Mellow Yellow

Welcome to a new challenge at Crafty Boots and this time the theme has been set by Faye and  it is Yellow. This challenge will brighten us up after such grey, rainy days! Following my recent bravery I used more of my October Afternoon paper stash as the base of the tag.

I used my beloved Wendy Vecchi Stamps and clear embossing powder for the flowers and heat resistant acetate for the bottle. The Distress Inks I used were Wild Honey, Mustard Seed and Crushed Olive and I used Jet Black Archival ink on the bottle and labels.

Thank you for stopping by, do say hello and I hope you have a terrific week!

Blog Candy Winner

Thank you very much to everyone who commented and wished me a happy birthday last week - it was much appreciated. Anyway, as promised, I used Random.org to decide the blog candy winner and it chose:

Number 22 was: Yvonne Garner - congratulations Yvonne! Please email me your address and I'll pop it in the post to you! 
Again, thank you all for your support - it truly is valued and I appreciate everyone who stops by and comments as well as chats to me on Twitter and Facebook. Right, I have a Cubs Church Parade to go to - I hope we don't get too soggy as the forecast is rain, rain, rain! Have a super Sunday x

Fan-tastic!

A really lovely colleague at work, Beccy, has had a big birthday this week and to celebrate our team bought her some goodies and I made her a  card we could all sign. It was an excellent excuse to use my new Tim Holtz Vintage Fan die, some PaperArtsy Crunchy Paper, a little Kraft Resist paper and banner. 

The fan was die cut from Grungeboard and then painted with Pewter and Little Black Dress Fresco Finish Paints. Then I sanded it and added Vintage Photo Distress Ink to the whole piece. The four brads were beaten senseless with my Texture Hammer! The whole piece was glued together with Glossy Accents. 

I am really pleased to report that Beccy was pleased with her "awesome" card - I quoted her there - but even better than that she bought in a seriously tasty Guinness Cake (a Nigella recipe I think) -  and I'm never one to turn down one of Beccy's cakes! Thank you for stopping by, I hope you have a fantastic day!

WOYWW 151

Gosh it's time for What's on your Workdesk Wednesday already! Where has the week gone?! I knew that I would be pretty absent this week as I have so much to do - but we heard on Monday that the school I am governor at is being OFSTED inspected and their visit starts today - eek! So I will keep this brief as I have heaps and heaps of papers to read in case I'm called upon! 

My desk resembles a half forgotten area with half finished projects lying around and lots of tidying to be done!There is evidence of PaperArtsy Fresco Finish Paints (I spy some Baltic Blue!) and Vintage Photo Distress Ink on my craft mat! 
If you would like to see more creative spaces then please pop on over to the lovely Julia's blog where lots and lots of talented folk share their desks! I will end on a gentle reminder that I have a little birthday blog candy for you - if you are interested then click here! Have a great rest of the week x

IACW - Sneaky Peek

Oh gosh! What an overwhelming amount of birthday wishes on my blog, Twitter and Facebook yesterday. I was, and am, so grateful to have such incredible friends. Thank you. I have shared a few of the cards I was given over on the It's a Creative World blog - why not check them out! This is a sneaky peek of part of one of my cards... but which one?!

My blog candy is open until next week so if you'd like to win it, please let me know!

Happy birthday to me!

Today is my *mumble*th  birthday! I am always really excited about birthdays - I love the excitement and anticipation of presents and being the centre of attention! Somehow I can block out the fact that I am, inevitably, a year older! The ATC pictured is one I made using my new stamps from PaperArtsy, Distress Stains and Fresco Finish Paints - I made it as sort of recognition that it's my birthday - that's not weird is it?! Ok, might be a little...!

I am aware that last Friday was my first blogaversary and I thought I'd combine the both celebrations! I have found my first year of blogging to be really quite an experience. I had no idea that people would want to look at what I made, let alone comment and be so incredibly kind or even follow my blog. In the last year I have made some fabulous friends, learned more than I thought possible and had a tremendous amount of fun on the way! 

So, as I'll be getting some pressies today, I thought you might like some too as a thank you for being so supportive in my crafting journey! The photo doesn't have all of the goodies in it - I have temporarily 'mislaid' a few items since coming back from Ally Pally and putting my new stash away but I know they will turn up! 
So to win these, my little ATC (and the missing items!) all you need to do is: 

• Be a follower - after all the candy is a thank you!
• Leave a comment!

That's it! the very best of luck! I'll draw the candy by Random.org at midday on 28 April. The lucky winner will be announced on 29 April. A huge thank you again for your support - it's really valued!

Secret Garden

What an exciting day! Today is my first post for Dragons Dream Tag It On Design Team and the theme is Secret Garden.  I loved that story as a child and always wondered what it would be like to play in a garden that no one else knows about! So I indulged that idea by making a hidden garden behind a forest of trees. 

The trees and fence are Tim Holtz dies treated with various Distress Inks and Stains. The fence  was treated to a little Snowflake Fresco Finish Paint before I sanded it down and then added Vintage Photo Distress Ink. The hanging sign is a stamp from PaperArtsy's Hot Pick 1005 set. I stamped it on a little kraft card, distressed the edges, inked them with Vintage Photo Distress Ink and then added small eyelets and a little wire.

The tag itself was inked with blues and greens Distress Inks and then flicked with water to give the sky a more realistic feel! I then used a garden stamp from PaperArtsy's Hot Pick 1005 set - in the novel the garden starts off somewhat wild and so I wanted to reflect that. There are also some Studio 490 wild flowers stamped in the background with Old Paper Distress Ink to give the impression of depth.The birds are a Tim Holtz stamp (I think we all have that one!) and the sentiment is another Studio 490 stamp - it is slightly off centre so that it's not visible when the tag is closed. I added an ideaology bird and jump ring to some ribbon dyed with Tumbled Glass Distress Stain.Thank you for stopping by on this auspicious day! Thank you again to the DT for including me in their team - I think it will be good fun!

ps - It's my birthday tomorrow - I may have a little candy on offer...! Worth popping back to see!

WOYWW 150

Happy Wednesday! Well, I have had a lovely time this week. I've been super creative but as it's DT work I can't show you anything :( however I thought I'd show you gratuitous photos of stash from Saturday's trip to Ally Pally! 

I had a truly fabulous day meeting friends from Twitter and blogland - some I had never met before and some that warm my heart every time I see them! I have always felt that the craft community is one that is incredibly friendly and every time there is the opportunity to meet up I have never been disappointed. There was also the chance to watch incredible demos which always send you off full of ideas and with new things to try!

Just do me a favour... don't add up all the price stickers in the pictures, it might make us both cry! 

Thank you, as always to Julia for being our gracious host and I hope to be able to pop by and see what you've been up to!

ps - It's my birthday tomorrow - I may have a little candy on offer...! Worth popping back to see!

Vintage Typewriter

I have recently found a few of Tim Holtz's new dies have found their way into my studio - not really sure how?! So I just had a little experiment on how I might use them - and this is what I came up with! I used grunge paper, Little Black Dress and Pewter Fresco Finish Paints, Vintage Photo and Black Soot Distress Inks, Old Paper and Antique Linen Distress Stains, a D Book Ring and an MDF plaque. Gosh, that was a bit of a shopping list wasn't it!

Simon Says Stamp and Show have Anything Goes as their challenge this week - and so I thought I'd enter this! After all, it might just be their type!

The Voices...

I have to be honest this month's DT stamp set from Creative Expressions is one of my favourites. The stamp set is The Voice of Art designed by the very talented Ms Wendy Vecchi. It is incredibly brilliant on its own but compliments so many of her other stamps that it makes it an utter joy to use. It is the set's versatility that enabled me to make this card. 

I started with white card and stamped the lacy background stamp from a previous DT set in Vintage Photo Distress Ink. I distressed the edges and inked them again with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. I then stamped the leaves in Peeled Paint Distress Ink and cut them out. The flowers were stamped and the larger was stamped with a ticking stamp and then inked with Spiced Marmalade Distress Stain. The smaller was stamped with the dotty stamp and inked with Wild Honey Distress Stain. The centre of the flower is a fastener and a washer. 

The lady is inked with Victorian Velvet Distress Stain on her dress, Spun Sugar as her face and Vintage Photo as hair. I painted these on with a paintbrush but you might be more accurate than me with the actual stain bottle! The bird was inked in Broken China Distress Ink. I actually stamped it twice and cut the wing from the second bird to give the first a little more depth. The sentiment was printed onto a die cut banner in Vintage Photo Distress Ink. As you can see I've used several of Wendy's other stamp sets - and they all work together beautifully! Thank you, as always, for stopping by!

No Girls Allowed!

No Girls Allowed? Doesn't seem very friendly does it?! But that is this week's Crafty Boots theme.  This theme was chosen by Emma and the idea is that you make something, anything without using any images of girls. I had real trouble with this. I didn't struggle with the theme as I knew what I was going to do but once I'd made the little ATC I wasn't really sure what to do next. So, four, yes four, attempts later I turned to the brilliantly inspirational Wendy Vecchi and PaperArtsy and voilà! 

The ATC is die cut from cream mountboard and then I smooched various Distress Stains on it and sanded it. Then I stamped a Tim Holtz swirl in Vintage Photo Distress Ink at the top. Knowing that Distress ink/Stains react with water I then spritzed Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls Mist over the top (but if you don't want to  risk your stamp from smudging spray first and then stamp - I just like the slightly smudged look!) 

I then stamped my chaps on with Jet Black Archival Ink. Many of you would have masked the chaps off and stamped the swirl but I actually wanted to partly obscure them as they can be quite an overpowering image sometimes and this is only a little piece. So this is where I hmm-ed and haa-ed a lot and finally cut a piece of mountboard larger than my ATC and covered it with Mocha Mousse Fresco Paint. I then added a thin layer of Crackle Glaze Fresco and then a layer of Old Gold. I dried it with my heat gun at each stage but I didn't want crackled paint effect (so I deliberately used too little) but I wanted a surface for the gold paint to sit on so that when I sanded it back I would reveal some of the brown paint instead of going straight the to the cream card. It looks, quite 'gentlemans' club in real life! 

The sentiment is one of Wendy's (and made me chuckle!) and is stamped in Sepia Archival Ink  and I edged it, and everything else in Vintage Photo Distress Ink. I added six brads (which I beat with my texture hammer) and two Charm Clips and little black ribbon. I am looking forward to seeing what you make - remember - no girls allowed!

May I introduce Su...

The rather fabulous Everything Wendy Vecchi group has a new challenge - to do something with two eyes and a hand. I did mean to look up Wendy's original project in the book (it's Book 3, page 38 if you want to look yourselves!) but I forgot to so once this is written I'm off to see what Wendy did! I had a rather lofty idea of making something a little steampunk and off beat. Instead I seem to have created a character who looks very much like Su Pollard (who I have seen in panto and is incredible btw!) and so she will be forever known as Su!

I took the opportunity to use some of my favourite things to make this and it was a really fun project. The background was made using PaperArtsy paints and a stencil. It's sometimes such a shame to cover up backgrounds so here is is in its full glory! 

I used lots of Studio 490 stamps, the glasses are a Tim Holtz stamp as well as using Archival Ink, Distress Stains and Inks, Grunge paper, and ideaology. The Phrenology Head is by Stampers Anonymous and a secret eBay purchase all the way from America. I have been searching and searching UK sites for this stamp and was so excited when I finally found one, just a shame it was from such a long way away! 

Well I hope you like Su, I've never named one of my creations before and I think I'll hang her somewhere where she can watch me work! As always, a huge thatnk you for popping by and for letting me know what you think - it really means a lot!

I'm a Rubber Stamp Collector!

This is my newest project for Creative Expressions. We have been given Wendy Vecchi's fabulous The Voice of Art stamp set and I've used the background receipt stamp and the advert as the basis for this notelet. I used kraft card and stamped the receipt stamp using Jet Black Archival Ink and then I distressed the edges and used Vintage Photo Distress Ink.

The advert was stamped on kraft card with Archival Ink as before and then I stamped various colours of Distress Stain on my craft mat and painted the ink on with a paintbrush (I used Peeled Paint, Barn Door, Mustard Seed and Broken China). As before I distressed the edges and used Vintage Photo Distress Ink.

The ink bottle was stamped three times on kraft card. The first was covered in Broken China Distress Stain and double embossed with clear embossing powder. I cut out the label of the second and edged it with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. On the third I just cut out the diamond 'inks' label and inked it with Broken China Distress Stain. I then assembled them together with Glossy Accents.

I painted a little kraft card with Silver Paint Dabber  and then stamped a pen nib over the top. The banner was die cut and I stamped the sentiment and edged it as before. I have used this as a notelet and sent it to Michaela who won my recent blog candy but if you are a card maker it would easily fit onto a card, or would be a cute wall hanging! 

WOYWW 149

Grrr.... Blogger on my iPad lost my original post.... so here I am at 3am retyping it! Why am I up at this time? Number 1 child has been "unwell" in the night... I think you know what I mean and I thought (stupidly as it turns out) that I might as well post it early... mmm...!!! So, what do I have to show you on the day we snoop around others desks? A before and after!

So it seems that I have been incapable of putting things away! There's even a green plastic bag that I am not sure why it's there! There are also more little tiny cut off pieces of paper than I know what to do with! They filled a bin bag on their own!

So look at me all tidy! Everything is put away in its rightful place! I have noticed my 'good wife' has moved place... My incredible, large and sunny window is fabulous for letting in natural light but it also means that it's hard to see the screen when you're watching tv. Oh yes! I have rediscovered those clever apps that stream tv and so I've been watching movies I've missed and the odd costume drama whilst I create - I'm still not sure that I believe Liam Neeson as a credible Hannibal in the A Team...!

So I have one last tidying job to do. I wonder if I can persuade child number 1 to put them away as a thank you for my Florence Nightingale impression...?!

So a huge thank you, as always to Julia for hosting WOYWW so graciously! Thank you for stopping by - I'm off to give my poorly girl another cuddle! I'll try and stop by your desks if she's well enough!