Petite Chaises

OK ... so I definitely get the prize for Airhead of the Week!!  Despite being ill last week, I had (rather unusually for me) got one of the DT projects ready and finished well ahead of time.  

For those of you who are regular visitors, you will know that I had ALL DAY yesterday to focus on crafting.  Well, despite this, I managed to entirely forget to upload these little lovelies onto the TioT website.  I even made a note to get this page organised and STILL my pea-like brain didn't register that they weren't uploaded.  That is until midnight!!  I jumped out of bed having had one of those awful OMG moments and uploaded it.  But alas, too late!  So I definitely win the Airhead's Crown!

So, the theme this week at Tiot is Recycle It.   What a great challenge ... I'm sure we all have lots of things which we can re-use in our projects.  Certainly I have a box of tags on pins and chains from clothing, gorgeous packaging with punched designs from Prima blister packs and ribbons and feathers from boxes of chocolates.  I even have an outer wrapper which came on our newspaper which is made of vellum or similar which I thought would come in useful.  So, crack open your box of 'kept' items which you thought would come in useful one day and make that day TODAY!!

My project is a recycle of Champagne tops.  I know what you're thinking ... and Yes, it was a tough job drinking all that fizzy but I take my creative responsibilities VERY seriously!!!  

I re-worked my tops to make little chairs with backs and sanded some of the black coating on the wire back to the bare metal.  I then used alcohol inks to tint them lightly.  I used a coat of shellac and some god leaf to embellish the seats.

The cushions were cut from cotton and sewn on my new machines (which is a dream to use unlike it's predecessor!).  I filled them with a little soft toy stuffing to plump them up and hand sewed the final seam.  I then stamped them with miniature images on both sides using Stazon.


Ooh ... and before I forget (don't let me get started on that again!!) all eligible entries to our challenge are entered into the prize draw to win £10 store voucher for Crafty-Emblies who are our kind sponsors!  

Please read the rules so your gorgeous creations are not disqualified! 



I hope this project tempts you to up-cycle some of your stash or if all else fails, drink loads of champagne and make some cute chairs!!!

I'm entering my little chairs into the Craft Room Challenge - In the garden Anything But a Card as these do remind me of the little cafe chairs we all love to perch on with a cuppa in the summer!  

x

 

Pomp & Pageantry

Good Monday Morning Everyone!

Today I am hoping to get all day to be creative which is a great prospect as I've a lot I want to get achieved.  However, when DH left for work he announced he may be back mid-afternoon to work from home (oh dear!) so that will put an end to my plans as we share a workspace currently ... say no more!! 

Anyway, I decided to get started and have a play with my alcohol inks  - I always love the vibrancy of their colours but I'm not always sure what to do with what I create on 12 x 12 scrap pages.  I do use them on metal which is great but I want to expand their uses on cardstock.  So, I hatched a new plan (in the middle of the night!) and had a play using my inks and clingfilm with some heat and Voila! 

I decided to couple my inking with my Indigoblu stamps so I can enter both the Alcohol ink challenge at Artful Times and also the Words and Phrases challenge over at Indigoblu.  

Well, got to dash and make a start on my next project whilst I have the house to myself!  Hope you are all having a good Monday too!

x

 

Mother's Day

I saw this wire-work idea and was really keen to try it myself.   I am fascinated with birds' nests eggs and so the wrapped wire conjured up a nest in my mind which had to have some lovely eggs perched on it!!

I hadn't got any wire in my stash of the gauge I would really have liked so I had to make do with this thinner one which worked fine which was very easy to work (and hence very easy to mis-shape!!).

I painted my background on watercolour paper using acrylic paints and then acrylic inks and spritzed water.  I stitched my heart to the background with embroidery silk.

The eggs were tinted with alcohol ink onto which I glued the small wording printed from my computer.

The title was stamped with Lost Coast Designs alphabet in Staz-on Timber Brown and then distressed with Vintage Photo and Peacock Feathers.

I like this wire idea so there may be more to come ...

I'm entering this into the first challenge at the new site Country View Crafts blog - Challenge 1 - Pick 'n' Mix 


Enjoy your week ... xx

Easter Bonnet

Can you believe Easter is almost upon us?  The start of this year seems to have gone by so fast.  However, as I sit looking out this morning, the snow is falling and the ground is white so the prospect of spring flowers and hill top walks seem a million miles away.  That's British weather for you!!!

So, looking forward to Easter, the TioT challenge this fortnight is Easter Hats and Bonnets.  As a non-cardmaker and with my kids too old to dress up in suitable outfits for a scrap page, I was mulling over how I could meet this challenge.  My stash has a lack of anything I could remotely link to this subject so I was facing a dilemma.  

But, luckily for me, I have a very artistic hairdresser and we usually chat about out arty endeavours during my regular appointments.  At the end of last week, I was telling him about my quandry and he planted the idea of a car bonnet.  That was the inspiration I needed and as soon as I got home, I set to work on coming up with how I would interpret this idea.

I covered a large tag with black cardstock and ran it through my Big Shot to emboss it with swirls and birds.  I downloaded my image online and then used glitter Gelly Roll pens and Distress Markers to create my Easter design on the bonnet. 

I added some tissue tape and some chicken wire (Dusty Attic) and wound wired natural florists raffia at one end.

The photo was mounted onto white cardstock which I added pink sparkly doodle around the edge before fixing down using two black photo corners (and glue).

I wrote the title onto masking tape, coloured the letters with the Gelly Roll pens and then plattered them with indian ink.

The bird was from a florists wholesalers.

I hope you enjoy my take on this subject and look forward to seeing all the great work everyone comes up with for each challenge.

I have also entered this tag into Challenge 51 - Easter Bonnet over at Out of a Hat Creations.  I hadn't found this blog before but it looks like a lot of fun so I'm diving in!!

Enjoy your crafting ...

xx

Closed

This layout is based on Wheal Peevor tin mine which is one of the many abandoned mines to be found all over Cornwall.  Their shape makes them very striking against the skyline so I decided to enhance this further using Lightroom.

I used my Gelli plate to create my background paper by adding the black and white pattern and the  purple and pale grey bands.  I then used an Artist Cellar stencil with molding paste (Golden) to create two panels in opposite corners.  Once the paste was dry I rubbed Viva Decor paste and gilding wax into them to give them colour and shimmer.

I printed the poem onto tissue paper and glued it to my layout with Mod Podge.  I have to confess its a lot easier if you have a set size and place for tissue paper items as my first couple of attempts resulted in torn paper!  Large areas of tissue are certainly tricky customers!

Anyway, once it was down, I moved on by stamping the window onto vintage map paper which I tore and inked with black soot.  The hinges which were cut from grunge paper, painted with black acrylic paint and rubbed with silver Inka-Gold.  The barbed wire (Dusty Attic) was painted black and touched up with a little copper Inka-Gold for a rusty effect.  The Owl is from PaperArtsy Hot Picks which I stamped and coloured with pencils.

I cut the flowers from vintage book pages using the tattered florals die by Tim Holtz.  I inked it up with broken china and black soot before adding a black crystal brad.

The black crystal swirl is by Prima and I added this with the stamped journalling ticket and my flower.  I perched my crows and added a key (Seven Gypsies) to complete this page.

This was the second of my three layouts which I entered in the National Scrapbooker of the Year 2013 competition in which I was a runner-up.

I am entering this page into Challenge 43 - Swirls at Fashionable Stamping.

Have a great week.  xx