As promised ..............

The details of the Altered tin that I made for the swap over on UK Stampers

The theme was wings

Glitter Monkey has now received the tin so I can share with the world :-)

This is the outside of the tin

and this is the inside.

Firstly I covered the tin using 12x12 paper.

I stamped the image, cut it out & then coloured the flesh areas with Copics.

The dress was painted with Distress crackle paint, weathered wood. The butterfly embellishment was securely glued using specialist metal glue.

I used crackle accents for the wings which I sprinkled with glitter whilst wet.

I used bronze 3D glitter-Gel for the hair to give colour & dimension.

The sentiment was stamped & mounted & the embellishment stars glued on & the bird secured with a toning brad fastened before gluing the sentiment down & snippets of lace popped on.

I used a key as a 'handle'

and managed to line up the paper properly on the top & bottom!!

The inside compartments were made in mount-board & coloured with alcohol inks, 

as was the part of the tin not covered with paper.

It was interesting

to see my card displayed on the mantelpiece & see how the look changed with the different lighting ....

We went away for the weekend, with the family, to a cottage in the Yorkshire Dales to celebrate MIL's birthday. No internet or mobile coverage for the whole weekend!

The card was displayed, along with others, & over the weekend the light changed from bright sunlight to overcast light & of course artificial light in the evening.

The shadows on the card changed obviously but also the depth of colour in the background squares changed quite dramatically giving a different look - quite fascinating :-)

It was amazing to actually see my artwork displayed & see the changes in it ..........

Also nice to know was that my niece loved her New Home card & had actually kept her 'old' one too & was still displaying it as a piece of art :-) It's really nice to know that my cards are appreciated :-)

 Take a peek at birthday girl's feet - she is wearing her cozy slippers that I made her for Xmas! :-)

Glorious Greens

is the colour theme for the Gingersnap Creations challenge

& this is the card I made for my MIL's birthday tomorrow.

Firstly I used 3 or 4 green distress inks to make the background which I then cut into squares & backed with dark green.

I added the ribbon & buttons & the birthday sentiment stamped with green stazon ink, mounted on white card.

The flower/vase image was stamped using the green stazon again & cut out leaving the white border.

The butterflies were punched using my Martha Stewart punch in the dark green backing paper for the base & multi coloured greens for the top, which I enhanced with crackle medium (doesn't show too well in the photo)

So there you have it - Happy Birthday MIL!

I've discovered

that I really like altering tins!

Now how did I discover this? I took part in an altered swap over on UK Stampers.

and no I'm not spoiling the surprise - this tin is not the one that is winging it's way via Royal Mail to the recipient as I type :-)

This started life as an Altoids tin - full of peppermints!

I covered the tin with paper & made the insert compartments from mount board which I coloured with alcohol ink.

I stamped the image & coloured with distress ink & Copics, then used Crackle accents on the clock

just love the effect :-)

on the hair I used bronze Glitter Gel giving it texture as well as colour

and I used Inka Gold on the key which was the same colour as the Generation embellishment

I stamped & mounted various words 

and added a little lace, flowers & the Generations embellishment  which was just the right colour!

I'll reveal the other altered tin as soon as the recipient lets me know that she has received it ......

Thought I'd share

some of the pressies I made for family for Xmas

 Slippers  for my MIL to keep her feet toasty warm

Both the slippers & flower were crocheted

I bought an inexpensive hat & used my handmade felt

and cut the flowers out using my Big Shot & a Sizzix build a flower die & sewed them on using buttons for the centers.

I made a Dressing Table Tidy for my niece

I painted the insides a plain antique white & the outside & top rims were given a coat of colour then painted white & crackle glazed

The recipient :-)

Other members of the family got Snoods - hand knitted & with handmade buttons that I crafted from Fimo


So there you go - a few of the handcrafted pressies ...

My MIL got in on the act too making the boys of the family (including the dog!) knitted hats :-)

Hearts again

Another card using my lovely hearts stamp 

this time with just the one image mounted onto a pretty doily

I used my silver pen to colour the hearts & again chalked the backgrounds

The center heart embellishment & inked red to make it stand out & again used the silver pen to tie it in

Cut it Out

Is the theme over on Less is More this week.

I stamped this lovely stamp straight onto the card & then using a craft knife cut out the background behind the image, which I then coloured with my Copics

I popped a piece of red velum behind the cut out to make it 'pop'

To finish I stamped the birthday sentiment onto white card & layered it onto the velum & used a strip of the vellum as a 'ribbon' to co-ordinate

Just sneaking in .........

with my entry for the Gingersnap Creations colour challenge - soft yellows & white.

To make the background on this card I used my embossing folders to create texture & then used chalks to delicately colour - the first highlighted on the top of the pattern & the other in the valley of the pattern.

The other background I made by using a script stamp stamped onto bazil. I then 'aged' the edges using inking.

I used the script background & stamped the flower & used my Copics to delicately colour the stems & leaves.

I stamped the sentiment onto white card & coloured with my Copics & added the white & yellow & white spotted ribbon & finished with the forever friends sentiment.

I'm delighted .....

To tell you that I've been chosen as a Ginger Gem :-) for my card for the candelabra chandelier & candles challenge 

With this card

There's lots of lovely artwork so please pop over for a look & stop by the blogs for a more detailed look :-)

Less is More - Birds

I'm joining in with the LIM challenge this week which is a one layer card with the subject of birds

I stamped the images in brown ink, which looks better in real life than in the photo (I'll keep practicing my photography as it really lets me down!)

Then coloured the bird using my Copics

and finished off by chalking around the images.

Colours prescribed ..........

 Purple, green, pink & white are the colours for the colour challenge 29 at Creatalicious Challenges blog.

I stamped the heart stamp twice using olive ink, then coloured them in with inks using a cotton bud to give the naive feel to the card.

The heart stamp is the first ever stamp I got way back when in Australia when I was introduced to rubber stamping & gorgeous craft shops full of gorgeous goodies!

I used plain green bazil to back the card.

I added a white flower & pink clip & used my Martha Stewart branch punch for the foliage.

I finished with the 3 pink buttons.