NEC Inspiration

Hi my daughter and I went to the NEC at the weekend to the Christmas Hobby craft show and picked up some inspiration for decorating some MDF pieces we had just bought (Thank you Lyndsay Mason). Rather than buy lots of new things (as we had already spent our budget) we decided to try and create the same affect with paints, powders, glue, die cuts and embossed paper we already had.

This started off as just a plain MDF pencil pot holder and with a bit of time and plenty of black paint and sparkle I ended up with this fancy pot which is just right for the Craft Room 3D Challenge this week and is now sitting proudly on my desk at work.

And heres Amy's Christmas tree that she did along with me getting  differnet affect just with different colours.

Vintage Christmas

At the Craft Room the challenge is Vintage Christmas - So heres my first Christmas tag of the year, hopefully it wont be the only one I do.

The background was a variety of acrylic paints applied with a spritz of water and a dry baby wipe. The Snowflake is stamped in Nougat (Paperartsy Fresco Paint)with the bells and words stamped in Pine Needles DI and are from the PaperArtsy Hotpicks collection. The tag is finished with some rafia and a silver snowflake. Happy Crafting one and all.

Weather Forecast

Hi I haven't blogged or crafted really for quite a while but I am trying to get back into the groove of crafting again now that both my wonderful children are at university. I am starting to get use to the house being quite and there just being the two of us again (along with the dogs and work of course).

So for my first challenge for a while I had a look round all my favorite challenge sites and found a Weather Forecast challenge on the fashionable Stamping challenge site that I thought I would have a go at.

 The weather here has been unseasonably warm but the leaves are still falling and I am sure the rain is just around the corner.
The background is created from PaperArtsy Fresco paints - Nougat, Ice blue and Beach Hut. The background stamps are in walnut stain DI and are from Inkadinkado. The Umbrella man is of course from Tim Holtz and stamped in Black soot and heat embossed, and the words also from Tim are in Peacock feathers.

Bye for now and hope to post again very soon.

IndigoBlu - Tag Your It

Here is my Tag for the indigo blu challenge this month - Its just my thing as I really enjoy doing tags as they are just the right size. This one is entitled Courage and was created using stamps from the Boadicea stamp set. The trellis and flowers were heat embossed and the edges of the tag were highlighted in bronze ink.

Clockwork

The Fashionable stamping challenge at the moment is clockwork and heres my clockwork entry.

I was playing around with some background techniques I found in March's Craft Stamper where Helen Chilton used embossing folders to stamp with. I used mustard seed and broken china distress inks on the background and the fob watch and time flies was stamped in gathered twig (using a stamp from craft stamper) the 3 clocks were cut using the Tim Holtz Mover a shaper die before being inked in the broken china to different degrees.

The words were stamped onto white card and where again from Tim Holtz.

IndigoBlu - Monochromatic

Heres my black and white monochramatic card for the Indigoblu challenge this month.
The stamps are all from the IndigoBlu set Grand Tour III and I used a combination of black and white embossing powder along with the black soot Distress Ink and a white ink pad.

IndigoBlu - Words are all you need

This month at IndigoBlu the challenge is words, and as I have recently been to Ally Pally and bought myself a lovely new selection of IndigoBlu stamps I thought I should christen a couple of them.

I created my background using acrylic paints and Kroma crackle using Kays Kroma Krackling Technique.

The stamps from the Weird science series - Beautiful Mind were both stamped in clear embossing ink then fine black powder applied and then heat embossed. I got an extra unexpected effect on the background with some of the powder sticking in the cracks to give a grungy effect (just how I like it )

This tag is for me to put on my desk at work to try and remind me to keep sane !!

Crafty Boots - Feathers

Hi, this time at Crafty Boots  its my turn to choose the challenge and I challenge you all to use feathers in some form or another in your piece of art for us this fortnight. So get your thinking caps on and try and show us some feathers and create something especially for this challenge.

As you can see I have created 2 tags in the same theme one for a boy and one for a girl. There is a glut of Birthdays and Anniversaries in February and March in our family so I was trying to cheat a little and use the same design and techniques.

The technique is a Tim Holtz one using 2 different coloured distress stain along with picket fence dabbed onto your craft sheet before laying the tag on top and moving it around slightly.

Once dry I inked a large script stamp roughly missing bits before stamping it lightly onto the tag to give a slightly faded effect.

The feathers, ink well and nibs are cut from Kraft paper using my new Sizzix Tm Holtz Big die writing desk.
I inked the feathers in one of the distress stains used on the tag before highlight with white paint using the edge of my credit card. The ink nibs have been gold embossed and the words embossed in black.

As well as inking the tag I coloured my ribbon using a variety of the distress stains which works really well.

Hope you have fun.

Our New Princess

In November we celebrated the arrival of a new Princess into the family, instead of a card I made a wall hanging and mounted it in a 3D frame to ensure it could be kept as a keepsake.

I used multiple stamps Roses and Ivy on the background and then stamped Ivy leaves in a variety of greens on grunge paper before cutting them out. to create the layers. I die cut some swirls before arranging the leaves around the Art Part circle which had been stained using aged mahogany and barn door Distress stains. The words from Dylusions (very apt for a little Essex princess !)- "I'm pretty sure that with sparkly shoes and a new tiara she could conquer the world" were stamped on Kraft paper and cut out before being attached. I used a Tim Holtz crown charm which I added some extra sparkles to and the bird to add even more depth.

To make it that extra bit personal I used my dymo gun to print out the important points about our little princesses arrival.

At Crafty Boots this fortnight Gabrielle has challenged the design team to use crowns so here is my tiara instead. Hope some of you can join our challenge.

I am also entering this into the  Fashionable Stamping Challenge - Build It Up

Ribbons And Lace

The Craft Room challenge at the moment is Ribbons and Lace so here is my tag that was inspired by the challenge.

The background was inked using 3 different oranges - dried marigold, spiced marmalade and rusty hinge.

The stamps are from Chocolate Baroque - Honey Bee and the good old Craft Stamper magazine freebies.

The Beehive and sunflower were stamped in Rich Cocoa memento ink and embossed with clear powder,

I stamped and embossed the bee separately in black before inking it and cutting it out lifting the wings before sticking it down by its body.

The words were also inked and embossed in black to give it a bit of a lift.

I inked the orange ribbon with dash of rusty hinge to tone it in and the lace was a creamy beige that melded just right with the tag and ribbon.

IndigoBlu - From The Heart

This months IndigoBlu challenge is - From the Heart.

The background was created using peacock feathers, mustard seed and salty ocean distress stains. Once dry  I heat embossed white swirls from the Music Hall set of stamps to give a lovely textured background.

I drew and then cut the heart out inking it in similar colours to the background before stamping the elegant lady also from the Music Hall set in peacock feahers DI.  The heart was edged in white paint which picked up some of the colour from the heart.

The words from the Grand Tour II collection were stamped and embossed in black onto white card before being covered with mowed lawn DI and attached to the card.

The tag was finished off with a Tim Holtz Love ticket also covered in mowed lawn, a ribbon and some buttons.

Last month I was lucky enough to be selected in the top 3 so thank you to the lovely ladies at IndigBlu for that.

Bye for now.

Crafty Boots - Sunshine

Kerry has challenged at Crafty Boots this time to Sunshine, hopefully this will cheer you up if you have been affected by the heavy winds and rain here in the UK or nasty weather further a field.

The background was created using dylusions Ink sprays pure sunshine and sunset orange. Once the tag was dry I embossed it with the Tim Holtz Texture Fade Rays folder before adding scattered straw and walnut stain distress inks and then a touch of Sunburst mica powder.

The words from Paper Artsy -HP1007 were stamped onto Kraft paper and heat embossed using aged mahogany distress powder.

I dug around in my stash and found the flower buttons which I threaded with some ribbon which I had coloured using wild honey distress stain.

Hope thi brings a little sunshine to you all.  Bye for now.

Wish Upon A Star

I was having a search round for a challenge and remembered about the Simon says stamp challenges,this Mondays Challenge is Blues - so I decided that this would be the theme for my tag

The white tag was dabbed into a mixture of peacock feathers, salty ocean and picket fence distress stains to give the mottle blue background.

I then embossed a piece of clear acetate using the Tim Holtz patchwork folder before cutting it with my Tag die. to enhance the acetate I dabbed black alcohol ink on the edges and on the crown.

The acetate was attached to the tag with black brads.

To embellish I included the wish ticket and the words printed using my dymo gun and then stamped the star and attached this on top of a die cut fan. To produce the phrase Wish upon A Star ! Through the top I have attached a chain and black ribbon to finish it all of with.

Thanks for challenge.

Crafty Boots - Anything Goes

Happy New Year to you all.  The First challenge to get our juices going this year is Anything Goes, so if like me you found just a smidgen of time to get Crafty over the Christmas Holidays I'm sure you've got something that you can share with us at Crafty Boots.

Mine is an RSVP tag for a special Aunt and Uncle (I have not sent it yet so if you read this Aunty M yes we'd LOVE to come) xx

Indigo blu - favorite stamp for 2013

Sewing Mends The Soul - this is my favorite set of Indigo Blu stamps for the year. I  love using the stamped bodice in various forms, sometimes I stamp it straight onto my tag but usually I stamp it and then cut it out and use it to dress a dress makers model.

This time I have tried to use most of the stamps from the set  but just using one shade of blue - faded Jeans Distress Ink and stain along with picket fence and Black soot.