Paper Piecing

Hi everyone, from a wonderfully bright and sunny Shetland - another day of blue skies, sunshine, no wind, coldish, but just gorgeous!

I am sharing another tag today which incorporates some paper piecing.  This is the current challenge at Fashionable Stamping Challenges and something I've not really done before.  I have just got the  Tim Holtz Sewing Blueprint stamps (I've been drooling over them for a while!), so I thought would give them a whirl. 
  

Quite a simple tag really, I just stamped the image on the covered tag, then made a skirt from pieces of left over Pion Papers and dressed it up a bit.  Quite fiddly, and the bits don't always end up where you want them!

 

I did have a bit of fun with the hat!  This was the Craft Stamper freebie from a couple of months ago.  Two layers on the hat, then the hat ribbon and feather as another layer. Each layer has very thin foam pads so it really does look 3D.

 

This is a great challenge and I am so glad I had a go, as I might start looking at some of my stamps in a different light.  Hop on over to FSC to see some gorgeous DT pieces and already some super entries.

Thanks for looking and I hope the sun is shining for you too ............

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

An Explosion of Exploding Boxes ................

 

The first day of spring ?? and hello from a very wintry Shetland.  Cold winds, snow showers and grey skies.  It can only get better ..........

Which is a bit of shame as I have made this little exploding box for the current Anything But a Card Challenge the theme of which is Spring.

This was quite a quick make as I wanted to make sure that I could get springing flowers in a box before my Scrapbook Exploding Box workshop coming up this weekend.

This is also a very small box (my husband did the calculations for me as I am no good at working out any sort of figures).  The lid measures only 1 3/4" x 1 3/4", so quite tiddly really, but not too fiddly to work with.

A bit of a dive bombing butterfly on one side as I made him a bit too long and he is trying to climb out of the box when it is shut! Do pop over to ABAC as there are some wonderful DT pieces and some equally wonderful submissions.

This is my template box for the weekend workshop - I will make a vintage one on the day. We are all just loving these wonderful Maja Design Papers.

And in case you missed it (!), this is the one I made for the Fashionable Stamping Challenge last month which got me a Catwalk Spotlight.  The post is here.

Thank you for visiting and keep warm ..... Spring is surely just around the corner!



A happy heart ............

......... always - as I get to do so many things that I really love!

A quick post to share another tag! this time for the Artful Times Challenge which is to use alcohol inks. 

I am sorry to say I don't use these as much as I should, so I thought I would have a go at making some largish Vellum flowers using the Tim Holtz Tattered Florals Die (it is the spiky one). I used three layers and inked them after cutting using a combination of Cranberry and Red Pepper Alcohol Inks. 

After a bit of shaping they looked a bit like poppies so I added three layers of punched stamens and found some grey pearls (why would I have grey pearls ??).  Just one word of advice - use thickish vellum as when I tried to shape the leaves with my bone folder, the ones made from thinner Vellum just shattered - the inks must affect the Vellum slightly.

Von has made a very colourful tag with her AInks and Neet an amazing piece of jewellery.  Click the link HERE to see these lovely pieces.

Thanks for looking and I hope it is nice and sunny with you as it is here.  Very cold, and snow all around us, but not with us ..........

Swirling Around .....

Another tag and some more flowers from the non-descript white petals - if I keep going at this rate I'll end up having to buy some more!

Swirls is the challenge at Fashionable Stamping Challenges this month and Tags at the Artistic Stamper Creative Team Blog, so I thought I would combine them with this tag which again sees me using more of my Glimmer Mists.  (These have been languishing in a drawer for ages, but since I brought them out onto the desk I keep using them!).

I part embossed the tag with a Cuttlebug Swirls Folder and added some text paper and there is a paper doily somewhere in there too!  After a light coat of gesso I gave it a light spritz with Red Maple Glimmer Mist (a dangerously powerful colour, but I managed to control it with a bit of water and lots of kitchen towel). 

I mopped up the remaining ink with some muslin and scrim and then tried to lightly spray the flowers, but it was difficult, so they are a little more colourful than I wanted, but I did manage to keep the edges white, so they have a sort of clematis look.  They do look amazingly different from the originals.

I love this Artistic Stamper Gibson Girls stamp and the sentiment is lovely if a little long to fit on a tag! 

So I would suggest a visit to both the Artistic Stamper Creative Team Blog as there are some wonderful DT pieces and also Fashionable Stamping Challenges blog, particularly an amazingly stamped and embossed piece by Astrid.  Her work is always stunning, but I am still looking at this and wondering how she did it!

Thanks for looking and I'll try and make something other than a tag next ........

Green it is ...............

Two posts in one day!! I am playing catch up at the moment, so alot of things are just ready to put together.

Well I did say I would do a bit more green this year and this fits in nicely with the current Anything But a Card Challenge which is ......... yep .......... Green!

I gathered supplies and just decided to go for it - randomly glueing down bits of book paper all over the tag as well as some left overs from my bits box.  Then I sprayed the whole tag with all my green sprays! and sprayed some muslin, scrim and ribbon at the same time. 

You may remember that I am trying to use up the mountain of white flowers I currently have so I lightly sprayed and scrunched up a few of these white non descript flowers. 

Then when they were dry I added some stamens which I coloured with alcohol inks.  I really like the look of these, they just look so different from the originals.

Do pop over to the ABAC Challenge Blog HERE as there are some super DT pieces and entries - it is absolutely amazing what can be done with the colour green!

I am also entering the tag into the first challenge at Country View Crafts the theme of which is Pick and Mix - so anything goes!  Do have a look at the site as there are some fabulous DT pieces and some great offers in the shop as well!

Thanks for visiting and I hope to catch up with visiting blogs later tonight x

The Great Tattered Floral Challenge

As the Tim Holtz Tattered Floral Die is my all time favourite cutting die I had to enter the Tattered Floral Challenge!  Details are here on Tim Holtz's blog - but basically it is just "show" what you can do with the die.  There are some amazing entries so do go and have a look. 

I had been tarting up this little box with some left over Basic Grey papers and Tim Holtz Tissue Tape and decided to make a few roses with the Tattered Floral Die for the top.

I make the roses in exactly the same way as the Grungepaper Roses, but I make them from cream cardstock rather than the grungepaper.  To make them strong enough for 3d projects once I have edged the individual flowers with Vintage Photo Distress Ink I then spritz them with water and scrunch them up.  When they are dry I open them out with a bone folder, keeping the creases and adding a little more Vintage Photo if necessary and then make the roses in the usual way. 

I make alot!

I also make these vintage style paper roses from the Tattered Floral die (photo tutorial on my side bar):

And these:

Even old newspaper makes a great tattered floral rose too!

Thanks for looking x

Telescoping card ...........

Another month and another Round Robin Card Challenge at Swirlydoos.  Paulien has given us some great twists this month - create a peek a boo or slide/pull out element, use some sort of frame and metal foil.

So I decided to make a telescoping card, I have not made one for a while, but what colours?  I felt like doing something different which fitted in very nicely with the curent Fashionable Stamping Challenge, which is to use red/black/brown.

It is difficult to photograph this card in action but here goes!  As you pull the ribbon at the top the three elements pull out into a hanging card.

I love this rose stamp from Stampin Up and used the NeoColour II wax watercolour crayons to paint it.  I am just loving these - they can be as bright or as pale as you wish.  I used my Nestabilities Scallop and Circle Dies, so as you can imagine the card is quite small. 

And the card .... it is for my Aunt (and Godmother) who celebrates a major birthday at the end of this month - I may have to send instructions on how to open it though!

Do pop over to the Fashionable Stamping Challenge page HERE as there are some beautiful DT pieces and some fabulous submissions from members.

Thanks for looking x

Playing with Wax Pastels

A little "catch up" post as we have now returned from a wonderful 10 days in Ireland.  Lots of traditional music, catching up with friends but also time to myself for a bit of "play". 

However, RyanAir baggage allowance meant I couldn't take much, so I spent the week experimenting with Neocolour Water Soluble Wax Pastels and absolutely loved them - eventually!  They will take alot of water  but the colours stay strong and I love this negative painting technique with gesso which I learnt from Catherine Scanlon.

I also made tons of flowers!

........... and started knitting a jumper with my handspun Shetland wool - this will be a long project I think!

We were staying in Ballyvaughn - a small village which lies within the Burren just south of Galway - an amazing place of rock which seems to change colour depending on the day and the weather.  It is very bleak at this time of the year, but actually quite beautiful.

Hopefully I shall get started in the craft room soon - I am itching to get started as I had lots of ideas buzzing around my head whilst I was away, but frustratingly not able to do anything!

Thanks for looking x