Monday 31 January 2011

PDCC 66

Phew, busy day today, think this is my 4th post. Well, i've been trying to catch up on challenges so thought that since I was making a mess anyway I might as well carry on!
Over at the Play Date Cafe (Link on my sidebar) challenge 66 is a colour splash; Black, white and a splash of lilac (To be honest; mine's more of a "drip" but I like it!)
Now I've never actually done one of their colour splash challenges so I enjoyed this....
Here it is
A clean and simple lazer cut butterfly (my own design) and a silver sentiment. Not my usual offering of inky offerings but I thought it worked well and needed nothing more. So where's the lilac I hear you say? Well, it's inside!

See, I told you it was more of a "drip"! They are tiny material sparklys that someone brought back from India ages ago and I'd forgotton all about them until I found them while looking for something else. The papers are papermania, the image is one of my own. I highlighted some areas with glossy accents though it does not really show.


Shot from above so you can see how it opens, and the place for you to write your greeting in. But what is really cool is this
It has a pocket in for either a CD as here (Because it is lilac LOL) or for a gift card etc.
Hope you enjoy this and enjoy the rest of your day, evening and wherever you are, be blessed in your art.

Just some of the details

Lovin Ink retreat and givaway

Well, I'd be mad not to post this! Lovin Ink have put together a MASSIVE prize. See the pic on my sidebar (the link is there too, just click the picture) One of the prizes is a pair of tickets to their craft retreat on the 25th - 27th March 2011. That would be SUCH a cool thing to win. Pop over to their site if you are interested too.

The Stamp Man Challenge 15 - Oriental

Over at the Stamp Man the theme is Oriental for the challenge.(link to their blog is on my sidebar.
 Well, I only have one set of Oriental stamps (from Inkadinkadoo) so they had to come out to play.
I decided to try to do something a bit different this time so created this little gift box

 I stamped the lady in black stazon, masked the bottom and stamped a flower stamp along the base. I used Hazelnut, Mountain Rose, Juniper and gold alcohol inks to colour the box. A ribbon buckle with ribbon in gold and  Papermania square gems to finish the front. The lady was covered in glossy accents too. The side is stamped with a bamboo image from the same set as the lady.
For the back I used the same lady and flower stamps but added flowers instead of the buckle, with gem centres. Now to think of what to put inside it. Any ideas?




Valentine Challenge journey - day 5

WOW, time just seems to fly at the moment. Hope you all had a good weekend and welcome to day 5. Welcome Heidi; hope you are having fun catching up! ( here are the details if anyone else wants to play along! http://neelzexpressionz.blogspot.com/2011/01/valentine-challenge-anyone-want-to-play.html )

So, without further ado, here is ATC number 5

For the base ATC I inked up an embossing folder with Fired brick Distress ink and ran through the cuttlebug. I then overstamped  the ATC with a script stamp in brushed corduroy Distress Ink and lightly inked the edges. The V is grunge inked with Fired brick and covered in red distress stickles.
I stamped the lady image (Crafty Individuals) in black stazon onto a dull silver paper, cut out and mounted as shown. Another silver heart charm to finish....
Hope you enjoy doing this one today.
Be blessed in your art

Sunday 30 January 2011

CCC number 29

Well, I guess better late than not for this one! I just realised that time was almost out for the Compendium Of Curiosities over at Studio L3 ans since we are almost at the end I don't want to miss the opportunity to practice what the master of distress teaches! As always, I can't tell you the details of the technique but this week it is on page 50 of the compendium.  Weathered Wood Grunge. I used this technique on the grunge signboard
Oh yes, I guess you want to see the project!

I opted for a tag as it's quick and time is not on my side! I cut the tag from corrugated card, and used a green paint dabber and walnut DI to colour. The bookplate was from the tag die, I used the adage ticket inside, brown branches from the regal crest dieand a sticker from the salvage sticker set behind the bird. The bird was stamped in black onto white paper, fired brick ink and cut out and stuck down.
Anyway, off to link it now so have a great evening!
Some detail.....

Valentine Challenge Journey - day 4

Hi there and welcome to day 4 .... Welcome Deborah, glad you decided to join us; it's still not too late to play catch up just Click here for the details (And remember those lovely prize packs!)

So here we go everyone

For the ATC, I stamped my image in fired brick distress ink just over halfway across (I used a stamp from The Artistic Stamper (Garden plate) Using a clear embossing stamp pad cover the ATC and add clear powder over the whole surface. Tap the back to get rid of some of the powder (not too much though!)
Heat emboss with heat gun and leave to cool. Once it is cool then using walnut stain distress ink and the blending tool rub in all over the tag, it will colour everything that has not been covered by the embossing powder and you end up with a beautiful rusty enamel look! The Y  and flourish are painted silver and when dry, lightly sanded and distress ink to colour the exposed grunge.
From my heart to yours was stamped using stazon and another silver heart to finish....
So there you have day 4, hope you have fun with it!
Be blessed today

Saturday 29 January 2011

Valentine Challenge journey - day 3

Hi there.
Ready for day 3? Hope so. cause here it is!
There's a bit more going on in this little one, but it is the weekend after all. So how did I do it? For the base card I swiped distress ink onto a cuttlebug sentiments embossing folder and embossed it so the raised letters were left white. Then later I swiped distress over the edges to highlight some of the words......
The flower is made by  punching 3 large, two medium and one small flower shape out of double sided paper, joining together with a small brad; spritzing with water, scrunching up and unfolding while still damp. For a more detailed "how to" click here (again, if you are making these along with me, then make a couple more while you are at it!) The Grunge M was coloured with silver alcohol ink mixative. The cute little tag peeking out is a Crafty Individuals stamp stamped onto white shrink plastic with black stazon and heat shrunk.
Put everything together as shown with a gold ribbon and day 3 is done !
If you've popped over and not sure what I'm talking about pop over here for the details of my little challenge.
Have a great day and be blessed in your art

Friday 28 January 2011

Valentine Challenge journey - day 2

Hi there everyone. Hope you had a good day yesterday and welcome to day 2 of my little challenge.
For any latecomers click here for the details if you would like to join in.

So today's ATC is:


As always, i'll tell you how I made mine, then feel free to interperet as you wish....
To do the base ATC I covered with a few pieces of tissue tape (Tim Holtz) distress ink to colour; then
re-positioned the tape and used another colour and repeated again overlapping some of the colours.
The E is a negative (As I had run out of E's as you always do!) but I liked the shape! I lightly coloured with fired brick distress ink. Using black stazon I stamped a geometric border down the side of the ATC and the base and top of the E.
I cut and embossed the butterfly using a Cuttlebug die and dull gold paper, fired brick distress ink to highlight
(Tip; if you are doing these with me then while you are doing the butterfly you may want to cut a couple more to save a bit of time later!)
I attached the butterfly as shown just in the middle so the wings are flexible.
See, I'm trying to keep things simple so it does not take too long to make each day. Hope you enjoy it
and have a creative and blessed day.

Thursday 27 January 2011

Valentine Challenge journey - day 1

As said, here is the start of the journey if anyone cares to play; if not I'll be going through it all anyway so feel free to be a backstreet driver anyway! For those who have not got a clue what I am waffling on about click here for all the details (Remember, there's about fifty quids worth of stuff for two lucky players)

Just some basics: all the cards are ATC size so you can prepare 14 straight away if you like. I'll post the pic and tell you how I did mine, then you can do what you like, either copy some of the techniques or make your own up!

So here is day one's card -

The ATC is distressed with fired brick and walnut distress ink, Overstamped with Tim Holtz script in fired brick distress ink and the wings stamped with black Stazon.
The letter is from Tim's grunge alphabet. (Not all the letters I used are the same style so you won't need a complete matching set!)
I covered it with tissue tape, inked a bit and mounted this onto black card to highlight the letter. Then I covered the letter with glossy accents and scattered some microbeads for texture.
The silver heart was attached with a tiny brad to finish off (Well it is valentine themed!) These hearts can be picked up in sets of 6 in pound stores etc so won't break the bank.

See, told you it would be simple!
Hope you want to join me
Be blessed today and watch out for day two.....

Valentine challenge - anyone want to play along?

Good morning everyone, hope you are all well. I have been having fun creating a Valentine banner and thought that perhaps some of you lovely followers of mine may like to join in the fun?
The case is packed and ready and I am starting today and it will take over the next 15 days. (Started early because the time zones in the world confuse me and there's no point in doing something that ends on the 14th here but may be the 15th somewhere else!)

So what will you end up with, I hear you ask... Well you will have a lovely banner to show your other half how wonderful he or she is; and two people who complete the project and link up at the end will stand the chance to win one of these two packs comprising 4 Crafty Individuals unmounted red rubber stamp sets, a selection of my own design filigree paper designs and a selection of my own original lazer cut thin wood veneer characters.........


The "rules" are simple: To be in with a chance for one of these packages to come to you, you need to comment on this post to tell me that you are going to play along; create each days ATC and at the VERY END  I will put a linky thingy on the final post, then you need to post your completed project on your blog and link it to my final post . I will come and visit you, and them randomly choose two people to win.

And, just to make it easier, because I know that not everyone wants to send a valentine but may want to play with I will accept any sentiment, for example HAPPY BIRTHDAY !,  JUST BECAUSE U R U,
SWEET SIXTEEN !!, THANKS A BUNCH !! all have 14 letters!

Hopefully at least two of you will play as I would love to send something to you!

So, the suitcase is packed; who's coming?

Day one will start later today and continue daily.........

Quick little edit as some of you seem confused (I confuse myself somedays!) To put it simply I have made 14 ATC (Artist trading cards) that spell out BE MY VALENTINE ! Then at the end they will all strung together to create a banner that you can hang or just leave in the suitcase or box to give to your chosen recipient . My idea was that each day you do the same as I have if you want a valentine greeting, or substitute the letters to create a 14 letter  greeting that works for you if you do not want to make it for valentine specifically. So each days ATC will have 1 letter on it......
Ok, you don't need to leave a comment on every days post if you can't but it would be nice if you left a comment here to tell me you are playing with me and obviously when I do the last post with a link tool then you would need to post your finished project on your blog and link it so I can visit you! Does that make more sense? I hope so!

Wednesday 26 January 2011

Pay it forward

Hi there, this is just a quick post.
Wandering around some blogs I discovered this little thing and decided to play with as I think it is a wonderful thing to do.

It's called Pay it Forward and it is simple.
I promise to send something handmade to the first five people who comment on this post . But if you enter you must post this too, and offer something handmade to another five people that comment on your blog.


The rules are that it must be something handmade or homemade by you and it has to be sent to five other people during 2011, so we all have plenty of time :D!
If you'd like to join in the fun, then be in the first five to post a comment!
I think this a very sweet idea and hope that five of you would like to join me!
Once you have left your comment on my post and posted your pay it forward on your blog, then email me with your name and snail mail address details and something created by me will come to you sometime this year. Lets spread the blessing of creativity!
My email is nsasthewalkers@gmail.com
Neil

WOYWW Again, already!

Hi there, can't believe it's wednesday already, where has the time gone.... well i've had a bit of a snoop around some desks already and will be looking at some more soon. Head over to http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com/ to take a peek.

Here is mine; not as tidy as last weeks but this is what's happening here now
I've started the first double page of my new book, close up to follow, My Tim Holtz Stamps are in the book on top of my tray of bits. (and if you look closely, there is a little suitcase that is for something that will be revealed tomorrow to all my followers......)
This is still in progress but so far I've used stamps and inks, the bird is a self adhesive felt  one which I saw ages ago, fell in love with and bought a pack of 3 and have never seen since (Boo Hoo) The little copper is a penny squashed and it says  "This above all; to thine own felf be true" Did this in Stratford at William Shakespeare's place; you know the things, pop in a penny and 50 p and turn the handle and out pops your altered penny!
This is the cover of the book, I posted this on monday I think but some of you will not of seen it and I am pretty pleased with it so showing it off again!
And lastly, my Timmy stamps are all bound in a little book

I made the cover by using a whole load of scrap metalised cards from stuff I had done and these were too nice to toss (besides; it took ages to do them in the first place!)

Anyway, that's my work desk today, good job you didn't see it yesterday, it was a MESS!
Have a great day, create and be blessed.

Monday 24 January 2011

Simon Says Stamp and show - A childhood memory

Good morning everyone, hope you had a good weekend and managed to create something just for you....
Over at Simon says stamp and show this week the theme is A childhood memory. Hmmmmm, at first I felt a bit daunted trying to tie down a specific memory so I decided to approach things from a different perspective...... One of the earliest things I can remember is my fascination with what sometimes may be referred to as "Junk".  I collected all sorts of bits and bobs from other peoples discards and arranged them in ways that pleased me. Well I guess I have not changed that much in the intervening years as I still like to do that!
So I raided my  bits and pieces and hauled out my inks and stamps and created a book, which will in time be filled with fragments of ephemera
Hope you enjoy it and I look forward to seeing your memories so pop over and play along, the link is on my sidebar.


There's a lot going on here but I started with the chipboard cover (20 x 20 cm), covered with gesso, some old dictionary paper, I painted over it all with inks. I glued some of my filigree flower paper and stamped with a script and flower stamp randomly.
The girl head is something I picked up along the way which I cut in half and attached. The flowers are chipboard covered in old dictionary paper and inked as well as some of the others I had made a while ago.



Some vintage lace from a bootfair as well as old jewellery from the same source. A UTEE bronze seal I made and broke but did not want to throw away. Some Tim Holtz grunge flourishes that I metalised with alcohol ink mixative in gold and silver, old buttons, micobeads and glossy accents for texture and shine. I painted her hair with gold ferro paint and onto the page too.....
All in all this was great to do and I think the end result echoes, for me anyway, the pleasure I had as a child and still have today from playing with bits and pieces that on their own look quite sad but together create something unique.



Be blessed in your memories today and create something special for you.....

Friday 21 January 2011

The Craft Barn Colouring challenge

I finally finished my entry for the challenge over at the Craft Barn. Colouring with Derwent. This is my favourite craft shop to go and visit as they always have something different!

For this challenge there were 3 different colouring technique tutorials and we have to enter something using one of them. I used the third one as it suits my style of work.
Click here to go and pay them a visit and check out the fab ways to use your Derwent pencils......





I used a Crafty Individuals Tag stamp, a watch stamp (free with Craft Stamper magazine) A bottle top,
idea-ology spinner and glossy accents

Well, I had better get some work done so have a great day

Playing around with film

Hi there
Yesterday I was playing around with some of my new dies and did this LO using Tim's filmstrip die from sizzex. I love this die and am very glad that I have it now.

I used the "offcut " from the flourish die as it was too nice to toss in the bin, even with all the masking ink marks ! (The flourishes were used on the Playdate Cafe LO) A slightly chaotice layout but I like it. Small photos combined with Tim Holtz adage tags, freehand doodles and I rubbed some diamond glaze roughly over the fourish to add a bit of shine.


Closer details.

Simon Says - show us your dots!

Morning all;
over at Simon says stamp and show this week the theme is all polka dotty.... (Link to their site is on my sidebar)
Well I don't have much dotty stuff in my piles of paper but did manage to dig out some American Craft cardstock in pink and brown dots. So here is my project for this weeks challenge, yep, another 8x8 LO
for my album

I used  the Alterations tag die with the movers and shapers wish sentiment to cut my main tag. I used another tag torn along the bottom for the top. I masked and inked a flourish on it. The face was stamped and inked with UTEE clear with a bit of bronze UTEE around the edge. The wish is highlighted with dimension clear glaze.


Some of the detail.
Have a great day and be blessed in your creativity

Thursday 20 January 2011

PDCC 65 and CCC at L3

Hi There
Today's offering is for both the Play Date Cafe challenge 65 where this weeks colours are grey, green and orange. I have also used the Compendium of Curiosities challenge 28 technique over at Studio L3 so am entering this into both. (The links are on my sidebar)

This weeks offering is a double LO for my 8 x 8 album as I decided to try to use these challenges to get some scrapbooking done to as I am sitting with piles of photos

I started out with greyscale photos and matted them onto green cardstock. I used my new alterations die to cut  flourishes out of orange (which had been sitting on my desk for a while now; obviously waiting for this !)
I used the negative of the die to mask and add a darker grey ink to the grey base card and mounted as shown.


Now for the Studio L3 bit : the embellishments ..... These were done using the technique of colourful layer fragments on page 57 of The Compendium of Curiosities. To stay within the colors of the Cafe challenge; and because I only have 3 pens (and one had blending fluid in anyway!) I used sunset orange and meadow green inks for the colours, I used small fragments and stamped with Inkadinkadoo stamps and Laurence Llewellen Bowen stamps. (I think some of his stamps are brilliant, pity very few people seem to have discovered this in my opinion)
So here is a close up of some of the fragments

Hope you all have fun creating something today and are blessed in it

Wednesday 19 January 2011

WOYWW first time

Hi there.
Well I've seen this pop up in some of my followers blogs; and yes, curiosity has made me peruse some of the others work places too! For those who don't know what I'm talking about it is What's on your workdesk wednesday by by Julia at http://stamping-ground.blogspot.com/
Today I thought that I would share my workplace with you, so here it is

Don't worry; all will be revealed. As I generally craft in the living room, everything has to get packed away regularly so this is what it looks like when people are here and when open it's a bit different!



As you can see, we don't use the computer much! (Laptops instead) The bottom shelf pulls out to crate a working surface as well as the shelf above where I keep some of the bits I use regularly

So what's on the desk today? Not much really as I have been busy with all sorts of boring things instead but it looks like this

On the left is a tray which is full of lace, old jewellery Ideaology trinkets etc etc to the right some papers that I had made a while ago and are still waiting for me to be inspired, some test runs of my new Alterations dies and my art journal in the middle; now this is a new thing for me and so far I have tinkered with the cover a bit and started the first page.... not very exciting but if you want a closer look go ahead



See, told you; not very exciting, hopefully I will grow into it as I see so many exciting journals on blogs I decided I would give it a shot!

So there you have it; my official workplace this wednesday (And no, that is not all my stash; I have 6 of those purple bags for dies, inks, papers, stamps etc, more drawers of scrapbooks in the lounge, outside, in the loft, well you get the idea!)
Have fun everyone.

Tuesday 18 January 2011

The Stamp Man Challenge - Distress

Morning all, hope you had a great weekend. Just a quickie this morning as I have tonnes to get through today. Over at the Stamp Man (Link on my sidebar) the challenge theme is distress so here is my offering. Yes it's a tag; made with my new alterations tag die into which I added the movers and shapers wish die which I think has so  many uses.  I scruched the tag to distree a bit. These are two of my new toys so I expect they will make an appearence fairly regularly for a while....
I embossed the ATC and coloured with distress inks to age The images are Crafty Individuals and I used a paper distresser to do the edges, A tissue flower, flourish and ribbon to finish Oh and glossy accents onto the lady.


Be blessed in your art today

Hi, just editing this to post the picture of the LO I used this for, I am trying to use all these challenges to get some of my photos done and this is where this tag ended up!

I ran the cardstock through the cuttlebug using a Tim Holtz folder (The tag and photo hide the fold lines ) and sanded it so that the core colour shows through. I thinks it ties in nicely with the embossed butterfly.
Have fun whatever you are doing.......

Sunday 16 January 2011

Blessed and spoilt!

Hi there, I hope you have all had a good day. I have been blessed today to have been spoilt by my wife who got me some new Tim Holtz Alterations dies. We went to the Craft Barn to pick up something for a suprise I am working on and there was the Tag Die! and a whole lot of other dies too that have not been seen for a LONG time as they are so popular!
So I oohed and aahed for a while (as you do) before heading off to the altered section to pick up my ****** (you'll have to wait a while to find out what I picked up! It's a suprise!)
When I turned back I discovered that there were a few additions to my basket! I am now the proud owner of the tag, flourish and hinges and hardware dies, AND the filmstrip and ticket die (though had to order the extension plates for those) I am so happy, when I got home from church tonight I had to "test" them all straight away!
So, guess what will be appearing on this blog soon!!!!!!!!!!
Be blessed everyone!

Saturday 15 January 2011

Just a note.

http://anartsoul.blogspot.com/ Has an amazing Tim Holtz giveaway to celebrate her 1 year anniversary. Go check it out if you want to see what you could possibly win. It's a cool blog too.
I don't usually post things like this but hey, it's Sir Tim Stuff!
Have a good day

Friday 14 January 2011

Play Date Cafe Challenge 64

Hi there
Over at the Cafe (Link on my sidebar)  Julie has chosen a gorgeous colour pallette. I was going to do an 8 x 8 scrapbook layout but my embellishment turned out too big so I ended up with a 12 x 12 instead!

Here is my entry this week




I embossed the beige and grey paper with a cogs and wheels embossing folder. For the step by step directions for making the flower embellishment go HERE I mounted everything as shown. The words were printed on a Dymo labeller in clear tape and the old jewellery was added to finish.

Hope you enjoy it and perhaps you will enjoy making the flower too
Be blessed in your creativity today

Flower power

Hi there.
For the Play Date Cafe Challenge I made a big flower  so thought I would share the "How I did it" here for those of you who may be interested! The finished size is 15cm so it is not tiny but it makes for an impressive embellishment on a 12 x 12 scrapbook page, or a box lid......
You can adjust the sizes to suit your page; just remember that whatever size you do your circles the finished flower will be double! If you do not fancy stamping and inking, double sided paper works well especially those that are light one side and dark the other.
This is how I made this one:

Firstly you need to cut 8 circles of 7.5cm diameter. I just cut roughly with scissors



Them I stamped a floral image in grey, used a paper distresser to roughen the edges and inked in grey (on ONE side of the circle only)


Then fold each circle in half, open and fold in half the opposite way (So you end up with quarter folds)



Next fold two of the quarters inwards as per the next photo.



Turn the folded circle over and fold each side back to the centre line


Voila, you have done one petal! Now repeat for the next seven and you end up with a pile of petals that when you place together should look like this



Cut a small scrap circle to use as a base, add glue and stick each petal down. To finish mine I used a large washer that I picked up from the street one day and a button in the middle of that.



Hope you like it and try it out sometime I'd love to see how you get on! The next post will show you where mine ended up....

Be blessed in your art today