WOYWW #104 - Grungy Monday #9 & TIO #81 - Time Piece

Well here we are for a VERY special WOYWW... if you don't know what I mean, please click here to be whisked off on a bloggery carpet to Julia's blog, the Stamping Ground, to find out!!! This time, it's her 2nd anniversary, and we are giving and receiving gifts ... all, very exciting. I can't wait to see who I send to and who sends to me - it will be so interesting to find out what little gem some wonderful person has made for me, and to find out if the person who gets my little thingy likes what I have made ... Oh I DO hope so... bit nervous!!!

So I am cheating with my desk this week... I was off for a VERY cratfy weekend in Milton Keynes. It's that desk but I can't show you what we made, or I will have to kill you!!! tee hee - but here is a teency weency preview, because there is another course in a couple of weeks' time in Warrington...

 So there we are for the projects last weekend... this final picture is from the last piece we made... eventually it will make sense!!

The following photos are from my TIO / Grungy Monday entry, Time Piece. For TIO, we have to dream in time, and for Grungy Monday, over on Studio L3, with Linda Ledbetter, the challenge is to use a Tim technique from a Christmas tag.

 I have used an arts parts watch from Wendy Vecchi and a metal and kraft glassine paper flower.

 This is a close up of the Tim shabby chic technique. I used my new Fresco paints from PaperArtsy, London night, haystack, vintage lace, and honeydew. I painted the tag in London night all over, then stamped some PaperArtsy cogs and clocks and set with clear ep. I splooched the other colours all over the tag, then rubbed some of it off to expose the dark cogs and clocks... the whole background looks very shabby... really interesting. I stamped a Crafty Individuals clocks stamp all over in vintage photo and set with clear ep again for even more texture...

 The strip of Tim Holtz tape was chosen for the word across it - horlogerie means clockwork/ time mechanism... just right!! You can see those rubbed off cogs close up here...

 Here is the flower and the gold piping and vintage lace...

 

 And this is the full view of the whole tag. It is a clever saying, from PaperArtsy again, and the clock set behind the art part, is from Tim's lost and found paper stash.

 

The full 3D effect is shown on this picture, with a great view of that lovely lace...

So there we have it... I am loving the colour and these art part clocks... it's the second week that I have used one in a piece... this time it was coloured with vintage photo ink to darken it a little. The whole thing is finished of with a Tim Holtz swivel clasp and a pretty ickle dragonfly... Why not pop over to my DragonsDream Tag It On blog to see what fabulous pieces my team has created, and also have a look at the Grungy Monday challenge, it's really fun and always good to re-visit Tim's ideas.

Thanks for sticking with it this far!!! I am pleased you came to look and stayed and left a comment - I LOVE them, unashamedly!!!!!
Love and Light
Frankie
xx

PS...
Hello again everyone... I have an apology to make. I was disappointed at having a VIRTUAL PiF when I thought we were all making an ACTUAL thing... so I contacted my sender to say thanks, but I would not need to take the "class" she was offering... I KNOW ... I am a bad person... I just hoped I would get a REAL handmade thing to keep... anyway, she is now offended, and has withdrawn, and I am sorry, so now I don't have a PiF gift, and I have made her unhappy... SORRY PARDON to her and everyone... especially on this nice day.. boo hoo...

TIO #80 - My Fishy Piece

 This is my dream for the TIO fishy tag this week, set by Janet... it is very simple, but really good fun...Had to be because my back is hurt from coughing!!! A back brace is not very condusive to crafting!!!

 I smooched the white tag through lines of different blue distress inks - just for a change!!! Then dried and dipped again till I was happy with the bubbly effect...  vintage photo smooched at the base, made the rocky bits. The plants were stamped in the same colours...

 The dragonfly is so beautiful, with a sparkly head. I sprinkled clear ep round all the edges of the tag.

 I wanted a word - lots of people say that to me frequently, tee hee!!! - but not heavy letters, as I wanted to keep that bubbly, dreamy effect so I placed the letters across the piece, then sprayed with blue haze perfect pearl mist - gotta love that stuff!! - the effect was just as I wanted, with a little help taking off some of the inks underneath the letters.

The fishies were stamped from a homemade stamp - from foam, backed with the redline tape, like I made the Tim Holtz die stamps a couple of weeks ago... It was fun making the ickle trio, that could be reversed in order to look different, like a shoal!! I finished off the piece with a fishy charm, aged with black and pool acrylic paint, rubbed off to leave bits in the indentations...

Well that's it for this one... hope you like it and have enjoyed your visit enough to leave me a comment or two. That would please me no end... Thanks for coming.
Love and Light
Frankie
xx

WOYWW #103 and TIO #80 - Fishy Tag

Oh my, this week has gone WAY too fast, and my ickle bug is still being a pain - literally!! Apparently I have strained and damaged ligaments in my back with all that wretching and coughing, so I am laid up and in a back brace!!! Boo hoo... However, I have managed a bit of work this week and want to share my desk with you... follow this magic link to see Julia, if you don't know what I mean!!

 So here is the main picture of my desk this week, working on a tag for TIO, challenged by Janet this time, to do something with a fishy dream... All my blue distress inks - what a surprise - and some great stamps from Stamp Addicts.

 Here is one of my jewellery boxes of tricks!! Beads and other findings here, ready for the tag and another project I will share at the end of this page!!! - what a teaser!!

 So I needed a fishy stamp, and I don't possess one - drawers and drawers full of stamps and no fish??? oh well... and I decided to make my own... from foam. You can see the printing practice here, where I made marks in the foam with one of my TSS wheels...

 You remember me making the Tim Holtz die stamps from foam? Well I decided to try it again but freestyle. Above, you can see the black foam, covered in the redline tape.

 This is a sneaky detail from the finished tag then... all dreamy and watery, with a dragonfly hovering ready to pounce into the water to lay its eggs on my weed... rambling again Gaywood!!! get on with it... Come back later to see the finished thing or pop over to the TIO blog to see what my whole team has produced - you won't be sorry, there is so much inspiration...

And to finish, I am letting you see the beginnings of my piece for Simon Says Stamp and Show Wendy Vecchi... That stamp from Tim Holtz was for the wings to my art part watch, but again, you will have to come back to see how I finished it all off...

Thanks for looking and commenting... I really appreciate that you come and take an interest in my work... have a great week. When I see you next, I will have done my wonderful weekend at ArtsyCrafts.. yippee!!
Love and light
Frankie
xx

Simon Says Stamp and Show - some Wendy Vecchi Style

 So Wendy Vecchi - Studio 490... love her work and that of others who use her work and style... so this challenge was timely for me... I recently bought my first art parts and clearly for art sheets, and this was a good excuse to have a go with stuff...

 I feel one needs to get the signature bits of a style, and for Wendy-work it seems to be a recipe of :-
- dotty paper
- butterfly
- spectacular flower
- squared/graph paper
- an art part or three
- neutral colour scheme (frequently anyway)
- odd-ball theme/idea

 So here is a close-up of my version of spectacular flower, courtesy of the lovely Lin at Yours Artfully. She has fantastic tutorials on her blog, so check it out. I have wanted to work with metal for a long while and I fianlly did a class with her at her shop, L.B. Crafts.

These petals are from PaperArtsy dies. This metal started out bronzy coloured then I worked it with the tools. The pointy petals are done with what Lin calls the "scribbly scribbly" technique - literally scribble with a pointy tool... I painted with black then pool acrylic paint, then swiped off most of it, to leave the channels of the pattern etched in colour... that centre is a button/brad from Graphic 45 - total yumminess, introduced to me by the wonderful Laura Denison at The Paper Trail... she is a desginer for them, and makes the most amazing creations, including jewellery using these babies!!! Take a look, she's awsome!!

 Here is the mandatory dotty butterfly, here made from TH kraft paper put through the Vagabond in a swiss dots embossing folder, then coloured and dots enhanced. I used some homemade coiled wire for it's body and antennae. The arful tag from TH is coloured in the same way as the flower, attached with a swivel clip, hanging from a hitch thingy... the flowers are creamy Prima, inked and misted a very lot...

 TH sprockets and gears and spinners contribute to the steampunky flavour of the piece, as does the beautiful Vintaj piece in the centre of the art part pocket watch...

The wings are stamped from a birdie, by TH then cut out and aged with vintage photo and broken china inkiness. It's all mounted on a little frame, which I left unpainted cos the colour was just right. The leathery-look backer is a piece of crumpled/ironed kraft glassine paper - actally there is a ring of petals in the flower made from that too... wonderful stuff!!

So, I hear you cry... too much TH and not enough WV!!! However, when you listen to Wendy demo, or you read her blog, you realise SHE uses a lot of his inkiness and idea-ology too, cos they work for the same companies, and they admire each others' work... so it must be ok for me then!!! Whatever, I really enjoyed making it and hope it fits the bill over at SSSS, as I love their challenges and the high standard of work submitted there...

Thanks for looking, again, and for leaving your fab comments - I love 'em and want 'em quite shamelessly!!! tee hee!!!
Love and Light
Frankie
xx

Stampman Challenge DT - Recipe and Simon Says Stamp and Show - an Old Wive's Tale

This week, over at the Stampman Challenge blog, the theme is a recipe... there are some tasty alternatives to choose and I chose blue / torn,ripped / die cuts... yummy, it made me feel hungry to get into my room and cook up some inkiness!! - goodness who writes this girl's scripts!!!!?? Anyway, in the back of my mind was the makings of an idea for Simon Says Stamp and Show an old wive's tale, more of a proverb set really, but who's counting... tee hee. I fancied using the clock and the umbrella man, and the picture I wanted popped, fully grown, into my mind, when I read "blue" on the aforesaid recipe!!! Et Voila...

 Time and Tide Wait for No Man...

I started by taking a piece of thin white cardstock and smooshing it through a mixture of all my blue distress inks, plain perfect pearl and blue haze perfect pearl mists - just luurrve these for the sheer opulance and glimmery shimmer without changing the inkiness... then roughly painting with a mixture of pool and denim adirondack acrylic daubers, but with a brush, keeping the actual colours seperate on the craft sheet... this way, they mixed on the work, quite naturally... After drying with my trusty heat gun, I splodged on some Claudine Hellmuth gesso, with my finger... I find this so satisfying, like eating with your fingers seems to taste much nicer, the paint seems to glide like magic - oh my, she's off again!!! 

 Then I began on the backer, which is a goodly piece of cardboard, nice and chunky, as befits a recipe of this sort... Can't keep away from this fab paint / pva glue / paint sandwich crackle technique... It never fails to keep me amused and satisfied - little things eh??!!   This adorable ickle pocket watch charm was made to make time fly with the help of a pair of wings from Sir Tim's largest papillon ...

 The large clock was painted with a mixture of pool and denim, as before, with the addition of blue patina from the Eco range, so it is quite shiny and glossy... This picture also shows up the ripped card which comprises the "tide"... it tore VERY satisfyingly - is that a proper adverb?? - leaving a great white core showing for the waves...

 And here is umbrella man - tada!! Not sure if I have used him before?? He seems to get everywhere... I contemplated cutting off his umbrella, but that seemed really unkind, bless... He is stamped in vintage photo, using the papillon backing sheet, and embossed in clear ep - well that's a technique she rarely uses eh??!!!

 This is another of my wonderful, newly acquired steampunk clocks, with some chain linked to it, to suggest sand / pebbles on the beach, but it is also under the man's feet, chaining him to time - OMG, where does she get it from?? that's very esoteric, and not a little pretentious my girl!!! move on please...

The whole thing is full of texture, colour and movement... I made it in a very short time, for me... probably just short of 2 hours... that's because the whole thing was fully there in my head, whereas I am usually adding and changing, and making it up as I go along. What about you, how do you do your creations I wonder??

So there you have it. I am very pleased with the way it turned out and I think it fits both challenges very well - modest with it too, ain't she!!??  For those of you still here, a gold star my friends, and the news that my ickle bug won't actually go away, even after three days of the antibiotics... should have gone to the doc sooner I hear the fragrant Freddie cry!!! too true.. However, my head is a lot clearer and I have stopped shaking and being sick, and the other!! Just the cough, which has settled in to annoy me!!!

Off to try to sleep now,  trouble is I start coughing as soon as I try to lie down!!  Anyway... enough... hope to see lots of you here, having a look, and leaving your wonderfully encouraging comments, which I greatly appreciate. Please pop along to both challenges and have a go - prizes and prestige await you!!!
Love and light
Frankie
xx

WOYWW #102 - More for TIO and Grungy Monday #7

 Yet another Wednesday rolls round and finds our little desks exposed to sight... thanks Julia for this continued opportunity to share ideas and thoughts with so many others... This week, I am still reeling in the throes of that ickle bug which started off last week, making me cough and sick etc...  Still, I have had some antibiotics today, and hope to improve from now on... The stuff on these pictures is for the tag I have made for TIO and Grungy Monday... Writing /Postage for TIO, and a Tim Holtz technique for GM...

This technique entails the use of distress inks - oh how horrible!!!! and unusual!!! - and blocking as Tim shows us here... I used a bright selection on my background, then layered some lovely stamps from the selection above. This is a favourite way of working for me... just stamping and layering... gudd stuff!!

 So this is what I made. A layered tag with some extra additions... a metal tag and an unusual wired bead...

 Some coloured TH rose trim and pen nibs add little touches

 and a postcard, finished in the same blocked colours... I love this stamp because it can look grungy or vintage, depending upon how you finish it...

So there it is... one tag, two challenges. I wish I had felt well enough to enjoy making it!!! But it will do and my teamies on TIO have made some fabulous art to tempt you, so why not drop in and have a look... you might be tempted to dream with us...

Thanks for looking and leaving your lovely comments - I really appreciate them all...
Love and light
Frankie
xx

New Day, Two New Challenges -

I have been hampered recently, but getting back into the swing - up/down, up/down!!! No... create, create... I missed Grungy Monday #5, even though we had two weeks, but the first challenge here will be for GM #6, hosted by Linda on Studio L3. She has asked us to look at Sir T!m's Christmas tag from the past for our inspiration... fab.

So I have made my background using that technique, but different colours. You can get a better view, close up in the picture below...

Firstly, I painted with lettuce and snow white, but it looked too bright, so I toned it down with Claudine Hellmuth gesso, applied by finger!!! It was smooched over with vintage photo, and stamped with that fantastic stamp from the new papillon sheet... clear ep added some great texture.

Even closer,shows the technique really well... The second challenge will be for Simon Says Stamp and Show - anything goes... well this is what went!! but I am SO late I suspect they won't even notice it, as there are so many entries for an open challenge!!

Bottom right is a pearl UTEE embellishment, perfect pearled, made from a brass one moulded... I was pleased how it turned out...

Even closer, you can see how shiny, glimmery and blingy it really is. The piece was a steampunk watch, gears and dragonfly... used up now on another project, but echoed nicely in the mould I made of it...

This shot just shows how dimentional the piece is and how pretty the colours are. The moths and butterflies were stamped from the papillon set, on sticky back canvas and cut out to fit onto a strip of lost and found paper.

So there you have it... I did this post several times this week, and blogger just foiled me every time - would have been useful if the foil were bling!!! but it was all just so frustrating, wasn't it??... Anyway, it's now SO late in the week, it's hardly worth the challenges, but I shall share it anyway and hope you have enjoyed looking at it. It's yet another one to find a home for, but I love the colours and it's smaller than some of the others I have made recently!!! Hope you liked it and will leave me a comment, cos I love hearing from you.

I now have a great idea for that thingy for my followers, but I will leave that to another day to discuss it with you!!!!! no, you can't get it out of me yet...!!

Love and light

Frankie

xx

TIO Piece for Texturise It

 Well nearly didn't get this finished, cos I have an ickle bug today, with a raw chest, sore throat and then sickiness to cap it all!!! VERY nice, I hear you cry... well no, not really but I will survive, tee hee. The headache has abated a bit, so I thought I would share this TIO tag with you. The theme we chose to dream about was texture, so I tried to get lots of different ones in...

 With texture, you just HAVE to start with a texture fade - never really understood the name,  but the folders are fab!!  This one is patchwork, and whilst some of the other folders don't emboss evenly (hence "fade" I suppose) this one is fabulous in every respect. I did not use all of it, just some elements, and I used distress inks in wild honey, spiced marmalade, vintage photo and walnut stain to add colour, all spritzed off with perfect pearls heirloom gold... such a clever product to add glimmer and glitzy mica without altering the ink.

So, a best-ever-product has to be the rosette dies, and I had to use them. Small and large here to create a lot of dimension. The clock bit of the texture is enhanced with the clock die hands. Along the base I have added a lovely rosey ribbon which is all smoothe and shiny..

 The base card is from a sheet in the PaperArtsy Thornton Hall stack.. I love this paper, especially enhanced with a strip of lace..  The one real stamp I have used, which is a rule over at TIO, is a texture one with dots on from Stamp in the Hand called field of sky, so useful. Glass beads and a length of gold chain finish off the whole thing.

 So the brief was texture and I think I have managed that... lots of different textures and pretty colour into the bargain...

Thanks for looking and for your comments. I am always pleased when you pop to see me, and I love coming along to see what you are up to... Always looking for inspiration...
Love and Light
Frankie
xx

WOYWW #101 - Making for TIO

 A little more tidy this week... I have been finishing my PIF for the swap chez Julia - but the things you see out, here, are for this week's TIO challenge, set by Wanda at Sunshine Crafter, for me. To see the finished article, please pop here when it is posted.

 Here are head pins and glass beads, ribbons and a texture stamp, distress inks OF COURSE!!!! and some chain... what an odd mixture, but it works on my tag...

 Corr!!! Yes!!! and some perfect pearls mist in heirloom gold... the beauty about this stuff is that it is pure mica, but without water, so it dries without affecting inks etc but just adding total glimmer.... do you spot a couple of rosettes?? well of course, again, as these have become my very faves!!! So, do you want a little sneaky look at the DragonsDream tag??? Ok, you can, but only a small corner, till it's completely finished...

Well, there are those rosettes... can you guess what the theme of the challenge is then??? No, not tellin... you will have to go and visit to have a look. My DT is SO talented... they have made some fabulous pieces, and their ideas are just pure inspiration...

Thanks for looking and commenting, and I hope you have a great week...
Love and light
Frankie
xx

What a Feeling, What a Day!!!

As my regular followers will know, the lovely Freddie has got all the family into riding, and we have shown our little pony and won some classes... however, he is very green and young, and not always reliable enough, so the decision was made, en famille, (woo, get her!!!) to try for another one, a bit older and wiser!!! So the search was on...

It's not easy, as something experienced and pretty is jolly expensive, and out of the reach of my poor pocket - well, I DO have to leave enough in the coffers for my crafty stuff... but you know, there are times when the Dao shines on you, and you are destined to do/meet/find etc what you want - just as I found the fabulous Freddie, two years ago at the end of this month!!! I found and confirmed a couple for Freddie to follow up and we made a date to see one today, Saturday...

So do you want to see what I had found??? This picture was on the web (not as part of the current advert, but 2 years before that, when the present owner was buying the pony)... stunning or what???

A champion no less... and SO SO beautiful. SO we looked again at the advert Friday evening, only to find it was gone!!! - No, nothing sinister, only that it had run it's course and was finished!!! If I had not seen it on the previous day, we would never have known she existed... yes, she is a 7 year old with fantastic breeding, a chestnut roan, with flaxen mane and tail, called Rosie, as her stable name...

So we went, we saw, she conquered!!! A beatuiful girl, a bit bedraggled in the rain, but fantastic movement and so calm.... Matthew rode her and we were lost!!! And yes, we bought her, saddle and all... so now my crafting purse is MUCH depleted but I already love her...

And what of Beau?? I hear you cry... well that's another case of follow the Dao and all will be well... we went for our riding lessons in the afternoon (we are at a show with the fabulous Freddie and his mare tomorrow, so no time to ride then...) and Freddie spoke to the owner of the school, whom he has known for years... my teacher also had the idea quite independently... what about the school having Beau there?? Yes, you guessed it, he is going Monday evening, and we get Rosie Friday evening...

And the best bit of all??? Not only do we NOT have to take him to a sale and take pot luck who buys him... the fantastic Freddie got money for me, for him!!!!! WOO... we are all delighted. A show pony, a newly homed pony, and Miranda's cat, the sister to mine, had three lovely kittens - what more can you want out of one day?? tee hee...

Thanks for dropping by and leaving your comments, I am always really gratefulthat you take the time
Love and light
Frankie
xx