Card Catch Up...

well I have been very remiss at blogging - been very busy, though I am not quite sure doing what!!



The little free time I have had I have been mainly making cards as I had some requests for thank you cards, new home cards and also Flower Fairies - I always end up back at card making, which was how I got in to paper crafts, as I find it very relaxing and once I'm in the groove I find it hard to stop. Still never seem to have just the right card to send someone though!! These are just a few of my favourites from this batch.



Do seem to have spent a lot of time cajoling youngest (without much success it has to be admitted) to do some revision and making sure he gets up, eats, and gets to his exams. Still half term this week so he doesn't have to be anywhere.



Oh and I did go and see the gorgeous David Essex in his latest show 'All the fun of the fair' it was really good. Can you believe our ticket deal (with SAGA lol) gave us the chance to stay behind and meet him and we forgot?(Too fixated on getting to the loo as usual) doh.

Anyhow hope you all have a great Bank Holdiay whatever you are doing. We're hoping for a dry day and a BBQ as all the family are coming over. If it's wet it'll be spag bol all round!! See you tomorrow for the draw.

My oh My, the May giveaway is HERE!!

Well another week that just flew by - and it really has been a week since I have been in this craft room!! So much so, I nearly couldn't remember where I'd put the giveaway for this month which I finished before going away for a few days. (Although regular readers will know I misplace quite a LOT of things.... and I'm such a tidy crafter....)



As some of you know, I have a slight stamp addiction (!) and I have quite a few stamps I've bought that have never seen ink, never mind daylight. At one point last year every other challenge seemed to have something to do with 'time' and I really struggled because I didn't have the right stamps (I sense a bit of rationalisation coming on). Then came the shopping trip to AP last September and I returned home with nothing BUT time stamps!! So, I thought it was about time (lol) I actually used some of them on a project and decided to do an altered board book. The main stamps I used are from a Paper Artsy plate.



I took some inspiration from two projects I had seen in Craft stamper but then kind of wandered off down my own tortuous route using book text, acrylics, inks, masks, pencils and of course stamps to create the finished project. The little panels on the back were made from pieces of fused angelina fibre and film left over from another project. I ironed them (again) over an inked stamp to get the clock impressions.



I have done another similar project in tandem to keep for myself but it is nowhere near finished yet so that will have to be the subject of another post. Meanwhile, if you would like to be included in the draw to win this little altered 'book' please leave a comment on this post to that effect. I really really really will try and come and look at your blogs this month - I apologise for being very bad lately, it is just a question of time. Closing date will be Monday 31st at 8.00 pm.

Just a bit of this n that......

Not got much done this week, just a couple of ATCs for a swap. Still doing the whole bleach technique thing - after using it on white card that I had coloured myself with inks, re-read the instructions and realised I was supposed to use the bleach to take the colour out of dark card - doh. So did a couple like that as well but I think I prefer the other way, you can get more variety in the shading.




I also FINALLY got it together to finish my next page in the alphabet journal - unfortunately Z doesn't mean it's finished as the pages are in a random order. I really don't know why I got so stuck on this one but at least it's done. Can you tell I'm not that happy with it?? lol. Must go and work through those Teesha Moore tutorials I think...



May giveaway will be uploaded next week as I'm off for a girly weekend with a friend of mine from school - we've known each other a LONG time!!

And the winner for April is.........

Laura.... so glad I haven't been to the PO with that ATC I owe you yet, now I can send both things at once!!
Oh, gotta have a photie, so here is a card I made for a little girl who's very poorly but been very brave. See, I can so do cute!!



The next giveaway will be ready to upload around the 7th/8th May so don't forget to pop back. Happy Bank Holiday everyone and if the sun doesn't shine - CRAFT!!!

Beginner's Luck??

I posted the other day about a new acrylic paint technique and managed to make some nice ATCs using it. This was the last background I made in that batch which I finished off with some stamping.

Not bad I thought, like these, let's have some more. Well I have been doing this all day (well for about an hour) and not one decent crack between the lot of them. Am racking my brains now to think if I've left out a crucial step but can't for the life of me think what it could have been. Still, was good while it lasted!!



In the same vein I re-visited the bleach technique I tried out a couple of weeks ago with a modicum more success. This time I used water colour paper with Whisper inks and also distress inks (although they might just work with water never mind bleach). Not quite the same feel as the last ones but quite attractive never the less - personally I think they are a bit nicer in real life than the photos.



There are a few of these for trade, so do pop over to my FLICKR gallery if you are interested. Oh, and a quick reminder, you have one more day to join in with the April giveaway (see sidebar), draw takes place at 8.00 pm Friday.

Just a quickie.....

Well, where did all those blue skies go? Oh right, yes it's my day off and we plan to pop off to the local wood today to see all the bluebells in flower so OF COURSE it has to be all wet and grey .... still, at least it's not too cold.

Have been doing odds and ends this week and have several WIP on the go. I made a decision the other week that I needed to not just make 1 of each thing I try so that I could keep one thing as a reference. So here are three ATCs I made in a similar vein. Two are available for trade.



The background technique I used was demo'd by Sheena Douglas at AP. She used dark card and covered it with a layer of dilute PVA. She then painted on a single layer of acrylic paint in a lighter colour and heated with a heat gun and all these wonderful cracks appeared. Polished up quickly with a cloth it leaves a great surface for stamping on to. Now Sheena was using a specific brand - escapes me which one it was - so it may have a special composition, but I have tried just with the odds and ends of acrylics I have in my box. Not all of them have worked brilliantly, I do think you have to experiment with the thickness etc as well. This one worked very well:-



I also used one of my experimental pieces for the roof and door etc on this card. I was really pleased with this 'shabby' effect.



Hope to be back soon with more but am a bit like a butterfly this week, flitting from project to project and trying to catch up with some old stuff that I haven't finished yet. I also got my first of nesties so have been playing with my cuttlebug and making cards - piccies soon.

April giveaway now here......

I have been rather technologically challenged this week due to hardware problems so am very late posting this month's giveaway. Oh I know, excuses, excuses....



This month's giveaway is one of these little butterfly brooches. Fans of Clarity stamps will know that this is one of their signature projects regularly demo'd by the team at craft shows and on TV so I take no credit for this idea. They are often to be seen sporting their brooches on the stands and this was the case when I went to Ally Pally the weekend before last (that long ago already??). I have had the stuff - fusible film and angelina fibres - to make these for ages and after seeing it demo'd again thought I really must have a go. They are really pretty, the colour effects are fascinating and they do seem fairly sturdy, (the only bit I'm worried about is the actual brooch attachment but so far they seem OK). So this month we are being a bit more girly than arty!!If you would like the chance to own a piece of wearable art then leave a comment on this post before 8.00 pm on Friday 30th April.