Third Halloween Sneaky Peek

 

For my final sneaky peek for Country View Crafts I have been having a lot of fun creating backgrounds! You can see more here! Thank you, as always for stopping by their blog - it is very much appreciated!

Second Halloween Sneaky Peek

 

My second Halloween project for Country View Crafts can be seen here! Have you started to embrace all things spooky yet?! I've never really been a fan of Halloween but the children are slowly persuading me that I should! I suspect that Halloween falling in Half Term might just persuade me to make a little more effort this year... maybe...!!!

Happy "Wasp" Day?!

So there I am, all excited because I have a parcel of brand spanking new Wendy Vecchi loveliness just begging to be used, when a brilliant idea comes to mind... for Tom's 10th birthday I'll make a tag (I am not very keen on cards) with a sort of joke on the front... I thought I could write 'Happy bee-day' using my new stamps!

So I had a lovely time, playing with inks and Perfect Pearl Mists - using some of the stencils I bought as well as stamps. I used Peeled Paint Distress Ink as green is tom's favourite colour. It's all going very well so far isn't it?! The 'Happy' is actually off Tim's Apothercary set. I stamped my 'bee' in Archival Ink and then used my water brush to remove the green ink from the body and inked it with Wild Honey Distress Stain. The wings were treated the same however I added a thin layer of Brushed Pewter Distress Stain to them. The 'DAY' is from some Cosmo Cricket Alphas that were on my desk for some reason... no idea why!

Anyway, back to my tale. So there I am, proudly watching Tom read my carefully crafted tag when he said "Why does it say 'Happy Wasp Day?". Doh!!! I should really look at things more carefully!!!!!!!

First Halloween Sneaky Peek

 

Ooh! I have been playing with all things Halloween for Country View Crafts this month and here is my first project! Do pop on over to see it in all its glory!

WOYWW 173

One word: Bombsite...! Though maybe that's really two!!! Hangs head in shame! In a pathetic attempt at an excuse I do have the start of a cold...! So far just a very sore throat and, much to the family's relief, not much voice! Don't feel sorry for me yet! Hold that for when I really feel rotten!!!

If you want to see other creative spaces that are probably a little more inspirational than mine than pop on over to the queen of desk hopping, Julia, and enjoy snooping round!

In other news I was lucky enough to be picked from a hat at the Everything Wendy Vecchi group and Wendy sent me a little prize! I am so chuffed - thank you Wendy! 

A thank you for Dr Who!

I wanted to join in with this fortnight's Everything Wendy Vecchi challenge and also needed to make a thank you card for my Mum and Dad (more on that later!) The challenge was to make a tag following Wendy's technique on her video for Simon Says Stamp's Stamptember.

So I'll not go into detail on how I made it as Wendy says it so much better in her video but I used Kraft card for the tag and Broken China and Peeled Paint Distress Stains for the background. I also heavily added Tarnished Brass Distress Stain to the Blossom Bucket centre on the flower and then wiped it off leaving a pearlised shimmer.

The reason I needed a thank you for my Mum and Dad is that we have stayed with them this weekend and took them to the Dr Who Experience in Cardiff. 

The signposts had pictures of daleks on much to my amusement!

It was a complete surprise for my children, who had no idea we were staying with Mum and Dad or in fact that we had a time travelling adventure planned! It was a really fun afternoon and we went back to Mum and Dad's to watch that night's episode! Tom is 10 tomorrow (where does the time go?!) and so his birthday celebrations have started early!

Who knew a Police Phone Box would have so many adventures!!!

Thank you, as always, for stopping by!

Be Kind of Heart

For this fortnight's Dragons Dream Tag It On challenge the uber talented Elizabeth set the challenge of "Misty Autumn Glaze" - using mists either mica or ink, autumn colours, glaze and stamping all on a tag.

I began my tag using Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink all over the tag, followed by Ripe Persimmon and Gathered Twigs Distress Inks in random areas. I then misted water over the tag and dried. I thought that just misting water might not be enough of a mist so added Perfect Pearls Mist (Heirloom Gold) which added a lovely lustre as well as further altered the ink on the tag. 

I then stamped a swirl from one of Wendy Vecchi's new stamp sets (My Kind of Art) in Gathered Twigs. I stamped the jug on a piece of white card and inked it with both Antique Linen and Gathered Twigs Distress Inks. Reading the brief again I realised I needed to add a glaze and so I clear embossed the jug. I'm not sure if it counts as a glaze but it gives a glazed finish! The flowers were from Wendy's new stamps set Wildflower Art and I stamped them on a little white card and inked them with Peeled Paint and Seedless Preserves Distress Inks. 

I cut a slit in the top of the jug to pop the flowers into and a little doodling from a black pen to compliment the sentiment and some sari ribbon finished it off. So that's my take on Elizabeth's recipe - oh! I nearly forgot, the autumnal colours come from using all of Tim Holtz's seasonal Distress Inks. Hope you join in this time!

WOYWW 172

OMG... I am so shocked at how many WOYWW I have missed during the summer holidays. I do hope our wonderful hostess with the mostess, Julia, doesn't insist I return my WOYWW badge! Obviously I had nothing to show you as my desk was permanently tidy (ahem!) so I have deliberately messed my studio up just for you (ahem again!)

I think it looks like I've just tipped everything I own out! The box contains some of the projects from my wall that Tom and I chose to take to show my 'After School Club' what I mean by craft - I think lots of them thought we were going to make a bookmark - Oh no! We're making Newspaper Journals! They'll take about 4 weeks to make though we only have about 45 mins each week so we might still be doing it at Christmas!

On top of the box are my new lovely Wendy Vecchi stamps, Art Parts and Stencils - I might have just used a few of them for today's Dragons Dream Tag It On piece that's here! Just sayin'!!!

Anyway, please do pop on over to Julia's place and see what other desks look like - hopefully a little like mine!

Distress a little differently...

For my lastest post over at the Country View Crafts blog I have been playing with the new masks from Creative Expressions and the new Metallic Distress Stains. I thought I might try and use them a little differently... Do pop on over and see the tag in all it's glory!

Children's Stories...

Today it is the turn of Dionne to choose the theme at Crafty Boots and she chose "Children's Stories - e.g.Fairy Tales or Nursery Rhymes". I have made a few things with an Alice in Wonderland theme but I haven't really made anything that includes the repainting of the roses! So this is a little plaque hoping to rectify that! 

I cut a piece of mountboard and glued on torn pieces from an Alice in Wonderland book I have used previously. I then dry brushed Beach Hut and the Snowflake Fresco Finish paints over the top. I cut out an Alice from the fabulous Graphic 45 paper and cut two slits where her arms fold and popped in a stamped paint brush from Wendy Vecchi (adding a little London Bus Fresco Finish paint at the tip). 

The top of each page from my Alice book has the book's title and so I glued it to a little card to give it a little strength and then cut out each word and added Broken China Distress Ink to the edges. 

The flowers were kraft card, covered in metal tape, die cut (using the Tattered Pine cone die) and painted with Snowflake or London Bus paints before being lightly sanded and a little Vintage Photo Distress Ink on the edges. For foliage I added some die cuts (Elegant Flourishes die).
Please do visit the rest of the DT blogs and see how they have interpreted Dionne's theme!

Good luck Amy!

The really rather lovely Amy, our friend and baby sitter extraordinaire, has done rather too well in her A levels and is off to Uni today. We are so excited for her and wanted to send her off with a little something. Uni is now so expensive that we know she'll struggle to have a little luxury so we're sending her off with a little of her favourite chocolate and some money to buy her first drink in the Students Union (can you tell that David and I have been reminiscing about our first days at Uni?!) 

The tag is die cut from glassine paper and crumpled up. Then I added a little white paint followed by a swoosh of Brushed Pewter Distress Stain over that to give a shimmer. Then I added Vintage Photo and Broken China Distress Inks and a little script stamp in Sepia Archival Ink. Then I cut out the letters from Kraft Resist paper and treated them as I did with the tag. I then added them to the tag, doodled around them and the tag itself and added a little paper tag with a ruler design. 

I crumpled another sheet of glassine paper and die cut a bag to house the tag, chocolate and beer money! So, much love to Amy as you start this new adventure - we hope you have as much fun as we did!

Notes and Quotes

 The latest challenge at the Everything Wendy Vecchi group is to make a Studio 490 tag using the techniques Tim Holtz showcased in his video here! The metallic Distress Stain doesn't seem to show in the photo but it is there - honest!

I really enjoyed making it - the techniques in the video are ones I am sure we all know but it's always good to have a refresher! I think I was supposed to just use one stamp set... I used two but I doubt anyone will really mind! Have a fabulous weekend!

In a Heartbeat

This fortnight's challenge at Dragons Dream Tag It On was chosen by the lovely Trace who chose the theme "In a heartbeat" which is to include a beating heart, a weathered timepiece, a bit of grunge (plus the obligatory use of at least one stamp and for it to be on a tag).

I wasn't really sure how to make a beating heart but into my head popped the Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz who was given a clockwork heart and so I've made my version of that! The cogs, heart and frame of the Studio 490 pocket watch Art Part all had metal tape on them with Alcohol Ink over the top and two layers of clear UTEE. The base of the pocket watch was painted white, had Vintage Photo Distress Ink rubbed over the top with Black Soot Distress Ink on the edges. I stamped the watch face over the top and then added a layer of Rock Candy Crackle Paint. Once that was dry (as in the photo) I added the frame and then filled in the clock face with a layer of Glossy Accents. 

They were all attached to some garden wire that I fashioned into a tag shape (with a little sari ribbon tied to the top too!). I added Alcohol Ink to the frame first giving it an aged patina but I'm not sure you can see this in the photos so you'll just have to trust me! I couldn't decide if the clock should have hands or not... I decided that if it's a weathered timepiece then they have probably fallen off...!!!

The words are from Tim Holtz' Chit Chat stickers but the word 'Mechanical' is part of a PaperArtsy stamp. 
I really enjoyed this challenge and hope that you feel inspired to play along too!

One

Happy, happy first anniversary to the Crafty Boots Challenge Blog! How quickly a year goes by! This time last year I was entering the first challenge and now I'm on the DT - just shows that it's worth entering these challenges!

So, to celebrate the theme this fortnight is 'ONE' and can be interpreted however you like! I made a tag and it was one of those that just didn't go to plan. You know those projects where nothing you seem to do is right? Well, having confessed yesterday that I am a little obsessed by Treasure Gold wax I thought I'd play with it again. So that tag has about 7 layers of different coloured paint as I struggled to get it 'right' and a layer of Treasure Gold wax and then a layer of Beach Hut paint. When it was dry, I sanded it back, revealing some of the layers below. I added a Wendy Vecchi numbers stamp to complete the background. I distressed the edges of the Journalling Ticket and added Vintage Photo Distress Ink (of course!) The die cut heart was made the same as the tag and the number is from Tim Holtz' Word Play die and is covered with Treasure Gold.

I then made leaves and flowers for the corner and added a little sari ribbon to the top. So, how will you interpret the theme? We can't wait to see! If you need more inspiration, please do check out the rest of the DT's work - there is some truly fabulous work on display!