Beautiful blooms for countryviewcrafts blog.

Well for my make over at the countryviewcrafts blog today  I have been playing with the new Tattered floral die . To see the rest of my make and all the details please hop across here .x

keep those fingers inky!

trace  x

farewell with my final piece for Creative Expressions

Well this is my final piece for Creative Expressions , as sadly for personal reasons I have made the decision to leave Creative Expressions Design team. I want to take the opportunity to thank all the people who I have had the pleasure of creating with and wish them well in their future creative endeavours.
Sometimes life has other plans for us and at the moment I need to devote more time to my family and in particular to my eldest son. (As many of you may or may not know my son was diagnosed with CFS and this condition has worsened and requires more of my time  )
So here without further ado is my final make for Creative Expressions:

I created a card here creating , hopefully a shop window feel to the make :

I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who stops by and leaves a comment or takes the time to follow my inky journey! 
As soon as life settles I promise I will catch up on all the missed visits!
I can no other answer make, but, thanks, and thanks.  ~William Shakespeare

My take on Tim's tag for January 2014

Well where the hours go I am not too sure but having completed this last week there has be no time to blog it ... until now...so here is the link for Tim's fab tag for January and all the details of how to make it are there too. I have followed this tag almost exactly as I loved it so much!  So no details form me as Tim is far better at it! So here is my tag :

i just loved this tag from the embossed and scrummy watch to the splatter ( I have even bought a splatter brush an boy it is fab! what a cool piece of kit ), to the sanded rub ons...just loved this tag...not that you can tell or anything!
so a few close ups and I will leave you to enjoy the rest of your Sunday...

I chose words that meant something to me ...

So short and sweet from me today ...and I am adding my tag to Tim's 12 tags for 2014.
Time is the wisest counsellor of all.  ~Pericles

from the heart for Frilly and Funkie challenge DT

Well it is time for my latest DT piece for then latest challenge over at Frilly and Funkie and here are all the details : This time Rebecca has a wonderful new challenge for you;
'The Warmth of Winter' - this time of year we can bring warmth to those who are feeling the chill! Create a card, tag, ATC or any other project that will warm the heart of someone dear to you. And just to clarify, this is not a Valentine's challenge.

Remember, to enter you must create a new project, link it below and make sure you add a link in your post back to this challenge. You can combine our challenge with up to 10 challenges (including this one) to qualify. If you are chosen as our winner you could be invited to be the next Guest Designer here at Frilly and Funkie. There is also the chance to win a $25 shopping spree at The Funkie Junkie Boutique for one lucky entrant chosen at random.
So I decided to go for a gift, tag and gift bag for a friend , so here they are :

So all three pieces use similar colours and some beeswax...oh yes still on that!  So for the canvas first, I am trying to push myself to play more and experiment a little and also learn and play with techniques, so the challenge here was that the canvas was tiny..but you know me there had to be some idea-ology on there !

I covered the canvas with melange tissue, forgotten treasure in my crafty room, stamped a sentiment onto one ply of a tissue (thanks Hels for the tip!). I then added some beeswax around the edges to create texture. I die cut and coloured a butterfly which got a dip in the pot too, and also a butterfly cut from some Tim paper also got a bit of colour added and a ceremonial dunk! 

 I also added some gorgeous paper coated wire, a pen nib ...these gorgeous fractured dolls ( which I dripped with wax , not sure of you can see that?) and some film strip ...not bad for a teeny canvas about 3" square! To complete I brushed with perfect pearls to create a shimmer.

Now for the tag , well similar techniques were used here so i won't bore you by going over them...

To add texture I added some dyed cheescloth behind the butterfly and also added a die cut heart dunked and brushed after stamping with scrummy Tim Script. I also added some seam binding to the top of the little tag that creates one of the layers.

Finally the tag itself , mostly using same techniques again..but a little play with wax crayon, yes I had to ask Lucy if I could borrow, a wax crayon...sadly it is not fit for her use any more but she was okay with that , bless her!

Again lots of wax , idea-ology and tissue paper... and can you spot the wax crayon?

so make sure you pop across and see the other fab DT makes and also maybe join in the fun!

Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Weathered Wood	Ranger Perfect Pearls Pigment Powder Kits - Aged Patina	Mini Hearts Sizzix Alterations Tim Holtz Movers & Shaperss	Sizzix Alterations Tim Holtz Movers and Shapers Die - Mini Butterflies	Ranger Archival Ink - Jet Black
Rayon Seam Binding	Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Simple Sayings	Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Letter to Santa	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Markers - Full Set	Tim Holtz idea-ology Tissue Wrap - Melange
Tim Holtz idea-ology Fractured Dolls	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Film Strip Ribbon	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Pen Nibs	Tim Holtz Idea-ology Mini Numerals

tres chic hanging piece for Creative Expressions DT and a huge thanks

Well before I start my post I want to say a huge thank you for all the very lovely comments and also a huge welcome to my new followers. I appreciate each and every one of your comments and each and every new follower who has taken the time to stop by my blog.
It was a rather busy week last week sorting my son out but here I am hoping to do a better job of commenting and blog hopping this week! 
So this month we have had the antique dressforms to play with and this week I have a hanging piece, again the computer has decided in its wisdom that you don't need the step by step photos and wont let me have them so here we are :

So as I don't have all the step x step pictures I will just give you a quick whizz through and spare you the lenghty post ....she says ...you can live in hope that my posts will be short and sweet! I tarted with an offcut of mountboard ..am hooked on playing with this stuff..which I covered with a piece of ivory card as I love how it takes inks and stains .

I applied some texture paste mixed with paint through a yummy Tim stencil, left to dry and then played with stains to create a background. A bit of flick and spritz to add some detail and interest .
Now I collected some papers ( Tim ones ) together and gave a coat of picket fence stain to tie all the colours and soften the design slightly .
I also used a heartfelt creations die to cut some flowers from the same papers and added a long fastener to the centre.

I added some of the great Creative Expressions cream crochet lace to tie in with the colours and vintage feel. 
now for the stamp....which I used as the focal image, I stamped this in jet black archival onto a piece of cardstock coloured with Distress Ink.

I also added a chit chat sticker and also some lettering ( die cut from word play die ) to complete my vintage style hanging. This shows how one really good stamp can be the basis for a larger piece and this set has some great dressforms to choose from. To hang this piece up I added some holes at the top and some rusty wire.
Well I will see you here next Monday for my final piece using these stamps ... and there will be some more crafty makes before then...
may your hearts be full and happy  xx

have courage .. for countryviewcrafts monotone challenge dt piece

Well here is my second piece for the month for the challenge over at countryviewcrafts challenge blog and this month the theme is monotone.... so much a favourite of mine. So without further ado here is my make for today :

So for this piece I chose to work in softer tones and tried really hard to make a fairly gentle piece...not sure if I achieved that or not? but I started with an mdf base, covered in ivory cardstock and then got playing with some yummy antique linen distress paint...

I then added a bit of script and these gorgeous flourish stamps, stamped with distress paint... then  onto all the decorations :

So here are some of the pieces that went to make the finished piece, the flowers...cut from ivory cardstock , edged with vintage photo an then made using a tutorial by the lovely Jennie...which can be found here....... now I know they are not up to her amazing standard but I do think I may be slowly getting better!

her tutorial just gives the fab Tattered floral die by Tim Holtz another fab look. 

The sentiment is one of the last year release from Tim that I love, stamped in coffee archival and clear embossed. the foliage was all cut from spellbinders foliage 2, but let me tell you about a fab thing...have you tried the new magnetic plate for die cutting...if not wow its so cool, no more bits of sticky tape to keep those fiddly dies in place ..this is fab..
Now for the leaves...i love playing with my melt pot and there is a great technique using the melt pot with UTEE and shrink plastic that I never tire of...its just so cool!  So here is how I made these leaves :

I die cut some clear shrink plastic using the tattered leaves die..set aside and added clear UTEE to my melt pot and left to do its melty magic...then  when all melty I added the die cut shrink plastic leaf and wow it curls and shrinks...then removed with tweezers but the really cool thing is it gets coated in a gorgeous UTEE coating giving a really wonderful glossy sheen .
To complete the piece I added some pearls to the flower centres, some embossed flourishes to the base using sticky embossing powder and rock candy distress glitter and there you have it my monochrome make...

( sorry no pearls in this one above , they were a last minute touch!)

make sure you pop across and see all the other fab DT and GDT makes and maybe join in the fun...you never know you could win a voucher or be chosen to GD next month ...we would love to see you playing along!
keep those hearts full and happy x

All sewed up for Creative Expressions DT

Well here I am with my 2nd post of the day and my DT post for Creative Expressions. This week I am using the lovely antique dress forms set. These come as a unmounted sheet with lots of stamps on, that can be mounted onto easimount , cut out and off you go! So here is my make for today ( sorry there are not many step x step pictures as my computer has decided I am not allowed them!  ) :

I started by covering part of the box in clear texture paste mixed with gesso...and the sprited the ruler background stamp with water and stamped into paste to create some texture on the box. This was then allowed to dry.

When dry I painted the whole box with antique linen distress paint because I love he colour...on my 3rd bottle! (oops!) but any neutral colour paint would be fine. I also stamped the ruler background onto some torn pieces of tissue and applied to the lid, using glue and seal. Not sure if you can see I then also stamped some of the mini stamps from set and set to work with my gilding waxes...in enchanted gold and autumn bronze.  The sides of the box were also stamped and had wax added to them.

Now for the focal image 

The main image , this gorgeous dressform from the sheet was stamped in coffee archival and colour added using distress marker and waterbrush. I also stamped the sentiment from the set and inked edges in vintage photo Distress Ink.

Just because I didn't want to leave the box empty...I filled it with..muslin, crochet lace, a heart made in my melt pot, mini spools and a tiny bottle of seed beads... Make sure you pop across to the Creative Expressions news blog where all my team mates makes using this set can be seen....