Planes Trains & Automobiles

This week the challenge over at Tag It On is Planes Trains & Automobiles. For the planes tag I've used October Afternoon paper, and stamped with  Scrolls Work and Tim Holtz stamps.
The trains has Stampin'Up paper in black and vanilla. I've stamped a Scrolls Work stamp with some Indigo Blu glue and rubbed in some gilding flakes. The train stamps are Scrolls Work.
The automobile tag has been gesso'd then stamped with the SW background in Chipped Sapphire. The stamps are all Timmy's except for the Planes Trains and Automobiles which are again by Scrolls Work.
Sorry about the rubbish picture, but by the time I had finished there was NO sunlight left. If you click on it it's a little bit better.
I need to go and do some ironing now :o(
Thanks very much for looking x

Eww That Smells Like Poison..

.. and so it should 'cos over at Stampotique this time the challenge is to alter a poison bottle. When I first saw this I thought 'see you next time', but I decided to give it a go.
Now I'm right out of poison bottles, but I do have a nice body spray in a fetching shade of blue so I thought I would use that.
I sprayed it with some black webbing that I have had for at least two years and never tried. Note to self this comes out fast and covers a bigger area than an angry volcano.
Then I melted some bees wax in a bit of tin foil and added some red pepper alcohol ink and drizzled it down the bottle top to look like blood. It kind of ran across not down, but my poison defeats the law of gravity (and it was hot so I wasn't going to mess with it lol)

I also had another 99% empty perfume bottle (don't know why I don't throw it away 'cos it hasn't sprayed for years) so I donated it's top to alchemy... I painted it silver then gave it another blast of said webbing spray.

To make this Stampotique poison rather than any old poison I stamped the guys from the Halloween cube onto shrink plastic and attached them with wire around the top.
The poison letters have been cut with the Tim Holtz Once Upon A Time strip die.
I did enjoy making this in the end, and it looks fab now sat on my window sill with my other lotions and potions.
To see how poison bottles should look, head over to the Stampotique challenge blog.

Quick Edit. I decided that I wasn't happy with the wire, so I put the ghoolies on jump rings on a length of ball chain around the bottle.

I'm a happy bunny now lol x

Mmm Not Somewhere To Spend The Night

I know I said I was through with Halloween, but that was the cute side, this is just downright spooky...
I could never understand why on films people went into graveyards, in the dark, (and always in the fog) what good did they ever expect to come of it lol.
For my spookiness I've used stamps from a Cherry Pie set (love these) a Stampendous cobweb stamp, and one of Tim's trees. This is one of my 'go to' stamps, along with his flock of birds.
The stamping has been done in black versafine, and the card just coloured with Black Soot distress ink. The bat started life as silver, but I coloured him with the Ranger black enamel accents.

I've been practicing my reverse stamping with the railings on the bottom right. The card railing is Tim's Picket Fence die, and it's all being supported by the small easel die which is fab, I can see myself getting a lot of use out of this one!
I'm entering this into the following
Gingersnaps - Black and grey
Simon Says Stamp and Show - Show one colour - any colour
Craft Room - Black and white
Tando Creative - Spooktastic


Thanks very much for looking x

Yup It's Christmas Card Time Again!!

The Challenge over at The Stampman this time is Night Time.  I saw some window template cards by Creative Expressions a while ago, but I was unable to get hold of any, so I decided to make my own...
So armed with some acetate, a pen, ruler and a paper trimmer, this is what I came up with.

I colour dusted my card with Stormy Sky and Chipped Saphire, then sponged around the edges with Black Soot. Tim's Tall Trees and some of the Winter stamps from Creative Expressions were then stamped with black archival ink.
The window card was stamped with a snow stamp and dusted with Chipped Saphire and Black Soot. This was then stuck over some acetate and folded over the card giving it a bow in the middle to add some dimention.

The rosette is a Creative Expression stamp, as it the zipper flower (love these!) and the hat pins. The ribbon is American seam binding. It was all then stuck onto some black card, and then the base card which is A3 folded in half.
This is going to be my Mum & Dad's Christmas card, trouble is it's going to need a deep box to fit it in (how faffy is this!!)

I really enjoyed making this, but it definitely comes under the 'special' cards catagory.
Thanks very much for looking x

Not Quite An Old Master

This weeks challenge at Gingersnap Creations is Ravens. I don't know why but I thought that American Gothic would look quite nice featuring a couple of ravens lol.
The American Gothic stamp is by Lost Coast Designs and has been well loved (but not as well cleaned lol) I stamped it then coloured with distress inks. I treated myself to the Claudine Hellmuth paint brushes and they really do make a difference, if I stick my tongue out at the correct angle I can almost stay within the lines now :o)
The ravens are Hampton Arts cling stamps and they are lovely. I had to do the stamping onto another stamp to reverse it for the woman 'cos I really can't get to grips with the brayer technique.
I'm afraid I had to decapitate the ravens next and stuck them over the original happy couple. I then stamped the couple again, bit more head chopping, and stuck them on top.
Stamped it yet again just for the frame, and embossed in gold, cut out, and mounted on teeny foam pads.
The background is a bit of ribbled kraft and a page of my trusty old Mills & Boon Whirlpool of Passion!!
I saw the episode of Fame In The Frame about a month ago where John Myatt painted this picture and put Paul O'Grady in the picture. I  really enjoyed hearing about the background of this painting. I didn't realise it was so iconic.
Pop over to Gingersnaps for far better examples of ravens!
Thanks very much for looking x

It's Tag Time!!

Over at Stampotique the challenge is tags, which is always OK with me! I started by stamping and clear embossing images from the Halloween cube, then I coloured the tag in Ripe Persimmon distress ink. I masked bits off with Halloween images from the TH sheet then blended over Seedless Preserve DI.
Next I stamped the French Text stamp with water and blasted with the heat gun to dry it till it smoked lol. Then I inked through the 'Special Touch' Cracked mask with Peeled Paint DI, and finally stamped the edges with a question mark stamp and edged with Black Soot.
Prom Queen has been coloured in Inkidinks, and the sentiments stamped and cut out.
I had great fun making this though my craft room now looks like we've been burgled!
I'm just about Halloween'd out now, and there's still a week to go. Never mind - soon be Christmas!!
Thanks very much for looking x

Would You Like To Swing On A Star (Actually it's the moon!!)

This month the challenge over at The Stampsmith is Halloween using at least one Stampsmith Stamp. Bit of a poser this one as I don't have any 'Halloweeny' Stampsmith stamps, so I cheated and put a witch's hat on these old romantics Ooooh scarey uh lol.
The papers are from We R Memory Keepers and I've mixed and matched a few to give it some depth. The spider and web are a couple of clear stamps that I got this time last year, and the 'boo' is there just to make you jump :o).
Check out The Stampsmith blog for some fab inspiration and the chance to win some stamps.
Have a great weekend and thanks for looking x

On The Street Where You Live

I don't normally 'do' Halloween, but last year I bought myself a We R Memory Keepers Halloween pad so I thought I'd better use it. I made myself a haunted house. I traced around an old Craftwork Cards template to make myself another couple of houses. The one on the left and in the middle have been covered with the WRMK's papers, and the outsides not so carefully painted in orange acrylic. The one on the right has been alcohol inked in red, yellow and plum. The windows have been cut out and pictures put behind. These have been printed on accetate and are the 'Anabel Lee' sheet from Moonlight Journey.

The skeleton stamp is from Tim Holtz, and I've also used various Artistic Outpost stamps from the Halloween set.

My spooky bird has been cut on chipboard from the Tim Holtz die, the stamped with the cobweb stamp from A.O, and embossed in black. I've then blended purple and yellow DI's and clear embossed again.

The cat is from the same die and has been cut in Kraft Glassine, crupmpled to within an inch of it's nine lives then splodged on in black archival. This has then been heat set.

The ironwork fence is one of Tim's On The Edge dies again cut in chipboard and splodged with black and platignum inks.

I had a lot of fun making this - it's nothing like I had in my head but it will be in my front window on the 31st.

I'm entering this into the following challenges:
Gingersnap Creations - alcohol inks
Shopping Our Stash - Spooky
Simon Says Stamp And Show - things with wings

Thanks very much for looking x

Gingersnaps Colour Challenge - Turquoise, Blue & Purple

The final 'Friends' themed challenge over at Gingersnap Creations this month is a colour challenge of turquoise, blue and purple. The background technique has been shamelesly stolen from Jo Capper-Sandon's article in this months Craft Stamper. Basically you put your hand in a plastic bag, dip it in the ink and dab, but Jo does it with so much more style!
The background stamp is called 'Friendly' and it's by Stampin'Up. The flowers are the Greenhouse Garden set also by SU, and they've been stamped in turquoise, blue and er purple. The quote is from a TPC stamp set. This actually looks quite pretty in real life - quite a change for me  lol. I've really enjoyed this set of challenges from Gingersnap, and they've given us a heads up that October is going to be all about Edgar Allen Poe. Mmm now that is a challenge....
Thanks very much for looking x