Simply the best......

...and no, I'm not doing Tina Turner renditions here! LOL

...but it was definately better than all the rest!!!

On Friday I spent an AWESOME day in Milton Keynes

at the Artsycrafts workshop with

Lin (LB Crafts), Leandra (Paperartsy)

 and the Craft King himself...Tim Holtz

(still pinching myself here! LOL)

-oOo-

My first class of the day was with Tim.

Where our project was a configurations box.

We altered the box, and after a break, we came back to find a calico goodie bag crammed with so many neat treasures to fill our boxes.

(view finder slides, bottles, measure tape, ideaology charms, buttons, a  frozen charlotte doll (which just happened to be my fave thing), vintage car, cotton reels, bottle cap, bingo numbers, tickets, a metal birdcage, flowers, tokens, pen nibs, label, string ...)

  So then we all had fun filling our configuration boxes with such cool trinkets!

-oOo-

I didn't manage to complete my box in class, too busy dithering where to put it all!

But I have extended the fun this weekend and finished my box...

(adding some goodies from my own stash also :) )

Here is the end result...



Bottle, charms, frozen charlotte doll
The  little letters that look like 'printers blocks' we actually made in the class from grungeboard letters and grunge tiles.





cool little bottle cap and loving the bird cage!





Adored the vintage rule, which just happened to have my age on it! -Wow, did I really admit to that! LOL)
the little cherub is from my blog-buddy Margaret



Fabby view finder slides, cool vintage car and cotton reels!

  Tim is an amazing teacher, friendly, great sense of humour and so approachable.

.... It was a fantastic experience one that I will treasure.

-oOo-

After Lunch we went on to our second class with Lin and Leandra

 using some new PaperArtsy products, papers, chalk paint and metal card. 

and here is my offering from their wonderful class...

This is the first time that I've been on a work shop like this one.

So was very excited and slightly nervous,( not knowing anyone etc...)

..but needn't of worried,

... because I met some lovely crafty peeps in the bar hotel the night before

and of course in both of the classes

*Waves* to you all, and I will be round checking out your blogs/web-sites v. soon! ;)

It was a totally amazing crafting experience.

A Huge Thank you, to Lin and Leandra for organising this awesome event....to all the peeps behind the scenes for their hard work (esp. prepping all the kits!!) .. and of course to Tim, Mario and Ranger,  you all  made the day soooo special.

...and now can't wait to do it all again!

Thanks for Looking!

Jan x

So many goodies in the matchbox mail....

I've been meaning to blog about some matchbox swaps for a while now,

.... but everytime I do, I just seem to get sidetracked by something else!!

For one, I've been sorting out my crafty space again!!

...so now everything is in it's place, and all soooo tidy!!

(How long that will last is anyone's guess LOL!!)
So I apologise now for the delay!

So here are pics of some fabby (around the world) matchbox swaps that I did a little while ago.....

Look at this beauty..

This was made by Sherry  (here in the UK) who makes the most amazing crafty pieces.

We chose to do  a 'sewing' theme

I adore all the lace, buttons, stamping...

...and how cute is that measure drawer pull and the little dressmakers torso!!

I just love doing swaps with Sherry

I know I will never be disapointed :)

This is the little swap package that I sent to Sherry

-oOo-

Now over to Switzerland with with my swap buddy Margaret

We chose to do a 'Wing' theme

(I seem to have a little thing about wings at the moment)

.....so  Margaret left me swooning here, when she totally spoilt me with her wing package..

How unique and fabby is this...

Wow!! Wonderful Wax Wings!!

Check out Margaret's blog for some other waxy wonders!

Margaret always amazes me with her stunning creativity :)

Lurve this 'asian' style card

the stitching, images and all the embellies are awesome :)

...and boy did Margaret spoil me, I was in 'wing' heaven with all these treasures!!...

*Squeal*

I couldn't believe my eyes when all these wonderful wings fluttered out!

Can't wait to use them in my creations :)

This is the little 'winged' bundle that I sent to Margaret...

-oOo-
...and last but not least

Jenny all the way on the otherside of the world in Australia
just blew me away with her little whimsical wonder

(we had a surprise theme for our swap)

I just adore Jenny's art-style

(lots of lovely quotes on her blog too! :)
So when this arrived I was so thrilled!

How stunning and cute is this matchbox?!

...and filled with some beautiful treasure...

so many scrummy buttons (I do love my buttons :) )

lace, butterfly magnet, flowers and much more...

I Love it all! :)

This is my little surprise matchbox swap for Jenny...

Thanks again Sherry, Margaret and Jenny

for these fantastic trades....

You all make my mail days so much smilier :)

Thanks for Looking

Jan x

and the OWOH Winner(s) are....

First of all thank you to Lisa for hosting such an awesome event!!

I've had fun hopping around blogs meeting soooo many creative people! I didn't quite manage to visit all 871 participants, but I had a good try!!..but I am looking forward to taking a peek at some of the blogs at a more leisurely pace in the future :)

Thank you to all who have left me lovely comments on my OWOH post, and also a big welcome to all my new followers, the winner (picked randomly by one of those random thingymajig thingies!!) of my One World One Heart is....

Lululiz said...
I just adore these little treasure chests, and the way you decorate this one really appeals to me, the little knob on the drawer is just the cutest thing. Of course I would love to win it! Liz (831)

I will post this off to you as soon as I have your snail mail addy Liz...

...and because I was so overwhelmed with the amount of lovely responses and love to give away!!, that I have altered 2 more matchboxes for RAK's and have randomly selected two more winners :)

 (I told you I'm a tad addicted altering these lil boxes-didn't I ;) !!)

-oOo-

Giveaway box #2

will be going to....

joe said...

been enjoying the bejeebers out of your blog tonight! love your style and versatility!
thanks for the opportunity to win a bit of your world in that wonderful matchbox!!
please stop by my blog (#851) and enter my drawing as well, if you like!
namaste'
joe in montana
http://manhandledthreads.blogspot.com/

-oOo-

Giveaway Box #3

will be going to...

Electra said...

Hi Jan, you wouldn't know me, but I love your blog and pop by from time-to-time to see what you're up to. I am never disappointed!
I hope you can stop by and say hi if you haven't already-
http://wishiniknewhowtoblog.blogspot.com/

-oOo-



So as soon as I get your snail mail addresses these will be in the post :)

 Please get in touch with me within the next 3 days so that I can post the goodies (Lisa's rules ), otherwise I will have to pick a new winner(s).

Jan x



Playing with sketches....

I've got tons of photographs that I want to scrapbook, but I still find it a bit of a struggle to create on a larger scale of (12x12), I think I've been playing with inchies and altered matchboxes for far too long!! LOL

So when I visited

Kerry's  Blog....

Scrapbooking for the Love of Paper

 (who is a talented scrapbooker, runs her own local craft club and is has it happens is also my Cousin :) )

...Kerry has started to have a go at making her own Layout sketches.

So, I thought I would dust off those photos that needed scrapping

and give it a go..

Here is Kerry's pagesketch#1

You also had one extra element this week is to add eyelets to your creation.

so here is my take on that sketch..

(the eyelets are in the top right and bottom left corners)

I decided to use some pics of a visit to

 Monkey World Ape Rescue Centre

 in Dorset
We spent a lovely day there on Mothers Day in March 2009
....and hubby took some wonderful pics of the monkies
(that includes two of my sons!! LOL)

...and how cute is that monkey bead!

and this fab lil quilled monkey!!
Sadly I didn't make him myself, I bought it from Katie at KatiesKreations4U (etsy)
who sells some lovely kits, embellies and corner bouquets.
The beaded pin and quilled monkey came from this lil kit.

-oOo-

Anyway, if you fancy taking Kerry's sketches through their paces, hop over

Here

Thank you Kerry for inspiring me!

Thanks for Looking!

Jan x

Mini Fabric collage swap....

Over at

 'A Swap for all Seasons'

Linda arranged another amazing swap...

...this time to make a mini 5" x 7" Fabric Collage.

Linda partnered us up, and my swap partner is Stefanie from Luna and Luzie

Stefanie and I seem to have similar likes... vintage photos, buttons, lace and fabrics etc..

So this is what I made for her....

I decided to make my fabric collage shabby style.

I printed the image onto some printable cotton...

Different shabby fabric scraps..

Doily, flower and friend embellishment.

some fabric yoyo's...

sweet little crochet heart...

and some lace, pom pom trim and lots of lovely buttons...

Anyway, I hope Stefanie will like it?

Will look forward to seeing what Stefanie has created for me.

Thanks again to Linda for organizing another fun swap!

I really enjoyed creating this one!! :)

Thanks for Looking!

Jan x