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.

Last Rays of Sunshine

OK I know I've been a bad blogger...I have been crafting...just not managing to get it on the computer though!  The odd thing is now Em is off in Falmouth I should have a bit more time on my hands!  Having said that I am back to ferrying Sarah backwards and forwards to school, clubs etc.  Em phoned the other night and finally she has admitted that she realises how hard I do work looking after the 4 of us...she is struggling to look after just herself, she hasn't done any ironing yet, she's only got her room to keep clean and she doesn't have a large garden to tend!

Anyway I digress!  I'm here to share the card I made for my Great Aunt.  She was 100 yesterday!!  Not sure that she is totally happy about being that old, but she is incredible.  She still lives in her own home and cooks and cleans for herself.  Her major niggle is that she has lost some of her vision, from what I can make out I think that it is her central vision that is going...she says she cannot see peoples faces when she looks at them. 

With this in mind I decided to make her a very textured card so that she can feel it rather than see it.  The inspiration for my card came from memories of eating sand sandwiches on Hayling Island.  I remember when I was very small Auntie and my Grandmother used to rent a beach hut and we used to go there sometimes.  It was a lovely spot, but there was just sand everywhere....and sand gets into everything including the sandwiches!

Hence I made her card a beach scene using Crafty Individuals stamps. I stamped in Black Archival ink and then water coloured the images. The card is built up of layers.  The base is a square of watercolour paper, to which I added a wash of colbalt blue and then used tissue paper to take out some of the colour to make clouds.

The next layer was stamped with a row of beach huts (crafty individuals) and pebbles (art impressions).  the roofs of the beach huts were cut out and this layer was painted with watercolours.  I stamped the girl onto a small piece of watercolour paper, painted her and cut her out.  Having dyed a few lengths of seam binding with distress stains I stitched across the bottom of the beach to make waves positioning the girl so that she looks as though she is paddling.  To give the impression of foam on the breaking waves I ran stickles along the top edges and added silver accent beads.

The speech bubble was die cut and stamped with an art deco style Happy Birthday (Tanda Stamps) before being coated with glossy accents.  The 100 was a Tim Holtz die, again coated with glossy accents.  Not being able to get enough of glossy accents I also coated the beach huts and the girls parasol with the stuff! 

Having assembled the card I stamped the seagulls (crafty individuals) in the sky and distressed around the edges with weathered wood distress ink.

I would like to enter this into the following challenges:
"Chocolate, coffe and cards - Stitching"
"Clearly inspired - Ribbon or twine"
"Fussy and Fancy - Anything goes"
"Stampin for the weekend - anything goes"
"Delightful Challenges - Stitching"
"It's all about the vintage - make your own background"
"Paper-crafting journey - Ribbon or twine"
"Alota Rubber stamps - Birthday Celebrations"
"Crafty bloggers network - Anything goes"
"Make it Monday - Anything goes"
"Stamptacular Sunday - No Rules"
"The squirrel and the fox - must use ribbon"
"Penny's paper crafty - ribbon and or buttons"
"Whimsy Creation - Sparkly", my sparkly bit is the stickles on the waves
"Flourishes - Create a birthday card"
"Through the craft room door - Anything goes"

What to do with a dead PC

Ever wondered what to do with a dead PC to make it safe to throw away? We have had a dead PC lying around for years, not knowing how to get the hard drive out and destroy it. Well the answer is here....

My daughter's PC kind of did a wobbly when we moved it up to her room and we just couldn't seem to fix it, our neighbour's son who is studying computers couldn't pin point the problem and we didn't fancy sending it to someone we didn't know.

Then my boss gave me a name of a guy he trusts....and bingo the computer is now tickety boo and she hasn't lost any of her photos.

When I went to pick the PC up I took the old dead one with me to ask how to destroy it....Make coasters was the answer! This guy took out the hard drive disks for me and said here you go two shiny coasters.

Well I wasn't sure that they would be that secure in their shiny state..so I decided to go a bit further with the re purposing....I painted one side of the discs with ecofriendly paint, allowed it to dry. Then I applied pearl adirondack daubber, allowed it to dry. Once dry I applied alcohol inks and silver mixative, dried again then stamped Tim Holtz crackle stamp in black stayzon all over. Again I allowed it to dry before spraying with matt varnish.


Et Voila! Two coasters that look like they might be core samples drilled from Labadorite!

So there you go......that's one way of recycling your old PC....the rest of the carcase went to good use...the guy kept it to use as a test machine...apparently he regularly blows them up!

I would like to enter this into the following challenges:

"Craft Room Challenge - Alter it"
"Deep Ocean Challenge - anything goes"
"Through the Craft Room Door - Anything goes"
"Crafty Bloggers Network - Anything goes"
"Anything but a card - Shiny, sparkly, blingy"
"Challenges 4 everybody - Anything goes"
"Catch the bug - Anything goes"
"Alphabet Challenge - R is to Recycle-Re purpose"

Things Mystical

The latest Tanda Teaser has been set by Zoe who has very kindly agreed to step in and share the work as I have had rather a lot on my plate lately.

So her first Teaser is Myth and Mystery, which I believe is one of her favourite subjects.  For my entry I have decided to use gliding flakes and acetate to make a fairy. 

She was stamped (Tanda Art Nouveau Girls set 1) onto acetate using stazon, then the reverse was coated with flitterglu and coated with guilding flakes. I added some Stickels to the front for her garland. The wings were stamped (Tanda Art Nouveau Girls set 1) on vellum and coloured with clearstar sakura pen before being positioned behind my fairy. The background was stamped using Indigo Blu stamps and versafine ink. I picked out the floating dandelion seeds with clearstar for a little added sparkle.

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

" Creative craft challenges - Anything goes"
"Tanda Teaser - Myth and Mystery"
"fab n funky - Things with wings"
"Crafting for all seasons - Things with wings"
"Sarah Hurley challenges - Something magical"
"Charisma Cards - Things with wings"
"Simply Create Too - Anything goes"

"Inspire me Fridays - Anything goes"
"Delicious doodles - Use metal" my metal is represented by the gilding flakes
"Avadares - Make it sparkle"my sparkle is the glitter on the leaves in the fairy's hair and the sakura pen on the wings and dandylion seeds.

Another Gala Event Fashion Show

With any luck, well lots of luck, I am hoping that this is not my last post as a member of the Creative Expressions Design Team.  I'll just have to keep my fingers crossed!

This is my last card using the fabulous Gala Event stamp set from "Creative Expressions".

I have used one of my favourite colour combs.

The dresses were masked and stamped before being coloured with cosmic shimmer watercolour paints.

These were cut out using the grand Labels 4 dies and the edges were distressed with distress ink and stamped with the dotty stamp from Sam Poole's butterfly girl stamp set.  I stamped the front dress again and mounted it on thick double sided tape so that it really stood out.

The flowers were cut out from some scraps of wrapping paper using spellbinders dies. The large flower was spritzed with cosmic shimmer and held together with an olive crystal brad.   The leaves were cut out from olive card using the Spellbinders foliage die and distressed with distress ink. The ribbon is seam binding dyed with dusty concord distress stain.

I added some glossy accents and glitter to the dresses.

I would like to enter this into the following challenges:

"The Artistic Stamper - Splatters and speckles"
"Card and Scrap - Use a die"
"Ladybug Crafts - Anything goes"
"Recycle, repurpose, reinvent - AG" The reused part being the wrapping paper.
"Unique Crafters Challenge - Anything goes"
"Challenges for everybody - Anything goes"
"Fashionable stamping - anything floral/handmade flowers"
"Catch the Bug - Anything goes"
"ATC s and cards with attitude - anything goes"
"Inspire me Fridays - anything goes"
"QKR Stampede - Anything goes"
"Paper crafting journey - Anything goes"
"Paper Shelter Challenge - Layers on Layers"
"Penny's Paper Crafty - Sparkle and Shine"
"Simon Says Stamp - Anything goes"

You may have noticed that things have been a little quiet around here recently, well there is a very good reason for this. As you may know my eldest is off to University this month and this has meant that we have had a chance to have a really big sort out. Basically we have taken everything out of the study and redecorated it. Bought new furniture and we are now in the process of putting everything back and pruning at

the same time. I'm also half way thought making a new blind for the window. The next room to get a make over has been the kids' playroom. Sarah has a new desk in her room and so I now have two desks to work on and all my craft materials have been moved from the kitchen to the playroom which has now been christened the "Craft Hub". There is still a lot of sorting out to do in here, but things are coming on and certainly much better than trying to craft on the kitchen counter! The kitchen is now a lot tidier and we have a new TV that we can all see instead of the tiny one we had before. So this is my craft Hub!

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"

Going away pressie

Good news!!! Em sailed through her A's and has easily got her place at Falmouth University to study Graphic Design!  If only I could have my time again I would be going with her!!  So now it's a mad rush to get everything sorted for her to go away.....a couple of trips to Ikea have meant that we have most of the utensils she will need..still collecting though! 

Still trying to get the house sorted out...sewing machine went into the shop to get fixed yesterday...don't get it back for 3 weeks at the earliest and I need to get a blind made for the study before the 16th Sept....big family get together to send her off.  Also need to make the house Molly proof...another story! and just generally clear loads of rooms.

Anyway...Em's leaving..so "Mum can you make me a card for xyz...like by tomorrow?!" is going to be a bit difficult.   I thought that it might be a good idea to send her off with a few ready made cards....so this was my inspiration for a box of cards to take away.  I used the brilliant Gala Event stamps from "Creative Expressions" .  She loves them so that's good!

I decided to use up all of the scraps of dyed seam binding that were languishing in my ribbon draw...and as you might see if you have good eyesight...my sewing machine was dying!  Tension was all over the place!

Making 6 cards and a box in a short time was a prompt for following the CAS route.  Dresses are coloured using distress markers or cosmic shimmer water colours paints and then glossy accented.  I made the box to house them and used my favourite stamp from the set to decorate the box..  Having used ancient page ink to stamp the dresses, I outlined using a grey copic marker which drew some of the black ink out to give a dramatic base for the dresses and make them pop a bit more.

I would like to enter this into the following challenges:


"Top tip Tuesday - One Layer"
"Eurekastamps - Anything goes"
"Lexis creations - back to school or college" not toddler stuff but big girl stuff here!
"Make it Monday - anything goes"
"Simon says stamp and show - No rules!"
"The crazy challenge - anything goes"
"totallystampalicious - CAS"
"Craft your days away - anything goes"
"Hiding in my craft room - limited to 2 layers" kept it down to a minimum here.

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"

Keeping it Clean and Simple

Hi there, sorry I haven't been around much in the last couple of weeks....but all should become clear over the next few weeks. There's been quite a lot of upheaval in the Law household, but there is a happy ending on the horizon! Anyway I'm just grabbing a few mins before cooking dinner to share my latest card for the "Tanda Teaser"

For my card I used my faux ribbon technique and filled the bottom of my card with grass using distress inks. The football was stamped in ancient page jet black and coated with glossy accents. The ball's flight was doodled using black fine liners.

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

"Alphabet Challenge - Men only"
"CAS-ual Fridays - things you would see in the sky...hopefully footballs count!"
"Inspire me Fridays - Anything goes"
"Catch the bug - Anything goes"
"Craft your days away - Olympic Dreams"
"Creative Inspirations - Inspired by CAS"
"The Squirrel and the fox - make it sporty"
"Crazy Challenge - Black white and one other"
"MIM - anything goes"

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"