Monday 30 October 2017

Christmas Pop Up Box Card: Part 1

I've had the Tattered Lace Essentials Pop Up Box die set for quite a while and have never used it.  I thought it was about time that I tried it out.  In today's post I'll share how I decorated the main box.  Watch out for tomorrow's post to see how I finish it off (I haven't decided yet).


Sunday 29 October 2017

You Win Some, You Lose Some!

I decided to experiment with alcohol inks on parchment.  The first part of the plan went well, but then everything turned into a hot mess.  I have at least learned something from the experiment and there is plenty of texture on the tag!

Friday 27 October 2017

Blackout a Colourful Background

This page was created for Challenge 40 on Junk Journal Junkies and Mindful Art.  The prompt was fire and the colours to be used were red, orange and black.  I decided to create a colourful background in reds and oranges and then use black around masked off areas.  I was inspired by the following quote image, so thanks to the unknown artist.
My version


The original inspiration.

Thursday 26 October 2017

Sparkle Pen Experiment.

This tag was fun to make and is very sparkly to look at although the photo doesn't really do it justice.  I am entering it in the October challenge over on Country View Challenges: Mixed Media with Autumnal Hues as well as in the That's Crafty Get Your Spook On Challenge.

Wednesday 25 October 2017

WOYWW 438: Smashed My Target

This has been an amazing year for me as far as crafting goes.  At the start of the year, I aimed to have completed 450 posts by the end of 2017, having started sharing my crafting journey in August 2015.  This is my 468th post and at this rate I will have hit 500+ by the end of December.  Eva and I attended our first retreat this year (with the fabulous Barbara Gray), made it to our first WOYWW crop and we have both made new crafty friends through our shared interests.  I also made the top 3 in a Challenge on the That's Crafty Challenge Blog for one of my tags.  I just wanted to take the opportunity to thank everyone for their continued support and friendship on this artistic journey.
Anyway; back to the reason for my Wednesday blog post, which is to link in as always with fellow crafters from all around the world, thanks to our hostess Julia at The Stamping Ground.  Eva is not with me this week, so I will only be sharing my side of the desk.
As you can see, I treated myself to some Sparkle Pens in the birthday week sale from Crafter's Companion.  I stamped the butterflies (Tim Holtz Flutterby) and coloured them in using Royal Talens Ecoline pens and the odd Kuretake Clean Colour brush pen during the journaling meet up with Lou Withers and Paul Browning which takes place in Stockport at Hobbycraft once a month.  As it's half term week, I managed to make it on Monday and had a great time catching up with a fantastic bunch of people.
This shows the butterflies after they had been die cut and my box of Water colour pens.
Two tags created by the talented Lou Withers, received on Monday at the journal meet.
Some fabulous happy mail (in person mail really) from Kaz, again at the journal meet up on Monday.  The best thing is that the meet ups are being moved to Tuesdays, so I am hoping to drag Eva along once a month and hope that maybe Neet might make it occasionally.  Anyway, I'd best leave things here as Julia prefers us not to ramble on too much and I need to finish tidying the shed ready for Margaret's visit tomorrow.  Happy WOYWW everyone!

Tuesday 24 October 2017

ATCs: F is for...

My ATC swap partner for the Junk Journal Junkies and Mindful Art for this month was the extremely talented Lou Withers, so I had to make sure that my ATCs were as good as possible.  This month's prompt was 'F', so I decided on 'fairies', 'farm' and 'flying free' as my themes.  All the stamps that I used are by Claritystamp and most of the stamping was done using Versamark ink and heat embossed in detail black embossing powder.

Monday 23 October 2017

Brushos and Pixie Powders: Experiment

For a change, rather than completing a full project, I decided to work with Brusho powders and Pixie Powders to create a large background, then made smaller background pieces trying different techniques over different sections. To begin with, I lightly spritzed a piece of A3 white card with water and tapped Pixie Powders over it in Midnight Blue, Peacock Green, Aqua Lagoon and Golden Mint.  Having spritzed the sheet again, I added Brusho powders in Turquoise, Ultramarine, Lemon and Emerald Green tapping the colour through a small hole in each lid onto the card.  A final spritz and then the colours were encouraged to run a little.  I think I went a little overboard with the water as it took me quite a while to dry the sheet completely with my heat gun.
Step 1

Sunday 22 October 2017

Don't Be Chicken!

When I saw the prompt for Challenge 39 on Junk Journal Junkies and Mindful Art: Chicken, Turquoise, Green, Red, I immediately knew which stamps I would be using; the Cockrel and Hen stamps and masks from Claritystamp.

Saturday 21 October 2017

Yet another Halloween Tag!

I thought I'd finished with Halloween for this year, but the latest prompt from Tag Tuesday: Autumn and/or Halloween led to me making one final themed tag.  I am also entering this into the That's Crafty fortnightly challenge 'Get Your Spook On'.

Friday 20 October 2017

Peace at Christmas

This card uses a technique with Pixie Powders to create a background as seen used by many current and former demonstrators of Creative Expressions products. 

Thursday 19 October 2017

Happy 18th Birthday Son!

I don't know where the time has gone, but our youngest son is 18 today!  I made this card for him, complete with personalised badge ordered from the Clevercut website some time ago for this special occasion.

Wednesday 18 October 2017

WOYWW 437: Nearly Half Term!

Happy What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday; only a few more days until half term and I must admit that I'm ready for a break.  If you want to visit some more desks then head over to The Stamping Ground and chief desker Julia who hosts this weekly event.  Next week I'll be crafting on my own as Eva is off to visit family, so I made the most of her company yesterday.  I'll be heading off to work shortly as there is another parents' evening this evening.
 My side of the desk shows the start of a birthday card for my youngest son who turns 18 tomorrow (where did the time go).  I'll be sharing the finished card tomorrow if you want to see the finished result.
On the other side of the desk, Eva was busy die cutting some of her background pieces.  Short and sweet this week, just the way Julia likes it. Before I sign off, I just want to say how glad I am that Shaz is out of hospital and back home!


Monday 16 October 2017

Art Journal Prompts 42: Leaves

Having left it until the last minute to work with last week's art journal prompt, I thought I'd get straight down to week 42: Leaves.  I decided to use a stencil and stamp from Claritystamp which came in the July 2017 New Design Stamp Club and Stencil Club packs.

Saturday 14 October 2017

Journal Page: Water, Orange, Purple, Blue?

The prompt for challenge 38 on Junk Journal Junkies and Mindful Art was Water using the colours orange, purple and blue.  I was a little flummoxed at first, then I found the quote and the rest came quickly.

Thursday 12 October 2017

Nellie and Elmer!

This card was made for a Facebook friend of mine who has such a positive outlook on life, considering that nearly a year ago she was struck down with Lymphedema in both legs.  She calls them Nellie and Elmer and has set up a craft challenge to commemorate the first anniversary of their appearance.  I am in awe of her positivity and it was a pleasure to make this!

Wednesday 11 October 2017

WOYWW 436: Busy Weeks Ahead

It will be a quick share this week as I have to go into work for the Prospective Parents' Evening.  I did get some crafting done with Eva on the other side of the desk yesterday as you will see, but I won't have much time today.  The photos were therefore taken as ever on a Tuesday.  To see plenty of other desks, check out our chief desker Julia at The Stamping Ground.

My side of the desk shows a card I was working on (I will share the finished version tomorrow if you are interested).  You can see my box of Faber-Castell Big Brush Markers that I was using to add colour to the elephants, earlier cut with my Cricut machine.  They were cut from plain white card, glued and sealed with Distress Collage Medium and dried thoroughly before the Big Brush Markers came into action.  I thought you'd also like to see the first page in the journal that I 'won' at the crop (see HERE for details).
Eva was working on stamping and embossing over some Pixie Powder backgrounds. 
She later used the Pixie Powders as paints to colour the embossed images.  I am sharing them today as I know how many of you like to see what she's been up to.  Unfortunately she also had to dash off for a parents' evening.  Next week we're hoping for a longer session together.  Must dash now!

Tuesday 10 October 2017

Pretty in Pink

As I recently acquired the newest set of Dylusions paints including two new shades of pink, I decided to work with all the shades of pink in these paints on a #8 manilla tag.

Monday 9 October 2017

Never let go of your Dreams

I made this art journal page in response to the October Challenge on Mixed Media Art Journey; it also gave me the perfect excuse to play with some of the Call of the Wild Collection by Sheena Douglass.

Sunday 8 October 2017

Cuba: An art journal page

The prompt for this week's challenge on Junk Journal Junkies and Mindful Art was Cuba, with the colours restricted to orange pink and green.  Having pondered on the subject for a few days and having looked at lots of images, I decided to make it a rather literal interpretation using a map outline, the flag and the name to create my page.

Saturday 7 October 2017

Nature's Wonder Tag

This tag was created with the October challenge for Tag It Tuesday in mind: Nature.  I am also entering it in the Mixed Media with Autumnal Hues challenge over on Country View Challenges as well as the Forever Autumn challenge on the That's Crafty challenge blog.  I worked on a #8 manilla tag as I wanted to tie this piece in with a previous tag in autumnal colours: I love this time of year!

Friday 6 October 2017

First Christmas Card!

I finally bit the bullet and decided that it was time to make my first Christmas card of the year.  I don't make a large number as I prefer to donate to charity instead, but I always make cards for immediate family and very close friends.  I used a stamp set that I have had in my stash for a while as well as one of the new Tim Holtz layering stencils for Christmas 2017.

Thursday 5 October 2017

All Creatures Great and Small!

This tag was made in response to the fortnightly challenge on Tag Tuesday: All Creatures Great and Small.  It was my second attempt, as my first idea didn't work out, but I felt this stamp set by Claritystamp was the perfect one for the prompt!

Wednesday 4 October 2017

WOYWW 435: First Crop!

My crafty friend and I spent the day discussing the amazing time we had at the WOYWW crop in Llandudno on Saturday; totally worth missing a home match (even though Stoke won in our absence).  To find out more about WOYWW and our fabulous hostess Julia, visit The Stamping Ground where you will find lots of like minded crafty friends and their desks each week.  My side of the desk shows some of the amazing gifts that I received from fellow croppers (I swapped my tags in return).  Everyone was so generous and had obviously spent so much time and thought on their gifts.  The journal was my 'not a raffle' prize and the Judikins stamp was a find on the 'maybe somebody else will find a use for this' table.  We all came away having raised funds for a worthy charity, spent six hours chatting to the regular visitors to each other's blogs and been exceptionally well fed and watered by Margaret whose catering was magnificent.
I have added the ATCs which I received on the day to my 8th Anniversary WOYWW swaps which adorn one of the walls of the shed between the windows and which I can see whenever I look up from my desk.

Tuesday 3 October 2017

Forever Autumn Tag

This tag was created for the Forever Autumn Challenge on the That's Crafty Challenge Blog: a fortnightly prompt.  I am also entering it in the October challenge on the Country View Challenge blog: Mixed Media with Autumnal Hues.  I love Autumn colours so these are just the type of challenges I like.  Once again I used up scraps and punched shapes from my stash.

Monday 2 October 2017

Art Journal Collage

This was one of the quickest art journal pages I have completed in a while.  The prompt for week 40 at Art Journal Prompts was Collage, and as I have a stash of magazine clippings, I started there.  Having chosen some which shared a similar colour scheme of green and grey, I found some background papers which would go with them and the rest was quick and easy.

Sunday 1 October 2017

With Sympathy

This card was made for a crafty friend whose father recently died; his funeral is tomorrow.  She is a lovely lady who does a great deal for others and I wish her all the best at this sad time.