The Three Muses - Steampunk

 Here is my piece for The Three Muses challenge this week - Steampunkerie.... a favourite topic of mine, as those who have seen my jewellery pieces will know - nearly entered them, but they are too well known !!! smacky handy!!!

It is a whopping 10"x10" because I am using some of the Graphics 45 Steampunk stack and wanted to use some large chunks - cutting into it nearly broke my nerve, but I kept steady!!! tee hee.

 So here we go with the first close up view, of the top left. I painted the whole card piece in a mixture of copper and bronze eco, then a pva glue sandwich with black on top - not much left showing, but there is a bit here and down the righthand side. The whole lefthand side is a piece of the paper that has this lady on it. I added some rosey bits to her hat and waist, and made a clocky thing for her throat... Peeking from behind her hat is one of those skrink watches I made on my WOYWW desk... I KNEW they would come in handy!!

 Here at the righthand corner is a little box I made a long time ago for a TIO challenge, and I have altered it a bit to go here - it is like a mini printer's tray that had Chinese coins in it, at one time...

 This middle right section showa a bit more of the crackling with eco paints/pva sandwich, and features some coiled copper wire, done on my coiling machine!!! Fab... Here is the tiny cage from TH, but when I went to cut it my loverly, bootiful new Vagabond gave up the ghost and stopped working!!!! BOO HOO!!!!  Thank goodness for the little bug under my desk still!!! So it will have to go back and I will have to await new stock!!! Ah, well....

 This little box is the third and last from the TH configurations day... I papered it using the butterflies from the back of the sheet I was cutting, then added a butterfly and this ticket from my stamp set... the box is crackled too, and has some gears and sprockets etc added... yummy...

 Finally, I made some of those roses I love so much (thanks JoZarty for showing me the link to Lynne Forsythe and her wonderful video tutorial ) and painted them copper, distressed black and bronze. I stuck some of them to cogs and then added some of the coiled copper wire, pulled and twisted... bit like me then - well the twisted bit anyway!!!

So there it is... I hope you liked looking and I hope those guys over at The Three Muses like it... well, I do so I shall have to find somewhere to put it!!

Thanks for looking , and for your lovely comments, much appreciated
Love and Light
Frankie
xx

WOYWW #95 - You will NOT believe it!!!

 OH MY!!! Those weeks go by too fast don't they!!?? I can't believe we are at the end of March now... but it's true, and life slips by in a crafty haze just now... I am not complaining about my muse, as it is very much behaving itself, and I have made some pleasing pieces recently... Above are some shrink plastic watches I have made, after the success of the one I did for my Grungy Monday #1 tag... this new challenge is going to be fun, so have a look... here is the tag I made and the link is there to Studio L3... I might even add one to my Stampman DT piece, because I had not thought of it when I made that last week!! It's a watch from a UMount sheet. I cut the hole for the handle with my cropadile... I have put them away for future use!!

 And now for the main shot!!!! No, no, please don't faint away... I KNOW you're not used to such vast empty spaces when you visit me,  but there it is, a MUCH tidier desk with oodles of room to play!!! For those of you wondering what on earth I am going on about, just hop over to the Stamping Ground, where our lovely Julia hosts a snooping session each Wednesday!!

In the distance, to the left of my computer, is the Anything T!m piece for Stampman DT I was telling you about... the next area for a tidy is this load of stuff on the side... there must be things there I could put away?? I have Sakura pens that are no longer working - poo I say, as many are half full of ink!! Anyone else in the same boat?? How can I re-activate them?? I HATE the thought of throwing them away, but I need the space!!

 So, there are the beginnings of two projects here - a steampunkerie piece and some clay to make some jewellery for my daughter, Miranda. She commissioned it on Monday night... big beads and chain etc... perhaps you'll get to see it next week.

 Here is the Graphic45 paper I shall use for some of the steampunk project, but how I will bring myself to cut into it is, as yet, a deep mystery!!!! It is so gorgeously yummy, it will be very difficult, tee hee...

And lastly, the various clays I have chosen for the beads and chain thingy... It is actually much more red than this in the pack on the left, but not showing up well in the photo. She wants them all swirly, so I have some transperant out too..

Thanks for coming over to look. I really appreciate your time and the effort you make to comment... I hope to get round to lots of you again this week, even if it takes me into the weekend, so have a great one in the meantime
Love and Light
Frankie
xx

PS, the kittens are doing really well and can be seen here, if you missed them earlier in the week.
PPS... I have made TOP3 at Simon Says Stamp and Show - WOOOOOOOOOO!!

Grungy Monday #1 - Tim Holtz Tag Technique

Well, here is my offering for this brand new challenge from StudioL3, and the lovely Linda Ledbetter. She wants us to create a tag using the techniques shown by Tim Holtz (stop trembling, Gaywood, and get on with telling it...!!!) on his 10th tag of 2008 Christmas... He created a background by using a mask and a home made spritz of distress ink and perfect pearls... Go check it all out, because it's well worth the inspiration!!!


I started with a large tag, and spritzed it with a mixture of antique linen and vintage photo, with some golden mica shaken in... The large clock mask is a fav of mine, and it always looks bold and beautiful. I sploged it with stormy sky, when it was dry then did the splatter thingy - sounds like a crazy dance!!! The bird is embossed with ep then cracked and he carries a crown I got from Lin Brown's shop, after the brilliant TH ArtsyCraft day... I took a Prima flower and added some new fangled mesh-type ribbon I found at the NEC on Friday... It's WONDERFUL stuff, and can be used for allsorts of things, including jewellery!!! Watch out for it 'cos I shall use it lots in future!! The button is TH again...

The last ickle bit I want to chat about is the tiny watch I made in shrink plastic and stuck to a sprocket gear... I love it and I shall do that again sometime too. So there you have it, my "cuckoo clock" for this premier launch challenge. There will be loads of crafters more able than I entering this one, but I bet they don't enjoy making their pieces as much as I did mine!!! tee hee.. I shall also enter it into the Simon Says Stamp and Show - a hat - I expect a crown will do!!

Thanks for looking, and please leave a comment, I love reading them...
Love and light
Frankie
xx

More Scrumptious Kitties!! - (again!!)

Here we go, trying again... posted them before but Zoe pointed out there were no piccies to see!!! There had been but they disparued somewhere!!! Ok , trying again... not so much writing for you this time, as I must get on... hurrah you cry!!!! This is yet a fourth attempt, as blogger keeps messing me about!!!

How gorgeous is THAT!!??? Hey, mum, don't strangle me!!! - well keep still then... tee hee, he is just so sweet -  that face has to melt any heart...

Isn't my lovely Misty handsome??? Thank goodness his ickle tootsies got better and he gained weight because I thought I might not rear him... that's why he is the only one with a name...

Plumptious tootsies, all properly underneath him now, hurrah!

Three very different faces and characters... which is YOUR favourite then???

They are beginning to play and have little scrums!!

So there we are... they were fast asleep 2 minutes after this was taken!!! Well they were tired cos I had been playing with them, and they are still only two weeks old!!! Please pop back as I will post some more pictures later this week... they are changing daily now... awww!!

Love and light
Frankie
xx

Sunday Postcard Art - White

I have not entered this challenge at Sunday Postcard Art for a long time... not done many challenges at all for a while, but really getting back into it now... The theme there is white, and I had great fun planning and making this piece. I crackled again, of course, and used Sheena's paintfusion daisy stamps for the main image, overstamped with silver ep.

The crackle worked so well, the blue was showing through too much, so I whitewashed it again, to tone it down, back to white. I really like the accidental effect and the texture. The butterfly is from Elusive Images and is printed on parchment, embossed with white ep. The extra flower is from Prima, as are the "leaves" - another flower cut up into 3 pieces. I distressed the edges of everything with TH broken china ink, and some more silver ep.

Really enjoyed working on it... thanks for looking and please leave me a comment, I value them all
Love and Light
Frankie
xx