Free as a Bird - Dragons Dream Tag it on Challenge

Welcome to Magpieheaven. This week there's a new challenge over at the Dragons' Dream and the very creative May has come up with the recipe of Green and the letter 'F' with - of course - one real stamped image. This is just the time of year to start thinking about all things green, to look for green shoots pushing their way up into the light and new leaves unfurling. I decided to play with the idea of different shades of green and leaves. Here is where I began...

I took a manila tag and swiped it through watered down blobs of Fresco Paint on my craft mat. I used Guacamole, Hey Pesto and Green Olives Fresco Paints by Paper Artsy. I also used a little watered down Chocolate Pudding in some areas and around the edge of my tag. When I had dried all this with my trusty heat-gun, I coloured some Grunge Paste with Guacamole and used a palette knife to push it through a Stencil Girl leaf stencil, leaving the centre of the tag free.

 I decided to give myself a little more tag to play with by adding pediments to the top and bottom. I used card stencilled with the leaf pattern, this time using Antarctic Fresco over Guacamole and some Peeled Paint Distress Ink. I painted some of my leaves with Green Amber Treasure Gold and went around the edge of others with a fine brush and some Limelight Fresco. You may also see that I used some punched out leaves from the painted card. On some curled card that I had moulded using a mister I painted Guacamole as a base and then added Limelight and stamped in Wendy Vecchi Fern Green Archival the letters 'F R E E' from the Tim Holtz Worn Letters Alphabet.

 I clear embossed two of my letters and embossed the others with Verdi-Gris EP. As you can see, I added a little key charm, a gift from my crafting friend, Kerry. This brought back memories of one of my favourite childhood books, 'The Secret Garden' in which three children make a garden together. In a sense unlocking the heavy old door to the rose garden, frees Mary and Colin, two of the characters in Frances Hodgson Burnett's novel. Mary learns to love nature and to forget her cross and arrogant disposition, Colin forgets that he is supposed to be a delicate invalid who nobody believes will live for long. And who leads them to find the key to this paradise?

It's a robin! I chose this lovely stamp from the Artistic Outpost plate 'Birds of a Feather' as my main stamped image. I used Wendy Vecchi's Potting Soil to stamp him onto card painted with a blend of Antarctic and Hey Pesto and then clear embossed him. His red breast is blended Aged Mahogany and Festive Berries Distress Inks. I sprinkled a little gold UTEE over him and gave him a tiny, green gem eye. I then had him emerging from the punched out leaves! The script stamped at the edges of the tag is Fern Green and the stamp is Paper Artsy mini 75.

Here is the whole tag! I was pleased with the effect of the Treasure Gold and the different shades of green. Green seam-binding with some touches of Aged Mahogany finished off this Secret Garden tag. I do hope you will feel able to join in with your take on Green, the Letter 'F' and at least one stamped image. Let's hope we don't have too much more of the winter to endure before we can see ever more of those green shoots. 

Spring is just around the Corner?

Welcome to Magpieheaven where today the sun is shining and it actually is not raining! I so want to think that spring is on the way; but I fear that we have more harsh weather to endure before that happens! Never mind, 'Hope springs eternal...' as they say, so, as I had a card to make for my Uncle Derek's eighty-ninth birthday, spring colours and images leapt into my mind and off I went! For this card, I used the terrific Artistic Outpost, 'Birds of a Feather' plate and I should like to enter this birthday card for the January Referral, where the theme is 'Anything Goes'. Click here if you would like to find out more - there are still a few days left!

I have used these images before, but it never ceases to amaze me how different the same images can appear on different projects! I started with these elements! I am giving this card by hand, so I allowed myself lots of layers, including my favourite corrugated card, found on my daughter's floor: I was tidying her room while  she's on a college trip to Amsterdam! I had lots of fun sponging my favourite blues and greens of Fresco paint onto these surfaces, blending them and then stamping with Archival ink. I used Antarctic Fresco Finish, Lake Wanaka, South Pacific and Guacamole. I then stenciled and did a little random script stamping using Wendy Vecchi's lovely Fern Green Archival. Stamping on corrugated card is never going to have that 'perfect' look, so I went with it! I used the stamp without a block to give a worn look to the text and images almost like a palimpsest where new layers are added to old.

I recently treated myself to some Wendy Vecchi Embossing paste and I used this for the first time through a Stencil girl stencil of leaves. it does dry a beautiful, gold.

I stamped the nest onto card, coloured with Antarctic, Guacamole and edged with Potting Soil Archival. I then added these little leaves to give a sense of peeping into the nest between the leaves of a tree. I sponged the eggs in the nest with a little Wendy Vecchi Cornflower Blue Archival. You can probably see that I edged my corrugated card with a touch of Aquamarine and Green Amber Treasure Gold and some dry-brushed Little Black Dress.

I stamped on some blue patterned paper, which I coloured a little with Frescos and Aged Mahogany DIs to make it co-ordinate more with my project. I curled the corners and added a little White Fire TG.

I painted this piece of torn card with Stone at the centre and Antarctic and Lake Wanaka then Chocolate Pudding and Little Black Dress. My leaves are stenciled in Tinned Peas Fresco.

And here are the elements all together with a few additions, which I felt were needed to pull the whole thing together! I also added some gold UTEE to the edges of my little robin tag. You may be able to see why I don't make cards so much these days - at least not the kind you have to mail! I get so carried away with textures and embellishments they end up impossible to fit through anything other than an outsize cat-flap!

The eggs are from the book page stamp, stamped in black Archival onto card sponged with a blend of Space Cadet and Guacamole Freso and then fussy cut and attached to the card with dimensional foam pads. I placed a tiny blob of Glossy Accents over the robin's eye to make it gleam and added some seam-binding coloured with Evergreen Bough and Peeled Paint Distress Inks.

I placed my sentiment inside the Tim Holtz book-plate from his tag die set. The Crackle Glaze is Guacamole over Little Black Dress with just a touch of Green Amber Treasure Gold and I threaded some thin wire through with a handmade bead on it to suggest a little spring - sorry for the awful pun. I make beads from triangles of magazine pages wound around a cocktail stick, stuck together and then glazed by rolling them in Versamark and dipping them in clear Embossing Powder and melting the EP with a heat-gun. I added a little Limelight Fresco to the edges of the corrugated card in places too!

Now my card is complete and ready for my son to take to his Great-Great Uncle. Outside my window a robin has started to sing! But - guess what - now it's raining! Thank you so much for stopping by Magpieheaven today. I hope your week is a rewarding and a creative one - whatever the weather!

Pierrots at Unruly Paper Arts

Hello and welcome Followers and Friends! It's peek time at Magpieheaven. This is an image transfer I did for a larger canvas. If you would like to see how I did it and how it fits in with the bigger picture, please pop over to Unruly Paper Arts HERE. I would be so happy if you left me a comment to show you dropped by. There's lots to look at from all the other great contributors too, so if you would like to have a play with transferring your favourite images onto projects there's loads to interest you. Hope to see you there!

Have a Happy Monday! Love from Magpieheaven!

Venice and The Warmth of Winter.

Welcome to Magpieheaven. The sun is out today, interspersed with dark clouds and heavy rain showers - sorry if I sound like the Weather Report - but those wintry beams had me thinking of sunlight on the stones of Venice where February is Carnival time and rich masks and costumes add warmth to winter. My daughter Matilda has been working so hard finishing her college project and she's had a nasty flu-like cold. As she's been journeying to college every day in driving rain and cold, she's been longing for a bit of warmth. She's always been feisty and independent, and I won't say we don't have our ups and downs, but she is warm-hearted and a great pal. At the wonderful Frilly and Funkie Challenge the challenge is to create some warmth in winter for one you love, so I decided to create a little assemblage for Matilda, my daughter and my friend.

 She is going into a shared student house next year and I'm really going to miss having her around with her quirky sense of humour. She has already decided a colour scheme for her room: blue and gold. I started with a little hanging board from Paper Artsy and a tiny mask I'd had for years. It was a charity shop buy and I had always thought it rather garish compared with the genuine Venetian masks I've collected since I first visited Venice. Would it be possible to alter it and create something that evoked something more Venetian?

 I began by giving my board and the mask a good few coats of Gesso. It was satisfying to see the glitter and the pink on the mask vanish!

Next I tinted some Grunge Paste with Paper Artsy Lake Wanaka and applied it with a palette knife through stencils: Prima flourishes and Crafters' Workshop diamonds to give a Venetian feel to the background. I then sponged and sprayed with different Fresco blues: Antarctic, Lake Wanaka and darkening around the edges with Inky Pool then Chocolate Pudding and French Roast to add contrast. I fixed on my mask with Golden Heavy Gel Medium pressed into the Grunge Paste while it was still wet and painted this with several coats of Antarctic. This blue is so pale it could be white, the colour of a Pierrot mask yet the hint of blue blends with the other stronger blues. I liked the way the chalky finish of the Fresco paints made the mask look a lot more like the authentic Venetian ones.

I then went to town, making and finding embellishments to add to my assemblage. I took some Heavy Card and die-cut some Paper Artsy and Tim Holtz flowers from it. I painted them on both sides with blue Frescos and using Paper Artsy Mini 75 and some Hot Picks flowers designed to go with the die-cuts, I stamped them with Wendy Vecchi Potting Soil Archival. Using my Heavy Gel Medium, I stuck them around the mask to give the appearance of it emerging from the petals of a flower.

 I made a paper flower with a curly wire stamen, gessoed and frantaged with Shabby Blue. The butterfly, a symbol of good luck on Venetian lace, is stamped in Ranger Black Archival ink on blue painted card and clear embossed, edged with Frantage and fussy cut to perch with his tiny legs on the flower petal. The stamp is from Paper Artsy Hot Picks 1204. Unfortunately it is impossible to pick this up in a photo but the Frantage inside the flower really glitters!

 The Venetian ticket is from a Stampington Clearly Impressed set called Butterfly Girl, which I bought when I first started crafting. Other embellishments include a key given me by my crafting friend Kerry, which I painted and then gilded with Aquamarine and Green Amber Treasure Gold. There is a a shrink plastic heart which I coloured with Fresco in Vanilla and then stamped and glazed with Glossy Accents. There is an old leaf earring, a Prima wooden butterfly from their Birds and Butterflies collection and a little fabric rose from Kerry, painted and gilded. To suggest the ribbons attached to the mask, I added curled white card.

 I accented the corners of the hanging with Treasure Gold and just slightly picked out the raised design on the mask. The hanging gleams now with a warm, vintage glow rather than the harsh sparkle of the mini-mask. I hope it will evoke just a little bit, the watery shadows and sunlight and the faded mellow, light of Serenissima. I think the gift did warm Matilda's heart too, as she gave me one of her lovely big beams when I said it was for her new home! I should like to enter my Venice hanging for the Frilly and Funkie Challenge ' The Warmth of Winter' and for the letter 'A' challenge at Simon Says Monday Challenges, as this piece could also be called 'A for a Venetian Assemblage'.

Hearts and Flowers

Welcome to Magpieheaven! January can be seen as a dreary month, but I think it has a lot to recommend it! It's a lovely time for fresh starts and new beginnings.  I'll try not to go all soppy and sentimental - I did say try -  but twenty-seven years ago Mr Magpie and I started married life together on a beautiful, sunny winter's day: our anniversary is on January 31st! Mr Magpie bought me  a huge bunch of flowers when we started going out - so many that I couldn't find enough vases for them! This was not because he was the world's most romantic man, but because the man with the flower stall outside the station was closing up to go home and needed to off-load all his 'daffs'! When he arrived at my front door you could hardly see little Mr Magpie for flowers! At Fashionable Stamping Challenges the theme is 'Hearts and Flowers' so I have created a box within a box for this challenge and as an anniversary present for Mr Magpie who, although he 'insulates' our loft with stuff that 'might come in useful', still has my heart! Flowers have been an important part of our lives together, especially when we became parents and moved to Magpieheaven. Our daughter loved the story of 'Beauty and the Beast' and asked that we plant roses when we began to make our garden together. Also, over at Country View Challenges the theme is 'Monochromatic', so I have chosen to create using different hues of cream that I hope evoke the season - monochromatic, but hopefully never dull. Finally, because I always find the DT work on Simon Says Challenges so inspiring in its eclecticism and I really let my imagination run free on this make, I should also like to enter this for the Simon Says Monday, Anything Goes Challenge.

Where did I begin? With a box that had contained specialty cheeses: a Christmas gift to Mr Magpie from our daughter!

I gave this a good coat of Gesso inside and out. Then I painted the outside with first Paper Artsy Fresco Finish, French Roast and then, when it was dry, a thin layer of Crackle and the inside with Fresco Finish Cheesecake. Once the Crackle Glaze was dry, I applied thick strokes of Nougat Fresco to the outside, leaving the Crackle to work its magic!

 While this was happening I worked on some bits and pieces to go inside my box. Mr Magpie had found me this tiny little box! I don't know where it came from and I have to say this was an occasion when I he really won my heart with his hoarding! On the right you can see I created a 'back-drop' to fit into the box. I painted with Vanilla Fresco and dabbed with hints of Caramel to give an appearance of parchment. I then stamped an image from Paper Artsy Lynne Perrella 015 Collection in Wendy Vecchi Potting Soil Archival and some script from a Paper Artsy Mini. 

I painted the tiny wooden box with some Nougat before lining it with handmade paper given my by my dear, crafting friend and Magpie Cousin Dianne. Another lovely friend, Kezzy sent me some gorgeous Magpie bits a while ago towards a challenge we were doing so I hope she doesn't mind that I used these too: a beautiful bark heart and a tiny rose which I painted Nougat to match. I used some of the wood shavings that came as the cheese packaging and to begin with I was going to include a little glass heart. This never seemed quite right, so I changed it for something else, which I will show you later. I used sketch book paper coloured with Vanilla Fresco and streaks of Caramel and just a touch of Toffee. This became roses and petals thanks to a Tim Holtz Tattered Florals die and a tutorial by Jennie Atkinson at 'Live the Dream'. I also painted a branch from our garden and twined it with some of the wood shavings and some cream hemp. The stamping on the right is in Wendy Vecchi Potting Soil, clear embossed and I used a sentiment from Lin Brown's Eclectica Range for Paper Artsy and a rose cut from a Lynne Perrella Paper Artsy stamp 008.

I used a resin rose or two, painted to match my colour scheme. This one finally came to rest on top of the box fixed to this little frame, which I distressed using Gesso over painted with French Roast - also a gift from Kezzy. I also stamped some of the sketch paper with a Paper Artsy mini  26 and used this as petals.

I painted and stamped the back of my 'parchment'  with Paper Artsy Mini 26 so that when I curled the edges over there would be something interesting to see.

With all my embellishments made, it was time to start arranging and then sticking! I don't know about other crafters, but I have found getting the adhesive right a bit of a problem for projects like this. I ended up using quite a range of stickies! For this branch from our garden - sticking wood to wood - I found Dovecraft Silicone glue worked really well. This also stuck the Shrink Plastic, which I used eventually to add detail, well. For my 'parchment' I used Claudine Hellmuth Multi Medium.

To create more hearts, I painted some Shrink Plastic with Nougat on one sheet and Cheesecake on the other, cut them using a Paper Artsy heart die and then stamped with Potting Soil. When these were shrunk and cool, I edged the Cheesecake ones with a little Toffee using the Dry Brush technique to give definition.

My little scrolls were made from the sketch book paper. I found that if I sprayed the paper very lightly with a mister of water, it became quite mouldable. The trick is not to let it get too soggy or easy to tear. I secured these with hemp twine and the middle one with some seam-binding coloured with a touch of Squeezed Lemonade and Frayed Burlap Distress Inks. I added Rose Quartz Treasure Gold to petals and curled edges all over the project! I also edged the box itself with it, just a touch here and there.

Here is what I replaced the glass heart with - the words, 'My Heart' from a Sara Nauman Paper Artsy Eclectica plate printed onto Shrink Plastic. The #2 tag was swiped through watery Nougat, Caramel and Toffee then Frantaged with Shabby Pink and then swiped again. On this project, I played around with painting over Frantage, so that some of the colour is lost, but the texture remained. I played around with this on the branch too. The flowers are stamped from Paper Artsy Hot Picks 1009.

I stamped a little script Mini 84 over the top of the box...

So sorry for such a photo heavy post! Thank you so much if you've stayed with me to the end! Have a lovely creative January wherever you are and whatever you're doing!
I should like to enter this project for Fashionable Stamping Challenges - Hearts and Flowers, Country View Crafts - Monochrome and Simon Says Monday 'Anything Goes Challenge'.

Dragons' Dream TIO: 'Script, One Real Stamp and the Letter L'.

Hello and welcome to Magpieheaven. You might remember that yesterday I said I would be back wearing a different hat? Well, I've replaced my Paper Artsy hat with a Dragon head-dress for today! I am so excited to be able to tell you that I have been accepted onto the team at The Dragons' Dream! I'm not quite sure if I can take all this excitement, I seem to have permanent butterflies in my tummy at the moment - excitement mingled with nerves! If you would like to find out all about their fabulous Tag it on Challenge, please click HERE. I learned about this challenge early on in my blogging days back in April and I've loved taking a look at the recipes dreamed up by the Dragons ever since. Now I can be part of the 'family' so Thank You Dragons for taking me on board. My first tag is an interpretation of the recipe 'Script, One Real Stamp and the letter L' set by the very talented and accomplished Silvia. Please do pop over to the Dragons' Dream to see the other fabulous interpretations. Then join in and see if you can create your own response and link up your design. You need to include script, one real stamp and the letter 'L' somewhere on your tag. I started with a Manila Jumbo tag.

I painted this with a good coat of Paper Artsy Little Black Dress Fresco and then applied a thin layer of Crackle Glaze. When the Glaze was quite dry, I painted the tag with Caramel Fresco and waited for the Crackle to work its magic. When the tag was dry and crackly, I stamped the Paper Artsy Mini 75, which is a nice fine script all over the tag, using Ranger Black Archival ink.

Then it was time to think about embellishment. I had my script, how was I going to incorporate the letter 'L' in my design? Script suggested medieval heraldry to me. I rather liked the idea of a fantasy heraldic design using Lynne Perrella images and maybe displaying my letter 'L' as it would appear as an illuminated medieval letter. I have also seen some lovely script flowers made by other crafters so I wanted to incorporate flowers like this too.

I took some sketch paper and painted it with Frescos in Vanilla on one side, Blood Orange over Nougat on the other and stamped with Paper Artsy script stamps Mini 26 and Mini 84 so that I had double-sided paper. I embossed my script with some copper and verdi-gris embossing powder over Versamark and die cut some Tim Holtz Tattered Florals. The tulip was made from a Paper Artsy Eclectica Die and a Lynne Perrella image stamped onto Smoothy Card painted with Caramel, Vanilla and Blood Orange and Chocolate Pudding edging. I stuck this onto a black oval - card painted with Little Black Dress - edged with Treasure Gold.

I also used some book text on one of my flowers, which, rather conveniently included the words, 'Rose' and 'Heraldry'. Do you ever find that happens when using book text? Somehow you have just torn or cut the perfect words for your project.

I die cut a Paper Artsy shape from their 'Hardware' plate that would form my 'heraldic' base for the letter 'L'. I used a tiny rose given my by my dear, crafting friend, Kerry and stamped the script on this with Blood Orange Fresco rather than ink, edging it and the rose with Florentine Treasure Gold.

I  dry brushed the edges of my tag with Blood Orange, Toffee and French Roast and sprinkled some Gold UTEE along the sides.

Here is my 'L' taken from Tim Holtz's 'Worn Alphabet' and embossed on to Little Black Dress with Copper embossing powder before edging with some Blood Orange and Rose Quartz Treasure Gold. Adding the leaves reminded me of the way that medieval illuminations really seem to come alive with letters bursting into flowers and foliage. This flower is the one with the book text that I was so pleased about! I hope you can see the words Rose and Heraldry through the paint! I also edged my florals with Treasure Gold in Florentine and Rose Quartz.

My paper was decorated on both sides so I was able to curl my petals over to reveal text underneath too! I added some cream hemp and some tea-stained lace.

My main stamped image was the centre of my tag. I cut and played around with different elements from the Lynne Perella image to adapt it to the Lin Brown tulip. I loved the way that the image also had medieval script on it. The tower above the lady's head resembled a petal, I thought.

And here is the whole tag...

I finished it off with some punched paper lace with script printed in black Archival ink. Thank you so much for stopping by Magpieheaven and taking a look at my tag. I do hope you will try your hand with this recipe and find a moment to dream with the Dragons too!

Dragons' Dream Sneak Peek!

Hello Followers and Friends. Now what hat am I wearing today? If you would like to find out, please pop over to Dragons' Dream TIO Challenge HERE. Then - if you can - leap back to Magpieheaven for more detail. Here, in the meantime, is a sneak peek.

Hope to catch you later!

WOYWW - Busy Busy Happiness!

Hello and welcome to Magpieheaven! I am sorry to say that I haven't been able to show what's on my workbench/washing-machine top for the last two weeks for two reasons! Before I tell you what they are, let me just steer you over to Julia's Stamping Ground where you can find out  a little more about why I feel the need to show you the top of my washing-machine, where I do a lot of my crafting and why I've so missed being part of the greatest blog-hop around hosted by the amazing Julia Dunnit!
 Now I can explain: my work bench has been top secret, as I have been a GD for Paper Artsy, which has been very very exciting and a bit nerve-wracking, but I can relax just a little now that the big reveal has happened. I am also helping the Dragons over at the Dragons' Dream later on today, so there have no only been lots of secrets, but also much busyness and flapping of wings in the Magpies' Nest! Our kitchen is still at a complete standstill, but I'm enjoying crafting so much I have learned to live with it and the mystery that is Kevin and the slowly evolving cupboards! Magpie Granny seems to be settling into her lovely little flat and smiling again; our son has a voluntary job, which is doing wonders for his confidence and our daughter has found a lovely house to share with her student friends next year! So we Magpies are feeling very happy and here, without further ado, is my desk top today!

I have at last invested in the super Tim Holtz 'Worn Alphabet'. The envelope contains two sheets of Ez Mount for my unmounted stamps. I am putting off doing this chore, as I really don't enjoy mounting rubber stamps. I'll never forget the time I managed to get my hair stuck to the stuff - what a nightmare, but I have to laugh! I've never longed to be bald as much as I did that evening! In the background are the beautiful pages from our last year's calender, which had Japanese wood-cuts on it. I plan to use these images in new projects and that jar contains some lovely copper mica flakes, which I've just been using. I will try my very best to visit my followers' and friends' work desks today, but please bear with me, as it is going to take me a while to visit. Have a lovely Wednesday everyone and I have missed you all so much!

Tuesday Sneak Peek.

A warm welcome from Magpieheaven again! It's been great receiving your lovely comments over on Paper Artsy and here too. It's particularly nice to hear that people feel they are learning through doing the project - well, we are certainly learning together. Thank you so much to my friends old and new for being so kind and supportive. Tonight is the final part of my project, which has been to create a box and a little world inside it. If you want to see what I did with these...

please pop over to Paper Artsy HERE to see the final post from me this week. It's been such fun and so rewarding to share this project with you and I can't wait to see what you come up with in your own interpretations so please do play along and make your own box if you can, or even use just an element that inspired you. I always dreamed of being able to share my enthusiasm for crafting more widely, so a big Thank You to Leandra, Gillian, Darcy - everyone at Paper Artsy for making this possible. I wish we could all get together for a big crafting session, but if you play along with me that will be the next best thing. Tonight is the third and final night of my project, but do drop by Paper Artsy all this week to see what the other designers have in store to inspire and delight you and play along with them. Next week there will be all the excitement of a new GD to look forward to - the good things just keep coming! Then please join me again in February for my second GD spot. I would really love to see you all again over at Paper Artsy. Until then 'Au revoir' and do pop by Magpieheaven again to see what I'm playing with between now and February! I'd love to see you. In fact tomorrow I should have another crafty hat on and have something a little bit different to show you! This secrecy thing is getting a habit! Hope you can join me to find out what I'm twittering on about. Love to you all!

Monday Sneak Peek!

 A warm welcome to my friends and followers. Well, it was all excitement and great flapping of wings in Magpieheaven last night! Thank you so much for the kind and encouraging comments both on this blog and over at Paper Artsy. I appreciated every one and they did wonders for my 'stage-fright'! I hadn't quite realized how nervous I would feel until that hour of seven approached and Darcy reminded everyone that the clock was ticking away toward the next Paper Artsy new GD being announced! Clare Lloyd had really captured our imaginations, especially with her lovely little quirky art doll and she was a hard act to follow! I was particularly flattered by Lucy's observation that it was like waiting to see which Trumpton character it would be on 'Watch with Mother'. Well, I so hope I didn't disappoint! I don't think even a venerable and loved Trumpton character could have been made more welcome than I was by the lovely people at Paper Artsy and by all of you.
I hope you will be able to play along with me and that you will have time to flit over to Paper Artsy tonight and see what's inside the Renaissance casket!

Here is a sneak peek, but you can see the whole thing HERE. Have a lovely evening!
Love and warmest thanks for your support,
Julie Ann x

Sunday Sneak Peek!

Hello and welcome to Magpieheaven, Followers and Friends! Now I can take a deep breath and shout from the tree-tops - 'The lovely people over at Paper Artsy have given me a GD spot!' Phew! It's such a privilege and I still can't quite believe it. My knees have been knocking together with 'first-night nerves', I can tell you! Here is a sneaky peek of what I've been creating. I do hope you will like it and that you will feel you can play along with me.

 If you pop over to the Paper Artsy Blog HERE, you'll see the whole picture. You'll also find out how you can link to the Paper Artsy Challenge and win fabulous prizes of brand new products. The new deadline for projects is now Sunday at 5.00pm so you have more time to create. Later on in the week last some brilliant GDs from 2013 will be dropping by with great new inspiration. Please join in, if you can! I'd love to see you over at PA and it would do wonders for those first-night nerves if you would play along with me. Thanks so much for stopping by. Now you know why things have gone a little quiet in Magpieheaven over the last few days!