It's time I was back here

Hello you lovely people,

I can not believe that I have not blogged since the end of January and feel ashamed and sad because I have really missed you all.  Some of you know that my health had not been at it's best and I was desperately trying to get well enough to go and visit my Dad and family in New Zealand.

Well I am happy to report that not only did I get to New Zealand but that I had the time of my life with my dear Dad, my Auntie Edna whom I speak to on the phone every week but have never met, she is 87yrs old and her and I have a lot of things in common.  My Uncle Barry and Auntie Carol travelled over from Australia to meet me for the first time also, so there I was surrounded by my family the only people missing were my two children and my amazing sister Tina who lives in York.

I had my birthday while I was in New Zealand and we were all together to celebrate that, the memories will be with me forever.  My Dad threw two birthday parties for me, one in Rotorua where he and Auntie Edna live and one in Auckland which is where my Dad was living when I first found him after 30yrs of not knowing where he was or anything about him.

The long journey to and from New Zealand were very hard going for me and took it out on my poor old body but the holiday was so worth the pain and discomfort.

The hot air balloon was my birthday present from my Dad, he knew it was the last thing on my wish list which I had drawn up as a teenager.  I had honestly told myself that sadly it was something I would never be able to achieve now that my health was going down hill.  The firm that run these hot air balloon rides are one of New Zealand's finest companies and so professional.  They were so helpful to me and made sure that this ride was one that I could do with their help.

My Dad and I both cried on this day, I because I was living my dream and my wonderful Dad had made it all possible for me and my Dad because he knew just how much this meant to me.  Oh boy what a day one that will live with us both forever. The Champagne breakfast that followed was also very special and finished off this fantastic day for me.

I now have two scrapbooks to make one all about my family that had been kept from me for those 30yrs before I was able to trace my Dad, I have bought old photo's and original documents back with me to use.  Plus I will be doing a scrapbook on my holiday in New Zealand full of all the wonderful friends I made while there and of all the amazing places I visited.  I may show some of this on my blog as it takes shape but it is something that will take time as scrapbooking is a new thing to me.

I now intend to get back to crafting and sharing with you all the things I am working on and making.  I am looking forward to getting back to our Wednesday WOYWW as boy have I missed seeing all your desks.

I hope you will stick with me and encourage me to get back into doing what I love most, getting covered in ink and paint with a great project at the end of it.

Take care for now and keep watching this space for project and joining me on my journey.

TTFN

Ria

Another look at what I have been up to

Hi Bloggers,

I didn't get time to blog about the cards I put on Facebook over the last couple of days so I will share them with you today.

This card was made by using the embossing folder twice which you would normally do to continue the pattern but I was really surprised that this one looked like it had been done using the one embossing folder.

The background for this card was the ink that was still left on my craft mat after using it to make another background.  I had used my distress ink pads to put ink down on my craft mat and spritzed with water and took a piece of card through the ink.  I then dried that piece of card, spritzed again with what was still on the mat and took my piece of card through it again.  Once I was happy with the background I was working on I decided to use a spare piece of card and soak up the last of the ink on it.

This background was made up of going through the left over ink of about 8 different backgrounds I worked on.

Once I had embossed the card I took my StazOn ink pad over the top of the raised areas to make them stand out.  Once I was happy with that I then started to work different colours of distress ink in to the piece .  I cut the railings from a spellbinders die from kraft card and went over it with key lime radiant rains.

This card was made using the same folder but only used once.  The background was built up using the metallic pan pastels.  The background was black card that was put through an embossing folder and then covered with clear embossing powder and heated twice to give a glossy finish to it.

This card was made using one of the new embossing folders and some of the flower stamps that go with the new folders.  I used centura pearl card to put through the folder and then went over it with pan pastels.  Once I was happy with the build up of colour I took the ice silks over it to seal the pastels but to also give the piece some wonderful bling.

The flowers were stamped on to some centura pearl card that had been covered in the silks, cut out given a bit of shaping and then a pretty pearl was added to the centres.  The panels were cut and layered on to a sheet of card that started with a dark pink colour and went down to a light pink.

Well it is only one more sleep and then it will be time for Sheena's four day deals with these wonderful embossing folders, 12 of them in total and I am sure you will want them all.  Be sure to tune in to watch the Master of Stamping at work and press record so you can go back to look at her techniques.

TTFN
Ria

Sheena Douglass - New Embossing Folders

Hello Bloggers,

I have been shut away in my craft room busy working on my DT pieces and we have now got to the stage where we can start giving you a sneak peak of what's to come.

Sheena Douglass has been a busy lady designing embossing folders to go with some of her wonderful stamps that we already have in our collections.  Sheena will be on our screens at Create & Craft on Monday 27th January bringing you not only her folders but lots of her techniques in using them.

Today I have a sample to show you that was easy to put together but one that I loved making, it just felt right to me.

This is using a 5"x 7" embossing folder that goes with the Ageing Beautifully Stamp set.  The stamp set is one that gets used time and time again as it is so versatile.

I started by working on a piece of white centura pearl card on the non shinny side and making some splats using my distress stains.

I then used the torn edge, the little stain stamp and the hessian stamp, they were all stamped using gathered twigs distress ink pad.

I cut some kraft card to the size of the embossing folder and with the folder laying open on my desk I took the gathered twigs distress ink pad over the bottom part of the folder.  I then placed the right side of the card face down on to the inked surface and ran it through my embossing machine.

I stamped the sentiment from Only Words - From The Heart set on some more centura pearl card and cut it out using Spellbinders Labels Twenty-Eight.  I then did some more splats on this pieces and then I used my blending tool around all the edges.

I stamped the dragonfly from the Flying Colours stamps in black ink on kraft card, cut it out and went around it with the gathered twigs.

This was then all mounted on to an 8"x 8" Kraft Card.

I will be back again tomorrow with another DT piece so please do leave me a comment and if you like what you are seeing feel free to pop back.

Ria

WOYWW #240

Hello Blog Hoppers,

I can't begin to tell you how happy I am to be sitting here blog hopping after over two months of not being well enough to do much at all.  This WOYWW is so addictive and when you can't take part for whatever reason you really do miss it.

If you have just landed on my blog and are unsure of what WOYWW is all about then jump on over to Julia's blog for all the details and the link to enable you to join us on our journey around the world looking at other crafters work spaces.

On my work space I have a little thank you box that was made for a dear friend for helping me out.

This started out as a paper mache heart box that was given to me as part of a Christmas present from the same friend that I then gave it back to once I had worked on it.

This is the finished box which I had so much fun decorating and I knew as soon as I got the heart just what I was going to do with it, mojo was in full swing!

This is another view of it in it's finished state showing the little tag with Gill's name on it.  If you would like to know what I used and how I made this drop by over the next couple of days and I will have blogged a step by step post for you.

Going to keep it short and sweet today so I can look in on as many of you as possible because I have missed you all.

If you come across my blog please do leave me a comment I really enjoy reading what you have to say and if you like what you see jump on board as a follower and take the crafting journey with me.

TTFN

Ria

Happy 2014 to all my followers

Hello you wonderful people,

Yes I am sure you have been wondering where I have been and why nothing new has been appearing on my blog.

Sadly my health has been getting in the way of me doing a lot of things and I have found it very difficult to stay focused and concentrate when trying to use my laptop.  It looks like my laptop has also taken a sickie as all of my pictures and images have disappeared which is very frustrating. I have managed to reinstall all my side bars but I can not get my pictures back on my posts.  As this is the case I have decided that I won't worry about it I will put it down to both me and my laptop being off colour and start a fresh from 1st January 2014 and we will move forward from there.

I have managed to keep on top of my design makes for Sheena Douglass and it has been nice to see some of them on Create and Craft.  So on that note I thought I would start this fresh post showing you the pieces that I made with Sheena's latest stamps "Underwater Angels" and "Hidden Stars".  These stamps were created to work alongside her beech themed stamps.

This was made using Centura Pearl Card, Acetate and the new Luminarte Silks and both sets of stamps.

I coloured the images using my Spectrum Noir Pens on this one.

I liked the use of the red and two blues on this card it makes it more masculine.

This card was made using embossing folders and some of the Pebeo Gilding Wax.  The Pebeo Gilding Wax is so creamy and so different to all the other brands out there and you only need to use the smallest amount to get a result.

This card was made using the caught in crystal effect using the good old floor polish from so many years ago.

This box I made using embossing folders, gilding wax, silks, spectrum noirs and shells and bits from my stash.

So this is some of the work I was busy working on before Christmas and I am sitting waiting patiently for some new Sheena Douglass pieces to land on my hall mat so that I can get creating again for an up and coming show.  Be sure to watch this space for sneak peaks at what I have been up to.

It is my intention to get back in to joining in the WOYWW again so I can travel around the world looking at what you have all been up to and leaving you comments and catching up with you all.

I am hoping that this coming year is a much better one for me where my health is concerned as I have to be ready for my six week holiday to New Zealand to stay with my dad and celebrate my birthday with him other family members and a lot of my dads friends.

I would like to thank all of you that have come back to check if I am still blogging and please do leave comments as I appreciate the time you have taken to leave them and I really enjoy reading them. 

If you are new to my blog, welcome please feel free to leave comments and if you would like to join me on my crafting journey then please hit that follow button.

Happy New Year to each and everyone of you out there in craft and blog land.

Ria

Oriental Sell Out

Hello you lovely people,

Well did you all manage to catch what was meant to be a Pick of a Week show for Sheena Douglass with her Oriental Theme.  What a woman, she had a sell out in just three days and that means there are a lot of you out there about to get some amazing crafting items land on your door step.

This was one of my favourite pieces that I made for the show and it was the sample that they had on an easel to highlight this set of stamps.

I cut a piece of black card to 8"x 8" and then a piece of Centura Pearl a little smaller to be able to matt and layer.

I used a piece of cut and dry foam and Pumice Stone and Victorian Velvet Distress Ink and blended this over the centura pearl card on the non coated side of the card.  Once you have done the blending you will look at the card and think, that can't be right as it looks nothing at this stage.  Once you have done the other bits to build the background up is when you see the magic and when the colours come to life.  I flicked water over the card and allowed it to lift the colour in places.

I then used Versa Mark Ink and the Small Tree Stamp along with the Written Panel and stamped these over the background and I covered them with dry Primary Element Powders. While brushing on the primary elements I brushed some of the loose powder over the whole area of card.  I then lightly spritzed the card and watched as the primary elements came to life in little beaded areas. This is when you really get to see the colours come to life.

The tree, bridges, birds on the branch and the sentiment were all stamped and heat embossed.  I coloured a small piece of card and used a circle punch to cut a disk to put the oriental coin on.  The lanterns were cut out from some of the papers and stuck on the bridges.

It is a shame that the photo can not show you just how wonderful that background looks in the flesh.  It is a technique that Sheena has done on Create and Craft so if you have any recorded shows look back at them to see if you have it.

Thank you so much for looking in on my blog, please feel free to comment and to follow my blog if you like what you see here.  I read all comments left and appreciate you taking the time to leave them.

Ria

Locked away

To all my lovely blog friends,

I apologise for not being around for the last week but I am still having problems with my back, physio is not working.  Also I have been locked away in my craft room all week getting my samples made for Sheena's shows on Create and Craft next week.

All samples are now boxed up and ready for collection so I have tidied up my craft space and I am about to get all inky again.  Just got a birthday card to make and then it's some me time so who knows what I will be making.

I want to thank everyone that gave me comments regarding gelli Plates and Distress Markers, I found the comments very interesting and very helpful so thank you.  I think I will give the distress markers a miss and just use my ink pads and stains for any colouring I might do.  As for the gelli Plate I get the feeling that everyone loves them when they first get them.  They go mad making loads and loads of backing sheets which then just sit around waiting to be used and the gelli plate stays put away and not got back out due to so many backing sheets still not used.

Clarity are doing an interesting starter kit with a 6x6 gelli plate which if I do decide I need to try one I might go down that route.

I can't believe how much I missed WOYWW this week, not getting to see what you have all been up to and missing out on catching up with each of you.  I will be there next week nice and early if I can, still have not worked out how early I would need to be to get Number 1 Spot.

Thanks again for your loyalty, friendship and for caring it means so much to have each and everyone of you as a friend.

TTFN

Ria