Everyday is a day to smile

I'm so pleased to be one of over 120 bloggers participating in this amazing blog hop for Operation Julie’s Smile.  If you came here from the The Craft's Meow Blog, then you are in the right spot.  If not, you may want to start from the beginning at the Sweet Stamp Shop’s blog and take your time.   You have ALL WEEKEND to hop with us and win prizes!

Nicole Rixon, of the Sweet Stamp Shop, came up with the plan for this blog hop when she heard of Julie's plight (you can read Julie's story here, or over at the Sweet Stamp Shop), and has gathered numerous prizes from both a wide range of companies, and from individuals, which are available to win by leaving comments, contributing to the fund, and/or hosting within the hop.  Julie has spent many hours putting this hop together as her contribution to the event.  And today is the day it all kicks off!!

If you've not visited me here before, welcome!  I love to make all sorts of things, sometimes from paper, sometimes from fabric.  Today I'm sharing a fabric creation that I made whilst on holiday in Cornwall this summer.   I loved making these hand felted necklaces; the little tiny shells are ones I found on the beach near to where we were staying.  This is my small contribution to the huge collection of over £1,500 worth of prizes available during this blog hop.   

After needle felting merino wool and snippets of wool, ribbon and lace to a piece of acrylic felt I added tiny beads, a little stitching and the local shells.  I'm definitely a 'snippets' girl, even in my work with paper I'm always using little tiny bits n pieces :)

Julie and I go waaaaaaaaaaaay back, meeting on the internet over ten years ago now, and I'm honoured to be able to help out my fabulous friend in getting her smile back.  The above envelope is the result of one of the little packets of goodies Julie sent me last year (we exchange things when we have a pile of lovely stuff to share!).  Julie sent me a punched shoe shape which I cut round to create a corrugated version, then layered it onto some collaged paper.  This is featured in this month's ' the stamper's sampler', again due to Julie :) :) :)  I still can't believe they gave me such a good spread, I even dreamt about it last night lol.

My British reserve means I hate asking for money, but I also know that if we all lived nearby we'd be helping out our friend in numerous ways, including financial, so if you'd like to make a contribution, click on the link in the sidebar.

To be eligible to win a prize, don't forget to leave a comment before hopping over to 

 Made by Fee

Good luck!

USArtQuest Design Team Launch and BLoG HoP!

Welcome to the USAQ very first BLoG HoP!  It's so exciting to have you join us :) [and a bit scary for me as I get to kick the whole thing off - that's what comes of marrying into the beginning of the alphabet!]  Just look at this yummy prize [and it really is yummy, those sheets of flake are A5 in places!]

This Draw & Gild Kit retails at $29.99 in the States, and I've not been able to find it in the UK.  They're shipping internationally with this prize so if you want a chance of winning this, get hopping, and leave each designer a comment by 11.59pm EST on Sunday 27th June [for those in the UK, comment by 5am Monday 28th June]!  In case you get lost, here is a list of the order you must hop

start here with me, Sarah Anderson

Suzi Blu

Lea Cioci
Jessica Griffin
Jan Hennings
Terri Sproul
Connie Vogt
Julie Ranae
USAQ Blog

I played with my new Shrooms with the 'Draw & Gild Kit'.  I never knew you could stamp with Duo  Embellishing Adhesive, but you can!

All you do is put some Duo onto your stamp [I did it directly from the bottle but it was a bit runny and I ended up with too much - try a sponge or a brush].

Stamp onto your paper [I had so much Duo on my stamp I was able to stamp the image twice - can you see it in the top right hand corner?] then immediately clean your stamp [I use a baby wipe] and wait for the Duo to become clear.  As Sue would say 

"If you see white, it's not right

If you see clear, it will adhere"

So once it's clear, lay some of the gilding leaf onto the tacky image and press gently with your fingers.

Gently rub away the excess with the texture sponge; I use a circular motion.

Et voila!  Beautiful gilded shrooms to make beautiful art with :)

Whilst waiting for my Duo to go from white to clear (I was in a cold cellar room) I had a play with the fine calligraphy pen - Oh My Goodness!  I LoVeD it!  More on that in the week.  Until then, leave me a comment, then hop on over and visit

Suzi Blu

Happy Hopping!

EDIT: to leave a comment, click on 'arty ponderings' below

thanks 

weird crochet...and last day of the Stamp Man Blog Hop

Crochet keeps me sane!  Whilst the rest of the family were plugged into machinery (computer games, nintendo dsi, psp) I sat crocheting in front of the real fire and felt a bit like an old granny!!  Except I'm not sure this is what granny's crochet!!  :)

 

It's a bit of a late entry, but I'm hoping that, with postal delays, and closure between Christmas and New Year, that it'll still be accepted for Manchester Craft Village's Yarnbombing exhibit!  They're wrapping the balcony rail with crocheted or knitted pieces.  I meant to enter this earlier but completely forgot then over  Christmas remembered and gave it a go.  Even if it gets sent back, I had great fun making it :)

Especially as John Lewis had wool in their Sale so I treated myself to a couple of balls of thick, chunky wool.  And a lovely crochet book fell into my basket whilst I was buying a book for my Dad on Amazon, which gave me the instructions for the leaves etc  :)

 

If you've got a lazy Sunday ahead of you, don't forget that the Stamp Man blog hop, candy and award event finishes tonight, midnight GMT.  I've loved being a blog on this hop.  I've met new people, and found one lives close by - yay!!!  My contribution is HERE, but you need to start at THE STAMP MAN.  Happy Hopping!!

ooo...ooo...ooo

I've got 50 followers!!!  Hee hee hee.  It's very, very nice to know that people like my blog enough to want to follow it and there's just something about having 50.  So thankyou all, and a special hello to the newbies :)

This is what I actually came to blog!!  Although the title still follows!! 

Jill's having a blog hop.  :) :) :)

I've only recently started doing these and they're great fun; you get to see loads of blogs you might never have found, and there are giveaways on the way.  Jill's treat is that this starts on the Sunday after Christmas so gives us all something to look forward to after the joy of Christmas. 

We'd love you to copy and paste the above image on your sidebar so we get lots of people joining in.  The more the merrier!  Visiting other people who leave comments is another way of finding new blogs to fall in love with :)

Now I can't say my sewing machine needle appreciated getting gunked up with embossing powder on occasion whilst getting these cards finished but it coped admirably.  I'm pleased with them.

Hope you can see these cards; sorry they're white on almost white!!

I woke to some amazement re the snow this am.  You saw the inch or so we had.  Well, it froze last night, so we woke to warnings on the radio from police and ambulance to only make essential journeys as the conditions were so treacherous.  But I guess ice is ice and it doesn't really matter if it's an inch thick or three inches thick, it's still nasty, nasty stuff.  And it was bad out there!  But the main roads improved throughout the day so driving was actually safer than walking!