GC83 Polar animals Challenge

For the polar animals challenge I used a photo of Knut, a bear that was abandoned by its mother and brought up in the Berlin Zoo by zookeepers. He was a real cutie, and drew a lot of fans who queued for hours to see him. I have cut the top part of the photo away, inked the edges, and mounted it onto a tag which has been distressed with TH *faded jeans* and white embossing powder. I cut the pic of Knut a tad wider than the tag and just stuck down the edges, so that Knut seems to stand in front of the tag.
I stamped a circle with resist ink to make the moon. To finish it I inked the edges, and added a few stars and a snowman charm.
It was, as always, fun to make. Thanks for looking!

Fairy arch for *Gothic Arches* Challenge

This time I have made something a bit different for the fairy challenge, and managed to use up some things which have been slumbering in my cupboard for a loooooooong time. But I thought for a fairy challenge, they would be just right. The background has been distressed with TH inks in gradient colours, and has then been covered with acetate printed with trees and then outlined with glitter. The fairy was from a decoupage sheet that I won from a blog candy, so I inked the edges, layered her, and added some ice blue stickles. The top arch has been cut from a scrap of paper, embossed with a TH folder to give it depth, inked with faded jeans and then rubbed with a bit of stickles, too. Added two punched birds, two prima flowers with mini buttons and a few tiny glitter flowers. It's nice to try something different once in a while, and it will be sent to a nice little girl who will be 9 next month and who just loves fairies, especially when they are pink, pale blue and glittery!
Thanks for looking and have a nice day!

Ginger gems, a LIIU challenge & a lazy day.....

Today I had great problems leaving my bed, as I had a bad back on the one side - oooops, how can you have your back on one side???? And I don't mean my backside either....
OK, I'll start again. This morning my back was hurting. This made it difficult to roll out of my bed, but after my first coffee everything started to feel better....
And then -
And then - I saw I had been chosen again as a *Ginger gem* for my *white glitter*challenge entry - woohoo! Thanks to the team for the inspiration and encouragement, we have a great bunch of ladies there!


Yesterday evening I made a card for the LIIU Challenge #8, anything goes, and as the theme over on Gingersnaps was beverages, used that theme again. The background has been distressed with TH *Victorian velvet* & *Leather* glimmer mist from *Tattered Angels*, before randomly stamping it with a justrite stamp *Is there really life before Coffee?* and using Adirondack *espresso*. The tea cups have been stamped with a freebie from the *Craft Stamper* magazine, cut out, coloured and hand doodled, and then decoupaged. The vintage lady pic is from LaBlanche, the metal corners also. I placed a piece of brown card underneath it, which forms a little hiding place on the back into which I can pop an invitation to coffee.
It was, as always, fun to make - especially with this theme - and the rest of the day I have spent daydreaming, thinking about what I might do next and generally avoiding housework.
Thanks for dropping in, and have a good day!

GC85: Chestnut Theme Challenge - Hot Beverages

For me there can be NO discussion about which hot beverage I like the best - it was, is, and will be - COFFEE!! I love the smell and the colour of it, love watching it coming out of my coffee maker, and have a large collection of different coffee cups and mugs. The first thing I do everyday after rolling out of bed is to stagger to my machine, switch it on, pop in a capsule and watch the aromatic brown fluid run into the foamy milk....
For this challenge I decided to make a LO. The background paper is from K & Co *Neapolitan chocolate daisies flat*. The die-cuts are from Sizzix, and the wings from Melissa Frances.
I took a photo of an antique cup and saucer which I inherited from my Great- Aunt, natually filled with cappuccino. And I do want to emphasise that the dollop of extra cream on top was only for the photo. Well, I did drink it afterwards, I couldn't waste it, could i??
I printed the photo 3 times, and cut out 2 of the pics and decoupaged them. The coffee in the top cup hs been glazed with glossy accents and dotted with some stickles in cinnamon. The background is a ceramic card, distressed with TH Victorian velvet and Adirondack *espresso*, and sprayed with *leather* from *My Tattered Angels*. The card has been edged with die-cut lace which has been distressed to match. The text stamp is part of a *Justrite* coffe stamp set, and has been edged with a border made with a cuttlebug die and embossing folder. The leaves and bling are from Prima.
This was another fun challenge, for which I drank lots of coffee for inspiration.
Thanks for looking, and have a good day!

Update!
Last night I had the *brilliant idea* to make this into a canvas. Took a 15x15 one, distressed it with inks and sprays to match, and mounted the LO in the middle. Now I have a new picture for my kitchen wall, and it is hanging near the coffee maker!

Clockwork Orange- or God made time - He didn't say anything about clocks.....

A couple of years ago I altered a canvas and added a clock. It was in pink, with some blue and purple splodges, some glitter fragments, and didn't really look bad. But I couldn't find the right wall to hang it on, so it ended up in the corner of my bedroom...Last week I had a visit from a friend. She LOVED that clock, and said it was ALMOST perfect (flippin' cheek - my things not quite perfect??!) But then she explained, her bedroom was decorated in yellow and orange, and if she could find a clock like that in orange tones, she would be sooooooooo happy. Tada! Now she's got one. Took another canvas, distressed, daubed and sprayed it with orange, yellow, pink, blue, some adirondack wild plum, indeed, everything I could get my hands on to make it more or less the right colour, added sparkly bits and fragments again, stuck down with mod-podge and glossy accents, and added a floral frame to fence in the clock. Yesterday she rang up to say that her clock arrived.... And she thinks it's absolutely perfect, except that it ticks a bit loud....well, I suppose you can't have everything, can you? Thanks for looking, and have a nice weekend!

GC84- snow pine and mahogany

Just a short post today as I still need to tidy up a bit before my weekend visitor comes. I made this little present box in CD-size to house a mini album I'm making for a friend. The rose has been stamped with TH aged mahogany and a no name dark green, because my TH pine is still pining away under one of the many - as yet unsorted - piles of Xmas bits and bobs that are still lurking around. Then it was clear embossed before water colouring it with some ink and adding a bit of glitter. It has been cut out, decoupaged and matted onto paper scraps in white, wine red and dark green, and I have fixed a green ribbon under the paper so that the ends can be tied at the back. Added three dark red roses - thanks Netty! and that was it. It was, as always, fun to make it, but now I have to start my final clear up....Have a nice weekend, and take care! Thanks for looking in!

2 Tags and a LO, freezing rain and icy roads....

As I dragged myself out of bed an hour ago I heard on the radio that the rain which started in the night has fallen onto the icy roads and caused *Blitz* ice, and that it would be better not to drive if it's not necessary. So, I have changed my plans and will get the shopping this afternoon now, and hope that by then the ice will be washed away. In the meantime, I have time for a bit of crafting, blogging and I should find time for a little h*******k, don't even like to write that nasty word!
It is unfortunately necessary though, as I have a weekend visitor.
Yesterday I made 2 tags for an extra challenge in the Gingersnaps group, it's a recipe challenge for 2011 - 2 stamps - 0 diecuts - 1 ribbon - 1 piece of bling, so the tags have been made to this recipe. The backgrounds have been distressed with TH inks onto recycled card cut from my old calendar. Had to resist the temptation to stick more onto them, recipe is recipe, but it was fun to do.






The LO is a 12x12" print of a photo that I took from my balcony while the big snow was here. Printed a caption on it, used a few left over Xmas decorations and some ancient rub ons, which took ages to stick as they seem to have dried out.
It is a very simple LO, no stamping, no serious work,just for fun and just the expression of a heartfelt wish for warmth, sunshine, green leaves and flowers!
Thanks for looking and have a nice day!