Tim's Tag June 2013

Hello Friends

Just a quick post as I don't want to miss Tim's Tag for June, I am pretty close to the wire with this one, although it has been finished for over a week. Here is Tim's original.

I have pretty much followed Tim's recipe, I really thoroughly enjoyed doing the watercolour elements of the tag, especially the blending around the edges of the watercolour paper, something I have not done before.  Tim's tip about being able to take the nib out of the Brush Markers was fantastic too, I have now refreshed my whole set of Markers and they work so much better.  Here is my tag:

I have added some ribbon to the top of mine and my background stamp is different, but otherwise it is pretty much the same as Tims.

My watercolour paper was not quite the quality of Tim's but I loved doing the splattered bits which I think give it quite an aged look.

Apologies again for not visiting as often as I normally do.  I came back from seeing our gorgeous little Evie with a virus and my hospital 'infusion' caused a very nasty reaction this time, so I am doing as instructed and resting.  I will hopefully be back to normal in a couple of days and will visit then.  Thanks to the lovely Nicola of Paper Profusion for letting me know that I am one of the first featured artists at Simon Says Stamp and Show where there is a new format for winners, I am so thrilled.

Take care my friends, big hugs and I hope to catch up with you all soon, Anne xx

Kraft - Another Accordian Card

Hello Friends

I would like to say a big thank you for all the lovely comments on the Wedding invitations in my previous post, I wasn't really expecting that because they are so plain (although they did seem to take forever to make!).  Thank you again.

I wanted to experiment a bit with Kraft and also corrugated card - so many of you seem able to take a piece of corrugated card and turn it into a piece of art.  When I rip and tear at it, it just looks like I have ripped and torn it and it never looks good to me!  But, with the aid of my new found love of the fabulous Sizzix Accordian die {by Karen Burniston) (sorry, yes that one again) I thought I would experiment a bit.

This is the result:

The experiment bit is that I actually cut the base card from corrugated card.  I then ripped a few bits off to give it a worn look.  I then randomly covered the base with Tim Holtz Peacock Feathers and Gathered Twigs Distress Inks.  For the two middle sections of the frame I cut some plain Kraft card and embossed them with two different Texture Fade embossing folders to give some texture and again randomly covered these with DI's.  Because corrugated card is so light, this gave the whole card some 'body'.  It was a very dull and overcast day so I photographed the card indoors, hence the shadows but I think you can see the embossed Kraft in the picture below.

For the mats, I cut these from the second die (that you really do need in the set) and stamped with various Tim Holtz stamps, edged them with the same two colours of DI and did the spritz and flick technique to age them.

I just love the way this die can be used to make a simple single opening card or a series of openings, you could in fact add as many pieces as you want and make a kind of banner card - I am thinking of Christmas already and having one of these on a mantelpiece......

When folded, the whole card does lie flat but the part exposed is actually the back of the card so I always add another frame just to finish it off.  Again, I used Kraft card and a Texture Fade embossing folder.  The finished card measures 4.3/4" (12 cm) square and it easily fits into a 5" envelope for posting.

Well the experiment worked a treat for me, I love the distressed look and I have ended up with an incredibly lightweight card through using corrugated card and Kraft.  Hope you like it too.

I am entering my card into Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge which is to use Kraft.   I am also entering it into  Sunday Stampers where the theme the wonderful Hels has chosen this week is Guys.

Lucky me, I am off for a few days now to visit our newest Granddaughter who is unbelievably 7 months old and ready to start crawling.  I am very excited about seeing her.  Hope you are all doing something lovely this weekend too.  Big hugs,  Anne  xx

WOYWW - Week 211

Hello Friends

Is it just me or do Wednesdays keep coming around faster by the week....... ?  Today is the day we share our desks with fellow bloggers around the Globe...... if you want to join in then go over to see Julia at
http://stamping-ground.blogspot.co.uk who will give you all the details.

On my desk this week is one of the reasons why I have not had much time to craft lately.  I have been making wedding invitations for D2.  Plain and simple, to her exact specifications. All done and dusted now, packaged up and ready to be collected, so here is my desk this dull and overcast morning.

 
Something else to show you is the rest of the ATCs I received in our wonderful swap.

Left to right (back) a wonderful ATC from Minxy, my swap partner.  Right is a lovely collage one from Ria.  At the front (left) is one from my lovely blog friend Darnell - this is all the more amazing because Darnell has never made ATCs before - this one is edged in piping and looks fabulous.  Bottom right is from the lovely Toni, I love that globe and background.  Amazing creations, I think you will agree.  Lucky me!

Well Julia likes us to keep things short and sweet so that's all from me folks.  I look forward to seeing your work spaces too today.   Happy WOYWW, hugs, Anne xx

Claiming my blog with Bloglovin'

This is just a post to claim my blog with Bloglovin' - hope I get it right.

<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/5512441/?claim=3rwywdntnk5">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

If you do read this, I have transferred my blog list over to Bloglovin, so that I don't lose any of the people that I follow regularly and it worked very easily.

 I have a Follow by Bloglovin button and also a Follow by Email button on the left hand side of my blog now too.

Hugs, Anne x

A Chunky ATC for Our Creative Corner

Hello Friends

Welcome to my latest followers, thanks so much for joining me on my creative journey.

This is my second Design Team post for Our Creative Corner.  I would be most grateful if you could pop over there and see what my talented team mates have made and if you have time, please leave a comment.  It would be even better if you joined in the challenge for this month.  The lovely Jenny (Buttons) has challenged us with a recipe where we had to choose one or more items from each of the following lists:

List A	List B	List C
Lace	Metal	Inks
Fabric	Wood/MDF	Paints
Ribbon	Clay	Stains

For my piece I chose Lace/Metal/Wood/Paints and this is what I created, one of my favourite things - a chunky ATC (click on the photos for a closer view):

I used a wood block (salvaged from our recent building works) which measures the same size as an ATC but is 1.1/2" deep.  The base block was painted with black soot distress paint.  The block was then decorated with Prima Papers (Engraver).  I used an Eiffel Tower die cut on the front along with some Tim Holtz rub-ons (front and side) and Chit Chat words which I edged with black marker pen.

On the back I used a Wendy Vecchi Blossom Bucket Butterfly, a Tim Holtz Idea-ology key and another run-on.  On the side is a Spellbinder Fleur-de-Lis die cut.  The feet are wooden beads which are painted with black soot distress paint.  I added two rows of lace along he bottom, one in black and one in cream.  The knob on the top is a crystal knob by 7 Gypsies.

I need to apologise to those of you that I follow regularly.  It has been a very difficult week with a long awaited day at the hospital, a bit of a silly accident and DH is in hospital today for a little operation and some tests, so my commenting has been a bit erratic but hopefully things will get back to normal soon.

I hope you like my chunky ATC and that you will go over and visit Our Creative Corner.  Big hugs, Anne xx

Floating Butterfly Birthday Card

Hello Friends

Thank you for all your lovely comments on my Accordian card in the previous post.  I have made a smaller one for this post.  I think this Accordian die is one I am going to get a lot of use from.

The card I am showing here was meant to be a birthday card, for a friend who worries about getting older, but I used quite thick acetate to make the base, so thick in fact that the card will not fold!  Lesson learned but it makes a nice decoration!  I made the card as a single fold card but the Accordian card can be made as long as you wish.

The base frame is made from thick acetate and I used the Karen Burniston Accordian 3-D die to cut it out.  Using the sister die (Frame & Label, Bracket die) I cut out the frame four times using 7 Dot Studios papers that I received in a recent win and glued these in place over the acetate, front and back.  This creates a good strong base and covers up the joins created when putting the base card together.

I have been asked a few times whether the second die is necessary.  I did try making a card without it (I did not know there was a second die at the time) but cutting out the covering frame and smaller bracket was a nightmare.  The second die cuts the frame to cover the base and also the small bracket die cut to fit inside.  It gives a much more professional look and saves a lot of work, so for me it was necessary.

This left the see through, floating frames in the middle which I decorated with stamped and cut out butterflies and flowers, which I glued in place with Glossy Accents.  The flowers and butterflies were coloured with Distress Stains in Broken China, Tumbled Glass, Peeled Paint and Antique Linen.

I edged the card with Tumbled Glass Distress Ink and used a rub-on from my stash for the sentiment.

I want to enter a couple of challenges with this card.  The first is Country View Crafts where the challenge is to use die cuts.  The base card and the frame of my card are both die cuts.

The second challenge is Simon Says Stamp and Show where the challenge is to be inspired by the letter 'S'.  I have made a See through card, used Stamps, Distress Stains and added a Sentiment so I hope that is enough to qualify!

Thanks for looking and a special thank you if you leave a comment.  Keep on creating!  Hugs, Anne x

WOYWW - Week 209 and Accordian Card

Hello Everyone

Another week has flown by and it is time again to show our workspaces to the world, courtesy of Julia over at Stamping Ground.  If you want to join in please visit Julia, who will give you all the details.

So what's on my workdesk this week?  I have two items to show you today.  The first is a a picture of the beautiful ATCs I have received:

Aren't I a lucky girl!  Top left is from my blog friend Rachel, the others are from Woywwers - top right from Neet (Hickydorums), bottom left from Mo (Almo) and bottom right from Lottie (Dottie Lottie).  Gorgeous work ladies, I love every one - a lot.  Thank you all for your kindness.

I still have ATCs on my desk to send out, one with Minxy's name on it and one with Toni's name on it.  If you ladies would kindly let me have your addresses I will get them off to you.

Next is something that quite a few people said last week they would like to see.  I got Karen Burniston's Accordian 3D die after months of waiting for it to come back into stock. Once it got it I realised that I needed another die too, to go with it, which has now arrived.  I showed the actual die and a blank card last week.  Here is my very first proper card using the die!  I think I may be using this die a lot......

D2 asked if she could send the card to her Dad for Father's Day, he has seen it and liked it, but has no idea that he is getting it for Father's Day.  I hope he's not disappointed!



A couple of close-ups - the stamps are Tim Holtz Time Traveller set.  The images are stamped in black archival ink and coloured with Distress Inks.  The backgrounds were created using Weathered Wood Distress Ink.


The base card is plain grey card and I used the second die to cut frames from some card from my stash which is overprinted with musical notes.  The lettering is from a X-cut alphabet die.  Click on the photos for a closer look.

Thanks for having a look, I hope you will leave me a comment.  As ever, I will try to visit as many of you as possible.  Happy WOYWW!  Big hugs, Anne xx

Spring flowers for Nicecrane Designs

Hello Friends

We have been having such lovely weather these last few days, I am beginning to believe that Summer really is on it's way despite the fact that our garden is still full of Spring daffodils......and the woods are full of bluebells.  Before the Spring flowers are gone I wanted to use a beautiful daffodil image from Nicecrane Designs.  This is my second Design Team post for Nicecrane and I loved making this cabinet card.  I hope you will like it too.

This image is from a pack of beautiful black and white images, called Vintage Flowers, which you can find here:- http://nicecranedesigns.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=99_102&products_id=1112
At Nicecrane you will find a whole range of  wonderful designs to suit all tastes and styles.  This is the sheet I chose from, each flower image also comes in a single sheet.

I took the daffodil sheet, re-sized the image and made this card:

The base is plain grey cardstock which I hand cut into a cabinet shaped card.  The next layer was cut using the Tim Holtz vintage cabinet card die and the mini cabinet card die together to create a frame.  The frame was embossed using an embossing folder and I applied White Fire Treasure Gold all over the frame and buffed it to give it a nice shine.   I cut another large cabinet card shape from Bo Bunny patterned paper (from my stash). The frame was raised up on sticky pads.

The image was coloured using Inktense Watersoluble Ink Pencils, then fussy cut and mounted over the frame.  To finish off I coloured some vintage ribbon with Wild Honey Distress Stain and I added 'thank you' from Tim's Chit Chat words.

Thank you for looking and thank you too to my latest follower, it is a pleasure to have you with me on my crafty journey.  I truly appreciate everyone taking the time and trouble to visit my blog and I love it when you leave me a comment too.   Big hugs, Anne xx