Odds and Ends

 Decided to use up some odds and ends of paper that were too small for cards and too nice to throw away, so I covered this small box. Left over metal beads were used to make the feet. I dusted walnut distress ink on the edges and covered with gel medium - which was then re-covered with Spray and shine as the medium was causing the lid to stick!

 This  is a present for my Mum. It is a photo of her mother, the only one we have of her (I used a copy of course). So I hope she will like it

My attempt at brayering! I was made up when I saw this Blake verse stamp by Clarity as it's always been one of my favourites.

This is one of the first cards I made and my first use of alcohol inks, so I have a soft spot for it.

And finally a wedding gift tag, I saw a really cool new way (new for me anyway) to make roses and had to use them on something.

Promarker Practice!

 Still practising with my promarkers in the hope that one day I'll produce a masterpiece. Meantime, here are some I made earlier!

The first 3 are Polka Doodles stamps including a Christmas scene using only grey promarkers - my attempt at copying Nikky Hall's lovely card.

A Sarah Kay stamp made for a friends birthday.(It looks a bit washed out on the photo, camera playing up!)

Just playing with these really and trying to make my own background papers. The leaves were a Craft Stamper freebie, stamped with Distress ink and coloured with promarkers.

Finally a Joanna Sheen badger, complete with added wellies!

Paint Fusion

 The wonderfully talented Sheena Douglas is back on Create and Craft at the end of this week and she is giving away some blog candy, a full set of new paint fusion stamps and DVD. For a chance to win bob over to her blog here
I have loved all Sheena's paint fusion range up to now and can't wait to see the new stamps!
So, I thought I would take this opportunity to post some of my creations. Two wall hangings and a gift tag.

Still practising......................

Birthday cards

The dreaded card for a man! I never know where to start with these, so, I pinched ideas for here there and everywhere. Thank you to everyone for the inspiration.
This is the largest card I've ever made and it's on 8 x 8 kraft card. I've used card from My Minds Eye and Tim Holtz stamps The embossed square has been coloured with alcohol inks in caramel, gold and pesto and attached with some screw brads, as were the clock parts (I even managed to line them up so that if you turn one they all turn!). The card was finished off with some copper german scrap coloured gold with alcohol ink and a pair of tiny brass wings.

This was made for a friend who wanted a card for a work colleague. I used a Sarah Kay stamp coloured with Promarkers  and attached some seam binding. The ribbon seems to be hiding the green glass beads hanging from the bow!!

Exploding Box

I've wanted to make an exploding box for ages and finally managed it last weekend. It started out as a bit of a play around and ended up as a wedding box for my brother. I have just used white card and I covered each side with an embossed square and the odd pearl here and there!

The outer sides I used a Martha Stewart punch on and a bit of embossing.

Inside the box I added some (more) roses and feathers and now need to work out where to put my message. I might do this on a small card in between the feathers and with any luck they might find it!!!

Martha Stewart punch again on the lid and a few dangly pearls and it was finished - this has got to be the longest I have spent making a card!

Roses

My brothers wedding is taking place at the end of this month and I foolishly said I would do the buffet, the table decorations and favours!! The theme for the tables is pink and cream roses so, rather than go out and buy them - as that just wouldn't be crafty, I got out my Tattered Florals die and made them, 90 in total, using Bazzill Bling card stock.
It was very time consuming but rewarding when I looked at them piled up ready to go!

Well, ready to go - or not!

With the help of my very good, and probably very fed up friend, we glued them in to place and stood up to admire our handiwork. Great, then one fell off - then another, and another.

The problem was trying to glue paper to glass quickly as there aren't enough hours in the day to hold each rose in place until the glue dried.

Fast forward to 3 days and several different glues later, success with Pinflair glue gel.

They aren't finished yet, but this is how they are looking now:

Hopefully when they are finished they will be filled with glass beads (the kind that go in flower vases) and a tea light, battery operated to comply with fire regs.

Just hoping that my brother and his wife will like them, think it will be quite some time before I feel the need to make roses again!!!

My first blog

Having spent the last couple of days setting up my blog I've now got to start posting!
I discovered rubber stamping about 12 months ago and seem to spend most of my time stamping, colouring in and cutting out - never actually seem to get around to making anything. Hopefully this will encourage me to finish things off!

These are a few things I have managed to complete recently.

A card for my Mum, Crafty Individuals CI-065 stamped onto mount board and embossed and coloured with promarkers.

A small plaque with Tim Holtz stamps.

This is a Father's Day card, using a Creative Expressions tree stamp and a Marianne corner die.

A plaque using Crafty Individuals stamp CI-273 and various scraps of patterned paper.

This card was made with Graphic 45 papers, Tim Holtz stamp and I made the background with a V&A floral stamp.