Sunday Stamper - Week 340 - Anything Goes

Goooodly Afternoon Stampers and a very happy Sunday to you all!  Thanks for your lovely hearty entries to last weeks challenge, I need to finish my visits later today... been busy being lazy - you know how it goes right?  The new theme this week is... ANYTHING GOES.  You can interpret the challenge how you like: literally this week, you can do anything... seriously, anything at all! Be it a card, a tag, an altered creation... the choice, it be yours!   To join in with the challenge is simples: make a little something, it can be anything you fancy.  Add in the theme AND some stamping *this is THE important bit guys, please remember your rubberstamps!*  and then hop back here, leave me a comment with a link to the place you are showing your entry and I can come see you.   If you haven't got a blog, you can join in via Facebook (just tag me name) or by emailing a small res.pic to me.  The challenge will remain open until 21:00 Saturday 17th January 2015.

My entry this week is a tag I made a while ago that I hadn't blogged... the papers are the gorgeous Rustic Harmony from Kaisercraft as is the stamped sentiment.  I added a couple of Wendy's butterflies - edging everything with the usual Distress Ink... and then got cracking on the floral embellishment.

I used Sue Wilson's Poinsettia dies - the fancy and the solid ones, showing that you don't have to actually make a poinsettia with the dies, they are so versatile they can make a nice big blousy flower... and you all know how much I loves me blousy flowers :O)  I added a few more of the fancy cut flowers, cut up and coloured with Forest Moss DI to make a leafy bundle behind the flower, popped a few pearly swirly bits behind the flower and voila, finished... and nice quick and simple tag :O)

I hope you haven't been blown away this week... we have been lucky here Chez Sheridan, the winds haven't been too bad so I haven't had to sit and stare at the Spinney, willing the trees to stay upright... tis a smidge chilly here today though, so my plan is so hunker down in the Room of Stash and get some ink on these far too clean fingers of mine!  Thanks for looking, whatever you are doing, have a fab day!  TTFN

Hels x

Sunday Stamper - Week 334 - All You Need Is Love

Goooodly Morning Stampers and a very happy Sunday to you all!  Thank you for your fabby entries into last weeks challenge.   The theme this week is LOVE.  You can interpret the challenge how you like: use the word love, make a love themed creation, add in some hearts...  the choice, it be yours!  To join in with the challenge is simples: make a little something, it can be anything you fancy.  Add in the theme AND some stamping *this is THE important bit guys, please remember your rubberstamps!*  and then hop back here, leave me a comment with a link to the place you are showing your entry and I can come see you.   If you haven't got a blog, you can join in via Facebook (just tag me name) or by emailing a small res.pic to me.  The challenge will remain open until 21:00 Saturday 29th November 2014.

Now my entry this week is something a little different.... oh, hang on a minute, no it isn't... it is a tag!  Teehee.   I was asked a few days ago why I always make tags and what do I do with them?  Well, that is simples:  I make tags as I love the size of them, perfect for a quick demo or playtime... I love the base of the taggy card too, soft, smooth and very easy to apply ink and paint to (bit like my face...ahem) and of course I am addicted to making tags because that is the chosen base of the one and only Duke of Distress himself!  And as you all know, whatever Tim does, I have to copy!  And what do I do with them?  Well, a lot of them are used for demo's and samples, some of them make it onto cards... but most of them are kept on bookrings or in baskets in the Room of Stash so I can refer back to them upon such occasions when the old cad Mojo disappears off on one of his jaunts. *which, unfortunately, seems to be happening at the moment... he is sunning himself on a Greek Island I reckon*

This tag was made a few weeks ago for Wendy at Daisy's Jewels in Coventry.  I was there teaching for the weekend and had a few bits and bobs laying around on my desk so I got creative and bunged them onto a tag.  Bits of Wallpaper flowers that were too small to use on a big project but far too precious to file in the bin were glued onto the tag in collage fashion.  I inked all the edges with Aged Mahogany DI before gluing so they all looked cohesive.  Next I stamped a few images in Jet Black Archival - including the sentiment - and then slapped a generous layer of beeswax all over the tag... I don't know if you know this but I am also addicted to beeswax... the more the better IMO :O)

The flowers are just simple white paper roses, inked edges with the same DI colour and then dipped into beeswax to give them a muted and soft look.  I did the same with some die cut bits I had in my workbox (I cart a massive workbox around with me, chock full of all manner of what-have-you and usually I can find a few hidden gems in it) The butterfly was stamped onto card, inked and then this was also dipped into the wax too.  Apologies for the rubbishness of the photo's... being as I was away from home, I didn't have my camera so had to rely on my phone, which is not the best for taking photo's (or maybe it is the operator!) so I have tried to lighten them up in PhotoWotsit but I am not very good at using that either... hmmmm...

I shall away now... I have tonnes of stuff to do today!  Firstly, I am going to lay on the sofa and catch up with Strictly from last night... then I am going to lay on the sofa and catch up with Dallas from the other night... and then I might lay on the sofa and catch up with Wentworth from the other night.  See a theme there at all?  Yes, I have awarded meself a lazy day - I was supposed to be teaching today but the class has been postponed so I have a rare free day! I guess I could spend it sorting out the pit of doom that is the Room of Stash... but I shall save that for another day!  Thanks for looking and have a great day yourself!  TTFN

Hels x

Sunday Stamper - Week 332 - Sharp Dressed Man

Goooodly Morning Stampers and a very happy Sunday to you all!  Thank you for your grand entries for last weeks wishy challenge.   The theme this week is SEWING & STITCHES.  You can interpret the challenge how you like: make something out of fabric, add faux or real stitches, use diecuts...  the choice, it be yours!  To join in with the challenge is simples: make a little something, it can be anything you fancy.  Add in the theme AND some stamping *this is THE important bit guys, please remember your rubberstamps!*  and then hop back here, leave me a comment with a link to the place you are showing your entry and I can come see you.   If you haven't got a blog, you can join in via Facebook (just tag me name) or by emailing a small res.pic to me.  The challenge will remain open until 21:00 Saturday 15th November 2014 - yes this one is a "two-weeker". 

My entry this week is my class sample for my Patchwork Sewing Room class that I taught yesterday at Daisy's Jewels in Coventry.  The base is a Candy Box Crafts mdf frame.... this has been altered to within an inch of its life to make it look like it has been around for yonks (I love doing this to new wooden things, making them look positively ancient!)

The patchwork is cardstock, coloured with Distress Ink and a selection of Studio 490 and Kaisercraft stamps adorn the patches.  Checkout Tim's dressform... this was diecut from a gorgeous faux suede paper that Daisy's sell... backed onto mountboard for sturdiness! 

As you will have noticed, this is a two week challenge this time... I am still not feeling 100% and next week I am going to be a busy gal - demoing at the NEC for Craft Obsessions on Thursday and Friday and then I am teaching at a the Craftstation on Saturday for their first Dabble Day... so it is time for the Sunday Stamper to have a little breather!  I better get a wiggle on, I am back at Daisy's today teaching the lovely ladies all about the Melting Pot... tis going to be fun!   Thanks for looking, have a great day!  TTFN

Hels x

Mix & Match... Part 1

Goodly morning!  Cor blimey and thrice, where has this week gone huh?  One minute it is Sunday and the next we are waking up to Thursday!  Yikes!   Anyways, I have been busying myself in the Room of Stash playing with my DT pack from Jones of Nottingham.  I was sent the new Kaisercraft Mix & Match papers which are a mixture of kraft papers with red, white and black patterns... along with some cool sentiments and two sheets that are just perfick for cutting out - namely butterflies and hearts.  I have made a card (I know! a card!) and a tag (yep, you know how I loves my tags!)  Today I am showing you the tag... I will pop the card on tomorrow :O)

I used a couple of the papers that have white lacy doily images on them, covered a Size 8 tag and then added a punched strip of black cardstock to cover the join.  Now the cool thing with Kaiser papers is that along the bottom "info" strip the reverse side usually has a little patterned strip - seeing this red and white stripe on one of the strips was perfect to add to the black card punched strip, I cut it, edged with Distress Ink and then popped it over the top. 

I mentioned about the hearts... well, these are so pretty, a lacy design and the actual heart looks like it has three layers... well, it really does now as I cut three out and layered them up, puffing them with a paper stump and adding Pinflair behind to make them stay in shape.   The words are taken from another of the papers... says it all doesn't it?  I added a few paper flowers (also Kaisercraft) to the bottom of the tag and a pearly self adhesive strip to jazz up the bottom of the tag a bit but... the heart, it looked ok but it needed something.  I tried out a pearl, nope that didn't look right so I spotted my Kaiser butterfly stamps and decided to stamp a small one, cut it out, colour with Barn Door DI and pop him on... perfect!  A bit of red and cream grosgrain to make the bow at the top and voila, finished. 

That's all from me for today... I have a "job" to do... and if I sit here I will end up spending all morning doing aversion activities that will stop me from doing the really important thing I needs to do... tidy the Room of Stash!  I know! I know!  I am of slatternly persuasion and the old Room has got a wee bit out of hand again... simply a case of not putting stuff away after using it... and I have had a bit of a declutter and things aren't in their proper places... I may be some time... and I may even *whispers* de-cobweb the place too!    On that delightful note, I shall bid you all a very goodly day.... Thanks for looking!  TTFN

Hels x

Easily Distracted...

...cor blimey and thrice alive!!!  It has been one of those weeks... you know, when you start the week full of goodly intentions to "do stuff" and end spending most of it doing "something else instead".  Well, my "something else" has been distracting me good and proper all week!  Oh yesh, the Greenhouse-That-Grim-Built has kept me occupied all week so all promises of sharing some of the stuff from the Jones' Retailer Day last Sunday has kind of been overlooked.  I meant to type up a blog post the other day but this week has fair whizzed past though.  You see, Grim has been on night shift all week and being as I am of a clumsy persuasion, I find it really hard to be as quiet as a mouse whilst he is in the Land of Nod during the day.  And why, when you are trying to be mouse-like, does everything end up being realllly noisy??  Anyways, taking the opportunity of the good weather and the fact that I have several hundred weight of cucumber, tomato, gourd and sunflower plants to pot on, I have been hiding out in the Greehouse-That-Grim-Built all week!

When I say several hundred weight, I am not joking!  I have never grown things from seed properly before - well, apart from a seed tray on a window sill which isn't the same thing - so this year, armed with packets of seeds and a new greenhouse, I got all down and dirty and planted all the seeds in all the packets... plus a load of seeds I had collected from Calendula and Morning Glory plants last year.  Little did I realise how easy cucumbers, gourds and tomatoes are to germinate.  At one count, I had over 40 cucumbers, 33 tomatoes and 43 gourds (not sure how that happened as I only sowed 37 gourd seeds!)  And of course, once these little beauties start to grow, they need potting on (get me, proper terminology and everything!)  Not to mention the Phlox, Sweet William, sunflowers (lots of sunflowers) and Sweet Peas.  The Sweet Peas kind of caught me out too... mainly because I didn't read the packet... after a month, not a single smidge of green was showing in the tray of Sweet Peas, so I got a bit grumpy, went and bought a different flavour of seed and sowed those too.  Impatience is not a virtue... Two months later I have 30 odd plants as they all decided to show their faces (not that I am complaining) so the one big tub of Sweets Peas in now three big tubs!

Anyways, the point of this waffle is my excuse for being a baaad blogger!  It would be just plain rude of me to ignore all those little plants - by the way, I have done a "clinical trial"  I decided that this "talking to plants" thing might be worth a punt.  So, I have little chats with them as they are growing... except for one pot of chilli seeds that I decided to ignore.  Well, sure enough, all the seeds germinated except for the single pot of chilli's.   There it sat, a pot of compost looking a bit forlorn... until a week ago when I said "if you don't start to show your faces soon, you are for the compost bin"  Sure enough, a couple of days later little green shoots have appeared!  So, it is true!  Chat to your plants and they will grow!  Simples!  Oh and I almost forgot... we have already had our first harvest too!  Oh yesh, I grew some radishes, just to see how easy they were... and nom nom nom!  They have grown perfectly and already been scoffed!  I have a massive tub of different flavour radish on the go now and another I am planting at the start of next week so that should see us through to July at least.  I am loving this gardening lark!  I hasten to add that I have found homes for a lot of the cucumbers/toms/gourd plants... there is only so much salad I am prepared to eat lol

This post is peppered with pics of the two tags I taught on the Jones Retailer day last Sunday - the blue tag, which is a Graphic 45 tag base, is from the morning class and is using the gorgeous new Kaisercraft Storyteller range of papers and two fabby stamp/stencil sets from Hampton Art... and the red tag is the afternoon class, that one is using the Be-YOU-tiful collection from Kaisercraft.

The card is using the Be-YOU-tiful collection too; the butterfly is a Kaisercraft stamp, the sentiment is also from Kaisercraft and the flowers... yep, Kaisercraft - these are Fire Fly colour - aren't they lushness!!!   I shall away now, I have bent your ear long enough with my tales from the greenhouse!  Have a great day... don't forget to check back tomorrow for the brand new CC3 challenge too.   Thanks for looking... TTFN

Hels x

Sunday Stamper - Week 308 - Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue

Goooodly Morning Stampers and a very happy Sunday to you all!  Many thanks for all your beautiful pink entries to last weeks challenge.   This week the theme is a nice simple colour one.... Use Brown & Blue.    To join in with the challenge is simples: make a little something, it can be anything you fancy.   Include the theme and add in some stamping and then pop back here to leave me a comment with a link to the place you are showing your entry and I can come visiting.  If you haven't got a blog/photo-hosty-thingy, you can also join in via Facebook (just tag my name) or by sending me a small res. pic via email.  The challenge will remain open until 21:00 Saturday 26th May 2014.
 

 
 My entry this week is actually a DT piece I made for Jones of Nottingham.  Today I am teaching at their retailer event - how exciting!!! Showing the shop owners all the gorgeous goodies available from Jones - I will be focussing on Kaisercraft and I will show you the project they will be making today a little bit later in the week.  Anyways, this shadow box is from Candy Box Crafts - it is really easy to put together, I used Cosmic Glue to stick the base together and then gave it a slap of black paint.  I cut a piece of the gorgeous Marion Smith Nirvana papers to fit inside the shadow box and then I covered the frame with more papers that matched perfectly. 

The insert paper has been inked with Tumbled Glass and Vintage Photo DI and then I did a bit of stamping with Kaisercraft stamps - the diamonds and bubble wrap and done with the same DI's and the dressform and butterflies with Watering Can Archival.  The sentiment is stamped in Jet Black Archival and popped onto some black card to make it pop.  I also stamped some butterflies and cut them out, adding them to the insert with a smidge of glue and a jewel for the body (from the delightful little Junque and Jewels embellies from Marion Smith)   As I seemed to be on a sewing theme, I covered a bit of Grungeboard with Claudine's  stickyback canvas and die cut the dressform (Tim's Sewing Room Alteration die) colouring lightly with Frayed Burlap DI and then scruffing the edges of the canvas and going around the edges with Walnut Stain DI.

And now for the embellies!  I had some cotton reels kicking about so I inked with Walnut Stain to age them and added string around and popped some little pins into them... the flowers are Kaisercraft blooms (more gorgeousness) and the rest of the embellies are from Marion Smith Junque & Jewels sets... check out that ickle push bike!  Nowt to do with sewing but it is so cute, I couldn't resist!

That is all from me for today... again, I am scheduling this post as it is really Friday night and I am just getting ready for my bed... up early in the morning (that is now yesterday) to travel to Hessle for my class at Craftique... and by now it is Sunday so I will be heading off to Nottingham.. I don't half get about!!!   Hope you have a great day, enjoy the sunshine!  TTFN

Hels x

Sunday Stamper - Week 290 - On The Wings of Love

Goooodly Evening Stampers and a very happy Sunday to you all!   Huge thanks for all your entries for the last challenge...  this week there be a new theme... and that is... WINGS.  To join in with the challenge is simples: make a little something - it can be anything  you fancy.  Add in the theme and some stamping then pop back here to leave me a comment with a link to the place you are showing your entry.   If you haven't got a blog, you can also join in via email - just email a small res pic to me or via Facebook, simply tag my name and I can view your entry.  The challenge will remain open until 21:00 Saturday 18th January 2014.

Firstly, apologies for the late posting of this weeks challenge... this is because I am teaching away from home this weekend and couldn't get online this morning (thanks Mr BT for doing your engineering stuff lol)  So, better late than never, here is my entry for this weeks challenge.

I have been teaching at Pickwell Farm this weekend, I love teaching here, not only are the ladies who come along a lovely bunch, Carolyn and her family always make me very welcome... not to mention the ace shop, packed to the rafters with stashly delights... yep, tis a lovely place to be.  Anyways, this weekend has been all about the Melt Pot.. and I have made a canvas (actually I made two - I know, I never finish class samples and this time I managed to get two done.. get me!  A new year, a new me... pah lol )   My demo canvas is 8" x 6" in size and once I had painted it, I set about doing some beeswax collage.  Stamping onto tissue and then applying wax... and then.. I had a "lightbulb" moment!   So, I wanted to colour the beeswax.  How to do that?  Well, I have used Melt Inks before to do this, but they do bobble a bit in the wax, whilst they colour it, there's always a residue in the bottom of the mould.  So, I hit on the idea of using Mica Powders to colour it.. hey, it works!!! Yipyah and thrice, a new technique!  Check it out, how sweet is this flower!!!

I used a mix of Kaisercraft and Tim Holtz stamps... and yes, butterflies always seem to feature somewhere on a creation...plus faux porcelain flowers... and some Treasure Gold for goodly measures too...

I shall away now... I am staying in Southampton tonight as I am teaching a private class tomorrow and I needs food... so I am off to have a mooch about and see what I can find.  Thanks for looking, sorry again for the lateness of the post!  Thanks for looking, TTFN

Hels x

Sunday Stamper - Week 289 - All I Have To Do Is Dream

Goooodly Morning Stampers and a VERY Happy New Year to you all!  Huge thanks for all your entries for the last challenge... I have a winner for the blog candy to be announced ... but more of that in mo!  Firstly, I am introducing you to the brand new theme for this week, in honour of the sad passing of Phil Everly, the theme this week comes from the song title of one of my fave Everly Brother's songs... DREAM.  To join in with the challenge is simples: make a little something - it can be anything  you fancy.  Add in the theme and some stamping then pop back here to leave me a comment with a link to the place you are showing your entry.  I keep getting asked about "how to see the gallery of entrants".  Well, there isn't a gallery, the way to see what other peeps' have been making is to simply click on their link they have left in the comments box.  If you haven't got a blog, you can also join in via email - just email a small res pic to me or via Facebook, simply tag my name and I can view your entry.  The challenge will remain open until 21:00 Saturday 11th January 2014.

For some reason my camera is making it look like a fisheye lens....

Coincidentally, my Word of 2014 is Dream and I have been making this canvas for the past week... it is mahoooosive - the biggest canvas (12" x 16") I have ever tackled and I have to admit, I was really phased at first, doing something on such a big scale and all that... but, hurrah and thrice, thanks to the wonderful Craft Obsessions, my brand new Tattered Florals die arrived during the week... so that took care of the floral embellishment thing... ginormous paper rose!  Check out the size of it!  The little roses next to it are the normal Tattered Florals size rose that I make using the largest flower on the die.  WOW!  Here's the canvas before I got handy with the embellies...

Yep, fisheye... am rubbish at photographing stuff!

Oooh, before I forget... the winner for the candy giveaway from last week's challenge!  Well, there were 90 entries in total and I fed this into Random.org and he came up with the number 23... which tallies with the entry from LISETTE BAKER.  Congrats to Lisette, please pop me and email over with your addy and I will send your candy to you :O)

Moving on... and back to the gigantic canvas!   Now I bought this canvas about 261 years ago and it has been lurking under my desk gathering dust.  Last Saturday Ellen and I had a Skypey sesh but this time we just did our "own thing" instead of a challenge... and being as I was feeling brave *or stoopid* I decided to unearth said canvas and give it a makeover. This took me hours to do... I did take my time though, I wanted to make sure I got it exactly how I wanted it as it will be hanging up in the house... somewhere... when I find the hammer and nails.... lol

Of course, putting paint onto such a big surface had me shaking with fear, so I decided to go straight into my comfort zone and got out my gorgeous Kaisercraft papers (from Jones of Nottingham DT)... the papers are from the Art of Life and 75 Cents collections.  A spot of paper blocking... I know, I told you, comfort zone... and some texturing in the form of Wendy's lush 490 Embossing Paste and Tim's Layering Stencils... and then some stamping using Kaisercraft background stamps - I used Bubble Wrap and Diamonds and Wendy's Signature Designer Archival Inks in Potting Soil (bubble wrap) and Watering Can (diamonds).  I LOVE those Archival ink colours... and... exciting news... Wendy has 6 new colours being released at CHA next week... check out HER BLOG to see the colours (you will be needing them as muchly as I do!!!)

As mentioned before... the brand new massive Tattered Florals die landed on my doormat the other day... along with the new Garden Greens die too.  Now, as  you all will have probably sussed, I LOVE making paper roses.  I usually use the largest of the Tattered Florals (original size) die to make them... and sometimes use the Movers & Shapers Mini Tattered Florals too.  I made the new big rose exactly the same as I do the others... SEE HERE for a photo tut that I did yonks ago.  Make the big rose in the same way but cut a couple of extra petals so you can "fill" the gaps.. so cutting 3 and a half flowers is the easiest way.  I used the same papers to make them and then spritzed with Black Marble Dylusions and Red Firefly Cosmic Shimmer sprays.  The leaves are mountboard painted with Forest Moss Distress Paint.  Of course, I had to pile on the embellies - the word is made up from Grungeboard letters and coloured with Black Soot DI and the embellies have all had the Treasure Gold treatment, Rose Quartz, Ruby, Copper and White Fire being my chosen colours.

And there you have it!  I have finally altered that canvas... the big scary one!  And, I actually feel like making more of these big ones now... daring is my middle name (well, it isn't really ..it does have a ring to it though)   Right, I shall away... I have got tellybox shows on Wednesday so today I will mostly be making samples and getting all creative with the Melt Pot.  Have a great day!  Thanks for looking... TTFN

Hels x

Sunday Stamper - Week 287 - Cracklin' Rosie

Gooodly Morning Stampers and a very happy Sunday to you all!  Thank you for the fabby entries for last week's challenge... and also hi to the newbies who joined in for the first time too!  This week is a nice easy theme... another of my fave songs and I happened to hear it on the radio the other day and it stuck in my head... so I used it for the theme this week.  So, on with the challenge, which is to USE CRACKLES.  To join in is simples: make a little something - it can be anything you fancy.  Add in the theme and some stamping and then pop back here and leave me a comment with a link to the place you are showing your entry.  If you haven't got a blog, you can also join in via email (small res pic please) or via Facebook by tagging my name.  The theme will remain open until 21:00 Saturday 21st December 2013.

So. Crackles!  A plethora of possibilities... use crackle paints, crackle mediums, crackle techniques... or do what I did and use a crackle stamp!  My entry this week is a veritable feast of Kaisercraft goodies.  Starting with the papers from the Art of Life Collection, cut to fit onto a Size 10 tag that had the bottom cut off and then re-attached with eyelets and string.  I LOVE these papers... so up my street colour wise and design wise too... perfick!

All the stamps I used are Kaisercraft, the Crackle, Sheet Music (on the band across the middle), the Diamonds and the sentiment which is on the bag of the mini tag.  The backgrounds were stamped with Potting Soil Archival (LOVE this one Wendy, thank you for inventing this colour!!!)  and the words and butterflies were stamped in Jet Black Archival.   Also, on the band across the middle, I popped some Walnut Stain DI'd Flower Trim that I slapped some Glue & Seal onto and then sprinkled Antique Linen Distress Glitter over.. I know, me, Glitter!!! Twice in a week!! Habit!!!

Because (uh-oh, Mrs Johnson, my English Teacher would be scribbling red pen all over this... starting a sentence with *because* baaad Hels!)  Anyways... because the papers are very vintage creams and browns, I decided to add some colour and chose red to be the "pop" I was looking for.  The butterflies are coloured with Fired Brick DI applied with a waterbrush... and the flowers (also Kaisercraft) were coloured with Black Marble Dylusions and Red Firefly Cosmic Shimmer sprays.  I added a few bits and bobs of metal and Idea-ology embellies and voila, done!  This is a DT piece for Jones of Nottingham... to see their website, please CLICK HERE.

I am all excited today!!! Oh yesh indeedily... for today I am actually going to crafty class and I will be a student instead of teacher!  I shall be venturing to Telford to the Clare Chervill class at Crafty Bunch... tis yonks since I did a class.. in fact, the last one I did?  With THE Wendy Vecchi 2 years ago when I was staying with Ellen in Baltimore!! YONKS!!!    Yesterday saw my very last class of 2013!  I am trying to work out how many classes I have taught this year but my old brain is on the blink and my diary is downstairs... I shall have to go and count them up.. must be very lots tho!   Whilst I love teaching and doing what I do, I am really looking forward to having a few weeks off "work" completely and being able to catch up on stuff around the house (yes, I mean those cobwebs!) and getting some *me time* in the Room of Stash too.  Anyways, whatever you are up to today, I hope you have a goodly one!  Thanks for looking... TTFN!

Hels x

PS.  Next weeks' challenge will be a two-weeker because of that thing Christmas getting in the way... and there will be CANDY on offer too :O)

Sunday Stamper - Week 286 - All You Need Is Love

Goooodly Morning Stampers and a very happy Sunday to you all! Many thanks for the fabby numerical entries for last weeks challenge... I know I says this all the time but I do really appreciate all the entries every week, makes me smile biggly to see your interpretations of my little challenge.  This week the theme is... *can you guess it?* LOVE.  To join in with the challenge is simples: make a little something - it can be anything you fancy.  Add in the theme and some stamping and then pop back here and leave me a comment with a linky to the place you are showing your entry so I can hop over and see your creation.  If you haven't got a blog, you can also join in via emailing me a small res piccie (my email can be found by clicking on my profile pic *points left*) or via Facebook, simply tag my name in your upload and I can come visit you.  The challenge will remain open until 21:00 Saturday 14th December 2013.

Guess what???   This is my 1750th post!!! That is one heck of a lot of wafflingtons isn't it???  And I noticed yesterday that I have 1600 followers now too... THANK YOU ALL for  your continued support!  Makes me heart happy!  

Anyways, on with my entry for the challenge.  So, the theme was going to be something else... which it can be next week actually so I shalln't tell you now... but I started making my entry and I used this stamp from Kaisercraft and it just seemed the natural thing to do... use the song title in the stamp!  And as you know, I lurves The Beatles more than any other band in the world ever... so it had to be done :O))   This piece is actually a DT thingy for Jones DT ... my December kit is a bunch of beautiful Kaisercraft 75 Cents collection papers... and the colours and designs are just so me... perfect for a spot of paper blocking right?  I cut pieces of the papers up and then layered them onto a photo frame (this is one of the *sadly* discontinued RAM frames from IKEA, I have one left now... )  I always use Cosmic Glue to stick me papers down, in fact, I use it for most things but it works perfectly for the paper blocking technique.  Once all the papers were stuck down and trimmed up, I did a very light wash of Antique White Kaisercraft paint to knock back the designs a little.  A quick zap with the heat tool and then a roughly applied layer of Glue & Seal to erm... seal the papers. 
 

The centre piece is actually a perfectly sized element from the papers, I cut it out and added a smidge of stamping to it; I made a template of scrap paper so the stamping didn't over stamp onto the edge of the paper and kept within the bordery bit.  The stamp is Windsor from Kaisercraft and I used Wendy's fabby Potting Soil Archival Ink (from her Signature Designer colours for Ranger).  I stamped the butterflies again, cut them out and edged with Walnut Stain to get rid of the white bits around the edges and then layered them over the base image.  The word is stamped with Black Archival to make it pop.  Now, I have to say, I have always been a bit of a "stamp snob"... you know, always favouring red or grey rubber and whilst I use clear stamps, I am always left a little disappointed that they don't stamp too well, they squish when pressed or don't ink properly.  I can safely say that this is SO not the case with these clear Kaisercraft stamps... I have tried lots of them and they all give perfect images... and they are not expensive either! Result!    The flower cluster was made using more Kaisercraft, the paper flowers are Sage and I added Black Marble Dylusions and Antique Green Cosmic Shimmer sprays to them to add bling.  Then I popped lots of little bits and bobs onto the design and added touches of Treasure Gold to finish off.
 

So, what you got planned for today?  I am going all "domestic goddess" and cooking a Sunday roast... contrary to what I was saying the other day on the tellybox shows, I do cook other stuff other than sausages... not much else I hasten to add but I have this tried and tested recipe from my dear MIL and whilst perusing the butchery bit in Morries the other day I spotted a rather nice looking piece of Brisket... so we are having Slow Roast Beef in Beer for dinner... I am drooling at the thought... oh and I got meself some sprouts too.  Grim won't eat them, he says they taste like "boiled farts" ... not sure he actually means that, I mean really? Has he ever tried to boil a fart I wonder... I must ask him!  Anyways, on that delightful note *you can always rely on me to lower the tone lol* I shall bid you a very goodly day and hope that you have a nice Sunday roast to scoff too!  Thanks for looking... TTFN

Hels x

Play Time!

...oh yesh indeedily! I have finally had a chance to sit and play with my new Distress Paints and the new stamps I got at the NEC last week.  Seems like a yonk since I had some guilt free crafting time so I have made the most of it this week!   Have you seen the new clear stamps from Kaisercraft?  I loves them!  And they are so affordable too (which is always a bonus right?)   So, last night I got a little inky and painty in the Room of Stash and made a couple of tags... and here's one of them:

I did a "partial resist" technique on the base of the tag... how does that work?  Well, use Glue & Seal or Multi Medium to stamp your image - I used a script stamp. Dry it off and then add some colour.  For the "partial" bit of the resist you need Distress Paints as they are opaque when dried.  I used Antique Linen, Scattered Straw and Aged Mahogany (be still my heart! I love that colour!) Distress Paints, smooshing them onto the craft sheet, lightly spritzing with water and then swiping the tag through the paintyness.  As soon as I started to dry the tag, I spritzed lightly with water which moves the paints about a bit.... as they start to dry, go in with a paper towel and lift off some of the still wet paint.  This will reveal the resist underneath... and where the paints are dried, you can't see the resist... hence partial!

I loved the effect of the background so I decided not to add any more Distress Inks to the tag but I did add some more stamping.  Starting with my new Kaisercraft Script, I stamped this in Watering Can Archival (THANK YOU Wendy Vecchi for inventing this colour... tis my new fave!) As it is an oil based ink you will need to heat set the stamping to avoid smudginess.   Next I used the new Kaisercraft Diamonds stamp and Plum Archival to add some more layering to the base of the tag.  The Plum goes perfectly with the Aged Mahog too... like they were made to be together!   Next up came the butterflies... another new Kaisercraft stamp (can you see a theme here?)  Stamped in Jet Black Archival so they pop off the tag, I stamped them again onto cream card, cut them out and used a waterbrush and Distress Inks to colour them.   They were then layered over the original stamped images for some dimension.   I then got all spritzy with the decorations.  Plain white paper flowers, spritzed with Cranberry Colorwash and then zapped with Black Marble Dylusions and Ancient Copper Cosmic Shimmer mists.   A few metal embellies, the word WISH from Alpha Parts and some dangly bits finished off my little tag!

I am all excited today!  I am packing up in preparation for my trip to Taunton this weekend where I will be demo-ing and teaching at Craftasmic... I best get a wiggle on as I have boxes to pack and blog posts to schedule!  Busy busy!  Thanks for looking, have a grand day!  TTFN

Hels x