Birdcage Swap News

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

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 baffle 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

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!!!

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

xx

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

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

 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!!!!

 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!!!

 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