Advent Sunday - eeek!!!!!!

Just a quicky to show I haven't forgotten crafting and blogland, just been uber uber busy at work and home which has meant I haven't been able to make time for crafting - bad girl I know!

So Radio 4 announced this morning that it was the first Advent Sunday, so that means only 4 weekends till Christmas Day, good job today is dedicated to Christmas card making!

Tim Holtz Christmas ATC stamps embossed in copper. With Aged Mahogany and Brushed Corduroy Distress inks to colour the ATC

Tim Holtz snowflakes stamped in Hazelnut on brown card with a light spray of aged brass Glimmer mist and aged photo round the edges.

Textiles: off cuts of linen and white cotton with a range of Stef Francis (finally putting to use, purchased ages ago) threads and fibres.

Right off to make more!

hugs

jo

xx

Movember - doing it for the boys

I made this for my husband to celebrate him taking part in Movember, the annual  moustache growing charity event to raise awareness of men's health.

I'll be honest I am not fond of 'taches and really don't like his when he grows one for plays (particularly hated the Baldrick full face long straggly beard and tache for BlackAdder one year), but in the name of charity, to raise awareness of men's health especially prostrate and testicular cancer and even more importantly get men openly talking about their health and health related problems then I'm willing to suffer.

If you want to see how he's doing growing his tache or indeed donate to this excellent cause check him out here

I've wanted to use the long stemmed flower on PaperArtsy Hot Picks HP1109EZ for a while, so as this plate also had a mustachioed man on it as well, choice of stamps made!

Also I'm really enjoying working in an 8"x8" format, it's a bit like art journalling for me without the actually journalling (I possible do that on her as in the blog rather than in a book!!!!)

On a piece of green co-ordinations card I added some Toad Hall Fresco Finish paint just to give some depth, I then embossed the flower repeatedly over the card in Old Paper Distress Embossing Powder.  

Um didn't quite work as I'd liked, threw it in the bin and started again, that was worse.

Retrieved original from the bin and attacked it with a sanding block to see if I could get rid of the Distress Powder and then LOL (get me using techno slang) I liked what I'd created, sort of  relief faded look (don't tell me this is how I'm supposed to use Distress Embossing Powder).  Stamped the houses from Hot Picks HP110EZ along the bottom in Timber Brown Stazon. Edged in Crushed Olive and Vintage Photo Distress Ink.

Next the tag, I used Mushroom Fresco paint over the whole tag, then with the new Cinnamon Fresco  paint I stenciled carefully over the top. 

Over the top of all of this I stamped the Butte miners stamp in mushroom ink - it's very subtle. Went round the edge with Vintage Photo Distress Ink.  Added the purple velvet ric rac and the buttons - love the red one on top just adds a pop of colour!

Monsieur Tache was stamped in Timber Brown Stazon on a scrap of white card that was painted in Haystack Fresco paint.  Around the edge of each piece I stamped the edge of the Cherry toothpaste stamp in timber Brown Stazon.  Distressed the edges with the tonic tool and inked the edges in Vintage Photo Distress Ink. 

The Movember tag was a spare piece of white card painted in Toad Hall fresco.  

The edges sandpapered to reveal some white and then a large M stamped in Cherry Red Stazon (to pick up the red button) and the little ovember in timber Brown Stazon. The tache was painted in Black Soot Distress Stain and some Rock Candy Crackle paint over the top to give a little gloss.

Ok that's all for now, just to say I do have a load of stash from yesterday's HobbyCraft show at the NEC, but my photo twitter app is playing up so can't tweet (sorry Gabrielle) but the haul does include a lot of new Fresco paints and a set of new Winter Distress Inks that I spied on the ATC stand - they were just sitting there as if to say has anybody seen me yet - do you know how SPECIAL I am??????

hugs
jo
xx

Feelin pinky?

I have to say I haven't been crafting as much as I'd like over the past couple of weeks, the onslaught of dark nights and dark mornings is beginning to make me lethargic and sofa bound.  

Plus I've had a lingering cold / cough that won't go away (I have threatened it with cough syrup, Vick's, the Mitchell boys - but it just laughs and makes me cough more), leaves me so tired I am in bed at 8.30pm most evenings. 

AND I really can't muster up any enthusiasm or ideas to make me get up of the sofa or stay up til say (let's be daring here) 9.00pm to craft!

Yep fair to say I'm feeling sorry for myself and to be honest avoiding the inevitable trip to the docs for stronger drugs (every year is the same).  Having an underlying chronic condition (don't panic it's only diabetes) is shall we say "annoying" sometimes.

Whinge over - are you still with me? 

Yesterday I was determined to make something. A crafty challenge works especially well if you've got no real ideas or want to think about ideas as you sort of just "follow the instructions".  Grungy Monday 24 fitted the bill, I just watched the Tim Perfect Distress video and got the necessary bits out to play with.

Started with a tag and coloured with Worn Lipstick and Dried Marigold Distress Inks. Added the swirls  from the Urban Chic plate in Barn Door Red Distress Ink and used Perfect Pearl over the top.

Then took an ATC and coloured that with Dried Marigold and Barn Door Red Distress Inks. Stamped the tattoo heart from the Urban Chic plate in the new Dried Preserves Distress Stain and used Perfect Bronze over that.

The numbers were inked in Dried Preserve and Perfect Pearls gold used on those. But then I over stamped them again in Dried Preserve as they faded / disappeared on the strip of card and I needed some contrast!

Edged everything with Barn Door Red and Vintage Photo Distress Inks and added some pink (yes pink) ribbon. 

Trying to actually show some "shine" which frankly was the aim of the game is quite hard work in daylight so this last photo goes against all my "you must use natural light" principles for taking photos - but look at the shine on that stamping!

So another day is looming, it's still pitch black outside, I was awake at silly o'clock as I couldn't sleep and of course the clocks have gone back so it's even more silly o'clock, but I love the silence only broken by the birds starting to sing - let's see what happens today.

hugs

jo

xx

Ten minutes!!!!!!!

Ten minutes to make a complete "something" with Tim Holtz products is this week's challenge from Grungy Monday.  Hum, it normally takes me ten minutes to decide on whether to use stains or inks, but a challenge is a challenge.

So taking the advice of Gabrielle I planned ahead.  Selected a set of stamps - mini classics, which sort of dictated the colour scheme (red white and blue) as the stamps have a french theme.

To the pile I added an off cut of white card, a page of text, two tags cut from Tim dies (I always have some knocking around on my desk ready for inspiration to strike), some background paper, embossing ink and black embossing powder, trusty inks and stains in appropriate colours and set the timer.

1. First cut the base card to 8x8" and then the next layer of old Basic Grey paper a little smaller.  
2. Die cut the white card with a PaperArtsy die and stamped the postcard card image all over on an angle in Tea Dye Distress Stain. Edged in walnut stain.
3. Spread some Picket Fence distress Stain on the large manila tag and all over the smaller one.
4. Added Faded Blue Jeans Distress stain to the large manila tag
5. Swiped Barn Door Red Distress Stain to the smaller one.
6. Swiped some Walnut Stain Distress Ink down the book text
7. Stamped and embossed the Eiffel Tower over the blue and the Mona Lisa on the red
8. Stuck the white postcard down on the Basic Grey paper, put the text on top of that and stapled the tag to that.
9. Stuck the Basic Grey down on the base card
10. Stuck the little tag with some foam pads on top of the big manila tag

Phew!

If I had time I would have quite liked to added in some journalling / title along the lines of - "So when are you going to take me????"  My dear husband who has conversational french classes every week for the past 5 years keeps promising to take me to Paris so he can practice his french and I can delight the art, architecture, pretending I'm Amelie or Meg Ryan.  

It hasn't happened yet either acting or rugby gets in the way (that's the excuses).  anyway my birthday is on a Saturday next year with no excuses of sport or thespianism (I might have just made that word up) on the horizon so I think we might manage it especially if I waft this under his nose enough times!

Hugs 

jo

xx

And no it doesn't mean I was rooting for France in the Rugby World Cup!

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