Live Your Dreams

Good morning all.

Another gloriously sunny day here yesterday. We took a trip to Edinburgh to see if Lora's new glasses were in...after two weeks there was no sign of  them and no one knew why so we're waiting for a phone call today to find out what is happening. Meanwhile we have to hope the sellotape holds! The place was heaving...all the eateries were full and no one has any money! Did have a swift tour around Hobbycraft...it would have been rude not to and got a couple of magazines which had nice freebies and a few other bits and bobs but can't say anything really grabbed me.

Sharing the commissioned card I finished on Saturday.

Various sentiment stamps from Visible Image were stamped and heat embossed with white detail ink then using one of the new 8x8 embossing folders from Crafter's Companion I embossed the card. Card was inked with distressed inks which I then softened with gesso. Dots were stencilled with texture paste. More sentiment stamps were stamped onto tissue and adhered with matte gel. Various small background stamps were stamped in the DI and black archival ink. Frame and number dies are from Spellbinders, happy birthday stamp and banner die are from Clearly Besotted. 

Pages 2, 3 and 4 are made using the same embossing folder and inks but I've inked the folders before embossing. Stamps are from Stampers Anonymous, Lavinia Stamps, Bo Bunny and Unity Stamps...some have been stamped and heat embossed before the embossing was done, others are stamped on tissue and adhered as above, the rest are stamped in black archival or the same DI used on the card.

Very over the top but my cousin wanted something special for her daughter.

Challenges entered:

Open Minded Crafting - no pink, no red

Our Creative Corner - tic tac toe (EP, stencils and mediums)

Craft for the Craic - birthday or anniversary

Crafty Catz - birthdays

Crafter's Cafe - birthday

Simon says Stamp - bright and beautiful

Loves Rubber Stamps - anything goes

Not Just Cards - anything goes

Visible Image - Show and Tell February

Winter Jornalling

Good morning all.

Many thanks to all who have visited over the weekend and left such lovely comments, I do appreciate them all.

A quiet day yesterday...more washing and some much needed ironing!

Sharing one of the projects I managed to do on Saturday. One of my goals this year was to do some journalling...here is one of my first attempts.

I started by gluing some torn book pages and backing paper to the pages. Pages were then roughly gessoed then I've stencilled with embossing paste using a snowflake stencil from Joanna Sheen and a snowflower one from Sweet Stamps. I used glitter bead gel with a stencil from Clarity stamps which didn't work as planned....but what the heck! Punch waste snowflakes were used across the pages.

Pages were then washed with aquatints with a darker ink being used over the embossing paste. Stamps from Clearly Besotted, Personal Impressions, Paper Smooches, Premium Craft Brands and Stamping All Day were stamped with Memento ink.

Winter was computer generated and printed onto tissue paper. Snowflakes were leftovers from a previous project and were lying in my bit box.

Challenges entered:

Unruly Paperarts - inspire your heart with art day

Journalling Pad

Good morning all.

Yesterday was a total washout except for about ten minutes mid afternoon when we saw blue skies and a beautiful rainbow!

Another altered water colour pad to share today. No inanimate object in the house is safe from being gessoed at the moment...Hubby and the kids better watch out!!

I forgot to take a before photo but this is a bog standard A4 water colour card pad. I gave it several coats of Gesso then masked off the edges (although there has been some seepage!). The newsprint stamp from Clearly Besotted was stamped in two corners and also masked off. Next I got out the bold and bright set of aquatints and daubed the colours all over. Using a stencil from Memory Box and textured paste I stencilled the flowers bottom right. The main image is a stamp I got in a lucky bag, it's huge...I had to use a pyrex flan dish to stamp it as I didn't have an acrylic block big enough! I stamped in archival ink on tissue paper and used studio multi medium gloss to attach it. The journalling stamp also came in the same lucky bag, the other two sentiments are from Premium Craft Brands and are also stamped in versamark and heat embossed. The background has been stamped with various stamps from Stamping All Day, Indigo Blu and Premium Craft Brands in an assortment of distress and memento inks. The stencilled flowers were then sprayed with tangerine Sprinkys.

Challenges entered:

Bloggers Challenge - alter it

Crafts 4 Eternity - bright colours

Just Add Ink - add texture

Through the Craft Room Door - anything goes

Not Just Cards - anything goes

Anything but a Card - anything goes

Altered Eclectics - anything goes

Rhedd's Creative Spirit - anything altered art goes

Scrap it Girl - use watercolours, paint or gelatos

Altered Frame

Good morning all.

We had a warm, dry if slightly bleak day yesterday but the rain is forecast for today.

Lots more snippets busted yesterday afternoon, though some of you expert snippeteers would be horrified at what I threw out....but I needed to take control of the situation and show them who was boss lol. I was very pleased to find the box under the one I was working from was actually full of photos and not snippets so I'm one down and only two to go!

An altered frame to share today. I actually altered the frame a while back but couldn't decide what to use it for so it's being lying in one of the piles in my craft room for some time!!

The frame was originally a lovely rosewood one which I painted with acrylic chalk paint in purple before using  crackle glaze and some acrylic chalk in lilac. I had painted the hardboard piece from the frame in white acrylic after doing the frame and decided to decorate this....unfortunately because I hadn't used any gesso on the card it hadn't sealed and the coloured inks were soaked up a little.

Stamps are from Visible Images, Premium Craft Brand and Bo Bunny and stamped in either Memento, Distress or Archival inks. Stencils from Memory Box. Ribbon, flowers and pearls from my stash. 

Challenges entered:

Frosted Designs Friday - mixed media

Inspiration Destination - anything goes

Red Rubber Inspirationals - stay focussed on stamping

Not Just Cards - anything goes

Eclectic Ellapu - flowers

Eclectic Ellapu - texture

Altered Eclectics - anything goes

The Mirror Crack'd - the human form

All Crafts Challenge - anything but a card

Sweet Stampin - anything but a card

Craft-Dee Bowz - anything goes with a hand made bow

Imperfection is Beauty

Good morning all. Hope you've all had a pleasant weekend.

Well I tackled the snippets invasion yesterday...I probably spent 8 hours die cutting and I've only just made a dent in the first box (there are four of varying sizes and fullness),  I think this was the largest! All the workspace I created on Saturday is now full of piles of die cuts and mats!
Off to the hairdressers this morning but I think I know what I'll be doing this afternoon!

An altered notebook to share today.

Cover was coated with several layers of gesso before being painted with no 6 aquatints. I then used various background stamps from Artistic Stampers, Bo Bunny and Visible Images inked with DI or Memento ink. Main image is from Indigo Blu along with the flowers in the top right hand corner and were a magazine freebie. Two sayings are from Visible Images along with the flower in the bottom left hand corner. I finished off with some white splats from my Premium Craft Brands set.

A picture with the protective front closed and one after the first coat of gesso as I forgot to take a before photo!! 

Challenges entered:

Frosted Designs Friday - mixed media

Inspiration Destination - anything goes

The Three Muses - shades of blue

Red Rubber Inspirationals - stay focussed on stamping

Not Just Cards - anything goes

Eclectic Ellapu - flowers

Altered Eclectics - anything goes

The Mirror Crack'd - the human form

Rhedd's Creative Spirit - anything goes/Halloween

All Crafts Challenge - anything but a card

Sweet Stampin - anything but a card

Trick or Treat

Good morning all.

Had a productive day yesterday and got  Gary's bedding all washed and dried including his duvet, pillows and all the protective covers. Then I gutted his bedroom and sorted his drawers out before remaking his bed...all ready for his return in two weeks! Then it was into the craft room and I got some sorting out done in there too...got rid of all the piles and now have room to work without having to manoeuvre everything round the room as I go. It still needs more tidying done and my bit boxes need sorting as they're taking over the place but hey Rome wasn't built in a day! 

I finally got around to buying some rubbing alcohol to try out this technique Alcohol Marker Marbling. I made a couple of treat bags with the results. 

I decided to use Pumpkin, Purple and Lime Green promarkers to make Halloween backgrounds - the result was a little too light for my liking but I decided to ink up some stamps with some Memento inks in similar colours to jazz things up a bit. 

On the left I used various little stamps from Clearly Besotted and a Premium Craft Brand set. Trick or Treat image from Close to my Heart. I edged the topper with black soot DI and layered onto black card.

On the right I inked a Visible Image harlequin stamp with three different colours of Memento and stamped across the background. Image from Close to my Heart. I stamped all round the topper with a splat stamp from the Premium Craft Brand set...I thought they looked a little like spiders...and layered onto black card.

As always I did forget to take a before picture to show how the backgrounds looked before I altered them!!

Challenges entered:

Visible Images - get spooky

Crafts 4 Eternity - Halloween

Creative Corner - Halloween

That's Crafty - spooky

Crafter's Cafe - spookable

Creative Moments - Halloween

Decorate to Celebrate - anything goes 3D

CRAFT - Halloween

Milk Coffee Challenge - Halloween

Craft Room Challenge - make your own background

Tuesday Throwdown - Halloween colours

Artistic Inspirations - Halloween

Dream Valley Challenges - Halloween

Vintage Stamping - colour challenge

Artists Trading Post - Halloween

A Gem of a Challenge - trick or treat