It's Our 1st Birthday

The Craft-Room-Challenge is one year old and we've decided to celebrate with you lovely people who have made our fortnightly challenges such a success by having a Blog Hop. We are joined in this by one of our Wonderful sponsors, Liz Welch of Rarebird, the main prize, a Bend it Shape it DVD, has been donated by Rarebird for one lucky winner and she has also donated her other DVD Bend It Makes Cards as a runner up prize.

The start of the blog hop is at the Craft Room Challenge site and
You should have arrived here from My Bird Flying Free
Your next stop should be NM Card Creations

Our hop has a little twist instead of looking for a letter at each stop there will be a very easy question to answer.

My question is
What technique can be done with a light box, a folder or with some powder and a heat gun. 

 Like all such events the rules are simple visit each blog in the hop, leave a comment and make a note of the question. When all the stops have been visited you will end up back at the challenge site, don't forget to leave a comment there! Send an email to Zoe with the answers to all the questions and have fun! There is a prize donated by each team member to be won. The prize for my question is a Tim Holtz/Alterations Springtime Background and Borders Set of embossing folders.

We have a regular challenge as well, the theme is Birthday's, naturally. It has been chosen by Julia and she is donating a mystery prize.
This is my DT piece for the challenge and it's also the card I made for my friend Alison's birthday last week.

I fell in love with this stamp as soon as I saw it at Ally Pally, it's made by Chapel Road Artstamps. I coloured some card with lemon zest, vibrant turquoise and squeezed orange Dylusions sprays, then I stamped the image with black Stazon and used bleach on her face, then I painted some Crackle Accents over the image. I layered two Gecko Galz background papers onto a card blank and then adhered the image. I embellished the card with some sari ribbon, a charm and some pearls.

Before I go I'd like to thank everyone that entered the last challenge, we had some outstanding entries and I don't envy Maria having to choose her top 3. Have fun with the blog hop and I look forward to seeing your birthday entries.

Daisy, Daisy.

This week I received the brilliant Art Sayings stamp set designed by Sam Poole to be used for my Creative Expressions DT pieces, I also used the Creative Expressions Botanical stamp set.

I started by colouring a white card blank with violet Pan Pastel and then I stamped the leafy spray with Versamark and went over it with the violet again. I then adhered a torn piece of corrugated card. For the main image I coloured a piece of white card with hansa yellow tint and violet tint Pan Pastel, then I stamped the leafy spray with Versamark and coloured with permanent green tint. I stamped the solid daisy stamp with felt tip pens and then went over them with the daisy stamps and black Archival. The butterflies were stamped and coloured with pencil. I tore the image in half and adhered them to the card then I attached some yellow wool and some daisies that I'd stamped and cut out. I then attached the sentiment and cut out butterfly.

Gecko Galz in May

Before I start I'd like to mention that Gecko Galz has a Design Team Call at the moment so if you would like to join the very talented and friendly team and also receive some fabulous collage sheets to work with every month then visit Gecko Galz to find out how. You have until June 1st to apply.
Gecko Galz also have a Papercrafting Group that have lots of challenges and swaps every month, the link to the group is in my left sidebar.

I'd like to share with you a couple of DT pieces that I've made for Gecko Galz.
The first one is an arch hanging using images from Etherial Beauties 2 collage sheet and Shrines, I also used some GG background paper.

I used a ready made papier mache hanging and painted it with white gesso, then I painted it with Eco Green blue patina acrylic paint. I adhered  the backing paper that I'd coloured in places with weathered wood Distress ink.
I resized the shrine so that the image would fit in the aperture. I drew over parts of the shrine with a gold pen and then covered it with Distress Crackle Paint. After adhereing the shrine and image to the hanging I added some gems, braid, dangly beads and some little roses.

My second piece is a Postcard from Paris using images from Parisien Jewels Dominos, Parisian Dreams Ephemera Sheet and the Eiffel Tower image from the Paris Flea Market decos.

I printed the Eiffel Tower onto white card and cut it to postcard size then I coloured the background with Pan Pastels and used a Crafter's Workshop mask to make a pattern. I stamped the Carte Postal with a Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous stamp.
I adhered the domino images to some moutboard and tripple embossed them, I tore the other image and edged it with vintage photo Distress ink.

Creative Expressions Birds

Here is my latest DT piece for Creative Expressions using Sam Pooles Birds stamp set. I've made another card.

I edged a white card blank and spotty background paper with weathered wood Distress ink.
I coloured a piece of white card with old paper Distress ink direct to the card and then sponged it with tumbled glass. The stamping has been done with weathered wood. I stamped the sentiment and cut it out with a Spellbinders Label 4 die. The flowers were cut with a Sizzix Tim Holtz/Alterations mini tattered floral die and the bird was cut with a die from the Spellbinders Bird Sanctuary set. All the die cuts were coloured with Distress ink and the bird and flowers were covered with Clear Rock Candy Distress Stickles.

I'm entering my card into the
Artful Times Birds challenge.

If The Crown Fits

I'd like to share this tag with you.

The stamps that I used are by Studio 490/Wendy Vecchi. For the background I used the Sentimental Art set and the image and sentiment are from the Regal Art set.
I embellished the tag with an Art Part border, a wooden crown and some silver crown charms. I also added some red gems.
To colour the tag I used Distress ink and stains and some chalks.

I'm entering the tag in a couple of challenges 
Sunday Stampers Queens and Crowns
Simon Says Stamp and Show Anything Goes

Craft Room Challenge

Another fortnight has gone by and it's time for another Craft Room Challenge. The challenge this time has been chosen by Maria and she wants to see some Material on your work.
We had some brilliant entries for the embossing challenge and I don't envy Esther having to choose her top three.

 The sponsors for the challenge is IndigoBlu makers of fabulous rubber stamps. I used their stamps on my card

I started making this card by colouring the edge of a white card blank with Pan Pastel then I layered a piece of Basic Grey paper and some poppy paper that was free with a magazine, can't remember which one. I stamped the image and words onto material using black Stazon and then I frayed the edges before stapling them to some card and attaching them to the card blank. I dyed some seam binding with rusty hinge and fired brick Distress Stains and  tied it to the card.

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Home Tweet Home

I've gone a bit more grungy for my Creative Expressions DT piece this week using Sam Poole's Birds stamp set.

I coloured some card with Pan Pastels and then stamped a couple of the bird houses, I then embossed the card using a Cuttlebug embossing folder and went over the raised bits with some Distress ink to make the grasses stand out a bit more. Then I coloured the houses with felt tip pens being careful not to go over the grass so that it looks like the houses are amongst the grass. I coloured a white card blank with some mustard seed Distress ink, I think I should have used a paler yellow, and stamped the swirls, then I adhered some backing paper and the main image to it. I embellished the card with some ribbon, a couple of silver bird charms and a bird house that I'd stamped, coloured and cut out.

Linda Elbourne Workshop

I went to the Craft Barn on Sunday with my friend Alison to do a workshop with Linda Elbourne. I had a brilliant day and decorated a suitcase and made a notebook to fit inside.

I used lots of acrylic paint, distress ink and stains and Tim Holtz/Alterations stamps.

Time Tag

It's the Artful Times third challenge and the theme is Time.

I made a tag for the challenge. I embossed the tag with  a Sizzix Tim Holtz Alterations embossing folder. All the elements have been coloured with a mixture of Pan Pastels and Distress Ink. The stamps that I used are by Non Sequitur.

Happy Bird Day

Here is my latest DT piece for Creative Expressions using Sam Poole's Birds stamp set.

It's quite a simple card layering some kraft card, paper from my stash and the stamped birds. It has been embellished with string and a couple of buttons.
I stamped the birds with Kuretake/Zig Art and Graphic pens.

Emboss It

It's Esthers turn to choose the theme for the latest  Craft Room Challenge and she has chosen Embossing. This can be heat embossing or dry embossing or you could use embossing paste.

Stamp Addicts are the sponsors for the challenge.

I was going through my embossing folders to find one to make a card and came across a set of Tim Holtz ATC size folders so my card became ATCs.

For the background I used card that I'd inked a while ago and can't remember what inks I used. After embossing the ATCs I went over the raised images with vintage photo Distress ink and then I went over this with a Versamark pen and heat embossed them with clear embossing powder. I used 7 Gypsies and Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous stamps on the background.

This is a side view to show the clear embossing.

I'm entering my ATC in the Fashionable Stamping Challenge whose theme is Embossing.

I'm looking forward to seeing your Embossed creations and I hope you all visit the Craft Room Challenge Blog to see the wonderful creations that the rest of the DT team have done.