New inchie swap theme

inspired by this weeks wednesday stamper theme. I have decided to announce the next inchie swap theme
HATS.
that way you could maybe use it for both wednesday stamper and this swap. if anybody is interested in joining in please email me. you don't have to have joined in before, in fact you needn't have done inchies before.

for my swap you make 9 inchies keep 1 and send the other 8 to me with an sae (although we'll make other arrangements if you are not based in the uk) . The only other rule with my inchie swap (other than that they must be an inch square obviously) is that the embellishments shouldn't be too bulky.

closing date 28th July

and here are my inchies for this swap and my entry for wednesday stamper.
almost all the stamps are paper artsy (the only one that isn't is the background on the sailor
one)
I know there are only 8 here , but I have decided for the ninth I'm going to choose a favourite of these and replicate it, and that's the one I'll keep.

some of the other people in this swap

angela, melanie, jo, emma, Kaz, Gillian m, seona, louise,

knitting socks....why?????

This one is to show there is more to my life than papercrafts, and also to explain my blog header a little.

I am first and foremost a knitter. I teach knitting at my son's school and believe that knitting is the solution to so many problems!!!

at christmas I started knitting a pair of socks, but I completely lost it on the heel shaping and threw them at the wall and ignored them for a good few months. I decided to take them on holiday with me to do in the evenings, while the kids were in bed. And I got the hang of it, I finished one and finished one all but the toe shaping.

I have now been back from holiday for nearly three weeks, and guess how much I've done now! yes you've guessed it they are still in exactly the same state!! lol, so here's a picture. unless you are a knitter yourself you will have no concept of what an achievement it is or why anyone would want to knit their own socks, sorry!

louise's wedding book

My forum friend louise is getting married and Jo decided that as she is such an ATC addict that it would be nice if we each made a 5"x7" piece incorporating an ATC and bound them together in a book. Louise received the book today (and I think it's fair to say was a little bit emotional)

Here are photos of my piece.

catching up with some blogging

This one is a bit late I suppose. I had a couple of things published in the latest stampers sampler. A first for me, although I've managed one in take ten before. it was part of a different point of view piece and Lana's work got published as well. The rectangle box at the top is lana's. The round box, necklace and card are mine. All the stamps I used were from Paper artsy's young love plate 3.

as you can imagine I was really excited to have been chosen to be published!

Domino book

This is for a challenge, with the theme "friendship". The domino book was sent to us. The first thing I did of course was take it apart. I then painted the wooden dominoes with gesso and then.... well just let myself loose on it.

the pictures show the front, the back and the bit in between.

The image is by lisa vollrath

Look up!!

do you like the new header?
I have Kaz to thank for the two main background papers (knitted fabric and buttons) how perfect are they for me??!

inchies

The yellow inchie swap is going well, but there are still 7 days to the closing date, so if anyone wants to jump in at the last minute, email me.
I thought I'd show the result of the last inchie swap I organised. The theme was "letters" and was open to any intepretation






These were made by:
Nicole, Donna Me
lynn, Kaz , Seona
Gillian, Craftie Muppet, anjie
TJ, Sarah , Mel

As sure as eggs is eggs

that's the theme for this weeks Wednesday Stamper, eggs!! Cracking!! I don't have any egg stamps (ah poor me!!) but I do have some nice new bird stamps. So I decided to use those and make a background with an egg shaped mask and distress ink, and a paperartsy script background. Have you tried hand drawing an egg shape. how difficult is that?!!? it was about twice the size when it started but all the trimming and neatening kind of shrunk it.
anyway it's not the greatest thing I've ever made,it looked a lot better in my head- but then things usually do (I look like Jennifer Aniston in my head, lol). I am pleased that I did at least manage to make something and rise to the wednesday stamper challenge.

as promised.... Q and R

Q is for Queen (obvious I know, but there isn't a hugw choice with Q) and R is for Rainbow, or more specifically "somewhere over the rainbow, blue birds fly, if birds fly over the rainbow, why, oh why, can't I?" but that's a bit of a long title to write on the back of the ATC.

The queen stamp is from Paperartsy (as is the border on the queen ATC) and the background is done with alcohol inks. I felt it was a regal colour.
The rainbow is done with distress inks. Yay! I have enough distress inks to do a whole rainbow. I probably have enough to do a brown rainbow too. I love the different shades of brown you can get in the distress ink range.

O and P

O is for owl, and P is for party hats

I recently got this owl stamp from paper artsy and was deternined to use it. I like it but quite a difficult one to use. the owls face would be perfect for an inchie though.

I added paper artsy party hats to these oxford impressions men as they looked like they need a good cheering up.
I'm running a bit late with the alphabet swap, so Q and R will follow shorttly.

something fishy's going on....

Whilst I was recently on holiday in spain, I picked up this image at a flea market and fell in love with it instantly. I love the colour of it but most of all I love how odd it is. I love all the sharing of vintage images that is going on on blogs so I thought I'd do it with this one

please feel free to use it, but please let me see what you do (if you don't mind)

I have used it here for a couple of things, two squares which were part of an exploding box done for Kaz, and Lana's birthday card

See how Jacqueline used the image here

my grandad again!

I actually only own two photos of my grandad, the one I used for fathers day and this one on his wedding day.
I was asked to take part in a tag swap with the theme vintage couples, so I thought I might as well use the other one, at least it means I'll have a picture that no one else has got.
The birds on the tag came about purely becasue I had some new bird stamps to play with, do I need another reason??

father's day

I have done this bookmark for a swap with the theme father's day. I was asked to choose the theme for this swap, was that really the best I could come up with????!!!!
Anyway I used a picture of my dad with his dad. I think it's a great little image for father's day. so much so that I have added the image here in case anyone wants to use it.
If you do use it I'd love to see what you make.

going dotty

The theme this week on wednesday stamper is Polka dots. This background is some wrapping paper I found in primark when I went shopping on monday, I didn't intend for it to be used on cards, but isn't it funny how you can buy craft stuff from anywhere. what a coincidence that this was the theme.
The girl stamp is my favourite stamp at the moment and is from stamp attack. The quote I got from samuel taylor crafts from the ex demo box for £2 - bargain!!

and I threw on a few buttons well because they are sort of dotty, and just because I have a thing for buttons!!

connected ATCs

These were for a challenge set by nicole. I have never done anything like this before, but it was great fun. I made them as one large 7"x5" piece which I then cut up into the individual ATCs. inorder to make sure that that this would work I used a tip from louise. take a piece of acetate the size of the large piece and mark on the individual atc sizes, then keep holding this over the piece to make sure each of the ATCs work on their own, as well as one large piece.

Yellow bird, up high in banana tree...

I set the theme for the next inchie swap, yesterday. The theme is Yellow. I chose this as I find it a very difficult colour to work with.
but today I made this.
The stamp is from stamping ground, stamped onto white then onto yellow and cut out. the inchie is then edged with yellow ochre acrylic paint.

If anyone reading my blog fancies joining in this swap you are more than welcome. The rules are pretty simple. You only have to make 9 inchies and send just 8 to me with an SAE (if you are not based in the UK, we can come to some other arrangement). The inchies must not be too bulky (for postage cost reasons). The closing date for this swap is 30th June and you will get a random selection of 8 inchies back. The inchie does not need to be completely yellow, it's a theme you can interpret it however you wish.

if you are interested in taking part please email me.

some of the inchies that have been made for this swap
Gillian murray, karen brown, emma clarke, Nicole zander

wednesday stamper - flowers

No I've not been neglecting my blog, I've been away for two weeks, but now I'm back to let you.. I can really shake it down (sorry I've been listening to the dirty dancing CD)

so on with wednesday stamper...

I have two quick entries for the floral theme

The first one is a coaster, which Jo sent to me with the express intruction that it must have a happy happy smilie happy theme! nothing says happy more than a laughing child, and when a child laughs the sound is like a sky full of flowers.
hence...

the main image and words are by stamp attack , and the background flowers are by make your mark . The whole thing was done by masking, so it is flat except for the punched flowers.

The second entry is a notebook that I made as a "circle of friends" gift. The main stamp is anita's and letters are Hero Arts. I made a matching tag as well.