Friday, January 28, 2011

Oriental inspiration at The Stamp Man

This fortnight over at The Stamp Man we want to see your Oriental creations.

The image is from Non Sequitur and is coloured with Promarkers. I went for a soft colour palette, for a pretty look.


I had originally made a traditional fold card, but wasn't 100% happy with it, until Jill from the Stamp Man sent me some fabulous backgrounds coloured with Starburst stains. One of them went perfectly with my image colours so I took my card apart and remade it as an easel card.



The background is overstamped with grasses and herons and the little flat button/beads were stamped with a floral stamp from the same Non Sequitur stamp set. The beads and the metal oriental embellishments are from The Stamp Man's oriental card making kit.


So..... what are you waiting for? Dig out those oriental stamps and papers and show us your projects! Click on the link in my sidebar for more details.

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Let's ink it up DT call

The wonderful Let's Ink It up challenge blog are looking for some new DT members. I'd love to join in with this fabulous team. They want to see 3 projects, so I've had a trawl back through my blog and I think these 3 are amongst my best. The first 2 have been featured on my blog before, so for more info please click on the images.....


An altered notebook, I loved making this, it's all inky and involved lots of masking and stamping and inks, inks, inks!


To prove I can do cute.....my daughter's door name plaque- actually it's a long thin canvas. 

And finally, although it's probably cheating cos there's more than one......


 .....a set of 3 ATCs I did for a challenge- the challenge was to use no less than 10 stamps on each one. It was a toughie, but once I got into my stride I thoroughly enjoyed myself and I was pleased that the 3 worked together so well as a set.

It's been lovely looking back at all those blog posts, I've really enjoyed myself! 

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Pop pop popcorn!

It's I Brake for Digis DT day, so here's this week's digi offering!


Couldn't you just reach in for a handful? I printed the Popcorn digi off in two different sizes and cut out the smaller size then layered them up, popping (excuse the pun!) the top layer up with 3D foam. The popcorn is coloured lightly with Promarkers and glittered with yellow Stickles.



The popcorn container is just stripey paper concertina folded and fanned out. The sentiment is wrapped around the bottom of the container to cover up the raw edge. This card is for a man, so I didn't want to be too girly with the papers or sentiment, but it did need a little something round the edges, so I stamped red and black flourishes.

Don't forget to pop over to the I Brake for Digis store to check out the fabulous digis available! Use the code SAVE10LISA for 10% off!

I'm entering this into the following challenges:

Allsorts- Male/boy
Totally Gorjuss- Hot, hot, hot (colours and hot popcorn, yum!)
By the cute and girly- Bling it on

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

WOYWW- oops I forgot.....

....forgot to take a photo this morning. In my defence I was herding what felt like 300 children into coats and shoes (OK, OK, only 2.....) as well as refereeing a dispute of who loves the cat more and answering left field questions about the internal workings of a combustion engine (answer- ask your dad....). Sooooooo all I have to show you today is my desk at work. Vvvvvery boring....


I was a bad WOYWWer last week, I didn't manage to visit many peeps at all, so I promise to try harder this week and not let time slip away from me.

I'm in a bit of a mardy mood today, sort of a feeling that things aren't going my way this week. I'm sure it'll change, but in the meantime, perhaps a spot of blog browsing tonight will be the tonic to cheer me up! If you fancy joining in, hop over to queen Julia's Stamping Ground here.

Monday, January 17, 2011

Best fishes

One of my fellow I Brake for Digis Design Team members used this little fish a while back, and I've been itching to use him on a card as well.



The fish is actually coloured with pencil crayons for a change! The yellow card is made from a piece of 6x6" scalloped edge textured card stock folded in half, with some swirly strips of paper textured in the cuttlebug and then layered down the middle. I added a strip of blue beads for added texture and a few pearls for bubbles.

The digis and lots more like it are available from I Brake for Digis, and if you use my SAVE10LISA discount code you'll save 10%!!

Friday, January 14, 2011

The Stamp Man challenge- distress it!

This fortnight's challenge over at The Stamp Man is Distress. I had a little something different in mind, mainly because I'd been to the Hobbycraft sale and picked up some lovely bits in the wedding section! This little paperweight was just 29p!!!


It's very clever cos the top and bottom bits are held together by little magnets- can you see the two silver coloured circles? Then you just slot your card in between the two layers. Very swish.

I distressed it by calling it names and making it cry, lol. No, really I dotted alcohol inks on the underside of the glass top layer to give it a vintage feel. The butterfly was stamped onto card and surrounded by flowers and looks like this outside of the paperweight....


Lots of stickles as usual!

When I first sandwiched the two layers together I realised that you couldn't see the butterfly very well, so I swished some of the alcohol inks off with the blending solution to give a clear central section.

All in all I'm really, really pleased with it. Not bad for 29p anyway!

For more information on the challenge click here!

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Olives and hearts?

Now  know this will seem like a weird combination, especially when I tell you that this tag I made was for a 5 year old girl......



...however, I hope that when I tell you that she's my little girl's best friend in the whole wide world, you'll understand the hearts. Plus, when I tell you that she has olives in her lunch at school most days, you'll understand the olives.



I love this digi, it's really of 4 jars, but this time I only needed 2- very versatile! It's called Jars and is available from the I Brake for Digis shop , and as usual if you use my discount code- SAVE10LISA - you'll save 10%!

I used Promarkers, Stickles and my new Nesties. The back layer was put through my Cuttlebug for a bit of texture.

I'm entering this into the Digi day challenge over at Stamp Something.

WOYWW

What's on my workdesk today? Total carnage!


Dark and dismal as it was taken at 6am this morning before work. I still haven't put away all of my Hobbycraft sale bargains. The only highlights really are the Lili of the Valley images that I stamped out at Michelle's yesterday and the chart of my pencil colours that I spent ages doing yesterday, instead of tidying my desk!

Ah well, it'll get tidied, and I find a good tidying session sometimes kick starts the creative process.

For more desks, hopefully a lot tidier and more productive than mine, head on over to Julia's Stamping Ground.

Monday, January 10, 2011

Stampotique ATCs- mesh and metal

Had a bit of a busy weekend one way and another, and didn't feel much like crafting, which is unlike me, but a by-product of being continually shattered, I suspect! Kay, Michelle and I managed our crafty session on Thursday, so I got my favourite Stampotique stamps out and came up with these for a mesh and metal themed ATC swap.



The metal is Croco paste which cracks beautifully when it dries. Both the kitty and the blob heads (as I affectionately think of them), were stamped straight onto the backgrounds and coloured with white gel pen and a smidge of yellow Promarker for the blob head family.

I knew they needed words, but couldn't come up with any for the kitty, until Kay said he looks as if he's venturing out on stage, and the silver looks like a curtain. So- brave little kitty for going on stage all on his own!

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Pressies!

It's a beautiful day here, clear skies, fresh air and no snow, woohoo! I'm tidying up some files, and came across these presents I made for Christmas. Thought I'd share!

These mirrors were made for my friend's two boys.









Both are Ikea mirrors, sprayed with Cosmic Shimmers, then stencilled and embellished with lots of bits and pieces and stickles for extra glitter and shine.


This is a Tissue box cover I made for my sister in law.





 Again, sprayed with gorgeous green Cosmic Shimmers and then stamped with a green Stazon ink pad. I found that using unmounted stamps without an acrylic block enabled me to be a little bit more flexible where the box wasn't precisely flat. The more precise images I stamped onto tissue paper and then adhered to the box with a good coating of modge podge. The modge podge went all over the box to seal it and then dry I put some Stickles on to make it sparkle.

They all went down well! This year I'm starting my present making much earlier, so that it's not quite so rushed.


Blog candy from Paula

Oooh Paula's got some lovely blog candy on her lovely blog. Take a look!


Yum, yum. For more info, check out her blog here.

Sweet Pea Blog Candy

There's some gorgeous Sweet Pea stamps candy up for grabs on the Sweet Pea Stampers blog.


Click on the image for more info!

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Flamingo-a-go-go

This is my latest DT card for I Brake for Digis, well OK, not a card really, an ATC, but still.......


Isn't he fab? Goodness only knows why "Flamingo-a go-go" but there you are, that's what was in my head! He's coloured with Promarkers, and swished with Stickles, but then so is everything I make, lol!


The digi is from I Brake for Digis and if you use my discount code- SAVE10LISA - you'll save yourself 10%!


Ingredients
Stamps- I Brake for Digis Flamingo, Stampin Up Baroque motifs, Studio G alphabet
Inks- Versafine Onyx Black, Distress Ink Spun sugar, Impress Lemon yellow
Promarkers- Cool grey1, yellow, gold, pastel pink, cocktail pink, antique pink, cool aqua
Stash- Ice Stickles in Crystal Ice

Tuesday, January 4, 2011

The Stamp Man ATC swap fro January- Rhymes and Tales

In the excitement of The Stamp Man blog hop, make sure that you ATCers out there don't forget the January ATC swap that's running as well. This month's theme is Rhymes and Tales.


I've had this little rhyme in my head all over Christmas, so out onto my ATC it came! This is quite a simple ATC really, but the stamp is so detailed it didn't need a heavy hand. I watercoloured the rose with Distress Inks and then added the rhyme and some gems. Done!

For more information on the ATC swap, click on the blinkie on my side bar.

Ingredients


Stamps- Rose from The Stamp Man, Studio G mini alphabet
Inks- Distress Inks in Fired Brick and Peeled Paint, Versafine Onyx Black
Stash- Gems

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Happy New Rainbow Year ATC.

Happy New Year everyone.


I love this grumpy cat.

Ingredients
Stamps- Inkadinkado flower, Inca Flowery cat, Inkadinkado quote
Inks- Versafine Onyx Black, Distress inks in Milled Lavender and Victorian velvet
Stash- Wooden flower, stickles, black fineliner pen