Compendium of Curiosities week 35 - Design Details

Oh my, this is the last of the CoC challenges and I can't wait to see what our fabulous hostess Linda, at Studio L3, has up her sleeve. My guess is that something will start at 6.00 am on Monday the 28th March and will be just as fab to do because we will be able to distress and grunge and use recyclable materials. At the same time we can sit and have a coffee, enjoy and have fun. Ok Linda I've used your hints - how have I done?

For my last piece I have made my version of a Bingo board.

My inspiration has come from -

Studio L3 - Design Details
Simon Says Stamp and Show - Metal

The Play Date Cafe - Blue, pink and orange
Art Impressions - Embossing

Supplies used -

TH Bingo texture fade

10 second studio metal

AIs - denim, butterscotch, red pepper, watermelon, pink sherbert

TH Lost and Found paper stash

Tissue tape

Hampton Art Stamps - Bingo stamp

DIs - worn lipstick, chipped sapphire, rusty hinge

Cosmic shimmers - rich gold, cosmic blush

Other - music paper, buttons, pin, metal flower brad, book binding thread, bead and fragment charm

On The Edge Die - Brackets

And my new Vagabond

I think the pictures tells their own story and the design details can be found on P.67 of The Compendium of Curiosities by the great Tim Holtz.

Please do go over to Let's Ink It Up and bookmark it for some challenges. They each last a fortnight which gives you plenty of time to enter and each of them has a fabulous sponsor. Although it is a Sunday start, that is Australian time, so if you are in the UK you will see it posted soon after 1.00 pm on a Saturday afternoon. The current challenge is EMBOSSING and will be open for another week. There is some great inspiration from A Team and Team B will be showing their fabulous makes the next Saturday, and I can tell you they are awesome cos I have seen them already.

I hope you are gearing up for a good weekend. I am off tomorrow morning to join my great friend Margaret, her future daughter-in-laws and some of their friends for a fabulous posh hotel and spa weekend. It is Sal's hen night celebration. We are going to the spa tomorrow afternoon for relaxation and treatments before going out somewhere later for a meal and music/dancing then heading back to the hotel. On Sunday morning we can use the spa again before making our way home. I think I will be very relaxed for work on Monday.

Take care, thanks for stopping by and reading my post.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

The Stamp Man Challenge # 17 - Curls and Swirls

Firstly I am off to the Farnborough Craft Show tomorrow (Saturday), anyone else going?????

I have loved preparing for the challenge this fortnight at The Stamp Man and completed some of it while watching the fabulous TH on QVC during Tuesday afternoon. Hence some inspiration drawn from what he was doing

The centrepiece for this card was made using alcohol inks with a sentiment and a flourishes stamp. The next layer was a piece of patterned paper from my box,  I inked the edges, over stamped using a music stamp and then sprayed with cosmic shimmer and 2 of the edges paper pierced.

The background is another paper from my off cuts, clear embossed with swirls in 2 corners and inked over, then mounted on gold.

The ribbon was thread through a metal tag on which I used the altered metal technique as explained in the TH bible. Gold flourish die cuts gave this the third layer of swirls and curls and were also given the altered metal treatment which worked really well. The butterfly is downloaded and covered with glossy accents and glitter.

Supplies
Adirondak alcohol inks - gold, cranberry,  meadow and red pepper
TH stamps - Shabby French, Reindeer Flight
DIs - barn door, aged mahogany, walnut stain
Cosmic Shimmer - red firefly
TH Elegant Flourishes die
Perfect Pearls - heirloom gold
Rangers Archival Ink pad - black

Challenges which inspired me -
Studio L3 - Altered metal alcohol inks
Simon Says Stamp and Show - Stripes
Sketch and Stash - Sketch used  - old stash papers from my off cuts box, new stash - metal ribbon holder
Creative Inspirations - Distress
2 Sisters - Embossing

Happy Friday and thanks for stopping by.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Time on my Hands - CoC #32

Hi Everyone, we have been having sunny spells today, which is really refreshing again.

Today I am showing a tag I have made to join the CoC challenge 32 at Linda's fab blog, Studio L3. This week it is an inking and masking technique which can be found on P.59 of Tim's book. I learnt one very important lesson from playing with making my own mask and that is to be aware of the ghost or shadow around the image if you haven't cut the mask close enough to the line, in fact I would say cut just inside the line. I will next time. The wings were stamped on acetate and glitter added to the back, I also used glitter pens on the clothes.

Other challenge blogs I used for inspiration were Simon Says Stamp and Show - A Tag and Just for Fun - Time Flies (I used the wings and clocks but in a different way and used a different sentiment - hope that's ok girls?)

DIs -  tea dye, crushed olive, weathered wood, walnut stain

Stamp - Prom Queen - Stampotique

Stamp for background - Studio 490 - Wendy Vecchi

Wings - stamp - Scrolls Work

sentiment - my own

embellishments - downloads

Enjoy the rest of Wednesday and thanks for taking a look at my tag.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Other challenges to have fun with -

Paper Wings - Distressed

Totally Stampalicious - Bling

Incy Wincy - Colour me wonderful (I used distress inks, markers and glitter pens for the clothes and chalk for the face)

Simon Says Stamp - make your own embellishments (all made by downloading, stamping, cutting, adding glitter or glossy accents etc)

Crafts and Me - Time to spread your wings

The Stamp Man Challenge # 16 - Hearts

Hi Everyone

UPDATE FRIDAY EVENING
I emailed the link for this post to Tim H himself and guess what??????  I got a reply from him - he thanked me and thinks the heart is BEAUTIFUL. Woo Hoo, Tim has visited my blog, how cool is that?

It's Friday again and the weekend starts here - yay. Hope you have got some nice things planned. Hopefully I will get in the garden tomorrow and start the spring clear up.

This week the challenge at the Stamp Man is to see hearts. I really had to rack my brains as to what I could make. I had recently bought some of those sweet little boxes for altering and yay I had a heart shaped one, so there was my starting point. I got out my TH rosette die to make the top embellishment but knew it would probably be too big and thought it would look better if it was a heart shape, so I set about altering the strip to make this fabulous heart rosette, I am just sooooo pleased with it. So much so, I made lots of them and they fit perfectly into the box.

Don't you just love it when something comes together like this? Real satisfaction. But I also wanted to link this to the CoC challenge at the amazing Linda's blog at Studio L3. I just can't believe that we only have 4 more challenges left to finish all the ideas in TH's fab book. So this week it is to use the rusted enamel technique and I have created lots of little hearts (as seen on the box and the pic below) and other embellishments that are going to be part of the goodies in the box to be given away.

So having papered, painted and stuck things on this is the finished thing. Must be careful what I say now, cos this is destined to become a birthday present soon, so shhhh.

Supplies

Paper made by Jill at The Stamp Man using Moonglow sprays and webbing spray. (Thanks Jill it is perfect for this box)

Trim given to me by my sister.
TH Rosette die
DI worn lipstick and vintage photo
Clear embossing powder
Eco-friendly acrylic paint in gold

Have fun today.

luv and hugs{brenda} xoxox

Challenges to have fun with -
Crafty Emmas - Red and Romance
Whoopsi Daisy - Hearts
Crafty Cardmakers - Hearts
Stampalicious - Hearts
Papertake Weekly - Have a heart
For Fun Challenges - Hearts
Penny's Paper-Crafty - Hearts a flutter
Stampin Royalty - Hearts
Simon Says Stamp - Anything but a card  (Tim Holtz rossette strip die used and DIs)

Compendium of Curiosities week 30 - Altered metal

Oh I can't believe there are only 5 more CoC challenges left before we have completed all the techniques in the wonderful bible of TH. Linda however hasn't let the full cat out of the bag, but she has said that this won't be the end - so what is she up to? Can't wait to find out.

This week as the title suggests we are altering metal at Studio L3 and I have been itching to get started on my configurations box that DH bought me for Christmas. I knew I had some lovely little metal things I want to use and had to go searching in the shed to find them.

The little boxes are going to reflect across the ages and times of the lives of our close family. So the first box represents our grandparents days when life was much harder with none of the technology we know of today. The mangle symbolizes the way the wife and mother had to work in the home to keep the family washed and clothes and everything clean. Not like today is it? I can remember my Nana doing the washing in the scullery in a huge sink, pulling the sheets out, giving them a wring as best she could by hand and then putting everything through the mangle before hanging it on the line. Even though I had an electric washing machine when I first got married, I still had one with the rollers, (and they were electric too), that you put the washing through to get the water out, spinners were around but I didn't have one for some reason. Oh boy I am showing my age aren't I?

So turn to P.48 in the compendium to find out how to do the technique and I am sure you will be altering all sorts of bits and pieces made of metal. It's so easy and great fun.

I have already altered a few more bits ready to make the next boxes, which I am sure you will see in the weeks to come. I just seem to have so many projects on the go.

Have a lovely crafty weekend and pop back if you have time. I am going to make something with hearts and wings on next to support my friend Zoe's new challenge blog called Just For Fun. Go take a look if you haven't seen it already.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Challenges to have fun with -
Allsorts - Saving Nature -  these little ornaments had once been stood on display in a printers tray, now they find themselves with a new lease of life rather than being thrown away.
Creative Friday - Vintage

Compendium of Curiosities week 29 - Weathered Wood Grunge

It's CoC week again and as soon as I saw the theme I immediately thought of trees and so that's what I stayed with. (The little birdie is sitting on a weathered wood grunge tree stump). I used the technique as described on P.50 in Tim's bible, but I have covered most of it up, it is there, I promise Linda. Do pop over to Studio L3 to see all the lovely entries and to see Linda's interpretation too, such inspiration, just fabulous.

So here is my tag. I used paper from the lost and found stack, the caged bird die, sizzix leaf die, tattered florals die and a philosophy tag. The flowers are made from 300gms watercolour paper, victorian velvet DI and aged mahogany re-inker sprayed with cosmic shimmers and glimmer mist. The pearls and ribbon are from my supplies.

I am having such fun this week, I haven't had any work so I think I have been able to post every day, but back to normal next week, never mind.

Enjoy the rest of the week and thanks for sharing this with me.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Challenges to have fun with -
Crazy Amigo - Tags
Flourishes Timeless Tuesday - Add hardware
The Pixie Cottage - Flowers
Simon Says Stamp - Animal antics (a bird is part of the animal kingdom isn't it? he looks as though he has got an eye on something!!!)

Compendium of Curiosities week 28 - Colourful Layered Fragments

Hi Everyone - hope your Friday is going well and that you have some lovely things planned for the weekend. I am off to the Craft show at Sandown Park, Esher tomorrow with my daughter-in-law Bev. Will let you know if we buy anything.

Woo Hoo. This week I have had a win for my CoC Masking card and a top 3 award for Stampotique Again card. How amazing is that?

This card is for my husband for Valentine Day and I am quite pleased with the outcome. It looks better IRL.

My inspiration has come from a number of challenge themes  -
Linda's amazing CoC challenge at Studio L3 - colourful layered fragments
Love and/or Valentine which can be found at Lexi's Creations, Paper Playtime, Tuesday Throwdown, Theme Thursday,
Feelings (and/or feely) at Ink on My Fingers
Hearts at Mark's Finest Papers, Totally Papercrafts,
Distressing - Crafty Purple Frog
Forgotten stamp - Crafty Catz - this stamp has been in the drawer for ages and not seen the light of day.

Please turn to page 57 for the instructions of how to make the fragment. I have used it as a spotlight over the stamped image.

Supplies
TH paper from Seasonal Stack
Stamp - Tin Can Mail by Inkadinkadoo
Ideology fragment
TH Heart Wings die
Crafts Too dotty embossing folder
Heirloom Gold perfect pearls
Glossy accents and Crackle accents
DIs - vintage photo and walnut stain
Alcohol inks - Meadow, Denim, Butterscotch, Red Pepper, Gold
Other embellishments from my box of bits
Gold distress stickles

Take care - luv and hugs xoxox

Compendium of Curiosities week 27 - Distress Misting Masks

Good evening Everyone
The lovely Linda is hosting CoC challenge 27 over at Studio L3 and you can find all the details of how to do the masking technique on P60 of the Compendium of Curiosities. I used the sketch from Simon Says Stamp (flipped 90 degrees to the right) and also included the theme of masking at Simon Says Stamp and Show and Stampotique. The colour palette of brown, blue and white at Creative Inspiration, use coffee filters at Gingersnap Creations and use lace at ABC challenge and Shelly's Images.

I am really pleased with how this turned out. This will be another page for Mum's book when I get to make it. Butterflies were her favourite flying mini beast, so this piece is dedicated to her.
Supplies Distress Inks - Tumbled Glass, Chipped Sapphire, Walnut Stain, Vintage Photo
TH Flourish Mask
Tattered Angels butterfly stencil
Heidi Swapp butterfly mini mask

Papermania butterfly vinyl

TH dies - Fanciful Flight, Tattered Florals
Martha Stewart  border punch and butterfly punches
Cosmic Shimmer Mist - Aqua lagoon
Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist Creme de Cocoa and Coffee Shop
Dovecraft Funky Vintage paper
Shabby flower made from coffee filter papers, DIs and glitter
Lace, papers and glitter card from stash
Sakura glitter pens

Other challenges to have fun with -
Ooh La La Creations - Bling
Polly Craft - New things (I have had Fanciful Flight for a little while but it is the first time I have used in on a project)
Stampin B's - Die cut
Fairytale - Flowers
Delicious Doodles - Use 3 colours
Stampin for the weekend - New and Blue
2 sisters - Flowers
Allsorts - Teal Blue and Brown
CES - No DPs

Have fun and thankyou for stopping by to take a peek.

Luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

New beginnings, new stamp and COCC #26

Hello everyone and welcome

I have been itching to play with this new stamp that my husband bought me for Christmas. I had been looking at the Stampotique stamps all last year and wasn't sure how I would use them, yet they intrigued me and at last I have plucked up courage to experiment with them. I am pleased with the simplicity of this and the effect I have achieved. I had several challenges in mind,

Stampotique - to use punches/die cuts

Studio L3 - Rusted Grunge

Simon Says Stamp and Show - Your newest stamp

Unscripted Sketches -  old sketch #13     

Prom Queen by Jill Penney and Daniel Torrente has been stamped onto patterned paper and coloured using promarkers. Diecut and stamped pieces have been given the rusted grunge technique (see P45 of TH Compendium of Curiosities for how to do it) and stickles added to edges and crown. The sentiment is my own created in Word.

 

Other challenges to have fun with -

Creative Inspirations - Use something new

Mark's finest papers - Use something new

One Stop Craft - New beginnings

Paper Sundaes - Something new

Pile It On - Brand spankin' new

Creative Card Crew - New beginnings

Try it on Tuesday - New beginnings

Creative Cottage - Something new

Simon Says Stamp - New beginnings

Dutch Dare Card Challenges - Something New

Hope your week is going well - take care and have fun.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Compendium of Curiosities week 25

I just had to have a go at this today - need to keep myself busy and I hate missing Linda's fabulous challenges over at Studio L3. This one is 'scribble stain distress' and you can find the deets on P.34 of the great book itself (The Compendium of Curiosities).

For some reason I still have rhymes and poems as a theme in my head (see The Stamp Man ATC blog) and 'This is the house that Jack built' seemed most appropriate.

Supplies used -

TH dies - Rickety House and On The Fence

Crealies die for foliage.

Flowers from stash.

DIs - stormy sky, bundled sage, chipped sapphire, vintage photo, fired brick.

Re-inker - vintage photo

TH stamp - birds

Cosmic shimmer mist - rich gold and red firefly

TH embossing folders - branch tree and notebook

The backing paper for the main piece is where I have used the scribble stain distress technique.

Hope all is well with you. Thanks for stopping by.

Luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Compendium of Curiosities week 23 - Double Distress

Hi to all my lovely friends

This is my second post for today - my bird box was scheduled so I just had to find time to enter the CoC challenge at Linda's fabulous blog at Studio L3. Her challenge has been running for two weeks and I will just be in time - again!!!!

This is my Christmas card for my DH, he doesn't look at my blog so he won't see it before he should. The photo doesn't really do it justice, it looks much better in real life.

To find out how to do the double distress turn to P.40 of Tim's book and all the instructions are there. I have used grungepaper, a snowflake embossing folder, TH rosette die, letters from TH seasonal papers, snowflake punches, crackle and glossy accents, bundled sage, antique linen and walnut stain DIs, music paper and an Anna Griffin sticker sentiment.

I shall go and see Mum this afternoon and hopefully be back later. Thankyou to all you lovely people who are still visiting me and I promise to get over and see you soon. What would I do without you all? You really are keeping me going.

Have a lovely Sunday. {brenda} xoxox

Compendium of Curiosities week 22 - Christmas Bookmark

Another week for the CCC and this week Linda is challenging us to use the alcohol ink splatter technique on P.52 of the fabulous TH book. You know I would never have had a go at all of these techniques without these challenges - so thankyou Linda for keeping me inspired and wanting to try out all these fabulous techniques. Just the motivation I need.

I also want to say hello to Annette and to Sue and Lisa (Teamies from the Stamp Man) who have joined me lately. It's lovely to share your work with others isn't it? I will have more fabulous blogs to go and visit.

I have to admit I had several goes at this until I found a piece I was happy with and I made it into a Christmas bookmark. I stamped a frame from the Invoke small funky frames set, printed off Santa Claus and angel from a freebie Gaby Braun Christmas collage sheet. The true story sentiment is from a 7 Gypsies stamp set and I finished it off with some Christmassy bits and ribbon and mounted it on corrugated card from some packaging.

I usually have friends and family round on Christmas Eve for dinner and have Christmas Eve presents wrapped on the table. This year I hope they will all be handmade. This is one to start the collection.

Pretty neat.

Challenges to have fun with
Studio L3 - Alcohol Ink Splatter
Simon Says Stamp and Show - What makes you happy - being pleased with a piece of art you have created.
Ink on my fingers - Santa Claus
Flourishes - Get on with it  I have made a number of cards - but not many little gifts so I thought this would fit
Flutterby Wednesday - Anything Goes with a butterfly, angel or fairy
Theme Thursday - Faces

Well I think I am having the girls later today, I shall enjoy that.

Have a great day.

luv {brenda} xox

Compendium of Curiosities week 21 - Perfect Distress

Wow, didn't think I was gonna make it this week (still a heavy workload at the moment) but here is my entry for the fabulous TH challenge at Studio L3. I have just been catching up on Linda's blog and she supports some amazing people - love it Linda, keep rocking us with your fab work and interesting news.

So this week turn to P.38 in the great book to find out how to do the technique this week, it is quite simple but so effective.

I also made this to fit the challenge at Simon Says Stamp and Show, which this week is to use your favourite TH stamp. Mine is the flourish stamp from the Shabby French collection and has been so well used. The paper is Basic Grey for another challenge and the moths (butterflies?) are from Scrolls Work. I have just received an order from them of some small stamps and I love them. Next June I am going to be GD for a month with them woohoo. The layout is Sketch Saturday although I have flipped it. There are some other challenges I had in mind which are listed below.

I thought I would also just show you a card Ella made for me yesterday - she's four and loves to make things - just like her Mum and her Granny.

I hope you are well and having a good day. It's raining here and I now must go and do some real work to keep up to date with paperwork I have to get emailed out. Have a great day.

luv {brenda} xox


Challenges to have fun with -
Basic Grey - Wings
Sketch Saturday - Sketch
The Crazy Challenge - Things with wings
Timeless Flourishes - Use glitter
ABC Challenge - H is for Holidays
Cute Card Thursday - Anything Goes

Compendium of Curiosities week 19 - Extreme Masking

Well I actually got to play with this TH technique earlier than I have been doing, in fact last week I made the deadline for entry by 2 hours, call that near the mark or what!!!

As it's almost All Hallows Eve I decided to use spooky Halloween colours - purple, orange and black which meets the deets for Flutterby Wednesday as I have used butterflies as well. The extreme masking technique is explained on P.61 of TH's book and this meets the requirements for the challenge at Studio L3. If you would like to see more inspiration from the man himself then go take a look at his blog HERE.

The small butterfly masks are Papermania vinyls and the larger one is a Tattered Angels mask and I used repositionable spray on it to keep it in one place.

Stamps are a variety by TH and the DI's used are dusty concord, spiced marmalade and black soot. I made my own spray using aged mahogany and faded jeans. The whole piece has been edged with black soot DI and black diamonds stickles.

I have added bats and black butterflies to give this more of a traditional Halloween feel to it. The butterflies are all MS punches and sprayed with spray and sparkle. The bats are a Quickcutz die.

I made another of the metal roses, but I have to admit it looks more like a pine cone, which actually fits this better. I used copper ten second studio metal sheet, die cut the flowers using a Marianne Creatables die, stuck the metal flowers to black card then put it together using a clear, soft glue which takes a while to dry, but allows you to position each layer as you want it.

I shall use the pine cone effect again when doing autumnal designs.

Lastly I added brads and ribbon to make this into a piece which I will hang on the front door on Saturday, ready for any Trick or Treaters.

 

Challenges to have fun with - I can't believe how many Halloween challenges are still about, so this will fit quite a few of them.

Raise the Bar - Orange, black and purple.

Stampin for the weekend - Halloween/Fall

Crazy 4 Challenges - Halloween

Creative Inspirations - Halloween/Fall

Drunken Stampers - Halloween

Aly's Sunday Challenge - Distressed

Cupcake Inspirations - Halloween theme

Kaboodle Doodles - Bats

Ooh La La Creations - Scary stuff

Paper playtime - Halloween

Pear Tree Designs - Halloween

Simon Says Stamp and Show - Spookay

A crafty little place - Make it spooky

Crafty Creations - Halloween/Autumn

Little Red Wagon - Halloween

Simon Says Stamp - Punch 'Em

The Wild Flower Patch - Halloween

Penny's Challenges - Black, Purple, Orange

AIF - Halloween

Dutch Dare - Halloween

Paperplay - A Haunting We Will Go

Pixie Dust Studio - Happy Halloween

S2G - Trick or Treat

Shelly's Images - Tic Tac Toe - mine is the right hand column of brads, distressing, flower

Have a great Halloween.

Luv B xxxx

Compendium of Curiosities week 18 - Pink

I didn't think I would get anything done this weekend as I have been away with the family to Ramsgate, but I have worked on this since being home tonight. It's not a wonderful photo as I have had to take it under a lamp, but maybe I will get a better one up tomorrow so you can see the true colours.

I have a wedding to go to next year in Cyprus. Richard, who is the eldest son of my good friends Margaret and Bill, is getting married to Sal and I have promised them a guest book for the wedding day. It will be a small and quiet wedding with a big reception for the rest of the family and friends when they get home.

Sal wants hot pink for her book, so that's where I have started. This will be used to embellish one of the pages. 

I know it's very different and not the usual vintage style I like, but I have used the dabber resist technique from the Compendium of Curiosities. The heart is a cuttlebug die, wings from a TH die and the butterfly is a MS punch. The flower I made from a punch too and inked it using worn lipstick which I also used on the background with spun sugar and pumice stone. The colours of the book will be pink, white and silver.

Please pop over to Studio L3 for the challenge and to see what amazing entries there are. Thankyou Linda for keeping this going, I just love looking every Monday to see what is coming next.

I hope you all have a good week.

Take care. Luv B xxxx

Compendium of Curiosities week 17

Good morning - yes it's morning and I need to get to bed cos I am off early to go to The Stamp Attic later and a workshop with Hels. But I just had to get this post up very quickly so that I can enter the CCC at Studio L3 which this week is fragment charms.

Please go to P. 64 of Tim's book to see what they are and how to use them. It's the first time I have had a go with them and they can create the most adorable embellishments for a whole variety of works of art.

Mine is a Nestabilities frame, a grungepaper deer, DIs, embossing powders and stamps, then some Crafty Bitz embellishments and of course my fragment charms. I managed to make it this evening and was determined to get it done. I've worked all week and had to work all day today, except for an hour in the garden doing some autumn clearing. The family came round for dinner this evening, so there hasn't been much time to play, but here it is.

Apologies for the photo, but I have had to lay this down even though it's going to be hung on one of my doors at Christmas, and the light is awful. Hopefully I'll get a better one in the light if I get home in time later on.

My sincere apologies to blog buddies. I just haven't got round to seeing anyone this week and I'm behind with my DT commenting too. I hope to catch up soon, but it could take me 5 or 6 weeks to be back in the blogging world properly. Please stay with me, I promise I will get there.

I hope your weekend is going well. Have a great Sunday.

Luv B xxxx

Compendium of Curiosities week 16

Hi there  everyone - how has your weekend been? Have you had the torrential rain that seems to have swept the whole of the UK? If you are somewhere else in the world I hope the weather has been treating you better than it has us at the moment.

Well I had to miss week 15 of the Compendium of Curiosities challenge as I was away with Mum, but I certainly got stuck in this weekend to produce something for week 16. Oh my, how quickly the weeks go by. So pop over to see the lovely Linda at her blog, Studio L3, to see what the challenge has been about and this time it lasts for 2 weeks so you will still have time to enter. Don't forget these are all based on the fabulous book by Tim Holtz.

This week it is to create something using the wrinkle free distress technique on page 33. The instructions are so easy to follow and this is a great little technique and one I experimented with on Hels workshop last month.

I followed the technique to make this tag and the colours I used are Barn Door, Mustard Seed, Crushed Olive, Vintage Photo, Forest Moss and Chipped Sapphire. The trees, snowflakes and birds are all TH stamps and the snowman is a Melissa Frances sticker.

The trees have been embossed with a glitter effect embossing powder. I sanded the snowflakes and edge of the tag to distress and fade them and added white pen to them, the trees and the grass.

Challenges to have fun with -

Studio L3 - Wrinkle-free distress

Simon Says Stamp and Show - Distressed and sanded

Daring Cardmakers - Christmas

Lots to do - Vintage 

Monday tomorrow - so have a good week.

Take care, luv B xxxx

Compendium of Curiosities week 12 Chipped Enamel

What a strange Sunday it is, bits of rain, then the sun tries to break through, high cloud, heavy cloud and humid in a way, but not hot.Well that's the English weather for you.

I have at last made my piece for the CCC at Studio L3, and Linda is now 1/3 of the way through the series, can you believe it?

This is a book cover for a notebook I am making for my daughters 30th birthday this week - (I can't believe my baby is this age already...... makes me feel so old.....). Anyhow I can only show you the cover at the moment as the rest is still to finish. I have the back cover made and the owire cut, but I want to make something of the inside covers and add a grungepaper tag to it. So still some to do.

For this particular challenge though I only need to show you this part, as it's the chipped enamel technique that this shows with the letter M. I have a tin of metal items from We R Memory Keepers and this was an ideal piece to experiment on. If you would like to know how to do it, turn to page 44 of The Compendium of Curiosities, Tim's book, it's a great one to try, so simple yet so effective to create some dimension.

I covered the boards with a DP from a stack, used DIs over the edges and then stamped in some places. I added a strip down the side with grunged edges and made a tag holder. I used a free image of an angel from the Graphic Fairy, cos that's what Maddie is. I used techniques I practised at Hel's workshop last week on the tag and added some buttons and stars, cos again that's what she is. A little bit of music paper and a little bit of sparkle and now I am happy with it.

I will show you the finished book later in the week, but for now enjoy the rest of Sunday and have a fun week.

Luv B xxxx

Challenges to have fun with -
Studio L3 - Chipped enamel
My Partner in Crafting Crime - Vintage
Think Ink 28 - Distressed out
Donna's Den - Layers
Simon Says Stamp and Show - Layers
The Creative Cottage - Celebrations
Stampavie - Anything but a card
Penny's Paper-Crafty - Birthday
Crazy 4 challenge - Books
Our Creative Corner - Letters or numbers
Stamptacular Sunday - Distress it