Dictionary Challenge - W

This fortnight's letter for the Craft Barn challenge is W. Well now what's the word going to be I wonder? I went for 'wheel'. It's been a weird sort of week and I was in the mood to un wind and do a little colouring. This stamp by Heartfelt Creations was wonderful - it gave me a wheel, some wood and several wisps of grass (there may even be some worms or winged creatures in the grass).What would the weather be like in this scene? Windy I think...
Have a good fortnight!
Edited to add: Having just linked this on the Craft Barn blog I've realised that Karen had picked the same word. I must have seen it when I checked what the chosen letter was but it hadn't registered.

UK Stampers ATC Swap - N for Nest

My final word this month is 'Nest'. I stamped and die cut a nest from a Sizzix set. The branch is by Memory Box. As I don't have an egg stamp I hand cut some egg shapes, brushed them with tumbled glass DI and used a speckle stamp over them. The background is made with a stencil and a paint dabber. Some brads finished the ATC off.

UK Stampers ATC Swap - N for Nature

Nature is my second word for this month's ATC swap. I stamped part of a new Crafty Individuals stamp (CI 452) in sepia and coloured it in. As the rectangle wasn't exactly ATC sized I added some washi tape. The ATC was finished with some Glossy Accents , Glamour Dust and gems.

LIM 281

This week's challenge on the Less Is More blog is to make a card using the faux bleach technique. I heat embossed a Hampton Arts daisy stamp and used Gelatos and water to create the stripes. I tore the paper around the image and mounted it on foam pads.

Dictionary Challenge - K

This fortnight's letter on the Craft Barn blog is 'K'. I've had these keyhole embellishments for years. I had used a couple of the keys but the other items had just sat unloved in a drawer. I wanted to create an arrangement rather like a collection of mismatched frames that were so popular in Victorian times (do you know what I mean?). The background was made by swiping Brilliance starlite black over an embossing folder and running it through my Cuttlebug. I then rubbed wild honey, picked raspberry and evergreen bough DI over the embossing.

Memory Box Challenge - June

Watercolour is the theme for this month's challenge on the Memory Box blog. I decided to make an ombré watercolour background using the wet on wet technique. While the paint was still wet I dabbed a scrunched up tissue all over for a little texture and then flicked watered down white paint over. I cut some Chloe stems and added them to the background which was edged with a black pen and mounted onto a white card blank.

UK Stampers ATC Swap - N for Newsprint

This month's ATC letter is 'N'. I chosen newsprint and made a background of newsprint, spray ink, DI and stencils. My headline is cut from a Sizzix Hunky Dory alphabet die. I doodled a frame and added a pair of specs to which I added Glossy Accents for the lenses.

Make Your Own Hinged Stamp Positioner

Recently online I have seen a lot of people using a (very expensive) branded hinged stamp positioner. I am happy with my traditional T shaped positioner - it does a good job whenever I need to place a stamp accurately. However since buying some layering stamps, I can see the benefits of having a positioner with a hinge to align clear stamps on top of each other. A search on the 'net revealed some suggestions for making your own. Today I thought I would see what I could come up with. This is NOT a tutorial or a step-by-step, my pics aren't great and it's very basic but it works for me so I thought I would share it with you.

This is my kit, on the left a clear, old CD case. I think I got stamps in this originally, maybe you have some old SeeD's stamp sets hanging around? A clear DVD case would be a better shape but this is what I had to hand. On the right hand side from the top are a piece of fun foam, a magnetic sheet and a grid which I printed off the 'net. They have all been cut to fit the inside of the front of the case (it's the side that has little lugs sticking out for the front cover. Yes those are 4 pennies at the bottom.

Place the 3 sheets into the CD case in the order I described them. I found that the foam and magnetic sheet fit under the lugs but I couldn't get the grid to fit under so I just placed it on top. The pennies are to secure your card so it doesn't move during the stamping process. The case I have does not have a lip on the far right side so you are not restricted to using square card. Line up your card on the grid and hold in place with the pennies, position your clear stamp on top where you want it to be with the image side facing the card. Close the case and press lightly to adhere the stamp to the top of the case. Open the case and the stamp should now be on the lid, ink it up and close the case. Press lightly all over and open the lid. If the image has not stamped cleanly then close the lid and press lightly again. 

This was made with things I found at home, I haven't gone out and bought anything. It's not perfect but it didn't cost me anything either (oh alright 4p!). I've tried to be as clear as possible but if there's anything you don't understand let me know in the comments below.



LIM 279

This week on the Less Is More blog the colour theme is purple. I used one of my new Tim Holtz debossing folders to make this very CAS card. After outlining the debossing with a purple pen I added some punched hearts. The white card was mounted onto a lilac/grey card blank.

UK Stampers Postcard Swap

This month's theme is 'Flowers and was the perfect opportunity to use a set of layering stamps by Altenew that I bought at Ally Pally in April. The set is called Beautiful Day and I have been trying out combinations of ink and practising aligning the stamps with varying degrees of success.
This postcard uses Impress poppy red and lemon yellow and Brilliance pearlescent orange. I think the 2 days of sunshine we have just had has turned my thoughts to 'hot' colours. The sentiment is from the same set. I added some old peg stamps from Rubber Tapestry. The stamens have been 'Glamour Dusted' for a bit of sparkle.

New Stamps!

Sometimes you see things that you just have to have. Recently I saw some new border stamps from Crafty Individuals (CI 451) and they were too tempting to ignore. I used the film strip border here and I have paired the flower border from that set with another new acquisition - a silhouette stamp by Dina Wakley.
The background is part of a sheet of paper that I cleaned some stencils on. I added some script by Paper Artsy and edged the tag with brushed corduroy DI. The flower border was coloured with coloursoft pencils and some co-ordinating embellishments completed the tag.

A Noteworthy Blog

I don't officially 'follow' any blogs but there are a few that I keep up-to-date with on a regular basis. One of my favourites is Stamping Mathilda's. Today she celebrates 10 years of blogging (!!!) which is no mean feat. She isn't an occasional blogger like me, she blogs almost every single day and her work is an absolute inspiration. Over the years that I have been reading her blog, she has given me endless ideas and I have followed her various series such as Sunday Scraps, Black and White, Golden Oldies and Dictionary. I've seen her develop from taking an online course on stamp carving to creating a wonderful series of carved stamps for Darkroom Door. I've admired her photography, the beautiful flowers she grows in her garden and the wildlife that comes to visit in it. She is one talented lady and is generous enough to share her creativity with all of us. If you haven't visited her blog, I suggest you set aside some time, grab a drink and get comfy because you're in for a treat!
This is a post to thank Godelieve for all the years of inspiration and the language lessons:

                                                         VAN HARTE PROFICIAT!




Inspired by Stamping Matilda

June