A little bit distressed.

I came home on Friday to find that my stash had arrived and was waiting for me at home. I now have so many cute Elzybell stamps, buttons and inks. It is such a shame that Elzybell has closed, her stamps are certainly ones to make you smile. I also received my parcel from Oyster stamps of Tim Holtz distressing inks. I must say that Oyster stamps are brilliant. Next day delivery and cheaper than anywhere else on these inks. Highly recommend.

It was a good end to a slow day!  

Saturday I managed to catch up on a lot of sleep and my lovely chappie Al, put up a hanging rack and created a shelf for my desk in the spare room. At last I have some much needed space to work on. I haven't quite got it like I would like at the moment but my crafty space is taking shape. I just need some paper and ribbon storage. 

These pots are ideal for all my pens.

The shelf that Al made and my Ikea hanging rack.

Whilst Al was busying himself sorting out the rack and shelf I spent some time making some loaves, Aubergine parmigiana, Cauliflower cheese, mushroom stroganoff and a veggie stew. You must be thinking that that is some feast we were having. I had a load of stuff that needed to be used fairly quickly, cooked them up and froze them. Looks like that is most of the weeks teas sorted!

Will have to post some photos of the mini loaves I made...they look so fab!

Today has been a slow one. Overnight I have felt quite poorly with congestion, chesty cough and a crampy stomach. So I have taken things on the easy side for once. Shame as I was hoping to tidy up the back garden as the cold weather starts to take hold. The garden has been a productive one this year. We still have beans, courgettes, chard, spinach, lettuce, beetroot and sprouting still growing. We have had some lovely veg from the plot and lots of lovely bees and butterflies buzzing around too. Sadly the hogs that we spent all last Summer and Autumn taking care of, seem to have vanished. We think that the ones we spotted squashed on the main road may be them. I can't even bear to think about it. I miss them and their hoggy ways :(

I was itching however to have a go with the Tim Holtz inks and some of the stamps I bought, so I sneaked upstairs and had a go with them. I totally forgot to get a blending tool, so I had to make do with stamping some of the inks onto an acrylic block, spritzing some water and placing some watercolour paper on top. I pressed down and then gently lifted it off. The inks had merged and mingled to create a nice wash effect. I used my fingers to spread some of the ink globs a little and then wiped off the excess. I love the washed effect on the page. I dried the paper, trimmed it and then used it for a background. I then used a lovely unmounted rubber stamp from Elzybell of a loveable dog and bee on some white card. I washed it with some more of Tim's inks and the watercolour was great. I added an Elzybell 'Happy Birthday' clear stamp to finish it off. Good thing too as I realised it was my mum's boyfriends birthday this week! 

Here is the result..

Right I am going to slope off and grab some food, a lovely hot choc and settle down and watch some tv. Have a great weekend, whats left of it folks...!

Till next time

xx