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.

June Blog Candy-comments now closed

Everyone loves blog candy, and I have some for this month. I have included the new Stitchels stamps, some of the new Idea-ology range, Kling-On, an alcohol ink fillable pen, and more. All you have to do is post a comment, add it to your blog, become a follower (if you are not already) for a second chance to win. If you don't have a blog, just email me and leave a comment and I will add you to the list. This post will stay above all the other until 20th June, so don't forget to check out my tips and techniques and blog posts below.
Happy Candying!!!!

Grungepaper Flowers

For weeks now I have wanted to make a grungepaper flower, that had a bit of depth to it, and yesterday I came across this blog tutorial, and immediately out came the grungepaper, and my Cricut Expression!
You can use a punch or stamps, or your die cutting machine. If you are using the Cricut, I used a brand new cutting mat as it needs a bit of stick to hold the grungepaper, and set the cutting knife to no 6 , and maximum depth and the highest speed. It cuts it, but the grungepaper needs to be pushed out gently afterwards. I cut the same shape in 2 different sizes, along with a couple of leaves for each flower.

I then followed Maria's instructions, and distressed inked the grungepaper with shades of reds, and yellows for the two flowers. I edged the red flower with walnut stain to give a bit of depth, and used a bead I found on the floor (while looking for a snap that had disappeared from my hand like they do!) My floor covering is shades of brown, that doesn't give up its treasures very often to the vacuum!!! lol
I glued all the pieces together with Glossy Accents, and almost put it on as dew drops, but decided against it. The grungepaper is a fabulous medium, and will bend and stay in place, and loves distress inks too. Haven't yet made my mind up if these will be pins or will go on a card, but for the meantime, they are here for you to look at!

It is the easiest idea in the world, and now I have made two, I am off and running. Thank you for the best tutorial, Maria!

A birthday card

As per usual, my birthday cards are always late, and this one for Hels is no exception! I used the same sketch from The Next Level challenge blogspot. This is a totally different card from the last one, and as I know Hels has received it, I can show you.

I used distress inks in the blues and reds, and all of Tim Holtz's stamps, and the Happy Birthday from The Artistic Stamper range of words. Love the little key from the new charms! I was especially pleased with the bow too. Never could tie a bow for love nor money!
The tag has the bird and branch stamped in 2 diffrent distress ink colours, and set on a distress ink"swiped" glossy tag.

I am hooked on this kind of card... and in case you wondered , I have glued the whole card together, so you have to pull out the tag to read the message.

Off now to look for more sketches to follow :)

The Next Level

This week, you can join in with The Next Level blog challenge, a fab blog full of tips and techniques, and great prizes*wink*!
I have made my attempt on this weeks Challenge sketch, and used distress inks, as that is what you can win from me on there. I am never very good at sketches (and have had disastrous results before, but having seen the ones on the blog, now have a better idea of what is needed. I used distress inks, yellow and purple, for the background,
and used the Karantha floral stamp, masking the Gibson Girl. I use printed twill on the bottom, along with some flowers and a Tim Holtz snap from my own stash. The tag was distressed with the same colours, and a Tim Holtz stamp , highlighted with Glossy Accents.
I was quite pleased with the end result, very different from anything I have done before.

The moral of the story is have a go... you never know !

Family Values

This is a piece I made absolutely ages ago, and sits on my desk for my coffee mug! I used a round piece of Stampbord , and Kuretake Alcohol inks and the Family Values stamp inked in black. I liked the way it appears worn. If you do do a piece like this and use it for your coffee, then I would suggest varnishing it, to protect it. I have stampbord on offer at the moment, so if you want to get some while stocks last , now is your opportunity!

GrungePaper Flower

I hope you have had a good weekend. Over on Wendy Vecchi's blog, she made this fab easy flower from Grungepaper. This is my take on it. You can find grungepaper here.
I haven't really played with it much, and wanted to create a little something this weekend, and it has been winking at me ever since I received the order, a few weeks ago! I used distress inks to colour the paper, and stamped in Black Archival on top, the new background stamps. A fingerful of distress Stickles , added a bit of glitz. I then used a hitch fastener to hold it together, and added a little Idea-ology mini pin with one of the new foliage leaves on the bottom of it. A pin makes it into a brooch. If you haven't got any of the grungepaper it is a must! I have to admit the flower is very grungy for me, and I think another more bright one is needed so I am off to run it through my cricut :)
Have a good day

Distress Tag & more New Stamps!

Today I wanted to use some of the new stamps that I have just loaded onto the website , and make a little something for you to look at. I started off using a glossy postcard from Judikins, but it was a mess and ended up in the bin! So I took a glossy tag I had , and ended up with a new technique, well certainly to me!
I used broken china and faded jeans and using the distress foam pads went over the tag. I spritzed it, and then wiped the actual inkpad over the wet tag. This is similar to the crumpled effect of Mr Holtz's.
I then heat dried the tag. It was fab! I then embossed the Time girl with Holographic powder and heated for different lengths of time, so you get the different colours. Sadly when I did this the tag colours melted together and the effect was mostly lost. I was more than disappointed, but I rectified it with the new smudge background( already planned ) and some Prima flowers and a little tag stamped on an old dictionary page from a dictionary I keep by my desk all the time. It has proved invaluable!



For those of you who like blog candy (and who doesn't?) I have some for the month of June! All you have to do is comment on the post above (kept there till Saturday June 20th), and post it on your blog about the giveaway.
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A few samples

A pinch and a punch for the 1st of the month! I cannot believe it is June already, where has the year gone? Saturday at Stamp Addicts was lots of hard work, and great fun, and I got to go shopping too! I demoed the new alcohol inks, which are such gorgeous colours, alongside the distress powders, and here are few samples of what I made.... This is a great stamp by Judikins, and very large so covered the whole tag and then some! I distress embossed the edge, and I kept this tag as I loved the effect. This tag was another image from Jusikins, and worked perfectly with the distress powders.
Finally here is one I made for display, using the new solid Stitchels. Back tomorrow with a treat.. enjoy the sun today, I do believe it will be another scorching day here.