My blog makeover is complete.... and a journal page

Welcome to my newly designed and improved blog. Things have changed a little around here, out with the old tired looking design and in with a new fresh design, all in white with a few splatters of colour around. I have been working hard on the new design and layout and hopefully it'll make it a bit more userfriendly and more pleasurable to read for my followers. I have also improved the presentation of my photos, been a busy bee playing with my camera and photoshop, so bear with me it's work in progress.

To get started I would like to share my first "real" journal page with you. I say real because before I have only done art journaling style things on canvases and decorated mirrors with it, but this one if actually a page in a book. But not an ordinary journal, no, this is a board book. It's chunky and durable and I won't lose interest in finishing it as it only has 10 odd pages or so. I hope to do one page every week - inspiration allowing!

I would like to enter this page into the following challenges:

Happy Daze - Explosion of Colour (Distress Ink and gold Paint Dabber available from the shop)
Stamp Man - Backgrounds
The Artistic Stamper - Backgrounds

So let me know what you think of the new blog. I will try to post every other day from now on, hopefully I can keep up. I still have to overhaul my website too, which is a little more work than the blog was. Laters!

Finding the time to enter challenges.....

It's difficult finding time to make things for challenges these days, I seem to never stop being busy. One project I'm currently working on should be completed in 3 weeks so I hope there will be plenty of time for more challenge makes.

Today I sat down and created this card. The challenge at Creavil is scrunched up backgrounds, it's something I've never really tried before but I'm glad I did as I like the vintage look it creates. It's simply crumpled up paper which is then inked with distress inks and it picks up all the creased bits nicely. I then stamped some script over it but didnt press the stamp to hard, that way the paper only picks up the script on the high points.

This card will also be entered into The Stampman Challenge where the theme is Men. Same theme over at the Simon says Challenge. And last but not least The Stampsmith is asking for birthday creations this week.

I'm trying to resist....

....chocolate that is, but it never works.
So over at The Stamp Man we are playing with resist techniques.
I made a notebook cover with kraft paper, hence this whole thing turned out a bit dark. I stamped the cover (front and back) with some spills and splatters and embossed them with clear powder, then spritzed the whole thing with different glimmer mists.
I didn't aim for the whole smudgy, dirty look but as it says on the cover - EMBRACE IMPERFECTION.

Vintage Butterflies

I received my new Kraft Glassine paper in the post the other day and hadnt even thought about it before, but what do you do with it???

So I stamped some butterflies onto it and they look lovely and vintagy and then I remembered something I had seen on Hels blog the other day - an old butterfly box. I used an Ikea frame here as Ive got plenty in the storage cupboard. It's a very quick project and the Glassine paper works great for a vintage look. It's fairly dark though so I'm not sure how it would work as a card background, but I'll give that a go and report back.

Any good ideas on how to use it anyone???

This frame is goin into the Stampman Challenge where the theme is "All things Tim".

More Mothers Day Inspiration....

It's great being able to spend the whole day crafting again and with a rehearsal-free week ahead even more time to get crafty!!
I am just loving Artistic Outpost stamps at the moment, I created this card using the Happiness stamps of theirs.
It's just one of many Mothers Day cards I've been making today, some turned out great, others not so, but it's a question of taste I guess.

I am entering this into the Stampman Challenge - Mothers Day & Floral Theme as well as The Artistic Stamper - Spring has Sprung Challenge.

Tim Holtz inspired Christmas Baubles

I've been wanting to join in with 2 challenges - The Stampman Challenge where the theme is Tim Holtz Christmas and the Sir Stampalot Challenge where the theme is Christmas Traditions. So when I saw these clear plastic baubles I knew they'd be perfect to make up something christmassy.

On the blue ones I used stream alcohol ink in the inside and then stamped some snowflake from one of the Tim Holtz sets on the outside. I filled one with polystryrene balls and the other with chunky flitter. These are my first attempts so I reckon if I spend some more time playing around with the clear balls the results could be quite stunning and make nice decorations on my tree this year. Or even as a christmas gift for someone.

The next two I coloured with alcohol inks again, latte or ginger I cant quite remember. One baubles spells JINGLE BELLS on the outside and is filled with rusty bells. The other one says MERRY & BRIGHT and I filled that one with golden stars.

I have a load more baubles to decorate so pop back to see how the others turned out.

In the meantime have a crafty weekend!!

Rusty Challenge Time.....

It is time for some more challenges. I've been working on this frame all week, you know a few minutes here and there, I was very busy at work but managed to squeeze in some crafting before and after work. So I have made this to enter 3 challenges.... first of all The Stampman Challenge where the theme is 'Distress', the Alter it monthly challenge with a 'Rusty' theme and last but not least the 'Distress' Challenge at Sir Stampalot.

I've been wanting to use some of the rusty knobs/keyholes/keys I bought at a market in Spain so I thought I combine them with some faux rust grungeflowers. Not sure you can see the rusty flowers very well in thr picture but they are done with distress embossing powder and then inked with distress inks. Very nice effect. I then went a bit crazy at adding lots of little things like punched flowers from metal sheet that I coloured with alcohol inks. Plenty of dangly bits from chains. Rusty snaps, also from a flea market. Some memo pins filled with beads. Grungepaper leaves, a crackled birdie. I just wanted it to look all old and grungy and rusty. I used a lot of Wendy Vecchi stamps on this, they are just fab for adding a pattern to chipboard and backgrounds.

So there you go..... yet another frame to be put on my living room wall, when the living room is freshly painted that is, my OH is currently re-painting rooms bit by bit.

I better be off to work.... ta da.