12 Tags of 2014 - September

Hi Everyone

The year is rolling on and with the passing of each month comes a new tag from Tim Holtz over at the 12 Tags of 2014 challenge.  I loved this tag.  It looked clean and simple on the face of it and I loved the concept but there were lots of techniques to try too and it was great fun getting out my alcohol inks and creating my version of the September tag.

I loved the alcohol resist technique that Tim shows us this month and it was one I had not tried before.  if you check out the video I let you know the things I learnt as I tried to get to grips with this one.  I love the subtlety of the resist and I have no idea why it works which makes it even more fun to try.

Tim used a rainbow of butterflies to adorn his tag but alas I do not have this die so I opted to go for Autumnal Shades and used a leaf punch as you can see……

You can also see that I loved this tag so much I made two versions and I show you how I got from Tim's inspiration to my interpretation on my You Tube video.

Does the image on the first tag look familiar to you???? ;-)  Yes your eyes are not deceiving you it is me!  I did not have a suitable stamp to add my leaves to so I came up with the idea to print and image on to my tag.  As I looked for suitable profile images I spotted my Blog icon and decided to drop it into photoshop to try to make it look like a drawing and lo and behold I found a filter called 'stamp' and hey presto my photo became a line drawing and I became a stamp!

I will definitely be using this idea again as I think it would make a fab set of family portraits!  So without further ado, as my dog is waiting to go for a walk along the river, I am going to finish off by adding my video link….

…….and of course don't forget to follow this link over to the 12 Tags of 2014 post to check out all the other fabulous tags that have been inspired by Tim this month.  I will be doing that myself once I am back from my walk so I will see you over there.

'til next time I hope you have a crafty week and weekend and thank you for popping by X

Celebrating with Cake

Hi Everyone

I have been waiting to share this with you until it had been safely delivered to our friend Kath who turned 50 at the weekend.  She loves purple, pink and glitter and was having a party to celebrate her big day so making her my celebration cake seemed like the perfect gift!

I decided on a two tier version as that meant I could have one mini album for all her guests to sign at the party and the bottom tier holds another mini to keep all those fun party photos and let me tell you as she kicked off the evening with a whole heap of gymnastic fun before moving on to the disco there will be some fab photos!  I bet there were a few party guests with aches in brand new places after throwing themselves into half summersaults on the huge crash mats!  I will say one of those guests was NOT me!  I let Callum and Ivan have all the fun and saved myself for the Macarena on the dance floor! ;-)

I have left the minis slightly out of their cake drawers so you can see that they are minis and not just plain old cake!!!

I loved this girly colour scheme which took me back to my Donny Osmond days!  I will have to ask Kath if she loves purple because of Donny!!!!

This is the view from the back which I personalised for Kath and added lots more glitter!  If you love this and would like to make one for someone celebrating a special occasion you can purchase my online workshop either from my right hand sidebar by pressing the buy now button or you can follow this link to my ETSY shop and do it there.  There are more photos of the many different ways for decorating this fab project and you can make a single, double or triple tier cake.  There are full photo instructions that accompany comprehensive video instructions too.

It really is lovely to put together and looks wonderful when presented as a gift….

I actually came up with this design after Kath asked me if I could make a little something for a friend of hers who was celebrating a 40th birthday and the first celebration cake mini was born!  Her friend loves butterflies so I just had to include them in the topper!

Whilst I was filming the workshop it grew a bit and I made a full 3 tier wedding version!  Well that is it from me for today.  Hope you pop along to get your copy of my online workshop with all the links for the video tutorials.  Whilst you are there why not check out all the workshops that have fun Christmas versions including the Christmas Cake version of this project!

Thank you for popping by X

I am having a Grey Day! ;-)

Hi Everyone

Today I am sharing another card I have made with the brand new Vintage Bird rubber stamp set …….oh, and my brand new Watering Can Wendy Vecchi ink!

I love how this turned out as the using the grey archival ink means I have achieved a lovely soft look.

I had great fun using masks to create the illusion that the stamps are scattered over the card and over each other.  I made the inner match too:

I used my trusty Distress Inks to colour my pretty stamps.  You could use alcohol based markers for colouring but you would have to use a different ink to stamp the images.

If you want to try this for yourself then please check out my latest tutorial on You Tube.  I talk about simple masking…….although the cutting out was a little tricky!  Especially of the smaller stamp.  I do give you a top tip about what to do if your mask is a bit fiddly to cut out……ha ha …….so you will have to watch the video to find out….what a tease!

You could easily make this card using other stamps but I do recommend that you pop along to see the latest stamps from rubberdance.com!  Vintage Birds (B2-L) has lots of lovely stamps to help you create gorgeous projects.  While you are over there you could check out the blog which has lots of lovely ideas and there is a brand new colour challenge going on where you can win stamps too!!!!

Ooops….almost forgot the Cutting Guide…..

Grey Card Base 11 1/2" x 8" scored and folded at 5 3/4"
White Card (Cut 2) 7 3/4" x 5 1/2"

I am in the middle of making a cake for a friends 50th birthday so I had better go!  I am on to the fun part of decorating.  I will share it with you later (after she has seen it!)

Hope you all have a really fun weekend and manage to find time to get creative.  Thank you for popping by X

What No Video???!

Hi Everyone

It is unusual for me to post without a video these days but I had an idea of a scrapbook page when I was cropping with my friends at the weekend and I thought you might like to see what I did….

…Firstly please let me apologise for the really mucky craft mat!  No posh videoing mat for me ;-)

I had a whole length of ribbon I had coloured with Mustard Seed Distress ink.  I intended to use it on another project but the colour wasn't quite right.  Whilst packing up ready to crop on Saturday I had an idea to use it on a layout.  I started out by cutting 3 circles that were just the right size for the photo's I intended to use.  Then using a pencil I marked out a trail I wanted my ribbon to follow around the appertures.  I then pierced along the line ready for stitching to take place.  As you can see here I also added some splatter using a Black Soot and Mustard Seed Distress Paint and distressed the edges of the grey card stock with more Black Soot Distress Paint.

I gathered up a length of my ribbon along the centre using a running stitch and then added double sided tape around the line of my first apperture.  I used the running stitch to pull the ribbon into gathers as I arranged it around the aperture.  I added more pieces of DST where the ribbon overlapped itself on the way to the next circle.

I used black embroidery thread and the holes (now only visible on the back of the card stock to stitch the ribbon into place.  I worked one aperture at a time and made sure there was no grey card stock visible on the inside of the ribbon frames.

You can see the stitching now follows the line that I drew previously.

Next I drew a looping line with a pencil coming in from the top left of the card stock and pierced the stitching holes along the line.

I added the DST to hold the ribbon in position ready for stitching.

That was the main part of the page layout finished so on to the photos the title and the journalling …….

See how that lovely yellow ribbon draws your eye from one photo to the next.  These are photos of my eldest son in 1985.  I am gradually scrapbooking his photos and I managed to do a couple of layouts at the crop in-between chatting and eating cake of course!  I still need to add titles and journalling to them so I will share them later.

Before I go though I thought this might make you smile.

Do you think Comet is wondering why he doesn't get to join in our TV dinner night?!!!!  I remember three years ago Comet could sit on that stool…..now he leans on it ;-)

Soooo cute!

Still with the same please feed me look in his eye though!

Have a fab week and thank you for popping by X

Heat Embossing with Rubber Dance Stamps!

Hi everyone,

It is my turn to feature over on the Rubber Dance Blog today and I am just sharing a sneak peek and a couple of links to send you over to check out all the fun we have been having with the new Vintage Birds stamp set!

Follow this link for the full post plus Cutting Guide.

Follow this link to check out all the lovely stamps on offer from rubber dance.com.

Follow this link to our brand new monthly Colour Challenge!  We would love you to join in the fun!

Thank you for popping by X

Page 3 in My Art Journal….a little bit of magic!

Hi Everyone

Half way through the week already.  Here in the UK we are definitely moving into Autumn but the last of the Summer sun is trying to break through the clouds!  For the past couple of weeks we have had our eldest son visiting and it was great.  He headed back for some Spanish sunshine yesterday so I am missing him today.  Keeping myself busy though and crafting is a great tonic so here is my third page in my Art Journal:

As you can see……totally different to the other two pages!  I intend to use this page to remember some happy visits to Disney World, hence the magical theme!  I came up with a new way to have the extra journalling space that tags bring and in the video I show you how you can create pages like this one.   Fairies might not be your thing but take a look at the structure of the page and then decorate it in a style that is you.

I will add photos and journalling to my page and I can use my tags to do that and if I the muse takes me and I have a lot to say by keeping my image of Tinkerbell in the corner I have lots of lovely space around her to continue journalling!

Hope you like the tutorial and of course I wish you all a Magical Day!

Thank you for popping by X

Extra, Extra, Read all About It!!!! Brand New Challenge starting over at the Rubber Dance Blog!

Hi Everyone

There is a brand new monthly challenge starting today (at noon CET (11am GMT)) over at the Rubber Dance Blog.  Every month there will be a lovely colour scheme to inspire you and you can make whatever you want!  You could even be the lucky winner of some lovely Rubber Dance Stamps to add to your collection!

The Design Team have given you lots of ideas to get you started and this is my project with a very definite Autumnal feel.

As you can see I have had a lot of fun stamping with a Maple Leaf stamp from the Maple Leaves Stamp Set (NP2 -M).  I am thrilled with how realistic the leaves look!  I have made a tutorial for you to see exactly how I made this lovely Autumnal Home Decor project.  I hope I tempt you to try it out for yourself!

Alternatively this wreath could be made using green leaves and be given a whole spring/summer look.  Just change the embellishments and ribbons to match….oh and the word 'Autumn' of course!!! ;-)

Please follow this link over to the Rubber Dance Blog to find all the wonderful inspiration from my fellow RD team mates.  You will be able to read the rules of this new challenge and then you have all of the month of September to get your thinking caps on and to make something with a gold, orange and red colour pallet.  I am really looking forward to seeing what you create.

Thank you for popping by X