Stars, Bunting and Animals

Hi Everyone ,

How are you all? Thank you for all your  lovely comments on my post last week I was simply amazed how many people stopped by to have a look. This week I am entering my TAG into a few challenges as its coming near to Christmas i seem to be busy busy busy....and not in the good sense of crafting either....although all this crafting equipment and not managed to make a single Christmas card yet. Anyway i digress this is entered into 

Simon Says Stamp and Show Stars as does Hels Sheridan over at Sunday Stampers

Allsorts Challenge Blog says Bunting or Pennants 

Pan Pastel Says Animals ......ok so its not a massive animal or that's not the main image but if you look very closely there is a cat albeit a small one but hey .

Hels thanks for the top tip for Art Journaling managed to get on a taster session with Dyan and Kate next week ......your a wee gem. 

 I was in a brown mood  today so used all distress inks that had even a hint of brown before i did that though i picked up a tip from Lin Browns blog about putting some multi medium down first to create a bit of texture ......I really like how its gave the effect here so thanks Lin. Then I added some bitty grunge Tim Holtz stamps... the star and the wurly gig  (circles i mean) and then stamped with one of the Gorjuss stamps .......

And finally I had a molly bloom bunting stamp lying around so stamped that on to Tim Lost and Found paper stash and cut it out ....

So a straight forward entry this week but it will get worse before it gets better...... with 4 year old twins, who i have to make a donkey costume and a lamb costume by next week for their nativity eeeeek ...first one though so looking forward to it bring out the hankies i say !!!!

Thanks again for stopping by and i will catch up with you soon take care Mandy x

Simon says Stamp and Show some Tickets & Grungy Monday 28

Hi Everyone 

Hope today catches you all well.  Today i have created a wooden block for Simon says Stamp and Show some Tickets and Linda over at Grungy Monday requests us to use a cool Tim Holtz Technique which he used on his pumkin challenge for ranger using metal, emboss and alcohol inks.. here is the link..http://timholtz.typepad.com/my_weblog/2011/11/rangers-great-pumpkin-challenge.html

So i wondered how i could combine both requests as sometimes nearer the end of the week i run out of time ( where does it go these days??!!) So I started with a blank arch wooden block :

First of all I cut out some sheet metal ....However i never had the sticky stuff so i had to make do......then i embossed it first with a cracked paving stone embossing folder and at the other side I embossed with Tim's edge dies out of his seasons one....I then glued it to the frame and then put the ranger alcohol inks down....colours used were sunshine yellow, cranberry and lettuce with a bit of blending solution and also with some gold mixative.....then just kept building it up .........The next challenge was how to incorporate the tickets .....mmmmmm..........So i got this fine girl from Art Rules by Wendy Vechi and thought she could do with some hair...........

So using the tickets out of Tims Lost and found Paper Stash and stamping a couple up I tried to give her some hair......then because the hair looked and reminded me of ........You know when you were young and you needed a haircut and sometimes your mum thought she was a great hairdresser and decided to cut it for you ....not quite getting it right and then to even it out getting out the mixing bowl ....lol .....oh no sorry was that just me that happened to.........any way the whole thing made me giggle so hence the ticket. Here is a close up of the bad hair day !!!

Right enough of this malarkey from me I am sure I have went on enough ...... Hope you like it and it at least either made you cringe thinking of the memory or laugh just at the sheer madness of it all!!!

Thanks for looking bye for now take care Mandy x

Sunday Stampers - Snowmen

Hi There

Thanks for stopping by

Today I managed to actually do Sunday Stampers on a Sunday ....there's a novel idea normally i just get it in in the nick of time!! I am also entering this into the panpastel UK challenge the link can be found here http://panpasteluk.blogspot.com/2011/11/panpastel-uk-challenge-9-frosty-and.html

So here is my Snowman .....can i just mention that i must have about one zillion stamps that i use everyday ..not ...and out of the zillion stamps i could not find a snowman so i had to revert to a mask!! Here is Tim Holtz's mask ......top tip do not get embossing powder underneath as said mask will no longer stick and will slide out of position causing you to use some bad language!!!!.
 I coloured the mask with the new set of Winter distress inks they are so fab fab fab and i am sorry but my camera work is not up to much as they look better in real life. Then a bit of scratching went on and a bit more stamping .....never managed to do your ghosting technique though Hels so sorry about that maybe next time.....a bit more titivating then that's me before i ruin it.

a little closer !

I have just bought my first journal .......oh my...what fun i have been having with that.....no need to hold back at all there and i have been trying everything out .....think i need a fundamentals class though so on the lookout for that ......does anyone else do any art journaling and do you know of any blogs that are of interest in this field ...... or any classes for that matter ?
Anyway enough from  me hope you like the tag .....see you again , take care......Mandy x

Black and white Allsorts challenge

Hi Everyone ,

Thanks for stopping by.....

Thought I would give this challenge a go by entering this. My colour is of course black and white and my extra is a bit of purple in the mad hatters hat which unfortunately does not show up to well. The Stamp is from Indigoblu. Hope you like it......bye for now Mandy x

Simon says show some women and Sunday Stampers

Hi Everyone
Thanks for stopping by........ This entry is a strange one as i had took a bag of stash to work in the hope of creating the first project out of Wendy Vecchi project book number three only to find when i got there i did not have half the stuff i needed and another half of random stuff. So onward and upward...... it was a bonus that the stamp that i had with me was the girl with the dog .... I had no clue where this was going but did'nt think the end product was too bad.  I have just one question for you all............ Everytime i make something my fella says what is it for or where are you going to put it ......what do you do with all your wonderful creations?
 I enjoyed making this ..... although it is a girl....... it is still classed women only aint it????

Hels does this count as pines and does it also count as my first frame? No where near your league but it was fun. All these firsts i have not made a card in ages lol . Wonder what will be next !

Catch up with you all soon take care Mandy x

Grungy Monday 27 Tim's 12 tags of christmas

Hi Everyone,

Well this week Linda over at Grungy Monday say's we have to create something using the techniques that tim did in his 12 days of Christmas 2007 day 6. Here's the link http://timholtz.typepad.com/my_weblog/2007/12/its-day-6---so.html I have'nt quite hit the Christmas spirit yet so i decided to go down another road.....not sure what road this was but it sure was fun!!!!

and one more sorry

I am rubbish at taking photo's!!

 First i stamped up One of Tim's stamps in Sepia (no clue why that colour ) then i laid down some of the distress pearls. I used the same bottle as the last challenge as i only have one and still had some left.!

 Then since this little fella had a crown on anyway i thought i would just add a bigger one with a mask and distressed over it with fired brick to make it stand out more.  I don't know what happened next..... i wanted to add everything in at once!!! Is it too much???

Anyway no need to mention who's products i used because i think apart from the bingo sheet it may have all been Tim Holtz or Ranger in some form or another..Hope you like it as i enjoyed making it. Now going to add something else over at simon says .......thats another story .....see you next week .....thanks for stopping by...... take care for now Mandy x

Grungy Monday 26 and Sunday Stampers

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for stopping by.....Today I managed to complete the Grungy Munday challenge 26 of Tims 12 tags of Christmas which can be found here:  http://timholtz.typepad.com/my_weblog/2009/12/12-tags-of-christmasday-7.html and i am also entering this into Sunday Stamper. As Hels wanted something a little Christmassy i decided to try and follow all of the techniques used in Tim Holtz's demo and stuck with the Christmassy theme with different stamps. (only cause i never had the ones he used !!!) Anyway it was great making this tag...... I put to use some of the techniques that i learned with Linda Elbourne at her ranger master class which was fab.  I had a bit of a nightmare though with the stamping of the sentiment as i did'nt have a "Merry Christmas" stamp (can you believe that!! I have hundreds of Stamps but no Merry Christmas will need to rectify that me thinks.....) Any way i thought i would use a noel stamp by magnolia so stamped it up in distress emboss and then as i only had a red lustre embossing powder i used that ..............yes well the less said about that the better i think!!! Hence why you are seeing a nice bright noel stamped up in snowcap dabber on some of the glassine paper!!!  Apart from the galsine paper i think the tag turned out quite well.......what do you think ? Anyway enough of me rambling i am sure you want to see the tag .....well here it is......What do you think ........

Feel free to leave a comment i love to hear from you ..... thats all from me as i don't think i will have time to enter Simon Says Stamp and show this week ......oh well there is always next week......bye for now .....catch up with you soon. Mandy x

Products used:
Stampers Anonymous Letter to Santa and Seasons Silouettes and a music script stamp i had.
Festive Berries and Evergreen Bough (i got them they are fab fab fab !!)
Worn lipstick and peeled paint distress stickles
Snowcap Dabber
Glassine Paper
And Believe philosophy tag.

Simon says Stamp and Show a House and Backgrounds

Hi Everyone,
Thanks for stopping by..... Here we go for another challenge at Simon Says Stamp and Show a House and I am also entering this into the Artistic stampers Challenge of the month of Backgrounds.

This was a really hard challenge for me as i have never tried anything like this before. As far as i have ever gone are tags and cards ..... on to wooden no not me......then i thought why not give it a go. So as you can see i had a shell of a wooden House bought at Indigoblu. First of all i read somewhere that you have to give it a base coat of something so then you can stamp onto it...... so thats what i did.....White Acrylic paint. I let that  dry and then got out my stamps and began to play to see what would happen . Stamps used are Studio 490 an abundance of them and one stampers Anonymous stamp out of bitty grunge (the star).

and there's more!

I used other bits and bobs that i had lying around. The DI's fired brick, spiced marmalade, victorian velvet, and rusty hinge. For the outside frame i used distress stain and stamped over the top with a text block. which looks a bit like tissue tape.

I enjoyed doing this so thankyou for the challenge..... Maybe i will try another but with a dark pallette. I think i need to stock up on bits and bobs though to put inside . Thankyou for your time.... catch up with you again real soon .... i am off to blog hop and have a peek at the inspiration..... bye xxx