Shelter from the rain

A New Years project I made today and entering it for monthly Ryn's challenge.

All stamps used in this project are by Designs by Ryn.

The inspiration from this project came about when I was thinking about and reflecting on the past year, 2014. Sometimes things are great, other times no so much and there is sadness and sometimes regret. There is not necessarily anything we can do about this, or about tragic and upsetting world events. All we can do is live our lives, control what we can control and accept what we can't. By this I don't mean apathy, but I know that I can not carry the weight of the worlds problems on my shoulders, so its ok to take care of myself a little. I hope you are also able to do this in 2015.

Happy New Year x

Wicked Wednesday ATC - Anything Goes

My final creation of 2014 is for Wicked Wednesday ATC challenge blog. The title of the challenge this week is Anything Goes. Here is my creation using this awesome digital image from The Chubby Mermaid:

Now I am not particularly a cat person, but I love this image, only cool cats are patterned/doodled on like this and have wings etc. 

The cat is colored with prisma color pencils and white gel pen accents added. The ground was stamped with animal footprints in pale grey and then the 'meow' letters stamped individually. The edges of the paper was torn. The background is canvas, sprayed with various pink and purple dylusions sprays, a word stencil added and sprayed with white dylusions. Love how it absorbs the background colors.

There are many more Wicked Wednesday challenges to come in 2015, we have a totally awesome calendar of challenges and sponsors. Make sure you check it out, the blog and on Facebook :)

Happy New Year to you and yours.

Take care, be happy and healthy 

xxxxx

A little magic ...

I made this page in my art journal using a stamp from Carmen's Veranda, Elf with Star. He is spreading some joy as magic and the New Year approaches :

 For the background I have painted with acrylic paints and then stamped using the Tall Trees background stamp from Lost Coast Designs. The wording I made up, printed out on my computer.

 The magic emanating from his wand is made with various metallic colors of liquid pearls.

I hope you receive a little of his magic and have a wonderful and healthy 2015 x

Sea Otter Boy

I made this for a HUGE sea otter fan, and I came across this wonderful image from Rachel Huddleston / Miss Rach, she has some great digital whimsical animals. Here is the image Sea Otter Love made into a plaque for my sons bedroom door :

 A close up of this adorable little sea otter x

The otter is colored with copics and prisma colored pencils :) 

I actually gave a donation to the World Wildlife Foundation this year, for the protection of these animals and their environments. It was nice to give to a cause like this rather than buy more stuff !

Thanks for stopping by x

Wicked Wednesday does Silver and Gold

The title for this weeks challenge at Wicked Wednesday atc challenge blog is either Happy Holidays or Silver and Gold. I think I have both pretty well covered here.

The sponsor is DRS Designs with this lovely wording digital image. It would make the perfect sentiment for inside a card too I think :)

I used gold glimmer paper for my ornaments and matting of the atc. I printed the words out, edged lightly in worn lipstick distress ink and added a little shimmer from a home made spray. I really liked the warmness of the pink with the gold and shimmer :)

Thanks for stopping by x

Altered Playing Card - Week 13

This weeks challenge was all about the bees. Here are my APC's :

The first APC is using the wonderful and very realistic bee from the set by Lost Coast Designs, called More Bugz. Look how realistic it is :

The bee was stamped onto white cardstock in black ink, colored with mustard colored india ink and the wings are painted with my wink of stella pen. I then fussy cut the bee.

Here is the whole APC. The background was done with a thin layer of gesso and I used a honeycomb stencil. I colored the whole background in wild honey distress ink. The flowers were stamped in brown and green and embossed in clear embossing powder, top right corner too. Then when it was dry I removed the ink with a baby wipe. I sprinkled a little gold embossing powder behind the bee and heat set it, you can probably see that clearer in the pic above.  I then added the sponged hexagons and strip of patterned paper across the bottom. The whole thing was lightly edged in a burgundy ink.

The sentiment was really quite meaningful, "Long Live the Queen". I get so upset when I read about the chemicals used in farming that are killing the bees, its utter stupidity in my opinion and we should all be concerned about that ..... I hope we can protect these beautiful and very important little insects and colonies.

The second APC is indicative of my life with three young ones at home. I am always busy as a bee ....

 The background was painted with yellow acrylic paint, sponged some orange and then I added some gold - that signifies the honey :) I stamped in black ink some criss-cross and honey comb shapes. I used a Stampin' Up! embosing folder to make the honey comb, and the bees were stamped from a retired Stampin' Up! set called Nature Walk. The bodies were stamped onto white cardstock and colored in. The wings stamped onto vellum and heat embossed. I like to stamp using black versamark then use Wow white pearl embossing powder. I love the pearl look of it and you get a little black showing through.

Close up of the APC, showing the shine of the background and the bee's wings :

 Loving this altered APC challenge, I always look forward to the next weeks ideas from Claudine, although mine hardly seen to resemble hers in the end. I love that everyone doing this challenge interprets it differently.

Altered Playing Cards week 12

A week of self reflection for this week 12 challenge.

My week 12's - not properly written out yet but the 'what I like about myself' will be about sitting back and smelling the flowers and the 'I am thankful for' is about the days, sunrise sunset type of thing.

Happy Creepy Holidays

Wicked Wednesday atc Challenge blog are sponsored this week by Delicious Doodles and Smeared Ink, and what an awesome atc title : Happy Creepy Holidays. 

I have used the 'Drinking Buddy Elfette' image drawn by Victoria Searcey at Smeared Ink :

 Here is a close up of her, colored with copics, looks like she has had a pretty good night out ...

 I took another pic from a different angle so you can see a bit of the shimmer and background :

 The background was made with gelatos, then I stamped some snowflakes in white stazon which acted as a resist when I lightly sponged around the image and the edge of the atc in peeled paint distress ink. I did a little background stamping using the barbed wire stamp from Waltzing Mouse Stamps using Memento London Fog ink. I also lightly stamped her stockings with that too - if you can see all the little criss-cross lines. I was thinking fish net stockings at that point ... LOL. I did some white splashes with acrylic paint and added crystal effects to the bottle she is holding. 

The Ho Ho Oh ! is poor Mr Claus' response, welcoming his wife home after a big night out .... Happy to see her until he realizes the state she is in. I used silver stickers for these letters.

A fun atc to make, quite a detailed image to color with my copics, but I really enjoyed it and the humour x

Some special gift tags

Using the beautiful deer wooden XMAS-456 embellishment from Southern Ridge Trading Co, I made up some gift tags. These are actually atc sized (3.5" x 2.5"). 

The deer is so perfect, I didn't want to add anything to it, but the background is created by swiping victorian velvet distress paint over a manilla tag leaving some areas clear. Then I added picket fence distress stain and the paint acts as a resist.  I added a layer of  distress crackle paint in clear rock candy. Look how gorgeous it is when dry, it highlights the deer beautifully :

I stamped the ground / postmark in baked brown sugar Stampin' Up! ink on top of the crackle paint and added the seam binding which was colored with the victorian velvet distress paint. I mounted the tag onto baked brown sugar card stock and  lightly edged it with Stampendous shabby pink embossing enamel.

I entered them into the Tag Along challenge this week #68 - its all about reindeer :)
Yay, got picked in the top 3 :)

I also used these as ATC's to trade, as part of the OK ATC trade I facilitate :)

Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Holidays atc

A Day for Daisies sponsored Wicked Wednesdays Happy Holidays challenge #136. This image is called Frosty :

The background was finger painted with Paper Artsy Fresco finish paints in candy floss and mermaid, then I lightly sponged some nougat over to soften it and give the feeling of clouds. We can have nice warm snow days too :) I sponged the edges of the atc with faded jean distress ink. The image was printed and colored with copics. I used a Marvy snow pen for the snowmans body. Its a pretty neat pen, you  color the snowman with the nib, let it dry and then heat it and it puffs up : 

Thanks for stopping by x Have a great day 

Christmas inspiration

Couple of projects we made at our last card club for 2014 :

This is a simple one layer Christmas card. I love all the detail and work you can add to a card, but often doing this for each Christmas card is just too much work - unless you start making them during springtime for example though - but who does that ? LOL

For this card I die cut a mask (circle and ornament shaped) and then stamped through the diecut. For the example above I used a retired Stampin' Up! wheel - perfect ornament for a Canadian Christmas card I thought, and a vintage stamp. When the ink was dry I applied my versamark through the stencil and then used iridescent ice embossing powder that was heat set. I love the shimmer and the definition it adds to the outline of the ornament : 

This card was inspired by Karen Day, a dt post for the Dynamic Duos blog in 2012. 

For the second project, we made a table decoration using the Bigz petal box die, and old olive cardstock. The tree was stamped in old olive using the ornamental pine stamp set, and punched some holes. The tree was assembled and the embellishments added, branches cut from the Stampin' Up! bird punch. Inside there is a fake candle and the light shines through the holes :) 

SCACD Holiday Inspiration Day

Welcome :) I am joining in the SCACD fun today for some holiday inspiration, Christmas and Hanukkah :) We are getting in the holiday mood here in Canada, as is 'Note to Selfie' :

Had to have a little bit of fun with this digital image, and he does look rather dapper in his Nordic sweater - all ready for a Canadian winter. I have made a few changes to the original image, added clothing and removed wings ! This sentiment also is one I made up and printed, the actual wording with the image is 'Note to Selfie'. Here is a close up of him :

Its fun to be involved in this showcase, I hope everyone is enjoying the inspiration and the wonderful and diverse SCACD images :) For the full list of participant in this showcase, click here.

There were a few steps involved in the creation of this card. The background is sprayed and a stencil used with white ink and I outlined some of the squares in white gel pen. The image is colored with copics, then I added a little alcohol blending solution to a blending foam and pounced lightly to give a bit of an uneven, wooly look :

The jumper is paper pieced. I did this by running a piece of copy paper through my printer and then using temporary tape to adhere the patterned paper where I wanted it, and ran it through my printer again and fussy cut the sweater image :

Note to Selfie and his sweater are fussy cut. Yes, its true ... I love to fussy cut ....

His hat was just sketched on carstock and cut out, colored with india ink and white gel pen.

 I sprayed a piece of card stock and when it was dry I punched out some stars.

That was a fun project, I hope you found some inspiration here and will check out the other wonderful SCACD digi images :)

You're a Star atc

I just love being on the Wicked Wednesday design team, we get to work with such great images and sponsors, such as this week Kenny K.  I have used this fantastic image called City Star.

She is colored with copics, the hat is paper pieced. The background is mixed media. I did quite a bit of recycling for this atc, I always keep a box of scraps,  things left over from other projects. I loooove to go through it and find little treasures, like some of the elements for this atc. It worked out really well I think :) She looks great. I loved the contrast of the color to the black and white.

Thanks for stopping by, if you are an atc fan, why not check out the Wicked Wednesday blog, reading the rules and guidelines first. The sponsors are so awesome and generous x

Thank you for stopping by, have a great day x

Use two or more images ...

I made this card using Mo Monster and one of the teacups from the Tea Set by Sarah O'Leary. 

Mo Monster was stamped onto Graphic 45 paper and fussy cut. I stamped the eyes onto white and cut them out and layered them. I added a layer of gel medium to get a non porous surface so I could add some green india ink and smudge it to add a little dimension.

The tea cup is just one image from the Tea Set, I colored it with copics and fussy cut it. 

As you can see, poor Mo Monster got his leg caught in the balloon string and is taking his cup of tea with him ..... LOL. The sentiment is from a Dylusions set. My other sentiment idea was "It had all been going too well at the tea party .... " LOL

Thanks for stopping by x

Warm Winter Wishes atc

The title of the Wicked Wednesday atc challenge is Warm Winter Wishes, using this gorgeous image called Festival Girl from Time for Tea. 

Festival Girl is colored with copics and prisma color pencils. Her jacked and boots have been paper pieced and embossed so they are really shiny. I added a knotted band of twine as her head dress. I think she looks like she is having a great time. Simple sentiment of 'cheers' :)

Thanks for stopping by x

Natural Wonders atc

The title for this atc trade was Natural Wonders. 

I used a stamp from the gorgeous Stampscapes Symmetry sheet #1 Suns & Moons :

 I sponged the background in various colors of distress inks and then stamped over it with black ink on the stamp. I love how the various colors show through. For the wording 'Moonlight'. I stamped the word moonlight, clear embossed it and stamped over the whole word in black ink. The embossing powder acted as a resist so I was able to rub it off to reveal the color co-ordinated word beneath.

I added a layer of clear rock candy crackle paste to my atc, and when it was dry I added a layer of gloss gel medium. You can see the texture more clearly in this pic :

I think I am feeding my moon fetish as it seems to be growing !

Altered Playing Card week 11

Cant believe I am keeping up, am really enjoying this challenge : My week 11 apc's, the theme is snow : 

 The first apc uses paper towel from my spray box as the background. I added acrylic paint and white embossing powder to the ground, edges and sentiment. The image is by Vikki Douglas, colored with acrylic paint and then highlights added with india ink pens. It is fussy cut and glued onto my background. I don't know about you, but I think its a super cute digi image.

 For the second apc I added a layer of Golden acrylic ground for pastels to the card (no gesso), then lay my piece of sprayed kitchen towel on top. I left it for a short time so that the ground was still wet and when I peeled it off, some of the color transfered from the paper towel to the ground, but I could still see the pattern on the card background. I loved that and the gritty feel of the ground on the card, it really added a lot of texture and dimension. I added white acrylic splats, some silver embossed snowflakes and the snowy floor is made with a joy stamp from Stampin' Up!. The bird wreath is a freebie from the Craft Stamper Magazine, layered, doodled and embossed. And the stem of the bird weath is silver washi.

That was a super fun way to pass a few hours :) Thanks Claudine for the challenge x

Christmas atc trade

The final Stampotique atc of 2014 is Christmas :) The requirement for this trade is that you must include a Merry Christmas message to the recipient. My atc's :

The inspiration for this came from the knitwear patterned paper. I thought how cool it would be for Oliver to have a selection of ugly Christmas sweaters. Both in burgundy and multi colored. I like this Oliver image, he always looks so miserable, so thought I would cheer him up. I hope he gets some success in his endeavours for kisses, he should do as he looks so snazzy. LOL

The background was made with distress paint, which acted as a sort of resist when I applied the distress stain. At first I was going to do mistletoe, but I saw someone else in the trade had done that so swiftly moved on ... to sweaters, kisses, hearts, giving etc ... yes, my imagination runs amok sometimes !

 I laughed and laughed when I found this stamp in my stash: "The season of giving" and knew what I had to do was add a free kisses sign. The sentiment is in a set from Clear & Simple Stamps called O'Tree. The heart embellishment is punched out with a small heart punch, hand written and multiple layers of UTEE added. His hat was hand cut from silver paper. Oliver is colored with copics, other than his sweater is paper pieced from Trim the tree designer series paper by Stampin' Up!

So here is a close up of Oliver in burgundy and Oliver in green :) Which do you prefer ?

 I used my illuminate ink pad to stamp some shiny snowflakes in the background, to make it a bit more festive. The atc actually opens up like a card and there is a personalised message inside. 

 So off the little atc's go in the mail, to France and the UK. Hope the girls like them x

Stamper's butts ...

Sometimes there is a stamp that crosses my path and I can not resist it .... especially if it is unusual, unexpected, slightly weird or humorous. So here is the latest installment, this is a stamp from Viva Las Vegas Stamps, made into a post card :)  Isn't it fab.

 This idea sprung to mind looking through the VLVS fb group and Wayne Gartley had added a pic of a butt with the sentiment "I suffer from Stamper's Butt". And I thought, "Me too" ! LOL I spent all weekend at a craft retreat, so this stamper's butts seemed appropriate as we sat on them for a loooooong time. LOL 

I stamped my image in brown archival ink and colored it with my inktense pencils. The background was made using paper towel from my spray box, with some molding paste and stencil. Love that the paste takes on the colors of the dylusions ink from the paper towel.

Thanks for stopping by, and appreciating the stamper's butts .... LOL

Altered Playing Card week 10

This weeks theme is outside the box, quirky and whimsical. I think I definitely achieved that ... lol.

My apc's : 

The first is a distress paint background, with a head and partial sentiment from Dylusions stamp sets. The broom handle is from the housewife stamp from Lost Coast Designs. I doodled the lines and embossed with clear powder. It was very interesting to see how the paint reacts on the gesso'd playing cards. Distress paint separates and cracks, other acrylics dont. I am learning so much about the uses and limitations of my stash in this challenge. Enjoying this challenge on so many levels :)

 The second apc used an image transfer for the face, with Paper Artsy chalk acrylic paint. The legs and crown are from a set by Dylusions, copics colored. The wording and bar code are from Stampotique. The ground was made by adding a little blue flocking when the paint was wet, and I edged the apc in black ink.

 Thats my week 10 complete, thanks for visiting xxx

Altered Playing Card Week 9

A fun week 9 of the altered playing card (apc) challenge.This week is sponsored by Susana's Custom Art and Card Design (SCACD) so I pulled out my wonderful SCACD stamps ...

For the first apc I used this funky and cool steampunk fish called Incandescent Light . I colored him with copics and fussy cut him. Unusual fish call for unusual background oceans, and so the pink and turquoise dylusions background came about, and I added glitter paper circles. Initially I was planning to just use a circle behind the lantern, but I loved the look against the background, so they circles multiplied. The apc is edged in Stampendous aged copper embossing enamel. The sentiment is included with incandescent light image :) These fish always remind me of Finding Nemo, but this one is waaaay cooler :)

 The second apc uses a very different image from SCACD, this is one of the images from the archeological dig set. I painted the background with Paper Artsy chalk acrylic paint in stone, and while the paint was wet I sprinkled a little flocking in brown and pale blue - you can just see the tiny speckles around the image. When the paint was dry I stamped the dinosaur skeleton image in brown archival ink. Then I used a brick effect stencil and green distess ink on the background, added some washi tape, some jute and finally a thin layer of Kroma crackle in some spots around the edges. Doesn't he look great :) 

 Here are my two apc's together for week 9. 

Thanks for stopping by, please leave me some love xxx