Winner of the August giveaway is...........

Agnes the Red!!

Congratulations Ange, I will pop the little coaster book with the ATCs of your choice in the post this week.



Just out of interest (and because I don't have any other pictures to post!) I counted up the votes from those of you that made a choice and this gothic arch atc was the most popular, although not one of Ange's choices which were 166, 163, 162 and 160.

Thanks to everyone who took part, I have tried to get round all your blogs but haven't got all the way down the list yet, it has been a very busy couple of weeks!! Hope you will join in again next month, the giveaway upload will be around the 10th September.

A busy weekend.........

It was my daughter's 18th birthday this weekend so very busy (also a little traumatic but the less said about that the better. Where do the years go?

Here is the card I made for her - well, I didn't think she'd want vintage so had to go cutish....



She also had beautiful hand made cards from her nan, aunt and even two cousins - both boys lol!! We've been having a fun week and went to get our hair cut - she had a trim and I asked for mine to be re-styled like hers - here's a picture of her and one of my new look. If you are easily traumatised better look away now.





Despite the nice day just had to do some sticking together today - so here is a ten minute make for Tuesday Taggers - the theme is Retro, and just had to do one with this stamp. Which is an old one for those keeping count.



JUST A QUICK REMINDER.............the August giveaway will be drawn on Wednesday, see side bar for details.

Oh those stamps just keep on coming.......

but apparently there is hope for those of us who just can't say 'NO' to stamps. Apparently we cannot help it, if you want to know why, pop over to this FLICKR thread to see. Oh dear, it really is a very sorry state of affairs when grown women admit they prefer to spend their money on stamps and inks than shoes and handbags!!

In my bargain bundle of stamps I had several of the 'photo' type. I don't always have the greatest success with these, but was advised that you need a good ink (I used a new stazon pad) and gloss card or paper to get the best results. I am not sure how well some of these photos have reproduced - I think its a bit like photographing the telly - it gets very pixellated!! Photo stamps also often seem a bit better when viewed from further away - I can't really explain it but it's true!!



Anyhow, thought I would try a couple out, this first one is a very hard one to use - it is a photo of a statue of some kind and it's really easy to lose the detail. I tried to bring it out by just lightly inking part of the image. It's difficult to see how I would use this stamp very often - but maybe it would work in a collage.



As you can see, the second one I tried out was basically a little 'photo' of a vintage lady reading on her sofa. Again, in some ways quite a limited stamp but I have managed to make three ATCs with this one. Here are the other two:





The third photo stamp I tried out was a very pretty vintage girl with quite nice detail, and a bit easier to use than the previous two I think. I wanted to use two backgrounds that I had made earlier but as they were a bit bumpy here and there was reluctant to try and stamp straight on to them - so for these two I stamped onto plain white tissue paper, coloured it lightly with ink and then glued it (you could also use gel medium) on to the ATC. For try outs I think they worked pretty well, and even if I don't use these stamps again for a while at least I know what they can do now.





and that's what you call rationalising lol.

One Stamp, 10 ATCS......

Well here it is at last. This is my AUGUST GIVEAWAY, but this month there's a little a twist and you have some work to do to enter ......



First, let me explain how this came about. As you may have seen, I made my first coaster book last week, and it got me thinking that it would be a nice way to present some ATCs - I don't know about you, but I hate that they end up in albums hidden away and am always trying to find ways to get them out in view without them ending up just looking, well, like a load of ATCs stuck on a shelf. Next thing, I bought a ridiculous amount of stamps, for a ridiculously small amount of money (so small I went back for more but haven't got those yet). This is a serious addiction now, having almost got over the paper fetish (yes I am one of those people who just likes looking at it, hates to cut it) I am now obsessed with stamps. Anyhow, really liked the stamp used on the front of this book but it's a kind of over and done with stamp - it's not really suitable for piecing, once you've stamped it that's it - or is it? So here was the challenge, to make a set of ATCs, using that stamp as the focal point for each one. Well in all I made 10, and the book only holds 5, 4 if you don't count the one that is stuck on the front. Here's another one.



So here's the thing, if you would like to win this little presentation book you need to hop over to my FLICKR gallery and tell me by leaving a comment on this post which 4 you would like to have included in the book if you are the (lucky) winner. The others I will probably keep for a meet I'm going to in October. I might even make another book lol. Be interesting to see which one comes out top.



Post your comments before 8.00 pm on Wednesday 26th August to take part. Winner will be announced that evening. Oh, and if you are going to be away or anything please let me know, kinda takes the wind out of my sails when I can't get hold of you to let you know you've won!! Don't let that stop you entering, it's just good to know and I'll try and pop over and leave a comment for anyone who enters as well, sorry have been very remiss at doing that but the time just gets away from me.

Coaster Book for GAS MAMMA

Oh dear, just can't seem to get it together with my crafting just lately. There seem to be so many other distractions at the moment.



However, I have managed to make this little altered coaster book (beer mats actually) for the GAS challenge at MAMMA this month. Really couldn't seem to settle on a theme so isn't really any particular style or subject - I ended up just playing with stamps, image transfers and collage. Unfortuately I mis read the instructions which said it had to include some texture so the front got a little re-worked to incorporate that but the rest of it I am afraid is flat. .



They are a nice size to work at though and I have almost finished another project using coasters which is going to be this month's giveaway - so watch this space!

Happy Birthday Renee.....

well for a few days ago anyway. This card and little piece of artwork were made for a dear friend from across the pond who celebrated one of those 'special' birthdays this week. The card with detachable CD badge is unashamedly inspired by a CD hanging sent to me recently by Trish (thanks!!). The stamp is about as cute as I get, and is a design called 'Wish' by Leanne Ellis. (I've also just realised that the beautiful canvas Renee painted me for my birthday last year is called 'wish'!! We're obviously both hoping for something...) The artwork is just a small mixed media piece on card using old text papers with stamping and collage and finally attached to its own display easel. I quite like these little easels and I've got a few more of them in my stash.... think they'd be quite nice to give as cards in their own right.

mmmm that gives me another idea...lots of birthdays coming up still..

BACK FROM BUDAPEST... and the July giveaway winner is...

'Drifting through life'. I will need your addy hunny so that I can post this off, I have left a message on your website.

Had a great time in Budapest, doing nothing very much, in fact just about the same amount as the two boys have done (OH and son) while I have been away. Can't believe even a piece of rubbish I left on the side is still in exactly the same place lol. Anyhow, will probably post something a little more interesting later - oh and my follower list is back this morning (wasn't there last night) so that's another mystery resolved.