Taking Flight with Some Winged Things

Good afternoon everyone, and a big welcome to my new followers.  It is a beautiful day here, the sun is shining and I have time to myself for a few hours.  As I have been away it is time to see what challenges are out there and get some projects made.  The challenge over at  the Redd and Rosie Challenge Blog  and at Addicted to CAS  is TAKE FLIGHT so I settled down to make something to enter.

I had been playing with some scraplings (the pieces of card left over when making your own card blanks), I have such a lot of these and use them for note cards, thank you cards etc.  Looking through my bits box I found some paint colour charts which were collected some years ago to stamp on and remembered an article in a Craft Stamper magazine using scraplings and paint charts to make up cards.  These are what I came up with for the two challenges.

The scraplings were folded to make a tent card ready for the stamped image and sentiment to be added.  The paint strips were stamped using black Stazon and using stamps by Artemio,  and then cut to size before mounting a white card, this was then attached to the card.  The butterfly and dragonflly from the same stamp set were stamped onto white card coloured in co-ordinating colours with Promarkers, fussy cut and attached to the bottom of the stamped image.  A greeting (from a free stamp set) was stamped in black. As an afterthought glossy accents was added to the butterfly and dragonfly to highlight them.

 

I did enjoy doing these so may add a few more and box them up for a gift for someone.

Great Holiday and Family Weekend - now time to catch up

Good morning everyone out in blogland, at last time to catch up after my hols, it has taken me over a week to do the washing and ironing due to the family coming to stay last weekend which added more washing to the pile when they had gone. 

We had a lovely break down in Devon although the weather was hit and miss, the new puppy settled into caravanning straight away, both dogs loved it.

Poppy and Fergus investigating

Poppy in full flight

The  weekend was enjoyable too, three grandchildren and two sons staying.  Here are a few pictures of the children crafting and a few things they made, I promised I would put them on my blog being a proud grandma (and I know they will be checking to see if I have!).

 Jacob & Sophie with Glitter Everywhere!

Evie's Robot and Sophie's Flower

Just like to thank all you ladies for your comments on my previous posts, I am slowly getting round to seeing what you talented ladies have been doing and leaving you comments.  I will be back soon with my Crafty Bloggers Network July Challenge post and the Show Us Your Twinchies winner and July challenge.

Alpha Challenge Letter "U" - Upholstery

Well just back from holiday and have the Alpha Challenge to do with only a few days to go.  The Craft Barn Alpha Challenge letter is "U", my chosen word is Upholstery.

My pages were made using images of chairs with different coloured upholstery, buttons covered with fabric, upholstery  needles and swatches of upholstery fabric (printed paper).  The black and white images were coloured with Promarkers and fussy cut before adding to the page.  The patterned papers were cut out using pinking shears and grouped together to give the impression of colour swatches, I added contrasting covered buttons and the upholstery needles I had in my sewing box.  The letter "U" was cut from patterned paper and the definition outlined with black ink.

A very rushed page but needs must and I do want to get my entry in before Sunday.

Bees and Butterflies and Another Twinchie

Just back from holiday and itching to catch up with what you lovely ladies in blogland have been up to while I was away.  I have a list of challenges I would love to enter but time as always is slipping away and I only have a few days for some (the Craft Barn Alpha Challenge will be a rushed effort this time round!).

My first bit of work is a twinchies to be entered into the Twinchie Challenge Blog where the theme is: 

CHALLENGE #2 

Bee's & Butterflies

I managed to run this up last night and hope to get another done before the end of the month.

 As my base I covered a 2" x "2 piece of linen card with mown lawn distress ink and stenciled a "B" in brushed corduroy distress ink.  The bee (personal Impressions Stamp) was stamped, coloured with spiced marmalade distress ink, fussy cut and highlighted with glossy accents.  I roe a pice of linen card, embossed it with a honeycomb folder and coloured with tattered straw and spiced marmalade distress inks, a little melted wax was poured over it and it was attached to the twinchie with the bee. I had to use a candle for the wax, I have some bees wax somewhere and wanted to use it but could I find it! NO.

Thats it for now, family coming this weekend but hope to sneak a little time to catch up, leave you all some comments on your wonderful work and maybe get some more crafting done. 

Bright & Breezy Midway Moment of Inspiration

Hello blogland ladies, followers old and new (and gents if there are any of you out there!).  Here we have my Crafty Bloggers Network DT midway moment of inspiration post.  This month's challenge theme is Bright and Breezy, we want to blow away spring and bring in bright, sunny summer.  The sponsor this month is Gina's Designs where you can buy laser cut chipboard shapes and albums.  Pop over to the Crafty Bloggers Network blog to see the amazing DT inspirations and find details of the challenge and the fabulous prize.

With such a fantastic selection of shapes in the Gina's Designs Minatures shape sets ladies choice and Guy Thing I was spoilt for choice when it came to deciding which ones to use.  I couldn't make up my mind so I made two tags, one for him and one for her.

 

The ladies tag and the tim Holtz Tattered Floral die cut were stamped with Hero Arts fabulous flourish and clear embossed, the tag was then coloured with distress inks in scattered straw and wild honey.  The background was stamped with a variety of stamps in black and green and the small diamonds were applied using a mask - (Tim Holtz words, script and diamonds) - the chipboard shapes were flecked with white paint and over stamped with black ink and the diamond stamp.  The flower was layered and curled and a button added in the center, a yellow ribbon stamped with a green flourish was added to finish.

The gentlemen tag was also stamped and clear embossed with the flouish then coloured with distress ink in  dried marigold.  Pieces of torn patterned paper were added, and a Splodgeaway cogs mask used with spiced marmalade DI, words and cogs were stamped on the background.  The chipboard shapes were covered with treasure gold and attached to the tag, a little treasure gold was rubbed onto the tag to highlight areas and some garden string was attached to the top.

Twinchies mid way reminder

A reminder to all you twinchie fans that The Show Us Your Twinchies Challenge this month is "Summer at the Seaside", you still have until the end of the month to enter so go on "Show Us Your Twinchies"!

Following the theme here are three twinchies made using a Machael Powell stamp and coloured with promarkers and DIs.

The stamp was inked with black Stazon and each twinchie placed on the stamp in the area I wanted, DIs were used to colour the background and the huts and scenery were coloured with Promarkers.   I have recently been asked what do I do with the my winchies when they are completed, sometimes they are used to make cards and  I thought these three twinchies would be ideal to put in a frame to make a seaside picture so this is what I ended up with.

 

Next month  in the midway reminder post I will show you some other ideas for using your twinchies,  I look forward to seeing all your twinchies on the challange, give it a go twinchies are addictive once you start making them.

Lovely Lavender Lavinia Challenge

Lovely lavender is the theme over at the Lavinia Stamps Challenge this month.   I chose to use the Lavinia fairy stamp with the Stampendous agapanthus stamp, both of which are my favourites.

 

The card was stamped with the agapanthus stamp in clear embossing ink and clear embossed.  The card was coloured with shaded lilac and seedless preserves DIs. The fairy was stamped onto a piece of DI coloured card and coloured with pearlescent paint, a second stamped image was coloured and the toadstool fussy cut and fixed over the main.  The image was layered onto a white oval and attached to the card. 

Only a short post but I will be away tomorrow for a break and need to get packing!

Gone Fishing with a Fisherman's Friend

Good afternoon everyone, and a big welcome to my new followers.  What a fabulous day we are having here in Somerset, a shame to be in crafting but it has to be done.  Today I completed my "F" page for the Craft Barn Alpha Challenge, my chosen word/words are fished, fishing, fishes.

 

I started my page by adding a silhouette of  a fisherman(boy) and his dog, having added this I decided to keep the theme black and white. I gathered together some fishing associated bits and pieces from the internet, then thought how to place them on my page.

Using hands cut from a piece of Docrafts Chronology paper (darkened a little with black soot DI) I placed  a fish in the middle of them and the word whopper, this was placed underneath the "fisherman's tale definition.   In drew round the fished definition bringing the line down to a float, did the same with the "F"  and a smaller floats.  The fly was also attached to a drawn casting line.  A ruler (free stamp from Craft Stamper years ago) was stamped under the (very large) fish and also down the "F".  Lastly I added the fishing associated words which had been printed on the computer and a little black soot DI to highlight areas.

I am quite pleased with this page, it would be my dad's birthday this month as well as Father's Day and as he was a keen fisherman for most of his life, my page is dedicated to him.

Hope you all enjoy the nice weather we are having, I am away for a few weeks so hope it continues.

A Bright and Breezy Challenge

Good morning all you lovely ladies out there in blogland, today I am posting my DT card for The Crafty Bloggers Network Challenge.  The theme this month is "Bright and Breezy", so lets see all your bright and breezy entries and blow away the dull drab spring and bring on some brightness for the summer.  Pop over and take a look at the other wonderful DT cards HERE and check out the challenge.

This month's sponsor is Gina's Designs where you can buy laser cut chipboard and paper shapes, albums and much more.  There is a fabulous prize up for grabs.

I chose to make a Father's Day card using  a balloon chipboard shape from the Gina's Designs Minatures Shape Set for men.  I matted a piece of craft card to a white card blank and layered 2 bright coloured patterned papers on top, these were from my bits box so not sure where they came from.   The balloon was stamped onto kraft card using brown Stazon and I bleached out some of the image to lighten the card.  The balloon stamp was also used to stamp over the chipboard balloon.  The ticket greeting was made on the computer, cut out and 4 rhinestuds added befor attaching it to the card with the balloons.  A piece of garden string was fastened round the top.

The weather has brightened up already, you must all be making your bright and breezy cards.  Have a wonderful day and enjoy the lovely weather we are having at the moment.

Summer at the Seaside - Twinchie Challenge

Good afternoon followers old and new, friends and crafty blogland bloggers, here I am again with my Twinchie DT post.  I have decided to continue on with the Show Us Your Twinchies Challenge and this month the theme is Summer at the Seaside.  Pop over and take a look, I would love your support with the challenge blog and hope you can find the time to enter a twinchie or two just for the fun of it.

Here are a few twinchies for the Summer at the Seaside Challenge.

Rockpools an beachcombing came to mind with these twinchies.

  A day at the beach was the inspiration here.

I hope you will join me for the Show Us Your Twinchies Challenge, it would be great if you could tell your blogland friends and followers about us and introduce them to "Twinchies" too.