Just Playing

with inks and stamps today. It really is the best way to relax and find new ways to use the products you have in your stash. I have mixed distress re-inkers with perfect pearls, scrapbook paper and some stamps to create something a bit different from the usual stuff I tend to make. I do tend to make things and then forget to try out other stuff!!

I first stamped the Sun & Moon (Paperartsy) onto the Basic Grey Basics paper - Ballot. Then I mixed up my two mini mists. The first one is Broken China re-inker with Interference Blue Perfect Pearls. The second is just Shabby Shutters re-inker & water. I masked the main image & spritzed over the two inks allowing them to mix a tiny bit. I then dried them with the heat gun. I ironed the piece on the reverse to flatten so that I could add a few background stamps (Paperbag Studios script & buttons from Delight Plate). I then stamped 4 stars (Studio Calico) onto the Ballot paper & using Chipped Sapphire & Forest Moss I coloured them. I attached them to the main piece using blue staples & then glued it to the front of a card blank.

Unfortunately the camera batteries are all flat so I had to take the photo with my mobile phone. I'm not certain it does the true colours justice and you can't really see the glorious shimmer of the blue.

Final Minibook Pages

page 20

page 25
inside back cover

back cover

I am home from France today and will be spending time catching up with forum friends and uploading photos from my camera. Catch you soon :0)

Back Home

I am now back home from my holiday in France. We visited the Limousin region & rented a Gite in a small hamlet called La Marchaderie, just outside of a place called St Mathieu, which is right on the Dordogne border. We flew from Newcastle airport on Saturday 3rd September to Limoges and returned on Saturday 10th. I came back from Newcastle this afternoon. I have tons to do & am back at work on Tuesday!!! We had an amazing time the temperature was around 25c everyday rising to 27c. I had to wear quite a lot of sunblock with having very fair skin but it was heaven. I will have photos to show but I have over 350 to edit first!!!!! It was my first ever flight as we went by hovercraft when I was 5 years old. I have not been out of the country since so it has been a real treat for me. I have seen some outstanding countryside and amazing chateaus. The whole place was laid back and relaxed, I have never slept so well.

More Minibook Pages

page 11

pages 13 & 14
page 15

This format did prove a bit hard to do so the book I am making for 2010 - 2011 is in a smaller more graphic style.

Minibook of Books 2009-2010

I started reading a lot when I began commuting to work and came up withe idea of a minibook of books. Firstly so I could record what I read & how many but secondly so I could make something!! This book begins December 2009 and ends December 2010. (I am now making another for Dec 2010 - Dec 2011, but they are mostly read at home)

Front Cover - using distress inks

inside front cover and first page
page 6

I have tried to match my papers & stamped images to the covers of the books where ever possible. I will blog some more pages soon. (These blog posts are all scheduled posts because as you read this I am in France :0) on holiday)

"Sacre Coeur" Grunge

I made this one using the other half of the same background in the post below. I added the same numbers as I did below but added a bridge piece & The Sacre Coeur, both from my Paris Postcards set. I partucularly love how the "burnt" lemon juice adds great texture to this piece.

"Family" Grunge

Here is another grungy background I made using the wrinkle free distress ink technique. I wanted it grungy & black with bleach & lemon juice but then I softened it up by using part of one of my favourite Paperbag Studios stamps. The other stamps are from my Tim Holtz set.

BookMark

Here is a bookmark I made for my sister to take to France with us. I used off cuts from a background I made & added a touch of blecahing & lemon Juice. She fell in love with my quotes tag book so though this would suit her down to the ground.

"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

Top

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.

Happy Birthday, Tracy

It was my sister's birthday on Tuesday & try as I might I could not get this picture to upload. Today I have finally managed. It was a difficult card to photograph too as the weather has been extremely bright & the card kept in pale shades.

I cut a section off the front of a square card & ran it through my Big Shot with a floral border embossing folder. Then I stamped the free stamp from Craft Stamper magazine in the top corner. In the bottom corner I stamped "Sister" (Papermania) and butterflies (Cavallini & Co.) The main image is of course my absolute favourite Crafty Individuals stamp, which I stamped onto some inked card which actually has Perfect Pearls shimmer but the camera couldn't pick it up.

A Birthday & A Card I forgot...

The first card is for my friend Kate's birthday.

I wanted a simple design so used my Scor-pal to make a double lined square before stamping this months free cover stamp from Craft Stamper. For a vibrant splash I coloured the image with wax crayons. The greeting was stamped from a small set I have.

This second card is one I made for forum friend, Joanne back in March & thought I had blogged but realised I hadn't! Oops! I had based it on her February 2011 Craft Stamper article "Clean Collage". Using a Crafty Individuals stamp for my main image.

Happy Father's Day

Even if it is grey & wet, it's still Father's day and I'm sure Dad's all over the country are happy regardless. I know my dad is doing precious little today and it isn't raining where he is.

The stamp is from the John Byars Nostalgia Classic Cars set produced by Papermania which I coloured in quite simply using some cheap pencil crayons.

Crazy few weeks

Yes, I have been very busy this last few weeks. My sister Tracy and husband Martin moved home again on 1st June 2011 (no photo of the new house yet)So Bank Holiday weekend saw me tearing back up to Newcastle to help pack up their stuff. We fitted in a bit of sightseeing as well, and emptied a few bottles of wine & champagne ;0)

I arrived in Newcastle train station at 9.45am on the Friday morning & first stop was Tynemouth. The weather kept fine & we did a walk around the castle.

I took lots of photos and this one sums the place up perfectly, it is the actual mouth of the Tyne. The sea was wild and as it crashed against the walls it boomed like an enormous canon roar! I never managed to capture it though, it looks so tranquil!!!!

After a cappuccino in a gorgeous little coffee shop, we headed further up the coast to Whitley Bay where the weather turned wet, and as the tide was in we were unable to walk to the very magnificent St Mary's Lighthouse. After this we headed further up North to Morpeth where my sister was living at that point.

Now for a bit of craft. Here is a birthday card made for my dear friend Joy, who had a birthday on Wednesday.

And finally (for now) the new Home card I made for my sister. I was fortunate enough to visit the shop RE in Corbridge while over that way (my sister used to live there, gorgeous place)

The shop sold Cavallini Rubber stamp sets & I treated myself to the Butterflies.

Sadly my batteries died in the camera and no more photos were taken after my first day. I was quite annoyed too as they were my hybrio ones & only a few weeks old. They must have been in the shop long before I bought them & flattened quickly.

The card was made by dragging some paint across the card, then overstamping with script, postal marks & the butterfly stamps. Simple but perfect.