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Friday 29 July 2011

Papertake Weekly Sketch

Over at Papertake Weekly it is time for a sketch, most enter a card, however this week, I have been on a roll making scrapbook pages, so thought I would enter with this page, I have really enjoyed making the pages from a batch of recent pics sent to me from my son. The viola or pansies are a small stamp in the spring Flowers Aspects of Design from The Stampman, the trees stamp is from Elusive Images Trees. The papers are a selection from my stash, including the Green Bazzil card. The pic is of my son, DIL and two grandsons.

Thursday 28 July 2011

Imag-e-nation Craft Weekend starts Tomorrow

THIS WEEKEND IS THE  NORTH-EAST  Craft Weekend  29th - 31st July 2011

AT THE IMAG-E-NATION SHOP
Unit 11 Phoenix Road
Crowther Industrial Est.
Washington
NE38 0AD
(behind Dainty Supplies)

SUMMER SALE &   DEMONSTRATIONS
(  I WILL BE DEMONSTRATING  ---------DISTRESS INKS ON SUNDAY 10.00A.M. - 4 P.M.)

FREE ENTRY &   REFRESHMENTS PROVIDED
We are OPEN ALL DAY         Friday, Saturday and Sunday

with ongoing demonstrations running 10am - 4pm each day

29th - 31st July 2011

It's THIS weekend!!

IF YOU LIVE IN THE NORTH EAST I WOULD LOVE TO SEE YOU ON THE SUNDAY

Wednesday 27 July 2011

Hot Wheels

Apart from some DT work, you will have realised by now, if you've been regularly popping in, I've been playing with Scrapbook LO pages this week.  All because my son recently sent me load of photos which just shouted they wanted to be in a scrapbook. I checked out on Feline Playful anf found several interesting scrapbook blogs to enter into challenges. This page, Hot Wheels, I am entering into Sassy Lil' Sketches.

I thought this sketch was very interesting and different to anything I've made before, I am pleased with the result. Once I had decided on the title, I hunted for some wheels, to replace the bunting, then remembered, I have a penny farthing stamp which worked terrific. I then found a cheap old gold chain for them to be 'hung' by.
I stamped James, and printed the title on the computer.
Thanks for the terrific sketch ladies, I hope to join you again.

Tuesday 26 July 2011

Alter for a gift.

Hello again. This week at Try It On Tuesday, it is time again for us to alter something, to make a gift. One of my favourite items to alter is the very reasonably priced mirrors from the very large Swedish store. The first thing I did was covered the mirror with some black card to protect it. Next it was painted with some matt blackboard paint. I chose two poppy stamps from an Elusive images set, sorry lost the name of the set. I embossed the stamps using gold E.P. to give a more defined outline to work with. Talk about trial and tribulation, I tried various colouring mediums, but most just seamed to soak into the wood. I wanted to paint with Cosmic Shimmer watercolours but it soaked into the wood, I then tried some Acetate/Peel off markers, which worked a treat, then thought if they haven’t soaked in, maybe I can use the Cosmic shimmer watercolours on top of them and that’s what happened, it had provided a surface for the shimmer paint. I finally added a few black gems to the centre of 3 of the poppies. This mirror is to be donated to Janet, for her husband’s Poppy Appeal fund raising event which will be held in October, so it will be a gift. Please pop over to our blog I am sure you will be amazed at the work by the Design Team. Don’t forget our altered items are supported by The Craft Barn who will provide a fabulous prize, be sure to check on what you need to do, to be in with a chance. Good luck. I look forward to visiting your blogs.






Butterflies at CCM Challenge


This week over at Crafty Cardmaker's Challenge blog site we are asking for butterflies, it is well worth joining in for there will be a prize for the winner from The Stampman, so please pop over to see the wonderful butterflies the Design Team have created.  For my card the background paper is from an 8"sq. pad, but I'm now not sure which company. I stamped the butterflies, onto red vellum, each twice, the first one being stuck to the main card, the second of each are only stuck at the body section, so they appear to be in a flying position. The Tattered Butterflies stamps are from Personal Impressions designed by Lyndsay Mason. I am also entering this into Less Is More, for I feel it fits the bill of being understated and clean. Their challenge this week is to use either ribbon or a button. please pop over to check out both Chrissie and Mandi's wonderful samples and of course the wonderful support they have every week, I can spend far too long travelling around the world in awe of some of the most beautiful cards.

Monday 25 July 2011

The Great Outdoors

Most crafters are asked at one time or another , "How did you get started?"  For me, I started with scrapbooking , I first saw it on TV and became hooked. I then moved onto ATCs and cards, but I keep going back to scrapbooking. With 6 grandchildren I always have something to record. I found this challenge blog for Scrapbooking sketches,  Stuck On Sketches. Sometimes getting the LO sorted is the longest process for me, so having a sketch is a great help, this one in particular I liked as soon as I saw it.
All of the papers I have used are from my craft stash, Hot Off the Press cardstock, Kraft card. A piece of webbing added for texture, I love to have some texture on my LOs. The birds were stamped, cut out and added to the page. Stamps purchased from E -bay. The title was stamped using the Ransome alphabet set from Royal & Langnickel.


Lace and Pearls

This being the last week in the month brings us at Make My Monday, to the end of our visit to Vintage. The last challenge is to use lace and pearls as embellishments. Please be sure to pop over to the blog to see the team’s wonderful samples. I decided instead of making a card this week I have made a frame, you could add a modern photograph or a heritage photo of a member of your family. I have added a lovely stamp of a young girl, Emily, stamped with Sepia ink. The stamp is from Stamp-It Australia. The frame is made by folding a 12” sq. piece of paper, origami style.Lace attached around the frame, attached with brads with pearls added to the brad heads. I added some ribbon to tighten the folds, then I coloured some plain white flowers with Worn Lipstick Distress Ink. I look forward to visiting your blogs, the standard has been fantastic, making it very difficult to choose our Top 3 each week. Congratulations to this week's winners. Please remember, there is a maximum of 5 other challenges in which you can enter to be able to be considered for a Top 3 award

Sunday 24 July 2011

All in the Title

Over at Lasting Memories this week, the challenge is to make the title an important part of the LO. which quickly allows the viewer to know what the page is about. I made my title by stamping the letters for the word 'Beach' with my Philadelphia foam alphabet stamps, the stamps used for 'At The' are from a set of See D alphabet stamps. The background is Bazzil card, chosen to tone in with the seaweed paper and aqua papers. I stamped a boat on the tag which explains the interest in the strange piece of seaweed. I added further shells by cutting these from a scrapbook page.

Saturday 23 July 2011

St. Luke's 4th Card

I have enjoyed this month’s challenge  at St. Luke's Charity Card Challenge– Black, White and one other colour, here is my 4th ladies, thanks so much for such an interesting challenge. I had a few suggestions in my comments for various colours, someone mentioned lime green, couldn’t quite make it lime but I did go for green. I think this card, again would be suitable for a male, I do try when making cards for charities to include men’s cards for I know there are less of them made than cards more suitable for the females. This card is mostly made by matting and layering the required colours, the main focus is the centre small piece of card. I used two stamps from Elusive Images Eastern Grasses, firstly I heat embossed with clear EP, a few stamped images, to achieve a resist effect when I covered the piece of card with Bundled Sage Distress Ink. I then stamped the same images directly with the Bundled Sage and again with black. I added a few black gems to add a little bling. The Happy Birthday stamp is from Do Crafts. Wonder what the ladies have in store for us next month?  I will be posting to you 8 cards on Monday.
N.B. I am thrilled to add this card was chosen to be in the July Top 4, which won me a badge, which is now in myside bar. Many thanks to the ladies at St. Luke's.

Tuesday 19 July 2011

Distress Inks and how to use them

2nd post today, please scroll down to see the Steampunk wallhanging.
I have grossly neglected my Papercraft Tutorial blog, it's a few months since I added a tutorial. Today I have added eight tags showing 4 basic methods of using Distress Inks, one set with embellishments, the other using stamps. I have kept them basic, for it is meant for novices and beginners, but you never know, there may be something useful even for the experienced crafter. Hope you pop over and enjoy the item. More will be following in the future.

Steampunk at Try It On Tuesday

Steampunk! I’m not sure about this very popular genre in the stamping world at present. It seems to be even more popular than cute, so it can’t be too bad, can it? My OH likes it! So, I decided as the challenge this week at Try it On Tuesdays is to make anything in the Steampunk style, I have made a wall hanging for my OH, to be displayed on the wall above his computer area. This is only my second attempt, the first being an ATC which can be found in my labels at ATCs. I decided on a collage format as that seems is one artistic way of displaying as much as one can.
The stamps I used are from various sets:-
Tim Holtz Steampunk CMS107
Creative Expressions – Vintage Aviation
Creative Expressions – Time
Paper used is from TH Vintage Shabby Paper stash
TH Frayed Burlap and Walnut Stain Distress inks, Memento Onyx Black.
Please pop over to the TIOT blog, for there are some outstanding ‘Steampunkers’ on the design team. I look forward to visiting your blogs to see your works of art.
I have just realised I can enter this into The Stampman challenge this fortnight for Anything by T!m!

Monday 18 July 2011

Less is more - Circles Again!

                        This is my 3rd entry today please look below, to see  Less is More First entry and                 ATC's for CCM Spotlight, also below is my vintage distressed for Make My Monday.
This is the first time I have entered a second time in Less Is More, but I have missed a couple of weeks, so why not?  This could be the simplest card I have made, yet it did take some time. I stamped the letters using Memento Black Onyz ink, allowed a few minutes to dry, then punched them out with a 3/4" circle punch.
Lined them up , tried to make it look equal. I then added a line of Zentangle circles to add a litle extra interest.  The Alphabet stamps are from a See D set 50693 Circle Letters and Numbers.




Less is more - Circles

This is my second entry today, please look below.
It's been a few weeks since I was able to join in the Less Is More challenge, I do miss it, when I don't join in. Last week I had a frozen shoulder, fortunately the injection is working and I am able to craft. Hooray!
Circles, I had been making a Steampunk wall hanging and saw all the washers on my desk , when the light went on to inspire my circle Steampunk. I also thought the sentiment fitted this card so well. The gentlemen stamp is from a TH Steampunk set.

CCM - Spotlight . ATC's

On the Crafty Cardmaker's Spotlight this week we are asking you to make an ATC, there is no topic, a chance for you to create whatever you wish. Please remember the size MUST be 2.5" x 3.5".
I started making ATC's in 2004, I still make and swap them within an ATC forum. I'm fortunate to have hundreds made by some very talented and creative friends. For this challenge I have made 3 unrelated, to show a few different techniques. Left -I made the background onto glossy card, by painting Cosmic Shimmer watercolour paints across the card, when dry, I stamped the flower image and quotation, added a metal butterfly. Bottom- I again used glossy card but this time I lightly sprayed light green, dark green and Golden Fish (orange). I then stamped the dragonfly, added the card to black card with the brads. Right- this is my first attempt at Steampunk, time I caught up with what's 'on trend'. The beauty of ATC’s is you can do no wrong, as long as the size is correct, it is an opportunity to experiment and create what you will.

Vintage Distressed

This week at Make My Monday, we continue the monthly theme of Vintage, the challenge is to produce either, Distressed or Shabby Chic. I love making a bit of a mess, with the hope my finished card will still be acceptable. All of the paper/card is from Tim Holtz Vintage Shabby, paper stash, except for the lady which is stamped onto white tissue paper. I distressed the edges by either tearing or using my craft knife to scrape the edges. I used Distress Ink Walnut Stain to add some contrast. It looks as though I was heavy handed with the Stain, I apologise most of the darker areas are shadows, the light wasn’t good when I took the pics.

Stamps used – Corset by Bravura stamps, Sentiment from Paperartsy, Lady from Across the Miles from Stampman. Once again I look forward to visiting your blogs to see your distressed Vintage cards, please remember to check the rules.

Sunday 17 July 2011

St. Luke's Challenge Week 3

Hi to everyone, wishing you a happy Sunday. I do hope there will be less rain today. It being Sunday reminds me it is the day I enter my weekly card to the St. Luke's Charity Card Challenge. This month it is a colour challenge, to use black and white and ONE other colour. My 3rd card includes the colour Red. I used the Creative Expressions Vintage Games stamp set for the card, which could be suitable for a man or woman.
I need to put my thinking cap on for next Sunday, I have used, pink, turquoise and red, now what next?

Friday 15 July 2011

A bit of this - a bit of that

At last the steroid injection into my shoulder has worked, I have 7/8 movement. I am bereft over the lack of crafting since last Wednesday. The arm still hurts when I attempt to move it backwards, but as that's not a normal movement required in making cards. I am raring to go.  I went today to the Scrapbook Shop near Durham, which sadly is closing down early August. I had £10 left on a loyalty card to redeem, I went hoping to be able to get a MS punch, of course the sale has been on for a few weeks so there were none left. I was spoilt for choice but being a stampoholic, yes, I bought a set of stamps. At a true bargain price I bought Tim Holtz Steampunk CMS107. I know I am not (yet) a steampunk fan, but you have to go with the times, there are challenges to be met. I now need to practice with Steampunk, so watch this space as they say. Thanks to everyone for their good wishes at my recent injury, the messages have been gratefully received.

Monday 11 July 2011

Creative Expressions Calling Card Challenge

It's a true saying, "You have to be in it to win it!" Creative Expressions,  my favourite British stamp company are for the first time seeking a Design Team of 6 people.  Last week, I decided to give it a try, I needed to make an interesting card for my son's forthcoming birthday so this card was partly in the visual planning stage.
More details are available if you click on Creative Expressions above. There are no special requirements, any make of stamps can be used, the title of the project is Calling Card, an ATC is required to be featured on the project. My oldest son was in the RAF for 12 years, he has always been interested in aviation. Nowadays, this interest has develoepd into being part of a world wide internet group of similar minded persons who have flight control and flying simulation exercises and activities. The Vintage Aviation and Time sets of stamps from Creative Expressions were the ideal sets of stamps for his birthday card and for my entry to Creative Expressions to be considered to be part of the design team.



I choose an 8 x8 sq. inch cream card for my background. The background of the card is a graphic sheet from Tim Holtz Vintage Shabby Paper Stash, I distressed the edges with a pair of scissors. I then stamped various aeroplane  and  clocks with dials stamps randomley on the background sheet. The areoplane with the banner being ideal to add Happy Birthday from my stash. I then added TH Distress ink Walnut Stain around all the edges, to add more contrast and dimension.

Using my Cuttlebug and the largest of the small scalloped octogon Spellbinders, I produced the circle focal point, upon which I used the hot air balloon stamp, three times, using a masking technique with two different ink pads, Memento Tuxedo Black  and Memento Rich Cocoa, To add further interest I stamped the balloon onto shrink plastic to produce a smaller balloon to add to the scene.

My vision of the required Calling Card, is something a hot air balloon owner would be handing as his calling card to interest people to buy a ticket and have an adventure by going for  a balloon ride. I used paper from the same stash as the main background, stamped two balloons, masking one first to be able to add a second, appearing behind it. Stamped onto spare pieces of blue paper, various words, cut them up to fit onto the ATC. The ATC fits nicely onto the main card with the strap I cut and stamped Enjoy the Journey, two brads hold the strap in place, giving another point of interest.

On the main background of the card, the central focal point and the Calling Card ATC, I have added words to add further interest. Also throughout are small washers and pieces of metal, from my husband's tin of goodies. They were prouced as if by magic, when I said I wanted some small washers, he got the tin back, but I dont think he will be keeping it, do you?
Thanks for this amazing opportunity to be part of the Design Team for Creative Expressions.
Within a short time of entering the above card, I discovered over on Ink On My Fingers ran by Hels Sheriden their current Sunday Samper Challenge No 46 is Flight, well, it is a foregone conclusion, I am entering this card into the challenge.

St. Luke's Week 2 Colour Challenge

Here we are at Week 2, my entry to the St. Luke's Charity Card Challenge - if you want to know more about this excellent fund raising charity please visit their site --this month being a colour challenge to use Black, White and ONE other colour.  Fortunately I made 3 cards last week, so my injured shoulder is only affecting the mechanics of adding the picture this week.
For Week 2, I choose a lovely shade of blue, to work with the black and white.  The main card is blue, then a layer of black card with a layer of white on top, with a band of black and the same blue across the card. Using my Cuttlebug I cut out a blue scalloped circle and a smaller black scalloped circle. The white circle is from a 3" wide punch. I used a stamp from Personal Impressions, Lyndsay Mason's Tattered Butterflies, coloured it with two shades of blue Sakura pens. I'll be back next week ladies, I still have one more card up my sleeve. Bye for this week, hope your all well.

Saturday 9 July 2011

Attention - Urgent For D.Team members

Hi, my apologies to the 3 DTs where I am a member, I will not be abl to contribute a project for this week, fingers crossed for next week. I injured my right shoulder, yes, I am right handed, trying on a blouse in a shop on Thursday. Spent 6 and a half hours though the night in A&;E finally had steroid injection in my shoulder, which should start kicking in soon, I pray. At present I can't move my arm without an agonising pain. One new blouse = one frozen shoulder, and guess what I spupidly bought the blouse! Can't tell you how long it has took to type and enter this new post. I'll be in touch when I can move my right arm. Bye for now.

Friday 8 July 2011

Imag-e-nation Craft Weekend Event

For those who live in the North East of England, I am passing on information you may be interested in. There is to be another Craft Weekend Event at Imag-e-nation on Friday 29th, Saturday 30th and Sunday 31st of July. There will be demonstrations, reduced prices and lots more. As soon as I have further details I will pass the information on. I am very excited because I will be one of the demonstrators, discussions have taken place, if there is enough interest by some of the attenders to the event, I will be holding regular classes at Imag-e-ination. It is all very exciting. Watch this space....................leaving at the top of the page, to add any further up-dates.

Tuesday 5 July 2011

St. Luke's Challenge Wk 1 entry

St. Luke's Charity Card Challenge kicked off another month with a super new challenge. Black and white with ONE other colour. Firstly congratulations to the 3 winners, well done. Many thanks ladies for the kind comment of my four entries, I will be attempting this once again, for it my own personal challenge, I have 3 ready, only one more to make. So let's get started for Week 1 with my Black, White and Pink.
Card made with pink cardstock. A piece of black with pink spots card from stash added to the card. A piece of white card adhered to the black spotted card. I punched out three pink circles, placed them onto the white card to position where to stamp Love, Celebrate and Cherish. Stamped onto the 3 circles with Wayside flowers from Stamps Away, adhered the circles to the card. Added 3 Card Candy to the lower right corner.  Added some White and black spotted ribbon. Inspired by Gina K.

Flower Power at TIOT

This week at Try it on Tuesdays, it is the turn of Pat R to choose the topic, good choice for Pat would like us to make a CARD – the theme is FLOWER POWER. Please pop over to TIOT to see the rules and of the super prize once again offered by our sponsor this week One Stop Card Craft.
For my card, I played around and experimented. This is the first time I have created an aperture with Nestabilities with a corresponding frame on the front of the card. Neither of them fit perfectly but at least I have learnt why and hopefully will remember if I make one again. I adore Peg Tapestry stamps, I own far more than anyone needs, so have to occasionally find a reason to use them. I used Colour Box cat’s eyes chalk pads.

Monday 4 July 2011

Vintage Colour Challenge at MAKE MY MONDAY

Firstly I would like to wish all American citizens  happy 4th July celebrations.
I can't believe our first month has ended at the new challenge blog Make My Monday. We have had some wonderful creations to look at, the previous month the main theme has been Flowers, which was Jacqueline's choice. We are now moving into our second month and the theme throughout will be VINTAGE, chosen by Fliss.  The first week is a colour challenge -
CREAM, BROWN and EITHER PINK  OR  BLUE
Papers I used are for the background a light brown colour from the Tim Holtz Vintage Shabby Paper Stash, edged with TH Walnut Stain and stamped with scrolls, again using Walnut Stain Distress inks. The pink sheet, from the same pack, was slightly distressed, at the edges. I stamped the young lady using a La Blanche stamp, onto plain cream card, using a Memento ink pad Rich Cocoa. Add lace and pink  flowers as embellishments. The gentlemen and Across the Miles is from the Across the Miles A4 stamp sheet from The Stampman. The Thinking of You is a cheap sponge stamp from my stash. I look forward to see how you all create your project with the given colours in a vintage style.

Masking technique

This week at Crafty Cardmaker's it is time for Spotlight 49 - Masking, chosen by Jack, who would like to see any form of masking, as she has described on the page for Spotlight 49.
I  used Lavinia stamps. I first prepared the background with TH Distress inks, Peeled Paint, Tumbled Glass and Dusty Concord, using a shaving type brush. I first stamped the centre houses, stamped them again onto a post it note, I cut out the shape of the houses,which I then placed over the same centre houses image. I was then able to stamp the  houses to the left and the right without spoiling the centre houses. The post- it note is then removed. I completed the card by stamping the branches and pixies, adding some glitter here and there and a little colouring. Masking is an interesting technique, which can be used in so many different ways. I look forward to visiting your blogs to see which technique of masking you decided on and your final creation. As always, have lots of fun.

Sunday 3 July 2011

A few Quickies!

I haven't added anything to my blog since last Tuesday, but I've still been around, visiting and commenting on other bloggers and carrying out my visits and adding comments to the 4 design teams, to which I am also making cards for. I had a busy week making Quickie cards for my class for last Friday. The idea of the class was to show ways Quickie, yet effective cards could be made, which involved many samples. Here are a few.

                      The three below have been made with embossing folders with help of my bug.
Left - on white card but stamped around the edges, with Memento Bamboo Leaves after being embossed to cover all white areas. Brushed all over with a shaving brush and TH Distress ink Peeled Paint. Ribbon added and a small punched out circle with Just For You.
Centre - On dark coloured vellum a beautiful embossing folder of an owl. Lightly sandpapered the owl to show clearer. Stamped Just for You from a Paperartsy set Tops and Tails. I used four brads to attach the vellum to corugated card which I hope looks a little like bark.
Right - the same embossing folder as on the left side, but this time on vellum, lightly sandpapered to show more of a white contrast, ribbon tied around with a plaque Just for You, attached to white card with 4 blue brads.

 Below are three quickly made stamped cards.
Left, both stamps are from Paperartsy Tops and Tails, I stamped both with Memento Bamboo Leaves, used Sakura pens to colour the red and yellow flowers.
Top _ Get Well Soon Owl for Joanna Sheen, stamped onto white card, coloured with Walnut Stain TH ink,
leaves stamped for Inkylicious Trees set.
Bottom - Stamped three times a grasses stamp from Elusive Images, adhered to a grey card. Twine wrapped around a button attached.

 Left, an A5 sheet of pretty patterned card, folded in half, a stamped butterfly and sentiment from Personal Impressions Lydsay Mason, added for interest.
Centre - a very pretty and cheap Thank You stamp, coloured with Sakura pens, added to a matching tone piece of card to mat, then onto a white card.
Right - A white card, with a  red mat attached. A piece of pretty poppy paper cut from a Pad of paper, Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady