Hearts and Swirls

is the current challenge at Out of A hat Creations.

OOOH yes. I thought, I could make a little heart for my friend's birthday, she loves them. So I dug out a papier mache heart and painted it pink. Then stopped and couldn't think what else to do.
For like three days.

Dug around for some woodware chippie swirls and found one that had already been embossed and painted. Liked the look of the two together and brought them closer with some frantage, stamping and metallic rub ons. Needed something else and luckily my new Spellbinders Media Mixage Heart die arrived so I cut out another chipboard shape, inked, stamped 'friendship' and triple embossed.
Me likey.
(Took much longer thinking what to do than doing, as is so often the case).

Me not likey the photo as much, it's better IRL honest. And I'm sorry about the stamp you can see which I had propping it up. Ooops.
But I am not about to do it again as blogger has had another wobble and now won't recognise the one folder where all my art stuff is. So I have had to figure out another way to get pictures uploaded. Grrrrrrrr. I strongly suspect it is because my windows software seemed to upgrade itself today .... oh why do they have to keep changing things? It's only when they 'improve' things that everything goes wrong!!! Off to watch telly!!

(Just noticed it's pink and blueish again - getting stuck in a rut!!)

Tatty Floral Tag for Dragons Dream

The current challenge at Dragon's Dream Tag It On is Pink, Fabric and A Face. As soon as I saw the fabric I thought - I am going to make a fabric flower. The first bit of fabric I grabbed was quite thick but went through my bug with the TH tattered floral die like a dream. Of course it wasn't pink so I coloured it with Spun Sugar distress stains. Found a Lynn Perella face. Layered the background with inks, paints and stencils - this changed a few times as I wasn't happy with it. Stamped with the 'blobby' thing from my Jofy stamp set and added some colour. Stuck some lace on the bottom. Mainly because I was reading the ingredients for another challenge. Sigh.
Job done. Not my usual colour palette but it's growing on me.

 

Tags of 2013 - April

Tim's tag is here.
I looked at this early in the month and thought - oh crumbs, don't have distress paints, can't be doing with this. I kinda thought it might be an excuse to try some out but never got round to buying any so now I'm going to improvise. 

Took two tags and painted with a darkish brown colour (eco paints - Clay). (Two as always because I am going to inflict one of these masterpieces on some poor soul in due course hee hee). I've taken photosand added lots of description  because I am really not sure where this one is going and I'd like to rmember what I did (or what not to do!!). While those are drying I dug out some metal embellishments and plopped some colours on a craft mat. I'm just going with what I have!!






Well I wouldn't swear to it bit I think this is the kind of effect we are aiming for. Some of them still look like they need 'knocking back' or lifting with a bit of black or rub-ons, but I'll see what I feel about that later. While I was at it I 'patina'd' some card cogs and chipboard numbers - you have to work quicker with these because of the way the paint dries. The chipboard numbers came out surprisingly well - they came glittered so there are interesting bumps on them as well. Much better than the original!!




Now, to work on the background. Although I haven't got Distress Paints I am going to follow Tim's add water and swipe through  paints technique. Fingers crossed.

Ai Carumba that was messy!!

I am not a great 'smoosher'. It sounds and looks so simple when any one else does it, for me it usually means a very patchy, muddy tag while I am every color of the rainbow. And so it transpired. But after letting them dry and trying a second smoosh with a little sponging type help they are done. I will be the first to admit these don't really look like Tim's but as patina style backgrounds go they aren't bad. You will note there are now more than 2. Well there was a lot of paint to use up. I also don't know which ones had the base coat so that was probably unnecessary. The bottom row has had some extra inking and spritzing. 


Final touches, here are the CASED tags all finished and I like them more than I thought I would. Roll on next month!!

Clean and Simple....

Not something I usually manage as I am such a messy klutz it's often easier to go grungy. But I wanted to do a an entry for the current Artful Times Challenge which is to use masks or stencils. I certainly have quite a few, including this special touch  'Poppy' one that has never seen ink. So this was a real quick make just running it  through the GC to emboss and then stencillinng through with DI's. I have resisted putting sparkles on it as I quite like it as it is but might try another one.

Crafty time is at a premium this week as the weather has been so glorious hubby and I are working in the garden (well quite a lot of the time we are sitting there chatting with a glass of wine). He's still on sabbatical so I want to make the most of this time together as it will be work, work, work soon enough. So sorry if I don't get round commenting, I just don't have time this week. But I really do appreciate all the lovely comments I've had, especially on my Cinderella Shoe. Anyhow, now off to the garden again!!
 

Try It On Tuesday - Inventions. Inventors, possibly a little steampunk.......

is what we are looking for this fortnight at Try It On Tuesday.

Here is my DT piece which is a little canvas. There are several layers and  I have added the stamping using tissue paper. Even more texture added with stencilled paint and crackle paint. I have used frantage on the cogs (these are really cool because if you line them up and fix with brads - I haven't on this project - they will actually turn each other).

 

 

Anyhow we'd love for you to join in this fortnight's challenge and to pop over to Try it on Tuesday to see what the DT have been up to - great work to inspire you I promise!!

Exciting bits - Our sponsor this month is Genuinely Jane Studios

Boring bits - please follow the rules!! Our challenges cover any kind of project but we do ask that you stick to the theme and link only to 5 challenges in total. Unfortunately to be fair to those that do, we can't include you for selection for Top 5/Prize Draw if you don't follow the rules.

Challenges:

The Artistic Stamper (April)  -  TEXTURE

 

 

Steampunk Cinderella??

This month's Challenge at SanDee and Amelie's Steampunk Challenge Blog is Steampunk Fairytales.

At first I thought I would do Cinderella's carriage, but then I thought her glass slipper would be simpler and I wasn't sure how much time I would have this month with hubby at home as we are trying to get some long overdue 'stuff' done. So I went for the glass slipper.










I have several shoe templates (they appeal to me, what can I say. Probably because I can't wear real heels anymore) but for this shoe I used one from the House of Zandra. I cut the heel and sole from silver card and the top from acetate and was really pleased when it went together just fine (I thought I might have trouble attaching the acetate top to the sole because it doesn't 'grab' glue the same way paper does - fiddly but doable).

I decided that although I would decorate it in a steampunk style with cogs/wings/roses/clocks I'd like to keep the colours more feminine - cinderella always seems like a girlie girl to me!! So I chose to cover all my embellishments with 'aged rose' frantage which gives a sparkly but vintagey textural finish. The rose and wings are made from clearly for art treated the same way so I could shape them a little.

So, what can you do with a glass slipper? Use it as a gift box that's what!! Perhaps I am stretching the boundaries here but I have made other shoes in the past and tucked little goodies in them as gifts. Truth is, I saw a challenge this morning at Crafty Cardmakers to make a card or tag with with matching gift box, so thought I'd whip one up with the bits I had left.
So voila a tag, and finally my shoe stuffed with a little pressie wrapped of course in cog stamped tissue paper!! Don't worry CCers I won't argue if you say it doesn't meet the brief, it'sjust a bit of fun!!If I'd had time I would have made a piece of steampunk jewellery to go with it - you never know, it might end up being a giveaway at a later date!!

Challenges:
SanDee and Amelie's Steampunk Challenge Blog - Steampunk Fairy tales
Crafty Emblies (Apr - May)  - Anything Goes
Crafty Card Makers - Tag and Matching gift bag

WOYWW # 202 - A little tableau....

It's Wednesday again (some would say, already) and time to go on our travels though the crafty desks of blogland. If you really don't know what's going on then can I urge you to visit Julia at Stamping Ground where you can click for all the info.

My desk is uncharacteristically tidy this Wednesday as I have just finished one DT project and have nearly done another 3d project - that shoe you can see was the prototype - which I will probably finish at some stage .  I now have to make a big leaving card for someone at work, I really can't put it off any longer, ideally I need to have it finished by Friday but have no inspiration at the moment. Oh the horror of the blank white page. This is the oh so helpful brief - music, cats (gizmo and sticky), chocolate and Glee  -  I'm hoping someone has found me a photo to work in to it but I haven't seen it yet. If not, butterflies and flowers it is then.

But over here, (this is the little tableau!!) all ready to play, are a few of the bestest things I got at Ally Pally on Sunday.

Stamps from Jofy, Sam Poole, and Clarity. A 'cog' die from Robert Addams (what a nice man!!). Frantage. Far too much UTEE. Masks. A few interesting things to alter. And, so excited about this, a Gelli plate!! Boy, am I gonna be busy.

I'd love it if you said hi, in which case I will return the favour. I will attempt to visit all those with the same nos as me, whatever they might be, but can't guarantee anything after close of play Thursday, this has to stop somewhere. I may be an evening visitor because today is a work day and can't always get online at lunch time. And also hubby is home from Ghana today after 4 1/2 weeks volunteering and will probably have lots to talk about.
(I might of course need an excuse to get away.........)

Happy WOYWW!!

This week I have been mainly........

decoupaging. Or that's what I call it. Not the 3D stuff, the lots of layers of varnish (or in this case, decopatch glue) and lots of sanding stuff.

This is the Christmas tissue box that has been languishing on my desk.

We saw some of these at a Christmas Craft Fair last year and one of my friends (her house is a grotto at Christmas, she even has a santa toilet seat cover) was uhmming and aahing over the price of the ones on the stand. So I rashly said, oh I'll make you one for Christmas.... Fortunately I didn't specify which Christmas. 

At that point the other friend I was with pulled a face and raised an eyebrow.... so I said alright I'll make you one as well, what do you want on it . She said roses, shabby chic.

It's her birthday in a couple of weeks which prompted me to get a wriggle on. I made a little tag to go with it as well.

Well I hope they like them. Must learn to keep quiet!!

Waxing Lyrical....

have I used that as a post title before? Anyhow here are 3 collage ATCs I made when playing with beeswax in my melt pot.

In my 500th post yesterday I said  would give these away to celebrate.

The 'Lucky Winners' are: 

                           Claire

                           Laura art

                           Lunch Lady Jan

If you could email me with your addies girls I will get them in the post.

See you soon!!

Finished Charms

Just a quick second post from me today.

Here are my little charms for the current Artful Times Challenge.  The two vintage ones are papers collaged onto metal blanks then glazed with glossy accents.

The other two are stampboard, coloured and stamped with Lynn Perella images.

You can swap swap your charms as well if you'd like, which I have asked to do.
I do like to see other people's work up close and personal!!
 

WOYWW #201 and 500th post

It's time again for our weekly Wednesday desk hop around the crafty blogosphere - get yourself over to Julia Dunnit's Stamping Ground if you want to know more.

Here's my desk. Have been all over the place craftwise this last week, doing bits of this n that. Got a new set of Crafty Individuals stamps on my desk - they are from Craft Stamper as I had something published this month - Woo hoo!! I should really be getting  started on a couple of commissions but BORING, so instead I've been playing with the little charms you can see for the Artful Times swap.

The round ones are recycled from little medals we had at work (now out of date) - I found a huge stash of them the other day so I have plenty to keep me going. I just need to think of a better way to disguise the edges, I think I may need to fire up the meltpot and try some more with the old 'faux soldering' but I don't have much UTEE left at the mo - that's on my list for Ally Pally next weekend though!! The other two are stampboard. I'm just waiting for some glue n seal to dry so that I can add some little findings etc and then they'll be all done. I also got a pack of 'Fragments' from my local Hobbycraft for £2 in the sale. Bargain!! I thought they might make nice charms as they are quite light (unlike dominoes which look great but are soooo heavy). Unfortunately you can't punch them with a cropodile and I have no idea where my dremel is. I'm also never sure whether I should be allowed to use it unsupervised and hubby is still away ........

Haven't progressed very far with my tissue box but going to have a crack at that this afternoon.

 Have a lovely WOYWW, I'm intending to spend the duration in my craft room as I was very, very good yesterday and cleaned the whole house. Ergo, today is MY day and nobody better disturb me LOL!!

Just noticed that this is my 500th post (must get a life). I have three waxed ATCs I was going to put up for trade but I think we'll have a spot prize today to celebrate. I'll pick 3 random 'winners' from the comments tomorrow morning around 9.00 am.

If you will be at Ally Pally next Sunday do let me know - maybe we can arrange to meet and say a quick 'hello'.

Cindy

Travel at Out of a Hat Challenge...

I seem to have taken my eye off the ball at the weekend and nothing got uploaded so now I have a backlog of bits to post. Not a problem unless they are for challenges that are about to close like this one at Out of a Hat!!

The theme is 'Travel and Suitcases' so I hope this vintage ' Bon Voyage' card fits the bill although I'm not quite sure who I would ever give it to! Good excuse to use the stamp again though. I was sure I had a suitcase stamp but this briefcase and trunk were the closest I could get. I think a trunk is more appropriate though don't you?

Back soon!!



 

Spring has Sprung!! Something that moves - Try It on Tuesday Challenge

Well this fortnight we are asking you to include something that moves on your project. I decided to make a double slider card and although I have made them before from a kit I decided I needed a bit of a refresher. I found this great little utube tutorial from Lesley Oman and it was so easy to understand I decided to CASE it and link in to my post so you could see how it was done.
For good measure and for a spring feel I used flower and butterfly stamps - well we live in hope!!


Here is the card when the slider mechanism has been pulled out:

I have to say this card nearly went in the bin, not because it was difficult to put together but because I couldn't get the colour scheme right. It started out pale pink and grey but was far too wishy washy - adding a bit of blue and some worn lipstick perked it up a bit and it looks much better. I have included some 'waxed' leaves with my flowers - they crack up nicely to give a random vein effect. These ones were made from kraft paper and I really like the way they turned out.

Anyhow we'd love for you to join in this fortnight's challenge and to pop over to Try it on Tuesday to see what the DT have been up to - there are a few crackers there I can tell you!!

Exciting bits - Our sponsor this month is Genuinely Jane Studios

Boring bits - please follow the rules!! Our challenges cover any kind of project but we do ask that you stick to the theme and link only to 5 challenges in total. Unfortunately to be fair to those that do we can't include you for selection for Top 5/Prize Draw if you don't follow the rules.

A little sweetener - TOFF Challenge - Easter

Browsing through challenges seeing what's about this week I noticed that the current Octopode Factory Friday Challenge is 'Easter'. Mmmm. Kind of Eastered out. Then I remembered a little project I didn't blog - a real quickie, a little gift bag. I made it using Craft Artist 2, printed out and stuck together. I stuck a cake pop and a couple of Lindors in for my girlie friends for a little sweet treat. Unfortunately the cake pop stick stuck out the top and looked a little ridiculous (forward planning was never my strong point) so I added little flags with names instead of tags.

(When I stop and wonder where my life has gone I realise I spend inordinate amounts of time doing little things like this.)


Here are the cake pops I made - my first attempt!!

See ya soon!

April Art Draw - Beeswax Collage (aka Should have gone to specsavers.........)

Oh boy oh boy have I been loving watching Hels Sheridan on C & C this week. All credit to the station they really gave her a chance to give the meltpot a work out and show us loads of inspiring stuff. So, being the owner of a meltpot that has been gathering dust for over a year I thought I would have a go. Sorted out my bits and pieces, got all my materials ready, found the project pan, googled to check the temp for the wax, put the wax in, fired up the meltpot, started brushing my wax...........
er, that's not right, it's all sticky. What is going on?

Cue blond moment of mega proportions. (I blame the hairdresser, these highlights are supposed to hide my grey bits not my common sense).

Here is my pot of wax.

Except of course it isn't wax.

It's UTEE Flex.

Ooops. Don't do this at home folks.


Well, half an hour later we were ready to rock and roll again. and here it is. My little beeswax project inspired by Hels although almost certainly not as accomplished. (You really can't see the bits where I added the Flex.....)

This is the giveaway for April, if you want to be in with a chance of 'winning' leave a comment before 9.00 pm on Monday April 29th. International players welcome, please feel free to link from your own blogs (if you let me know you have I'll put you in the draw twice).

Thanks for stopping by!!

Challenges: Sunday Stampers

WOYWW #200 - Thank You Very Much!!!!

Wednesday seems to have come around even quicker with the Easter break - hope you had a good one, I certainly did. I had a PJ day on Friday, work Saturday, saw mum on Sunday and as I am on my own at the moment and deserted by youngsters I had most of Monday to myself. I decided it was time to tackle the huge box of WIPs which was threatening to overflow. At the same time, I had had a request from a work colleague for thank you cards so I thought I would get out some of those unused or unfinished card kits and make a few simple cards. Here are the Thank You ones.
I think I may have overdone it.



Birthday cards

A lot of the cards were made using the Hunky Dory 'Butterfly Sorbet' kit which is really, really pretty and very easy to put together. I bought it mainly because I coudln't resist the dimensional butterfly cards.

Dimensional butterfly card

I prefer stamped or 'arty' cards myself, but I find they don't sell as well as the kit cards and unless commissioned people don't want to pay for the big fancy cards. However, I expect these to go down very well and I wanted to get some more stock done as we are having a quiz night at work next week. But it doesn't matter if they don't, it just means I have stuff ready for my MacMillan Day later in the year.

And in the spirit of getting things finished here's the current
 project I am trying to get done and dusted
which was supposed to be a present for a friend
for LAST Christmas. Ooops! So that's what I've been doing this week and now the decks are clear I have a hankering to get out the melt pot.... been watching Hels all week on C & C and am feeling the need to dip and pour.

For the full details of WOYWW and how to join in, pop over to Julia Dunnit's blog 'Stamping Ground'. I am at work today so will  be visiting late. Have a good day!!