Happy birthday to you, happy birthday day to you

Just to let you know I have the voice of an Angel.  In fact a few years ago I dreamt I'd won the X factor or Pop idol whatever was on at the time. 

Anyway, fresh from drawling over a rather annoying person's ramblings from Ranger U - I mean who'd want to go there anyway.  OK just about all of us - one day, one day :)  Distracted again, anyhow I've been making a birthday present for my wonderful mummy and after her kind permission I'm blogging it for you to see.  Rather glad to be honest as it was inspired by Ink on my fingers (or Hel's) challenge this week which is Summer of '69 or numbers.  Good job it's numbers as I wasn't even a glint in my daddy's eye by then.  Love the song though.

I then had rather a clever idea as I wanted to mark my present so mum new roughly when it was made (in my fourth decade) which is where my number came in.  Using inspiration from Hel's I then "hid" an "O" to coincide with her 40th and followed on decoration my house with lots of lovely techniques.  I'll show some pics and then try to list out all the techniques I used (if I can remember then).  Heading towards the big 4-0 does effect the grey matter a bit (or maybe I was dropped as a baby, always good to blame someone else!)

So that was the little house which I painted in teal dabber.  Once dry I used my finger and a dry brush to highlight it with Cranberry dabber.  Then it was on to all of the bits. 

The embellishments in no particular order:

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  Stampboard which I covered in teal and raspberry tinkerbella inks before deciding it was too strong so out came the trusty Crafty Notions white spray.  I then stamped Kathleen (B Line) before using Cranberry dabber and a finger to soften the edge of the stampboard and covering the yucky edge with Gold Krylon.  The inks just about show through in a subdued manner but I love the look.
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  Fragments with stamped tags and a Crafty Individuals picture.  The tag was covered with Distress ink before being masked and then stamped on with a mesh stamp before I used a couple of stamps over the top.  If you look closely at the top fragment it has the initials HS on it, which whilst being Hel's initials happens to also be my mummy's (Sorry Hel's!!) This fragment also appears to be hoovering as it was all shadowed in the back of the house so I stuck some dominoes together and then stuck it on top, much better.  See picture at the end.

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  A utee heart which is a mixture of blue and red to show a marbled effect (still perfecting this, but who'd of thought a old necklace would make such a great mold).  This is stuck on some distressed paper so that it didn't become part of the background.A metal rose spritzed with glimmer mist (it looked way too shiny!)

• Painted canvas with metal and Terra.  I'm still working on combining metal and Terra so I ended up painting over it to disguise the fact that it's a big lump where the Terra and metal join!  On the other hand I did wonder what would happen if you put the Terra on thick and then semi dried it before pushing it about a bit.  The effect is a lovely texture which looks a bit like wrinkled paper but dries solid.  I painted over the top, sanded the metal which I'd embossed with dots before highlighting the Terra with Raspberry dabber.  One of them has a fragment on and the other the rose.
• 
  
  At this point I was chuffed with my hoovering fragment so I wanted to make the little pink disc hoover too.  Not so easy!  Firstly there were too hole's in it as it came from a necklace so I wound some wire around both holes and created a sort of wobbly stand for it.  I then held it for 30 minutes in front of the TV whilst the glue dried.  It was for my mum I doubt I'd do it for anyone else, sorry!

• 
  
  I die cut some shrink plastic which has a little squares all over it, shrunk it and covered it in alcohol ink before sticking an Ideaology dream ticket on it.  I then held this for slightly less time whilst the glue dried but boy was it difficult to get the glue on and get it to stand up whist my shakey little hands did their best to scupper my plans.

The rest are Ideaology and scrapbook embellishments.

My mum loves it so I hope Hel's does too.  I loved spending time on so many different techniques with only a colour scheme in mind.  Maybe that's why I love Artsy Craft so much.  Oops almost forgot the number is a stencil I've had for ages which I covered in embossed metal and sanded down.  I think there may also be a little bit of alcohol ink on that.  Not sure if I used every technique I know but I sure gave it a go and my craft room looked like a hurricane had hit it - always proves I had fun!

Hope you like it

Debz

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All of a flourish

I booked myself on a craft class to cheer myself up the other day and there's nothing like a bit of Linda Elbourne abuse to cheer you up.  The class took place at LB Crafts in Olney with the title "A flourishing quartet".  I knew all of the techniques but sometimes I lke to attend classes just to get new ideas or purely to play with products/ colour combinations I've not used. 

Having spent 3 hours in the car to get there rather than 1 hour 15 minutes I was glad not to have to learn lots of techniques - got to love the car park that is the M25 and the roadworks on the M1.  I recommend using the M40 in future if anyone heads from the South!  The way back was no different as I tried to get to the M40 but ended up headed back to the M25 and I managed to pull a muscle in the back of my knee.  By this time I was feeling well and truly cursed so I arrived home via the chippy :D

Anyway back to the class.  We painted a canvas black and then over painted in green.  Never used black as a base and I must saying it looks stunning popping through the green.  We then stamped a flourish all over the canvas - think this might be PaperArtsy but I can't confirm.

After that we did some metal work, covered this in black and then green paint.  Again I love this look as you get two lots of highlights.  Finally we stuck a few die cuts on top of the metal and hey presto and stunning piece of wall art.  Oops nearly forgot we also covered 37 (yes, Linda counted them) ycuky yellow plastic free of the cover of a magazine flowers in Gop (Inka Gold Copper to anyone who hasn't learnt Lin and Leandra speak) and then highlighted them with Rangers new black dimensional glaze.

Back on to my card making quest I made another card for the box at work last week and have forgotten to show you so know seems as good a time as any.  Seems to take me ages to make cards as I insist that they are all totally different.  Maybe I should make several similar ones at the same time and hold them back until the others sell, not sure.  Anyway I used the PaperArtsy Love Birds stamp on this one along with the two very cute birds.  I like to think of it as mum and dad looking after the babies.  Maybe that's why I take so long making cards I've really thought of the whole family thing (yikes, I'm slightly dotty me thinks).  The background is a glimmer mist jobbie and the birds are stamped on card coloured with DI's bundled sage using the direct to paper technique.  I then coloured them in and stuck a flower on the front.  Almost forgot I aged a book page with antique linen.  Love, Love, Love these stamps.

I'm entering this into the Lots To Do Challenge this week which is Birds/ Wings (Week 23).

Hope you like

Debz

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A first time for everything

At least I don't think I have ever gotten round to a Gingersnap Creations challenge. I started off entering the Colour Challenge which is Burgundy, Black and Ivory.  Somehow I managed to go off track and use a pure white so I think I've knowcked myself out of that challenge however I've managed to complete a piece which fits two of the other challenges being Wings and Quotes.

So here is my entry for all 2 out of 3 of the challenges!

For the Random Redhead Challenge: Quotes - a PaperArtsy stamp which I love.

For the Chesnut Theme Challenge: Wings - another PaperArtsy stamp which I equally love.

Both of the stamps are from the Hot Picks range as are the two "flower" stamps I have used on the background.

To start at the beginning though I covered a canvas in white paint, PVA and then burgundy paint diliberately putting it on quite thick in places to avoid the cracking.  I guess I could have only PVA'd in certain places but that would have been way to intelligent for me!  After it was dry I thought it was looking way to clean so I swiped black ink over it to give it a dirty look.

Then I used Distress Inks (Rusty Hinge, Brushed Corduroy and Antique Linen) on a piece of white card.  Once dried I sprayed Crafty Notions white spray over the top, dried it and stamped the "flower" images in Rusty Hinge and Brushed Corduroy.  Another spray and finally a dab I got the hazy look I was after.

To finish I embossed the bird cage on the card, stamped the quote and stuck a couple of Tim Holtz embellisments on the canvas.

Wasn't sure if I liked it last night, in fact I'm still not sure now but its grown on me a little today, so tell me what you think.

Debz
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In sickeness and in health

grapes are always a good option (preferably after being mushed up, fermented and stuck in a bottle).  But seeing as its nearly bedtime the painted variety will have to do you and me both. 

Still going through my cutesy faze (which I've determined is me stamping with pre-printed paper backgrounds), so I've stamped and water coloured a bunch of grapes from PaperCraft4You and then surrounded it with a Lavina Stamps (Sycamore?) leaf stamp. 

The green and red background is a mixture of Glimmer Mist Olive Vine and Cosmic Shimmer Mist Lava Red (pictures not great so you might not be able to see there's red there too).   The lace came from a cheapy shop and the paper is from somewhere else (no idea, had it ages and now decided that its not "my precious" and therefore it can be cut up).  It's a wonder I haven't been picked up by the environmental police given the amount of paper I hoard - I think that's why I'm so careful about recycling all of my rubbish.  I have to at least try and fight to carbon neutral.  I suspect as crafters we all fail miserably but at least we try!

I had intended to come up and make a few cards but I've got back on the Wii fit and spent 1.5 hrs working out (Don't worry it'll be down to 10 mins a night by the end of the week!)  Apparently I have lost 2lbs which is great news (however I took 141 days to do that though, so maybe I should try a little harder!)

Enjoy
Debz

Out of the frying pan

and into the cuteness zone.  Over at the Corrosive Challenge blog this week the theme is die cuts.  I've not been very good at cute cards recently or cards full stop to be honest.  I start to think about cards and then alter something instead.  As my crafty friend at work is in need of card making support I have offered to create cards for colleagues along side her. 

This means creating all sorts of cards and coming out of my comfort zone, so I've been looking around for challenges and inspiration.  I don't really have many cute stamps so I've opted for cute colours instead.  There are two cards on show as I couldn't decide which one I liked best.  Hope this doesn't break the rules!

And at the same time the Sunday Stamper challenge is letters so I thought I might surprise Hel's with a completely different style for me.

The first card has a Distress ink background with various flower and circles stamps randomly stamped.  I've then used a PaperArtsy stamp for the main image which is water coloured using distress ink.  Almost forgot that I used one of the new PaperArtsy Die Cuts (love these and will prob end up buying the lot - ouch!).  They cut fantastically well and this one (Big Pointy Frames #3) is a fab shape.

The second card is mostly printed paper base because the flowery one fell out whilst I was looking for something else (and I love it).  Can't remember who its buy but if anyone knows please drop me a note as I'd love to buy more.

Once I'd die cut'd to my hearts content I water coloured some Papercraft4you stamped images of Pansies, Cosmos and something else!  These were one of my first QVC stamping purchases and they are great for little snippets.  I'm feeling all flowery at the moment because the gardens starting to look like a sea of colours and I love it.

Hope you like the cards (click on them to see bigger images)
Debz

Wings and things

Over at Sunday Stamper this week the theme is "wings."  Anyone that's been reading my blog might have realised I've been following some weeks but haven't managed to get my entry up until after the deadline.  Luckily for me this week I was already making something that fitted!

This piece is a frame I picked up from the Craft Barn a while ago.  I painted it black and then used a Viva stencil with Ferro Golden Orange to create a border around the frame.  Technique shamelessly stolen from Artsy Craft May 10.  From there I coloured a piece of Grunge Paper in DI's (Rusty Hinge, Spiced Marmalade and a touch of Brushed Corduroy), stamped it with a multitude of flourishes, buttons and circles) and then sprayed it with Crafty Notions white spray (I love this stuff!)  This was covered with a piece of acetate with butterflies on it from a QVC TSV (You know, we all have them). 

Finally I used a Craft Stamper freebie on a scrap of mount board covered with Spiced Marmalade and a hint of Rusty Hinge.

Hope you like it.
Debz

A wall of inspiration

Just a quick post tonight.  I thought I would share my wall of inspiration with you all.

A right mix and match of things but there's a reason for all of them.  Some are to remind me of techniques I constantly forget I know, some because I love the colour combinations and others are just cos I got them on a card and they are so darn cute.

In the bottom right corner you can see part of a canvas I made at an LB Crafts class with Linda Elbourne.  It was great fun and I met some lovely people, in fact we didn't stop laughing and chatting throughout the day.

The flowers in a pot you can see near the bottom is actually dabbers through a peel off on silver card and then the peel off is carefully lifted.  Whilst I wouldn't necessarily use this on a card I love the idea as it gives a really textured look.

As I said a right mix and match but also a great inspiration when you can't decide what colours to play with or need to sit and play before inspiration strikes. 

Debz
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Oh gosh, oh gosh, oh gosh

Life seems to be flying me by at the moment and I wouldn't mind but its not much crafty fun either.  Oh well lots of lovely crafty things to look forward to this month - classes at LB Crafts, the Craft Barn Extravaganza and getting a place on Artsy Craft in October (fingers crossed on that one!)

Anyway talking of Artsy Craft in normal late style I thought I would share some picks of the event with you and tell you how brill it was.  Lots of lovely people and Lin & Leandra were alright too (well, went we weren't been frog marched around - I was starting to think we were at boot camp when the cuttlebugs were needed!!!)



The first project was called Secret Garden and this was great fun to make. 

We were asked not to show full photos or give full descriptions so here are a few pics to wet your appetite.  We decorated a canvas layering up as we went and used some of the new Hot Picks from Paper Artsy (1004 and 1005) for the background and texture paste to decorate a tree. 


This is a photo taken during the process but we ended up with various metal embellishments adorning the tree and surrounding area from the Flora and Fauna stamp sets by Paper Artsy.  I love all of the stamps, but particularly set 2 and 3 which have a really cute hedgehog and owl on them.

The main project was "Bird Song Sampler" which as the name suggests was a sampler using loads of different techniques over 9 squares.  Techniques included metal work using crafty notion sprays, embossing and die cuts, distress inks on various surfaces and my particular favourites texture pastes as bases for stamping into, painting over and generally making a mess before being pleasantly surprised by the outcome.

And of course to take advantage of the presence of Linda Elbourne we were shown how to make the lovely roses she makes.   I decided to emboss mine using a dotty folder.  It made it impossibly bulky to mold into a rose but I love the effect.  We used copper which looked a little too bright for my Shabby Blue colour scheme, so a quick squirt or two of blue spray and it fitted in beautifully.

The final project of the weekend was called Love Birds and involved us making a beautiful birdhouse out of sticky back plastic and a few toilet rolls.  OK, ok I lied, it was a picture frame which we adapted.  After sloshing a bit of paint here and there, stamping the love birds and embossing some metal we all had a really cute embellishment for the wall.

All in all it was a fab weekend and I met or caught up with some great people.  If you haven't been I suggest you pop over to LB Crafts or Paper Artsy and book for October, but not until I have my place secured thank you very much!

Thanks Lin & Leandra and not forgetting Jo Firth-Young (the Cuttlebug Guru), Linda Elbourne (Tim Holtz' stalker) and Karen Daniell (the Queen of shops - forget Mary whatsername!)

Debz

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