Saturday, July 30, 2011

Stitch it at the Stamp Man

The new challenge over at The Stamp Man is to show us some stitching. We want to see real or fake stitches on your projects.



It was my wedding anniversary last week (and my birthday!) and my OH loves to read, so I made him a  bookmark to go with his present. I used my favourite Tim Holtz stamp- the gorgeous elephant. the background are sprayed inks and layered sections ripped from a book page.


My stitching is chenille thread. I made a few holes with my pokey tool and threaded it through in a blanket stitch.

I'm still busy making ATCs for the Docrafts Luffy meet in a week's time, so everything I make, I make an ATC as well! It's working quite well, I've got lots of swapsies :)

Ok, over to you, show us your stitching and you could win the prize!

I'm entering this into the following challenges:

Allsorts- Free and easy

Monday, July 25, 2011

The adventures of Doris the Ladybird

Once upon a time I made a looooovely background, just the right size for 4 ATCs....


So I chopped it up and added a little teensy ladybird to each ATC and decided to call her Doris.


See I think I must have a warped sense of humour cos these make me laugh. Everyone else just looks at me as if I've left my brain behind..... 







The End.

Friday, July 22, 2011

Thank you teech!

It's the time of year when parents of littlies everywhere try to work out what to buy the teachers who have been looking after their little darlings all year. Now, I know some people don't like the idea of buying presents for teachers, and I have been known not to buy when teachers haven't exactly, ermmmm, set my children's imaginations alight. However, this year we have been truly blessed with a fabulously inspirational teacher for my 10 year old son, and a team of people for my 5 year old who have absolutely gone above and beyond the call of duty in taking care of my special Miss Little Legs. She takes some looking after does my baby.

So......pressie buying for the lady teachers was easy peasy- Miss Little Legs had hair things and bracelets in mind. For the big un's teech there was also a plan in mind- I'll put that on another post though.

Righto then, first, the cards.


Loved making this one, and I'm entering it into the Allsorts free and easy challenge. Then I spotted a Stampin' Up set I hadn't inked yet so......


The rest of the cards were variations on this theme- well it works, right? I'm entering this one into the Crafts and Me challenge to add a flower. I added lots :)

Then Miss Little Legs wanted tags for her present boxes, so I spent last evening making these.....






Worth the effort, they look so pretty :) I'm entering the tags in Fussy and Fancy Friday's Summer challenge, the colours remind me of my Mom's garden with all the flowers out. Roll on the summer hols then!

Wednesday, July 20, 2011

WOYWW

Look at me!!! Organised enough to post at this hour!! Woohoo. No, seriously it's only cos the children are tired and still in bed (unheard of), so I'm nabbing the time to post.

Haven't taken a pic of my desk cos it's just piled high with non-crafting stuff. Instead here's the dining room table yesterday morning when Kay and I were halfway through our crafty session. My space is closer to the camera (well, iphone), Kay's is opposite.


You can see......


  • Kay's ubiquitous mug of tea (made in my new fancy-shmancy one cup kettle boiling dispensing thingie- can't remember the proper name).
  • The corner of my waste card mat that I work on- I've had this one for a few months and I'm getting far too attached to it, but it's too battered and mucky now to cut up for backgrounds.
  • The empty coffee jar I then went on to alter.
  • My crafty to do list (I crossed 3 things off, so proud of me!).


Right, that's mine, wanna see more? Visit Queen bee Julia's Stamping Ground and see if you can spot my cousin JodPea this week :)

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Altered book- Alice in Octopode

Darn it. Missed it again. I keep missing the Octopode Factory challenge. Time keeps escaping me....... I made this for last week's challenge of Time. Bother.


It started off life as a boring blue book about indexing.....


.......Now it's been inked and sprayed and stamped and collaged to within an inch of it's former life.


 I used nearly a whole pack of dewdrop gems on this one. Totally worth it though.

The images are all Octopode Factory- with a bit of glaze gel pen highlighting.


Well, the good news is that it still fits the Altered Alice brief for this month- to have a teacup or teapot on your project, with the optional extra of your focal image not being stamped. So, hurray, there's a bit of a silver lining. Now, to get on with the next Octopode challenge.....might have that done by September......;)

Friday, July 15, 2011

New Stamp Man Challenge- Anything T!m

It's Stamp Man challenge blog time, hurray!!! This fortnight is bound to be a popular one- it's anything Tim Holtz!!! Here's mine......can you tell what it was?


10 sparkle points if you said a moisturiser pot. It's made out of white, slightly translucent plastic, plus....it smells nice- bonus!

I swiped it all over with alcohol inks (meadow, terracotta and lettuce), then stamped the lid and sides with text and foliage stamps (Tim Holtz Shabby Chic).



OK, now I have an admission to make..... I know all of you Sir Tim aficionados out there are grunge paper/board fans but I've not tried it. I know, I know, stop tutting at me.... it just seemed expensive and I couldn't quite see the point. Although I had at some point acquired some, cut with the Tattered florals die. 

So, Distress Inks (Peeled paint, Mustard seed, Spiced marmalade) and more stamping (Russet archival ink) later and I'm sold. I get it. You can all stop looking smug now.....;)


Ooh, and my absolute favourite thing about this is the little screw in the middle of the flower. I think I have a thing for salvaged metal...... this little half sheared off screw was just sitting waiting to be picked up and glued in. 

Actually, it's recycled stuff all round- the string round the edge was originally round some packaging. So, an ethically sound project all round, yippee.

There's lots more gorgeous DT inspiration on the challenge blog, so hop over for a look, and show us your projects!

I'm entering this into the Stampotique Designers Challenge- to use flowers.

Wednesday, July 6, 2011

WOYWW


Not too untidy, although my well used scrap card mat makes it look very busy. The main items of interest are some Octopode images and  the remains of some quilling papers that I used to make this little gem.....



It's a lovely little quilled sunflower pot. I really enjoyed making it, and it only took a couple of hours to make. I was ever so chuffed with myself!!!

So, if you want to see more interesting desks than mine, head over to Julia's Stamping Ground for lots more opportunities to nose around people's work spaces!

Friday, July 1, 2011

Alcohol inks or a sketch at The Stamp Man

This fortnight at The Stamp Man challenge blog you have a choice! You can either follow the sketch, use alcohol inks, or do both!!

Here's the sketch, courtesy of Brenda.....



Here's my take on it.....


I used the Aspects of design stamp plate 6- Nature. I love this set of little squares. I stamped them in Adirondack Wild Plum ink, and then used the same ink and some post it notes to create a strip down the lefthand side of the card. The crinkled paper I used to mat is made with starburst stains.

The jigsaw blank was coloured with lettuce and cranberry alcohol inks, and the whole thing was finished off with gems and raffia.

Righto, over to you, show us something fab!!!! There's a prize up for grabs, as ever. See the blog for more info.

I thought I'd add my entry for the Stamp Man ATC swap as well- the theme for July is vintage.