Hi Folks, well I'm still at my Parents' house, so this is a scheduled post. A few weeks ago I was asked by the lovely Suzee and Abbie to become part of the Design Team for the Altered Elusions and Card Artitude blog. This is a different type of work for me to a lot of my usual design team work, and I was very happy to join the team. I rarely work with digital images, although i have lots of fabulous images stored on my computer. If you scroll back through the history of my blog, (way back!), you will find some examples of digi crafting, but I mostly make digital items to sell.
The Altered Elusions Blog is a fortnightly challenge Blog, which started two weeks ago. I couldn't take part for the first challenge, as I had my fabulous buddies staying with me, and so I am now joining in for Challenge two, which is 'Vintage'.
My first submission uses a lovely image from Christine of two little birds. I wanted to make the colouring realistic, so I googled 'brown budgies'. Did any of you know that there is a Cinnamon Budgie? That really appealed to me! Anyway, I made an easel card using die cuts, and actually used my Big Shot Pro for the first time! The papers are from a Prima paper stack, and I have used a Crealie die for the leaves, and a Marianne die to make the little flowers, which I coloured with Pan Pastels.

The sentiment is one from Waltzing Mouse.

My second project is a little altered box that I have painted with Eco Green paints, edged with Distress Inks, then rubbed on some Inka Gold paste. I added some metal lace cut from a Tim Holtz die around the side of the box lid. I coloured some wooden tiles with Distress Inks to make the words for the box lid, and added a glass heart and large key charm. I decoupaged the main image, which I coloured with Polychromos. I lined the box woth some fabulous paper from the Essence of Nature CD from Chocolate Baroque, before adding some tissue paper, and some delicious chocolates!

I hope that you'll pop along to the blog and take a look, join in the challenge and make something along a Vintage theme. It can be a card, a tag, an altered item, whatever you like. Thanks for stopping by, xx

Forgotten Friday 58- A few Alphatags

Hi folks, it's Friday again, phew! Where did the week go? It's time to rummage through your crafty stash and see what you have lurking there that is neglected or unused. I am cheating slightly this week, as I had a 'craft related incident', and cut my finger on a Nestability on Wednesday, which is making crafting very difficult at the moment. So I am showing you something that I have made already that used neglected items.

Regular followers will know that I make tags for the Chocolate Baroque Alphatag Swap each month, although I don't always blog them. This month, a couple of my tags used very unused items, so I feel that I can show you those tags for my Forgotten Friday post. The first tag is 'M' for Music:

I embossed the tag using a Music embossing folder and an embossing diffuser, to give me a blank area in the centre for stamping. I stamped the musical instrument using Black Archival ink. I then coloured a piece of mountboard with red Distress Ink and stamped the musical heart, before cutting it out. I triple embossed this with thick WOW clear embossing powder. I love the shine that this embossing powder gives, it's the best one that I've found. I added some Sizzix leaves and black ribbon to finish.

My second tag is 'N' for Nature:

I coloured the background of the tag with Pan Pastels before stamping the tree from the Essence of Nature stamp set from Chocolate Baroque. I decoupaged the butterflies, which I coloured with Polychromos pencils. The leaves were stamped onto card that had been coloured with Pan Pastels. I also added a bit of crackle around the edges using a stamp from the Echoes of Italy stamp set.

It's been lovely to get some of these older stamp sets out, give them an airing again, and to give the embossing diffuser a try out. Why don't you have a rummage through your crafty stash, find something that you haven't used for a while, and make something? If you leave a comment, I'll pop along to your blog to take a look.

I'd like to say hello to all of my new followers, thank you so much for joining me, you are very welcome.

I'm off to visit my parents today, so I'd better get a wriggle on packing the car now, thanks for stopping by, xx

Pretty Steampunk Beetle

Hi folks, I'd like to show you another sample using the new Steampunk stamps recently released over at Chocolate Baroque I have chosen to use a feminine colour palette for my sample and picked some lovely pinks and oranges, which I have offset with a bright green.

I started by making a background with Pan Pastels, and then sponged through the Reverse Chicken Wire template from Crafter's Workshop with Versamark ink. I went over this with more of the same Pan Pastel colours that I had used for the background. I stamped the large cog and flower stamp from the Punky Romance stamp plate, using Versamark ink again, and covered this with Pan Pastels as well.

I cut out some flowers and leaves from handmade paper, and coloured these with Pan Pastels. The flowers were coloured with pink and orange, and the leaves were coloured with two shades of green. I stamped the darker areas of the leaves with the little coggy tree from the Steampunk Christmas stamp plate.

I stamped the beetle onto white card twice, and coloured it with Polychromos pencils. I decoupaged the layers, and brushed some gold mica pwder over the top, before adding Glossy Accents to the beetle's body and the clock face.

I scrunched the flowers, fixing them together with brads, and attached them to the card. I stuck cogs into the centres and filled these with Glossy Accents. I then filled the centres with seed beads. I added a sentiment and a couple of cogs to finish.

These stamps are such fun to work with. Why not pop over to the Design Team blog over the coming days to see what my Design Team mates have been making with them? Thanks for stopping by, xx

Hinged ATC

I've been playing with the new stamps recently released over at Chocolate Baroque and have a piece on the Design Team blog today. Here's a brief recap of what I made, but the full details are posted on the DT blog.

I covered two ATC sized pieces of wood with gesso, and then painted them with Eco Green acrylic paint. I love this paint, as it has a lovely creamy consistency. I chose a lovely aqua and teal shade, which compliment each other perfectly. I then stamped some of the more detailed images onto tissue paper, and stuck those on with Claudine Hellmuth's Matte Medium, so that the tissue paper edges disappeared. I then decoupaged the less detailed bits over the top. I coloured my images with Polychromos pencils, and added some small brass charms, which accented the yellow tones on the images.

 The quality of the wood is not that great, as you will see from the next picture, but it adds to the charm of the piece I think.

I used some chunky cogs for feet, and on top of the ATCs, then added some brass hinges to join the two pieces together.

I really enjoyed making this little project, I'll have another one to show you in a few days' time. Thanks for stopping by, xx

Forgotten Friday 57- Darkroom Door for Father's Day

Hi Folks what's the weather doing in your neck of the woods? We've had a very changeable day today, sun, rain, thunder, and now sun again. I just don't know what to wear, lol! My OH was watching the football earlier and the match was stopped due to bad weather, the word maelstrom sprang to mind watching the lightening and rain streaming through the opening at the top of the stadium, it was very freaky.

Anyway, I've been indoors mostly, trying to get my Father's Day cards sorted out. My Dad's is winging its way to him as we speak. I need to make something for my FIL and also for my OH. Neither of them really care for cards that much, so although I like to make an effort, I know that they aren't that interested in the techniques or the creativity behind the cards.

I chose to use some Kraft resist paper from Tim Holtz which is definitely a neglected item in my craft stash. I really like it, but don't like to cut it up. Silly really, but I can always buy another pad. I used a single sheet for both cards, and chose appropriate wording to use behind each image. 'Memory' seemed to fit the old car that I used for my FIL. I coloured the card with Distress inks, and flicked water over the top to help give an aged appearance to the background. I disressed the edges, and added more DIs.

I used the same Stampin' Up sentiment as on my previous post, just stamped onto a piece of Kraft card, and fixed to the card with some string.

For my OH's card, I used the second piece of Kraft resist, using the word 'amusement' as my focal word this time. I coloured the background as before. I stamped the Darkroom Door pub image this time, and added some Artistic Stamper flags as a decoration. He is down the pub watching the football tonight, and I wanted to give his card a football feel. The flags should be English flags, rather than Union Jacks, but it is just a hint of the footie flavour, and I know he'll understand where I was going with it.

I hadn't used either of these Darkroom Door stamps before, in fact I had to put them both on EZ mount before I could use them! I like to do that with photorealistic stamps to ensure a good impression.

Well, that's my Father's Day cards all finished now. I'm off for a cuppa and a rest! If you would like to make something with your neglected stash, please leave me a comment, and I'll pop along to your blog and take a look. Thanks for stopping by, xx

Bold little Bird

Hi folks, I have something a little bit different to show you today. I needed to make a card for my Dad for Father's Day, and had been sitting on these gorgeous stamps for a little while. They are from Designs By Ryn and are really unusual. I love hummingbirds, and this design really caught my eye. One of my followers is on the Design Team, and she has made some fabulous cards with some of Ryn's stamps. I have a few more of the stamps to play with, and already know what I want to make. Hopefully, I'll get to create the cards over the next couple of weeks, time permitting.

For this card, I stamped the Hummingbird onto white card, and masked the image with Eclipse masking tape. I made a background using Pan Pastels in various soft shades of blue, turquoise and lilac. I then stamped the leafy branch with Versafine, and used two shades of green to cover the stamped areas. I coloured the bird using Polychromos pencils, basing the colour scheme on various images that I found on Google. I stamped a simple Stampin' up sentiment in the corner using Memento Pear Tart ink.

My Dad lives 230 miles away from me, so I can't spend Father's Day with him. However, I'm going to see him next week, so that's not so bad. He is 80 next month, so I need to get my thinking cap on for a very special Birthday card!

I'd like to enter this card into the Pan Pastels Challenge which is for Father's Day/ Boys so my card fits the bill.

Thanks for stopping by, xx

Steampunk Guys

Hi Folks, just to let you know that there are new stamps available over at Chocolate Baroque right now. The stamps are based on a Steampunk theme:

Called Steampunkery and Steampunk Travel, the stamp plates are full of all sorts of quirky images and great phrases to go with them. Glenda also has a giveaway on the Design Team Blog until 16th June, so if you leave a comment over there, you are in with a chance of winning both sets of stamps.

I have made a card using a Crafter's Workshop template to create my background. I stippled Black Soot through the template onto a piece of card that I had already coloured with Distress inks. I distressed the edges of the card, and then coloured them with Pine Needles and Black Soot Distress inks. I used a piece of a printable paper available from the website, called Edwardian Gentleman, which I tore and distressed to complete the background.

I made a frame from aluminium adhesive tape stuck to grungepaper, which I embossed, then ran through a cog embossing folder. I coloured this with alcohol inks, then rubbed some black acrylic paint over the top, wiping off the excess. I placed some of the Edwardian Gentleman paper in the recess of the frame.

I stamped the large hat from the Steampunkery stamp plate onto kraft card, and then masked this, before stamping one of the men from the Eccentric Edwardian stamp plate over the top. I am not the only Design Team member to hit upon this idea, great minds think alike, as they say!

I created some cogs using the shattered stains method; coating some grungepaper cogs with Rock Candy Distress Crackle Paint and adding Distress Stains on top. The stains seep through the Rock Candy, and create a great effect. A few bits of hardware complete the project.

I had a few bits and bobs left over at the end of this project, and it struck me that one of the men on the printable page was just the right size to wear the Steampunk hat as well. So, I made a tag with some of the pieces that were on my craft desk. I used a piece of paper from the Prima Almanac paper stack as a background, stamping over the top with a stamp from the Eccentric Edwardian stamp plate. I stamped the phone on a parachute onto a piece of tissue paper and added it to the background, then I placed my man and his hat onto the tag. I tried to keep the hat very muted to tone in with what the man in the photograph was wearing. I added another one of those colourful cogs to complete the tag.

This was just a bit of fun, but I might just have saved myself a job in the Alphatag swap in a few months' time, lol!

A little bit of Sunshine

Here's another offering using the Sunny Sunflowers stamp plate from Chocolate Baroque. I have used Pan Pastels to create the background, and to colour the flowers and leaves.

I started by colouring my background card with two colours of yellow, and then sponging through a Crafter's Workshop template with Versamark ink. I used more Pan Pastels in shades of yellow and green to cover the Versamark, and then burnished this with a piece of paper towel. I then stamped a large flourish onto the background, again using Versamark, and coloured it as before.

I stamped several flowers and leaves, using Archival ink, drying them with a heat gun. I coloured them with a small Sofft tool, layering the colours, as I would when using pencils, using darker colours in the shaded areas to give a bit of depth. The small Sofft tools are very accurate, even for small areas.

Thanks for stopping by, xx

Shabby Sunflowers

Hi folks, happy Friday to you all. I would normally be posting a Forgotten Friday post today, but I am blitzing my house, ready for three VIP guests next week, and just haven't had time for a rummage this week. However, if you would like to link your 'Forgotten' makes to this post, I will pop along to your blogs to take a look.

My three friends Elaine, Jo and Lesley are coming to stay, we have a joint blog, Craft Stamping Quartet, which due to various commitments over the past months, we just haven't been able to maintain. We are having some time together, and may actually post some bits and pieces on our blog! Anyway, if you are anything like me, crafting comes first in your life and ahem, housework comes a poor second. However, having three women to stay in my house, has galvanised me into some kind of activity over the last few days, and I've shaken the cobwebs off the mop and duster, and done a bit of cleaning, my Mum would be proud, lol!

I'm very excited that they are coming, as we rarely all get together, sometimes three of us manage a meeting, but to have the four of us in a group at the same time is quite an occasion. We have some great bits and pieces planned, and we will show you some of them on the joint blog, and on our own blogs as well, I'm sure.

Anyway, today I have another card using the Sunny Sunflowers stamp plate from Chocolate Baroque I have used some papers from the A4 'En Francais' paper pad, creating a large pocket. I added a piece of wide brown ribbon and some of the flowers and leaves which I have coloured with Polychromos pencils. I added Glossy Accents in the centres of the flowers.

I used a large tag, and embossed a greeting from the 'Loving Sentiments' stamp plate with vanilla white embossing powder. I then went over the tag with Tea Dye Distress Ink, and edged the tag with Faded Jeans Distress Ink, to tone in with the main card. I added some small strips of torn paper at the bottom and a couple of decoupaged flowers and some leaves. The finishing touch was to add some blue and brown seam binding at the top of the tag.

I hope you will all enjoy your long weekend, and that you have lots of lovely activities planned. Thanks for stopping by, xx