Star Gazing.

This week over on Wednesday Stamper Tina says.....

You are all STARS for coming back week after week and participating. Let your star shine this week and add a bit of sparkle to your stamped creations.

This is my sparkly creation, a little 5"x2.5" tag, made using Distress Inks, Glimmer Mist, clear embossing and stamps from Art Journey and Cherry Pie - the ink splash in the back ground if your wondering lol. I added the words "Follow Your Star" using my Provo Rolling stamp. The little star charm reads "A wish".

Ive added this little picture to try and show to better effect how sparkly the tag really is.

Thanks for stopping by, have a great weekend!

Wednesday Stamper

This week over on Wednesday Stamper Hermine says......

This week I challenge you to come out from behind your book and make a bookmark. So that after having had a relaxing read you can put a gorgeous piece of artwork in there to enjoy it even more.

Here are mine, as you see I got a bit carried away and made two. I had a lot of fun making these.

I used Distress Inks, Glimmer Mist and various embellishments including German Scrap,fibres, beads and an old text page. Stamps are from The Queens Dresser Drawers and PaperBag Studio.
I'd just like to add a huge THANK YOU to everyone who visits my little corner of Blogland and takes time to leave a comment.

Make a moo or two

Nellie's theme this weeks theme over on Make a moo or two is Travel....
If you see my work more often you might know that I love travel as a theme. You can interpret this theme in so many ways, cities, countries, means of transport etc. Even on a little Moo you can travel around the world. So show us, what’s the destination of your journey this week?

Here are my two little moo's. I created a little collage on each using fragments of maps and text, and using images from Tim Holtz and HOTP. I used Distress Inks to add colour to the background. I'm afraid the photo's arent the best Ive ever taken, I really struggled with the light.

TMTA Insects.

This weeks challenge over on Think Monday Think ATC is Insects! Now creepy crawlies are not my favourite things in the world, but as I really fancied playing along this week I dug deep in my stash and found a Cigar label with a little ant on it - totally perfect for the job I thought!

I used Distress Inks and water to create the background, my new Tim Holtz background stamp and the PaperArtsy sailer boy for the main image.

A Perfect Day ** I met Tim Holtz!!**

Yesterday I had the most fabulous day!!! Firstly, I got to meet for the very first time my good friend Kaz, and together we went to the opening of Dawn Bibby's new Design Studio, where we attended a 3 hour demo by the one and only Tim Holtz!!!!!!!!!


The day was all I anticipated and more!!! Tim was a fabulous teacher, very witty and charming, but most of all, inspiring. He showed us fabulous techniques and how to get the best results from his products. And we were able to purchase stamps from his as yet unreleased new range - how cools that!!


Dawn and her team , including JJ and Leonie were all there too, and they are all lovely people, very friendly and truly charming. The atmosphere in the Studio was very informal and relaxed, they really made us feel welcome. I must give give a huge Thank You to Dawn, JJ, Leonie and of course Tim Holtz, for the most wonderful afternoon. And Kaz was great company, it felt like I was meeting up with an old friend who I'd known forever. It really was a most perfect day.




Tim made lots of sample's during the demo, and at the end I asked him to sign this one for me, which he very kindly did.
This is a little creation I gave to Tim. I was so nervous approaching him with it I was literally shaking! I needed a lot of encouragment from Kaz to hand it to him, I was a bit pathetic lol. But Tim seemed to like it. Or maybe he was just very kind rofl.

The wording on the egg reads "Springtime., natures greatest gift".

Happy Valentines Day !!

WooooHooooo!!!

It sure feels good to be back in blogland again! My last post was sooooo long ago I cant wait to go visit everyone and see what youve all been creating!

Recently my creations have taken a new direction as ive discovered ( i'm always the last to know lol ) a passion for felting! I have made a couple of pieces using needle felting, this one here is my first attempt at felted collage I made for Jo. I really enjoyed making this, I expect you'll be seeing a few more in this style in the coming months!

Another felted piece here, this one a slide mailer I made as a little "Happy New Home" gift for my pal Kaz.

And lastly a Valentine Card I made for a forum swap. Again a lot of felt but this time of the shop bought variety as I was so short on time when I started on it. I chose the stamps and the colours specially for the recipient as I know she likes those Tim Holts Birds and was ( I hope still is ) a fan of this colour scheme.

Hope you like it Kaz :)

Well this post has turned into one of those "waiting for a bus" moments! Nothing for an age then 4 arrive at once!

Thank you for stopping by. And if any of you bloggers who have stumbled upon my blog have also been bitten by the felting bug then Please leave me a comment with a link to your blog as I would love to see your felted creations :)

Winter Arch

This week the theme over on Gothic Arch Challenge Blog is winter.
Here is mine.Thanks for stopping by :)

Christmas Traditions

I made this Arch for a forum challenge. The brief was to create something Christmas themed, without using anything Christmas specific - so no Santas, no Reindeer - you get the idea lol.
My thinking behind this piece was to create a Christmas Eve scene. I thought the little Paper Wimsey boy sitting with his teddy was perfect, it looks like he is listening out for the sound of Santa's Sleighbells ting-a-linging! In the background is a little clock showing almost midnight, on the 24th. I added a little white acrylic paint frost aound the edges to add a hint of winteryness. You may be wondering why I chose to add the word Tradition to the little hanging piece, well, when I was a child, staying awake as long as possible on Christmas Eve, and listening out for Santas bells was one of the most exciting times of the year for me and my siblings, and even as we all grew up, it became a little tradition of ours to stay up together on Christmas Eve.
I still love Christmas Eve, possibly even more so than Christmas day, its so full of excitment and anticipation...and hard work too. But I am in denial. Its all going to go fabulously rofl. Well, its better than getting stressed out isnt it lol.

This is my entry for this weeks Saturday Stampers were the theme is Christmas with a twist. The twist being that we use NO Christmas products, papers or stamps in our creations.
Thanks for looking :)

Gothic Arch

This weeks Gothic Arch theme as chosen by Nellie is Chocolate..."Chocolate is a girls best friend". How could I resist!
I decided to go with a "Chocolate Box" feel, I found this background paper in my stash and it reminded me of the stuff they put inside boxes of chocolates so it was a perfect place to start. I then found the little vintage poster I used in the background, changing the word "soda" to read "chocolate" fountain. I just love this Paper Whimsey image of the little girl, I thought she was perfect for my Chocolate Box Arch. I added a little sparkly gold ribbon over one corner and embelished with a couple of flowers.

Thanks for looking :)

Wednesday Stamper

This week over on Wednesday Stamper .....

We all know that “diamonds are a girl’s best friend”. This week we’re challenging you with DIAMONDS. Whether you choose the diamond shape or the diamond itself is entirely up to you!!

I made this for the challenge. It is a hanging, so it would make a much better picture if it was actually hung but I'm afraid we have have a few technical problems - mainly being that my 2 year old daghter stuck something in the lead port were the camera gets connected and shorted it! I'm waiting for my hubby to connect a new one then it will be buisness as usual lol.

To make this I used Basic Grey "Scarlets Letter" papers, finally having the courage to cut into them after hoarding them for several months! Stamps are Crafty Individuals for the main image and Cats Life Press for the Friendship quote.
The chipboard scrolls ( which I got from Scrapz ) I painted with copper paint and added a little patina using metalic rub-on. I then added a few highlights to the piece using white acrylic paint. I decided not to colour the main image - a first for me lol, I just felt the image was more striking left black & white, and it worked well with the background papers.

Lastly, I just want to say a HUGE Thank You to everyone who visits and takes the time to comment on my blog. THANK YOU!!!! I appreciate it hugely.

Winter Wonderland

I have made this gothic arch for an inter-forum swap with a "winter" theme.
As this weeks theme over at Saturday Stampers is also Winter, this is my entry for this week.
To create the background I used water colour paints with a hint of irridecent H20's mixed in for a hint of sparkle. I also used Basic Grey rub-ons, snow flake brads, white lace, tear drop crystals and stamps from PaperBag Studio's and Art Journey.

Friendship.

I have made this hanging as a gift for my forum friend Seona. I used K&Co paper and stamped onto vintage text paper taken from an old book. I added the word Friendship using my Dymo, attached a piece of soft green ribbon using antique brads and added some vintage lace at the bottom.
The stamps used are PaperBag Studio's arch and the little girl is from The Queens Dresser Drawers.
This is my submission to this weeks Wednesday Stamper as the theme is Children.

Saturday Stampers

I made this tag for a swap with a "pink ladies" theme. I used foreign text to create the background, pink papers from Daisy D's and the stamped image is from my favourite stamp sheet from Paperbag Studio's. I used an assortment of pink embelishments, including lots of pretty pink ribbon, I tied knots in one piece of ribbon as a sign of Rememberance.
As this weeks theme over on Saturday Stampers is Pink Ribbon ( in reference to this month Breast Cancer Awareness month) I'm using this as my entry :)

For Carrie....

I made this card for Carries Birthday using K&Co papers and Paperbag Studio's stamp. The butterfly I added using 3-d foam to give dimension under the wings but it looks rather flat in the photo.
I just want to add, the green and pink paper in the background isnt part of the card - it was a bit of a blooper on my part taking the picture on top of the paper pad, but my desk was so cluttered i couldnt find a space anywere else lol.

Art Doll Challenge.

Ive been neglecting my blog recently, life has been a bit chaotic with family stuff, and then there was the hastily made decision to redecorate the entire downstairs before the christmas trimmings go up ( 1st december if you were wondering lol ) so I decided to make use of these wee small hours I'm spending with Jack while he makes up his mind if he is tired enough to go to bed, and blog a couple of recent creations :)
I made this polymer clay art doll for a forum challenge. I used my prefered polymer clay - Fimo (prefered only because its the only polymer clay I can source locally lol ) an art doll face mold and I collected a selection of fallen leaves from the garden. I spent a few minutes kneading the clay to a workable state, then rolled it using a 6" brayer - I really do need to remember to buy a pasta roller lol. I cut a art doll template from textured card, and lay this over my sheet of rolled out clay and cut around it with a craft knife - the texture of the card was transfered to the clay giving it a nice, bark like finish. I then made the face cab using some left over scraps from the body. The tricky part was making the leaves, I wanted to get the clay rolled as thinly as possible, but only having a brayer meant I was finding it difficult to keep an even thickness.When I was happy with the rolled clay, I lay a leaf onto it and pressed it into the clay, transfering all the texture and details to the clay. I cut around each leaf with a sharp craft knife. Once I had a selection of leaf types and sizes I lay them over the art doll, to create a feeling that she is a little Wood Sprite hibernating for Winter - it didnt turn out exactly as I planned, I was struggling for time as Jack was unwell - but I'm sure one day I will get to create the little wood sprite currently hibernating in my imagination :)

I would like to thank the lovely Gillian for my Rocking Girl Blogger award! Yes Gillian, I am extremley slow on the uptake, but better late than never as my mum always says :)

I now need to nominate five other girl bloggers for this prestigious award, but as soooooo many of my favourite bloggers already recieved their shiny pink trophy i'm gonna need time to think.

One blogger springs to mind, the fantabulously funny Amy . I love Amy's blog, she always makes me smile :)