tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-86244935244046029642024-03-14T06:31:22.541+00:00Craft Stamping QuartetJohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09728636504467342180noreply@blogger.comBlogger91125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8624493524404602964.post-11220580185637637502015-01-10T08:00:00.000+00:002015-01-10T08:00:00.952+00:00An autumnal wreath (posted by Elaine)It's my turn to follow Lesley's lovely Christmas themed wreath. I think I must have had some idea that I would be behind as usual when I decided not to make a Christmas wreath for our shared project! I love leaves and I know quite a few of my CSQ projects have featured them, so I decided to go for an autumn themed project this time. <br />
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In the run up to Christmas I saved a couple of pieces of thin brown kraft type card used in the middle of rolls of Christmas wrapping paper to keep them rigid. I knew they would come in handy for a craft project and this material formed the basis of nearly all the leaves on my wreath. First of all I die cut leaves using the Tim Holtz Tattered Leaf die. <br />
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I added colour with Distress Inks in Wild Honey, Spiced Marmalade, Vintage Photo, Forest Moss and Aged Mahogany and then ran the leaves through the Big Shot with the matching Tattered Leaf embossing folder. I added highlights on the leaves with Treasure Gold gilding wax in Florentine and Onyxite. <br />
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Next I used the Penny Black Filigree Foliage cling stamps, stamping in Coffee Archival ink on 300 gsm smooth watercolour paper. I fussy cut the leaves and added colour with the same Distress Inks. Remind me not to use such thick paper in future if I plan to fussy cut so much - ouch! <br />
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Next I cut more leaves from the recycled brown card using a Prima Bigz Arbour die. I again added ink and gilding wax to highlight. <br />
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The base for my wreath was a wire ring. I don't think I had really thought through how I was going to attach my leaves to the ring, although I had wondered about wiring everything on. <br />
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I decided to add a touch of green to lift it all from too much dull brown and I used a lovely olivey green wired ribbon which I fixed into position with some florists wire. <br />
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From then on, I decided the best way to fix my leaves into place was to use red line tape around the wire and onto the back of each leaf, leaving one side of the backing tape in place. This gave me a base to stick other leaves onto and I worked to build up the layers. <br />
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My finishing touch was to add some twigs cut from chocolate brown card using a Memory Box die, some artificial berries and Chinese Lanterns and some little pine cones that had been lurking in my Christmas decoration box for about a hundred years! </div>
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This is the final wreath completed and I have to say I am delighted with it and pleased it has turned out to be a good alternative to all the Christmassy colours that have adorned our house in recent weeks. It has been hard taking a good pic of the whole wreath so here are a couple, anyway, you get the idea!<br />
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I really enjoyed making this wreath and now feel like I might try to make a similar project for each season in suitable colours and designs. This was a really enjoyable project so thank you to Judith for choosing it! We are looking forward to seeing what design you come up with in due course. </div>
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I am being cheeky using our shared blog to enter this project for the <a href="http://ourcreativecorner6.blogspot.co.uk/2015/01/christmas-leftovers.html">Christmas Leftovers challenge</a> at Our Creative Corner. I rarely get time to enter challenges, but when I saw this one and realised that my developing wreath was largely made from the left overs of the rolls of wrapping paper and the little cones from my decorations box and has been assembled since Christmas, I thought it would qualify for inclusion! </div>
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Thank you for popping by. Your ongoing support for our rather neglected blog is so much appreciated. </div>
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Elaine </div>
Elainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15831411538306216262noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8624493524404602964.post-30257842614928877522014-12-30T22:04:00.001+00:002014-12-30T22:04:19.890+00:00A Belated Happy Christmas! (from Craftymamma)At last ........Hello, welcome and I hope anyone who is kind enough to drop by (after all the time that has elapsed since our last post) has had a wonderful Christmas spent in whatever way you enjoy the most.<br />
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Way back when we were posting our last project Judith made the fab suggestion of making wreaths for our next one. I don't think any of us anticipated it would take us quite so long to get round to them but I actually managed to make mine by the end of November. My problem was finding time to take decent photos but I got there in the end and I have to say I'm really pleased with my first ever wreath. We didn't have to stick to a Christmas theme (and I don't know if my buddies decided to take a different route) but as it's my favourite time of year for decorations I'm glad I did as my wreath has been on display for several weeks now ;-).<br />
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I totally forgot to take any photos of various stages so my apologies. There weren't any really complicated techniques though and I found this such a relaxing project to do. I bought the lovely rustic twig wreath from Hobbycraft and the two cute cherubs were just 25p each from my local supermarket. Originally they were a garish bright gold with awful glittered wings as you can see below but after a PaperArtsy Fresco Finish paint treatment and some touches of Treasure Gold paste they looked beautiful!</div>
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this was before the Treasure Gold was added</div>
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and this was after and I liked them so much I went back a got a couple more, lol!</div>
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I then plucked up courage to raid my stash of gorgeous Christmas papers, which I lovingly stroke every year but rarely use and put my Tim Holtz poinsettia die to hard work cutting out lots of flowers. I cut a few extra of the largest layer and cut them into individual 'leaves' to fill out my arrangement then inked the edges of every leaf and petal with Black Archival ink. I then shaped each one by using a round ended tool on the reverse before layering them to make the flowers. I used some black seed beads for the centres.</div>
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I arranged them all on my wreath and adhered them with Liquitex heavy duty gel. I tied on some strips of hessian and some twists of paper covered wire which I also used to attach the vintage looking glass bauble. .</div>
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Finally, I painted 2 small MDF tags with PaperArtsy FF, added some stamped scrolls, a sentiment and some hessian threads and attached them with the gel. I didn't tie them on because I wanted them to stay in position. I used a piece of hessian cord which I'd saved from somewhere (as you do ;D) with which to hand my wreath. Ooh, nearly forgot, when everything was stuck down and dry I hung it outside and sprayed it with a Tattered Angels mica spray. I think it was Dewdrop but it was so long ago I'm not sure, lol! I think the subtle sparkle shows best on the close up of the cherub & flowers if you click one the pic.</div>
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I hope you all enjoyed my little touch of Christmas decor and I'd like to take this opportunity of thanking you all for your visits, especially if you have time to leave a comment and for sticking with us through our infrequent blogging habits. We must try to do better in the new year!</div>
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My good wishes to everyone and may 2015 bring you all happiness and good health.</div>
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Hugs</div>
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Lesley Xx </div>
craftimammahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00997146794724712348noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8624493524404602964.post-8813362113927714892014-06-13T15:49:00.000+01:002014-06-13T21:20:33.284+01:00Fabric and Flowers (posted by Judith)Hi Folks, well it's my turn to post my little accordian style book, as suggested by Elaine, and inspired by Kate Crane.<br />
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I decided very early on that I wanted to use fabric as the basis for my book inspired by the work of <a href="http://yoursartfully.blogspot.co.uk/">Lin Brown</a> whose work I admire so much. I was very lucky to attend one of her workshops recently covering this very subject, so it helped my project along enormously!<br />
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I started by cutting out some watercolour pages to 5" x 5", as this was the size that I wanted to work on. I covered all of the pages with fabric, using Bondaweb, and gave them a wash of colour using Paper Artsy paints. I added stencilling, stamping, and in some cases, some texture paste through stencils as well. I coloured some of the texture paste before I used it with paint for my front and back covers, saving time colouring the paste afterwards.<br />
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I stamped several images onto sparkly acetate, and also onto spare watercolour paper, which I painted with the paints to co-ordinate with my backgrounds. I then stuck the acetate to the painted images before I added them to the backgrounds.<br />
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I have used a couple of Lin Brown stencils on this page, which is the front cover of my book, and a Paper Artsy butterfly.<br />
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On these two pages, I have added some lace painted with paint to tie into my colour scheme, and some stamps by Jo Capper-Sandon join the Paper Artsy stamps.<br />
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I have watercoloured some stamped flowers directly onto the fabric on these pages, and added more stencilling. This time I have added script to the stencilling as well. The words are stamped onto painted fabric.</div>
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I have added a flower stamped onto black card to this page and another little Jo Capper-Sandon butterfly on sparkly acetate. The foliage was stamped in white, and given a colourwash of yellow and orange.<br />
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I have added fabric tags to these two pages, stapling the fibres to the tags instead of tying them in the traditional way.<br />
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Finally on my back cover, I have added scraps of tinted lace along with the Jo Capper-Sandon stamps. More textured stencilling completes the background. I have dry brushed the edges of all of my pages with paint, using a variety of colours to tone in with each page. I also added some fabric tabs between the pages for interest.<br />
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My construction is not the same as Kate's, I have hidden the ends of my pages within the concertina folds, preferring an edge to edge look inside the book. I went for black card, like Elaine, as I felt that it complimented my bright colours and black stamping.<br />
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I have enjoyed the process of making my little book, and hope that you like the end result. Thanks for stopping by, Judith xxjudith@poppy cottagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02349185898726220561noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8624493524404602964.post-54243898503446430482014-05-28T14:06:00.000+01:002014-05-28T14:35:43.734+01:00If I had wings (posted by Elaine) <span style="font-family: Mangal;">Elaine here, posting the second of our book projects after
our decision to re-launch our shared blog here, just when everyone had given up
on us! </span><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1MLMTMivSUo/U4XeHRvWhNI/AAAAAAAAGDI/l1lPO7eGzNk/s1600/Book+small+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1MLMTMivSUo/U4XeHRvWhNI/AAAAAAAAGDI/l1lPO7eGzNk/s1600/Book+small+1.jpg" height="320" width="261" /></a></div>
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<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Mangal;">I have to confess, this project is Mark 2 for me. I started
off well with my initial idea, but it went a bit pear shaped! That one may
appear in due course on my own blog. Anyway, here is my take on the accordian
book. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Mangal;">I recently purchased the Hardwood stamp from Stampin' Up. I
love wood effect backgrounds so I knew this would be well used in my
collection. The shape of the stamp guided me to a rectangular format for my
book, and I stamped each page in Cobalt Blue archival ink on grey card. I added
shading around the edges in Stormy Sky and Frayed Burlap Distress Inks to give
an aged effect.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I knew I wanted
continuity through the pages, so chose the same colour background throughout
and added the same leaves - using a Dylusions stamp. I fussy cut the leaves and
added colour with Distress Markers. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Mangal;">I love insects, (unless they are the biting kind!!!) and my
stamp collection has many different variations. I have recently been index
stamping my collection (it is still a work in progress), but it has made
choosing and finding stamps so much easier when I have a theme in mind. My various
insect stamp choices are stamped in Cobalt archival and unusually (for me)
coloured with chalks. This really suited the muted colour palette I was looking
for. The butterflies for my cover come from Stamp Camp and Crafty Individuals.
The postmark used on the cover and throughout the book comes from the Mail Art
set from Chocolate Baroque and the sentiment is from a Sam Poole set from
Creative Expressions. </span></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pLvpTJRQwdY/U4XeR0OwkwI/AAAAAAAAGDU/E0XkRRagANs/s1600/Book+small+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pLvpTJRQwdY/U4XeR0OwkwI/AAAAAAAAGDU/E0XkRRagANs/s1600/Book+small+2.jpg" height="223" width="320" /></a></div>
<!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Mangal;">The first set of inside pages uses butterfly stamps from
Indigo Blu (one of which was a freebie on Craft Stamper magazine). The
silhouette butterfly is from a Martha Stewart set. The sentiment comes from a
Lindsay Mason Doo Lally Pip set I purchased from the last Ally Pally show from
AliCraft and I used the same set for the rest of the book. </span><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PDQqmtv3JGw/U4Xey6LlDNI/AAAAAAAAGDY/l_Svp3BA7qM/s1600/Book+small+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PDQqmtv3JGw/U4Xey6LlDNI/AAAAAAAAGDY/l_Svp3BA7qM/s1600/Book+small+3.jpg" height="223" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Mangal;">The second set of pages uses the beautiful Stampotique bee
stamps designed by Jo Capper Sandon. These stamps have been shamefully
underinked since joining my collection and I am delighted to have given them an
outing! The silhouette bees come from a Quietfire set. </span><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7AMy9mEQRvs/U4Xe9Bxw2PI/AAAAAAAAGDg/QCSpzbFHlws/s1600/Book+small+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7AMy9mEQRvs/U4Xe9Bxw2PI/AAAAAAAAGDg/QCSpzbFHlws/s1600/Book+small+4.jpg" height="222" width="320" /></a></div>
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<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Mangal;">The final set of pages uses dragonfly stamps from Visible
Image and a clear stamp I have forgotten the brand of! The tiny dragonfly which
is virtually invisible is from Crafty Individuals. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Mangal;">I mounted my book pages into black card for contrast. I puzzled
about the construction after Lesley's experience and in the end decided to
completely "internalise" my concertina, by sticking it between folded
sets of pages. I made a little trial version to make sure it worked like me
head told me it should!!! You can sort of see how it is put together in this
pic. </span></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-g78keqARzRA/U4XfHkvgPfI/AAAAAAAAGDo/7t6H9kCw48s/s1600/Book+small+5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-g78keqARzRA/U4XfHkvgPfI/AAAAAAAAGDo/7t6H9kCw48s/s1600/Book+small+5.jpg" height="249" width="320" /></a></div>
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<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]--><!--[endif]--><span style="font-family: Mangal;">It has been great to have the push of getting a project
together for our shared blog again after all this time. I have really enjoyed
making this book with some of my favourite subjects, images and colours. Thank
you for taking the time to stop by and having a look and do be sure to pop back
later to see the projects from other girls. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Mangal;">Elaine </span></div>
Elainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15831411538306216262noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8624493524404602964.post-31046665062710146382014-05-16T07:30:00.000+01:002014-05-16T07:30:00.033+01:00And We're Off!Helloooooooo!!!<br />
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Long time, no see on this poor neglected little blog! First of all many thanks to anyone who drops by to see the first project post in a blooming long time but there you go, life gets in the way sometimes doesn't it.<br />
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Elaine liked a little book of Kate Crane's which you can see <a href="http://thekathrynwheel.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/happy-christmas.html">here</a> and suggested it as inspiration for our return round of projects so today I have my version to show you. Now confession time! I started this several months ago and made some very basic mistakes and almost binned it but I kept it on one side and decided to have a faff last week to see if I could make it presentable. Having learned from my mistakes I could do a much better job on another one but thought it only fair to show my gaffs, lol!<br />
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Unfortunately, I forgot to take step by step photos and because most of it was done a while ago I have almost forgotten what I did but I'll tell you what I can remember.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mQ-kQ3FQAdA/U3Uz0ycnKDI/AAAAAAAADak/YOGq6aizPZ0/s1600/CSQ+Mini+Book+Project,+May+2014+-+1b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mQ-kQ3FQAdA/U3Uz0ycnKDI/AAAAAAAADak/YOGq6aizPZ0/s1600/CSQ+Mini+Book+Project,+May+2014+-+1b.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
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First of all I created a concertina 'spine' from black card. I chose to have 3 pages plus front & back covers so needed a total of 5 valley folds.</div>
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I then cut 5 pieces of black card 4" x 8". I decided to colour my backgrounds with PaperArtsy Fresco Finish paints so I put puddles of paint on my craft mat one colour at a time, spritzed quite liberally with water and then dragged my pieces of card through. I dried with my heat gun between each colour and kept adding colour until I had an effect I liked and good coverage. I then used various stencils and Fresco Finish Snowflake paint to create the next layer.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-e_jLIuNG77E/U3Uz99PHm3I/AAAAAAAADa0/Ay1wmzgQcBw/s1600/CSQ+Mini+Book+Project,+May+2014+-+3b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-e_jLIuNG77E/U3Uz99PHm3I/AAAAAAAADa0/Ay1wmzgQcBw/s1600/CSQ+Mini+Book+Project,+May+2014+-+3b.jpg" height="209" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
Next, I used a selection of PaperArtsy's JoFYstamps to stamp on each page with black Archival Ink. I also stamped the flower heads onto white card and heat embossed with clear EP before dragging out my much neglected Twinkling H2Os to colour them with. I also added some of this colour to the stamping on the pages.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OCutCT75R6A/U3U0BbDwnRI/AAAAAAAADa8/kyit6enfgzM/s1600/CSQ+Mini+Book+Project,+May+2014+-+4b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OCutCT75R6A/U3U0BbDwnRI/AAAAAAAADa8/kyit6enfgzM/s1600/CSQ+Mini+Book+Project,+May+2014+-+4b.jpg" height="189" width="320" /></a></div>
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I folded each of my pages in half and stuck the blank sides together with double sided tape so that I had five 4" x 4" pages. I cut out the separate flower heads and decoupaged them onto the pages with dimensional glue. I also decided to add a few highlights with a white Posca Pen.</div>
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Then came the assembly ...... and this was where I realised my mistake! It's glaringly obvious now, lol, but have you guessed it yet? I had forgotten to allow for sticking the pages to the concertina and had stamped over the whole page and even some of the raised elements and wording ended up being slightly covered by the black 'mountain' folds. Never mind, we learn by our mistakes and I don't think I'll make that one again ;D. </div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5MeQecX5Shw/U3U0MpC6FGI/AAAAAAAADbM/flc0UTY91Iw/s1600/CSQ+Mini+Book+Project,+May+2014+-+6b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-5MeQecX5Shw/U3U0MpC6FGI/AAAAAAAADbM/flc0UTY91Iw/s1600/CSQ+Mini+Book+Project,+May+2014+-+6b.jpg" height="196" width="320" /></a></div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
I cut some strips of fairly thin black paper and used a border punch to decorate the edges before folding them in half and sticking them over each concertina fold to give a more finished appearance. Finally I used some 7Gypsies sticky backed fabric tape to hold the spine together.</div>
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In the end my little book didn't turn out too badly I don't think. The part I was most pleased with was the paint & stencil layers in the background.<br />
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Well, that's the end of my post for today. I have no idea which of my lovely buddies will finish their project next or exactly when but as we all have different commitments now our posts will be as and when we can fit them in. I do hope you'll keep an eye open for when they pop up and let us know you dropped in by leaving a comment if you have time.<br />
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Hugs<br />
Lesley Xx <br />
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<br />craftimammahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00997146794724712348noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8624493524404602964.post-18474689173579887392014-04-14T10:57:00.000+01:002014-04-14T10:57:59.771+01:00We're coming Back!It's been a long time since there has been any activity on our joint blog. We have had lots of ups and downs in our lives and so we have been unable to devote any time to our shared crafting space. However, after some discussion, we have decided that we want to try to reactivate the Craft Stamping Quartet.<br />
<br />
I hope that you will keep an eye out for the posts that will follow in the next few days and join us again on our joint journey. We have a lovely project to start with. We will not be following the same format as we did in the past, in that we mainly stuck to projects from Craft Stamper magazine for our inspiration. We are going to use lots of other sources that are available to us as crafters these days like Pinterest, for example, but that will just make things a bit more interesting! <br />
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<a href="http://craftshedgirl.blogspot.co.uk/">Elaine</a> <a href="http://littlepeachtree.blogspot.co.uk/">Jo</a> <a href="http://poppycottage.blogspot.co.uk/">Judith</a> <a href="http://craftymammalovenhugs.blogspot.co.uk/">Lesley</a> xxjudith@poppy cottagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02349185898726220561noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8624493524404602964.post-64622775121007618552012-06-18T22:00:00.000+01:002012-06-18T22:00:31.528+01:00In the blink of an eye....(posted by Judith)Well, it seems an age since the girls came to stay for a few days, but I wanted to let you know how we all got on, and post one or two pictures of our time together.<br />
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The weather was absolutely atrocious for most of the few days that we spent together, so sadly, we didn't manage to spend our afternoons drinking tea outside in the garden. My OH had spent a considerable amount of time trying to get the garden looking just so, in time for the arrival of our VIP guests.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xwtx1UDKx4A/T9-L67Wkz7I/AAAAAAAACo4/1_rEE4MpLK4/s1600/026.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xwtx1UDKx4A/T9-L67Wkz7I/AAAAAAAACo4/1_rEE4MpLK4/s320/026.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>We have lots of little areas around the house for sitting and relaxing, but not in a downpour! So we stayed inside, and made the best of the bad weather. We still ate plenty of cakes......<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eNrf2TeRgD4/T9-Mc37zQPI/AAAAAAAACpA/APHDoaj8tLA/s1600/002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="283" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eNrf2TeRgD4/T9-Mc37zQPI/AAAAAAAACpA/APHDoaj8tLA/s320/002.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Elaine was our cake maker extraordinaire for the trip and she made some Apple Scones. Chocolate and Orange cupcakes, and my personal favourite, Lemon Drizzle cake.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JVa6N8yG7f0/T9-NB7oCgyI/AAAAAAAACpI/KX4qoqkePnI/s1600/001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JVa6N8yG7f0/T9-NB7oCgyI/AAAAAAAACpI/KX4qoqkePnI/s320/001.JPG" width="263" /></a></div>She got to grips with my range cooker and knew where everything was in the kitchen by the time she was ready to leave!<br />
One of the days the girls were here, Linda Elbourne came to see us, and taught a class for us. We made a great project incorporating an altered suitcase and a mini book. It was lovely to see Linda, and to catch up with her. We took a class with her when we had our last holiday together, so this was a little bit of history repeating itself.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YfmvMB5S58Q/T9-RvdLC8zI/AAAAAAAACpY/JCxcZ508lxk/s1600/002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="269" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YfmvMB5S58Q/T9-RvdLC8zI/AAAAAAAACpY/JCxcZ508lxk/s320/002.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>This is my suitcase all finished with its little labels and the paint job all done. My book is almost finished as well, but it need the holes for the book rings. My Big Bite just can't quite manage the job, so my OH is going to make the holes for me. Linda had a fabulous tool that makes holes in leather belts that made her holes. This is her book:<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-U58x8I9tr8o/T9-S4FSHV_I/AAAAAAAACpg/LqjgP9XQZoQ/s1600/007.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-U58x8I9tr8o/T9-S4FSHV_I/AAAAAAAACpg/LqjgP9XQZoQ/s320/007.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>We spent far too much time chatting as per usual, and didn't get our project finished during the class. That's always the way I'm afraid! Linda was telling us that she is hanging up her crafting hat for a while, and becoming a pub landlady, you may have seen the announcement on her blog. She will be crafting again once she is settled, but she will be busy getting herself sorted out to start with. Happily for me, she will still be within driving distance of where I live, so I may have to stop in for a Pimm's!<br />
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We had another visitor the next day, Paula Whittaker. She lives not that far from me, and she came and had a crafting session with us as well. We were very honoured to see some of her fabulous creations that she had brought with her. It is lovely to get to know crafters online, but even more special when you get to meet them face to face.<br />
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So after all the weeks of planning, and emails flying backwards and forwards, our time together has been and gone. I hardly dare tell my OH that we'd like to do it all again next year......!<br />
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Judith xxjudith@poppy cottagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02349185898726220561noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8624493524404602964.post-18149252063018578872012-06-01T10:18:00.002+01:002012-06-01T10:18:50.712+01:00Four days to go! (posted by Judith)Well, it's been a long time since there has been a post on our poor neglected blog, and we are sorry for that. Life has taken over recently, and we have all had our fair share of ups and downs.<br />
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Hopefully over the next week, you will see a few more posts from us, as the Craft Stamping Quartet are having a holiday together in Norfolk! The girls are coming to stay at my house, Poppy Cottage, and we hope to craft together and spend some quality time catching up with each other.<br />
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We have decided that we are going to try to do a bit of sightseeing while they are staying, but the most important thing on the agenda is afternoon tea, and cake every day.<br />
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To that end, I have been collecting new, borrowed, and charity shop bits and pieces ready for their arrival. My Mother in law has been a great help to me, as she has vast cupboards full of crockery, so she has lent me some treasures. The glass dish is a 1937 coronation dish, which will be great for strawberries to go with the cakes, don't you think? The teapot is one of my wedding presents, and only comes out for high days and holidays. The Cake stand is actually new from a Laura Ashley sale, it is enamel, and very pretty. Everything else came from charity shops, and cost very little. I have a few other bits that I haven't photographed, but today is a bit grey outside, and I think that it's going to rain.<br />
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Behind where I was standing when I took the photograph is this beauty at the moment:<br />
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I absolutely love wisteria, and we inherited this one when we moved here. I consider myself very lucky to have this treat every Spring.<br />
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Well, I'm sure we'll be back with more updates of our time together in a few days, thanks for stopping by, Judith xxjudith@poppy cottagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02349185898726220561noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8624493524404602964.post-61926021711216592352012-01-02T11:03:00.000+00:002012-01-02T11:03:38.132+00:00Must try harder! (posted by Jo)What would we do without New Year and a chance to start afresh with the motivation that only saying goodbye to Christmas can bring? I love Christmas but afterwards am so keen to get things sorted out. My last six months have been almost completely craft free so to make anything would be a resolution in itself. But I've tracked my dry spell down to three things which I think will help me keep my juices flowing.<br />
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I am like so many crafters and have lots and lots of unused stash. I am in danger of becoming a mere collector. So often I find that when I rediscover something I can't remember why I bought it in the first place. So my first resolution is, when I buy something new, to make a note of the technique or project I want to use it for. <br />
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My second resolution is to be more open-minded about what materials I use. Since I have been crafting less I have not been able to keep up with what is fashionable in the crafting world. So I need to achieve results using what I already have and even pull in materials not intended for crafting. I hope this will make my work a bit more original too as I am not slavishly following recipes.<br />
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Thirdly I want to follow the advice of my good friend <a href="http://poppycottage.blogspot.com/">Judith</a>. I am the only one of our Quartet who doesn't have a dedicated crafting space. It means I don't have a room or studio to worry about keeping tidy but it also means that when I want to craft I have to trawl round the house looking for things in all the odd cupboard corners I have to keep my stuff. I also have to put it all back again at the end of the session. If I only have an hour free to craft then most of it is spent getting out and putting away. Judith suggested having a little portable kit so that I can craft from my armchair without too much effort when I come home from work in the evening. I have a KP2 which is a very useful tote. But I have been using it for storage. Now I am going to fill it with my most used equipment and a couple of project boxes and bring it out in the evenings to make better use of my limited spare time. <br />
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I lost all motivation before Christmas and worried that I was no longer even trying to find crafting time. But I am feeling strong urges to get started again now so I am looking forward to having something to show on here again soon.<br />
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I hope you are all feeling refreshed and bursting with ideas ready to start the New Year. I know many of you craft your way through sad times and adversity and I hope it gives you as much joy and strength as seeing what you make gives to me.<br />
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Happy 2012, everyone!Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09728636504467342180noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8624493524404602964.post-50836516439492667402012-01-01T10:11:00.000+00:002012-01-01T10:11:57.820+00:00My resolutions (posted by Elaine)As Judith and Lesley have already said, life has been pretty hectic for us all lately, but we are starting 2012 intending to try harder to keep up with our shared projects this year. <br />
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Like the other girls I mean to try and keep my craft area tidier, keep on top of Christmas card making through the year and make better use of things I have already. Here are my specific resolutions though!<br />
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Firstly, I keep looking at projects on different blogs that incorporate machine sewing. I really like the effect and although I have traditionally used an old Singer treadle sewing machine for my sewing, I do now have large and small electric machines, so I have no excuse, but to make time to get practising and try and master this skill to add a new dimension to my projects. <br />
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Secondly, in order to make better use of my stash, I have resolved to stop buying loads of stamps I don't get around to using. (The trouble is there are such a lot of amazing images out there!). So, I will really try to get all my stamps indexed and organised by subject this year and that will need to include cleaning them properly and putting them away when I have used them! This is what happens when I don't and I have to have a massive clean up and it is very tedious!<br />
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Lastly, I really want to try and make more time for experimental and fun crafting, instead of always meeting deadlines and planning all the things I make instead of going with the flow, and I really hope some of that crafty playtime can be spent with the other quartet girls this year - that would really be special. <br />
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Happy New Year everyone - enjoy your crafting and make every minute count!<br />
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Elaine xElainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15831411538306216262noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8624493524404602964.post-65970223028558647372011-12-31T01:18:00.000+00:002011-12-31T01:18:57.511+00:00My Crafting New Year Resolutions (posted by Lesley)Hello Everyone and thanks for stopping by,<br />
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First of all I'd like to add my apologies to those from Judith for our lack of posts during 2011. Life did throw us a few curved balls which had a habit of getting in the way of our crafting fun, in my case either by stealing my 'me' time or blocking my mojo. I am going to start the New Year with positive thoughts that 2012 is not going to be a repeat which leads me onto my three New Year crafting resolutions.<br />
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Like Judith, and probably at least 95% of the crafting population, my craftroom has degenerated into a complete tip to the point that I can hardly ever find what I am looking for without a lengthy search and lots of my lovely craft goodies are going unused simply because I forget they are there under all the piles of stuff or I manage without them because I don't have room to get anything else out. What a terrible waste that is so I too am going to have a mega tidy up over January (that's how long it will take me I'm sure) and will endeavour to maintain some semblance of order in my little haven.<br />
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My second resolution is also one of Judith's because this year I left it so late to make Christmas cards that I didn't do any at all other than design team ones. I feel really ashamed about this because I love making Christmas cards and have hundreds of stamps. I had to use the DT ones to send to my crafting friends and that added to my guilty feelings because I like to make each card with a specific person(s) in mind so I am determined that in 2012 I will try to make a few cards throughout the year with the big push being done about October when I should be starting to feel a few Christmas vibes, lol!<br />
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My third resolution is to do my best to complete some of the wonderful projects I still have unfinished from workshops and the Paradise Retreat with Glenda Waterworth and her then team. Most of these date back to 2010 and I know I will so enjoy finishing them if I stop thinking about them and actually get on with them. I'm a slowish crafter anyway but I do spend far too much time 'thinking' (read faffing there) about what to do instead of really 'doing' it.<br />
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Well, that's my three crafting resolution for 2012. I bet yours will match them by at least 65%, lol?<br />
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All that remains for this post is to wish each and everyone of you a happy, healthy and peaceful New Year.<br />
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Lots of love<br />
Lesley Xxcraftimammahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00997146794724712348noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8624493524404602964.post-74010107768272669682011-12-29T14:41:00.000+00:002011-12-29T14:41:38.274+00:00New Year's Resolutions (posted by Judith)Well, several months ago, I spoke about our next project and hoped that we would be back shortly to show you what we had all been making. Sadly we have all been affected by illness either ourselves, or that of a family member. Our crafting commitments have kept us busy, and life in general has kept us on our toes.<br />
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<a href="http://craftshedgirl.blogspot.com/">Elaine</a> suggested that we all post our New Year crafting resolutions before we start 2012 afresh on our joint blog, and so if you will please accept our apologies for our lapse in blog posts, I'll start you off with mine.<br />
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Firstly, I hope to keep my craft room more organised and tidy this year. It needs a major overhaul, and a good sort out. I'd like to empty it out and start again, but I can't see that happening. I think that I will have to tackle one area at a time, and be quite ruthless. I have been reading a thread on a forum that I belong to on this subject with interest, only today, funnily enough. They recommend that you sort your stuff into three piles, what you want to keep, what you want to sell or give away, and what must be thrown away. Be creative with how you store your stash too, look for cheap storage, don't spend a fortune if you don't have to, recycle if possible.<br />
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Secondly, I intend to make Christmas cards throughout the year. I started very well last year, joining in with the Bah Humbug blog, and kept going for three months! Those cards were my saving grace at the end of the year when I was unwell, so I will do that again this year, but keep going for longer. I read that sadly, the Bah Humbug blog won't be running for the forseeable future, which is a real shame, but I have a plan up my sleeve to deal with that on a personal level, anyway!<br />
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Finally, I would like to recycle more in my crafting. I already use a lot of my unused stash on a regular basis, as followers of my own blog will know. However, I want to use the ribbons, packaging, etc., that I receive in my crafting on a more regular basis. I have saved some lovely things from Christmas, and have some ideas forming for them already.<br />
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So there you go, that's my three crafting resolutions for 2012, what would yours be? I wonder what Elaine, Lesley and Jo are planning to do in the year ahead? I hope that you all have a very Happy New Year, and that 2012 is a healthy creative, crafty year for you all. Thanks for stopping by, Judith xxjudith@poppy cottagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02349185898726220561noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8624493524404602964.post-44698624172002177512011-08-12T14:12:00.000+01:002011-08-12T14:12:46.187+01:00Our next projectHi Folks, it's time to announce the choice for our next project. This time it is Lesley's choice, and she has chosen 'Tissue Tape Tricks' from the July Craft Stamper magazine, by Liesbeth Fidder, for us to base our projects on. This is a great article, packed with lots of ideas, and hopefully will give us great scope to make our own items.<br />
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Keep checking back to see if we manage to get any sneaky peeks posted, and hopefully, you'll see our projects starting to appear in the not too distant future!<br />
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Judith xx <br />
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judith@poppy cottagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02349185898726220561noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8624493524404602964.post-89451588455718937692011-07-31T20:58:00.001+01:002011-07-31T20:58:39.497+01:00A not so tiny bird box! (posted by Elaine)Well it's my turn to bring this quartet of our projects to a close. Judith set us the challenge of making a project of our choice in the colour palette chosen by Rachel Jackson of cream, latte and bordeaux from the May issue of Craft Stamper. My project is inspired by the lovely little bird house made by Jean Hardy in the April issue of the magazine. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-71OyhR7WNu4/TjWq0Aeb8xI/AAAAAAAABWA/s-x9sJZeey4/s1600/Box+front+small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-71OyhR7WNu4/TjWq0Aeb8xI/AAAAAAAABWA/s-x9sJZeey4/s320/Box+front+small.jpg" t$="true" width="239" /></a></div>I say inspired because my bird box is not tiny. You may know that my crafty friend Judith has this great idea of Forgotten Friday on her blog, using stamps and goodies that find their way into her craft room but have never been used. I think most of us are guilty of buying more products that we can keep up with. I bought this bird box with the aim of altering it sometime. <br />
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Now I had been looking at this box as I went in and out of my craft shed and doing nothing with it for far too long, so I decided to go for the Forgotten Friday approach and get on and do something with it. Now as well as my bird box, I decided to use a fab set of stamps from Prima called Green Leaf which were purchased as a result of another article by Rachel Jackson in Craft Stamper which I had shamefully never inked! I also used some papers from a huge 12 x 12 Bella Bella pad from My Mind's Eye that I bought ages ago in Blade Rubber that had incredibly never been touched - except to stroke! <br />
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I used the corners of the pattern on the paper to make the eaves of the house. I then overstamped with the Notary stamp from Prima in Hazlenut Adirondack ink. I added my favourite maple leaf stamp from Lavinia stamped in Expresso Adirondack and and the door from Crafty Individuals stamped in Plum Archival ink. The word "home" is from the new Chocolate Baroque Home Sweet Home set, mounted into a Tim Holtz ornate frame and covered with glossy accents. I decorated the eaves with some beaded trim and braid and added paper scrap roses, paper roses and the little key with some sari ribbon to the front of the box, as you know I don't really do minimalist! <br />
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The sides of the box got similar treatment with butterflies from the Prima Green Leaf set added and some sweet little laser cut birds and a little stamped grass.<br />
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These side views also show the roof which was made of punched strips cut using an X cut punch from a newsprint Tim Holtz paper from the Lost and Found collection, edged with Frayed Burlap Distress Ink. I made the ridge of the roof from thin copper coloured metal which I cut with a lacy edge Fiskars punch. <br />
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The back view shows the little bird stamp from the Green Leaf set stamped and coloured with pencils, his crown has been embossed in gold and a couple of brass butterfly charms have been added. Originally the bird was going to be on the front of the house, but in the end I decided I liked it's domestic look, so added the birds to the sides and back panels instead. <br />
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I did rather stretch the colour palette as I found myself adding more pink and dark brown. Hopefully I haven't strayed too far from the original inspiration!<br />
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So thanks to Judith for choosing this project, although I have to confess I found it hard to settle on an idea to work on as the field was wide open. Unusually for me this project wasn't planned. I had to work it out as I went along, but I am pleased how it came together in the end and thoroughly enjoyed working in a more organic way! Thanks of course too, to Rachel Jackson for her inspiring colours and to Jean Hardy for her tiny bird box which inspired me to create a larger one. <br />
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Thanks for popping in to see our different projects - we always appreciate your comments. <br />
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ElaineElainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15831411538306216262noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8624493524404602964.post-17884920370438953812011-07-25T10:06:00.000+01:002011-07-25T10:06:36.054+01:00Carving a Niche for Myself (posted by Judith)Hi folks, it's my turn to post my project on our joint Blog. I chose the option this month, and it was slightly different to our previous challenges. I told the girls that they should follow Rachel Jackson's colour challenge on page 78 of the May Craft Stamper magazine, but they could combine this with any other project from the March, April or May magazines. This gave us enormous scope for variety, but also made us quite nervous, wondering if we would pick the same project as one of the others. So far, Jo, Lesley and myself have all been different, but we have yet to see Elaine's project.<br />
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I knew as soon as I saw my project, that I would like to make this one, even before I had the chance to choose the CSQ project. I have chosen, funnily enough, another Rachel Jackson project; it is on page 8 of the April Craft Stamper magazine 'Carve a Niche'. I love old books, I regularly go to charity shops and buy them to alter, or use the pages in mixed media projects. I look for lovely covers, and have some really textured ones waiting to be made into something new. For this project, I found a great burgundy book, which was a good size, big enough for my main stamp, with plenty of space around the edges, as I had plans to add embellishments.<br />
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I used a lovely stamp by Stampington and Company as my main image, colouring it with my Polychromos pencils in the chosen colour palette. I decoupaged it onto a piece of card that I had coloured with chalk inks.<br />
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I followed Rachel's instructions to cut the front of my book out, and tear through my book pages, as you can see, it took ages! I decided not to paint my pages though, as I wanted a creamy feel to my pages.<br />
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I then took some tissue paper, and stained it with tea, and left it to dry. I stamped this with a script stamp from IndigoBlu, and a phrase from The Artistic Stamper, in Timber Brown Stazon. I added this to my book cover with matte medium, as I wanted the burgundy colour to show through, in keeping with the colour palette. I added pieces of book page randomly, painted with a very diluted wash of Cranberry paint dabber.<br />
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I then stamped lots of butterflies, some onto card, some onto shrink plastic, and some onto Clearly for Art. I coloured them in, either using my Polychromos, or alcohol inks, shrinking, or heating them where necessary.I then stuck them to my book.<br />
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I then added a ribbon inside the book covers so that I could tie the book closed, as per Rachel's instructions.<br />
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I had an onlooker when I was taking my photos, the eagle eyed amongst you will spot her paw in this photo, she wouldn't budge as she likes to be involved. Finally, here is the finished article:<br />
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I thoroughly enjoyed making this project, and would certainly make another one. I have Rachel to thank both for her colour inspiration, and the tips and hints on the book project.<br />
Thanks for stopping by today, Judith xxjudith@poppy cottagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02349185898726220561noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8624493524404602964.post-74273774061594110402011-07-24T09:37:00.000+01:002011-07-24T09:37:20.178+01:00A quick peek (posted by Judith)Hi folks, it's been a couple of weeks since Lesley's gorgeous project was posted on our Blog, and my own project is virtually finished now. Just a little bit more work, and I'l be done. I thought I show you a few pictures, and see if you could guess which project I've chosen to combine my colour palette with. My project has been chosen from either the March, April or May edition of the Craft Stamper magazine, which narrows it down slightly for you.<br />
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I am sticking to the colour scheme of cream, latte and bordeaux, as you can see by the photo above. But that probably doesn't help you too much does it?<br />
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It is a lovely project, which I liked the look of as soon as I saw it, and wanted to make it straight away. So being able to combine two challenges was perfect for me. Need some more clues?<br />
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I'm using some of my favourite imagery, butterflies of course, but that isn't really a clue in this case, sorry! There are some real clues in the pictures though, so have a think, and here is one last sneeky picture.<br />
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Thanks for stopping by today, Judith xxjudith@poppy cottagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02349185898726220561noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8624493524404602964.post-2917052916990503382011-07-06T23:19:00.003+01:002011-07-06T23:30:14.490+01:00On The Cover ................ not quite!Hello Everyone,<br />
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I hope this evening finds you refreshed by the recent rain but not downhearted by it. Personally, I am so relieved it has cooled down although my craftroom/conservatory has still been unbearably hot. Oooh, I'm such a spoil sport when it's hot!<br />
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Well, tonight it's my turn to post my project for this month and as Sue correctly guessed from my earlier teaser I chose Hels Sheridan's 'On The Cover' project from the April 2011 issue of Craft Stamper for my inspiration together with the lovely colour palette Judith chose for us to use from Rachel Jackson's Designer Palette in the May 2011 issue. I didn't adhere strictly to Hels' wall hanging because I didn't use the Craft Stamper free cover mount stamps but instead spent ages going through my stamp collection to find the ones I wanted to use. I did use one of the cover mount stamps but the rest were a mix from Chocolate Baroque, Paper Artsy,Creative Expressions and Inkadinkado for the main Stampbord images, Stampers Anonymous for the background script and finally a new company called IndigoBlu for the crackle background on the canvas.<br />
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The first problem I encountered was finding suitable ink colours in my quite substantial collection. I actually had both the Umber and Burgundy inks but one was a cube and the other a cat's eye and both were so old they were too dry to use so I had to look for alternatives. I finally settled on Coffee Archival, Parchment Paris Trunk and Aged Mahogany, Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain Distress Inks.<br />
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</div>I love working with Stampbord so inking and stamping the tiles before covering them in UTEE was a real pleasure to do. I do have a question for any Stampbord experts though. I really enjoy doing the highlights with a scratch tool but even though I usually give the piece a blast of the heatgun to make sure the ink is thoroughly dry, as soon as I cover it with UTEE the highlights just about disappear and it really annoys me. If anyone has a tip on how to stop this happening I would be grateful to hear it. I actually forgot to sand the edges of my tiles before embossing them, lol!<br />
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</div>To colour the middle of my canvas I found it was taking far too long (and too much ink from my precious pad) using the Parchment Paris Trunk so I mixed a very pale creamy colour from some acrylic paints and covered my canvas with that before inking round the edges with Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain. I used a babywipe to take some of the ink from round the edges as I wanted it to look patchy. I did this instead of the UTEE that Hels added to her canvas edges and also stamped the fine crackle (I stamped off onto scrap first so that the ink wasn't too dark).<br />
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I used a Chocolate Baroque flower stamp in two sizes to make my Grungepaper flowers and then filled the middles with Glossy Accents before adding some tiny gold beads. I had the perfect beaded fringing in my stash plus the gorgeous steampunk butterfly and a lovely crystal type drop and finally some Ideology bits. The other mistake I made (hmmm, they say confession is good for the soul, lol) was forgetting to punch the holes in my canvas board BEFORE I stuck the tiles on. I had a heck of a job getting the Crop-a-dile at an angle that wouldn't damage the tiles when I squeezed to punch the holes.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--OZBSDAExf4/ThTdul-kGfI/AAAAAAAABZY/kwfHDPuKS20/s1600/June+CSQ+project+7a.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"> <img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--OZBSDAExf4/ThTdul-kGfI/AAAAAAAABZY/kwfHDPuKS20/s320/June+CSQ+project+7a.jpg" width="317" /></a><br />
Well, that's my offering for this month. I thoroughly enjoyed making this so thanks to Rachel for the lovely colour combo (even though mine is not quite the same) and Hels for the project inspiration. As always thankyou for visiting and for any comments you have time to leave. I don't think it will be long before the next one of my buddies is ready with her project so keep an eye out for the post.<br />
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Hugs<br />
Lesley Xx<br />
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PS After publishing the post I noticed that the pics are a tad blurry but if you click on them the zoomed images are fine. Xxcraftimammahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00997146794724712348noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8624493524404602964.post-13243713046413201912011-07-02T02:05:00.000+01:002011-07-02T02:05:45.908+01:00Wish You Were Here<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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I thought Judith made a very clever choice when she settled on Rachel Jackson's Designer's Palette project from May's Craft Stamper. We'd all been so busy it seemed sensible to choose a project that could be completed quite quickly if we chose. But I found myself quite tested by it. For starters I realised that my colour vision is quite unreliable and when I saw the article the latte colour seemed quite green to me. Not a good start. I searched my inks and found the bordeaux colour hard to match up. The closest I could come was Cranberry which semed far too red. But I had brand new Indigo Blu stamps I was itching to try so I jumped in with both feet and liked the way the cranberry went with the latte and cream. I always intended to get myself an ink which better matched the ones Rachel had used in the article but before I knew it my project was at the point of no return!<br />
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In April's Craft Stamper I had been very taken with Jo Firth-Young's shaped concertina book and made a mental note to try something similar with my Baroque Bigz die. After playing with the Indigo Blu Grand Tour stamps I decided I would make a travel themed book and as my first attempts had looked good in the latte and cranberry, I decided to go with that. <br />
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As I was making my pages I was still in three minds as to how I was going to put my book together. Only at the last minute did I decide to make acetate hinges. They worked well for most pages but looked a bit clumsy on the burgundy backgrounds and, needless to say, if I was making this again I might do things a little differently. <br />
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The book takes its title from my favourite stamp from Indigo Blu's Grand Tour I set of stamps. It is called Wish You Were Here and you will see it on a later page. The bicycle stamp is from the same set. The background is made with the map stamp from Grand Tour II. I love the stamp and can see I will be using it a lot. You can't tell here but the map is of a favourite place of mine - the Lake District near Coniston and Windermere. I printed the title plaque on my printer and used an Elusive Images Creative Acrylic piece over the top.<br />
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The left hand page here uses a variety of stamps. Boys on Bikes is an Elusive Images stamp. The bus ticket is from The Open Road by The Artistic Stamper. The striped background is Holiday Stripes by Hero Arts. The top half of the page is made by inking through punchinella and stamping with the postmark stamp from Paperartsy Man of Numbers Plate 2. The right hand page was made with the Starry Night and Woodgrain embossing folders by Craft Concepts. The flags are made from newspaper and remind me of the ribbons we used to win on sports day at school. <br />
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Judith very kindly shared with us some lovely wooden Scrabble tiles which I used here with the Indigo Blu map stamp again and the compass from CI-294 by Crafty Individuals. On the right hand page I have used a Crafty Individuals' crackle stamp and the Artistic Stamper bus tickets from The Open Road. The arrows are Grungeboard Mixed Minis. <br />
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The gears page uses stamps from Crafty Individuals CI-294 again. There are also watch parts from The Artistic Stamper and some Tim Holtz Idea-ology sprockets. The card cogs were made with Sprightly Sprockets Nestabilities. Cycling Knickers is from The Open Road and the background is made with stamps from the same Crafty Individuals elements set and Sun Rays embossing folder. I added a swivel clasp for a bit of extra movement on the page.<br />
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This is the aforementioned Wish You Were Here stamp. I stamped it over a background made by inking through a compass mask by That Special Touch and layered up the lady on the top. The crackle stamp is there again in the background along with the wheel from The Open Road.<br />
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This page features stamps already mentioned. I've used a tiny Tim Holtz file folder and made the page a little bit interactive...<br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Here I've used one of the Mixed Minis again with a number stamp taken from one of the bus tickets. I think this was probably my favourite page.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I needed to keep the back page fairly flat but couldn't resist layering up the scroll, which is from Elusive Images' Harlequin Mask. The wheel is from The Open Road and the text from Indigo Blu Grand Tour II. In the background the page is embossed with Starry Night again and I have picked out the texture with a gold rub-on.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">This wasn't the quick and simple project I'd thought I would be making but I loved doing it and in spite of the time it took I never tired of looking at the stamps or enjoying the colour combination. I wouldn't have used these colours without Rachel's inspiration but I like them so much now that I know I'll be turning to them again. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09728636504467342180noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8624493524404602964.post-89699990929477140022011-06-27T20:13:00.001+01:002011-06-27T20:13:45.334+01:00And the Winner is ...............................Well, I obviously made that much too easy didn't I, lol! Thanks to Sue, Aquarius and Veronica for having guessed correctly. <b> Sue</b>, of course was the first to guess within minutes of my posting really but I didn't get chance to publish the comment until this evening. So can you email me your snail mail addy please Sue. I'm sure I have it somewhere but for the life of me can't find it and this is Sue's blog, http://suzib1b.blogspot.com/ which is well worth a visit. She has some lovely artwork on there and I visit often.<br />
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Thanks for having a guess ladies and look out towards the end of the week as Jo finished her project first so just needs a bit of time to be able to do the post and I will follow soon after with mine which I finished on Saturday.<br />
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Well I hope you haven't melted today. I don't think I've ever drunk so much water (which I hate) to stave of dehydration. 'Normal' temperatures on the way for Wednesday though thank goodness, lol!<br />
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See you in about a week's time all.<br />
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Hugs<br />
Lesley Xxcraftimammahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00997146794724712348noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8624493524404602964.post-69027237051628134292011-06-27T10:40:00.000+01:002011-06-27T10:40:56.402+01:00A Little Poser For You ...............and a friendly competition. (posted by Lesley)Happy Monday Morning Everyone,<br />
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I sincerely hope the temperature is not too much for you this morning. I have had the fans going from first thing this morning and to be honest, I could have done with keeping one on all night. Phew, it's blooming hot around here and I'm not a happy bunny in the heat, lol! <br />
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Anyway, enough of my English obsession with our weather, as the title says I have a little poser for you. If you remember when Judith announced our project for this month she had chosen a colour combo for us from the talented Rachel Jackson's article on page 76 of the May issue of Craft Stamper. Judith gave us licence to choose our own project to use this combo on so I decided to work backwards through my CS mags until I found one I thought would fit the bill. <br />
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Now, when I was looking through my many stamp sets trying to decide which I was going to use on my project I realised that I had doubled up on a little set of Paper Artsy stamps so I decided to have a little friendly competition. I want to stress that you <u><b>do not</b></u> have to be or become a follower of our blog to enter. All you have to do is have a guess at which project I have chosen from looking at the pic below and leave your answer in a comment. The first person to guess correctly will win the set of stamps (and I might find a few other bits and pieces to put in the envelope too). As a clue so that you don't go trawling through tons of past issues I will tell you that the project is in a Craft Stamper issue from either February, March or April this year.<br />
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This is the useful little set of stamps.<br />
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and this is a peek at some of the stash I used to make my project.<br />
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Even my buddies don't know which project I've chosen but they're not eligible, lol! I hope someone guesses correctly.<br />
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Have a good Monday everyone and as always thanks for your lovely comments.<br />
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Hugs<br />
Lesley Xxcraftimammahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00997146794724712348noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8624493524404602964.post-29645853559222130602011-06-03T19:26:00.000+01:002011-06-03T19:26:09.853+01:00Have Book Will Travel (posted by Judith)Oh dear, the time just flies, I'm last to post as per usual, I'm afraid. I have had a very hectic few weeks, and had almost made up my mind not to take part in this particular challenge. However, a trip to the Happy Stampers Show a couple of weeks ago changed my mind, as I bought some fabulous stamps, that enabled me to finish this project in just the way that I wanted to.<br />
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My poor Husband broke his collarbone recently; he has to take things easy and be careful. I decided to make a Father's Day gift for him with this project. Because of the book-like nature of the card, I decided very early on to use the Tim Holtz bookplate stamps. It's not going to be very often that I can use these, and this seemed like an ideal opportunity. I chose a theme of olive green, blue and brown for the project.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-p11LXYeLtSQ/TekanAGj3dI/AAAAAAAABx4/TIxSmqdZBSQ/s1600/004.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-p11LXYeLtSQ/TekanAGj3dI/AAAAAAAABx4/TIxSmqdZBSQ/s320/004.JPG" width="256" /></a></div>The front cover sets the colour theme straight away. I have added a fabulous steampunk style butterfly from a relatively new company called Indigo Blu, their stamps are just so useful, and I really like them.<br />
For the inside covers, I wanted my book to have the feel of lined Italian papers, I bought the perfect stamp at HSNW from a company called Stamp Camp. I coloured some white card with my Distress Inks, then brayered the stamp with Versafine Ink. These were the inside covers before I had added anything else;<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WL2KVTLryK4/TekfeFSrDLI/AAAAAAAABx8/bfuxLX7FAys/s1600/003.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="206" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WL2KVTLryK4/TekfeFSrDLI/AAAAAAAABx8/bfuxLX7FAys/s320/003.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>I had to stamp an extra piece on the bottom, but most of that would be hidden once the project was finished.<br />
My box section used the smaller bookplate stamp for the front, in an olive green colour this time. I had to trim the stamped images each time I used them, but only slightly, they worked out realyy well for this project. For the sides of the box, and the spine of the book, I chose to use Tim Holtz tissue tape, and coloured it with Distress Ink. It was just the right thickness.<br />
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I used a bookplate shaped Nestability to cut the window in my box, keeping in with the book theme. I had planned to put a large bag of Galaxy Minstrels in the box for my OH, but the bag is way too big, even folded over or scrunched up! I will just put a plastic bag inside the box, and tip as many as I can in there. I have already added an acetate window to the box, but I don't want melted chocolate inside the box!<br />
I added a pocket to the left side of the inside, using Kraft card, second stamping a lovely crackle stamp from Indigo Blu. I have added more Indigo Blu stamped pieces, and an Ideology tag to the pocket, which I have painted with Guacamole Fresco Finish paint, and then rubbed off the excess. The green paint then just goes into the lettering.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rPpQSk-LnWA/TekhtahZrcI/AAAAAAAAByA/41aNAQF_iOI/s1600/006.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="207" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rPpQSk-LnWA/TekhtahZrcI/AAAAAAAAByA/41aNAQF_iOI/s320/006.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div>I made a tag to go inside the pocket, using another Indigo Blu stamp with Italian script and a beautiful building. I stamped this onto Kraft card, after colouring the card slightly with Distress Inks. I added a bit more of the crackle stamp, and some tissue tape.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-L8NrdfVNWmg/TekiYU02bAI/AAAAAAAAByE/yIIkhQEEGJY/s1600/008.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-L8NrdfVNWmg/TekiYU02bAI/AAAAAAAAByE/yIIkhQEEGJY/s320/008.JPG" width="171" /></a></div><br />
I am also adding a book token from a certain bookstore so that my OH can go and buy himself a book or two and maybe relax a bit. He has come to enjoy reading in the last couple of years. He needs to slow down, and how better than with a good book?<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-m_YskrluC-E/Teki92rUXYI/AAAAAAAAByI/Gx2KxjEVC04/s1600/012.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="249" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-m_YskrluC-E/Teki92rUXYI/AAAAAAAAByI/Gx2KxjEVC04/s320/012.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>My final picture shows the back cover, where I have used the bigger bookplate stamp again, the bookplate Nesties, and a great stamp from The Artistic Stamper. (The 'Travel' stamp on the front is from the same set).<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XTM5IpNBSF8/Tekji0JNU1I/AAAAAAAAByM/kRVVPgt-RmY/s1600/007.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XTM5IpNBSF8/Tekji0JNU1I/AAAAAAAAByM/kRVVPgt-RmY/s320/007.JPG" width="264" /></a></div>So there you have it, fingers crossed that he likes it! He doesn't generally check this blog out, so I don't think that he will spot his gift, as long as I hide the actual card well at home. Thanks to Debbie Dolphin for such a great project, and to Jo, for choosing it for us.<br />
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Now, onto our next project!!! I chose this project a few weeks ago, so we have been thinking about it for a little while. I was very conscious that we were falling behind in our magazines again, so I skipped up to the May edition of Craft Stamper, but gave the girls a bit of a twist. I chose Rachel Jackson's Designer Palette on page 78. The colours are Cream, Latte and Bordeaux. However, I told the girls that I was dipping back in time to make a project in one of the magazines that we had skipped, <b>using those colours</b> but I wasn't going to tell them which project in advance. They were welcome to do the same. It would be amazing if any of us picked the same project, wouldn't it?<br />
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I know that one or two of the girls are definitely planning to show you sneak peeks this month, remember those? We used to do those when we weren't so busy, those were the days. Anyway, look out for some crafty snippets coming your way. Thank you for sticking to the end, if you are still reading this, Judith xxjudith@poppy cottagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02349185898726220561noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8624493524404602964.post-21340893398078689542011-05-19T20:57:00.007+01:002011-05-19T21:17:38.771+01:00There's no Present like the Time (posted by Jo) and, yes, you did read that right!<span lang=""></span><br />
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<span lang=""><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Wcd0VGUPM78/TdVoKZF2I6I/AAAAAAAABR4/hlTwmVdbySI/s1600/DSCI2825.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Wcd0VGUPM78/TdVoKZF2I6I/AAAAAAAABR4/hlTwmVdbySI/s400/DSCI2825.JPG" width="300" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I was excited to have Debbie's great project to work with this month as we have come very close to choosing her projects before. She is a designer we all admire. But strangely, the things I loved most about her box card were things I didn't carry through when I made my own. I intended to go with Debbie's colours and to choose a similar stamp as I love anything with even a hint of ironwork. But things changed along the way as they often do. I was going to go with architectural stamps and make something for my son who is a student architect. But I eventually settled on a time theme. I made a masterboard using stamps by Paperartsy and The Artistic Stamper. I embossed in gold and inked the background with Tumbled Glass and Vintage Photos Distress Inks (I've always admired people who can pull off the blue/brown combination). I used the resulting papers more sparingly than Debbie did with hers as I thought it would look cluttered with all sides of the box covered. On the front page I mounted a strip of the paper onto a piece of watercolour paper edged with Vintage Photo and gold embossing and matted this on brown card. I wanted a cluster of chipboard flowers but was surprised at how small the card was when I made it up to Debbie's dimensions so I settled for just the one flower with a clockface centre. I stuck this over my favourite flourish from the Inkadinkado Dotty Flourishes set and completed the page with the time adage from The Artistic Stamper's Time and Keys plate. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Fa-F2E8LqWo/TdVnyEKGTdI/AAAAAAAABRs/ojUZF8hcNVc/s1600/DSCI2827.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Fa-F2E8LqWo/TdVnyEKGTdI/AAAAAAAABRs/ojUZF8hcNVc/s320/DSCI2827.JPG" width="240" /></a></div><br />
Inside the card I used another strip of the masterboard mounted onto another piece of watercolour paper. This time the paper had been embossed with Creative Expressions' Time embossing folder and inked, again with Vintage Photo. Over the panel I added a clock charm using a chain and swivel clasp. <br />
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One inspiration for the contents of the box was the Sizzix label die that is shaped like a watch. But the die turned out to be slightly too big for the box front so I had to improvise. The watch inside the box is rather special. It belonged to my late father in law and is a treasured possession of my husband's. So the box is a display box for now but will maybe become a gift box when my son inherits the watch.<br />
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We didn't see the back of Debbie's card in Craft Stamper but I couldn't resist using Crafty Individuals' lovely watch and clockmaker label on the back. On the watercolour background I have used clock stamps from The Artistic Stamper and also the free clock stamp from February's Craft Stamper which features Debbie's project. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--bPat9-r6nI/TdVnrPkitvI/AAAAAAAABRo/UXwPwRJtJkg/s1600/DSCI2826.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--bPat9-r6nI/TdVnrPkitvI/AAAAAAAABRo/UXwPwRJtJkg/s320/DSCI2826.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Looking at Lesley's and Elaine's posts I am struck by how differently we work with the magazine projects we take as our inspiration. It's especially surprising as we have quite similar tastes. I sometimes wonder if I would do things differently if I saw their projects first as I am very easily influenced. But then this one has turned out very different from the one I had in my head when I started so it's all a bit of a mystery ride.</div></span><br />
<div style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div>Johttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09728636504467342180noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8624493524404602964.post-48427774133001434702011-05-08T11:38:00.002+01:002011-05-20T09:20:18.938+01:00The Secret Garden (posted by Elaine)It's my turn to post our next project which is actually from as far back as the February issue of Craft Stamper. Life has been so busy for us all one way and another. This is my take on Debbie Dolphin's card gift box project chosen by Jo. I decided to make mine as a birthday card for my CSQ buddy Lesley. <br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">I am afraid I stayed in my comfort zone again with this project, a vintage nature theme! My main colour scheme was green as that is Lesley's favourite colour. I wanted to make my cover look like a vintage book and used a combination of stamps and pieced together different pieces of embossed card to do it, using a ton of extra strong DST!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">I used a large fern background stamp I bought from Rubbernecker at Ally Pally for the main panels, embossed in two colours of my favourite Moonglow Obsidian powders and cut in half. I edged the panels with a border of an ancient letters border stamp from Third Coast. I love their border stamps - they are brilliant value for money too - available from Happy Daze! I added large square bronze brads like studs on the book cover. </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mP_gnSGZUvU/TcZxQXKz2GI/AAAAAAAAA9Y/clwWsd1YmYk/s1600/Book+small+6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="166px" j8="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mP_gnSGZUvU/TcZxQXKz2GI/AAAAAAAAA9Y/clwWsd1YmYk/s320/Book+small+6.jpg" width="320px" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: justify;">For the book title I stamped some words from a much larger Secret Garden B Line stamp that I adore. For the spine I used another Third Coast border with the letters. </div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Bae5ZJubUSg/TcZxM_hKk8I/AAAAAAAAA9U/h2aSM41K0Xg/s1600/Book+small+5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240px" j8="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Bae5ZJubUSg/TcZxM_hKk8I/AAAAAAAAA9U/h2aSM41K0Xg/s320/Book+small+5.jpg" width="320px" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">The inside uses papers from the lovely 7 Gypsies Conservatory collection, (just rights as Lesley crafts in her conservatory!) with some elements cut out in the pocket and an image stamped from a Crafty Individuals image stamped in Olympia Green Versafine and aged with Vintage Photo DI. I added a little cream guipre butterfly ribbon, again aged with a little VP DI. I decided to add a picture on the gift box section as I planned to put some ribbons and braid in there and I felt it might look a bit messy with all the different colours if I didn't cover it up. I used an image from a vintage postcard that I love. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nK2aZNmO5b8/TcZpZikzDZI/AAAAAAAAA9M/nHnFmy62fOQ/s1600/Book+small+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="196px" j8="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nK2aZNmO5b8/TcZpZikzDZI/AAAAAAAAA9M/nHnFmy62fOQ/s320/Book+small+3.jpg" width="320px" /></a></div><br />
I edged the photo with lots of little leaves cut out of scraps of the 7 Gypsies papers with one of my favourite little Woodware punches, edging each one with a little more DI. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Qj14Z_ndK44/TcZpczFDU_I/AAAAAAAAA9Q/0MuU8vZMjAA/s1600/Book+small+4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240px" j8="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Qj14Z_ndK44/TcZpczFDU_I/AAAAAAAAA9Q/0MuU8vZMjAA/s320/Book+small+4.jpg" width="320px" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">Thank you Debbie for such great instructions and inspiration and thanks Jo for choosing the project!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">Elaine </div>Elainehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15831411538306216262noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8624493524404602964.post-42905487625802883462011-04-24T00:21:00.001+01:002011-04-24T00:29:11.811+01:00Mother's Day GiftHappy Easter Everyone,<br />
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It seems like forever since I last managed to make anything for our poor neglected blog but as we all had to miss a couple of Craft Stamper issues and I didn't manage to take part in our last challenge I haven't actually posted a project until now for 2011. Shame on me!!!! If you are a visitor to my own blog though, you will know about all the preparations for our Daughter's wedding that I am involved with and it's now exactly 4 weeks away, Ooooer!!!! That and DT work has kept me rather busy but I hope things settle down again after the wedding. I have to confess to being a little excited now but also nervous which is a bit silly seeing as how I wasn't one bit nervous for my own, lol!<br />
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Anyway, onto my project. As Judith announced in her last post, Jo chose Debbie Dolphin's project from the February Issue of Craft Stamper for us to tackle this time. I really enjoyed making this and as I am so short of time at the moment and Valentine's Day had already passed I decided to turn mine into a giftbox/card for my lovely Mum for Mother's Day.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-05njgXEnUlg/TbNOPjOwVZI/AAAAAAAABWI/oNQCJY6D-lQ/s1600/CSQ+project+April+2011+06.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="246" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-05njgXEnUlg/TbNOPjOwVZI/AAAAAAAABWI/oNQCJY6D-lQ/s320/CSQ+project+April+2011+06.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
As time has been such a precious commodity recently I'm afraid I cheated! However, I did very generously use some gorgeous paper from another precious commodity ............. a stunning paper stack called The Linen Closet by DCWV. It's actually full of beautiful designs on lightweight card rather than paper. Some of them are wonderfully glittered and others are plainer to make for perfect co-ordinating designs and they are all in blues, greys, browns and beiges. Can you tell I rather like this stack, lol! I find it very difficult to cut into them because they are so lovely and so far have only used them for two very special people, one of my little Granddaughters and my Mum! I chose two different designs for this project, one of which is glittered and the other much plainer so that I could stamp onto it. In the photo above you can also see that I used a Marianne Creatable flourish leaf die and a lovely Go Kreate label die.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KNqbfRSUa-k/TbNPGntrt2I/AAAAAAAABWg/PGC3eeySnv4/s1600/CSQ+project+April+2011+07.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KNqbfRSUa-k/TbNPGntrt2I/AAAAAAAABWg/PGC3eeySnv4/s320/CSQ+project+April+2011+07.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
The stamps I used are both from Hobby Art and I stamped with Sepia Versafine and added a little watercolouring using Distress Inks in Victorian Velvet and Peeled Paint (I think). On the larger of the images I also did a little decoupage. I distress the edges of my front cover before I layered the whole thing onto brown card and then onto the front of my project.<br />
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For the back of my gift I used the same dp, the smaller of the stamps, distressed the edges and layered on brown card again.<br />
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Next I turned my attention to the inside and this is where I made good use of the beautiful glittered dp.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-v5QME9jZ6GI/TbNOz6ONv8I/AAAAAAAABWY/-rf731xiBsI/s1600/CSQ+project+April+2011+05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="235" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-v5QME9jZ6GI/TbNOz6ONv8I/AAAAAAAABWY/-rf731xiBsI/s320/CSQ+project+April+2011+05.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
I used the Go Kreate die to cut the aperture on my box and some really pretty lace which in real life is actually more cream than white, more of the leaves and Prima flowers (lightly inked) to embellish. The glitter bp was also used to create the pocket on the opposite side.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_NNHbiyjUVE/TbNPAHHC2bI/AAAAAAAABWc/TP1fzMg7Z3Q/s1600/CAQ+project+April+2011+02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_NNHbiyjUVE/TbNPAHHC2bI/AAAAAAAABWc/TP1fzMg7Z3Q/s320/CAQ+project+April+2011+02.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
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Finally I created my tags. <br />
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I used another Go Kreate die and cut a tag from each of the dps and stamped a favourite Stampers Anonymous quote on one, decorated the other and fastened them together with more lace and a tassel. I used the quote tag to write my personal message to Mum on the back. As Mum doesn't care too much for chocolates I decided to fill the box with a some of her favourite sweets (mine too, lol!) Liquorice and Blackcurrant but ................................ I forgot to take a photo once I had filled it. Needless to say the sweeties have all gone but Mum loved the gift box/card. It is still on display and could well be there in a years time. Like any doting Mum, mine keeps anything I make her on display until it drops to bits and as I make my stuff sturdy, that tends to be quite a while, Ha! Ha!<br />
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Well, I'm glad I managed to complete this project because I was really pleased with it. Debbie did a grand job of the article in Craft Stamper and I thoroughly enjoyed adapting it for my own purposes. Thank you Debbie, I think I could well be making other versions of this in the future.<br />
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Keep your eye on our blog because I know at least two of my buddies are not too far behind me with their projects and then we get to find out what Judith chooses for us to make next time. <br />
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I hope you're all having a lovely Easter Weekend and have been enjoying the weather. Personally, I was rather glad of the lovely quick thunderstorm we had this evening. I'm afraid I'm a spoilsport and don't like the heat, lol! Till next time .............<br />
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Hugs<br />
Lesley Xxcraftimammahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00997146794724712348noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8624493524404602964.post-62042395720017814962011-03-24T10:15:00.000+00:002011-03-24T10:15:17.970+00:00Dragonfly Diary (posted by Judith)Hi folks, well I'm finally posting my pages based on Kate Crane's project 'Journal Your Year' in the January Craft Stamper! This year is just running away from us all, I don't know if it is a sign of getting older, or just busier.<br />
Anyway, I dug out several of Kate's articles in Craft Stamper, relating to making a journal, as I am also in the process of making my covers too, which I will blog in a week or two, time permitting, without disturbing the flow of our next project! I had the good fortune to make the aquaintantance of a lovely American lady recently, who has decided to go digital, and get rid of her virtual crafting supplies. She had some lovely old papers, and I started my pages by covring them with some very faded newspaper.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-bWc5kca9qxw/TYsUbza5BkI/AAAAAAAABio/QDjZApRzkqs/s1600/004.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" r6="true" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-bWc5kca9qxw/TYsUbza5BkI/AAAAAAAABio/QDjZApRzkqs/s320/004.JPG" width="307" /></a></div>The newspaper came from 1965, and was very brown, it was a shame to cover it up! I gessoed over the top, and used layers of watered down Eco Friendly Acrylic paint. I used shades of lemon and green, as I wanted a Spring-like feel to my pages.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-VbUOPN2FvAc/TYsVLZOzKpI/AAAAAAAABis/XJF-7tyakQc/s1600/001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" r6="true" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-VbUOPN2FvAc/TYsVLZOzKpI/AAAAAAAABis/XJF-7tyakQc/s320/001.JPG" width="247" /></a></div>I decided to stick fairly faithfully to Kate's techniques, adding black and white dashes of colour with the side of an old credit card, stamping with a bottle top, using sequin waste, adding a bit of gold Adirondack dabber here and there, etc. I used a dragonfly theme, by sponging through a Creative Expressions Mask with white paint, and doodling around the shapes with a black pen.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-eCb2cL4S5J8/TYsWJnfXi3I/AAAAAAAABiw/2zJ7fYyJ35s/s1600/007.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="228" r6="true" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-eCb2cL4S5J8/TYsWJnfXi3I/AAAAAAAABiw/2zJ7fYyJ35s/s320/007.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>I felt that the white was too strong at the foot of the page, so I toned it down with some watered down aqua to add some balance. I had the good fortune to see Kate demoing at the GNPE show at Harrogate at the weekend, and looking at these photographs, I do feel that I have been quite faithful to her techniques.<br />
I cut out my squares using a Nestability square, which was a bit bigger than I really wanted, but another month, I will make them slightly smaller. I am making my journal for 2012, I haven't a hope of filling mine in at the moment! I have made April's pages, as they are more current, using blues, greens and yellows. This is a colour scheme that I would never use normally, but it is very cheery, and I quite like the result. I have added some Blonde Moments dragonflies and butterflies, stamped onto the newspaper, stuck onto grungepaper, and coloured with Inktense pencils. I also stamped a Blonde Moments flower border across the top of the page.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-64O7Baj5OyU/TYsYAXUGseI/AAAAAAAABi0/l0yoy2BJ1B8/s1600/008.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="227" r6="true" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-64O7Baj5OyU/TYsYAXUGseI/AAAAAAAABi0/l0yoy2BJ1B8/s320/008.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Now, onto our next project! Jo has chosen Debbie Dolphin's 'A Gift for Him' on page 74 of the February issue of Craft Stamper. Most of the others have already started this project, and one of them has even finished I think. That means that I need to get a wriggle on! Hopefully, it won't be too long before you start to see some more activity in the shape of some lovely gift cards. Thanks for looking, Judith xxjudith@poppy cottagehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02349185898726220561noreply@blogger.com4