Everything is Beautiful - Even Mustard

Good morning and happy Saturday. Well so far it's snowed everyday this month, though it is only the 2nd. It's a beautiful sunny day here but a little bit chilly - I can't imagine what -30 must have felt like Chicago.

PaperArtsy have a fun new challenge topic - The Colour Mustard. I think people would embrace mustard more if it didn't have such a grim sounding name. If it was called 'fluffy mallow' people would rush to put it on their hot dogs lol. Anyhow, I've made a mustardy tag or three.

 I started by choosing one of my favourite Tracy Scott stamps and some Fresco's including the lovely Mustard Pickle. I also used Tracy's Limited Edition Set 2 which contains the wonderful Pea Coat. I'd not used this before but it zoomed straight in as one of my favourites.

 I brayered up my background tags with greys to begin with.

 Then I painted in my Mustart Pickle bricks.

Then I painted in my Pea Coat - love this colour! The 'beautiful' is from ETS 17 (Tracy Scott) and guess what - yup it's one of my favourite stamp sets.

 So the tags are all finished and ready to be joined together.

I've joined them at the back with washi tape and added a bit of stitching. The middle one has been popped up on 3d foam.

I'm ridiculously pleased that they stand up on their own, little things eh! 

Country View Crafts have a wonderful range of everything PaperArtsy and they are also running an incredible challenge at the moment (yes I picked it lol) of black & white/black and white +1.

It was really nice to have a 'just for fun' play and I'm entering it into the following challenges.

PaperArtsy - the colour mustard

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - anything goes

Craft Stamper - Anything goes for Feb

Fashionable Stamping - anything goes

Have a wonderful weekend, and thanks very much for looking x

Ho Ho Ho

Good morning and happy Wednesday. I've been making some more Christmas cards (yes I did say the C word again) for the latest PaperArtsy 'stamping platform' challenge. 

 I started by cutting some gelli plate prints to the size that I needed.

Then I arranged the stamps on my  Tim Holtz platform and stamped a couple of times. 

Once the ink was dry, I coloured them with Fresco paints while the print was still on the platform. Luckily these dry really quickly, so  as soon as the paint was dry I re-stamped to add the detail back in.

Then you just pop in another background print and repeat. Yay three more cards for the Christmas pile! These were fun to make and I guess I'm now officially in Christmas mode.

Have a happy week, and thanks very much for looking x

Only 65 To Go...

Yes that's right, only 65 days 'till Christmas Day! Hey don't shoot me, I'm only the messenger lol. Seriously I haven't done a thing about Christmas yet so I thought it was time I made a start!

 I don't normally do batch making as I get really bored doing the same thing, but only 65 days and all that AND PaperArtsy have a new challenge which is to use a stamping platform.

 I love my Tim Holtz platform, for me it means no more spoiled projects where I've miss stamped something. This time however I was going to use it for batch stamping. I've had some backgrounds made for ages from when I was playing with my marbling inks, so I cut them all to size, and chose my stamp set.

 I chose these bold sentiments to go on my colourful backgrounds.

I even stamped the envelopes, all in exactly the same place - thank you Tim!

All stamped and stuck and waiting to be sewn into place.

I love these happy cards, and I shall definitely be making some more. The only problem is Neil has been telling me to do this for years, and I would hate for him to be right (again)!!

As I'm typing this, the sun is blasting through, and it's a beautiful day - just right for making Christmas cards!

Have a very happy weekend and thanks very much for looking x

Bobbing and Weaving

Good afternoon and happy Wednesday. I've been having another play for the PaperArtsy 'Box of Eggs' challenge, and this is what I've made.

I started by making a couple of gelli plate backgrounds with Frescos and some Ellen Vargo stamps. I did photograph this but it's just a blury mess.

 Then I cut the yellow one into strips and stamped with one of my favourite Lynne Perrella stamp sets.

I wove them into the blue sheet that I'd randomly stamped with some text from another LP set.

To finish it off I added some stitching in places, some more Lynne Perrella stamps, and some Seth die cuts.

I really enjoyed making this as I like a bit of paper weaving every now and again.

Have a fun week, and thanks very much for looking x

Simplified

Good afternoon and happy Wednesday. PaperArtsy have a fun new challenge, A Box of Eggs, which is a colour challenge. Here's my tag.

 I started with these new colours and brayered them onto a piece of A4 Smoothy card.

Then I cut a tag shape with my Tim Holtz die. I did lots of stencilling with PA stencils, which doesn't show up too well here.

Then I used the lovely flower from Hot Picks 1602, and added a sticker to finish.

You can see the stencilling a little better here.

I'm also entering my tag into the Simon Says Stamp Monday Tag It challenge. 

Have a happy week, and thanks very much for looking x

A Close Shave

Good afternoon and happy Sunday. PaperArtsy have a fun challenge (well they do for the next couple of hours or so  - nothing like being last minute) of reinkers. This is what I've made.

I decided to use shaving foam with my reinkers. I've only ever done this once, about 10 years ago, but after much searching, I found the foam.

 I used far too much foam and the container was too big, but nobody died. The re-inkers are Distress Ink, so very bright.

 This smells so good!

 Once I'd scraped the foam off and trimmed them down a bit they started to look a lot better.

 I die cut one of each colour with a roladex die.

Then added lots of stencilling with Scrapcosy stencils, and stamping with a Tracy Scott set.

I then stamped and painted the images with Fresco paints, cut them out, and we're all done!

I'd better head off and link this into the challenge, pretty quickly, so thanks very much for looking, and enjoy the rest of your weekend xx

Begin...

Good morning and happy Tuesday. Yesterday I had so much to do, a birthday card to make (for today!) and lots of DT work, so here's a tag that I made instead...

PaperArtsy are hosting a fun challenge 'Baked Texture' and I love my embossing powders, so the birthday card can wait!

 I started with a greyboard base tag as I knew that I wanted to throw the kitchen sink at it. There's lots of embossing powders and glass chips on here. It's been overstamped with Seth's criss-cross stamp from ESA02 

All of the stamps can be purchased directly from Paper Artsy or here at Country View Crafts.

Next I embossed one of Seth's Wood Chips 

 and stamped with the corresponding stamp from Seth03.

Then I melted some powders on my heat mat and stamped into with another of Seth's stamps.

This is how they all look together. This was so much more fun than making that card, but guess what I have to do now!

Have a very happy day, and thanks so much for looking x

Fly The Flag

Good morning and happy monday, the start of a new week already, I must be really old the speed this year is going.

The current challenge over at PaperArtsy is Banners and Bunting, which sounds like fun, so this is what I've made.

I've used lots of Fresco paints for the bunting and some Tracy Scott stamps, and on the card itself, alcohol inks and JOFY stamps. I really enjoyed making this, they're my happy colours.

I'm also joining in with the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge which is Happy Birthday, and the Craft Stamper TIMI April challenge.

All of the PaperArtsy goodies can be found at their store, or at Country View Crafts

Thanks very much for looking, and have a fun week xx

Beautiful

Good morning and happy Monday. PaperArtsy currently have a watercolour challenge, and as I've recently got some new stamps I thought it would be rude not to join in!

This is made with a PaperArtsy stencilled background and 3 shades of Distress Ink. My beautiful woman is from the PA Tracy Scott 17 plate. I don't know if you can buy this directly from PaperArtsy yet but you can certainly get it from Country View Crafts. I really enjoyed making this, it was nice to just go with the flow.

I'm also entering this into the Happy Little Stampers watercolour challenge.

Have a fun day, and thanks very much for looking x 

Make It Count

Good morning and happy Sunday. The current challenge over at the Paper Artsy blog is Seth Apter's new fresco paints. Now I don't have Seth's new paints, so I've had to join in using his old ones!

 I started by brayering a sheet of A4 with the first 2 sets of Seth's paints.

 If I had to pick favourites they would definitely be Key Lime and Green Patina. They are such beautiful shades of green.

 Then I stamped just about every stamp from his first 4 PaperArtsy sets.

 I also made a tag with the same stamps, paints, and LOTS of embossing powder.

I had to add a little bit of stenciling and stitching, and there's also some stamped wooden slices.

All done! I love my bow - even if I can only tie a decent one upside down lol. This was fun to make, I had no idea where I was going with this one, I just got out my ever growing 'Seth Box' and had a good play. There's loads of sport on the TV at the moment so no-one even notices that I'm gone ;-)

I'm also entering this into Craft Stamper's February's Take it make it challenge

All of the stamps and paints can be found at the PaperArtsy store, and also here at Country View Crafts

Have a very happy day, and thank very much for looking.