Thinking of You

Here's a little look at my card for this week's Sam Poole's Creative Studio's.  Hope you like it, and thanks for looking xx

Something New For Stampotique

It's the lovely Kaz's turn to host our playdate today over at the Stampotique Designers Challenge, and she wants to have a nosey at our stash, and see if we got anything new for Christmas. Well as I chose my own present this year, the answer was yes :-)

When the Tim Holtz Distress Paints first came out I avoided them. I didn't want them, didn't need them, and most of all didn't want to get sucked into yet another 'can't live without' product. Then I went on a Ranger technique course run by Kaz Hall and she used these and I must admit I did fall for them a little, so thank you very much Santa for bringing me some.
I won't bore you with the details of how these are done, 'cos most of you will already know, and if not the techniques are in Tim's book and I'm sure his Creative Chemistry courses (which I really must sign up for). 

For this one I've used Oh... Tree
Row of Numbers
Crow Line
and French Text

This one is using
Journey Collage
and A Heart

And finally Medium Bee
and Beauty Verse

So now I have two pages done of my tag book. I'm still loving the first one with 
Rootie Toot
Henny Penny
Superhero
Superhero Text
Cat Family
Dog Family

This was a great challenge Kaz, thank you.
Now for the rules... they're really simple but very important, real stamps only please not digi images, and please put the number of the challenge you are entering when you link up, for example this one is SDC130. If you don't your entry will be deleted, and no one wants that.
So get your stamps out and join in, as always there are 2 $30 gift certificates for the lucky winners each month.
Hope you have a fab week, and thanks very much for looking x

A Heart Cluster For PaperArtsy

At PaperArtsy Towers Leandra's been a film star again on YouTube. I really enjoyed Day 3 which was a painted cluster. I'm not going to go into details because Leandra does it perfectly here.
I started by tinting the paste and arranging my bits and bobs.

I love my little cat, I made it in a mould with Plaster of Paris and it reminds me of my sadly no longer with us Princess. Most of the other stuff is jewelry bought in the sales and broken up.

Next a few coats of Bora Bora was painted on. I'd added the grungboard 2014 by this stage. Boy does that stuff hold water!

Added some Beach Hut, South Pacific, and Toffee and a fair few wet wipes.

Next came the Treasure Gold in silver, copper and sapphire. I'm still a bit heavy handed with this but I'm getting better. I was using the wrong brush (a stiff one) but now I've changed to soft and that's loads better :-)

This is my favourite bit - it's the best one of the colour too. We havn't had sunshine for days here but we're lucky in that we havn't had floods either.
This was great fun to do and a lot easier than I thought. The paint dried really quickly and I love the TG over the top. It picked up the texture in the Grunge Paste too. It's amazing how just using the proper soft brush can make such a difference.
I have to go and take down Christmas now - I hate taking it down, but it's only 353 days till next Christmas - ok shoot me now, I deserve it lol.
Enjoy what's left of the weekend, and thanks very much for looking x

New Rubber Time

Here's a sneaky look at the new Sam Poole Creative Studio's stamps.  They are really lovely - they could almost make you believe Spring is coming lol.

Hope you get chance to take a look xx

Happy New Year!!

Well it's goodbye 2013 and hello 2014, and more importantly it's Wednesday and time for a new Stampotique Challenge with our brand new (and some not so new) design team :-). Our first challenge of the year is Anything Goes, and to see in the new year, here's a calendar page for January.

I started with a background using Pan Pastels and stencils.

I love the new metallic Pan Pastels - Mmm shiny!

Time for some stamping now. I've used 
Row of Numbers,
Vintage Script, and
Design Cube
There's also Jo's Dandelion Duo in there, stamped in white acrylic for the snowflakes.

So time to cover it all up again lol. You can just see Jo's Star peeping out, this was free in Craft Stamper a couple of years ago and is such a fab stamp.

Here's the guys in a little more detail. There's 
Tree
Whisker Monster With Sign
Brrr...
and Toto who will always be my teamie Sam's glamorous assistant Poppy to me!

It's a nice gentle introduction to our challenges this year so please join in. As always no digi stamps please - rubber rules!

I'm also entering this into the Pan Pastel Challenge Anything Goes, and I'm linking into Kate's 2014 Calendar.
Thanks very much for looking and have a very happy and healthy 2014 xx

And Now For Something Completely Different...

It's sneaky peak time for my piece at Sam Poole's Creative Studios, and there's not even a twinkle of Christmas lol.

Hope you like it (all of it lol) and thanks very much for looking x

Joyful Glinda

It's still anything goes month over at Stampotique, so guess what, I've made a Christmas card, as rumour has it, it's not too far away now lol.
I started by cutting the TH Joy in a piece of black card. When it was actually pointing the right way round I realised it was at the top so I started by cutting... AT THE BOTTOM.
I stamped France's brilliant Village along the bottom edge, embossed in white,  and coloured with Prisma pencils and some children's cheap as chips oil pastels.

I love the bright colours lol. The stars and snow are from France's Design Cube.
I just needed my fairy now so I used Janet Klein's, Glinda from her Wizard of Oz collection. It was the first time she had been inked so that made me a very happy bunny.

I coloured her in Prisma pencils and Distress Markers using the technique show by the amazing Christine Dark in Craft Stamper. Mines not brilliant but I'm really pleased with it as a first attempt.
Next I just made a tall thin card and matted some red mirri on so the Joy would show through, trimmed the tops off and Bob's your uncle.
Hope you like it, and find time to play along. I know time's really tight at the moment, but you can make anything you like as long as you use real stamps and not digis.
Thanks very much for looking x

Last Minute Tags

I've been making some tags for this weeks Creative Studio's post, my love affair with Kraft card and Prisma pencils continues :-)
Hope you like them, and thanks very much for looking x