If I only had wings...

I don't know, where does the time go?  Almost the end of October already, and here I am only just making the deadline for SanDee and amelie's Steampunk blog challenge.
This time it's aTic-Tac-Toe grid.

 and I've gone with Metal, Wings, and Braid or Ribbon to create a necklace for Lady Ermintrude.

I enjoy kumihimo braiding, and made the cord myself -for those who are interested,  it's an 8-strand cord made with 1mm rattail thread (it's not that easy to find 1mm rattail!)  The square pendant is a Media Mixage bezel, the background is done with Pebeo Vitrail and Fantasy paints like this;  once they were dry, the gear was added and then the whole thing covered in Gedeo crystal resin (I like this resin as it doesn't smell, but it does take a good 24 hours to set properly)  The angel wing charm I found on a well-known auction site .  Altogether, I think Lady E will enjoy wearing this piece when she goes for a jaunt in Major Thomas's Dirigible, don't you?

Thanks for visiting,

Crafty Hugs,

Keren

Words of wisdom

Hello blog friends.  At Quoth the Raven they're asking for projects that reference quotations this month, which, as I have a - quirky- sense of humour, could be dangerous. I'm still on the old kinetic card kick, so it's another twofer...

So here we have a Rick St Denis digi of the Master, printed out and mounted onto some Halloweeny-orange card...

Pull a tab and...

The message reads " It's being so cheerful as keeps me going", which is a quote from a character called Mona Lott in a radio programme called ITMA.  I am not old enough to remember it, despite my ex's insistence that when I went to school the lessons were in Latin (and he wonders why he's my ex!)
but my mother was fond of quoting it when she came across a particularly miserable person.
Here's a closeup of the sentiment -

 

The instructions for this one came from a book called Interactive Cards and I'd recommend trying to get hold of the book as it was a bit tricky to get my head around this one.

I'm also entering this into the
Artful Times Blog challenge - Spooktacular

Anyway, I hope you like it!  Thanks for stopping by!

Crafty hugs,

Keren

Crow and Poe

Hello blog friends!  Well, after weeks of next to nothing, this week it's all happening.  I blame Mr Holtz - I was having so much fun with Creative Chemistry 102 that the ol' blog got a bit neglected.  But I have not been idle, oh no no no!  And it's my turn to run the Left of Center challenge, which this time is sponsored by Rick St Denis and has a Creepy/Spooky theme.

It's a twofer this time.  I'm on a kinetic card kick right now and this is a "Dissolving image" card -

First a crow (all right, it's a raven!)

 And then it's Poe!

This is a tricky one to make.  It's important to get the pieces in the right orientation or it will almost work but not quite!  (Guess how I know?  I'd practice a bit first if I were you!)   I've done aYouTube video of how to make this (which I could do with updating) and if you would like templates they can be found here.

The frame is covered with spiderweb netting, painted black and drybrushed white (I've done this before but I am very proud of myself for thinking of it - someone else may have done it first but if so I didn't know about it so I'm giving myself the credit!).  To tone down the bright white card I put a piece of acetate into the aperture and dabbed on some Lake Mist alcohol ink just to give it an aged look (sorry about the flash flare on Mr Poe)

Anyway, please hop over to LOC and see what the DT have been up to...and how about joining in?  If you don't like the theme you can still enter the challenge as long as your project is "Left of Centre" - creepy, horror, anime, steampunk, goth and so on.  We would LOVE to see your work!

Crafty Hugs,

Keren

Tim's 12 Tags - October

Hi blog friends, thanks for visiting! 

It's October and so far I've managed to keep up with Tim Holtz's Twelve Tags of 2013 - amazing!  I'm beginning to hope that I can finish the year...I've been looking forward to this one - Halloween is always so much fun!  

As usual, I've stayed fairly close to Tim's recipe.  This is my first play with Distress Glitter and have to say, I'm pretty impressed.  It's not quite so all-pervasive as the usual kind somehow.  The cat and moon are cut using a Sizzix die, the background stamps are from Tim's range, and the message is an old All-Night Media stamp..but see what it's stamped on?  Yes, vellum, and it dried within a few minutes because I used Surfacez ink!  Impressed?

Crafty hugs,

Keren

Anything goes at IkesWorld

Hi folks, we're halfway through Challenge 3 at IkesWorld Challenge Blog and it's time for Team B to strut our stuff.

I've chosen to use Snowdrops again - I like this digi just SOOOO much.  I've said before that one of the beauties of digital stamps is that they can be any size and I've printed this out on acetate at teeny-tiny size.

I've used an Epiphany frame which conveniently comes with the right-sized epoxy sticker to cover it.  I don't have the Epiphany punch  - it would have been a lot easier if I had! - so I used the epoxy as a template by sticking it to the acetate, sticking the acetate to double-sided adhesive sheet, then sticking it to a scrap of glitter card and then cutting it out with scissors.  I adhered the whole thing to the frame with a bit of Cosmic Shimmer glue (that is a good glue!)

I added a pearl bead to make a bail and voila, a pendant!  Here's a second pic to give you a better idea of the scale -

If you haven't already, hop on over to IkesWorld Challenge blog and see what the rest of Team B have been up to - and also what Team A have created.

Crafty Hugs,

Keren

L is for...

The 21st letter in the Craft Barn Alpha Challenge is "L" and I've chosen "Leaf" for my little ATC.  The project has to feature a window, so I made a little window envelope for it -

And here it is in the nude...

I haven't played with Paint Fusion for a while so I decided it was about time I did.  The image is a bramble leaf from one of Sheena's Paint Fusion sets, which I overstamped and embossed with gold powder after I'd done the painting.  I also added in some swirls and dipped the edges of the ATC in gold powder before I blended Wild Honey and Tea Dye over the card.  Simples!

Crafty hugs,

Keren

Halloween Tag

Good day blog friends, thank you for visiting.
Halloween is on the horizon, and everything's coming up spooky!  I’ve had an idea buzzing around in my head for a while and thought now would be a good time to try it out.  I began by gluing a piece of Spiderweb net down onto my tag.  

I happened to have black net,  but it could be any colour as the next thing I did was to paint it with black acrylic, then dry-brush it to highlight the texture (I used orange first and then just a touch of white).  I must tell you that I liked the effect a lot so you’ll probably be seeing it again.

I cut the cobweb border (a Tim Holtz die – love, love, love it!) from Bazzil Bling card and the pumpkin tendrils and leaves (Sizzlits dies) from Core’dinations Distress card.  I drew a face on one of the pumpkins and edged them all with a bit of Brushed Corduroy Distress ink.The little postcard is from Graphic 45’s Steampunk Spells 8x8 pad (it’s OK, I bought two so that I could bear to use one of them!)  I love that Toulouse Lautrec Black Cat image!
I'm entering this in the Our Creative Corner challenge – It’s Halloween – Let’s Tag it On!   (The tag must have a surface texture treatment )

LOC - Halloween, Orange and Black

Hello blog friends and welcome!  It's time for a new challenge over at Left of Center and this time we're getting ready for Halloween with our sponsors, Limited Run Digis, and a colour theme of orange and black.

Halloween is a truly LOC festival and is much bigger here in the UK than when I was growing up, when Guy Fawkes Night was the event we all looked forward to, and I do so enjoy the fun these days - and with fun in mind, I've created this card.

I used the Alterations Rickety House die, and couldn't resist asking "who lives in a house like this?" Just a minute, though - where's the digi? Aha, this is not just a card.  This is a "waving flag" card.  When you pull the edges apart, lo and behold, up pops "the Count"!

 He was coloured in with alcohol markers and cut out with the Cameo - although there are no fiddly bits to this digi so it would be easy enough to cut by hand.  I just like having an excuse to use the Cammie!

If you would like instructions on how to make this kind of card (which is really easy) I've put them here.

To see what the rest of the DT have been up to and join in the fun, why not hop over to LOC?  We'd love to see your creations!

This is being entered into
Country View Crafts challenge - Something Spooky
Paper Crafting Journey - Halloween colours

J is for...

We’ve reached letter J in the Craft Barn Blog Alpha Challenge.  I’ve chosen “Japanese” for my little ATC this time.  

It’s a very straightforward piece, being just the image stamped with permanent ink onto my favourite Centura Pearl card and coloured with Promarkers.    But – just a minute – did I say Permanent ink and Promarkers in the same breath?  Well, yes I did.  I used a new ink called Sufacez, which is permanent, dries on all sorts of difficult materials, and can be used with alcohol markers.  (It comes in all sorts of yummy colours as well – but I was only able to get black and brown)  Good, eh? 

Crafty hugs, 

Keren

Ikesworld Challenge - Awareness

Hello, blog friends, thank you for visiting.

  The more observant among you may have noticed that this blog is sporting a rather natty new DT badge, for the Ikesworld Chalenge Blog.  Ike, who designs excellent digital stamps has recruited two teams for a three-month tour of duty and I am honoured to be a member.

The theme for this month is "Awareness".  October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, and many of us will know someone who has suffered from this awful disease.  Through continuing research, the outlook for many sufferers these days is more hopeful provided the diagnosis is early enough, but too many women still die too young.

The digi is available for free from Ike for the duration of the challenge.  I coloured it digitally (I used Photoshop) and printed it onto inkjet acetate and backed it with Centura Pearl card.  This time I took care to keep it away from the cat, who has a thing about licking plastic - the last time I left a printed piece lying around she washed it for me...

I embossed another bit of Centura Pearl using the "Tied Together"  Couture Creations folder, cut the aperture with a Go Kreate die and painted it with acrylic paint in a pale pink.  Once it was dry I went over it with a wash of pale pink with a bit of pastel green mixed in.  While it was drying, I coloured some copy paper by spraying it with water then splatting (technical term) Distress Stains all over it, spraying mica spritzers onto it and then scrunching it up into a ball while still wet and then opening it out VERY carefully to dry.  I did one in pinks and one in greens.

By now the embossed card was dry (with a bit of help from the heat gun) so I drybrushed it in white to accentuate the highlights and gave it a couple of coats of Klear floor polish -  now known as Pledge Multi-surface wax.  This gives it a lovely satin sheen.  I threw a bit of mica powder into the top coat as while I was at it.   (One of these days some bright craft product manufacturer is going to wake up to how useful this stuff is, call it a posh name and sell it in small bottles at £5.99 a throw.  Fortunately, nobody has so far!)

Back to the coloured paper now, I finished off the drying process by ironing the paper and then die-cut multiple layers of my favourite flower and foliage Spellbinders dies (I folded the paper twice and the dies coped very well with the layers of paper).  While I was at it, I cut four ornate corner pieces (Marianne's dies) out of glitter paper.  I made the flowers by my favourite method.

After that it was just a matter of assembling the whole thing.

If you haven't already done so, why not hop over to Ike's World and see what my teamies have created - and  how about joining in? If you use the free digi or another of Ike's images you're in with a chance of winning a $15 prize certificate, which can't be  bad!  

Also entering this in 

 Designed To Color- Use a Die

Tuesday Throwdown - Awareness

Crafty hugs,

Keren

3D Halloween

You might not have noticed but at the end of this month it's Halloween.  Amazing how that's crept up on us, isn't it?    At Haunted Design House the challenge is to make something dimensional for Halloween.  Now, I'm beginning to suspect that I was warped in childhood by walking to and from school through a cemetery.  Seriously.  The secondary school I attended was situated between a churchyard on one side and a cemetery and crematorium on the other.  We always said that the neighbours never complained about the noise.  Come to think of it, my bedroom window looked out over the cemetery...and my office is next to a cemetery as well (not the same one) - a pattern is developing here!  Anyway, I wanted to make something that reminded me of the monuments I walked past every day on my way to school.

When I saw the corked vials from Tim Holtz, they reminded me of the domes that Victorians used to cover displays of wax flowers and so on.  Tim's  were too small for what I had in mind so I went hunting on my favourite auction site for jumbo test tubes and cork stoppers.  While I waited for them to be delivered I painted a cotton reel (previously covered in matte sealer) with Viva Terra paint, tinted with a bit of black acrylic.

I made some tiny lilies and ivy leaves with the Susan Tierney Cockburn dies, found a little skull bead which I'd antiqued with acrylic paints (a technique learned from Andy Skinner).  It all went together with some hot glue (for a quick bond) backed up with some glue gel (for a longer-lasting adhesive).  A bit of Flower Soft around the base of the "pillar" and there we are!  Happy Halloween folks!

Crafty Hugs,

Keren

WOYWW-2 October

Crikey, is it Wednesday again already?  Time for WOYWW, and a quick tour around the blogiverse to see what everyone's up to.  Now, if you're of a nervous disposition, you might want to avert your eyes, because my workdesk today is....

(Pause for dramatic music) DAH-DAH DAAAAH!

THE IRONING BOARD!

Be reassured, gentle blog friend;  I am still crafting, although with fabric and thread rather than my usual ink-or paintiness.  I have mentioned before that Steampunk costumes are in the offing and what you can seen there (along with my vintage and very precious dry iron, which is about 40 years old and still going strong , and the handles of my shears) is the seam of a skirt about to be pressed open.  Feel better now?

Anyway, I'm off to do some visiting before going back to slaving over the sewing machine.  Have a great day, won't you?

Crafty Hugs,

Keren