Grungy Monday

Hooray! Grungy Monday has started and the Premier piece is to use one of the techniques Tim used on his:

12 Tags of Christmas, 2008, Tag 10!

This is my piece for Grungy Monday. I had great fun making this. All the details of the process are given on Tim's blog. There is also a link through Studio L3 as Linda Ledbetter is the brains behind Grungy Monday!

Gingersnaps Blue Moon challenge

Gingersnaps this week is a Blue Moon Challenge. This means you can take any challenge from the past and create whatever you like. I have chosen a colour option, which is Citrus. I wanted to use fabric and create a whacky brooch. I stamped onto the fabric and then free machined the image. Your sewing machine will sew through the Ten Second Studio Metal as if it were going through butter. A bit of crazy fun.

Hat and Get Sketchy Challenge

I have created this for two challenges. The Less is More Challenge with Get Sketchy and also for Simon Says. Their challenge is show a hat.

I love the simplicity of this make yet it tickles my sense of humour and it just makes me smile. Time and again I feel my blog title is perfect for me. As happy as.....

Everything Wendy Vecchi Challenge 7

After being in bed for a couple of days with a vile cold i managed to surface today and have a little play so i could come up with something for the everything Wendy Vecchi Challenge 7. The challenge was to use a scallop frame and a grunge paper flower.  It feels good to be making again and to feel a little better. There was no way I could have done anything the past 2 days.

Dreamy Word and Tim Holtz Dies

This is my dreamy tag I have made for Simon Says and also for The Sunday Stamper. For Simon Says we needed to incorporate a word and for The Sunday Stamper it was to use dies. ( I think it is because Hels wanted to play with Victor. You will need to read her blog to find out who Victor is?)

As you can see I had great fun with this one. The base card is some I had marbled sometime ago and felt it may be a fun starting point. The Dream die was placed inside the tag die and the paper run through my cuttlebug. ( We don't all have a friend called Victor to play with!)

I then used further stamps to add more interest. Two of them are Jo's from Stampotique. Abstract foliage and  Fern swirls. I also went around the edges to darken including the cut words. There is a further layer of chalk ink sponged through a flower template.

The butterflies are another Tim Holtz die which I used twice to produce 2 contrasting layers so as to create more dimension.

I must admit I am rather pleased with how it looks.

Gingersnaps Birthday hop

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GINGERSNAPS

This is the third annual Ginger, copper rust themed challenge to celebrate Gingers birthday. A number of the design team have created pieces in celebration. We would love any visitors who would like to bop to hop over and visit all the great creations. You can also join in the challenge.


My partner, John, makes wonderful musical instruments. Guitars, Mandolins, Ukuleles etc. They are just beautiful and sound glorious. Very loud with a very long sustain to the sound. I truly don't know how he manages it. Very talented and gifted. Anyhow the reason why I am ranting on is because it leads me to this creation. It is a little bag for his plectrums. Unfortunately  I cannot really take credit for the original idea as I came across this in one of my books I was browsing through again. It came from Rubber Stamp Extravaganza by Vesta Abel. I don't really feel I can give out the details too much as it is printed in a book. Just to say it uses Ultimate bond tape and it feels absolutely lush. It feels almost like snakeskin and is very flexible and feels quite strong. It is certainly a technique I will use again.


Please hop over Gingers and visit other people too! We would really love to hear from you.

TSC10: Blue and Brown and at least one Stampsmith Stamp

This is my contribution to the current challenge at Stampsmith. I just adore this set of stamps: "Life is a Balancing Act": both for the images themselves but also for the truism of the words.

This tag has combined some drawing and painting to set the background. The acrobat is pieced to give a little more definition and set slightly proud of the paper to give extra dimension. I too am rather partial to the blue/brown combination.

Wendy Vecchi Group: 1 Stamp Set Tag

There is now a group called Everything Wendy Vecchi Yahoo Group, which I discovered by reading Hels' blog.

This weeks challenge is to make a tag using just one of Wendy's stamp sets. I can never remember the names of sets but this is the one I used. All these elements did come from only one set.

I joined, as I have a few of her stamp sets and 1 of her books, no 2. I wanted to use the stamps more and felt this was the perfect solution. I do like the results from her stamps and gives a different look from some of the other things I make.

The challenges may well be taken from her books so there are probably some challenges I will not have access to until I buy more of the books?  I shall have to wait and see?

Artistic Stamper: Spring has Sprung

Watch out, watch out

Kitty's about!

I do hope 2 Sticks are safe from Kitty? I would hate to loose these 2 fellows.

This is similar to another recent make but I have made changes too. It just makes me smile seeing 2 Sticks jumping with springs. This time I have added hair which is shooting upwards as they jump.

I was re reading the recent TH word stamps and felt this one was absolutely perfect for this scene.

I am entering this into the March Artistic Stamper Challenge. Hope you all enjoy and brings a smile to your face.

Sunday Stamper : Brown

The Sunday Stamper ,over on Hels' blog, this weeks challenge is based on the song Brown Eyed Girl, hence the colour brown. I decided to go through my stamps which I had not used for a while and came up with this teasel head. I enjoy seed heads such as these. I think it is their structure and distressed quality I am drawn to especially when they are quite dry.

I coloured a stamboard with Old Paper ink and the edges with Brushed Corduroy. The stamp itself is quite a lot longer so I selected the area I wanted and laid a piece of Stampboard over the section of the stamp I wanted once it had been inked up with Sepia ink. I further scratched into it with a scratchy tool, to give further definition. Then it had its edges sanded so it looked more like a tile. Out came the TH papers and the piece was layered up and edges distressed and inked. The frame was sanded back and a very light application of Bronze paint was added.

SDC26: Animal, Insect or Birds

The challenge this week at Stampotique is not limited to using their stamps. So I have taken this opportunity in using an Artistic Outpost stamp instead. Both Stampotique and Artistic Outpost stamps are available from Happy Daze and The Stamp Attic in the UK

I have made this card to say a big Thank You to a special friend. Rather embarrassingly a bit belated but I wanted to make something rather special for her. I hope she likes it. This is for you Ali. It is in the post.

Simon Says: Metal

Just playing this afternoon and came up with "Hope"

I thought I would enter her into Simon Says since I have used metal for her cart and her hanger headdress.

Just a bit of fun!

Sunday Stamper : Mother Nature

This week for the Sunday Stamper I have made a collage of papers for the background of a tag. I used off cuts from other projects so it also incorporates recycling. I really liked these grungy nature colours together, so I am pleased with the result. As for the little inchie of a wren; this is on a piece of stampboard that has first been lightly coloured with Scattered Straw and rubbed off to give a very pale colour. Then weathered wood was applied through sequin waste. Most of the ink was taken off first to give a pale background. Finally the wren was stamped.

I love little Jenny Wrens. I find they are very recognizable with their little pert tails always pointing upwards. Tiny, shy little birds but i always feel honoured when I see one. There used to be one in our garden, before it became more built up behind us. She made a nest just behind John's forge in the stone wall of the barn. She would fly in and out of the nest to feed her young and was not at all bothered about John banging about with metal by the forge. Perfect for Mother Nature!

Play Date Cafe-Challenge-pdcc71

The Play Date Cafe this week has a splash of colour. I decided to play with my new Claudine Hellmuth stamp duos and stamp them onto fabric with acrylic paint. Then I put some wadding behind and added some free machine stitching on top.  Created this tag with various embossing folders and voila! Clean and simple but a bit of fun.

Art Journey Challenge #7- You Used WHAT??!!

You used WHAT????

I am sure you can guess!
Corrugated card, painted with acrylic and stamped, twice with contrasting colours. The tissue paper back, background is double stamped lightly with bubble wrap.

I have used 3 Art journey stamps. Film Boy, which I just adore, hope and a ring binder edge. I have used free motion stitching so that the stitches are not regular and also mended a tear in the tissue paper with stitching which I think is rather fun.

This challenge was set by Jo Capper-Sandon for Art Journey. I encourage you to take a look. See what you can come up with for unusual backgrounds.

Sunday Stamper: Parisian Walkways

The theme this week with Sunday Stampers is Parisian Walkways
I decide to create 3 grungy Parisian tags using TH's stamps as they reminded me of luggage tags. There is the Moulin Rouge, the Eiffel Tower of course and a bumbling vintage car, as the map behind is French. I like to think the map is from the outskirts of Paris with the car travelling towards Paris.

SDC25: Faux Barnwood Technique (Group 4)

The challenge this time at Stmpotique is to use the faux barn door technique of distress. I have used this once before and I rather like the effect it gives. There are links to details of how to do it on the Stampotique site.

I have used a couple of stamps from Stampotique which were designed by Jo Capper-Sandon. As the bees are obviously collecting nectar I have teamed them up with the flower stamp and added the words Sweet Dreams are made of this which I felt were more than appropriate for nectar collecting.

Get to Work with Gingersnaps

This week on Gingersnaps the theme is "Get to Work".
I have had this wicked stamp for awhile and it felt just right for this challenge. I loved the image of the woman from a certain age rushing to get to work, especially during this age it was fairly unusual for women to work particularly in professional roles. She certainly looks like a professional woman and a bit of an eccentric, which I tend to love. I could enjoy sharing a drink with her.

See what modes of transport you can come up with for this challenge.