DB card challenge

I go to a craft group once a month and last month we were issued with different challenges.  Someone had mentioned Dawn Bibby card kits and I said I had 2 that I couldn't even sell on ebay.  So my challenge was to make 3 cards using DB stuff  :-/  On the one with the die-cut flowers I did cover up part of the printed image by adding some contrasting paper at the bottom.   I've used some paper lace which I coloured to tie in with the colour scheme and layered some of the die-cut flowers (I think they look quite nice actually).  For the one with the heart edge I cut out some hearts from some felting I did some time ago and added the bugle beads, they hearts were too big so I kept snip snipping away and now the bottom one is a bit too small I think but hey ho.  I've used some more paper lace down the side but left it white.   After posting I decided I wasn't happy at all with the 3rd one, so am going to do another one before the group meets this Thursday
xx

Susie + Vilkki's Christmas Club

Yahoo, I made it into the top 3 of Susie + Vilkki's Chrimstas Club for last week's 'Oh Christmas Tree' challenge.  If you want to get a head start on your Christmas cards this year head over there and join in - great if you're needing a bit of inspiration too ;)

xx

Susie + Vikki's Christmas Club - Oh Christmas Tree

The theme for this week's Christmas Club here is Oh Christmas Tree.  Only just managed to blog in time 'cos it'll be a new theme tomorrow ;)

 The bacground paper is by Craft Creations.  I've used Tim's trees stamp and flourish from the Reindeer Flight set  and cut the snowflakes with the Robo ;) Thanks for looking :)

Ooh an Award - yippee

Thank you so much to the lovely Pam a fellow WOYWWer for this award.  I always had problems passing awards on (you'd think I got them all the time LOL) but now thanks to being a member of the WOYWW cult I have more peeps to choose from ;) I have to tell you 10 things that make me happy and pass on the award to 5 blogging friends.  So in no particular order 10 things that make me happy:
1. Grandkids
2. Dancing
3. Crafting and generally messing about with my stash
4. Sunny days
5. Family
6. Cake
7. Friends
8. Holidays
9. Being part of the WOYWW cult following
10. Life

I'm passing this on to Susie for being so friendly, Linda 'cos I love her art and she makes me laugh, Hels 'cos I love her art, Chris for being so friendly and my pal Barbara just because :)

WOYWW

Wednesday already!  So time for WOYWW.  To find out more pop over to Julia's blog it's all good fun.  My desk is tidy today as I'm getting ready to do some sewing this week; I'll be using the kitchen table for that.   Most of the stuff on there today, lives there.  If you popped over last week you may remember a wire fram for a chair I was going to make for my birdie, but it wasn't suitable.  However I decided I'd continue with the chair as I'm sure I'll make a doll at some point to sit on it.  The thing with the pink fabric is said chair.  Come one, join in with WOYWW, don't be shy ;)

Sunday Stampers 90 - Roses

I've managed to get my challenge piece done early this week for the Sunday Stampers challenge over at Hels place.  Basically you can do anything you like so long as you include some stamping; so plenty of scope :)  You really should visit Hels blog though as she does make wonderful art work - it's yummy scrummy ;) I've done another box frame (made one last week also).  Again it's a cheap canvas from The Works which I've turned round.  I cut a frame ,larger than the original, out of Grungepaper and painted it with Lumiere Metallic Gold, it was too pale and uninteresting so crackelled it but there was too much white in then so used metallic rub-ons and then some Pearl Violet paint by Lumiere.  I've added some gold netting which I've painted, 3 Grungepaper roses and a Grungeboard butterfly - I've used a Grungeboard hinge for the body.  The canvas has been coloured with mica powders and stamped with a couple of Tim's stamps.

Thank you for looking :) xx

Sunday Stampers 89 - Hearts

The theme for this weeks Sunday Stampers over at Hels place is 'Hearts'.  I've used a small canvas (4 for 'very cheap' at The Works) but turned it over to make a shadow box?  I've used mica powders on the canvas then stamped using the 'Treasured Heart' set from 'The Stamp Bug'.  For the frame I used UTE then stamped into it and used a bit of Metallic Rub-Ons. The little dolly is the Small Pierrot Paper Doll by Invoke Arts stamped onto shrink plastic.

Thank you for looking :)
Have had to edit this thanks to Hels comment.  I had put UHT but meant UTE - senior moment methinks hehehe BTW dolly is hanging by invisible sewing thread.

Susie + Vikki's Christmas Club

The theme for the Christmas Club this week is 'Non Traditional Christmas'. I've chosen a pink and brown colour scheme for my card. The 'Snow' is a Robo file by Sharon Long.
Thanks for looking :)

WOYWW IIWA? IIFA?

Well yes, it IS Wednesday already and it IS February already ;) So being Wed it's time for WOYWW, check out Julia's blog to find out what it's about! Mine's a mess this week. I haven't done much cardmaking lately (have a look at previous post to see just what I have been doing) There are 3 sets of Promarkers, waiting for a bigger home, which I bought at the Stitch & Creative Craft show in Manchester on Saturday. I was going to make a chair for my birdie (see prev post) but couldn't get the bird to stay stable on it, that's why there are 2 pairs of pliers and a pair of wire cutters on the desk. You can just make out the metal frame for the chair far left towards the back. Also on the desk is felt which I used to cover the base for the bird and some shimmery fabric which I used on his wings. Plus 2 unfinished art dolls. The holiday brochure is just to keep the cutting mat clean :) The shelves are directly above my desk and I decided to show them in all their glory - not! - that includes the top which houses cuttings of 2 types of aloe plants, the Pegasus/Unicorn I made for my granddaughter ( he's waiting to have some operation on his legs to enable him to keep upright hehe) one of those mannequin thingys waiting to be made over, and 2 paper cutters, only one of which actually gets used now (I also have one upstairs that is redundant and a small one too). there's a set of drawers under the desk and a small filing cabinet next to the desk whereon sits my TV. I also have bookshelves behind me and 2 sets of plastic drawers; which live in the understairs cupboard; for storage.

Thanks for looking :)

My latest creation

This little birdie is my latest creation. After making one a few months ago I decided to do another 'cos the basic bird is very easy to construct and is something I can do from scratch - no using other peeps patterns ;) I do want to try to create my own cloth doll, but as I'm no artist even doing the basic pattern is going to be a challenge! I've used a little glass pot which I've weighted and covered with felt and embellished. This is to enable him to stand. I've attached a piece of wire across his foot and through the lid, plus a bit of glue under his foot. The eyes are paper flowers with a sequin and bead. I've used rolled up felt for his beak and metal charms and wire for his headdress.

Thanks for looking :)

Susie & Vikki's Christmas Club - Gingerbread

The theme for this week for the CC is Gingerbread. As I had nothing gingerbready I cut out my own gingerbread 'person' hehe - don't want to offend the PC police ;)

Thanks for looking ;)

Sunday Stampers 88 - Squares

My entry for this weeks SS over at Hels' place is a card. The theme this week is 'Squares'. I've used squares of paper/card as layers including a scalloped square and square buttons as embellies. I also made a square stencil on the Robo to ink through to create the background on the card.

Thanks for looking ;)

WOYWW?

Time for WOYWW again. If you'd like to know more pop over to Julia's blog to find out. It's all good fun :) Mine's quite tidy this week, but it never gets tidied completely! Nothing exciting on there but I did sort out all the offcuts that were on top of the AG box - though there are now some Robo diecuts on top of it'

Edited to show the 'silly hat'. As you can see Linda, no it's not just you wearing the silly hat LOL

WOYWW?

Well what is on your workdesk this Wednesday? If you'd like to show find out about it on Julia's blog :) Nothing much has moved on mine since last week. The large storage box was on the floor but had to be moved when I had to clean said floor - yikes! Not one of my fave jobs but sometimes it has to be done! As it involved moving more than one item in order to put the box in it's rightful place I settled for putting on the desk as there was a clear space at the time :) Though the bag wasn't on my regular workdesk it was on my sometime workdesk AKA the kitchen table, which I use when I'm sewing. I made 2 music bags for my grandkids as we'd been using a plastic wallet to carry the music books. My granddaughter, Robyn, wanted a 'proper' bag after seeing her friend's. The sparkly foil is actually pink but looks orange here :-/ The fabric is silver leather-look which I've also used for Lewis. They didn't have any other decent colours in this fabric and I thought he'd like the silver but can't help feeling it looks a bit girly - I have put a skull and crossbones on his though hehe.

I've edited this now to include Lewis's bag as I hadn't previously put the music notes on :)

Christmas Club Challenge - Snow

Susie + Vikki have started a Christmas Club weekly challenge to help us get organised for Christmas :) I'm joining in 'cos I'd already decided to start my cards early this year so hopefully I'll be all done with the cards well before Christmas eve unlike 2009! the theme for this week is 'snow'

Thanks for looking ;)

Sunday Stampers week 87 - Happy Birthday

The theme for the Sunday Stampers challenge this week over at Hels is Happy Birthday. As the challenge has been going for 2 years now Hels is celebrating by giving away some fab candy, kindly donated by Jennie I've used a lovely cupcake image which I've coloured using Promarkers. I used my Cuttlebug 'Mesh' embossing folder on the light green card (if you use the reverse of this it's more like snakeskin).

Thanks for looking :)

WOYWW (What's on your workdesk Wednesday)

It's that day again ;) If you'd like to find out more visit Julia's blog and then join in :) Mine's a complete mess this week :O I've been making Christmas cards - don't normally start them early but as I was still busy on Christmas Eve, which included making a few last minute cards for DD, I decided I'd get the cards out of the way and hopefully can sit with my feet up on Christmas Eve this year :) I've decided to adopt the 'desk bin' though my ice-cream tub bin is unadorned as yet. I usually have a carrier bag over the back of my chair but the bin is much more convenient. You can see I've still got the 'off-cut box' with off-cuts still piled on top; I'm sure I'll get round to sorting them out eventually :-/ The Christmas cards on the desk are waiting for greetings the others I've made so far live in the basket at the back right of the desk where I put finished cards. I thought I'd show one of the stocking cards I've made. It's very simple but of course could be decorated and embellished to within an inch of it's life. I drew the shape myself - 'so what' you may say! Well, I say I cannot draw, except very basic shapes so anything I draw that I think looks reasonable deserves a mention. Hehe. Most of the time when using ribbon I fold it in half and cut at an angle, to give a 'v' shape, which gives a nice finish to the edge of the ribbon I think.
Thanks for looking ;)

Sunday Stampers - 86 + 85

The theme for the Sunday Stampers challenge over at Hel's place is 'Feet'. I've made a card for this. I was a little late with last weeks so am posting it also. The theme was 'Faces' and I decided to use a Plaster of Paris mask I made years ago, but which lay half-forgotten in a box. It had been painted but i didn't like what I'd done so painted over it. It was very difficult to stamp on but I did manage a bit of stamping which turned out ok, and put a mask on but I wasn't happy with it overall. After giving it a couple of coats of gesso and a few coats of paint I decided it may be better to use the napkin decoupage technique. I coloured a paper napkin with Ecoline inks and then stamped and embossed some images. I used Mod Podge gloss to adhere the napkin and also to seal it.

Thanks for looking ;)

Christmas Cards All Year Round

This is the first time I've taken part in this - check here if you'd like to join in :)

I'd already decided to steal a march on Christmas this year - the only other time I've done it is by buying cards in the January sales in the days before I made my own cards ;) Although I'd already made a start on my cards I thought I'd join in here as it's a good way to get ideas if you're stuck!

WOYWW + woyww ;)

Firstly WOYWW check out Julia's blog to find out more and join in - it's good fun :)

On my desk this week is my version of a Viking Cross. I'm a member of York Dolly Birds which is a cloth doll group, we mainly make cloth dolls but do a variety of other stuff too. One of our members works at the Jorvik Viking Centre Museum and as they are celebrating their 25th anniversary this year she thought it would be good if we made items to go on display. I chose to do the cross shown here. I'm showing the 'before' and 'after' though it isn't quite finished as I added new eyes this morning and more beads round the face and have yet to go over them with my silver leaf pen. I'd used silver paint initially but it wasn't silvery enough. Also on my desk is a Plaster of Paris mask I did years ago which has lain half-forgotten in a box. As Hel's Sunday Stampers theme for this week is Faces I thought I'd resurrect it' I didn't like what I'd done yesterday so she's been partly sanded ready to be adorned again. The 'woyww' in the title refers to 'What's Outside Your Window Wednesday' 'cos I thought I'd show you the view of the snow from my desk ;)