Sassy Lil Sketches Week 4 Reveal

For those of you who have read my previous post you will know that the old mojo is not up to par at the moment but am trying to stay positive ! Just wanted to share with you my DT piece for Sasssy Lil Sketches .

 

This was the sketch we were given this month and I think you will agree it has endless possibilities !

 

I wanted to keep mine nice and simple and add a touch of humour goodness knows we could all do with a little of that !

Another easy peasy one !

Well they just get sillier and sillier now don't they !

Do pop over to Sassy Lil Sketches to see the  inspirational DT pieces and why not take part.

                                                                 This months sponsor is

I will be leaving next week for London to be with my friend Dolly so for those of you I have not visited yet will try and catch up before I leave.

Take care

Marie

Craft Room Challenge " Anything Christmas "

I have written and re written this post so many times just didn't know how to start it ! Feels like I have been away for ever. I have just returned from London where I have been staying with our dearest friends and trying to support them during what is for all concerned a very sad time. we have been friends for twenty five years and have always called each other Dolly we have never called each other by our real names, so when it was time to find a name for my blog I named if after my best friend. Even though Dolly doesn't  read my blog ( maybe one day she will ) I just wanted to say that I love her and that my thoughts and prayers are with her and her family .

I will shortly be traveling back to London to stay with her once again and just wanted to pop in and say hello and to say that I have missed you all and your beautiful creations Unfortunately I was unable to visit you while I was away but hopefully during the next few days I will try and catch up with you all. 

One of the reasons I returned to Greece was that my youngest son who is 16 together with his band Chinese Basement had the honour of being chosen to play at The Megaro Music Hall in Athens and for my Greek followers they will know the significance of this. They where chosen along with three other bands from all over Greece to give their interpretation of one of  Greece"s great composers Hatzidakis work together with some of their own material. It was a fabulous night and I have to say it was a once in a lifetime opportunity for these young people I am so very proud of you Ari , Vasili and Fivo !


I saw upon my return that The Craft Room where having an " Anything Christmas " theme for the next two weeks and as it is such a happy subject I decided to have ago . Can't say it's my best work as the old mojo is a little lackluster at the moment.As you will see it's a rather understated effort but under the circumstances it was all I could muster.

Have to say the title is rather ironic though ! I used one of my Tim Holtz on the edge dies for the card and did a little embossing for extra dimension . I also embossed the green felt it really gives a wonderful effect if you haven't tried it yet you should I really liked the outcome. The letters are chipboard which I stamped with one of my distress crackle stamps in Stazon red ink.

I used my Silhouette machine to generate the background and the sentiment . Martha  Stewart punches for the borders and oops I have just realised that I have cropped out my little bird on the top right hand corner. ( anyway it's not his first appearance so I am sure he wont mind !)

Like I said very simple and understated cards even if they took me forever to do !
Do pop over to the Craft Room Challenge where you can see the fabulous inspirational pieces by the DT and also the many wonderful entries by their loyal followers.
                                                          

                                                              Shabby Chic Girls Club                              

I would like to thank Cindy Adkins of Shabby Chic Girls club who is featuring my work on her marvelous new blog why not pop over and check it out , Cindy is such a kind and generous lady and is always very supportive of everyone in the arts world. Thank you so much for including little old me along with such talented artists i am truly flattered.

wishing you all the very best of health and looking forward to visiting you all

Take care

Marie

Sassy Lil Sketches September 15th Card reveal

This is a short post today I have to leave unexpectedly for the UK today and blogger won't let me schedule anything ! Today is the week two reveal for sassy Lil Sketches .

This was the sketch we where given to work with by our lovely leader Cherie and here is my take on it.

I have stamped my own background with a lovely distressed  stamp which I then layered  onto some pink check card. I used Tim Holtz on the edge dies , Nestabilities for the heart, Silhouette for the bird and the sentiment and a little button from my stash 

Please pop over to Sassy Lil Sketches to see the other inspirational pieces from our Design Team and why not take part. We are sponsored this month by 

Unfortunately I won't have access to internet for the next few days so look forward to catching up with you upon my return !

Take care 

Marie

Just for Fun " Vintage " and Craft Room Challenge " Home Decor "

I miss my boy !!!! My lovely husband Teo has been away for three whole weeks hopefully having fun in the sun and I miss him so much.  We have been together for twenty seven years and have the good fortune to work for twenty two of those years together. Now some of you may think that it sounds like a recipe for disaster but for us it's just perfect and we wouldn't have it any other way ! The only down side and this is a biggie is as well as being jewellery designers and having our own jewellery shop it is not always possible to holiday together , so we tend to have short holidays together and seperate holidays with our friends so we get the best of both worlds.

Due to the lack of husband I have been a little less crafty of late as I work all day every day except for Sunday . What with communication problems with my PC  and moody modems I have not been able to  take part in some  of my favourite challenges or keep up with you fabulous ladies ! For that reason am entering both the Just for Fun challenge who's theme this week is Vintage and The Craft Room Challenge who have Home decor as their chosen theme. Not that you can tell from my fabulous photo's but this is in fact a hanging but when I attempted to hang it on the wall just couldn't get the right light ! 

 

Large photo  ( sorry if it scared you ) wanted to show the crackle effect up close !

For my frame I have used the lid from an old box which was a perfect backdrop for the piece as it is a bit bashed and has lovely pale stripes ., I coloured the edges with Stazon ink in Saddle Brown. On a large piece of pink card I stamped one of my distress text stamps again in Saddle Brown and then ran amok around the edges with my new Zutter electronic distress tool, which is fabulous but makes one hell of a racket. For any one thinking of buying it please make sure the neigbours are out and the  pets and the children are sedated ! I used an image from the Graphics fairy which I covered with Ranger clear crackle glaze and when it was dry went over it with distress ink in Vintage Photo. I placed a little pearl on her finger and then once again used the noisy tool around the edges. As  I wanted the image to look quite distressed I  only stuck the image down randomly to create a well worn look.

Hope you like it as it has taken me three days off an on to complete in between my day job !

Do pop over to Just for Fun and The Craft Room Challenge to see the wonderful entries and also the fabulous inspiration piece by both design teams.

Just one more thing Von was the lucky winner of the Tim Holtz on the Edge die and Suzy Bain has won a couple of tags and a notebook I made a little while ago and completely forgot all about due to my communication problems, ladies please let me have your addresses so I can send them on to you.

Take care 

Marie

 

Get Creative 5th September " Lace "

My postings have been somewhat erratic of late which seems to be a perfect reflection of how  my life is  at the moment. I am all over the place, what with loose screws, no connection ( without internet for 10 days ) My Mac crashing and just when I thought it was safe to start blogging again .......... my brand new modem surrendered !!!!!!!!!!!!. Thwarted does not begin to cover it ! I am exhausted, frustrated and completely mojo less and to put a " top hat " on it dear hubby is far far away ! so I am working all day every day and to be honest I'm knackered !

I am now on my fourth modem !  and I am tip toeing around it in fear of it leaving me like all of the others ! I have had two whole days of internet so am trying like mad to catch up with you all not an easy task you are all so prolific ! do none of you sleep or leave the house how do you do it ?

As it's the 5th of the month it's  time for the Get Creative card challenge whose theme is  " Lace " I was super excited when  I saw this , I had just received a fabulous box of lace from the lovely and super talented Lynne from Adorn for winning blog candy a little while ago it seemed like fate

There was so much gorgeousness in this box I couldn't get it all in the photos ! Thank you so much Lynne.


It seemed like fate but I have to say I really struggled, too much lace, too many ideas and NO MOJO ! The possibilities are endless here so let me show you what I did for my Design Team piece for Get Creative.

Can you guess what I have used here for my lace ? two pairs of stockings ! ( Clean) the black one I actually bought specifically for the card now there's dedication for you ! I stamped on some cream coloured card friend definition by Hero Arts  and then on top of that in Pink Stazon that lovely lacy image  . Martha Steward punches for the paper lace and then mounted on stiff board and there is my lacy offering.

Here are a few other pieces I made

Here I took a wooden picture frame and added Gesso , I had tried to stay away from this for so long I was a bit scared to use it to be honest but it is such great fun ! I added crackle paint which did not crackle ! and various Stazon inks. Some beautiful brown lace backed onto  pink card. Handmade flower ( bottom left hand corner for a change ) and some of the gorgeous lace from Lynne. Oh nearly forgot on the bottom right hand corner did a bit of stamping you can just about see it .

I cut out a heart from my card and placed the lace underneath a little embossing a few heart shapes , a little crown and some inking .

Please pop over to Get Creative and have a look at the beautiful creations the other DT members came up with and why not join in,  there is some lovely blog candy to be won and the challenge is running all month !

One more thing due to over zealous on line craft buying I have ended up with two of the same On The Edge Die brackets   by Tim Holtz  and its fabulous ! If any one of you would like to win this please leave a comment on this post and I will pick a name out of the handbag and post it off !

Right of to work, am late as usual ! and my boss is a real so and so for time keeping ( I am the boss and I hate being late lol )

So if my internet and modem are still united when I return home this evening will do my level best to come and say Hi to you all......until then fingers crossed !

Marie