Octopode - The Great Gatsby

 So how's everyone doing? making the most of the nicer weather I hope? Finally in the UK we have a bit of sun for a change.
 Today Lily is show casing her Flappers in honour of the new movie The Great Gatsby. I have used Coco for my little 6''x6'' page.
 You can see more work from the DT over at Lily's blog The Octopode Factory and here is a link for the Etsy Shop.
 Now I have not seen the film or read the book but I do like the art deco stylings, and I am sure my better half will drag me along to see the film in the not to distant future ;)
 I started my page by cutting it from some mount board, I then drew the back ground using a picture found on the net for a reference, figuring out which lines pass over which made me go a little cross eyed a few times but I finally got there. The BG was coloured with cool and warm grey Copics.
 Coco was printed out and she was also coloured with Copics, I decided to have a go at using some darker skin tones for a change and hope I carried it off.
 I found a great art deco font on line and printed Club Gatsby out onto acetate and used a couple of tiny brads to secure it in place.
 The flappers would work great in our fortnightly challenge over at Octopodes TOFF Challenge blog where there is still a little over a week to joing the fun, the theme is 'Lovely Ladies'
It would be great to see you over there. There is a prize draw of some images every time x

This weekend The Craft Barn is having its BIG extravaganza weekend, There are three marquees and loads of demo's going on from artists like Andy Skinner, Lyn Brown and Neil Walker. To name just a few, If you are in the area, J6 M25 ish why not pop in, Ill be there most of the weekend as it is my local store and it would be great to see some of you there. x

Haunted Design House - Hangman's handiwork

Happy bank Holl every one,Sun has been shining here today for a change.
 It's time for a new challenge over at Haunted Design House this fortnight the theme is Hangman's Handiwork, basically we want to see you use a knot somewhere on your project.
 Head on over to HDH to see what the DT have come up with and remember there will be more next Monday.
 I decided to tie up a heart for my make. i took a shadow box frame, painted the inside of the box with Decoart acrylic paints and added some washes to age it up.
 The frame was decorated in a finish learnt on an Andy Skinner on line workshop, Book Of Ruination.
 This was again painted with Decoart acrylic paints and given some dry brushing and washes.
 The heart was a plain wooden heart I picked up in Brighton, It has been given a base coat of acrylic and a top coat of Crocco Crackle glaze in purple.The heart was glued into the box on top of a stack of card to pop it out.I added three eyelet's and ran a suede tie through and used my 'Knot' to keep the heart trapped inside. To finish off I added the Tim Holtz thing and added the word caution.
 Thanks for stopping by and we hope to see you over at Haunted Design House.

De StempelWinkel - Steamp Punk ATC's

The quickest of quick posts here, I should have posted this yesterday but things were getting congested.
 It's my turn over at De Stempelwinkel here are a couple of teaser pics, I hope you will follow the link and check them out x

Octopode Factory - Elegant Ladies

So how is everyone's week going? I hope you are all set for a good weekend?

It's time again to start a new challenge over at the Octopode Factory. Thank you to those who played along last fortnight, we hope you will join us again this time round. The theme this challenge is Elegant Ladies.

I almost missed this dead line as I had yet another blond moment and miss read our challenge dates and spent the week working on our next challenge,Fortunately I was rained off work and managed to get this done very quick this afternoon and have actually surprised myself.

I have wanted to try a sepia type finish with the copics and this was the perfect image and time to give it a go.This is Mary, she is the 4th lady Lily has drawn in the set, the others can be seen on a couple of my earlier posts. Working shabby and vintage is a lot more me ;)

The Copics I used were the E50 shades, Mary was fussy cut, coloured and clear embossed twice. The tag was cut from mount board using Tim's Die and coloured by swiping linen and old paper distress ink pads over the surface, the mount board has a subtle texture so you get quite a nice shabby finish, the edge of the tag was distressed with some walnut stain.

I used one of Tim's texture stamps and stamped randomly with vintage photo and also used a filigree stamp from Katzelcraft. The ribon was attached with a couple of the tiny attachers from Tim and the film ribbon, also Tim was added and stuck down with the red sticky tape, I Stamped Mary with some little alphabet stamps and the whole thing was finished with a leather flower that was given to me by my blog friend Neil.

Thanks for stopping by, I love having you here, hopefully Ill see you over at the Octopode Factory Challenge.

You do not have to use an Octopode character but its great when you do and your name gets entered into the prize draw twice if you do ;)

Images can be bought in Lilys Octopode shop HERE

I would like to enter this into the challenge over at Simon Says Stamp And Show  they are having a use your fave ink challenge. I have used two of my fave inks, Copics, ok, not sure if they count as ink but the Distress ink pads are always a strong fave of mine and the linen and paper are pads I always turn to when I start to think shabby.

Rick St Dennis - Guest Spot

 Good morning everyone and thanks for stopping by, This weekend looks like it will be post intensive and I'm kicking things of with Rick St Dennis, If you do not know who he is then follow the link, amongst the many artistic caps Rick wears he is a fairly new face on the Digi scene and has a very unique, very detailed style of drawing, Not all the images are Horror inspired, but fortunately for me many of them are. He has an Etsy shop HERE there are lots of whimsical images as well all with a very distinct style.
 Rick asked me a couple of weeks ago weather I would like to work on a couple of images for him so of course I said yes and found both of these images in my in box.
 I had great fun colouring both but really like how 'Monster' came out, It gave me the opportunity to use my favourite shades of green.
 As you can see from the images, Rick adds lots of texture,dimension and shading to his images which really help emphasize the depth.
 As you can see I made a tag using the monster image, coloured with Copics, cut out, mounted onto a black mount board tag and the whole thing has been clear embossed twice., the ribbon has been coloured with Distress ink stains to match the monster.

For 'Entity' I again used copics fussy cut and clear embossed, The background has been made using a Tando creative arch, The arch has been coated with Gesso and then some Decoart texture crackle, Its then been painted with Decoart acrylic paints to give a stone type effect. The inside of the arch is a piece of sticky back canvas and is a left over from the Helen Chilton Pebeo glass paint class.  I thought it gave a nice stained glass effect and tied the colours together quite well.

Thanks again for stopping by. If you have not made over to Rick yet, its well worth the visit, he has an awesome DT that produce some awesome work.
Thanks for stopping by, Ill be back latter tonight with another post.
xx

Fun With ATC's - Recycle

I know I keep saying this but where Is time going at the moment?The last two weeks have flown by and it again time to start a new challenge over at Fun With ATC's, Our theme this fortnight is Recycle. We want to see an element of recycling on your atc somewhere.
Head on over to FWATC's to see what the rest of the DT have created with their recycled goodies.
 I have recently been seeing lots of altered playing cards and have really wanted to give it a go and this was the perfect opportunity,My recycled elements are the mount board I use for my atc base, they are the scraps from a local picture framing shop, the playing card and the paper is a mop up scrap.
 The mop up scrap came from a class I recently did with Helen Chilton, we were using pebeo translucent glass paints, like the numpty I am I knocked the pot of yellow all over my craft mat and sadly the craft mat was dirty so I could not scoop it back, I added a little of the red paint to the craft mat and swiped a sheet of glossy card stock through the paint a couple of times mixing the colours. This was a happy accident as I had no idea what would happen but I love the result, the effect is very similar to alcohol inks only you get more depth to the colour as it is a translucent glass paint, there is almost a 3d depth to it.
 I cut out an atc from the scrap using the tim holtz atc die, at the same time I placed one of the movers and shapers butterfly dies inside the atc so the butterfly would be cut out at the same time.
 I used Stayzon ink so add random stamping using tim holtz stamps and the 'Fly' is from Stampotique. The corner was torn off to reveal the card number once it was stuck down. Once stuck to the card I glued them to a mount board atc blank and a little bit of trimming was needed as a playing card is a little narrower. The edges were sanded back to the card and some black distress ink was used to go round the edge.
 The butterfly was cut from glossy card and stamped with the little typeface stamp and glued down with the wings bent up. A couple of brads were added to opposite corner to finish it off.

As always a great big thank you for stopping by, it really means a lot having you here.
 We would love to see your take on our recycled theme over at Fun With ATC's so why not join us? x

I would like to enter this into a couple of challenges.

SanDee and Amelie's Steam Punk Challenge are having an Altered Playing card challenge, It may not be Steam Punk enough though?

Anything But A Card - Colour Challenge.

We are just entering our second week of our current challenge over at Anything But A Card, this time round we have a colour challenge.

We are asking you to use at least two of the colours above and more if you wish.

Now for me this was a challenge, they are not colours I would normally go for, fortunately for me though Lily at the Octopode Factory has just released these Edwardian Ladies. I used one last week, link here,  to make a fat page so I thought I would do a couple more for this challenge. 

I have used Hortense and Edith for my pages and followed the same format as the page from last week.

The images have been coloured with Copics and clear embossed, they have then been stuck to some matching papers cut to fit a 6''x6'' piece of mount board. eyelets were added so I can collect the pages together.

We would love for you to join us over at Anything But A Card there is still one week left to join in. follow the links to see what the rest of the awesome DT have created.

Thanks for stopping by. x

De Stempelwinkel - Steam Punk Tag

Morning all, I hope your weekend is going well?
It's my turn again over at De Stempelwinkel to share a new make and today I have a Steam Punk tag.Follow the link to find out a little more and see the full picture.

thanks for stopping by. x I will be back latter with another post, some more pretty stuf ;)

Captain Hook - Octopode Factory

Well I am definitely that Friday feeling this week.
 I hope you are all gearing up for a good weekend?
 Today a bit of news. As you may have seen I have been doing a few bits for Lily over at the Octopode Factory and I am very happy to say I have been invited to be part of the DT over there.
 On Lily's blog today she is having a Captain Hook shout out, head on over to see what the other DT members have created,It is all to do with a TV show called Once Upon A Time, follow the link to find out about the show, I have to say I had never heard of it but I do like the sound of it from the write up.
 Now Captain Hook is not the only character available from Peter Pan, the whole family is available for download at the Octopode Etsy shop..

For my tag I printed Captain Hook out and coloured him with Copics and clear embossed him twice. He was glued on to my mount board tag which has been stamped with a cover the card map stamp in Sepia archival ink and then distressed with vintage photo and walnut stain distress inks.
The clock face and hands are from Mr Tim Holtz as is the key ring, the anchor charm was added to the end of the key ring and attached to the tag through a metal eyelet.I finished by adding the 'tick,tick,tick' stamped with a small alphabet stamp.
 The second pic is just me playing around with different finishes on an app on my phone.

As always a big welcome to my newest followers and a big thank you and welcome back to those that have stopped by before. It really does mean a lot having you here.
  Ill be back on Sunday with a couple of the more feminine images.
Also a quick reminder that over at the Octopode Factory Challenge Blog there is still time to play in the Music themed challenge.
It would be great to see you over there. You do not need to use an Octopode image but it is great if you do and I think you will be entered into the prize draw twice ;)

I would like to enter this into the challenge over at Copic Marker Europe they are having a 'Boy's Aloud' challenge, male images only.

De Stempelwinkel - Stained Glass Window

It's time for another De Stempelwinkel post and this week I am sharing my Tando Creative arch that I made in a class given by Helen Chilton.

 Head over to De Stempelwinkel for a quick run down of what has been used and another pic x

Thank you for stopping by. Hopefully Ill see you later in the week. x

Octopode Factory Challenge - Music

Well thank god it is Friday, I hope everyone has some fun lined up for the weekend.
As I said yesterday, here is some more Octopode for you.
 I have been doing a few things for Lily over at The Octopode Factory and today they are starting a new challenge. The theme for the next 2 weeks is music.It can be a song a genre or even your favourite artist.
 You do not need to use an Octopode Factory image but it is great if you do.
 As you can see I went for one of Lily's David Bowie images, she has four available in her shop HERE, now in hind site maybe I would have asked for one of the other great images, but I really like the music Bowie was producing in his Ziggy phase. The hind site comes in not realising how much of a test it was to colour the damn make up ;) Having said that it really was great fun sitting in front of the lap top going through images of Bowie to get it as right as I could and I am quite pleased with how it came out.
 He has been coloured with copics and clear embossed and mounted onto a tag cut from mount board.
 I used some cosmic shimmer embossing powder and one of Neil Walkers new texture stamps stamped randomly, I then used some distress stain to colour the tag and over stamped again hap hazardly with a music stamp using black soot distress ink, the embossing acts as a resist so it is easy to wipe of and have the powder pop.
The letters are from Tim holtz and have been given a rub and buff with some treasure Gold in Topaz.

Thanks for stopping by. Hopefully you will join in the challenge over at The Octopode Factory
Have a great weekend x

I would like to enter this in to the challenge over at Left Of Centre they are having a 'Use a Digi' theme or just be left of Centre.

Octopode. Do not adjust your set, I have not been hacked, Honest.

Yes it is me, Do not worry. Time for something a little different. Ok A lot different from my normal style.

I have been working on some more images for Lily over at the Octopode Factory, and today I can share with you one of her new 'Edwardian Lovely Ladies' there are for of these lovely ladies to choose from and I used Philomena.

You can head over to her Etsy shop HERE to find them as well as loads of other great images.

This was a great challenge for me and pushed me right out of my comfort zone but I really enjoyed it, something I never saw myself doing but I am really pleased with how she has turned out.

I decided to make a little fat page for a book that does not yet exist ;)

I cut some mount board to a six inch square and covered it with a very feminine paper from Graphic 45 I think. This involved me going around my local store with Philomena in hand holding her up against all the papers till I found one that worked. 

The edges of the paper has been distressed with a little black soot distress ink and I added a couple of flowers from Studio 490, they have been given a very light go over with some spun sugar distress ink just to help tie them into the bg a little better.

Philomena has been coloured with Copics, more earthy and gentle colours than I normally go for but I was trying for elegant ;)  she has been fussy cut and clear embossed twice and glued in place.

Finally to make the page, I measured out where I wanted my eyelets to go and used my cropodile to punch holes and add the metal eyes.

I will be back with more Octopode tomorrow as they start their new challenge on the Toff challenge blog.

Thanks for stopping by, Hope it was not to much of a shock to those that may know my blog ;)

hopefully Ill see you tomorrow xx

I would like to enter this into a couple of challenges. 

Copic Marker Europe are having a 'Girls Aloud' challenge. Girls images only.

Try It On Tuesday are having a 'Feminine and Fancy' challenge, this is about as Feminine as I think I can get lol, hopefully its fancy too. ;)

WOYWW 205

Well It has been some time since I made a post for the WOYWW, No idea what A WOYWW is then follow the link and find out all about it, It's the brain child of Julia Dunnit.

It's basically your chance to have a good ol snoop around other crafter's workspaces.

As you can see mine is a complete mess and you can just about make out the start of a project I hope to share with you in the next few weeks.

Even though I have not been taking part I have been following the goings on and they are fast approaching thier 4th b'day, and like last year they are celebrating with an ATC swap in a couple of weeks.

This time last year I was clueless as to what an ATC was and now I love making them, they are so addictive, so I am looking forward to being able to re join in and take part in the swap.

Now I will do my best to visit as many of you as possible, I will make sure I visit at least all the people that visit me and all the people that end in the same number as me x  happy hopping x

Fun With ATC's - Texture.

 I hope everybody had a great bank holiday weekend? Get much crafting done?
 Time is flying by at the moment, no idea where it is going.
 We are starting our new challenge over at Fun With ATC's, the theme this fortnight is Texture. Use any form of texture you like and we would love to see you join us.
Head on over to see what the rest of the DT have created for inspiration x
 The main ATC has been done with an Andy Skinner Technique from his Book of Ruination on line class and has been painted with Decoart acrylic paints, layering up colour with washes and dry brushing.
 The heart has been cut out with the Tim Holtz movers and shapers heart die, I stamped a text with a stamp from The Artistic Stamper and embossed with some white Frantage powder, it was then coloured with Distress inks and clear embossed over the top.
The word sticker was coloured on the edge with some distress inks too and is also from Tim Holtz.

As always thank you for stopping by, it is always great to have you here x
And of course, we would love to see you over at Fun With ATC's xx

I would like to enter this in to a challenge or two.

Our creative Corner have just started back up with an amazing new DT, their first theme is an Anything Goes challenge.

Anything But A Card - ATC's

Ok so post No2 in one day, if you stopped by earlier and are back, thank you very much, and if this is your first visit, where have you been? ;)  ;)

 We are just entering the second week of our latest challenge over at Anything But A Card, the theme Is ATC's. That's it, you can create any style and use any subject just as long as it is an ATC, Simples x
Stop on by ABAC to see what else the DT have created.

I made two Atc's but one is an extension of an idea of the first one, if that makes sense?

I bought one for the new Lynne Perrella stamp sets last week, I love the new range, I am a big fan of the oriental stylings and art, and picked this set as I thought this image was perfect for an ATC.
This is the first one I made, nice and simple,the ATC's have been cut from mount board, I sprayed them with Dylusion sprays stamped the image with archival ink and went round the edge with a little black soot Distress ink.
 It was given two coats of clear embossing powder to finish off. I picked these coin embellishments up at my local craft store and used a bit of leather to tie them round my ATC.

The second ATC grew from the first, I wanted to give her a white face and pick out a few other details.
I started by stamping the image this time on to the white mount board ATC. I then painted in the blue circles on her face with broken china distress ink. when that was dry I used some Matte glue n seal with a fine brush to carefully paint her face. I left her eye and her lips un-covered. The Dylusions were then used, Because of the glue n seal I could just wipe away the over spray with a damp bit of kitchen towl.
The next step was a calculated bit of pot luck, It could have easily ruined the ATC.I sprayed a little bit of Blue Dylusions right at the top of the ATC and dabbed it dry, I then put out a little splodge of white acrylic paint onto my craft mat and swiped the corner of the ATC through it and rubbed it face down around the craft mat.its a very thin layer of paint and it drew up some of the Dylusions colour. I used a Kanji Stencil and some Dream Weaver paste,knowing that it would also draw up some of their colour.
The edges were gone round again with some black soot distress ink tofinish it off. No clear emboss as I really like the shabby look of this one. The paint gives a look of torn paper or maybe enevn an old fresco?  Ok might be pushing my luck there ;)

So if you have never made an ATC before or weather you have made hundreds, we would love to see you join us at Anything But A Card.
And as always a great big thank you for stopping by, your comments and visits are very much appreciated x

I would like to enter these into a couple of challenges.

Fashionable Stamping Challenges  are having an anything goes theme.

CraftyCatz are having an 'inspired by a song' challenge, my song is Turning Japanese by The Vapors ;)

De StempelWinkel - Domino's

Good morning all. I hope all is well, and it's great to have you stop by.

This is the first of two posts for today so hopefully I will see you back a little latter on as well.

It's my turn again over at De StempelWinkel to create something. For more pics and a little write up of what I have done and how follow the link.

For those of you who do not know who De StempelWinkel are, they are a Dutch company/shop that produce their own rubber stamps as well as selling a lot of the crafting essentials, well worth checking out.Their creative blog has posts everyday with a new project from their DT and Guest designers so there is always something that may just peak your interest xx

I hope to see you over there and if I am really lucky back here latter on for post No 2 xx

I would like to join a few challenges.

Our Creative Corner  are having an Anything goes challenge.