2 for 1 and it's only the 4th! - No! Make that 3!!!

Good morning,

Happy Bank Holiday weekend to you all.  Only 3 weeks to go until I'm sunnying myself (hopefully) on the banks of Lake Como.

I see I have 2 more new followers - Hello and Welcome.  Thanks for taking the time to share in my crafty journey.  Only 3 more then it's Blog candy time!

I've been trying to get myself organised and schedule all my crafty commitments that need to be done before I go on my hols.  Hmmmm ........ how many hours are there in a day? ........ not enough by the look of things.  And, after a lovely catch up chat with Kay (Indigo Blu) last week, my To Do list has just got even longer.  Oh well, the Gelli Plate is going to have to wait a bit longer (sigh!)

Here's a little something I made the other day.  I really should have been tidying the old craft room but instead I found some bits and pieces on my desk, and a Penny Black stamp that's been sat there for a while, and here's what I came up with .......

Another tag!
I love my large tags, and can't you tell I'm hooked on doing the hinged versions at the moment.
This little sweetheart is called  Melle Papillon (Miss Butterfly - I think).
I stamped her onto my tag using Tuxedo Black Memento ink and coloured her with Copic Markers.  I then made a mask for her, covered her over and inked the cloudy sky background using Tumbled Glass Distress ink, and my trusty hand cut cloud.
I added a little bit of foliage around the edges using a Lavinia stamp with Rose Bud Memento, 1st and 2nd generation stamping, and a touch of black, 2nd and 3rd generation to give a more faded colour.

The bottom of the tag was cut away just above the bottom of her dress, and holes punched through both pieces.  I used large jump rings to join them together, but you could use fine ribbon, or twine or even just some wire.

 

I stamped some extra butterflies using a pretty little Hero Arts stamp, onto some scraps of previously inked card.  Cut them out, and attached them to the tag leaving the wings free, so I could bend them up a little to add a bit of dimesion.  A touch of sparkle added to her dress, and a sentiment from a Dylusions stamp set finshes everything off nicely.

As it's the beginning of the month there's a whole new set of Blog challenges out there.  One of which I came across through my good Blog friend Anne.  She's recently joined the Design Team over at Our Creative Corner and I'm so looking forward to seeing her creations.   The Blog Challenge has a brand new look and format, and there's some fabulous inspiration from some of the DT.

The theme for their first challenge is ......

ANYTHING GOES

So I thought I would enter my tag.

I'm also entering this into the Fussy and Fancy Friday Challenge .  Their theme is also .........

ANYTHING GOES

Again, I found this challenge through a Blog friend, and fellow Indigo Blu DT member Jo.  She's also part of the DT for Fussy and Fancy - she's one busy lady!

Wow!  2 challenges entered and it's only the 4th of the month! What's going on!?  No rushing at the last minute.  Is this a new me?  No!  It's just lucky that they both had the same theme and it was perfect for my latest make.  Back to normal now.

I've got DT stuff to do next week.  Kay's back on the telly soon - 2 shows on the 19th (I think!) One of them is a Wedding show, and the other is all about Indigo Blu stamping.  Hmmmmm ....... Does that mean new stamp designs ............ I couldn't possibly say!

Speaking of DT stuff, I posted on the Creative Studios DT Blog yesterday.  Sam's got new stamps - yeah!!!   They're sooo cool!

I'll leave you to enjoy the weekend now.  Hope you have a good one.

Thanks for popping by.  Cherrio for now

Linda

xx

PS .......... You can't get rid of me this weekend ......... I'm back with a little extra bit 

Can you believe this ..... 3 challenges!!!  (I'm pleased to say Anne, it fit!!!)

It's the start of this months Penny Black Saturday Challenge, and guess what! ........ their theme is .......

ANYTHING GOES  (whoo hoo!)

My little Miss Butterfly tag is just perfect.  It's ages since I've entered this challenge, so it's nice to be back. 

I don't think I've ever entered a challenge and been the first one up there either - go me!!!  Don't worry, it won't last!

Right, I really am going now. Have a lovely day and I'll see you all next week.  

Cheerio!!!

xx   

Time for a Twinchie.

Hello there.  Happy May!

Hello and welcome to my latest follower too. It's nice to have you along.
We're up to 95 now, not far to go to reach the 100 mark.  I'm working on the blog candy, so that when it gets to 100 one of you will be chosen at random to receive a little something as a Thank You for taking an interest in my little part of Blogland.

I'm starting this month the same way as I finished last - playing catch up!
I can't mess about this month, I've only got a little over three weeks to get everything done, then it's time for me to get on a plane again.  Italy here I come.  Two weeks of great scenery, delicious food and the odd bottle of Italian red or two.  Can't wait.
Before all that happens though I have my usual DT stuff to do, Blog challenges to enter (hopefully), blog posts to schedule, melt pot to play with, and I've got Lauren and Alex coming over at the end of next week.  Busy, busy, busy.

I think it's time for a Twinchie don't you .........we haven't had one for a while, and the challenge finishes on Saturday morning.
Just in case you don't know what a Twinchie is, it's a 2inch x 2inch piece of artwork.  It doesn't sound very big I know, but once you start it's amazing what you can get on such a small space.

Over at Show us Your Twinchie, the current theme is ............... SPRING
There's some great inspiration on the the Blog from the DT, and lots of fab entries so far.

The island is slowly coming to life after all that snow and cold weather.  The snowdrops and the daffs are out, and there's lambs up on the mountains again.  All we need now is for the temperature to go up a little, even though the sun is shining, it's still a bit chilly out there.

Here's my Spring Twinchie .......

ahhhh ...... cute little bunny!  This little guy is one of Clarity's remountable set of Bunnies, which I bought at the Craft Show in Harrogate.  He's been sat on my desk ever since, waiting patiently to be inked! 
I had a good old rummage in my box of bits and bobs too.  I came up with the branch and punched flowers.  Not quite cherry blossom, but you get the idea.

That's another thing I can cross off my really long 'To Do' list.  Every little helps I suppose.
I've also posted on the Indigo Blu DT Blog today. If you fancy a look, it's all about the pretty Ella Bella 

Well, I think that's it from me today. Back to the craft room it is ........ what's next on the list?

Thanks for popping by.  Enjoy the rest of your Wednesday.

Cheerio for now.

Linda

xx

Back again! This is really last minute .......

Hello again,

I'm certainly seeing April out with a bang.  I've been busy in the old craft room this afternoon, supposedly tidying the place, but I got a little bit distracted shall we say.

All month I've been meaning to do a little something to enter into the Country View Crafts Blog Challenge, and somehow I've never got around to it.
Since moving to the Isle of Man, Country View Crafts has become my favourite online place to shop for all my craft supplies. 

It's a fabulous online store.  Great products.  Best prices.  Really quick delivery, even across to the island, and it's free p&p too!
It's only their second challenge this month, (I was so disappointed not to enter the first one) and the theme is ..........

BUTTERFLIES

There's some stunning inspiration pieces from the Design Team on the blog, and loads of fab entries too.  The challenge closes tonight - in less than 5 hours actually.  So I'd better get a move on.  See, I said it was last minute.

Here's my entry .........

It's a hinged tag, made using the Indigo Blu Wild Meadow stamp set.

I cut my tag from a piece of white cardstock - approx. 3 1/2 inches by 7, and used Distress Stains - Broken China, Salty Ocean and Picket Fence to colour it.  I put the stains directly onto my craft sheet, spritzed with a little water and then dragged my tag through the stains.  I repeated this a couple of times to make sure the whole of the tag was covered, then dried it off with a heat tool.

Next, I used the stains to make 'splats' to add a bit more interest to the background .......

This is great fun but the ink can go everywhere, so make sure your craft desk is protected - no part-finished pieces of work lying around, or nice new paper pads (why am I telling you this? .......... been there, done that, wearing the splattered t-shirt!).

I stamped the grass silhouette across the bottom of the tag using Onyx Black Versafine, and the dandelion off the edge slightly.  

To make the hinged part I cut off the bottom 1 3/4 inches and made 3 small holes across both edges where I made the cut

The butterflies were stamped onto some cardstock  from my bit box, which had been coloured using blue shades of Distress, spritzed with Perfect Pearls, and then cling film put over the top and left to dry (one of my favourite techniques, I do use it quite a bit, so I've always got scraps of card left over).
The large butterfly is from Wild Meadow, the medium one came free with an issue of Craft Stamper, and the tiny one is a Hero Arts stamp.
The sentiment is from a Dylusions stamp set, stamped onto cardstock and then cut into sections.

I mat the two tag pieces onto some black cardstock, used a fancy border punch for the bottom edge, then joined the two pieces together with some large jump-rings.   I added the sentiment, and butterflies, just attaching the butterflies by the bodies so that the wings could be raised and add a bit of dimension.  I also stamped the large butterfly again onto acetate, and layered it over the top of the cardstock just to make him flutter that bit more.
I added a fancy metal corner and some co-ordinating seam-binding to finish off.  Challenge entry done - yeah!!

I'm also entering this into Hels Sheridan's Sunday Stampers - get me!!  2 challenges from 1 make.  Anyone would think I'd thought about this one (ha ha!)  This week's theme is  ............BLUE  I think it qualifies don't you.

Well, that's it for me today.  Hubby's just got in from work and he's brought me a little treat ........

Fish supper from the best fish and chip shop ever!  It's been a while so I'm going to enjoy these Nom! Nom!

Thanks for popping by (again).

See you all soon

Linda

xx

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

Finally Taken the Plunge .....

Happy Friday evening Bloggers,

Have you had a good week?  I'm soooo looking forward to the weekend, and hopefully spending some time with all that new stash of mine.  Plus, I have a Melt Pot winging it's way across the water to me, as we speak.  So, when that arrives next week nothing's going to get done! (I've still got my Timmie tag to do - better do that before the MP arrives).

As you probably know (and just in case you don't) I'm a big fan of the lovely Hels Sheridan.  I stalk (oops) follow her blog regularly and always check out the Sunday Stampers Challenge that she hosts. I've never been brave enough to enter it though.  Well, up until now that is.  This week I've finally taken the plunge ........ I am going to enter.

This week the theme is PAPER.   I love how she chooses her themes, they're all based on song titles (clever eh!).  You know what it's like, you get a certain song in your head and that's it, it's there all day - drives me nuts!!!   For me, it used to be whatever was on the radio as I left the house, or the last track on the CD in the car.  Now it happens when hubby decides to play the keyboards.  Whatever he finishes with, you can guarantee I'll be singing, or humming it for the next few hours.    Anyway, the song that links with this weeks theme is Paper Sun.  To join in with the challenge all you have to do is create something, add in the theme along with some rubber stamping (well it is called Sunday Stampers) and use the linky thing on the Challenge post. 

I've been playing around with a technique this week that's a favourite of Hels, 'paper blocking' so I thought it fit in quite well with the challenge.

 .

It's actually my Creative Studios DT project for this week, so I hope it still qualifies.  The background has been paper blocked using the gorgeous Prima range - Engraver, and the rubber stamping part is done with Sam Poole's fab Art Houses stamp set.

I won't go into all the detail here, you can find all that over on the Creative Studios DT Blog.

Speaking of hubby and the keyboards, he's at it again.  He's just got home from work, decided to 'tinkle the ivories' and he's left me with Billy Joel - It's Still Rock and Roll To Me - thanks love!

On that note (oooh, sorry!), I'd better go and link my Challenge entry.  (Are you singing it now too?). 

Have a lovely weekend, and I'll see you all next week.

Cheerio for now

Linda

xx