A special couple and something to keep..

So often I make cards and know they will kept for a short time so I have tried to branch out into tags and hangings.
It is my OutLaws wedding anniversary and I wanted to show them how much we appreciate all they do for us. A gift with some time spent on it.




I used a piece of mount board and gave it a thin coat of white acrylic.i then used 3 colours and a dots mask to bump the background. I decided to not do all the way across. I aimed for an elegant look and just loved the birdcage from PaperArtsy's Hot pick 1004 stamp set.




The ornate book plate is a Tim Holtz and the flowers were cut from colour core card with the PaperArtsy grunge flowers #2 and #3. One of the flowers was covered in music tissue tape. The pin was from Creative expressions and the centre of the flowers had ranger broken china stickles and a pearl sticky. The final flower was made by winding round some cotton lace/ braid and sewing a couple of stitches across the bottom. I think the "life is beautiful" stamp is from Stampin up.
I rushed to the post office to get guaranteed next day delivery - well I got the phone call today and they loved it, reward indeed - my mum out law wanted to know how I did everything, she's a super keen crafter too! How lucky can a girl get a super hubby whose mum crafts.. Chuckle.
I'm entering this into Simon says stamp and show - anything goes.



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I couldn't resist those sneakers!

I saw the Artistic stampers newsletter and saw these sneaker stamps..







With lots of trendy teenagers in our family I couldn't resist both the stamps! I thought I a really simple card would be best to show off the stamps to their best, both sentiments are from Wendy Vecchi's studio 490. 16 is a special birthday and I thought "Live. Your. Best" was perfect for for exam good wishes to my 2 wonderful Gochildren doing GCSE's and A Levels this year.

I remember doing my O'level's (yes I'm that old) and being really sad that anyone had a 16th birthday in that stressful time. Good luck to Lewis, Amy and Luke in exams!













The Good luck cards fit perfectly withe the Crafty Boots - Good Luck challenge, so here goes...
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Anniversary's

May used to be a quiet month in our calendar but that has changed. I wanted to make a simple but thoughtful card for our friends anniversary. I was their Maid of Honour and I do try and remember to mark such a special day, I searched around on google images to get some ideas and ended up with simple and fairly clear looking hearts.



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No girls!

Gosh what a concept! Crafty Boots challenge had me a little foxed on this but this is what I came up with..

 I used a craft card tag and a harliquin stencil to do three layers of colours with acrylic paint, brown, blue and white. Tumbled glass distress ink round the edges and a bit of vintage photo around the bottom edges.

I saw the lovely Lin Brown distress a name plate at the PaperArtsy stand at Ally Pally on Saturday and was inspired. I used a light blue acrylic then darker splodged on the top and sanded a bit away. I used a bit of distress ink round the edges not as graet as Lin's but I had a try.

The Fixed price man (nice concept) stamp was from Ally Pally from who I thought was rubber necker stamps - can't find the link to who I thought thay were. They sell lots of different stamps just cut up and unmounted, he appealed.I realised that I needed to stamp him on something different as the background was so dark. I choose white card and lightly distressed him with Vintage photo. The phrase the eyes see everything was from Mini 02 I masked the top of the stamp, thanks to Hels S who reminded me how to do this! I stamped another Paperartsy mini 56 at the top and then decided that some watch parts donated by a friend would sit beautifully in the circles. The name plate had an off cut of paper  and the watch hands jazzed it up. The brads I suspect may be woodware? I did n't noticed I had one screwhead and one phillips head, opps.

Thanks for the challenge Crafty Boots!!
PS - sorry about the sidewise photo's.. I have been having some trouble with blogger...

Nautical

Inspiration was lacking for this challenge tag.. Nautical, ships, anchors, pirates etc.. I raided my stash to find something suitable. I did find brass and silver buttons with ships and anchors but could get there on that. I remembered a lovely stamp I bought a pier and dug it out only to find I had 2! The one I used in the end is from a Crative Expressions set.

 Sorry I couldn't get the pictures to turn round!! The background is Tumbled glass distress stain, blue acrylic paint dots through a stencil and Vintage photo gently distressed round the edge. I then stamped the pier, a mistake really as when embossing it stuck to the distressed edge (I forgot to heat it to set it) the result was a little heavy and messy but I actually quiet like it. The buttones were found in my stash and the flousih is a sissix one. The phrase Time and Tide comes from Paperartsy clocks stamp set. I have two of these and find I use the particular sets alot! I did add a little rock candy sparkles to the flourish and finished off with some wide Stampin up ribbon, a piece of silk off cut and tied it all round with a little blue ribbon. Red, white and blue!

I've entered this in the Nautical challenge for Crafty Boots and Fashionable Stamping Challenge.

Believe in yourself

The Tando Creative Challenge this month is Yellow and Green and I was surprised how hard that was as I don't really use those colours much but this was the result.I struggle with making things that aren't for people and this was made with my God daughters Birthday. She's 18 now and launching into the last sprint for A levels and looking at Universities. I have been lucky enough to visit a couple with her and a have been thrilled to see how this beautiful baby has turned into a fabulous young woman!

I used Distress Inks in Mustard seed, bundled sage and of course Vintage photo. The Stamps were from PaperArtsy and my first one from La Blanche. I emboosied the toadstool with Judikins Black detail embossing powder. It really gives very clear detail. I loved the quiet peacefullness of the boy reading. The flower is a Prima flower which I dulled down with a little ink. The key and clock hands are from steampunk.

Artful dwellings

I purchased Tim Holtz's Artful Dwellings and had been wondering what to do with it when along came my Brother-in-Laws birthday so I thought I'd go for a" boy style" something..

I cut grunge board pieces and covered the pieces in K&Co Architectural Column printed flat paper that I had picked up at Hobbycarft for 29p a sheet, a bargain! I used Woodware double sided adhesive sheet as it made matching all the pieces up easier although it would have been easier to stick the paper onto the board and cut everything together.. next time. I used the Creative Expressions "that special touch" Mika mask Large Polka and Rangers Perfect pearls mist in Turquoise.

I have the pieces a rough wash with dusty concord and tumbled glass distress stains. I wiped it off to get a soft mix of colour. I stamped phrases and ticket and hand in jet black staz.I used steampunk clock and clock hands. The button was from an ebay aucion win of metallic buttons. The ticket was attached with a Tim Holtz memo pin. I decide to turn it into a hanging using the handle from a Starbucks bag and added a little silk off cut in turquoise. I used Paperartsy Clocks 3 stamp set and Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Steampunk & Good Thoughts.