Tarty Burlap Birds Nests

Hello!

I took part in the handmade flower swap over at Your Paper Pantry last month-one I haven't taken part in before,and the challenge was to make shabby birds nests from burlap and lots of other bits-kind of like a magpie collection lol. I must say I struggled creatively with this one a bit (and the feeling of freshly trimmed burlap in ones clothes is akin to fresh cut hair :-/ ) but I got there in the end...I think! We had to do 3 sets of 3. 

I have no fingerprints left from burning them off with the glue gun,but here they are in all their shabby glory!

Bye bye birdie nests,have a safe trip State side :-)

A special Birthday blog hop

Hello!

Welcome to She's Birthday Blog Hop Bonanza! You should have got here from Keren's blog-as she is so deliciously humorous,I wont even attempt jokey banter ;-)

I started out thinking I would do a sort of monochrome homage to She's fave colour (Orange) but then this just sort of happened...and then I found my leftover Astro Turf....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHE!

Have an awesomely orange and happy day,we all miss you lots!

Lou x

Next stop,Lydia :-)

Blog hop order:

Make The Day Special

Emily

Jo

Jenny

Kate

Keren

                   Lou -Thats me!

Lydia

A distressing challenge

Hello!

Two posts in one day,eh? Why not!

So the other thing I did today,which I have been excited about doing since the challenge arose,is a tag for the current Lawnscaping challenge #64 called Distress Maniacs :-D The challenge?

To use Distress Inks (I LOVE Distress Inks!!) . This had me very excited what with not being very zen with CAS,so this is what I made:

And a close up...

I used watercolour paper and built up the background slowly using Worn Lipstick and Milled Lavender. Then I dragged the tag along the Worn Lipstick to give the edges some definition. I always mop up my Distress inks with seam binding,so used those on my tag,riveting holes and lacing up the bottom bit like a bodice. Lastly I sewed the sentiment on-I love sewing paper-it is very satisfyingly crunchy ;-)

I hope you like it-Lawnscaping challenges always produce to die for entries,so pop over and have a look...

Lou

Vintage Water Goddess

Hello!
I'm back today with a piece I have just finished for my Mum's Birthday.

Stamps make PERFECT templates for a whole host of craft with fabric,one of which is mixed media embroidery.

For this piece,I used the inimitable Smeared Ink Elementals 'Water Goddess' stamp (Currently in the sale-wahoo!)

After choosing your fabric (mine is a very-hard-to-photograph-without those-annoying-lines-piece of vintage silk,bought back from the Middle East when we lived there),ink up your chosen stamp (remember-simple lines are better!) and brayer the fabric onto the inked stamp. 
Place your fabric in an embroidery hoop. I was always going to leave mine in the hoop as it was my Grandmothers,so therefore has sentimental value,but you may want to paint the hoop,or make sure you use one nice enough to leave attached! 

Next select your threads. I chose to do this piece with as much texture as I could,so chose as many different blue embroidery floss as I could find,plus bits of thin ribbon,some netting and beads. 

I used a split stitch for the majority of this,simply because it creates a nice solid textured line,splitting off two strands from the palest blue floss to outline her face. And a simple running stitch with metallic blue floss for the frame box.

Her hair was just plain fun! Just go to town on bits like this. I used random thread,ribbon and the netting and interspersed it with seed beads

Aaah,yes, the back. The utterly terrifying spaghetti junction of loose threads!

 To finish this piece,I cut the excess base fabric very closely to the hoop and drew around the hoop onto a piece of thick felt and cut it out. Using a strong quick glue suitable for fabric (I used Glossy Accents),glue the trimmed fabric to the hoop,so it wont pull through and escape,then add a little more to the wooden hoop and fix the felt pad on,like the lid of a pie. If you want to hang your piece up,add a bit of ribbon,lace or trim in between the felt and the hoop. 

It is a lovely thing to pootle along with in the evenings,adding more and more and watching it grow into a piece you feel is finished.

I hope you have enjoyed that rather long winded tute! Now go see which stamps would make for nice needle work ;-)

A very individual Birthday tag card...thing

Hello! 

It was my little sisters birthday a few days ago (she is not that little anymore,but she will always be my little sis :-)) and I scratched my head trying to think of something she would like. She loves all the shabby chic vintagey things I make,so I was all set to do something along those lines...and then we had a girls night in and watched the movie 'Snatch',which was so utterly hilarious we did not stop laughing. Now,we have a lot of inside jokes anyway,but this film has given us a whole lot of new ones,so I made her this....

Can you spot the films characters in it?

She LOVED it! 

Hope it gave you a giggle too ;-)

More challenges,oh my!

Hello!

I have entered another challenge-This is very addictive,lol. The challenge inspiration for this card is over at the gorgeous Clearly Besotted Stamps blog,using as many or little of these colours as possible-I opted for the whole shebang ;-)

This is the CB challenge picture:

  

GORGEOUS isn't it? I am loving those colours! (The ice cream looks pretty good,too!)

So I got out all my CB stamps (there appears to be a considerable amount-ooops! I just cant walk away from the new releases empty handed,sigh) and wasnt feeling anything,until the teeny tiny Honeycomb dies fell into my lap...they looked JUST the right size to fit the Stampin' Up honeycomb embossing folder,so I offered one up. A perfect fit to just sit on the top of the ridges! (Well done Steph! Perfect sizing,lol) Then the card just happened:

The flower is a Die-namics die and the sentiment is from a Waltzingmouse set. I had to ink it,I just HAD to-I have done the white space-it still freaks me out,so I dirtied this one up ;-)

Hope you like it!

SUPPLIES USED

Dies: Clearly Besotted 'Honeycomb', Die-namics flower

Stamps: Waltzingmouse 'Frame It'

Embossing Folder: Stampin' Up

Inks: Tim Holtz 

I need you like...

Hello!

Today's card is made with a whole lotta joy at finally getting this set from Wplus9 :-)

I have been SO excited to get playing with it and this was the first thing I did (still feeling my way around my newly acquired love of CAS-but I took the plunge with this one...that is a LOT of white space! :-o  )

I stamped the milk container onto the card,then another onto vellum and embossed this with white,tucking the straw between the two layers. 

Hope you like it!

Supplies Used:

Stamps: Wplus9 'Milk & Cookies'

Dies: Wplus9 'Milk & Cookies'

Embossing folder: Tim Holtz

Extras: Vellum Polaroid frame Studio Calico, Prismacolor pencils, WOW embossing powder

A little Welsh pixie

Nearly a year ago,I casually promised one of my best friends a kitsch diorama. We had seen one on Pinterest that we both loved and pinned,and I told her I would knock one up in no time. The weeks rolled into months...still no knocking. Until yesterday!

I had the components I needed (tin,1930's ceramic pixie,astro-turf),but no theme or time to even think about a theme (sigh) but last night,hubby was home early,Tiger and Boo were happy playing,so I snook off to the craft room......

The quote is one of my absolute fave's,it is "I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night" by Sarah Williams,which I typed onto Lawn Fawn Dewy Decimal paper. The pinwheel (how cute and teeny is that?!) is a The Cat's Pajamas die and the stars are punched.
It now has to make its way,at long last,to Wales to sit upon a shelf along with a deer in a glass dome in a spot that has been waiting for it :-)