There's a new Challenge Blog on the block - Chocolate Baroque!

Morning Everyone,

And ........ we're in for another hot one .........enough said :-(, lol!

First of all a little reminder about yesterday's post ......yes it is only 1 day since I last posted, what a rarity, eh?

IF YOU HAVEN'T ALREADY DONE SO, PLEASE DON'T FORGET TO SCROLL DOWN TO YESTERDAY'S POST AND LEAVE A COMMENT TO BE IN THE DRAW FOR MY BLOGAVERSARY GIVEAWAY 

I would have done a sticky post to stay at the top until next week but I haven't a clue how to do it, lol!

Closing date for entry is midnight on Thursday 31 July 2014.

Okay, now on to today's post.  Chocolate Baroque have been a favourite stamp company of mine for years and in fact, it was seeing the owner Glenda Waterworth demonstrating on a well known TV craft channel that got me hooked on stamping in the first place.  Boy, does Glenda have a lot to answer for, lol!  Little did I dream when I saw that program that I would be lucky enough to become one of the original members of Glenda's first design team back in the days when the company was known as Elusive Images.  I was very sad when family commitments meant I had to resign from the team but I have never lost my love for their stamps and was so pleased to see the new Chocolate Baroque Challenge Blog appear on the scene and I knew I had to have a go.

The first challenge is a colour one and there's lots of lovely inspiration from their current talented design team which you can see here.  I translated the colours into Distress Inks Scattered Straw,  Festive Berries, Mowed Lawn and Salty Ocean and using brushes to lay down the background colour I kept them very light and soft.  I sprinkled water droplets and then blotted off some of the colour. I followed this with some light stencilling and background stamping with the Scattered Straw. 

Other stamping is done with Archival Black and painted with the Distress Inks. I stamped the butterflies onto separate card, coloured and cut them out and attached by just the bodies.  The lace is dipped into watery DI's on my craft mat.

I used Chocolate Baroque stamp set Harebell Butterfly and the word was taken from a stamp on their Artistic Affirmations set.

Right, I'm off to add this to their link up.  Anyone can enter the challenge and if you use CB stamps you will be entered into a random draw for £15 to spend on their website, ;D!  It's a monthly challenge launching on the 3rd Wednesday of every month so still plenty of time to enter.  I might even get another one done, lol!

DON'T FORGET MY GIVEAWAY HERE!

See you again soon.

Hugs

Lesley  Xx

Summer School at the MDF Man's Place!

Morning All,

I hope everyone is feeling good and managing to sleep in this hot weather we're having! Regular visitors will already know my feelings about hot weather so I won't go into that again, lol!

I have a rare midweek share for you this morning because yesterday I went to visit the MDF Man for a taster workshop he was running together with the very patient and helpful Kath.  The plan is to run regular weekly workshops for a very reasonable fee & if you can get there I would recommend them as a lovely way to spend a few crafting hours.  You do need transport though as the venue is not on a local transport route being situated in an old cotton mill in a pretty valley which has been converted into one of the nicest business parks you'll ever see.  Pleasley Vale where they are situated always feels a bit like another world to me and is a conservation area so is subject to restrictions which prevent it looking like your typical business park. Coincidentally my Mum (who will be 86 on Saturday) had her first job in the mill when she left school at 14 but only lasted a few months because of an allergy to the dust.  This link gives you a bit of history if you're interested but I found lots more because there are lots of spooky tails of ghosts ;D.  My daughter and her friend went on a ghost tour there one evening which she said was pretty spooky and I once took my son there to take photographs for his GCSE.  It was a very gloomy day and during the time the mill buildings were unoccupied and I have to say I was very glad when he'd finished so we could go home, lol!

Anyway, back to crafting!  Yesterday we altered one of Rob's (MDF Man) curved boxes and unusually I did not do any stamping whatsoever.  Lots of texture from Grunge Paste and also an embossing folder, die cut handmade flowers (one of my favourite things to do), stencilling and Treasure Gold.

I did have a slight accident (could have been a major disaster, lol) on the way home when half a bottle of brush bath leaked all into the bag my box and other stuff I'd bought were in.  It just got the left corner of the underside of the lid so I have to sand it back and add a bit more TG which is why it looks a bit overdone compared to the others ;-).

NOW I HAVE A RARE GIVE AWAY ...........

....... TO CELEBRATE 7 YEARS OF BLOGGING!

I don't do give aways on my blog very often, not because I'm mean, lol, but because I don't want blog candy 'stalkers' (my nickname for them) visiting just for the chance to get their hands on some goodies.  However, I've met some wonderful friends (some are still virtual ones but no less valued) through crafting and blogging and wanted to share some of my favourite stash as a thank you.  I'm really sorry but due to postage costs I have to restrict this to UK commentors only! So, I have made up two boxes of goodies which are both similar in content....

Box #1

Contents include : Tattered Angels Nature Glimmer Glass Album kit including

                            Album, ribbons, 2 Glimmer Mists, metal embellishments, pack

                            of Glimmer Chips, Butterfly mask, tags/paper & ephemera

Also :                   Dreamweaver stencil

                            TCW template

                            Acrylic tags & shapes

                            MDF butterfly & heart

                            Stamps x 2

                            Selection of metal charms, embellishments & vintage watch parts

                            Sticky backed gems & mosaics

                            Selection of beautiful lace.

Box #2

Contents include : Tattered Angels Travel Ledger Album
                            Eco Green acrylic paints x 2
                            Stamps x 2
                            MDF large butterfly & heart
                            Kraft gift bags (for decorating) x 2
                            Spellbinders Impressabilities stencil
                            Prima stencil
                            Sticky backed gems & Mosaics
                            Acrylic tags & shapes
                            Selection of metal charms, embellishments & vintage watch parts
                            Selection of ribbon & beautiful lace.

All you have to do is leave a comment so that I know you'd like to be included in the random draw.  I am grateful for every comment and every follower on my blog and I know that, like me, some people visit regularly but often don't have time to comment but I hope this time you'll be able to so I can include you in the draw.  PLEASE DO NOT SHARE THIS GIVEAWAY OR BROADCAST IT IN ANY WAY.  I want the winners to be people who visit just because they want to and if any of those happen to be new ones that's great.

I'm only running this giveaway for a short time partly because I didn't get chance to post at the beginning of the week, lol, and the draw will end next Thursday 31 July 2014 at midnight which is the end of my anniversary month.  I will post the winners on Friday 1st August 2014.

Have a lovely week, don't melt and keep the sunscreen handy!

Big Hugs
Lesley  Xx

                           

PaperArtsy Blog Challenge - Inspiration from Joanne Wardle

Good Morning All,

Hope the weekend hasn't been too spoiled by our fickle weather for everyone here in the UK or overseas if it comes to it! Boy did we have some thunderstorms here yesterday and although it was bright sunshine when I got up around 7 am it's now 8.50 and looking decidedly ominous again.  It's very sticky and humid though but the garden really needed some water .....not quite so much in such a short space of time would have been good ;-).

Because of the weather I was able to get in my craftroom yesterday without feeling too guilty, lol, and once again turned to the fabulous inspiration we get all week from the PaperArtsy gang over on their blog.  The beginning of the week was taken up with some fascinating art dolls from             and there was a quirky fisherman's casket from Helen Chilton but the post that appealed to me most was another offering of CAS cards from the talented Joanne Wardle.

These cards always look so simple to do but in reality are anything but ..... especially in a craftroom as hot as mine with the ceiling fan going full belt right above my head, lol!  If you visit Joanne's post you will see she did all her stamping using Little Black Dress Fresco Finish paint but I have to admit I find this quite difficult to do and it wasn't helped in this instance because I don't have the solid stamps that Joanne used and it's much more difficult to use finer detail stamps.  The biggest problem though was the heat and fan combination because I found that by the time I had 'painted up' the whole stamp the paint was already starting to dry and so the images I was getting were awful. Combine that with some poor quality Kraft cards (a pack I managed to find in the cupboard depths) are the results were dire.  So, I had to cheat and use Archival ink!  All the wording is stamped in FF but apart from the first card all other images are Archival.

This one is my favourite

 

I spoiled this one by being too heavy with the splatter over the wording but I like the composition.

 

Ok, I'm off to do the link up.  Have a lovely Sunday followed by a good week and I hope the weather is kind to you all.  See you again soon.

Hugs
Lesley  Xx

Yes! I managed another entry for the PaperArtsy Blog Challenge - inspiration from Sue Carrington.

Hi everyone,

Skidding in by the seat of my pants and only 15 minutes to deadline so just pics and links for this entry to the PaperArtsy Blog Challenge this time with inspiration from Sue Carrington.  I turned her beautiful frame into a card and had to do a fair bit of substituting as I didn't have the stamps.

It's not turned out too badly seeing as I had to use stencils for my big flower and the leaf stems, lol!

See you again soon..

Hugs
Lesley  Xx

PaperArtsy Blog Challenge - Teresa Abajo inspiration.

Hi Folks,

Phew it's been another warm one in this neck of the woods today and I've just got all hot and bothered taking the dog for a walk at 10 o'clock at night!  I think I'm the only one I know who's really not happy with the heat so apologies for moaning.

Anyway, inspite of my baking hot craftroom I've managed to make a project for the PaperArtsy Blog Challenge this week.  I have to say this whole week has had a project every single evening that I have really loved and I am hoping I manage to make another entry to the challenge tomorrow.  For this one I took my inspiration from Teresa Abajo's lovely hanging piece and liked it so much I've really cased it, lol!  I used an MDF tag as I didn't have one of the papier mache hanging boards so it's a bit bigger.  I followed Teresa almost to the letter so please take a look at her post HERE for the details.

Look at that fab crackle!

 

I added a bit of shading to one side of the butterfly wings with a rolled up kitchen towel & Watering Can Archival ink.

 

I also added shading around the edges with Mud  Splat Fresco Finish

Added a bit more stamping at the bottom because of the bigger surface I worked on.

That's it from me tonight.  Hope I get chance for another piece tomorrow so off to look at all the fab posts on the PaperArtsy Blog for this week to try and decide which one.......decisions, decisions, lol!

Hugs

Lesley  Xx