Keep Calm and Carry On!

Good advice in the lead up to Christmas me thinks and certainly kept me going this week! Had a bit of an interesting/challenging week...everything (not everything obviously but lots, you know what I mean!) seems to have decided to pack up, or go wrong, at the same time..the washing machine (beyond repair!), the printer (just as I wanted to print out address labels for our Christmas cards, the pipe work under the utility sink (I took it apart to plumb a new washing machine in and couldn't get it back together again), the telephone and thanks to a jobs worth at the local cinema my daughter's birthday treat.

It was her 15th birthday on Wednesday and we decided to make the most of Orange Wednesday and go to see, My Week with Marilyn. The girl selling the tickets refused to sell us tickets....I'd gone flat out all day (Wednesday is my shopping and errand day so I was only just back to the house when she got home from school)to make sure that Sarah got her birthday tea and a homemade chocolate birthday cake before we went out. I was not impressed! OK I can understand them challenging a child if they are with other kids, but when they are with their mother! It was suggested that we should go home and come back with id....I said that that was pointless as this would take an hour and the film started in 30 mins! She wasn't going to back down...so we left. Luckily there is another cinema in Worcester, the Odeon. They saved the day! We got to see the film and hour later. Having watched it we all agreed that we didn't understand why it had been given a 15 certificate...We saw Breaking Dawn on Monday that was a 12a and much more graphic.

Ooops that seems to have turned into a rant...what this blog post is really all about is the card and key ring I made for my daughter's birthday. She is really into the whole Keep Calm and Carry on thing, so when I saw this on a stamp I had to have it for her Birthday card! Can't remember who's stamp it is at the moment though! I've used triple embossing to make what looks like and enamel sign and attached this to a piece of handmade paper that I had stamped a union jack on and then embossed it in Tim Holtz's brick embossing folder. The Union jack was an Indigo Blu stamp and I coloured it by adding distress ink stains directly onto the stamp, a technique that I had not tried before, but it worked! The flowers and leaves were all made using handmade paper and spellbinders dies.

The key ring was made using a stampboard square, and then triple embossed in the same way as the "enamel" sign.

My daughter was thrilled with her card and key ring, and my other daughter wants a keyring too.

I would like to enter this into several challenges:

"Totally paper crafts - anything but a card"

"Simply Create too - Embossing"

"Art Impressions Stamps - try something new to you"

"Cooking it up with Katie - Anything goes"

"I break for challenges - vintage"

"Papertake weekly - Anything goes"

"Crafty card makers - Heat embossing"

"Stamp and create - Vintage"

Pretty in Pink!

Hi There. I 've just got back from a lovely break at one of the best Spa Hotels in the UK, now another 3 days behind, but it was a nice break all the same!

Before I left I made this Pretty pink key ring as my next Creative Expressions design piece. I didn't quite have this in mind when I started...I was thinking of making a pendent using the Eiffel Tower image from the Just Rite Cling stamps that we are demonstrating this month, but when I went through my stash my ideas changed and this where I ended up. My girls are now fighting over it so I guess it's a hit.

The fob is made from Stampboard. This particular piece was already coloured and ready to go....an aborted previous project...well you know what they say about crafters! I do remember that it was coloured using Color Box chalk inks as these stay where you put them when you heat emboss over the top. I stamped the postage stamp and the corner flourish in Jet Black Archival ink (again this will stay in place when embossed). Using a cropadile, I punched a hole in the top corner and inserted an eyelet before Triple embossing with clear embossing powder. To get a really smooth finish I like to use the normal powder rather than the coarser powders more usually used for this technique.


I have attached a small loop of distressed silver chain and then attached pearls and crystal beads to add a bit of sparkle.

I would like to enter this into several challenges as follows.....

"Fussy and Fancy - Make a gift not a card"

"Samuel Taylor's - December Challenge, anything goes"

"Creative Inspirations Paint - Anything but a card"

Helloooooo

Ooops! haven't posted here for ages! Sorry,I just had to prioritise the Tanda Blog when time was short.

Quick update so far...Em has had to postpone her op date...she wants to be able to swim on holiday, but apparently if she cancels the date she was given, government rules say she has to go back to the gp...to be referred back to Dudley hospital to get another date....how ridiculous is that! She isn't an urgent case so the op date had been already deferred since the original consultation...no fault of Ems that the dates now fall in the time when all families with kids are looking at going on holiday and postponement takes it outside what is permissible?!

Dad is getting weaker by the day, and mum hasn't been well too...so they are struggling... apparently the hospital cannot get the right size needles for biopsy dad needs..this has been going on since the beginning of Jan....where are the government guidelines on this?!

Creative Expressions are looking for new design team members...so I thought I might just have the weekend to prepare for this...then...DH has a serious nose bleed....we ended up in A&E on Friday night!!!!...Not a good time to hit A&E!...DH had to stay the night as they couldn't stem the flow...I got to bed at 2am...and obviously didn't sleep..then back up to hospital in the morning. Had to leave him there as I'd promised to do my bit for the village gala painting faces...DD2 rowing Sunday morning...loads of washing to do....where did the weekend go? Now can I get something made to fit their challenge and get it posted by 5pm?....maybe/maybe not


Today I made a card for one of our nephews and thought I would share it...just had to play around with Tim Holtz dies and fruit juice cartons! thanks to Meikoningin for the juice carton tip....for some reason I don't seem to be able to paste her link here...but if you go to the tanda steampunk teaser challenge you will find her in the comments. Her work is fab so you really should visit!

I decided to enhance the metal effect by triple embossing my juice carton embelishments, this added to the thickness, helping to enhance the effect.

Curly Swirly...and purple hearts

The next Tanda Teaser is called Curly Swirly...namely use lots of curls, swirls, flourishes etc on your card/project....I needed to make an anniversary card for my hubby and as his fav colour is purple I used that as my colour theme. I stamped the Tanda Klimt swirl block in Distress Ink onto some purple wrapping paper to make my main background, then I heat embossed with white sparkle ep onto velum as the next layer. Then I triple embossed my heart form...well maybe more, using moonglow ep from the stamp man and various other ep's...then I stamped into this with encore silver. I wasn't totally happy with the result at this stage so heated it again...just as it melted and before the encore silver dispersed..I thought...that's it...perfect...

The Lost Cost wings behind the heart were stamped onto vellum in the same moon glow ep as used on the heart. The heart was given a bit of a lift by layering some fantasy fiber underneath it.

I hope you find time to join in with us on the Tanda Teaser...
Sue
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Wow, we've had a great response to the "It's Cool to be Square" Teaser this week! As promised I have a second square card to post for the second week of the Teaser. As you can see I've used the same Tanda Stamp (and general method) as last week but the colours are different. I was looking for a Victorian feel with this card hence the sepia tones (Adirondack, Cabin Fever), lacy edges (Martha Stewart punch) and general busyness of the design.

Well I think things will be a little quiet blogwise at my end for the next few days...mum and dad arrive tomorrow so I can see that I will not be able to get anywhere near a computer until next week!

Have a fabulous Christmas everyone, and I hope Santa fills your stockings with lots of lovely stash!!

Keep warm
Sue
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It's Cool To Be Square!

Hello there, it's my turn to do the Tanda Teaser again this week. Because we are so close to Christmas and as things have been a bit quiet lately, Wendy and I agreed that this weeks teaser would last for two weeks to give you more of a chance to join in. I thought I would keep things really simple to help too! So this week's teaser is to make a square card.

For my card I covered a square card with paper printed from the Artylicious Decadent Brocade CD Rom as my base. The main image (from Tanda Christmas Set 2)was stamped in Archival Black ink onto thick glossy card stock that I had previously brayered using Adirondack Winter Sky. Once dry I smeared Versamark Dazzle frost over the image and then triple embossed with clear embossing powder, giving a subtle shimmer. This was then cut out and matted and layered with silver mirror card and white mulberry paper. The tag was made using the same brayered glossy card and stamped and embossed with Tapestry holly leaves and berries. The card was then finished with silver and grey fibres and ribbons.

I hope to get the chance to post another card for this teaser next week...time permitting...but if I don't...I just want to wish you all a very Happy Christmas!

Sue
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New Job, New Stamps and Z is for Zebras!

First let me apologise, this might be a bit of a long post...I've been busy this week and this is the first chance I've had to update my blog. Some of you who follow the Tanda forum will know that I had a job interview recently and that I got the job. This was my first week. So what's the job you may ask.....only Editorial Assistant working on Craft Stamper Magazine...my favourite magazine!! Everyday is like Christmas, boxes of lovely, lovely artwork arrive and just have to be opened. I have to say the contributors are really talented! For obvious reasons I cannot tell what I have seen, but trust me, there are some real treats in store over the next few months!



My other big news is that Andrew has launched my new stamp sets over on www.tandastamps.com

Town, Village and Garden Elements are all A6 size and Architectural Elements is A5. Originally designed with the craze of making and trading houses last year in mind, the sets work well together for a lot of different occasions too. This card was made using a sentiment from the Garden Elements set and the doors, brick border, and topiary from the Architectural Elements set. Feel free to click on the picture to see it in more detail. Other samples can be seen in my gallery over in the Design Team Album on the Tanda website....Andrew and Tanya have elevated me!


And finally....we've reached the end of the alphabet this week. I wonder what Linda will think of next to keep us all busy!

For my Z atc, I used the group of Zebras from the safari judikins cube on the background. The Z was stamped in black stazon using a Tanda stripes stamp and then triple embossed with clear embossing powder.

So now the set is complete I just need to work out how I'm going to frame it up and which little nephew is going to get it!

This is what the total set looks like at the moment.......


Click on the piccy for a larger view.

Got to go now...I'm off to the Artisan show at the weekend so I need to write my shopping list!

Sue
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Y is for Yo-Yo

This week we have got to Y in Linda's alphabet challenge. With hindsight I probably could have done Y for yellow, but as these atc's are going to end up on the wall in a little boy's room I thought yo-yo might be more appropriate.

The yo-yo stamp was a custom stamp by Tanda, I stamped 3 yo-yos using the masking technique and then coloured them with copic markers. The Y was coloured in pale blue colourbox chalk ink and then I used the Tanda polka dot stamp in wisteria colourbox chalk ink. I distressed the edges of the Y with the wisteria ink and then triple embossed it.

Sue
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X is for Xmas!

Linda's alphabet challenge has now reached X....and I'm afraid that the only X that I could think of using my existing stamps was Xmas! So I coloured my chipboard X with green colour box chalk ink and triple embossed it. The background stamp is from the After the Gifts set of stamps by rubbadubbadoo. You cannot really see it in the picture, but it has given the atc a distressed look. The foliage stamps around the edge were from a Tapestry set (stamped with VersaColor ink pads) and the tag was cut using a spellbinders die and coloured with a copic marker.

Just two more letters to go...

Sue
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Ooops, almost missed W is for Web!

Wow Linda that two weeks went quick! My atc is W for Web, The web is a Tanda stamp, I cannot remember where the spider came from. The card is coloured with copics and the W was coloured using colourbox chalk inks before being stamped in black stazon and then triple embossed.

Got to dash...I'm making samples for Andrew at Tanda this weekend.....he has some more stamps coming out soon so watch this space....can't wait to show you what I've been upto!

ttfn
Sue

V is for Van

As a child of the 60's and having trendy daughters who think that VW Camper Vans are really cool, I couldn't resist this flower power inspired atc! The camper van stamp is by Inkadinkado and the flowers and dotty circles are by Stamp'in Up. The Van, V and label were all coloured with Copic markers. The paper flowers were spray inked and painted in a pearlised medium to give a bit of shimmer. The flower stamps on the background were painted with glossy accents and then sprinkled with glitter.



Enjoy
Sue
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U is for Umbrella

Not far to go now...I cannot believe that we are already up to U! I guess that this is pretty apt considering the weather this summer! The raindrops and the umbrella are custom stamps from Tanda. The atc has been coloured with copic markers and then the raindrops were filled with glossy accents with a tiny bit of glitter. The U was coloured using colourbox chalks and then triple embossed, dark blue glitter was dropped into the hot ep at the last minute.

Sue
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Tanda Teaser - Tag It!

This week's Tanda Teaser is to use a Tag somewhere on your card. As I have been away/rather busy over the last month or so, I have decided to do a "here's one I did earlier" card. You can tell I grew up with Blue Peter!

I used the Artylicious, Butterfly Bliss CD to print the double sided background for the card. The front of the card was made using an image from TandaStamps Advert Plate 4. I stamped this in black StazOn onto very heavy weight white card and then watercoloured it. I punched holes in the corners and then fixed the watercolour with acrylic varnish before triple embossing the image so that it looked like one of those old fashioned signs.




For the inside of the tri-fold I used various stamps. For the tags I used the Tanda Travel stamp set 1 and Postage set 1. The other stamps on this side are from PSX and Sir Stamp-a-Lot.

I hope you enjoy this week's Teaser!
Sue
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And So We Come to S is for Spider

When I first saw the stamps by Lavinia, at the NEC back in November of last year, I fell in love with them and you can be sure that I will be collecting them in the future.

For my S is for Spider atc I have used the tiny slender mushrooms and the weeping willow leaves from Lavinia stamped in Stampin' Up basic grey. The grasses are from Sir Stamp-a-Lot and the spider is a little custom stamp from Andrew at Tanda. The image has been coloured using copic markers. The chipboard S was coloured with colourbox chalk ink and triple embossed with a tiny bit of glitter.

The set is coming together well now and I'm really pleased with how it's looking. Here's the set so far......




Enjoy!
Sue
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R is for Rabbit

Can you believe it, another week has gone by already! We are now up to the letter R in Linda's alphabet challenge, so I couldn't resist using my rabbit stamp from my Tanda Baby and Toddler set.

The rabbit and atc background have been coloured using Copic markers. The chipboard R has been coloured and stamped using colourbox chalk inks and then triple embossed with clear ep. The edge of the atc was distressed using colourbox chalk inks too.

Enjoy
Sue
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Q is for Queen!

Well, what can I say, having done a playing card K is for King, I had to do a playing card Q is for Queen! The Queen stamp was custom made by Andrew at Tanda...the hearts, she had to be the Queen of Hearts, are from my Tanda baby set. The image was stamped and heat embossed with silver ep then coloured with H2O's. The Q was coloured with colourbox chalk inks and triple embossed with some glitter sprinkled on at the last moment. A bit of Krylon pen was used to do the edges just to finish it off.

Probably a bit too PINK for you Linda! Must introduce the boys (haven't decided which set of nephews are going to get this yet) to their feminine side. Have concerns already about my brother's eldest, Oliver...My brother just sent over a picture of Oliver helping him to make window jams....little does Oliver know that these are designed to stop him climbing out of the windows...as per his cousin (my youngest) who was caught half way out of a tiny window on the second storey at my mums! Luckily a neighbour knocked on the door to tell us that there was a small child hanging out of the upstairs window!!

enjoy
Sue
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P is for Play

P is for Play, well what would we all like to be doing...I know I'd like to be messing about at the seaside! Many happy days spent with my Dad rock pooling and making dams! So here is my "P" in the alphabet challenge. The P is stamped with sand from "A stamp in the hand" stamped on top of colourbox chalk inks and triple embossed with clear ep. The main image is a stampin' up stamp that has been water coloured with my trusty old (and I mean old) watercolour paints.

Thanks again for the challenge Linda!
Sue
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O is for Orange!

Zoe I had to laugh when I read your blog tonight! I drew the citrus stamps to use in this alphabet challenge for 'O'! I'm glad that you are enjoying the stamps. My "O is for Orange" atc was made using clear ep to give a resist on watercolour paper. The image was coloured using brusho inks and then the pith was taken out again with bleach. The chipboard O was coloured with colourbox chalk inks and triple embossed. the orange and turquoise seem to work quite well together....I hate to admit it, but the orange line at the bottom of the atc is actually the edge that I cut off my chocolate orange challenge card from last week. Well you know what they say about crafters....we never waste a thing!

N is for Net

Another week has gone by and boy, what a week! Well I was a bit stumped for an N, but then I remembered that I had a mesh/net stamp by Aspects of Design and a psx fish stamp, so I decided on N for Net. I stamped the fishes in fawn impress, then coloured them and the background with copic markers, having done this, I masked the fish, stamped the net in versamark and heat embossed with white silver sparkle ep. The N was coloured with a copic marker and then I stamped it with the net stamp and white stazon. This was then triple embossed. Colourbox chalk ink was used to stamp the letters and distress the edges.



I think that we are just about ready for Alan's funeral on Monday. I've just signed off the order of service and now the only things that need to be done are the tribute and writing the card for the flowers and John will have to do them. Alan was a lovely, gentle giant of a man, who would do anything for anyone. Before his stroke, 10 years ago, he was a man of action, racing motorbikes, skiing and rowing. Latterly he had a season ticket for Birmingham City and loved going to watch the football with his granddaughters. These are just some of the things that we will be remembering him for on Monday. RIP Alan.

Sue
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M is for Mini

I think I get two bites of the cherry this week with the alphabet challenge! Firstly the card I made for the Tanda Teaser is a picture of a mini, using one of Linda's new stamps and secondly another atc to go with the set and yes I've used Linda's mini stamp again! For the atc I've had to stamp the mini onto the chipboard letter otherwise it would have been almost invisible. The image was coloured using copic markers.

Sue
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