Friday, December 31, 2010

A musical present

I have a little altered notebook and Post-it note holder to show you. I made it with a musical theme for my son to give as a thank you present to his piano teacher at the end of last term.


The background sections are inked and stamped and then layered up with ribbon and lots of Stickles for some sparkle!

I'm entering this into the Stamp Something.... with glitter challenge......
.....and (skidding in at the last minute) into the Sunday Stampers Music challenge.


Ingredients
Stamps- Butterfly kisses Clear to you- Musical collage, Stampin Up- Baroque swirls, music stamp that I can't remember buying lol!
Inks- Versafine Onyx Black, Distress Inks in Tumbled glass, Broken China and Faded Jeans, Stazon Midnight blue
Stash- Stickles, ribbon, Vellum with music print

The Stamp Man Blog Hop, Challenge and Awards are go!!!!

Ooh, it's so exciting!!! Welcome them to the 2nd annual Stamp Man blog awards event! There's so much to tell you about!

We're showcasing our favourite project from 2010 and asking you to do the same. Just pick your best or favourite work of the year and link to it on the challenge blog. Here's mine....


Long time readers of my blog will recognise my first ever DT card for the Stamp Man. It holds many happy memories for me, I was (and still am) thrilled to be part of such a creative design team. For more info on how I made the card, you can see my original post here. Don't forget to display your best project and award with pride!



Finally, let's talk about  the Blog Hop. The hopping starts at The Stamp Man Main blog, click here to go back there. If you're following the hop round, you should have arrived here from the wonderful Sue's blog. You'll need to leave a comment so that I know you've visited me!

You'll be picking up letters from every blog you visit to make a word or phrase, and my letter is......

W

Make a note of it and then hop on over to Kay's blog to see what she has to show you!


A quick reminder of what you need to do to enter the blog hop and be in with a chance of winning some loooovely goodies! The winners will be randomly selected, and everyone's welcome to join in!

  • Join in the actual challenge with your best/favourite projected linked with Inlinkz
  • Follow your way around the blog hop collecting all the letters you will find on each blog. Write these down then work out the answer when the hop is finished.
  • Leave a comment on ALL the blogs you visit in the blog hop 
  • Post our event blinkie onto your blog or a post about the event with your best/favourite project
  • Take your award blinkie with pride
  • Email the answer to: thestampman@btconnect.com by 9pm (GMT) on Thursday 13th January 2011.  Please put bloghop answer as the title

Right, that's it from me- good luck everyone, and get hopping over to see Kay!

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Well she started off pretty........

....but she ended up slightly scary.......


Don't get me wrong, I've enjoyed making Christmassy things and presents for other people, but WOOHOOO! it's nice to just make something for the heck of it.

Someone asked me how I get ideas for ATCs in particular..... well, I just start. Usually there's no real plan, maybe an idea of a colour or a stamp I want to use in particular. So, I make a start and things happen. Either the background suggests something, or the stamp, or something lying around on my desk. (It's times like these that I'm glad my desk tends toward the messy side).....

In this case, I wanted something in pretty, soft colours so made a flowery background, then chose one of my beloved Stampotique stamps- did I ever mention how much I LOOOOOVE Stampotique stamps? And, well, you know how it is once those wonderful Stampotique stamps come out....next thing you know, it's all gone kinda weird. Once I spotted the baby themed clear stamps I hadn't put away yet, the diecut wings were pretty obvious! Plus, how about this for serendipity? The little sweet angel words fit almost exactly into a punch I'd never ever used! I just wish I could say I'd planned it.......

Anyone wanna swap?

I'm entering this into the Stampotique Designers blog challenge- to use a punch and a diecut.

Ingredients
Stamps- Stampotique- Karen, Studio G clear, Inkadinkado flower
Inks- Distress Inks in Victorian velvet and Milled lavender, Versafine Onyx black
Stash- HOTP paper,  open weave fabric, black fineliner, pink mosaic gems

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

I Brake for Digis DT- Swinging Freddie!

I Brake for Digis time again- I've been dying to use the wonderfully ugly Freddie Frog, and here he is.....


Swinging Around Freddie was coloured with Promarkers, and the background was lightly stippled with Tumbled Glass Distress Ink. Originally this was meant to be a male card, but it needed a little more, and all I could think of to add was some of the gorgeous punched flowers that Kay made. They worked so nicely, so now it's a bit more girly! Ho hum.

If you want to see more gorgeous digis, swing over to the I Brake for Digis site, and if you use my discount code SAVE10LISA, you'll save yourself 10%.

I'm entering this into the Passion for Promarkers mega Christmas challenge where anything goes!

The last WOYWW of 2010

Wow, where did that year go to? Here's my desk today.......



Wanna play eye spy? OK, extra sparkly points for spotting......

  • My Christmas mug- Port Merion doncha know, looove my Christmas crockery
  • Lovely BIG flowers my friend Kay made
  • A sheet of Miss Little Legs's stamping in purple with the flower and dog stamp that she insists are hers (but I secretly know are mine, lol)
  • Some of my Hobbycraft bargains- more of which below........


For more desky inspiration, check out the roll call over at Julia's Stamping Ground.

And.....if you're interested....here are some of my sale shopping bargains


In my defence.........well, there is no defence, except that they really were bargains and can a girl ever have too much stash?

Sunday, December 26, 2010

Heads up!!! Something exciting is happening at The Stamp Man challenge blog next week!


Happy Christmas everyone!!


Starting Friday 31st December there is something very special happening over at The Stamp Man challenges, and you're all invited1

Our 2nd Stamp Man annual blog awards event!!!



After the success of last year's awards, Jill has decided to run it all over again! We want to see your best/favourite project that you made in 2010. For this you can grab The Stamp Man Award, but there are also lots of amazing prizes to be won if you join in with the extra fun stuff too!

Please pass on the news to your blogging friends with the blinkie on my sidebar, the more that join us the merrier it will be!!

Friday, December 24, 2010

Flippin' heck, how can my baby be 10 already?

Unbelievably, my son is 10 today. I can't believe he's in double figures. Here's his birthday card, on a whopper of an 8x8" card.


I used the Lion digi, from I Brake for Digis, coloured with Promarkers, then layered up and fixed with eyelets. The card and brown layer are stamped with a Stampendous set of fab wild animal prints. There are loads more fab digis at I Brake for Digis, and if you quote my discount code SAVE10LISA, you'll get 10% off! Plus, there's lots of inspiration over at the I Brake for Digis DT blog.

I'm entering this into the following challenges:

Ingredients
Stamps- I Brake for Digis Lion, Stampendous
Inks- Versafine Vintage Sepa
Promarkers- Gold, Tulip Yellow, Canary, Cocoa, Tan, Cool Grey 1, Terracotta, Pear Green
Stash- Handmade paper, orange eyelets, cream peachskin paper, brown card




Friday, December 17, 2010

The Stamp Man challenge 12- Anything goes on a tag!

The latest challenge over at The Stamp Man Challenge blog is to make a tag. Other than that, anything goes!!!

To be honest I'm feeling a little bit Christmas crafted out! I'm enjoying the run up to Christmas now that the making pressure is off, cards made and posted! So I was pleased to be able to make a DT project that wasn't Christmassy.


The image is a Stamp Man Aspects of Design stamp, but not one I own (sob sob), so thank you to Cazro from the Docrafts ATC forum, who sent me the image last week in with some other goodies. How fortunate for me!!! It's Mom's birthday just before Christmas, so I thought a pretty tag for her present would come in useful.

It's coloured with Promarkers (what else), and I stuck to quite Christmassy colours still, quite by accident. Casro had already cut the lovely scalloped shape out, so I mounted it onto some matching red card, dabbed on some Stickles and added an eyelet. Easiest DT creation ever!!! I just need to wrap the presents now......

I'm entering this into the Crafty Cardmakers Spotlight on tags challenge.

Thursday, December 16, 2010

OK, spot the obvious mistake!

This is a calendar I've made for my Mom, her kitchen walls are yellow. I know there's something missing......can you spot it? I can't find the little rip off calendar I bought weeks ago!!!! So I've had to post an unfinished project, but I'm sure you'll forgive me and use your imaginations to visualize a little white calendar fixed to the bottom!



I used the Jars digi from I Brake for Digis and printed it a couple of times so that I could cut out extra jars to layer them up. I love that the olives double up as little oranges and the chilli peppers are just gorgeous. I've coloured with Promarkers (of course). The base is a page from a chipboard album by Papermania, covered with a white card background decorated with my favourite Paperartsy swirl.

The next layer is some spotty Stampin Up paper, then yellow card, cut with a nesties label die. The numbers and the whole thing is covered with Stickles, so it really glitters.

If you want to order from  I Brake for Digis use my SAVE10LISA discount code for 10% off!!

I'm entering this into the Passion for Promarkers Anything goes challenge.

I'm off to wrap more presents...........

Ingredients

Stamps-  I Brake for Digis- Jars, Paperartsy swirl
Inks- Impress Mustard
Promarkers- Gold, Yellow, Moss, Pear Green, Berry red, Red, Carmine, Mandarin, Bright Orange
Stash- Papermania chipboard album, ribbon, yellow Stickles, chipboard numbers

Saturday, December 11, 2010

Mirror, mirror on my desk.........

Another mirror! This one is a commission- a present for a little girl who likes turquoise and pink.


The mirror frame is misted with cosmic shimmer mists and then sponged through a mask made with some different sized flower punches with a blue Stazon. The letter L and the Tim Holtz flying heart are both inked with cranberry, silver and pearl alcohol inks.


The mirror itself is lined with crystal beads, stuck on with my beloved Glossy Accents. The corner decoration is a die cut- I think it's one of my mate Kay's- we had a die cutting session a few weeks back where we pooled out dies and made ourselves a huge pile of die cuts each! I pulled it all together with a sprinkling of adhesive gems.



First time I've been paid for making something- I could get used to it!

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Dino-tastic

A quick, last minute "whoops I forgot the card and the party's in an hour" card for you today...... You know how it is, you think that you've probably got a card that will do, perhaps with a bit of tweaking, but then you realise it's got a ballerina hedgehog on it, and the 5 year old boy recipient would probably prefer a dinosaur.......

Enter the digi stamp!


Innee fab? He looks like me when I first get out of bed in a morning, stomping around!! The digi is from I Brake for Digis and he's called T-Rex. If you fancy ordering from them, use the code SAVE10LISA over there,  you'll save 10% on your order. 






He's coloured with Promarkers, and the left edge of each layer is ripped to give it a more interesting look. The raffia is one of my "might come in useful" saves, I think it was tied round a present ages ago!


I'm entering this into the following challenges:


Passion for Promarkers- Anything goes
OSAAT- Old stash, new stash (new digi, old raffia)


Ingredients
Stamps- I Brake for Digis- T- Rex, Basic Grey- Dinosaur
Promarkers- Grass, Meadow green, Apple, Warm Grey 2, Cool grey 1 and 2, Tulip yellow
Inks- Distress Inks in Vintage photo and Brushed corduroy
Stash- DP, raffia, sentiment

Friday, December 3, 2010

The Stamp Man Challenge 11- Take 3 colours Christmas theme

The challenge this fortnight over at The Stamp Man is to Take 3 Colours, and make something with a Christmas theme. As ever, there's a fabulous prize up for grabs and loads of inspiration over at the challenge blog. Just click on the link on the left!

I chose Red, Green and Yellow.




There were a lot of steps to making this card, but it was really enjoyable to do.

Step 1


I inked the card panel with Distress Inks in my chosen colours and then before it was completely dry I flicked some droplets of water over the page to create water marks.You can either leave them to dry naturally or chase them a bit with a heat gun if you're impatient (I am!).

Step 2


I stamped the pine trees from the Tim Holtz Reindeer Flight set in Pine Needles and Bundled Sage distress inks- stamping 2 or 3 times with each inking to create shadowed images for depth.









Step 3

Next I stamped over the edges of the card with Moonlight White using the swirl stamp from the set and stamped the top of some of the trees again with the same white ink pad to give them a bit of a snowy feel.









Step 4


I stamped the swirls again using black, and then stamped the lovely reindeer in the middle of the forest of trees.

I wasn't completely happy with the reindeer, he didn't stand out enough so......







Step 5


...... I went over some of the swirls on his body with white gel pen and then clear heat embossed him.











And the final card again, all mounted up and finished!




Ingredients


Stamps- Tim Holtz - Reindeer Flight
InksDistress inks in Barn door, Pine needles, Mustard seed and Peeled paint. Onyx Black Versafine. Moonlight white Brilliance
Stash- Red ribbon, white gel pen, clear embossing powder, gems

Thursday, December 2, 2010

My first DT card for I Brake for Digis!!!

Well this is exciting! My very first DT card for I Brake for Digis. I've been itching to show this one, cos this little guy is so cute!!!!!


His name is Hoot and he's available right now at the I Brake for Digis store. If you use the code SAVE10LISA over there,  you'll save 10% on your order. 





I had a fiddle about with the image to make him the right size for the card I wanted to use- flexibility, the great thing about digis!!!! Then I coloured him with Promarkers. The shape was cut with my Labels One nesties, and I added a dab or two of Stickles for sparkle!!!!


Ingredients

Stamps- I Brake for Digis- Hoot
Promarkers- Cocoa, Tan, Henna, Warm Grey 2 and 4, Sandstone, Vanilla, Ivory, Saffron, Pumpkin, Bright Orange, Tulip Yellow, Gold, canary, Pastel Blue
Stash- Wooden leaves, patterned papers, Stickles

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

The Stamp Man ATC Swap December- Tis the season!

The theme at the The Stamp Man ATC swap this month is Tis the Season. VERY appropriate!! Plus it gave me that push to get going on some Christmas RAKs (CRAKs) for my ATC mates.

I'm still carrying on the Tim Holtz Christmas theme with this one.....


The image is from Tim Holtz's Holiday Collections set (available from The Stamp Man, of course), and it's inked with Distress Inks- pretty simple huh? The beads are attached with Glossy Accents- I must admit I'm using Glossy Accents more and more- it's a rock solid adhesive and because it dried clear and glossy it's perfect for attaching little accents.

Click on the link on the left to go to The Stamp Man's ATC swap, and see some more DT inspiration, as well as all of the swap details.

I'm also entering this into the Tuesday Taggers challenge this week, which is Jolly St Nick.

Ingredients
Stamp- Tim Holtz Holiday Collections
Inks- Memento black, Distress Inks- Mustard Seed, Barn Door, Pine Needles, Peeled Paint
Stash- Seed beads in green and red, Glossy Accents

WOYWW- It's Chrrriiiiiiiissssttttmmmmaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaasssss!!!!

Ok, not really, but it is close, and Noddy Holder is from round here, so I get to do Slade impressions from now until the big day, 'K?

Haven't been at all well this week, so I'm a bit behind. I've had a horrid cold, cough, sore throat, you name it. It's stolen my mojo a bit, so I've resorted to a beading kit I picked up from the NEC.


On my desk today, are some images I'm working on for my I Brake for Digis DT, some cough sweets and the finished beading kit- a little bauble for the Christmas tree. Here's the bauble in close up on my hanging display string.


It's quite teeny and took me about 2 days to bead. I really enjoyed doing it, which is good cos there's another one to do in the kit. I got them from Spellbound beads, and I'd recommend them, they're lovely to do and the instructions are great. Can't wait to put it on the tree- we're putting it up on Friday night, a little bit later than I'd have liked, but hopefully I'll feel up to it by then.

Righto, for more WOYWW madness, hop over to Julia's Stamping Ground. I'm off to prepare for Sir Tim's 12 Tags of Christmas, can't wait to see what he comes up with this year!