Very tired, but I wanted to create a blue and white ATC this evening for last week’s Wednesday Stamper. Patty set the challenge and I loved her example. Plus, I have been outdoors at market all day today from 7am till 3pm and although it was beautiful and sunny, it was really cold. It even snowed briefly first thing and the 22 mile drive was a bit of a ‘white knuckle’ ride!!

I read a brief article recently in the Quilting Daily newsletter, about ‘couching’ and that’s the technical term for encasing something inside stitching, like my wire-stemmed roses, etc. You can see from the elements on this ATC that I have been practising (otherwise known as ‘playing’!)…

I wrapped the last of the pressies due before Christmas this evening while the DD was out. It really is “beginning to look a lot like Christmas” here…

It’s been a really hectic, but thoroughly enjoyable day today… took my Halloween artwork to the gallery this morning and had a long chat with Martyn, who had immense trouble trying to price and ‘categorise’ what I do. We both agreed that there’s no “box” I fit into… imagine that?!

Came home and started making some ATCs with recycled card from the beloved Scrapstore. These are fab because they’re 5.5″ x 3.5″, so I can get 2 ATCs from each card and only cut twice! What a time-saver. Had almost finished them when our dear friends arrived for brunch – traditional bacon sarnies and mugs of tea. It was so warm and sunny we spent the best part of 4 hours in the garden, chatting and laughing… and I even got all my washing dry.

So, here are the 5 ATCs… a set of 4 crows (Theme Thursday – Birds) and Created by Hand (Stencils). I had a clear plastic folder which I’d cut from one of those accordion files that broke, so I cut a bird stencil from that, amongst other things… which is what I’ve used on the set of 4 ATCs.

So far, so good, I thought. Then I got out my favourite stamp from Third Coast RS – The eyes have it… I thought I’d use that for the Double Trouble challenge at this week’s Wednesday Stamper. So, I stamped the first image onto a scrap or recycled french book text for the upper half of the ATC. I then stamped and embossed the same image below, directly onto the background. Yuck! If the embossing goes wrong or doesn’t show the image, I have in the past, overstamped the entire image with black stazon (or similar) to make it clearer. Did that and it still didn’t look right, so I cut a bit of a cello bag up, stamped onto that with brown stazon and attached that to the whole ATC with staples. At last! I could see the image clearly… and then when I scanned it, look at the shine/glare from the cello cover! Hah!

It’s monday and that means that it’s Cute Dasiy May Challenge time again and Net has given me the push to get ahead of myself this week.   The theme is ‘baby’ and as we don’t seem to have any new ones in the offing in the near future I decided to make our youngest Granddaughter’s first birthday card ready for next May!!

I have to say that this photo is the best of a bad bunch, this card looks much better IRL – but I suppose that’s what you get when you use white pearlescent card, guilded ivory emossing powder and white sparkly peel offs!  I decided to use a spring card and then took it a stage further and added two tiny ones for the animals. If you’d like the instructions for this type of card, along with an oval shaped variation, you’ll find them here. You  get the best results if you use a good card weight – in this case the card I used is 300 gsm. I made it from a sheet of A4 and the two small ones came from the piece I cut off so it was all from the one sheet. The measurements for the two small cards are 3cm x 6cm and I made them so that I could have the stuffed toys sitting upright. I love how it looks like Daisy is playing that game so beloved of babies of throwing her toys from the high chair for Mum or Dad to pick up lol! Daisy is from sheet 90 and the animals are from sheet 40.

I’ve coloured the images with Derwent coloursoft pencils and a sakura clear stardust pen. The diamond and base of the card have been stamped with a creative expressions corner flourish stamp and embossed with guilded ivory sparkle and sprinke embossing powder. The only other embellishments are the ribbon and the pink pearls. (I’d be lost if someone took my ribbons and pearls away!!)

I’m also entering my card into these challenges:

Digital Tuesday - It’s all about the kids

Stamp Something – Favourite embellishment (I’ve used two so I hope that’s ok)

Wednesday Stamper – open theme

I hope you’ll pop over to the Cute Daisy May Challenge blog and join in with us this week, we do enjoy visiting your blogs and don’t forget that you don’t have to use a Cute Dasiy May image to join in.

TGIF – Make a banner… so I did, using a watercolour+salt background, some recycled bits n bobs and the lovely “Fairy Houses” stamps from Home Impressions - funky and doodly!!

The mesh is plastic (from the Scrapstore); the fairy charm is one of a job lot I bought from Kathy on Etsy; the paisley is Fiskars Rubons – excellently easy to apply! (and you know how I hate rubons!). As Paisley was the Wednesday Stamper theme this past week, I thought I’d enter it for that too!

The tiny blocks bear the legend: “Fairies live here” and the tiny beads stay in place on the wire hanger with the help of a spot of clear nail varnish!!

Wednesday Stamper’s theme is Dreams. I chose to interpret it with another page in my Alphabet Discovery Workshop Book. This is an old girls’ story-book with thick pages, lots of line drawings and the occasional gem of a colour plate (all of which have been removed for future use!).

The background technique I used for this page is glue-resist over acrylic paint, dry-brushed paint over the dried glue, then lots of grunge-doodle-journalling…

The background, before stamping, doodling and journalling, was so pretty I scanned it for future use in collages/cards, etc. This is something I learnt from Traci Bautista’s ”Collage Unleashed”!

The stamped faces are both from Third Coast RS - I love these beautiful faces!

That’s the mission at this week’s Wednesday Stamper! I used the new Fairy/Mushroom sheet of stamps from Home Impressions for the images on these puzzle pieces and coloured them with the beautifully vivid Neocolours II water soluble crayons. They also blend together really well – can you tell I’m a fan?!

Aren’t they pretty images? Lots of stamps and great variety whether you use them together or separately! Don’t forget, you can also buy these stamps from The Stamp Attic in the UK.

There is also now a Home Impressions Forum you can join…

I couldn’t let July 4th go by without doing something patriotic. Here is an ATC inspired by the challenge this week at Wednesday Stamper, to make something using the colors of your country’s flag. The flag curtains are from a postcard I found on the internet, the little boy is an image from Lisa’s Altered Art. Happy 4th of July to all of my American friends!

Other supplies: Paper by Basic Grey and Bazzill. Stamps: Purple Onion (calendar), Technique Tuesday, Stampin’ Up. Dies used to cut number 4 (Sizzix) and photo turn (Quik Kutz), Denim ink by Ranger. Silver star brads, German scrap border, and Krylon pen. Paper hat made from a page torn out of an old book.

I combined 2 of my fave challenges this evening – The Three Muses and Wednesday Stamper. “Up, up and away” was chosen by Taluula and Patty chose the theme for WS - ”Use the colours of your country’s flag”… Here’s a quirky hanging collage made mainly using recycled materials and Ria’s Funny People stamps (Home Impressions):

The red card is last year’s easter egg box, the handmade paper I’ve had for at least 3 years and the netting is waste from a factory. The ‘balloons’ are painted and stamped chipboard circles. The Union Jack – flag of Great Britain and Northern Ireland – is red, white and blue.

I struggled this week to get creative because it’s just so hot and humid here – we’re not accustomed to temperatures in the 70s and 80s, combined with high humidity and my area upstairs where I create, being part of the roof conversion, is pretty much unbearable. I’m not saying bring on the rain, but… cooler evenings would be nice!!

Never happy with our weather, we Brits!

My next ATC qualifies for two of this week’s themes, i.e.:

• “Fashion” by Wednesday’s Stamper
• “Flourishes” by Theme Thursday.

It’s entitled “Unlace yourself”.

Unlace Yourself

Stamps

Flourishes (Crafty Individuals)
Corset (Hampton Art)

Inks

Versafine Onyx Black & Versamark
Distress Ink Dusty Concord
Adirondack Raisin & Current
Embossing powder gold

Other

Foam blocks
Embroidery thread (metallic)

My floralATC for atcwednesday inviolet and green theme given at wednesdaystamper

Vandaag weer met stempels, sjablonen en verf zitten spelen. Past mooi in het thema bij Wednesday Stamper. Played with my stamps, stencils and paint. It fit’s perfect at the Wednesday Stamper challenge.

So eine Manschette hatte ich schon seit einiger Zeit auf meiner To-Do-Liste. Das Thema ‘Mixed Media’ bei Mittwochstempler hat dann den Anstoß gegeben, den Feiertag zu nutzen und mich endlich mal ans Nähen zu machen. Den Anfang machte ein Stück bestickter Leinenstoff, auf den ich einen meiner Lieblingsschriftenstempel (Queen Elizabeth Background – Stamp Francisco) mit StazOn gestempelt habe. Rechts und links habe ich zwei andere Stoffe angenäht, das gesamte Stück mit Vlieseline verstärkt und im Anschluss grünes Organza und Bänder aufgenäht. Die Spitze und die Gummikordel sind mit Broken China Alcohol Ink eingefärbt. Ein echter Spaß!

Such a wrist cuff has been on my to-do list for some time. Mixed Media, the theme of Wednesdaystamper made me use the public holiday to eventually start sewing. I started by stamping one of my favourite script stamps (Queen Elizabeth Background – Stamp Francisco) with StazOn on a piece of embroidered linen fabric. Two other fabrics were added on the right and on the left, the whole piece was reinforced with interfacing, and green organza and ribbons were sewn on. The lace and the elastic cord were dyed with Broken China alcohol ink. So much fun!

Thema bij Wednesday Stamper is: under the sea. New theme at Wednesday Stamper is: under the sea.

My card for wednesdaystamper challenge to alter the backside of a postcard.

Here is an ATC I’m sharing for the Wednesday Stamper Bella Italia challenge. I used a technique from Nancy Curry’s book, Texture Effects for Rubber Stamping.

Stamps: Tower of Pisa by Stampington and Company, spots are Diffusion (Hampton Arts).