A present for......

..... maybe me!!

Have been a bad blogger just lately - we've accepted an offer on the house and have been doing all the stuff that goes along with buying and selling - solicitors, estate agents, surveyors etc etc so crafting time has been at a premium to say the least. There are so many things that can go wrong and I'm really keeping my fingers crossed that all goes smoothly - the new place seemed to just put it's arms around me when we went to view and I'm desperate for us to begin the next chapter of our lives in this new home. Am dying to share the photos with you but am afraid to tempt fate - so once the signatures are on the dotted line look out for some pics - in the meantime please keep hoping for us.

But I was determined to do SOMETHING!! Knowing I should really be making Christmas Cards I decided to do a canvas instead - I REALLY will have to make some effort on the Christmas front.......

Perhaps I shall hang this in the new house? Don't know!

Anyway, canvas measures 15" x 10". Used cuttlebug folder on the metal base and stamped the images with Stazon onto the metal. The stamps are by 'My Paper World' and were a bargain! The usual polyfilla in the back after I'd 'puffed' them out a bit for some depth and then matted and layered onto textured board suitably painted with acrylic paint in shades of Burnt Umber, Chocolate and Vanilla. The stamps were a bit fiddly to do embossing (puffing out) wise, as they're so finely detailed but it looks OK in real life.....

Had a play with a couple of 'herringbone' metal tools for the copper band and the top of the canvas was done using a Martha Stewart punch and the tiny flowers are the offcuts from the punch.

Not many challenges that this effort fits -Sweet Stampin - Anything but a card - was the only one really..... unless someone can tell me anymore!

Thanks!

As well as my main Flickr group Art N Soul, I also occasionally set a challenge on another one called 'Hugz from the Heart'. The idea of this group was for us to just occasionally celebrate occasions without the pressures of a regular swap. So far this year we've celebrated Valentines and Spring and then we had a break during the summer months.

As the autumn is fast upon us here in the UK (and boy was it cold this morning!), I thought it might be a good idea to celebrate a holiday with our friends 'across the pond'. I'm told by one of our group (who's a brit now living in the US) that we should adopt thanksgiving here - she loves it and says it's a chance for families to get together without the massive cost and pressure of Christmas - so it gets my vote! Here's my card.

The orangey spotty background paper is from K and Co. The tree image is by Crafty Individuals. I stamped it in Timber Brown Stazon and then tried my hand at colouring with Distress Inks (Victorian Velvet, Rusty Hinge, Mustard Seed, Tea Dye). I am still very much a novice at this technique but I hope it's passable!

I ran some Antique Linen Distress Ink round the image before mounting it onto dark brown card.

The orange mulberry paper was from my stash and I used a small Elusive Images leaf stamp to give the panel some interest. The sentiment was printed on the PC and cut out using my nesties. I finally added the little wooden button with a few fibres.

There's lots of challenges around this week that this card fits -

Simon Says - Give Thanks, The Stampman - Autumn Colours, Let's Ink It Up - Halloween colours, Crazy 4 Challenges - Fall/Autumn, Stamping for the Weekend - Fall, Totally Papercrafts - Autumn, The Pink Elephant - Brown and Orange, Mami Doodles - Thanksgiving

Even though this has been a difficult year for me personally I still have much to 'give thanks' for - I am blessed to have wonderful friends, both here in the UK and in cyberspace and I have the best husband anyone could wish for - and I 'give thanks' for them all. x

This is another image which has been on the desk for ages and ages...... am trying very hard to sort my way through the mess but each time I find an image I then untidy the desk again, scattering papers and card everywhere in an effort to use the pictures up!

This card was not made for anyone in particular, just to keep in my stash for a man's birthday.

The image was coloured with a mixture of promarkers and watercolours, and the stripey paper was a present from Maureen after I moaned I didn't have enough papers suitable for men cards........(never enough papers is there???? lol), the dark brown card is from DCWV and has a really nice subtle texture to it.

There's a few challenges which this card fits -

Tuesday Throwdown - Anything Goes

Cards for Men - Birthday

Craftalicious - Anything Goes

Crafty Emma's - Male Birthday

Haven't I seen this somewhere before???....

is probably what you're asking yourself when you look at this pic.

Well the answer is Yes you have seen this before... in the shape of wall hanging earlier on in the blog.....

This poor beer mat has been hung over the light plug and I've kept looking at it thinking it needed something else......... so I took a few bits off it and started again. I was happy with the basic design but just decided to alter it into something that was useful!

I re-did the metal leaf using the Elusive Images stamp and the copper metal, but puffed it out a bit more from the back and filled it with polyfilla to give it more depth. I punched a few holes in it to take some eyelets, had another dust over with the copper embossing powder, added a little sparkly above the word 'precious', gave it a back cover, tied the two mats together with lots of fibres and put some post it notes inside.

Have searched the challenges for something that says - 'altered, then not happy so altered again' but can't find one! LOL

Instead, besieged and battered these beer mats will be on the way to Sherry who is my partner in the swap!

Even though the basic design is the same and a similar pic has been previously posted I'm hoping that it will be accepted into the following challenges as it's been made into a different project.

Crazy 4 Challenges - Autumn

No time to stamp - Metal and stones

Stampin for the Weekend- Fall/Halloween

The Stamp Man - Autumn

First a card .......

Since coming home I have struggled to find any inspiration at all!

I sat yesterday and realised I had only half finished a project that was due for a swap today so I was forced to do something! (More of that in next post).

After finishing the swap project I was tidying my desk and found two paper pieced images which I'd done using one of Maureen's 'Elegant Ladies' stamps. (If you pop over to Maureen's blog she has a card made from the same stamp!)

Feeling exceptionally guilty that they had been lying on the desk for almost 2 months, I thought I should make an effort and make at least one into a card!

So here it is - must admit I struggle to use green as I think it can be quite a brash colour but overall am happy with the way this card turned out.

3 different types of spotty paper from my stash, one of my fave Marta Stewart punches used for the top border, the sentiment printed out on the PC and the ribbon was a present from a fellow crafter, Petra.

Have submitted this into a couple of challenges -

Tuesday Throwdown - 3 elements and Papertake Weekly - 3 of a kind

I need a woolly jumper.....

Did you think you'd got rid of me? I've been missing for a while I know - but hard luck - I'm Back!!!! So here's the excuse for my absence -

for the last two weeks this has been what I have woken up to every morning..... at the gorgeous Asimina Suites in Cyprus.

I did NOT want to come home....... and I am COLD!!!!!

Ah well... back to normal (well almost - once I have finished the mountain of washing and ironing which we all manage to accumulate when we're on holiday!)

This holiday though rates as the best ever - it was a complete relax and total chill out. Good job I recharged the batteries - we agreed the sale on our house two days before we went and now need to find somewhere to live pronto!! (Have already measured up the beach here for a tent..... couldn't think of a better place to be go to when you're homeless!!!! LOL)

So I shall be trying to catch up with everyone over the next week or so and am looking forward to seeing what everyone has been up to!

Basic and Quick!

So today whilst Maureen has been visiting we had a wee dabble in copying an idea from this weeks Craft Stamper mag. The article was called 'Sunset Silhouette' and the cards appealed to me, not only because they were quick to do, but also because they required minimum effort but more importantly they used minimum stash!

Using sticky notes to mask gives clear and crips outlines and this was a first for me. I have never used these for masking before but shall definitely be using them again!

I used Wild Honey, Dried Marigold and Mustard Seed distress inks and an Elusive Images stamp and am very happy with the result. I think I will make a batch of these using different coloured distress ink backgrounds and just stamp on an appropriate sentiment as needed. My card is the one minus the sentiment - Maureen's card was done using the same colours and an Oriental flower stamp I've had for years. In my opinion it makes a perfect Sympathy card as even though the colours are bright I think the overall effect is understated.

So - a succesful afternoon!

Crafty Cardmakers - Clean and Simple

Creative Card Crew - Autumn or Fall

Allsorts - Colours of Autumn

Pollycraft - Autumn Colours

Autumn Leaves

Am a bit like a bus today - don't see one for a while then two come together!Second post for today is a project done for my Flickr group 'Art n Soul'. The challenge for October (unsuprisingly) has a theme of Autumn or Fall. (How original I am when setting these challenges I hear you say!)

The difficulty was that the theme had to be interpreted onto a Beer Mat.

And no this was NOT an excuse to visit the pub - as fortunately (or UNfortunately depending on your point of view)- one of my crafting friends had sent me a stack of beer mats a while back. I shall refrain from naming her as I don't want you to think she spends all her time in licensed premises......

So here's the finished project! I covered the coaster with glossy paper. Then coloured with a combination of Sunset Orange, Caramel, Ginger and Butterscotch Alcohol Inks. I then stamped some leaf images (Elusive Images) randomly onto the background.

I used a wee bit of copper embossing powder round the edges before adding the text. The text I found some time ago whilst blog hopping and it amuses me as I think it's absolutely so true! The large leaf was another Elusive Images stamp done with Stazon onto a Ten Seconds Studio metal sheet then cut out. I embossed it to 'puff' it up a bit and filled the back with Polyfilla to make sure it didn't squash before fixing it to the coaster.

Some leaf shaped buttons and some fibres to finish.

Paperplay Challenges, Creative Inspirations and Theme Thursday all have set challenges of Autumn this week.

I have to confess to being hooked on making these 'Marie' style shoes. This one was made for a blogging friend - she now has received it so it's safe to post it on here!

Papers are by K and Co, the lace, paper flowers, pearly heart button on the tag, ribbon and pearls are all from my stash. I popped a small bundle of ribbon and lace inside the shoe and tied it with an organza bow.

As it's been such a long time since I entered any challenges (at least a week!!LOL) - I'm submitting my shoe into a few challenges that are currently ongoing -
Sisterhood of Crafters - Recipe of ribbon/trim, designer papers and flowers
Fab n Funky Challenges - 'What'eva'!
Bunny Zoes Crafts - Vintage,
Southern Girls Challenge - Anything Goes
Gingersnap Creations Random Redhead Challenge - Go 3D
Anything Goes - Say it with Flowers
Tuesday Taggers - Books - (and mine is 'Marie Antionette -The Journey' by Antonia Fraser (which is a biography which makes you re-think what history says about Marie Antionette)
Dezinaworld - Gold and Lace

Castles in the Sand

I made this card for a challenge then forgot to post it! Fortunately for me some of the other challenges are still going!

The image is another one which I just love by Stampin Up - really wish I could get hold of these whimsical sets at a reasonable price - but the p and p is real extortionate and makes the cost of the stamps ridiculously expensive. Never mind..... at least I got to make some cards with the stamped images I did whilst at the craft meet.

This image of the little boy playing in the sand just evokes so many memories of rare holidays playing on the beach when I was a little girl and my Dad building sandcastles for me and allowing me to 'bury' him in the sand. Armed with my bucket we'd go fishing for crabs and collecting shells - even if the sun refused to come out we'd go onto the beach cos that's what you did when you were on your holidays at the seaside!

I coloured with watercolours and promarkers and since taking the pic I've added a wee bit of sparkle onto the starfish. Papers are by Basic Grey and DCWV and I used a Martha Stewart punch, then added a bit of 'rope' and 3 eyelet 'portholes' to finish the card.

Several challenges -

Cards 4 Men - Long Summer Days

Crafty Emma's Challenge Blog - Anything Goes

Corrosive Challenge - One for the Guys

Dutch Dare - Vintage Summer

Charisma Cardz - Inspired by a Song (and mine is Castles in the Sand by The Philosopher Kings - go here to listen!)

Good Hair Day???

Well I promised a couple of pics from last Wednesday so thought I'd better post them!

Please click on the pic of the whole gang outside the Clubhouse for a view of some ridiculous outfits.

Charlotte looks very serious painting one of the men's arms (after she'd painted on my poor long suffering OH's face a fab pink breast cancer ribbon and a heart and we'd sprayed his hair pink), Eileen obviously going back to her youth in her 60's garb... (couldn't resist the caption - LOL) and one of Yours Truly complete with bootiful pink hair............ I rather liked it and wanted to keep it but OH was a tad unsure...LOL

The gorgeous shabby chic brooch I have in the centre of my top was a lovely surprise gift from Maureen (ably assisted by Jan I'm told....) - it has a breast cancer pink ribbon in the centre and everyone wanted it! Maureen made me lots of goodies to sell and I want to again say thank you to her, Anne, Sassy (even though she isn't doing much crafting at the mo) and Jan who all donated stuff and money to my charity.

Since last Wednesday some of my friends who could not make it have given me donations too - and I also got a donation from a lady I've never met but is a friend of a lady at the Club - how nice was that?

So I am so very proud to tell you that I have today written a cheque for the sum of..... (big drum roll please...)

£1,000!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Unbelievably gobsmackingly amazingly AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pinked Out!

Well here is the first post from me for a couple of days - Pink Day was a roaring success and raised over £600! So the total for year from me to date (excluding the donations for Mum) is currently standing at £869!!!!!!! I am worn out but it was worth the effort I think! One of the members took lots of pics so hopefully will be able to scare you all very soon with a pic of me and my pink hair! OH nearly had a heart attack when he saw it................... lol. He was even more stunned when I decided his hair would look good in a shade of pink too.........

So in the run up to yesterday and in between dyeing hair, I finished a couple of cards and as they say ' here's one I made earlier' -

As I didn't have any 'wedding' cards in the stash, I decided on a (quick - lol) clean and simple card - the cream background card has a fabulous irridescent sheen on it and I used the cuttlebug 'Textile' folder to emboss. The image is one of Mo Manning's and I think it's real pretty - I decoupaged the brides 'bustle' on the back of her dress to give the card some dimension. The whole thing is mounted onto gold mirri card and a gold and cream organza bow added.

Pear Tree Designs' challenge is 'Weddings' and Stamp Something is 'Digital'

Aud Sentiments and Stampin for the Weekend both have the theme 'Anything GoesChallenge up your Life's theme is 'Celebrations'

and over at Creative Card Crew and Rainbow Ladys Challenge Blog the challenge is 'Sparkle and Shine' and I hope the sheen on the cream card qualifies!

Wistful Wanderings

Another card from me this morning - using an image from the same set of stamps as the 'Water' card. I stamped these images at a craft meet a couple of weeks ago using the hosts stash and I wish I'd made a note of the manufacturer when I used these cos I would probably now be investing in them!

This is another one of those drawings that somehow make me feel relaxed and peaceful - the girl standing barefoot on the grass, collecting wildflowers and watching the butterflies dancing in the breeze........ooo listen to me waxing lyrical!!

Back to the card - the image was coloured with a mixture of Promarkers and watercolours and the background papers are from Papermania's Capsule Collection 'Sunshine'. I used a Coredinations 'whitewash' paper run through the flowers folder, then sanded for the right hand side panel and matted all the various elements onto DCWV mustard yellow card before adding to the card. The sentiment is by Inkadinkadoo and cut with the nesties.

The Incy Wincy Colour Challenge this week is 'yellow'

The Secret Crafter's Challenge's theme is - What are little girls made of'

Rainbow Lady's challenge is 'Paint It' and as I used some watercolours I hope I qualify!

Water

Tueday Taggers theme this week was 'messing about in boats' (!) or water .

I love these sketch stamps - not mine unfortunately - but they have such a 'peaceful' quality about them and I have a few stamped images courtesy of a crafting friend . This one fitted the challenge perfectly.

I coloured the image with promarkers and made use of the new stash of Nestabilities to cut out.

The edging is a Martha Stewart punch. The ships wheel I found in my stash whilst I was looking for an anchor or shell or similar to put on the card - I'd forgotten all about it but it looks just fine!! I resisted the usual tempation to overload with flowers/ribbons/embellishments - I wanted the image to really be the focal point and like the simplicity and clean lines of the finished card.

I have also submitted the card to the ABC Challenge - B is for Blue.

Tussie Mussie

I have been itching to upload this!

I made this as a present for my good friend Jan who has a birthday coming up very soon.... Jan is known for opening presents as soon as she gets them irrespective of if they're sent 3 weeks early! She is currently enjoying herself on holiday (and no doubt buying up everything at every craft shop in the vicinity) with Maureen and as usual could not wait until her birthday to open the present I'd left for her.

I have fancied making one of these for a long time and have seen some absolutely awesome examples on blogs owned by people with far more creativity than me - but - am real pleased with the way this turned out - particularly as this was my first attempt!

It's basically a paper cone made from some gorgeous DCWV paper embellished with lace, pearls and ribbons. I used a row of tiny pearl beads to create a hanger (don't think this shows very well on the pic...)

I popped in some dark chocs which are Jan's favourite (and yes the box I bought did have too many in it to fit in the tussie so I reluctantly had to eat the left overs!).

Flushed with success from being the Art of the Week last week at Mixed Media Monday I have entered the Tussie for this week's challenge too - which is 'Embellish It'.

Challenges galore

After the canvas and the mixed media project I made a card!

This oriental blossom stamp was amongst those that I bought when I decided to see what all the fuss was about when people were raving about stamps! So it's been with me for a few years and have used it a few times on various things and confess to liking it rather a lot!

I found this lovely sketch over at The Sweet Stop blog and was determined to use it to make a card with!

I used aqua blue coloured card for the background then mounted some chinese washi papers onto white linen card before matting again onto gold card. I love the feel of washi papers and I haven't yet found a design or colour scheme that I don't like!

I then stamped Cherry Blossom onto the same aqua card and embossed in gold, and layered onto the same white and gold card.

The 'lace edging' is a Martha Stewart punch (what else???LOL)laid over the gold card and with an offcut of the washi paper on top. Finally some fabric flowers which were all white were coloured with a promarker called 'Cool Aqua' and a metal butterfly from my stash were added to complete the card.

This card fits the following challenges too this week

Sweet Stamping Challenge - Favourite Stamp

Totally Gorjuss - Aqua

Simon Says - Summertime Blue

One Stop Craft Challenge - Oriental

Unbelievable!!!

I am sooooooo excited!!!! Can you believe that I have been chosen as 'Art of the Week' over at Mixed Media Monday???
How cool is that?
There were brilliant submissions from everyone again this week and I am really honoured that my Marrakech canvas was considered good enough to be chosen. So a huge thank you from me to everyone there for making my day!

Vermeer

Jan (Johannes) Vermeer was a 17th century Dutch painter and is one of my favourite artists. Although he was not a prolific painter (it's thought he only painted about 35 works of art during his short lifetime), his ability to capture the effects of light and his attention to detail within each work is amazing.

Probably his most well known piece is 'Girl with a Pearl Earring' which is an awesome interpretation of youth, beauty and innocence.

I have made this project using the one of Vanmeer's painting's that ranks amongst those at the top of my fave list. This is called 'The Lacemaker' and depicts an industry which was flourishing at the time in the Delft area where Vanmeer lived. I love the concentration on the face of the lace girl as she uses her bobbins to make a border for maybe a tablecloth or pillow.

My piece measures about 6" square and is made from mountboard. I printed the image onto linen textured paper - I like this paper for the 'oil on canvas' effect it gives. I used K and Co 'Madeleine' backing paper and then added a variety of cotton lace from my stash, including a small crocheted coaster/doily which I think once belonged to my gran! The oversized needle must have come in a button pack at one time (don't know how long I've had it.....) and I know the two cotton 'spools' (probably from the same button pack) are not strictly to do with lacemaking but hope I'll be forgiven.

The rose lace in the top corner was cut from a wide strip and the addition of 2 buttons finish my small mixed media attempt!

I am submitting this into Gingersnap Creations C65 - Famous Painter or Paintings.

and Play Date Cafe's Colour Challenge is green, beige and dark brown - and as one of my little 'spools' is dark brown I am entering this there too!

Marrakech Remembered

I chose a fanciful title for this fanciful piece of work! Please click on to enlarge for a better view!

I spent yesterday pricing up the cards and other fabulous things made by Maureen for the charity day and then turned myself away from card making and lifted out a plain canvas. A rather large canvas for me actually, as it measures 15" x 12".

The images are torn from a paper napkin - don't you just love these elephants??!

(Why anyone would want to use napkins as pretty as the ones that I've managed to acquire over the last couple years to wipe their mouths with after eating is just beyond my comprehension!)

Anyway back to the napkin and the canvas..... this gorgeous coloured piece of paper just evoked images of the Souks with their array of wares in strong geometric designs in rich spicy colours.

So the background was done using red, orange and yellow acrylics and a baby wipe, the napkin torn up and stuck on with gel medium. I rummaged through the crafty stash and found these jewels, rings, buttons and tassel and the fabric bag revealed some small pieces of silks and organza in red and orange. (The fibres taken from the edges of the silks were just thrown randomly onto the canvas background whilst wet and I then built up the design over them). The gold jewelled engraved 'tube' I sewed on as well as glueing the length because of the weight of it. I have no idea what purpose in life this piece had. I have put a cklose up pic of it on my Flickr account and maybe somone out there can tell me what it began it's life as?

I am quite pleased of this canvas - I have placed it on the work room wall and every time I look at it I can smell ginger, cinammon, paprika, saffron type aromas!!

Mixed Media Mondays theme this week is Memories

One Powerful Hour has a challenge of Vacation

Gingersnap Creations Theme Challenge 64 is to used Yellow, Red and Orange.

'nother Card!

Forgot about this one!!!

'Here's one I made earlier'........................

and as it fits with challenges from -

Cute Card Thursday - 'Whateva'

Charisma Cardz - Teddy Bear

Penny's PaperCrafty Challenge - Anything Goes

Fab and Funky - Spots and Stripes

- I decided to post it!