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.