Water Babies by Charles Kingsley.

The Theme over at Tag Tuesday this week is Mermaids and Water Babies.

I have chosen to base my tag on  The Water Babies by Charles Kingsley. Nicecrane Designs has some lovely digi collage sheets of Water Babies that you can purchase and download.

I decided to make my tag from an oblong of cardboard which I then covered with cream canvas. The edges were frayed before gluing and then an assortment of lace, ribbon, beads and threads were added. The digi was resized on my  computer and then printed out. I glued this to white card stock and stitched around the edges. The threads that I had taken out from the frayed canvas were then threaded through and the ends left showing.



 I glued the picture on top of the lace and added a ribbon and button to the top. You can see a closer view here below.

As I have used odds and ends of materials I am also posting this to Pixies Crafty Workshop:
Snippets #31
Entering into the following challenges:
C.R.A.F.T. challenges: Use Stitching.:



Iv'e been Gardening.

This week is sadly  my last as a Guest Cupcake. I have really enjoyed my time with them.

The theme today is The Great Outdooors, things you would do ouside. Girls on swings, Boys on bikes, Gardening, Golf are just a few to mention.

 This  stumped me for a while as nothing readily sprang to mind. Then I suddenly thought that if you can't find me in the Craft  Pod  I am most probably out  gardening or as The Doc puts it digging holes! So this gave me my first idea.

Now every gardener needs a trug so I rounded up a few things and a bit of cutting, gluing,sticking and string threading later we have one trug.

Next I really needed to do a bit of tidying up as I'm sure this should not all be here!

A lot of cutting and pruning later and  I managed  to find Roses, Asters, Carnations and Chrysanthemums to fill my trug with.



I even found a Ladybird on one of the rose leaves.

Whilst the Roses and Carnations were my own designs using spellbinders dies I drew inspiration from the following tutorials to make the Asters and Chrysanthemums which 

you can find here and here.

Lastly a vase of flowers to display indoors.
The team have been busy as usual creating some gorgeous designs so please pop over to
Cupcake Craft Challenges to see what they have been up to. You are very welcome to join in the challenge and upload your craftiness for all to see.
My thanks to the Cupcake Design Team for having me on board this past month.
As I have used up loads of bits of this and that from my stash I am again playing over at
Pixies Crafty Wokshop in Crafty Snippets #31.

Also entering into the following challenges:
Dream Valley: Summer.
Handmade Harbour: Handmade Monday.
Papertake Weekly: Make your own.
Anything Goes: Lets not be square.
Fab 'n'Funky: No stamped images
Make it Monday Party: Anything goes.
The Poodles Parlour: Anyhing goes.
Secret Crafter: Bright and cheerful.
Come and Get it  challenge: Anything but a card.

I Won.

I won over at Creative Inspirations with  'The Ocean ' below.
Am I chuffed or what!!!!!.

The Ocean.

Here we are already at my penultimate week as a Guest Cupcake. The theme for this weeks challenge is  The Ocean.

I had an idea for this one which would involve me using  a frame of some sort and I needed it to be fairly deep. I found this tutorial here which though it is for making an actual book card,  I thought the concentina frame for inside was ideal for what I wanted. 



 So having collected up my cardstock glue and distress inks this is the frame I made.

You can see here that it is nice and deep and has a 3D effect. I found it really easy to make. 

A rummage through my stash and I  pulled out  several items to use. And here in true Blue Peter Fashion is what I made. You can see a gold coloured basket type object in the picture above which came from a perfume bottle.

A quick covering of black paint, a rope handle, some netting and it made an excellant lobster pot!! 

A strip of ribbon for hanging on the wall and here is my Ocean themed box frame.



The design team have been busy so please pop over to Cupcake Crafts and have a look at the gorgeous creations they have come up with. I hope we have inspired you to have a go yourselves at the challenge this week.

As I have used loads of snippets up of this and that I am playing over at Pixies Workshop in her Crafty Snippets challenge #30.
Also entering into the following:
Make it Monday Party: Papercrafts.
Handmade Harbour: Handmade Monday.
Crafty Ribbons: The sea,beach,boats,rocks, wet sand.
Crafty Inspirations: Altered art anyhting but a card.

Brave Heart!!

Wimpy is not known for his bravery, in fact it would be fair to say that he is not a brave cat at all as he lives most of his life in trepidation behind the washing machine. He only comes out for his food and cuddles when he feels it is absolutely safe to do so! The doors are all open downstairs as I'm writng this but he has only ventured as far as the kitchen hall door with the UT door open behind him if flight becomes necessary. So a visit to the vets is a journey that has to be master minded and well thought out for days in advance. One false move on our part and we don't see him for dust. Thursday morning saw us at the vets by 8am for his blood test after safely hook winking Wimpy into thinking his porridge was about to go 'ping' in the microwave! (Yes I know. He thinks he is human and porridge is his second breakfast of the day.)

10mins later we were handed back one highly traumatised cat, 75 pills (a months supply) and a bill for £101.48  Love dosen't come cheap!!

Anyway I thought I'd have ago at using those pesky promarkers again so I bought a few fairly plain digi stamps to practice with. This one is from Justinklined and reminded me of

'The Wimp' when I saw it.

I made his eyes look slightly larger by giving him eyelids and then added Glossy accents on top. The rest of the card is kept plain apart from ribbon from my snippets and a couple of buttons from my stash.  White cartridge paper for the digi was also in my snippets box so am taking this along to the playground at Pixies Crafty Workshop challeng #29.

Would also like to enter into the following:
Truly Madly, Crafty:   Animals.
My Mum's Craft Shop: Cats & Dogs.
Divas by Design: Anythjing Goes.
Ruby's Rainbow: Cute Animals.
Charisma Cardz: Your favourite Animal.
Digi Doodle shop: Anything Goes.
Sarah Hurley Challenge: Buttons.
The Poodle Parlour: Use a digi stamp.
Simply Create Too: Use it two times at least. ( 2 ribbons, 2 buttons, and (tongue in cheek) glossy accents twice on his two eyes!)

Top 3 Winner.

Just found out that I made The Top 3 over at My Mums Craft Shop challenge  with
'Le Tour de France' !! 
So chuffed.

Onions Anyone?

My Third week as a Guest Designer for Cupcake Crafts.

The theme for this weeks challenge is Le Tour de France, anything French related.

As with previous weeks an idea popped straight up.

I had visions of a French onion seller on his old black bicycle entering Le Tour de France and stopping off to sell his wares along the way! (Onion Johnny is the nickname given to Breton farmers who, dressed in a stripped shirt and beret, riding a bicycle hung with distintive pink onions, selling door- to -door was once a common sight.)

I wanted to make a Chunky 3D ATC (these are traditionally made from blocks of wood measuring 2.5" x 3.5" and 1.5" in depth) incorporating my idea so rounded up a few items to get started.

I have a confession to make. Though picture is showing a block of wood it arrived in the post too late to use. I needed to get  this started so made a cardboard shape to the exact dimmensions and stuffed and weighted it to be the same as the wood. (Typically the wood turned up in the post later in the day whilst the replica was drying off in the airing cupboard!)  Once the box had been made up it was covered with torn serviettes (green ones this time) then glued and when dry the edges were distressed using brown ink. .The ATC would normally be upright but I decided to turn on its side to accomodate the bicycle.  I used a French page from an old atlas to cover all the sides, then painted over them using a diluted wash of white acrylic paint.  4 large wooden beads made the feet.

The decorative knob on the top is made with a metal cap from a perfume bottle turned upside down and metal buttons, all painted black and then rubbed over with Inka Gold for a distressed look.
The bicycle came from a necklace, again painted black and the onions were small wooden beads tinted pink (using a promarker), then strung with raffia string.

The back is a collage of items associated with France i.e Eifel Tower, frog, snail, whilst the sides have signposts written in french, a Frenchman with his beret and the French flag.



Pop on over to Cupcake Crafts to see what inspirations the Cupcake Team have in store for you.You will have till Sunday 8.00pm to enter your own creations with a chance to win a prize or be a Cupcake Cutie.

I Would like to enter this into the following challenges:

Dream Valley: Anything but Square.

Handmade Harbour: Handmade Monday.

Make it Monday Party:  Anything Goes.

Frilly & Funkie: Altered Metal.

My Mums Craft Shop: No cards allowed.

Charisma Cardz: Recycle. (Bottle cap, wooden beads, serviettes).

Bling it Up!!

I wanted to make a card to send to a blogging friend who is going through some serious  health issues at the moment just to let her know I'm thinking of her.

I needed leopard print paper a.s.a.p I had none but do have some leopard print fur fabric in my stash so a quick click with the camera, download to my computer and then to the printer and bobs your uncle printed paper. simples!!!

Along with leopard print my friend has a love for shoes and handbags the brighter the better!

I don't use promarkers much but was determined to bite the bullet and use them on this image. I managed not to let the colours bleed and when dry used glossy accents on the red parts of the shoes and handbag.  Camera dosen't do the card justice as In real life they have come up lovely and shiny.

The stamp image had flowers on the shoes which I enhanced with little handmade flowers(using a die and painted with Luminarte). I used gold coloured pearls in the centres with  red ribbon and gold paper to finish off with  The sentiment was computer generated in word  and cut using a little bit of magic with the same nestie shape used on the layers.

                                    

As I have used up ribbon, old pearls, gold paper and odds of white cardstock(for the flowers) from my snippets folder am entering Pixies Crafty Snippets #28.

Would also like to enter the following challenges:
Great Impressions: Stay within the line colouring.
Simon Says Stamps: Layered.
Lexi's Creations: For a Friend.
Crafty Creations: Free for all.
Southern Girls: Pearls.
The Stamp Man challenge: Bling it on.

Today's Date Is...........

This is my second week as a Guest Designer for Cupcake Crafts.





 The theme for this weeks challenge is Number Cruncher and you need to include something numeric in your work. Again, an idea popped straight into my head so off I went and collected a few bits and bobs to get started. I cut  shapes up out of cardboard 2"x2"x2" and 1"x1"x4" and  stuck together to make little boxes.







I also needed a further larger box casing which I made up from an old whiskers cat food box. Next I covered them all with torn up pieces of old napkins which I liberally glued in place and left to dry out for a day or two.

As I peeled the napkin layers apart I discovered that the back layer  was left with a faint imprint of the design which I thought gave a soft distressed look so I covered each piece again. (This saved me painting a coat of white paint over the top.)













I found I had a stamp that was similar to the flowers on the napkin so using the colours from the napkin randomly stamped out onto a sheet of white card stock. I used this as my template and printed off several copies which I then reput through the printer and created some numbers  and words to use.  





And this is what I made. A Perpetual Calendar. The year is attached to the back wall just by using brads so they are easily replaced. The lid shelf is decorated with a  sculptered paper flower and leaves. 







 I now have a smart calendar for my desk and as I used all scraps up from my stash it has cost me nothing to  make and I had fun making it into the bargain!



The rest of the Design Team have come up with some super makes so please pop over to Cupcake Crafts and have a look at their creations. Maybe you will be  inspired  to join in the challenge too this week

I would like to enter the following:

Papertake Weekly: Anything Goes.

Handmade Harbour: Handmade  Mondays.

Make it Monday Party: Paper crafts.

Red, White & Blue

July's Tag a Month swap theme at The Altered  Paper is Red,White and Blue.  Suggested ideas to use are  flowers, buttons, lace , bling. I had this blue and white embroidered netting that I  had saved in my stash. I simply trimmed around the flower and stems and then adhered to a whtie tag. The butterflies are die cut from a scrap of shrink plastic, coloured in with red/blue promarkers and when shrunk coated with glossy accents. As I have used up snippets I am entering into Pixies Crafty Workshop#27.

Checkmate!!

My secret is out. I can finally reveal that I have been asked by Cupcake Crafts to Guest Design for a month with them as I have been one of their Cupcake Cuties. Wow. Did I need asking twice!!  First off I get to display this fabby badge each week.

The theme for this weeks challenge is to use bright colours and buttons. Well there was only one idea that popped straight into my head and it would invlove using loads of buttons.

100 buttons to be exact (in for a penny, in for a pound I say). A good deal of sorting out and here is my pile ready to start. I needed a base card and I had just the paper to use that had been sent to me by my lovely blogging friend Barbara of  Barbara's World of Whimsies.I had been lucky enough to win it amongst a selction that Barbara had offered on her blog.

So lots of sticking and gluing later and this is what I made. A Medieval Chess Set complete with design paper base. I used a red promarker to colour in alternate squares to make the checker board  effect.                   

The pawns were simply made from bright buttons and a pearl on top. The black sets colours are red and yellow with gold , whilst the white set uses blue and green with silver. The knights are depicted with a shield and jousting pole, the bishops by their hats and staff. The Kings and Queens of course have their crowns shown on buttons  in gold and silver. I really enjoyed making this.

And for those of you that play chess this is Checkmate for the White King who in effect can't move.

Please pop over to Cupcake Crafts and see some of the other lovely makes by the Design Team for this week and maybe even enter the challenge yourself.  Thankyou to the Cupcake team for inviting me along. I'm looking forward to joining in again next Monday. 

I'd like to enter into the following challenges.

Creatalicious:  Anything Goes.

Creative Inspirations: Anything Goes.

Charisma Cardz: Anything Goes.

Crafty Catz: Show us your Metal. (metal buttons used for the chess pieces).