Maureen's Mixture

A Lovely Day

2009-11-07T17:06:00.002Z

Yesterday was spent at the NEC (Birmingham) at the Hobbycrafts fair, with Viv and Wendy,I came home with a couple of books, quite a few rubber stamps, some metal tools, dies for my cuttlebug and various bits and bobs that have disappeared into their storage spaces - oh and an empty purse!!! It was a lovely day and one trader inspired this birthday card I am posting.

Tom Cat

2009-11-05T19:42:00.002Z

This beautiful needle punched atc was one of two that arrived from Finland today - isn't he great, such a lovely face and great work.

Recycling!!

2009-11-04T10:36:00.003Z

Recycling or how to use up an old beer can in your cuttlebug machine and end up with a lovely embossed piece of metal!! not that we have an excess of old beer cans in our house, in fact I've had to scrounge one off Viv which puts her OH in the awful position of having to drink an extra beer one night!! Anyway this was one that I'd cut up earlier and forgotten about but is now happily adhered to a book cover.

Dorset Buttons

2009-11-03T13:16:00.002Z

I had an e mail from Judy ( CJstitchingandblooms in my links list)in the US, at the weekend, asking help sourcing some Dorset Buttons info which she actually managed to sort out herself before I could get started, any way it got me interested and I found a tutorial and here are my very own handmade Dorset buttons, the pink one took ages to do as I used a fine thread but the orange one took less than two hours - what to do with them now I wonder??

Rememberance

2009-11-02T10:15:00.004Z

It's that time of year again with Rememberance /Armistice day coming up and last night was All Souls, we had been invited to my Mum's church for the All Souls service and altho' I was dreading going I knew I had to and armed myself with a stock of Hankies, surprisingly I didn't really need them and managed to light two candles for my parents without tears, it was a lovely calming service and I feel it helped me by being there and with others in the same position. The other day that always upsets me and I really don't know why is Rememberance day, I think I'm not alone in this tho', it is a very emotional time. In the light of the time of year the theme for the Artful Ideas swap is 'Rememberance' and the atc must have a poppy on it - so here is mine , stamped poppies in abundance and hidden is the first verse of John Macrae's 1915 poem :-
In Flanders Field.

In Flanders Field the Poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
that mark our place; and in the sky
The Larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead. Short days ago
we lived,felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders Fields.

Take up the quarrel with the foe,
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
we shall not sleep, though Poppies grow
in Flanders Fields.

Bursts of Colour

2009-10-30T10:21:00.004Z

Bursts of colour is the theme for the Tuesday Taggers< this week, sponsored by 'The Craft Barn' so I have used an old favourite stamp and a pink flower as my 'burst' Putting the Craft Barn image in this post gives me a fighting chance of winning a voucher from them.

Ready to go.

2009-10-29T16:02:00.004Z

I made a suggestion for a challenge/swap on my Yahoo Embellisher group and they used it this month, it was for a needle case so here's mine all ready to be sent off to Wales. Again I have used Da Masi ribbon yarn as it is so colourful.

Gothic Glory.

2009-10-26T21:45:00.003Z

The Graphicus challenge this month is Gothic Glory, using black and one other colour, this gothic arch is 'shades' of black with orange. The door stamp is from Crafty Individuals and the Ivy stamped around the door is a stamp from Elusive images.

More Pansies.

2009-10-26T08:30:00.001Z

I think I have used this image many times on different things and this ATC was made for a fabric swap on one of my groups.

Mind over Matter.

2009-10-23T18:05:00.002+01:00

Well my mind won today and the washing didn't matter (well I did some and the cases are empty - just 'stuff' needs putting away). I had this idea for a halloween type piece in my mind and Tuesday Taggers wanted just that so here it is using a Cuttlebug embossing folder on metal with :- some faux rivets, a hopefully copyright free pic and some stitching (of course), I distressed the metal with black acrylic paint. I really feel better now!!

Too much WASHING!!

2009-10-23T08:51:00.002+01:00

I'm back home and itching to start in the craft room but - must do the washing - shopping and all things related, as I've ideas running around in my brain I don't think I'll be out of the room for long!!

Guest Designer.

2009-10-10T17:11:00.003+01:00

As part of winning Tuesday Taggers last week I was invited to be a guest designer for next week, as I am going away on holiday I am putting up the piece I came up with today, a few days early. I was given a digital stamp and asked to use that in my design - so here it is -a distress inked Gothic arch, leaves stamped and cut out plus a cuttlebugged metal leaf and a mouse. Unfortunately I did not know that this weeks theme was going to be Autumn and that was what I chose for my piece for next week - whoops!

Shades of Autumn

2009-10-07T21:28:00.003+01:00

Shades of Autumn is the theme for Tuesday Taggers this week so what better way to use up some grunge paper flowers than in a piece for the challenge. The base is a beermat covered with scrapbook papers, the flourish is the waste part of a grunge board flourish and the text is from a Wendy Vecchi stamp. The stamp used for the flowers is from the Artistic Stamper and the leaves are a Wendy Vecchi stamp. The scallop border is made using my favourite Martha Stewart punch.

Gone to France

2009-10-07T11:09:00.002+01:00

This Vintage lace/lady atc has gone off to Angelique in France in exchange for one of her beautifully embroidered atcs.

New Goodies.

2009-10-04T20:59:00.003+01:00

Yesterday we went to the Artisan craft show near to Warwick, sponsored by 'The Craft Stamper' Magazine, of course I bought lots of things I really didn't need but enjoyed buying. I watched a demo on making flowers from Grunge Paper and had to have a go, what i'll do with them I've not yet decided but here's a picture of them, also a picture of a storage hanging that I bought, it was £8 instead of £20 as the batch had been marked during delivery (what marks?), it's ideal for allsorts but will take packets of rubber stamps in the larger pockets and single ones in the small pockets, the added beauty of this is that it has exactly the same amount of pockets on the reverse side - beauty!! It certainly will help me organize all my stamps and will probably be full by the time I've finished.

Lucky Me!

2009-10-01T08:51:00.002+01:00

I was lucky enough to win in the Tuesday Taggers challenge last week with my Sepia Card, lucky me!! This weeks challenge is sponsored by the Craft Barn and the theme is Trees. For my tag I have used two different Graphics45 backing papers, printed out one of my favourite tree poems,by Joyce Kilmer, added a stamped tree image, a grunge board swirl and a dictionary definition then finished it off with the word TREE in Metal disc letters.

Autumn Leaves

2009-09-29T20:50:00.005+01:00

This months Graphicus challenge is Autumn leaves so I made this card using distress inls for the background and stamps from the Elusive Images Tall Trees plate.

Blasts from the Past.

2009-09-28T15:23:00.003+01:00

We are just back from a long weekend in the Caravan at a large Motorcaravan Rally, there was a good choice of evening entertainment so friday we went back to the fifties and watched John Leyton and Craig Douglas, that brought memories of 14/15 year old teenage angst, and last night we rocked with the Ivy League, a well known group from the sixties who told us they had 'dyed their hair to match ours', country music was our choice on saturday night - any way a good time was had and luckily the weather stayed fine. I made a couple of book covers last week so am putting the pics up now, the green one is merino wool and silk fibres machine embellished onto commercial felt and decorated with machine stitching and couched silk fibres,the blue/purple cover is Da Masi tape wool again embellished into felt, and overstitched.

Sepia

2009-09-23T17:40:00.005+01:00

I knew that I had a birthday card to make and while I was blog hopping I saw that the 'Tuesday Taggers' had Sepia as their challenge theme this week,and it has been sponsored by The Stampman so I have made a Sepia coloured birthday card using as near to sepia colours as possible.

A lovely day

2009-09-22T17:45:00.003+01:00

Yesterday we drove up to Sheffield Meadow Hall centre, had lunch then went to Winghams Wool Works just outside Rotherham so that Sandi could stock up on her wool topps etc for her felting work( shown on her web page), how she is going to get it back to Canada without paying excess baggage is a mystery but she will, I was very good and my little bag of goodies cost £10 - very good value for what I got, a mix of merino, mohair and silk in beautiful mouthwatering colours, each of the sheds stock different blends and there is so much eye candy. The three photo's are Sandi and I replete after lunch, my goodies and both of us in the merino wool shed not sure what order they will come up in tho'. My OH was wandering around very 'patiently' as usual. Just noticed how I spelt flying in the last post - whoops!

Flyijng Visit.

2009-09-19T12:24:00.002+01:00

Tomorrow my cousin Sandi, from Canada, will be visiting us during her week long dash thro' England, today in Wales at a wedding, tomorrow with us then we'll be going to a wool factory in Rotherham (dangerous)on monday and as we go back home she'll drive up to our Aunts in North Yorks, a couple of days there then down to London to see her daughter and home - whew!! I've made her a picture on the embellisher and tried to give it the look of the North Yorkshire moors with the heather out - my OH said put sheep in it ( easier said than done) but if I made a mess of them it would spoil the whole thing so it's just as is - hope she likes it.

A Struggle!

2009-09-17T15:21:00.002+01:00

Perhaps I tried too hard to replicate the original painting, in this challenge for the UK Embelisher group, but I really struggled and feel I can do better - but not with this picture (original shown a few posts back) Anyway it's finished and I'm not thrilled at all.

Back Home

2009-09-16T16:41:00.003+01:00

Just back home from a lovely few days caravanning in Lancashire, near to Southport, the Village we stayed in just happens to be the home of Viv so we had to spend time together crafting and did so on saturday, the men went bowling and we played with fabric ,card and metal - I think I'm right in saying a good time was had by all. The picture posted was inspired by a stamping on metal book, the webbing at the back of the metal picture is plasterers tape and was found by Viv's OH in the shed, viv painted it silver. We visited Topaz crafts on monday and I spent just a little but Viv spent a lot !!!!! and she did it all by herself without any persuasion from me despite what she says in her blog. Any way it was a lovely few days finished off last night by a fabulous large meal - now I need to cut down on the food for a while.

Fabric page.

2009-09-10T19:42:00.005+01:00

It must be the nights drawing in that makes me want to work more with fabric and stitching, that and surfing some great blogs that have lovely textile pieces on show. This afternoon I have put together another page for my 'oneday' fabric book, I used upholstery fabric as a base, added lace from my stash, a page from a book and the lady was printed off on paper. Are we all the same in forcing ourselves to use that special bit of lace that we've had for ages, well I took it out of its box and nearly put it back but it needed using - well done me!

And another one.....

2009-09-08T22:08:00.002+01:00