WOYWW #250

Hi folks, wasn't that a glorious weekend we just had? I think we can be fairly certain that spring is here now.Our Headmistress of Desks, Julia, is waiting for your link over at The Stamping Ground, so don't disappoint, go link up now. Show us what you got!
 So what have I got? Well, there's another Clean and Simple masked card a couple of posts back,and the previous post is my almost-disaster, a stamped image that went horribly wrong right at the end. But I saved it- so proof that never bin anything till you're sure it can't be saved is the way to go.
 So, on my desk right now-these Paper Mache dress forms.

I put the Tim ruler next to them so you can see the size- just over 7" tall. Some of you might remember I mentioned a company called Creativity Direct a while back, and how they had the most amazing selection of alterable stuff. I had in my mind buying a Jewellery Stand for my Granddaughter Merlins  birthday later this year, but hadn't been able to find one suitably gothy for her. Then I remembered seeing these, and thought I would make one instead. So thats one project for the next few months. They were great value too- £3.20 each, inc VAT. Whilst browsing the site, I also thought about a jewellery box, and found this one:

This one cost me £13.99, and they have masses of wooden boxes, of all types, sizes and shapes.
This one opens up like this:
And I have plenty of suitably gothic/halloween/fairy stamps to alter it to suit her perfectly.
 If you like this sort of thing to alter, I recommend giving their site a look,they have  almost every shape/type of Paper Mache or wooden item you can name.













 Last thing on my desk, well they were before I moved them to show you these, is some stamps from Designs by Ryn, the lady behind my much used Water Droplets stamp. A different set of Water Droplets, Rising Bubbles, Raindrops and some Starfish.The Starfish are currently at 50% off. Ryn doesn't have a UK/Europe supplier yet, so you have to order from Canada, but the exchange rate is great, and  her shipping is so fast- I got these in under 7 days from ordering, I've waited longer for orders within the UK! Nice deep red rubber stamps, they come mounted on foam. Speaking of exchange rates, and ordering from abroad, I had been looking around the UK for a refill bottle for my Versafine Onyx Black pad. No-one at all seems to have any, and I know they say you should never have to re-ink, because they last for ages, but mine is getting a bit dry, after about 6 years, and I object to having to throw a pad away and buy another, on environmental grounds, as well as cost. So, I found refill bottles on Amazon.com, for the Black, and got two bottles, plus shipping, for £11.98. I also ordered a refill for my Sepia pad while I was at it, as it doesn't need re-inking yet, but I thought I may as well save on the postage. That is the only two colours of inkpad they make refills for, by the way. Have a good week everyone, and I hope the weather is suitably spring like wherever you are.

Scrapjourney: favourite 5 (or so) of 2013

I visited ShazinOz this morning, and she had linked to  A Scrapjourney, a blog by Debby, where crafters are invited to list their favourite 5 projects they made in 2013. She's not being picky over the number, lol, just that they are made in 2013. Which is good, because I had an extra couple I couldn't decide between. I actually found a few I enjoyed for different reasons- trying something new, came out better than I expected (always a bonus), or ones I really enjoyed doing.
 So, in no particular order, here are my 2013 favourites:








This is one of the simple, came out better than expected cards. Just a brayered background and silhouette style stamps in black.

This was a ' I wonder if this will work/came out better than I expected' card, using the SU Swallowtail Butterfly in a triple stamping format, with colour just sponged over & around the image, after it had been stamped in Versamark & heat embossed with white powder.

 
I really enjoyed making this one, for my eldest sons birthday,as we are both huge Edgar Allen Poe fans. It was a couple of new techniques tried, lemon juice heated to age the paper, and a Stampbord removable fridge magnet.




 This one was a real experiment, and definitely falls into the 'came out better than expected' category. I wanted to try using artists pastels, as I have loads, so really can't justify Pan Pastels as well. I stamped all the images in Versamark, onto a background of sponged Distress inks. For each image I grated artist pastels over it, using a nutmeg grater, then buffed off with cotton wool balls.




I was pleased with how this one came out, as I was CASEing a card seen on Pinterest, using an Indigo Blu stamp. I don't have the stamp, but had a fairly similar one, and was hopeful it would produce a similar effect, which it did.









 I loved the dramatic gothic imagery of this stamp, and simple black stamping on a background of various sponged reds really did it justice, I thought.

 Last, but definitely not least, as its probably my favourite, is the card I made for my Beloved Hubby this Christmas. The image, Snowy Postcard, by Stampendous, was stamped onto white pearl card then cut out with the Spellbinders Heirloom Ornaments 2nd to largest die.The white backing was cut from the largest. I stamped the image again on a post-it, and masked the buildings & snow, then sponged an assortment of blues for the sky. Then it was sprayed with Crafters Companion Iridescent Spray & Sparkle, which is hard to see, but gives the snowy areas a lovely sparkle.To get the black matt for the bauble, I drew around the outside of the die, and cut by hand. The Poinsettias are a Le Crea die, which is smaller than most Poinsettia dies, and works well on cards. The two hearts are triple embossed, using UTEE over Anitas Blue Glass embossing powder- the one heart then having a texture stamp inked in silver pressed to it while still molten.So my Favourite 5 is actually a Favourite 7- but what's a couple of extras between friends?

WOYWW #214

Two desk shots this week, this one looking over from my PC desk, to a view of a desk liberally littered with crafting stuff. Underneath the sheet of paper you can see the packaging of a Corner Chomper, unopened as yet. Tub of inking tools, RUB's with sponges & the pieces for the inking tools on top.The easel has the card on from the last post, theres a tub of tags to the right, an Ikea cutlery holder that is home to my rulers.

Front shot with some recently acquired goodies:A metal shim for intricate metal dies- seen a lot of people raving about how good & easy a cut you get with this-An intricate metal die- well I have to test it out, don't I?, some mini sponge daubers, a bottle of Glamour Dust and a new stamp. Actually, its a second version of a stamp I already have, The Raven, Stampendous. The stamp is built around the Poem by Edgar Allen Poe (one of my favourite authors)  The Raven.

Here it is a bit closer, with a piece from the other version stamped onto Stampbord. The other Version is a portrait one, this one is landscape and will work better for what I have in mind, a card for my eldest sons birthday,and a fellow Poe fan, with part of the image on Stampbord, so I can turn it into a removable fridge magnet. With the portrait version, the main quote' Quoth the Raven, Nevermore', is split between the top & bottom of the stamp, so I can't get it all on one piece of Stampbord. The landscape version has all the quote together, alongside the Raven, so it will look better. And it is only slightly larger than the Stampbord ATC sized piece. So thats my Show-and-Tell for this week, join in at The Stamping Ground, where our much-moved hostess, Julia, attempts to keep us all in line- not saying that she succeeds, but she does try, bless her little cotton socks.

A few new stamps

 A few new stamps this week, first ones are from Crafty Individuals. Along with a pad of their 6 x6 papers, this is quite an old one of theirs, Book 1. i loved the rich colours of this one, and it may come in for Christmas cards, I think. The Star stamp is a new one of theirs, and it was free with orders over a certain amount for a while. Lovely people, at Crafty Individuals.









These next two are Stampendous Cling stamps, I got these from Cheddar Stamper. Snowy Postcard and Raven Background.I have seen some lovely cards done with both of these, I think the Snowy postcard will be for my main Christmas cards this year.
      








 I love the Raven stamp, I adore anything Gothic, and Edgar Allen  Poe!    This is one of the clingmount stamps, its also available as a woodmount, but that version is more of a landscape format, like the snowy postcard, whereas this one is portrait.
                                                                             







 
 

Final stamp set,keeping with the Gothic theme, from De Stempelwinkel, Cherry Pie artstamps, Plate 52, Dark Boundaries.