Time Flies!!

Morning all... - coo, you sound like Dixon of Dock Green!! - it's a special one today because it's my daughter's 40th birthday... where did the time go I wonder?? She was an emergency C-section, in the end, and they ran down the corridor!! They even asked my Pete if they should save mother or child!! He valiently chose mother, or so he always said!!! She was born on Friday lunchtime and I did not see her again until Sunday morning... but what a thrill. She was, and still is a beautiful girl, and everything a mother could want in a daughter...

So here is a card I made for her and a little plaque to keep, without the 40 on!!!!

 Papers are from my precious Tattered Time stack by DCWV, slightly altered with distress inks in worn lippy and the NEW peacock, which I LOVE LOVE LOVE!!! What a vibrant colour and a wonderful match with the Vintaj Patina verdigris...

 This closer view shows my steampunk elements with little touches of the VP.

 This is the part of the card that gives me the title "Time Flies"... well it has flown since she was born. Positively my BEST ever gift... The clock stamps are all from The Artistic Stamper, as is the butterfly.You last saw it used on my polymer clay piece for their team blog...

 Better views of the other clocks and the cogs etc are from the lady who does ECO paints, but I can't remember her name, unfortunately...

 This is the matching wall hanging. Roughly 8"x8", I used the same Tattered Time papers but from the matte stack... I made more flowers like the ones for my TIO tag and some more TH elements to punk it up!! There is a central pont where the time swirls round and round...

 Vintaj Patinas played a large part here for the colour, and the ickle metal flowers are theirs too...

All these flowers are cousins of the ones I made for the last TIO tag... I must admit to recycling the book plate piece, but have mounted it onto a Wendy Vecci watch part, to continue the time theme...

One good piece of news to report - well for me anyway!!! - is that I can start the process for getting my right knee sorted, as soon as next Thursday... let's hope they get on with it quickly!!! Then both hips and both knees will be fully bionic, tee hee...

Thanks for coming along and looking nad Happy Birthday, Miranda
Love and Light
Frankie
xx

Sunday Stampers - Building a Flower

This week, Hels at Sunday Stamper, has asked us to make a flower, for her challenge, so I have made mine from metal and TH paper stack, lost and found. I used tattered florals die and one from Paperartsy. The finished card is one of a series of four, made for my grandsons' teachers and classroom assistants... I recycled the background from a previous tag, but all the rest is newly done...

Here is that flower up close and personal... I used the front patterned, and plain back of the paper, sandwiched between metal pieces. The centre of the flower is the smallest tattered floral die, cut in small slices, in order to curl it and make it look like stamens... I like the effect, taught me by Lin at Yours Artfully.

This piece is full of texture, and colour. Even the buttons stand out. I put some thin organza ribbon through the centres, to echo the ribbon through the tag hole. I painted the dress form and buttons in denim and pool acrylic paint then stamped with the large text stamp from the TH papillon set, and embossed in clear ep. I highlighted the embossing by rubbing with rub 'n buff - lovin this stuff!!!

Here are some pretty glass beads and bead caps. One of them looks like a rose. There is a lovely piece of lace on the background, painted to match the rest, and a piece of TH frilly ribbon, coloured with distress inks to match the tag. It is all so rich in colour, in real life. The pretty lace wrapped round the form has been distressed with ancient gold perfect pearls mist...

The button and the dress form are all cut from grunge board... great stuff from Tim Holtz, which holds it's shape so well, prints up so nicely and smells SO good!!! tee hee...

The tag was mounted on a piece of Kraft resist paper then added to a crease card made of matching distress cordinations. It has turned out well, so I hope the teacher likes it!! ... The other cards can be see on my WOYWW post for this week...

Thanks for looking and leaving your great comments
Love and Light
Frankie
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I shall also enter this piece into

Grungy Monday challenge - use grunge board/paper
Simon Says Stamp and Show - embossing
Scrappy Frogs - flowers

Project Tim Holtz

I have created a DT piece for TIO and the Stampman this week, and I want to enter it into the Grungy Monday and Simon Says Stamp and Show some stitching challenges.

 It's all about sewing this week... I really enjoyed making these letters, painted with the fresco finish acrylics in vintage lace and london nights, then stamping and highlighting with vinatge gold rub 'n buff... The clock is from a TH stack, stuck to a clear bauble...

 The frame is distressed in a sandwich of vintage lace, pva glue and london nights, rubbed over with trad tan from Claudine Hellmuth. This left side of the piece holds a tag, the bottom of which is adorned with some dyed TH flower border... each one in the colours of the piece, being milled lavender, victorian velvet, dusty concord, pumice and vintage photo...

This photo also show the torn picture of 4 dress forms. The stamp is from Creative Impressions, and I did the other required technique with it, namely stamping with different coloured  pads on the same stamp, so I used vv, dc and p... I just painted the forms with a dilute solution of inks, smooched on my craft mat... here is the link to that TH tag technique - check it out, it's fabulous!!!

Here is the whole thing - a square frame, divided by some added strips of the chipboard, to make smaller sections. I cut the TH haberdashery dies from chipboard too and painted them with the fresco finish paints- just must haves!!!

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This is a very close up of the dress form, painted, stamped with a TH flourish and embossed in clear ep, as ever!! The broidery anglais edging border "skirt" is the stitching required for SSSS!! Hope it is ok?? The ickle rosette is from a TH die, but cut down a lot and a button added to set it off...

This is the top of the tag, embellished with some dyed seam binding ribbon, a pearl bauble and some ickle scissors, aww!! The texture acquired when doing the TH technique for GM, is very pleasing... I did the whole tag in it, but then overstamped with my home made foam stamp of the dress form, and did the same technique on it...

 Here are two cute bobbins painted as before and adorned with some TH measuring tape and some dyed seam binding ribbon... I am LOVIN it... It only came yesterday and it's such a BIG roll... it distresses brilliantly and looks really good... it was a fab investment!!!

This pic shows how dimensional the piece is and how the tag is related to the whole thing. I THOROUGHLY enjoyed this one... a lot more work, but worth it and I shall put it up in my bedroom with the birdie one I did some time ago, which you can see here...

 The saying was cut out with my pinking shears and is stamped and embossed in the same technique as the rest of the challenge, and it comes from the same plate as the 4 dress forms one... it's very useful as a set... The buttons are sewn with some of the seam binding ribbon, cut down the centre...

And finally - here is the view of the bottom right corner, again demonstrating how full of texture and dimension the piece is. I hope it bring inspiration to those who see it for the challenges at TIO and Stampman (Friday), and that it fits the bill for the challenges it is entered for...

Thanks for looking, and leaving me your fabulous comment and ideas... I value each one, I promise you...
Love and light
Frankie
xx

WOYWW #110 - Tidy?? + Peaking at my Project

Racing along again this week, I can hardly catch my breath ... time to do some I-Spy chez Julia here... I managed a few more assignations again last week, even if one or two were very late!!! But better late than never, and I am still finding it SO interesting...

So this is my space this week!! Those of you who know my desk well, will notice that I have had a considerable tidy up - YES ... THIS is what calls itself tidy in my book!!! I have taken away the notebook computer from the right hand corner and put my punches and other bits and bobs there... it is having problems with getting online, so I shall ditch it, once I am certain I have all the images etc. saved from it... This is the beginnings of my project Tim Holtz for TIO and the Stampman this week...

 I painted the last of my frames with a vintage lace, pva glue and london nights acrylic sandwich, then distressed with some Claudine Hellmuth trad tan (fairly new to me but I like it Hels!!!) - just LOVIN those fresco finish paints!!! You can see I get a really great crackle effect with them and the glue...

 I filled the inside of the frame with some paper from the TH crowded attic stack... all the haberdashery stuff, cos my theme is sewing this time... here I have cut some pieces from the TH die set, in chipboard, and the cutting mat is out to make some strips for inside the frame, to make it have some smaller sections... The rub 'n buff is out too, as I used it to distress some edges... the paper is painted in a thin layer of trad tan, and all the pieces are painted with it too, bceause it makes a great surface to stamp on...

I like this dress form and I stamped the TH flourish on it in dusty concord, after it was painted, then embossed with clear ep (borrring!!! yawn) ... the rosette is also from a TH die, but I cut it down so it was very small, and added one of his accoutrement buttons to the centre. I shall enter this into the Simon Says Stamp and Show some stitching challenge this week, and here is the very sewing on this lovely broidery anglais border, wrapped to make a skirt.

 I shall also enter this in the Grungy Monday challenge this week, where the brief is to use an orange peel /faux rust technique from TH... please go to my Project Tim Holtz post to see all of my piece, how I did it, and the addy for the TH technique...

Here is another ickle sneaky peak, showing my buttons and the words, cut round with my pinking shears, to keep in with the theme... some died seam tape, a pearl bauble and a pair of scissors round off the tag, which sits on the left hand side of the bigger frame...

Hope you enjoyed your visit this week, and that you will look in to my post here, to see the end product... also, pop over to my challenge blog and join in the TIO theme this week - Project Tim Holtz, as I already said!!! Meanwhile have a great week...
Love and light
Frankie
xx

The Stampman Challenge #19 - Anything Tim - Lead DT Piece

Today, I am in the attic, with anything and everything (just about!!!) Tim... that's Sir Tim of Holtz, of course, in case you thought I meant my son!! I am so lucky that Jill, the Stampman, assigned this one to me, because it meant I could go to town and play with all my goodies... and SO good that I could use (NOT for the first time...) the Aspects of Design sheet 3, botanicals stamp that just matches the crowded attic paper from Sir Tim... I LOVE using my older goodies too!!! tee hee

So that was the thinking behind this piece, a picture of something you might find in the attic, and the old bircage used as a piece of storage for various bits and pieces. So that's where I started, after cutting it out, or rather causing it to be cut out, by my wonderful Vagabond. That beauty sure is saving my poor hands. I wanted it to look rusty and really old, so I set about it with various embossing powders, black soot and vintage photo from Sir Tim, and one called pewter, which gives things a shiny but gunmetal-dull appearance... hope that makes sense??

 I used the same ep's on the art letters. This is a technique that Tim showed us on the configurations day, and I love the look of type letters you can get. In the two pictures below, you can see the effects more clearly in close-up. The cage and the letters really do look metallic - embossing was the thing that got me into crafting in the first place... it's magic.  The lock in this looks great added to the cage, I think... almost as if there is a door.. . it has little holes on the side, so I could not resist putting a padlock and key on there for added interest...

 This lovely paper is from the crowded attic stash - oooo it's fabulous, but SO difficult to cut into... cos it's too full of loveliness!! There is only one of each sheet per pad, so I did not have another moth to decoupage. The Aspects of Design moth is actually perfect for this purpose. I stamped it on Claudine Hellmuth canvas, stuck on to a piece of cardstock. I used brown archival ink then made some texture lines with a thin pen.

 Below is a close up of the little danglers, hanging with the TH thin link chain. The vials contain tiny fasteners. The fawn clock on the left is a facet - the largest one in the set, and the clock face comes from the lost and found stickers pack... As I said, just about everything Tim!!!

 The large flowers are Prima... I would have LOVED to add one or two of the metal flowers Lin Brown of Yours Artfully makes, but can't do them yet, so that's for another time. The small ones are separated roses from the lavish trimmings set, sprayed with perfect pearl mist, colour that is SO subtle... I need the whole set!!

 I am so pleased with my crackle effect. I used some adirondak and eco acrylic paints in a pva glue sandwich. I then distressed it some more with the perfect pearl mist and a blue patina eco paint.

There we are. It is a very different piece for me, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and it has pride of place on my window sill. I shall do more of these larger pieces. Thanks for looking, and leaving your comments, I really appreciate them all. Don't forget to have a go at the challenge... you don't need to go mad with stuff like me!! The theme is Anything Tim....
Love and Light
Frankie
xx

StampMan Challenge #1 - Anything Goes (DT card)

Here is my DT offering for the first StampMan challenge starting today, 16th July

I made the background paper using shiny cardsock, smooching it on a craft sheet with distress inks from Tim Holtz. I used pinks and greens. Love that combo. Then I took some of the single flowers from the Aspects of Design plate56 Funky flowers, by Kay Carley!! Love them. Stamped them in the same distress inks and embossed using melt dust - this has been a firm fav of mine for a while now as it is SO fine and really does justice to the fine-line stamps that Kay tends to produce.

The topper was stamped with a large stamp from the same plate, in black archival and smooched in pinks distress inks. I tore the edges and used some cut and dry to colour them. What else? Some of the flowers are from Jill and I coloured them to match the mounting cardstock. The crease card is from a Tim Holtz pad called Shabby Chic which to is just to stoke!!!!

I gave the card to my student physio, as thanks for her help to get me going in the first 3 weeks of my knee rehab. She will make a great physio and is headed back now to uni to do her final year. She was very touched to get the card, so I was pleased to give it.

So, the challenge is live today, and you should go along and have a go. You have a fortnight to think and make and there are great prizes to win... ENJOY

Thanks for looking

Frankie

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TIO #41 - Steampunk Influences!!

Here is my piece for the TIO challenge this week.

I have gone all industrial and cogs this week, inspired by the stamps I won a couple of weeks ago from Home Impressions!!! I NEVER win anything, but I DID get these and they are fab... it's a great site to visit, so why not have a look??!!

So, I used these 4 cogs and some metal embellies from TH... I also stamped a piece of collage from UMount and a couple of images from A Stamp in the Hand Avante Guarde#2. There are stamps from Hero Arts and Judikins. The distress inks are my usual dark colours, soot and sapphire, embossed with clear melt dust... The whole edge was embossed in TH vintage photo distress powder. As a "tag" it is large at about 15cms square.

Also, please wish me luck for my knee operation on Saturday next, 5thJune!!!

Thanks for looking

Hugs

Frankie

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"Openings" - Guest Hostess @ GOTHIC ARCHES

What an honour!!

This piece was made as a guest hostess challenge for Gothic Arches, no less!!! I never expected to get the opportunity to do this, so I am thrilled. PLUS, I am on my second night of very little sleep because of this dratted knee. I think the injection is wearing off, so I just can't get comfortable!! Seeing my work over on the GA site cheered me up no end and the date of the operation has been brought forward to Saturday next  - 5th June, so the end is in site I hope...

Well, what did I use?? Many yumminess stamps like Darkroom door and Crafty Individuals as well as Tim Holtz and a Judikins cube from Stamp Addicts, for the large lock at the top. I used Archival black and distress inks, worked on with the TH tool and colour duster brushes. I LOVE the quote as I loved the group, and I thoroughly enjoyed making the piece with lots of layers and subtleties... Thanks everso for looking and please do go and join in to support me this week at Gothic Arches, it's always a great challenge. I have also entered the piece for a super challenge over at Collage Obsessions...

Frankie

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Journey with a Ticket to Ride - TIO #39

This week's challenge at TIO, is all about journeys and tickets and different countries etc. I used a lot of stamps again - nothing new there then!! The main image is by Curious by Design. The tickets are by Invoke Arts, and are brand new to me... there are ones from UMount and a great foam swirl from QVC. There are a couple from Tim Holtz too. The whole is coloured by distress inks. The tag is quite large at 8"x4", being cut from a piece of shiny card from Clarity.

Thanks for looking

Frankie

xx

It's my Blogaversary on TIO Today - Distress It!!

I have distressed it on my TIO blog this week, where it is a year old blogaversary today. I shall put up some candy, later, so you can celebrate with me. Anyone who takes part in a challenge in the next month, and who puts up a picture of the candy on their blog, with a link, will get the opportunity to win some stuff from my stash!!! Off to choose what in a moment...

I am honoured, pleased and surprised still to be going strong with the TIO challenge, after all the problems over the winter, but I hope it goes from strength to strength, as many people say it is a source of inspriation to them... Thanks for the support over the months guys, and don't forget to join in so you can win the blog candy...

I used grunge paper, from Tim Holtz, a swirl foam stamp (new to me but I like the way they print out) from QVC, and good old distress inks and an application  tool., in soot, peeled paint and sapphire blue. I swirled some cosmic shimmer power over, in gold, and the perfect peals that came in the QVC kit from Tim Holtz. It was all stamped and coloured over crackle paint, which I had never used before. The small tag was a "fragment", coloured with alcohol inks and stamped with the same image, then embossed... Thanks for looking, and don't forget to look out for the blog candy!!!
Frankie
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New Work, New Blog!!!

I finally got to do some work this weekend... I created a new blog and made it's header... this is it below. The blog is called DragonsDarkerSide, and is for darker, grungier and gothic stuff. I have also finished my invitations and made a tag for the next TIO challenge... it's so good to be working again. Can't show you the tag or the invites yet, but here is the header and thanks for looking...

I used several of my new stamps and my new distress inks, so I had a great time and have many more pieces going on in my head!!!

Frankie

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