Tag you're it is back!

The challenge blog Tag you're it! is back. Their DT have produced some stunningly beautiful tags too. It is ages since I entered a challenge with a tag - not since I joined the DT on Tuesday Taggers in fact!
So here it is. Made with distress inks sponged on to a satin finish tag. I used faded jeans, tumbled glass, spun sugar and worn lipstick. The willow leaves are a lavinia stamp and the rest are from an Innovative stamp creations plate called tranquil . I wasn't sure about whether to put flowers or a bird 'on the bough' which is the theme this week. My decision was made for me when I dropped the flower stamp, all inked up on the bottom of the tag! Don't look too closely, lol! Thanks for visiting!

Give us a tag at Tuesday Taggers!

For this week's Tuesday Taggers we are asking you to make a Tag! It can be on any theme you like. We have a Guest DT member this week - Georgina who has donated a lovely prize. Check out some of the wonderful projects on Georgina's blog. I probably told you already that my dear friend Lynne donated me some American magazines and I found some lovely ideas in them, one of which was this. It's a tag...

 and it opens out into...

a little card with pockets!    

Here is a close up of my shrinky butterfly.

I really enjoyed making this. The butterfly, script, real dill and sentiment are all Hero Arts stamps and the nettle leaf is MME. I'm not sure about the bumble bee, but Lavinia stamps do one very similar. The background was coloured with Mustard seed, antique linen and shabby shutters distress ink.  Thanks for looking and I hope you can join us this week!

Mmmmmm...Distress inks

I've spent a bit of time playing with distress inks, because there were two things I wanted to do this holiday. I wanted to make a shaped easel card, like Debbie's and I wanted to make some backgrounds like Paula's. I've been admiring  Debbie Dolphin's shaped easel cards for some time, and in honour of her getting on the front cover of craft stamper I thought I'd better pull my finger out! If you don't know of Paula's blog get yourself over there as she is one mega talented lady. I regularly drool over her wonderful creations. Anyway, earlier in the week she posted this and this. I loved the blue, gold and yellow combination, and was inspired! I'm not sure if mine has worked, as my background is rather busy, so I kept my focal points to a minimum. I stamped the script and daisies (graphicus) in black versafine, then embossed the flashy floral (inkadinkado) in gold, along with the butterfly (I.S.C.). The base card was coloured with distress inks in Faded Jeans, Chipped Sapphire, Mustard seed, scattered straw and rusty hinge. As I've used no patterned papers I'm entering it into this weeks Allsorts challenge. It also has a ditressed feel, so I'm entering it into the Simon Says Stamp Challenge.  Thanks for looking!

Thank yous

I've just realised I've had two awards which I accepted gracefully and haven't posted them or passed them on - how rude is that? So, I'm here to make amends. Firstly a big thank you to Fliss who gave me this:

Please pop over and have a look at her blog, as she is an amazingly talented lady, and I feel very honoured.
I'm passing it on to:       Paula
                                    Rachel
                                   Clare
                                    Lisa
                                    Michelle
                                    and also Fliss


Secondly I received this from the amazingly talented Rachel.

Please check out her blog too as she is one extremely talented teenager! Now, I'm supposed to pass it on to 12 people, but I'm afraid I'm going to cheat and say please take it if you visit me. I appreciate each and every one of you!

Finally, I'd like to say a huge thank you to Helene aka Mummylade, who picked my altered tin to be in her top 5 at Allsorts this week.I am honoured there too, being chosen alongside some stunning makes.
I know I've been a bit quiet since Thursday, but I've been donated some copies of  Somerset studio and stamper's sampler by my good friend Lynne. I've been reading those and getting very inky! I've also been visiting lots of blogs belonging to lovely peeps who have entered the Stampalot Challenge and Tuesday taggers. If you haven't had a go yet, get your thinking caps on!

Sir Stampalot challenges you !

Good Morning to you all! Hopefully you have ventured here from the Sir Stampalot Challenge - if not make sure you are signed up to follow and pop over there for the low down on how to win an AMAZING prize! Over the coming months we have some fantastic themes lined up for you, along with some fabulous prizes from Sir Stampalot. There are more details on the Challenge blog in the sidebar and on the post. Our first theme is:

"Fantasy"

Sir Stampalot have been so generous with the winners prize .......pinch yourself first because it's:

A Cricut Personal Electronic Cutter

PLUS a Pooh Font Cartridge

Good stuff, eh? Guaranteed to get you motivated! We will also select our Top 3 who will be able to display our special logo.
So here are two cards that will hopefully help to motivate you too.

My first card is an easel card. I made the background with acrylic dabbers and stamped over the top with some lavinia stamps. The bubbles are 3d paint and the starfish was made with air drying clay and painted with metallic paint. The corner flourish is a sizzix die.

 

My second card features the Fantasy tree by Penny Black and the Wizard by Non Sequitur. The Celtic border was embossed with kaleidoscope embossing powder. I made the background with Adirondack colour washes.  The highlights are made with a white gel pen and some icicle stickles.
For some fabulous ideas to help you on your way, please visit the Design Team's blogs - they are truly inspirational! Thanks for popping over. Now go and make a fantastic creation and join in the fun!
Edit: A quick reminder to check the rules in the sidebar
1) Entries may be combined with a maximum of five other challenge - i.e: six in total

It's a Bugs life!

The theme at Tuesday Taggers this week is 'Bugs' and is sponsored by the Craft Barn. I've made two cards this week. The first uses Kay Carley's  Funky Frames (Aspects of Design), coloured in with Sakura Stardust pens and a water brush.It's very much in the style of Kay. I love her use of colour and the way she uses the stamps to create backgrounds.

For my second card I used two stamps. The 'lazy daisies' are by Penny Black and the 'garden ladybug' by Hero arts. I coloured both in with promarkers and added a bit of stickles to the flowers and diamond glaze to the ladybirds.  Pop over to Tueday Taggers and take a look at some of the wonderful creations my talented teamies have come up with this week.

Thanks for looking!

Allsorts challenge - Rags to Riches

before

Here is my Entry for this week's Allsorts challenge where the theme is Rags to Riches. I've used another mint tin (see before picture above). I've framed a small scanned picture of one of my relatives (not a clue who, but related to my maternal grandfather) using a bottle top and UTEE. The stamps on the top are hero arts script and a graphicus scroll, stamped in tea dye DI on card swiped with Antique Linen DI. The flowers, lace, pearls and ribbon were all from my stash. Thanks for looking!

A couple of challenges and I've been a bit naughty!

Confession time... You know how I tried to go craft shopping yesterday and it was shut? Well I had ordered myself a box of 24 Coloursoft pencils that arrived yesterday, and instead of putting them away for my birthday I came home, opened them and started using them. I know, it's bad isn't it? I've had the odourless alcohol and the paper stumps for ages and my will power was very poor! Anyway, confession over, I put them to very good use and made this Easter card using an image by my good friend Teri of Delicious Doodles. Isn't it sweet? The gingham papers were from Funky fairies and the daisy paper was from a Papermania pad. I'm entering it into two challenges - Rosie D's where the theme is Yellow, green and white, and Dare U2 Digistamp where the theme is Easter.

My second card was also coloured with the Coloursoft pencils and blended in the same way. The main image is a Stampourium stamp (no longer available) and the background is stamped with my Art Impressions serpentine background. I added diamond glaze and stickles to highlight. I love these pencils and for a first go I'm so pleased with the results! I can see they are going to get lots of use.
I hope you have all signed up to follow the Sir Stampalot Challenge Blog. Only 3 more days before the first challenge is launched and the last chance candy is drawn.
Thanks for looking!

A day of craft

As it's the first day of the Easter Hols I decided I would spend the day doing fun stuff (and a bit of washing). I did try going to Once upon a stamp, only to find they were at the NEC and not open, so came home and used up some stash instead. The main image is a free digistamp from Cuddly Buddly. I coloured it with promarkers in meadow, aqua, pastel blue, sky blue, lavender, lilac, maroon, burnt umber and purple. I hadn't decided what else to do with it when I saw these papers and realised it was a good match! I thought I would enter it in this week's Passion for Promarkers where the theme is Springtime with an animal.

My second card features a Penny Black stamp bought from Sir Stampalot. I coloured it with promarkers and used papers from the Papermania capsule collection. Not many days now until the Sir Stampalot Challenge launches. I hope you are signed up as a follower and have your name in Mr Linky for the last goody bag candy draw.
Thanks for looking!

Different Poppies

This is another stamp by Hero Arts that I got from Sir Stampalot. I love it! I can see it in lots of different colours, or just embossed in silver or gold. I found myself using some different colour combinations here, but I think they work! I stamped the stamp in brown versafine and embossed with detail clear. After that I coloured it with promarkers. I stamped the swirl (Elusive Images), in chalk ink on the pearlised base card.
I want to let you know that you are in for a real treat when you see the DT's cards for the Sir Stampalot challenge blog. Make sure you sign up to follow so you can join in the fun!
Sorry to those of you who I have not had chance to visit this week. It's the last week of term and on top of Data crunching and a governors meeting, I seem to be so tired I've lost the ability to focus for long! Off to try and get an earlier night tonight. Thanks for visiting!

Altering at Tuesday Taggers

Hi Everyone! Here is my latest project for Tuesday Taggers. One of my friends gets through a fair few of these mints that come in little tins and donated me a pile of them. I'm a bit out of my comfort zone with altering, so I'm afraid it isn't altered much! I used mustard seed and broken china distress inks to get that shade of green. The stamps are all Craftwork Cards 'Botanicals' except for the butterfly  which is a hero arts one. I added tulip paint, stickles and white gel pen to jazz it up a bit. I will try a few more of these soon, and maybe get a bit more adventurous!
Thanks for looking, and do pop over and look at the fab projects my talented teamies have come up with!

It's Spring!

I've been out in the garden without my coat on admiring the crocuses, snowdrops and the lovely tête a tête daffodils that are just coming out. The sun is out and there are even a few bees around. I've also been putting the finishing touches to an easel card I started last night.

This lovely hyacinth, coloured with promarkers, is a Graphicus stamp and the papers are from the capsule collection by Papermania. I found the ribbon in my stash and sprayed the flowers with creative colour sprays to blend in. I'm entering this in three challenges - Allsorts, Rosie D's and By the Cute and Girly, Where the themes are Spring is in the Air and Think Spring. Thanks for looking and don't forget to check out the Sir Stampalot challenge blog!