ATCs-Imagine Believe Wonder

This week saw the launch of the 2nd Look Book over at Sarah Hurley's blog. This is an online magazine full of inspiration and some amazing projects. The design team worked really hard to get this together and I'm so happy to be involved. Please pop over and have a read-it's great!You can find it here.

I made a few things for this issue but my favourite are the set of three ATCs I made using Sarah's new art journaling/mixed media digi kit (those that know me will know what an ATC freak I am!). It's called Journaled365-The Basics and I urge anyone interested in art journaling to check it out. It's just fabulous and irresistible...and addictive! The kit can be used completely digitally but I printed off all the elements I wanted and had fun arranging them to make these ATCs. Couldn't resist a bit of sparkly Mod Podge to finish them off!

 Couldn't resist these heart shaped balloons! 

 I loved this border edging and the stars.

And the kite-just love it!

I'm linking this over at Handmade Monday. I've missed a few weeks and can't wait to get back there and see what's on show!

ATC-Catching a Snowflake

Where's the month gone?Here we are nearly Christmas and time for another challenge over at ATCs with Attitude. This month it's an Anything Goes challenge but who could resist something Christmassy!

For my Design Team ATC I've used a gorgeous image by Limited Runs called Catching a Snowflake.

I coloured the background and the image with Cosmic Shimmer paint except for her hair which is promarkered (is that a word?!). The snowflakes and snow are Enamel Accents and who could resist a bit of bling!

Pop along and join in the challenge.There are some fabulous digital images up for grabs for the winners.

Christmas Gift Box

The latest challenge is up over at Sarah Hurley's Challenge Blog and the theme is...Christmas! Well, what else could it be?
I made a gift box from a template using paper from Sarah's Santa's Workshop Kit then embellished it with a little Santa, some ribbon and a sentiment. I've made a few more since-I think it's a simple way to add a personal touch at Christmas.

Enough room for some tissue paper and a set of ear rings!

Please pop along and join in the challenge.

I'm linking this over at Handmade Monday. It's a great supportive crafting community-come and have a look!

ATC-Smile and Ragdoll

It's that time again! The new challenge is up over at ATCs with Attitude and it's an Anything Goes challenge so plenty of scope for joining in!
I've used an image from Beccy's Place and teamed her with Smile my favourite Stampotique stamp. I think they make a great opposites attract couple! The background's painted with Aquatone pencils and Promarkers and the sentiment handwritten.

I used to hate writing my own sentiments but recently I've started enjoying it-probably because I'm too lazy to get the PC and print them!

Cats rule the world!

While I've been sitting here trying to write up another post the cats have been running around going mad...Kiki, calm down.....Excuse me while I go and find out what they want...

Psst.Cleo...that's right-keep distracting her while I take charge...

Hello Humans.

This is Kiki here

with Cleo on a 'distract the human' operation.

 

I'm here to tell you about a recent mission we undertook on behalf of Monster Pet Foods.

We were asked to try out some Burgess SupaCat biscuits and let people know what we think about them. 

The first thing we had to do was clean our teeth with a toothbrush. Well, that didn't go down too well. I allowed the human to clean my front teeth but Cleo refused point blank. She preferred to play with it.

The biscuits were aimed at keeping our mouths and teeth clean. They were very crunchy and we loved biting through them. The noise we made was very satisfying! Our human measured the biscuits in a measuring cup as they are a complete meal. I ate them on their own but Cleo has been watching too much Masterchef Australia and preferred to have a bit of wet food with them for texture. 

Here we are enjoying our first taste of the SupaCat biscuits.Can you hear the crunch?

And here is my bowl after I'd finished!

I did go back and eat the last three after a short nap.

We loved the taste of these biscuits and they certainly kept us full and energetic. Our teeth were clean before we started this mission and I can say that our mouths and teeth remained clean with no sign of smelly breath.
We've asked our human to get us some more as we are a bit choosy with our biscuits but would be happy to munch on these again.

Ok Cleo...you can let the human go now....we're done.

Autumn Easel ATC

I'm a bit late posting this-sometimes it's just one thing after another isn't it!
I made this easel ATC for the latest challenge over at ATCs with Attitude . The theme is Anything Goes or Autumn. The image is called Friends Forever and I love it,despite the fact that I'm petrified of horses and don't go near them!It's from Delicious Doodles and even though I'm not great at colouring in I really enjoyed colouring and cutting it out.
The leaves are from Farmer's Market DigiKit by Sarah Hurley and were perfect for that autumnal touch!
There's still a week left on the challenge so plenty of time to autumn it up!

ATC-Apple Blossom Time

I made this ATC for the latest challenge over at ATCs with Attitude. The theme is to add a sentiment/anything goes, so plenty of scope for everyone!
I embossed the card first, dusted over it with Perfect Pearls and edged it with my shiny gold ink (just can't stay away from it!)
I bought some watercolour pencils ages ago and have never used them so I decided to give them a try with the image. The pencils were great but I struggled to get the colour exactly right! I went over the flowers with some glaze and then added the sentiment.  The image I chose to use is Apple Blossom from A and T Digital Designs who is offering digital designs for the challenge winner.The other sponsor of the challenge is Saturated Canary.

Pop over and join the challenge-we love to see your makes!

Fireworks and bright colours!

This is the challenge over at Sarah Hurley Challenge Blog this month. We can't wait to see all your colourful creations!
I made an ATC celebrating my inner witch who comes to spend every Halloween with me (and sometimes lingers for a while!). The background's coloured with UniPosca pens and I've used Sarah's Doodle Dolls Collage Kit for witchy me and Witching Hour for the cat and label.

Sarah's still looking for crafty submissions for Sarah's next Look Book. You can find the details here-Go On.You know you want to!

ATCs-Queen of her World

This month's ATC swap on UK Stampers is about texture. I couldn't decide what to do until I read this month's Craft Stamper. There's a great piece on creating texture by coating two pieces of card with gesso,sticking together and pulling apart. So that's what I did. Except I didn't have as much gesso left as I thought so the effect isn't as stand out as it should have been!

After it dried I sprayed it with glimmer mists before stamping a background text and adding the image and wording.

I really enjoyed this technique and will definitely be giving it another go-once I've restocked my gesso!
I'm posting a link to Handmade Monday-please pop along and join in this supportive crafting community.

Postcard- My Pretties

Spooky! That's the theme for this month's postcard challenge over on UK Stampers. How could I resist another Halloween opportunity! As the theme for the challenge on Happy Daze this month is Something Wicked This Way Comes I decided to combine the two!

The background's painted with Aquatone pens and the witch in a basket stamped with StazOn,cut out and stuck down. I got the witch stamp in a grab bag recently and have been dying to use it. The bats are printed out from Sarah Hurley's Witching Hour Digi-Kit which is fabulous for Halloween. The words are handwritten (yes, I know I need to learn how to 'fancy up' my writing!). I did try highlighting them with orange neon pen which seems to have disappeared! I coated it with Mod Podge for a matt finish and am just waiting to post it now!

Art Journal page-Cynical Me

I did this page for the art journal CJ I'm doing on UKScrappers. I can't remember the exact theme but we had to write about how we approach days and this pretty much sums it up! Yes, I'm cynical- it's what gets me through the days!

The background was sprayed with Glimmer Mist and stamped over the top. I was pleased with it- until I wrote on it! The pen stopped working so I had to go over it quite a few times to make it stand out. In the end the only pen that worked was an old white one. Time to update my pen collection!Can anyone recommend a decent white pen that doesn't blot/dry out/leave a track when it's used?

I'm linking this over at Handmade Monday-please come along and play!

ATCs-Daisy Chain/Hope

I've had these lovely digi-images from LEJ Designs for a while but just haven't been able to get round to using them. As I've had a few free hours this week I printed them out and made two ATCs.

I printed out the daisy chain image and coloured with promarkers. The petals are glossed over with accents. I painted the background with Aquatone pencils then covered with crackle paint (doesn't really show up in the photo)

  The sleeping angel image was coloured with promarkers and I added a mix of embossing powder around the edges in a failed attempt to look like snow!

I really enjoyed colouring these images-it's quite therapeutic after a hard day at work!Please pop over and check out Lindsay's designs if you're looking for an image to de-stress yourself!

ATC-Dreams

I had a bit of distress ink left on my craft mat so I swiped it onto this paper and made an ATC (yes I'm a cheap skate-waste not want not!). I love this set of stamps-I haven't had them long but just love this ballerina and couldn't resist the chance to use her again!

I'm linking this to Handmade Monday. Please come along and join in. There are some fabulous crafters there  with all kinds of wonderful creations.

Sarah Hurley October Challenge

My guest designer spot came to an end this week...but I was over the moon to be asked to stay on permanently. I'm so looking forward to being involved-Sarah's working on some fabulous stuff at the moment. 

This month's challenge has been chosen by Emma and is all about Autumn. I saw this wooden hanging plaque in The Works and thought it was ideal for an Autumn make!
I've used owls and branches from Woodland Whimsies 2, leaves and note cards from Farmer's Market and the alphabet cubes are from Curio.
I went over the owls' eyes with Enamel Accents and glossed over some of the leaves.

The challenge is open until 28th October so there's plenty of time to pop along here and play!

Today, for one day only,Sarah's offering one of her mini kits for 20p! There's still time to nip over and have a look, especially if you like the words 'steam' and 'punk!'

Lastly, the next edition of the Sarah Hurley's LookBook is in the planning stages and submission details are here. Can't wait to see everyone's submissions!

Card-Believe

You might have noticed the fairy stamp at the top of the art journal page in the last post. I picked her up recently from one of my favourite shops, Sticky Tiger, and because she was on offer, it left me a bit of spare cash to get something else too! I bought a pot of Cosmic Shimmer embossing powder which I used to emboss the image in this card. It's a shame the photo doesn't show off the shimmeriness! The card behind is embossed with a Tim Holtz embossing folder that caught my eye and the gold around the edges of the fairy and the sentiment is a Delicata ink pad which I love-it's got a fabulous metallic sheen to it. So it seems I've gone all shimmery today!

I'm just waiting for the perfect occasion and person to give the card to!

ATC-Sally Honey with spider

The new fortnightly challenge is up over at ATCs and Cards with Attitude. As I'm a huge Halloween fan I couldn't resist this image from Sassy Studio Designs .
For the background, I used some fabulous sparkly orange ribbon I bought from The Cloth Cavern, a new local fabric shop I can't stay away from! The pumpkin's hand drawn and Sally Honey was printed out and coloured with Promarkers.

Come along and have a play. There are digi images and a voucher up for grabs!

Art Journal- Words to Live By

This is a page I did for an art journal CJ on UKScrappers. The topic was Words to Live By so I decided to use one of my favourite Bette Davis quotes.

I sprayed the background with Distress Ink Reinkers then added old book pages and stamped some images. After a few practices at trying to make my writing interesting, I decided to just write it then added a few 'decorative' dots here and there!

I'm linking this to Handmade Monday. Please follow me over there and join in the fabulous crafting. 

ATC-Bird of Time

This ATC was made using Sarah Hurley's Steam Punk Kit. I love this kit because there's so much to choose from. I painted the background blue with an Aquatone crayon (I love these!) and cut out images from the kit to make up the ATC with. The clock face was painted over with Croco Crackle Paint, something I have but always forget to use. I'm entering this ATC in this month's Steam Punk challenge over at Happy Daze.  

For more inspiration from Sarah Hurley please check out the Look Book-it's full of fabulous ideas.

Folding Tree

There was a new swap over on UK Stampers this month (link in sidebar). We signed up to send a mini kit to our swap partner and look what Lynn sent me! A set of 60 small pieces of paper, all lovingly painted with shimmer on the back, to be folded and glued into a folding tree. Well I love fiddling about with bits of paper and had a fab time making this to hang on my wall. I'm now thinking of making a Halloween one, a Christmas one...the list could go on! Lynn's folding tree is on her blog- have a look, it's great!

Side view

Close up

On the wall

(For some reason it's a different colour in this photo!)

I'm linking this over at Handmade Monday- please follow me there to join in the fabulous crafting on show.

Not an inchie or twinchie!

I suppose I'll have to call it a one by three-inchie! I like working on small areas and this was a bit more of a challenge than my ATCs! The background paper is old journal paper sprayed with Cosmic Shimmer. The image was stamped over it then the words added. Couldn't resist the crown but I think I'll be taking the flowers off (they seemed like a good idea at the time!)

ATC-Solitude

I was spoilt for choice for this month's ATC swap on UK Stampers. We have to use a stamp that's never seen ink before-oh the possibilities! In the end I plumped for this Stampin' Up stamp. I've tried using it in the past but have never been able to get a good stamp from it. Don't know why because their stamps are usually fabulous. But- after much trimming of rubber,cleaning and practising I managed to get it to stamp. Have to say I love it now!

I sprayed the background with distress reinker and added a few flourishes before stamping the main image.

I think I'll be using this stamp more often now!

Art Journal

Another excuse to use my latest favourite stamp! This is an art journal page I did for a Magic theme for a circle journal over on UK Stampers. I don't know where the words came from but they were my first thought when I picked up the stamp to use! 

I cut the background of the man stamp out and stuck some red satin-y material behind it.

I just can't resist the look in her eye!

I'm sharing this over at Handmade Monday-please pop over and have a look at all the fabulous things on show.

ATC-Witching Hour Wall Hanging

There's something magical going on over at Sarah Hurley's Challenge Blog! This month's challenge is sponsored by Joanna Sheen and there's a £10 online voucher up for grabs for the winner. Who could resist that?
I've made an ATC wall hanging using the new Witching Hour kit. Yes, I know it's a bit early for Halloween but I couldn't resist it. I love Halloween and this kit has everything I need!

Please pop along and join in all the magical fun!

ATC-Believe

Trying to declutter the kitchen yesterday I found some scraps of paper lying around that I'd used as a mat when making other things. Instead of scrunching them up and thowing them away (as usual!) I decided to use them to make a collage background. I stuck a bit of homemade washi tape at the bottom and used a scattering of embossing powder to add a bit of texture. The image is one of my favourite Art Journey stamps. 

I must remember to use my scraps more often instead of just casually thowing them away!

ATCs-Fly High

This month's theme for the ATC swap over on UK Stampers is 1 2 3. I'd just got my hands on a brilliant set of stamps and couldn't resist using the air balloon. I painted the background with Cosmic Shimmer paint then inked over some sequin waste to make the circles. The air balloons were stamped on the ATC and the balloons stamped again on old map paper then cut out and stuck down. The words were highlighted with Glossy Accents.
Really enjoyed making these because I love the balloon stamp and I always enjoy sloshing paint around!

The set

I'm entering these in the Happy Daze Circling the World challenge. Please come along and join in!

Birthday card-Free to be 50

Things have been a bit hectic this month leaving me not a lot of time to do anything. My friend's 50th birthday came along and I realised I hadn't even had chance to make a card! I made this card using a new stamp (which I love and am now in danger of overusing!). As I had a spare image left over I made a notebook to go along with it.

Notebook

I'm linking these to Handmade Monday-please follow the link and join in.

Christmas Card and Tag

Last week I made a Christmas card and tag (well, it's getting very close!). I used Santa's Workshop CD by Sarah Hurley which was released last week. It's just perfect for all types of cards and Christmassy things! It's certainly helped me get a good start, although I must admit it's a bit weird getting into the Christmas spirit when the sun's shining outside!

I love the Jingle Bells sheet music and the snowflakes. I distressed the edges and rubbed them with copper ink to give a distressed look. I added a 3D sentiment and well, couldn't resist a bit of glitter!

Love this backing paper and all the lovely bright toys. I made this when I was staying away from home and all I had were the printed sheets.No glitter,no foam for layering but I have to say I really like it!

I'm linking over to Handmade Monday which I missed last week and can't wait to get back and see what the talented crafters have been up to.

ATC-Queen of Hearts

I made this easel ATC for the latest challenge over at ATCs and Cards with Attitude. I saw this image from LEJ Designs and just had to have her! I didn't want to use a small image as I felt she needed to stand out so I had a flick through some Craft Stamper magazines for some inspiration and saw an ATC easel card-how could I resist having a go! I can see myself doing these more often as it really opens up possibilities.

he image is coloured with Promarkers and the backing paper some scraps I had lying around that I embossed some swirls on. Come along and join in the fun. There are some digital images to be won.

I'm linking this to Handmade Monday as soon as it goes live this week. I love this weekly get-together of crafting people.

Canvas-Behind the Mask

The new challenge is up on Sarah Hurley's Challenge Blog and it's a fab one! The theme this month is to alter something. I've made a canvas using Sarah's Doodle Dolls Collage Pack which I love and can't wait to use in a bit of art journaling too!
I used Distress Inks for the background and a computer generated sentiment.

Come along and join in the challenge. It's now changed from a fortnightly challenge to a monthly one to give everyone time to work on an entry (we all know how real life likes to get in the way!) Not to mention the brilliant prizes to be won.