You've Got A Friend

 Good morning and a very happy Wednesday. Today I'm over at the Ink Art Designs Stamping Playground with my second project for this month, and this time I've done a couple more pages in my Art By Marlene concertina album.

I started this last year, so all the background has been done already, I just needed to add the main images.

The lovely fox and toucan have been stamped on gelli plate backgrounds.

Then I added more colour with Prismacolour pencils.

This is how the open book is looking now.

These are the lovely red rubber stamps, and also the book of die cuts where the sentiment came from. Dot has a wonderful selection of Art By Marlene goodies here in the store.

You still have a week to join in with this month's challenge, so please, ink up your stamps and play along.

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

Rock The Retro

 Good morning and a very happy Tuesday. Today I'm over at the Lost Coast Portal To Creativity with my second piece for our Inchie Twinchie Background challenge, and again I've used some lovely new rubber.

I started by stamping this wonderful new Flowers background a couple of times as closely together as I could.

Then I cut the huge tag and coloured it in. It was a full on tongue out couple of hours colouring. I don't do it often but I really enjoyed it, I think it has a real retro feel to it - groovy!!  Now to turn it into an inchie /twinchie background.

I stamped again and placed the black and white inchies and twinchies over the coloured ones. it was harder than it looks to find the correct spot!

Then I just added my Carmen's Veranda words to finish off. 

There's still a week left for you to join in with our challenge, so please start chopping your inchies and twinchies! 

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

Not All Who Wander

 Good morning and a very happy Tuesday. There's a new challenge today over at the Lost Coast Portal To Creativity, and it's to make an 'Inchie or Twinchie background' 

 Now I have to hold my hand up here and say that yes, I do know what inchies and twinchies are, but I've never made one, and I've certainly never made a background from them. There, that's my excuse in place. I literally had no idea what I was going to do, so I did what I always do in these situations 

1) get out the nice new rubber, and

2) Wing it!

I started by making my backgrounds to chop up into inchies and twinchies. I wanted to use real metal sheets but you know when you tidy your craft room, and you move something that's been in the same, safe place for the last ten years.... yup can't find it, so I used metal effect card instead. I've used silver and blue  - it's a bit hard to tell the difference here, but it shows up more IRL - I'm really getting through my bag of excuses today aren't I! This gorgeous steampunk stamp is Gears 2.

So, I've cut up my background into inch and 2-inch squares and backed them onto black card.

I wanted to make a journal page, so I made a background for my er background..... It all made sense at the time. Please refer to disclaimer/ excuse/paragraph 1 about never doing this before....

I've added the inchies and twinchies (spell checker really does not like these words) to the background and made some further inchie toppers ( I've nothing to lose at this point have I!) using some more new steampunk stamps.

These are the lovely stamps that I've used 

Gears 2

Spikey Fish

Anchor Fish

and a Carmen's Veranda sentiment All Who Wander.

So please join in with our challenge, and make an inchie or twinchie background. What could be simpler - oh I don't know maybe giving a cat a pill!

Take care, have a very happy week, and thanks so much for looking x

Ninety Eight, Ninety Nine, One HUNDRED

 Good morning and a very happy Sunday. I'm over at Country View Crafts again today with my second project for our 100th challenge celebrations.

As this is an extra special challenge, here are the rules of entry.

Welcome to our June Challenge. This month marks our 100th Challenge and we couldn't let that go by without a celebration so we are offering two prizes, the first will be for your projects that fit the theme of 100 taking inspiration from one of the DT makes, such as a colour scheme, technique, design idea, stamp or die motif and of course, 100 (or One Hundred) must be included. Do specify in your post which member of the Design Team's project inspired you. 

The second prize will be picked from one of the comments left on the CVC and DT blog posts - don't forget, you can enter as many times as you like so make sure it is a comment that makes our DT happy to make them count

This time I've gone for the written word as Morty Bottoms is counting the stars.

I started by making my background with black card and Distress Oxides.

I think Morty looks very cute counting the stars. 

I've attached it to the back of this canvas board that has Matilda Bottoms, as I want to use it as an album cover and I like to have both sides covered.

I hope you play along with us and join in with the challenge. Have a very happy day, and thanks so much for looking x

My Untidy Mind

 Good morning and a very happy Tuesday. The first challenge this month over at Lost Coast Designs is to Save The Trees. By that, we mean to stamp on anything other than ordinary paper. I decorated a phone holder 'cos you can never have too many of these.

I started with my naked phone holder (I'm sure it's not real wood lol)

I applied some base paint by pressing it on my gelli plate, then I stamped with Doodle Circles. This is a lovely stamp to colour in, which I did with paint pens and silver acrylic.

Next came the sentiment. If I'd thought this through I'd have realised that I could have used tissue paper, but never mind. This is construction tape - a little like duct tape but you can paint it. So I just stuck it to my craft mat then painted it white.

Then I stamped my Carmen's Veranda Tidy Minds stamp.

I just cut around it and stuck it in place. I was a little bit surprised that it was still sticky, but it certainly was!

And this is how it looks with my phone in place! I don't know how, but this cover blends in wherever it is, so it's great to have a proper place for it (and this way I remember to charge it too so it's a win-win!)

I only used 2 stamps on this one, that must be some sort of record! I've used

Doodle Circles  and

Tidy Minds

I hope you like it, and that you join in with our fun challenge. Take care, and thanks so much for looking xx

Smile While You Still Have Teeth

 Good morning and a very happy Friday. Today I'm over at the Ink Art Designs Stamping Playground with a birthday card that I made with lots of Katzelkraft stamps, and a Rubber Dance sentiment.

I started by making my background with the Katzelkraft cloud stamp (I love this!) and a Lavinia stencil.

Then I stamped, coloured and cut out my animals. Oops spare part surgery required. New horns for the cow, and an extra leg for the sheep!

As I was saying, animals coloured and cut out, all ready to assemble.

There we go, all horns and legs present and correct. I love how these two sentiments work together. The top one is from Rubber Dance, and the bottom one is by Katzelkraft.

Honestly, how many stamp sets does it take to make one card!

I hope you like it, and please join in with our challenge to win some new rubber!

Take care, and have a very happy weekend x

Happy 100th To Country View Crafts

 Good morning and a very happy Tuesday. We have a fun new challenge over at Country View Crafts to celebrate our 100th challenge.

I've been lucky enough to be on the DT there since September 2014 and challenge No.19 which was 'A Nautical Theme' Here are my very first DT makes for the month back then.

While I was taking a walk down memory lane I checked out the first Country View challenge and was pleased to see that I was playing along there from the start. The challenge was Pick & Mix (anything goes)

Needless to say I still have every one of the stamps and dies that I used then.

I hope that you join in with our celebrations, there's always prizes to be won!

Take care, have a very happy month, and thanks so much for looking x

The Usual Suspects

 Good morning and a very happy Wednesday. Today I'm over at the Ink Art Designs Stamping Playground with my usual suspects! 

I started by making a background with paints, stencils, and stamps.

All of the stamps are by Crafty Individuals. These are the new Burglar Cats and It's Cool For Cats sets. Dot has a great range of Crafty Individuals stamps here in the store.

You still have a few days left to join in with our challenge. It's really easy, you just need to use stamps from any of the ranges that Dot stocks.

I hope you have a lovely day whatever you are doing, take care, and thanks so much for looking x