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Archive for 2016

Last Post Of 2016

That’s nearly it for 2016, never to be seen again.

Ahhh but the memories remain and I really hope that 2016 has left you with some good ones.

On this very special day of the year my memories always return to my Mum and Dad and a family tradition that we used to follow.

Mum being Scottish and very traditional we had to call the last day of the year Hogmanay.  My fondest memory of this day is ‘First Footing’.

Just before midnight mum would shove dad out the door with a lump of coal in his hand (plus various other items) only letting him back in when New Year had struck.  Although we all laughed at the time because it seemed so silly I really do miss doing this.

For my last post of the year I am showing one favourite make from each month of 2016 starting with January.

January – February – March

21Shirley 1

April – May – June

Mr Cool11

July – August – September

1Steam Punk2

October – November – December

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Can you see I love colour???

Shirl

Hope Everyone Is Still Enjoying Christmas!!!

Last week Dot and I were creating some backgrounds with the Gelli Plate, nothing else just creating backgrounds.  Then she got so tired and went to bed.

Yuk … that time difference really mucks about with our crafty time!!!

Carried on crafting and below are just two of the backgrounds which I made.  Turned out super cool, so decided to forge ahead and work on the left hand picture.

So from this …..

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came this ….

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Absolutely love the Gelli plate and how it works but who had it for about 4 years before it came out of the packet?

Shame on me!!!

Wow how much lovely crafty time did I miss out on by leaving it on the shelf?????

Reason it stayed on the shelf was because the first time I used it I was at Crafty Friend’s house and we used hers.

Ahhhh but we used it with ink and Shirley totally didn’t like the result it gave so mine stayed on the shelf, unused, still in the packet, for all that time.

Saw a video, about a year ago, where they were using paint so took it out of the packet and had a go.   Whoa …. what a difference it made and since then I have never looked back, use it so much now.

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The owl is a stamp by Sheena Douglas called The Wise Owl.

Shirl

Shabby Chic Betsy

Can you tell how much I’m in love with these wooden wall hangings?

When teaching my classes I always have a finished piece of work to show plus I also start another to make along with them but never seem to finish it.

Started this wall hanging in the class but only got as far as the background being completed before I had to discard and help the girls.

Sat and finished it this morning but alas no snowman or penguins.  Used another stamp from Stampotique called Betsy.

The stamp has a lot of edgy bits (think she got wet and is shaking herself) which I didn’t want.  That’s when the reverse masking technique came into play and hey presto no wet drips hanging from her.  Also added a few embellishments.

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Andrew loved my snowman wall hanging so much that he took it into work and hung it up for some Christmas spirit.

andrews-work-place

Shirl

Class Christmas Wall Hanging Meets FSC

FSC is all about ‘Anything Goes’ this month which was picked by moi.

Combined this Christmas wall hanging with my Saturday class and my DT piece for FSC.   Definitely been a bit cruel to the girls this week, made them stamp and paint onto a wooden plaque, no stamping onto tissue paper or using the Misti as a cushion … they just had to go for it!!!!

Bought a few plain wooden plaques from a little craft shop in Gorey called Different Strokes Art & Craft, Sara the owner is soooo helpful everytime I pop in.

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Firstly we very lightly finger spread some gesso over the edges of the wood but left the middle clear.

Created the skyline with a mixture of paints and Marvy Le Plume brush markers.  You could use any brush markers it just happens they were the first I picked up.

Because I own quite a few different makes of brush markers – Marvy Le Plume, Stampin Up, Tombo, Copics, Promarkers, Tim Holtz – to name a few – well I have been crafting a long time lol … I tend to just use whatever comes to hand first.

Very disappointed with the Tim Holtz brush markers as some have dried up plus they have very rarely been used.  Definitely a waste of money in my book and to make matters worse Stampin Up had the same problem but fair play to them they apologised and took them off the market.

The Marvy Le Plume and Tombo are the oldest of my sets (probably bought these 15/16 years ago) but they have never dried out and work every time.  Can highly recommend both of these makes.

Stamps are from Stampotique Originals called The Crew and Snowman.

Stampotique has to be my favourite quirky stamps of all time.  How terrified do those little penguins look of that snowman???

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Entering the above for The Artistic Stamper Challenge – Christmas

Because FSC is an Anything Goes challenge this month you get a bonus card showing from me.  Quite a pop art looking make don’t you think?

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Bought my first lot of dylusions paints whilst home, first time of using them with some Dina Wakley stamps – All The Gals and Positive Women.

Would really love it if you hopped on over to see all the DT’s work as they are simply stunning.  Also don’t forget that the winner of this challenge has $20 to choose anything they like from Flonz’s store.

Shirl

Andy Skinner Back On Hochanda

 Didn’t buy a thing when Andy was last on Hochanda in August because I bought a lot of DecoArt products from The Craft Channel when he aired there last year

He’s back on Hochanda today showing some different goodies but this time round, not sure how it happened, but things just fell into my basket.

Hope they get here before Christmas so that I can have a play.

Totally been using the other goodies just never get around to showing anything made with them.

Sandra this is definitely grunged up and yes my fingers were twitching to distress the edges on the last card – your comment made me laugh.

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As soon as my goodies arrived this was my very first project which made me extremely happy as it turned out not too bad for a first go.

Andy was at the other channel on 22nd October 2015 so this has to be at least a year old.

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Shirl

Batch Making Christmas Cards After Class

For my Saturday class this week we made another Christmas card.

Loved how crisp and clean the card looked so after everyone had gone home I made a batch of them ready to send out to friends and family.

So glad I decided to do refresher courses with the girls and revisit some of the old techniques that we have already covered.

I was just a little stunned that the girls could not remember that I taught the spotlighting technique to them a few years back.

Love this technique as there are so many ways that you can spotlight certain areas.

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Everything was in front of me on the table so grabbed my camera and took a few step by step photos.

My Misti is over a year old now and it has revolutionised my stamping especially as I have Rheumatoid Arthritis.

The only draw back has always been its limitations in the size of paper you can use and it can also be a bit cumbersome.

It had to happen that someone would hop on the band wagon and invent a tool that would eliminate this problem.

Wahooooo! My Saturday girls and I have all put our orders in for the new:

Rare Earth Load N Fold Solid Stamping Tool Set.

Smaller, more manageable and – the best bit – you can use any size paper you want … yayyyy!!!

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Best part of making these cards was the white embossing of the trees and then inking with green ink.

A few splatters of white paint before punching out with a stamp punch from SU.

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Shirl

Wobbly Head Doll

Whilst having a Skype session with Dot yesterday Mr Postie delivered some Crafters Companion stamp sets.

Of course a girl just has to have a play right away and this quick card was born.

Only one problem with these stamps, they come unmounted … would rather have a choice like PaperArtsy and pay extra for a mounted set.

OK so I’m lazy!!!!!

wobbly-head-doll

The stamped image from PaperArtsy reminds me of those dolls which have their heads on coiled wire and they wobble like crazy.

Mixed my media again – this time it was inks and paints.

Also the other mix of stamps which found their way onto this card are from darkroom door, Star and French Script  … stamping heaven.

Shirl

Strictly Come Dancing

Totally love Strictly Come Dancing!!!!

Yesterday and today was a total disaster with trying to Skype Dot.  Technology is great when it works!!!!

Tried to show her what I was making but not sure if she saw anything.

Here it is sweetie hope you like!!!

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Inks used are Ripe Persimmon for the background with two different embossing folders.

How bold are those numbers?  They are from another one of my new PaperArtsy sets # HP1604EZ.

Dancing girls are from an old Indigo Blu stamp called Dancing Children.

As you can see only used two girls from the middle and did some paper piecing for the dresses.  Coloured their shoes with paint.

Shirl

Clare’s Birthday Card

 Clare as you know is my DIL but no worries about her seeing this as she never checks out my blog.

Whilst home recently she saw the quirky PaperArtsy stamp sets I bought and loved them, so it was only fitting to put a couple on her card.

Stamped with Dolly Mix Fresco Finish paint around the edges then used a mixture of paint and other colouring mediums for the Zinski Art stamps numbers are 03 and 01.  JOFY 09 also came into play by way of the leaf and a little flower in the girl’s hands.

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Christmas is such a magical time and like most people I love it and think it is the best time of the year.

Unfortunately Christmas cards are not my favourite things to make.

The girls in my Saturday class this week had a surprise because that’s just what we made … a Christmas card!!!!

Designed the front to be clean and fresh looking because when opened it’s the inside that holds the wow factor.

Used gold embossing powder for the Christmas tree which was also covered with stickles and white fluffy stuff and the deck the halls sentiment was gold embossed.  For the middle pretty Sarah Kay stamps were used with stickles added to their hats.

Some of the Sarah Kay stamps remind me of Sun Bonnet Sue (patchwork quilting) where you see no face only a hat.

Check out this quilt that I made for Amber some years ago it’s a Sun Bonnet Sue Through The Year.

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Shirl

Calling This One Mr Goofy Meets FSC

FSC is all about ‘Tis The Season’ this month which my uber-talented team mate Dot picked as the theme.

Dot explained that we could have either Autumn or Winter as our season … Autumn called to me.

Definitely time for those sun shades.

Let me tell you, I kid you not when I say that this pic is nowhere near as vibrant as the card actually looks, sorry about the glare.

goofy

Made the background with paints and a leaf stencil which was cut to size before placing onto the card.

Stamped Mr Goofy onto the background so that little elements of him fell onto the card.

Stamp used is from one of my new sets … I say sets because I bought heaps of these whilst home recently.

As you know I love to go to the The Craft Barn when home and sooooo lucky this time round that Chris Dark  was altering a gorgeous box so I booked in … hoping to put pics up later this week.

Quirky stamps are absolutely my thing … Stampotique are one of my all time faves … but I can see me falling in love with these PaperArtsy ones just as much.

Other stamps used are Studio 490 – Tales Of Art and An Eye For Art.

Would really love it if you hopped on over to see all the DT’s work as they are simply stunning.  Also don’t forget that the winner of this challenge has $20 to choose anything they like from Flonz’s store.

Shirl