Dream.......

Morning  peeps......well what a day I had Sunday all good mind you, still getting over the thrill of being asked by Nickky to join her talented team at Polka Doodles, I even managed to make a card on Sunday using my new stamp from Crafty individuals.......such a sweet design with the bird cage, I coloured the image (CI 320) with prisma pencils and distressed the top and bottom edges with Tea Dye distress ink, after stamping the image I sprinkled gold embossing powder over the cage to get gold highlights and then added gold lines with a sakura pen for added definition.The tag and other image with the lady on is also again from CI. the larger flowers are from another stamp (CI 302) which features the postcard, I coloured the main flower and cut out, embossing slightly for a raised effect, I then added stickles to the centres. The main paper is from The Craft Works which I tore and distressed with Tattered Rose, Tea Dye and Victorian Velvet adding a line of stitching around the edge.

Challenges

One Stop Craft......vintage.

The Stampman.....show us some stitching.

Sir Stampalot.....whatever you fancy 

Crafty Individuals.....bright and beautiful (well its bright for me.....lol)

Papertake.......anything goes 

Went to see the final installment of Harry Potter last night and was so much better

in 3D, bit blurry eyed this morning though and I've got a fun filled

day with Ethan to get through......might need a Nana nap later......lol

Have a great day

hugs n' smiles

Butterfly.......

Morning peeps hope you are all well and enjoying another sunny day although they had forecast rain all day today, at the moment the sky is blue here so we'll have to wait and see.Had a late night last night after going to the cinema to see the new X Men film which is good, just wished they had comfortable chairs I find it hard sitting in one pace these days for too long....achey bones and all, I think they should have comfy sofas so you can curl up.......might put it in the suggestion box. Today we've got Ethan and hes not very well at the moment, running a temprature or he was yesterday.
I thought I'd share with you a card that I made using a  tag I'd made ages ago, I hate not using my tags so I try to recycle them as part of the background like this one. The tag has been made using alcohol inks in three colours and then I stamped a butterfly image and sprinkled silver embossing powder on them for a smidge of bling, the main image on the card is from Crafty Individuals that I stamped onto acetate and then alcohol inked, the papers are from my fave Summer Breeze pad by First Editions.....each pad of papers they bring out gets better and better, but these are my faves at the moment....until the next one that is. The flowers were made out tof alcohol inked glossy card and the star dust stickles added on the top for sparkle as was the tag.

Challenges.

Stamp Something........something puched (flowers).

CES......inspired by a movie (the butterfly effect).

Stamp with Fun....pearls and flowers.

Crafty Calendar.....things with wings.

Pile it on......angles.

Charisma.....pink and green.

thanks for taking a peek

hugs

Romance.......

Morning fellow crafty bloggers hope you are all well, another blue sky today after the rain yesterday, at least the gardens are having the odd drop of water, my roses have supassed themselves with glorious big blooms. Todays card ties in with roses the flower of Romance......I'm feeling sentimental and mushy so I've done a vintage wedding card inspired by the challenge at Crafty Individuals this month, there are some lovely inspirational projects to inspire you there. I've distressed, misted, crackled and washed this card.......when I say washed I mean put a wash of Fresco acrylic paint over the background paper to dull it down and then stamped on the top of it with Pumice using my two most used stamps from Crafty Individuals......music sheet and swirl stamps. The frame I first painted in gold dabber then added the new crackle glaze with a top coat of a couple of colours of Fresco paints and voila (little bit of French) you get a lovely crackled finish......

The paper was also misted as was the heart doiley.......with Tea Rose, Irridescent gold, English Ivy and Twilight. The sentiment stamp Cherish is from Whiff of Joy, I think the flowers were from Hobby House and are perfect for vintage cards, I'm hopeless at putting on flowers so I have to wait overnight to finish the card as I can never decide where to put them............big decsions.....lol. The Victorian bird with rose was from Holland when I went last year, they do quite alot of Victorian style images with the glitter on very reminisant of old fashioned Victorian cards.

Challenges

Crafty Individuals.....Romance.

Oldie but a goodie........lots of layers.

Papertake......anything goes.

Everybody Art......distress.

Pink Elephant......here comes the Bride.

Pollycraft.....love and marriage.

Our Creative Corner.....wedding using pastel colours.

CRAFT.......wedding/love.

Crafty Cardmakers.....love the lasting time

catch up with you all later

hugs

Oh La La.......

Wow after all the rain we had yesterday, the sun has come out again and we have a gorgeous blue sky to wake up to....we're sure being spoilt at the moment.

Thought I'd share with you this ATC I made using one of my fave stamps .....Corsets from Crafty Individuals, lots of scrummy little corsets as well as an umbrella and hat, just great for collage cards. I'm quite getting into making atcs at the moment not sure if its because they're quicker or the fact that they look small and cute when finished. The backround was created by painting the new Fresco crackle glaze over the top of one layer and then painting over the top with another coat of paint and then waiting for the crackles to appear.....I soooooo love the effect. I wanted to paint a set of drawers using this technique but never had the courage to do it,when I say drawers I mean for my bedroom, so I thought I'd start small and work my way up to something bigger....lol.The body form stamp is by Cherry Pie, the seam binding is from Wild Orchid Crafts and the corner die is from Spellbinders new Parisian accents.

Challenges
Simon says stamp and show....your fave stamp.
Sweet Stampin'.....Oh La La.
Theme Thursday......texture/Layers.
Paper Sundaes......vintage or shabby chic.
 Craft room......anything goes.This is there first challenge so pop over.
Top Tip Tuesday......ribbon.

seaside......

Morning peeps another glorious day today after all the rain and wind we had yesterday, although we badly need the rain, the garden is in full bloom far too early really, normally the roses come out in June but mine are already out. Todays altered frame I made on Sunday inspired by the challenge at The Craft Barn......using Gesso and the brilliant Zuzu who is on the design team for crafty Individulas. Why I used this image I don't know as I'm not into seagulls but I do love the colours so I got my Terra and viva metallic paints out and had a play. Haven't played with these in a while and I'd forgotten how delish the paints were....all sparkly and pretty.The image and frame is from Crafty Individuals, I've run out of frames now which is a nuisance as these frames are perfect for small projects......oh well I feel in need of some retail therapy, although I'm supposed to saving for my holls in July......so naughty!! but I have got a stinkin' cold and I'm feelin' sorry for myself and I'm sure that buying stash helps fights the fever.......lol.

Materials used

Frame and image from Crafty Individuals

The Seashells are from Cuddly Buddly and come as a trim, all you need to do is snip off what you want to use and then colour.

Viva Terra.....for the texture.

Viva Precious metals......colours, Turquoise,Blue Lagoon and Mother of Pearl.

Gesso for a wash over the image and priming the frame.

Freso paints for Terra......Pansy, Sky and Vintage lace from Paperartsy

Bubble stamp on the frame is from Paperarsty.

Metal corner is from Wild Orchid crafts

Pearls, diamonds and trim are from stash.

Challenges.

The Craft Barn......gesso.

Allsorts.....photo inspiration of a beach.

CES......use at least three different embellishments.

Sunday Stamper......diamonds and pearls.

Polka Doodles......anything but a card.

Stamp Something Friday......something with beachy colours.

Stampavie.....summer.

Thanks for taking a peek

I appreciate all your comments

Thankyou

Corsets......

Morning peeps, hope you are having a good week so far, doesn't time fly. I got side tracked yesterday after my new stamp arrived I'd ordered from The Artistic Trading Post its one of the newbies from Crafty Individuals elements range featuring womens corsets, you get lots of small stamps with the larger ephemera invoice stamp. So I combined all of these with the challenge over at Grungy Monday which is to follow the technique.....Distress Ink Colour Blocking, nice and easy colour background, I used Victorian Velvet, Tea Dye and Dusty Concord, I coloured all the corsets in the same colours, the image I used crackle accents but I didn't use enough so I got a more glazed effect .....which doesn't look too bad, the metal corners are from Wild Orchid crafts.I went to our local garden centre as well yesterday as Ethan loves it because it has a large wooden play fort with slides, Richard loves going there for his Big Breakfast batch and me and mum well we just look at the plants, although we did buy some yesterday but its so dry at the moment the gardens are starting to suffer......talking of which I've still got lots of work to do.

Challenges.

Grungy Monday......colour block Technique.

Artistic Stamper.....ladies.

Simon Says.......sparkle and shine.

Truly Scrumptious.......anything oes.

Creative Inspirations......lace and pearls.

The Pixie cottage.....Sketch or Pink and girly

Thanks for taking a peek

hugs

Bees Wax......

Well after having an experimental day playing in my little craft room on Sunday I came up with this little number.....lots of mess with the beeswax, hmmmm not to sure if I was being a little heavy handed with the wax as I managed to get it everywhere, I think I spent more time cleaning down afterwards than I did splodging, scraping and painting it on, I think I got carried away as the layers were building up with images from Crafty Individuals, tissue paper from 7 Gypsies and lots of glimmer misting. I've only done 1 beeswax project before and that was with Lin at LB crafts so this was my first time flying solo, so to speak, after I had finished layering I brushed Perfect Pearls metallic powders to various parts and a tip I learnt from Lin was after dusting lightly remelt the wax for the powders to set in the wax.

Now the little bottle cap was made following one of the tutorials over at the Craft Barn wishing well tutorials last week......I like the idea that you just need to heat a little wax in the cap, add the image and then melt some more on top.....easy and very effective. The Eiffel tower is one of the 6 I made the other day......I'm so loving these and you will be seeing a few more Paris projects........I'm on the look out for a stamp with just the Tower on but big enough to see some detail of the metal structure, so if you knnow one give me a shout pleazzzze. The little postcard stamp from Crafty Individulas was coloured in with Prismas and distress ink and is so sweet although the text is English I think it lends itself for any occassion.

Challenges

Simon Says Stamp and Show......anything goes.

The Craft Barn.....Beeswax.

Oh La La.....Tres Chic, not sure whether tres grungy counts though.!!

Lets Ink It Up.....Embellish it.

Allsorts....... use three different stamps.

Alphabet.....A for around the world.
Everybody Art.......flowers.
Top Tip Tuesday.....Flowers
 Thank you for your kind inspirational comments
they are very much appreciated
hugs

 

Crafty Individuals......

Wow another sunny morning and I managed to get some of my jobs done yesterday so I also had a play....well I am on holiday and I've still got a couple of days off as well, I've never managed to do a posting a day for a long time but I certainly got nice and messy with todays card. It started life out as an experiment usig the crackle glaze with the new Fresco paints from Paperartsy but mine didn't crackle that much, so rather than ditch it I used it as the background of this tag which then evolved into my entry for this months challenge at Crafty Individuals.....if you're like me and you adore their stamps you just need to click here and enter, this months theme is called Free as a Bird. I have used lots of layers and techniques on this one and used papers from Springtime and the Tree paper books, the die cut bird was painted with fresco paints and I added gold dabber around the edges, the music stamp is from CI as are all the other stamps on this tag, I used the swirls stamp, again stamped with gold for the background and parts of the bird plate for the verse and small images of the birds which I stamped using Plum Versamark. There is also lots of spraying with mists on this .....I used three colours of glimmer mist for the ribbon and sprayed the background with Heirloom gold from ranger....you could say I kinda went overboard ....lol, the gold utee was stamped with a flower stamp using versamark which I then dust with Perfect Pearls and then put the heat gun on it again for the colours to merge.....have to be careful as you can loose the design if it melts too much.

Challenges.

Crafty Individuals.....Free as a Bird.

Cooking it up with Katie.....use ribbon, a bow and a tag.

My Mums Craft Shop...flowers.

Stamp Something Friday....things with wings.

If the shoe fits....things with wings.

Try it on Tuesdays.....something old (music stamp) and something new (Fresco paints).

Papertake......anything goes.

Top tip Tuesday......anything goes.

Oldie but a Goodie.....say it with flowers.(all stamps used are old)

Have a great day

and a big thank you for all your kind comments

much appreciated

hugs

Panic over.......

Phew I nearly went into melt down when I opened my melt pot yesterday (pardon the pun) I wasn't expecting it to have a european plug on it,so after searching for a new plug I snipped the original one off and rewired it .....I know I'm not a qualified electrician but I remember from school brown to the right and blue to left and the other one straight up, my son did help a smidge, well I let him for a treat....lol, ok the plugs on and its cooking away, and I poured some gold into my little eiffel tower mould I've had for a while, I dusted the mould with rust perfect pearls and then rubbed some gold wax on parts of it for highlights.....I'm thrilled to bits with the result so I made 6.....well it a nice round number, I know you'll get fed up seeing these charms on everything but I'm lovin' them, I also had a go at moulding my own.......its the pink rose, this time I used pearl utee and again dusted it in rust which is more pink than rusty looking......I've started off small but I'm going to play again and try stamping into utee the next time.
I'm not sure what todays project is going to end up a.......might be an album cover or a card. The background paper is from craft works, the stamps used are from crafty Individuals and the sentiment .....which is so apt for me as I can never work out when to stop putting embellishments on and the french clothing label under the eiffel tower are from Paperartsy. I used a Kabuka mold for the dress form which I then alcohol inked. I have inset the charm as its the challenge over at Lindas Grungy Monday, if you want the deets click here, I didn't have any foam so I used a piece of corrugated card......my bit of recycling for the week.

Challenges

Simon says stamp and show .....some buttons.

Grungy Monday.......A new Dimension.

Moving along with the times.....recycle (corrugated card for the background),

Lets Ink It Up....stitching, the buttons are stitched onto the cards.

Have a great day

hugs

Birthday card.......

Todays is my sons birthady, and I was told off last year for not making him a card for his 21st and he reminded me of it again this year so I thought I'd better make him one or I'd be in trouble again.....I've used a combo of stamps for this card, an atc from Tim Holtz, music stamp from Crafty Individuals and the Rockstar stamps which I can't remember for the life of me who the manufacturer is of these....its on the tip of my tongue as they say. I have used a variety of techniques on this card, for the background I used alcohol inks with gold, I was really pleased with how this turned out. The main tag was distressed with Chipped Saphire, Denim and Dusty Concord, I added silver embossing powder to parts of the skull and then glossy accents on the top.I even did abit of recycling by using a ring pull from a can blinged up with black stickles.

Challenges

The Stampman.......Embossing.

If the Shoe Fits.......Die cuts, embossing and clear bling

Can't believe its the weekend again

have a good one

hugs

Paris.....

Evening crafty peeps ....another day of rain, will spring ever come, painting the fence panels are on hold again however I did get to play with my stamps. So todays card features a stamp from Crafty Individuals which I put a stambord domino on......I've been following the techniques over at The Craft Barn altering dominoes using various colouring materials and Krylon pens, sorry I don't have one of those so I improvised using metallic paint from Viva, they also have a challenge this week featuring using the techniques.The images were coloured with distress inks and the dominoe was triple embossed . The papers are from Craft works and DCWV and the flower is from Wild Orchid crafts. The edges of the papers were distressed with Mahogany as are the swirls.

Challenges include Sketchy colours whose colour theme is pink and beige. Hels over at The Sunday Stamper has the theme of Paris.....and being as we're going there this week it seemed appropriate. We're taking Ethan and his mum and dad to meet Buzz Lightyear and Mickey at Disneyland, just hope the weather improves for next weekend. The sketch that I followed is from Our Creative Corner who also want you to include distressing. The Stamp Mans challenge this week is to include swirls and curls as is the theme at Theme Thursday.Rainbow ladys challenge is Shabby Chic. Simon Says they want coffee and cream as well as having a Dt Call.

Thanks for taking a peek

your comments are inspirational ....many thanks

hugs

Valentine......

I started having a play around on Friday, but have been feeling abit under the weather for the past couple of days, so I  finally finished it today,I've used lots of elements as well as lots of gold perfect pearls.......love my bling. I used a victorian style valentine card as inspiration, so I distressed and spritzed a doiley and then made a collage for the centre panel using a script stamp for the background from The Artistic Stamper, I cut out part of an image featuring the Eiffel Tower from a stamp from Crafty Individuals, I used a bronze embossing powder from Wow on parts of it. The victorian vignette image I got last year from Holland.I added a layer of angel type hair paper......actually it some packaging around some flowers, so abit of recycling there to the base of the collage and then added red rose from Wild Orchid Crafts.The red sparkly hearts I made using red cosmic shimmer embossing powder, the heart stamp is from Debbie Moore. The lace was spritzed in gold as well and then I added the word love whick are letters from Dovecraft cystal gem letters....

Challenges

Crazy 4 Challenges.....Valentine.

Secret Crafter.....Valentine.

Allsorts....love Love Love.

Stampin' for the Weekend.....St. Valentines Day.

Polka Doodles......hearts.

Paper Sundaes....use more than 1 image.

Crafty Pad....love is in the air.

Artistic Stamper.....All things Love.

Lets Ink it Up......Valentines.

Have a great week

and thank you for your comments

they're inspirational

Just Dreaming........

I've been to Jam Jam Boomerang today with my son and grandson....its a soft play area for different ages, there were more adults playing on the large slide and play area today than children......including myself, well any excuse, I think it was grab a child and go and have fun launching yourself into the ball pool.......lol. So now I've calmed down and acting my age again I thought I'd post this card that I started making on Sunday, I painted the corrugated card with Eco acylic paints which are the best paints I've used, the metallics are lush, I then spritzed it using gold perfect pearls spray. The papers are called Ella Blue I created the border and then added the blue dotty paper on top, all of the images are from Crafty Individuals, I used blue perfect pearls to paint the wings, the background of the image was painted with distress inks......old paper. the sentiment and key lock were embossed using bronze embossing powder by Wow.

Click here for Crafty Individuals.

Challenges.

Oldie but a Goodie........fairies or other magical creatures, (sentiment and keylock are my oldest stash)

My Time To Craft......embossing dry or heat.

Everybody Art.....my favourite thing.....distressing and crafty individual stamps.

Stamp with fun.....blue and brown.

Sweet Stampin'........brown plus 1 colour.

Thanks for taking a peek

hugs

techno lesson.......

I'm feeling a smidge pleased with myself, the lovely Chrissie at Sketch and Stash has had a watermark made for us for our cards, my son has had to give me step by step instructions on how to put the watermark on my projects using gimp......so this is my first post using the watermark. I've written down step by step instructions to follow but of course things never work out as planned but I'm sure I'll get there in the end.
Todays tag is for the lovely Lindas challenge Compendium of Curiosities from Mr.Ts book.......coloured fragments, I have to confess I didn't have the pens for the technique so I had to use a brush, hope teacher lets me off and doesn't make me do lines......I must use a pen, I must use a pen......lol. The stamp images are from Crafty Individuals, the background of the tag was distressed with tea dye and sage and then spritzed with gold perfect pearls spray.

Challenges

Compendium of Curiosities......coloured fragments.

Papercutz......anything goes.

Sunday Stampers......buttons

Paper Sundaes.....distressing.

Hope you have a great day

Off to finish my DT cards for the new release of stamps featuring Toby Tumble tomorrow, better get y skates on ......

Hugs

Bottle top......

Thought I'd share with you this simple idea of adding bling to a bottle top.I tend to do this to all of my bottle tops as I want them to be a little more than just an image stuck on.

Materials needed

Image(I've used Crafty Individuals), punch, glossy accents metal foil, glue stick.alchohol ink.

turn cap over and use the reverse side, fill the rim edge with glossy accents

 and punch out an image that you want to use.

whilst the glossy accents is still wet put a couple of drops of alchohol ink

and let it seep around the edge.

This will dry to the bottom of the rim for an enameled look.

select the colour foil you want to use and apply glue in places around the image,

 use the glue sparingly

as you don't want to put to much foil on the image.

apply image to centre of cap using glossy accents and then apply

glossy accents to the top of the image

making sure you have covered the whole of the top.

the worst bit is waiting for the glossy accents to dry

takes an hour+, after its dried you can add foil to the rim of the bottle cap

using your glue stick the same as you did when adding foil to the image.

Hope you like my mini tutorial, this embellishment was used on the card in the previous post.

thanks for taking a peek.

hugs

Rusty......

.......Well my brain is but its also the challenge at Lindas place....Compendium of Curiosities is Rusted grunge, now the technique is top secret but if you have the decode book turn to page 45 and follow the instructions......don't worry it won't self destruct after you have completed the mission.......sorry Linda.
I used tea dye distress powder and it actually worked, it does look rusty ....cool or what, sorry about the quality of the photos taken at night with flash. Image of train drivers is from Crafty Individuals as is the sentiment and the ticket stamped onto tissue paper, the background stamp is from The Artistic Stamper, I tried the scribble ink background again as its great for vintage backgrounds.

Challenges

Rainbow Lady....new technique, rusty key and lock.

Three Muses......old fashioned.

Top Tip Tuesday....altered metal or use metal.

Simon Show and stamp.....use oldest or newest stamp.......sentiment.

Compendium of Curiosities......rusted grunge page 45

thanks for taking a peek

your comments mean alot

thankyou

hugs