Wednesday 22 January 2014

A pair of one hue!

I've been playing this morning as I don't have to go to work until this afternoon. I had some spraying residue on a piece of paper that wouldn't go on a card but nicely cut into two tags. So I decided to try and limit my pallette to shades of green - a bit of a challenge for me!
 

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I used the dot fade over the spray remnants and then added some little pieces of script. Looking through my stamps I suddenly realised that two stamps from PaperBag studios went together although they come from different sheets. I stamped in black archival and water coloured with my DM's in various shades of green. Then I got out my latest fun thing to do and made  two  green Buckram flowers and found some stamens that I have had for ages. The little daisy single flowers had yellow centers painted on and then feeling that the lovely greens from the distressed range have a Spring feeling I found two sentiments from my stash and using clear shrink plastic added them to the tags. The ribbons at the top were coloured using a mop up technique from all the inks I was using. I enjoyed making a pair of tags, must try it again sometime! Hope you are having a good week, love and thanks to all of you who have been kind enough to follow my blog and leave such lovely comments, I love reading them. X

Monday 20 January 2014

Tim's tag of January 2014.

Great to be starting another year of Tim's tag and this one has some great techniques as usual. I am a bit low on the supplies for this month and so I did the best I could with substitutes.
 

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I had the right stencil and inks for the background of the tag but no pocket watch die and so I hand cut one from grungeboard using tape rings as a stencil. Then I painted the 'watch' with Brushed Pewter and Black Soot DP. The inside circle I cut from mirror board and embossed it with a similar folder and painted as per Tim's instructions. Then I hunted round and discovered I had no metal gears left so I die cut some black shrink plastic cogs and gears and covered with Brushed Pewter DP after they had been suitably shrunk.
 
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The close up shows the hand painting up for what it is but never mind. Then I had another sentiment that I wanted to use and chose some chit chat stickers. I don't have any custom charms so I used an enamel one instead and it was fiddly to get the rub-ons on this too. I used a wooden kebab stick and much naughty language!
I guess if this year goes as fast as the last one it will be December before we know it. I will practice mindfullness and stay in the moment. Hope you are all having a good week, thanks for looking. x

Sunday 19 January 2014

Sunday Stamper Week 291 Ultraviolet.

One of my New Years Resolutions is to keep up more often with Hel's lovely challenge as towards the end of last year I got very remiss! When I peeped this morning I just felt like making a 'pretty tag' and Ultraviolet seemed a good place to start! I have hunted down some Buckram at my local Dunelm shop as I have wanted to make some flowers out of it. American blogs call it Crinoline and on Tammy Tutterow's blog and you  can find a wonderful blog tutorial here. So I die cut tattered flowers and sprayed with Dylusions ink in blues and purple and I love the way they dry and can be moulded. Here is the tag I made around the rose.
 

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First I swooshed a tag through Seedless Preserves and Dusty Concord and Brushed Pewter DI and DP. Then I overstamped The Papillion background from Tim's set that I use very often in Archival Watering Can and ripped up a piece of lilac lace and adhered it down the side. The greenery is sprayed with two dylusion greens and is also cut from the Buckram and dries really dimensionally. The Jofy stamp was lightly brushed with Milled Lavender and stamped with Archival Watering Can, the circles painted with LuminAire Bougainvillia and then framed with a cut out embossed tag folder that I found free in a craft magazine a few months ago which I highlighted with Seedless Preserves. I sprayed the whole tag lightly with some glitter spray and found a delicate piece of yarn for the top.
This is for my friend Sally who will get a surprise in the post this week, so look out for the postman love! Nearly completed my Tim tag, so will post again soon. Thanks for looking! x

Tuesday 14 January 2014

Try Again!

Back on my trusty lap top I am doing this post again! I think I will leave my mistake on my last post incase anyone knows why my photo didn't materialise from my iPad.
To say again, here is a little box, five sided, that I made from felt and pelmet vylene.

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It was very fiddly but fun to make, especially finding my bits of glittery material for the decoration. The inside is lined with an Autumnal cotton and you open it by pulling the bead at the top and the pointy bits open up. I am getting to know my machine a bit better now! On to my next project, I wish sometimes I could spend all day playing! Something to look forward to I think! Thanks for looking. x

Oh dear!

Oh dear, seems my photo hasn't published! I have to rush now, so will try again this evening! I thought if I copied and pasted a photo from my iPad it would come out, seems not! Any ideas anyone? 
From an incompetent IT twit! X

Playing with my present!

I have been playing with my sewing machine and down loaded a free pattern to make a box with felt, pelmet stiffener and some cotton. It was a tadge fiddly and my fingers have punctured from the hand sewing but great fun. Lots of mistakes but here it is.

Here is a little box I just made with felt and Vylene from a down loaded pattern to learn from my new sewing machine. Many hours later with punctured fingers from the hand sewing here it, mistakes and all! This is another first for me as I have posted on my iPad not my lap top, so fingers crossed!
I have now got a decision to make. The last twenty odd years have seen me doing lots and lots of studying for my profession, yet I work better with goals to aim for. So, do I attempt something like a City and Guilds course to perfect skills from the bottom up, or just plunge in and play? I really don't know, I shall have to ponder for a bit longer I think. Meanwhile I have a day coming up where I Take my new machine to a workshop to learn the embroidery bit of it! I will keep you posted.
Off to work now, have a good day. X

Tuesday 7 January 2014

Bloomin' marvelous!

First, thank you dear friends for your lovely comments you have left on my last post about Molly, they mean a lot. I have been trying to cheer myself up by playing with Tim's new Jumber Tattered Florals which I pre-ordered before christmas and have just come. They are fabulous and I am in love already. Just to get my hand in I have made some covered notebooks using an assortment of papers from my stash and some material. They go with the original tattered florals and also some Prima flowers I had in a jar. I can see endless possibilities for this die! Take a look at Tim's blog about them here if you haven't already. A considered purchase as they say but oh boy! Worth every penny!
 
 

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Great fun, and I wasn't even trying hard here, just enjoying playing with different types of fabric and paper and ink, they are very dimensional because you can screw up the petals. Thanks Tim, another goodun!
Keep dry and warm everyone, especially all blog friends in the USA! x
 
 

Monday 6 January 2014

The Funkie Junkie Tags of Christmas Bonus tag #2.

I have gone down with the 'bug' that seems to be sweeping our area and have not felt like doing very much. I also started the New Year with the saddest news as we have  lost our darling cat Molly who went gently to sleep over the weekend because of a spinal growth. I am devistated as she was nearly 13, but our Persians have always lived long lives up to about 18 so it was very unexpected and I loved her so. It is the first time we have not shared our home with a cat since 1969.
Enough, you don't want to hear my woes. So I will share my attempt at Linda's bonus tag over on her blog here and so I have now completed her challenge and enjoyed it very much indeed! It has been sponsored by the Funkie Junkie Boutique and there are some very generous offers to be won so do take a peep.
My tag /notelet has been inspired by how Linda folds up a large tag and by the embossed edging she used on it this time and the Brushed Pewter DP.


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I used Silver DP and Picket Fence DP on the base and then embossed the bottom and flap with embossing paste then went over the edges with Iced Spruce DI. I die cut the butterfly and added some more Brushed Pewter and dry glitter to it and then added the Simple saying. I did the inside the same way but I couldn't get it to photograph in this awful rain filled light. I would just like to thank Linda for a great challenge, it went by so fast and I really enjoyed myself. Hope you are all having a better start to the New Year, be back soon. x