Wednesday 30 January 2013

Poppy Tilda


Here is the new Poppy Tilda available now at Sir Stampalot she`s a real cutie and I just had to get her inked and coloured as soon as I got my hands on her yesterday!
I`ve coloured her with distress inks and markers and added a bit of stickles - icicle to the middle of the poppy and some of the flowers.
The background papers are all Magnolia as is the Doo Hickey Doily die.
Flowers are Hobby House, leaves are Nellie Snellen medium punch `n` emboss and the foliage punch is Ash Branch, all products available at Sir Stampalot.

Well I`ve been crafting up a storm today getting samples ready for Sir Stampalot and re doing some samples for Hougie Crafts as the last lot got ruined after a tea related accident on my desk a couple of days ago. I can laugh about it now but I was not a happy camper at the time. I had just finished the samples and was reaching for my camera to take some piccies when I jogged the shelf that the glass jar I use to hold water for painting was sitting on, it fell straight onto a fresh mug of tea which was sitting on the corner of my desk, split the mug into a million pieces and threw tea all over my desk! That was bad enough but as I was desperately trying to rescue all the samples which were gleefully soaking up my tea I realized that tea was seeping down the side of my desk where I keep all my large cardstock for box making. I had to pull out my drawer which holds my wood mounted stamps to clean up the tea spill,and as I did the leg on it broke and tipped the whole thing over which had my acrylic trays resting on top. I tried to grab them from spilling all over the floor and the sharp edge of the tray cut my finger open! I tell you it was like something out of a Mr Bean movie! If I had been watching this debacle unfold I probably would have been on the floor in stitches but I was steaming mad at the time!! So I now have a wonky drawer unit, a badly cut finger, a large pile of A2 size soggy cardstock and no samples to show for an entire days work! That will be the last time I have a cup of tea at my craft desk !! and it broke my favourite mug too! Ever had a bad day?

Well on that note I`ll sign off and go and have a well earned cuppa (away from my craft desk !) bye for now and happy crafting xx

Sunday 27 January 2013

Up, Up and Away

I would like to enter this into the Tilda`s Town challenge, this time around it is "Celebrate".



Another sample card for Sir Stampalot, this is "Up, Up and away" Tilda,
I`ve coloured with distress inks and markers and added a couple of hobby house pearls to her hair bobbles.
The background papers are also Magnolia - Bumble Bee and Mini World Blue rainbow flower
Magnolia Doo Hickey die - Cloud and flag and Martha Stewart POP - eyelet lace.
The flowers and leaves are from Marianne dies, I just made them with some scraps of Magnolia papers and the little butterflies are a carl craft punch also with the mini hobby house pearls. The sentiment is from a Hero Arts mixed messages clear stamp set. All products available from Sir Stampalot

The snow has gone as fast as it came here, I woke up yesterday to a white world but after it rained all night I woke up this morning to a green world and it is actually brilliant sun shine today and we`ve even got the heating turned off! What a change the weather can be in England, we seem to get all kinds of weather within a 24 hour period!

I`m going to make the most of the natural sunlight and get some more images coloured for the rest of the samples I need to do. Bye for now and happy crafting xxx

Tuesday 22 January 2013

Sneezing Tilda

I`d like to enter this card in the Inky Chicks challenge which started up recently, this time around it`s "Becky`s Bingo Grid" and I`ve gone for the diagonal option of Flowers-Image-Die cuts.


This is a sample I`ve done for Sir Stampalot with one of the new Tilda stamps from Magnolia - Tilda Sneezing,
I`m not sure who would receive a card like this, maybe a get well card or someone suffering from hay fever LOL ! She is mega cute though.

I`ve coloured her with distress inks and markers and added a little liquid pearls for the pollen drops. The papers are Magnolia mini world turquoise butterfly and turquoise heart flowers.
The fence die is Marianne Creatables and the flowers were created using a woodware daisy punch and I punched some small circles and embossed them with a large ball embossing tool over a foam mat to give them a concave shape for the middles.
Leaves are a Nellie Snellen punch and emboss set and the border punch is Martha Stewart floral lace. All products available from Sir Stampalot.

It`s still very cold and snowy here today, we`ve got more of the white stuff forecast for wednesday too! I did venture out this morning but nearly went top over tail on the pavement in town! so gave it up as a bad job and came home after a short while! I`m not steady on my feet at the best of times and add ice into the mix and I`m a disaster waiting to happen LOL! oh well, a good excuse to stay in and craft!

Thanks for looking in, bye for now and happy crafting xx

Thursday 17 January 2013

Distress Ink Shelf Unit

I decided (in my infinite wisdom !) to make myself a shelf unit to house my Tim Holtz distress inks. They were all stacked in a box and it was such a pain to keep lifting them in and out and searching for the colour I wanted to use.
I was going to buy one but, after seeing the price of them and the shipping costs, I thought to myself I can make one of those (or something like it) far cheaper ! (this is where I should have thought a bit longer about it!!) Had I known it would take me the best part of four full days, I would probably have changed my mind - that being said, I am very pleased with the end result and it serves it purpose very well.


It`s not perfect as it is all hand measured, cut and glued out of medium weight chipboard but I have to say it is very strong and sturdy and it is going to last.
For those of you that want to know how I made it, I took a series of pictures each step of the way while I was constructing it. The quality of some of the photos is not great as I took them in a hurry while I was in the middle of construction and the light was really bad for shooting but you get the idea of basic construction.


I started by measuring the depth and width of the distress ink pads so I knew how wide the finished size would be and then I cut the back and sides and glued them together using Jim the Gentleman crafters (blog link in my side bar) technique of construction strips of craft card.


Basically they are long strips of craft card 1" x 12" scored in the middle with strong tape applied to the back, they are a very easy and sturdy way to glue two pieces of chipboard together at a right angle.


The inserted shelf supports and the top and base are all fixed in this way.


I then covered the whole thing in patterned paper, I used Bazzill Basics - Antique Newsprint available from Sir Stampaot as I wanted it to be a neutral colour but have some intrest and look kind of old and worn. I just used PVA glue and a sponge brush to paste all the back of the paper before applying, I felt like a wall paperer after I`d finished !!


I then cut 33 internal shelves and drew around a 2p piece and cut that out for finger grab holes to make it easier to slide the ink pads in and out of the shelves. These were all cut using a craft knife and my fingers were sooooo sore after I`d finished. I then cut 72 tiny shelf supports in the same way.(This is when I started losing the will to live!!) but I persevered.


I then covered them all in paper to match the carcass of the unit and sealed them all with Claudine Helmuth Studio - Multi Medium Matte which is a brilliant, non toxic, easy to use product.


I glued the shelf supports in and used a scrap of chipboard the same thickness as the shelves as a spacer between them so I could make sure the shelves would slide in afterwards.


Then the whole thing got covered in a second coat of the multi matte to seal it all and make sure the paper wouldn`t lift or catch on the ink pads as they were being taken in and out.
Then for the feet.


I had originally planned to use the Tim Holtz feet but as they are a corner fixed feet, part of the corned piece would have impeded the bottom shelves for the ink pads to slide out so I had a furtle around in my Dad`s garage and came across some old plastic door knobs he didn`t need and claimed them!


I sanded them back and covered them in tissue paper using the Multi Matte again and then sponged black ink, then daubed SU platinum all purpose ink randomly over them to give a metallic look to them, again covering them in a couple of coats of the Multi Matte to prolong wear and stop the ink from coming off. Then just hot glued them to the base of the unit and Voila! - The finished shelf unit :-


I found the labels for printing out on the Ranger web site and just punched them out using an SU label punch.

Like I said, it`s not perfectly straight in a few places but it was hand measured and cut and a real labour of love. I`m pleased with the end result and it has sorted my ink pad storage problem and now sits proudly on my desk.

I am toying with the idea of making some more units to store other craft procuts but my poor hands need a rest from all that cutting so it won`t be just yet !

Looking forward to getting back to some plain ol` card making now LOL !
thanks for looking in, bye for now and happy crafting xx



Friday 4 January 2013

Magnolia Ink

OMG! I couldn`t believe my eyes when I received a parcel from Sir Stampalot with the new Magnolia Ink magazine in it and a little note from Janice telling me to check out page 33. I won the competition and my card has been published! Woo Hoo !! Ever since I discovered Tilda`s and the Magnolia Ink magazine started I always wanted one of my cards to appear in it and it finally happened. I would have been happy just to be published but to win the competition too was the icing on the cake I am so chuffed!!

And here is the card itself




I used Tilda with lots of hearts (borrowed from my good friend Louise, thank you Louise) I actually borrowed the stamp to make an anniversary card I`d been commissioned to make from a friend of mine but stamped a few extra images out too and I loved the image so much I decided to make an extra card to enter in the competition! who knew!

I coloured her with distress inks and markers and used Magnolia papers, flowers and the DooHickey Doily die.


Other flowers used from Carnmeal cottage, WOC and hobby house, hobby house adhesive pearls, Nestablilites heart and Scallop hearts, petite ovals and scalloped ovals, lace and doilies from the ribbon box and bazzill gingham gathered ribbon.

I can`t stop smiling, I am so happy what a great start to 2013, I hope this is a sign of things to come for this year and my good fortune continues!

I`d better get off cloud nine now and get some housework done ! thanks for lookin in,
bye for now and happy crafting xx

Wednesday 2 January 2013

A Thank You card



Firstly, Happy New Year, let`s hope it`s a good one for us all !!
Here`s my first card of 2013, my New Years resolution this year is to be more organized, have you all made resolutions for this year?


Here is a thank you card I have made for Janice and Andy at Sir Stampalot.
I had such a lovely day a couple of Sundays ago getting together with a bunch of great ladies (and one gentleman!) crafting and having a blast over at Sir Stampalot for a pre-Christmas get together. We don`t all manage to get together often but when we do it`s always a super fun day with lots of laughs and I always enjoy the day and don`t want it to end.


It`s a shadow box easel card and I`ve used MS punch-around-the-page set - Cherished,
magnolia Tilda stamp coloured with distress inks and markers, Cloud and flag and grass Magnolia Doo Hickey dies, Molly Blooms bunting - paper pieced with magnolia papers and the "rainbow" was also created using scraps of Magnolia papers, I just drew several curves with the aid of a compass and pieced them together to look like the arch of a rainbow. WOC and hobby house flowers, SU cut `n` emboss butterflies, hobby house adhesive pearls and a bit of ribbon from my stash. All (apart from the SU butterflies) available from Sir Stampalot.


I`ve given Tilda`s crown and wand a bit of bling using glamour dust but I don`t think it shows up on the photo, it was very overcast and foggy when I took the photo not ideal light for piccies but waiting for a clear sunny day here could take forever LOL!!


The sentiment is a Magnolia stamp too.

Thanks for looking in, I`m off to town today for my first venture into the sales, I hate crowds and try to avoid them at all costs but I`m out of some essential craft supplies so I`m just hoping my local craft shop Heidi`s is open today !

Bye for now and happy crafting xx