Craft Stamper Inspiration

Every now and again I get a guilt trip about my collection of magazines (do like a bit of eye candy!!) that I read once and do't try out anything. Rather more frequently I have an even bigger guilt trip about all the stamps I have that don't get used. Looking back through my blog it would seem I am not as much of a stamper as my level of supplies would suggest. So looking for kick start here's a card and tag made following a tut in January's Craft Stamper. The colours really called to me.

I didn't follow the instructions exactly (well, what did you expect?) but pretty pleased with them all the same. So then I did my own version in different colours. Like these too.

 

One thing I did decide after all this time is that I don't like working with inks direct to my card blank. However careful I am to clean as I go I always get ink all over the back and then the finished project looks a mess. So in future I will do all my inkwork as a topper and then mount on the card blank. Looks much better. Oh and the blogger photo thing is still not resolved . I have managed however to get the photos the right way up but does mean I can't edit anything I want to publish as I think that may have been why they were turning around. So much more careful initial framing is required, not just my happy snap that I crop later. That can only be a good thing right? LOL see ya soon.

Try It on Tuesday - New Stash!!

Happy New Year to you All!!

Well here we are with the first challenge for 2013 at Try It On Tuesday. We'd like you to tell us what crafty goodies came in your stocking and show us what you have made with them. There's no particular theme, and you can make anything you like and upload to enter. Please, please read the rules and be aware that you can only be considered for Prize draw and Top 5 if you link to 5 or less challenges including ours.

I know it might be hard to believe but other than a pack of buttons, I didn't get anything crafty for Christmas. (I guess I must just be too naughty!!)

I did get a little money, so although most of it is being kept aside for a NEW PRINTER, and some has already been spent on t'internet, I did have a little splurge at our local hobbycraft sale  and picked up a couple of stamps ('cos I haven't got enough). For some reason this particular one has been calling to me for a while so when I saw it in the sale I thought I would give in and have it. (I'm showing you the coloured sheet because let's face it, an acrylic stamp takes a pretty poor photo.


Christmas presents, of course, mean 'Thank You' cards so I made up this simple little design using the layered butterfly as the main feature. After colouring in the butterfly I got a bit stuck in orange mode, not a colour I usually associate with cardmaking .
Hope you like it.

Unlike me, you have a couple of weeks to play with your new stash, and I look forward to seeing what you come up with. So come and play along with us at Try It On Tuesday, we'd love to see you there.

Artful Times Challenge #2 - Sea of Greens

Well missed it last week and another week has nearly gone by (where is this year going?). It's good job the new challenges at Artful Times are fortnightly!!

Anyhow I'm entering this 4 x 4 piece (is that correctly called a fat page? I forget) with a lot of green in the background. And a smidge of orange. There's a little bit of digital, some stamping, embossing and collage. It's one of a series I am doing, there are six so far but I'm keeping the rest a secret for now as I have a cunning plan....(tease, tease...).

Hope you like.

Bit Dark......

Just some ATCs. Went a bit off the beaten track with my colours and used a few of my new stamps and masks that have never been touched. Not sure about any of them but was nice to have a play and get inky. The creativity one is a bit tongue in cheek.

Off out to lunch today so better get im that shower. (I can be a right slob at weekends LOL).



Don't forget to join in with the April Art Draw if you haven't already.

Link is top right or just click here.

Mother's Day Card (No1 !!)

Well I'm not sure if  this is going to my mum or not as it may go to a commission unless they decide they don't like it. My mum would love it but I am not entirely happy with it. It's a hybrid effort with some digital elements, stamping, decoupage, promarker colouring, nesties and embellies. It sure took long enough for me not to be pleased with it. Just looks a bit unbalanced. Since I took the photo I added a little cross charm under the bow (a cross was in the brief) and I'm a little happier with it (Just can't stop fiddling that's why everything takes me so long).

I took an A4 card and cut it down a bit as I actually find A4 cards a bit too big - we need another size between A5 and A4 I think!!

Part of the commission was for 'lots of words' (you know what mums are like LOL) and so I tried to do a fancy fold up thing in the middle with a sheet of A3 and added my verses but for some reason I couldn't get the colour of the text to change which was a little annoying but it looks OK.  (Please don't laugh at my excruciating verse). Unfortunately I hadn't anticipated that a sheet of A3 folded in half and then in half again is basically A5 sized - so it doesn't cover the whole of the  card. But I'd already done the front so I wasn't going to change it!! Aaah, forward planning.........

And then, because I cut down the A4 card I had to make a box because I didn't have an envelope. I used the green hougie board rather than the enveloboxer thingy that is staring at me because I really have not worked out to use it yet. Of course, I hadn't thought about using a sensible measurement when I cut the A4 card so that was easy (NOT). LOL, I have all the 'stuff' if only I had an ounce of common sense sometimes I would make my life easier.


So it may be for my mum or someone else's mum, I'll find out tomorrow. Would save me a job if they decide to buy their own as I haven't even started on MDC No 2 yet. But there's always Saturday.....

Finally a little plug.... for the March Art Draw. There have been very few entries so far this month so if you've read this far and you haven't entered why not go to the relevant post here and leave your name. You don't even have to say anything much (although that would be nice!!).

February Art Draw - it's Luvverly!!

If I do say so myself. Not often I'm tempted to keep my giveaways and fob you off with something else but am quite pleased with the way this turned out ...... but I'll stick to the original plan, especially as I already gave you a sneak preview before I went away.

My original inspiration came from two projects in February's Craft Stamper Magazine - 'Their Hearts Connected' by Louise Crosbie (AKA Zuzu) and 'A Splash of Paint' by Trish Latimer. The minute I saw them I knew I wanted to make something similar and get very painty and inky!! I had already decided to do something romantic with hearts using my canvases - it is February after all - and originally tried a red, and then a red and purple colourway (you may remember the red canvases from waaaaaay back).


Somehow it ended up too harsh looking so I softened it with gesso, some pink and added a touch of turquoise and I like it much better.

I really like using canvases 'backwards' for the possibilities they give as a kind of shadow box and I had two hanging about waiting for a project. The only trouble was they are quite small - about 7 x 10 cms - so finding teeny tiny things to go inside was a bit of a challenge. For the main message on the front which I wanted to be clear I stamped on to tissue first and then adhered with gel medium - I always find this works really well.

I did wonder at one point if I
had over mixed my metaphors so to speak as I seemed to have some funky paint effects going on and then went all vintage with a cherub and some tiny paper roses - but I decided  the colours held it all together.






And at last a use for one of those little corked bottles!! Bought them a year ago and they have been languishing in my stash ever since. Filled it with tiny silver stars as I couldn't find any tiny hearts in my stash.





Anyhow, enough of my waffling. If you would like to enter the Art Draw then leave a comment on this post before 9.00 pm on Saturday 25th February.

International players are very welcome. It always seems a bit cheeky to say this as I am not very good at any of this technical linking stuff but I would be very happy for you to link from your own blogs  - the more the merrier.

Finally, as I have been catching up in Blogland I have noticed there are a lot of challenges out there to do with Valentine's, hearts, romance..... there's definitely something in the air. So I'm linking this project to Snazzy's Design Team Blog Challenge # 1, Love/Romance. There are prizes!!! I've also linked in to the Link Party at Cindy Adkins' blog if you would like to join in as well. It also fits the theme for a new9ish) challenge blog  that I have come across - 'art with no boundaries'