O is for...

The Craft Barn Alpha challenge number 17  is brought to you by letter O.  I considered Octopus - they are truly amazing creatures - or Orange, but in the end I decided on Oriental as my word of the fortnight!

I die-cut the jar using my new Tattered Lace die from paper covered with double-sided adhesive film.  It took a few passes through the Calibur to cut - I would probably have been better off using the Big Shot, which seems to have a bit more oomph when cutting tricky materials, even with wafer thin dies.  I blended blue inks over the back of the ATC (my usual Centura Pearl, reverse side), stuck the die-cut shape paper side down onto the card (I used Cosmic Shimmer glue, it has a nice fine tip and is a great glue).  Once the glue was nice and dry, I removed the protective layer from the adhesive film and sprinkled on glitter - Diamond Sprinkles from Cosmic Shimmer.  It's a white glitter rather than crystal.  (Actually, I was going to use Micro Beads but I've put them somewhere safe....)

Thank you for stopping by - I hope you enjoyed the visit.  Come back soon!

Crafty Hugs,

Keren

Dare to be Remarkable!

Happy Friday everyone!  It’s the start of a new challenge over at Left Of Center and this time we are sponsored by Sassy Studios.  Sassy is the perfect word to describe their digistamps – those girls have got some attitude!  The theme is “Girly” and I’ve chosen Sassy Ursula for my card.

 

You remember Ursula the Sea Witch from Disney’s Little Mermaid?  This is Ursula in her prime, all glamorous and ready to raise havoc – those tentacles are going to be in everyone’s business.  I enjoyed colouring her in with Spectrum Noirs; I used the Blue-Greys for her dress and Cool Greys for her tentacles.  For the skin tones I moved over to the Promarker cool greys.  The colouring process was very therapeutic – I got lost in my own little world...

I cut her out and mounted her onto a piece of marbled paper from a pad that Joanna Sheen used to produce some time ago – I thought it looked a bit “under the sea” – which I bordered in some textured gold foil card.  I used the same card, die-cut into a spiky circle with a Nestabilities die, to mount the sentiment – also die-cut into a circle with just a touch of Weathered Wood DI blended over the edge. 

So that’s my contribution for this challenge.  Why not hop over to Left Of Center and see what my DT colleagues have made?  Better yet, why not join in the fun and enter the challenge?  I’d love to see what you come up with!

Crafty hugs,

Matchbot!

Hi blog friends!

If you haven't yet found SanDee and amelie's Steampunk Challenge blog, I recommend you hop over there and take a look.  This month's challenge is to make something using matchboxes. I don't use matches very much, but I'm lucky enough to own a Silhouette Cameo and used it to cut four boxes from kraft card.  I was going to cut more, but after four my cutting mat decided that it had run out of sticky and just wouldn't hold the card in place, in spite of being washed and having repositionable adhesive applied (well, it is the one that came with the machine two and a half years ago!).  I gave up and ordered a new mat, and decided that four matchboxes was enough for the time being!

I experimented with ways of combining the boxes and decided to pile them one on top of another and stuck them together - so now I was committed!  Then I hit on the idea of putting wheels on it...then I thought "Robot!"...and Matchbot was born!

I gave some black card a coat of Ferro paint in shades of black and grey.  Once dry, I cut some lengths of  the card to fit the sides and top of the box and embossed them with Cuttlebug folders, and rubbed gilding waxes lightly over the surface to bring out the texture.  I die-cut a pair of ornamental posts while I had the Grand Calibur out and painted them in bronze.

I mounted the boxes on four little (1 inch) wooden wheels, painted black with bronze hubs.  I attached them to the axles with hot glue and added hubcaps made from flattened bead caps.

I covered the drawer fronts with some of the Ferro'd card and some net, which started off as gold but after being dunked in some brown acrylic paint is now a sort of yummy bronzy colour.  The handles are Sam Browne belt fasteners, bought from a well-known auction site.

Matchbot's arms came next.  Where would I be without bendy drinking straws?

And isn't it convenient that the stakes you can get for supporting plants in your garden fit neatly inside them?

A bit of paint (EcoGreen Aged Gold and Bronze) and some Milliput to model the hands and joints and to join the arms to the sides, and Matchbot was ready for duty!

At the moment. he's minding Lady Ermintrude's tatting shuttles (Lady E is a fan of the gentle needle arts), but he's willing to take care of any small trifles entrusted to him.

D is for...

It's downhill all the way to the end of the year now (scary thought) and we're on challenge 16 from the Craft Barn Alpha challenge.  This challenge is brought to you by the letter D, and I've chosen Dance. 

A nice easy one, this - I cut the dancers out of vinyl with my Cameo, and then just stuck them onto a scrap of Dufex (another D-word) .  I chose this image because it looks like a move from an Argentine Tango, which is the dance that we (the Love of My Life and I) have just learned and really enjoy (I do a mean gancho and my ocho's are a sight to behold!) although this particular step always brings on an attack of Waltzheimer's (that's when you can't remember the next steps) on my husband's part and I've nearly incapacitated him on a number of occasions as I step forward between his feet and he doesn't move...

Anyroad, he's survived so far, and so have I.  Thank you for visiting, see you soon!

Crafty Hugs,

Keren

Tims 12 Tags - August

Doesn't time fly?  August already and I'm still keeping up with Tim Holtz's 12 Tags of 2013.

If you've visited this blog in the past you may have noticed that I am Mrs Masking.  The technique features heavily in my projects.  So this month's tag was a doddle, right?  WRONG!  This is attempt three.  Attempts one and two met nasty mishaps and were consigned to the bin.  Masks slipped, stamps blurred, ink went everywhere but where I wanted it...

Confession time.  I had a pack of Tim's masking film in my stash and had completely forgotten about it until now.  I unearthed it and went to work.  The foreground stamp is from La Blanche - although the same image has been used by other manufacturers.  The stamp I've used in the background is also by La Blanche and the balloon is from IndigoBlu.  At this point I decided to step away from the tag before I ruined it!  So that's it.  Thanks for visiting, come again soon!

Crafty Hugs,

Keren

Heavy Metal

Hi blog friends, and welcome.

The challenge at Left Of Center for the coming two weeks is sponsored by Floppy Latte, who have some stunning digital stamps in their range.  Our theme is either Left of Center and/or Metal.

I chose Vintage Bicycle 2 for my contribution this time.  I wanted it to be quite bold so I did a bit of work with image editing software, filling in the frame so that I got a silhouette, then printed it out onto acetate.

When I first saw the Spellbinders 3D M-bossabilities folder I had to have the Creative Cogs one (sad to say, you can sell me almost anything if you stick a few cogs on it) and the first thing I used it on was a piece of copper foil card.  It's been in my box of bits since as I never had anything that it worked with - until now.  I hauled it out and trimmed it. (I had to stick the bit I trimmed off the long side under the short edge so that it fit the card).  It was too bright and new-looking, but a bit of work with some Gilder's Paste in rich gold, black and patina soon sorted that out.  Finally,I attached the acetate with these rather cute screw-head brads from Creative Expressions.

I hope you like it!  Please take a minute to pop over to LOC and see what my very talented team-mates have come up with to inspire you.

Thank you for your visit - come again soon, won't you?

Crafty Hugs,

Keren

A Floral Clock

Hello everyone, welcome to my blog!

If you've been here before, you may know how I love starting with a plain piece of paper or card and making it into something else, and so when I saw the Susan's Garden dies I had to get them...the daffodil came first (as a loyal Welshwoman - it's our national flower) and then the Pansy and Violets.  I've always adored violets;  they used to grow on the mountain above my home when I was a child and I found the colour so beautiful. 

This is the first violet I made with the Susan's Garden die.  I started with white paper and coloured it with Promarkers then die cut the violet and the ivy leaves (another set from Susan that followed me home).   There are some really clear instructions on how to put the flowers together on YouTube, which I followed - and I would recommend getting the toolkit that goes with the dies if you can, they really do make the job easier.  I stuck the leaves to some strands of fine florists' wire  (Cosmic Shimmer glue did the job nicely!)

I bought a very inexpensive alarm clock (£2) from the Works and removed the workings (which are being reserved for another project) and stuck a circle of  "weathered wood" to make a backing, then arranged my violet and leaves. 

When I took the snap, I didn't realise that the words "Time Flies" on the clock behind would be so visible...I wish I could say I'd planned it!

I'm entering this in the "Just for Fun" challenge.  It's a brand new challenge so please hop over there and take a look - and the theme is "Anything Goes" so why not join in?

Crafty Hugs,

Keren

Mad as a Box of Cogs!

Here I am, sliding in to the Haunted Design House  Macabre Monday Challenge just as they close the doors... 

It's Chunky ATC time, and I have to admit it's something I've never tried before.  For other CATC newbies, the idea is that your ATC is normal size (2.5 by 3.5 inches) but is 1.5 inches thick.  It can be a solid chunk of wood, layers of card or other surface, or an open box, and it's the open box format I've used. 

I made my ATC from chipboard that I'd applied a weathered wood technique (learned from Andy Skinner's Timeworn Techniques workshop).  ATC's, even chunky ones, are great for using up scraps left over from other projects.  The outside of the box I covered with some black card that I'd coated with Viva Ferro paints, again left over from another item. 

 

The gears are textured with my favourite mix of PVA and sand (living within sight of the beach has its advantages!), painted with acrylic, and with gilding wax lightly rubbed over the surface - again, extras from another project - there's a theme developing here.  The little skull is a from a plastic Hallowe'en skeleton, again gives some antiquing with acrylic paint (Andy Skinner again!)  and the roses were made from paper clay using a mould I made from a bead - and yes, I did make them for something else and then never used them. 

And there, at the 11th hour, is my entry.  Hope you like it.  Thanks for visiting - please call again!

Crafty Hugs,

Keren