With Love at Christmas x

Hi Everyone..........................and a warm welcome to you all :-)

This fortnight at Craft Room Challenge the lovely Mervi is the challenge hostess and the theme is "Vintage Christmas......presents or cards" 

Our sponsor is Rogue Redhead Designs, who make wonderful Vintage and Eclectic Stamps.

Below is my DT project, which definitely has a Vintage Shabby Chic Theme. 

The background card is A4 and the stamped images are from Oxford Impressions 'Christmas Wish' Stamp Plate, which I won in a Giveaway from the very talented  Lynne Moncrieff of Adorn. You can find Lynne's blog HERE and it is certainly worth visiting x. 

The  OI plate is full of wonderful Vintage Christmas Images, which stamp beautifully.  

The drift wood was found during a beautiful summer walk on the South West Coast of Scotland and is attached with twine. 

After blending the card with Vintage photo Distress Ink  I  used the masking technique, blended  and water coloured  the main focal images with Distress Inks and Distress Markers. I also added some Ranger Stickles in Rock Candy to create a crisp frosted effect around the feet of Santa and the children.  The Spritz and Flick technique looks like snow is falling.

 Above is a closer view of the top left corner, with a torn tag stamped with the sentiment.

Below is the lower left corner with the Tim Holtz Tattered Poinsettia die. Here I used felt, which was stamped with Archival ink and  then aged with Vintage Photo DI. More Rock Candy Stickles were adhered to catch the light.

The  double bow was made using some hand dyed cheesecloth and once again Rock Candy Stickles provided that lovely sparkle, which just sets this piece off..... sparkling in the lamplight. 

 I do hope you can join in with us over at Craft Room Challenge this fortnight. You can also view and be inspired by the fabulous makes of my very talented DT Roomies by clicking HERE

I would also like to enter this hanging in the following challenges:

Over at Simon Says Monday Challenge the Challenge Theme is Countdown to The Holidays. My Christmas Hanging with the number 25 included is certainly doing that :-)

At Fashionable Stamping Challenge  the Theme is 'Shabby Chic Christmas'.

Thank You for visiting and taking the time to comment..........I really do appreciate your  visits/comments and always try to get back to you.

Crafty Hugs  as always xxx

Tim Holtz Tags of 2013-August

Hi crafty friends..............what a fabulous week I have had....... but more about that Sunday or Monday. :-)

You will find below my take on Tim's August tag ( you can view Tim's tag HERE)

I know I am close to the wire here...... but  for some reason...no matter how hard I try ....... I am always 'Running Against the Wind'. ( Love that song by Bob Seger)

Out of respect for Tim I wont be informing you of the August tag recipe,  but I can tell you what I used on my tag in areas where I had to improvise. 

As I did not have Distress Stain's in colours used by Tim I applied Frayed Burlap and Broken China 

Re-inker Distress Inks using the little pipette from the bottle on my craft sheet. At first I was a little worried as I suddenly thought the background may be too dark, however, I  gave it a liberal spritz with water  and took a paper towel to soak up some of the inks and I love the colours of the tag x 

I used  all of the Stampers Anonymous ( SA) Paris Memoirs Stamp Set, CMS 159,  and one stamp from  SA Travel Labels Set, CMS 108.

The stamps were inked in various colours of Archival and Distress Markers. It was great to alter colours using the Distress Markers and they did not bleed in to the Archival Ink. Hooray 

I did not have any of the Mask It sheet...but they are certainly on my wish list!!! Instead, I stamped  the images on to paper,  cutting them out and layering them over the stamped image on the tag. With Mask It I would never have to cut them out again as the mask is neatly stored until you need it once more. You don't even have to clean it !!!!

Here are some close ups of the masked areas

Once my masking was complete I blended the edges of the tag with Walnut Stain Distress Ink ( inked a couple of times to create more depth around the edge) then added some burlap/twine.

Off to post this before the 1st September...........................where has this year gone !!!!

Hope you have a lovely weekend and we will catch up soon

Crafty Hugs xx

Having Fun !!!!

Hi Everyone....Just a quick post as this week has been very busy, both at work and crafting. Still trying to get rid of this horrible head cold too !! 

I just wanted to say 'Happy Easter' to those of you who celebrate it and as always I hope you all have a fabulous weekend whatever you are doing x 

Its a holiday weekend here in the UK and so I do not return to work until Tuesday.......Yipee !! 

Below is a quick look at some new stamps I have been playing with from LaBlanche. I first saw this stamp  on a tag made by the very talented Astrid McLean of Astrid's Artistic Efforts and she kindly informed me of the make.( When the stamp arrived I realised that I already had a LaBlanche stamp that my lovely mum had bought for me, but i had not got round to playing with it !!)  It's a silicone stamp and you don't have to put great pressure on it to obtain a clear image. Great if you have difficulty with dexterity. 

I used both of the stamps I have, inking up just some of the areas. Like I said it was great fun playing but now I have to go and catch up with chores that I cannot leave any longer. My craft room also requires a bit of a tidy up too.

Best Wishes and Have fun x

Warm Layers.........no jumpers !!

Welcome  to everyone............especially my new followers !!! I am thrilled that you have joined me on my journey in Blogland.

I am so fed up with the wind and rain the last few weeks so decided to create a  quick tag using warm colours, layers  and various Distress Inks.

You can find the technique 'Faded Layers' in Tim Holtz Compendium of Curiosities Volume 2, page 43.

I did have a 'Happy Accident' when tying my ribbons. My own fault as I did not use the rings on my  Sizzix die cut tag and pulled the ribbons too tight !!

However, I just cut the top off the original tag and layered it to another, which I inked with Rusty Hinge DI...........lovely and warm :-)  added some twine, adhered with Ranger Wonder Tape.

I used a variety of Tim's Stampers Anonymous Stamps and an Ideaology Mask to create the layers.

There's a touch of Distress marker's too, which I diluted with my water brush.

It was really fun and took my mind off  the horrible weather for a while. Like many of you in the UK and Europe I am looking forward to sunnier climes.

As always thank you for taking the time to visit and if you leave a comment I will repay the compliment. 

It will be my  1st Blogaversary in a month and I plan to have a giveaway to followers so please pop back for more details.

Crafty Hugs as always

Mask It

Hello Everyone...............a huge welcome to followers old and new x

Today I am sharing another 8 by 8 easel card using the masking technique.  I really enjoy this technique and I used  a combination of Tim Holtz Visual Artistry  Collection and  his Components Collection Stamps.

There are various ways of doing the masking technique........i.e you can restamp the image on paper, cut it out and place over the main stamped image.............there is also a masking fluid that you can apply over the stamped image and then remove, or as I have done on this one...cover the stamped images with torn paper. 

Once images were stamped  in Archival Ink ( Sepia) I inked them with various shades of Distress Inks......................my favourite Vintage Photo and Blue China.

I added a few embellishments  placing glossy accents inside the framed piece.

Thank You so much for taking the time to drop in and maybe even leave a comment.....it means so much as I know you are all very busy.

Take Care x