confessions of a craft-a-holic

Yet more lovin'

2012-02-09T21:09:00.000+01:00

While I was on the lurve theme I thought I'd put together another card using the Valentine digi kit by Sarah Hurley. I absolutely adore these papers and just could not decide which ones to use, so I just used as many as I could before it was in danger of being over crowded!! The only additions by me are the mini doily and the prima flowers.

The 5th Craft Academy lesson is up today and Clare has put together an extreemly useful tuto on using Promarkers. Also there's still another few days to enter the challenge on the challenge blog.

Gettin' all loved up.

2012-02-09T20:51:00.000+01:00

As Valentines Day is only 5 sleeps away, I've been getting in the mood with some projects and getting all loved up. These two projects are featuring my Alcohol inks from Kuretake. Both the backgrounds in the ATC's were created using alcohol ink on white glossy cardstock. The heart was die cut from book page and gesso added to it to dull the print down. I used an Art and Graphic twin pen in pink to colour it in and a gold painty pen to highlight the embossing on the front. The butterfly was stamped by colouring directly onto the stamp with a blue Art and Graphic twin pen which gives great results.

The heart on the tag is a piece of acetate which has also been coloured with alcohol ink.

On the Kuretake blog they're hosting their very first challenge with some wonderful prizes up for grabs. So if you're up for the challenge go and take a look.

Blue and Purple

2012-02-08T14:56:00.000+01:00

The blog for My Stamp Box is having an all play along the theme of Blue and Purple. I made this little card using the Garden Sketches stamps and coloured it using my Art and Graphic Twin pens from Kuretake using the water colour technique I used in my tutorial on the Craft Academy web site a while back.

Get set for Valentines Day.

2012-02-06T20:46:00.000+01:00

Oooo a little bit later than I intended but here's my card made for the latest challenge with Sarah Hurley.

Sarah has created a brand new download kit especially for Valentines Day and I have to say I just love the colours and patterns on the papers. Gorgeous. They go so well with Craft cardstock. The kit is called Love Letters and contains backing papers, toppers, digi stamps and everything else in between. It's available from Sarah's Etsy shop here.

Anyway you can always join the challenge too if you click here.

Last day of the new stamps from CHA

2012-02-01T07:59:00.000+01:00

Today is the last day of the CHA new stamps reveal from My Stamp Box. My card was made using the "Striped Stems" flowers. They have a really pretty sketchy, whimsical feel and would look great in my journal which I'll have to try.

As with the other days if you leave a comment on the MSB blog you can win yourself a set of stamps.

More new stamps

2012-01-31T22:07:00.000+01:00

It's day 2 of the CHA new stamps reveal from My Stamp Box. When I was sent this set of "Lovely Houses" stamps I couldn't wait to use them in my art journal. They're such a cute set of little houses, whimsical and sketchy and so much fun to use.

If you want to see more just go to the blog, make a comment and you could win a set of stamps. It's as easy as that.

CHA and new stamps.

2012-01-30T10:41:00.000+01:00

It's that CHA time again in Anaheim and My Stamp Box is releasing some new stamps during the show. On the blog each day during CHA we are showing the new stamps along with some DT creations made with them and for everyone who comments on the post, there is a chance to win a set of stamps.

Today we're showing two sets called "Special Teas" and "Enjoy Your Latte". Here's a card I made using the Special Teas set and on the blog you can also see what Isolde and Jolene made using the stamps.

Using watercolour pens

2012-01-19T15:06:00.001+01:00

Lesson 2 is up on the Craft Academy web site and I'm proud to say the tutorial has been put together by me.

I was lucky enough to be given some of the Art and Graphic twin pens and Clean Color watercolour pens by Kuretake to play with and it's using these pens that I created the tutorial. The two cards shown here are using Art and Graphic twin pens which I'm absolutely loving for their watercolour-like finish but with colour far brighter and intense than I could get using actual watercolours. They're great for taking around with you as it's easy to put the pens along with a waterbrush in a pencil case and pull out to do some watercolour painting. Anyway, if you go to the Craft Academy web site there's a whole pdf to download with the techniques for using watercolour pens.

The stamps use in the top card are by My Stamp Box and the card underneath has been stamped using stamps by Inkadinkado.

Craft Academy is open

2012-01-13T07:59:00.000+01:00

The first lesson is up on the Craft Academy and it's all about paper piecing. Sarah has been working very very hard for the past few months to get this up and running and I'm giving her my full support for such a wonderful idea.

The site is going to be packed with tutorials and tips on all sorts of different crafts, kids included. I'm giving a tutorial next week which I'll be linking to from here.

A touch of mixed media on a tag.

2012-01-12T09:14:00.000+01:00

Today on the My Stamp Box blog it's my turn to post a tutorial. You can see how I created the flower on this tag using papier maché and a stamp.

On the background I've used dye inks and some white ink splatters before stamping with "Garden Sketches" stamps from MSB. I've also used some fabric tape, a bit of green muslin and some staples.

Thanks

2012-01-06T08:23:00.000+01:00

This morning there's a little bird singing in the trees outside, so happy despite the stormy weather we've been experiencing over the past few days.

The first challenge of the year with Sarah Hurley is 'Thanks', something alot of us are thinking about right now. I made this card to send to a friend who lives in Sweden. The little gnome is a digital stamp from Sarah's Woodland Whimsies 2 cd and my background was a piece of mop up paper lying on my desk. The big splodge isn't a spider, it's black ink splattered in a bit of a heavy way. Maybe that wasn't such a good idea as the more I look at it the more sinister I think it looks???

Another piece of news from Sarah is the launch of a brand new venture called The Craft Academy. It's a project we've been working on for quite some time now and It's really exciting to see it come to life. It'll be a place to find tutorials and how to's as well as information on materials and stuff for kids to do too.

This is a massive project which I'm really proud and excited to be part of .

New Calendar Journal - January

2012-01-04T14:05:00.000+01:00

For some months last year I followed, with interest, the calendar journal of Kate Crane. When Lena suggested we started our own this year I was more than willing to participate.

It was a new large format for me and two pages at once is alot of area to cover but I absolutely loved the end result and can't wait to make next months background. I couldn't stay away from my old favourite colours (I should make a resolution to use more pinks and reds in my work this year) but added the red squares as a contrast.

Happy New Year

2012-01-03T08:59:00.000+01:00

A very happy New Year to everyone in bloglandia. I hope 2012 will be full of love, luck and laughter.

First project of the year is this card which is being featured on the web site of My Stamp Box.

So let the crafty projects start.

Coming to an end of the 2011 altered book.

2011-12-30T11:14:00.001+01:00

This is a closer look at the crackle paint.

With just two days of the year left to go I've been challenging myself to finish my altered journal in order to start a brand new book for 2012. These are the last few pages minus the last page which I'll complete this weekend. As I've reached the end of the book it's become so fat and the pages so warped there was a moment when I fell out of love with it but as it progressed and I started pulling out pages before glueing them together (which I should have done in the first place) I was more content.

I'm so looking forward to starting new journals and trying new ideas out.

Day 12 - finished!! :)

2011-12-28T16:02:00.000+01:00

At last I've finished my 12 Days journal. For those of you who are thinking, "hey, the 12 days are now, between 25th and 6th Jan?", I KNOW!!! I just thought it would be more fun to do it before. Note to self - next year, do it after!!!!!

I had no idea how to finish the book so I challenged myself to use what was on my desk. Background Christmas papers, some washi tape. Crackle paint through a stencil (love that look), a beautiful star sent to me by a friend (I hope she doesn't mind seeing it in my journal) and lots of words and a digi stamp from Sarah Hurley's Tinseltown cd. The bakers twine was tied around a present from my very good friend Lena.

We're already planning how to journal 2012 whilst finishing our altered book from 2011.

Back to it......

Day 11 journal page

2011-12-21T13:07:00.000+01:00

Four sleeps 'till Christmas - eeeeek. I'm so behind it's untrue. Not so for my journal. Day 11 of my 12 days so only one more to go. I've used a photo of my Grandma as a girl and used her as an angel.

I had a good post day yesterday with the delivery of my Scrap 365 magazine where I have a journal project featured. Happy Christmas to me.

Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree.....

2011-12-19T09:45:00.000+01:00

The tree is up and I'm catching up with journal pages. Thursday I attended The Night Of The Proms in Luxembourg and what a fantastic show it was too. A Christmas present from my girlies, I enjoyed every second of it.
The weekend was tree decorating time and I have to admit to being a bit of a pain when it comes to finding the perfect tree and the decorating but this year we found the perfect shape first time and the girls did a fabulous job of the decorations.

More journal pages finished

2011-12-16T08:51:00.000+01:00

The weather here at the moment is wild but when I think back to last year, we were digging ourselves out of snowdrifts at this time. The only thing to do is stay indoors and create and that's just what I've done in my 12 Days of Christmas journal.

The top page has been created using a digi stamp from He's called Brill and he's adorable. I've also added some of the words which come from the Tinseltown CD by Sarah Hurley. His little bell has been coloured with a Wink of Stella gold pen by Kuretake which gives it that gorgeous shine (photo doesn't show it sadly). Sarah Hurley has a new challenge up sponsored by Limited Runs Digi and you can see what the other DT members did with their digi images here

It's a shame you can't see properly the shine on the bottom page. I used a metalic paint and added some gold flakes with my Zig glue pen.

Little boxes

2011-12-11T11:03:00.001+01:00

The Kuretake website is holding it's own Christmas countdown with offers and tutorials right up to Christmas day.

I've added my own little tutorial for these favour boxes which are perfect for the Christmas table. I used a box template from Kuretake to make them and used the Zig glue pen to add gold flakes.

The stamp is a snowflake stamp from the Let it Snow set by My Stamp Box.

You can find the whole tutorial here.

Journal day 4

2011-12-07T20:18:00.000+01:00

Wow I hadn't realised until now how blue this is!! I don't think it was my mood, maybe just the longing for snow. It's rained absolute cats and dogs for the past few days causing land slides and floods which is miserable but if it was snow........ now that's a different matter!!

Day 4 journal entry. This is my Christmas card design - sorry to all those friends and family who might be looking and hope for a surprise this year - not going to happen!! With 50 to make I'm afraid they're all the same design. They won't be quite so blue though I can honestly say.

12 Days of Christmas journal

2011-12-06T09:58:00.000+01:00

12 Days of Christmas journal - days 2 and 3 together. The first page is using my Santa image which I've added to my Etsy shop as a digital stamp. I love the background colour thanks to Lena for pointing it out in my paint drawer (it was a long forgotten tub of acrylic I thought had dried up).

On the 4th day of Christmas my true love gave to me, 4 cute tags.

2011-12-06T07:36:00.000+01:00

I'm starting to feel a little worried that Christmas is so close now and I've so much to do still. Time is running away with me. What started out as a good idea, to keep a 12 days of Christmas journal, is turning out to be a tough order. I have a feeling I'll have alot of catching up to do later on!!

Anyway, today on My Stamp Box blog we're having a 12 days of Christmas too and today it's my turn. For my 4th day I've made 4 tags using the cute Santa from the Hohoho stamps and snowflakes from Let it snow.

12 days of Christmas journal Day 1 and a Tinseltown card.

2011-12-02T14:12:00.000+01:00

Day 1 and I think this might just be one of the busiest pages I've ever made. My idea was to take inspiration from the advent calendar but.......ooo.......is that busy or what?

I had such a good time creating the background with texture paste and a stencil, only to cover it up again with all those squares. The little reindeer is an image from Sarah Hurley's Tinseltown cd which was lying on my table from a previous project; Actually he was left over from the card below, I just didn't use him in the end.

Also from the Cd are the embellishments used on this card, which is on the Sarah Hurley challenge blog for the new challenge. This card gave me so much joy to make as I loved cutting out all those little houses and colouring them in with my Promarkers. I added a touch of snow to the rooves using gesso and glitter.

It's been ages since I did a digital layout.

2011-11-30T21:32:00.000+01:00

Wow, it's the first of December already tomorrow so I'll be starting the first page in my 12 days of Christmas journal. I can't wait to get going with it, I have a feeling it's going to be really truly exciting. I have lots of ideas to try out.

Today I was playing around with my Tinseltown cd by Sarah Hurley. There are loads of brilliant and fun images and projects on it but most of all I love the papers. The colours are just so different. The only problem for me has been in the printing of them. I find whenever I print a full background paper I get lines running across the page. I've tried with new ink cartridges, best quality paper, all sorts but nothing works, so 'till now I've been using the elements and stamps. That's no hardship but I really wanted to use the papers properly. Then I had a bit of a lightbulb moment and decided to use them digitally. Well why not, it's a digital cd - right? Sarah, please forgive me for not using it in a hybrid way, believe me I'd love to but I just had to try it out digitally. This layout only took me 10 minutes and absolutely everything except the stitching and journal text is from the cd rom. I'm pretty pleased with it and as most of my evenings will now be by the fire, laptop on knee, I might actually try out a few more.

Check back in the morning for a new Sarah Hurley challenge and later on for the first page of my 12 days of Christmas journal.

byeeee

My Stamp Box and Canvas Corp blog hop.

2011-11-24T16:00:00.065+01:00

I was lucky enough to be sent some wonderful Canvas Corp products recently as they are partnering My Stamp Box this term. Their products are so cute and just dying to be painted, inked, stamped and sewn onto. To celebrate this partnership we're having a blog hop, the first since the new members of the DT joined us. So without further ado.....

"Welcome to the Canvas Corp and myStamp BOX “Partner Blog Hop”!

If you have just happened upon our event now, please begin your journey on the Canvas Corp Blog blog here
Many of our wonderful designers are joining us today to show off some inspirational creativity. See how well Canvas Corp and myStamp BOX products are working together!

START AT: Canvas Corp

Marsha Valk
Linda Abadie
Sue Sykes
Jeannie DeGruccio
Jaine Drake - YOU ARE HERE ;)
Janet Zeppa
Els Brigé
Jolene Johnston
Cassie Box
Isolde Pyncket
Agata Pfister
END HERE: myStamp BOX Blog

We are giving away some amazing products from both participating companies. All you have to do is COMMENT on all designers blogs along your journey to WIN. Our two Hop winners will be drawn from all participants and will be announced on the myStamp BOX blog and Canvas Corp blog on Monday, November 28th, so all comments are due by Sunday November 27th at 6pm EST. Good Luck!

And here is what I did with Canvas Corp and myStamp BOX's products

I've made my Christmas journal in what other than canvas. It's been painted with acrylics, stamped with Funky Circles stamps from My Stamp Box and sprayed ink through a stencil. I used a Canvas Corp Chalkstock ATC to write my title on using a Chalk pastel Writer from Kuretake and used My Stamp Box Border Lines stamp to create the quirky border around it. I also used a canvas star from Canvas Corp and use some Canvas Corp string to tie my book together.

Now it’s time to HOP along and find out what the next talented designer has created. Your next designer is Janet Zeppa

Don’t forget to leave a comment below for a chance to WIN one of our TWO product giveaways!"

A match made in heaven with a sneek peek.

2011-11-23T08:04:00.000+01:00

This is a little sneek peek of a project I'm showing tomorrow as part of the blog hop between My Stamp Box and Canvas Corp.

One of the things in my Canvas Corp parcel was a pack of chalk board card. Absolutely perfect for using with my Chalk Pastel Writer from Kuretake and the colour went beautifully with the rest of the project. These two are a match made in heaven. The chalk card is cardstock with a double sided black chalk board finish. The Kuretake Chalk Pastel Writer is a pigment ink pen with a chalk ink finish. These two should get together ;)

Stamping on die cuts

2011-11-23T07:42:00.000+01:00

It's my turn to post on the My Stamp Box blog today. These are the cards I've made for the blog post showing pepping up your die cuts.

My Advent Calendar

2011-11-21T10:27:00.000+01:00

Last saturday I gave a workshop to the Mozaik group where I showed them how to make this advent calendar. The most work was in cutting all 24 little boxes so most people had prepared theirs at home before they came. The fun came though in decorating the box fronts with stamps and papers and on several of the boxes I added small photo's. As it was such a big task, no-one managed to finish on the day but I look forward to seeing photo's of their advent calendars once they're done. As I told them, there's no stress, they have until the 1st December to get it finished :)

Family mini album

2011-11-19T18:54:00.000+01:00

This project was made in answer to a call by My Stamp Box to create something with Family as the theme. What better than a mini album full of family photo's. Maybe this is what started me on my recent obsession with houses, I don't know.

Anyway, I had intended to print out my photo's in black and white anyway so I could use strong colours on the pages but my printer had run out of certain ink colours and the washed out grey tones were all I could manage. Instead of wasting the print I went with it and used my alcohol markers to colour in parts of the photo's, sort of hand tinting if you like.

The canvas pages were coloured with water colour crayons and stamps from My Stamp Box and overlays from Hambly in between the pages. The photo of the door on the front isn't my front door I have to say, but one of my discoveries in Italy.

The book is up on the My Stamp Box blog at the moment along with other projects from the dt so go over and enjoy.

Little brooches

2011-11-18T08:23:00.000+01:00

As you can see house fever hasn't died down any!! My attention has now turned to making brooches for Christmas. My free motion machine embroidery needs alot of practice but I enjoyed the process alot. I have a few other designs in mind so the machine and fabrics are still out on my table.

For the new challenge at Sarah Hurley, we want to see buttons on a project so I submitted the two brooches above, presenting them on the tags which have been downloaded from the Tinseltown cd - easy.

Little house fever.

2011-11-16T11:27:00.000+01:00

I seem to have little house fever at the moment and have taken an absolute fancy to these little things. So much so that I've suggested the next workshop for the Mozaik Scrappers is to make little houses to hand on the Christmas tree. So the Yahoo group don't feel left out at all, we've set up a swap so I've been in production making 7 more to post out.

As you see, I couldn't resist and even added one to my art journal just for fun.

Armistace Day and the poppy.

2011-11-11T14:35:00.000+01:00

11th November 2011 or 11/11/11 how cool is that?

Not to forget the significance of this date in history (that is the ending of WW1 and the remembrance of all those lives lost in wars since) I journalled a page of Remembrance which in England is celebrated by wearing of a red poppy.

I usually stamp my titles or opt for stickers but this is the first time I've used a pen, in this case a black Scroll and Brush pen by Kuretake. I also used it to draw the stems.

Little christmas houses

2011-11-10T10:41:00.000+01:00

Another super cute Christmas project featured on the Tinseltown cd rom by Sarah Hurley, is a full template to make these little houses. They come in several different colours and designs and are ready to cut and stick. I decided to put my own mark on them and on the first one on the left, I highlighted parts with my Promarkers, added my own embellishments and cut a roof from corrugated card. I also put a hole through the roof to add a ribbon so it can be hung on the tree. For the second one, I cut out the windows and added some doodled flowers around the door. I glued some felt to the roof to look like snow and put a gift bag inside containing a few cookies. I stapled this to the ribbon which comes through the roof.

New journal page and clearing junk.

2011-11-09T09:34:00.000+01:00

How shameful, over a week and no blog post. Actually I've been throwing out junk and cleaning up my basement store room. I've made a huge difference as far as the store is concerned but the garage is now full of stuff waiting to go to the recycling centre. To make matters worse, our street has been opened up like a zipper and we're unable to bring the car up to the house making it a real effort to put anything in the car. So the recycling will sit in the garage until the road works are finished - uhhh!!

I did have a couple of projects on my work table, one of them sat there for days and every time I passed by I added something else to it. It's now finished and I'll be showing it later on in the month.

I also finished a journal page in my altered book. Lena had chosen the theme 'Wet' which quite frankly stumped me totally. Then whilst looking through my stamps from My Stamp Box I saw the Wishing you Sunshine stamps set and had a flash. I don't know why I didn't think about it earlier but hey ho, there we are. I found the perfect image from a magazine and used some ink sprays and watercolour crayons to add colour.

Officially thinking of Christmas.

2011-11-01T10:02:00.001+01:00

Its now November the 1st and I can officially start thinking about Christmas. It's been in the shops now for weeks and really, I find it all too much. Last week I was looking for last minute Halloween stuff and couldn't find anything at all so I came to the conclusion I should have been looking in the summer!!

Anyway, I'm allowing myself to fully embrace Christmas now it's November so my blog will be full of it I'm afraid.

Sarah Hurley has brought out a new CD for Christmas called Tinseltown which has the most adorable images you can possibly think of on it. She's designed, papers, toppers, stamps and full blown projects too. My first project made using the CD is this journal project which is all on the CD. All you have to decide is how you're going to put it together. I backed mine onto stiff card and used fabric to create the hinges. It could be used to add your photo's from Christmas or used as a journal and document what Christmas is to you and your family.

I just love the colours Sarah has chosen and on the CD she's added some of the same elements and pages in different colour ways.

The CD is available to buy here. You'll be able to see lots more ideas using the images by the other DT members from now on at the Sarah Hurley web site.

Happy Halloween

2011-10-31T14:31:00.000+01:00

One more Halloween project to show and tell. This one is using stamps from My Stamp Box for the hat and body parts as well as the pennant. The pumpkin head is a Sizzix die along with the crow and dress form.

I've added spiders and twisted hazel and lots of black crepe paper with dripping wax on it.

On the My Stamp Box blog today there is a showcase of different DT projects for Halloween, go over and take a look and enjoy.

I wish everyone a very Happy Halloween.

Pumpkin heads.

2011-10-30T20:09:00.000+01:00

This is my pumpkin for this year. I'd love to do one of those fancy designer type pumpkins with some wonderful pattern but the girls complain that a face is traditional and it can't be anything but a face! So as requested here it is.

I've also finished a journal page in my altered book for Halloween. I found a great looking model in a magazine with a black and orange outfit which was perfect. I drew and cut out a pumpkin head colouring it with my Promarkers then went over her legs with a white marker.

Eye eye!

2011-10-27T09:43:00.000+02:00

Halloween is almost upon us and I'm spooking up the house. Today will be pumpkin carving day with my girlies and I'll of course post the results to show and tell.

This picture frame has been appropriately pimped up to include a spooky eyeball. It includes spiders, cobwebs and googly eyes. Directions for making the eyeball can be found on the Kuretake blog today where I've written a short tutorial.

More journal pages

2011-10-23T19:35:00.000+02:00

I just can't let go of the summer journal but soon it'll be time to put it away as a Christmas one will take it's place.

I intend to start a 12 days of Christmas journal but as yet it's only in the planning stage and not even the materials have been decided.

I thought I'd show you a few more of my favourite pages from the summer. I've used lots of acrylic paints, ink sprays, papers, watercolour crayons and rub-ons.

Patina journal page

2011-10-20T12:00:00.001+02:00

I'm still adding to my Summer Journal with images and thoughts from our summer holiday. While on holiday I love to take pictures of doors and windows and Italy was absolutely full of them. This journal page is about the patina of age which gives Italian villages their charm and beauty.
The background is acrylic paint, then I used an ordinary wall stencil to spray green ink from Sarah Hurley through. While it was still wet I blotted it off with some paper towel so it sank into the background and created this distressed effect. The rub on actually broke as I was rubbing it on the page but I left it as it just added to the distressed feel of the piece.

The new theme this week on the Sarah Hurley challenge blog is Misting and this is my entry . If you go to the challenge blog you'll see some wonderful and diverse entries by the DT using ink sprays. You can have a go yourself and be in with a prize too.

Thank you journal page

2011-10-20T08:16:00.000+02:00

I have a journal page to show and tell today, a project for a show case on the My Stamp Box blog. The theme is Hope, Support and Friendship so it was fitting to create a journal page to say Thank you to my late Mother In Law who gave me plenty of inspiration and support. She always passed on fabrics, magazines, bits and pieces and ideas for arty projects. She herself, was a crafter and painter and had heaps of talent.

To see more inspirational pieces just go to the My Stamp Box blog where the rest of the DT have made some gorgeous projects.

Distress effects with Kuretake inks.

2011-10-18T16:08:00.000+02:00

These three Halloween creations were made using the Kuretake Alcohol inks. on the Kuretake blog today I have a tutorial up showing you how you can achieve the same look.

Alcohol inks are wonderful for achieving a distressed look on non porus materials and with such a wide range of colours to choose from, lots of funky effects can be achieved.

Read the tutorial and try it for yourself.

Kuretake interview.

2011-10-11T15:16:00.000+02:00

I'm truly very honored to have been interviewed recently by Buffy for Kuretake.

It was so much fun and if you want to see the whole interview then go to the Kuretake blog here.

Next week I'll be giving a tutorial using the Alcohol inks so look out for that on the Kuretake blog too. Here's a little peek at whats coming next week.

Halloween starts here.

2011-10-06T07:29:00.000+02:00

The weather is finally turning Autumnal and I've brought my plants in and picked the pumpkins. I made my first pumpkin pie- delicious and here's a little halloween card for the new challenge over on the Sarah Hurley challenge blog. It's been made using Sarah's Whimsy Halloween kit and I think those backing papers are so cute.

The card base was made using a piece of 12 x 12 textured card from Kuretake as the colour was perfect. I also used their Wink of Stella pen to colour the stars. Sadly the photo doesn't do it justice but believe me they sparkle.

Today is the funeral of my dear Mother in Law who died suddenly last friday. She'd suffered from Altzheimers which had taken away her life a long time ago. She always loved my cards and loved to show them off to anyone who would stay still long enough. So I dedicate this post to her to thank her.

Art on tour.

2011-09-28T21:45:00.000+02:00

I thought I'd share a few of my favourite art journal pages from my Italian holiday. Yes I did take my art supplies on holiday with me and who wouldn't be influenced by that view.

The pages from my summer journal have been watercoloured, inked and drawn on and stamps from My Stamp Box have been used for On the beach.

Al Fresco dining - STILL!

2011-09-27T09:50:00.000+02:00

This weekend was quite busy and I'm happy to say the weather is just superb still. We're trying to profit from warm sunny days and eating out as much as possible because we know it can all change in an instant.

Saturday was the day for picking the apples in the village, so alot of the villagers got together to pick bags and bags of apples which will eventually be made into juice. At lunch time we sat outside for a picnic lunch of homemade lentil soup and brownies (made by me - the brownies that is). It was all very friendly.

Saturday evening was dinner with friends which involved more eating!! Then sunday as a family we sat outside to eat lunch.

Sunday afternoon I had to watch Create and Craft tv as it was the Kuretake show where I had several cards on display. The card above is one of the cards which I'd sent for the show. It's acatate coloured with alcohol inks and then stamped over with a script stamp. The prima flowers have also been coloured with the alcohol inks so they all matched. You can buy the inks from the Create and Craft web site.

I hope it's sunny where you are, have a good week.

A touch of vintage.

2011-09-23T12:51:00.001+02:00

It's happy friday here in Luxembourg where the sun is shining and the weekend promises to be great. It's just as well because we're picking apples in the village tomorrow which will be made into juice so good weather will make things easier. Especially as it's a picnik lunch too.

On the Sarah Hurley challenge blog the new theme for the next two weeks is 'Vintage'. I don't usually do vintage terribly well. I like to look at it and admire how other people do it but it's not something that sits well with me. We were given some images from Altered Expression, who are sponsering the challenge, to work with and boy did that make things easier. These gorgeous downloadable images are all ready to go, it's just cut and stick! I put mine on a tag which I'd painted and inked and backed the image with the bingo card from Sara's Wonderland cd.

Altered Expression are giving away gift certificates to the top 3 winners of this challenge so you could get your hands on some of their images for yourselves.

Also Sarah is launching two new sets of Halloween digi kits on her blog. I got to play with the kits a little while ago and made a trick or treat bag and a gothic arch card with the digi papers and elements. The two kits are vintage and whimsical and they include backing papers, toppers, alphabets and stamps. Everything you could need to make cards, invitations or treat bags. You'll find them in her shop here and on the blog for more inspiration from the dt.

My first digital download for sale.

2011-09-21T15:51:00.000+02:00

I'm offering my first digital download over on Etsy. I designed this digital tree stamp for myself initially but decided I'd test the waters so to speak and offer it to anyone else who might like to use it.

For anyone buying the stamp, it comes as a digital stamp to colour yourself or in a pre-coloured version to print out and use as a topper.

If you're interested in purchasing it, you can find it here.

Getting back to normal.

2011-09-18T09:58:00.000+02:00

Happy Sunday everyone. Slowly things are returning to normal after the summer break. School starts tomorrow for my girls and I've started to fill up my autumn calendar. Christmas cards is one thing I'll try to do early this year (I say that every year!) - I imagine most crafty folk started theirs in the summer but I wasn't quite so organized.

Anyway, yesterday I managed to have another play with my Kuretake alcohol inks - I love these things. Here are two cards made with the backgrounds.

For the first one I've also used the Art and Graphic Twin pens to create the cool watercolour stamping technique. Simply colour onto the stamp with the pens and spritz with a fine mist of water before stamping.

This second card has been made by wiping the alcohol ink across the surface and using some blending solution to dilute the colour in spots. I stamped the trees from My Stamp Box onto it in black Versafine then flicked white drawing ink onto the card to look like snow. I love it's simplicity.

Kuretake alcohol ink cards.

2011-09-15T21:12:00.000+02:00

These are the two cards which were used on the Kuretake show, featuring the Kuretake alcohol inks. The colours are really very vibrant which was one thing that struck me when I used them.

On the top card I've used them on glossy card, acetate for the butterfly's and the little metal heart.

On the second card I've again used the blending technique for the background and the black ink on the embossed metal foil. I even coloured the prima flower to match the background.

Kuretake on Create and Craft TV

2011-09-14T13:28:00.000+02:00

Tomorrow Kuretake Uk will be demonstrating their new alcohol inks on Create and Craft tv. To see them you have to tune in either to the tv or via computer at 3:pm 5:pm and 7:pm uk time and maybe you'll get to see a couple of my cards on the show.

Before I went away on holiday I got to play with the inks and sent off some work to use as samples and the top of this box lid was one of the things I didn't get to finish before I went. Now finished I can show you here the finished box.

How small can you go?

2011-09-09T00:42:00.003+02:00

In October I'll be giving a workshop to the Mosaik Scrappers, the first one after the summer break and we'll be making a Maze book. This little one has been made using a 30x30 (12x12) piece of cardstock so the pages are only 3x3 inches - tiny. I've used it to showcase some of my stamps from My Stamp Box but incorporating stamps onto a page so small proved to be more than a challenge. It was fun to come up with ways to include them without obscuring the photo's.

The obvious choice had to be shrink plastic and acetate and here's the end result.

For more information on how I made it go to the My Stamp Box blog for details.

challenge 49, Recycling.

2011-09-08T00:30:00.001+02:00

Its time for challenge number 49 on Sarah Hurleys challenge blog and this time it's Natalie who's chosen the theme of Recycling.
I had it in my head to turn bottle tops into fridge magnets (I have to come up with an idea for the Christmas Fair) and this one is quite large with a diameter of 5 1/2 cm wide. I cut a circle from book page then cut a smaller scalloped circle with my Spellbinders and another circle to go inside that from the rainbow backing paper from Sarah's Oz collection. I stamped and cut out the owl from Sarah's Woodland Whimsies stamp set ( I love him) and layered him on with some wire and beads. I used some magnetic tape on the back which I have to say didn't stick too well until the entire surface was covered with tape, and there you have it!

Art journal pages.

2011-08-30T06:00:00.001+02:00

For something a bit different on My Stamp Box we're pairing up for partner projects and I've been lucky enough to be partnered by Birgit Koopsen who's work I truly admire.

For our theme we decided to do some art journal pages as this is a topic close to both our hearts. These are my two pages using lots of inks, paints, book pages and of course My Stamp Box stamps.

To read more about my pages and to see Birgits you can go here.

Holiday holiday holiday......

2011-08-26T16:44:00.000+02:00

Well that's me done, I'm outta here folks. After waiting all summer and waving my friends off on their vacations it's finally my turn to go. In Luxembourg we profit from the late start to the Autumn term and go later in the summer on holiday. That means beaches are less crowded so we can spread ourselves out. We're off to Italy so it'll be good food, good vino, ice-cream by the bucket and beautiful scenery.

I've scheduled posts for the next couple of weeks so I hope it all happens as it should but I thought I'd leave you with this one which is a tag book I sent as part of a swap on the Mini Books Yahoo group. The theme was "The Simple Life" and what could be simpler than some spray inks - I used Glimmer mists and spray from Sarah Hurley, and some masks, some hand made, a few stickers and a fine liner and white gel pen.

Be good while I'm away and I'll have lots to show and tell in 2 weeks time.

Byeeeeee

Challenge 48, bling and sparkle.

2011-08-25T01:00:00.002+02:00

Here's the detail on the top.

Today starts another challenge on Sarah Hurley's challenge blog and this time it's Bling and Sparkle. We're being sponsored by "My Mums Craft Shop" and they're giving away an awsome prize.

I'm not much of a bling type of girl but I really did have alot of fun putting this card together for the challenge. I may have gone over the top with the bling and sparkle but I just couldn't help myself.

I printed out the castle from Sarah's Oz CD and coloured it with Promarkers. I used my Zig glue pen by Kuretake to colour over the roof tops and sprinkled glitter over. I actually did this twice to add more sparkle and it's just such a shame you don't get to see how much I really did put on there! I printed out the castle three times so I could layer up the front bit to give it a more 3D look. I added some wire and sequins along the top just for fun and a sparkly door knob - what else?

Kuretake European DT call.

2011-08-24T20:35:00.000+02:00

It does seem to be that time of year again, of new terms and fresh starts and another new Design Team call is for the Kuretake Design Team - the European members branch.

If you want to be part of this great team and get to use some wonderful and exciting products then read on;

Do you love ZIG pens, and want to be part of the Kuretake Design Team? Well here's your chance....

We're looking to expand our European Craft Design Team so are looking for crafters based in any European country that are either familiar with ZIG pens or enthusiastic enough to start using them! Perhaps ZIG pens aren't readily available in your country - that's fine, we'd still love to have you on board and maybe we can change that.

We're looking for cardmakers, scrapbookers, mixed media artists and anyone that uses ZIG pens in a creative way! You don't have to be on any Design Teams at the moment (everyone's got to start somewhere!) but you do have to be enthusiastic and committed to using ZIG pens in your work

What we ask from our Design Team members....

Actively promote Kuretake ZIG products on your blog by regular use and mention of our products. (At least 3 posts a month)

Be active on facebook and/or twitter

Participation in challenges run by the ZIG blog (won't be more than a couple a month)

Make samples for Create & Craft TV shows (sometimes at short notice!)

Make samples for workshops, demos and exhibitions

Be willing to run workshops and demos for stores in your country (if possible)

What's in it for you?

You'll be one of the first crafters to get your hands on new ZIG products (and we've got LOTS planned!)

We'll add your blog link to our blog, and share your work on our blog.

Our Design Team are a super friendly bunch, so you'll be joining a fab team and we work hard to support and promote the work of our DT members

We're really just beginning with our European Design Team so here's your chance to be a part of something new and BIG!

If you would like to be considered for a Design Team position, please email Buffy (Elizabeth Thomas) at e.thomas@kuretake.co.uk with a link to your blog and a little bit about you by Friday, the 30th September. We'll announce our new DT members the following week.

Our new Design Team members will join for an initial period of 6 months, with the possibility of this being extended.

To find out more about what Kuretake are about just go to the Kuretake web site.

DT call

2011-08-22T10:18:00.001+02:00

It's been a week now since I blogged and believe me life is hectic. I go away on holiday in a weeks time and I'm in catch up mode. Lots has been done and blog posts have been scheduled for while I'm away so it's not as if I've neglected to create anything totally!!

I do, however want to draw your attention to a DT call by My Stamp Box which runs until the 30th August.

So here it is;

ATTENTION all stampers and myStamp BOX fans!

We are looking for new Designers to join our team. If you are enthusiastic about our stamps, love to stamp, are a good team player, and know a thing or two about blogging, you are the right match for us! We are interested in designers with a variety of styles who can creatively showcase myStamp BOX designs in their layouts, cards, altered art and other projects. No previous design team experience is necessary. International applicants are welcome to apply.
Our Term is 6 months from October 1st, 2011 to March 31th, 2012.
Team requirements:

* 4 projects per month

* 1 blog entry per month including good quality photos of a project and instructions/tutorial

* Upload all projects to the myStamp BOX website gallery and other online galleries

* Submit at least 2 projects per term for submission to print magazines of your choice

* Occasionally help with additional design opportunities – new stamp sets, classes, etc.

* make myStamp BOX the only stamping company you design for during this term

Team benefits:

*bio and picture on the website, with links to your blog

*a starter kit of stamp sets and additional stamp sets throughout your term

*other free scrapbooking supplies from product partners as they become available

*30% discount on purchased myStampBox stamps during your term

Please include in your application:

*personal information (your name, address)

*a short paragraph about yourself and why you think you’d be a good fit for myStamp BOX.

*link to your blog and gallery

*3-5 examples of your work showcasing your stamping ability and style

This call ends Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Send your application to bettina@mystampbox.com
myStampBOX website: www.mystampbox.com

We can’t wait to hear from you!

DT call

2011-08-14T16:56:00.000+02:00

Sarah Hurley is looking for a few new people to join her Design Team. If you think you have what it takes and want to be part of this fun team and work with an exciting product then read the post below and get in touch.

Sarah says;

I am looking for 2-3 crafters (must be comfortable with hybrid crafting (i.e. CD's and digi stamps) as well as traditional paper crafting (card makers, scrapbookers, altered artists, art journalers all welcome!) to work with my existing range of CD's, digi stamps, clear stamps, inks etc... as well as all of the exciting new products being launched soon. (To view the product range and some samples you can check out my website or Facebook page)

You will be required to join in our Challenge Blog every other week and leave comments for entries as well as making samples for product releases, marketing purposes, classes, shows and exhibitions.You must have a regularly updated blog with clear photographs of your work and be able to commit to at least a 6 month term

Please send me an email here with your blog link, a little about you and 2-3 pieces of your favourite work. Please also let me know what your speciality is - cards / scrapbooking / altered and mixed media art and / or other crafts and if you belong to any forums or have any galleries i.e. 2peas, flickr etc etc....

The call is open to UK and International applicants and will close at midnight GMT on 1st September- the new DT members will be notified approximately one week later. If you have any questions please ask via email.

Thanks.

Anyone for Scrabble?

2011-08-12T11:00:00.002+02:00

The My Stamp Box blog are having a showcase of projects the DT have made over the past few weeks.

I've made this book using an old scrabble board as the cover and the pages are watercolour paper, bound together using a coptic binding stitch. It's now become my new sketch book. The cover was decorated using the Friday Night Stencil alphabet stamps from My Stamp Box and butterflies from the Colorful Companions set.

Challenge 47 Sewing on a project

2011-08-11T01:00:00.002+02:00

It's my turn to set the challenge on the Sarah Hurley challenge blog and I've chosen an old favourite of mine, to use stitching on a project.

As my inspiration piece I've made a tag creating a background by cutting stars freehand out of sticky paper, placing them on the tag and spraying over with Sarah's spray ink. I printed out the Alice Silhouette from Sarah's Wonderland cd rom and used my sewing machine to add the sewn embellishment.

For more inspiring ways to use stitching go to Sarah's challenge blog and see what the other DT members came up with.

Alcohol ink resist.

2011-08-11T00:30:00.001+02:00

These two cards have been made using two different alcohol ink resist techniques. I think the effects are quite stunning and if you go to the blog at My Stamp Box today you can see how I made them.

Calligraphy flowers

2011-08-07T11:57:00.000+02:00

Goodness me it's been ages since I posted anything here. It's not that I've been lazy and done nothing, quite the opposite. I've been creating madly and preparing posts to schedule while I'm away on holiday - yay - Italy here we come at the end of August. So looking forward to it too.

Anyway, something I can show you now is this card created almost entirely using Zig Calligraphy pens by Kuretake.

On the Kuretake blog at the moment there's an explanation of these pens and how to use them and if you go to the web site you'll find downloadable pages to help you perfect your technique.

While painting on these flowers and leaves it was difficult to know when to stop as I got better and better at it. Once you know the techniques to use they're so easy. I also used the Art and Graphic Twin and Fine and Chisel pens.

I love the look of calligraphy and have used a pen and ink before which I've always found a bit messy and have been restricted to using black ink but with Zig Calligraphy pens you get so many colours, no mess and easy blending techniques.

While I found the flowers easy I'm still practicing my calligraphic writing techniques, so that's for a later date ;)

On a roll with the punches.

2011-07-28T14:37:00.000+02:00

Over on the Sarah Hurley challenge blog it's a new challenge fortnight with Punches being the focus this time. Here I've used the Woodland Whimsies stamp set by Sarah Hurley which is on special offer at the moment, and used my Nestabilities labels die, a punched border, punched leaves and punched the sentiment from my Dymo labeller.

I couldn't think of any other types of punches to use.

Colour challenge

2011-07-27T01:00:00.004+02:00

It's my turn to provide a blog post on the My Stamp Box blog today and as it's a challenge day, I've chosen to issue a colour challenge. Not much of a challenge really as I've used the same colours I've been using for ages now. Maybe I should have been a bit more daring and issued myself with a challenge and gone with a different colour. Anyway, I just love these colours and if you go to the blog you'll find out what led me to choose the colours I did.

Sketch layout.

2011-07-21T00:30:00.003+02:00

On My Stamp Box today, we're showing layouts which some of us have put together using this sketch by Allison Cope.

Here's my interpretation of the sketch using Timelines, Colorful Companions, Repeat After Me and Seal It stamp sets from My Stamp Box.

Grey is a colour too.

2011-07-20T20:24:00.000+02:00

Over on the Sarah Hurley challenge site it's still colour week and will be until next thursday. I thought I'd try something a bit different and use my set of 6 grey Copics for something other than just shading. What better than the tin man from Sarah Hurley's Oz cd which you can get here.

Postal art

2011-07-18T22:35:00.002+02:00

I thought this idea was pretty cool I had to share it with you. Whilst at a recent wedding, the guests were given blank postcards with the name and address of the bride and groom on the back without them knowing anything about it. The idea is to draw, paint, collage or write something on the front and each postcard is to be posted on a certain date (written where the stamp goes). This means that for at least 100 days (I think there were 150 people at this wedding) following their marriage, the happy couple will receive postcards from all of their friends. Cool or what?

I decided to colour the background with Adirondack inks and Butterflies from the Colorful Companions set with My Stamp Box and colour a big acrylic heart with Alcohol ink. I sprayed the whole thing with fixative as it was to go in the post, just to be on the safe side.

New Kuretake blog

2011-07-15T21:26:00.001+02:00

Congratulations to Kuretake who have just launched their own blog. I've got to know some of the design team members over the last few months and it's fabulous to finally have a place where we can all gather and promote this wonderful product. To launch the site they're giving away a fabulous prize of a set of 48 doodle pens which is absolutely wonderful. I know how good these zig millennium pens are as I use them all the time to draw. The set also includes Zig Writers, Photo Signature and Wink of Stella pens which are just so cool. All you have to do to win this awsome prize is to leave a comment on the Kuretake blog, it's as easy as that!

The image below was drawn using the Zig Millennium pen and the crown and wand were coloured with the Wink Of Stella although the photo doesn't show you how it sparkles unfortunately.

It is a label I was asked to draw to go on a bottle of wine which was a gift for a frog mad young woman who got married today..

The caption which was hand written around the outside reads in Luxembourgish, "you have to kiss alot of frogs to find your prince".

New Sarah Hurley challenge.

2011-07-14T16:00:00.002+02:00

It's the start of a new challenge week with Sarah Hurley. This time we're being sponsored by Robyns Fetish, a digital stamp company with some really sweet images in the shop. We were lucky enough to be given some images to play with and I chose this one called "A little bird told me".

I chose to make an easel card and tried a new technique (which I found on the internet but for the life of me can't find it now to point it out) of cutting out the scallop circle with my Nestabilites dies and leaving the top of the image sticking out from the top. It's a bit fiddly and involves measuring and cutting the top of the image out so it can be placed on top of the die when cutting the circle.

If you go to the challenge site you'll be able to see what the other team members did with their images.

New summer journal

2011-07-12T08:46:00.000+02:00

Today is the last day of school here I'm looking forward to not having to get up at 6.00am for a while. Summer holidays mean lots of activities to stop children getting bored and I'm looking forward to our holiday at the end of August.

This is my new summer journal which was posted on the My Stamp Box web site a few weeks back but for some reason at the time I couldn't post it on my blog. It's been bound with my Bind It All and stamped using the Funky Flowers stamps and Adirondack inks. The Pennants are also from My Stamp Box and are just so pretty when stamped onto patterned paper.

I look forward to filling it with summer pages.

Canvas workshop.

2011-07-06T20:47:00.000+02:00

Last saturday was our last Mosaik Scrappers workshop for the summer. We'll meet again in October when I imagine we'll be preparing for Christmas. Ooof, it seems like a dirty word 'Christmas' when I haven't even been on holiday yet!

This is the canvas I made for the workshop, preparing the background a few days before and adding the image on the day. The pointy hats are actually the 'Mini Pennants' from my set of stamps by My Stamp Box but by turning them the other way they became perfect hats. The butterflies called Colourful Companions are also from My Stamp Box and are stamped onto acetate and coloured with Promarkers.

Circles

2011-07-01T07:24:00.000+02:00

The new challenge is up with Sarah Hurley and the new theme is 'Circle Frenzy' chosen by Taraleigh. I had fun making this atc for the challenge using Sarah's spray ink and making masked circles out of sticky plastic. I just love this vibrant colour and have many more projects lined up using the ink.

Stamping frenzie

2011-06-29T09:45:00.000+02:00

Saturday will see our last meeting of the Mosaik Scrappers for the summer where Lena and I will be showing how to put together a mixed media canvas. I'm really looking forward to it as it's one of my favourite things to make. This one has been put together using a background of acrylics and book pages, stamps from My Stamp Box (Pennants) and Inkadinkado (the flowers). The figure was inspired by Claudine Hellmuth taking a picture of my Grandma as a girl and creating a body to go with it out of scrapbook paper.

Shocked and saddened to hear that this will be the last challenge with the Wednesday Stampers I think this is a good one to go out on, a canvas bursting with stamps and colour. I'll feel totally lost now on a wednesday as I've enjoyed taking part in the challenges over the last few years.

Thank you WS for the challenges and the reasons to keep getting my stamps out. Thank you too for the friendships I've made over the years through the group and know that I'll keep challenging myself on a weekly basis and call it 'crafty wednesday'.

Mystery Box Hop

2011-06-23T16:00:00.016+02:00

Welcome to the myStamp BOX “Mystery Box Hop”!

If you have just happened upon our event today, please begin your journey on the myStamp BOX blog here

All of our wonderful myStamp BOX designers are joining us today to show off some inspirational BOX creativity!

Bettina Von Gross - My Stamp Box

Jill Hildebrand - From the Farm

Sue Sykes - Kewl Beans

Jaine Drake - You are here!
Janet Zeppa -Janets Joy

Birgit Koopsen - My Scrappin' life

Linda Abadie - The Craft of Caring

Jolene Johnston - Savor the Memories

Agata Pfister - Under Construction

Rebecca Keppel - My Cluttered Corner
Marsha Valk - Marsha
Allison Cope - Your Memories
myStamp BOX Blog - My Stamp Box

We are giving away an amazing prize package from the myStamp BOX shop for our event this weekend and all you have to do is COMMENT along your journey to WIN.

We have given three of our lovely designers a mystery prize box and you could WIN the prize inside just by leaving a COMMENT on EVERY designer’s blog. Our Mystery Box Hop winner will be announced on the myStamp BOX blog on Monday so all comments are due by Sunday June 26th at 11:59pm EST. Good Luck!

And here is what I did with my MYSTERY BOX…

It turned out to be just the perfect size to fit my ATC collection in. I covered the background with book page and acrylic paint, then added stamps. The flowers were stamped using the Funky Flowers collection then cut out using my Sizzix machine.
Other stamp sets I used are, Seal It, Repeat After Me, Snapshot and Friday Night Stencil.

Now it’s time to HOP along and find out what the next talented designer has created with their MYSTERY BOX. Your next designer is Janet. Don’t forget to leave a comment below for a chance to WIN one of our MYSTERY BOX giveaways!

Curiosity???!!!

2011-06-23T12:31:00.000+02:00

Today is our National Day here in Luxembourg with a bank holiday. So feeling pretty lazy, I've spent an hour or so making an ATC for the Wednesday Stampers prompt this week which is Circles.

The stamps I've use are from My Stamp Box and the theme of my ATC is Curiosity because it's a bit of a taster to look out for our box blog hop which starts at 16:00h European time and 10:00am Canadian time. My Atc is a bit of a hint as to how I've decorated my box.

Please join me later on for the box hop and find out how the other member of the team decorated and used their boxes.

Many Changing Faces

2011-06-22T17:35:00.000+02:00

I've been frustrated beyond belief today as firstly Blogger keeps logging me out, then it refused to upload my photo's. The only way I've been able to upload this one is by using the old HTML method. Madness

Anyway, This is a journal page called Faces (prompt chosen by Lena). I drew the face then scanned it into photoshop before duplicating it and printing it out. The background was sprayed using Sarah Hurley's spray ink. I used my Zig Millenium pen by Kuretake to draw the faces and hairdo's and I think I prefer the finish this gives rather than just pencil. I finished them off with Promarkers.

Lots of fun.

Basement Kitty

2011-06-16T10:18:00.002+02:00

Here are a couple of journal pages dedicated to cats or in particular my cat Jess or better known as the Basement Kitty. She loves to watch and help as you'll see. Wednesday Stampers prompt this week is Animals so here's mine.....

" What do I do now?"

"Ok I get the colour but I still have no idea
what the maps for?"

An Alice tag.

2011-06-16T10:00:00.001+02:00

The challenge blog with Sarah Hurley for the next couple of weeks will be challenging us show our hand made flowers.

I thought I'd make a tag and used one of Sarah's Alice images from the Wonderland CD printed out onto a transparency then sewn down onto the background. For the flowers I've simply punched a couple of circles then cut them into coils before winding them around quite tightly and letting them go again until they form flowers. A little bead in the centre finishes them off nicely.

You can see what the other DT members came up with here.

Journal pages for My Stamp Box

2011-06-14T07:00:00.000+02:00

Today is my turn on the My Stamp Box blog to post a project and so I've chosen to show some of my recent art journal pages made using of course My Stamp Box stamps.

In this first picture, I've used stamps to create the background and the bird image I drew freehand. The words were created using my vintage typewriter.

In this next picture I've used the stamps to create the doll image only drawing in freehand the face.

This last page uses alot of black which I love to give real impact on a page.

On the 23rd June we're having a box hop. Each member of the design team has been given a box to decorate and I'm pretty sure we'll all come up with something totally different. My box sits on my work table just about finished but every time I pass it I have to add something new to it. Goodness only knows if it'll be finished on time.

Anyway, it'll be alot of fun and there will be a prize on offer too so don't miss out.

Introducing The Stamperie

2011-06-12T16:51:00.000+02:00

I have the very great honour to have been selected to join the creative team of The Stamperie. This is an online shop selling the absolutely gorgeous Ippity stamps by Unity. I'm truly looking forward to being able to work with these stamps as they are just so cute.

If you go to the Stamperie blog right now you'll see a full blog post featuring little ole me with a really friendly welcome from Jo, the owner. I look forward to getting to know my partner in the creative team later on in the week, Brenda.

Teasel

2011-06-08T13:20:00.000+02:00

This weeks Wednesday Stamper theme is "The world outside your window", and I've interpreted it literally by looking through my workroom window to the beautiful teasels which are growing in the herb patch. They appeared a few years ago and I just love them so I left them and actually encouraged them to spread themselves about. They're mostly thought of as weeds but like all weeds they love the dry poor conditions that my herb patch
provides. The birds love them in winter because of the seeds, and they look so architecturally stunning.

So here's my journal page for today and not a bird in sight!

New CD launch at Sarah Hurley

2011-06-08T10:42:00.000+02:00

I prayed for rain to break this drought and boy did I get it. I've spent the last two days replacing the earth from the front garden which ended up at the back due to a landslide and this morning I looked out and found it had shifted yet again! I suppose it's keeping me fit!!

Anyway, I just want to take this opportunity to let you know that next week Sarah Hurley will be launching a brand new CD of digital images. I'm excited to be working with it and you don't have to wait too much longer to find out what's on it.

This card is using digital images from her Wonderland CD which is still available to buy from the shop here.

So hopefully next week I'll be able to show you the new CD rom.

Empty nest journal page

2011-06-07T09:32:00.000+02:00

Over the weekend I put together a journal page which started out with a simple whimsy drawing and ended up with a totally different meaning than I had originally intended.

The nest sits above the girlie not only because our little garden birds had flown away leaving 3 broken eggshells as the only reminder but also as my daughter and her boyfriend of 3 years split up at the same time.

For the first time I drew the images with my Zig Millennium drawing pen by Kuretake. Usually I draw in pencil and leave it at that but this time I felt confident enough to draw with the pen. I was really pleased with the results as this pen is fine enough to get into the fine detail. I'm lucky enough to have three of these pens and I'll be using them alot more for my drawing and doodling projects.

Skinnies for posting.

2011-06-07T07:58:00.000+02:00

My Skinnies are going out in the post today. I had alot of fun creating this size, just a little bigger than an ATC but not too big. The finished artwork has changed slightly from the original but I'm happy with the end result.

I'm off to the post now.

Bloomin' lovely digi doings!

2011-06-04T17:50:00.000+02:00

Ooof I need a bit of a respite from all the heat we've been experiencing recently. I hear there's a storm a brewin' so that'll mean more basement time - LOL!

Anyway, I'm blogging this a bit later than usual simply because the glorious weather dragged me outside for garden chores but better late than never in my opinion. On Sarah Hurleys challenge blog this week the theme is digi and we've been lucky enough to receive a cute digi kit from this weeks sponsor Gallimoufry UK called Bloomin' lovely. I decided to print some of it out and use it in a paper and glue way and came up with this card. The papers and elements are really sweet and to see what the other members of the dt did with them you can go here.

Tag - your it!

2011-06-04T12:04:00.000+02:00

I thought I'd show and tell one of my favourite tags, favourite because I just love the bright colour and the funky stamps used.

The Stamperie, a UK based company are looking for a few people to join their creative team and even though it's open to UK only residents I thought I'd just show them what we can do here in Luxembourg too!

To enter you have to fulfil the challenge Tag your it, using a tag somewhere on the design, so I went for a whole tag! Of course you have to use stamping too.

You have until this evening to enter.

Size matters

2011-05-26T09:44:00.000+02:00

You'll have to forgive me for showing another bird related piece of artwork but when I saw the new challenge prompt on Wednesday Stampers is 'Nest', I did the happy dance. My favourite theme for the past few weeks.

I set up a new swap on the mini books yahoo group to exchange Skinny cards (3 x 5 inches) with the theme being nature, so this is my first one - so far another 8 to do.

Stamping tips and ideas.

2011-05-26T08:12:00.000+02:00

All this week on My Stamp Box the design team are doing something a little different and offering stamping hints and tips. So far there have been some really cool tips and even I have been left thinking 'why didn't I think of that?'. Anyway, I've created a masterboard for my tip, something I do alot of especially when I do multiples of something like ATC's or tags.

These two cards and an ATC were made with the masterboard I created using stamps from My Stamp Box and to see how I did it you can go here.

Frames.

2011-05-23T11:42:00.001+02:00

Here's a card I made a few weeks ago using images from Sarah Hurley. It's for the challenge which was posted this week on the challenge site by Claireliz who asked for a frame somewhere on your project. This version of the card is actually version 3 because since it had been added to the challenge blog it just wasn't doing anything for me and I didn't know what was wrong. I pulled it apart a couple of times until I was happy. The original just had too much going on and the doodle border around the outside just wasn't bold enough. Anyway, here we are, mark II and if you want to see what the dt came up with you can see them here

Happy Monday

A lazy sunday afternoon.

2011-05-22T16:44:00.000+02:00

A lazy sunday afternoon and some creative playing with my Kuretake pens. Here I've been experimenting with the Art and Graphic twin pens and Clean colour real brush pens. The watercolour background was made using the watercolour pens and some water spray and I used the pens to paint colour directly onto the stamp.

The sentiment came from a sheet of silver peel-offs which I hadn't used simply because I'd fallen out of love with their silver finish. I painted over them using my black Kurecolor pen (which will paint over most non porous surfaces) giving them a new lease of life.

Just because....

2011-05-19T12:20:00.000+02:00

I had a chance to have another play with some of my pens sent by Kuretake. I really wanted to have a go with the Art and Graphic twin pens. These are watercolour pens which are great for stamping. I stamped this image by painting the colour from the pens directly onto the stamp. This allows me to add more than one colour to the image. I used my waterbrush to just pull the colour in from the sides of the image. I love the look of watercolour.

Woodland Whimsies.

2011-05-17T08:00:00.000+02:00

Another package arrived yesterday full of goodies, this time from Sarah Hurley. One of the things in the package was a set of Woodland Whimsies stamps which are just the cutest.

The stamps sat on my desk all afternoon until after dinner when, chores done, I had a play. I made this quick card, painting the background with watercolour paint and cutting the tree shape out by hand.

I also got to use some more of my Kuretake pens, colouring the owl with Kurecolor alcohol pens which blend extreemly well and doodling with my Milennium drawing pen.

Trying out interesting folds.

2011-05-15T19:56:00.000+02:00

Along with my friend Katherine from the Mosaik Scrappers group, I've been experimenting with some card shapes and fancy folds for a new workshop to be held next month.

This one fascinated me so I had to try it out.

The stamps are from My Stamp Box and I've also used some of the textured paper from Kuretake which is lovely and bright.

Kuretake.

2011-05-15T19:24:00.001+02:00

A few weeks ago I was very fortunate to be contacted by Kuretake who make products for designers, artists, scrapbookers and cardmakers. They asked if I'd be interested in trying out some of their products and joining their team. Of course I said yes as I knew the company to be manufacturers of pens which in my art journals I use alot of but when I did my research I was pleasantly surprised they're into so much more. Scrapbook papers, paints, punches, embellishments and glues to name just a few. In fact, I didn't realise it at the time but two of the things I value the most in my craft box - my Zig glue pen and my Waterbrush, are made by Kuretake.

So here I am, a rainy sunday (which I asked for) playing with my new supplies.

I got out the journal and in an attempt to break free from the green thing, painted on some pinky purple. I'm not sure if I really liked the colour but no matter as it shows up the white Posterman pen really well and the journal text and doodling were done with the black Millenium pen. The letters (which were cut from some of the beautiful textured paper they sent me) are a good demonstration of why a good glue pen is essential in your kit as there's no way at all I could have glued down those fiddly bits of paper without it. Some of those bits were extreemly tiny and one dot of my glue pen held them down permanently. By the way, if you let the glue dry first on the back of a cut out, it becomes a repositional glue. Handy for stencils or masks, I've even heard of people who use it on their Cricut mats when the sticky has worn off although you'd need alot of it.

I also received some cool calligraphy pens and a little instruction book so I intend to try and teach myself some calligraphy. I'll let you know how I get on.

Obsessed with birdies and toilet rolls.

2011-05-13T20:17:00.001+02:00

Hey don't call me obsessed or anything but here's another birdie project. It's a mini toilet roll tube book, yes another one of those too!! made for a blog post on My Stamp Box. For the full project go here.

Happiness is......

2011-05-11T17:33:00.000+02:00

Ok I did tell myself I wouldn't do any more birdie themed things but I found myself with my journal and some crafty time and it just sort of happened that way. It was helped along by the new prompt from Wednesday Stampers which is "Think Happy Thoughts". Well, what can I say, my favourite things - art journaling, the colour green and the little cheep cheep of the baby birds from their nest inside the box in our garden. They make some noise whenever I go out to the washing line. All these things are making me happy at the moment so my journal page was a no brainer as they say.

Stamps are from Gel a Tins and the little birdhouse I painted myself.

A little dragonfly card

2011-05-09T18:19:00.000+02:00

I had some of the background material left over from the postcards and thought I'd make a quick card out of it. The dragonfly is a digital stamp from Sarah Hurley which I printed onto watercolour paper so I could paint the colour in with my watercolours. I added a bit of doodling to it and the wording is from my new Tim Holts Alterations die.

No help from basement kitty!

2011-05-09T12:47:00.001+02:00

This week I managed to catch up with a few things, get a few swaps out and do some journaling too. Saturday was an all day workshop for the Mosaik Scrappers group and we had an absolutely great day. Mid day we had a picnic lunch just so we didn't miss out on the brilliant weather all together.

While there, I finished up making postcards for a postal swap I'm hosting on the mini books site. It's the first time I've sent any postal art without the protection of an envelope so I'll be interested to see how they do and what comes back to me. I used stamps from PaperArtsy and My Stamp Box and painted the background onto music manuscript paper. Good luck postcards.

My journal page once again has a bird theme to it - I have some obsession with birds and nests at the moment. It must be because of all the birds in the garden making their homes in the nest box and old Housemartin nests.

This has to be the funniest thing though, Jess the basement kitty trying to squeeze herself into my flower box which is tiny.

The things I have to put up with.

Happy Scrapbook day

2011-05-06T16:50:00.001+02:00

Today is National Scrapbook Day US (maybe it should be International Scrapbook Day), anyway, we're celebrating in style over at My Stamp Box and the blog is full of inspiration by the members of the design team. I'm not traditionally a scrapbooker but when I do it's in an 8x11 format. Even though I used a patterned paper for the background I just had to put my own stamp on it - literally using the Friday Night Stencil stamps from MSB and some paint. The film strip has been stamped onto a transparency sheet and is from the Snapshot stamps from MSB. The picture is my crazy daughter and has been stolen from her fb page - oops!!

There is also a giveaway of a stamp set to one person who leaves a message on the MSB blog over the course of the weekend.

Anyway happy scrapbook day to all.