Compendium of Curiosities week 35 - Design Details

Oh my, this is the last of the CoC challenges and I can't wait to see what our fabulous hostess Linda, at Studio L3, has up her sleeve. My guess is that something will start at 6.00 am on Monday the 28th March and will be just as fab to do because we will be able to distress and grunge and use recyclable materials. At the same time we can sit and have a coffee, enjoy and have fun. Ok Linda I've used your hints - how have I done?

For my last piece I have made my version of a Bingo board.

My inspiration has come from -

Studio L3 - Design Details
Simon Says Stamp and Show - Metal

The Play Date Cafe - Blue, pink and orange
Art Impressions - Embossing

Supplies used -

TH Bingo texture fade

10 second studio metal

AIs - denim, butterscotch, red pepper, watermelon, pink sherbert

TH Lost and Found paper stash

Tissue tape

Hampton Art Stamps - Bingo stamp

DIs - worn lipstick, chipped sapphire, rusty hinge

Cosmic shimmers - rich gold, cosmic blush

Other - music paper, buttons, pin, metal flower brad, book binding thread, bead and fragment charm

On The Edge Die - Brackets

And my new Vagabond

I think the pictures tells their own story and the design details can be found on P.67 of The Compendium of Curiosities by the great Tim Holtz.

Please do go over to Let's Ink It Up and bookmark it for some challenges. They each last a fortnight which gives you plenty of time to enter and each of them has a fabulous sponsor. Although it is a Sunday start, that is Australian time, so if you are in the UK you will see it posted soon after 1.00 pm on a Saturday afternoon. The current challenge is EMBOSSING and will be open for another week. There is some great inspiration from A Team and Team B will be showing their fabulous makes the next Saturday, and I can tell you they are awesome cos I have seen them already.

I hope you are gearing up for a good weekend. I am off tomorrow morning to join my great friend Margaret, her future daughter-in-laws and some of their friends for a fabulous posh hotel and spa weekend. It is Sal's hen night celebration. We are going to the spa tomorrow afternoon for relaxation and treatments before going out somewhere later for a meal and music/dancing then heading back to the hotel. On Sunday morning we can use the spa again before making our way home. I think I will be very relaxed for work on Monday.

Take care, thanks for stopping by and reading my post.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Surprise parcel in the post today - Pay It Forward

Woo hoo, just take a look at what I got in the post today. This is the most fabulous journal that has been made by my blogging friend Zoe. Zoe I can't thank you enough for this wonderful gift and your thoughtfulness with the sentiment behind it. Do pop over and see her fabulous creations at This Little Place.

Zoe knows I used to love my holidays in Swanage with my Mum and the whole of this fabulous project is to do with holidays in Dorset and being beside the seaside. This will be a treasured book Zoe and I will keep it specially for journal notes, sketches, ideas and pictures of the seaside. It will become an inspiration for art work relating to that theme.

This all came about back in January when I commented on Zoes blog when she post about the 'Pay it Forward' idea to make and send something to someone who left a message and also promised to take part. I blogged it at the time but no-one took me up on it, but it's not too late. If you would like me to make you a surprise something then let me know in the comments box below and you must be prepared to do the same for someone else and blog it too. If you have already blogged the 'Pay It Forward' message then let me know as I am sure it will count.

Thankyou for the lovely tag too Zoe and your sweet message.

Luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

MAWTT Challenge 89 - For a male.

Hi Blogging friends. Today the challenge at MAWTT has been set by the lovely Lisa and she wants us to make cards or projects with a male theme. We were given some images to play with from our sponsor this week, Ellephantastic, and I had great fun with mine. You know me, I like to change the style to vintage if I can and this modern digi became Rory the footballer from years ago.

This is quite a simple card for me but you can't really embellish a boy card very much can you?

Supplies used -

Backing paper from DCWV
Footballer and football boots Habico embellishments and grunged up.

One brad

Image coloured with promarkers and then washed over with frayed burlap DI.

Do go check out the  samples from our fabulous DT at MAWTT and our sponsor at http://www.ellephantastic.co.uk/

Hope your week is going well and that you are managing to get some crafty time.

Take care.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Challenges to have fun with -
Crafty Ann's - Birthday Card
Allsorts - Card for a teenager
Aly's Sunday challenge - Anything Goes
Paper Sundaes - Stripes
Creative Card World - Male
Creative Card Crew - No flowers
Stamp Something - Digi Week

The Stamp Man ATC Swap

As part of the DT team at The Stamp Man I make an ATC every month to fit the theme chosen for the Stamp Man ATC Swap. I have never ever entered a swap for anything, so I thought I would take the plunge and make 2 more Wise Words ATCs and I am going to send them in to take part.

For the photography one, in the middle, I made a special backing paper using old camera adverts and steampunk images. I stamped a camera and saying using Creative Expressions Vintage Photo set straight onto the paper and also used the same set to stamp a mini negative onto acetate and cut out.

The creating yourself one uses the TH mini classic set of stamps and a Crafty Individuals image and butterfly wings which were cut out and added to it. DIs used were worn lipstick, frayed burlap and walnut stain.

I really enjoyed making some smaller pieces of art and hope that Janet will be happy to accept them into the swap, and I am really looking forward to seeing what I get back. If you haven't seen the swap before or haven't entered this month, please have a go and enter some mini art of your own. The swap details for posting etc can be found  here.

Hope your week has started well.

Take care and thanks for stopping by.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Challenges to have fun with -
A Spoonful of Sugar - Vintage / Shabby
Creative Card Crew - No Flowers (The 2 ATCs added today do not have any flowers on them)

LIIU Challenge # 10 - Embossing

Wow, this is my first post for the Let's Ink It Up challenge blog and I am very nervous. There is some amazing talent and fabulous creativity in this new team I am part of and oh boy, you just gotta go take a look at what Team A have made to inspire you, and team B will be there for the second challenge on the 20th March, Australian time that is.

The theme this fortnight is 'Embossing' and I really struggled with this one, just because I wanted to make something special. I am quite pleased with the outcome, but it took me too long to make and too many attempts at different bits of it that I lost my excitement for it.

You will see I have used both dry and heat embossing and I have taken pics to show you these two techniques.

I ran the music paper through the embossing folder just on one corner and brushed it over with DI so that the design popped out more.

The butterfly, sentiment and bird were all heat embossed. The butterfly has some stickles added to it as well. I stamped onto water colour paper and then painted in the wings with DIs.

Here is a pic that shows a close up of the butterfly and sentiment together.

I feel the frame gives the whole piece a focus and the hessian and embellishments give texture and dimension.

I hope to see you on the challenge entry list so I can come and see what you have been making too.

Supplies used -
Stamps - Butterfly - Martha Stewart, others - TH urban grunge
Cuttlebug embossing folder - leaves
Wow embossing powder - pepper regular + clear
TH caged bird die
DIs - dried marigold, forest moss, vintage photo
Vintage frame download from the Graphics Fairy
Music paper, hessian and muslin from stash

Challenges to have fun with -
Corrosive - Distressing
Stamptacular - Add a frame
Created by hand - Texture
Creative Inspirations - In the garden

MAWTT Challenge 88 - Anniversary

So where has January and February gone? Did I blink? It's March already, oh wow, I just can't believe it.

Hello blogging buddies, how are you today? As you know it's Thursday and time for another fabulous challenge at Moving along With The Times and this week the lovely Hazel has chosen 'anniversary' as the theme. Now my wedding anniversary isn't until July but that's not gonna stop me being prepared in advance. In fact I need to have this card ready as it's my husband's birthday on the same day and I focus so much on making sure I've got his card and pressies ready, I often forget that I need an anniversary card as well. But not his year. I have purposefully not added any flowers or bling to this card so that it is more appropriate for a man.

This image is called 'one heart' and is from Stitchy Bear Images. It seemed strange using hearts again so soon after Valentine Day, but I think I have got it sorted. My inspiration this week has come from -
Sketch Saturday
Corrosive Challenge - Distressing
Cupcake Craft - Anything but square

As usual I have inked, stamped and distressed  to achieve this vintage look and I love the challenge of doing that to a digi stamp. I have also used promarkers and the sentiment is a brand new stamp from Anna Griffin. The embellishments are a variety of die-cuts, downloads and a small gold heart from an old bracelet. I love recycling bits like this.

Our sponsor this week is Stitchy Bear who has an amazing shop with a wide range of digi stamps and papers.

Please pop over to the challenge blog to see the DT samples, they are fabulous and 3 of us have used this stamp and you should see the differences in our cards, it's amazing.

Hope your week is going well. Thanks for stopping by.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

The Stamp Man ATC March Swap - Wise Words

This is my DT ATC for the new swap challenge over at The Stamp Man ATC swaps blog, where this month the theme is 'Wise Words'.

Firstly I used tattered rose and peeled paint DIs on the background and then splattered some barn door and peeled paint drops onto it drying them with the heat gun between each colour. I then added water drops to it and dried those off. This gave me a nice background on which to stamp, again using peeled paint and also pumice stone. I used a new mini TH stamp in black soot for the focal point of the sentiment.

I added downloads that I have miniaturised and cut out (ie the butterfly, bee, flowers, border, ticket and bird in a cage). A small 3D flower was added and I covered the little butterfly in glossy accents and glitter. I edged the ATC with the wet barn door ink and pumice stone.

Challenges to have fun with -
Meljens Designs - ATC

I hope you will come and join us in the swap and do go take a look at what the others in the DT have made.

Take care.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Coffee and Cream Birthday Card for Bev

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEV - have a fabulous day. Love ya lots.

Today is my daughter-in-law's birthday, she is one of my crafting buddies -well for shopping anyway. This is the card I made her.

Inspired by -
Papertake Weekly - Sketch
Simon Says Stamp - Coffee and Cream
Stamp Something - Flowers
Allsorts Challenge Blog - Make your own flowers
Flourishes Timeless Tuesday - Birthday Card
A Spoonful of Sugar - Birthday Wishes
Tuesday Throwdown - 3D
Crafts and Me - Spread your wings
CES Challenges - Flowers and Flutterbys

The image of this card is a La Blanche stamp, Bev seemed to fall in love with these when we saw them at the Craft Show on Saturday. I used Clarity card and inked it using tea dye and antique linen DIs splattered with frayed burlap and water to give it the aged effect. I edged it with watered down walnut stain and also diresct to paper in the same colour, then with diamond stickles. I chose to use 3 DPs (sorry only know the name of one which is a Laura Ashley strip). All three were inked with walnut stain and I sewed the strips to the backing paper. The flowers I made using those papers and some others from my box of bits and I used a Crealies die and 2 punches for the petals which were soaked in paper, inked, dried, assembled and glittered. They really look quite shabby.

The butterflies are white downloaded images and I used my new walnut stain distress stain and dabbed it on the edges, then used antique linen, frayed burlap and water to paint in the rest of it. When they were dry I covered them with glossy accents and sprinled in some glitter.

I added some brown ribbon and made the sentiment using a new Anna Griffin stamp. The scalloped card is also new, bought on Saturday at Farnborough.

I think I have covered all the shades of coffee and cream. I really like the effect.

Have a fabulous week ahead and thanks for taking a look at my work.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Oh by the way, I got an honourable mention for my Altered Alice entry which is fabulous news. It was the one where I digitally changed the Mad Hatter and Rabbit and stood it alongside a dress form. I then used the image to make a card. Thankyou Lynne and the team, I really appreciate this. xoxox

Craft shopping day

So I said I was going to the Farnborough Craft show today and several people have left messages to tell me to show what I have bought.

But first I have to tell you that I met Heidi (an ex MAWTT team mate) for the first time, even though we have known each other for a year on-line we had never seen each other, so it was brilliant to be able to chat to her in the flesh, although she was busy demonstrating for Little Claire's. I also met Cate again who is a Stampin' Up demonstrator and it was fab to say a quick hello to her too.

So here's my new stash (and although it may not sound that much, it cost me a small fortune). Lots of MDF shapes and items for altering, particularly 2 book style ring binders with tabbed board pages, a smaller tabbed binder, door hangers and heart shapes, I think I will have lots of vinatgey fun with these. Now who would have guessed that I would buy Lili of the Valley stamps, not me, but I bought 4 of them. A La Blanche bird stamp, 2 stencils, a couple of distress inks, 3 TH distress stains, large scallop edged cards and envelopes, some Lakeland vintage style backing papers, some wooden buttons, 2 packs of Laura Ashley paper strips, some textured brads and some chipboard pieces.

Here are pics of some of the bits.

So I shall have fun playing with my new things and I can't wait to get one of the books done. I have no idea what I will put in it, but I am sure I will think of something.

Take care and enjoy the rest of the weekend.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

The Stamp Man Challenge # 17 - Curls and Swirls

Firstly I am off to the Farnborough Craft Show tomorrow (Saturday), anyone else going?????

I have loved preparing for the challenge this fortnight at The Stamp Man and completed some of it while watching the fabulous TH on QVC during Tuesday afternoon. Hence some inspiration drawn from what he was doing

The centrepiece for this card was made using alcohol inks with a sentiment and a flourishes stamp. The next layer was a piece of patterned paper from my box,  I inked the edges, over stamped using a music stamp and then sprayed with cosmic shimmer and 2 of the edges paper pierced.

The background is another paper from my off cuts, clear embossed with swirls in 2 corners and inked over, then mounted on gold.

The ribbon was thread through a metal tag on which I used the altered metal technique as explained in the TH bible. Gold flourish die cuts gave this the third layer of swirls and curls and were also given the altered metal treatment which worked really well. The butterfly is downloaded and covered with glossy accents and glitter.

Supplies
Adirondak alcohol inks - gold, cranberry,  meadow and red pepper
TH stamps - Shabby French, Reindeer Flight
DIs - barn door, aged mahogany, walnut stain
Cosmic Shimmer - red firefly
TH Elegant Flourishes die
Perfect Pearls - heirloom gold
Rangers Archival Ink pad - black

Challenges which inspired me -
Studio L3 - Altered metal alcohol inks
Simon Says Stamp and Show - Stripes
Sketch and Stash - Sketch used  - old stash papers from my off cuts box, new stash - metal ribbon holder
Creative Inspirations - Distress
2 Sisters - Embossing

Happy Friday and thanks for stopping by.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox