A spot of brayering

I decided to get the brayer out today,  its been ages since I used it.   So here is the start of the project: piece of Clarity card A5, brayer,  TH ink pad, cotton wool, mask,  and versamark (out of shot!).  I dunked bits of the cotton wool onto the versamark pad,  then arranged them on the card,  decided where the sun was going to go.  Then put a piece of paper on top and pressed everything down a few times,  and ran the brayer across it.   Next task was to remove the cotton wool and start brayering.

Amd a few minutes later I had a picture,  blue sky with a few clouds,  nice yellow sun,  and also used the Indigo Blu stamps,  Dandelion clock set.  Added more blue to the picture as wanted a few darker bits between the clouds,  so just used a make up sponge and lots of dabbing. 

If you use Clarity card it is best to wait for stuff to dry,  it does take a bit longer than ordinary card.  I've also found that the cloud technique works best on the Clarity card,  as after you've brayered you need to then polish the car with a tissue to take off the excess ink to reveal the clouds.   This really doesn't work on ordinary card.    Oh I also used a mask to add the yellow to the sun,  the leftover bit from were I'd cut my circle (used my Slice to do the cutting).

So I blotted the picture a few times,  then moved on to next bit.

Adding the dandelion clocks,  since I wanted to use the Burlap ink pad on the heads of the clocks, I covered the stems with some masking tape.   I tested out my theory on a bit of scrap paper and practiced adding the stalks using pro markers.   The burlap looked really good,  had to test  out a few greens to make sure it matched the stamped bit.    Once I'd inked up the heads I removed the masking tape before stamping...   and then began to add the stalks,  found that using the fine nibs worked best, it allowed for more control. 

More blotting!   By this time the women's road race was heating up, they were almost at the end so I took a tea break to watch and was chuffed when the British girl came second, just pipped for first place!

And so I had a picture!   I added a 3rd clock, and some of the flyaway bits, think they are called parachutes?   The sentiment and the birds,  tho think the birds should be further up!

Very happy that my brayering technique is still intact,  and that at last I've got the hang of the flicking bit.   I did have to trim a bit off the card as the bottom stamp isn't quite A5,  but no matter,  still happy with it. 

Now my tummy is rumbling,   it is watching all this sport, it does make you hungry!     Think it is time to see what is in the fridge,  and make a much needed cuppa.

Thanks for stopping by.

Let the Games begin!

Wasn't that sure about the Olympic opening,  some bits were amazing, other bits didn't work for me.   I did hang on till the end and it was worth it to see the cauldron lit, the best idea yet!   It was amazing.  The same cannot be said for the dreadful logo and characters.   It was also good to see young athletes light the cauldron.

So another sports fest, would like to see a tad more tennis,  and commiserations to Mark Cavendish, a brave effort, but think they were all shattered after the amazing feat of the Tour de France.

So a spot of crafting.   Making book tags for charity,  well a charity a friend supports.  She owns a lovely holistic shop called the Well Barn  which is beautiful,  so a Barn Owl is most appropriate,  and this cute little guy made the perfect backing card.   He's part of a much large embossing folder.  When I saw him in the craft shop I just couldn't resist buying him.

The front looks like this, with my smaller Owl stamp,  used with the large backing stamp from the Dandelion clock set,  and that lovely sentiment. 

So that passed a pleasant hour,  along with a spot of cycling on the machine!    It is certainly having the desired effect as the clothes are a bit looser :-))    The wonky knee is also getting stronger,  but at the same time it is more painful,  and is still giving way on me.   Still waiting for a date for my operation.  Just as well it wasn't last week as I was feeling very off colour,  no idea why,  just felt really terrible for a few days,  then after parting company with my breakfast, I felt a whole lot better.  Must have picked up a bug from somewhere, and the humid weather wasn't helping,  prefer it a smidge cooler, round the 25 C mark. 

There was a slight change to my crafting this week, I made a card!

It's been ages since I made any cards,  had almost forgotten what to do!    I used my new embossing folder, the tri boss,  and distressed the card,  then used one of the kanban acetate butterflies,  a few flowers,  some backing card, used an edge punch on that,  some ribbon and a card was born.

Think I may do some of the AB book tomorrow, or some scrapping.   Hoping that Rosemary Merry will give me some inspiration tomorrow on CnC, she's on in the morning and afternoon.  Though the afternoon show will depend on when Andy Murray plays his first singles match.   It does seem odd to see Wimbledon dressed differently, and for the players to be wearing colours! 

Got half an eye on the swimming, another Brit has made the final, the women's footie team, won,  not sure if they 'all' sung the National Anthem this time,  disgraceful if they didn't,  they're competing under the British flag, so they should sing the anthem.

All for now,  nice sunny evening,  may go and sit outside for a while, if I can find a sheltered spot.

The pride of Great Britain!

And I mean Bradley Wiggins for being the first Britain to win the Tour De France in 109 years!  

So inbetween golf and cycling I got on with making more tags and decorating box number 2.   It is exactly the same box as the first one,  so prepping was the same, just loads of coats of white paint.   So by mid afternoon it was ready to go.  But what to put on it?   I deliberated between a fantasy image,  using the fairy castle and unicorns,  or back to the rustic scene, but using my Clarity stamps?  

Went for the Clarity stamps,  so then it was a case of deciding what to use and were,  plus what else to put with them.  I remembered that my reindeer stamps, which are for winter, has some grass bits, 2 rabbits and a fence... so that was also put into use.

So side one ended up looking like this,  2 clarity stamps, and 3 stamps from the winter set.   The grass was very fiddly, just needed to catch the edge of the box.  Plus the two small dandelion clocks from a butchered fairy stamp (!) also came in useful.  

So with one side done it was over to the other side,  I was tempted to use the barge...  just not sure how well the brayer would work on the box,  and this box had to be done and dusted for this week.   So went with the clarity stamps again, but using them a different way,  using the two trees, no deer and TH birds!

Oh and the grass.

So it looked like this,  plus I added some blue to make a 'sky'.  Just needed to keep it all simple.   By this time the golf was getting to the exciting bit,  as was the cycling, well sort of as we all knew that Wiggins had won,  apparently the rest of the riders don't overtake the winner at the end. 

My tags had all dried by this time,  everything securely in place, I've never been so organised!    I knocked out nine tags this afternoon,  okay so they are not very involved,  but if they were they would be impossible to sell,  partly due to time needed to make them and also cos I've found that the more expensive a piece of craft is the less likely it is to sell,  everyone will agree that it is beautiful work but they won't pay the price.   So the tags have to be kept simple and quick to produce.   The new tri boss folder is being put to good use, think I have figured out the Tri bit, it embosses and debosses at the same time, plus you can put one piece of card and one piece of paper into the folder at same time,  so that is 3 things. 

Of course there had to be an owl!   This little fella came with a set of trees,  I may use some inks and colour him.

So two boxes made and filled!  This is not like me at all to be so organised.  Just wonder if I can manage NOT to forget anything for the fair this time,  last time I checked and double checked and still forgot the damn paper trimmer.  Luckily I had enough paper cut.

Got a busy week this week,  have to come up with a design for a website,  and plan for some workshops.     Just hope this weather continues.

Hope you all had a lovely weekend.  Thanks also for all the lovely comments. 

Good news!

Our postie came early today,  there was one brown envelope and one white from the tax man... my heart sank,  not another demand for tax?    I opened the white one and - picked myself up off floor looked again, nope hadn't imagined it - tax refund!  Yipeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...   The other letter contained a tax review, they had been overcharging me!  That's in spite of me giving them the correct details twice.  

So guess where I went?   Yep,  first to the bank to pay the cheque in, next to craft shop for a treat or two!   I bought this lovely tri-boss folder,  ribbons,  some butterflies and other bits and bobs.  Wasn't as outlandish as the lady in front of me who purchased 24 pro-markers!    I was delighted with my new stash,  and with the weather,  summer for the 3rd day! 

These are the lovely ribbons,  they even came with some ribbon wrapped round the box, which of course I carefully removed.   Oh almost forgot my bakers thread,  I'm liking it very much.

I couldn't wait to see what the tri-boss folder would do, and how it would look.  The instructions said to put paper and card in the folder...  I was tempted to go find some vellum, but wasn't sure where it was stashed.  So just went with plain old paper and my super smooth card.

And this is what I got,  I tried it with a piece of card cut for the tags,  you can just about pick out the circle,  I loved the design,   it was perfect for the tags  Must try it out on some vellum, when I find it.

I also bought another box,  still at the prepping stage,  lots of coats of paint going on.   Might cover this one in fairies,  or use my fantasy stamps...  which consists of a fantasy castle, unicorns and fairies, it is a really lovely set.

So tomorrow it is more prep work on the box, just given it another coat, looks  like it is almost ready for the stamps.  Also have to decide what to do with the mini canvas?   May be going for quirky,  very quirky.    I did think about some shimmer sprays today, but really you need to buy quite a few, and I wasn't prepared to spend that much money.

Just glad that last week is over... 

Losing it!

Why is it so easy to lose things?   You put something down and it vanishes!     It can be anything,  craft stuff to glasses....  they all appear to grow legs and go off for a walk.    A down day,  due to lack of sleep,  not sure what was making the noise last night but it kept me awake for most of it,   my mood wasn't helped by mum asking if I was doing any washing,  I've already done two loads this week,  my patience is in short supply at the moment.   Things weren't helped by my brother dropping round only to say he and his wife were away for the weekend to go help her sister!   Charming, and I don't need any help?    My DB calls once a month,  usually on the day he goes for a blood test at the clinic,  just so he can kill two birds with one stone... talk about a duty visit!   Meanwhile my sister is sunning herself in Portugal,  and muggins gets on with it cos muggins has to.  I had the district nurse asking me why I was changing mum's dressings, so I told her the truth, the other district nurses decided mum was not a priority anymore, then we had a discussion about the dressings, which they decided to change and which have caused a further infection.  Great.   And then you open the curtains in the morning and it is grey, damp and windy.  Some smiley weather forecaster is banging on about showers - again, do they have to look so ruddy cheerful while delivering bad news? 

Moan over.  Heard some good news,  CnC are letting us Freeview lot get the extra two hours.  Was watching Sheena get nice and messy this morning,  love watching her craft,  and then I fell in love with her new stamps...  I have resisted so far, but not sure for how much longer!   At least Sheena left me in the mood for crafting.  But we have a fair next week so it was back to the tags,  did give the AB book another coat of paint, but then had to turn my attention to tags.   I used the new set of stamps for the first two tags, the Music Hall set (Indigo Blu),  the sentiments are lovely,   did a grungy background,  and popped on a butterfly,   I cut off the background wings,  wanted to look fluttery. And stuck an embossed piece of card on the back,  just adds to the finishing touch. 

I love the sentiment on this tag: Music is what feelings sound like!  How true, music does capture feelings perfectly,  I've always thought it must be wonderful to be able to compose music and write songs, what a gift that must be to have? 

Think I must be in fed up mode,  due to weather and a generally crappy life.

Well there is a glass of red wine staring at me, so think I had better drink it.   

Thanks for stopping by.

Seriously fed up of grey!

Skies...  that has been the colour of our summer - grey or various tones of.    Today we had that misty rain all blooming day!

Somehow I ended up at the craft shop,  was enticed by a lovely set of Indigo Blu stamps,  then thinking practically I got some photo glue,  of course there were many other temptations to be had!   But I had what I needed and so off home to get on with my AB book. 

I think I may not be following all the rules, but who cares, I am having a lot of fun!   I can't say I felt like getting a sander out to sand the book cover, besides it was already nice and dusty,  nor did I want to paint it,  but I did like the idea of a cover.  And this is it!  Well part of it, looks very messy, with coffee stains....

There is tho a plan of sorts!   On Craft Artist Pro someone has included coffee cup stains - which look fab for that grunge look.  So how to include it on a stamped page,  well stamp it of course, and with what - bottom a glass and the TH burlap distress ink pad.  Worked a treat.  I used the Indigo Blu background stamp to add the 'music',  then just grunged it all.

Once that was done I added the main topper,  then finished off with some of the TH tape round the edges.

So it looked like this, now stuck on to the book cover.   I know Elizabeth has said that the AB book isn't a journey etc, but I quite like the idea of it being just that, a journey. I also have a handmade book,  with plain hand made paper, and I've wanted to do something with that for ages.  So I see this first AB book as a trial run.  I will follow Elizabeth's suggestions/lessons as it will be nice to experiment with different things. 

I did use one of her suggestions, but not quite in the way she meant!  I let two baby wipes dry,  then dabbed one with some of the TH distress ink pads, again to get a grungy feel,  then on the second wipe I stamped a very nice image, yes, the new stamp set!    Next I gessoed a couple of pages, which are drying nicely,   and which will tomorrow receive this lovely topper.

Isn't she lovely (Julia you are drooling!)   I was just chuffed that it worked,  wasn't sure if it would take the image or not. Definitely something to play with,   think alcohol inks would also work on the wipes, especially if you scrunched them up.

Well that was all I could do today,  so will have to complete the page tomorrow... shucks!  LOL.

And according to the weather lot the jet stream is set to change, so summer may arrive next week.  About bloody time!  I've hardly worn any of my summer stuff.

All for now.

Altered state!

I just felt like a challenge and I've been watching my friend BJ make her Altered Book, following instructions found here
Of course I would choose to start on a Sunday with no chance of finding a suitable book wouldn't I?    Except I used to work in a library,  and just happened to have some books that were suitable,  just a question of which to use.  Since the other was a gardening book and therefore useful I opted to use the Irish Names index.

So it was on to lesson 1 and 2, maybe 3...!  First lesson was choose the book, so that box was ticked. Next was to choose  theme,  prep it and make a niche...   Well the book was about Ireland,  so that had to figure somewhere,  I did think about focusing on my spirituality and to use my Celtic Cross to go in the niche,  but the Cross was a bit too bulky - so my other love is nature, and birds of prey, in particular owls!

So here is the book,  and I started to prep it, removing pages,  and dividing a section off for the niche at the back.   I chose Elizabeth's second method for prepping the book,  it seemed easier to me,  plus BJ's blog came in handy! 

So once this was done, next was gluing the last 50 pages together... easy huh?  Well yes, it would have been a doddle had I been able to find my photo glue, there are two tubes laying around here somewhere.  So it was pinflair to the rescue, that did the job very nicely.

Now I could let that dry whilst focusing on my theme.   I'd need an Owl,  and one was staring right at me!   I'd bought a garden ornament that was an Owl, with lots of bits and bobs on it,  leaves, ribbons,  nuts...   He'd do very nicely.  Sadly I had to take him apart :(    But I have a use for the small bundle of sticks, and everything else could be used in the book at some stage, if not now.   So now I needed to cut a niche.  A cuttlebug folder came in handy,  it was the right size to hold the owl, so I used that as the template, and then cut out the niche.

I rummaged around for some green paper,  decided to use the ribbon as well,  plus the left over leaves,  then I remembered BJ had sent me a whole pack of die cuts, meant for tags...  but they were just perfect for this, so on they went.   Just wanted the top and bottom tidied up a bit so added a grey and black edge.   And here he is,  Ollie the Owl! 

Still got a lot more to do,  but I feel I'm on my way.  I have lots of stuff for the various pages.    It will be nice to have a project on the go as well,  been feeling a  bit lost since I finished my Alternate Altered book.  

Will do a bit more tomorrow.

What a journey!

It was back to the box.   Now I had my 'white' canvas it was time to start decorating it.  I wanted it to reflect what it was going to hold, which is my set of nature tags.  So I decided to use the Indigo Blu Dandelion Clock stamps.  for the front I just used the background stamp,  and added some blue to give an impression of a sky. I also added a bit more green, using the TH distress inks and a make up sponge, and dabbing as Barbara Gray does.

And since I am a big fan of owls I used another Indigo Blu stamp,  again I carried through the theme of dabbing,  adding light blue,  it was building up nicely.  The images were looking very delicate as well,  partly due to the fact that I'd not sanded the box,  as I wanted it to have that distressed feel. 

I followed round to the other side with the background stamp,  adding more green, and creating the sky,   a lot of dabbing took place!  

I am still wondering whether to go over some of it with the promarkers as I do have the fine tips.   And Mr Owl needs something to sit on! 

So this is the other side,  added the dandelion clock and the flock of birds from my TH mini collection of stamps. 

There wasn't much I could do with the inside, besides it won't be seen,  but I did dab in some blue, and added a nice sentiment.

It was a pleasing afternoons work,  now I just need to fill it up!  So it is back to making lots of tags.   Funny how your work changes,   at the start I just made cards,  some stamping and embossing,  then a lot of decoupage.   I then added scrap booking to the mix, and began to get more adventurous with the card making, using die cutting machines,  shading,  embossing paste,  but it was still cards, or exploding boxes.  Now suddenly I am onto altered books, mini scrap books,  tags and ATC's.  I've begun to learn how to build pictures thanks to Barbara Gray's classroom stuff on create and craft,  and know how to brayer,  use gilding flakes, mica powders... 

I used ribbons, brads, buttons - all sorts of stuff.   Methinks I've come a long way on my crafting journey,  and the amazing thing is that I have still got lots to try and attempt to master.   One thing I've never mastered is parchment work,  which I do like,  but I've tried and tried and just can't get the hang of it.    I can also add to the mix a stab at quilling,  which I found too laborious,  love the finished results and admire those that can do it. 

Oh final picture is of the finished box, with some of my tags inside,  all neatly wrapped in the cello babs.  A great afternoon's work I think, and it will look lovely on our stall. 

So tomorrow it is back to the tags, although I have a freebie of shrink plastic which I may have a go at,   I know how to use it but couldn't resist the freebie!    Also contemplating having a bash at the altered book stuff as well,  need something to keep me occupied and something I can learn from.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend.  Thanks for stopping by.

And it's Friday..

The week seems to have flown by, we even had 3 days of summer!   It's St Swithins Day on Sunday so let us all pray that it is a sunny and dry day!

So project Box started today.  The idea is to turn this plain old box into something attractive that will hold the tags.  The box cost £2.50,  will have to paint it first, then wonder how to decorate it.  I want to use my stamps,  the Indigo Blu stamps mainly.  Then I thought of doing the original decoupage, which is sticking paper on... so many choices. 

Anyway first task was to paint it.  So got some poster paint from supermarket,   now usually paint is paint, but this stuff has a lovely odour, I kid you not, it is kid's paint, but when I began slapping it onto the box I wondered where the nice smell as coming from, then realised it was the paint.

This is the paint in question,  from Tesco.   I did get a tad further than this,  box is now white and drying after umpteen coats.   But that is all for this project till tomorrow.

The rest of the day was the usual mundane stuff, shopping,  dodging rain,  tea with a friend,  also gave her second IT lesson.    Then predictable result from Boots on 3rd visit to pick up my mum's prescription - it wasn't ready!   The other day they maintained that no prescription had been ordered since May,  I equally insisted that they'd delivered one mid June.  I've decided to give their repeat prescription service the push,  it hasn't worked since mum took them up on the offer. Her prescription has either not been there,  not been ready or is in a car being delivered to us!   They started a home delivery service, then stopped it, now it seems to happen every now and then.   Then she runs out of some tablets and has too many of others.   It is just chaotic. They've promised that it will be ready tomorrow - we'll see.

Now I'm wondering about using misters on the box?   My last efforts with misters was a disaster, more on me than on what I was misting.   A fellow crafter, BJ, has made a box for her spraying, maybe that is where I went wrong?    I've got some nice masks I could use...  see now I have too much choice!   Need to get a plan and stick to it. 

Back to painting, box needs one more coat!

Strange yellow thing spotted in sky!

At 6 a.m. this morning I started out of the window in disbelief - a blue sky, some strange yellow thing in the sky?  I felt sure I was dreaming, then thought that by the time it was 'time to get up' the rain clouds would have returned. But no, at 8 a.m.,  the sun was still out!   This wasn't in the forecast yesterday,  then it had us under clouds and rain.   I do feel so sorry for those who have been flooded, especially down in Devon, it must be heartbreaking.

So it was off to the shops to get supplies, pay a bill,  have a cuppa with a friend and a catch up.  On to craft shop... drool,  they had MORE Indigo Blu stamps - could I resist, don't be daft!!    I fell in love with all of them, but could only have one set, so chose the Wild Meadow,  which is just delightful, and very useful.    I took a pic so you can drool as well :-))

So it was soon down to business.   Yes I am making a lot of tags,  that's because I'm selling them on the stall and they are going very well.  I'm sticking with butterflies as everyone seems to want them.  I coloured a Kanban acetate butterfly, left it to dry, and then used the stamps.  I used the foliage stamp at the bottom, then the two dandelion clocks (remember blowing them as a child?),  and a few wisps coming of them.  That was it, keep it simples,  I may do some embossing, or dry resist techinques,  also felt that the brayering would go nicely with this stamp set - so many possibilities!

But it left no room for the lovely sentiment, so.... it is on the back.  I cut more card, patterned card from Hunkdory,  then stamped the sentiment and coloured it.

And it looked like this!   The cardstock was very apt with its gardening theme.    I also like the distressed feel to the sentiment stamp. 

In between crafting I was paying a bit of attention to the tennis,  I felt sure it would be a one sided affair as the Polish girl had a chest infection,  and when she lost the first set 6/1 I thought it would all be over, but it rained and they had to come off court.  When they resumed the Polish girl was looking much more purposeful and made a real fight of it,  in fact she came close to winning.   Of course the big match is tomorrow, hence all my running round today,  won't be budging from my armchair after 2 pm. 

I also decided to glossy accent the poppy I did yesterday,  managed to ungunge the glossy accents,  and with a bit of effort got some to come out of the bottle.  The poppy does look much better,  must get more glossy accents!

The final tag for the day was this one,  variation on a theme I guess you can call it.  This time I used 3 of the kanban butterfly toppers, the small ones,  which set it off nicely.  Again the sentiment is on the back. 

Well by then it was time to start thinking about what to cook for dinner.  Mum was out having coffee with friends,  wasn't bothered at 5pm,  but was by 5.30 pm, tried her mobile several times, and felt sure that at some point I'd get a call from the hospital or something.  At 5.45 pm my mum arrives home, blissfully unaware of how worried I've been.  I keep asking her to keep her mobile switched on while she's out, but she never does.    I think also I'll make a contact card she can put in her purse.   So dinner got cancelled,  and we had sausage butties instead!   Well it is Saturday and I am always cooked out,   once upon a time mum and I shared the cooking, so I used to do the Saturday dinner,  but now I am the full time cook and chief bottle washer.

One more sleep and it is the big match!   Will my nerves hold up?   Probably not. 

Stay safe

What a day!

Well I've been watching all this whats on your WOYWW,   so decided to do my own WOYWBF - which stands for whats on your workbed friday!    I use a very small craft table,  and so the craft stuff gets spread on my bed,  starts out looking oh so neat but chaos soon ensues.   The two large boxes hold my stamps and bits and bob, then there are my plastic boxes,  they have card stock, plain white,  thin card, coloured, mirri, peel offs and ink pads.

It all sort of works. I sit alongside bed, behind me is my PC and deskspace,  which is already taken up with study stuff and The Slice.

This gives a better look at the boxes,  as you can see I am a fan of TH distress inks!   I also have my archival inks,  and Paris trunk, plus versamark and stazon,  along with cut and dry foam - which I now prefer to the applicators.  this is only a small portion of my stash,  there is a lot more in a set of drawers,  more cardstock, envelops,  light box, pastels and peel offs,  Big Bite,  buttons,   brads... I've started using a lovely wooden box to keep the flowers, jewels, ribbons, odds and sods in.  It did have my cassette collection,  all of which I converted to CD.

As for what was on my actual work space?  Not a lot,  this was actually the start of another tag, but then a certain tennis match began!   So knowing I would be totally distracted I put it on hold.

My mum also wanted a bit of company,  she knows I use my bedroom for crafting as it is easier for me.  But with the weather being so lousy she's been cooped up in doors all week pretty much.   So there's me, chewing on nails, nervous tension running through my body and mum?  She is fast asleep!   Mind you she woke up when I cheered at the end. Nice to have something to smile about :-))   Was really glad that it only went to four sets, not sure I could have lasted for a fifth set,  even better was the news that another British man (a local, scouser that is) has made it to the Mens doubles final.

I did manage one piece of crafting before the Murray match, and to prove it, here is the picture.

I do love this poppy stamp as it is so pretty.  A couple of lovely green butterflies floated to the top of my bits and bobs box,  and then I spotted the silver flowers, escapees from an ATC kit!   I just ran the card through my embossing gizmo, then inked it.   Just having to wait till the pinflair sets till I can turn it over and add the sentiment.   Think it also needs some glossy accents? 

I'm seriously tempted by the lates Barbara Gray lesson kit,  18 stamps!   Well it is pay day this week...  mmmmmmm

Will have to do a lot of crafting tomorrow and next week, to make up for lost time,  Wimbledon is just far too distracting.  Only two more days to go!

Thanks for stopping by,  have a safe (and dry) weekend - and can everyone do a Sundance?   We have to do something shift this horrible weather!

Edge of the seat stuff...

The match - Murray V Ferrer, more of that later.  First to a challenge, the Tim Holtz July Tag.  A friend had posted it on our group and I thought I'd have a bash,  but I needed to get one thing,  one of those PC air compressed cleaners.  So grabbed one at the supermarket,  oh and I would like to thank the woman who damn nearly squashed my flowers with her bloody shopping at the checkout - stupid woman!

Anyway back to the tag, you need,  glossy paper,  alcohol inks, the air thingymebob,  stamp,  coredinations card (red and blue), sandpaper, glue,  butchers twine,  distress inks and patience!

TH says to splat one drop of the alcohol ink onto the paper then squirt it with the air thingy,  this was my first effort, which I wasn't too happy with.  I had a few more practices and discoverd that the best way to spread the ink was to keep the air thingy almost level with the card, and to work quickly as the ink dries quickly,  you get a bit more time if you use the glossy paper (I was using Clarity card).

So here is the second attempt,  bit happier with the 'splat',  at least I got it to spread a bit more.  TH used a Statue of Liberty stamp, I chose Big Ben.   I think a bigger stamp would have been better?   So got that bit sorted... next up was to sort out the cardstock. He naturally suggests using his coredination card,  haven't got any so used another version, cut it and sanded it as he had done.   Then TH used one of his distress ink (dabber thing),  didn't have any of those so went with the ordinary ink pad,  tattered something or other.

Then TH had again used some of his metal charm, once again I didn't have any, so just used a sentiment stamp onto a thin strip of card.

Here's the card,   I got it when I bought my Sizzix embossing machine.  Tim's card has a grunge feel,  this has a white core.  I also chose to use a piece of card from the Kanban kit for the back of the tag.

At this point the Murray match started...  time to start chewing nails as his opponent was a tough nut.   It did wonders for my exercise bike regime, was pedalling like mad at one point!   So was distracted by match,  but got on with tag.  Once the sanding was done I inked the edges of the card as he'd done,  added the sentiment.

Then attached some of the twine,  TH had gone mad with a ribbon, but didn't have any plain ribbon, so didn't bother with it.  But quite happy with my first effort.   Not sure if I'd bother with the ink splat thing again,  alcohol inks just aren't meant to be moved around!   I saw something on CnC that did do a very effective splat, so I may investigate them.  It was nice to try something different and challenge myself.

A tip to pass on,  when using alcohol inks if you spill some the best way to clear them up is to use the dilution,  well I decanted some into a mini spray bottle, and it worked a treat in doing the cleaning up.

The match went on for ages, and then the rain came down.  A real nail biter,  I thought Murray may not win as Ferrer is such a good player,  but he hung on in there.   So now have to go through it all again on Friday with the semis!

Thanks for the lovely comments,  much appreciated.

Soggy Monday!

I think heaven must have a leak,  where on earth is all this rain coming from? 

So got stuck into some painting, of doors, and then a bit of crafting,  need to build up the tags again.   A friend sent through the link to the new TH tag,  and so I thought I'd have a go, just didn't have one of those air thingymebobs,  and although I tried to spread the inky blob with a straw it didn't work.    Oh well, back to the drawing board...   So went back to butterflies.  I used one of the kanban acetate butterflies, they are so lovely.   I also used the bit from which the butterfly was punched out as a mask and worked in some green TH distress inks.   Put the card through my gizmo and it was starting to take shape.

I recoloured the butterfly with a promarker pen,  a sentiment, couple of flowers and used my little bird stamp, did that Barbara Gray trick of stamping then blotting,  so I got a faded look.    Very happy with it,  should have taken pics as I went along,   I never think at the time, it is always later.

Then  I am afraid I got distracted by the tennis!  Murray started his match,  they managed to complete one set before the rain set in.  I bet Wimbledon is regretting NOT building the Number One court with a roof!   With wet weather forecast for the week it will take a while to get through some of the matches,  at least the semis and finals won't be affected.

Sorry, got skyped at an inconvenient moment last night,  was supposed to not be skyped, but there you go...   Much nicer day to day,  and more productive but not in a crafting way.  Weather still ropey,   we all need to ask for the Jet Stream to move up so we get some sun, which I think we all need.

Now off for a cuppa and to hit the hay... 

Success...

At last we had a successful Mind Body and Spirit fair.  It has taken a while, and the frustrating thing was that right at the end we had 3 people wanting to have a go at the encaustic scrying, but no time for them to do it, so we missed out on £60.   But we did have a lovely chat to them all, and they took our card. 

It was a funny old day, I was expecting Debbie to pick me up between 9 and 9.30,  but then it got to 9.40 and no sign.  She comes from Sandbach, which involves a drive down the M6 a motorway I don't like, well not that stretch, so I was a tad worried if she'd had an accident.   I checked my mobile, and she said she was on her way... but I rang her,  felt relieved to hear her say she was just pulling into my road, that meant she was safe, phew.  The hold up had been due to a prat of a delivery driver, who refused to offload the delivery due to Elf and Safety!   Oh for God's sake!  What next?  

So we got to the Civic hall a bit later than planned.  I did know where our stall was, so we saved time there.  But we had a lot to set up, a whole new look for the stall,  shelving,  new covers...  it looked really good by the time we'd finished.  As you can see from the picture.  This was my end of our stall, all my encaustic stuff set out,  plus altar cloth as it is called,  you can't make out the prayer stick,  my favourite buddha is there tho! 

I was amazed as my tags started selling,  at last!   It took just one lady to buy one and suddenly the lot went.   Think they were going to use them as bookmarks, those with the flowers were rejected,  so lesson to me, get rid of the flowers, keep them flat!   I was chuffed of course.   Lots of interest for the encaustic work,  some plain curious and others who had already tried their hand at it. 

It was a long day,  up early to make sure I had everything I needed,  which is why I forgot my paper cutter and craft mat!  Doh!    Was annoyed with myself as I had made a list...  at least I had the really important stuff like the iron, waxes and coated cardstock.  We finished around 5.30, and celebrated our profit with a fish and chip supper,  well in my case it was fishcake and chips,  the fish cake was so big it would have made a good curling stone!   I ate less than half of it - why do they make these things so enormous?    Too many chips as well,  but very nice. 

To round off the day I watched the Murray match,  nice of him to delay his match till I got home, I felt sure I'd miss the first set at least.   But what a thriller,  a bit too tense at times, but he did it,   he is such a talented player. 

Today I used my new desk cycle, a mini cycling machine  that fits under your desk.  Saw it featured one of the health pages in the papers and decided to give it a go.  I managed to do 40 minutes during the day, not all at once, wasn't that daft,  but I really did feel the benefit. Really easy to set up as well.  Was watching Barbara Gray while doing my cycling!  

Now it is time to head for my bed.   Sweet dreams all, stay safe, and many thanks for dropping by, your visits are much appreciated.