Thursday 30 October 2014

Who Are You Kidding

Hello.  Welcome.  Ooh, look, nearly the witching hour. 



For my background I painted some masking tape with acrylic paints and stamped the sentiments from Unity Stamp Co. Be Afraid set.  I used Dreamweaver's Waves stencil and Colorbox Black Cherry Chalk.  I think this stencil will be making regular appearances.  Isn't it gorgeous!

The sentiment says Be Afraid - Very Afraid, but who is she kidding.  Isn't that the cutest voodoo doll you ever did see? 



The doll is Frazzled from Unity Stamp Co.  No, that's what the stamp is called!  Very applicable at the moment because I am also feeling a little frazzled!   I coloured her with promarkers and gave her some bats.  Those are applicable too!!!  I also added some black ink smudges.  Hey Doll, say Boo!

Joining the fun at
DREAM It UP! -  Happy Hallowthanksmas
Unity Stamp Co - Friends With Flair
Vintage Stamping Challenges #25 - Colour Challenge
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes 

Thanks for your visit.  Hugz

Wednesday 29 October 2014

Standing On The Corner, Out In The Street

Hello.  Welcome.  I've been working on an idea all afternoon but it just wouldn't become what my inner eye saw so clearly.  Do you ever get that?  So I decided I'd start something totally new and I have gone CAS

This card came complete with the deckle edge.  It was pale mauve but that didn't seem right so I saturated it with Colorbox Plumeria and Black Cherry chalk inks.  Yummy.  Then I blended some black arcival along the bottom.  I cut Poppystamps Antique Lamp Post from a silver metal sheet.  The ghost is part of Unity Stamp Co. Be Afraid set.

Joining the fun at
Poppystamps Challenge #1 - Falloween Fun
CASology Week 119 - Ghost
Stampotique Designers Challenge 170 - Ghouls and Goblins
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes
The Unity Stamp Co. Friends With Flair

Thanks for your visit.  Hugz

Tuesday 28 October 2014

Tea Anyone?

Hello.  Welcome.  Nearly the end of the month again!!  Where does the time go.  I've had my Die-Namites dies on my desk for a few days hoping for inspiration to strike so I can join in with their sketch and dare challenge.  Then Mark's Finest Papers wants a teabag holder.  Now as a dedicated tea drinker how could I resist?  Then there's the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, which wants Kraft and closes tomorrow, without me having an entry in sight!!   And they all came together like this....



I used a piece of printed kraft for my base and added some black archival around the edge, and an extra few smears.   I cut two Die-Namites Windy Wheat die from kraft card and added some chocolate ink.  The burlap is a piece Kay sent me that I have been hoarding.  Thanks Kay.  Hugz.  The little tea bag pocket was a free gift with an order from Unity Stamp Co.  I stamped the sentiment, masked it, and stamped the image from Crafty Individuals Tea Tree stamp set.  I added some strands from the burlap and a maple leaf brad to the tea pocket.  I have simplified the sketch and thought it needed a little more so I used the sentiment stamp to go around the edge of the card.



Here's a close up of the tea pocket.  I decided to keep with the colour scheme and added a chocolate tea bag to my tea pocket.  This one doesn't have a little string so I added a burlap thread loop.  

Joining the fun at
Die-Namites October Challenge - Die, Sketch and Dare
Speedy Fox and Friends Challenge 235 - Tea Bag Holder
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Use Kraft
Rubber Dance October Colour Challenge - Vintage Tones
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Treats

Thanks for your visit.  Off to make quince jelly.  Hugz

Monday 27 October 2014

Hats All Round

Hello.  Welcome.  Are you feeling the jingle yet??  I had my pumpkin party on Saturday so now my thoughts are turning to Yule.  Or Jul, as they say in Norwayland.  I was going to share one card but since I used embossing powder I decided to add a quicky using the stamp in a different way and join the fun at the Wow Challenge.  Let's do them in reverse because the second one I made uses the stamp in it's entirety, whilst the first one, which is the second one, uses just the border.  



This is the stamp I am using on both cards.  It's Crafty Individuals Winter Wonderland, stamped and embossed with white embossing powder.  Then I ripped around the embossed image.  This black card has a white core, which I have taken advantage of here.  Then I matted on a piece of red and ripped the edges of that as well.  I mounted on a black card and added a God Jul (Merry Christmas) white embossed on vellum.  This is a Panduro Design stamp.  

Joining the fun at
Papertake Weekly - Black and White plus one
STAMPlorations Sketch Challenge #22
Fashionable Stamping Challenges - Weather Forecast



I also made a shaker card using 2 pieces of corrugated card to give me the depth for my shaker.  I embossed a piece of pink card with Cuttlebug Snowflakes embossing folder and added some pink and gold ink.  I stamped the border from CI Winter Wonderland around the aperture.  The penguins are also a Crafty Individuals stamp.  I stamped them on some paper I had used to mop up some distress inks and stole some hats from some santa stickers.  Now I have two penguins with hats and two santa's without LOL.  The border is Cheery Lynn Tiny Bubbles Border cut from gold mirror card.  I tried using gold embossing powder around the edge but the die cut was too deep so I decided to add some Dreamweavers embossing paste and sprinkle the gold embossing powder onto that.  Fab.  I think the embossing paste puffed up here and there when I was heating giving even more delicious texture.  


Love the penguins.  I have a piece of white mulberry paper in the aperture as well to give a snowy fluffy effect.  The edges of the pink layer have been distressed to make them stand out.  I backed my shaker with a piece of paper from CI Christmas Background papers pad.  

Joining the fun at


So here they are together.  Two more for the Christmas card pile.  Yippeeee.  

Joining the fun at

Thanks for your visit.  Off to finish putting things away after the party.  Hugz

Sunday 26 October 2014

Brights Just Make Me Happy

Hello.  Welcome.  It's been a while since I joined in at PaperArtsy.  Even though there have been loads of post I think, ooh, that's great, must try that.  It seems the time is just slipping away.  So tonight I decided to sit down and find one I really liked and get my version out there!!  So, I found 4 post that just floated my boat, so I stopped looking, and finally decided it had to be Helen's Portfolio Experiments because she used my most favorite stamp from PaperArtsy LPC022.   Not that I have any portfolio's LOL......



I started by stamping Modern Girl from LPC022.  From the left; a bad impression with some trial colouring, two coloured differently with Galaxy Markers, a second generation stamp. 



After embossing my card with Sizzix Cracked embossing folder I coloured with Mustard Seed, Picked Raspberry and Salty Ocean distress inks.  Someone got all excited and forgot to change foam between the pink and the blue so that's why the Salty Ocean looks a bit muddy instead of bright!! 



I die cut the leaf and coloured with the blue galaxy marker.  I didn't have a flower stamp so I thought, how difficult can it be to draw a flower??  Arrrgggggg, very.....   So I sketched a few more lines in and miraculously it looked better!!  Galaxy marker colouring and some black line details to finish.



Joining the fun at
PaperArtsy

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Anything Goes

Thanks for dropping by.  Hope you have had a wonderful weekend.  Hugz

Friday 24 October 2014

Cracked, But Not Broken

Hello.  Welcome.  Doesn't it always all come at once!  Sometimes good, sometimes not, but it seems it has to all come at the same time.  Hugz to everyone who has a challenge to overcome.  Hugz to everyone who has a chance to take a breath and relax.  I hope there are more of you in the latter category than the first one.

I saw a post on the Die-Versions blog reminding us that October is Breast Cancer Awareness month.  They are having a think pink hop and you can link in your projects that relate to Breast Cancer Awareness.  I know this is a cause that is close to the heart over at the Unity Stamp Co. as well.  I don't know if that was the thinking behind this stamp set, but I thought the sentiment was perfect to remind you to stay strong in your soul.  

 
I inked my card with VersaMagic Pink Petunia.  I embossed with Sizzix Cracked embossing folder.  I thought that was a good representation of how devastating it must be to hear that you or a loved one has this illness.  I inked over the embossed areas with the same ink to add a subtle highlight.  Then I stamped both the image and the sentiment from Unity Stamp Co. Precious Things set and Worn Lipstick distress ink.  I must thank Marie over at Mixed Media Mojo because this beautiful stamp was part of the prize I won in their WCMD challenge.  I am blessed.  Hugz.  I was going to leave it at that but decided to add a ribbon and a rhinestone.  I think it fits.  

Joining the fun at
Die-Versions- Think Pink Blog Hop
The Unity Stamp Co. - Friends with Flair
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Anything Goes

Thanks for your visit.  Off to decorate the place with pumpkins for my Thanksgiving/Harvest party tomorrow night.  Hugz

Wednesday 22 October 2014

Way Down Deep In The Middle Of The Jungle

Hello.  Welcome.  It's cold, grey and wet and I'm sorry, but my witty repertoire, if I ever have any, is also feeling a little grey.  So I made a card in bright colours to hopefully inspire energy and happy thoughts.  


This is DRS's Jimbo and the Gang simply stamped onto white paper with Dried Marigold distress ink.  I was going to add some extra colour but I actually liked the clean look.  I ripped the edges and added some more Dried Marigold.  Then I layered it on some more ripped edge layers.  A few brads and a piece of knotted stamped ribbon and its a happy everything card.

Joining the fun at
DRS Designs Challenge 144 - Inspired By Color
Speedy Fox and Friends Challenge 234 - Layer Torn Paper
Papertake Weekly - Black and White and....
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Anything Goes

Thanks for your visit.  Hope you are enjoying sunshine and mojo.  Hugz

Sunday 19 October 2014

All At Sea

Hello.  Welcome.  I'm going to say it in pictures cos I falling asleep at the keyboard.  What do they say?  Don't drive while tired.  Ah well.   I've been working on my APC for Claudine's challenge.  This is week 7.  See Claudines cards HERE.  

Card 11  I applied various blue distress inks to my card base, dripped some water and dried.  I embossed a piece of old packaging with Sizzix Cirque ef.  





I decided to stamp my sentiment on the background.  And messed it up.  Then I decided it need something else and hi-jacked the turtle that I had stamped for another project.  The stamps here are all Crafty Individuals.  The gold edge was created using my Pilot gold marker.  The seahorse and leaves are Sizzix dies.


The seahorse was cut from gold corrugated plastic from an old chocolate box.  I coated it with crackle paint, which crackled and started to fall off!!  So I added some copper acrylic and then covered the whole lot with glossy accents.  Hopefully everything will stay put now!!

Card 12  I used VersaMagic chalks for this card.  Blues for the background and brick red for the stamping on the background.  The stamps are all Crfty Individuals, except the lady with the ship on her head.  That's a PaperArtsy stamp.  I used some paper tape to mask the center of the card before applying the inks, so I'm sorry, but I will be taking the love away.  Hugz





There she is, lady with a ship on her head.  The compass is a CI stamp covered in glossy accents, and a finger print!!!! LOL  Impatient crafter at work again.  The metal do dads are from Korthobby and maybe CI as well.  I did a knot with some twine and the CI seagull was stamped on vellum and fussy cut.  


My seaside duo.  And that's me up to date, at least for a few hours......

Joining the fun at

Thanks for dropping by.  Big hugz and crafty wishes.

Saturday 18 October 2014

2.4 Kids

Hello.  Welcome.  It's that time when my entry for The Craft Barn's Q&L challenge is due and I have to admit this was a tricky one.  The words were destiny and gift and after checking over at brainyquote I remained uninspired.  So I thought about it a bit and decided to find out what people thought was the greatest gift.  So I put that into the search engine and wow, that's interesting.  It seems the greatest gift vary widely, from the mundane to the ridiculous and serious places in between.  Luckily I decided that I liked the American author Dennis Waitley's definition.  He says


"The greatest gifts you can give your children are the roots
of responsibility and the wings of independence"

Sounds good to me


I decided I was going to use Stampotique's Birdy Up stamp so I popped over to see what their challenge is this week and it's pink, purple and black.  Ooh, delicious.  So that's where the colour scheme came from.  I found a large pink card and stamped PaperArtsy feather in various shades of purple.  I stamped each colour and then clear embossed it , which allowed me to wipe off any ink and gave me a masking effect without the masks.  Then I stamped a Crafty Individuals script stamp all over and wiped any excess ink off the embossed areas. 



I cut three trees using Sizzix Tree, Green die out of some paper I brayered with black and purple.  I stamped Birdie Up on a piece of Crafty Individuals background paper and cut them out.  I liked the flowers so I left them attatched to the birdy on the left and added a couple more on the right.  The birds above the trees are a Crafty Individuals stamp and the pink flowers were cut using Cheery Lynn BAF#3 embellishment die.  I added a purple rhinestone to each



Getting the quote on gave me some challenges.  I didn't want to print it out on paper and obscure the background and the pens I had didn't want to write on my background.  I tried acetate, but that was only a semi-success.  Then I struck on the idea of writing on white tissue paper and gluing that on.  Perfect.  The background still shows through and my quote is legible.  

Joining the fun at

Friday 17 October 2014

Just A Walking The Dog

Hello.  Welcome.  Just a quick post cos I been playing with Flonzcraft's Girl with Dog stamp again and wanted to share.  Love this stamp.  I based my design on the current STAMPlorations sketch.  


I stamped Girl with Dog in black archival on a piece of Crate Paper patterned paper from the Lemon Grass Collection.  Then I cut out a tag shape using Taylored Expressions Tag Stacklets 1, the largest size.  Then I cut the bottom of the tag up, inked all the edges and stuck it all back down on the same patterned paper.  Then I tried some fancy cutting with the die, but I had already cut the top off the second layer so I ended up cutting straight across the top, which put it below the tag curve, but I figured that was OK.  Then I put the whole thing on an orange base card that I had added some chocolate ink to and had another go at fancy die cutting.  The sentiment ' Friends are Always in Fashion' is a stamp from The Greeting Farm.

Joining the fun at
STAMPlorations Sketch Challenge 21
Simon Says Stamp Work it Wednesday Challenge
Flonzcraft Challenge #25 - Colour Challenge
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Color Coordinates

Thanks for your visit.  Hugz

Snow Angels

Hello.  Welcome.  I haven't been doing too well with the Christmas cards this year.  How about you?  Last year, despite not usually thinking about Christmas til November, I joined in some challenges and made a few a month.  This year I haven't made many at all.  So I decided to sit down this afternoon and see what I could come up with.  Inspired by Wow Embossing Powders challenge, same stamp, different ways I have ended up with two xmas cards!!  Score!  


I started by stamping Unity Stamp Co. Snowpeep Gabe onto white card using VesaMark ink.  I embossed one image with white powder and the other with black.  Then I used my Sizzix circle dies to cut them both out.  



The black embossed image I coloured with markers, edged the circle with blue ink and then mounted on two patterned papers from the stash.  I'm not going to admit how long it took me to find two papers that I thought worked together and with my snowpeep topper as well.  Do you ever have that problem?  Or are you someone who just picks up a few sheets and they match perfectly?  So that's card one.  



 I used the white embossed image as a resist.  I coloured the circle with various blue Distress Inks, light in the middle, darker to the outside.  I edged the circle with VersaMagic Night Sky and went crazy with the Wink of Stella clear on the background areas.  Then I cut a little foot from wood patterned paper to make it a snow globe.  The background is a piece of patterned paper.  It came with a snowy slope, a tree and some snowflakes.  Perfect.  I ripped the edges, inked them and mounted on a DCWV embossed white card.  


Yeah, 2 down, loads to go LOL

Joining the fun at
WOW Embossing Powder October 2014 Challenge - Same Stamp, Different Ways
Unity Stamp Co. Friends With Flair
CHNC Challenge 198 - Something Round
Penny Black and More October Challenge - Get Ahead For Christmas

Thanks for your visit.  This is a Friends With Flair post so be sure to leave some love.  It might turn out to be a lucky comment.  Hugz

Wednesday 15 October 2014

What's Your Style?

Hello.  Welcome.  It was a gorgeous day today.  Only 2°C when I got up but blue skies and sunshine, when it cleared the mountains LOL.  So glad I picked the pumpkins and tomatoes the other day, although there are still a few tomatoes hanging in the greenhouse.  Hopefully they are still usable.  

As this card came together it made me reflect on styles.  I say my style is simple and rarely clean.  I have problems with Steampunk, am not sure I know Grunge if you wave it at me and tremble to my toes at the mention of Art Nouveau.  But with the help of a gorgeous stamp from Flonzcraft I think I may have cracked it.  I loved the elegance of this silhouette and might have finally managed an Art Nouveau style card to be proud of.  Well, I like it.  All comments gratefully received.   



I started by stamping Flonzcraft's Girl With Dog onto orange card.  Using a piece of black card I cut the aperture using Cheery Lynn Spring Flower Burst Doily Angel Wing.  Then I cut two Cheery Lynn Southern Charm Valance's.  I backed the cuts with some ribbon and put them back in the negative spaces.  The Spring Flower Burst doily was cut up and placed behind the aperture.  I mounted the panel on a black base card.  


I think it maybe needs a bit of orange something as a frame around the aperture but I am a bit wary of screwing it up since I am pretty happy with this look.  I was thinking glitter, which is always a bit of a one shot option.  Maybe I will see if I can get some orange rhinestones.  What do you think??

My black and orange beauty is joining the fun at

Thanks for dropping by.  Off to get me a hot chocolate.  Hugz

Sunday 12 October 2014

Danse Macabre

Hello.  Welcome.  Here's my post for this weeks altered playing cards.  Hurrah, up to date.  It's week 6 already and I am so pleased I have caught up.  This is such a fun challenge and I am trying to copy Claudine's where I can with my existing stash.  So here we go......

Claudine's Week 6 cards can be found HERE

Card 9 I painted my card with primary magenta acrylic.  I did take a picture but it was boring so I'm not showing it to you.  So there!!  Claudine used Tim Holtz stamps for both her cards but I don't have those but I do have a Sizzix embossing folder (don't know the name) so I inked it up with Colorbox Plumeria chalk, put in a piece of white tissue and ran it through the bigshot.  Then I glued it down and while it was still wet I rubbed areas away to expose the background.  OK, you can see a picture of that



As I've said I don't have the stamps Claudine used but I do have the Halloween Shadows die so I was going to use the line of people along the bottom but.....  Well, I'm working on these giant cards, 9x14cm LOL, and I tend to orientate them upright so the people were just too small.  After some brain crunching I decided to scribble around the edge with an embossing pen and add black embossing powder.  Then I die cut Sizzix raven and cat movers and shapers dies and also embossed them with black.  These dies are a little bigger than the images on the embossing folder but close enough for us chickens.  

Card 10  This was a non-starter cos I had nothing Claudine used and no ideas.  So i decided to splat some frayed burlap and fired brick distress stain on my card.  I liked that and decided to fill the gaps with copper acrylic paint.  I didn't like that but when I tried to wipe it off it went all like this, which I did like.  Don't you love a happy accident.  (This photo is a little bit red.  I think I caught the metallic gloss so actually the finished card photo is more like the real colour.  Say la doo dah)




Honestly, I don't know what happened!!  I found these Retro Halloween stamps and decided to use the witch's head, but she needed a body, so I used the skeleton stamp.  Then it looked like the diet had gone a bit wrong so I added the bubble alphabet stickers and DRS spooky eyes to break up the background.  The bat looked suitably surprized so I stuck him on as well.  


What a pair!!  I am loving this challenge and all Claudine's fab inspiration.  I am loving my altered deck.  I am trying to think up a way to display them.  They are too cool.  Am I allowed to say that about my own art??  Yeah, why not.  

These beauties also joining the fun at

 Thanks for your visit.  Hugz

Saturday 11 October 2014

Watch Out For Trees

Hello.  Welcome.  How nice not to have to think so much about it.  Another card I am CASEing over at Pinkfresh Studios.  I loved Jennifer's card with the bicycle.  So I had a look around and discovered bicycle stamps don't seem to feature too heavily in my stash.  Then I remembered that LOTV do one of my favourite and luckily I have the Here Comes Annabel art pad.  So here's Annabel......


I did a bit of fancy cutting to get her head and pigtails outside the slide frame.  I cut the slide frame by hand out of card I coloured with Distress Inks.  Dotty paper from an unknown source.  The metal cycles are from Korthobby and I added some of the Storyteller pearls at the bottom of the frame.  Love that little doggy in the basket.  The sentiment means Good Luck in Norwegian and is a Kort og Godt stamp. 

Joining the fun at
Pinkfresh Studio WCMD Challenge
Korthobby Utfordring Oktober - Alt Er Lov
LOTV Challenge - Anything Goes
Storyteller Norge Utfordring 24 - Alt Er Tillatt

Thanks for dropping by.  I appreciate the time you take to visit and comment.  Hugz

Patchwork Wood

Hello.  Welcome.  Another grey rainy day.   I quite like Autumn but prefer my leaves crisp instead of soggy, and my skies blue instead of grey.  They have promised us a little sun tomorrow so here's hoping.......  Over at Pinkfresh Studio Jennifer shared some lovely cards for WCMD last week and asked us to join the fun and CASE one of them.  I loved her wood triangles card so here's my take


I've had some sheets of wood effect paper for ever so I cut them into strips and stuck them on a sheet of paper.  Then I cut that into strips and stuck them on another sheet of paper.  Then I cut out my panel, layered it on some bronze paper and then stuck it to a brown card base.  The sentiment is from Prima Sunshine set stamped on kraft and I added some holographic stars, cos I am right out of sequins LOL

Joining the fun at
Pinkfresh Studio WCMD Challenge
Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes 
Loves Rubberstamps Challenge 121 - Anything Goes 

Thanks for your visit.  Off to make something else with faux wood.  Hugz

Friday 10 October 2014

It's a Selfie

Hello.  Welcome.  Gosh Friday again!  Where does the time go?  Another wet grey day so taking the chance to do a little crafting in between the showers.  Since it's Friday it's Friends With Flair over at Unity Stamps.  Link up a project for a chance to win.  If you don't have any Unity Stamps then leave a comment and you still might get lucky.  



I inked up Unity Stamps Vicky, Catherine and Leica Girls and stamped onto MME 29th Street Cotton Candy paper.  I coloured the image with Memory Markers.  OK, I admit not a brilliant colouring job.  It looks a bit like they are in their PJ's.  Maybe it's a sleep over they wanted to immortalise with a picture.  I embossed the frame with Enchanted Gold embossing powder.  I wanted to add some more colour to the background so I took a tip from Beejay and covered the whole frame area with clear embossing powder.  This allowed me to add various pink shades of Distress Ink and spritz with water without affecting the colours.  It also gave a really cool glossy effect.  The two sentiments are both from Unity Stamp September 2012 SMAK kit.  It looked a bit bare so I added some pearls from Storyteller. 

Joining the fun at
Unity Stamp Co. Friends With Flair
Winnie & Walter WCMD 2014 - On Trend
Storyteller Norge Utfordring 24 - Alt Er Tillatt 
Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes  
Unity Stamp Co. Challenge 21 - Colour Inspiration

Thanks for your visit.  Don't forget to leave a comment.  Hugz

Thursday 9 October 2014

Clip Art

Hello.  Welcome.  In case you missed it, where have you been??, I am playing along with Claudine's Altered Playing Card Challenge.  This is my week 5 post.  For Claudine's version of these cards go HERE.  I am still a week behind but paddling fast.  Let's start off with a view of my crafty space where all my mojo gets turned into art.......



OK, I admit I tidied up cos I knew you were coming.  Not only for your sake but also for mine.  It was getting where I put something down and it magically vanished into the background and I spent 5 minutes hunting for it only to see it laughing at me from behind the toothpicks.  I also set out some of the items I intend to use for my next two APC's, which include 2 pre-gesso'd cards and a book of vintage photos.  This is one called 1900's Getty Images and I picked it up real cheap just so I could rip it up, which goes against all deeply held principles.  Today I ripped with abandon.   Also some paints, inks, scrap papers, stamps, for use of and also a few that have been used on recent card projects,  and a lot of other 'schtuff'.  I'm going to share this photo over at Winnie & Walter WCMD 2014 Craftie

Card 7  I started by painting my bg with Fresco Finish Rose.  Claudine used a stencil which I didn't have so I made my own using a piece of card and circle dies.  Then I added Fresco Finish Limelight and dark green acrylic.  I loved this.  But Claudine went further so I added black acrylic and some black and white doodles.  I loved this.   But art demands we continue on.  





I fussy cut the lady from the book, added a tint of VersaMagic Tea Leaves chalk ink and a stamped sentiment using a PaperArtsy stamp.  Guess what?  I love this LOL

Card 8 I made my background using patterned and plain papers, some book paper and some thin corrugated card which already had some white paint on it.  I went over everything with VersaMagic Gingerbread and Jumbo Java and then round the edges with Walnut Stain.  I stamped some numbers and some text, cos Claudine did.  Big apologies, I got carried away with the construction and didn't take a photo of the background.  A bit sad cos I was quite pleased with it.  So here's the finished card



Are you laughing yet??  I cut the boy from the book.  Claudine used a stamp for one of her cards but I couldn't find one I liked and both these images were fun.  The raven is a sizzix die and I also stamped some text on it.  The 'laugh' is from Unity Stamps Time to Laugh Flower set.  I'm linking this card up with the Stampotique Designers Challenge 168 where the theme is book text



Here's the pair.  I am liking these a lot.  If you remember I am working on giant cards, 9x14cm, which give me plenty art room.  Having a blast.  Cheers Claudine.  

Thanks for your visit.  Off to feed the hungry bunnies and smoke bomb the chicken LOL.  But really, I am going to smoke the birds.  It's therapeutic.  Herbal smoke to get rid of bugs and help clear the bronchials.  If you are a bird that is.   Take care.  Hugz

Just found out Kay is giving away a Stampotique stamp.  Yeah Kay.  Check it out HERE 

Wednesday 8 October 2014

Bats, Pumpkins and All That Jazz

Hello.  Welcome.  The leaves are falling.  After yesterday's wind, which was measured at near hurricane speed in the fjord, some are coming down still attached to the tree!!  Our friend sent us pictures of a huge tree which came down in his garden, demolishing two hen enclosures.  Luckily the hens escaped without physical injury, although he says they probably were scared out of their feathers.  I am glad it was only a few small branches here and a lot of leaves.



I have had this lovely young witch hanging around on my desk for a week of so.  This is Unity Stamp Co. Tabitha whom I have variously paper pieced and coloured.  Her boots are Wink of Stella Violet, but that doesn't show in the photo.


I based my card on the YNS sketch and the pumpkin also fits in with the photo inspiration.  My backing paper is Making Memories Spook Alley with Cheery Lynn Spider Web Mesh Border cut from black paper.  I also cut some small flowers from Cheery Lynn BAF #3 from Add a Little Dazzle Orange sheet metal and added purple rhinestones.  The sentiment is part of the stamp from Unity Stamp Best Witches set.  The bats are a sizzix die cut.

Joining the fun at
Unity Stamp Co. Challenge 20 - Colour
Cheery Lynn Designs Challenge 153 - Halloween
YNS Challenge 17 - Sketch
DREAM it UP - Happy Hallowthanksmas
Dazzling Diva Challenge 46
Unity Stam,p Co. Friends With Flair

Thanks for dropping by. Hugz.

Wierd Fish

Hello.  Welcome.  I have been playing with my stamps.  A couple of places are asking that we use our stamps in a way other than originally intended.  Since one of these places is A Blog Named Hero I rummaged through my Hero Arts stamps an came up with this.  



For my background I covered my card with 4 shades of blue Distress Inks then stamped Hero Arts Word Pops in Pine Needle DI.  Then I spritzed like a crafter possesed.  I wanted it blotchy and blurred.  Once it had dried I stamped the flower cluster from Hero Arts Asian Elements, also in Pine Needle DI.  Then, because I wasn't sure I had stretched it enough I took the Chinese Lantern from the Asian Elements set and made........



WIERD FISH!!  I'm sure they aren't the cutest, and there is a good chance no-one will ever again feel the need to make Chinese Lantern Fish, but I am 100% sure it isn't what the designer intended, so I am on spot for the challenge!!  This is quite a solid stamp so I used VersaMark and clear embossing powder.  I made the blue fish first but thought he was a bit dark, so I made the green ones.  I have smeared a bit of black ink over the embossed areas to bring out the details and added a wobbly eye for cuteness.   The letters were cut using Sizzix Chocolatey Goodness dies. 

My wierd fish are joining the fun at
A Blog Named Hero Challenge 53 - Stretch Your Stamps
Winnie & Walter WCMD 2014 - Unexpected Stamping
STAMPlorations October Challenge - Stamps and Embossing
Fashionable Stamping Challenge 83 - Anything Goes 

Thanks for dropping by and all your lovely comments.  Hugz