Stampman DT ATC - Show Some Sewing

 This is my DT piece for the Stampman challenge this fortnight... I was saying the other day how much I LOVE the TH sewing room set, so I had to use it again for this challenge. But it had to be different from last time, so I decided to shrink it!!

 The idea is to show some sewing... well actually I can and do sew, but not for pleasure!!! After Pete died and I could not carry my old machine around, and finished up making a nasty mark in my conservatory table when I dropped it!!!! I decided to buy myself a new, light machine with self threading - cos my eyes are not what they were either!!

 I knew, then, that I was going to do faux stitching, and there is only one set in my repertoire which fits that bill, and its the Creative Expressions one... there are zig zags and straights, so I did a bit of both...

 So here they are, printed on the ATC in vintage photo distress inks... These buttons come out SO well when shrunk!!! They look like real  shirt buttons. I printed all the elements and put clear ep on top for some texture... it worked well, once the pieces were shrunk...

So there we have it, as they say - that framies stamp looks as if it's seperately placed but it's not, it's just the way I printed and coloured in... and I liked that effect too. I coloured the lace with vintage photo and the ribbon with distress ink, to finish... hardly complicated, but I really enjoyed the constraint of working so small for a change!! Not made an ATC for ages...

Well, thankd sor looking and commenting - much appreciated!!
Love and light
Frankie
xx

PS... my new Vagabond has arrived today, let's hope he is not such a whimp as his brothers!!!

Sunday Stamper - Back to Black - Tribute

This black tag is made for Hels' Sunday Stampers  challenge, as a tribute to Ms Winehouse... quite honestly, if she -Amy that is, not Hels... oh I don't know!!!... had walked into my crafty room before Saturday, I swear I would not have known who she was. I had heard of her antics, but not really listened to her music.... oh, so young, bless!!!... But I did look, and I did listen and was inspired to do this one...

 I made some black UTEE in my melt pot and poured it into a mould... All the stamps are TH - well they often are eh??

 It's a very dimensional piece, and layered as I love to do, but it was a challenge to keep it monochrome. I used archival back and black soot, with clear ep - another shock choice!!!

 The face, from a moon set, came out really well, from the mould. I rubbed it with some silver Viva Inca Gold - sounds like a contradiction in terms!!! and it made the features pop even more... then surrounded it with a circle of silver mirri and a matte black tattered floral flower piece...

 As, I said, it is very layered and dimensional, and rubbed round with the silver. I used some sequin waste to rub my black soot through, for more interest in the background...

 The letters are TH grunge board letters, mounted on his new double thick grunge pieces, and painted black... after drying and sanding, I smooched silver on them too... I used the silver thickly through the sequin waste in the corner ... I really liked the effect...

The saying from TH seemed to jump off the sheet for me... sadly it IS too late for Amy, but it made ME think, especially in light of the problems of my mother's increasing dementia!! However, on a lighter note, she has been generally more lucid this week - my mother, you understand!!! and I have not had any real bad phone calls, fingers crossed!!!

So I hope that Amy is now at peace, Hels likes my tag and my mother continues to be a bit better...
Thanks for looking and commenting, I really do appreciate it
Love and light
Frankie
xx

I shall also put this into the
Simon Says Stamp and Show - anything goes challenge, even though I have already entered a piece of jewellery - what the hell!!! It's only art!!!!
Creative Stamp Friends - monochrome

WOYWW #111 - Jewellery Making and V V2 Demise

Well, I am not a happy bunny just now as my No. 2 Victor Vagabond has gone and wented!!! Died, deceased, defunct, is no more, has gone and stopped working!!!! Can you believe it?? I made a lovely rosette one day and the next but one, he would not do ANYTHING!!!! Nothing, nada, zilch !!!

I was making some jewellery this week and my desk looked like this...

 These are the makings of my first pendant. I put a metal butterfly into the frame and poured in UTEE.. You can see the finished piece here....

 For the second piece, I used some other Vintaj bits, a round blank and a large dragonfly.... This is how I found out my Victor had stopped working... I wanted to put the round blank through the machine in a folder, but the engine just went "phutt" and that was that!!! It didn't even try to put it through. So out came the trusty Cuttlebug!!! Thank goodness I kept it, because I would be stuck everytime the Vagabond decides to stop!!!

This is my trinket box - well one of them... I started with this one, and have gone on to have many others, but none bigger than this one... I am making jewellery this week to try to forget how upsetting my mum's behaviour is just now... she is getting worse, progressively, but today she was everso lucid, so that was nice for a change!!!

 So here is that piece, where I popped the two together on the same  ring. I made a hole in his wing with my newest TH toy - a hole maker, which you will see shortly... the folder is a small, flowery border one, then I rubbed and polished to show up the pattern...

I said yesterday, when I showed this piece, that I would make some earrings and wrap the hook, so I did that today and here is what they look like now...

The earrings have these ickle pearly beads inside the flowers, so I used the same ones to add to the copper wire wrapping the hook, and the square beads are the same as those on the necklace.

So here is my desk on Tuesday evening, with that necklace and earrings ready to photograph - opps, already done that one!!! - and what can you spy here then??? My ickle TH hole maker thingy, AND a blow torch!!!! Yup, I am getting ready to try some copper working and want to alter the colour when it's done... so that might be what I show you next week... and why would I do that?? Because that's what we do, who subscribe to Mistress Julia's wonderful world!!! It's such fun, you should look if you don't already!!!

Well thanks for looking, and for leaving your lovely comments, which always make me SO happy...
Love and light
Frankie
xx

TIO #89 - Pressing Matters

My tag for TIO this week, is very simple, for a change... Helen asked us to emboss this time, so I decided to do dry instead of my usual stamping or triple!!! I did minimal stamping, actually, just some circles to enhance the embossing... then I just found circular metalic stuff to echo those circles...

So this is how I am feeling these past few weeks, as if going in circles - mum is getting worse and rings me constantly, crying and shouting... she can't help it, but it's very distressing... need to begin to make some hard decisions next week. My, but crafting helps to take you out of yourself, eh??
Thanks for looking and leaving your comments
Love and light
Frankie
xx

Making Jewellery Again

I have been making some different bits and pieces this week... and trying not to get upset by my mum's behaviour... she can't help it, but it's still very distressing... so I am making jewellery so I don't have to think about it!!! The make at Simon Says Stamp and Show is anything goes, so I shall enter this piece into their challenge...

 This is a close up of one side of the central piece. I have two bits of chain here, and the flower is attached to the smaller chain. I wrapped the roses, and hung them from the other piece of chain...

 This is the whole necklace, with the large pendant, which is an encased butterfly!!! - Well, I poured UTEE on to it, inside it's case, after I lined it with a piece of Sir T!m paper...

 And of course it had to have a tag!!! - top right (your right that is...) The butterfly is quite sparkly with his UTEE jacket on!!!

 This bead cap is fabulous, and opens enough to wrap around this lovely faceted bead... I ordered some more today!!!

 I used some Sir T!m leaves to wrap this bead... same colour as the large round one we saw earlier...

 The whole thing again, and  pair of earrings above, made from the same sort of glass beads as in the necklace...

 I used some of the wrapped roses as drops with the beads for the matching earrings... I really enjoyed designing this set, and look forward to wearing it... So, this will be my piece for SSSS this week. No for number 2...

 This pendant is made from a Vintaj round blank, popped through a texture folder and my Cuttlebug - thank goodness for him cos my Victor Vagabond Mk 11 has gone caput !!! So that's two since Crimble, or whenever they came out!!! I don't think I shall be replacing him, cos it's SO disappointing when you use him one day and he is dead the next!!!! boo hoo, poo!!!

I joined several layers of Sir T!m flowers and foliage to make this drop...

 Same here at the back, but a Vintaj rose in front... I made this necklace to fasten at the front, with a large hook. I am thinking of wrapping it, or altering it in some way...

 This large metal bead has great texture...

So this is the whole piece... it jangles really pleasingly, and I got to use my very newest tool to make some holes - the punch from Sir T!m.... it's great and does lovely ickle 1/16" holes just right for jewellery.. I have a couple more of the creamy cube beads to make a pair if earrings... that will be for tomorrow... off to post this post on the SSSS site before I change my mind!!!
Thanks for looking
Love and Light
Frankie
xx



WOYWW - #111 - Making End of Year Cards

Well here we are again, it's that time of year, that is end of the school year, and time for thank yous... Both my grandsons have had a GREAT year, and so I decide to make thank you cards for their teachers... I have recycled some of my recent tags, and made them into cards. The fourth one is mostly new and is what is on my desk this week. I also want to enter this one into Hels' challenge at Sunday Stamper ( building a flower embellishment)

 So here is my desk as it is this week, with the beginnings of the fourth card. I so enjoyed working with the dress form last week, that I decided to go with it again this time, but to embellish it differently. I stamped with TH papillon text stamp and embossed in clear ep, after painting with pool and denim acrylic dabbers. You will see some rub 'n buff, which I smooched over the texture... I LOVE this stuff and the great effects you can get with it...

 Here is the boddice smooched with the gold and ancient gold rub 'n buff,  isn't it pretty??  I used some of my lovely lace wrapped round the form as a skirt. I then sprayed it with perfect pearls ancient gold mist, to age it.. A single flower was cut to decorate the rosette, which was later cut down to make it even smaller - I wish TH would make one this tiny size!!!

 This is my flower, built up from Ten Seconds metal and TH paper stack. The dies used were PaperArtsy and TH tattered florals.

So below is the finished card, for Matthew's classroom assistant, whom he says is his girlfriend!!! - well he is only 5 years old!!!

 To follow are the other three cards, for Jaden's teacher and classroom assistant, and Matthew's teacher - he chose  the creamy brown one, because he says she likes those colours!! The pink and purple ones are for Jayden's staff...

I do hope they like them... I don't think there is anything not to like!!! We are going to put a voucher into each one, so that should be a nice present, I think... So that's it for another week.  I hope you have enjoyed your visit and will leave me a comment, cos I LOVE hearing from you...
Thanks for looking and have a great week
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
xx
I shall also enter this piece into

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

Sunday Stampers - Flying

Well, better late than never, I have finally finished something for Hels' challenge... She wanted us to go flying, and created a great "industrial" looking piece with planes and maps etc... but I have gone altogether more delicate!!! - oh get her...!!!

 Hels said we could choose anything that flew, so I chose butterflies... one on an Elusive Images stamp and the others from my new Martha Stewart punch...

 I smooched the tag through a mixture of worn lipsick, spun sugar and bundled sage, then stamped the images in black archival and embossed in clear ep... I love this saying...

 The flowers are made from 3" card circles, cut in a spiral with my wiggly scissors (can't think of the name just now, but they cut an irregular edge!!) They are simply curled round and round and stuck...

 The MS butterflies are doubled up to give more texture, and the card for them was again smooched through worn lipstick etc..

 It's very dimentional and quite pretty - not at all like most of my makes these days!!! The colours are a bit more vibrant in real life, but it was dark when I took the photos and the lights bled out some of the colour...

So there it is... it's quite a large tag, to give me room to put lots of wings on!! Hope she likes it... Thanks for looking... please leave a comment as I love hearing what you all think!!
Love and light
Frankie
xx

I also want to enter this for
Paper Cutz - anything in the sky
CRAFT - butterflies
Crazy Amigos - fly away

More Crimble in July!!!

Here is a couple more of the DT cards I have made for the Stamp Addicts next show, all details here... I have found it hard to consider such stuff at this time, but lots of people have said it's good for the soul, and that they do it all the time... ahhh!!

 Opps!! sorry the camera is so wonky, but the card is straight!!! This ickle bear is a great favourite... he is looking up, and I always felt I had to make him see something... in this one, it is the lovely Bethlehem star. The background was made by stamping the star background stamp in clear ink and clear embossing, then smooching in blue distress ink...

 This one has a background of snowflakes, most of which are from the set... I cut the largest one from the centre of one of the sentiment circles, so I could use it independently...  After layering up with silver mirri, I added one of the small flakes to his nose!! Aww, cute...

Here are both of them, sitting in their cave with icicles dropping from the ceiling... opps!! The background is the large dots stamped in white acrylic paint and smooched through blue distress inks, and overstamped with a sentiment circle...

So there you have it,  another peek at what I have been making... the samples are winging their way to SA Towers, so I hope they like them...

Thanks for looking and commenting - I love hearing what you think
Love and Light
Frankie
xx