BLUE & PINK

Oooops!  Bit late with my  DT card this week, I've been too busy sulking!!!!   The theme this week (#174) over at I ♥ PROMARKERS is a colour combo of Pink & Blue.  We have two sponsors this week and they are MARIANNE DESIGN and CRAFTY SENTIMENTS.

Hi to my newest followers ~ Asha, Abbie Kay and luv2stamp.  Good to see you here ladies.

I have a question and I'm really hoping one of you out there can help.  The white die....do any of you know what it's called or it's number.  I'm pretty sure it's a Marianne die and I'm desperate to get hold of one, but I can't find it anywhere.  I'm wondering if maybe it's been discontinued.  My bro gave me this cut and I've tried for ages to get one of my own as I love it.

EDITING:  Oooooeeerrr!!!!  How embarrassed am I?  It's not a Marianne, it's Joy Crafts.  No wonder I couldn't find it.  About 5 minutes ago I thought that Joy Crafts did similar things and lo and behold...the first die I found, lol.  I've just emailed Marianne too.  Doh!

The blue background was cut with a Martha Stewart border punch.  The garden bench is Marianne and the leaves are Marianne too.  The image is from a Kars stamp set I bought a few  years ago and because I'd recently tidied and sorted my stamps out, I knew exactly where to find her.  Yay!

Entering into:
MY SHERI CRAFTS #113 - Birthday.
CARD CRAFTERS CIRCLE #81 - Birthday.
ADDICTED TO STAMPS & MORE #51 - Anything goes.
CRAFTING BY DESIGN - Anything goes.
SCRAPPERS DELIGHT #2 - Die cuts and punches.
PARTY TIME TUESDAYS #126 - Anything goes.

DRINK ME (if you dare).

Another week flown by but still too slow for me.  I'm itching for my holiday in August.  Still, we shouldn't wish our lives away should we?   So, onto this week's card for I ♥ PROMARKERS #173.  The theme is everybody's fave - Anything Goes, and our sponsor is  SHERRI BALDY with her beautiful Besties.  There will be 3 winners this week and each one will receive 5 Bestie images from the ones the DT have used.  My choice was this totally adorable Alice  and I stood her on 'Pebblestone Patch' from Make it Crafty.

Papers used were from the gorgeous MME pad, Lost & Found - Market Street.  The dies I used were a Spellbinders corner flourish and label, Memory Box clouds and a little Cheery Lynn heart border. Alice was cut out using one of those clean edge dies by CART-US. Flowers, ribbon and pearls from my stash.  Now I'm off to sweep and steam my kitchen floor.

Entering into:
CRAFTY RIBBONS #48 - Anything goes with a ribbon.
MAKE IT MONDAY #145 - Anything goes.
PAPER MAKEUP DIGI MAKEOVER #93 - Punches and Dies.
MY MUMS CRAFTSHOP #6 - Dies, dies, dies.
LADYBUG CRAFTS - Flowers and ribbons.
HOBBY HOUSE #1 - Anything goes.
CHARISMA CARDZ #23 - Digis only.
COUNTRY VIEW CRAFTS #4 - Die cuts.
TUESDAY THROWDOWN #152 - Fantasy.
ARTISTIC INSPIRATIONS #46 - Ribbon or Twine.
EUREKA STAMPS #44 - Anything goes.

WE'VE ALL DONE IT...

...and I bet you have too.  Made something and said to yourself  "I'll just keep that bit of paper/card, it might come in handy".  Proper hoarders we are.  Well, having sorted my stamps, I thought I'd have a go at one of my paper bits drawers.  Honestly, some of these bits have been there since Moses was born!!!!

How that lot fitted into that drawer on the left is beyond me, but it did.   Had enough for today though, as I also did a couple of other drawers that had miscellaneous rubbish in them, lol.  Tomorrow is another day as Miss Scarlett said.

GOING ROUND IN CIRCLES...

And I have been this afternoon.  I decided to sort my stamps out as I can never find what I want (not easily anyway).  Every time I thought I had it sorted, I didn't lol.   I ended up changing drawers round and sorting out my paper and card too.  Threw a huge pile of that out and finally got my stamps into 6 drawers and a box for sets and plates that I don't want to split up.  Now if I want a stamp with a pocket watch on or even a mermaid, I'll know where they are.

I'd also like to say hi to Tracey Boley, my newest follower.  Welcome hun, and thanks for coming.

So talking about circles, this week's I ♥ PROMARKERS challenge (#172) is to make a circle card.   The sponsor this week is DI's DIGI's with a $10 spend for the winner.

I cut my card on my Cameo.  The scallop outer circle is just slightly bigger than the card base.  The white circle and the doily were also cut on the cameo and the white shape behind Tilda is a Spellbinders die.  The leaves are Cheery Lynn dies and flowers from Wild Orchid Crafts.  Not a lot to it is there? lol.

Entering into:
CRAFTING MUSKETEERS #2 - Use a stamped image.
MY MUM'S CRAFT SHOP #6 - Dies, dies, dies.
COUNTRY VIEW CRAFTS #4 - Die cuts.
MELONHEADZ FRIENDS - Die cuts.
A CREATIVE ROMANCE #1 - Anything goes.
HOBBY HOUSE #1 - Anything goes.
DIVA'S BY DESIGN - Birthday.
LADY ANNE'S #9 - Anything goes.
WHIMSY STAMPS #60 - Shaped cards.
BEARLY MINE #90 - Anything goes.

SHADOW BOX FRAME.

I bought myself a TwiddleyBitz shadow box in the local craft shop and after umming and ahing  between grungy, vintage or bright, I settled for vintage and fairly feminine (I think lol). They're a really good size to work on, 10 inches square and with a good depth too.

 Important to me to fit with it was that the photo looked aged too.  I put the photo into Photoshop, desaturated it and then turned it sepia. Then I put an old film texture over it and blended it, so that the photo looked dirty (Mia and Aidan were actually clean).  A few dark edges were added with a 'burnt paper' brush and finally I tore and curled parts of it and edged it with vintage photo distress ink.  It's perhaps a tad sharp for an old photo (I forgot to blur it) but it looks better than the brightly coloured original.

My paper is from a large K & Co pad and the paints I used are Decoart Americana vintage white and buttermilk.  The two chipboard embellies are also TwiddleyBitz I think, wouldn't swear to it though.

I used a number of dies.  Cheery Lynn fence, butterflies and leaves.  Memory Box corner die, Marianne Design clock and a Spellbinders sentiment tag. The flowers are from Wild Orchid Crafts and Marianne Design.

I only wanted a very subtle crackle finish  so I used a one step crackle varnish (although this is a bit too subtle, lol) and I rubbed a bit of brushed corduroy distress ink into them, but that doesn't show much either. The last thing I did was add a few pearls just to finish it off.

 So that's it.  Now I just have to decide whether to use the stand and put it on a shelf somewhere or hang it on my craft room wall.  I have a feeling the wall will win.  Finally, I'd like to say hi to Valya, my latest follower.  Welcome hun.

Entering into:
CRAFTY FRIENDS #2 - Bingo (first line down).
CRAFTY CALENDAR #June - Things with wings.
HOBBY HOUSE #1 - Anything goes.
INSPIRE ME FRIDAYS #106 - Anything goes.
TOTALLY PAPERCRAFTS #170 - More than 3 dies or punches.
CRAFTS AND ME #136 - Something old.
FLUTTERBY WEDNESDAY #243 - Anything goes with a butterfly or fairy.
WHIMSICAL DESIGNS - Vintage. WINNER

STITCHED UP!

First off, hi to Susi, my newest follower.  Good to see you hun and thanks for coming. This week's I ♥ PROMARKERS card is all about stitching.  We want to see stitching, faux or real on your projects.  I got my machine out and did mine.   LETRASET are sponsoring us this week with a pack of Promarkers for our winner.

My image is Patsy by Kraftin' Kimmie.  Very, very rare that I buy a stamp like this, but I quite liked her.  She's been in my drawer for a couple of months though so I thought it was time she saw the light of day. My papers are MME 'The Sweetest Thing' Tangerine, the corner die is Cheery Lynn and the flower is one of those Marianne Collectibles stamp and die sets.  I think these are a great idea.

Entering into:
CRAFTING WITH DRAGONFLIES #3 - One for the girls.
PENNY'S PAPER CRAFTY #130 - Birthdays.
INKY IMPRESSIONS #111 - Birthday/Anniversary.
LOVES RUBBER STAMPS #55 - Anything goes.
PAPERTAKE WEEKLY - Anything goes.

TIM HOLTZ TAGS - JUNE 2013

OMG!  I can't believe it's June already. Apart from the weather giving us no clue at all that it's actually early summer now, it'll soon be time to start thinking about the dratted C* presents. Argh!!!!!  First off, welcome to my new followers, Deborah, Jellybeanerz and SanDee.  Hi there and it's great to have you here.

A quick edit, to also welcome and say hi to Lorraine and PlumTuckered.  Thanks for coming. AND another edit!!!  Hi to Rosie and Barb.  I'm so pleased to have these new followers and all in one day too.  Thank you.

  Anyway, as it's a new month, Sir Tim has a new tag and this is my take on this months.

I can't say I'm overly keen on this, it seems a bit dull - unlike last month's which I loved and which  was also chosen as one of the top 12 tags.  Made my day that did.  For techniques, as always, you'll have to go to TIM HOLTZ' BLOG.  The stamps that I used were a Tattered Angels dragonfly, Kaisercraft postage stamps and Indigo Blu honeycomb.

Entering into:
Tim Holtz Tags of 2013 - June.