LOVE TO CRAFT - #93

Welcome back to another Love to Craft - those months just fly by.  I'm sharing a page from my new journal book I'm creating from an old book.  I've used most of the pages individually on various projects and as the book was getting thinner I decided to use the remainder of the pages and the book itself as my journal.

I've recently found Sam Poole's papers on her Etsy site.  I've not downloaded papers from Etsy before and I was surprised how easy it was and how I now have these lovely papers to play with over and over again.  I did have an issue when my printer started running out of ink and the papers came out purple but I used them anyway.  Info on my Instagram account. 

https://www.instagram.com/p/DZcco1CDFLM/?img_index=1

This page is my first page in the book.  I added a pocket also and a tag so I can journal on the back. I've used extra stamps from Tim Holtz - that lovely egg, and extra background stamping by Alison Bomber. I also added texture paste through a stencil which you can just see top right.  I stamped on some material under the egg so it was nestled in something soft! 

CREATIVE ARTISTE MIXED MEDIA - #127

Back to another month's creativity with Creative Artiste Mixed Media challenge - As a gentle reminder to be considered as one of our monthly winners you must use at least 3 different mediums on your project. 

I'm sharing another one of my tags from my tag book.  I think I may nearly be finished - I have completed 8 tags which is 16 sides and it's all looking quite bulky now - I do have 2 spare tags but I'm not sure whether to add them to the book. Once I'm finished I will show you all the tags complete.

I always add some white Gesso to the base of the tags - even though they are a thick kraft card I need to know it can cope with all the extra mediums I'm going to throw at it.

I added some Paper Artsy paint in Seaglass  and then went over it with some Texture Paste and a stencil.  I added some stamping from Alison Bomber and Bipasha BK from Aallandcreate in Versafine Pinecone.

I die cut some of Tim Holtz Funky Nature dies and inked them in Ground Espresso.  The butterfly is a free paper from Shawn Petite and I added some extra stamping to her wings.  I cut her on to some harder cardstock to give her some more strength and added some cheesecloth under her antennae.  There are extra papers and stamping underneath and then I used a sentiment from Craft-0-Clock which is just perfect for me as I tend to look back not forward.

I'm adding this into the following:

Paper Rocks Scissors - used everything bar rocks! 

Hearts Quest Tags 

Triple B Butterfly 

Daisy Chain Challenge - not square 

Let's Craft and Create - Use a sentiment 

Allsorts - from the garden 

Ellibelle from the garden 

Tag Along - text added to the butterflies wings and the ribbon beneath

GUEST DESIGNER - RUDOLPH DAYS CHALLENGE

I'm delighted to be a Guest Designer over at Rudolph Days Challenge Blog.  I do enjoy making Christmas cards and always seem to start too early and make far too many!  

This one came about just as a sort of play about with a new stamp I'd bought by Alison Bomber for Paper Artsy.  I love her little mini Christmas stamps and decided I needed the holly one.  I stamped it in a few places on some water colour card stock and then filled in the gaps with a very old holly stamp I have from Tim Holtz which is my favourite.  I stamped that one in the water colour technique to give a softer image.  The sentiment is from one of Tim's Christmas Ideaology books.  I used some of the holly from Tim's Evergreen Mini die cuts behind the sentiment.  I added some Glossy Accents to make the holly leaves shine more.  I coloured in the berries with Festive Berries Watercolour Pencils. 

I added some washi tape from my stash to both sides of the card - mainly because the piece of cardstock I had been playing with was quite a narrow piece but I think it does the job perfectly.

I'm adding this into the following 

We Love Stamping - berries 

Peace on Earth - AG 

Mix it up - AG 

Outlawz Festive - AG 

INSPIRATION STATION #79 - REMEMBRANCE

I hope you are inspired by our image this month at Inspiration Station.  It seems at this moment in the world we need to remember more than ever.  

I started off my card by using a stencil by Tracy Evans Boutique Designs and then added some Fossilized Amber Distress Oxide and some Black Soot.  I added some extra stamping with words by Alison Bomber.  The poppies are an old stamp by Tracy and I stamped them onto some tissue paper and coloured them in on the reverse side.  This enabled them to be vivid against that muted background.  The extra sentiment is also from Alison Bomber at Paperartsy.  

This card could also be used as a sympathy card.

I'm adding this into the following :

SSS Wednesday - AG 

We Love Stamping - AG 

Allsorts - AG 

Festive Friday - Red, Black, Poppies - Armistice Day 

Krafty Chicks - AG 

ADDICTED TO STAMPS #504 - ANY OCCASION

Welcome back to another challenge from ATSM and we would like to see your Any Occasion projects.  

I'm showing a tag recently created when I couldn't sleep.  Crafting really helps when those nights strike and it's so peaceful in the craft room I can lose myself for hours.

The background of the tag was already made - it features the mosaic stencil from Tim Holtz which is one of my favourites.  It's hard to see as I've covered it nearly completely but I can see snippets of it.  One of the things I've really got to try and learn to do is to leave some white space or open space.  I'm trying to remember this but I always seem to forget lol!

I added some extra background stamping with stamps by Alison Bomber. The leaves were in my stash from a previous play with Tim Holtz Leaf Fragments dies.  I added some extra pieces of Ideaology as I wanted this dapper Paperdoll man by Tim to have something to sit on.  I'm learning to try and tell a  story as I've seen Alison do - so he is waiting to open his parcel which he has signed for and marked as received.  The Ideaology pieces show a registered letter and signatures and I added extra stamping with the signature and a stamp from Alison with Albin Foertl's name.  The sentiment is from Tim Holtz and I white embossed it on to some black card - his surprise will be whatever is in his letter!  Extra stamps were from Creative Expressions. 

I love the way Alison says she can't use a sewing machine - neither can I and I'd love to be able to add all those threads I see around craft land - but like Alison I resort to a pen around the edges.

I think this tag would look great on a present as the gift would be the surprise. 

I'm adding this into the following challenges:

Little Red Wagon - not a card 

Ellibelle - Wednesday - AG 

Paper Funday - AG 

We love 2 Create - AG 

MEADOW CARD

I was just having a play on a scrap piece of watercolour paper - creating some little squares of three different Distress Ink - Iced Spruce, Frayed Burlap and Rusty Hinge for an autumnal feel.  I then added some stamping in the squares from Alison Bomber. I added a leaf made from a book page with Tim Holtz Leaf Fragments die.  I stamped the word meadow on to some calico.  The sentiment is from an Altenew set called Autumn Bounty.  The background is a leaf stencil by Creative Expressions. 

I'm adding this into the following:

CardzforGuys - Autumn 

Unicorn Challenge - Autumn 

Inspire Create - Autumn 

Stamping Sensations - Autumn 

We love Stamping - Autumn 

Outlawz - October Poem 

Craft Rocket - Autumn 

MOVING ALONG WITH THE TIMES - SENTIMENT AS FOCAL POINT

Welcome back to another monthly challenge from Moving Along with the Times - our challenge to you this month if to use a sentiment as the focal point.  I loved this challenge as it made me look through my stamps and remind myself of what I have and I found this.

The sentiment is from a Visible Image stamp set called Express Yourself.  I used a background I had made with the gel press which was a very faint image and added extra stamping with a crackle stamp by Alison Bomber.  I also stamped her blackberry stamps at the top and bottom leaving the middle ground for the sentiment.  I added a Tim Holtz Transparent Wing.  I used Tim Holtz Watercolour pencils for the colouring. 

ADDICTED TO STAMPS AND MORE #502 CHRISTMAS

Welcome back to another Christmas challenge from ATSM - hopefully you are well on the way to having a good stash of Christmas cards ready for the season.

My card today features one of the delightful stamps by Alison Bomber.  This is one of my favourite carols and I'm so pleased to have it on a stamp.  

I chose to do some purples with this card - not a colour I often use but I thought it went with the bleak winter colours.  I used Dusty Concord Distress Oxide for the border.  I then used a variety of Tim Holtz stamps from his Winter Watercolour collection.  Some of them were water coloured - that is I stamped them and then added a spritz of water - it softens the stamped image.  I added some in Evergreen Bough Distress and the purple is Versafine Twilight.  I added some splatters of white for snow.  

I'm adding this into the following:

Girlz Creative Christmas - AG 

Creative Fingers - AG 

Outlawz Festive - Christmas 

Cardz for Galz - Green and Purple 

Little Red Wagon - Holidays 

12 months of Christmas - AG 

Merry Little Christmas - AG 

Stamping Sensations - AG 

Dream Factory - mainly purple 

AUTUMN LEAVES

I don't think I'm alone in loving Autumn - it's gorgeous colour changes to the leaves and the light at this time of year - though as we speak I'm not really enjoying the storms roaring through Wales at the moment.  We have a rather large sycamore tree near our house and, with all the weight of its leaves still intact and the intense rain it could be a disaster for the tree were it to loose it's roots.  Fingers crossed it stays put.

I couldn't settle to creating anything whilst sitting at my desk wanting to play and saw the challenge from Allsorts regarding leaves and trees and that was my motivation to get out some stamps. 

My background started out with an ink smooshing session and I used a Tim Holtz stencil to lift off some of the colour - you can just see the white squiggles it left behind.  I added the Hazel tree from Lavinia stamps.  The leaves were from a die cut session I did recently after watching an Alison Bomber video.  The dies are from Tim Holtz.  I added some pieces of ephemera and the sentiment is from Visible Image.  The birds are from Waffle Flower.

I'm adding this into the following:

Allsorts - leaves trees 

Creative Crafters - AG 

We Love2Create - AG 

Avenue613 - Leaves 

Sunday Stamps - use 3 colours russet, brown, grey/blue birds 

Inkspirational - Trees 

Sweet Stampin - Use Die Cuts 

Snarky Stampers - Autumn /fall 

Creative Fingers - AG 

Creative Moments - Trees 

Inspired by - Leaves 

Simon Says Stamp Wed - Layer it up - Tim Holtz ephemera 

Crafty Gals Corner - Fall.... leaves 

Ellibelle's Garden - from the garden 

THE HOLLY AND IVY CHALLENGE - #191

Welcome back to another Anything Goes challenge at Holly & Ivy.  My card today uses stamps by Alison Bomber.  I love the few little Christmas stamps she brought out last year one of which is the Winter's Tale.  It always has me singing that song by David Essex!  I kept the background simple so as not to take away from the lovely image of the Star Anise - mulled wine is one of my favourite drinks once the winter sets in.

I did some simple stamping of Alison's grasses from another of her sets and the background was created from one of my gel press play times using Distress Inks.

The sentiment is from one of Tracy Evan's Boutique Designs sets. 

I'm adding this into the following:

Simon Says Stamp - Music - the song Winter's Tale - bet you can't stop humming it now!

Girlz Creative Christmas - AG

The paper players - Food 

Inspire Create - Christmas 

Stamping Sensations  - AG 

JingleBells - no papers used 

Outlawz Festive - Christmas 

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - Stamps only 

Peace on Earth - soft blue tones