Sunday Stamper - Week 239 - Come Fly With Me

Gooooodly Morning Stampers and a very happy Sunday to you all.  Huge thanks for the gorgeous entries for last weeks challenge.  I will announce the winner of the tag in a mo... but first! This weeks challenge.  Well, I am about to spontaneously combust with excitement because this week is THE week that I fly to America to CHA and to meet up with Ellen and my Ranger Sisters.  I am feeling a bit of a giddy kipper now because I have realised it is THIS week!  So, with that in mind the challenge for this week is THINGS THAT FLY (see what I did there huh? you know, cos I will be flying THIS week *snort*) and all you need to do to join in is make something that includes stamping and the theme.  Once you have made your creation, pop back here with a link to the place you are showing it - if you haven't got a blog, worry not, you can also join in via any web-hosty photo-jobby and also by emailing me direct with a photo or via Facebook - simply leave me a Facebook message and I can come and visit you.  The challenge will remain open until 21:00 Saturday 12th January 2013.

Anyways, I have kept you in suspenders for long enough... the winner of the tag I made for last weeks challenge has been picked.  We had a total of 85 entries, so I fed that into Mr Random.org and he gave me this result:

Which tallies with the entry from KEZZY.  Big big thanks to everyone for joining in... and Kezzy, please can you email your addy to me so I can pop your tag into the post :O))

So, my entry this week.  Well, as you know, I have been fighting the Battle of the Doom of Trash since early Wednesday.  Yes, that's right... a whole FOUR days is what I have spent in my Room of Stash, bringing order and cleanliness back to my life.  You see, as well as my resolution to find the positive in all things and have a more positive outlook, I have also decided that it is high time to become a grown-up and get organised.  I have never really been one for orderly things... but when it comes to booking classes and demo days I needed to get my act together so I know what I am doing, where I am doing it and when I am doing it!  So, I have become a veritable paragon of virtue and have made myself a book for...erm.. bookings (fancy!) and also added pouches to it so I have an "at a glance" thing for each month too!  So as well as clearing out old crud and getting rid of 543 tonnes of cobwebs (yep, there were that many) I have brought some order to my life.  And I have to say, I feel rather good about it.

So good that being as the Room of Stash is now clear of trash, I decided to get out all my Studio 490 stamps (I am lucky to have very lots of them) and had a good old play with ink and Grungepaper, stamps and embellies.  The tag is a #10 size so it is a big 'un.  I started by colouring it with Antique Linen, Victorian Velvet and Frayed Burlap DI's, flicking with water to add some blotches and then edging with Walnut Stain.  The overstamped background is one of my favest 490 backgrounds and it was stamped with Rose Madder Archival Ink.  I then added the wordy strip in Jet Black Archival and sized up roughly where my floral embellie was going... and then stamped some flourishes in Coffee Archival so they look like they are appearing from behind the flower.

Speaking of the flower - four different flower stamps make up the main bit - Funky Flower Art has to be one of my most used sets - the half flowers are my fave, perfect for breaking up a design without overpowering it.  All the flowers and the leaves were stamped onto Grungepaper using Jet Black for the flowers and Olive Archival for the leaves.  A quick zap with a heat tool to dry off the ink and then I cut them out.  Next I overstamped the flowers and leaves with background stamps, both front and back, to add some more decoration.  I stamp the back so when the Grunge is curled up, you can see more pattern, no ugly plain bits.  The same applies for inking the Grunge... always do both sides - that way you don't get ugly grey bits and it also covers the cut edges too.   The butterflies were stamped onto Grungepaper and Grungeboard three times each.  I cut out the Grungepaper ones in full and just the top wings and body for the Grungeboard... then coloured them with DI and stuck them together.  The body bits are little resin buds which were white... so they got the Treasure Gold Brass treatment to colourize them.

I added some lace and Gem Clips to the middle of the tag and ribbon and Idea-ology to the top of the tag and made a sentiment using cream card and 490 wordage... how perfect is that sentiment eh?  I coloured the card as before and then just cut out a banner shape.  Oh and Sam Spidey came out for a play too... he has been ignored for far too long, I can't help but love him.  Finishing touches were a light scribble of 0.01 size black pen to add some faux stitching and a smidge of Treasure Gold right around the edges.. and that was it.  I had a lovely couple of hours playing and making this... and because I am so organised, I put everything away (it has a home now) before I did anything else!  I am not sure how long this organisational spree will last but, for now, I shall enjoy it!

So, there are a couple of piccies of the Room of Stash now it is nice and tidy... I haven't take photo's of the main bulk of the work, which was organising drawers and sorting more storage... basically cos whilst I know what is now in them and each has its own genre (for want of a better word) when I look inside them, they look...erm... a bit messy!  Well, crafty stash is never neat... is it?     Right, I shall away... have a lovely day and a fab week.  I am headed for bed now.  I haven't slept properly for three nights now... tis the excitement I am sure... Thanks for looking... TTFN

Hels x