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!