My House of Memories - The Stamp Man Challenge

Hi, this is my last post of 2011!!!  Having spotted the new challenge over at The Stamp Man, The Stamp Man Awards - Your Favourite/Best Project from 2011, I just had to join in with a project I made in my early blogging days.  There's a £30 prize in the random draw, and 4 runner up prizes.  2011 is the year I started blogging and the project I'm entering is one of my very first altered projects (possibly the first!) - it is also one that is very dear to me, and also to my mum as it hangs proudly on her wall.  You can view the original post, from May, here.

A bit of background to my project:  earlier this year my lovely uncle passed away, after losing his battle with cancer.  I wanted to do something special for my mum's birthday so I decided to decorate/alter this house shaped curio box.  As my uncle was into fishing in a big way, he lived in New York for many years, and was married to a wonderful Japanese lady, I tried to symbolise these parts of his life in this project.  All of the photos I used on this were taken by me when I went to stay with him and his wife, about 25 years ago.

The box was painted with acrylic paint, and a little crackle accents and metallic gold rub-on added here and there.....

 .....the papers used for the backing were from the TH Shabby Chic Collection, and a little DI on the edges.

The cotton reels were coloured with DI and some twine wrapped round, and a little sewing machine charm sits behind one of them, although not visible.  The photo of the boat was his own boat which he went out fishing on (I caught a few fish on that boat when I was there!) .....

.....the photos have all been mounted on TH fragments and a few sea themed charms are covered with gold mixative.....

.....a fishing hook from the £1 shop was attached to the top recess and the sentiment "live the life you've imagined" attached.....

.....some japanese elements added, such as dps covered with fragments, and a little kimono (left), and a heart (middle).  An angel on some cord was also attached (middle) and another japanese heart and a photo of my uncle and I (gosh, I look young!!!), topped with a fragment (right).  The words "love", "cherish", and "family" were attached to the front of the box in various places.

Stamps used were from Tim Holtz and Creative Expressions.

I hope you like it.

Maria x

Portrait of a Lady - Craft-Room Challenge DT Project

Hi, hope you all had a wonderful Xmas!  It's time for our next challenge, over at Craft-Room Challenge, already - Anything Goes.  By the way, the entries into the Die Cuts and Punches Challenge were gorgeous!  There's a £10 voucher to spend at Craft-Room, to be won in the random draw and as usual we will choose a top 3.

I decided to make a picture using one of the new Stampsmith stamps my o/h got me for Xmas, and an MDF collage frame I picked up at the HSNW festival in October, as a gift for someone:

Close Up

Showing a bit of sparkle

I painted the frame first, using chalk emulsion, stamped the CI flourishes in Stazon, then sealed it all using wood balsam, which has given it a lovely subtle shine - a technique I picked up from Paula over at Ephemera's Attic (thank you!).  Next, I cut some green pearlised card to sit in the centre recess of the frame, first wrapping some ribbon decorated with glittered circles around it.  I stamped the image, from the Stampsmith, in Stazon onto glossy card, mounted it onto black glossy card and just added some gems across the top of her dress, and onto her hat.  I glittered some roses and attached them behind the image.  The sentiment was stamped in Versamark onto glossy card, then embossed in WOW White Twinkle embossing powder and attached to the bottom of the frame.  To finish, I added some large black gems across the top.  Hopefully you can see some of the sparkle on the 2nd and 3rd picture.

Do check out the rest of the projects from my talented team mates over at Craft-Room Challenge for inspiration as they are truly wonderful!

I would like to enter my picture into the following challenges:-

The Stampsmith - Shimmer, Sparkle and Shine
Creative Inspirations Paint - Anything Goes
Mark's Finest Papers - Anything Goes
Stampotique Designers Challenge - Shimmer, Glimmer, Glitter, Glitz
My Mum's Craft Shop Challenge - Anything Goes
Stampin For The Weekend - Anything Goes

Have fun, and I look forward to seeing what you've created.

Maria x

Merry Xmas to the Bump?

Hi, I've finally managed to make something!  My daughter has been quite poorly over the last couple of weeks (but is tons better now) so not had chance to make or post anything apart from my DT card, which thankfully I'd made quite early.

A couple of weeks ago I was asked for two Xmas cards for "the bump"!  It's definitely a first for me, making a card for an unborn baby!  Anyway, the only suitable image I could think of was a digi I bought a while ago from Funky Kits.  Here are the cards I made:

As I'm running waaaaayyyy behind now, they had to be quite simple.  I used some backing paper from the TH seasonal paper stack, and stamped some script onto it (Andy Skinner - Simply Angelic).  I then used some of the images from the paper stack (music etc).  After printing the digi, I went over it in Old Paper DI, then around the edges with Frayed Burlap.  I coloured the hat with a little Festive Berries DI, went over the colour with a clear Spica pen, then added some Ivory Flowersoft for the bobbles on the hat.  Sentiments printed on my pc, and some raffia to finish..  Done!

I would like to enter my "Bump" cards into the following challenges:-

Gingerloft Challenge - Christmas
2 Sisters Challenge Blog - Kids Christmas (will this count?)
Crafty Hazelnut's Christmas Challenge - Anything Goes for Christmas
Mark's Finest Papers - Make a Christmas Card
Raise The Bar - It's beginning to look at lot like Christmas
Stampin' for the Weekend - Christmas!!!
The Pretty Little Ribbon Shop - Christmas with a Bow
Crafts and Me - Christmas
The Sisterhood of Crafters - Christmas

Hope you like it!

Maria x

Die Cuts & Punches - Craft-Room Challenge DT Card

Hi, it's time for another challenge over at the Craft-Room.  There were stunning entries of hand made flowers in our last challenge (check back next Tuesday for the top 3 and random draw winner).  The theme for the next fortnight has been chosen by the talented Nikki, who has chosen "Die Cuts and Punches".  There's a £10 voucher for Craft-Room Online Shop to one lucky winner in the random draw and, don't forget, there's some blog candy up for grabs as well!

I decided to go with my Cricut for this challenge, as I don't use it nearly as much as I should.   I used one of my favourite cartridges, Forever Young:

I used a DP for a change :-) although not sure where from, and edged it with Victorian Velvet DI.  For the two black outfits, I cut two out from some white card and put them to one side for a later date, and set to work on the negative:  I coloured it with a pale pink chalk ink, overstamped it with a Darkroom Door background stamp (Damask) in a darker pink chalk ink and backed it with some black card and mounted it on some darker pink card which has been border punched at the top and bottom.  I added a little punched flower with a dot of black enamel accents at each hip.

Next, I cut another, slightly larger, outfit from white card and a silhouette the same size from black card.  I coloured the outfit with the darker shade of pink chalk ink, adhered to the silhouette, and added ribbon and gems around the waist.  I cut the umbrella silhouette in black and the top part from white, colouring with the same chalk inks as before and then used a thin paintbrush to add the detail with the dark chalk ink to show the sections.  I cut the sentiment "Style", coloured with the pale pink chalk ink and then sponged over with the darker shade.

For inspiration, check out the fabulous projects by the rest of the Design Team!  I really enjoyed making this and can't wait to see your creations.

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges:-

Ladybug Crafts Ink - Bingo (Middle column)
Crafty Cardmakers - Use it 3 times

I hope you like it.

Maria x

For My Other Half

Hi, as it's my other half's birthday today, and he's very supportive of my creating, I thought I'd make him his very own wall hanging :-)

This one is definitely out of my comfort zone but I wanted to do him something a little different.  It was hard to photograph because of the UTEE but I hope you can see the detail behind it.:

I've used A5 mountboard, all inks are Jenni Bowlin, which I only bought last week and not used before - I have to say I love them!  Most of the stamps I've used are by IndigoBlu, but one is from PaperArtsy and one is a freebie Craft Stamper cover one.  I've done quite a bit of masking on this with the balloons and faces, the cars, and the clouds with eyes, there's a few layers of clear UTEE on the balloons and the eyes, and still lots of blue ink on my fingers :-)  My other half is a bit of a stickler for timekeeping (which isn't a bad thing!) which is why the guy is chained to the balloon with the clock face. 

Stamps used are IndigoBlu Brideshead and Back to Nature plates (from Craft-Room), PaperArtsy Femme Plate 3 (Fruit Pixie) and Craft Stamper Freebie Hot Air Balloon.  The Sprocket Gears are TH.

I would like to this wall hanging into a few challenges:  Crafty Cardmakers are looking for Heat Embossing,  Stamps R Us would like us to Emboss It!, and the Samuel Taylor Challenge have a theme of Anything Goes (and they are offering a fabulous prize of Kasiercraft Mini Albums and a Jillibean Soup 6x6 Paper Pad!)

Hope you like it, and have a great weekend!

Maria x