An altered box

Not much time to craft this weekend as I was at my friends wedding, such a beautfil day (and yes I did make part (not all) of their wedding pressie-fingers crossed they like it). However I did get time to make this.

This is an altered (and very grunged) box left over from my TH alterations box I made back in February. I coloured the box with worn lippy, fired brick and wild honey distress ink, adding some vintage book pages and music sheets. I dribbled and flicked some black ink over the sides, added a TH die cut (via Colin) row of houses cut from grunge paper covered in more vintage book pages. I painted the houses with distress crackle Rock Candy to make them even more grungy. To finish it off I added some bronze foil around the top.

I lined the inside with TH papers I had left over from my configurations workshop and added some paper artsy branch and crow images. I them covered it all in matt gel medium to protect it.

Perfect as a gothy housewarming gift for your 'change of address cards' or even notepaper.

I plan to enter this into the following challenges:

The Artisitic Stamper- HOT HOT HOT
http://theartisticstampercreativeteam.blogspot.com/2011/07/july-challenge-feeling-hot-hot-hot.html

The craft barn - Tim Holtz
http://thecraftbarnblog.blogspot.com/2011/07/tim-holtz-week-challenge-wanna-play.html

and try it on a tuesday - alter a pressie
http://tuesdaytaggers.blogspot.com/


Also, welcome a new follower Marita. 
Happy Crafting

Li'l Pidge

WOYWW

Wow, taking part in Julia's WOYWW certainly does make you realise how quickly the week flies by!  On my desk this week-lots of inking.  I made some more acetate coloured with alcohol inks and tissue paper (my first ever tutorial is on an earlier posting) and have cut TH tattered florals from them, adding some gesso'd die cut (Colin is getting a good workout) vintage book pages.  These are for some large flowers need to decorate a 13th birthday card for my niece (13!!!!  forget Wednesdays flying by....where did those 13 years go?!)-which is just peaking off on the right of the picture-a large A4 card, but I'm not going to mention that anymore until after her birthday.

I have also flocked a mega large pink brad and the very small flower and moth is some metal contact tape I 'recycled' from my Dad's shed!!  I coloured it with alcohol inks again (boy are my fingers and old crafting jeans looking colourful!!) and overstamped the moth with the accompanying stamp (a lovely paperartsy product).  The small flower was a boring plain cardboard flower in a colour I didn't like-it's now a lovely rainbow and metallic hue!

Welcome also to new follower, Von, who has left many a nice comment-welcome Von.

So, if you're at a loss what WOYWW is pop over to Julia's blog (there is a large link on the right) and have a nose around the many and varied desks-its like legalised stalking and quite voyeuristic!!

Happy Crafting

Li'l Pidge

After an evening browsing the net I decided to enter some challenges as a way of forcing me to think and make items outside my comfort zone. 

So, first up is this tag.  I cut the tag with Colin, inking it with distress inks (I now have black soot fingers-hurrah, proper crafting!!).  I then spritzed some water on a script stamp and stamped on the tag to remove some of the colour, overstamping with a compass style design stamp.

I then added some metal on the bottom half of the tag.  This was a recycled tomato puree tube (I cant get enough of these...I have even started asking friends to save them for me!) which I used a Ten Second Studio embossing mat with to create the word TIME and the clock faces. I used black paint over the top, wiping some off to expose the decal.

I added a couple of eco green craft cogs which I covered with black rub on wax then glossy accents.

I ran versamark around the edge and added some bronze embossing powder and added a stamped sentiment on a spellbinders label adding bronze embossing and black soot DI to bring it all together, finishing it off with a spritz of gold mica and water so blend the DI a little bit more.

I am entering this into the following challenges:

Back to Black - at Sunday stampers on http://pinkleart.blogspot.com/
Steam Punk - at http://tuesdaytaggers.blogspot.com/
Anything goes - at http://sirstampalotchallenge.blogspot.com/

So, if you fancy popping over to any of the blogs above I recommend it-they have all inspired me to actually try something new and actually enter a challenge (not something I often do).

Happy crafting

Li'l Pidge

So taking some time today to browse the web and I came across a cracking challenge blog 'shopping our stash.blogspot.com' which encourages your to use the stash you already have rather than having to buy new, and lets face it, unless you are totally new to crafting then you no doubt have a TON of stash.  I have been crafting since I was about 7 years old, now I am 40 and live in a 3 bedroom house with my hubby....well you can guess just how much stash I have amassed over the years, what with that, my hoarding tendencies (is that me or are all crafters the same....I can't walk past a skip without having a little rummage!) and my love of charity shops and car boot sales (though not as many these days as getting up early on a damp Sunday morning suddenly has very little appeal-I wonder why?!).

So I decided to have a go. A few years ago I bought some sheet music in a charity shop and although I have used a couple of pieces I worry that sheet music will become too expensive and I wont be able to buy anymore!  Seriously, this is how crafting gets to you!!  But I decided to make a tag.

I glued the sheet music to some scrap card (seriously this is great card for putting through Colin and generally grunging up, £2 for about 1 kilo of scrap card from the card making industry lots of bit left over from apertures etc-you never know what your getting, but this time I got a lot of gold card so bonus!).  So, I glued the music paper to some card using some multi-medium and smeared over white gesso adding lines of gesso with the edge of an old credit card (well, a promotional Love Film card!). When dry I die cut a tag and added colour with distress inks and inked through some sequin waste.  I then spritz a little mica and water to blend everything together and add a little sheen.

Next I hit my hoard of ribbon (admit it-we all have one,if not two secret stashes of ribbon....we know we;ll never use it but its SOOOO much just to touch!!), or at least my wired ribbon.  Now, I was suckered into buying an entire box of these at a show some years ago (I am MUCH more discerning these days) so I have a large collection of different thicknesses and colours.  But they do made great ribbons and look great on tags.  So I decided to make a couple.  I added  a couple of TH tattered leaves that I scrunched up, distressed and spritzed with water to blend the inks and coated them in gloss accents for a bit of shine.

Finally I used some gold vellum (again, I bought this about 7 chrismas' ago!) and die cut a bumble bee, colouring in the body and adding some stickles for a little bling.

So pop over to shoppingourstash.blogspot.com and use up your stash....it'll make room for more when I hit the Autumn craft shows!!! (I KNOW it defeats the object, but anything that uses up stash is good).

Happy crafting

Li'l pidge x

So there I am, enjoying a day off....BT trying to fix the internet that hasn't worked properly for 3 days (yep, 3 days........how I ever managed to survive...!) and me crafting, cutting and embossing away on my big shot (who I have now named Colin, Colin the cutting machine!) when.....ping......the handle fell off and the itsy bitsy screw pinged behind the cupboard!  Bugger!  So I had to take all the drawers off the cupboard (do I really have THAT many stamps......boy they're heavy..) and there was the offending article.  Easily attached back on and started putting the stamp drawers back on top when...ping...AGAIN!!!!  But this time it wasn't Colin, no, it was my back!!  Aaargggg.......I yelled like a dog having its knackers cut off, dropped the drawer and fell to the floor.......crap, my back is the one part of me that isn't falling apart!  So, having had advice from my Mum (thanks mum-I knew having family in the medical profession would come in useful...and not just growing up with yucky bed sore pictures from the BMJ on the coffee table whilst she was studying!!) and then the doctor (and LOTS of pain killers) I decided that a little light crafting was called for (not the sewing I had intended to do) but I kept having to get up and move about a bit 'cos of the pain so decided to finally take some photos of some finished projects...

This is the cover of the scrapbook I made of my 40th Birthday celebrations (party, weekend away at SPA, meal and then my fab PaperArtsy weekend with the Duke of Distress).

This is the close-up of the cover, I made the flower using the tattered floral die and added some foiling randomly on the edges

 This is one of the double pages, of my PaperArtsy weekend away with Tim Holtz.  It was great making it a few months later (my Birthday was in Feb) as it brought all the memories back of all the lovely times I had.

In an attempt to try and boost my Vit D I decided to take my book outside and read for a bit and when the sun came out it hit the clematis that has flowered for the first time.  Its growing from a pot up some lattice work on the balcony, it's so pretty I just had to share it with you guys.

Anyway, time for another very slow stretch to stop my back seizing up, then back to making some cards.

I hope your all having a great weekend

Happy crafting
Li'l Pidge x

WOYWW

Sorry I'm a little late for WOYWW, that's because we had a craft coven outing yesterday to visit another craft group, the Moonrakers, who were having a class on making bead decorated felt.  Its a great way of using up those small pieces of felt that we all have stashed away.  You keep them on the kebab skewer until you are ready to thread them through something (necklace etc)-I was thinking of making some cufflinks out of them!

I picked this up a couple of weeks ago but haven't blogged about it yet.  This is the blown paperweight I made!!  Yes, MADE!!!  Liquid Glass, a glass studio were doing demonstrations at the contemporary craft fair back in June and I made this!!  I had to pick it up from the studio once it had cooled (what a great place to look around....I feel a day course in glass blowing being high on my to do list!).  Its purple and green swirled and has pride of place in my lounge!

Happy crafting

Li'l Pidge

Hurrah, a day off...at last

Work owes me 2 days time in lieu so I decided to take Thursday and Friday off with the sole intention of crafting (as the weekends have been busy and I am getting SEVERE withdrawal symptoms)...didn't quite work out as planned as I ended up working yesterday, but today (apart from a couple hours working ) I did manage to have some ME time!!

So, what did I do....certainly no lie in as I was up by 07:10 (on my day off!!)-pottering in the garden for a bit I couldn't resist taking a photo of one of our chilli plants-I have no idea what type they are (the seedlings were bought in a tray of 6 and there are about 3 different sorts of chilli plants growing!!).  These chilli are turning a very dark purple/black I hope they are hot as we both love chilli's (especially the pickled ones I made a few years ago-perfect with cheese.....mmmmmm.......!)

Whilst out in the garden I spotted this, not sure if its a moth (I know you can get certain moths in the daytime) or a butterfly, eitherway this little beauty decided to pose for me on my crocosmia Lucifer whilst I took a photo!  Isn't it  pretty?!

Now, for the past few months I have been lusting over other blogs, especially journalling ones and I decided to take the plunge.  This is my first ever page, I painted the pages with acrylic, inked through sequin waste adding some gesso and wiping it over with a baby wipe to expose some of the page below.

 I added some text over white acrylic, stamped some titles and added a little red glitter (well a girl needs a little bling). Not perfectly happy with the end result, but as its a new process it's all about the learning experience!.

Talking of learning experience I decided to use up some of my fabric and thread stash and decided to have a go at making a cuff.  I used green felt as a base and added another piece inside to cover up the stitching.  I added some mini sequins and used velcro as the closure.

Here is my chubby wrist displaying my new make.  Its got lots of dyed wool slub etc included and is every colour under the sun so should go with most of my wardrobe-and if it doesn't?  Well, I'll make another one, it's not like I don't have any stash!!!!

Off to clear up the dining room of sewing machine, threads and a LOT of spilt sequins before hubby comes home!!

Happy crafting

Li'l pidge xx

WOYWW

Another WOYWW and a great excuse to have a nose around people's crafting spaces (its a bit like spotting your neighbours house is up for sale and going on the estate agents website to have a nose at the photos!! Or is that just me?!)

Something a bit different for me this week, I am making a couple of coasters for a friends wedding.  She loves bee's (don't we all?  Hmmm.....honey, Meade etc) so I decided to make her coasters with a bee in the middle on some vintage text with some distressing (of course), stamping and a little bit of smeared stickles in the corners to add a light touch of sparkle.

To ensure they can withstand a hot cuppa I apply 4 layers of yacht varnish-it takes AGES to dry but the coaster I made for work has been abused for more than a year and is holding up fine so I know it works.

On the left are my new stamps from Snazzy Stamps and Scrapbooking, they are Ecogreen stamps or different wings made form recycled rubber.  The rubber is green instead of red but at the demo I saw they abused them like I do my red rubber stamps (ironing fibres etc over them) so I am looking forward to playing with them.

So, please pop over to Julia's blog (there is a link on the right) and have a nose around.

Happy crafting

Li'l Pidge

From the messy desk comes...

First of all, for those of you in the UK-wasn't it a cracking weekend?  Warm and sunny AND on a weekend, how rare is that!?  Sorry, but we so often seem to have the nice weather during the week when a lot (I know not all....how else could I get to the craft shops at the weekend!) of people are working.....it does sometimes feel like a conspiracy!

So, back on to craft, my last WOYWW post showed a VERY messy and inky desk, and this is one of the items I was making.

The necklaces are made from microscope slides with memory frames.  Between the glass slides I have distressed some vintage book pages stamping a watch face slightly off the page and some flying birds.  I added some lace and the words "Time Flies" cut from an old dictionary.  I also added a watch cog which I had to file down (on a piece of oak block, nice and hard so the file doesn't burr the wood too easily) to make it wafer thin so the slides still fit within the frames.

As the front of the necklace is quite busy I like to keep the back slightly more clean looking.  I stamped the clock face off the page, adding glossy accents for a small amount of interest and stamped some flying birds, all of it on a distressed vintage page.

I have another design to show you, but its getting too dark to take a decent photo, and I have spent all this week working on a new computer training programme so my eyes are shot away hence I am going to keep this post short. 

Happy Crafting

Li'l Pidge