Anything Goes at FSC

Well we all love the anything goes theme don't we? So as long as you have used real stamping on your project come and join us and enter it into the Fashionable Stamping Challenge for this fortnight and please pop over to see what the amazing Stampettes have provided for your inspiration. There is also a DT call that you might be interested in.

I have been making some 'Thank You' cards for the lovely friends and family who came to our BBQ last weekend and have kept them simple because they have to be posted.

I used stamps by Kanban and Martha Stewart and added some ribbon, pearls, a metal corner and one of my downloaded butterflies.

I hope you are having a good weekend. We are away visiting friends in Birmingham and also having my eyes tested, I bet I need a new prescription and glasses!!

Have a great day.

hugs {brenda} xox

Lucky Me

I just had to post these fabulous pressies that came in the post to me from Lee - CraftyLoops.

I was lucky enough to be one of Lee's winners for her blogaversary candy and oh my goodness she has been so generous, just take a look at what she sent me. It was a huge parcel.

Here it all is. 

I just took everything out and had to photo it even though it was till on the breadboard in the kitchen. LOL

The most amazing book that Lee made which is going to California with me when I go. It will make a fabulous ideas journal for future projects and I hope to get some inspiration when I am over there.

At first I thought these were Prima flowers - but no they have been handmade by Lee herself. They are beautiful and will be kept for special projects.

Lots of embellishments as you can see.

And more embellishments and bits for altering.

papers, diecuts and a cosmic shimmer spray. (love that stuff)

And here is the inside of that magnificent book and the closure Lee made of elastic and lots of lace and feathers and another of her wonderful flowers.

Lee thank you so much for your generosity and for being a wonderful crafter that I have been lucky to meet in blogland.

I truly have been blessed this week as I have received another package with goodies in including some new PanPastel colours and secret bits to play with. Will let you know more about these when I get to post something I have made using them. But thanks also go to Berni and Paul at Your Creativity Store for their generosity too.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend.

hugs {brenda} xox

Celebrations at The Stamp Man

I have a number of birthdays coming up so need to get a wiggle on and get cards made. This was the ideal opportunity to do just that and it is one of those that just seemed to come together so well. Even though I say it myself, I really like this card, and it does look better irl.

I think what made this was the partial colouring in of the flourish. I used Caran D'Ache aquarelle pencils but didn't use the water on them.

Collage style cards have to be my favourite, so I hope you like too.

Come and join the celebrations at The Stamp Man this fortnight and be in with a chance to win a £10 voucher for the on-line store, generously given by Jill (Mrs Stamp Man herself).

Supplies -

Artemio stamps - sewing and butterfly collage

Stampendous Music Score stamp

Tim Holtz - Shabby French stamp set

Sizzix Book cover 2 embossing folder

Adirondack dye inks - Cranberry, Terracotta, Espresso, Caramel

TH Distress Ink - Walnut Stain

Downloaded butterfly

Vintage ribbon

Computer generated sentiment

Lace, button, burlap

Hope your Friday and weekend have started well.

Enjoy yourself and take care.

hugs {brenda} xox

PanPastel UK - Magical and Mystical

It's amazing what you can come up with when you think you don't have anything to fit a challenge. As I found with this DT contribution for PanPastel UK this week.

I had forgotten I had a few Lili of the Valley stamps and found this beautiful fairy, stamped and coloured with promarkers and I used gilding flakes for stamping the wings twice more to create this 3D effect. The Stampotique mushrooms were coloured with PPs and touched up with a white pen.

The background was created with PPs mixed with a little gel medium and water and I used Tim Holtz's wrinkle free distress technique, it works really well with the pastels and you get a more rugged effect. I stamped foliage over the top and spayed with spray and shine. When it was dry I covered with watery gesso and dabbed it dry to get that mottled effect.

I finished by stamping the beautiful flower border (Prima) and used zig water colour pens just to add a touch of colour then made the grass and added one of my downloaded butterflies sprayed with gold sparkle.

There are a number of pieces of art that I have created lately that don't lend themselves to a card or an art journal so I have started a book to house my own little art collection. It's a large Reeves sketchbook and will take larger than A4.

Hopefully we will see something magical and mystical from you this week at PanPastel UK where you are in with a chance of winning a set of pans and tools from Your Creativity Store.

Enjoy your Sunday and the new week ahead.

hugs {brenda} xox

Workshop card and Air Show

Apologies to those of you who have been following my Tuesday Treasures, but unfortunately I am not going to be able to do it for a few weeks. My eldest granddaughter has been diagnosed with Crohn's Disease and is currently in hospital with it, so time is needed to help look after the younger girls etc. and to visit. We are also getting ready to go on holiday soon, but I will start TT again at the beginning of September once the summer's drawing to a close (Summer? I hear you say. What summer? It just hasn't happened in the UK has it?).

I would like to show you a few photos today. On Saturday we had our big BBQ but the weather didn't hold and we had to go inside in the evening. Do you know nobody took a photograph! Not one! But I have got some gorgeous earrings to show you that the lovely Sue, Miriam and Lynne gave me. I used to work with them a few years ago and we stay in touch and meet up for coffee and meals when we can.

Aren't these fabulous?

I also did a workshop on Saturday at The Art of Craft in Farnborough and the group made this card.

Lastly we were able to go to the Airshow in Farnborough on Sunday and I did take a few pics but won't bore you with too many. The Airbus A380 came over the house when it did it's demonstration just above our roof, what a beast.

The Vulcan

The Lancaster and Spitfire?

I hope you are having a good week. Take care.

hugs {brenda} xox

PanPastels - Sun, Sea and Sand

This is my DT contribution for our PP challenge this week and I just loved playing with my PanPastels and Crafty Individuals stamps to make this little altered domino book.

I wish I had taken more photos to show you the stages (but I didn't!!!) so I hope you get the gist of it.

• Cut white card and black sugar paper to size. 
• Used my scoreboard on the black to create the zig-zag (accordion) pages.
• Blended yellow, blue and green PPs to create a sand, sea and sky effect.
• Stamped with CI plates 272 and 278 and used a rubber to take some of the background colour out of the images.
• Painted the images with DIs.

• Chopped up the images to the size of the book pages and edged them with walnut stain DI.
• stuck the pieces to the black pages and added gold pen along the edges.
• Stamped the bunting from CI plate 284, edged with walnut stain and stuck on pages then glued some vintage gold thread across for the string.
• Made the domino covers using alcohol inks, painted cheesecloth and added shrink plastic shells and sea horse again using CI plate 272.

I added bakers twine to tie it all together but hated it and ended up yanking it out (luckily no damage done). I swapped it for the vintage gold thread I have. Much happier with that.

It would be lovely to see you join in with this challenge at PanPastel UK . You don't have to use PanPastels to have a chance of winning a set of PanPastels from Your Creativity Store.

Enjoy the rest of your day.

hugs {brenda} xox

Inky and Messy at FSC

Welcome to Sunday. We had a big BBQ yesterday and this post is scheduled so I will let you know how I am later.

Today I am sharing my DT piece for Fashionable Stamping Challenges where the theme is inky and messy. Well I got messy with inks, paints, gilding flakes, embossing powder, glue - in fact you name it and it could be on here.

I am also trying to use up scraps and left over pieces of chipboard hence the unusual shape of this.

The background was layered with Eco-Friendly and Fresco Finish paints and heat dried, then edged with Crown chocolate suede paint. The next layers were Walnut Stain and Bundled Sage DIs followed by a wash of Picket Fence DS, both heat set. For the fourth layers I stamped the text and dots with Archival inks and then Fresco Finish painted die-cuts stuck over the top before  misting with Blue Patina and Cappuccino Perfect Pearls. 

I painted the large butterfly wings in gold and added small book paper butterflies, finally I stamped the bees in black Archival and added some gold pen to their bodies and wings.

I added gilding flakes to the flower heads and butterfly wings. To embellish it I made some rolled roses and sprayed hem with cosmic shimmer and used die cuts for the fence, gate and vine. 

Lastly I added some dark brown embossing powder round the edge.

Well have a great day whatever you have planned and I will be back later with my PanPastel DT piece.

hugs {brenda} xox

Summer Colours

Anything goes with Summer Colours at The Stamp Man

My DT offering for the Stamp Man challenge this week is a framed easel birthday card, Brenda style.

I started by painting the stamped image using distress stains and distress markers, leaving it to dry. I made the chipboard backboard, cutting it to the size I needed for this image and the frame to fit. I used texture paste over the frame, daubing it on using a palette knife and adding wooden and small flower embellishments. When it was dry I painted it all with gesso. 

The backing paper is a piece Jill sent me, made using moonglow spritzes. I cut and tore the flower image to size, distressing the edges and using frayed burlap DI on them, then with a glue pen added the Frantage embossing enamels, a ribbon and sentiment.

Lastly I painted the wooden embellishments with Distress Stains and when they were dry added clear crackle paint and I painted the frame with DSs and greeny pearl lustre pigment powder mixed.

The frame was added and a TH easel glued to the back to make a card with a difference.

Supplies

Moonshadow mists

Stampendous stamp - Garden Background

Distress Stains

Memory Box Pastry Labels

Wooden embellishments

Distress Markers

Frantage embossing enamels

Well the air show is nearly finished for another two years, this weekend are the public days and we are having a BBQ tomorrow for friends and family to come and celebrate Ken's and my big birthdays and hopefully see some of the flying from the back garden, if it doesn't rain (again).

Have fun this weekend whatever you have planned.

hugs {brenda} xox