Wednesday, March 30, 2011

WOYWW- well just a gratuitous stash shot really.........



NEC. Hobbycrafts. Sunday. Empty purse. 'Nuff said.







So that's what's on my workdesk. Lots of new stash. Hurray!

I've shown you mine, now show us yours, over at Julia's Stamping Ground. Go on, don't be shy!!!

Monday, March 28, 2011

Stamp Man- Anything Tim!

Firstly- apologies for the late posting of this- I'd scheduled it and then not checked it had actually posted, and I'd put the wrong date on!!!!

The new challenge at The Stamp Man is Anything Tim Holtz! Now I know you can all have a go at that theme!!!!

As I'm attending a Docrafts ATC meet up at the weekend, I've created a little something for our hostess with the mostess as a bit of a thank you for all her work.




It's an ATC tag book. The ATCs were all painted with Claudine Hellmuth paints- I just adore these paints. They're acrylics but semi gloss, so they have a lovely smooth sheen and are transluscent so painting over things like book pages gives a superb effect.

A few close ups.....





Get on over to The Stamp Man challenge blog for more DT loveliness and show us your Tim projects!

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Choccies on a tag

I quite liking tags. For special presents and special people. I think this one might be for my friend whose birthday is very soon (and who doesn't read my blog, so it's OK), and who has a very big heart and deserves a special tag on her birthday pressie. She's also someone who will appreciate that it is a special tag and that I've made it for her.


I Brake for Digis choocy box coloured with Copics, a gorgeous Nesties tag base and some of my flowers that I'm now addicted to making and putting on everything. Don't worry, I'll run out of steam on them soon enough!

The pearls are a from a pearl making pen of my mate Michelle's.....think they might be on my wish list......

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

WOYWW- I made it back!

I haven't managed to post a WOYWW phtot for ages, but hip hip hooray, everything worked today! I remembered to take a photo of my chaotic desk. I remembered to download said photo. I remembered to blog it before Wednesday was done. I wasn't distracted or Internet deprived. I wasn't too ashamed of the state of my desk......well, actually I am a little bit, but it's a busy work-in-progress desk at least!



Sooooo, gorgeous Octopode images, some pretty backgrounds, my ATCs to swap folder, some WIPs (House Mouse, orange animal ATC set, cupcake digi), assorted debris........

I'm off to a crafty meet up of Docrafts forum peeps on Saturday, and then to the NEC for the twice yearly stash spend up, woooohooooooo! Can't wait......

Say hello if you visit, and if you have no idea what I'm on about, hop over to Queen Bee Julia's Stamping Ground for all t'info.

Monday, March 21, 2011

Teatime

I'm a fan of the brighter than bright colour scheme, but occasionally something more subtle strikes me.


This is actually mounted onto a scalloped white card, but the sun was so bright when I took the picture, it's all but disappeared. Wait a flippin' minute- did I just type "the sun was so bright"???? In the UK? I may have to have a lie down to recover......

Image is from Lili of the Valley and is Promarkered. The bottom half of the brown background is embossed with cute little spots, and I made all the flowers myself, yippee!


I'm entering this into the following challenges:

Lili of the Valley Challenge blog- sketch
Papertake- trio-tastic (3 flowers)
Stamp something- sweet (cupcake)

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Two girls

I wasn't in the mood yesterday, I had a migraine and then a fuzzy head and although I wanted to create something, I wasn't up to lots of colouring or Promarkering. Sitting at my desk I came across these IBFD images that I'd started to cut out...... lightbulb moment!


No colouring! Well, just a little, ickle bit of Cool Grey 1 to shade the dresses. The girlies are cut out and decoupaged up twice- once for the dresses and once for the parasol and hat.



I added lots of clear stickles on to the dresses for a bit, well, a lot of added sparkle, and red for the flower.


The poppies are made using the technique in the post below this one, and they inspired the red polka dot ribbon. All in all, I'm rather chuffed with my no colouring card!

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Scrunched flowers- how to.......



I've spent the day making flowers, and I've had loads of people ask me how they're made. I can't claim any credit for these at all, there are loads of tutorials on You Tube and on lots and lots of other papercrafting blogs. I'd made a slightly different version before, but my crafting mate Kay showed Michelle and I how to make them this way a couple of weeks back.

Warning- they're addictive!.........and if you're coming to the Midlands Docrafts meet, don't read any further, as it'll ruin my demo on the day, lol!

1. Punch out 5 or 6 scalloped circles. I used a 1 3/4" Stampin' Up punch. I'm using cream copier paper here, nothing too thick.



2. Spray each punched circle a couple of times with water. You're aiming for damp rather than soggy.






3. Now the controversial bit.... scrunch each circle up  completely. No need for any uniformity, just scrunch away.




4. Now flatten out each circle and layer them up on top of each other. Try to overlap the scallops, but don't worry about it too much.



5. Poke a hole in the centre of the stack of circles. Be careful, the paper tears easily once it's wet.






6. Push a brad through the hole and open it out on the back. For this version of the flower, I've used up some mini heart shaped brads that I had lying around.


Turn over the flower.


7. Scrunch the first layer of the flower up around the head of the brad. Scrunch quite tight, you can always loosen it out later on.



8. Carry on scrunching each layer up in turn in a random way.





9. Once you've scrunched them all up, gently tease the petals open slightly until you're happy with the result.




10. You can have the flower as open or closed as you require. I've added a dab or two of stickles for glittery shine.




These are only scrunched up slightly, and I've added some stamens (and used matching brads, cos they're on show, lol). There are loads of variations.



Enjoy!

Friday, March 11, 2011

The Stamp Man challenge- floral for Mother's Day

The theme for the next fortnight at The Stamp Man is to make something for Mother's Day with a floral theme.

My lovely Mom makes cards too, and she's sort of expecting a card from me, so I thought I'd make her something else as well.



The paperweight is a little one that snaps together with magnets, very clever! I stamped the rose from the Aspects of Design 01- Floral stamp plate. It's such a detailed stamp, it looks like an etching. Mom's living room is blue, so I made a quick background with blue Distress Inks and then stamped the rose it in Memento Paris Dusk and water coloured it with the Distress Inks. I added a spot or two of sparkle (of course.......) with some clear Stickles, although it's hard to see from this photograph.

So, now it's over to you, show us your Mother's Day projects, and don't forget the flowers! There are some gorgeous DT projects over at The Stamp Man challenge blog if you need a spot of inspiration.

Ingredients


StampsAspects of Design 01- Floral stamp plate

Stash- Stickles, Heart shaped paperweight

Thursday, March 10, 2011

CCC last challenge....and my name badge!

The Compendium of Curiosities Challenge over at Studio L3. The technique is from page 67 of the Compendium of Curiosities book, and it was just the inspiration I needed to make my name badge for the Docrafts Midlands ATC meet.


Whaddya think? Very me......

Lots of embossed metal, stitching and Sir Tim die cut letters, plus a grunge rose and some brads. What more could a girl wish for in a name badge. Now, all I need is a gold lame outfit to match (I jest). We always swap our name badges at the end, but I shall be a bit sad to see this one go. Soooooo shiny! You can even see a bit of camera reflected in the bottom left corner.

Now, should I pin, peg or ribbon?

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Tea and buns anyone?

I've been making a fair few ATCs lately. Some for the upcoming DC meet where there will be oodles of lovely swapping going on, and some for my mate Kay's teatime swap (again on Docrafts). This one uses an I Brake for Digis image, and as yet I'm not sure if it's a teatime swap.




The quote is from Wind in the Willows, and I've added it to the Cherry cupcake digi, coloured with Promarkers and accented with Stickles glitter glue and a red glaze gel pen. Still can't decide where it'll end up,  I think it depends what else I come up with tea and cake-wise......

I'm entering this into the Stamp something March Digi challenge.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Time waits for no bird.

More Octopode action, this time on an ATC.


A pre painted background, lots of Octopode images and a few words. Cool as.

Ingredients
Stamps- Studio G mini alphabet
Images- Octopode factory
Stash- Sakura glaze pens, acrylic paints (background), white gel pen

Friday, March 4, 2011

Art journal- Octopode Alice


Had these pages painted with Claudine Hellmuth paints for ages, and I recently downloaded some wonderfully weird images from the Octopode Factory.....so I did a bit of art journalling. I like the way that the Alice page is much more vibrant than the Mad Hatter page.


The hearts and swirl and quote are from a Paperartsy stamp plate, and feel particularly significant at the moment.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

Sun and stars ATC

I'm going to an ATC swap meet in a couple of week, so I'm busy building up my stock of swaps. I love this swirly sun and stars design from I Brake for Digis (save 10% with my SAVE10LISA code), and it resizes beautifully for use on an ATC.



I've coloured it with Sakura glaze pens- the first time I'd used them and wow, they're fabulous, soooo shiny. I then mounted it up onto black card and a scrap of cosmic shimmered paper left over from another project. I'm thinking that when I have time, this image would work brilliantly as a bookmark.

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

ATC time at the Stamp Man- share your wise words

The the for The Stamp Man's ATC swap this month is Wise Words. We want to see all those pearls of wisdom, on a little card!

Here's mine.....



I've been working on my art journal a bit lately, and this seemed a particularly apt saying. The background was one of a bunch of backgrounds that Jill (the boss) sent me, it's Starburst stains, and I think it's been splodged with bubblewrap. Gorgeous colours anyway! The eyes are the Stamp Man stamp that was free with Craft Stamper a while back, and the swirls come from the edge of one of the Aspects of Design 62 Design elements plate.

The eyes and swirls are stamped in black and then clear heat embossed for extra gloss, then I whitened her eyes with white gel pen. The flowers are punched out of some background waste and finished with teeny tiny coloured pearls.

Ingredients
Stamps- Craft Stamper freebie, Aspects of Design 62 Design elements , Studio G peg alphabet stamps
Inks- Versafine onyx black
Stash- Starburst stains, flower punch, coloured pearls, clear embossing powder