Vintage Elusions- Ephemera/Anything Goes

Hi Folks, it seems an age since I last posted on my poor neglected blog, but a lot has happened since my last post. As usual, I have been dotting about all over the place, visiting various family members and I even managed to fit a couple of Craft Shows in as well! This weekend, I went to the Big Stamp and Scrapbooking Show at Kettering, organised by Creative Expressions. It's a brand new show, a sister to the one that they run at Ally Pally every year. It was a great show, in a roomy venue, that is really easy to get to. It's a doddle for me from where I live, making a change from the longer journeys that I normally undertake to reach the quality shows. There were some great exhibitors there, as you would expect, and I also met up with two of my special craft buddies, which was another bonus. The third one was unfortunately out of the country, so she couldn't be with us sadly, but she is taking a very well-earned break.

Another development lately, which some of you already know about, is that we have taken on two seven week old kittens. Their Mum died when they were two days old, and they have been hand-reared. They are absolutely gorgeous, but they are keeping me on my toes! We have called them Poppy and Cody:

They are so sweet, but very different in character. Poppy, the little black cat, is the mischievous one; she is into everything, the first to play with a new toy, or to investigate something. Cody, who is slightly larger, is a bit more timid, and watches her first, to suss things out, then he will give something a try.

Their Mum was a British Blue, grey with blue eyes, I am hoping that they will both keep their blue eyes, but we will see. My older cat is not so keen on them at the moment, but we are taking the integration slowly, and giving her lots of fuss.

Anyway, onto today's project! I have made a card using two images, a treasure map from Delicious Doodles, that I have printed in sepia onto a piece of prepared watercolour paper. My printer takes 300 gsm thickness card without jamming, which I really like. I had already coloured the paper with Distress Inks, and dried it before printing the map. I then cut the image out, and stuck it onto a piece of brown card. My second image is from Sassy Studio, of Captain Jack Sparrow, which I have printed out and coloured with Polychromos, adding lots of Dark Sepia to everything, to make him look particularly shabby and a bit grungy. He always looks like he could do with a good bath in the films! I have then added a playing card with the letter 'J', and a dagger charm in one corner, then a few coins in the opposite corner.

Please pop along to the Vintage Elusions Challenge Blog to see what the rest of the team have made. There are some great prizes up for grabs again this week:

Sassy is offering the winner four digis of their choice

Susan is offering the winner four digis of their choice

Teri is offering the winner four digis of their choice

The theme this week is Ephemera/ Anything Goes. You can make a card, tag, altered item, whatever you like. If you are unsure as to what Ephemera means, then think of it as something that you would not normally collect, save, cherish or keep. For example, ticket stubs, game pieces, playing cards, dominoes, office objects, old maps, postcards, packaging, wire, feathers, leaves, etc.

Thanks for stopping by, xx