The Stampman Blog Hop and Altered Challenge

Well here is something different, or should I say altered??!! Isn't this fun??? If you came here via Kay you are in the right place, if not then go back to Jill on the Stampman Challenge blog and start again... If you are just looking, thanks... but there are prizes to be had, so why not join in anyway??!!

My letter was "T", obvioiusly amd it just cried out to be made rusty and grungey!!! I used acrylic paints and lovely moon glow inks, then topped off with Tim Holtz metal bits and acrylic pieces called fragments, all of which you can get from Jills fabulous website at The Stampman...

Ok, the prize I have on offer is

                        Hero Arts CL233 Let it Snow

- lovely snowmen ... this will be so useful for your Christmas cards, if you have not made them yet!! (hey, I have not even thought about it until now, after my birthday this last Tuesday, which was a biggy, being 65!!!)

This is what you need to do then and you have 2 weeks to do it, should you choose to take up the challenge!!!

1. Display the Stampman Blinkie on your blog
2. Create a post on your blog and link it back, directly to the Stampman challenge blog
3. You MUST leave a message on each blog you visit to qualify, and take note of the letter for the anagram

So now you have a T to add to your letters of the anagram and the next person to find is Debbie... Good luck and ENJOY!!!
Frankie and the DT team
xx

WOYWW 2 for me... More of my Jewllery Efforts and a Sale!!

So here I am again for another go!!! Thanks to all those of you who visited and left me a message... I tried to spy on all of you but I failed I'm afraid, as the weekend became quite hectic!! So above is part of my desk for the work this week. Below are two pictures from the beginnings of a piece which was discussed with a lady in my local chemist shop!! She had admired my own one last week... I had already made these blue and gold beads on Monday, from Viva Pardo clay. I baked them in my halogen oven, which saves so much on heating up the large one!!!

Below is the finished piece, with all it's beads and chains etc. I finished it off Tuesday (yesterday as I write) which was my 65th birthday, and it became the first day I sold a piece of my jewellery!!! YES she bought it from me and was delighted with it!! WOOO I was, and am, so excited because my daughter has also secured some more commissions for me at her school, and there is the prospect of a table to sell some pieces at their Christmas Fayre!!

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Below are a couple of other pieces I have made. On the left is a necklace based on a Tim Holtz chain and several Leandra beads. After the first dip in UTEE, I dotted with Pearlydoodles in gold and blue, dipped again then wrapped wire before dipping again. Another couple had silver and gold flakes embedded.  The one on the right, I only made the five main beads, and threaded them on to a chord.

Julia, of WOYWW, was very kind to visit my desk last week, and implied that I would need to show those bits of my desk that I had witheld last time... (tee hee, not really as menacing as that sounded!!) So I have gone round my space to the left of where you are in the top photo... below you can see the shelves

and here you can see the beginnings of the cupboards... this room once belonged to my late husbsand for his model making, so there are LOADS of drawers and shelves etc. HE kept it much tidier than me... there are still things here that belonged to him which I can't bring myself to move out and some that I am now using - for example, he had lots of wires, tools and cocktail sticks, which I am using in my jewellery making... thanks Pete.

If you have got this far, thanks very much. Have a great WOYWW, and I hope to get to your desk very shortly, after I have posted my tag challenge on my TIO blog

Hugs

Frankie

xx

WOYWW - 67 - My First!!

I have looked at a lot of desks, surreptitiously, recently on this fab blog, WOYWW - What's on your workdesk, Wednesday.... I think it is a wonderful way to see others' work and what they are doing. I decided I would clear the decks a bit, and make more than 6"x6" square to work!!!

So above is my desk - well just over half of it with my latest project out and almost finished. I recently went to a weekend at Graphicus and did a great jewellery class using a lot of TH stuff. I liked it so much, I made one for Miranda, my daughter, and she wore it to school. Her colleagues were very complimentary and have asked if I will take commissions!! Woo...

The piece on the left is my original piece and the one on the right is the first of my new pieces to sell... I am so chuffed and really enjoy putting them together. At the top right of it, I made a tiny "Lynne" rose and painted it with eco paints... it is about half an inch across.

I put some alcohol inks on some of the silver coloured pieces, including the little rose bead here are the bottom of this chain. It made it softly rose gold... really sweet. I have started making Leandra beads too, and some from poly clay. Friendly plastic needs some more playing with, as I have not had much success so far!!

This 3D work is getting very interesting at the moment, so this is what is really on my workdesk this week. My challenge blog, DragonsDream Tag it On, will feature jewellery or beads etc in the challenge today too, so I am off to set that up. Please pop over and take up my dream, if you feel you would like to ... I would be more than pleased to see you there.

It is great having so much room to work, but it won't last and the places on the periphery are just as untidy as always... perhaps I will confess and show another time... Thanks for looking and leaving a comment. I look forward to seeing your desks this week...
Thanks
Frankie
xx

The Stampman Fortnightly Challenge #5 - Distress

Well this poor girl is distressed  alright!!! She is my DT piece for Jill's challenge this fortnight - distress. I used the Summer in the Orient plate again...I ripped and damaged the edges as well as using the distress inks. Worn lipstick and stormy sky were overworked with old paper and walnut... I highlighted some creases too... poor girl!!!

Why not pop over and have a go... we have some great prizes on offer
Enjoy and thanks for looking
Frankie
xx

The Stampman Challenge #4 - Musical

I am the hostess for this challenge this week, over at The StampMan. The theme is musical, and I could not resist playing with the idea, and not use notes etc. As you know, I LOVE oriental, so I decided to use this nonsequitur stamp from Jill's website. The plate is 85, Summer in the Orient, and is a lovely set to use.  I coloured with pro-markers and then masked so I could use the gumdrop big and juicy, with my brayer for the background. Why not have a go and try to win the prize. It is a very good idea to use the products you have bought from Jill's site!!!
Thanks for looking
Frankie
xx

An Award ... thanks so much

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Thanks so much to  Helen at Crom's Cubbyhole, for this award. She says

 "please collect an award I'd like to give to you for being such an inspiration to me"

Woo that is SO nice, so thanks again...

Please see her blog for the conditions for awarding and receiving this award, and take it for yourself if you feel you inspire others with your work... The photos of my handfasting will qualify for the pictures I love and the three things I like about myself are

I think I am generous

I like people

I like to share

Loads of love and light

Frankie

xx

Happy to be Back On-line!! - a couple more wedding shots

Glad to be back online after a couple of weeks with no internet!!!

 Above is before the vows, with our guests surrounding us, as our priestess called to the four corners...My lovely boys are in front of us by the tree and my wonderful daughter is to be seen over Freddie's left shoulder.

This photo, below, is after the ceremony and we had to be tied (handfast) together for about an hour...

Does this man love me or what!!!??? Here you can see us with our hands bound together, standing on the deck, by the house, after the ceremony. Thanks to Freddie's brother for these photos... I think this one is really nice of us both.

Sorry to be ofline so long but I am glad to be back and posting again. Thanks for looking and posting, as you do. I really appreciate your comments and support.

Loads of love and light

Frankie

xx

Finally, Our Handfasting Photos from June

                           

We have just been sent these from a dear friend who attended our handfasting wedding. I was pleased to get them, as I did not think to have some formal poses taken and it's difficult to show people a DVD!!! We had done lots of planning but forgot about that!! Still, we are happy with these and hope to get a couple more from others who were there, eventually.

We are pleased to share them with you, and thanks for all your support in the past few years, to those of you who have followed me for a while. I am a very happy lady with Freddie, and I know Pete would be pleased. It is the anniversary of his death next week. I am sure I shall feel funny, but I am much stronger for having Fred's suuport and my daughter's approval... The boys love him (you can see that from the way Matt is looking in the horsey photos below...) and that means a lot.

Thanks for looking
Frankie
xx

Well here are my Fav 3 Men in the World!!

Here above, is Matt with my lovely Freddie, winning his first rosette for best turned out rider, pony and tack. He got the red for first place, when in fact he was the only entrant, but still had to be judged, and she said he was a lovely little rider. This was his first ever show. Fred was so proud of him as he rode so well and smiled so nicely at the judge, who was very taken with him!!

This gorgeous lad is Jay, who got a fabulous third place, in a much larger field, and they all had done it before. This was his very first time, and you can see how much he was concentrating!!! Tongue out of the corner of his mouth, like his nannar when crafting!!! He rode very well, although I have seen him do a better rising trot on other occasions, and accepted very well, that he did not win!!! that was very good for him!! The judge said he had the makings of a really good little rider, so he was chuffed and Freddie was very proud!!

And finally here is my Freddie, looking shocked and bemused because he had just won the class!!! He hoped he would do ok, but did not expect to win. The pony was well enough turned out, but he would have done other stuff if it were up to him!!! This was the first of 2 classes that he won for the owner. She came third in this class and was not placed in the second... She has the horse Fred loans, but he can't ride just now as it is injured - again!!! So he is teaching my boys whilst he can't do much for himself... and thoroughly enjoying it, as they are doing so well... So we had a great day out, and learned a lot. I did not do much except climb in and out of the lorry cab!!! But hey... I did lots of supporting!!!
Thanks for looking
Frankie
xx

StampMan Challenge #1 - Anything Goes (DT card)

Here is my DT offering for the first StampMan challenge starting today, 16th July

I made the background paper using shiny cardsock, smooching it on a craft sheet with distress inks from Tim Holtz. I used pinks and greens. Love that combo. Then I took some of the single flowers from the Aspects of Design plate56 Funky flowers, by Kay Carley!! Love them. Stamped them in the same distress inks and embossed using melt dust - this has been a firm fav of mine for a while now as it is SO fine and really does justice to the fine-line stamps that Kay tends to produce.

The topper was stamped with a large stamp from the same plate, in black archival and smooched in pinks distress inks. I tore the edges and used some cut and dry to colour them. What else? Some of the flowers are from Jill and I coloured them to match the mounting cardstock. The crease card is from a Tim Holtz pad called Shabby Chic which to is just to stoke!!!!

I gave the card to my student physio, as thanks for her help to get me going in the first 3 weeks of my knee rehab. She will make a great physio and is headed back now to uni to do her final year. She was very touched to get the card, so I was pleased to give it.

So, the challenge is live today, and you should go along and have a go. You have a fortnight to think and make and there are great prizes to win... ENJOY

Thanks for looking

Frankie

xx