WOYWW #195 Busy Busy !

Here's my messy table after a nice afternoon spent with my old buddies ink, paint and paper ! There are a couple of new 'pals' in the form of my first batch of distress paints, and I can see these are going to something of a favourite with me. Have I gone mad you may ask why is she showing us this untidy table? well hop over to Julia's Stamping Ground blog and all will be revealed. The lovely Julia hosts this gathering of like minded souls every week and in fact, has been doing so for nearly 4 years! So why not have a go..... come on you know you want too. x

Metal-ology Pocket Book

Now here's a little project I've really enjoyed making. I'm entering this into the Simon Says Stamp and Show Metalology Challenge. It's a little accordion folded pocket book which measures around  6cm x 7cm. The cover is made with chip board which has been coated in three layers of black UTEE. I then coloured it with some mica powders before heating and stamping into it with the flower stamp and gold Encore Inkpad. I didn't really like the initial textured effect but I was loathe to throw it away so I heated it again rather expecting the pattern to disappear, but as you can see it didn't but became much more subtle and far more to my liking. Some of the flower and leaf embellishments were also given the mica and UTEE treatment. The metal corners are by Creative Expressions and are excellent value for money I might add. Below are some pictures showing the open book and the folded craft paper pages. x

Fashionable Stamping Challenges #41 'Birds'

Here is the little bird canvas that has been sitting on my table all week ! I'm posting it just in time for the Fashionable Stamping Challenges, 'Bird' challenge.There's a randomly selected prize from Cottage Crafts for one lucky winner. This canvas was fun to make with dimensional paste and a Crafter's Workshop stencil to create the background. I used Adirondack paint dabbers in Pool, Antique Linen, Crushed Olive and  Snow CapWhite  for colour. The bird was a stamp I've had for sometime, it's from a company called Stamp Francisco. I stamped it onto tissue paper with black Archival ink and layered onto the painted canvas before colouring with Distress Markers. I then masked it off and stamped the foliage over with Versamark and heat embossed with Ranger Sea Foam white embossing powder. I then covered the canvas with Rock Candy Distress Crackle. I then carefully gave the little bird a coat of matte acrylic medium to reduce the shine. A few words and a bit of hardware from Tim Holtz's Ideaology plus the all important Vintage Photo Distress around the edges, complete the look.

A close up showing the stencilled texture  paste. I rubbed in a little more snow cap white to highlight the Distress Rock Candy crackles.

Watch the birdie! I've used a little artistic license as I think the stamp may be a wren, but with a nice red breast has been transformed into a robin. We have a delightful little robin that visits our bird table each day and so a robin it had to be.x

WOYWW # 194

Well half way through the week and time for another WOYWW or What's On Your Work Desk Wednesday. For more details about the biggest craft blog snoop on the net, hop over to Julia's Stamping Ground  blog and get involved. It is coming up to the 4th anniversary of this wonderful blog hop and Julia is proposing another ATC swap. So you've got plenty of time to get in it. So this is what's on my table this week, I've been having a little play as I'm on holiday this week and this is the aftermath. I'm working on a little canvas which you can see propped up at the back. So let's see what you can spy. I'm also posting a picture of another 'work table in my house which my son has commandeered. He has a degree in animation, and is working on some models for his next piece. He's learning to sew and this is what I've got to put up with until he goes back to Berlin next week !I think they look rather cute so far. if you want a little light relief whilst crafting you can see a couple of his vids on you tube here and  here (sorry Julia) I'm not advertising just spreading the love. x

Love is in The Air

Here's the tag I made for my husband for Valentines Day. There has been a little method in my madness, as this also doubles up as my entry into the Tim Holtz 12 Tags of 2013 Challenge. I hope my husband doesn't mind but after nearly 33 years of marriage I think he knows me well enough by now! It's a bit different from Tim's in that I don't have many of the supplies he used, so I had to put my thinking cap on. I must say I love the stamp he used this month and would like to add his Valentine set to my collection, along with all the other new goodies that have recently caused such a stir!. This tag was firstly swooshed, with a mixture of Fired Brick DI and Tarnished Brass distress stain before being embossed in my Cuttlebug. I then added the embossed and sanded Kraft Core strip. One of the hearts was hand cut from a glittery Christmas gift tag and the other from a piece of left over embossed foil tape, which has been coloured with alcohol ink. I then finished off with a few embellishments, a calendar page, a strip of diamante and die cut lace. This tag also fits the brief for the Lacey Heartsy Valentine Challenge over at Frilly and Funkie so that will be my next stop.x

Love Me Do

I've been having a play with this MDF heart I bought the other week and have finished it just in time for the Fashionable Stamping Challenges 'Show Some Love' challenge, which is sponsored by the lovely people at Cottage Crafts. The original smooth  surface of the heart was in need of a little texturising, so I decided to firstly, give it a coat of paint and then a coat of crackle paint medium. I topped this with a further coat of paint and left it to dry I then rubbed in a little Walnut Stain Distress Ink, which has given it a rather nice wood-like texture. To continue the transformation, I used some Artist's Spackle, and Diane Reavley's leaf stencil. The lady was stamped on to white tissue paper before being collaged onto the surface. I then used the Spackle through a diamond pattern mask, around the image. I highlighted the leaves with some Treasure Gold paste and applied a little to the sides and edges of the heart, a few words and a bit more distressing and some pearls add the finishing touches.x

WOYWW #192 Must Tidy Up....... One Day !

Better late than never! It's time for a Wednesday WOYWW post. What's that then? It's an opportunity to have a look at crafters' desks from all around the world. Pop over to Julia's Stamping Ground blog and get involved in the fun. Here's my table looking a bit like it looked last week with a few additions.  There's an MDF heart which has been gessoed ready for some altering. I found a great bargain shop called B&M Homestores. The heart cost £1.49, I bought a few other goodies as well all quite cheap. There are also one or two more flowers where I've been experimenting with different colours. The latest lot are a bit more grungey. Here's a picture of one of the crowded corners in my attic, just so that you can see how crammed with stuff the room is! Should I really be buying more stuff ? Hope you've all had a good WOYWW so far. See you next week.x

'...and the Winner is....'

 

I promised to have a little giveaway following my paper flower step by step tutorial. I wrote all the names of the people who left a comment on my flower tutorial as well as those that commented on the flowers in my WOYWW post, on slips of paper and put them into my hat. As my son Max took the photos, I asked him to pick one out. I am pleased to announce that the very talented Butterfly is the name he drew out. Many thanks to all the people that left such lovely comments. I hope you'll join in when I have my next giveaway x