Serendipity

Over on one of my Yahoo groups the Challenge this month was Serendipity. Now not being able to cut straight or mount straight I was shying away from this but at the very last minute I decided to have a try.

This is my Serendipity Card which has an Oriental flavour.

That will be all for today as I must get my head working on the latest piece in the altered corset swap I am in. Really need to think about this one as the title is "Construction, Deconstruction, Construction" and previous work on it is fabulous.

Lots to Do Challenge Part Two

Not a brilliant picture (taken with my mobile phone) but here is James Martin (he looks even better in real life than on tv) at the book signing in Bolton this afternoon. I hadn't realised I could buy a book and get him to sign it without having to have a ticket to watch his demonstration. The books were £20 and you got them signed (if you queued long enough) but with not being able to look to see what was in the book first I decided not to bother. Besides which I got Simon Rimmer's autograph (swoon) last year and it cost nothing. Guess they realised that there is a market out there this year.

The whole event was much bigger than last year and was obviously a huge success with lots of stalls selling produce and lots selling hot food. Mind you at £4 for a small loaf of bread (French bakery) they may not have sold much. Hope it does not put them off and they all come back next year.

Anyway, earlier I had said I would make a Stazon Technique card - here it is. So now it is an official entry in the Lots to Do Challenge.

I really like this technique so hopefully I will make some more another day. Trouble is finding alphabet stamps the size you want. My white pen is a Signo and this is my favourite of all those I have tried.

Lots to Do Challenge

For the Lots to Do Challenge this week you had to use "words" in your work and so I decided to do the "Stazon Technique". I regretted my choice at doing it on a tag (they are only 1.75" wide) but carried on regardless. The problem was finding alphabet stamps small enough to fit on my tags. Yes, I was creating another tag for my box I began last week. The alphabet stamps that would fit on were too small to enable me to outline well in white so I am not too happy with the result.


I decided to only put two words on the other side, keeping in with the theme of "travel", so that made it a bit easier.

Think I might have to do a card later and upload that as well.

I was in a bit of a rush because we are off to the Food Festival in Bolton, disappointed because we thought we could just go and watch the demonstration by James Martin (like the one by Simon Rimmer last year - whoo hoo I got his autograph) but yesterday found that you had to have tickets this time. Guess what? They have sold out. Still the Food Festival looks good so off we are going.

Ready Steady Stamp Challenge

The Challenge this week on Ready Steady Stamp was to create something with the following ingredients:

Letter "A"; colours Brown, Cream and White; Raindrops (I used Glossy Accents as I don't know what the raindrops are); Scalloped Circle and Canvas.

This is my entry. It is done on one of those 5" square box canvases that are 1.5" in width.

First of all I Gesso'd it and then painted it all cream. The image of the girl on the beach is an um and I haven't a clue who it is by but she is stamped on white with Brown ink. The lettering "A la" is done with Spellbinders alphabets and then painted brown and the word "Mer" is computer generated, again in brown, on white card and then die cut with Spellbinders Classic Circle smallest die.

The netting at the bottom is some loosely woven hessian and has some seashells and something I once made in a mold stuck on it. If you look closely at the photograph below you can see the "raindrops" I made with my Glossy Accents.

This is something I wanted to do for ages but with "Alice in Wonderland" rubber stamps which would not have qualified for this Challenge as they are "cute" so I will have to get another of these canvasses if I am going to do that.

Anyway, I wanted to utilise both sides of the canvas so here is my second version, which may not qualify because it also has Turquoise in it. For this one I again painted the canvas and the wooden surround in the centre cream then I went over the wooden bit in turquoise and filled in the centre hole which is the back of the canvas.

Then I took some pictures of fish and scanned them as transparencies, cut them out, stuck two on the back and hung two from the inside top edge of the hole to give the three dimensional feel to it. Because I wanted to use "raindrops" (ie Glossy Accents) to act as bubbles from the fish in the forefront I had to put a piece of acetate over the opening.

Words again are done as on the front side of this canvas but this time using the Petite Scallop Circle from Spellbinders. To finish it off I have used some diecut shapes which my friend gave to me when she was showing me one of her cartridges for her Cricut. The ones at the back are painted with Ranger Dabber Espresso and the swirly one is painted in Brown.

Not sure what I think of this but will definitely get another one and do "Alice" in it now that I have seen how the back can be utilised.

Tag for Hilda

This is the tag I made yesterday for Hilda who is hosting the swap over on Lots to Do Challenge. If you remember I could not upload it yesterday as the Glossy Accents on the doll face had not dried.

I did the background with the Distress Inks on my craft sheet and the spritz of water technique, then I put some encyclopedia paper above and below the image and, masking out the image, used my Crackle stamp from Stampendous. the main image is Lost Coast.

Not a clue who the words are by but they were stamped on bits of paper and then stuck on. Hope she likes it.

That's probably all for today as I am out with my friend Naomi and her delightful little girl, Chloe. Can't wait to see them as they have been away for two weeks in Greece.

Lots to Do Forum

Been tagging it today. On the Lots to Do Forum there is a Tag Swap which has to incorporate "Art" somehow - it can be the word or the image so I have made my three tags and here they are. I haven't put fibres in them for scanning as it does not show up the picture the same when you including the fibres.

The first one shows an image from Onyxpressions with leaves from Graphicus. The background is done with Peeled Paint and Shabby Shutters Distress Ink sponged on. The main image was stamped and embossed twice so that I could cut out the letter "N" and put it on some foam buddies as I did with some of the leaves. Took ages to cut those leaves out.

This second one is using a wax resist background in Brushed Corduroy and Frida is a Lost Coast Design I bought in Germany at Stempel Mekka the first time I went. The word ART is from Time to Stamp.

The third one uses two Art Doll stamps from Cats Life Press, both embossed on the background which again is sponged - this time with old Paper, Antique Linen and Broken China Distress Inks. The ampersand is a diecut from a Spellbinders Die.

I have done another tag for the hostess but as I used Glossy Accents on it it still is not dry so will have to be uploaded another time. I tried to make all my tags have totally different subjects but still use the word "Art" in a true context.

Some Cards - At Last

Had to make a couple of birthday cards today so left journalling well alone. The card above is for an Internet friend who does not go on my blog so it is safe to publish it. The image is from Non Sequitur's "Memories of Italy" and I also stamped part of her hair on a jigsaw piece which I had first coloured with Brilliance Sky Blue. I put another of my small jigsaw pieces covered in utee with wire and beads on at the other side and then at the bottom put the sentiment (which I love) and which came from Simple Expressions that my friend, Cath, used to do.

The other birthday card will have to be uploaded later as the friend it is for does come on my blog from time to time - can't spoil the surprise for her.

This card is for one of my clay friends who needs a bit of cheering up. I used the Cuttlebug Folder "Diamonds in the Rough" (one of my favourites) and then swiped gently over with Vintage Photo on a piece of Cut N'Dry. I like the effect this gives and I actually did some more backgrounds in the same way but with other folders - not finished as yet - only the Cuttlebug bit done.

I covered a slide mount with some encyclopedia paper and covered that with the same ink and then put it over an already stamped face "Maribel" by Stempelglede. I stamped "Inspire" and "Faith" in Archival Sepia in the spaces and added three flowers with some glitter glue for centres and mounted it up.

I am sure she will like this and it will be a real suprise for her.

Right off to watch some tv and relax for a while. Who knows, might hear the call of the craft room before the evening is over.

Music in Frisco

Another journal page today. This was inspired by a challenge I saw on Inkurable Stampers and fit in nicely because I have been haunted by Scott McKenzie's "San Francisco - Be sure to Wear Some Flowers in your Hair".

I have always loved that song and can remember in the 60's wearing long cotton skirts, tiny cheesecloth tops (and occasionally a flower in my hair) whilst pushing my son around in his pram. The pictures that must conjure up for my current friends who did not know me back then. Whenever I am down just hearing that song lifts me up again.

Today I painted my page with pale blue, touches of pink and pale green acrylic paint. Then I used a mask of some flowers (actually a paper runner bought in Germany by a friend of mine) on various parts of the page sponging Brilliance Twilight Ink over the top. I was really pleased with the result - very subtle. Then I printed the words of the song out on a piece of Cuttlewaxed cardstock - Broken China Distress Ink - and stamped some music on the bottom. The stamp in the top left hand corner saying "Music is Love" is stamped with Stazon Fuchsia Pink and the music down the right hand side is stamped with Teal Blue.

The various die-cuts are from a friend of mine who wanted to show me one of her favourite cartridges (must get that). The flowers, leaves and swirly heart are coloured with various Dabbers. The print of Jimmy Hendrix and the butterflies are from my stash.

Not too sure about my attempts at writing, I really must get a book to show me different styles, but I tried my best today. Hope it qualifies and you like it.

Guess what is playing on Spotify whilst I am writing this? My inspiration for this page.

Journalling Before Dawn

Was up early this morning as my hip was bothering me so I took myself off into my craft room and carried on with my journal page which had been waiting to be finished for a couple of weeks. The chessmen and the wording from Paperartsy were the only things on the page - "daring ideas are like Chessmen moved forward. They may be beaten but they might start a winning game"

I added an opening door and some "eye" stamps but when I came to do some writing I smudged the top left eye. Drat! Not to be deterred I made a tag to fit over and luckily managed to get the eye aligned. When you open the door you see this image:

My writing on the tag says "When you are scared turn to your Art and lose yourself in a world of Creation. Unlock the door, look inside your mind and you will find a safer place to take refuge in. If only for a brief period of time you will be at Peace with your innermost thoughts and a new vision will appear as if by Magic. Let Art take Over".

Maybe that will explain some of the images I have used.

Incidentally, when I showed Chas my page he read the bottom as "the eyes see T" and didn't understand it. Sorry if that is how you see it as well - the "T" belongs to the word "ART".

Lots to Do Challenge

This is a chipboard tag which I am entering for the Lots to Do challenge this week. I made my own paper for the background which I stuck over the chipboard. It was just simple copy paper which I scrunched and then opened and swiped over with a Jade Brilliance Ink pad. I then dried it quickly with my heat gun and scrunched it again, opened out and swiped with my Gold Encore Pad this time. Again opening up and drying - but this time I actually ironed it.

Mona is an image stamped on copy paper and embossed - she is from one of Tim Holtz' atc stamps. Similarly the Bingo background is from one of his stamps. I used an actual Metro ticket from Paris which I changed the colour of because I did not like the deep lilac on this tag and finally put some Glossy Accents over the numbers at the top. Oh, and I added a letter "M" for "Mona" which is from a Spellbinders die.

The other side of the tag was covered with the same home-made paper and then I stamped Frida on some scrapbook paper and tore the words but cut her out. The background stamps are by Penny Bearcroft for The Stamp Bug (lovely stamps)

Now this tag will sit inside this little tag house which I bought ages ago and did nothing with until today. I haven't known what to do with it but when I saw the challenge for using paper of some description a light bulb came on. I covered the house with Basic Grey paper and coloured the door and windows with Broken China Distress Ink. Similarly the heart shape was coloured with Worn Lipstick but the door knob was punched from one of the squares out of the window and coloured with my Copper Krylon pen.

I stamped a couple of vases of flowers (Hero Arts) on some plain white cardstock and then cut out some acetate and put these behind the window shapes. I had to have "glass " in my windows. Finally I stamped some flowers around the walls of my little house. Again Hero Arts stamps.

I think this will qualify for the Lots to Do challenge as I have used paper for my pieces. I so love their challenges and look forward to them each week. I am hoping there will be more of their challenges where I can make a tag and then this will be my "Lots to Do Challenge House" - full of tags.

Tri Shutters Again

Yesterday I made two more of those TriFold or TriShutter cards (seen them named as both in places). Wanted to save yesterday as a "Tribute" day so didn't upload them. The first one is for a friend from way way back who emailed me to say her husband is very ill so I thought I would send them a card to let them know I was thinking about them. (I did email back and rang them)

This one is using plain card which has gone through the Cuttlebug with the folders. I got the idea from somewhere but cannot remember where.

This second one was one I started ages ago and never got around to putting images on. I do like these Llewellyn Bowen stamps and thought this an ideal opportunity to use them.

Just a little bit of "Paris" on them with the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe featuring.

The Lots to Do Challenge this week is to use paper "any kind of paper, newspaper, plain paper, patterned, textured, made by yourself, a page out of a magazine, the tv guide, anything you like. You can use it in any way you wish, just be creative and have fun" so I have a couple of ideas running around in my head - off to try them out - I do love their challenges.

Tribute

Last Monday a very talented, and very dear lady who was a member of a card making group I am on passed away after a short illness. This was the last birthday card she sent to me, which was in March.

She was an extremely talented card maker and will be sadly missed by many, including her on-line friends.

Cath, our listmom, posted her birthday card on her blog as a tribute and I asked if she would mind if I did the same thing. Today Suse was laid to rest.

This is a tribute to you Suse.

Home from Home

This is the cover of a new journal which I am going to do when we go to see a friend in America. I thought it would be nice to journal what we do whilst we are staying with her and then present it to her at the end of our trip.

When we go to stay with Mary it is like going from home to home, hence the title. The little houses/buildings are from a Paperartsy stamp which I just love. You may recognise these buildings from a previous page I did on a journalling workshop.

I stamped them on some cardstock which was coloured with various Stewart Gill True Colours and then cut them out. The front row are stuck onto some chipboard to make them stand out from the others.

Today I searched and searched for my chipboard letters as I wanted to enter this on the Gingersnap Creations blog which stated that you could use chipboard for your main focus, an element or the base of your submission. Twice I went through all my boxes in my craft room but still could not find them. And I thought I was organised!! Not to be deterred I painted some chipboard with True Colours and then put the lettering on top. The word "from" is made up from epoxy stickers.

I am sure I will have fun working in this journal and I hope Mary likes it when it is completed and left with her.

Lots to Do Challenge

This week the Lots to Do challenge was a free week to do whatever you liked.

I have been wanting to do a jigsaw book (love jigsaw shapes in my stamping) since I received one from a friend so here was the perfect opportunity. I have a dear friend with a birthday coming up very soon so this is her birthday card - hope she likes it.

The whole thing is held together with those ring things (don't know what they are called) and I tied some ribbon on them.

This is the front cover and it has a piece of real jigsaw which I covered in utee and then wrapped wire and beads around.

To begin with I had some large jigsaw pieces so I chose one that had a flat base rather than the piece that slots into it. As it was going to be a birthday card I thought it should stand up. Then I cut my pages by drawing round it on cardstock and then on scrapbook paper. Long task which could have been made much simpler had my head been in gear.

Each page of the book is one piece of cardstock with a piece of scrapbook paper on either side. Hope the glue holds out!
Some of the images I stamped directly onto the page, others I stamped onto cardstock and cut out glueing them down later.

At first I was going to leave them simply stamped but with the lips painted in red - then I started with my Twinkling H2O's and that was it, they got coloured in a bit more.

I tried to do some background stamping that was a different topic on each page,

and I tried to incorporate some suitable wording on a couple of them.

I love the flourishes on this one - they are the Llewellyn Bowen stamps I bought a while ago and hadn't used - will use these flourishes more now.

Quite a few of my ladies are from Non Sequitur
as are some of the background stamps.

This is the last page in the book. I have not shown the back cover as it has a personal message on for my friend.
Hope she likes it - and you do too.

TMTA CHallenge

These two atc's are my contribution for the challenge over on TMTA this week. Not sure the first one will qualify as it is not a true image. Rather liked a poem I came across though so I have used one of the verses for the background.

I have used Broken China Distress Ink to give it some colour and used lime green gel pen on the gekko which was stamped with Archival Black.

This one has figures stamped on the background (Broken China and Brushed Corduroy again!) and then the image is one I found as I didn't have any stamps apart from cute dragons. Thought the image rather blended in with the background hence the word "camouflage".

That's it for now folks - but need to do another challenge before too long.

RSS Challenge

I get totally hooked on the RSS Challenges - they are great! This one had the ingredients: Landmark, colour Blue, Metal embellishment, Cork and the Cuttlewax Technique. You will have to go to the website for details of how to do the Cuttlewax technique.

For this first one (yes, I have done two - can't get enough of these challenges) I crunched my wax paper because it looked interesting. Loved how it turned out. I used Broken China Distress Ink for my colouring and a scenic stamp showing Big Ben. I guess I could maybe have got away with just the brads for the metal but I diecut a clock from copper and then heated it to give it a patina finish. The label at the bottom is a diecut piece of cork.

This second one is my favourite. I made this one first but uploaded them the other way round. I did use the Rough Diamonds Cuttlebug Folder for the technique, then diecut two cork flourishes (Spellbinders) and used a charm which says "Memories" on it. The stamp is another scenic one showing Tower Bridge which I stamped and embossed and then stamped the canons a second time and put them over the top of the others with sticky buddies to make them stand out. On the Cuttlewax Technique I used Broken China and Brushed Corduroy - my current fave mix of Distress Inks!

Hope it qualifies for the Challenge - have checked it again and am sure I have got everything in.

TMTA Challenge

I found this weeks challenge on TMTA a bit difficult. It sent me all over the place on the internet and I got so involved in reading about Haights Ashbury in San Francisco. The highlight was listening to Scott Mckenzie's "If you're going to San Francisco, be sure to wear some flowers in your hair" - an all time favourite song of mine. Took me back some years ...

Never could draw faces, but above is my attempt. Not happy with it but as last week's entry did not go in (struggled in putting a comment on the site and gave up in the end) thought I would try again.

Time ATC's

I have joined the Lotstodo forum and decided to have a go at making three atc's with "Time" for the theme.

This first one is an image of a clock with wings ("Time Flies") and I first used a Non Sequitur stamp of clock faces and parts with the resist technique. Used Broken China Distress Ink over the top. Then I stamped the clock (could be Above The Mark but not sure) twice. The first one I coloured the wings with Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink and the second image I embossed in gold. Then I carefully cut them out and attached the second wings to the first one through tiny slits I carefully cut. This is so they stand up but obviously does not show in the scan. The words are produced with my Dymo.

The second one is again a Non Sequitur image, first stamped directly onto the atc and then stamped and embossed (clear), cut out and placed over the first so that you just see the other hand - hence "Time on Your Hands". Lettering done with various alphabet stamps.

The last one I am not sure if it will qualify as there is not a great deal of stamping on it and it is a different type of "time". I first coloured the background with Broken China again (love that colour) and then overstamped with the Diamond stamp from Hero Arts and used a date stamp turning the year to 1941. I found the images on the internet and used Brushed Corduroy over the music score, just cut Bogie and Ingrid out and affixed them to it and finally the lettering with a few clocks as well.

Time is the passage of time in date form as well as in minutes/hours etc isn't it? Will have to see if it qualifies.

Lucky For Some

Today is the 13th - not Friday the 13th I know but still it was unlucky for our house in that Chas opened the door to the utility room and it banged against the worktop and smashed the glass. Bit of a mess! Still, we have got it fixed and also got the glass topped table that his friend broke (big guy - sat on it - doh!) fixed at the same time. "An ill wind ..."

The day had started off really good. My friend had eagerly been awaiting the birth of her new grandchild in Germany. Yeah! The news came through, her daughter had given birth to a bouncing baby girl. The pair of us had a few tears whilst we chatted on the phone and then I dashed into my craft room to make two cards.

Now you might think the first one does not compare to the second. The first is for her daughter but she isn't the kind of person who would like frills and stuff so I have used a very pale pink and lime green for the card. I love these "Sweetpea" images and hope she does too. I coloured them in using three different Twinkling H2O greens.The second is for the proud grandparents and this time I really went to town as I am sure they will like this. It is on pale pink cardstock and has two rows of lace on a kind of frame that I made to put over an image (sorry, not stamped). This is then mounted on some pink mottled cardstock and finally on to the background card.

I twisted some ribbon and stuck it down with my faithful Glossy Accents, attached some roses and some pink pearls (you can't see these unless you click on the picture). A silver embossed "Congratulations" completes the card.

It would not scan because of the roses not allowing it to be level on the scanner bed; our silly camera just gave us blurred images so it had to be taken outside in the sunlight - hence the French windows; and now the cropping tool will not work in Adobe Photoshop. All that remains to be done is to make a box so it can be posted off.

Lucky day for my friends but not so great at our house.

Another Layout

Have done another Journal page at last. The Challenge for this month on the Ranger group was to include something with inspiration from poetry or a song. I wanted to do this page with those lovely seahorses on and so I began researching for some words. This is what seemed best suited to what I wanted.

It is from "The Little Mermaid – Under the Sea Lyrics by Howard Ashman" and I thought it quite suitable.

I am struggling with my writing and need to get a book to give me some ideas on styles I can use within my journalling. When I have done wavy writing in the past letters such as "g,q,p"etc have been a problem as they come below the line so this time I used all upper case. I like banners on my work (like the little houses on the page I uploaded on the 19th July) so this time I made one from some shells, not quite as effective as the houses but a kind of banner all the same.

When I was teaching I found it difficult at first to write on a chalkboard whilst teaching the class and make sure I spelled everything right. I found it easy to make mistakes. Well! I must be suffering again as I spelled the word "Somebody" as "Someboday". Difficult to change when you don't find out until the very end. Hence the little seahorses cut out of paper and stuck randomly in with the words. One actually covers the "A" that should not have been there.

And I thought I could spell!!!

Cat Cards

Here are the two cards I made for the "Cat" swap on one of my groups. I have had the image on the card above for simply years and have always liked it (it is quite huge) but have always found it difficult to use apart from just plain stamping.

This time I stamped and embossed it, painted the eyes with Twinkling H2O's, applied some Glossy Accents to them (as usual), put more paint on the actual cat and then computer generated the words. The words are from "Cats" and about Macavity the criminal cat. Thought this image rather suited it. You can read the verse by clicking on the picture. To complement it I put some Treble Clefs on the side and footprints going around to suggest the musical - kind of Macavity dancing his way around.

Hope Val likes it.

My second card is stamped and embossed on glossy card then coloured in with Brilliance Aurora to suggest the cats are there early in the morning. The paper behind is from some given to me by a friend in America and looks like planks of wood. The letters 'CAT' are punched out down the side. This one has gone to Thommo so I also punched out a cat at the back as this is the way she always signs her cards.

That's it for now as I must get on with my altered corset - nearly there with this one.