Merry Christmas Everyone!

I have not been able to craft for the last few weeks as my mum has been in hospital and lots has been going on, but if there is anyone out there who has not given up on my blog I hope to be able to play after tomorrow!
A very merry Christmas to one and all, enjoy your families and your friends at this special  time of the year.
With love
Barb xx

Sunday Stampers week 181. Frosty the Snowman.

Morning peeps, just getting this entry on in the nick of time! I start with such good intentions and the minutes the hours the days just fly by - oh to have a whole day playing. However, at least I have done Frosty the Snowman. I so love this time of year!

After distressing the background with tumbled glass and broken china  I used part of a stamp I have had in my stash for many years by Stamps Happen Inc.. Then I restamped it on the same background on a spare piece of manilla and bleached out the snowmans body leaving some shading around the edge. I also cut out another cat and adhered both to the main image with sticky pads to give some depth. I used sakura and copic pens to colour Frosty's  nose and to bring shading to his scarf and hat. The tree was also coloured with a copic pen and then I added glitter to the star with a glue pen. The snowflakes on the bottom of the tag were made with Martha Stewart punches and the resulting waste snowflakes added to the sky with some punched blue ones. The big flake on the top was a wooden die cut painted with snow cap acrylic and glittered over. Well, off to work now, please be lovely angels and grant me the wish of time to play this weekend! xx

Sunday Stamper:180, The trail of the lonesome pine.

I have had a busy week, but so wanted to do this weeks Sunday Stamper challenge. I am getting in a Christmasy mood, must be the cards I am trying to get on top of. It felt good to do a tag, I so hope Tim is going to do his 12 tags again this year. 

Am having trouble getting a good picture, so hope this is clear enough. I used Forest Moss, Pine Needles and Evergreen Bough on my craft mat and swiped the tag across. Then I edged it with Walnut stain. I stamped some pine trees in the same colours and then vagabonded a pine tree in glossy card so that it would take the Pine Needles ink in a different way. Then I used white acrylic paint to spray a snow fall and white glitter accent on the tree. Taking a piece of script stamped vellum paper I tore off  a piece at the bottom of the tag and puched out a Martha Stewart snowflake edge, using the cut out snowflakes over the tag. Then on another piece of vellum I stamped the words Let it snow, which has not come out very clear on the photograph! Finally I added a wooden snowflake on the bottom, die cut a nestability snowflake for the top and added an Officially Winter medallion from Cats Life Press, tinting the paper and edge with the new distres ink, Evergreen Bough. Hopefully I will have time this weekend to do some more crafting, there are some lovely challenges out there at the moment. What an amazing Autumn we are having, but I will be old grumpy, and say I wish it was a tadge colder, it just does not feel right! Here's hoping dear Hels of the Sunday stamper is feeling better, and all the pine challenges cheer her up!

Sunday Stampers 179 - The First Noel.

As I have been trying to get some of my Christmas cards made I thought I would enter one for the Sunday Stampers challenge. Then I thought in the spirit of bargain hunting, why not enter 2 get one free?

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I usually buy a new set of stamps each Christmas but this year my pocket money has gone on two of Tim's new seasonal dies and the Spellbinders Poinsettia die, so I got out my much loved set of clarity stamps and used them in a different way this year. As you can see the two cards and tag have been given the same treatment. I used recycled brown card for the base, then I stamped a poinsettia in brushed corduroy distress  on the background. The base for the stamp was die cut from a very old sizzix die that I have had for years which was distressed with various brown DI's and then stamped with the Autumn gathered twigs DI. (As you can see DI's are my main stay!) I coloured away with my copic markers and used bleach for the white areas. Then for the first card I vagabonded (such English) my new holly die, coloured and then overstamped with a music sheet. The second card and the tag have a red poinsettia which was treated to aged mahogany distress stickles and a little gold dimensional paint in the centre. They feel very aged which I love, and very dimensional, which poses a problem! I realise that they may be hard to post, so I will have to make these for hand outs! I have completed  6 sets, so I must now get my thinking cap on for another set of cards. I am unable to concentrate on more than 6 at a time, then I want to do something different. Back to the drawing board! Have a good week everyone.

Sunday stampers 178. Halloween - Bats out of Hell.

Although I don't own any halloween stamps, I thought I would have a go with this weeks Sunday stamper challenge.

So I splodged around on my craft sheet with Tim's Autumn distress pads and then made a stamp out of his Houses edge die for the bottom, adding an Elusive image tree. Then I found an old wooden Happy Halloween stamp in my stash I forgot I owned. I drew the spiders web and added a black glittery spider from my witches outfit I wore to a dance on Saturday. The Boo comes from Tims stickers and the 31 was amongst a hoard of die cut numbers stained with the seedless preserves ink. The lace at the bottom of the tag is some velvet sticky back edging from Prima I think, adorned with an orange spider and the tag is finished with a strip of bin liner!

Happy Halloween to you all. I'm back to the Christmas card stash now, will post some of them later.

Sunday Stamper. Week 177 - Forever Autumn.

Forever Autumn.

Help! I wanted to kick start my mojo and so I have brought the new Tim Holtz die of the pine cone. Then I thought it would look good on an Autumn card for the sunday Stamper challenge. After half a dozen aborted tries I managed to make two that could resemble pine cones! (OK. So they may to a blind hedgehog in a paper bag).  Can someone out there share their tips for making these? Is there a Tim video on it I have missed? Thanks!

I also used my recent aquisition of the limited edition Autumn ink pads from Tim - mixing them in  with an assortment of his other colours. The Large leaves are from the tattered leaves die which were splodged in any ink I had left on the mat after colouring the layers of card. The sentiment is from Elusive images Autumn set and I used another on shrink plastic under the cones. The backberry is made from glass beads on a small base.  I drew some veins on the leaves with a sakura pen.

I have to say the cones are giving me hysterics, they so don't look right. Mind you I couldn't make a rose until Hels (she of the sunday Stamper fame!) showed me the right way. I put it down to my age - as you do!

Off for a girl's break!

Well, I really wanted to post some wondrus item I had produced this week, and in fact have made a box with a 'porcelain' flower on top, but I am off for a girly break with my little sister and her two friends and the camera is packed! It's about the only thing that is mind, I have to shoot off to work, then fly home, pack the rest and then sis is picking me up for our adventure! We are staying in her Spanish residence, so plenty of sun, wine and chocolate. I have loaded up the kindle, packed the suntan lotion and  sketch book and am leaving dearest hubbysand in charge of Hermione and Molly our cats! Have a good week everyone, I shall try my best to enjoy myself!!

Sunday stampers week 170 - Love Potion #9

I'm very sorry  but I seemed to have lost last week. I put it down somewhere and can't find it, it's probably in my craft room under a pile of stuff. So I haven't blogged for days! Tut tut. Here is a tag I have managed to make between working. It is for Hels Sunday stamper challenge and in celebration of her blogaversary I have used some techniques she has taught!

First I cut a tag from glossy paper and stamped the sentiment 'Love is' in resist. then I swooshed spun sugar and aged mahogany stains on my craft sheet and swiped the tag. It is the first time I've tried this and it is not perfect, but I kinda liked the blotched look so I left it! Then I die cut a swirl in aged mahogany and stamped the word love from the big stamp and trapped it in a Tim ornate plate. Then I made a faux porcelain rose from the tattered floral large flower and added a tattered leaf also dipped in UTE. Thanks Hels, I love making these now! The perspex heart was stamped with the same word and then coloured with red and gold alcohol inks. I dyed lace with the same stains and added pearl hearts at the bottom. I have a lovely new camera but am wading through the instruction book at the moment and can't quite get the photos right, so please forgive the picture! I hope to blog again this week, keeping my fingers crossed!

Sunday Stampers 168: Houses, Home.

Hels Sunday challenge this week is to use the theme House, Home. I thought as it has been a wonderful late summer day that I would portray the summer home I would buy if my lottery numbers ever come up!

Picture a small cottage, whitewashed walls decorated with shells, a blue roof with an attic studio and golden sands and a beautiful blue sea, set problably in Cornwall. Ahh! We can all dream!

I swooshed Weathered wood and Broken China distress stain over the tag and stamped some cliffs and sailing boats with some tiny Scene It stamps I had. Then I vagabonded a Tim rickety house die in white and then blue card and cut it to get a slightly different look. To get the rendered look of the walls I slathered white acrylic on and then stuck my collection of tiny shells over it. The sand dune in the front was made with Wild honey stain over some torn card that was layered then more shells and beachcombed pieces. The life belt on the porch was made up as I went long, wish I had a stamp for it! I made tiny waves in the ocean with a glitter pen and found a piece of balsa wood to write the name of the cottage. Can you imagine crafting in the attic studio with the salty tang of seagull cry for inspiration? If I ever aquire this you are all invited to come and stay!

I've been waxing!

No, not a visit to the beauticians, but a great workshop at the http://www.thestampattic.co.uk/. given by the great Hels. You can find her at http://pinkleart.blogspot.com/ but I guess everyone must know the host of the Sunday Stampers! She is a lovely teacher and I had a really enjoyable day learning all about applying beeswax. Here is my effort:

The other ladies made their own unique take on the same frame and we all had a lovely time. Thank you so much Hels and Wendy! Please note my beeswax rose at the top! I have never been able to make one quite like this, but Hels shared her tips and bobs your uncle, a near perfect rose as ever I have produced!

I'm off now to melt and play with my purchases, one of which is a new Dina Wakley stamp. I also have some pieces of mountboard donated by Thelma who was also at the workshop. Aren't crafters generous souls? A perfect day!  Hope you are all having one too.

Sunday stampers: Week 167: White Lines.

Sunday Stampers - White Lines.

I've been playing with bleach and thought that would fit in nicely with Hels challenge this week:

Unfortunately the photo has not come out well and I blame the weather, well you would wouldn't you? I've been wearing TIGHTS today, cos my feet were so cold! I mean it's only August, whatever is going on, and whats more I distinctly smelt Autumn this morning. It is my fav. season but it could have waited a tadge!

Enough of this moaning, the above tag was swiped with spun sugar and aged mahogany stains and the new picket fence which I love! When I had faffed about enough with the background I stamped on  Penny Black flowers and embossed in black detail. Then out came the bleach to take the colour away. I then made a few flowers that I vagabonded from Tim H's tattered floral and added a bead and some stamens too. I had also picket fenced the papers first! (I'm sure this isn't correct English but sounds like I mean it to!) Then a Prima diamonte swirl and some punched butterflies. The sentiment is from Studio 490. Looks far more dimensional in real life!

I thought I would share a not very good attempt at bleaching I did earlier following the project in this months Craft Stamper:

Certainly full of faults and not as good as the wonderful example in the magazine but fun to do and learn a new technique. Off now to put a woolly cardi on I think! Keep warm, love to all.

Sunday Stampers 166: Wish You Were Here.

Hels challenge on Sunday Stampers this week is 'Wish' so I thought I would dust off my Artistic Outpost 'Fortune Teller' set and make a tag, because don't we all wish that we could have  lucky reading!

Firstly I used distress dabber Spun Sugar as a base. Then I inked up the big background stamp from the set in Victorian Velvet and distressed the edges with Aged Mahogany. The fortune teller was inked in archival on white card and coloured with copics and adorned with some different shades of pink crystals and a gold leaf pen. The crystal ball was stamped in Stazeon to some perspex packing and backed with sticky pads for dimension. 'The Future is bright' was inked and stickled as were the Wish Adage tab and the Palm Reading ticket. I must admit the veiled curtain to the side of the lady was a challenge to stick down and doesn't show to well in the photo, the beaded trim is the pelmet to her booth and I punched the distressed edge of the tag with my Martha stewart punch.

Fun to do! I am now trying to do the stamping with bleach project in this months Craft stamper, so hope to post again soon, unless it is too disasterous to photo! Happy Sunday to all! xx

The Stamp Attic, Amazon and a Fiddle Fart!

Here is just a writing entry. I wanted to tell you about three lovely people. For my birthday in May I had a Vagabond from my DH. Unfortunately on Monday while my dear friend Sally was visiting I was showing it to her and it went poof ! I wrote an email to Wendy at the http://www.thestampattic.co.uk/ and within half an hour she had responded with a lovely email telling me she had contacted Sizzix and a new one was wending its way ready to be collected. Today I had another message from her telling me that it was sitting waiting for me. Now that is service! I think the Stamp Attic is an amazing shop and every time I have met Wendy nothing has been too much trouble. She even made me a cup of coffee the first time I visited as I came from a way! Thank you Wendy, you are ace.

Also for my birthday I had a kindle from my dear Mum and Dad, such a lovely surprise. It too developed a fault with the screen but the great folk at http://www.amazon.co.uk/ dealt with me instantly and sent me a replacement there and then. How about that for another piece of great British service?

The third thing to say is that I have won some blog candy on Helen's blog  http://itsallfiddlefart.blogspot.com/ so thank you so much Helen! She has a real eye for a bargain and should be nominated as a 'green' crafter as she doesn't waste anything!

So there we go, three lovely people.

Enjoy the sun everyone, but keep the brolly handy!

Sunday Stampers week 165: Waterloo Sunset

Must be the heat, but I had a whole day to myself at the weekend and couldn't do a thing!  Then I had a while in the craft room today and came up with this tag for the Sunday Stamper challenge:


Firstly I distressed a tag with barn door, wild honey, mustard seed and weathered wood stains and pads. Then I stamped in black archival Hero Arts 'Silhouette grass'. The poppies were made from an old (very old) Craft Stamper free stamp and bedazzles were glued in the centre after I had painted them with red watercolour paint. They were adhered with sticky pads for dimension. The little pink felt butterfly was added for balance. Then I coloured a punched picket fence black and added a shaded grass trim at the bottom. The saying is an old stamp I love which reads:
'On a beautiful day in the early part of June, I saw the most spectacular sunset'
and seemed an apt statement. I sprayed heirloom gold mist over the tag and highlighted areas with viva gold paste for extra shimmer. Suitable ribbons and thread from my stash to complete.

My dear friend Sally called in today as she was 'down here' visiting her sister. So she has her July card and I can post it here!


It is made up of toning pieces of paper from the Prima Aurora collection and a friends stamp by Hero Arts on the left upper corner. I distressed each piece with walnut stain ink and stamped several random images. The butterfly is a Martha Stewart punch plus button to match. I made it three fold to hold a matching ATC for her.


Sally lives near Crewe and I am excited as I am spending three days with her next week. We have so much planned, and I shall blog some of our exploits!
Isn't the weather lovely? Hopefully you are all enjoying yourselves and not working too hard, see you all soon!

Sunday Stampers 164. Back to Black.

Well, goodness knows where last week went as I'm pretty sure I didn't sleep through it! So I was determined to do the Sunday Stampers this week. Hels has called for us to use Back to Black in memory of Amy Winehouse, so here is my contribution.

I used Black soot distress ink with a sponge applicator over the tag,especially the edges and then used the Time stamp all over it. The black swirls are I believe from Prima, I've had them ages and lost the packing. The Prima rose could not be made better by me, although I was tempted to turn it to porcelain with my melt pot but felt it looked better as it was. Then I covered some grungeboard with  music tissue tape and cut out a star. The words 'The Song Lives On' were from one of my letter sets edged in black promarker. The lower edge was cut from sheet music and then a border cut with a Martha Stewart edge punch. Black and white ribbon to finish.

A tragic end to such a young spirit, my heart goes out to her family.

Sunday Stampers 162. Flight.

Hi peeps. Here is my entry for Hels Sunday stamper, which was anything that had wings basically. I guess this may be a bit of a cheat, as it has wings on it but is not a plane or a bird or a winged insect! In fact I am not quite happy this has a right balance, so if anyone wants to tell me how I could have composed it better I would be grateful!

I took some 7 gypsies Conservatory paper and adhered it to a large square card. Then I painted gesso over the top and when dry added scrim and a square of muslin, which I machine sewed on. The edges were aged with walnut stain distress ink. A piece of the same range of paper was then rough torn and distressed using bundled sage and walnut inks. The young girl in the hat by Paperbag studios was black stamped on another piece of the paper, which is lovely as it is double sided, and distressed again with the same inks. The sentiment is by crescendoh and stamped on another scrap from the collection, but I did not feel happy with it hanging vertically so I cut up each word and adhered it to some sage green card. Her wings are grungeboard coloured with brown acrylic and distressed with gold viva paste, then heated to give slight dimension. Then I raided my button tin for each of the remaining corners.

I offer it up warts and all - do you think I should have layed it on a smaller card or had another coloured layer on the background?

Sunday stampers - The writing on the wall.

As my head is always in a book of some description I was happy to make a tag for Hels Sunday stamper challenge which for this week is writing. I love writing of all descriptions, eclectic to the core that's me!

I glued a sheet of dictionary to a tag, covered with a layer of gesso and then when it was dry painted

yellow and pink acrylic over the top and smeared some off to reveal the text. Then I used a tim stamp of text to the opposite edges and distress inked some mountboard letters with walnut stain and edged them with gold viva paste. I rolled up dictionary papers stapled in the middle and adorned with muse tokens to spell speak  down the side and a small tag with a sentiment from crescendoh stamps went underneath. I then stained some tissue tape with spun sugar and pleated a ruffle on the bottom, some matching ribbon and there we are!

Before I go I thought I would make you smile. My dear friend Sally lives too far away for a regular get together, but we send each other a card and atc or tag every month, it is so good to look forward to the packet coming!  Here is her July card from me, I can post it in safety as she has already received it! If you are reading this Sal, get a blog going, you make lovely cards!

The background is a project from craft stamper magazine, where I stamped cream and white card with text and tore it into strips along with some sheet music. Then I layered alternate strips and washed over gesso. I love this stamp, applied a shadow to the outside and then adhered it with sticky pads. I'm the one in glasses but in years to come I hope! I stamped vintage and added a philosophy token and a handbag charm to complete. Well, Sally said she laughed anyway!

Another shot at pale!

I am not one to give up easy, so here is another go at pale using one of my all time favoroute stamps, Percinni's Muse by Stampington.

Some butterfly wings, scrim, patterned parchment, punched lace, distress ink, old book pages, lace and some butterflys. It is in silence that the muse sings the loudest and in this very noisy world I have grown to love silence but it is very hard to find. However, I should not like it all the time and am grateful for my hearing aids. How else would I catch bird song and the beating of butterfly wings? Do you create in silence or do you need your favoroute music or the sound of the home beating behind you?

Sunday stampers: 160. More than Words.

Ever since I visited Venice I have been in love with it. On my last trip my hubbysand came with me and loved it as much as I do. I decided to make a canvas to try and capture some of the magic and I finished it today and am entering it for the Sunday stampers challenge as included are some Italian and English words:

I started with a 10"x12" canvas and painted on a thick layer of guesso. Then I adhered lots of different ornate papers which I painted over and rubbed down as every where you look in the city there are fabulous peeling paint layers. Then I stamped and layered images and added the gondolier. I tried lots of different masks, even a little one I bought back with me but in the end stamped the face mask I have owned for ages and then stamped the Virgin Mary. The words come from a foam alphabet set and from TJ Designs that I got from the Stamp Attic. Various other stamps come from Paperartsy and some images from a paper bag! I tried to keep the feel of water by using distress ink, and the wooden posts that are all along the canals are curtesy of my garden. The idea-ology frame balances the Cross I purchased in the awesome Basilica San Marco. For those of you who have visited Venice I hope it captures a little of the magic. I must go again some day, I wish I was rich enough to visit during the Carnival and dress in scarlet! The city is a glorious decadent faded rose and quite quite beautiful.

I am now on the hunt for a very ornate thick frame that I can guild and distress to finish it off! Arriverderci!

A whiter shade of not pale!

I have a great love of pale, but can never do it in my crafting, so I sat down this morning to have an attempt. My first play was a tag.

As you can see, not all that pale. I used pieces from an old pattern, some lace, scrim and Tim's sewing room die. It still looks too colourful to me, not the look I wanted at all. Perhaps it's my eyesight in my dotage!

My next piece is a present for my Mum. She is known as Mattie to her grandchildren.

She always kept a button jar as I do now. I used the CRESCENDo mason jar over a piece of embossed button paper and added a few real ones for depth. The base is recycled cardboard with a piece of muslin over and a scrap of lacy paper I toned down with walnut stain ink. The lace trim on the bottom is punched from a paper pattern with a Martha Stewart edge punch. She loves Flowers, so her bouquet is made from two small rossette dies, some hessian, a prima flower, a rose stamped from some scraps, a crochet flower, two flowers cut from Tim's tattered florals, the larger one from dressmaking tissue and the smaller one from a very old paper doily.  The inspiration for this came from the very very talented Sue Allan, see her work here: http://aviewoftheworldfromhere-sa.blogspot.com/ Several months ago Craft Stamper featured a calender made by Sue, so this piece for my Mum uses the jar and elements of her idea, hope Sue approves! Dear old Mum is 84 now, and loves cards and flowers, so am off in a while to visit. Back to the craft room now to practice pale and try to stop using strong hues! See you later!

Sunday Stampers week 159 - All around my hat.

Prom Queen had an invitation to a party and got out her best party hat so it seemed fitting to enter her for the Sunday Stamper this week!

I stamped her on to a tag inked with distress inks and overstamped in wild honey with the word Party and Star by Stampotique. Then I cut out bunting from some inked paper and her balloon from the craft stamper magazine free stamp a few months ago and added the string with a black pen. Her invitation came from a Tim Holtz set and her bag with the present was from a 'name unknown'  clear set I had lurking in my stash. Her wonderful hat is from a set by 'Lost Coast designs' attached with foam pads and adorned with a game counter. A red glittery pom pom on top and there we are - already to go! Hope she puts a smile on before she gets there!

Sunday Stamper: Week 158. Steampunk.

I have never done steampunk before, so I had a search around and then put my thinking cap on and have come up with this card.

For the background I mounted Tim Holtz Kraft Resist paper onto a black background, then distressed it with weathered wood, wild honey and bundled sage distress ink. The athletic figure is from  Artistic Outpost 'fortune teller' and I cut him off at the shorts and added a pair of jointed legs. The steampunk bike thingy is made from die cut cogs out of black card and gold corrugated card, then I added bits of accumulated old jewellery and chain. I messed up with where I put him I think, as when I added the grunge board skull for the top of the bike it hid his legs! The handlebars were pieces of a long forgotten kit of something or other. The red arrows were from grungeboard again and the sentiment from Paperartsy stamps. The hat was trimmed with a metal flower shape and a red brad. Fun to do, but it was a real challenge!

Simon say stamp and show a tag!

When I saw this challenge I just felt it would be too rude not to enter, as I love making tags!

This tag was vagabonded using Tim's tag die with the LOVE word die cut out. Then I covered the tag with another tag cut the same but out of some paper I  had in my stash. This was then distressed inked with pinks and greens and the Paperbag Studio stamp was added over the top, then coloured with promarkers to blend. The flower was a bundle of scrim dyed with colourwash ink and die cut from the tattered florals. I had just bought Martha Stewarts monarch butterfly punch, so I layered two of them in the corner. I adhered plain scrim behind the love word, stamped some tiny butterflies on the top and finished with some pink pearls and wool trim to match. This will be perfect for my little sisters birthday present, which I can safely disclose as she is on holiday at the moment! I so love playing!

Stampotique Designers Challenge: 32 - Clean and simple.

Well here I am on a day off and with another challenge done! This was a challenge as I usually want to fill all of the paper, but it was good to be stretched in a minimalistic way!

I used Prom Queens head and framed it in a mount and used the base of the Tim Holtz sewing room die upside down for the handle of the mirror, painted them with black acrylic and popped some beads from an old bracelet on. The writing is my own. I did originally stamp her head on some mirror foil but could not photograph it because it glared! Any ideas anyone? My photography skills are about as good as my computer ones I'm afraid!

Sunday Stampers: Week 157 - Reasons to be Cheerful.

I am cheerful today! Day off and a chance to play. As getting messy and anything connected to Tim H makes me happy I have used the Stampington Mona Lisa stamp on a very distressed background with splodges and splatters, all in various D.S. inks, vagabonded it with the paint splatters embossing folder and coloured it with my promarkers, then used an old paint brush, a piece of scrim that I mopped up inks with and two little bottles with D.S. inks squirted in. The little round paints came off a small pallete topper and the sentiment was from catslife press.

Do you suppose that is the question she asked Leonardo that made her smile? So here it is, a tag to make me cheerful!

Sunday Stamper week 156 - Red.

Here is my tag for this weeks Sunday Stamper

I have inked the background with antique linen and tea dye distress ink and then stamped images from Tim and studio 490 sewing stamps in brushed corduroy. The doodles and stitch threads are from CRESCENDo and stamped in fired brick. The dress is coloured using my inktense pencils and hung from an idea-ology hanger clip. The thread spool and buttons were vagabonded from Tims sewing room dye and coloured with more fired brick. Some red chiffon ribbon and thread and red headed pins complete the tag with a clothes label stamped from Studio 490. One of my all time favourite songs is Lady in Red so it had to be a frock for this one!

Play Date Cafe PDCC83

I couldn't resist taking part in the Play date cafe challenge this time. I love the splash of colour against black and white. Here is my card:

I stamped different pieces of assorted stamps in black versafine onto white card and punched out 15 squares. Well to be honest I punched out a whole load more and moved them about until I liked the effect. Then I coloured in 2 of the squares and added a matching paper flower with a crystal in the centre. I used spotted ribbon to make a horizontal border. Simples! I have used this layout before with different colours, originally got the inspiration from a serendipity project, which I think was in Craft Stamper some years ago. However the memory isn't what it used to be so apologies if I've got that wrong! I will end this post with best wishes to Sarah at the PDC for her future ventures.
Now off to try and activate the old mojo with some more creations, happy bank holiday everyone. x

Sunday Stamper - Diamonds and Pearls.

I thought I had better make this today as I have a manic week ahead! I rather think I have over done the bling, but never mind I had fun making my amateur tag, which perhaps reflects my aspirations to be a lady?

I painted the tag with silver acrylic dabber and then stamped two different diamond background stamps over. Then I vagabonded (what a lovely word) the diamond embossing folder and inked the edges with black soot distress ink. The lady I believe was Elusive images, sorry if I'm wrong, it's an old stamp and before I started blogging I just filed them without the makers name. I glammed her up with a pearl chocker and necklace, pearl earring, and a diamond and pearl tiara, then added the red feathers and diamonds to top her off! The crown is part of a Prima edging, the ribbon on the bottom was inked with red colour wash. The sentiment is one of Tim's and the fan is an old stamp coloured with my promarkers.

What a lovely day it's been! Went for a bracing walk this morning and blew the cobwebs away, then had a play - perfick! Hope you all had a good one. xx

Drinks all round!

Got up early this morning and had to take these photographs after the garden had a drink!

Pinks in Paradise!

My climbing rose now sprawling in drunken loveliness across the arch.

Beauty for the birds to bathe and drink by.

The chamomile swirl starting to spread. The pool in the middle is waiting for a home made fountain!

Have a lovely day everyone.

Stampotique challenge - SD30. Recycled.

I was playing with my colour wash inks and this tag got in the way, so I decided to recycle it as the base for this challenge and added some more toning distress inks and a piece of tissue paper that looks like tiger skin which one of my birthday presents was wrapped in. I then just had to use Kitty and trap her behind some bars made from a piece of wire that was rusting in my garden.

Wild Animal was written on a piece of shell that I hope will resemble bone as I did not have any bone handy! The chain and key are old stash and the key hole was vagabonded with grunge board  and inked to match. The ticket ought to be issued if you visit my home! My fluffy persian red, Molly, resembles Kitty at the moment and for some reason has the devil in her! Must be the weather, or the full moon approaching!

Sunday Stamper - Stars and Stripes!

Well, thanks to sue and Tracy for letting me know Mr blogger ate a lot of posts for dinner! Here I go again with my contribution to Hels Sunday Stamper!

I forgot what I wrote last time, but surfice to say it is a tag using Tims' rickety house and branch tree. Fans of Tim will recognise the influence from his twelve tags of christmas! Whoozed the house through the ledger embossing plate and coloured the stripes, glitter behind the windows to look like lamp light, paperartsy advice to daughters stamp and saying, and negative frame from Tim again in celebration of Hels' trip to the USA and the photos she has been sharing!

Lets hope this stays put! Have a great weekend everyone, I hope to do some crafting! x 





Missing Blog!

Help! I posted a blog with the Sunday stamper challenge, even had two kind comments and it has disappeared! Is this something that often happens? Where did it go? I've looked everywhere, no sign of it!!! I shall repost later if it doesn't come back. If anyone has a stars and stripes tag that turns up from nowhere, let me know - thank you!

Sunday stampers - Stars and Stripes.

Here is my offering for this weeks Sunday Stamper, using my new Vagabond of course! Did I mention I had one for my birthday? (chuckle) A most serious bit of kit and every bit as good as everyone says it is! I have used a layout that is inspired fromTim's last tags of Christmas.

Firstly I vagabonded my tag die in a 'night time' blue. Then I woozed the Rickety house through and then embossed it with the ledger page, coloured in the resulting stripes and put yelow glitter behind the windows to show people are awake inside! The tree is Tim's die, cut out of black foam. The stars were from my little pots of stash and the flag was cut out and adhered to the side of the house. The figure is a Paperartsy stamp 'Advice to daughters' - they are lovely stamps, used the son one on my last post. The sentiment is another paperartsy stamp and then I finished it off with a die cut negative frame in celebration of Hels (of Ranger and Sunday Stamper fame!) travels. She has been sharing some of her glorious photos from her recent adventure in the good old U S of A. Such a shame, I must off to work now, would so love to play! 



Vagabond ecstacy!

This is a silly post, but I have to tell someone! Just had the most awesome birthday present from Hubbysand, my very own Vagabond machine! He ordered it from dear Wendy at one of my most fav. shops, The Stamp Attic! I am over the moon, I have the day off so I am going into my craft room and may not emerge for some time. Woohoooo!!! Have a lovely day every one out there!

Sunday Stamper - 'Men'

Back now from my travels and Easter mayhem! Had the morning in my craft room, oh have I missed it. Here is my offering for Hels Sunday stamper.

It's my first canvas. I have used Paperartsy stamps 'Advice to Sons', Tim Holtz cogs and paper, Idea-ology clock face and spinner and some very small travel stamps I have had for ages and can't remember where from! I have used distress walnut stain, black soot, weathered wood and colour wash sprays in Caramel and Terracotta to try and layer the background.

I spent Easter in Barcelona. The art was fantastic and I had a marvelous time. One fly in the ointment, despite taking the greatest care I had my beautiful mothers day purse stolen with my spending money. I can only hope whoever took it spent as much time spending it as I did earning it! Hope to be able to translate some of the mosaic wonders into something in the craft room and my garden. Hope to be back soon as I am now in the crafting mood. Happy May day to all!

Sunday Stampers. theme 'love'

Here is a happy blog anniversary to Hels for her 1000th posting! She has asked us to use the theme 'love' for products and designers. scrummy! Here is my effort:

So, here is the run down! I Love doing tags. Tim Holtz is one of my fav. designers (bet you didn't guess that one!) I love his alteration sets. I love Ranger colour washes. I love all Ranger products. I love distressing things. I love Hels blog. I loved going to one of her workshops at the Stamp Attic where I got the idea for inking and embossing and stamping and adding paper flowers (Tim Holtz tattered floral die of course) to a tag. I love the above colour combination.

If that is not enough 'Love' I have added a red heart and a locket which I have distressed with some black acrylic. I dyed the piece of upholstery braid with colour wash. The tag was dipped in butterscotch colour wash and then wild honey and spiced marigold. I distressed the edge and used walnut stain to close it in. Then I ran it through my cuttlebug to emboss the ledger page which was ruthlessly sanded back to reveal the core of the tag. The paper flower was die cut and scrunched up before pinning together with a brad. The chiffon on the top was heat distressed til it shrivelled. Phew! Oh yes, the book plate from Tim's tags die was covered in Viva gold, then rock candy distress,dried and sanded back to look, well, distressed - and then I stamped Hope in the middle and used glossy accents in the middle - yet another product I lOVE! There we have it, a tag of Love!

Love to you all, have a great Sunday evening. x

PDCC#77

It's Play Date Cafe Challenge time again! You will find it here: http://theplaydatecafe.blogspot.com/ This week it is to use brown, green and white. I have tried to put the picture on my blog but I am so daft I can't make it work! Have to wait for beautiful daughter number 2 to visit! Here is my entry:

I was inspired by Racheal Jackson's article in the April 'Craft stamper' magazine. She can make delicate look so easy and I think mine is a bit heavy handed. I used the Elusive images hydrangea stamp that I coloured in with my watercolour pencils. The green muslin paper was stamped with a Prima script and then I cut the outer edge of the flower. The text is by Crescendo stamps, the back of the card is the Martha Stewart hydrangea punch and then I used three brown pearls to finish. Now to try and remember how to link this to the PDCC site! Have a lovely evening.

Sunday Stamper 'Blue'.

Managed this a bit earlier this week! I've had it made since Tuesday but it has proved a challenge to photograph.

I used some Maya road bird shapes which I covered back and front in different papers from Tim Holtz shabby vintage stack. I then inked the edges with weathered wood distress ink and stamped paper artsy hot pick 'Song Bird Fly' and some T.H. stamps over the bodies. The big wings were cut from T.H. 'fanciful flight' and layered up . The small wings were from his winged heart dies. Prima paper flowers were distressed inked and layered up by the side of the wings and on the hanging saying at the bottom.

I then seperated the birds with toning beads and paper birds punched from Martha Stewart bird punch which I love. The two sayings on the atc at the bottom are from T.H. and Exclusive images. I used touches of green distress ink to break up the blue.

Blue birds of happiness? I certainly have enjoyed the beautiful blue skies we have recently had. I think this may become a gift for my persian cats Hermione and Molly, they have been eyeing it up with interest!

Have a good day all. x

Play Date Cafe Challenge #76.

Here is my first attempt at the Play Date Cafe Challenge. The theme for this week is to use bright blue, sky blue and bright green.

I used Adirondach colour wash in Stream, Denim and Lettuce to colour the background of the tag and then I put it through my cuttlebug with the swiss dots embossing folder which I then coloured over with tumbled glass and weathered wood distress ink to pick up the dots as if they were bubbles in the sea. The 'seaweed' is made from green and blue chiffon which I shrivelled with my heat gun and machined down. The shell is pain spattered blues and the starfish and sea plant are from Stampington's 'Shore Cliff Elements' stamped in distress inks again. The iridescent shell shaped sequins and blue beads are from my stash and were charity shop finds. The blue nylon string at the top of the tag was collected from last years beach combing. With the lovely weather we are having this weekend it makes me wish I was by the sea, perhaps crafting with these colours is the next best thing! Hope you are all enjoying the sunshine. x

Sunday Stampers - Gold.

Sunday Stampers! Oh my goodness, only just in time! Manic week I'm afraid, never mind made it with some hours to spare. The challenge was to use Gold, harder than I thought.

I swished wild honey, scattered straw and rusty hinge inks on my craft mat and swiped the tag through until I got a good background colour. Then I embossed it with Tim's rays, wiped colour over again and then smeared gold viva paste at the edge and the almost sun shape. It looks far richer than the photo has shown. Tim's in flight stamp on grunge paper with black archival ink then smeared with the gold again. I then altered some feathers with the viva and attached them under the bird. Gold beads from my stash at the bottom and a faceted crystal with a toning bead and gold threads at the top attached with a trinket pin. Blinded by the light because the bird looks as if it has flown too near, hope his wings are not burnt!

Saturday Sortings.

Today I have been doing three things.The first thing I have been doing is not doing the housework. I have not been doing it all day.

The second thing I have been doing is wandering about my garden, considering how to sort the ravages of winter and turn it into a haven again. I thought you might like to see some of the projects I have done and will have to consider doing this year. I am very good at considering.

Here is my garden guardian angel in her beautiful mosaic shrine inspired by a trip to beloved Italy. Clever hubbysand make the shrine. It has had several incarnations.

Unfortunately the winter has taken off some of the china plate mosaics that we lovingly collected from car boots and smashed up. Last year we attempted to stick them with the stuff that is supposed to be as strong as nails, but the snow and rain got in and we will have to attach them again. Other years we have tried grout and cement and read a multitude of garden mosaic how to do books. Never mind, I haven't lost them and I don't do perfection.

Here is chamomile swirl stage two. I have tried to grow a chamomile lawn in this circle (My garden is made up of circles) four times. It is a very hard thing to do I have discovered, as the slugs feast out on chamomile. Dearest hubbysand got clever with string and pegs and has put in a spiral. The job this year is to plant chamomile inbetween. Next time I blog this I hope it will be well underway and the smell will knock you out!

This is my special retreat looking worse for wear. When I have spring-cleaned it and plumped the cushions and put them in the seats, lit the scented candles and put my tea pot and cup and saucer on the table you won't recognise it! My favourite spot to meditate and re-charge. I have crystals and garden chimes that tinkle in the breeze. Luverly.

This is a piece of wood from Westonbirt Arboretum. Purchased one year during their tree carving show. I found a special crystal and when the sun catches it rainbows dance every where.

These are some of my heads that adorn the wall in front of a little seated area.

May I introduce you to George and Mildred who live on top of an ornate column near the rose arch. They don't need feeding and my cats can't reach them. Perfect.

The third thing I have been doing is playing in the craft room. I have recently purchased Ruth Rae's book 'Layered. tattered, stitched. Full of gorgeous scrumptiousness that I want to make. This is my first absolute copy from her book of a cuff. I'm hoping beautiful daughter number 1, 2 or 3 will like and want it as I have made it a tadge too tight for my old wrist. No. 2 will hopefully like it as it more her style. Now I understand the basics I will experiment with my ideas and fabrics. Well, even the likes of Michelangelo copied from the Masters when he set out!

Well, off to not do the housework now! Enjoy your day.