PanPastels - Add a Flower

Woah, can we rein in the time a bit? These weeks are passing by way too fast.

But we do have another fantastic challenge at PanPastel UK Challenge Blog. 

Do you like adding flowers to your projects and cards? Then why not show us what you are creating.

I have a sewing theme card - well it is one of my most favourite themes, so I hope you are not getting bored of it, and I have made the most enormous pom-pom flower using a new Sizzix die and using tissue paper from a dress making pattern. I gave this card to my DiL for her birthday.

 I used PPs on the backing paper and masked over the DP with a button mask, I stamped the dress form with embossing ink and then used PPs to colour it in and I also used PPs over stamped dress pattern tissue paper to create the backing behind the dress form.

I love the collage layout and as you can see I added some embellishments, but my favourite is the cotton reel labels. They have been created from original reels, scanned in and printed.

Our fabulous sponsor Your Creativity Store, is generously providing the winner with a trial set of colours. So why not pop over to see what the amazing design team have been making and also go take a look at what Your Creativity Store has to offer.

Have a great week ahead. This is a scheduled post as I will be in Paris to celebrate my birthday - a special treat from hubby. See you when I get back.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Gingersnap Creations Visiting Artist 2

Hi, at Gingersnap Creations today the fabulous team would love to see your projects that include border punches. I do hope you will go over and see the amazing inspiration that the Gingers have created, it really is fabulous.

The main focal point of my 8in x 8in card is a digital image I created myself using downloads from various places. I printed it out on thin card and then covered it in embossing ink and heat embossed using clear EP. I left if to cool off completely and cracked it a bit by just bending the image slightly. Then I mounted it onto white and then deep burgundy card.

The rest of the design is made using DCVW striped card with some glitter in it, a spellbinders border and Tim Holtz vintage lace border. I made a vintage butterfly using an artemio stamp and covered it with crackle accents. A Prima rose, some leaves and pearls finish it off.

Let's see your borders at Gingersnaps and enjoy the rest of your week.

hugs {brenda xox

PanPastels - Girly/Mother's Day

Hi Bloggers

Happy Sunday, I hope you are enjoying a bit of crafty time over the weekend.

Today sees a PanPastel UK challenge that focusses on a girly or Mother's day project. Mine is a straightforward card using DP with girly colours and embellishments.

I embossed a piece of mirri-board and painted it all over with gesso and before it fully dried I rubbed some of the paint off to reveal the outlines of the butterflies and then dabbed my PPs over it. I sprayed it with fixative to make sure none of the pastel colour comes off. Another experiment in using PPs that I am pleased with.

Please come take a look at the challenge blog if you haven't already seen it, you could be in with a chance of winning a trial set of PanPastels worth £11.99 from our fabulous sponsor Your Creativity Store. They have a wide range of artist materials and well worth a look.

Enjoy whatever you have planned for today.

Happy crafting.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxo

FSC - Bingo

This is my card and tag today for Fashionable Stamping Challenges where the theme is to use Sue's fabulous Bingo card to create a project.

My card is also the one made for my workshop at The Art of Craft on Friday where 9 lovely ladies joined me to make their own. We had a great morning and had some fun at the same time. 

There are a possible 8 lines to make up for your project - 3 x vertical, 3 x horizontal and 2 x diagonal. You can see that I can call 'Bingo' on 6 lines on this card but only one line on the tag which includes my stamping this week. Does that make me eligible for a prize? - Sadly not this time round. The only thing I haven't used this week is sewing (although I could have added some faux stitches and called 'HOUSE').

Lots of layers, distressing, vintage images and paint and some sweet embellishments to give this a shabby chic feel.

The tag I had made to match the card but we didn't have time to get onto it at the workshop.

I want to thank, Beryl, Brenda, Pat, Christine, Lynda, Mary, Val, Anne and Diane for being such a fabulous group to work with and here are some of their versions of the card that they made.

Mary

Pat and Brenda at packing up time.

Have a wonderful Sunday and thank you for taking time to stop by today.

 hugs {brenda} xox

The Stamp Man - Vintage

Welcome to another Friday Stamp Man challenge where this week we want you to show us anything vintage.

I am into Spring colours at the moment and decided to use my new Artemio stamps, purchased from

 the Stamp Man on-line store, and create a vintage postcard.

Supplies

Tim Holtz Distress Inks - Tumbled Glass, Spun Sugar, Shabby Shutters, Vintage Photo

Tim Holtz Distress Markers - Victorian Velvet, Peeled Paint, Broken China, Brushed Corduroy, Antique Linen

Stamps - Artemio Butterfly Collage, Tim Holtz - Mini Classics, Shabby French and City Central

Ranger Black Archival stamp pad

As always there is a chance of winning a £10 voucher to spend with The Stamp Man, so let's see what you are creating in a vintage style this week.

Apologies that I am a bit MIA again at the moment, school really is taking up so much of my time and I have another workshop today at The Art of Craft, so blogging has taken a back-seat this week I am afraid.

Anyway I hope you have a great Friday. Take care.

hugs {brenda} xox

Gingersnap Creations Visiting Artist 1

Hi Everyone

So this is my second bit of news - yes I have been asked to be a Visiting Artist for a second time at Gingersnap Creations. How amazing is that? This is the last month of challenges as both Ali and Shar are off to do different things and as you know Shar is starting Unruly PaperArts and I am going to be one of the Columnists, so there's a great link for me.

So the theme at Gingersnaps this week is 'Granny's Photo Album' and I have taken this title literally. I have made a tag book and included photos of my Mum and her family circa 1930 - 1940. 

My Mum probably about aged 16.

The tag backgrounds were done with the wrinkle free distress technique then stamped with the flowers and I used the same DIs to just lightly paint them in which has given them more form. In-between I cut tags using baking parchment and used a flourish stamp with Stazon and a small one with Flitter glue and gilding flakes.

Mum was fifth out of seven children. Here she is at the front with brothers, sisters and cousins.

My Mum's Mum - My Granny.

I loved making this - book making is what I have been doing the longest, and it was great to include old family photos.

Have fun with your vintage project and photo album theme.

hugs {brenda} xox

Steampunk Débutante tag

Hi All

I have some of those fabulous Graphic 45 papers which I tend to 'stroke' rather than play with, but have decided they must make more of a showing and of course one of my new year resolutions is to use more of my supplies, so I am hitting that one still.

The tag was covered with some gold, flower embossed paper and I used both the Steampunk Débutante and Le Romantique Graphic 45 paper pads for the elements. 

To add to that, this includes a stamp by Andy Skinner, a couple of Memory Box dies and a flower made with a Spellbinders die. 

Oh and the little black flower on the top hat is an earing. 

The earing and the butterflies were heat embossed.

I know it doesn't look much but it's taken me a whole weekend to put this together - why do I always spend so much time, cutting, changing, re-arranging and re-designing things????

So I hope it brings a little inspiration to some-one.

 thought  would also share a couple of pics from my workshop on Saturday. These great ladies made a mini album with me ready to take home and add their photos.

Joan, Debs, Carol and Pat.

I need to take some photos of my album to show you too.

Have a great week.

hugs {brenda} xox

PanPastels - use a stamped image

With the theme at PanPastels UK this week, I wanted to use a new stamp set called 'School Days' from Oxford Impressions and the embossed ink layering technique worked perfectly for this. I lost count of how many stamped and masked layers of the Panpastel colours there are, but I love the finished product.  In fact I made four of these tags and each one is different.

No embellishments, just fabulous PanPastels used with embossing ink and stamping.

Show us your stamped images and be in with a chance of a fabulous set of PPs from our sponsor 

Your Creativity Store.

Enjoy and thanks for taking the time to visit me.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox                      

The Stamp Man ATC Swap - Hopes and Dreams - and dreams do come true

My hope and dream is to go to Paris. I can't believe I have never been. I studied Toulouse Lautrec at college and even then wanted to go visit the Moulin Rouge and see Les Folies Bergere. I just loved the poster of his muse Jane Avril who was one of the star dancers at the Moulin Rouge in the 1890's.

This is my ATC for the Stamp Man swap and my interpretation of my hope and dream to visit Paris one day.

Supplies

Distress Inks - Seedless Preserve, Dusty Concord, Worn Lipstick, Black Soot, Chipped Sapphire

Stamps - Tim Holtz Mini Classics, Paper Relics Birthday Fortune

Tim Holtz paper stash - Vintage Shabby, Lost and Found

I have decided that I am going to try and make an ATC when I make a card or project, you know what it's like you always have bits and pieces left over, why not use them to make smaller pieces of art? Perhaps you could do the same and enter our swap this month. Pop over to the main blog and see what you need to do, it's so easy.

I wish that your hopes and dreams come true for the month of March.

Let go of the past and go for the future.

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams.

Live the life you've imagined.

- Henry David Thoreau

hugs {brenda} xox

Workshop this Saturday at The Art of Craft - We will be making a mini album - photos to follow later.

Update 12.50
This was posted at 12.00 mid-day. How spooky is this???????
My husband rang me at 12.20 and told me I have to keep Friday 17th March clear in my diary. I had arranged to work that day and told him it would be difficult.
My birthday is on the 19th and guess what???????
He has arranged to take me to Paris for the weekend as my birthday present.
He didn't know anything about the ATC - honest.
I am now so excited.
xoxox

My News

OK so now I can 'let that cat out of the bag' (I bet he feels better!!) and tell you that I have been asked to be a regular columnist for the brand spankin' new, rule breaking blogozine called 'UNRULY PAPERARTS' and I am so happy to be a member of the team for this new and exciting venture led by Shar (Gingersnap Creations fame).

If you haven't yet seen the blog you can find it at Unruly PaperArts (click the link) to find out what it is all about, but not only is it new, it is fresh and different and exciting. So do pop over and take a look.

I am going to be amongst some uber talented artists who create the most amazing works of art and together collectively will be sharing an incredible range of styles and genres. Can you tell I am excited? My column will be called 'Eclectic Elements' because that to me is where I am at. I love a range of styles, I love to experiment constantly with new techniques and I adore making cards, altering things, creating canvases and generally getting inky.

I hope you will please come and join us when we get started, you will be able to submit articles or projects as a guest contributor, you can participate in one of the unruly art dares and you can read articles, find tutorials and generally immerse yourself in all things arty. The first 'Front Cover' will be coming out on April 1st.

Take care and most of all have fun with your art.

hugs {brenda} xox