Sunday Stampers - Week 203 - RED

Hello Lovely Blog Friends

Today I am entering the Sunday Stampers Challenge which is run by the multi talented Hels Sheridan over at  http://pinkleart.blogspot.com/ and this week the challenge is simply to make something with RED.

I still have not fully decided what my 'style' is but this entry is a mix of old and modern.  I have used my favourite balloon stamp from IndigoBlu, the papers are Papermania Portobello Road and a few words by the amazing Tim Holtz.  I embossed the balloon in black, coloured it with fired brick  distress marker  and then I added some cut up ribbon to make the bunting around the balloon.  The words say 'life is an adventure' and the metal tag says 'journey'.  I have incorporated as much red as possible.

If you like it please do leave me a comment and I will repay the compliment wherever possible.  Have a lovely day.  Crafty hugs, Anne x

Penny Black Saturday Challenge Week 199 - Spring Themed Card

Hello Blog Friends,

It is Sunday I know but I really wanted to enter this Challenge and was out all day yesterday.  The theme is Spring/May day.  I do not have too many Penny Black stamps but this one has not been inked up for ages so I thought I would chance my luck. 

I am using my rather vivid imagination and thinking that the little bear has just come out of hibernation and he is so tired after chasing butterflies and running through the flowers that he has had to take a rest! 

I have coloured the bear with promarkers and prismacolour pencils, decoupaged the bear and used BoBunny papers (I love these gorgeous fresh yellow colours) and used distress ink (wild honey) to finish the edges.  I added some guipure lace and also green stitched ribbon to signify the lovely green of Spring. The butterflies are cut with a Martha Stewart punch and I added green pearls to give them a lift.

My close up is a little shaky, no matter whether I use the tripod or not, I still seem to get a shaky result.

If you would like to enter the challenge then please pop over to http://pennyblackfriendssaturdaychallenge.blogspot.co.uk/ for more details.

I hope you like the bear, if you do please leave me a comment and I will do my best to visit you and return the favour.  Crafty hugs, Anne x

WOYWW Week 151

Hello Blog Friends

Firstly, I want to thank all my new followers (again), I truly appreciate your interest in my blog and I am learning more each day from the inspiration I get from all of you and your amazing creations.

If you have not joined in before to WOYWW then please pop over to visit the lovely Julia at http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com/ who will explain.  This morning my desk was tidy, yes - tidy. This is how it looks now:

A friend texted me mid morning and asked for a wedding card which she wanted to collect at lunch-time!  OK, well Mr Mojo is on his holidays at the moment so I was stuck - what colours, what design, what image, if any?  I opted for white on white and it made is so much easier.  This is my creation:

Well, Julia likes us, quite rightly, to keep it brief so if you visit me before I visit you, please leave me a comment and I will visit you and leave a comment too.  I did manage over 140 visits last week but it was not easy! 
Thanks for looking, Crafty Hugs, Anne x

Embrace Imperfection - Tim Holtz April 2012 Tag

Hello Lovely Blog Friends

It has taken me about a year to realise that I do NOT have to rush out and buy all things Tim Holtz just because The Man himself uses them.  I can improvise - well I think I can.  For April's tag I had not one thing that he used (except the label and a small crown).  I'll be honest, it did put me off doing the tag - but I have seen so many other entries each month that do not use everything religiously.  So I had a go and this is the result:

I had a Heidi Swapp mini mask that looks similar to The Man's new die so I inked over it, cut it out, coloured it and voila - result!  I used my favourite Hero Arts newspaper print stamp and stamped the tag, coloured it with distress stain, embossed it, sanded it and coloured again over the embossing.  I am reasonably happy with the result.  I triple embossed the bird  and when he dried I tried to straighten him out and he split.  That is why I put the sentiment bar on that says - Embrace Imperfection!  The fluffy bits on the top were a freebie, if you buy things from Craft Obsessions they always send some to you and I do love these blue ones - not very Tim Holtzy but what the heck.

Hope you like it and if you do, please leave me a comment and I will try and return the favour. 

Crafty hugs, Anne x

Sunday Stampers Week 202 - Summer in the City

Hello Blog Friends

Does anyone else like the work of the artist Michael Powell?  He has been known mostly for his cross-stitch designs but I was out looking for more new stash (which I don't need but want) to feed my habit and came across his stamps in the Papermania range and just had to have one.  His designs are quirky, colourful and a bit mad (like I would love to be but don't have the nerve!).

I got out my distress markers and pads and set about colouring it.  I have used happy, summery colours to fit in with the challenge (over at Hels Sheridan's blog http://pinkleart.blogspot.com/ ),  the background paper is by BoBunny - Country Garden collection.  The ribbon is coloured with wild honey distress stain and I added a key and the sentiment Home Sweet Home as I thought it would be ideal as a new home card.

I think this house could be in the country or the city so I thought it fitted the challenge.  Hope you think so too.

You should be able to see it better if you click on the picture.  I did try to do a close up using OH's camera but it was too blurry to show.

If you do stop by, I hope you will leave me a comment and I always try to return the favour.  Thank you!  Crafty hugs, Anne x

Two Little Friends

Hello Blog Friends

Firstly I want to say a HUGE thank you to all my new followers!  It is lovely that you should take the time to do this and I am always humbled when you do, so thank you so much.  Does it put me under pressure?  Well yes but that is good, as it keeps me on my toes and keeps me crafting!

I bought a couple of Lili of the Valley stamps a few weeks ago as I want to improve my colouring skills.  These small stamps are ideal as, if you do make a mess, even near the end, it is not too soul destroying to have to rip it up and start again.  I have done this image a couple of times now and I just love it.

Everything came from my stash and I dotted around the frame with a white gelly roll pen.

I am also trying to improve my photography by using a tripod  but not sure that I have done a better job than usual......

If you do have a look, please leave me a comment.  I always try to return the favour by visiting your blog. 

Crafty hugs, Anne x

WOYWW Week 150 - Canvas Frame

Hello Blog friends

It's Wednesday again and if you hope over to see Julia at http://stamping-ground.blogspot.co.uk/ you can join in the fun too!

This is my first WOYWW for three weeks, I have been away, hence my desk is very tidy (for me).  Stacked in the corner are some new goodies and the canvas I made recently.  I love making flowers with my Spellbinder Shapeabilities die and also TH's tattered floral dies.  My desk first:

Next is a picture of the frame - canvas, 12 inches square, covered in TH papers, TH dress form and birdcage, Spellbinder butterflies, Marianne bird die, a few pearls, some TH wings, some chipboard swirls, tulle, gems and a lot of Kaisercraft acrylic paint and voila!  I have done a close up of the flowers too.

The close-up shows the flowers in more detail.  I just die cut lots of flowers, spritz them to within an inch of their life, layer them whilst still wet, put a brad in the middle, scrunch them hard, separate them slightly and then when they dry they go really hard but look like this.  Making them has become something of an obsession.

Thanks for looking, if you do have a look please leave me a comment and I will try to return the favour.  Crafty hugs, Anne x

Sunday Stampers Wk 201 - Men of the World

Hello lovely bloggers,

This post is a little late as I have been away for a few days visiting my Son and his Wife  in Kent (and their new chickens) but I always like to enter the Sunday Stampers Challenge over at http://pinkleart.blogspot.com/ which is run by the wonderfully talented Hels Sheridan.  The challenge is open until the weekend so there is plenty of time if you want to enter.

My entry is a tag which I have coloured with distress stains and inks and spritzed with a bit of water.  The stamps and embellishments are all Tim Holtz and I added a few words to make it look a bit more interesting.  I scratched the edges of the tag and added vintage photo distress ink to give it an aged look.  I now have very messy fingers!

Apologies for the darkness again but OH has said that he may let me have one of his (many) better cameras to use for my blog - am I excited or what!

This is a (shaky) close up of the wording, some of which I covered with filmstrip:

I hope you will leave me a comment if you look at my blog, I always try to repay the visit, wherever possible.  Crafty hugs, Anne x

Something for Spring

Hello lovely bloggers

I thought I would show something different today, I bought the frame with the little square in from Crafty Individuals some time ago and decided to have a go at making something from it - this is the finished result:-

The little squares are about one and a half inches square and they pop our quite easily to decorate.  I just lightly coloured each and used stamps, in the main, to decorate them.  The little birdhouses are chipboard and I found an old skeleton leaf (do they still do them, I wonder) to put on too.  I mounted the smaller frame onto a piece of heavy cardboard, painted it white with acrylic and then made the outer frame from some mount board.  I lightly distressed the mount board, then covered the whole frame with a large Hero Arts friendship word stamp.  The tree, the bird and the flourish are all chipboard which I coloured to match the frame.

Once again my photography has been poor but hopefully you can double click on it and get a better view.  We are off to visit our Son and his Wife and their new chickens!  Back soon to catch up with blogland.

In the meantime, if you do visit, please leave me a comment, as I love to read them and I always try to return the favour.  Take care blog friends and thanks again to all my new followers, I do so appreciate you joining me!  Crafty hugs, Anne x

Two Challenge Entries

Hello lovely blog friends

I have seen two challenges that I would like to enter.  The first is Penny Black Saturday Challenge week 196 over at http://pennybfriendssaturdaychallenge.blogspot.co.uk/ 

One of the Design Team, Helen has set a challenge called 'Case It' where you take inspiration from Helen's own card, it can be colour, design etc. The Design Team have come up with some amazing work.  Check it out if you get a moment.  Here is my card:

I have embossed on white and red card (the red card is co-ordinations and I have sanded it).  The red rose is stamped and water coloured using Tim Holtz distress markers, the ribbon is some beautiful vintage ribbon from Sam Poole and I added three tiny gems as an accent.


The second challenge is Challenge #19 - A Nautical Theme which is being run by Fashionable Stamping Challenges over at http://fashionablestampingchallenges.cottagecrafts.ie/  

I decided that I wanted to do something completely different so I used an old sardine tin (cleaned of course)!  I coloured it in alcohol inks, made a small frame to fit the outside rim, which I added some glitter to.  For the inside I used distress inks to create my idea of an underwater colour, stamped some swirls to look like sea grasses and stamped and raised up the sea horse.  I put some corrugated card around the outside edges of the tin and added some twine to finish it off.  I stamped some starfish and a shell and added some beautiful faux pearls to one side.  It was a little challenging working in such a small space!  Here it is:

If you do visit, please leave me a comment, I love to receive them and always try to visit the blogs of those who do leave comments.  Crafty hugs, Anne x

Sunday Stampers Week 200!!! - Numbers

Hello Lovely Bloggers,

The wonderfully talented Hels Sheridan over at http://pinkleart.blogspot.com/ has been organising Sunday Stampers for the last 200 weeks!  I have only been blogging for 2 months although I have been entering the challenge a bit longer than that.

This week I am dedicating my numbers entry to Hels, she deserves a medal for keeping things up this long.  I have used one of the techniques from Tim's Chemistry 101 class (Wrinkle Free Distress Technique) for the background of my tag.  I added a Kaisercraft dress form and turned the (ah-hem) busty bits into two zeros and added a 2 to the side to make 200.  The film strip is a Tim stamp and I stamped 200's into that.  I added a few stamped flourishes and words, a journey tag, some ribbon and velvet trim that looks like lots of O's.  I am really pleased with the colours on the tag.  Apologies in advance for my camera shake - and I used a tripod!!

This is a very shaky close up of the bust bit.

Hels is offering candy (noted on my sidebar) - the rules are outlined on Hel's blog.  I hope you will pop over there to have a look.

If you visit, please leave me a comment and I will do my best to return the favour.  Thank you again to all my lovely new followers, you really make my day.  Crafty hugs, Anne x

Spring Inspirations Project

Hello Lovely Bloggers

Hope you are all having a very Happy Easter!  We have rain here today, but lots of chocolate too, to keep us happy.  OH and I are still recovering from a dreadful virus so chocolate will definitely help.

The lovely and talented Christine Emberson over at http://hope-chances.blogspot.com/ is showing a Gallery on Bank Holiday Monday of Spring Inspirations Projects.  Christine asked what inspires us when we think of Spring.  Well, for me, it has to be butterflies and flowers.  I am absolutely dotty about butterflies and I love Spring flowers, especially daffodils and bluebells.

I made this card specifically for Christine's gallery.  I have had the stamp for years and not inked it up for ages, so I thought it deserved an airing.  I love the butterflies and flowers in her hair and as I am into teal colours at the moment I matted and layered and added roses in shades of teal and turquoise.

I hope you like my card, if you do, please leave me a comment as I love to read them and I always try to visit the blogs of those who are kind enough to leave comments, to return the favour.  Enjoy the rest of your Easter break.  Crafty hugs, Anne x

Edit: for some reason this post is late - apologies, blogger is not playing ball today.  Also, sorry, the pic is a bit wonky!

Sunday Stampers Week 199 - Transport

Hello my Fellow Bloggers

The challenge this week over at Sunday Stampers http://pinkleart.blogspot.co.uk/ is transport.  As I am keeping my railway stamps under wraps until David's birthday in August, the only other thing I could find, other than a camper van and a union jack mini is my balloon stamp.  Since it is one of my all time favourites I was more than happy to ink it up again, even though the balloon is an out-moded form of transport. 

I used distress inks on the background, overstamped with my Hero Arts newsprint stamp, with words from Sam Poole's vintage aviation set and the balloon, which is embossed, is Crafty Individuals.  The ribbon is vintage seam binding which I coated in dusty concord distress stain.  I have put a TH fragment over the word flight to highlight it.  I distressed the edges of the tag with a pair of scissors and went around the edges with vintage photo distress ink.

Hope you like it, if so, please leave me a comment.  I always try to visit everyone who leaves me a comment so that I can leave one for them too.  Crafty hugs, Anne x

Penny Black Challenge - Sing a Long

Hello (Is it me you're looking for) by Lionel Richie

I am entering the Penny Black Challenge this week, the theme of which is Sing a Long (pennybfriendssaturdaychallenge.blogspot.co.uk).  You can choose a musical theme or relate your work back to a favourite song.  One of my all time favourites is Lionel Richie's 'Hello'.

I have had this phone box stamp for a while but never inked it up, but I thought it matched the theme of my chosen song really well.

I have used Papermania Portobello Road papers, Tim Holtz Co-ordinations card and my new Tim Holtz Bigz XL die - word play alphabet, which I love, because it is a bit random.  The lace and buttons are from my stash. The corners are die cut with a Marianne die and the mats are made using Go Kreate's rectangular frame die.

I hope that you will like my card and if so you will leave me a comment.  Many thanks for looking.  Crafty hugs, Anne x