Happy Birthday Anne!

I made this card for my friend Anne's birthday. The background is a mix of paints, spray inks and stencils and the stamp is Stampotique's 'Sweet Moves'.

LB Crafts Workshops

This time last week, Karen and I were on the first of two workshops at LB Crafts in Olney. The class was entitled 'Street Life', which, as you can see below, involved making a row of little houses using various paint and metal techniques, then adding them to a background made up of torn tissue paper and stamping.
The second class was a 'Pan Pastel' taster day, where we were given free reign to play with the Pan Pastels and make tags. I wasn't very pleased with my results, so there are no pictures. I fully intend to try again with them though, so hopefully I can blog some pictures at a later date.

And My Second.......

My First Digital Doll

I have always wanted to have a go at digital art, so I bought myself a Wacom graphics tablet; signed up for a fab course, 'Digital Dreams' on Willowing's blog; opened up photoshop and several days later... ta dah! I'm quite pleased with my first attempt. I've learnt a lot about Photoshop and how to draw faces over the past week, so thank you Tam. I've also signed up to another of her courses, 'Fabulous Faces', which is non digital, so I'm going to dig out a sketch book and pencils and give it a go.

Mojo Monday Week 204

I have made this card for the Mojo Monday challenge. I have used a Lili of the Valley stamp, which has been coloured with Copics; Memory Box 'Minuet' papers; SU card and ink and the usual mix of punches and nesties.

Ceramic Painting

I haven't posted anything for a while as I've been having a go at art journalling and have also signed up for a few online painting courses.
One thing that I have done recently, resulting in something to upload, is to attend a ceramic painting class at the Bean and Brush, with my 'partner in crime', Karen. We used special glazes which 'move' into the adjacent glazes and change colour once the object has been fired in the kiln, so what started out as a butterfly painted in stripes of terracotta, white and a reddish colour, ended up totally different when it came out of the kiln. We were both really pleased with the result - mine is the top photo and Karen's is underneath.

Napkin Decoupage

After trying Decopatch, I thought I'd give Napkin Decoupage a go. I glued a serviette to the MDF blanks, covered with varnish and then edged in gold Krylon.

3 in a row!

Finally got around to using this gorgeous stamp from Lili of the Valley. She has been coloured using Copics; the paper is Memory Box 'Minuet' and the seam binding is SU.

For the Graduate

I made this card for our nephew Christopher's graduation later this month. I have used Papertrey's 'For the Graduate' stamps.

Decopatch

I bought an MDF desk at a craft fair about 10 years ago and it has languished in a cupboard,  untouched, ever since. That is, until this week when I decided to try out 'Decopatch' and give it a makeover. I tore the oriental paper into pieces and then glued them in place; painted the edges with gold paint; and then gave it a couple of coats of varnish.
Of course, it will probably end up back in the same cupboard, until I remember what I bought it for in the first place LOL!

3 down, 6 to go!

Most of our families' birthdays fall during the next couple of weeks and combined with Father's day, plus our neighbour's daughter having her first baby, results in a lot of cards to be made. I've left it a little late - but have made a start...

Take That

We went to see Take That at the City of Manchester Stadium, last night. We queued from 12 noon till the gates opened just after five and then remained standing until the show finished at 10:30pm! My feet and back were in agony, but boy was it worth it, as we managed to get a spot three rows from the front - almost touching distance!

A Busy Week

I've actually done some crafting this week! The cards were made using PTI stamps and the usual mix of embossing folders and punches. The anniversary card was inspired by one I saw on someone's blog, which was then adapted after I messed it up and then spent the rest of the afternoon 'faffing' to try and fix it.
The wall hanging was a project I started last year, from Craft Stamper magazine, and have only just got around to finishing. It was made using a Kaisercraft MDF blank; Embelliscrap wooden embellishments and Crafty Individuals stamps.
The other projects were done yesterday, at our crafty get together. The mirror and picture frame are straight copies, lifted from a Kaisercraft magazine. All three projects were made using Kaisercraft's 'Chapter One' papers, flourishes, rub ons and bling.

A Secret Project

I was struggling to come up with a project for our monthly get together, so Karen said she'd found a project in Craft Stamper magazine for us to do, but wasn't going to tell me anything about it, apart from a list of things I would need to bring. It turned out to be this cute little note holder, which I love, so thanks Karen, for a great day!

Another Craft Stamper Project

This box was also designed by Jean Hardy, from Crafty Individuals and featured in the November 2009 issue. I thought it would make a nice gift for Mother's Day. The box was painted with  gold Viva Croco Crackle Paint, dried with a heat gun and then over painted with crimson Viva Precious Metal paint, before edging with a Krylon pen. The stampboard was inked with Adirondack inks and then stamped with a Magenta stamp. The result is an aged, distressed box, which is quite different from my normal style, but I thought it worked well for this project.

Craft Stamper Project

I just had to do this project, designed by Jean Hardy, that was in March's Craft Stamper magazine. Apart from the paper choices, mine is virtually a direct copy, so I can't take any credit for the design, but I loved it so much I thought I'd show you. The frame is made from chipboard, coated in modelling paste and then painted and inked with VersaMagic inks. The heart and rosette are made from clay and the rest of the embellishments are chipboard, which has been painted and foiled. The chipboard shapes, papers and stamps are from Crafty Individuals.
I also thought I'd show you my Mum's Mother's day card (hopefully she's not looking), which has been made using an "Elegant Step Card' from Whichcrafts. The stamps are from LOTV and have been coloured with Copics; the papers are Papermania; the fence die is Magnolia; the flower is a Dienamics die and the butterfly and leaves are Martha Stewart punches.

Sarah's Cards Retreat

Just returned from a fab weekend away at the Sarah's Cards Retreat. Nothing better than spending a whole weekend with fellow crafters!
Four out of the six LOs we did are shown below - I still need to finish the others.