I'm still here....just a bit crazed at the moment and ATC Swap.

A house full of sickies and a few deadlines to make along with an unexpected house guest has left very little time for blogging lately. I am finally done with the projects and the sickies are finally feeling a bit better myself included and the house guest is soon on the way to the airport. I was able to go visit "The stamp Man" last weekend while DH was entertaining up in the area for work. I got to see my ATC up on the wall, How exciting! and they were having some lovely make n takes so Belle played a bit while I got to catch up with everyone. Here are my ATC's for this months ATC swap over at The Stamp Man. The theme is Travel. I had a differnt idea but after many tries it really dod not work so I cleared the slate and started over. Here they are:


The Paris ATC uses a Stamp from Hero ArtsEmbossed with midnight copper Obsidian Moon Glow powder.(loving this embossing powder!) I then sponged the background with distress inks and stamped white designs on the background with an Anna Griffin stamp. I then stamped a floral swirl along the side with Tim Holtz stamps and distress ink. Once dry I wiped everything with a baby wipe and then added some white accents using Dylusions white paint and a plastic card.



The Egypt ATC is made using gold foiling on the title stamp, accents and edging. the background is stamped in Old paper distress ink using a mesh stamp out of a holiday set from The Stamp Man. The face and title stamps are Art impressions. The face is coloured with promarkers and the headpiece is added using fusible webbig dipped in Moon glow embossing powders. There is then more fusible webbing heated on top of the headpiece to make it look old. This is the first time I used the fusible webbing and I absolutely love it. I gotta get me more of that!


The Asian ATC is done using UTEE and Moon glow powders along with stazon. The stamps are from Habico. I then cracked the UTEE and foiled the edges of the card. It is hard to see all the detail. this is one that looks much better in person. I was going for the old China pottery look.

Now it is off to bed for the start of a busy week. Thanks for stopping in and have a wonderful weekend. Angela

Lets Get Shabby Challenge 16

This months Lets Get Shabby Challenge was 2 parts. First we had to choose from one of 2 given kitchen photos for inspiration. I chose Kitchen # 2.


The second part was a recipe:

One piece of fabric
Two die cut shapes
Three colours from your chosen kitchen.

My fabric piece is in back of the photo for mounting. It is a piece of white cotton.

My 2 diecut shapes are flourishes by Chip off the olde block. I painted them with gesso then places a mesh fabric over them and painted again to leave a texture. I then added some edging with brown and some pink and green paint accents.

My 3 colours are Pink, green and yellow from the kitchen. I used papers from The girls paperie, Prima flowers along with some handmade flowers, beaded branches and flourishes(A tutorial for the beaded embellishments can be found here.)

Above is my completed layout. The Title letters "Storm" are clear floral stickers. I brushed flocking on the back sticker part to make them stand out just a it more than they would have. The other letters are stamped on in old paper ink.

Above shows the detailing on the chipboard with the mesh and paint. I really like the way they turned out.

Above is a closeup of the beaded flourishes I made. the tutorial can be found here.

I really liked how the background paper turned out. I was going for that worn wood plank look with the whitewash so I used strips of brown and painted them streaky with gesso then added touches of crackle paint. I then added a touch of old paper Distress ink to the edges and the crackle bits to age them and glued the strips down in a random pattern on the paper.
And below shows the hidden journaling

Because of the strange title I added a hidden journal tag behind the photo. It is pulled out when you pull on the flower to the side of the photo. I gave the page the title " The calm before the storm" because this is a picture that was taken Easter Sunday 2006 just before we got the call that Mom was back in the hospital with internal bleeding from her last Chemo treatment. Little did we know then but it was the beginning of a hellish few days. Mom Passed away a few days later in Hospital. The picture just reminds me of how peaceful things seemed that Easter Sunday before the call. We had spent a wonderful day on Good Friday with Mom, Pop, Sister and the kids just Dying eggs and having fun. Little did we know the tough week looming ahead of us.
I really enjoyed Scrapping this photo and the memories it brought good and bad, and I am really happy with the way the page turned out. Now its off to finish up chores before bed. Have a wonderful night and thanks for stopping in. Angela

Finding time....

Ok, that was annoying. I got my post entirely complete just had to move the picture and poof all my IE windows shut down. Oh well back to the post for the second time. Now that the cleaning is done, the scones are baked and the kiddies snacks are ready for after school it is finally time for some creative fun. I desperately have to finish my to-do list from yesterday as well as a few other projects. Since I have so many things in limbo right now I figured I would share a page a made a few weeks ago.


This layout uses Basic grey and K and Company papers as well as trims from Rusty Pickle, diecut title from Chip off the olde block, Prima flowers and leaves and misc vintage buttons. I also added some of my own hand made buttons and Wire swirls. This is another favourite picture of Belle. It was taken in Picture people in the States. I used to take her there every few months since they always came out so cute. Well I guess I need to get back to my work now. I will leave you with a wish for a wonderful day. thanks for stopping in. Angela

Wow!

I cannot believe it, I was doing my regular Tuesday AM browsing through the blogs I follow to get my to do list in order and there it was! On the Stamp Man ATC swap blog , One of my ATC's from Septembers swap was chosen as a winner! Can you believe it? I cannot. I had such a fun time making them with the freebie stamp in Craft Stamper magazine and I even liked them so much I had made myself and my daughter some extras. You can see it here. Well I have to say that just made my day.


Now back to my to do list. Here is the pile of stuff I am using for another challenge. I will post it when I am done. I also have Octobers ATC's for the stamp man and my matchboxes to finish up this morning before heading off to work at school in the afternoon. So I better get crackin...Thank for sharing this moment with me and I hope you have a wonderful day! Angela

I love a rainy day....

Especially on a weekend once in awhile because it lets me slow down and spend a bit of time in my craft room with my daughter just playing around. Today we worked on some ATC's. Here are the 4 I did for the ATC Swappers October swap. I lover making Halloween stuff so I think I will make another 4 too later in the week if I have time.


It is hard to see but the all have a lot of flocking on them.that is why they look like the are not stamped very clear. It is just the flocking effect. I wanted to use my new Tim Holtz stamps for some. I also used stamps from Stampin Up, Little Yellow Bicycle and Close to My Heart. the flock is from Doodle Bug and Stampendous. to colour the cards I used Distress inks and Gesso. I also used Making Memories flocking and foil kit rub ons for the house, witch and some word images and Stickles accents. For the card with the jar I stamped with Stazon on plastic packaging then used alcohol inks for colouring and cut out.

Here is a closeup of the cards to see a bit of the flocking. Some of it locks like glitter but that is just a reaction from the flash on the camera.

finally I have a few pictures to post from the Chinese State Circus. We took Belle on Wednesday and all had a wonderful time even though it poured rain. Unfortunately I did not get good pictures as we could not use a flash during the show. I modified my camera setting but these are the best I could get. Most of the others were very dark as the lights were low and there was a lot of movement , a combination that does not work well together.

The Acrobatics were splendid to watch quite amazing. Especially the girls. Well I am afraid that is all I have right now so I will return to my crafting until later. I have to finish up my matchboxes. Thansk for stopping by and have a wonderful day. Angela