Alpha tags O and P

Well it's beginning to look like I wouldn't have much to post if it wasn't for my alpha tag swap efforts! Here are my next two and I am feeling rather like I am running a crafting marathon with this swap, maybe not helped because I also feel like I am running one at work too!!

The first is O for Oriental, using the Chocolate Baroque Oriental Bookmark stamps. I embossed the image twice in gold on black and added highlights with H2O paints and glazing. I added green dewdeops as acccents. I gave the fans in the top corners the same treatment and added a golden tassle as a little touch of the orient.

My second tag for today  is P is for peacock. The Chocolate Baroque catalogue includes several gorgeous peacock themed plates and the Peacock Party CD full of lovely papers. This tag was a so and so to try get a decent picture of. I am always rushing to take pics to get them into the post for the swap deadline!

For this tag I embossed teal pearlescent card with a Couture embossing folder. I added H2O paint to the feather "eyes" and highlighted the feather image with purple Micamagic ink. I embossed the peacock in teal metallic EP, cut him out and added colour with distress markers. I added some of my favourite bindi type gems which are two tone purple and turquoise as accents for the tail. I finished off with some sparkly turquoise fibres.

I hope like us you have finally had some decent sunshine today. Our garden has been looking seriously like a jungle after all the wet weather. Before we moved in, our house had been empty for seven years and the garden was completely overgrown. As we have a tendency towards "wildlife gardening" it doesn't take long before nature takes over and soon visitors will need a machete! There are still some beautiful highlights though, like this lovely purple poppy I had to photgraph the other morning with the sun shining through while on my early morning wander in my dressing gown to feed the friendly rabbits who run up when they hear us open the front door or the car pull in!

Today I replanted our window boxes which were looking seriously tired. I am very pleased with the results of some bargain plant purchases of apricot begonias, really black petunias and variegated helichrysums, a slightly unusual mixture, but quite striking. That's probably a pic for another day.

We finished our nice warm day with a picnic by the coast, it was very pleasant. Summer picnics are a regular treat for us and there haven't been many days when we have been tempted to eat al fresco this year. It was just the kind of relaxation I needed!

Hope you are all enjoying a good weekend.

Elaine x

Alpha Tags L, M and N

Well this month sees us pass the half way point on our Alphatag swap. Goodness this has been a real marathon for me as I am so busy at work and have such a lot of crafty deadlines for my various other committments. Anyway, without further ado here are my latest batch!

My first is L for lemons. When I saw the trees on the Chocolate Baroque Woodland Dreams plate, their canopies made me think of lemon slices. I computer generated the sentiment, one of my favourites. The background is made using the seasonal Distress Ink Lemonade pad on pearlescent card, with Sunshine Yellow Adirondack sponged over the top through a Dreamweaver stencil. Once I had mounted the slices and words I added a whole packet of sparkling yellow dome gems for the bubbles in the lemonade. 

My M theme was meadow and uses one of my all time favourite CB sets of stamps Wild Meadow.  

This pic is a little pale possibly. This is nearly a one layer tag, except for the butterfly, and unusually for me uses my much neglected Versamagic chalk inks. I shaded the sky using a nestie scallop mask and then layered up the different stamps.

My final tag, and maybe the one that I was least happy with was N for New Leaf. This one used the leaf from the recent CB Sunny Sunflowers set.

For this one I cut out a tag out of some old velvet lampshade fabric a friend had given me and started by stamping the leaf in brown Brilliance ink. I then embossed the leaf onto copper and mocha pearlescent card using Vintage Photo Distress EP which has a rough texture. I added those and some gold leaf brads into the mix. My new leaf was embossed onto gold and I added a computer generated sentiment "turn over a new leaf" on the back. I added an eyelet and attached it to the tag with a chain so it could be turned over. I finished with a piece of gorgeous leaf edged ribbon.

The tags have all found their new homes now and my collection has grown with three more lovely works of art from other girls in the swap group.

Hope you have a good weekend out of the wet weather. I am hoping we might get a little sunshine later!

Elaine x

New stamps over at Chocolate Baroque

The new stamps of the month have been launched over at Chocolate Baroque. They are the lovely Dusky Damask and Pretty Poppies.

There is a special multi-buy offer here. Here is one of the cards I made, using a stamp from the Poppy plate with another stamp from the Artistic Expressions plate  that was a marriage made in heaven.

I love using black in my cards and this time I decided to try gold embossing direct onto the black card blank. I added the wings embossed onto gold pearlescent wings.

I embossed the heart onto red card. I puffed up the heart using a paper stump on the reverse, coloured it with red H2O paint and then glazed it with glossy accents. I added the crown in gold and finished off with a few little gems.

Keep your eyes peeled for more samples using these lovely stamp sets over on the Design team blog and the members own blogs. Someone will be lucky enough to win a giveaway of these stamps.

Elaine

Downton Abbey ATC swap

A while back I noticed a call to join an ATC swap from Terri at Artful Affirmations. Terri is in the US and is a great fan of Downton Abbey. I am not normally a maker of ATCs, I have hardly ever made them and never to swap, but I decided to give it a go!

I decided to make book ATCs as I would never be disciplined enough to  fit everything I wanted onto the tiny space of an ATC (yes I realise that's the point!!!). I started with a photo of Highclere castle and added a pair of gates cut with a gorgeous Memory Box die and a computer generated title.

For the insides I chose suitable art nouveau or Edwardian background papers and embossed a frame image. I inked inside each one and then added pictures of the characters. I managed to find some words for each from an old poetry book that I tried to link to each scenario from the series, some Victorian paper scrap flowers and a little metal key.

I finished the backs with an art nouveau frame from a copyright free CD I have and used some blending seam binding to tie each one.

In return for the swap I got the following ATCs, from Jan who also sent a cute little fabric bag and tag with her ATC - thank you Jan!

From Christine, a bright and vibrant tag, featuring the wonderful Maggie Smith as the Dowager Lady Violet. Christine incorporated some interesting textures in her ARC too.

From Terri, the host of the swap, the tough Lady Mary against the backdrop of Highclere. This ATC incorporated a variety of techniques, including image transfer. Terri managed to visit Highclere last year (which I haven't yet, despite living much closer) and I know she enjoyed it.  Thanks for hosting the swap Terri, it was good to challenge my usual size of art work!!!

 Last, but not least, this lovely creation from Marilou, once again featuring Violet. Love the use of the feather in this one, and the German Scrap edging.

Thank you all ladies for a fun swap and especially to Terri for all her hard work with the organising and posting of packages.

Elaine x

A thank you card

It is now almost 2 weeks since I came home from a very special few days with my lovely crafty friends, Judith, Jo and Lesley at Judith's lovely home in Norfolk. Judith has done a blog post on our shared blog here.

I wanted to make a card to say thank you for putting us all up, or putting up with us all! It seemed a great opportunity to use my Little Claire bunting stamps, purchased at Ally Pally. These have already been used a couple of times and they are so useful. For this card, I stamped all the elements in black archival ink onto Bo Bunny Country Garden paper and backed the design onto different papers from this collection. The houses are an Artistic Stamper set Our House, coloured with Coloursoft pencils. The bunting flags were stamped onto two colours. I even took the plunge and drew lines freehand which is virtually unheard of for me!

I finished off with a die cut fence using one of the lovely fine Memory Box dies and matted the whole thing onto a black 6 x 6 card blank.

It's been a while since all four of us got together, life has been busy getting in the way, but this time we did it! We has such a special time, crafting with each other and with our two special guests Linda and Paula, eating cake, some shopping and generally having fun! It was completely brilliant!

It was sad to say goodbye as you might imagine and we can only look forward to the next time!

Elaine x

Steampunk beetle box!

There are two new sets of stamps just released at Chocolate Baroque - Steampunkery and Steampunk Travel see them here and grab them on special offer until the end of the month.

For this project I used a round wooden box which was actually from my favourite chocolates from Booja Booja. Sadly these days the chocs only come in boring cardboard boxes!

I painted the box in a selection of acrylic paints including olive green and added a gold and lilac mica spray to add some patination. I cut the Tim Holtz die and covered it with rusty embossing powder. It was almost the perfect size for the box. I embossed the beetle on black and gold papers and built up layers. For the beetle's body, I stamped onto copper metal, added texture with a wheel tool and puffed it out with a paper stump. I added more mica spray to tone down the colour a little. I embossed the clock in copper EP on cream card and stuck it into a bottle top.

I really enjoyed making this project, even though I have to confess steampunk takes me out of my comfort zone! Pop over to the Design Team blog using the link in my side bar to see some of the amazing projects my DT team mates have been dreaming up! Leave a comment there and you will be in with a chance of winning both sets of stamps.

Hope you are having a good week!

Elaine x

J and K tags!

It's that time again when those of us taking part in the Alpha tag swap over at Chocolate Baroque find our who our tags have gone to and whose creations we have received. Many of us found these letters quite a challenge this month. I chose J for Joy.

For this tag I chose a couple of stamps with the word joy from different Chocolate Baroque sets and then other stamps with happy thoughts and connotations! I used a mask for the background and then shaded with  pool and stream Adirondack dye inks. I added a little charm with a word which says laugh and some little sequin flowers with gem centres.

My K card was Klimt themed.

For this I used a swirly Cuttlebug embossing folder which I coloured with Micamagic bright gold reinker. I used a Chocolate baroque Klimt bauble stamp with I coloured with copper MicaMagic reinker used as a paint and different colours of Inktense pencils. I triple embossed the whole thing. I finished off with some die cut letters from the Tim Holtz Alphabetical die.

These aren't my favourite tags from those I have done, they had to be done in a bit of a hurry and I feel it shows. At least I am managing to keep up so far though. We have three to make next month so that will be a challenge!

Hope you are having a good weekend, enjoying the long weekend bank holiday in the way you enjoy best. Tomorrow we have a picnic planned with friends, although it looks like we may be rained off and have to retire to an indoor venue instead!

Elaine x