#lovely Plum Crazy Tag

Re-edited: I am absolutely thrilled to say that my tag has been chosen as one of the winners of the Dusty Attic's November Moodboard challenge!!! Yay!!  :)

Hello my lovelies,

I hope you're managing to keep away from the wind and autumnal chill and are crafting away something fabulous instead :).

I'd like to share a little tag I created, having a deep plum v autumnal vibe in mind.

I don't get much time (or mojo, sadly...) to craft these days but I was totally bowled over with the Dusty Attic's November moodboard inspiration photo. I love all things purple and the yummy plums on the collage got my creative juices going. Oh, and what about that yummy looking cake with the beautiful leafy crust? So 'Thank you' Dusty Attic for such a delicious inspiration to get me crafting again! Yay! :)

I just couldn't resist it, so I thought I would try to create something for their November challenge. The DT are actually all playing with notebooks this month but that wasn't where my creative muse was taking me, sorry! And since she's a very capricious lady I had to follow the path she was leading me on lol :).

The patterned paper base of my tag includes some stamping and  'double (or triple even?) embossing'. First, I debossed the tag with a Cuttlebug embossing folder and then I embossed the impressed image with Garnet Grenat embossing powder. Then I added some stamping with the Brush Stroke stamp and embossed it with Rose Gold powder.

I also decided to paint some artificial leaves with DecoArt paints to wrap my bouquet of 'harvested' flowers, berries, foliage and frilly grasses.

The flowers and the tag were tinted with Merlot spray ink and I generously sprinkled my harvest bouquet with Mini Prills and Twinklets Diamond Dust. I also added a #lovely chippy from the Dusty Attic Hashtag Sayings #2 set. I heat embossed it with Honey Miel and Rose Gold powders.

Main supplies:
Stampendous: Brush Strokes stamp, embossing powders in Honey Miel, Rose Gold, PEARLustre Garnet Grenat
Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L: 3D Foam Squares - Black, Dual Tip Glue Pen, Extreme Double-sided Tape
Dusty Attic - Hashtag Sayings #2
DecoArt: Metallic Lustre - Champagne Ice, Americana acrylics in Country Red, Royal Fuchsia, Dioxazine Purple, Bittersweet Chocolate, Snow White
Distress Inks: Seedless Preserves, Dusty Concord, Aged  Mahogany, Forest Moss, Black Soot
Memories Most - Merlot

I might have gone a bit crazy with my embellies but hey, who was I to argue with my creative muse if that's what she craved?! lol :)

That's all from me for now, my Friends! Thank you for stopping by and for any lovely comments you may wish to leave to let me know you've been!

Have a very creative week!

Big crafty hugs




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I'm also entering the following challenges:
Frilly and Funkie - A Harvest of Gratitude challenge
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Thanks/Thanksgiving
Rhedd's Creative Spirit - Anything Goes
A Vintage Journey - Paper Stash

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Christmas is in the Air!

Yes! It's finally Christmas!!!

I'd like to wish you all a very happy Christmas, full of joy, love and blessings. I hope that the festive season allows you to enjoy the company of all your loved ones and that your hearts take comfort in remembering those who can no longer be there with you.

Here's the second Christmas card I made this year. In my last post with the vintage Poinsettia Card I mentioned that I have only been able to make a very few cards this year.

This year I was in a die cutting mode and for this card I played with the Tim Holtz Sizzix dies Victorian Carolers and Holiday Lamppost. The lovely glow in the lamp is down to the Rowlux illusion film, which is one of the coolest products ever! I previously used it in my Halloween lantern and I think it's perfect for light related accents.

The banner was stamped and heat embossed using Stampendous Christmas Air stamp and Detail Gold Embossing Powder.

To embellish my card a little I threw in some glitter and a few gold stars. As always, I've used adhesives from Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L.

I also made these couple of cards, simpler in design, but as you will see I was still in the die cutting mode :)

For these cards, I die cut my Vintage Noel signs from 3D Foam Creative Sheets and sprinkled them with the super lush Lime Micro Glitterand Maroon Micro Glitter.

Oh, and I added multiple accents using tissue/washi tapes  :).

That's all from me for today! Thank you for stopping by and for all your sweet comments!

With warmest festive wishes

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I would also like to enter the following challenges:
Country View Challenges - December 2017 Christmas
A Vintage Journey - Winter Wonderland
Fashionable Stamping Challenges - Celebrate

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Sunflowers In Spring? Why Not?!

Hello Friends! I hope this post will find you well! :). A very warm welcome to my newest readers and the regular followers, too! So happy to see you here!

Can you feel it? Can you smell it? Yes, Spring is finally in the air! Beautiful sunny banks of daffodils, cheerful bunches of tulips, magnolia blooms... aaah, I love this time of year! 

In keeping with the season our Stampendous HQ powers are focusing on all things Spring this week and I wanted to join in, too! Here's a birthday card I made for my Mum and while sunflowers are not normally associated with Spring, I thought these lovely sunny blooms would be a great addition to my delicate springtime lilacs hiding in the background.

I stamped the Lilac and Sunny Vase flowers on the Mixed Media Paper and coloured the images with Inktense pencils. I then die cut the images with the corresponding Sunny Vase and Lilac die sets. I varied the height of the blooms with my trusty 3D Foam Squares from Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L.

For my background and vase I used some papers from 7Dots Studio which I stamped with Scrollwork Leaves and which I embossed with the Dreamweaver Metallic Gold Embossing Paste over the Corner Flourishes stencil. The little tag is from the Sunny Vase stamps set.

For the bottom of my vase I sprinkled some flower dust - aka Frantage and (my newly re-discovered loOOOove for) the encrusted jewel technique. I used Bronze Glass Glitter, Spoonful of Rust, Copper Lux Mix and Shabby White Embossing Enamel. 

I finished the card with a little butterfly - because I absolutely looove butterflies and always look for an excuse to add one in lol :).

Also sharing today are:

Stampendous Blog
Pam Bray
Louise Healy

I hope you've enjoyed today's post and thank you for all your lovely comments that you may wish to leave (please do!) :). Have a fabulous day!

Big crafty hugs




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Stampendous and DecoArt - Medialicious Blog Hop Finale!

Hello! And welcome to our Stampendous and DecoArt blog hop finale! We have been hopping (and hoping!) all week to bring you the latest, most awesome products, techniques and inspiration projects! I hope we didn't disappoint and oh boy, I have been drooling over the projects shared by both DTs! If you've missed my Steampunk heart card, that I shared on Monday, you can check it out here. Be sure to check out other projects shared this week as you don't want to miss out on this treat and on the fabulous prizes!

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Here's what you need to do to enter into a draw for the Mega Prizes!!!!! Comment to win one of three HUGE prize packages that includes Andy Skinner stamps and DecoArt Media™ Paint plus more! US winners only, please see Stampendous Official Contest Rules here for more details. Want to see all that’s in each prize package? Take a look below:

Stampendous:

ASCRS07 Cling Handle with Care

ASCRS08 Cling Skuldoggery

ASCRS09 Cling Unexplained

DecoArt:

Quinacridone Magenta

Cobalt Turquoise Hue

Cobalt Teal Hue

Primary Magenta

Transparent Yellow Iron Oxide

Paynes Gray

Carbon Black

Titanium White

Prussian Blue Hue

Phthalo Blue

Quinacridone Gold

Diarylide Yellow

Pyrrole Red

Green Gold

Primary Yellow Media Mister

Titanium White Antiquing Cream

Patina Antiquing Cream

8oz Bottle Lamp Black Americana Acrylic Paint

Now, onto my today's make. For the focal point I used my all time favourite butterfly stamp from the Butterfly Trio set which I die cut using Butterfly Die Sets die. I stamped it with Sepia Archival ink and painted it with diluted acrylic paints.

My background was stenciled with paints over the Mandala Stencil and I added some stamping with the Script Lines and Andy Skinner's Unexplained Stamp Set. I distressed my background panels with paints and distressing tool.

The sentiment is from the Bible Promises Perfectly Clear Stamp Set which I heat embossed with Detail Black Embossing Powder.

My butterfly was inspired by this gorgeous canvas from Kirsten Sheridan. The little plastic spoon was painted with acrylic paints before it received a Fran-tage Magic treatment with Copper Lux Mix and Champagne Crushed Glass Glitter. This is how it looked before the paints/Fran-tage make over...

And that's after the make-over...:-)

To finish off my card I added some splatters with Perfect Pearls Mist in Heirloom Gold.

DecoArt paints used: Americana Country Red, Bittersweet Chocolate, Milk Chocolate, Island Blue, Golden Straw and Media Fluid Acrylic Quinacridone Gold (perfect for vintage rusty makes).

Other Supplies:
Inks: Spiced Chai StazOn Mini, Sepia Archival, Jet Black Archival, Walnut Stain Distress Ink
Papers: Authentique Latest & Greatest, BazzillBasicsPaper Ambrosia
Adhesives: Multi-Medium Matte, E-Z Runner® Grand Dispenser, 3D Foam Squares - Black, Small

Here's the full line-up of the blogs playing today:

Stampendous Blog

Pam Bray

Jamie Martin

Louise Healy

Asia King

Janelle Stollfus

Lea Fritts

Alison Heikkila

Katy Leitch

Mark Gould

DecoArt Blog

I hope you've enjoyed today's post! Thank you for stopping by and for all your lovely comments. Have a fabulous weekend!

Big crafty hugs



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A Christmas Wish to All - Part 2

Hello Friends! I hope you had an amazing Christmas period, enjoyed together with your family and friends. Ours was lovely, too - spent with family, friends and... a leaking radiator! Not exactly my choice of Christmas entertainment if you ask me but it could've been worse :). We moved into our new home earlier this year and the house is still throwing surprises at us here and there!

As promised, here's the second companion from my Christmas Lights set - in my previous post I shared this Christmas lantern and I have one more item to share :).

I love how church candles can be altered with stamped images - they can easily transform ordinary candles into magical ornaments. I've previously shared on my blog another set of altered Christmas candles and I also have one in my Easter Home Decor set.

Stamped images can easily transform ordinary candles into magical ornaments

For my altered candle I stamped this beautiful image onto tissue paper and I coloured it with Spectrum Noir markers first. I also used the alcohol ink markers and an air spritzer to give my Crystal Angel a whimsical look. Then I adhered the image to the candle by gently melting the tissue into the wax.

Use alcohol ink markers and an air spritzer for a whimsical look

To melt tissue into the wax evenly, wrap the candle tightly with grease-proof paper, carefully heat with a heat gun until the image underneath looks sharper and continue to hold the sheet until the wax cools down.

As a finishing touch, I added a glittered 3D foam snowflake, some handmade poinsettia flowers with glass glitter 3D DODZ centres and some lace and seam binding ribbons.

Add handmade poinsettia flowers, ribbons and lace to create a shabby chic look

Supplies:

Stampendous: cling Crystal Angel; Crystal MicroGlitter; Champagne Crushed Glass Glitter

Memento Ink: Tuxedo Black

Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L®: 3D Foam Snowflakes; 3D DODZ

Sizzix Tim Holtz Alterations Die: Tattered Poinsettia

Crafters Companion: Spectrum Noir Alcohol Markers

Church candle

Seam binding ribbon

Pearl lace

Cheese cloth

Spray of foam berries

Decorative pins

Tissue paper

Air spritzer tool

I hope you've enjoyed today's post. Thank you for stopping by and for your lovely comments!

Big hugs


I would like to enter the following challenges:
Mixed Media Place - December mood board
Country View Challenges - Christmas
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Make It Sparkle
Fashionable Stamping Challenges - Anything Goes
Mixed Media Monthly Blog Challenge - Merry and Bright

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A Christmas Wish to All - Part 1

Hello Friends! I've been promising to get back into regular blogging routine and this is still to happen - please forgive me! Hopefully I will be a much better blogger in the New Year! :)

For now, please allow me to wish you all a very happy Christmas, full of love, peace and kindness and also hope that the magic of Christmas can conquer any obstacles and sadness that may be thrown your way. May this festive season be the happiest one ever, one to remember for years to come!

As I haven't done much Christmas crafting this year I thought I would share with you a winter project that appeared in the December 2015 issue of the Craft Stamper magazine. This is actually a trio of mixed media/altered items and today I'm kicking it off with this altered winter lantern. The idea was inspired by the Halloween altered lantern I created some time ago.

If you have an old lantern that has suffered some damage to the glass panes, this is a perfect up-cycling opportunity. You can alter and decorate the lantern to your heart's content, just like I did with layers of 3D foam shapes, crackle paste, paints and DIY shimmer mists. I make my mists quite subtle as I use them more for vintage ageing and delicate shimmer than for intense colour tinting.

You can also replace the glass panels with illusion film sheets - they reflect the light beautifully and guarantee an attention-grabbing look to the whole project. And yes, they are also perfect for stamping! I found that StazOn ink works great on them and the stamped image shows through on both sides. If you want to add more colour to your images, I recommend using alcohol markers on the reverse (unstamped) side – as the markers will make the StazOn ink smudge. The blending pen will then help you move the colour around the image.

The final touches were made with textural snow (toned down with paints after it was dry) and Glossy Accents glittered icicles. To embellish my lantern I added cheese cloth, seam binding ribbon and handmade poinsettia flowers.

Supplies:
Stampendous: Cling Sweater Snowman, Cling Sweater Square, Crystal Micro Glitter, Champagne Crushed Glass Glitter, Spoonful of Pixie Dust
StazOn Ink: Jet Black
StazOn Ink: Emerald Sky
Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L®: 3D Foam Stars, 3D Foam Snowflakes, DODZ 3D
Donna Salazar with Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L®: Pigment Powder - Gold, Pink, Brown
DecoArt Dazzling Metallics ®: Oyster Pearl, Silver Sage, White Pearl
DecoArt Americiana Decor ® Chalky Finish: Everlasting
DecoArt Snow-Tex, Texture Crackle

Sizzix Tim Holtz Alterations Die: Tattered Poinsettia
Crafters Companion: Spectrum Noir Alcohol Markers
Rowlux: White Moire Illusion Film
Glossy Accents
Lantern
Seam binding ribbon
Cheese cloth
Spray of foam berries

Thank you so much for stopping by and for any kind words you'd like to share to let me know you've been here :).

With big warm hugs


I would like to enter the following challenges:
Mixed Media Place - December mood board
Country View Challenges - Christmas
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Make It Sparkle
Fashionable Stamping Challenges - Anything Goes
Mixed Media Monthly Blog Challenge - Merry and Bright

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Painted Winter Flowers

Hello everyone! I hope you are keeping warm and away from the rain. After such a mild autumn so far, this sudden change of weather was quite a shock to the system! Brrr... I hope it is so much nicer where you are! :). The positive side of this cold weather (if there can ever be one) is the fact that the proximity of Christmas feels much more real now lol. And with this in mind, I have a seasonally themed offering today.

I made a seasonal greetings card with a little twist :). Not everyone celebrates Christmas in cold, frosty surroundings (oh I would swap with them any day!) so I added some flowers to my frosty design :). Yep, that's topsy-turvy radical in my book! :)

To find out all the details about this card, hop over to the Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L's blog :).

Supplies:
3D Foam Squares Regular – White. 3D Foam Snowflakes, Adhesive Sheets 6×12″, DODZ™ – 3D, Home & Hobby Extreme Double-Sided Tape – 1/2″ Permanent, E-Z Dots® Permanent Refillable Dispenser

Other supplies:
Stamps – Altenew Painted Flowers; Penny Black Beauty of The Season
Stampendous – Crystal Micro Glitter, Black Micro Glitter, kaleidoscope Embossing Powder
DecoArt Americana Dimensional Writer – White
Inks – Donna Salazar Mix’d Media Inx: Chiffon & Black; Evergreen Bough Distress Ink (Ranger); Faber-Castell PITT pens: Magenta, Pale Geranium Lake, Chromium Green, May Green
Sakura Clear Star pen
Paper: Fancy Pants Winterland

This was certainly an unusual (for me) take on the ‘winter’ theme but I hope you approve :). Thank you so much for stopping by today and for any warm thoughts you’d like to share :).

Have a wonderful weekend, my friends!

Big crafty hugs



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Challenges for this card:
Our Creative Corner November - Topsy-Turvy
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Anything Goes
That Craft Place Ltd - Anything Goes Mixed Media

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Sunflower Love Wedding Layout

Hello everyone! I hope you had a wonderful weekend.

As promised in my previous post with the Sunflower Wedding Card I'm back today with more happy sunflowers to share. And this time I have a scrapbook page to show you!

Better still! Today over at Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L's blog I have a lovely tutorial for this Sunflower Wedding Layout - I hope you will have a moment to check it out :).

When I sat at my crafty table I knew I wanted to make a layout to commemorate this beautiful wedding day we were so blessed to be a part of.

But I must confess - at first I was struggling with a big creative block and I couldn't find a way to get out of it. Until I reached out for my trusty Scrapbook Pages Pinterest Board and this immediately kick started my creative mojo. The inspiration & the structure for this layout came from this amazing layout by Camilla featured on Maja Design blog.

Supplies I used:
MyStik® Permanent Strips,
3D Foam Squares - Black, Regular,
Thin 3D Foam Squares - Mix Black,
Adhesive Sheets - 4x6'',
DODZ™ - 3D,
DODZ™ - Medium,
DODZ™ - Small,
3D Foam Christmas Shapes,
Lace Ribbons (Donna Salazar with Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L®)

Other supplies:

Papers - BoBunny Sweet Life, Graphic45 Place In Time;
Cardstock - Core'dinations
Stampendous - Lemon Yellow Fun Flock, Sea Green Ultra Fine Glitter
Flowersoft;
White Rub-Ons - Craft Consortium;
Acrylic paints -- DecoArt;
Spellbinders - Foliage die set;
punches: Woodware - Daisies; Martha Stewart - Pine Branch
Flowers - Prima Marketing & other;
Ribbon - May Arts;
small wooden frames, word stickers, small gems, letter beads, craft wire

My layout includes a bunch of handmade flowers - be sure to check out my tutorial to find out more :).

And what do you think of my cute little banner? :)

So there you have it - my offering for today :). I hope you like it!

Thank you for stopping by and for letting me know you've been. Sending you lots of warm wishes for a creative week ahead!

Big crafty hugs

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