Make a Decision Ref!

This weekend saw my hubby's birthday and hence the need for another footy themed card.  It's always a challenge to design yet another manly card, but to do it using a stamp that you have used year in year out so that it is different to all the previous times is even more of a challenge.

Luckily for me though he has been promoted....we now have to watch the football league show every Saturday to see if he's on it!...but this now means that he could have to wear a black, yellow, green or red shirt depending on what the teams are wearing and this decision is made by the main referee on the day.  Now Hubby can be a little vain so the idea of one colour looking better than another gave me the starting point. 

Using the masking technique I stamped the Jolly Nation footballer stamp 4 times and coloured them with my watercolour paints.  I stamped the grass and distressed with Weathered Wood distress ink.  The speach bubbles were die cut and stamped using some tiny alphabet stamps.  The rosette was a Tim Holtz die.  The little ink blots are from a paperartzy stamp that is never off my desk!

I would like to enter this into the following challenges:

"Allsorts - Men Only"
"ATC's and Cards with attitude - Add Sentiment"
"Cardmaking Mamas - anything goes"
"Cards by Lady Ann - Must use sentiment anything goes"
"Raise the Bar - anything goes"
"The Crafty Pad - Anything goes"

"Penny Black and more - Any die will do"
"One Stitch at a time - Anything goes"
"Here come the boys - Die cuts/punches"
"Challenges 4 Everybody - Anything goes"

A Christmas Themed Tag

This month it is Zoe who has chosen the theme for the Tanda Teaser.   She decided to go with Christmas.  I should have used this as an opportunity to design the family Christmas card for this year, but I just couldn't get inspired.....I just felt like making a tag instead!

For my tag I used an off cut of mount board that the local picture framer was going to throw out!  I stamped the tag and mini tag using Tanda Christmas stamps by Sheila Oliver and used distress inks to colour the leaves and berries. For more texture I added dots of glossy accents to the berries and leaves on the tag.

To make the holly branches, leaves and berries, I used the back of a now extinct pad of paper and Tim Holtz die.  Being very absorbent card they drunk in the distress ink. I then coated them with several coats of crackle paint, which did not crackle....must have done something wrong there, but it did grab the mica flakes that I sprinkled on so not a total disaster!  When the leaves were dry I added a bit of glossy accent on top to give the impression of veins on the leaves.

I used the same distress inks to dye my seam binding to finish the tag.

I would like to enter this tag into the following challenges:

"Catch the bug - anything goes"
"Crazy 4 Challenges - Anything but a card"
"Sweet Stamp'in - All that glitters"
"Dynamic Duos - Evergreen and maroon"
"Alphabet Challenge - T is for Tags"
"Christmas stamping must be Christmas - Anything goes"
"Crafty Ann's - Christmas"
"Crafty Catz - Add Texture"
"Artistic Stamper - Anything goes",/a"
"Anything but a card - Anything goes",/a>
"Really reasonable ribbon - Winter holiday and ribbon"
"One crazy Stamper - Anything goes"

Martial Arts for Little People

Hi, I'm just using the extra hour in bed to catch up on my blog...like I said I have been crafting even if it doesn't look like it here!

So my nephew was just 7 and this is the card I made him.  Apologies for the blue tinge on the seven...the glossy accents wasn't quite dry when I took the picture.  The weather during the week has been so dull that it has been quite difficult to get photographs done and I literally had to put this in the envelope as soon as the glossy accents were dry.

The stamp is a lili of the valley stamp.  I asked them to do a little karate kid a while ago and sure enough the next release of boy stamps included this little chap.  I think that he is one of my favourite boy stamps that they do.  He was stamped in black soot distress ink and coloured with copics.  I've had the backing papers for some time now so can't remember who's they are, but I suspect they are papermania.  I distressed the edges with Pumice stone distress ink and in ink splat stamp from Paperartsy.  I find this stamp so useful that it is permanently on my desk.

To add to the oriental feel I added an Asian coin.  This is made from air dry clay.  I have a great Asian coin mold which works well with the clay or UTEE.  I like using the clay because you can paint it really well.  I painted it with black acrylic paint and then using a finger rubbed some treasure gold over the top before buffing it with a cloth.   For a little extra interest I tied a piece of paper twine around the centre of the coin before attaching it to the card.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:
"Clearly Inspired - Ribbon or twine"
"Crafty Catz - Male card with a number"
"Poodles Parlour - Anything goes"
"Addicted to Stamps - Make your Mark"
"Paper Pretties - Masculine"
"Stamp n doodle - ribbon/twine"
"Tanda Stamps - all things manly"
"Anything goes challenge - home made embellishment"
"Craft-room challenge - Oriental", I know you don't do cute Zoe, but this was the closest I was going to get to the theme this week.

Creative Expressions DT Call

So everyone should know by now that Creative Expressions are looking for DT members for 2012/2013. If you didn't, but fancy the chance to get a free set of stamps every month to play with, check it out "here". But you will have to be quick!

The brief includes making a paper project with texture so I am sharing my textured piece here.

I rolled a piece of black fimo out and stamped my seahorse into it. I did cut one out in a rectangle shape but then decided I like the more natural shape best, I thought it looked a bit like a fossil in a rock.

I dusted the fimo with cosmic shimmer mica powders in blues, greens and golds before baking it in the oven for the allotted time.

Once cool I painted the seahorse with a little black acrylic paint and then rubbed it off so as to accentuate the texture a bit more.  Then I built up my card. I used broken china distress ink and the dotty stamp from the butterfly girl stamps that we had the month before last around the edge. The tag was made from the cardboard wrapper from some books ordered from Amazon and a strip of vellum.

Once the card was assembled I added stickles, glossy accents,gold accent beads and copper curls. The copper curls are supposed to be like seaweed. This stage took two days to dry properly, but I think it was worth it.

As well as entering for the CE DT,

I would like to enter this into the following challenges:
"Crafty Creations - a summer scene", hopefully the seaside theme comes under summery things....
"Simon Says Stamp and Show - Anything goes"
"City Crafter Challenge - Bake Sale", not quite cakes but I have baked my fimo?....does this count?
"Crafty sentiments - Lets sparkle"
"Everybody art challenge - anything goes"
"Card Mania - on the beach or in the sea"
"Crafty Card makers - Oh I do like to be beside the seaside"
"Make it Monday - Anything goes"
"Paperplay time - polkadots plus a sentiment"

Gala Event

I'm back from our Olympic holiday! After two weeks away from crafting my fingers are seriously itching! So I have some catching up to do! This is my second card using the fabulous Gala Event stamps from "Creative Expressions"

I painted the background (white card) with cosmic shimmer water colour paint using a broad brush and then stamped the dress and sentiment with Ancient Page over the top of the paint.

I distressed the edges with dusty concord distress ink and stamped the dotty stamp from the butterfly girl stamp set in dusty concord around the edges.

I coated the dress in glossy accents and sprinkled fine glitter over the top to add a bit of glitz.  When this was dry I mounted the white card onto a 15 x 15 cm black card, and ran a line of faux stitching around the edge using a black fineliner.

If you fancy playing with a new set of stamps every month, Creative Expressions are looking for people to join their Design Team.  You can find details "here"

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:

"Love to Create - Sparkle"

"Make it Monday- Anything goes"

"Paper Pretties - Anything goes"

"The Crazy Challenge - Black White and one other"

"One stitch at a time - Anything goes"

"Sentimental Sundays - CAS"

"Speedy and Friends - Use some dots"

"Craft room challenge - Fashion"

A little bit vintage

This month the Creative Expressions Design team have been given the rather fabulous "Gala Event UMount Stamp Set" to play with. The other DT members have already posted their first projects using these stamps, so if you haven't already, make sure you check out their blogs! You can find all their blogs on the Creative Expressions blog "here".

We have been doing a major decorating project at home decorating the study. I had the curtain fabric and borders since we moved into the house about 12 years ago. Needless to say fashion has changed and we don't want to use the borders any more. So I thought why waste them? So this card started off from a piece of Laura Ashley border.

I stamped the main image in versafine and then coloured using distress markers and then coated the main dress with glossy accents.  This was cut out with the labels 4 Spellbinders die and the edges distressed with Victorian velvet distress ink.  I also stamped the JustRite floral flourish stamp around the edge, as this went rather well with the pattern on the dress.  This was then edged with gold EP and layered up on Coredinations distress card.

I would like to enter this into the following challenges:

"Amusing Challenges - Anything goes"

"Fashionable Stamping - Anything goes"

"ATCs and cards with attitude"

"Phindys Place - Button it"
"Stampin for the weekend - photo inspiration"
"Craft room challenge - Buttons and Bows"

"Inspire me Friday - Anything goes"

Festival Girl

For this weeks DT project using Sam Poole's butterfly girl stamp set I have used the butterfly girl, dotty stamp and retro flower stamp from the set.  I stamped the girl twice in black archival and stamped the retro flower onto the dress of one of the stamped images.  I painted the images with cosmic shimmer paints and some normal watercolour paints using a grey to make a watery background.  I used the dotty stamp with weathered wood distress ink to stamp the background layers and distress around the edges.  I cut the flowery dress out layering it up over the base image. 

I coated the girls wings and flowers on her dress with glossy accents and then sprinkled them with glitter.  Then  I coated the girl's hair and boots with glossy accents. The tag was cut from mount board. The ribbon is chalk white seam binding coloured with cosmic shimmer watercolour paint.

I would like to enter this into the following challenges:
"Lets ink it up - all girly"
"Pile it on - Tag it you're it"
"Sentimental Sundays - Things with wings"
"Allsorts - distressing"
"ATCs and cards with attitude - Anything goes"
"Aud Sentimental Challenge - Put your sentiment on a tag"
"Inspire me Fridays - Anything goes"

More Faux Ribbon and Another Thank You Card

For my next Creative Expressions DT piece I have gone along the one layer route again. I wanted a quick thank you card for a couple who are seriously minimalist in their taste. So my card had be simple. I decided to use the faux ribbon technique again and then used stamps from the "Butterfly girl stamps by Sam Poole" .  I also used Sam's bubble wrap background stamp, vintage typewriter set and the large flourish from the JustRite Greetings from Paris set .

I used weathered wood distress stain and distress ink and archival black ink for my stamping and distressing.  I coated the large flourish with glossy accents as my final finishing touch.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:
"Make it Monday - Anything goes"
"One stitch at a time - anything goes"
"That craft place - anything goes"
"the paper players - CAS with sentiment as main element"
"ATC's & Cards with attitude - anything goes"
"Inspire me Fridays - anything goes"

Pass The Pimms, Feeling Summery!

Sorry for lack of blogging....according to hubby...I've been doing far too much blogging...he obviously doesn't read my blog!!!  And things have been soooo totally hectic that I haven't had a chance to visit any blogs...so huge apologies to my design team mates!!!

Not been home much as "one" has been sampling the delights of Henley Royal Regatta.  If you read this blog you will have seen that my youngest has been getting quite good with her rowing.  So we thought it might be nice if she got to go to Henley with her rowing partner.  Seeing as it is their ambition to row at Henley...(Unfortunately there isn't an event for a ladies pair)...

Also huge decorating project going on...and suddenly 48 hours notice...got a french girl coming to stay for a week. Stuff everywhere..can't even see the bed in the spare room atm...and DH is away until Friday! DD1 is adamant she will not help....DD2 is currently hoovering, bless her!

So this is a thank you card to the friends that gave us tickets for Stewards so that the Emily and Sarah could see what the the best crews were like.  They had the huge privilege to get photographed with Sir Steve Redgrave and so this was the inspiration for the card....together with the "bubble wrap stamp by Sam Poole"....you create loads of bubbles when you row!! And if, by any chance you get to see this Sir Steven...you totally made the girls day! Thank you!

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges....

"Crafty bloggers network - Anything goes"
"Incy Wincy Designs - Summertime" what could be more summertime than Henley and Pimms?
"Make it Monday - Anything goes"
"Stamps and Fun - Summer" Pimms again!
"That Craft Place - anything goes"
"Less is more - Gold"....a bit outside the box with this one....Sir Steve Redgrave is my golden ticket having won 5 gold medals in the Olympics!

You Warm My Heart and Faux Ribbon Technique

The Design Team have just received this month's stamp set from Creative Expressions.

It's the rather wonderful "Butterfly girl set by Sam Poole" and the "Bubble Wrap background stamp also by Sam Poole".

I couldn't wait to cut them up and get stamping!
For my card I decided to follow the CAS route. And in playing about with distress stains for another project I came across a very simple technique that gives the effect of a ribbon across the card without actually using a ribbon. I'm going to call it the Faux Ribbon Technique. From a distance it certainly looks quite effective! A great way of creating a ribbon without adding another layer and hence great for one layer cards.

 So what do you do....simply drag the bottle of distress stain across the paper or card, start a little before the edge of your card and finish a little after your card otherwise you get a dot at each end.

I used the bubble wrap stamp at the bottom of my card with spun sugar distress ink and then stamped the heart balloons and hanging sign in black archival. The sentiment was from Sam Poole's art sayings that we had last month. I coloured the hearts and hanging sign using cosmic shimmer paint from the summer set. Once the paint was dry I coated the hearts, strings and sign with glossy accents.

I would like to enter this card into the following challenges:

"Love to create - anything goes"
"Make it Monday - Anything goes"
"Pile it on - Make your own embellishment", mine's faux ribbon...bit cheeky I know!
"Robyn's Fetish - No flowers anywhere"
"2 Sisters - Anything goes"
"ATCs and cards with attitude - Anything goes"
"Dilly Beans - Dots"
"CASual Fridays - Pretty in Pink" might get disqualified...wasn't sure if you weren't allowed to enter the challenge more than 4 times or enter more than 4 other challenges.

A Trip to Paris - I wish!

Hi, can you believe the weather, one minute it's winter and the next it's high summer.  The garden is really confused!  The veggies don't seem to want to grow and every time the flowers recover a bit, along comes another torrential downpour to strip them all off again! 

Just one thing to do then....stay inside and craft!

This week's make using "Sam Poole's Art Sayings stamp plate" is a tag.

The tag was cut from mount board and then painted in Eco green paints. I stamped and distressed this with distress ink and stamps from the Just Rite greetings from Paris and Bon Voyage sets.

The tickets were stamped onto die cuts using Spellbinders Small Labels. Tickets and the large tag were spritzed with gold cosmic shimmer and edged in gold.

I dyed some chalk white seam binding with tumbled glass distress ink (I didn't have a stain or reinker, so I did this directly from the ink pad). I attached this to my tag and then ripped up some cream and blue mulberry papers, these I stitched together and then added a stamped image of the Eiffel tower. I coated the Eiffel tower in glossy accents.

The flowers were made from brown parcel wrapping paper using the Spellbinders Rose Creations die.  Each layer of the flower has a hole in the centre when you punch them out, so I fix them together with a brad.  To get a more realistic flower centre I coat the brad with glossy accents and them smother it in micro beads.  The leaves were cut from coloured card using a Spellbinders foliage die. Before sticking these onto the tag I spritzed them with silver and gold cosmic shimmers.

Et Voila! a Paris themed tag.

I would like to enter this into the following challenges:

"Cup cake craft - something in the eyelet"

"Make it Monday - Anything goes"

"Simon Says Stamp and Show-Show a bit of brown"

"Gingerloft - Vintage"

"Great Impressions - Die Cuts or Punches"

"One Stitch at A Time - Stitch it"

"Quirky crafts - Hand made flowers and ribbons"

"Lets ink it up - use your fave embellishments", need you ask, hand made flowers, ribbons, tags and glossy accents!

In the Garden

Wow what a change in the weather! Just perfect for getting out in the garden! Unfortunately I've had to go to work so that hasn't really happened yet. Got lots of weeding to do this weekend me thinks, mind you I've got decorating to do too, never enough hours in the day! This week's DT project using "Sam Poole's bird stamps" is influenced by the green of the garden at the moment.

I used my distress markers to stamp the central bird, and used distress inks to stamp leaves and the small flourish all round the central circle and the background layer. I added a little black dot to the bird's eye and then coated him in glossy accents.

I found a piece of loosely woven green fabric in my stash and thought that it would add an interesting texture. I cut it roughly to size and then frayed the edges before stitching it onto my card. I also added a strand of natural raffia for even more texture.

I cut the tag from mount board and stamped the sentiment using distress ink. The leaves and flowers were all cut using Spellbinders dies, and spritzed with gold mica.

The flower centres were brads that I coated with glossy accents and then covered with gold accent beads. I selectively coated some of the leaves around the central circle and the background with glossy accents to add a bit more interest.

I would like to enter this into the following challenges:
"Craft Room Challenge - Add Fabric"
"Hooked on Craft - Flowers"
"Make it Monday - Always anything goes"
"Great Impressions - Anything goes"
"One Stitch at a Time - Anything goes"
"Opus-gluei - Sew What"
"Stamptacular Sunday - In the Garden"
"Just some Lines - Show us those birds"
"The Secret Crafter - In the garden"

Don't forget to visit the other DT members to see what they are making with these stamps!

Tweet, Tweet, Tweet!

I was going through my craft draws the other day and came across some tags in one of my draws. I thought that they presented quite a challenge as they are quite small and I generally struggle with small areas to decorate. So out came my new distress ink markers and the "Bird stamps by Sam Poole" These are the stamps that the Creative Expressions design team are working with this month and the smaller stamps in the set were just perfect for my little tag.  Technically this is supposed to be next week's project, but I have an extra shift at work tomorrow so I know I will be short of time, hence blogging today!

I used the branch small birds and the leaves to stamp the tag. I cut the wings from thick card and stamped tweet, tweet randomly over them before distressing them with distress inks and coating them with glossy accents. I also coated the stamped images on the tag with glossy accents. A distressed flower (made with brown parcel wrapping paper)  a green brad and green raffia finish the tag.

I would like to enter this into the following challenges:
"Catch the Bug - Things with wings"
"Craft your days away - All creatures great and small"
"Crafty Calendar - Things with wings"
"Drunken Stampers - It's not easy being green"
"Sugar Creek Hollow - Tags"
"Alphabet Challenge - In the Garden"
"Fairy Tale - Wings and Things"
"Glitter Geeks - Wings and Things"
"Sarah Hurley Challenges - Tags and tickets"

Just enjoying a lazy morning catching up on the Archers omnibus and various blogs.  Nice sunny morning here so I think I will be out in the garden in a bit....lots of weeding to be done...with all this rain everything is growing so fast!  Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Special Packaging

Still trying to get to grips with blogger.....can't preview now...left and right came up for the pictures..but looking at the hmlt coding..it looks like they will still be centered...so I feel like I'm flying blind here...

My next door neighbours' daughter just turned 21 and is in her final year at uni studying fashion design specialising in corstets and bridal wear....I was going to buy her a bottle of champagne but at the last min I remembered her mum telling me that she could only drink vodka because of her allergies...so I made her a pin cushion that straps onto the back of your hand. Then the question was how to package it, so I made a box decorated using the bird stamps by Sam Poole from "Creative Expressions"

I guilded the box using the bird stamps and the flourish from Sam Poole's stylish Chirstmas set. The inside of the tag was coloured and stamped with distress ink.

I would like to enter this into the following challenges: "Bunny Zoe's Crafts - ribbon or twine" "Creative Mondays - Anything goes" "Amusing challenges - Anything goes" "Come and get it challenge - Anything but a card"

"Sunday Stampers - Red" (the box is dark red...hope that counts! "Alphabet Challenge - Feathered friends" "Crafty Catz - Anything goes" "Inspire me Fridays - Anything goes"