Bumblebees and Butterflies

PanPastels - Animals

2012-02-19T08:01:00.002Z

Hi Everyone

Today I want to show you how to create a vintage feel to your image and background. This is my DT piece for the PanPastel UK challenge this week and as you can see the theme is animals. So let's see what you can do, you don't have to use PanPastels to be eligible to enter.

The card used for the back of the stamped giraffe image is Bazzil Basics in a weathered wood colour, covered with magenta, orange and turquoise shade PanPastels. I just love the texture it has created. Stamps are from TH Papillon and Katzelkraft Cirque 01. The main images stamped in timber brown Stazon first then masked off to stamp the background with iced spruce DI. Sealed with Daler Rowney fixative and then embossed all over with clear embossing powder.

The backing paper was made from a piece of patterned DP which was then given the embossing ink through a mask and PanPastels turquoise added and fixed, then over-stamped with a dotty stamp using fresco finish vintage lace paint.

The blue squared effect is the PPs on top of the DP.

The other pieces for the backing have been distress edged and inked. The rosette has been topped with a vintage elephant image downloaded from the Graphics Fairy in a bottletop.

PanPastels can really give you so much more depth to your papers and can also enable you to produce fabulous vintage effects. If you haven't tried them yet watch out for a give-away I will be doing soon, you never know you might be the proud owner of some. Or if you can't wait why not pop over to Your Creativity Store to see the colours and get a fantastic price on them.

Next week we create a completely different look and use mirri-board in two different ways to create a shabby feel to a card. There is one technique I prefer over the other though.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Altered matchboxes and PSE tutorial

2012-02-16T20:07:00.001Z

HI Everyone

I have been out today to see my sis and we had some time to finish a project we started back last November, but more about that another day.

It was fabulous to have Shirley (FSC), Irene, Claire and Amber come round for some crafty time together last night.

Irene had been collecting matchboxes, so our challenge was to alter one in any way we wanted.

We had great fun chatting whilst creating and making and the pics tell the story.

Left to right - Irene, Shirley, Amber and Claire.

You can see both the inside and outside of the boxes.

The girls did very shabby chic styles using gesso, paints, inks, fabrics as well as music paper.

Mine was more grungy and is meant to look like a suitcase - that's because I know exactly who this is for, but I can't share who that person is at the moment.

I think you'll agree everyone did a great job altering their matchbox, we had such great fun.

Yesterday I showed some photos with faded edges. I decided I wanted to learn how to do this and have found several ways of experimenting to get the sort of style I like. Sue asked if I would do a tutorial to show how I had done it. So here goes, I am using Photo Shop Elements 7.

1. Open the photograph you want to use; crop and edit.

2. Select the Eliptical Marquee Tool.

3. Click the image in the top left hand corner and drag to the bottom right hand corner to get the shape you want to work with.

4. Go to Select on the top menu bar and click 'Feather', then enter a radius amount. play with different numbers to see what effects you can achieve. Press ok.

5. Go to Select again and then click on 'Inverse' and ok.

6. Go to Edit and click 'Fill Layer' - here you can choose what you want for colour etc. I had my background set on white so I chose that.

7. Save your new photo with a different name so that you don't lose your original.

This one was feathered at 75 pixels

This was was feathered at 50 pixels.

I hope you find this useful Sue. As you can see I haven't used any brushes at all using this technique.

Have a good end of the week and thanks for stopping by today.

hugs {brenda} xox

Birthday Hybrid card

2012-02-15T08:37:00.003Z

Hi All

Did you have a good Valentine's Day yesterday? My OH had a meeting in London which only lasted the morning, so I got the train up and met him at Waterloo and we had a lovely afternoon walking round the streets, with a visit to Covent Garden where we sat sipping wine and listening to a quintet of violinists with one oboe player, playing music. We explored the market and after a great meal we headed back home walking across the golden jubilee footbridge and taking in the amazing sky line of London in the dark.

So for today here is another card created in PSE using downloaded image, papers and elements and just a couple of 3d embellishments on it.

I used the same elements to create the insert for the card.

Another easy one to put in the post box!

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by to see me.

hugs {brenda] xox

EDIT and update

I am trying to learn some functions in PSE and have found out how to fade the edges - thought I would see what this looks like on the blog. Not bad but must try some other effects.

Update 2
OK found another way to fade the edges, think I might prefer this way!!

xox

New baby hybrid cards

2012-02-13T18:00:00.001Z

Hello Everyone

I had a surprise phone call today from Shirley (Fashionable Stamping Challenges) who is back in the area for a week and we met up today with Claire, Amber and Irene to have a natter and to craft a little bit. I had hoped I would be seeing her Wednesday night but wasn't expecting to see her today, so that was a lovely treat. Thanks for a great day girls.

So onto my cards for today. My son's best friend and his wife have just had a baby girl and because they didn't know what sex it would be I made a card both for a baby girl and a baby boy.

I used downloaded images, papers and elements to create these in PSE, then added some decoupaged and 3D embellishments to them once I had finished. I need to make more of this type of card as they are flat and will post with a normal stamp on them. You know how expensive it is now to send anything that won't go through that thin slot in the post office!!

I found a fabulous site selling scrapbook digi kits called 'Digital Crea' and very reasonable prices too. Just love the elements that are included with papers. My images I think came from 'The Graphics Fairy'.

I hope your week goes well. Thanks for stopping by today.

hugs {brenda] xox

Tag - keep me flying high

2012-02-12T11:08:00.002Z

Happy Sunday to you all, I hope it is a good day wherever you are. I had a text from Maddie early this morning to say she had landed in Singapore and was on her way to the hotel.

Well this is my third post for today (never been known before!!), the other two are DT pieces, this one is just for me.

I am really disappointed I can't go to the Stamperama show. My car is still in the garage and is gonna cost me mega bucks as it needs new tyres, new windscreen and new cam-belt just to name a few bits. So that's my purse strings tied for a while.

Anyway instead I've had some fun amalgamating a number of challenges to produce this tag. Inspired by Simon Says Stamp and Show - a recipe of torn (I cheated a tiny bit, I haven't got torn edges but I have got torn fabric for the top), DIs, button and wings, Gingersnap Creations - glorious greens and Rogue Redhead Designs - a stamped background. It was Saturday show and Hels - picket stain distress stains resist that started me off and fits the Sunday Stamper challenge - I will always love you. Thanks Hels. This also reminded me of 'High' by The Lighthouse Family and the sentiment is some of the words from the song.

I have used a number of different stamp sets - Crafty Individuals, B Line Designs, Oxford Impressions, Darkroom Door, Our daily Bread and TH. I used shabby shutters, peeled paint, forest moss and pesto for my gorgeous greens. The bird cage was stamped onto some Basic Grey paper. Do you like the bird sitting on her nest? Roll on Spring I say.

The bird cage wings were painted with DIs and the covered with rock candy crackle paint and the birds were heat embossed to make them 'pop' more.

I will keep this tag for my Hubbie when it is his birthday later in the year.

Have fun and thanks so much for stopping by, I really appreciate all the lovely comments you leave me.

hugs {brenda} xox

PanPastels - Love and Romance

2012-02-12T08:01:00.010Z

Hi Everyone

I am so pleased with my project this week. I have altered a box that my PanPastels came in and made it into a gift box that I am going to put some choccies in for my DH for Valentine day and on top of that I have made a matching card. This is my DT piece for the new challenge starting today at PanPastel UK challenge blog.

Whilst playing and making this box my Craft Stamper magazine arrived and I pounced on the free stamp to use and had a read of some of the articles. Trish Latimer made a selection of things using the heart stamp, one where she stamped several onto music paper and coloured them up. I had covered the box using TH seasonal papers and thought I would use that technique for the hearts to go on the lid. But whilst playing around I experimented mixing a little red PP to some multi-medium matte and covered the hearts (and some extra papers to use later). I really liked the artsy effect it gave, but I went on experimenting - see pics.

I sanded the edges to give a more vintage look......

.... and then covered with vintage photo DI.

This and the next photos show the difference it made when I then added clear embossing powder.

It created a super shiny effect, making the colour really pop.

Here you can see the before and after.

This is the finished box......

... and what it looks like on the inside.

I sponged the edges with embossing ink and added gold embossing powder.

I added metal wings made with metal sheet run through the Vagabond using TH heart wings die. The blue metal was rather dark so I lightly sanded the raised parts of the wings, added stream alcohol ink and sanded again.

The tattered banner, another TH die, was also heat embossed once made up and some little hearts, punched from the extra paper I had covered with the PP and multi-medium mix, again embossed with clear ep.

I used the same papers for my card, another large heart and two smaller ones - one on top of the mini rosette. The sentiment was made using the Dymo machine. The card was also edged with gold ep.

Rather a long post today but I wanted to show you this amazing technique and the finished effects.

I hope you will come over and show us your 'love and romance' projects and you could be in with a chance of winning a set of two colours and tools for yourself from Your Creativity Store. A fabulous prize and worth £11.99.

Please come back again next week when I will show you how to create a vintage background using bazzill paper and PPs.

Have a great week ahead.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

FSC - Monochrome plus one

2012-02-12T00:01:00.000Z

Hi Everyone

This is my DT card for the Fashionable Stamping Challenge which today is to use monochrome plus one.

As you can see I have chosen to use the sepia tones and my additional colour is black.

FSC challenges are for stampers only, sorry no digis allowed, and on this card I have used DPs, but also stamped with Fresco Finish acrylic paint - vintage lace on dark brown card using a Darkroom Door background stamp and also I used French Correspondence by B Line Designs using vintage photo on cream paper.

I added a touch of gold foiling round the edge of the DP, lots of distressed edges using my fabulous zutter distresser, more vintage lace paint on the edges of bits, a rosette, nesties scalloped circles and cricket flourishes finished with punched flowers and gems. I liked the masculine/feminine appeal to this and have made it into my wedding anniversary card for Ken. But I will have to hide it until the end of July.

If you would like to enter and have a chance to win a stamp from Marina at Cottage Crafts, then pop over to the challenge blog to see the amazing Stampettes creations. They are all such talented ladies.

I hope to see you there.

I hope your weekend is going well, enjoy the rest of Sunday and have a wonderful week ahead.

Thanks for stopping by, your visits always mean so much to me.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Dress form tag

2012-02-11T10:13:00.001Z

Good morning on this very cold frosty Saturday morning.

Well the car is in the garage having a huge service plus I've got an oil leak, so that's gonna cost me a bomb. It was -8.5 when I took the car over, it took me ages to defrost it and oh my fingers did hurt with the cold. Maddie is off to Singapore today for a week to work at the air show there, and hopefully I will see the other offspring and family tonight. Then tomorrow I want to be up bright and early to go to the Stamperama show at Stevenage. Anyone else going?

I was so determined this weekend to join in with a Gingersnap Creations challenge and their masking tape theme inspired me to make this tag. You can see the steps I took to create it in the photos below.

I laid out the masking tape and stamped it with Stazon.

I laid the masking tape over the tag.....

... and bended DIs over it.

Using gel medium I glue some stamped tissue paper over the top,

and then played with distress stains and more DIs and sewed round the edge of the whole tag.

I die cut the dress form in brown and white card, cutting out the white piece.

More distress stains and water were used to colour the white form and white DS to colour the brown one.

I added a two layer net skirt and had fun with snaps and small embellishments.

A large flower at the top and some net and ribbon through the tag hole.

I love the spring colours on this one. Not so grungy as usual!

Stay warm today and enjoy your weekend.

I will be back tomorrow with both my FSC and PanPastel UK design team pieces.

hugs {brenda} xox

Challenges to have fun with -

Gingersnap Creations - Masking tape

Bloggers Challenge - In bloom

SJCrafts - Happy and use a punch - just being able to create & make makes me happy lol

Papertake Weekly - Anything Goes

The Stamp Man - Texture

2012-02-10T12:01:00.004Z

Happy Friday everyone - where did the last two weeks go?

I hope you haven't been affected by the snow again this week. We have had a lovely covering but I think it is going to melt quickly.

Our next challenge to tempt you at The Stamp Man is about creating a project that shows us how you use textures in your work.

I felt like creating a steampunk card again this week and have used an embossed piece of mirri board that Jill had sent me a while ago. It really speaks for itself except the colouring on the embossed gears are done with Promarkers.

Here you can see the Promarker colours.

The inside page.

Can you see the vintage bee I have stamped.

Yvonne will remember this one?!?

Supplies -

Tim Holtz stamps - Steampunk

Tim Holtz Ideaology - game spinners, ornate plates, sprocket gears

Tim Holtz Journalling Ticket and Salvage Stickers

Stazon Metallic gold

Distress ink - vintage photo

Watch parts and button from stash

The team have been busy making fabulous things to inspire you, so I hope you will come on over to the challenge blog and see what they have been creating. Most of the elements used can be found at The Stamp Man shop and the winner will receive a £10.00 voucher to spend there.

Thank you for visiting and big hugs if you leave a comment. It is so amazing to know that people come and look to see what I have been creating.

Have a great weekend.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Challenges to have fun with -
Gingersnap Creations Chestnut theme - Words of wisdom -
mine are 'You an do anything but not everything'

Crafty Ribbons - Men or boys

Just for Fun - Vintage Men

Shabby altered bottle

2012-02-07T08:01:00.000Z

I made one of these last year and have been collecting the same bottles again to make some more.

My one has some artificial flowers in it and is sitting on a small table in my living room.

Painted with Fresco Finish at the bottom and lace added over the top.

Ribbon and pearls.

Vintage dressmaking pattern glued to the top part and more ribbon and trimmings with pearls.

Lots of flowers and gems to decorate.

Have a great week and thanks for visiting me.

hugs {brenda} xox

PanPastels - Happy Birthday

2012-02-05T08:01:00.003Z

This week my DT card for the PanPastel UK Challenge Blog shows how scraps of design papers can be used to make a lovely birthday card and they are all bought together by using PPs around the edges.

The challenge is sponsored by Your Creativity Store who will provide a trial pack of these amazing products for the winner. I can assure you, it is a prize well worth having, I won two before I became a DT member. (How lucky am I?)

As you can see, I have used three different pieces of (scrap) designer paper this week to build the background for my card. If I were to leave them just stuck together they could look disjointed but by edging your card, you create a border or frame which pulls everything together. To achieve the effect I have created here, use a light distress ink and blending tool and then gently dab the PP colour over it. I used tumbled glass DI and Phthalo Blue extra dark PP. I repeated the same technique with the torn strip of dark blue paper and edged with white this time to create a different look.

A birthday rosette, a small tag covered in PPs and stamped over with acrylic paint and other embellishments finish it off. What do you think? Quite a simple card, but effective in it's own way.

Next week I am going to show you a fabulous artsy technique I discovered whist playing with stamps, glue and PPs.

I hope you are able to enjoy some time crafting and creating today.

If your saw my photos in my previous post, we still have a lovely covering of white but already a slow thaw has started. If you are in the depths of a cold spell stay warm and if you are in the southern hemisphere I bet you already are!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

It's snowing down south

2012-02-04T22:56:00.000Z

Just thought I would share these photos just taken of my back garden from my craft room window. It has been snowing for a few hours now. I expect the whole of the UK is covered in a blanket of this white stuff!!!

I don't know why the sky looks reddish, I can only assume it's the light from the street lights on the main road behind the houses in the background.

That's the end of my conservatory just showing.

I'm glad Ken filled up the bird feeders today.

This is the decking with the lights on - we call it the runway. (We are almost under the flight path for Farnborough airport).

Wherever you are, whatever your weather, stay healthy and warm.

luv {brenda} xox

Regal colours

2012-02-03T14:43:00.000Z

Happy Friday, it's one of my days for being at home today. Yay.

I have been snatching the odd hour or two over the past few days and made a tag which has been inspired by a few challenges. Firstly Simon Says Stamp and Show - Kings and Queens, this little one is definitely 'in waiting'. Secondly Crafter's Cafe have this amazing colour challenge - red, purple and pink and I added some gold to enhance the royal look. Charisma Cardz want Vintage.

I used PPs to create the background, blending the red, pink and purple together and stamped over with gold stazon. The image was also blended with the PPs and stamped in black archival ink using a TH stamp.

The crown and wings were also stamped with gold stazon. The flower is prima and a downloaded butterfly.

The message I found as part of a longer sentence on the internet and printed it using PSE and a digi backing paper.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

I shall be back on Sunday with a new PanPastel UK DT piece.

Take care.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Butterflies - glass domed frame

2012-02-02T22:31:00.001Z

Good evening friends.

This is a 7cm glass domed frame that I got from a charity shop. I have made it to go with the butterfly frame I made a few weeks ago using the same TH butterfly paper and stamps and with the addition of one of my real, vintage Charlotte dolls. (Sorry about the quality of the picture, but it was difficult to photograph and not get the glare of the glass). The butterflies have been painted with vintage colour mica paints.

Thanks for stopping by.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Challenges to have fun with -

Make My Monday - butterflies and dragonflies

Flutterby Wednesday - Open

Give-away winners

2012-02-01T12:43:00.001Z

Welcome friends -

I have been overwhelmed at the wonderful comments I have received and the number of new followers who have joined me over the past couple of weeks. Obviously the lure of some candy has bought some people over, but I can tell some people are truly here because they want to to be - with or without a give-away. So thank you everyone who has participated.

First prize .......

....... of a set of Tim Holtz Steampunk stamps goes to .......

Connie at Wax Beach Artist

Second prize .......

.......... Tim Holtz distress inks and promarkers goes to .....

Ali at Crafty Dragons

Third prize .....

..... two Tim Holtz texture fades and two Tim Holtz stamps goes to .....

Avril at Mrs B's Crafting Addiction

Fourth additional prize as promised if I reached 300+ followers .......

..... three Tim Holtz stamps, goes to .......

Miranda at Mir'acle Art Inspirations

Thanks again everyone and if the 4 winners could email me their address

I will get these in the post as soon as possible.

Keep a look out for the middle of March when my birthday comes around

and I will have another pressie for someone to win.

Enjoy the rest of your week.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

The Stamp Man ATC Swap - Historical Romance

2012-02-01T12:01:00.003Z

Well where did January go then? It just slipped past so quickly I hardly noticed it. They say time flies when you are having fun, but I am not sure this is really the case.

Anyway - it seems ages since I have made an ATC and I loved making this one - shabby vintage yet again.

The background was made with Starburst Stain and Moonglow sprays and gesso layers, then stencilled over with DI.

(memo to self use heavier weight card next time to prevent any buckling!!)

The image is Graphic 45 Le Romantique set and I have added cheesecloth, lace and other small embellishments to finish it off.

Supplies

Moon Glow - Golden Pumpkin Blush, Phantom Fuchsia.

Claudine Hellmuth Gesso

TH distress inks - Tea Dye, Vintage Photo

Graphic 45 - Le Romantique set

Martha Stewart butterfly punch

Why not pop over to the Stamp Man ATC blog and join in.

You could be the proud owner of a set of ATCs in return.

Have fun.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Second Blogaversary Give-away

2012-01-29T23:59:00.002Z

Hi All

This is a sticky post and will remain at the top of my list until the
29th January.

I can't believe that two years ago on that date I decided to have a go at blogging to post some of my creations; what an incredible journey it has been. I never envisaged that I would continue this as a hobby and that my love of all things arty would grow and develop as it has,
and oh how I have, and still am, loving it.

So to celebrate I am having a give-away and the winners will be decided by Mr Random Org on the 29th January.
I will have three winners and prizes.
They are -

A brand new set of T!m's stamps for my current followers only up to number 284.

This is a thank you for being part of this incredible journey and giving me support and love.

The new distress inks brought out by Ranger for Christmas - but the colours are just gorgeous and 4 Promarkers.

This is for any follower old and new.

A new set of texture fades - Bingo and Collage, plus two of T!m's stamps that somehow are extra to requirements - again they are brand new.

This is also for any follower.

I am very near 300 followers and if I reach that amount before the 29th January I will add another prize.

All I ask is that you leave me a comment and tell me you have put the picture below on your sidebar. Thanks.

I feel so blessed that you are part of this amazing journey with me.

When you leave a comment make sure I have a link to you so I can pop over to see you too.

Thank you and have fun with creating and making beautiful art.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

GIVE-AWAY NOW CLOSED

PanPastels - Glitter and Glitz

2012-01-29T08:01:00.002Z

Hi Everyone, Sundays are full of fun when I post two DT pieces for you. This is my second post for today - please scroll down for my other one.

I just loved combining the PanPastel colours with glitter for the new challenge at

Panpastel UK Challenge Blog.

I used T!m's patchwork embossing folder with white card and then laid PPs in the sections to give this pastel quilted effect. Rub a dry cloth over the whole card to get rid of any excess. To get the glitter on use cut and dry foam, dipped into Art Institute glitter glue, and rub across the raised areas, sprinkling glamour dust on before it dries. Lay a piece of clean paper over the top and brayer across it to get the glue to adhere more strongly.

To complete the card, add some shabby ribbon tied into a bow and a sentiment. I painted a chipboard frame with white acrylic paint and again sprinkled glamour dust over it. When it was dry I sprayed with a gloss sealer.

Please come over to the challenge blog to see all the other wonderful inspiration that the design team have made for you and if you take part this week you will be entering for a chance to win some PPs and tools for you to try out or add to your collection. If you go over to Your Creativity Store you will find all of the colours and tools that are available to buy and at really good prices. As you can see PanPastels are so versatile and can be used with all your other art and craft supplies.

Next week I will be using PPs to edge a card which makes several pieces of DP come together and look as though they all belong together.

Thanks for stopping by today and thank you if you leave me a comment, I so appreciate it.

Have another great Sunday.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Challenges to have fun with -
Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes
Bloggers Challenge - Texturize it
Crafts and Me - Pink and Sparkly (it didn't say alot or a little pink??)
Deep Ocean Challenge - Sparkle

FSC - It's a guy thing

2012-01-29T00:01:00.003Z

Another challenge at Fashionable Stamping Challenges and this week it's gotta be something for the guys.

It's a special year for Ken and I this year, we both reach a milestone age bracket and if I tell you I retire next month then you'll easily guess what that is. His birthday is in July and we share our wedding anniversary on that day too. So I made this for him as a special little gift - it's ok he never looks on here to see what I am doing, I usually show him everything before I blog it but this time I will have to find a little place to hide it for a while.

I really enjoyed making this collage hanging piece and it all started with an experiment. I wanted to see how I could get a bleached image and what card would work well enough with this technique. I actually achieved several good stamped images and you will recognise it as T!m's old jalopy. Once it had cured, I cut out the rectangle and masked the image to stamp the crackle background, ink around the edges and then sprayed glimmer mist over it.

I gessoed and painted the cardboard and stamped over that when it was dry then collected some bits and pieces together to make up the collage.

The flower is T!m's tattered floral die and I used an old AA road atlas book and again inked and glimmer misted the parts before putting it together.

So for my Prince Charming, with warm kisses and many more years together where we can cherish the moments. (I know you are all saying ahhhhhh - but it will be 38 years married this year!!!!)

Do come on over and take a look at what my fabulous teamies have made to inspire you and have a go yourself as you could win a great stamp from our sponsor, Marina at Cottage Crafts.

Have a wonderful day whatever you have planned and thanks for stopping by to see my work.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Challenges to have fun with -
Simon Says Stamp and Show - Song Title - Cherish by Madonna
Gingersnap Creations - Spicy Supply Challenge - Ribbon
Anything Goes - To the one I love
Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes
Simply Create too - Love is in the air
The butterfly effect - making layers
Bloggers Challenge - Texturize it
The Artistic Stamper - Vintage

The Stamp Man - Embellish it

2012-01-27T12:04:00.001Z

Good morning, it's Friday and it's ........................ - oh gosh do you know what came into my head????

Those of a certain age will perhaps have had the same phrase in mind!! ........... anyway it's Friday and iiiiiiiit'ssssss .......... Crackerjack

- no sorry I mean it's another fabulous challenge at The Stamp Man.

I had planned to make a different piece for this, but when it came to it, the mojo and magic wouldn't work, so this is what I came up with instead. Not how I would normally think of embellishing something, but I enjoyed making it all the same. As you can see my main embellishing technique is to use TH fragments and papers - on the top and on the sides of this box.

I think it will be perfect to hold my small white button collection.

Supplies

Tim Holtz paper stash - crowded attic

Tim Holtz stamps - haberdashery, shabby french, urban tapestry

Distress inks - old paper, bundled sage, fired brick, vintage photo.

Tim Holtz - fragments

Glossy Accents

White household paint

lace, buttons, pin, snaps from stash

Jill, Mrs StampMan, is generously giving the winner of the challenge a £10.00 voucher for her on-line store, and as usual the other design team members have some amazing projects to inspire you.

Come on over and take a look.

Have a great Friday and a fabulous weekend.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Altered coaster

2012-01-25T19:54:00.000Z

Hi Everyone

At last I have found a bit of time to make some bits just because I wanted to. A week or so ago, my daughter-in-law bought some coasters - look only 5p each at Wilkinsons.

So I had to have a go at altering one - a nice small piece of art. I had great fun by glueing a piece of basic grey DP on it first and a wrinkled piece of dress pattern tissue paper (that started my thoughts veering towards some fabulous cotton reel labels that I had scanned and printed off).

Then layering over that my ever favourite PPs with masks - no inks or sprays - just pure velvety colour from my little pots of pastel.

I decided I didn't need anything else and for some reason chose 3 of the cotton reel labels and started to play around with them. For some reason the challenge at Simon Says Stamp and Show came into mind - a song title.

Ha - 3 reels, one - two - three or should I write 1 - 2 - 3 a song by Len Barry back in the hmmm,

dare I say it ----------- 1960's - there I did.

And lo and behold this design was born.

1 bird, 2 string flowers and 3 flying cotton reel butterflies.

Journal style with added 3 buttons and drawing in the stems, leaves and message.

What do you think?

For me? - Great, I loved playing and doing something different.

Well I hope you are having a good week and are able to have a play with some craft materials.

Take care.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Challenges to have fun with -

Simon Says Stamp and Show - A song title

Make My Monday - Flowers and leaves

BasisGrey - Favourite things

So Artful Challenges - Colours and image given

PanPastels - Use two of something

2012-01-22T08:01:00.001Z

Good morning.

This is my second DT challenge piece for PanPastel UK Challenge Blog, where we are asking you to use two of something on your project. Just tell us in your post what those two things are and you could be in for a chance of winning a PanPastel trial pack if you are chosen as the winner this week, courtesy of Your Creativity Store.

This week I have used PPs on designer paper, which gives another way of creating depth to your backgrounds. I used three different masks (bird cage, birds and dots) and permanent green and magenta colours.

I have used two butterflies and two ribbons to fit in with the challenge. The bird cage was die-cut in DP which was painted with gesso and then stamped over. The bird has flown, but the butterflies love flitting in and out.

Most of the pieces have been edged with white acrylic paint and lots of flowers added to give it a very shabby chic look.

I hope you will come back again next week as I have another great way for you to use PPs with an embossing folder and will show you how to make it sparkle.

I just love experimenting with these amazing colours and if you pop over to the challenge blog you will be able to see lots of inspiration from my great team mates.

Have a wonderful Sunday. Thanks for taking the time to come and see me.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Shabby Chic card - Art of Craft Workshop

2012-01-18T14:55:00.000Z

Hi Everyone

I though I would show you my sample card and tag for a workshop I am doing on the 15th of February at The Art of Craft. The girls who made the mini album with me before Christmas wanted more vintage shabby things to make. Hope they like them.

This is a 6 x 6 ins card and I have used 12 x 12 papers from the shop, one of which has these gorgeous vintage images which are beautiful and ethereal. We are going to use gesso, acrylic paint and DIs to make this shabby collage style effect.

If you are not too far away and want to come, please ring the shop for a booking and who knows I might see some of you there.

Thanks for stopping by today.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

PanPastels Anything Goes

2012-01-15T08:01:00.006Z

Hi Everyone, this is my second post for today, scroll down to see my altered frame.

I am back with my first DT piece for the PanPastel UK Challenge and as the title says it is anything goes. So what do you fancy making for this week?

I have used my fabulous PPs and made a tag - one of my favourite ways of producing a small(ish) piece of art, knowing that it can be made into a card to give to someone or hang on display.

The background on this one started with some small areas of multi-medium matte brushed straight onto the tag and dried. This acts as a bit of a resist and givers some texture to it. Then I covered the tag with violet PP and then used embossing ink through masks and again violet PP to create the next 3 layers. Next I stuck on a dress form stamped on tissue paper and over that there are two more layers with stamps and embossing ink and this time I used the turquoise shade to bring out the designs. To prevent the pastels coming off I sprayed with an acrylic gloss sealer.

I love finishing off with bits and pieces to add texture and interest.

Stamps - Claudine Hellmuth, Wendy Vecchi, Katy Fox.

The prize each week for the Challenge Blog winner is a sample set of PanPastels which can be found at the sponsor's website Your Creativity Store, they do a whole range of materials for the crafter and artist and especially these wonderful PanPastels. You have until 8.00 pm Friday night to submit your entry, so what ya waiting for?

Over the coming weeks and months I am going to show you how to use PanPastels with other mediums that you would use in your card and project making. Next week tune in to see how they can be used with DPs to create depth on your backgrounds.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Challenges to have fun with -
Try It On - Resist
Gingersnap Creations - set or line of stamps (Claudine Hellmuth)
Sugar Creek Hollow - Embossing (Does emboss resist count?)
Challenge up your life - Bingo - purple, lace, flowers
Just Us Girls - Collage stamping technique

FSC - Butterflies and Bugs

2012-01-15T00:01:00.004Z

Hi Everyone

I hope you will join me in another great challenge at Fashionable Stamping Challenges, where today we want you to show us your butterflies or bugs of any sort. Just remember please that this is a stamping challenge and we do need to be able to see what you stamped as part of your project.

My contribution to the design team today is an altered frame. I just loved making this and had great messy fun with the gesso and acrylic paints as well as inks.

The frame has 2 layers of gesso, 2 layers of white acrylic paint and some picket fence crackle paint. when completely dried I sanded some of the edges and added vintage photo DI and some stamped tissue paper.

The inside of the frame is a piece from T!m's crowded attic paper stash but if you look closely you will see I stamped and painted butterflies from his Papillon set and adhered these and a downloaded vintage bee to it.

I decorated the frame by using more of the stamped butterflies, painted and heat embossed and one of my Charlotte dolls, a vintage pen nib, an old key, some buttons and a vintage moth and small butterfly (again both downloaded and heat embossed like the others).

Don't forget to come over to the challenge blog to see what incredible inspiration awaits you from my fabulous team mates and to see what stamp is on offer to the winner from Marina at Cottage Crafts.

I have listed my new class schedule for The Art of Craft in Farnborough at the top of my blog,
but they are not yet on their web-site.
It would be great if you come along and join me though.

Have a wonderful day and have fun whatever you have planned.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Challenges to have fun with -
Blogger's Challenge - Wings and Things
Fabulous Friday Challenge - Paint
PolkaDoodles - Vintage//Retro
Everybody Art Challenge - Shabby
Little Claire's - Anything but a card
CES - Vintage

Steampunk in red - The Stamp Man

2012-01-13T12:00:00.004Z

It's Friday and the weekend starts here everyone. Hope all is well with you today.

When Jill told us that Vixx had chosen the colour red for the Stamp Man challenge this fortnight, my attention immediately turned to Valentine's, but I have been hankering to go back to T!m's tags of Christmas to try the techniques as I didn't get to make them (maybe 2??) - and Grungy Monday this week is about his fabulous tags, so I knew this would fit perfectly - sorry I have been awol Linda, but here I am and hope to take part more often again.

So off I go to T!m's blog, find the tags and start at number one. But of course Christmas is over, I don't want to replicate them so I get the little grey cells working (do you like the touch of Poirot here?), and gather a new embossing folder - steampunk, gadget gears die and tattered leaves die. An embryo of an idea starts to emerge.

Tag 1 used embossing resist - a fabulous technique.

I've got coredinations but no kraft core for the tag, so having used red card, the steampunk embossing folder and after the silver satin pearl ep has cooled I sand the top and then rub walnut stain over it. I die cut the word 'treasure' and tattered leaves from different red coredinations and the gears from silver embossed card.

I sanded the word treasure then added a glittery ep and I alcohol inked the gears. The leaves didn't look right at all, so out came the ideaology sprockets and gears, some beads and a heart, so more a

Valentine feel after all eh?

So what are you making with the colour red at the moment? Come join us at The Stamp Man challenge to show us and you could be in with that chance of a £10.00 voucher for Jill's on-line store. What are you waiting for? - Let's go and I will see you there.

Supplies used -

Tim Holtz dies - tag, gadget gears

Sissiz die - treasure
Embossing folder - steampunk

Idealogy - sprokets and gears, heart, pin

Beads and ribbons from stash

Coredinations red card

Alcohol inks - raisin and cranberry

Have a wonderful weekend.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Challenges to have fun with -
Try it on Tuesday - Resistance
Simon Says Stamp and Show - Red letter day - I am focused on the colour red
Stampalot - Monochrome
Grungy Monday - Tim's Christmas tags

New Year Cards

2012-01-08T13:22:00.001Z

Happy Sunday All

I have seen a number of blogging friends who are talking about new year resolutions and not buying any more craft materials for 6 months unless they are staple basics that are needed. Now I don't think I will be able to make that sort of resolution but there are a couple of things I would like to try and do.

1. Is make more family scrapbook pages for a couple of albums that I have got on the go,

and need to do more to.

These will need to be 12 x 12 and will therefore use up some of my supplies that I have got lots of!!!!

2. Is use even more of my endless boxes of supplies and make some quick cards.

So with this in mind I decided to make a start whilst I was sitting in my craft room New Years Day evening. Here are some quick(ish) cards, they have been completed over the past week when I have been able to catch a bit of time in the evenings.

Whilst I was collecting paper pads and images together I thought that I would make 2 of the same design, that way using even more of my bits and not taking that much longer. You know with me it is always the thinking and designing time that I spend hours on.

What did I decide to make? Happy New Year cards!! Only because I found the images in a box and they looked so appealing.

These next two are not the same design.

No stamping, just images from a pack and collage backgrounds. But I soooooo loved making them all for a change. There is ink and acrylic paint on them, buttons, gems, corners and torn paper.

Very simple designs, but I am happy with them.

Hope you like them too.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Challenges to have fun with.

Paper Play - Happy New Year

Papertake Weekly - 'New' theme

By the Cute and Girly - Happy New Year

Joanna Sheen - Celebrations

Truly Scrumptious - shabby pastels and paint

The Shabby Tea Room - Time Flies - something with wings

Another shabby vintage card.

2012-01-06T16:22:00.000Z

I have been wanting to get out the bees wax for ages and have been trying to find the time to enter the wax Spicy Supple challenge at Gingersnap Creations.

So whilst I was playing with vintage images this week I decided to add some wax to this card. You can just make out the wax stamped area which has been brushed with interference red perfect pearls and below enlarged so you can see the detail.

A small wooden piece, painted with white acrylic, adorns the little rosette.

Enjoy.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Stamp Man Recycled ATC

2012-01-01T12:00:00.002Z

This is my second post for today - to see my New Year wishes scroll down to the previous 2 posts

It's not the actual ATC that I am recycling, but all the elements on it. So if you've still got lots of bits and pieces left on your craft desk why not use them up on an ATC of your own and enter it into the Stamp Man ATC swap for the new year.

I have several ATCs already covered with bits of paper left from projects and given a wash of watered down gesso. So I chose one of those that went with bits of paper, a small rosette not used at Christmas. a TH banner, a butterfly and some leaves just sitting around and feeling very lonely. Put them together and this is the result. The only new thing I used was my Zutter distresser that was a Christmas present from my son and DiL. It really distresses the edges of paper, card, grungeboard, chipboard, in fact you name it, it will probably do it.

Supplies used -

Stamps - small flourish from TH mini classics

TH Rosette die

TH banner die

Crealies leaf die and butterfly die

Happy New Year to one all and I hope 2012 will be a year full of love, happiness and peace.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

New Year - New Stash

2012-01-01T00:01:00.004Z

HAPPY NEW YEAR

To All my Dear Friends I wish you a happy, peaceful and healthy 2012.

Today is a new year and a new challenge at Fashionable Stamping Challenges and we want you to play with all the new goodies you hopefully received over Christmas or that you have bought for yourself.

I have used several new things for this project, - new stamp set from The Artistic Stamper, a new book by La Blanche and new metal and tools following my metal master-class with Lin last November.

I followed the first workshop design in my book to make a new year card - and yes time certainly does fly doesn't it?

I have also used some muslin fabric, Graphic 45 paper, TH Heart Wings die and Regal Flourishes texture fade, black acrylic paint, brads and foil for the edge of the card.

Please come join us on the catwalk to show us your new designs and new tools and materials. You never know you might be the first winner of 2012 and receive a fabulous stamp from our sponsor Marina at Cottage Crafts. Also come over and take a look at the Stampettes inspiration for you, they are an incredibly talented group of ladies.

Have a wonderful year ahead.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Challenges to have fun with -
Sunday Stamper - Anything If anyone hasn't found Hels blog you must go take a look.
Bloggers Challenge - Celebrate Good Times
Creative Stamp Friends - New Year Cards
Crafts and Me - Anything Goes
Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes
Stampin' for the Weekend - Anything Goes
The Artistic Stamper - Vintage
Happy Daze - Try something new

New Years Eve - An Angel

2011-12-31T00:01:00.003Z

Welcome to New Year's Eve, I hope you have a great day and enjoy some celebrations this evening with loved ones and friends. We are having a few neighbours in and the family round to celebrate, but there is a sting in the tail for me today as it is the first anniversary of my dear Mum passing away and of course there are bitter sweet memories that this day holds for me.

However we must look forward to another new year and I wish for the world to become a more peaceful place and that humankind learns to live with one another more happily; with a focus of improving the environment and ensuring our planet stays safe for our future and our grandchildren's future.

I was playing the other day (as you do) and decided to try out another workshop activity from the La Blanche book. A simple piece, I had fun doing it and I used a La Blanche stamp.

Dedicated to my Mum who was always an 'angel' in oh so many ways. I love you Mum.

I wish each and everyone of you a wonderful new year's eve and a happy, healthy and peaceful new year ahead. Thank you for being a follower, a friend and a blogging buddy. Thank you for your supportive and encouraging comments and messages and thank you for being a part of my life. I am grateful to each and every one of you for visiting me.

New Year's Reflections

Looking back on the months gone by,

As a new year starts and an old one ends,

We contemplate what bought us joy,

And we think of our loved ones and our friends.

Recalling all the happy times,

Remembering how they enriched our lives,

We reflect upon who really counts,

As the fresh and bright new year arrives.

And when I ponder those who do,

I immediately think of you.

Thanks for being one of the reasons I'll have another Happy New Year!

By Joanna Fuchs

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

The Stamp Man 3rd Annual Awards!!!

2011-12-30T12:00:00.001Z

Hi Everyone

At the Stamp Man today we are announcing our third annual Awards Challenge. This is the opportunity for you to choose your favourite project of the year and show us what that is. It doesn't have to be something you entered into a Stamp Man challenge, but something you are very proud of and want to share again. Jill has very kindly offered a first prize of £30 gift voucher for her on-line shop and 4 runner up prizes as well, so please pop over and take a look at what the DT have offered as their favourite project.

Add caption

There are lots of things that I am very proud of making this year and I can see how my art has changed and grown. I still enjoy experimenting with new techniques and products but I seem to have 2 main styles, vintage and shabby chic and I love making all sorts of different things, particularly cards and altered art. So I have chosen to show you again a tag I made in August that I gave to a friend as part of her 60th birthday present, she loved it and so did I.

I hope you will join us in celebrating our art and show to the world what wonderful creations and inspiration we can find from our blogging friends and these great challenges. If you join us please take the Stamp Man Award - here and on my sidebar or on the challenge blog to show you you have presented your project.

Enjoy your day.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

When you wish upon a star

2011-12-26T01:40:00.000Z

Happy Boxing Day. We are off to my son's today to go and see what Santa brought the grandchildren - they always seem to get far too much.

I hope you have had a wonderful Christmas Day with your loved ones. Santa was very kind to me and bought me lots of wonderful goodies, including some great crafting pressies. How lucky I am.

I have been inspired by the Gingersnap Creations Chestnut Theme Challenge - 'Starry Night'. It is ages since I have had the chance to enter any challenges and am enjoying the opportunity to do so.

Experimenting with PPs and Stazon ink I got a very clear definition from a Kanban stamp on a PP background. Once I had applied the colour for the background, I rubbed it over with a clean, dry wipe to get any excess powder off first.

The stars were created using some sequin waste and Versamark with several different colours of PP dabbed over the top, the star was made cutting two stars using the Cricut and then adding a star gem to the middle. The 'wish' sentiment is a Sizzix die and embossed with glittery embossing powder.

I think I will put this piece in my art journal and start a section for PP techniques.

Here are my other 'Stars'. This was the day before Christmas Eve and I had the girls for the afternoon whilst Mum went shopping and then both Mum and Dad and their other helper wrapped presents.

This is Ella (showing her gappy teeth) and Maddison baking cakes and decorating with .........

...... of course - stars. This is one of Ellas -

.... and these were Maddisons.

Do you know Santa must have been very hungry when he got to their house - he ate one of their cakes as well as a biscuit and mince-pie and he drank a cup of milk!!!

Enjoy your day.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T09:42:00.000Z

A very Merry Christmas to all my Followers

and Blogging Friends

I wish you a day filled with peace and happiness in the company of loved ones.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Sledging Vintage Christmas card.

2011-12-23T23:09:00.001Z

I thought I had finished all my Christmas cards but here is just one more to show you which is using a vintage image and MME papers. There are three different DPs in the background and the image has been mounted onto plain green paper and the scalloped edge painted with white acrylic paint. The poinsettia has been made using a Crealies die and some lace and a sentiment have been added to the finished product.

Not long to go now, 'what' I hear you say two more sleeps till Santa comes - oh boy.

Just a few last minute things to do in the morning and then the family come round for a late afternoon dinner and some neighbours are coming in for drinks in the evening.

Have a fun time with your family and friends.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

My last Christmas card

2011-12-20T09:00:00.000Z

Here it is my last card for this year and of course it is for my dear hubbie. I had great fun making it at my sister's yesterday - good isn't it when you can go visiting and get stuck in creating and making something.

It is an 8 x 8 card. The stamp is Kanban, which I painted with distress inks and vintage mica paints. I stamped the image twice and decoupaged the bird and berries to give them some 'lift'.

I foiled the edge of the card and the backing paper and also added a few bits to the image itself. The letters for his name were embossed die-cut in gold mirri card and I added alcohol inks over it.

The backing paper (source unknown) not only had the holly on but recipes too, which is perfect for Ken as he is the cook in the house (aren't I the lucky one?)

I hope he will like it. Just got to buy a couple more bits and finish wrapping, then I am there.

Enjoy the last few days getting ready. The weekend will be upon us before we know it.

Take care.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

My News

2011-12-19T17:06:00.000Z

OK I think it is safe to give you my news now seeing as my name is now listed as a new team member for

the

PanPastel Uk Challenge Blog

Yay. I shall be staying with Fashionable Stamping Challenges and The Stamp Man and have taken a sabbatical from Divas by Design for a while whilst I am still working.

Those of you who know me have seen my experiments with PanPastels and know I love working with them, so this is going to be a real pleasure for me. My thanks to Berni, Kerry and Pete for taking me on board with three other new members, including my buddies Gillian and Claire, so I am in excellent company along with Eileen, Lindsay and Linda. What a great early Christmas present.

I hope I will see you over at the challenges for PanPastels UK, you can use any medium for your entry it isn't just for using the PP product, but you could win some if you are the lucky winner any week. The new challenges start January 15th, so keep an eye open for them.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

PanPastels Gift Tags

2011-12-18T23:44:00.000Z

Update Sunday night - I wrote this blog Friday night, ready to photograph my tags and get this up Saturday morning to enter the PP challenge . As you can see I missed it - I just got tied up in Christmassy bits and getting ready for guests Friday night. Oh well never mind. I have had some good news today , but can't share it with you just yet - hopefully soon.

Well I have broken up for the Christmas holidays and school is closed until the 3rd January so now I can get myself organised for the festive season at home and have a bit of crafty fun.

I have so missed both creating and making and visiting all you wonderful blogging buddies, so hopefully you will see me around a little bit for the next 2 weeks or so.

I had a little play with my PanPastels and tags as the challenge at the PanPastel blog last week was gift tags. I experimented with PPs, water and embossing ink. Take a look at the differences in these tags.

This first one has a snowman stamped with PPs misted with water. It is very light and misty - good for a ghost stamped effect.

The second one shows a tag lightly covered with PPs and then over stamped with embossing ink and PPs dabbed over the top. (I misted the stamp with water before stamping it). Much stronger in colour.

The third tag has been stamped with embossing ink, PPs dabbed over it and then it was misted with water and heat dried.

As you can see each one created a different effect and all 3 are really gorgeous (the photos really don't do them justice) and all 3 were edged with Chipped Sapphire DI. No embellishments , just my experiments and already they are on pressies.

So I didn't get to enter into the PanPastels gift tag challenge this week, but never mind.

Have a wonderful week, my friends.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Travelling Around the World at FSC

2011-12-18T00:04:00.001Z

Here we are again another Sunday with a new challenge at Fashionable Stamping Challenges. I can imagine that some of you have packed away all the Christmas craft stuff and are looking for fresh challenges to get your teeth into - well how about this one then? So long as you show us your stamping (not digis please) then come join the party as we travel around the world.

I have made a mini book and this is the cover. On it you can see the ticket to travel with. (I wish it really was that easy!!!)

A real key, TH token, frame covered with foil and coloured with alcohol inks, glass fragment and spinner, and TH tickets.

You can see the alcohol inks blended into the foil here.

Every page was inked and stamped in the same colours and the cover has the embellishing. I know just the person who might like this next year.

The lovely Stampettes at FSC have some amazing pieces as inspiration for this challenge and of course there will be a prize provided by Marina at Cottage Crafts. We would love to see what you create.

How are you doing with all your Christmas preparations? I need to finish a few more cards, buy a few more pressies and then get everything wrapped. So I guess I am getting there. Off to see my sis tomorrow and take her bits and pieces up to her.

Have a wonderful week and see you soon.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxoxox

Vintage Santa Christmas card

2011-12-12T17:58:00.001Z

I made some vintage Christmas cards a couple of weeks ago using MME 12x12 Christmas papers. The image is from a pack I bought at QVC last year.

I cut 3 strips of the paper and sewed them together and added white acrylic paint to the edges. I mounted the image and again painted the edge, then added a MS snowflake covered in glitter, a button and chipboard sentiment with ribbon.

Eh voila another vintage card.

I am sooooo sorry I am not about again at the moment. The end of term with all the Christmas activities and finishing paperwork etc has taken most of my time plus I have caught a very heavy cold which seems to be going down on my chest. So the little time I have had has been shared with writing Christmas cards, decorating the trees and snuggling up with a blanket on the sofa. So I am looking forward to Friday and getting more time to finish Christmas wrapping and time for creating and blogging.

I hope all of you, my blogging friends, are keeping well and I look forward to catching up with you soon.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

My Christmas Angel

2011-12-06T21:52:00.002Z

I just had to share these tonight. I went to the Nativity Play at our local school this morning (where I am a governor), not expecting to see my granddaughter, Ella, as she is really quite poorly with a cough and cold. But I got a text from Bev saying she wanted to go in as she was in the play as an angel, so I just couldn't resist posting these pics. You can see she looks very peaky but she did everything she was supposed to do so beautifully.

How lovely to have your own Christmas angel. She brought a tear to my eye watching her.

Thanks for letting me share my angel with you.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Memory Box dies on Vintage Christmas card.

2011-12-06T20:33:00.000Z

When I was teaching at the Art of Craft, I was shown some Memory Box dies, well I just loved them and bought several (ahem oh dear).

I used this lovely family of deer on some shiny metallic card and laid it over a stamped and painted snowy scene. The papers are from MME - a Signature Christmas by Jen Wilson and what fabulous colours and designs each 12x12 is. I have used three of them on this card, added a border punch strip, a bow and snowflakes (also by Memory Box) to achieve this vintage look.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Tim's Tags of Christmas 2011

2011-12-05T19:00:00.001Z

Well I have managed to make 2 so far.

Please excuse the photography - didn't manage to get them finished in time to take them in the daylight. But I hope you can see the similarities.

I don't have any kraft resist paper so I made my own with a piece of brown wrapping paper, music stamp and embossing. In the top left corner is a Poinsettia, but you can't see that now. I also don't have the edge die and again improvised using a spellbinders border and using the cut away.

I am quite pleased with the outcome though.

I loved making the background for this one - great technique, but more improvisation as I don't have the coredinations. I also have to admit that the pinecones are off of an old decoration.

Maybe I will be able to make some more soon, but I will certainly try when both school and Christmas preparations are finished.

Have a wonderful week and thanks for stopping by to take a peek.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Grandma's Sewing Room

2011-12-04T09:56:00.004Z

Hello there. Welcome to another Sunday and a new Fashionable Stamping Challenge. Our entrants are showing us some of the most amazing art ........... we're definitely having to work hard to keep up with the superb quality.

Today we are asking you to show us some dressmaking, corsets and/or accessories on your work, and as most of you know this is one of my favourite themes. I have gone the altered art route and changed a wooden box shelf into Grandma's sewing room. Would it have been like this do you think?

I picked up some of these great box shelves at a carboot recently. It started life looking like this

so you can see the great change in it now.

I have given the wood numerous coats of gesso and white acrylic paint and finished off with picket fence crackle paint. It has been sanded down, edges exposed and inka gold applied over it to give it an even more shabby look.

The background is where I did most of my stamping, using stamps by Wendy Vecchi, Andy Skinner and Hampton Art. I printed the main shapes onto fabric, masked them off and added collage text and other stamps over them. I painted in the larger items using distress inks.

The table (made from Wendy Vecchi Art Parts) has miniatures on it and there are other bits and pieces strewn across the floor. The wooden hanger is hooked to an old zipper that has been stuck to the ceiling. The set of rickety shelves I made from greyboard and painted, cutting fabric to go on them.

I also used numerous moulds which I covered in Panpastels and then sprayed with 'spray and shine'.

The frame has three dress forms all covered with tissue paper stamped with the TH Haberdashery set.

I hope you like my piece of altered art - please go over to the challenge blog to see the team's fabulous interpretations,

This is a great opportunity to make something very feminine and as long as you show us some stamping (not digis) you are in for a chance to win a great prize from Marina at Cottage Crafts.

I can't believe 3 weeks and we will be celebrating Christmas Day. I hope your preparations are gong well. I feel as though I have still got lots to do but I did get the living room decorated yesterday and we will get our trees next weekend.

Enjoy your day.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Challenges to have fun with -
Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes
Stamps and Fun- Distressing
Sunday Stamper - Love and/or life As this theme is a real love of mine does that count Hels?
Craft Your days away - buttons or bows

Vintage Reindeer

2011-12-03T11:02:00.001Z

You know about my love for PanPastels and much of it stems from the art course I did when I was in college and the teaching of art to my pupils when I was in the classroom. So I couldn't resist another Christmas card using the PanPastels Challenge Blog theme of Animals.

I used the reindeer flight die with coredinations card to cut this gorgeous animal out, sanded him down to get that 2 tone effect and added antique linen distress stickles to him.

The mount he is sitting on was covered with some PPs sponged lightly with lots of white to keep it toned down then music score stamped with walnut stain.

The background paper is from this gorgeous stack of MME papers I bought last year and I love the way the design of the deer reflect the die-cut. So some distress edgiing, inking and little embellishments and done.

I am only just going to make this by the skin of my teeth this week and I haven't been able to make any of Tim's tags yet. Oh well I still love looking at them and being inspired by his creativity.

Have a wonderful day whatever you are doing and thanks for visiting me.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Other challenges to have fun with -
Artistic Stamper - Christmas
Christmas cards all year round - Anything goes
Joanna Sheen - Christmas
Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes

A Christmas Ornament

2011-12-02T12:04:00.001Z

Well Jill has truly challenged us today, her theme at The Stamp Man is to make an ornament. It can be altered art made from shrink plastic, metal or any other material, perhaps an ornament shaped card. use your imagination, but it must be an ornament.

So here we are. A piece of greyboard covered with blue copy paper and inked with weathered wood and stormy sky DIs.

Next splashed with water and splattered with white acrylic paint, then stamped in said paint using a TH snowflake stamp from his Mini Holidays set 2.

When dry I die cut it using a Sizzix die, edged it with walnut stain DI and Stickles then added Viva pearl pen down the middle sections. After putting it together I added a bow to hang it with.

So I was able to use my favourite techniques and grungy style to make this great little tree ornament. hope you like it too.

I am looking forward to seeing you at The Stamp Man for this challenge and don't forget you always have a chance of winning a £10 voucher towards goodies from the on-line shop.

Happy Friday, enjoy your day and thank you for coming over to see me, I so appreciate it.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

My work has been published

2011-12-01T20:29:00.002Z

Hi Everyone

I am just soooo excited and had to tell you that I have a card published in the new January 2012 Craft Stamper magazine. If you have it, please look at P.58 to see one of my summer cards that I made for the Stamp Man DT.

Woo hoo happy me.

Thanks for coming and taking a look.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Vintage Christmas Greetings

2011-11-30T09:04:00.008Z

Greetings Everyone - today the new challenge at Divas by Design is anything goes, so pop right over to see what my fabulous teamies have made for your inspiration.

As you can imaging, I haven't made very much in the way of Christmas cards and seeing as I bought a gorgeous MME 12x12 pack in the QVC sale last year, I have just been dying to use it. The designs and colours are stunning (well I think they are), so I have challenged myself to use these papers and vintage images to get a few cards made.

I have used 3 of the DPs with some plain colours, vintage photo distress ink and white acrylic paint. A border punch, a few embellishments and some ribbon and it didn't take too long at all.

I am looking forward to see what you might be entering. Only another two and a half weeks and we break up for the Christmas holidays. I am looking forward to having the break and the time to get back to crafting.

Take care.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Challenges to have fun with -
The Crazy Challenge - Stars or Snowflakes
The Ribbon Reel - Anything Goes
Victorine Stamps - Use ribbon
Gingerloft - Christmas or Winter
Paper Sundaes -Winter Wonderland
Sparkles Forum - Vintage Christmas

Shabby and Vintage Tags 2

2011-11-27T13:34:00.001Z

A little while ago I showed you two of the tags I made while I was away for a few days over half term. We found a fabulous B&B and went out during the day, but when we got back late afternoon, I sat in our room and made these tags before we got ready and went out for an evening meal.

First though I haven't welcomed any of my new followers for ages, so a big hello to Nigel, romantyczka, Sue, Lindsay, Sara, Sara, Susan, Tee, Caroline, Ginger, Gypsy Purple, Tammy, Debby, Ozmunchkin, Caroline, Marlene, Judith, Trace, Cath, Suzanne, Sandra, Marie, Michelle, Wendy and Renee. I find it so amazing that people want to follow my creative journey and feel so blessed that you leave wonderful comments for me.

So onto tag number three. This has a mix of elements on it that I had taken with me, the rosette had already been cut for another project and not used, but was very useful on this tag to lift the butterfly. The words come from an old book I bought at an antique store we found at the side of the road on one of our days out, and it's one I will use when I finish Ken's bird album.

Tag four's image I think is from a Debbie Moore set I bought ages ago and again all the other elements I had in envelopes in my bag, except the little lace rose which I had bought whilst out on my travels that weekend.

I hope you like my little collection.

I have actually got the Christmas decorations down from the loft and decorated the conservatory and dining room. want to get the living room and hallway done next weekend and the trees can be bought and decorated the weekend after that. Now just gotta get cards and pressies sorted.

I hope you are enjoying your Sunday, it is beautifully sunny here after a most miserable day yesterday.

Thanks for stopping by to see me.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Challenges to have fun with -
Inspire me Fridays - Anything goes
Lily Pad - Use buttons
Crafty Ribbons - Tags
Dutch Dare Card Challenge - Recipe include at least 3 of - ribbon, image, patterned paper, layers, brads etc.
Sarah Hurley Challenge - Buttons
Crafts and Me - Shabby Chic/Vintage

Fancy Folds at Sugar Creek Hollow

2011-11-26T13:00:00.041Z

Hi Everyone

I am really pleased and proud today to be a guest design team member for Sugar Creek Hollow. They want to see a vintage, shabby chic or primitive card with fancy folds. Now I have to admit with being in the run up to Christmas at school I really didn't have the time to get into something really exotic and fancy, but I have got more than one fold, so I hope that counts. I apologise for the quality of the photographs today, they were taken at night in ordinary house light, so not the best I am afraid.

I have used an arch triptych card that I bought a pack of a long time ago and it comes with the panels already cut and embossed. I covered these panels with distress stains and shabbied and inked the edges, then decorating them with vintage photos from Crafty Individuals and other bits and pieces. I really enjoyed just finding things from my stash rather than starting from scratch and creating everything I need as I go along. I really must do this more often so as to use up more of my supplies.

I hope you are having a good weekend. I should really get myself organised with finishing off Christmas present buying and getting cards written and in the post. I have been really lucky this year as my sister Chris has made alot, and I mean alot, of cards for me knowing I wouldn't have the time, so I have no excuse. Anyway enjoy your day whatever you are doing.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

PS - tune in for next Sunday's fabulous challenge at FSC and if you are getting fed up with the Christmas themes, I will give you a clue, we have a challenge on my most favourite topic at the moment. Can you guess?

PanPastels Frosty and Bright

2011-11-23T12:50:00.000Z

Hi All

I have been playing with my PanPastels again and this time I experimented to get a cold and frosty effect background using distress inks, embossing ink and my one and only blue PP.

Here is a mini tutorial to show how I achieved the background effect.

Starting with a piece of card I covered it in the fabulous new DI called Iced Spruce. Heat dried it and then stamped TH snowflakes with embossing ink. I then used a sponge and dabbed turquoise PP over it until the snowflakes appeared.

Then I sprayed it with an acrylic sealer. Next I used the same snowflake stamp and used white acrylic paint with it.

When I had finished I sprinkled glamour dust over them to get that nice frosty/sparkly effect and sprayed it again.

The snowman was die-cut using a sizzix die and covered with snow-tex and faux snow added to the hat and scarf. I used 2 snowflake punches and my new Memory Box Frosty Border to create the rest of the snowflakes.

....... and finally some gems, beads, sequins and a Kanban red rolled flower and some die-cut leaves.

Here you can see the frosty effects.

I was so lucky to win the PanPastels challenge last week and would like to say a big thankyou to the team at this great challenge blog.

I hope you like my frosty and bright card. I would like to enter it into challenges at -

PanPastels UK Challenge Blog - Frosty and Bright

Sunday Stamper - Frosty the Snowman

Ladybug Crafts Ink - Winter Blues

Make My Monday - Christmas Flowers, Foliage or snowflakes

CES Challenges - Snowflakes

CCEE Stampers 2 de-cuts or 2 punches (I have got both)

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas

2011-11-20T00:01:00.013Z

White Christmas - the new theme at Fashionable Stamping Challenges,

just perfect for this time of year.

But how will you interpret it?

What about using mostly white on your card?

Then again you might choose to link a project to the seasonal musical 'Holiday Inn'.

Then again "White Christmas" is an Irving Berlin song reminiscing about an old-fashioned Christmas setting.

Heck whatever you fancy really.

But for me a white Christmas is all about snow.

So as I suggested this idea I decided to use white acrylic paint for the TH snowflakes on acetate and laid it over a stamped image of Santa Claus, a La Blanche stamp inked with coffee archival and stamped onto kraft card. I used white acrylic paint and distress ink to paint in some of the face. The sentiment is a Just Rite stamp (I keep forgetting I have these) and a ribbon to finish off.

Please take a look at the wonderful creations on the catwalk, gain some inspiration, show us your stamping and come join us.

There is always a fabulous stamp as a prize.

Enjoy your Sunday.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Challenges to have fun with -
Paper Sundaes - Beautiful bows
Scrappy Frogs - Use kraft card
Sparkles Forum - Vintage Christmas
Crafty Emma - Snowflakes
MAWTT - Let it snow

Halloween Tag Give-Away Winners

2011-11-19T08:21:00.002Z

Good morning, I hope this finds you bright and cheery and ready for that Christmas shopping or whatever you have planned for today.

I have been so busy at work, I forgot about my Halloween tag give-away and suddenly it just popped into my head this morning - how does our brain do that? Anyway I promised that those who linked to my Halloween printables post would be put into a draw to receive a tag.

Well as am so late, I have decided to give four of them away.

Here is my little box of numbers, one for each entry.

And here are the winning numbers

So well done to.............................................

MARTINA for her amazing Halloween box and she gets Tag 1

LISA-JANE for her fabulous card using her daughter's image 'Witch Dusty' and she gets Tag 2

GINA, I think it was for her Zac-a-lantern (sorry Gina your link has stopped working) anyway you won Tag 3.

and lastly LORRAINE for her Trick or Treat card and she wins Tag 4

Girls, please email me your address which is on my side-bar and I will get your tag in the post to you.

Thanks everyone who played along with me, I think I will try this again, great fun.

Have a wonderful weekend.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Tim Holtz inspired at The Stamp Man

2011-11-18T12:00:00.001Z

Yay the end of the week and the beginning of the weekend.

Today it is my turn to host the challenge at The Stamp Man and I am asking that you choose any of Tim's Tags of Christmas - (so that gives you 48 to decide from) - and use his techniques to create your own Christmas project, that could be a card, tag or altered item. Just tell us which tag you have chosen and the techniques you have used from it. This really gives you the opportunity to be as creative as you want, but with a TH Christmas theme.

I chose Tim's very first tag, which you can find here. If you want to go directly to Tim's home page to find the others you could choose from, then click HERE. Scroll down and you will find them listed under Categories.

The main technique I used was a crackle paint background.

When this was dry I stamped over it and added torn music paper, ribbons and embellishments.

Tag 1 - The Snowman

Tag 2 - Christmas Snow 1

Tag 3 - Snowflakes

Tag 4 - Christmas Snow 2

Tag 5 - Santa Claus

Tag 6 - Merry Christmas

Supplies used -

Tim Holtz Crackle Paint - picket fence, old paper, tattered rose, brushed corduroy, brushed pewter, tarnished brass

Distress Inks - weathered wood, dusty concord, seedless preserves, black soot, tumbled glass, tea dye, pumice stone, chipped sapphire, tattered rose. stormy sky, vintage photo, bundled sage, barn door, antique linen, mustard seed, ripe persimmon

Tim Holtz stamps - mini holidays 2

I hope we will see you over at Jill's great challenge blog entering your fabulous creations and please go take a look at some amazing work for you inspiration by my teamies.

I was lucky enough to be chosen as a Ginger Gem at Gingersnap Creations

this week for my 'Ravens' piece.

Have a wonderful day and a great weekend.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

An Explosion of Colour

2011-11-15T16:11:00.000Z

The PanPastels challenge this week is actually called 'Fireworks/Exploding Colours', but I wanted to show a variety of bright colours used as the background and more added in layers with masks over card and music paper.

This was achieved with just five of my PanPastels showing how versatile they are and how well they mix and blend together. I have stamped over the top and then added atyou spica black glitter pen over the top. The sentiment was stamped with Versamark and PPs tapped lightly over and then Sakura glitterpen over the top of that.

I have added a shabby fabric flower, cut the bird cage from patterned paper and then highlighted it with PPs, cut the bird covered it in Tim's tissue tape and again added PPs and a couple of die-cuts.

I just love playing and experimenting with these. I think I need to add some more colours on my Christmas list.

Stamps used with archival ink are TH Grunge Circe and Fairytale Frenzy.
Masks - Tando Creative - music and Spellbinders Impressabilities - Fleur de Lis

Another inspection finished at school, now I hope we can settle down and prepare for Christmas, it has been such a hectic term.

I hope you are enjoying your week and managing some art and craft work.

Oooh nearly forgot, remember my pumpkin tag was chosen as card of the week at Sugar Creek Hollow, well I've been asked to be a guest designer for them, so keep an eye out later this month for my piece, can't wait to show you what I am making.

Take care.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

PS Here is one of my cats asleep in my craft bag. He thinks he is a dog sometimes as he has to come and lay by my feet or be in close proximity. Like alot of cats he likes to get in boxes and bags when you aren't looking. Say hello to Tinder.

Shabby and Vintage Tags 1

2011-11-11T09:51:00.000Z

Happy Friday Everyone - the weekend is upon us.

I am sharing some tags I made whilst I was away the other weekend for a few days in Swanage. I took a bag of bits with me which included some lovely images from the Graphics fairy and the Crafty Individuals booklets. (No stamping!!!)

First though I want to show you these great things I found at an antique market in Bridport and at Wimborne market.

The glass doored cabinet was very cheap at only £5, the thimble display box was only £2.50 and the smaller carved box was £1.50 - bargains don't you think? I also bought the little dress form, some sets of old keys, some cigarette cards and a tiny glass bottle.

I just loved this vintage picture of the little girl and wanted to make the tag quite feminine but rustic at the same time.....

So this is tag number one. I had taken with me some pages from an old book and bought some fabrics whilst I was there as well, so these all came together very nicely methinks. I cut out words and phrases from the book pages to give the tags a focus.

Tag 2 .......

..... now this one is very masculine. I used one of the old keys I bought and added some staples to keep the industrial feel to it.

There will be a couple more to show you another day.

Enjoy and have a great week. I am teaching at The Art of Craft in Farnborough (Hants) tomorrow - we will be making my vintage mini album. I hope you are all into fabulous crafty things this weekend.

luv and hugs {brenda} xox

Dark and Mysterious PanPastels

2011-11-09T07:37:00.001Z

I haven't had a chance to enter the Panpastels challenge for a couple of weeks and this was definitely something I wanted to get done. The challenge is 'dark and mysterious' but being post Halloween I didn't want to use any spooky images, so I set about creating a dark and mysterious landscape using tissue paper, PanPastels, Crafty Individuals tree stamps and the birds are courtesy of T!m.

The next few photos will show you the stages of making this. I really wanted some texture for the landscape and the tissue paper worked really well.

Tissue paper torn into strips, crumpled and glued with matte multi-medium.

PanPastels added to give a darkish sky and dark landscape.

Stamps added to give the overall feel to the piece.

A larger tree stamped, painted with PanPastels and cut out.

I cut a little fence freehand.

And added the title of the piece.

Do you hear the whispers in the wind on a dark night?

Take care.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

PS My pumpkin/fall colours tag was chosen as card of the week at Sugar Creek Hollow and I have put a cute badge on my side bar. Thanks girls I am delighted to be chosen.

Times gone by

2011-11-06T00:01:00.003Z

Today is the start of another Fashionable Stamping Challenge and this fortnight we would love it if you could join us and submit a card or project with the theme 'Times Gone By'. Now that leaves it wide open for any type of vintage piece that you are working on, how cool is that?

I have altered a small box and made it masculine and know exactly who is going to receive this for Christmas - but I can't say at the moment. I used two different teal coloured paints, one I mixed myself and one was an ordinary household paint. I sprayed with ancient copper cosmic shimmer mist and then stamped and added some inka gold. I finished with Decoart gloss sealer, some trim, a charm and pieces I have picked up from car-boot sales.

Stamps by PaperArtsy, Michele Marsden. My Mind's Eye and Crafty individuals.

Photo overload now - I was trying to get a selection of pics from different angles. Do you like the boat? It came from an old Monopoly game.

I hope your weekend is going well. Please pop over to see the great inspiration from my teamies and join us. You never know you could be the recipient of a fabulous stamp as the winner.

Just before I go, please pop over to Dot's Dabbles. Dot is one of our fantastic designers at FSC and has candy available when she gets to 50 followers. I am sure you will be inspired enough to want to follow and go back time and again to see her fabulous creations.

lots of luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Challenges to have fun with -
Inspire me Fridays - Anything goes
Our Craft Lounge - Distressed and stressed
C.R.A.F.T Challenge - Board games/family games/ activities (does my little Monopoly boat count?)

Collage for The Stamp Man

2011-11-04T16:39:00.000Z

The new challenge at The Stamp Man has been set by the fabulous Angela and she would like to see you use collage or a collage background in your work. I loved this challenge and I learned quite a bit about different styles of collage when I did an on-line course with Claudine Hellmuth earlier in the year and I also get great inspiration from Sarah at Lah-de-dah.

What is a collage? Wikipedia says -

A collage (From the French coller, to glue) is a work of formal art, primarily in the visual arts made from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole.

A collage may include newspaper clippings, ribbons, bits of colored or hand-made papers, portions of other artwork, photographs and other found objects, glued to a piece of paper or canvas. The origins of collage can be traced back hundreds of years, but this technique made a dramatic reappearance in the early 20th century as an art form of novelty.

I thought I would make a book of birds for Ken for Christmas and add some of the photos he has taken of different types of birds he sees in our back garden. He is totally an amateur bird watcher and photographer, but he loves it, so what better way to give him something different this year.

This is the front cover of the mini album and I am using TH papers and stamps.

Main Supplies -
Tim Holtz stamps - slight alterations, urban tapestry
Tim Holtz paper stacks - crowded attic, lost and found
Distress inks - vintage photo, peeled paint, forest moss, weathered wood

As you can see I have used a number of techniques to create this collage - I have inked, embossed, gessoed, stamped, glued and sewn elements together. I have bought an old book of 'Eggs and nests of British Birds' so I will be using that to complete pages and pockets for photos - so more to come another time.

Please pop over to the Stamp Man challenge to see the fabulous inspiration from the team and I hope you will join us there. As ever Jill will be providing the winner with a £10.00 voucher for her store.

I hope you have a fabulous weekend. Hopefully I will be able to come and see what you have been making and creating this week.

Take care.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Challenges to have fun with -
Simon Says Stamp - Buttons
Just for Fun - Favourites
PaperPlay Challenges - Button Up
Cooking It Up with Katie - Anything but a card
Anything Goes - Stitching
Artistic Stamper - Make your own backgrounds
Stamp with Fun - Buttons

Add something metal

2011-11-02T10:45:00.002Z

Hi Everyone.

I have a tag for you today as my DT piece for the new challenge at Divas by Design and as the title says we want you to add something metal to your card or project.

My tag has been made using household paints and gesso. The paints were blended over the tag and left to dry. Using a credit card and some sponge the darker salmon coloured paint and the white gesso were added to create texture and depth. Once that had dried I added music paper and a Wendy Vecchi art parts heart which I covered in metal that I embossed using a 10 second studio kabuka mold and added some of the paint and colours of inka gold to give it a more mottled and shiny look.

Supplies -
- TH tag die
- Household paint
- Gesso
- Art parts heart
- 10 second studio metal sheet, kabuka mold and metal tools
Inka Gold - rose and haematite
- Metal bird cage embellishment
- Downloaded, inked and glazed butterfly
- Rub-ons
- String, music score paper, ribbon

I hope we will see you join us this fortnight. Please go take a look at all the fabulous inspiration from my amazing team mates.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great day.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Sentimental challenge at Stampalot

2011-11-01T12:30:00.000Z

Woo hoo, I was asked to be a guest designer at Sir Stampalot this month and the challenge theme is to have a sentiment as the focus of your project.

I chose to make a tag and used my brand new Webster's Pages as the background, and my theme is ............................... yes you can see, it is to do with sewing again - just my most favourite of themes at the moment.

The sentiment is from PaperArtsy, stamped onto the background paper. The sewing machine is Maya Road painted with Fresco Finish gold and over stamped with a text stamp. I added some shabby ribbon ruffled along the top, a small hanger with ribbons, a tiny butterfly and sewed all round the edge of the tag to finish it off.

Well a big thank you to the Stampalot ladies for having me, I am off to see what inspiration there is on the Stampalot challenge blog.

Have a great November. It won't be long before Christmas is here.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Ravens

2011-10-28T07:27:00.000+01:00

Yay it's Friday and if this has scheduled correctly, I am away for a long weekend in Swanage. Hopefully I will have my laptop and will be able to log in from time to time.

This is my second piece I have made for the Gingersnap Creations Poe month and this challenge is 'Ravens'.

I have made a second hybrid piece which will no doubt join the Horror Stories piece in my art journal.

The background I put together in Photoshop elements using images from Scrapbookgraphics, they were perfect for what I wanted and included the title and raven at the top.

I added to it by stamping the black raven to the left and the cobwebs using TH mini halloween and I cut out the bats, butterflies and eyes (from Graphics Fairy) and added the skull charm, spider and key.

I would also like to enter this into Corrosive Challenges - Flying things.

Have fun whatever you are doing and enjoy some crafty time of your own.

Thanks for stopping by, I really appreciate all the lovely comments you leave me.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Poe - Horror stories

2011-10-25T10:49:00.000+01:00

I am just catching up with the Gingersnap Creations Edgar Allan Poe month and this challenge was called Horror Stories, so here is mine.

Poe wrote a number of short stories and poems and I looked him up to refresh my memory, what surprised me though was when I looked for images of 'The Masque of the Red Death' there was Vincent Price staring back at me and reminded me I had probably seen the film in my youth when I used to go to Saturday afternoon pictures. I loved horror stories way back then - now I really hate watching anything like that, tooooo scary!!!!!!

This is a hybrid piece. I downloaded images from Scrapbookgraphics.com and used them for the base background and then added the title, charm, buttons, skull (one of my moulds) and black enamel accents with tiny red seed beads in it. I am going to add this to my journal OR if I get time I an going to make a Halloween book. I think the journal will win!

You can see that the backing paper is actually made up of layered pages of Poe's poems.

Thank you for stopping by today, I hope you are getting some crafty time to make things.

Please don't forget to add any of your Halloween projects to my linky HERE - I am going to give one of my Halloween tags away to a random chosen person at the beginning of November.

Have a great day.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Free Pumpkins

2011-10-24T07:22:00.008+01:00

Happy Monday - I hope you have a fantastic week and are not too busy with work.

I have to go into school today, in fact I have to go into Oxford to a planning application meeting at the County Council but I will be back later to catch up with all my blogging buddies and do some commenting - I am so behind with that.

I have just treated myself to some new Halloween stamps, but I wanted a pumpkin one without the face drawn in so I decided to draw my own. I have used it on this tag which has a Halloween background but is very much made with autumn colours.

The button is plastic but I managed to stamp on it and I have added lots of bits and pieces from my box of bits. You can see the Halloween images in the background on this photo.

This is my drawing and I coloured just enough of the pumpkins for my tag.

This was printed on cheap photocopy paper and coloured with Promarkers.

If you would like to take the pumpkins digi, please do so. I made it in Photoshop Elements and saved it as a jpeg file. If you use it please be courteous and link it back to me on your blog and if you leave me a message I will come over to see what you have done. Click on it and enlarge it to get the best file for downloading.

Thank you for looking today and a special thanks if you are a regular and leave me all those wonderful messages I get, I so love reading them.

Take care of yourself and your loved ones.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Challenges to have fun with -

Ink on my Fingers - Autumn/colours of autumn.

Gingerloft - Halloween or fall.

Opus Gluei - Halloween.

Crafty Pad - Halloween.

Sugar Creek Hollow - Colours of fall.

Fashionista Friday - Halloween and/or fall.

CCEE Stampers - Fall/autumn.

Little Red Wagon - Fall.

Stampotique - Tag Time.

Deep Ocean Challenge - Fall colours.

Coffee and cream with a hint of chocolate

2011-10-23T00:35:00.004+01:00

Hi Everyone - happy Sunday

I got this DT piece made by the skin of my teeth. This is for Fashionable Stamping Challenges who this week want to see anything that has a coffee and cream and even a hint of chocolate for a focus. Don't forget anything goes as long as you follow the challenge theme and include some stamping on it (sorry digis are not allowed).

My large stamps are both from the Inkadinkado Xmas Ornate clear set and the snowflake background I stamped using Reindeer Flight and Mini Holidays by Tim Holtz.

The large snowflake is a Woodware die-cut chipboard shape covered with distress stain and glitter and I added a star, flower, glintz, doiley and ribbon from my stash. I also used Nestabilities Labels Two for the greeting.

Want to know what the brown bag looked like before I altered it?

Hope you will come and join us at FSC and please go take a look at what the amazing Stampettes have made to inspire you.

I am on half term now, although I have to go into school on Monday and I am teaching a class at The Art of Craft on Wednesday. So Ken and I have booked into a nice hotel in Swanage for a long weekend from Thursday. I just feel I need it after the Ofsted inspection at school.

Take care and thank you for stopping by to take a look at my work today.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Challenges to have fun with -
I haven't visited my old friends at MAWTT for a long time so my first challenge is -
Moving Along With The Times - Vintage.
PaperPlay - Use black.
Winter Wonderland - A vintage Christmas.
Totally Gorjuss - Pastel Christmas. - I hope this counts!
Secret Crafter - Wrap up warm.
One Stop Craft - No designer paper.
Lili of the Valley - Bingo - mine is ribbon, flower, gem.
PanPastels Challenge - Glitter and Glitz.

Night Time at The Stamp Man

2011-10-21T12:09:00.006+01:00

The lovely Michelle has chosen 'Night Time' as the theme at The Stamp Man this week and this really challenged my thinking and creativity.

I thought I would do some brayering, but when it came to putting ink on the card I decided to blend it instead. I masked off the sky and moon, blended DIs and then dried it ready to mask off layers for the ground, again blending DIs.

This photo shows the scene without any embellishments

I stamped the birds and trees with archival black, sprinkled water over and dabbed it off to get a snowy effect and then splattered some white acrylic paint and water over the top of that. I am quite pleased with the effects.

I then made the tree similar to TH tags of Christmas 2010 and added the ticket and button.

Supplies -
DIs - peeled paint, pine needles, forest mnoss, walnut stain, antique linen, dried marigold, tumbled glass, stormy sky, chipped sapphire.
Distress embossing powder - peeled paint
Die - TH pine tree, TH ticket strip
Stamps - TH reindeer flight, TH QVC mini collection, TH odds and ends
Pinflair snow dust

I hope you will pop over to the Stamp Man blog to see all the other wonderful creations from the team and hopefully you will be inspired to have a go too. Jill will have a £10.00 voucher ready and waiting for the winner as chosen by the design team.

I was really excited to see that I have been chosen as a Ginger Gem again for my 'Shared Moments' card at Gingersnap Creations - such a prestigious award and thanks Shar and girls for choosing me.

Thanks to you all for taking a peek at what I have posted today. If you leave me a message and a link I will be able to pop over to see what you have been creating too.

Have a fun day.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Challenges to have fun with -
ABC Christmas Challenge - U is for unused stash - the tree die and antelope button, both left over from last year.
Fab n Funky - Distressed or torn.
My time to Craft - Punches and dies.
Sweet Stamps - Lots of layers.
Try it on Tuesday - Taking to the skies.
Ooh La La Creations - Let It Snow.

Shabby Halloween

2011-10-18T07:13:00.003+01:00

Something I made on Sunday - just because I wanted to.

I had a great lunchtime out with Lucy at the car-boot sale and bought a few bits and pieces. But Lucy had bought me over some lovely lacy trims and I just wanted to use some. Thanks for the lovely things Lucy.

I cut a tag from the TH die, downloaded this image from the Graphics fairy and changed it to a sepia colours. The muslin is a roll I have and I used double layer. I glitzed some of the image with glamourdust and added the trim, dangly and ribbons.

Have a wonderful week. I shall be working at school everyday and have to catch up with my own private school improvement work as well in the evenings. At least it is half term next week, so I will get a bit of time for me.

Take care and have fun.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Challenges to have fun with -
Paper Sundaes - Halloween or Fall
Pollycraft Monday - Girls
The Crazy Challenge - Halloween
Gingerloft - Halloween or Fall

A Holtz-ian Halloween!

2011-10-16T10:22:00.001+01:00

Well I said I would get creating and here is my tag for Grungy Monday - it's so good to have you back Linda - and the theme at Simon Says Stamp and Show is things with wings, so this fits that as well.

Totally in the style of TH and using TH products I have made this Halloween tag which was inspired by the great man himself on his blog HERE.

I really have very limited Halloween stamps so I have used nature ones as well as cut out vintage images to get the effects I wanted to try and re-create. I drew the barbed wire and added the mini staples as per T!m himself.

Supplies -
Crackle paint - dusty concord
Seasonal DIs - seedless preserves, ripe persimmon, gathered twigs
Stamps - Andy Skinner back to nature
Downloads - Graphics Fairy and unknown
Inka Gold - silver
Mini attacher
Skull - one of my clay moulds
Ribbons

I really enjoyed playing again.

This morning it is another of those cold but beautiful autumn days and I thought I would share a couple of photos from my front garden.

This bush was covered in amazing cobwebs and the sun shining on the dew just captured my attention.

.... and some warm autumn berries.

I hope your weekend is going well; have the most wonderful day whatever you are doing.

luv {brenda} xoxox

Other challenges to have fun with -
Simon Says Stamp - Halloween / Goth
Creative Craft Crew - Spooky Fun
Everybody Art - Halloween
Crafts and Me - Orange
Stampotique - Tag Time
Crafts 4 Eternity - Purple and orange
Alphabet challenge - S for soon to be Halloween
Craft Your Days Away - Halloween colours

Ofsted is over

2011-10-15T09:41:00.001+01:00

Thanks for all the good wishes for our Ofsted inspection this week at school. I am happy with the way it went and we await the report which will be with us in a couple of weeks and will be given to the parents and published. In 3 1/2 days I have spent 50 hours at school and another 8 hours travelling to and from, so as you can imagine I am really tired, but .......................................................................................

I am now suffering ink withdrawal and need to get creating. I also need to go out and the kids are coming over tonight, but I am sure I can get something done today.

At least Lucy and I can share some crafty chat tomorrow as we are going to the local car-boot sale together.

I had a great boost on Wednesday as I have managed to get hold of the seasonal distress inks and they arrived in the post - YAY - and my Vagabond stopped working a couple of weeks ago, but good old QVC have replaced it as it was only 8 months old and that arrived yesterday so I am ready to get going again.

At the moment the sun is shining, the sky is blue and the cherry tree stands very proud with it's red leaves.

Have a wonderful weekend.

luv {brenda} xoxo

Update
I am just checking challenges I had entered and I have been chosen as a Spotlight Artist for my Halloween Diorama at City Crafter Challenge.

Birthday Box

2011-10-14T06:58:00.000+01:00

It was my daughter Maddie's birthday last month and this is a box I made for her. Those who know me will recognise the stars as being her most favourite thing for jewellery and bits and pieces.

The large pleated star I made using the TH rosette die - just another of the shapes I have been experimenting with using this die.

Enjoy and thanks for looking. The weekend is almost here, time for another break.

luv and hugs {brenda} xdoxox

Quick post

2011-10-11T23:05:00.001+01:00

Dear All

I will not be around for a few days to comment on your wonderful posts. I have had a quick look through the dashboard tonight and visited some of your blogs, but I am sorry I haven't been able to comment on your amazing creations I have seen.

If anyone knows anything about our English schools inspection process you will know exactly how I feel when I say my school has Ofsted on Thursday and Friday. For those of you who don't know, it means a team of inspectors will be in for 2 days interrogating our data and policies, observing the teaching, talking to staff and children and generally looking for evidence of pupil's standards and progress and the quality of teaching and learning to be able to make a judgement about our school. I didn't get home tonight until 11.00 pm as I am getting all the pre-inspection paperwork ready.

Wish us luck and I will chat again at the weekend.

For now my school and staff will have my full attention with our aim to have a very positive judgement.

Take care.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Trick or Treat - Halloween tag

2011-10-10T07:31:00.005+01:00

Happy Monday - did you have a good weekend? I kept mine quite lazy, trying to catch up from busy weeks working full time now.

So here is a Halloween tag from me today using PanPastels and DIs on a ribbed kraft tag.

All the embellishments are downloads and cut out (I must get some more stamps!!!) The skeleton is from the Graphic fairy, the bats are free clipart and the Trick or Treat sentiment is from Inktegrity.

The masks were layered using embossing ink and PanPastels.The Happy Halloween was pastelled, sprayed with sealer then DI blended round the edges.

The Trick or Treat sentiment was blended with dried marigold DI then PPs blended on the edges while the ink was still wet. Quite mellow colours don't you think?

Please link any Halloween cards or projects you make to my Halloween linky so that I can come visit and see what you are making and leave you some love. I will draw someone at the end to receive one of my Halloween tags as a give-away. It could be this one!!!

Have a great day.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Challenges to have fun with -
Crafty Ribbons - Halloween
Digi Doodle Shop's Best - Distressing
Samuel Taylor's - Halloween
PanPastels - Autumn colours

The Stamp Man - Circles

2011-10-09T14:19:00.001+01:00

Well better late than never they say. This is my second post for today and my piece for the Stamp Man challenge. For this fortnight, as you can see, the theme is circles. I struggled with this one, Mr Mojo doesn't stay around when you are tired does he? And I lost some circle stamped pieces that Jill sent me to use - what am I like - honestly?

My inspiration was Laura Liddell's tutorial on how to make your own craft resist card at Gingersnap Creations and the colour combo at Play Date Cafe.

To get the colours and effect I wanted I ended up using -
DIs - dusty concord, mustard seed, peeled paint and black soot
Whispers colouring pens pinks and purples and Aquamarkers Bamboo
Archival black
Aspects of Design antique effect background stamp from The Stamp Man
TH Papillon and Mini Classic stamps
clear embossing powder and versamark
kraft card and white card
Spellbinders Lacey Circles

My learning for today is -
This was much more about technique than outcome. Next time I will try it on cream or white card to see the different effects. I also need to get some more large background technique stamps. Artist? Well I would like to think I'm getting there!!

Please pop over to the Stamp Man Challenge blog to see the fabulous designs from the team and I hope you will participate. Don't forget that Jill gives a £10.00 voucher to the winner as chosen by the DT, well worth an entry don't you think? Jill has her new on-line shop going live this weekend and she now accepts PayPal as well.

Hope your Sunday is going well. Thanks for stopping by today and thanks even more if you have been here twice.

Take care.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox

Halloween Diorama

2011-10-09T00:06:00.016+01:00

We have a fabulous line-up at Fashionable Stamping Challenges again this week, where we challenge you to make anything but a card. There is so much scope for this and the fabulous Stampettes have got some amazing inspirational pieces for you to check out.

So what can you make with a canvas and a wooden frame???

A slow reveal - but warning photo overload!!!!!

I have had this piece in my head for months and months just waiting for Halloween to come round and it has also been in the making for weeks and weeks. I would do a bit, think some more, leave it and then come back to it again. I don't know how many times I have done that.

The frame was painted with gesso and stippled to give texture then stamped with 2 different background stamps, one in brown archival ink and the other in black, and then covered with a wash of PaperArtsy metallic glaze.

I used TH tissue tape covered the back edges of the canvas. The stamp is from Crafty Individuals - thanks Lucy for letting me ink it up.

After painting the image with DIs, I covered the bird with glossy accents.

So you can see I am using the back of the canvas to give me some 3D space.

It's been great fun collecting all the pieces and then putting it together. It looks a bit different now Shirley from when you last saw it.

Hand made labels, alcohol inks, beads and BBQ ash all make up the apothecary bottles.

The labels are available from one of my posts HERE.

The spider and web are from a Halloween party spider web pack.

You can see that my melt pot and beeswax came out for this project - dripping wax over the cork stopper and letting it drip down the sides of the bottles.

The shiny skull is a valve cap!

Can you start to see what I have made?

Some jewellery, Charlotte doll mould, pumpkin and mushroom add to the overall effect. As does the skull and rose ring that I got from a car-boot sale recently.

The old watch was also from a car-boot and the bugs are off of necklaces bought from Primark in their sale at the end of the summer.

I am really pleased with this 3D diorama and will hang it in my hall for Halloween. Sarah at La-De-Dah is a talented and inspirational artist and hosts My Mojo Monthly - so this month I thought I would show this piece and I thought I would enter it and see if it is eligible for her creative surfaces focus, although it's not a book cover, so probably not - but please let me know Sarah.

So go take a look at what prize is on offer at The Fashionable Stamping Challenge blog and I look forward to seeing your creations over there.

If you are making a Halloween card, tag or project, please link it to my Halloween Printables post HERE.

I am making some Halloween tags and will give one away on the 1st November.

I thought I would enter this into these challenges -
Crafty Individuals - Winged things
Happy Daze - Christmas or Halloween
Tando Creative - Spooktastic
Delightful Challenges - Make it dimensional
City Crafter - Going 3D

Happy Sunday to you all and thanks for stopping by to take a look at my creation.

luv and hugs {brenda} xoxox