Craft Barn Alpha Dictionary Challenge 10 ... K is for ...Kimono

When Craft Barn announced next letter in their Challenge was to be K I didn't realise how few words in the dictionary began with K. So I decided to go with K for Kimono, mainly because I had a few stamps and bits and pieces to illustrate this word. When I began looking through my stash I even found a kit I had bought back in 2006 which had instructions on how to paper fold a Kimono!! also in the pack there were some really beautiful strips of Japanese papers which also came in useful. So here is my offering for K is for Kimono: The backgrounds were made with Pan Pastels and Distress inks

On the left hand page there are 3 kimonos ... the top 2 are embossed vellums which I have coloured from behind with oil pastels, the bottom blue one is the 3D paper folded kimono made with Japanese paper, The right hand page I stamped Clarity's geisha girl then masked her while I used a Sweet Poppy stencil and their paste to create the willow tree, when it was dry I rubbed it over with some Creative Expressions Patina Gilding wax. I then stamped the geisha again onto another piece of Japanese paper and just cut out and paper pieced her Kimono.

 

Here you can see a closeup of the 3 kimonos including the bottom one which is 3D paper folded Japanese paper. The second closeup shows the paper pieced Kimono on the Clarity geisha and the stencilled willow tree.

 

Well that's my entry for this fortnight's challenge as they say 'Better late than never'

 

Bye for now I am off to link up with Craft barn Blog and to comment on some of the wonderful entries I have already spotted on there .. Bye for now... Annie x

Zentangle tree and shell

Well have played for a couple of hours, got completely lost in time what an amazing de-stresser. I just picked up a Zentangle book I had lying around for ages and originally I was just going to flick through it but I had to find a pen and paper and 2 hours later I had made this.

I've never been one for doodling but I think it could get addictive

Well that's just a quick post for today going to be playing catchup all evening now !! :)
Bye .. Annie xx

PS. I started this late last night and finished it it this morning while I was waiting for the boys (DH & Jasper ) to get themselves up & ready to go out for walkies ...

You can see I used Clarity shell stamp for inspiration .... it's nowhere near perfect but it gave me a nice round swirly shape to play with. That's it for now ... I have got a million and one things to do now the boys have gone. I'm trying to keep on top of the dreaded housework before the builders start work .... tara for now ... xxxx Annie

Fussy & Fancy Friday Challenge #89 Lace & Pearls

When I saw this theme for this challenge I knew exactly what I wanted to do. Back in January I had seen Kay Halliwell Sutton from Indigo Blu  do a demo with a papier mache mannequin, she was using an old technique used by Victorian ladies.. she put her own spin on it by stamping images onto 3ply mansize paper hankies with pigment inks and then applying just 1ply to the prepared papier mache dummy using her new product Slap it on. This was  quite exciting because it meant you could transfer stamped images onto awkwardly shaped objects. As always I gave in and I had to try it out for myself ..well I was hooked... it was much easier than you might think working with the flimsy 1 ply paper and the Slap it on made the whole process very forgiving ... any creases or bubbles disappeared as it dried, so I had to resist dabbing and overstretching the paper.  My first effort had been a simple coverup job (it's on one of my earlier posts) .. I knew I would want to try it again so I ordered another couple of dummies so this challenge made me get one of the sad little naked brown cardboard bodies out and dress it up. So here she is all dressed up and ready to go ...

To prepare the papier mache  I coated it with white gesso then when it had dried I used a Cosmic Shimmer Mister to spray it a delicate pearl pink. While it was drying I stamped several different lace stamps onto 3ply mansize tissues with versafine black ink, then I cut through the 3 layers of paper as close to image as possible then removed just the top layer as I needed them. I put some Slap it on just in the area I was going to put my image and placed the stamped image gently into place easing it with my brush, then I put another coat of Slap it on over it ... just kept repeating with each image until I had covered the whole dummy and gave it one final coat.

The dummy comes with a leg and base, I found an old wooden spool that had some ribbon on it so I slid that onto the stick for extra weight. Then the fun bit making the flowers ... I love making them with coredinations card and sanding them back to uncover the inside colour. I added some self adhesive pearl swirls to keep up the theme and there she was ... ready to face the world.

DH said it reminded him of a certain type of ladies boudoir ... when I asked how he would know about such ladies boudoirs he said he'd seen them on tv ...Lol :)  well I just hope he doesn't catch a cold before I do my next shop because I have used up all the paper tissues :)

Well that's all for now ... I hope you enjoy this challenge as much as I have, looking forward to seeing your ideas

Bye Annie xxx

Indigoblu Forever 21 Challenge #3 ...Flowers

Well here I am again posting at the last minute, I suddenly realised we were half way through May and the challenge date  deadline is 20th May. the choice of flower tamp was easy because Indigoblu Blazing Poppies is my all time favourite flower stamp. So here it is I wanted to keep it simple because the stamp is so delicate and feminine....

Having stamped the Blazing Poppies I die cut it with labels 28 and then cut a mat in brushed silver with Spellbinders Enchanted Labels 28 . I used 'Itsy Bitsy' backgound stamp and a dragonfly stamp with Tattered Rose distress ink, I also used 'Square Peg Round hole' background stamp with bundled sage ink but because I used second generation ink in doesn't show up very well in the photo.
Well I had better get a wiggle on and get myself linked up to Indigoblu challenge blog ... it is so worth taking part as there are stamp plates for the winner.

Before I finish this post I must add that this card was inspired by Jo Rice's work, thanks, Jo you are always so generous and supportive

Bye for now xxx Annie

My Boy is 50 today :)

Can't believe where the years have gone, my eldest son had his 50th birthday today ...Happy Birthday Mark xxx this is the card I made for him ... I used Sue Wilson's brushed gold but it doesn't show up very well in the photo...

 He likes to know how things work so when I saw this Orrery stamp as a freebie on Creativity mag a few month's ago I knew what I was going to do... except I put it away in a safe place and couldn't remember where it was, I was at the point where I was going to ask my lovely Sis if I could borrow hers when it turned up in the most unlikely place when I was looking for something else ... I'm sure there is a Black Hole in this house where things disappear ..usually one of a pair of socks, even crafty things)

My sister sent me a copy of an insert she had designed when she used the same stamp, I was so grateful because although I love making cards I am terrible when it comes to making inserts ..you can imagine what I'm like when it comes to making Christmas cards and I've left the inserts until the last minute. Anyway Sue saved the day this time, it is perfect for my card , I just had to add my sentiment..here it is:

Thanks for that Sue. xx

Well that's all from me for today it's well past my bedtime .. and two posts in one day ...that's unheard of from me
Nite nite xx Annie
Nite, nite

Clarity Challenge #3.. 'It's all in the sentiment'

Well it's been dreadful day here today more like Autumn than Spring ... so what to do??? no problem...Craft of course!!

I have been thinking about this new Clarity challenge as always but I kept changing my mind over which sentiment to use, trouble is I have so many favourites. I love the Clarity daydreamer stamp and when I read the words of 'Lilt of the water' again I just knew I needed to put them together and here's the result:

 

 

I wanted to keep it simple... I made the reflection of the daydreamer first by stamping it onto my Splodgemat with denim Adirondack carefully transferred the image onto a sheet of Theuva card..(it came out a bit bubbly but as it was going to be covered with water so I let it pass). I then turned card round and lined up the Daydreamer and stamped with black versafine ink. Having made an oval mask I used the negative part to build the scene through, Clarity's new masks are great for creating clouds, and the water was created using my brayer and crumpled copier paper. Next I masked my scene with the oval cutout and continued the clouds over the rest of the card using the more muted cloudy blue adirondack. I stamped my sentiment, the way it was designed made it easy to sit it against the side of my oval.

 

I tried my finished topper on various mounts and cards and finally decided to make my own background & card using my Waterfall Big & Juicy pad and the crumpled copier paper again. 

 

Right I'm off to link up with the Clarity Challenge blog ... there's a £50 Clarity voucher for the winner so well worth giving it a go :)

 

Bye for now xx Annie

 

Craft Barn alpha Dictionary Challenge #9 A is for Arches....and me

Hey I was up early this morning with Jasper our Lab and while he was doing what dog's do... I was having a coffee and mooching around the computer and found the new Craft Barn alpha -dictionary challenge for this fortnight .... A is for.... Arches. I chose this because I recently bought Sheena Douglass' beautiful Arches stamp.

Background was made using Vintage photo, Rusty hinge, Wild honey and Barn door distress inks smudged randomly then I stamped my arches on with versafine ink... a wet brush was then used  to take out some of the colour in lines .. when blotted with kitchen towel it hopefully gives the effect of light coming in through left hand window. words, ancient, atmospheric & arches were added freehand.

I had to think a bit harder about the second page, and as I was hoovering I remembered some photos I had taken of two bridges  within 5 minutes walk of where I live. The most famous one is Thomas Telford's Menai Suspension Bridge built in 1826 it connects the island of Anglesey with mainland Wales , and the second one is Robert Stephenson's Britannia Bridge, originally when it was built in 1845 to carry trains it was just a tube supported by pillars but after a fire in 1970's they added a new roadway and  the arches to support it.

Choosing a song title for this page was difficult only one I could think of was 'Underneath the Arches' an old 1940's song , I can just vaguely remember Flanagan & Allen singing it. When I googled for other suitable songs this was the one that came out first so I went with it.

Just realised as I came to close this post A is also for ... me.... Annie, Bye xxx