Free Theme ATC

It was a free theme for the UK Stampers January ATC swap.
I'm not sure what make the stamps are for the first two ATCs but the butterfly image is by Crafty Individuals. I used distress inks to colour the images. I covered the middle one with a piece of acetate.

Journal Week 2

Best and Worst Gifts was the theme for week 2.
I chose my children for my best gift and a windup musical clown doll that my in laws bought me for my worst gift. He spent most of his time hidden behind the curtains and let out when they came to visit.
The background is part of a Christmas card, it has lovely glittery swirls on it. I chose the Peter Pan image [Artistic Outpost] because when my son was about 8 he told his dad that he was never going to grow up, he's 22 now and he hasn't.
The stamp I used for the clown is by Katzelkraft.

Pink and Brown ATC

I made this ATC for KCUK's pink and brown ATC swap.
I stamped the main image [Rubber Stampede] on to pink card with Coffee Archival ink. I did the same with the letters and added a little gem to the M. The background paper is from my stash. I went round the edges with some pink foil.

Journal Week 1

I can't believe that it was the beginning of November that I last posted anything, so I think it's about time I started again.
This is my first offering.
UK Stampers have started to do a weekly journal challenge so I thought I would give it a go. It'll be interesting to see if I can keep it up.
For week one we had to choose 3 goals to keep during 2011 and we had to include a photograph. My goals are:
1. Eat healthy food.
2. Take the dogs on longer walks.
3. Spend more time in the garden.
I used distress inks to colour the background. The sequin waste stamp is by The Artistic Stamper, all the other stamps used are by Eco Green Crafts. The photo is of a bee that I took in the garden that I want to spend more time in.

Purple Postcards

These are three postcards that I made for a swap on KCUK.
Butterflies.
I coloured the background with a Marvy ink pad and stamped butterflies over it using Distress ink and Brilliance , I'm not sure who made the stamps, I also stamped butterflies on to a piece of torn mauve tissue paper and attached it to the card. I stamped the main image, by Crafty Individuals, on to some white card with a Marvy ink pad and attached it to the card with some brads. I embossed the edges with some tropic violet Cosmic Shimmer UTEE
Life's a Beach.
All the images are by Crafty Individuals. The background is coloured with a Marvy ink pad. I stamped the beach huts on to some striped paper, cut them out and attached to the card. I stamped the main image on to some mauve tissue paper and attached to the card. I stamped the seagulls and words directly on to the card. Lastly I embossed the edges with tropic violet Cosmic Shimmer UTEE.
Birds of a Feather.
The background is coloured with a Marvy inkpad. I stamped feathers [Hero Arts] on to the background with Brilliance. The bird flourish is by Elusive Images and I used Distress ink to stamp it with, then I attached a few jewels to the image. I stuck some tissue tape to the left hand edge. I stamped the bird postcard image [Crafty individuals] on to white card with Distress ink and coloured the card with the same ink. The little flying birds and the words were stamped directly onto the card. The last thing I did was to emboss some tropic violet Cosmic Shimmer UTEE onto the tissue tape.

Creepy Lane

As Halloween is fast approaching I thought I had better blog my hanging.
The stamp that I've used are:
Lost Coast Designs, Ma and Pa and the crow.
Stampotique, the kids and the cat.
Hero Arts, the pumpkin.
Cherry Pie Art Stamps, skeletons, flying witch, owl and branch.
Woodware, boo.
Inkadinkado, Creepy Lane.
The spiders and web are die cut.

I started of by painting the frames black, when this was dry I covered it in Eco Green Crafts glue then I painted the frames mauve and the roof orange. I dried it with a heat gun to get the crackled effect. The paints I used are Eco Green Crafts acrylic.
I coloured some white card with Distress inks and stamped Ma and Pa and the kids onto it. I took out the colour in their faces with a water brush. I stamped all the other images on to card, cut them out and stuck them to the front of the frames apart from the moon, this I stuck to the back of the frame. I made the words by putting a narrow strip of card through a Dymo and highlighted the letters with a white pen.Close up of Ma and Pa.
Close up of the kids.

Falling Leaves

I started by sticking some die cut leaves [Sizzix, Tim Holtz tattered leaves] to a piece of mount board then covered it with some sticky backed aluminium and then went round the edges of the leaves with something pointed to give them more definition. Then I covered the whole thing with a black dabber and wiped of the excess before colouring it with Stazon ink, then I stuck this to a piece of mount board that I'd painted black.
The tree and birdhouse are from Crafty Individuals. I painted the tree black and added some gold foil then attached it to the mount board. The birds are some chipboard shapes that I had, I painted them and the birdhouse gold, I used jump rings to attach the birdhouse so that it was dangling.
The leaves at the bottom are some die cut leaves that I've had for years. I melted some UTEE in my Meltpot and dipped the leaves in and coloured them with Stazon. I attached them with silicone glue and stuck in some bits of wire that I'd twiddled round a pencil.
I used some wire for the hanger. The leaf with the words on is a piece of metal coloured with Stazon and then I attached it with a piece of wire so that it's dangling.
Close up of the leaves.

Chunky Alphabet Book G H and I

G is for Glamour Girl.
The stamp I used for the background flourishes is a Darcies stamp. I'm not sure what make the stamps are that I used for the main image and words. I stamped them onto white card and matted them onto black card. I added some gems for a bracelet and a ring and added gems all around the edge of the page. Wish I'd signed my name in a different place.
H is for Hitchcock.
I stuck a strip of tissue tape [that I was never going to buy, not ever lol] to the top and bottom of the page, then I stamped Alfred [Cherry Pie Art Stamps] onto a piece of card that looks like a film strip and then stuck this across the middle of the page. The words are out of an old dictionary. Last but not least I attached a metal H to the page with a couple of brads.
I is for Ice Cream.
I used a Xyron Design Runner for the words, it took me a few attempts to try and get them straight, this was the best I could do. I stamped the background with a stamp by Pink Cat Studio and I coloured the edges of the page with distress ink. I embossed the three ice creams [Personal Impressions] with a shimmery embossing powder and coloured them in with Promarkers, after cutting the images out I spread Stickles over the ice cream, when this was dry I stuck them to the page with silicone glue.

Butterfly card

For this card I edged a white card blank with some distress ink and stamped the images [Eco Green Crafts] in the same colour. The butterfly [Eco Green Crafts] is stamped onto a piece of mountboard that I'd brayered with some Eco Green Craft acrylic paint. I punched some holes in the corners and added the rivets and then threaded some ribbon through before attaching it to the card.

Too Many Shoes

I made this card for my friends daughter.
The image is by Docrafts and I coloured it in with Promarkers

Shades of Blue Twinchie

I used Distress ink to colour the background. All the stamped images are by 7gypsies. The watch face and spinner were attached with a brad and the cog is attached with some wire. I curled the ends of the wire round a pokey tool.

Hallowe'en ATCs

These are the ATCs that I made for KCUK's Hallowe'en swap.
For the background I brayered some Eco Green Crafts acrylic paint. The pumpkin is a Hero Arts stamp that I coloured with Promarkers and covered with Glossy Accents. The cobweb is by Inkadinkado. The spider girl, spider and head are by Stampotique and the rest of the images are by Cherry Pie Art Stamps. I coloured the spider with Promarkers and added some red gems for it's eyes. The red stuff that's supposed to look like blood is a gell pen.

Life's Lesson

I had some good news last week, I had won the Creative Expressions Card of the Month Competition. For the competition we had to make a card using the Eco Green Crafts products and Creative Expressions stamps. I brayered some Eco Green acrylic paints onto some card for the background and matted it onto a black card blank. The stamps I used are from the Vintage Family sheet. I stamped the main image onto some white card and wrapped some randomly coloured metallic thread around it then matted it onto some black card and attached it to the background then I stamped the quote onto the background. I stamped the butterfly, cut it out and attached it to the card, then added some black gems to the corners.
This is the prize I won, Sam Poole's latest Christmas Stamp sheets so I have no excuse now not to start making my Christmas cards.

Recipe Tag Challenge Week 34

I joined UK Stampers a couple of weeks ago and decided it was time to join in with the challenges.
The ingrediants for the recipe challenge week 34 are

Paint
Material
Embossing Powder

This is what I came up with. I painted a white tag with Ecogreen Crafts acrylic paint [rose], then stamped the dress form [Darcie's] and the paper pattern [Clear Art Stamps] over it. I stuck a couple of scraps of card that had been embossed with the Cuttlebug dots embossing folder onto the tag. The pattern piece was stamped onto some tissue paper, cut out and pinned to a piece of material then attached to the tag. The words [Darcie's] were stamped and embossed onto a scrap of card. I embossed the edges of the tag with Cosmic Shimmer UTEE [sunrise pink] then cut a strip of the material and tied it to the tag.

Altered Notebook

I watched Julia Andrus demonstrating the crackled paint technique at Ally Pally last weekend, and decided to give it a go. I had a plain notebook that I decided to alter. The paints I used are Ecogreen Crafts acrylic paint, I seem to be using them a lot lately. I started by taking the cover off the notebook and painting it with the colour blueberry, when it dried I spread Green Glue over the top, then when this was tacky I painted over it with the colour clam shell and painted a bit of white card at the same time. I got a lovely crackled effect when the paint dried. I then went over the paint with a bit of distress ink, broken china and wild honey. I stamped the butterfly onto the bit of card that I'd painted and used a corner punch to make the notches, then I wrapped a bit of gold thread round the card and matted it onto some black card. I stuck a bit of tissue tape and a bit of paper with words on to the notebook cover before adding the image.