Happy Birthday to Vicky!

It was Vicky's birthday yesterday, but I actually gave her this on Tuesday. This is a mini-file box, 6 1/2" wide by 5" high, and it started life as mountboard, coloured cardstock, and an A3 sheet of watercolour paper! Craft TV Weekly had this as one of their webisodes, and I knew straight away that I wanted to make one for Vicky as a present. Naturally I wanted to get really inky, so I made the patterned paper with the watercolour/craftmat technique (clear embossing first to create the white pattern) and stamped it to within an inch of it's life. It is not a project to make in a hurry, but I am so pleased with the result that I may make myself one if I ever get the time!

Colour: Vivid inks, Glimmer Mists, Versamagic, Versacolour, Brilliance
Stamps: All Paperartsy
Other: Bazzill and SU cardstock, mountboard, watercolour paper, lots of PVA glue, velcro for closure (the magnet I tried to use wasn't powerful enough), Making Memories ribbon buckle.

UK Stampers are doing Sunday challenges!

I know there are a lot of challenges out there, but it never hurts to have another choice! UK Stampers is now doing a challenge each Sunday, and the challenge is being set by Efemera, otherwise known as Gail, whose work you will have seen in last month's Craft Stamper. We have done two challenges so far. The first was to make something with your oldest and newest stamps. I used the bright card I made for my friend Vicky as the example of my newest stamps (those Inkadinkado flowers), and the top photo here is what I made with my oldest stamp, the Personal Impressions snowflake. I bought it in 1998, and used it originally to make that year's Christmas cards, before putting it away and forgetting about it. Using it again, on the triptych ATC, made me realise how pretty it is, and I may even use it this year for my cards!
The second challenge was to make two Oriental-themed tags, one in colour and one black and white. I found this really challenging, as I don't really 'do' oriental, even though I have a gorgeous set from Non Sequitur. I started by making some stamped paper, then I got so inspired by it that I made a little origami box! (The design for this is from CraftTV Weekly, although I made it smaller this time. Here is the last one I made) I then remembered to make the tags, and I quite like them. I think the black and white one is better, and my Husband likes the red. You decide!

Colour: ATC- alcohol inks, Stazon, silver embossing powder, Tags- Distress Inks, Vivid inks (to colour paper), Brilliance, Perfect Pearls (brushed on and made into a paint), watercolour pencils
Stamps: ATC- Personal Impressions, Non Sequitur, Tags- Non Sequitur, Judikins
Other: Japanese paper, free origami paper downloads from Canon, red card, gold card.

The kimonos were created by paper piecing, using the origami designs. The origami downloads were printed out at half size, so that the proportion was correct for the kimonos, and the Japanese paper was embossed with clear embossing powder to make it go transparent to give the look of a screen.

UK Stamper's Jacob's Ladder swap.

Good old blogger! I knew it would put these photos on one above the other so I didn't need to mess around in Paint Shop Pro, stitching them together! This is my finished Jacob's Ladder for the UK Stampers swap. For those of you who don't know what a Jacobs Ladder is, it is a child's toy made of squares held together with ribbon. When you turn over the top square, all the other squares flop downwards in turn. And, thanks to Craft TV Weekly, this one does work! I will make a little matching box to store it in, but I wanted to show the photos now, as this is also going to be my entry for Wednesday Stamper, for this weeks open theme.
The stamping on the front is all done in various colours of Brilliance Ink, using stamps from Paperartsy, Crafty Individuals, Rubadubadoo, Anita's, Limited Edition, and PSX. The back is heat embossed in white and the stamps are Judikins (flower) and Rubadubadoo (butterfly). And just in case you can't read the phrase, it says "Live life free like a butterfly".
PS. The patterned paper for the base is from Fancy Pants, but the bit with the name is stuck down!

Finally I can show the photos!

Kym has now received this so I can stop teasing and show the finished book! This is my contribution to UK Stampers Velvet-ize swap. It's a bit hard to work out how this book works, until you follow the instructions and make it. It is a 6" square book when closed, but it has two front covers which sit one on top of the other, so that when they are open the book is 18" wide. The inside pages also fold on top of each other, and have fold out flaps, whew, it does sound complicated! Luckily the instructions from Craft TV Weekly are excellent, so it was pretty easy to put together.
The details of how I made the background paper are on a previous post here, and the instructions for the book are here at Craft TV Weekly (you will need to join to download the PDF, but it's free). To embellish, I firstly used a sponge and Distress Ink in Dusty Concord to add colour around the edges of the covers, inside and outside. I made tags and a pocket for them inside the covers, and printed off the quotation on vellum, which is inside the chipboard frame. The flowers are also sponged with Dusty Concord Distress Ink. The paper on the back of the inside pages is from K and Co, sponged again. There are several slide mounts, coloured and stamped to match, then the rest of the embellishments are from Dovecraft (chipboard), Prima (flowers) and Making memories (all of the metal items). All of the ribbon is from my stash.The spaces are for Kym to add photos or vintage images, whatever she likes really!
I loved making this book, although it was a little nerve-wracking to make for someone else, especially someone whose work I really like! I am now planning to make one for my Husband as a delayed birthday present, and fill it with photos of him with the baby. I will show it when it's done!

The Long Weekend.

This weekend my brother got married, so congratulations to Mike and Mandy. The weather was awful, apart from a little patch of sun for about half an hour, just when the photos were being taken! I only got a couple of photos, which isn't like me, as I usually take hundreds! The baby was very, very excited, though, and this time I couldn't manage him and the camera. He's still excited now, hence the title; it's a very long weekend if he doesn't sleep!
I had made my brother a little present a while back. This is Craft TV Weekly's 'Accordian book in a box', which a few of us over at UK Stamper's made. It involves origami-type folding, for the box as well as the pages of the book, and I was a little intimidated to begin with, as I don't consider myself dexterous enough for fiddly techniques (or should that be patient enough!). This project came together easily, though, and I will make more as it uses 6" square papers, which I have a bit of a stash of from when I started scrapping, and thought I would never be able to do a 12" page!
The papers are K and co, the flowers Prima, and the buttons were donated by my Husband from his collection of spares. The stamps used were Papermania foam word stamps and Aud Design, and were stamped in Ancient Page Sandlewood and Whispers Chestnut, both of which are beautifully transluscent. Any other embellishments came from my stash.
I didn't stamp yesterday, as I was so tired, and not feeling inspired, but I've woken up with some ideas, so will put up something new tomorrow!

Paris mini (name badge) album

This is what I was working on last night, the Name badge album challenge from UK Stampers. Basically, it is a really small mini album, 8.5cm wide by 5.5cm deep, using security badges from a stationers as page protectors. The original, from Craft TV Weekly, used slightly bigger pockets, but this was all I could find on the high street. I have chosen the theme of my favourite places in Paris, and I'm using photos from my visit in 2004, for my tenth wedding anniversary.
As you can see, the first pair of pages is of Notre Dame de Paris. Our hotel was in the Quartier Latin, and each morning we took our croissants, crossed over the river Seine, and ate them in front of the cathedral. Lovely memories!
Enough of the reminiscences! The background papers were made using an 'aged newsprint' effect in Paint shop pro, then stamped with a script stamp from Hero Arts, and swirls by Aud Design. The brads are all Making Memories. I haven't scrapped for ages, as you see my style is 'cluttered' as I love embellishing!

I have used some of my lovely caught in crystal background, but I know that trying to photograph acetate in artificial light just doesn't work, so I will post the photos tomorrow!

Challenges.

There is a lot going on in the crafting world, if you just go out and look for it. Daring card makers, Wednesday Stamper, Green Pepper Press, they inspire some amazing artwork, which then goes on to inspire those of us who just spectate each week rather than join in.
That's not to say I don't get involved in challenges, in fact quite the opposite! It can get quite frantic getting everything done in time for the deadlines. I have really started to experiment outside of my comfort zone, not always very successfully, but I always try!
These are the challenges/swaps I am currently doing:
-UK Stampers Black and White inchie swap
-UK Stampers "Velvet-ize" swap (a mini book inspired by Craft TV Weekly)
-UK Stampers Name Badge mini-album (also from Craft TV Weekly)
-UK Stampers "Define Your Space" tag/label challenge
-Isa's weekly challenge- this week is the letter C
There is also a very interesting looking ATC swap on UK Stampers, I just have to see how the time goes! There are also some great swaps on Talk Crafts forum, I am hoping to join in again once I've got my to-do list down to a managable level!