing folder,,, they came up very well. The one above was in the bird bit of the folder... all shiny after buffing with the Vintaj sanding block...

Lots of ickle beads were wired and added, including these fabby scissors... I purposely used different coloured wire and metal throughout...

Here is another tag, cut from a Vintaj square blank, with my trusty TH scissors... I spy an ickle birdie here too...

I might give this to a friend who has a birthday this weekend, or to my daughter, or I might just keep it for myself!!! It does look lovely worn on the wrist and NOT on a bottle, tee hee!!.

It took me about 3 hours from collecting to finishing off, and in that time, I did not think about mum or anything, really, so it was a very theraputic piece to make this morning... After that, I was able to ring her and we had a reasonable chat, even laughed a bit, and she seemed to remember the lack of knickers from yesterday!!! and made fun of herself and me for not knowing where they all were... she knew the drawer this morning, but there is NO rhyme or reason that says she will know where to look next time

Well thanks for looking, and don't forget to leave me a comment, cos I lurve hearing what you think... Also don't forget the birdcage swap... deets at the top of the postings here... I had the wrong email down - forgot an "o" in my name!!!! So it should work now...
Love and light
Frankie
xx

Sunday Stamper - White Lines

2011-08-17T17:24:00.002+01:00

Hels has challenged us to make white lines, so I decided to take her at her word!!!

But I needed a bold image to counter what I had in mind... this new butterfly came to my rescue... it's by Papermania...

So the background started as a plain white card, then I criss-crossed lines with my Perfect Medium plain pen... the lines were then embossed in clear ep (what a surprise!!!) and various distress inks were rubbed into the card... of course, the embossed lines stayed white!!! hurrah...

They are rather large, these butterflies, and that served a great purpose... I used white, shiny cardstock, smooched the same set of distress inks on it, plus a little red stain... they are printed in black archival and clear embossed, then slightly enhanced with some painted on colour...

I kept this tag simple and bright... it's what I can cope with this afternoon, after many phone calls to the various teams already involved , and those getting involved with my mother's care... golly, it is so wearing... thank the Dao for my crafting!!!

Thanks for coming to look and for commenting... I do love to see and hear from you... and don't forget to join in with the birdcage swap - see at the top of my posts!!
Love and light
Frankie
xx

WOYWW #115 - Blinging it On!!!!

2011-08-17T06:00:00.002+01:00

Oh no... I don't believe it's another week since last time I saw you... it's spooky how quickly this year is romping away with me!!! Just wish I could keep up... Well here is my desk, and here is where you should go to visit the ineffable Julia, case you have been in la la land for the last few months!!! tee hee... I have some newly appointed, but old, storage, and I am now keeping my distress inks and pads in these drawers on the right... this bit next to my printer is ALWAYS a mess so I have sorted it a bit with this unit... I can lift out the various colours as and when, quite easily...

The work in progress is for Simon Says Stamp and Show some bling, this week, and the beginning of a tag for TIO, where the theme is child's play... ooo difficult for me as I don't have any appropriate stamps...
I have shown you both finished projects here below...

I made some more of those metail flowers, blow-torched for different colours and I added a bit of inca gold, in purple to match the whole colour scheme... I have a full posting on this one here...

This is the tag for TIO... I also have a DT call out this weeek, as we are loosing two of our members, so if anyone here fancies joining my fab team, please just email me and I will consider you as a teamie!!! - frankie@gaywood.net

Thanks for looking and commenting.... don't forget the birdcage swap - deets here, as there is still plenty of time to join in...and most of all have a GREAT week and ENJOY your crafting
Love and light
Frankie
xx

Simon Says Bling It On!!!

2011-08-17T00:20:00.002+01:00

I made myself smile here with this title... but that's all I am smiling about just now... having more problems with mum, so forgive me if I'm a bit distracted ...

Well Simon Says Stamp and Show some bling this week and I really fancied doing this one.... so I made some more of those fabby copper flowers and pasted them with Inca Gold purple paste... yumminess..

Here they are in close-up... they are so interesting to make and so blingie when they are adorning a piece... this corner has some Vintaj flowers added as foliage...

The TH sewing room die is cut from thick card, embossed with a cuttlebug swirls folder then blinged up with Inca Gold gold and purple pastes... I added some lovely broidery anglais layers and a couple of flowers, dyed with purple distress ink. A pearl at the throat and on the bodice bling up the rest of this part...

The BLING letters are cut with a TH alphabet die, from thin, sparkly card. The beautiful corner piece is also from Vintaj, with a large and medium sized pearl dangling, all blingie-like!!

Here is the whole piece, front on, showing the TH pearl and blingie chain hanging on a charm clip from a hitch fastener. Loads of bling!!!

Finally, the frame was painted with Fresco paints in London nights and vintage lace with a pva sandwich, to crackle . I smeared Inca Gold gold and purple pastes and bronze rub and buff... A piece of TH paper was inked and printed it layers of stamps and distressed ... I really enjoyed this project and hope it fits the bill...

Thanks for looking and commenting
Love and light
Frankie
xx
I also want to submit this piece at
Dream Valley Challenges - distressing
Make It Monday - always anything goes

T!m Holtz Birdcage Swap

2011-08-13T06:00:00.005+01:00

Corr... is this lady excited or what??!! I have been looking forward to launching this for so long, and now it's here... I have hinted at something for a while, then tentatively floated the idea on WOYWW and loads of peeps said they are interested... wooo!!! So what is "IT" you are now asking... well... get a cuppa and sit a while so I can run through it...

VERY soon, it will be my 300th post on this blog, and so my lovely followers, I want to celebrate with a swap... now I adore the TH birdage die, and would like to have that as the theme... some gals have asked if they are ok to join as they are international... and I shout HELL YES!!! Some have also asked if they could use some other birdcage, and I don't see why not, but I don't know of one, do you??? (Actually I have found a couple of mariane dies which would fit the bill, since writing that!!)

I have popped a couple of my cagey makes here to pretty-up this post... some are bigger and more grand than others, and that makes me think of an important rule... size - well it DOES matter in this case!!! so we all have a similar starting point...

Both of these are quite large at 81/2" square, and I think that would be excessive for postage!!! don't you?? In both cases, the cages were cut from thick card and triple embossed...

This card was made for a Stampman floral challenge, and this size is not too bad, what say you?? The cage was cut from gold cardstock...

This was a retirement card for one of Freddie's friends, so not much bigger than the height of the cage cut out... that's more like it methinks... the cage was cut from very thin wood...

And this little chappie is a #8 tag made for my daughter's Inspiration Album... is that too small??? The cage was cut from white shiny cardstock...

Well, this one got EVEN smaller because it is made from shrink plastic, and is very teeny tinyness!!! Tee hee... so how big then? I think the optimum is about #8 tag or postcard 6"x4"... but I'm sure many of you will find ways to be creative with your space!!!

So to the rules of the swap - please only commit if you intend to follow through. I had a horrid experience with the WOYWW birthday swap at first, where my partner did not make anything tangible, but fortunately some lovely people took pity and I got nice gifts after all. Another decision to make here, about who will you all swap with?? Well, I think I will put you in two hats and get the fragrant Freddie to pull out partners a la footie thingie, ok?? Here's hoping we are an even number... and I think we should deffo keep them secret until the day, what do you think??

What to do
1) make your birdcage piece by 7th September 2011
2) size to be #8 tag or postcard 6"x4"... but, if you fancy being 3D, that's up to you!! it's your postage!!
3) take note of your swap partner then get their address on 7th September
4) send to your partner as SOON as possible after the closing date - 7th September
5) sit back and wait for your loveliness to arrive, and try not to get too excited!!!

However, I am SO excited already cos I know of some VERY lovely crafters out there who have already said they want to join in... you can spy them on my blog here... YES, her, and her and him and her...... wooo, fabulous eh??!! So come on and say you too will join in - btw, if you have already said yes, no need to do so again, as I have started a list and you will be on it... We can then post our swaps on my blog through an inlinkz thingie, so all can see all...

Coming to an end now, with a plea to join in and also to say whether I have forgotten anything, or could make anything different, like choosing the partners , size etc... I want you ALL to be comfortable and really happy with this swap, so shout up if I am talking through my hat again!!! tee hee wouldn't be the first time eh?? I think this will be awesome and am really looking forward to making something for my lovely partner, whoever he or she may be!!! Thanks for getting through this marathon post -
Love and light
Frankie
xx

Other possibilities if you don't have the TH die...

Stampman Challenge - Anything Goes in Summer Colours DT Piece

2011-08-12T12:00:00.003+01:00

The new challenge over at the Stampman is all about summer colours and you can do whatever you want... so I made a card - don't faint... it doesn't happen often, but here it is...

I knew I wanted to make some flowers, cos I am mad about them... I used the TH tattered florals die to cut my blanks, then did the cutting smaller and smaller thingie... They came out well I think...

This central image is an Aspect of Design piece from the 06 nature collection... I stamped it in black archival over a smoochy distress ink/stain background... then stamped again and layered alternate ones in darker coloured stains...

Here is the whole topper... I stamped two framies and cut them in half so I could attach them to my main piece, top, bottom and sides... I like the effect...

Here is the photo which shows the 3D effects of the card... the punched paper is done with a Martha Stewart punch, and the crease card is distress core'dinations...

And finally, the finished card, ready for a friend's birthday later this month... I don't often do pinky colours like this, let's face it!!! so all round, this is quite a change for me... I do like a challenge and I am going back to my "crafty 'oom" as my grandson used to call it (so we all do now!!) to TRY to get stuff sorted... I think after 4 years, I am entitled to take over all the drawers etc, and Pete's stuff will finally have to move over!!! Phew... that's quite a move forward...

So there you are... why not join in with the challenge? You have a fortnight to do it and don't forget that Jill gives a great prize for the overall winner... the others get the blinkie for their sidebar...

Thanks for looking and commenting...but most of all, ENJOY!!
Love and light
Frankie
xx

WOYWW #114 - A Win, Two Tags, a Desk and a Future Swap

2011-08-10T06:00:00.001+01:00

OMG... it's that day again... where has the week gone...??? I swear someone came in during the night and stole my whole week at once!!! ... It's only a mo since we were last chez Julia... Now what do you spy here above and below??? Tis my winnings -YEY!!! I said I won something... I never win, but I did at Artistic Stamper, in their July hot hot hot competition... and WHAT a winning... it's only one of Hels Sheridan's ATC makings!!!

Yes... it's an ickle ATC from THE hels Sheridan and I am LOVING the roses, isn't it just yummy?? Oh yes, and I also won the adage tickets too... great stuff...

Tada!!! Here it is then, a little more tidy than usual. Looking closely, you can see my two tags for this week, which I will show you close up below... for more detailed spying, you can look here and here for them both... and my growing set of punches... MS and EK S ones... The other treasure is the set of Viva Inca Gold pastes in gold, purple, red, blue, haematitie etc... fabulous stuff - the tag below used the gold and the haematite...

This is my entry for Simon Says Stamp and Show a TH technique and Grungy Monday #19... great technique so check it out ... and

this tag is for TIO... my challenge blog, where Zoe's theme is It's a Horse's Life... pop over and join in, it's great fun...

And Finally... announcing a swap... It will soon be my 300th posting, and to mark the occasion, I would like to do a swap with you all and my followers. I adore the Tim Holtz birdcage dies and would like to challenge you to make something with a birdcage on it... If you want to join in, just let me know and I can then organize it for you all... woo I am so excited... I do hope lots of you will take part, and then we can swap some great birdies!!!

Thanks for coming along to look and comment... and PLEASE say you will make that birdcage ... you will have 4weeks from today to be ready to swap... (7th September)
Love and light
Frankie
xx

TIO #91 - It's a Horse's Life (equestrian)

2011-08-09T19:38:00.000+01:00

Another week and another challenge over on my DragonsDream Tag It On blog... This time it's Zoe's turn, and she has chosen to do "It's a DogsX Horse's Life!" .. tee hee... I have absolutely NO, nil, zilch, nada stamps with horses on, so I had to get crafty again - literally gang!!!! I had a thought of a journey in my head, the journey of the horse from ancient times to now... from cave horse drawings to my wonderful 11.3 hands pony Rosie Posie.... so that's what I attempted... life from then to now...

So here they are... galloping over the cave walls, intent on getting ready to be useful and beautiful, strong and virile... happy to be our partners and friends and healers...

This is the full view of my horsey tag, a cave wall, a sadle shape and an almost rosette, with dreams of cantering over fields and jumps, roads and grass... I printed the image from the internet, then added it to the coloured, gessoed tag... the spots are made from a stamp which is called field of sky, and just help to belnd the picture into the tag...

I thought this was inspired and came out really well!!!! - a leather strap?? Well, yes of course, for helping to ride my horse, but in fact it is coloured grunge paper, with holes punched and eyeletted... I am right proud of myself with this... -oh calm down dear!!!! it's good but not THAT good!!!

The sadle-shaped sentiment is stamped from an Elusive Images sheet, and exclaims the beginning of the life from cave to me, in the present day...

As I neared finishing the piece, I realised that rosettes are a large part of our competing and the boys love the red ones best - because mostly, they are for 1st place!!!! So I had to have a rudamentory tag here in the picture, red but not red... so I cut one down and coloured it red but not red...

So there it is, my tag for a horse's life. I hope Zoe feels I have done her theme justice. Why not pop over and join in? It's a wonderful challenge and it's just for fun really. The only rule is that you have to use at least one real stamp... ENJOY!!
Love and light
Frankie
xx

Grungy Monday #19 and Simon Says Stamp and Show a TH Technique

2011-08-09T13:21:00.001+01:00

Great stuff again this week... opportunities to get inky and get out the paints. I have done a tag for Simon Says Stamp and Show a Tim Holtz technique and for Grungy Monday #19, Tim Holtz Christmas tag here... ooo, so exciting... so sit tight and here we go!!

Yippee... lots of opportunities here to use my new Victor Vagabond... for the plastic tag and texture folder and the umbrella man die. Holding breath, I tiptoed up to VV and prepped for him cutting and texturizing... and it worked!!! Hurrah!!

I decided to use the TH technique but to substitute my own ingredients... The background was painted with trad tan, then distressed with Viva gold and haematite, to give this grungy feel. The stamp is double stamped in weathered wood and black soot, then embossed with clear ep - well THAT is very unusual for me!!! tee hee...

The piece was finished off with a double crystal bauble from TH and two phillips screw head brads... T!m used washers etc here...

The umbrella man was coloured with Viva haematite, a wonderfully shiny, grey paste, then he was printed with words from a TH stamp... this picture shows the great dots pressed into the plastic packaging tag, meant to look like rain... no!!! you would never have guessed eh!!?

The bow was seam binding, dyed with weathered wood distress ink. I stood the tag up for these two shots and the reflections were very interesting...

So there we have my latest tag - not sure how many I have made this year, but it IS a very lot!!! tee hee... Thanks for looking and leaving your wonderful comments... off to do a bit more tidying and crafting
Love and light
Frankie
xx

Stamp Addicts DT Cards - Christmas Again...

2011-08-05T12:45:00.000+01:00

Here I am again, Christmasing... never done this before this year, so it still feels odd. It's an odd day today, too, as it is 4 years since Pete died... it still hurts!! Anyway... back to Crimble - Pete loved it btw... This snowman is great. He has a cute face. I used the Sizzix snowflakes folder with sanded coredinations card, for the background.

I love this cottage set. I used the dots background and clear ep, then smooched the shiny card through the blue inks on my mat... I also used one of the cloud/background stamps as snow (don't know what they will call it yet!!) I cut a circle round the sentiment then made a slit at the top so I could slide the paper ribbon through, made with an EK Success punch.

This is all about the background... printed the large "twas the night before Christmas" stamp in embossing ink and clear ep, smooched through with the blue inks, then overprinted with the snowflake. I have actually used sparkly ep on this one!!! Dyed some seem binding here for the ribbon...

I did not want them all to be blue, so deliberately tried to do different colours. This scheme is red/green and creamy. The paper is from a printed stack, so I stamped the tree straight on to it. The pears are painted with Viva Inca gold and the partridge is cut out and 3D in the branches.

Ohhhh!!! I REALLY went to town on this background... I went all grungy and had great fun... I used a piece of grunge paper, painted with green acrylic paint and dried, then smeared some vasceline before painting with trad tan from Claudine Helmuth. The paint peeled off of course, to reveal some of the green from below. I smeared some gesso, then printed the "twas" stamp into the texture. Viva Inca gold and vintage photo helps to show the texture too... The trees were printed seperately, then decoupaged. The ribbon is seem binding, dyed with vintage photo.... ooo yummyness!!

This card was deliberately kept monochrome, using black archival and black soot distress ink... this little house is fab.. I masked the trees to make it seem as if the cottage is hidden in the forest...

I have had some more problems with mum again this week, so I have only just posted these to the girls at Stamp Addicts, for their show on Tuesday 9th August, so I hope they get there in time!!! I hope they like them too... I have tried to do some different techniques this time...

Thanks for looking and commenting
Love and light
Frankie
xx

WOYWW #113 - Metal Working

2011-08-02T23:05:00.003+01:00

Hi everybody and welcome to desk hopper day, which comes round with greater and greater velocity each week - or perhaps I slept in too long and lost all those days since last Wednesday!!!...anyway, pop here if you don't know what I mean, to see the ineffable Julia...

Last week, I showed you a new toy - my blow torch... well this week's desk will show me using it!!! and voila !! the flowers wot I made!! tee hee...

I made these beautiful copper roses for my TIO tag this week. You can see the whole project here now. The theme is Nature's Bounty, and I made these as part of that ...

I used the TH tattered florals die, the flower here at the bottom in particular. I cut three for each rose. For the tag, they were all the same colour.

I did not have enough of the paler one for the extras I made, so I used a darker one I bought from LB Crafts, earlir this year...

I got this great idea from my idol Laura Denison of Following the Paper Trail... she is a wonderful papercrafter and scrapper, with fabulous ideas... she has made many You Tube and UStream videos, and all are inspirational and well worth a visit...

I cut the indentations a bit deeper with my Tonic scissors to allow more movement ...

Then I rolled down each petal round a paint brush end, then folded each along its length... this would later need some manipulation!!

All three pieces are the same... you don't cut out sections when making the roses from metal, because they are able to be manipulated easily...

So, take one flower and turn up 3 alternate petals and shape them round and together, to form the very centre of the rose. Then turn up the remainder...

This is the centre of the rose, or it could be a bud if you need one...

Repeat the process with the second piece, and shape it around the centre bud...

The three flowers together will make the full rose as you see above... I think they are really beautiful just like that, but Laura has something else up her sleeve...

Here I have taken the rose apart and placed the pieces on my gridle...

And here comes the really fun bit - I used my new blow torch to alter the colour of my petals... woo, it was fabulous. I have never used one before, and the rainbow effect was brilliant...

So there it is, beautifully coloured and metallc, just waiting to be displayed on a project... If you want to see Laura's demo, here is her You Tube video... well worth watching... She makes the point that you can use alcohol inks if you don't have a blow torch, but what a lot of fun I would have missed if I had done that!!!!

Thanks for looking and commenting... I really appreciate all your lovely thoughts

Love and light

Frankie

TIO and Simon Says Stamp and Show a Tag

2011-08-02T23:02:00.002+01:00

Another week has flown round... and it's time for another entry to Simon Says Stamp and Show, and TIO... the theme are a tag an nature's bounty respectively. So the tag bit was easy peasy, and I decided to go with fruits, seeds, flowers, fungi, pearls, crystals and copper... hence these lovely flowers - more of them later...

This central portion is an Artimeo stamp and I left it uncoloured, except for a wash of old paper distress ink and the coloured flowers down the side...

This is the whole thing, front on, showing all the bounty, including those flowers!!

and here they are... if you would like to see exactly how I created them, please pop to the WOYWW post above this one... I used a blow torch and had great fun making them. The idea came from my heroine Laura Denison of Following the Paper Trail. They are created from sheet copper, and they look even better in real life...

I used an Elusive Images sheet of fungi, honesty and conkers etc to layer up my tag... this ...mushroom in the corner is a real fave of mine

I added some dyed seam tape as a bow, and hung crystals and pearls from it... all nature's bounty too. This tag is a larger one than the size 8, to give enough room for all the layering I wanted to do.

I really enjoyed all aspects of this tag and hope you enjoyed looking at it...

Love and light

Frankie

Stampman DT ATC - Show Some Sewing

2011-07-29T14:01:00.001+01:00

This is my DT piece for the Stampman challenge this fortnight... I was saying the other day how much I LOVE the TH sewing room set, so I had to use it again for this challenge. But it had to be different from last time, so I decided to shrink it!!

The idea is to show some sewing... well actually I can and do sew, but not for pleasure!!! After Pete died and I could not carry my old machine around, and finished up making a nasty mark in my conservatory table when I dropped it!!!! I decided to buy myself a new, light machine with self threading - cos my eyes are not what they were either!!

I knew, then, that I was going to do faux stitching, and there is only one set in my repertoire which fits that bill, and its the Creative Expressions one... there are zig zags and straights, so I did a bit of both...

So here they are, printed on the ATC in vintage photo distress inks... These buttons come out SO well when shrunk!!! They look like real shirt buttons. I printed all the elements and put clear ep on top for some texture... it worked well, once the pieces were shrunk...

So there we have it, as they say - that framies stamp looks as if it's seperately placed but it's not, it's just the way I printed and coloured in... and I liked that effect too. I coloured the lace with vintage photo and the ribbon with distress ink, to finish... hardly complicated, but I really enjoyed the constraint of working so small for a change!! Not made an ATC for ages...

Well, thankd sor looking and commenting - much appreciated!!
Love and light
Frankie
xx

PS... my new Vagabond has arrived today, let's hope he is not such a whimp as his brothers!!!

Sunday Stamper - Back to Black - Tribute

2011-07-27T23:44:00.001+01:00

This black tag is made for Hels' Sunday Stampers challenge, as a tribute to Ms Winehouse... quite honestly, if she -Amy that is, not Hels... oh I don't know!!!... had walked into my crafty room before Saturday, I swear I would not have known who she was. I had heard of her antics, but not really listened to her music.... oh, so young, bless!!!... But I did look, and I did listen and was inspired to do this one...

I made some black UTEE in my melt pot and poured it into a mould... All the stamps are TH - well they often are eh??

It's a very dimensional piece, and layered as I love to do, but it was a challenge to keep it monochrome. I used archival back and black soot, with clear ep - another shock choice!!!

The face, from a moon set, came out really well, from the mould. I rubbed it with some silver Viva Inca Gold - sounds like a contradiction in terms!!! and it made the features pop even more... then surrounded it with a circle of silver mirri and a matte black tattered floral flower piece...

As, I said, it is very layered and dimensional, and rubbed round with the silver. I used some sequin waste to rub my black soot through, for more interest in the background...

The letters are TH grunge board letters, mounted on his new double thick grunge pieces, and painted black... after drying and sanding, I smooched silver on them too... I used the silver thickly through the sequin waste in the corner ... I really liked the effect...

The saying from TH seemed to jump off the sheet for me... sadly it IS too late for Amy, but it made ME think, especially in light of the problems of my mother's increasing dementia!! However, on a lighter note, she has been generally more lucid this week - my mother, you understand!!! and I have not had any real bad phone calls, fingers crossed!!!

So I hope that Amy is now at peace, Hels likes my tag and my mother continues to be a bit better...
Thanks for looking and commenting, I really do appreciate it
Love and light
Frankie
xx

I shall also put this into the
Simon Says Stamp and Show - anything goes challenge, even though I have already entered a piece of jewellery - what the hell!!! It's only art!!!!
Creative Stamp Friends - monochrome

WOYWW #111 - Jewellery Making and V V2 Demise

2011-07-27T06:00:00.001+01:00

Well, I am not a happy bunny just now as my No. 2 Victor Vagabond has gone and wented!!! Died, deceased, defunct, is no more, has gone and stopped working!!!! Can you believe it?? I made a lovely rosette one day and the next but one, he would not do ANYTHING!!!! Nothing, nada, zilch !!!

I was making some jewellery this week and my desk looked like this...

These are the makings of my first pendant. I put a metal butterfly into the frame and poured in UTEE.. You can see the finished piece here....

For the second piece, I used some other Vintaj bits, a round blank and a large dragonfly.... This is how I found out my Victor had stopped working... I wanted to put the round blank through the machine in a folder, but the engine just went "phutt" and that was that!!! It didn't even try to put it through. So out came the trusty Cuttlebug!!! Thank goodness I kept it, because I would be stuck everytime the Vagabond decides to stop!!!

This is my trinket box - well one of them... I started with this one, and have gone on to have many others, but none bigger than this one... I am making jewellery this week to try to forget how upsetting my mum's behaviour is just now... she is getting worse, progressively, but today she was everso lucid, so that was nice for a change!!!

So here is that piece, where I popped the two together on the same ring. I made a hole in his wing with my newest TH toy - a hole maker, which you will see shortly... the folder is a small, flowery border one, then I rubbed and polished to show up the pattern...

I said yesterday, when I showed this piece, that I would make some earrings and wrap the hook, so I did that today and here is what they look like now...

The earrings have these ickle pearly beads inside the flowers, so I used the same ones to add to the copper wire wrapping the hook, and the square beads are the same as those on the necklace.

So here is my desk on Tuesday evening, with that necklace and earrings ready to photograph - opps, already done that one!!! - and what can you spy here then??? My ickle TH hole maker thingy, AND a blow torch!!!! Yup, I am getting ready to try some copper working and want to alter the colour when it's done... so that might be what I show you next week... and why would I do that?? Because that's what we do, who subscribe to Mistress Julia's wonderful world!!! It's such fun, you should look if you don't already!!!

Well thanks for looking, and for leaving your lovely comments, which always make me SO happy...
Love and light
Frankie
xx

TIO #89 - Pressing Matters

2011-07-26T22:53:00.000+01:00

My tag for TIO this week, is very simple, for a change... Helen asked us to emboss this time, so I decided to do dry instead of my usual stamping or triple!!! I did minimal stamping, actually, just some circles to enhance the embossing... then I just found circular metalic stuff to echo those circles...

So this is how I am feeling these past few weeks, as if going in circles - mum is getting worse and rings me constantly, crying and shouting... she can't help it, but it's very distressing... need to begin to make some hard decisions next week. My, but crafting helps to take you out of yourself, eh??
Thanks for looking and leaving your comments
Love and light
Frankie
xx

Making Jewellery Again

2011-07-25T22:44:00.000+01:00

I have been making some different bits and pieces this week... and trying not to get upset by my mum's behaviour... she can't help it, but it's still very distressing... so I am making jewellery so I don't have to think about it!!! The make at Simon Says Stamp and Show is anything goes, so I shall enter this piece into their challenge...

This is a close up of one side of the central piece. I have two bits of chain here, and the flower is attached to the smaller chain. I wrapped the roses, and hung them from the other piece of chain...

This is the whole necklace, with the large pendant, which is an encased butterfly!!! - Well, I poured UTEE on to it, inside it's case, after I lined it with a piece of Sir T!m paper...

And of course it had to have a tag!!! - top right (your right that is...) The butterfly is quite sparkly with his UTEE jacket on!!!

This bead cap is fabulous, and opens enough to wrap around this lovely faceted bead... I ordered some more today!!!

I used some Sir T!m leaves to wrap this bead... same colour as the large round one we saw earlier...

The whole thing again, and pair of earrings above, made from the same sort of glass beads as in the necklace...

I used some of the wrapped roses as drops with the beads for the matching earrings... I really enjoyed designing this set, and look forward to wearing it... So, this will be my piece for SSSS this week. No for number 2...

This pendant is made from a Vintaj round blank, popped through a texture folder and my Cuttlebug - thank goodness for him cos my Victor Vagabond Mk 11 has gone caput !!! So that's two since Crimble, or whenever they came out!!! I don't think I shall be replacing him, cos it's SO disappointing when you use him one day and he is dead the next!!!! boo hoo, poo!!!

I joined several layers of Sir T!m flowers and foliage to make this drop...

Same here at the back, but a Vintaj rose in front... I made this necklace to fasten at the front, with a large hook. I am thinking of wrapping it, or altering it in some way...

This large metal bead has great texture...

So this is the whole piece... it jangles really pleasingly, and I got to use my very newest tool to make some holes - the punch from Sir T!m.... it's great and does lovely ickle 1/16" holes just right for jewellery.. I have a couple more of the creamy cube beads to make a pair if earrings... that will be for tomorrow... off to post this post on the SSSS site before I change my mind!!!
Thanks for looking
Love and Light
Frankie
xx

WOYWW - #111 - Making End of Year Cards

2011-07-20T06:00:00.002+01:00

Well here we are again, it's that time of year, that is end of the school year, and time for thank yous... Both my grandsons have had a GREAT year, and so I decide to make thank you cards for their teachers... I have recycled some of my recent tags, and made them into cards. The fourth one is mostly new and is what is on my desk this week. I also want to enter this one into Hels' challenge at Sunday Stamper ( building a flower embellishment)

So here is my desk as it is this week, with the beginnings of the fourth card. I so enjoyed working with the dress form last week, that I decided to go with it again this time, but to embellish it differently. I stamped with TH papillon text stamp and embossed in clear ep, after painting with pool and denim acrylic dabbers. You will see some rub 'n buff, which I smooched over the texture... I LOVE this stuff and the great effects you can get with it...

Here is the boddice smooched with the gold and ancient gold rub 'n buff, isn't it pretty?? I used some of my lovely lace wrapped round the form as a skirt. I then sprayed it with perfect pearls ancient gold mist, to age it.. A single flower was cut to decorate the rosette, which was later cut down to make it even smaller - I wish TH would make one this tiny size!!!

This is my flower, built up from Ten Seconds metal and TH paper stack. The dies used were PaperArtsy and TH tattered florals.

So below is the finished card, for Matthew's classroom assistant, whom he says is his girlfriend!!! - well he is only 5 years old!!!

To follow are the other three cards, for Jaden's teacher and classroom assistant, and Matthew's teacher - he chose the creamy brown one, because he says she likes those colours!! The pink and purple ones are for Jayden's staff...

I do hope they like them... I don't think there is anything not to like!!! We are going to put a voucher into each one, so that should be a nice present, I think... So that's it for another week. I hope you have enjoyed your visit and will leave me a comment, cos I LOVE hearing from you...
Thanks for looking and have a great week
Love and Light
Frankie
xx

Sunday Stampers - Building a Flower

2011-07-19T17:10:00.001+01:00

This week, Hels at Sunday Stamper, has asked us to make a flower, for her challenge, so I have made mine from metal and TH paper stack, lost and found. I used tattered florals die and one from Paperartsy. The finished card is one of a series of four, made for my grandsons' teachers and classroom assistants... I recycled the background from a previous tag, but all the rest is newly done...

Here is that flower up close and personal... I used the front patterned, and plain back of the paper, sandwiched between metal pieces. The centre of the flower is the smallest tattered floral die, cut in small slices, in order to curl it and make it look like stamens... I like the effect, taught me by Lin at Yours Artfully.

This piece is full of texture, and colour. Even the buttons stand out. I put some thin organza ribbon through the centres, to echo the ribbon through the tag hole. I painted the dress form and buttons in denim and pool acrylic paint then stamped with the large text stamp from the TH papillon set, and embossed in clear ep. I highlighted the embossing by rubbing with rub 'n buff - lovin this stuff!!!

Here are some pretty glass beads and bead caps. One of them looks like a rose. There is a lovely piece of lace on the background, painted to match the rest, and a piece of TH frilly ribbon, coloured with distress inks to match the tag. It is all so rich in colour, in real life. The pretty lace wrapped round the form has been distressed with ancient gold perfect pearls mist...

The button and the dress form are all cut from grunge board... great stuff from Tim Holtz, which holds it's shape so well, prints up so nicely and smells SO good!!! tee hee...

The tag was mounted on a piece of Kraft resist paper then added to a crease card made of matching distress cordinations. It has turned out well, so I hope the teacher likes it!! ... The other cards can be see on my WOYWW post for this week...

Thanks for looking and leaving your great comments
Love and Light
Frankie
xx
I shall also enter this piece into

Grungy Monday challenge - use grunge board/paper
Simon Says Stamp and Show - embossing
Scrappy Frogs - flowers

Sunday Stampers - Flying

2011-07-16T00:00:00.002+01:00

Well, better late than never, I have finally finished something for Hels' challenge... She wanted us to go flying, and created a great "industrial" looking piece with planes and maps etc... but I have gone altogether more delicate!!! - oh get her...!!!

Hels said we could choose anything that flew, so I chose butterflies... one on an Elusive Images stamp and the others from my new Martha Stewart punch...

I smooched the tag through a mixture of worn lipsick, spun sugar and bundled sage, then stamped the images in black archival and embossed in clear ep... I love this saying...

The flowers are made from 3" card circles, cut in a spiral with my wiggly scissors (can't think of the name just now, but they cut an irregular edge!!) They are simply curled round and round and stuck...

The MS butterflies are doubled up to give more texture, and the card for them was again smooched through worn lipstick etc..

It's very dimentional and quite pretty - not at all like most of my makes these days!!! The colours are a bit more vibrant in real life, but it was dark when I took the photos and the lights bled out some of the colour...

So there it is... it's quite a large tag, to give me room to put lots of wings on!! Hope she likes it... Thanks for looking... please leave a comment as I love hearing what you all think!!
Love and light
Frankie
xx

I also want to enter this for
Paper Cutz - anything in the sky
CRAFT - butterflies
Crazy Amigos - fly away

More Crimble in July!!!

2011-07-14T08:37:00.000+01:00

Here is a couple more of the DT cards I have made for the Stamp Addicts next show, all details here... I have found it hard to consider such stuff at this time, but lots of people have said it's good for the soul, and that they do it all the time... ahhh!!

Opps!! sorry the camera is so wonky, but the card is straight!!! This ickle bear is a great favourite... he is looking up, and I always felt I had to make him see something... in this one, it is the lovely Bethlehem star. The background was made by stamping the star background stamp in clear ink and clear embossing, then smooching in blue distress ink...

This one has a background of snowflakes, most of which are from the set... I cut the largest one from the centre of one of the sentiment circles, so I could use it independently... After layering up with silver mirri, I added one of the small flakes to his nose!! Aww, cute...

Here are both of them, sitting in their cave with icicles dropping from the ceiling... opps!! The background is the large dots stamped in white acrylic paint and smooched through blue distress inks, and overstamped with a sentiment circle...

So there you have it, another peek at what I have been making... the samples are winging their way to SA Towers, so I hope they like them...

Thanks for looking and commenting - I love hearing what you think
Love and Light
Frankie
xx

Project Tim Holtz

2011-07-13T01:47:00.003+01:00

I have created a DT piece for TIO and the Stampman this week, and I want to enter it into the Grungy Monday and Simon Says Stamp and Show some stitching challenges.

It's all about sewing this week... I really enjoyed making these letters, painted with the fresco finish acrylics in vintage lace and london nights, then stamping and highlighting with vinatge gold rub 'n buff... The clock is from a TH stack, stuck to a clear bauble...

The frame is distressed in a sandwich of vintage lace, pva glue and london nights, rubbed over with trad tan from Claudine Hellmuth. This left side of the piece holds a tag, the bottom of which is adorned with some dyed TH flower border... each one in the colours of the piece, being milled lavender, victorian velvet, dusty concord, pumice and vintage photo...

This photo also show the torn picture of 4 dress forms. The stamp is from Creative Impressions, and I did the other required technique with it, namely stamping with different coloured pads on the same stamp, so I used vv, dc and p... I just painted the forms with a dilute solution of inks, smooched on my craft mat... here is the link to that TH tag technique - check it out, it's fabulous!!!

Here is the whole thing - a square frame, divided by some added strips of the chipboard, to make smaller sections. I cut the TH haberdashery dies from chipboard too and painted them with the fresco finish paints- just must haves!!!

This is a very close up of the dress form, painted, stamped with a TH flourish and embossed in clear ep, as ever!! The broidery anglais edging border "skirt" is the stitching required for SSSS!! Hope it is ok?? The ickle rosette is from a TH die, but cut down a lot and a button added to set it off...

This is the top of the tag, embellished with some dyed seam binding ribbon, a pearl bauble and some ickle scissors, aww!! The texture acquired when doing the TH technique for GM, is very pleasing... I did the whole tag in it, but then overstamped with my home made foam stamp of the dress form, and did the same technique on it...

Here are two cute bobbins painted as before and adorned with some TH measuring tape and some dyed seam binding ribbon... I am LOVIN it... It only came yesterday and it's such a BIG roll... it distresses brilliantly and looks really good... it was a fab investment!!!

This pic shows how dimensional the piece is and how the tag is related to the whole thing. I THOROUGHLY enjoyed this one... a lot more work, but worth it and I shall put it up in my bedroom with the birdie one I did some time ago, which you can see here...

The saying was cut out with my pinking shears and is stamped and embossed in the same technique as the rest of the challenge, and it comes from the same plate as the 4 dress forms one... it's very useful as a set... The buttons are sewn with some of the seam binding ribbon, cut down the centre...

And finally - here is the view of the bottom right corner, again demonstrating how full of texture and dimension the piece is. I hope it bring inspiration to those who see it for the challenges at TIO and Stampman (Friday), and that it fits the bill for the challenges it is entered for...

Thanks for looking, and leaving me your fabulous comment and ideas... I value each one, I promise you...
Love and light
Frankie
xx

WOYWW #110 - Tidy?? + Peaking at my Project

2011-07-13T00:36:00.001+01:00

Racing along again this week, I can hardly catch my breath ... time to do some I-Spy chez Julia here... I managed a few more assignations again last week, even if one or two were very late!!! But better late than never, and I am still finding it SO interesting...

So this is my space this week!! Those of you who know my desk well, will notice that I have had a considerable tidy up - YES ... THIS is what calls itself tidy in my book!!! I have taken away the notebook computer from the right hand corner and put my punches and other bits and bobs there... it is having problems with getting online, so I shall ditch it, once I am certain I have all the images etc. saved from it... This is the beginnings of my project Tim Holtz for TIO and the Stampman this week...

I painted the last of my frames with a vintage lace, pva glue and london nights acrylic sandwich, then distressed with some Claudine Hellmuth trad tan (fairly new to me but I like it Hels!!!) - just LOVIN those fresco finish paints!!! You can see I get a really great crackle effect with them and the glue...

I filled the inside of the frame with some paper from the TH crowded attic stack... all the haberdashery stuff, cos my theme is sewing this time... here I have cut some pieces from the TH die set, in chipboard, and the cutting mat is out to make some strips for inside the frame, to make it have some smaller sections... The rub 'n buff is out too, as I used it to distress some edges... the paper is painted in a thin layer of trad tan, and all the pieces are painted with it too, bceause it makes a great surface to stamp on...

I like this dress form and I stamped the TH flourish on it in dusty concord, after it was painted, then embossed with clear ep (borrring!!! yawn) ... the rosette is also from a TH die, but I cut it down so it was very small, and added one of his accoutrement buttons to the centre. I shall enter this into the Simon Says Stamp and Show some stitching challenge this week, and here is the very sewing on this lovely broidery anglais border, wrapped to make a skirt.

I shall also enter this in the Grungy Monday challenge this week, where the brief is to use an orange peel /faux rust technique from TH... please go to my Project Tim Holtz post to see all of my piece, how I did it, and the addy for the TH technique...

Here is another ickle sneaky peak, showing my buttons and the words, cut round with my pinking shears, to keep in with the theme... some died seam tape, a pearl bauble and a pair of scissors round off the tag, which sits on the left hand side of the bigger frame...

Hope you enjoyed your visit this week, and that you will look in to my post here, to see the end product... also, pop over to my challenge blog and join in the TIO theme this week - Project Tim Holtz, as I already said!!! Meanwhile have a great week...
Love and light
Frankie
xx

DT Pieces for Stamp Addicts

2011-07-11T17:09:00.000+01:00

Hi again ... here I am doing something I have NEVER done before!!! Never, ever... and what is that??? I am making Christmas cards!!!!!!! OUCH!!! In the post last weekend, came some pretty ickle new stamps from Stamp Addicts, and yes, they are for Christmas... So I have been making some cards as samples for the next show... That will be July 25th at 4pm.

They have designed some new roundels and I used these to create baubles... the background is silver card, but it looks grey here. There are a lot of these ickle penguins, and I printed one inside an empty roundel, as well as doing the same thing with the star in another...

This one is made of several images, collaged on the scene. I created the background using two of the texture stamps - large and small dots...They are VERY useful... I stamped them in white acrylic paint and dried them, then smooched the whole thing in distress inks - when don't I??!! I tried for some fun pictures in this set of cards, and this is one of them - I just wonder where that ickle skiing guy is going to land!!???

So that's it for now... had some fun doing these and I have some more to show you later in the week... The stamps will not be available until the show later in the month... Off to get inky now, and finish my "Project Tim Holtz" for TIO on Wednesday and Stampman on Friday... it's a biggy again, with a tag attached... Hope you will come back soon to see the next installment and please leave a comment, as I love to know what you are thinking...
Love and light
Frankie
xx

Singing in the Rain??

2011-07-07T20:33:00.000+01:00

I have managed a session with my inks today, and have made a piece for a couple of challenges - oh yes... bundled together again, but I am actually enjoying the discipline of taking the rules from different places and linking them into my piece.

I went with my daughter to a meeting today, and it was pouring with rain, so my piece had to be the rain man... so I started with that and built from there... the words were also important, and they were on a new sheet of TH sayings.... I cut him out of a piece of kraft paper and inked him with blues distress inks...

Here it is as a whole view. My challenges are going to be

Simon Says Stamp and Show - a flourish
Sunday Stampers - writing
Grungy Monday - resist technique by TH

The piece is full of texture - mainly from the use of the white paint dabber on a dots stamp from TH. When dry, I sprayed with some home made spritzes, as demanded by the TH technique, then aged with vintage photo round the edges.

This frilly edge is made with musical tissue tape, fastened to a thin stip of blue ribbon. The rosette also has music on it, cos the man is singing and dancing in the rain!!

A TH flourish is stamped all round the edges and embossed with clear ep - what a surprise!! Below, you can see the dotty texture from the white paint resist... it is very pleasing as a background... very tactile... I also daubed some rub and buff in gold, round all the edges for a highlight.

So there we have it... the finished piece... I am quite pleased with it, and happy with the texture... and of course, I love this umbrella man, he is so versatile...
I will also add this to the following

Everybody-Art-Challenge - use shapes
Riley &Co - dies and punches

Thanks for coming over and having a look... Please leave a comment as I truly value your opinions...
Love and Light
Frankie
xx

WOYWW #109 - A Pressie from Neil + My TIO Tag

2011-07-06T06:00:00.005+01:00

Where are the wings??? For the year, that is, tee hee... I can't believe we are already into July and another WOYWW Wednesday!!! I am sure there is more than 1 in each week!!! And why are Wednesdays, so important?? 2 main reasons really - TIO challenge and sharing desks and work with the world c/o the fabulous Julia at Stamping Ground...

Above you can see my alcohol inks out from last weeks' challenges at Stampman and Grungy Monday. You can also spy a new tool - a chobbler for rounding edges...

I have been sorting out my Tim Holtz pieces and adding to my stash, with more metal bits and some new stamps. These boxes are just a couple that I keep my things in..

And right here at the front, my Fresco paints... I love them. They have such a great finish. There is also one of my stains... don't have many of them, but I expect I will get a few more eventually... Now how lucky am I??? Just look here...

You might remember there was a mix up on WOYWW anniversary swap week, and my partner did not make an actual thing... well, a couple of wonderful people made things for me, and one of them was the VERY talented Neil, who made me this lovely book, with this fabulous stamped cover...

The background is beautifully crackle stamped, and this TH birdie is so delicate. It is softly grunged round the edges and I am lovin it!!

I think this is wax, stamped into whilst hot...

And this is the inside of that tiny card, with such a lovely message... I have only just shown this because it came whilst I was in Venice, then the stuff with my mum made me forget to show it... so here it is now and thanks a whole bunch, Neil, I am so pleased and grateful for you sending it!!! - and finally...

Here is a tiny detail of my TIO tag for this week, available to view over at DragonsDreamTIO, or in much more detail on this blog, here. The theme this week is The Age of Chivalry, so if you want to join in, just pop over and have a look...

I hope you have a lovely week, and get to do what you want to do...

Love and Light
Frankie
xx

#109 TIO Tag - The Age of Chivalry

2011-07-05T22:25:00.000+01:00

Well, here is another Wednesday, and here is another TIO challenge... I LOVE my teams' work and support, but they DO keep on challenging me these days!!! The Age of Chivalry is a wonderful theme, but I had very little to work with, so this is what I came up with...

I thought of crowns and Fleur de Lys, chain mail and golden cord...

I am loving to use metal decoration and, like last week, again I used an on the edge die...one to echo the fleur de lys... see also the lions. These are from TH, stamped in red brick, and embossed in clear ep...as always!!

Here is the full tag. I used red brick, spiced marmalade and scattered straw distress inks, smooched on the craft sheet and mixed. I stamped in archieval black and used clear ep. The large stamp and the crown are from a plate by Elusive Images. There is a crafty individuals script along the right side stamped in vintage photo... my layering again...

The left side has the word "knight" in TH grunge board letters, coloured with fired brick and touched with gold pen...

I LOVE the texture of this middle section, with the diamonds, fleur de lys and lions. Actually I like the whole tag and it did not really take me too long today!!! Often I faff about, but it all came together well this time...

Off to do more inkyness now for Simon Says, Sunday Stamper and Grungy Monday... and anything else I can find... Thanks for coming over to look and to leave your great comments... I do appreciate you taking the time...
Love and Light
Frankie
xx

Artist!! - Taking on the Challenges

2011-06-30T21:53:00.003+01:00

I have limited time at the moment as I have told you before, so I am rolling some challenges in together today... they fit perfectly anyway, so it's no hardship!! Normally, I am not chuffed when too many are rolled into one, but needs must, and I think I have kept them true to the individual premise -oooo, get her!!!

So what are they I hear you cry??? as follows, I reply...

Stampman - alcohol inks + optional sketch (my DT piece)
Simon Says Stamp and Show - a word
Ink on my Fingers - words
Grungy Monday - alcohol inks
The Artistic Stamper - hot colours

So that's what I have done... words and alcohol inks in hot colours...

I used shiny card, pool, rose and latte with my tool, and splodged, as you do!!!. Then I dropped some dots of each colour, after blending, and some blending solution to move the inks around... the rosettes are also dribbled with them, in two colours... they are made from TH kraft paper and the resist shows through really well as you can see below... Linda at Studio L3, showed us this link for inspiration... Tim himself, demoing...

I stamped images from TH sheets, in archieval black and embossed in clear ep - well when DON'T I do that??? Then I began my layering which is my favourite to do... using a Craft Individuals word stamp in vintage photo, TH clocks in rusty hinge, pen nibs and diddy ickle clocks in black soot and so on.

My word was ARTIST... a bit pretentious perhaps?? but I was feeling a bit arty at the time!! I printed it in the black, on a cut off piece from my original background make, then distressed it with a TH distresser tool. It seemed to cry out for a banner, and I DID get the idea from Hels Sheridan, I cannot tell a lie!!! So it was fixed upon the larger rosette, to tell it's message...

I used a bit of metal too, cut in my Vagabond with a TH on the edge die, and decorated with a wheel from the starter, basic set. This fat bead is made from friendly plastic - I thought I might as well go for broke on all the media I was using!! tee hee...

The whole thing is finished off with a bit of hardware, in the form of gears, cogs and spinner, all from TH of course!! The tag is very 3D, and very tactile, with all that thick ep and card rosettes - I still really love these, especially the smaller one with a die cut button from the TH sewing die...

So there it is, my 4 for the price of 1!!! - I am very stingey this week, but needs must. Hopefully the phone calls will diminish once mum settles a bit... at the moment she is so confused and fed up, she keeps blaming me then putting the phone down on me... that makes me so mad!!!

I was out getting some fish and chips last night, and she must have left a message, cos she was VERY cross because I was not in, and moaned because I was " not giving her any support whatsoever" and said that "the daughter does not love her mother".... ooooo she made me cross, but I shall just have to get used to it I suppose...

Anyway, less of that and more of a thanks to you who keep popping in to look at what I do. I am very grateful for your coming over and leaving me your wonderful comments... and just look to the right... as I write this I am not far at all, from my 25,000 visitors... come on!! put me over that magical number!!
Love and light
Frankie
xx

PS - hurrah we did it!!! we got over the 25,000 today, 1st July!!! Thanks people... xx

WOYWW #108 - Home Again, Home Again

2011-06-29T06:00:00.006+01:00

Can it really be time for this I-spy playtime again?? Visit Julia to see what I mean... This time last week I was in Venice, but life is very different now!!! Mum has been in hospital and I have been up and down to Yorkshire trying to sort things out... quite distressing, and not enough time for much crafting!!!

So I am trying to make some time for a bit at least, and here is an element from a tag for this week's TIO challenge, "by the seaside"... she is a lovely oriental lady with a lantern...

I actually don't have any stamps to do with the seaside, so I took a different tack and decided to print out a Kodomo sea stamp several times and layer up... here I was practising the best way to tackle the layers.. in the final tag, I printed several times and cut out the waves...

So here is my desk this week as I was making the TIO tag. All the usual suspects are there... distress inks, tonic scissors, matt for a moon etc... so here is a little sneaky peak at what it looks like - please pop to my TIO blog for a full view, and to see the work of my talented team...

And finally, I would like to show you a couple of photos from Venice... arty ones and a fabulous steampunk piece... It was huge, and I LOVED it... I would have really wanted to bring it home for my wall, if I could have carried it!!! Sorry about the shiny strip, but the sun was bright and shining on the shop front opposite. There was no way I could get the image without the reflection!!!

Many of the masks in Venice, were commonplace, but the ones in this shop were out of the ordinary...

And what about this fabulous gown... it makes me wonder how on earth they got through doorways and went to the loo, etc!!! Where on earth could you tuck all that fabric out of the way!!!?? LOL...

So that's my space and interests for another week. I hope to get round to see many more of you this time, as I won't have dodgy wifi (I hope!!) so not missing that, but I AM missing all that sunshine... still, I did get a nice tan, especially as I sat near the Rialto and did some painting - yes I got out the watercolours and THOROUGHLY enjoyed 3 hours with toes in the canal (well not quite, but nearly!!) ... Freddie walked and explored and took video. I did not finish, but will show you when it's done!!

Thanks so much for visiting, reading and commenting - I LOVE to hear what you have to say, and value your opinions
Love and light
Frankie
xx

Stamp Addicts Cards and News

2011-06-27T11:50:00.000+01:00

Aww, isn't he a sweetie??. I LOVE elephants and this one is so nice to use. The sheet comes with a smaller version too and some sentiments... I just simply stamped him with a distress ink then pulled in the colour with a water brush... Nigel really seemed to like this card, on Sunday's show...

This birdie stamp is quite large and very easy to use... you can cut the bird separately, and the flowers for decoupage, which is what I did here. I printed on to a glossy cardstock and embossed with clear ep. The background paper is created by stamping one of the very useful circles stamps and smooching china blue distress ink over it.

The third card is from another cutie set of birds. I put several of the images together to make a scene. I think Nigel really liked this one on the show too, as he asked how it had been done... I printed in black archieval and used clear ep as always, but the images have large areas filled in, so the ep really stands out... Hope you like these cards, and if so, pop to Stamp Addicts to buy the rubber, or get them from Create and Craft.

Well, followers will know I have been to Venice, and I will share photos soon. However, my mum has broken her arm and has finished up in hospital!!! I rushed up there this weekend and tried to sort things out, but nothing happens on a ward on a weekend!!! She is often a bit confused, and is even more so when out of her normal surroundings... she was heartbraking and I am powerless to do more than have our views recorded in the notes... I hope I am getting somewhere today, by phone, because I had to come home yesterday, obviously, as I have a my own house and life to run... So hopefully, I should have better news soon... meanwhile, much of my time is spent trying to keep abreast of things by phone, and being passed around!! Frustrating...
Thanks for looking
Love and light
Frankie
xx

WOYWW - With a Difference!!!

2011-06-22T07:03:00.000+01:00

Hi all... a bit like our lovely Julia last week, there is absolutely NO desk, workspace or even floor to see this week chez moi!!! Because I am not all there!!! - opps let me re-phrase that, I mean to say I am from home... I am actually in VENICE!!!! Yes, you read it right, so no craftyness or inky fingers from me today, or all week until we are home again ...

I will share picture next week here but until then, the sun is blazing down in blue skies and I am having a wonderful time with the fragrant Freddie, for our 1st anniversary... If you want to see photos of our handfasting, pop down one post and see what we got up to last year... Have a great week
Love and light bright sunshine
Frankie
xx

One Year On + Almost 25,000 Visitations!!

2011-06-19T08:02:00.002+01:00

It is our 1st anniversary today!!! This day last year, Freddie and I had our Handfasting Wedding in my wonderful garden... And where are we celebrating this great day?? Well in one of the world's most romantic cities.... Venice... I will share pictures when we come back, but meanwhile here is a link to our photos from last year..

I do hope this works as I am blogging with intermittent wifi on my iPad, lying in bed with a great cup of tea brought to me by the fragrant Freddie himself... And I am fast approaching 25,000 on my counter.... Wooo that's totally fab

Love and light bright sunshine
Frankie
xx
PS here is the album I made to keep the photos in... Thanks for looking

Two Tags - TIO and Stampman

2011-06-17T12:00:00.001+01:00

This first tag is my DT piece for my TIO challenge. I LOVE stamp layering, as my followers will know, so I stamped the klimpt ladies from the Judikins cube, first... they are four corners around the Leda face in the middle... subtle but there...

I just continued to stamp and emboss with clear ep., all the faces I could find... I thought it was great fun to add the Tim Holtz steampunk men to the ladies here!!! tee hee... I added oriental faces and even a pharaoh...

You might even spy Nefertiti!!! It was great fun to do and I love the colour scheme, which is quite different from many I have done recently.

This tag is my DT piece for the Stampman challenge of butterflies and dragonflies... I smooched the card through three different layers of distress inks and dried it... then stamped the large dragonfly as a background...

Then I stamped the tile in the corner. Using one of the single insects, I flew it to the top of the tag.. It is a very graceful image, I think... I have always loved these plates by Kay Carley... all were painted in the distress inks...

I cut four butterflies from the TH movers and shapers mini set, and smooched them through the same set of inks... a bit of distressing through some punchinella, some lace to top and bottom, and Bob was my male relative, so to speak!!!

So, this week, I have gone really simple - well you all knew that already!!! tee hee... but craftily - not sure that's a word - I have done some quite elaborate stuff recently, so I needed to see if I could just make a tag!! Well, I think they both work, so thanks for looking... please leave me a comment, as I really appreciate your coming and telling me what you think...
Love and Light
Frankie
xx

WOYWW #106 - Well Just Don't be Judgemental!!!

2011-06-15T06:00:00.004+01:00

Well this is what is on my desk just now, stamps for making cards for Stamp Addicts on Sunday... and that fab new gun that I am just getting used to... they are quite a thing to master eh??? Anyone got any tips on how to stop it delivering the tape when you want to stop??? !!!

Here is a more open view of my desk - still the same old, same old stuff about!!! Tiny attacher... what a great tool that is too, don't you agree?? What tool do you find really useful???

This is a close up of one of the main image stamps... it's a ickle birdie and some lovely flowers. Deeply etched, it printed very well, and I was pleased with the card I made...

I like it but it's not my usual style so it was a great challenge. It is quite a large card and it was fun to use the lace in this way... I made two other cards but they will be for another day...

If you are interested in the Mini Album PiF I made, I have posted a whole set of photos of it here, so you can have a look... I loved all the layering stamping...

The other bits around the desk were concerned with a challenge piece I have made for TIO - Numbers Game, Simon Says Stamp and Show some torn/distressed edges, and Ink on My Fingers - Steampunk
It is a larger piece again, with a tag attached, and it is quite good fun... below is one view nut you can see more of it here....

So there you have it, another little selection from my deskie this week... if you have enjoyed this post, please have a look at the others I have linked for you, and don't forget to leave me a comment each time, cos I love hearing what you think... and if you are wondering why I have shown you my tatty desk, pop over to the magnificent Stamping Ground from whence all good looky opportunity things come...tee hee...

Thanks for looking and visiting again
Love and light
Frankie
xx

PS... Just found I have won Top Three at Simon Says Stamp and Show last week!!! Woo Hoo, I am SO chuffed!!

Three Challenges Again...

2011-06-14T22:27:00.001+01:00

Well, the subject matter is from TIO - Numbers Game... the technique is from Simon Says Stamp and Show some torn/distressed edges, and the style is Steampunk from Ink on my Fingers, the challenge of Hels Sheridan... I had great fun making it...

I started with a frame and added some torn and distressed lost and found paper from TH stash... choosing numbers, of course...

This little birdcage is so sweet... it is hanging from some TH idea-ology...

Here is the whole thing.. I have never used the numbers tape before, so I attached it to the frame with the Tiny attacher. It was fun to try and find as many different types of numbers as possible.

This was also a newbie for me... I have used the background stamp from the Steampunk sheet, but not stamped the men before... they came out fabulously.. they really are dapper. I cut them out and attached them with staples again...you can also see a great ickle pocket watch... love it!!!

It is really quite dimensional. Here is a gear with a game piece and some pointers... yes folks, it ALL came out for this one!!!

This is a close up of the tag slipped in behind the torn and distressed numbers paper. The gear and the chain just add a finishing touch, don't you think??? Anyway, I am off to post it now and hope it is appreciated... Have done well a couple of times in the SSSS challenge, and I hope this one rings a bell - opps, didn't put one on, ah well!!!! tee hee...

Thanks for looking and leaving your fabulous comments... very soon, I will launch the idea I have for my followers and friends, so watch out for when I am back from Venice!!!!!
Love and Light
Frankie
xx