Stoopid blogger!

Sorry was meant to go on a separate page lol!

Sara Burrier - May

Morning all!  Have you all got your telly's on for the big day?
Wanted to show this new digi by Sara Burrier called May which will be available soon at Crafts & Me.

I thought she was a dainty doll so I coloured her very delicately with multi-colour pastels using glitter accents and a pale distress around the edge.Added the rainbow butterflies to add a splash of colour.  Used photo inspirations from both Sparkle Creations and Shabby Tearoom. 

Would lke to enter into...

I love Promarkers - No patterned paper
Shabby tearoom - Photo inspiration
Sparkle Creations - Photo Inspiration
Incy wincy - buttons+bows
Everybody art - fairies
Stamping boutique - winged things
Creative Inspirations - digi
Gem of a challenge - Pearls and swirls

Off to make a quick brew then look out for "The Dress"

Beautiful Babies at Bearly Mine and Blackbird Chickies!

Its a beautiful babies theme at Bearly Mine Challenges for the next fortnight and with prizes from Bearly Mine, Lily of the Valley and Di's Digi Downloads up for grabs its well worth having a play.

For this I used an image called Bathtime Ellie by Digistamp Boutique coloured with promarkers.  The bubbles I coloured with a light blue promarker then added 3d gloss and sprinkled with glamour dust.  The papers are from the Simply Dots and gingham sets HERE.  These are great sets you can use as your background piece or nearer the front, well worth investing, I think the dots is my fav overall :)  I've outlined in silver peel offs and used a little bit of pink distress ink around the edge of the image.
Please pop over and see what the rest of the team have made and join in!

Would like to enter into...

Sassy Thursdays - Pastels
My partner in crafting crime - Inspiration photo

And onto the baby blackbirds again. Aren't they getting big now?  I took this pic this morning so they'll be about 12 days old now.  All 3 are thriving by the looks of them :)

Pre-Historic at Passion for #Promarkers

Oooh its all dinosaurs over at Passion for Promarkers this week!  There is a £20 prize from Crafters Companion up for grabs too! 

I don't think I've coloured a dinosaur before, have done dragons here and there!  I chose an image by Dustin Pike I've had for ages and found some great papers to match on The Boys Zone set from Bearly Mine Designs.  I thought this would be nice for one of the little boys on postpals so I wrote the little Hello sentiment and added big pearls as a tactile element.
I had fun colouring this so do hope you can join in this week!

Would like to enter into...

Corrosive - Animals
Little Claires - Animals
Bunny Zoes - One for the boys
Cards for Men - Circles

Bottletops, Blackbirds and a Krimpvarkie!

The very talented Paula is hosting this fortnights challenge at The Spotlight Challenges, we've also had a huuuuuge makeover so please pop by and let us know what you think!  The Spotlight Challenges are a little bit tougher and we look at a style, product or technique showing various ways of using them and Paula's spotlight is on Bottletops!
I was a bit wary of this but she said plastic was fine so I remembered a project in Craft Stamper I'd saved in my 'to do' list from the January 2011 issue and its an altered box by Hels Sheridan.
The other girls samples are fantastic, I'm going to HAVE to get some metal ones next!

I used an old dishwasher tablet box and coated it with gesso then added a couple of coats of acrylic paint then I've stamped paper artsy stamps in brown, black and gold brilliance inks, edging with a gold paint dabber.  The feet are made out of milk bottle tops (the plastic jug kind!) and painted with gesso and gold acrylic then I cut one up and threaded the pieces through a blue gem brad to make the flower at the front.  Now I have a new mail holder to pop DD's mail into instead of leaving it on the stairs and its all recycled too :)

I'd like to enter this into...

Lexis - Anything but a card

Creations by Gill M - Birds in the Garden

Fabulous Friday - Birds

Fashionista Friday - Recycle (Earth Day)

And as promised here's a Blackbird update.  I took this on Friday afternoon so that was 5 days from the last pic here.  Mom & Dad had popped out for lunch and the babies were absolutely fast asleep ahhhh!  I don't get too close, I stretch and click and hope for the best lol!  Haven't they grown loads in just 5 days!  I'll try for another one on Wednesday so that will be another 5 days older and see how they're getting along.

Also as previously mentionned we have a resident Krimpvarkie!  In case you didn't know, my OH is South African.  I'm absolutely rubbish at languages but I pick up the occasional word and this one night during a dream I was speaking Afrikaans quite fluently.  When I woke up I couldn't remember it again except for the word Krimpvarkie which is Afrikaans for Hedgehog!  He's actually coming over quite quick for his supper now so I managed to get a pic or two :)  He might be a she, I don't actually know but I adore them!  I don't have many slugs in my garden yay!

Ta ta for now, need some anti-histamine as hayfever is getting baaaaaad now! x

Can you RESIST The Stampman?

Its all about resist techniques this week over at The Stampman and the team have done an fantastic mix of techniques - please do pop over and check them out!

I wanted to have a go at the vaseline resist I'd seen in craft stamper a while ago where you paint a layer of acrylic, let it dry then add some vaseline as the resist then add more acrylic and let dry then rub the paint off the vaseline (which doesnt dry)  Results weren't good as you can see...

However yes the vaseline does act as a resist but I can probably get a better result with the clever use of a paintbrush :)

 Next I decided to try the josephs coat resist technique also from craft stamper where one method is to lay your base colours down as below then stamp and emboss your image in detail clear (pic below)

 Next you brayer over in black ink and allow to dry then gently wipe the ink off the embossing which will resist it - only I used brilliance which stuck to it and acts like one of those scratch boards so it all started coming off grrrr!

 Looked ok but I wasn't happy with the result so tried again using a dye inkpad.

 This one I did with adirndack dye inks, I also decided to tone the colours down and just used the pink and yellow and covered it with the black adirondack.  Once dry you can remove the embossing if you wish by - well I tried laying tissue over and ironing but the tissue stuck so I flipped my encaustic iron over as a hot plate and gently melted from behind and wiped off.  I also missed a bit on the stamp in the corner so I was chewing my knuckles by now then decided I could hide it with a fairy....

 Having seen it finished I didnt like the smaller fairies there so trimmed it down and I have a design whoop go me! 

I coloured the base card in the pink and yellow adrondack inks using cotton wool to blend them on and added stickles to the fairies wings.  I do like that technique now I know what inks work well so I'll definately be doing that one again :)

Come have a bash at resist techniques this fortnight - if I can do it anyone can! x

Would also like to enter into...

Top Tip Tuesday - Open challenge

Vix

Pink & Sweet at Crafts and Me

Its Mona's turn to host our challenge this week over at Crafts and Me challenges and also the turn of the dynamite digi team to host.  Mona has chosen a fabulous theme which is a favourite of many (except Judie who I can see cringing from here ha!)  Letraset are sponsoring the challenge with a pack of 5 promarkers.

I'm having such a busy time lately.  We're having an extreme spring clean and so much stuff has been recycled, binned, freegled, cleaned.  We've gone through so many cleaning products and polishes and now I ache badlyyyyyy!  Having fibro when you're on a good day you tend to push yourself too much because youre on a good day but then pay for it the next with some lovely flares, the point at the back of my neck has been really bothersome so I'm hoping to just take some time out over easter to recover lol!

Onto my card and I've used a digi image by Sara Burrier called Poppy coloured with promarkers and glittered with glamour dust.  I added loads of layers for Cupcake challenge using the sketch from The Sweet Stop.  I even got my sewng machine back out and sewed all the layers too, wasn't too brave but I'm getting a bit more confident, only gnarled the needle once!  I added some buttons on but played safe with a glue dot!

I'd like to enter into...

Cupcake - Lots of layers
The sweet stop - Sketch & wings
Flutterby wednesday - open week
Paper Cutz - Buttons n Bows
Scrapbook sisters - Buttons
I love promarkers - anything goes
Freshly brewed - sparkle and shine
Ambers crafts - ribbons
Cooking it up with Katie - Flowers, pink, for a lady
Sew many cards - at least 1 flower, 1 button, 2dp
Papertake - spots and stripes
House of gilli - stripes and bling

Wings coloured with glue and glamour dust.

 Here's the promarkers I've used - Ivory, blush, vanlla, soft peach, sandstone, burnt sienna, umber, cocktail pink, salmon pink, cool grey 2 & 3, blender

BTW have you seen my promarker storage?  I got told about this storage solution which are these cd cases in tesco (£14.97) with slings and they fit an entire set!  Had to go out and buy one, isnt it a fab idea!  It also has a handle and locks!

 Before I say night night just wanted to show you these.  These are my 2 monkeys Ethan & Molly.  Mols has got her 1st black eye!  She dives off things and is always jumping and bouncing, a real live wire but other day she was in my room and was pretending to be a bunny saying hop hop hop and tripped and hit right between her eyes on my sideboard - ouchhhhhh!  It didnt half swell up quick and fortunately I keep cool gel packs in the fridge so managed to get the swelling down.  She's been let with a black eye off it - ahhhhh!

In this pic they're fighting over who's turn it is to say Cheese!  She was shouting MY CHEESE at Eefie here lol!

 And here's our blackbirds nest with 3 diddy chicks taken on Sunday whilst mum and dad were out.  Will post update pics as and when its appropriate without disturbing them, arent they adorable!

And finally our resident hedgehog is back!  Heard him snuffling about last night and left some cat food out for him and waited.  He didnt come but the cat food had gone in the morning.  We've just been put again and caught a glimpse so left him a little more and he came over within 5 mins and filled his face!  No pics yet as he's still a bit timid.

So I'm off to bed in a clean house and a happy smile! x

White on White at Passion for #Promarkers

Sorry I'm running late with this one, will ramble about it on next post lol!  The theme this week over at Passion for Promarkers is white on white (except for image) only I didnt see the brackets bit so this is as close to white as I'll go!  We're sponsored by Digistamp Boutique who are offering a choice of 6 images as your prize. 


For this I used an anya and used baby pink and cool grey 1 and 2 on the clothes and used the blender pen to make it really pale.  I edged the die cute and the embossed card in pink brilliance ink and machine stiched around the edge adding white ribbon and embellishments.

Would like to enter into...

Stamp with fun - Birthday
KB Cute monday - Birthday

A Royal Wedding

Its a ROYAL WEDDING over at Crafty Cardmakers with the choice of using a red, white & blue theme OR a wedding theme or you can go the whole hog and do a red, white & blue wedding theme!
For this I used a Tilda stamp coloured with promarkers and derwent coloursoft pencil and went with the first option of the red, white & blue theme.
Papers are by Bearly Mine Designs and the blg blue flowers I just got from QVC outlet.  One of the ladies at the craft group in warrington I've just started had a pack on her table so Sarah hot footed it up to QVC to get us the last 2 bags lol!
I've used a couple of tiny butterfly punch outs, one is covering the mistake I made colouring the sleeve in blue when I wanted it white.  Got a bit stuck after I'd put the bottom flowers on and the image so thought "What would Tracy Payne do?" and thought of a swirl so I added that and another couple of flowers and its balanced out OK.  The swirl is a Tim Holtz elegant flourish die cut which I glittered with stickles also glittering the flowers.

So hope you can join in over at Crafty Cardmakers this fortnight for a Royal Wedding!

Would also like to enter into...

Stamp with Fun - Birthday
Just Magnolia - Happy Birthday
Paper romance - paper flowers

Flashback Friday

I keep seeing this Flashback Friday challenge so thought I'd take the plunge as I hope I've improved a little since then ha!  This fortnight they want to see the first card you posted using stitching.  That was easy for me as it was on my first ever blogged card so *deep breaths*

Its a lovely Magnolia coloured with watercolour pencils and marvy brush pens - loooooong before I got promarkers!  The stitching is faux and I think the paper was out of a magazine!  I'm terribly sorry if I sent this to you in a swap haha! 

Just so you can ROFL a bit more heres another one from the same post...

These were originally posted on 31st Jan 2008 HERE  I hope you feel inspired you can improve now lol! x

Stargazer

Evening all! 

I'm taking a break from the dreaded week long spring clean but I did find a £20 note in my wardrobe before so don't feel too bad about it lol!
I wanted to show you this little beauty I recently got, she's called STARGAZER at Crafts & Me and is a digi stamp so you can get her today, no waiting! 
I'm a sucker for stars, love astronomy so the name really sold me plus she's a dream to colour.  I used promarkers and derwent coloursoft pencil then used a pastel blue in my letrajet airbrush going close to her then added some peel off stars and graduated out with the airbrush with shades of blue (pastel blue, sky blue, true blue, midnight blue and a bit of black)  I then removed the peel offs and matted on a really sparkly white card which has a multi-colour shimmer you cant really see.  I used that little group of 3 stars at the top as I wanted it to look like the fairy was commanding the stars :)
The sentiment is by funstamps and reads "Reach for the moon, if you don't make it you'll stll twnkle amongst the stars"  Lovely eh!

I've kept her simple as there is such a deep colour on the image she didn't need embellishment but she'd look lovely in lots of styles :)

Hope you like her as much as I do!

Would like to enter into...

Digital Tuesday - Female image

Inside Out at Bearly Mine

Its an Inside Out challenge at Bearly Mine this fortnight so we're looking at the inside of your cards.  I think they look ever so professional when done proper! 
For this I've finally used my new die by Go Kreate called Frilly 2 I bought a week or so ago and I've wanted for absolutely ages!  Not had any time past few days as we're reorganising the house, moving furniture about and doing a proper blitz clean, took all afternoon just to do half the kitchen!
I managed to make this in the middle of the night after I'd gone sleep then OH wasn't well and woke me up - dreaded power nap aaargh!  Got up for a while and fnished this off though :)

I've used an Anya by the greetings farm coloured with promarkers and derwent coloursoft, the bow I got in a pack at pound shop (had hearts, bows and other pearls in pack)  Added iridescent gems to flower centres and glitter on the flower.  Sentiment is by Stamping All Day
Bearly Mine papers used are Spring Surprise, Spring Mix and Floral Fantasy.  Inside panel is decorated with spring surprise and some white card coloured with distress inks in Broken China and Faded Denim and a stamp who's make I cant remember lol!  Card finished with some dazzling diamonds glimmer mist

Thanks for looking :)

Would also like to enter into...

Tuesday Throwdown - Sparkle & Bling
Gingerloft - Got the blues (yay I love blues!)
Lexi's - Monochromatic
Crafty Emma - Monochromatic
One stop craft - Monochrome

Embossing at The Stampman

Time for a new challenge at The Stampman and this fortnight we're looking for embossing.  For this I made a little poppy hanger for Janet's Appeal later on this year - details are HERE if you'd lke to donate cards etc with a poppy theme.

I used a triple embossing technique for this, if you haven't tried it before pull up a pew and I'll walk ya through!

I started with some 2"x2" squares by Magenta.  These are very sturdy, you need to use something sturdy for triple embossing or it can break (or crumble in the post which I found out once!)  The Stampman sell chipboard squares which are fab for this technique and more.

Colour your chipboard with a base colour of pigment ink - dye will just seep into the chipboard so you need a pigment which sits on the surface.  Here I used a black brilliance ink.

Step 2 - Add some embossing powder, tap off the excess and heat.  Allow this to cool and use a clear ink to add another layer.  You can of course play around and add various colours of ink.

Now just to mention if you see this demo'ed at a show you may see us leave the embossing powder in a pile and quickly flip the tile onto it whilst its still hot.  This is for more experienced who have finger tips of steel lol!  If its your first time then let it cool before adding more ink and another layer of powder. 

Step 3 - Before you add your 3rd layer ink up your chosen stamp (or you'll be faffing around when the tile is hot!) then complete your 3rd layer.  Whilst the tile is still hot and the melted powder is still soft, press your stamp firmly into the tile then leave it to cool. 

NB: If you remove your stamp when its still hot you could end up with molten embossing powder stuck to it and cause damage. After about a minute it will simply pop off.
You can use coloured inks or a clear ink but make sure you at least have versamark on to protect your stamp.  Don't use clear stamps for this, just rubbah!

Just showing you the effects of moonglow over black, it changes appearance depending on the base colour, luuuurvly!

OK you got that?  Go have a play!  For this I punched holes in the tiles BEFORE I added powder and made a little hanger :)  Don't be afraid to experiment!  Come show us your creations over at The Stampman!

Would also like to enter into...

Crafty Catz - Embossing

Gingersnap - Once in a blue moon (GC 68 Red & Black)

Make it Monday - Anything goes (Inspiration)

Creatalicious - Two Tone

Glitter at Crafts & Me

Mina is hosting this weeks challenge over at Crafts & Me challenges and she has chosen the theme 'Glitter' yay!
For this I used a digi image called Poppy by Sara Burrier coloured with promarkers.  I've used feather blending on the wings with yellows and pinks then drawn over with a thin layer of quickie glue and added glamour dust.  I've added distress ink (worn lipstck and spun sugar) and drawn a line around the inside of the nestie and added gold glitter.
The sentiment came with one of the sweet pea sheets I think, papers are Bearly Mine Designs which I've also gone around the panels with the dragonflies on with glamour dust.

I even managed to keep her colouring quite pastelly which is unusual for me ha!  I do find it difficult to keep an image light as I'm definately more of a bright bold colourer!

A quick reminder that Crafts and Me have a blog hop going with some amazing designs from the teamies!  You'll find the start of it here.  It runs until 15th so plenty of time to amble round :)

Thats me done so come grab your glitters and join in this week :)  I'm off to get messy and make a hangy thingy!

Would also lke to enter into...

Corrosive challenges - Pastel
Dream Valley Challenges - Wings
Papertake - Anything goes+Something New (Digi is new)
Scrap Creations - Recipe (Pearls, Glitter, Flowers)
Anything goes challenge - Pearls
Flutterby Wednesday - Open Week
Little Clares - Celebration with spring colours

Thanks for looking!

Yellow & Pink at Passion for #Promarkers

Its a colour theme this week at Passion for Promarkers and we are using Yellow and Pink which is lovely for this time of year.  We are sponsored by LETRASET who are offering a stamping kit as a prize so well worth taking the plunge!

I don't have much yellow in the way of papers or embellishments and my printer ink had run out so I couldn't rely on my collection from Bearly Mine (Have replaced carts today!) so had to have a good rummage!  I've coloured this stamp by Sarah Kay in yellows, pink and brown now get the flags out I've actually USED it haha!  I bought this at Port Sunny in gosh must have been just before I started on Stampman so October 2009 *blushes* and she sat in a bag for the first 6 months and I stamped her out a few times but never coloured her so this is a first outing lol!  I hope this qualifies for Pollycraft who's theme is old neglected stamp, she's neglected for sure and was inked up over a year ago but not used *ahem*

She's coloured with promarkers then I used my beloved Letrajet to add buttercup around her, added some old peel off corners then blended on some yellow and gold then removed the peel offs.  The little flowers are all airbrushed too using buttercup and baby pink.  Papers are papermania (yellow one) and I don't know the brown one with the yellow & pink dots
.
Hope you can join in with this lovely spring theme this week!

(BTW the hashtag I do on the title posts is deliberate - its so it shows on searches for promarkers on twitter :)  )

Would also like to enter into...

Pollycraft - Old neglected stamp

Sparkles forum - Springtime

Crafty Pad - Flowers

Allsorts - Bloomin Blossoms

Paper Sundaes - Spring blossoms

Crafty Cardmakers RECIPE

Hellooooooo!  Dee has cooked up a recipe for us this week at Crafty Cardmakers and she has chosen...

USE YELLOW AS YOUR MAIN COLOUR

USE RIBBONS

USE RHINESTONES/GEMS

USE STITCHING FAUX OR REAL

The Stampman are sponsoring us with a £10 voucher for their shop!  BTW they have some great new stamps in called Framies which fit exactly into certain nestie shapes - go check them out HERE! 

For this I chose an image by Pink Cat Studio, I won a challenge at Charisma a while back and this was one of the ones I chose.  I was having a look through the Postpals site and I have a little girl in mind for this one.  In fact there are quite a few of their stamps that are great for little uns!

I've coloured with promarkers and used glaour dust on the flowers, bobbles and belt so its super sparkly.  I've also used some dewdrops from Robins Nest.  The flowers are airbrushed to match although I'm going to tinker with the white ones as they look a bit like fried eggs lol!

Hope you can join in Dee's recipe challenge at Crafty Cardmakers!

I would also like to enter into...

The Sweet Stop - Sketch

Charisma - Bling & Sparkles

Stampin Sisters in Christ - Card for a child

Crafty Emma's - Children

Paper Playtime - Digi Anything goes

Kaboodle Doodles - Girly

Digital delights - Flowers

Crazy Challenge - Flowers

Thanks for looking!

Crafts & Me 1st Blog Hop

Crafts and Me Challenges recently celebrated their 1st Anniversary and we have also taken on some new teamies which now includes a Digital Design Team plus new faces also on the Rockin Rubbah team so we thought we'd celebrate with a little blog hop!
We have goodies hidden on various teamies blogs so I hope you'll leave them all a nice comment along the way :)
If you've arrived from the CRAFTS AND ME CHALLENGE BLOG you're on the right track! If not, you need to start at the Crafts and Me Challenge blog, click HERE to go to the start!
We're running the hop from 1st April to Midnight (GMT) 15th April so a whole 2 weeks to play along. You need to collect the letters to form a phrase and leave comments on each individual stop to be eligible for the individual prizes plus the grand prize. Once you have collected all the letters leave a comment on the Crafts & Me shop Blog. Hop post.  You also need to be a follower of the shop blog.

You're looking for your next letter which is... R

Here's my creation which is 2 digital stamps by Crafts & Me; Noon and I've used part of the moon swing, both you will find HERE.  I've coloured with promarkers and airbrushed the clouds also the sentiment was a peel off, airbrushed with promarkers to match the dress then the peel off removed.  The wings are coloured with a clear sakura stardust pen.

Thanks for coming to visit, don't forget to leave me a comment and hop on over to AMY!