Crafty Indivduals No.1 Challenge

The very first Crafty Individuals Challenge is "Simply Square". Having been a huge fan of these stamps, & own half the shop I was thrilled to see a challenge go up :0)

I coveted these trees for ages but as my creativity took a serious nosedive in September, I decided to wait until I felt up to cracking open the inks again. I bought these a couple of weeks ago & thought they would be perfect for this challenge.

I created my square on gloss cardstock using 4 shades of my favourite Adirondack Dye inks; Stonewashed, Denim, Lettuce & Pesto. I blended these to create a third green shade & then stamped my trees in black Rangers Archival Ink.

A Touch of Red

I like to make tags for bookmarks. Especially thin tags such as this one below as they are perfect for reference books where you want to mark several places without the book getting bulked out. Whilst surfing some blogs late last night i came upon this challenge blog Less is More & the challenge was Touch of Red. So I thought my Gorjuss girl would fit the bill.

I was very lucky to be bought a fabulous Gorjuss Organiser by my work secret santa & I fell in love! I decided to purchase a few gorjuss girls to stamp inside it & this one called Foxy, really jumped out. This image is very similar to one in the book. My favourite in the book is Ruby, & I have a mug with her on, heading my way in the post, for my morning tea :0)

Back to the tag! It is created on white thin card which is 140gsm. This card while being thin, is still sturdy enough to stamp on & colour using distress inks. For this design I have simply stamped her in Black Rangers Archival ink & the touches of red are dark red wax crayon (I tidied up my craft stuff over the winter months & can not locate my pencil crayons!!)

In the winter months I just can not craft. The artificial light is poor & I fail to match shades of colour. I grew tired of throwing poor quality work away, wasting precious materials, so decided to put everything away until the lighter days got here. In the meantime, I have done a lot of reading & self discovery. But, I will be back soon. I am currently working on a mini tag book of inspirational quotes to keep me positive minded. I have not done too well with positive thoughts over the gloom of the snow & dark winter days.

It's My Birthday Today!!

and I got some gorgeous cards & gifts from my scrapping/alterd art friends. Thank you, all.

Here are the latest cards that I have made for various friends.

Val - My SSG Teamie!!

Background made using Adirondack Dye Inks on Gloss card. Stamp - Cherry Pie

Galina

Adirondack inks again - stamp Paperbag Studios (Scanned image rather rubbish!)

Chris
Adirondack inks again - you can tell I adore using these baby's can't you!!!!! Stamp - Tim Holtz

I hope to share some more art with you soon.

Dad's Birthday - Yesterday!!

but my internet would not play so I didn't get to upload this card I made for him!! He loved it though, so I'm pleased.

I stamped the greeting ( Stampin' Up) & bird (Stampers Anonymous) onto some of my home made coffee stained card then ran it through my Big Shot using my Textured Fades Woodgrain folder. Simple but very effective!

Two pieces of Art

These are two pieces I made after treating myself to some new stamps. I love the black & white version with the gesso background but then felt it needed colour. So instead of messing this up I made a second one.

The colour version includes perfect pearls on the red section but unfortunately I had a slight accident & spilt water on it!!! So it has kind of lost the desired effect!

Still they are just test pieces really.

I made them & adhered them to piece of chipboard for strength. The plan is to turn them into wall hangings. Or they may just sit for a month on the shelf, knowing me!!!

Late Card

This is the card I made for Rachel (SSG) I took a picture & it isn't too good but it came out far better than I expected it to! I based it on a design by Rachel Jackson in the February issue of Craft Stamper. I loved the white space of the design.

As it uses only small pieces of art it is simple & quick to produce. I used a texture fade by Tim Holtz to create a small square of Woodgrain & the stamp is Innovative Stamp Creations. All the other bits were from my stash. I love Rachel's work.

Another Birthday Card

I apologise first for my terrible lack of blogging. I had great plans to do more but before I knew it January had come & gone!!!! I did make some art last week but not had a chance to take a decent photo of it.

This is a card made for a friend of mine, Pauline (SSG) who had a birthday at the end of Jan. I did make another for someone else, Rach (SSG) but just could not get a decent picture.

The background is made using Adirondack Dye inks which were on my craft mat & I just swooshed them onto glossy paper. I then stamped my all time favourite image. I never tire of this one!!

Cards

Here are a few designs I made for birthdays at the beginning of this year.

Trees - Martin my brother in law - birthday 1st January

Faces - Carol - Chrysalis forum birthday


Alice Cooper/spin n splash - Penny - Chrysalis forum birthday

The trees & faces are Paperbag Studio stamps. The Alice Cooper heart was cut from a postcard.

Merry Christmas

I wish all my blog friends A Very Merry Christmas.

Thank you all for reading my ramblings and viewing my artwork over the past year.

Thank you for sharing all of yours with me.

I look forward to getting back to crafting in the New Year and Hopefully be a better blogger too!

Love Paula x

Snow Week

Snow has gripped the nation for the second time this year!!! I had hoped it wouldn't snow until 2011 after the pain of January, but as you all know by now, the more you want something to "not" happen the more likely it will! Our office was closed yesterday & will remain closed today.

However, I have not managed to get in since Monday due to cancelled trains & bus companies not being prepared to travel to Scunthorpe to take us into Grimsby.

I took this photo about half an hour ago, it is my landlord furiously digging a space in the snow so he can park the company van! (I live above his printing workshop & had a ring side seat lol)

Hope you are all dry, warm & enjoying the day. Sometimes you just have to give in & make the best of a bad situation!!

Happy Birthday, Katie!

Today is my friend (& colleague) Katie's birthday. Here is just a sweet 'n' simple card I made for her. Tomorrow I am having a day off work to go with her to Meadowhall shopping. I'm hoping to find a new suit jacket!

I have been missing from blog land of late as I have been taking a break from crafting. I have been extremely tired and was not very well so in the evenings & at weekends I have been resting & snuggling under a fleece blanket to read or watch movies.

I have successfully tracked down, bought & installed 1GB of new memory into my home PC so it is now running at 1.5GB & seems so fast now it doesn't seem 5 years ago that I got it. With well over three quarters of its hard drive still empty I figure I have a fair few years more life from it :0)

Happy Anniversary....

to my sister Tracy & brother in Law Martin.

Having seen the Jennifer McGuire Holiday Thinking Inking on 2peas & seeing the lovely examples of the block background technique on Godelieve's blog I decided to have a go. Unfortunately it went wrong afterwards & to rescue the card from ending its life in the bin, I had to cut the coloured piece with all my stamping & mount it to the front of another card!
Happy Anniversary to you both.

More Cards to Sell

Since I took a batch of 25 cards into work to sell, I have sold 9 of them. I decided to create a few more to replace the sold ones at it is easier to do it regularly rather than wait until they are all gone. I did make 3 but due to poor light never got a photo of number 3. Better luck at the weekend!

A Chrysalis Forum Birthday

We had a forum birthday a few weeks ago, but couldn't do the birthday game straight away. (We try to guess who made each card) The game is finally over today, so I can blog the card I made for the birthday girl, Carrie.

My card was made using some textured leather look cream cardstock folded. I then covered it with a piece of gorgeous soft brown handmade paper which encased rose petals. The next layer was just some torn mulberry paper in a softer brown. My image (Loast Coast) was stamped onto my homemade coffee stained paper in Archival Sepia ink. I added metallic eyelets to 3 corners. The strip of ribbon is some Anitas new Christmas range of sticky ribbon, which I actually attached some gold beads using silicone glue, nut not clear in the photo. The white paper flower was gently overstamped with a Stampers Anonymous image & then coloured using Antique Linen Distress ink. The flower centre is a broken ear ring someone gave to me.

I loved browns & creams & really wanted to create something in these colours. My only wish is that I had stamped my focal image in Smokey Grey Versafine to tone the colour down a bit & added some specks of melted gold embossing powder. Or even better, if I owned some Distress Embossing powder in Antique Linen I could have mixed the two together!

Almost Complete

I have been out and about visiting friends this weekend. I haven't had much time to create but I do have another project on my table that is almost finished. This minibook "The Best of Me" was started November 2008, using an add on called "Lost Valley", which formed part of a Studio Calico kit "Fountain Square". Again, I am ashamed to admit it was left unloved & unfinished on the shelf.

It is a collection of my favourite photos taken of me by two professional photograhers. It is almost done, just waiting for good light for photos. Hope to share the rest later in the week.

Capturing Time Final Pages

Here are the final 4 pages!

Page 49 Try

I love to try my hand at new things so I picked a photo of my most recent acrylic canvas.

Page 50 Home

I love to get home every day, but nothing beats a Friday nights, curtains drawn, candles lit.

Page 51 Drama
I adore Mystery drama such as Inspector Morse, and I love a good costume drama. The very newest of them being Downton Abbey.

Page 52 Remember

I made the final page based on remembering why I began this project. The background behind the acrylic Heidi Swapp clock is made with Adirondack inks Caramel, Butterscotch & Raisin. The picture is of a card I made a forum friend, Jo, back in April. I thought it quite fitting as I love the image & imagine that at any moment the butterfly will float off on shimmering wings.

Well it feels fantastic to have completed this minibook.All 52 pages look amazing together!

Capturing Time Project Part 1

Blogger would not let me upload all 6 pictures at once!! So I will upload in several parts.

Here is the finished Capturing Time project that I began in 2008. See the post below for links to the very first pages done.

Page 47 Time for Winter

The photo was taken by me using my mobile phone when we had thick snow at the begining of this year. It is our largest local church.

Page 48 Time to IndulgeI believe everyone should have a small indulgence and mine is a full body massage every 6 weeks at Hayley's beauty spa. The picture doesn't show the room clearly.

Happy Birthday, Ange!

One of my scrap friends (SSG teamie) had a birthday today and here is the card I sent her.

The main card was overstamped with french script. I then coloured a square with distress inks, Victoria Velvet, Shabby Shutters & Brushed Corduroy. Images are Innovative Stamp Creations. Butterfly was stamped in newspaper coloured with peeled paint.

I am going to be all technical now & schedule a blog post for tomorrow as I have finally completed a minibook I begun in 2008 Capturing Time. I embarked on what set out to be a 52 week project but life got in the way and after page 46, Ronda didn't do anymore prompts. I often look at it sat on my shelf beside the sofa & at the weekend I decided to finish it. I came up with 6 final pages & tomorrow I will share the photos.

The Finished Piece!

Remember this piece that I showed you a few posts down, well I have finally completed it!!

I selected a bird stamp by Crafty Individuals & used a freebie image I got from my blog friend, Rein.

I think the image is just perfect & I am so happy it is finished after being sat for a year unloved.

Acrylic Collage Canvas - Family

I made a collage on canvas around two years ago for a forum swap, but it was using distress inks.

This is my very first acrylic paint collage. My chosen design, family, was based on my main image, it is my Father & Grandfather. I also wanted to use earthy colours as my Grandfather was a farmer. I read books by Ann Baldwin & Claudine Hellmuth on glazing paints for backgrounds & decided this was for me. My support being a canvas board 5x7".

I began by selecting my background images & stamping these onto tissue. These were then "glued" to the canvas using Matte Golden Regular Gel Medium. I then tore two strips of patterned paper in designs I thought worked well with the colours I had in mind. I then began my glazing thinning the acrylic paint slightly with water just to get the right consistency. I used an overall colour of Cadmium Yellow Deep, as my first layer. I didn't want to cover the background completely as I felt the stamps were important to the piece. My Grandfather always wore a waistcoat & in the pocket he always had a pocket watch. The receipt type stamp is probably similar to the receipts my Grandfather received for buying goods for the farm.

Once I was happy with my layers of paint, I "glued" on my two pieces of text, both of which are open to interpretation. I thought "Life is a stage" quite apt because everyone has several stages in their lives. The single word "Life" supports the main image showing them both living their Life at that moment the camera captured them. Finally I added my main image & then cut my Father seperate from a second image & added him over the top of the original which gives a very nice 3D look ( which you probably can't pick up in the picture) but it represents him as the main part of this piece. Finally I took the Burnt Umber & applied in areas using my fingers to edge the piece & add shadow & depth around the base & side of the image.

Stamps; Prima/ Stampers Anonymous/ Artistic Stamper

Papers; 7Gypsies

Paint; Cadmium Yellow Deep/ Yellow Ochre/Burnt Sienna/ Red Ochre/Burnt Umber
Image; my own photo printed onto ordinary copy paper.

I am happy with how this first attempt turned out and am burning with ideas for a second!