I'M HERE AGAIN

I suppose you have been wandering what has happened to me, on the other hand maybe you haven't lol:). I have been leaving the occasional comment on blogs but I have been so lacking in time I haven't done much in the way of crafting either. Next week is going to be worse as I am scheduled to work 3 full days reception class teacher is on a course so yours trully is covering for her, all good fun.
I managed to make these 5 ATC's for a swap on Chrissy Rollins ATC Club. You make 5, keep one and send in the other 4, this months theme was "Vintage". I have also managed to prepare my pages for the Art Calendar organised by the very talented Kate (The Kathryn Wheel). You can see the colours I have chosen but I have yet to put it all together, so pages maybe posted later today.

Fun with ATC's Challenge 7

Over on Fun with ATC's the challenge is to follow a sketch which hopefully I have. I covered an ATC card with Versa Magic chalk ink Spring Pansy and Aquatic Splash, I attached a piece of floral paper which I distressed around the edge and inked with DI Victorian Velvet. There are 2 pieces of green ribbon top and bottom, cut a wide border with a MS punch and the circle with another punch. The Spring Flower people are from another Stampotique Original, I threaded their sticks through fine wire which I curled around a needle to look like springs. The final addition is 3 tiny flower buttons. I have called this ATC "Spring Flowers".

WOYWW revelation time

I abandoned my work desk again last night, I had promised myself an early night and realised that if I didn't get up and walk away it wasn't going to happen, so this morning it was all still there no fairy came to tidy up. There are 2 or 3 projects on my table today, an A4 art journal with a double spread I was finishing off. Dyan at AFTH gave me the letter Q to do a page around that. I find that my DH is always asking questions, it drives me insane, why, when, where, who etc so my page is based on that. Is this a "man thing"? You can also see an ATC which I am doing for a challenge based on my fave Stampotiques. There are some pages there belonging to another art journal, when ever I spray using stencils instead of washing the stencils I place them on to an empty Gesso page to use up the ink, colour wash, Crafty Notions or whatever this way nothing is wasted and I have some backgrounds ready to use in my journals. Well now I'm off to look at everyones desks and see what they reveal today.

Another Challenge

This week over on Quirky Crafts the challenge is a "sketch" which you have to keep to as near as possible. My entry is a card which could be used for Fathers Day. I used Black Market Paper Society papers from the Craft Den which I grunged up a little and edged everything with DI Walnut Stain. The two images of course are Stampotique Originals which I stamped, coloured and cut out, then edged them with a black Sharpie to make them pop. Around the edge of the circle I have used Tim,s gurnge letters coloured with a silver Dabber and edged again with a Sharpie. The sentiment is one from Tim's Idea-ology "Journey" which I thought represented a journey through life, for the son, with Dad, deep thinking there LOL :) The whole is mounted on black card, I have used all the elements required in the sketch.

A SECOND FOR SCD

I have just made this ATC for SCD challenge week 46. This is the second one I have done for this challenge, I could not resist the quote but it also fits perfectly with the letter "B" which Ang chose for this weeks challenge. I painted an ATC white card with yellow dabbers, edged in brown which also meets the challenge. I tore a piece of my button paper edged in brown again, printed out the quote on yellow paper and edged that in brown too, attached everything to the card adding small buttons between the wording.

Something Completely Different Wk 46

There is a new challenge over on Something Completely Different, one of the design team Ang has chosen the letter "B". My entry is an ATC with the letter B in the foreground and the words Breathe and Believe around the edge. I used Distress Inks to colour the background before stamping and for the stamping I used Archival Coffee. Using my Crop-a Dile I punched a hole and inserted a square eyelet then threaded one of Tim's idea-ology charms with the word "Breathe". I actually made this for my son who is into some type of alternative medicine involving "Breath work" and I always make a copy of all my ATC's so this one is mine and I thought it was appropriate for the challenge.

A Gorjuss Birthday Card

This is a card (not my usual style) I made for Jill a lovely lady who comes to the Craft Den workshops. It's Jill's birthday on Friday but she doesn't have a blog and doesn't see our blogs so I am quite safe posting it today. I made the card from a kit "3D Die-Cut Decoupage" featuring the Gorjuss girls. I normally don't do this type of card but the colours appealed to me and when I saw a couple that Lynne, who owns Craft Den, had done I just had to buy it. I did use some of my own embellishments, the flower is a Stitchel Shabby from the Artistic Stamper, I added a piece of lace and the Happy Birthday motif is one from Craft Work Cards which I mounted on to a scalloped piece of black card cut on the Cuttlebug using Nestabilities Scalloped circles. I mounted all of it on to black card cut to A5 size, I decorated the inside too but forgot to take a photo,doh!!!!

Sunday Stamper Challenge

I have not entered the Sunday Stamper Challenge before today, always meant to but ran out of time for various reasons. This challenge is hosted by Hels over on "Inky Fingers", she seems to always have a song as the theme and this week it is Lace. Here is my very grungy entry a card I made using a Stampotique Original "the Leopard Queen" which really lends itself to grunge. On her spots I have used a black and pearl Viva pen, stickles on the edges of the flower, grunged up the lace with walnut DI. The circles I cut using the Nestabilities on the Cuttlebug and the wording is from a 7Gypsies stamp. I have torn and distressed all the edges of the papers using Tim's little distressing tool, it must have a special name but I don't know it. The whole is mounted on to black card. It's not everyone's style but I really like it.

WOYWW 7TH APRIL

OMG doesn't time fly we are into April and it is Wednesday again. Here's my desk this week not very tidy for me but I was working on a couple of cards last night and need to finish them this morning so why put things away. Right, on my desk are the 2 cards I have been making. There are some jars of Moon Glow Starburst Stains, a friend lent me these to try before dashing out to spend more money when I may not like them but yes they are very good and can be used in allsorts of ways. There are a couple of jars of Gesso which I have been using on my journal pages before painting them. I have a Dymo on my desk (table) which is really useful for words on ATC's, journal pages, cards etc. I have a "thingy" by Tim Holtz which I have had for years and have never used before until last night when I was making a very grungy card and needed to distress my papers. It's a wonderful tool and well worth having. The rest I think you are able to work out for yourselves. I would put a link here to the lovely Julia, for those who wish to join in, but I don't know how lol:).

Whatever

The challenge this week over on Something Completely Different is the letter "W" to interpret how you wish. My "W" is in the word Whatever, all the stamps are from Stampotique Originals apart from the arrow which is a Bo Bunny. I mounted a piece of spotty My Minds Eye paper on to white card, cut a smaller piece of white card which I coloured using DI's and sprayed with water, attached this to the card by machine stitching in white. The image was stamped on to a piece of card I coloured using Old Paper DI and painted over with Moon Glow's Starburst Stains which has given it an iridescent look. The word was stamped on to the same card but cut out using a Nestabilities label and mounted with foam pads. I stamped the "bla bla"using black Archival, the arrow too.

A Tag Box

I saw this cute chip board box by Kaiser Crafts and just had to have it. It holds standard size tags. Before assembling I gessoed the whole box, painted the inside with Claudine's Traditional Tan and the outside with her Charcoal Black. I then put it all together and covered the outside panels with Graphic 45 papers, and made a round tag using one of my round Nestabilities and the label from another Nestabilities. I stamped the word Tagz supplementing the S for a Z not a spelling mistake lol:)

April at last

Here they are my April pages for the Art Calendar challenge, better late than never. I finished it just before midnight last night and my March completed pages will be on Flickr later when my Grand-daughter gets out of bed and will up load it for me. My April pages have the theme "April in Paris" and "Rain drops keep falling on my head" which is a French song and also relates to "April Showers" which I hope we don't have too many of. Using a white Ink Essentials pen I have drawn rain drops between my squares and over Tim's little man with brolly.

At Last

At last I have got round to posting my March pages of Kate's Art Calendar challenge. I don't know what happened to me this month as I forgot to prepare my April pages and then forgot to post this at the appropriate time. I think I have had too much on in March plus I have had 2 terrible bad colds which is unlike the very fit and healthy me. I have nearly finished my April pages just need to stick the squares on etc which hopefully I will do today.

Art Journal Circle

I am a member of a group at AFTH who have organised a Circle Journal so far there are 12 of us. We were all given a journal by Dyan and are resposible for completing a double page spread in our own journal, decorating the front cover, the inside page with name and snail mail addy and the back page is organised for each person to sign and date as the pages are completed. There is no theme we can do whatever. Here are 2 pages I have done in Olive's and Clare's journals so you 2 look away now.