18 Days, 18 Time Zones and a Grand Masquerade Ball

Yes that's what Mike and I have been up to over the past few weeks. We spent part of the time in the Caribbean, followed by 6 days crossing the Atlantic which for me was the most exciting part. We sailed away surrounded by glassy blue seas, watched flying fish, whales and dolphins and saw blank beauty - sea and sky. We rounded our time off sailing in the Med. I did spend some time working - honest!
There was plenty of inspiration and I found myself enjoying writing. I'm hoping to include some of those musings in a canvas I've got planned. I was also totally transfixed by the work of Gaudi. After spending time with a guy in Barcelona who was a Gaudi groupee I found my brain ticking over about the genius of the man- staggering - I came home with scrap pages laid out in my mind with hints of Gaudi thrown in. All I need now is some time to get lost in my own thoughts!!!
I shall leave you with a sample I made recently ... stamps are available from Graphicus

Mixed Media

For the past couple of weeks I've been engaged in the mixed media classes at Graphicus and I came home yesterday with my mind in overdrive with little projects I want to play with. The creative energy flowing round the room couldn't be contained. FANTASTIC and for those booked on the one day class next week you're going to have ssssoooo much fun. I shall post my projects once finished and believe you me these will not get left to one side!!!

Take Time...

Had a fab conversation with a lady this week who was talking about how relaxing her new found hobby was... she had started making cards and had become so absorbed in what she was doing because she wanted to take her time, that she forgot to cook her husband's tea .... and so the conversation continued. This lady was so right - in the everyday business of life we rush around just so we can have time to do the things we enjoy. So this morning with duster and polish in hand I set about with a flurry of cleaning activity - even the dog was bemused - so I can now spend the day doing things I like!!
I'll leave you with a couple of samples from Stamptivity

Nesties

Here are a couple of samples using some nestibilities - as promised to the ladies who recently attended the class at Graphicus. The card base was cut on the cricut using the doily from the wild card cartridge. The paper - a single sheet was from my graphics guild paper pack. Just cut into the nestie flowers to make your petals stand proud. As an aside if anyone wants a versatile embossing mat to use nestibilities / brass stencils etc with their cuttlebug contact Glenda and the team and they will sort you out.



This sample uses my favourite cuttlebug smooching technique - try it on Bazil Bling cardstock it's scrummy. The frame was cut using a corner punch and finished off with a stampboard tile and some prima flowers

Flourish Flowers

This was something that I made up today from some bits & bobs I had left over from the Graphicus demo days. The flower is made from an accent essentials flourish layered over some nestie oval cut outs! My favourite has to be the cardstock - part of the Graphicus Guild paper pack.
TFL
Annette

Graphicus Open Days

Looking forward to seeing you at Graphicus Open Days this Friday and Saturday. I know there is some gorgeous goodies to be had - I've got my eyes on some fabulous My Minds Eye 12 x 12 papers and new Tim Holtz stamps. Hope to see you there
I'll leave you with a scrapbook layout of my baby boy aged 2 days - I wasn't into scrapping then!!







Annette

Play Day

We had a very busy play day at Graphicus a couple of weekends ago when a group of cuttlebug fanatics got together to cuttle to their hearts content!! Thank you for a fab day ladies - I hope you enjoyed yourselves as much as I did and looking forward to the next time!
Here is a photo of something we played around with - cuttlebug embossing folders, nestabilities, glimmer mists and some gorgeous rubber stamps made by Elusive Images from their butterfly collage A4 plate.

Happy Stamping