Button It Up!

I like to think I am on a roll, creativity wise.. well it is up to you if you think so, you may not! Comment all you like.. love reading them! As I mentioned yesterday I often look for inspiration when I am in a creative rut, by blog hopping all over the world. What a wonderful way to see it! This time my inspiration came from The Next Level, where this week's challenge was to use buttons and bows. I am not sure where this idea came from, but out came my stash of buttons, spent a couple of hours sorting all the greens and blues, and out came a bodice form that has been waiting to be decorated, and of course my trusty Glossy Accents! Forgot to take photos as I was making it..doh! I painted the bodice with Claudine's Studio Multi Medium mixed with a little tad of Sky Blue Studio paint. It did take a little while to dry, but once dry, I played with buttons, and ribbons and of course added a bow! Several sticky hours later, I had completed this!
This the front, note the 2 prominent buttons! They just pointed themselves in my direction! lol

The criteria was using buttons and bows! Did I get it right? Hope you enjoy it as much as I did making it.
Hugs

Mini Art

It seems a while since I made anything creative... is my mojo on holiday? I made some time yesterday to create, and as I often need a kick start, wandered around a few challenge blogs, and on Lots to Do challenge blog, you could use stamping! That was it, no colour , no card, just stamping. I had so wanted to make another grungepaper flower, so grabbed a little canvas, (this one is 2" x 2") some grungepaper, my favourite product of all time, Alcohol Inks, and some gold embossing powder, oh and of course the stamp! I made the flower in a similar way to the last time , but coloured it with alcohol inks, Purple Twilight, Raspberry, and Shell Pink. No blender! I did the same with the canvas. The grungepaper soaks up a lot of alcohol ink, but carries it beautifully.
I then used the Karantha Swirl stamp and heat embossed it in gold on top of the flower petals before gluing together. I did the same on the mini canvas. A shiny jewel in the middle of the flower, and the flower Glossy Accented onto the canvas and voila, an entry into the challenge.
Seems that pink seems be to be my favourite colour, not sure why as I would never wear it! Maybe I should call this blog the pink zone!

More beach...

We seem to be travelling to beaches this month, not that I am complaining....the sea always has a pull for me. On Saturday we went to one of the South East's more remote areas..Romney Marsh, a weird but wonderful place by Dungeness Power Station, which in my mind's eye is scary and large. But the beach and surrounding area is remote, windswept and stony and has great views and wildlife. I saw a lot of miniature butterflies and fauna that I have no idea of the names! There is a miniature steam railway, (I used to take the children on this when they were small) and 2 lighthouses, and a pub, and not much else! The houses are beautiful , built from wood, and set alone with great views of the sea, some with gardens made from beach combing stuff (oh could you make altered art from it all) well actually it is altered art but in a garden! I forgot to take the camera so used the Blackberry and was amazed at how good the pics were.
I hope I have captured the essence of this place. We visited a studio there.. just a couple of huts, but boy I am thinking of moving there just to have a studio in the middle of nowhere.. would you come and visit?
I did pick up a few bits of driftwood and some broken shells and they are sitting by my desk, hoping I will get some inspiration from them!! The mojo seems be on holiday in the sun this week!

The Stamping Parlour....Ultra thick Embossing Powders

Once again here is another little video for you on how to...use UTEE or ultra thick embossing enamel or powder. It seems that Fridays are my Stamping Parlour days! This one took a little bit of editing, but I got there in the end. We kept having electricity power failures every time I edited it, and I had to start all over again!

If you would like to try this, the shop has very thick chipboard, heat guns, and Utee all ready for you!
Any suggestions on what you would like me to demo on video are always welcome.. that is of course, if you like what I do...

Fairies at the bottom of my Drawer!

I had every intention of doing some artwork for the blog this week, but what with work and Wimbledon getting in the way, sadly the ideas have stayed in the paper they were written on!
I have to confess I am a latent ( is that the right word?) fairy lover! For those who know me well, I collect almost everything, and will often go out of my way to find something. Today I came across the most exquisite box of Fairy Dyes. It wasn't so much the fairy label or the box, although that did have something to do with it, but the contents. The box claims that they are "all fast colours superior to any dye put before the public"!!

I knew as soon as I saw them I had to have them. The box itself is a bit worse for wear, but inside the 12 dyes are almost perfect with only a couple that would probably collapse if you opened them. I did pull a little colour out of one, and it colours paper up wonderfully! and are the powders are contained in little glass vials, some with string to pull them open, others not. Oh, and the colours are Daffodil, Cinnamon, Old Gold, Tangerine, and more.. Just gorgeous! I just had to show you them. I found this reference to them on the net, and will search for a bit more, but I am guessing they are from the mid 1940's. Just love it when I find something like this, and if you would like a little bit of fairy dust ,then let me know as I am thinking of putting some on the website.

Sprinkling fairy love to you!!!

Brighton Rocks!

Yesterday we went on a trip to Brighton. This is such a wonderful place when the sun shines, and it was full of people and seagulls! I took my camera with me, in the hope I might snap something good, and although no photographer, I think I got some good pics. Now I have to create a couple of LO's to add to the pics! I confess I dragged Mal shopping to Lush ( such gorgeous smells!) The Brighton Bead shop (a beadaholics paradise!), passed by the Choccywoccydoodah shop ( couldn't resist taking a pic of the chocolate cat in the window) and The Lanes , where we wandered aimlessly looking at bizarre and expensive goodies! I did buy a couple of things, including a butterfly cake cutter, some beads of course, and some bubble bath from Lush, well actually Mal bought them as a pressie for me.
We wandered down to the seafront for my fix of the sea. Even though I live not far from it( about 10 mins), I am always drawn to the sea, and have to visit it to recharge my batteries every so often. Does that sound weird? The sun was so bright, and I managed to capture some yachts out on the waves , and even snapped a couple with a seagull flying in between.
No trip to Brighton is complete without a look at the Brighton Pavilion, and a quick snap of the gorgeous roof!
Coming home we thought we would go the coast route, and set off in what we thought was the right direction, We never saw the coast, as the satnav on our BMW top of the range courtesy car decided to take us the shortest route which involved every minor road possible. It was an interesting way to see the country of East Sussex!
Have a great Sunday!

New video

The next video in my little mini series is now on Youtube. I did one on embossing, simple but one of the reasons I started stamping 18 years or so years ago.. never can remember which year exactly, but when I saw what you could do with a little ink pad, a stamp and this wondrous powder I was hooked!!
I still have the first stamp I ever bought, a fish from PSX ( the best rubberstamp company at the time, although I am sure many will disagree). From the embossing a whole new career ( can you call it that? ) was born.....but that is another story!
In the meantime, I hope you like my efforts, and please excuse the "umm's" dotted in the video..( no script, so the outtakes are full of expletives!)lol

Happy Embossing!

Utee book

I haven't had a a lot of time this week to create, so went trawling through my artwork on the computer and came across this book I made for a friend for Christmas one year. I love this stamp ( I have to look it up to tell you whose it is) , and I simply poured a coloured Utee onto a craft sheet and stamped straight into it. I loved the pored effect that happened. I then added some small brads in the corner while still wet, and glued it onto the book.I am still editing the videos, so be patient... I wish I was , but work gets in the way!
Here's hoping the sun shines today
Hugs

Free!

If you order from The Artistic Stamper this week, you can get a FREE A4 sheet of Kling-On Repositionable cushioning ( worth £3.50) by adding it to your basket! You can order anything you like, for any amount, just add the free Kling-On to your basket!
I have been busy making another Stamping Parlour video ( 2 in fact) this afternoon, and they always make me laugh, so there are a few outtakes , which I may have to make into a video too! I have to edit them , so hopefully they will be up this week.
In the meantime here are 2 of of the tags I made for Stamp Addicts demo a few weeks ago. Alcohol inks, and masking and lots of pink! Happy Inking!

June Blog Candy winner!

A Happy Summer solstice to everyone, and I know that you are just waiting to see if you have won the blog candy. I am always humbled by everyone who stops by my blog, and says hello. So without much ado and with a big drum roll....
The winner of this month's candy is

Congratulations Hazel, please email me your snail mail address, and thank you to everyone who included the link on their blog, and emailed their friends. I shall be doing the same again next month, so there will always be another chance.