Wednesday 31 October 2012

I've got BBS!



Bad Blogger Syndrome!!  Oh my life I have been so out of it for a few weeks.  I've done a lot of cover at work which, much as I love, has left me feeling exhausted by the end of the day so all I've wanted to do is sleep!  I've been in a lot of pain with my shoulder too - I seriously don't recommend it!  However, for the last few days and nights I have managed to get by on no painkillers/anti-inflammatories at all.  The pain is still there but I've either got used to it, or it's not as bad as it was.  I still have restricted movement in my shoulder, but at least I have been sleeping at night.  That's about as much as I could have hoped for this time last month!

Right then, I have a few to catch up on.  To begin with I have a project made with Teri's fabulous "Waiting" image for this week's Delicious Doodles theme which is Fright Night!

 
I saw how to make this gorgeous box on Create and Craft and immediately got my Hougie Board out to have a go.  I am so delighted at how simple it is to make and I intend to make a few more for Christmas gifts!
 
Over at Midweek Magnolias this week we have an Anything Goes theme.  I for one was really pleased about that because back in May when we had our Big White Space theme, I really enjoyed making my CAS card with little Edwin dangling and I have longed to have an excuse to have another go, so here is my offering:
 
 
Whilst I can appreciate that there is not a lot of activity embellishment-wise going on here, please don't think that this was a last-minute rush job!!  Blimey, I think it took me as long to make this card as it would one of my more fussy ones!!  I am absolutely loving using my pencils to colour, but I kid you not, it takes me AGES to do it!!!  I don't know if others spend as long with their pencils, but it took me at least 3 hours to colour this!  Granted, there was a couple of cups of tea in between layers, but still, I need to find a way of speeding myself up a bit!!
 
So that's all I have to offer at the moment.  Please pop over to see all my lovely teamies at Delicious Doodles and Midweek Magnolias - they have lots of treats in store for you!
 
Thanks for stopping by and have a very Happy Halloween!!!  :o) xx


Friday 12 October 2012

Delicious Doodles - Monochrome


Hurrah!!  It's Friday once more.  That means that it's time for a new Delicious Doodles challenge. and this week Team B are covering the theme Monochrome.

Here I have used Teri's gorgeous, gorgeous Snow Cuddles image and using various shades of blue have created this beautiful Christmas Card:

I've gone for the paler shades with lots of sparkle (because I do love a bit of sparkle in case you hadn't noticed!! LOL!). 

Please pop over to the blog and see what other delicious delights my fabulously talented teamies have created with Teri's amazing images.

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great weekend :o) xxx

Saturday 6 October 2012

Christmas Paper Star Tutorial


Christmas at Chez Anne has begun!  I have started gathering supplies to make some Christmas Decorations and I am posting my very first ever tutorial with this gorgeous paper star.  I've seen plenty of these but they look too intricate and complicated to have a go at making.  However, I am suffering with a frozen shoulder at the moment but my creative juices are going wild so I decided to have a bash and see how tricky it is.  Well, the good news is that not only is it the most simple thing in the world to make, it's also very, very quick!.  Here's my tutorial - hope you like it.

Begin by cutting 6 squares of paper all the same size.  It doesn't matter what the size they are, that's up to you.  I used 8 x 8 for my test star.  I also used cheap printer paper to make the one above, just in case it didn't work - I didn't want to waste any of my designer papers!!  Fold the square diagonally, and then fold again like this:
 
Next make cuts on both sides, up to the centre but not touching the centre crease, like this:
 
You can make as many cuts as you like - here I made 6 cuts on each side but in the main photo, I only made 5 cuts on each side.
 
Open up the square, and taking the smallest cuts at the centre, using a good tacky glue join the edges together as such:
 
Flip it over and do the same with the next smallest cuts like this:




Repeat the process, flipping and sticking:

Very quickly you will end up with something like this, once all the edges have been joined:


Repeat another 5 times until you have 6 points.  Begin assembling your star by laying them side by side and glueing the edges together in the centre and at the bottom like this:
 


And there you have it, a beautiful, effective hanging decoration in next to no time.  My first attempt took less than 45 minutes.  Try it using different numbers of cuts and papers and square sizes.  By the way, the 8 x 8 one that I made is absolutely HUGE when fully assembled.  Having accomplished my paper star, I tried a smaller one using these Papermania Christmas papers in 6 x 6:
Hope you find this useful.   Please leave me your link if you make one, I'd love to see them!  Thanks for stopping by!  xxx