At the double......

So I couldn't resist this little stamp set by Woodware at the NEC (although I had made a vow only to buy essentials - but this was essential, right?)

I started off embossing the holly tree in white, then sponged the background with distress inks. The berries were done with ruby liquid pearls.....by the way, I know American friends find the expression 'Happy Christmas' a bit odd, I think you always say Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays, but we do wish each other a Happy Christmas over here in the UK 

Then because I have the attention span of a mosquito, I stamped again in Versamark ink and brushed on Perfect Pearls gold powder. This time I added a few gems and sequins.....

you get such a pretty sheen with the pearly powder....

Then one heat embossed with WOW platinum embossing powder.....

and finally, and possibly my favourite, heat embossed in white again, with a sponged background then I added 'snow' with a new product from Woodware that puffs up when it is heated. I have had stuff like this before but it always turns yellow on heating, this stays a nice bright white. I can't tell you the name, as the little bottle doesn't have a label and I threw the packaging away!

Which one do you like best? Now that I have experimented a bit, I can have a session making a batch of these, they were all quite quick to make. At least I now have four cards made, out of the total needed of about 80 that's pretty pathetic. I need to get them out early this year as well as I have new address labels to put on them. I can see a visit to Hallmark in my immediate future...........

Le Shoe...........

Have you tried the new craze for colouring books for adults? I was sent this book by Katy Sue Designs and had a lot of fun colouring.....

They have the most gorgeous shoe designs (they also do a similar book with a nautical theme)

I chose to use this fabulous shoe, and because I used very subtle colours, it looks even better in real life....

but popped into an Ikea frame, it is just perfect for my bedroom........

The plus points are that the designs are printed on very good quality paper, which can easily be removed from the book. I did find that using alcohol markers led to some bleeding around the image, but as I was cutting the image out this didn't matter. I will probably do the next one in Prismacolor pencils, another medium I enjoy using

You can find the books on Amazon HERE

It was certainly a stress buster, and I have already earmarked my next project....but until then, I am busy working on some Christmas cards. More about that tomorrow....see you then x

NEC fun....

So last week was the Christmas craft fair at the NEC. My plan was to cruise around on Thursday doing a little bit of shopping, meeting up with friends, a spot of lunch. But the best laid plans.....

On Wednesday I had a plaintive message from my pal Kath, who was travelling down from Scotland to run the Fiskars workshops for four days. Her plane was cancelled and she was making the long trip down by train. I said I would collect her from the station and drive her to the show and help her set up.

So she arrived. The station is five minutes from the show halls. Except that we couldn't quite find where we were supposed to be. So round and round and round we drove, going the wrong way up one way roads, into lorry parks, down the wrong road again...I really shouldn't be allowed out unsupervised. Still, we eventually made it and got set up in record time, by which time Kath was quite worn out by the trials of the day......

While I opted for a more comfortable position....

but then we went over to the retail stand to help them set up as well.... 

Here is the cute snowman tag that Kath designed for the make and take sessions....

and she made some fabulous samples to decorate the workshop walls...

I did find time to wander around a little. I know some of you love those crazy birds, these are by David of Craft Obsessions (David and Brenda are two of the nicest people you could wish to meet, and run my favourite online store). I love this Christmas card..... 

 and I loved these little rag dolls, I forgot to make a note of the stand.....

Why am I always drawn to stuff that I can't make - I keep seeing sewing projects that I want to try. I don't have time to learn so I must stick to paper...

So that was pretty much my trip to the show, although I did pop back on Friday for a bit of retail therapy, and of course the evenings were taken up with my Fiskars buddies....

So after all that excitement, it's back to just me, some paper and a bit of ink, but I think I left my mojo behind at the show...see you tomorrow x

Thanks for waiting.....

At the end of three months of jolly hard work, the ground floor of our new home is pretty much finished, and after you have all been so patient whilst I got on with unpacking, sorting and a frenzy of decision making, I thought the least I could do was show you why Going Buggy has been a bit on the quiet side lately....

The dining room is right at the center of the house, that's my craft room door on the left.......

I rather like my purple wall against the cool grey of the other walls.....

The living room had a rather hideous fireplace ripped out, and a more space saving fire installed

Taking the dated patterned opaque glass out of the large doors made such a difference.......

The orangery is about the only room we haven't had to blitz!

My little craft room is back together, with the wood floor making it easier to keep clean and scoot around on that chair! My original idea for a clean uncluttered space is not quite working out - see how rubbish essentials have made their home on top of my Ikea units?

and the kitchen has finally come together! I love it......

So there you go......I thought after all my hair tearing and brow beating, you would like to see how it all came together. Back to crafty things tomorrow! x

Homemade Texture Paste...

I've been having a go at making my own texture paste, and it works pretty well, and the results are pretty much the same as using the expensive bought stuff...

You need bicarbonate of soda (or talcum powder), white PVA glue (any inexpensive stuff you can find will do) and white acrylic paint, measuring spoons, cup measure, an airtight small pot and a craft stick

Measure out 1/4 cup of bicarbonate of soda into your container. Add 2 tablespoons of white paint, and 1 -2 tablespoons of PVA glue, stir until it's a nice creamy consistency. Add up to another tablespoon of glue if it seems a bit thick

Cover with a lid, make sure it's tightly shut. It keeps as well as the shop bought stuff. Use with stencils, make sure you wash your stencils right away. Sprinkle the paste with glitter if wanted while it is still wet. You can also ink it once it's dry 

Here's a couple more, for this starry one, I sprinkled the stars with glitter when wet.....

and I love this stencil by Imagination Crafts here in the UK

and here's why you haven't seen me for a few days. The new floor has been laid throughout the ground floor of the house, which meant all the furniture had to be piled up and shifted from room to room....

thank goodness the Orangery took a lot of the overflow....

but my carefully organised and tidy little studio had to be stripped bare....

The whole process took four days - four days of misery actually. We had nowhere to sit, nowhere to watch TV, the computer was unhooked, the phone was buried somewhere under a pile of stuff....

But it was worth it! You can see the start of the new floor in the studio shot above, and the rooms are put together again, the half inch of dust from the cutting of the wood has been wiped away, we waved a grateful goodbye to our latest workmen (from Albania this time, to add to the Hungarian, Pole, Italian etc etc we have collected over the past few weeks!)

It's beginning to feel like home at last. See you tomorrow x 

Golden Wedding Invites.....

So someone on the Fiskarettes UK Facebook page asked for ideas for simple invitations she could make for her upcoming Golden Wedding celebrations. Here's what I came up with for her - they are all quite simple and easy to mass produce.......I kept them flat as well, so that postage costs would be less

and after all my posts about the kitchen, the least I can do is to show you a work in progress......

So today has been a 'day off' - no workmen, no music, no endless tea and coffee making. Time to recharge the batteries and just FLOP!

Marilyn contacted me to say she has been having problems leaving comments on here. Has anyone else had a problem? Let me know (not that I have a clue what I can do about it mind you, but someone in Googleland will know.....)

See you tomorrow x

Kitchens and superbugs.....

I don't think I have ever had such a prolonged leave of absence from my blog - thanks so much to all of you who have emailed me to see if everything is okay.

I was struck by a superbug - the mother and father of all colds, it went away, came back, went away again......in the meantime, the house was freezing, with workmen here, doors and windows wide open, I couldn't even creep away to my bed to shiver in comfort - the plumber was fitting the new shower. Then every few minutes someone has a question - how do you want this? where shall we put this? What shall we do about this?.........

Oh, it has been miserable!

However, I am now much better, and the house is oh-so-slowly taking shape. I promise to take photos soon. I must have made about 300 mugs of tea and coffee for various guys working around the house, listened to non-stop music of various genres all day every day - my heart sinks when the heavy metal guy walks in! But all the people we have had helping us renovate the place have been really great, we struck lucky...I have listened to tales of woe about errant girlfriends, dished out sympathy about ailing parents, offered doughnuts and aspirin, and generally gone into mother-hen overdrive.  

So here's a couple of quick cards made with Fiskars stamps - they are the sort that fit on the continuous stamping wheel, but (shhh, you don't have to have that, you can fit them on a block). This first one is a stamp called Choo Choo...I used little buttons for the wheels

and I used this floral stamp to make panels for a gatefold card....

with a little pocket on the inside for a gift card....

and I made a little tab to hold the front closed

It's nice to be back!

Halloween Pumpkins

Here's a little video I made for the Fiskarettes Facebook page.........Pumpkin Pie anyone?

The new kitchen is coming along - what a job! It has been like the United Nations here - tiler from Hungary, Flooring guy from Albania, electrics from Italy, plumber from France! But they are all great guys and doing a super job......

So the kitchen floor has to be lifted. 'We can do that' we thought. 'Save some money' we thought......... So the top layer of laminate wood was ripped up. Then a layer of vinyl tiles that had been laid underneath. That uncovered another layer of vinyl tiles, which we ripped up - I was getting very bored with it all by this time. Finally, we uncovered ceramic tiles which have been laid for so long that luckily the adhesive has all dried up and they are fairly easy to get up. So four layers of flooring, all on top of each other - it's a wonder the floor didn't meet the ceiling!

Right, I must get back on my aching knees now, and carry on with those pesky tiles....