Compendium of Curiosities week 30 - Altered metal

Oh I can't believe there are only 5 more CoC challenges left before we have completed all the techniques in the wonderful bible of TH. Linda however hasn't let the full cat out of the bag, but she has said that this won't be the end - so what is she up to? Can't wait to find out.

This week as the title suggests we are altering metal at Studio L3 and I have been itching to get started on my configurations box that DH bought me for Christmas. I knew I had some lovely little metal things I want to use and had to go searching in the shed to find them.

The little boxes are going to reflect across the ages and times of the lives of our close family. So the first box represents our grandparents days when life was much harder with none of the technology we know of today. The mangle symbolizes the way the wife and mother had to work in the home to keep the family washed and clothes and everything clean. Not like today is it? I can remember my Nana doing the washing in the scullery in a huge sink, pulling the sheets out, giving them a wring as best she could by hand and then putting everything through the mangle before hanging it on the line. Even though I had an electric washing machine when I first got married, I still had one with the rollers, (and they were electric too), that you put the washing through to get the water out, spinners were around but I didn't have one for some reason. Oh boy I am showing my age aren't I?

So turn to P.48 in the compendium to find out how to do the technique and I am sure you will be altering all sorts of bits and pieces made of metal. It's so easy and great fun.

I have already altered a few more bits ready to make the next boxes, which I am sure you will see in the weeks to come. I just seem to have so many projects on the go.

Have a lovely crafty weekend and pop back if you have time. I am going to make something with hearts and wings on next to support my friend Zoe's new challenge blog called Just For Fun. Go take a look if you haven't seen it already.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Challenges to have fun with -
Allsorts - Saving Nature -  these little ornaments had once been stood on display in a printers tray, now they find themselves with a new lease of life rather than being thrown away.
Creative Friday - Vintage

Scrapbook Tag - Queen Bee

How about scrapping mini pics of your family as a tag? I thought this would be a great idea to do so that I could make a collection of them and find a nice box to alter and put them in. What do you think? This one is for Becca (eldest grandaughter) who is 13 going on 20 (aren't they all at this age?).

This was inspired by the Stampsmith Challenge - Royalty, Colour Q - poppy, coral, blushing bride , espresso  and vanilla (this transferred to the colour DIs listed below), Gingersnaps Creations - Kings and Queens

Supplies
Tag and small frame made from TH tag and bookplates die
Invoke stamps - honeycomb and mini tag
Scrollswork Stamps - face, crown and ornate capital letters
Hessian and netting for masking and inking the background
DIs spun sugar, tattered rose, barn door, frayed burlap, vintage photo and black soot
Two bee stamps from my collection (I have loads of them - I wonder why????)
Making Memories - metal crown
7 Gypsies - word stamps
Mini bees downloaded and cut out.
Bias binding, one piece dyed with the pinks and red DIs

Other challenges to have fun with -
Crafty Emmas - Bold and Bright
Totally Gorjuss - as you like it - well I think Becca is totally gorjuss
Paperplay challenges - Stamp it out
Theme Thursday - Family
Dezinaworld - Charming - again I think Becca counts here and the metal crown charm
Sarah Hurley - Die Cuts

So, have a fabulous weekend and thanks for stopping by.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

MAWTT Challenge 84 - Red

Happy Thursday Everyone.

Today at MAWTT, it is Pami who is hostess and she has chosen the theme red (to fit in with the chinese new year if you want to). My digi image this week is a steampunk watch from our sponsors Stitchy Bears Shop. Now steampunk, digi and red really challenged me again and this is what I came up with.

Once I had collected bits and pieces together I knew that I wanted this piece to give the impression of being inside a watch, so I needed to collage all the elements together, which is what I did. The background paper was a download and I masked and sprayed it with a cosmic shimmer spray, then I cut out or tore my pieces and put them together with chipboard cogs (stamped with the steampunk stamps I won from the Craft Stamper) and also lots of hardware - watch pieces and washers etc. You an just make them out on the second photo.

Well I hope you have been happily crafting this week.

Take care. Luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Allsorts - Recycle - I have recycled old watch parts and washers and bits from my husbands tool box.
Paper Playtime - Digi Monday
Crafts and me - Red

Woo Hoo I did it

Wow, I just can't believe it, I did it, I got asked to be in the Let's Ink It Up Design Team - Yey.

Suzanne over at LIIU has made some changes to the challenge blog, it has been completely overhauled and a new team in place, well actually two teams in place, so instead of it being a monthly challenge it's gonna be fortnightly and with some great prizes. There are some fabulous people on this DT who create some magnificent things, much inspiration for us all to see, I really am going to have to work at this to keep up with them all, so thank you Suzanne and Claire for giving me this chance. I hope you will all pop over on the 6th March for the first challenge from Team A, which is the one I am in.

I would like to say a huge hello to so many new followers, all my new teamies from LIIU, but lots of others who have found me in the past week or so. My numbers have shot up from around 120 to 154, I can't believe it. What a great time to be with me on this new adventure.

Watch out too for the new MAWTT challenge in the morning, the lovely Pami has set the theme and it's very topical but left wide open for interpretation. Look forward to seeing you there.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Hues of blue at Dezinaworld

Hi Everyone

I want to share my entry to this weeks spot Prize at Dezinaworld where the theme is 'Hues of Blue'. I have been making some quite distressed and 'vintagey' things lately and wanted to have a play with my other love which is shabby chic.

This certainly has a number of blues in it and used the pink flower both to give a bit of contrast but also to lift the blues a bit and to fit in with the flowers on the image.I am not sure about the bitterfly on this one?

The frame is a nestabilities pendant, the sentiment is my own and the small vintage elements have been downloaded, except the stamped and white embossed flower. I have made 2 of them as they are for my tins that will become presents at a later date.

If you haven't been over to see June at Junibear's Jottings, I do recommend  you take a look. She is an amazing digital collage artist and is going to be giving a most fabulous giveaway when she gets to 100 followers. If you haven't seen her work, you don't know what you are missing.

Enjoy your Wednesday and thanks for coming and taking a look.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Challenges to have fun with -
Flutterby Wednesday - Anything goes with a butterfly, fairy or angel
ABC challenge - N is for Nesties

The Stamp Man ATC February Swap - Steampunk

Hello Everyone

Today sees the start of the next ATC swap at the Stamp Man and as you can see the theme is STEAMPUNK. I have to say I voted for this theme having never really experimented with the genre but I was so up for having a go.

Wikipedia says
"Steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction, alternate history, and speculative fiction that came into prominence during the 1980s and early 1990s. Specifically, steampunk involves an era or world where steam power is still widely used - usually the 19th century and often Victorian era Britain - that incorporates prominent elements of either science fiction or fantasy. Works of steampunk often feature anachronistic technology or futuristic innovations as Victorians may have envisioned them; in other words, based on a Victorian perspective on fashion, culture, architectural style, art, etc. This technology may include such fictional machines as those found in the works of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne or real technologies like the computer but developed earlier in an alternate history."

I loved playing with this. I made my own background paper by making up a collage of steampunk drawings downloaded from the internet. I sprayed it with a cosmic shimmer mist, then stamped round the edges. I then downloaded a steampunk image, die cut some cogs and found bits of hardware and a watch face to add to it.

Supplies used -
DIs Antique Linen and Vintage Photo
Cosmic Shimmer - Ancient Copper
TH die - Gadget Gears
TH stamps - Mini Classics
Paper Artsy - wings
LB Crafts - watch gears and hands
other bits from my stash

Another new style for me. Loving it.

Have fun with whatever you are doing and I look forward to seeing some steampunk from you.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Orange and Purple Stampotique

Hi Fellow Bloggers

I bought a couple of new Stampotique stamps the other week and finally got to use them over the weekend.

The current theme at the Stampotique challenge blog is to use turquoise and orange. This is another card that I actually started a few days ago, but only got finished last night. I decided to use the Sketch Saturday layout which actually proved more difficult than anticipated, but became a brilliant challenge. Everything on this card, except the backing paper and the metal clip, has had a coating of gesso, in fact I seem to have gone gesso mad.

The door and the cat are two separate stamps and I started by making a background of text and music papers gluing them as a collage and then covering them with a wash of ....... guess what? Yes gesso. I cut a mask for the cat and stamped the door to place it behind him (has to be a 'him' because I have 2 male cats), then painted with DIs. The turquoise layer was over printed with a TH stamp and the ribbon given..... yes you've guessed it - a coating of gesso. Finished off with some hinges painted and covered in rock candy crackle paint and little beads in the middle. The backing paper is from a pad with no name (lost the front cover...), all I did to that was stamp a corner flourish in turquoise but it looks rather green.

Love this little cat.    Have a great day.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Challenges to have fun with -
Simon Says Stamp - Animal antics
Stampin' for the weekend - Getting warmed up

The two of us

This card has taken me absolutely ages to make and has been changed a number of times along the way.

I started by challenging myself to find a sketch,  colour combo, style and recipe on which to create a card. So I chose CPS sketch, Raise the Bar colours of purple, yellow and blue (right out of my comfort zone), Crazy 4 challenges to include a vintage or shabby chic element and the Dutch Dare recipe is to include 3 DPs, 3 flowers, 3 sparkly things and 1 ribbon. So I think you will understand why this got changed whilst trying to meet the requirements I had set myself.

In the end I quite like it. There is definitely a grungy, vintage feel to it and I thought I could use it for a valentine or wedding anniversary card. What do you think?

I love making these little flowers they are so robust and can be changed in any way you want. You can't see it very well on the photo but these have got glitter stamens.

Supplies
Papers from K and Co.
Stamp by Paperartsy.
DIs dusty concord, chipped sapphire, mustard seed and vintage photo.
Flowers handmade using my watercolour paper method.

Other challenges to have fun with -
Tuesday Throwdown - Distressing
The Pixie Cottage - Flowers
Charisma Cardz - Valentine/Love
Stamptacular - Anything Goes

Hope you have a good week and thanks for stopping by to take a peek.

Luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Lets Ink It Up DT call

I thought I would try out for the DT call here at Let's Ink It Up. They are looking for 2 or 3 new members to the team who want to be involved in an exciting challenge blog, who love rubber/clear stamping and who love to get inky. That sounds just what I would love to do more of and have been yearning for such a chance for quite a while now.

So to be eligible for consideration I need to show 3 of my favourite projects using rubber or clear stamps and ink. I have chosen - in no particular order -

1. Stamping and watercolouring;
stamping and embossing
and stamping and inking to edge patterned papers.





2. Stamping and inking metal and grungepaper.

3. Using ink and stamping to create a shape and background.








I hope I have given a flavour of some of the styles I can do. I know there are some wonderfully talented artists who have already submitted their entry, but if I don't try I will never know. What's the saying? 'You have to be in it to win it'.

So I am in and a big thanks to the girls at LIIU for the opportunity.

Wish me luck.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Childhood Memories

Last week I went to LB Crafts with my sister, we had never been there before and we decided to go and see what they had in stock. We picked up a few bits and pieces and I spied this stamp called Ives River, but what attracted to me it is that it is the bridge going over the River Ouse at St. Ives in Cambridgeshire. Now as a child I used to live there and at that time it was in Huntingdonshire (which now no longer exists). Of course I couldn't resist it because it brought back so many childhood memories (and apart from that it was a bargain, half the normal price). So it seemed quite spooky when the theme at Simon Says Stamp and Show this week is precisely that - CHILDHOOD MEMORIES. If you live in, near or know of St. Ives please leave me a message and tell me what your contact with it is. The nearest blogging friend to there I know is Dawn, who is at St. Neots, which is where I was born. Do you recognise this Dawn?

Other challenges that have given me inspiration are - Paper Sundaes - Distressing, Stampin' Sisters in Christ - Vintage, Papertake Weekly - the sketch and Gingersnap Creations - Coffee and Cream.

I made my own collage backing paper with vintage images that I have downloaded. I stamped the image onto 300 gms watercolour paper and used DIs to paint the scene. I clear embossed the tickets from the TH Admit One set of stamps and then inked over it. I splashed water over that and heat dried it. The flowers are made from the tattered flowers die - grunge paper, inked with acrylic dabbers and over-stamped with an Invoke honeycomb stamp. The buttons are from my collection bought at Sandown last weekend.

Other challenges to have fun with

Sweet Stampin - Brown + one

Ink on my fingers - Buttons

Tuesday Throwdown -  Distressing

Crafts and Me - Monochrome

Frosted Designs - Monochrome

Another post from me this week and the second today - I have lost count. But I have work to do next week, so it will all quieten down here. Thanks for stopping by and a huge thankyou to those of you who have popped in to see me nearly everyday.


I have a great steampunk ATC coming up at the begining of next week for the new ATC swap over at the Stamp Man.

Take care, happy Friday. Luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox