new Lavinia Stamps release

 I've been playing with the new release images from Lavinia Stamps.

I love, love, love the new background script, especially in combination with the new flower border.

I made some tags for some of my Easter gifts using both of these images.  I spritzed each tag with water then pressed my mini distress mustard seed inkpad over the wet area.  Once this was dry I added snippets of background script in ripe persimmon and used this same colour to add sections of the flower border.

A touch of washi tape and a blue heart cut from previously inked paper finished my tags.

I had a couple of letters to send out so I used the same stamps with a black Versafine inkpad - can you tell I love this combo?!!!

inspired by ... Ann Wood

Tim Holtz recently posted an image of an owl he asked Tammy Tutterow to make after seeing a number of images on pinterest.  [If you haven't seen it I encourage you to follow either of the previous links, it's worth it!!]  Elements of it reminded me of some I've seen elsewhere but it took me a few days to remember it was Ann Wood's owls that I'd seen images of.

Whilst visiting her blog I discovered that she had a free template for a boat.  Ann's boats are amazing (all her work is to be honest!); her latest one is made from "edwardian gowns and petticoats", how fabulous is that!!  [I also remembered this was where Sue found the template for her wonderful teacups!]

So I got making!!  This is a Mediterranean inspired boat apparently, and Ann's instructions are really easy to follow.  You can find them here.

I was lazy and used washi tape rather than paper mache for the first layer of my boat as I already had it out to tape the cardboard together.  I then coated it decopatch glue (similar to mod podge) after a second layer of washi tape inside.  For the outside of the boat I stamped Journey Collage onto tissue paper then layered it on the boat with the decopatch glue.  

  

I stamped Life onto some tissue paper and attached it to a button before layering it with a crocheted cotton flower I made a couple of years back (they live in a jar for such a circumstance as this!!)

 Stitching the sail was a lot of fun.  I used scraps of fabric and some hand stitching to add interest.

This boat is a gift for my sister and is currently hanging in the window awaiting her visit.  I think I may need to make another one for me though!!

a touch of journaling

I don't know why this post didn't schedule before I went away camping, but still! A few weeks or so back I ended up at our local, large shopping centre, The Trafford Centre, with time to spare (that's what comes of taking my daughter and her friends and believing them that they'd only be an hour!)  After a bit of a mooch around Paperchase I decided to stock up on a little notebook and some washi tapes before sitting down in a coffee shop and creating a couple of pages.

I love cutting and sticking but although these pages are ok, they didn't really 'do it' for me.  I'm feeling a bit 'stuck' with my journal at the minute.

I think I'm just over thinking it all really rather than just enjoying 'playing'.

But I have established that although I love to cut and stick, splodging paint around is my very favourite thing to do!

We were going away, camping,  a week or so after this, and my husband always groans at the amount of different craft supplies I take.  My plan this year was to pack a little set of supplies so this gave me some clues when working out what to take this year.  My conclusion - paints, baby wipes, stencils... :) I'll start sharing some of the pages tomorrow.

What does your minimalist list of supplies look like?  And have you tried limiting yourself to them?  I'd LoVe to know.