Last minute again

Well it's nearly Friday which means new Studio L3 Challenge.
I have just finished this weeks, which is The Brushless Watercolour technique found on page 49 in the Compendium of Curiosities Vol II.

Anybody can join in you just need the book, you can pop over to Studio L3 to have a look at everybody else's creation's. There's some really great idea's.

I used a manilla tag, Paper Artsy crunchy wax paper which is very similar to Kraft Glassine for the flowers. Then sprayed with Perfect Pearl Mists "Sunflower Sparkle".

The moth has been cut from Sizzix's Fanciful Flight using only the little wings, Dylusions Sprays give it the lovely colours and again finished with Sunflower sparkle.

The embellishment at the bottom is from Tim Holtz Idea-olgy Word Bands and hanging from Bakers Twine.

I think that just about covers it, if not let me know and please leave a comment.

Hope you have a great weekend and the rain stops.

Sharon x

Sunshine And Bakers Twine

It's here, that's the sun i'm talking about and I hope it stays for a while.

We have the builders in, Jamie will get his new office and I will get a new craft room. Since moving house I have been in the dining room, which is ok but I feel the need to keep putting everything away.  I like to be away in my own space, so I have moved from the dining room to a little upstairs room in one of the barn's.

It goes from extremes (bit like the weather) cold and really warm, you can tell it's warm today Kira the cat has found a nice soft spot up there to have a nap, bless.
So yesterday I went to do some creating and decided to play with my melt pot, not had it out in a while. I had a great time, tad warm but it was worth the effort, I just love the new texture treads I will show you some more later when I have finished playing.

New Bakers Twine

The new bakers twine is a handy item to have in your stash. It's so easy for adding a embellishment onto your tags and cards. It comes in a pack of 5 rolls 20 yards in each, vintage in colour. Above are a few tags I made, using various colours of distress inks and picking them at random otherwise I tend to use just my favourites.

Something else I wanted to share with you, Jamie and I were very lucky to spend a morning in February with Tim Holtz and the very talented Dyan Reaveley. We weren't the only ones of course.

Here is what Dyan was teaching us to do for journaling pages, using her new Dylusions sprays and stencils. The new colours are vibrant and spray brilliantly. The wording is from one of her new stamps which has been stamped on to sticky back canvas.

Another good idea was to stick two tags back to back, which hides the mucky side and makes twice the area to journal or stamp onto.
I didn't think I would like the Black Marble Dylusion Spray but it makes the other colours really stand out. We sprayed the stencil then turned it over and placed it down on the opposite corner so you achieve a mirror  image.

The above journaling page was inspired by what Dyan had shown us..... 

The tag below was covered by blending distress inks for the background, then blending through the stencil in a darker colour, highlighting with black and white gel pens.

I thought of my mum when I saw this quote. Dad has been in hospital, after finding out about Dad I enquired how she was. She said "I've done the hoovering!" 

Maybe her way of coping.

Hope I haven't gone on too much, it takes me a while to get going then I can not stop. 

Thank you for stopping by.

Sharon x 

Studio L3 Challenge

The challenge this week from Linda over at Studio L3 is Shattered Stains. The technique is on page 48 of Tim Holtz Compendium of Curiosities 2 and it is sponsored by Simon Says Stamps.

Sorry I'm not allowed to tell you the technique, out of respect for Tim.
Anybody can play along at any time, this one ends Thursday but a new one starts on Friday

I decided to make a card, which are always handy to have in stock.

I didn't have any red Distress Stain for the robin's red breast so I improvised with Distress Ink and the new Tim Holtz water brush.

This is a fun technique to do but you have to be patient. I cut out my Grungeboard at night applied the Rock Candy Crackle Paint and let it dry overnight.

My Tiny Attacher was certainly handy for applying the Weathered Clock dial to the card.

Thank you for stopping by and please leave a comment.

Sharon x

It's Faded Layers

This weeks challenge over at Studio L3, is faded layers which is on page 43 of Tim's Book.
I love this technique because of the great surprise you get when you peel back the mask.

The base layer on my cardstock was blended with Bundled sage, Scattered Straw and Wild Honey.Then over the mask I used Peeled Paint, Mustard Seed and Rusty Hinge.

The steampunk style birds and scroll are on Paper Artsy's Collection HP1107.
The Bird on barb wire is on Tim Holtz's CMS087.
CMS056 for the sunray and CMS085 for it's all perspective.
I just love the tattered banner from Tim's Alteration's. There's so many different sizes, I'm sure I could find one for all my card's.
That's the end of this weeks CC2C, looking forward to Friday and the next one.
Thank you for looking in and please leave a comment.

Sharon x

My Beautiful Book

As they say tomorrow never comes and that's my excuse for not telling you about my bestest pressy ever.
Until now.
It wasn't because I didn't want to show you, I just couldn't see it for the tears.
It's a beautiful book Jamie made for me.
About Mini mee our border collie, sadly she passed away 3 weeks after moving into our new home.

Enough said.

As you can see she loved the water xxx

Love to Create

I cannot believe how quickly the week seems to go when you have a challenge to complete, I think I will get plenty of projects completed to show you on the blog. Not a chance.
But again all I seem to have managed is a Tag for the Compendium of Curiosities Challenge II which hosted by the brilliant Linda Ledbetter.
I must admit I don't find blogging easy, so I have a great admiration for all you clever bloggers out there.
(Maybe that's why I don't get much done, I'm always blog hopping)
Last week I did seem to cut it short but it was my birthday, I had some gorgeous pressy's, mainly crafting items.
Even though we have the business I still have to buy my own stash. So you can imagine the torture when I pick and pack your order's.
So it is a real treat to get stamps and stuff to play with.
But the bestest ever gift arrived today but I cannot tell you about it tonight, I will explain tomorrow?
So enough rambling (can you tell I have not seen anybody except Jamie since last Thursday)

We have been very busy trying to work out a fairer charge for the postage based on size, so if you only want 1 stamp it makes it more affordable.

Marbled Stains is the technique to be used for the challenge, which can be found on page 46. If you haven't got your copy of Tim's book, buy it from us the postage is now only £1.49.

The background is made using Picket Fence, Dusty Concorde and Broken China Distress Stains.
I have made the hanging basket by using the top part of the bird cage from the Sizzix die Caged Bird, the flowers are cut from Nostalgic Core Paper stash and the New Crunchy Waxed Kraft Paper by Paper Artsy with the Tattered Flower Garland.

The quote "Love to Create" and the delicate flourish is off the Indigoblu stamp 'Discover your Passion'
The delicate edging is from the Vintage Lace Die.
I have tried to list most of the item's used but when you work just randomly with what's in front of you, you forget.

Just one more thing.

What am I going to do with this.
If you can come up with a good idea, I will send you the matching one.