Happy Hallowe'en

okay I've been saving myself up for my apostrophe rant. The people who know me know my obsession with the apostrophe.

The English spelling of Hallowe'en has an apostrophe. pure and simple. The apostrophe is there because it is a contraction of All Hallow's Eve, or Halloweven, the v was removed and replaced by an apostrophe.

The Americans spell it without the apostrophe. I can deal with that just fine as there are other words that the americans spell different. that's why American English is not the same as English. But over the last few years the celebrations in the UK have become very americanised (or should that be americanized?).
For example "the holidays" is not another name for Christmas in the UK. "The holidays" is when we go to the beach in the summer and sit on our deck chairs, behind our windbreaks!

I am proud of the history of the English language and hate to see it slowly slipping away. As far as I am concerned writing Halloween, is as bad as writing Shouldnt or dont. It has an apostrophe.

Plus don't you think the word just looks much more spooky with the apostrophe?



aaaaah I feel much better for that!!

so some Hallowe'en work.
I have made a tag to go on some party bags, for a hallowe'en party I am throwing for my children later today. It gave me a good excuse to remind them all about the apostrophe too!

I have also made a door hanging, as part of a Hallowe'en swap, with one very moody looking witch (I'm not referring to the person I swapped with!!!)

I am entering these for this week's Saturday Stampers, where Kaz did use the apostrope (she's a good mate!!)

wednesday stamper- well sort of!!

The theme at wednesday stamper this week is "growing old". My card not strictly on theme, but the quote is about how being old does not change how you feel about sisters!!

The card is a commission, my friend asked me to make a special card for her sister's birthday. I had the idea for what quote and stamp I was going to use but hadn't yet put much thought to the layout. So I was browsing stampington catch up when I saw cards made with the take ten template a good few issues back and I thought it might just work with this paperbag studios stamp.

So this was the quick card I came up with, gosh doesn't it cut down the time using a template!!

in case you are interested the alpabet stamp is PaperArtsy and the font for the quote is Calamity Jane from 1001 free fonts

art doll mark 2

when I made my knitted doll, the challenge that had actually been set was to make an art doll. I thought I'd now show the "serious" entry for this challenge. The clay face was provided by anjie who set the challenge. I decided I'd make mine a buttefly, because...well because I like butterflies, I also liked the idea of using acetate wings.
I had never done anything quite like this before, that's why it's called a challenge!!
I actually used this as the tag on the knitted doll when I wrapped her up.

oh and knitted doll has a friend....more on that later.

saturday stampers- winter

The theme on Saturday Stampers this week is winter. This ties in really nicely with a winter gothic arch swap I am taking part in. so here's my contribution.
I have used fusible fibres on the background, and the main stamp is by paperartsy which I've stamped in grey as a change from black.

Mermaid

This was the birthday card I made for Carrie. This is the first time I used this mermaid stamp which is from Once Upon a Stamp. I love her wild hair! that's exactly what hair looks like underwater. I remember from years of drowning my sindy dolls.

The little shell stamp is from crafty individuals, and the fossil stamp is anita's
I've sprayed the background with moonglow mist. you can see a bit of the sparkle in the close up. the snipped bit of card sort of came about by accident. the picture didn't fit the mat properly but I'd already stuck it down. so I tried to trim it while it was stuck but my scissors slipped. but I liked it so I snipped it some more. I might even use that "technique" again sometime!

wednesday stamper - inchies

Well if ever there was a wednesday stamper theme made for me, then this is it!
I love inchies. they are my crafting quick fix when I don't have much time.
I have made my inchie to fit in with the current swap that I am running. the theme is orange and black. and although they don't have to be a hallowe'en theme, I have chosen to do this one for hallowe'en. the background is done with acrylics, and the stamped clown is courtesy of seona (thanks seona)

if anyone is interested in joining my international inchie swap the details are here.

Think Pink

This month is breast cancer awareness month, and in honour of this the monthly tag swap I participate in has the theme of think pink ladies.

Here's my tag, and my thoughts go out to all those who are touched by this disease.

don't forget you can help fund free mammograms by clicking this link. it's free and you can do it every day.

In honour of this worthy cause. I have also made my blog pink (temporarily)

my knitted doll

The forum I am on had a challenge to create an "art doll" but this was a very loose challenge, and I decided to knit mine. I have been inspired by the knitted babes, but I don't have this book (yet), so this doll (named abbey by her new owner) was my design. I made her using what I like to call "instinctive knitting" otherwise known as "making it up as I go along" I have no pattern for her so even if I tried to make another one, it would not be the same.

anyway, I was really pleased with her and I had a fun time taking pictures of her!

she now lives HERE

inchies : update and new swap

I am waiting on a few circle inchies to come in, so I have extended the closing date until I have received the ones I am expecting. so if you have taken part. you can expect your inchies back quite soon.

I am going to be offline for a couple of days unless my wonderful husband manages to fix the problem with our internet connection at home, so I thought I would announce October's Inchie theme.

I am inspired by Hallowe'en (note the apostrophe, but I'll save that rant for another day!) for this swap. but rather than choosing hallowe'en, I am going with the colours often associated with hallowe'en, orange and black. Your inchies can be any theme you like as long as they are mostly orange and black.

anybody who has taken part in my swaps before knows what to do as the rules are always the same.

for any new people that would like to take part. you make 9 inchies (1"x1" pieces of art), keep 1 for yourself and send the other 8 to me with an SAE (you can forget the sae if you are sending from outside the uk, and send me an ATC or something instead)

you will then receive a random selection of 8 back.
email me via the address in my profile for my address if you would like to take part.


The closing date is 31st October-Hallowe'en

wednesday stamper - moo cards

This week's wednesday stamper challenge is moo cards. which are mini cards 2.8cm x 7cm.
I've never had a go at moo cards before, but at least I wasn't put off by the size, as I love working on a small scale, inchies and such like.

I've done quite a simple design which is easily replicated as I've just made a dozen of these as they are handy to put in with swaps and RAKs

saturday stamper gothic arch

I made this for the fantastic new challenge blog, saturday stampers. This week's theme is trees, and since the gothic arch challenge has an autumn theme this week I thought I would combine the two.

little wings inchie

This weeks challenge on inching artists (inchies challenge blog) is "little wings" I thought this stampsmith stamp fit the theme perfectly. The background and words are paperartsy and the background is embossed with holographic powder.

another double challenge

This week's challenge on wednesday stamper is "fish". I found this image at a flea market in spain earlier in the year, and this was the perfect opportunity to use it.
The fish stamp is by Paper artsy.
I received this flourish die today, so I thought I would combine the challenge with 4x4 friday, the theme there is "flouirsh". I decided to use the flourish to hang the piece.

a very quick wednesday stamper

I really didn't have time to do a wednesday stamper as I a supposed to be getting ready to go away for the weekend, but I didn't want to miss this one as I think it's a great theme. ATC triptych.
so I've done this one. really quick. the ATCs are mounted onto tri-folded black card so they stand freely.

women inchies

These inchies are for a swap on zuzu's forum. The theme is women. I need to make 9 altogether, but here are my first five.

sea inchie

This week's theme on the inching artists' blog is "under the sea". so I quickly made this one today, between acting as a taxi for the kids. the background paper is papermania and the main image (fish) is Paper Artsy. the starfish is a punch that I bought on impulse (because it was cheap) so I thought I'd better use it. I also added a bit of glitter, just because!!

I have used the sea as a theme in my swap before, here's the link for the one I made for that.

if you are interested in taking part in my swap, the current theme is circles and the closing date is 30th september.

Gothic Arch

This week's Gothic Arch Challenge is "Family". One of the most special people in my life is my sister. When we were growing up we were typical sisters and fought like cat and dog. but under that I now see the love we had and how much we looked after each other. And now as grown ups, she is my best friend. so for my family arch I have chosen to show the relationship that has developed between us

Did someone mention inchies?

There is a new challenge blog, (yes another one) but this one is for all us inchies lovers. The theme this week is spirals so I've made this one, to represent the state of my brain, lol!
If any of you inchie lovers have found your way to my blog and are interested in swapping inchies, I run an international monthly inchie swap. this month's theme is circles. please contact me via my email address on my profile if you are interested in taking part.

double whammy

This week's theme on wednesday stamper is mulberry paper. I have a drawer full of this stuff, because I never use it. I bought it when I first started cardmaking, and I thought it was "the biz" but it's amazing how quickly you move on. I decided I would take the wednesday stamper challenge, and see if I could make something good with it, but I'm still not convinced. I've used 4 different colours of mulberry paper. I water coloured onto the white, just to see how well it took water colour.

the main stamp is innovative stamp creations and was the first unmounted stamp I ever got (I was given it by Jo, a long time ago) and today is the first time I have noticed the little birds on it in the the bottom right hand corner. so as this weeks 4x4 friday theme is birds I thought I would take that as my inspiraton for this piece.

anyway off to put the mulberry paper back in the drawer.

My first ever gothic arch

I've never tried a gothic arch before but the gothic arch challenge blog was just too tempting. The theme is moon. so this is what I've made. I hope you like it.

I am also entering this for saturday stampers, as it is based on a poem.

(in response to comments)
and according to my dictionary, shoon means shoes! it is the archaic plural of shoe. The quote is by Walter de la Mare

Slowly, silently, now the moon
Walks the night in her silver shoon:
This way and that she peers, and sees
Silver fruit upon silver trees.