Oops, I've been a naughty blogger ......again!

Hi there,

Once again I've got behind with blogging....and I vowed to be better this year...Oh well! 😉

I'm going to go out of sync with my projects today because I am going to share my #3 project made for the prompt challenge with my friends when I know I haven't shared #2 yet.  This is because I am sooooo happy to have finished today's share.....it's only taken me nearly 7 years, lol, and it needs a post all of its own as it will be a bit photo heavy.  I'll share project #2 and a few other things I've done in a day or two.

The prompt for #3 was People/Photos.  I decided it was the perfect opportunity to create the scrap layout I started to plan for a favourite photo of our two beautiful granddaughters Alexa and Izzy about 6 years ago.  The photo was taken at our daughter's wedding 7 years ago this coming May when they were both 3 years old.  Izzy was 10 last December and Alexa will be 10 in March....where do the years go?

I don't have any step by step pics as I got carried away as usual and forgot to take any.  I used some gorgeous papers from 7 Dots Studio designed by Finnabair as well as lots of her mechanicals metal pieces and yet more from my stash.  There's some distressing and inking to the paper edges  and a little stamping in the background.

Alexa on the left and Izzy on the right....just love their cute body language!

One of the things I learned from a Finn class was to use border punches just on small sections and I thought the butterfly one was very approriate.  I also used a little flower one.

Collaged paper pieces, strips and other elements from the same paper collection.  There are also a couple of lovely flourishes from Scrapinek that I heat embossed.  Doubly pleased I am using my stash more and not just my stamps and colouring mediums.

Don't forget you can click the pics to see the details better.

 I just loved their pretty dresses, quite different to the traditional bridesmaid.

The main arrangement of embellishments.  I used a fair amount of Treasure Gold to highlight everything and confess I chickened out at using sprays.  I was pleased with it as it was and didn't want to risk spoiling all that hard work squirting ink in the wrong place, lol!  Maybe next time 😉

I love this little arrangement!

The teensy butterflies cut out by the border punch!  I always use them.

I really enjoyed rooting about in my stash finding pieces to fit the puzzle and must try and do some more layouts.......

I couldn't resist a closer pic of those two little happy smiling faces!

Well this was definitely a doting Mamma post, lol!  I hope there weren't too many pics and I promise my next post will have a lot less.  Thanks for bearing with me and I'll see you again soon.

Hugs

Lesley  Xx

A Fun Friendly Challenge......Week 1 and it's Frames!

Hello Everyone,

A little group of friends and I decided last year was a very poor year for our creative endeavours so we decided to have our own private little challenge this year with a prompt each week to kick us off.  Not sure how long we will manage to keep it up before life gets in the way and we can opt out of the odd week if we don't like a particular prompt (drawn out of a 'hat') but I've really enjoyed this first one where the prompt was 'FRAMES' to be interpreted in any way we chose.

 I decided to decorate a large MDF tag (5.5" x 10")...I am determined to use up more of my unloved stash this year and this has been a very good start! 

First I covered it with a lovely designer paper I have been hoarding for several years.  Its from a pad I created our Daughter's Wedding stationery from 7 yrs ago.  I added some stencilling using Distress Inks and some light stamping using Versafine Inks (second generation) and PaperArtsy Mini stamps.  For once I remembered to ink round the edges before I stuck everything on.  My usual trick is to forget till the very end which is sooo tedious, lol! I then found the perfect use for one of my Tim Holtz Botanicals 😄

Unfortunately I forgot to take pics of the various stages I did to cover my lovely frames 

 which I have also had in my wood and chipboard embellishments for an age.  Both were from the Basics range at Hobbycraft.   Click on the pic for a better look but I was really chuffed with the way they turned out.  I used a couple of coats of DecoArt White Tinting Base followed by their crackle medium (can't remember which one, lol) and finally their Antiquing Cream, first a brown one rubbed back with a wetwipe, then the same with grey.  I backed both frames with co-ordinating paper (from the same pad) having first stuck the TH Paper Doll image to the larger piece.  I added a very light hint of colour to some areas of the image and added the butterflies which are also from the Botanicals.

Before I stuck the frames to the tag I added some shadowing down one side of the flower with a carbon pencil then raided my stash for suitable flowers and flourishes.  I think the flowers were old Prima designs and the flourishes were from Ally Pally last year from a company I had never come across before miszmaszpapierowy.com.pl.  They had some beautiful designs but they are extremely delicate and cut from a thickish paper product so I knew they wouldn't take much wet medium like sprays so instead I used PaperArtsy Fresco Finish paints to colour them. I then stuck the frames and other elements down with Heavy Gloss Gel Medium.

I then rooted around for a suitable quote and found this one on a Wendy Vecchi set  (another sadly neglected item in my collection).  I stamped it twice on a scrap of the background paper with grey Archival Ink, cut it up and inked the edges before sticking it to the tag.

A final look at the dimension on the bottom of the tag.

I love watching Marta Lapkowska's YouTube videos (Maremi's Small Art) while I am crafting and there's quite a bit of inspiration from her in this tag not least of which is to 'USE YOUR STASH'!

Well, that's it for today!  I hope you like my tag and I'm now wondering what our prompt will be for this coming week.  I'm scheduling this post so we'll find out the next when this goes live just after 1:00 pm today 😀.  See you again soon!

Hugs

Lesley  Xx

A 2018 kickstart!

Hello again!

Right here we go with my first proper blog post for this year. 

This is my first birthday card design of the year.  I had two birthdays very close together in the past week so I made the same design twice but changed the quotes on the front.  I forgot to take a pic of the alternative one.  The beautiful tree stamp is a  'cover the page' stamp from Impression Obsession and in this case the quote is one from an Alison Bomber set for PaperArtsy.  I love the beautiful quotes Alison has brought to us via these stamps and I can't wait for February when she has some new sets coming out with the new PaperArtsy releases.

Before stamping the trees I used a dusting brush to add some Distress Ink colour to a piece of script designer paper.  I wanted to give the impression of hazy winter sunlight filtering through bare trees.   I inked the edges and layered up onto the base card before stamping and cutting up the quote and added it to the top.

Now for something I haven't done much of at all....journalling!  A friend pointed out that France Papillon was starting a new challenge on her blog, A Layer A Day/A Spread A Week (ALAD/ASAW) so a couple of us decided to have a go. If you want to know the details have a look at France's blog but I have to say I found it extremely difficult to only do one layer then walk away till the next day.  Once I get in a crafting mood I want to keep at it whilst it's flowing but I'll give it another go this week hopefully and see how I get on.  

I did take about three pics with my phone of the different layers but for some reason I couldn't get them to download this morning 😞 .   I started off with a couple of pages I had already stamped a rose onto with two colours of Distress Oxides, left over ink from a previous project.  Over that I randomly stamped a fab script stamp I bought recently by ALL&Create (from That's Crafty) then I gave it a patchy wash with gesso.

 

Next came Grunge Paste through an Imagination Crafts mixed media stencil.  Love this stencil as it has different shaped 'holes' making a random design.  Next layer was PaperArtsy Infusions which I allowed to run and drip plus an old Crafty Notions white spray and some shimmery Glimmer Mists.

A couple of words from a Seth Apter stencil and stickers, a few touches of Treasure Gold and a light application of black ink to the edges finished the actual pages then I stamped a Tim Holtz butterfly twice onto a scrap of brusho'd card, cut them out and stuck them to the pages.

Right that's it for today!  Hope it's not too long before I have something else to share.  Thanks for dropping by today.

Hugs

Lesley  Xx

2017 Christmas card recap....just for my records really!

Hello to anyone who drops by and a belated Happy New Year.

No new year resolutions here but I do hope to be a slightly more consistent blogger in 2018 but we'll see if I stick to that, lol!  Anyway, before I blog a bit of new 'art' in my second post of the day I wanted to share pics of the Christmas cards I made for 2017 as I like to have them recorded here.

This first selection were made from backgrounds I'd made ages ago from which I diecut the starts and then stamped and embossed the snowflakes.

Still on a star theme but this card was a one off with Chocolate Baroque snowflakes stamped and embossed onto a script paper background and the edges heat embossed too then the stars again diecut from a previously made background.

 

A few months before Christmas I bought two gorgeous Penny Black Christmas design stamps from lovely Val, the very talented owner of Snazzy's whose design team I used to be a member of.  I absolutely adore these stamps and the batch above are using the poinsettia stamp.   I inked the stamp up using different shades of Distress Inks and dragged the colours out with a water brush, added a little stickles to the centres and then stamped and embossed the sentiments.

This next batch  use the other PB stamp, berries and bell.  Again I inked up with Distress Inks and am so pleased with the effect I got after dragging the colours out with a water brush.

Here's a closer view on which you can see the gold foiling I added, especially if you click to enlarge.

I have decided that as we don't have so many Christmas cards to exchange these days, sadly as we get older there are friends and loved ones nolonger with us and of course, no work colleagues now we have been retired for several years so this year I am hoping to make all the cards I need, not just the ones for crafting friends.  Wish me luck, lol!

Okey Dokey,  now for the new stuff........I'll be back shortly!

Hugs

Lesley  Xx 

Destruction leads to creation and another PaperArtsy Challenge entry.

Hi Everyone,

It's a late post from me tonight....I fell asleep after tea and slept for far too long so will probably be in my craftroom till the early hours of tomorrow again, oops!

The mistress of all things layered and vintagey, the very talented Lynne Moncrieff, shared a wonderful creation HERE on the PaperArtsy Blog a few nights ago.  I am not very good at multiple layering especially in a seemingly random fashion.  I have this compulsion to make everything neat and it drives me bonkers, lol!  However, Lynne's beautiful project made me want to at least try something with a nod to her lovely style although she didn't actually do any burning for her piece.  As usual, I still need Christmas cards so that's what I created.

The guest bloggers are into the second week of inspiration for the current theme of  'torn, ripped and burnt' and this time my card has all three.

I found a piece of fabric to tear, along with a piece of mesh ribbon to co-ordinate with the beautiful designer papers that have been forgotten and unloved in my stash for years.  Both the musical background (We Wish You a Merry Christmas) and the stamped piece are originally from the same pad (can't remember who's) and they have beautiful embossing on with fine rainbow glitter.... absolutely stunning! 

I used a Prima distressing tool on the edges of the main background piece and then inked them.  I also stamped some small stars from a PaperArtsy Lin Brown stamp set using a Memories white pigment ink and then embossed with clear ep.  It's really translucent though so I doubt you can see it on the pics.  I stuck this piece to the card blank with double sided tape.  I also stamped my favourite PaperArtsy bells using an Archival Ink onto the piece of co-ordinating designer paper.

Next I had great fun holding the layers to a candle flame, very carefully, to get all the burnt edges.  I did have to be extremely careful actually because both the fabric and the mesh ribbon proved to be highly flammable but the effect is great.  I added all the layers to the card using a hot glue gun.  I am useless with this contraption and waste more glue than I use, lol!

I inked a piece of Scrapiniec chipboard with Vintage Photo Distress Oxide and removed some of it by spritzing with water.  I love the effect this had and I used the glue gun again to add this piece and the little stars to the card.  The final touch was to stamp the sentiment in the bottom right corner.

Righty Ho!  I'm off to do the link up thing.  Do drop by the PaperArtsy blog if you get chance for as usual, they are sharing some awesome projects for this topic.  Sleep tight everyone!

Hugs

Lesley  Xx

It's not long to Christmas!

Morning All,

Well I hope you are all more organised and ready for Christmas than I am.  It seems the less I have to do now we go our Daughter's or Son's over the Christmas/New Year period the worse I am at being organised, lol!  Anyway, as we are nearing the end of 2017 we are also almost at the end of another year of fabulous inspiration from PaperArtsy and their talented band of bloggers.  The current challenge over on the Blog is 'torn, ripped and burned' and I believe it is the penultimate challenge for this year so I wanted to make sure I got at least one entry in.  You will find the fab intro post from Darcy HERE and this week has already seen some wonderful projects with more to come over the coming week.

As I still need some handmade Christmas cards my challenge entry is another such piece.

I started with a piece of designer paper (I am determined to start using them instead of stroking them every now and again, lol) which I tore and then inked followed by giving the edges the Stickles treatment.

 

Next I did the same to a piece of corrugated card which I stamped with my favourite HotPicks cluster of bells.  I washed some ink around the image and added Stickles in dots and to the inside of the bells.

It's not very visible but I held a piece of very fine organza ribbon to a candle to melt the edges.  I wanted them to turn brown but I only got a few little specks.  I wrapped that round the designer paper before attaching it to the base card then attached the topper with foam pads, then added a few dots of Stickles to the organza.

I stamped the sentiment and embossed with Wow Vanilla White embossing powder.  Love this powder for a more shabby chic style.

 

Do give the PaperArtsy Blog a visit for an amazing array of inspiration if you get chance.  I'm off to do the link up.  See you again soon.......probably with another Christmas card, lol!

Hugs

Lesley  Xx

Whoohoo I managed a PaperArtsy challenge entry!

Morning Everyone, 

On this very chilly Sunday morning!  We've had a bit of everything so far this morning I think, sunshine, cloud, bit breezy still, very cold and with the odd little icy shower.  I don't cope well with temperature extremes (or what poses for extremes here in the UK 😉) so it's a stay in the warm day for me today. 

I love the current 'Shades of White' theme for the current PaperArtsy Blog Challenge and have managed to kill two birds with one stone by making an entry which also knocks another Christmas card off my list to make.  It didn't turn out quite as white as I intended but as my makes never ever run to plan (if I have a plan to start with) so be it.  I'm still verey pleased with the end result which is very sparkly for me......I rarely 'do in your face' sparkle, lol!

I started with a white base card (20 x 20 cm), antique gold pearlescent card, beautiful snowflake designer paper from my stash and ivory card.  I don't have any PaperArtsy snowflake stamps so I used my favourite one from a Chocolate Baroque set and overstamped the dp with Versamark then heat embossed with some gorgeous embossing powder I have had for at least 10 years.  I really thought it would have deteriorated by now but it worked perfectly!  It's an ivory with gold glitter, yummy!  I hope you can see the pretty sparkle when you click on the photos.  I love this lamp post from one of PaperArtsy's Hot Picks Christmas sets.  There's a lovely set of bells on there too that's another favourite of mine.

 

Here's the snowflake detail.

The pic below is a bit darker than real life (the sunshine disappeared) but it shows the lovely sheen on the pearlescent card.  

When I stamped the lamp post I inked up first with Versamark and also with Vintage Photo Distress Ink before using the ep and it just makes a subtle difference.

 

I cut lots of poinsettia and two little reindeer using Tim Holtz/Sizzix dies with pearlescent card in three different shades and also some crumpled crackly tissue that came as packaging for something.  I

 

I added a bit of Vintage Photo round the edge of the lamp post piece and a bit of random embossing powder then layered everything up finishing off with some sparkly embellishments for the flower and snowflake middles.

 

Righty Ho!  Off to do the link up.  Do drop by the PaperArtsy blog if you get chance because the guest blogger's have excelled themselves which reminds me I'm two post behind so missing out on crafting treats.

Have a lovely Sunday and stay warm.

Hugs

Lesley  Xx