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.

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

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.

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???

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?

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.

It’s my son’s birthday at the end of the month and these are two of his birthday cards.  No worries, he never even looks at my blog and I know for sure that these cards are too busy for him … but what the heck I loved making them.

Whenever I am home for JP’s birthday (which sadly isn’t often enough) I tend to make cards for the grandchildren to give to their dad and also make one for Claire to give him.  The grandkids can have this one, Alex and Amber will love it … not sure about Lauren (or JP)… she loves CAS like her DAD.  They both would prefer the card that I made here.

Entering the above for the Stampotique Designers Challenge 258 where they want to see a Favourite Quote.

Definitely love this quote as all my art starts off as complete chaos.  Did loads of freehand doodling around the edges and chose these two adorable chaps.  One is called Topher and the other Newton.  Stamped onto copy paper then cut out ready for my masks but decided that they went so well with the background that I just stuck them on as they were.

The second card will be the one that Andrew and I give him which means I have one more to make for Clare … mmmmm … maybe make Clare’s card a CAS one.

Then I have an 80th Birthday card to make for Clare’s dad.

These little guys looked better coloured in.  How adorable do those dogs look, bought them here?

Poor Mr Weasel was one of the first Stampotique stamps I ever purchased but not sure I should have cut his legs off to sit him on the wall!!!!

Had a Skyping session with Irene yesterday where we played around with AquaTint Inks on a card.

This tag came about after our Skyping session because I still had some AquaTint Inks left in my palette which I wanted to use up.  Hence this very vibrant looking tag, used the brights set of inks so it was bound to be colourful.

Stampotique Designers Challenge have a theme at the moment which asks for Bright Colours.  This is definitely wear your sunglasses time when looking at it.  Used this cute stamp again called Lovely are the sound  (previous tag) but gave him a hat this time round.