Simon Says Stamp and Show - Distress

I love distress! To me it immediately says Distress Inks - and now Stains too...which I got a few of at the weekend at the Ally Pally show.  So when Simon Says Stamp and Show 'distress' this week - easy peasy lemon squeezy!

So tonight I had a chance to play a bit - took a tag (for a change, lol!) and antique linen which I covered the tag with, then streaked some wild honey down . 

Used my new coffee archival ink pad (can you believe I've never had one till now....?) and stamped the Wendy dictionary stamp.  Back to wild honey distress - ink this time - for the flowers

I had some leftover patterned paper covered grungepaper from a secret project I can't show you yet which I used for the butterflies and the sentiment was stamped on a scrap of tag covered with wild honey distress stain.

Edged the tag with walnut stain ink (please tell me why I didn't buy this in distress stain at Ally Pally???)

All stamps today are Wendy's.

Pop over to Simon Says to catch some gorgeous art and have a go - there is a prize on offer, what have you got to lose?

Grungy Monday 3 - colour wash

This is going to be short and sweet from me tonight as my team Liverpool are playing - and WELL - 3 nil up at half time (I am talking football - soccer if you prefer, in case you don't know!)  - so just got time to show this quick tag for Linda's  Grungy Monday which this week is to use adirondack colour wash.

I have a few of these (the new ones, I also have some of the original ones which don't seem to want to spray at present, and I don't have time to faff about with them tonight!)

anyhow, I used Sailboat Blue and Lettuce on the tag, which I spritzed with water to spread them about a bit, blotted a bit of the intense colour off whilst I was drying the tag.  Then I took the background stamp from the Tim Holtz butterfly set and stamped and embossed it in white.  Stamped the 4 butterflies from the same set on the bag of a piece of leftover paperstack in green, and highlighted with a few touches of white Inkessentials pen.

Found a piece of green ribbon - it is a lighter, brighter green  than it looks in the photo (it must be the flash).

Go and check out Linda's site for more fabulous entries - and there is a sponsor for one lucky winner this week - have fun!

Ok, gotta go, the boys are back out, here's hoping we don't throw away the best lead we've had all season. Come ON!!

Tag City Sunday!

I am having a lovely play this morning with some of my new stash I got yesterday at Ally Pally.

With the uncertainty over my job I had to force myself to not splurge like I normally do, but I did manage quite a haul!   Even if the job itself doesn't go, it is going to change so drastically to something I am not confident or comfortable with (though I can learn, if I am given the time) I don't know if it wouldn't be best to look for something else anyway.  Hopefully we'll get some news at the end of the week.

Anyhow, back to yesterday's purchases - this is the pile!  You can also see my little badge I wore (finished with enamel accents and the much suggested swirly stamp) and a fantastic tag from Lin

Distress Stains (at last!) Paperartsy Fesco Paints, some idea-ology and new paper stacks.

 Close up of Lin's gorgeous tag - using the Paperartsy paints.
Thanks, Lin this is stunning - and the flower survived, lol!
I was so tired last night I didn't have the energy to play  -  but this morning was a different story!

 Hels has set a "blue" theme for today, and as one of the Distress Stains I got was broken china, decided to use that.  I did a resist technique with a Paperartsy stamp and the new white adirondack pad - boy does that work well!  covered that with the distress stain and then added another Paperartsy stamp and broken china ink.
The moth I had die cut and stamped a few days ago and not used, but seemed to go quite well. 

The butterfly is Tim's, just stamped in black and sprayed with forever blue perfect pearl spray to colour it.

Then I had to play with the Fresco Paints. I LOVE these!! I used London Night as the base colour under the crackle - that is such fabulous stuff! and Honey Dew as the top layer.
Found a criss cross stamp which I painted with the London Night paint and stamped it randomly.

Wish I'd got a few more colours, but never mind, next time!

I cut a tattered floral in the kraft Glassline papers - hmmmm nice stuff! - and painted it with the same colours, adding some dot to the inner one. 

Finished it with a pearl.  

Off to play with some other stuff now!!
And I've just realised, I forgot the Clearly for Art... damn! Oh well, maybe I can splurge for that still!

WOYWW? episode 96 - the one with not a lot!

Well, as usual I am prepping this post Tuesday night but not a lot will change.  Not a lot on my mat on the floor tonight, I am trying out some bits and pieces for..... well this and that - and nothing is really working. As usual I am trying to watch Holby City, listen to the football on the radio, and write this blog post... nothing like multi-tasking!  (Tea got cold, too....)

So you can look - but it's boring! The "h" thing is a badge I've made for Ally Pally - and I had such fun with these little Wendy Vecchi flowers here the other day, I did a load more!  And Wendy herself left a comment - oh my, I am still on such a high about that! (I am sorry, I can't help it!)
I think the badge needs something else, but am lost for ideas!!   The one at the back by the multi medium pot is a reject!

 So instead I show you my now upright piles of Wendy and Tim stamps (bit like the Janet and John books we learnt to read with, maybe?!!) that no longer sit in one pile on the sofa - it wasn't doing the stamps any good!
However, this has to be a temporary solution as I keep kicking them over going out of the room....
why can't I be TIDY?!
And yes, the box behind them ARE all Paperartsy... (apart from the Paperbag Studios set at the back cos it's too big to go anywhere else...)


So, off with you now to Julia's where she will marshall you round the world's desks and other crafting spaces, have a great day!  Oh, and welcome to my new followers - hope you enjoy the ride!

A Monday Twofer!

I am still so excited aout yesterday's canvas that I posted - because THE WendyVecchi herself visited and left a comment!!!

Anyhow, on to Monday - Monday sees two of my favourite challenges and this week I managed to combine them. 
The uber-talented Linda Ledbetter hosts Grungy Monday - a tribute to all things Tim Holtz and Tim techniques. This week is the second challenge in this series and is based on a Ranger video Tim filmed for CHA and is called Distress Ink with Studio Matte Medium. You can see how Tim does it here .

I took a coaster shaped piece of chip and covered it with a book page.  I ddin't have any of the foam that you need to make your custom stamp, but I did (luckily!) find a foam stamp that I could use instead  - don't have a clue where it came from, and I am sure I've never used it before!! Apart from that, I followed the video technique to the letter.

 I used crushed olive, wild honey and tumbled glass inks, for the coaster.
I rummaged around in my stash of embellishments and found this cute little glass dragonfly charm and added some leftover grungepaper flowers.

The "fly" and swirl, are by Paperartsy.

The second challenge I am entering this for, is Simon Says Stamp and Show - "Anything but a card" - which is lucky!!

Check out both challenges - there are bound to be some wonderful entries again.

Gold!

Hels Sunday Stampers theme this week is Gold, taken from her song theme Golden Slumbers.
Over on the yahoo group Everything Wendy Vecchi, Lori has challenged us from Wendy's first book based on page 28 - to use at least 3 grungepaper flowers and another grungepaper image & perfect pearls. Soooo

I took a canvas and painted it with a gold dabber, spreading it and thinning it with a baby wipe, and adding some Viva gold paste thinned with a wet paintbrush.  Then set to stamping and inking some flowers!

 The inks I used were dusty concord and scattered straw,  and I sprayed the yellow flowers with sunflower sparkle & the butterflies with heirloom gold.
The text is by Tim and I used a piece from the Lost and Found stack which I painted with viva gold too.

I also used 5 of the tulips from Make Mine Mini Art and stuck them together and used some crafty notions rainbow drops for flower centres.

Suddenly noticed I had a close up function on the camera.... so retook some of these!

Hels' challenge is open till Saturday, the EWV one is a 2 weeker till April 12th. Come join the fun!

(edit - OMG look who left a comment!! Thank you.........   am so excited!!)

a Play Date for a birthday

I took advantage of this week's Play Date Cafe Challenge (silver, pink and blue) to make a birthday card for my brother in law's partner/girlfriend.

I also used some of the new Paperartsy leaves stamps which needed to see ink!  I did have trouble photographing it though, so it isn't the best picture, sorry!

 The background card is inked with tumbled glass and the large leaf stamp I used twice once on plain white (then coloured with spun sugar) and the second time on a piece from the shabby chic paperstack.  I used the back of the stamped image for the plain leaf as it was WAY too busy to have two of them with the stamped side up! The "life's a garden" is also a Paperartsy stamp, and appropriate for Mandy as she is a keen gardener.

The small leaf is the silver for the entry - used the matching leaf die on silver metal and stamped the leaf on top. Found a small happy birthday banner stamp to put at the bottom.