The Craft Barn Quotes and Lyrics challenge

The Craft Barn challenge for 2014 is Quotes and Lyrics (Q&L), and I did manage to do my first page well within the timescales, but couldn't load the photo into blogger with the tablet (some days it will, some it won't and even when it did I couldn't load it into the post I created - which has now mysteriously vanished anyway). I will add that first page later, it isn't downloaded onto this sick computer yet, I have it on the tablet too....

The challenge is set every two weeks, and we are given two words, this time it is Silence and Dazzle, and you can use one or both words if they feature in a quote or lyric. I found a few lyrics but this quote from an online paper really appealed to me.

"Vänskä’s balance of the ensemble was disclosing instrumental colours that are usually washed over by the razzle-dazzle of the piano.... from the examiner.com

I didn't know what I was going to do for this challenge, a journal, a box of cards perhaps for inspiration you can dip into randomly? Then I saw this kraft notebook and decided to use that. I made the mistake of getting paint on the binding wires during my first page and now it is difficult to turn pages and I can't seem to get it off! I used Crafty Individual stamps, some images are heat embossed. I have adhered pages together to make pockets so I can store the remaining quotes and lyrics I gathered, not sure how well this is going to work - I might have to rebind the pages with a bigger non paint covered wire or come up with another solution.

Anyway due to the internet going down on me just as I was going to blog this last night, or it could be the sickly computer playing me up, I missed the deadline! So that is two chances the computer has spoiled for me!

Here is my first page, I got it onto Facebook a week before the deadline but couldn't get it onto blogger!

Penny black stamp set, and the quote is A Smile is Just a Frown Turned Upside Down from Undisputed Truth - Smiling Faces Sometimes by The Temptations.

The Alpha Challenge - I for Individual

Last letter, I for Individual! I have really enjoyed taking part in The Alpha Challenge at The Craft Barn.  I have never done anything like this before. This last page features stamps by Lost Coast, Unity Stamps, and Penny Black, birds are doodled by me.

I missed the deadline but you can see some gorgeous entries on The Craft Barn blog.

I'm looking forward to the next challenge for 2014.

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.

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 - N

The Alpha Challenge at The Craft Barn is on N, and I chose night in the English section of my dictionary. There was only one other option here for me and that is now glued down between pages! I don't think there was much in the French section either. See the stars at the top of the page? I wanted to stencil stars and the only stencil I had was sequin waste, and I used clear ink and holographic embossing powder which was heat set before applying distress inks to make my sky.

The owl on a branch, bats, sentiment and cat are by Cherry Pie Art stamps (and have featured before), the row of houses is a Hero Arts stamp, the branch on the right is Crafty Individuals and the moths are Paper Artsy, big moths don't you think, rather Dr Who like, the invasion of the giant moths!

I used various colours of Ranger Distress ink to create the sky, and finally I die cut a moon and stars from an Accucut Zipeslim die.

The Craft Barn Alpha Challenge - J Jardin

Here is my first entry for The Craft Barn Alpha Challenge which is on J ending today. J is for Jardin, or garden. I added Stamporsaurus Shed and Greenhouse, Blade Rubber Stamps daisy (one of the first stamps I ever bought back in 2006), Hero Arts ferns, Tulips in pots - The Cottage Stamper (who knows where I got this), and last but not least the finishing touch I needed is a Little Claire hedgehog, the smallest of a group. The fence is made of Sizzix die cuts, ink is Stazon on the page and Memento on the greenhouse and shed, colouring is Marvy Le Plume on the page, and Letraset Promarkers on the shed, greenhouse and hedgehog. See the stepping stones? The only thing missing that is iun my garden is the pond.

This is J for Jigsaw, was working on it and ran over time, I looked at the clock and it was gone midnight - challenge closed, so it has to go on this post. I used Sizzix dies never before used, I really should use them! 

The Craft Barn Alpha Challenge G

The Craft Barn Alpha Challenge is on G, and I chose Girafe which is French for Giraffe lol. I used some Sprial Whisper stamps (I don't think they exist as a company now) designed by Debbie Moore, and a Penny Black stamp. These are stamped on card, coloured with Promarkers quickly and cut out, the stamping on the page went badly! All round the page are shapes stamped with my never before used Color Box stylus system, you mould the tip by heating it with a lightbulb (first problem was finding a "normal" lightbulb so it was hot enough) then you press the tip onto a rubber mould then use it as a stamp.

Apologies for the photo on the Craft Barn post, I had to add a WIP image or not get there at all, I was very late with this, I have been so busy all week. On Thursday I was standing on a stall all day explaining about the Made in Bradford shop, this was in County Hall, of course I had to go over and get a car full of stuff ready for it the day before, then take it back yesterday. As well as getting to a hospital appointment.  Then today when I finally had time to get on with it I had started tidying up the space where the now sold eCraft used to sit and cleaning, I had the irresistable urge to clean and tidy it and I had the bad habit of shoving print outs and mail there in the space between the magazine rack full of similar stuff and the ecraft! Anyway I managed to tidy and get rid of a load, and there is so much more to get through but every little helps!

I hope to add at least one more page here for G, I was planning 3.

Here are Geography and Glamorous. Featuring Kraftin Kimmie Stamps for Glamorous, coloured with water colour pens, and Hero Arts map and the Rubber Stampede save the world stamp you have seen before but it behaves better in Stazon. Map stickers were a set that I was given for a present. (Do you think anyone noticed me sneaking this one in?)

The Craft Barn Alpha Challenge - Z

The Craft Barn Alpha Challenge is on Z (but this is not the end because letters are not given out in alphabetical order) and I can safely say this is all I will do for Z! The Z's in the English section don't have anything much more apart from zip and zoom, and I am not sure how I would do those!

So I chose: Zigzag, Zebra and Zoo, zigzags are hand doodled (you would never have guessed I know lol), zebra is a Kraftin Kimmie stamp, and the zoo animals and foliage are from a Hero Arts set with the addition of a Spellbinders fence and some chipboard letters which I thought about painting then decided to leave as they match the colours.

I stamped with Stazon, much better than Memento on the gesso, and coloured with Marvy's and Whispers. Not so many colour choices as Promarkers but I am reasonably happy with the end result.

Sooty relaxing with crossed paws and quizzical ear in the air!

The Craft Barn Alpha Challenge - D for Design and Desk

The Craft Barn Alpha Challenge continues, this time it is D.

 I hoped to have three pages completed by now, I think this might be the only one! I chose D for Design, and used some Tim Holtz design stamps, along with some of the finished articles, stamped ticket and die cut mustache and pointing hand. I also chose Desk, had to do it in honour of WOYWW, this is a photo that appeared one Wednesday.

I was very lucky to win the challenge last time and I got a £20 voucher, which I blogged about below.

Change of subject:

This is a dragon fruit, and they are in the shops now. 

I just sliced the top off and ate the delicately sweet flesh with a teaspoon straight from the fruit. Very refreshing and nutritious, and so pretty!

Hot hot hot!

 Here is another page for The Craft Barn Alpha challenge, T for Temperature which is the same in French and English. I had to do this one given the unusual heatwave we have been experiencing here in the UK! I coloured the page yellow and used Tim Holtz stencil letters which are supposed to stick to your paper but wouldn't stick to gesso! So I held them on and dabbed Fired Brick Distress Ink round them. I doodled some bits, stamped some Hero Arts images, and an Elzybells girl with temperature, and some other stamps of Kokopelli and sun faces. I added some swirly bits with a Visible Image grunge stamp.

This is my new Woodware stamp, I wanted this one for ages and got it in the craft shop that is in the motorbike shop the other side of Trowbridge, near Lidls. I bought the Card Candi there too, and I knew I had this matching card stock, perfect. The butterfly was a free die with a magazine and I added gems and flat backed pearls to finish the flower.

I have entered the following challenges:

Crafty Card Makers - 1-2-3 1 Image, 2 papers and 3 embellishments. (19th August)
Crafty Ribbons - Use one or more circles - stamp has circles and the background (sorry peeps I thought I had linked, maybe I didn't save)

Finally I found out I owned another Itty Bitty stamp, and so I made this CAS card, inked the edges with Distress Ink in two shades then spritzed it with water. When it was dry I stamped and heat embossed the image and Hero Arts greeting in gold then coloured the flowers with Stickles.

This card has been entered in the following challenges:

Unity Stamps show and tell on Facebook - Itty Bitty a day, this is the last day, and I only had two Itty Bittys.

The Craft Barn Alpha Challenge - T for Tailleur (Tailor)

The Alpha Challenge at The Craft Barn is on T, no twists. I have so many words I could do in the T section!
For those who don't know, The Alpha Challenge was set at the beginning of the year, and the challenge was to alter an old dictionary. Every two weeks a new letter is given out - not in alphabetical order. Sometimes there is an extra twist to add something, or restriction on which words to use. By the end of the year the alphabet will have been completed.
I don't know if I will manage another of the 3 or 4 T words I have bookmarked though, I have one page prepared but I don't know how I am going to do it, and it will need a lot of doodling!
Well T for Tailleur, or tailor, I had a lot of fun with this one. I used my Toodles and Binks Habedashery stamps, first time they saw ink, and a new Stampendous stamp - the sewing machine. I also used some freebie stamps, the needle and the spool tops. I die cut some elements with a Sizzix Tim Holtz die called Sewing Room, and I wrapped the dummy with material tied with ribbon. I added a couple of scissor charms and a real button to finish.

Wall of Fame at The Craft Barn

I made the wall of fame at The Craft Barn in the Alpha Challenge with this page: B for Brittanique. Finally I am famous!

The other good news is that my Cellullitis is responding well to the new anitibiotics I have been on since Tuesday, and my leg looks almost normal now so I won't be hospitalised!

The Craft Barn Alpha Challenge - U for Upholstery

 Here is my first (and possibly only) entry to The Craft Barn Alpha Challenge letter U! I have spent ages on this, masking the page and stamping round the edge, which as I have covered the middle was unnecessary really! I used woven paper string carpet, freebie paper wallpaper, stamps by Chocolate Baroque, Santa Rosa, Unity, Crafty Individuals, Hero Arts (die cut with matching Sizzix dies) and Cherry Pie Art Stamps. Die cuts with Spellbinders dies. Images coloured with Promarkers. The curtains are lace ribbon on a cocktail stick rail.

Stamping as follows:
Chocolate Baroque stamp used round the edges of the page.
Crafty Individuals - scene outside the window.
Hero Arts - chandelier and black and white chair.
Santa Rosa - big armchair.
Cherry Pie Art Stamps - cat in picture.
Unity stamps - Smaller armchair and standard lamp.

I made hot strawberry souffles! It is the first time I have made souffle of any sort, and this was a Slimming World recipe which did include some sugar. They rose beautifully, I had to go buy some ramekins, I only got 4 and then I realised that I had 4 egg whites left from making cheese straws for the "boys" and the recipe called for 3, so how to seperate, well rather than wasting an egg I upped the sugar proportionally but I had to use a cup for a 5th souffle. I gave the cup one to Shaun as it was the biggest and he decided he didn't like it so left most of it. I love it. When it cooled down, as there were 3 left, they sank back down to maybe half the height they are here and I worried they would be no good but they still taste yummy today!

The Craft Barn Alpha Challenge - F for Felin (e)

F for Felin in the French section, which is Feline or Big Cat. So this is another attempt at The Craft Barn Alpha challenge because I realise I couldn't enter Face and should have done Femme!

Most of the stamps are by Cherry Pie Art Stamps, and the rest are Elzybells and Creative Expressions U Mount stamps. There is one cat on the right hand page top left that I am not sure about - it was stored on the Cherry Pie Art Stamps page with the others and the I heart cats sentiment.