altered chip fork!!!!!

This is one of those pieces that makes you question your sanity. I saw the theme at one powerful hour was maps, and I remembered that I had a blackpool map on a sheet of stamps from stampattack. I also remembered I had some of these wooden chip forks that I picked up one day because I thought they had "potential". These chip forks just shout "day at the british seaside" to me, so I went with a daytrip theme to make this tag. This will also be a second entry for wednesday stamper's "taking a ride" theme.
(the map is stamped onto the fork)

Now what I need to know is are these wooden chip forks a peculiarly British thing?

stamp something

The stamp something challenge is butterflies, bugs or other winged things. so I made this card using a stampsmith image, which I have also put on the stampsmith blog.

I felt this image was just crying out for a caption!

The bee is from a seeDs set, and the letters are studio g.

a few challenges..

I decided to see if I could combine the challanges for ready steady stamp:
Wednesday stamper (Ride) and Tag it on (time flies). I'm pretty sure this piece satisfies all of them!
The main image is by Inka, the clock is non-sequitur and the quote is from Paperbag studios

less is only more when more is no good

I made this ATC for the Kings and Queens theme at TMTA. I often like to make quite simple pieces but I got a bit carried away on this one, so I felt I had to fit the quote on somewhere, so I used some shrink plastic to squeeze it in. As I was so determined to use this quote I am also entering this for TGiF's word theme, and theme thursday's ATC theme
All the stamps are from PaperArtsy

forever friends: a sketch challenge

We have another sketch challenge on the Forever Friends Blog this week. Why not pop over and have a look.
I used the sketch to make a tag for a baby.

saturday's workout: shadow box

The theme at saturdays workout is to make a canvas back shrine, or shadow box. I love canvas back shrines, but just didn't have one to fit the images I wanted to use, so I made a "cheat" shadow box using 3d foam. All the images, paper and ribbon (except for the french text) are by PaperArtsy

crochet bees

I will let you draw your own conclusions about the state of my mental health!!

ready steady stamp

another new challange, ready steady stamp. At first I didn't think this was for me as there are so many rules


and on top of that "NO CUTE ALLOWED"
now I actually think this cat is pretty cute, but as the challenge actually states they like PaperArtsy, I think I'll get away with it.

The background circles (which I have used for the faux batik) are also by PaperArtsy. I have mounted the bunting piece onto an acetate card

(I think I may have got the faux batik wrong as it was supposed to be done on text paper, but I didn't do too bad)

TMTA and wednesday stamper

The Wednesday stamper theme is dream and the TMTA theme is the moon, so I have combined them to make this ATC with a stampsmith Image, which I have also featured on the stampsmith blog

I am also sneaking this onto the created by hand, stars and moon theme

Happy 21st birthday Forever Friends (and a mild case of beanie addiction)

This week at the Forever Friends Challenge we are celebrating the 21st anniversary of forever friends, with a celebration theme. We also have a little giveaway.

And on an unrelated issue




I can't stop knitting beanie hats now. I love the fact that I can just pick up a 50g ball of wool that I just like the look of and there will be enough to make a hat. The first hat is from Sirdars crofter DK which magically knits up like fair isle, and feels beautiful. The second is from knit picks and was sent to me by the gorgeous Marie Greene. I am also making the same hat in the opposite colourway, with what I have left over.

theme thursday stripes

The theme at at theme thursday is stripes. I have just received this brand new mini stamp from PaperArtsy which I thought was just perfect for the theme. The background stamps are also Paperartsy. The rocks are BasicGrey paper, the back ground card is coredinations, and the image is coloured with whispers pens.


While on the subject of stripes, I am now over my fear of knitting beanie hats and I made this one for my son's teacher (as a sort of joke after she asked me to knit all those hats for the play, but also because I thought she's like it- which she did!) it is knitted in Noro silk garden, A little extravagant, but as you only need one ball, it gave me a chance to knit with a fabulous yarn and make a lovely present: win-win

cute and colourful

The theme at wednesday stamper is colourful. The date stamp and bird are snag'em stamps, the message on the front is from Inka and the stamps inside are "assorted" I thought the pink and yellow combo was quite colourful!

violin card

My eldest son is leaving primary school this week (obviously I had him very young ;) ) and I wanted to make a card for his violin teacher, so I used this lovely image from the stampsmith. I see the lots to do theme is collage. I think most of what I do could be described as collage, so I am entering this for that theme.
I have also put it on the stampsmith blog



also this week at the forever friends challenge we have the theme pink and blue and a flower or two, and this is the card I made for that.

Inchy by Inch - Guest host

This week I am the guest host on the Inchy by Inch challenge blog, which you may have seen featured in this month's craft stamper magazine.
I chose my theme as "text". I hope lots of people take part.
My Inchie uses a stamp from the stampsmith so I am also featuring it on the stampsmith blog.

I have also used a little bit of flower soft on this piece

theme thursday and forever friends

The theme at theme thursday this week is pink and brown, which coincidentally is nearly the same as our theme at Forever Friends, which is Pink and brown and flowers. So here is the tag I made for this week.

inchie mobile phone charm

I've made this piece for 3 challenges, firstly, UK art raffle is back with the theme summer, what could be more summery than the rose fairy? (from Crafters companion), secondly, Created by hand's theme is Inchies, so I made a shrink plastic inchie (I had to do the "shrink plastic ruler" thing first). Then I realised that TMTA's theme is in the garden, which this fit perfectly, however it's not an ATC, no problem. I just mounted it on an ATC size card, (me? cheat? of course!)
The image is coloured with distress inks and perfect pearls

buildings inchie

just a quick inchie for the inchy by inch challenge. stamps and papers are by PaperArtsy

WInter wonderland - Christmas past

The theme at Winter wonderland challenge, is christmas past. So I immediatly thought, vintage and distressed and made this really easy tag, using all PaperArtsy stamps (Xmas plate 4 and Ancestors plate 2) and distress inks and powders.

A very long post!!

Had a good crafting day today, my fingers are covered in ink and glue to prove it.
First of all I have made a card for TGIF, where the theme is apples pears and peaches.



Then I have made a baby card, using the mother and baby klimt image. I have, however cropped it to remove the "nipular" area, so as not to offend anyone! I have included a close up of this to show the silver highlights. The heart says "made with love" very appropriate for a baby card, don't you think. The blue edging to this is actually a cover up, it was going to be a really simple card but then I dropped some bue ink on it, so I made a feature of it



next is another skate card, seriosly I don't know what I would do without these stamps. This one is for Ben (hence the giant B)

And finally, here is a coaster card, I have made for the PaperArtsy DT. (because I have had a pile of coasters given to me) All the stamps, paper and ribbons are from PaperArtsy

Craft Stamper is out today

And I have taken part in the stamping contrasts article again. This time we had the rose flower fairy sheet from crafters companion, so of course I had to make a jar fairy! ( I do have a bit of a thing about jars). For the second piece I decorated a cheap clip frame. My favourite thing about this piece his how I did the wings on vellum.
I've included a couple of sneak peek pictures here, but you'll need to get the mag to see them in there entirety and to see what other people did with the same stamps.

I also have an inchie cube in the article written by Carol