You Gotta Have Friends (And a Kate Crane DVD)

The challenge this time over at Stampotique is a Wish For The New Year. My wish is to see more of my friends and family. Real life can be a bit of a treadmill and before you know it it's Christmas again and another year has gone by. For my birthday I bought myself the fab Kate Crane's art journaling DVD's, (I knew it  was no use relying on hints to get this)  and armed with my shiny new  A4 journal, some Dylusion inks and paints, and the bottom drawer of my Stampotique stamps collection I decided to take the plunge and do a journal page.
Sooo I painted it in blue, pink and purple, hated it, and decided to tear it out lol. Then I remembered what Kate had said on the Art From The Heart taster day - that she NEVER tears out a page from her journal (let alone the 1st one) so I carried on with the splatting and the stamping and the bottle tops and the credit card painting and in the end I quite liked it!
I think that Karin and Marci look like X Factor finalists, and twinkie is just about to deck Louis Walsh :o)
So a Happy New Year to everyone, and may all your wishes come true (as long as they are legal and don't interfere with mine lol)
Thanks very much for looking x

Christmas Fishes

So much for my week off work to play at making Tim's tags, real life strikes again lol. Finally found a bit of time to play yesterday, and it's non-traditional Christmas time over at Stampotique , so red and green must never be seen! It's amazing isn't it that as soon as you are banned from colours those are the only ones that you want to use :o).
So for my alternative Christmas, I've inked some card and stamped and embossed the French  Text stamp in a holographicy type EP. Then I've stamped the ribbon stamp around the edge ( I had to break out the stamp positioner for this, and I always amaze myself when it works). This has been joined with the long splatter - love this stamp it goes with everything!. The tree has been stamped on the card then stamped again and cut out so I could attach my fishes with jump rings. The Christmas Fishes has been made on my labeling machine and inked over with blue Stazon. Of course a Christmas tree decorated with fish bones could only mean one thing - this is the House Of Kitty....
I've made a little dangly thing for the corner using Jo's star that was in Craft Stamper, and some beads and jump rings. It's all been stuck then sewn down (by hand, it's too cold now to stay in the conservatory any longer than I need to ) onto a brown (see still no red or green) card blank.
I think it's 'alternative' enough 'cos my husband gave it the uhhhhh..... look and that little shake of his head that means 'what has she done'.....:o)
My daughter gets it, she just says ah Stampotique!
Having to wait in now for a new printer, the hamster running mine has finally given up the ghost. Thanks very much for looking and don't forget to eat todays choccy from the advent calender before anyone else gets it!

So Here It Is Merry Christmas Everybody's Having Fun...

 Or we soon will be 'cos Mr T has put us on countdown to this years 12 Tags of Christmas. Will I have the right equipment nah but I'll still be playing :o)
My little Christmas stable has taken 2 days to make and another to photograph 'cos we only seem to have sunlight between the hours of 1 and 1.20 then it's back to darkness.
My wooden frame has been gesso'd, then painted in blue, lilac and brown to make it look old and battered, and edged in Inca Gold in green to make it look even older. I stamped some snowflake stamps with Indigo Blu glue and sprinkled some Cosmic Shimmer snowflakey stuff over.
The backing plate has been painted blue and stamped with Tims snowflake stamps and embossed in white. The reindeer has been die cut, then stamped and embossed, painted in silver and then ribbled, My ribbler is certainly having a new lease of life lately lol.
The 'Christmas' is one of Tim's Stickers from the Holiday set, and this has also been coated in the snow.

The tickets have been cut from the Alterations die from the Christmas Kraft Resist stash and inked in Broken China and Tea Dye DI's, and stamped with images from the Mini Holiday set and embossed in white. The numbers have been painted in white acrylic paint and grungified.

The Santa has been cut from Graphic 45 paper and stuck underneath a fragment, and the image in the corner is also a sticker that has been stuck on Grunge Paper.

More of my crocheted flowers, I tried to do some snowflakes but I couldn't get the hang of them. I really must practise but it's hard when I only know three stitches lol.

I'm entering this into the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp And Show - Tickets
The Stampman - 12 Tags of Christmas Techniques - Day 5 2010 Painting and embossing on metal
Shopping Our Stash - Christmas/Winter - had the fragments and numbers for years  :o)
Fashionable Stamping - I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas.

Thanks very much for looking x

Tando Creative Online Class

Here's my finished frame for the Tando Creative Online Class. Now a smarter person would have taken photographs as they went along but...doh!!

Anyhoo I tried to stick to the brief, but I really wasn't happy with any of the (numerous) backgrounds that I created, so I ended up by using the Tando cogs mask directly on to the backing board and using gilding flakes.

This looked a little too stark so I toned it down a bit by spraying over with Radient Rain in a pinky/purple colour.  The embelis are mostly Graphic 45 papers, and the matching Hampton Art stamps, and Tim Holtz & Wendi Vecchi stamps. The butterfly is grunge paper covered in washi tape, then stamped over with the WV stamp and embossed.                      The dragonflies are Tando chipboard and they have been coverd in Perfect Pearls and alphabet beads.

Graphic 45 Steampunk Debutante paper stuck onto chipboard with a frame over the top, topped up with Glossy Accents. The cog has has been painted in gold acrylic and stamped and heated until the paint bubbled.

More Graphic 45 paper under a Tim Holtz Fragment.

Tando cog with acrylic paint and UTEE with a lie detector charm.

Texture paste corner covered in Perfect Pearls and various bits and pieces.

I really enjoyed makin this, and the tutorial was amazing - I shall certainly do more of these.

Thanks very much for looking x

It's Sketch Time At Stampotique

The challenge for this fortnight over at the Stampotique challenge blog is to follow a sketch. I havn't done a sketch challenge for ages, and I must admit my mind went blank when I looked at this one... THEN I thought of Miss Snottie and the rest fell into place lol.
I stamped the Divine Miss S on cream card and cut her out with a nestie (after cutting her hair out first). The kraft card has been ribbled and pricked around the edges.
The music panel is from the TH Christmas Kraft Resist stash, and it's been inked with the Barn Door Distress Stain which I didn't want, didn't need and now you try taking them off me! The colouring power is brilliant - I love 'em :o)
I wanted the Snottie one to look like she was coming through a paper burst, so I tore the TH Kraft Glassine paper from the centre outwards. This is fab to tear as it doesn't run away from you - if you want it to tear you have to give it a good old tug!
I gave her a Christmas hat just so you know it's nearly Christmas :o)
The strip down the middle of the kraft resist is from the TH lace Alterations die. I cut it in gold mirror card then ribbled it to give it a German Scrap look. My husband (bless him!!) took one look and said 'why have you put Space Invaders on a Christmas card' Don't be stooopid I said, it's lace ohhhhh....... yeah I can hear the music playing and they're fireing their little missiles and that's that die ruined forever...
Anyway, that's one more Christmas card done - it's really sneaking up on me this year (same as last year, the year before, the year before that... can you see the pattern lol)
Enjoy what's left of the weekend, please excuse any spelling mistakes 'cos spell checker seems to have gone walkabout, and thanks very much for looking x

Better Late Than Never!

Way back in May I did a workshop with Janet & Michelle at the Stampman, where we started to decorate a wooden box. Fast forward to November, and I thought it was time that I actually finished it :o)

The box was gesso'd then painted in blue and brown acrylic paints. It's also been stenciled through a honeycomb mask with DI's in blue and brown. The dress form and wings are Tim's dies, as are the buttons and thread holder. These have been stamped and embossed in various DI's. The ribbon around the edges is the TH lace die, and this is already up there on my favourites pile!

The sewing machine and scissors are from Tando Creative, and I'm entering this into their November challenge which is Blue & Brown.

Thanks very much for looking and enjoy what's left of the weekend x

The Stampsmith Ribbon & Lace

The challenge for November over at  The Stampsmith is ribbons and lace. I really struggle with this type of thing, but I guess that's the challenge...
The background has been stamped in Faded Jeans with a stamp from the Postcard plate, and the lovely Serena has been stamped in coffee archival and tinted with Broken China. The paper is one of Anna Griffin's that I've had since time began.
My little crochet flowers were done in front of the computer, with a lot of re-winding of the tutorial. My Grandma taught me the basic stitches many (many) years ago, but it's not something I've done much of. She could do the most amazingly fine work without even looking at what she was doing - she certainly didn't pass that on to me,  but at least I can do the flowers now without the sound on lol.
I'm also entering this into the Fashionable Stamping Challenge which is In Times Gone By.
Thanks very much for looking x

Tag It On

The challenge at Tag it On this week is Mr Magorium's Wonder Emporium. My challenge to myself was to do it without any cutting and sticking or 3d 'stuff'.
I started by using some TH masks inking with various distress inks. Lots of stamps, mainly Scrollswork stamped in distress and coffee and black archival.
The main images were stamped on tissue paper and torn (see not cut lol)  out and stuck down with watered down pva.
I've used black and white acrylic paints and various lids from my evergrowing lid collection to paint the circles.
The edges have been distressed then rubbed aroung with green and gold Inca Gold, and finally I coated it all in beeswax to give it a bit of shine and texture. The poor old tag had taken all it could manage by now, so I backed it up on some black card and gave it a bit of raffia lol.
I really enjoyed making this, and thanks very much for looking x