Wednesday 29 May 2013

In the Fairy Tale Woods

Hi you all! It's back to normal here - cold, grey, wild and wet!
Hope it is better where you are!
The challenge over at Simon Says Stamp and Show is 'Into the woods', and for me that means the woods of the fairy tales, where everything is possible.
I have made a multi-layer card, where the middle layer is folded and fussy cut so that it pops out when the card is opened. The top layer is a sort of 'window'. I printed the back layer first, using stamps from Lavinia. The front has been stamped several times using a LaBlanche tree stamp in different green shades to give more depth, and then over-stamped with  Lavinia stamps in archival black, which once again gives depth to the picture. The middle 'pop-up' layer has been stamped with a unicorn, a magic door leading to - I wonder where? and more trees and plants which can't all be seen. Red Riding Hood and the talking deer are meeting each other here. How do I know it's a talking one? Ask it something, and you will see. The wise owl and another deer are keeping watch at the entrance to the Magic Wood, they don't let everybody in!










Also linking to the Anything Goes Challenge - make your own background
and Frilly and Funkie -holiday destinations through a window

I still need to perfect this sort of card model; when I have mastered it myself I will do a tutorial if anybody is interested.
Hope you enjoyed your journey into the land of magic!

Have a good day, take care and thanks for coming by!

Tuesday 28 May 2013

Tag Tuesday Tags

Hi you all!
They told us in the News yesterday that we have had the coldest and wettest May since they started recording the weather - funny, I would have noticed it even if they hadn't said anything! But today (Monday) it stayed dry, the sun came out, and it was quite pleasant. Let's see how tomorrow will be.

Here are my tags from the last three weeks, for R, S and T

R is for rust





S is for sea, shells, starfish, sunshine, seaweed - could be wishful thinking!




T is for time, type-fonts, typewriter, and travel, and also for three, tags and Tuesday:




and this week we have arrived at 'U'. U is, of course, for Mr Umbrella Man!
(I had to smuggle him in somewhere, didn't I?)



Have a good day, take care, and thanks a lot for coming by!




Sunday 26 May 2013

Vintage and roses

Hi you all!
I have made a Layout for the challenges at OOAH (photo) and Artful Times (vintage).
I have used a photo of my Great Aunt Fanny. I know I have used her photo a lot, I just like it! She loved pretty things, flowers - especially roses -,pink and wearing a flower in her hair, so I have tried to get all these things into the LO.
The background paper (prima) has been stamped with a rose motive  and my script stamp, both from LaBlanche . All other bits and bobs were in my stash. The photo has been cut with a Sizzix oval die.






I am also linking to Pan Pastels Challenge, 'bling it'

Have a good day you all, and thanks for coming by!

When will summer show her face?

 Hi you all. It's still really cold here, but, the weathermen have predicted that it will get warmer - it will also be very wet, windy and stormy, but I suppose we can't have everything!

The theme over at Moo-Mania is to make a storage or box for Moos. I have made another of my pocket books, and filled it with a selection of Moos. I used the leather look paper again for the covers.


 One day I might manage a photo with clean fingers!


I used designer papers from Anna Griffin.






And I have made some more journal pages for the 'Challenge yourself' theme at Art Journal Monthly. My challenge was to make something light and sunny to make up for the missing summer. Every time I painted something last week I wiped  the brushes and the remaining paint here, which gave me a basis which only needed a bit of background stamping / stenciling, and I used some Artemio stamps for the grass and plants over the green paint at the bottom of the pages. I added a little profile of summer, with flowers in her hair, and the two other figures made with stencils. I think a lot of us are asking ourselves the question I have asked! It was fun doing something a bit lighthearted this time!





I like how the colour used for the stencils has remained a bit transparent and still shows the background.


Here's wishing you all a great day, take care, and thanks a lot for visiting!

Saturday 25 May 2013

More mini books for Paper Saturdays

Hi you all! It's still very cold over here, hope it is warmer where you are!
Today is Paper Saturday at Manon's blog, and I am sharing 2 more little books I made. Each is made from a single sheet of 12x12" paper, and folded and cut a bit to bring it into book form. The spotty paper is from Graphics45, the other one from 7 Gypsies. The first one has been decorated with a spirit doll, and for the second one I used a wooden embellishment from crafty Emblies, which has been polished with Inka gold in copper. The covers have been varnished to make them more durable.






Have a good weekend, take care, and thanks a lot for coming by!

Thursday 23 May 2013

Make new from old

Hi you all! Greetings from freezing cold Rhineland, I never expected it to be like this at the end of May, so I have been crafting to keep myself warm - better than going out at the moment!
It's time for Paint Party Friday again, hosted as always by Eva and Kristin.

I have been busy painting a little spice-rack, which I found some months back in the paper recycling bin - where it shouldn't have been, as it's made of wood!  But anyway, thanks to whoever threw it in there! I painted it black, then gave it a coat of crackle varnish before painting again with white with a touch of green in it, and it developed lovely, big cracks! It wasn't quite green enough, so I distressed it with various shades of green DI.
Then the fun work began. I stamped some paper with flower motives from Crafty Individuals, using a little less ink than usual to give a faded look. I painted the flowers with a water brush and DIs in shabby shutters and crushed olive. I wanted it to look like old-fashioned wallpaper. I used various stamps to decorate the edges and the sides, using Archival Olive. Then I looked for scraps, bits and bobs and small creations to fill the shelves and decorate them. The rack is 9x7".




A view of the side panel showing the stamped script


The front edge stamped with a tiny flower motive


Crackle varnish on the watering can


One of my mini books and a tin


A heart from crafty emblies, painted, distressed and crackled for another project, and then not used, fitted here perfectly. The flower was on a present I got.


A little jar which held a free-sample of jam was pressed into action. The lid has been painted and then stamped, and the jar filled with little beads etc.
(The green thumb is not part of the decoration!)


A ribbon flower fitted perfectly on the top of the lid


A little die cut bird keeping an eye on things, and a vintage lace trim


The cameo has been mounted onto a bottle cap, which I painted black and distressed with distress EP






I really had fun altering this piece, and it will look good on my kitchen shelf (when I have tidied up a bit!)

I am linking to Fashionable Stamping Challenges (alter it)
Sugar Creek - use scraps and what you have (rack, background paper, glass jar,  mini-books etc)
Simon Says Stamp and show - use your favourite ink (Archival and green)
Pan Pastels - new beginning (for an old spice rack)

Have a great weekend, and thanks a lot for coming by!