Free Ticket!!!

Hi, I have a spare ticket for the Happy Stampers NW Festival at Port Sunlight, Wirral, on Saturday, 12th May.  Zoe (Craft-Room) and I will both be going (along with my mum, bless her, she loves looking at the samples!) so rather than waste the ticket, I thought I'd see if anyone would like it?  It's a great rubber stamping fair and is tickets only, which usually sell out very quickly, so if you would like the ticket, please contact me.

Maria x

In The Garden.....

Hi, I hope you're enjoying your weekend.  Did anyone go to Aintree Racecourse Craft Fair?  I did, I had a lovely day and picked up some nice crafty bits to play with.  To be honest, with a lot of people trying out PanPastels and Memory Box dies, I was starting to feel a bit left out, so I felt I had to add to my stash :-)  I got six of the PP pale tints to start with, because I love pastel colours, and they are soooo beautiful - I'm now addicted and want more, and have used them on this jumbo altered coaster which cost me all of 5p in a charity shop (and started it's altered journey very differently last week, lol).

I also met Marie from Bailey Rosy (former Dolly Daydreams) at Aintree - what a lovely person!  As she is also from Liverpool, it was a foregone conclusion that she'd have a great sense of humour, but what I didn't know was that she's from about 2 miles away from me (at the most), and we went to the same high school, would you believe!!!  It was like meeting a long-lost friend from school!

The theme for The Stampsmith Challenge this month is The Colours of Spring - this is one of my favourite stamp ranges as their images are beautiful.  I wanted to try and do something a little different so I've used an image from the Pin Ups sheet, and turned her into "Betty, the gardener":

Using Kraft cardstock attached to the coaster, and a mask (A Touch of Mica), I've used the pale yellow PanPastel to create the brick wall.  I've then used a Memory Box die to create the bottom border coloured with green PP, then coloured the flower heads with the yellow and pink.

The sentiments were also coloured with the green, and the CI flourish was stamped with a pale pink acrylic paint dabber.  All the ribbons are from MME and the little watering can is from Mei Flower.  Betty herself (she's not really called Betty!) was stamped in Coffee Archival Ink - my other half, Dave, bought me the Pin Ups plate at Xmas but I've had a bit of trouble stamping the images from this particular one - I've stamped this image onto Clarity Stamps' silk, matt-coated cardstock this time and it's turned out better, so maybe it was my cardstock.

I usually take my blog photos on my mobile as it has a great camera on it, but it's in for repair at the moment (overuse of the USB port, lol) so I've had to use my old camera which hasn't picked up the colours quite as well as I'd like - it's  much more colourful in real life.  If it's back over the next couple of days, I'll update the photos.

I would also like to enter this into the following challenges:-

Moving Along With The Times - Garden or Flowers
Shelley's Images Blog - Pastels, Kraft & Flowers
Southern Girls Challenge - Get Your Girly On
Stampavie and More - Spring
Flourishes/Timeless Tuesday - Bingo (I've used the middle line across)

I hope you like it.

Maria x

Play.....

Hi, I hope you're enjoying your weekend and hopefully having some crafting time.  Things are still hectic at the moment but I'd like to share with you a little wall hanging I made a couple of weeks ago but didn't get a chance to upload, what with packing for the move going on and my Jack (the dog) being very poorly indeed:

The mdf base has been undercoated with Gesso and painted with Parlour Cream chalk emulsion, then stamped with a letter stamp by Hero Arts.  A piece of music paper, with the edges inked, has been attached in the middle but this is only visible in small places.  Versamark has been dabbed on the side edges then embossed with Ancient Gold embossing enamel.

The lovely vintage image on vellum of a woman playing the harp has been mounted onto some dp by Melissa Frances and again onto some Kraft Glassine and corners added, then an On The Edge die cut attached under one side of the image, with a TH ticket slipped underneath.  The three pale pink trims are by MME and the flower is an old earring.  I've threaded some jute twine through the holes to hang.  Distress Ink used was mainly Vintage Photo.

I'd like to enter my hanging into some challenges:  The Stampman's current challenge is Show Us Your Shabby Chic Or Distressed, Charisma Cardz would also like to see Shabby Chic, Divas By Design have a theme of Anything But A Card, and Bunny Zoe's Crafts would like us to use Ribbon or Twine.

I hope you like it.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend :-), Monday comes round way to quickly!

Maria x

Ink It! - Craft-Room Challenge

Hi, it's time for another challenge over at the Craft-Room, the last fortnight has passed very quickly indeed with wonderful Music themed entries (I don't envy Hazel choosing her top 3).  This time the challenge is:

Ink It!

and was chosen by the lovely Nikki  (please pop over and check out her fantastic creations).  She would like us to get inky and use rubber stamps only on our creations this fortnight, so no digi stamps allowed (although digital papers are fine if you wish). 

I picked up a few basic pine picture frames from the £1 shop a couple of weeks ago and decided to use one of these for my creation:

The inspiration for the colours came from a photo I took in Crete last year of the sun setting on the beach, so I tried to recreate the soft and peaceful look in my picture.

I lightly sanded the frame down and applied a couple of coats of gesso, then a couple of coats of Pebble Acrylic paint dabbler, then swiped on some Shell Pink, sanding in between each coat, to give a nicely distressed look.

For the image, I used distress inks in Dusty Concord, Milled Lavender, Spun Sugar, Wild Honey, Weathered Wood and Stormy Sky, and used them so that the image would capture a little of each.  I masked the image then, using the plastic bag technique in Craft Stamper a few months ago, stamped around the outside of the image and added a little white gen pen to the waves.  I attached to some mountboard and put inside the frame.

For the decoration of the frame I've used shells which I picked up in Crete last year - they came in a boat-shaped basket made from twigs, which I've also used, tied in a little bundle, and placed inside the frame. 

Our sponsor for this fortnight's challenge is:

who will be offering a voucher to spend at their store to one lucky winner!

The rest of the DT team have made really stunning creations to inspire you this fortnight, so please pop over and check them out, and we'd love you to join in.

I would like to apologise for not visiting blogs as much as I usually do.  We're getting ready to move house so things have been a bit mad to say the least:  packing, packing and more packing!  Hopefully life will get back to normality soon.

I'd like to enter this into Crafty Individuals Time For Summer themed challenge, and Simon Says Stamp and Show...Anything Goes.

Enjoy your week!

Maria x

Blaze Of Glory - Craft-Room Challenge DT Creation

Hiya, the weeks are flying by and already it's time for another challenge over at Craft-Room Challenge.  Your sparkly creations were beautiful - it's always so difficult to choose a top 3.  This time it's Hazel's turn to choose the theme and she has chosen Music - please pop over and have a look through her blog as her creations are stunning.   

I love music, especially live concerts, so I really enjoyed making this not so little creation.  Last year, I managed to get my hands on tickets for Bon Jovi at Lancashire Cricket Ground - I've been a big fan since my teens but never got round to seeing them live, and oh my, they were FANTASTIC and far exceeded my expectations!!!  I had planned to use the programme from the concert to create my own sort of memorabilia souvenir, and this was an ideal opportunity.

I used two chipboard ATCs, a twinchie, and a large scalloped frame - all from Tando - these were white lined so I coloured them quite heavily with Black Soot Distress Ink, and edged them with a Krylon pen, attaching my pictures and sentiment on top.

 

The large picture was set underneath the scalloped frame, and a little metallic rub-on added very lightly around the outside of the frame.

The heart I pinched off a piece I made a couple of months ago!  It is made of plywood and covered in Viva Decor Ferro metal effect colour.  I mounted it onto an inchie so I could slide the Tim Holtz metal wings underneath (also with a little Ferro colour over the top) then fastened a mini heart with wings on the top with a long fastener.  The emblem heart should really have a dagger going into it with the wings attached, but I could not find anything suitable for a dagger, (and boy I tried!) so I compromised with this.

The 10"x10" frame was an old Ikea one picked up in a charity shop which I turned back to front.  I painted it with black acrylic and lightly sanded the edges.  The dp, from Stamping Up, is attached to the removable mdf picture back to the frame and lightly edged in Black Soot.  I've stamped a few records and a microphone here and there, and added a large swirl through a large TH mask, all in Pumice Stone DI.

It's quite a simple piece, but I like the contrast of the colour picture with the b/w ones. 

The sponsor for this challenge is...

 ...and there is a fabulous prize of a mask and some chipboard for one random winner:

By the way, we have a new addition to our Design Team: Suzanne B from Suzanne's Papercrafting has joined us, I'm sure you will love her fantastic creations.

Please check out the inspiration by the rest of the DT, as it is fabulous.  I hope you can join in with us for this challenge, and I'm looking forward to seeing your music-themed creations!

I'd like to enter this into a few challenges:


Anything Goes Challenge - Anything Goes
There She Goes - Metal Embellishments
Sentimental Sundays - My Hero
Frosted Designs - Recycle/Upcycle (I've recycled an old picture frame)

Have a great week.

Maria x