Bonfire Night - PanPastels

Well this challenge really got me thinking about representing fireworks and using PanPastels as well. Remember though if you enter the challenge you can use any medium you like.

 I decided on a small 6 x 6 scrap page.

I stamped the row of houses (Crafty Individuals CI-271) using black archival and coloured them with Graph'it alcohol based markers. I love the way these blend together and move around with the clear blender. If you fancy having a try with them they are available from our regular sponsor Your Creativity Store. The colours I used were Mocha, Pink Grey, Caramel and Light Caramel.

Using dazzle versamark I stamped the firework design and went over with pastel shades of PanPastels. I also use some Sakura sparkle pens over the top.

A vintage Brocks Fireworks poster or box lid and a couple of embellishments finished it off.

The photo? My youngest grandaughter last year.

Looking forward to seeing your interpretation of the challenge. Please pop over and seeing the fabulous variety from the team.

hugs {brenda} xox

Festive Sparkle at Crafty Individuals

A festive sparkle canvas - snow storm

Welcome to the Crafty Individuals November challenge and I have been lucky enough to choose the theme for November, so I'm really hoping you are going to join our amazing team in showing some sparkly, festive projects.

Christmas Sparkle

I loved making this project this month. I always wish for snow at Christmas and this was the inspiration for my piece.

Firstly I stamped plate CI - 138 with Versamark dazzle embossing ink and used sparkly EP on it. Luckily found a punch that almost fitted the snowflake and good enough to use. To get variations on a theme, I inked the snowflake part of the stamp with walnut stain DI and the Versamark ink, again using the sparkly EP, and this gave me a very different look. Using this technique I made quite a number of snowflakes for embellishments.

A Tando frame was painted white, when dry it was sanded, painted in places with picket fence distress crackle paint and inked with vintage photo. I also added some Stickles to it. The background for the frame is paper from the CI background papers Bk 2 for Christmas.

The canvas is 30 x 30 cms. I gave it a cover of gesso creating some texture in it, when dry I used PanPastels and a mask to create the background. At the same time I gessoed some chipboard snowflakes and added PPs to them too when they were dry.

I also set about making a large snowflake as the backdrop to the coloured centre. This took me a while as I cut piece of card with an angle of 30 degrees to make a template for the snowflake arms then cut 6 of these and stuck them together. This was also covered with gesso creating rough texture in it. When dry I added PPs and then more gesso over the top sprinkling glamour dust all over it to dry in. Again when dry I inked the edges with walnut stain to create a border so that it would stand out more on the canvas.

When put together I added some gems to the snowflakes and eh voila my own festive sparkle snowstorm.

I think this will look good in my conservatory or dining room this Christmas.

Have fun making your own festive sparkle project and join us in the challenge. 

There is some fabulous inspiration already on the post and more will be coming over the next few days/weeks.

Jean is again offering a massive 25% discount on shop products if you enter the challenge this month, that's everything on the website, including the stamps. 

Woo hoo gotta be worth a look don't you think?

Yay it's Friday, the weekend starts here.

Positive thoughts to everyone who has been affected by hurricane Sandy, I am so thankful that my UPA teamies who live in the area are safe.

Have a great weekend.

hugs {brenda} xox

WOYWW #178

Sorry, missed last week again due to grandaughter still being in hospital and I went to visit her again today. This week is half term so I am looking after the two younger ones so that Dad can still work and Mum can have a week at the hospital and give GD some quality time. So with the story coming up here for WOYWW you will see I am busy, busy, busy.

This is a picture of my desk today, I have got no projects in the making, but have just completed my DT piece for the new Crafty Individuals challenge coming up for November. But why is the Sky box on my stamp tubs? And look at the floor and just outside the door - it's a complete mess. 

Let me tell you why.

Well it was the early hours of Saturday morning, around 12.30 am, the house was still and quiet as a mouse, when all of a sudden I sat bolt upright in bed and hubby, who hadn't come to bed yet, ran up the stairs in panic. Why? Due to an enormously loud crash, it sounded as if half the house had fallen down. Oh my gosh, what was going on? Indeed what?

I ran to the landing and put the light on, only to find I couldn't see the floor in the office/craft room. 

Oh my goodness ........................  

I bet you can see what's coming next .................... 

The shelves above my workspace had completely come away from the wall and everything, yes everything, had slid off and fallen over the workbench and onto the floor. I couldn't believe the mound it had created - at least four foot tall.

I had to smile about it or else I think I would have cried. Paper, card, boxes, tubs, brushes, markers, glue, paint, yes you name it, it all came a tumbling down. Oh well no more to do than clear the floor so that hubby could get to the shelves and make them safe before going to bed. 

Of course I did get told that I had far too much stuff on the shelves and things that were far too heavy too. Yeah I knew that.

So this is what my landing and spare bedroom looked like the next morning. I have almost cleared it, filling tubs and boxes and stacking them in the garage for now. The room will have to be completely gutted and I am going to design a new layout from scratch.
See there is an opportunity in everything if you look for it.

I hope you are having a better time than me at the moment, but we will keep smiling, no use crying over spilt milk.

Happy WOYWW.

hugs {brenda} xox

Eclectic Elements column - UPA

Today I have a new column up at Unruly PaperArts showing how I made a canvas using texture and dimension. 

This new canvas shows my gorgeous daughter when we were at The Grand Canyon in the summer. I love the silhouette photograph. 

Scrapping on canvas is something I now love and will be making more of these to hang on the wall. The previous one you can find here, which is of my grandaughter who is having all the medical difficulties and who has now been in hospital for over a month.

hugs {brenda} xox

PanPastels Halloween and Thank You

A fun tag from me today for the PanPastel UK Halloween challenge.

I picked up a bag of spooky plastic pieces from Wilkinsons recently and having seen lots of skeletons and pieces painted up and used on projects I thought I would see if I could use my PPs on them.
Easy.
I gave them a coating of acrylic gesso and then when dry the PPs blended beautifully over them. I also added some Treasure Gold on the eerie half skeleton.

For the background I ran the tag through a cobweb texture fade then covered with purple, green and orange PPs, blending them where they overlapped, then using a Sofft tool I gently added black PP to the cobwebs so that they stood out more.

The black plastic spider was painted with the gesso then I rubbed black PP over with my finger and it picked out all the texture, love it.

The numbers and letters are die-cut from the Typeset strip die.

Don't forget you don't have to use PanPastels to enter the challenge and the lucky winner will receive a trial set from our sponsors "Your Creativity Store".


When I went to see my grandaughter yesterday I was so pleased to see her sitting up in bed, alert and joining in conversations etc. She is still hooked up to numerous tubes and is nil-by-mouth for a fortnight, getting her sustenance via a tube into one of her veins. I just hope and pray her insides are healing as well as she is on the outside.
I also want to add a huge THANK YOU to you wonderful blogging friends who have offered to make and send my dear grandaughter a card. Already the first ones have arrived, thanks Alison, Margreet and Julia. She loved looking at them, such colourful and varying designs. She was so surprised and it was lovely to see her interest in them.

Enjoy your Sunday.

hugs {brenda} xox

Maddie's Skydive

Just a quickie from me today to show you some pictures taken when Maddie, my daughter, did her skydive which was only 10 days ago.

She is a youth worker in the evenings and in the budget cuts Hampshire council have dropped the funding for youth clubs across the county. Her manager with the support of the other youth workers, including Maddie, have set up a charitable trust and have got funding to continue the Youth Club and outreach work they do. They are very focussed on education as well as support and guidance for the young people of the Fleet area. Five of them raised over £2500 for Fleet Phoenix.

 Getting kitted up - Maddie is furthest to the right.

Out of the plane and parachute open.

Getting nearer the ground - another of her group can be seen in the background.

Getting nearer still.

Touchdown.

Landed.

Her comments? "It's certainly a once-in-a-lifetime experience".

Don't think she'll be doing that again in a hurry then lol.

Well done Maddie, I am very proud of you.

Hope you all have a great weekend. 

I am looking forward to going to see my grandaughter tomorrow. 

I just hope she's making some progress again now. I will update you on Sunday.

Happy Friday.

hugs {brenda} xox

Crafty Individuals - The Apothecary

Sorry folks I am behind this week, I will explain at the end of this post.

I have just noticed that Jean, at Crafty Individuals, has posted some Halloween projects including this box of mine.

This is like an apothecary window made for Crafty Individuals using CI-360.

I made the box using a Sizzix die and cut a window using the cabinet card die. Once made up I blended shabby shutters, peeled paint and seedless preserves over the top, heat set it and painted it with clear distress crackle paint. I also inked up some A4 card with the same colours and stamped it with TH cobwebs and CI text plate CI-161, which was cut into strips and used to cover the outside base of the box.

For the inside I used CI background paper pad Book 4 - Trees and added some of the labels from the poison bottle stamp plate and other bits to make it look like a shelf in the shop.

I finished by cutting out the bottles, inking them and covering them with utee. By putting them in the freezer for a while I was able to crack them and ink them with walnut stain to make them look really old. Some dies, a clock face, spider and a metal black cat covered with black paint finished the look.

I hope you like my spooky fun box and please do go over and take a look at the other two fabulous projects made by the lovely Lynne and creative Daniele.

I am sorry if I am missing your posts at the moment.

Some of you have been keeping a close eye on the progress of my grandaughter. Last Friday, following what seemed to be a promising week for her, she had another set back and started being sick again. The doctors monitored her over the weekend and she had to have her stomach aspirated daily. Unfortunately she was in surgery again on Monday which resulted in another 6 hours under anaesthetic and she is now on a high dependency ward. The poor child has had more of her bowel taken away because they could see more Crohns developing and has had an incision that stretches right across her stomach. I can imagine she will be in hospital for several more weeks and of course we pray that the doctors have been able to eliminate all they need to and that the whole of her digestive tract will mend properly so that she will be able to get back to being a 15 year old teenager who can concentrate on her school work and enjoy life again. 

One of my dear blogging friends, Margreet, who lives in the Netherlands has offered to make her a card and I know it will be wending its way to me very soon. Thank you so much Margreet. 

If any of you who 'know' me would be able to do this I would love to hear from you (my email address is on my sidebar), I think it would cheer her up immensely to receive cards from different parts of the country and maybe from around the world. Thank you in anticipation.

I hope I will be able to catch up with you all very soon, but in the meantime take care of yourselves and give all your family a big hug.

With a hug from me to you.

{brenda} xoxox

PanPastels - Animals

Can you eat an elephant?

At PanPastelUK the theme this week is animals and I have made another of my extended tags, using Panpastels, stamps and masks to make the background and add the images.

This is my  second post for today and if you scroll down you will see a little Halloween box made for FSC.

I love the saying, it's quite funny, I remember using it at school when we were planning our next steps for development - 

and that's what it means take one step at a time, 
don't bite off more than you can chew.

Stamps are Tim Holtz and the brown pleated ribbon arrived during the week from Linda at The Funkie Junkie Boutique, other bits are from my supplies and the sentiment is computer generated.

The background was made in two layers using embossing ink with stamps and PPs, using glue stick with stamps and PPs and adding PPs through some sequin waste.

If you join us this week you could be in with a chance to win a PanPastel started set from Your Creativity Store, and remember you don't have to use PPs to participate.

Happy Sunday; have a great creative day.

hugs {brenda} xox

Challenges to have fun with -
Challenges for Everybody - Anything Goes
The Crafty Pad - Use an animal
Rogue Redhead Designs - Going Dotty
Frilly and Funkie - Sunday Share

FSC - Halloween

Two weeks have passed by again and it's time for another challenge at Fashionable Stamping Challenge blog and today we are showing our Halloween creations.

Mine is an altered box in which my grandchildren said they would like some spooky sweets, so I will have to keep a look at for eye balls or something similar.
(Update Sunday evening - I have found chocolate eyeballs and pumpkins - see the bottom of the post).

This was one of those balsa wood boxes which I painted white. Having stamped Halloween images onto orange tissue paper I glued them both in and outside with watered down PVA. When it was dry I covered it with the PVA mixed with brown paint to get a more aged look to it. Again when dry I sanded down some of the edges and added walnut stain distress ink.

I hope we will see some of your Halloween projects at FSC this next fortnight. I shall look forward to seeing what you make.

hugs {brenda} xox

Challenges to have fun with -
Frilly and Funkie - Anything but a card with a twist - something hidden
(I now have the chocolates for my hiding in my box - see below)
Sunday Stamper - Honey colours / Honeycomb
Anything but a Card - Fall/Halloween
That Craft Place - Halloween
Sweet Stampin' - Halloween
Alphabet Challenge - S for Spooky, skeletons, spiders
Bloggers Challenge - Alter It
Crafts 4 Eternity - Pumpkin Spice
Craftymess - Halloween
Stampin' for the weekend - Something Spooky
Simon Says Stamp - Eerie Inspiration

Photo taken at night - what a difference to the colour of the box!!!!!!

Funkie Junkie 12 Tags of Christmas #5

So where have the last five weeks gone? Linda is on tag #5 and this is my fifth one too, with inspiration taken from the music background and emboss resist that Linda has used. From there on, mine is completely different, but without that spur looking at how Linda made hers I wouldn't have created this. Thanks for the creative nudge every week Linda, I am so enjoying this.

I have used a number of favourite things on here which makes this eligible for Simon Says Stamp and Show your favourites. For instance the DI colours I have used are weathered wood, vintage photo and walnut stain, I just love this colour combination. Also on my hit list are stamps by Tim (we just keep collecting them don't we?), Christmas papers from MME and downloaded vintage music paper. The other thing that is an absolute favourite and that I love making at the moment are my extended tags.

Hels at Sunday Stamper is asking for metal and I think the pin and bells will count here. 
I seem to be using these little bells on most of my tags this year, mind you I do have an abundance of them. 

Sugar Creek Hollow are looking for Sparkle and this can be seen on the sparkly embossing powder I used as well as on some of the paper snowflakes with sparkle pen used in their centres. I also used a Sakura sparkle pen round the edges of the tags.

Other embellishments are from my supplies plus a TH fragment.

Santa was stamped, coloured over with more ink and with a water brush then covered in embossing ink and clear EP to make him shine and pop more.

Linda's 12 Tags of Christmas is an inspiration challenge and there will be a winner drawn at the end of the 12 weeks for those who have entered each one. There is plenty of time to take part as each tag challenge will remain open until the 17th December, so no excuses if you miss any. The sponsor is The Funkie Junkie Boutique, which is Linda's fantastic on-line store where she stocks lots of fabulous products to produce vintage, shabby chic projects.

Did I say that I had been chosen as top pick for a swcond week running at Sugar Creek Hollow, I feel so chuffed and want to thank the girls for all their support.

Today is Friday Eve as I read on someone's blog recently, so have a great end to the week and a lovely weekend.

hugs {brenda} xox

Other challenges to have fun with -
It's all about the vintage - Embossing
Craftymess - Anything Goes
Splodgeaway - Sparkle and Gems- I bought a Slodgeaway mat from Barbara Gray at Ally Pally and love the effects I get with blending inks.