The Three Boffins

A bit like the Three Musketeers, but more brainy!! This shadow box uses loads of Tim Holtz goodies. I've been pondering over the Steampunk stamp (bought it and then just didn't quite know what to do with it) for a couple of weeks. I'm entering this in Simon Says Stamp and Show a Hat, the new challenge for this week.
The frame is Shabby Vintage paper, inked with Black Soot DI and then using the blueprint stamp embossed in black. I then sanded away bits of the paper to create a more distressed look and glued to the frame.
The boffins are stamped onto grunge paper, and I then stamped the hats again, and covered these with Glossy Accents to give a more dimensional, shiny effect. The background is manilla cardstock, inked with Wild Honey, Barn Door and Aged Mahogany DI's, which I've then stamped with Vintage Photo DI and then added Copper Perfect Pearls to try and maintain the industrial look. The box is finished off with various bits and pieces of Ideology.

Spring is in the air

After several days of complete lack of inspiration and anything that I felt remotely happy to put on my blog I have spent the past hour!!! revamping my blog slightly, with a new header and background.
After fiddling around with bloggy things I thought I'd try out some of Wendy Vecchi's Clearly for Art. I REALLY like this stuff, especially the way you can stick paper to it and then heat and shape. Mind you the fumes are absolutely horrible. So here is a little wall hanging made with Art Parts, the above mentioned bendy stuff, some Seasonal Paper Stash, and a die cut flourish, made using my trusty Big Shot. I keep looking at pictures of that lovely Vagabond. I have to keep telling myself I really don't need one (but I think I really do).



I'm entering this in the Sunday Stamper Challenge which this week is Dies, and this weeks Simon Says Stamp and Show a Word. The floral theme is because it feels like Spring is really here today, it's been a beautiful sunny, and warm day, and the daffodils looks so cheerful in my garden. I've used one of my favorite colour combinations of eggshell blue and brown, and the stamps used on the frame and the flowers are all Studio 490.
Now I'm going to have a little wander around blogland looking at all the lovely stuff out there.

Star Quality

Simon Says Stamp and Show Stars this week, and I thought about starry skies, but then I just knew I had to make something featuring two of the greatest music makers ever. I absolutely adore Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong singing Dream a Little Dream. And it provides a double dose of stars, not only in those fabulous musicians, but also in the lovely lyrics.

The tag background is the lyrics of the song, lightly inked with DI's (hope I haven't broken any copyright laws here, but the lyrics seemed to be freely available on the internet). The stamp at the bottom is from Graphic 45, the words are computer generated, and the pictures are from a CD insert that I've sacrificed . I've used some tissue tape and a little bit of Ideology to finish my tag.

This song always brings back such happy memories for me, as before David became ill we spent many happy times sailing in Greece, and would often moor up for the night in a quiet little bay with only the fish for company. No TV, no radio (except The Archers on the World Service!).
After a bottle of wine with dinner, and if no other boats were within earshot, we would enjoy singing along with Ella and Louis, and actually could do quite a passable version of our own.

Now I'm going to do a first for me and try to link in a YouTube video of this lovely song.

Hope you like it, it's from a great series of shorts the BBC did a few years ago.

A New Party Frock?

Finally I've used one of the giant tags that I bought ages ago, but just didn't seem to know what to do with! As the challenge over at Simon Says Stamp and Show this week is Show Some Metal, here's my entry.

The tag is coloured with distress inks, stamped with some of Tims fab new stamps, and sprayed with some white Crafty Notions spray to create a soft look, and then some more stamping on top. The Sewing Room die has been cut once in grunge paper and then just the body from Ten Seconds Studio metal (the plain aluminium roll). I've embossed the metal using a damask effect folder. The metal has then been aged with black acrylic paint and lightly coloured with denim and caramel alcohol inks.

To finish off the tag I've just used some ric-rac, old buttons, and a fabric flower. If you look closely you can see the fundamental error I made in not moving my metal far enough away from the white spray, but I'm telling myself it adds to the aged look!

Don't fall off your bike!

Well here we are at Challenge Number 35. What a fabulous time it's been. There has been so much wonderful artwork to look at and be inspired by when I visit all those amazing blogs. I can't thank the lovely Linda enough for being such a fab hostess for this brilliant challenge. For me this has been a wonderful opportunity to try out techniques I would never have dreamt of using before and my sadness that it has come to an end is lifted by the promise of more to come.

Design Details was a great challenge to save until last, although making all those tiny holes has somewhat tested my post night shift vision!! ( several holes in fingers as well as paper). Thank goodness I don't have to live in the twilight zone for a few weeks now.Major use of my Lost and Found paperstack here, as well as some embossed Grungepaper, though this doesn't show up very well in the pictures. I think this young man definitely looks like an explorer so he'd have had the compass in his pocket, and the iodine is what his mum would have put on his cut knees when he fell off his bike! I can just imagine him going off after school with his pals and building tree houses, go-carts from old prams, and cooking sausages on sticks over a bonfire.

I'm now looking forward to next week to find out what comes next.

Flying Kitties!

Off on a flight of fancy today, and I apologise to all bird lovers (myself included) but I just know cats would love to have wings.
This is my entry for the Compendium of Curiosities Challenge No. 34 for which I have made three mini collage fragments. The collages are made using an old book page, Artchix images and wing transparency, plus some German Scrap and some computer generated words.
My tag is coloured with Lettuce Color Wash, stamped in Olive Archival ink, and sprayed with Crafty Notions White Spray to give a softer effect. The edges are distressed and inked with Vintage Photo, and the tag is finished off with some Ideology bits and bobs.
I'm also going to post a picture of my inky metal tag that I made for last weeks challenge. Better late than never!! I was really short of time, so it's a simple card made by embossing some metal using a TSS Kabuka, ageing with black acrylic paint and then colouring with Alcohol Inks.