Stampotique again!!!! Another challenge entry.

Have I mentioned that I LOVE Stampotique stamps???? OK, OK, I'm like a broken record, but they are FANTASTIC!!

This is my entry for the Stampotique Designers' Challenge blog where the theme this fortnight is Spring has sprung. Can you guess where the springs came from? I'll tell you at the end of this post.

The background is swooshed over with my Ranger Studio semi gloss acrylic paints, then I sponged a little ink through some sequin waste and covered it with Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls, then I did the same on the chipboard flower. The sort of flowers are Paperartsy stamps, and my versatile little peg alphabet stamps were called into service again for the words. The bow tie, and buttons have more Perfect Pearls to tie in with the background. White gel pen again, and a little doodle round the edges before I stuck his springy hair on.

Well, did you guess? The springs are from the middle of some pegs! Hope I've still got enough to peg the washing out!!!!

This is also my entry for Something Completely Different, where the theme is Men.

It's also my entry for Sunday Stampers where the challenge is to use bits and pieces. I hope my peg bits qualify!!!!

Alice in Lisaland

There are a lot of Alice in Wonderland inspired things around at the moment- no surprise there! Here are a couple of ATCs I made for a PIF (Pass it forward) swap on Docrafts. I've used two different illustrations of Alice, the first by Sir John Tenniel and the second, my favourite by Arthur Rackham. I haven't decided which one to send for the swap yet.

The quote is said by Alice, and is exactly how my life feels sometimes!!

The red/orange backgrounds for both ATCs are painted with my glorious new Claudine Hellmuth Studio Semigloss acrylic paints from Ranger. They give such a fabulous smooth background, much less chalky than usual acrylics, with a lovely sheen to them. They are then stamped with a mesh background stamp and a distressed checkerboard stamp. I've added some card suit symbols and rings made by inking the edge of my glue stick lid!! The letters are a fab set of alphabet peg stamps I've used for lots of wording on lots of projects and the hearts on the tag are Paperartsy. Of course, I had to put a bit of white gel pen on there, it really makes the details pop out. I'm sort of loathe to part with either of them at the moment.......

For my Mom

OK, here's a predictable post.....my Mother's Day card for my lovely Mom!

It's made with a gorgeous Stampin' Up set called Summer by the sea that I don't use as much as I should. I've also used a Stampin' Up spiral punch so that it looks as if the paper has been torn out of a spiral notepad. Love that punch, it's very clever. The image is coloured slightly with watercolour pencil, then blended with a damp paintbrush. 

This is my challenge entry to...

Fussy and Fancy Friday - theme is green.

Stamp something - theme is Cream and Green

A goodbye and good luck card

One of my lovely colleagues at work is leaving for a new job so I made this card for her.

The stamped image is a Gorjuss girl, coloured in Promarkers, and the letters are See Ds. The flowery paper is Basic Grey and the spotty is from my stash. I punched the balloons from the matching paper and drew on the strings with black fineliner. A few swipes with my beloved white gel pen and voila! I'll really miss my friend when she goes, she's such a bundle of energy and fun. Hope she likes her card!!!

I'm entering this for:

Crafty Cardmakers- Feminine Celebration challenge

Fussy and Fancy Friday- Movies challenge (inspired by Up!)

Stamp Something- girly challenge

A bit of a find!

Oops, forgot to show off my new bargain. Well, not so much a bargain as a complete freebie!!!

This is my new ink stand/holder/carrying thingie (haven't got a snappy name for it yet!!!) It's an acrylic bookshelf that was being thrown out at work, so I nabbed it (with the boss's permission of course). It's perfect to sit my ink pads on, and because it has a handle each side, it's really easy to move them about if I need more desk space, or when I need to move them over to the table for crafty sessions with my mates Kay and Michelle. It needed a little bit of TLC, but some glue on the join and a clean  have saved it from being skipped. Recycling rules!

Mother's day pressie and a Tuesday tagger entry!

Finally had time this weekend to finish the tissue box cover blank I gessoed weeks ago for my Mom for Mothers' Day. 

With apologies for the scrap paper and junk in the pictures!! It's inked all over with Stampin' up Brocade blue ink, then stamped with a gorgeous Crafty Individuals swirl that I use lots and lots. I've got a bit of a thing for swirls.....

I then coloured some white tissue paper with some watered down Brocade blue ink and stamped again with the swirl stamp. All of the swirls are stamped using Midnight blue Stazon. I then laid some ripped sections of the tissue paper over the box and used Mod Podge to adhere them. A final coat of Mod Podge to seal and then a dab or 50 of turquoise stickles to finish.

I hope she likes it!! I used the swirly stamp so that this would fit in with the weekly challenge on the Tuesday Taggers blog which is curls and swirls this week. Hope it's not too late to enter, there's a Crafty Individuals prize on offer and I'm a great CI fan..

Thanks for stopping by!

WOYWW

OK here's what was on my workdesk last night- and I haven't moved a thing yet today, so it's still valid as what's on my workdesk today (except there may be a black and white cat sat on it at this very moment.....)

Ummm, a bit messy, but that's me! Usual ink pads and pencils and scrap card to work on, plus a stamp catalogue and post its. Particular highlights (LOL) this week include the sheet of curled up card, upon which I was trying out my new Claudine Hellmuth Ranger Studio Paints (gooooorgeous), and some metal sheets from Paperartsy in the pink basket top right- I'm itching to have a go with them, but have been sidetracked so far.

I love my desk, it was a birthday pressie a year or so back and it's big and has a lovely tempered glass top, so it doesn't matter what I spill or drip onto it :) Ooh, you can also see the bottom of my savings tin (centre top)- it has Tigger on it and was once a cookie tin. It's been hanging around waiting to be altered, but inspiration hasn't struck, so now it's holding my pennies that I'm saving up for the next hobbycrafts show at the NEC at the end of the month. Any donations??????? LOL.

OK, so mini swing left to see the rest of the desk.....

Even messier!!! Essential babywipes- I have a 2 little(ish) children, so.babywipes are a constant requirement, after all, you can't dress dollies and separate pieces of Lego with inky fingers...... You can also see a roller stamp- I don't have a roller handle, so I use my craft knife to cut along the seams and use them as unmounted stamps. This one is some lovely flowers and was a swapsy with my  mate Kay. Plus the TV remote as well, I often have the TV on in the background or my ipod playing while I'm crafting, I'm not a work in silence person. Centre of the picture is a very battered little white envelope. Kay and I have been swapping ATCs using that envelope for over 2 years now. It's turning into a little bit of an heirloom- we're often seen passing it over in the school playground....goodness knows what the other parents think!!!

Take a look at everyone else's desk here- at Julia's blog