Spooky? Not really

Grungy Monday has returned and the them this week is .... Halloween.  

Halloween - the majority of the UK just doesn't really get it. Perhaps the pagan undertones are just too scary for us! But too be honest when it's teenage kids roaming the streets in Scream masks menacing you for money and causing criminal damage to your property when you don't cough up; so that you are forced to either go out or sit in your own house in the dark in fear of a knock on the door, it seems very removed from the cute candy dress up we see over the pond (phew that was a long sentence - apologies).

So going back to the pagan undertones of the dead walking, of the macabre, the spooky and the downright spine chilling who else does it better than Edgar Allan Poe, so in homage, I give you Raven.

Having acquired the new autumn palette of colours from Mr Holtz (not personally of course, courtesy of Karen at LB) I decided I'd use those on a tag.

Put some of the Ripe Persimmon (orange) on my craft sheet, spritzed with some water and  smooshed the tag through it a couple of times drying in between.  Then with a blending tool I added Seedless Preserve (purple) in the spaces where the orange hadn't stained. Stained a piece of text with Barn Door Red and stuck that down the edge of the tag and dragged a white paint dabber down it to give a bit of streaking.

 

Then with a craftworks stencil I added Gathered Twigs (brown) towards the bottom and up the side. Finally using black archival I added in some stamped images from Mini Ornaments plate.

The Raven himself was cut from a PaperArtsy die and coloured with Black Soot Distress Stain and Violet Glimmer Mist.  He sits on a torn, inked and scrunched up bit of spare card attached with a staples. 

Mind you Mr Raven might not be Mr Poe's but rather Arabel's Mortimer - still miserable and naughty but perhaps not as scary! 

hugs

jo

xx

 

P.S Joan Aiken has to be one of my all time favourite children's authors, her fantasy novels especially the short stories about Mark and Harriet Armitage and the strange things that happened to them as if they were natural everyday occurences.  Perhaps I'll revisit on the sofa with a cup of tea and some jaffa cakes!

Inspired by nature

 Look at what we were looking at this morning - do you think Tim was inspired to make those new limited release distress inks by the delights of nature?  


Looking forward to playing with said inks later today!
 

hugs

jo

xx

Get out of jail!

I'm taking a day's annual leave today - why?  Just because I can - aren't I the rebel!

I've had a lovely morning so far and I intend to spend the rest of the day crafting (a little bit of housework just to keep things ticking over of course). But I thought I'd show you the birthday card I made for my oh so fantastic niece who was 17 at the weekend.

I started off with a piece of white card which I embossed in pink with a Tim typeface letters stamp all the way down the card.  When that was dry I went over the top of it with a Black Soot Distress Stain which really set off the pink letters and made them pop!

The Tim butterflies were stamped and embossed in black on old piece of background paper I'd made ages ago with Fired Brick and Barn Door Distress Inks.  The card was originally a parchment colour and a linen effect. 

Distressed the edges with my trusty tonic tool and added some Black Soot Distress Ink round the edges. Used foam pads to mount it on top of the pink letters and voila - one grungy goth emo card (I know I know I am mixing my genres but figured only craft types would be reading not grunge, emo or goths!) 

So just a quick post now I'm off to the craft room to have some fun - I may blog later!

hugs

jo

xx

Pride, honour and egg shaped balls

Challenge over Simon Says Stamp and Show is - men only this week.  No it doesn't mean only men can enter ( I do occasionally let my husband near my craft room - usually to make my birthday card) but that we create something which is a a bit bloke orientated.

So on my desk for a few weeks I've had this inked up rugby image ready and waiting for me to do something else with it.  As you know (if your are that way inclined) the Rugby World Cup is on a the moment in New Zealand.   Rugby is also quite a "big thing in our household", we have season tickets for Northampton Saints and go to every home game and away games - especially long distance like Ireland Wales or Scotland.  So far this season we aren't doing quite as well as we did last season (finalists in the European Heineken Cup) but as we have so many squad players in the World Cup team we are hoping this is a short term blip and perhaps this year is a consolidation year for our newly revamped bigger squad.

Ok sport talk out of the way and back to crafting!

I've had the rugby team stamp for ages from PaperArtsy (fellow rugby fanatics), it so reminds me of a picture of my Grandad from the 1930's in a similar pose with his team (must find that and scrapbook it). I also really love the shabby chic look that you often see Union Jacks or the St George's cross in graffiti style high end expensive art, so thought I'd combine.

Started off with some card that I painted in a light grey acrylic and Pumice Stone Distress Stain. Then using Fired Brick and Bard Door Distress Stains I "painted" a St Georges cross across the card.  Finally stamped the boys in black stazon.

I sewed round the edge of the card in grey thread quite a few times and then distressed it some more with walnut stain ink and heirloom gold perfect pearls spray.  Also smooshed the edges across my craft mat where excess ink and water were as well.

The large tag underneath is an old manila folder  (I have loads knocking around now after we tidied up the study last week). I stamped a Tim ledger stamp at the top and then stamped again down the card using a large post it note to mask off the top bit and just gt the lines. Stamped the numbers in grey stazon (first and second stamping to get the faded look) and inked with walnut ink.  

The background is part of a new project for me.  I make so much stuff (according to my husband) that I'm running out of space to display it, plus I really wanted to get back into using my photographs in my art.  So i thought why not revisit where you started and scrapbooks!  So I've dug out an old 8x8 scrapbook album.  I like the idea of working in this size, tags will sit nicely on this size page and still leave lots of white space which I like.

So cut a piece of 8x8 card and trimmed down a bit.  Using Frayed Burlap and Fired Brick Distress Stains I just painted some colour on and used a baby wipe to move it a round a bit and soften the edges.  Flicked loads of water on from the palm of my hand to get big water stains.   I stamped the pen nibs in black stazon and distressed the edge.  Attached the tag to the background and them stamped three lions down the left hand edge. Finally grounded it all by sticking it all to an 8x8 piece of light brown card.

From something that was sat on my desk for a while with that I like it but what next question mark hanging over it, this has turned out rather nice, grungy and some might say messy (I appreciate that the grungy look isn't every ones cup of tea) but it suits me.

Well I'm feeling much better than I did yesterday, so more crafting, necessary housework and possibly some gardening!

hugs

jo

xx

Have a back up plan

It is fair to say I have felt better than I do at the moment.  

It looks as though myself and most of my team have picked up freshers lurgy because yesterday and today I feel absolutely rubbish, I even don't really want to eat so I know I'm ill. 

Freshers for those of you not in or have been in the UK Higher Education system is induction week for all the new first years starting their degree courses - lots of new germs floating around and it looks as though we've picked them up.

I always say to my team have a back up plan for just in case anything goes wrong when you are teaching - usually that's a technology failure and you have to resort to handouts or even the whiteboard to demonstrate what you are trying to do.

So it's a good job I do what I say and had a tag already made that fitted this weeks Sunday Stamper Challenge - resist. It's not cheating, but good planning!

Stamped the lovely swirly flowery stamp in white embossing powder on the bottom of the tag and then used Weathered Wood and Faded Jeans Distress inks to go over the top. Used a dotty stamp on the top half of the tag in Weathered Wood. 

Used the Paper Rosette and Mini Rosette dies to cut out the flowers, sprayed with a antique gold glimmer spray and added some buttons on top.

Ok a very short post for now, I'm off to put some shorts on and sit out in the garden feeling consumptive in this glorious heat - you do know Mr Weatherman it's October 1st today and I live in the UK don't you?

hugs

jo

xx

Lawks - do things really come in threes????

Well I can't believe it, not only did I win one of these gorgeous things of beauty from the lovely lovely France a few weeks back, I've just read today that I won the Simon Says Stamp and Show challengee with my ATC!

Is the big one on the way then - that hand in my notice one that allows me to spend vast quantities on stash - fingers crossed!

BIG hugs

jo

xx

ATC's aren't easy!

The Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge this week was to make an ATC - how hard can that be?

Hard.

I did have a grand idea involving a box canvas, linen, four ATC's inks and Tim Holtz stamps, which I started and then stopped (I will return to it- never fear 'co I think it's going to be good) and instead raided the um pile (unfinished projects) for stuff to make a quick ATC.

The ATC had been cut from some mount board and covered in a scrap of Tim Lost and Found, some white paint added, then Fired Brick Distress Stain over the top and a swirly stamp from Mini Classics plate stamped in grey stazon.   I did sand it a bit and some of the paper rubbed off, but that was ok - added to the shabby charm!  The edge was inked with Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink.

The house was a spare one cut from the Artful Dwellings die for the Home Sweet Home project .  I added some Antique Linen Distress Stain and stamped the Eiffel Tower stamp from Mini classics in grey stazon.  The metal roof was a spare bit of metal with some grey paint added and ribbed back to expose some silver. Again some Chipped Sapphire Distress Stain round the edge.

The bird was a spare one from the tweet tweet project, so it had already been stamped with Papillion background stamp. I edged in Chipped Sapphire just to give some definition.

The little hanging bracket is a book ring coloured with Slate alcohol ink.  The inspiration for this is Gillian - so thanks Gillian for the idea.

So considering in the end this was a very quick make made up of odds and ends on the um pile I quite like it, especially the colour combo, Fired Brick and Chipped Sapphire - rather delish and shabby!

Right that big idea is calling (plus others), but I really should do the massive pile of ironing that is engulfing the dining room table at the moment - sigh.

hugs

jo

xx