August Card Swap

So for anyone who reads this regularly you will know I've taken over the card swap on UKScrappers. This month the swap was written as follows:

"Sadly this year we've had less and less butterflies than usual due to the weather. The wind has been blowing the pollen off the flowers - but if people buy plants such as buddleja's (also known as Butterfly Bushes) we can help. They are structured differently holding the pollen deeper within their flowers so the wind can't get at them. I'm not asking you to buy a buddleja (though they are gorgeous!!!) but let's bring those butterflies back ladies - August is (meant to be) summer and with summer comes birds, bees, dragonflies and butterflies - the theme therefore will be WINGED THINGS.

As an extra option for those who choose to accept (you don't need to do this part) it I'd like to see some purple on there as most Buddleja's are purple and some fabric (this can be interpreted as ribbon if you like)"

I did intend to use all three criteria but once I'd made the first one I decided that adding fabric or ribbon would spoil it so I've stuck to the theme and also used purple and here's the cards:

I stamped the papermania butterfly stamp onto stampin up whisper white card using fired brick, spiced maramalade, mustard seed and shabby shutters distress inks, drew a purple line around the image then cut it leaving a white border. I matted it onto tempting turquoise (stampin' up!) card then stamped the Indigo Blu stamp "let your could and spirit fly" onto acetate using royal purple staz on (everything else wipes off) I attached the acetate using mini foam pads then covered the pads with purple self adhesive gems. Finally I attached the lot using double sided tape to the gorgeous elegant eggplant stampin' up! card

The end of an era... and some crafty stuff

The end of an era you ask? Well yes, my desktop computer died a sad death a couple of weeks ago. It's pretty old, especially in today's fast-paced world of ipads, tablets, space stations, mars missions... my old computer just couldn't keep up. I'd saved most things on an external hard drive so I'm not too upset and fortunately hubby has a laptop which I've temporarily confiscated.

So onwards and upwards... I've a few craft projects I've not blogged due to said computer death and the battery on my camera seemingly running out every time I decided to upload pics again.

Ok so first up the July tag swap on UKScrappers - my favourite theme so far... STEAMPUNK... yay! And around the same time Daisytrail announced a deal on some new steampunk digi kits so who was I to turn down this serendipitous offer? First of all I embossed the tags with steampunk style folders then inked over them with distress inks in colours that matched my images. I cut the images from the digi kits and foam padded them on. I then added some metal here and there. For the final tag I wanted a quote about heartstrings but couldn't find one so I made one up... You should be able to read it by clicking on the picture to enlarge it.

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Next the end of another era. Sadly a CJ I participated in on UKS has come to an early end for various reasons. I completed my last entry in Chell's A Moment in Time book:

I cut a chipboard clock in half, inked it up and added Tim Holtz quotes about time in between. I used Bo Bunny journal papers to make the side panels which opened up to reveal two different "moments in time". On the left I've asked what moment from my childhood I would keep forever and I chose the security I would have felt as a 3 week old baby who was loved. On the right I've asked what moment from my adulthood so far would I keep forever and I've chosen the peace I felt at the moment this picture was taken when I was happy on holiday and truly living in the moment.

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Finally, for now anyway, I'm part of another CJ on UKS called "From the Ashes" its an art journaling CJ - something I'm still very much learning about but very much enjoying. This particular book was called "Everything Stops for Tea" and was all about Britain. I decided to create an entry called, "What I love about being British" - I often think Britain gets a hard press, we are criticised in many ways but as a British woman I feel priveleged to enjoy a freedom to be myself, a freedom that women are not given in some other countries or cultures...

I used Portobello Road papers for the background, added some paint, some stamping and some "She Art" rub ons. The stamped image is from Paperartsy. I liked her because she looks "proper" like a gentlewoman of England and also because she says dream and part of my journaling is about Britain being a place where I can realise my dreams. I left her black and white so she stood out against the busy background. The crown is a portobello road sticker to represent our rich royal history. The sunshine in the corner was a bit of a joke as Britain is notorious for its terrible weather. I then used my new metallic pro markers - green to draw the journaling lines and purple to write the words to express why I love Britain. On the back for the sign in I coloured the grungeboard in with the purple pro-marker and added a portobello road die cut.

I've now received a pop art journal which looks amazing so I've to get my thinking cap on. I'm participating in plenty of swap and CJs at the moment so expect more crafty blogness from me soon as I get cracking to finish all my projects.

Sian xx

Red, White & Blue!

I was really pleased to try hosting a swap on UKS for the first time. I've resurrected the card swap and for July chose the theme red, white and blue. Cards could be made with a free reign within this theme. One thing I love about being host is you get to see every card that's been made and they are all gorgeous! I will take a piccy of them all once I've received every one but for now here's the 5 cards I made for the swap.

I had some trouble when trying to adjust the colour of the photos, the program I used turned a couple blue and refused to undo it but hopefully you get the jist :)

I used mainly Stampin' Up! products - Cherry Cobbler, Island Indigo, Temptin Turquoise, Real Red, Whisper White cardstock, ribbons and inks. The gorgeous background stamp is SU as is the sentiment and I used a large wheel stamp for the strip under the sentiment. The lovely flowers are the one and only Petaloo and are one of my favourite things to use on a card.

Looking forward to setting up the August swap... what will the theme be? I shall keep you guessing for now.

Grimm Fairytales

After participating in an Alice ATC Book swap hosted by the fab Rebecca and receiving the most amazing box back full of goodies alongside a book of ATCs made by Rebecca, I couldn't wait to join in the UKS Grimm Fairytale ATC Book Swap. In fact I joined all 3 groups!

As my fairytales I chose The Raven, Rapunzel and the Frog Prince, and made 10 of each ATC.

The Raven:

I used the Octopode image of The Raven and coloured it in using promarkers. The moon is a Clarity stamp which I LOVE! Again coloured with promarkers. I then used dusty concord distress ink and paris dusk momento with some cut n dry foam to create the sky. I created the title on Craft Artist.

Rapunzel:

For Rapunzel, once again I turned to the Octopode Factory and Lily Chivers fab images! I was determined to give her baby pink hair instead of the traditional blond! I cut the ATC with my Tim Holtz die using Stampin' Up!'s gorgeous Tempting Turquoise card then stamped it with Tempting Turquoise ink using a gorgeous new Christy Tomlinson stamp from part of the She Art collection. The castle is part of a Paper Artsy stamp. I created the title using Craft Artist and cut each letter out individually then attached with tiny foam pads. 80 letters with 80 foam pads takes some patience I can tell you! I gave Rapunzel's "aura" different colours on each ATC it just so happens I photographed the lime green experiment that makes her look radioactive lol.

  

The Frog Prince:

Finally I decided on The Frog Prince. My friend lent me the entire illustrated works of Grimm's fairytales, The Frog Prince was the first tale. And it gave me an excuse to buy another set of Dylusions stamps for the fabulous frog's head with a crown on. Not to sound repetitive but I did use octopode images again... I bought the prince and princess... and cut off the prince's head to make room for froggy. I created the colourful backgrounds with a Dylusions leaf stamp and promarkers. The leaves are a mix of Forest Green, Grass and Lime Green and the sky is Sky Blue. I coloured half the prince and princesses in purple and the other half in blue then attached princess and frog prince with foam pads and glued little frogs from Dawn Inskip peeking out around the place. Finally I scanned the Frog Prince story, resized it, cut out the title for the front and then used the first paragraph or so as part of my sign in on the back.

I don't envy the work Rebecca has to put into making all those books but I know it will be so worth it when we get them back.

Alice ATCs

Another Swap at UKScrappers. Alice in Wonderland ATCs. Make 5 and receive 5 different ones back. I picked up a book of images and papers at a craft show based on alice in wonderland last year and so decided to use them and add text which I purchased from Dawn Inskip's website. The digi kits were called "Beyond Wonderland 1 & 2" which has come in handy a few times and is also interesting and fun to read.

Here's the finished ATCs:

"Rule 42"

"Two of Hearts"

 "We're all mad here"

"Half Mad"

 "7 of Spades"

The images have been stuck on with foam pads so they stand out in real life. I'm looking forward to recinvg 5 different ones back. The standard of work on UKScrappers is really amazing so Im sure to get something fab back!!!

Steampunk art

As part of the "From the Ashes Art Journal CJ" on UKScrappers I've created two CJ pages for Chrissie whose fab theme was steampunk, ladies and grunge. Here's my take on it:

"Open Your Wings"

"The Hands of Time"

To attach the watch parts I used glossy accents then threw the parts on top of it - I love how they stick at all different angles. For "Open Your wings" I used a quote I really like and for "The Hands of Time" I couldn't find one I liked so I just wrote what I was thinking at the time.

Hope Chrissie likes them :)

Siân xx

Neverending Love...

I quite often make cards for people in work and most recently I was asked to make an anniversary card for someone. Knowing they were twilight fans I went with black, red and white and after finding a quote that said, "Love begins in a moment, grows over time and lasts for eternity" I decided to go with a neverending card which both fit quite nicely with the vampire theme. I'd never made one before and made a few duds before finally getting it right. To make it is easy but it takes time to decorate it.

On the front I wrote true love stories never end... to fit in with the theme of the neverending card. So here's some piccies:

Hubby and I really liked this card so I may be making another one for us :o) Hopefully the recipients liked it.

I've had 4 more orders today so I may be sharing more cards soon...

Siân