Is it a month ALREADY.....

I just can't believe how fast time has flown since I last posted.... it's passing me by at a rate of knots!! Could be that I've been down with the dreaded lurgy which has slowed down my decorating antics and made me take to my bed. The will to keep awake and keep going was in my mind but my body it seems had other ideas. DG began with a cold that lasted 2 days and kindly breathed my way.... the result... almost two weeks of coughing, sneezing and sleeping combined with the headaches from hell that had me wondering if I had succumbed to swine flu... but without the energy to do anything about it if I had.
I'm coming out the other end slowly however, even a short walk to the loo has me feeling like taking to my bed again.... the moral of the story..... never let a snot laden kid within ten miles of you when there's work to be done....lol
Just sharing some pics of an experimental hand crochet beaded necklace, ('nother done before today project....lol)

Hopefully I will be back really soon, as my own internet connection should be up and running in the next couple of week and ALL of my decorating will be FINISHED..... YEEEEEEEHAAAAAAA...... did I say FINISHED?....... YEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSS!!!!!

I promise you some photies next visit.... it's taken a long time but the transformation is sooooooo worth it :D

hugs

Chris xx

eeek!! What a shape....rofl

Fed up and painted out I spent the night at pal Chriss' house, after chatting on the phone and totally on impulse, I left my house as I was ...knowing that no matter how I turned up Chrissy wouldn't turn a hair...lol She kindly decided that I should share with you my fantastic new fashion statement.....so took some pics of my fabby designer trousers to share with you... you don't get to see the rest of me....tooooo painful....lolI freaked when I saw this pic.... but believe me that REALLY ISN'T my normal shape...lol My painter trousers have grown a shape and life of their own after six weeks of hand wiping additions. Don't know what cloths are for me :D

Not really doin' any work here... photo is staged... if you look close you can see there's no paint in the tray...lol
Okay that's enuf from me today.... work to be done and all that.... today sanding walls....uuurrrgh... but one step nearer to having some me time and crafting fun... so onwards and upwards as they say :D
Hope you aren't too envious of my designer duds....lol
Have a fab bank holiday all.
hugs
Chris xx

Metal atc's with alcohol inks

Everything is taking soooooo much longer than planned with the decorating etc.... you know the saying 'the best laid plans' an all that!! Well I am beavering away and must admit I am getting sick to the high teeth of looking at paint cans etc but because the walls decided to fall with my latest wallpaper stripping efforts I now have 3 times as much work as originally planned. Lining paper has become the latest must have addition in my quest for a space that is liveable... hopefully it will solve many problems and mean that sooner... rather than later... I will have somewhere to put my sofa so's I can put my feet up for a while.
'tis DD's 27th Birthday today so I have just popped in during a well earned rest before I go help her celebrate with a big fat cream cake and a teensy weensy drink :D Mind you knowing that each year along with DD... I also get older.... doesn't fill me wif glee... specially as half a century is looming... OMG did I say half a century.... ok not for a couple of years yet.... can breathe a little for now...lol
These atc's are ones which I did for my pal Chriss' monthly atc club swap.
All images are from Lisa's altered art

The theme was 'Metal'

Backgrounds were created by running metal through script embossing folder and then adding Tim Holtz alcohol inks.

With just a few adhesive half pearls added in strategic places for added decoration.
I was quite attached to all of these and it was really hard work letting them go. I hope the recipients enjoyed them :D Hope to be back with you all soon cos I am soooooo missing my blog hopping and all your gorgeous creations.

hugs till then

Chris xx

2 down,2 half done and 2 to go.....

places to decorate that is!! Okay the main reason for my absence is that I have moved house and oh boy what a lot of work to do.
2 rooms down, 2 half done and two to go....ooooooer
I have scraped, filled, sanded, painted, laid carpet and burnt the candle at both ends for weeks but hey it will all be worth it in the end. The t.v. program changing rooms don't have a look in...lol There will be lots of pics later but as I'm still borrowing computer time I can't upload anything right now.
My bedrooms are all done... bathroom and staircase almost there.... kitchen getting done(fingers crossed) at weekend and then only one more room to go....... cor I will need a rest after all this.
I must say though the self satisfaction at a job well done is fab.... I'm not very good at delegating cos I'm so bloomin' fussy.... so it serves me right if I'm knackered :D
I'm even considering learning to plaster...ha ha..... well I almost re-plastered the staircase the amount of filler I had to use for the million of holes left once the wallpaper was removed...hummmph.
So while you are having fun with your crafting.... spare a thought for this busy old bird cos curtain making and picture painting will have to suffice for my playtime until my boudoir is complete :D Can't wait to share with you the fruits of my labour but all in good time.

Ok some crafty stuff..... not made lately but luckily I had saved this ready to post before I moved so I would still have something to share with you.
I love wooden beads and I luuuuuurve playing with chain since I started jewellery making but although I was quite good with the set above..... I kinda lost the plot with the bracelet.... I will need someone to help lift the arm I wear this on in the future...lol

Hope you are all well and having fun and I hope to be back with you all real soon if everything goes according to plan.

Off to make curtains now...... wish me luck :D

hugs
Chris xx

atc's

Well I've managed to get online again for a wee while so sharing a couple of atc's I did a while back.... not much crafting going on right now... well unless you count painting walls :D Wish I dared to be as adventurous in my home as I am with my crafty bits.... but I know I would get carried away so I have to stop myself :) I remember once lifting all the floor tiles in another house and deciding to paint the floor with caribean crush paint (in your face orangy peach colour...lol) and then stencilling multi coloured massive flowers in a border all the way round....blimey!! Felt good at the time but I have to put restraints on myself now cos I know that I wouldnt stop at plain colour OR stencilling...lol
A few SAFE experiments on paper to make backgrounds allow me to rein in my mad tendancies at home thankfully.
Images are all from Lisa's altered art.

Thanks for looking.
hugs
Chris xx

Altered box

Just a quick pop in... busy...busy...busy...lol I am still alive and kicking :D Sorry still not been able to visit any of you.... tis the pits not having me own internet at the mo. Anyway just a little share... a box I altered with metal embossed with the cuttlebug script embossing folder and lots of bits and pieces added from my stash.

All images are from Lisa's Altered Art.

Hope to be back again soon.

hugs Chris xx

Lots of changes....

happening in my life right now.... some good.... some not so good. I will be a bit hit and miss with my blogging and visiting for a while... one of the reasons being that I am having to rely on using my sis' computer right now. I will be around as much as I can but I hope you will bear with me until things have settled down.
Just a little atc today... the background was made digitally from some handpainted papers and the funky little girl image is from Lisa's altered art .

Thanks for popping by
hugs
Chris xx

d.d.d.d.d.d.d.DOODLING and d.d.d.d.d.d.d.DUST

Well two things I've learned this week are that having a new bathroom fitted... no matter how nice it looks... means lots of DUST (honestly how far does it spread... the only place it seems to have missed is me knicker drawer..lol) and it also means lots of stress...I HATE upheaval... moving things and feeling like this isn't really YOUR home you're living in..bah!! It also means lots of Decorating...uuuurgh more work and less crafting :( Still it'll be all worth it when it's finished I guess :)

To keep me sane while all the banging and rattling was going on I had to find something that was quite tidy to do... couldn't be done with more mess!! and I rediscovered DOODLING (happy sigh) OMG I'd forgotten how much fun it could be. Armed with a sketch pad and a pack of felt pens (did I tell you I LOVE Tesco cheapo felties...did I...did I.... did I.... well I do....lol) I just played and scribbled and coloured and ended up in seventh Heaven...ooooooh I love colour. I did lots and lots of pages and I have decided this will be my new lose myself addiction... it's great cos you can leave it and come back to it for a minute or an hour or two...total bliss!!
I decided to scan some of my doodling so I could play with it further and use it in some of my hybrid/digi creations and as the Something Completely Different challenge this week is tags(hearts) I cropped out parts of a couple of doodled pages and added digi images to them whoohooo... love the effect and I think they look totally cool. The Owl Cluster and Mary Mary images are freebies which can be found at Cens loft... the Owl Cluster is a free image on it's own but the Mary Mary image is from a free kit :D Pop over here and grab yourself some gorgeous goodies that you can use in your digi and hybrid creations... you won't be disappointed. June has some fab stuff to share and her storytelling is quite unique too... often leaving me howling with laughter ...what a lady :D Now another fabulous lady... June from ArtyRetreat is another star and shares lots of AWESOME images to use in your creating. Pop over to her blogs at ArtyRetreat to see her lovely work and to her Art freebies blog to see her wonderful vintage images which she shares every day... Brilliant!!

June has tagged me with the 6th challenge:-

Go tho the 6th folder in your Pictures folder.

Find 6th Picture and tell a story about it.

List 6 bloggers you'd like to participate (no obligation)

I've done this tag before but as I've had a recent reshuffle of my folders I'm lucky enough to be able to share something different.

I've so many photos and pictures on my ''puter that often I forget just what is actually there and I spent ages engrossed in looking at pics I'd forgotten about which is why I'm posting today instead of yesterday. Reminiscing was the name of the game :D

Anyway here is my 6th folder photo. I visited Preston Hall Museum over a year ago and had forgotten how many pics I had taken... lots from Butterfly world which is fabulous and apart from the obvious family pics I just had to take some shots of some of the beautiful colourful plants they have on show. I believe that this one is called Bleeding Hearts... but don't quote me on that... I'm definitely not that up on plant names... I just know I love the pretty ones.

Ok I'd like to see what these ladies have in their photo folders :-

Chriss

Gez

Karen

Pearl

Terrie

Dawn

I also wanted to share this photo with you... cos I found this on my scouring through my folders and I love how it turned out. It's a photo of my Angel lamp love...love... love my lamp. Not every ones cup of tea but as soon as I saw it about 8 yrs ago I just knew I had to have it. She looks so gorgeous lit up on a dark dreary night :D Well congrats if you made it to the end of this post...lol... feast or famine is the name of my game eh. Hope you are having some fabby crafting time and hope to pop by and visit as many of you as I can this week.

Until then...stay happy

hugs

Chris xx

Three R's Twinchie set

Well I don't know who called our learning the three R's probably someone who wrote as they spoke...lol but I made this set of inchies for two challenges combined and then forgot to post them duh!!. One was for the Something Completely different challenge where the theme was 'pink and green'... the other was for the Small world of Inchies and Twinchies where the theme was 'school'.
The background paper is a lovely one from a booklet by Joanna Sheen...I just love text backgrounds.

The images are all from Lisa's Altered Art

Sorry not sure who's the pen stamp is but the 'bling' well that's ALL MINE from me stash...lol

Have a fab day all

hugs

Chris xx

Metal effect necklaces and brooches with alcohol inks

The Simon says challenge this week says Craft with Tim Holtz... the man himself...so who can resist. Using one of Tim's products... my favourite...Alcohol inks... I decided to create some jewellery.
First of all a necklace using a disc created with Cuttlebugged metal which I coated with alcohol ink. I layered ten discs of card sticking them together to resemble chipboard before adhering the metal to it. The metal was put through the script cuttlebug folder once the right way and then turned 90 degrees and put through again for the effect on this metal. I also made a matching brooch using the same technique and adding a bottlecap image from Lisa's altered art to the centre before decorating with pearl half beads

As usual I got a wee bit carried away and couldn't stop at one... so I did another using different coloured Alcohol inks combining red and green (my favourite colours of the moment) allowing the gold metal underneath to show through. This metal was put through the script folder just once.

I sanded over the top of both pieces to remove the ink from the top layer which turned silver. Playtime and happy accidents once again...lol
Have a great day all

hugs

Chris xx