Den's Crafty Diary

No words,just a title - happy and content !

2009-11-07T15:24:00.000-08:00

Spick and span ?

2009-11-06T10:09:00.000-08:00

What I love so much about Shimelle is that she has an ability to know exactly what we bloggers like to see when we 'blog hop'and today the prompt is to blog something from around the house - inside the home that makes us smile or feel good. Well,the one place that makes me very happy is my long awaited craft room,my very own escape where I can revel in all the kits and stash and inks and pens and rubber stamps. which are all now in one place.This makes me very happy and I love my mess that is my craft room and I know my mess :-) my desk is just as I left it last night which I know is naughty but what I always wanted was somewhere I could leave a project and go back to it without having to pack it all away every time I got it out.As I work full time the main times when I craft are later on in the evening and as I normally start late It's a pain to have to put it all away at 1 o'clock in the morning when I've got carried away and not realised the time !I realise how lucky I am and that not everyone has the same luxury but I used to read blogs with beautifully organised craft rooms and so wanted one.
When all three of our boys moved out within a few weeks of each other we decided to decorate the lounge,which we are now in the middle of. The walls are papered and where we used to have a big black gas fire we decided to get a just for show electric fire and I have been pleasantly surprised at how cosy it looks..
So it's not really one photo with not many words but two photos of two rooms in my house that make me feel warm inside for different reasons.

Normality and a little project

2009-11-05T15:17:00.000-08:00

A change is as good as a rest they say don't they? I've been doing a few different crafty bits lately and have really enjoyed getting the old inks out and doing a bit of stamping.When I was sorting all my stash out in my new craft room I found quite a few chipboard bits and mini books and things I'd had but never done anything with. I was inspired by another project of Wendy Vecchi's again. The stamps I used were hers and the butterfly was a Twiddleybitz one which I inked and stamped and went round with a gold pen.It's a project I'm going to add to as I do some more pages.
So on to 'normality' and Shimelle's class and trying to show how it can actually be something that is very bloggable and there is always an interesting side to what can seem normal and boring to us. So sitting thinking of my day today - what has been on my agenda that is interesting...hmmmm well,did I set the world alight at work today? no..did I have an argument with the self service till at Tesco? no not today - normally it drives me nuts telling me to place the items in the bag, but I was there before it today and managed to keep up AND remove items before it told me instead of fighting trying to get the bag handles off of that silly metal hooky thing before they tear AND the bleeper didn't go off because there was an unsuspected item in the bagging area- result!No deciding what to cook either cos It's five a side night and they have fish and chips afterwards whilst discussing who should have been up front and why they didn't send that ****** off from the other side when he went in for that horrendous tackle ....so my normal hasn't been that normal at all really I suppose !

Five favourites

2009-11-04T13:24:00.000-08:00

The prompt today from Shimelle was to list five favourites or the like and link them or post photos or make a layout.
There is nothing I like more after a stressy day at work than to sit down and do a bit of blog hopping and one of my favourite at the moment is this lady , she has a great way of wording her blog posts and really makes me smile when I read them and she does some amazing work too.I really find the hours slip by when I am visiting blogs and one leads to another and then there are links from there to another and you can discover so many different sites- I love it. One of my other faves at the moment which is always on my list of visits is this one .
This may be a tad boring if you are not a dog/sheltie lover, but having had them for the last 30 years (god is it that long !) I love to see pics and speak to other sheltie lovers.Now,after I have had a wander round the blogs, been inspired and gone off to my craft room to start a project or two I absolutley am totally hooked on this ....sad I know but it has to be the dulce de leche one and it is really scrummy.
The other two favourites on my list at the moment are of course crafting and scrapbooking - but that is just my number one all the time. I really love Shimelle's classes and am looking forward already to Journal your Christmas . The final one of my five favourites at the moment is .......yep I am totally addicted to farmville on Facebook, have to have the latest goodies they have to offer and have to get on the laptop to check my crops and make sure my cows are milked ..
One other thing I can't miss at the moment is Dancing with the stars (American version of Strictly come dancing -why, anyone who knows me knows I am a bit of a Donny fan -he's doing well so far....

So all in all quite a weird mix I suppose of my five/six favourites today.No craft projects to blog tonight but I have enjoyed listing my faves and am now off to blog hop and go in my craft room to make something :-)

Blogging day two

2009-11-03T14:12:00.000-08:00

Wise words from Shimelle today,just reminding us of being aware of how much information we divulge whilst blogging.I guess it's all too easy to record your thoughts and post pictures of things and people that are normal to us but could give things away that maybe we should think before posting.Hmmm - interesting,I suppose us crafters are such a friendly bunch we forget there may be unscrupulous peeps about.
I haven't done a page today as I've had a busy evening again. I have however got a nice photo of me and one of my dear friends who has been a friend for a long time, since we were young ladies just starting out on the road with our respective partners. We have not been in each other's pockets over the years but have always known that each other are a only a phone call away.Life is far too busy and flashes by far too quickly sometimes,and it's great to be able to share our scrapping stories now as well as lots of others over the years :-)

Blogging for scrapbookers

2009-11-02T15:20:00.000-08:00

So today has seen the start of the new class from Shimelle.It's been a hectic day for me today, Monday morning as always back to normal but I was going to a client's today to help with their accounts system so started the day off nervously ( don't know why- just haven't been out of the office for a while !). Anyway,there are varying options today for the class and as it's now 11.20 p.m and I am really tired,I have decided to use the 'quick' option!
Shimelle always has a knack of inspiring me because her classes are always at your own pace and they are for your own benefit.I really want to learn lots anout the techniques that I lack like subscribing to feeds and google reader and I aim to keep blogging as much as is possible - Ina funny way it keeps me sane as it's nice to put your thoughts down sometimes.I love to blog hop and see other peoples posts and photos.Since the boys have all left home we have been sorting and decorating and our lounge is now taking shape. The carpet was fitted today so everything has been piled up in any space available in order to clear the room for the fitter.Our two youngest went back to Uni yesterday but not before they had helped their dad move all the furniture.So we asked our eldest to come and help move it all back tonight and ended up having a nice roast dinner together,which was lovely.Now they have gone and himself is in bed, the clearing up is all done and there is an armchair to sit on I can reflect on a busy day and leave you with a pic of the two youngest as I don't think I've ever seen them here,dressed up and having fun- I do miss them.

Another tag and a card

2009-10-30T16:50:00.001-07:00

After seeing some wonderful creations on some of the blogs I hop to on my travels, I decided to buy some stamps and a book by this lady Wendy Vecchi. I've made a tag inspired by one in her book and am pretty darn pleased with the way it turned out!I bought a couple of the latest Mabel Lucie Attwell stamps too and made a card with one of them.I used distress inks for the card and coloured the images in with the inks and used a glaze pen to give it a bit of a lift in places. The Wendy Vecchi inspired tag was distress inks again. I stamped the butterfly onto grungeboard and inked it,then went over it with a gold dabber.The background was stamped with one of Tim Holtz's music notes stamps but it smudged a bit when I sprayed it!Don't think there's anything more to say apart from the fact that I am enjoying myself lately...

A layout, a tag and a card

2009-10-29T12:51:00.000-07:00

Blimey,I've been loving this craft room. I can go in there and leave it just as it is and not have to pack everything away and not find it the next day!
After messing about with inks the other day I decided to have a go at making something with a set of nature stamps I bought at Stamperama ages ago.I think that the glitter wasn't quite dry on the river so it looks a bit weird but you get the idea!
I scrapped a page of Carley and me at the workshop on Sunday too.At the workshop we used a chipboard shape which we gilded with gilding flakes (mine was a peacocky bird)so I've used it on the page.
I don't know what I will do now that Scrapbook Inspirations is going to be no more after the next issue - a great shame I will miss it.

A dog page and card workshop

2009-10-26T13:08:00.000-07:00

Since we lost our dear Annie,I have wanted to do a page with all my dogs over the years.I finally found one photo of each of them since I lived at home with Mum and Dad and did a simple page with them, I used Jenni Bowlin papers and some grungeboard stamped with Wendy Vecchi stamps to make the flowery embellishment.
On Sunday I went to a card workshop run by Leonie and Carley. I really enjoyed myself and it was lovely to catch up with them and make some cards for a change. I'm all inspired to do some more cards now,we did a few techniques,all of them really nice (well, I liked them!) and different..The photos aren't the best, the acetate one with the butterflies wasn't taken in the best of places and doesn't show the acetate off very well.

Secret Santa and another baby book

2009-10-24T12:14:00.000-07:00

Well,I was asked at work the other day to organise the secret santa draw and get some tags.I was thinking, wouldn't it be nice to have some 'hand made tags' for a change,so I found some manilla tags and started off stamping and inking and was quite pleased with the result. So now we can all draw our tags out and have plenty of time to think of a nice pressie for the recipient.I made a pink mini book which was based on a design by Tracie Hudson a while ago for my nephew's baby and now my other nephew has a new baby - so I have made another book in slightly different colours. I love this book and the Prima goodies it is made from- and I managed to bind it with the bind it all,yay !

New page

2009-10-20T13:47:00.000-07:00

I went to the Craftystash crop on Sunday which was a really nice break from normality.I've not been crafting so much lately and now the skip has gone(or it should be gone tomorrow) I can rest and actually use my craft room ! The crop on Sunday was really good, it was nice to catch up with Deb again and other friends. There were actually three classes that had all been designed by Michelle Jackson Mogford. The first one was a vintage layout where we made the flowers which took a while but now I know how to make them I can see me using the technique again.The picture I had chosen went so well with the colours and the theme.It is one of my mum when she was a teenager and I was really pleased with the result. I can't believe that she has been gone almost a year now,how do you manage to not be on your knees when these things happen? You do though and here I am a year later -life goes on.

Cards

2009-10-11T13:08:00.001-07:00

Isn't it amazing how you get out of the swing of things? I decided to abandon the sorting out last night and sit and make some cards,so just sat in my craft room (love saying that!) with the X Faxtor on and played with some Christmassy stuff.I was sorting through my wardrobe in the garage that has some old kits and bits in it and came across quite a lot of old photos of when the boys were teenagers and also when we first got the two girl dogs. I've got a few photos to use on some of the layouts to come in the next few weeks now.Had a nice surprise when our two younger boys arrived from Uni for the weekend. They've gone back now but it was lovely to have them here for a couple of days.So am off to watch the X Factor now to see who made it through this week.

Lost my mojo

2009-10-05T12:40:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted for a while cos I haven't done much crafty stuff,lots has been happening, sorting the craft room which is finally taking shape and decorating the house too. The main reason for my mojo going walkabout was really that our beloved Annie,whose mum we lost this time last year has been suffering with a nasty growth on the side of her face and sadly today she lost her battle.It all happened so quickly,she was fine when we got back from holiday in August and then had a swelling which we thought was a bad tooth but sadly wasn't.Anyway I shall be back posting very soon but for now god bless little Annie,we'll miss you..

Time flies

2009-09-16T15:22:00.001-07:00

Well, how quickly does the time go? The reason for not blogging very much over the past week is that I have been sorting my stash so I can fit it all into one nice new craft room that is now decorated and has some new units plus some that were in there before when It was my eldest son's bedroom.We had a trip to Ikea and bought some gorgeous little - well not that little white units and have got some bluey checked material boxes to go in them,and a few other bits.I am so thrilled to be able to have one room where I can keep all my stuff and escape to and not have to pack it all away at nought hours in the morning when I go to bed....Sorting 5 years of stash is no mean feat though but I am getting there,with himself breathing over my shoulder every five minutes to make sure I'm not slacking!I haven't done much crafting lately but I went to the Craftystash crop on Sunday and enjoyed a whole day with friends. We did two layouts whichI loved.

Back to blogging

2009-09-07T16:25:00.000-07:00

Well, things have been pretty hectic here at Holmes towers, what with two boys moving out,one to go to Uni and one to live with his girlfriend.I haven't had easy access to my scrapping gear as it has been er-sorted out(sort of)and packed neatly in the garage in readiness for the move to the craft room.I have been managing to do my pages for Learn Something New Every Day but have had no computer for a couple of days and have been busy tidying stash.Anyway here are a few of the pages I've done

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A busy weekend

2009-09-02T00:08:00.000-07:00

Well,it's all change in our household at the moment.Our eldest has moved out to live with his girlfriend, the middle one has gone back to Uni and the youngest will be going to Uni in a couple of weeks.It was very quiet when I got in last night and very weird.Anyway we have decided to convert oldest son's room into a craft room for me, I think that if he does decide it's not for him we have other bedrooms and he always has a home here.So anyway - we hired a skip and have started the marathon of sorting years of er things we have horded out.Needless to say there was quite a lot of stash to sort. I decided to be ruthless and have sorted loads of old card kits and cardstock etc etc out to give away or throw.
So last night I made my cover for Shimelle's new class and was quite pleased with the result, now I have togo off to work, more sorting/scrapping this evening methinks.

A card for a change!

2009-08-24T17:42:00.000-07:00

It is my Sister in Law's silver wedding anniversary today and I made a card for them. I haven't made any for ages and now I am inspired to make a few more- two more pages for the class too..

A baby mini book

2009-08-23T01:40:00.000-07:00

When we were at the Craftystash workshop last week , I saw a lovley mini book that (I think) Tracie Hudson had designed and made and fell in love with it.As we are going to see my nephew's first baby today who is a little girl, I decided to have a go at making one so have shamelessly copied the idea . The original was a beautiful green which I think was spritzed with mists. I used distress inks in Tattered Rose and Spiced Marmalade to colour it. Thanks for the fab idea Tracie !

Go To Press more pages

2009-08-21T16:05:00.000-07:00

I'm enjoying this project as I am doing 8 x 8 pages and they are nice and easy to complete. As much as I love 12 x 12 layouts, when you are doing a class like this, sometimes you only have small photos or not many photos on a particular subject so this is ideal.I've done three more this evening so am now up to number 10..

Catching Up

2009-08-20T16:50:00.000-07:00

So- I am slowly catching up on my Shimelle classes.I managed to print on fabric last night for number 5 with the help of some 'freezer paper' that my good friend Deb sent me. Basically you iron the fabric onto the paper and then run it through the printer. I had a bit of a clamity where the printer got slightly jammed half way through and there was a yukky inky black smudge right on the best part,so I had to cut the journalling piece short.One of the next pages was to print on ribbon, well being a total wuss and not wanting to tempt fate and not being able to find a really flat smooth piece of ribbon, I chickened out and printed on card, but used ribbon on the page..so here are pages 5,6,and7..

Back to scrapping

2009-08-18T13:19:00.000-07:00

Well, what a great day was had on Sunday at the Craftystash Summer Workshop. We did five lovely layouts all designed by Tracie Hudson, and I enjoyed every one. It was a great day spent with good friends and Sue really looked after us with good food and cakes and lots of goodies. I've spent this evening catching up on printing the pages I've missed on Shimelle's class and have done prompt 4 which is 'family' - just about 7 to go to catch up !

and here is my page for prompt 4 on Shimelle's online class,'family' we printed accents on vellum, the tree and the wording on the photo...

Back !

2009-08-14T16:09:00.000-07:00

Well, here I am,back from sunny Portugal,we had a lovely break just the two of us,leaving boys at home to fend for themselves and feed and walk the dogs. The weather has been non stop sunshine and we managed some really nice meals out and I really enjoyed reading 'Twilight' - a book I had seen lots of peeps writing about on their blogs and a couple of friends had read it too. I am half way through and thoroughly enjoying it. So now today has been spent catching up on washing, shopping and visiting -and tomorrow we are going to do the tour of the Tower of London. Something we have wanted to get round to for ages,we've decided to go the whole hog and do the three hours, just hope my feet hold up !!! I've got a load of classes to catch up on Jenni Bowlin and Shimelle's online classes so am going to be a busy girl- wouldn't have it any other way (I think) :-)

Shimelle's class page 3

2009-08-05T15:50:00.000-07:00

The prompt today was to print the journalling sheet on patterned paper and the heading was That's Entertainment. I decided to use a couple of pics that I took when we went to London to see 'The Jersey Boys'. We really love to go to concerts and shows which are musically orientated and love to have a meal out as well . I think I've managed to change the Blog background and header but have spent all evening trying to work out how to get my photo to fit into the frame on the header and look like it's naturally there. I don't think I've quite got it right - lessons in Photoshop I reckon!

Go To Press - Music

2009-08-04T16:32:00.000-07:00

The prompt today for Shimelle's class was 'music 'and to print our image onto stickers. Music is a very important part of our lives as there is always some sort on in our house. We all have very varied tastes, but mainly himself loves heavy stuff and I like boppy and smooth easy stuff ( I do rock it as well now and then!)

Crop page and Go To Press title page

2009-08-03T16:15:00.000-07:00

I've had a busy weekend, doing the usual shopping, helping dad and then out for a meal Saturday evening with sister in law who I haven't seen for a while, then It was nice to chill a little bit at the Craftystash crop yesterday. I loved the layout as usual and used some silly pics of the boys for once.

It was also the start of Shimelle's latest online class Go To Press today so I have done my title page for that. I've gone for 8 x 8 as I really like that size and it looks like we will be learning some new techniques with our printers.

I'm sitting here thinking about going to go off and do the next challenge on the Jenni Bowlin class but there is crafting on the telly and it is nearly half past twelve so maybe I'll do it tomorrow evening...