Jambalaya kit

Another pressie, this was a recipe card and the dry ingredients for making Jambalaya- one of our favourite New Orleans' dishes (we had a week there in 2004). All of the herbs and spices were individually wrapped in cellophane and labelled, so all the recipient needs to do is put them in a mortar and grind them up!

Colour: Distress Inks, Versafine, Ancient Page
Stamps: Paperartsy, MSE
Other: gold wire, raffia, stiff card for box, cellophane

PS This is the last time you will see my beloved (and old) MSE alphabet, as I left the word 'spice' on the block after I finished. Paul let me have a lie-in and gave Dan his breakfast, and when I looked at the block later it was empty! I found 2 letters on Dan's place-mat, and one in his cereal bowl, but the other two seem to be gone for good- and there was no way I was going to look in his nappy for them! Farewell, lovely alphabet, I suppose I will need to replace you at last!

My Final CJ Entry

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My first commission!

I realise I have been absent from blog-land all weekend. The weather has been too good to be indoors, although I did get some creative time yesterday evening. This card was made for a busy friend to send to her Mum for her birthday. This friend is very creative too, but her baby sleeps even more badly than Dan, so takes up a lot of evening time. It's no fun trying to be productive if you have had no sleep!
I started by doing the craft mat/water technique using Distress Inks in Shabby Shutters, Antique Linen, and Scattered Straw. Then I sprayed with Perfect Pearls mixed with water, and stamped with A Stamp in the Hand's Field of Sky over the whole thing (it looks like a sprayed finish, without the uncertainty!). I stamped with Hero Arts script, Aud Design's swirl, and a Paperartsy butterfly over the background, then edged with Nick Bantock Dye Ink in Damson Plum. I stamped the main Paperartsy image in Damson Plum, and while it was wet dusted Perfect Pearls over it. The card it is matted onto is also Damson Plum Ink and Perfect Pearls. It looks so shimmery in the light! The main card is stamped with the script stamp in DI Antique Linen, then I stuck it all down with added ribbon and an embellishment from my stash.
I should have taken a photo of the envelope and the insert, as I stamped on those using Ancient Page in Sandalwood, as it is waterproof. Next time I will. I hope there will be a next time, anyone want a card?!

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!

Isa's weekly challenge- 'E'

You will recognise the backgrounds used in this card from yesterdays post. I ended using all three for this card.
Isa's challenge this week was the letter 'E', with the added extra options of using Distress Inks in blue, pink and brown, plus using some swirls. I have gone for soft versions of the colours and swirls, to fit with my subject matter. As usual, the card is more interesting in real life, as I have used a wash of Perfect Pearls and some gold Krylon pen, which don't really show up in the photo.
The stamps are all from Cherry Pie Art stamps (my favourite Klimt stamps again!) stamped in Ancient Page in Sandlewood. Ancient Page is a water-resistant dye ink, so I could use watercolours over the image. I highlighted the swirls on the garments with Sakura Souffle pen in white, then added a wash of Perfect Pearls in copper (from the metallics set) over the top. The areas of flesh were watercoloured with Distress Ink in Tattered Rose, and the lips were highlighted with Sakura Stardust pen in Red. The words were added with Sakura Souffle pen, and yes, that is my handwriting this time, as I couldn't use the computer to create white writing! The metal embellishments are Papermania and 7Gypsies.
The colours are much softer than I usually use, but it's nice to experiment a bit!