Mixed Media Bear Canvas

I spent last Friday at my friend Kathy's house getting all crafty with a small canvas, some handmade clay embellishments and lots of modelling paste, gesso, mists and inks.  We had seen a YouTube video for a romantic mixed media canvas and wanted to have a go at making something similar.  Kathy painted over her flowers with gesso then went all pink and purple.  I sprayed then added my flowers afterwards as I liked the colours as I was going for a slightly masculine look as my hubby (annoyingly) collects teddy bears so I wanted to do this for him.  I added his favourite saying "The world would be a much better place if everyone had a teddy bear" to the canvas to finish it off.  Hubby loves it and wants  me to make another one to match so watch this space.

Hairballs

This is a card I made using the new Giggle Greetings stamp set from Stampin' Up!  I used a birthday embossing folder and some bright cardstock which I sanded after embossing.  The background papers are just scraps from my scraps box and I added a piece of hessian from a "small" piece I bought from eBay at Christmas which I thought would be about the size of a couple of sheets of 

12 x 12 cardstock but arrived Via UPS in a huge box and which will cover the floor of my living room and dining room - oops!  The Happy Birthday stamp is from a Personal Impressions set and I punched the label with a Stampin' Up! Punch and edged it with their Calypso Coral ink and matching ribbon.

Dainty Dancing

We are still decorating at ours and hubby was sanding today so I was once again sent up to my craft room to keep out of the way of the dust, hurrah!  Sometimes there are advantages to being asthmatic!  

I had coloured this Lili Of The Valley, Dainty Dancing image with Pro-markers earlier in the week so I set to making a card with it for a work friend who attends weekly ballet exercise classes.  I used a variety of Memory Box, La La Land and Sizzix dies for the frame, fence, flowers and bunting.  The papers are from a paper pad that came free with a card magazine and I have used a Stampin Up text background stamp on one sheet to change the look of the papers slightly.  Trouble is I like the card so much I am not sure I want to part with it, perhaps I should make another, less embellished one for my friend, lol!

Scrap Whispers - Cool Dude

In May I took part in a scrap lift challenge over on www.scrapwhispers.com.  The challenge is based on the old Chinese Whispers game and you ask to join, get allocated to a team and pick a week from a list to be the week you do your scrap lift layout.  Your allocated team leader sends you an email just before its your allotted week, or earlier if the person before you finishes early and this email contains the layout created by the person before you in the challenge.  You then have to create your own layout lifting the design from the previous persons layout but using your own photos and papers etc.  When you have finished, you email a photo of your layout back to your team leader and she forwards it to the next person on the list.  You haven't to post your layout anywhere until the challenge is up a couple of months later and all the layouts are revealed, showing how the layouts change as they pass from person to person.  Fascinating to see how much the final layout for each team varies from the starting layout.

This was my submission and after completing it it went off to my friend as the final page in her son's first year baby album.

Mix It And Make It

I was browsing some Google images a week or two back looking for some inspiration and I saw a gorgeous pudding bowl card using the Mix It and Make It stamp from Lili Of The Valley on Crafty Lou's Small World blog (louisemolesworth.blogspot.com).  I rushed onto eBay and managed to find the old red Sizzix Pudding Bowl die which I won and which arrived really quickly and off I went creating this card using some old pink paper from my stash.  I used Pro-markers and Prisma pencils to colour the image and used some paper roses and florists tape to make the little floral vines at the top and bottom. The wooden table effect is a Hero Art wood grain stamp stamped with some Brushed Corduroy distress ink and I covered the egg in glossy accents to make it look more...eggy!  I have prepared a few  of the card bases so that once I have coloured some more images I can put a few cards together quickly ready for friends birthdays.