IACW - Easter Blog Hop!

Hello! And a warm welcome to you - It's a Creative World are hosting a blog hop this weekend!  You may have 'hopped' over to me from Doda's blog (http://www.dodadidit.blogspot.co.uk/) - if so, and you've never stopped by before, I hope you enjoy your visit! If you have not arrived here as part of the blog hop - why not start at the beginning and then you'll see all the lovely things that my incredibly talented DT colleagues have made! There might even be a giveaway or two! More details are at the end of this post!

The theme of the blog hop is 'Spring' and I have chosen to alter a book! I have used a variety of Tim Holtz stamps, Wendy Vecchi stamps, Archival Inks, Distress Inks and Distress Stains. I have also used a few Tim Holtz dies on the inside cover along with a hidden tag.

Ssh! This is the hidden tag!

The envelope is made using a die and PaperArtsy's truly scrummy Crunchy paper

The flowers were die cut from Tim Holtz's kraft core paper, sanded and edged in Vintage Photo Distress Ink

If you would like to win my altered book then all you have to do is become a follower and leave a comment! It's as simple as that! I will draw a random follower to win at lunchtime on 3rd April!

Well, thank you so much for stopping by and if you would like to continue please hop on over to  Eleanor's blog (http://highlandhousekeeper.blogspot.co.uk/)!

This is a list of all of the Blog Hop links, in order!
Start at IACW
Laura - http://bubbaboobits.blogspot.co.uk/
Doda - http://www.dodadidit.blogspot.co.uk/
Gabrielle - http://gabrielle-price.blogspot.co.uk/
Eleanor - http://highlandhousekeeper.blogspot.co.uk/
Erika - http://snappycrafts.blogspot.co.uk/
Ifa - http://ifazainon.blogspot.co.uk/
Katherine - http://www.fruitofmyscraps.blogspot.co.uk/
Dolly -  http://dollysdreamings.typepad.com/
Mandy - http://6ichthusfish.typepad.com/
Leanne - http://craftaholicleanie.blogspot.co.uk/
Kerry - http://www.socksandscrapbooks.blogspot.co.uk/ 
Tracey - http://tj-runningwithscissors.blogspot.co.uk/
Finish at IACW

WOYWW 147

I am ashamed. I wanted so much to get around every desk last week and I barely scratched the surface. I am so sorry! I won't manage much better this week either but I will endeavour to try! Following your lovely comments from last week, this week I have much better news regarding my Vagabond (this was last week's sad news) -  a new one is winging its way as I type - thank you so much Sizzix and in particular Helen who was fabulous!!! 

My desk is, again, looking like a bomb has hit it! So to the far right is where my Vagabond will proudly take up residence again but in the mean time has this month's The Voice of Art stamp set, by the divine Ms Wendy Vecchi, for the Creative Expressions DT. The middle has a load of stamps I should have put away (as always!) and my box of Cut and Dry foam which is all clean! 

To my left I have a lot of things that really need to be in their homes! The box has cleaned stamps and more Cut and Dry foam in it to make carrying it from the house easier. If I drop anything mid-transit She Who Eats Art thinks that becomes fair game and runs off to the other side of the garden and then does as her name suggests! The books were a find from the day I met Jo for coffee and peeking out to the right of them is part of my Mother's day present - some Crunchy paper from PaperArtsy. When my Vagabond returns I have great plans for that paper! All that remains is for me to thank you for visiting, the wonderful Julia for hosting and to encourage you to visit more WOYWW blogs and see what creative pickles other people have got themselves into! Have a great Wednesday y'all!

Housework is NOT for me!

This month’s stamp set from Creative Expressions is a real treat! The Voice of Art set is from the wonderful Wendy Vecchi’s latest range and I adore it! So for my first project I have used stamps and Art Parts to create a little hanging but you could easily make something similar to go on a card. 

I firstly took a piece of white card and used several shades of blue Distress Inks to make a background. Then I stamped the large document stamp using Cobalt Archival Ink on to part of the background and cut it out to fit the frame. The sentiment was stamped the same way. I just love that sentiment – it seems so applicable to me! For the main frame I used Wild Honey Distress Stain on the Art Part and Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink on the stamp. 

The scallop and the small frame were inked with Rusty Hinge Distress Stain and Vintage Photo Distress Ink on the stamp. I added a little Glossy Accents to the scallop and small frame to make them stand out. 

The lady was stamped in Jet Black Archival on white card and painted with Distress Stains (Broken China, Vintage Photo, Worn Lipstick and Spun Sugar) – to paint with Distress Stains just squeeze a little of the stain on to your craft mat and dip a paintbrush into the ink – I do this a lot and it gives a really great finish as you can build up the colour by over painting several sections to create depth. The whole piece was adhered together with Glossy Accents. 

I hope you forgive me for not showing this on the wall but it was such a beautiful day yesterday when I made it that I wanted to photograph it outside! I hope that the beautiful weather inspires you to, as Wendy would say, ‘Make Art’.

Birds

Well I have had a fabulous weekend. I saw a truly terrific Gang Show in Derby yesterday - the costumes and scenery must have cost a fortune and there was a cast of thousands which shows what support Scouting and Guiding has in the area. Truly inspiring. Anyway today I have pottered about a little craft here and a huge pile of ironing there but I thought I might share a little of what I have done which was inspired by both the latest Dragons Dream Tag It On and Sunday Stamper challenges of Birds. Dragons Dream challenge is Thorn Birds and I really don't know anything about that book beyond Richard Chamberlain played a priest in the TV adaptation (the things we remember!) but I know that a thorn bird is supposed to scour thorny trees until it finds the perfect thorn to impale itself on (!) and so I hope that my brand spanking new die will represent this sad little bird! 

I used kraft card to cut out the bird and branch and coloured it with Peeled Paint, Gathered Twigs, Broken China and Chipped Sapphire Distress Inks. The bird had a light covering of Glossy Accents to make it stand out. The tag was covered in Shabby Shutters and Peeled Paint Distress Ink. Then I put Peeled Paint Ink and Picket Fence Distress Stain on my mat and a good spritz of water and swished my tag though it several times, drying it in between.

I finally put large droplets onto the tag and let them 'bleach' the background. I added some flying birds and a sentiment from Tim and finally a ribbon and an ideaology bird. 

Butterflied Birthday!

Hello! Just popping by with a tag I made for a truly lovely colleague’s birthday. As always on a Thursday I have no time at all to craft (I run a Cub pack and last night I was also running a session for Scouts!) so I needed to make something quick and easy and so raided my ‘spare’ paper drawer. You know the one. It’s the one where you keep scraps of your favourite papers that you can’t quite bear to throw away despite the fact that the scrap is really no use at all but that you think you might, one day, cut out the smallest Tattered Floral flower from it! 

Anyway I found enough left over paper to make the tag (I love this paper, I bought it from Craft Emporium but can’t remember who designed it – sorry!), a scrap from a sheet of music, a little of my favourite Stampin’ Up paper (that’s the dictionary piece) and some cream card. I stamped the butterflies in Jet Black Archival Ink and sanded the edges of the card and then edged everything in Vintage Photo Distress Ink. 

The ric rak ribbon was bought when the rather lovely Jo and I met for coffee here the other week and were unable to resist a bounty of beautiful ribbons and buttons for sale! I hope I might have inspired you to raid your ‘spare’ paper – I really need to thin mine down as I’m not sure I can close the drawer now…! Have a wonderful weekend!

WOYWW 146

Well it's Wednesday again and since last week I have had sad news... 

My lovely Vagabond before I 'interred' it in it's packaging!

My gorgeous, wonderful die cutting machine that David loving bought for my birthday has gone to a better place... Goodbye Vagabond... I loved you...! However it is winging it's way to the factory so hopefully there will be a diagnosis or a new one... time will tell! In the meantime I haven't made a mess. No sir! I've been a tidy girl so as there is nothing to see... 

Well  I suppose there is the gap where my Vagabond was... (the white wires are from my fairy lights and the black bit is my Melt Pot) 

Also I have to show you my new pens which I knew I needed as soon as I saw the advert on TV (very easily influenced! I heart these loads! I only want them to write with and they make my writing look fab-u-lous (well - better than with a biro anyway!)  I thought I'd share with you two other things: 

The first is my fabulous WOYWW badge - am thrilled to have one and will wear it with pride at the upcoming Ally Pally event so do stop me and say hi if you spot it! (sorry about the greasy thumb print - not really sure where that came from!)

The second share is my offering for Tim's March tag. Details can be found here on how to make it - Tim is much better at explaining than I am! I didn't have the wood grain stamp (I didn't think I'd use it but maybe, just maybe, I was wrong!) so I used the wood grain texture folder with Gathered Twigs Distress Ink.

I used Vintage Photo Distress Embossing Powder on the butterflies which worked well I think... The foliage was inked with Alcohol Inks.

I really enjoyed making it so I really should catch up and do the February tag too! Anyway, thank you, as always for visiting and please do hop on over to visit the Queen of desks, Julia, where other creative spaces await your perusal!

Industrial Rose

For my final DT piece for Creative Expressions using the Heartfelt Bold Bella Rose set and the corresponding Heartfelt Bella Rose Rose Die Template I decided to be a little adventurous and make it an industrial rose. The idea came when I was walking my dog (affectionately known as She Who Eats Art) and I saw a flower growing through cracks in some concrete - inspiration comes in some funny ways doesn't it?!  

I used kraft card to make all of this and the ATC and Gadget Gears die by Tim Holtz. So I used two shades of brown Distress Ink and a Cogs Mask by That Special Touch to create the background of my ATC. The die cut gears were inked with Vintage Photo Distress Ink, roughly clear embossed and then I rubbed Black Soot Distress Ink over the top to fit in the pits left behind in the embossing powder - this is a really quick way to create a rusted look. 

The leaves and flower were die cut and inked - the leaves were inked directly using Peeled Paint Distress Ink and the rose stamp was inked with Fired Brick and Peeled Paint Distress Inks and then finished the same way as the cogs. The hand was cut from the mask's packaging and edged with Vintage Photo Distress Ink (I have a stack of this packaging ready to use - I rarely throw anything away!). 

The ticket was one I stamped ages ago using a Tim Holtz stamp but you could use the back of an Adage Ticket! I used the small rosebud stamp, inked with Fired Brick and Peeled Paint Distress Inks, crumpled it up, distressed the edges and added Vintage Photo Distress Ink to it. A few ideaology pieces (Game Spinner, Sprocket Gears and a brad) complete it. Thank you, as always, for stopping by - and I hope you have a terrific week.

The Easter Bunny

The new theme at Crafty Boots this fortnight is Easter. Knowing this was coming up I decided to invest some pennies on Tim's Easter Elements die. So once I had bought it, put it somewhere safe and found it again I thought I had better use it! I wanted to make something a little more cartoony than my normal style and so I started by cutting out two Cabinet Cards from thick cardboard. I used the same piece of cardboard for everything here as I wanted the dimension.

I added PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Paints (Sky, Snowflake and Guacamole) with Cut and Dry Foam to create a background. I added the Snowflake paint last to create clouds. This is the advantage of using the foam as it can create soft, subtle effects - I used the same piece of foam for the blue (Sky) and white (Snowflake) paints that way the blue mixes with the white making the white softer and less harsh. Then I die cut the rabbit and painted it with Irish Cream paint and Gold over the top. The ribbon around its neck was painted in Orchid and then Moonlight. I die cut two fences and covered them with Snowflake paint. 

The bird was painted with Beach Hut (I love this colour!) and then stamped with part of a map stamp in Vintage Photo Distress Ink. The ticket was inked with Vintage Photo Distress Ink, spritzed with water, spritzed with Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls Mist and a sentiment stamped in Coffee Archival ink. The butterflies began life with Orchid and Moonlight paints on cardboard, the butterflies stamped over the top in Jet Black Archival Ink and then cut out. 

Everything was then sanded and Vintage Photo Distress Ink added to the edges and then put together. The ticket was given a Memo Pin to hold it up! I hope that this inspires you to create an Easter themed project and I am looking forward to seeing what you make!

Edit - To answer a question via Twitter - when I refer to 'painting' in this post I mean I applied the paint with Cut and Dry foam - the coverage is better and avoids brush marks. It also means you can vary the pressure you use to put the paint on the cardboard shape, so on the bow, for example, I could just have the lighter Moonlight paint as a light covering allowing the stronger Orchid shade to come through at the edges. I use a sponging, dabbing motion when using the foam, I rarely swipe the paint on. Hope that answers any questions - if you have more, please let me know and I am happy to answer them!

Happy Mother's Day

I am very lucky. I have a lovely Mum. She's so incredibly supportive and really very, very lovely. We don't see each other as often as we'd like as we now live quite far away but we email, text and phone when we have news (however small!) and somehow the distance doesn't seem a problem! So I thought I'd make her something a little different by way of a Mother's Day card. I used the larger of the two Matchbook dies and cut out a grungepaper matchbook.

I then covered both sides with Vintage Photo Distress Stain and dried. The outside I covered with a rough layer of clear embossing powder and rubbed Black Soot Distress Ink into the pits left and a little in areas on the inside to create a more 'worn' look. I made a grungepaper flower (painted with Orchid paint), sanded and edged with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. The leaves were painted with Limelight paint. 

For the papers on the inside I used some PaperArtsy papers (Rum and Raison), scuffed the edges and added Vintage Photo Distress Ink to them. The middle page I turned round so there was contrast between the pages. 

I used two off cuts of fences from other projects (I really don't waste anything!), painted them with Snowflake Fresco Finish paint, die cut two little birds and painted them with Beach Hut and Orchid paints. 

The grungepaper Butterfly was painted with Moonlight and Orchid paints using a mask. I sanded the butterfly and added a sentiment printed on my computer before lightly covering the whole piece with clear embossing powder. The large ticket was inked the same way as the cover but I added the sentiment before embossing. A little flower finishes it off. I hope Mum likes her alternative to a card. I loved making it and think I might be persuaded to make a few more...! If you are a Mum, whether you spend today with your child or not, Happy Mother's Day x

IACW - Sneaky peek

Over at It's a Creative World I'm sharing a quick and easy (last minute?!) Mother's Day card design... Want to see...?!!!

WOYWW 145

Look! Look how tidy I am! Last week it was an absolute tip and this week - well, a transformation! I have even swept the floor! No honestly I have. I dragged the broom out of its hiding place and even found the dustpan and brush and I took them outside to the Studio and became reacquainted with them! I even took the brave decision to sort through a few drawers and I made up a box full of goodies for my 'new-to-crafting' friend. Are you blinded by my halo?!!!

Sorry! In my excitement I forgot to say 'Happy Wednesday' and to thank the lovely Julia for hosting the crafting desk extravaganza that is What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday. So, as you can see there is nothing on mine but I have been decorating a box to keep my Fresco Finish paints in - much like I did for my Texture Fades (brown) and Distress Stains (blue). 

I appreciate I don't have enough to fill this box but I do have too many for the box they were in and I am anticipating that the children may well buy me one or two for Mother's Day (well I sent and email to David with a not too subtle hint and links to the ones I wanted!!!) I need to keep revisiting this box, adding more as I go along, each side is a different colour with different patterns but some are more effective than others! I also need to add handles, as I did on the others, but it's nice to have an ongoing project!

I haven't been able to stop by many desks the last two weeks - hopefully I'll get a better opportunity this week. Thank you for calling round and I hope to see you again next week!