Mint Tin Swap

At our last local Stamp Club meet-up, we swapped altered mint tins - tiny tins they were so it was quite a challenge.
The theme to follow was 'Wings'.....a great excuse for my favourite subject for art which is angels.
I used a test pot of housepaint which more or less matched the base of the tin - a turquoise colour and also used Distress Crackle in Weathered Wood.

The shrink plastic wings are made using  Invoke Arts wing stamps and the cherub stamp is by Just For Fun. I also used a Paper Artsy mini of medieval calligraphy and the 'believe' word comes from an Inkadinkado polymer Inchies set.

Around the edge of the tin I stamped a Kelly Panacci border stamp....

Yes, it's mis-stamped in places but I actually like a bit of inaccurate stamping for this sort of thing. Helps to give it an aged look!

I even painted the base of the tin, first with gesso and then roughly went over this with a brushful of Pearl Dabber paint. This I stamped on with an Invoke Arts ATC background stamp and picked out some detail with a  Sakura Stardust pen.

....and, on the inside, I used a bit of Paper Artsy Christmas paper ( I love this set of papers so much!) on which I handwrote the angel sentiment, adding some accent beads around the edges and three pearl dots made with a Pearl Pen by Viva Decor.








My swap was this fabulous ticket tin - which even had some tickets inside for me to use, made by Jacqui.....

I love the way Jacqui has layered all the ticket stamps over each other and the whole thing has a heavily lacquered look, like an old suitcase. Beautiful !
I photographed it in my hand to show just how small these mint tins were.
This is the base of her tin....

Here are the little tickets I found inside...

I've been looking at some wonderful art journaling pages and blogs for some time now and am really intching to have a go myself. So I'm on the lookout for a good blank book to get me started. I hope it won't be too long before you can see my frst attempts on here. Bye for now!

Cardmaking Paradise domino swap

I recently joined in an altered domino swap on Cardmaking Paradise craft forum. I haven't  altered a domino in years and really enjoyed making mine. I chose a big chunky one from my stash and made it into a pendant, also decorating a box for it to go in and making a card for whoever was the recipient.

The stamp I used is one of my absolute favourites that I've had for some years now. It stamps with such minute detail and is from Third Coast Stamps. I stamped her in Stazon and then coloured bits in using mini Sharpie markers that I bought in a stationery store.

I used some French text from a paperback book for part of my background and painted over with a test pot of Craig & Rose 'Opulence' paint in Sapphire. It has a gorgeous lustre. I also added a sentiment stamp around one side saying 'Reach For The Stars' which I got from Crafty Individuals and adhered some odd little scraps of leafing foil randomly. 
Then it was time to sit back and wait for the deadline and then for my swap to arrive in the mail.
I was thrilled to open my domino - or two dominos actually! - which were the covers of a gorgeous mini book. Most beautifully made by Maggie - thanks so much for it, Maggie...I really LOVE it!!!

Bear in mind that these dominos that make the front and back cover of the book measure a mere inch and a half by three quarters of an inch! I love the sky background and it has gorgeous gold edges which you can just about see in my photo. A real work of art!

Maggie couldn't have chosen a better subject matter for me as I really love birds. Coincidentally Maggie recently sent me a beautiful birthday card which goes perfectly with this little book. Which reminds me....I haven't yet posted photos of my lovely cards from all my crafting friends. Watch this space....

Sunday at Beachy Head

We went for a brisk walk along the seafront at Eastbourne on Sunday and then up to Beachy Head where I took some photos of a dramatic sky. The sun was shining in just the right place to catch the white cliffs and I have some quite stunning shots, though I say so myself...LOL !!

That's me on the right in the silly but lovely and warm hat and that's my friend Penny with me who was visiting us for the day.
After this we had a fabulous late lunch at the Plough and Harrow, Litlington....I would highly recommend it if you live in the Sussex area!

Crafty Individuals Card

This is a card I made recently for one of our Stamp Club members for her birthday. I used the Crafty Individuals set CI - 287 - such a lovely bird set which I love!
It was quite simply stamped in Indian Ink on an alcohol inked piece of glossy card. The embellishment is made with black UTEE on a small square piece of Stampbord which I stamped into with one of the Inkadinkado bird inchies to which I added some tiny tube beads.
I really love the stamp I used on the envelope with the birds perched on wire (part of that same set). As I needed to stamp it twice, I drew a little post to connect the two.

As is my usual habit - here are some details.....

I tried hard to get a good shot of the UTEE piece but it's not that clear....hope you can make out what it is!!??

And finally....the completed tree!

TA-DA!!! Yes, you can finally see the painted tree in its finished state since it's now been sent to its new home. It's a gift for the owner of Cardmaking Paradise - such a lovely lady who works so hard and gives all of us involved with the magazine and forum such inspiration and also created a really lively community online. We even meet up now once a year in the flesh, those of us who can, at the Craft Barn Extravaganza in Lingfield, Surrey.
So this was for Sara and here are some photos of it......

And here, some details in close-up....

The bird was painted with black acrylic paint, stamped with swirls using Brilliance Lightning Black ink and then the whole bird covered in several layers of Diamond Glaze.
I painted the leaves using Deco Art Precious Metal Colours and stamped the trunk of the tree with an Elusive Images alphabet stamp.
On the stand, I used a Crafters Workshop Numbers Collage mask and Brilliance inks and acrylic paints, sealed with an old varnish which went wonderfully brown and aged-looking in places....one of those happy accidents!

At the base of the tree, I stamped a Kelly Panacci border stamp onto tissue paper and adhered it to the trunk with Mod Podge.

I hope Sara will find this a useful as well as decorative gift and wonder what she'll decide to use it for....what will finish up hanging from its branches???

Catch up time again...

I'm pleased to say that I'm beginning to find time to play again and do some creating so I thought it was high time I get my blog up to date.
So, first I have to go back to pre Christmas, when I did a swap challenge with my friend Stephany in the USA. We decorated a mini canvas and easel.
Here is the lovely and versatile one that Steph sent me - you see she decorated both sides....wish I had thought of that! So I can display it all year round!

These photos are really bad as it's so dark today.....kept meaning to take photos on sunny days but today, I didn't want to wait any longer so this is the best I could do.

Here is a close up of one of the heat embossed corners - so rich and opulent!

And this is a closer look at the non-Christmas side of the canvas in all its gorgeous glory!!!

I hesitate to add pictures of my canvas now but here it is... I should add the challenge was that we each sent a stamp we had never used, some papers and embellishments for the other person to use and then returned the stamp with the finished canvas.

I painted the easel with a mixture of acrylic colours and then crackle-glazed it, working in some Distress Ink afterwards for an aged look.

Yes, obviously these photos were also taken on bad weather days so rather dark!
Here are some photos of some of the detail on the canvas.....

That is one gorgeous embellishment - thanks Steph for giving me such great tools to work with!
I stamped the Eiffel Tower image onto a piece of canvas paper which I then mounted on thin card and adhered to the background canvas. This I had painted with acrylics onto which I scattered Barbara Trombley's Vintage Glass Glitter while the paint was still wet.

Thanks for a great swap, Stephany - look forward to the next one!

A couple of quick cards

Been far too busy to play much for ages but I did quickly make these two cards the night before I went to my local Stamp Club last week for two of our ladies who have birthdays this month.

This one was inspired by an article by Hels Sheridan in December's Craft Stamper but I only have one colour of Colourwash Spray so I used Glimmermists instead. The main image is a stamp produced by The Stampsmith called 'Maud'. The background stamps are by Stampers Anonymous, Magenta and Paper Artsy.











The other card was made by stitching the layers together on my sewing machine. The glimmermist sprayed layer is cotton blind material (an old offcut, great to stamp on too!) on which I used a flourish mask and then overstamped lightly with a Crafty Individuals flower background stamp which gives it a slightly 'batik' look.

The butterfly lady is also by Crafty Individuals and, funnily enough, I just bought it from Hels Sheridan last week so these two cards are loosely linked!
The leaf was cut from a piece of evening dress fabric I had kept after shortening it years ago.......I knew it would come in handy ONE day!!!