WOYWW #153 - Walk like an Egyptian +350

Hi everyone... that time again when all is stripped bare for our art's sake - opps!! careful!!! - or for mere snooping... - that's more like it in your case, lady!!! If you have just landed from an alien planet, I am talking about our lovely weekly trip around the desks of the world, courtesy of our lovely Julia and her admirably funny blog, Stamping Ground...
So what's goin' on here, chez moi???

 Well, here's the desk, fairly tidy, with my usual tools kicking around, and THAT suitcase again... Why?? because I finally made the mini to go inside...

 And talking of the inside, here it is, complete with top pocket and leather straps. The mini scrapbook is beneath this gorgeous creature...

 And these are some treasures to go inside - all our wonderfully beautiful tickets from the various sites and places we visited... here is the one for the Carter house, for instance, where we saw Howard's suitcases, stove, camera and typwriter, to name but a few... see here

 So I finally popped them into the places I had made for them... just right - not that she's big-headed or anything folks!!!

 And the book sits waiting to be taken out and looked through...

 whilst, underneath is a set of wonderful postcards from the Valley of the Kings, 'cos you can't take any photos there... it almost looks as if this suitcase is made to measure!!!

 Front inside cover has a deep pocket to hold 6x4 cards for journaling and a photo. The storage is a set of pockets on each page, for several small photos to sit, almost like tickets themselves... -oops, she's waxing lyrical again folk, somebody stop her!!!

More pages and pockets to house the small photos. I distressed round the edges. Just look at that blue sky!!!

 Many, if not all of the pages contain paper/ cardstock from the matte stack of The Trade Winds by DCWV... useful ickle pages and you don't have to cut the big ones!!!  - oh dear! she is Frankie and she is an addict!!!

 Many of the other papers are KanBan and Sue Smith, that I have had for a zillion and two light years - she is exaggerating again, of course, it was only a gazillion and one!!! tee hee...

That's it then. I used many of the design features for it, from Laura Denison of The Paper Trail, and expect I shall make a larger version for bigger photos and souvenirs. I am really VERY pleased with how it turned out and look forward to mounting all my pictures and photos to slot into the pockets.  It's nice, finally, to internalise that holiday, last September. Mum, Miranda and myself all had problems, and those days finished up changing our lives here, forever... all whilst I glided peaefully along that beautiful, iconic river Nile....

All that, and this is my 350th post!!! Woo, I must talk a lot - what???? what??? talk?? you!!! surely not!!!?? I just hope some of you find it a bit entertaining, and arty!!! Have a great week
Love and light
Frankie
xx

Looking at the Lantern in the Blossom Garden

Oh I do love doing oriental pieces, and this one was for the One Stop Craft Challenge, oriental. I will use it to make a card, eventually. I used some Judikins stamps, from Stamp Addicts again, plum branch and Michiko, printed on to shiny paper. I also stamped 2 facets of the Japanese fabric cube 1. The lantern is a stamp that Pete bought me one birthday, and I love using it. We brought 3 lanterns home from China, after our memorable holiday, and we always loved putting them up in the garden. You might catch them occasionally, as my garden slideshow goes round, on the sidebar.

I coloured the images with inktense pencils, which are rapidly becoming great favourites. I find them so useful when I want to brayer, as here, because they don't run, once they are dry. I masked the lady, and used the good old gumdrop Big n juicy inkpad, which always makes such an ethereal, evocative background. The piece is mounted on to a piece of silk mirri board, and the display sheet is my beloved DCWV Far East 8"x8" stack. Bao zhong - take care of yourself.

Follow My Leader

This bit of nonsense is for the challenge at InchyByInch this week, which is leadership. I used an image of cranes I have had for a long time, and altered the colour, printed small on to 6"x4" photographic paper. I stamped the border Kodomo cranes, twice on top, in shades of brown Blending Blox, and a large main image from the same set. The whole lot was cut up into inchies and pasted on to a piece of cream card, and the large crane put into the lead!! The display sheet is my beloved DCWV Far East stack, in postcard size - so useful... I think I have cheated a bit, but I enjoyed it anyway!!!

"Love is the Beauty of the Soul"

Here is a 4 in 1. I started with the 6"x4" postcard format, and built up from there... OH!!! SO much stamping and such creative fun (on a really bad energy day!!) The theme at Sunday Postcard Art is hearts, and there are PLENTY of those here... At MMM it is hearts and wings, and Lots to Do has chosen wings too. The fourth challenge I shall enter this for is Saturday Surprise, which is "quote" - exactly that, hence the title of this piece, said by St, Augustine.

I loved all this stamping - and used so many different ones to muti-layer the piece. Today, a whole new set arrived from Elusive Images (along with so many other goodies for colouring and effects!!!) So, top down... the UTEE image was made in my melting pot, with black crytals, then imprinted with a wonderful script piece from the harlequin poppy plate. When it was cooled, I rubbed over with cosmic shimmer mica powders, and gently reheated to set them in. The butterfly and the heart/quote are stamped on to vellum and embossed with coral blush moonglow ep. I used this all round the edges of the postcard too, after aging with grey and brown chalks, using cut n dry.

The large, coloured heart is from the harlequin rose plate, as is the quote. I used cream card and three alcohol inks (stream, butterscotch and red pepper) blended and drizzled with the solution, and stamped the tiny hearts from it too (same heart plate) The top lefthand heart is from the butterfly UMount plate, stamped with versamark and dusted with the cosmic mica. The base of the card was stamped with various images and embossed in places to give different textures. The display sheet is my ususal DCWV Far East Stack.

Hope you have not lost the will to live, following this, but I wanted to write it down before I forget what I did, for future reference!! Thanks for reading this tome... Love and light.

Double Challenge - A Pear in a Birdie Tree

I really love this. It will definitely find it's way on to a card!!

I am entering it as a double challenge, for My Time to Craft - a little birdie told me - and Mixed Media Monday - fruit, chosen by Hermine, whose own offering is lovely. I have stamped this one with the Partridge in a Pear Tree theme plate, by Elusive Images, in saddle brown stazon. I masked the tree, after embossing it with gold ep, and printed the script pear 4 times, and coloured in with Sakura pens.

The bird and large pear in the centre are raised on 1cm pads, and the whole is distressed with my usual old paper and brushed corduroy. I used A Field of Sky, by A Stamp in the Hand, to add pitted looking dots, to help the aged look and mounted the whole on a sheet of my fav DCWV Fairy Tale paper. Thanks for looking, I appreciate all the comments I get!!

Sunday Postcard Art - Full Moon and Circles

Oh!! This is fun!!

I used some shiny card and printed various circles with several distress inks. I embossed with clear ep, then laid a mask and sprayed with glimmer mist in fully purple. I finished off by brayering with Big n juicy gumdrop to take the whiteness off the clear spaces. The cloudy moon is a Stamp in the hand, printed in purple stazon, masked, then brayered with the gumdrop and cut out with a large punch. The whole postcard is mounted on a corner of a sheet from the DCWV Fairy Tale pack, to pick out the marigold colours in the circles. I SO enjoyed this... thanks for the challenge Hermine, at Sunday Postcard Art.