A Thank You Card...

This a thank you card made for a friend, I would have included it in the previous post, but I wanted to make sure she got it in the mail first LOL, so now it is safe to share.

I've used the beautiful Crafty Individuals bird image I won last month for my entry to INKURABLE STAMPERS birthday celebrations, & all I've done is to use some colouring pencils, a little ribbon (from Craft Queen), some pretty pp (also from Craft Queen), lots of foam tape, & the "thank You" is an image from Darkroom Door.






I stamped the image twice onto white cs, & cut some of the squares out, colouring them in, & layering with foam tape. I'm not a huge fan of yellow, but I think the colours really suit the birds, don't you think :)

Another Week, Another Gothic Arch

Another Gothic arch for Sarah's 24 Gothic arches over at INKURABLE STAMPERS, this one is #8, child/children.

I started my arch by covering it with some scrap pp, from memory I think it is a Karen Foster design, but i could be wrong (it has been in my scraps box for a veeerrryyy long time LOL)

Next I inked the edges with teal StaZon ink. I then stamped the steps (Cherry Pie stamps from TSQ) onto some grey cs, trimmed & added it to the arch.
Next, I stamped the starfish image onto a scrap of white cs which I had inked with various colours of StaZon ink, trimmed & stuck to the arch. The little boy is an image from a Collections sheet, which I have torn & inked around the edges. The quote was cut out of an old book, & as a finishing touch I added the tiny Kaiser pearls & the scalloped edge at the bottom :)

Next is my mail art entry, also for INKURABLE STAMPERS, a lot of masking, & lots of different images :)

I started by using a kraft coloured envelope & Versafine ink (jet black), & chose some random images...The frame is AL(coloured with a white wc pencil), Art Declassified quote & Paperartsy frayed fabric (both from TSQ), Stampotique Originals (Head was stamped onto some scrap pp & cut out, & Gooseneck was stamped directly onto the envelope & coloured in with white wc pencil) & also from TSQ.

The ruler (at the bottom of the envelope, stamped with red StaZon ink) is by Blockheads stamps, as is the hook & eye image. I also used the lace (from DD) & the butterflies (also from DD) were stamped onto an old book page with rust StaZon, & cut out. The lips image is an old one from Studio Astarte.

I think it looks very cute even if I say so myself LOL, & what a great way to use our stamps, right ? So next time you have to send something through the post, why not do it in style, you may just brighten up someones day :)

Have you taken a look at the STAMPBORD website lately? If you click to read their NEWS, you'll see that yours truly has been asked to do a tutorial on the use of their very stamp-friendly tiles, so if I'm not around for a little while, you'll know why LOL.

In the meantime, I'd just like to thank those of you who take the time to leave me comments, they are very much appreciated, & if you ever have any questions about any of the project you see here, don't be shy, go ahead & ask, & I'll do my best to point you in the right direction :)

As always, thank you for your visit, & next time I'll put on the coffee if you'll bring the cake LOL.

Quick Paper Flowers Tutorial

My apologies in advance for my first attempt at a tutorial, you may direct any & all complaints to my friend Sandie (this is for a competition she has organized HERE in her blog)

I chose to re-use a "post pak" tough bag, it's a postal envelope, white on the outside, but a lovely kraft colour inside, & some white tissue paper (the kind that shoes are stuffed with, in our household everything gets a second life!)

Step 1: Cut open the recycled envelope.

step 2: Using a circle punch, punch out desired amount of circles.

step 3: Cover circles with some glue.
step 4: Scrunch up some tissue paper & press it down to glue it to the circles.

Step 5: Trim the tissue paper off the edges.

Step 6: Ink the edges & add a button (or some other embellishment of choice)

Step 7: Using scraps of green cs & zig zag scissors, cut some leaves.

Step 8: Using a stylus/bone folder, shape your leaf, & add some ink to the edges.

Step 9: Now you're ready to stick everything down to your project...


BB blue & green cs, kraft cs is back of envelope, pp is DCWV, "Happy Birthday" is from THIS set (Darkroom Door)

I hope you were able to understand all the steps :) These flowers are so easy to make, & are a great way to use up bits & pieces in your stash. Try using some pp instead of tissue paper, & you could add some rhinestones to the centers instead of buttons...

Thanks for visiting my blog, & don't forget to go forth & create :)

Inkurable Stampers Arch

Here's my entry for Inkurable Stampers Gothic arch #7, with the theme woman/women.
I started by covering my Gothic arch shape with some torn masking tape, & I then gave it a coat of watercolour paint, adding the fabric (a piece of bias binding) by sewing it onto the arch & then cutting into it (only because I miscalculated where I was suppossed to sew, but don't tell anyone LOL)
I then got the Altered Fabric image (Paperartsy from TSQ) & stamped it onto a scrap of white cs, & I did the same with the Woman image (Cherry Pie from TSQ) & trimmed her (sounds a bit rude LOL)
The Create Your Own Reality stamp is by Catslife Press (also from TSQ) & the other 2 stamps I used are both from Darkroom Door. The lace from THIS set was stamped onto an acetate sheet, trimmed & stapled on, & the words Enjoy Life from THIS set were stamped using Brilliance ink & heat embossed using CEP.

As a finishing touch I added the glitter to the top edges, a small paper flower & some leaves from my scraps box. I'm really enjoying doing these arches, but I'm still not sure how I will end up displaying them all...remember you can join in at any time :)

A Belated Happy Mother's Day Wish...

This card was made for TCQ so I can't show it fully just yet, but it uses some beautiful crochet lace & some velvet, as well as other bits & pieces, all available from Nicole at The Craft Queen store.



& A gift made using one of my favourite images from DARKROOM DOOR stamps...



& a thank you card using some lovely Darkroom Door pp, & ribbons from TCQ

A belated happy Mother's day to all the mums out there in blogland, I hope you all had a wonderful day, I know I did :)

Mail Art Fun

These were my contribution to Rachel's call for mail art using DARKROOM DOOR products for a display at the SIA show (Have a look HERE for more photos of their booth)
Anyone who's ever received any mail from me knows I love to decorate my envelopes...I figure it's so much nicer to receive a little happy mail (as opposed to plain bills!)

I already had most of the masks cut out, so it didn't take long to do (I keep all the masks in the tins with the stamps so I don't loose them)

I'm glad to see they all made it in one piece, & I hope the posties had a nice time delivering them too :)

Lots of stamping, lots of masking, lots of messy goodness on my craft table, & plenty of ink on my fingers LOL.

This also happens to be this month's great theme over at INKURABLE STAMPERS, so why not join in & have some fun with your stamps...

A Gothic Bookmark?

Here's my entry to STAMPOTIQUE's "think out of the box" theme... A bookmark. I read every night (not much, but at least I'm consistent LOL) & I'm so slack when it comes to bookmarks, I'm one of those people who will fold back the corner of the page so i don't loose the spot, terrible, I know! So I thought that if I made pretty bookmark, I may actually use it :)

I started off with a length of ribbon (actually it's seam binding material, but it's so silky I just wanted to use it on something) & the buckle bit is from an old belt I pulled apart that was made up of about 20 of those links. I then added assorted beads, & I then got busy with a domino-sized STAMPBORD piece. I covered the piece with teal blue StaZon, & carefully stamped the STAMPOTIQUE image onto it using black StaZon ink, I then scratched at it to reveal some highlights, & when I was done, I covered the image with 2 coats of clear UTEE, I think it looks great, but hard to photograph :) So now I have a Gothic bookmark to go with my current Gothic book The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon... Enjoy your day, whatever you may be doing, & don't forget to create something :)

Arch # 6

Here is my arch for INKURABLE STAMPERS Gothic arch # 6. The theme is "man", & I decided to use a lovely image from CRAFTY INDIVIDUALS. I started by painting the arch in a purle colour, adding some crackle medium, & when that was dry, some pink acrylic paint to show the cracks. I also added some embossing powder (the colour is called Tapestry) which I've had for years, but I forgot I had as it was hiding at the back of a drawer...

Next, I stamped & trimmed the gents, & stuck them using foam tape, & I THEN decided they needed some butterfly wings!!!!!! As I've mentioned before, I don't plan, I just play :) So, I stamped the butterflies (from THIS set by DARKROOM DOOR) & painted over them with Twinks H2Os, trimming them to fit...needless to say, that took a while LOL.

I added the Stampers Anonymus quote & added some KG to the wings...They are now waiting for just the right moment to fly away :)

SARAH was running a bit behind with the set themes for the arches, so she has put # 6, 7 & 8 themes up already, & don't forget there is no set time to join in with these arches, as long as they are done by the due date of December 31!!! So if you get a chance upload your Gothic arch to Flickr HERE.