Scraps and Eyelets

That is the name of the Monthly Challenge over on KC, one of my Yahoo groups.  We had to make a card using scraps of cardstock (you know, the mountains of scrap we save and save) and eyelets.

This is mine, again using one of the gate fold cards with squares cut out which I got at Aintree when I went to the show a while ago:

I used some of my white scraps to stamp the daisies on the left hand side of the card and also for the words.  The green is some scrap paper that I had also saved and I used that to make a strip down the left hand (inside) of the card.  The daisies have pink tips to them as I love daisies that grow like that.

Inside it says "To see the world in a grain of sand, And heaven in a wild flower.  Hold infinity in the palm of your hand, And eternity in an hour"

This is going to be as birthday card (belated, ouch!) for one of the members of Vicky Stampers.

Play Date Cafe

I was thrilled to bits to see my good friend Paul as Guest Designer on this weeks Play Date Cafe Challenge.  I only hope I was not influenced by his choice of subject, which was butterflies, when I made this card.

As you can see this is mainly a die cut card but being basically a rubber stamper I had to include some stamping so used just two words on my card which is a gate fold one I got at Aintree when I went to a show.

I am totally in love with these tiny butterflies which I got when I went to see my friend Mary in America last January.  The added advantage is that they emboss at the same time as they cut out - wish I had more dies like this.

Julie had chosen the colours for this weeks challenge and I found it difficult matching them up despite them being amongst my favourite ones.  Inspiration was from a picture of Positano, Italy - a country I love to visit and the rust colour reminded me of the rooftops I love to see when over there.

ps forgot to say that the gate fold card has three square apertures cut out of it so I used my Nestabilities to cut the squares which I placed in a row on the inside of the card.

Klimt

Over on Gingersnap Creations the Chestnut Theme Challenge is "Famous Painters or Paintings".  Now I have a Degas stamp but there is already one of those up and I couldn't even come close to that sample so I remembered I had a Klimt Cube by Judikins.

Wondered what to put in the background and came up with this Stamp Camp background.  The whole thing is painted - background and images with watercolour paints and I tried (unsuccessfully) to do something like Klimt himself.  Well, the challenge did say "have some fun" so that is what I did.  I love painting images - so soothing and you can let your mind wander whilst doing it.  Anyway, enough waffling - here it is:

The centre one is on foam squares

to lift it a little

I am not mad on Klimt but I do have a print of one of his paintings hanging in our hallway.  Wanted this when I saw it in a book (even though her hands are like bananas) and my dil searched everywhere for the print one Christmas.  Which one is it - Emilie Floge, one of his muses - or was she - if you read this article it casts doubt.  Anyway, I like it so much that I have a wrist watch with the painting as the face and the strap is a copy of the dress fabric she is wearing in the painting.

Did I say I am not mad on Klimt?

WOYWW

WOW - went on WOYWW at 9.10 am and they are nearly up to 50 already.  Here is my entry for the WOYWW Challenge 61.  This is one of my "sections" or "units" courtesy of  that Swedish company we all know and love for our craft rooms.

There is another one on the adjacent side of the room but that contains a lot more than this one so am saving that for next week as I am off out shortly.

These are the drawers from some boxes that they do, the outer bits have been removed and this is the pull out bit (see the niche in the bottom right one).  They are then mounted on a piece of board which again is mounted onto the wall.  I'll not go into what is in each unit as I think you can see from the picture - mainly reinkers, all those bits you use for various techniques (like Mod Podge, Crackle mediums (in my search for the perfect one), Gum Arabic, Golden Products, Gesso etc), some spray washes, odd jumbo sized ink pads, Dimensional Pearls (only 3 but after seeing Sid's work the other day I want more) and my envelopes.

This was a "unit" made by "The Big Strong Boys" when they revamped my stamp room many years go and next week I will show you the other unit which my other half made for me following the same idea.

Right, must go as I have to meet a friend shortly - craft shopping!

Late to Bed - "Elements" got in the way

What a great night I had, Paddy came over and we played a bit with the next stage of "Elements".  I have had it on my side bar for a while now but not told you anything about it.  Can't divulge much as Paddy wants the "surprise element" in it (sorry about the pun).

It is a weekend of fun where you actually complete one large project with an optional one on the Saturday evening.  In case you haven't seen a flyer or the ad in CS it is mixed media where you will work with wood, perspex, metal, fabric, wire and my bit, clay.  Put all these "elements" together and you have the finished product.  Each element will be worked on in a group with a dedicated tutor who specialises in that particular medium.

Time for a sneak peek at mine

 

As you can see mine is to do with "Time", a favourite subject of mine, and you will recognise lots of the stamps I have used as they are from Paperartsy (another favourite).  I just love my yummy colours and am so glad I chose those from the gorgeous Rainbow Glazes we are using on the wood.  (Oops! Let it slip that the substrate is wood.)  All of the tutors are making their own and all have chosen different themes and colours.  

Cannot say too much but the finished article will look good on your desk and it will actually be useful.

Here is a sneak peek at what we were doing last night - an addition to my end product and a bit of the metal element.

Now I am getting excited as I have also received the perspex and mdf pieces ready for me to work on.  Can see the next few weeks are going to be busy as we all need instruction from each other as to how we are to proceed with their special bit - and I have my clay to work out - help!

So where is this fab weekend going to be - in Prestwich.

When - weekend 18th and 19th September.

Cost - £200 which includes all materials, tuition, a goody bag and lunch on the two days (plus tea/coffee with cakes/biscuits at breaks).

Time - early start on the Saturday with registration at 8.15 am (groan) and a finish time of around 5.30 with an optional extra project that evening.  Sunday will be a later start of about 9.30 and an earlier finish of 4 pm.

Accommodation can be had at the Travel Lodge at Pilsworth (they did have rooms for £19 but they may have gone now) and there are Premier Inns at Swinton and Heaton Park which is nearby.  If you are interested you can ring Paddy (0161 798 5115) to find out more about it and ask about other accommodation.

Hope I have not divulged too much and will be back from time to time with other sneak peeks but also hope I have whetted a few appetites along the way as there are one or two places left.

Going Back to Bed

Nothing is going right so I think I should go back to bed!

First of all I wanted to do a wedding card and had not a clue what to do.  At my age there is not much call for me to do wedding cards so inspiration was lacking - then I found the stamp that said "perfect" to me.  Stamped and embossed in gold, found words that were suitable  - all assembled - then messed up.  I wanted to use one of my MS punches down the side - it jammed - and ripped the card.  Back to square one minus the MS punch.

A bit plain, but then she is a young girl so wouldn't want anything over the top.  Determined MS had to feature somewhere I made an insert but found it wouldn't go round corners and couldn't get it to match up so punched some flowers out for three corners and those gorgeous little butterflies from my die.  Ok, she got over the top inside her card.

Next thing:  Lots to Do challenge - "The Scenic Route" - got just the stamp.  A huge Magenta one with an Edwardian couple cycling down a lane.  Could I find it - could I heck!  Come to think of it where is the other one with the little girl, and the one ....  How can someone lose such big stamps?  After temper tantrums (only kidding) and ages of searching I gave up.  

Used this one from my Scenic box and decided to watercolour - then changed my mind and got my stick chalks out.  Not done colouring like this for ages so not sure what anyone will think of it.

That's it from me today - hate to say but got housework to do.

Another Splash of Green

Got my free stamp yesterday with CS and loved it so just had to use it.  it was designed by Tracey Coates (designer for The Stamp Man - and check out Jill's  fab clock in this issue).

I made this card yesterday as soon as I got the stamp but decided to leave the uploading until today as I will be out for most of it and no time to blog later (well, make anything to blog).

Felt the image really lent itself to black and white so decided to do another entry for PDC.  Consequently I had to include some green in it so again I used it for part of the mount.  Don't know who the swirls are by but thought I would make my own patterned paper and they seemed to work.

Think I have gone a bit mad with the black and white - thanks Sarah for helping my mojo.  See you later!