2.3.4..tell the people what she wore!!

I really look forward to Wednesday mornings because there is always a new challenge over at the Stampotique Designers Challenge Blogspot, and this weeks challenge set by Sam Read is all about polka dots!!!..... soooooo I know this is probably the first thing that comes into everyone's mind...and sorry for being so predictable..... but it did make me chuckle when I made the itsy bitsy teeny weeny yellow polka dot bikini for REAR VIEW MIRROR to wear. :) :) :)

keeping it simple

My new favourite shop is That's Crafty.....because they stock my new love.....Carabelle Studio Stamps, especially the Birgit Koopsen Stamps.....ooooohhh they are so yummy, and the beautiful art she does to show off her stamps is amazing!!!!. I recently bought one of the XXL stamps, the art journal dream stamp which is so big that it comes on its own A4 acrylic block, it is a giant and I adore it. While I was browsing the That's Crafty online shop, I noticed they have a blog and also a fortnightly challenge blog where this fortnights challenge is to keep things simple, so I got my new stamp out, spritzed it with spray inks and placed my cardstock on the stamp, then dried it with my heatgun, then stamped the dragonfly stamp with stazon and added some stickles to his wings......simples.
I am feeling like I need to do more challenges now, I generally need a theme to get my brain whirring into action, it gives me a starting point, otherwise I feel like the proverbial author with the first blank page staring up at me!!! I am also entering this card in the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge which is an anything goes week.

OH CRAP!!!!!

This week the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers are challenging you to make a quick card,  in ten minutes, well I hope they didn't include the thinking time in that too cos it took me a while to think of what to do within the ten minutes time slot. I know I had to keep it simple...obviously!!!, which you would think is easy to do, but I swear that the clean and simple look is the hardest thing to achieve, I will leave that talent to the likes of Debby Hughes who does amazing CAS work.

As it is a snarky stampers blog, I like to do cards for their challenges with a bit of snark or humour, I remembered that I have these DIRT PILE and OH CRAP!! rubber stamps from Hambo Stamps, their stamps always have an element of fun to them.
I started off with a drop of distress ink and water on my craft mat, smooshed the cardstock into it, added a few splatters, while that was drying I stamped the dirt pile image then coloured it and cut it out, layered the background onto some brown cardstock and stuck to my card base, glued some drywall tape, and the image on, and then added the sentiment. super easy and quick!!!

SDC191 Circles

For this weeks challenge over at the Stampotique Designers Challenge the absolutely amazingly talented Magda Polakow.....(oh the wonderful art that lady can produce with scraps of paper and painters tape!!!).....has challenged us all to use circles in our creations.
My mind went immediately to the fabulous Lin Brown Paperartsy stencil that I have, a stencil with different size circles and circle clusters, it is gorgeous. so I set off by using the stencil with some texture paste, leaving it to dry, and then using a mixture of paints and spray paints. WOW!!! I cannot even tell you how many changes I have made to the colours of this card, it is a wonder that the card didn't disintigrate with all the wet layers it went through. I wanted to achieve a shimmer around the circles, sounds easy... and yes I used tons of shimmer mist, but then it affected all the other areas...GRRRRRRRRRRR. at one point I got so frustrated that I was going to screw it up and throw it in the bin!!!!.... but after all the sprays and paint layers I just couldn't bring myself to, and in the end I am glad because my perseverance paid off, I love the background now... so I added the LARGE SHROOM and the cute BURU character, then when all was matted and dried, I proceeded to take photo's of my work!!!! well all you crafters that try to take a clear photo of a very shimmery image will know my frustration....AAAARRRRGGGGGGGHHHHH. you will just have to take my word for how much more  beautiful and shimmery this card is in real life.

Tim's April Tag

I have not played along in Sir Tim Holtz's Tag challenge for a while now, so I thought I would give it a go for this month.   HERE  is Tim's tag, he has used his beautiful new flower stamps, well...  haven't got them...YET!!, and I haven't got his new word dies...YET!!! I adore them, and they are on my list along with many other things!!!  whoever said that crafting was cheap...was an absolute fool!!!. so anyways, I have used the supplies that I have got, the word "life" is the first line from one of his "good thoughts" stamps, and the cage and bird are from the artful flight stamp set. plenty of splattering and sewing....oooohhh yummy...my two favourite things.

I'm in Stitches!!!!

I don't seem to be able to do a card now without adding some stitching around the edge with my sewing machine, it seems to help draw the card centre to the eye, so I was so glad when I saw that this weeks challenge at the Stampotique Designers Challenge Blogspot  is all about "stitches"....  Coby is the hostess this week and she says   "I love stitches in my creations, sometimes stamped, sometimes by hand, sometimes with the sewing machine".   so she is challenging us to use stitching in our creations.
I saw this quote and I thought it just perfect for this challenge, I do like to take things quite literally!!!, anyhow, I thought I would try it first on some copy paper that I have been using as a mat for a while so that I don't get lots of gunge and inks on my surface, I printed out the quote on the paper and then cut it right through the quote, crumpled up the cut edge slightly, then stuck the two pieces onto another piece of card, but offset the quote slightly, then hand stitched down the cut.  Well I liked it so much that I decided to use this "test piece" so I added the fabulous MOTH FAB image, then with my sewing machine I did some stitching round the edge. I love it when a plan comes together straight away instead of the usual three or four attempts to get it right!!!!...ah well...there is no such thing as a waste of paper, for every time I don't get it quite right, I just alter it with another layer of paint!!! I am so frugal when it comes to paper, I won't even let my partner throw away any waste copy paper he has.....and he always has loads with all the rubbish he is printing and making mistakes!!! ahh well...more for me.

"Just Kidding"

A couple of weeks ago I won the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers go green challenge with THIS card, but as I was away on my holidays at the time,I couldn't be guest designer for the week afters challenge, so they have kindly let me join in on this weeks challenge which is all about "just kidding"....make a funny card!!!!.....so I took it quite literally and used the words in my quote....which I think is quite funny, it had me chuckling anyhow!!!!.   To join in this weeks fun challenge then you will find it here at the Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers blogspot.