stamped fabric gift bag.

This project was completely inspired by the Paperartsy Mini sewing background stamp. I made the bag from some oddments of fabric that I had. The yo yo flower is so easy to make and you don't need any special equipment.

To make a yo yo flower, simply cut a circle roughly twice the diameter of the required flower (draw round a saucer). With the wrong side facing you turn a small hem towards you and hold in place with a simple running thread, all the way around. pull up thread and fasten off. finish with a large button.

The main image is also a Paperartsy Mini.
I am entering this for Wednesday Stamper's "mixed media" challenge

make a moo or two happy

The theme at make a moo or two is "happy" so I have used this happy image from the stampsmith, which you can also see on the stampsmith blog . At first I didn't think I had a stamp that said happy, then I realised I had loads, happy anniversary, happy birthday etc etc, this was taken from a stamp that said "wishing you a happy day"

lots to do: wood

The challenge at lots to do is too use wood. So I went into my "assorted stuff" drawer to see what I had made of wood, and I found a packet of clothes pegs, and some magnets. Along with the new papers and stamps that I just received today from PaperArtsy, this magnetic clip was born.

I needed to make a sympathy card and I decided to use the stampsmith's little angel stamp. I have uploaded it, with details, to the stampsmith blog

If you would like to see your stampsmith art on the stampsmith blog, the information is here

tag it on

This week on the tag it on challenge, we are challenged to make a oriental card in blue.
I decided to use this stamp from PaperArtsy as it is very handily already in a tag shape.
All of the other stamps are also by PaperArtsy

forever friends birthday boy

This week on the forever friends challenge blog we challenge you to make a birthday card for a boy. The two stamps that I had were not suitable so I treated myself to this birthday cake bear stamp. The background of scrunched up paper is supposed to represent the wrapping paper that gets strewn over the floor at a party. This was a really quick simple card, but I was especially pleased with the colouring on the bear. I used derwent coloursoft pencils and sansodor.

Test Knitting

For the last couple of weeks I have been test knitting a pattern for a book that the fabulous Marie Greene is putting together. This is my finished piece, modelled by my eleven year old. it's not often you can find a knitting pattern that a boy of that age actually likes, but he really likes this one, and I really enjoyed knitting it.

my first piece for the Stampsmith DT blog

This is my first contribution to the stampsmith DT blog. I made a jar fairy using this beautiful fairy some time ago and it is one of the most visited posts on my blog, so I felt it was time to make another one. This one is made from a spice jar.
*top tip, if you have stubborn glue on a jar label, use stazon cleaner to remove it. Is there anything, that stuff doesn't remove?*

could I be any more excited?

I have been invited to be on the design team of a company whose stamps I have been in awe of for such a long time, The Stampsmith. They do the most beautiful photo stamps, but I am sure you don't need me to tell you that!
This card is one that I actually made some time ago using a stampsmith stamp, it's not new, but I don't like to post blog posts without pictures!! (and this picture, just about shows you what I felt like doing when I received the news, lol)
phew!! 2 design teams in a week, I'm going to be busy, but it's going to be a lot of fun!!
You can check out The Stampsmith Blog to keep up with what the Design Team are up to.

gift box idea.

BEFORE:

10 MINUTES LATER:

My boys are at that age where they and their friends really appreciate money for their birthdays, but I always feel like it looks like no thought has gone into the present. So while I was in the craft shop today (ahem! I've no idea how I ended up in there I saw this little gold gift box, which I thought would make a nice change for presenting the money. At the time I had no plans to decorate it, until my (non-crafty) friend said I should distress it and add a hinge or something, and well that was it!! I used the hinge from the new crown and castle plates from PaperArtsy, some black stazon for distressing and some gold zoomz. My son's friend then suggested I put the money in in pound coins and mix it with some sweets in shiny wrappers! which I think is a great idea.

I'm going to be going back to the shop for a few more of these boxes!!

Theme thursday, and a little announcement

The theme at theme thursday is masculine.
my little announcement is that I have been invited onto the Design team of PaperArtsy. As luck would have it, some of my best masculine stamps are by PaperArtsy, so I have made this card using just stamps from them.

Alice Postcard

I couldn't let the Alice theme at sunday postcard art go by without something.My first thought was to do a really simple piece with Alice on an Alice in wonderland book page, but I just kept adding to it. Most of the bits on this piece are things I found in the pile of rubbish on my desk

forever friends sketch challenge

This week at the forever friends challenge we have a sketch challenge for you

I turned the sketch on it's side for my card

The complete set of tiles, mounted.

Thank you to Chris, Deb, Audrey, Penny, Carol, Karin and Suse for the gorgeous tiles they made for me. I have now mounted them onto a canvas (14"x10") which I painted and stamped with stamps from Inka
I hope you like what I did with them, girls.

tag it on!

Well here's a challenge site I haven't tried before, Tag it on.. The theme is Fairies at the bottom of the garden.
I used a fairy from the rose flower fairy set from crafters companion. wildflowers from crafty individuals, the music stamp on the artificial flower is from Paperartsy.

As I have used a music stamp and some music paper, I will also enter this for Theme Thursday's music or dance theme
and crazy amigos "fly with me" theme. I am also going to sneak this onto Secret Crafter's Brads or eyelets theme as I have used one of the extra large We R Memorykeepers Eyelets on the flower.

finally!

I finally got round to making the 2 inch tiles for my own set. My colours were cream and sepia with touches of black. These actually turned out a lot simpler than I had planned. The base is corrugated cardboard which I have painted. I then stamped the background with a paperartsy background script stamp and crafty individuals wildflowers stamps. The collage images are by Inka.
I have decided to enter these for TGiF's Childhood theme.

You can see the complete set of 24 mounted here

Deb's tiles

Our forum's ongoing collaborative project of sets of 2 inch tiles. This month is for Deb, and she chose "tropical sea tones" for her colours. I hope that these are okay.

Last month was my choice, and I received a gorgeous set of tiles from all the other participants. Unfortunately I haven't got round to doing my own yet. Isn't it funny how when the deadline is just for yourself it doesn't quite have the same urgency. I promise I will do them this week as I am sure that the reast of the forum are looking forward to seeing them presented together.

Forever friends: a different shaped card

The challenge at forever friends this week is to make a card of a different shape, i.e. not square or rectangular.
I chose to use my favourite bear stamp with the flowers and make my card flower shaped.

This was really easy to do, first of all I cut a card blank with a circle cutter to get a semi-circle, made a template for the petals and cut them out of various patterned papers, added a a cicle of patterned paper and a bear and voila!

catching up with challenges!

I've had a couple of days off stamping, and look how far behind I've fallen with all the challenges, so I decided today to catch up with as many as possible in one piece!
The background of this ATC is created with Alcohol ink dripped onto glossy card. All the stamps are by PaperArtsy
created by hand blobs and splatters.
Wednesday stamper orange
Theme Thursday hats or crowns
Lots to do Lets Face it
Saturday's Workout Make a collage
Secret Crafter Flowers