I is for Imagine

Well I'm afraid imagination was lacking a little when it came to making the tag for I this month and I had very few words on my list.  Eventually I settled on IMAGINE because I have this lovely word stamp from the  Chocolate Baroque Artistic Expressions set - also closer inspection of a roll of Tim Holtz tissue tape revealed a definition of the word imagination which I've also incorporated.  The background was made by stamping a CB brocade stamp with Distress ink and embossing with matching distress embossing powder. The tag was then inked with distress inks and a masks were used for the letter and the texture. Not the most 'imagininative' tag but time is running short as they have to be posted off soon - I must start work on them earlier in the month I think. I had a good day with my beadwork demonstrations yesterday although I had to work with my coat on all day as despite a sunny start the weather deteriorated and we had heavy rain/hail in the afternoon which made it even colder in the marquee.  As soon as I got home I popped a bowl of porage into the microwave for my tea because it was the quickest hot food I could think of to warm me up!!

H is for Heart

Well it is alphatags time again and here is my offering for H - H is for Heart (and Happy).  The background was achieved with Distress  and Adirondack dye inks, overstamped with text.  The Heart (and happy) quote is from an A4 plate of lovely quotation stamps by Chocolate Baroque and the heart stamp is also from them stamped onto cream watercolour paper and embossed in gold.  Some cream lace and a gold die cut swirl were added as finishing touches.

An Experiment

I did a bit of what is called hybrid crafting yesterday by producing a piece of background paper using the Craft Artist programme which has such wonderful capabilities if only one had the time to play for hours.  The good thing is that I could make the paper the exact size I needed so no scraps left over to hoard away.  I started with a blank page, added a graduated fill, used a stencil and some digital embellishments and I did add a few other bits and pieces which I decided I didn't like so deleted them and used the paper as it is. The sentiment was stamped - one of the ones from Artistic Expressions by Chocolate Baroque  I sponged the edges with Distress ink, added a piece of real lace and some flowers and that's it really.  I was going to pop the sentiment onto a die cut shape but it would have covered up the work I did with the stencil so settled on stamping direct onto the background.

Make My Monday week 44

I must apologise to anyone who had problems finding my blog yesterday - I couldn't access it myself but hopefully I've now managed to sort the problem and fingers crossed it appears to be OK now I've verified settings.

Over at Make My Monday we are still on a men and boys theme with the added topic of vintage - a favourite of mine.  Background paper is from My Craft Studio and it was tweaked a bit and overstamped.   Sizzix die cut and embossing folders were used to make a border in kraft card.  The stamps are from various vintage sets by Creative Expressions and Chocolate Baroque.  Hopefully you will be able to see this if there are no more problems with my blog which had apparently been removed by Blogger due to 'unusual activity'.

Sidetracked!!

You know how it is - you start doing one simple quick job and end up being sidetracked onto something else which takes ages - well it often happens to me.  I was just going to sort out a few bits and pieces for my demonstration and suddenly there were these 'pearls' just waiting to be made into a necklace so I thought it could be one more sample for the table to show what could be made with items available in the shop.  I originally bought the pearls because I needed just two for the pair of ear rings I made recently so it seemed a pity not to use some more of them.  I really must get on with getting things organised so that I can pack it all up to make sure nothing vital is forgotten - something I'm always afraid of.  I had intended spending most of the day making cards but it is afternoon already - time flies.

Simply Stampin' Challenge

The challenge at Simply Stampin is ALL THINGS EASTER but as I didn't really need another Easter card I haven't actually put a sentiment on this one but have included some eggs and small tattered flowers which hopefully look a bit like seasonal daffodils.  The stamp is from Nature's Nest set (Stampin' Up), coloured with Promarkers and cut out using Nestabilities. I was reminded about pricking detail by my friend Anne so I dug out a pricking and embossing template which I've not used for such a long time that I'd forgotten how long it takes to prick all those holes!  Background paper is from my stash and the corner motifs were cut with a Cuttlebug die.  Small tattered flowers were made with a Sizzix die and the swirls were from a Marianne die. As the pricking template has been lying unused for such a long time this card will also qualify for Judith's Forgotten Friday challenge.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend - it is grey and damp here at the moment so I guess a day in the craft room will be the order of the day.