Another great Blog Girl Day at Sir Stampalot

This was our third get-together, and it was lovely to see some familiar faces again and some new ones too, especially Lisa Jane, who I'd been looking forward to meeting for ages. As usual, Brenda and Chris had designed some beautiful projects for us to make, and not only that but they had each made us little gifts. A wallet filled with flowers from Brenda, and a butterfly bookmark from Chris. Thanks, both of you, they are gorgeous! Here they are.

Our first make of the day was a twisted easel card, by Chris. I'd never made a twisted easel before, so I was really pleased to learn how to do it. Next was a card by Brenda, featuring a Penny Black stamp (which was the first thing into my shopping basket!) and a flower (made with Tim Holtz Tattered Floral dies) dipped in UTEE using a Meltpot. A fabulous effect, but I don't think I'll be buying a Meltpot. Sally & I reckoned that we could do it by melting some UTEE in a tinfoil dish with a heatgun. Haven't tried it yet, but I'll let you know if it works when I get round to it!

Once again, Brenda and Chris co-ordinated a delicious lunch, to which we all contributed, but the highlight of it had to be Chris's amazing raspberry cheesecake, which didn't last very long!

Hunger pangs banished, we went back to work on two more pretty cards (which I've yet to finish off), and finally a delightful little divided box designed by Chris for holding stamped images waiting to be used, or paper snippets, or recipes, or photos, etc etc. Chris had put Molly Bloom on the front of hers, but not being a fan of cute characters I decided to be different and have a butterfly on mine instead. We made the flowers with the Cuttlebug quilling dies, which are good but very expensive! (They didn't make it into my shopping basket!) A Marianne swirl die completed the decoration.

The day flew by, but we managed to save a bit of time for some retail therapy at the end! Huge thanks to Brenda and Chris (and Janice and Andy) for another fantastic Blog Girl Day. Can't wait for the next one!



Focusing on the sentiment

Week 10 already of the Less is More Challenge, and this time they would like to see one layer cards with the focus on the sentiment. Having just taken delivery of the brand new Teeny Weeny Meadow stamp set from Chocolate Baroque, I couldn't wait to start inking it up and soon found a suitable sentiment to go with a tree from the set.

The sentiment is from the Tall Trees set by Elusive Images (now Chocolate Baroque). One of the tall trees in the set has a mini counterpart in the Teeny Weeny Meadow set, and I thought I'd make another version of the card using that one. I can't decide which one I like best! Good challenge this week. I might be tempted to have another go at the theme.

It's been a great weekend. Yesterday Sally, her daughter Megan and I went to Sir Stampalot for another fantastic Blog Girl get-together. It was a brilliant day. I'll be back later to tell you all about it!

Deja Vu!

This is a photo I took seven years ago, in Cumbria, just up the road from where my daughter used to live. It was early in the morning, the sun was just rising, and a flock of sparrows alighted in the brambles for a breakfast conference. They sat there obligingly while I took the picture and then flew away again.

Earlier this year, Paper Artsy released their Hot Picks 1005 stamp set. Click on the link and you'll see why I had to buy it! Got it on Saturday at Sir Stampalot. Here's what I made with it today.

I coloured a background with Distress inks, then stamped the birds in black Brilliance and clear embossed. The flourish at the top is also from the Paper Artsy set. The chipboard twigs and leaves are from Crafty Individuals. Again, coloured with Distress inks, as are the additional punched leaves.. To make the tag, I stamped just the outer border from a Hero Arts ticket stamp on to the back of a Making Memories ticket, then stamped the Paper Artsy "Secret Garden" inside the border. Just a bit too late for all the recent "Autumn" themed challenges!

Another fab Blog Girl Day!

Today saw our second "Blog Girl Day" at Sir Stampalot. We had a great time, great company , had a good natter, a yummy lunch, and even made some cards! Just wanted to say a huge thank you to Brenda and Chris for organising the day and designing some gorgeous projects for us to make. Also to Janice and Andy for hosting us, and keeping the shop open for the necessary retail therapy afterwards!

Here's what we made (my versions of Brenda's and Chris's designs). The first two cards were designed by Chris. I admired her pink and bling bauble card when I first saw it on her blog, so I was delighted that she showed us how to make it today. And I love the little step card with the tipsy Christmas trees!

Brenda's creations were equally gorgeous, and both shiny, so unfortunately they haven't photographed very well. The first one uses layers of stamping over a Distress Ink and Glimmer Mist background. The second was made on acetate, with leaves stamped on top using black Staz-on ink, and the reverse coloured with alcohol inks. It was then backed with text torn from a book and crumpled tin foil. The effect of the foil is amazing, and the photo really does not do it justice.

The book chosen for the text caused some hilarity, being a rather seedy crime novel! We had to be very selective about which pages we used! But the end result was very effective. I was proud of the fact that I managed to complete all four cards, unlike the previous time when I didn't actually get any finished on the day.

Anyway, thanks again, everyone, for a really lovely day. Looking forward to the next one!

New Stash

Here's a card using a stamp I bought when we went to Sir Stampalot last weekend. It's one of this year's new ones by Hero Arts. I've had the Basic Grey "Stella Ruby" paper (now discontinued, unfortunately) for some time and had been looking for a suitable stamp to go with it. This one was perfect. The card is for my sister-in-law. I wanted the image to be the focal point, but also wanted the background paper to show as much as possible, so I've kept it quite simple; watercolour pencil on the dresses, Martha Stewart punch down the side, a few buttons from my button box, a bit of ribbon (also from Sir S), but I think she'll like it.

Brilliant Day!

Well, the day finally arrived, and Sally, Megan and I set off to Sir Stampalot for our eagerly anticipated Blog Girl Get-together. It was lovely to be able to put faces to names (and blogs!) and spend the whole day playing, although with all the talking and laughing going on, not to mention eating (at lunchtime a delicious buffet appeared as if by magic!) some of us didn't get quite as much crafting done as we might have!

Brenda and Chris had prepared some wonderful projects for us to make, and since we wanted to try as much as possible, many of them were started and then put carefully aside to finish off at home. Chris's first demo was a really neat little album for recipes, photos, etc, with mini envelopes for pockets, then Brenda showed us how to make a lovely book/album using a new Sizzix Bigz Pro die using distressing and resist techniques. Other projects used brayering, masking and decoupage. I have yet to complete my little photo album, but have just finished the book.

(I used Distress Inks, and stamps by Hero Arts, Penny Black, Magenta, Inkadinakdo, and Crafty Individuals. The flourishes were cut with a die by Marianne Design.)

It was a very warm day, but the atmosphere of fun and camaraderie was even warmer. So to Brenda, Chris, Jules, Linda, Hayley, Rosie, Amanda, Sally and Megan, thanks for your company, and I hope you all enjoyed the day as much as I did. Thanks also to Janice and Andy for keeping the shop open for us to indulge in some retail therapy afterwards (not to mention during as well!) to everyone who contributed to lunch (Jules's heart shaped cheese scones were just to die for!) and huge thanks to Brenda and Chris for teaching us some gorgeous projects and for all their hard work which made the day such a success. Here's to the next time!

Butterflies and Blossoms 2

I've been wanting to make an exploding box for ages. I got as far as making the box and decorating the outside a while ago, but never finished the inside. Anyway, finding myself with some time when for once I had nothing I needed to do and nowhere I needed to go, I set to work and completed it. And since I had always intended it to be on my favourite theme of butterflies and flowers, and since the Sir Stampalot Challenge this month is just that, and since the challenge allows two entries as long as they are different types, I'm entering it along with the card I made earlier!

Here's the closed box. The papers and butterflies are from the Artylicious Butterfly Bliss CD, with Prima flowers.

Inside there are three layers. The square printed pictures are from Crafty Individuals, stamps also by Crafty Individuals along with Cherry Pie and Art Impressions. Other decorations include stickers, more Prima flowers and text printed from my computer.

Looking down on the inner layer:

Middle layer:

And finally the outer layer:

I've really enjoyed this challenge, and all the other entries I've looked at so far are gorgeous. Of course, I know we wouldn't want the butterfly theme every month, but...... maybe every few months?? ;-)

Butterflies and Blossoms, and my favourite things!

Well, some of my favourite things! The Sir Stampalot Challenge for May is right up my street, as is the prize! Butterflies and/or blossoms tend to appear on most of my cards, and anything by Tim Holtz would find a good home in my craft room, so this is one challenge I couldn't miss.

The only materials I've used for this card are paper and one shade of ink. Having finally managed to get my hands on some of the new Distress inks, I think Chipped Sapphire is going to become my favourite colour. More of a purply-blue than the denim of Faded Jeans, and just what I was hoping there would be in the new range. The flower stamp is an old favourite, by Funstamps. I've had it for years but use it often, as it's so pretty and versatile. Here I've used a favourite technique to colour it. I'm not sure what it's really called, but I call it the magic painting technique, because it reminds me of those children's painting books which appear to have blank pages until you paint over them with plain water, and the picture magically appears. I used to love them when I was a child (and confess I still do!).

I stamped the image with Chipped Sapphire, and then, with a fine paint brush and clean water, drew out some of the colour from the outline to shade it in. By using more or less water and blotting areas you want to be paler, it's possible to vary the depth of colour. When I've used this technique before, I've always done it with Adirondack rainbow inkpads, and this is the first time I've tried it with a single colour, but I really like the result. The Distress ink works perfectly for it. And to think that when Distress inks first came out, I didn't see what all the fuss was about! Now I wouldn't be without them.

The background stamp is Dots & Flowers by Hero Arts, the sentiment by Darkroom Door, the circle and oval shapes were cut with my Nestabilities and the butterflies were punched from paper coloured with the Chipped Sapphire ink. The overall effect reminds me of Delft Pottery. And, of course, blue and white is one of my favourite colour combinations.

Sir Stampalot new Challenge Blog!

Sir Stampalot has a fantastic new Challenge Blog, with monthly challenges beginning on 1st April. They have a very talented Design Team, and it all sounds as though it's going to be great fun, so click the link on my sidebar to hop over and have a look.

A lovely day out

Yesterday Sally took me for a ride in her new car, destination Peterborough, so we could visit Sir Stampalot's new premises. We met up with Brenda there and had a nice cup of tea and some of Sally's delicious Bran Loaf while we admired the spacious new shop. It was lovely to see Brenda again & chat to her and Janice. Naturally we took the opportunity to spend some money, with some of the gorgeous new Penny Black and Hero Arts stamps being top of my list.

I intended to put them to use today, but in trying to decide where in my crowded craft room to accommodate them, I got sidetracked into re-organising my storage, a job certainly long overdue! I'm still in the process, and it's likely to take me a while longer yet, but hopefully when I've finished I'll actually be able to find things when I want them!

I have a (very!) large number of wood mounted stamps, some of which I've had for many years. A lot haven't been used for a long time, some of them because my style has changed over the years and they no longer suit what I do. They have now been put in a box for sale. (If anyone is  interested in them (Nottingham area), email me for details via the address in my profile!). Others don't get used because they are put away in drawers in another room, and since they're not to hand where I work I tend to forget about them. So I'm going through them and unmounting the ones I really want to use again. It's like rediscovering old friends!

I may not have any pictures to post for a few days (and apologies if I don't get round to looking at everyone's blogs), but I'm hoping that once I've got everything sorted it will give me some fresh inspiration. That's the theory anyway!

Sir Stampalot Special Challenge

Here is my entry for the Sir Stampalot Special Challenge, hosted by Brenda. The challenge is to celebrate Sir Stampalot's relocation to new premises, and so the theme is "Moving", which is open to interpretation.

My card has two "moving" elements. Firstly, the main flower picture has been moved from its original location by image transfer, and secondly, inside the card there is a pop-up.

For the image transfer I used one of my own photos. With my graphics programme I altered the colour and toned down the background, and then printed it out on to photo-quality inkjet paper to give a good clear print. I'd never tried image transfer before, so I followed the instuctions given in the February 2010 issue of Craft Stamper. I did the acrylic paint method, which was very easy and worked a treat. One might ask why I didn't just use the original photo! Well, I wanted to try image transfer, and also I wanted the softer look which the method provides. And, of course, it was a way of interpreting the theme. I was very pleased with the result.

The background was splattered with ink and stamped with a flourish by Crafty Individuals. A Hero Arts butterfly and word by Inkadinkado completed the front of the card. Inside I used the Hero Arts Dandelion frame, more Hero Arts butterflies, grasses by Elusive Images from Graphicus and a sentiment stamp which I've had so long I can't remember who it's by!

Paper Roses

Yes, I know, I should be making Christmas cards, but after seeing Brenda demonstrate her beautiful paper roses at the Sir Stampalot Demo Day on Saturday, I just had to have a go at making some for myself. I bought the required 1" flower punch at the demo, and made a couple with that. Then I remembered that I already had the matching tiny one, so I made a tiny rose too.

I couldn't resist buying another Sarah Kay stamp, and thought that she and the roses would go well together. The tiny rose became a perfect decoration for her hat. She seemed to be looking for something, and just then a butterfly alighted close by. I coloured Sarah and the butterfly with Promarkers. A few leaves and star flowers completed the picture. The background paper is by Papermania, and the butterfly is from Craftwork Cards.

Anyway, must go. Got an owl to shrink......

A great day out

Well, Sally and I had a brilliant time at the Sir Stampalot Demo Day. There were seven very talented ladies demonstrating various techniques, including our dear blog friend Brenda. It was so lovely to meet her face to face and have a chat. Brenda was showing us how to make the most beautiful paper roses, using punches. Have a look at the gorgeous samples on her blog, though I have to say the photos most certainly don't do them justice.

After watching the demos, we went round the shop for some much needed retail therapy. Twice. I'm sure we can't be the only ones who, having paid for our purchases, can't leave a shop without just one more look round! Talking on the way home, Sally and I agreed that we had come away with more inspiration from that one event than from all of the past few big shows we've been to put together. So I'd just like to say to Brenda, thanks so much for the warm welcome you gave us, and we'll definitely be back again for the next Demo Day.

Oldie but Goodie

It's great to learn new techniques, and I am always on the lookout for new things to try, but sometimes it's good to revisit the old ones. I quite often go back to shaving foam marbling, simply because the results are good, and it's such fun to do. I like shaving foam particularly as a marbling medium because it is possible to have some control over your finished pattern. What you see in the tray is what you will get on your paper.

Thus, in the easel card shown here, I was able to make a landscape effect with more blue at the top and more brown at the bottom. The larger trees are from Clarity Stamp, and the deer and tiny trees in the background are by Stampscapes. The greeting is Inkadinkado. On the angel card I used a panel of marbled paper as a feature, stamped with  a Stampington stamp. The sentiment is also by Stampington. The angel is from the "Christmas" miniatures book by Crafty Individuals.

For the holly card, I revisited not only an old technique, but also an old stamp! It's from The Stamp Man. Having stamped it on the marbled paper, I embossed it with sparkle embossing powder & then coloured the leaves and berries with Promarkers to make them stand out more. I mounted it at an angle over a piece of printed paper. The message button is from Craftwork Cards.

The final card is very simple, just four squares of card, three stamped with a snowflake (Stampington), the other holding a Craftwork Cards message button, and strips of silver ribbon to finish it off.


Well, it was fun to go back to the marbling, but tomorrow Sally and I are off to the Open Day at Sir Stampalot, looking forward to seeing what's new, & also meeting Brenda. Can't wait....