Happy Birthday - TYI Challenge

Tag You're It is celebrating their first anniversary of blogging challenges. The theme is, naturally, Happy Birthday!

Here is my purple offering.

The base tag was stamped and embossed with clear powder using a sentiment stamp that was a freebie from Debbie Moore when she did a theatre demo at the craft show that comes to Exeter.
It stamps really well, crisp impression..............Inked the flowers with DI - Dusty Concord and added the dots stamp on them as well as the background. Pearl brads are Dovecraft I think, but don't quote me on that!! I used Adirondack acrylic........Eggplant.........to colour the small greetings tags along with the cord and hand wrote the sentiments (can't you tell LOL).
I really like doing this particular challenge for a number of reasons, but the main one is the freedom to use any of my stash!! Don't get to play every week and have not been joining in that long, but just like to say thanks for the challenges each week and the great inspiration from the DT.

xoxo

Makes my Heart Smile - Stempelmagie

German first for my next nomination...............................

Dies wird ein langwieriger prozess, aber ich kann sagen, seit Lindsay hat mir diese auszeichnung ich habe versucht, dies ohne viel erfolg. Bitte nicht beleidigt sein, wenn ich nicht alle erwähnen, die Leute, die ich besuchen fabby im Cyberspace, aber wenn sie bereits über die vergabe art niederlagen das objekt wirklich ............ oder ist sie ?............. Ich weiß nicht, trotzdem ............ ............ meine dritte nominierung ist Stempelmagie ( Stamping-Magic), Tanja aus Burgdorf in Deutschland und in ihrem Blog hat eine fülle von anregungen zu sehen.

Jetzt machen Sie sich keine sorgen, dass sie kann nicht verstehen Deutsch ......... sie nimmt so viele große Schritt für Schritt Fotos, die Sie einfach die anweisungen. Ich mochte diese ein Bierdeckel Kalender. Es scheint sehr beliebt zu machen, was mit Bier Matten über den Kanal.

Ich kann nicht erkennen, diese auszeichnung gibt, ich bin mir sicher, dass sie gehabt haben muss, aber bitte werfen Sie einen blick auf ihr Blog und vielleicht verbessern Sie Ihr Deutsch an der Art und weise, wie ich versuchen zu tun. Sie können auch ihre Seite zu besuchen andere nette Menschen anderswo in Europa. Wenn sie sich nicht um diesen Preis ist in Ordnung, dass ......... ich nur wie hier zu wissen, dass ihr Blog hat “Macht mein Herz Lächeln”.

P.S. Drei und zwei nach unten zu gehen. Kommen Sie morgen wieder für die nächsten kandidaten.

P.P.S. Ich möchte nur sagen, dass ich nicht persönlich kenne keinen meiner Nominee's sie sind menschen, die rein Blog Ich genieße .................. Besuch in der Tat bin ich nicht weiß jemand im "richtigen leben", die meine leidenschaft und haben nur realisiert, während sich diese zusammen, dass das Bloggen ist meine einzige Möglichkeit, um eine verbindung mit den menschen wie ein Geist. Traurig oder was?

P.P.S. Ich habe Google Translate für das so machen ihn, wenn er schlecht in der deutschen!!!

Now in English.................................

This is going to be a slow process I can tell but since Lindsay gave me this award I have been trying to pass this on without much success. Please don't be offended if I do not mention all the fabby people I visit in cyber space, but if you already have the award it sort of defeats the object really............or does it?.............I don't know............anyway............my third nomination is Stempelmagie (Stamping Magic) Tanja comes from Burgdorf in Germany and her blog has a wealth of inspiration on view.

Now............don't worry that you can't understand German.........she takes so many great step by step photo's that you will easily understand the instructions. I particularly liked this one a beer mat calender. It seems to be quite popular to make things with beer mats over the channel.

I can't see this award there, I am sure she must have had it, but please take a look at her blog and perhaps improve your German along the way. You could also use her site to visit other nice people elsewhere in Europe.

If she chooses not to display this award that is fine.........I'd just like her to know that her blog does "Make my Heart Smile".

SSBFL to her.

P.S. Three down and two to go. Come back tomorrow for the next nominee.

xoxo

P.P.S. I'd just like to say that I do not personally know any of my nominee's they are purely people who's blog I enjoy visiting..................in fact I don't know anyone in "real life" who shares my obsession and have just realised, whilst getting this together, that blogging is my only way to connect with people of a like mind. Sad or what?

P.P.P.S.!!! I used Google translate for this so blame him if it reads badly in German!!!

Makes my Heart Smile - Rosie's ATC Exchange

This is going to be a slow process I can tell but since Lindsay gave me this award I have been trying to pass this on without much success. Please don't be offended if I do not mention all the fabby people I visit in cyber space, but if you already have the award it sort of defeats the object really............or does it?.............I don't know............anyway............my second nomination is Rosie's ATC Exchange. Rosie is one half of the team that produces the Big Art Adventure challenge blog on Friday's. Her personal blog features some thought provoking and memory jogging ATC's. I particularly liked this one called "take your wings and fly".

I can't see this award there, I am sure she must have had it, but her ATC's are so lovely I don't know how she has the heart to swap them!

If she chooses not to display this award that is fine.........I'd just like here to know that her blog does "Make my Heart Smile".

SSBFL to her.

P.S. Two down three to go. Come back tomorrow........same bat time.........same bat channel!

xoxo

P.P.S. I'd just like to say that I do not personally know any of my nominee's they are purely people who's blog I enjoy visiting..................in fact I don't know anyone in "real life" who shares my obsession and have just realised, whilst getting this together, that blogging is my only way to connect with people of a like mind. Sad or what?

Not so New Baby!

Just been looking back at some older posts and realised I never did get round to posting my project for my friends new grandson. That is a scary word......."grandson".........it dawned on me that I too could have been a grandmother by now............even if I am a couple of years younger than she is.............if I had had any children in the first place that is!!! I am NOT old enough to be a grandmother.........at least not in my head.

Anyway I digress...............here are some pictures of said project which uses all my own design papers created digitally and printed out. Obviously being me I could not leave it at that and added a bit of inky grunge to it so it ended up being not your traditional "cutie blue for a boy type look" but the parents seemed to like it so that is all that matters.

I was really pleased with the faux tortoiseshell effect on the spine created with alcohol inks on some shiny black gaffer tape from the DIY! And yes that is my blogger background (slightly modified) used on the cover.

The inside had lots of different tags in layers. This idea came from the now defunct Craft TV site where I would have directed you to go to see how the original was done but I can't so sorry for that. I had to make the whole thing from scratch because I could not find anywhere to buy a CD mailer like they used on the web show...........well it was American!

I will post a couple more pictures tomorrow as I am running out of time!! Sir Alan is calling.

xoxo

Makes my Heart Smile - Artiphy The Heart

This is going to be a slow process I can tell but since Lindsay gave me this award I have been trying to pass this on without much success. There are so many great people with amazing blogs that most of you already visit so I have tried to include the odd one that might be new to you.

Please don't be offended if I do not mention all the fabby people I visit in cyber space, but if you already have the award it sort of defeats the object really............or does it?.............I don't know............anyway............my first nomination is Artiphy the Heart.

I can't see this award there, I am sure she must have had them, but the art is just amazing. The recent circus post is "tingling".

If she chooses not to display awards that is fine..............I'd just like here to know that her blog does "Make my Heart Smile".

SSBFL to her.

P.S. have got four more "Make my Heart Smile" nominee's lined up to post. One per day............then I need to start choosing the last 5!!

xoxo

P.P.S. I'd just like to say that I do not personally know any of my nominee's they are purely people who's blog I enjoy visiting..................in fact I don't know anyone in "real life" who shares my obsession and have just realised, whilst getting this together, that blogging is my only way to connect with people of a like mind. Sad or what?

Touching Wood in Cyber Space

How do you feel when someone leaves a comment on your blog?.............. It's a nice feeling isn't it?..........Most people are kind enough to not bother to comment at all if they can't say anything nice!

Touch wood........... (can you do that in cyber space?)........... I have not had any nasty experiences so far with this and I'm hard skinned enough to take whatever comes and not go down the "this will appear on approval" route (well not yet anyway:))) )...............however, I have a wicked idea brewing!............Not that wicked!!.........Not arrestable - throw her in prison wicked! Just my quirky take on something which I hope will be amusing to most people.................I do hope so because I would hate to offend anyone.

xoxo

Oooo er! I'm a bit scared now.

TYI - Week 51 "Cute & Cuddly"

Here is my entry for Cute & Cuddly over at Tag Your It this week.

The teddy bears and the wording background were from QVC a long time ago, afraid it does not say the manufacturer on any of them!

Coloured with DI - FB,WS,TR,WL,SS,TD. The ribbon, if I remember rightly, is from H.O.T.P. Studio G letters stamped onto textured Chatterbox paper.

xoxo

Graphicus Challenge - March 09

This month has been a struggle, both artistically and personally. My usual sunny outlook on life went AWOL for a while (hormones I suspect, although it is not like me at all), which in turn seemed to send inspiration out of the window as well!! I have literally crammed the past couple of days with creating again. So here at last, and only just in time, is my entry for the Graphicus monthly challenge for March. The prompts were the colour Yellow and the theme was Sing.............................couldn't have picked a worse month for such a sunny feeling!

It is very difficult to see after all my tinkering with inks that the papers used were two free downloads (Pink Bandana and Mystic Paisley) available here on Glenda's blog. I also tinkered with the hue/saturation etc to make them a bit more yellow before I printed them out. I then proceeded to tear up the Mystic Paisley which was glued higgledy piggeldy for the background.............inked with DI scattered straw and stamped with a little birdie stamp that I cut out myself from a bit of left over rubber from mounting another stamp, not perfect, but I don't do that anyway so it will do nicely!!

I cut a Moo sized piece of heavy weight watercolour paper which I stamped with different yellows by Colourbox and added the gold birdie image which I made bigger than the stamped birds and cut from embossed card and drew on the elongated legs.

Stamped the words using my Studio G letter stamps onto one of the yellow printed papers and 3D'd using different depths of foam pads. It was still missing something so I found an acrylic tile that was a freebie from some magazine some time ago and glued it to a piece of the printed yellow paper a la Tim Holtz and attached with a brad.

I am under no illusion that this ATC will turn out to be a winning entry but at least I have come up with something for this month...............should never have given myself the goal to play along and make 12 pieces using the challenge :)))

xoxo Hoping you have inspiration wherever it may come from!

BTW the wording is from a Eurovision song sung by Pearl Carr and Teddy Johnson in 1959 (it came second), ..................call me sad but I love Eurovision.

Craft Stamper April Sketch Challenge

A spark of inspiration popped in my head today and I finaly managed to come up with something for the challenge here and turned the sketch on its' side. Only just in time I fear as the May issue is due very soon!!

This ATC is made up of reject bits (apart from the embossed gold background which I did on purpose). The red mat that the japenese lady from PaperArtsy is sat on is a classic ;))........................as the decorative marks at the side was a failed attempt to put the card through a Fiskars lattice border punch, it turns out I liked the effect here, but I had better not try that too often!!!

The caligraphy strip held by the brads is another PaperArtsy stamp, half on and half off a printed bit of paper. I used Studio G letter stamps for the word "home", stamping onto a bit of my own design caligraphy paper.

Hope you have an arty weekend.
xoxo

Beauty in the wrong place

It has been a lovely sunny day here today so I got out my camera and took a few shots. I had intended to post the usual spring suspects i.e daffodils and tulips but I ended up taking these and I got a bit philosophical...............................What is a weed? - only beauty in the wrong place!

And perhaps my favourite shot...............................................................

I can usually see the best in everything but looking at the back lawn today I only saw weeds and gloom until I reminded myself there are two ways of looking at anything and these photos' just prove that beauty is everywhere......................just sometimes it takes a bit of effort to see it.

My camera is a fairly standard digital, did not cost the earth type, one that has automatic focus. The focus was essential as my eyesight is not what it should be even with glasses! I used to love my SLR camera but it got to a point that I was not taking any photo's with great focus anymore and me being me, if it's not perfect then forget it! This camera (Pentax Optio s45) has a few different auto settings, but sometimes the focus does not seem to be great, however today is was playing ball and I am pleased with the end result.

Arty Girlz Last Challenge

This is the last challenge at Arty Girlz boo hoo:(. Yes I know I have not joined in much, but I feel attached to this particular challenge as it was the first one that I entered ever.........I still look every week even if I do not have the time.
Had to enter then this week.........and tonight is the night or else I am in danger of not entering at all!! So here is my "Stamping" ATC. All done with DI - FB,SM,WS,TR. Black pen to outline the words and gold marker round the edges. Music, caligraphy and Japanese lady Paper Artsy. Letter stamps?

Hope all goes well with whatever Julie and Crissi do in the future. Perhaps will see you again somewhere and will put your personal blogs in my list as I only ever connect to them through the challenge site!

xoxoxo

The Artist Trading Club

My four ATC's went in the post on Saturday for the Artist Trading Club March swap. This is the first time I have done this and am looking forward to the swaps returning at some point. Will post the ATC's when swap complete.

Chriss assures me that I can enter whenever I choose, I hope that I can enter more often than not, but sometimes life just gets in the way!:(

I'm still a little amazed that I finished them so quickly, not like me LOL.

Chocolate Tax!!!

I've never heard such a load of twoddle......Yes twoddle!

I heard on the news that some misguided Scottish doctor wants the government to tax chocolate!! Is it April 1st?..... I think not. .......Perhaps he imagines we can all go back to living in caves and foraging for food so we can all be healthy again.

I don't know why I am quite so worked up about it because I don't eat that much........honest! But if I want to eat some I'm darned well going to do it......... so what if some people eat too much of it........that's human nature and quite frankly it is probably the only pleasure some of us get, seeing as the powers that be have messed us all up big time recently.

I started the week having a red hair day and it seems that it has turned into a red hair week........maybe it's hormones but I don't like using female excuses :))).....I can't repeat what I said to the telly!!!

Hope you all post something to let "them" know that it if they so much as think about putting extra tax on chocolate we will "fight on the beaches" etc.

Enjoy your choccie fix today.

xoxox

P.S. If you want to join me in protesting please feel free to display my "Chocolate Button" on your own blog. See side bar to copy code into an HTML gadget in Blogger. Please do not distribute the button yourself but direct people from your own blog with this button.

Thanks for reading this bit of nonsense and if you would like to leave a comment I'd love to read it.

ISMAKI Challenge 09-010

I made this card using the sketch by Isa Norris here on ISMAKI this week. This is yet another man card for a friend and as it is for a man I did not want to go overboard with the swirls bit but hope the ones on the postcard stamp make it a qualifier! I really like the effect of repeating the focal image on all three squares and will most definitely use this again. Thanks for the inspiration Isa.
I stamped the three printed paper squares with Royal & Langnickel stamps.........you know the ones I mentioned before that don't stick anymore & a lot of them have actually turned an opaque white colour?!........All the papers were printables on a free CD with Scrapbook Magazine by Daisy D's, I printed them ages ago and have only just got round to using them :)))

I'm the sort of crafter that craft companies must hate!! I need to save money wherever I can and digital papers are a great way to do that. You can find some really stylish designs nowadays. I even make my own up when I feel in the mood, which makes it even cheaper!

Wings - TYI Week 48

Here is my offering for "Tag Your It" this week. The theme is Wings and as I have really overused the couple of stamps that would fit the theme I was getting bored with them and instead I went for a bit of simple cutting out.

Now.........me and decoupoage are not great friends possibly because there is such a lot of tat out there that simply does nothing for me. I like a touch of class don't you?

The other reason for trying the cutting out approach was because I received my free Fiskars scissors on Monday........for joining the Fiskarettes (see side bar).......so I had to give them a work out on something. I printed off the butterflies and a backing paper with an alphabet on which were a freebie from "The Vintage Moth" SSBFL. I also printed off three labels which were a freebie from "The Graphic Fairy" SSBFL. Then just kept cutting and the result is this.

I've now got 4 tags ready to go on cards at some point. I layered more than one image on some butterflies and added a eyelet to each. Thanks for looking.

P.S. The scissors passed the test and cut really well.

Fiskarettes

I had a surprise package in the post today........ a pair of Fiskars scissors with green & pink coloured handles. The problem is I don't remember why I might have got them!!! I signed up to the Fiskarettes blog some time ago but for the life of me I don't really remember..... (perhaps they were giving the scissors away if you joined?)............I barely have time to post to my own blog never mind anywhere else. I thought the least I could do would be to display their blog banner on my side bar...........I wonder if they could design a slightly less blingy one for me?

I was lucky enough to win a wodge of Fiskars goodies a few years back (2005 Fiskars category winner) in "Simply Cards & Papercraft" magazine competition and here is the card that I won with. The woven background, cut with some Fiskars shapes scissors, was a real pain to get right and my "style" has definately changed.........for the better I hope? I certainly would not have had the nerve to send it in for this years competition, there a things that need changing on it most certainly......... Although I still like my bird house design and the cloth padded hearts I made from scratch.

There isn't a project I make that does not include one of their products somewhere in the process as the wodge of things included a pair of scissors that have a non-stick coating that are great for cutting double sided tape as the glue residue easily comes off the blades. .........not something I would have bought myself but as I have road tested them for 3 years I can highly recommend them. I have just tried the funky ones received today and they are great quality too......obviously not a cheapo freebie giveaway promo item..........having said that I do hope Fiskars don't expect me to rave on about their stuff on this blog because quite frankly it ain't going to happen on a regular basis because

a) I am not on any design teams so

b) I do not have any agenda's to keep to and

c) I do not work in the craft industry which means that

d) My job does not depend on it and

e) I do not own a business that sells Fiskars products!

When I feel the need to mention something......I will.........but one pair of free scissors does not a mouthpiece for Fiskars make. Sorry if this offends anyone but the blurb that came with the scissors was a bit OTT and quite frankly it got my back up!

P.S. I suppose that means I won't be offered any jobs with Fiskars in the near future then!!!

Hope you have a crafty day (with or without Fiskars products).

Excuse the rant today I'm having a red hair moment!! :))))

ISMAKI Challenge - 09/009

I have been a bit busy this week crafting away at this and that. Here is my take on the sketch for ISMAKI this week..................Heavens! It will soon be time for the next one at this rate!! The colour combo was brown & red and now I have a card ready to go when the occasion arrives!

I think this is the first time one of my challenge cards has not been made with someone in mind and perhaps that is why I am not really connecting with it. The papers are K&Co Maison (background), Deja Views Red Diamond and Chatterbox..... the stamped image and the sentiment were bought in a job lot on QVC a long time ago.............and I'm ashamed to say I have only used this in the past to add a bit of a grungey line to the edges of a project and most of the rest have only been used on the (very) odd occasion. The background for the sentiment was made using DI.

P.S. Am very pleased with myself for managing to use papers that were all in a bit box! :))

P.P.S. How big a box should a bit box be? Answers on a postcard addressed to The Tardis, Second star to the right, Somewhere in the Universe.

Van Gogh

Just seen a lovely piece on But is it Art? that was inspired by Van Gogh who's art I admire and who's life was a tragedy. It got me thinking.....I wonder if Van Gogh would have been less troubled if he had known so many people could be so inspired so many years later? Or perhaps not - inspiration would still not have paid his bills!!:)))

Winter Weeds

The few winter weeds I was tidying away from the front garden yesterday miraculously filled 3 bin bags!.....How I really don't know. Perhaps that is why the front border now does actually look tidy!!!!!!

Tag You're It! Challenge #47

When I saw the theme "Diamonds are a girls best friend" for TYI this week on Kath's blog I just had to pay a visit.......not because I love bling........as anyone who has looked at my pieces can see (Er..... that would be the people I can count on one hand right?)...........but because I love old musicals and this song sung by Marilyn Monroe in "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" is a great bit of movie bling and very iconic. I used the first line from the song "The French are glad to die for love". By the way I can't get the darn song out of my head at the moment so thanks for that as well TYI!!!!!!! :)))

Here is my entry for TYI, absolutely adored making it even if I had to force the bling issue a bit.

Thanks for looking. Off to tidy a few winter weeds from the front garden and mow the lawn! Yes it really must be done!!!! Hope you have an Arty week.

New Beginnings - Mojo Monday

I was doing a spot of browsing the other day (Monday to be precise), and came across the Mojo Monday challenge site. Can't imagine why I have never noticed this before but something about the sketch appealed and as I wanted to make a card for my Brother-in-Law I thought I would give it a go.

His wife died (DH's sister) from cancer a few years ago now which left him heartbroken at the time. However life goes on and he eventually met a lovely lady and has just sold his flat and moved in with her. So that is why the title New Beginnings. Moving to a new home, a new town, new beginnings. I hope they both like the card although I have to admit I was veering on the masculine side with the colours etc.

Mojo Monday will be on my visit list now, even if I don't actually get the time to join in every week. Thanks for the inspiration!

Chip 'n Dale!

Hands up those of you who are expecting to see something a little risque having looked at the title?

.........................

Shame on you!

.........................

I came home for lunch today and saw what I though was a squirrel on my fence and had to have a double take when I saw that it was actually a

........................

CHIPMONK!!!!!!

Yes........that really is a chipmonk on my fence, ............... in Devon...................this lunchtime............ 27th Feb 2009.

No......... I couldn't believe it either. A chipmonk in Devon, well, well, well.

A Bit of a Quandary over Cyber Shops

I am in a bit of a quandary.........do I post things here that I have made that other people might like to buy or not? You see I really, really must try to earn more money somehow............. Can I make it clear that I am not moaning here, it is just the way things have panned out in this life........ It seems that a lot of people have been affected by the credit crunch, but let me tell you, it hit here over 5 years ago when my husband became ill! I won't go into the details (he would not be comfortable with me doing that) but suffice to say it is becoming increasingly difficult to sustain the basics of being on this earth!!!!!!

So, I have set up a virtual store with one of the online shops - possibly not one of the best times in the history of the world to be trying to sell anything but have to give it a go. LOL:)

Just to warn you that there will be a "go look at my shop" link on my side bar appearing, and anything I post that is available to buy will only have a subtle label attached to the post "available to buy". I promise not to write links like "go buy it here" within my posts or use marketing speak. That way it will be your own choice to hit the link button in the side bar or not.......If I feel comfortable with this approach I am hoping others will feel the same.

Arty best wishes

Mardi Gras

The carnival is happening all over Europe but what do we do here? Toss a few pancakes in the air! They must think we are stark raving bonkers!!!
Anyway, just thought I'd leave this link to Elusive Images blog where you can see work using some new stamps they have coming out relating to Mardi Gras. If you love the carnival too I'm sure you will like these.

Who Lives in a House Like This? Graphicus Challenge

Once again the inspiration came from the monthly challenge that you can enter here at the Graphicus Blog. The theme this month was Home and the colour prompts were Brick & Teal. I combined the theme and colour on this as the brick was in keeping with the home idea, wasn't sure about the teal at first though until I started to see the result.
I had been meaning to make something with the Glimmer Screens ever since I was lucky enough to win some in the Christmas blog candy giveaway last year - but you know how it is - life gets in the way and before you know it, that must have item is languishing in a box of stuff you have forgotten to label and never sees the light of day for months!!! I had presumed I would eventually end up using them as screens/masks for paint effects but as soon as I saw the monthly prompt the idea of using them as a template for a fancy roof popped in my brain.
So this is the result "Who Lives in a House Like This?". Why I do of course! Although only in my dreams LOL:)) There are little somethings on the 8 embellished squares that are relevant to me, not forgetting some other bits and pieces, that outline what I'm interested in. "The clues are there" as Lloyd used to say!

If any one's interested here is a brief "how I did it"
Ingredients

Glimmer Screens
Adirondack Ink- Cranberry & Stream
Adirondack Acrylics - Cranberry
Alcohol Inks - Espresso, Raisin & Pesto
Archival Ink- Jet Black
Distress Ink Pads - Tattered Rose.
Stamp & Stuff Embossing Powder - Disco Black & Clear
Stamps - Small mesh square free from Craft Stamper Magazine, line of dots free from Cards & Papercraft Magazine (I think) although I cut both of them up as I have never used them as is!!!
Making Memories - metal letters
Metal cat charm, Key, Florists wire (own stash)
Paper for window panes- Basic Grey
Chipboard (some recycled packaging!)
(1) Traced the glimmer screens outline (middle size) onto chipboard and cut out using a combination of craft knife & scissors. I found that cutting around the outline with the craft knife first and then using the scissors was a lot less effort. Inked it up using stream around the edges and a touch of cranberry in the centre. Then traced the smallest glimmer screen onto textured card and cut out and inked with cranberry. Added a stamped heart using the acrylic and acrylic dots around edges and spritzed it with an ink that had some mica in it (can't remember what, did it ages ago!). I liked the way the colours look slightly different due to the different base card/chipboard colour.
(2) Cut out a rectangle and inked it up using cranberry around the edges and a touch of stream in the centre. Stamped the small mesh stamp randomly up the sides to give a brick impression. Added the dots because I felt like it!
(3) Photocopied a dictionary definition of home, printed out and coloured with stream and added the 8 embellished squares.

(4) Cut out a larger downstairs window and used the glimmer screen to give a decorative top to it and stamped each window pane with one letter repeatedly from the word HEART. Added a punched out heart from a left over bit from this project to the last pane.
(5) Designed a word block in my Serif programme using different languages for the word home, words that describe a home and words that mean a place to live but do not necessarily mean HOME! Printed out and inked with cranberry. Layered this onto a piece of the dictionary paper inked with the stream. Added a circular embossed motif left over from this project.

(6) Alcohol inked the metal letters HOME and the cat charm. Decided not to ink the key as I liked the rusty aged patina it already had, shame to spoil it. LOL:)))

Arty best wishes to all

Edit: DH informs me it was actually David Frost who used to say the clues are there!! Hey Ho.

Canadian ATC's

The ATC swaps with Isabelle Norris arrived today. They are even more glorious in the flesh! I will have to find someway to display them as it would be a shame to file them away. You can see Isabelle's here and mine here.
After spending the majority of last year painting, decorating and generally upgrading the bathroom & kitchen we have still not got round to replacing any pictures on the walls and I know I have lots of empty frames tucked away (probably in the loft) that are still waiting for just the right thing to put in them!

Lisa Vollrath Valentine Gifts

Lisa is giving away some images everyday till Valentines Day here. It is link ware so you have to make your own link on your blog to the site to comply with the download terms.

ATC's To Canada

Dropped DH in town during my lunch hour to post the ATC's to Canada so they are on their way Isabelle! Just think of all that distance they will be travelling, makes the mind boggle.

Managed to come up with a design for the backs to write all the details on. It still needs a bit of a tweek as I did not leave much room for the title!
Arty best wishes to all

ATC Trio a la Isabelle Norris

At last I have finished my group of three ATC's for the potential swap with Isabelle Norris. It would be the first time I have ever swapped something if she chooses these! It is sort of using the same technique she showed on day 2 of her great tutorials this week,except I don't have any grungeboard!!! I decided to use Adirondack inks instead of the distress inks which gave the pieces a different look although I have to admit I couldn't stop myself getting some frayed burlap distress on them too!

The embossing was done with disco black by Stamp & Stuff and I used cranberry, butterscotch and stream as my chosen 3 colours of ink. I wanted to have some images that covered the entire square as the buildings did in Isabelle's but quite frankly with my paltry stash it was a bit of struggle! In the end I had to stamp the circular image (Anna Griffin) and the butterfly images (sorry don't know make), mask them and stamp over them with a text stamp from Paperartsy that I got with my subscription to Craft Stamper to achieve a similar result.

The background stamps on the ATC's were two words and a watch from a Royal & Langnickel set (they might have been cheap but now they don't stick by themselves and most of them have hardened & turned an opaque white colour) and a damask stamp from Paperartsy.

I added a metal embellishment with a butterfly on (QVC ages ago) and a black jewel to the centre of the middle image, a few stamped and punched circular bits, a rub on sentiment and a flower fixed with a brad. Am really pleased with the way this turned out even if it is a little brighter than I am comfortable with and found out that it is as simple to make 3 ATC's as it is one, so thank you for the inspiration Isabelle!

P.S. The colours in the last picture are more like the real thing!

Gecko Harlequin Freebie

If you liked my "Leaving Napoli" artwork perhaps you might like the gecko background used in it. It is sized at 12x12 inch or 30cmx30cm @ 300 d.p.i. as a JPEG in a zipped file. Just click on the image and it will take you to the download area. Just remember to read the terms before doing so. Hope you enjoy using it and if you do please leave a comment or link to anything you create.

Leaving Napoli - Artarazzi Challenge 8

The image to use this week at Artarazzi is a pre-raphalite painting by John Waterhouse. I love these types of image and just had to have a go. I decided she looked like she was deep in thought about a decision she had made and "Leaving Napoli" popped in my head and the rest all followed. Why the winning numbers for the lottery can't pop into my head just as easily is beyond me!!

I extracted her from the background and layed her down on a digital bed (well I think it looks like she is in bed anyway) using a free image paper from this set at Two Peas in a Pod by Rhonna Farrer that I cut up a bit. The Sunburst picture on the wall behind her was a freebie but I don't have a clue exactly where you might find it, acquired back in the days when blogging did not exist and also did not think anyone would ever be looking at this stuff either! Everything else is my own.

Quick Man

Another man card here for work. A fairly quick one (hence the title, just a thought but is there such a thing LOL:)))). I can safely post this as even though his birthday is not till Saturday he does not know this blog exists.

Took a map image and reduced it to two different sizes. Thoroughly inked both with distress inks, making the smaller one slightly lighter and layered both onto matt gold mirri card. Covered C6 size base card with some manly-ish paper from a K & Co scrap pad to go (Maison) and edged all around with a gold marker pen. Fixed map images to base card and added a left over circular motif from this project. and a greetings label made in my Serif programme. Added a left over stamped watch image from this project and a key image from a QVC kit way back.

Ah well it will soon be Saturday, visit to hairdresser for a cut, go and spend Body Shop & M&S gift vouchers from Christmas, get a few food items for next week. Such excitement! How will I contain myself?

Arty best wishes.