I decided to show you the result of making my latest challenge that you can see here. To my right I have the box I keep my Art Parts in on top of the now empty box of cleaned stamps I put them all away last Friday *polishes halo*! My desk has stamps from my last project glue, bits of grungepaper, pliers and a half finished Simon Says Stamp and Show project that I lost my way on...!
The other side shows my Wendy Vecchi stamps that I have been flicking through and choosing ones here and there! Wednesday this week finds me "babysitting" my two and two others as it is a day of Industrial Action by various Unions here in the UK and both of my children's schools have had to close for the day. I shall try and squeeze in as much crafting as I can but I am guessing there might not be much time! If you have some time on your hands, why not pop over to see other people's crafting space at Julia's Stamping Ground - thank you Julia for being our incredible WOYWW host again this week
The theme over at Everything Wendy Vecchi is Thanksgiving and Autumn. Being British we don't really celebrate Thanksgiving and so I interpreted it to mean being thankful. I am truly thankful to my crafting friends, those I know in person and those I know in cyber space. You have given me a way of expressing myself and support in ways I cannot express.
As well as these friends I have discovered the incredible style of Tim Holtz and through him the incredibly talented Wendy Vecchi. Wendy's art in particular has influenced me and I am incredibly thankful to have discovered her. My project is thank you to you all. I used Art Parts, Distress Stains, grungepaper and my trusty Dymo. There's a chain, two long fasteners (brads) and two charm clips. I used several of Wendy's stamp sets which mix and match beautifully.
I intend to revisit this project - it's probably a little too simple but I think I'll look at it for a few weeks first before deciding if it needs a little something else!
For this week's Creative Expressions DT project I have used JustRite Cling Bon Voyage Set again. I decided to made a tag and repeatedly stamped the word 'Paris' in Old Paper Distress Ink to make a background.
I stamped the word 'Bon Voyage' in Vintage Photo Distress Ink and then edged the tag in both colours, though a lighter touch on the darker brown. I stamped, in Jet Black Archival Ink,
the Eiffel Tower on to the tag and the three 'postage' style stamps on cream card and cut them out and then edged them with Old Paper Distress Ink!
I used the black ink and stamped the long stamp on a piece of white cotton ribbon for decoration and added a little shrink plastic Eiffel Tower as an embellishment. Then I popped a checked ribbon on the top with a vintage style key finding. This will wing its way to a colleague at work who is off to Paris for an anniversary present - lucky lady! Thank you, as always for stopping by!
The theme at CraftyBoots Challenges
this fortnight is ‘Anything Goes’. You can join in the challenge as
normal but there are 12 extra chances for you to win a prize by joining the
first ever Crafty Boots blog hop!
If you are
joining in the hop you should have got here from Faye’s blog . If you
haven’t blog hopped before it is really simple, just start at the Crafty
Boots Challenge blog
and hop through the design team blogs in the order set out on that page.
Each of the design team members has a word or two for you to collect which will
reveal a message at the end. Once you have collected that message email
it to bloghop@craftyboots.co.uk to be entered into
the draw to win the prize of three digis of your choice from Hope
Jacare Doodles.
You must also become a follower of all the design team’s blogs (and
Claire’s) to be eligible to win the prizes.
For my Crafty Boots DT project this fortnight we were fortunate to be given a choice of some digi images. Now I don't want to you to think badly of me but I have never used a digi image before! It took some thinking about before I came up with my master plan! I chose to use the Heart Flourish and used a technique of transferring images that really appeals to my experimental side.
I spread Claudine Hellmuth's gesso on a piece of material and then placed a copy of the image straight onto the wet paint - better instructions can be found on Claudine Hellmuth's blog here! Please remember that the image will be reversed so if you have text on your image, or want it to be a particular way round you may need to alter the image on your computer first. When it was dry I wet the paper, gently rubbed away the paper and like magic it was on the material! I coloured it in using Cut and Dry Nibs in Peeled Paint, Fired Brick, Spun Sugar and Milled Lavender Distress Stain.
I had actually made two versions and used the one that had worked slightly better so I cut the large flowers out of the spare transferred image and used it as a mask and spritzed Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls mist over the top.
The image was then cut out and edged with a little Old Paper Distress Ink.
I adhered the image to some mountboard covered with vintage music paper and added a Wendy Vecchi sentiment to the bottom, some vintage lace, a wooden button and some ruler ribbon as a handle. My friend has been poorly and so I have given it to her as a 'get well' gift.
Don’t forget
that myself and each of the design team members has a prize of candy up for
grabs, this will include a sample pack of the fantastic new Crafty Boots Deluxe
card along with a few other goodies. Be sure to leave a comment on each
of our blogs and follow us to be in with a chance of winning our candy!
My word
for the secret message is:
Your
next stop is Kerry’s
blog. The deadline
for both the Anything Goes challenge, and the blog hop (and candy) is Sunday 11th December at 12 Noon (UK time).
Today it's my turn to play host at It's a Creative World - if you are curious as to what I've made do hop on over and see it in all it's glory!
Bonjour! For this week's Creative Expressions DT project I had the good fortune to work with the rather wonderful JustRite Cling Bon Voyage Set. These are beautifully etched stamps which coordinate with Spellbinder dies.
I decided to make a card and stamped in Jet Black Archival Ink the Eiffel Tower and the three 'postage' style stamps on cream card and cut them out and then edged them with the obligatory Vintage Photo Distress Ink!
I added some black Baker's twine (I love this twine!) and placed them on a piece of vintage music score and added another layer of cream card below. I can see that this stamp set will be incredibly versatile and I'm looking forward to seeing what else I can make with it! Thank you, as always for stopping by!
Wednesday already?! Gosh where is the week going? Well I am still being tidy but there is a bit more evidence this week of activity! Those who know me well will know that I tidied up properly after I took this photo! I have been finishing a few DT things so shouldn't really show those yet but there are the stamps from the new Creative Expressions DT set on the right just waiting to be cleaned! There are also a few robins and number stamps hanging around... mmm... wonder why?!
To my left is a new folder waiting to be covered to store my tags in - the one I made here is full to bursting! What else can you see? The drawers hold my inks (colour coded, naturally!) and the blue box above has my Distress Stains in it. Do you like the Hama teddy Freya made me years ago? For some reason he has a rosette in front of him... not really sure why!
I needed to confess that I have a plastic box full of cleaned stamps begging to be put back in their homes and so if I ever get 10 minutes I will sort them out... Well, if I don't get distracted!!! So that's my desk this week. as always our wonderful host Julia has a whole host of other creative spaces for WOYWW you can go and nosey round without having to go out into the cold and wet! I'm not very good at visiting other people but I will really try this week!
For this week's Creative Expressions DT piece I have made a Christmas Wreath. I stumbled upon this fantastic tutorial on the Creative Expressions website and couldn't resist having a go! I'll not repeat how to make it here (the tutorial is really very easy to follow) but don't be tempted to use less ribbon - you really do need all 3m! For this wreath I used one colour of ribbon. I added some swirls from the Stylish Christmas 1 set in coordinating Distress Ink (there are 36 colours to choose from so you'll easily find the right shade!) to some faintly patterned paper.
I then adhered my wreath with my normal glue and made a little banner using the same paper as the background and added a sentiment from the set and added Vintage Photo Distress Ink to the edges. The little balls on the end of the sentiment were stamped twice on the ends of the wreath's ribbon. This project was mounted on some card and will be a Christmas decoration in my home but would make a really special card for someone!
Well, the answer is nothing! Look at me being so tidy! You can't see the box of cleaned stamps that need putting away but apart from that I've been keeping my new studio clean as a whistle! (Can you see She Who Eats Art under my desk?!) To the left of my desk is my experiment for a future Crafty Boots DT challenge - but I can't show you just yet!
So to show you something new I am sending my friend the lovely Kitty's daughter Emily a little something and so the lovely Kitty isn't left out I made her a quick tag to thank her for her wonderful company at the NEC recently. We always buy each other a little something when we go and she bought me this fab stamp (which I can see becoming a firm favourite) and we bought some masks so the tag is Peeled Paint and Seedless Preserves Distress Inks with a dotty mask at two corners sprayed with Heirloom Gold Perfect Pearls. I must thank the wonderful Julia for hosting WOYWW and for those who want to know more do pop on over to her blog and see what other creative spaces are being shared! Thank you for stopping by!
Over at Everything Wendy Vecchi (the natural home for Vecchians everywhere!) has been running a challenge based on the theme 'time'. The challenge is up tomorrow and so I have squeaked under the wire and managed to enter this. It is an idea I have had since the challenge was set but didn't seem to find time to make it!
The tag is created using Vintage Photo, Black Soot, Seedless Preserves, Old Paper and Gathered Twigs Distress Inks and Antique Linen Distress Stain. The only other ink I used was Coffee Archival Ink for the sentiment. I used the Sewing Room and Weathered Clock dies and All About Art, Art By Hand, Funky Flower Art and Just Sew Artsy.
The ribbon was dyed with Seedless Preserves and there are two stapled 'stitches'. A little brad holds the hands on the dress form and that is that! I erally enjoyed making this, and hope you have enoyed seeing it, but I'll try and not be so close to the deadline next time! Gabrielle x
It's Monday and so it must be time for a new Crafty Boots challenge! This time the challenge is 'Fantasy' and the brief is anything from fairy stories to Father Christmas (Santa to some!) Well, in this house we know that Father Christmas is very real and not a fantasy figure but I didn't want to pass up the opportunity to use my wonderful Tim Holtz Mini Holidays set!
I cut out a tag from cream card and stamped the postcard stamp in Gathered Twigs Distress Ink. The background is the snowflake stamp repeated in Weathered Wood Distress Ink. Father Christmas is stamped in Jet Black Archival Ink and coloured using Cut and Dry
nibs and Distress Stains (Fired Brick, Peeled Paint, Tattered Rose). The other images are all stamped on cream card (except 'Believe' which is straight on the tag) and used either Gathered Twigs or Fired Brick Distress Ink. The edges of everything has Gathered Twigs added to them
before they were glued together. The ticket is a PaperArtsy stamp. I added some seasonal twine and that is that! I hope you enjoy my take on the theme and I am looking forward to seeing what you make! Have a wonderful week. Gabrielle x
Today I am at the Christmas Present Fair at school! Can't believe how quickly it has come round - I have been frantically making tags (those gingerbread men look fabulous now!) and a few other bits and pieces. I am so pleased that the day has come - I have been so busy preparing (admittedly if I hadn't left it all to the last minute...!) that I haven't been able to take part in some of the challenges I would normally join in with - so am very excited that I'll have more time to 'play' next week!
The picture is of my Christmas tree I bought at the NEC on Sunday. I am so pleased with it - I covered it with some of Tim's Seasonal Kraft Paper and Peeled Paint Distress Stain. I haven't finished it yet but I liked the quadruple shadow in the photo and thought I'd share it with you! For the fair I am going to wrap a little tinsel or ribbon round it and hang a few charms off it - well... that's the plan at the moment! If you are in the area why not pop by and say hello? Have a wonderful weekend if I don't see you later! Gabrielle x
Gosh! Wednesday already! The weekly What's On Your Workdesk? Wednesday finds my desk covered with Gingerbread Men with Stickles buttons ready for the icing to be added and then more tags for the school fair on Saturday will be ready! Just a few more (well a little more than a few!) and I'll be ready too!
I've made lots of different tags all with backgrounds stamped with some of Tim's Mini Holidays sets (Set 1 and Set 2). I'll show them in all their glory another time! I must thank Julia, our gracious hostess, for hosting WOYWW yet again - I'm off for a nosey round some other people's desks now! Gabrielle x
ps did you notice one of the Gingerbread Men is a little anaemic? That's the original colour before I went to town with Vintage Photo Distress Stain - trouble is I'd added the Stickles buttons before I realised it looked 'uncooked'! I'll address that as soon as it's dry!
This week, I decided to make a card that could be repeated
quite easily if you were the type of crafter that like to make lots of the same
kind of card for Christmas. There are lots of ready-made card templates on the
market with pre-cut apertures and this would fit really well with one of those.
Typically, I didn’t have any so I cut
the hole myself!
I used the flourish stamp from the rather fabulous Sam Poole designed Stylish Christmas 1 set in
both Fired Brick and Pine Needles Distress Ink. I like it when they cross over so it really becomes a 'background' so there's no need to be very tidy! Then I placed the robin stamp in the aperture where it would go when finished and then stamped the sentiment on the inside of the card (through the aperture) - this is the easiest way of ensuring the sentiment is where you want it to be.
I also stamped two of the circles at the end of the stamp on the inside of the card as a guide to where I'd need to write below when signing that card, that way my handwriting doesn't become an unintentional part of the design! The robin was stamped in Jet Black Archival Ink on heat resistant acetate and dried with my heat gun - don't be tempted to use Distress Ink on acetate - you'll end up with a really blobby finish that doesn't dry - can you tell I've made that mistake before?! I edged the card with Fired Brick (outside edges) and Pine Needles (inside edges) and placed the acetate to the reverse of the front of the card.I like the idea of the sentiment being on the inside of the card, yet visible on the outside, so I'm off to experiment a little more! Gabrielle x
Hello! Today it's my first project for It's a Creative World and here is a sneaky peek! I was really chuffed to be invited to be part of the DT. It's a Creative World is a blog which aims to post something to inspire you to make something every weekday! The DT are an eclectic bunch with really diverse talents and so you'll see something new every day! Please do pop over and to the blog and see my mystery make in all it's glory! Gabrielle x
When I saw this week's challenge for Simon Says Stamp and Show there was only one type of house that came to mind. The one that flattened the Wicked Witch of the East in Oz. My beautiful daughter Freya's favourite film is the Wizard of Oz so I've seen it many, many times! When the film goes from black and white to full technicolour I am still amazed and so I wanted the house to look very colourful and the plant to look like it could have grown in Oz itself!
So the house, plant and scallop are Art Parts, the background is board with paper on the top. They are all inked with Distress Inks and Distress Stains with some covered in papers first. I used a few of Wendy's stamps, glossy accents and Xmas Red Stickles on the ruby red slippers (I know I can be a bit of a literary geek on occasion so I'd like you to applaud that I didn't make the shoes silver as it was originally written in the book!).
I added some watch parts to the flower and two wooden stars and I think that's it! I loved making this and I hope you like it too! Gabrielle x ps Freya and I attended one of the lovely Lin's classes on Saturday - if you'd like to see Freya in action you can here!
