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.