Forgotten Friday 34- Paper Artsy Tag

Hi folks, it's Friday again, and time to rummage through your forgotten stash. Have a look to see what crafty items you have neglected, and make something with them.

This week, I have chosen to make a Kraft tag, using stamps from Paper Artsy. I have lots of their stamps, that don't get a proper airing. Some of these haven't been used before, so it was a good excuse to get them out and make this tag. I decided to use the lovely bluebell stamp, so chose a blue theme for my tag. I used some  Versamagic chalk inks to make the background, and then stamped the flower with a sepia Archival ink. I coloured the flowers with my Polychromos pencils, and added lots of smaller stamps to build up the completed tag.

If you care to make something yourself with some forgotten items, leave a comment, and I'll pop along to your blog to take a look. Thanks for stopping by today, xx

Another Christmas Sample

Hi Folks, just hought I'd show you another sample that I'd made with some of the new stamps released over at Chocolate Baroque this week. This card uses stamps from the 'Peace on Earth' stamp set.

I used a piece of backing paper from the Season's Greetings CD mounted onto gold mirri card to start my card off, then stamped the main image, and the lanterns with Versamark, before embossing them with gold embossing powder. I coloured them with Ecoline inks. I put the lanterns onto chain across the top of the card, by adding jump rings through the top of each one.

I'll have another sample for you tomorrow, but in the meantime, don't forget to pop over to the Design Team Blog too, to see what the Design Team have been up to with these stamps as well. Thanks for stopping by, xx

New stamps at Chocolate Baroque

Hi Folks, just to let you know that there are new Christmas stamps being released over at Chocolate Baroque right now. Why don't you pop over there to take a look. All this week the Design Team are posting their samples on the Design Team Blog

I thought I'd show you another sample that I'd made over here. This card is using a couple of stamps from the 'Fat Robin' stamp plate. I stamped the Trees onto acetate using Stazon, then on the back, I put some Glossy Accents and a couple of drops of Bundled Sage Distress re-inker. I then sprinkled some glitter on top. I then crumpled some tisue paper, and pressed this onto the acetate, before adding a layer of white card. I let the whole thing dry overnight, before trimming the image.

For the background, I put a few drops of Bundled Sage re-inker into a mini mister with water, and spritzed the card, drying the card between each application, until I was happy with the colour. I then stamped the trees with Bundled Sage Distress Ink over the top. I stamped the sentiment with Stazon in the bottom corner.

Glenda is having a giveaway on her blog, so pop over there, the link is in my sidebar. Thanks for popping by today, xx

Ally Pally and the result of my Giveaway

Hi folks, well I'm back from my weekend jaunt to Alexandra Palace at the weekend. I stayed overnight on Saturday with two of my CSQ buddies, Jo and Elaine. We rarely see each other, so this was a real treat for us. It was just a shame that the other part of the quartet, Lesley, couldn't make it to be with us :(

On Saturday, we spent the day mostly shopping, meeting a few of our friends from the Chocolate Baroque Guild and stopping for tea breaks. On Sunday, we managed to watch more demonstrations, which was great, as we picked up some great tips, especially from one of our crafting friends Linda Brown from LB Crafts. She was demoing Pan Pastels, which I have had my eye on for a little while. I am itching to have a go with some of these now!

In the afternoon, sadly, it was time to say goodbye to each other, and for Elaine and I particularly, knowing that we wouldn't see each other for several months now, it's always quite hard. We formed our other Blog as a means of crafting together, but our busy lives mean that it has been a bit neglected lately.

Now, onto the subject of my Forgotten Friday canvas. My OH very kindly drew a name out of the hat, or paper bag in this case! It was my namesake Judith. I have emailed Judith to let her know, so the canvas will be winging its way to her once I have her snailmail address. Sorry folks to those of you who missed out on this occasion. However, I know that I will be in this position on another occasion, so keep your eyes out for more projects that I will be offering out in the future.

Thanks for stopping by today, xx

Forgotten Friday 33- Project Completed!

Hi Folks, it's Friday again, and time to rummage through your forgotten stash once again. See if you can make something with your neglected craft items.

This week I have managed to finish my tag canvas started last year at the Graphicus Retreat. I have thoroughly enjoyed this project, using old, neglected stamps, and colours of Distress Inks that I wouldn't look twice at normally. I have revisited techniques on these tags that I want to use again in my crafting, so it has been a really worthwhile experience. This week, yesterday in fact, I made the last five tags, and then stuck all of them onto the canvas. I went a little 'off piste' regarding some of the stamps right at the end, because I wanted to incorporate a couple of slightly newer ones. The stamps used are probably all still available at Chocolate Baroque  I also added a couple of my own embellishments, and repeated the gel resist technique, because I like that so much.

I hope you like the finished result!

Now, this particular canvas needs a home, as I am running out of display space. If someone would like it, please let me know. If I get more than one person requesting the canvas, then I'll put everyone's names into a hat, and draw one out. I'll check back, and let you know on Monday, as I'm going away to Ally Pally over the weekend. Look out for me if you are going!

If you feel like making something yourself with something that has been forgotten or neglected, please leave a comment, and I'll pop along to your blog to take a look. Thanks for stopping by today, xx

*** THE DRAW FOR THIS CANVAS HAS NOW TAKEN PLACE ***

A very Special Birthday

Today it's my Daughter's 22nd Birthday. She feels old, I guess that it's all relative, I look in the mirror, and don't recognise the lines on my face, so I feel old. I look at her, and don't know where the time has gone since she was a little girl, or a stroppy twelve year old. Whatever age I remember her at, it's always with a smile.

I will be celebrating her special day with her as this post appears. We are staying in Stoke for a couple of days, where she goes to University. I'm not sure what we are going to do, except have a lovely meal out in the evening.

I made her card using some lovely stamps from IndigoBlu; 'Ella Bella', and 'Anemone Corner'. I coloured the background with Distress Inks, stamped and embossed 'Ella Bella' in the centre, and then stamped 'Anemone Corner' in the two opposite corners. I stamped the flower sections again onto white card, coloured the flowers with Polychromos pencils, and decoupaged them. I added two little Martha Stewart butterflies, edged with Stickles, and added Stickles to the flowers and central design too.

It gets harder every year to make Megan's card, as she has had a lot of handmade cards from  me now! Hopefully she will like this one, it's pink, so I'm starting off in the right direction!
Thanks for stopping by today, xx                           

Forgotten Friday 32- More Tags

Hi Folks, it's Friday again, and that means time to rummage through your forgotten stash again, and try to make something with your neglected items. Sorry I missed last week, but as you know, I was away on holiday.

This week, I have made two more tags for the Tag canvas that I was working on two weeks ago, and it is starting to fill up nicely now. The first one was made using Distress Inks to create background colour, then a homemade glimmer spritz, using water and Perfect Pearls. This is so quick, and cheaper than buying custom made pearly sprays. I then stamped a large floral stamp onto the tag. A text daisy, a button and some ribbon completed the tag.

The second tag was made using Distress Inks again, I'm using lots of colours in this project that I might not use regularly these days, so they really qualify for this post. I'm also digging out neglected stamps, and some were used on this second tag particularly. The design was built up using lots of smaller stamps. Two smaller tags were covered in text pages, and coloured with Distress Inks too, then attached to form a closure around the front of the tag.

Here are my tags laid out on the canvas:

I am hoping to get the rest done this week, as they are smaller and simpler than the tags that I have already made.

We are off to see my lovely Daughter this afternoon, as it is her Birthday tomorrow. We are spending the weekend with her and her Boyfriend. I can't blog her card until tomorrow, as she looks at my Blog! Have a great weekend whatever you are up to, and if you feel like making something with your forgotten crafty items, please leave a comment, and I'll pop along to your Blog to take a look. Thanks for stopping by, xx

Birthday Card for a Friend

Hi Folks, I'm safely back from Italy now, we arrived home last night. Lake Garda was as beautiful as ever, and the week passed very quickly. We visited Venice, Milan and Verona, as well as local towns around the Lake, with stunning views. We went with my Brother-in-law and his wife, My Mother and Father-in-law, and also my Son, so a group of seven of us. We didn't have a drop of rain all week, and the temperatures reached 32 degrees which was about as much as I could bear!

One of my favourite places to visit is Gardone, a town on the Lake, and a house there called Il Vittoriale, with beautiful gardens, reminiscent of Portmerion. I've been there twice now, and just love the atmosphere, it's so peaceful.

It's the Birthday of a very good friend of mine today. I made her card before I went away, and wanted to incorporate things that meant something to her. I created a background using some leaves from my garden, as she loves Nature, and her own lovely garden. Hopefully she'll come and see my garden IRL one day, and I'll get to see hers. We are crafting buddies, but long distance, only meeting at Craft Shows, and days out. I used a technique that I found on Marja's Blog. She gives a link in this  post, to where she found the technique. I sprayed some watercolour paper with Cosmic Shimmer sprays, after I had laid my fig leaves onto the paper. I then placed another piece of the paper on top, making a sandwich, and ran this through my Big Shot. The result is this lovely piece of paper.

I used a piece of background paper from a lovely 12 x 12 pad that I hoard in my stash with butterflies on  a teal background. I stamped the gardening lady stamp onto a piece of card coloured with Distress Inks, and matted onto a Nestie frame. I used a new Crealie Flower die to make the flowers from some left over card, adding large pearl brads. This image reminded me of my friend as soon as I saw it, and I bought it with her Birthday card in mind, several months ago. I bought it from an Ebay store that she herself frequents!

Some teal ribbon, and a butterfly charm finish the card off. I know that she has received the card, and I hope that she is having a very special Birthday.

Thanks for stopping by today, xx

Life is a Game of Chess

Hi folks, another day, and another sample from me using the new stamp set 'The Art of Chess', just released over on Chocolate Baroque

I've gone much simpler this time, using a lovely backing paper from a paper set called Echoes of Italy, which I'm hoping will be available again soon. It's from my stash. I created a frame for the central image by stamping it on scrap paper, and then using a circle Nestie to draw around the top edge. I then cut this out, and used the template for my backing paper. I then inked around all of the edges with Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink.

I stamped the image again onto white card, and coloured it with Inktense pencils, using a waterbrush to blend the colours, and then adding more pencil to create depth. I stamped a sentiment from the 'Artful Affirmations' set, to create the impression of a game within the window, and added two polymer clay pieces waiting to enter the game. I coloured these with precious metal paint, and added Inka Gold in Silver on the raised areas to highlight the design of the pieces.

Look out for more samples of these new stamps over on the Design Team Blog I have a couple more samples myself coming up over there this week.

Thanks for stopping by today, xx

Forgotten Friday 31- A forgotten project

Hi folks, well it's my second post today, but one that you are more familiar with, my Forgotten Friday post. I decided this week to look at a project that I started about a year ago at the Graphicus Retreat, and never managed to finish. I think that I might tackle a bit of this project over the next few weeks in this slot in order to finish the project, as it is such a large project to tackle. There are lots of techniques covered, and it will refresh my memory, and perhaps yours too.

The project that I am looking at is a large canvas with several tags covering it. The class was called 'Tagtastic Workshop', and it was full of fabulous colour and stamping. The beauty of tackling this project now, is that I can take my time, and, if I wish, incorporate newer Chocolate Baroque stamps into the tags that have come along since, which are becoming firm favourites. We were encouraged at the Retreat to go home and use the stamps that we had to finish this project off, I had them all, as I love these stamps so much, but I may incorporate one or two little newbies in.

Another good element to this project is the range of colours that I will be using, I have 'forgotten' Distress Inks too, colours that I don't use or neglect, and this project will see me getting those out, and dusting off the cobwebs.

So far, I have coloured my canvas, I did this at the Retreat, and tackled three tags. Two of these were started, I have just finished them today, and made another one.

I was blown away by the gel resist technique that I learnt at the Retreat, but sadly haven't used it since. I really must make something with that technique again, as it is so effective.

The bird was stamped onto the book page with Matte Multi medium, and once dry, inked over with Distress Inks, it looks amazing, and was so simple to do.

I hardly ever use this Tim Holtz bird and bird cage, so to make something for myself with it makes a change. The cage is painted with precious metal paint, and the background is simply a mix of fabulous Chocolate Baroque stamps.

I am going on holiday on Sunday, to lovely Lake Garda, and will be away until 12th September. If I have time, I will do a scheduled post for next week. However, time is running away with me, so I'm not making any promises! Don't forget to look through your own neglected stash and see if you can make something with your forgotten items. Leave a comment on my Blog, and I'll pop along to take a look. Thanks for stopping by today, xx

Old Leather Music Book

Continuing on the theme of the new stamps released over at Chocolate Baroque this week, I have made a sample with the 'Music Fanfare' stamp set this time.

I wanted to make my project look like a tooled leather book, and after some thought, set about spraying some cheap photo copy paper with Adirondack spray inks, until I achieved the desired colour. I used Cranberry and Red Pepper. I cut three hearts from chipboard, using the heart music stamp as a template, and stuck these to my main piece of chipboard, before sticking the sprayed paper down. I pressed around the hearts, and the paper was soft enough to settle around them. I coloured the edges of the paper with Black Soot Distress Ink.

I created a central focal point with mount board, stamping one of the lovely music images with Versafine Ink, and triple embossing the oval. I worked out where it was going to go on my project, and stamped some leaves in Black Stazon to create a frame around the oval. Finally, I added hinges and a lock created with grungepaper, and coloured with Black Soot DI.

I'll have another project for you tomorrow, using the chess stamps again. Don't forget to keep checking over on the Design Team Blog for more samples there from myself and my team mates. A sample that I made using the 'Music Fanfare' set is now showing on the DT Blog.

For details on how I made this card, please pop over to the Design Team Blog to take a look.

I'll be back later today with my Forgotten Friday post, see you then!

Thanks for stopping by, xx

New Chocolate Baroque Stamps!

Over at Chocolate Baroque Glenda has launched two new sets of stamps, 'The Art of Chess', and 'Music Fanfare'.

These are both fabulous stamps sets, and very useful for birthday cards for both men and women. When I first looked at the chess set, I could see the potential for men's cards, but wanted to show just how versatile this stamp set could be. I set about making a much more feminine card, using a palette of yellow and gold.

I created a background using Ecoline ink and salt, which I dried, then stamped some images from the 'Royal Fleur de Lys' stamp set. I used a piece of yellow vellum, and embossed a pawn shape randomly, using gold embossing powder, and painted the images, using Ecoline ink again. I stamped the sentiment on a left over scrap of the background, and edged it with Distress Ink.

Finally, I stamped the image of a woman and coloured her with Polychromos, before mounting her onto an oval Nestie, as if she were a reflection in a mirror, adding a shrink plastic crown.

Hop over to the Design Team Blog to see Glenda's sample card using these fabulous stamps, and keep checking back over the next few days for samples from the Design Team members. I will be posting a couple more samples myself on my Blog, so do come back to see me here as well.

Thanks for popping by today, xx