Trick or Treat

Good morning all.

Another very mild day yesterday although after rain overnight it remained dark and damp all day here. The intrepid travellers have mostly come down with a flu bug so have had to get medication. I've got two here with tonsillitis so I'm quite pleased Gary's not here too!

Treat bags to share today...all filled and ready for the onslaught this evening. I've just got the front porch to decorate now. The plain ones are the design I used for the 36 mass produced ones all card used came from my snippet busting session.

Dies from Spellbinders. I used DI to colour a moon. Trick or Treat stamp from Close to my Heart. The background on the middle bag is another attempt at alcohol marbling this time using darker colours and adding a little black to the mix. 

Challenges entered:

Addicted to Stamps - CAS

Crafting by Designs - Halloween

Divas by Design - anything goes

The House that Stamps Built - leftovers

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - anything goes

Crafty Sentiment Designs - trick or treat

2 Cute Ink Challenges - Halloween treats

Simon Says Stamp Monday - treats

Stamps & Fun = Creativity - no cards

Newsprint

Good morning all.

We had a beautiful mild day yesterday and there appears to be more of the same forecast until early next week. I managed to get my treat bags all filled yesterday after a walk over to Asda to restock...I've now got a few extra sweets in case it's very busy.

The challenge over at Less is More this week is newsprint....I had all sorts of thoughts then I remembered a recent purchase of a pack of newsprint wooden shapes from Joanna Sheen. 

Mat dies from Spellbinders, flower die from Memory Box, sentiment from Craft Companions, flower heads from Joanna Sheen. Some of the many snippets put to good use too.

Challenges entered:

 Less is More - newsprint

The Sailing Pineapple - newsprint

Daring Cardmakers - sentimental

Crazy for CAS - sketch

Crafting for all Seasons #89 "Tag It"

Good morning all.

The rain arrived yesterday so the day was a washout. Luckily I'd shopped online so the groceries were delivered to me before lunch. After lunch I set to sorting out my snippet die cuts then I made 36 treat bags which got rid of a few of said snippets....must get them filled and sealed before I eat all the treats!!

Today it's time for our next challenge at CFAS and this time the theme is "Tag It". We're  looking forward to seeing all your makes. Our sponsor this time is Bugaboo who gave the DT images to work with.

Image is called Noel Birds and I've coloured with promarkers before adding a little stickles and die cutting and layering up with gold mirri and red card. All dies from Spellbinders. Ribbons are from my stash.

Do pop over to the challenge blog to see the rest of the girls inspiration, you won't be disappointed.

Challenges entered:

Crafty Bloggers Network - Christmas

Crafty Cardmakers - dies or punches

Stamps & Fun = Creativity - no cards

613 Avenue Create - bags, tags and boxes

Allsorts - Christmas

Hiding in My Craft Room - any holiday

Paper Minutes - Christmas and red

Passion for Promarkers - add some sparkle

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

Congratulations

Good morning all.

Gary is off to Bulgaria today, all being well he should be on a bus from Edinburgh to Manchester as we speak. They're staying in a little town east of Sofia called Elin Pelin with the orphanage being about 15 minutes drive away from their hotel. I've already got his bed stripped and the washer going!

Sharing the card I made for my sister's engagement today. Guess which wally used her craft knife when working on her heat resistant mat...yes that would be me!!!

Embossed backing is a create a card die from Die'sire. Backing paper and image are from Cuddly Buddly, I've layered the image to give dimension. Flowers from Petal Lu and bow from my stash.

 

Challenges entered:

A Creative Romance - pink

Anything Goes with a Twist - twist pink

The Stamping Boutique - congratulatory

4 Krafty Girlz - anything goes

Die Cuttin Divas - think pink

Fan-Tastic Tuesday - flowers

Dragonfly Dreams - mainly pink

New Home

Good morning all.

Managed to get all my aquatints labelled and  swatches made yesterday and found a home for them, now I need to sort out all the new stamps and stencils...I've got little piles of stuff all over the place at the moment which doesn't have a proper home and keeps getting shifted from pillar to post as I'm working!!

Yesterday was a good news day, my unmarried sister rang to say she was officially engaged and the wedding will hopefully be in the next few weeks. She doesn't want any fuss so they're going away on their own to get married, possibly to York.

I needed a new home card for my nephew and his wife and finally got around to making it on Wednesday.

Stamp was a magazine freebie coloured with promarkers. Sentiment and flowers stamps I think are from Wild Rose Studio. Die from Spellbinders. Apologies for the photo...the background of the card is white, not pink as showing above.

Challenges entered:

CASology - home

Party Time Tuesdays - anything goes

Artistic Inspirations - anything goes

My Craft Creations - anything goes

Scrappy Hands - door

Joy, Celebrate...

Good morning all.

Another quick Christmas card to share today.

Stamp is from Heartfelt Creations and I've used a Big Juicy ink pad to ink it up. Border punch from Martha Stewart. Ribbon from my stash.

Challenges entered:

Simon says Stamp - use kraft

Crafty Sentiments - use a sentiment

Inky Chicks - Christmas

CHNC - something never used or forgotten (inkpad)

Winter Wonderland - tropical Christmas

ABC Challenge - v for vibrant

CHNC Extra - anything Christmas goes

Southern Girls Challenge - get wordy on it

Addicted to Stamps - holiday

Craft Stamper - multi coloured stamping

One Stamp - Two Ways

Good morning all.

We hit lucky yesterday and seemed to miss the worst of the winds and didn't have any rain. It was certainly very windy further north of us when we went shopping.

A couple of quick Christmas cards to share today...trying to get them all finished so there's no last minute rush.

Stamp from Clearly Besotted, stamped with versamark and embossed with WOW Campari Soda EP with the trunk and star done with Blue Lagoon. Pierced rectangle die from Spellbinders. Sentiment die was a freebie from Tattered Lace at Harrogate. 

Same tree stamp stamped with versamark and heat embossed with white EP. Card was inked with Shaded Lilac and Dusty Concord DI. Sentiment and snowflakes were magazine freebies and were stamped in Dusty Concord DI. Card is finished with two small gems.

Both toppers were attached with foam tape for dimension and both are finished inside.

Challenges entered:

Sweet Stamps - anything goes

Through the Craftroom Door - anything goes

Merry Monday - non traditional colours (2nd card)

Simon says Stamp - anything goes

Sparkle and Sprinkle - anything goes

Through the Purple Haze - stars and snowflakes
CHNC Extra - anything Christmas goes
Wow Embossing Powder - same stamp different ways
City Crafter - a piece of sky

Little Critters

Good morning all.

Hope no one has blown away overnight...good weather to stay home and craft me thinks, although since the cupboards are bare again I suspect a shopping trip may be on the cards.

Another quick Christmas card to share today.

The stamps are from Crafter's Companion and I think they may have been one of their magazine freebies....this is the first time they've been inked. I've coloured with promarkers and cut out with a set of Spellbinders dies before layering onto a red mat. The topper was attached with foam tape to give some dimension.

Challenges entered:

Less is More - little creatures

House of Cards - punch or die

Addicted to Stamps - anything goes

CHNC - some forgotten or never used

Sparkles Christmas - for a child

Merry Christmas

Good morning all.

Just realised this is my 1200th post....gosh that's a lot of crafting!

Another simple Christmas card to share today.

Stamps all from Clearly Besotted (another recent purchase) all stamped with versamark and heat embossed with silver EP. Finished with some silver cord. I had the bright idea of embossing the star with gold EP.....pity I didn't also think to put the excess silver back in it's tub first lol. Image is matted onto silver mirri card then popped up on foam tape for dimension.

Unfortunately the photos aren't picking up any of the shine on the embossing.

All finished inside and another flat one.

I don't actually know why I'm making loads of flat cards as I have several books of large 2nd class stamps left over from last year to be used up!!

Challenges entered:

Allsorts - embossing

Hiding in My Craftroom - embossing

Clearly Besotted - Christmas

Stamplorations - stamps and embossing

CHNC Extra - anything Christmas goes

Christmas at Sweet Stampin - snowflakes

CAS on Sunday - emboss it

Fairytale Stampers - something new (stamp)

Christmas Card Club - "Christmas Reindeer"

Good morning all.

We had a lovely sunny day yesterday albeit a little windy. Hubby took Lora  off to Deep Sea World so I had a day to myself. Managed to get a couple of little cards made but spent several hours looking at plans for a property we're considering purchasing!

It's time once again for our fortnightly Christmas Card Club challenge and this time the theme was set by Rita who gave us "Christmas Reindeers".

I found the stamp I used when looking for something else...I'd completely forgotten I owned it!!

The stamp is called Snowy and Rudolph and is a Penny Johnson from Stampavie. I stamped it a couple of nights ago on a piece of waste card and left it lying on my desk to await colouring...when I glanced at it again later I decided it looked lovely uncoloured so I just coloured Rudolph's nose with promarkers to add a pop of colour and added glossy accents for some sheen. Sentiment was a magazine freebie. Image is adhered to the black card base with foam tape to give a little dimension.

All finished inside and another flat for posting.

Challenges entered:

CHNC - something forgotten or never used

Christmas Stampin All Year Round - use your imagination

Crafty Catz - black + one

Polka Doodles - Christmas fun

Country View Craft Challenges - sparkle and shine

One Crazy Stamper - Christmas/Halloween

Holly Jolly Christmas - snowman

Inky Chicks - Christmas

Crafty Bloggers Network - Christmas

ABC Christmas - uncoloured image

Poppies

Good morning all.

Housework and laundry all done yesterday so today I get to play :)

A quick make last night as I was itching to use one of my new sets of stamps from Clearly Besotted....Brushed Poppies.

Decided to make a sympathy card for the box. I stamped using Archival inks and mounted onto the base card with foam tape. It did take me a wee while to work out what I was supposed to do with the stamps lol but I'm quite pleased how this turned out.

Challenges entered:

Sister Act Card Challenge - anything goes

Aud Sentiments - anything goes with a sentiment

Party Time Tuesdays - anything goes

613 Avenue Create - anything goes opt CAS

Addicted to Stamps - anything goes

Fashionable Stamping - anything goes

Wish, Believe

Good morning all.

Yesterday was a little better...I got happy post in the morning...a stamp order and a goody bag I'd won on FB from Cowling and Wilcox which contained lots of sample sizes of various paint mediums and a couple of paint brushes, one of which was exactly what I needed to use with my aquatints!

 With a lingering migraine I hadn't managed any crafting during the day as I just couldn't concentrate but I did manage this last night.

I used the Grunge set of aquatints to make my background and used a little gesso around the edges and some water drops as a resist. The dies are Signature dies from Joanna Sheen and although bought a little while ago this is their first outing! The tickets are from LOTV and were one of my purchases at Harrogate. the bow and gem are from my stash. I did edge the topper with stickles which is still wet in the photo...hopefully it will look better dry!

Everything has been put on with foam pads/tape to give some dimension but it will probably still be flat enough to post.

Challenges entered:

4 Krafty Girlz - anything goes

Inky Impressions - anything goes

Inspiration Destination - anything goes

Penny's Paper-Crafty - anything goes

Papertake Weekly - things with wings

Party Time Tuesdays - anything goes

Artistic Inspirations - anything goes/make your own background

Pile it On - use two or more die cuts

Suzy Bee's Bloomin' Challenge - anything goes twist stripes

Swan Girl

Good morning all.

Had a very off day yesterday..."Women's Troubles!"...do wish this stage of my life would hurry on by!

Found this card still lurking in drafts. One I coloured for a competition on Facebook and never got around to sharing.

The image is called Swan Girl and she's from PpinkyDollArt, I've coloured her with promarkers before mounting onto my favourite Spellbinders fancy rectangle die. I also made a card base using the same die and attached the topper to the front.

Challenges entered:

Papertake Weekly - things with wings

Through the Craftroom Door - anything goes

That Craft Place - girls but no pink

Anything goes with a Twist - female

Kitty Bee Designs - dies or punches

Crafting for all Seasons #88 "Buttons and Bows"

Good morning all.

Yesterday I got some crafty post...aquatints and a selection of dies and stamps from Clearly Besotted. Then along came a migraine which put paid to having much of a play...hopefully today..

Today it's time for our next challenge at CFAS and this time the theme is "Buttons and Bows". We're  looking forward to seeing all your makes. Our sponsor this time is The Paper Shelter who gave the DT images to work with.

Another treat bag from me!

My gorgeous image is called Fly Pumpkin Fly and I've coloured with promarkers. Dies from Spellbinders. Bag is made from an A4 piece of paper printed on both sides with contrasting papers from Bearly Mine. Ribbons and button from my stash.

Do pop over to the challenge blog to see the rest of the girls inspiration, you won't be disappointed.

Challenges entered:

Digi Choosday - Halloween

Craft-dee Bowz - anything goes with a handmade bow

Dream Valley - anything but a card

Love to Create - black, orange, lime/purple

Not Just Cards - anything goes

The Corrosive Challenge - Halloween

Bloggers - Halloween

Cut it Up - anything but a card

Fairytale - happy Halloween

Simply Create Too - Halloween

The Paper Shelter - monsters or mythicals