'What you do speaks so loudly, I can't hear what you say.'
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Tuesday 14 September 2010

Here’s my K page for the Chunky Alphabet swap, which also happens to fit into the PDCC 46, which is a Colour Splash (Black and white with a splash of Gold, Pink or Copper).  I’m not over pleased with it because it didn’t work out exactly as planned but I really don’t have time to play around with it right now. ( I managed to sneak an hour yesterday to make this, lol – hope to get to the next two letters later in the week!)

<KENOX S1050  / Samsung S1050>

And K for knots, he, he!

k for knot

Monday 13 September 2010

This week's Spotlight challenge on Crafty Cardmaker's Challenge Blog is to use Alcohol inks.

I was still thinking Clean and Simple when I made this and so I tried to keep it pretty simple - something I simply couldn't envisage when I first started to think about using Alcohol inks, which I LOVE for their messiness.  Then I had a bit of a brainwave and this is what I did.


I added two colours of Ranger Alcohol inks (Citrus and Pool) to the felt on an applicator, keeping them far enough apart that they didn't bleed into each other, then dragged the applicator across a piece of glossy card to create a duo coloured stripe.  Okay, I know it's NOT a straight stripe, but I still like it, lol.  It's what's known as freedom of expression and is, at least, unique, he, he.

Stamped the Greeting (SU) and the butterfly (one of my all time favourite images from ISC) with Memories Black ink, then embossed them with clear powder while still wet. 

Coloured another piece of glossy card with the same alcohol inks, then stamped and embossed the butterfly again but with the stripes in reverse order, to add some contrast.  I then cut it out and attached over the top of the original one, using double sided foam tape, revealing the antennae underneath it. 

Added three citrus brads under stripe to balance the design, then layered onto turquoise card and white card.

Friday 10 September 2010

Back to J again for my 4x4 pages and although I stayed with the J for Jigsaw theme, I added a Japanese slant this time.

J
I gessoed the jigsaw piece first – hence the bloom, I think – added the colour (Tombow felt tip) then stamped and embossed the Windy Geisha, bleached the colour from her skin, the kimono and the ‘brolly’, colouring them with a sparkly gold gel pen and edging with black felt tip.  (Phew!  That was a LONG sentence, lol).  Embellishments coloured with Krylon Gold pen.

What I had in mind for my 'K' postcard was going to be pretty complicated but then I remembered my playing card stamps and woohoo, I had an idea which was MUCH easier, lol.


Everything is stamped in Versafine ink, then clear embossed.

Thursday 9 September 2010

Found the latest GPP Street Crusade yesterday and just had to have a go – especially cos my mind was in turmoil over something at the time.  The brief is to use acrylics in journal pages but using only a scraper – or old Credit card/store card – and maybe some stencils of some kind.

I gessoed my altered book pages first, using an old credit card, then applied the paints in layers, spritzing with water now and again, followed by stencilling using a fern stencil I love but haven’t used very often.  It’s a metal stencil so I couldn’t move it around enough to get random ‘off the page’ imprints, which I would have liked.

paint scraping a3   paint scraping 1a 
Had to wait for the paints to dry overnight because I’d applied them pretty thickly through the stencil.  I wanted to add some more but didn’t want too much because I liked the pages as they were.  I decided on using some letter stencils and some sequin waste – which I was hoping wouldn’t ruin the ‘negative/positive’ effect which I liked so much and here are the results so far.
paint scraping 1  paint scraping 2
I really like these pages and they look a lot better in real life but I’m sure I’ll like them much more when I’ve journalled on them, lol.

Monday 6 September 2010

This week’s Challenge over at Crafty Cardmakers is Clean and Simple.
I don’t do a lot of CAS because I love to play with inks, but I do really enjoy simple card designs now and again. I’ll be making a DT card for the ‘Spotlight’ part of this challenge, but couldn’t resist making a couple of very clean and simple cards for fun.

CAS 2  CAS 1
I used the same flower stamp (Unity Stamps) with the same colours of Tombow felt tips on both of them, but different words (Unity Stamps and Stampin Up).
The first one is stamped directly onto a folded white card, while the second one is stamped on white card, layered with a very narrow border onto green card to match the green pen I used, then onto a larger white card.  Very clean and very simple but I like them.
Don’t forget to visit the Challenge blog to see the beauties my teamies have created for you this week!

Sunday 5 September 2010

Here’s my J postcard but I haven’t yet managed to finish the 4x4 – hope to get that done in the next few days.

J for Jigsaw pc

The background is resist – Versamark ink stamped on glossy card, then inked over with Distress inks – Pine Needles, Bundled Sage, Tumbled Glass and Broken China, with a little overstamping in Broken China and Pine Needles.  The jigsaw pieces are stamped with various stamps and embossed, then inked.  The words are from a Simple Expressions plate, stamped and cut up.

Sorry I’ve not been able to visit your blogs as much as I usually do – life’s a bit chaotic here at the moment.  Hope to manage a bit more free time after this week.

Friday 3 September 2010

Here are  my letter I’s for both Alphabet swaps – first the Postcard swap for Lots to Do and the 4x4 for the KCUK Chunky book.

I for ink PC
On this one there are no real nibs – just lots of Glossy Accents.  Love the colours, though – Wild Honey, Tumbled Glass, Broken China and Stormy Sky Distress Inks.  Coloured with Tombow pens, my favourites.

I for ink 4x4

This is the one I’m entering into Theme Thursday’s ‘Square’ theme.  It’s VERY chunky cos there are 8 REAL nibs on it!!  Just hope they don’t drop off, lol.  There were nine but I lost one, so I used Glossy Accents on the 9th nib.  Wish I’d coloured the bottle a bit more on the 4x4 because I like the way it turned out on the 6x4, but I’ve embossed it now, so too late :(  Distress and Adirondack inks used on the background and yes, it was deliberately distressed around the edges and corners.

Thursday 2 September 2010

Been busy getting ahead with these two Alphabet swaps the last couple of days, so I don’t have to worry too much in the next couple of weeks – best laid plans of mice and men?  I’m rushing and it shows, but these are my swaps for G & H

G for Garden postcard
G for Green, Gold and for Garden
G for Grasses 4x4
G for Green, Gold and Grasses. 
(Might have to add an ‘es’ onto the end, lol)
H for horses postcard
H for Horses and for Heart
H for heart 4x4
H for Hearts
I’ve also done both I’s and one of the J’s but I’ll post those tomorrow. Off to do the second J now – I hope!

Wednesday 1 September 2010

… and Frame and Flutterby (well, that’s what I call ‘em, lol)

F for Friends
This is for the KCUK Chunky Alphabet swap and what was in my WOYWW easel..

This is an Art Journey stamp, which I’ve stamped and embossed, then cut out from its background to make a totally new stamp, something I often do.  I love the fact that I can then use it on any background I like.    For some reason, I’ve attached the embossed frame the wrong way around, so it’s DEbossed, but never mind.  Still looks okay, lol.  The Flutterby is from one of my favourite Innovative Stamp Creations plates and has to be my all time favourite flutterby.  Inks are Ecoline and Colorbox Pigment inks.

The Bank Holiday this week has made the days seem to come way too soon.  Can’t believe it’s Wednesday already!!  It’s time to SNOOP - WOOHOO!!!    If you don’t know yet what What’s on Your Workdesk Wednesday is all about (and you really, really SHOULD DO) then pop over to Julia’s blog to spy on what everyone’s revealed this week.  It really is a lot of fun!!   (Oops, I've put the wrong number up there, so my link is taking people to the wrong entry - duh!  My apologies - this is WOYWW 65, lol!

Anyway, here’s a snippet of my desk this week, which actually contains a WIP (Work in Progress), lol.  NOT showing my whole desk this week cos very little has changed, apart from the fact that it’s probably worse than it was!!!!! 


woyww 1 sep
Stazon inks and Paperartsy stamps are out – I don’t use them too often but this time I wanted lots of greens for grasses and was stamping on glossy paper, so I needed the Stazon.  Trouble is, I think I’ve changed my mind about what I’m doing, so this may have been in vain – or probably not.  I’ll make a card from it ;)

You can just see my WOYWW easel peeping from the right hand side and here it is in all its glory, containing my most recent Alphabet 4x4 for KCUK’s Chunky Alphabet swap.  I’ll be blogging it after I’ve posted this.

woyww easel

That stamp of grasses you can see to the left hand side is one of my favourites, although I don’t use it too often because it’s pretty limiting.  Mum sent it from New Zealand, so I treasure it and I may now have the perfect excuse to use it again. 

This may well be my last WOYWW for a while now – not sure yet of the date but I’ll be starting a Full time Course this month and I suspect it will be next week or the week after but I have LOADS of stuff to sort out and to deal with before then, especially after 4 weeks of my OH being home, therefore doing absolutely NAFF all in the house!!!  I’ll miss you all. 

Thanks to everyone who’s left comments in the last few weeks – I really appreciate your kind words and your sense of fun.  I’ll try to get round to you all this week!