I have written and re written this post so many times just didn’t know how to start it ! Feels like I have been away for ever. I have just returned from London where I have been staying with our dearest friends and trying to support them during what is for all concerned a very sad time. we have been friends for twenty five years and have always called each other Dolly we have never called each other by our real names, so when it was time to find a name for my blog I named if after my best friend. Even though Dolly doesn’t  read my blog ( maybe one day she will ) I just wanted to say that I love her and that my thoughts and prayers are with her and her family .

I will shortly be traveling back to London to stay with her once again and just wanted to pop in and say hello and to say that I have missed you all and your beautiful creations Unfortunately I was unable to visit you while I was away but hopefully during the next few days I will try and catch up with you all. 

One of the reasons I returned to Greece was that my youngest son who is 16 together with his band Chinese Basement had the honour of being chosen to play at The Megaro Music Hall in Athens and for my Greek followers they will know the significance of this. They where chosen along with three other bands from all over Greece to give their interpretation of one of  Greece”s great composers Hatzidakis work together with some of their own material. It was a fabulous night and I have to say it was a once in a lifetime opportunity for these young people I am so very proud of you Ari , Vasili and Fivo !

I saw upon my return that The Craft Room where having an ” Anything Christmas ” theme for the next two weeks and as it is such a happy subject I decided to have ago . Can’t say it’s my best work as the old mojo is a little lackluster at the moment.As you will see it’s a rather understated effort but under the circumstances it was all I could muster.

Have to say the title is rather ironic though ! I used one of my Tim Holtz on the edge dies for the card and did a little embossing for extra dimension . I also embossed the green felt it really gives a wonderful effect if you haven’t tried it yet you should I really liked the outcome. The letters are chipboard which I stamped with one of my distress crackle stamps in Stazon red ink.

I used my Silhouette machine to generate the background and the sentiment . Martha  Stewart punches for the borders and oops I have just realised that I have cropped out my little bird on the top right hand corner. ( anyway it’s not his first appearance so I am sure he wont mind !)

Like I said very simple and understated cards even if they took me forever to do !
Do pop over to the Craft Room Challenge where you can see the fabulous inspirational pieces by the DT and also the many wonderful entries by their loyal followers.
                                                          

                                                              Shabby Chic Girls Club                              

I would like to thank Cindy Adkins of Shabby Chic Girls club who is featuring my work on her marvelous new blog why not pop over and check it out , Cindy is such a kind and generous lady and is always very supportive of everyone in the arts world. Thank you so much for including little old me along with such talented artists i am truly flattered.

wishing you all the very best of health and looking forward to visiting you all

Take care

Marie

This is a short post today I have to leave unexpectedly for the UK today and blogger won’t let me schedule anything ! Today is the week two reveal for sassy Lil Sketches .

I miss my boy !!!! My lovely husband Teo has been away for three whole weeks hopefully having fun in the sun and I miss him so much.  We have been together for twenty seven years and have the good fortune to work for twenty two of those years together. Now some of you may think that it sounds like a recipe for disaster but for us it’s just perfect and we wouldn’t have it any other way ! The only down side and this is a biggie is as well as being jewellery designers and having our own jewellery shop it is not always possible to holiday together , so we tend to have short holidays together and seperate holidays with our friends so we get the best of both worlds.

Due to the lack of husband I have been a little less crafty of late as I work all day every day except for Sunday . What with communication problems with my PC  and moody modems I have not been able to  take part in some  of my favourite challenges or keep up with you fabulous ladies ! For that reason am entering both the Just for Fun challenge who’s theme this week is Vintage and The Craft Room Challenge who have Home decor as their chosen theme. Not that you can tell from my fabulous photo’s but this is in fact a hanging but when I attempted to hang it on the wall just couldn’t get the right light ! 

My postings have been somewhat erratic of late which seems to be a perfect reflection of how  my life is  at the moment. I am all over the place, what with loose screws, no connection ( without internet for 10 days ) My Mac crashing and just when I thought it was safe to start blogging again ………. my brand new modem surrendered !!!!!!!!!!!!. Thwarted does not begin to cover it ! I am exhausted, frustrated and completely mojo less and to put a ” top hat ” on it dear hubby is far far away ! so I am working all day every day and to be honest I’m knackered !

I am now on my fourth modem !  and I am tip toeing around it in fear of it leaving me like all of the others ! I have had two whole days of internet so am trying like mad to catch up with you all not an easy task you are all so prolific ! do none of you sleep or leave the house how do you do it ?

As it’s the 5th of the month it’s  time for the Get Creative card challenge whose theme is  ” Lace ” I was super excited when  I saw this , I had just received a fabulous box of lace from the lovely and super talented Lynne from Adorn for winning blog candy a little while ago it seemed like fate

There was so much gorgeousness in this box I couldn’t get it all in the photos ! Thank you so much Lynne.

It seemed like fate but I have to say I really struggled, too much lace, too many ideas and NO MOJO ! The possibilities are endless here so let me show you what I did for my Design Team piece for Get Creative.

Can you guess what I have used here for my lace ? two pairs of stockings ! ( Clean) the black one I actually bought specifically for the card now there’s dedication for you ! I stamped on some cream coloured card friend definition by Hero Arts  and then on top of that in Pink Stazon that lovely lacy image  . Martha Steward punches for the paper lace and then mounted on stiff board and there is my lacy offering.

Here are a few other pieces I made

Here I took a wooden picture frame and added Gesso , I had tried to stay away from this for so long I was a bit scared to use it to be honest but it is such great fun ! I added crackle paint which did not crackle ! and various Stazon inks. Some beautiful brown lace backed onto  pink card. Handmade flower ( bottom left hand corner for a change ) and some of the gorgeous lace from Lynne. Oh nearly forgot on the bottom right hand corner did a bit of stamping you can just about see it .

I cut out a heart from my card and placed the lace underneath a little embossing a few heart shapes , a little crown and some inking .

Please pop over to Get Creative and have a look at the beautiful creations the other DT members came up with and why not join in,  there is some lovely blog candy to be won and the challenge is running all month !

One more thing due to over zealous on line craft buying I have ended up with two of the same On The Edge Die brackets   by Tim Holtz  and its fabulous ! If any one of you would like to win this please leave a comment on this post and I will pick a name out of the handbag and post it off !

Right of to work, am late as usual ! and my boss is a real so and so for time keeping ( I am the boss and I hate being late lol )

So if my internet and modem are still united when I return home this evening will do my level best to come and say Hi to you all……until then fingers crossed !

Marie

You may have read last week on my blog that I had a  ” loose connection ” not me personally my modem did !  which meant that I had no phone or internet for ten whole days !!!!!!! After much crying wailing and gnashing of teeth  I was reconnected , it seems that the problem was just a loose connection  ! I was finally re-united with the outside world ……….which lasted two whole days and then……….my Mac decided that I hadn’t suffered enough and went  on strike ! I do believe there is a conspiracy afoot
Apple Macs do not break down ! Maybe I have an Apple lemon or maybe it was just jealous of the attention my modem was getting , I don’t know.  off it went to the PC hospital for a little examination of its innards only to be returned to me yesterday all glowing and gorgeous with new programs installed .none of which I have a clue how to use.

I sat before it unsure of what to do next , should I catch up on my commenting, do I try to upload my desperately late DT pieces should I post something, anything. I have to say my creative juices have dried up lately I am in a quandary ( whatever that is but I’m in it all the same ) but no I am thwarted ( yes Donna thwarted ) once again I have no internet  and I know my connection is not loose, so what is it this time ? ………. It seems that this time according to the “experts” I have a  ” screw loose ” no don’t laugh I really do , well did. The screw has now been tightened and I can now post, blog, comment and do all manner of computer related things that is until my next drama !
This is all just a big build up for my excuse of an entry for the Just for Fun challenge which is black, white, silver plus 1 other colour. Please forgive me this is all I could manage and I did so much want to take part , I will perfectly understand if I see the little disqualified caption under my entry.

Black white, silver and pink ! Black base, white Gesso, white crackle paint, silver ink over the crackle paint and around the edges black pearls on the bids eye and black embossed bird image and rubbish photo . I usually like to post three pieces for each challenge and I do in fact have several other pieces that I did but I just don’t like them !

Please do pop over to Just for Fun  to see some  ” real talent ” from the DT and the rest of it’s faithful and very talented followers, I do apologise for this poor post but hope that normal service will be resumed shortly.  will be around to visit all of you lovelies shortly

Until then……….

goodnight !
Marie

I’m back !!!!!!!! I hope you missed me as much as I missed you all !!! Since returning from my holidays ten days ago I have been without telephone or internet !!!! . I left the homestead in good hands or so I thought my oldest chick in charge only to find that upon my return I had no means of communication with the outside world .You know how it is , had a great mini break but was looking forward to getting back in the groove and seeing what you had all been up to, but no I was thwarted ! Anyway today after ten days of technicians visiting my home, new routers, modems , modems combined with routers each team blaming the other, numerous phone calls, begging , pleading and near to tears and that was just the technicians I finally am back to normal. What was the problem …… my phone cable had a loose connection!!!!!!!!! It seems there was a party and a little re arranging of furniture and well those of you who have children can guess the rest, of course this was divulged to me today  after ten days !!

Taking a deep breath and calming my nerves am back just in time for my DT piece for Sassy Lil Sketches August 25th reveal .

What a great sketch and so much fun to work with this is my interpretation….

Used my Silhouette to cut out the branch and the bird image, then embossed it and both birds with Tim Holtz embossing folders and used a little distress ink to give it a little colour and depth. Made a little nest for my birdie with leaves and twigs and stamped on some seam binding for the sentiment. Added a few little seed pearls to give the impression of eggs in the nest and used glossy accents to weld it all together.

Do pop over to  Sassy Lil Sketches to see what the other talented DT members have come up with to inspire us who knows you could be one of our lucky winners this month.

Our August Card Sponsor is

My Favorite Things
Just Delightful Clear Stampshttp://www.mftstamps.com/
Cards must be uploaded  by September 5th, 11:59 P.M. EST to be eligible for the August random prize drawing*.

Specific rules for both Sassy Lil’ Sketches site can be found on our Sassy Lil’ Sketches “Rules” page.

The week was not all gloom and doom I was lucky enough to win Crystal Clears Hands Across the World blog give away a little while ago and yesterday I received my prize all the way from America

I have to say this photo does not do this beautiful piece of art justice it is absolutely gorgeous and I am so happy to have been lucky enough to win such an inspiring piece of art . Thank you so much Crystal for this and you can rest assured that it will be treasured always. For those of you who are not familiar with Crystal blog then I assure you you are missing out , not only is she one talented artist but she has a fabulous sense of humour do pop over you wont be dissapointed.

Just thought I would leave you with a few bits and pieces that I played about with while I was disconnected !!!

Will try to catch up in the next few days and visit you all , I have missed my lovely blogging friends so much and would like to thank those of you who sent me emails asking if  I was OK ,  I truly appreciate your concern and it is so nice to be missed , but have to say you must all be gluttons for punishment !!

Marie

What a week this has been and it’s not over yet !!! What with new DT work, winning blog candy receiving fabulous mail art  and making 250 thank you cards and envelopes all in the space of three days and trying to keep up with you all ! I was under the gun as I am about to leave or at least trying to for a little holiday , Something had to give , hence the return of bloggers bum, knee and shoulder !

Because of all this I have been a little remiss as for as commenting is concerned and had to miss the recent Just for Fun challenges which I love .I did pop by and saw all of your wonderful contributions ladies even if I didn’t manage to say hi ! Today I am trying to put that to rights as I have made a few cards for this weeks challenge chosen by the lovely Sam . The theme this week is black and white which I adore and after days of making 250  of the same thing well 500 if you count the envelopes I wanted to try something new. Not that you can tell but if you look really really closely , like with a magnifying glass and close one eye you will see crackle paint and shrink plastic elements !

Big deal you may think well for me if is,  have never used them before and the shrink plastic especially was an eye opener I came over all giddy when it started to shrink , hubby was not impressed when I showed him at 2.30 this morning, he was however slightly more receptive when I showed him again at a more respectable hour !

Anyway that’s enough gabbing from me I’m supposed to be packing !

I know this is really simple although it took ages to do.  I printed the blind image onto acetate and then behind it in the frame I have stamped one of little Timmy’s eye stamps onto white card and then mounted it, it real life it looks really effective.

Hero arts flower stamp embossed with SU white embossing powder , glossy accents in the centre and glitter , time for magnifying glasses me thinks ! the hounds-tooth stamp also embossed, black ribbon and a couple of pearls and white card base.

 Hero Arts swirly image, Silhouette doily , stampin up flower with crackle paint and a little heart from shrink plastic.

Blogger seems to know that I am in a hurry today and has taken matters into his own hands ( He’s definitely a male ) Uploading what he sees fit and where he wants it !!!!!!

The black and white swirly engraving is Hero Arts and the little heart is made from shrink plastic stamped with SU swirl in black Stazon.

Last but not least none of my posts are complete without a flower ( the above does not count ) so here is one I made for a friend it’s on a box that I decorated for her.

Do pop over to Just for Fun and see what the gorgeously talented girls have come up with and check out the other loyal and fabulously created followers creations some beauties there !

Marie

What an exciting day ! Lot’s to share so pull up a pew grab a brew and join me !

Today is my first official post as a DT member for Sassy Lil Sketches and I’m so excited. This is the sketch that we had to work with great fun and endless possibilities.

I made my card using Webster pages and used my big Shot to make some flowers yes I admit it I should have been a florist in a former life ! Lovely pink lace for the border and just peeping out from underneath a scalloped border made with paper. The sentiment is embossed using SU embossing powder and stamps.

Please drop by Sassy Lil Sketches and see what the rest of the design team came up with I’m sure you wont be dissapointed ! There is a different sketch each  Tuesday  for layouts and  Thursdays for card makers  and always plenty of inspiration to be found. You can also join in the Sassy Lil Sketches forum a great community where help and advise is always on hand plus lot’s of interesting topics , tips and discussions whatever  your interest.

Our August Card Sponsor is

My Favorite Things
Just Delightful Clear Stampshttp://www.mftstamps.com/
Cards must be uploaded  by September 5th, 11:59 P.M. EST to be eligible for the August random prize drawing*.

Specific rules for both Sassy Lil’ Sketches site can be found on our Sassy Lil’ Sketches “Rules” page.

Now more amazing news ! I won Crystal Clears shaking Hands Across the World Blog giveaway away a fabulous signed print by Crystal how about that ! As soon as I take possession I will share it with you all ! Do pop over and see her blog it’s amazing and has something for everyone .

I’m not finished yet ! There’s more ! I received fabulous mail art from a swap I did with Valerie at Bastelmania . I off course got the better part of the swap as I’m sure you will all agree !

This is one of her amazing mini books lot’s and lots of gorgeous pages jam packed with fabulous elements, these photo’s do not do them  justice !

I also received these unique tags which are a joy to behold so much detail and texture, mini works of art.. Thank you so much for these beauties Valerie you can rest assured they will be treasured.  There where in fact two little mini canvasses in the package but my artist son has purloined them before I managed to take a photo and am awaiting their return will share them with you once they are returned to their rightful home !

Have just been commissioned to make 250 thank you cards and envelopes for a friends daughters wedding so if I haven’t passed by of late it’s because  I am crossed eyed and dizzy from all of the stamping, gluing and sticking !

That’s all my news, must dash Bailey and Rosy are whimpering at my feet and hubby is about to do the same ( it’s lunch time )

Marie

One of the blogs that I go to for inspiration and to be honest a good old laugh is that of the wonderfully talented and very very funny Valerie of Bastelmania. Not only is her work outstanding but she also has a very wicked sense of humour and her followers are all a little nutty  too ( but in a nice way ) . Valerie I noticed recently ( to my shame ) is on the DT for The Cheerful Stamp Pad and I have been checking out their blog of late.  Their followers are one talented bunch of ladies and I have been waiting for the right challenge to take part. Well this weeks challenge just so happens to be petals, well how could I resist that !

As you know may or may not know I am a little bit addicted to flower making, I’m not much cop at it as we Scousers say but I do try. Most of my posts will feature them in some shape or form, so I thought it would be fairly easy as I always have a flower or two or five on the go at any given time. Once again when I think something will be easy it turns out to be exactly the opposite ! Too many flowers too much choice chaos ! wont bore you with the amount of hours I have spent trying to put them to good use , it’s a bit like a florists in here at the moment so looks like I will be blogging bouquets for some time to come !

Here I have used my Paper Artsy die cut which I coloured with DI inks, SU French script stamp with black Stazon then Multi Medium Gloss to protect and give suppleness to the flower, which is also a broach and can be removed from the card and worn. Again DI inks on the green background same stamps and treatment as before. The base of the Card Don’t know the name of the stamp or who’s it is as always throw the packaging away !!! but it gives a lovely vintage distressed effect again Di inks , I got really inky and messy on this one !

This is a notebook I made again Paper Artsy flower same procedure as before, designer dititals paper with a couple of eylets for the centre of the flowers , embossing , ribbon and my Zutter machine for the binding.

Here I used a crackle effect stamp with various DI inks, embossing, my Silhouette machine for the flowers and borders and some little green pearls to give it a bit of extra texture.

Couldn’t really get a good photo of this as the flower is very shiny ! This is a large broach, lots of , perfect pearls, gel medium, glitter a huge in yer face piece which can be worn , just wanted to mount it on simple embossed card as I don’t think it could stand anything else !

I would also like to enter these into the Creavil challenge this week who’s theme is  ” Flower Power ” another very talented blogging friend Silvia of Barnies-Baustelle is on the DT here ! Check out her blog it’s amazing she has a wonderful way with tags !

Well that’s me all done in it’s cocktail time at Casa Papadopoulou and am off for a bit of a relax and then will be back to visit you all, have been away for a few day’s so have a lot of catching up to do.

Marie

Today is a good day ! I’m finally feeling on top of the weather as opposed to under it ! My craft room is tidy and I don’t just mean my desk ! I got top three in the Craft Room Challenge my first top three , all is well in my little corner of paradise. I was so excited to get my Craft room top three blinkie I know most of you have your side bars jam packed with them but it’s like your first kiss you will always remember it or so they say I personally don’t remember mine , it must have been so awful that my little brain has blocked it out……but I digress.

I have been following the wonderful Lynne Moncrieffs blog Adorn for quite some time and have been in awe of her amazing talents from day one when we where both featured by the lovely Cindy Adkins in Her Whimsical Musings on line magazine. One of the design teams  that Lynne collaborates with is The Stampsmith , they have such beautiful stamps and Lynne’s creations and their stamps as well as the rest of the design teams work are a match made in heaven. As it is the first of the month we are allowed to use stamps from any manufacturer we like and to my shame `I  do not own one Stampsmith stamp but I will soon !

Their theme this week is to  use the colours teal and yellow and as fate would have it I was making a cushion with those exact same colours ! I have abandoned the cushion in favour of the following using the same image for the cushion which I  printed the image onto silk and for the cards I have printed onto transparency film.

Another part of the collage wont bore you with the deets its fairly obvious. More felt more script more DI !

Do you have a few more minutes to spare me ? just Want to show you a few more things I have been up to !

The shoe image is another freebie from the lovely Miss Mooney I just love shoes ! lots of distressing , perfect pearls DI inks my Silhouettte a bit of everything on this one .

Last but not least a few flower broaches that I made, I just love flowers.  These are quite large and very wearable and can stand all night dancing and cavorting despite their delicate appearance ( I have tried it ) .

Think that is enough for one post  so will leave you now as I have to make a Pavlova ( or a palaver ) for a dinner party Friday and they are tricky little so and so’s .

Take care
Marie