APC Challenge Week 4

Really enjoying playing along with the Altered Playing Card challenge over at Claudine Criner’s Blog.

Seeing as my printer has not been replaced i am finding it a challenge to add any of the digi images that Claudine is using, i have downloaded some of them but doesn’t help when you can’t print the images off lol.

It seems that an a little group of us don’t do FaceBook, Google+ and most other social sites so we are posting our blog links into the comments section on Claudine’s blog.

The other ladies so far are:

Elizabeth and Bluebeard

Craftymoose Crafts

Crafty nomad or Iona Bunny

2amscrapper

dreamingofcastles

Will add more if you wish to visit as i find them, please pop over and leave them some love too.

So, to this weeks APC’s.

The cards this week were Home Sweet Home and Retail Therapy. I sort of stuck to the prompts…

Used two different embossing folders over a gessoed background, one from Sheena Douglass called Arches and a Sizzix one which is a haunted house.

My obsession with using mop up towels/tissue to add texture has struck again, i hope you don’t get too fed us seeing them on most of my projects lol. 

Added Pan Pastel colours and Metallic Pan Pastels over the texture of the folders and the tissue.

To finish used Walnut Stain to add a little more definition over the sides of the arches and added hand written words saying, Therapy Through The Arches. The arches can lead you anywhere, retail or spiritual therapy.

Had more fun with this one, added a coloured spot of tissue with a Doo Lally Pip stamp from Lindsay Mason onto the APC to add a little spooky.

Sanded over the embossed house hopefully giving that old run down mansion style from The Munsters or The Adams Family. I was thinking of Thursday from the Adams Family when i added the words Good Times.

Hope you enjoy the Altered Playing Cards this week.

May i say a fond ‘Hello’ to my new followers and to those who continue to leave encouraging comments. Each one is much appreciated, thanks for dropping by.

xxx

DLP Week 39 Splatters and Drips

September 20, 2014- Week 39 Challenge: Add splatters and drips

Looked at the inspiration from the design team over at Art To The 5th  this week and really loved what i found here on Sandi Keene’s blog. She is my inspiration this week hope you like my version of Sandi’s creation.

The background is from a Gelli print i made a few weeks ago, added home made washi tape and some of the tissue mop up that i am quite obsessed with at the moment to create the splats.

Sewed around the drippage, which i got from adding violet ink, used purple thread leaving some of it trailing to add more drips as per Sandi’s inspiration.

The words are from a very old foam stamp set made for a wedding, not sure what company they are from, sorry.  Went around the words with a white broad nib Signo pen, i like how this has turned out.

Also added a little piece of denim fabric which has three heart embroidered in red.

while i was looking at the page i noticed a figure had appeared so tried to highlight it, again still learning how to do this so not sure if this is correct.

A closer look at the figure that appeared out from the page.

I hope you have enjoyed your visit today, have a wonderful weekend, thanks for dropping by.

xxx

SDC 166 Get your Spook On

Am getting to enjoy Halloween a little more each year but sadly this is not something celebrated locally so i enjoy vicariously through Blogland and everyone’s projects.

Over at the Stampotique Designers Challenge Blog this week Carol has chosen to Get Her Spook On, this is what she has to say:

I love Halloween and as a crafter it can never start early enough. So for the challenge this week I am sneaking it in a week early. So I hope you have fun getting an early Spook on. Carol x

My card this week isn’t up to standard but am sharing anyway, thought if it looks bad it must be perfect for Halloween, not brilliant thinking lol, lets see if you agree.

We open up with Picture Door from Stampotique which i cut out so it opens. Used kraft card as i love how the colours are slightly muted. Used Kaiserfusion Pens to colour the door and windows, use Sakura Pens to add a little bling to his t-shirt, the door handle and the door hinges.

At the moment i am slightly obsessed with using up some of the mop up towel and tissue backgrounds i have, the background is one of the mop up tissues adhered with watered down pva glue.

The flower is one of my favourites from Memory Box called Chloe, the character is one of Lindsay Masons from her Doo Lally Pip range, she has been coloured, not successfully, with Kaiserfusion pens, struggle with alcohol pens. think i need to try something else…

 

Love this saying with it’s splodges, i use it a lot.

The door is open and there is the young girl taking her bats for a walk alongside her pup.

As you can see not brilliant but i am hopeful it will make someone smile somewhere.

Thanks for dropping by.

xxx

SDC 165 One Stamp

Really enjoyed this weeks Challenge over at the Stampotique Designers challenge Blog. This week it is Sam’s turn, this is what she has to say:

"One of the beauties of Stampotique stamps is even though there are 18 amazing artists designing our rubbery goodness and their images work so well together it's great to use a lot of stamps for one project, I often do.

So this week, I am challenging myself too and inviting you to use just one stamp . . . wondering off scratching head and rubbing chin . . . this is going to be SO hard to choose!!

Most importantly, have fun, Sam x

My friend J has fallen in love with Little Hoo-Hoo and asked would i make her a tag she can use on her tote bag or key chain.

Stamped Little Hoo-Hoo onto lightweight cotton using a Versacraft Ink Pad then painted him with DecoArt multi-surface paint in Red Barn, red being J’s favourite colour. Painted the owl in Bronze Metallic and Rich Gold Metallic Pan Pastels.

After painting the image i went over with a Uni Pin black pen to bring back all the detail, these pens are waterproof.

Added a think interlining to give the tag some weight and added a purple back. Added the red spotty ribbon and then added an eyelet using a Cropodile.

Used purple cotton for both the bobbin and top colour, this mated the material on the back of the tag.

I always singe the edges of material with a lighter very carefully after it has been sewn!!! This helps the edges not to fray.

I hope you like the tag, my friend will get this Sunday, she doesn’t read my blog so it’s ok to post lol.

Thanks for dropping by.

xxx

Altered Pickolinos

I have an old pair of Pickolino sandals which i struggle to wear but i decided to change the colour so i could use them as evening shoes.

Used DecoArt multi-surface Black Tie paint to cover the whole surface.

Before and after colours, original on the right.

Both sandals completed with 5 layers of the paint, leaving to dry before adding another. This paint dries very fast so i didn’t have to wait long to get them covered.

Added two layers of the DecoArt Soft Touch Varnish, they are now ready for the next stage.

Added three layers of Treasure Gold, started with Renaissance, then Sapphire and finally White fire. Added the TG to the flowers around the sandal.

Buffed up the Treasure Gold to get that shine going and there you have it my new going out shoes.

Have added two layers of waterproofing spray and they are now drying.

Hope you like the ‘new’ shoes.

xxx

Speed Challenge 2

The Lovely Keren Baker and a few of her friends are taking part in a speed challenge, they have just completed number 2. Seeing as i enjoy this type of challenge i thought i would join in once again.

Thank you to Pamellia for letting me display the badge she has created for the challenge.

These are the guidelines (or rules, if you prefer!)
1. Craft for no more than 10 mins
2. Mention the time it took you to create your project in your post (you might be super-speedy and it might take you less time… and it would be interesting to know).
3. You can create ANY project whatsoever
4. You can get your supplies ready before you hit your timer

If you visit Ingrid’s blog you will find a list of all the ladies who are taking part on a regular basis.

This time there is also a colour challenge

I didn’t have all these colours so concentrated on the turquoise element.

Collected together all my bits and bobs, i had some die cuts over from a project i completed and thought i could incorporate them.

The card is 4 x 4 inches but the added border makes it a little larger.

Die cut an aperture placed it over the card and used the Artiste Clear Embossing Pad to cover the area, went over with Pan Pastel Turquoise shade then sealed the layer.

Used the Indigo Blue Circle Dot Background stamp over the circle, used Turquoise Pan Pastel over the top, sealed again.

Added a die cut flower from Memory Box which is called Chloe, this is one of my favourite die cut flowers, can see me using this on a lot of projects.

Stamped the word Nature from JOFY plate 11 and added onto the circle. finally added the border which is a new die cut for me, it’s from Tonic and is from the Ornate Elegance Header Fold Die Set – Item 596e.

The time it took to make this CAS creation was:

Better than last time, i had this planned in my head before i started, wished i would have added more green tones now…

Thanks for dropping by.

xxx

Reflections of a Craft Show…

On 11th September i attended my local craft show which has been a wonderful place to purchase all my crafting tools over the last few years.

The venue at 8.45am, so quiet, no coffee available for any long distance travellers and the queue getting longer by the minute, i was lucky to be allowed inside to sit down.

The lovely Paramedics who keep us safe making sure the wheelchairs were ready for the day.

After the terribly staged opening ceremony and obligatory photo session it was let time for the ‘let everyone in at the same time stampede’, those of us who struggle to walk or in a wheelchair were pushed out of the way by the eager crowd.

  Imagine my disappointment when i found 85 stalls listed under the ICHF banner and 25 stalls listed under Woman’s Weekly Live.

Out of the 85 stalls there were:

23 craft stalls

25 fabric/haberdashery stalls

6 beading stalls

1 Storage stall

5 yarn stalls

totalling 70 stalls so far, the rest of the 85 stalls were made up of nail art, garlic grater, sweets, cheese, bags of all shapes and sizes and quality, travel companies, RSPB, Cancer Care Foundation and a couple of felting stalls.

Then we had the Woman’s Weekly stalls which are of no interest to me at all. It was like receiving junk mail except in the craft show, i was not happy.

If i hadn’t managed to book three small free workshops i would have been finished and home for around 1pm (the show starts at 10.00am). I do not walk fast or easily but there really was nothing to engage me except the places i shopped for craft tools and the Powertex stall.

The three projects i made were

Top image the fantastic and messy Powertex piece, the bottom image is the felt flower brooch and playing with felting piece.

The Powertex stall had no spaces left by 10.30am on any of their free workshops, i was lucky to get a space. Here is their stall and some of their lovely staff.

Here is the stash i managed to get, some on the list some not.

Flower making stylus tool set, pokey tools with handles, white Signo pens and some mini Distress Ink Pads.

Needed this die since it was released, it is so beautiful.

The two dies above were not on the list!

Neither was the Powertex kit…

Or the sari material, but who could resist this gorgeous silk.

I complained to the show organisers as i was leaving, there were too many places selling the same dies and very bad quality fabrics. There were other factors involved in my complaint especially asking where all the other craft stalls had gone.

I hope you haven’t been put off attending any shows but i do wonder where all the craft stalls have gone to. There are so many craft shows all trying to outdo each other it has reached saturation point, i am also wondering how much longer this madness is sustainable.

It will be interesting to see if the Craft Show as i know it will still be around in a couple of years.

Thanks for dropping by and i look forward to your comments and observations.

xxx

Overdue DLP Catch Up

June 28, 2014 - Week 27 Challenge:  Add a crossword puzzle, suduko, word search.

I really dislike these puzzles, numbers are not my thing so instead of adding something from their prompt i added my own words, “I’d rather be doing anything else than playing Sudoku”.

If you would like to see more of this post, please visit here.

Looking forward to your visit over on my other blog.

Thanks for dropping by.

xxx

APC Week 3

It’s week three already over at Claudine Criner’s Altered Playing Card Challenge. Hope to see you join in with the Challenge, it is fun and there are some wonderful APC’s being created, if you pop over you will see some wonderful ArT.

The card on the left has a Gessoed back with some decoration and the one on the right has been sanded. After two weeks playing i am going to go over the sanded cards with Gesso, this surface allows for more wet mediums to be added and the colours are truer.

The left one is Pan Pastels, the right one is Distress Inks.

Added stencilling with both black and white ink pads on the left, on the right added book pages and Pan Pastels.

Tried a double embossing technique using just border folders on both of the cards.

On the left i used a Tim Holtz spider and clouds from a freebie border embossing folder.

Added die cut Chloe flower from Memory Box and some vellum words which read live, learn, discover. Used some Treasure Gold on the spider and some pen work around the embossed areas.

On the right i used two free border embossing folders, one is a grass and flower border the other is a bird on a branch. Added some Rainbow Glaze over the grasses which hasn’t turned out well and added some handwriting which again isn’t too good but i am trying to like it lol!

Thanks for dropping by, hope you have time to leave a comment.

xxx

Welcome to my new Followers, thank you for following it means a lot and is much appreciated.

Leek Embroiderers and LK Sewing Academy

Since Friday my left hip and lower back have seized up and i was struggling to move, asked my OH if he would take me out for a drive as sometimes the vibration from the road helps ease back pain even though it exacerbates the Fibromyalgia, i really can’t win.

The lovely Lorna Knight had tweeted about the Leek Embroiderers having their work out on show so off we went to Ipstones and St Leonards church to see their embroidery. I had a lovely surprise when we arrived as Lorna was there talking the visitors through the embroidered pieces and we managed to have a chat. Thank you Lorna for a wonderful time, so glad you tweeted, wouldn’t have known to visit so keep up the good work lol.

This is the view from where you can get a wonderful cuppa and a cake for £1. The ceiling has been taken back to it’s original wood, there are hand embroidered kneeling cushions and the main attractions are close to the Alter.  Didn’t take any images of the embroidered pieces but their beauty is in my memory bank along with some of the amazing couching and real gold thread techniques that were used at the time.

The pieces are very delicate, the main Alter piece is being sent away for restoration, the church is trying to raise just over £2000 to make this happen.

Have to say thank you to the ladies who baked the most wonderful cakes and especially to the lady who makes the jam, managed to get a jar of greengage which is my favourite and very hard to find.

Tried this on some seeded bread with butter and wafer thin ham, it is mouth wateringly wonderful…

On the DLP prompt this week we are to use feathers, isn’t this a fantastic stained glass window and there is a feather being held. Whilst looking outside the church we found four real feathers which i plan to add to my journal.

 

The full stained glass window.

An image for my background textures, this is the stone the church is built from.

View of the graveyard attached to the church. The church and grounds are well taken care of, here are some of the flowers that are still growing around the building.

On the way home we drove to Lorna’s new Studio and had a look around.

The building is beautiful, loving the colour of the bricks that have been used and the colour of the paintwork is a fabulous grey.

View from the approach to the Sewing Academy.

View from the front of the Studio and the cottage that Lorna lets next door.

A sneak peek into the Studio from the window outside, there is loads of room to play.  Would highly recommend attending any of Lorna’s workshops, she is patient, very knowledgeable and you will come away with more knowledge than you bargained for.

Well, that was our day out on Sunday. The good news is that my back felt better when we were driving but not so good when i had to get out of the car. Am no better and waiting to see the GP, meanwhile i can think of ways to use some of the techniques used by the Leek Embroiderers in my sewing projects.

Thanks for dropping by.

xxx