Open Your Eyes for Ink Art Designs

Good morning and happy Monday. It's my turn to share my second inspiration piece with you for Ink Art Designs, and this time I've gone with some Visible Image stamps.

 I started by stamping the main image from the See Everything plate onto the first page of my previously unopened Art by Marlene small watercolour journal. No pressure there then!

I coloured the image very carefully with my water colour paints, but as this left lots of scary white space, I stamped some of the smaller stamps from other Visible Image sets around the edges.  I liked this more now, but felt like the oringinal stamp had got lost so....

 Time to chop it up! 

I cut the eye out of the page, chopped a teeny tiny bit off each edge, and matted the page onto some black card. The page is now the same size as all the others, and has a nice black border. Then I die cut the circle with a smaller one to make a frame to put around the main eye image.

Of course everything looks better with a little stitching! I also added some Glossy Accents to the pupil, and rather than risking sticking my thumb into it whilst checking to see if it was dry or not, I closed the door and walked away for the night.

And in the morning it was all dry! It must be my only project with Glossy Accents that doesn't have a finger print in lol. I just added a bit of stitching around the edges and we are all done - 1st page in the book!

Please head on over to Dot's challenge, the rules are very simple, and there's rubber (or clear polymer) to be won.
I'm entering this into the Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge 'not a card' 
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday, 'make your own background'
and the Craft Stamper TIMI July challenge 'anything goes'

Have a wonderful day, and thanks very much for looking x

Be Careful What You Wish For

Good morning and happy Wednesday. I'm really happy to be sharing my second inspiration piece for the Country View Crafts 'blues and greens' challenge with you.

 A little while ago Marlene of  'Art by Marlene' fame ran a 'MerMay' event, and one of the prompts was to make yourself into a mermaid. I did this, complete with coffee cup and spare glasses, and my son thought it was hilarious (in a good way) and jokingly said that that was what he wanted on his birthday card. Well...

Why just put myself on when I can put us both on!

The background has been made with Distress Inks in blues and greens then I've cut holes to make the shaker portholes and used the nuts and bolts from the Tim Holtz Stempunk Parts bigz die. It really bugs me that I've only put 4 on each, but by the time I'd realised that something was wrong it was all stuck down, and I knew that I would only make it worse trying to fix it.

This is me as a mermaid using an

 Art by Marlene stamp, and a glasses die from a Timmy 'Crazy' set. I don't know what he finds so funny!

And here's my handsome boy decked out in his PaperArtsy Zinski gear. When he saw the card he genuinly didn't recognise himself which is why I'm allowed to blog this lol. The sentiment is from a Rubber Dance set.

And this is the picture that set this all off!

This is such a fun challenge, so I hope that you join in.

Have a wonderful week, and thanks very much for looking x

My Mother Had Me Tested

Good morning and happy Wednesday. I'm so happy to be sharing my first design team piece for Ink Art Designs. I love these Katzelkraft stamps, and they were inked up the day after I received them!

My son has very recently bought his first home with his girlfriend, and they are having great fun furnishing it. But.... they have shop bought coasters! I know, can you believe it lol. Anyway no-one should have shop bought coasters while B&Q have kitchen tiles on their shelves, so I've made him some.

 I started by painting some plain white kitchen tiles with DecoArt Americana multi-surface paints. I gave each one a couple of very thin coats then set aside to dry completely.

I love these paints, 'cos as you see, if you change your mind you can also change the colour. I did a bit of stencilling with more Americana paints and that was the background all done.

 Next I stamped the actual images on the tiles for placement. I knew that I didn't want to be cutting out pigs trotters and curly tails!

 As you can see I'm a fine artist - NOT.  I knew that I would be glazing my tiles so I stamped the images onto some thin card and coloured them with the same watered down acrylics. That way I knew that the colour would not budge under the glaze.

 Before I stuck down my animals I cut a self adhesive cork floor tile to a gnats digit smaller than my tiles. Now it's just a matter of sticking down the images and giving everything a coat of glaze.

And there we are, all done. I do love them and it will be hard to give them away - maybe I could just give them one each...

The fun sentiments are by Rubber Dance and of course you can find them in the shop.

As always the challenge at Ink Art Designs is 'anything goes' as long as you use a brand (or brands) of stamps that Dot sells in the store.
I'm entering my coasters into the Simon Says Stamp Monday challenge, which is 'make your own background',  the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday 'anything goes' challenge, and Time Out challenges 'be funny'.

Have a very happy July, and thanks very much for looking x

Feeling Blue (and Green)

Good morning and happy Monday - welcome to July. Do you remember this time last year when it was so hot in the UK - I know some parts have had lots of sunshine, but here in Yorkshire we're still waiting for the sun to turn up. I guess those who are sweltering in 40+ feel really sorry for me!

Of course a new month means it's time for a new challenge at Country View Crafts, and this time the lovely Corrie has chosen Blue's and Greens. 

 I knew that I had the perfect Craftwork Cards paper pad, I even knew which drawer it was in, but of course it was at the bottom, and everything had to come out - then I couldn't get it all back in - so it stayed on the floor for days - you get the picture...

 I stamped my tag with an AALL & Create stamp. I used my stamping platform so was able to use lots of blue and green ink. I also added a 'go big or go home' ribbon.

And lots of sparkle with a clear sparkle pen.

And we're all done. This is my auntie's birthday card for NEXT year - how's that for organisation!

This was a fun challenge so I hope that you join in. You can also use black, white, and flesh colour, but the main colours must be blue and green.

Have a wonderful July, and thanks very much for looking x