Raindrops on Roses and Whiskers on Kittens...

Okay...so I fibbed about the Kittens! but I was humming... 'These are a Few of my Favourite Things' a minute ago... which I was reminded of... by adding a few raindrops of Glossy Accents to the first ever grunge flower that I made myself. I finally (several years after most people) got the Tim Holtz die and I lurve it already! If you can't buy often, buy wisely when you do... and I did... and I'm so pleased with it!!

After Umbrella Man's Grand Day Out (my last blog entry) I got some lovely encouraging comments and decided to wander further into the Land of 3D, well, texture and depth anyway.

This morning, Hels Sheridan posted a gorgeous  creation which had lots of embellishments on a little shelf, I liked this idea so much, I've incorporated a shelf into this piece.

First of all, I cut a selection of flowers from muslin embossed using 'Milled Lavender Distress Ink.

After making my flower, using Glossy Accents as the glue, I added blobs onto one side of the flower to look like those lovely droplets of dew that appear in flowers first thing in the morning (love those)

Then, I used bubble wrap to stamp and emboss my background, swooshed Picket Fence Distress Stain onto it and  scored to make my little shelf

I stamped a Tim Holtz sentiment using a brown Memento Ink and Coredinations card, cut out some Graphic 45 butterflies and gathered together some tiny shells (and a big un which kept falling off). The sprigs of dried flowers on the left hand side of the card... my daughter picked up off the pavement the other day. The ribbon/lace was dyed with coffee and stuck down all around the edge with double sided tape. I had problems getting a final photo for this one, it was pouring with rain... and I had the board at an odd angle trying to catch natural light... the real card is straight... honest!

I am entering this into the 'I'll Take Your Word for it challenge over at the lovely: Funky and Frillie site
 the April Showers, Spring Flowers challenge at: Simon Says Stamp The ribbons and lace challenge over at the :Artistic Stamper and Lisa Somerville's To die for challenge...see the blog hop for how to add  your entry

Spring - Vintage Tim Holtz Bunny Tag/Card

Just a cute little vintage tag made out of bits and pieces and to be used as a Easter Card

Stamped and embossed  ATC background -  Alas though,  most of it got covered up by the cute little Tim Holtz bunny! The bunny was highlighted using Glossy Accents and Rock Candy Stickles.

The background tag was left over from the 12 days of Christmas - ghost stamped, embossed and crackled

I messed around with different backgrounds, unfortunately, this one makes my last addition, the tassel fringe look as long as the tag itself - which tisn't!

I am entering this into the Tag Challenge at Simon Says Stamp and show
and the Spring challenge at  Fashionable Stamping Challenges
and the Easter challenge at Bloggers Challenge

There's a whole lotta baking going on!

There's a whole lotta baking going on in our house today!

Though I have no 'Sweetheart' to make a card for,  I made a Valentines Thank you card to the Queen of my  Heart... my lovely daughter. 

I am always proud of my shy and artistic 14 year old daughter and today seemed like a good day to show it... by making her a card.

 I tried to get a lot of texture in this one, the big heart is recycled card from packaging, the wrapping paper covering is recycled Cath Kidston, stuck down and sanded and then smooshed with a mix of Mint Liquid Pearls and Crystal Stickles The greeting was embossed and cut out from a Cuttlebug embossing folder (Woo Hoo Anita!) All topped off with lashings of Glossy Accents and a decorated Prima Flower.

She has already made a gorgeous batch of Sausage Rolls and is just putting the first batch of Peanut Butter Cookies into the oven. 

The Hummingbird Bakery cookbook is certainly MY favourite of her Christmas presents... beating the Derwent Watercolour Pencils simply because she keeps making beautiful things, which we both get to eat!

Last week she made the most delicate 'Lavender Cupcakes'... loving all this baking!

I ma entering this into the Queen-of-Hearts-challenge at Quietfire Style

Heart Shaped Tag

A small tag made by using a die cut large heart which was  then crackle glazed using gold nail polish and white crackle glaze nail polish (!) as I had no Distress Crackle. Distress embossed with Old Paper Distress Embossing Powder. The edges were sanded down and swiped with Distress Ink in Dried Marigold. The wonderful image is from the fabulous Graphic 45 Steampunk Debutante pad which is so gorgeous I was reluctant to even cut into! To finish,  I added Glossy Accents to the ladies Top Hat, some distress stickles, a beautiful Prima flower(which I distressed and added Glossy Accents to and the spare button from one of my daughters old PE teeshirt.

I am entering this into the Grungy Monday crackle challenge  grungy-monday-34-were-cracking-up

Love Is In The Air

A romantic lady dreaming of her Valentine, created on a wet and windy evening in Brighton. Though the forecast is for heavy snow, it is pouring with rain and blowing a bit of a gale outside. So, I snuggled up and created this. Coloured in Promarkers and lots of added black and silver grey glitter to highlight the details. The heart was stamped using part of a forest stamp (!) and then glossy accented and glittered.

The lady came from the huge box of images that my daughter uses to create collages (her favourite art form) She has collected magazine clippings etc for the last 3 years. Even junk mail gets scoured for suitable bits 'n' bobs for collaging! Sorry I cannot be more specific about the lovely Regency lady.

More detail

I am entering this in the Our Creative Corner Challenge.
Love Is In The Air - A Recipe Challenge
and the  Oldie but Goodie Challenge
and the CABC Challenge - Love is in the Air
and the Delicious Doodles Challenge - all loved up!
and the Joanna Sheen, love-is-in-air-challenge

I Dreamed a Dream (Fontine)

Last term, my 14 year old daughter entered a couple of reading Challenges at school. For one of them, she had to read 12 books in different, listed genres (!) She completed the task, so I treated her to a little 'vintage' shopping at the weekend and made her this for her to remember her achievement by. Proud of her? Oh yes!

The lovely lady, sentiment and the print on my torn heart are from Rogue Redhead Designs - and what marvellous stamps they are too! Lush red rubber that stamps beautifully, Yum!

They were part of a lovely gift I got a few weeks back. All of the 'torn' layers come from part of the packaging that the stamps came in (just love recyling stuff - it feels so good!)

The heart has a good splash of Glossy accents and a sprinkle of glitter.

My lady looks like she is day dreaming as well as reading and this reminded me of Fontine's song from Les Miserables. I used to be a Wardrobe Mistress in the Theatre, so adore my Musicals!

I am entering this card into The Blogger's Challenge - Texturise IT!
I am entering this card intoThe Stampman - embellish it - Challenge
I am entering this card intoCraft Your Days Away Distressing Challenge

4 down, 16 to go! (Day 2)

I have challenged myself to make 20 mini books from my existing stash to be sold for the Charity so lovingly run by 2 of my colleagues at the college where I am a lecturer.

Once I have done these, I have promised myself to move onto Greetings cards, also for the same charity. The books and the cards will be very simple as it is the start of term and I have lots of preparation work to do, but that's okay!

I used images I stamped and cut out ages ago and die cut some flowers. I used  DCWV card for the covers and the details were  highlighted with Glossy Accents.

All colouring in was done by my daughter - who fills in between the lines better than me :)

Twelve Tags of Christmas Day Eight - The Best of Times

 

I can't believe that I am keeping up with this! I'm juggling the day job with more crafting than I would usually do in a month! The funny thing is, people keep telling me how well I am looking. 'Pooped yet excited' would probably be nearer the mark! When I started making the tags, I didn't dream I would be able to make more than one, let alone keep up with the STUNNINGLY talented folks that are putting stuff into the gallery...but I am, and I'm proud of this.

I said in an earlier post that crafting feeds my soul...well apparently, doing a lot of it 'makes my soul fly' isn't that  the coolest thing to be able to say? Mine wasn't even really meant to be a blog! A couple of weeks  ago, it was started to keep a little record of what I make...so my daughter could be inspired to reach for her own artistic goals.

Today's tag was again so fun to make, A quick swoosh of distress ink, some ornaments made, but not yet used were chopped up mercilessly and applied! I stamped and embossed a couple of old favourites from Paper Artsy and Tin Can Mail (the 'best of days greeting'). I mixed a little Ranger Black Embossing Powder in with Mirror Gold (a new idea for me) and embossed the greeting,  took another bad photo, accidentally tried to link my whole blog instead of just the aforementioned  and then sat down the in debris in a happy afterglow of my crafting frenzy. Happy Days!

LETS CONTINUE TO SHARE THE JOURNEY!!!

A simple tag in masculine colours

Just using up scraps and playing happily with little pieces of ribbon! This is so much fun - so much inspiration and support in this amazing project - I wonder if Tim Holtz and Mario know  just what a great time they are  giving so many people? Just realised I put up the wrong photo - I added glossy accents and a sprinkle of Glamour Dust after I got to this stage....photo looks different this time,,,,must put learning how to take pictures onto that long list of things to do! I think this looks like a little house with smoke coming out of its chimney

A romantic tag

My daughter got the cool silhouette stamp from a craft fair for £1...bargain!

A place for my cling stamps

A little order......if only for my cling stamps! A  while ago, I decided to create a place for all my cling stamps (well a lot of them, in truth I need another binder) So, I bought a craft blank  from Paperchase and played with the cover. I used some stamped images, distress inks, stickers and lots of glossy accents to add texture and dimension, naturally a good  sprinkle of glitter was thrown into the mix!. I also made a feature of some of my tiny (but ever so loved) collection of Tim Holtz stamps as well as some awesome retro cling stamps from a great supplier in New Zealand. Not long now till the tags will appear, can't wait to see them

It makes me feel very happy when I get my stamps out to use now and they are so much easier to find and I highly recommend this process to anyone who wants to be able to survey their cling stamp kingdom all in one go!

Dipping a toe in bloggy waters!

   Finally! some years after everyone else, I'm having a go at blogging. This may never be seen by anyone but me - especially if I can't find out how to get it online! - but you know what? no matter! Here is a little corner of the web for me to keep a record of the things I make or that inspire me to create.

 Hmm - so that's text! - now for a photo or 2.....this is a little angel that I made using a lovely abstract stamp which was free in Craft Stamper a while ago.