Lest We Forget

In the US and Canada, November is the month of Thanksgiving, but here in the UK it's the month of Remembrance - first we remember the Gunpowder Plot with fireworks and bonfires (which were originally lit to celebrate the Celtic New Year and the final harvest of the year at Samhain), but mainly we take time to remember those who died fighting to protect their homelands. 

Both my grandfathers fought in the First World War.  My father served in the RAF in the Second World War - he was a mechanic who kept Spitfires flying.  Happily, they came back home again, but many didn't; my great-aunt's first husband was killed in France.  So my take on Tim Holtz's tag for November features poppies.

"The poppy is an instantly recognisable symbol of respect for those who've made the ultimate sacrifice in conflicts past and present. As the nation's custodian of Remembrance, the Legion is committed to helping everyone understand the importance of Remembrance, so those sacrifices are never forgotten." Royal British Legion

 

The poppy stamps are from Sheena Douglass's Paint Fusion range, stamped in Versamark, then embossed with detail embossing powder before masking them off and stamping in the leaves.  The "Remember" stamp I made with my Imagepac kit .  I had to adapt Tim's method a bit - I used DI pads instead of Distress Stains as I wanted to control where the colours went - I'm hoping the Craft Police won't be paying me a visit as a result.  After I'd taken the embossing powder off,  I stamped the "Remember" again in black archival ink and added the poppy stamens in black marker.

I'm going to be observing the two minutes silence at 11 a.m. on Sunday and I'll be thinking of the men and women who fell in action, defending their country.  Please consider joining me.

Thank you for visiting.

Nautical but Nice!

I live beside the sea - from my living room window I can see the Bristol Channel, a few hundred yards away.  The last part of my journey home from work parallells the beach, and I always feel refreshed ti see it.  So perhaps it isn't surprising that the seaside is an influence in my crafting.

This is the frame that was on my desk on Wednesday,  given a coat of gilder's paste in Rich Gold, some Timeworn aging and some more gilder's paste in Patina.

 

I filled each "porthole" with a piece of Core'dinations whitewash card, embossed with a swirly folder and lightly sanded back.  The embellishments are moulded out of paper clay and were part of my final assemblage item for the Timeworn Techniques course.  They have been painted in acrylic paint to get a faux ivory appearance (you'll have to sign up for the course to find out how - I'm not going to reveal Andy Skinner's secrets!).  The idea of using Pledge Multi-Surface Wax (formerly known as Klear polish) as a sealer/polish on the embellies is entirely my own, though, so I can share it with you.  It gives a lovely soft sheen, I just love it.

 

I'm so enjoying my few days leave, relaxing and catching up on my crafting.  I do hope you enjoyed visiting my blog - thanks for stopping by, hope to see you again soon!

WOYWW- 7 November

For once I'm not rushing my contribution to WOYWW in between coming home from work and rushing out the door to my dance class (it's Samba and Foxtrot at the moment, two flippin' hard dances, and not helped by the fact that the Love of My Life loathes Samba with a passion!). 
I'm halfway through a week off work.  Next week I will be taking a challenging course, so right now I'm relaxing and making the most of the crafting time!

Yesterday's contribution was a pretty blue card;  today normal service is resumed and the grunge is making a comeback.

Thes little papier mache frames will be given the timeworn treatment eventually, but at the moment the flatback pearl "rivets" are drying.  Once they are dry I will roughen them up with some sandpaper so that the next layer will stick to them - I may even give them a coat of a medium of some sort as I am probably going to cover them with gilder's paste.  I'm aiming for a "porthole of a ship" effect this time.

Now I'm off to post this, link to Julia's blog, and go whizzing around the blogiverse visiting other peoples' workdesks.  See you soon!

Singin' the Blues

I've always crafted - needlecraft mainly.    Like so many crafters, I came to papercrafting through cardmaking.  (It started when I went to buy a greetings card, saw a "hand-made" card I liked - then saw the price - and said "I can do that!" and a habit was formed). It suddenly occurred to me that I haven't made a card for - well, months.  Not that I'm likely to run out of greetings cards any time soon - I have a large box full of cards I've made - but I thought it was about time I got back to my roots for Sunday Stampers this week.
Hels has chosen "blue" for the theme this week, and here's my blue card.

 

Delicate and pretty isn't my usual style, so I don't know what came over me here!

I began with a shaped card which I turned into an easel card with the help of a Go Kreate fancy label die.  ( In case you haven't seen how to cut part of an aperture into a card, here's my way of doing it)

For the embossing on  the dark blue panel, I inked up a rubber stamp with silver Brilliance ink (Platinum Planet, do be precise) and put it face-up on the craft table, then put the velvet paper face down on top of the stamp and pressed it with a hot iron. If you've never done this, it can be a bit scary, but I am assured that rubber stamps can take very high temperatures.  Don't try it with clear "jelly  acrylic stamps though, as you will wreck the stamp. (Fortunately, the stamp I killed that way wasn't one I particularly liked!)

This little ballet dancer die from Marianne is one of my favourites.  I've cut her out of silver foil card and the three roses are cut from copy paper that I've coloured with Starburst Stains - you can see them a bit better in the close-up.  

 The sentiment is a digital stamp from Pink Petticoat and the label die is from Spellbinders;  the pearl pin is by Creative Expressions and the polka-dotted card is from Hunkydory. 

Hope you like it, and thanks for stopping by!

(Don't worry, the grunge will be back soon!)

Black in style!

I have a week off work, which means I can get caught up with my crafting (I pour scorn on the suggestion that I could get caught up with the housework instead!).  I do like to enter blog challenges when I have the time - they make me try things I wouldn't usually attempt. 

 

The challenge over at the Anything But A Card challenge blog is to make something that features black.  So I'm hoping that this tag qualifies!

 

 

 

 

 

The background I embossed with an embossing folder then stippled some black acrylic all over to get a rusty texture, then employed some of Andy Skinner's Timeworn Techniques to make it all aged and grungy looking. I couldn't resist a bit of "decayed rust" along the bottom of the tag . 

The roses I made from velvet paper.  I LOVE velvet paper and I really like the texture it gives to the flowers.  The petals are die cut using the Spellbinders Rose Creations dies and my favourite method (see here for how-to's)  The leaves were cut from some Kraft glassine "gilded" as shown in TIm Holtz's Compendium of Curiosities Volume II. 

The gears I die-cut (using the Gadget Gears die from the Sizzix Alterations range - has to be one of my favourite dies!) from scrap greyboard before getting the timeworn treatment.

The whole thing came out looking a bit Gothic to me - what do you think?

I never drink...wine...

Ah, Hammer films!  Memories of going to the pictures in the 70's with the latest boyfriend, going to see such gems as The Abominable Doctor Phibes or The Devil Rides Out - burying your face in his jacket at the scary bits!  (On reflection, this may be the reason our boyfriends were so keen to take us to see the films in the first place).  The king of Hammer has to be Christopher Lee's Dracula, so that was what I wanted to feature in my challenge piece for Haunted Design House

 

So here he is, ol' red-eyes himself, stamped and masked while I built up the background with red inks - Adirondack Red Pepper, Distress Fired Brick and Barn Door.   I added some hits of red to eyes and fangs with a cut and dry nib.  And I couldn't resist adding in the words (printed onto Safmat) - it's my idea of funny.  You'll just have to get used to it, I'm afraid!



 

Update - I made the Gruesome Twosome!  Whoo-hoo!

Compendium Of Curiosites II - Challenge 26

Two-for-one again.  The challenge set by Linda Ledbetter this week (sponsored by the Funkie Junkie) was to create something using the Crumpled Kraft Suede technique in Tim Holtz's Compendium of Curiosities Volume II, and Hels Sheridan's Sunday Stampers challenge was to make something Autumn related, so that worked out well!


The leaves (cut with Sizzix mini Tattered Leaves dies) and the tag were both treated to the Kraft Suede technique;  the leaves also got a bit of bling by way of some Perfect  brushed on.  The words were stamped with some of the 99p-a-set alphabet stamps I picked up - all so simple, but I hope you like it!