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?

recycled reindeer

I needed to make some Reindeer for the school christmas grotto, I decided to make just the heads, so they could peep over a stable door, but where to start? It occurred to me that I could base the design of a hobby horse, and after much googling found an idea of making hobby horses out of old trouser legs. after a bit of adapting, this is what I came up with.
The theme at One powerful hour is recycled,so I am entering this reindeer

paperclip bookmark

I have made this for two of this week's challenges. The theme at One Powerful Hour is bookmarks, and the theme at TGIF is hats.

it's a simple paperclip bookmark, the crown stamp is by Inka

One powerful hour

This week I am delighted to be the guest designer on one powerful hour challenge. I chose the theme of christmas ornaments, because christmas cards are on our minds at the moment, but sometimes it's just fun to play with your christmas stuff and make something different.

This is made from one stamp, from Inka. stamped onto acetate and cut into a heart and then stamped onto card, cut out and coloured.

Inka has offered the stamp I used a a gift for one lucky participant in the challenge. All you have to do is take part in this week's one powerful hour challenge for a chance to win it. That's worth an hour of anyone's time, don't you think? :)
This is the stamp you could win:


as I have used a cherub stamp on this I am also entering it as a second entry for this week's wednesday stamper theme of angels, and also as an entry for Crazy amigos Heart theme

I have also made another piece, as my entry for this week. also with Inka stamps. I have used the mirrored cardinals. Of course we don't have cardinals in Britain, but they are so pretty. I guess the are the american version of the robin redbreast.


I'd like to thank Carrie for the inspiration for the wire bird cage. of course it's not a patch on the ones that she makes!

One powerful hour

the theme at one powerful hour is spooky. I made this Hallowe'en banner quite some time ago, but for one reason and another haven't blogged it. All of the (many) stamps I have used are by Inka, but the important thing to note is that none of the stamps were Hallowe'en stamps.

I know it looks like a lot of work, but I actually think I did do this in about an hour .

I am also entering this for TGiF's hallowe'en theme! but I only just made it!

a bit of cute never hurt anyone

I like to try my hand at everything, and if that means indulging in a bit of cute every know and again, then so be it.
I had to have one of these new forever friends stamps as the forever friends reminds me of the days when my husband used to buy me cards, "just because" ahhh those days are long gone.....It's strictly cards for occasions now!
He even bought me a forever friends teddy bear which I still treasure.

......anyway enough reminiscing.

I have to admit, the stamp stamps beautifully, and I think it's a useful image for "real cards"
I have coloured the image with derwent colour soft pencils and blended with sansodor.

I echoed the daisies by adding some punched daisies and for that reason I am entering it for the "repetition" theme at One Powerful Hour

moon clock

The theme at one powerful hour this week is "the Moon" I knew straightaway what image I was going to use, but I slept on the ideas of what I was going to do with it. I think sleeping became my inspiration. I then made this this morning, well within the hour.
I decided to alter a CD, mostly because there was one sitting on my desk, but also because, it echoed the moon idea with being round. I then decided to turn it into a clock, as it had a real "time for bed" feel about it, and I have had this clock mechanism sitting around for ages.
I am also entering this for Theme thursday's pink theme, and This thursday it's all about's Art from your heart theme, as I have used a page from my absolute favourite childhood book, The Enchanted Wood.

The collage image and all stamps are by Inka

alcohol inks

The theme at One powerful hour is alcohol inks. I never seem to use mine, and I couldn't remember why. I remember now! I'm covered in them!
I made this piece easily within the hour (about 20mins) but I still have the tidying to do, I'll do it later (yeah right!).
It's on a piece of acrylic. I used a crafty individuals buttefly background stamp, an Inka image, and some black velvet sticky back swirls.
I've took two pictures so you can see the effect of hanging it in the window

Fairy Wands

I am very proud to say that I am the guest host at Mixed Media Monday this week, and the theme is "stars"
This is an idea I originally had when a friend asked me to "do something" to a toy wand to make it look a bit better for her daughter to carry as a bridesmaid. I didn't stamp on it, I managed to resist, but it gave me the idea of making my own wand that could be sent as a greeeting. The back of the star is left blank for a message. I also thought that it would look nice as a tag tied to a gift wrapped in silver paper. The stamp is by paper artsy and the background paper is by papermania. I cut two stars using a fiskars shapecutter template, and I sandwiched the handle between. The handle is made from rolled up paper, but I have put some floristry wire inside to in order to prevent "wand flop". this allows the roll of paper to be squashed between the stars for a smoother finish. I'm really hoping that my wand will inspire others to have a go at wand making, I'd love to see what other people do. otherwise I am just looking forward to seeing everyones' "star" creations.

I have also made this gold one for the One Powerful Hour challenge. I love these colour challenges as I get everything out of that colour and just play! I even used some gold zuzu paper (I don't know what it's called, but if you are a regular on louise crosbie's blog, you'll know what I mean). even the handle is just made from gold paper. All stamps are by Inka

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!

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!

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.

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.