Stick Update....

...this one is done...still another half a dozen sticks and holey stones to go......

I couldn't find any tiny crowns so I used end caps meant for beads...

I just love things on sticks!!!!

I Love ....

...a bargain...and there's bargains to be had in the £1 shop...sale price 50p for three feathery birds...
This one's been plucked!
It's time for The Ribbon Girl colour challenge.. this months colour is ivory...so this little chap has some new clothes..Hop on over here and you could win yourself some goodies from the ribbon girl shop or a voucher from LOTV..

I used some silky crush ribbon cut into strips to cover the body, then covered it in a layer of lace.

He has snippets of ribbon rose trim for his wings, a lace trim bib and a splendid beaded tail.

His crown and cage are trimmed with a strip of diamante trim.

Flowers decorate the bow...you can find all these little bits of lovliness here...

EfemeraInk

.. met on Monday, we decorated canvases, instead of paper, stamps and Mod Podge we used fabrics..this is a brief description of how we did it.... first cover the canvas with a layer of thin lace or tulle, use PVA glue, then add patches of thick lace, glue down..cover everything with gesso..

add extra depth and texture with chipboard shapes.. glue down and gesso.. I used the same brush all the time, next time I think I will make up a mixture of equal parts gesso and glue.

The aim was to get everyhing 'melded' together and create a textured surface.Colour was added with spray inks.. sprayed on and wiped off and extra bits added with a paintbrush. Extra embellishments added when everything was dry. Add the focal point.. I used a Tim Holtz doll... with a crown of course.

I love this bling stuff.. you can get it here..

This one is a work in progress... I wanted a little more colour this time..the flowers were gessoed and inked, layered and stamens stuck in the middle.

It Was....

...Love at first sight when I came across the illustrations from Alice Palace...I thought they would make fabulous rubber stamps ...
So taking a chance I emailed  and asked if she had thought about it, the answer was no but she was interested.... the upshot is she is now designing for  Crafty Individuals and I have them in my hot little hands.....

I am now delighted to say that I will be contributing to the Crafty Individuals blog as part of their team 

 

 

I thought I'd start with an altered book.. these are the covers, front and back. It's a small book around 15x10cm, I've ripped out about three quarters of the pages and will cover the rest with hand coloured papers.It will be an on going project so keep popping back to check on progress.. I'll be using Alice Palace stamps of course!

 

 

If you like these bunnies as much as I do then check them out here

Crafting......

...In the country, twice a year eight of us get together for a crafting weekend in the Yorkshire Dales.There's lots of eating, drinking, shopping and crafting. This time I made up kits to make paperclay birds... this one's mine.

The green one is Jan's... he's eaten too many pies! Jane knit him a lovely scarf, I thought he needed some goggles.

the one with no head is Hannah's... she's making two... a bride and a groom.

at the end of the weekend we put everything on the table and photograph it.

Just Sometimes....

....it's good to get out of your box....It must be years since I've drawn or painted anything (why draw when you can stamp) but the theme for this postcard swap is Hand Drawn Animals... so I did and here he is... yes he's a boy rabbit, no idea why but he is.
Maybe he's sad because he's wearing a crown and a flowery necklace...... though I don't think that's a reason to be sad.

A Right Royal.....

......Pear. This time it's made from calico and painted with EcoGreen acrylic paint in a lovely metallic green blue.....it matches the old typwriter perfectly. The bottom was dipped in gold embossing powder, be careful when heating because the stuffing can melt.

The leaves are dyed lace which has been Bondawebed onto felt and cut with a Sizziz die.
A crown from a necklace finishes off the rosette.

Gothic Arches....

...the theme for the next two weeks is Metallic Fever..Iv'e recycled a piece of old calendar, added a stamped image (from Make Your Mark in York). a fab little stamp shop, not much to see on the web but worth a visit if you're ever in York. Used an old handcream tube to stamp the metal heart and added a metal crown charm and pin.

if you feel like joining in then head over here.... we would love to have you play along.

As.....

...promised, more Molly Bloom inspired stuff, the stamp is a Sugar Nellie. The colouring in is getting better but I don't think I'll be doing a lot of it.

I like this Santa, it's quite folk arty, he's from a Papermania Christmas set. ( notice the clipped corners Clare!) What happens when Zetti meets cute? I quite like this Gorguss girl ..but what on earth has she got on her head?....so I gave her a new hat!
and some wings

Oh.. and a mouth!
I think it makes quite a nice hybrid card.

Meet.....

Batman and........Robin! remember these wings? finally some have been used and these two paperclay birds are now finished.I may do some more Christmas ones but I've got an idea for Easter. One day I'm going to meet my self comming backwards.. so many ideas!

I tried to find some really really small holly wreaths but couldn't, but these don't look too shabby.

I do have a thing about stripy legs!

The Three Muses has Wings as their theme this week....very appropriate!

Stash Buster

Over on UKStampers there's a stash buster competition.....this time around the theme is Glitter, use as much as you can! There's a ton of it in my craft space and it's not something I use that often, so.....
with two cotton balls, a bit of wire, an old building block and whole load of glitter.......

and a crown (from HobbyCraft)......

a googly eye or two!

Suitably Dressed

Well here he is ... suited and booted! I think these could get addictive.... I need to find a cheap source of paper clay.

Off to make a mingo!... that's what flamingos are called around here!

Queen...

Lazy blogger... I just don't know where this week has gone but wherever it is it's taken my Mojo with it! Gothic Arches theme is Queen and you would think with my obsession of putting crowns on everything this would be right up my street.... well...

This was like pulling teeth! I think I've got brain freeze!... hopefully I'll defrost before too long!

Pulling Teeth!

............that's what crafting seems like at the moment.
It's been a real struggle to get motivated, this weeks Gothic Arches challenge is crowns, a subject that would usually take me 5 minutes to come up with an idea.......this has taken since Sunday! I'm not happy but at least it is a finished challenge!

Only another dozen or so projects to do!..... hope the motivation and inspiration find their way home soon!

What do you do when you have a creative block?

Wise?

I don't think this chap looks wise,bewildered maybe ( Oh how I know that feeling!)
Gothic Arches are back!.. I've missed them and I think I've overdosed with the sewing thing! It's nice to get back to sticking stuff. Their theme this week is owls, so here's my offering. No stamping on this one, it's all images from magazines

May.........

I know it's June but today was the May meeting of Efemera Ink... bank holidays get in the way! This month we decorated a plain calico bag...... I cut stencils using the Serenade Cricut cartridge..and applied colour using disperse dyes from Kemtex ( fabulous stuff!)

A little simple back stich to outline the birdcage..........

A bit of applique, some lace, ribbon and fancy bits.......Flowers are made from sheer cutain fabric cut into rough circles, about 4/5 different sizes for each flower, anchor in the centre and heat with a heat gun.. this is great fun to do and produces some fabulous flowers.

Add a crown of course!

These are some of the finished bags........... everyone different!

What a combination................

.. all my favourite things in one!..... birds, wings and crowns!. Remember the decorating post?
well here's the curtain remnants! It was just too pretty to throw away. The cake mould didn't make it but he swings from a bit of driftwood from the beach.......... I must go and get some more!

I've since got some wool felt (How hard is it to find 100% wool felt!.. is the whole world is made from polyester?) for making wings which looks much nicer.

The little crowns came from Hobby Craft.. how fab are they!

If anyone is interested he needs a new home!..

Lost!

Ever come across something on the old WWW and forget to bookmark it?...... well I've been searching for a set of rubber stamps... Saints, icons, Guadalupe and something to do with playing cards I think. I can't find them but in my search I found lots of fabulous Mexican stuff..... don't you just love all that colour and pattern! This weeks Gothic Arch challenge is music and is influenced by all that surfing!

PS......... if anyone has any idea whose stamps they might be......... let me know!