MERRY CHRISTMAS

to all my christams crafty friends - i hope you all have a fantastic christmas and wish you all the best for 2012. I will update this blog after the festive season

Its been a while.......

since i last blogged, but yet again family life has taken over. As you know the bramford crop girls do a monthly challenge and this is my take on this months. Janina gave us each 3 wooden tags to decorate. So i painted the house and tree shape, used my papertrey ink stamps on the house, plus the dies that match on the house made star. Made a wreath using a punch and some letter stickers and then joined the pieces together to make a hanging decoration The bramford crop girls are doing a secret Santa so i made a box for a few bits to go in. Plus I'm entering this in the Tando Challenge of BLUE and BROWN, I have used my minds eye papers. simple stories stamp, T/H deer die, papertrey ink flower die and sentiment.

This is the side view

Hope my secret Santa likes her box.

bramford challenge using stampotique and octopede factory stamps

This month Janet gave us 3 house blanks cut from chipboard using the T/H die. I decided to join them together, the lager in the middle and the smaller on either side. The theme of Halloween was picked and this is what i came up with. Blanks were covered in graphic 45 alice in wonderland papers. I then distressed them with old book paper, splashes of dylusions black dye, T/H black and peeled paint distress ink. I used waltzing mouse cameo stamp and pressed into lightweight clay on one of the smaller pieces painted the outside black, and added some crackle glaze and once dry sponged on peeled paint distress ink. Some hanging frames from the new pink paislee stamps and stitched to give dimension. The middle house i stamped my octopede factory stamp on the orange graphic 45 paper and coloured in using colouring pencils and stamped a chandelier at the top the last house i stamped the heads directly on to the paper and when looked at them closely they reminded me of tombstones so i added an RIP to one of them and then made a picket fence with the T/H alterations on the edge die. Tissue tape was used to make the hinges to keep the 3 houses together

bramford crop challenge

this months challenge at the bramford was a small box and a coaster. Janet gave us each a oval box, which i looked at for ages in its naked form and after much deliberation i bravely cut the lid. I wanted it to look like a little treasure box so i painted with fresco paints and crackle paint to give a shabby look. The lid top was also painted and used as the base. it was then stamped with a text stamp and T/H birds. I then stamped the girls in shrink plastic and coloured it in with pencils and whilst shrinking curled the edges. Added shells and a small bottle with the message of 'friends' inside. The coaster was given to each of us by janina, I used scraps of MME papers, lace, formed roses and bling. The cameo i made from super light weight clay, which i stamped a waltzing mouse stamp in. One of there DT had done it and it looked cool so i had to by the stamps and give it a go. The clay took ages to dry, but once dry added it to my coater to give a vintage feel.

another mini book

This is a project i have been working on for a few weeks now and i have only just finished it. Some good friends of ours got married at a local hotel, and although we were not invited to the whole day, we were able to get some out door pics and pics of there evening reception. As a crafter i tend to like making something to that celebrates the occasion rather than handing over a disc of photos. If you look close up you can see that i have used 2 inch scrapbooking rings, and yes i made the book from scratch, using chipboard and MME papers. The stamp is one i bought from the USA ages ago and always comes out for wedding projects.

at least 5 of the pages use base white card and patterned paper over the top. But as you can see, from the next two pics i bought some black envelopes from a large stationers and cut them in half to make pockets for the some of the other photos taken and

added tabs to pull out each section. Of course all the edges of the paper were distressed with Tim Holtz distress ink, and the sewing machine came out. This has worked out well because i was able to add more pictures than i would normally. I have done brag books in the past but you can only put 10 pics in and i had more than 10.

I do hope they like there little memento of there special day.

the crop challege and a day crafting

each month a group of us set ourselves a challenge to make a piece of altered art. The last couple of months carol has given us items to alter, jenga pieces, a domino and a puzzle piece. So this month i gave everyone a 2 inch bottle cap And this is what i have come up with. I don't think its quite finished. The small frame is painted in fresco guacamole, crackle and snow white fresco paint. The crackle gives it a shabby chic look. I also painted my maya rd chipboard dress form and wings in the same way. The text on the frame is a Tim Holtz stamp, the button and saying are from papertrey ink stamp set.
I also attended crop just outside woodbridge today and i enjoyed it. The hall was a really good size so there was plenty of room to spread out and all the girls were very welcoming. I got a page layout done and spent time on this bottle cap piece.

Tando creative challenge

Tando creative have a challenge on there blog and the the theme is GO WILD. My first thought was an animal in a cage, but i had a stampotique stamp i hadn't used and decided to go with the title wild child. The house is from a Tim Holtz die covered in graphic 45 paper, distressed with Tim Holtz black distress ink and mini stamp. I then cut an aperture and snipped with decorative scissors and the cage made from wire my title was made with my dynamo machine and then a bat added to the top of the house. Check out the tando creative blog DT for there take on the challenge.