Alpha Challenge 'H'

This is my entry for the letter 'H' in the Alpa Challenge over at the fab Craft Barn. I adore this Fairy House from Lavinia Stamps and the Fairies from Sheena Douglass go perfectly with it. The background is inked with a selection of Distress Inks, sprinkled with droplets of water, dabbed with kitchen roll and then sprayed with Abominable Snowman Glimmer Mist. I randomly stamped with Creative Expressions Chicken Wire stamp with Peacock Feathers Distress Ink.  The house and fairies are stamped in black Versafine and embossed with clear powder.  The Lavinia leaves are stamped with grey Momento because I just wanted them very subtle. The flowers are punched from card that is coloured with Distress Inks and Cosmic Shimmer paints.  I wanted them to blend in with the background too.  'House' is cut using Cuttlebug dies.  Please pop over to the Craft Barn and see the other entries and the Design Team projects.  I am very excited tonight because I am off to the Make It show in Farnborough tomorrow with my friends Marleine and Claire.  Marleine's husband is driving us which is really nice.  I am sure I will come home with a nice bag of crafty goodies to add to my stash!  Have a good evening, thank you for popping over and take care xx

What's on your Workdesk? Wednesday 195

Its very late on Wednesday but I have been busy today. One of the things I have been doing is making my husbands birthday card.  His birthday is on Tuesday.  Here is my desk from late afternoon.  I tried to post this earlier but Blogger wouldn't let me download the photo!

Your can see a couple of pictures of Miles Davis, some embossing I have done with an M-bossibilities folder from Spellbinders which is to the right of the picture.  The trumpet is from Tando Creative and I have coloured it with Distress stain.  I won all the packs you can see in the background from Tando's Blog a while ago.  I have put the card together now but won't be putting it on my Blog until I have given it to Darren.  As you may have guessed he likes music of all genres including Jazz and is a huge fan of Miles Davis, hence the card.  In the background, if you squint, you can just see my WOYWW badge.  Its ready for me to wear on Friday when I go to Make It craft show at Farnborough.  To join in with WOYWW please hop over to Julia's Fab Blog to join in.  This is a very short post as it's getting late.  Sorry I am behind with my visits to your blogs, will catch up tomorrow.  Thank you for stopping by, your visits and comments mean such a lot. Take care. Christine xx 

Take a Little Time to Dream

It was my friend Lizzy's birthday yesterday and here is the card I made for her.

The background is inked with Distress Inks, spritzed with water and then pearl Glimmer Mist followed by inking around the edges with the same DI's.  The button tree is coloured with Promarkers and the pearls are all coloured to match.  The stamp set is the Dream set from Inky Doodles - I love their stamps, they are quite quirky and excellent quality.  I hope you are having a good day.  Take care.  Christine xx

What's on your Workdesk? Wednesday 194

It Wednesday and time for the weekly desk hop brilliantly organised by the wonderful Julia over at Stamping Ground.  If you want to see what is happening at desks all over the crafting world - that is the place to be.

Saying that, there is not much going on here today.  There are some new Sheena Douglass stamps that arrived in the post yesterday and to the left is an image and background waiting to be made into a card.  I used the same image and colours on a journal page and thought they would look nice on a card too.  Next to that is the card from yesterday's post, you can see it here. if you would like a closer look.  The colourful pots at the back are Cosmic Shimmer paints waiting to be put away and the little wooden stamp is a cute little cow that I use on the back of all my cards.  I have been to the hairdressers so haven't had a chance to craft today.   Thank you for popping in on my desk, its lovely to see you!  Have a good day and take care.  Christine xx

A Dream is a Wish

'Colour techniques' is the current challenge at Artful Times.  They want to see lots of colour and I have chosen to use a brayer.

The ink pad I have used is Kaleidacolour and the stamps are from Dandelion wishes by Creative Expressions - I love this set.  The stamping is done with black Versafine and clear embossing powder - you may have noticed I use this a lot!  I brayered the ink onto gloss card, stamped and embossed the image, then gave it a good polish with a tissue.  The sentiment is done in the same way and cut out and matted with Spellbinder dies.  The black base card is stamped around the edge with the little dandelion seed stamp, but I am not sure if you can see it as it is black on black.  I added the ribbon and black pearls for a little detail.  I like this particular ribbon because the centre allows the background colour to show through. There is plenty of time to join in with this challenge or to pop over and see the other entries along with Neet and Von's fabulous cards.  I really enjoy working with colour so may have to enter again with another technique!  Thank you for visiting me, I really appreciate your comments.  Take care.  Christine xx

Alpha Challenge 'E'

The Craft Barn are running a two weekly Alpha Challenge. The current letter is 'E' and here is my page.

All the stamps are from Crafty Individuals set CI-351.  The background is made by first applying various Distress Inks, spritzing with water then adding various colours of Cosmic Shimmer paints.  The main image and some of the background images are stamped and embossed with clear powder.  The smaller images are just stamped but not embossed for a contrast.  The quote is written on a background coloured in the same way and the letters are cut from Cuttlebug dies.  The background is incredibly shimmery and vibrant but it doesn't show up too well in the photograph.  I may have got a little carried away with the stamping but I just love these stamps and couldn't stop!  Please pop over to the Craft Barn and see the brilliant pages from the Design Team and the other cool entries.  Have a brilliant weekend.  Take care.  Christine xx

Happy Valentines Day!

Happy Valentines Day everyone!  I am posting the Valentines card I made for my husband - its not the card I had originally meant to make.  I ordered a set of stamps specially and had a plan, went to make the card on Tuesday afternoon and the main stamp in the set was faulty!  The air was blue in my craft room!  I had to quickly think of an alternative as I had to make it then as I was out yesterday.

The three large hearts are from a Creative Expressions set and are stamped on red card in  black Versafine and embossed with clear powder.  The other hearts are from various punches and the sentiment is stamped and mounted on Spellbinder Nestabilities.  I have edged the card and shaded the sentiment with Distress Ink.  I love my husband loads, he is absolutely wonderful.  He really looks after me especially since I was taken ill with M.E. over six years ago.  Our lives have changed dramatically with the impact of this illness, he never complains and does everything he can to make my life easy and happy.  I hope you are having a lovely day and thank you for visiting me.  I am a little behind with my visits to you all but will catch up later today and tomorrow.  Take care and thank you for all your lovely comments and encouragement.  Christine xx

Asian Theme at Artful Times

Over at Artful Times Challenge Blog the theme is Asian.

I didn't think I had any stamps that would fit the theme but then I found a very old set that I bought from Lakeland when they still sold craft stuff.  The images are all stamped in black Versafine and embossed in clear powder.  I thought red and black suited the theme so did a bit of mat and layering, added some ribbon and stamped the background with some of the smaller stamps in the set.  I carried these over the edges of the main images instead of just leaving them behind.  So there you have it, my entry into the challenge.  Please pop over and see the brilliant designs Von and Neet have come up with and have a look at the other fab entries.  Thanks for stopping by and thank you so much for all the lovely comments on my last post (Abstract Cards). I really appreciate it your comments really boost my confidence which is not that great!  Take care. Christine xx

Abstract Cards

On Wednesday (desk hopping day) I was playing with my Encaustic Art kit and these are the finished cards.

Each card is part of a piece.  I never quite know where I am going with abstracts and find its good sometimes to just focus on one part of what I have created and use that.  The colours never come out too well in my photo's, the top one is very purple - but you can't really see it. The second one is my favourite. I have some pictures left but haven't turned them into cards yet.. My husband is an avid record collector and I also still play records as well as cd's.  On his travels today he bought me the Sinatra Family Christmas Album from the sixties so I am listening to that at the moment.  I know, Christmas in February!  I had to hear it though.  I love music of all genres from the White Stripes to Dolly Parton and everything in between!  I have loads of Christmas music in my collection - this one is very traditional and very Christmassy!  Fabulous! Thank you for visiting and I hope you all have a lovely weekend.  Take care.  Christine xx

What's on your Workdesk? Wednesday 192

Its that day again!  A trip round crafty desks courtesy of the brilliant Julia. Its definitely worth joining in, its so much fun!

Encaustic art (using an iron to paint with wax) is the order of the day today.  I need to make a card for a male friend and I think an abstract card will be just the thing.  I find these type of cards really useful for male cards.  I started with the intention of making loads of pictures, abstract and landscapes too, but I haven't been too well this week and have had to stop! So annoying!  Its a big sit down with lots of cups of tea for me this afternoon.  Have a fabulous day and thank you for visiting my desk.  Take care. Christine xx

Alpha Challenge 'C'

The current Alpha Challenge letter over at The Craft Barn is 'C'.  This is my take on it which is 'Circle' although I am not too happy with the result.  I tried to be totally random which is a long way out of my comfort zone.  I was going to do another page instead but haven't been too well this week which meant crafting has gone out of the window.  After much deliberation, I decided to enter this anyway so I didn't miss a letter.

The silver circles are card cut with Spellbinder dies, covered with adhesive silver tape then embossed with a Cuttlebug folder.  The background is inked with Distress Inks then I sponged through a mask followed by stamping with Inkadinkado clear stamps.  I used various circle punches for the bright pink circles and hand cut the 'circle' label.  The dictionary definition and the clip from the Record Guide (the Who did a song called Circles so just had to add it!) are coloured with Distress Ink. The dotty doodling is done with a white pen and a silver stardust pen.  Am keeping this post short as I am feeling pretty rubbish at the mo.   Have a good weekend and thank you for popping by. Take care. Christine xx