Get Your Groove On

Good morning and happy Monday. Today I'm over at Country View Crafts with my second 'Under The Sea' piece. 

I'm really enjoying this challenge as I love the sea colours, and what's not to like about pink fishes and multicoloured seahorses!

I started by making inky backgrounds on 3 tags and an 8x8 piece of watercolour card. I really like how the old distress inks and the oxides work together. 

Next I added some stencilling and embossing with white embossing powder.

Now time for my sea creatures. The tiny stamps are by Lavinia, and the bigger ones are Art By Marlene, as is the sentiment. I really love my seahorse, he's been stamped on a piece of mop up card - oh how I love easy colouring!

Until I was typing this up I hadn't noticed my 'deliberate' error. Look at the small tag - there's a bit of upside down swimming going on! I'll just go and sort that out then I'll be right back!

What a numpty! THIS is how it should look! It's a good job I haven't told anyone!

So I hope that you join in with our fun challenge - you can have your fish swimming whichever way you like, I'll not notice!
I'm entering this into the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Stamp It challenge, and the
Craft Stamper TIMI September challenge which is Anything Goes.

Have a very happy week, and thanks so much for looking xx

A Slide Mailer For Ink Art Designs

Good morning and happy Wednesday! I'm over at Ink Art Designs today with something that I've not made in ages - a Slide Mailer.

 I started by painting my mailer with Deco Art Premium Acrylics.

Then I added some Izink texture paste to the front and back, along with some stamping in white. 

This is the front of the mailer. I've stamped my Visible Image stamp on some tissue paper, then painted the back with white paint to bring out the white of his shoes.

And this is the back. I've used the same techniques and also gone around the image with water colour pencils. Yes he's now on fire lol.

For the inside cover I stamped and embossed my girl first in white, and then in black. I also added some more texture paste through the same stencil.

And for the glass slides I used this guy! I really like this stamp, and how he looks on the slides.

This is the front and back.

And this is the inside.

These are the stamps sets that I've used, and can be found here in Dot's store.

I had great fun making this but it will probably be a while before I make another.

I hope you join us over on the Facebook group and join in with the challenge.
I'm entering this into the following challenges, Simon Says Stamp Monday - something clear
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - anything goes and 
Love To Create anything goes mixed media.

Have a great September, and thanks very much for looking x

An Underwater Anniversary

Good morning and happy Sunday - wow where did August go!! So September is here already and we're hurtling toward Autumn, though if the temperatures of Bank Holiday Monday were anything to go by it could be a hot one. There's a fun new challenge over at Country View Crafts, and this is Under The Sea.

Quite unusually for me I started with a paper pad that I've had for well over a year. I usually make my own backgrounds but these papers fitted perfectly with what I wanted to make.

I wanted a shaker card with a large aperture, so I made a whole unit that I could just stick onto the base card, rather than cutting into the card and weakening it.

I drew an area onto my base where my creatures could go without being hidden by the frame.

The pink sea horse and the heart are 

Art By Marlene stamps, and the blue one is by Lavinia. I can't call them male and female as according to Google these are both male stamps, and Google is never wrong!

This is how they look in their frame with their seaweed and sequins. 

The friendly puffer fish is also by Marlene.

And we're all done. The sentiment is a Memory Box die and this was so fiddly 'cos I didn't leave myself much room for it. I tried stamping a sentiment but it got lost as this is a big card, it's 10 x7 inches.

I really enjoyed making this, but I was glad when it all came together.

I hope that you join in with our challenge. Please remember that it's an Under The Sea theme so this must be the focus of your entries.

Have a very happy month, and thanks so much for looking xx

Feeling Craby For Ink Art Designs

Good morning and happy Monday. I'm back with my second piece for Ink Art Designs, and this time I've made a mini album.

I've used Tonic dies and some wonderful You Tube videos by Jodie Johnson to make my album. It was my first attempt, and although there are things that I will do slightly differently next time, I'm still pleased with the result.

I've made a 3 page book so the spine doesn't need to be too thick. Luckily these Art By Marlene die cuts fit perfectly!

 I knew that Lenny Krabitz was going to be the star of my journal cover, so I needed a background for him. As always I over thought it, I was like 'do crabs live in the sea or on the beach...' Well obviously both, so do I need a sandy background or the sea.... aarrrgghh!

Anyhow I settled for a beachy background. This is one that I'd made a while ago with marbling inks.

 Here's Lenny stamped on another sheet. Although he looks quite fiddly he's not actually that difficult to cut out.

When I said I'd made a background, I actually made quite a few (dozen). Well it's not worth getting all the marbling kit out just to make one or two is it lol.

 This is the die cut album cover, stamped with some of Marlene's background clear stamps.

 And here are my nippy little crabs!

 Everyone looks better with googly eyes - except me, I don't look so good with them!

 I think they look really nice on the marbled backgrounds.

You can imagine them just waiting for some poor unsuspecting toes to walk by...

Just click on the logo to visit the store where you'll find all the stamps that I've used plus many, many more.

Please join in with our challenge over there. The rules are very simple, and there's your choice of stamp to be won.

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

Embrace Life

Good morning and happy Thursday. Today I'm sharing my second piece for the Country View Crafts 'texture' challenge. 

I started with some Distress Inks and Ink Dusters as I wanted some subtle stencilling.

 I used the Craftascope Flower Flurry stencil to create a border.

I wanted something a bit punchier for my outer layer, so used a black archival inkpad and the Retro Fun stencil.

 Then I prepared a piece of hessian as I wanted a bit of a rustic look and feel. I cut it as neatly as I could, stitched around, and then frayed the edges.

 With the backgrounds done it was time to make some flowers. I did some very basic finger painting with some Fresco paints and mixed media paper. I learned this in a Tracy Scott class and it's one of my favourite techniques.

 I also stamped and die cut some Craftascope leaves out of felt. Note to self - buy more felt!

 I also wanted to use some funky foam, so out came the Retro Leaves die set.

 So I now had lots of leaves...

 And lots of flowers.

 And when you put it all together we have a wall hanging for my craft room. It's A3 so it feels a spot.

 These colours and textures just make me happy!

The sentiment says it all.

I hope you like it, and that you join in with our challenge over at Country View Crafts.
Have a great week, and thanks very much for looking x

Be Crazy

Good afternoon and happy Saturday. I've been having another play with my IndigoBlu Ragtime journal and my Lost Coast Designs and Carmens Veranda stamps.

I'm definitely hooked on this journal now, it's so robust and a really lovely size to be able to make something even if you don't have all day (I'm the slowest crafter in the whole world 'cos I have the attention span of a gnat so I tend to....     lose my train of thought!)

I'm entering my lovely flower into the Lost Coast Designs 'anything goes challenge'

Have a lovely weekend whatever you are doing, and thanks very much for looking x

It's Rag Time

Good morning and happy Thursday. Yesterday I had a play with an IndigoBlu ragtime concertina journal and I love it. This paper really does take everything that you throw at it and then some.

Here's my first page.

I'm entering it into the 'Anything Goes' challenge at Lost Coast Designs. It's been a while since I played with these stamps, and I really enjoyed them yesterday.

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

Illuminate The Dark For Ink Art Designs

Good morning and happy Wednesday. I hope that the sun is shining wherever you are. I'm over at Ink Art Designs today with my Art By Marlene journal page.

 I knew that I wanted a bright, colourful page, so I chose a 12x12 stencil and my HUGE gelli plate. It's not often it gets out of the cupboard, so it had a nice day out!

 This time I'm working in my large Art By Marlene journal, so this is an A4 page. Again it's the first page in the journal so I'm being very bold lol.

 When my paint was dry I added some texture paste through more Art By Marlene stencils. I love the Izink pastes as the colours are so vibrant and they dry really quickly. 

 And here's my lovely cyclist. I did a spot of my favourite fussy cutting around the bicycle, and paper pieced her dress with some of Marlene's collage paper.

I did a bit of background stamping too with Art By Marlene clear stamps.

 And we're all finished! I really like these journals as the pages come out so they're much easier to use.

Just click on the picture above to be whisked away to Dot's store where you'll find all of the stamps that I've used plus many more.

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