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Saturday 29 September 2012

New home card again


Here is another new home card made using the Hero Arts Sillyscape stamp, this time with a Nestabilities label that looks like a book, I will continue to develop this one I think, I love the stamp. The papers are stitched to the card blank, and the ribbon is from Crafty Ribbons. The greeting is from a clear set by Clearly Different (are they still around?). Image coloured with Promarkers.

It looks like I need to make some more baby boy cards, they have all gone now, so watch this space.

Thursday 27 September 2012

I made Daily Talent Spot at Joanna Sheen challenge blog

I  just popped over to Joanna Sheen's challenge blog and found that on Monday I made the Daily Talent Spot! Wow, thank you all.

The card that made the spot was the pretty please pink Bugaboo monster in the post below, I am chuffed to bits!

Sunday 23 September 2012

What's that coming over the hill? Is it a monster?


My turn to set the Quirky Crafts Challenge, and I chose Quirky Monsters. Our two sponsors both have some great monster images.

This card is made with a Bugaboo "Pretty Please" monster and sentiment on the front, she clearly wants some cake! Monster coloured with Promarkers and Trias and cut out with a Nestabilities label die, freebie paper from a magazine stitched to the card front, cake ribbon from Crafty Ribbons and birthday sentiment and cake stamps from a Debbi Moore set.


Inside the card I you can see my sad monster is now in a temper so she didn't get her way! You are looking at "temperamental "monster from Bugaboo which I coloured with Promarkers. Freebie papers as before, and all nicely corner rounded as you can see!

Our other sponsor is Doodle Dragon Studios and Dustin Pike provided us with his very latest monster set.

 I used some of the great monsters from Dustin's brand new set available from Doodle Dragon Studios now. I made a tri-fold card and hand cut the hills, and used some freebie paper on those, and some DCWV sky paper. I printed the monsters I used in varying sizes for perspective as I had that song in my head (see post title), and stamped happy birthday with the same Debbi Moore set. I wrote on the monster sign, and all monsters are coloured with Promarkers.


So hop on over to Quirky Crafts Challenge blog to see some more great examples and join the fun, you never know you could win one of the two great prizes on offer!

I have entered the following challenges:

The Crafty Pad - inspired by a song (had to do it) ends Saturday 29th Sept
Allsorts - inspired by a song also ends Friday 28th I think.
ABC - X for xing, crossing cards, well my mountains sort of cross ends Sunday 30th Sept.
Cute Card Thursday - a different shape, mountain shape? Ends Wednesday 26th Sept.
Joanna Sheen challenge blog - So sweet - top card, ends 27th Sept.
Little Miss Muffet - anything but square, ends Weds 4th Oct I think.
Moving along with the times - girly, girly pink and prim and proper girly ends Wed 26th Sept. 

Well that is a lot of challenges for me!


Stamper of the Year attempts - so far


Now that Craft Stamper have announced the round one and round two winners of Stamper of the Year I can blog my failed attempts! This was for round 1 which was PaperArtsy. Good, I thought, I have PaperArtsy stamps.

I spent a lot of time thinking about this one before beginning, and I haven't done an altered frame before. I had a little hinged pine frame which I bought for altering and wish I could get some more. I decided to go with a Victorian school theme. I painted the frame all over with white gesso to start with, then painted the inside frame with black gesso for the blackboard effect. I stamped the children (is that Princess Di in the bottom row?) with Distress inks and added a little distress powder and embossed them. I stamped a center panel onto Stampbord. The teacher was stamped in the same way then masked as I stamped the ruler to appear in the background behind her, and again a Stampbord panel with a pink cheek. I added a Stambord "slate" inked black and with Cat scratched into it. All round the blackboard I added sums, and phrases like lines, or the teacher taking register and teaching or telling the children off, and some of this I scratched into the black gesso revealing the white (which worked on my test board but not on the finished frame - and I did a lot of testing), some was done using a chalk marker. I added a strip of corrugated card for teacher's desk, and made some Fimo apples and chalks. Finally the apples were glazed, can you see the bite out of one of the apples from a cheeky child?


I wanted to decorate the back of the frame too. All over the frame is stamped with HOTP flowers and sentiments from various sets. The hinges and photo tags were inked using a Krylon copper pen to age them (I unscrewed the tags to ink them, the hinges were a little messier as I inked them in place). I stamped the Gentlemen of industry onto In My Minds Eye papers, matching up the two sides so they both had corner designs, and then stamping more sentiments. Disapproving adults?  


Round the frame I added Dymo tape words, which read "We don't need no education, and children should be seen and not heard. This is the part I had most problems with as the tape will not stick down on the stamped gesso, if I had to send it in I would have had to find something that would stick the tape on! I was considering also punching out An apple for the teacher and sticking it round the inside edges of the teacher, but didn't get that far, and they wouldn't stick if I did!



What went wrong you might ask? Well I was working on this until nearly midnight on the closing date. I took these photos, apart from the first one - that wasn't such a good photo and the glue wasn't dry, the apples weren't glazed and I forgot the chalks. I didn't have time to take better photos, or do a proper write up of how I did this, I had to press send at 5 minutes to midnight and give a very brief explanation, and apology and say I would provide a full description and better photos if required!

Did it even get there by midnight and did they even look at it? I will never know.

Round 2, well I had good intentions, and I had some Chocolate Baroque stamps. Couldn't decide what to do then on holiday I spotted some little bird boxes and an idea was forming.....





Unfortunately with days to go to the deadline I had a violent allergic reaction to some eye drops used in an eye test and couldn't continue, I tried to carry on when I got to the actual deadline day (when I felt a little better) but had to give up when I reached midnight and nowhere near finished, and I have still not finished my project.


Round 3, I can't show you as it hasn't been announced, I had to buy stamps for this one, and I chose to buy just one stamp that didn't prove easy to work with (at least not for me and I tried every trick and tip (and type of ink) I could think of). I had an idea which I had to abandon after working on it for several days and I was pleased with what I ended up doing instead, however we did have several power cuts leaving me sat in the dark (imagine me sat in the back of my craft room in pitch black unable to see a thing or move for fear of tripping over one of the many things on the floor! Shaun has since given me a glow in the dark torch for that corner which is is magnetic and stuck to my shelf brackets in case it happens again), and that didn't help so it was past the deadline when I sent it in (might have been less than an hour and a half past without the power cuts), and therefore it will probably never be looked at!

Round 4, I had several of the required stamp sets. Tried to do an ambitious project for the first time, something that didn't work - my fault, needed to find the instructions in a past mag but after some explorations gave up due to lack of time). , so switched at the last minute, made a card, and made what I see as a terrible mistake (which I spent considerable time completing before realising what I had just done) with no time to change it (there is nothing in the rules to say I couldn't do what I did, but it would have been much better if I did it properly). It was well within the deadline this time so should be looked at and binned I imagine!

Round 5, deadline is looming, I have bought a set and a single stamp, and not yet started - ideas are buzzing round in my head! Why do I feel the urge to make art projects for the first time, and not just stick to the cards? Well it must be years of pent up creativity awakened by this challenge!

Tuesday 18 September 2012

Ribbons arrived




I made a mistake on the last post where I said I had won the baby ribbons, it is these that I won, and aren't they fantastic!
I will, of course, have to buy the baby ribbons for Kenny's first Christmas!
Thanks Crafty Ribbons, for these totally exclusive ribbons!

Thursday 13 September 2012

Look what I won!


I love them, thank you Crafty Ribbons, they will be used for our Grandson's first Christmas. I won them in the Friday Freebie, which now happens on Thursday!

Tuesday 11 September 2012

more Quirky Number crunching

Believe it or not I managed to make two more cards to show you, I have added them to the Quirky Challenge blog post too.


I just love this cute turtle from The Stamping Boutique, I coloured him with Trias and Promarkers, cut him out with Nestabilities large labels 8 and added a mat of polka dot paper I got free with a magazine. Heat embossed Happy Birthday in gold (before I attached the image and ribbon - I find the ribbon melts if you get a heat gun near it lol), added some Crafty Ribbons polka dot sheer green and black ribbon, and die cut the numbers with Embosslits, they don't match because in between cutting the numbers and the letters I managed to break my Vagabond and one of the dies is jammed in it (again, and I am very upset about it and waiting for a response from Sizzix on what to do, think it was my fault this time) so out with the trusty Big Shot and carry on cutting!

I am entering this card in the following challenges:
 Joanna Sheen challenge blog called "Going Dotty" which closes on 13th Sept
ABC challenge Wishes which closes on on Friday 14th Sept.
One Stop Craft Challenge - no floral embellishments which ends on Saturday 15th Sept.
Papertake Weekly challenge - things that make you go awwww. Ends next Tuesday 18th Sept.


This card was a very quick make with a Doodle Dragon Studios Freebie of the week, which is still there I believe. I printed the colour version for speed and I added the text, the banner is blank for your own text. Again freebie papers with a magazine.

Sunday 9 September 2012

Number crunching challenge

Quirky Challenge time again, and Diane picked numbers.

I picked out this Paisley Peacock image from one of our sponsors, The Stamping Boutique. I love this image but it is very detailed and tricky to colour (so don't look too closely). I wanted it to be sparkly so I started off painting it with mica paints then I couldn't do the tail part, you would need a very fine brush and steady hand for that. So I got out my Sakura Gelly Roll metallic set and used that, with a mica paint background. I think I need some metallic Promarkers! Cut the peacock out using a Nestabilities label die. The embossed panel is using a folder I bought at a show and Coredinations Whitewash paper sanded, I am not sure who it is by now. Happy Birthday is a Stampabilities stamp, heat embossed in gold, cut out again with Nestabilities long rectangle die and scalloped die. Gold edged ribbon from Crafty Ribbons, and letters and number cut out with Sizzlet alphabets to spell Bel8ted (belated for those not into text speak and I am not a big fan but it works for this card).


Stamping Boutique are giving 3 images away so you too could own the Paisley Peacock or other images of your choice!

Our new and exciting sponsor this time is Doodle Dragon, who will be giving $10 to spend in the store.

Just pop on over to Quirky Crafts Challenge blog for more great examples and to enter your project (which must contain numbers) now.

Friday 7 September 2012

Please please leave me a comment, I feel neglected and lonely

O.K. I know Facebook has taken over the world, but I would love to have some comments from followers or even from (non bloggers, you can leave comments too), I get lovely comments from my teamie Lyn, and lots from spammers (which don't make it to the blog) and I know people are visiting, I see the numbers (it could all be Mum I suppose), but nobody is talking to me, I feel like Billy no Mates!

So won't you please talk to me?

Thursday 6 September 2012

New home card


I bought this stamp called Sillyscape by Hero Arts because I really like it, and I thought it would make a great new home card. I coloured it with Promarkers and Trias (it is quite fiddly to colour and the fine nibs were best), cut it out with Nestabilities labels 8 which is my current favourite set, and the biggest size labels dies that I have. Greeting I think is by Dimensions Forth, I need to check, and are part of a clear set. Striped card and leather look brown card stock used. (I should have changed the background, too late now).

This one is in the shop now.