A Sweet Pea Anything

So the latest theme is anything. And my contribution works for two challenges this time. I made this for a good friend of mine who went back to Australia a couple of weeks ago and have been waiting for the perfect opportunity to blog it. I decoupatched the "naked" book and added one of my favourite Sweet Pea Designs and some fibres and a beautiful quote.

I only found Sweet Pea Stamps this year and they always inspire me to make something so I am so glad I found them!

This works for:

Sweet Pea Stampers

In a Sweet Pea Dream

Back

And this is the "naked" journal :)

Sketch Challenge

Well with my sisters birthday coming up I decided to make this card to fit the Sweet Pea Stampers Sketch challenge. I seem to still be addicted to these stamps and the challenge - which is fine by me :)

Brads and Bows

Been feeling under the weather - hideous head cold and now an annoying cough is plaguing me. But decided to make this card today for the Sweet Pea Stampers Challenge - bows and brads. Thought I could cope with that in between coughing like a mad thing.

Being the month of October I decided to do something a little spooky, but only a little. The background paper is edged with the top of a tree stamp and gives it a great effect. The wording is from Tim Holtz, some flowers, ribbons, brads and beads and job done.

Charmed I'm Sure

This week, the theme at Sweet Pea Stampers is "Charmed I'm Sure" whereby you had to use charns on your work. I hadn't intended on making anything this morning as may plan was to tidy my craft room ready to go to the Artisan show tomorrow. But tidying vs crafting - guess what won.

I used a white chipboard tag and painted it with Ranger Paint Dabbers. Once dry I stamped the swirls in black then added the white specs with another paint dabber. Added a couple of Tim Holtz grunge shapes painted with black crackle paint, some flowers and naturally a gorgeous sweet pea image. Then finished the tag off with the gem and enamelled butterfly charms at the bottom.

Crafty Storage Dilemma

I have been meaning to blog this for a while but life got in the way. A couple of months ago, I had some work done on my house by a builder friend of mine, and whilst he was painting one day, i stopped him to show him my storage dilemma. For those of you who have followed my craft room posts I converted this old brown manky wardrobe into a craft storage area - which was great with one big BUT... you can always guarantee the box I want is the one on the bottom.

A quick chat with my builder friend, a trip to homebase and a few hours later this was the end result - before and after pictures below. I am much happier now!

Swirls and Flourishes

The theme this week for Sweet Pea Stampers is Swirls and Flourishes. So i decided to use one of my new SP stamps for this week.

The flourish stamp I used is by Autumn Leaves ( and then I used stickles over the top) The figure 8 border is by Martha Stewart. A little card candy, some prima flowers and nestabilities and the card is complete.

Anything Goes!

This week the theme at Sweet Pea Stampers is Anything Goes. So I decided to use my favourite colour. I also added a little flower to her forehead which I think looks sweet. Thanks for stopping by.

Black White and Blue

Hello, boy it's been a while eh? I've been busy working on a non-craft related project. Anyhow, the theme this week at Sweet Pea Stampers is Black, White and one other colour. I had not planned on entering this week but I needed a break so made this card. Luckily I already had the image coloured with copics.

I put the white card through the cuttlebug embossing folder, then blended weathered wood and stormy sky distress inks over the top. I added some blue gem brads, black grosgrain ribbon, a butterfly and a button and hey presto!

I love this image - it is so peaceful.

Imagine

I feel honoured and privaleged to be the guest designer this week for Sweet Pea Stampers .

The theme is Earth Wind and Fire. I've had these jigsaw pieces for ages and never opened the packet - well now I have. So here are the key ingredients for my entry for Sweet Pea Stampers this week - apart from my copics (inlcuding one of my new stamps from Crafts and Me).

NB - update to this post. I have been contacted to find out where I got the Jigsaws from - they were from Lakeland and they no longer sell craft items, but google pointed me in the direction of Handy Hippo - so you can buy them from there.

And this is what I made!

Strawberry Watch

I've created a monster! A monster obsessed with Alpine Strawberries! I have a little pot containing some strawberry plants and they began to get ripe last weekend. They are little alpine ones and look like this... teeny small - just like my dog!

So I picked the first one and a little face appeared - so stupid me - I shared it with her... Now she is on strawberry watch!

Every time I let her in the garden she heads straight for the strawberries and just sits there - waiting to see if there is a ripe one for her. My bad!

Happy Father's Day

I am a bit behind at the moment as I am doing some pre-study for a 3-day intensive course I am starting on Monday but I am having lunch with my Dad tomorrow so made this card. Wish I had more time to make something better.

He has been so great this past year. After I was burgled he paid for all new locks on all the doors and windows of my house, external security lights and a house alarm... all so I could feel safe again.

So this Father's Day I have a lot to thank him for.

Happy Father's Day!

Sweet Pea Stampers - Sketch

The theme this week for Sweet Pea Stampers is a sketch - as per below. Luckily I had some images stamped and coloured ready for use.

I have used the following:
Sweet Pea Stamp - Spring Spread
Tim Holtz Papers - Vintage Shabby
Prima Flowers (leaves from Marianne Design dies)
Card Candy
Grosgrain ribbon
Oval and scalloped Nestabilities.

These are not usually colours I do but I like it.

Aqua and Brown

The theme this week at Sweet Pea Stampers is Aqua and Brown. so here is my creation :) The paper I used are from my scraps box so I have no idea where they came from. The dragonflies are Jolees Boutique and the flowers are Prima. I used a Ribbon die by Marianne Designs and some brown grosgrain ribbon - I had planned to use cork but I couldn't find it in my messy craft room!

Nestabilities Storage

I am forever getting into a mess with my nesties all over the place, so today I made a storage solution for them (not a new idea but this is what I did). I bought a black chipboard album from Artist Trading Post for £5.95.
There are 6 sheets of black chipboard along with 3 book rings. So it allows you to make 12 pages in total. I then bought some self adhesive magnetic sheets from eBay and cut them to size for the pages (except for the front and back pages) and stuck them onto the chipboard sheets. This is where the nesties now live - with the description of them hand written with an Inkssentials opaque white pen

I then chose some lovely basic grey papers for the front and back of the book and cut them to size.

I then used versafine ink in sepia green to add Tim Holtz scratches, dab on some sequin waste and stamp the word inspire onto the front page. Shock horror that a Sweet Pea stamp (which you can get from Crafts and Me) is the main focal point - and obviously I had to use nesties to cut her out and layer - finished off with a fabric flower and brad.

And as I have a brain like a sieve and can never remember the cutting and embossing sandwich instructions, I decided to put these onto the back of the book - with the background paper stamped once again with Tim Holtz stamps and maintain the butterfly theme on the back.

Simple as that!

A Sprinkling of Fairy Dust!

This is the first time I have entered the Sweet Pea Stampers challenge, but as I appear to be addicted to these stamps, I decided to have a go. The theme is a sprinkling of fairy dust. I coloured her in using my copic ciaos, added crystal stickles to the end of the wings and flowers and ran a sakura pen through strands of her hair for additional shimmer. Because she turned out so lovely I wanted to keep the card simple, so added some lilac daisies, a little phrase and edged the card with distress ink.

Commissioned Cards

This past week I have been asked to make a couple of cards so here they are. The first one is a 21st Birthday card and the second is a Baby Dedication card.


I love Sugar Nellie Stamps and this is one of my new ones. I have also used some gorgeous paper roses that I got from Crafts and Me.

I don't have any baby stamps so the image is from the baby love CD by Joanna Sheen. in both cards the ribbon dies are by Marianne Designs

Sweet Pea DPOV

Well.... Life has not been easy of late. I have a dog that should be a cat - she has used at least 4 lives now... anyway. I got some lovely new stamps from sweet pea. and as the weather was lovely I spent time in the garden with my pups appreciating time with them. I bought 5 stamps from sweet pea (which is my favourite flower by the way) and as you are limited for what you can do in the garden, I stamped some images of one of them and took them into my garden with my copic ciaos and coloured them in... and tonight I finished them off. The blue one is my favourite..

Bits and Pieces

Yes I have been crafting lately, just not been finding the time to blog! So here are a few bits and pieces. This is the card I made my mum for Mother's Day.


This ATC I made and sent to a friend in Switzerland

And I made 5 of these bookmarks today with some new stuff that arrived in the post :)

Amazing Inspiration

So my poor blog has been neglected lately for a different type of altered art - home improvements on my basement and dining room. This past weekend however I was fortunate to attend the trade show at the NEC. Whilst there I was so inspired by Tim Holtz, Claudine Hellmuth and Suze Weinberg that I have a feeling it will not be neglected for much longer!

My First 2010 Creation

Happy New Year everyone! 2009 was not one of the best years for me, so 2010 is going to be brilliant!

And here if my first creation of the new decade. A friend asked me to make a 75th Birthday Card for her Dad with a wine theme.

The image was stamped and embossed in gold and coloured with Copic Ciao pens. I aged the card with distress ink pads, and embellished with some papers and 3D stickers.

It also has a matching insert :)