It's new year's eve, where did 2017 go?

Yes another year over and a new one about to begin, I think there's a song in that but it's original lyrics are ones that, in reality, can be a bit hypocritical.  Now that that random thought is out of the way, here's a creative and therapeutic idea I want to share. It's some thing I did a year ago but it dropped by the wayside in my little world. Yes 2017 did get so hectic, things got lost in the Hovel (Hampsons Hovel's nickname for our home) This gorgeous jar is now right next to my bed, right where I plug my phone  and galaxy note in to charge, right where I see it before I read to relax before light's out at night.

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The idea behind doing this memories jar was so I could be thankful for at least one good thing every day. And trust me I am truly, thankful every day. So now I've found the jar again, got it out from where it was buried, it's staying on my beside table to force me to stick to it this year.  This is the clip that prompted me today.

https://www.facebook.com/littlethingscom/videos/686777178198324/

Thanks for dropping by, the Herbster, Nibbles, Pip and I wish you a safer new year where ever you are.  We are going to the drive in movies to escape the house tonight.  Blacktown Skyline Drive-in here we come, tickets are bought and printed.  Picnic tea will be sorted and we will relax in the comfort of my 'ladybug' the Lancer or even on our Swans' camping chairs in front of the car!

So till next time, happy new year and remember

Happy stamping colouring and creating!

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Bloody murphy's law...and SLE/FM...

I was sat here reading one of my favourite blogs and chuckling away but also feeling her pain.  If you've been a follower of the Bloggess, you'll know the story behind the 5ft metal chicken, buying more towels and the #KKMF that I some times use with a photo of a metal or any kind of chicken.

Poor Jenny .  This is her post I just read ...

http://thebloggess.com/2017/12/28/forgive-me-whoever-i-angered/

I have to say, I have been prone to think I have weird voices in my head telling me stuff but it's just my overactive brain, oh and the ducted aircon 'demons' messing with my head because they know I go a bit loopy when temps get over about 25c degrees and the blazing sun (or any bright light) is blinding me. I tried not to laugh at this but how can you not? I love Jenny's humour and totally 'get' where she's coming from KKMF chickens and all. Now she's justified in buying all those bloody towels Victor told her not to buy. One can never have enough towel I say!

Nor enough humour, fans in the house and curtains to cover those

hot blazing sun rays.

Til next time, stay cool and if you can't be cool, try to stay out of the sun!

Christmas 2017 Greetings!

Welcome back!

I hopefully you are all set for Christmas Day next Monday and don't have to try and battle any shops over the weekend.  Spare a thought for my son, Benjamin, he works in retail, admittedly it's home furnishings but still retail and usually crazy as this time of year.  Is this where I admit hubby & I have done almost no shopping?  I know, a first for me this year. I'm normally finished and all wrapped by 30th November.

This week I'm sharing with you some of my copic colourings . Most of my images start out as black and white digital images and I've done every bit of colouring myself.  Many people ask me where I get the "coloured" images from.  Well I can tell you, they are not coloured when I buy them in digital form, they are black and white.  I print them on quality white card stock then colour them myself with my lovely array of Copic alcohol ink markers and array of inkpads amongst my craft supplies. This was my copic carry bag a while back, it's totally crammed full now days. I think I'll have to get a 2nd one soon for all my re-inkers LOL.  (Yes, I also colour with pencils, artist and water colour ones, but that's for another post at another time)



I've had a lot of years experience and was very blessed to have had my first 24 copic markers gifted to me by a dearly departed (RIP Clare) crafting friend who lived in the UK.  It was long before they took off here in Australia in the crafting community.   I put myself through 3 official training courses with Copic Australia. So I'm actually 'certified'  (yeah, my hubby would agree with that ROFL)  A certified Copic Designer that is with certificates and all.  My certificates sit proudly hanging at the side of my huge craft desk and hutch.

There was a lot of blood sweat and tears went in to getting those certificates, whilst I was still working at my federal government position.  Happy to be fully retired from that kind of employment now days.

Below are some of my past creations and right at the bottom are a couple I've done for Christmas this year.  Hope you like them.  Want any advice on copic colouring?  I'm only a message away.

Thanks for visiting,

see you again real soon and Merry Christmas!

 

FF@F'o'clock, final for 2017!

To today marks a huge event in my crafting world.

Not only is this the last Fabulous Fridays at 5'o'Clock'ish

blog post for 2017

but it is my final one as a Stampin Up demonstrator!

Yes,  you read correctly, as of 5pm today I will no longer be a demonstrator.

Why you ask?  Well many reasons but the many couple are that I need a break. I need to step back and evaluate my creative life and I feel taking a break from being a demonstrator needs to be done.  Secondly, it is no secret that my hubby and I want to move away from Sydney. In fact out of New South Wales all together.  We are beginning to get quite serious about this so next year is going to see me making a lot more trips south to the out skirts of Melbourne to look at properties.

What does this mean for my blog?  Well as much as I can, I shall keep FF@F'ish going. I've loads of new Stampin Up products to show you and today's post is no exception. I have always loved the products and always loved sharing them with you all.  Rest assured, I will be coming back as a Demonstrator in the early new year so stay tuned for that date.

What have I created today?  It's a cute little thinking of you card I made for an online friend who recently lost one of her beloved furbabies.  I've used that cute cat punch (which is carrying over next year, yay!), and sponged it in the colours of little Gizmo (may she RIP).  I have punched out the leaves with the leaf punch that is in the current holiday catalogue too.  I've used hand died Chocolate chip ribbon across the bottom. The best part of all is my brick wall.



How did I do that?  Well the new Brushos colour crystals that will be out at the beginning of next year were used mixed with Embossing paste to get that colour ( I used the Gamboge, it's an orangy yellow in colour).  You don't use much of it and you need to work quickly as the Embossing paste does dry rather quickly.  I put a blob on my silicone mat and mixed it thoroughly before placing down my brick wall decorative mask (page 201 of the annual catalogue) and applying the paste with a palette knife.  Easy as hey! And see the background the card is sitting on? Gorgeous isn't it. I can tell you that is some new Designer Series patterned paper 12x12 that will be in the new Occasions catalogue. I just love it, all the gold on it, very striking!



I hope that gives you more ideas on what you will be able to do with Brushos once they are on sale on 3rd January 2018!  I know I totally love them!

Merry Christmas and happy new year to you all and thanks for visiting. Can you leave me a few words, it's nice to know you were reading this!

Til next time, remember,

happy stamping, colouring and creating!

I love to colour in!

Good morning,

I thought I'd share with you one of my many loves, colouring in.  I've been doing some monthly online classes with a fabulous lady named Alyce Keegan who owns Kit & Clowder



Alyce's monthly classes are both for coloured pencils and markers.  It's no secret that I love my Copic markers and I've been a certified copic designer since 2010.  Why not go take a look at Alyce's classes. They come with full instruction books, video tutorials, one on one help and loads of support on the facebook group too!   You'll find the Facebook group here:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/kitandclowder/

Below are some of my finished pieces. I shared one yesterday too.  I found coloured pencils rather challenging as I have lupus & fybro myalgia and get quite severe joint  and nerve pain.   Colouring is is one of the most relaxing things to do and takes you mind away from many things and into a creative world that has endless possibilities.

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til next time,

happy stamping, colouring and creating!

Today's announcement on my SU blog.

So  you may have already seen it, if not, the cat is out of the bag so to speak.

As of 5pm tomorrow afternoon, Friday 15th of December I will no longer be a Stampin Up demonstrator. Like I mentioned in the post, it is not a permanent thing, I will be back as a demonstrator some time in 2018!

I will be continuing my Fabulous Fridays @ Five'o'clock blog posts and I've a rather cute one for you tomorrow. You just have to book mark this new blog addy and come back often.  Please leave me some comments too so I know I'm not talking to myself.  I'll leave you with an adorable photo of my little Miss Pip. She was keeping me company as I finished of my pencil colouring project with Kit & Clowder today.  There's a photo of my finished pieced below Pip's photo too!

Til next time,

happy stamping, colouring and creating!

FF@F'ish, I'm back!

Welcome!

This week I'm giving you a bit of a sneak peek preview of some exciting new products that will be available come 3rd January 2018.  To say I'm excited about one particular range would be an understatement.  Many know that I love to make my own backgrounds and get all inky/paint stained as I go.  This new product has seen me do just that over the last couple of days.  Along with new stamp sets that you can earn for free with the up coming Sale-A-Bration period which also starts 3rd January 2018 ( through to 31st March 2018), there's going to be so much gorgeousness to choose from, I recon there'll be some spinning heads.



To whet your appetite, take a look at what I created.  I've used a new product called Brushos to make my background.  First I stamped the new stamp set (that you could earn for free during Sale-A-Bration), stamped it in versamark ink and embossed with white embossing powder.  Next I spritzed the whole card piece with loads of water.  I used extra thick A4 Whisper White card stock for this.





NOTE:  when it comes to tapping on the Brushos, many advise to punch some fine holes in the lids of each canister but I don't like that idea. I carefully took off the seal, then the lid and used the tip of a tooth pick to pick up small amounts to sprinkle onto my wet areas.  This way if you are traveling with your set of Brushos, there's no risk that they will get jumbled and sprinkle all around the storage box.  That's my thoughts on it.  If you don't mind permanent holes in the lids, go right a head and use a fine needle or drawing/push pin. I do feel the Stampin Up paper piercer might make a slight too larger hole.

So here I have my finished project. 

I've used 2 new stamp sets that you can earn for free come January 3rd 2018, some white embossing powder and see those sequins?  Yes, they are new products too.  Sequins that are adhesive backed. You are going to love those, no fiddling with little blobs of glue and they are in 5 lovely bright colours as well!

Till next time,

happy stamping, colouring and creating!

Don't have every inkpad? Make your own!

If you are like me and only have limited space, you will know that owning every ink pad colour under the sun is not always practical.    Stampin Up's  uninked stampin spots to the rescue!  All you need to do is purchase the reinkers and make your own 1" square stampin spots.  On page 201 of the annual catalogue you will see that Stampin' Up! have packs of 5 uninked inkspot pads for $15.75.  Reinkers are on pages 184 through to 186 and are only $6.50 per bottle.  Today, I made up three inkpads I've never bought. I'm very happy to have the smaller size because I've run out of space for the bigger inkpads at the moment.  What do you think?  It doesn't take much of the reinker either.  So next time you put off purchasing an inkpad because of lack of space, invest in the reinkers and some inkspots and make up your own.  If you are so inclined, you could also mix up custom colours by combining two different reinkers.  I've not done this as yet, but when I do I'll be sure to share my creations with you.

til next time,

happy stamping, colouring and creating!

FF@Five'ish!

Welcome to my blog

and FF@5'ish. 

This week I've been playing with my BigShot machine, some dies and an embossing folder to make a quick and easy Christmas card.  I also hand dyed my own white seam binding ribbon too.  I buy the white seam binding in bulk and dye lengths of it as I need it.  I did a "how to" blog post quite a few years ago showing how I do it.  Leave me a comment below if you would like me to re-post that tutorial. It's so easy to do and you'll always have ribbon to go with any project.



I stopped buying coloured ribbons and flowers long ago. I love that a little re-inker, some rubbing alcohol and a mini spritzer can give you the exact colour you are after for a project, any time of the day or night.  It's why I suggest to my customers, when purchasing ink pads, that they should also get the re-inker at the same time.  Re-inkers are not just for re-inking dry ink pads, that's for sure in my world ;-)

So for my card, using whisper white thick card stock cut down to a folded card base, I ran the front side of it through my Bigshot machine with it inside the embossing folder "Seaside" which is on page 210 of the current Annual Stampin Up Catalogue.  I then cut out using the

Using the thinlits die set "Swirly Scribbles" (page 216, annual catalogue) and gold foil card, I've cut out a little bird's nest, adhered it to the front of the card towards the top  with Tombo Multi purpose liquid glue (it's the best).  I grabbed a little wooden bird from my huge stash of embelishments (not sure the brand, could have been Prima) and glued it to the top right hand side of the gold wreath.  Here and there I've stuck some glitter dots and rhinestones.  I've added a bow made from my hand dyed silk seam binding. I dyed it Real Red.   My sentiment is from the  Cookie Cutter Christmas photopolymer stamp set stamped in Old Olive, the edges sponged with Real Red ink then layered onto some gold foil card.  I've adhered to the card front with a strip of foam adhesive strip.  Sponged the out edges of the card with some Real Red ink and there you have it, done.  I'd say it only took me all up, once I'd settled on the design, 15 minutes to put together.  That included drying time to make sure the bow and little wooden birdie stuck well.



Hope you liked this week's project. Remember, if you want me to post the tutorial for how I dye my ribbons, leave me a comment and I'll get to it and post it asap.

Til next time,

Happy stamping, colouring and creating!

 

FF@F'ish ie Fabulous Fridays at 5'o'clock!

Welcome back to my new, and hopefully improved, blog site. 

This week has been rather interesting.  Firstly my one and only son, Benjamin, turn 26, yes 26. How did that happen? LOL, seems like only yesterday we were arguing over who's turn it was to use the computer.  He's grown into a lovely, handsome, responsible young man. If I do say so myself.  Can't wait to see him on the weekend!



This week I'm revisiting a stamp set that has proved to be a big favourite since it's release a few years ago.  Sheltering Tree is a beautiful photopolymer set that has many uses.

Today, I've inked up the tree trunk/branch stamp firstly with Versamark then Early Expresso so I could then sprinkle embossing powder onto it straight away and heat emboss it.  By doing the Versamark first then the Early Expresso, you can get the embossing powder to stick.  I love how shiny the tree trunk and branches has come out.



Next I spritzed the whole piece of water colour card that I stamped so it was very saturated.  Taking my aqua painter brush I then dipped it into the lids of my various ink pads to pick up colour and let it splash onto the water colour card.  With it being so wet, the colours bled into the card to make this lovely washed effect.





I've used a fine tip journaling pen to draw around the outer edges to give a bit of a framed look and distressed up the edges using the blade of my little paper snips.  Mounted with tear and tape onto a basic black card base and there you have it, easy peasy!  Whilst I was photographing, a certain little furbaby wanted to see what was going on.  That's my little Miss Pip checking out the finished card this morning.

Hope you like this week’s creations, til next time,

Happy stamping, colouring and creating!

Shop now at : http://stampoutyourartwithvirginia.stampinup.net

Tutu Tuesday, 14th November 2017!

Hi everyone,

Yes it's Tuesday and as many of you may already know, I love Tutus!

This is a quick post to let you know I'm currently working on my next FF@F'o'clock'ish post.  I am slowly moving most of my posts over to this location because I feel I have a lot more control here and less chance of my posts vanishing before they go live.   I will have lots of  news to share with you over the coming months as well so do check back regularly with my little corner of the web!

Today is also my one and only son Benjamin's 26th birthday.  How did that happen? LOL.Many happy returns my dear son, your father and I love you much, have a fabulous day!



For now,  I'll leave you with one of my favourite Tutu images.

Til next time,

happy stamping colouring and creating!

My latest FF@Five'o'clock'ish post...

Sunday, 12 November, 2017

Better late than not at all....

Hi everyone,
I'm so sorry there's been no FF@F'ish posts for the last couple of weeks.  All kinds of things have been going on in my little corner of the world so I've been very distracted.

For now I want to share with you a rather cute and easy gift tag I made using supplies left on my desk and a stamp set that is not just a holiday themed one but also in the Annual catalogue so it won't disappear after Christmas.  I've used the the Cookie Cutter Christmas stamp set and the lovely matching punch. Stamped the Santa and coloured him with water colour pencils. Punched him out and layered him onto a scrap of patterned paper from the Wood Textures Designer Series Paper stack (this stack has an amazing array of backgrounds, do check it out!)

I rounded the corners of the patterned paper by using the corner round that is at the top of the Envelope punch board.  NOTE: There isn't an individual punch to round corners available anymore, but if you have our Envelope punch board, don't forget it DOES have a corner rounder in it, very handy to know that.

I then trimmed down a scrap of Chocolate Chip card stock and punched one end with the Scalloped tag topper punch, used the envelope punch board to round the bottom two corners of the tag.  Glued the paper onto the Chocolate Chip piece then adhered my little Santa on with foam dimensionals. For my light blue ribbon on the tag, I hand dyed some white silk seam binding using pool party re-inker mixed with rubbing alcohol.  Easy peasy and a little tag that will brighten any gift.

I hope you liked this little project. It's so lovely to receive gifts that
have a handmade tag on them, something many people love to
keep and even use as bookmarks!
til next time,
happy stamping, colouring and creating!

Product List

Cookie Cutter Christmas Photopolymer Stamp Set [142043] $37.00	Cookie Cutter Builder Punch [140396] $31.00	Wood Textures Designer Series Paper Stack [144177] $17.50
Basic Black Archival Stampin’ Pad [140931] $12.25	Chocolate Chip A4 Card Stock [108599] $14.00	Whisper White A4 Card Stock [106549] $15.75
Watercolor Pencils [141709] $27.75	Tag Topper Scalloped Punch [133324] $38.00	Pool Party Classic Stampin' Ink Refill [122933] $6.50
Aqua Painters [103954] $20.00	Liquid Multipurpose Glue [110755] $7.00	Envelope Punch Board [133774] $32.00
Stampin' Trimmer [129722] $50.00

FF@F'ish 27th October 2017

Friday, 27 October, 2017

Hello everyone!

This week I am revisiting a technique that I've always loved and it's so easy.  I'm making more Christmas cards and this is such an quick technique too.   Basic supplies for this are acrylic blocks to suit the size you want to stamp, water in a spritzer, several coordinating inkpads and a nice tree stamp (there's that Lovely as a Tree stamp set again, it's so versatile!  Here we go, first gather your supplies!


Ink up your acrylic block

 
Spritz your inked block

Stamp on to water colour paper, give a good press down.

 

Square edged block, a bit of journaling pen lines around the edges too

A rounded corner block for something different

Tadaah!  Easy as, added some Wink of Stella to the darkest blue and a few sequins too!

So there you have it, simple, easy and can be adapted to any occasion too!
Remember, to have something covering your work area so you don't
accidentally wet the wrong thing.
til next time,
happy stamping, colouring and creating!