It's close to midnight...

That's the song I've had in my head all week since ATCAS announced the theme 'Midnight'. I had to turn to my lovely hobby art owls set for this one (any excuse!)

There was a bit of masking involved, I stamped the owl first, masked it, then stamped the branch and masked that, then finally masked the moon before inking the background. The card is coloured with promarkers and finished with 'starry night' stickles. Well, it seemed appropriate!

I know it's been a tad quiet here in the last week or so but if you call back in the next couple of days I will be doing a big reveal of my newly created 'Craft space on a shoe string!' Yep, I'm moving up in the world from my kitchen table to a corner of the office so there has been a lot of sorting and rearranging. As said, all will be reveled shortly!

Lou x

J is for...

This fortnight the craft barn dictionary challenge had the added twist of a dragonfly. I was concerned that I had included dragonflies just last time on my D page but looking back through the dictionary it turns out I had included them on no less than four other pages! Yep, they are dancing around the frogs on F, fluttering above the lavender fields in L, quietly adding to the background behind the quince in Q, and of course celebrating the dandelions and daisies in D. So really this should have been a doddle!

So, without further ado, this fortnight J is for Jetty

In a moment of curiosity I added a bit of blue liquid pearl to my acrylics to see what would happen. The result was a much better covering disguising the dictionary page but a much harder overall surface to paint on. I'm not much of a painter anyway but this was the only way I could think of to create this page. The dragonflies are the only stamped element on the page and they are a couple of my favourites from crafty individuals.

A quick close up of the definition but for whatever reason it is adamant that it wants to be sideways on!

I'm entering this in to Crafty Individuals anything goes challenge as well as the Craft Barn Dictionary challenge of course. 

Stamping with layers

This week I've been experimenting with a new set of overlay stamps that seem to be rapidly growing in popularity. This set is made by Alte&New and came as a freebie with a crafty mag. I have to say it was a bit of a head-scratcher for me to begin with and it took a couple of goes to stamp the additional layers in the right places. It also helped when I gave my clear block a good clean so that I could actually see through it again! *hangs head in shame*

The ink pads used were all versa colour - pink, old rose and orchid for the roses and celadon, green tea and evergreen for the leaves. The sentiment is from Craftwork cards and was also stamped in versa pink and embossed with wow clear sparkle embossing powder.

This card is destined for the following challenges;

Less is More - pastel colours
Simon Says Stamp; Monday - Emboss it, Wednesday - Flowers, Work it Wednesday - Flowers
Penny Black at allsorts - Anything goes

Time for tea?

It looks like I'm just in time to share this make with you for Simon Says Stamp Monday's Home Decor challenge. I had an MDF tray to start and painted the whole thing with Annie Sloan chalk paints in old white. I then used a mix of Graphic 45 papers that all coordinated and glued them in place with a mix of pva and water. I've sanded the edges lightly to ensure the papers have a really tight seal against the paint. As tempting as it is to add a load of flowers or ribbons or something I really want this to be a practical piece so I have resisted and instead will give it a coat of waterproof varnish.
Thanks for stopping by!
Lou x

Birthday Bunting

Today I'm sharing some bunting with you that I made some while ago but have never blogged. The triangles were cut out of a mix of coordinating basic grey papers using a sizzix die. The lettering is also die but using a Tim Holtz typewriter die. I simply threaded them all on to some ribbon I had in my stash and threaded a little button in between each one.

Sorry the photo quality is not great, I took it on my phone!
I'd like to enter this in to Simon Says Stamp Monday - home decor challenge

New baby

I debated not sharing this with you as I'm not very keen on the font and the photo is dreadful but I didn't want to miss out on joining in with this week's less is more challenge.

This is a simple bit of paper piecing with an old Francoise wooden stamp and some plaid paper from my stash. As I don't have any baby message stamps I used individual letters from do craft.
Thanks for popping by, Lou x
Is like to enter this in to these challenges;
Less is more, designer paper
ATCAS plaid

With a cherry on the top!

Tonight I'm sharing another 'Mum' creation with you. The stamp is by penny black mounted in to gingham with self adhesive ribbon. There is glossy accents on the cherries to give them that extra shine. I've had the card a little while but now seemed a fitting moment to share it with you as the theme over at allsorts is 'with a cherry on top' and there a are as few anything goes challenges around at the moment too.

I'd like to enter this card in to
Allsorts - with a cherry on the top
Penny black at allsorts - anything goes with stamping
Stamping sensations - anything goes