A WINTER DAY

I was chuffed to have been asked to be the guest designer for December on ARTIST TRADING CLUB blog! I chose the theme of A WINTER DAY and these are the ATCs I made, four of them are up for trade over on the Trading Club blog!

BY THE LIGHT OF A WINTER MOON

is where pumpkins take a walk when Autumn is done with!!
I know just when you thought I'd got over the whole pumpkin thing up pops another one! I have been wanting this CHARACTER CONSTRUCTIONS stamp set for ages but every time I have been down at THE STAMP ATTIC it has been out of stock, except this last weekend, so I just had to buy it and then of course I wanted to use it!
So, today the colour challenge on PLAY DATE CAFE is green, orange (see where the pumpkin comes in?) and two shades of blue; blue is a hard colour for me, don't know why I just hardly ever use it. Having said that I am pleased with the way the blue worked on this!

OLD TROUT............next installment!

Have not blogged in over a week, where does the time go?? Well, some of it went teaching down at THE CRAFT BARN over the weekend, I had a fun time and thanks to any of you reading this that came along! :)

Not got a lot to show at the min but I did manage to do some more to the trout journal page that I showed just started a while ago! He now has a top hat, glasses and weird looking eyes!! Added some word bits and some swirls as well...........still feel like it needs something more just to pull it together.........need to think on it some more!! However I like the way it is going so far!!

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!!)