MOVING ALONG WITH THE TIMES - #187 - BIRDS AND/OR BEES

Welcome back to another challenge at Moving Along with the Times.  Our challenge his month is birds and or bees.  I use quite a few birds on my projects so I thought I would go for the bees this time.  I don't do well with insects but bees and butterflies I can cope with.

This is a great set by Aallandcreate by Bipash BK.  I stamped the image first and then stencilled around it - it's supposed to be Spun Sugar Distress Oxide but it came out more brown than pink.  I coloured in the honeycombs with a Distress Oxide Marker Pen in Wild Honey.  I used a yellow sparkle pen for their wings. 

PEARLY SPARKLES - #117 - MIXED COLOUR FLORALS

Welcome back to another Pearly Sparkles Challenge and we want to see your mixed colour florals.  Spring is right around the corner for some of us..... well hopefully but I do have a few small crocus pushing their way up to brighten up the garden.

My card uses an old stamp by Tracy Evans.  I added it to a tag and fixed it to my background which was made with Tim Holtz Distress Inks and some Creative Expressions stencil of tiny leaves.  I added the faux stitching around the edges.  The sentiment comes from Indigo Blu.  I used Prismacolour pencils to colour in my flowers, 

LOVE TO CRAFT -#90 SO MANY CARDS.... LET'S MAKE BOOKS

Welcome back to another challenge from Love to Craft where we love seeing all your projects. 

I  used to just call myself a card maker - but oh I have so many cards cluttering up my craft room.  I can't sell them - sometimes I can't even give them away and I sometimes lose the mojo to create just another card which is going to sit in a cupboard.  What do you all do with your cards?  I'd love to know - drop me a comment.

 

As I've delved into the world of Mixed Media over the years I'm finding it really is my happy place crafting wise especially making little books.  Luckily there does seem to be a bit of a market for me for these and I have been selling them on Etsy much to my surprise.

My latest addition was this little beauty. A little accordion book on the theme of birds.  What I love is that I'm making them with supplies I already have - and recycling old packaging at the same time.  The little cover for this one was made with an old cat food box.  That cardboard is just shouting out to be re-used.    

I used stamps by Tracy Evans Boutique Designs and Tim Holtz.  I also used some of Tim's collage paper called Aviary.  

ADDICTED TO STAMPS AND MORE #511 - MAKE YOUR MARK

We are back with another challenge for you at ATSM - make your mark - we want to see you using paints, markers, crayons etc.

I've used a stamp set I received for Christmas which is by Tracy Evans Boutique and I think it's just called Sunflower.  I used some Prismacolor Pencils to colour in the stamps.  I love the little addition of the bee too.  I used a Tracy Evans fern stencil for my background. 

CREATIVE ARTISTE - #123

Welcome back after our Christmas break to Creative Artiste  Mixed Media. Please note that we are a mixed media challenge so we do want to see lots of different mediums on your projects.

 I hope you got lots of lovely new crafty pieces to play with over the Christmas.  But if you didn't here's an idea for recycling all those pieces of cardboard packaging you may have had come through the door over the festive period.  The cover of my little Treasure Book has been made out of some old Amazon cardboard packaging.  It has been covered both on the outside and the inside with some material which I have stamped.  For the edges I used some of Tim Holtz material washi tape.  Throughout the book I have used a combination of stamps by Tim Holtz, Alison Bomber and Tracy Evans. 

There are 5 individual signatures within the book and they have all been made with old book papers, scrapbook papers, gel press stampings that I have had lying around in my stash.  There are pockets with hand made ephemera pieces, stamping on some of the pages, tags for journaling, space on the pages for journaling, lace, buttons, flowers, all sorts of interesting pieces.  Each signature is bound but they are all separate from one another and from the cover.  That way they are easier for you to get to if you want to use a particular piece.  I've used twine to close the book together with a dangle and a dried flower.

I'm really enjoying making my own books at the moment and a lot of them go on my Etsy store.  You will probably see a lot more of them over the forthcoming months on my blog.

THE MALE ROOM CHALLENGE - #207 CAS

Welcome back to our February challenge at The Male Room and we would like to see your CAS cards.  As regulars to my blog will know I find CAS very difficult - I like to throw everything at my paper lol!  

I created my background with the gel press and two Tim Holtz Distress Oxide colours - Frayed Burlap and Iced Spruce.  I stamped this wonderful image of the binoculars from AallandCreate by Bipasha Bk and embossed them in black.  The sentiment from Tim Holtz Ideaology was just perfect for the image. 

ADDICTED TO STAMPS AND MORE #510 - DIE CUTS/STENCILS

We are back at ATSM with our die cuts and/or Stencils challenge and I've chosen to use stencils.  I don't tend to use die cuts very often and do find them sometimes difficult to get a good cut.  I saw a great hack on You Tube by Liesl Heinz which I might just try - and see if that helps.  I've added the link here in case you also have difficulty with die cuts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n3GWn2UcyGo

I used two stencils for my card -a flower stencil by Tim Holtz and a tiny dot stencil.  I used Faded Jeans Distress Oxides for the flowers and a touch of Fossilised Amber and Iced Spruce for the dots.

The stamping is from Tracy Evans Boutique Designs TE32 Alpha Florals.  It has that rectangle stamp which Tracy has used as a vase which I think is a brilliant idea.  I added a little tag  and attached it with a brad!  Remember those!  I love this little mouse on this set and added him to the bottom. I also added some extra stamping from TE 55 Berries.

JUNK JOURNAL - A RHAPSODY IN BLUE

I'm loving creating junk journals at the moment and having a play with upcycling old packaging.  The cover on this piece was created out of an old Amazon envelope.  

The cover of this book has been created with lots of layers of fabric and ribbon.  It includes a dried poppy seed head and dried grasses from my garden.  There are two pheasant feathers found also in my garden.  I have added buttons, hand made paper beads and a silver bell charm to the ribbon around the spine. There is added lace to the top and bottom.  The handmade beads were a revelation - I'd not made them before and now I'm obsessed with them!  

The closure uses a Tim Holtz metal brad to which the cheesecloth attaches to close the book.  I had these little brads and really wasn't sure how to use them and then saw someone using them as a closure.  Perfect.  

This book contains just one signature inside which can be removed.  The signature has a total of 8 sheets, 16 sides for journaling.   I created all the sheets with the gel press adding stamping and stencilling.   The pages are sewn in and also for extra strength wrapped with ribbon. I've added some pockets with added tags and ephemera pieces. 

I've added this to my Etsy store so let's see if anyone else loves it as much as enjoyed making it.  Now..... on to the next one.

I'm adding this into the following

Simon Says Stamp Monday - Texture 

Outlawz - anything but a card 

Mix it up - AG 

INSPIRATION STATION #82

Welcome back to Inspiration Station and our image for you for this month.  I'd love to see how you are inspired by this.  I took my inspiration from the flowers and the colours.  

I used an old stamp by Tracy Evans called Elegant Stems and decided to stamp it landscape for a change.  I used some Prismacolour Pencils for my colouring medium as they give that rich colour.  I added a butterfly and the word Spring just to let myself think spring is coming!  Some background word stamping was added very faintly. 

MOVING ALONG WITH THE TIMES - #186 FLORAL

We are back with another challenge for you at Moving Along With The Times and this month we want to see your floral projects.

I've used a stamp by Tracy Evans Boutique Designs with these lovely snowdrops on them which I received for Christmas.  I've been out to my garden to check on the progress of my real ones and I can only find one!!! 

I created my background with Tim Holtz Twisted Citron Distress Oxide giving it a light covering.  I then stamped the various snowdrop words as the background.  Some were from this stamp set - others were from an old set from Tracy.  I stamped the flowers onto a panel and added that to the background. A perfect card for spring!  

I'm adding this into the following:

Ellibelle Garden 

SSS Wednesday AG

Creative Inspirations AG

I spy with my little eye - something new - new stamps 

PEARLY SPARKLES - HEARTS #116

Our challenge this month at Pearly Sparkles is Hearts.  I've gone away from the traditional colours for this card and it is actually going to be for hubby.  My background was made with some Distress Oxides in Hickory Smoke and Fossilized Amber and Faded Jeans .  I added some extra stamping using Alison Bombers grasses stamp and also some texture paste.  I created the tag using a very old stamp from Tim Holtz - I spotted it being used on Stampers Anonymous You Tube video and remembered I had the same stamp from about 20 years ago!  I kept the same colours.  

I layered the tag onto some old book pages - as this card is for hubby the pages I used have a significance as one of his favourite places in the world is Rome, especially Piazza Navona which you can just see peeking out. The love word is also an old Tim Holtz one, possible from the same set as the heart.

I'm adding this into the following:

The paper players - love is in the air 

We love 2 create - AG 

We love Stamping - Hearts 

Crafts Galore Encore - AG 

Allsorts - create your own background 

SSS - Wednesday - AG 

ADDICTED TO STAMPS AND MORE #509 ANY OCCASION

It's time for Any Occasion challenge at Addicted to Stamps and More.  I run a Facebook RAK group where we send out cards to each other once a month so I'm always creating cards that have a suitable sentiment.  The Hello for this one was just perfect.

I used a new stamp set I won on a blog challenge. It's by Studio Light called Vintage Roses.  I started off my background with a gel plate pull and added the word stamp from the set.  I also added some torn old paper with the same word stamp on it and a background sheet stamped off with the roses.  I added some lace and then my panel of the actual roses.  The butterfly is also from the same set. I added a brad to the top of my panel - remember those!! and tucked the word hello into the side.  

I'm adding this into the following:

We love 2 Create - AG 

We Love Stamping - new stamps 

Sunday stamps - use 3 colours - red, pink, brown 

Girlz and art of letters - S for Stamping 

Crafty Calendar - New stamps 

Polkadoodles - AG 

TAG LOVE

I'm having a play with Tag Along today and their theme is Love and Romance.  I'm still in wintery mode so not ready for full on red or pinks yet so my tag turned out quite muted.

I started off with my gel press - and used some new Paper Artsy paints I received for Christmas in Sea Glass, my new favourite paint colour, Winter Green and Snowflake.  I used an old SU stencil to create the background.  I then grabbed a Tim Holtz mini photo which I thought was perfect for the theme.  I added some die cuts and a cluster at the top with a quote from a Tim Holtz Ideaology book.  A touch of washi tape gave a slightly bolder colour to the muted tones.  I used a touch of pink ink for her roses and added some extra pinks in the background with a touch of a word stamp.

I'm adding this into the following

Tag Along - Love and Romance 

Craft Rocket - something new - my paints 

Hearts Quest - Celebration of love 

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - something new 

Simon Says Stamp Monday - something new - my Paperartsy paints