Craft Stamping Quartet

Must try harder! (posted by Jo)

2012-01-02T11:03:00.000Z

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.

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.

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.

Thirdly I want to follow the advice of my good friend Judith. 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.

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.

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.

Happy 2012, everyone!

My resolutions (posted by Elaine)

2012-01-01T10:11:00.000Z

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.

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!

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.

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!

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.

Happy New Year everyone - enjoy your crafting and make every minute count!

Elaine x

My Crafting New Year Resolutions (posted by Lesley)

2011-12-31T01:18:00.000Z

Hello Everyone and thanks for stopping by,

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.

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.

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!

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.

Well, that's my three crafting resolution for 2012. I bet yours will match them by at least 65%, lol?

All that remains for this post is to wish each and everyone of you a happy, healthy and peaceful New Year.

Lots of love
Lesley Xx

New Year's Resolutions (posted by Judith)

2011-12-29T14:41:00.000Z

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.

Elaine 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.

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.

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!

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.

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 xx

Our next project

2011-08-12T14:12:00.000+01:00

Hi 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.

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!

Judith xx

A not so tiny bird box! (posted by Elaine)

2011-07-31T20:58:00.001+01:00

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.

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.

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!

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!

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.

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.

I mounted the box onto a base made from chipboard which I covered in moulding paste through a decorative screen and then painted in crean and inked with more Hazlenut dye ink to highlight the pattern.

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.

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!

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.

Thanks for popping in to see our different projects - we always appreciate your comments.

Elaine

Carving a Niche for Myself (posted by Judith)

2011-07-25T10:06:00.000+01:00

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I then added a ribbon inside the book covers so that I could tie the book closed, as per Rachel's instructions.

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:

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.
Thanks for stopping by today, Judith xx

A quick peek (posted by Judith)

2011-07-24T09:37:00.000+01:00

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.

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?

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?

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.

Thanks for stopping by today, Judith xx

On The Cover ................ not quite!

2011-07-06T23:19:00.003+01:00

Hello Everyone,

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!

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.

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.

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!

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).

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.

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.

Hugs
Lesley Xx

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. Xx

Wish You Were Here

2011-07-02T02:05:00.000+01:00

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

This page features stamps already mentioned. I've used a tiny Tim Holtz file folder and made the page a little bit interactive...

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.

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.

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.

And the Winner is ...............................

2011-06-27T20:13:00.001+01:00

Well, I obviously made that much too easy didn't I, lol! Thanks to Sue, Aquarius and Veronica for having guessed correctly. Sue, 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.

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.

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!

See you in about a week's time all.

Hugs
Lesley Xx

A Little Poser For You ...............and a friendly competition. (posted by Lesley)

2011-06-27T10:40:00.000+01:00

Happy Monday Morning Everyone,

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!

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.

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 do not 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.

This is the useful little set of stamps.

and this is a peek at some of the stash I used to make my project.

Even my buddies don't know which project I've chosen but they're not eligible, lol! I hope someone guesses correctly.

Have a good Monday everyone and as always thanks for your lovely comments.

Hugs
Lesley Xx

Have Book Will Travel (posted by Judith)

2011-06-03T19:26:00.000+01:00

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.

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.

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.
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;

I had to stamp an extra piece on the bottom, but most of that would be hidden once the project was finished.
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.

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!
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.

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.

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?

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).

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.

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, using those colours 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?

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 xx

There's no Present like the Time (posted by Jo) and, yes, you did read that right!

2011-05-19T20:57:00.007+01:00

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The Secret Garden (posted by Elaine)

2011-05-08T11:38:00.002+01:00

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

Thank you Debbie for such great instructions and inspiration and thanks Jo for choosing the project!

Elaine

Mother's Day Gift

2011-04-24T00:21:00.001+01:00

Happy Easter Everyone,

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

Next I turned my attention to the inside and this is where I made good use of the beautiful glittered dp.

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.

Finally I created my tags.

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!

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.

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.

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 .............

Hugs
Lesley Xx

Dragonfly Diary (posted by Judith)

2011-03-24T10:15:00.000Z

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.
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.

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.

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.

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.
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.

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 xx

A winter's tale (posted by Elaine)

2011-03-09T20:52:00.000Z

I was excited to be able to choose Kate Crane's art journal project from the January issue of Craft Stamper. I always knew it was an ambitious choice as we have all been really busy one way and another. What I didn't know was what was just around the corner for me during January, when my OH ended up being admitted to hospital as an emergency.

I had started these pages in good time and had planned to get them done in time so I could write up each day through January - but it wasn't to be.

I started my pages with a layer of gesso and then some turquoisy green EcoGreen paint which I love. I added some Stream Adirondack ink through sequin waste around rhe edges of the pages. Then I sprayed first with Marshmallow Glimmer Mist and Adirondack Stream Color Wash spray. I added a snowflake stamp all over the pages stamped in white Versamagic.

I cut squares of blending papers, inked the edges a little and added hand-drawn details to each square. I stamped January from a Paper Artsy alphabet stamp set which I love. I hand wrote the days of the week - scary because I don't find it easy to use a more relaxed style.

I used one of the Elusive Images trees from the brilliant Arboretum set and covered these in blue jewel flowers. I added little irridescent stars all around the pages and some blue stickles around the edge of the pages. I just had to add some of my favourite bling!

I added a Tim Holtz bird stamp and the word Winter. These two additions didn't work that well, but I was learning to let go of my need for perfection and have made myself leave them untouched. Last, but not least I added an edging cut with the Tim Holtz snowflake flurries on the edge die, cut from some turquoise funky film.

I decided I didn't want to journal the January I had, so I have decided to make my monthly pages through this year, ready to use the journal in 2012. To do that I had to remind myself to get the layout of the days right for next year. My February pages are in the pipeline! Currently it is very pink!!!

Finally, I hope you will forgive a little personal reflection. I know we have been quiet on this blog lately, what won't show to the outside world is the frequency of the contact the four of us who form this quartet have with each other. We are all in touch with each other at least once a day and often more. I still count my blessings every day, that crafting and particularly the Graphicus Guild helped me find three of the best friends any one could wish for. While I was struggling to get my head around the crisis that had hit me in January, Jo, Judith and Lesley were with me every step of the way. Thanks to texts and e mails despite the distance between us, they surrounded me with love and support when I needed it most and really helped me get through. My experience has reinforced for me what amazingly generous people crafters are. I could not let this opportunity pass to send them my heartfelt thanks to the other girls for being the most special friends I could have been blessed with.

Elaine x

31 small mercies (by Jo)

2011-03-03T19:31:00.000Z

I felt very excited when Elaine chose this project. I’ve put so many journal type projects on my crafting to-do lists but never quite got to grips with them. So this was my first effort and I was glad to have Kate Crane’s virtual hand to guide me through it.

I confess I’m not a finisher (believe me – I have plenty of evidence!) so knew at the bottom of me that this wasn’t going to be the first of 12 sets of pages. So I had half a mind to make these my index pages for a long planned holiday journal. But the form of the final project was determined by a rather grim start to the year. Christmas had been good but was followed by lots of sad news and spanners in the works which made January a very difficult month. I was obviously not alone. The other Quartet girls had their share of trials during January and I began to think the whole nation was suffering when I saw the BBC’s happiness challenge. One part of the challenge is to write down each day three good things that have happened to you. As I started to think about it I decided I could maybe combine this with my journalling project. I couldn’t fit in three things for each day of January on my pages so I have stuck to just one per day and I had to cheat for some of it because I was recording retrospectively. So my January journal became “31 reasons to be cheerful”.

I’m not very confident with acrylics nor any paint to be honest but the opening steps to create the background seemed straightforward enough. I was not best pleased with the results of my efforts though. I had decided to overprint with some bubble wrap to create texture and then use some abstract stamps with the pink and blue acrylic paint I’d laid down in the first step. But it looked pretty rough and I was a bit disheartened. I was poised to bin my pages but first I went back to the magazine for a way forward and read some good advice in Helen Chilton’s article. Although her piece was very different, the ‘tip’ which she gave for creating backgrounds was very relevant. It read, “Don’t expect perfection with these background techniques. The whole point is that these will be the starting point of your project.” I also had a brainwave when I read Trish Latimer’s article using sprays. It reminded me that I had bought a bottle of Craft Notions White Matte spray, having been told that it is great for toning things down. It did the trick for me and helped the dodgy blue and red stamping blend into the background.

I learnt through the process how bad I am at ‘letting go’. I resisted the idea of using lots of different colours in my project and started preparing the paper squares sticking to my blue and pink colour scheme. But the papers proved far too dark and I threw caution to the wind, choosing any colour that I thought I could write over.

I used several different stamps to put the page together. I had started using Inkadinkado’s Circles and Dots on the background. Then I cut out lots of ‘sun’ shapes stamped with Craft Stamper’s free stamp (the tea cup is also a Craft Stamper freebie). After using Elusive Images’ Retro Florals on the background of the January oval, I decided to add these to the background. This time I used Dabbers in Gold Copper and Denim and got a much better result than my initial stamping with paint. The ‘January’ stamp, numbers and days are from Inkadinkado’s Months and Days. I’ve been itching to use them. ‘Don’t Worry Be Happy’ is another Elusive Images stamp, this time from the Say it with Words plate.

I had underestimated what a long job it would be to stick all the separate pieces onto the pages. That alone would put me off doing a whole year in this way. But placing all the pieces wasn’t as hard as I thought it was going to be. Or maybe I was just lucky.

The final very ‘busy’ result is very different from anything I’ve made before but very satisfying. As January went along I became more aware of the little things that brought me happiness. I’m pleased to say that February was a much more cheerful month but I’ve learnt a lot along the way in terms of techniques. I still have much more ‘letting go’ to work at but I’m now another step along that journey.

My apologies again for the appalling photos in this post. I struggle for good light at the best of times and it has been grim weather here for most of the week.

We have an Award!!!! (posted by Lesley on behalf of the CSQ girls)

2011-02-25T10:16:00.000Z

Hello Everyone,

First of all I had better apologise for the lack of posts recently. I think we're all a bit bogged down with lots of things at the moment - life has a habit of getting in the way sometimes doesn't it. I know the other girls have been working hard on their journal pages recently in spite of the fact that they have been under a fair amount of pressure but I am fairly certain that I am not going to make it at all with this month's project. As well as DT commitments and the usual demands made on a Mamma, mother, daughter and not to mention wife, I am in the thick of making lots of things for our Daughter's wedding which is coming up in May and I seem to spend half my life at our Daughter's either childminding so she can sort various things out for the wedding or going with her. It's all very exciting but very time consuming as she lives over 60 miles away. Weddings were much simpler when her Dad and I got married over 38 years ago, lol! Anyway, I do hope I'll be forgiven for missing out on this particular project.

Now on to the the real reason for this post! We have been given an award by a lovely blogging friend and wonderful crafter, Lynne (Creative Lynks). How special is that! We are really pleased and honoured to get this award as Lynne herself makes beautiful creations so please pay her blog a visit and feast your eyes on some wonderful artwork. This is the award.

Now, we are supposed to tell you a few things about ourselves but hope you will forgive us if we pass on that one and we are also supposed to choose five blogs to pass the award onto. I always find it impossible to choose from all the wonderful blogs I visit regularly so to all who visit us please feel free to accept this award as a thank you from us for your kind support. Your visits and any comments you make mean such a lot to us and are very much appreciated.

That's it for now friends but keep your eyes peeled as I think my buddies will have something to post for you soon and many thanks to Lynne for the award.

Hugs
Lesley Xx

Die cuts and Silhouettes (posted by Judith)

2010-12-29T20:16:00.000Z

Finally, I have managed to complete my cards based on Joanne Wardle's lovely examples in the October issue of Craft Stamper magazine. I haven't been well, and then with the Christmas rush, my Blog assignment just didn't stand a chance. However, I have manage to complete them, and here they are!

I have used Nestability dies to create my shapes on each of my cards, picked some of my favourite silhouette stamps and combined them with some of my favourite ink colours. My first card uses a gorgeous thistle type flower from Lavinia stamps, and a little dragonfly. I wanted to echo the spiky feel of the flower, and so I used an inverted scalloped circle Nestability. I used Antique Linen, and Chipped Sapphire Distress Inks, and Lulu Lavender and Sweet Plum Memento Inks to colour my shape.

The second card uses a stamp from Stampendous, I love this stamp, often using it for sympathy cards. I wanted to use three circles in a lopsided fashion to incorporate all of the flowers. So, I stamped the image onto scrap card, and cut my template with the Nestabilities from this piece of card. After I had coloured my finished card, I then restamped my image, which enabled me to get the stamp in the correct place. I have a stamp positioner, but I just didn't want the fuss! I used Tumbled Glass and Broken China Distress Inks and Juniper and Stream Adirondack Inks for this card.

The third card uses Elusive Images stamps, which unfortunately you can't purchase at the moment. Hopefully they will be available again very soon. I have used a Paisley Nestability shape on this card, which reminds me of a teardrop. I used Antique Linen, Bundled Sage and Vintage Photo Distress Inks, and Pear Tart Memento Ink for my shape. I stamped the bird, masked him off, and then stamped the swirl.

It's been a challenge keeping my cards simple, I was itching to add an embellishment, but I've really enjoyed the process. Thank you Lesley for choosing the project, and thank you Joanne for inspiring us in the first place.

Now, onto our next project! Elaine has chosen Kate Crane's 'Journal Your Year' on page 40 of the January Craft Stamper. We have slipped behind a little bit, and made the decision to come right up to date again, so that we are in time with what is actually happening with the magazine. This is a lovely project, and although we may only start the project for the blog, we will continue to add pages throughout the year on our own blogs. Thanks for stopping by, and we look forward to showing you lots more in 2011, Judith xx

Asian dawn by Jo

2010-12-14T00:54:00.000Z

I was thrilled when Lesley chose this project as it was one I had already decided I just had to try. It has been a challenge on so many levels. I have always wanted to create simple cards that make an impression like Joanne's do in Craft Stamper. But I have always felt that I didn't really have the artistic eye or skills to make it work. Having tried this format now I feel I could quite happily do nothing else for a couple of years!

I tried several colour combinations but decided the ones that worked best were the warm ones like Joanne had used. But I didn't want to copy her colours exactly so I tweaked the mix a little. I had my first play soon after Lesley chose the project as I wanted to use the technique for an October birthday card. I had a mix of successes and failures then but didn't get chance to revisit until this weekend. The time delay has made quite a difference. Firstly, I couldn't be sure exactly which colours I had used the first time round! I have also changed my blending technique while making this year's Christmas cards. I had listened carefully to more experienced crafters who had said how important it is to have a light touch with the foam and inks. But I find I get a smoother result from less ink and and just a smidgin of brute force. Sounds like a recipe for disaster but it works for me.

This is the first card I made, and sent an exact copy to my auntie for her birthday.

I have used Distress Inks in Victorian Velvet and Aged Mahogany. I thought the yellow I had used was Scattered Straw but I am wondering now if it was Wild Honey. The stamp is from the Fantasy Floral plate by Elusive Images. You may notice I just couldn't resist adding the word to the design but it felt in keeping with the feel of the card and I reined myself back in afterwards!

The second card definitely used Scattered Straw in combination with Victorian Velvet and Aged Mahogany. The peacock stamp is from the Elusive Images Peacock Ladies stamp plate.

The third card went badly wrong the first time I tried it. But I love this stamp so much I couldn't bear not to use it so here is take 2. This time I used 3 squares, which really tested my measuring skills and geometry. I blended both Scattered Straw and Wild Honey with the Victorian Velvet and Aged Mahogany. The stamp is from Elusive Images' Brocade Backgrounds. In all cases the silhouette was stamped in Onyx Black Versafine. Love that ink!

This project has been a real revelation to me. I have also learned a lot from what Lesley and Elaine have done with their cards so I feel I can now expand on what I've learned from the original article and apply the technique for different purposes.

Joanne, thanks for inspiring us with your silhouette cards and sending us off in a new direction. It has really been an education.

A festive touch (posted by Elaine)

2010-12-04T20:45:00.001Z

Well, my turn to reveal the cards inspired by Joanne Wardle's cards in the October issue of Craft Stamper. Now these cards look deceptively simple. Anyone who has seen the way I work will know I favour my "everything but the kitchen sink approach", so this uncluttered style was bound to be a big challenge for me. All I knew for sure was that I wanted to do a Christmassy themed set of cards to make use of some of my under-used stamps.

So, I approached this project with a little trepidation. Firstly I only tried to work directly onto a card blank once and mucked it up. After that I worked on a separate piece of card until I got it right. As a result I decided to matt and layer my cards. I tried masking with post its, but didn't get a result I was happy with, so I used round and oval nesties to cut masks that I positioned with masking tape. I was much happier with the rounded shapes somehow, especially as they seemed to let me build the depth of colour to give real definition at the edge of the inked panel, while leaving a glow in the centre. Once I had inked to my satisfaction, so obsessed was I to get the position of the overstamping right I even used my stamp positioner!

This first card used Sunshine Yellow, Peach Bellini, Butterscotch and Cranberry Adirondack dye inks and Wild Honey and Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink. I used Ranger Archival Black ink to overstamp all my designs. I used the Inkadinado Cardinal stamp - a gorgeous wood mounted stamp, that I use far too rarely and the Artifacts Pine Needles unmounted plate .

My second card reflects an ambition I have had for ages to produce an inked representation of the Northern Lights. This design, doesn't do what I really hoped to acheieve as the coloured lines are too uniform and not wavy enough. Never mind! I used Pink Sherbert and Raspberry Adirondack dye inks and Tumbled Glass and Dusty Concord Distress Ink. The stamp of trees is of unknown provenance, I bought it ages ago from an E Bay seller.

Last but not least, I inked my final card using Pink Sherbert and Watermelon Adirondack dye inks and Spun Sugar and Worn Lipstick Distress Inks. I used the same mask as I had used for the cardinal stamps, so a little orange also found its way into this card. At first I nearly threw it away when I spotted this contamnation, but then I realised this added a little more warmth to the design. I used another branch from the same Artifacts Pine Needles plate as my first card, plus the flight of birds from the Tim Holtz clear Lost and Found set. I have to say this was another purchase I made after seeing the very talented Paula use this stamp to great effect. I just hope she agrees imitation is the greatest form of flattery!

I enjoyed making these cards. Thanks so much to Joanne for the inspitation. They certainly challenged me to work away from my normal style. I so wanted to stamp a Christmas sentiment in one corner, but managed to stop myself, at least until the photos had been taken.

Thanks for poppng by. Sorry we have kept you waiting around this month. Life is pretty hectic for us all right now.

Elaine x

Long Time ............. No Posts!!!!

2010-11-29T23:51:00.000Z

Hi Everyone,

First of all let me offer a big apology to all you kind people who have kept checking only to be disappointed that there was nothing new to see. Unfortunately in some ways, life has been throwing a few curved balls at my buddies and I. I've been quite lucky in that most of my distractions have been pleasurable ones but poor Judith and Elaine have both been laid low by nasty viruses as well as being kept busy in other areas. Hopefully, they are both on the mend now. Anyway, I have finally managed to get round to the project that I chose for us this month.

I was very taken with Joanne Wardle's beautifully clean and uncomplicated cards on page 74 of the October issue of Craft Stamper. I had a feeling that they were not as simple as they looked and a big part of the challenge for me personally was to keep them 'simple'. I always find it a little difficult not to try and fill a large white space, Lol!. Having said that, once I got into the swing of making these cards, they became quite addictive and although my challenge to my friends (and myself) was to make a set of three cards each, I'm actually posting four and I have, in fact, made a couple more for cards that I needed in a hurry.

This first example wasn't totally successful in my opinion. I wanted to try that particular image because I like it's delicacy so much but obviously with not being a silhouette stamp the blended colours showed through where the image overlapped. I also don't think the colour block is the right shape but I still quite like it.

As you can see I decided not to keep my blocks of colour symmetrical so that I wasn't 'copying' Joanne. I think this Stamp n' Store image that I bought in a set of stamps from QVC when I first started stamping (and previously unused) works particularly well with this coloured shape.

These last two cards are quite small at about 3.5" x 4" and were made from scraps. I'm quite pleased with both of them as I think the two images work well for different reasons. I really like the Lavinia Poppies and the Elusive Images design from the Eastern Grasses set is one of my favourites. I think this little card has an oriental look to it.

I think these cards are so useful and can either be left as they are or just add a very simple sentiment to make a card suitable for any occasion. I could have gone on making loads of these trying out different shapes, stamps and colour combinations. On these particular cards I used three colours on each from a selection of Adirondack inks in Juniper and Meadow and Distress Inks in Shabby Shutters and Crushed Olive.

Hopefully the other girls will find time to get their take on this particular project done fairly soon but I can say that I have really enjoyed playing with these and will definitely make more.

Once again, I'm sorry we kept you waiting and thanks for sticking with us. I'm wondering what project Elaine is going to choose for us next as she has not given us any clues at all, Hmmmmm!!!!

Hugs
Lesley Xx

And finally 'Friends' (posted by Judith)

2010-11-04T15:17:00.000Z

Well, here I am posting my wooden box project based on Isa Norris' idea in the August edition of Craft Stamper magazine. Last month was so hectic for me, I went to Barcelona, and had another two trips away. My box was painted, but unfinished for a few weeks before I could finally get around to completing it this week.

I decided very early on that I wanted a colour scheme of creams and heather colours. I used Eco-friendly Acylic paint, which comes in a variety of colours, and is very reasonably priced. I used clam shell as my cream option, adding just a bit of white. I then mixed Periwinkle, Pomegranate and White to get my heather colour. I painted the box in heather first, using the Vaseline technique on page 9 of the November Craft Stamper to get an aged effect, I then added the cream colour. I stamped the Crafty Individuals crackle stamp onto tissue paper, and added this to the frame onto some of the cream areas, using matte multi-medium by Claudine Hellmuth.

I lined my box compartments with a mixture of Crafty Individuals papers, and handmade backgrounds, in toning colours. My box is a larger option than the other girls have gone for, because I wanted to incorporate a lot of stamps into my project. I have used a photo tray, similar to a printer's tray, but about the same size. I have used lots of Crafty Individuals stamps, a few Katzelcraft stamps, and one or two by ISC. I have chosen a theme of 'Friends' to carry through the project, and Crafty Individuals have lots of lovely stamps to portray this. I have also stamped out four ladies to resemble myself and my three lovely blog friends, although whether we are that graceful, I'm not sure!

I have included lots of little bits and pieces that have been gifts from my friends. When we meet up, they come bearing little packages of craft gifts , and some of these appear in this project; the lovely cream metal butterfly, (it used to be bronze), the pearls on stems, the printed tape, which should have gone in our circle journals, but I felt it belonged on here.

I thought of my friends as I worked on this piece, and I hope that it shows in the final result.

Now, onto our next project! As I've been so tardy in posting this one, I need to let you know what our next project is going to be. Lesley has chosen Joanne Wardle's 'Sunset Silhouette' on page 74 of the October Craft Stamper magazine. Hopefully, you won't have to wait too long to see some items from the others, as I know that they have already been preparing for this challenge. Thanks for stopping by, Judith xx

The Sewing Box (posted by Elaine)

2010-10-24T21:00:00.000+01:00

Well here is project three from this month's selection of a little decorated box, inspired by Isa Norris. I was really looking forward to making this project as I love working on miniature projects. I have been a bit naughty as I wanted to work with two boxes. I decided to mount the boxes onto a little wooden triptych screen that I had been itching to use for some time, so I have been working in and out of the box like Jo.

I decided to make a project with a sewing theme when I saw a set of needlework themed stamps made by Mirkwood Designs on E Bay! It took three attempts by my OH staying up until the early hours to successfully bid for this set from a seller in the US! I have wanted to make a needlework themed project for ages since I saw the gorgeous Grandma's Sewing Book project by Helen Chilton in the August 2008 issue of Craft Stamper. So this project was actually inspired by two designers.

I painted my boxes and screen various shades of mushroom, pale yellow and finally cream until I was happy with the colour. The intial idea was to cover the screen with dressmakers' pattern tissue, which I did, but the tissue didn't really go transparent to show the colour through and looked a muddy colour, so I sanded it back and repainted it again!!

I used some twill measuring tape to edge the boxes that I bought some time ago from The Stamp Connection stand at Alexandra Palace. The little boxes are lined with Life's Journey paper by K & Co. The Time's is a Dressmaker stamp on the left hand panel is from Paper Artsy, as is the squiggle I used as the stand for the dummy. Originally I planned to use the words to top the project, but they were too big, but then I got the idea to use the dummy from this card on Suzanne Czosek's blog that I was browsing on the other day. I didn't realise at the time that Suzz is a blogging pal of Lesley. Thanks for the inspiration Suzz! If you haven't visited Suzz's blog, it is full of inspiration! I got the template for the dummy on the Stampington website, reduced it to the right size on the photocopier and cut it out of Webster's Pages paper and coloured the edge with Frayed Burlap Distress Ink. I stamped the stamp onto tissue paper and stuck it on with gel medium. The large scissors on the right hand panel are from the Mirkwood plate, the needle packet and the cotton label on the top are from a pack of rub ons.

I decorated inside the compartments with cream cotton lace, various stamps from the Mirkwood set, The ruler and some of the buttons are Lost Coast stamps from Happy Daze. The little cotton reel is another purchase from the Stamp Connection, with gold coloured embroidery thread added. I also used the button and zig zag stitched design are narrow Cuttlebug folders from the Just my Type set. I added some real needles, a safety pin and some eyes.

I wanted to include a little pin cushion, so I stamped onto some calico fabric and gathered it into a little pin cushion, adding some tiny lace making pins. I added some more stamping, a little thimble that I coloured with Butterscotch alchol ink, which I used on all the slivery metal elements to make them golden coloured to match the rest of the colour scheme. I finally added some little wooden scrabble tiles and some vintage buttons that I think may have come from my grandmother's sewing box.

I really enjoyed making this project, I want to thank Isa for the original inspiration and for her generosity in sharing her skills and knowledge with us crafters and thanks to Judith for choosing this project for us to tackle.

Elaine x

My Little Feathered Friends.

2010-10-19T23:07:00.001+01:00

Well, I have to admit I really struggled with this project. I have come to realise that I don't do miniature very well at all and that only increases my admiration for people who can, like Isabelle Norris whose project was the inspiration for our efforts this month and Jean Hardy of Crafty Individuals whose products feature in Isa's lovely little creation. Unlike my lovely pal Jo, I never thought to 'think outside the box' and I was so stunned by her wonderful project that I almost chickened out on posting mine. However, I thought our wonderful visitors deserved to see the not so good side of the coin as well as the lovely stuff so here goes.

I have had a bit of a 'bird thing' going on in several of my efforts this summer and so I based this project on 'My Little Feathered Friends' also.

I painted my box with StudioTraditional Tan semi gloss paint but then decided to cover it with some Precious Metal Paints. I mixed two colours (and I can't remember what they were now, Doh!) to get the minky shade for the outside. The inside was dabbed with a stiffish brush and another Precious Metal colour. I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder to emboss the grass and bird onto a piece of pearl Ten Seconds Studio metal, lightly sanded it and then rubbed it with black and some deep golden yellow acrylic paint. Finally I used a Ranger Metallic Gold Dabber on certain areas of the metal before sprinkling Gold EP and heat embossing. This metal was then used to fill two of the sections.

I used a selection of images from a new Crafty Individuals set which I bought from their stand at the Artisan Show at the beginning of October, a few Elusive Images stamps and a Clarity stamp for the other two sections and the small amount of stamping on the outside of the box and after sticking these in place, I dabbed Ranger Rock Candy on the inside bottom 'ledge' of each section. I made a little bird's nest from a button with fibre and coarse twine stuck to it and then made some little eggs from Friendly Plastic to put in the nest. I covered a little bird (again from Crafty Individuals) with Viva Ferro (again, two colours mixed together) and then stamped into it with one of the CI folliage stamps. I left it to dry overnight and then touched the raised surface with a little Precious Metal Paint to show up the texture more and attached it to the top edge of the box. Finally, I added the strip of lace.

I have to be honest and say that this wasn't my favourite project to do simply because I found it so difficult working with the restrictions of such a small area but it was a very good test for me. I'm looking forward to seeing what our other two quartet members come up with now.

Thanks as always for your visit and especially if you find time to leave a comment.

Hugs
Lesley Xx

Echoes of summer (by Jo)

2010-10-12T13:48:00.000+01:00

When Judith chose our project this month I knew straight away that my piece would feature trees. The tree pictures in the Crafty Individuals Nature’s Beauty book are some of my favourites and I had used winter trees in the piece I made in Jean Hardy’s class at the Graphicus retreat last month. I thought an autumn theme would be good and prepared my collection of bare trees for this box. But my mind was still on another jaunt from the end of the summer and some of you will spot that straight away. That is how my box became a little ‘cottage’. Crafty Individuals also make chipboard trees, houses and fences but these were a bit too small for what I wanted so I made my own larger tree and fence in the style of the CI ones.

I covered them in papers I received as part of my Graphicus Guild membership. These might possibly be on the latest Essence of Nature CD but I can’t be sure as I don’t have that one yet. At this point the bare tree images were cast aside as this tree is most definitely not a autumn one. I replaced the pictures with another echo of my summer - the bluebells.

It took a very long time to choose a colour for my box. I toyed with the idea of making it lilac as there is purple in the tree. But I wanted something that looked like part of the woodland. It started out beige but I didn’t like that so I repainted it in sage green.

I dressed my cottage with some pieces of ribbon edged with tiny leaves. I bought this ribbon with Elaine in mind really and it comes in several colours. I had expected to be using the autumn coloured one but here it is in glorious summer green!

You have to look very hard to spot the stamping on my cottage. But it is there. It’s a beautiful leaf stamp from the Elusive Images Fantasy Floral plate. I have used a tiny version of the same stamp in the background of the text (computer generated) and it also ties in with the leaves on the tree.

In her original, Isabelle Norris used Cuttlebug embossing on some of her backgrounds. I love my Cuttlebug and didn’t wanted to miss the chance to use it here so I used the script folder to make a background for the bluebells and also for my roof tiles. Like Isa’s these are made with Pearl TSS metal which has been aged with Terracotta and Gold alcohol inks. The metal was too delicate (and probably too sharp) to use on its own for the roof so each piece is backed with corrugated card which I left exposed at the edges as I think it makes it look more rustic. The eaves are made with bronze pearl card cut with a Fiskars embossing border punch (Punched Lace, I think). I was worried that with all the extra weight of the roof, the cottage wouldn’t stand up on its own as I’d originally intended so I was delighted it still works as a free-standing piece.

The fence was made in two pieces. I coloured it with Antique Linen DI and overstamped with the CI crackle stamp (CI – 116) in Vintage Photo DI. I couldn’t resist adding a butterfly. This is another CI image from the Nature’s Beauty Book. I deliberately chose one with quite neutral colours. The punched fern leaves at the base of the fence came about just because I thought they helped make the words look more at home on the fence.

The summer was not at all sad for me this year but I felt compelled to include the word as that is how I feel looking back at the summer in autumn time. I have come to a point in my crafting where the things I make evoke memories of places, people or events. I have high hopes of getting some journalling off the ground but in the meantime, this cottage on my mantelpiece will hold my memories of summer places.

Onto our next Project (written by Judith)

2010-09-23T09:59:00.001+01:00

The Summer is coming to an end, and the Autumn is starting to make its presence felt with the reds and browns appearing on the trees. We get a spell of lovely warm weather, and then the blustery winds appear, making us want to wrap up inside, and keep warm. This is ideal crafting weather, don't you think?
We have had a very busy few weeks, what with holidays, and other commitments, and although we have still managed to fit some crafting time in here and there, we have not been able to keep up with our deadlines on here unfortunately. Our next project is from August's Craft Stamper magazine, based on Isabelle Norris' project 'Seaside Memories' on page 26. This was my choice, as I love the idea of combining stamping, pictures and pieces of memorabilia all in one piece. Isabelle's design is lovely in washed blues, but where we all head? Who knows, with our track record! Will we stay small, or go large? You will have to wait and see. Some of us are well on the way with these projects, and some of us are not so well advanced... hopefully, we'll show you some sneak peeks as per usual, and keep you posted with our progress.
We'll be skipping past September's Craft Stamper magazine in an attempt to get caught up, and next month, we'll choose from October's projects, to bring ourselves back up to date.
Keep popping back for those little snippets, and we'll see you soon, Judith xx

Courtesy of Morticia's Wardrobe? (posted by Jo)

2010-09-15T21:16:00.000+01:00

This project was a long time coming for a number of reasons. I haven't been around much over the summer to do any crafting and when I have, it seemed I didn't have all the materials I wanted for my canvas. My plan changed several times and I only knew what colours I was going to use when I finally had a brush in my hand.

The canvas itself was coloured with Aqua and Cool Peri Adirondack Dabbers. I applied the first layer with a baby wipe and then added extra texture and depth of colour with a natural sponge. Over the top I used a Tim Holtz Cobweb mask, sponged through with Dusty Concord Distress ink.

The Grungepaper squares gave me some problems. I was in two minds as to whether to go for a lighter or darker contrast with the canvas. But the first of my elements looked lost on the lighter colour background so I went with Dusty Concord. I was disappointed at first with the colour and considered using a white card with the ink or embossing a ready coloured card. But I did like the velvet texture of the Grungepaper and wanted to keep the textile feel to the squares. In the nick of time I remembered inking Grungepaper roses at Linda Elbourne's workshop at LB Crafts. She told us we needed to really work the ink into the surface and we certainly hammered the Cut n Dry foam getting our flowers coloured that day. So I tried again with the Dusty Concord on my squares and got a much more vivid colour. I embossed with a Jamara Cuttlebug folder but the embossing didn't show too well so I went back and picked out the raised surface with Black Soot and got an effect I was really pleased with. The word 'goth' wasn't in my head until I read the comments on my sneak peek but the black and purple velvet/flock effect is straight out of Morticia's wardrobe.

To colour the tag on which the images were stamped, I used Tumbled Glass, Dusty Concord and a little Faded Jeans. I dabbed these onto my craft mat, spritzed with water and dipped in the tag. Over this background I used a Tattered Angels Ironworks masks. It is a fantastic iron gate. I picked out the shape in more Dusty Concord then stamped over the top. The stamps I used are mostly Inkadinkado but the 'Trick or Treat' and 'Shadows' text is from a new Halloween plate by Elusive Images.

I didn't have the Tim Holtz Fragments that Linda used on her tag in the original project but I got by using three Creative Acrylics pieces and a few round and square acrylic 'pebbles' which I've had for a while.

I added into the mix a variety of Grungeboard minis which were painted with a Silver Dabber and immediately embossed with silver embossing powder. This gave the paint a lovely bubbled effect and even the tiny pieces look quite gnarly. I also used a couple of pieces painted with Aqua Dabber. I tried quite hard to repeat motifs across the canvas to pull everything together. A chipboard arrow echoes the spikes on Crow Gate and a tiny star flourish in a square pebble (sorry, lost in the glare on the main photo below) echoes the silver chipboard stars. Can you spot the others?

Sadly, I wasn't able to make the word 'Boo' with the type charms because there is only one 'o' in a set. So I computer generated my own letters.

I really enjoyed this project once I finally got to grips with it. I love the way I was able to use so many different elements and techniques. I know it is very different from Linda's canvas in the magazine but I feel I have put my own twist on the piece and was glad I was able to use what I had learned from her to get Grungepaper squares I was happy with. Thanks, Linda, for continuing to inspire us!

PS Sorry for the picture quality. I waited for daylight but it has been murky again today so no chance to improve on the photos I took in artificial light last night.

Don't give up on me just yet! (posted by Jo)

2010-09-12T23:23:00.001+01:00

You might be forgiven for thinking I was a figment of your imagination and that this was really Craft Stamping Trio! But I am still here. I've just spent a lot of time gadding about over the summer and consequently I have got behind with our projects here. But after seeing the girls produce such gorgeous tag canvases I thought it was time I started getting mine together. I've made some headway today and hope to have my piece finished in time for a dash to the deadline with Judith's choice of project from the next issue.

Here is a little taster of things to come.

My red and turquoise canvas (posted by Elaine)

2010-09-04T22:00:00.003+01:00

Well you may know from my sneeky peek that I chose a rather unusual colour palette for my canvas inspired by Linda Elbourne's project in Craft Stamper. I love turquioise, but wanted to add something with a bit of punch too, hence the red - I think it works although it is rather unorthodox!

Unlike my blogging companions here, I have not gone for the understated approach, rather the more is more technique, or what I often call my "everything but the kitchen sink look"!! I have also gone a bit glittery and blingy, which is another diversion from Linda's original, I hope I will be forgiven Linda!! I painted my canvas wirh a Pool dabber, then I wanted a really true turquoise colour, so I actually made my background squares from a pale chipboard that I ran through the cuttlebug and then painted with precious metal paint. I backed each square with a matted layer of glitter card and let just a tiny edge show for a little sparkle.

I used a lovely Darkroom Door set of stamps as my words and some images. I really struggled to find some words that fitted the memory frame, so this was a bit of one of the main stamps in the set. I needed a bit more space than a tag allowed so I used a semi gloss postcard to work on. I can't remember for sure which inks I used now, I know one was Tumbled Glass DI. I used a nice swirly mask as my background. Although I did use Fragments for the first time, I also used some of the Tim Holtz film strip ribbon too for some of my images. Linda very kindly demoed how to stamp tiny images for using the ribbon when we were at Ally Pally a while back. Linda also got me over my fear of making Grungepaper roses when I did a brilliant class with her when me and my CSQ pals went in holiday together in June, so I wanted to add some of them onto my canvas. I made these out of red velvet paper and thought black leaves would set them off nicely.

I used the lovely Jo Capper Sandon small bee stamp and a key hole that I think was a lovely freebie from Crafty Individuals. I added some lovely metal keys from K & Co, some red buttons and some jewelled flourishes. I just inked my chipboard frame and shape as I had already used metallic finishes, after all you can see I didn't want it to be OTT!

So this is the full canvas and like Judith and Lesley I really loved doing this project, so thank you Linda for the inspiration in your article, on your blog and in your classes and demos. You make us laugh and we learn a lot too - what better combination could we ask for?

Thanks for popping by and sharing our fun!

Elaine x

Birds of a Feather (written by Judith)

2010-08-31T09:51:00.000+01:00

Here I am, slightly later than intended, posting my offering based on Linda Elbourne's 'Playing Tag' in the July Craft Stamper magazine.

I decided to go with a green theme this time, as I was feeling very summery, and wanted to reflect the foliage and freshness of the garden. I wanted to incorporate lots of birds into my project, and use my favourite Paper Artsy and Elusive Images bird stamps.

I started by choosing a colour palette of Willow and Juniper Adirondack Inks, and Bundled Sage Distress Ink. I applied Willow and Juniper paint dabbers to my canvas, and Juniper to my Grungepaper. As I mentioned in my sneaky peek, I used the Tim Holtz Cracked effect folder to emboss my Grungepaper.
I used a lovely Tattered Angels mask from the Blossom set on my tag, keeping to the natural theme. I had some chipboard leaves which I coloured with Bundled Sage, and a lovely Scrap FX Bird which was coloured with Vintage Photo DI, bringing in an element of brown for contrast. I used a little bit of Gold paste on the tail of the bird to age it slightly. I added a couple of Wendy Vecchi butterflies, and some handmade flowers, all with a brown tinge.

I had never worked with the Ideology fragments before, but enjoyed finding images small enough to fit the pieces. I love the effect that embossing over gold Paint Dabber gives, so thank you Linda for this technique, I will be using it again! I added a dot of black Pearl Pen to the birds for their eyes, which seemed to work well.Inside the memory capsule, I placed a couple of little humming bird charms, some Paper Artsy clock fragments, and some green seed beads. I stamped one of my favourite phrases from the Live out Loud themeplate from Elusive Images, I love the font on this one.

I had fun making the small flowers, as I had never made these before. They are really easy, and take no time at all. So I will be making lots more of these too! They will be handy for using up scraps of pretty papers I think.

As you will see, I went for a rectangular canvas; it was what I had to hand. Therefore, my grungepaper pieces are a mix of square and rectangles. I played around with the combinations before sticking them down, and decided on this conventional pattern in the end. I have really enjoyed this project, although my time was tight, and would certainly like to make more of them, so thank you Jo for choosing the project, and thank you Linda for the fabulous idea in the first place.

Thank you for taking the time to visit, and any comments that you care to make will be really appreciated, Judith xx

Colours of Autumn? (posted by Lesley)

2010-08-22T12:22:00.000+01:00

Hi Everyone,

Well, to say I got such an early start on this project and had it 95% finished before we even announced Jo's choice, it's taken me an age to put the finishing touches to it because other things got in the way. I have to say though that for me personally this has been a most enjoyable project to do. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute I put into it so thankyou Jo for choosing it and Linda Elbourne for giving us the inspiration in the July issue of Craft Stamper Magazine. I love Linda's style both in her artwork and also her 'turn of phrase' on her wonderful blog. She always makes me chuckle!

Anyway, onto the details of my offering. I only had an A4 sized canvas board so decided to make my own square one by using a sheet of double sided adhesive applied to canvas cut from a roll and then mounted onto greyboard. I was really pleased at how neat I managed to get this. I then used acrylic paints to mix my own shade of green and covered the whole canvas with it. When it was dry I used Walnut Stain DI to darken round the edges of the canvas. I coloured my Grungepaper squares with Peeled Paint DI and then embossed them with a script Cuttlebug folder before darkening the edges with Walnut Stain again.

I didn't have a tag big enough so I had to use two which I inked with a mixture of Distress Inks but as it's over a month since I did them I can't remember what colours I used now (and, of course, I didn't write them down, Doh!). I did use a Tim Holtz mask though and one of his quote stamps. I also used Clarity stamps for the birds, a couple of Elusive Images stamps for the extra words and a pretty little butterfly stamp that my lovely and very talented blogging buddy Suzz sent to me a while ago. I also used two very pretty butterflies that I showed on my sneak peek that Suzz sent me so thankyou Suzz, they were perfect for this project. I won't list everything I used on here except to say there are Wendy Vecchi stamps, Tim Holtz.Sizzix dies and quite a lot of TH Ideology bits and pieces. A few bits I found in my 'junk' box were the little leather flowers which I recued from a favourite pair of sandals after my dog decided to chew them to bits and the UTEE oval (with the eye) which I made in a workshop ages ago.

I didn't have any of the Memory Capsules so to get a little 'movement' into my project I used a teeny bottle and put some of the beads I've used on other areas plus some bits of watch works. I then inked up a piece of Grungepaper and rolled it into a stopper for the bottle.

As I have the same initial as Linda, I didn't want to use the letter L in the typewriter key thing so I decided to use three with the initials of our blog in them.

There is one bit I did wrong because I was so eager to get on with it I missed reading the part about stippling the Gold dabber onto the chipboard pieces and then sprinkling with gold EP. I am annoyed with myself about that because I think it's a lovely textured effect on Linda's project but to give mine a little more interest than the plain flat gold, I added some beads and sticky backed gems.

I hope you like my attempt at this lovely project as it was a real pleasure to create. Unfortunately, you may have to wait a little while for the others to post their projects as many things are conspiring to delay 'production', Lol. I know Judith just managed to finish hers but didn't have time to take the pics and post before other things have taken precedence again for a week or so. Elaine has been really busy with extra household jobs and Jo has been gadding about Europe twice (jammy girl) so far this month and she's away again next week.

As always we look forward to and really appreciate any comments you have time to leave and if there's anything on my project that you would like to have more details on please ask. Have a lovely week all!

Hugs
Lesley Xx

Another Bit of Green ....... with a Bit of Orange Thrown in (posted by Lesley)

2010-08-16T16:32:00.000+01:00

Hi Everyone, It's my turn for a sneak peek today, two in fact. Unlike Judith, it's not unusual for me to choose green as it is my favourite colour but I have thrown in a contrast for my take on Linda Elbourne's lovely Craft Stamper project Playing Tag (July issue page 16). I've been a fan of Linda's for quite a while now so I was really pleased when Jo chose this project for us. Anyway, here are a couple of photos.

My project is almost finished and I think Judith and Elaine are in a similar position so it won't be long before we start posting the finished pieces. We have got rather behind due to other commitments recently and Jo has been away twice gadding round Europe (lucky thing) so thank you for bearing with us. We hope the finished pieces live up to expectations, Lol!

As always, we really appreciate any comments you have time to leave.

Hugs
Lesley Xx

A bit of a green sneaky peek from me (written by Judith)

2010-08-13T10:05:00.000+01:00

Now you could be forgiven for thinking that someone else had written this post, because it's not often that I work with green. However, here I am, showing you my progress on my project based on Linda Elbourne's 'Playing Tag' chosen by Jo. We are seriously on the drag this time, due to our other commitments, but I am really enjoying this project. Iam actually nearly finished, but thought that would show you a few snippets of what I have made.

Hmmm, what could the 'B' stand for? Well, it won't take a rocket scientist to work that one out! The eagle eyed among you will see that I have used Tim Holtz's cracked embossing folder on my grungepaper, this is a really great look. The greens that I have picked are so fabulous, I don't work with greens normally, but I love these! You wait until you see the finished result...

Okay, that's enough revealed for now, I will hopefully be able to show you the whole thing in a few days, but for now, thanks for looking, Judith xx

Progress on July project (posted by Elaine)

2010-07-31T21:28:00.000+01:00

Well I am making some progress with the July project - it looks like we will all be late this time thanks to holidays and other commitments!! In the meantime, here is a little sneeky peek from me! I have chosen a really strong and slightly wacky colour scheme, but I think it is going to work OK.

When we did the class with Linda Elbourne in June, she promised any of us that weren't confident making Grungepaper roses before would be after the class. I was a little hesitant and slow at the time, but guess what I have cracked it now and my fear has gone thanks to Linda's tuition and Jo's fantastic find of little pointed clips that work like a dream when making these flowers. I can still improve my technique, espcially getting the centres just right, but they are well on the way! These are made from one of my favourite materials, velvet paper - I don't know why more people don't use this! Plus the petals curl up really nicely.

Not quite sure when I might get this project finished, but at least I have started!! Plus ideas are forming for the August one, but that it top secret right now!

Elaine xx

July Craft Stamper Project (written by Judith)

2010-07-24T14:48:00.000+01:00

Now that we've all posted our Flag Books, and had time for the dust to settle, we'd like to let you know what Jo has chosen as our next project. She has chosen Linda Elbourne's 'Playing Tag' on page 16 and 17 of the July edition of Craft Stamper magazine.
Linda's example is a lovely zingy red and gold creation, full of texture and bits and pieces of Maya Road chip, Ideology fragments and a Memory Frame in the centre. Where will we go with our own pieces? I for one will remember Linda, and the lovely class that we took with her at the beginning of June at LB Crafts, when I am working on my example. It was a time when we were all able to craft together, and chat and laugh, and spend some quality time in each other's company.
For those of you who are new to our blog, this is where we have an opportunity to feel as though we are crafting together, even though we live miles apart, because we are working on the same project. However, no conferring is allowed, and we usually end up with very different end products, although there have been a couple of close shaves!
We hope that you will come back to see our finished canvases in a week or two, and we may show you a couple of progress reports along the way, time permitting.
Judith xx

I Managed It! (posted by Lesley)

2010-07-17T21:59:00.006+01:00

Well, you know what they say 'Better Late Than Never' and that certainly applies to this particular project. Way back in May it was my turn to choose our project for the month from the June issue of Craft Stamper. I chose Sharon Neill's pretty canvas thinking it would be a relatively easy project as my friends and I all had a very busy month ahead. I couldn't have been more wrong. Jo was the first to finish but not without some trials and then Judith managed to get her's done also with difficulty but Elaine and I really struggled. I had three aborted attempts which were truly only fit for the bin. The colours I chose looked a complete mess and I just couldn't get the tissue to 'disappear' once I pasted it to the canvas. I decided to give up and got on with one or two other projects I needed to get done together with my flag book for our June project (which went like a dream).

Then I decided to have another go at the canvas as I don't like to be completely beaten and lo and behold, I managed something presentable. It's no masterpiece but it's not too bad and I do like the colours and the masking. I also managed to get the tissue to almost disappear so I thought I'd post it before we announce Jo's choice of project from the July issue of Craft Stamper.

Everything I used for this project except the 6" x 6" canvas and the tissue paper came from Graphicus. I am sooooo pleased that I managed to finish this as I really thought it was a lost cause. Thanks for visiting.

Hugs
Lesley Xx

Nature Notes (posted by Elaine)

2010-07-14T21:34:00.001+01:00

Well here I am, last, but not least hopefully with the last of our June quartet projects!! Well we have had a busy time lately, plus I had a disaster with my first set of flags that I recounted recently on my own blog here! I was delighted to choose the flag book project and I think we have all really enjoyed working on this one. The other girls have produced stunning and colourful projects.

Once again I chose a nature theme for my project book. An amazing number of stamps is needed for the flags unless you want to repeat pictures, so nature themed stamps was my safest bet as I have a sizeable collection! The basic design of my book is based around the idea of a notebook with handwritten notes and sketches of plants and insects observed in the field. I used Adirondack dye inks in Willow, Citrus and Lettuce to ink my flags and cover backgrounds. The twist to the way I did this was to use my leafy background technique. Before much longer I am planning to post a tutorial of how I do this on my own blog as a few people have asked me how it's done. Basically, the Willow and Citrus are applied as the background with Cut 'n Dry foam, and the Lettuce is put on stippled using a cheap shaving brush, using a real maple leaf as a mask. The leaf effect shows most clearly on the covers.

I mounted my covers and flags on a Forest Green Core'dinations background. My cover is decorated with a Prima Frame, an Inkadinkado words stamp I recently found in the bargain bin at the Newbury Art Stamps Show and a Crafty Individuals butterfly. The letters are Basic Grey Wassail, painted with olive green Viva precious metal paint and I have added decorative metal corners.

Here are quite a lot of pictures of the inside to show the different stamps I used to stamp on the flags. All the script is stamped in Olive Green Ranger archival ink using the very useful Prima Notary stamp, the other images are stamped in Jet Black Ranger archival ink.

The first set of flags use Darkroom Door stamps, I think they are called Friendship Flowers, plus Crafty Individuals butterflies and a bee, I think this is a Beeswax stamp. As in Willy's instructions I used bleach to highlight certain parts of the design. This is the first time I had tried this technique and I was really pleased with how easy it was, provided you are really careful not to overdo it!!

My second view has stamps from Elusive Images, Wild Meadow, Eastern Grasses and Iris plates, as well as Lavinia, Beeswax, Crafty Individuals stamps and a set of ferns I bought second hand that are from an unidentified company.

The next set uses more Elusive Images stamps from the Wild Meadow and Spring plates, Lavinia stamps. Armerio and Crafty Individuals.

The final set uses more Elusive Images stamps, and others from Lavinia and Crafty Individuals.

The back cover uses an Inkadinakdo stamp from the Utopiary set, another bargain Inkadinkado stamp bought at the Newbury show and a Paper Artsy flourish circle. I have added punched leaves in black card using the McGill pine bough punch.

This picture shows the flags as they alternate in the way the book opens. I managed to get myself muddled about how they would all work as I was stamping, so had to stick them on back to front to the instructions, but it worked thankfully!!

So that's my project for this time.

Last but not least, some of you may have noticed I didn't post last month's canvas project. I just wanted to show you that I did try - a number of times, but I am not at all happy with any of my results, so I am admitting defeat, giving in gracefully, letting the side down and moving on, so we can announce our next project!

Thanks for popping by!

Elaine

Wandering through a Rainbow Garden (written by Judith)

2010-07-09T18:51:00.001+01:00

Well, I've finally finished my flag book, I can't believe that it's taken me so long! June was such a busy month, and the time just flew by.
I have chosen to incorporate some elements used by Willy in her lovely book shown in Craft Stamper magazine, like the bleaching, for example. However, I decided to make my flag book more three dimensional. Although I have chosen different stamps, and a different colour scheme to Jo and Lesley, I wanted to add more elements. Therefore, I have introduced decoupage, layering, and chipboard shapes to some of my tags. I have used butterflies and flowers throughout the book, which could have become repetitive, so I needed to vary what I did to my tags.

Those of you who saw the sneaky peeks on my blog last night could be forgiven for thinking that I have gone with red, yellow and orange as my colour palette, but I decided to use a few more than that. I have also used green, blue and purple too! I have graduated my colours, rainbow fashion down my book, to again add variation to the whole thing. I used the gorgeous Patchwork butterfly from Elusive Images on the front cover with a layered flower, also from Elusive Images. I have given the butterfly some antennae which Jo might recognise as a present she gave me at our mini Retreat. I have used cream Prima leaves, brushed with DIs.

For the back cover, I have again used my Elusive images stamps, and made a poppy head from a cream flower, by folding it up, and again colouring it with DIs, and glueing it in place. Throughout the book, I have used sequin waste, or a sequin waste effect stamp as a background.
I chose to use black card like Willy, Jo and Lesley, as it really is the best colour to display the lovely colours that I have used, and brings the Stazon out. I really enjoyed bleaching some of the images, but even in a well-ventilated room, it gave me a headache.

Here you can see the inside of my flag book, and the graduation of the colours that I used. The first layer at the top was Mustard seed, Wild Honey, and Barn Door. The second layer are Mustard Seed, Shabby Shutters, and Broken China. The third layer are Shabby Shutters, Broken China, and Dusty Concord.
I kept a common element from one layer into the next, and so on.

I have lots of photos to show you, and apologise if you feel overloaded by them, but would like to show you one or two tags close up.

I have really enjoyed making this project, as the images are some of my absolute favourites. I love making flowers, and working with these colours has been cheering and uplifting. I hope they brighten your day too! Thank you for looking, and any comments will be really appreciated, Judith xx

Paris in the Spring (posted by Lesley)

2010-07-01T23:06:00.006+01:00

Hi Everyone,

Well, I'm very relieved to say that I managed to complete June's project - unlike the one I chose myself (lol!) for May. Let's just say that is still a 'work in progress'. I have thoroughly enjoyed making my flag book so thanks a lot Elaine for choosing it. I hope you won't be bored as I also used the beautiful Paris stamps from Elusive Images as Jo did. I mixed mine with another Paris set and for the life of me, I can't remember whose they are. I'm hoping Jo's wonderful memory serves me well (as she was with me when I bought them) and that she'll be able to add the name ................... here! I also chose the Paris stamps because I needed so many on the same theme to be able to stamp 18 flag sides and I suppose it was inevitable that at some point two of us were going to choose the same stamps for a project.

I hope you don't mind a lot of photos because this project warrants them I think.

The front cover

I thorough enjoyed the painting with bleach technique for putting in the hightlights

I did almost mess up by not working out in advance which images I wanted to be on the 'top' side of the flag once they were attached to the spine

I also had an accident with one of my Distress Inks. I decided my inkpad needed re-inking but although I was using Old Paper I was thinking Tea Dye and I re-inked with the wrong colour. I now have an interesting new Distress Ink colour, lol, and had to use a different DI for my trio of colours which were Wild Honey, Crushed Olive and Tea Dye.

I also had one major moment of panic. Because the second set of stamps I used were clear stamps I didn't want to use Stazon for stamping the images so I decided to go with Ranger Archival Black. Then when I came to paint them with bleach I suddenly thought Uh! Oh! is the bleach going to remove the black image? I had also taken note of Willy's advice that some of the DI colours react differently to the bleach so I stamped an image and put some patches of the three colours onto some scrap card and 'painted' them to check them out before I risked ruining my carefully stamped flags. Yipee, all three colours disappeared beautifully and the Archival Black stayed put!

The back cover

Finally, another look at the front cover so that you can see the details a little better.

I'd like to say a big thankyou to Willy for her inspirational article in June's Craft Stamper magazine. It's been a brilliant project to do and I will definitely be using the painting with bleach technique again.

Hope you enjoyed your visit and many thanks for any comments you have time to leave.

Hugs
Lesley Xx

Postcards from Paris (by Jo)

2010-06-29T08:16:00.018+01:00

I was so pleased when Elaine chose Willy's book for our next project. I thought the combination of the black card and the bright inks was stunning. I chose a black background for my book and wanted to use bold colours too but wanted to avoid copying Willy's colours. With hindsight I would maybe not have chosen Distress Inks and maybe gone for sizzling colours instead but these were the inks that were in my head at the time and they do seem to suit the subject matter. I chose Broken China, Pine Needles and Dusty Concord.

It was only after I inked all the tags that I realised just how many surfaces I'd be stamping on. I'd chosen Elusive Images' Paris Memories plate as I thought it was my best chance of having a large number of stamps on one theme at my disposal. Even so, I found I had to introduce other stamps so I didn't have to repeat too many.
I used some stitch stamps from HOTP and also some sequin waste for backgrounds. Other images came from Paperartsy, Prima, The Artstic Stamper, Butterfly Kisses, Craft Stamper and Dimension Fourth.

I really liked the bleaching on Willy's flags too and used some bleaching on every tag. The flower worked particularly well so I did use that as a recurring motif, with Hero Arts Old French Script stamped over it. I discovered what Willy meant about the effects of the bleach over different colours.

Putting the book together proved quite simple considering the great effect the flags produce. It was hard to get a photo of the book showing how the tags move but I hope these give you the flavour of how the pages look.

Finally, I decided to depart from Willy's project when doing the cover. I'd been very taken with the cover of Penny Bearcroft's Fuerteventura journal and wanted to produce a collage style cover along similar lines. I also wanted to have a crack at that style as I'm planning to produce my own holiday journal in just a few weeks' time. For my cover I printed some words over a panel from Artylicious' Decadent Brocade CD. This was mounted over some Cuttlebug embossed card, with some die cuts from the same Cuttlebug set (including the tag which was a piece of paper I'd been using to try out some Cosmic Shimmer and Crafty Notions mica sprays). The lamp image was actually my first bleaching practice piece. The key is a ScrapFX laser cut chippie, which had a thin coat of Viva Terra to give it a bit of texture then was lightly swiped with gold ink. The number tag is made with a stamp I love but don't often have the opportunity to use. It is from a US manufacturer. Probably Purple Onion. These bits are held together with an Idea-ology ball chain.

So this is the finished cover. It doesn't look very square as it is standing up. So, to use Judith's expression, it's decidedly 'on the wonk'. Thanks for nominating this challenge, Elaine. I really enjoyed it.

PS My apologies for the arrangement of pics on this post. I look forward to the day when what you see in the preview pane in Blogger is what you see on the page after you've published!

PPS I have just found out about Blogger's new post editor. It might be too late for this post but hopefully my next one will look much more sensible!

Project for June (written by Judith)

2010-06-21T21:48:00.001+01:00

Well, slightly later than normal,we'd like to let you know what our chosen project is to be from the June edition of Craft Stamper magazine. Elaine has chosen the project this time, and it is 'Flutterby Flag Book' on page 16 by Willy Anderson. The lovely vibrant colours against the black are really striking, and the butterfly theme running through the book pulls a large amount of different stamps together.
Willy has suggested the option of a yearbook, or using tags for the flags, so it will be interesting to see what we all come up with. Jo has made a start and you can see her sneaky peek here

As you know, at the beginning of the month, we went on our mini Retreat near Bedford. We had four days of chatting, cooking, and crafting together. We had two adjoining appartments,which were stuffed to the brim with our crafty stash. We spent one day attending a class with Linda Elbourne at LB Crafts, making a hanging consisting of three mini canvases. We worked on our circle journals, making pages for each other, and trying our hand at skills that we taught each other. Elaine taught us how to make leafy backgrounds, using leaves from her garden and Adirondack inks. I taught the girls how to add beading to Stampbord, and they made a necklace. We didn't achieve everything that we had planned, but there is always next time!

The farm where we stayed was brilliant, we made friends with the resident dogs, and admired the horses. The owner even brought her chickens round to meet us! She had a very large great Dane called Dufus, who was a little disconcerting, but if you were brave, and fronted him out, he was okay.

As well as the four of us meeting up, we took our Art dolls, and photographed them together too. It was lovely to see each other's work in the flesh,because we only get to see photographs too.

We have lots of happy memories of our time together, and were very sad when we came to say goodbye to each other. Hopefully it won't be too long before we can meet up again.

Alluring Alliums (written by Judith)

2010-05-27T15:16:00.000+01:00

Well, it's with severe misgivings that I'm posting my project this month. This project was supposed to be our easy option, yet we have all struggled with this one. I have worked with canvas and gel before, and was not at all apprehensive as I started this project. However, I have not been able to produce the results that I wanted at all. This has been partly due to time constraints, and partly to the quality of my tissue paper I think.

I knew straight away that I was going to make my own mask for this project. I love alliums, and wanted to make a mask to represent that flower on a Monet inspired background. I thought about how I could achieve the effect that I wanted, and decided to make my mask in two parts, one for the stalk and one for an outline of the ball type heads.

I created a background, using Adirondack paint dabbers, using Pebble in the centre, and a mixture of Willow, Juniper and Cool Peri around the edge, blending them softly. I then placed my two masks together in the centre, and inked around them using Citrus for the stalk and Wild Plum and Currant for the heads. I then took the head part away, and inked around the little branch pieces using first Citrus and then Stream for shading.

Next I used small dots of colour around the edge of the heads to represent the flowers of the Alliums. I used a mixture of Wild Plum, Citrus, Raspberry and White paint Dabbers.

For my stamping, I have used a combination of stamps from Elusive Images, Stampotique, Artemio, and Tim Holtz, using Stazon to stamp them on tissue paper and acetate to create the effects that I wanted.

I decided to cover my entire canvas with Golden Gel, which, as I anticipated, did cause my Adirondack Inks to brighten and move somewhat. This meant that I had to go over them again to repair the effect a bit. I would therefore reconsider using Adirondacks another time, or just avoid going over the whole piece with the Gel. You learn from these things. However, I did see it through to the end, and I enjoyed the process in a strange kind of way, so thank you Lesley, for challenging me! Judith x

Sweet, sparkling music of summer (by Jo)

2010-05-25T21:22:00.008+01:00

She didn't! This isn't the same canvas. Having looked at the first version I decided it needed a little bit of green with the pink. I suspect this was partly on account of passing an apple tree on my way to work and admiring the blossom. I think I'm happy with the green. I also changed a stamp which looked like it didn't belong.

I have to say a huge thank you to Sharon Neill here because I wouldn't have been able to improve on my initial effort without her advice on how to apply the tissue and what gels and inks to use.

The base coat is Adirondack Sandal Dabber and a red acrylic borrowed from my son's A level Graphics kit. I mixed up the green from some of his other colours (oddly, not blue and yellow!) and added that in. The next stage was the stamping onto tissue. I used Blazing Red and Jet Black Stazon. The stamps were from Beeswax, Crafty Individuals, Judikins, Hot off the Press and Elusive Images. My first attempt used Golden gel medium (gloss) but I decided I didn't want the 'brushed' texture so I changed to Mod Podge. The Heidi Swapp leaf masks were kindly donated by my good friend Lesley and the inking over the top is Brilliance in Crimson Copper, Pearlescent Crimson and Pearlescent Poppy.

I am quite pleased with the result. But I think the canvas looks nicer in reality. The photo shows it looking very red whereas the colours are actually much more varied with pinks and bronzes. The finish is also very glossy which makes the colours look even richer. I feel inclined now to use these masks on another project very soon. Maybe next week on one of our journal pages...

Will she....or won't she? (Posted by Jo)

2010-05-19T22:24:00.003+01:00

Well, surprisingly, I have a finished canvas. But I am not sure yet whether you will see that one here or not. The gel/tissue/masking combination used by Sharon in her wonderful Craft Stamper piece gave me some problems which I didn't fully resolve. Getting a satisfactory finish might mean starting again. But while I am trying to decide here is a little peek of what I have so far.

May's Craft Stamper Project (Judith)

2010-05-18T19:27:00.000+01:00

Life has become very busy for us lately, and last month proved to be extremely hectic! Only one of us managed to make the end of the month deadline, and we felt that maybe some of our projects were becoming too complicated.
This month, Lesley has chosen Sharon Neill's Abstract Art project on page 38 of May's Craft Stamper, as our project to tackle. The colours she has used are really zingy and vibrant. We are all digging out our masks and tissue paper for this one, and hopefully we will all make the deadline this month!
We are also busily planning for our mini Retreat at the beginning of June, so we are trying to cram in lots of preperation for several craft filled days together. It is exciting enough that we are meeting up again, but this time we are taking our tools and our stash with us. We have an itinerary of projects that we intend to make together, and some craft shopping planned as well. It just doesn't get much better than that!

One of the projects that we intend to make is a circle journal, now those of you that follow my blog, will have seen these pictures, and I apologise for that. I have made the covers for my journal already, trying to give an indication of colours that I am partial to. We had intended to try and make a couple of inner pages as well, as a kind of mood board, but time is just running away from us. We will all make our basic journals, and all work on a double page in each other's journals while we are together. At the end of our stay, we will have a memento of our time together in the form of hand crafted pages from each of our friends in our journals. We also plan to put some photos in there too. We have been plotting behind each other's backs, (doesn't that sound terrible?) to work out what to put on these pages, and I think that they will be gorgeous. We will have so much to blog next month, we won't have enough days in the month to blog everything.

Hopefully, we'll be back soon with some sneaky peeks of our canvases for you, Judith x

In a monastery garden (posted by Elaine)

2010-05-15T10:26:00.002+01:00

Well just when everyone had given up hope that I would ever finish my April project, here it finally is!!

I have to say it was tricky getting a decent picture as it is quite long!

While everyone else was busy with cubes, I decided to try and use a piece of skirting board for a slightly different approach. As soon as I started thinking about doing a long panel design I though of using this gorgeous stamp from Beeswax Stamps in the US. BUT I don't have this stamp, my distant crafty friend Jo does though and she kindly agreed to lend it to me.

I thought that by stamping this image a few times I could make it into a cloister effect. I have always loved cloisters as they have such a peaceful atmosphere, often enclosing beautiful gardens. They are little safe havens of tranquility.

I had seriously over-estimated the accuracy of my stamping!! One of the things I most admire about Helen Chilton, whose project inspired us this month, is the incredible accuracy of her stamp positioning - I think it is really awesome! Even with a stamp positioner, I couldn't do what I wanted and stamp it all in one line, so I stamped separate images to stick together. Then when I came to colour the images I just couldn't get the colour I wanted, so in the end I stamped the image onto Basic grey Wassail paper in a sludgey, olivey green-grey sort of colour, cut them out with my trusty decoupage scissors and stuck them all together.

The effect I wanted to create was the idea of the changing colours of light through the different times of the day, starting with dawn and going through to evening. I needed a landscape effect, so I used strips of torn Eclipse tape to create the effect I was looking for, sponging on my beloved Adirondack dye inks in five blending sets of colours. I used about 18 different colours all together I think, working hard to keep using the correct blending foam squares as I kept changing my colours!

On each panel I did four colours to look like sky and mountains.

Once I had done that I had my backgrounds and decided to use exactly the same stamps in the same position on each panel, otherwise I felt the overall effect would be far too hectic. I had hoped to use the Elusive Images Wild Meadow stamps, but they were too big for the scale of this project, so I used a Crafty Individuals set CI 207 - that I often think of as mini Wild Meadow!!

I positioned them all on a large block and repeat stamped the layout on all five panels. I edged the top corners with the Lavinia vine stamp that is so very useful. I finished off with the little grass stamp from Wild Meadow (I was determined to get it in there somewhere), and then shaded around the edge of each panel and over the whole image lightly with more dye ink to pull it all together. As a final touch I added some tiny butterflies and dragonflies and a bird in the sky on each colour.

Putting all the panels and layers together with the wood, it was clear I would have to do some serious paintwork to get the wood to match into my stamped panel.

So I covered my wood in gesso, painted it with some acrylic paint in a blending colour and then tried to match it to the colour of the arches by stippling very dark grey paint on with a shaving brush. I did manage to do a couple of horrible blotchy sections, just don't look too closely!! I was trying to get a stoney sort of effect so the moulding of the wood looked more like part of the surrounding architecture. I had to try and do justice to all the lovely moulding my OH did especially for me to fit the size of the panel.

I finally stuck the whole lot together with lots of extra strong DST and glue roller. And if you've managed to read through the end of this screed without dropping off you get extra bonus points and you can sit in my monastery garden for a little longer!!

Sorry I kept you all waiting so long girls. xx

A very late sneeky peek (posted by Elaine)

2010-05-08T16:36:00.000+01:00

Well, I am so far behind the other girls with last month's project, I am still only able to do a sneeky peek, but hopefully it won't be too much longer before I have my finished project to post.

Unlike the others, I am going to use the skirting board approach, which Helen Chilton did and was featured on the Craft Stamper website and here on her blog. I was sure we would have a piece of skirting lurking somewhere, but sadly not and as the likes of B & Q only wanted to sell us 2.4 metres at a time which seemed a little excessive for what I had in mind, so I persuaded my OH to cut this piece out of a pine shelf for me.

Pulling this project together is going to be a bit of a challenge involving piecing layers together and carefully matching colours, so this is not going to be a speedy job! I still don't even know all the stamps I will be using, but there will be lots of colouring involved!

As you can see I am also going for an architectural theme and hopefully, I'll have the more interesting finished post to show you quite soon!

The Bluebell Walk (posted by Jo)

2010-05-06T13:36:00.000+01:00

Anyone who knows me is probably thoroughly bored by now of hearing me banging on about Sheffield. And if you’ve read my post on my other blog you may know that each year around this time I embark on the Sheffield Round Walk. It’s a 14 mile walk around the parks and green spaces of Sheffield and I go at this time of year because of the bluebells. Granted the best bluebells are actually off the Round Walk route but it’s a good enough excuse for me. I’ve started to scrap or journal the walk a couple of times but never got it finished so I thought this month’s project was a good chance to encapsulate my special ritual on 5 pieces of card.

It was hard trying to choose a tiny few photos for my cube so in the end I chose some from my collection that just fitted a woodland theme rather than this walk specifically. I was worried that otherwise the sides of the cube wouldn’t hang together so I chose the Clarity tree stamps to create a unifying background for each face. I wanted to use bold bright colours and also to mix colours on each face. I wasn’t too happy with the blending but since I made these I have picked up some tips from Judith after seeing her beautiful inking. The top is simply a section of the route map and a photo of the walk waymarker with its distinctive acorn.

My hardware on the top is..... a curtain rail finial! I was thrilled with this find but it would have been easier to use if had been symmetrical. 100 bonus points to Alan who guessed what it was from the last photo and 1000 bonus points to him for cutting these cubes for us. It seemed criminal to cover them up and I was planning to leave some wood showing in keeping with the theme. But my panels mysteriously changed shape after I cut them. Maybe the craft gremlins were at work.

She Who Must Be Obeyed - here at last! (posted by Lesley)

2010-05-03T21:55:00.000+01:00

Well, after promising to have my project posted by today, I thought I wasn't going to manage it. I've had to change my original idea a little because I wanted to print a couple of photos and my tired old printer decided to choose today to give up the ghost. After messing around with it most of the morning I realised I was going to have to think again and then this afternoon we had an unexpected visitor so I had to put my project on hold again but when I finally got round to it tonight everything fell into place and I managed to get it done.

I really am pleased with this project, the inspiration having been taken from Helen Chilton's lovely article in April's Craft Stamper and I decided to make my wooden cube into a photo holder. I have to thank my crafting friend Elaine's husband for the original cube and poor Elaine for carrying it all the way to Alexandra Palace where we all met at the beginning of the month for the Big Stamp and Scrapbooking Show. For the first time all four of us were together for the weekend and had two fab days at the show and a Saturday evening of crafty chat. It was brilliant!

I used the lovely new stamp plate from Elusive Images called Royal Fleur de Lis and to go with the stamps I found the gorgeous curtain hooks in B&Q together with some Fleur de Lis wooden moulding pieces that had been quite dramatically reduced. I painted the wooden moulds with black acrylic paint and then with some Paper Plus Gold Glaze (another bargain I picked up for half price a while ago). I then blended Distress Inks onto the panels I had cut to cover the cube and stamped the images using Archival Black and Coffee. Oops, little edit here as Jo asked on my previous post how I had done the diamond stamped panel. It was Black Soot DI embossed with Black Distress EP.

I then dabbed the edges of each panel with Versamark and embossed them with Ranger Queen's Gold EP and also stamped and embossed some of the crown images and cut them out. I stuck all the panels to the cube and arranged the crowns and the wooden Fleur de Lis on the side panels.

I then turned my attention to what I wanted to display between the hooks. Originally I wanted two little photos of my granddaughters and spent ages this morning finding suitable ones, cropping them and changing them to black and white, only to find the printer was caput.

So, plan B - I found two suitable images from a Crafty Individuals pad and gave them the DI treatment. I then cut two Nestie Fleur de Lis frames, dabbed Versamark round the edges and embossed with the Queen's Gold again.

I did this in a very patchy fashionn for the effect that I wanted and then stuck the frames together back to back. I added the CI images that I'd chosen, gave them each a little crown and finally sprayed some black and white Prima lace flowers with Glimmer Mists and added these to the frame.

Although I enjoyed our two previous CSQ projects, this has definitely been my favourite to date and although I was very late starting, it just seemed to flow together once I bought the Fleur de Lis embellishments.

So thank you very much for being patient and I hope it was worth waiting for, Lol.

Hugs
Lesley Xx

Better late than never! (posted by Lesley)

2010-04-30T12:10:00.000+01:00

Righty Ho! How's this for boring, Lol ?!?

Well, at least I'm going to manage a sort of sneak peek on the last day of the month even if I can't manage my finished project. It's nearly there but I'm waiting for my man with a drill! I know I'm letting the side down all you ladies out there but drills terrify the life out of me. Too much time spent in the dentist's chair methinks, Lol. These look a bit more interesting don't you think?

Anyway, apart from the drill part, I'm really surprised at how quickly this project has come together for me. I didn't start it until last night apart from searching out the ironmongery last Monday but it won't take me long to assemble once I have two little holes drilled in the top. That might have to wait until Sunday though as Hubby is at work again tomorrow.

I think I'm going to be quite pleased with the end result especially as it will serve a purpose once it's finished. Please come back after the weekend as I hope to blog the final piece on Monday and in the meantime, have a lovely bank holiday everybody (even if the weather lets us down as usual).

Hugs
Lesley Xx

Colourful Cube

2010-04-27T20:39:00.000+01:00

Judith: well this will probably come as a bit of a surprise to my fellow blog sisters, Lesley, Jo and Elaine, but here I am posting my project for April! We are approaching the end of what has been an incredibly busy month for all of us, and unfortunately not all of us will make the deadline this month. However, our blog is for our enjoyment, and crafting should be fun, not a chore, so no pressure girls.

I chose a cube shaped piece of wood for my project based on Helen Chilton's article in the April edition of Craft Stamper. When we went to Ally Pally, I bought a set of beautiful Tim Holtz box feet, and knew that I just had to use these on my cube. I knew exactly what I wanted for the top of my cube, and after chatting to my very helpful Husband, I had the bare bones for the finished article.

I had already decided to use Lavinia stamps for my images, building them up to make scenes for each side, using Adirondack ink pads as a colour base.I also used Inktense pencils to colour elements of the scenes, like the bridge, the tree trunk, the steps etc, and then blended them with a water brush. This meant that my sides would be very colourful and quite busy. I did not want to add any extra embellishments to detract from the images or the gorgeous box feet, so I left the sides quite plain.

I made some shrink plastic dragonflies for the top of my cube, colouring them with Inktense pencils and blending the colours with a water brush before shrinking them. I placed them around the centre of the top of my cube. On the top of my cube is the piece of hardware that Terry made for me, isn't it lovely? He drilled holes into a hexagonal rod, and then coiled aluminium wire through the holes. I bent them to look like tree branches, and by a happy accident, found that some large silver plated beads I have fitted on the ends, echoing my feet. I didn't like how shiny they were, so I painted them with precious metal paint.I'm really happy with the end result. I will use it as a display for jewellery which I make and sell, so I may take it to Craft Fairs with me. I have coated the sides and top with Golden Gel Matte to help the durability of the piece. This is quite a 'pretty' piece for me, but I've enjoyed working on it, I hope you like it too. Judith x

Cin ya till what it iz yit?

2010-04-22T00:48:00.000+01:00

I was particularly inspired by the use of everyday bits of hardware Helen had used on her wooden piece in Craft Stamper so before I had any ideas for a theme for my project I ventured into 'Aladdin's Cave' on Nottingham market. It's a wonderful place, piled high with fantastic bits of ironmongery, kit(s)chenware and truly priceless pieces of traditional hardware that, having survived the 70s, you thought you might never see again. I knew I'd find something to inspire me there and I did. This is it.

Don't ask me how I'm going to fix it on!

Ally Pally and this month's project

2010-04-19T21:15:00.000+01:00

On 10th and 11th of this month, the four of us went to Alexandra Palace for the Big Stamp and Scrapbooking Show. We decided to make a weekend of it, and stayed overnight in a lovely B&B which Jo found for us. We hardly ever meet up, in fact, Elaine and Lesley had never met. We email each other so often though, that we feel like old friends when we do get together, as if we've known each other for ages.
We all made our way to AP from different parts of the country, and met up throughout the morning on Saturday, which was so exciting. We'd been waiting for such a long time to get together. It was lovely to wander around the demos together, and watch such talented crafters as Linda Brown and Linda Elbourne from LB Crafts, Jennie and Hels from The Artistic Stamper and Bev Rochester at the Hobby House stand. We were able to split up and do some serious shopping too!
We spent Saturday evening chatting and planning our mini Retreat in June, which will be the next time that we see each other. We then turned in ready for another day of soaking up the atmosphere at AP. Because we had chosen to spend two days at the show, Sunday was a good day to linger at the demos, to ask questions and pick up some top tips. The demonstrators are such lovely people, they are so down to earth, and really want you to know how to be able to do what they are doing. I spent ages with Hels Sheridan, and then Linda Elbourne, learning about various new products out there, which will definitely be appearing in my work in the future.
It was a very sad time when we came to say goodbye to each other, but we have our next venture to look forward to, our mini Retreat, and that will come around quickly enough I'm sure. I have already started a circle journal in preparation for the Retreat. You can see what I've done here We will each make a journal for ourselves, and everyone will complete a page in each journal at the Retreat. This will give us a lovely memento of our time there. I only need to produce a double page spread which will act as a kind of mood board, giving the other three girls an idea of what colours I like, my style, and any themes that I might like incorporated into the journal. Personally, I love what the other three do, and whatever they choose to produce for me would make me happy.

We've all been quite busy this month, and so our thoughts are now turning to our project. I know what I am making based on Helen Chilton's basic idea. I don't want to show you too much at this stage, sorry! However, I bought these gorgeous box feet by Tim Holtz at Ally Pally that I am going to use. I had seen them used on a book on someone's blog, and they are fabulous. I love Art Nouveau, and the little swirls on these feet really suggest that style to me. I think that I may be buying more of these! I plan to use lots of ink pads in varying colours, and lots of stamping this month. However, I am not going to show you my stamps, yet. Hopefully, we'll get some more sneaky peeks in soon, thanks for looking, Judith.

What wood you like to make?

2010-04-04T15:43:00.000+01:00

Well the time has come for me to announce the project that I have chosen for us to tackle for April. I have opted for Helen Chilton's 'Wood you believe it?' on pages 16-18 of April's Craft Stamper magazine.
I first encountered Helen through Graphicus and the galleries on the website there. Her vivid use of colour immediately caught my eye. I have always loved what she does, and I enjoyed her projects in Craft Stamper magazine, and then became a follower of her blog. Her project in April's Craft Stamper magazine is more muted in colour than some of her work, but I love the colours that she has chosen. The homespun nature of the stamps are particularly appealing to me, and I really like the vintage feel to the embellishments of the lace and buttons.
I feel that this project gives the four of us lots of scope for diversity based on the piece of wood that we choose. For example, a cube could become a photo holder, an ATC holder, or a jewellery holder, depending on the hardware at the top. A piece of floorboard could become a key rack or a mirror, a piece of skirting board could become some little houses like the ones on Helen's blog here I love the Delft style of these, the colour is just great, reminding me of trips to Belgium when I was younger. I would love to make a few of these for the kitchen.
So, a trip to the local ironmongers and the wood yard to scrounge some offcuts if you fancy making something with a wooden theme girls, you just need to get your thinking caps on now!

The Lost Princess

2010-04-01T20:06:00.000+01:00

This month’s project ended up being a real challenge. At the outset I just had too many ideas and it took far too long to rule any out. But here, at last, is my doll.

Lesley will be familiar with me saying ‘separated at birth’ because so many times we have had the same thought or wanted the same set of stamps. Where craft is concerned we seem to anticipate each other’s next thought. We are like crafty twins. This time it is our girls. Do you spot a resemblance? After seeing Lesley’s Peacock Princess I started to think of my doll as The Lost Princess. Maybe the two were indeed twins but separated at birth. The common factor here is a very talented lady who designs stamps for Elusive Images and has created both of the face stamps Lesley and I have used. Glenda says this lady lives a private life away from the non stop party world we internet crafters sometimes seem to inhabit. So I’m not even going to mention her name. But she has a fantastic eye for images that make great rubber stamps and maybe if anyone reading this knows her you can let her know how much her artistry is appreciated. One of the things I love about Elusive Images stamps is the recurring motifs. So I think the faces of these two princesses are quite alike.

I wanted a grungy style of doll with a spare kind of look to it. I also wanted to use some unusual materials. I’ve not quite achieved that. The doll’s body is made of paper strips just as Sue Roddis showed in the original Craft Stamper article. I’ve also used acrylic paints applied with a baby wipe as she did. At that stage the body reminded me of an African or South American native and at that point I introduced the neck decoration which is actually an acrylic ‘bead’ available here. I tried to find a script I could use to develop this theme but in the end resorted to printing the word ‘native’ in the ‘Symbol’ font on my computer. The main motif on the body is a Stewart Gill stencil, which has been inked through in black and the red crystals were from a supplier specialising in wedding crafts.

The face I’ve used is a Pierrot stamp from Elusive Images. I’ve backed it with both large and small versions of a sunflower type flower from the EI Big Flowers plate. The face has been overstamped with A Stamp In The Hand’s Field of Sky. I removed the ink from the eye area and gave her a clear Stardust eyeliner which I think just about shows in the close up pic.

The wings were originally chipboard shapes from The Artistic Stamper but I traced these onto glossy card when I decided to use a wax paper resist technique using the Divine Swirls Cuttlebug folder. I inked over the wax using DIs which complimented the paints I’d used on the body. They needed a little more visual weight before they looked right so I added threads and feathers as a nod to yet another kind of ‘native’.

The reel came with the wire on and I hoped to incorporate it into the doll design, although I had already combined both gold and silver finishes. I’d planned to use a coffee stirrer like Sue’s and had been collecting them for a couple of weeks so I had practice ones too. But as I was assembling the doll I had a kebab stick on my craft mat and decided to try that out.

It may be because it's Easter but I can't help feeling with the 'crown', the tears and the spread wings that this has a feel of the crucifixion about it too. Completely unintended but I can't shake the impression.

I still want to use my other ideas and intend to make lots more dolls. The early stages of this project were very exciting and I was pleased with the way things came together at the end. But the week in between where nothing looked right was quite painful.

Looking forward now to Judith’s choice for our next project.

Reveal Number Three: Journal Girl

2010-03-30T10:33:00.000+01:00

Well, it's my turn to post my Art Doll based on Sue Roddis' project. Thank you Jo for seriously taking me out of my comfort zone, as I had never made an Art Doll before.

I kept thinking about what Sue had said that you could make one from whatever you wanted to, and decided to make one from a tag book.It was vaguely body shaped, so I was halfway there. I decided to turn the book into a journal about the 'girls' in my life, as Jo's title 'Here come the Girls' just stuck in my head. I've written about my Mum, who introduced me to crafting, Megan my lovely daughter, Jo, Elaine and Lesley, my three blog sisters, you all have pages about you. I have written about Glenda and Lynn from Graphicus, who gave me the stamps and confidence with colour and texture in the first place. I have written about Michelle, my youngest crafting buddy, about Kay and Amanda, who taught me to make jewellery, and then there is a page devoted to the many others; Kay Carley who taught me about Coloursoft pencils, Hels Sheridan, whose blog is inspirational, Sue Roddis, Helen Chilton, and many others who inspire me on a daily basis.

I gessoed the book and painted the pages with Salmon and Lake Mist Paint Dabbers. I edged the pages with Watermelon and Mountain Rose ink pads. I used a mixture of background stamps with Stone Gray and Cherry Pink Stazon to build up backgrounds. On the front of the book I made an insert for a Tim Holtz ideology plate which reads 'It's all about the Girls'. I have made a battered heart, to which I have added a little key and stuck this on. I have made the book close by bending two Woodware swirly clips and attaching two brads and hooking them on at the front only. They can then be unhooked as necessary.

I have made arms with two thicknesses of card and inserted wire before gesoing and painting with salmon paint dabber and a baby wipe. In one hand, Dot (Cotton), as my husband has nicknamed her, is holding three metal flowers, with nails for stalks. I had to put nails in there somewhere, to be true to Sue's project! On the other hand, is perched a metal butterfly.

I have used a B-Line stamp for the face, masking the hair and jawline, so that I only inked the eyes, nose and mouth. I used Tattered Rose DI to colour the face and Inktense pencils to colour the eyes. Her head decoration reminds me of curlers, hence the name Dot Cotton. I wanted to use nails, but they were too big for the beads, so I used head pins instead, tying a piece of ribbon at the base before pushing them into the cardboard. The wings are coloured with Tattered Rose, Victorian Velvet and Weathered Wood DIs, before stamping with a very old Aspects of Design lace stamp.
Elaine's husband very kindly sourced me a vintage cotton reel label, sized perfectly for my hand made wood turned cotton reel. I have used twisted paper string to represent the cotton, and attached two more metal butterflies.

My biggest challenge has been working out how to make my ideas work; I wanted her to hold the metal flowers, and to have a metal butterfly resting on her hand. My best friend has been UHU glue, it sticks everything! I'm sorry that this post has been so long, if you have stuck with me to the end, thank you. I hope you like my very tall offering, as I mentioned on my own blog, she is 32cms tall on her cotton reel. Thanks for looking, Judith x

And Next We Have the Peacock Princess!

2010-03-28T19:08:00.000+01:00

Well I have to say Elaine started this month's end of month reveal with great style and imagination. Her art doll is absolutely gorgeous and I want to say a big thankyou to Jo for choosing Sue Roddis' Art Dolls project from last month's Craft Stamper magazine as our inspiration this time. I'm fairly sure I wouldn't have had a go at this if she hadn't and it was really good fun.

To a great extent I have gone quite out of my normal comfort zone not only in making the doll in the first place but in making her a bit fluffy and fussy. I've also used quite a bit more bling than I would normally although I suppose it's still quite restrained to some people, Lol! I used Sue's suggested method of making the body with strips of light card covered with a good coat of gesso and then blended Distress Inks to create the colours I wanted. I then lightly stamped a flourish in a golden colour, stamped off once onto scrap, in the background followed by the words You Inspire Me. I used stamps from the Elusive Images Peacock range to stamp the head with headdress onto card and coloured with Sakura Stardust pens. I let some ink from the pens flow out onto my craftmat and then picked it up with a water brush so that the colours were quite pale with a subtle shimmer. I stamped and coloured the same image again but masked out the face and then just coloured in hair for the back of the head. I then decorated the headdress with wire clips cut in half, fluffy white feathers and a bit of bling.

For the wings I used another of the Peacock stamps, this time onto acetate using Stazon and coloured the back of the image with Sakura Glaze Pens. I trimmed it down and into two to make the wings. I also used the fan spur (?) image from the same themeplates, stamped several times and coloured with H2Os, cut out and attached to the bottom of the body together with some more white feathers and bling and I think that's it. Oh yes, I used a well know coffee shop's wooden stirrer for the support at the back which is mostly hidden from view and in the absence of any lovely wooden bobbin, I used a glass taper candle holder which worked perfectly and, I think better fitted her attire than perhaps a bobbin would have done.

Well, I hope you like my offering for this month. I'm now waiting in anticipation to see which project Judith chooses for us to play with for the month of April. I'm also really looking forward to seeing Judith's art doll which will be the next one to be revealed in a couple of days followed shortly after by Jo's. Thankyou for visiting once again.

Hugs
Lesley Xx

Nature Girl

2010-03-26T12:47:00.000Z

Well, here she is in all her glory – my very first art doll. Thanks to Jo for choosing this project and to Sue Roddis for the inspiration from her article in Craft Stamper. I do know my doll is rather girly, but I think I am happy with my efforts, although I have definitely got to the stage that I have looked at her too much!

I decided to take the main picture out in my garden because she looked like she belonged in the natural world. It was a bit breezy though and she kept slipping down, so she's turning up her toes a bit!! My starting point for the theme of my doll is the gorgeous and enormous Patchwork Butterfly stamp from Elusive Images. I stamped and embossed the wings onto black card and then painted the wings with H2O paints. The size of the wings then drove the size of the overall project.

I constructed the doll’s body, as Sue did in Craft Stamper out of strips, but I have ended up covering rather a lot of it up. It was a good robust construction though, as I managed to cut the arms out of the same panel too. I felt I needed a shapely doll and dress and used the free template that Jo had mentioned to me on the Enchanted Gallery website. Where would we be without these generous crafters that freely share their work? I used this template for the arms, legs and dress shape. The head uses one of my favourite little stamps called The Dreamer from Stamp Dreamer. I think this company has stopped trading now. This stamp is actually in a rectangular panel and at first I didn’t think I could use it. You can see the stamp in my earlier sneeky peek. Then I thought that the draping around her head looked a bit like her face was in a bud, so very apt for my natural theme.

I stamped the face onto brown card and coloured the image with Coloursoft pencils. I covered the frame with the flowers that make up her hair. These are the smaller flowers from the Martha Stewart hydrangea punch, each individually coloured with 4 or 5 different Distress Inks. I added a metal flower from a cheap necklace, I painted with Viva precious metal gold paint. I made a little necklace out of tiny flower shaped sequins that are nail gems from the Pound Shop!

The doll’s body was first coloured with gesso and then acrylic paint applied with a baby wipe. It was then overstamped with a lace tag stamp from WS Designs, in brown Versafine ink. The bodice is cut from Artylicious paper from my Graphicus Guild membership pack with little flower brads added. The hands were made from little Magenta maple leaf peel offs backed onto more paper. (Whoops - did I really say peel-offs?!)

The skirt is made from a number of layers of stamping. The first layer is made of Prima paper ivy leaves. Next is a layer made from a huge Beeswax stamp of beech leaves stamped onto orange mulberry paper and cut out. This is followed by an Impression Obsession Butterflies and Blossom petal set, stamped in black ink onto gold paper. Then another beech leaf layer stamped onto more Artylicious paper. The final couple of stamped layers are petals cut from a stamp from the Elusive Images Big Flowers set. These were stamped onto more Artylicious paper, individual petals cut out and then edged with Distress Ink.

I thought these layered up looked like scales on a pine cone, which again worked well for my Nature Girl theme. Finally I edged the dress with a strip of gold paper punched with the Martha Stewart Fall leaves edging punch, backed with a darker paper and cut to shape. I added a little twig with some lichen from my garden, a bee charm and the word Bee-lieve from another Beeswax stamp. The word Nature comes from a Paper Artsy stamp set that finding this link I see has artwork from the very talented isa Norris.

Last, but not least, I drew some stripey legs using a Copic fineliner and Inktense pencils (I never draw anything, I must have been feeling very brave) and added shoes made from more of the paper leaves with more leaf peel offs and little dragonfly brads I had painted gold. I mounted the whole thing using a coffee stirrer (which is probably not visible) on a piece of natural bark and with some pine cones from my garden.

Are you still awake after all that?! She was certainly fun to make and I can see the attraction of making art dolls now, so thanks to Jo and Sue for the choice and the inspiration.

An Extra Peek From Me

2010-03-24T23:56:00.000Z

The other girls have asked me to add an extra peek at my art doll because due to unforseen events Judith and Jo have been unable post their sneak peeks this week so here goes.

I hope I'm not giving too much away here, Lol! Keep a look out at the end of the week when I think the first of our art dolls will be revealed.

Thankyou for visiting.

Hugs
Lesley Xx

A sneeky dolly peek!

2010-03-22T12:28:00.000Z

I have made good progress on my art doll project this month. Here is a tiny peek at one corner - I can't show you too much or I will give the game away.

This is very different from Sue's doll, but I am sure she would forgive me. The most important thing is that I have made my first ever art doll and I am sure it won't be my last. I have especially indulged my enjoyment of making things in miniature with this project, so there is quite a lot of detail stuffed in and loads of different stamps have been used too!!

I am looking forward to the big reveal - I just know the projects will once again be really different - not too long to go now!

Elaine xx

What are little Art Dolls made of?

2010-03-14T18:31:00.000Z

I have never made an Art Doll before, and so I looked at Sue's quote 'you can make one using whatever you feel like'. I like this idea! I woke up one night, a few weeks ago, and had the basic idea for my Art Doll, including the colour scheme, layout, decoration, etc.The idea kept me awake for ages! I wrote it all down in my notebook so that I wouldn't forget it, and then set about gathering my supplies.My basic colour scheme is pink and grey, using paint dabbers, precious metal paint, and Distress Inks. I plan to use a few beads if possible, and some metal sheet. I will incorporate lots of stamping, and a beautiful wood turned, larger than life replica of a cotton reel, that my wood turning friend, Tony made for me. I can't say too much more, or I

will reveal more than I want to at this stage. However, what goes into my stash picture normally ends up in my project. I have left one component out of my picture this time, on purpose! Thanks for looking, Judith x

A natural theme

2010-03-12T13:29:00.000Z

Well, here is a selection of the stamps I am planning to use for my art doll project.

I followed Sue's instructions for making the body which worked well, but I have gone for quite a shapely doll body approach - more to be revealed in due course. There will be a lot more stamping for me this time around and the use of punches is also going to feature quite strongly in my project too. I have chosen a slightly more subtle colour palette than my last project, with a strong theme of nature running through.

I have so many ideas whizzing around my head for this project it is hard to keep it all under some control, but hopefully it will come together OK in a doll that works!!!

Elaine x

Feathers and a bit of bling

2010-03-09T13:10:00.000Z

I thought I'd let you have a peek at some of the bits I want to use on my project for this month.

This one is most definitely out of my normal comfort zone but I'm so glad Jo chose Sue Roddis' art doll from this month's Craft Stamper. It's great fun!

I've decided to go down the fluffy, sparkly route, again not my normal style but I'm pleased with what I've done so far.

Thanks to anyone who visits and leaves a comment. We love to read them and pop back again soon as I'm sure the others will be posting some bits very soon.

Hugs
Lesley Xx

Here Come The Girls!

2010-03-05T18:35:00.000Z

Thanks everyone for the warm reception you have given the blog and for your very kind comments on the finished projects. We never imagined we would draw so much attention.

It's now my turn to choose our next project from the March issue of Craft Stamper and I have decided on the fantastic art dolls by Sue Roddis. These can be found on pages 50-52 of the magazine.

I've always liked the idea of making an art doll, although I've never really known where to start. Sue's work has been a real inspiration to me since I read my first Craft Stamper several years ago. Taking on this project, I feel I have permission to make something which doesn't have to be pretty or to suit anyone but me. I have several ideas already and I'm not sure which one will pass the final audition so my sneak peeks might include body parts(!) that find their way elsewhere. I'm really excited about this particular project. With wooden cotton reels being so hard to find, one of the biggest challenges will be finding a base for my doll. Sue says in the article "I don't think the question should be 'what should I make an art doll from?' but rather 'what can't I make an art doll from?'" so I am going to try not to be too predictable with my materials.

Have fun with this one, girls!

And finally .........

2010-03-01T18:38:00.000Z

Well at last I have finished my February project - I just missed posting in February as I had such trouble getting a photo in the gloomy weather we had yesterday.

Here is my "love" themed project inspired by Valentine's Day in February. As you will have seen I chose a rich red colour theme. I love textures and fabrics, so that influenced my choice of materials. My envelope was made from a red backed rose paper. I lined my envelope with red illusion film to give the effect of moire silk. I mounted the envelope on red satin mirri card, so beautiful I had trouble persauding myself to take the scissors to it and mounted the whole thing on burgundy velvet paper.

My objects inside the envelope were an original vintage postcard that I edged with some fancy metal corners, my only stamping was the rather passionate Crafty Individuals stamp embossed on more red satin mirri in Ruby Obsidian Moonglow EP and the little jewelled frame that I posted earlier. I wanted to include family love in the theme, so this is a picture of my Grandmother and Great-Grandmother. The outside of the envelope is decorated with the beautiful rose trim that I found in a little haberdashers. All the metal heart, ring and key embellishments were different colours, so I painted them all with gold Viva precious metal paint to give them a more consistent appearance. I added a red paper flower with a red heart button, a metal flower that came from a very cheap necklace I bought to dismantle for embellshments and a little burgundy tassel on the key. Last but not least , I used a quote from one of my favourite Thomas Hardy poems - if you want to read it - you can find it here and a tiny quote cut from the box of my favourite chocolates - another kind of love!!

I added something extra into this project that no-one can see but me, inside the envelope are two little letters that are precious to me, one my husband wrote to me and one my Grandmother sent me when I was a child. I wanted to add these things to make it an extra special memento.

Thanks for sticking with us for our first four Craft Stamper projects - I hope you have enjoyed looking at them,as much as we have making them.

Elaine x

Secret Beauty

2010-02-26T20:58:00.000Z

Or Beauty Secret perhaps?

My starting point for this was the lovely shell trim from Ribbonbox. It said bathing belle to me at first but then I remembered one of my favourite Artylicious paper designs in pinks and yellows. The colours almost glow in it and I have been wanting to use it for some time. Here it was used for my envelope and I tried to pick up those colours through the card. The velvet flower was described in my previous post and I backed it with skeleton leaves as Jean Hardy had used these in her original. When I made the flower, it was meant to have a hat pin in it and complement a vintage 'lady in hat' image. In the end I changed my mind and used this picture from Craft Individuals' People and Places 2 paper pad. The swirly frame is the same as Jean's (ie Crafty Individuals) and was stamped first (in Lemonade I think) with Crafty Individuals' crackle stamp and then (in Versacolor Camellia?) with a berry stamp from Stampington's Christmas Found collection. This was the closest I could get to picking up the effect of the tiny blossoms in the lady's hair. The background of the 'letter' is a piece of card embossed in the Cuttlebug and sprayed with Glimmer Mists and Crafty Notions sprays. The text attached to it is Hero Arts Old French Writing and 'Beauty' is a K&Co rub on. The edge of the background card has been embossed in silver using A Stamp in the Hand's 'Field of Sky' but it also picks up the texture of the card. The 'Secret' slider is a Woodware Chippie threaded with pink organza ribbon and silver beads. Hope you like it.

And Here Comes the 2nd One

2010-02-22T10:15:00.000Z

Hello to all our lovely visitors. Today it's my turn to show you my project which resulted from taking inspiration from Jean Hardy's beautiful 'Enveloped Elegance' on page 34 of the February issue of Craft Stamper magazine. I have to confess, I am totally in awe of Jean's ability to put so much into such a small space and so I have taken a lot of licence and spread mine a little over a larger card base. My excuse is that we never intended to copy but to use the chosen CS project as inspiration so I hope I'll be forgiven, Lol! I've gone with a bit of a music theme.

The actual envelope is the same size as the one Jean used and I used a template I already had to make mine from some Laura Ashley paper. There were two shades of the same design so I used one to make a matching envelope liner. I wanted the image (Elusive Images) inside to look faded so used quite muted colours for the stamping and colouring and used a little distress ink round the edges before attaching to a torn piece of card stock. I then arranged the beads, buttons, chain and charm in the corner and adhered them with Glossy Accents. The image in the Ranger glass slide frame is from a Crafty Individuals book. The torn distressed piece of music paper was courtesy of Jo. The crumpled background paper was one I did using Starburst Stains and found in my bit box so I rubbed a Distress Inkpad over the top. Similarly the alcohol ink acetate I used to stamp the lovely cello (Aspects of Design) and punch out the little leaf stems I had made a couple of weeks before during a 'play' session. The pretty lace trim I got from Ribbonbox at the Hinckley Sincerely Yours papercraft show in January and the pearl trim was salvaged ages ago from an article of clothing. All the flowers, beads, chain, charms and word brads were from my stash.

I thoroughly enjoyed making this project and found it quite liberating to be doing something just for it's own sake and not with a specific person in mind. Thanks Elaine for choosing this project for our first one and thanks to Jean Hardy for the original inspiration.

I hope you like it and enjoyed your visit.

Hugs
Lesley Xx

PS I prepared this post in draft this morning ready to publish this evening but I've had a bit of an accident, er .......................... slipped on the blooming slush, ice and sludge while walking the dog. Result - twisted knee and badly swollen foot which I can't bend or put weight on so I think maybe a visit to A&E is called for when Hubby gets home tonight. I'm hoping it's just a really bad sprain but I thought I'd best publish the post now incase I'm otherwise engaged tonight, Lol!

Big Reveal Number one!

2010-02-20T11:21:00.000Z

Well, it's time to reveal my February project to you! For my envelope, I used a scrapbook paper called 'Gypsy Lace' by Bo Bunny. This is a gorgeous, deep turquoise colour with a cream lace pattern on one side, and has a distressed effect on the other side.On the upper inside edge of the envelope, I used Boken China Distress Ink to distress the edge, and a stempleglede grunge stamp to stamp around the edge of the paper. I made my own beaded trim using a mixture of beads in blues, greens and turquoises, which I attached to a piece of turquoise velvet ribbon, and sandwiched between a piece of cream lace, and cream ribbon.
I wanted to fill my envelope with treasures and memories, so I used a Crafty Individuals frame, as Jean Hardy did in her project, and coloured this with Broken China and Scattered Straw Distress Ink. I then stamped a crackle stamp over the top, and added some fake silver leaf. I used a CI image with the word Dream down the side to echo one of my larger stamps. I then layered up a cream silk flower, a metal flower and a turquoise brad, and attached a little lock and key before fixing this to the frame. I made a letter fragment with a CI stamp which I placed behind a matted and layered Elusive Images sentiment. The layers were edged with the DIs and the stempleglede stamp as before. I stamped two Elusive Images butterflies and coloured these with Inktense pencils and a waterbrush. I used the 'Dreams' sentiment from the same Elusive Images themeplate as the key and lock that I stamped onto grungepaper. coloured these with pencils again, layered them up with silicone, and then coated them with Glossy Accents.
The pale turquoise Bazzil card that I used as backing card was again edged with DIs and the stempleglede stamp. My metal flower was explained in a previous post.

I have thoroughly enjoyed working on this project, the colours were delicious. I hope you like my finished offering, Judith xx

Just one last sneeky peek!

2010-02-17T20:38:00.000Z

I am behind the other girls in completing this month's project, so I thought I'd slip in one last sneeky peek before the big reveals start!!

Here is a little frame I altered to include in my romantic Valentine's themed project. This was a little card heart frame from K & Co. I covered it with gesso and red pearly paint, before adding glossy accents, little red jewels and tiny paper red roses. The day after I made this, I found a jewel picking tool at a craft show, how I wish I had had it when I made this!

We really hope you enjoy seeing the final projects - coming very soon!

Elaine xx

Here's some more!

2010-02-08T13:51:00.000Z

Well here's a bit of a turquoise feast for those of you out there that like that particular colour! Even the water that I've cleaned my brushes in is turquoise. I have really enjoyed working on this project, because it has been purely for fun. There has not been any other reason behind the project; it has not been to sell, or for a birthday, or a Craft Fair. The only pre-printed elements are the paper used for the envelope, and the lovely Crafty Individuals image in the little frame. Everything else has been handmade, or put together from scratch, including my beaded trim. I don't want to show you too much at this stage, or there will be no element of surprise at the end, but here are a few pictures for you. Judith x

A Bigger Peek

2010-02-07T21:24:00.000Z

Just a few more sneak peek photos.

These will be my last I think until I reveal the finished article in all it's glory! Hmmm, not sure about that, but I've tried, Lol!

Thanks for taking another look.

Lesley Xx

At last, I've started!

2010-01-31T18:29:00.000Z

I was beginning to feel like the Quartet's tortoise with my progress on this project - not that I should mind because actually I love tortoises and have two very characterful ones myself who are often far from slow especially when they are doing things they shouldn't be, but that's another story!

I actually made time to spend a quick hour starting my project this afternoon. I have changed the scale of the project from the orginal very small envelope, I am in awe of what Jean manages in such a small space! I needed to make my envelope a bit bigger so I could use the gorgeous rose edging I found. In honour of the inspiration for the project I have used a Crafty Individuals stamp - rather a passionate one I feel - just right for my Valentine's theme!! I am loving this rich red colour scheme I have chosen and hope the whole thing comes together in the way I want it to,

I have a really busy week ahead, so I suspect there will be more progress reports from the other girls before I get to post again.

Elaine xx

Making a start

2010-01-30T18:08:00.000Z

It's been a few days since I showed you my chosen materials for my project. I have made a start, and thought that I would show you some pictures of how I was getting on. I have made a flower using metal, painted with Viva precious metal paint. I used the Nestabilities Flower creations 3 set, and punched out three shapes, which I then curved a bit.

I painted them, almost dry brushing on the inside of the petals, and laying the paint on thicker around the edges, to give a depth to the flower.

I then used my embossing tool in the middle of each petal to make them curl up, and fixed them together with a pearly brad.

I can't decide which paper to use for my envelope, it will probably be a last minute decision, as I love them both. Either that, or I will make two! I have also been making my own beaded trim, using beads from my jewellery making stash, and sewing them onto some velvet ribbon that was a freebie from a card making magazine. I love this colour combination, I normally go for purples, so this is a nice change for me. My project is slightly bigger than Jean's original, but purely because one or two of my elements have dictated that I had to increase my dimensions. I am really enjoying this project, and hope to bring you more peeks very soon! Judith x

My First Sneak Peeks

2010-01-29T16:39:00.000Z

Here are three little tasters of some of the things I've been making to go on my offering for our February project.

I can tell everyone right away that my project will bear very little resemblance to Jean Hardy's pretty piece in February Craft Stamper.

How she manages to put so much into such a small area confounds me so I'll come clean and own up to having taken a lot of licence.

I can't wait to see what the others have been up to. I'm the only one who is retired so I hope they all find time to play soon so they can post some pictures to tantalise us with.

A little needlework

2010-01-25T21:45:00.000Z

Now this is quite unlike me! When assembling my embellishments for the project I noted that Jean had used some coloured scrim on hers. I raided my fabric collection for something that might work and found a gorgeous piece of velvet. It is pink and brown and shot through with gold threads. I decided it would be too heavy to use as Jean had, but then had a vague recollection of seeing some velvet flowers on someone's blog. It's a while ago and I feel bad that I don't remember who had made them. If you think it might be you let me know as I'd love to credit you. Anyway, I got out the old needle and thread and made my own flower. It reminds me a little bit of Judith's lovely paper lollipop flowers, which are very modern looking. But by adding the pretty metal brad I'm hoping my flower will look nice with a vintage image I have my eye on.

It might turn out that the flower is a little big for this project but I'm quite pleased with it so if it is I'll save it for another occasion.

I think I know what I'm doing!!

2010-01-24T13:19:00.000Z

Well this is my first post and I too have been busy trying to decide what approach to take for this project.

I was the lucky one of the quartet to choose the first project from February issue of Craft Stamper and I chose Jean Hardy's lovely envelope card. I am a big fan of Jean's work. I was lucky enough to meet Jean twice in 2009 at the Craft Barn and the Graphicus Retreat. She is so relaxed about the way she works, she really made me feel confident enough to have a go at the sort of projects she makes. I love the intricacy of what she does, her projects often include miniature detail which I love. They are always quite "busy", but so well forumulated. I also adore Crafty Individuals stamps too. So here is the stash I have put together for this project.

As the project is to be posted by the end of February, I have decided to go for a Valentines theme in reds and burgundies. I love rich fabrics and have found an amazing fabric rose trim which I hope will fit into the project OK, but may be a little too big. I have also chosen deep red satin mirri card, and red and burgundy velvet paper and some backing paper with red roses. I am hoping to include a romantic CI stamp, plus my favourite Elusive Images Damask Hearts stamps, hopefully on shrink plastic, although it will be the first time I have ever tried to use it. I also have some organza fabric, paper red roses, other red flowers, some poetry and various other bits and pieces I hope to use. It has already been enjoyable hunting out the materials.

I am working with a talented group of girls here. most with a lot more experience than me, but we are all agreed, this blog is not a competitive, but co-operative venture where we all learn from and inspire each other with our efforts.

Thanks for popping by! Elaine xx

I think I'll go with these!

2010-01-23T15:37:00.000Z

I've been looking through my goodies to see what I would like to use for our first project. As you will know if you've read our previous posts, Elaine has chosen Jean Hardy's Enveloped Elegance (Craft Stamper Mag - February 2010, p34). This is definitely going to be a challenge for me as Jean's beautiful project is much 'busier' than the sort of thing I'm used to creating.

These are the items I'm going to try to incorporate but some may be discarded along the way - who knows? There are some Laura Ashley papers, some lovely sheet music kindly shared by Jo, Elusive Images and Aspects of Design stamps, lace, beads, buttons and other embellishments too.

Now to see where it takes me over the next few weeks.

Thanks for visiting. Lesley Xx

Gathering my stash

2010-01-22T13:57:00.000Z

Well my thoughts are turning to the project that Elaine has chosen for us from the February edition of Craft Stamper magazine, Jean Hardy's Enveloped Elegance. I am planning to use some new stamps that I have just bought from Graphicus called Key to my Dreams. These are gorgeous stamps, and the keys are crying out to be stamped onto grungepaper and embellished with crystals, or some sort of gilding. I have pulled together some beads from my jewellery making stash in turquoises and greens, and then found some Bo Bunny and Papermania papers in the same colour range. I also have some Nestie flower shapes, as I may make a metal flower with a Papermania make it youself brad, (see photo), which I plan to paint with some lovely metallic paint.
However, nothing is cast in stone, you know how it goes, you start playing around with things, take a left turn, and end up somewhere completely different. So, we shall see! Bye for now, Judith x

First ever sneak peek

2010-01-19T21:03:00.000Z

I decided, as I am statistically the weakest link in this quartet, I need to disguise my lack of finished projects by adding more sneak peeks that don't actually feature any work. Here's a little bit of loveliness destined for my first project. It is my starting point so will determine what else I use. I was thinking beach huts and seagulls but maybe that's too obvious. Either way, I'm determined to actually use this. Maybe I should stop planning right now and just throw some stash around until it makes a shape I like.

Here we go!

2010-01-18T13:47:00.000Z

For the first month, Elaine has chosen Jean Hardy's Enveloped Elegance p.34 from the February issue of Craft Stamper magazine. The completion deadline is the end of February for the four projects.
We hope that you will follow us along the way as we work on our projects to see how they are progressing. If you would like to become a follower of our blog, or to leave a comment, your support would be very much appreciated.