Mushrooms in the House?

These are the mushrooms in question. They are flat birch ply which I have covered with yummy papers from My Mind's Eye. The mushrooms are from a company called Artemio and I got them through the wonderful Kerry in An Siopa Bui in Spiddal.

I think that they are fab growing out of the skirting boards, but a hole could be punched in the top and they could be hung as a wall hanging. All I need now is a little fairy to sit on one of them.

Sneak Peek #2 for GBCE

Sneak peek of House is a Home




This project will be great fun. Choose either the "Wedding" option or "Letter to Santa" option (Sneak peek of Santa house to follow).

This option is gold and white. We will be using techniques like heat embossing on timber and chipboard, using dies and punches and making a small box of tags to go alongside this one.

I hope you all like it! As before checkout the GBCE website for details and times

Great Big Craft Extravaganza Athlone

The GBCE 2011 is coming up rapidly and I have been asked to do a couple of classes again this year. The classes that I am teaching are both altered wooden items (my favourite thing to do!). The first class is a photo cube, but not just any old photo cube. This one is 6" x 6", and is for all the world like a 3d scrapbook page complete with a pocket for journalling tags and lots of other embellishments, all of which you will make yourself. Check out the sneak peeks below and go onto theGBCE website to find out all the details.

21st Birthday Cards

I was recently asked to make three 21st Birthday cards for the same person. I have to say it was a bit of a challenge as I wanted each one to be quite specific and different. The young lady in question was an avid reader and in particular she loved the classics, Jane Austen, Daphne duMaurier etc. She had also grown up reading and watching Harry Potter and was lamenting the fact that it was now all over. The other thing that I was told about her was that she was "a bit of a hippy!" Armed with this knowledge I had to decide how to use it. I didn't want to do the obvious card for Jane Austen, elegant Ladies with parasols etc., so I decided to make a card that resembled a classic leather bound novel.

I made the cover using grungeboard which I ran through the Vagabond with one of Tim Holtz embossing folders. These are fantastic as they even emboss heavy card and grunge. I then used inks to colour the cover. The corners are metal as are the numbers. The hinge and book-plate are grungeboard coloured with metallic alcohol ink.

Inside the covers were covered with script paper and the central leaves were made using paper from the Attic paper stack.

The back cover was chipboard covered with Kraft cardstock and inked. The hinge was attached with brads.

The second card represents the magical Harry Potter feel without being too childish.

The background paper is from the Eerie Collection from Basic Grey. The birdcage was stamped onto Wendy Vecchi moldable plastic and heated to shape. I attached tit to a branch using Tim Holtz chain. The 21 is a wooden bingo piece coloured with Dusty Concord ink.

Inside I used the same paper but edged it with ribbon.

The third card was similar to this one below with some variations to the flowers. I forgot to take a photo of the actual one!

I hope you like them. Three different cards which hopefully suited the personality of the young lady in question.

Distressed Ballerina

I was teaching last weekend at An Siopa Bui, in Spiddal. Four projects, one day, great fun! We started with a treasure cheat which we covered with paper and embellished. We then made a quick centre-stepper card. A break for a lovely lunch and then straight into a scrapbook layout. I had made the little hanging (above), as a kind of filler project. Just in case we had some time left. The ladies were very eager to make it, so we did a variation. The background is stunning wrapping paper which was the inspiration for the piece. I used Lord Tim's dress form die which was covered in lovely embossed scrapbook card called two scoops. The whole thing was sanded back to show the lovely flowers and the edges inked with both worn lipstick and dried marigold distress ink. The tutu was made using little circular doilies. They were folded and inked in the same colours, then ruched(?) and stuck to the dressform using strong d/s tape. A piece of pink organza was tied around the waist and a small spiral flower added. Some larger flowers were added to the top corner and the edges of the hanging were inked, et voilá!

This is the layout which we did during the day, quite simple but with lots of embellishment.

Kitchen Wall

Once upon a time this range cooker stood on one wall in my kitchen. Almost 2 years ago we took it out and were left with this.......

Yes a large concrete un-plastered section on the wall. Normal people would have had a plasterer come in, level out the wall and paint it to match the rest. In our house it is seen as a project which needs to be mulled over and discussed for nearly two years. Until yesterday when I used lots of lovely scrapbook papers to make a beautiful collage which covers the whole wall.

To the top of the collage I added some botanical prints which came in a writing set from Martha Stewart. I had planned to use the colours shown as a base and to put my all time favourite papers on top, but for once decided that less is more! My good friend Mandy helped me out for the day and made the process a real pleasure. Thanks Hunny!

Grungy Monday 10 - A guest designer!!!

I am so, so, so, excited to be guest designer for this weeks Grungy Monday challenge. This wonderful challenge is hosted by the fabulously talented Linda Ledbetter of Studio L3, in honour of our great and glorious inspirational leader Tim Holtz. The way this works is that we are given a link or product to inspire us and we get to create wonderful projects using that inspiration. I have been chosen to be a guest designer this week, knees quaking with trepidation, along with fellow crafter Marjie Kemper. So the technique/ project for this week is to use Distress Ink/ re-inkers in your project.


Now anyone who knows me and my work will know that I love distress ink. I am the most disorganised person on the planet but my distress inks are all labelled and arranged by colour. I also have individual sponges for each colour too! That is absolutely as far as my organisational skills stretch though, life is too short to do housework is my motto. 


Anyway enough excited waffle. I was at a loss where to start with this challenge, as I use distress inks for everything, and I do mean everything. I stamp with them, stain with them and even watercolour with them, so you can see how it might be a problem corralling the brain to a single project!


I decided to use some paper from the crowded attic paper stash from Lord Tim of Holtz. The piece I chose was the one with the nursery rhyme pictures on. I love that paper and wasn't sure how to use it to best effect, so I decided on a wall hanging. I stuck the paper to some heavy card and inked the edges with peeled paint and spiced marmalade ink. 
The old fashioned playing cards are from my stash and were lightly coloured with vintage photo distress ink. 
The bingo card in front was made using the bingo texture fade which was coloured with walnut distress stain then sprayed with perfect pearls mist (heirloom gold) and edged with spiced marmalade. The second bingo card is from 7 gypsies and the 'Lucky' bingo card was from Jenny Bowlin. I inked this with mustard seed, spiced marmalade, barn door and peeled paint. It was quite bright so I swiped Snow Cap paint over the top and wiped back with a baby wipe. The 'be' is grunge letters on grunge blocks painted. The hanging ribbon is seam binding swiped with spiced marmalade and vintage photo and sprayed with perfect pearl mist. A bingo tile and 'play' word tag was added to finish it off.

The wonderful thing about distress inks is that they are so versatile. I think my favourite is Vintage photo, although each of them has a special place in my heart. Any piece of cardstock can be altered using the inks, they blend beautifully and can even be made into ink sprays using a re-inker and water in a mini-mister. 


So go ahead and take up the Grungy Monday challenge, I promise you will be delighted you did.  


What's the best discussion group on the entire Yahoo Groups roster? Why, it's All Things Tim, moderated by the fabulous Miss Gloria, and populated by the coolest group of Tim fans on the planet. If you're not a member there, you're missing out on some awesome friendships, not to mention all kinds of insider tips and great ideas for making your Tim-themed art even better! Gloria has created a photo album especially for Grungy Monday, and you're welcome to upload your art there and learn from the work of other members. It's free, it's fun... get on over there! 

A Banner and a card

Apologies in advance for the photo quality. Still have not located the elusive camera battery charger. You get the idea of the banner from the first photo. I was over at a friends house on Friday to do some crafting, and decided that we needed a little project. So, armed with Vern the Vagabond and the sewing room die, we set about creating a little banner, based on one I saw on the Maya Road site with the word create on it.

This is one of the dress-forms and spool and button. Each one is slightly different.

The papers that I used are October Afternoon- Thrift Shop. Oh how I have loved these papers. Alas I am coming to the end of my stack and am already in mourning.

This week is my Mum's Birthday, she loves to stitch and sew, so I used the dress-form yet again to make a card for her. I must say I was unsure about buying this one. I didn't know if I would get enough use from it, but it has earned a place in my heart already. I am entering the card and banner in the Simon Says Stamp and show challenge. The theme is buttons this week.

Time

This is a mini-canvas that I am entering into the Simon Says Challenge. The challenge was to use a Tim technique. I went a bit mad on the techniques here. I have stamped clocks all over the canvas, then painted a large portion of the central area with crackle paint. I then masked areas with the clocks and cogs masks and inked with distress inks and a blending tool. I then die-cut the little rainman figure with grungepaper, shiny card and plain card. The grunge man was painted with black paint and sprayed with Perfect Pearls mist, (heirloom gold). On the plain card I inked the man with vintage photo and the blending tool and over-stamped the sentiment from the set using the same ink. I edged one side with vintage photo distress stain. On the shiny card I just ran the vintage photo and walnut stain distress stains over the top and got this lovely effect, sort of like a colour wash. I ran around the edges with vintage photo distress stain and finished off with a little clock in the top corner. Sorry the photo isn't great, I can't find my camera charger anywhere and had to use Hubby's phone.

Vibes and scribes

I love to discover new crafty shops. It's that entering the unknown, wondering if it will be one of the good ones or if it disappoint. Well I found a new shop yesterday in Cork city called Vibes and Scribes. It did not disappoint on entering. The original shop was a bookshop, however, now they have a huge craft supply area, catering for every craft imaginable. There are still books of course. I don't think I have ever seen so many craft books in one place. There is also another area which sells fabric and ribbon. A treasure trove! You will find them on Lavitts Quay in Cork or at www.vibesandscribes.ie

Galway Extravaganza and Guess what I got!

I am back from a wonderful two days teaching at the Galway Craft Extravaganza. It is always a pleasure to teach classes for Kerry from An Siopa Bui in Spiddal, she is full of enthusiasm for all things crafty. I was teaching an altered lamp and shade class, and a layout class entitled All things Tim. 

Both classes went really well and I met some wonderful women. Thanks to all of them, they made the classes a dream to teach.

The highlight of the weekend was getting my very own Vagabond! Yes. I have it, and it is gorgeous. Off to play with it now. 

Some Cards

 

This is a little Thank-you card that I made last week using a fab new paper pack from Pink Paislee called 'Sweetness'. I didn't have to do much to it other than add some rosette and flowers and a little faux stitching.

One of the flowers is made from tissue tape and the other is made of ribbon.

The card above is the Mother's Day card which I made for my mum. As you can see, I am loving rosettes at the moment and florals. The paper here is from Prima and is called 'Madeline'.

Lastly a very simple card using Graphic 45 papers.

Rabbit Canvas

 This an altered canvas that I did to enter the wonderful Grungy Monday Challenge. The canvas itself was a printed one with flowers and such like on it. There were also little clocks on it which gave me the inspiration do use the little rabbit from the Spring Sprung collection by the great Lord Tim of Holtz, the man in whose honour this challenge has been started. I used all of the techniques which he used on the tag which you can find here. I painted over some areas of the canvas with snowcap paint dabber. I then masked off the canvas using the wheels and cogs masks and sprayed with vintage photo re-inker and perfect pearls mixture. The flowers were made from grungepaper, two of them were covered first. The edges of the canvas were painted with the fab crackle paints in tattered rose, old paper and broken china. I dulled the colours down a bit with vintage photo ink. 

The bunny was stamped on grunge and heat embossed. I painted over him with the snowcap and added a little crown. I think a crown counts as a hat doesn't it? If so I can enter this into the Simon Says challenge which is all about hats.

The art letters are done using the grunge blocks and alphas.

Hope you like it!

Little Vintage French White Farm House On The Prairie Give Away!

Believe it or not all of these bits and bobs are up for grabs on this wonderful blog. Check it out.

Monochrome Thank-you Card

I have promised myself that I will try to remember to take pictures of cards as I make them and post at least some of them. This is one that I made as a thank-you for a friend in the UK. The card was edged with a punch from x-cut and inked up with pumice stone distress ink, over-stamped with one of Lord Tim's flourishes. I embossed some packaging using the postcards embossing folder, (again from Tim, are we noticing a trend here?) and cut out the oval postcard symbol. I painted the back of it with snowcap paint dabber from ranger. The paper is from the shabby chic stack by, yes you guessed it Tim Holtz as are the stamps used on the little postcard.

This is the inside of the card which was completed in a similar fashion to the front.

Feast or Famine!

You know the old saying 'It's either a feast or a famine'? That's the way I am with blogging. I will not blog for ages and then I blog twice in one day. 

I just had to show you these boxy, hangy things that I made. The one on the left is made with the Lord Tim of Holtz's configurations box in the small size. It is for a baby girl and is covered in the papers from the Shabby Chic paper pack, tissue tape around the edges a little tattered rose crackle paint and Voilà. 

The one on the right is a traditional wooden version with fixed openings and a clasp on the side. The papers are from the Lost and Found pack and again tissue tape paint and ink.

A close-up of the pink one. Those little socks were my little girls when she was born. How cute are they?

WOYWW

The letter"L" and the letters S and K and paint and mess, but not as much as earlier, had to clear a space to work on. The letter is about 8" tall and is covered with papers in a patchwork fashion and then all of the edges were done with tattered rose crackle paint.

If you are wondering why I have a photo of my desk here, pop over to Julia's blog where she will tell you all about it.

Curiosity Box - At Last!

I'm sure you are all well aware that the great and glorious Lord Tim of Holtz was teaching at a wonderful Paper Artsy event in Newport Pagnell last month. I was one of the Golden Ticket holders and happily toddled off to be inspired by the Master himself. I spotted him on the Thursday evening when I arrived at the hotel and very nearly wet myself with excitement. My D.H. was with me at the time and broke into gaels of laughter at the sight! 

Anyway I have posted the lovely project which we made in the morning session already and I thought I would share the final pictures of my finished project with you. What a project, such fun to make and what a way to make four hours disappear almost instantly. 

Some close-ups of the details. The transparency has a little battery operated tea-light behind it. Clever idea eh? I will be using this idea again methinks. The little bottles are filled with beads, pen nibs and other bits and pieces. The little cage has a bird charm attached.

You can just see the faux printers blocks which spell the word Tim. The clock is pointing to 2.00pm (the time of the class) and there are two other blocks which make up the date 2011.

My little lady has a skirt made from a flower folded in half and tied around her waist and she has a lovely metal wing. All in all I had the most fantastic day and found the great man himself to be quite lovely.