Did You Know...

There is a giveaway happening at the Craft Queen blog, and I'm told there will be another one happenning next week...Go and have a look, all the information is HERE 
While you're there, don't forget to have a look at all the great new stock that has been uploaded to the site...just click on the NEW PRODUCTS tab and start planning your new projects  : )

In the meantime I will leave you with these photos (washi tape,  tiny twine,   Craft Queen button, Darkroom Door stamps,   Distress ink,  Archival ink,  Double-sided tape,   TH Sizzix embossing folder, TH Reflections stamp,   StaZon ink)

 

And just in case you missed it, how fun is THIS set of Darkroom Door stamps!!!!

 

For this ATC I used lots of different Darkroom Door stamps, I used some light blue GM, and stamped various images using Archival ink (coffee)
 My main image is from THIS great new set
and the frame is from another new favourite of mine, THIS one , also by Darkroom Door .

I also added some washi tape as a finishing touch.

Thank you for visiting me at my humble abode, I hope you come back again soon, and don't forget to enter CRAFT QUEEN's giveaway : )

 

 

 

Hello There...

It's been a while, but today I have a few photos to share...Firstly, a couple of ATCs (Artist Trading Cards)

And a couple of cards made for Craft Queen using a new favourite of mine (and I'm sure I'm not the only one collecting these little spools of goodness), washi tape.

The last photo is just a sneak, as Nicole hasn't shown the card in her blog yet...
I hope you are having a happy Sunday, it's cold and grey here, but great weather for crafting, don't you think?         Now I'm off to finish a couple of ATC swaps, enjoy the rest of your day, and thank you for visiting me : )

Are You Swapping?

Are your ATCs ready for the next Darkroom Door ATC swap?    Hosted by Rachel (owner of Darkroom Door), every month there is a new theme for us to interpret, all the information you need is HERE.

I sometimes include a thank you card with my swaps, but for this month I went with a tag (I wrote my thank you on the back)

And this is a sneak-peek of my ATC for this swap...

I hope you are able to take part...i'ts great to receive fun mail rather than just bills!
Thanks for stopping by, see you again soon : )

Swapping Much?

I've just mailed this month's Darkroom Door ATC swaps (you can find all the details for the current swap HERE) and as usual, I forgot to take a photo of the actual ATC!   But I did remember to take a photo of the Thank You card I included...

I haven't played with Stampbord tiles in a long while, so I went ahead and used one as the centrepiece for this card.

I covered the tile with StaZon ink (teal) and stamped the flower from THIS set of Darkroom Door stamps, and the sentiment from THIS set.   I then used my scratch tool to add the highlights to the images, and then gave the tile a coat of DM for the glossy finish. 

I then used some Distress ink (vintage photo) and the splatter image from THIS set of stamps, and stamped it onto my base card to create the background.
I just love the new WEBBY RIBBONS from CRAFT QUEEN, so I used some of it to anchor the image to the front of the card.    The butterflies were punched out of wc paper and text using THIS punch.

I so enjoy making ATCs and receiving the beautiful returns, it's a great way to share your own creativity, and a fabulous way to see how others use the beautiful images... If you get a chance, why not take part?     Thank you for visiting, I hope you come back soon   : )   

A New Month...

And a new challenge over at CRAFT QUEEN's blog...

And these are my samples, 3 very different ATCs (Artist Trading Cards).      I wanted to use the great Crafter's Workshop 6" templates, to show a couple of looks that can be achieved with them.

For this ATC, I started by carefully laying THIS template over some white card, and dabbing some alcohol ink (I used StaZon teal ink) over the pattern.    I then stamped the mesh image from THIS set of stamps using the same ink.      The sentiment from THIS WORD BLOCK was stamped with black ink and stuck using foam squares.       I raided my scraps box and found some corrugated cs, which I dry-brushed with some bronze metallic paint,  and layered that over a piece of punched and watercoloured paper.    I added a yellow button (from a past kit), and a little red wire : )

 For this next one, I started with a white ATC blank, and laying THIS template, I carefully added some texture paste over the top (just like icing a cake) and removed the stencil, cleaning it up (the stencil) straight away.    I allowed the texture paste to dry overnight, and then I painted over the ATC with some blue and some bronze acrylic paints.    I then added the image of the ballerina (stamped onto tissue paper and stuck on with Modge-podge) from THIS set of stamps
The sentiment is from an old Teresa Collins stamp.      You can find the beautiful shell heart HERE, and the leaf HERE.

For the next ATC, I started out with some white cs, and THIS template,  onto which I sprayed a couple of coats of blue Glimmer Mist, allowing it to sit and puddle around the stencil, once dry, I stamped one of the tree images from THIS set of stamps, and trimmed it down to fit inside my beige ATC blank.

I stamped the sentiment (also from the same set of stamps) onto a scrap of vellum paper, adding a little orange coloured TINY TWINE, a square SHELL BUTTON, some butterflies made with THIS punch, and a tiny bit of a sripe ribbon

If you've never made artist trading cards before, they are a great size for using up bits and pieces, plus, you can try out new techniques in a small scale.

And just in case you didn't pick up on it, this month's challenge involves using the word "love", some twine, and a button.        For all the details, and to see the rest of the DT projects, have a look HERE, and don't forget, your entry can be anything crafty, a card, layout, ATC, OTP project, or a sewing project, as long as it incorporates the required criteria.

Thanks for visiting me, I hope I have inspired you to play : )

A Happy New Year...Already!

Wow, time does fly when you're having fun...Where did 2011 go?   I have to say, I'm not one for making NY resolutions, but, for once I promised myself to be much more organized with both my craft space and my craft projects, although to be fair, I was doing OK until someone decided to throw a spanner in the works! (Moose costume, anyone?)   So, for this year I will write myself a list of things I want to accomplish, and dates that they need to be done by, so I won't be stiching wings at the very last minute!
This is a doll I made for my niece for Christmas, a couple of weeks ago now (time does fly!)

I used a pattern from the ever popular Tone Finnanger , and I would highly recommend this book though it's more suitable for an experienced doll maker (it could prove to be a little frustrating to a novice)  and there are so many other beautiful projects in the book that I think I will run out of time before I ever run out of things to make LOL.   This was my very last crafty endevour for 2011...

And I just finished my very first ATC and card for the new year, both of them were for the current Darkroom Door ATC swap (Essentials 8), here's a sneak:

So, did you make any New Year resolutions? 

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  : )

Winged Things

That's the current theme for October over at Crafty Individuals challenge blog , and here is my entry(with just 3 days to spare)    

I've used the smaller butterfly from THIS set as well as THIS image , to create my ATC, and as I was photographing it I realized I had made it in "landscape" form, which is most unusual for me... 
I started by stamping the butterflies onto an ATC sized (3.5"x 2.5") kraft coloured card, using black Archival ink, I then stamped "once upon a time" onto the same colour card and trimmed slightly smaller than the ATC, and stuck it into place with some foam tape for dimention.     I inked the edge of the card by running the stamp pad directly around all edges and I stamped the tiny butterfly from "once upon a time" a couple of times onto scraps of kraft cs, trimming the images closely and sticking them down with white glue, adding some KG (chrystallina) as a finishing touch.
I love the combination of black on kraft, don't you?    
My apologies if you have come around to visit me recently, I haven't been able to share any new work as my computer was playing up, but it's all good now thanks to my BIL who worked some magic (new monitor and added memory!)       I'm slowly catching up, and I hope to visit you soon : )
In the meantime, thanks for coming over, I hope you enjoyed your stay...

Problems With Blogger?

My apologies to all the lovely people who have left me comments here in the last couple of days, Blogger is not playing nice and when I try to comment in other blogs it does not allow me to sign in, and my comments disapper into cyberspace!!!   I hope they fix the problem soon..

  In the meantime, don't forget to visit Craft Queen's blog HERE, and for an added chance to win some gorgeous goodies provided by the very generous Nicole (Craft Queen herself) leave a comment in THIS post telling us what you think of the brand new beautiful header that Petrina created using a variety of snippets from the DT samples for our new challenge blog...You know the old saying, "you've got to be in it to win it" so go forth, comment and CREATE  : )

A Majestic Birthday...

A certain member of Crafting Royalty will be celebrating her FIFTH birthday next month, and has a whole lot of fun activities and competitions, with some fantastic prizes planned for her loyal subjects!!!     STAY TUNED for more information as it comes to hand...       I have heard in the royal court rumour mill that one of the activities may have something to do with CERTAIN COLOURS, and at the risk of being thrown in gaols for insubordinate behaviour, I'm sharing these sneak photos...shhhhh, don't tell Her Majesty you saw them here  : )

Stampotique and Flowers

That's the theme over at Stampotique Designers' Challenge blog for this fortnight, and here is my entry,

an ATC with a shrunk Gibi.    

My base card was covered with an old book page, then painted over with a wash of red acrylic paint, then more paint around the edges and some Distress Stickls.   I added scraps of wc paper and some staples with the tiny attacher, I then stamped Gibi onto shrink plastic, coloured her with wc pencils, trimmed the image with sharp scissors and blasted her with my heat gun.    I then used the 2 smaller sized Alterations flowers, painted them and scrunched them up, added a brad, and some more Distress Stickls, as well as a butterfly punch.   The tiny letters are Kaiser letter stickers.   I hope you are having a fun (and creative) weekend : )   Thanks for visiting me...

In Stitches

This week's theme over at Simon Says Stamp and Show is stitches, real or faux...I went with real, as I already had my sewing machine all set up.

I started by stamping the TC image onto white card, once with teal StaZon ink and a second time with rust StaZon ink, I then added some GM to the teal image and stuck it to a brown ATC blank.   I used my trusty sewing machine with a mix of straight and zig-zag stitching all around for the edging.         From the second image, I cut out the sentiment, using some foam tape for added dimention, and a good coat of DM, as well as some KG for some of the teal areas.     A fairly quick ATC, but lots of fun to make.   Thanks for stopping by, and don't forget there's still time to enter the challenge for this week.    For all the details visit Simon Says Stamp and Show, there's always lots of inspiration there, both from the very talented DT, as well as from the entrants to the challenges each week : ) 

Orange, Black, and White ATC Swap

A little while ago, Sarah from Inkurable Stampers, hosted an Orange, Black, and White ATC swap to mark Inkurable Stampers 3rd bloggaversary (is that a word???)     I thought I'd share the beautiful ATCs I received in return.    I know Sarah is planning a slide show, so keep a lookout for that to see ALL the ATCs, but until then here are the ones I received:

 The first one at the top, "Party Time" is the one I made for this swap, second one "I'm Late..." is by Carol Lee, third one "Very" is by Karen Daley,

 Next up we have "Just Sitting..." by Shirley H, The middle one belongs to the hostess, Sarah S, and "At Home" was created by Laury

Next we have "Hot, Hot, Hot" created by Jenxo, the middle one "Marmalade" is by Jenny Rodda, and last but by no means least is Robyn Woods' "Discover"

Go ahead and click on the images to enlarge them and drool  : )  

Thank you Sarah, for organizing this fantastic swap, and of course, thank you to all who took part.    Happy 3rd Birthday, Inkurable Stampers : ) and here's to another year full of awesome challenges...