Sunday Stamper - Week 322 - Deeply Dippy

Goooodly Morning Stampers and a very happy Sunday to you all!  As ever, thank you all for your fabby entries to last weeks backgrounds challenge - it was great to see some new peeps entering too!   The theme this week is all about getting some dimension into your art... and it is DEPTH & 3D. *I have an earworm already, Right Said Fred have a LOT to answer for*  You can interpret the challenge how you like: make a really dimensional creation, add in dimension and depth and all things 3dness to your art, build up your layers...  the choice, it be yours!  To join in with the challenge is simples: make a little something, it can be anything you fancy.  Add in the theme AND some stamping *this is THE important bit guys, please remember your rubberstamps!*  and then hop back here, leave me a comment with a link to the place you are showing your entry and I can come see you.   If you haven't got a blog, you can join in via Facebook (just tag me name) or by emailing a small res.pic to me.  The challenge will remain open until 21:00 Saturday 30th August 2014.

So!   My entry this week is actually the sample I made in class yesterday at Daisy's Jewels & Crafts in Coventry.  We had a lovely day getting all painty and messy... and because this is a class sample, I won't go into to great a detail on how I made it.

I can tell you that I used Tim's Harlequin Border and some Martha Stewart punches to make some depth on my canvas... added in some 3d texture with a stencil and the paints I used were Adirondack Juniper (quite possibly my FAVE colour ever), Lake Mist and Espresso Dabbers.  I love Dabbers because of their chalky and creamy finish... very touchable.

The flowers are Ancient Copper and the embellies were treated to some Treasure Gold.  The stamping... the little diamonds are from Catslife Press (I love these stamps and have had them for about 217 years) and the sentiment is from The Artistic Stamper.

Today I am away back to Daisy's for an Exploding Box day... in complete contrast to yesterday, today will be clean (yeah, who am I kidding) and neat (like I said... kidding?)  Oh and a heads up... I will be popping a new date for visiting Daisy's onto Facebook and on here later on... more than likely be a weekend in October ... and... it will be... Melt Pot!  Hurrah!   I shall away now, sleeps to be had and all that.... Thanks for looking, have a great Sunday! TTFN


Hels x

Giveaway Time!!!

...yes indeedily, it is that time again.  As a thank you for all the lovely comments and messages and emails and stuff, I am giving away this little piece of artwork that was prepped as a demo and I didn't get chance to do it live on air... so I finished it off at home and here it is.  To be in with a chance of winning the plaque, simply leave a comment on this post (click on the "inky thinkings" button at the bottom of the post).  The closing date/time for the giveaway is 23:59 GMT tonight, 6th December 2013. The winner will be chosen at random and announced on tomorrow's post.  In the event of the winner not claiming their prize in the next seven days, I will do a re-draw and a new winner will be announced.

I love these MDF Rectangular Plaques.  This one is the largest one and I painted it with a layer of Lake Mist Dabber... and added the edging in Pitch Black Dabber to give it a frame.  The stencilling is the gorgeous Fuchsia That Special Touch mask... I loves this mask muchly seeing as I am collecting Fuchsia's at the moment and now I have my new greenhouse, I can keep them over winter too!  Anyways, once I had popped the mask into position, I spread a layer of Gold Pearl Texture Paste through it and then allowed it to dry.  I tend to pop things onto the radiator to dry - I am impatient!  You can gently heat dry the paste, just make sure it has formed a "crust"  on top of it to start with otherwise it can bubble and distort.

The decorations are made from flowers stamped onto the lush Teresa Collins Creative Expressions papers... the flower stamps are from the Studio 490 Live & Make Art set... loves them muchly because they have so many petals, you can make them more 3d.  I added some hand cut leaves that I lightly coloured with Forest Moss Distress Ink and then bunged a few embellies onto the plaque too... the buzzy bee is an Embellish Your Art resin piece (how cute!) and the key is a Creative Expressions Assorted Keys embellie... and the ickle bottles are Glass Vials which I filled with Persian Dawn Gilding Flakes to add a smidge of bling.  The words are a combo of stencilled (Always from the Classic Words Stencils for Art) and the Be You is a stamp from the Art For You 490 set.

Right, that is all from me for today... I am tackling my "to do" list ... starting with the dreaded trip to Morrison's... oh how I love doing the grocery shopping... not!!!  Wish me luck, I thinks it might be a bit busy in there!  Thanks for looking... have a grand day!  TTFN

Hels x

Arty Collections...

...tis that time again!  I am on the tellybox again tomorrow, this time with some gorgeous Dimensional Art goodies.  I have been playing working my fingers to the bone (ahem) in the Room of Stash, making samples and experimenting with different products... one is brand new to me too, never used it before and I am having fun getting me and the rest of the house covered in said stuff... all will be revealed tomorrow though :O)   My show times are 8am and 1pm on Create & Craft.  All the channel deets are over there *points left* in the sidebar.  I hope you will be able to join me! 

This is one of my larger samples.. it is an MDF Collection Box and comes flat so it is a doddle to paint or paper cover because there are no nooks and crannies to try and paint (or paper cover) and putting it together is simples too!   The back piece has been painted and stencilled and stamped and faffed with to make it pretty... and then I just popped the sections in and glued them into place... so easy!

I have some lovely little trinkets on the shows too and you know how much I loves to embellish stuff... I am happy, happy, happy that the little Glass Vials are back in stock too, they are so versatile... do you spot a different use for the diddy ones?  Pretty cool huh?

I have had a bit of a... errrrm... mishap... with my hair!  I know I am not the cleanest of crafters, in fact, I do tend to "wear" the stuff I am playing with on my tops... be it ink, paint, glue... I am not choosy, just as well I now have special crafting tops to wear.  However, I now seem to have adopted "crafting hair" too.  Oh yesh, a nice dollop of Texture Paste has lodged itself onto my head... Lord alone knows how I did that!  I have tried teasing it (not like "ner, ner, ner..." teasing, I mean the gently trying to remove said texture paste without removing a clump of hair lol)  And I have tried rinsing it out with cold water... ahem... I thinks that "set" it!  So, if I look a bit perculiar tomorrow, it is entirely, ahem,  unintentional.  

I shall away now... time for me to go and try to get a few snoozles.  Grim is on nights... and whilst I rather like being able to spread right out across the bed, I don't half miss him and weirdly, when Grim is on nights, Alf sleeps on his bed in the Room of Stash or on the landing outside Grim's study door.  Normally he is vying for bed space with us... strange little fella!   Hope you have a great day... thanks for looking!  TTFN

Hels x

Sunday Stamper - Week 276 - Lock & Key

Gooodly Morning Stampers and a very happy Sunday to you all!  Thank you for the gorgeous entries for last weeks challenge.  This week is going to be a slightly different than normal challenge... because it is going to be a TWO week challenge.  Oh yesh, for the first time in 4 years, the Sunday Stamper will be taking a week off... fear not though, it will be back again on October 6th.  On with this fortnightly challenge theme though which is... KEYS.  To join in is simples: make a little something, it can be anything you fancy.  Add in the theme AND some stamping.  Once you have made your creation, pop back here to leave me a comment with a link to the place you are showing your entry.    If you haven't got a blog, you can also join in via Facebook, simply tag my name on your upload... or by email and attaching a small resolution piccie for me to see.  My email addy is over there *points left* where my photo is, click on that and you can get the deets :O)  Remember, this is a two week challenge and will remain open until 21:00 Saturday 5th October 2013.

My entry this week is one of my show samples... I have been so busy making samples and such like that I didn't get chance to do any other art for the past couple of weeks.... and I know that sometimes we don't get a chance to see the samples close up so I thought I would share a few with you this week, starting with this one.  It is made from the 3 board hanging set and it is MDF based.  I love love love this set... perfect size and of course, being MDF is always going to be a winner.

The base was painted with Lake Mist Dabber and then I layered up some That Special Touch stencils... Scattered Straw blended through the Trellis stencil... then Broken China through the Flower mask and then the Sunburst stencil... LOVE this one... that is Seedless Preserves DI blended through that.  The stamping is done with Watering Can Archival Ink (LOVE this colour, tis my new fave.. thank you Wendy Vecchi for making this one happen!)  I used the Creative Expressions Textures stamps.. the top and bottom panel have the crackle background randomly stamped and the middle has that gorgeous french text stamped.

The flowers are stamped onto Foundations papers using Aquamarine and Blue Violet Archivals and then cut out, curled, layered and decorated with pearl middles.  I love adding lots of goodies into a bundle of flowers which is where the fabby Embellish Your Art pieces came in handy... and of course... glass vials filled with the delicious new Broken China Distress Glitter...well, it had to be done!  I LOVE that new glitter!  Shhh, don't tell anyone though... being as I am a non-glittery kind of person normally lol

Right, I shall away... hope you all have a great day planned... I am away to Telford to teach at Crafty Bunch today and tomorrow.  Thanks for looking!  TTFN

Hels x

Giveaway Day!

... oh yesh indeedily, today is giveaway day!   I am giving away this demo sample from Monday's shows... to be in with a chance of winning it, simply leave me comment before 23.59 today, 5th June and I will pick a winner and announce the name on tomorrows blog post.  

This was my first demo on Monday and I have had so much feedback about this one... and it seems you are all turning into Wombles just like me and nabbing all the cardboard before it goes into the bin... well, cardboard is fab to work with .... and... it is freeeeee... always a goodly thing!  The base is painted using Cut & Dry foam and Cool Peri and Eggplant Dabbers, there is a smidge of Texture Paste through my fave Foxgloves stencil and then a whole lot of Gilding Wax to jazz it up.   My fave embellies are the Studio 490 Embellish Your Art range... and these flowers are amongst my fave of those.  I only just noticed that the Small Star Knob on the left isn't in the right place... so they are a bit wonky there... whooops!   Anyways.. .if you would like to own this piece of artwork, just leave me a comment!

I am not stopping... I have just spent the last two hours faffing about cleaning!  I know!  I must be sickening for something!  And now it is time to get messy again in the Room of Stash as I have a few projects that need to be done... and being as the sunshine has deserted us, now is the time to stay indoors and play.  Thanks for looking... have a great day!  TTFN

Hels x

An Attitude of Gratitude...

... a few months ago Bernice told me all about a blog that she was setting up, called An Attitude of Gratitude... and told me all about it, how art would be mixed with things that we are thankful for, with different quotations and themes for each day. In essence, a journal blog of gratitude... with a challenge for everyone to join in. So, would I like to be involved?  YOU BET!   Today, 26th November, is my day for my theme, which is Dreams.  Bernice asked a few questions about what I dream about... about what dreams I have had... have they been realised and what dreams I have for the future... to see what I said HERE is the blog that Bernice has set up... oh and she also has a Facebook Group too! Deets of that are at the bottom of the blog page.

Armed with a wonderful quote from Walt Disney, I set about making a little something for the challenge.  There was also the remit of making my own washi tape.  BUT.  I am a donut, as you all know, and I forgot to add in the washi tape that I had lovingly forgotten to make! Doh!  Anyways, Bernice has forgiven me for being said donut... bless her!   My entry is an altered photo frame that I covered with some gorgeous Kaisercraft papers and decorated.  Why did I chose to alter something?  Well, out of all the things that I do, altering stuff is by far my favourite. I love to take something old and plain and jazz it up, adding a touch of shabbiness to make it look like it isn't newly made.  Simple sanding of papers works so easily, a smidge of my favourite inks, Distress, add a subtle little something to tie the whole design together.

So my washi-tape-less creation was suitably altered with papers and ink and stuff and then I set about decorating it... with another thing that makes me smile biggly.. which is making a big old blousey rose using the Tattered Florals die and more of the Kaiser papers. A few bits of metal to finish off the design and of course, butterflies, I do love my butterflies!

Right, I shall away... I slept like a log last night (literally) and I have seized up, the perils of sleeping for too long, I am like an old lady this morning!  I had a FAB weekend up in Rochdale with the lovely ladies of the Jollie Stampers Craft Group... we had two full days of getting painty, inky, sticky, chocolatey... and lots of other things that end in "ey" lol   Again, a big, big thank you to the ladies for asking me to come and teach... and to Joan who organised the whole weekend and for being a great hostess and feeding me scrummy food!  I have all my boxes to drag in from Ferdy... and then drag upstairs and then unpack... worst bit is the putting away, same as when you come back from the supermarket and have to unpack... yak, no like that bit lol   Thanks for looking... have a great day!  TTFN

Hels x

If You Want To Get Ahead... *with Winner*

...get a hat!  Oh yesh, indeedily and thrice, I am sooo chuffed with this little fella that has been lurking in the Room of Stash for months!  More of that in a mo... firstly, HOOOGE thank you's to everyone who left such wonderful comments on yesterdays post. I had a total of 76 comments and having fed this into Mr.Random.Org he came up with #15 as the winner... which tallies with the comment left by DOT'S DABBLES  Please can you email me your addy and I will pop your pressie into the post :O))

On with todays offering.  Like I said, I have had this little titfer for yonks.  I actually bought it for the Jubilee... wore it to the shops and had some funny stares because it was actually sparkly blue with red, white and blue ribbon attached to it.  As ever, I forgot to take a before pic...  

I slapped some black paint all over the hat and let it air dry for a day or so - the paint soaked right into the felt underneath and took foreeeever to dry!  Once dried I left it on the shelf for several weeks, ignoring it really... poor little thing.  So, yesterday afternoon I decided to punk it up in time for the Big Stamping & Scrapbooking Show in Kettering this weekend.  There's a whole heap of Idea-ology attached to it, some with hot glue and some with the wonder that is Cosmic Glue.

I had a fabby day yesterday - Gillian is in the Room of Stash!  She has come to stay for the weekend so she can have a wee shop at the show.... and guess what!!! She has given me a make-over!  Oh yes... after 42 years of having feathers for hair, I now have lovely sleek locks.  All down to some GHD Hair Straightners and a mahooosive amount of patience (on Gillian's part, I was more than happy to sit and be preened lol)  Whether or not the gorgeousness will last overnight is debatable.  As I have told you frequently, that ugly little critter that lives under my bed may well brandish his extra strength hair gel and sink plunger my face - he normally does ... finger's crossed he will behave!  Whatever the state of the old barnet, I shall be sporting my new hat all weekend... well, until I forget I am wearing it and bash my head against the desk... like I have never done that before... not lol

Anyways, I shall away, tis time for bed... if you are going to the show this weekend, please do pop by to say hi - tis lovely to meet up at these shows... faces to names and all that.  As ever, have a FAB weekend... oh and a brand new Sunday Stamper theme will be posted tomorrow too!  TTFN

Hels x

A First....

...guess what???  I have just completed my very first commission!  Oh yesh indeedily.  A few months ago, lovely Joanne spotted a piece on my blog and asked if I would make her something similar... and she was commissioning me!  Get that!  A commission... am still grinning like a loon about it now!  Anyways... I have just handed my finished effort to Joanne... and I think it is safe to say that she likes it. (either that or she deserves an Oscar rofl)

Anyways, the base is an 8" square canvas, this is a shallow edge one, I would prefer a deeper one (ooherrrmissus) but for the life of me I can't find any unless I want to buy a box of 193 and pay through the schnozzle for 'em.  So, this here shallow edge canvas was painted with acrylic paints... a mix of Decoart and Dabbers, all applied with Cut & Dry foam so I could get some nice blending going on.  I painted the edges with Black Dabber (I have to say, I lurves Dabber's because they are matt when dry... I no like that they are in ickle bottles though... I always want bigger ones ...another oooerrr, but I am sure you know what I mean *snort*)   

As I have been heavily influenced by the artist genius that is Ania Dabrowska (click her name to be whizzed off to her blog on the back of a Prima Flower) it is time to admit that I have turned into a bit of a squirrel.  I have always been a bit of a hoarder (as my wardrobe, loft, garage, Room of Stash, shed, dining room... you get the picture... will confirm) and when I saw these new Prima embellies, I started my latest craze... hoarding bits and bobs that will go really well onto canvases and big projects.  The Prima lightbulbs are a fantastic idea... and they are really substantial too.  Oh and the Prima Gears too... mahooosive ones and ickle ones alike.  Check out Sam Poole's Creative Studio's for deets on these babies.

Whilst at Ally Pally last Saturday I did a spot of speed stash-shopping... literally 5 mins from the end I dashed to Paper Artsy (always a fave shop) and did one of those highspeed, gasping for breath dashes around the new Artemio embellishment range... those ickle studs on the canvas are actually brads, I just chopped their legs off!  And the metal butterfly is from Graphic 45... I am lurrrving those... wishing I had got two packs of them now too!  The flowers are again from my stash of paper flowers... I added to it recently, visiting Wild Orchid Crafts and nabbing some new paper roses and some plain white blooms, as well as the cute brass dragonflies.  The metal leaves are new from Creative Expressions (and you can get these in Sam's store too)  Finally, the words... the Imagine is an Artistic Stamper word, gotta be my fave ever word stamp, I love the grunginess of it... and the wooden "remember" is another Prima embellishment.  I guess all in all I wanted to make this piece a bit special... well, being as it is for a very special lady, I wanted to add a bit of lurve into it too... so a lot of my fave things are included on it.  Now I just need to figure out how to add some Studio 490 into the mix and I will be complete!

Anyways... I shall away... I am in my hotel room in Preston... scheduling this post because I am fair pooped.  I had a bit of a journey down here... setting off with plenty, plenty time to get to Inspirations to drop all my kit off and then have a moozie about the shop.  Best laid plans and all that.  There was an accident on the M6 - I was hoping it would be clear by the time I got to the site... nope, there was another accident in the accident bit so it meant the motorway was closed.  A quick (handsfree, Blue & Me) call to Grim asking which exit should I take to avoid the closure... and onwards I goes.  Until the exit I needed and there was a Police car there, closing the slip road.  Another accident had happened there!  I finally made it to Inspirations about 5.15pm so it literally was a quick hello, drop off the stuff, back in the car and onto the hotel.  Where I made a complete burk of myself.  So, I needs to use the facilities.  And the bathroom light won't work.  Grrr.. weeing in the dark is not the best fun right?  Anyways, I decides to pop the telly on to get the radio (tis freeview jobbywotsits) and I had a "no signal" thingy show up.  So, off I sets to reception to ask if I could get a light fixed and a telly that works.  The lovely lass on reception was most apologetic and offered to move my room... nope, I just unpacked, can't be bothered with all that... so she offers me free internet... I just paid for it.. and then she offered me a free breakfast.  Thank you very much, don't mind if I do.  And then she said "you did put your door key card into the slot on the wall?"  Errrm... "nope"  *I had the grace to blush*  She tells me that to get the power and lights in the room you need to insert card into said slot.  "Oh and btw" she says... "is the aeriel in the back of the telly?"   Turns out the aeriel wasn't in the back of the telly and yes, key card in slot on wall means I can wee with the lights on rofl   With that delightful image I shall say... thanks for looking... if you are in Preston today please do pop in to Inspirations and say hi, I will be the one with the red face and inky paws!  TTFN!

Hels x

Simon Says... A Tutorial

...as promised, I am back today with a link to the tutorial I have done for Simon Says Stamp & Show. All the deets are HERE. The challenge is open to all and... don't forget, there's candy to be had for one lucky entrant. I have to say again, thank you to the lovely peeps at Simon Says Stamp for allowing me to be a Guest Designer on their fab challenge blog... I am so chuffed... and ver, ver honoured.



Being as all the deets on how I altered the frame are already on the SSS&S blog, I thought I would just do a quicky on how I finished my frame. The frame is one of those RAM ones from IKEA, you know, the fabby wooden ones that are now discontinued *sad face time* Once I had covered my frame with the Tissue and Washi Tape collage, I moved onto decorating the insert. I cut a piece of card to fit inside and painted it with the same bit of Cut & Dry I had used to do the frame. I left this plain so the heart embellishment would pop more but I did add some darker colour paint where the point of the heart would be sitting so it adds shading to it.




I cut a heart out of thick card - I have made myself a little template so I can get a heart to be equal on both sides. This is simples, just draw half a heart on the edge of a piece of card and cut it out. Then when you come to make your heart, draw around the half, flip it over and draw around the other side, that way you get the same shape on both sides. I added strips of tape across the heart along with a border punched bit of card and then painted over the top with the same bit of Cut & Dry I used for the frame. I added some darker paint around the edges, blending it in so there was some more shading. Once this was dry I added a smidge of gold embossing powder around the edge to make it a bit fancier. I popped some Prima flowers onto the heart, along with some metal bits and bobs to jazz it up a bit and spritzed with Cosmic Shimmer spray to add some bling. I like to make things that have words on them (yep, as well as flowers lol) and Tim's Idea-ology Chit Chat stickers are perfect to add that little something that doesn't overload a design. I have stuck mine onto card, edged them with a black Paint Sharpie and then bobbed them onto 3d foam. I know I have said this very lots of time but... I am totes inspired by Finnabair - I don't think I have ever seen her make anything that I don't like - click her name to see her blog.




And there you have it. A simple collage technique that looks really pretty. And you don't just have to do this on an alterable piece, you can use it on cards, tags, ATC's - the list is endless :O) The majority of the goodies I used are available from Simon Says Stamp.

As ever, thanks for looking... I am still suffering today *grrrr* so I have planned myself a day in the Room of Stash *yayyy*... a good old play with ink and stuff always makes me feel better. Have a good day yourselves... TTFN

Hels x

Birds In The Barn...

... I had a wonderful weekend at Birds In The Barn in Essex. I love that shop - tis chockful of gorgeousness and owner Janet is a brilliant hostess. Over the two days I did two completely different classes. Both were fully booked - so hooge thank you's to all the lovely ladies who came along and got messy with me, especially as it was the hottest weekend we had this year!



Saturdays class was all about getting painty. You all know how totes inspired I am by the wonder that is Finnabair (click her name to see her art) Well, the class subject was a 9 x 12" canvas, lots of textures and layers applied and then painted over. And then came the decorations. This is my favest part... cos you all will have sussed by now that I do lurve metal embellies and of course, flowers.



Mixing the two together makes me very happy... add in the use of Dylusions sprays (yep, addicted to that Black Marble) and some Perfect Pearls Mist (Turquoise) to jazz up the Prima Flowers and I am positively ecstatic! I did a smidge of spritzing onto the canvas too just to tie the background to the embellies. Check out the ickle knife, fork & spoon... Janet has loads of these little goodies in the store - I just love how the fork was manipulated... I had, indeedily, a Uri Gellar moment lol


Anyways, these here pics are of my canvas. Strips of punched and die cut watercolour paper, strips of canvas, smidges of lace, tonnes of flowers and flashes of bling. Thank you to Janet for having me teach at her store again, we are getting our heads together to have another weekend before Xmas - as soon as we have the dates, I will pop them into the sidebar :O))


Right, I shall away... I have decided to take a day off today. I have a special date with a gorgeous hunky bloke (Grim) - he is taking me to the cinema to see The Sweeney (can't wait) and then maybes a little meal in Nando's (loooove Nando's, I am a "medium" girl... what about you? Hotter? Or milder? Grim always has a "hottest" he is a nutter lol) As ever, thanks for looking.... TTFN!

Hels x

Sunday Stamper - Week 214 - Bits & Pieces

Gooooodly Morning Stampers and a very happy Sunday to you all. Hoooge thanks for all your fab entires for last weeks dreamy challenge. This week the challenge is... EMBELLISHMENTS! To join in is simples: make a little something - it can be anything you fancy. Add in some stamping and the theme and then hop back here to leave a comment with a link to the place you are showing your entry. If you haven't got a blog you can enter by using any photo hosting site or on Facebook or by bobbing me an email with a photo of your entry. The challenge will remain open until 21:00 Saturday 21st July 2012.



My entry this week very very nearly caught me out. Oh yes, the inventor of the Sunday Stamper only went and made something with...erm... no stamping on it! Hahaaaa, I know!!! I was just about to start with the embellies when I realised... so, I grabbed a random number stamp and popped that on using Coffee Archival. I know, you have to squint to be able to see it properly but tis there... top right and bottom left corners 'O)


Anyways. This old frame was one I picked up from a car boot sale about 386 years ago and it has been sitting on the teetering tottering pile of alterables, gathering dust etc. But, yesterday, I gave it a new lease of life. It began as a plain pine coloured wood, so I smooshed Pitch Black Dabber all over it using Cut & Dry foam and then once it had dried, I gave it a good old sand back to patches of wood. Then I blended Gathered Twigs DI over it and yes, I love the patina'd look it gives. The middle is another one of my "layer up die-cuts and paint over" efforts. This time painting over with Eco Paints; Clam Shell, Slate, Rose and Pomegranate, all blended with Cut & Dry and then once that had all dried, I used my trusty Stabilo ALL pencil to add shading.


I was having a natter on the phone to Ellen yesterday afternoon and she said those immortal words... "I challenge thee..... " Uh oh, I thinks.... Then she said... " make sure you have some drippage on your creation" So... ner ner ner (said in my most mature and adult voice... ahem) I DID indeedily remember to add drippage. This came in the form of some scrummy Cosmic Vintage Mists in the Raspberry colour. In the bottle it looks like "YAHHH PINK" but actually it is a most beautiful dusky colour ( I am in LURVE with pink remember) I added some bits and pieces to the design, including paper flowers, some Embellish Your Art, Idea-ology, some DewDropz and some positively ancient metal jobbies that I got from Ally Pally the first time I went there, which is knocking on 92 years ago now... and I quite clearly remember Andrea saying "look, they are reduced, get them, you will need them!" and me thinking "OMG, they are reduced, I NEEEED them" and then promptly putting them in a drawer and... *hangs head* never using them... til now... yeah! They were a bargain lol


Right, tis enough of my waffles for one day... I am going to admit, this week is going to be mega busy. I have loads of samples to make ready for the upcoming Spellbinders POW shows next week and classes at The Stamp Attic on the weekend... so... I might be a bit slow in visitations... but I promise, I will come and see you all... as soon as I can! Thanks for looking... have a good one... I have heard a whisper that it is going to be dry and sunny today... mmm, I shall reserve judgement til I open the curtains in the morning (I am writing this just after midnight, just to confuse myself lol) TTFN

Hels x

**ps, just looking at the pics on here, it looks like it is lurid pink, it isn't, it is more dusty and subtle... really, it is... honest... lol**

Favourite Things...

...I have been having a few conversations over the past few weeks about "styles"... you know... like "what is YOUR style?" Or, "that is just YOUR style" Well, I asked myself "what actually IS my style?" I have come to conclusion that I haven't really got one... I am more of a "habit" kind of person. I do like to have my little routines, I have habits but more than anything, I have favourites. I am talking about my whole life here too, not just the arty crafty stuff. I have favourite people, favourite foods, favourite socks, favourite songs... the usual, you know, most of us can admit that we all have favourites. I tend to go through "phases" of doing stuff... I will make tags for a few months, then do cards, then ATC's, altered art... you know what I mean? Well, I admit... I am a bit bored with just doing tags all the time... plus, I have so many here that I am running out of room... so I need to do some more 3d things for myself....


In my arty crafty stuff, my favourites are, above all else, flowers. I have been told a few times that I rarely make something without bunging a flower on it. Well, that is totes-true! Because I LOVE flowers. I love to make something and add a little floral embellishment... be is a big old blousy rose or a little resin bloom, I am not fussy... so long as it is flower. Another favourite thing is the good old fashioned heart. They work their way into my stuff quite regularly too... usually a die cut or on the end of a pin... or a stamp. This one today is a hand drawn and cut out one. And of course, another favourite, albeit a new one, is that paper blocking technique... along with the layering stuff onto card or canvas and then painting over the top.



So, I thinks to meself the other night, I will combine all my favourites and have a play. Which is exactly what I did. I started out by cutting up some snips of BG Capella paper (6 x 6 pad, perfect size) and then popped them onto one of those cheapy IKEA frames that are now discontinued... how rude!!! Fancy discontinuing them!!! I was gutted to go alllllll the way to IKEA just for more frames to find they had NONE. I was right about to throw myself on the floor and have a paddy.... thank goodness I realised that I am in my 40's and throwing myself on the floor would make me look like a nutter lol Anyways... where was I? Ah yesh, the frames. Well, I happened to rummage and find a pack of them in the teeting tower of alterable stuff. So, the papers were blocked onto the frame and then swished over with a babywipe dipped into Traditional Tan paint (THE best paint, see another fave!) Once dried, it had a good coat of Ranger Glue & Seal to... yep, you guessed... seal it!



Next came the heart. I drew half a heart, cut it out and then used it as a template. I am cack at drawing symmetrical things... so the half template works perfectly. That was on plain old cardstock. I then layered up some die cut bits and bobs and some masking tape (which is now hidden lol) and then used Cut & Dry to add Juniper and Cloudy Blue Dabbers to the heart. I then blended some Espresso Dabber mixed with Trad Tan paint to add some browny shading to the top and edges of the heart. Of course, the Stabilo All pencil made an appearance and that did the shading for me on the heart and on the frame too. I cut some card to fit behind the heart and made the edges lighter, lightly tracing where the heart would be and making this a bit darker so it looked like a shadow. Finally, my favourite bit, the flowers... Prima's and paper roses... coloured with a few drops of Bundled Sage reinker in a Mini Mister of water. The addition of stamping onto Masking Tape and a smidge of gold embossing to finish it off.


And there you have it... a few of my favourite things. I am really enjoying doing more 3d arty stuff at the moment - I am not saying I shalln't be doing tags, cos you know me, a creature of habit and all that... Anyways, I have taken up enough of your time for one day, so I shall loves ya and leaves and say thanks for looking... ooh and a new Sunday Stamper theme tomorrow too! TTFN

Hels x

I Recipe Thee!

... aha, something slightly different to the I Challenge Thee is afoot! Oh yes, a new challenge has been thunked up by me and Ellen... create a crafty recipe... and see what comes of it. This time the recipe was devised last Sunday, during a Skype sesh and, whilst we didn't finish the pieces during the sesh, it has been the best fun playing with stuff that I have been ignoring for a while.




The recipe was to make a Hanging using:

5 Mini Canvas
Screw Eyes
Dimensional embellies - must include metal!
Sari Silk
Tape - any flavour
Stencils with medium of choice
Book Text
Words/Message of choice
Paint
Ink Sprays
Butterflies
Any additional embellies that we couldn't live without
AND... Something old or neglected from our stash.

I have to say... this pic of the hanging all together is truly cack itself. For some reason, no matter how I tried to take the photo, it has come out all diddy and daft... so, I took the liberty of taking a load more pics... so you can see all the details in full.



My neglected piece of stash was a sheet of acetate printed with butterflies that I bought about 382 years ago and have never used. The old bit of my stash is my Altered Originals Spray - now called Dylusions. It is the most gorge orange colour... I know... me... using orange... the day after using pink! Whatever next??? Lime green perhaps??? Anyways... I will shut up now so you can look at the pics....








Please do hop on over to see Ellen's totes-amazeballs creation... I just love the fact that we have the same recipe and come up with something so different from each other... As I just uploaded the pics I have seen that I have done a boo-boo... I forgot to edge four of the canvases with Black Dabber... doh! I shall go and rectify that now! Thanks for looking... have a lovely day! TTFN

Hels x