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

It's All Hearts and Flowers

The theme this week over at Lots To Do is In Stitches. Now I am not a stitcher - I remember as a kid my mum passing me needles to thread 'cos she couldn't see the eye in the needle. This will never happen to me I thought smugly....Well Mother Nature can be such a witch!!
So after my daughter had threaded several needles for me lol I cut out my ATC base in brown felt, and stitched on various felt die cuts.
This was quite relaxing actually, I usually do my crafting tucked away in the conservatory, but this time I joined the rest of the world in the living room and watched Midsommer Murders as I stitched. Honestly who would ever want to live in Midsommer, you wouldn't last two minutes :o)
Thanks very much for looking and have a great weekend x

Who'd Have Thought - Another Tag...CoC Week 5

It's Monday again so time for Linda's CoC challenge which this week is distress embossing powder. I have to admit I have never got on with these, but I think thats 'cos I was trying to use them as ordinary embossing powders, I didn't realise that they came into their own when you inked over the top of them.
No details allowed about the tecnique, but I've used a big and juicy ink pad in Soothing Sunset - lots of lovely colours on this one from yellows through to purple.
It was all pretty pretty until I beeswaxed my bird definition, then I thought it needed tattying up, so I punched the sides with a Stampin Up punch and tied my tag on with a piece of string - extreme uh :o)
I must have looked a real fool then cos I was wandering round the garden with a tag and a camera trying to find a patch of light to take my photo in.
I really enjoyed this weeks challenge and I will definitely use my embossing powders more now that I know how nice they can lool - they're really touchy feely too.
Thanks very much for looking x

Song Sung Blue The Sunday Stampers

Here's my entry for this weeks Sunday Stampers challenge, which is 'Blue'. I've been trying for ages to make these grungy flowers, so I put on Leandra's video on Paper Artsy's You Tube channel and tried to get my head round it :o)
The stamps and dies are from Paper Artsy, I've used card and Grunge Paper for the petals, and the leaves are metal. I'm really pleased with the result, so it's all credit to Leandra, as it's a step by step copy of hers.
It's been a lovely challenge, and thanks for looking x

Our House In The Middle of Our Street

 

Here is my entry to this weeks Lots To Do challenge which is people/and or places. I deciced to use one of Crafty Individuals little wooden houses. It's been gesso'd, painted, sanded, stamped and finished off with distress stickles. None of this really shows in the photos but never mind. I really liked the shabby chic technique I tried earlier on this week, so I've used this on my roof. Lots of TH distress inks and stickles to match. I didn't really see the point of these stickles (as I bought about 12 bottles :o) ) I couldn't see that glitter would go with the grungy TH style. But I do like 'em, they are not tooo blingy, and you're allowed to put them on with your fingers!. I've been really adventurous and made myself a metal picket fence. My vintage family have been aged and UTEE'd. I'm still on a masive learning curve with my melt pot, like it cools instantly, so there's no point in making a pool in the centre of your image and expecting it to swoosh around. uh uh sets solid in the middle, but a blast with the heat gun melts it down again :o)

Thanks very much for looking, and enjoy the World Cup Final x

Feeling A Bit Shabby

I can't believe it's week 4 of Linda's (at Studio L3)  CoC Challenges already AND I'm still hanging in there. I usually manage to do a couple of weeks then real life kicks in and I go awol from my 'cutting and sticking' for a few months lol.

Sooo Linda's got us all opening our books to page 49 - I would tell you more but she would have to kill me... I guess I can tell you that this week is 'shabby chic' AND I can show you a picture of my recipe 'cos I've learned how to add another pici to Blogger. Well yeah I hear you all mutter.. it's simple - well not to me :o). Took me hours last Sunday messing about, and all I had to do was update my Blogger ....Thingy!

So we have paint, stamps water,the cat! and my bestest book all on the same table,.but I was very careful lucky and no book or animal was harmed in the making of this tag. A stamp did have to be unwrapped and now it's dirty but I'm ok about it :o) Oh yeah I had to cut into my grungepaper too..

I am so enjoying these challenges I don't know why they call Tim a genius, everything he does is really simple - just joking honestly, put down your pokey tools you angry mob lol. But seriously if you follow this book you will get brilliant results - I know 'cos I've seen all your blogs!

Thanks very much for looking and see you next week x

Lots To Do Challenge - Hats and Crowns

I got my new Tanda Stamps yesterday, so I had to work them into a challenge, and as Lots to Do is hats and crowns this week - well there you go.
My skinny blonde (meeeeeeow ) is enjoying a day by the sea - she obviously doesn't have teenagers, an overweight cat and a husband who is grumping because there is no football 'till Tuesday lol
This image is from an Adverts plate. I love Tanda Stamps and their customer service is brilliant. I couldn't decide whether to go with the clear stamps or the rubber, but as I could get the rubber in a pack of four and save a few pounds.... that's me working till I'm 87 now.
The background is just inks, and my lady is coloured with Prisma a Pro-Markers. A bit of TH's metely bits and all done.
The waves and the seaguls are actually all my own work, I stuck out my tongue and drew them myself, and yes they are the extent of my drawing capabilities, though If you game me some playdo I can make a snake coming out of a coil pot! I'll not give up the day job lol.
Thanks for looking and enjoy the rest of the weekend x

Street Life - Sunday Postcard Art

I know I'm showing my age a bit now but I used to love this song. I remember driving my Dad mad by playing my 45 (no CD's in those days!) continually lol.
This challenge for this week is Street Art, so I dug out my trusty Paper Artsy stamps.
The background was inked, stamped, painted, tissued, then covered up!
The houses and tree stamps are from Crafty Individuals, and they are brilliant - they stamp beautifully. You can always tell when I like a stamp, I CLEAN them after use, and put them straight on Kling On. Mine are squeeky clean now and duly klinged.
My Jolly Jester is an old time favourite from (I think) Just For Fun.
Raffa has just won Wimbledon again as I type so I guess he's got a good night lined up.
Thanks very much for looking and enjoy what's left of the weekend x