Were You Naughty or Nice?

Well, Santa's been and gone, and he brought rain and hail with him as well as some great presents : )
I hope your Christmas day was a happy one...mine was great fun, with too much food as always, and lots of noise from all the nieces and nephews, but that's what it's all about, right?

Finally I'm able to share the moose costume I made for my DD (after trying hard to dissuade her)
DD: Mum, how hard is it to make a moose costume?
Me: Very hard...why?
DD: Do you have a pattern I could borrow to make one?
Me: We'd have to buy one...
DD: Can we go to Spotlight and have a look?
Me: It's Saturday afternoon and you need the costume tomorrow afternoon, we don't have enough time!
DD: Can we go and have a look anyway?    It can be my Christmas present, pleeeeaaaasssseee...
Me: OK...

So off we went, and spent the next hour looking for a pattern and fabric (we only had 1 hour before the store closed!)    To be fair, DD spent her own money (for the fabric, labour was free LOL) as she said the costume would be used a few times.   So as soon as we got home we got to work, first cutting the pattern, and then tracing and cutting the fabric...10 hours later, we had a gorgeous moose costume, the actual pattern we bought had the provision for a lion, bear, and dog hood, so DD had to improvise her own antlers' pattern, which were made out of felt and lightly stuffed with polyfill.   I think it looks fab, don't you : )

Sorry that my moose was so uncooperative, and camera-shy, but it was a stinkin' hot day so I didn't push it LOL

Weeping Angel Bratz

In my previous post I mentioned a weeping angel and a moose, the moose is not being very cooperative, so I will have to share that photo in the next post...But here is my version of a Weeping Angel, if you are a Doctor fan, I hope you can see the resemblance.    I made her for my daughter's birthday, and by all accounts she loved her : )    The most fiddly bit to work out was the dress, and my favourite part are the wings...everything (other than the Bratz doll, of course) was done by hand by yours truly.      The doll was coated with a mixture of acrylic paint and texture paste, and a dry-brushing of silver acrylic paint.

I know she's not quite as sinister-looking as the real deal, but I'm very happy with the way she turned out...
Here is the card I made for her, I stamped the letters and heat-embossed them, the spider webs were drawn in using a Zig pen (0.3) and I added the 3 split pins (in TARDIS blue LOL) 

I'll try to get the moose to behave and hopefully I'll have some photos for my next post : )  Thanks for visiting my humble palace...

Inkurable Stampers Holly Challenge

Hello again, I said I would be back  : )
Here is my project for this month's theme over at Inkurable Stampers...

I started with a kraft coloured card blank, dry-painted it with silver acrylic paint, and stamped Darkroom Doors Flourish onto it using Adirondack Lights ink (juniper) also applying it directly to the edges.    I then glued some red mesh ribbon to the front and the wreath image (containing the holly, from Darkroom Door Christmas Montage sheet) using foam tape.     The tag (made by stamping the script image from a DD set of stamps) was in my scraps box already.     I glued the tiny ric-rac to the edge of the card, and added some DM to the wreath.
I have a few more projects that I want to share but haven't taken photos of them yet...they include a weeping angel (for the Whovians out there!) and a moose : )    Thanks for visiting me, I hope you're making time to be creative, if I can do it, so can you...

MMM or My Mess Monday!

There is a craft table under there somewhere...I swear : )
I've been working on a few projects, and because I've been time-poor, I haven't put things away as I usually like to do...instead, my crafting area has shrunk to a tiny clearing, but no more, I just had a little clean up, and I thought as a reward I would do a couple of projects...I have so many UFOs (unfinished objects for the uninitiated) but new projects are so much more fun, right?
Here's project No 1 for the Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge blog, the criteria being to show some depth...

I've used a Collections chipboard thingy (cabinet card ?), some brown acrylic paint, Distress ink (tumbled glass).     The little girl is one of Tim Holtz images, stamped onto acetate with StaZon ink (jet black)  which I had also coloured with alcohol inks (currant and ginger) as well as some viridian acrylic paint, and a coat of white acrylic for the underside.     The "doors" are held in place by some TH tissue tape, and I added a little wc paper painted with Twinks H2O (ginger peach), and a scrap of cotton lace (from Craft Queen)     The word is a stamp (from my scraps box)
I hope I have made it on time for this challenge...
I'll be back shortly, in the meantime, smile, it makes others wonder what you've been up to LOL

A Non-Traditional Christmas Card

That's the theme for this fortnight over at Stampotique's challenge blog, and here is the card I made, using one of my latests acquisitions, Mela (isn't she cute?)
I've used DCWV metallic cs in a lavender colour, stamping Mela onto a piece of white wc card, colouring her with a purple wc pencil (and a brown one for her shoes) and adding DM to the heart on her dress, and to her shoes.      I then distressed the edges, adding some pink ink and punching a corner out.   That was then layered over a darker purple cs, and as a finishing touch, I added some silver ribbon and a printed sentiment (from Darkroom Door)

December Already???

Happy first day of the month...I'm getting ready to trim our Christmas tree today, write our Christmas cards, and work out a Christmas gift list, all while singing along to some Christmas songs.  
Our very favourite is this one by the Muppets  it only goes for a bit over a minute, but we love it so much we play it over and over again!     
And as it is the first day of the month, there is also a new challenge over at the CRAFT QUEEN challenge blog, HERE are the details, and here is my sample using this fun criteria:

 

I've used the following to make my Christmas card:
MME paper for the background,
Simple Stories paper (which I cut apart for the Santa image and the snowflake)
Paper cord (red), tiny twine (natural and navy)
Sentiment is from THIS Darkroom Door set
And the punched trim was made using THIS punch
How are your Christmas cards coming along?

Last Day of November

...and your last day to email an entry into the Craft Queen Blog challenge, which, just to remind you, was to use some stamping and a pink ribbon...
Here's a card fitting that criteria:

All you need is to create something, take a photo and email it to Nicole...good luck.
I've used THIS ribbon, THIS ribbon, paper from THIS pad (out of stock), the word "PLAY" from a Darkroom Door Wordstrip.   The sweet stamp is by PRIMA, but it is out of stock too (my apologies)

Zutter Books and Stampbord

A while ago I entered the fabulous Stampbord competition, and I chose to use a couple of Zutter Cover-Alls (bamboo spine) books, which at 3"x4" are the perfect size to use with the ATC-sized Stampbord pieces.      We could not share our entries in our blogs at the time, so I'm sharing mine now...I had two entries, this first one made it through to the finals:

I started by covering the book with torn pieces of masking tape, then I gave the whole book a coat of acrylic paint (viridian) and the edges were painted with burnt umber  and bronze.    I then got one of those fun ATC-sized Stampbord pieces, and using some StaZon inks (mustard, rusty brown, blazing red) covered the entire piece, I then used various stamps from these Darkroom Door sets (Steampunk, Gothic Arches, Prague Vol 2 ) using StaZon ink (jet black) & then I scratched out some highlights using one of the Stampbord scratch knives.       I covered the whole Stampbord piece with a coat of DM to give it that nice shiny finish, and I made the insert using plain copy paper, cut to size and hand-sewn together.

For my second entry I used basically the same products, giving the cover a coat of viridian acrylic paint, and the background on the ATC-sized Stampbord piece was created by using watercolour paint and a sprinkling of salt, I then used this image from Stampotique Originals, as well as images from these Darkroom Door sets (Love Birds, Mail Art)     The motif in the top corner was drawn in using a Zig pen (0.5) and all the highlights were scratched using a Stampbord scratching tool, this entry didn't make it into the top 6, but I'm very happy with how both entries turned out just the same : )

And if you're wondering why I didn't cover this one with a coat of DM, it's because I really like the matte finish : )        Thank you for visiting me, and a big thank you to those of you who voted for my entry into the competition.   You can still see all the beautiful entries HERE.

And talking about competitions, don't forget to enter this month's Craft Queen challenge, just use some stamping, and some pink ribbon and email a photo of your project (which can be anything at all)    For all the details, go HERE and good luck : )

Craft Barn Blog Candy

Have a look at this great blog candy giveaway!!!

Just click on the picture and it will take you to the Craft Barn Blog, enjoy : )

A Little Bird Told Me...

...that this coming Friday will be a very special date, 11.11.11 for a number of reasons (pun intended LOL)      Have a read through THIS ARTICLE to better acquaint yourselves with the significance of the date...     And if you're planning on making any purchases from CRAFT QUEEN, hold your horses until that date (it's only a couple of days away, so you won't have to wait too long) you'll be thankful that you did  ; )
In the meantime, I'd like to thank all of you who come to visit me, and those of you who follow my blog, thank you from the bottom of my heart...

For this card I've used the following: Darkroom Door Flourish b'ground stamp, Darkroom Door Wordstrip, red mesh ribbon, brown stripe ribbon, tiny twine (red and natural) red and white button.

Poison Bottle

I hope you are all having a fun and lazy Sunday, I am...
I wanted to enter the Stampotique Designer's Challenge, so I had a look at their theme and it happens to be poison bottle, so I had a quick look around for a suitable bottle and made this:

The bottle is made of glass, and in it's previous life contained mineral water, I just gave it a coat of matte medium, stuck some fusible webbing onto it, adding some Stickls to the mouth of the bottle, and then went to work on my sign.
I used Miss Snottie, stamping her 3 times and cutting out the image (paper-tole style) using foam tape between layers and adding colour with some wc pencils.    Did you notice the "stuff" she's throwing up?  yes, more Stickls, that's what it is, not a beard LOL.     I drew the bones onto thick card and added some puff paint (first time I've used it!) you paint it on, heat it with your heat gun and it magically puffs up...
And the "Rhubarb Leaves" sign?   I have a very vivid memory of being in high school (in home-eco class) and our teacher telling us that rhubarb leaves were very poisonous BUT the stalks were OK to cook and eat...I just thought, why would anyone one want to cook with it???
There's a couple of days left if you'd like to take part in this great challenge, so why not give it a go?
Enjoy the rest of your Sunday, and as always, thank you for your visit, I hope I have inspired you to use your supplies and have some messy fun : )

A Colour Challenge

Here is my entry for the current Inkurable Stampers challenge, it's a colour challenge, and although I love colour, I don't do too well with restrictions, so it's taken me a while to get this ATC finished, but finished IT IS  : )
I forgot to take a photo of the background before I added all the stamped images, but I'm sure I'll be using this weaving technique again, it is a bit time-consuming, but it's fun & I think it looks great (I've had the idea stashed away on my "to do" list since I saw a demo of ribbon weaving at the last craft show I attended sometime ago)
I started by painting a couple of book pages with orange wc and purple acrylic paint, and after they were dry I cut them into 1/2" strips and did the weaving thing.     I then stuck the woven strips to an ATC-sized card and trimmed the overhanging bits.
I then stamped the letters (Studio G)  onto white card, cut them and stuck them into place.    I then added some purple cotton thread, and Head (Stampotique Originals at The Stamping Queen) coloured with green wc pencil and stuck with foam tape for added dimention.     I was going to use some wool as hair, but then came across the beads and went with those instead, I think they look really cute, plus I couldn't find any green wool LOL.    So here is my finished ATC:

     Looking at the photos now, I think those beads would also work as mermaid's hair, don't you think?      There's still a few days left to join in with this fun challenge, so why not give it a go?     Thanks for visiting my humble palace, I hope to see you again soon, until then, go forth and play  : )

Hello November

A new month and a new challenge over at the Craft Queen blog, for all the details head on over HERE and while you're there, grab yourselves the cute challenge blog button (thanks Liz) to add to your own blogs : )
You can see the DT samples HERE , and here is a card I made using pink seam binding, and a stamp
as well as some very cute tiny twine in white, natural, red, and navy, which you can also get carded in coordinated colours of FOREST,  SPRING, and AUTUMN .    The squirrel ribbon can be found HERE (and there's also a different colourway HERE) and the squirrel button is HERE (make sure you have a look at all the gorgeous new wooden buttons , there's lots of fun shapes!!!)   Oh, and you can find the tiny letter stickers HERE, and the leaf is HERE, so make sure you enter your creation (it can be anything, as long as it follows the criteria) and you could win yourself some beautiful ribbons from CRAFT QUEEN.