I can now announce.......

That I am officially a Spectrum Noir Accredited Colourist!

My certificate arrived from America today.

I know they missed a 'K' out of my surname, but hey what does a little k matter!

Sounds good doesn't it? Accredited Colorist!

Something official to show for my colouring at last. Right enjoy your evening, I'm off to colour!

Take care Zo xx

Project 2013

Hello everyone, so here we are at the start of a new week, so what better time to share my journal page for last week in my Project 2013 smash book.

It's a single page this week as for 7 days I didn't leave the house due to the snow and ice so not a lot happened!

I started the page by spraying 'London Blue' Dylusions ink, then added dots of gold paint to the graph paper style page. I added the script paper Bazzil border. I coloured 'Kaylee' in her 'Winter Warmth' clothes, perfect outfit to match with the snow!  I added photos from the week though my favourite is the one of Keagan's footsteps on our path! I journalled to say what happened that week and included the Bristol Rovers score (We won!) and that the snow melted by Sunday. 

That's it, wonder what this week will bring? Hope you'll pop by to see this week's pages, next week! 

Take care Zo xx

My weekly journal

Morning!

We still have lots of snow and ice left here, but with no more expected I'm hoping it will disappear over the weekend with rising temperatures.  I'm hoping to go out today for the first time in a week!

Anyway as I said I would, I'm here to share my pages in my project 2013 smash book for the week of 14 - 20 January - 

I had lots to write about from the snow to more personal things like having my nails done and buying a new coat to the amazing news that Bristol Rovers are allowed to sell our current ground to Sainsburys which will then fund our new stadium build! 

Snow pictures - bottom right is our main road.

Details about my nails, coat and stadium.

What a week, and I'm so pleased I've wrote it down and captured it. 

Am really enjoying keeping a weekly journal, it makes me think and take photos I wouldn't normally bother with.

Hope you enjoy peeking into my world!

Take care Zo xx

WOYWW 190

 A bit late for me, but I've not been so good today and it's taken me till now to sort myself out to post.

The desk is empty to be honest apart from 2 things drying which are -

A notebook I've covered - the covers were a bit battered and I had coloured this character and loved her so didn't want to give her away or lose her, so I thought I'd put her on my notebook as I use it all the time!

These are pages in my Green Smash book I use for memories and I'm preparing pages for a special memory and going to use it for a DT project coming soon!

So that's it, there isn't anything else happening on my desk. I'm starting to feel a bit cooped up as I've not been able to go out since last Thursday, it's just not worth the risk of me falling as my sticks don't work well on snow and ice nor does the wheelchair!

But the view from my craft room is quite pretty. Believe it or not, there is an old railway track up there which is a museum. They run steam trains along it and I can on a clearer day see the men restoring carts and track etc.

Right that's me done, pop over to Julia's to find better desks and probably snow pictures! 

Take care Zo xx

My first DT post for the Crafty Boots Shop DT

Hello, I had to share with you today a link to my first DT post on the Crafty Boots shop blog. I'd love it if you could go over and follow; it's a fab way of finding out first-hand all of the offers, promotions and to see inspiration for products available up close and in many forms of projects. 

Me and my fellow DT ladies will be working hard to come up with many varied creations to get your creative juices flowing!

Here's a sneaky peek from my post today, but please pop over to the shop blog see my full post!

Let me know what you think!

Take care Zo xx

Crafty Boots - New

Good morning!

I'm here today to share with you all my latest DT project for Crafty Boots. The theme, chosen by the lovely Helen is...

NEW

So we want to see anything new, may it be a new stamp, technique, papers or style, just make sure you tell us exactly what and why it's new.

Pop over to Crafty Boots challenge blog to enter, we look forward to seeing what you've been doing and what new things you used to create your projects.

Mine is a mixture of brand newness - 

This is a page in my black Craft Smash Book, I create pages to keep my favourite papers, characters & techniques as reminders.  This page uses my new Heidi Swap paper, new tag die from Crafter's Companion, new Tim Holtz distress paper embossing folder and hanger embellishment. But the main new thing is the character image - I've used a new technique to colour the Some Odd Girl (remember Some Odd Girl stamps are available from Crafty Boots on-line store ) character and that is line-less colouring. If you look at close ups below you'll see there isn't the standard black line around the image. This is a digital image that I printed on low transparency so the lines are faint, but you can also do this using a pale grey ink if you are stamping.

I've left room under the page flap to keep other images I want to keep with this technique. I'll pop a pocket or something under here to put them in.

All lines are created by the colouring, using different tones to pick out what needs to be darker like around the eyes and mouth.  The technique gives the character a softer animated look I think. It really tests your colouring and I found I needed to put the darker tones first to map out each area as once you start colouring you lose your lines.

I wrote a note and attached it to the back of the page flap to remind myself of what I did.  While I like my pages to look fab, I need them to remind me of the techniques etc.

I thought this Wendy Vecchi stamp worked well with this page as I really did have to be brave and make myself step off the normal path to create this!!

It took time and patience to colour this image but I really enjoyed the task and will definitely try this again.

So what do you think? Let me know if you have a go at trying this, I'd love to know how you get on!

Take care Zo xx

Craft Room View

Just a quick hello from me to share my view this snowy day!

This is what I can see out of my Craft Room, stunning.

This is the view of my garden, my car buried under a snow blanket. There's some drifting in places too making areas up to foot deep.

Looking out to the right at back. So pretty.

I'm staying in, warm & cosy, crafting in my craft room admiring the view. Snow been coming down since early hours, starting easing now and keep thinking it's stopped but then it comes down again.

Take care, stay warm & safe everyone.

Zo xx

WOYWW 189 - part deux

Just a quick update from me, those of you who have already popped by today will have read (in post below) that I was going to have my nails done this morning.  I acted as model/guinea pig for my neighbour who is a Beautician. Anyway thought I'd share the 'official' photos taken for her business page on Facebook (link on my side bar).

Aren't they pretty?  Love them and before you ask, yes I can still craft with them. It's like having my own in-built pokey tools!! As they are Acrylics they feel like my own nails anyway. Takes me a little while to do up and undone buttons but am okay once I get used to them. I don't do housework (well, not much!) so they stay all pretty for ages. 

Take care Zo xx

WOYWW 189

Morning!

Well it's a quick short post from me as I'm off next door to be a model......ha ha can you imagine! But seriously I am. My neighbour is a beautician and has asked me if I'd be her model/guinea pig to practise her new nail tips. Gel or Acrylic am not sure. But I said as long as the nails aren't red I don't care what you stick on my fingers!

Right pop over to Julia's to join in the desk dash and show yours to the world.

Here's mine - 

This is the working area of my desk, some pens and colouring on the go with the stamps that go with it, scissors and a card I made last night. It's one of those cards that isn't for anyone in particular I just played and it happened!

The window sill and end of the desk. All my stuff I use all the time and the window sill is full of stamps that I'm playing with or that I'm waiting to cut out.

The other end shows my ever growing pen collection, large pocket Smash books tucked away, my Cuttlebug, radio, phone and Ottlite are all there as is my old address book with the new one waiting to be filled. The white tube pieces are my grippers as I call them, I slide them onto pens and tools so that I can hold them better.

That's it, time to have a coffee and relax. I'll be back later to see what you've been up to.

Take care Zo xx

Smashing Happy

Well there's no snow here yet, but it is rather cold so I'm tucked up in my craft room happily mooching from project to project, namely Smash Books. I've started to keep certain books for certain things - my yellow one is all to do with my Paris trip, my orange one is project 2013, the baby one is for Keagan's early years, the wedding one is for Family History, the green one is for specific memories and my black one is for craft. I do have others that are more random! 

So by this you can guess I have rather a lot, well yes, I think I have most of the ones available to us here in UK, and am definitely going to try to get my hands on the new ones soon!

So today I'm sharing some pages I've finished recently, they are all in different books - 

This first spread is in my Paris yellow book and shows photos from our trip around a beautiful garden during our time there. It was autumn so I've created a digital page with the photos but added the Some Odd Girl character afterwards. I also stamped some Stampin' Up leaf stamps using distress inks to go on the the opposite page where I journalled about what we saw and what it was like.

This shows my Project 2013 orange book and my pages for last week, if you remember I said I was going to document each week of the year! The papers are from Teresa Collins Fabrications range. I wrote straight onto the paper this time and created a small pocket to pop the Costa coffee receipt into, the embellishments are also from the range except the coffee badge/button.  I coloured Some Odd Girl 'Cuppa Mae' as I felt she fitted the theme well.

These 2 spreads are from Keagan's book, I started them a while ago but have only just finished these pages.  I wrote about why I started it when he was 14 and how I took photos of original photos after they were retrieved from the loft. After the pages detailing his birth I've continued in a chronological order journalling about the photos and what was going on at the time. I look so young, but then I was 23! 

I suppose these pages are a mix of Scrapbooking, journal and Smash as I've drawn on various styles to create them.  I love mixing digital with stamps and I love drawing and using a white pen around black as you would in journalling.  These pages are more thought out than my random smash pages. Plus I use my best papers and embellishments so I get to keep them! Ha ha.

Let me know what you think, even if it's to comment on my fish tattoo!!!!

Take care Zo xx

A New Project for Me!

Well today I thought I'd share with you a new weekly project I've set myself for 2013.

Every week I'm going to complete a layout in my specially dedicated Smash Book, my week will run from Mon - Sun and I shall attempt to share my finished pages on a weekly basis though I can't promise!

So here's my first pages completed for week commencing 31 st Dec - 6 th Jan - 

The cover of the orange Smash book covered with paper from Teresa Collins Fabrications range.

I kept the vellum insert and embellished it to match the 2-page spread.

Both pages are decorated using papers and embellishments from Graphic 45 The Olde Curiosity Shoppe range.

On the back of the vellum I journalled onto coordinating card stock and attached it using a Tim Holtz hanger and some washi tape.

I took photos during the week & then chose photos after I journalled, I also wanted an up-to-date photo of Keagan to start the year, much to his amusement....not!

I love these badge style embellishments, I bought them from an American lady on Etsy A Flair for Buttons there are so many fab 'buttons' on there. 

I've realised lately how important it is to write......that is actually write in my own handwriting not type and print out. Not an easy task for me as my hands and fingers struggle to hold a pen, but I do have a few large chunky barrelled pens that along with tubing help me to do a little at a time. I love the idea of future generations being able to look back and be told that the writing really was my handwriting!

Since Smash came along I've found myself being interested in Scrapbooking and as my confidence in creating layouts rose I've now started to keep my 'best' papers and embellishments for my Smash books and layouts so that I don't have to give them away! 

Anyway I look forward to sharing this Zoe-style version of Project Life with you all, providing the novelty doesn't run out. I am, at the moment, determined to create this year long book as something to look back on as a record of what 2013 was like here, in Zoe & Keagan's world! 

Take care Zo xx

WOYWW 188 - All Sorts!

Hello Wednesday and hello everyone!

Of course these days Wednesdays mean desks, and desks mean nosing and all of that can be blamed on the lovely Julia over at The Stamping Ground for coming up with this worldwide desk dash. If you've not joined in I suggest you take a look and have a go, but be warned it takes over your life to the point where you actually want to go and meet some of these WOYWW-ers.  It happened to me, but I'd happily go and meet them all again.........hang on, am sure Julia mentioned something along those lines for this year!

Right my desk, it's an eclectic mix this week - 

There's my new Address book that I'm writing addresses in a few at a time, a couple of photos awaiting trimming & inserting in my new project (pop back Friday for an introduction to my new project!) Some Odd Girls stamps, all in a pile because I'm always stamping and colouring, plus other stamps at back I won. Then at the front is a pack of canvas paper and a pack of keyring type chain things (plan on actually making something bead-related this year!) I picked up yesterday while in Bath, for my hospital appointment. 

So there you go, no actual projects on the go, but that's okay.  Today has to be a writing day for me as another deadline is looming for my Bristol Rovers articles so I have to get my 'football brain' in gear and try to ignore those fab stamps and keep my 'colouring brain' for after I've written my 850 word article!

Enjoy whatever you do today, tomorrow or whenever pop by, you are all very welcome!

Take care Zo xx

Black & Bright! - Crafty Boots

Happy Monday everyone!

Today I'm back to share with you my latest DT piece for Crafty Boots Challenges and the theme this time is Black plus a bright colour chosen by Freya, so we want to see how you put black with bright, so it could be pink, lime, blue, red whatever colour you choose, but not anything pale and washed out!

So for my piece I've created a page for my 8 x 8 scrapbook album using black with bright blue/white!

So as you can see it's about Bristol Rovers and is one of a number of pages I plan to do about me and Keagan supporting them. Before anyone asks, 'Up The Gas!' is what we say as Bristol Rovers' nickname along with being called 'The Pirates' is 'The Gas' and we supporters are known as Gasheads! 

This is Kaylee and the image is made using the Kaylee's Closet wardrobe set plus the additional Winter Warmth set both available from Crafty Boots. I've coloured her using my Copics and, of course, coloured to  match the Blue and White of Bristol Rovers! Oh and I decided to dye her hair with blue too, something I have done in real life!

The background behind Kaylee is a Creative Expressions stamp - Newsprint that I was given for Christmas, at the top you can make out the word FOOTBALL so it was a perfect stamp for me!

This fab spiders webbing creates a super contrast to the black and sort of resembles a goal net!

I added Card Candi and wooden stars that I coloured with the same blue.

The same with this camera, I placed it here as in the photo you can see one of the camera people taking pictures from the game.

As you all know I'm a huge Smash Book fan but while playing in my journals I've discovered I can do layouts, I can put things together to create a page, something I've not done before so I've decided to create a  8 x 8 scrapbook that I will bind myself using my Cinch so that I can just keep creating pages to make memories!

I'm going to make a 2nd page to match this one with journalling on to explain about the photos. I've recently really bought into the whole idea of journalling and putting memories/moments/ideas/family history onto pages so that they won't be forgotten and lost.

Look forward to seeing your creations, see you over at Crafty Boots Challenges.

Take care Zo xx