Flower Power !

You may remember a few days ago when I announced that I had become a member of the Get creative design team. In honour of which I spent several hours working late into the night creating a fusion of flowers (ooh I like the sound of that ) to take part in their challenge to create a card or layout including five flowers or more. Only to have my two scoundrel dogs  R & B ( Rosy and Bailey ) eat four of the five flowers the fifth perished during the night !
The challenge finishes in two days time and they have some wonderful blog candy on offer for the winner plus the very talented Melenia is offering a nine week on line course to help us perfect our layout skills go check it out. I have to say there where some doubting Thomases ( they know who they are ) who didn't believe me that R & B ate my card so this is for them.

I promised that I would redo my card but was stricken down ( me a drama queen ? ) with bloggers neck so had to postpone all activities of the creative kind for a few days. 

I also want to enter this into the Take a word challenge who's theme is  " Blooms " I love their site they always come up with such interesting challenges.

The photo frame is cut using my Silhouette machine and the flowers I hand made using SU and Ranger inks to colour and my texture boutique to emboss them

Hope you like them.

Marie

Just for Fun !!!!!!!!!!!

Just for fun well that's what they think ! Haven't had a laugh all afternoon ! Come to think of it all week.
A few weeks ago  I had the dreaded bloggers bum from too much sitting, then there is the ongoing bloggers blindness am gradually losing " the light " and then on Saturday was struck down my bloggers neck ! Is there an insurance policy that covers all of this ? So for the past few days I have been bedridden ( oh I do love a bit of drama ) and was unable to take part in any challenges.

Today feeling a bit perkier and under the influence of various prescription drugs decided to attempt a little something. Zoe from one of my favourite challenge blogs Just for Fun (ha !) has asked us to use our stamps in a way that is new to us. Well Zoe they are all new to me ! I decided to use the kissing technique whereby you ink up two different stamps in different colours , press them together ( The Kiss ) and then use one image. Sounds easy peasy but it wasn't for me have spent four hours yes four whole hours only to produce the above ! and you can't even see the kissing but I swear I saw them do it !

I used Stamping up Swirl and crafty Individual letter script stamps, you can see the result more so on the flower.

Was it worth it? you be the judge !

Going for a lie down now all that kissing has worn me out.

Marie xj

Theme Thursday " Orange "

I really love the Theme Thursday challenge blog they always seem to come up with interesting topics and this one is no exception ! The entries are always very original go check them out . Although I love the theme this week the possibilities were endless so what usually happens to me under those circumstances is that I spend hours making a mess ( you should see the floor ) and find it difficult to actually make something. Although this looks quite simple it took me forever printing onto acetate and then the cutting out is a bit of a nuisance ( did want to use a more descriptive word but didn't want to offend ) That O was a nightmare ! I wasted so much of the acetate trying to get it right. Also gluing onto acetate is also a bit tricky I used glue dots anyone any tips only this as in some cases they are visible !

Hope you all have a crafty weekend with love light and sunshine !

Marie

Take a Word " Architecture "

For those of you who didn't read my post yesterday shame on you ! and for those of you who did sorry am going to repeat myself. Had a bit of a fiasco ! I had received exciting news about being appointed ( sounds so official ) design team member for Get Creative and spent several hours creating something for their challenge to scrap a layout with five flowers or more. To cut a long story short my two terrible dogs R & B ate the flowers ! Well four out of the five the fifth unfortunately expired  in the early hours of the morning it's injuries being too severe. So had nothing to upload except for a picture of the two villains . ( Irni please believe me the dogs ate them I tell you)

Have to say was in no mood today to look at another flower and shall postpone my debut with the gorgeous girls at Get Creative  until tomorrow.

In the meantime something that I had been toying with for the last few days popped up on a challenge over at Take A word their theme being architecture . I had the bees already cut out and the honeycomb mask in front of me. Now what could be more fitting than  natures own architecture ? So here is my version.


I used my Silhouette for the bees and cut out as mask of the honeycomb ,various Ranger and SU inks plus my texture boutique for the wood effect, a bit of gold shimmer mist which you can't see but it's there a bit of distressing and there you have it.

Hope you like it .

Marie

A Dogs Dinner !

Today was supposed to be a big day for me I could finally announce to my fellow crafty bloggers (doesn't sound right ) that I have been keeping a little secret .  The secret is that I had been offered a design team position with the amazing Irini and her talented team at Get creative /http://craftycroppersgr.blogspot.com/

I nearly fell of my chair when I heard the news ( another dent in the old bloggers bum ) Had there been some mistake,? is she mad ? ( she is a little but in a good way ) was this a cruel joke ? but no none of the above, so of course I accepted before she changed her mind ! http://craftycroppersgr.blogspot.com/http://craftycroppersgr.blogspot.com/
 is an amazing group of women all of whom are very talented, each one has their own individual style and unique talent and they have welcomed me with open arms. I have only been crafting for four months now and feel there is a lot that I can learn from each and everyone of them as I have been learning from all of you lovely people whose gallery's I have been visiting since the start of my blog a few months ago.

Anyway getting back to the beginning of my post, today was supposed to be a big day but Bailey and Rosy ( my two pesky dogs ) had a different idea. I had been crafting away all day on a piece for Get Creative who has a challenge at the moment to scrap a layout using five flowers or more. So I thought to coincide with my announcement  of becoming a DT member I would participate. R & B as they shall be known as from here on in, little did I know had been planning revenge.

For the past couple of months they have been feeling somewhat neglected due to my crafting addiction . They sit behind me on the sofa in my crafting room and growl and whine at me when they get bored , which is about five minutes after I start fiddling with my inks. To cut a long story short they could sense that I was really in the zone and definitely not up for lots of cuddling so they waited until I had finished my  " work of art " and while I was away looking for my camera the little so and so's upped and eat it !!!!!! Of course it was my fault I left it next to them on the sofa, they had been feigning sleep, biding their time it was pay back !. So of the five flowers on my creation there is sadly only one and I don't think it will survive the night ! So instead of posting something lovely on my design team debut I'm posting a picture of the culprits ! ( please excuse mess on floor )


Marie

Die Cuts

What a day !

I wont bore you with my domestic problems but just let's say that my lady that " dose " doesn't at the moment and things have started to back up. Plus my oldest son decided to visit bringing his  " posse " ( do they still say that the young uns )  with him for the weekend and boy can they eat !. Needless to say I have been spending my time between the kitchen and the ironing and trying to fit a bit of crafting in between . That's a bit of a lie really have been only thinking about doing the dreaded ironing but its punishment enough. What I really wanted to do was to take part in a couple of challenges today with my favourite components die cuts.

I have spent hours and hours die cutting a multitude of forms. my desk is literally piled high with all manner of shapes of every size imaginable but nothing would come together too much choice.  I'm having a nervous breakdown,  I'm all die cutted out,  so am posting something I'm not quite happy with. My Silhouette machine and I are exhausted !

The theme over at the sunday stamper is die cuts and Shels has just received her V......d machine
her piece was glorious !

Also over at Lets ink it up they have a similar theme die cuts and punches so it fits the bill perfectly there too.
 I used my Silhouette machine for the die cuts and Crafty Individual stamp for the inked background I embossed my flowers with my texture boutique and then coloured them with a variety of distress inks by Ranger.


Hope you like it cos , cos if you don't I think I'm  gonna cry !

Marie

" I'm Cured ! "

I did promise yesterday that my next post would be brighter and without acetate, well I got the first part right colour but just can't seem to escape the acetate. I have decided to let it run it's course and see where it takes me so anyone out there with an acetate aversion Look AWAY NOW !

That pesky ( I don't really mean it ) Zoe over at just for fun  has set us a new challenge this week which is to use a format you have never used before. In theory very simple especially for me who is a newcomer and hardly tried  many new formats, but oh no once again bloggers block ! It's taken me three whole days to come up with this my extended tag (don't even now if this is a format) .

You may also know that I don't like partaking in two challenges with the same entry but I happened to pass by as you do http://dragon-dragonsdream.blogspot.com/ who's theme is big bold and extended and I think my tag fits perfectly with Frankies challengr.

I used my silhouette to make my extended tag and butterfly and copied yes once again onto acetate some free photographs courtesy of Godelieve Tijskens http://stampingmathilda.blogspot.com/ check out her sight it's amazing.I stamped onto my tag using Crafty Individuals script stamp and placed the acetate on top. I frayed a couple of ribbons and attached them to my tag and there you have it .

Hope you like it.

Marie

Theme Thursday " Black and White "

"For the last couple of weeks I have been trapped in black and white mode . Everyone else was  doing " Spring " but not me I was in my silhouette period and I couldn't get out of it ! Believe you me I was loving it and it was getting a bit addictive . Finally I entered a challenge at the weekend with the theme  Brown ! This was It I thought I had finally been given the push I needed to move on ,so I entered the challenge.

Not much of a progression admittedly but I was off black or so I thought,  but low and behold what met my tiny little bloodshot eyes yesterday themethursday.wordpress.com were having a black and white challenge ! So I just couldn't  resist now could I ?

On a piece of shiny card stock I have used one of my favourite Crafty Individuals stamps which I then embossed with black embossing powder. I cut out a little cupid with my Silhouette machine and printed another of my favourite Japanese images onto acetate . I placed this over the images and matted onto black card.

So for anyone who's been following me lately it's not my fault honest ! Promise to do something a bit brighter with more than two colours and without acetate..............

Marie x

The Three Muses Challenge " Fish "

The theme this week over at thethreemuseschallenge.blogspot.com   .................. is fish.

As usual for me another slippery  (excuse the pun ) subject, my little brain was teeming ( groan) with ideas. Took a while to get going but once I started I ended up with a whole shoal .....( more puns)of them.

I couldn't decide which I liked the best so I enlisted the help of my husband and my youngest son who both gave me differing opinions. I even showed them to Bailey and Rosy ( the dogs ) in a desperate attempt to get a majority vote , but no I'm in their bad books due to too much blogging and not enough cuddling !

I did in the end what I normally do under these circumstances ignored everyone and uploaded two of them .

Maybe you can help me ..............

I used these beautiful Japanese images that I printed onto acetate and placed underneath some lovely embossed thick gold paper, the first image I backed onto black card stock and as you can see the second one I framed.

Hope you like them.

Marie x

Stylish Blogger Award !

Looks like someones gone mad and given me an award and that someone is Donna over at papercrowsanddragonflies.blogspot.com.Personally  I think she has been spending too much time in close confines with her ink pads but I thank her all the same.
I really love her blog it was one of the first ones  I discovered and have been avidly following it ever since.

By accepting this award I agree to link back to her and to share seven things about myself.

1. I was born in the UK but moved to Greece 22 years ago to start a new life with my Greek husband Teo
2. We have two sons Alexis 19 and Aris 15.
3. Two mad dogs Bailey and Rosy hence my blog title.
4. Together with Teo we design and manufacture jewellery which we sell in our lovely shop in Thessaloniki Greece.
5. I love to cook especially Japanese,Thai in fact anything Asian.
6. I love even more to eat especially Japanese Thai in fact anything Asian !
7. love trying new things and fall in love on a regular basis with my new hobbies bordering a little on the obsessive. Guess what I'm in love with at the moment !

As part of my acceptance I also have to pass on this award to other recent blogs I have discovered. Well that's the hardest part as I have only been blogging since January ! So every blog is a recent and truly magical discovery and source of inspiration to me so can I nominate everyone's blog I have left a comment on .

At the risk of having my award confiscated I would like to pass this award on to the following people .
kissinia.blogspot.com  we started out blogging at the same time and are both newcomers
Yvonne artic-blonde-creations.blogspot.com For her support from the beginning at her great humour.
Zoe zoechaos.blogspot.com. She is always first to comment on my efforts and always makes me laugh.
Irini  craftycroppersgr.blogspot.com
Florence florenceandfreddie.wordpress.com/
Faye hastingshall2.blogspot.com/
Netty nettyscraftings.blogspot.com



Thank you all for taking the time to encourage me and make me laugh and for not laughing at me.

Marie

Sunday Stampers Challenge " Brown "

Yipee !


At last ! I am moving from my black period into............brown.

For the past week I have been stuck in silhouette mode , everything I did was black , but thanks to Hels

 over at Sunday Stampers pinkleart.blogspot.com  
all that has changed. The theme this Sunday is brown and boy am I glad . It's just the challenge I needed , I was beginning to wonder how it would all end.

My stamped image is from Crafty Individuals,  I used Ranger distress embossing powder in Vintage Photo, I distressed the edges of the card with SU Soft Suede and backed this onto some lovely silk and velvet fabric I have in my ( what is jokingly referred to as my stash ) added a piece of ribbon in brown of course and voila ! A lot of brown.

I only hope now that I don't get stuck in well... erm a brown phase !

Marie x

Just for fun challenge "New Techniques "

Girls, girls, girls,..............Now this is what I call a challenge !

My first big challenge was getting out of bed today ( I'm a little under the weather ) but I couldn't wait to see what the girls over atjffchallenge.blogspot.com had in store this week. As soon as I saw it I got straight back into bed !Everything is a new technique to me even simple stamping so I was a bit more flummoxed than usual. Had a nap and found that my flummoxing was on the wane and so had a go.

Now these techniques to you lot of experienced,talented,beautiful,artists (can you tell I'm going for the sympathy and crawling vote )  may not be new but they are to me so here goes !

I cut two tags one with acetate and one with card and printed onto the acetate this beautiful Japanese flower design (is printing on to acetate a technique ? ) cut out a butterfly from the same acetate and layered it with a pink card butterfly. I then stamped and embossed with one of my In the garden stamps from SU onto a feather ( tricky little devils ) and there you have it.

Please bear in mind that no birds where harmed in the making of this tag .

Marie

P.s you might need to enlarge the image to see the detail on the feather

Inspiration Avenue " Black White and Pink "

I have been playing around with Silhouettes all weekend as you can see by my earlier post, so when I saw the challenge over at inspiration-avenue-team.blogspot.com/
Their theme is Black,White and Pink, three of my favorite colours I just had to take part. I have been wanting to take part in their challenges for the last couple of weeks but have been a little intimidated by the quality of art submitted by everyone . Anyway I dived in this week ( I'm doing a lot of diving lately and caution to the wind throwing, cant sit on the sidelines forever )

Hope you like it.

Marie

Theme Thursday Men and / or Boys

Well this was a tricky one ! I loved the theme , I had the stamps, I have two sons, what could be easier !
Nope, once  again the ones that seem the simplest usually end up being the tricky little devils and this was no exception.

The theme over at themethursday.wordpress.com. is Men and / or boys .
After much too-ing and fro-ing  ( is that how you spell it ? ) and sleepless nights I decided to keep it simple.
Hope you like it.

Marie.

Three Muses challenge Ancestors

The challenge at The Three Muses this week is " Ancestors "  . thethreemuseschallenge.blogspot.com
I don't have any ! Well I do we all do but I don't have any photographs . So what have I done, Ive borrowed my good friend Barbara's ,and besides her family is prettier than mine. !

The two children in the photograph are Anniki and Paavo born in Finland 1920 and Anniki is Barbaras grandmother and the little boy is her Uncle. Anniki studied Art and design and later became a photographer which was something unusual for a young woman at this time.

 One of her main hobbies was to travel and to capture these images with her camera.

She died at the young age of fifty leaving behind the most beautiful album of photographs documenting her life , her travels , her spirit and freedom .


This photograph is a tribute to Barbara's grandmother who she never met but learned to  love her  through the photographs she left behind.

Just for fun challenge " Mixed Media "

 Another great challenge over at jffchallenge.blogspot.com
The subject this week is  " Mixed Media " or in my case mixed up and confused media ! What's a girl to do ? As I keep saying I'm a novice three months only in your world and am all over the place, but I'm having fun which is why I LOVE  those gals at Just for Fun. Theirs was the first challenge I did and they were so positive with their feedback that this is my third attempt . So thanks for that.

My little offering is something I want to develop on (not that it's a new thing) stamping on wood but it was my first time.

This piece of wood measure approx 5 x 6 inches and is used here in Greece for Holy paintings using mainly gold leaf . I stamped both front and back using Crafty Individuals stamps. On the first one also stamped part of the image onto card and matted it and adhered it to the block which I then attempted to dab with my dabber ( well what else ) using cats eyes paints and when it started getting out of hand I stopped dabbing . This is where my imagination deserted me so I left it like that !


The second one is plain old black ink from Ranger a bit like my stamping really.( Plain )

For anyone who is reading my blog for the first time don't be put off by these images I have better one's  ( I think ) further down...........

Marie x

Crazy Amigos Challenge Spring is in Air ( Hair )

First of all please excuse the photo (once again ) Camera, iphone, scanner, Mac and brain not team players. Each one independently works fine but put them all together and chaos. The theme over at crazyamigochallenge.wordpress.com  

Love is in the Hair or air anyway mines a bit of both.

I stamped my background with SU little flowers wheel in old olive, the picture is from  the House of Three as is the butterfly  cut using my Silhouette machine which I edged with cats eyes turquoise ink and finished with some velvet ribbon .

Hope you like it.

Marie

Try It On Tuesday Inspired by a Song

                                                        Fly me to the Moon

After coming across yet another lovely blog tuesdaytaggers.blogspot.com they have a great challenge try it on Tuesday and the theme is " Inspired by a Song " I knew straight away what my song choice would be. Fly me to the moon by ' Ole Blue Eyes'. I have been waiting for ages to use this Stamp by Crafty Individuals,  I stamped the image onto vellum and placed it on card stock which I had previously dabbed with Ranger broken china distress ink to make it cloud like ( Well it looks cloudy in my house honest ) Oh hang on my glasses need cleaning ! Glossy accents on the stars with a bit of glitter , don't usually do glitter but seemed appropriate. I matted it onto black card and then onto Colour Cor ' dinationations black card stock which I passed through my texture boutique sanded it and dabbed sliver ink on top. Phew ! goodness me it's nearly as tiring describing it as it was doing it ! I enjoyed it though and hope you do to.

Mariexx