LOVE TO CRAFT

Welcome back to Love to Craft - our last one for this year.   I'm sharing two of my journal pages with you today.  I find myself making less and less cards now as I just have no more room for them and I can't seem to sell or gift them.  I do love mixed media and with journaling and making little journal books I find my creative itch is well and truly scratched.

These are some pages from the Dina Wakely Ledger journal I treated myself to.  Normally I make my own journals out of old books but this is a much larger substrate and is challenging me to create bigger projects.  

I do find the pages a little bit too yellow for my liking so I always start off by covering them in a layer of gesso or paint just to tone them down a little but not completely cover them.  I still want to see some of that lovely writing. 

The main images I've used are from free papers from Shawn Petite.  She is very generous on her website offering us free papers and inspiration. I love to watch her and she was the first person to get me trying this new style of crafting. If you have not found Shawn on your travels I would urge you to go and have a look at her website here. 

I used old Cherry Pie Art stamps for some of the background - Tim Holtz gothic word stencil, a leaf stencil in the background, some texture paste and scribbles with my new calligraphy pen I'm trying out.  The Create word came from Visible Image stamps. 

MOVING ALONG WITH THE TIMES - #195 MASCULINE

Our challenge for you this month at Moving Along with the Times is on a theme of Masculine.  I've been playing with my Lavinia stamps recently and found myself looking at Magnus and thinking he is perfect for a more unusual masculine card. 

I created the background with the gel press and lots of dark broody Oxide inks - Black Soot, Chipped Sapphire, Wilted Violet and a touch of Salvaged Patina. I used Forest Moss for the grass and added some Lavinia mushroom stamps.  I stamped one of the trees from Lavinia Stamps and then added Magnus.  I went over him with some watercolour pencils just to offset the black of the Versafine ink a little bit.  The extra birds came from a Waffle Flower stamp set. 

PEARLY SPARKLES - #125 SPARKLE AND SHINE

Welcome back to another challenge from Pearly Sparkles and this month we are all about the Sparkle and Shine.  This should be quite easy as we move into the Festive season. 

With that in mind I chose to use the lovely Pipspell stamps from Lavinia Stamps.  I've created a tag as he will go on one of my granddaughter's presents as she loves things purple and sparkly.

I used the fabulous stencil from Lavinia stamps - I'd actually forgotten I had this and it was still in its packaging.  One of 4 stencils in a set called Autumn Mist.  I used Distress Oxide ink in Dusty Concord with a touch of Wilted Violet around the edges to create the moon. I inked the background in the same colours but kept them softer.  

I stamped Pipspell in the middle and added some mistletoe stamps by Tracy Evans Boutique Designs. 

I then added one of the Lavinia word stamps and white embossed it - I added glitter around the edges of the tag, yellow sparkle pen by Giotto for his lantern and Wink of Stella everywhere else to give more shine.   

ADDICTED TO STAMPS AND MORE - #529 - ANY OCCASION

I'm sharing an Autumnal card to day for our Any Occasion theme at ATSM.  I created the background with a soft layer of Distress Oxide Ink in Vintage Photo and then I used an old Creative Expressions leaf stencil and Dried Marigold Distress Ink.  My collaged panel uses stamps by Alison Bomber and the fragment leaf die by Tim Holts.  I stamped the word meadow onto some fabric. 

A great card just to cheer someone up because it's Autumn and most welcome after our hot summer here in Wales. 

I'm adding this into the following:

SSS Wednesday - AG 

Paper Funday - AG 

Crafty Gals - AG 

The Sisterhood of Crafters - Fall

I Spy - Autumn in the woods 

Unicorn - Autumn 

Make my Monday - Use orange 

SIMON SAYS STAMP MONDAY CHALLENGE - GUEST DESIGNER - TREES.

It's my final week as Guest Designer for Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge and it's been a real privilege to be part of this fabulous group again.  Our theme this week is Trees and I apologise in advance if my Christmas card is too soon for you in October but I couldn't resist using the wonderful Watercolor Trees by Tim Holtz for my card.

I started off with creating a background for my card with some Distress Oxide Inks in Frayed Burlap, Festive Berries and Antique Linen.    I then added some of Tim's Christmas collage paper as my background focus.

I layered some of Tim's Christmas Large Collage Strips to the side.  I loved the image of the lady with the Christmas Tree.  

My tree was stamped with Distress Ink and spritzed before stamping to give it a real water colour feel.  I used Peeled Paint for the first stamping and Rustic Wilderness for the second stamping.  The red details are Distress Ink Festive Berries with a touch of sparkle.  The sentiment is part of the same stamp set and it was what drew me to the set years ago as I had been looking for a lovely sentiment that just said O Christmas Tree.  I edged it with some Antique Linen Distress Oxide and Ground Espresso - my favourite brown ink.  I added a touch of cheesecloth from my stash behind the tag. 

I found the perfect sentiment in Tim's Christmas Sticker Book.  

These are the products I used:

Tim Holtz Stamps 

Watercolor Trees

Tim Holtz Ideaology

Christmas Collage Paper 

Christmas Sticker Book Noel 

Christmas Large Collage Strips 

Distress Inks

Peeled Paint 

Rustic Wilderness 

Festive Berries 

Distress Oxides

Frayed Burlap 

Festive Berries 

Antique Linen 

The lovely people over at Simon Says Stamp are offering one lucky participant a $25 gift voucher to spend at Simon Says Stamp.  A great opportunity to treat yourself to some new goodies. 

I'm adding this into the following:

AAA Christmas Cards - Traditional Christmas

Girlz Creative Christmas - AG

Peace on Earth Christmas 

SIMON SAYS STAMP MONDAY CHALLENGE GUEST DESIGNER - HALLOWEEN/SPOOKY

I'm delighted to be sharing my card with you for this weeks challenge at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge with the theme of Hallowe'en/Spooky.  I don't really celebrate Hallowe'en here in Wales as they do in the USA.  For me it's a time of remembering my family members who have gone before.  The original idea of leaving food out was for deceased family members to come and eat with us once again and over the years in the US that was changed into Trick or Treat.  I still remember the old ways so my card is a muted card hopefully spooky in nature.

I recently purchased from Simon Says Stamp the fabulous moon masks from Tim Holtz and this was the starting point for my card.  I used the solid circle first and used Distress Inks to create the night sky.  I added the moon part of the mask and used Distress Ink Pumice Stone.  I added some yellow sparkle around the outside of the moon to give a glow.

My creatures come from Lavinia Stamps. I used the fabulous owl looking down on the magical Ashfoot hare.  He was actually facing the wrong way for my project so I stamped him on some acetate and then added that to the card stock so he's facing the way I want.  I've also seen people do this with a brayer tool but I haven't tried that method yet.

I added some Lavinia foliage to the sides and lots of sparkle with some sparkle pens adding a touch of shooting stars with a white gel pen. 

The quotes come from Tim Holtz Clippings Sticker Book and were just perfect for the time of card I was going for.

These are the products I used for my card:

Distress Inks

Chipped Sapphire

Wilted Violet

Black Soot

Weathered Wood

Twisted Citron

Peeled Paint

Stamps from Lavinia

Owl

Ashfoot

Foliage

Tim Holtz Products

Moon Masks

Clippings Sticker Book 

Other

Sparkle Pens

I look forward to seeing what you all create for this theme - and don't forget the very generous $25 voucher one lucky person will win.  A great way to treat yourself to some new goodies. 

I'm adding this into the following:

Dream Valley Challenge - AG 

Kreativtanten - Hallowe'en

We love 2 create - AG 

Crafty Calendar - Hallowe'en

Gem of a challenge - AG 

Cardzforgalz - add an animal 

CRAFT - Halloween 

ADDICTED TO STAMPS AND MORE - #528 BIRTHDAYS

Birthday time here again at ATSM and I've gone back to basics with this card.  It's so long since I did a card which is a lot more CAS than my usual mixed media style.  I've not played with the Tim Holtz snarky cats in a while so thought I would give them an inking.

The background is a great old background stamp by Stampin Up called Drybrush and I use it quite a lot for backgrounds.  Here it's been simply stamped in Versafine Morning Mist. 

I used an old embossing folder which I thought looked like tangled yarn for the cat.  I stamped and cut it out and coloured it in Rusty Hinge and Dried Marigold.  I still have some of these googly eyes from years ago so they got used also.  

SIMON SAYS STAMP - THINK PINK

I am back again this week as Guest Designer with Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge supporting Breast Cancer Awareness with a Think Pink challenge.  I just had to use the lovely new stamps by Alison Bomber - Rose Edition AB059.

I used water colour paper and did a light water colour wash of Iced Spruce  and Spun Sugar Distress Oxide ink to give a soft background.  I used Tim Holtz water colour pencils to colour in the rose using a watercolor brush to add the paint.  I used Worn Lipstick, from set 5 and Picked Raspberry from Set 1.  Twisted Citron from set 2 and Peeled Paint from set 1 were used for the leaves. I added some background stamping from another of Alison's sets Fodder Berry Edition EABF I used the tiny word stamp and Pressed Grasses EAB40 I used the dots stamp. 

I also added some stamping with Tim Holtz Flower Jar CMS297 and coloured the water in Speckled Egg Distress Oxide. 

The sentiment comes from Tracy Evans set The Miracle of a Flower  TE59.

Don't forget too that one lucky entrant will win a $25 gift voucher to spend in store at Simon Says Stamp - you have to be in it to win it!  Good luck everyone. 

Here's my list of supplies:

STAMPS

Alison Bomber - Rose Edition AB059

Alison Bomber - Fodder Edition EABF

Alison Bomber - Pressed Grasses EAB40

Tim Holtz - Flower Jar CMS297

Tracy Evans - The Miracle of a Flower TE59

DISTRESS OXIDE INKS:

Iced Spruce

Spun Sugar

Twisted Citron

WATERCOLOR PENCILS

Worn Lipstick

Picked Raspberry 

Peeled Paint 

Extras:

watercolor brush

I'm also adding this into the following

 

Inkspirational - CAS 

Ellibelles Garden - AG 

SIMON SAYS STAMP GUEST DESIGNER - TAG IT TIM HOLTZ

I'm delighted to have been asked to be Guest Designer again over at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge.  It's always a pleasure to be part of this fabulous challenge group and the first challenge this month is Tag It - Tim Holtz.  This is right up my street.  Who doesn't love Tim Holtz?  The hardest thing is to choose which of Tim's products to use.

At the same time as being asked to be the Guest Designer I was very lucky to also have won the Wednesday Birthday challenge which offered me a $50 coupon to spend with Simon Says Stamp.  This was a great chance to get some new Tim products some of which I've used in my tags below.

I created two tags and decided to show both as I couldn't decide which one to show.  This is how the tags started out.....

..... And this is how the tags finished.  

Do join in with the challenge - don't forget you also get the chance to win a $25 voucher to spend in store.

Here is a list of the supplies I used to make my tags:

For the Blue Tag :

Stamp Sets 

 

Botanical Collage 

Field Notes CMS396 - which was my new set from my winnings 

Stencil

Plus and Focus from the Botanical Collage set 

Texture Paste

Distress Powder in Pumice Stone

Crackling Campfire Embossing Glaze

Distress Oxides : 

Salvaged Patina 

Unchartered Mariner 

Pumice Stone

Wild Honey

Tim Holtz Ideaology

Collage Paper - Photographic

Paper dolls Mini 

Hitch Fasteners 

Clippings Sticker Book 

For the brown tag:

Stamp Sets

Flower Shop CMS401

Field Notes CMS396

Distress Oxides:

Peeled Paint

Forest Moss

Crackling Campfire 

Crackling Campfire Embossing Glaze

Ideaology

Paper Dolls Mini 

Transparent Wings 

Ticket Book 

Clippings Sticker Book 

 I'm adding these into the following challenges also:

Creative inspirations - AG 

Paper Rock Scissors - AG 

Lets Craft and Create - AG 

CRAFT challenge - AG 

INSPIRATION STATION #90

Welcome back to Inspiration Station #90 and our visual prompt for you this month should get you thinking.  I've created a tag for my project.  

The background is a gel print of a leaf that my 3 year old grandson did with me.  He loves playing with the gel press and now when we go on walks he's always picking up leaves and saying here you are Grandma this is for your paint!  Precious times! You can see the image of the leaf on the left hand side of the tag.

I used the cute little set from Waffle Flower called Fall Greetings.  The leaves are the top say Hello and have been embossed with Copper Embossing powder.  The pumpkin image doesn't have a cat but does have birds and I've coloured the image in with Tim Holtz Marker Pens.  I still have some that work. 

I've added some naturally hand dyed wool to the top - this was dyed with iron modifier.  It gives a lovely autumnal brown.

I'm adding this into the following challenges:

Tag Along - all things Autumn 

Lets Craft and Create - Autumn 

Try it on Tuesday - Autumn's Beauty

Unicorn Challenge - Autumn 

We love stamping - Autumn