The finished tree inchies

The tree inchies are all in, sorted and will be posted out tomorrow. we had 13 participants in this one and there is one inchie from each person here.


top row: Artylily, Emma C, Joanne (me)
2nd row: Jenny, Alice K
3rd row: Kaz, Seona, Louise
4th row: Mel, Jo
5th row: Zuzu, Sheri, Gillian


if you missed out on this one, the circle theme has only just started and will be open until the end of september. just let me know if you want to take part.


Thank you to all those who took part and made it a really excellent swap.

S and T

I am so behind on my alphabet ATCs. so I thought I would do S and T tonight. it may not immediatly be obvious but I have used the same leaf background for both of these. The Skipping one is actually very sparkly as all of the stamping is embossed with crystal embossing powder. The trees on the second one are embossed in copper.

talking of trees the Tree Inchies swap is due to finish tomorrw. I think I have all the ones in that I am expecting to get. but don't forget that the inchie swap with the them "circles" have only just started and you have a whole month. just let me know if you fancy joining in.

4x4 friday - woman

I was really excited by the new challenge, 4x4 friday. I love doing square pieces (1x1, 3x3 and now 4x4) so I couldn't wait to give it a go. I've made this one into a little hanging.

I've done two pictures to try to show the black embossing of at its best.

September's inchies: new swap announcement

I'm posting this a little early. The tree inchie swap will finish in about a week, so I thought it was time to announce the new swap.

September's theme is circles. Look around you and you find circles everywhere. You will be amazed when you start looking how often they appear. You can use them however you want: in the background, the main image. it doesn't even have to be a full circle, just a part of a circle is fine. Even the humble polka dot is a circle.
If you fancy taking part the rules are the same as always. Make 9 inchies (1 inch square pieces of art) using whatever method takes your fancy. keep one of them for yourself and send me the other eight with an SAE (if you are in the uk, if you are out of the uk, send me an atc or something to cover the postage!!). You will receive a random selection of eight inchies back.

If you've taken part before, you know all this. If you haven't and fancy a go, contact me through my email address on the profile on my blog and I will send you my address and answer any questions.
The closing date is september 30th

You can make 9 different or 9 all the same, or whatever. As a personal challenge I intend to make 9 completely different inchies. I've been having a quick play tonight to demonstrate a few circles, whether these 3 will make it into my final 9 is yet to be decided.

My circles are an eye, smilies and a postmark. See! Circles are everywhere

Daring Cardmakers-frills

The theme this week for daring cardmakers is frills. I hope this is acceptable. I'm not a very frilly person, but I thought it was a good opportunity to use this german scrap lace that has been sitting in my drawer for ages. I stayed with the gold theme and made gold wings by stamping onto gold mirror card, and chucking some thick gold embossing powder on the background. all stamps are Paper Artsy.
It's another 3"x3" piece for the woman swap (the swap required two pieces)

wednesday stamper stitches

I've had a bit of a lull in my crafting recently. I thought it was lack of inspiration, but have now realised it was pure and simply lack of time. I have an evening to myself of guilt free crafting and I've made this. it's a dual purpose piece. I've signed up for a 3"x3" swap with the theme woman, hosted by melanie (who is looking for further participants). what a lovely size to work on, I love it. it needed something down the left hand side so as this weeks wednesday stamper theme is "stitches" that's what I went for.

The stitches are a Paper Artsy stamp, the main image is Innovative Stamp Creations, and the writing is invoke arts. The background paper is from the new Papermania Inspirations range.

On the subject of knitting

you may have spotted on the right hand side of my blog, the hatometer for this year's supergran appeal from innocent smoothies.

But while I'm on the subject of knitting I wanted the share with you this little penguin I made for my youngest son. I was sent the pattern by Jo, who got it from Knitty.com, as my son had to have stitches in his lip last weekend. She sent him a lovely penguin card and a pattern for me. He loves his penguin.

I on the other hand look at it with a critical eye and think that the tension is too loose. So I have started the next one on smaller needles (which will result in a smaller penguin!).

Think monday, think atc

the theme this week's TMTA is numbers. I made this ATC as part of a train of thought swap with zuzu. I thought it fit well with this weeks theme.

Tree inchies- again

just to remind you that the tree inchies swap is still open (but the link has fallen of the bottom of my blog page, and I don't want anyone to miss out. here is the original post and there are lots of links to some of the magnificent inchies that have been made for this swap.
there is still nearly 3 weeks left to the closing date. plenty of time if you fancy giving it a try.
email me if you fancy giving it a go. (my email link can be found on my profile)
this is an international swap, so you can take part wherever you are.

daring card makers - photo

the dare this week is to use a photograph on a card. This is a baby card I have made using a photo of baby feet. it is for a new baby boy called fraser. unfortunately the scan doesn't show up the silver mats too well.

Think monday, think ATC - Tag

I made this ATC to send with the moon inchies I made, but as this weeks TMTA theme is tags I decided to use a tag on it so that I could enter it. The tiny tag is made using a punch.

inchies, inchies, inchies

I've signed up for yet another inchie swap. the theme for this one is black, white and silver. The only thing I could think of for this theme was the night sky. nothing else came to mind at all. so here is my first inchie for this theme. The man in the moon, the night sky and a bit of silver embossing for good measure.

moments in time

This is for a tag swap with the theme memories. The background is by paper artsy and it's coloured with watercolours. I added a little clock at the top. made with a stamp and a dome sticker to emphasise the "moments". so I have decided to make it my first entry into Daring Card Makers which has the theme "time"

The subtle art of seduction

my entry for this weeks TMTA which has the theme "lovers"

My "Hangy Piece"

I recently took part in a challenge with my forum friends for a hanging piece of art.

This is what I made, and this is the story behind it.

I had a thought I'd like to try making it out of an unusual material. and I really like corrugated cardboard. so that's what it is. I ripped a square of corrugated cardboard from some I'd been stashing. painted one side with gesso and a credit card. then I had that picture left in my draw and it all came from that really. the inspiration sort of came from my eldest son (9) and how hard he sometimes finds it when he is expected to set an example to his brother (5) when he is winding him up. I'm not quite sure where the pegs came into it all. I was looking for a way to attach the ribbon, and I found the pegs in with stuff I bought ages ago! and thought would never see the light of day again. and I thought, "hmmm could it work?" tried it and really liked the effect. and because the whole piece is so light, the pegs held it up fine.