Timeless Lily

Hi, I hope you are all well and enjoying the Easter weekend.  The weather here has improved at last, with the sun shining, although still a bit chilly.  I myself haven't had a particularly good week, but decided that today was time to get my backside into gear and finish a couple of projects, this being one of them.

The Stampsmith Challenge's current theme is Spring Colours/Flowers, using at least one Stampsmith image, and has just one day left to enter, so here is my entry:

I've used a wooden mount for a large background rubber stamp, however I didn't mount the stamp, as I preferred the flexibility of using it without (and I knew the block would end up altered!).  I painted it a very gentle pale creamy yellow to start as I wasn't sure what I was going to do with it at this point.  I covered one side with some Prima beautiful floral paper (thank you Julia!), cutting 3 sides of a rectangle in the middle.  The background of the dp is blue - not the most common colour for Spring flowers but a couple of years ago, I bought my mum a lovely blue rose from a garden centre - with some cream flowers and background script.  The centre cut out has been rolled up and some dyed seam binding secures it.
 

 I've stamped Lily in Coffee Archival Ink and lightly tinted her cheeks and dress with chalks.  A doily coloured with Tattered Rose DI is used on three of the corners, and some lace used on two sides of the image.  I coloured some SU seam binding with Tattered Rose DI and made three little roses which were attached to the bottom right corner, a couple of hat pins, and TH words used underneath "So Timeless".

A small piece of lace is attached above the image with a SU brad.  I've used some metallic rub on around the edge just to finish it off and frame it.  This is going to go on a shelf next to my candles, as a free standing ornament.  I've taken a couple of new photos outside this morning which show the colours far better than the original one.







I'd also like to enter my creation into the following challenges:-

Allsorts Challenge - Vintage
Crafty Ribbons Challenge - Anything Goes With Ribbon
Live and Love Crafts Challenge - Bingo (Lace, Doily & Metal)
Rhedd and Rosie Challenge - Vintage/Shabby Chic

Thank you for popping over, it really is appreciated, and I hope you have a wonderful Easter with lots of gorgeous chocolate :-).

Maria xxxxx

Something For "Friday Ice"

Hi,  a short post tonight, but I'd like to share a creation with you which I made for Thespa's linky party,  "Friday ICE", over at the Vintiquities Workshop

"Friday ICE" is where you can link up your Ice Resin creations.  I'm absolutely loving using Ice Resin and have a few more pieces to share with you over the coming weeks, however this is one that I finished over the weekend:

I used a little green patina gilding wax around the edges of the base of the bezel, poured a little resin inside then added a piece of torn bookpage (a bit smaller than the bezel).  A little more resin, then an antique bronze swallow pendant on top and a word tile at the bottom.  If you look at the top right corner, the book page is teased up a bit so it's not flat against the base.  A little antique gold glass glitter was added into the top layer of resin, also on the top right corner.  I added a split ring to the bail and a lobster clasp, two pieces of chain attached with jump rings and a couple of charms.  I thought this would be nice hung from the zipper of a handbag - then my daughter saw it and claimed it, lol, so it's gone already!

Thank you for taking the time to visit - I really do appreciate it.

Bye for now

Maria xxxxx

Liebster Award

Hi

I hope your weekend has got off to a good start, and wherever you are, the weather is improving (it's just starting to snow here - again!)

Last week, I was very thrilled to receive an email from Nicola over at Paper Profusion, giving me a Liebster Award.  The award is a way of highlighting to others blogs which you admire, so I'm extremely honoured and flattered that Nicola chose to nominate my blog, and thus highlighting my creations.  If you haven't visited Nicola before, please pop over to her blog as she is one very talented lady indeed.

About The Liebster Award
It is designed to be a blog award in the pay it forward fashion. Once you've been nominated, you award it to five blogs that you like (that have fewer than 200 followers) to encourage new visitors to visit these blogs. If the award has been received already then the nominator can elect another recipient blog.

Rules for Acceptance
Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to their blog. Post the award onto your blog. Give the award to five bloggers who you appreciate that have fewer than 200 followers. Leave a comment on their blog letting them know that you have given them this lovely award!

 I would like to say a huge "Thank You" to Nicola for sending me this award, I will be back later in the week with my nominations, but in the meantime, I hope you all have a wonderful week.

Maria xxxxx

In The Garden (Anything But A Card) for Craft-Room Challenge

Hello, I hope you are all well and keeping warm.  It's still chilly, but I'm ever hopeful that Spring will bring some warmth soon.  It's time for a new challenge over at the Craft-Room, and our hostess this fortnight is the very lovely Suzanne who has picked a theme of:

In The Garden (Anything But A Card)

We also have our very first Guest Designer this fortnight - the very talented Helene from 2amscrapper - she makes the most stunning creations so please do pop over to her blog, and take a look at her work.

As I've recently received some new stamps featuring birds, this was a perfect opportunity to get them out so I made a simple 4 x 4 notebook - I love this size as it's so handy.

Both sides of the back cover, and the inside of the front cover have been covered in dp (not shown) and the front covered with a piece of canvas, which has been lightly spritzed with Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist in Wheatfields.  The eggs stamp and the rose in the top right corner are from Stampin' Up and have been tinted with Intktense pencils.  The rest of the stamps are from Oxford impressions.  The main image was also stamped directly onto canvas, but then cut out and matted with some Kraft cardstock, and a little lace added.  I then edged the covered with a little ink and added a seam binding bow to finish.  An antique bronze dragonfly was hung from a piece of chain and attached to the top of the binding wire. 

In addition to our new Guest Designer, we also have a new sponsor this fortnight

  (we have fantastic sponsors lined up for this year for you):

They do some amazing alterables, please click on the logo to visit the online shop.

I do hope you can find the time to join in with our challenge this fortnight, we'd love to see you, and if you pop over to the Craft-Room Challenge, you will find amazing inspiration from the rest of the Design Team.

I'd like to enter my little notebook into these challenges:

The Shabby Tea Room - Anything Goes
Crafty-Emblies - Anything Goes

Thank you for your lovely comments on my recent posts, I'm a little behind with visiting blogs at the moment but will most definitely catch up this week.  

Take care and have a lovely week.

Bye for now

Maria xxxxx

A Mother's Day Gift.....

Hi, I hope you're all enjoying your weekend and managing to get some crafting time.  I've been playing with the Ice Resin again (I warn you, this is addictive stuff, lol), and made a few more things.  a couple of which I'd like to share with you.

As it's my daughter's first Mother's Day, I wanted to give her something a little bit special and unique, as I'm so very proud of her - she's an absolutely brilliant mum.  I have to try and get Ethan to carry this down the stairs in a little gift bag without eating it, lol!  It's still very basic as Ice Resin is still new to me, but I really like how it's turned out (and hope Hannah does as well!).

With a pendant blank and a ring blank, I used some left over scraps of french collage style DP, which I coated with modge podge first, then put them in the base of the bezels.  I added a little resin, and then the rose charms which I had added a little green patina gilding paste to the edges previously.  I then added the rest of the resin.

The chain that the pendant hangs from was part of a multi strand necklace which someone gave me to reuse, there was about 6 in all, so definitely a few more to come!  I just added a lobster clasp and a couple of jump rings to it.

I would like to link this gift up to the Friday Ice Linky Party, over at the Vintiquities Workshop (link directly below):

Don't forget, the Craft-Room Challenge's current theme, "From Me To You", is all about gift giving, so why not head over and have a look!

Have a wonderful Sunday.

Maria xxxxx

From Me To You - Craft Room Challenge DT

Hi, it's time for a new challenge over at the Craft-Room - wow, what a fantastic response we had to our "For A Man Challenge".  Julia really will have a tough job narrowing it down to just three.  This time it's the turn of our fabulous, and very talented, hostess, Zoe, to choose the theme and she has chosen:

From Me To You

This is what Zoe says about her theme:

"The theme from 'Me to You' is one of gift giving, we all enjoy making things for others and giving them.   We would like you to share with us a gift you have made for someone. "

I am warning you in advance, this is a bit on the lengthy side so make sure you've got a cuppa!

My gift is for my mum.  It' was her birthday very recently, and I decided to use something very new to me (which I've been itching to try for a while) to make her a gift, along with a card.  Yes, you did read that correct, I made a card!  I don't make cards very often but thought I should make a bit of a special effort for my mum, as she loves handmade cards:

As the sun has been shining (now and then), I used some nice bright spring colours.  The dps are by Prima and the beautiful Stempelglede stamp (Maribel) was very kindly forwarded to me by Debi from our DT in New Zealand, as I couldn't get hold of this in the UK (thank you Debi :-)).

She has been stamped in Archival Ink and coloured with Stampin' Up water based markers.  I've used things in this that I haven't used for ages (border punch, brads, doilies) and quite enjoyed myself!.  I've also added a metal leaf charm, a couple of Petaloo flowers, a little lace and some white muslin behind the image, and finished with bow made from seam binding.

Now onto my mum's little gift:

I made her a ring, with some Ice Resin!  This stuff really fascinates me for some reason (even though I've used the one step UV resin a few times).  I finally took the plunge and bought some recently, and I have to say, I love it - there's something very relaxing about drizzling this into a bezel from the end of a lollipop stick (sounds nuts, I know!).

I sealed a piece of torn book page with Modge Podge, then placed a jewellery finding on the top of this inside the ring blank, which I had touched over with a little green patina gilding wax.  I then added a tiny little butterly on the top, sitting only just inside the resin..  It's fairly simple but it's my first attempt, and I'm quite proud of it, simple or not, lol!

Our sponsor this fortnight was Tanda Stamps but they have sadly gone out of business recently.  However, Zoe still has a prize to give from Tanda, along with her creation for this fortnight's challenge which is amazing!

Please pop over and have a look at what the rest of the Design Team have created to inspire you, and I hope you will find the time to join in with us this fortnight.

Tomorrow and Wednesday, I will be able to catch up with commenting, thank you for popping over.

Bye for now

Maria xxxxx