Birthday Birds

When I needed to make card for I knew I wanted something bright to for this time of year! What better that Paper Artsy Fresco paints…and my Gelli plate.

I used Bora Bora, Limelight and Bougainvillea and 'blobbed' them over my Gelli plate and used my brayer to blend them….used a circle stencil and then stamped into the paint with some of Emma Godfrey's French set EEG07, pulled off my print….then we went away!

 With the birthday looming ever closer when we came back I cut out a square and stamped around the edge with another stamp from EEG07 using Picked Raspberry DI.
I stamped two of my favourite birds by Jo Firth Young (JM20) into two of the circles and a sentiment (EM 22) in another circle.
I added some little random doodles from Jo's JOFY25 and some of the circles from Emma's french set and I was almost ready! 
I coloured the birds and the doodles with Distress markers and inked around the edge with Peacock feathers DI before mounting the print. 

It has now been popped into envelope ready for the post tomorrow!

I hope I am not too late to get this into the Mono Printing Challenge at Paper Artsy

I'll be catching up on some blog hopping tonight I hope!

Thanks for looking, Chris

Another Journal page

We are having a short break - I have to be back on Friday as Two of my friends and I are going to Art From The Heart on Saturday for a workshop.

Hopefully we will have been getting out and about a bit!  

I haven't had time yet to join in at Art Journal Journey, which is a shame because I love Erika's theme of Journeys(of course I would, wouldn't I?)

I also love using Quotes on my pages, which is the theme at Moo Mania and More.

I hope you like my page.
I used my Kraft journal again. I painted the page with DecoArt crafters acrylic in Flesh colour. Some Gold stencilling and drips, followed by Potting Soil Archival, which was also used for some random stamping and on the old French text page.The rest of my page is some collaged bits and pieces from my scraps.
The Quote is a computer generated one from Audrey Hepburn, and one I SO agree with!!

Thanks for looking, Chris

WOYWW 362

What busy week, but hasn't it been good to have some sunshine? (in the UK at least!)
Julia's round up of desks is taking place today at The Stamping Ground and on my desk today is my purchases from my trip out with friends Sarah and Helen to Happy Stampers at Port Sunlight.

I realise now that there have been some escapees as I also have some stencils and a new Visible Images set of stamps! 
I wasn't sure whether I would like the Infusions from paper Artsy or how they would compare with my beloved Brushos BUT they are so different and I now wish I had bought them all!!
My lovely friend Helen bought me a fabulous new water mister too - Thanks Helen!!

They have such brilliant names too!
Best of all about Port Sunlight is that you get to meet up with friends…….especially special WOYWWers

Of course you know Neet, Shaz and Doug and it was great to sit and have lunch with them - see the sign behind us?!!!

I really didn't take many photos at the show - too busy taking it all in and chatting!!!

That's it for now, we are enjoying a break at the minute so hope I can link with my phone!

Thanks for looking, Chris

Spots, Splashes and Dots at TIOT and T stands for ….the tomb of Napoleon

It's time for a new challenge at Try It On Tuesday and this time we hope to see your Spots……..Oh!...or Splashes and Dots (or all three!) The Design team have come up with some wonderful inspiration so please do pop over and have a look at their Spots, Splashes and Dots!

I have quite few birthdays to make cards for and I am trying to get ahead of myself!

I must admit this is one of my easiest cards to make and I have made one or two using this method
I used Distress markers to make mine but any water soluble markers will do.

Scribble colours randomly over an acrylic block for this card - just using shades of green 

Next spritz the inks and then use the block as a stamp. If you don't get the result you hoped for have quick mop over the card and turn the block around and 'stamp' again.

Once dry I stamped my tree image- this one didn't stamp particularly well (I used Water colour paper) so I had to fill in some areas with a black Pitt pen
All that was left to do then was mount it and stamp a sentiment.

This is the card I made for my son for his birthday on Sunday

As you can see I chose rainbow colours for the background and the spattery dots.

I still have a few Paris photos to show you.
After meeting up with Patty and Jim we met up with my Sister in law and Brother in law for lunch.
It was the worst meal we had eaten in Paris this visit and no photos - on reflection - this could have been the meal that made me poorly - not inedible - just not as delicious as the others we had!!

Afterwards we walked to Les Invalides where Napoleon's tomb is resting 

The inside is beautiful although I became confused about which was THE Napoleons tomb.

There are also tombs of some of the great soldiers of France.

This is Napoleon Bonaparte's tomb

This is the tomb of his brother Joseph Napoleon
Oh! and I am here to share my drink with Bluebeard and Elizabeth for T stands for Tuesday too.

We ate this meal one evening - it was delicious - as you can see my drink is water. We had a FREE coffee at the hotel(I don't know why I didn't take a photo of the coffee table with complimentary tea, coffee and sometimes pastries!)

Elizabeth is always happy to see drink related posts on Tuesdays - although they may leave you feeling hungry! 

Just a little reminder, you have two weeks to enter the TIOT challenge so I do hope you will join in.

Thanks for looking, Chris

Playing with ink and paint!

I can hardly believe that Sunday is almost over - or that we are the second week into May!!

We have had a busy few days - shopping, a new shorter hair cut, scrabble, Happy Stampers craft supplies event at Port Sunlight (where I met up with friends ..so double delight!) and a birthday picnic for my eldest son's 37th birthday(37!…whaaat!!)We had a lovely walk around the woods at Styall Mill afterwards.

We returned home late this afternoon, the sun was shining into my craft room and I was in the mood for play!

Yesterday, I watched Emma Godfrey and Leandra showing some amazing techniques with Paper Artsy products(resulted in a hefty spend too!)

This is the page I made in my new Black paged journal

The background is a a combination of Fresco paints scraped on randomly then covered with snowflake Fresco before rubbing off with a baby wipe. 
Then came some random stencilling and stamping.
The 'bell' flowers from Lin Brown's Eclectica ELB22 are coloured with Black Pitt pen and a Uni-ball white pen
The butterflies(not sure where from) were stamped and white pen was added to those too, along with some doodle dots on the leaves of the flowers

I would like to enter the following challenges
Country View Crafts - Use a Stencil
Mixed media monthly - Butterflies and Blooms
Frilly and Funkie -  Opposites attract - I have never made a journal page on black before or coloured my flowers only using black and white.

Stamping Sensations - Anything Goes

Craft Stamper - Anything Goes

I enjoyed my playtime and now time for a little TV - the last episode of 'The Durrells'

I hope to get back into a routine sometime soon!!

Thanks for looking, Chris

Celebrations at Anything But Cute!

Anything But Cute is one year old and I have been invited to join in the Anniversary celebrations as a Guest Designer alongside some amazing artists…yes I did pinch myself…several times…!!!

I have been given this….. to display on my blog -forever!!

So…to the challenge...

The theme is Celebrate Your Style - as I have confessed before my style is Eclectic (very, some of you might say!)
I do love using my scraps though..and stamping…and Paris..and making little books and journals... so this is what I made.

Front Cover

The Front cover - which of course is corrugated card from THAT online company. I don't know where the Metro stamp is from but the Paris on the label is from my Caravelle Studio French collage stamp. The little brad at the top is from a set I bought last year in France. 

Back Cover

The butterfly is part of a Crafty Individual stamp and the Bonjour is from an old Elusive Images set(now Chocolate Baroque)

So, would you like to see inside? Please do!!
I will go through from the beginning - some will be double pages some individual, but all in order.
Some don't need a caption but I may add some as we go along

 The inside cover paper and images here, as several are, come from my paper stash and most, I think, are Papermania.

 Using some scraps - the flower has been around for ages.

 I wanted this page to show the butterflies on the next page too so I cut out the triangle.

I used tinted crackle paint(with DecoArt Primary Cyan)through a favourite stencil. The butterfly has also been cut out for a while. The ticket was cut from some paper I bought last year in France.

 Some tinted (with English red oxide DecoArt Fluid acrylics) texture paste through a stencil - Not very neat I'm afraid…..err- embracing imperfection? The Sacre Couer here is from a little set I bought in France. 

 Paper Artsy Mini stamp onto French book paper

 The Chocolaterie (not sure where from) stamped onto tissue paper partly coloured from behind.

A dinner money envelope stencilled using a Rebekah Meir stencil and Worn Lipstick distress ink - another Paper Artsy Mini and the Moulin Rouge cut from an old calendar.
The tag inside has a Darkroom door image of the Notre Dame on one side and is some patterned paper from my scraps stamped with an address and some bits of my new scarf fringe - way too long for my liking but the scarf is lovely!

Instead of thread or ribbon I used some French book paper folded into a little fan shape. 

 Lace doily stencil using Brushed Corduroy DI. 'Paris in the Spring' stamped using Perfect Medium then used two colours of Stampendous Embossing powders.

 More scraps, calendar images and a stamp topper that I have had for ages!

 Background stamped using Emma Godfrey's Eclectica French set from Paper Artsy(EEG07)The little canvas watch from set I bought in France last year, the words are cut from a shopping mall guide I picked up this year (we found a great little mall near Place D'Italie)

The little Eiffel Tower here is a gel type sticker that I backed with paper as it didn't show up very well - I have a whole load of these type - bought in a sale at Accesorize years ago and never opened!!

 TH stamp from Attic Treasures set and some Papermania tissue paper crumpled and inked over with Vintage Photo DI

Now you may notice my undeliberate mistake here..as I made these pages separately before making up my book I accidentally stamped my favourite Crafty Individuals background stamp upside down!
The Sacre Couer image is part of the Paris collage from Carabelle Studios - I find the best way to stamp on fabric is to ink up the stamp and then lay the fabric over and rub gently to ensure good coverage. Paris (part of the TH stamp) was stamped onto another piece of scrap that already had some script on it. Emma Godfrey's set also had 'j'adore' - just right!!

My final page has the Eiffel Tower from the Caravelle set stamped onto another piece of stencilled scrap. I covered the page with some cheesecloth that I had distressed with my needle felting tool.I attached the 'Memoir' pin before glueing down with Multi- matte medium. I wrote Paris onto part of a coffee stirrer and added a tiny bit of stamping at each end, the gel flag sticker is from the set previously mentioned.

I used my Crop-O-Dile to punch holes big enough to thread some lace through to hold the book together. 

I do hope you like my little book and I have given you some ideas for using scraps.

The celebrations continue at Anything But Cute so please go and join in - it's Your Style they would like to see!

Thank you to the team at ABC for inviting me to your celebration party - I look forward to many more fantastic challenges in the future!

Thanks for looking, Chris