The Alpha Challenge - X for Xmas

It is the end of this challenge, only two letters left, we had extra time and still I missed the deadline! This is X for Xmas, apologies if you hate this abbreviation, I hate it but there wasn't much choice in X.

I used Little Claire stamps, some magazine freebie stamps and a Molly Blooms stamp. They had to share the page with Yoga.

My other page I was going to be the better page, this page has been ready for a couple of days but not uploaded, the other is to be stamped!

I also wanted to make a cover for the book, but it is now falling to bits literally so not sure if I can or if it is worth trying! Maybe I can glue the pages with silicone where they have parted company with the spine, lots of the pages are glued together for stability and that might have made things worse.

So pop over to The Craft Barn to see the Alpha Challenge entries.

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 Craft Barn Alpha Challenge O for Ombrelle

Here is my first letter O page for The Craft Barn Alpha Challenge, O for Ombrelle. I have two more pages in mind but I am so busy I don't think I am likely to get them done, with luck I might get one more done. I had a lot of choice with O, which wasn't the case for everyone, but there are other letters I am dreading like N!

This time I used Stazon (determined to have no ink bleed) and got out the very neglected Marvy Le Plume markers (couldn't find my watercolour paint pallette) and the few Whispers and Dove Craft markers in the same box, I also used my Distress marker set that I won. All was going well until I doodled in fine liner and coloured it in with Marvy's - whoops not good!

I found all my parasol and umbrella stamps for this page, there are several makes of stamp here, Woodware, Little Claire, Whiff of Joy, Azadi Earles, Hero Arts and another make I can't recall.

The Alpha Challenge D for Direction

This is a very quick page, and unfortunately Memento doesn't dry for ages on gesso! I should have heat set it, which I did eventually, but then the Promarkers made it bleed anyway, and the smudges were already done by then! You should see my hands!

Anyway I got this one in with minutes to spare, and no time to do page number 3 which was to be decoupage and I had some plans for that one being really good!

What didn't help was the corner stamp I was about to use, which didn't cling very well to the block, has disappeared after I dropped the block! I have brushed the rug, searched the box of stamps the block fell into, and anything in the immediate area, but I haven't found that stamp. So I used one and the @ and star from a Smoochie Manoochie set, and the other arrows are  Rhona Farrer set.

The Alpha Challenge Y for Yoga and yellow.

The Craft Barn set the letter as Y, and must have yellow on the page. 

Y was a big challenge for me, mainly because I had to patch the back of another page that was tearing so covered up some Ys and there weren't a lot to begin with in the French part of the dictionary. So I chose yoga as the only possibility. There may be a word in the English part, I seem to remember that section is very limited too. I hope to manage a second page.

My U entry actually made the Wall of Fame, and as soon as I recieve a badge in a format I can use I will display it proudly on my blog. This page is not living up to the last two that I did though. Flowers are Hero Arts, lady doing yoga (maybe) is by Funstamps designed by Lindsay Mason.

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 - F for face

Another page for The Craft Barn Alpha Challenge, this time F for Face which I decided not to colour. Is it too plain? That yellow blob on the page is a sun face though you can't see it, so it was a mistake really!

I just popped over to add my link, which due to my weakened state I forgot all about, only to realise there is a restriction of Fe to Fr so I can't enter these pages sadly.

Craft Barn Alpha Challenge A - late

I was going to enter 2 pages into the Craft Barn Alpha challenge for A, but I didn't even manage to enter this one! I chose Abeille meaning Bee.

I hope to get the next letter done in time.

The Craft Barn Alpha Challenge letter R for rediger = to write

The Craft Barn Alpha challenge continues with the letter R.

R for Rediger meaning "to write". I decided to do the history of writing from ancient Eqyptian, with Chinese, handwriting and typewriting.

This didn't go as well as I hoped, some of the Paperartsy stamps are finely detailed and those didn't really work on the gesso. The lady writing is by Inkadinkado, one I will be keeping because I love it. I see she is wearing a hat, and I was sure it was her hair last time - maybe I smudged it! There are lots of different stamps on here, some by Papermania Urban collection, Cherry Pie Art Stamps, Paper Artsy, Elusive Images? and more. It didn't look too bad until I decided to add ink blobs, and straight from the distress ink bottle, those drops were HUGE and I grabbed some kitchen paper towel to try and soak it up or it would have been much worse! (I almost didn't post this at all). On with the next word I think (I have a couple of words in mind, but one of them I thought I had stamps for and I don't so I either have to hand draw or forget it and the page is all prepared)!

The Alpha Challenge E for Enfants

Here is another page for The Alpha Challenge at The Craft Barn blog. This time E is for Enfant, I hope I am improving each time on this project. The black and white children stamps are by Paper Artsy, the baby in arms is Kraftin Kimmie from a set I won. the boy and girl are by The Stamp Barn, and I am not sure about the hands and feet. The meaning includes alter boys and giving birth, I didn't have stamps for either!

Now can anyone tell me how to get dried on Gesso out of my favourite best purple fleece? 

Alpha challenge - E

It is E in the Alpha challenge at the Craft Barn and this is my first page, I have a few ideas and hope to work on a couple more pages yet.

I picked Equestre which means Equestrian, Equitation which means horse riding and I couldn't resist Escargo  meaning Snail! I used a mix of stamps, Crackerbox Palace horse silhouettes, sentiment and horseshoes. The pony with the envelope is a Cuddly Buddly stamp and the mare and foal are by PSX and this is one of the first three stamps I bought together in Blade Rubber Stamps along with some daisy stamps. The snail is Penny Black. I found out that Memento doesn't dry very quickly on gesso, and picks up embossing powder so some bits are silver that weren't supposed to be. Also some of the lines have been smudged by the Promarkers because the ink didn't dry, oh dear.