Well ...

Aintree Show put me in bed for the whole of Sunday.  Boy oh Boy did I suffer!  Yesterday I had to do some cards for an upcoming workshop - similar to some others I did not long ago but with different stamps.

This is one of those Double Diamond cards - this time using Non Sequitur stamps from one of the Plates.

This is the front of one of those foldy flippy cards (not a clue what they are called) and shows the card when it is closed.

Notice how they seem so different in colour.  One is a scan and the other a photograph.  This is it with the flip flipped showing two images of Sassy Women and the words at the back say "Here she comes, Just a walkin' down the street, Singing Doo Wah Ditty ... Ditty Dum ... Ditty Doo ..."  Cannot for the life in me remember who the stamps are by but I bet my friend Cath does.

Didn't do a photograph/scan of the other one as it is too similar to my last one that was a Single Diamond Fold.  Hope the ladies enjoy doing them on Thursday.

A Quick Card and Aintree Show

Went to Aintree Show on Saturday with a couple of my friends, Mo and Jeannie.  Met up with Lorraine and her fab friend Sue so that was a laugh (they are so jolly).  Just what I needed after the week I have had.  Anyway, here are some photos from the Show - some fab knitting/embroidery and a showing of the costumes worn in The Duchesse.

If you think this knitted house is fab

Wait to see the next one

When I saw this I realised how incredibly tiny Keira Knightly must be.  This was Mo's favourite from the whole collection.

Guess my card will now fade into insignificance at the side of this incredible work but as it is my son and dil's 17th Anniversary this weekend I thought I had better do something in the way of a card.

Hope it is not too cutesy for them but I love this stamp from Paperartsy and just had to use it.  My fave combo of the new Distress Ink Colours - Rusty Hinge and Tumbled Glass were used for the background.

Happy Anniversary Andy and Sam - long may you stay as you are - so happy.

Difficult to Photograph

Not having a good week, so today I said "blow it", and decided to have some crafting time to myself.  I needed the break from all that is going on around me.  What better way than to enter one of my favourite Challenges - Lots to Do.

Having spent time on this piece of altered art I was disappointed to find it difficult to photograph it as it looks so much better IRL.

I bought this "thing" at a sale somewhere but cannot for the life in me remember where.  One of the tubes contained salt but the other two were empty - all had corks in the top.

I decided to alter it and use my Alcohol Inks to colour the 'glass test tube like containers' and painted the base with Croco paint in Bronze. Then I tried wrapping wire around the glass tubes but it kept slipping - back to the drawing board!  I then stamped some flowers on OHP film which had been coloured with alcohol Inks - they didn't show up. Next thought was to do the flowers in metal, puffing them up a bit and that worked better than anything I had tried so that is what you see.  I also embossed some metal with the word "Dream" and used one of my tools to give it a bit of texture at the base.

Unsure which photograph show it best

The tubes laid in a row

This is my entry for the Lots to Do Challenge this week - which is Alcohol Inks.  It is going to get used for specimen flowers so the corks are surplus to requirements but I am sure I will find a use for them one day.

My Love of China

Ever since I was a child I have had a fascination with China.    I can remember going with my father to the library for his travel books and always persuading him to take one on that country.  In 1997 I was fortunate to go to visit China and Hong Kong and I lived my dream, and loved every moment of it.

In my rubber stamping all things Chinese featured very strongly at the beginning but I soon came to realise that lots of the rubber stamps out there really featured Japanese figures so my love became more Asian.

In a corner of our utility room I have my 'Asian bit' with some things I brought back with me, some things my friends have bought for me since they knew of my "addiction".  Chopsticks stand in a container from Thailand, the balancing balls, the abacus, a buddha, the water buffalo and the tiny figures in front of the mirror all came from my wonderful holiday.

The two dolls in bags are from Thailand as is the yellow orchid carved from soap which just sneaks in at the bottom right hand corner.  The other things were gifts from friends and the pink thing is a container I once made from wooden dominoes.

Central to this display is an old Cutlery Box which I painted with a red lacquer.  It has become quite tired looking now so when I saw the Gingersnap  Challenge "Found Objects" I took the opportunity to revamp it a bit.

There are skeleton leaves, chopsticks, coins, jewels, an ink block and some Washi paper on top of it.  On top of the Washi paper are 12 dominoes which I have rubber stamped with a couple of images and then painted with Twinkling H2o's.  They have then been sealed with Glossy Accents.

I found an embroidered Chinese dragon in my stash and put that on as well but as I look at it more and more I do not think it fits in so it may well have to be removed.

On the wall behind the cupboard on which my little display stands are some pictures, including my Palooza which I have featured in my blog previously.

The fan was from another holiday in Thailand, as were the straw pictures on the wall to the right.  The only picture here from China is the embroidered blue one shown on the left.

There are other items standing on top of the cupboards on the opposite wall but I won't bore you with showing them all.

I just hope that the revamped box is eligible for the challenge but I am hoping to do another one in the coming days if I get the time.

Alice

Had to do another Gingersnap Challenge - this time "Growth".  I couldn't get my head to go away from Alice in Wonderland and her "growth" - maybe it is something to do with the lovely bag a friend bought me for my birthday with a picture of Johnny Depp (sorry, The Mad Hatter) on the front of it.

I used one of the concertina cards I got at the NEC show but the cardstock is a bit thin to use when spraying with inks so it has had to sit under a weight to make it completely flattened.  Sprayed it with Adirondack Inks - Lettuce and Butterscotch as I wanted a garden set of colours.  Then I used my Non Sequitur and Stamp Attack stamps for the images.

At first I stamped directly onto the card but decided that the colours did not show up enough so I re-stamped the Alice images on plain cs and after colouring them in with my Twinkling H2o's cut them out and stuck them down.

Hope this works for "Growth".

Card Opened

Tried to keep the images in order so this one shows Alice about to drink from the bottle marked "Drink Me".

This is to show "Growth" and the start of Alice beginning to grow with her neck elongating at this stage.

Here's a BIG Alice, checked in my Lewis Carroll book and this is the image of her when she had taken the drink.  I tried to show this with a small picture of the Mad Hatter which she is looking at as he runs off.  That bit is out of context but it is one of the smallest images I have and the words fit in with him.

Stepping Back in Time

Wednesday we went to Southport, I had forgotten I had taken these photographs but simply had to upload them as they are a "Step Back in Time" - well some of them.

It was a lovely sunny day and we went for a walk along the Pier.    I always think it is nice when you look across the boating lake towards the funfair - just love the bridge..

As we walked along we saw a skateboard park with some young people showing off their talents.  You can just about see one young man in action as he makes his leap in the centre of the photograph.

We walked to the very end of the Pier and because it was quite a cool breeze when you got so far out we went into the Amusement Arcade to get warm.  What a surprise we got.  A blast from the past.

You had to use Old Pennies

Remember this?  Steering the ball?

I just had to have a go at these

And what about these

What the Butler Saw

Chas changed some money and he had a great time playing the slots - didn't win a thing but what the heck - it was fun.

On our way back we saw something else very reminiscent of childhood.  Now you might not agree with donkey rides but it completed my trip down Memory Lane.

A lovely sunny day, a lovely day out at the seaside - and think of the health benefits of the sea air.

Hope I am in Time

Phew!  Back from Ormskirk, tired but still going.  Before I left I so wanted to enter the Gingersnap Challenge - Copper, Ginger or Rust as I love those colours.    Made a card, messed about with it but didn't like it - should I really post it on here?

Anyway, got up early this morning as I couldn't sleep and made another one.  Not for the purists amongst us as there is only one word stamped on it but I did give in and use my favourite piece of Rust cardstock for this one.  Had a terrible time with my MS punch which would not work on the cs so I had to change it and use another one.  Used my Spellbinder's dies for the oval shape and the tag at the bottom and my NEW Embosslit "Beautiful Wings" for the tiny butterflies.  Love those teeny weeny ones!  Anyway, here it is and it is being entered in the Gingersnap Challenge.