WOYWW #156....... Chaos !

Happy WOYWW 156! Well done to Julia for reaching this milestone. Three years of hosting Whats On Your Work desk Wednesday on her lovely Stamping Ground Blog, that's what I call dedication to the cause of crafting. Thankyou Julia, the time and effort you have put into hosting WOYWW, come what may, is indeed admirable. I've only been joining in for a short time and it's sometimes difficult to find the time to sit down and post, but to do that week after week .... well you deserve a medal ! As you can see my work table continues to groan under the weight of so much stuff, I'm embarrassed to show you all. Still I break up from work at the end of the week and I've vowed to have a MASSIVE clear up. Have a Fab WOYWW I've got my ATC ready to post x

Twelve Tags of 2012 May Tag

Well I know I should have been out in the garden instead of up in the attic in the sweltering heat, but I couldn't resist getting on with my Tim Holtz  Twelve Tags of 2012 May entry. I hadn't realised how close to the end of the month it is. This tag was a lot of fun to make as there are lots of different elements to it. As usual I don't have all the lovely Tim bits and pieces so I've made plenty of substitutions but that's half the fun ! The sewing stamps were a freebie with a magazine and the 1920's lady  is by Graphic 45. The yarn holder was a free graphic download from Craft Stamper, which is still available on their blog. I stamped the tape measure onto a piece of woven tape and made the coat hanger from a piece of wire. I loved doing the faux porcelaine on the Prima flowers and had to stop myself from using up my whole stash! Thanks Tim another fun project x

It's All in The Eyes CC2 Challenge #6

What glorious weather! shame I've been at work all day, still got a nice evening lined up, a meal with friends at a curry restaurant  within walking distance of my home, not bad. So I need to get this post up so that I can join in with the lovely Linda 's Compendium of Curiosities Book 2 Challenge number 6. I'm really enjoying working through the book and have so far only missed one, which I have vowed to go back to. The great thing I've found about this challenge is that beside getting my weekly fix of crafting, I'm really learning a lot. When I first glanced at CC volume 2, I thought O.K nice book, lots of nice pics. It's only when you start using it, that you realise that there is a huge amount of content in it. Tim scores again! I only wish I'd been blogging when Studio L3 worked through volume 1. It wouldn't have just sat on my book shelf for the past year. Anyway enough said about that. This week it is all about tissue paper collage you can find the instructions on page 38. There is a $25's worth of goods prize, sponsored by The Funkie Junkie Boutique, goody, goody! I made this canvas as my entry, it's the first time I've worked on a canvas. Lots to learn x

WOYWW 155

Oooo! I do love Tuesdays. Yes I know It's Wednesday but on Tuesday's I have the afternoon off work and I've decided to dedicate the the whole afternoon and probably evening and possibly night, to craft pursuits. There are a million and one other things I could be doing with this precious free time but they will always need doing. So I've decided to stop fretting and do something  at least once a week that I REALLY enjoy. The other great thing about Tuesdays is that it is the day before Wednesday and thanks to Julia and her WOYWW over at her Stamping Ground blog it means that I can share my work space with anyone that cares to drop by and I don't even have to stop and make them a cup of tea, although that would be nice according to the lovely comments you fellow bloggers have been leaving me. So have a poke around and see what you can see. Happy WOYWW x

Cities of the World FSC #21

I completed this tag earlier in the week for the Fashionable Stamping Challenges 'Cities of the World' challenge 16.  The background stamp of Venice is from an Elusive Images set I discovered  in my stash when I was mounting some new stamps the other week. I've had it for ages and it was looking rather unloved still in it's package uncut, unmounted and unused! The Travellers are from my newly acquired stamps they are by B Line Designs. I began by using  Tim Holtz's masked layered technique on a manila tag. I then stamped a map of Europe over this with black Archival ink. I stamped the Venice scene also in black Archival on a separate piece of white card. I then used distress inks and a water brush to colour the picture. I stamped the picture again on another piece of card in yellow Archival ink and cut out the roses. I added a little glossy accents to these and stuck them over the original ones. The Lady and gentleman have been stamped and coloured with DI. I then cut them out and mounted them on a piece of yellow card to give their profile a little glow. I  attached them to the scene with raised foam tape. The final embellishments are some die cut lace strips, I used the  Tim Holtz Vintage Lace Die with metal tape and 'copperised' it with alcohol inks. There is also a small stamped Italia tag pinned to the dyed ribbon. As usual I've gone a bit mad with the 'vintaging' but I just can't seem to stop myself. I must have a go at some 'clean' cards one day but it will be a challenge.

Shattered Stains

I have just completed my entry to Studio L3's Compendium of Curiosities 2, challenge number 5 This week is Tim's delicious 'Shattered Stains' technique,  which can be found on page 48 of his new book. It's another fun technique to do. I've made this brooch out of three chipboard flowers. After following the instructions in the book I layered them together and added a decorative button from one of Tim Holtz's Ideaology collections. I've also glued a brooch pin on the back. Simon Says Stamp are sponsoring this week's challenge for Studio L3 and I think I might also enter this into their 'anything goes' challenge. Well somebody's got to win .... good luck everyone x
Pictures below show individual layers and close up of crackle effect.

WOYWW 154

Oh What a Beautiful Morning.... sunshine and blue skies and Wednesday again, already! Quick post to get my WOYWW picture uploaded to Julia's Stamping Ground Blog where you can join in and have a nose around other work desks from all around the world. I had my usual Tuesday afternoon crafting session so my table has seen a bit of action. I've got a couple of things on the go for different challenges. There's a tag for the fortnightly FSC challenge and also some chipboard flowers I've been prepping up for a challenge over at Studio L3. I try and join in with the challenges on these two sites as it makes me do a little bit of crafting at least once a week. I couldn't resist posting this pic of the clematis in my garden taken this morning. It's absolutely gorgeous at the moment laden with flowers against  a deep blue sky. Have a happy day WOYWW'ers. x

No.1

Here is my entry for the CC2 challenge over at StudioL3. This weeks technique is faded layers as described in Tim's latest Compendium of Curiosities Book 2. It's a fun technique to do I've used one of my new stamps and made the first of a series of collages I'm hoping to do using this stamp. The stamp is by Lost Coast, the mask I've used in the background is from Crafter's Workshop and the flourish stamp is by Crafty Individuals. I'm also entering this into the Simon Says stamp and show favourite stamp challenge, nothing ventured.....x

Early Bird ?

Good Morning WOYWW 'ers  getting closer to the top well about 100 places closer than last week. I'm joining in with Julia's Stamping Ground blog for her fabulous WOYWW. My table was pretty busy yesterday afternoon and here is the aftermath. I have a few new stamps and some old ones which needed mounting. I hate that job. but was itching to have a little play. One of them, the phrenology head by Lost Coast Designs, I bought this one from That's Crafty and I think will become my new favourite , I've started a little collage down in the left hand corner, though it's not stuck together yet. I can see lot's of possibilities for dressing him/her up. I was also following a La Blanche Stamping video posted on Art of Craft NZ. Great site, and I've started to have a go at her idea for tickets Oh dear, I can see another 'addiction' coming on! Happy WOYWW everyone x

Birthday Card

May is a busy month for birthdays with both my husband's and son's. I also noticed that Simon Says Stamp are celebrating their 3rd birthday with a blog challenge, so I thought I'd enter this card I made for my husband. I've used  several of Tim Holtz's stamps as well as a die cut umbrella man. I used a Kaleidacolor rainbow inkpad in Calypso to stamp with and then applied my usual walnut distress ink around the edges before mounting on black card. I'm not sure where I got the Happy Birthday Stamp from as I've had it for some time and have thrown away the packaging.  I stamped and coloured this separately before cutting out and fixing onto raised tape. Since I've started blogging I'm trying to remember to make a note of the names and makes of any new stamps I buy.

Studio L3 CC2 Challenge,

I Just had to join in with the Compendium of Curiosities 2 Challenge over at Studio L3. Each week a technique is chosen from Tim Holtz's second book CC2, this week it is distress stain marbling. For this card, I created two backgrounds and stamped on the lightest one with one of my all time favourite stamps. I just love the rather distant expression on this ladies face. I was pleased to find that she also just fits inside the frame which is from a set of stamps by Glitz called 'Laced with Grace'. A rather fitting match for her. I have coloured the roses with Distress Markers and added a little glossy accents. After a bit of vintaging with walnut distress ink, I went around the edges with a gold leaf pen, before mounting onto the background with raised sticky pads. This was then mounted onto a brown kraft card. I wanted to add a few embellishments but couldn't find anything suitable in my stash, I thought a beaded hat pin may be nice perhaps. x

WOYWW #152

Just got back from work so thought I'd better let you see what's been going on in the attic. Julia's Stamping Ground Blog provides all of us nosey crafters with a place to go and take a peek at each others' desks from all around the world. I've noticed that whatever size table or desk we have and whatever country, there is a tendency to fill up the space with stuff, reducing the actual work area to the size of a postage stamp! ok slight exaggeration A4 sheet perhaps. My desk hasn't had much going on this week as I've been busy at work. You can see a collection of number stencils I've cut on my Pazzles Inspiration, these are to use at a children's workshop on Friday. I'm doing some sessions at a local school and this week the theme is the Olympic Games. I'll post some photos of the finished work later on. It's shaping up nicely so far. Happy WOYWW  and thanks to all the people who have left such nice comments on my blog over the last few months x

Twelve Tags April

Just noticed the date and thought it was about time I got my tag posted to Tim's Twelve Tags of 2012 challenge. I've had to do a fair bit of improvising as I haven't got all of the recipe items but I think it's worked out ok. Can't believe it's nearly the end of April where does the time go? x

Faux Patina Tag

Wow! 2 posts in one evening. I do love making tags, quick pieces of art as simple or as elaborate as you like. I'm entering this tag into a challenge over at Studio L3 Where each week a challenge is set using a technique from Tim Holtz's Compendium of Curiosities Volume 2. This week the technique is Faux Patina. I've used Ranger alcohol inks in Stream,Pesto, and Clover with Snow Cap White and a touch of Gold Mixative, to create the patina effect on the tag and on the little frame, which is one of my Pound Land bargains (see WOYWW post below) I used part of a Paper Artsy stamp for the portrait, which is stamped with Archival ink in black and painted with distress inks. The lace and ribbon have been vintaged with distress stain in Antique Linen. The charms on the pin are a little metal heart and an old key I found in a draw at home, I've know idea what it opens but I guess I'll find out one day! x

WOYWW # 151

Just got time to post my pics for WOYWW # 151, Julia over at her Stamping Ground Blog continues to host this fascinating site. So what have I been up to this week? My table is still messy as I tend to just launch into things when I have the time. If I spend time tidying up I don't have time to play. I've had a couple of sessions this week, I made a tag for the Fashionable Stamping Challenges, completed my Tim Holtz Twelve Tags April challenge and made a tag for the Compendium of Curiousities 2 challenge, hosted by Studio L3. So its been tags all the way. I was pleased to make the top three over at FSC for my entry into their 'Nautical' challenge.You can see the tag in my previous post. Also on my desk just to the left side is a packet of picture frame magnates bought from my local Pound Land shop. I just love having a mooch in there. I've altered and used one on the tag you can see in the picture and it was just right for Tim's 'faux patina' technique. I think they're pretty good value and very easy to work with. I'll be posting a picture before the challenge closes if you want to have a closer look. Anyway have a good crafting week  until we 'meet' again x

Pound Land Bargain! they're only plastic but good for altering.

Something Fishy for FSC

I've Just completed this tag for the Fashionable Stamping Challenges #19 'Nautical'.  I've used a Paper Artsy stamp of a child with a fish stamped in black Archival ink onto watercolour paper and coloured with Distress re-Inkers using my newly acquired Tim Holtz water brush, I don't know why I haven't had one of these before, great fun to use.  The small shells were stamped with a tiny Clarity stamp I've had for ages and coloured with various distress inks and glazed with glossy medium. I've also added a real shell. The starfish have been stamped and embossed with Ranger distress embossing powder. I then coloured them with Stazon ink for variation. The palm fronds are from a set of stamps from Stampscapes inc. I've actually double stamped the child and cut 'him' out and raised him up on foam pads. All in all an enjoyable evenings 'work'

Here's a close up showing the dimensional aspect of the tag.

WOYWW 150

Time for a peak into the attic to see whats been going on. It's WOYWW over at Julia's Stamping Ground blog

so I thought I'd better get on it and claim my place! I don't think I'll ever be organised enough to get one of the top ten places. As you can see by my table organisation is not a skill that comes naturally to me. So what's going on... I've got several things on the go at the moment, I've had a little go with my Dylusion Inks and as I suspected it's not that easy. I Tended to get the whole area sopping wet, with the colours leaking under my stencils. I know that there are no 'mistakes' with this kind of art but I would like to get a bit more definition. Still after some doodling on the page it almost looks like it's meant to be. My friend Sandy suggested decanting some of the inks into mini misters so I'll have a go with that. I can't really afford for all that gorgeous ink to end up on my kitchen roll even though I know this can also be put to good use at a later date. I've also made a ticket strip file to cut on my Pazzles Inspiration. If anyone out there has the same machine I will happily send on the file. If you like using tickets check out the video'How I Use My Tim Holtz Ticket Strip Die on You Tube by

http://www.youtube.com/user/ArtOfCraftNZ Its very inspiring. Anyway time to get ready for Tai Chi have a good crafting week all x

Bit muddy but I'll keep trying!

WOYWW 148

The aftermath! Well underneath all those products and stamps lies my big table. The table remains as it was on Sunday after finishing the Creative Chemistry 101 online class. Great fun and quite a challenge to keep up but I did it!! So here we are at another WOYWW, thanks Julia, I wonder what the other work tables are like this week. I'm on holiday now so I look forward to having a good snoop around. Just to the bottom left in my pic is my new stash of Dylusions ink sprays, I just had to treat myself to these after watching Dyan Reaveley demo them at CHA 12 on You Tube. She makes it look so easy, but we shall see...

Graduate of CC101 !

Week One

Week Two

Last Day

Well that was fun! I just managed to finish and upload all of my Creative Chemistry 101 tags on Sunday night after a couple of marathon sessions. I've been a bit shell shocked since then but hope to put some of the things I learned into practice very soon. It was a pleasure to take part in the course and Tim produced some excellent videos and PDF's to accompany each technique. I stuck quite closely to what he was doing and used the same stamps and products where possible even though I didn't have every product and stamp. Strangely enough though, I managed to add a few newbies to my stash after attending the Hobby Crafts show at the NEC !!

Coronation Book

Here's a little book I've entered into the Fashionable Stamping Challenges 'Play Bingo' A great challenge to take part in as there's so much scope. I chose ... 'show some metal, distress and vintage' As it is the queen's diamond jubilee year, I decided to choose this as my theme and try to create a surface that looks as though it's been around since then.  For the cover,  I've used  Tim Holtz's  'faux enamelling' technique, this really appeals to me as it reminds me of the tins of toffees I used to get as a child. I firstly embossed the Union Flag, using my foil sticky tape attached to card. The embossing folder is from Papermania. I then painted it with acrylic paint and left  it to dry. Once completely dry I sanded the surface to reveal some of the metal. I then stamped some 'rust' spots and heat embossed with frayed burlap distress embossing powder. I rubbed in some DI in black soot and Vintage photo and then gave the whole surface a coat of versa mark before clear embossing. The Lion and Crown were stamped onto painted foil tape and embossed with gold and clear powders. I then attached these using glossy accents.

A close up showing the faux rust .

Here's what the inside of the book looks like. I've stamped each page with a flourish using Antique Linen DI.

WOYWW 146

Just a quickie as I should be getting ready for work, busy day ahead! I guess there'll be a lot of desks on Julia's WOYWW over at Stamping Ground, looking a bit like mine, lots of distress inks tags etc... yes that's it CC101 started this week, can't wait to have a snoop around some desks this week. Thankyou Julia for hosting this fascinating site. Have a good day everyone

Grungey Monday 39

I've made this card for The Grungey Monday Challenge over at Studio L3. This weeks prize has been sponsored by Simon Says Stamp who I'd like to thank for the prompt delivery of my 100 tags. The Challenge was to use Tim's alcohol technique from his 12 tags of Christmas day 3 2009. I spent most of the afternoon playing with this technique and had some difficulty marrying the technique to the stamps I have. As the effects are quite bold, I felt it needed an equally bold image so I've returned to an old favourite  and used this fish stamp. I , like many others I suspect, had quite a fad on using oriental images, it seems they're a bit out of fashion at the moment, but I think I might just start a one woman revival! I've kept it simple as it's such a strong image and I didn't feel it needed any further embellishment. Below are some of my other attempts using different stamps and colour ways.

  

Twelve Tags March

Well I thought I'd better get on with Tim's March tag for The Twelve Tags Challenge, as I won't have much time after CC 101 starts TOMORROW! I'm still not sure how I'm going to keep up, it's a good job that the content is there forever. For this tag I decided to go with birds as I've been using a lot of butterflies in my work lately and I've hardly used the 'Bird Cage' die I bought a while ago. Although the mosaic technique is a bit fiddly I am quite pleased with the results. I've used Kay and Co paper off cuts and I think it looks a bit like vintage china, I'd quite like to have a go at a larger piece. I used a little wood graining stamp I bought some time ago from De Stempelwinkel for the background with acrylic paint. The flowers and birds nest were punched out from my favourite ASBO tape, and coloured with alcohol inks. They're not the same flowers I featured in an earlier post as I thought the colours were a bit bright, so this time I used a mixture of brown and raisin with a touch of gold mixative, to create a kind of copper effect.  

WOYWW 145

Just got time for a quick post to Sarah's WOYWW, over at her Stamping Ground blog. I traded an evening of crafting in the attic, with an evening at the Symphony Hall watching and listening to the great Joan Baez. She still has a beautiful voice and her musicians were also wonderful really chilled and mellow. In fact yesterday turned out to be a most enjoyable day! I started the day by finding out that I had won The FSC Make it for a Child Challenge, my very first challenge win. Many thanks to the design team for choosing my work xxx, and apart from going to work in between, ending the day with the lovely Joan and a delicious meal of Spanish Tapas made the day just perfect!

For those of you with an interest in the ASBO tape, here's a close up of some flowers I've made to add to my Tim' 12 Tags March entry. I followed Anneliese Bates instructions on her L'Atelier Blog. Great fun to make. I must seek out some more flower punches. x

Feeling Puzzled

 I used to love doing jigsaws as a child and there was always one in my Christmas stocking. I'm not sure how keen today's youngsters are, as their attention is taken up in so many other ways, however I decided to enter this one into Fashionable Stamping Challenge, 'Make it for a Child' and just maybe one of my nieces or nephews will enjoy it ! I bought the blank puzzles from the children's craft section in our local Wilkinsons shop. A bargain for £1 for a pack of  two. I coloured the backgrounds with alcohol inks and the stamping was done with Archival ink and clear embossed. The butterflies have been painted with metallic water colours and distress inks also applied with a brush. They are great fun to make. Below are some others I made using similar techniques.

I also made this one with the FSC in mind but after messing around for ages, I haven't been able to upload it to their site, Hey Ho such is the life of a computer novice. Now that's really got me puzzled ! LOL x

WOYWW

Well its that time again and I've not posted anything since last week! Still I couldnt miss joining in Julia's WOYWW over at her Stamping Ground blog ,even though I've not had much time for crafting this week. We had a lovely time with our friends who were over from Spain at the weekend, as well as my doing a children's workshop on Saturday, printing bunting with a group of visually impaired children and their brothers and sisters. It was a fun day but I think I've been recovering ever since. So it's been a quiet week in the attic with just a little time to peruse my signed copy of THE BOOK which arrived yesterday. Lots of good ideas contained within and I'm looking forward to getting stuck in. At the top right, you can see my roll of ASBO tape, Its sticky backed aluminium foil and there's a great idea in Tim's book which I shall be using this for watch this space.

Here's a closeup of the ASBO tape. I got this from my local hardware shop, only £4.99! Because it's sticky backed you can attach it to any surface really easily, it can then be embossed and painted.

WOYWW

Well it's time for another WOYWW over at Julia's Stamping Ground blog and a peek in the attic,I was warned that it would be addictive ! My workdesk is pretty much as I left it on Sunday after completing my Grungey Monday Wearable Art Challenge. This photo was taken from the opposite side of  the table and shows my lovely chest of draws full of crafty bits and bobs.......don't be too envious! I've had it for some years and it's a little rickety, but pretty darn good eh? Now I don't want the green eyed monster to get a grip on you all but have a look at my latest acquisition, it's a totally fabulous old log book I found in my local junk shop. It is unused bar a few missing pages at the front, it has a brass lock and came with a little key. It's crying out for some inky goodness and I'm really looking forward to getting started. Here it is......................

Grungey Monday, Tim Holtz Wearable Art Challenge

Well it's time for another Grungey Monday Challenge over at Studio L3, how quickly the week goes by! For their Tim Holtz Wearable Art Challenge, I decided to give one of my hats a makeover with a Steam Punk style hat band. I love hats and this bowler hat is one of my favourites. I made the hat band by running some strips of grunge paper through my Cuttlebug, using a cog embossing folder. I then coloured this with gold paint dabber, lightly sanded the surface and rubbed in a little Vintage Photo DI. The cogs were die cut from grunge paper, using Tim's Sizzix large cog die.These were coloured with gold and silver paint dabbers and 'vintaged with various distress inks. I then dipped them in UTEE using my Melt Pot. I cut the leaves and flowers similar to Tims Tattered Florals, on my Pazzles machine, they've been coloured with distress inks and stamped with Archival black, I used a clock background stamp and a dots background both from The Artistic Stamper and also my favourite Crafty Individulas flourish stamp. I dipped each layer in UTEE before assembling the flowers. The Artful Splodger have a very good video on this technique. I usually wear this hat at music festivals, roll on the summer, as I think it will be fun to wear and certainly unique !

Fashionable Stamping Challenge

Well Valentine fever is starting to subside and I think this may be the last of my romantic cards for a little while. It is similar to one I posted last week but uses a different colourway. I'm entering this into The Fashionable Stamping Challenge, Monochrome Plus One Other Colour. Once again I've used my favourite Tim Holtz text stamp from the Stampers Anonymous set 'Papillon' for the background with Versa Mark ink in Smokey Grey. I cut the heart out and covered it with some rosette ribbon which I coloured with Worn Lipstick Distress ink. I then mounted this on another heart which I first trimmed with stamped tracing paper strips. I cut the strips with my scalloped edge scissors which gives the look a bit more 'frilliness'.  The frame has been distressed with Antique Linen and Black Soot DI. and stamped with a flourish stamp, from Crafty Individuals. The frame and  'Love' ticket have been embellished with Hot Fix pearls, I get a bit carried away when using these and have probably used too many !

Anns Blog Candy

Attention dear blog friends... theres a greatly gorgeous giveaway over at Anne's Stamp Pad Lots of lovely goodies, yum yum

12 Tags of 2012

Well here is my first completed tag for the Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2012 challenge. Although I completed my 12 tags of Christmas I never uploaded them to his blog, so this time I'm going to try and get each one uploaded. Although I've been using a number of Tim's products for years, I'd been a bit resistant from really getting on board the Tim train, however in doing the Christmas tags, I found I learnt so much more about his products and techniques and have continued to put this knowledge into my current work. I also enjoyed the challenge of using what I'd already got and finding alternatives when I hadn't. So Tim you have another convert bring it on!

WOYWW

Well it's that time again WOYWW and my table is still a mess! I've still got valentines project stuff all over the place. I'm posting a picture of my rather exploded ribbon box. It's had an influx of ribbons bought from Lidl supermarket and also from my local market. There is stall which is a real treasure trove and very exciting for anyone with a ribbon and trimmings fetish! looking at my stash I wonder could this be me?.. The very nice man on the market let me take some photos of his wares, so much to choose from and very good prices. Enjoy!