Just thought I would share with you some projects from 2011
JANUARY – FEBRUARY – MARCH
APRIL – MAY – JUNE
JULY – AUGUST – SEPTEMBER
OCTOBER – NOVEMBER – DECEMBER
Archive for 2011
Saffron With Added Sparkle
It’s a special preview day of the freebie image called SAFFRON so a few of the Design Team and some Special Guests have produced an amazing array of inspiration for you all to feast over. You will need to have a peek HERE to see each of their magical creations.
I made this Centre Stepper Card … love these … for an adorable and amazing little girl … my granddaughter Lauren.
Saffron was printed onto acetate and different coloured glitter was applied to the back of the image so she really sparkled and shone. I love this effect it’s perfect for a little girl who loves her bling and Lauren certainly does. Because the image is so cute and pretty I decided not to over embellish the card so kept her sweet and innocent looking.
Couldn’t resist playing around with the card in gimp after I had made it and the second image is what I came up with 😎
Entering for Little Darlings Challenges – Cold
Postcards
Just sharing a quick post with you and it’s all about Darcy’s Postcard Challenge for 2012. Intrigued well check it out HERE or check out the link on the right hand side bar for you to see why I am sooooo excited about this.
My name is down for the challenge so today I am showing you my first lot of pics for the album I have nearly created so that my 52 postcards can be stored.
This is a first for me painting with Gesso … will be using this more and more me thinks, have to thank my dear friend Brenda for giving me the confidence to start using this product … thanks sweetie.
The first pic is showing some album pockets already painted with Gesso, 2nd pic shows the rest of the pockets waiting to be painted. and the 3rd pic shows 3 of my pockets completed and raring to go. One even has the postcard in there just waiting to see what the first country will be … most will be ready for 2nd January!!!!! I still have the front cover to make but not sure what road I am going to take when it comes to the decorating … any suggestions greatly appreciated. 😉
Just a few more close up pics of the completed folders. First pic shows the front of the folders and 2nd pic shows the folders turned over, 3rd is a close up. Each folder will house two postcards.
and more pics, I am sooo enjoying this project that I just want to share!!!! Loads and loads of stamping my fave pastime the postcard stamp is one from Penny Black called … wait for it … POSTCARD.
To find out the names I have given my characters and where they met you will have to pop back on 2nd January and all will be revealed.
You will hopefully see the album all put together … if not every page completed with embellishments. That’s the beauty of this challenge you have all year to complete. yayyyyy.
Entering for the Penny Black Saturday Challenges – Make A Tag … I have made one and it is on pic #5 and a close up on #7
The Stamp Man Challenge – Techniques … first for me using Gesso.
Pretty Buttons
Alice is going to love this card with Buttons on the front as she adores cats.
Buttons is just one of the adorable images from Little Miss Muffet Stamps and I used him for my card at Little Miss Muffet Challenges.
The challenge is an easy peasy one this time round … ANYTHING GOES also go and feast your eyes on what the other DT sweeties have come up with every piece is stunning.
Guess what Little Miss Muffet are having a DT Call and that’s not all there is a CUTE FREEBIE up for grabs that you don’t want to miss out on so pop on over to the site and find out all the amazing details.
Buttons was printed onto acetate and on the wrong side of the picture PVA glue was added in stages with coloured glitter. If possible when you have finished you should ideally leave overnight to dry. He looks adorable on the card and just right for any little girl.
Here is a little peek at the Freebie that is being given away and what I have done with her you will have to pop back here next Thursday to see the rest. 😉
Travel Around The World
Travelling Around The World is this fortnight’s theme at Fashionable Stamping Challenges. Marina from Cottage Crafts is giving away a beautiful Artemio stamp to the winner so no excuses this fortnight just get out all those stamping goodies and have a play with us.
The amazing Fashionettes have excelled themselves on the catwalk this week and their creations are gorgeous so hop on over and have a peek through the curtains at all the stunning artwork. My DT piece is a centre stepper card made especially for a man in mind.
This time round the card was all experimental for me because I wanted to showcase embossing folders and masks in a different way on a card and lucky for me it worked quite well … eh, I think so but not sure what you will think 😀 because I usually get comments saying … blah, blah, different … not sure if this is a good or a bad thing.
Maybe it’s because I don’t really have any particular style with cardmaking, I just love to play and experiment, whether it be a pretty card, which I adore making …(but couldn’t just churn out the same old thing, cutesy image, flowers, ribbon in the middle) … an album or manly, the fun of making and being pleased with how it turns out is good for me … but hey everyone is different and it truly is whatever works for you.
Playing around in gimp after I have made a project is also another thing I love to do and at the moment experimenting with layers is my flavour of the month as you can see by all the little scrolls around my pic … will probably tire of this soon as I think it makes the pics look busy 🙂
For my new technique I made a slit at the top of the middle panel on the card and slid the TH embossing folder from Artful Muse through (your slit should only be a teensy teensy fraction bigger than the embossing folder you are using) eg., TH folder measures … 7.2 cm width so the slit should be 7.4 cm … picture 2 should give you an idea of what I mean, then put through your die cutting machine (it will only go through one way :wink:) unless you are lucky enough to have a beast of a machine called the Big Shot Pro … which I had for Christmas last year … or a Grand Calibur from Spellbinders.
Next I used the Compass Mask from Creative Expressions and fiddled around with each section of the card so it looked fairly close to a circle then sponged through with a Soft Suede ink pad from Stampin Up. Also inked, very very carefully the Old Jalopy Car.
Technically this is the second time I have used this technique below is a pic of a Christmas card that I made in October but never showed.
Also showed Claire, Irene and Brenda this technique … cool eh 😎
Entering into The Stamp Man Challenge – Techniques … use a technique you have not used before
Hiding In My Craft Room – Embossing Technique
2012 Shopping
Little Miss Muffet Challenges this week want to see Buttons and Ribbons so I combined the challenge to make 5 little books.
Now why would I want to make all these books you ask … well … 4 of us have decided to go to the big crafting event at Ally Pally next year … real name is Alexandra Palace best crafting event ever. To ease the cost we are saving a set amount each month and I have recycled some little cheapo writing pads to give the girls one each to keep a check of how much they have saved. So exciting and also meeting up with a few of the girls from Fashionable Stamping Challenges for coffee and maybe … if you twist my arm … a cakieeeee.
Back to the little books, what better image to use on the front but the shopping image called Jada, for the inside I downloaded info about the craft show and pasted onto one of the pages. Only took a photo of three books because apart from my book the others are all the same.
I coloured Jada first then cheated and scanned her in for more copies to put on the other books … no way was I going to colour all those images.
Time to pop on over to see what the other DT’s have made you will be blown away, they are adorable.
Wow, wait until you see the image we will be showcasing next week, only word to describes it … Scrummyyyyy.
Late Happy Birthday Clare
This is not a blog candy this is a look at my birthday goodies which Andrew has bought for me.
Showing you these because last year all that fluffy white stuff stopped me getting anything on time … did not even have a birthday card to open on the day boo hoo.
Not so this time everything Andrew ordered came and also displayed with the goodies are my cards which all came today so what fun I am going to have opening them tomorrow … yippeeeeee.
Late as usual this time with Clare’s birthday card … ahhh but … I have made her something very special this time an album. Made it as my DT project for the Fashionable Stamping Challenges who want to see this fortnight …
Dressmaking/Corsets/Accessories
See what you can win from Marina at Cottage Crafts who is the sponsor for this challenge .
Had a ball with this Clare and loved every minute of making it, left you loads of pages to put your photos.
Where you can see the … A Stitch In Times Saves Nine … the flap lifts up to reveal more stamping and there are also lots of pockets with tags. In fact there is an awful lot going on in this album
The creations the design Team have made for this challenge is absolutely amazing, check them all out here.
Bandit Boy Tom
Love this time of the week because I get to show the new images at Little Miss Muffet Stamps, Barbara has brought to us 4 new images.
My Centre Stepper card has been made with a Scalloped Edged Craftwork Cards card …
bit of a mouthful … working out how to do it wasn’t too bad … using the new image Bandit Boy Tom.
My Card looks different from The challenge blog because I wasn’t happy with the photo taken last night so re-did it this morning.
For even more inspiration click here to see all the lovely Design Team creations.
New Header
At last phewwwww, been wanting to do this for ages … what I hear you say …
just knew you wouldn’t see it.
Roll those eyes upwards and have a mosey at my new blog header.
Took me most of the day Sunday, working in Gimp and learning how to use layers … really pleased with my very first attempt …
Andrew was also a little chuffed with what I achieved because he knows what a complete luddite I am when it comes to learning something new.
I know the buttons don’t match now so that is next on my to do list.
All the images used in the header are from either The Graphics Fairy or Magic Moonlight Free Images
Truth be known trolling through these blogs for images to use was just amazing, that probably took up the bulk of my time deciding which ones to use.
Gratitude/Thanks
Making Thank You cards are my fave and the challenge this week at Little Miss Muffet Challenges is Gratitude/Thanks … easy peasy.
This is the card I made and the gorgeous image is Peppermint as Red Riding Hood. I know she’s not red!!! 😛
Went for a soft pastel feel for her so I used a colouring medium that has not seen the light of day in years … Inscribe Soft Pastels.
Now everyone is raving on about the Pans Pastels but these little guys do the same job at a fraction of the price … also if you buy the Pans and can’t get on with them you have lost a lot of money … where as if you buy Inscribe they are a fraction of the price and do the exact same thing. I used the Cut-n- Dry Pen Nibs for the colouring.
The main mat is vellum which was layered onto a leaf mask, then I ran through the Big Shot to emboss, stamped the edges with one of those little tapestry thingies.
Little Miss Muffet has an adorable range of images and the design team have excelled themselves again with such inspiration for you to have a peek at.
