and this is Heidi

 
This is the lovely Celine in the foreground with Suze behind her.

 
That'll be Tim then

 
This is when we first arrived and got our Ranger Aprons lol :D

Wow what a Fantastic first day !!!

We have had the best first day ... we spent a morning with Tim learning secrets about perfect pearls & embossing ... then we spent the afternoon with Suze Playing with the melt pots with UTEE & Beeswax.
We met Wendy Vechi(do you know I think I've spelt that wrong .. sorry wendy), and Dina Wakley ... she is a doll :D
We also met Celine who sat opposite me who is from France, Heidi from the USA, Melissa from the USA, two lovely ladies from the Netherlands Lia & Joan ... everyone is just lovely ! We had a BBQ at Ranger tonight & then some of us headed over to applebees for a drink & a desert .. Lovely !
I will go & add some photos now ... I have to use picasa to do this so I can't edit them much .. so I'm afraid you'll have to make do lol :D ... Can't wait for tomorrow, we have the lovely Claudine teaching us in the morning & then Tim again in the afternoon .... Here is What the lovely Linda has to say about it : HERE
HURRAH
catch up again tomorrow x

 
Ahh .. these were the Melon & Kiwi Sangria's that Linda & I thought we needed :D (very nice they were too)
This was at Applebees just across the road .. heading back there for something to eat in a little while :D

 
Here is the view of the hotel pool where linda & I sat for a while discussing world peace (yeah ..as if !)

We have arrived !!!!

Well after nearly missing our flights (too busy talking) ... we finally touched down 1/2 an hour earlier than expected though I don't think the pilot had ever landed a plane before ... The lady across the aisle from me had her head in a sick bag ...it was shall we say a little 'bumpy' ... saves me going to alton towers for a thrill ride though ! .. Me & linda have retreated to our rooms to freshen up after the 7-8 hour flight & hour taxi ride ... Then we're off to check out the locality :o) .. will get some pictures up later speak soon x

TAG'S 2 & 1 in the 10 TAG COUNTDOWN

Hello :o)
Oh my , how excited are we getting ??? I leave at 1/4 to 6 in the morning to head to the Airport, Linda & I are flying from Birmingham at 9 am .... straight through to Newark Liberty Airport. Woohooo !
So as I am leaving early tomorrow I thought I'd better put tag no.1 on as well today :o)
I will be face-booking & blogging as & when I can .. sometimes you might only get a picture & a sentence but I will do my best :D
will be very busy 'playing' actually I think we'll be working very hard & learning an awful lot, I could do with an external hard drive that you just plug in like you do on your computer .. I might have a brain melt down lol :D
I have just finished packing my case !
Anyhow enough, here is Tag no.2 in the countdown :


For this one I did a colour wash background using Stream, cranberry, Butterscotch & Lettuce. I stamped some Timmy stamps & Made some UTEE stars, I used Black UTEE, added a little ordinary silver embossing powder & poured it into a star shaped cookie cutter. On one of them I added some beadazzles whilst the UTEE was still hot.
I added a 7 Gypsies Nottinghill Paper clip for my number 2 & added some timmy stamped stars with perfect medium & then added some perfect pearls to finish.

Tag No 1 :


So this time I've done a Claudine Tag ... I used a selection (in truth nearly all) of the colours of her Studio Line Paints to create the background, I added a little red & gold interference paint, collaged (artchix & Flickr free collage sheets) Salvage stickers No.1, & doodled happily on it.

Now Linda was up & about early this morning so you can view her tag Here
Thanks for following our 10 tag countdown & those of you who did for taking part ! Look out for the first Ranger U installment x

TAG 3 in the 10 TAG COUNTDOWN

I'm a little more organized today .. so I've actually got my tag done earlier ! .. Apologies to Linda whose Link I forgot to add yesterday to my post as I was in a rush .. so here it is now : Linda's Lovely Jubbly Blog (this is showing as not there but click the link on the page that comes up & it will take you straight to Lindas blog ... no idea why ? )
Todays tag has the lost & found papers again as a background, I've Made a microscope slide collage with charms, and a faux solder edge with Platinum Utee. I've glossy accented an image (chocolate cake .. no I've no idea of the relevance of this) which has been adhered to a piece of board. The 3 is from Tim's salvage pad, Gaffer tape from 7 gypsies, and the flowers I can;t remember what make they are but I know I got them from Artist Trading Post Jamie will probably tell me that they've sold out of the flowers but I'm sure there were others ...
I black sooted the edges to finish.
Going to get on with the Fathers day present so that I can leave it ready before I go on Thursday morning.

Tag 4 in the 10 Tag countdown

So here we are again ... tag no.4, can't believe how fast it's coming around, dread to think how fast the 3 days are going to go, never mind I intend to make the absolute most of it :D
Todays tag has been stamped with timmy swirls but in snowcap paint dabber, dried & then was inked with Distress inks in Mustard seed, Rusty hinge, Peeled paint, chipped sapphire, fired brick and dusty concord ..
Then I wiped of the excess ink from over the painted areas , Stamped a few more timmy stamps ;) & then stuck on some vintage buttons & a thingymajig with a number 4 in it.


Then of course there is the workshop form saturday, it was a private group booking & we had the lovely Katy Fox (craft stamper editor) with her lovely team mates, Liz, MJ & Ally. Suzanne unfortunately was Poorly & couldn't make it .. sending lot's of hugs hunny .. hope your better soon xxx

Tag 5 in the 10 Tag Countdown

Sorry, this is a really quick blog,,, the tag has been made in about 5 minutes flat .. we've been out all day & so I wanted to get it done on the right day so have whizzed up to my studio & whipped this little concoction up .. photo's probably aren't brill either .. but nonetheless here it is !

I used Broken china, Spiced Marmalade & crushed olive distress inks, with Broken china & spiced marmalade distress re-inkers, tims sizzix die cut flower on lost & found paper, & a No.5 from tims salvage stickers.

I'm sure Linda's brill tag will be here already :
HERE

Tag 6 of the 10 TAG COUNTDOWN

Hello again ;o)
I had a lovely group of ladies at my workshop today though you'll have to wait for photo's as I took my camera & forgot to put a card in it (Duh !) ,, so Jamie has kindly taken some pics & will send them over to me soon & when they're here I will share them with you, I then went on a family shopping for food expedition with 3 children (not always advisable) came home & went to bed for 2 hours .. what a lovely sleep ! .. so all refreshed & ready to go again
I started off todays tag with a technique that TIM HOLTZ .. yes that Tim Holtz the one who can repair the worlds economy with a dab of glossy accents & some tissue ribbon :o) (that's just for Linda that description lol ) once asked me how I did it !!!
Well as I share this with all my lovely distress ink workshopee's I'll share it with you too today as today is NO .6 in the countdown charts.
I used Glossy card .. think the sort you use for your alcohol inks or encaustic art & your 1/2 way there ... then you need distress inks, I used Chipped Sapphire, Crushed Olive & Rusty Hinge, along with spiced marmalade re-inker and Broken China re-inker.
Apply to your craft sheet, spritz with water until it has beaded & then twist your tag on the top of it. Turn over & heat to dry, this is how you get the colours to run around the card & won't happen the same if you just let it dry naturally.
I added the No.6 sticker, the Ranger word and the U all from Tim's Salvage stickers, I then applied the sun rays Tim stamp from the Psychedelic grunge set with Plum Archival Ink (from RANGER of course)

Next I've got a grungeboard Star from swirls & elements set and covered it with Dabber in Pearl. This has allowed me to then use alcohol inks to colour it once dry. I used Clover, watermelon & stream to start off with then a second application with sunset orange and Caramel. I adhered this to the tag using Glossy Accents.


See Linda's Tag HERE

Tag 7 on the 10 Tag countdown

So here I am yet again with another tag, never have I blogged so regularly lol :D
Linda's creation if it is not already done will no doubt soon be Here
Today for mine I again used some of Tim's lost & found paper as a background, I inked a grungebaord swirl with fired brick distress ink, I cut the no.7 out of the lost & found pad, added some film strip ribbon & adhered. The fabric at the bottom of the tag says " the adventure never stops" this is off a clothing label I had previously hoarded !
I tied some twine around the tag tying a bow at the front, I made a clear UTEE tile by placing an image into the bottom of a silicon ice cube tray & pouring some clear UTEE on the top of it, wait until cool & pop out. This I adhered alongside an old metal letter that I've had for some while .. I used the U specifically for Ranger U.
So here it is :

Number 8 on the 10 Tag Countdown

Well I think I may just have beaten Linda, Unless she's sat typing like a mad woman at her computer as we speak ! I have my third Tag, Number 8 in the countdown here to share with you.
Visit Linda's blog Here
I cut the tag shape from Tim's Lost & Found paper pad. I used Picket fence distress crackle Paint to cover the sign hanger (sorry can't think of the proper name for it lol :D ) Once it was dry I enhanced the crackles with a little walnut stain & a little chipped sapphire distress inks.
I attached a Key to the sign with some of Tim's jump rings. The bird house is from a free collage sheet resource on Flickr called absolutely free collage sheets. I drew the number 8 in gelly roll black.
I placed Gaffer tape from 7 gypsies along the bottom of the tag & made a shrink plastic embellishment using a Tim stamp and also cut out the red star circle & glossy accented it to give more dimension.
I used a standard household washer at the top of the tag around the hole & I think that's about it !
Hope you like :o) x

JUST 9 MORE SLEEPS TAG !

Well better late than never, just got back in from teaching a workshop, we've been doing the ABC book of me, a kind of beginners guide to Art Journalling, Everyone had very inky fingers by the end of it, including me as the ladies were busy creating some backgrounds I snuck in the creating of my latest tag with whatever there was to hand !
So here it is :


I coloured the background with distress inks the following colours : Peeled Paint, Crushed Olive & Mustard Seed. I stamped Tims Circles stamp in Fired Brick,and the pen nibs in sepia archival, then using the crafters workshop swirl mask went over the top with a bit more peeled paint.
I added some torn pages from a book, inking the lower layer peeled paint & the top layer mustard seed.
I added a House from Dyan Reaveleys Download sheets see here
I used black soot to colour the grunge board element, fired brick for the letter A & added the clock & spinner from Tim's Ideaology range. I finished off using Gellyroll pens, Black on the no.9 on the house door & White around the edges and the A.
You can find Linda's creation here : Here
Then here are a few pictures from todays workshop too ...

The big TEN TAG COUNTDOWN begins !

Well unsurprisingly Linda has not only beaten me to it but has also made a far better job of it .. note to self * must try harder ! lol :D
So here is my very sorry for itself offering :D
I colour-washed the background, then I made my own glimmer mist using perfect pearl in blue patina & some Stream colourwash & water and spritzed through a Crafters workshop stencil. Next I Used Walnut stain distress ink over the T.Holtz Swirl Mask , used Artchix numbers for my '10' fronted by idea-ology film strip ribbon and made a metal rose. I added lime green stickles over the mask pattern edges & added a couple of cogs from the idea-ology range to finish.
Please feel free to play along with me & Linda if you feel like it .. the more the merrier ! You can see Linda's Fabby Tag HERE"



Got to get on now, have lot's of backgrounds to prep for the workshop tomorrow, images to print (Ally I have rememebered that you don't like faces & will make sure you have alternatives lol :D x
Might have to get on with my tag no.9 as well seeing as I'm workshopping all day tomorrow ! ... eek I need more hours in the day x (don't we all ?)

What a BAD BAD blogger I am !

Well I finally made it back on to here ... how is it that you think it's just a couple of weeks since you last blogged & it turns out to be nearly a month ago .. all I can say is sorry life just took over as per usual !
Anyway enough of that ... much more exciting things afoot having just got back from a seriously sunny Isle of Wight camping holiday ... first of all there is a small matter of an up coming workshop on wednesday when a fabby group of ladies & myself are going to be making an ABC book of me, this is like a start to Art Journaling, perfect for people who like the idea but don't know what to write .. we're going to get them all started with this great project .. there are I believe just a couple of places left on this ..so if you fancy a go pop over to : www.artisttradingpost.com & book yourself in !
Then on Saturday I'm running a privately booked workshop for another group of ladies ... we're going to be making OOOps no I can't tell you that as it is a surprise ! Needless to say that hopefully they'll all have a great time making the 'something' :D
& then, then a week on Thursday I shall be jetting out with my new friend Linda Elbourne of a www.acraftingjourney.com to RANGER U !!! to be taught by the man himself Tim Holtz, and Claudine Hellmuth and Suze Weinberg for 3, yes 3 whole days.
Can you imagine 3 whole days of Ranger magic ? .. I seriously CANNOT wait !!!
Having spoken to Linda this morning we are going to be doing a 10 Tag countdown so perhaps you'd like to join us on this bit of pre-ranger fun, if you do send us a picture & we'll post it here on the blog ..
Look out for mine tomorrow ! .. honestly this blogging business none for ages then a whole 11 posts all together ! lol :D x

Embellishment Workshop

So we had another great day in the workshop with yet another fabby bunch of ladies. We created all sorts of embellishments that we placed onto a broad framed mirror. I forgot my camera so we have Bernice to thank for providing us with the images ... the only downside of which is that I appear on them ! lol :D Thanks Bernice for the speedy sending of said photo's.
& also just a hello & a hug to Ally who couldn't make it to the workshop as she was not feeling at all well .. hope your feeling better soon hun x So without further ado, here are the girls in action :D

Happy 10th Birthday Craft Stamper Magazine !

Yes, Craft Stamper has really been around for 10 years already .. & here's to many more ! The design team have all been making cards for the Craft Stampers Blog to wish them a very happy birthday .. here is my offering :

Visit Craft Stamper at www.craftstamper.com
Oh yes & have I mentioned .. We're Going to Ranger U, We're going to Ranger U, Eeiiatio we're going to Ranger Uuuuuuu ....
Flights are booked, hotel is booked & I've paid my fee to Ranger .. so all the important stuff is now done ... Just lots of lovely lists to do :o)
Also want to tell you that I've just sent lot's of new workshop info across to Jamie at www.artisttradingpost.com so watch that space ! ... there are just over a dozen new workshops (inc' a few repeats) going live very sooon !