I'm doing well this month.......

Hello everyone on another wet and grey day....

I hope all this rain is making some difference to our depleted stocks of water, lol!!!

Anyway,  for some reason despite several days away from my craftroom I'm doing quite well on the production rate this month......for me at any rate, Ha! Ha!  This morning I've finished a tag for the UK Stampers Forum tag swap.  As mentioned in my previous post this is a lovely FaceBook group for beginners and experienced stampers alike.  The theme this month is Anything Goes so how could I not enter.

 I had no plan in mind for this tag, it's very rare that I do but by complete happenstance I ended up with a tag which I think has a reference to our current situation here in the UK, ie  our upcoming General Election.

Once again I started out with a recently discovered tag.  I think this one was done with Distress Stains judging by the splats of gold and the colours.

 

I stencilled with Fresco Finish paint through a Seth Apter designed stencil then created the background with PaperArtsy Minis and Hot Picks stamps.  I stamped the clock/watch face 3 times onto another piece of background card (Glimmer Mists this time I think) die cut them and stuck them to the tag.

Finally, when I got home from an overnight visit to our daughters last night the Paperdolls from Tim Holtz' last release of products were waiting for me.  Haven't we been waiting an age for this release to reach the UK for all but a very lucky few?  As I went through them all just to see what was in there (there are lots) this lady struck me as looking like a suffragette and so together with the 'MAKE IT (your vote?) COUNT'  I thought she completed the tag perfectly.  I simply inked round the edges of the lady with Sepia Archival Ink before placing her.  I added the key and the OXO (painted with a mix of gold and copper FF and then clear embossed) for balance.  Finally I layered the tag onto black card and added the sari silk and lace.

That's it from me for today.  See you again soon and have a lovely weekend everyone.

Hugs

Lesley  Xx

I nearly forgot again, lol!

Evening everyone who hasn't gone to bed yet!

I got a little busy with chores this afternoon and forgot to come back and do this quick post but as I'm going up to my daughter's in Harrogate tomorrow till late Friday I didn't want to leave it.

This time I have a postcard to share.  It's for another swap in the UK Stampers Forum again and this time the theme is 'Floral Heaven'.  Well, I have more flower stamps than butterflies I think so I was spoilt for choice on which to use.  I decided on a beautiful stamp from Chocolate Baroque called Crackling Rose.

Once again I've started with one of my found glimmer mist backgrounds (I have loads, lol).  I stamped the image using Watering Can Archival ink and embossed with clear ep.  I then painted the image using Amsterdam Acrylic Inks (bought from PaperArtsy at Ally Pally last month).  I stamped the lacy border, another Chocolate Baroque stamp from their Lace Fragments set and used cut n dry foam to edge with black Archival ink.

Finally I stamped the word BLOOM which is part of a quote from a PaperArtsy stamp and I added a few tiny 'dew drops' of Glossy Accents but I don't think you can see them on the pic.

I'm off to enter this into a challenge.

http://countryviewchallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/may-2017-flower-power.html

I hope tomorrow and Friday are as glorious as it's been here today.  I have tickets to the Stitching Sewing and Hobbycrafts show which starts tomorrow for 3 days so Jenna and I are going on Friday.

See you all again soon.

Hugs

Lesley  Xx

Everything's coming up Butterflies!

I'm back .....

.....for the second of three posts today!

I've made three ATCs for a swap for the UK Stampers Forum (not just for crafters in the UK) this month were the theme is 'I've got butterflies'.  There couldn't be a better theme for me as I might just have a 'few' butterfly stamps knocking around my craftroom, lol!  Add to those the new Distress Oxide inks with which I am in love and I was in seventh heaven.  The Forum is a lovely group, growing daily with beginners and experienced stampers alike.  It's full of inspiration with some lovely swaps and challenges so why not look them up on Facebook.

They all started out with blended Oxide backgrounds which I sprinkled with water and dabbed with paper towel.  Stamping was then done with Black Archival ink.

This first one simply had a few touches of Sakura gold sparkle pen before edging in Walnut Stain Oxide and adding a bit of Frantage on the corners and a Chit Chat word.

The second one had some of the colour removed with a wet paintbrush before once again adding a bit of subtle gold sparkle, walnut stain edging and Frantage.

The third one is my favourite I think.  Same methods as the other two but with a few dots of white pen added as well.

I really enjoyed these quick makes and I like them so much I think I need to make three more for me, lol! 

I'm entering them into a couple of lovely challenges....

http://sirstampalotchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/may-butterflies-fairies-and-fantasy.html

http://thatscraftychallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/bright-challenge.html 

Another post .....yes, 3 in one day, lol...... coming up later.

Hugs
Lesley  Xx

Oops I forgot!

Morning All,

And what a gorgeous morning it is here in North Notts....about time too!  The awful northerly wind has gone to be replaced by a gentle breeze and glorious sunshine. It's not too hot so perfect weather for me that certainly makes you feel more like being smiley, lol!

Last Saturday was my birthday and a week or so before, Leandra over at PaperArtsy shared a link to an Infusions class being given by Sandra Botham at Art From the Heart in Harrogate.  Now, I've had my Infusions more or less since PaperArtsy first started making them so I'm pretty comfortable with them anyway but I liked the look of the projects and thought it would be a nice way to spend a few hours on my birthday.  It also gave me the perfect excuse to travel up the day before and spend some time with my daughter and her family...... lots of smiles and cuddles from 3 of my beautiful grandchildren!  As I thought, the class was lovely, very chilled and I came away with some smashing backgrounds plus a couple of nearly complete projects.  I'll share them all with you another time.

For this post I have a couple of birthday cards that I forgot to share last week after they landed with their recipients.

The first was for my friend Hazel. 

As regular visitors will know I've been been having fun using up some lovely backgrounds I found recently during my clearout and this was one I particularly liked made with Glimmer Mists.  The colours are fairly unusual for me and I think that's why I liked it so much.  I did some simple stamping and embossing with white ep using Artemio stamps then added touches of Stickles Stardust.

I mounted the piece onto coordinating cardstock then used my new TH/Sizzix wildflower dies to cut from two coordinating colours of card.  The greeting was also diecut.  I arranged it all on my cardbase and job done.

The second card was for another crafting friend, Sally.

For this one I masked off a strip across my cardbase and blended two shades of my new gorgeous Distress Oxides, then sprinkled water droplets to dabb off some of the colour.  I stamped the silhouette border which is a new to me stamp by Bee Crafty that I picked up at Ally Pally last month.

Although you can hardly see it I did stamp the Inkylicious moon image as if it were rising over the flower strip but I used a very pale colour and then spritzed the card with pearl glimmer mist which almost obliterated it.    I stamped the sentiment then added two narrow strips of ribbon.

I'll be back later today with another couple of makes which I want to enter into challenges.

Hugs

Lesley  Xx

And my second post for today.

Hello again,

Well, that's another bank holiday over but at least it's not long to the Spring one. Not that it makes any difference to us oldie retired folks, lol!

My second card for today is another that I haven't decided who it's for yet.  It's also another rediscovered background, this time with a simple sprinkling and spritzing with water of PaperArtsy Infusions.....gorgeous little bottles of pigments with Walnut Stain granules in.  I'm quite excited because I'm going to a workshop using these at Art from the Heart in Harrogate next Saturday.  It happens to be my birthday so a fab way to spend it!  If anyone is interested HERE is the link.  There are still places available and it looks like a good workshop for beginners and more experienced crafters alike.  Lots of variation to the things we'll be making too.  I don't know the tutor, Sandra Botham (HERE is her blog)  but several of my friends do and say she is lovely.  My problem will be keeping up as I am such a slowcoach, lol!

This started life as just two shades of Infusions, Lemoncello and Violet Storms I think and just a light application.  I did a little stamping with Infusions using a technique Leandra showed us at a PaperArtsy make n take at Ally Pally.  I used the more lacy leaf same shape as the ones layered on top, from one of Lin Brown's latest sets (I absolutely love her new stamp sets) and the effect is really subtle and almost unrecognisable as the leaf but that's more or less what I wanted.  When it was dry I used one of Lin's new stencils and applied co-ordinating Fresco Finish paint with a stencil brush.  I also did some background stamping with inks using more of Lin's stamps.

Next I stamped the leaf x 3 and the quote x 2 (Lin's again) onto separate card.  I used 3 shades of green on the leaves and stamped the quote twice so I could leave a decent area of card round each line.  I cut them all out and attached them to the card.

I'm entering this card into the same three challenges at my previous one.

http://mixedmediaworld.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/mmw24-anything-mixed-media-goes-with.html

http://thatscraftychallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/bright-challenge.html

Well, that's it from me for today.  I'll be back in the week to share a couple of birthday cards that I hope arrive at their destinations in time.....I made them early then forgot to post them, doh!

Hugs

Lesley  Xx

Using up those old backgrounds again!

Happy May Day everyone,

I hope those of you who have a day off for this bank holiday Monday here in the UK are having a lovely day even if the weather is being a bit of a miserable so and so.  I'm not going out today so don't mind much what it does.  It actually feels like a Sunday to me and I will be confused as to what day it is for the rest of the week, lol!

Anyway,  I'm sharing the first of two cards I've made over the past couple of days using more of those found old backgrounds (second one to follow later today).  I haven't decided yet if it's going to a crafting friend later this month or into my stash ...for one of those birthdays I forget till the last minute, lol!  I'm also entering it into some challenges I have realised it fits (I think).

For once I had written on the back of this piece of shiny (not glossy) coated card exactly how I made the background and it was a really simple one.  I used a piece of synthetic bath sponge, the kind with biggish holes in, to stipple a couple of shades of Adirondack Ink all over.  Very simple but very effective I think.  I used stamps designed by Kay Carley for PaperArtsy and a mix of Black and Watering Can Archival Inks.

I painted the images with Amsterdam Inks which I bought from the PaperArtsy stand at Ally Pally last month....they work beautifully on the coated cardstock and I definitely need more colours!  I then added tiny touches of UniPaint white pen which dried to a shiny enamel like finish and lots of tiny touches of pretty Stickles.

I'm entering this into the following challenges

http://mixedmediaworld.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/mmw24-anything-mixed-media-goes-with.html

http://countryviewchallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/may-2017-flower-power.html

http://thatscraftychallenges.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/bright-challenge.html

Enjoy your day everyone.  I'll be back later.

Hugs

Lesley  Xx