summer tea light

Wednesday stamper are inviting us to a summer tea party this week. What shall I bring?
There are two main problems with parties outdoors in Britain, one is the weather: it's almost guaranteed to rain! The other is the bugs, wasps, midges, yuk!
now I can't do anything about the weather, but one of the things I do to help with the bug problem is put citronella candles around the garden. I often use Jam jars for my candles. so this is what I decided to bring to the party, a decorated tea light holder.
The image is by Inka (here's the link if you are looking for it), and the leafy flourish is also an inka stamp. I have also used the free strawberry stamp from the new craft stamper magazine. I have done these on shrink plastic and suspended them from the lace, so they give a satisfying jingle in the breeze (back to the weather again!!)
I've added acrylic paint blobs to the glass, and finished with some tissue paper and some gingham...you have to have gingham at a tea party!!

p.s. I have a new computer!!

wylde women award

I was very touched to be awarded the "Wylde Women Award" by the lovely Gayle Page-Robak . Gayle manages to turn out work at an amazing pace, yet it's all so fantastic. Thank you, Gayle.
Here are the rules of this award:
1. You can give it to one or one hundred or any number in between - it's up to you. Make sure you link to their site in your post.
2. Link back to this blogsite (http://www.tammyvitale.com/) so Tammy can go visit all these wonderful women and remember the Purpose of the Award: To send love and acknowledgment to women who brighten your day, teach you new things and live their lives fully with generosity and joy.
These women will continually bring joy to your life through their encouragement, humour, inspiration and talent.

It is with great pleasure that I award the "Wylde Women Award" to:

Just one person. I like that I can do that. This one person has been an inspiration to me for so long and is the reason I started stamping. She has encouraged me to do things I never thought I would be capable of. She is honest when I ask her opinion, something that is very hard to be. And she continues to be an inspiration. Her work evolves so fast that I can't keep up.
And above all this I class her as one of my best friends, despite the fact we've never met! One day maybe!!

So without further ado, the award goes to...

...Jo Capper-Sandon

There are so many other people who deserve this award too, but once I start I may not be able to stop. please check out my list of blogs, there's so much inspiration there.

my computer isn't working :(

So I am having to use the computer at work, so I can't upload new pictures. so if I want to take part in any challenges I am going to have to use old pictures, which I know is cheating, sorry!!




I wanted to take part in this weeks inchybyinch challenge which is hats. I am using some that I made for a swap last June.
I hope that's okay.

as soon as my computer is replaced, I promise not to cheat any more, lol

theme thursday

This week's theme at theme thursday is flowers. I thought it was a perfect opportunity to use this beautiful girl with flowers from Inka. The tag originally started out pink, but I painted it with cafe coloured acrylic paint, then stamped the netting stamp to look like trellis, then the leafy flourish. I added the flowers using dot flowers stamp and acrylic paint. Added some scraps of papermania paper, and finished the whole thing off with flower soft, both on the image and along the bottom. I love the textural effect of the flower soft. maybe it's about time I bought some in another colour!

all stamps are by Inka

gothic arches: for the birds

The theme at Gothic Arches is for the birds. I recently received a couple of nest stamps from Inka, the larger of which fits inka's large bird perfectly (the small one, incidentally, fits one of the eggs)
all the papers are offcuts of basic grey paper. And I've even used a fiskars border punch which has been sat in my drawer ever since I won it in a competition a couple of years ago! I quite like its effect here.

cupcake inchies

The theme at small world of inchies and twinchies this week is Cupcakes. I have two cupcake stamps, the smaller one on the right, is from studio g, as is the swirl. this is the one I made first, but this then gave me the idea for my second inchie, which I actually prefer. This stamp is by katie and company. I used the base of the cake and the heart off the top, but replaced the icing with a collage image from Inka taken from the children inchie sheet. The word originally said sweetie and is also on the katie and company stamp, but that wouldn't fit! lol

This thursday...

The theme at this thursday it's all about is "the golden rule" which means you have to create something that is either beautiful or useful. I wouldn't be so bold as to claim that anything I make is beautiful, so I'm entering something useful. A bookmark!
This is a "chick lit" themed book mark for a good friend who had to leave my chick lit reading group as she is moving away. so this was part of a gift for her.
I have used an old book page, as well as the main image I have used a torn stamp, a floral swirl and dot flowers, all from Inka. I have covered the front in clear film so that it will be a bit longer lasting.

fairy twinchie

The theme at the small world of inchies and twinchies is fairies.
I have made this using "carrie" . The back ground was made sort of by accident, messing about with ink pads. I then stamps the floral heart over in green and added the gothic swirl in black.
in case you are unfamiliar with the concept of twinchies they are just a two inch square. a really nice size to work on, that look nice just mounted on a card.
all stamps are by Inka

TGIF quotations

I don't have anywhere near as many quotation stamps as I would like, but I have a few. I have had this one for ages as part of a sunflower set from chapel road art stamps. I don't know who the lady is by, she was a gift. if anyone happens to know....
This was a quick card for TGIF

trying my hand at oriental style

Oriental is just not my forte, but not one to be beaten, I decided to have a go with this new fish stamp I got from Inka to make this ATC. I have also used the color all stamp on the background.

theme thursday hearts

The theme at theme thursday is hearts.
This is made with all Paperartsy stamps. after receiving the free stamps I fancied a play with some of my old paperartsy stamps. I've used4 different plates here, I think.

fashion staples!

I needed to make a card and a tag tonight for a friend for tomorrow. I didn't know what to do so I decided to have a quick trawl of the challenges to see if they inspired me.
The two that caught my eye were Crazy Amigos where the challenge is staples and One Powerful Hour where the theme is Fashion. The friend is very fashionable so I thought that was perfect.

but could I do the card AND the Tag in under the hour and still tidy up? well yes actually, it was easy and as these are real quickies.
The stamp is by art by moonlight, and I think is a great "fashion" stamp. The swirls are the free Paperartsy stamp again.

think monday think ATC : games

The theme at TMTA is games. I have just received some free stamps from paperartsy courtesy of a crafts beautiful magazine offer, so I wanted to use them. the numbers and the swirl along the bottom are from these free stamps. I am also using an Inka collage image. This image is called "the bad girl of the family" but I think it just looks like she is playing hide and seek.
so that's what my game is, and accross the bottom it says "ready or not"

mixed media monday: tea

well, when I saw the theme at mixed media monday this week, it didn't take long to decide which image I was going to use! I made a bag because when I first saw these stamps I was making party bags for my son's party and I thought that they would look nice on the front. These bags are really easy to make from a single sheet of A4 paper.
I took the inspiration for the colour from wedgewood pottery
All stamps are by Inka

key inchie

I fancied one more quick challenge today and what could be quicker than inchies? So I had a look over at the inchybyinch challenge and the theme is keys. I don't know who makes this key stamp but the letters are by Studio G. Loads of stuff on this: distress powder, watercolours, chalk ink, brilliance ink, perfect pearls, moonshadow sprays. who'd have thought you could get all that on a one inch square? lol.
I couldn't fit a whole key on so I used two bits of the key instead.
I see the theme at TGIF is also keys so I am entering this for that challenge as well.

gothic arches: cats

the theme at gothic arches is cats This cat is from Cherry pie. I decided to use a mini arch so that it looks like it is sat at a window. the stripes around the edge are hand drawn.

let them eat cake!

The theme at sunday postcard art this week is Cakes. Well isn't that just perfect, with these new Inka stamps to play with. I have used Miss tart, tea room,tea goddess and the torn stamp (which is not a new one).
I have also been playing with Joanne's technique for making paper flowers from the inspirational tips and techiques. what a fantastic technique. I shall be using it a lot!!

the main background is watercoloured, and then I've used some patterned papers as well.

One powerful hour :food and/or beverages

This is the first time I have taken part in the one powerful hour challenge.
Not only did I finish this within the hour, yes I did manage to do the tidying up and the photography.
I was given two of these giant pegs (clothespins) by Jo, for my birthday back in march, and I thought "oooo they are cool, but what the heck do I do with them?" it was only when Jo used them in an article in the current issue of Craft Stamper magazine, that I started to get some ideas.

I decided to use this collage image from Inka. it's from the "oh yum" sheet and has to be one of my favourite images ever, and I thought it was perfect for the theme. I thought I would make my peg into a practical item and decided to make it somewhere to put all those recipes I pull out of magazines (with the intention of trying out)- surely I'm not the only person who does this??

I have also used Stamps from Inka's new range. I have used the tea room sign in the background (I have also used freshly baked but I think I have mostly covered this up.
The "jolly good" words are also from Inka's new range.

theme thursday: weddings

what a timely reminder! the theme at theme thursday is love/romance/weddings. It reminded me that I had a commission card to do for a wedding, that I have been putting off.

This is not my usual style, as it's much more commercial. In fact I can't remember the last time I used holographic card, but I tidied my craft room last night (as it was getting to the stage where I was struggling to squeeze round the door) and I found a stash of holographic card, so I thought "use it or bin it". I decided to see what it would look like if I stamped this Inka floral heart onto the card (with stazon of course) and I really like the effect.

Crazy amigos: travel

The theme at Crazy Amigos this week is travel. As luck would have it I just got some new architectural stamps from Inka's new range (da vinci's armenia and highland cluster)
This piece actually started out as a 4x4 but the proportions were all wrong so it evolved into a tag, which then just sort of became a "thing" when I stuck the building on top.
When I was making this I was thinking of the castle on top of the hill in lisbon (such a beautiful city) but the map is from a french road atlas, so I've decided that maybe it's the Mont st Michel instead, not that it matters! lol
The collage image of the kids on a road trip is also from Inka.

TMTA colourful

What a great theme at TMTA this week. I love to use bright colours. I started off with this by going through my collage images looking for something colourful and I found this image from Inka which is actually taken from a larger image which is a shoe advert.
I made the background with Inka's color-all background stamp. which is basically a large splodgy stamp. I stamped it once in yellow, then turned it through 90 degrees and stamped it in red. I also used Inka's ringer stamp and the word stamp.

finished off with some bits of torn paper and vellum.

make a moo or two

the theme at make a moo or two is black and white, and that's how this piece started out. I made a moo card using the skirt from the "ruffled feathers" lady from Inka's new stamps, but then the piece seemed to take on a life of its own, and somehow turned into a skinny page!!

but the black and white moo is still there!!

I've also used the netting stamp again. I told you that would be getting some heavy usage!! The sing stamp is also from Inka.

Inka's new stamps

I received some of Inka's new stamps today, so I had to have a little play with them.
I love this lady stamp, she's called "miss tart". This stamp is so me as I am such a tea addict. I drink so much. in fact you cannot come into my house without a cup of tea being forced into your hand. Any way, she's coloured with watercolours and perfect pearls. For the background I used "freshley baked" and "netting". That netting is a fantastic background stamp. I can see it being used on a lot of my upcoming pieces. someone will probably have to come and hide it from me in a couple of weeks.
I've used part of the "tea room" stamp for the words along the bottom, and The "queen of tea" stamp for the words. which I've decorated with berries from "miss tart's" skirt. the crown is also an Inka stamp but not a new one.

I had fun making this piece.

mixed media monday - dance

The theme at mixed media monday is dance, this gave me the opportunity to pull a couple of things out of my craft room that have just been waiting for ages to be used.

first of all the image of the dancing couple is actually the side of a kleenex box, way too pretty to be thrown away. Secondly The quote stamp, which was a gift from Jo. and I have just been waiting for the perfect opportunity to use it. it's such a clever quote.

Then I played around with bits and bobs. The hooks are from my local (and rather excellent) haberdasherers, as is the ribbon actually, come to think of it, the netting was from there too.

The orange flower is from one of my inchie swappers, and I thought was a good bit of symbolism for Ginger Rogers.

click on the picture to enlarge

wednesday stamper- newspaper

The theme at Wednesday stamper this week is newspaper. I couldn't bring myself to actually use newspaper as it has a tendency to yellow due to the high acid content. but what I did have was a fantastic newsprint background from Inka.

I needed a couple of tags to go on wine bottles as thank you gifts, so I thought these would be perfect. I also used collage images of children in newspaper hats as I thought this went well with the theme. Inka has lots of children in newspaper hats, but these particular ones are her inchie images. I also used some patterns paper, I left a space at the bottom, in case I decide to add a message.