Return to yesterday

Now why would I want to call this piece 'Return to yesterday?

Take a close look at the clock. I used my Alterations  clock die on a piece of faux leather and as you can see  I cut my material the wrong way round. But as I don't do waste,  I decided to use it anyway and take a trip back in time.

The cogs were cut from the same faux leather. The handome chap comes from a Steampunk sheet by Dezinaworld.  Most of the  stamps I used were   Creative Expressions, the bicycle is  an Elusive Images stamp. I  triple embossed a piece of card , then whilst it was still hot stamped the Number Plate into it.

The shading is  rusty hinge distress ink, the nearest I could find that looked a bit like brass, with greys over most of the background.

This card  was made for the colour challenge over at Gingersnap Creations  GC112. Colours to use were Leather,iron and brass. The last week in their month of machines and Steampunk.

Thankyou for stopping by, I realy appreciate your comments.

Contraptions

Is it a plane? 
 Is it a boat?   
Why are the train lines nearly vertical? 
 Do they intend to use them as a launch pad?

No,  its  just a wacky pair of inventors taking their latest contraption  out for the first time.

Anyway, I made this for  the latest Random Redhead Challenge over at Gingersnap Creations.
GC 111 and the theme is Trains and Planes.
The first layer is embossed with  cogs and wheels and I used a Tim Holtz trees embossing folder on the main background.. The main  image is a Scrolls work stamp, other stamps are Creative Images.
The shading was  tea dye,shabby shutters and tumbled glass distress inks.

Thankyou for stopping by, I realy appreciate you calling.

Sewing school.

I was cutting a few of these die shapes [Tim Holtz-alterations] for a friend and just had to use of some  for myself.

 The tag is by Crafty Individuals, but I added some stamped script and a few embossed swirls. The word ticket is a Darkroomdoor stamp. The shading is walnut stain, tea dye, and  tumbled glass distress inks. It took  more time to add twine to the bobbins and button holes as it did to assemble the tag, some days the fingers don't move how I would like them to.
The challenges, I had in mind for this tag are

Sugar Creek Hollow  who's theme this week is 'Lets play tag'.
Simon Says Stamp and Show  Anything Goes.
The Stampman challenges No28, Show us some stitching
Now I  know it says show  some stitching, but I must mention that  I gathered the lace to make it look frilly before I added it to the  dummy.

The examples at  these blogs  are  inspirational.

Thankyou for stopping by to take a look, I realy appreciate your comments.

Lace and Pearls.

This is the last week of the  July Vintage challenges over at Make My Monday, with a theme of adding ' Lace and Pearls.'
I made this card  with a friends Wedding Anniversary  in mind , coming at the end of August. Now all I will have to do is make the box.  This is a  'first'  for me in a long time,  to be so organised, it's  usually a last minute panic.
The background layers are Prima papers, the image is a Queens Dresser Drawers stamp, shaded with Tea Dye distress ink. Flowers and lace are always in my stash, but I had to search out the pearls its ages since they saw the light of day.
I will be adding this card to Craft us Crazy,   challenge 13 is  ' Anything Goes'.

Thankyou for stopping by to take a look, I realy appreciate you calling.

Altered for a gift

This week at Try it on Tuesdays our new challenge is for you to Alter something that will be a gift for someone. Please pop over and see the super examples.

This is the butterfly hanger before it was got at by me.
First of all  it was painted in chocolate matt emulsion paint, dried off.
Then a coat of diluted pva glue, left  until it was just on dry.
The last coat was magnolia emulsion paint [ I use paint tester pots for these stages]. The fun bit is to let it dry naturally and watch all the cracks appear.
The daisies  are  Sheena Douglas stamps, painted with acrylic paint before layering up. Ribbon and a sentiment plaque from my stash.

This I am sure will never be used as a coat hook by the recipient , but will probably have necklaces etc hanging from it.
Thankyou for taking time to stop by and have a look, I realy appreciate you calling.

Less is More.

Less is more and the challenge for week 25   is a Recipe,-   Button or Ribbon.
 Pop over here and see Chrissie and Mandi's Fab examples.
Once again I have had a couple of tries at this one, two more notelets for my boxes.
For the first one I used a Darkroomdoor stamp, a Martha Stewart edge, the shading was done with walnut stain and tea dye distress inks.

This one I used a Tatty Button stamp for the image and a Button mask, both by Creative Expressions.
Tatty has a small button broach added to her dress. The shading is tea dye distress ink and Tatty is coloured with cosmic shimmer watercolour paint.
Thankyou for stopping by to take a look, I realy appreciate you calling.

Metal -ATC

When I read that this weeks Just for Fun Challenge had the theme of 'Precious Metal'.  I went on the search for some pieces of metal, that I know are hiding from me somewhere in the craft room. The pieces I found were real scraps, so as I haven't been making many ATC's recently, I had just about enough for the job.

The  edges were all shaped with an Alterations 'on -the- edge' die. The pieces were then embossed, I used sandpaper to distress the red metal. There is a gap, which I painted with Viva Precious metal bronze, and stamped with my favourite rose.  My last piece of red was just big enough for  a die cut flower, with a small photo image in the centre.
Thankyou for taking the time to take a look, I real appreciate you calling.

"Chic"

Challenge 7 over at Make my Monday is still following the vintage/shabby chic route.
This time the challenge is to include crumpled or torn papers.
So to begin I used some base papers, Prima I think.  The vellum was torn, then embossed though  the big shot. , I used sandpaper over the surface to distress it a bit. Next a page from an old book, coloured with Antique linen and Shabby shutters distress inks.
The stamps are Darkroom door, Maud, looks real stylish in this outfit I think.
The rosette was made from a scrap of vellum and the rest of the trimmings came from my stash.
Thankyou for stopping by to take a look, I realy appreciate you calling.

Gears and cogs

The Spicy Supply challenge over at Gingersnap creations GS 110 is Gears ,cogs, and watch bits. There are so many Steampunk inspirational pieces to see  at GS this month.
For the background  of  this card  I used a random selection of stamps mainly Creative Expressions.
 The main images are Crafty Individual stamps.  Die cut cogs,  [I am so pleased I bought this  Tim Holtz die].
The metal embellishments are from my stash and the shading is done with antique linen and tea dye distress ink,  This background is a bit darker in real life, this was the best of a few photos.
Thankyou for stopping by to take a look, i realy appreciate you calling.

Art, is all in the eye of the beholder..

These two realy are an  'odd pair',.  While on our last caravanland adventure, we have realy seen some wierd and wonderful  cards[ "art" ] for sale. Now I know this is a matter of taste, but as the money involved was just plain outrageous, I got back  home and decided to let  these two small Octopode characters out of the cupboard. and create my own  out of the box  card.. They are layered up using various papers, a die cut flower and a clock to keep an eye on the time. The words are. 'time with friends is the best way to spend the day'. Nothing is better in this life than good friends.
reading through all the posts I have missed I have just spotted this challenge.
Stamptique designers challenge. SDC 34 Flower Power. I hope that  the  one flower  on this piece is okay.

Thankyou for stopping by to take a look, I appreciate you calling.

Steampunk Nell

'Anything Goes'  is the challenge this week over at Try it on Tuesdays  but our theme is  'Steampunk'.
 Pop over and see what we have all been up to and join in the fun of trying something a little bit different.

This piece of mine will probably end up as a wall hanging. The background is cut from a sheet of Graphics45 paper with a die cut blackbird giving Nell the eye.

The panel was stamped with an assortment of Creative Images stamps.  Nell is from a sheet of Steampunk Images  by Dezinaworld. [ you will have noticed I like to name my female images] I think she is  a real beauty.
I added some Tim Holtz Alterations die cuts, some metal pieces, the words at the bottom are 'expect miricles'.. For the shading I used Vintage Photo and Tea Dye distress inks.





Thankyou for stopping by to take a look, I real appreciate your comments.

One layer cards

No matter how many of these cards I try to make, I still struggle with the Less is More concept. However, I aim to keep  on, here are another two which will go in my notelet gift boxes.

The Lady in Red is a Darkroom Door stamp as is the sentiment. She is coloured with cosmic shimmer paints and edged in Barndoor distress ink. I used masking tape to help keep the lines straight.

These three old friends I have had a while, sorry cannot remember the stamp maker.
The sentiment reads, 'Friends are the most important ingredients in the recipe of life', this I fully agree with, friends are so important to us all.
There are two challenges this week for one layer cards.
Crafty Card Makers challenge 50 ,  One Layer Cards.
Less Is More  Week 23 and the theme is Something with Legs.

There are some great cards on both of these super challenge blogs.
Sorry I won'y be able to visit you all for a few days, we are off to Melrose in the Scottish Borders, once again leaving the family in charge of the household.
Thankyou for stopping by to take a look, I realy appreciate your comments.

Story Time

 Challenge No 6 over at Make my Monday continues the Vintage theme, but with the addition this week of some Embossing.
I used a script embossing folder for  two of  the background layers, swipped the  raised sufaces with an embossing pad, then dusted it all  mica powder.  At one time there was more on me than on the card, these powders seem to  have a will of their own.  The image is a Joanna Sheene stamp that I haven't used for ages,  coloured with Tea Dye distress ink round the edges and cosmic shimmer watercolour paint. I finished it off with a few pretty flowers.

Thankyou for stopping by to take a look, I realy appreciate your comments.

Tag week

Its   TAG   week over at Try it on Tuesdays, the theme this time  is  'Birds and Bees'.
For my tag I used  a variety of bits and pieces to decorate,  after I had stamped the background with an Elusive Images stamp.  Its good  to use up small scraps, they so often get overlooked  and pushed to the bottom of the box. The die cuts are Sissix and Tim Holtz alterations. The shading is Shabby Shutters and Tumbled glass distress inks and I coloured the bird with cosmic shimmer watercolour paint.

Thankyou for stopping by to take a look, I appreciate your comments.

On the Road

Could this be love at first sight, or living happily ever after?
When the beautiful Isadora met Robotman she knew they were destined to travel life's road together, she had met the love of her life.
So how did I make this, all began yesterday when I ordered my first sheet of Steampunk images from June at Dezinaworld. She is having an awesome give away details are  here .
 Naturally I had to play and have a few words with myself about how to open and change sizes if the individual images, computers absolutely faze me. I found that if I could get them on my desk top, then into a MCS program I have, the world opened a new door. maybe there is an easier way I have yet to discover.  Thats how the picture was constructed.
Next came the new Gingersnap Challenge,, GC 109  Chestnut theme  challenge, 'On the Road.'
and adding the extras to my piece. An on the edge die cut for the border, some cogs  and  stamped image by Indigo Blu.  Shading was done with vintage photo and black soot  DI.

Thankyou for stopping by to take a look, I realy appreciate your comments.
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Mother and me.

Vintage is one of my favourite themes when it comes to making a card.
I have used an assortment of papers, some Prima  onto a chocolate brown base card. The lacy strip was cut with a Martha Stewart punch. The image is  Joanna Sheene stamped in brown . I had a play with my loopy flower loom again, to add interest to the flower, I even managed to find 3 matching buttons that had holes big enough to take a piece of waxed string through them . I kept to a colour palate of cream, brown and pink, the distress ink shading is tea dye, the colouring on the image is pink and brown cosmic shimmer watercolour paint.
I had two challenges in mind when I was making this card.--
Make my Monday  the theme of Challenge No5  this week is Vintage using Brown, cream , plus pink or blue..
Sir Stampalot the theme for July is Anything goes.
Both these super challenges have some fantastic examples to inspire.

Thankyou for stopping by to take a look, I realy appreciate your comments.

The secret is patience

This is the card I was trying to post  earlier this afternoon for the Stampman Challenge-26.
As the light and the shine from the acetate caused  a number of odd looking photos,  and blogger wouldn't let me load the photo, I nearly gave up altogether. So here I am a little calmer   deciding  to give it another go,  everything appears to be  working,  although parts of the card still look  a bit shaded.
The theme for the challenge was to use Alcohol inks with an optional sketch.
I used  Wild Plum ink to splatter onto my acetate, with a few drops of gold mixative. The tree and sentiment are  Elusive Images stamps [now Chocolate Baroque] from the Essence of Nature set. I also stamped the butterflies on the same  acetate, then added a bit of bling.
Thankyou for stopping by, I always appreciate your comments

Colours of summer and a bit of patience

Card week over at Try it on Tuesdays and a new theme  'Flower Power'.

This time I have chosen to use bright summer colours. The backgrounds were  stamped up using Stampers anonymous  and Hero Arts  stamps. One layer I  embossed with a Sissix swirls embossing folder. The  colouring is spiced marmalade and  mustard seed distress inks. the over the top flowers came from my stash.

Thought I would explain the title, I have been trying for ages to load another  picture, so I am giving up for now.
Thankyou for stopping by to take a look, I realy appreciate you calling.

Keep Calm

First of all a,  Happy 4th of July to all of you who are celebrating today.
The lovely folk at Sugar Creek Hollow are asking us to get all Patriotic and show our Countries Colours this week. Pop over for the details and see the super examples.
This theme was just asking me to try out my new Artistic Outpost stamps that dropped through my letterbox last week.
 So, as you can see, my colours are red, white and blue, with me very happy to be  living in the U.K. The  papers are from my stash as are the trimmings. I stamped all the images with Midnight blue Staz On.  A touch of red cosmic shimmer paint and some weatheerd wood distress ink, to add a touch of colour.

Thankyou for stopping by to take a look, I realy appreciate your comments.

Less is More

The first week of a new month over at Less is More and our talented  leaders  Mandi and Chrissie have  set the theme  of 'Shades of Blue for this weeks theme.
For my  first card  I used a patterned piece of cardstock, with a pale blue  flowers and leaves, The stamp is  by Hero Arts, with a  navy torn paper strip and ribbon to finish.
I haven't added a sentiment to the cards this time. I have in mind to make  boxes of assorted  notelets, to give as gifts at Christmas.
On to my second card -

A plain white background this time, I used the same stamp. Strips of  pale blue paterned paper, navy card and the ribbon. It was distress ink I used to colour the flower, this helped  to get a few shades of blue.

Thankyou for stopping by to take a look, I realy appreciate your comments.

Peek a 'Boo'.

This little poppet is an Art Journey stamp. I coloured him with cosmic shimmer paints and the  light shading was done with distress inks , tattered rose and broken china.
 The background I made from strips of paper  which came to light on my tidy up session, so pleased I didn't throw them away. 
The cream  spots are card candy from my stash as is the flower.
Challenges this card  will fit in are,
Craft-Room Challenge  The theme is fortnight is Summer Birthdays.
Crafty Cardmakers- Challenge 49 is Spots and Stripes. I hope the background covers this theme.
Art Journey DesignTeam challenge number 11 is Children, I have just found this challenge, thankyou Annette  for telling me about it.
Thankyou for stopping by to take a look, I realy appreciate you  calling.