Make a Decoration over on Tuesday Taggers

I saw over on Zoe's blog that Tuesday Taggers challenge this week is to make a decoration. I was chatting to Zoe the other day about shrink plastic and then I remembered the project that Jo Firth-Young did with my Christmas tree stamps featured in the Dec 08 edition of Craft Stamper. I've been thinking about trying the new metallic Stazon with shrink especially on the black, so this was the perfect opportunity. Unfortunately I cannot show you a black Christmas tree as I managed to shatter it by using a crop-o-dile to make a hole after I'd shrunk it....not a good idea! I can report though that gold Stazon works very well on black shrink plastic.

For my glass minders I used the frosted shrink plastic and my Klimt style tree stamp from TandaStamps. I used the gold Stazon, which interestingly enough went a sort of brassy colour when shrunk...(on the black it remained a lovely gold). I also discovered that it is not a good idea to splat your shrink to flatten it as some of the gold transfers across onto your acrylic block leaving a slightly mottled effect...well I know for next time!

Now did I own up to having bought a lampwork bead starter kit at the NEC? Well it has been sitting waiting for me to open the box and my fingers have been seriously itching! Having bought some vermiculite at the weekend, I finally opened the box because I thought that it would be nice to make some beads to use on my glass minders.....so the beads you see in the pictures are my first attempt at lampwork.....I'm just waiting for some more bead release to dry on my mandles so that I can make some more!!! It's pretty tricky, but I am quite pleased with what I have made so far...not managed to make a pandora style bead yet as I don't seem to be able to get a nice round shape yet....I guess I will just have to trawl the internet for how to videos.

E is for Embossing on the Alphabet Challenge

The Challenge on the Alphabet challenge blog this week is to have something embossed on your card....I made my card for my neighbour's son who is mad keen on music...He is an excellent drummer and has just made it into the final 40 in a national drumming competition. My embossing is the music on the tag. Not very obvious in the photo, but trust me it is there.

The image is a Mikey digital download from charmed crafts, coloured with copic markers and distressed with distress inks. The papers are from the Hampstead collection from Papermania.

Ladies Only Tanda Teaser

The Tanda Teaser this time round is called Ladies Only! Of course men are welcome to take part, it is just that the cards/projects need to feature Ladies. For my card I used a mixture of Tanda stamps and Paperartsy stamps and dies.

The centre of my floral embellishment is made from a bottletop filled with a stamped image of the lady's eyes, accent beads and UTEE. Inks are distress inks, papers are Graphic 45. The ribbon was from Fantastic Ribbons.

D is for Doodles

Over on the Alphabet Challenge this week it's D for doodles...so this is my attempt...the card was for a certain little niece who thinks that she is getting a pressie every time she sees us...brought about by the fact that she is the eldest girl in the family after my two girls...so of course...every time my girls grow out of something...it gets passed on down to Mia...Hence where's my pressie!

Stamp is Gorjuss girl coloured with copic markers...backing paper was from the new Essence of Nature DVD from Artylicious.

Peace!

This week's Tuesday Taggers challenge is called Peace, Joy or Love...I've been playing about with our family Christmas card for this year and this is my final version.... I decided to follow the less is more approach in the end. The Bethlehem stamp was stamped in black stazon onto watercolour paper then coloured using Prussian Blue watercolour, I then used sakura clear star to colour the star.

C is for Cats!

If you read my blog yesterday you will know that I just make a load of sample cards for The Treasury, my local specialist craft store in Kidderminster. If you live anywhere nearby you should definitely drop in...Patty has the Range and Hobbycraft on the doorstep, which are fine if you want what's available everywhere else, but for the really good stuff and the unusual she is really worth the visit. I've also noticed that she is charging less than Hobbycraft for her metallic stazon!

One of the sample cards that I made for Patty features a little girl holding her cat...so it's perfect for the Alphabet Challenge this week...C is for Cats...

The stamp is from Wild Rose Studio. I've coloured it using...you guessed it, copic markers with sakura clear star to provide a tiny bit of subtle shimmer...The papers are Jinkitz...Stamp, embossing folder, papers and punches are all available from The Treasury...(01562) 510203.

Hope you are enjoying your weekend and getting lots of crafting time!
Sue
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Sporty card and NEC stash

You can tell I'm a bit behind...it's Friday a whole week after my day out to the NEC and I'm only just posting a piccy of my stash!

Well here it is finally....mainly Lavinia stamps, Paperartsy stamps and Lili of the Valley stamps. The Lavinia calendar full of inspirational pictures was free cos I spent some money there! I've been wishing and wishing that I had the Tim Holtz tattered floral dies, but unfortunately no one had any in stock...so I've put some on back order. My Wizard will not take these big dies so I just had to buy the Big Shot..not pictured....it's sitting under the hall table atm...still trying to think of somewhere to store it...you might just notice that I also got some other dies so that I can try out my big shot in the meantime...I've wanted those flourishes since they first came out! I also splashed out on a starter kit for making lampwork beads...fingers are seriously itching on this front!


Now for the Tanda Teaser...this fortnight sees a sporty theme so my card is a little guy playing football...the main image is a Lili of the Valley stamp, but the footy boots and the star player stamps are from Tanda. As usual the image was coloured using Copic markers, and distressing was done using distress inks.

So why am I so far behind? I've been doing a favour for my friend Patty who runs The Treasury in Kidderminster..she was feeling a bit low last week so I offered to make some sample cards for her...I dropped them into the shop yesterday and she put them up next to the stamps I used. The samples have gone down really well and the stamps and backing papers are selling really well....Patty was really happy today! I've got some more sample cards to make for her now! I'll post one of the sample cards here tomorrow..it fits in with the alphabet challenge which is good timing!

Catch you tomorrow!
Sue
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Quick Hi!

Sorry to say there hasn't been much blogging going on here....been away..been a bit unwell and just got a new addition to the family....well those are my excuses!

So I thought I would post a few piccys....did want to post a piccy of the stash that I got at the NEC on Friday, but seem to have saved the pic somewhere other than I should have...still looking!





In the mean time I'm posting pics of Prague...a simply beautiful city and one of the new addition to our family...a baby hamster...still no name....might just end up being called pie...short for cutipie!


will try to blog soon...promise...just been a bit manic....

Sue
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