Let's Quirky Celebrate everything crafty!

YAY It's Quirky challenge time again, it is my challenge and the first of our new monthly challenges this year!

My challenge to you is to celebrate anything you like, but you must include the word Celebrate, or Celebration. 

I am celebrating having a new team, new monthly format, and the New Year.

We are sponsored by the wonderful Stitchy Bear Digital Outlet who provided the team with images to use, and are providing three prizes to our lucky top three.

Here are the details:

The digi I used is called Craft Queen by BB Kakes from Stitchy Bear, her craft room is way tidier than mine!

I took one chocolate box and stuck the inside into the lid to strengthen it, then painted it with white gesso before painting it with Paper Artsy Fresco paints. I painted it with Ice Blue then sponged Beach Hut and South Pacific over the top.

I cut a piece of designer printed paper by Me and My Big Ideas to use for the background and adhered it to the box. The image was coloured with Promarkers and metallic pens (and now I see what I forgot, meant to add some gems to the crown - will have to do that and retake).

I found some ribbon sliders spelling celebrate and added them and their ribbon to the top of the frame. Quirky is stamped with an Inkadinkado stamp and heat embossed in gold. DoCrafts scrabble tiles spell out the words round the frame, and some shiny red mirror mosaic tiles are dotted inbetween them.

The die cut corner is a Spellbinders Heartfelt die, and the other corner features tiny buttons. I added real shells, tiny cork stoppered bottles of glittery stuff and some freebie metal charms, an odd peacock feather embellishement and an exercise book embellishment that I hand wrote in. 

To finish it off I rubbed some Treasure Gold round the edge of the frame where the lid edge is.

Here it is from another angle, I made some changes to it from the original below (where you can still see wet glue)! I added two legs made from wooden beads, and I really thought it would stand up - it isn't standing without help! So, as I type, a third leg made from two beads is painted and drying, and I had to paint the back of the box today - now you can only see the embossed chocolate bars and make if you really look. I think I might have to decorate the back, all that blue space!

I added some gems to the crown, and drew some images on the stamps on the shelf, and added another little bottle, who knows what will appear on this next!

This is the chocolate box, the chocolates were a Christmas present from my hubby, he knows what I like!

Challenges entered:

Crafty Gals - #52 anything goes end of year bash and hop (5th Jan)

Tuesday Throwdown - #274 anything goes

Simon Says - Lets Party (Wed)

Cute Card Thursday - #406 anything goes 

Left of Centre - all things new (Fri)

Brown Sugar - New Year (Fri)

That's Crafty - anything goes (11th Jan)

Allsorts - what's new? (Sat)

Glitter and Sparkle - #169 anything goes (Sun)

That Craft Place - anything goes (Jan 17)

Love to Create - anything mixed media (24th Jan)

Crafts Galore - #25 anything goes (Jan)

Stereotype!

 This is a mixture of stamps and hopefully will be ok for at least two challenges I want to enter.

The typewriter doll is by Lost Coast, her sexy legs are by Unity Stamps, the circles and spirals are Rubber Dance stamps, and the type stamps are Craftwork Cards.

You might remember my altered French/English dictionary which I started as part of The Craft Barn challenge last year - well this is another page I have done in that dictionary.

The page is painted with white gesso, the typist is stamped on white card and coloured with Promarkers and a Distress marker, circles and spirals are stamped in Distress inks and the torn edges are inked with Distress ink.

The small Rubber Dance circles have words in them and say: "you are unique and so am I" and "this is different" - I think it is! She has typed - "I am not A Stereotype".

When I got careers advice a very long time ago the adviser thought all girls should become typists, he didn't like it if you wanted to become anything else!

I have a list of challenges I want to enter to try not to forget, and already one has passed by so I have to add a different one for that.

Challenges entered:

That Craft Place - anything mixed media (Sun)

Love to Create - #16 anything mixed media or inky (Sun)

The Craft Barn - pens (Sun)

Lost Coast - circles (you can use any stamps) (7th ASept)

Special mention in:

Rubber Dance - colour challenge (Aug - 7th Sept)

When I get old......

I got this image from Sweet Pea Stamps as part of the Facebook progressive challenge that ends today. As soon as I saw her I thought of the poem about wearing purple and a red hat, and behaving disgracefully when you get old! The poem is by Jenny Joseph, and I left out two verses.
This sort of evolved, I was thinking mixed media and remembered the wooden triptych (well more than one) I had and thought perfect! I had a lot of trouble with the background, it was painted in Fresco Mud Brown, that was fine - then I decided to stencil cogs using Dylusions sprays in white and then coffee colour. Well it looked good when I removed the stencil for about 10 seconds - then the ink just bled and merged and lost definition. I tried again with paint dabbers, first Adirondiac then Distress Paint, but the same thing happened each time, so I gave up on that.
I coloured the image with Promarkers, and added some Cosmic Shimmer clear glue to her monocle (don't even ask about the problems I had doing that!). I added detail to the background with Dreamweaver embossing paste, the problem here is that they are very old. I have had them at least 10 years probably more and whereas the gold used to add numbers to the bottom of the right hand panel was unopened and still fine, the red I used for the hats was not, it was rubbery and stringy and didn't give me a smooth result. There was more of the gold above the image but I managed to squash some of it!
The image is partly framed with a die cut cog, cut with a Spellbinders die. I printed the poem on parchment and tore it out, inking the edges before adhering. A piece of lace seemed appropriate, maybe I should have found some purple - I didn't think of it until afterwards and don't know if I have any! The flowers and leaf were die cut with Spellbinders bitty blossom set, I picked the flower that looked most like a cog, cut it in silver holographic card and inked it to age it. The Tim Holtz life key is hiding a black fingerprint!
Finally I painted the whole thing over with sparkly Mod Podge, and the rubbed Treasure Gold round the edges.

This project has been entered into the following challenges:
TTCRD - anything goes 26th to 1st June
Artful Times - closing down party (June 3rd)
Digi Chooseday - pretty in purple (Tues)
I love Promarkers - anything but square (Wed)
Cute Card Thursday - cute
That's Crafty - The Numbers Up (8th June)
Left of Centre - upcycle/recycle (Fri)
Love to create (Pan Pastels) - mixed media #11
Inkspirational - purple (5th June?)
Anything but a card - high 5 (Sat)_

Quirky Christmas Treasure time!

I think I still have the altering bug after last week, and I bought this frame in a charity shop (is that the same as thrift shop in the USA, a charity shop is where people donate goods to sell to raise money for a cause, the cause runs the shop). I also had a previously unopened pack of treasure in the form of Tattered Angels Glimmer Glass, I was so awestruck I couldn't think how I could use these shapes on cards and give them away, and so it stayed put for a few years - until now!

The challenge at Quirky Crafts starting today, is to make a Christmas project and to use your treasure, this could be something like my treasure, or the last of something you can't get any more, or a personal keepsake.

It can be any project you like too, you just need to tell us what your treasure is and why it is so precious.

The very generous sponsor for this challenge is The Cutting Cafe who provided the team with some great images to use. I used Christmas Laundry Line and Christmas Sentiment Shapes on my upcycled frame. 

I painted the frame with one coat of gesso, then two coats of Fresco Snowflake, then allowed it to dry before applying Ice Blue Fresco then Squid Ink with blending foam. I inked the Christmas Sentiment Shapes with Distress inks. The Christmas Laundry Line is coloured with Promarkers, including silver for the stars, and I added Stickles glitter glue. The white stuff along the bottom of the image is glass ball gel medium, and in this photo it hasn't dried yet so I will replace the image when it does dry (image now replaced, I built the glass ball gel up a little more and it is as dry as it will get, and I went over the whole thing with sparkling Mod Podge to protect the image, not sure where the little line above the tree came from).

The Glimmer Glass is stuck to various parts of the frame with Decopatch which I hope will hold.

So hop on over to Quirky to see lots of lovely examples by the team, and to join in with the challenge which runs for two weeks.

I have entered the following challenges:

ABC  - A for Almost Christmas

Anything but a card - Withdrawn

Feeling Crafty - Christmas

Craft Mojo - Christmas

Passion for Promarkers - include a sentiment (Jan 7th)

The Craft Barn Alpha Challenge S for sheep.

This is my second page for The Craft Barn Alpha Challenge, S for sheep! All the sheep are Penny Black stamps.

The Craft Barn Alpha Challenge S for Scooter

It is S for scooter at The Craft Barn Alpha Challenge, not sure my Kraftin Kimmie girl is on a scooter or motorbike so I added a couple of Kanban scooters too.

Very late Quirky Reminder post

You have until Saturday midday to enter your altered vintage Christmas themed item into the Quirky Crafts challenge and win a prize from our sponsor, Stitchy Bear Digital stamps, and I am so late reminding you but there has been a lot going on, in my life. As well as working on next year's challenge schedule with our sponsors, we have been decorating our bedroom and bathroom, and searching for soft funishings, and we had to take my Dad to Salisbury hospital, he has a melanoma on his face which is to be removed, so he had to see a consultant, but they didn't have the results of the biopsy done in Bath so he had to go back next week. It is very worrying for all of us, Dad told Mum he isn't worried, but we would rather drive them there as driving when stressed isn't good. So we spent all afternoon mostly waiting, then stopped for a meal on the way back after which I was so tired I couldn't function and forgot to place my Riverford order in time!

So for the challenge - I had an idea on Friday that I would use Kroma on a box I had painted gold to give it an antique green crackle overlay, then to add an image, but when I re-read the Kroma instructions I realised it would take days to dry! Now it has dried it didn't really work and I think I put most of it on too thinly. So Projects number two and three, alter a watch box I found in the wardrobe when clearing out, and alter a sweetie jar.

I am showing you the end results of both, I am ashamed of the box, I spent hours on it and only when I looked at the photos could I see how awful it really is! 

You can see the watch box above, and I used cheap gold acrylic paint on it, which was a bit bright for vintage so...

I first added Rock Crystal crackle glitter by Tim Holtz, and some dabs of Tim Holtz crackle paint in old linen, and let that dry and crack. Then I applied some distress ink in soot colour to age the cracks, which worked better on the sides than the Lil Angel who ended up with a sooty fingerprint on her skirt, whoops, and her hair looks awful and unblended, when I thought it was fine, must get a magnifying glass or new glasses! I did add a bit of Crafty Ribbon's ribbon to the front., 

and a die cut (Spellbinders) poinsettia to the top with a gem in the center, and it is cut from pearlescent card.

I was happiest with the sides which I did first, using Poinsettia corner.

On the back I used the tree image and I clearly didn't paint the distress glaze over it properly because when I applied Distress Ink the poor nymph's legs ended up very sooty indeed. 

The front opens to reveal the original black velveteen inside of the box, I am thinking it would be funny to use it for a gift card, which would slot into one side of the watch slot. Poor Lil Angel ended up a  mess. I think the whole box is a total mess, nothing really worked but sometime it goes like that, just have to write it off to experience and carry on!

After that disaster I decided to share the altered sweetie jar I also make, using Winterville from Stitchy. I painted the brown lid gold, added the image which I had added some colour to, and sealed it, and tied on some glitter ribbon from Crafty Ribbons. I should have done this one first!

So if you have something to share with us at Quirky Crafts please do, so far we have only two entries that qualify for the top three, because no cards are allowed and all the other entries are cards!

The Craft Barn Alpha Challenge - Q

My question is - where has the year gone? We are nearly at the end of The Craft Barn Alpha challenge, and Christmas is nearly here! It sneaks up on me every year!

The letter is Q my word is Question, simples! I used a Hero Arts clear stamp set on this page, and a bit of doodling, and made it by the deadline, just, even though I planned this a week ago!

I sponged Distress ink on the pages.

It seems The Craft Barn has a new blog, I think everything has been copied across, but I can't find any tags to click on yet, wonder if there will be tags?

I have really enjoyed this challenge, and I wonder what next year's will be? (Another question).

Oh, I nearly forgot to tell you, I made it to the Wall of Fame for my N for night page!

The Craft Barn Alpha Challenge - L for Love

I got my post ready by 10 minutes to midnight, and dashed over to The Craft Barn to find the collection already closed, bother! I have spent a few hours trying to get this done, although I have been ill for three days with a virus. All stamps are by Visible Image, and the letter is L for Love and there had to be a window, cut with a Spellbinders die. Not my best page, it isn't finished how I wanted but not well enough to worry about it!

Note: The lovely Izzy from The Craft Barn kindly added my page, thank you Izzy!

The Alpha Challenge - B for Britannique

The Craft Barn Alpha Challenge is on B, and I hope I am in time just! I have done Britannique this time, with a variety of stamps from Little Claire, Craftwork Cards, Hobbycraft and some freebies, oh and the phone box is Art Impressions. Paint is Paperartsy Fresco, the red is white with some acrylic mixed in. Real postage stamps!

The Craft Barn Alpha Challenge - K for key and knave

The Craft Barn Alpha challenge - letter K.

I found a page with two words I wanted to use, Key and Knave. 

This is not one of my best pages, but I tried.

Quirky Challenge time, Myth, Magic and paint of course!

It is Quirky Crafts Challenge time!

We are sponsored by Crackerbox Palace for this challenge and they provided the team with some lovely stamps to show off. 

Crackerbox Palace ship their unique stamps Worldwide, wood mounted, foam mounted or unmounted, and they are very nice people to deal with too! There are three vouchers to win so you could own some of these lovely stamps if you enter and win.

The theme set by Daire is Myth, Magic and Paint. So I got out my new Fresco paints (I only have 4 colours so far) and got really messy and went to bed last night with multi-coloured hands and my fleece is well and truely ruined now! That paint didn't come off until I had a shower, and I washed my hands numerous times and scrubbed them too).

I used the sleeping dragon, Rena's Unicorn and the sentiment "If you can't stand the heat, don't tickle the dragon!!!". My dragon is sleeping on a pile of "rocks" which are really gel medium with glass balls - an impulse buy in the art and craft shop yesterday! I don't know if it should dry clear, some of it did, some is still opaque, but you can add colour to it before use or after it is dry. I inked it with distress ink when it was dry. I coloured my images with Promarkers, stamped the unicorn onto the door hanger then cut one out without the curly bits to stick on. I used sparkly Mod Podge to adhere the images and seal them, I love that stuff!

It is supposed to look like the dragon is sleeping in his cave on a pile of crystal rocks and the unicorn is standing on top of the rocks saying don't tickle the dragon!

I took this photo in the mini studio but I think the one on the door is better and looks more true to the actual colours, this image shows up the dragon better, see his teddy bear?

I have entered the following challenges:

Anything But a Card - colour pallette. (26th May?)

One Stop Craft Challenge - add glitter (Saturdays)

Late for the midway Quirky reminder!

I used Starry Eyed from Stitchy Bear to make this box. I painted a wooden box with purple paint on the outside. coloured the image with Promarkers then die cut with an oval Nestabilities die, and then cut a scalloped frame. I adhered and sealed the framed image to the box with sparkly Mod Podge which I also used to adhere a lacy bright green ribbon (from Crafty Ribbons) round the sides of the box. I added a few gem stars and extra gems.

Inside was painted bright green then punchie stars in sparkly purple paper added using sparkly Mod Podge.

Hop on over to Quirky Crafts to join in the latest challenge, dark and bright and don't be square (or rectangular), which ends on Saturday at midday.

I have entered the following challenges:

ABC challenge - M for make it sparkle

Crafty Ribbons Challenge blog - anything goes with ribbon