Summer Safari

Just had to find a bit of , 'me time',  to try out some new stamps I bought while I was in Derbyshire at The Artists Trading Post. This one is from Crafty Individuals.
This is one of the cards I made.
A couple of the base layers are dry embossed using Embossalicious folders.
I used distress inks for shading, Spiced marmalade, Mustard seed, a touch of Mowed Lawn and Vintage photo. After all elephants live in those parts of the world where lush greenery is hard to find, even in summer, hence the toned down shades. The orange layer is a piece of scrap material, other additions came from my stash as well.
I will be linking to these challenges-
Happy Campers  -Challenge 21,  Use a stamp
Stampin for the Weekend  - Colours of Summer, hope my African Summer will fit this challenge.

Thank you for stopping by, I always appreciate the comments you leave.

Estelle

'3 Fancy Edges',  is the new challenge theme over at Try it on Tuesdays.

Please pop over to see what we have been making and we hope you will join us.

For me this was an excuse to use a fancy edged card as my base, covered with a paper from 

 my Graphics 45  Ladies Diary stack.  I used these papers entirely to make this card.

My second fancy edge  is the trimming strips behind the frame, cut using two different  Martha Stewart punches.

A Sizzix die cut,  my third fancy edge,  frames the picture of the lady.

Vintage photo distress ink was used around all the straight edges, a bit hard to see on this photo.

Sorry I have been missing for a few days, I hope to catch up with you all soon.

Thank you for stopping by, your comments are always appreciated.

Back to School

'Back to School', is the next challenge theme over at Sugar Creek Hollow.
The long summer holiday is nearing an end here in the UK and soon the children will be returning to school. I think most of us will have some memories of what that feeling was like.
I have made a simple twisted easel card, not easy to get photos, so I have added a couple of extras.

On the left is a view of the stopper.
The card was make using Graphics45 papers, with additions from my stash. Plus the Vintage Photo D. Ink for shading.

All I can say about the picture on the right is that those little ones so look happy. good old fashioned learning, without a computer in sight.
'Those were the days'.

Thank you for stopping by to take a look. I always appreciate your comments.

My Hero

Today I am sharing with you  one of my Fat Pages [4 x 4 inches]  that  I swap with a friend.
This one used up some scraps torn from a book page as well as a script stamp for the background.
The clock is edged with embossing powder, with a lock and key brad in the centre.

On the left is the other side of the page.
The stamps are mainly from Chocolate Baroque and all the shading is Vintage Photo distress ink.

Sorry I am not able to get to visit you all  just now. We are  off to meet friends and family in Derbyshire, where the menfolk and some ladies get to play with their Landrovers in preferably muddy fields, woodland and steep sloped gullies that look impossible to drive up or down. Add to that they have to pass through gates not much wider than the Landrover itself at various stages of the course or get penalty points. They call this FUN.


Thank you for stopping by and I hope to catch up with you soon..

Fun in the Sun

'Fun in the Sun', is the theme chosen  and hosted by Lin,  for the new challenge  at Crafty Cardmakers.
We also have two sponsors this time, Saturated Canary and Sir Stampalot.
Please pop over for all the details and join in the fun.
For me, I just had to use this super image from Crafty Individuals on this card.
 These girls do look like they are enjoying themselves. I used watercolour paints to colour the image.
The background papers are mainly from a  Graphics45 stack.
I made the banner with scraps of card and some chipboard letters, coloured with  Distress Markers.

I will also be joining the challenges at-
Out of a Hat Creations Challenge 73 is Summer Days
Crafty Individuals have an Open Challenge for August
Crafts-Too Challenge You  - August  Twist 2 Beach colours.
 The background papers and colours I used represent the sea and sand as well as the image.

Thankyou for stopping by I always appreciate your comments.

Possibilities.

Been having a relaxing crafty play today. Some things for future DT projects, but this was just for fun.
It is may be finished as a hanging, cover or a card, I haven't quite decided yet.
I'll start with the base which is dark  grey, wiped over with a finger full of  bronze gilding wax .
The next layer is dry embossed through a dotty folder, shaded with vintage photo and broken china distress inks. These two colours were used for all of this project.
 The corrogated card is a left over piece, it was painted with acrylics, random stamped and shaded.
The chipboard letters  are those I think we all may have lurking somewhere as they are not so popular.
These were painted,  stamped and sprayed  to get the messy, grungy  effect I was hoping for, then rubbed with a little gilding  wax. By now my hands were thoroughly inked  and needed a scrub.
All the stamps I used were form Stampers Anonymous.
Additions came  from my stash including the corner I was looking for a few weeks ago.
Just shows things do surface eventually.
I will be linking this to two challenges-.
Frosted Designs Fabulous Friday Challenge -'Chipboard'.
Country View Crafts Challenges.-'Quotes and Sayings'.
 The quote was from the 'Stuff to Say'  Stampers Anonymous set.

Thank you for stopping by, I always appreciate the comments you leave.

Creating a scene

Well I had a few attempts  making my DT project for our new challenge at Try it on Tuesdays.
The theme is 'Create a scene'.
We have made some changes to our rules, please pop over for the details and see what we have all been making.
These were the ones that I was happier with,  others were destined for the bin. I think we all have off days, when Mr Inspiration flies out the window. If I need an extra  excuse it  would be the heat we had when I made these at the end of July.
So what did I do, well cheated for a start on both.

The street scene on the left is part of a painting by,  I think, Vincent Van Gough. I actually tore this from an art book. Shock!  Horror!. Well it was cheap and tatty, I found it in a charity shop, although it did get a dab or two of vintage photo distress inks round the edges. There are many more super paintings in the book,  for me to alter over time.
I added the stamped image of the bicycle [a Darkroom Door stamp], with a few additions from my stash.
This scene may end up as a hanging sometime in the future.



The scene on this  card is die cut from a page of Graphics 45 tropical Travelogue Paper. It was layered up with a selection of die cuts. I used the waste from the florish as a mask, using chalks to decorate the base layer. Mustard seed and Bundled sage were the Distress inks I used for shading.

Thank you for stopping , I do always appreciate your comments.

Smile, laugh, giggle.

It is my turn to choose the  theme  over at Fashionable Stamping Challenges. I think it is fair to say we all do not make many CAS cards. So my theme of 'Clean and Simple' one layer cards is a challenge for all of us. Definitely out of my comfort zone.
I used an stamped image, on my first card  which came from our regular sponsor  Flonzcraft.
There is a super prize offered so please check out the details and join the fun.
The image was watercoloured.
I also  made a fussy cut mask of the image so I could add the coloured background. I have an old aperture card that I use for this stage.  This shading was pans pastels

The card on the left, was made in a similar way, using a Jofy Stamp from Paper Artsy.
I just used the patsels round the edges to frame mask to highlight the image. So no neeed to fussy cut the flowers.


Thank you for stopping by, I realy appreciate your comments and I do hope you will join us, especially if its out of your comfort zone as well.




A huge welcome to my new followers, thank you for stopping by to join me on my crafty journey.

Collecting the mail.

'A Childs Life is '...............is our next  challenge  theme  over at Sugar Creek Hollow.
Please pop over and see what we have all been making and get all the details.
This charming image is from our sponsor for this challenge 'A Day for Daisies.
I can just image  this little girl collecting the post  after the postman called.
The image was added to a backing which framed it,  using a  computer program before I printed it out.
 I chose water colours for the image.
The postcards are an Inkadinkado stamp with the trusty script stamp and shaded with Vintage Photo distress ink. All the paper layers I have had for some time and the additions came from my stash..

Thank you for stopping by, I always appreciate your comments.

Its an age thing

After a few days when family issues took over it was good to get in the craft-room last night and just have a play.  As always there were still a number of bits and pieces lying around, including my first experiments into using a Gelli plate, which is one of the layers for this card.
I had read about the challenge for August over at Country View Crafts which is 'Quotations and Sayings',
I think the words here just say it all, especially when friends are approaching a certain age and would rather forget the number. The word stamp comes from an Indigo Blu set called little Voice.
The other image is from Paper Artsy-Lynne Perrella, this was  stamped/embossed  with a black powder.
The strip is also a piece from my gelli plate experiments  passed through a ribbler gadget..
All it needed was a bit of extra distress round some of the edges, the trusty Vintage Photo distress ink and a sprinkling of Aged Green Frantage power in a couple of corners.

The base of this card is from Tim Holtz Kraftresist  stack. The Ribbed layer comes from the same  Gelli background piece as I used in the card above.
My friend kindly sends me die cuts so I am sorry I don't know the maker for  the words cut.
This was ramdom stamped using a Spampendous stamp.
All the shading and  colour is Salty Ocean distress ink.
A few trimming from the box  and that was it.

Challenges I will join the fun in are-
Country View Crafts- challenge 6  Quotations and saying
Artfultimes -challenge 35 Lets Ribble

Thank you for stopping by, I always appreciate you calling and your lovely comments.

She's looking at you.

I made this  yesterday when I promised myself that I would have a bit of a  craftroom tidy.
A piece of Kraft card was just waiting to be used a a base layer .
Then the torn page from an old french book, not to mention the painted corrogated card.
I had no problem finding a few more bits and pieces lying around.

So onto the main image. A Lynne Perrella  stamp from Paper Artsy.
The set I used a little while ago and was still on my desk.
This was stamped and embossed using a dark powder, onto a piece of  left over,  home created  backing card.
I re-stamped the image using Chocolate Brown Staz- on.
 The top half of the image was shaded with water colours, then  I embossed this piece all over with clear embossing powder.  There  is a line of Cerne relief paint [Pebeo] along the join. Hard to see on the photo.
A little  Aged Aqua  Frantage powder at the corner gave a little added texture.
All the extra shading on this project is Vintage Photo distress ink



By coincidence this piece will   fit these challenges, I found when looking around blogland today, so I will be off to join the fun at-
The Craft-room challenge  56 which is Heat Embossing

August 2013 Readers Art Quest 1  Use Embossing Powder,  over here  at Unruly Paper Arts

Frosted Designs Friday challenge - Embossing

Thank you for stopping by to take a look, I always appreciate your comments.
In case you are wondering the craft room still needs a tidy up session.