The Ups and Downs of Life

Hi everyone and welcome followers new and old. Back again (feels like it's been an age, even though my last post was only on Wednesday!) Time flies when there are millions of things going on; some good, some not so good, but that's life eh? And now I have any number of challenges to enter so prepare to be bombarded if I can get some projects completed and a faster pace.

Today's tag is one I finished a little while ago but didn't post for some reason. It fits with the requirements for the Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge - Read All About It, which has a mega prize awaiting the winner plus details of a fab blog hop. They are celebrating 10 years in style!



Writing letters is a bit of a dying art in these days of emails/twitter/Facebook/etc. so this tag celebrates the time and care that goes into putting pen to paper to convey your thoughts when travelling abroad.

Lots of elements used here including backing papers which have been die cut using a Memory Box typewriter alphabet. In this case I used what would be considered the 'waste'.

The stamps are real and pretty much defined the colour scheme. The fountain pen got covered in Glossy Accents to give it dimension. The feather was rubbed with mica powders to add more shine.

Guess what! More metal from pie tins used for those pen nibs! NOTHING goes to waste in this house!

Right, short, sweet and to the point for once, I will away as there are an embarrasingly huge number of blog posts that need catching up with. Hugs to you all, Buttons x

WOYWW 170

Morning all. Yep, I've made it finally today to take part in Julia's weekly What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday. If that means nothing to you and you love a good nosey go HERE to find out how to join the fun. Late night (tag from my last post still on the mat) a school run, and general life admin have got in the way of posting this morning.



So with time at a premium and any number of blogs to catch up with here's home today. Points of note; left back are the two boxes I keep random embellies in; far right is a newly arrived collection of Jenni Bowlin' inks all ready for more misting (courtesy of a spree at bubblyfunk.co.uk who have a 50% off promo mentioned last week by Anne - told you I couldn't resist!); they are set to go on a Finnabair inspired tag (pile of neutral textured bits and bobs top corner of the mat) and some layered/gesso'd backgrounds next to the inks; there's a pile of black pieces from a Flitter Glu/Mega Flakes session ready for doing something with; finally at the foreground is a Michael Powell lighthouse stamp that I have been meaning to use for ages and hurrah, a challenge has just been set for which it would be perfect! More to come on that score.

Right, time's up. Hope you're all still concious! Time to visit a few desks :) Hugs, Buttons x

Sharing The Love

Welcome back to my lovely followers and to anyone just having a bit of a nosey.

This one goes out to those uber-talented and wonderful people who give us inspiration, support and encouragement when we start our crafting journeys, as we become more confident and learn new things, and when we face bumps in the road and need a kind word or two. They devote so much time to us  because they care and want to see us grow. This alone makes them very special people. So, in no particular order and by no means an exhaustive list, Hels Sheridan, Anita Houston, Julia Dunnit, Marjie Kemper, Linda Coughlin, Sue Wilson, Lynne Moncrieff, and Sir Tim Holtz,

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR EVERYTHING YOU DO.

Now for today's tag...



You will have to excuse the 'natural lighting' photo - the sun set before I got finished, how inconsiderate!!

Just a quick 'how to' for the background as so many people appreciated the last one.

A mix of Distress Inks and water smooched onto antique gold uncoated cardstock. Mop up any excess ink with a clean piece of kitchen roll, then spritz it with CS Golden Mint Shimmer Mist.

After stamping (the freebie with September's issue of the Craft Stamper Magazine in this case) tear up the kitchen roll and use the Glue n Seal to adhere over the stamped tag. I added white gel pen when dry to give the background more depth.

The flowers have been made using the same angel hair technique as the 'phoenix lady' post but this time with added White Mixative in the centre. It helped to break up the black centres.

Finally the sentiments are Sam Poole Art Phrases (permanently to hand these days!)

This is proudly being entered into Hels Sheridan's Sunday Stamper challenge - Stamped Flowers.

Off now to sew name tags in a couple of shirts for the morning and watch the remaining coverage of the Paralympics tonight. They truly are superhumans aren't they!!

Hugs to you all, Buttons x

Like a Phoenix...

Hello all and a huge welcome to my new followers. I am so glad to have all my followers with me for the journey which has taken another step with this project. All will become clear, but I will warn you now that this is a long post (one of the challenges requires step by steps for resist techniques). So here's the completed tag, and you can choose whether you want to find out more.

This is being entered into a number of challenges;

Our Creative Corner - Resisting Challenge (resist with description and wings)

Dragons Dream Tag It On - Art For Art's Sake (handmade background/character with a twist)

Anything But A Card - Anything Goes (a brand new challenge with amazing entries/DT)

Now for the 'how to' and the first resist technique for the background.

Emboss black card and carefully apply Glue n Seal to the raised parts (I used a piece of Cut n Dry).

When dry, apply pigment ink over the whole tag, then wipe over with a cloth/tissue paper to remove the ink on the raised areas.

Finally edge the tag with pigment ink (I found ones with a shine to them worked best).

Now for the second resist technique - it's shorter!

Use white acrylic paint as a medium to stamp onto seam binding and allow to dry.

Apply Distress Ink, spray with water and then dab gently with a tissue to remove ink from stamped areas.

OK, resist descriptions over (hopefully clearly enough, but if you have any questions just leave me a comment and I will always get back to you). Now to the phoenix/journey element...

The Dragons Dream team asked for a quirky character. This is my effort (I know, not very quirky but my stamp collection seems to include almost no human forms! Need to rectify that at some stage).

Phoenix lady is made from three different stamps - the head/arms/top from Indigo Blu, the dress, cogs and hat from one Kanban set and the wings from another. I am particularly pleased with the wings (just realised, one more technique shot, but it's a cracker!)

Whilst working away yesterday morning Barbara Gray (a crafting goddess) was on the box describing how she combines different colours of  bondable angel fibres to create a graduated effect - this is a technique she was shown by another superstar, Maria Simms. Well I took it one stage further; the tropical peach colour wasn't really working for me so, once stamped with Black Archival ink I coloured it from the back with drops of Alcohol Ink to get the effect required. Go carefully with this as it spreads quickly and needs some time to dry, but as a consequence you can use your finger to move the colour where needed.

Final picture (promise!!) This is the journey bit. When I began to make cards a lot of them had stamped (digi or otherwise) images on which were coloured with Promarkers and sometimes decoupaged. I've missed doing that recently having moved into mixed media in a big way, but felt simple decoupage just didn't look good enough for this project. Hence the stamped/coloured skirt has been cut to allow for small shredded pieces of net to be inserted, adding far more texture and interest. Hurrah, a way to add dimension to flat images that I can feel proud of again :)) Bit of a phoenix from the ashes moment!

Congratulations to everyone who's made it to the end. Hope you've picked up some ideas along the way. Thanks also to all those who sent their congrats for my win with Tim's August tag. That was a confidence boost or what! and I'm still doing a happy dance about it :D Time to disappear and wish you all a good week ahead. Hugs, Buttons x

A Pot of Butterflies

“Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.”

- William Morris

Hello out there!! Tons of things going on here at the mo' - hence the reason I need to catch up with visits today (hopefully?!) Still, spare time was grabbed whilst parked in front of the Paralympics coverage (WOWWEE it's amazing!) to finish the tool pot I mentioned on Wednesday.

I've resisted the temptation to add beads/buttons/bling as it looks very Art Noveau to me in this state (my favourite period) and it allows the flowers and butterflies to do all the talking.

Just to prove it is now in use.

I had two challenges in mind when creating this;

The Stamp Man challenge - Alter It (methinks a change of use for a baked bean tin counts?)

Fashionable Stamping Challenges - Handmade Flowers (there are a few on this!)

The idea was to use the same SB Rose Creations dies to make different flower styles. It works well if you use graduated cardstock colours (darkest in the middle seems to work best). They all had very light spritzes of Cosmic Shimmer mists in different colours to finish. The Lava Red one was definitely the strongest, the Silver added a lovely shine to the purple flowers and the Blue Ice was probably the most delicate on the blue flowers (this is not always the case with this colour, but the petals are quite tight so I suspect there wasn't as much surface area for the mist to land on).

Close up on the butterfly, background and lace border. The butterfly used a mock kraft resist techique with DI Dusty Concord/Fired Brick to colour the non-shiny areas. The background is the corrugated cardboard technique I described in my last post (for the ivy leaves) - this time I used DI Peeled Paint/Stormy Sky on top of the Picket Fence. Underneath the lace - from Trace - (was white! but DI Antique Linen/Walnut Stain changed all that) I have layered a SB Banner Basics 3 border.

That's the last photo - I promise! Think this project lives up to WM's quote and has inspired you to decorate the humblest of items. With that in mind I highly recommend you browse the projects posted recently by Cathryn at Pinxton Craft Club. If you haven't got plans to alter anything that isn't nailed down after seeing these I'd be amazed. Right, time to go visit and attempt to link to the FSC blog, as it isn't playing nice with me - hope it's nothing personal! Huge hugs to you all, and hope you have a great weekend, Buttons x

WOYWW 169

Hello fellow WOYWWers. Not so nervous this week as you've welcomed me with open arms and such lovely comments. Thank you all. For those of you who haven't got a clue what I'm on about head over to Julia's Stamping Ground and find out about how to join in the fun.

I promised you a more detailed gander of my workspace so here goes - I've started a bit of a flower production line for a couple of challenges which will keep me occupied for a while (not that I've got that long!) On the left you can see the treasure I got from my mate Julie in Australia. She is a creative wonder and I'm gonna have to make some special projects to lavish these on. Had a bit of a sesh with Flitter Glu/Mega Flakes and black card and there's a tag in the initial stages of production.

The main feature today however is my noticeboard. Seem to remember mentioning it back in the dim and distant past and I got it done :) It's a magnetic board with shelf added (by my wonderful OH) so challenges can be noted and treasures from crafting friends can be displayed. That includes the altered house created by Son 3 to give me inspiration. He is such a thoughtful young man with a real creative side himself.

Time to wrap up so I can visit you guys out there (OK, have a nosey!) See you v. soon with that flower project - now I've said it!! Hugs, Buttons x

Grrrrrreen!!!!

Hello all. For those in the UK hope this bank holiday finds you knee deep in something you enjoy, and for those across the rest of the World with the Monday 'blues', it's not far now 'til Friday! Thank you to everyone who has left such lovely comments and welcome to my new followers. I am chuffed that you have decided to tag along for the ride :) Hope you continue to enjoy your time here.

Another tag today - this one is for Son 1 to celebrate his fab GCSE results (despite the current controversy!!) His favourite colour is green - how convenient! There are two challenges requiring you to be/go green this week :)))

Over at Sunday Stampers Hels Sheridan wants a little green and some stamping

At Our Creative Corner Kim Price wants recycling with a pop of green

Who am I to refuse? And so...

The two stamp sets used for this were Autumn Foliage (great variety of leaves) and African Wildlife (sentiment and lion) both available from Creative Expressions stockists.

Thought I'd show you the background as it disappears under the foliage! The resist has been done using Ranger Glue n Seal (thanks for the tip Hels) and a touch of spritz/flick afterwards. The eagle-eyed amongst you may notice the lion has changed - originally he was stamped with gold foil on black, but once he dived into the undergrowth he seemed a bit lost, so a makeover was required (black on sand cardstock).

The recycling element was definitely in the leaves: there are maple leaves and oak leaves made from acetate packaging (stamped in black and coloured in a mix of Stonewashed and Butterscotch alcohol ink); ivy leaves made from corrugated cardboard carton packaging (painted with DS Picket Fence and DI Peeled Paint, covered in Ranger Distress Crackle Paint and highlighted with DI Walnut Stain); and 'cheese plant' leaves (stamped on linen and backed with more acetate). The acetate was great because it buckled and was easy to reshape when heated - hence the reason for putting it on the back of the linen leaves.

The finishing touches included twine and seam binding from the Funkie Junkie Boutique and string. I also learned from the last lot of spritzing with CS Shimmer Mist - in this case Golden Mint) and protected the areas that didn't need colour with some of the spare acetate (it wipes clean afterwards! hurrah!!)

Son 1 loves it, so that's good. Hope you do too. Time to disappear now as there are a ton of blog posts to catch up on and the odd domestic duty to attend to! Hugs to you all, Buttons x