Altered Mirror

Still in altering mode. I've had some Ik*a mirrors in the cupboard for at least a few years but never got round to doing anything with them. However, when I saw the new Botanica collection from Craftwork Cards I just couldn't resist it and thought it would be perfect for a mirror.



I had prepared one of the mirrors ages ago by giving it a base coat of paint (which was as far as I got with it at the time!), so all I had to do was cover it with Botanica papers and add a few extra elements cut from the papers, which I attached with silicone glue to give them a bit of dimension.

I also stamped some sentiments (by Paper Artsy and Katzelkraft) over the paper, and inked around the edges with gold Brilliance ink. Finally I lined the inner edges of the mirror with some gold German scrap, which just happened to be exactly the right depth.

The large butterfly and the bird were cut from the toppers which are part of the collection, and the small butterflies from the papers.

The Botanica collection is so pretty, and with its nature theme of butterflies, birds and flowers it is right up my street! Might have to send for another pack so I can keep one just to admire!

PS. Just realised this is also eligible for the Butterfly Challenge, so I've entered it!

Thanks for looking!

Tissue Box Covers

I saw these pretty tissue box covers, by Angela Barkhouse on the JustRite Stamps blog and thought what lovely gifts they would make.

Angela shares her tutorial for making them on the JustRite blog (see link above), but my tissue box wasn't quite the same size as hers, so I decided to design my own.

They are actually very simple to make. I assembled the box from offcuts of mountboard and covered it with scrapbook paper (K & Co. and Hot Off The Press). I used Nestie dies (Labels 5) to cut the hole in the top and make the side decorations, along with a Cheery Lynn die (the butterfly) and Leone Em punch ( the fern). The sides opposite each other are identical. The top and bottom borders were cut with the Die-namics Scallop Ribbon Border which makes a double sided strip, but I wanted just a narrow border so I cut it in half lengthways.

And that was it done! Easy peasy! The scrapbook papers were some I had had for years, and everything else was offcuts and snippets, so I even managed to use up some more old stash!

It would make a great gift, but I think I might just keep this one! However, I'm entering it in ValeryAnne's inaugural Butterfly Challenge, which began last week and which will be running fortnightly. I really hope it takes off (!), it's the perfect challenge for me!

Thanks for looking.

Fairy Nuff!

We have a new challenge for you at Stamping Sensations, one which I've really enjoyed making a card for, and I hope you will too! A bit of escapism, just the thing to take our minds off the miserable weather we've been having lately! We'd like you to show us your creations on the theme of

*** WINGS, FANTASY AND FICTION ***

We're thinking butterflies, fairies and mythical or fictional characters here, but you are of course free to interpret the theme however you like.

Our fantastic sponsor this month is Crafty Devils, see the Challenge Blog for details of the prize they have generously donated.

Anyway, on to my card. I bought the Lavinia Stamps Hobbit Home stamp ages ago, but had been waiting for a suitable occasion to use it. It was perfect for this challenge!

All the stamps I've used here are by Lavinia Stamps. As you can see, I partially cut around the door so I could open it, and made a little scene to put behind it. (The tree, hill and birds are hand drawn.)

 Background papers are Bo Bunny "Autumn Song", butterfly and leaf dies by Cheery Lynn, and sentiment by Stampingallday. Circle and scallop circle dies are Nestabilities.

Butterflies and fairies are two of my favourite things, so I can't wait to see all your gorgeous projects! Thanks for looking at mine, and keep those entries coming in!

New Year, New Challenge!

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, and that 2014 will be a great year, both personally and craftily, for us all.

The new challenge is,of course, the first of the year for Stamping Sensations. Our theme for January is one which I think just about everybody will love!

RIBBONS, BUTTONS AND/OR BOWS

You can use any or all of those items in any combination! We have a fab sponsor too, Nicecrane Designs, owned by the lovely Ignacio! He has a fantastic selection of digital downloads on a huge variety of topics, all of which are great quality and print out beautifully. Ignacio is amazingly generous and has given us a brilliant prize of £35 worth of design sheets of the winner's choice!

My first card uses Ignacio's sheet "The Incredible Jessie Wilcox", which has several charming images of children, mostly reading books.

I matted the picture and sentiment (Hero Arts) on to a piece of card cut with a Spellbinders die, then on to a piece of blue card. The flourish stamps are by Waltzing Mouse. To fit the theme I added a ribbon bow, and some tiny buttons which I think were from Hero Arts.

Here's a closer look at the image.

And at the detail.

I've used Ignacio's design on this card because I like it, but it isn't a requirement of our challenge that you do so. You may use anything that fits the theme.

My second card is quite different. For this one I took inspiration from the gorgeous button, which is 1.5" in diameter.

I stamped the flourish (Chocolate Baroque) first in yellow, then in grey, and fixed the button over it. The sentiment (Inkylicious) was cut out with a freebie die from Papercraft Essentials magazine. To go with the theme, I added a tiny thread bow to the button, and a ribbon to the tag.

We had some amazing entries for our previous two challenges, and I can't wait to see this month's. My terrific teamies have really excelled themselves with a truly delightful set of samples, so don't forget to go and check them out on the Challenge Blog. Thanks for looking!

Calendar

I've seen lots of sticky note holders lately on Pinterest, and I think they're a great idea and make nice little gifts. I wanted to make some with calendars for Christmas presents. This is my own design.

The calendar, photo and sticky note pad are all removable so that they can be replaced. (The little girl's face is obscured in the photo as I didn't have permission from her parents to show it online.) Printed papers are by Provocraft (they must be about 10 years old!) and the butterflies are cut with Cheery Lynn dies. Here's a side view so you can see how it stands up.

Here you can see how the sticky note pad sits in a tray, so that it is easy to remove if required. A loop of tape, glued under the tray, holds the pencil in place.

 And here it is folded up.

This was my prototype, and I want to make a few more. On the others I may change the photo for a stamped or other type of picture, or the butterflies for different embellishments, but the style will remain essentially the same. Am also still in the middle of making Christmas cards. At the moment my desk looks like an explosion in a paper factory......... 

A Free and Easy end to our Challenge year

Well, it's time for our final challenge of 2013 at Stamping Sensations. If you're like me, you'll be frantically trying to get the Christmas preparations sorted at the same time as keeping up with all the regular stuff. Anyone who has finished making all their Christmas cards by now has my ardent admiration! The rest of you will, I'm sure, be grateful that our December Challenge has the theme of

***** FREE AND EASY *****

so anything goes! If you're still on with the Christmas cards (like me!), you could show us those. If not, we'd love to see what else you've been working on lately.

As usual we've got a fabulous sponsor to help us round off the year, Visible Image, an all-British company with a fantastic range of stamps, no less than 5 sets of which have been very generously donated by them for our prize.

Anyway, on to my card. It's a Christmas one, of course, 40 down, about another 30 still to go!

I treated myself to an early Christmas present of a couple of Memory Box dies which I've had my eye on for quite some time. The one I've used here is called Tessatina Border. I cut it out of both red and green card, and then inserted the green cut-out into the space left in the red card. It was then framed with the X-cut Poinsettia Border punch. That was another new buy! I was delighted recently when The Range opened a new branch not 10 miles away from me, a small oasis in the crafting desert in which I live! Had to go and check it out, of course, and couldn't resist the Poinsettia punch. So pretty, and needn't be confined to Christmas cards!

The card was finished with some flowers cut with the Marianne Design Mini Poinsettia die set, a Spellbinders bauble diecut overstamped with a Waltzing Mouse stamp, and a sentiment also by Waltzing Mouse. The background paper was a freebie from Making Cards Magazine.

My amazing teamies have some stunning samples to inspire you with. Do go and have a look at them on the Challenge Blog. We had a brilliant response to our Christmas theme last month, and I'm sure you'll all do us proud with your entries for December. Can't wait to see them!

Now, back to the Christmas card production line.......

Altered Domino Pendants

I made these recently as pay-it-forward gifts, and now I know they have all been received, I can blog them!

I bought the dominoes years ago (at least 10 years and probably more!) and they have been sitting in a drawer all this time waiting for me to find some inspiration to use them! They came as a full set, so could have been used to play the game with, but I think they must have been specially made for altering, as the reverse side is completely blank and smooth. They are quite small, just 1.5 x 3cm. I can't remember now what make they are or where I got them, but it was either at a show or in a craft shop. I wish I could find some more like them, as they are lovely to work with.

The first thing I did was drill a hole in the top and glue in a bail. Then I painted them with alcohol inks and stamped a picture on top (stamps by Chocolate Baroque and Stampscapes). The fact that the horizons all happened to line up was purely coincidental! The sides were painted with gold Lumiere paint, and I left the backs as they were.

The next step was to coat them with Diamond Glaze to protect them, and then to add some beads and a cord.

 I also made gift boxes to put them in. The one which went with the fir tree pendant was covered in paper from PSX, again bought years ago! The other papers were printed from the Essence of Nature CD from Chocolate Baroque.

I really enjoyed making these. Made a nice change from Christmas cards!

Christmas is coming!

Well, it's still a few weeks away yet (thank goodness!), but as far as Stamping Sensations Challenge is concerned, it's already here! We know this is a busy time of year for everyone, and most people will be well into Christmas card making mode now, so our theme for November is simply

*****   CHRISTMAS   *****

We would love to see your Christmas projects, whether cards, layouts, decorations, hand crafted gifts, or even creative wrapping.

I have made a simple card using a lovely stamp from this month's sponsor, Stamp Addicts.

The picture, having had a bit of shading added with a Promarker and some glitter glue, was cut out with a Spellbinders die. The background papers were part of a freebie from Making Cards magazine, and the top border was made with a Dovecraft corner punch with the corner guide removed. Here's a closer look.

The lovely people at Stamp Addicts have generously donated a whopping £35 voucher for this month's prize! That will cover a fair bit of crafty Christmas shopping! Should you need any inspiration for your entries, just take a look at the gorgeous projects my talented teamies are showing off on the Challenge Blog. We look forward to seeing yours!

Stamping Sensations October Challenge

We had some wonderful entries for our poppy photo inspiration challenge at Stamping Sensations last month, but for October we are moving from flora to fauna! Our theme for this month is

ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL

Plenty of scope here, I think. Furry, feathered, scaled, creatures of land, sea or air, cute or realistic, the choices are endless.

We have a fantastic sponsor too - the well known and very popular Penny Black, who have donated a super prize.

For my sample I decided to go for something a bit different for a change and made a screen card.

 All the stamps I've used are by Penny Black, and so are the butterfly stickers. The patterned background papers are by Prima, and the flower diecuts are from Memory Box. The border punch at the top is one of my favourites and I've had it for many years, but I've no idea now where it came from. I used Woodware punches to make the little vellum flowers.

I'm sure this will be a popular theme, and I will look forward to seeing lots of lovely entries! Remember you can enter up to three times, combine with other challenges and make whatever type of project you like, as long as it follows our theme. The DT have some absolutely gorgeous samples for you, so don't forget to have a look at them on the Challenge Blog. 

Vintage Nature

Thanks to Brenda and her gorgeous projects (see here and here) using their products, I've recently become a fan of Nicecrane Designs, owned by the lovely Ignacio. Once I saw his gorgeous butterflies, I knew I had to have them, and on browsing the site I discovered so many more equally lovely designs. They are all in the form of downloads (instant gratification!) and many have a vintage feel.

Like Brenda, it is unusual for me to make cards with little or no stamping on them, but Ignacio's designs are so pretty, I had to make an exception for them! I ordered several sets, and Ignacio also very generously sent me some freebie sets too. (NB. I have not been asked to promote his products, I'm just telling you about them because I like them!)

Anyway, once I'd got them downloaded, I set to work to make a few cards. Now, I struggle with cards for men. Or rather I did! Nicecrane has some lovely Old Map images. They're sold as bookmarks, but I made mine into a card.

I did do a bit of stamping here! The base card was stamped all over with an old freebie map stamp from Craft Stamper Magazine, with the bookmark image matted on to a thin gold border and placed on top. I didn't want to detract from the image, so the only embellishment is a little sentiment banner. (Banner stamp:Waltzing Mouse, sentiment: Clarity Stamp, a freebie from a show.)

Nicecrane has several sets on a nature theme, which is right up my street. My favourite is called "Colorful Nature", with vintage-style images of birds and animals. I used the four bird pictures to make a set of cards. It looks as though I cut them out with a Nestie label die, but though I have one of those it was the wrong size, so I just cut away each corner with a round hole punch.

The eagle-eyed amongst you will spot just a teeny-weeny bit of stamping (a tiny border by Waltzing Mouse)! Apart from that, the images are simply mounted on to a background cut with Martha Stewart punch-around-the page punches, and each is matted on different coloured Bazzil card which I inked around the edges to continue the vintage feel. I think they make a pretty set.

Thanks for looking!