Why OH Why?

Why oh Why is it always lovely and sunny all week and then at the weekend cloudy wet and cold :-( ?

On the plus side it is a great excuse to retreat to my craft room and that is exactly what I did (apart from a bit of retail therapy, well whats a girl to do LOL). I played around with stamping effects as per the challenge on JFF. I found this week a real challenge as there are so many mediums to stamp with and I haven't really tried any of them. I settled for watercolour effect stamping I just love the way this looks. It was not as easy as I had imagined it took me quite a while to get it okish. I used my copic pens and metallic brush markers coloured the butterfly stamp and spritzed. It was either to wet or to dry! eventually I got an almost reasonable image. I planned to keep it clean and simple by putting the image into a chip board heart frame I made from chipboard which I painted and then glitter glazed and stamped on. One thing led to another and it got all blinged up Doh! I guess I don't do simply and clean. Well thanks for looking have a great week even if you miss any sunshine like me. PS I am intrigued about the challenge next week I cant image what it is going to be keep an eye on the JFF site Thursday.

Spring at Last - "Take time to look"

At last dare I say it Spring is here, it does the spirit good to "Take time to look" now that's a lead in to my JFF piece for this week. Those girls over at JFF set the challenge this week to try a new format (they really make us work) I am always amazed at the work by the DT and the participants a like. Anyway I have always fancied trying a Tri-fold card. I am not really a card maker ( I mostly do scrapping) although I do the odd one or two cards so for me it is really different. I googled for the instructions and found 2 really good sets they both had really good instructions it cut out like a dream. The decoration well I chose to challenge myself to use all my bits and bobs lying around the place and as it is spring that is my theme. Hope you like it, I really enjoyed making it. Thanks for looking. Take care XX

Whoosh The Weekend Gone

Wow every weekend goes quickly but this last one really did fly by. I had a fantastic Saturday at a workshop hosted by Diane at Crafts and Candlelight run by the talented Carol from Krafty Pieces we made an altered book from scratch loads of work but very satisfying. Sunday we had a family lunch as it was my Dads birthday, so I spent Sunday morning in the Kitchen with The Diamond (he is chef  in our house) prepping and I was in charge of baking dessert (which I have to say was fab). Finally I found time (Sunday evening) to have a go at this weeks challenge over at JFF "try a new technique". Now there are a shed load of techniques new to me so I had a hard job deciding. I wanted to try Joseph's coat well what a disaster that was followed the instructions but black ink would not rub off the card as promised LOL. I then tried an alternative resit technique another disaster although not quite so bad. Eventually I turned to alchol inks I really struggle with this medium and I only have 3 colours a dark red, a green (name escapes me) and metallic silver so this formed the background for the card. I followed the instructions from my TH compendium once dried I stamped a TH swirl. Then I tried some shrink art (I have only done this once before) I stamped with a Carnival masks I have had for ages and never used. Coloured with water pencils and shrunk (this worked particularly well) finished with a few beads (also new to me). Thanks for dropping by XOXO

Mixed Media Such Fun!

This week over at JFF the new months theme is Mixed Media this really gets the creative juices flowing, only problem is I couldn't decide what I was going to use. I settled on using fabric which I love (I also dabble in patchwork quilting) I used a piece of calico and gave it a swoosh of gesso then inked it with a rainbow colour and stamped onto it. Added a few pretty buttons, sequin stars and attached it to a card the background is torn text paper which I have given a gesso swoosh. The butterfly is cut out of the glass bead  gel medium on card and been coloured. The words I thought fitting as it reflected my head being all over the place when I was deciding what to do with my mixed media LOL. I also have been working on a altered frame (from the £ shop) and I finished that today. It was a plastic gold colour I chose a steampunk theme and I have painted and crackled then stamped onto the frame edge, these are my two sons and the diamond obviously he is king LOL. The grunge flower was made by my mum and the heart with wings is a technique from the "Technique Zone" see the link on the right there is some really cool stuff on the site. Apologies for the flash back on the photo I shall try it in the daylight to get a better shot. Have a lovely week and thanks for stopping by XOXO.

PS I shall be putting the hanging into this months swap.