Blogging again

Well it has been a while since I put anything new on my blog. I have been busy, just not doing crafty things!
I have been busy over the past few days doing some ATCs, Skinnies and Tags for a swap. I thought I would blog them before I sent them off.

These ATCs are designed around the theme - Oriental. I used distress inks to colour the backgrounds with the spray technique - layer colours of ink onto a craft sheet, mist with water then lay the card down on the inks getting a good coverage of colours.

I used the same ink pads to stamp the images. The coin was stamped then embossed with thick embossing powder then stamped again while the powder was still liquid. The stamps were from Montarga, Rubbadubbado, Kaiser Clear Stamps and Tanda.


I used the same background technique for the next set of ATCS (Theme - Time). Again, I stamped the images with the same inks that I used for the backgrounds, except for the word stamps. The stamps used here were from Montarga and Paperartsy.

These skinnies were based on a theme - Scenic, which I took literally! The ones on the left and right used a photo that I "photoshopped" to provide a mountainous background. The pictures were taken earlier this year when we visited Mount Cook. Distress inks used to colour the pictures and again to stamp the images (except for the cats!). The bird and butterfly were stamped then cut out and mounted. The middle skinny used a Japanese picture which I coloured using Tombow markers then layered onto Japanese paper. I punched flowers from the same paper (which is why they are hard to see!) and added a bling flower to the centre of each one. Skinnies are made from a 3" x 5" piece of card.

These tags were made for a swap with the theme Paris/France. Used distress inks to colour the backgrounds and stamp the images. The tag on the left has a flower made from scrunched up circles of paper. The centre tag is embossed on the grey bits with weathered wood distress embossing powder and has a deliciously rough texture. The tag on the right used a kaiser stamp on the background, with another kaiser stamp (chandelier) and a paperartsy stamp. The tickets were cut with a TH die and stamped with ticket stamps I bought at the Craft Barn, then attached with a brad.

I really enjoyed playing with these, but I must make some more cards!!

Swaps and more

Had a really busy day yesterday finishing off some projects I was working on during the week. Again, have used some more of my new stamps, working towards achieving the challenge I set myself last week!
Lots to Do Revisited is having a number of swaps to celebrate the launch of the new forum. Hilda very kindly allowed me to take part so I got busy with skinnies, ATCs and Tags.

The theme for these skinnies was All Stitched Up so I was able to get out the sewing machine and play with that again too. The stamps for these are from a Darkroom Door set I bought some time ago. I used my Copic markers to add some colour to the images then distress inks for the edges. The centre one, I added lace to and some stick-on bling. The skinny on the left needed something extra, so I added some fancy eyelets and tied bows with raffia. I added some buttons with raffia ties to the skinny on the right.

The theme for the tags was Quotations, and I used the new Paperartsy stamps I bought at the Craft Barn. The theme of Time was carried through on all of the tags and I kept to the same colour scheme as well. I used Tattered Rose, Victorian Velvet and Chipped Sapphire distress inks and sprayed with Frost Tattered Angels glimmer mist. To finish these off, I added some bits of very loosely woven stiff fabric (don't know what it is called!) and some yarns, both of which were in the stash box from Sue.

The ATC theme was Art and I used the same stamps I had used on a previous Art ATC series that I did for another swap, but I used a different colour scheme this time. I used yellow card and Wild Honey and Rusty Hinge Distress inks, then spritzed with gold and red glimmer mists.

At Wantage, as you know if you have been following this blog, we all had little challenges to do. Zoe gave us all a peg to do something with and I have been really struggling to get something done with it. But I went to the library the other day and picked up a book on altered art. Browsing through it, I was suddenly inspired!

This is the result. I first stamped a face on tissue and attached it to the head of the peg with Modge Podge. I added hair so she didn't look bald! The dress was made from a layer of tulle and a layer of lace that I glued together, then stitched around to form the dress. I stuffed the arms with dacron filling. I made an underskirt of a dusky pink which I also used on the flowers. The flowers were made from little circles of each of the fabrics, cut with pinking shears and finished off with a little flower shaped bead in the centre and kindyglitz around the edges. I also edged the dress with kindiglitz.
I finished Peggy off with a crown cut with my Cricut, coloured with Victorian Velvet and Pumice DI and pearl dots.

Now I just have my tin to finish - maybe today! It is nearly there, it is just that paint takes time to dry when it is cold!!

Today I am also going to do my first demonstration video. Watch this space!