Measuring up and a winner....

Here is another page that I made for the ATDML gallery with some of the Websters Pages Sweet Routine papers.  I started with some very pink shimmer mist, and then I scraped some gesso over the top just to dull it down a little!  Next I layered, distressed and stitched my papers, and added a punched strip using the Martha Stewart doily lace punch, and also some of the lace that comes in the Websters range - it is really wide, so I cut it in half and had some at the top and some at the bottom.  The Sweet Routine papers have a whole sheet of little squares with pictures you can cut out, so I cut out the camera, and then made a banner and layered up a sticker in my little embellishment cluster.  Next a few pink pearls, and then little titles for my photos and some glossy American Thickers for the main title.

Now to explain the photos!  We went to the Roald Dahl museum which was a lovely day out, it's not enormous but there are lots of great things to look at if you love Roald Dahl, plus you can drink some of his drinks in the cafe!  There was a wall showing you how tall Roald Dahl was and then how tall all his characters were...so we did some measuring and those are the results - not sure my husband is feeling that flattered by his!

The other important news is the winner for the giveaway I had running, and my random number generator has selected

Karen Leonard

Congratulations, you can contact me on the email link on the page - hope you enjoy it.

Air Dry Clay

Baker Ross sent me some of their white air dry clay, and I wanted to see what I could make with it and found some super tutorials on pinterest that all follow a similar method - you roll out the clay.  I then stamped down one side with a doily type stamp (cleaning it well afterwards).  Next cut out a circle - my circle is the width of one of the large glasses we have in our house and a knife to cut it out.  Then you use a bowl to give it a curve, so you place the circle into the bowl....mine being a large whittards tea cup - you don't need to push the clay all the way down to the bottom of the bowl, just gently ease it in enough to get it to curve up at the edges.  I then carefully popped out my little dish and made some more as Easter gifts.

I left the clay to dry overnight and then coated it in white paint, let it dry then pulled out the stamping with some gold paint along the edge, then to give it some durability I coated it in a mix of PVA and a little water - though any varnish would do.  So here is my little key or jewellery dish.

I next went onto some decorations or posh gift tags

I used cookie cutters and then stamped over the top - I did stamp with some blue ink on the silver herts which you can just about see, the 'love' heart I used a woodgrain acrylic stamp and then a little alpha stamp to write the word love (I did this with the names of the recipients of my Easter jewellery dishes to personalise them).  I dry brushed silver over 2 of the hearts and then just picked out the word love on the last heart, again I coated with PVA and a little water mixed.

I next had a go with my Martha Stewart molds - I really liked using this clay as you could push it in and get a really nice finish - sometimes when I've worked with molds you end up with a lip but it was really easy to correct and sort out.  Again a little silver paint and it makes them look a little more shabby.

I'm going to draw my winner from the giveaway (here is the link) so if you are in the UK and you would like to enter do please leave a comment with UK on the end of it.

Smile

This weeks theme over on the Tando blog is spots and dots, so inspired by this and the doodling challenge at the ATDML retreat this weekend here is my take on it!

I hand cut the dots - planned out a grid on the back and all that...then to cover my wonky cutting I doodled around the edges, and then backed with different papers.  The dotty blue and pink paper is the Tando sequin waste mask that I just rubbed chalk inks through, I also made a little camera shaker and added stickers and chipboard to some of the circles too.  I then layered up my papers and photos and used a little Tando chipboard camera which I coloured in in pencil as the other cameras were grey.  The papers are all Websters Pages, mostly Compostition and Colour but the Chevron is from the Party Time range too.

The photos are of my youngest trying out our camera on the beach, I do still find pictures on my phone when it's been hijacked by him, and it makes me smile...have to make a page about it!

If you haven't entered my giveaway and are uk based then leave me a comment on this post (with a little UK next to your name so I know you are UK based)

The Everyday Photo

I'm delighted to be joining in with the Inspiration Elevator each month, they have a theme that challenges us to make our scrapping even more personal so here is my first page for them, plus this month there are prizes on offer as it is their anniversary, so here are the challenge details which you can also find on the blog : Inspiration Elevator Blog. 

This month we are celebrating our anniversary with a BLOG HOP! So be sure to hop from blog to blog below as some of our designers are offering prizes!

The Challenge:

It's a 2-part challenge since it's created by Christa and Ann!

The first part of the challenge is to use a selfie. We are all a part of social media to some extent, so selfies are everywhere. "Call it another trend in narcissism, or call it art, but the "selfie" has become a mainstay of our virtual identity." 
Here are a couple articles for taking a good selfie, if this makes you uncomfortable (as it does for me - A)
http://www.bustle.com/articles/7142-how-to-take-a-selfie-pro-photographers-give-us-all-their-best-self-portrait-secrets
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sarah-tuttlesinger/six-tips-on-how-to-rock-a_b_3750316.html

The second part of the challenge is this: 
Every month the reveal preamble begins with: 
"You may recall that the purpose of this challenge group is to take our scrapbooking to the next level, to stretch our creative process and to grow as artists by embracing challenges that make us think, work and extend ourselves."
So this month we'd like you to share something about scrapbooking. It could be why you scrapbook, what you love best, what you get out of it, your most amazing experience or, where you see your craft/hobby/art in the future. 

This is one of my attempts at a selfie, and I love that Scrapping has grown to even the not so amazing photos and that you can add filters and all sorts to the pictures and just scrap everyday moments.  My photo was from a recent holiday and a reminder to me to look upwards a little more and not spend my time being busy and worrying about all the busyness and how to make it work - to let that stuff go more and just enjoy!

I used lots of Websters Sweet Routine papers for this as well as starting my page with a spritz of blue glimmer mist to match the sky, I went for lots of layers and this is another Baker Ross doily in vibrant pink which went perfectly with the papers.  I distressed and stitched the layers and added a little glassine bag for extra journalling.  I made the banner on my sewing machine, just letting it run a few stitchs in-between  each flag, and then I added a few chipboard clouds, a little bling and the title.

Remember to hop around to the other blogs and see what out designers have created and what prizes are up for grabs! (Be sure to read the instructions as each designer has her own requirements to win!)

 Ann Jobes
Christa Uttley
 Joanne Burton 

Lisa Moen  

Lisa Spiegel 

Michelle Hernandez 

Katherine Sutton

I hope you feel inspired to play along with our challenge this month, and when you do, please share it using the linky tool on our Inspiration Elevator blog and/or our Inspiration Elevator Facebook page. We'd LOVE to see what you made!

Also I have a give away for those of you in the UK, please just leave me a comment and the letters UK to enter and you can hop around everyone else too to see loads of inspiration.

As High As Dragonflies

I am back from a lovely weekend on the A Trip Down Memory Lane Retreat, I got to teach 2 classes and went to 5 others and shopped lots!  It was lovely, I got to play with loads of beautiful papers and try out new techniques and take part in a few challenges which is what my page is part of.  

The challenge was to use the calendar (base sheet) paper on my page, so I went with that and then added some watercolour - by just taking some of the paint off my water colour pencils.  I then added a layer of stamping with brown distress strain, and then layered up lots of lovely bits! After the watercolour there is a yellow doily - courtesy of Baker Ross who have a massive mix of doilies in all colours and this one went perfectly, then there is a layer of Websters Pages Sweet Routine vellum, then Some Prima Free Spirit paper (I think this is the range designed by sassafras - love the colours in it and I did a whole class with this paper) then some more Websters - this is from the new Party collection and the yellow and orange went perfectly with my sons t-shirt.  I didn't take my butterfly punch as I wanted a row of butterflies, so had to adapt and used some dragonfly die cuts from sizzix, and I added a little bling to a few of them.  The title is a mix of October Afternoon and some AC Thickers too, and the lace and cameras are also Websters Sweet Routine.

So there will be loads of pages to show you and more stories from the retreat!

And I also had a play with some of Baker Ross' air dry coloured clay and some Martha Stewart silicon molds whilst I was at the retreat, so keep an eye out for those on some pages too.

Owls, Owls, Owls

I've used Baker Ross products before, mostly when crafting with kids, but I was delighted to get an email to say that they are keen to develop their adult crafting network, and would I like to have a play with some of their products.  Didn't take me long....and here is my first project with some of the goodies!

I've not really played with ceramic paints before, but when I saw the owls it was the first thing I wanted to have a go at.  The ceramic pens were great to work with, you get really nice defined lines, and good coverage with them.

This blue one was my first owl - I just went for different colours and then used the fine black ceramic pen to add all the feathers and details.

Next I went a little psychedelic and drew tear drop and swirl patterns on my owl, again the colours didn't smudge and the pens were great for getting the shapes I wanted.

By this time my youngest was really desperate to colour in an owl too...so this is his - my role was as the black outliner as he wanted some feathers added to it too.

They were great fun to make and I picked up some battery operated tea lights from the pound shop to use in them.