Deep impressions

A happy Wednesday!   My fran-tage powders arrived and I couldn' t wait to start using them.  I melted some UTEE in a metal container, as Mel had done,  then poured it onto the craft sheet, and then in went the powders,  with such a dull day it was hard to see the result - note to self, get a good lamp!   Then I reheated the lot and stamped in the butterfly.   Chuffed is the word.  I did take note of what Mel said about the stamps and only used my Indigo Blu,  which are solid rubber. 

So tickled with the first success I tried again. This time I added the UTEE a bit at a time,  which made it easier to melt,   for this attempt I used a heart stamp which has a lot of detail on it. Well of course I now want loads of the fran-tage powders! 

No time or rather no light to make anything,  so that will have to wait till tomorrow.   I know a daylight lamp would be the best thing, but they are out of my price range.   I am going to rearrange the room,  put computer desk next to craft desk before I become immobile again.  

I made this yesterday, using the a grungeboard flourish,  which had been inked, stamped and embossed.   For the background I inked and dylusioned the card,  then embossed it,  the red flower is actually a piece of ribbon just wound round and stuck together.    For the mount I stuck on a page from a book,  then dragged a black archival ink pad around it. It is a possibility for the ABAC challenge,  not sure yet.

Aside from the crafting it was a rubbish day,  the usual boring housework had to be done,  mum was in moan mode the entire day!   I made a midweek roast,  waste of time as she only ate some of it.   Got fedupitis I think.   This caring lark ain't what it is cracked up to be.  The gloomy days aren't helping either, I prefer the cold, crisp but sunny days,  not the grey clouds and mizzly rain.   No sign of gold chain, have searched the flat and it isn't here...    I was starting to feel paranoid about posessions, I have a nice rotary watch, which needed a new battery,  so just in case I 'lost' it, I strapped it to my wrist when I went to get the new battery,   just used the nice cheap shop in the Strand,   and got a bargain on the new and longer ASDL cable I needed. 

More crafty play tomorrow,  after I've rearranged this room! 

It's the weekend

The weather is just how I like it, cold but sunny.  Had some frost on the car this morning which was a bit of a shock.  Yesterday I had all my pre op stuff,  very boring,  and they've changed the system,  so whereas it took about 45 minutes before this time it took over 2 hours!  Most of that was spent waiting around

Today was stock up day,   have my op in a couple of weeks so need to make sure I've got the basics in.    So off to craft shop,   I was tempted by some stamps, but stuck to the list, sort of,  only veered away in getting the washables,  seen them on CnC, and was curious.    On the way out I looked round the Christmas display in the garden centre,  and spotted some owls...  well I couldn't resist,  I'm a sucker for owls,  so bought the little one.

Once back home I made this pic.  I got some grunge paper, which I hoped my thinner dies would cut, and yep it worked!  Didn't work with the slice, in fact I think it would probably dull the blade.   It took a few passes through the Bug,  but they were nicely cut.   The detail isn't showing up on the pic, but the flowers were stamped and then embossed.  The heart was dunked in flower soft,  the lettering came from the Slice, then coloured and embossed with the UTEE. 

I then inked a piece of card using Tim Holtz distress inks,  and embossed it with a sizzix folder.

I stamped it before the embossing,  wanted it to look as if it  had been graffitied.   I inked the brick work again to give it definition.   This is one of the Tim Holtz range of folders,  since it was a reasonable price I was happy to buy it.  After all that it was a case of finishing it off, so I used a piece of the washable card,  was interested to see how it would ink, in fact same as card really. 

Worrying time with mum,  she got her new bank card today,  good thing I was here as she was confused thinking they'd sent her a credit card and was all set to cut it up.  Found her sitting in her bedroom when I came back from shopping,   she was giving herself a pep talk,  she's still managing to dress herself, just,  she needs help with her shoes and socks.   Walking is now very difficult for her,  a wheelchair isn't an option as I can't push her as she is just too heavy.   We've considered the electric scooter,  I'm not sure she'd cope with it very well,  or if she bother using it.   She's at the stage where anything unfamiliar frightens her,   nor is she able to taken in instructions,  I've shown her umpteen times how to use the new phone but she still gets confused, the confusion then causes anger and so it becomes a vicious circle.   She was insisting that she could look after herself whilst I was in hospital,  it took some convincing for her to agree that she needed someone here with her. 

Bum side to the week, I lost my gold chain,  I've worn it round my neck for the last 20 odd years, only once has it ever come undone!   I've searched the flat but no sign of it,  can only assume that it came loose when I was out.  Really upset about it,   and its the only thing of value I have.   I know in the grand scheme of things it is a minor thing,  but I still feel upset. 

All for now folks.

A crafty Sunday

My perfect day,  a good nights sleep,  no aches and pains,  no flu like symptoms!    Then horror of horrors - no bacon!  How'd that happen?   It isn't Sunday if I don't have my bacon butty...  quick sortie to corner shop and all was well with the world.   Phew.

I came up with this idea yesterday,  to put an Owl in a Barn.  I thought I could make the beams from the tree bark embossing folder,  and somehow make a suitable background.   It did mean getting very inky,   I had autumnal fingers!    Inked the card for the folders first,  and then used the brayer to blend it all.   Worked out where I wanted the beams to go, inked the card again to pick up the wood grain using the brayer, which then gave me an idea for the background.  In inking the wood grain embossed card, the brayer picked up the pattern, so I used it for the background.

I used one of the chipboard tags,  gave it several coats of gesso,  then some inking,  lots of dabbing.   Then added the sentiment,  used the seam binding for a ribbon. 

I felt that there ought to be foliage,  luckily BJ sent me a whole bag of the stuff ages ago,  so I recoloured some of it and arranged over the 'log' that the owl is sitting on.   I'd curved the piece of card and glued it down,  took quite a bit of 3D glue on the Owl to ensure he was sitting on the log.

As requested just went to check on mum, to make sure she is awake as Strictly is on, she was fast asleep so woke her up as she'd asked,   got my head bitten off...  so she can snooze from now on.

Back to blogging...   where was I?

This is a close up of the wood grain,  and the new TH alphabet (Marketplace).    It is something I'll do again,  as well as using the embossing folders on the brayer for patterns.    Forgot to mention the web, which I stamped onto the grunge board,  then cut round it. 

Already started working on a new piece,  had the background made, so it was a case of finding some bits and bobs to go on to it. 


But need to get going on the calendars again, got a fair coming up and we need stuff to sell.   I will stamp the pieces and then assemble them,  won't take long as I know what it needs to look like.  Also took apart one creation on the canvas board,  it was too messy. 

The board still needs a few more coats of gesso before its useable again.    I may recreate the owl picture on it,  though I have got the flower soft lamp post,  still needing a tad more practice with that, well the little stamps and getting them in the right order.  See through stamps would be better,  especially for such tiddly stamps. 

Here's my promarker owl,  still think the effect is amazing,  it wasn't what I intended to do,  such a lovely flopportunity! 

A good day,  lovely crafting session, very satisfying.  I can only hope that the rest of the week follows suit. 

Hope you've all had a good weekend,  and have a good week.

Feeling rosy - NOT

I had my flu jab yesterday,   since when my arm has been aching and I've felt decidedly grotty! 

Julia complimented me on my embossing,  well trust me it has taken years to get ir right.  I always used to end up with bits of powder,  so I used an anti static bag,  which kind of worked,  then I saw Barbara Gray just using talcum powder and a brush, so I've switched to that method with much better results.   I always keep a fine paint brush handy as well to brush away any stray powder.   The trickiest part has been the actual stamping,  once I had a tendency to over stamp,  but now with a LOT of practice I get it right most of the time!    I would like one of the  newer heat guns that have a dual control,  but that can wait,  the heat gun I use works fine,  and it came with my very first card craft kit which must be over ten years ago. 

For this piece I made a rosette,  but then cut the edges in random fashion!    I cut some flowers and then embossed them with powder,  coppre and holographic black,  I used the web again, but again drew long spidery lines.  The rosette is mounted on a tag,  which I stamped and embossed,  made the tiny bow from a scrap of ribbon,  very fiddly and without the bowmaker!  The middle of the rosette is made from watch parts,   and the lamp post is from the Flower soft range of stamps.   I also started another background, and made some flowers for more projects.  Also got my Tim Holtz alphabet die,  it almost ended up being chucked away as it took a few goes to get it going.   I am using a cuttlebug, but don't think that would have mattered,  I noticed the more I ran it through the Bug, the deeper the die got and the easier it cut.  I would like the extension plates,  just looked around to see how much they are and they'll have to go on the Christmas wish list.   No complaints about the service,  I ordered the die from Amazon, £9.95 plus £1 p&p,  and it arrived the next day.    

I just watched a few videos on Youtube,  some of these videos are fantastic, but two I tried to watch were awful,   what was being filmed wasn't in camera shot,  why don't they watch it back and check to see if it is okay? 

Hoping this yucky flu like feeling disappears soon.   Thanks for stopping by

Two Owls and a pussycat!

Not sure if today has been productive...  I got some grungeboard,  and yes I like it,  but didn't manage cut it with my thin dies :-(   It took the embossing folder very nicely, once I'd sorted out the cutting plates.   After some research and asking friends seems like grunge board won't cut with thin dies, but it will take the sizzix dies.  Hey ho.

The last few days have been very creative.  First was my floppertunity with the owl,  rather than colouring with the promarkers I dabbed on the ink and got this fab effect.  For the background I cut a tag,  then used the spiders web stamp, used some copper embossing powder on it,   and the thick white enamel powder on the edges. 

I also finished my swap card,  think you can spot the spiders web!   I used two more stamps from the Hocus Pocus set,  for the main pic I went with the white enamel,   and I embossed the orange card behind it.  The theme/technique was 'embossing',  so I think I just about covered all bases.  I used some coredinations card for the main background - must remember that you can also scrunch it up,  I always seem to forget that.

But happy with this effort.

Finally the pussycat,  this was a birthday card for a group member.  The cat stamp is a favourite,  can't remember how long I've had it.  I got some copper and black embossing powder,  also had a go at recolouring the holographic powder with some alcoholic ink.  I used a spellbinders embossing folder for the copper card. 

Not sure what is on the agenda tomorrow,  there is something I have to plan... 

Thanks for stopping by.

A very crafty day

I had one of those days when the craft just went smoothly...  

Julia asked about the use of PVA glue and embossing powder.  So,  it came about as a happy accident,   I was using the glue to apply glitter, then changed my mind and wanted to use embossing powder, I wondered what would happen if I combined the two... the answer is this - see pic.   In this example I've used a thick enamel powder,  but using the glue lets you 'draw' where you want the powder,  great for when

you may want an uneven edge,  or random edging.    I apply the glue and then the powder,  then leave it to dry,  if the glue is too wet you can get a gooey mess.

This one has  been done with the gold embossing powder,  and you can see how you can get a lovely effect with the glue which worked well on this bookatrix creation.   In this pic the glue is still drying, so the powder hasn't been heat set.

Julia also asked what Bookatrix is...

Not sure if this pic helps.   I guess the best way to describe it is as a faux book,  you can add up to 4 pages,  or is it 5?   Each page goes down in size,  and an embossing board is used,   not sure if it was the Glitter Girls who had the original idea, they do sell the boards.   The pic shows the last page for this particular 'book' on the board,  still to be cut out.   I used to have problems with the embossing, then I switched to bigger ball tool, and use a tumble dryer sheet to make the ball tool run smoother.

So after all that... here's the finished article.  Pretty much removed from the original idea, which had been to use the Hocus Pocus stamps.  Instead I've used Clarity stamps.   I aged the final page,  inking and the like, plus the old plastic bag trick,  then I added the embossing powder, there is also some round the mini picture,  the edge of the mini pic has been cut with a ragged edge,  the edges then were dabbed with a versamark pad.

I was having a look through the challenges and spotted that one was birds, bees or butterflies.  So I got my large owl stamp,   stamped him onto Clarity paper.  The idea then was to colour him with the pro markers,  so I did, but I began dabbing with the chunky end,  then realised I was getting this lovely effect.   By dabbing I was of course releasing more of the alcohol, so was getting that alcohol ink effect - which I love.  It was a complete accident.  The clarity paper is glossy, or coated,  so it has a lovely sheen to it.   I do like happy accidents,  although someone yesterday called them 'floppertunties',  which is just as delightful.

So one project finished,  one near clompletion and believe it or not I did some prep work for the Sunday stampers challenge, which is 'metal',  very handy as my bag of  steampunk watch parts is on its way.     I can only hope that the creative juices keep flowing as they did today.  Note to self,  don't exceed your reach!

Thanks for stopping by...  hope you have a good week

A different view

A few years ago I bought a bookatrix board, used a few times then stored it.  This morning I was watching CnC and saw the board being used for some grunge art!   Now that had never occured to me,  not sure why as there is no reason that bookatrix can'be used for altered art work.  So after a declicious lie in I set to work.

I decided to use the Hocus Pocus stamps,  so wanted an autumnal look to the backgrounds.  I used some alcohol inks on some gold mirri,  then stamped round the edges.

Part two was the middle layer.  This time I used plain orange cardstock.  A combo of Pva and thick embossing enamel helped make the fancy edge,  this time I left it to dry before using the heat gun.  I got the look I wanted!    Then to the final piece, made a good start,  bit of stamping, inking etc,  then decided I wasn't happy with it, but knew what I wanted to do.  So this piece will be finished off tomorrow.   My own fault as I was dithering over which stamps to use, one side worked, the other side didn't.   At least I have two bits done. 

Also had a lucky find on ebay,  I was after some steampunk stuff, but frankly the prices wanted for just a few pieces is a bit steep.  So I typed in watch parts,  and bingo,  seems like watchmakers have cottoned on to us steampunk fans,  lots of watch parts by the bag load!    Yeah you can be the cog dies, but you can't get the itsy bitsy ones. 

A very productive two days, swap card now made and ready to go into post,  a birthday card to make...   And must look round at the challenges, see if I can make any next week.  

All for now...    Oh almost forgot, a tip when using alcohol inks,  the dilution mix comes in a bottle, I've transferred it to a small spray bottle,  works much better that way,  and lets you clean up your craft mat as well.