Week Four at Claudine's Altered Playing Cards

Wow it's week 4 already at Claudine's Altered Playing Card  challenge, and she has shown us some fabulous techniques. I was really short of time this week but still wanted to join in, so here are mine - just painted and stamped I'm afraid, but they made me happy :-) 

Enjoy your Sunday, and thanks very much for looking x

Christmas in September!

Well yesterday we had Halloween and today it's Christmas - my this year is going fast lol.
One of the projects at PaperArtsy  that really caught my eye was Wanda's Christmas cards. I really like the way she applied the paint so thought I would give it a go. Here's mine.

These are made with the new Lin Brown Limited Edition Paints. I usually have a favourite, but I really can't choose one from this set, they are all gorgeous.

Made with the ELB11. I even dusted down my sewing machine for this one.

The Santa is from Hot Picks 04, and the sentiment from ELB11 again. I couldn't resist a bit of sparkle for his beard.

This is from Christmas HP02, and the sentiment from ELB12

This is from LP016
So there we are, 4 more cards done for Christmas, and I really enjoyed learning this technique, and it's one I shall definitely use again. It's surprising how little paint is needed, I had to mop up far more than I used :-)

Hope you like them, and thanks very much for looking x

I Got My Spook On...

I know I'm a bit late this week, but real life seems to rearing it's ugly head lol. It's all good though, Chris is on holiday for a week, and we go away next week  - he better bring my suitcase back on time or else!
Bit I digress, Carol has picked the theme this week at Stampotique, and here it is.

Carol is our hostess this week:

I love Halloween and as a crafter it can never start early enough. So for the challenge this week I am sneeking it in a week early. So I hope you have fun getting an early Spook on. Carol x

Mine started out to as an ATB, and here's how it ended up.

You can't beat a bit of orange and purple for Halloween (or plastic spiders!)

I've used 

Welcome Door

Bowtie

Mr Stripes and

Freakin' People Person

Here we have the bat from 

Halloween Cube 1 stamped onto acetate and coloured with Posca pens.

This is the scull from the same cube stamped onto memory glass and painted.
Then it's just die cuts and fake cobweb material! I made this a couple of weeks ago, it had been raining for ages, and then the day I did spooky Halloween the sun shone! Even a plastic spider isn't scary in sunshine lol.
This was good fun to make, and now it's your turn to get your spook on and join in! Just remember to link up correctly, and no digi's.
Thanks very much for looking x

Altered Playing Cards Week 3

It's the 3rd week of Claudine's altered playing card challenge, and I've gone along with the themes of steampunk and Autumn.

This has an alcohol ink background, and some stamping onto tissue paper. The cogs have been painted with VerDay paints.

This one has a Fresco paint background. I used that to cover the mud that I made with my first attempt with the alcohol inks. The stamps are by Incylicious. The seed pod was on a plant so on it went. Its been filled with Glossy Accents so hopefuly it should last now.
I'm really enjoying Claudine's challenge, and can't wait to see what she does next week.
Thanks very much for looking x

Rise And Shine

Bombshell Stamps have a challenge of polka dots and glitter this month, which really got me thinking! This is what I came up with.

The stamp is from the aptly named 
 Rise and Shine plate.
The background is Portfolio pastels, and Fresco acrylics through a stencil for my polka dots.
I'm afraid you can't see too much of the glitter due to the lack of light here at the moment.

Here's a bit of the glitter!
I love Bombshell stamps, they give me a chance to practice my colouring (or lack of) technique, and they are just fun!
Hope the sun comes out wherever you are, and have a good weekend.
Thanks very much for looking x

WHAT?

The challenge this month at Lost Coast Designs is Clean and Simple. Not usually my style, but I have just got this fabulous stamp so had to join in.

Don't you just love this bird lol he's called Bird Bones. This is as C&S as I can do, look at all that scary white space.
Hope you like him, and thanks very much for looking x

Just One Stamp!

My lovely teamie Sam has set the challenge at Stampotique, and it's a fab one! She wants us to use just ONE stamp eek. Here's what she says 
Stampotique stamps are VERY addictive, many Stampotique fans have LOTS of Stampotique stamps and often a few stamps are used in just one creation which is wonderful because they all work so well together. The most Stampotique stamps I used for one creation was 15, this got me thinking . . . lots of Stampotique stamps can spoil us for choice so how about using just one stamp. I found using just one stamp quite a challenge, so as hostess for this weeks challenges at Stampotique Designers Challenge Blog I am inviting you to use Just One Stamp! 

Here's mine

The wonderful Helen Chilton showed us how to make a bag charm here using stampboard, and I enjoyed it so much I wanted to make another. Stella has got center stage with lots of Distress Inks. The seam binding has been dyed with the same inks to match.

Hope you can join in too - you should, it's fun!

Thanks very much for looking x

Long Hot Summer

The theme at Indigo Blu this month is Indian Summer. As soon as we talk of long hot Summers I always think of the Style Council hit, so here's what I've come up with.

I started by stamping the flowers and dragonflies from the Live, Laugh, Love plate and embossing in white. I then went over with distress inks, and Dylusion sprays, then stamped and embossed the dragonflies again. The text is from the Circus Alphabet plate.

Stamping in a straight line is soooo over-rated lol.

 I'm enjoying the extended Summer, and hope you are too.
Thanks very much for looking x

A Loving Heart

There has been lots of inspiration flowing from PaperArtsy  Towers so far this month, and one that really caught my eye was Gillian's canvas using the new Darcy stamps. The colours are gorgeous and as this set had recently landed on my door mat I was keen to give them a try.

The bit that really brought mine to life was the paint spatters. It was all looking a bit brown up to then but the paint gave it a bit of a kick! I even got my crackling to work, so definitely a result:-)
I've used Darcy 09, for the feathers, Sara's ESN 11 for the background and the quote, and Ellen's EEV 08 for the inkwell.
I've learnt lots making this, put on a fair bit of crackle and it WILL work, be bold with the spatters, and how to colour the feathers so thanks very much Gillian. I'm now going to make some PA Christmas cards :-)
Enjoy your Sunday, and thanks very much for looking xx

Game of Cards Anyone...

My fabulous Stampotique teamie Claudine is hosting an altered playing card challenge. She's going to do 2 a week, so at the end of six months we will have a full deck of cards. 2 a week, even I can do that!
Here are Claudine's 

Aren't they gorgeous?

And here's mine. I've used the same techniques as Claudine with a few substitutions here and there.
This has been my first attempt at using digi stamps and another teamie Janet Klein has a wonderful etsy  shop full of them, and at the moment she's offering a huge 20% discount. I've also used Janet's rubber stamp Large Fleurfly that's been stamped in the purple and pink 'mop up'.
This is a really fun adventure Claudine, and I can't wait to see what we are doing next week xx

Monkey See, Monkey Do....

Hi, it's my pleasure to be hosting the challenge today at Stampotique. Napoleon once said that the English are a nation of shopkeepers.What he should have said is that we are a nation of animal lovers. Nearly everyone I know has got a cat or dog, a pet rabbit or bird, and I know that my Stampotique teamies have their pets too. So this week we're celebrating the fur and feathers and I challenge you to create something with either animals or birds. So put your best paw forward and bring it on.

Here's mine 

Yep it's that chipboard album again lol. I started with lots of paints and stencils for my background then stamped Text Block 3 in ink and Splatter Long in white paint.

I liked it but thought maybe it was a little bright/overpowering for a background, so feeling very brave (or stupid) I went over it all with some watered down white acrylic, and thankfully I liked it much better - PHEW.

I blobbed some Glossy Accents over my stencilled lollypop trees.

Poor old Flying Monkey has been sadly neglected lately so he's had an outing. I love the saying 'monkey see, monkey do'it describes me perfectly. The only way I can learn how to do anything is by doing it. 
For this I've also used
Tree
Oh Tree
Wee Owl
Kitty

It would be great if you could join in with our challenge, and bring out the feathers or fur. I can't wait to see what you make. Have fun! x

I've just seen that the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge is make your own background, so I'm entering my journal into that, along with Stamping Sensations who's challenge is Things With Wings.
Thanks very much for looking x

Puttin On The Ritz

The challenge at Tag Along this week is Hollywood.

I've had the stamp for ages, it's a clear one and I've no idea who it's by. The papers are Graphic 45.

Thanks very much for looking x

Plenty More Fish

This is my second piece for this months Country View Crafts Nautical challenge.

I do two different types of slide mailers, those that turn out ok, and those that are filed in the bin under my desk. There really is no in between for me lol.
It's all been made with PaperArtsy stamps from plates HP1111, 1112, and 1202.
I started by applying Fresco paints with some cut and dry foam. I've used Ice Blue, South Pacific, Sky, Mermaid, Beach Hut, Baltic Blue, and Snowflake. 

This is the front cover. I've used Clear Cosmic Shimmer Texture Paste through the Map Mask and rubbed over with silver Treasure Gold when dry. The lighthouse is shrink plastic - I do love my shrink plastic lol.

The birds are from the Dina Wakley Birds in Flight stencil, and my bubbly sea is just painted bubble wrap. I really like the randomness of this.

This is bubble wrap stamping and also a Lin Brown stencil. The slides are stamped with fishes from the plates above.

This is the back, I've used some stamp board which I need to leave on my desk so that I use it more often. I love this stuff but once it gets neatly tidied away I forget about it. And yes, although I am a VERY messy crafter everything does go back into it's place, otherwise I would never find anything again :-) Bottom right is another Memory Glass piece which has been edges in the Treasure Silver.
I'm really pleased with how it turned out, and hope that you will play along with us too so get off your Perch and get your Skate(s) on and make something nautical. I'm sorry, the voices in my head made me say that lol.
Thanks very much for looking, and have a happy crafty one xx

Refresh It For Stampotique

Kaz is our hostess of the week and here is her challenge:

We all love playing with new stamps, but sometimes it's good to revisit some that have been neglected for a while. I'd like you to find an old favourite and give it a new lease of life.

Here's one of my old favourites

I've given Marilyn a toned down version of the Andy Warhol treatment, and she's been coloured with Distress Inks and Prisma pencils. Beauty has just been cut from Beauty Verse. Marilyn was my first 'grown up' Stampotique stamp, there is just something about her... I saw an exhibition in York recently and there were photographs by George Barris (not the original I'm guessing) of Marilyn on Santa Monica beach in a big baggy cardi and she was a true natural beauty - without hair extensions and botox!

I had a great time making this, even though I had to mask, and cut straight - that's normally a bit beyond me, so thanks for a great challenge Kaz.

I hope you join in with us, and dig out your old favourites. Remember there are 2 $30 gift certificates for the lucky winners this month.

Thanks very much for looking x

Some Exciting News

Arrrr me hearties. I'm really thrilled to have joined the design team at Country View Crafts. I love shopping here, great prices and the customer service is second to none. The theme this month is Nautical, which was a bit of a jaw dropper, but then I remembered my Paper Artsy stamps and came up with this.

The ship and shrunken fishes are from the Hot Picks 1202 plate, and the crab and 'Gone Fishing' from 1112.
It's a very simple background, lots of Distress Inks, I've used
Picked Raspberry, Mustard Seed , Chipped Sapphire, Salty Ocean, and Black Soot

You gotta love these little guys, just stamped onto shrink plastic and coloured with Prisma pencils.

This is just part of the image that's been stamped onto some 1.5" Memory Glass. I stamped it in Stazon, then went over with some Silver Treasure Gold and it clung beautifully to the Stazon.
The torn edge has been rubbed over with the same Treasure Gold, and  a few highlights added with my trusty white pencil.
I hope you like it, and that you also join in with our challenge. I'm afraid we can't send Jonny Depp out as the prize, but there will be a £20 certificate to spend in the shop for one lucky winner.
Have a happy crafty day x