Just Noticed LTD

Oh heck!  Just as I was about to relax and have the last hour at home before setting off I noticed the Lots to Do Challenge.  I hate missing it.

Here is my 'Quickie for the day' for Lots to Do.  I used one of my new background pieces and stamped Tim Holtz' atc stamp on in Black and then did the scrabble letters to spell out "travel".  Used another TH stamp for the background on the Teal cardstock and then punched out circles with a regular punch, stamped the "NSEW" on and used an ideology spinner.

Sorry this is a bit rushed but best I could do as a last minute entry.

Off to America

Not had much time for anything with aunty being taken ill and getting ready for the trip to America.  Flying out tomorrow - can't believe how quickly this has come.

Did manage to get one more card finished for my workshop but used two of my own images (in keeping with the theme though) so will leave you with that.

Thank you to all who have visited my blog of late, especially to my many followers, and welcome to my new ones - be sure to check whilst I am away as I will blog from time to time - and then there is CHA - I will report back on that.

In the meantime here is the other card - another foldy one.

Am now off to check what I can take on the flight regarding doing just one bit of work whilst flying across the Atlantic.

Happy Crafting everyone!

Another Challenge for Tuesday Taggers & Sneak Peek

Well, at long last my order arrived from Leandra this afternoon.  Not her fault as it had been posted over 10 days ago - it was the weather!  Apparently the post is piling up in the parcels office and they are even working Sunday to get the back log out.

Anyway, this is the card I was going to enter into Tuesday Taggers Challenge but I could not finish it as I wanted the stamps for the "button" and the words to put across the base.  It is also another card for my workshop at Paddy's which is now the 18th March (and 10th April is a repeat).  A big gap because I have so many committments in March!  As you can see it is an easel card (with a tag) and features "Archie" again from Paperartsy.

I used Peeled Paint, Shabby Shutters and Pine Needles Distress Inks for the green background and then did the drippy water thing on it.  Then I used the swirls from Ding & Dong 5.  Another piece of cardstock was made for Archie and the background using Worn Lipstick, Fired Brick, Spiced Marmalade and Mustard Seed.  Again the stamps were from Ding & Dong 5.

The "stop" at the bottom was from Ding & Dong 3 and the words from Clocks 5.  The whole thing is mounted on Teal coloured card - I love that Teal cardstock.

The colours are much brighter than it shows up in the scan, the card used to mount the green over the orangey card is bright yellow as is the card used for the words!

Gingersnap Challenge

One of my closest friends has a birthday whilst I am away and so her card has to be done well in advance and hidden away at her parents' house.  I made this 8" x 8" card for her this time and used pink cardstock but went over it with Broken China Distress ink - she is a very "pink" person since the birth of her little girl - and she loves lilac (blue and pink make lilac don't they?).

I used Grungeboard swirls and used the cut out bits (the left-overs) to do some of the background by pouncing Cut and Dry with Broken China through.   Like a stencil - I like the effect and do this quite a lot.  The flowers and small butterflies are cut from Grungepaper using a Spellbinders die, as is the fancy scroll around the word.  The large butterfly is a Grungeboard one.

The various elements are painted with Dabbers and the images are from Oxford Impressions.  Not sure who the photo corners are by but they are metal and I gave them a little light sanding - and the spinner is from the Ideology range.

I've made the photoart stamp so that it can be taken off and she can attach a photograph of her own little sweetheart.  The sentiment "A Daughter is a little girl who grows up to be your friend" is embossed with Gold ep so it can now be my entry into the Gingernsap Creations GC38 Spicy Supply Challenge which is embossing powder.

Talking of Gingernsap Creations I was over the moon to be alerted by Shar to the fact that my Frieda calendar had been chosen as a Ginger Gem.

Anyway, enough chat - here is the card

I am hoping I will get chance to do some more Challenges over the next couple of days but yesterday we had to make a dash to Southport as Chas' aunty has been taken ill.  We love her so much and are her closest family so she has to take priority at the moment.

Journal

Got up early this morning but don't know where the day has gone.  However, I did finish off a journal page in the early hours, prompted by my lovely Mr Blackbird.  Don't laugh at my attempts at poetry.

I am entering this in Tuesday Taggers just in case I don't get chance to do anything else for the Challenge.  I've been so busy (dare I say - cleaning up) that I almost forgot to post today.

Play Date Cafe & Blog Candy Alert

Had to get a last minute entry in for the Play Date Cafe Challenge this week.  As I am in love with Archie I used him to do some metal embossing and mounted him on some black card.

The colours this week are black, white, silver and gold so I used White for the main card, stamped a light background in Gold (Encore Ultimate Metallic Gold) and Archie (Paperartsy again) is on Silver metal then on his Black background.

I had a great time with my Ten Second Studio tools embossing Archie and using one of the wheels to fill in the background on the piece of metal.  Maybe I can get a few tips when I go to CHA from the girls at Ten Seconds Studio.  You will have to wait and see if I improve my metal skills when I get back.

Another Sneak Peek for my workshop.

Was not happy with the scan above as the Gold does not show up as Gold so did another card using gold and silver embossing powder.  This is a favourite technique of mine and I usually use Gold, Copper and Bronze ep, especially for autumnal cards.  Again the scan does not show the Gold up very well - maybe if you tip your screen back you will get a better view.  Ah well, at least I tried.

BTW - I have just been to Erika's blog and there is a MASSIVE blog candy giveaway - would be a shame to miss it.  Some good stuff on there too, so well worth a visit.

Another Sneak Peek

This is another of my workshop cards.  I am hoping to do Tim's class (as in Holtz) at CHA - yeah I'm off to America providing the weather does not stop me - and the class is on Distress Inks so maybe some new techniques to bring back.  Watch this space...

For this one I used all manner of Distress Inks in Blues, Reds (count Pink in as well) and finally Dusty Concord.  Then I did the drops of water on it and dried it off with my heat gun.

I am waiting for a postal delivery of some Paperartsy stamps and so I looked to see what I had that was suitable in my Elusive Images ones (I have to use what Paddy stocks or can stock) and came up with these bird images.

The card is a 6" x 6" square with each side folded to the centre and then a flap folded down at the top.  The flower is a Prima one which was swiped with Dusty Concord and a jewel stuck on.

Simple ... but I hope effective.