Thoughtful

This card was inspired by Graphicus. I love everything about Graphicus - the designs are wonderful and they have such a huge and varied range of stamps it's impossible not to want to buy!

The stamps used for the image, quote and background are all Elusive Images. I picked them up in a sale and they were a real bargain being less than half price - so much of a bargain that I bought 2 different sets!

I backed the card using dark green mulberry paper, then sponged a pale green ink over cream pearlised card before stamping over with the tiny fern stamp. I rolled some pale green ink round the image before colouring with watercolour paints then mounted both image and quote on the same dark green paper.

I am going to do some more of this design using different colours for the basic theme as this is one project that I am happy with!

Flight of Fancy

I am really quite disappointed with this photograph. The original looks so much better ( well I think so anyway! LOL)

This is a 6" x 4" greetings card. I bought these stamps ages ago -(can't for the life of me remember whose they are)- the plate is four birds with varying degrees of fancy tails and flourishes. The challenge at Tuesday Taggers this week is 'Bursts of Colour' and over at Theme Thursday, this week's offering is 'Favourite Colours'. As I love all colours I couldn't select a favourite so decided to do a rainbow of colours instead and combine the two challenges.

The bird was stamped using Brilliance Ink Pads in Peacock and Twilight colours on glossy paper. The irredescence of these inks does not show up at all on the pic - (tried using the flash on the camera too - all I got was a silver outline!) - but trust me the lovely shimmering effect of these ink pads looks really nice on the gloss paper!

I used the same ink pads for the background of the card and this time ventured a try out with a brayer. Must confess I'm not very proficient with brayering technique but am not too upset at how the background turned out really, even though I definitley do need some more practice! I then used the flourishes from another of the bird stamps and stamped over the background.

Finally I stamped the words using the purple part of the Twilight ink pad. The rainbow organza ribbon came from my stash - can't remember where I got this from either - but I definitely need some more!

The Craft Barn is one of Tuesday Taggers sponsors - click on the owl above and go and visit their fab website and treat yourself!

Cutey Spooky!

I haven't had a lot of free time as I have been attending four Presentation lunches in the last 8 days all over the Northern Counties! Whilst pondering how I'm going to get rid of my expanded waistline I found some time to make a birthday card!

The recipient is away on holiday and will receive it when she returns home at the weekend.......

It's a bit 'cutesy' which is something of a change for me but I really liked the little witch and her cat! The image is from Mo's Digital Pencil. I coloured it with watercolour pencils, mounted it onto black card and the background is a freebie from Glenda's 'Artylicious' blog with some flowers and a couple of lightly glittered pumpkins mounted onto card and a greeting printed from the PC.

I have linked this to the challenge on Tuesday Taggers - pop over and see some fab interpretations of their 'things that go Bump in the Night' theme

and also at One Powerful Hour - who's challenge this week was 'Something Spooky' ... OK I know she isn't exactly SPOOKY but perhaps if you stretch your imagination you might find her just a teeny bit scary?????!!

Altered Bottle Tops

We have a new Flickr group called 'Art 'n Soul' . The group challenges run every month and the first challenge is to alter 3 bottle tops....

Here is my entry. The pics were from a book by Hot Off The Press called 'Easy Peasy Jewellery' and they have the added bonus of having matching acetate overlays, intended for making pendants, rings etc.

I thought they were perfect for the inside of the bottle tops!

I have edged the inside of each top with some seed beads and then added a scrap of vintage lace and a silver heart charm at the bottom.

There is a challenge at Dezinaworld to use lace in a project... OK there isn't a lot of lace on this piece but there is a teeny weeny piece!

Imagination

OH has 'man flu' and is feeling sorry for himself today - I have come outside to the craft room under the pretext of not wanting to catch his germs...... (well I thought it was a good excuse anyway!)

I have made this tag this morning as I had bought some stamps before I went away and hadn't tried any of them out, so I am sat here surrounded by a pile of 'virgin' stamps and also a pile of papers where I have stamped other images onto!

Stamps by Crafty Individuals, Tim Holtz Stampers Anonymous and The Stamp Bug and the papers are Basic Grey. Little half flower and fibres from my stash.

I am submitting this for the challenge this week at Three Muses which is 'Numbers'.

Back to normal

Ah well, the long days gazing out on a clear blue sea or up into a clear blue sky are behind me for another year (at least!). We had a fabulously lazy time, weather was fantastic but sadly all good things come to an end don't they?

So on my return I set about finishing the ordered Christmas Cards. After declaring yesterday I was sick of looking at Christmas cards and this year I was sending shop bought to everyone, this morning I decided to tidy the desk.

Under all the mess there were two stamped images which I had done before I went away and promptly forgot about...... so I made them into a Christmas card!

The backing paper is from Papermania 'A Christmas Carol', and has a fab linen feel to it. I used distress inks on the stamped images and added some pearlised crimson paint for the berries. (On the pic there is a block of red behind one of the berries... don't know ehere this has come from cos it ain't on the card!!!)

Quite like these two images together.... might make some more...................................

A (well earned?) Rest!

There have been a lot of peops who have sent me messages over the last few weeks wondering why I haven't been about as much recently and asking if all was OK... all is fine here at Chez Viv's, but it's real nice to know that

1. People miss you

and

2. People care enough to ask

Am just posting to tell those of you who follow my blog that I am off for a holiday so will look forward to catching up on all your creations and musings on my return and of course making a mess in my craft room during the winter nights and getting back to taking part in the challenges!

In the meantime, here's a pic of what I am intending on doing for the next 10 days!

See you all soon. x

A First in Fabric

As well as messing with metal during Maureen's visit, she also cast a watchful eye over me whilst I transferred some images onto fabric. What is a relatively easy process was difficult for me because the ink in my HP printer is obviously not designed to allow you to take a printed image and transfer it onto cloth! I managed it eventually - but had to use some of the pics Maureen had printed off at home.

With that mission accomplished I was then taken to task about my lack of use of the new sewing machine that was a present about 5 years ago! After a couple of hours deciphering the instruction leaflet and a trial run,I promised Maureen faithfully that I would use it (and also use the beautiful sewing case she had made for me - complete with already threaded needles!!LOL).

I had been completely overwhelmed by the beautiful fabric collages Maureen had done and we spent rather a long time trawling through other people's blogs looking at their work too! I was instructed to just 'treat fabric like paper' when making collages, which was sound advice from my learned mentor!!

After Maureen went home I was determined to give a fabric collage a try..... unfortunately a large card order coupled with my bad neck giving me lots of aggravation in the last week meant it was a slow process.

BUT ............... here is the result! OK it's not perfect and I am not completely satisfied ...... but it's a start!

Metal Experimentation!

Maureen has been visiting! I have had a great few days culminating in a slap up meal last night and lots of laughs at the dinner table!

My purse however is somewhat lighter due to the craft stash that I was FORCED to buy when we paid a visit to a craft shop in Lancashire - I will not advertise it here but for those card makers amongst you, if I told you the 'ladies room' was decorated in pink complete with black chandelier and gem encrusted toilet brush you might be able to guess where we were!

Anyway back to the visit. I have never tried to do anything with metal before but the bold Maureen (who I think has tried EVERYTHING - lol) arrives for the designated 'crafting day' complete with metal tools and metal sheets in varying lovely shades, after me mentioning in passing that I quite faniced having a go but didn't know where to start. (She arrived with tons of other stuff too but more of that later).

So with the men packed off to the bowling green we proceeded to make a mess in the craft room (which I had tidied up especially!).

This wall hanging was inspired by a book called 'Images on Metal' and is the result of my endeavours - image stamped onto aluminium sheet and then edged with a 'dot' tool, the blue background paper is from my stash with a few more stamped flourishes added and stuck onto mountboard. OH had found 3 rolls of plasterer's joint tape during a shed clear out and I painted some of it with silver metallic paint, pegged it out to dry then used it down the left side adding a blue skeleton leaf, some seed beads, a couple of mosaic tiles and a silver filigree piece and metal word.

I really like this and am determined to do some more experimenting with metal, particularly as I was the fortunate winner of a recent give away in Craft Stamper magazine - 7 Paper Artsy Geometric Stamp Plates especially for using on metal - which arrived as a great surprise 2 days before Maureen did!!

I will post more details of Maureens visit over the next few days..... am off for a lie down to recover!! LOL

Mixed Media Monday has the theme of Metal this week so I have entered this into the challenge!

Canvas

I had this small canvas that measured just under 3ins square and have been wondering what to do with it!

Yesterday I covered it with some script paper and some music score paper which was torn from a napkin sent to me by Maureen. I stuck it on the canvas then used Mod Podge over it and left it to dry.

This morning (cos it was raining!! - a good crafters excuse to sit and make messy I find!!), I stamped the Eiffel Tower and the 'Paris' word and distressed the word using Antique Linen Distress Ink, then glued them onto the background.

The image of the lady is from a collage sheet I bought some time ago and I cut it out to fit inside the black iron look frame which I placed a paper filigree cut out behind.

I then used a clear glaze over the tower and the lady picture which has given them a nice muted glossy finish and highlights them quite well - although this hasn't shown up very well in the photo!

The metal corner, lace, ribbon, pearl drops and pearl button were added to finish.

England and the Orient!

Well what a mad week this has been - I feel like I've met myself coming back on several occasions!

This week has seen the culmination of almost 6 months preparation for a visit by no less than the England President! She brought a representative team of 24 players from Bowls England (which included yours truly!!) and we played against my home County at my Club. Pre match buffet, game, then a four course meal (prepared and cooked by my amazing other half) - this was a wonderful day despite the rain trying to unsuccesfully dampen our spirits. Visits by England Presidents are very rare, particularly in a County as small in (Club) numbers as we are. There are a few pictures of the day on my Flickr account. I have played on several occasions this season for Diane's Bowls England representative team and we've had great days - the one though at my home Club was very special!

So..... after all the excitement (and the washing up!) I struggled to do very much yesterday as I was still recovering! Today though my copy of Craft Stamper arrived complete with free stamp so I made an 'all occasion' Oriental card. I coloured the image with watercolours and stamped some chinese writing onto the ribbon. The flower is one I bought last year at the NEC!

Owls, Fairies, Flowers and Buckets!

Well it's seems an age since I posted anything - and it is only a week! I haven't been idle craft wise just not very messy! I have spent what free time I've had making cards - nothing too intricate either! I have made a lot using some basic card toppers - those of you who make cards will be well familiar with the Art Deco ladies. I haven't pictured them here.

Those I have put here on my blog are some of the others I've done this last week.

The Owl, Fairy, and Flower card were all made using pre printed card blanks. The Owl is an Elusive Images stamp, coloured with watercolours and I added some jewels for his eyes and some tiny gems on the flower outlines of his body. I sat him on a 'perch' made from Maya Road chipboard pieces suitably coloured with Tea Dye Distress Ink. I like him!

The 'Fairy' again was stamped and sat on a chipboard piece painted with silver metallic paint coated with some holographic glitter.

I thought the bronze pre printed blank didn't need much so just outlined a couple of flourishes with copper glitter and added the double fabric flower secured with a jewelled brad.

The last card here is made from a stamp sent to me as a present from a fellow crafter Pam. Not being a cutesy person, I have no idea why I like these vintage 'kids at the seaside' stamps so much! But I do.

I stamped 'Baby with Bucket on Head' onto a background made using inks and shimmer powder, stamped then cut out a shell image and mounted it onto dark blue card. I used more inks for the actual card (no shimmer powders as I wanted it to be 'flat') and attached the tag complete with brad, gold starfish and gingham ribbon. I finished the card with some more ribbon and some real shells from my collection!

All of these cards were easy and quite quick to make - so I made the most of my limited free time!

Taken Advice!

After leaving the clay piece overnight and coming back to it this morning, I definitley decided I didn't like the gold background. So out with the gesso!

I mixed some Pearlescent Tint with 'Pale Olive' and re did the background.

Am happier now! So thank you Sherry!

I may add some random mosaic pieces before it finally takes up residence on the work room wall.

Castles in the Air

After a hectic few days I found some 'me' time and decided to start a project I have been wanting to do ever since I saw an example in a magazine.

The designer had been inspired by a recent holdiay in Venice and had created a truly stunning mosaic by stamping into polymer clay.

Never trusting myself and my own creativityand certainly not being an expert in polymer clay I decided to attempt something in a similar shape but on a much smaller scale.

Overall I'm not sure making it smaller was a good idea as I can't make my mind up if the balance is right but........ my initial impression is 'not too bad'!!!!

As with all things my photography skills are not up to scratch and unfortunately the mica powders shimmering colour is not well reproduced in the picture - (the grey clouds didn't help the daylight either).

I used a variety of colours in both metallic rub ons and mica powders but predominantly used Golden Pear, Mathracite, Copper and Red Bronze powders and Brass and Gunmetal metallic creamy rub ons and used edges and pieces taken from some stamps to make the impressions. And of course, I had to pop on a fimo face somewhere!

I have mounted the piece onto an acrylic painted canvas (as in the original example) but it may end up on another background as I'm a little unsure about the gold paint - I might try a dark background to make the piece stand out more, but at the moment can't make my mind up about what colour! (Any suggestions gratefully received!)

I love trees.

Stark bare Winter trees with frost glistening on the branches, Spring trees with leaves unfurling and blossom appearing, Summer trees when their majestic shapes are filling blue skies and Autumn trees, when the whole colour spectrum ranging from brown to green to reds, golds and oranges can be seen along across all the landscape wherever you live be it town or country.

This card was made using one of the Tall Tress themeplates from Elusive Images.

The main background is courtesy of Flickr (with a few stamped flourishes added!), digitally lightened and printed onto an inkjet tranparency.

I stamped the trees and words in 'Espresso' ink onto the original darker background and layered onto cream then brown card.

I finished by adding some brown ribbon and a leaf button.

Peaceful Princess

It has been a while since I entered something into a challenge and I've just been having a quick look through my favourite sites to see what everyone has been up to. At One Powerful Hour the theme was Dolls.

I made this doll for a swap over at Monthly Art Dolls on Flickr, so all of my Flickr group friends will have seen her before.

She is a 'no sew' doll which suited me as I am not very good with needles and thread!!

She is made from a wooden batten and fibrefill. Her body is wrapped in some red and gold shimmery silk fabric and tied with gold threads. Her face and hand are made from clay and painted.

She looks better if you click on the picture to enlarge her!

I have called her Shanti, which means 'Peace' and she is now winging her way to her new home with Malissa in America.

My friend June who hosts the 'So Artful' challenge blog has set the theme of 'Sleeping Beauty' for this week, so as Shanti looks like she is in blissful repose, I have also added this to June's challenge too.

Birds

My card stock is seriously depleted and I have set myself the task of 'no altering, no making lots of mess, just card making' for a couple of days.

This serious self imposed sentence is very difficult - there were a couple of things in a recent magazine (one made out of a stampbord box and another made from clay mounted on canvas) which I am itching to have a go at.... but I am trying to be good!

So with halo polished, I made a couple of cards using the new bird stamps. I have also stamped up lots of images ready for more cards.... whether I manage to use them today or not is a different matter.... the stampbord box is looking at me!!! I shall have to put it out of sight otherwise the card box will remain half empty.

Hasty cards!

I have sorely neglected my blog (and my crafting) whilst the National Championships are ongoing -(am off again at the end of the week), but I did find time to make a couple of cards in the middle of last week.

I also met up with some crafting friends last Saturday and had a great day! I finally got my hands on the new goodies that Maureen had got for me on a recent shopping trip to Graphicus at Barnard Castle. (It wasn't a long list I gave her...... honest...... but she did mention something about the car boot not being big enough......must have been all the stash she bought for herself, mine was only a teeny pile....)

I have waited an eternity ( well about a month really.......) for this new stash and have a couple of clear days this week to try all the new stamps and other bits out!

Shells, Italy and a new friend!

I have a new friend in the shape of a frog who hopped into the workroom yesterday and decided to stay a while! He was quite happy to have his photo taken and has appeared again this morning just outside the workroom door - so I think maybe he intends to visit as often as he can!

Whilst Ferdy ( well - it's not quite as boring as naming him Freddy....) sat and stared at me I made an ATC and altered another slide mailer.

The ATC background is from a paper napkin ( sent by Maureen). I used stamps and some real shells to finish it.

The slide mailer is fast becoming a favourite thing to alter! I am becoming addicted also to the Crafty Individuals background papers which are just so beautiful you don't want to use them!

This paper was from the Travels to Italy book and I added an italian stamp, some italian postmarks and a small suitcase charm to the front. The back I have left plain as the harlequin and script paper was too pretty to cover! Inside I again made a little paper pocket to hold some stamps and painted the other side in a rose pink before adding the Italian themed images behind the microscope slides and the tiny pink seed beads. As the Do it in an Hour challenge incorporates maps I have submitted the slide mailer as the inside papers has a map of Italy!

Queen of the Silver Screen

With goodies on offer as a prize from The Craft Barn, I had to put an entry into this week's Tuesday Taggers challenge! The prizewinner is picked at random so everyone has a real good chance of winning.

This week's challenge was to make a wall hanging. I made one of these some time back (here on my blog) and gave it to a friend who is always encouraging me to try out something new.

This time I decided to try and move away from my 'comfort zone' and tried to make something in a vibrant colour. I am always leaning towards neutral or pastels so the puple and splashes of pink was something of a change!

The image was stamped onto some purple glitter paper. I have taken so many photographs to try and show what the colour is really like all without much success! Here where the image shows gold flecks they are, in fact silver speckles!! You will have to trust me when I tell you this looks so much better in real life than it does on the screen.....The star backing paper is a pale purple colour and the tickets etc are in co ordinating shades of purple and pink. The filmstrip was printed onto an inkjet transparency and I stamped the 'star' word onto the same purple glitter paper and stuck it behind the filmstrip. Lilac sequins, some beads and coloured stars finished the piece and I finally added some purple and silver fibres to hang it with. The whole thing measures just 4" square.

Free day!

I have today taken advantage of a day free from any paperwork or bowling! Please note I have also taken yet ANOTHER day off from housework too..................... I had one of those ' I refuse to spend my free day cleaning' moments this morning... the moment has lasted all day.

So on to making messy - and boy did I make a mess. I have had three attempts at doing a project as shown in this month's Craft Stamper magazine. It looked relatively straightforward thing but I have struggled so much you wouldn't belive - no matter how hard I tried, I could not transfer all the ideas and colours whizzing round in my head onto the slide mailers! After 2 failed attempts (both of which ended up in the bin!), I finally managed to complete a double slide mailer and a single one. The single one I will post at a later date and I really shouldn't be posting this as I'm probably going to give it as a gift in the future but I was so pleased to have finally finished it (and be satisfied with it!) that I took the pictures and here it is!

I am a little disappointed about how the pictures of the inside have turned out as the colour reproduction is not as vibrant as in real life - surrounding the two stamped images on the slides is a green background which has decided to show up as grey in the pic!

Tuesday Taggers have a theme of swirls and curls this week and as the fibre on the front is curly and there are stamped flourishes on the back I have submitted this for this week's challenge!

Coaster Book

I have been looking after two of our Flickr groups whilst our group leader Margaret is taking a break for personal reasons. I am currently setting challenges on the monthly groups of Art Dolls and also the Altered Swap.

I set the challenge of an 'Altered Coaster Book', which saw several members running for the nearest pub/bar/restaurant - (any excuse..........)

One of the reasons behind setting this as a theme was because I had never done one before! I said that there should be one stamp used somewhere on the book and also some texture but you could make it on any theme you want.

Here is my first attempt. I decided that I perhaps should only use 2 coasters for the first try - nothing too ambitious!!!

I covered the front and back of the coasters with stiff brown corrugated paper. The back has an embossed leaf design mounted onto mulberry paper with a couple of stickers and a button.

Inside I used some more mulberry paper to cover the coaster and added some stamped images of trees, a skeleton leaf and some small letter tags. A couple of different fibres and a leaf shaped button finished the inside.

On the front cover I used the quote (from a tag book), another stamped image of a tree, another skeleton leaf and a couple of acorn and leaf stickers. I added the metal corners and the little metal watering can charm. Finally, I attached some fibres to the front and secured the booklet with two strips of brown organza ribbon.

I have thoroughly enjoyed doing this and am now determined to do another with some pages inside.

Angels Tears.

June set a challenge called 'Angel's Tears' this week over at the 'So Artful' blog.

I found this image of the small angel resting his weary head on a skull. I thought the facial expression of the cherub distressingly pitiful and wondered what could have brought on such despair.

This ATC is quite different from my usual work as I feel it is quite morose and dark...although I don't consider myself to have a morbid personality, at times I can be quite pessimistic and 'down beat' and I suppose this is one of those periods and I have reflected it in this piece. I was tempted to 'pretty it up' a bit and add some embellishment but decided the starkness of it only highlighted the anguish of the sculpture.

The quote by William Shakespeare I think is incomplete so I apologise to the Bard for plaguerising his genius - but the quote as written (even if it's not a complete context) is true.... man's actions must be the only things that would make angels weep.

Springtime Paris Memories

I finished a couple of cards this morning using the extra birdie images I stamped yesterday whilst making the one for the challenge. I will post these at a later date!

Here is an ATC I have just done for the 'Lots To Do' theme this week. The challenge was to make something that reminds you of Paris. Paris is a bit of an enigma really, for some inexplicable reason crafters love it - maybe it's the romanticism of the place, but whatever it is making things to do with Paris range from portraying the tragic Marie Antoinette to images of the magnificent architecture!

I have called this ATC 'Memories of Paris in the Springtime', a take on the April in Paris theme.

The background paper is by Crafty Individuals and I just sponged over it with some white versamark. The flourish stamp is also one of the Crafty individuals range (have spent rather a lot there just lately!! LOL) applied with black Stazon. The three small images were all stamped onto the same background paper then cut out and collaged. I printed the vintage woman onto an inkjet transparency, but when I put it on the ATC the image was too dark. So I put some of the lighter part ofthe background paper behind her, sponged it again with white versamark and then glued the transparency on top. It did make it lighter but still not as light as I hoped.

The flower is another from my stash and as they're out on my desk I'm using them on everything at the minute!!!

Took advantage of our County game being cancelled today and the 'tidy' (ish) workspace is now the usual bomb site!

This stamp is becoming one of my more versatile buys and I have made a couple of cards with it today.

The others I will post at a later date but I have entered this into the 'Something Completely Different' challenge which this week is a Teal/Turquoise and Brown colour combination on a 6" x 4" postcard.

The background paper is from the Making Memories 'Boho Chic' book and I inked the edges using Azure Blue ink. I stamped birdie using brown Stazon onto a piece of pale blue vellum. I was worried in case the vellum would make the turquoise colour look 'washed out' but thankfully all was well when I attached it to the background paper! The flowers were secured with contrasting brads and the metal 'dreams' embellishment was a free gift from a paper crafting magazine about 4 years ago and I have never used - I thought the bottom of the card looked 'naked' and tipped out a few more drawers looking for something to finish the piece and found the metal word charms!

Pink and Black

I made this ATC a couple of days ago for no other reason other than the bits and pieces were laying about on the desk and I had a mad fit of 'tidy up'!!!

The pink background paper is embossed with a black velvety texture (like vintage flocked wallpaper) and I am going to submit this into the 'Tuesday Tagger's' challenge as their theme is 'texture'.

The pink and black paper flowers were from my stash and the fibres and black lace were just little loose bits at the bottom of the drawer so instead of throwing them away I used them up!

I threaded some black and pink beads onto some wire and used the 'mask' bead as a centrepiece.

I was a bit bothered that the whole thing was a bit too startling but couldn't decide what to use to 'tone it down'!! I left it laid on the desk for a couple of days and it's actually growing on me a bit so have posted it!

Fairy Dreams

Had a couple of hours today so whilst watching the weather alternate between torrential downpours and brilliant sunshine I sat here and made messy! Have made this ATC for four challenges.

The theme at Wednesday Stamper was 'Dreams', Created By Hand was 'Faeries', Lots To Do had set their challenge as 'Collage' and TMTA's subject was 'Fly'.

I confess to recycling on this ATC! The butterfly stamped on acetate was sent to me on a birthday card and had decided to fly away from the card during it's journey so I rescued it from the envelope and put it to one side thinking (as all us crafters do) 'that might come in useful' !!!!

So the background paper is from Crafty Individuals, (another part of my recent spending spree!) and I stamped the corner with pearlescent Ice Blue ink and heated using a little clear embossing powder. The image was printed on glossy photo paper and I added the lace, word and recycled butterfly.

Tag

Today it is Maureen's birthday - she is 21 again. LOL

It was Maureen who persuaded me to move away a little from 'safe' card making and to explore altered stuff.... she keeps finding me 'large things to alter'. Amongst other things she's sent me massive match boxes, huge jigsaw pieces and enormous playing cards!

Some time ago she sent me a very large luggage tag so I decided she would get it back - can post it now as she's opened it! I sponged the background then added various mica powders in blue, green, gold and copper. I tried to give the background a smooth textured look so dotted 'blobs' of the mica powders and heated with the heat gun.

I thought the little mermaid's expression looked like she was dreaming of doing other things - maybe being able to stand selling sea shells instead of just swimming amongst them? Out came the 'shell' box - some of these shells were brought back from Florida - and I figured if they'd survived travelling that sort of distance they could survive Royal Mail!

I edged the image with gold ink and stuck it on the tag then stamped the words.

I stuck some blue, green and gold fibres along the bottom of the image and put a small pearl bead next to the large shell.

Finally I embossed the entire edge of tag in gold, adding some more tiny blue and green beads, a moon snail button and little gold starfish and of course some more shells. Please enlarge the pic for a better view!

Happy Birthday Maureen!!!

(Oh - and I have entered this into Wednesday Stampers theme of 'Colourful' and I hope it also is acceptable for the challenge of 'friends' at Tuesday Taggers)

New Stamps!

I had a bit of a flurry of spending at the end of last week..... all on craft stash too! So I have been making messy today (housework not done AGAIN!!)

I have had 2 tries at altering slide mailers...nothing too spectacular as they were my first attempts and I thought I'd better not try anything too ambitious. Will take pics of them once glue is dry and post (if I think they look OK!!)

I also bought some new stamps..(as if I didn't have enough already...... can you ever have too many???????) and used one of them on this ATC.

The background paper is by K and Co (another bit of my spending spree - a huge box of gorgeous papers that I don't want to use cos they're too pretty!!!) and the stamp is by Crafty Individuals.

I stamped the image with Timber Brown Stazon, added the feather and some flowers.

This is my entry for the Lots To Do challenge of 'Stamping'.

Blue Moon

I had a spare couple of hours this morning so made an ATC for the swap on MAMMA. The challenge was to use a backgournd of your choice and there must be fabric, a traingle shape and some metal incorporated into your piece.

I used slate and silver mixative alcohol inks for the background and cut out a triangle of blue 'tie dyed' fabric which I glued to the left of the piece of card. I copvered the ATC with some 'moondust mesh' then made a fimo face. I painted the face with Tropic Blue mica powders and highlighted the eyes and mouth with a silver pen. I stuck the face into a bottle cap and added some blue seed beads for definition. Finally, I put the silver bead spray embellishment to imitate shooting stars and stuck on some small fabric silver stars.

We were not supposed to use metal brads but I hope I can be forgiven for the large silver one as it was the only way I could think of to secure the bead spray!

Dragonflies.

Been very hot again today.... I've been playing near York (a couple of hours drive away from home) and it was really too hot to be on a bowling green. When I say 'playing' I use the term loosely - Today was not one of my better days...... but there you go, game's gone now and there's nothing I can do about it... but it does make me feel bad when I think I let my team mates down.

Anyway, enough of the self pity!

The theme at Big Art Adventure this months is 'Dazzling Dragonflies'.

My card stock has recently become very depleted so I took the opportunity to make a greeting card.

The background paper is from Elusive Images and the dragonfly stamp was courtesy of this month's Craft Stamper magazine. I stamped the image in white ink onto some vellum. Once dry, I cut the images out and added the tiny pink beads for the dragonfly's body, then used some glitter round the edges of the wings. The glitter caused the wings to curl slightly but I like the effect so I've left it!

Finally I layered some fabric flowers in co ordinating colours and added some ribbon.

Bunny Bond

Once again my friends at MAD Mamma (Monthly Art Doll) will have seen this but I realised I hadn't posted it on my blog and it fits the challenge from theme of 'Playful Dolls' from Mixed Media Monday this week.

Bunny Bond was made from a paper template and given a black felt jacket complete with tiny bow tie and a row of gold 'buttons'. His face was coloured with watercolours and his shoes done in acrylic paint to make them look like shiny patent leather! The bottom part of his body was cut from black pearlised card

As Bunny is a super spy, he comes with his own gun and an accompanying 'Licence to Kill' ATC!

I know I know... MAD Mamma group is aptly named....

One I made earlier!

I have had major problems the last week accessing my blog! Had tried absolutely everything... (well not quite... I DID manage to resist the 'resort to hitting PC with hammer' urges.....JUST!) The darn thing let me open the page but not sign in.. and then when it let me sign in, it locked the PC.

After much frustration and a few more grey hairs OH said it might be the playlist.... apparently there is some legal dispute going on in USA about the playlist ..... so finally we managed to get onto the blog dashboard long enough for me to delete my much loved (by me) music. Since the playlist has gone I've had no problems.... so am hoping that OH can find another music gadget for me to add (I know some of you find the music annoying, but some people have said they like it!) and also that I have no more problems getting on the blog!

Right that's enough explanation of my absence.... (bowling season still busy too....) and I have spent the last hour trawling through the challenge sites to see what I've missed - which is a lot!

My friends at Flickr will have seen this ATC before - but as the theme on So Artful was 'gypsy', I decided to post this on my blog and enter it into June's challenge!

Men and Numbers

Two challenge sites this week, Tuesday Taggers and Saturday Surprise had themes of Men/Male and Mixed Media Monday's theme was Numbers so I incorporated both into this ATC!

I used a page torn from an old dictionary showing decimal numbers and coloured by sponging distress inks. The 'Real Gentlemen' image was stamped onto some thick card, sponged with inks and some gold mica powder added round the edges, then I added a further edge using a stazon ink pad. I used the same distress ink on the tag, then stamped the numbers on the background and the tag before adding the few fibres. Finally, I put a small pocket watch embellishment on the ATC.

A Caged Bird

Whilst I was trying to concentrate on creativity I remembered this pic so I applied myself to making an ATC as I have wanted to use this image for a while.

The background is courtesy of Flickr and the little hazy blue bird reminds me of Summer - (which I hope is coming soon 'cos it's raining again!).

The bird cage is printed onto a transparency and I cut round it. I always find fixing transparencies a challenge as if you don't get them tight enough the image is blurred! I opted to secure the top of this with an eyelet and I used some glue intended for jewellery to fix the bottom and thankfully it dried clear. The chain was added and fixed with a brad.

Art Creations Friday supplied this gorgeous textured background for todays challenge.

I added some lace and ribbon and a lace flower secured with a pale pink pearl brad.

I wanted to keep the overall 'textured' look of the background and after experimenting in edging a small section with embossing powder (unsuccessful!!) I reverted back to the 'torn tissue paper covered with acrylic paint then blasted with a heat gun' technique!

This is my first challenge for a while - and at least I feel I spent the little spare time I had doing something!

It's been very difficult to find any inspiration - it's not that I don't want to craft because I do, it's just that my mind is full of other things and I cannot push all the other things that are going on to one side in my head and let any creativity see the light of day - there are too many teams to pick, games to play and lots of County Administration. In a way I want September to come then I can get back to just being messy on the desk instead of having to be organised!

Still alive and kicking!

I received an e mail today from a fellow blogger who asked if I was OK as it was over a week since I posted anything on my blog! I'm flattered that I've been missed!

I suppose everyone (me included) has been used to me posting so frequently during the winter months that it's only natural they wonder what I'm up to during the summer!

Although the weather took a downward turn the bowling doesn't stop - we played in Yorkshire last Thursday (cold, windy but dry), had a visit from a Welsh ladies touring team Friday and Saturday at Manchester and Southport (cold and raining), played in a County Pairs event on Sunday morning and afternoon at Southport (windy, dry but cold), then went to my home Club in Bolton to play in a National Mixed Fours (windy and cold), went to watch some of the men from my Club play last night (freezing cold) and today - well today I have had a much needed day off. You may have detected the theme here though - cold is not what kind of weather I want in June!!!

I have done some crafting in between - I started a project at the beginning of last week and finished it today. I cannot post it though as it's a birthday present and I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise! So once the recipient has opened it I will put a pic on here then you can all see I haven't been 'craft-less'!

In the meantime, here's a card I made for a friend using oriental papers and tags.