I'm so 'chuffed' with myself...

...I drilled a hole in a spoon!!  Well, three spoons actually :)

I borrowed Tom's Dremel - it was cool (well hot actually, couldn't believe how hot the spoons got lol).  Tom's my fourteen year old son as of today.  Happy Birthday Tom!

My daughter Sophie finishes school tomorrow and her favourite English teacher is leaving to work in Australia.  Sophie wanted a special present for her, and I wanted a good reason to finally have a go at collaging on spoons.  I've see Kelly Perkins' work with spoons and loved it, and found this tutorial.

After drilling the holes (for which I should have used oil as a lubricant apparently!), I used alcohol inks to colour the spoons, then used glossy accents to add words and bits of collage.  The words, cut from a variety of old books, say

she went on her way

desiring an incredible adventure

with delicious excitement

The larger words are cut from a children's book, a tip I picked up somewhere!  Large print books are another good source.  

This is a quick card I made for the teacher, which includes some 7 gypsies rub-ons from The Stamp Attic.  And here's an arty something to make you smile - I had a meeting in this building in central Manchester on Monday...how cool are those stick men?  :)

definitely a treat!

This treat comes courtesy of Jennie at the Artistic Stamper!  She's definitely getting into the spirit of Halloween, and all you have to do is leave a comment before Mon eve then post the blog candy and link on your blog!  But the treat doesn't stop there!  Even if you're not a winner of that yummy Tim candy, you can get 10% of any orders this weekend, just by putting 'Halloween' in the discount box.  Check out the Mabel Lucie Attwell stamps ... soooo cute!!!

I got these Karantha stamps from Jennie a few weeks ago now and decided to make a quick tag with them this evening.  The background is made using Adirondack Colourwash butterscotch and wild plum, and the lettuce Acrylic paint dabber.

mmm, now I reckon that miniature film ribbon'd look good amongst the ribbons on this tag!!!

Oh, and I coloured the diamantes with alcohol ink :)

i love buttons

I'd been eyeing up the blue button with the diamante in the middle for a while in John Lewis, especially since it was in the sale! It was the very last one and eventually I succumbed and added it to corset. She called hers 'Viva la Diva', the inspiration being Las Vegas and show girls - so think feathers and shiny bits :) The second button on there was so shiny it just had to be slipped into my basket too!!

A friend of mine recently introduced me to 'gemagic' so I've been merrily adding gems to this corset. As well as adding the shiny braids and 'fluffy' bit, I did the collage on the right with snippets of fabric, feathers, gems, and some dice earrings I found in Claire's accessories. I dyed the lace on the left using alcohol inks - they were fab as they dry soooo quickly :)

This corset is going in the post today to the next participant - I'm going to miss working on them, I'm onto my last one!!

gathering lilacs

I've been working on the latest corset in Paddy's round robin this week. It's Paddy's own corset that used to belong to her Mum and the theme is 'Gathering lilacs'. I added paint, embossing powder, tyvek and handmade paper with beads, lace flowers and some metal butterflies which I coloured with alcohol inks. It was very relaxing, I love working this way.

Paris atc

Yesterday's atc kick-started me enough to make the Paris atc I had to do for a swap :)

Sketch Challenge Winner

Hee hee :) The Craft Stamper Sketch Challenge winner is me! I did find it a challenge to work to a sketch for a card but I loved the result. I really, really like these peacock stamps from Elusive Images! Blues and greens with a bit of sparkle are definitely my colours.

Paris

This is my contribution for a Paris themed ATC swap on AATCUK. I stamped the image of Notre Dame over the paper I used as a mat whilst demoing alcohol inks at Port Sunny! I love the blobby effect it left behind.

Craft Stamper Sketch Challenge - June

Another first for me - I've never used a sketch to design a card before, but I really liked Craft Stamper's sketch this month and had the time to have a go. Sorry image isn't the best, I'm still relying on my scanner rather than a camera!

Thank God It's Friday Challenge - Striped Trousers

This is my first attempt at an online challenge and I couldn't resist the theme of 'striped trousers'!! My stampotique bird was going to make another appearance until I remembered that one of my new Port Sunny purchases had striped tights! He's 'Em's Elf' from The Old Island Stamp Company.

Alcohol Inks and . . . Sellotape?

I've had a few strange looks about this one but it's FAB! I was demoing alcohol inks for Paddy (from Paddy's Stamping Place) at Port Sunlight last Saturday so spent the week before playing with the inks. I also decided to make one of the bird cages by Gail Milburn from May's Craft Stamper and that's how I had my eureka moment!

There was still some sellotape left on the roll and so I decided to use the alcohol inks on it. I'll post a piccie when I get a working camera. Well, that set me off on strips of sellotape...

How gorgeous is that!! Use instead of ribbon on a card and/or layer over inked backgrounds. Yummy! Watch this space for a card or ATC using this technique :)

But while you're waiting...

Here's part of an ATC I made for the show (sorry, image is scanned so slightly awry!). Alcohol inks overstamped with co-ordinating pigment ink for background, and overstamped with white embossed image. Bird stamped on blue alcohol inked card.