Don't Ask

I have not got a clue why I made this, only that the song has been going round and round in my head.  Not that I knew many of the words - just a couple of lines of the Refrain which I have included in the picture.

I'll include a close up picture of the words below so you do not need to strain your eyes trying to read it.  The whole thing is a piece of mountboard which has been coloured using Chalks.  I tried to depict the two verses in my colouring - the lilac for the ballroom scene (plus two images of Tim Holtz chandeliers) and the grey for the graveyard scene which also has a picture of the sky stamped, again with London Fog.

These were computer generated onto a Labels Four die and then I stamped Tim Holtz birds across the top with London Fog.  The two verses go like this:

The ballroom was filled with fashion's throng,
It shone with a thousand lights;
And there was a woman who passed along,
The fairest of all the sights.
A girl to her lover then softly sighed,
"There's riches at her command."
"But she married for wealth, not for love," he cried!
"Though she lives in a mansion grand."

Refrain

"I stood in a churchyard just at eve,
When sunset adorned the west;
And looked at the people who'd come to grieve
For loved ones now laid at rcst.
A tall marble monument marked the grave
Of one who'd been fashion's queen;
And I thought, "She is happier here at rest,
Than to have people say when seen: "

Refrain again.

A bit sad - or just plain morbid?

The bird and birdcage were cut out using a Tim Holtz die - the bird painted black with a Dabber and the cage coloured gold with utee. The ladies head was chosen for its size and for the melancholy look in her eyes.

Now I am wondering what you will make of my interpretation of this song.

Back Again Keeping It Simple

Well, only a quick posting this time - here is my second card for the Less Is More Challenge - Pick a Square.  This time I chose the bottom right hand square because I wanted her to have her eyes (only thing coloured - Key Lime Twinkling H2o's) stand out and look at whoever is opening the card.  I used my Sun Rays folder for the front of the card and placed her over the circular bit so that the rays are coming from the image.

I love this stamp which was a freebie with Craft Stamper and to emphasise her eyes I mounted the image on Lime Green cardstock before putting it on the main card.

Hope you like it.

Kept it Simple

Well, this morning I decided to mount a couple of rubber stamps - then a couple turned into four, four into eight - you get the picture?  Now I have quite a little pile all waiting to be stamped onto the index card ready for the laminator.  Somehow I think that is a tomorrow job.

No, it did not take me all day, I went into the study intending to tidy up a bit but one thing led to another and before I knew it I was sitting on the floor surrounded by the entire contents of one cupboard.  Couldn't leave it at one - so they all had to be done.  Looks better but I did not achieve the crafting I intended.

Anyhow I did manage to make a couple of cards for the Less Is More Challenge which I have never joined before but which I have always intended doing.  First of all I used four inchies with my new stamps (Inkadinkadoo - bought at Aintree) which were stamped in Black onto mountboard coloured with Distress Inks.   Then I covered them with Glossy Accents to make them into tiny tiles.

I had one left over so I made a gift tag

Both follow the criteria laid down for this weeks Challenge which is Pick a Square.  As you can see for my card I have chosen the centre square and for the gift tag the bottom left one.  It will be the card I am entering.  

Off to do another one.

I've Turned Into The White Rabbit

Just knew it would happen one time - my obsession with Alice in Wonderland - today I am definitely the White Rabbit "I'm late, I'm late".  Completely forgot to post my TEA CARDS for Just for Fun and it was my choice of theme!  Doh!  What am I like?

Well, here they are

Three tea cards stamped with butterflies (part of a collection?), painted with Twinkling H2o's, chalk background overstamped with a dotty stamp and then the images mounted on white card.

You can find all the details over on  the Just for Fun Challenge Blog plus some fabulous samples from the rest of the Design Team. Then there is a special treat today - we have our very first Guest Designer.  Florence!  Florence has been with us since the beginning and does some amazing work - you never know what she is going to stamp her design on - pieces of wood, metal, tiles, even board from a builder's skip!  Every one she does simply blows you away - you really must check out her tea cards - a fantastic idea and I love the link she has made to the wrap.  You must click on each picture too and look at all the details there is in them all.

Well, better get this "live" and out there, bet the others wonder where I am.  Do visit the challenge blog and it would be lovely to see your take on tea cards - lots of information on the blog and do remember you do not have to have tiny stamps, partial images look lovely too.  Hope to see you there over the coming week.

Can't be Wednesday Again

Gosh! these Wednesdays seem to come round awfully quickly.  Am sure it was only two or three days ago since it was Wednesday yet my calendar tells me it is Wednesday today.  That can only mean one thing - it's WOYWW.  Guess what?  Have nothing really to show for it.  Thanks anyway to all of you who so kindly commented last week, promise next week I will be more organised.

There's my new stamps at the left hand side of the photo, then there is my Queen card - that might be interesting to you, some diecuts waiting transformation and a tray full of buttons.

I bought one of the button packets (three of us shared the £10 offer) and tonight set about making a necklace.  The guy did not tell us how much ribbon you needed and as my head was not working I just measured off the length I want plus a bit (you know how you do) and it is too short - more like a choker!  Forgot to allow for the up and down through each button hole.  Doh!  Reckon you need about three times your length.

The card - well first of all the bodice is an acrylic piece with a stamped image behind it and then coloured in with Glitter pens.  The wings are a stamp, as is the head and legs.  Two cards from a mini pack - Joker and Queen of Hearts - the words are all computer generated as is the negative look picture.  Lastly there are some glow in the dark hearts scattered about , a skeleton leaf and a butterfly.

Right, better go now as I have heaps to do and got a hospital appointment later - off for a lovely soak in the bath!  Have a nice WOYWW day everyone and don't forget to go over to The Stamping Ground and see what everyone has been up to.

When is Twine Twine?

Or "what is twine?"  According to Wikipedia "Twine is a light string or strong thread composed of two or more smaller strands or yarns twisted together.  More generally, the term can be applied to any thin cord."

Why am I puzzling over this?  Because it is one of the Challenges over on Gingersnap Creations and I have a yen to enter.  Missed out last month when the themes were centred around "Asian" (I adore Asian themes) so am trying to enter some this month but not got many things I can use as the general overall theme is Cowboys.  OK so mine is not Cowboyish at all.

Here is my card for "Twine"

As you can see I have stamped a Tim Holtz image for my background (used Momento London Fog) and then cut out a shape with Labels 20 (new - bought at weekend) and stamped and embossed in Black another TH image.

To finish off I have cut out some buttons (coloured with UTEE) and cotton reels (again TH but this time dies) and both with Twine on.

Didn't get around to showing you any photographs of when I went to Aintree on Saturday - only took a couple so here is one showing some of my friends from Victoria Stampers who met up and were introduced to Marie from Greece.

from left to right: Mo, Marie, Jeannie, Carmel, Jacqui (Lorraine and Sue were sat outside on a bench which I never found).  Poor Marie, everyone talked her head off and I rummaged in her shopping to see what she had bought.  Then encouraged her to buy more - not that she needed that much encouragement.  It was lovely to meet up with her and really quite comical when it finally happened.  Hope you have a safe journey back to Greece Marie and come again soon - please.

Asian Again

Well, I did finish off my second entry for the Gingersnap Creations Color Challenge by adding some beaded fringing to the base of the card when I got up this morning.

I had begun this card ages ago by stamping the Geisha on acetate twice.  That meant I could turn one of them back to front and so get a mirror image.  I wanted to create the illusion of twin Geisha's welcoming you to the karyukai as I thought twin Geisha's would be quite novel in a situation like that.  I then added the acetate to some gold mirror card and made a shrine type frame for it in black cardstock to which I added some red jewels.  

I then added some red beads which to me looked as if they could have been Asian and a second row to fill them out.  The whole was then mounted on Gold mirror card and finally on red cardstock.

This really is a last minute entry to the Challenge but one which I started when the Challenge was first put up - hence the determination to finish.

I Nearly Did it Again

Almost forgot to post my card/bookmark before the closing date on Gingersnap Creations.  Would not be the first time!!

This is my card for the Colour Challenge - Red and Gold.  I hope it is ok that it has black in it but when I looked at the DT samples they were not pure red and gold so I guess it is.

The white bit at the base is the scanner lid - it's because of the beads dangling on the bookmark part.

I stamped and embossed in gold the small fan and then cut out, painstakingly, the  struts at the base of the fans so that I could mount the whole on red cardstock.  Next it was mounted on gold, then more red and finally on the black base card.  The writing down the side is on the inside back page and has perforations down the side so that it can be taken off by the recipient and used as a bookmark.  Hope you follow that.  Another fan, this time with beads attached, finishes it off.

I did start another one but whether I will manage to finish it or not remains to be seen - maybe it will get uploaded tomorrow as I think there is still time to enter.  Maybe it will remain unfinished and as an idea in my head.

Dragons Dream TIO

Over on Dragons Dream TIO (I thought that was "T - ten" - doh!) Zoe has chosen the theme this week and it is "All the Write Postage" so I guess it is about sending some form of mail.  I decided to use a Postcard stamp I have as I find Postcards evocative simply because we rarely use them apart from on holiday and because the Victorians used them a lot and you can find some very elaborate ones in antique shops.

Then I thought about the type of people who might have used the Postcard and went to my Non Sequitur "Love Letters" rubber stamps and used a couple of images from there.

The background is Distress Inks Tumbled Glass and Chipped Sapphire, a combination I have not used before but which I will use again.

Anywhere, here it is:

... minus fibres (I am not a fibre person with tags which probably explains why I have a tin full LOL) but with the obligatory postage stamp.

It's Postcards This Week ...

... On Just for Fun.  My third week of choosing under the umbrella "Size Matters" is Postcards (wonder what I chose for next week?).  Postcards are something that we automatically associate with holidays and send, hastily scribbled on the beach or in some cafe with a "Wish you were here" theme.  But they needn't be!  We can send a postcard at any time - to wish someone well, to cheer someone up, to congratulate or thank them - the possibilities are endless.  And the beauty of them is that they cost minimal postage.  (OK, so I have begun my last two sentences with a conjunction but I am writing as if I am talking to you so in my book I can get away with it.)

Why not go the whole hog and make someone a postcard, stamp an image and colour it in, make a scenic postcard, do a pattern, use a diecut, the possibilities are endless.  It would be fun to receive one through the post and imagine the look on the Postie's face as he pushed it through the letterbox.  You know what?  Think I will send myself one.  Only kidding!

I digress - here is my entry for the Just for Fun Challenge this week:

I adore the Mad Hatter - nothing to do with Johnny Depp although he does rather have a pair of gorgeous eyes - so the Mad Hatter had to be in on the scene.  You may have gathered I am an Alice fan so I had to do a second one

This was my original to be honest but I coloured in with Promarkers and, of course, they bled through.  Have now included the first one as one of my swaps on the Challenge.  There's even a message on the back from Alice for whoever gets it so why not do some swapping yourself this month.

Read all about it, lots of information regarding Postcards on the Just for Fun blog so let your fingers do the walking and take a trip over there - you won't be disappointed.

WOYWW 102 and Flying

Nothing much to show you on my desk today as I had a major clean up after the previous posting of my Steampunk Album.

There's a card in the making (see below), some legs with red shoes (don't ask) and a clear acrylic album I finished off that had been started at CHA.  See - I have been finishing stuff off - two more albums since my Steampunk one below.

I have been dumfing again - this time little bits and I have made some inchies (a bit late for the JFF Challenge) but it was an idea I saw on the web somewhere and I thought I would make one bookmark for each of my fellow DT'ers.  I can also enter this into the Spotlight Challenge which is to use at least three inchies - and there are three here on this card.

Don't look too closely at my stitching!  Please!  My lettering is not that brilliant either but I cannot remember how to do wiggly writing using "Word" so I did it by hand and stamped the illuminated "F" for contrast.

Now it is time to pop on over to see Ms Dunnitt and what she is up to (a new look blog no less) and chase around all those links to the various blogs with lots of inspiration (unlike mine today).  

Steampunk Album

I decided to upload my Steampunk Album via Video as I thought it would be better for you all to see.  Not sure now I have viewed it so may add some photographs.  At least I am talking you through it but a  little annoyed as my head has got on the film and I didn't want to be on at all - not in the state I am in tonight!!!

Anyway, here it is

Think I had better get some photos taken as well and then you can see it better - sorry about that - afraid Chas will not be taking over from David Lean!

Sorry about all that folks - hope you get the picture with both still and movie!

Scraplings 12/5

Scraps? What do you do with them?  Save them up in endless bags intending to use them at some later date only to find you take out a new piece of cardstock instead?  Or do you use them?  I find I am a bit half and half. Sometimes I use them, sometimes I can't be bothered because there is a piece of pristine cardstock there in just the colour I want so it gets cut up.


Well, Scraplings, are the left over bits from the square cards that are so popular to make these days.  I think it was Shari Carroll of Hero Arts fame who first introduced Scraplings.  If I am wrong I know someone will correct me on this.  You can read about it here:


http://heroarts.com/learning/technique.cfm?techID=103&catID=3  then scroll down page to find scraplings.


We need to remember, however, that UK sized cardstock is different to that in the USA so if we make a 5.5" x 5.5" card the left over piece is approximately 2.5" x 11" which when folded in half gives us 2.5" x 5.5" to decorate.  it is the left over piece that makes a "scrapling".

The DT on Just for Fun made some crackers and here are my attempts - the first three you will already have seen but the last one is a new one.

I tried to do them differently so that it would give you some ideas.  The first one is a photo image (can't remember who the stamp is by) and I put some scrapbook paper on the cardstock and then carefully cut around the flowers on the left hand side with a scalpel.  Then I inserted the image.  A little bit of lace (got side-tracked and tidied my whole set of drawers whilst looking for the right piece) and the word "wonder" stamped in the bottom corner and that one was finished.

The next one is a Paperartsy image (Kids plate) stamped and embossed in brown with some Twinkling H2o's to add colour.  Corrugated card underneath coloured with Ink Stains (Weathered Wood and Broken China) and a Tim Holtz Gear which I thought looked like a ship's wheel.

The last one I thought I would use a die cut in case there was someone out there who wanted to do something like that.    A Spellbinders flower (Daisy Delight), coloured with Brilliance Peacock Tri Pad, top flower and leaves on sticky pads to make them stand out a bit and a sentiment courtesy of Stampin' Up.

Here is my other one - one for the men:

Again Paperartsy

Stamped mainly in Black with black tinges around the edges, some Walnut Stain rubbed on in places and Glossy Accents on the words.  All I need is a man to send it to now.

I do hope you will have a go at a Scrapling or two.  They make nice cards to just send as a RAK (Random Act of Kindness), to say "Thank You" or to include with a gift.  And they are made from Scraps!

For some reason when Blogger was down it changed this post from Thursday (day it went out - and was published!) to Friday.  It also did not download my comments that had been moderated so I had a couple in my Outlook Express and have copied them across.  Don't want anyone to feel they have wasted time commenting but sorry if yours was not there.

WOYWW 101 and The Green Mat Is Gone

Nothing much to show you.  Not having a good time with my Promarkers - I need one to one tuition.  Also need more colours and to get a chart going with the "true" colours on.

As you can see I keep my Promarkers in a drawer - in polythene bags in colour families.  Not very good but I don't seem to have a lot of room for storing these.

Trying to do a card for someone and it is not going right at all so I have given up - she may have to have a totally different one to the one in my head.  Maybe it is the way I am at the moment.

Anyway, there are much more interesting desks out there in the world than mine so why not pop yourselves over to Julia's blog and see what other peeps are offering - goodies, tips and "reet good snoops".  Where do you go?  The Stamping Ground of course - Wednesday's treat for all the crafters.  See you there!

ps the Green mat is on the floor (been there days) - looks better for photos - guess it will be back until I get a new one.

Another Mist

I made two cards for the Gingersnap Spicy Supply Challenge - Mists so here is the second one.

For this one I used Glimmer Mist - Honey Dew Mist and Glimmer Mist Tuttie Fruiti.  I then cut out an oval with my Spellbinders die and stamped the Geisha on a piece of plain card and painted her with Twinkling H2o's.  I also painted some blossom and cut it out (painstakingly) and adhered it top and bottom of the oval to take some of the starkness off.

Hope I am in time to enter both of these.

A Bit of Spraying

I suddenly decided I was in the mood to enter a challenge on a blog so turned to one I used to do a lot of but haven't, for whatever reason, entered into lately.  The challenge about to close was using Mists - something I try to avoid although I have lots of sprays - they just seem to clog.  Anyhow, undaunted I set off.

This first one is very dense and I used Crafty Notions Turquoise as my main colour with an overspray of Tattered Angels Pearl.

Then I did some metal pieces.  I still wanted to carry on with my theme of inchies, as set for Just for Fun, so made these for inclusion behind the one inch panels I had cut with my Spellbinders die.  I double embossed the pieces and then dabbed Alcohol Inks on (Red Pepper and Lettuce) and finished off with triple embossing powder.  I wish you could see the sheen.  Finally finished off with some German Scrap which I have had for ages and which never seems to get used.

This is one of my entries for the Gingersnap Spicy Supply Challenge - Mists.

A Peek

First of all, I notice I have some new followers - thanks for visiting me and joining me.  I hope you will find some inspiration here over the next few weeks.

I thought I would let you have a peek at my Get Well Cards received over the past couple of weeks.

Unfortunately it is a bit dark to the front and you cannot see my little bear from Chloe.  I have a little grey bear with a rose in his hand and he is so cute.  This shot shows all my handmade cards and my commercial ones too but for all you handmade card peeps here is a little video presentation of the Handmade ones.

Hope you enjoyed seeing what a bunch of talented friends can produce.  I don't want to take them from out of the window I can tell you.  Wonder how long I can get away with leaving them up?

Thanks for watching!.

Just for ..... Hazel

When I saw Hazel had set the challenge on Dragons Dream TIO I just knew I had to support her and join in.  Ulterior motive?  Moi?  Mais Non, Madame.

Hazel had chosen the colour "Purple" with one accent colour of choice so I began by inking my tag up with Milled Lavender Distress ink.  This was done with the Direct to Paper Method as I find this a very pale colour if you use the Blending Tool.  Next the Blending Tool came out and I used Dusty Concord over the top of part of the tag and then spritzed very lightly with water letting a fine mist settle - I quite liked the effect.  Not sure if you can see it in the photograph.

Then I stamped the couple (Non Sequitur - Old Fashioned Romance) in Black.  I had first tried it in Brilliance Violet but did not feel it stood out enough and I was allowed a contrast so mine was to be (boring) black.

Then I stamped the words "Love You" (same plate), in the gap, put purple filbres through the top, coloured a strip of lace with Brilliance Lavender, threaded it with ribbon and added a bow.  I know it looks quite bloue in the photograph but can assure you it is purple in real life.

The final touch, and the instigator of this tag, was the metal flower I did a while ago with the lovely Lin of LB Crafts (via her blog) which got stuck on to the top with Glossy Accents.

So here it is - my entry for Dragons Dream T10 (hope your hand is soon better Frankie) - Purple Passion!

Right Helen, over to you now.  Only kidding!  Hope you like though.

Size Matters

This is the first time I have ever had to come up with a theme for a month for the Just for Fun Challenge.  I think I was probably influenced by the fact that I had come back from the Tim Holtz workshop with the ArtsyCrafty team (Leandra and Lin) and we had all made "inchies" to give to Tim in a book as a little gift which we could all contribute to.

Well, that's my excuse anyway!

Sorry I am having you working in miniature but it is not as formidable as it first seems.  I made my inchies out of mountboard, coloured them with Distress Inks and then stamped partial images on them.  You don't have to stamp whole images on so don't be rushing out to buy small stamps.

Here are mine:

Stamps - Invoke

I stamped them just like I stamp my dominoes, taking the mountboard to the stamp rather than the stamp to the mountboard - that way you have more control over what part of the whole image you are going to use.  You can't see it in the scan but I selected parts from each image and highlighted the part with Glossy Accents.  It is mainly the words that I used for highlighting but the other two images also have it on them.

A couple of links to help you get started are: MCJULIO'sBlog and  spottedcanary plus the ones on the JFF blog:

art by christi    Or this one to give you some ideas on how you can use them in cards
all in an inch (scroll down to April 23rd)

I know if you Google "inchies art form" you will find lots more (including embroidered ones)  but in the meantime here is a bracelet I did using Stampbord.  If you have some hanging around why not try one of these inch sized pieces.

They are such good fun and the Stampbord punches like a dream with your Crop-a-dile.  I did have another bracelet which I would have liked to have shown you, done many moons ago, but can I find it, can I heck!  Here is the pendant that went with it anyway - the bracelet had smaller side view heads on in the polymer clay.  Otherwise it was the same Stampbord base.

Not an inchie but an accompaniment to one

(just to give you ideas)

Hope I am not driving you all mad with my miniature works of art and certainly hope we get some entries - now I will be having sleepless nights!  Promise next week's challenge will not be so small.

WOYWW is it Really 100?

Is this really the Century for What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday or have I gone bonkers with my counting?  Not that I have been doing it from the beginning but I sure have met some nice folks since I started doing it.  Pop along to Julia's blog to see what  I am on about - get a cuppa first as you will be there ages - snooping around all the links.

Not much to show today as it has been another of those "medical days".  Went to Podiatry this morning, then the nurse at lunchtime and she went mad when she heard how I was wheezing.  Tried to find me a doctor but they had all gone to lunch so she made me an emergency appointment with one of them this afternoon.  Got some antibiotics and steroids now so hopefully I will start to feel better - trust me to get an infection at the start of a Bank Holiday.

Came home and started to colour in a couple of images, didn't get very far as you can see.  Hopefully after having my INR's checked in the morning I will do some more.

Need to move with these as I am behind with birthday cards and one is for someone special.

A nice thing did happen over the weekend - my parcel arrived from Jude.  I had won some blog candy from her and the parcel arrived at just the right moment.  You know when you are feeling down and the Postie Van comes (not Pat and his little Black Cat though) and the parcel you thought had vitamin tablets in contains some crafting goodies for you!  Well, I was absolutely delighted.  Thank you so much Jude.

Look at all these goodies.

Can't begin to list them all so click on the picture and it should open up in a new window much larger so you can sit and drool.

Rightio, must toddle back to bed now as I have missed so much sleep these past few days.  Do remember to go to the link above and have "a right royal gander"!