Meadow Resist, Sunday Stampers week 257 -Thursday 16th May

Good Morning Friends,

Goodness I can't believe I've been 'missing' since Sunday from bloglamd..I have tried to keep up with your posts, but please excuse me if I haven't visited these last few days...it's been another busy week!

 Most of my free time at the weekend was spent making and putting the finishing touches to the ribbon wreath for my Fantastic Ribbons DT project and thank you for all your lovely comments..it was a bit of  a 'labour of love' once I'd started it...and now it's hanging on our lounge door, welcoming visitors when they come through the hallway!

It reminded me that I haven't shared my door wreaths with you this year..those of you who have been my crafty friends here for a long time,will know that I decorate and hang a seasonal wreath on my front door. Last year I made all new ones and they will stay for this year too...for my newer friends over the next few days sometime I'll show you the story so far! However since making the ribbon wreath I already have ideas for interior door wreaths for autumn and winter using dies.

Sunday Stampers Week 257 - Simply Irresistable 

Yesterday, my crafting day was spent preparing for tonight's workshop...I'll be reporting on that tomorrow! Yesterday, I also made my project for this week's Sunday Stampers - this week Hels Sheridan has set the theme of using the resist technique and this is my card...my project had to be resist in its simplest form because of time (or lack of it at the moment), but I love the technique Hels uses in her project this week and will be trying it as soon as I get the chance and some more distress paint. Click the link above to check it out!

The backing paper is from Teresa Collins 'Tell Your Story' 6x6 paper pad; I stamped the image, Crafty Individuals CI-385 on to Clarity Matte card using Perfect Medium. I then dusted with white embossing powder and heat embossed. The whole piece was then inked using a blend of Broken China, Mown Lawn and a hint of Pine Needles distress inks..simples!

That's all for today friends, I'm off to work now - you all have a great day!

Love,

Carole X

Beneath the Sea - Tuesday 2nd April

Good Morning Friends


Sunday Stampers week 251, Emergency Crafters and a win!

 I hope you all had a very happy Easter and the sun managed to make an appearance at some point over the weekend! Although my card is very blue, I am feeling anything  but blue as I have the rest of the week off work - home, just me and the hens (I sent Tom back to the office, lol) and my craft room..gosh these four days to the weekend are going to pass so quickly!

This week for the Sunday Stampers challenge, Hels Sheridan asked us to create a project with the theme of nature. Last week I had a melt pot day and one of the items I created was this sea horse. So Hels, I hope you don't mind if I combine this make for my Sunday Stampers 'offering' with my  design team creation this month for Emergency Crafters, where the theme is nautical,using two shades of blue....

This is a tag/wall hanger, was made using a really large tag that was lurking in my altered art box...it's one of those 'East of India' tags that comes with ribbon or labels and is very substantial in thickness and weight, so I see the packaging as part of the purchase (which I often do) and crying out to be 'beautified'

I used Spellbinders patchwork/mosaic M-Bossability and heavyweight white card to create the background and then inked all over with Broken China distress ink. I had some glittery netting in my stash box for the base layer, then some torn blue vellum and finally I stamped the nautical map from Sam Poole's Nautical Journey stamp set by Creative Expressions. I used broken china again, covered with clear embossing powder and then heat embossed. I then inked all over with the same ink.

The seahorse was made using a mould and some dark blue UTEE, which I melted in my melt pot and poured into the mould.

To finish off I added some rope and a few starfish from my stash box.

And finally...this week on Create and Craft, Hels is bringing the Melt Pot as a four day deal...I sent in a couple of emails and on the second show - I won! The artwork Hels made looks fabulous and I am really excited to have won it! Thanks for pulling out my name Hels...looks like sitting here whispering "Please let it be me" paid off! Lol

Thanks very much for dropping by and hop over to Emergency Crafters or Sunday Stampers  for full  deets of the challenges.

Love,
Carole X

Sunday Stampers week 232 - Tuesday 20th November

Good Morning Blog Friends!

Thank you so much for all your lovely comments about my Dreamweaver Tutorial, I'm really pleased you liked it and found it easy to follow, I hope some of you will have a go, it really is a fab technique. Welcome also to my new follower and thank you so much for joining me on my crafty journey!

I've been missing a few days, because I simply ran out of 'made' projects, or at least ones I had photographed. I simply can't make enough cards or projects for a daily post, certainly not at the moment...tis the season for catching up with friends and relatives outside work, so less time in the craft room! I've also been busy with Design Team makes - I am really excited about my next Fantastic Ribbons one, it took ages but I really like it -and that's all I'm saying for now!

I did however make my Sunday Stampers project for this week, actually on Sunday! This week, after working with Tim Holz's new stamps (Did you hear his phone call when Hels was on C&C last week? Wow!!), one set featuring the most amazing face, Hels set us the task of creating a project with a face.

This led to a frantic search through my stamps and I found three....an Inventor from a Steampunk set that I've used a lot, a 'Venetian' lady that I only recently bought, haven't used and am not 'sure' about and this one that I finally decided to use: 'rocket scientist' from Paper Artsy. I have had this very small stamp for years and never used it...so this had to be the time!

So, I've made a grungy steampunky tag...to begin with I smeared Antique Bronze Distress Stain over the tag, followed by  a  mix of Vintage Photo, Tea Dye and Wild Honey  distress inks. I then went all around the edge with the distress stain.

Next I stamped randomly across the tag using the Thomas Edison quote from Sam Poole's Vintage Inventor stamp set by Creative Expressions (at this point I was still poised to use the face of the inventor from that set). For those of you not familiar with the set and are interested, the quote actually reads:

"I have not failed 10,000 times, I have found 10,000 ways that do not work". 

I wanted it to be quite faded so I stamped a few times on scrap paper before inking the tag.

I stamped the 'Rocket Scientist' using black Archival ink, which I then heat embossed using black embossing powder. It's actually quite a 'grainy' stamp with lots of black areas and it embossed really well. The photo doesn't really show how raised it is in reality and the result very tactile.

The word 'Inventor'  and the light bulb from the Sam Poole set were stamped next. I coloured the bottom part of the bulb with brushed pewter distress stain and then inked the word and the bulb with Vintage Photo - then - although it doesn't really show here, I opened my new pot of Ranger Rock Candy Crackle paint and brushed it quite thickly over both the bulb and the word. Again, pictures don't do it justice, it is really fab stuff, I can't stop running my fingers over the cracks!

The cog is part of a 'Special Touch' mask that I inked with Perfect Medium before running through the Grand Calibur and then heat embossed using  a black sparkly embossing powder. I cut it out and just arranged it at the side. To finish off I added some Ranger pewter brads from my stash box and some ribbon and lace which I grunged up a bit with distress inks.

Phew! That was a lot of description for such a little tag!

Thanks for stopping by,

Carole X

Sunday Stampers week 230 - Weds 6th November

Hello Blog Friends,

I'm later posting today, because it's my no work day...hence crafting day...and I wanted to get my project for this week's Sunday Stampers made!

This week Hels has set the theme of  'blue' for the challenge, so to be seasonal, I thought 'ice blue' and made this large tag/hanger...

 First of all I cut a large tag shape from linen effect card and stamped a snowflake randomly all over it with Perfect Medium. Then I inked all over the tag with a mix of these distress inks: Peacock Feathers, Broken China and Faded Denim..these creates a resist against the stamped images (which in reality are much more defined and visible than the photo would have you believe!).

I then cut a piece from a double-sided adhesive sheet, peeled off one side and stuck it to a sheet of card, which was used to cut the snowflakes from Spellbinders Snowflake Pendant 2010. The die-cuts were then dipped into Clear Micro Glass Beads before sticking to the tag.

A wide piece of seam binding was then cut in half to give it a frayed finish and I stamped 'Jingle Bells' along it with Broken China distress ink. To finish off I added a Vintage ribbon double bow and some little bells!

Hope you like this and thanks for stopping by...I am hoping to finish off my 'general' Christmas cards this afternoon...wish me luck!

Carole X