Birthday Boy

Now you know when the man in your life says 'have you got a male oriented card knocking around...?', it really means 'I forgot my brothers birthday, can you make me a card...'???!!!

So, here is my emergency contribution to sibling happiness:

Recipe:
The card blank is 8x8 scallop edge from Craftwork Cards
I inked through a cogs design mask from 'A Touch of...' using dried marigold Distress Ink.
Then I inked over it using a clock design mask also from 'A Touch of...' using aged mahogany Distress Ink.

I cut the first mat from a book page using a scallop edge Spellbinders die then embossed and inked through using the aged mahogany.
Then I randomly stamped a key design around the edges, also in aged mahogany.
The next layer was cut using the next smallest Spellbinders die.
The image of the little boy was stamped in vintage photo distress in. The edges where also inked in aged mahogany.
The large key comes from a Prima Resistant Canvas set. I inked it up with the all three Distress Inks. I decided the colours weren't defined enough so I held a henna colour Promarker against it in several places.The clock face is from Kanban and the hands are from mystash.
The two paper strips are from Graphic 45 paper.

The ribbon and sticky gems were added next and then I masked off the card so just the little boy showed. I was going to spray with Glimmer Mist, but remembered that distress inks are water based, so I sprayed with Spray and Sparkle (Crafters Companion) instead.
To make everything tie together, I then inked through the cogs mask in aged marigold on the inside. Then I inked up the little boy stamp in vintage photo, stamped it onto scrap paper, sprayed the stamp lightly with water to reactivate any remaining ink and then stamped the image. This gave a much lighter effect.

I also repeated this on the envelope, this time inking the little boy in both aged mahogany and vintage photo.






Having sorted my man, I am going to enter this card into the following challenges:
http://sentimentalsundays.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/challenge-113-paint.html
http://atcswithattitude.blogspot.co.uk/ challenge #19 anything goes
http://dillybeanschallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/ribbon-challenge.html

5 minute thoughts...

It is 18.04 on a wet Sunday night in July and I am half watching repeats of formula 1. This used to be what I did on a Sunday with my Dad when I lived at home. Daddy and Mummy were always the centre of my world. Everything revolved around the family. And then he was gone. He found another and left us. I know it wasn't done to hurt me but it did. He is not so far away, but in my head he is.
Mummy is gone now too, but she is beyond my reach. She suffered for the loss of Daddy, she grieved but knew he was still alive. I grieve for both  of them.
I could pick up the phone and talk to him, but where to start? (Hamilton has won the race, not sure that I really wanted him to ... glad to see a Brit on the podium, but would have been nice if it was Button...)
Anyway, this stream of conciousness stuff is not easy to do.
I am not sad really. I am just fed up with the rain after such a beautiful sunny week...
Back to the theme of beyond...
Beyond today I have 5 more weeks of holiday...
Beyond next Friday, I have two weeks to spend with the man in my life...
Beyond the summer I have knew students to meet and learn with...
Ooops, is 16.10 and I have run out of time...

A xxx

And through the round window...

So, week 1 of the summer holidays comes to an end, and it is raining...
I suppose I shouldn't complain, we have had a full week of glorious sunshine!
The sun and the goodies I found at Papermaze gave me the inspiration for this mad little project using the Tando Creative round mini printers tray:

My lovely friends A & J were celebrating both their 4th wedding anniversary and a house move this week, so this little moment was designed for them.

I glued together the layers of the printer tray using Glossy Accents and then painted it with Kaisercolour 'mushroom' acrylic paint to seal the surfaces.

I mixed Kaisercolour 'tropical water' with Reeves modelling paste to give a thick textured media. I pushed this through Tando Creative 'harlequin' mask to give some texture to the surface.

Whilst the paste was drying I inked up the spray of flowers from a Prima Resistant Canvas pack using Dylusions 'fresh lime' and 'bubblegum pink' ink sprays and Cosmic Shimmer 'blue lace' Misting Ink Spray.

I also made up the small paper flowers from Spellbinders 'bitty blossoms' and sprayed them with Tattered Angel Glimmer Mist in 'pearl' and 'irridescent gold'.

Once the texture paste was dry, I sprayed over the whole printers tray with the Dylusions and Cosmic Shimmers Misting Sprays to add more colour and dimension.

I cut background papers to fit each segment from MMI Miss Caroline 'dolled up' 6x6 paper pad and inked the edges using 'salty ocean' Distress Ink. I glued in each of these with Glossy Accents.

Each of the elements was then glued in place, except the boat. The background for this segment was cut from a map showing where A&J got married and where they have just moved to. I then filled the segment with ultra think WOW powder from a Melt Pot and then sank the boat into it.                                               The last steps where to add the reeds and fishes, stick on the resist canvas flower spray and add the cherub and the bow.

The printers tray also comes with a stand which I painted in 'tropical water' and then stamped with FlitterGlu and added 'autumn rose' CraftyNotions gilding flakes to finish.

I had great fun making this and everyone who has seen it has said they like it!

I hope you do to!

I will be entering it at the following challenges:

http://tando-creative-challenges.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/25th-july-2012.html
http://sentimentalsundays.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/challenge-113-paint.html
http://atcswithattitude.blogspot.co.uk/

Day 2 of the Summer Holidays...

or...      
         Oops, there goes the housekeeping...

I woke up this morning thinking what a beautiful day for a trip into the country side! So I went on a blog hop to find a shop that I hadn't been to before and so began my exploration of the Suffolk 'tourist route'. Remind me next time I try something new to go the way the AA suggest and not rely on my knowledge of the pretty routes! The day was so wonderfully sunny and bright that every bugger with a snail hooked to their car (sorry... caravan...) decided to take the tourist route to!
After several moments wondering if caravan and combine harvester would fit down narrow lane side by side and watching enviously as motorcyclists diassapeared into a wind swept distance, I finally arrived at my destination - Papermaze in Otley, nr. Ipswich.

What a lovely friendly little place! Well worth the drive. I found lots of new stuff and some different brands I haven't heard of before. I think my favourite is Tando Creative. I have picked up a mask, a bag of board butterflies and two mini printer trays.

I am seriously looking forward to making some new stuff with all this kit!

Invitation...

Day one of the summer holidays!

So far, I have been to school and marked the rest of my L3 BTEC applied Science coursework, backed up all of my useful resources ready for lesson prep and thrown away lots of toot...
I have also been to the bank, done two loads of washing (the third one is in now...), stripped and changed the bed and gone through my wardrobe and thrown out all the stuff that I don't wear or has gone manky!
God, my life is exciting!



I rescued all of the buttons off the tops and shirts and now have a pile of inspiration to play with. 

Then I went on a blog hop to find some ideas and ended up on a site I hadnt come across before called Fat Cat Studios where I found some great digis.

I loved these little owls and they seemed to fit with the colours from the buttons, the Things with Wings theme from Sentimental Sundays, and the Art with no Boundaries Clowning Around.

The layout is based on Sentimental Sundays bonus round.

I hope you all smile like I did when I found the digi!

I will be entering this card at:

http://color-me-scrappy.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/challenge-8.html

http://sentimentalsundays.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/challenge-112-things-with-wings_22.html

http://artwithnoboundaries.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/anything-goes-just-clowning-around-part2.html

CAS on a black card blank

Hoorah! Its finally the Summer break! The students left at 1pm today and by 3pm I was home and catching up on sleep...
It didn't last long though, the crave to craft struck and I have finally got back in my craft room after 4 weeks of insanity at school (the last few weeks are always so busy!).
I know all you parents out there are bemoaning my 6 weeks off, but I assure you it won't be all fun and games and I do have all the painting, shopping, cleaning and going out to cram in that you can take days off to do...

OK, whinge over now! I love my job and I love the kids (most of them...), but they do rather get in the way of crafting...

So, here it is - my first venture into the craft room since the end of June...

The card is 4x4, cut from folded A4 textured black card from my stash. I have cut mats from silver miri and an off cut of the black base card.  The cog design is embossed from a 'Touch of...' mask which I then coloured up with Memento 'Tuxedo Black' ink to give a distressed look. The top mat is cut from an off cut of the cogs, using a Spellbinders die from 'Mix'd Media Elements'. I embossed it and then inked through to get the shading.
The metal cogs, flowers, gems and 'with love' stamp are all from stash.

I hope you like it!

I am going to enter this at:
http://cas-ualfridays.blogspot.co.uk/ CFC62: Back in Black
http://fatpageswithattitude.blogspot.co.uk/ challenge 18: Anything Goes
http://sentimentalsundays.blogspot.co.uk/ Rough around the edges (distressing etc.)