Another DD birthday

Yep, their birthdays are only 2 weeks apart.  In fact, for the past two weeks they have been the same age as there is only 11 and a half months between them (yes, I am mad, are you only just realising this?)  Anyway, here is eldest DDs birthday card

This is taken from THE Wendy Vecchi first book (as that is the only one I own!).  I used some handmade paper I found  in Paperchase and added a second butterfly as the paper was a bit too big.  The matting is horrible I know.  Matting is not in my skill set I'm afraid, but luckily the paper has a ragged edge and I distressed the edges of the mats a bit too so it doesn't look too bad.

I am now off to continue work on my fairy elephant......... all will be revealed in due time my pretties!

Kaisercraft Paperartsy style

DDs got me the Kaisercraft desk organiser for mother's day last week, so I've been putting it together today using my PaperArtsy Thorndon Hall papers

The sheet music isn't Thorndon Hall, it's something random from my stash, and the piece just above the three drawers isn't covered in paper.  That has a coat of the new Fresco Finish in London Midnight, then a thin layer of the crackle glaze followed by a coat of Vintage Lace. It's magic! It's so simple, no worrying about how long to leave between coats or anything, just let the crackle dry (or dry it with a heat gun) then put on the top coat and the crackles appear.  Here's a close up, the crackles really are amazing

 I stamped a  bird from each of the three new PaperArtsy stamp plates I bought yesterday straight on top with  black archival.  It takes the image like a dream. 
Now I just have to get organised enough to put stuff in the organiser!

Ally Pally

Had a great time yesterday at Ally Pally.  Not having any craft stores anywhere nearby it's good to get to actually see all the stash in person and watching the demos is really inspiring. Managed to spend a huge sum and buy loads of stuff.  Here's a peek

I had snaffled this huge basket that DDs had filled with bath stufff at Christmas for stuff I needed to sort out. I managed to fill it one go with my Ally Pally spree.  My new pal, Freyered ( my PIF from the uber talented Donna) was so amazed she came to get a better look!

I bought lots of things that weren't on my shopping list, including some Art Parts after seeing what THE Linda Elbourne had done with them. Jennie had a geat deal on some Wendy Vecchi stamps as well as some really gorgeous new stamps, and I just had to get some of the new PaperArtsy Fresco Finishes after seeing Lin demo them, especially the crackle glaze!

Saw quite a few amazing people, including Alison, Minxy and Helen but alas did not manage to find Carmen. I think she was hiding from me :(

Anyway, am off now to play.  Hope everyone is having a good weekend and enjoying the fabulous weather x

At Last!

I finally got some time for me! Not a lot of time, and not a huge project, but it feels good to have finally made something again.... a card for my youngest DDs birthday in a couple of weeks

She may be all "grown up" but she still loves Peter Rabbit so I used a puffy sticker of him on the card, the rest is Fairy Flora background papers and graphic 45 stamps.  Unfortunately the camera flash bounced off the sticker so you can't see it.  Here it is on it's own but very blurry! My camera skills leave much to be desired!

Anyway. it's great to make something again after such a long time.  Hope everyone is having a good weekend.