One poweful hour- children

The theme at one powerful hour is children. I made these today with some new stamps, I just received from Inka.
the first is a tag, in which I've made Erica into a princess, as she deserves to be.
The second is a vest for a little girl and I've included a close up. I think I managed to do them both within the hour, and I sort of tidied up, although my pile of stamps waiting to be cleaned is getting quite scary!

make a moo or two

the theme at make a moo or two is butterflies. I really don't have time to craft this weekend, but the great thing about moo cards is that they can be so quick. I decided to use this PBS stamp after blogging my mixed media monday piece. The butterfly is by all night media, andI used to use it all the time. but I haven't for a while, so it felt like an old friend.

mixed media monday

the theme at mixed media monday is "recycled". I made this quite a while ago, but never blogged it.
The recycled element is the base which is corrugated cardboard from some packing.

Make a moo or Two : flowers

The theme at make a moo or two is flowers.
This is made using stamps and collage images from Inka, and a bit of flower soft.

I love your blog award

I have kindly been awarded the I love your blog award, by Jo and Deb
The rules are...

This award is for blogs you really like to visit. As most of the awards go, you are to nominate seven blogs with their blog links, email them, post this award on your blog with the link going back to the person who awards you the award, and then they nominate or award seven blogs.

it's always hard to nominate just seven, but here goes

Carrie
Jackie (you don't have to pass it on Jackie ;) )
Seona's knitting blog
Paula W
Heather
Donna
Joanne (mainly flowers)

punch art

This started out as an experiment in "kiss stamping" I used pink ink on a harlequin background stamp, and then kissed the sequin waste in black onto it. I decided to turn it into a tag for the "tag you're it" challenge, where the theme is punches. As you can tell I've used lots of punched flowers. Also as the theme at Crazy Amigos is tags, I am entering it for that as well.
The collage image and all the stamps are from Inka

inchy by inch : circle. And an inchie update

Fiona's inchie challenge this time is "circles" I'm going to be naughty again, and use some inchies that I made for my swap when that was the theme.



I've just got back from two weeks away, so I'm looking forward to getting back into my crafting. just as soon as all the washing is done!!

I know some of you will be waiting to hear about the last inchie swap (june/july) unfortunately we only had seven participants, but they are gorgeous, I will be uploaded and sending them out soon. I will swap what I can, but you will get some of your own back.
I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all of the people who have taken part in my swaps, and for all the lovely gifts I have been sent for doing it. As I've already said. I am stopping the swap for now, but may start it again sometime in the future, if I get enough interest.

manga moo

The theme at make a moo or two is schooldays, I just bought this manga schoolgirl from dewdrop crafts so I thought i'd use her. she's not quite the right size for a moo, but I really wanted to use her. I painted her with water colours and mounted her on graph paper to keep with the school theme!

TGIF

The theme at TGIF is earth colours, I have just done this little bit of "mail art" which I think fits the theme. all of the stamps are inka except the lettering at the bottom.
it is all sparkle embossed which I hope help it survive if it gets a lttle damp in the postman's hands.

how colourful can you be?

that's the challenge at step outside your box saturday
I made this tag for a summer sun themed art raffle, and I've lost track of the number of colours in it! I started with a laura ashley paper that has loads of colours already and then it just sort of grew from there!!
The collage image is from Inka, as is the ringer stamp and the words that I've used to make the sun

crazy amigos

crazy amigos have a free theme for the next couple of weeks, but they are offering a surpise package to one participant, so I had to enter!
This is my baby girl card with a difference. The egg and the nest are by Inka.

mixed media monday : trinchie

Well it had to happen sooner or later, we've had inchies, we've had twinchies, it was only a matter of time before trinchies appeared. I actually find the 3x3 size a lovely size to work on.
I originally cut this Inka fairy out to go on my fairy twinchie, but she was the wrong size so she has been sitting waiting to be used, and a 3x3 was the perfect size. The sunflower stamp from chapel road art stamps was also the pefect size. I carefully painted the background with distress inks, and then decided it was too dark against the image so I covered it with gesso (I guess I'm still feeling grungy). I finished of with some french text.

grungy postcard?

The theme at sunday postcard art is bicycles and the theme at saturdays workout is "can you be grungy?".
Now, I'm not exactly sure what grungy means. I used to think it meant muddied, distressed, collagy type thing, but it seems to have developed a new meaning of using circly bits on your work. I'm confused.

well I needed a bit of an antidote to all that prettiness of the gothic arch challenge, so I decided to have a go at grunging it up a bit!
So I hope this counts as grungy. I also hope it counts as a bicycle postcard, because strictly speaking it's a tricycle (it's okay I've just checked, tricycles are allowed)!!
I've even taken the photo in a grungy place, on my back step, as it was the best place to get the last of the natural light.

The image is by Inka and I have distressed it by scrunching it, sanding it and inking it. I've used sequence waste, ringer and newpaper clippings stamps all from Inka.

I've been a bit of a challenge addict today, but I think I'm done for the day now, the light is fading and the bulb has gone in my craft room and I'm too lazy too change it!

shades of white

the theme at Gothic Arches is shades of white. *gulp* that's a scary theme. but I do so love a challenge, so first stop was my box of images where I found this gorgeous little girl from Inka all dressed in white. A bit more rummaging and sticking later and I made this.

The heart stamp is from Inka and is white embossed on vellum, the flowers are made from vellum too, and the heart clip was silver so I white embossed that as well. I went for a textured background, to stop it looking too plain.

music moo

The theme at make a moo is music, I'm still in a black and white mood from the crazy amigo challenge, so I guess this is another entry for that as well.

The main image is from a larger collage stamp I bought from ebay, about a year ago, but the seller wouldn't tell me who made it. I'm pretty sure that it's Designs Ink'd though. The music stamp is from river city rubber works and the swirls are from some scraps of papermania paper left over from my christmas card

This thursday it's all about..

..winged things. I've gone for a Bee, but a Queen Bee, no less. This is a notebook that I have decorated.
All stamps are Inka, the crown is from an Inka collage sheet, and the paper is papermania

black and white christmas

The theme at crazy amigos is black and white and the theme at one powerful hour is christmas in July.
I decided to combine these two challenges to make a black and white christmas card. I had recently bought these black christmas papers from papermania, they are gorgeous, so I was glad of a chance to use them. The stamps are by Inka.
I have made the black and white background with gesso on black card. I have also used my new toy, a dressmakers tracing wheel to make holes along the bottom of the central piece, but I'm bot sure that it shows up well on the picture.

and I managed to tidy up before and after well with the hour!