Tattered Flower and Leaves Card

I never used to use many diecuts until Tim Holtz started making his range of dies. Here is one of his Tattered Flowers and two Tattered Leaves. The centre of the flower is a metal washer coloured with alcohol inks, and filled with micro beads. These washers can be bought quite cheaply in different sizes and look good when coloured.

Octopode Factory Witch

Now this is a great stamp, and I am intending to buy more from this company! I stamped the witch and then rubbed her over a messy ink mixture on my craft sheet and then cut her out. The flowers were coloured the same way, and then I stamped the greeting on a bit of a crumpled up paper bag. Don't throw away things like paper bags and napkins, they can all be die cut and inked for messy craft effects!

My First Use of Ink Dusters

This tall card has a background made using Distress Inks and Inkylicious' Ink Dusters. These are fantastic brushes which are wonderful for applying colour to all kinds of projects. Here I just brushed around the edges of the card with blue and purple ink, and then stamped the flowers and butterflies. I'd certainly recommend Ink Dusters to any crafter.

ATC Calendar

I have been a very bad blogger and have not added anything here for about six months (!) I am making up for this now by showing you my ATC calendar. I made twelve ATCs, each representing a month of the year, and added a calendar to the bottom edge of each one, and then bound them with the Bind-It-All. I added some stiff card to the top of each ATC for the wire to go through.
The stamp for January is by Inkadinkado. I coloured the bird using Distress Inks, and added red to the berries with a Whispers pen. I put some glossy medium on the berries and bird's eye. Seeing lots of birds eating red fruits from a tree today made this image even more apt for this month.

This Penny Black bear is bringing some Valentine's Day roses! I coloured him with Distress Inks and made his flowers glossy.

Another Penny Black image. I expect everyone is longing to see the Spring flowers. Again I used Distress Inks to colour.

Some Papermania bunnies! How cute are they. I found some Hot Off The Press silk flowers to give this some real Spring colour.

Well it had to be a cat for May (my birth month) and a ginger one too! Socks may be a little old to chase butterflies now though (he would disagree I am sure.) I used some Whispers pens to add colour to this image.

A very cute Penny Black bunny has a nap in the sun. Sun? What's that?! I used Distress Inks again and some Brenda Pinnick paper.

These Penny Black images are so useful for projects like this. I used both Distress Inks and Whispers pens to colour this.

A Forever Friends bear brings in some late summer flowering daisies. I used Distress Inks and Whispers pens, and some Dovecraft paper.

This cute stamp is by Sugar Nellie and was given away by Craft Stamper magazine. I keep using him, he is so sweet. I coloured him with Distress Inks and added some highlights with a white gel pen. The papers are from My Mind's Eye Bloom and Grow pad.

October means Hallowe'en and I love Pumpkin and Aubergine from Papermania. Where would I be without Distress Inks for colouring!

This stamp is very lovely and I used part of it for this ATC. I stamped with an Ariondack Woodland pad. The spotty paper comes from a Papermania A4 paper pack.

It'll be here before we know it! I used some sparkly card and punched a snowflake in red/gold shimmery paper. The stamp is from Penny Black.

ATC Holder

This was supposed to be for four ATCs, but I made a mistake on one part and it had to be cut in half. The large leaf, birds and sayings are Paper Artsy, the tree is Crafty Individuals, the single words and little leaves are Inkadinkado, and the swirls are Bo Bunny. The gold strips are Anita's Glitterations.

Just A Note

This would make a nice gift. I used Paper Artsy Squiggly Ink stamps thoroughout for this project. If you make one for yourself then you can always refill it by stamping more 'Notes'! Quite simple to make, just one piece of card scored three times and the pockets glued. Could also be used for ATCs.

Been Busy

I bought, some years ago, a little notebook at a craft fair. It was covered inside and out with handmade paper and the body was made from one piece of card. I found it the other day and thought I'd have a go at making some myself. It's quite easy to make, but sticking on the papers was tricky as the book has to bend in three places. I had to use thinly-spread PVA glue. Using handmade papers was easier than normal craft papers as they are softer and more flexible. These books are also ideal for those who do not own a Bind-It-All and want to make notebooks.

The stamps used: Bird Book, Inkadinkado clear inchie stamps, and Dragonfly Book, Paper Artsy Squiggly Ink range.

Late Again! I Don't Know....

This is an ATC I made for the letter F! Better very late than never I suppose. I hope Linda will be kind and forgive me. I used a piece of Whitewash card for the base, embossed with the D'Vine Swirl folder and then rubbed back with a piece of sandpaper. The picture is a little Snag Em stamp made for Papermania. Another F is the Frayed ribbon and of course the Flowers!

I chose Green and Grey to represent G and made a Gatefold ATC. The paper is from the new Jesse Edwards range. The stamp is a cute little bird by Inkadinkado, coloured with Distress Inks. The phrase stamp is from Cat's Life Press. The sparkly strips are Anita's Glitterations - can't use them enough! And they are another G.

Finally on to H! I made a skinny and put a Happy Hedgehog on it. I embossed the card using a Cuttlebug folder, I can't remember the proper name, I call it Little Birds. The chipboard embellishment, flowers and brad are from a Brenda Pinnick kit.

Alphabet Challenge - E

E is for Elzybells! I love this girl on a swing. I made the card using some papers from My Mind's Eye Bohemia pad and added some Prima flowers and Papermania gem brads.

My Time To Craft - Metallica

I used the Cuttlebug folder 'Tiny Bubbles' on a piece of gold foil card, and added some 3d stickers which have a lot of gold on them. The butterfly is one of a lovely set by Anita's.

Whiff of Joy Challenge - Sketch

I used papers from Brenda Pinnock's wonderful 'Lavish' book for this card. I think the designs work well with the WOJ images. I punched the flowers from Coredinations card and added button brads to them.

Basic Grey - Paper Piecing

I used two Clare Curd stamps for this ATC. The butterfly is made up of two papers from the 'Perhaps' 6x6 pad. I chalked the background and then stamped the flowers.

Alphabet Challenge - D

D is for Doodle-doll by Lost Coast! The backgroundof this ATC is made with sequin waste and metallic inks. The other stamps are by Paper Artsy. The flower is cut on the Cuttlebug using Grungepaper. I rounded opposite corners to be 'different' -another D.

I did make something for C and it didn't get loaded up somehow! This is a Twinchie with a Blade Rubber Citroen 2CV stamped on it. The really grotty washer was found on the ground somewhere outside a builders' supplies store. Tip - if you want really authentic grungy things like this for your craft, hang around outside your local Jewsons - no-one will think you're weird - honest.

Forever Friends - St. George's Day - Red and White

I love this bashful bear with his balloon! I stamped him on some brown paper and stamped him again on red and cut out the balloon and flower. The spotty paper comes from one of the FF Christmas pads. I used a Papermania paper flower and some rick-rack braid as finishing touches.