My inky travels along life's rocky road

Tuesday 29 November 2016

Dictionary Challenge - Y




Only a few more letters remaining in the dictionary challenge on the Craft Barn blog and this fortnight's letter is Y. My brain came up with very little so I resorted to my dictionary which had a very meagre Y section 2 pages of which had been used up with my previous attempt (Y for Year).  Thankfully I found Yashmak which made it possible to use this striking photo image stamp that I have. I bought it in a mixed bag of stamps and have no idea who made it but I love it.
I first thought I would make the background very colourful but I decided that a monochromatic page would allow the beautiful details of the stamp to come through. I brushed Archival teal onto the background and then used it with a Personal Impressions Zendoodles stamp (not my best stamping I know). The rose border is a lovely Sizzix die I just bought from a sale at Countryview Crafts. It arrived today and I just had to try it out. Some gold sequins completed the page.

Thursday 24 November 2016

Luggage Tag


Sometimes it's nice to make something just for the heck of it rather than for a particular swap or challenge which is why this luggage tag was created. An overzealous security guard had stamped the  identification tag on my carry-on rucksack and I wanted to make a new one. I used papers from MME's Adventure and Papermania's All Aboard with a scribbly bird stamp by Dina Wakley and Tim Holtz's text dies. The gold rectangle is my address label.
Here's the other side:
 
I'm going to cover it with sticky plastic to protect it from the rigours of overhead lockers and thoughtless security guards.

Wednesday 23 November 2016

Alphabet ATCs - M for Motif


I bought this pretty motif stamp and die from Clearly Besotted shortly before they shut up shop until the new year and it seemed appropriate to use as a repeat pattern for this ATC.

Saturday 19 November 2016

Memory Box Challenge - November


A quick entry for this month's challenge on the Memory Box blog the theme of which is giving thanks. Flowers are a good way of saying thanks so I created a vase from 2 cross stitched frame border dies and added my poppy and woodland branch spray of flowers (all dies by Memory Box of course). I added a small banner sentiment by Clearly Besotted and some gold sequins (I'm definitely having a sequin moment right now).

Wednesday 16 November 2016

Alphabet ATCs - M for Metal


No prizes for guessing what the word for my second ATC for the Alphabet swap is this month. I dug out my metal embossing tools and had a play. The background is actually the stencil I used in the previous ATC - M for Mummy. I ran it through the Cuttlebug with an embossing mat and then highlighted the indentations with the tools. Some metal nailheads completed the ATC.

Monday 14 November 2016

Dictionary Challenge - I


Just a few more letters remaining in the Craft Barn dictionary challenge and this fortnight's letter is I. There was a lot of choice (you could say an incredible amount) and I was very indecisive but I finally opted for 'Instructions'. I recently read some quotations from an American poet called Mary Oliver and they struck a chord with me. I decided to use an excerpt from one of her poems called 'Sometimes'. I tried to create a page in the style of those inspirational quote posters you see on Pinterest.
First I printed off the quote. Then I dabbed twisted citron, wild honey and festive berries DIs onto an acrylic block, spritzed with water and gold shimmer spray and smooshed it onto the page. I reapplied the colours frequently making sure to clean the block each time so I didn't end up with a brown mess. The leaf sprig stamp by Open Studio (a prize from a Memory Box challenge) was double clear embossed with Stazon stone grey and embossing pens. I went over the writing with a Pigma micron pen (08) and added some Tim Holtz wildflower and Spellbinders corner diecuts.
That's all folks!

Saturday 12 November 2016

Alphabet ATCs - M for Mummy


When the UK Stampers forum shut down last month with no prior notice I was worried that the Alphabet ATC swap that I have been taking part in for over a year would end as well. Thankfully we have found a new (temporary) home and I am grateful to the Rebel Stampers Forum for making us welcome.
This month's letter is M and my first ATC is Mummy. Nothing too taxing just an image mounted on a stencilled background.

Monday 7 November 2016

Craft Barn Weekly Challenge - Poppies

 
This week's theme for the Craft Barn blog challenge is Poppies with the added criteria that it should be monochromatic with a splash of red. I took monochromatic to mean black & white and used only 2 colours - hickory smoke DI and Impress poppy red. This CAS card uses a Creative Expressions stamp and a Winnie & Walter sentiment. I stamped the panel, edged it with DI and mounted it on foam. Ignore the pink around the border, that's just a sheet I used to help outline the card for the scanner.

Wednesday 2 November 2016

Dictionary Challenge - U


This is a very hard page to take a decent pic of due to all the metal foil I have used. This fortnight's letter for the Craft Barn challenge is U and I have chosen UFO as my word. I did consider underwater but at the moment that's a bit too close to home!
Whilst sorting through some stuff to be sent away for storage I found a foiling set. I remember we had taken an exchange student to Harrods many years ago and had seen this being demo'd in the toy department. It consists of sticky foam sheets with different images and you peel away sections and apply the foil. My husband bought me a set and although I had used a few bits most of it was untouched. Now there is nothing remotely arty about this page but I had great fun making it and at this time I am in need of a little fun. The background was made by brushing layers of Stazon midnight blue and then flicking watery white acrylic paint all over. I then stuck on some suitably foiled planets and the UFO complete with green alien. The spaceship is covered with 2 different holographic effect foils. I added some sequins and a few punched stars.

 
Thank you to everyone who posted kind comments on my current situation. Things are drying nicely (but still noisily) and we are making progress.

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