January's Inchie swap

I'm announcing this a couple of days early in a feeble attempt at being organised.
The theme for January is LOVE. I have chosen this as, if all goes well, the swap should be returned to you in time for Valentine's day.

This swap is open to anyone, whether you've taken part before or not.
if you are new to this swap or to inchie swaps in general ( or indeed new to inchies), here are some rules and advice,
An inchie is a 1" square piece of "art" (I use the term loosely)
you can use any media you like. I generally use paper collage/ stamping. but we have had fabric ones, and painted ones.

for this swap you make 9 inchies (regardless of how many people are taking part). Keep one of them for yourself and send the other eight to me (email me for my address, you can email me through my profile) with a stamped addressed envelope (with a "large" stamp) if you are based in the uk. if you are sending from outside the uk, send a self addressed envelope (with no stamp) and then an ATC or a small gift, and I will cover the cost of postage.

The closing date is 31st January. please email me, or post a comment on here when you have posted your inchies off, and then I will know to expect them (or indeed wait for them)

you do not need to mount your inchies, there are no rules to their presentation, just make sure they won't fall out of the envelope.

write your name on the back of each inchie (and any other details you want, if you can fit them on!!)

you will receive a random selection of eight inchies back.

please ask any questions in the comments. and have fun creating these miniature works of art.

Deb's birthday card

I have to admit that I did this one in a bit of a rush as I was worrying about it arriving in time with all the pre-christmas post, so I sent it a good week early, and would you believe it, it arrived the next day!!
So I'm sorry it was a bit of a rush Deb.
The main image and the feather are by inka, the background paper is by paper mania. I love that little girl she is all dressed up ready to party, so I thought I'd add that as a quote. I've used moon glow powder to emboss the feathers and moon glow glitz spritz to the white card.

just a gift tag

This one was never meant for blogging. I was just wrapping my husband's christmas present, and as we only buy each other one present I like to make it look nice. So I thought I'd make a quick tag, but by the time it was finished I was pretty pleased with it, so I thought I'd pop it on here.

I asked him to put a similar effort into wrapping mine! and yes he has! he's wrapped it and stolen one of my quick tags for it!! for him that's effort, like most men he just doesn't do wraping!!

80th birthday card

This is the eightieth birthday card that I've made for my wonderful mother-in-law (who is offically the nicest person in the world)
I wanted to make her something special, that celebrated her age but also showed that she is young at heart.
I took a square card and drew a big 80 on it, and cut out the bits, I then put this onto backing paper, drew round it and cut out the paper to match. The paper is from a papermania 6"x6" pad and the white flowers at the bottom are already on it. I used this little girl from Inka, which I love and seemed perfect for my theme. I then echoed the white flowers with punched white flowers which looked too plain. so I stamped on a swirl that I found in the hero arts alphabet set I used for the words. I then freehand drew around the flowers and around the word to tie it together. added a few ribbons, and decided to leave it at that. I hope she likes it.

Christmas Cocktail Brolly

The theme at this weeks's wednesday stamper is Umbrella. This immediatly made me think of those little umbrella's you get in cocktails. As we are coming up to christmas I thought it would be nice to do a festive version, which then also led me to think about using them for the place settings at the christmas table. (last year I made wine glass charms)

so these were easy peasy. cut a circle of card, cut a wedge out. colour with distress inks, stamp holly, name, add some red glitter glue and some moonglow spritz, then edge with gold acrylic paint. when it is dry (or nearly dry in my case, ahem!) glue edges together and glue a cocktail stick in place. unfortunately I couldn't find any cocktail sticks. I'm sure we have some, we can't have used them up, we don't have cheese and pineapple on sticks THAT often, lol. I reckon the children might have taken them to make something (where DO they get that from). So Anyway I used a lollipop stick instead (from those double lollies)

Nellie's birthday

I made this for my friend Nellie's birthday. I decided to make a hanging rather then a card. I have used an Inka clown stamp (love that stamp) and then the background is a mixture of Inka, paper artsy and river city rubber works.

Believe in your elf

I made these little 3"x3" hangings for some of my best crafting buddies. so I was able to do what I really wanted rather than normal cards. I made 14 of these but they still only took a couple of evenings. They are not all the same as I have varied the background papers and some of the colours.

I had had the idea of "altering" the invoke arts quote "believe in yourself"in this way for quite a while, but it wasn't until I picked up the little hat stamp in a studio g clear set that it really came together.I tried the hat on various stamps but this little girl from Inka just seemed to fit it the best.

All of the background papers are from a blonde moments christmas pad that I got last year but never really got used.

I'm not sure why I photographed it on pine cones,that's just the mood I was in.I'm not sure if you can actually see the ribbon I've used to hang them,but it's green.

ooo it's such a nice feeling

when you get a piece published.
I decided to enter a piece for stampers sampler "change of heart" challenge, where the heart had to be something other than paper/card. I had the idea of stamping onto denim and adding a little love tag in the style of a levis tag. I thought it would be a good card for a man for valentines.
to go with the red I added the red strip of card and then some stitching done with a seeDs cross stitch (yes one little stamp repeated).

I posted it off and then thought "what have I done? that card is far too simple for stampers sampler, take ten maybe but not stampers sampler"
so I kind of put it to the back of my mind. Imagine how delighted I was to find that they had published it, in the take ten section of the change of heart issue of stampers sampler. exactly where I think it belongs.

It's always an honour to be published in the stampington publications as these are where I often get my inspiration from.

I've a bit of a confession about the main stamp. I bought it from asda (supermarket). it was originally a rose in a heart, but I didn't like the rose at all I just liked the heart with the stitching. so I mutilated the stamp and cut the rose out of it.

things I like about stamping

There are so many things I like about stamping. I love the way you can make a stamp look different depending how you use it. I like how you can make things complicated or keep them really clean and simple.

but at this time of year there are two things about stamping I especially like.

it gives me the ability to make 32 christmas cards all the same in under two hours
and I don't run out of any consumables apart from a bit of card.

I made these christmas cards at the weekend when I realised that not only had I not started writing my cards, but I really hadn't made anywhere near enough. so these cards are the result of panic.
The swirl is from Inka and I stamped it with versafine3 times without re-inking. The dove is also by Inka, and I have glittered that. The words are from a christmas set by rubber stampede.
these have to be the simplest cards I've made in a long time, but needs must!!

as the main image is a bird I am entering it for Daring cardmakers this week

saturday stampers

The challenge this week on saturday stampers this week is to create a christmas piece without using any christmas imagery or words. this coincided with a similar challenge on a forum.
I decided to make a set of christmas decorations using curtain rings. I had just received these gorgeous inchie children images from Inka, and thought they would work. I decorated the rings with thick gold embossing powder and made a little collage behind with a music stamp, some gold mesh and some gold "zuzu" paper. the words are taken from invoke arts quotes.
They were to be sent to Deb, so I decided I wanted a box to put them in. I found this mint tin in my "drawer of things that might be useful" and decorated the front to match. The little girl is from Inka, and I made her a bit christmassy by painting her dress red and then painting some glitz spitz spray (first time I'd tried applying it with a paint brush)

quick knitted gifts

so if you are expecting a christmas present from me look away now, this could be a bit of a spoiler.
I wanted to make some quick knitted gifts, and had the idea of these mug cosies.

I thought I'd share my pattern

needles:4mm I think,they say 8 on them, if I remember rightly that's 4mm
yarn: that random ball of wool in the knitting basket with no label on it, but it's the right colour. probably double knit. is that sport weight in the US?
a button.

tension square:what's one of those then? just don't knit too tight or too loose and if you do, put it on a bigger or smaller mug.

Cast on 62 stitches, in whatever way you like to cast on
K1 P1 rib for two rows
3rd row K6 P2 K6 P2 K10 P2 K6 P2 K10 P2 K6 P2 K6
4th row K2 P4 K2 P6 K2 P10 K2 P6 K2 P10 K2 P6 K2 P4 K2
repeat row 3 and 4 once more
row 7 K6 P2 C6F (cable the next 6 stitches,ie put 3 on a cable needle at the front (or the back if you prefer) knit next 3 sts then k 3 from cable needle) p2 k10 p2 C6F (I don'thave to explain it again do I?) p2 k10 p2 C6F p2 k6
row 8 as row 4

repeat rows 3-8 twice more

then row 3 and 4 once more

k1p1 rib for two rows
cast off,leaving a long thread.

use loose cast on thread to join the bottom rib

use cast off thread to make a button hole. make a loop by sewing it through the back to the front, wrapping it round your finger (to make a size for the button you have chosen, then into knitting again and repeat so you have a double thickness loop. then bring the yarn back through and blanket stitch around the loop.(I'm sure that made no sense. if anyone's bothered I'll try and explain it better.

sew the button on the other side.

buy ultra cheap mugs (I got these for 9 for £4.99) and dress them in their new winter jumpers.

phew! what a challenge

On Saturday Stampers Kaz set the following challenge

For this week’s challenge, and I think it really is a challenge……I’d like you to make one piece that will cover all of the following challenges……..themes only, no size restrictions, you can still make whatever you want, card, atc, skinny page, whatever you like, but you must incorporate ALL themes below……..good luck!!

Gothic Arch Challenge……………….theme is………………”Friendship”

Mixed Media Monday………………..theme is………… “Buttons”

Fluffy Fatbottom’s Twisted Tuesday………..theme is…………..”Button Wisdom”

Wednesday Stamper………………..theme is………………..”Diamonds”

Theme Thursday…………………..theme is……………….”Chalk”

I can’t wait to see what you all come up with on this one!!!

gosh!!!! well I do love a challenge so I went for it!

I think I fulfilled them all

friendship, check! Buttons, check! Button wisdom, check! (made that one up myself!! lol),Diamonds, check! (in the background, plus little diamonds between the buttons) and chalk, check! (the back ground is done completetly with versamark and chalks. I used to do that technique all the time, but haven't for ages, maybe I'll play with it a bit more now)
I'm going to put this in for twisted tuesday as well, as I have purposefully done it postcard sized so it will fit their challenge. this is the first time I've done twisted tuesday. I've wanted to, but didn't think my creations were mad enough!

oh I suppose while I'm at it I'll add it to theme thursday too!

wednesday stamper- diamonds

This week's theme at wednesday stamper is Diamonds. I decided yet again to think a bit 3 dimensionally and decided to make a diamond shaped decoration for christmas. it was a lot fiddlier than I thought. I won't be doing it again in a hurry. I also decided to do it all in shades of purple to fit saturday stampers' "tone on tone" theme.
The girl stamp and diamond background are by Inka and the words and snowflake are rubber stampede

mixed media monday

I was in the mood to make something tonight, I'm not yet ready to start my christmas cards, so I decided to have a go at mixed media monday for the first time.
The theme is buttons. I love buttons. I have a massive box full of odd buttons. So I had to play. I then had the idea I'd like to make the piece itself a button. so I decided to alter a CD, not a normal one but a mini one (about 3" diameter)
the main image is Inka. as is the feather on the background. I have also used a SeeDs button and hampton art mesh, and the letters are hero arts.
I'm holding the CD to give an idea of the size and also to try and catch the shimmer spray.

an "actual" card for an "actual" person!

Don't you find it hard to just make normal cards sometimes? I have so much fun making things for swaps and challenges that sometimes when it comes to making an actual birthday card, I'm stumped!! ridiculous really but I know it's a common problem. I needed a birthday card for my mum, she's a very spiritual person and really into complementary medicine, astrology, palmistry and that sort of stuff. so I thought she might appreciate the image on this Inka stamp. She also loves purple so I made it a bit of an homage to purple!! I have also used an Inka skeleton leaf stamp for the background with versamark, for a subtle background and then a real purple skeleton leaf too. I have edged the main stamped image with veracolor ink and embossed the edges with sparkly powder. I hope the picture catches the sparkle.

saturday stampers

The theme at saturday stampers this week is tags. I think Kaz will probably kill me if I don't take part, as she knows I need very little excuse to make one of my tags.
it also gave me another excuse to play with my new stamps from inka. The clown, halequin background and flourish are all by inka. and the red is fired brick distress ink. the harlequin is actually a solid stamp, but I love the way distress inks work on solid stamps for backgrounds

wednesday stamper -chairs

This week's theme at wednesday stamper is Chairs. I don't think I have any chair stamps, but I remembered this great chair template from stampington.
As luck would have it I received some fabulous new stamps from Inka today, and I thought this little girl would be perfect stood on a chair.

do you remember when you used to stand on a chair when you were little and you were as tall as your parents? it gave you a whole new perspective!

The calligraphy flouish on the chair is also by Inka (and could well be my new favourite stamp)
I did the writing by putting white card through a dymo and then rubbing it lightly with distress ink.

Abbie's friend

After I made my knitted doll. I was challenged by Kaz to make a doll especially for her, and quite a challenge it was. She didn't just want some ordinary doll though, she wanted her own miniature version of Gerard Way, from My Chemical Romance. (she's ever so slightly obsessed with him). Tonight Kaz has gone to see My chemical Romance (for the millionth time) and has threatened to throw the doll up on stage.
So I felt it was time to put him up on my blog.

saturday stampers

The theme at saturday stampers this week is collage. that seems easy enough until you remember it's a stamping site so it must also include stamping.
I have combine this challenge with a tag swap with the theme " 'tis the season to be jolly"
that theme immediatley suggested the jolly man himself, father christmas, but I also wanted to play with the idea of the song as well so I have decked the tag with boughs of holly! and used my new music background from river city rubber works. The holly stamp is an old favourite of mine from rubber stampede, as is the Ho! Ho! Ho!
The Santa image is taken from some wrapping paper, very "collage" I thought! also added a little bit pf holly confetti. The red and green inks are both distress inks.

November's Inchie Swap

The theme for November is "Christmas Time"
you may interpret the theme however you want to , there are no rules!!
well actually there is one rule: It must be 1 inch square of course!!

The swap, as always, is open to anyone. If you haven't taken part before but have considered it, then this is a good one to start with. We all have something christmasy in our craft boxes (lol, it's a long time since my craft stuff fit in just one box!! now it's the box-room!).

So when you are starting to play about with ideas for your Christmas cards, make an inchie! it's a good starting point.

You can take part wherever you are: if you are based in the UK I ask you to include an SAE with a "large" stamp; if you are outside the UK, I will pay the return postage, so I ask you to include an ATC or something to cover this (although I'd rather have the inchies and nothing else if it puts you off taking part).

You can use any media you like. I usually stamp, but this isn't just a stamping swap.

You make 9 inchies. Keep one for yourself, and send the other 8 to me. You will then receive a selection of 8 back (so basically it's an 8 for 8 swap).

Any questions, leave a comment, or if you want to take part, you can email me for my postal address. My e-mail address is in my profile.

Happy Hallowe'en

okay I've been saving myself up for my apostrophe rant. The people who know me know my obsession with the apostrophe.

The English spelling of Hallowe'en has an apostrophe. pure and simple. The apostrophe is there because it is a contraction of All Hallow's Eve, or Halloweven, the v was removed and replaced by an apostrophe.

The Americans spell it without the apostrophe. I can deal with that just fine as there are other words that the americans spell different. that's why American English is not the same as English. But over the last few years the celebrations in the UK have become very americanised (or should that be americanized?).
For example "the holidays" is not another name for Christmas in the UK. "The holidays" is when we go to the beach in the summer and sit on our deck chairs, behind our windbreaks!

I am proud of the history of the English language and hate to see it slowly slipping away. As far as I am concerned writing Halloween, is as bad as writing Shouldnt or dont. It has an apostrophe.

Plus don't you think the word just looks much more spooky with the apostrophe?



aaaaah I feel much better for that!!

so some Hallowe'en work.
I have made a tag to go on some party bags, for a hallowe'en party I am throwing for my children later today. It gave me a good excuse to remind them all about the apostrophe too!

I have also made a door hanging, as part of a Hallowe'en swap, with one very moody looking witch (I'm not referring to the person I swapped with!!!)

I am entering these for this week's Saturday Stampers, where Kaz did use the apostrope (she's a good mate!!)

wednesday stamper- well sort of!!

The theme at wednesday stamper this week is "growing old". My card not strictly on theme, but the quote is about how being old does not change how you feel about sisters!!

The card is a commission, my friend asked me to make a special card for her sister's birthday. I had the idea for what quote and stamp I was going to use but hadn't yet put much thought to the layout. So I was browsing stampington catch up when I saw cards made with the take ten template a good few issues back and I thought it might just work with this paperbag studios stamp.

So this was the quick card I came up with, gosh doesn't it cut down the time using a template!!

in case you are interested the alpabet stamp is PaperArtsy and the font for the quote is Calamity Jane from 1001 free fonts

art doll mark 2

when I made my knitted doll, the challenge that had actually been set was to make an art doll. I thought I'd now show the "serious" entry for this challenge. The clay face was provided by anjie who set the challenge. I decided I'd make mine a buttefly, because...well because I like butterflies, I also liked the idea of using acetate wings.
I had never done anything quite like this before, that's why it's called a challenge!!
I actually used this as the tag on the knitted doll when I wrapped her up.

oh and knitted doll has a friend....more on that later.

saturday stampers- winter

The theme on Saturday Stampers this week is winter. This ties in really nicely with a winter gothic arch swap I am taking part in. so here's my contribution.
I have used fusible fibres on the background, and the main stamp is by paperartsy which I've stamped in grey as a change from black.

Mermaid

This was the birthday card I made for Carrie. This is the first time I used this mermaid stamp which is from Once Upon a Stamp. I love her wild hair! that's exactly what hair looks like underwater. I remember from years of drowning my sindy dolls.

The little shell stamp is from crafty individuals, and the fossil stamp is anita's
I've sprayed the background with moonglow mist. you can see a bit of the sparkle in the close up. the snipped bit of card sort of came about by accident. the picture didn't fit the mat properly but I'd already stuck it down. so I tried to trim it while it was stuck but my scissors slipped. but I liked it so I snipped it some more. I might even use that "technique" again sometime!

wednesday stamper - inchies

Well if ever there was a wednesday stamper theme made for me, then this is it!
I love inchies. they are my crafting quick fix when I don't have much time.
I have made my inchie to fit in with the current swap that I am running. the theme is orange and black. and although they don't have to be a hallowe'en theme, I have chosen to do this one for hallowe'en. the background is done with acrylics, and the stamped clown is courtesy of seona (thanks seona)

if anyone is interested in joining my international inchie swap the details are here.

Think Pink

This month is breast cancer awareness month, and in honour of this the monthly tag swap I participate in has the theme of think pink ladies.

Here's my tag, and my thoughts go out to all those who are touched by this disease.

don't forget you can help fund free mammograms by clicking this link. it's free and you can do it every day.

In honour of this worthy cause. I have also made my blog pink (temporarily)

my knitted doll

The forum I am on had a challenge to create an "art doll" but this was a very loose challenge, and I decided to knit mine. I have been inspired by the knitted babes, but I don't have this book (yet), so this doll (named abbey by her new owner) was my design. I made her using what I like to call "instinctive knitting" otherwise known as "making it up as I go along" I have no pattern for her so even if I tried to make another one, it would not be the same.

anyway, I was really pleased with her and I had a fun time taking pictures of her!

she now lives HERE

inchies : update and new swap

I am waiting on a few circle inchies to come in, so I have extended the closing date until I have received the ones I am expecting. so if you have taken part. you can expect your inchies back quite soon.

I am going to be offline for a couple of days unless my wonderful husband manages to fix the problem with our internet connection at home, so I thought I would announce October's Inchie theme.

I am inspired by Hallowe'en (note the apostrophe, but I'll save that rant for another day!) for this swap. but rather than choosing hallowe'en, I am going with the colours often associated with hallowe'en, orange and black. Your inchies can be any theme you like as long as they are mostly orange and black.

anybody who has taken part in my swaps before knows what to do as the rules are always the same.

for any new people that would like to take part. you make 9 inchies (1"x1" pieces of art), keep 1 for yourself and send the other 8 to me with an SAE (you can forget the sae if you are sending from outside the uk, and send me an ATC or something instead)

you will then receive a random selection of 8 back.
email me via the address in my profile for my address if you would like to take part.


The closing date is 31st October-Hallowe'en

wednesday stamper - moo cards

This week's wednesday stamper challenge is moo cards. which are mini cards 2.8cm x 7cm.
I've never had a go at moo cards before, but at least I wasn't put off by the size, as I love working on a small scale, inchies and such like.

I've done quite a simple design which is easily replicated as I've just made a dozen of these as they are handy to put in with swaps and RAKs