Shabby altered bottle

I made one of these last year and have been collecting the same bottles again to make some more. 

My one has some artificial flowers in it and is sitting on a small table in my living room.

Painted with Fresco Finish at the bottom and lace added over the top.

Ribbon and pearls.

Vintage dressmaking pattern glued to the top part and more ribbon and trimmings with pearls.

Lots of flowers and gems to decorate.

Have a great week and thanks for visiting me.

hugs {brenda} xox

PanPastels - Happy Birthday

This week my DT card for the PanPastel UK Challenge Blog shows how scraps of design papers can be used to make a lovely birthday card and they are all bought together by using PPs around the edges.

The challenge is sponsored by Your Creativity Store who will provide a trial pack of these amazing products for the winner. I can assure you, it is a prize well worth having, I won two before I became a DT member. (How lucky am I?)

As you can see, I have used three different pieces of (scrap) designer paper this week to build the background for my card. If I were to leave them just stuck together they could look disjointed but by edging your card, you create a border or frame which pulls everything together. To achieve the effect I have created here, use a light distress ink and blending tool and then gently dab the PP colour over it. I used tumbled glass DI and Phthalo Blue extra dark PP. I repeated the same technique with the torn strip of dark blue paper and edged with white this time to create a different look.

A birthday rosette, a small tag covered in PPs and stamped over with acrylic paint and other embellishments finish it off. What do you think? Quite a simple card, but effective in it's own way.

Next week I am going to show you a fabulous artsy technique I discovered whist playing with stamps, glue and PPs.

I hope you are able to enjoy some time crafting and creating today.

If your saw my photos in my previous post, we still have a lovely covering of white but already a slow thaw has started. If you are in the depths of a cold spell stay warm and if you are in the southern hemisphere I bet you already are!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

It's snowing down south

Just thought I would share these photos just taken of my back garden from my craft room window. It has been snowing for a few hours now. I expect the whole of the UK is covered in a blanket of this white stuff!!!

I don't know why the sky looks reddish, I can only assume it's the light from the street lights on the main road behind the houses in the background.

That's the end of my conservatory just showing.

I'm glad Ken filled up the bird feeders today.

This is the decking with the lights on - we call it the runway. (We are almost under the flight path for Farnborough airport).

Wherever you are, whatever your weather, stay healthy and warm.

luv {brenda} xox

Regal colours

Happy Friday, it's one of my days for being at home today. Yay.

I have been snatching the odd hour or two over the past few days and made a tag which has been inspired by a few challenges. Firstly Simon Says Stamp and Show - Kings and Queens, this little one is definitely 'in waiting'. Secondly Crafter's Cafe have this amazing colour challenge - red, purple and pink and I added some gold to enhance the royal look. Charisma Cardz want Vintage.

I used PPs to create the background, blending the red, pink and purple together and stamped over with gold stazon. The image was also blended with the PPs and stamped in black archival ink using a TH stamp.

The crown and wings were also stamped with gold stazon. The flower is prima and a downloaded butterfly.

The message I found as part of a longer sentence on the internet and printed it using PSE and a digi backing paper.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

 I shall be back on Sunday with a new PanPastel UK DT piece.

Take care.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Butterflies - glass domed frame

Good evening friends.

This is a 7cm glass domed frame that I got from a charity shop. I have made it to go with the butterfly frame I made a few weeks ago using the same TH butterfly paper and stamps and with the addition of one of my real, vintage Charlotte dolls. (Sorry about the quality of the picture, but it was difficult to photograph and not get the glare of the glass). The butterflies have been painted with vintage colour mica paints.

Thanks for stopping by.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Challenges to have fun with -

Make My Monday - butterflies and dragonflies

Flutterby Wednesday - Open

Give-away winners

Welcome friends -

I have been overwhelmed at the wonderful comments I have received and the number of new followers who have joined me over the past couple of weeks. Obviously the lure of some candy has bought some people over, but I can tell some people are truly here because they want to to be - with or without a give-away. So thank you everyone who has participated.

First prize .......

....... of a set of Tim Holtz Steampunk stamps goes to .......

Connie at Wax Beach Artist

Second prize .......

.......... Tim Holtz distress inks and promarkers goes to .....

Ali at Crafty Dragons

Third prize .....

..... two Tim Holtz texture fades and two Tim Holtz stamps goes to .....

Avril at Mrs B's Crafting Addiction

Fourth additional prize as promised if I reached 300+ followers .......

..... three Tim Holtz stamps, goes to .......

Miranda at Mir'acle Art Inspirations

Thanks again everyone and if the 4 winners could email me their address 

I will get these in the post as soon as possible.

Keep a look out for the middle of March when my birthday comes around 

and I will have another pressie for someone to win.

Enjoy the rest of your week.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

The Stamp Man ATC Swap - Historical Romance

Well where did January go then? It just slipped past so quickly I hardly noticed it. They say time flies when you are having fun, but I am not sure this is really the case.

Anyway - it seems ages since I have made an ATC and I loved making this one - shabby vintage yet again.

The background was made with Starburst Stain and Moonglow sprays and gesso layers, then stencilled over with DI. 

(memo to self use heavier weight card next time to prevent any buckling!!)

The image is Graphic 45 Le Romantique set and I have added cheesecloth, lace and other small embellishments to finish it off.

Supplies

Moon Glow - Golden Pumpkin Blush, Phantom Fuchsia.

Claudine Hellmuth Gesso

TH distress inks - Tea Dye, Vintage Photo

Graphic 45 - Le Romantique set

Martha Stewart butterfly punch

Why not pop over to the Stamp Man ATC blog and join in. 

You could be the proud owner of a set of ATCs in return.

Have fun.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Second Blogaversary Give-away

Hi All

This is a sticky post and will remain at the top of my list until the
29th January.

I can't believe that two years ago on that date I decided to have a go at blogging to post some of my creations; what an incredible journey it has been. I never envisaged that I would continue this as a hobby and that my love of all things arty would grow and develop as it has,
and oh how I have, and still am, loving it.

So to celebrate I am having a give-away and the winners will be decided by Mr Random Org on the 29th January.
I will have three winners and prizes.
They are -

A brand new set of T!m's stamps for my current followers only up to number 284.

This is a thank you for being part of this incredible journey and giving me support and love.

The new distress inks brought out by Ranger for Christmas - but the colours are just gorgeous and 4 Promarkers.

This is for any follower old and new.

A new set of texture fades - Bingo and Collage, plus two of T!m's stamps that somehow are extra to requirements - again they are brand new.

This is also for any follower.

I am very near 300 followers and if I reach that amount before the 29th January I will add another prize.

All I ask is that you leave me a comment and tell me you have put the picture below on your sidebar. Thanks.

I feel so blessed that you are part of this amazing journey with me. 

When you leave a comment make sure I have a link to you so I can pop over to see you too.

Thank you and have fun with creating and making beautiful art.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

GIVE-AWAY NOW CLOSED

PanPastels - Glitter and Glitz

Hi Everyone, Sundays are full of fun when I post two DT pieces for you. This is my second post for today - please scroll down for my other one.

I just loved combining the PanPastel colours with glitter for the new challenge at

 Panpastel UK Challenge Blog.

I used T!m's patchwork embossing folder with white card and then laid PPs in the sections to give this pastel quilted effect. Rub a dry cloth over the whole card to get rid of any excess. To get the glitter on use cut and dry foam, dipped into Art Institute glitter glue, and rub across the raised areas, sprinkling glamour dust on before it dries. Lay a piece of clean paper over the top and brayer across it to get the glue to adhere more strongly.

To complete the card, add some shabby ribbon tied into a bow and a sentiment. I painted a chipboard frame with white acrylic paint and again sprinkled glamour dust over it. When it was dry I sprayed with a gloss sealer.

Please come over to the challenge blog to see all the other wonderful inspiration that the design team have made for you and if you take part this week you will be entering for a chance to win some PPs and tools for you to try out or add to your collection. If you go over to Your Creativity Store you will find all of the colours and tools that are available to buy and at really good prices. As you can see PanPastels are so versatile and can be used with all your other art and craft supplies.

Next week I will be using PPs to edge a card which makes several pieces of DP come together and look as though they all belong together.

Thanks for stopping by today and thank you if you leave me a comment, I so appreciate it.

Have another great Sunday.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Challenges to have fun with -
Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes
Bloggers Challenge - Texturize it
Crafts and Me - Pink and Sparkly (it didn't say alot or a little pink??)
Deep Ocean Challenge - Sparkle

FSC - It's a guy thing

Another challenge at Fashionable Stamping Challenges and this week it's gotta be something for the guys.

It's a special year for Ken and I this year, we both reach a milestone age bracket and if I tell you I retire next month then you'll easily guess what that is. His birthday is in July and we share our wedding anniversary on that day too. So I made this for him as a special little gift - it's ok he never looks on here to see what I am doing, I usually show him everything before I blog it but this time I will have to find a little place to hide it for a while.

I really enjoyed making this collage hanging piece and it all started with an experiment. I wanted to see how I could get a bleached image and what card would work well enough with this technique. I actually achieved several good stamped images and you will recognise it as T!m's old jalopy. Once it had cured, I cut out the rectangle and masked the image to stamp the crackle background, ink around the edges and then sprayed glimmer mist over it. 

I gessoed and painted the cardboard and stamped over that when it was dry then collected some bits and pieces together to make up the collage. 

The flower is T!m's tattered floral die and I used an old AA road atlas book and again inked and glimmer misted the parts before putting it together.

So for my Prince Charming, with warm kisses and many more years together where we can cherish the moments. (I know you are all saying ahhhhhh - but it will be 38 years married this year!!!!)

Do come on over and take a look at what my fabulous teamies have made to inspire you and have a go yourself as you could win a great stamp from our sponsor, Marina at Cottage Crafts.

Have a wonderful day whatever you have planned and thanks for stopping by to see my work.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Challenges to have fun with -
Simon Says Stamp and Show - Song Title - Cherish by Madonna
Gingersnap Creations - Spicy Supply Challenge - Ribbon
Anything Goes - To the one I love
Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes
Simply Create too - Love is in the air
The butterfly effect - making layers
Bloggers Challenge - Texturize it
The Artistic Stamper - Vintage