"Dream"

Here is a piece of art I created on Monday. I started out with a background made blending Faded Jeans, Dusty Concorde, Spiced Marmalade and Peeled Paint distress inks. Then I inked around the edges in Antique Linen. I stamped my main image, Botanical Script (Tin Can Mail Collection by Inkadinkado) in Archival Black ink then bleached out some of the colour from the leaves and Hydrangea blossoms & the butterfly.

Once dry I stamped in my words DREAM and BELIEVE both by Crafty Individuals. The corner butterfly image is from the minature people & places book 1 which I transfered onto the design using clear sellotape to make the design more translucent. I added the border stamp detail along with a butterfly & circle design saying what a wonderful word (all 3 by Crafty Individuals)
As a final touch I painted in some of the blossoms using Artists Acrylic Ultramarine Blue paint and I added Artists Acrylic Gold paint to the leaves and also lightly dry-brushed the same gold over the word BELIEVE to highlight it.

At first I though this design looked rather "messy" but the more I see it the more I love it. No idea at this stage what I will do with it, but I think it would look great as a focal image on an altered notebook! Preferably a blank Kraft one :0)

The Final Inspirational Tag

This one was made using Basic Grey Basics White paper in a spot design & I've inked over Pumice Stone & Bundled Sage distress ink. The girl is my favourite CI image (& reminds me of myself as a small child)so naturally I felt she should feature with this quote along with a butterfly from my Cavallini & Co. set.

And of course, I thought this Tim Holtz quote stamp, the most perfect quote of all with which to end the book. I added bits of the swirl floral from the set to add detail top & bottom.
I plan to join them all together & take a final picture of them all bound.
I had great fun with this & hope to make another soon.

Another Tag

This next tag was made using shades of green then after splashing water on I mopped up the excess with kitchen towel. The small leaf stamp is another free CS design.

The reverse of the above tag was run through my Big Shot using the brick wall TH texture folder. I then ran some black archival ink over the design along with Fired Brick distress ink. I cut the bird & cage from Basic Grey basic white paper & inked it with Weathered Wood distress ink.

At last...

another tag from my inspirational quote tag book. However I uploaded them the right way round but then the bottom pic disappeared & I have had to upload again!!!!

This is the reverse of the tag below, I used the same colours but instead of Scattered Straw, I used Mustard Seed. I also used the lemon juice technique to age the design as my first attempt was using a brown mist & a brown ink pad & both looked over the top.

The design I thought, was very apt for the quote. I used Fired Brick & Spiced Marmalade for the background blending a touch of Scattered Straw near the middle.

Stamps used are Paperbag Studio & a free CS stamp.
It is so good to be able to print again!!

Get Well, Katie!

My friend and colleague, Katie has just been in hospital to have her tonsils out. She is in a lot of pain and so I sent her a handmade piece of love to cheer her up.

Wrinkle free distress background using Faded Jeans/Wild Honey/Aged Mahogany. Stamps TH Fairytale Frenzy & Urban Tapestry. I also added patches of heated lemon juice for that gorgeous aged look and took areas of colour out with bleach as in the designs in the posts below.

Using up Scraps

I decided to make a test piece for the card I made Penny, in the post below. Afterwards I wasn't really sure what to do with it as it only measured 5x3ins.

Then I came upon this idea
Here's a close up because try as I might, I could not get a photo of it actually hanging!
I'm now working on the rest of my tag book of quotes

What is it they say...?

ideas (& men) are like buses, nothing for hours, then two come at once lol....

Well I had to get my act together to make a few get well cards, the first is below the second is half created on my table. The two cards below this are versions I decided weren't quite right..

The first card is a get well message for my forum friend, Penny. It is made using the wrinkle distress background technique with a few spritzes of perfect pearls for some shimmer. Followed by overstamping in Archival black ink using TH Urban Tapestry. Finally having decided to go back to basics where ever possible, I gave the "lemon juice & bleaching" techniques another whirl. Its funny how you forget how to do things until something jogs your memory such as the lastest issue of Craft Stamper jogged mine. I used to love bleach, but simply forgot to use it as new products came on the market & just had to be played with.

These other two cards were made using Adirondack dye pads but although I like them both, neither seemed quite suitable for what I wanted to "say" IYKWIM.
Oh, I just have to tell you before I go, I finally got sorted with a new printer yesterday!!! It is the same make as the last one but just a different model & only requires two ink cartridges which are recycleable (added bonus as I donate all mine to the RSPB) Having done a quick calculation, my old printer was nearly 5 years old, cost just £44 and was used practically every day, so I think I had my money's worth. Nothing is made to last endlessly these days.

Nothing I've Made to Show!

Since my printer broke down, I have nothing creative to show! I didn't realise how much I used it for general photo prints & generating text. I have looked around & while a replacement is relatively cheap, the number of cartridges they require are vast. As I found out last time, the two I used to need were over £50 every 3 months, a printer in line with the one I currently have requires 5 cartridges!!!!! I broke out in a sweat just thinking of the cost to fill it.

So, until I return from my holiday in France, I will not be looking to obtain another just yet.

Here instead are photos of the gorgeous Butterfly Clock I purchased in Warkworth, Northumberland back in Easter, when I stayed with my sister.

Face

Left Side

Right Side


Back

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My sister came to stay with me two weeks ago. We have a lovely day with our dad, then later that evening an uninsured, drunk driver hit her Audi while it was parked outside my flat. He was arrrested straight away & the only way she could get home was on the back of a recovery truck! We had got together to plan our forthcoming trip to France.

As the company I work for insures her, we got the ball rolling straight away, but the car still has not been repaired. He should appear in court next week, but it won't pay for her damage.

It makes me utterly sick!!!! As an insurer, I see this everyday & these people just seem to keep on getting away with it while the rest of the country has to pay the increased cost.