DragonsDream - TIO 153

Hello, welcome to another challenge from the DragonsDream - this fortnight, Silvia would like us to work on the theme of a film of your choice, and use the recipe texture, an embellishment and a hint of red. That's a hint of, not a red, tag!!

Well, this one had me flummoxed.... but then I decided to interpret "The Beach" and went back to my Stampscapes stamps...

I used a small tag today and stamped the beach huts across the tag, added a setting sun and some gentle waves lapping at the shore... My texture is some crunchy sand in the form of Frantage elements (never used these before, had a bit of a struggle.. ) and my embellishment is the "blushing" heart in the setting sun...

Hope you check out what the rest of the team have dreamt up for you, and join in..

WOYWW 230 - happy mail day

Welcome to another Wednesday...and another WOYWW.  I know we often say this, but are there only one in the week? They seem to happen so quickly one after the other... and here we are, nearly November... don't get me started on where 2013 has gone to!

The end of the month is always really busy in my office, and I was late home on Tuesday, so I was delighted to find on the door mat, not one, not two, but three - yes 3!!! packets for me... oops, Helen's been shopping again!

Stamps, (on offer)  more stamps, (brand new release) and dies..I don't really "do" Halloween, but I saw these little bat dies, when I was getting the cute little birds, and couldn't resist...
I make no apologies. None. I wanted them.....

I always say that I will visit as many of you as possible. I will say so again, but it is likely that I won't get to many of you, until at least the weekend, if then... but I will try!

Crafty Boots - Autumn

Morning, readers. This fortnight's theme for the Crafty Boots challenge is chosen by Zoe, and she's asked us to interpret "autumn" be it in colour, or theme ( like pumpkins, she suggests)

I have taken to my journal, my go to point when time is short and I don't have a clue what I am going to do this time... lol!

I used a variety of autumnally coloured paints by Paperartsy (Fresco's of course) and applied them in a drifting sort of pattern across both pages. Of course I forgot to take step by step photos..

 so here is one after I had also applied some Grunge Paste through the "art is" crafters workshop stencil, randomly over the page

Stamped some leaves (Paperartsy) in Orange Blossom archival ink (Wendy Vecchi for Ranger)
and added some die cut leaves .

Brushed some Pan Pastels over the stencilling, only owing to the awful light it doesn't show up....

Wrote on the page with a dip pen and Bombay Ink in black.
Hope you go over to Crafty Boots to see what the others have done for you.
As I am writing this, the weather forecast for the time this post will go live, is for gale force winds and heavy rain - very autumnal indeed - so I hope you are all safe!

Craft Barn Alpha Dictionary challenge - week 22 - N

Hallo, on this windy but so far mostly dry - Sunday! Not looking forward to the overnight weather that is meant to strike the UK - the last time in 1987 I wasn't on my own, and we slept through it... so we'll see this time!

Anyhow, this is the day for the latest letter to be launched in the Dictionary challenge from the Craft Barn - we're nearly at the end now, sadly - but I am pleased I've kept up with every one so far.  There is no twist this time, just the letter - N.

I went for NUMBER .

 I gesso'd the pages but my gesso is very thin and didn't cover up the dictionary pages, so I used an opaque Fresco - Lake Wanaka - to paint the whole page.

Once that was dry I stencilled randomly with the small Dylusion number jumble and the translucent version of Pea Coat (the new one is opaque)

 because I used a translucent ink, I could go over the definition without obliterating it...

 I wanted lots of numbers for my page - and took one large chipboard 5 (Craftwork Cards, which I have had forever!) and gave it a Fresco crackle effect - I used Pea Coat (opaque this time) as the base, and Antarctic over the crackle layer and left it to dry.

I had some smaller chipboard numbers, and some die cut ones (from the  Tim Holtz Word Play die) which I painted Sherbet, which is a pretty, pale pink.

Once the crackle was dry on the large 5, I painted the edges with Little Black Dress using my finger, and then stamped the numbers from the Paperartsy MN28 mini stamp in black ink.

I scribbled an edge to the dictionary definition to highlight it a little, with a journalling pen.

Although this was quite fiddly, with the painting of the numbers and gluing them on, this came together quite quickly... which is good, because I am supposed to be making Christmas cards......!!

WOYWW 229 - "C" is coming...

Morning lovely deskers! Hope this Wednesday finds you well.. Ready for another WOYWW ? Julia has all the info here (like you need it!)

I have finally made a start on my Christmas cards - well I made a few when I had my week off the week before last, but got some more done at the weekend... here they are

 I've been doing batches of the same design (with little differences) so I can get a bit of a production line going...

and it wouldn't be my desk on the floor if there weren't new stash to share... got some of Tim's Movers and Shapers dies ...  they just arrived on Tuesday (time of writing) so I haven't played with them yet, though I have seen the results as some of my twitter friends cut me some recently. Hence the need to have my own sets.

Can't promise to visit you all, but leave me your desk number and I'll try to get to you soon!

Inspired by Joanne Wardle - Paperartsy Challenge

This week, Joanne has been back at Paperartsy with her CAS (clean and simple) challenges... which as we know, I don't often do...but these grabbed me and I had to have a go... I would have adapted it to a Christmas theme (I really MUST get on with my cards...) but couldn't find a Christmas die the right size...
Nor, I discovered to I have the right impressions pads to get a super embossed edge to my image... but never mind!

 I used a square card and the medium sized leaf die (Paperartsy) and Fresco paints Cinnamon, Hyde Park, Tango and Yellow Submarine, and a sentiment from Donna Downey.

Once I'd mounted the cut out over the paint, I decided it would look better with some shimmer, so added some Treasure Gold (White Fire and Ruby)

Great inspiration, Joanne - it would have looked better with the embossed edge round the leaf, but maybe next time!

Entering this to the Paperartsy challenge here 

DragonsDream - TIO - 152

Hi, welcome to the DragonsDream - we invite you to a new recipe - of my choosing this fortnight (and I have to say sorry to the other girls, I was very late setting it... hope I'm not the only one playing along!)
My theme is a TV show of your choice, fabric, cream/neutral colours and bling or sparkles.

My TV programme I chose was Downton Abbey and I used some long forgotten stamps from my stash (I can't remember who they're by now!)

 I took a jumbo tag and stencilled some mini dots with the new Fresco paint from Paperartsy, Caramel, and then over-stencilled with Vanilla. I randomly stamped the Hero Arts "style is eternal" stamp over the tag.



I stamped the ladies on white card (I tried to stamp on fabric but came a-cropper when trying to paint them!) and painted with watered down Frescos in Caramel and Antarctic. I used watercolour pencils for their trimmings.

    I used some of the wool I bought when I was away on my crafty weekend, for my fabric... love this bobbly texture - not sure how easy it would be to knit with though! Good job I didn't buy it for that purpose....

I topped and bottomed the tag with the wool, sticking it simply with glossy accents glue.

My bling comes in the form of gems for their belts/flower accessories.



Today would have been my Mum's birthday, and as she was born in 1923, the style of these dresses seems very appropriate!!

WOYWW 228 - and yes I know it's only Tuesday..

.. but Julia is still on her holidays, (lucky thing!) and posted early.... so I decided it was ok to join in early too.

I decided to share something a bit different today, although the obligatory "desk" is here too... my journal is bulging and there are still 25 pages left to use (I counted them, out of interest!) Wonder if it'll shut by then...someone mentioned they'd seen a spine cut and enlarged to cover the expanded pages but I don't fancy doing that...

 you can also see the scraps box in the background (with the "reserved" sign from the first WOYWW crop at the back... and yes, it's already getting dumped on/in again! some things never change...


So, I decided to share the huge pile that should be the spare chair... it started with just a box of additional craft supplies, at the bottom there are sprays and glitters and things I don't use much (ever!) any more...

but now has become a dumping ground for my "waiting to be altered" boxes and tins and pieces... and all kinds of things for you to rummage amongst! and yes, there's another fruit box like the one I altered for my Paperartsy mini stamps - hope you enjoy your look through it all. Don't leave it untidy, will you, or I'll never find a thing....

For more desks and creative spaces, go here Julia's waiting for you!

Journal pages...

I've a couple of journal pages tonight, both very different...I've been messing about with them for a couple of days..

Streaks and dabs of paint, leftover from other projects.. Antarctic, Space Cadet, Bora Bora, watered down and dry brushed in varying degrees.
Added some scraps of script-stamped on tissue paper, blending it in with more paint.

Grunge Paste mixed with Pea Coat, through a stencil, letters stencilled and the whole page knocked back with a light mix of Nougat, which dulled it down too much so I then covered the whole page with Satin Glaze.

Added some Paperartsy Mini stamps, the fish is with Watering Can archival, the feather Potting Soil and the head, black.

This page started with Antarctic paint over the whole page, then while it was still wet, added some Space Cadet.
Took the Paperartsy Mini (it's a JoFY one from her latest release) and stamped it all over the page, in Cornflower Blue archival. Stamped the Lin Brown tulip in Fern Green and Red Geranium inks. the butterfly is stamped in the Orange Blossom archival, the flourishes Watering Can.

Crafty Boots - it's Hallowe'en time!

Welcome to another challenge from Crafty Boots - Dionne wants us to embrace Hallowe'en.. I don't have any Hallowe'en stamps and very little suitable stash.... but recently bought the Rickety House die and was given some die cuts of the raven and cat....

I painted the page with a mixture of Autumn Fire and Tango, and Eggplant Fresco's, and added the die cuts...

Craft Barn alpha challenge - L (with a window!)

So the Craft Barn challenge is here again - we are on L in our dictionaries this week - but you have to use a window too...

This was going to be a bit tricky.... I decided I wanted an opening window, but didn't have a stamp big enough, so had to draw it freehand and cut it. Ok, so that wasn't too hard, it's only a square after all! I stuck three pages together to give the window some strength so hopefully they will last.

 So I decided on my word, and fixed the window round it.. it's quite a big window, but I drew and painted in, some curtains to hopefully help the illusion!

here's the window opening.... to reveal the chosen word behind...

lamp post!

Follow your Heart.. to Alison Bomber

On Alison's 2nd project of the month, for Paperartsy,  she's used tissue covered buttons and tags and decorated a gorgeous chunky canvas.

I decided to use a slightly thinner one, and used Darcy's hearts stamp sets (after hours of deliberation!)  This is my version.

 Once again I direct you to the Paperartsy blog where Alison will share how she constructed the frame.
I then stamped my images using Cornflower Blue edged with Cobalt archival inks, then used salty ocean and faded jeans distress inks round the edges of the stamped images before scuffing them with my paper distresser (which has lost it's scuffing ability, I guess it's gone blunt...)

 

 I used Antarctic and Lake Wanaka as my paint colours, and Pearl Glaze as I don't have the metallic one.  White Fire treasure gold round the grunge paste

I quite like how this came out - thanks again, Alison! I am entering this to the Paperartsy challenge here 

Dapper Men..or You've been Tangoed

This page started with a covering of Yellow Submarine and stencilling (Roman Numerals) in Tango... I really thought I'd taken a photo of it at this stage but if I did, I can't find which folder it's in on the computer, so probably not!

 I added various Paperartsy stamps, and used archival ink in Geranium and Watering Can, and stamped the Poet on tissue paper, adding some paint from behind to colour him.

 thought I'd better paint the eyes so she didn't look too jaundiced!

and some die cut arrows and the raven.
I've been looking at this for some days because I  can't work out if it's finished or not!

Stick it down - and tear it back up...

... no, I'm not frustrated with my journal page, it's what Alison Bomber wanted us to do... She was back at Paperartsy this week with some fabulous, whacky projects - you have to see them if you haven't already - start here .  I had to have a go, even though it's taken to Thursday on my week off to get a chance! I had a go at her day one project...

I followed Alison's instructions and in fairness to her won't repeat it all here, but as I was working in my journal, my starting point was to glue some book pages to my pages first.

I decided not to use the wide, wire mesh I had, because I didn't think I'd be able to pull it up later..
this fabric stuff is quite close weave, I think I should have used the other....

everything glued down and painted white.

my colour scheme in the spray, was Limelight, Hey Pesto and South Pacific.

I don't have any of the ID Doll plates, so used what I have...

Couldn't get very much peeled up, the bits I wanted to try and pull up, stuck fast... while my stamped images were tending to not stick!! hey ho...

it was definitely fun, this one! Thanks Alison.

WOYWW 227 - scraps- sorted!

Welcome to another week of What's on your Workdesk Wednesday 
Well, I was set a challenge and rose to it....  here is the "before" ...

 I did a bit of rummaging since last week!

I filled the wastepaper basket in the living room....I was ruthless!

it is still full, but it's not AS full, honest! and it's kind of tidy for now!

the "desk" shot... a part done journal page...

I spent Tuesday up in London (I am on holiday from work this week) and walked for miles and for hours... or so it felt! Well I guess I was there 4 hours and sat down for maybe 15 minutes all together! so I may take it easy today...

I have started my Christmas cards though!!

some super speedy ones, coloured with my (new) Inktense pencils

Hope you all have a great week, and will get to as many of you as I can (I know I say this every week!)

A companion page...

... to yesterday's journal page. I usually do a double page spread in my journal, but yesterday's was just a singleton... then I thought it looked a bit lonely so I used the same colours and some of the same stamps and made it a companion page.

Painted the page with Cheesecake Fresco, stamped the text (Paperartsy ID Petals 6) in Watering Can archival (Wendy Vecchi) and to help it sink into the background, gave it a light, very light coverage (over the text only) with Vanilla.

 Stamped the spiky flowers from JoFY14 and painted with Smoked Paprika and Tango

Added some leaves painted with Tinned Peas and Hey Pesto

 and some text on scrap white card

thanks for looking!

Postcards and Snippets...

When Lin and I were talking to Gillian at Ally Pally last month, she thrust a pile of the Paperartsy paint card postcards into our hands... she was due to be demoing with them the following day but because I wasn't able to go on the Sunday, I didn't see what she was doing - all I can remember from the brief sneak peak I had, is it included Fresco paint (of course!) and the cards being cut into strips..

As I had lots of them, I decided today, to have a play with them...

 I started by applying translucent Frescos over the postcard - Tango, Yellow Submarine, Limelight.(this is when I took the photo)
Then went to watered down opaques... lots of layers, starting with Sage, then Lake Wanaka, ermmm Pumpkin Soup (translucent again) and I think then Haystack...

which is where I finished, I think...before stamping some of Jo F-Y's stamps and painting them with Blood Orange and Tango and Yellow Submarine..

 I added some (but not all) of the layers of paint from the postcard, into my journal too (the bare page had already had some Little Black Dress randomly splodged on with cut and dry foam), to deliberately give me a streaky effect.


Time for the postcard - but I knew it needed something else, some text.... so I used Darcy's sentiment from her set 1, top and bottom.

Before cutting up the postcard into strips - I measured them so they'd be the same width, but as I was starting to cut, I decided to make some double width for a bit of variety...

Then it was play time, to get a pleasing layout around the page, leaving the text visible

 I edged the strips with Cobalt archival ink and a blending tool..

and fixed to the page with double sided tape.

Another fun page!