We are all box mad

At Make My Monday today. We still have the Christmas theme but this week we are making or decorating (or both) box's.

I decided to decorate a box I have had in the craft room for a while, it is a wooden and card cheese box that I was given to alter and all I had got done was to paint it black. So the first thing I had to do was cover it with a couple of coat of gesso, then a coat of white acrylic. I then covered the top with dried leaves that had been covered with glitter. The top is made from Mr Tim.s flower die and printable canvas that had been sprayed with a gold shimmer spray. The smallest two flowers I cut a leaf out and glued them so they made a better shape for what I wanted, I then threaded them all on to a long pin that I attached to the centre of the lid with foam. I used 3 large flowers and 3 small buds to fill in the gaps. On the sides of the lid I wrapped a string of pearl beads around some red ribbon and attached that with tape. I decided the sides were a bit too white so I went over them with the shimmer spray on a paint brush.

Nip over to Make My Monday to see what the rest of the team have done this week, and to say hello to our two new team members, Mynnette and Val.

Thanks for reading,
Cath

100th post this year......

I have made it to 100 posts, that is the most I have ever done on this blog in one year since I started this in 2007. I almost made it last year but dear Mr Blogger decided not to post some of the posts I had scheduled whilst I was away so I only made it to 97.

I was wondering if I should do anything special for this and thought long and hard but could come up with nothing then a few weeks ago one of my blog friends sent me a blog award. Now I am not normally one for these kind of things but I thought I would give this one a go, so here you are a few things you didn't know about me...

1/ I have lived all over the place as my dad was in the forces.

2/ I was Akela to a Cub Scout troop in Yorkshire for years.

3/ I opened the first ever craft shop in North Cyprus, sadly I had to close after 18 months.

4/ Before moving out here I used to eat a tuna mayo baked potato every day I was at work.

5/ I worked most of my working career in shoes, but only own two pairs as I hate them.

6/ I retrained as a Life Coach just before we left the country.

7/ I live with my sole mate, a dog and 10 cats.

So the rules are I have to thank the person who sent this, so thank you Jacqueline I did enjoy thinking up the answers. I now have to send this to 7 others, so if you are reading this and would like to do it please count yourself as one of my 7 as I will not be sending this on.

So on to the next target.......

Thanks for reading,
Cath

This week on Make My Monday

The theme for this week on Make My Monday is Christmas foliage, flowers or snowflakes, I went for the snowflake option as the stamps I have with Christmas trees on are not that good. No that's wrong the stamps are fine its my stamping that is not that good with them.

This was a very quick card to make up as it is just embossing and die cutting. I used a snowflake embossing folder for the base card and added a few sparkles and some snowflakes that had been die cut. Then using a Papermania embossing folder embossed the Let it snow with card stock and went over with a piece of sand paper.

Do go over to the Make My Monday site and have a look at what the others have done, including our guest designer Mynnette.

Thanks for reading,
Cath

WOYWW 128

  It has been so long since I did this I am afraid I have some very nasty photos for you, so those of you who are easily upset do not go further than the first photo.

As you can see my work area is almost clear just needs cleaning as I have been playing with paint and inks. You can see I am taking this photo looking down onto the table as you can see the camera straps at the bottom of the photo. But if I move to the side to take the photo this is what you get!

Yes my push back pile is now a mountain. I must admit most of it came out of the purple bag you can see at the top that I have emptied to refill with other things.

But there is no excuse for this side. So guess what I am doing this week? As well as running around with a bucket in the house to catch the rain as it pores through the roof I will be down in my craft room trying to get it into some order so I can start working on my own Christmas cards, yes I know I'm late but isn't that just me all over.

If there is anyone out there who is wondering just why I am putting myself through this shame and showing all to the world, just go over to Julia's blog HERE where you can be transported around the world nosing sorry looking at other desks a lot tidier than mine.

Thanks for reading,
Cath

Make My Monday this week

We have Clean and Simple cards with a Christmas theme.

This is my card, I used part of a Papermania stamp, I just masked the rest off and also used the sentiment that came with it. I have definitely got to get more sentiment stamps as this is the only on I have other than a selection of Merry Christmases. I then coloured it in with gel pens that I picked up from my local pound store. This is definitely not one of my best as I find this style of card quite difficult to do, but it has got me out of my comfort zone and I will try this style again.

Do nip over to Make My Monday and have a look at what the rest of the team have been up to and join in with us. Also don't forget there is still time to apply for the Design Team HERE.

Thanks for reading,
Cath

Bits and pieces.... (photo heavy)

I will be glad when this year is over due to one thing and another. As you know if you follow me its not been a good time for me and the other day I added to it by dropping my netbook on the floor. I now have a very nice white door stop as we have tiles throughout  the house. I had just finished editing the photos I had taken when we had visitors, but of course I hadn't got around to backing them up, so lost everything including all the photos I have taken since April when I got the netbook. So I have had to go back to my old and slow pc that I thought I would never be using again. But I must admit with having to go back I have rediscovered some old photos of work that I havnt seen for a few years, like this one taken a few years ago of me in a dress!

And this I did for a local art competition about the girls who lived on the corner of my street.

 I must get back into scrapbooking as I do miss it. There was also some of other work that I have done just for me. Things that I did just playing around in my craft room like this, a canvas I did years ago.

A page out of my 365 day journal from last year.

A wall hanging using thick paste and die cuts.

A love design using an old photo of me.

A tag.

Another tag, think I did this for something but cant remember what or when!

And a try at art.

If you have got this far thank you for letting me just waffle and reminisce. I will be back to my normal self (whatever that is nowadays) soon.

Thanks for reading,
Cath

R.I.P. Katie

I don't know if any of you knew about Katie a fellow crafter who was diagnosed with cancer less than a year ago and who has fought so bravely against it these last months. Her husband has been keeping us up to date with how she has been and has just bloged that she passed away on Monday.

 Her blog is just amazing to read, she held nothing back and was so brave, if you would like to read it it is here at My Paper Haven.

Thanks for reading,
Cath

New month and a new theme

Over at Make My Monday the theme for this month is Christmas. And this weeks challenge is to make something in the Traditional/Vintage style. So here is the card I have done for this.

Now I think you can get no more traditional than Santa himself and this stamp is one I turn to most years, I actual got this SeeDee's set about 5 or 6 years ago and they get used every year.

Here is a close up of the sparkle on his hat and beard. The stamp was stamped with black archival ink then coloured with pencils for the face and gel pens for the hat. I added glitter glue to the trimming and the stars to give him that extra twinkle. The stamped image was cut out and matted onto green card, that was then matted on to patterned paper from the Papermania Christmas range. I then added a doily that I had inked with DI and highlighted the design with a gel pen, just added the sentiment and it was finished.

This months theme is a great one for this time of year as we all can do with the extra push to make another Christmas card, so come over to Make My Monday and join in with the challenge.

Thanks for reading,
Cath

Design Team Call

The Make My Monday Deezine Team is growing and we need two more designers. If you would like to be part of my of team of fabulous crafty ladies - read on.
You will need to commit to making a card every week for at least six months - all our challenges are decided well in advance so you will have plenty of time to prepare your projects. You will be expected to comment on challenge entries and choose a top 3 every week.
To take part in our DT Call please make a card or project and upload it to the linky on the Make My Monday site by Tuesday November 15th. Your subject is

CELEBRATION

The rules are:
1) Only one entry per person please.
2) You may take part in other challenges as well as this but no more than 5 plus this one.
3) Please put a link on your blog to this blog and the DT Call.
4) Please put a few words in your post stating why you want to be on this design team.
5) Please turn off word verification
6) Please link your post - not your blog
7) Have fun!

Please note that those not following rules 1 - 6 will not be considered.
Successful applicants will be notified before the end of November by e-mail so please make sure that this is visible somewhere on your blog.

DT Call - CELEBRATION 

Thanks for reading,
Cath