When the cats away ..........

Hello again everyone,

Things are still moving along in the old craft room.  I'm really enjoying myself this week, it's a mixture of doing things that have to be done, deadlines to meet and all that, and doing some stuff just for ME, because I can! 

Stephen's away in London for a couple of days.  He's on a business trip with his boss (alright for some!).
Christopher is working every night this week, so come 6 o'clock it's just me and my stash.  I can spend as much time as I like in my craft room, and not feel guilty about it - heaven!
Don't get me wrong, I do miss my other half when he's not here.  In fact, he'll probably read this on his iphone, if he has a minute.  He says he has to check my Blog as it's the only way he finds out what's going on. Hmm!  He does actually read it - usually when he comes in from work.  He's one of my followers too, bless him! (mwah! xx - just for you Stephen).

I'm still playing with my new Halloween stamps, I love em!  For those of you who don't do the whole spooky, Halloween thing I'll try and make this the last one, for a while!

It's the Witches Brew set from Chocolate Baroque and I think I've used all of the stamps on this card, except the words.
I love the spooky scenes you can create.  On this card I've just stamped the images onto white card, and then used some torn paper as a mask, along with some Distress Inks to do a spot of shading here and there to create the background, and to colour the sky.
I've then gone around the edges and stamped the spider's web in black, and sponged a little Black Soot DI over the top.   The scene has then been matted onto a piece of black card leaving quite a large border, about 1/2 an inch or there abouts.
I've then used one of my favourite products at the moment (I have so many I know), Flitter Glu and Flakes from Indigo Blu.
I've used the spider's web stamp again, this time with the Flitter Glu and I've stamped around  the edges of the black card, but also, stamped over the black web in places.  Then used Sheffield Steel flakes over the top.
To get the best results with the flakes, once you've stamped with the Flitter Glu cover the whole area with the flake.   Rub over with the palm of your hand to make sure all the glue is covered, then use your scoochy sponge to remove all the excess and bring out your image .......

The added extras are from the Penny Black 'T for Transparent' set - the pumpkin, and the bats.  The words are from an old Inkadinkadoo clear set - 'Cats and Bats'.

I thought I'd enter this in the latest Blog Challenge over at Ladybug Crafts.  It's Challenge number 2 and the theme is .....

Halloween and/or your favourite embellishment

I think this qualifies, don't you?

Ah well, back to the craft room.  I've done all my household stuff that needs doing.  

Today I'm working on my latest project for Sam over at Creative Studios.  You'll be able to see the finished results on the Blog on Friday.  I think I'm going for a frosty look ..... hmmmmm, we'll see.  

Thanks for popping by today, I really appreciate you all taking an interest.  I get a real fuzzy feeling when I see how many views I've had, and your lovely comments too - I love my Blog buddies! 

Bye for now

Linda

x

Mwahhaha ........ it's Twinchie Time!

Hello again everyone,
Middle of the week already, doesn't time fly when you're having fun.
I told you I would be spending most of my time in the old craft room this week and I wasn't wrong. It's great, things are actually being crossed of the 'To Do' list, which makes a change!

It's Twinchie time again and the new theme is ....... 

SPOOKY STUFF

If you haven't tried this Blog Challenge yet, you should give it a go, it's so much fun.

Twinchies are little 2inch x 2inch pieces of artwork.  Now you may think that's not a very big space to put anything on but, once you get started you'll be amazed at what you can do.

Why not pop over to the Show Us Your Twinchie Blog and have a look.  The Design Team had done another fabulous job with their Twinchies for the new challenge.

Here are mine ........

You can see I've been playing with my Chocolate Baroque stamps again, and my Dylusions inks, which I am loving by the way.  The colours are fabulous.
I've also used a couple of Penny Black clear stamps (for the Happy Haunting and the Bats).  And the spider is from an Indigo Blu set (Hocus Pocus). 
Definitely getting in the mood for Halloween - can't you tell!  The other half says it's the perfect night for me to go out!  Cheeky!!!

And on that note I'll say Cheerio for now.  I'm off to the old craft room to do my weekly project for Creative Studios. I'll be posting it on the blog on Friday so don't forget to pop over and take a look.

Enjoy your Wednesday
Bye for now

Linda

x

So far, so good..........

Morning eveyone,
How are you all doing?  
Here's my card for this weeks Less Is More Blog Challenge.  Yes, I know I'm usually posting this on a Friday afternoon with only hours to go before the deadline, but things are going ok in the the old craft room (touch wood).  I'm actually getting somewhere I think.   I've been so busy that I've missed the last two LIM challenges so I was determined to do this one.

It's Week 89 and its ...........  ONE LAYER WEEK  with the theme

WINGS

The girls have started us off with a list of things that qualify ....... insects, birds, aeroplanes. You could also add butterflies, fairies, angels.
Seeing as we're well into October, and not long to go until the 31st, I've gone for BATS! (and there's an owl on there too, he also has wings).

I'm afraid I'm getting in the mood for Halloween - MwahHahahahaha .........  I love it!  Even though the kids are all grown up I still have to carve a scary face into a pumpkin (not very well I might add).   It also means that the first pumpkin pie of the year will be going in the oven soon - yummeee!!
We've always celebrated Halloween.   When the kids were young the house was always decorated inside and out, with pumpkins and spooky stuff.  Now I just do pumpkin lights and lots of candles.  I still buy a mountain of sweets too, for all the Trick or Treaters.  But, enough of that for now, here's my card .....

I've used one of my latest purchases, one of  Chocolate Baroque's brand new sets of Clear stamps Witches Brew  

As  much as I love Halloween, I don't send Halloween cards, but I had to have these stamps.

The scene I've used on my card is just one stamp from the set, apart from the bats.  They're from a Penny Black "T for Transparent" set called 'Spooky'. 

I stamped the scene first in Black Archival ink, then used masks to ink the circle behind.  The moon was also masked while I did the sky, using Scattered Straw, Stormy Sky and Dusty Concord Distress Inks.
I then removed both the circle mask and the one covering the moon, and replaced them with one that covered the whole scene, except the moon (I think that makes sense).  This part was then coloured using Scattered Straw DI.

The bats were added once all the inking had been done, along with the word 'Spooky' which is from the same Penny Black clear set.  To finish it off I added a touch of sparkle to the moon.

There looks to be a lot on there, but it was so simple to do. And,  there's still plenty of white space, a must if you want to be a LIMette.

There's quite a bit of Halloween about in the land of Blog.  I'll be back tomorrow with my latest Twinches, they're Spooky themed too.

Enjoy your day. 
Thanks for popping by.

Linda

x 

It's a funny old day .....

Hi everyone,
Just a quick post for now.  I'm having a funny sort of day today.  I've been busy all morning but I don't seem to have done very much!  Could have something to do with the fact that both my other half and my son have both had interviews this morning.
Stephen's just popped home to get changed and grab some lunch.  He said his went well, but then again they always do.  He loves interviews (strange man!)  Christopher on the other hand left the house a little nervous about his.  I haven't heard anything from him yet.

I wanted to share the card I finished yesterday for my daughter's friend.  I'm so glad this is done because it didn't half cause me a headache.  Nothing I did seemed right.  Most if it ended up in the bin which is not like me at all.  I usually save all the 'happy accidents', they always come in for something.  Not this time!
Eventually this is what I came up with ....

Lauren had wanted steampunky/vintage but pretty.  All the colours I tried just weren't right.  I wanted something a little different, nice it bright.  Guess what!?  Sat on my desk waiting to be used were the new TH Distress Inks - Summer colours.
I used the same three inks throughout the whole card, just added a bit of black.  The stamps I used were my new Patchwork Butterfly from Chocolate Baroque, along with a couple of favourites from Tim Holtz.
I really dressed up the dress form this time and even added some bling.  I think there's a bit of everything on this to be honest, but I think it works.  Even the envelope is decorated (and of course the inside's done too, I just forgot to photograph it!)  I hope she likes it.  It certainly turned out bright and colourful!

Well, off to the craft room.  I need to start on the gift to go with it now.

See you all later.

Linda

x