It's a new month .... and there's a brand new challenge theme ....

Happy Friday folks!

Pinch and a punch for the first of the month!!  1st of May, it's the first Friday of the month .... so it's time for a new challenge over on the Craft Stamper Blog.
It's the turn of  'Take a Stamp' again this month so that means Anything Goes ..... as long as there's stamping on there somewhere.

It looks like you all enjoyed last month's challenge, to Use Colour ...... as always we had some fab entries.  You don't half make it difficult for the DT to choose our Design Winner!!

Back to this month though ...... and basically Anything Goes!  You just need to make sure you follow the challenge rules, there's not many (you'll find them on the Blog) and don't forget ....... there has to be some stamping on your project somewhere!!

Our sponsors this month are the fantastic WOW! Embossing Powders

And what a prize we have for you ...... a set of 6 Vintage Embossing Glitters in their own case, plus a beautiful Lace Design stamp

Fancy adding that to your craft stash ........ well here's a little something to hopefully inspire you to give this month's challenge a go ......

The weather has been so nice over here the last few weeks ..... I'm feeling quite summery hence the nice bright colours.
I used a piece of mixed media cardstock, wet it all over with water and then used some Distress Paints to add the colour ....... because the card is wet the colours blend so easily.  I started off with Picked Raspberry across the top, then into the gorgeous Abandoned Coral (I love this new colour!!!). Next came a touch of Scattered Straw, finishing off with Cracked Pistachio (another new favourite!) Speaking of new Distress colours ..... I wonder what this month will bring.  All will be revealed later today .... I wonder if it's a purple shade, or pink maybe ....... I can't wait!

I stamped the pretty butterfly from Tim Holtz's new Perspective stamp set onto the coloured card using Black Archival ink.  I then stamped them again, this time onto white cardstock, and embossed them using a clear powder

I then coloured them using the Distress Paints along with a little water.

Once everything was dry, I fussy cut the butterflies from the white card and attached them directly over the top of my stamped images on the coloured background ..... don't they stand out!

To finish off I added the perfect words .... from Wendy Vecchi .....

and a few paint splats using a wet brush and some white acrylic paint.

Not one to waste anything .... I even used up the bit I cut off my coloured card to add some interest to the inside ....

Now it's your turn ...... get out that stash and get stamping.  Remember ... it can be anything you like .... a card, altered art, a home decor piece, it's entirely up to you.  All we ask is that there's stamping on there somewhere.
You have until May 27th to get your entries in .... you've got to be in it to win it!!  Have fun and Good Luck!

Thanks for popping by .....enjoy the rest of your day and have a lovely Bank Holiday Weekend.  Are you doing anything nice?

Cheerio until next time

Linda

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A new start .....

Happy Tuesday ...... mind you it's probably Wednesday now, so Happy middle of the week!

Sorry but I can't stop ...... it was Tuesday when I started this post, still March 31st, and still time for me to get March's Tag entered into this months 12 Tags of 2015.  I couldn't miss this one could I .... how gorgeous is this ..... and it's using one of my current favourite stamps

As usual, I'd left things to the last minute, busy moving house and all that this month.  But .... I did get chance to play along before the old craft room got completely packed away, well... sort of!! Everything went really well, I followed Tim's step by steps ....... and found all the bits that I needed. Mine's slightly different colours but just as pretty

I love the technique of using the embossing powder over the texture paste ......

And I do love this butterfly ....

Everything was going so well until I came to look for my embellishments ...... yep!  you guessed it .... they'd been packed!  Just as well I could remember which box they were in!!!

Well .... the move is done and we're finally in the new house.  There's boxes everywhere and the old craft room is a complete mess .... in fact half of it is still in the hallway!!!  But at least the internet is connected ...... it's beginning to feel like home!

Thanks for popping by ..... and just in case I don't get the chance to chat to you again this week ..... have a lovely Easter.

Cheerio until next time

Linda

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Trick or Treat ............

Hi everyone,

Before I do anything else, a big 'hello and welcome' to my latest follower.  It's nice to have you along, and thanks for taking the time to read my crafty ramblings.

Phew!  This post has taken a while to do ........ Good old Blogger  is joining in the Halloween fun I think and playing a few tricks.  Just when I thought I'd try and catch up with everything too!!
Anyway ....... Happy Halloween to you all ....... or should I say 'Happy Hop Tu Naa' as it's called on the island. 
The pumpkin's been carved and is in place, and the sweets have survived and are ready for the Trick or Treaters (only because I hid them!). 

Not only that, my Tim tag is done too, for October's 12 Tags of 2013 ....... perfect timing as this month is a Halloween theme.  Anyone would think I'd planned it, but for those who know me better will know that I'm always on the last minute!! 
Here's Tim's fabulous inspiration .....

And here's my version .........

Same, but slightly different.  As usual I haven't had time to think too much about it, and luckily I had most of things I needed on the supplies list.  I did only have one of the shades I needed from the new Distress Glitters, but I used one of Tim's techniques from last year and coloured some of the Clear Rock Candy glitter using Alcohol inks .....

 

 

Clear Rock Candy Glitter coloured with Sunshine Yellow Alcohol ink

I followed the instructions on Tim's Blog and coloured the tag using the Distress Paints.  It did take a couple of attempts before I got one I was happy with, but I'm sure the others will come in useful for something.

I then stamped a few cobwebs onto the tag, using Black Archival ink and one of the Halloween stamps from Chocolate Baroque

The new Distress Glitters are fabulous, and Seedless Preserves is one of my favourites (I am a bit of a purple girl)  Seeing as I didn't have any of the other shades that Tim had used, I improvised  and made my own ......... black for the owl

and the yellow for the moon

I didn't have the Mirrored Stars, so I added a few clear gemstones for a touch of sparkle.  All finished, just in the nick of time - again!!

I hope you've all managed to stay safe and warm during the bad weather that's been hitting the UK.  It's not been that wild over here, we've had a few wet and windy days but nothing major. 
Last Sunday afternoon the other half decided to go 'storm chasing'.  The sea is pretty exciting to watch when the weather's bad, so off we went.  We drove down to Castletown and Scarlett Point, as the winds were coming in from the south.  You can see the sea was a little bit on the bumpy side .......... wouldn't want to be on the ferry!

The waves weren't half crashing against the sea wall - the little one loved it surprisingly.

Scarlett Point

Because of the bad weather we've also had a rig sheltering in Douglas Bay for the best part of a week.

I thought they'd struck oil out there but that's not the case.  It's apparently a support rig for the workers constructing the Walney Wind Farm in the Irish Sea ..... no oil then!

Ah well, thanks for popping by today.   I must dash and actually upload my tag to Tim's blog, now that it's finished.

Have a Spooktacular Halloween (mwahhahaha!!)  ....... I think I can hear the first lot of Trick or Treater's about to knock on the door.   It's about to get scary ......... whooooo hoo!

Cheerio for now.

Linda

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Cutting it fine ..... again!

Happy Tuesday everyone,

Well, it's the last day of the month again, so that means it must be time for my Timmie Tag.  Talk about cutting it fine ...... I'm getting later and later with this each month.

12 Tags of 2013

As usual, I didn't have everything on the supplies list but, I got there in the end.
I don't think I've mastered Tim's technique for this month that well.  Could be something to do with me not having the right paints - that's my excuse anyway.  This month the master has been showing us how to create the look of patina on different surfaces.  Check out all the details here 

This is how mine turned out .......

Similar I suppose.  I didn't have a lot of time to mess about with it really.   Are you ready for this ...... I didn't have ANY of the colours of Distress Paints - shock! horror!  I had the metallics, no problem there but, I had to find some similar colours in my box of acrylic paints.  In the end I went for Paperartsy's Fresco Finish in shades of Blues and Greens.  Not sure that they work in the same way as Distress though but I quite like the result.  And using the distress inks over the top is so clever, I love the mottled effect.

I pretty much kept to Tim's design (again, not a lot of time to play around), but I decided to add a bit of fantasy film into the mix.
I stamped the dragonfly onto the Clearly for Art - if you've not used this before try it. It's so cool! The clear version feels like thick acetate but when you heat it, it goes all soft and pliable so you can shape it before it cools.  Once it cools down, it holds it's shape.  Perfect for adding a bit of dimension to you projects. And, if you're not happy with the shape first time, just heat it up again, it all goes flat. and you can shape it again.
Once I'd stamped the image, I used some Glossy Accents, and stuck the fantasy film onto the back.  Once this was dry, I cut out the wings and the body of the dragon fly and attached them to the tag.
I wasn't sure if the film would stick once I heated the wings again but, it worked ........

You can just see a hint of colour as the light hits, they look quite delicate.

The rest of the embellies I've used are more or less the same as on Tim's tag, but with a little LindyLou touch.

I decided to make my tag a little more feminine, I inked and stamped a paper flower and added it to one of the mini gears.  We should be seeing a few more flowers bloom now, it is supposed to be spring after all!

Well that's April done and dusted.  I've already made my 'To Do' list for May.  It looks like I'll be spending quite a bit of time in the old craft room in the next couple of weeks.  I've loads of stuff to do before we go away.  New stash to play with too.  Look what my lovely postie brought me yesterday ......

It's all out of the packaging and sat waiting to be used.  Hopefully, before the end of the week, I can get melting. Watch this space.

Thanks for popping by today.  Sorry I haven't been visiting everyone recently, I don't know where the days are going.  I will try and catch up with you all this week.  Enjoy the rest of your day.

Cheerio for now

Linda

xx

12 Tags of 2013 - March Tag

Hello blog friends,

I hope you've all had a lovely Easter Day, you can see what I've been doing with mine, and there was no chocolate involved!
I'd like to say 'Hello' to my latest follower too.  Thank you so much for joining me.   I'm up to 92 now - whoo hoo!  When I reach the grand number of 100, I think a little Blog Giveaway may be in order, to say Thanks for putting up with me -  what do you think?
 
After a bit of a late start this morning (I'm blaming that on the clocks going forward and losing an hour) I thought it was time I made a start on my March Tag for Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of 2013.  Nothing like leaving it to the last minute eh!  Especially when I haven't got half the stuff on the shopping list. 

Here's Tim's ........

and this is mine .....

It's not quite the same, but it's not bad, seeing as I had none of the dies he'd used, the paper pads or the right colours of Distress Paints.  But that's part of the fun of doing these tags I think.  It makes you think about what's actually in your stash.

My little bunny is from a Cricut cartridge - Kate's ABCs, and, as I didn't have any white Kraft Core  cardstock I used a sheet of  Core-dinations Whitewash card, with a Kraft-ish core.  I cut the bunny first, then used one of the Nestabilities dies - Labels 18 to cut my fancy label around it.

I used the blue tinsel twine behind (I don't have the silver one!) so that cut out the need to add colour.  I was a little nervous about heating it though, but, if the master says it's ok then I'll give it a go.  It's quite cute how it curls with the heat.
I added a bit more ribbon to my tag - the little bow around the bunny's neck.  And, as I've run out of Tim's Crinkle ribbon, I found out this afternoon, I used coloured seam binding - looks just as pretty.

My tag's been covered with one of the new BoBunny papers from the C'est la Vie range.  I think the stripes go well with the spring colours, and it does have a bit of a vintage look.

As I didn't have the Tapered Fringe die (must get hold of that one), I cut my own grass strips and used the edge of a bone folder to curl the edges over.  (I found this easier to do before I attached them to my tag).
  

The metal flowers I did have, but, not the right colours of Distress paint (still building my collection of those).  However, like most of you out there, I have many bottles of various brands of acrylic paint so with a bit of searching I found the right shades (PaperArtsy Fresco Finish to the rescue!)  I love this technique of painting metal charms.  Like Tim says, they do look like vintage enamel.

I've just realised I lied (sorry!) I did have one of the dies for this tag (yeah!!) - the Tattered Banner.  I cut mine from a scrap of cardstock and used Tim's new stamps for the message.
 
And there you have it, my version of this months 12 Tags of 2013.  Finished, finally, with a few hours to go before the deadline (breathes a sigh of relief!).  I'd better get it uploaded to the site now.

Thanks for popping by today, it's always nice to see you.

Enjoy the rest of the long weekend, and I'll see you all again soon.

Cheerio for now

Linda

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