A Little Bit of Summer

A really quick post today 'cos it's late and it's a school day tomorrow, but I can't bear to watch Top Gear any longer. I think the Hamster is lovely, but I want to rip Clarkson's arm off and beat him with the bloody stump lol.

I don't normally like to combine challenges, but time has got the better of me this weekend, and I wanted to enter both so.... here's my entry for The Sunday Stampers and Artistic Stamper which is Something Old Something New, and Lots To Do, which is The Scenic Route.I'm hoping this counts as a Summer scene.

The something old was the childrens Pairs cards that I've altered. Now my two are 19 and 17, but I'm sure we still have most of their old toys. I suppose it's our fault 'cos we still have Neil's original Scalextric in the loft (it's so old the cars have gone from classic to vintage) and I've still got my old bear, which used to be bigger than me, but now alas I have far outgrown him.

I've used lots of gesso to cover the cards, and distress inks in shaded of yellow and green. The stamps are by Simple Expressions, and I always struggle to stamp these, but they look so nice if you can get them right. The something new is my lovely Clearz that came in my Blog Candy from The Stampman. I've tinted it with alcohol inks and stuck down with glossy accents. My bee's antena is my first attempt at wire work lol.

Hope the kids don't notice that there cards have gone missing :o) The paper on the front is from Tim's Lost and Found stack, which I've just got from The Fruit Pixie. This paper is gorgeous, but it's made me want the other stacks too now.

Clarkson's just about to drive his car at a lorry so I think I'll watch this bit :o)

Thanks very much for looking x

Sue The Iron Goes Bad Ass! CoC 7

It's Monday so it's time for Linda as Studio L3's Compendium of Curiosities Challenge. This week its's page 55, which is Tinted Vision Fragments.
Now Tim is the master of all things grungy - he's modern and edgy -  a bit unconventional, so obviously to create something in his style I needed to call upon the bad boy of the crafting world, - so here it is.... felt!. Yup a challenge in the style of the grungmeister and I've used felt lol.
I have to say I was quite suprised when it went through my Cuttlebug, and I didn't like that nasty snappy sound, but it cut through my bad boy a treat.
Sorry about the rubbish photo (even worse than normal) but it was so late when I'd finished that I had to use flash. Damn work, it really gets in the way :o)
The stamps are by Bombshell, and they have been seriously underused.
Lots of inks, and some Creative Imaginations paper and rub on's.
I really enjoyed this challenge - I think this was a page I overlooked when I first got the book before carefully putting it away from all those dirty inks and glue.

Thanks for looking, and see you next week x

Sunday Postcard Art - Owls

Here's my entry for this weeks
Sunday Postcard Art challenge which is 'Owls'  I only own 2 owl stamps, one is this rather large beauty from Elusive Images, and the other is a cutie from Dawn Bibby.
I decided that more is more and went with the bruiser owl.
I've done the 'caught in crystal technique, which I've been meaning to do for years but never got arround to. The floor polish was still under the sink - untouched :o) I've used distress ink refills and lots of glitter. It's strange how crafting has it's 'in' thing - it used to be mandala stamps and glitter - I still have the glitter lol.
The background has been brayered and sponged, then Tim's tree and plant stamps used. I have tried to do the background in the style of Michelle Zindorf who is the brayer queen.
The glitter on the owl shows up much better in real life - just the thing for a butch old owl.
Thanks very much for looking and enjoy what's left of the weekend x

'Twas The Night Before Christmas SDC#11

It has to be said that I do love all thing Christmas, but Christmas crafting - Ah - thats done last minute, in December, then packed away in various boxes, tubs, tins (and even an old suitcase I do believe) and flung back up into the loft till next year.
BUT my love of  Holly (and I so wanted to enter the Stampotique Christmas in July challenge)  made me brave the wobbly loft ladders (this isn't artistic licence they really ARE wobbly lol) push past Boris the spider and family, and find Christmas - Scrooge kept Christmas in his heart - I keep it in the loft, just over the living room :o)
After stamping Holly (who stamps beautifully 'cos she a proper wooden stamp) I thought lovely, but there's gonna be a lot of  (gasp) white space ... So Kitty to the rescue and here we are.
The papers are all Basic Grey, my Christmas lights are an old Sizzix die, and everythings been coloured with Pro Markers. My sentiment was computer generated, and Kitty's mouse tail is real brown felt lol.

Just look at that face - is it the face of a killer.....  oh yeah!

Mr Stripes felt a little bit left out, so I let him star in the insert....

Thanks very much for looking x

Enter At Your Own Risk CoC Week 6

The lovely Linda has chosen page 66 this week which is Multi Medium Collage. Now this challenge blog is costing me a fortune, every week I have a nosey around everyones blogs, and they've full of gorgeous inkpads and bits and bobs,  - well what's a girl to do other than spend,spend, spend lol.
This weeks purchase was a Chipped Saphire distress inkpad which is totally yummy.
My tag (yes I know another tag, but I want to make 'em all on a tag) has a swooshy blue background, then comes the mystery bit.....   then the embelishments..the end! :o)
The people in my house of fun are by Paper Artsy, the chipboard house is from Crafty Individuals, and the cat is by me.. well, not just me, I used an icing mould and UTEE.  I tried to use my melt pot but this didn't work so I had to keep sprinkling and heating with my heat gun. 10% melted and 90% flew over the conservatory lol.
Another excellent challenge and I can't wait to see what next weeks is x

The Stamp Man Challenge Week 1

To celebrate the start of a new challenge blog over at The Stampman I challenged myself to a first and did a canvas. I've used  the sticky backed stuff  before to do the odd stamp, but I've never used a full canvas before. It really is a steep learning curve, it's a lovely surface to ink up, but I found it quite dificult to stamp into the middle portion (the bit without the wooden frame behind)
I've used yellow and orange distress inks and a Tim Holtz music stamp for the background.
The dragonfly is an Aspects of Design, again using DI's.
The flower, butterfly, and sentiment have been stamped onto tissue and stuck down with beeswax. Again a learning curve, I forgot that the reverse of the book page would show through when the wax was applied, but I'm gonna pretend that I meant to do this lol. I don't know what possessed me to start with a 6x6, it's a HUGE area to cover, so there are a few empty bits, but we've all got to start somewhere.
I really did enjoy doing this even though I was well out of my comfort zone!
Thanks very much for looking x

I'm a Believer

Yep I've finally lost the plot and made a Christmas card in July.... No this isn't me being organised it's just that the challenge over at the Sunday Stampers is Journey/Believe. Well I really do believe in Santa Clause, and if anyone in our house says any different they get one of my 'looks'
All of the images are from the same Tim Holtz set so how easy was that!
I'm really loving the distress stickles, but I keep forgetting that they come out in a bit of a blob, so my tree's well covered.
I was feeling reckless today so I've stamped straight onto the card rather than cutting and sticking lol.
You can't really tell here, but I've stamped Santa twice and coloured him in with promarkers, so he's nicely pink and jolly.
I really enjoyed making this but I don't think I'll make any more Christmas cards till mid December :o)
Thanks very much for looking x

It's A Kind Of Magic

Here is my entry to this weeks Sunday Postcard Art challenge which is magic. I was all set to do a magical mystical piece using my Merlin stamp, but all I got was lot's of white space. Aaagh nothing scares me like white space lol.
The background is chalk inks on semi glossy paper, so they smooshed together nicely. Then a bit of stamping and embossing, them more stamping. I dried it off with my heat gun - Mmm glossy paper starts to smoke very quickly...
My Knights of the Tound Table/ puddy cats, are fab downloads from
Lisa's Altered Arts These print up beautifully and I bought loads of  pages 'cos she's got a sale on. My wizard is from a sheet of Tanda stamps, and he has appeared on many an ATC of mine. The words have just been stamped, stuck, and mod podged.
Thanks very much for looking and have a fab Sunday x