O CHRISTMAS TREE

I noticed yesterday that the theme over on SUNDAY STAMPER is "O Christmas Tree". I have been making trees recently for a workshop so I thought I'd join in and so here is my entry. Well, two entries sort of, I got carried away and made two trees so it seemed a shame not to use them both!
The top one is my official entry, the other one is an extra!

Yet again worked on old book covers! One day I will put all these together into an altered book journal I think.

CAN YOU FLY IN YOUR DREAMS?

PLAY DATE CAFE challenge colours this week are blue/green, cream, tan and brown, a great combination. Here is my entry. The tree is embossed though that is hard to see on this pic, I used an embossing folder from Crafts Too, available from THE CRAFT BARN.

TICK TOCK

A while ago I saw a fab journal on INGRID DIJKERS blog where she had wired washers etc along the edge of a journal page and I just loved the way it looked. There is a lot of STEAMPUNK stuff around at the moment and the washers etc reminded me of that too.
So, here is my version! This a big acetate tag that I coloured with alcohol inks, stamped the numbers..PAPERARTSY CLOCKS PLATES 7 & 8.... onto coloured card, cut out and glued to the tag.
Next punch holes in the acetate with Cropadile and then use wire to attach the various washers and nuts etc.
I think I am going to attach this onto a book cover with the scews at the top.

OLD TROUT.......a work in progress!

I am a bit bogged down with workshop samples at the min so have not really got much I can blog but thought I'd show these journal pages as "works in progress"!

I recently watched several YouTube clips on TEESHA MOORES blog about the way she works in her journal and these pages are sort of inspired by her!

She uses lots of magazine images for both the borders around her pages and for the main images.........now the only mags I had to hand the other day were the Radio Times and Trout Fisherman.........you can see where this is going!
So, I used scrap book papers for the borders and then decided to see what I could do with a trout! Nowhere near finished yet but I think he may end up with glasses and a pointy hat.



No idea what will end up on this page but I like it so far!!

THE BROKEN HEART

This weeks colours on THE PLAY DATE CAFE are black, white and red. The first thing that came to my mind was "oriental" but then I didn't really feel like working with that theme so had another think, a rummage through my stamp drawers and came across The Broken Heart, A Tragedy stamp and it sort of developed from there!


The large heart in the back is a grungeboard heart, painted, cut in half and stitched back together with black wire. The glass heart is dangling from the birds beak with a fishing lure type thing!

WORKSHOP SNEAK PEEK

I have two workshops at PADDYS STAMPING PLACE in Prestwich nr Manchester coming up in the next couple of weeks.........November 14th and 18th............and so I thought I'd show a couple of sneak peeks to whet the appetities of those already booked and maybe to tempt more to come along!
The workshop is called "TREES AND ANGELS" which suggests Christmas but it certainly doesn't have to be!


If you would like to come along then give Paddy a ring on 0161 798 5115.

It would be helpful if you are coming for you to bring along a few cotton reels, old wood ones look fab but are hard to get hold of (if you have any you don't want I accept donations!!) so modern plastic ones (with or without cotton still on) are fine, we can doctor them!

HANDMADE BOOKS AUTOGRAPH SESSION

A couple of weeks ago Julie over on JULIES OPEN WINDOW asked me if I would like to do a question and answer piece for her blog. She had received a copy of my book from Sarah.....ART OF MOODLING......as a gift and thought it would be a fun thing to do based around that.
The piece is now up on Julies blog! go on over and see what I had to say!



The two books here are from my book, the top one is a very simple fold over and tuck in book with the pages sewn into the fold. The other is a more complicated book that has a Japanese Stab binding.

KISSING CALAVERAS

Continuing with my skull obsession (for a little while longer at least!!) I just had to enter ART ON THE DARKSIDE challenge today which is DAY OF THE DEAD or DIA DE LOS MUERTOS.

The KISSING CALAVERAS (calaveras are skulls!) part of this journal page is a paper cut piece I made using a pattern taken from MEXICAN PAPERCUTTING by Kathleen Trenchard. Papercutting was one of the first paper crafts I got into and I like to re-visit it every now and then so this was fun to make.

Had to add the staple barbed wire across the top, I think that is such a cool idea!The lettering is some paper letters I have had for EVER but they suited this very well.

TONIGHT IS THE NIGHT........

HAPPY HALLOWE'EN!
A journal page to set the scene! I saw the quote on another blog somewhere this week, sorry can't remember where :(

Have been working on this for few days now ready for the actual day! The skull is a ceramic money box, I bought one for my nephew for Christmas last year and he thought it was fab!! I bought another one for me to play with! I added the bats down the side of his face using Diamond Glaze and tissue paper, I like the way it sort of looks like a tattoo.

Another of those leaves I have been playing with painting and stamping on, this one has been embossed to make it shiny, the texture is quite leathery! The pumpkin is plaster of paris in a chocolate mould and then coloured!

Another coloured/stamped leaf and more pumpkins decorate the saucer he is sitting on.

PS. Spot the peel-off?

Who has seen the wind?

The second Play Date Cafe colour challenge was issued today, the colours are orange, yellow and dark brown or black. SARAH is the host this week and she took as her inspiration the colours of the Autumn leaves that are all around us at the moment. You have to go check out her piece, it is LOVELY.

This journal page is my entry.
While I was away over the weekend I picked up a bunch of these quite big leaves that had glorious colours on them at the time but as I didn't get to press them straight away the colours faded. So, I decided to add them back in again! I first painted the leaf with gesso and then sprayed with orange and brown ink. After that I used a yellow pigment ink and added clear embossing powder over that and stamped the text into it.

The quote is by Christina Rossetti.

ANGELS AND SKULLS

A while ago I watched a documentary about BEOWULF the Old English epic poem considered one of the gems of Anglo Saxon literature and in the programme they mentioned Holy Trinity Church in Blythburgh, Suffolk. What particularly took my eye was the ceiling of the church decorated with angels so while we were in Suffolk this past weekend we took a trip to see the church.

Oh my!! If you get chance and have an angel fetish like me (or even if you don't!) then it is well worth the trip. It is FANTASTIC, the carved wooden angels (there are several pairs of them) are BEAUTIFUL.

On Monday we went into London to the BRITISH MUSEUM to see the MOCTEZUMA exhibition. This fed another of my fetishes as there were some wonderful turquoise SKULLS on display!
The museum also has a DAY OF THE DEAD celebration going on on Nov 1st and so they had some FAB postcard books on sale with great Day of the Dead art in them. Had to get one of those!!

I was a happy bunny this weekend!!

WORKSHOP SNEAK PEEKS

A couple of teaser pics of my workshop project!



Wendy down at THE STAMP ATTIC has just acquired premises that are going to become her studio/workshop venue! It is very exciting and Wendy has big plans for it so be sure to watch her blog for updates and in the not too distant future a workshop list. I am going to be teaching my first workshop in her new premises on December 5th, so if you fancy a trip to Wantage for a day of inks, stamps and chat then come along, it would be great to see you! I am heading off to Suffolk for a few days break, be back on Tuesday!

BIRD ON A WIRE?

Today sees the first PLAY DATE CAFE CHALLENGE, it is a challenge with a bit of a difference, the only thing stippulated is colours. The choice of what you do with them is yours entirely!!

This is my entry. I seem to be a little obsessed with working onto old book covers just lately and that's what this is, I used a couple of new stamps I got at Port Sunlight show a couple of weeks ago, the couple and the bird skeleton, always nice to use new images! They are both from LOST COAST DESIGNS.

WEDNESDAY HALLOWEEN

Not done Wednesday Stamper challenge for some time but really wanted to today as the theme is HALLOWEEN!!
This journal page is my entry.

ART SPECIALLY

I just received my copy of issue 8 of ART SPECIALLY magazine. I have two articles this time and I have to say I LOVE the way they are presented. I can't show you the pieces (publishing rules) but I can tell you that you will very shortly be able to get a copy of this issue from THE STAMP ATTIC
In case you don't know this mag, it is a Dutch publication and the text is therefore in Dutch but the artwork (not that I'm bragging here of course!!) and the photography are such that you hardly need the words!

The artwork on the front cover of the mag is stunning and is done by HERMINE KOSTER who was the featured artist a couple of issues back in Craft Stamper. If you don't know her work check out her blog , you won't be sorry!

AUTUMN

This is my entry for the latest READY STEADY STAMP challenge........pretty late as the next one is issued on Wednesday but at least I got it done!! This time we had to use the theme of Autumn, the colours brown, cream and ochre, staples, hessian and a Distress ink background. The staples and twisted wire to make your own barbed wire idea is not mine (wish it was, as it works fabulously!), I saw it on TIM HOLTZ blog on one of his Halloween tags.....credit where it is due!!

The chair stamp is Character Constructions and the pumpkin is Inkadinkado.

HOME AND HEART

It has been a few days since I had chance to blog, a couple of reasons for this.........busy week, firstly getting samples finished for the SAMUEL TAYLORS BIRTHDAY celebration weekend which is this weekend in Embsay near Skipton, if you come alomg come and say hello, secondly a broken computer........how you miss it when it's not there! All fixed now apart from the scanner, which I discovered as I went to scan what I was going to blog tonight and it says I need to re-install the software! So that will have to wait till next week.


I also had a bit of a sort out (well quite a big sort out!) in my work room this week and came across this CD book. This was featured in Craft Stamper quite some time ago so I thought I'd show it here as I can't blog what I wanted to!

The reason for the sort out (apart from the fact it really needed it) was that I had friends coming round and you just could not get in there.............Sarah actually took pics of my work room and one of them is over on her blog.......THE ART OF MOODLING


The stamps used are PAPERBAG STUDIOS AND INVOKE ARTS, both available from THE STAMP ATTIC

WINTER BIRDS

A couple of cards made with INKADINKADO WINTER BIRDS set of stamps. I just love that owl and for me these would be great as Winter birthday cards or as Christmas cards.
Stamps are available from THE STAMP ATTIC.

PUZZLE BOOKS AND ONE THAT ISN'T!

Ok, so this first book isn't a puzzle book but it was made in the same way and at the same time so it gets to go with the puzzle books! The covers on this book are pieces of chipboard, coloured and decorated and then stuck to pages sewn together with a ribbon. I discovered that if you heat the ribbon to set the ink the ends shrivel up which I liked!



These two books are the puzzle books! The covers are made from childrens puzzle pieces, coloured, decorated and stuck to stapled together pages.




The images are all INKADINKADO.

CRAFT BARN WEB SITE FIRST BIRTHDAY!

The Craft Barn web site is one year old and has had a makeover!!!

To celebrate there is a competition running on their blog with some great prizes. I am a little late in posting this so the competition is on day 3, however that doesn't matter as all the clues are still there and the competition runs all week so you haven't missed out!

The decorated calendar above is one I made as a workshop sample and is part of the clue for today. The blank calendar is available as one of the products in the “Altering” section on the website.

THE COMPETITION.

This is open to anyone who wants to play (other than DT members and Craft Barn staff and designers obviously).

Each day, we will show you samples made by our tutors or Design Team members featuring specific products. You will have to find one of this product online and in the description you will find a clue written in red.

Keep this clue each day, you will need it for the final answer on Sunday. You do not have to submit anything to us during the week. Only on the Sunday. Although we will appreciate comments each day

Here’s a example of what the clue will look like in the description. Click here to see it.

This is JUST an example and does not count for the competition.

On Sunday, you will have gathered several letters and a number. We will tell you then what to do

There will be a draw for three winners. The first one will receive a prize (retail value: over £100). The two other winners will receive vouchers (£20 and £15)

Other things worth mentioning are free postage for orders over £15 instead of the usual £50 for customers in Europe from Friday 9th (8 pm GMT) until Sunday 11th (midnight)

New embossing folders from Crafts Too

New Cuttlebug embossing folders

Oh yes, you might have noticed I got a cute new DT logo, a little Craft Barn chouette!!

NO SPIDERS WERE HURT....

in the making of this journal page!! Stressed a little maybe, frustrated probably but not hurt!! They will just have to go make another web but then isn't that what spiders are for!?

I say this because the web in the background of this is an ACTUAL spider web.

How to do that?
1. Find a web in a suitable position ie. one where you can a piece of card either side of it
2.SHOO THE SPIDER AWAY!
3. Hold a piece of scrap paper behind the web and spray with an ink, a dark colour is best
4. Take two pieces of white card and catrefully trap the web between them
5. Open the cards to reveal a web imprint

Some webs will come out better than others so do a few till you get one you like.......oh yes, each web gives 2 impressions!

The fairy here is a PAPERARTSY stamp (from Nut & Meg 6) that is intended to be used as a Christmas image but why just use it for that!!? Oh yes, her pointy hat is the top of a Christmas tree........again Paperartsy.
The spider is CHARACTER CONSTRUCTIONS.

HIBOU or is it CHOUETTE?

Here is my entry for the sixth RSS challenge. The ingredients this time were the letter b, brackets, pink, grey and white, to use masks in the background and corrugated card.

The last few weeks I have been so busy I haven't had time to take part in any challenges, the fifth READY STEADY STAMP challenge came and went so I was determined to take part in the sixth one. So, today I sort of caught up with myself a bit so decided to have a play with an idea that had been wandering around my brain.


A close up of the owl.........this started out as a basic owl shape cut using a Craft Work Cards template called It's a Hoot, available from THE CRAFT BARN.
There is some very faint text stamped in the background but you will have to take my word for it, it didn't show in the photo!
The beak is a fleur de lys brass charm painted with gesso (my white ingredient), the eyes are a couple of vintage fabric flowers I picked up somewhere and the tail is another brass charm piece. The body is strips of lace glued in place, painted with gesso and then lightly coloured with pink and brown ink.


Apparently in French an owl is "hibou" unless it has tufted ears then it is "chouette"! Mine must be a chouette then I think!! (and that happened completely by chance!!)

OH WHAT TANGLED WEBS WE WEAVE

Today this set of absolutely yummy stamps fell through my letter box and although I am crazy busy with prep for workshops I just had to have a play. They are BASIC GREY stamps and accompany the new EERIE paper range.......the spiders web paper shown is one of the papers, I added the extra spiders!



THE BASIC GREY STAMPS ALONG WITH A SELECTION OF THE EERIE PAPERS AND PINK PAISLEE TWILIGHT PAPERS ARE AVAILABLE FROM THE STAMP ATTIC ALSO AVAILABLE ARE THE IMPRESSION OBSESSION AND STAMPERS ANONYMOUS STAMPS USED.

This first card actually has a tunnel cut in the centre so you look through to the skeleton and webs inside ( Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Trick or Treat stamp set), it was hard to get a good photo!



This is the outside of the card made with web paper and added spiders!



This next card has an image from IMPRESSION OBSESSION with the lovely scrolly Halloween word from the BASIC GREY set. The web paper is again BASIC GREY.

And finally, I think this is my favourite card of this set! Another IMPRESSION OBSESSION image (from Halloween Party clear set) together with the spiders web and spider from the BASIC GREY set. The spotty paper is from the Twilight range by PINK PAISLEE.

WHAT A SURPRISE! HALLOWEEN!

Just been looking back through posts and realised it has actually been a while since I posted something Halloween! I don't feel so bad now as Halloween posts are showing up on blogs all over the place and there is still a month to go!
So, to remedy that here are three cards made using CRAFTY SECRETS stamps, available from THE STAMP ATTIC

Halloween pole dancing??


So let me ask..........do you think these images are cute or WHIMSICAL??

ANGEL

Just got some new PAPERARTSY stamps and been playing with them this afternoon.........I LOVE this stone angel figure.
Added a twig from the garden stitched into place with red thread and dried hydrangea flower.

MATCHBOXES AND MAGAZINE COVERS

The whole thing.


Side panel...........bird is Stampington.



Poor old blog has been a bit neglected the last couple of weeks, I have been so busy that I haven't had time to post as often as I like to! I'm not complaining, busy is good especially as I have been travelling around signing books, demoing, teaching workshops, chatting, meeting new people.........all great fun.
The matchbox chest above is a recent workshop sample that I was so pleased with I thought I'd share it here!

The fab bird on the top of the chest in one of Tims newest stamps and it is stampd over one of his masks that was sprayed over with Sticky Fingers spray inks.


Finally...............

You might have noticed this mag is added to my published in list on the side panel, just wanted to say that the stuff on the cover is MINE!! I was chuffed to see it there as it was the first time I had sent anything to that mag to be considered for publication!

I am heading off on my travels again this afternoon, heading down the motorway to Wendys ......THE STAMP ATTIC.......ready to be in the shop tomorrow for book signing and stamp club tomorrow night for demo and more book signing.....hopefully!!

FABULOUS STAMPS!

I had a lovely time at THE CRAFT BARN EXTRAVAGANZA WEEKEND signing copies of my book and demoing, thanks to everyone who bought a book, watched me demo and said such lovely things about it, it made me very chuffed!!

My feet have not touched the ground since I got home on Monday (have been signing more books over at PADDYS STAMPING PLACE today)and so while I don't have new art work to share I thought I would share what I acquired, this set of yummy stamps, thanks Beatrice!! These are some of the newest stamps from Katzelkraft and are available in the UK exclusively through THE CRAFT BARN. Although they have a slightly spooky air about them I think they are fab! Go over to Beatrices blog for some samples of what to do with them, I have to say the pics don't do the samples justice, they were beautiful in person!

I am heading down to THE STAMP ATTIC on Sunday ready to sign yet more books in the shop on Monday and at the stamp club meeting on Monday night so if you in the area please call in and say Hi!!

ADDRESS EMBOSSERS

I was just working on a journal page and had cause to use one of these things, as I was using it it occured to me that it would a fun thing to share with you on here!!
These things are address embossers and great for altered/collage style stuff...........my Mum who used to work in a solicitors office way back when says that every office used to have one and the address of the business was embossed on out going mail.
Old style MOT certificates also had the address embossed in the bottom corner...........that's why I had cause to use one of these, I was using an old MOT certificate for my page...........all will be revealed next week!

Anyway, back to these............I bought these a few years ago at my local craft/collectables/antique/junk place (Dagfields Craft Centre) for just a few pounds each. If you go looking for these just be warned that some of them are missing the embossing plates which makes them useless!! Stick a scrap of paper inside and press the handle to check!



This is what the addresses in my embossers look like...........I like the fact they are different fonts and the machines themselves look pretty funky sat on the shelf in my work room!!
I have rubbed over with little brown ink so they show up more.

MEET BINGO WINGS!

Ok, so believe me or not this did not start out going to be called BINGO WINGS!! I sat in front of the TV rummaging through a bag of scrap card looking for interesting bits to cut up and use on this page, came across the bingo paper and thought "ah that will do" and set about cutting, sticking, painting etc etc.
Only after it was finished and I looked at it the next day did BINGO WINGS occur to me!!

TWIT TWOO

This piece was made as part of my design team commitment to THE CRAFT BARN. It is somewhat cuter than muy usual stuff but I still liked the way it turned out!!

It is a small wooden frame with a round hole in the centre and I added a large matchbox behind the hole to give some depth. The owls are pre-printed on paper, the eyes are metal tacks from K&Co and the leaves are wooden Embelliscrap pieces. For full details of products look out for this project appearing soon on THE CRAFT BARN BLOG.

MY BOOK.......HANDMADE DECORATIVE BOOKS

I am very excited that the book I have been working on with SEARCH PRESS is now published!! I can now tell you that it will be available from September 11th.

I am going to be doing book signings! It feels very strange to be saying that, I had wanted to write a book for so long and now it is here it does not seem real!!

The first hopefully being at The CRAFT BARN Weekend Extravaganza on 12th/13th September; I say hopefully because it is only available the day before and so it will be cutting it fine getting copies in time.

I will also be signing copies at
PADDYS STAMPING PLACE on 16th September,
THE STAMP ATTIC on 21st September (in the shop during the day and at their monthly stamp club meeting in the evening)
and at THE CUBBY HOLE on 25th/26th of September in conjunction with their MacMillan charity weekend (I will also be demoing those 2 days)

OWLS

Got back from the Craft Barn yesterday to discover that my copy of the latest Somerset Studio had arrived.These owl bookends are what I have in there!
To buy a copy of the mag visit THE STAMP ATTIC.

Talking of the Craft Barn I had a fab weekend and met a whole bunch of new and lovely people........Hi! to any of you reading this! In fact it went so well the next workshop weekend is already being planned, hopefully for November.
I will also be back down for the Extravaganza Weekend on 12/13th September.

A couple of people commented on the last post that the Craft Barn is too far for them to travel from up here in the north.........I agree it is a looooong way, in fact over 200 miles for me so I thought I would tell you of an event going on up here in the north which will hopefully be more accessible!
Samuel Taylors are celebrating 60 years in business with a 60th anniversary Papercraft Extravaganza Weekend, 17/18th October at their shop in Embsay near Skipton, I am going be there demoing along with lots of other people, it promises to be a good weekend.

More news tomorrow!!

BRAMBLE HEDGE

I am leaving you with this journal page over the weekend while I am gone; I am off to THE CRAFT BARN to teach two workshops over this weekend. I am really looking forward to it, it should be great fun, will report back next week.

And don't forget the Craft Barns WEEKEND EXTRAVAGANZA is coming up in only two weeks........12/13th September..........I will be there demoing along with 16 others!! Promises to be a fab weekend, come along if you can!

So next week I will be back.......... with exciting news.........well, I think it's exciting, I hope you will too!!

LETTER A

Today is the day for the fourth READY STEADY STAMP challenge and I was really pleased to be asked to be guest designer for this one.

Here is my piece of inspiration!

The five ingredients that had to be included this time were the letter A, canvas, brown/cream/white, a scalloped circle and clear drops (raindrops).
You also have to include some stamping, mine was minimal this time with only the leaf being stamped.


A close up of my canvas flower with the scalloped circle button in the centre.

PUMPKINS GALORE

This card is made with another new stamp from INKADINKADO, this time from the PUMPKINS GALORE set. Inspire word is INVOKE ARTS, both stamp companies available from THE STAMP ATTIC

NEW STAMPS.....NEW JOURNAL

Late last week I got some new stamps, I went a bit mad and bought four sets of Halloween/Autumn stamps; because I couldn't decide which ones to get I got them all! They are all by Inkadinkado and are available from THE STAMP ATTIC.
I also got a new journal which I am going to keep to the Halloween/Autumn theme that I love so much.

So, I have been waiting for a bit of time to play with them, I finished off my latest Craft Stamper project today and off it went in the post so I settled in for some play time!

I LOVE this skull stamp, I think it is so clever with the words set into one side of it. It is combined here with some rub-ons I found in the drawer the other day.




This page came about from the scrap pad I work on. The cherish words were already on there from something else and I stamped the stars and 2 different skulls next to the words just to try them out really but then I liked the way it looked so tore it out and stuck it into the journal. The extra colour around the torn piece is oil pastels.......another new toy!

This page started in a similar way to the previous one........the paint circles were already on the pad so I stamped the Ravens Gate image over them and then coloured in the background. Torn out and then stuck in the journal.
Letters are drawn through a stencil and again the colour is oil pastels.

GARDEN OF DEATH!!

Ok, you might have noticed that I changed the header and background to my blog!!
I ABSOLUTELY love it!! If you don't that's Ok but don't be scared it's only a picture!

Just in case you were wondering it is called "Garden of Death", a painting from Finnish symbolist painter and graphic artist Hugo Simberg.

MAKE YOUR OWN JOURNALS

The jounal I started on the jounalling workshop I went to is almost full!
So, today I took myself off to Hobbycraft and bought an A4 pad of 25 sheets 100lbs/220gsm medium surface cartridge paper for £5.85. With that pad, the back off it and some extra card saved from the backs of other paper pads and my trusty Bind-it-All I now have the 5 journals you see here! Not bad for under £6.

The biggest is about 20cm square, next is about 16x20cm, then about 10x15cm and then 2 small ones at about 10.5x15cm, they each have either 12 or 13 pages.

I started out covering the covers with scrap book paper (the red one with diamonds) but then decided it would be better to cover them with my own stuff! So, that is what I used for the rest.


THIS IS MY FAVOURITE!!
It is covered with a piece of paper from the pad I use to work on. Yesterday I was spraying a page in my other journal with a stencil and Adirondack spray inks, I dumped the wet stencil onto the pad, wiped the excess ink off with a baby wipe and then picked it up to reveal the pattern underneath!! It was almost nicer than the jounal page!

NOT ANOTHER JOURNAL PAGE?

I know, I know it looks like this is turning into a journalling blog!!
I can't tell you how much I am loving messing in my journal, it is SOOO relaxing! I am doing other stuff, just not stuff I can show here yet, it's either for publication or for workshops/demos and so I am left with journal pages!

This one came about from looking at a sketch on RACHEL JACKSONS blog, thanks for the inspiration Rachel!



And so to finish here is the page I started last night in front of the TV. It is sketched with a charcoal pencil, I love those things! I have no idea how this will end up, need to think about it and play some more, will show the results later!

LIZARD

THINK MONDAY THINK ATC theme today is LIZARDS. Here is my entry, a bit more funky than my usual style but I liked the way it turned out!!

NOT THE DESTINATION

One advantage to staying with my Mum was that I had some time to work on my journal.
I finished this page tonight, the picture of the bird heading down hill with such determination came from an RSPB mag that Mum was throwing out, the picture just made me smile!

I noticed earlier that SATURDAY WORKOUT theme this week was "to make a journal page"..........so, here you are!

BLUE RUSSIAN

It has been over two weeks since I last posted on my blog and I have really missed it, hope you have missed me too! Unfortunately my Dad has been seriously ill in hospital with pneumonia and I have been staying with my Mum..........real life comes before fun.........he is on the road to recovery now so I can find the fun again! My last post was my entry for READY STEADY STAMP second challenge and purely by chance this entry is my piece for their third challenge.

The piece is worked on an old book cover, for the photo it is stood against the book I took the cover off.


This time we had to use cuttlewax technique......see RSS blog for details and a tutorial............I did not have any wax paper so I made my own! Take a piece of greaseproof paper and rub a candle all over one side, et voila wax paper! Proceed with technique as described.
We also had to use the colour blue, the theme monument (mine is a Russian church......stamp by Stampington), a piece of cork (this was the hardest bit trying to make it fit in.......my church image is mounted on it) and a metal embellishment............I think mine is obvious!!


I bought five of these cast iron handles only very recently so I was pleased to be able to use one of them. I added some white pigment ink over the raised areas followed by a touch of blue to tie in the colour theme.

RED FRONT DOOR

This is my entry for the second challenge on READY STEADY STAMP.
As I am currently obsessed with journalling I decided to make a journal page for the challenge.

This time round we have to include the sun, the colour yellow, a triangle, acetate and ribbon.

The acetate is hard to see on a scan, the words are stamped on it and it is held in place with staples. My ribbon has been coloured and stamped and then also stapled in place. The rest is hopefully self explanatory!

TIM BURTONS ALICE IN WONDERLAND

I cannot wait for this to come out! Oh well, will have to be patient till next March!

KINGS AND QUEEENS

The theme on TMTA is KINGS AND QUEENS.
I'm afraid the recent trend for Marie Antoinette themed stuff doesn't do a lot for me and I am sure that is the direction we are intended to go, but here is my take on that theme!

WORKING TO A SKETCH

Working to a sketch is a new idea to me and I find it quite interesting! I have been aware of sketches being around for some time, hard not to be really but I've never taken a lot of interest. But then I noticed that Rachel Jackson has been publishing a monthly sketch on her blog and challenging people to have a go and so I decided I would!

If it's good enough for Rachel it's good enough for me! If you don't know Rachels work be sure to pop over to her blog and have a look.

Here are the results..............above is a card where I stuck to the sketch quite firmly and below is an ATC where I played around with it just a little, replacing the small circle at the bottom with a heart and putting the image into a circle as well.

I seem to be stuck in a Halloween phase at the moment, I think this awful weather is making me feel Autumnal, well that's my excuse!!

In case you need to know........the paper I used is Night Light Cauldron Swirls from My Minds Eye, available from THE STAMP ATTIC

THOSE STICKERS

The challenge theme on BIG ART ADVENTURE is "A BIRD IN THE HAND" and this is my entry. I have had such fun working on this but also such a fight with myself! This is the piece that prompted the question I asked a few days ago about using stickers!

As you can see from the pic below I went ahead and used them and I hope you will agree that they do fit into the piece quite nicely after I sanded them and added dots!



Every chicken needs a face!!



This is a small canvas that I worked on seperately and then glued in place.

MAKE AN ATC

THEME THURSDAY challenge is "MAKE AN ATC"........so here is mine!

ART JOURNAL?

Today I went to an art journalling class at Paddys Stamping Place in Prestwich taught by SARAH ANDERSON I had a lovely time messing with paints, inks, stencils, stamps, papers etc etc, it will be days before my hands are clean again!!

Art journalling is something I have mixed thoughts on...........I like the idea of just working for myself, doing what I like and not worrying about what anyone else thinks but on the other hand I'm not about to share my deepest darkest thoughts in a book that someone might pick up and read..........noooooooo, those thoughts are mine and are staying that way!!

However I have no problem working on a page about why I HATE MOTHS!! Or why I LOVE HALLOWEEN (not that I really know why) or why I like AUTUMNAL COLOURS and so that is what MY art journal will be about............the things I love or hate or fascinate me or intrigue me


This is the only page I finished! I was working with some die cut trees that Sarah had brought along and the phrase "deep dark woods" came into my head and wouldn't go away so it ended up on the page.
Now, the actual writing bit made me nervous..............what if I did it wrong, what if I hated it after I had done it, what if, what if...........till in the end I was driving myself nuts and decided, with encouragement from Sarah, to just go for it and in the end I loved the way it came out!
The shadows are provided by charcoal pencils..........I NEED me some of those! Off shopping tomorrow!

After I did the writing bit on the first page I decided to go for it and started this page! NO WHERE near finished yet but I like it so far!!


The following pages are all only part done and are in reserve for when inspiration strikes, though I bet you can't guess what might end up on the striped one??!!

THE MAN IN THE MOON

TMTA theme today is the "MOON". I couldn't decide which of the ideas I had I liked best so I made them both!!
The moon on the top one is made with air dry clay and coloured with alcohol inks and Memories black re-inker.
Backgrounds on both ATCs are alcohol inks.
Both stamps are Stampers Anonymous (available in the UK from The Stamp Attic)

BLACK CATS AND GREEN MOONS

I had so much fun with the READY STEADY STAMP challenge that I decided to have another go!
This piece also fits into my occasional pre- HALLOWEEN posting!

The quote on the vintage postcard image reads:

Avoid grinning black cats on full green moon,
If your lover is true he'll come back soon
It breaks the charm the witches scream
And never return till next Halloween

A Question.......

"EDIT" Thanks to all of you who took the time to answer my question, I read each one with interest. I think the general opinion seems to be that it is fine to use stickers as part of a piece as long as they fit in with it...........so, I have gone ahead and used them!! I will be posting the piece later this week so you will be able to judge whether you think I was right or not!!


Ok, this is something I have been pondering over all weekend and decided I would ask other peoples opinions on it! It's pretty silly really but here goes.

I have been working on a mixed media piece over the last few days and am very pleased with the way it is coming along. Yesterday I got to a point where I wanted to add some words to it and was thinking about how to do that.
I have a box of alphabet sticker sheets from years ago and decided to have a look through them, found some that fit the style of the piece but I can't bring myself to use them as I feel that stickers are cheating!!! Having spent so much time working on the rest of the piece to then use stickers seems wrong!
So, next thought was to use words cut from an old book, that idea sits quite happily with me but what is the real difference between that and the stickers??

See, told you it was silly but I just can't get the thought that stickers are cheating out of my head!


So, the question is:

DO YOU THINK THAT USING ALPHABET STICKERS ON A MIXED MEDIA PROJECT IS CHEATING??

I'd be grateful if any of you have the time and/or the inclination to give me your opinions on this!

HOME

NO PLACE LIKE HOME

PAPERBAG STUDIOS has the theme of HOME for the July stamp challenge.

I have been working on these pieces for the challenge over the last couple of days and finally got them finished yesterday. They are photographed in my garden hanging from the barbed wire wreath that hangs on the back of my shed door. It is looking a little more friendly at the moment as it has a tendril of honeysuckle growing around it!




GATE TO THE SECRET GARDEN





HEART AND HOME

BONSOIR!

While I was making the Ready Steady Stamp piece yesterday I decided to continue the play session and make another piece using the same techniques. The tree stamp I used is from one of the CHARACTER CONSTRUCTIONS sets I got recently from THE STAMP ATTIC, as is the owl in a pinny (how sweet is that image!??) and the bee, and I was dying to play with them so this gave me an excuse!

So, here is the result............BONSOIR!

READY... STEADY... STAMP

Today sees the start of a new challenge blog..........READY....STEADY....STAMP. It is run slightly differently than a lot of other challenge sites in that you are given a set of "ingredients" that you have to include in your piece. Today you have to include a cat or a dog, use the faux batik technique, a piece of old book page or journal, the colours gold and black and use three different brads.

So, here is my piece...........the gold is not too evident, it is a very small amount around the edge of the text paper in the corner and also one small gold brad!

My cat is not an ordinary cat...........it's a BIG CAT!!

Click the photo for a closer view, it was hard getting a good scanned pic of this piece.

BINGO!!

When playing BINGO you have to shout HOUSE when all the numbers on your card have been called out..........or so I am told, I have never played myself!! So, I thought a bingo house (or two) was quite appropriate for CRAZY AMIGOS theme of BINGO this week.

The long leggedy bird is by STAMPOTIQUE and the flowers from STUDIO 490........both from THE STAMP ATTIC


Love these crow stamps from LOST COAST DESIGNS. Leaves are from STUDIO 490.....available from THE STAMP ATTIC

ALTERED PLAYING CARDS BOOK

A few days ago I saw that INKURABLE STAMPERS had for their July theme ALTERED PLAYING CARDS.
As I have just read Alice's Adventures in Wonderland again for my book group that was first thing that came to mind; so here is my ALTERED ALICE CARD BOOK.

The pages are made from big playing cards, each one embossed with a Cuttlebug folder, coloured with black paint and Stazon inks and then mounted onto black card........mainly because some of the cards didn't stand up that well to the embossing and they were falling apart!
Each page then decorated with Alice images.

The pages are held together with yet more (smaller) playing cards folded and glued together to make hinges.



FRONT COVER

FRONT AND BACK COVERS











INSIDE PAGES

BACK COVER

CHRISTMAS PRESENT

This weeks theme on WINTER WONDERLAND is CHRISTMAS PRESENT. Here is my entry.

BUILDINGS INCHIE

The theme on INCHY BY INCH this week is BUILDINGS. I'm pretty sure this isn't what was intended but it's my take on the theme!! The inchie is the heart in the building!
The stamps are all from INVOKE ARTS FUNKY HOUSES set available from THE STAMP ATTIC.

COLOURFUL

The theme on WEDNESDAY STAMPER today is COLOURFUL. Hopefully this qualifies!! The bright colour is Stazon on semi glossy card; the background is also Stazon, it is what was transferred onto the piece of the background paper that I always have underneath my work, I thought it looked particularly nice today!!

WORKSHOP SAMPLE

Below is the sample for the next workshop I will be teaching at Paddys Stamping Place in Prestwich, near Manchester. Its called
"MATCHBOX EXTRAVAGANZA WITH A PYRAMID ON TOP"

The dates are 15th and 25th of July. If you would like to come along please call Paddy on 0161 798 5115 to book a place.

THE STAMP ATTIC DESIGN TEAM AND INCHIES BOX

I have known Wendy over at The Stamp Attic for many years and we are good friends. I have always made samples for her, I have taught the o0ccasional workshop for her and we have worked together on several magazine projects but we decided it was time to make it official so I am now officially on The Stamp Attic Design Team!!
As such this is my first DT piece for her.........a very simple project but it showcases the beautiful Bazzill glazed card very nicely!! I also used the bird and tree inchies sets from INKADINKADO.


I am also entering this box for the CREATED BY HAND challenge this week where the theme is INCHIES.

CHRISTMAS PAST......IN JULY!!

I have been making Halloween cards lately so why not Christmas cards??!!

I spotted a new Christmas challenge blog called WINTER WONDERLAND a couple of weeks ago and today decided to have a play and join in (better than watching the Tour de France on TV I can tell you!).
The theme this week is CHRISTMAS PAST so it gave me chance to use my all-time favourite Christmas stamp.........St Nick from Stampington, along with a Tim Holtz stamp of old style advertising.





I tied a couple of little jingley bells onto the holly leaf stems as a reminder of berries and added a metal tree decoration.


I've had these metal holly leaves for years and these are the last two!!

BROBDINGNAG

This is very minimalist for me...........in fact my husband just passed comment on that fact and said "why couldn't I work like that all the time........think of the money you'd save on ink!!!"


The funky person is a HOME IMPRESSIONS stamp from the FUNNY PEOPLE set, the border and heart are hand drawn.
HOME IMPRESSIONS stamps are now available here in the UK from THE STAMP ATTIC.

In case you were wondering..............BROBDINGNAG............is a word from Gullivers Travels. I have been using an old copy when I want some text for a project and that word keeps on popping out at me.........no idea what it means, I just like it!!

ART DOLL

This week the challenge on Mixed Media Monday is PLAYFULL ART DOLLS.
I wasn't going to join in this week but then earlier today I was working on something else and had this clay face left over and it set me thinking.
So, here is my ART DOLL.


The clay (air dry) face was coloured with alcohol inks, dripping it on meant the ink settled in the cracks and crevices.

The black ink wasn't quite dry on the crown when I dropped the alcohol ink over it but never mind, that doesn't worry me!!

LOOK INTO A FACE

On TMTA this week the theme is LOOK INTO A FACE. Here is my ATC; the face and quote stamps are both from Stampers Anonymous, the clip thingie is from 7gypsies.

OOPPSS!! It has been pointed out to me that the quote stamp is NOT Stampers Anonymous, it is PENNY BLACK.....sorry about that!

HANDCRAFTED

I just received a copy of HANDCRAFTED 5 in the post this morning and I am happy to tell that my WAX FAIRIES article that was originally in Jan/Feb 2007 Somerset Studio has been been re-published.

PARIS COLLAGE

So the challenge theme on CREATED BY HAND this week is "FRENCH", I wasn't going to take part but then the first part of my DT package arrived from THE CRAFT BARN and I now have the most beautiful set of Paris themed stamps by KATZELKRAFT on my desk! So, I just had to have a play and this collage was the result.
I used some of new colour alcohol inks for the background colour.

THIS WEEKS HALLOWEEN CARD

Because I love Halloween so much I have decided to post something Halloween-y every week or so between now and the actual date.
So the card for today is a "not too scary" Halloween image. It is from Impression Obsession but I have had it for a long time and don't know if it is still available.

LONG LOST STAMPS

Over the past few days I have been rummaging about in boxes of un-mounted stamps that I haven't looked in in ages and finding all sorts of things I had forgotten about!!
This stamp being an example of that and so I thought I'd share it with you!
It is from a company called RUBBERMOON they have lots of images along the same sort of line........what I call whimsical and quirky rather than cute!! Nothing wrong with cute, just not my thing!!

ULTIMATE BATHING BEAUTY?

The challenge this week on CRAZY AMIGOS is BATHING BEAUTIES.
I'm not sure that this is exactly what was intended but surely a mermaid is the ultimate bathing beauty!!!??
I have had this stamp for ages and ages and rarely used it, but I do think she is beautiful so am glad of the chance to use it again!

Ok so a couple of people seem to be interested in the mermaid stamp I used so I had a look around and it seems it is still available but only in the USA (as far as I can tell).The company that made it is Stamp Oasis and it seems they are now available through Rubbernecker....click here for the stamp

CRAFT BARN DESIGN TEAM & WORKHOPS

After the extravaganza weekend at The Craft Barn I was invited to join The Craft Barn design team and I am now pleased to announce that I have accepted! I am excited to join the team over at the Craft Barn and I'm really looking forward to getting working with fun products. Watch the Craft Barn blog for projects in the next few weeks.

I can also now announce that I will be teaching workshops at The Craft Barn. The first two are going to be over the weekend of 29th & 30th of August........details of the projects to be announced shortly.

If you are interested in the workshops please contact The Craft Barn on 01342 836398.

MY PRINCE!

OK, so I thought I was done with posting for today but then I spotted that the theme on Think Monday Think ATC was...........FROGS!!!

I have been a long time frog collector........almost to obsession point at one time but I got over that!! Anyway, they still hold a soft spot for me so I just had to enter!

So here is my froggy ATC

WHISPERS.....can you hear them?

While I was looking through my pile of un-mounted stamps for the Klimt swirl to use on my last post I came across this dragonfly stamp............I knew I had seen a challenge somewhere with a dragonfly theme so I pulled it out and decided to make an ATC, which you now see here!

I also found the tiny whispers word stamp that I had forgotten I had got and had never been used!

The challenge I am entering this for is over on Big Art Adventure

MORE LEFTOVERS!

This time from a workshop I taught at the weekend at Paddy's Stamping Place. Although the sample for the workshop had trees made using fern fronds one of the other options was for "blobby" trees (sort of inspired by Clarice Cliff and her blob trees) made using what are meant as Christmas bauble stamps from Elusive Images. So I had Rennie McIntosh and Klimt circles left over, here they are as cards!

STAMP ATTIC BLOG CANDY

THE STAMP ATTIC BLOG has "artful" blog candy on offer. For a chance to win pop over and leave her a comment with a link to your blog before midnight on Sunday. GOOD LUCK!!

PIANO HINGE BOOK

This is a piano hinge book that I recently taught as a workshop and I thought I'd share it here as well.

It's decorated in a much simpler, cleaner style than a lot of my work, but then it is good sometimes to work in a different way!
A closer view of the skewer spine.
It's almost finished, it just needs some sort of binding around the top and bottom of the skewers to keep them in place.



These are the inside pages.
All stamps used are ELUSIVE IMAGES which are available from THE CRAFT BARN

LEFTOVERS!

Over the past few days I've been working on pieces for publication so I'm not allowed to share those with you but what I can share are the pieces I made with the "leftovers" from those projects that were on my desk!!

I've mentioned this before but it's worth mentioning again that it can be a fun exercise to make something with just what you have left out after making something else!



This piece also kills two birds (sorry about the pun!!)with one stone as I am also posting it on the HOME IMPRESSIONS design team blog as the stamps used are all Home Impressions stamps..........which by the way are now available here in the UK from THE STAMP ATTIC

This tag uses the fabulous Stampotique girls face stamps, I absoloutely love these stamps!! along with a chandelier from Inkadinkado. Both stamp ranges are from The Stamp Attic.

And finally one tag laid on top of the other looks pretty good too I thought!!

HALLOWEEN IN JUNE!

I don't know why but I LOVE Halloween! I think it might be because I grew up reading fairy stories and now I like to read fantasy but whatever it is I love it, especially the pumpkins, the witches, the skulls..........oh OK all of it!!

So, when I was at The Stamp Attic recently I couldn't resist a set of Halloween stamps from Crafty Secrets. The images remind me of vintage postcards particularly the little girl.

I also bought these tickets by 7gypsies...................

put the two things together and you get a set of ATCs!!

While we are on the Halloween subject here is another ATC I made recently with a stamp I bought at Port Sunlight show. It was from Horseshoe Crafts but I'm not sure of the company, it was unmounted in a little plastic bag with no identifying label :(

The leaf ribbon is from The Stamp Attic and the little swirl, tiny bat and Happy Halloween quote are from the Crafty Secrets set mentioned above

CRAFT BARN WEEKEND & UPCOMING WORKSHOP SAMPLE

I had an absolutely fab time demoing down at The Craft Barn over the past weekend. It was very hectic and very tiring but great fun, everyone was great and I had lots of lovely comments about my work, always a nice boost to the ego! Thanks to those of you who stopped by to say hi!, and a special thanks to Rosemary (and Jenny who they originally belonged to) who gave me two carrier bags full of old dress patterns. These are fab for stamping on and for using in collages, covering boxes etc etc

Hopefully I am going to be back to demo again in September and also to teach some workshops at some point. Sandy and I have to work out the details for workshops but it would be great if we can organise something........the biggest problem is that I live so far away from The Craft Barn!

I will post dates on the blog when I have them so watch this space!!

So talking of workshops here is the sample for my next classes at Paddy's Stamping Place in Prestwich just north of Manchester, not the best pic in the world but hopefully good enough to give an idea! The first two dates for this workshop are 19th and 20th June (Friday and Saturday), if you would like to attend please call Paddy on 0161 798 5115

BEWARE THE JABBERWOCK

I recently joined a book group at my local craft shop.....The Cubby Hole
as most of the group are crafters we decided that for the next meeting (next Monday night) we would make a bookmark.
Here is mine.........I mean, what else could I choose??

AT LAST!!!!

At last THE STAMP ATTIC has a blog!!!!

Check it out here!!
THE STAMP ATTIC BLOG where creativity begins!

DANS MA MAISON.....

il y a ...........un arbre! Or, in my house there is a tree!

The challenge this week on DANS MA MAISON in to work in a house shaed format adding a tree.
Here is my entry.......the tree is a die cut.....thanks Sarah!!

INSECT ATCs

I bought these fun little insect stamps at Port Sunlight show......I was undecided as to whether to buy them as they are a bit on the cute side for me but then I decided they were whimsical rather than cute and so I bought them!!

Have been wanting to do something with them since I got them and then when I saw the theme on Created By Hand this week was insects it was the perfect opportunity!!

So here are my whimsical insect ATCs!



Just love the attitude of the one with his hands on his hips........well where hips would be if insects had them!!



The stamps are by a Canadian company called THE STAMP BARN

AT THE BOTTOM OF THE GARDEN

there are fairies!! Or so my Mum used to tell me.

I have a soft spot for fairies, not the over cutesy ones, but ones that look like they might be real, or that look like you imagine they would if they were real!

One of my favourite illustrators is Arthur Rackham (1867-1939) he illustrated many books including Wind in the Willows. Peter Pan, Alice in Wonderland and Midsummer Nights Dream. His fairy illustrations are beautiful and make me wish they were real!

Anyway, at Port Sunlight stamp show I bought these fairy stamps from LAVINIA STAMPS, she has some of the nicest fairy stamps around, these three come as a set. She also had this tree house stamp set which I think is quite cleverly designed, it comes as two stamps, the main stamp is the tree house itself and then the second stamp is the leaves and dots. This means you can have as many or as few leaves at the top of the tree house as you like.

A FOUND OBJECT & THE QUEEN OF LIFE

I got new stamps from STAMPOTIQUE a few weeks ago and since then haven't had time to play with them, until today that is. I made both these this afternoon.

FOUND OBJECT is made with Tim Holtz mask in the background coloured over with Rose Madder and Charcoal Grey Nick Bantock inks and then overstamped with TOP KNOT and TWO STICKS and FOUND. Object is cut from a dictionary




I just LOVE this stamp........she is called THE QUEEN OF LIFE ..........aren't her two babies just so bad looking!!?? The CHANDELIER is fromINKADINKADO and the leaf stick pins are MAYA ROAD

STAMPOTIQUE stamps are available in the UK from THE STAMP ATTIC

CRAFT BARN WEEKEND EXTRAVAGANZA

I am going to be demoing at The Craft Barn Weekend Extravaganza on June 6th and 7th. This is my demo sample! If you get chance come along and say hi!

There are going to be 15 demonstrators so there is sure to be something for everyone, check the website for a list of who else will be there.

FUN FINDS!!

Last weekend I was in Liverpool with friends to see Riverdance and while there it seemed a shame not to do a bit of shopping as well!! Anyway we were in Primark (not usually my fav place) when I spotted this fab snake belt...........I would never wear it but it is ripe for altering and using somehow!! And as it was only £1 it was even better!! The head and tail are particularly nice!!




Had seen this skull money box in the local shop where I teach workshops....THE CUBBY HOLE.. and when I bought the snake belt an idea started to form so I went and bought the skull as well............I can feel a Halloween something coming on............WATCH THIS SPACE!!!!!

HOME IMPRESSIONS HOUSE

Here is my latest piece using Home Impressions stamps. I have been using this house shape quite a lot lately and I think I'm a bit obsessed!!! For this house I used the Grunge, Gothic Arch and Old Doors sets of stamps and Mustard Seed Distress ink pad and Lettuce Adirondack ink pad. The images are stamped over a pre-printed text paper.

NEW COLOUR ALCOHOL INKS

Just a quick note to let anyone that might be interested that THE STAMP ATTIC now has
IN STOCK the new colours of alcohol inks in sets with the singles to follow very shortly.

They also have COMING VERY SOON the refillable alcohol ink pens!!

MIXED MEDIA MONDAY.....HAPPY EASTER!

I have the pleasure of hosting this weeks challenge on MIXED MEDIA MONDAY. My chosen theme is EASTER (bit predictable I know but hey ho!!)and my inspiration for the theme are my rabbits or are they hares??

(click for bigger view)

These were bought as really naff ornaments with strange fabric wrapped around the wire frames at the bottom and the bodies at the top. I dismembered them to discover a polystyrene body that the wire frame for the skirt was pushed into and that the arms, head and ears were also on wires that were pushed into place. It was all a bit wobbly and fell apart but that was Ok as it made it easier to decorate the bits seperately and then put it back together.

To get an idea of scale, the bigger one is over a foot tall!

The fabric skirts were replaced with strips of coloured and stamped paper cut to size and glued to the wire frame, I also added flowers made from buttons and leaf beads twisted onto wire.

I was really chuffed to have some of my work featured on the Inspirational blog today. Thanks to GILLIAN for choosing me and for your kind words about my work!

CRAFT STAMPER SNEAK PEEK!

The May issue of Craft Stamper is out today and I have a project using inchies stamps in it!! Below is a sneak peek of one of the projects...............Ok so the owl isn't an inchie but it goes with the other birds and trees images!!
The owl is an Elusive Images stamp and the inchies are from Inkadinkado and are available to buy from The Stamp Attic.

This is a bookmark made with the inchies stamps mounted onto a paint colour strip thingy........you know those you get at DIY places to take home and decide on colours! I can show you all of this piece as it wasn't used in the mag!

APRIL CANVAS

This canvas is part of a project that has just been published in the latest online magazine of the Stampers, Scrapbookers and Papercrafters Guild.
The Guild is run by Jane Pinder, past editor of Craft Stamper. Click on the link above to join the guild.

MY BIRD IS ON STUDIO 490 BLOG!!

Just to let you all know how cuffed I am that Wendy Vecchi of Studio 490 fame has put my Little Brown Job bird on her blog cos I used her stamps to decorate him with!!

MANY THANKS WENDY! MAKE ART!

LITTLE BROWN JOB!

The theme on Mixed Media Monday this week is "come fly with me".


As I seem to be a little bird obsessed lately it seemed another good opportunity to decorate one of the birds I bought a while ago.


So, here is my entry, not flying around at the moment but taking a bit of a rest on her nest, well it is Spring!



While I out on Friday buying spoons for my spoon flower canvas I also bought the cup and saucer for this project and in the same shop (Dunelm Mill) I found this fab feather braid. It comes in two sorts, this brown one and a black and white speckled one, it was a bit pricy at £5.99 a meter but it was perfect for the edge of my "nest" so I had to splash out!





A few twigs from the garden scattered on the saucer with some stamped tail feather leaves!

BLOG AWARD

Gillian gave me an award!! I am meant to choose 10 fav blogs to pass it along to but I would find that very hard to do so I am awarding it to all the blogs on my "blogs to see" list!!

A LITTLE GARDEN IN WHICH TO WALK

AN IMMENSITY IN WHICH TO DREAM.

The challenge on BIG ART ADVENTURE today is ALTERED CUTLERY, how could I resist!

So, after a quick trip to the supermarket for cheap teaspoons here is my flower girls canvas.......I have to say they remind me of the weed on the flower pot men.......if anyone is old enough to remember that kids programme from way back when!!

The faces in the bowls of the spoons are all from Stampotique stamps, available from The Stamp Attic

One advantage of cheap spoons is that it was reasonably easy to snap the handle offf this one!!

WEB HOUSE FOR MR STRIPES!

The challenge on Crazy Amigos is "stripes" this week and seeing as this spider stamp is called Mr Stripes I thought it appropriate to use him so I made him his own web house!

Mr Stripes is a Stampotique stamp and is available from The Stamp Attic.

HANGING HOUSES

More cards using new stamps from HOME IMPRESSIONS the sets used here are ROW HOUSES, GRUNGE and COGS AND CLOCKS.

FUNNY PEOPLE

I just received these stamps from HOME IMPRESSIONS.......they are called FUNNY PEOPLE! I absolutely love the one on the purple card!

The swirls stamps used are also HOME IMPRESSIONS from the GRUNGE set.

Visit the HOME IMPRESSIONS BLOG for more ideas using their stamps and the web site to purchase.

FUJI GODDESS

Great theme on Mixed Media Monday this week, it's ORIENTAL and it gives me a chance to use one of my all time favourite stamps! A little unusual for me as I'm not that keen on faces but this is just so beautiful I make an exception!

I found these little blank take-away containers recently so this was a good chance to use one, would make a lovely little gift box decorated with any theme!

FROM YOUR SEWING BASKET

On Saturday I discovered a new (to me) challenge site called SATURDAY SURPRISE.

Their theme this week is "sewing basket" and as it happens I had this flag book part done as a workshop sample so I decided today to finish it off and enter it for the challenge.



Here are the flags (pages) inside the book

and the accordion spine.

A LITTLE BIRDHOUSE IN YOUR SOUL

Have had a busy week working on stuff for publication that I can't show you here so poor blog has been neglected with no posts in a week!!

Anyway on Friday I saw that Big Art Adventure has a birdhouse theme, this is a fav theme of mine so it gave me the incentive to make one, and here it is.

The main part is made from cigar box I have had in the cupboard for YEARS! Another of those you keep till it becomes useful...........I seem to have lots of those things!!

The trees are made from old clothes pegs......again from the cupboard of saved things!

The bird was a more cute looking Easter bird that I was given last year, I painted him with metal paints and added some swirls.

The sign post stamp is from Stampers Anonymous and fitted in perfectly.

EXOTIC? MOI?!

I thought I was done with challenges this week but I was wandering around the challenge sites this morning seeing what everyone was up to when I spotted that the theme on TGIF was "exotic birds". I have had this bird stamp for a while but not used it very much so thought I would have a play around.


Anyway, this took me so far outside my comfort zone I got scared!! I added the black edge which helped calm me down a little but this is just so much more colour than I usually use!! Despite that I quite liked the way it came out.

BUTTON FLOWERS

The theme on Theme Thursday this week is flowers. This is my entry, they are two little paper brooches made with buttons, beads, wire and punched flowers.

THE WRITTEN WORD

"The written word" is the theme on Mixed Media Monday this week. I have been thinking about this theme on and off all week trying to decide what to do to represent it and could not decide until it occured to me.............where do most of us learn about the written word? School of course, so I decided that was going to be my approach.

So here is my entry.

Of course I have also had to use "the written word" in the process of making my piece.

HERE BE DRAGONS

It has always fascinated me why sailors used to think there were dragons beyond the horizon of what they knew? I mean like dragons were something they knew either?

So, when I saw the theme on Gothic Arches was "fantasy" this week I decided the dragons idea would be a fun one to use. I tried to get the feel of an old journal page so I burned one edge a little and scorched a patch in the centre.



Have had this charm for years and it fitted in perfectly for this piece.

HERE IS WHERE I FELL ASLEEP.........

The theme on Big Art Adventure today is bookmarks.............I just had to play along as I have a real soft spot for bookmarks, evidenced by the drawer full I have by my bed!! I try and buy a bookmark wherever I go as a reminder of the event or trip, they maske great cheap souvenirs.

Anyway, this is my entry.


The dangle on the end of the bookmark is an old radio valve, I found a box of them in a junk shop ages ago and without even knowing what they were at that point, bought them as they were fascinating and had such potential!!!

I'm late, I'm late........

.......for a very important date!!!


Mixed Media Monday has as its theme this week "TIME". My love of Alice in Wonderland reared its head again for this one!!



This is my entry...........the clock is a small wooden clock blank that I have had lurking around for ages, it fitted into this idea perfectly!

Whooooos whoooooo?

Here is my entry for Gothic Arches challenge where this week the theme is "pink and brown".

ART OF THE WEEK!

I have been away for a few days so not been keeping that up to date with the blog so I was really surprised and chuffed to see that I have been awarded ART OF THE WEEK over on Mixed Media Monday for my bird!!

Thanks to everyone who left such lovely comments about him!

ANYONE 4 TEA?

"Teatime" is the theme on Gothic Arches today. I haven't made an arch for a few weeks so thought it was time to have another play.

I have added a spout and handle to my arch, I hope that is Ok, the basic shape is still an arch!

Could not have teatime without adding the Mad Hatter in there somewhere, he is peeping over the tea bag folded flower in the corner!!

MY HEART HAS WINGS...........AND A BEAK!

Mixed Media Monday has a great theme this week............hearts and/or wings............how could I resist!!

Here is my entry...............I have to give credit where it's due, he was inspired by Tim Holtz! I have seen on several other blogs examples of birds that have been made in one of Tims workshops and I really liked them so I decided to have a go myself. The hardest part was finding a wooden bird to work on!

I have also entered him into the Lots to Do challenge which this week is also "wings".

THE KING AND QUEEN OF CHESS

Theme Thursday has a great theme this week, it's "game pieces", so even though I am a day late in posting ( had to work yesterday!!) I had to play along!!

Not used these stamps from Lost Coast Designs in ages so it was fun to use them again.

WORKSHOP SAMPLE AND WEDNESDAY STAMPER

I thought you might like to see a sample for one of my current workshops!

I am teaching this this week over at Paddys Stamping Place in Prestwich, nr Manchester, there are still places left particularly on Thursday. If anyone would like to come along give Paddy a call on 0161 798 5115, it would be great to see you there!!

I am also entering this piece for this weeks Wednesday Stamper where the challenge is to "use hearts in a differewnt way", I hope this counts!!


The leaves are made from punched copper hearts.

RECYCLED ROMANCE!

This is my entry for the Mixed Media Monday challenge this week.

The theme is "Romance".

My piece is made from recycled pages from the TV guide, if you look closely you can see the original text in the background!

For some reason folks seem to think this is a canvas, it isn't!!! It is a folded (if somewhat large) card made from the pages of the tv guide!!

MILAGROS HEART

I thought I was done with challenges for today but then I was wandering around blogs earler and spotted that the challenge on Big Art Adventure is Milagros Hearts and I just had to have a go!!
I love hearts in general but milagros hearts are just something special!

I have a friend who lives in New Mexico and on visits there I have bought several nichos and amongst them a couple of hearts.

Here is my version, I used Ten Seconds Studio metal working tools to get the patterned effects and black acrylic paint for the aged look.

AND THE WINNER IS?

MASKED BALL is the theme on TGIF today, this is my entry.


I have to admit it reminds me of some sort of film award!!!

BORDERS

Theme Thursday challenge is to use a border of some sort in your work.

The one I have used around the sides of this box is one of my favourites and it is from Paperbag Studios.

And just to prove that I do make cards occasionally I have also used it on the inside of the card that sits inside the box!!

KISS KISS

KISS KISS is the theme on Wednesday Stamper this week.
The only thing that came to mind when I saw this was "THE KISS" by Gustav Klimt, I knew I had some Klimt swirls stamps somewhere so I had a rummage around and found them and used them to create the background for the postcard (the picture is actually called "The Three Ages of Woman")

Last year the Tate gallery in Liverpool held a major Klimt exhibition as part of the city of culture celebrations and what an experience that was, it was mind blowing! So, I had some postcards lying around from that( though not of The Kiss itself, that wasn't included in the exhibition as it is too fragile to move)................the idea was starting to come together!!
Another artist whose work I like very much is Charles Rennie Mackintosh, he was a contemporary of Klimt and they did have some contact (there was some Mackintosh bits and pieces in the exhibition) so when it came to the words on this piece the Mackintosh style alphabet I have seemed to be just right!!

So, this is my entry for the KISS KISS challenge!