Sunday, October 31, 2010

World domination!

I'm still trying hard to make Christmas presents- still concentrating on notebooks at the moment! I'm trying out some ideas for more boy friendly ones. This one was inspired by the Compendium of Curiosities extreme masking challenge over at Linda's L3 Studio blog.



Turned out alright, didn't it? I'm sooooo chuffed with the end result. I used lots of Distress Inks, Tim masks and stamps and got right inky fingered.

I'm entering it in the following challenges:

Crafts and Me- Christmas Present
Drunken Stampers- No Copics
Studio L3- Extreme masking
SCD- Claret and blue

Halloween card- well it would be rude not to......

I didn't take much in the way of craft stash on our holiday last week, but I did manage to sneak in a few stamped images and a box of Promarkers..... then did the "oops, how did they get there" face! There wasn't time for a lot of colouring but I managed to fit in an hour, and knowing that all the Halloween challenges would be about I coloured this smashing Sweet Pea image.


Then today I spent some time making it into this card.


The background is stamped with a fab spotty stamp I've had forever, and it's sooooo useful. The papers were originally cream and black, but I swooshed on a dab of Dusty Concord Distress ink. The quote is from my favourite Shakespeare play, The Tempest- " we are such stuff as dreams are made on".

I chose the purple card to fit in with the Tuesday Taggers' Deep Purple theme- especially as they're sponsored by The Craft Barn this week!

Did I mention that it's an easel card? Here's the side view.



Now bear with me, cos I'm entering this into a few challenges.......

Tuesday Taggers- Halloween with Deep Purple
Sweet Pea Stampers- Easel card
In a Sweet Pea Dream- Things with wings
Penny's Challenges- Black, purple and orange
Wild flower patch- Anything Halloween
Totally Gorjuss- Spooky

I got a top 3!

I got a top 3 at Crafts and Me challenges!!! Woo hoo! Something else to be grateful for!!!!



Crafts & Me



It was for my altered notebook, of which I am totally proud. Hurray! Thanks Teresa- made my day!

Rocking my world Friday- well.....Sunday really!

I've noticed my teamie Janet has been posting Rocking your world Friday posts,

ROCKING MY WORLD FRIDAY - BUTTON!

which I have read with great interest, and today I've actually managed to investigate what it's all about! What a superb idea- blogging things that you're grateful for in the week. I need a bit of positivity today, so here I go.......

1. I'm grateful for my holiday. We did some fabulous things, saw Joseph at the theatre, went to the circus in Blackpool tower, some lovely evenings out and meals together. It's the little things that count in the end though- the look on my little one's face when she held Bradley Bear's paw (man in a bear suit!); my son's fortitude when he was ill on the way home; a good book; my husband sneaking out of bed to shush the kids so I could have a lie in ( bless him, it didn't work, I was already awake, but I didn't have the heart to get up straight away). Fabulous to have uninterrupted time together.

2. My lovely Mom, always at the end of the phone for me, and feeding my cat when I'm away.

3. Halloween lanterns. The children did a very good job this year!

4. Calpol and Kaolin- sick child, feeling better now.

5. Miss Little Legs with her arms round my neck as I type. I never, ever get tired of those cuddles.

Right, sorry it's a bit late, will try to join in on time next week.

Friday, October 22, 2010

The Stamp Man Challenge- Cards for Men

Time for another Stamp Man challenge! This fortnight we want you to make Cards for Men! I took the opportunity to make my Dad's birthday card (it's not til December, but there's no harm in being prepared, eh?)!


I used the Aspects of Design stamp plate 10- Mens. This particular stamp reminded me of Dad when I was little, he always wore a trilby.

I stamped onto a tag and then did a bit of ink blending round the edges. The metallicy bits are gilding flakes over a quickie glue pen, and they really brightened it up a bit. I turned over the bottom of the card to slot the card into (it's also glued on!), and inked round the edges to give it a more vintage feel.

Righto, over to you then. What will you come up with this fortnight? Don't forget there's a nice prize to be won, and lots of inspiration to be had from me team mates over on the Stamp Man Challenge blog.

Ingredients


Stamps- Aspects of Design 10- Mens
Inks- Distress Ink- Vintage photo, Versafine- Vintage sepia
Papers- Hot off the Press
Stash- Tag, ribbon, eyelet, metal letters

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Bones, bones, bones.

He's a bit skinny this one......needs a good meal.....


I needed a birthday card for a boy, so I thought I'd adapt the sketch from Inkurable Stampers- I love the Inkurable Stampers blog, lots of inspiration and lovely stamping!!! The sketch has a window on it, but I adapted it and ripped the main image into four. There are 3 stamps on there (dinosaur, sentiment and a splodgy texture stamp on the brown crumpled paper), although the splodge one (a last minute addition) is hard to see on the photo.

The stamps and paper are from Basic Grey. The stamps are acrylic and stamp beautifully, it's a fabulous set.  The sticky backed leaf ribbon was free with a magazine ages ago, so it qualifies for the Crafty Cardmakers Use a freebie challenge.

I'm also entering it into Ooh La La Creations challenge which is something scary- well you don't get much scarier than a T-Rex!


Ingredients-


Stamps- Basic Grey Dino
Paper- Basic Grey Dino, Brown card
Inks- Memento- Rich cocoa; Distress Inks- Vintage photo, Old paper, Tea Dye
Stash- Leaf design ribbon

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

The Stamp Man blog hop winners

Hurray, it's time to announce the winners of the Stamp Man's blog hop from a couple of weeks ago! The winner of the prize on my blog is......drum roll please.......


Well done Brenda, you've won the lovely Hero Arts- Celebrate simple joy set. You now have 7 days to claim your prize. You need to email your full name and postal address to thestampman@btconnect.com

There are lots more winners, all listed on The Stamp Man challenge blog. Nip over and see if you're a winner too!! Oh, and come back on Friday for another challenge.

Saturday, October 16, 2010

I think I may be onto something here.

Unfortunately for you, that means more notepads!!!  Aaaaaaaagggggges ago I made a gorgeous background. So gorgeous I couldn't bring myself to use it as a background and cover it up, so it has been hanging around waiting for me to find some inspiration for weeks. Here it is.....


Pretty eh? It's made using a set of Stampin' Up flower stamps of Michelle's- I don't own them yet, and they're not current, but I live in hope of coming across them some day! It's sort of inspired by a Craft Stamper article earlier this year.

Right, so..... I came across some very reasonably priced little notepads in the supermarket, just the right size to pop into your handbag, and blow me down, if inspiration didn't strike!


They just needed cupcakes and ribbon!! The cupcakes are coloured with Promarkers to match and glittered with Stickles. I have plans to make lots more for teachers and friends for Christmas.

I'm entering these into the I Love Promarkers blog challenge- Cupcakes and Craftalicious challenge- Anything goes.

Ingredients


Stamps- Stampin' Up- Petal Pizzaz (and a couple of little flowers from other SU sets), Kanban- Fairy cakes, See D's- Swirly alphabet
Inks- All Stampin' Up
Stash- Black gel pen, Clear stickles, Ribbon, Promarkers


Tuesday, October 12, 2010

All the signs are there.......

Christmas is coming....... no, it's no use putting your fingers in your ears and ignoring it, all the signs are there.

Strictly Come Dancing has started
Halloween dressing up costumes are in the shops
My children are endlessly browsing the Argos and toy shop catalogues...........

........................................it can only mean one thing- the jolly bearded chap had better get his red suit dry cleaned.

Soooooo, I've started making my Christmas presents (you thought I was going to say cards then, didn't ya?). This is a notebook for my friend's girl.


She's a teenager now, so I didn't go too cutesy.  I sponged blue and yellow inks onto white card, then stamped over with harlequin and distressed lines stamped. The Stampotique girl is coloured with Promarkers and layered on top. The stripey flower is cut out and layered up and I used the same stamp for the edging.

The name is stamped with some big foam stamps I picked up for a song, but which have been mega useful. Finishing touches are black stickles , white gel pen and a gem, and lots and lots of ribbon and fibres for the ring binding. The red gingham ribbon with the wooden star on was wrapped round one of my birthday presents this year.

I'm entering this into the something for a teenager challenge at Crafts and Me challenges.

Ingredients


Inks- Distress Inks in Mustard Seed, Tumbled Glass, Faded Jeans and Broken China. Memento in Tuxedo Black, Versafine in Onyx Black
Stamps- Stampotique- Sheer, Paperartsy- HPXT01, Stamps Happen- Diamond Background, Pink Paislee- Doodle flower
Promarkers-  Gold, Red, Berry Red, Vanilla, Saffron, Azure, Denim blue
Stash-  Ribbons, fibres, Black stickles, gem, white gel pen

Monday, October 11, 2010

Headless Halloween.

I have a new trick! One I discovered last week at Kay's, and that I've used a couple of times since on ATCs. It's nothing mind blowing, so don't get too excited, but I think it's kinda funky. I used a section of book page and masked off some interesting words with a strip of sticky post it note, then ink blended over the top.


With a lovely Stampotique girlie over the top, they're suitably Halloween-y I think. This pink and yellow one was a bit too bright and cheerful, but a good smoosh of black round the edges made her look like she was standing under a street lamp at midnight.



It's fun looking for appropriate words (or not appropriate, ha ha ha). Unbelievably, both backgrounds came from a Jane Austen novel- my all time fave author!

I'm entering this bottom one into the following challenges-

By the cute and girly- Spooky
Fussy and Fancy Friday- Halloween
Something Completely Different- Purple and green
Papertake- Remake a previous challenge- I chose Oct '08 Frightful but delightful

Friday, October 8, 2010

The Stamp Man Challenge- Autumn!

Well the weeks are flying by over at the Stamp Man's challenge blog. Did you all enjoy the blog hop? I did, it was great having lots of new visitors to my blog. We'll be posting the winners soon, so watch this space!

This fortnight's challenge is Autumn. Very appropriate now that the night's are drawing in a bit more. Here's my card.


The main image is triple embossed- it's a gorgeous Stampendous cling stamp called Autumn Trees, and I used orange and copper embossing powders to create the panel. It's mounted onto some fabulous orange mirriboard which my Mom gave me, the photo doesn't do it justice at all! The little punched leaves are in the same orange mirri, with a few brown ones thrown in. I'm quite pleased with how it's turned out, it looks like the wind is blowing them about.

The leave word is from The Stamp Man's Nature stamp plate, I just stamped it 3 times. I was having a talk with Kay the other day about what sentiments to put on cards, and it always seems a bit weird not putting Happy Birthday or the like. This just seemed to fit though.

Right, over to you. Come and play over at The Stamp Man Challenges and you could win a fabulous prize :)

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Artisan, Paperartsy and a Twinkle star

I had a fab time at the Artisan show last weekend with my friend Kay. It was much smaller than the NEC, and whilst there weren't loads of bargain bins to go through, it was lovely to walk round and take everything in without the crowds. We visited Jean at Crafty Individuals, and Leandra at Paperartsy, collecting pin badges from both!



Kay and I did a Paperartsy workshop, and the lovely Leandra helped us to decorate a little wooden arch. We sat at the pink station, which wouldn't have been my first colour choice at home, but whoo, look how nice it turned out!


I'd already bought some of the Paperartsy stamps we used on the arch, so the others might be going onto my Christmas list..... :) I also renewed my Craft Stamper subscription whilst I was there, and the free gift was 2 sets of PA stamps, so I'm a happy bunny.

Oops, nearly forgot to show you my new stash......


Doesn't it look lovely????????

One of my bestest buys was a little beading kit to make some Christmas decorations. I've so enjoyed making them. Not the best picture, but here's one of the cute little stars.


Ssssshhhh, don't tell anyone, but I think everyone will be getting one of these for Christmas!

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Stamp Man ATC swap- Travel

The theme this month over at the Stamp Man's ATC swap blog is travel. Here's my little attempt!


I used a bit of old map as the background, and the car stamp is from The Stamp Man, the Aspects of Design 10- Mens. I inked the edges of the ATC in bright blue and used a teeny-tiny alphabet set for my words, then stuck them on and outlined them roughly with a black fineliner. It needed something else, so, as I often do, I asked my husband's opinion.....and this time it paid off!!! He suggested the question marks, which finish it off beautifully.

I'm entering this into the Allsorts challenge, which is Travel/Holiday.

Gotta dash, I'm off to the Artisan Craft show in 5 minutes, so hopefully I'll fill out a bit more detail on this post when  get back, laden with goodies.......:) Update: I have returned! I've updated this post and added a few links. Now to take a photo of my new stash goodies...........:)

Ingredients

Stamps- Aspects of Design 10- Mens, Studio G alphabet
Inks- Impress ink in Cerulean Blue, Versafine Onyx Black
Stash- Map sheet, black fineliner pen