Another Page for my Altered Board Book

This is the last page of my altered board book- I thought it was safest to work in from both ends, and then decided what to do in the middle if my maths is wrong! And it really isn't my style to start at the beginning and just work straight through to the end, like I should do! This page actually has no Glimmer Mist at all, although it does have Paint Dabbers, dabbed on to create lots of texture. It also uses some of my favourite Paperartsy stamps. stamped onto the letters to create a pattern, and onto the book itself. Everything else is pretty straightforward, for a change, I must have been having a calm and chilled out day!

Stamps: All Paperartsy
Colour: Versamagic, Brilliance, Paint Dabbers
Papers: Basic Grey, Crate Paper
Other: Sizzix Sizzlets alphabet (can't remember which one as it is my friend's), Chipboard letter from cheap shop.

Cherry Pie 'Tribute to Women' Swap

When I find a technique I like, I tend to do it over and over, so I'm afraid it's the Cuttlebug/Glimmer Mist/Paint Dabber/metal tape thing again! This is a 4" x 4" piece for a wall hanging swap which Marina from Cherry Pie hosted on her Yahoo group. We each made 12 identical pieces, and Marina collated them, punched them and bound them into a gorgeous hanging piece of art, which arrived this week. I love swaps, as I am always so inspired by other peoples' creativity (I love blogs for the same reason!), and I hope my offering has inspired the recipients, too- at least to ask 'how did she do that?'
Other techniques I used here (just in case anyone is inspired, ho ho!): heat embossing onto ribbon, using gold Krylon pen on Dymo labels, then distressing with black Stazon, mount board painted with silver dabber before using alcohol ink to colour, heat embossing using clear lustre powder, then spraying with Glimmer Mist, and good ol' water colouring with Distress Inks and H20s! I think that covers the lot!

Stamps: All Cherry Pie
Colour: Glimmer Mist, Paint Dabbers, Distress Inks, H20s, Sakura Glaze pen, Gold Krylon pen, Versafine, Stazon
Other: Dymo labeller, mount board, white card, metal tape, satin ribbon.

It's late and I'm buzzing, because...

...I just got back from the Stansted Proms- a local outdoor concert at a stately home. The reason we decided to go to this was that it was an 80's revival tour, and the bands on the line-up were ones I would have loved to see 'back in the day'. Best by far, in my view, was Midge Ure from Ultravox, although the other bands were great, too. But he sung and played guitar with such energy, and when he played Vienna, and I felt the music thumping against my chest (since I was near the front by this point), I thought 'must listen to that again very soon'. So here it is...

Altered Board Book- Scrapping Project

It was scrapbooking that got me into crafting, and I do still scrap, although not as often. I stamp alone, but scrap best in company, so I get together with my best friend every so often so that I can do some serious scrapbooking (and yakking lol!). Most of my projects end up being given away (my husband loves having mini-books and other items with photos of our son- I think his desk at work must be heaving under the weight of them!), so I am making this book for me, not to be given away.
It started life as one of Dan's board books. It started to fall apart, plus the story was about how great little brothers are (he doesn't have one), so I decided to use it as the basis of this book. I felt really guilty when I gessoed the pages! There will be a page for each of the letters of his name, and obviously this is the first page. I am using chipboard letters on each page, so this will be really thick when finished; I am planning to bind it with big book rings. The pages are all green or turquoise, and I have used all of my favourite products to colour the edges. It will be a long project, I'm afraid, as we only scrap once or twice a month, but I am promising myself I will finish it!

Colour: Distress Crackle Paint, Glimmer Mist, Brilliance Inks
Stamps: Katzlecraft, Studio G (alphabet)
Papers: Basic Grey, Crate Paper
Other: Grungeboard Mini letters, Ellison Thin Cuts alphabet (Sunset), AMM tag, Me and My Big Ideas Designer Chipboard (introducing...), Chipboard 'D' from pound shop.

July's ATCs- Metal

With this month's theme, I was initially excited, as I could use my favourite technique with the metal foil/Cuttlebug/Paint Dabbers, but then I was stumped! In the end, I made up the metal pieces, then coloured the ATCs, and just stared at them for an hour. My dear husband had recently bought me a set of sentiments stamps from Elusive Images (not the usual verses, but much more interesting), and I realised that three of the verses were not only appropriate, but the right size! Whoever gets these ATCs will think I had been drinking, though, as the stamp I use on the back for my details is upside down; I changed my mind about which way they looked best after making them (obviously before putting the verse on LOL!). Whoops!
The bottom photo is a close-up of the effect on the metal- bling, bling!

Colour: Distress Inks, Paint Dabbers, Glimmer Mist, Moonshadow Mist, Versamagic (on vellum)
Stamps: Elusive Images (verses), Crafty Individuals, Inkadinkado, Cherry Pie
Other: Vellum, Metal tape, Prima flowers, heart punch, old book page, Ranger crackle accents

My Final CJ Entry

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Altered Pringles tube

Would you believe this used to be a Pringles tube? Sid had the idea of doing a swap based on the idea of altering said tubes, and I hosted the swap on UK Stampers. It was quite a challenge to come up with a good idea, as I usually only decorate flat surfaces. I ended up buying some Windsor and Newton Galleria Modelling Paste, and used it to add texture to my tube, before using a silver paint dabber and alcohol inks over the whole thing (See Isa's blog for a step-by-step tutorial of this great technique). I then did my latest favourite technique, which is to use paint dabbers over metal foil which has been embossed with my Cuttlebug, wipe some of the paint off, then spray liberally with Glimmer Mist. The photos aren't brilliant here, as the light was appalling that day, but it looks a bit like distressed enamelling. Love it! I have another piece, also part of a swap, which uses the same technique, and tonight I'm making 'metal' themed ATCs, so guess what I'll be doing...

Colour: Alcohol inks, Paint Dabbers, Glimmer mist, Distress Ink, Versafine, Clear Sakura Stardust pen, Brilliance Ink (for edging)
Stamps: Tanda (alphabet), Cherry Pie (art), free love stamp
Other: Stampbord, felt from the alcohol ink applicator (perfect colour match!), silver-coloured wire, silver-coloured beads, newspaper, rock-crystal bead, butterfly heat-embossed on acetate (like the one on my header!), shrink plastic.

The swap was great fun, and this is the slide show. I got Petra's little tube, and I'm using it to store my mini-misters!

I have been given an award...

...but I haven't got time to sort out doing all of the links etc until the weekend! I do appreciate it, though...

ATCs- Black and White

These are my ATCs for UKStampers this month, to fit the theme of black and white. I went for simple, as you can see, and just used masking to get my cat in front of the background.

Colour: Versafine in Onyx Black
Stamps: All Cherry Pie
Other: Dymo labels, black velvet ribbon and brads from my stash.

The Penultimate CJ Entry

So close now, this is the second-to-last entry in the UKStampers CJ. I am currently working on the final entry, and I feel like it needs to be the best of the lot (no pressure!!!) as I have met Tasha, and have spent the last nine months sending things to her.
It has definitely got much harder to do something original. The stamp for this journal is the face, and I kept having ideas, only to look at the (gorgeous) previous entries and find that my idea had already been realised. In the end, I took my inspiration from Cherry Pie, where I am a member of the Yahoo group. Last year, the group did an art doll swap, and the result of that swap was a plate of stamps which had the body and accessories for an ATC-sized art doll. This entry turned into a real technique-fest for me, as I used all of my newer craft products, and had lots of fun creating the individual elements.

Colour: alcohol inks, vivid inkpads, glimmer mist, paint dabbers, versafine, Brilliance
Stamps: face (unknown), Cherry Pie, Studio g (alphabet)
Other: Papermania jewel brads, acetate, silver detail embossing powder, printable magnet paper (used for doll and accessories), heavyweight watercolour paper, vellum, fibres and bead, all from my stash.

Thank you.

I have had so many lovely comments about my Nan, so thank you all for your kind thoughts. The funeral was on Tuesday, and it turned out to be a real family get together. I met many members of our extended family that I didn't know, and the best thing of all is that I got to spend the afternoon with my brother, who lives on the other side of the country. Now we are all getting back on with our lives; still sad, but with a reminder of the warmth that you get from having a great family. I am giving myself this weekend as 'chilling out' time, then I will try to resume normal service- if I can work out what that is!

Slide Mailer Swap

I have started to host an altered art swap each month on UKStampers forum, and this is my entry for the first one. I have found myself drawn much more to altered work recently, to the extent that I can barely convince myself to make a card! I love to get inky, and to stamp on unusual surfaces, and altering just seems so much more 'from the heart' for me. I am trying to find a way to incorporate this sort of work into cardmaking, but it will take some experimentation before I feel I have found my style for cards. So here is a lovely altered slide mailer as my first piece.

Colour: H2Os on body of mailer, Caught in crystal behind acetate tag and slide
Stamps: Tanda (Peacock), Rubadubadoo (Peacock feathers)
Other: Sizzix tag, Siver detail embossing powder, Cosmic Shimmer arctic pearl embossing powder, Silk dupion fabric, acetate, Papermania jewel brad, beads and ribbon from my stash.
Techniques: 'Peacock' word printed from computer onto acetate, then heat embossed, Peacock design heat embossed onto silk fabric, back of mailer embossed with arctic pearl powder.

This swap took place in May (slide show is here), and June's swap was an altered Pringles tube. July's swap is about to be posted, so if you are interested, head on over to UKStampers, and sign up!