Introducing Hootie McCutie

You can meet her over at Sam's Creative Studio's. Hope you like her x 

New Adventures

Hi there, if you are reading this then thank you Mr Blogger :-) The wonderful Sarinda has chosen the Stampotique challenge this week, and she's gone for New Adventures.
I've chosen to use a technique that I've never done before, stencilled collage.

I would tell you how this is done, but it's a Technique Junkies technique, and if I told you I would have to kill you lol.
Please check out all the other inspiration over at Stampotique, then join in the fun.

Stamps used 
Femme Collage
Fabulous
Thanks very much for looking, and enjoy your day x

Teeny Tiny Houses and it's Goodbye From Me

Only for a while 'cos it's holiday time again (and Neil has banned my laptop lol) Just need to wash, iron, pack chivvy the kids, shout at the kids, threaten to leave them behind - you get the picture.  I say kids, they're 22 and 20 but they still believe that fairies come in at night and do all the boring stuff like washing up and making beds. I can feel a rant coming on so I'm going to stop right there :-)

Here's a little peak at this weeks project for Creative Studio's. 
By the power of Blogger I'll be back next week too :-)
Thanks for looking and I hope you all have as fab a time as I intend to!
'See' you all when I get back xx 

No Cards Allowed

The very tallented Nellie has chosen the theme this week at Stampotique, and has come up with Anything But A Card. Here's what she says.

When I participate in challenges, escpecially when I’m short of time, I tend to make cards. They are usually a quick and easy thing to make. So this week I challenge you (and myself) to make ANYTHING BUT A CARD for the Stampotique designer’s challenge. I made  a double journalpage in my little artjournal. I’m very curious to see what you come up with!”

 This is mine, it's an outdoor candle bag.

I must admit I'd never heard of outdoor candle bags, but it's amazing what you can find in Poundland :-) 

For the safety concious it's an LED  light inside - though it does say on the instructions that you can put a tea light inside the paper bag if you'r careful EEK!

So for our Father's Day BBQ we put the naked flame/LED bag to the test and very nicely it did too!

The bag has been coloured with PanPastels in reds, oranges and yellows then just stamped and highlighted with a white pen. I was surprised at how nicely it took the pastels and ink 'cos it's quite waxy, but everything stayed put.

I've used

Crow Line, Vintage Script, Village, Home Sweet Home

and  Owl Tree.

So, just for today cards are banned! Check out my teamies inspiration then join in the fun for a chance to win a $30 gift certificate.

I'm also entering this into the Pan Pastel challenge which is Male Theme. What could be more manly than a BBQ tool lol.

Thanks for looking and enjoy your day xx

Getting Ready For The Switchover

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Just 'claiming' my blog :-)

Joyful Flowers

Here's my sneaky peak for this weeks Creative Studio's piece.
Hope you like it xx

We're Faking It....

The fabulous Maria is our hostess this week over at Stampotique and she has asked that we use faux metal in our creations this week. 

'' Metals are an amazing source for jewelry and other fine crafts. But,  how many of you like to use metals on handmade creations? I challenge you to create a faux-metal creation,  using Stampotique stamps. It can be anything, from jewelery to embellishments! Make it look real!''

 So here's mine

I started by melting some UTEEs in silver and gold on my craft mat and stamping Jo's Big Bee while it was still molten. When it was cool I just lifted it off the mat - I lurve the big drippy bit at the top.

I melted the same UTEE's on some card and stamped Medium Bee onto this then cut out.

Journey Collage has been stamped with distress inks in green and blue, and the centre has been inked over in yellow. This has been outlined with German Scrap which has been in my stash for years. 

I showed my card to Chris and all he said was 'oh it reminds me of Morrisons' Not the reaction I wanted lol (think Walmart in USA) The trouble was I could see what he meant, and now it is all that I see :-)

Permission please to slap my son lol.

So please fake it with us this week and link up to be in with the chance to win a $30 gift certificate.

Thanks very much for looking and enjoy your day x

Fifty Shade of Oops!

The lovely Sue is in charge of inspiration this week at PaperArtsy. Now I don't have any wooden bags, but I do have a chipboard clipboard. Never in my life have I used a clipboard but it was £1 so into my stash it went (about a year ago) and it's finally made it's way to the top.
Things weren't going too bad until I got to the painty stencilling. I was a bit heavy handed with the old London Bus - wow is that bright! Lots of Limelight and Zest Zing (any excuse to use these) and it was toned down a little bit. You can guess how bright it was if ZZ and Limelight toned it down lol.
Ooops number 2 came with stamping the sentiment (HP 1104) The stoopid clip got in the way of the block and so I only stamped half of it - the patchy half! Operation Clean Up yet again :)
The dustbin was calling by now but I though I would try one of Jo's stamps, and stamped this little beauty from Jofy 12 in Snowflake,  and now I like it again :-)
The sun is shining here today so all is good.
Thanks for looking and have a great weekend x

Birds Of A Feather

YooHoo looking at me...
To see more please check out Sam's Creative Studio's xx

Going Postal

Hi, it's the lovely Valerie's turn to choose the theme today at Stampotique, and she has picked envelopes. Here's what she has to say.
I love the idea of using every day objects for art. This week, try creating an art project that incorporates an envelope - any shape or size, new or used. Just flip, fold, score, tear, ink, paint, stamp, doodle, embellish or keep it clean and simple - just have fun!

I must admit my first though on seeing her challenge was 'I got nothing' especially as my teamies make the most amazing altered envelopes, so I had to keep it really simple.

 I stamped loads of stamps with Versamark, then embossed with white EP. Then I coloured over with lots of Distress Inks. I love how Crow Line stands out against the inks.

Same again on the other side, can you spot the deliberate mistake? You can... how rude! Yup I stamped Spiritual Journey upside down. I do like to get things right, but at the end of the day it's only an envelope and some ink, so after an initial outburst that would make Jerry Springer blush I decided to 'not sweat the small stuff' which is my mantra for 2013 (except for when the odd sock escapes the wash bin and then laughs at me lol)

Then I made the tags to fit inside my little tag booklet.- Told you I kept it simple...

Here's how it fits together. 

I love the way Nerd Cat's tail hooks him in place. The flower has been UTEE'd and bradded through, so it stops the tags from falling into each other.
Once I knew what I was going to do this was great fun to make, though the amount of mess I made making three tags and an envelope was unbelievable. There was less devestation when Neil decided to rip out the kitchen (he's still not finished off in there but that's another story.. :-)
There's a huge number of stamps used, and they're all my favourites lol.
Fabulous
Daniel's Hearts
Scalloped Lace Border
Steampunk Border
Vintage Script
Crow Line
Quails Cube
Journey Collage
Nerd Cat
Stacked Suitcases
Flying Bird
Grumpy Koala
These are all available from Stampotique Originals
So have some fun with envelope and link to our new June Linky for a chance to win a $30 gift certificate. Thanks very much for looking and enjoy your week xx
I'm also entering this into the following challenges
Simon Says Stamp and Show - The Letter S for STAMPOTIQUE
Pan Pastels Tag It
Fashionable Stamping Tag Time

A Darcy(ish) Coaster for PaperArtsy

It's a new week at Paperartsy Towers and the wonderful Darcy has certainly filled me with inspiration.  She kicked off with some altered cork coasters. OK coasters duly 'borrowed' from coaster pile....

I followed Darcy's instructions right up to the 'rub with baby wipe' and I rubbed, and rubbed and nothing came off. So I rubbed a bit harder and bits of cork came off! So I painted over them and started again :-) One is in Baltic Blue, Sky, Orchid, and Sherbet, and the other in Haystack Autumn Fire and Smoked Paprika.

Next they were sprayed with Denim and Cranberry Colour Washes. I left everything to dry naturally the second time rather than blasting with the heat gun.

Stamped and rubbed again and this time it brought all the colours out from the previous attempt - and took the ink off. Never mind, I liked the background so I stamped it again using the JOFY 12 set and coloured in a bit with Zesty Zing, Limelight and Autumn Fire

These were great fun to make, and I love that if it all goes wrong you just paint over and start again.
Thanks very much for looking and enjoy your weekend x