Just a touch of Pink.

I made this card as one of two for a card swap. The theme was to use black and white with a touch of colour. My partner for the swap has now received her cards in Australia so I can show  here. The black and white digi is by Dover Publications from a CD-rom book by Rico
Prosperso. I printed out onto card stock and then used my largest X-cut oval nestie. I used 300gsm water card for the card base.  The sentiment is computer generated and cut out using the smallest of the oval nesties. Adhered to bottom of card with sticky pads to give the raised effect. The rose is made from snippets of card stock and the stem from a pipe cleaner bound with an off cut of ribbon and tied with a snippet of pink satin ribbon.

I would like to enter into the following challenges:
Pixies crafty workshop#39: Use up your snippets.
Card craft Mania:  Handmade Flowers.
Fab 'n' Funky: Starts with F. ( flowers)
Stampin for the  Weedend: Feeling Floral. 



  

 

Night Owl.

The theme over at Tag Tuesday this week is Owls. I found this digi owl here on this lovely site that has an abundance of downloads that are all free for you to use. The background is a piece of old white sheeting which I dyed purple using the juice from a bowl of blackberries which just happened to be handy! It wasn't quite dark enough so I added chalks in purple, blue and black, distress ink pads in blue and brown to get the sort of sky an owl would be happy to fly around in!! I attached to cardboard (from my supply of cat food boxes) and frayed all round the edges.  The stamp is from Crafty Individuals which I stamped direct onto the material using a black stazon ink pad. I printed the owl and coloured the branch with promarkers and black chalk and cut him out. Then I just sort of went to town adding bits  and bobs that were on my desk. The frame is cut from a window envelope that had come in the post.(The acetate dosen't show up in the photo but using the flash on the camera  made it glare) I cut free hand to give a random feel to it. Chain is part of an old necklace, buttons found in a pot and the purple threads were left over from attaching them to the tag. Was going to throw them in the bin but then thought why not so stuck them under the button just for you Sherry as I know you love to see a bit of thread hanging off.  

As I have used loads of snippets up am scurrying over to the snippets playground  #38.
Entering also into the following:
Tag Tuesday: Owls
Fab 'N' funky: Things with wings.
Crafting for all Seasons: Things with wings.
Charisma Cardz: Things with wings.
Love to Create: Things with wings.
Twisted Tuesdays: Something that flies + 3 embellishments( chain, buttons, threads)

Notebook Cover

I recently entered a swap where the theme was to make a material notebook cover for our secret partners. Mine has been received by my partner in  America so I can reveal it now. (Before the wail goes up from the Derby Division, yours is on its way).

Wendy gave me a list of likes and dislikes to work from. I was told bright colours and solids were ok and the fabric needed to be washable. Also embroidery would be fab. The notebook was needed to take to work and be big enough to write ideas down in and maybe sketch. Must be able to be latched closed. No baticks and definitely no grays. Overall must be a cheerful theme. 

So here is what I made. A red linen cover with embroidered butterflies (cut from the linning material) and closed shut with a metal fastner hidden behind a matching button.

 Inside of cover showing the colourful butterfly material that I chose to compliment the red.

Finally the inside front cover showing the pen holder made from an embroidered butterfly.
I'm pleased to say that Wendy liked her cover and that it ticked all the boxes for her.

Would like to enter into the following challenges:
Tuesday Taggers: Anything goes for September.
Lexi's Creations: Make a gift (not a card).
Anything but a card: Texture.
Challenges for Everybody: Anything Goes.



Round the Houses.

Whilst surfing around bloggland I came across Marina's doll site and saw her posting about minature houses. She has an old printers drawer that she is slowly filling up with little houses made from paperclay and painted with acrylics. Marina asked if anyone would like to exchange/make houses with her. Well you know me by now I will turn my hand to anything and when Marina said she liked the colours of Italian houses  that clinched  it so I quickly fired off an email and went into the real estate business!!

So first off draw your plans and then start building( I decided on an Italian tower based on a real house in Florence and a water front house on the canals in Venice).

A quick covering of torn up serviettes and pva glue and then popped into the airing cupboard to dry ovenight.

Then I nearly had a heart attack as Marina's dinky little houses (aren't they cute) arrived in the post. I can do small but not that small  as my design required a lot of fidly cutting and sticking. I had been given measurements of 1" x 1" x no more than 4" high which I was working to but a quick email back to Marina with a photo of my houses reassured me all  would be fine. 

This is my interpretation of a Tower in Florence. Piazza S. Croce.

A really narrow waterfront house on the canals in Venice.  Entry to the house would have been by the double doors which you stepped up to from  a boat arriving via the canal.



The intricate freize around the top of the house would have been painted on but I found a tiny scrap of design paper which I cut down to size. The colours are authentic buildng colours and the decayed effect of crumbling mortar was achieved using crackle glaze.

I had such a lot of fun designing and making these little houses up from scraps of paper and cardboard and have just heard  that they are now safely in America.
Am entering into Pixies Work shop: Challenge.#37
Also the following challenges:
The Crafty Pad Designs: It's Scraptastic.
Tip Top Tuesday: Recycle it. (Cutdown Cat food Cardboard box/loo roll)
Use it Tuesdays: Anything  Goes.
Simply Create Too: Anything Goes.
Penn'ys paper-crafty: Pink & Brown. (Walls/roof of Piazza S. Croce)

Twinchie Cube.

Recipe.

Take some cardboard and make a cube 2"x 2". Cover with pva glue and old torn up serviettes. Dry in airing cupboard over night.

 Next cover with design paper of your choice. This is autumn leaves on a brown background from a free pad in a magazine.

 Then select pictures as your background theme. These are from a pad by Crafty Individuals.

 Then away you go . Embellish to your hearts desire. Side 1 has  chain from an old necklace buttons and the base from an acorn.

 Side 2. Embroidered lace, odd bead, flower die shapes,string and a dried flower head.

 Side 3. Oddment of lace and interesting seed heads from the garden.

Side 4. Shrink plastic leaves made from a stamped image, string and ferns from the pond.

 The top. String bow, lace flower and a small pin with beads.

 My idea of Autumn on a box.

And just to show that 2 into 5 does go I would like to enter into the current
Show us your Twinchies  2"x 2": Autumn.
Pixies Crafty Workshop #37: Use up your snippets. (From the snippet box or garden).
Also the following :
Heck of a challenge: Anything Goes.
Anything but a Card: Anything Goes.
Challenges 4 Everybody: Anything Goes.
Tuesday Alchemy: Anything  Goes.
Papertake Weekly: Anything Goes:
Whoopsie daisy Challenge: Buttons or Bows.
2 Sisters challenge: Fall
Lollipop Crafts: Fall Frolic.  

Autumn Fall.

This is the tag I have made for the September Tag Swap at The Altered Paper.

The theme for this month is Autumn/Fall. The backing paper is from Stitchy Bear Digital Stamps Fallfoliage Autumn Papers which you can purchase from them. The leaves are stamped (from a freebie stamp from The CraftStamper magazine) and then cut around, coloured with distress inks using autumn colours.( I stamp the ink pad onto my non-stick craft mat, smoosh with a little water, stir together with a paint brush and then lay the images straight on top. Press down well and then turn over to do the other side. I made the pine cones from my Tim Holtz Alterations Tattered Pinecone die. The instructions that come with the die are only pictures of the process but if you log onto Sizzix.com/instructions and look under the die number you can download a pdf file whih is much better at explaining. I used a mix of two distress brown inks to acheive my pine cone colour. The pine case was left over from collecting up nuts for Mr Squirrel last yr to see him through the winter.

I also added some little shrink plastic leaves to the top of the tag and finished the tag off with green hemp string from the potting shed. My tag is now on its way to my partner in America.

As I have used up snippets of white paper for the cones and leaves I am palying over at Pixies Crafty Workshop: Challenge #36 and would like to enter into the following challenges:
The Crafty Pad Designs: Anything but square.
Lexi's Creations: Autumn colours.
Paper Play: Autumnal Tags.
Fab'N'Funky: Colours of Autumn.

Crochet flowers.

When I made the little dresses for the African appeal I used some crochet flowers  as adornments that Ann of Love Making Things had sent in a Whimsy jar swap we had done together. When I mentioned to Ann that I had used her flowers she offered to make me some more.

Look what turned up in the post for me today! A huge pile of flowers (83 in total) in such a lovely array of colours. Thankyou so much Ann, you made my day. I had to stop making the dresses last December when I broke my wrist and couldn't use my sewing machine but I did continue to painstakingly unpick a load of my old dresses and some garments from the local charity shop that were in pretty fabrics. So now I have a quantity of fabric and flowers to get busy with.
The totals for the Fish and Chip baby knitting appeal on Dawn's blog ended up being 2215 jumpers and 1902 beanie hats. Didn't they do well and aren't you bloggers a wonderful bunch!