Tink's Craft Room

Therapy Room

2010-08-16T12:01:00.005+01:00

Its been a while since I last blogged.... too long in fact - where does the time go?? I have been busy with some paint - but not in the usual way. This isn't exactly crafty but its where I practice my craft! If you get my drift... Yes, I've been painting my Therapy Room. I was given a super dupa running machine and I had nowhere else to keep it but in my room which meant a massive re-organisation. I decided when I started moving things around that a quick lick of paint wouldn't go amiss.

Easter Treats

2010-04-04T17:10:00.012+01:00

Happy Easter everyone.Its a long time since I posted on here but I want to share my weekend project. If anyone has small children, they will know how much chocolate turns up in the house over Easter. When Beatrice and Freddie were younger we always organised an Easter Egg hunt and went completely over the top. Mr. Tink and I would be eating chocolate when they were asleep for weeks! Last Easter I made the decision that they were old enough to understand that it wasn't all about chocolate and we agreed that I would buy a token egg and give them some money instead. This went down really well, teenagers never have enough money! Flicking through an old craft magazine (Making Gifts Issue 1) I came across an idea for decorating ring pull cans by Amy White. A perfect way to recycle!

I opened a can of baked beans at the bottom using a safety can opener to remove the whole of the bottom of the tin and washed and dried the tin thoroughly.

Using Papermania Honey and Hugs cardstock I lined the inside of the tin using pva glue to hold it in place. It was quite easy to do, I just cut the paper to size, spread the pva thinly inside the can, rolled up the paper with the pattern on the inside placed it in the tin and when I let go it unravelled to the sides of the can - Voila! All I had to do then was press lightly inside and wait for it to dry!

Next I chose some little gift items (for Beatrice some lip gloss and body spray), some cream eggs and (our favourite!) some Maom Stripes. I popped them inside the can together with some fluffy chicks and the most important part..... a crisp £20 note! Its important to remember to put the treats in upside down! (I did them the other way for the benefit of the photograph but changed them back before the next stage) Next I cut two circles out of cardstock and placed one on the bottom of the can (so that when its glued back on it will be inside the can) and the other on the top of the can under the ring pull. Once dry I glued the bottom of the can back on. The magazine recommended using Pinflair glue but as I didn't have any I found Bostick did the trick. A little messy but it worked reasonably well!

After about an hour the bond had been made so all that was left to do is to decorate the outside of the can. Again I used Honey and Hugs paperstock and decoupaged the main animal character and used ribbon from my stash. TBH I think the paperstock was a little juvenile for soon to be 16 and 18 year olds but hey!... Its Easter. When I presented them this morning they very sweetly humoured me by saying all the right things and its amazing how £20 can light up even the most sullen teenagers face LOL.

I'll definitely use this idea again, there are so many possibilities with it, stocking fillers, birthday treats, teacher gifts etc. It can be as juvenile or as sophiscated as you wish depending on the card and paperstock used. I would however urge caution if giving to young children as obviously the open tin may be a little sharp.

C4E Recipe Challenge

2010-02-19T14:41:00.005Z

Its been a hectic couple of weeks and I've not had much time for crafting but with 3 birthdays in February it was time to look for inspiration and where better than over at the Crafts4Eternity Challenge Blog. This week's challenge was:
1. Use the Sketch,
2. Use Chipboard
3. Use Polka Dots.
Recipe was ok, polka dots needed to be buttons and chipboard, well that was a bit diffiult but I made the little wellies out of faux chipboard. I stamped the image, cut it out and stuck it on to some cardboard 3 times to give the impression of chipboard. Thats one card down and two to go! Thanks for looking.

January Week 4 Challenge

2010-02-01T20:18:00.002Z

This week's challenge was another simple one. Use a sketch (I used one of Michele's at Crafts4Eternity), use a photograph (non-human, use journalling, use ribbon and use bling.

It's been quite a week for me at work so really had to wait until my leave (phew!!!) started before I could concentrate. I love the pictures I've chosen. I never actually took them, Beatrice did - but my particular favourite is the Autumn sign with the berries. I'm definitely going to frame it and I think it should be one to add to her portfolio when she starts making local postcards.

Crafts4Eternity Sketch Challenge #17

2010-01-28T10:44:00.008Z

Hello again. Twice in one week is a bit of a record for me!! Once again I have had some fun with the Crafts4Eternity recipe challenge. This week it was use the sketch, use my favourite colours and use brackets.

As I don't actually have a favourite colour I just used two colours I like together. The papers were left over from a kit I bought at the Surbiton Scrappers crop and used on this week's UKS Weekly challenge LO (below), I chose not to use an image as I have someone in mind for this card. He's at a crossroads in his working life, has applied for promotion but not sure he's going to get it, also is not sure whether to continue with his career or follow his dream of setting a business on his own. The card will sit and await the outcome of his application. I thought the words could express congratulations or encouragement. I stamped around the sentiment using some tapestry stamps. TYFL.

January Week 3 Challenge - Sloane Ranger?

2010-01-24T20:34:00.006Z

This week's UKS Challenge was quite simple. Scrap a piece of history. I spent several hours going through loads of old photographs (getting quite weepy at times). I didn't personally choose this picture, Beatrice found it. I set about creating the LO using a kit I bought from Surbiton Scrappers (which I think was a Scrapaway kit). Changed the papers very slightly and then called the family to a conference. I put 4 different pics on the LO and asked them which I should use. A misty eyed Mr. Tink chose this one as did the children.

The history..... back in the 1980's when Lady Diana (soon to be the Princess of Wales) hit the Kensington circuit a new breed of young people were born. They were to become known as Sloane Rangers. The uniform usually consisted of twin sets and pearls. A Jacque Vert blouse with massive bows, big collars and a demure look. Diana was the epitome of the look. We were all meant to go around saying "OK Yaaaa!" and guffaw a lot. In reality we were just a bunch of ordinary young girls who liked to look nice. We weren't debs or socialites, we made sure our hair looked good, our skin glowed and we were tidy!

A funny story attached to this look: I was in a club in Beckenham, (posh Kent) when I was approached by a young man.... he asked if he could buy me a drink (which I refused because I wasn't that impressed), he asked if I would dance (which again I refused) and he then went on to bemoan how all Sloane Rangers were the same. Up themselves! I wasn't sure whether to be flattered or insulted LOL. In the event I visited my sister the next day and asked her if she knew what a Sloane Ranger was...... she went to the drinks cabinet, pulled out her cocktail book and said "its not in here.... so it can't be that good"!!!!

Happy days.

January 19th 2010

2010-01-19T21:03:00.013Z

Its that time of the week again when I do my best to complete the Crafts4Eternity Recipe Challenge. This week it was use the sketch, use colours I don't like and include rik rak.
As I was on standby this afternoon I could do very little else but sit by the computer. I got to thinking about the so-called "hand crafted cards" we see in all the major stores. Most of them are just printed cards with an element stuck on here and there. As I had some thank you cards to make I thought what a good way that would be to set up a production line. I used Serif Page Plus and Serif Draw plus to create the card you see below. Printed it on to some quality linen card and then added an element or two. What I thought was a 5 minute job took all afternoon. However, the leg work is done now and I can just run one off whenever I need to.
I can definitely see that as a full time worker digi might be the way to go. Having said that..... there's no substitute for stroking papers, using glue and get busy with the water colours!
This is the original card printed onto good quality linen paper:

and here is the final article. Just like M&S.... printed with bits stuck on! TYFL

C4E Recipe Challenge January 2010

2010-01-14T19:27:00.005Z

I don't know where the weeks go!

Here's my entry into the fantastic C4E recipe challenge . I looked at the sketch and gulped... then I looked at the ingredients and thought "hmmmm..... looks like my lovely doggies could come in handy here!" I used the sketch religiously because as a digi LO I had all the elements. This is a LO using a photograph taken by Bibby. You all must know by now she's a photography student and always has her camera handy. As a mother (who not always wears her make up) Bibby's ever present camera can at times be a pain in the a*se!! Anyway Jasper never has a problem with having his picture taken...... especially if it means he can sneak beyond the kitchen door and actually get onto a bed!

Happy New Year

2010-01-06T15:12:00.006Z

I can't believe its January! I hope you all had a lovely Christmas and are having an even lovlier New Year. I wish you all health and happiness for 2010.

This year I'm determined to enter more challenges and thus scrap and make more cards. To get me going I have again entered the C4E Recipe Challenge. Basically we had to follow the sketch, using stitching and blue and white. As today is Kelly's birthday I decided to put the challenge to good use. Kelly lives next to us on the farm and her kitchen has the best view of our fields and sheep. I know her and Den love to watch the animals through the seasons so a Tilda with lamb seemed perfect. Papers came from my stash (a mixture of two monthly kits from C4E), stamp was bought in a sale last year from CraftsULOve.

Purple's Birthday Card

2010-01-06T15:07:00.003Z

Purple is a "white witch" who loves the colour Purple! When she used to visit the forum in UKS she always threw purple sparklies around to cheer everyone up. We miss her. This card is for her birthday on 8th January.

C4E Challenge

2009-11-15T18:57:00.008Z

The C4E recipe challenge is definitely becoming addictive! It never fails to take me outside my comfort zone. This week the three ingredients were to (1) follow the Sketch, (2) include a snowman and (3) use cotton wool. My first thought on seeing the words "cotton wool" were OMG!! I then looked at what the Design Team had come up with and saw a couple of them had used pre-manufactured cotton wool bally things. I knew I had some of those lurking in my brownie/rainbow stash and after 1/2 an hour of searching I found them. They were HUGE. Definitely couldn't use them on a 5 x 5 square card. Back to the drawing board. I resisted the idea of actually going to the bathroom and looking for cotton wool because it conjoured up memories of rainbows and brownies sticking cotton wool balls on huge sheets of sugar paper etc. Looked through all my stamps and cricut cartridges for a snowman and settled on a Hello Kitty snowman. But then, for same insane reason I reached for my Speaking of Winter cartridge which is currently for sale on UKS. I never use it but today it took me out of my box and got me looking at my snowman in a different light. Yes! I went to the bathroom and grabbed some cotton wool. Yes I used a snowman and Yes Yes Yes I created the greeting in foil using my new gadget!!! Am I pleased with the result? I think so.

An afternoon of Crafting!

2009-11-12T17:28:00.003Z

Its been a bit of a busy day today. I was determined to do some housework before I settled down to play. I still only managed to clean the downstairs, upstairs will get done tomorrow - promise!! After lunch we had to nip to the solicitor to sign and wills and I was feeling a bit depressed before I got started. I think my mood was right to embark on the UKS SLYMI entitled Remember. This LO was inspired by an Ashcombe Year 10 Field Trip to the Somme. My Great Uncle William fell during the Battle of Cambrai in the Great War, unfortunately we were unable to go to the war graves in Cambrai so I held a personal memorial for him, just me, Freddie and a poppy. My father never knew him because he died before Dad was born, just 22 years old, the only son of three children.

The card is for the C4E weekly recipe challenge. I set myself the task of moving away from the traditional christmas colours. I printed the background papers on linen card using a Pink Petticoat cd I found lurking in my scrap tech drawer. I was very impressed with the print quality and the paper. Will definitely be using it again. The stamp was a Little Claire one I picked up at the Ally Pally and the snow was created using a whizzy little pen that was included in my C4E November kit. Not sure I like the end result but unless I get this one posted it will be time to start next week's challenge!!

Remember Remember the 5th November

2009-11-05T17:26:00.005Z

I must start this post by wishing my UKS Teamie Janet a very very happy (shhhh don't tell anyone....) 30th Birthday!!!!

Its been a busy week at the craft table. Sadly my Mojo hasn't been sitting with me so I've spend a frustrating 4 days off not really achieving much. I promised myself I would do the recipe challenge at Crafts4Eternity and here is the result. I've also made two more cards for birthdays and spent a lot of time thinking about making a LO to start earning points for our new Scrap Happy team.

The UKS cyber crop is underway and although I'm in a team, the Lions (which given the family's support for Millwall is quite appropriate!) I'm already just a little bored with it all and the crop weekend is still two weeks away. Hey ho maybe when my mojo reappears I'll get back into it.

Its been a long time!

2009-10-08T15:16:00.003+01:00

Today is the first day in ages I've had time to sit at my computer and "play". I was aiming to create a logo for a new group when I came across some software that I had downloaded almost 10 months ago! It was Serif's Digital Scrapbook Artist and a little look in there was all it took before I found this Mexican theme. Needless to say it was just shouting to be used with a picture of Nick taken 2 to 3 years ago at Simply Nails during Dorking's Gala Night. Such a fun evening, we won best dressed and themed shop that night, drank far too much tequila and wine but have so many happy memories.
I'm not sure Digi Scrapping is the way forward for me.... but I did enjoy tweaking with my computer. Enjoy

No pictures today

2009-07-25T21:22:00.002+01:00

Its a funny time of life for me.... I'm working like I'm 20 years old and sadly am feeling it. Yesterday I had a report time of 15:40 to fly to Amsterdam, Gatwick, Palma, Gatwick. Duty time to finish at about 00.30. Guess what? incident at Gatwick meant everything out of the window and I crawled into my bed at 6.00 a.m. this morning. Up in time for 4.00 p.m standby. Yippeee!!! I escaped. Meanwhile my 51 year old body is feeling the strain. Slept for most of today but looking forward to spending some time tomorrow completing ATCs for the GlitznGlamourgals swap. Will post as soon as they're finished.

Long Time No Speak!!!!

2009-07-02T20:56:00.003+01:00

I can't believe I haven't posted since 23rd April! As you will see I've been kinda busy..... joined easyJet on 28th April and after a month of training went on line on 2nd June. Since then my feet haven't touched the ground (quite literally) . Been very busy working and not spending enough time scrapping. I've plenty of projects on the go including two mini albums and a couple of LO's. I'm uploading a selection of recent work into my scrolling gallery but will make a concerted effort to keep this blog up to date from now on. Watch this space because Flight Dolly - I will introduce you to her next time - is having tremendous fun in all the locations I visit and has even had her picture taken on the flight deck!!!!!

Cards for boys!

2009-04-23T12:02:00.003+01:00

April's a bad month for male birthdays. 3 in one week! Firstly there was Eddie's 20th I made a Blues Brother card for him but it didn't scan so well, then came Charlie's 13th and then my brother's 54th. I always find male cards so difficult, there's an abundance of stuff out there to create beautiful girly cards but so little for our boys, unless they're heavily into gardening, golf, fishing or sport. I don't often use humour in my cards but after visiting the Ally Pally at the weekend and seeing the Ethel and Murray stamps I just had to do this one for Edward. He always teases me and either calls me Little Sis or Number 2 Tart (I'm one of three sisters!).

I'm on a mission!!

2009-04-13T21:05:00.012+01:00

Ok, the race is on for Glitz and Glamour Girlz to be the best.

So here goes: April Challenge for Green Button Room.

Its at times like this I think I'm reliving my childhood. Green Button Room sounds like something from that TV show Playschool. You know the one......

"Hello Children, what shall we do today? I know, lets look through the ROUND window and see what we can cut and stick! Shall we make a picture for the GREEN BUTTON ROOM?"

Anyway I digress. Fact is I love cutting and sticking and painting and colouring so will continue to do it and pretend I'm a very grown up kind of person.
Back to the April Challenge. This was by no means aimed at your simple Playschooler. We had to take inspiration from the most boring poem I've ever had the misfortune to read by a chap called Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (18707 - 1882). Its called "An April Day" and goes on for far too many verses. Anyway, to cut what could become a long story short I took my inspiration from the first verse and this morning headed to our woods armed with my camera.
Some of you may not be aware that I'm planning to scrap the farm in a year. So, all whinging aside this was quite a good project. It involved me grovelling on a bank amongst bluebells (which sadly were not all out) and wedging myself with my foot against a tree whilst I got in real close to take some pics. Lily and Jasper (the naughty Yorkies) were a bit bemused by this and came and sat on my head and yapped in my face. Thank goodness Mr. Tink's was on hand to haul me up when I'd finished or I would have slid straight into the stream.
Once home and printing pictures I pulled out my super April kit from Crafts4Eternity and had a lovely time matching papers and embellishments. I went on to spend a happy afternoon in playschool cutting and sticking and colouring and generally having a great time.

The first verse of the poem (and my journalling) is :

"When the warm sun, that brings
Seed-time and harvest, has returned again,
T'is sweet to visit the still wood, where springs
The first flower of the plain"

At last I'm coming back to Earth

2009-04-10T17:40:00.003+01:00

Its been a while since I've written on here as life suddenly got very busy! Anyways, last weekend I drove 4 hours to the Midlands to stay in the most minging hotel in the world and eat even more minging food! BUT, as far as weekends go for me it was just amazing food and minging room apart.

Basically, my Reiki Master Jane had organised a retreat for Masters and students at Harbourne House in Birmingham. 60 of us turned up and the whole weekend was facilitated by our lineage bearer Phyllis Furamoto. I was blown away to be in the same space as her, let alone have the honour to share Reiki with her. Such a relaxing spiritual time.

The Retreat was a dream come true for Jane who had wanted to organise it for several years and took nearly 18 months with the help of Milly to put in place. It just so happened that the dates Phyllis gave her coincided with Jane's 70th birthday. I scrapped the event for Jane and framed it in a 12 x 12 frame as a gift.

My next project is to use the wonderful kit I bought from Crafts4Eternity. Watch this space!

SLYMI challenge

2009-03-29T17:45:00.004+01:00

OK, this was made for UKS's Scrap Like You Mean Challenge The sketch was very simple and I adapted it to fit in with an on-going project - my Mum's Life in Pictures Album. So.... At least I have page 1 and the Wissenden Page done. Also Michele over at C4E has posted a couple of challenge sketches which means I can continue to be stretched and carry on with the family stuff. Phew!

This LO is of my maternal Grandparents William and Violet Waggot. They were married on Christmas Day 1926 in a tiny church in the Village of Hoo, Kent. My Nan was tiny, 4' 11" and my grandfather so tall and upright. Sadly I have no memories of him without a stick but I'll always remember how strong and upright he was when he gave me away at my Wedding in March 1977 and how determined he was to hide his stick. Sadly Nan wasn't at that wedding, we lost her 2 years earlier. She would not have been happy at me being married that day "Too Young!" she would have said. And do you know something? she was right.

March Week 4 challenge

2009-03-26T14:42:00.000Z

Hello Everyone from the March Week 04 Challenge. I hope you managed to find me on here or in the Challenge Gallery. Herewith my offering for this week. I think its covered all the necessary criteria. Secret journalling is behind the beach hut door!

Its been a frustrating morning what with not being able to create a link to the LO in the Gallery, no matter what I tried it wouldn't work. Never happened to me before :(

The weather's been grey and dismal and I've been sat in front of computer for hours. On the upside a set of triplets and a set of twins born today, 4 ewes to go and we're through it. Yippee!

Monday Morning Blues NOT!

2009-03-23T20:47:00.001Z

Its been a good start to the week. I just love Monday mornings because I can go and look for all the new challenges (sad). Anyway this week's have inspired me. I've got three LO's to complete, Scrap like you mean it, UKS weekly challenge and C4E's sketch challenge. I'm ok with all them. I'm going to use SLYMI and C4E's sketches to crack on with Mum's book and the weekly challenge gives me a chance to use some of the photographs I've taken as part of my photography evening class. Excellent. Alls well that ends well. Watch this space!!!!!

Another thing! My lovely neighbour Kelly having visited my blog has hobbled over (she's just had a leg op) to give me some of her precious art books so that I can continue to create. Kelly you're an absolute star and I'm soooo lucky you live next door. I promise I'll look after them :)I'm still busy creating with my beautiful new stamps and will upload pics soon but I created yet ANOTHER Hello Kitty. This time for Freddie's girlfriend Sophie. I gave him a choice of cards and I think the sparkly paper on this one did it for him. Her birthday was on Friday and he's still got the gift bag (containing lovely cuddly bear, heart shaped box filled with Raspberry Jelly Bellys and a bottle of designer perfume (all bought by good old mum) and card in his room. Methinks he's in practice to be a REAL man. Poor girl.

A rush to catch the post!

2009-03-21T10:42:00.000Z

It was a rush to get the Mother's Day Cards completed yesterday. I knew what I wanted to achieve but didn't have a lot of time between massages, manicures and pedicures. As it was I missed giving them to Vernon the Postmaster at his 1.00 appointment and only just made it to the village post office to catch the 5.00 p.m. collection! The pink one in reality looks a lot more subtle than it is with pale pink/white polka dot cartstock and pinkini bazzil. The Tulle was bazzil (I have loads of it now that I'm no longer making wedding invitations!) and the verse reads: "The trouble with mothers is that however well groomed and sophisticated you look to stangers, THEY know your knickers are probably held up with a safety pin!".

The green and pink card for Nick's mum had a quote from Immanuel Kant "I shall never forget my mother, for it was who planted and nurtured the first seeds of Good within me. She opened my heart to the impressions of nature, she awakened my understanding and extended my horison, and her precepts exerted and everlasting influence upon the course of my life". The paper was Imaginisce Baby Power and Oopsie Daily and again the Tulle was Bazzill (left over from Christmas stash).

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly!

2009-03-19T10:45:00.000Z

This is one project I'm seriously not pleased with! I have decided that even my bad projects should be displayed in here cos its good for me to see an improvement (hopefully) over time.

Freddie came home last night and asked me to make a card for Connor's girlfriend, Nads (what kind of name is that?? Imagine telling her to leave..... you would be saying "Go Nads!"). I digress. I was so busy chatting with my teamies in UKS that I kinda rushed this and I feel I could have done so much more to enhance it. I used my new Hello Kitty font on my Cricut to cut out the card blank and kitty and the label is George and Basic Shapes. Moral of the story: If you want to chat, you chat. If you want to craft, you craft!

Crafts4Eternity Sketch Challenge

2009-03-18T17:37:00.000Z

I finally managed to get my head in gear and complete the Crafts4Eternity Sketch Challenge. It just so happened I needed to make a Get Well Soon card for Kelly - hope you're soon be on your feet again Kelly - so I used the sketch as inspiration. The digi stamp is one of my own and I used papers that came free with a craft magazine some time ago and the ribbon from my spring stash. I've got my hands on their Mabel digi stamp and will be doing something with that real soon.

Lambing is a bit quiet at the moment so I have more time to play, especially as the cooker still isn't fixed! I can't waste time cooking so I can spend more time playing. Yippee!

2009-03-17T12:15:00.000Z

Here's another challenge for UKS. Had to use 12 or 1 of something (1 photo) uneven letters and fonts (yep) 1 stamp (yep) and contrasting colours (yep) Think I got it all in. Journalling reads "March 8th 2009. Spring came early to Ridge Farm......" I'm going to spend some time working on cards for Michele's challenge. Check her out at www.crafts4eternity.co.uk lots of challenges and inspiration plus some awesome digi stamps.

UK Scrappers Week 10 Challenge

2009-03-15T17:24:00.000Z

Challenge subject this week was "scrap a funny picture". As it was Red Nose Day I decided to scrap this picture of Caroline. I just love the way she's laughing completely uninhibited and straight from the heart. It was taken on Boxing Day 2008 when Mum was staying for Christmas and Alison, Colin and Megan came to visit together with Julie, Pete and their family. It was the usual chaos but excellent fun and this picture always reminds me of the day and makes me smile.

Where did the week go?

2009-03-13T14:24:00.000Z

Yet another week has gone by and I still haven't finished layout for Mother's Day and Dad's birthday card.

Hope you noticed the new widget on the right, I'm really unfit and suffering from arthritis so if you would like to support me in this (frankly daft idea) race for life I will be eternally grateful. I'm relying on my co-runner Ruth to keep me in training and on the straight and narrow.

Been a busy week, what with lambies arriving on Sunday two weeks before I expected them.... I haven't managed a single LO but my head is whirring with ideas thanks to the lovely girls in UK Scrappers.

2009-03-10T14:30:00.000Z

Susie has tons of Candy on offer! Be quick though because it all runs out on 21st March. Visit her HERE