Sunday Stampers - Week 139 - Sentimental Journey

Goodly Morning Stampers!! Don't worry, you haven't fallen asleep on Friday night and woken up in a parallel universe... it is Saturday... and also, don't worry, I haven't gone a bit bonkers in the last six days and forgotten that a Sunday Stamper is set on a Sunday... cos this week it is starting a day early. And the reason for this unheard of before occurance? Well, tomorrow is the start of the blog-athons to end all er... blog-athons with the worldwide phenomenon that is... One World One Heart 2011... but more of that later!




So, last weeks challenge was really popular (I think it was my choice of song title that swung it you know ROFL) so... thank you everyone who joined in... and that challenge is still open until 21:00 tonight. Anyways, I am starting this weeks challenge early... so you will have an extra day to play too! The theme this week is as the song title would suggest... SENTIMENTS. To join in is simples... make a piece of art, be it a card, ATC, altered art, tag... tis up to you. Include the theme (which this week can be any kind of sentiment) and a bit of stamping... then leave a comment here for me so I can hop on over to see your entry. The challenge will stay open until 21:00 Saturday February (already!!!) 5th 2011.




My entry this week is something I have been planning to do for yonks. Last year I made a similar piece but did a load of stamping behind the fragments. This time I wanted to use the Lost & Found paper stack... simply because it is chock full of images that are just perfect for collaging. One of my fave techniques is to layer up underneath the fragment... so you have an enclosed collage. I even went so far as to make an itsy collage under the smallest square fragment.




Running through the collage of fragments is a general theme of ... erm... me!!! Well, I wanted to make this for me... I wanted the frame to be permanent but to be able to change the centre when I got bored of looking at this one. So, you will see lots of initial and numbers... but the one I love the most is the large oval at the bottom of the frame. The paper said Sunday... it would be rude not to use it... so I added on a 1 and a 39 - the age of the challenge this week... and adding on the dictionary def "inspiration" because I get so much inspiration from all ye who join in each week. Oh, and... the harlequin stamp... I know, I use it almost everything I make and it is getting a bit old but I still love that stamp the best!




So... I mentioned the One World, One Heart event earlier. If you haven't heard of this before do hop on over to Lisa Swifka's blog where all the deets are. Basically, it is a mammoth hop around all the peeps who join in. In a nutshell, you make something to giveaway or arrange some candy to giveaway. Then you make a blog post, email Lisa with your deets and she very kindly sorts it all out, so there is a blogroll to click off and off you go, into the Blogosphere. Last year I met some wonderfully talented crafters and have made friendships through this amazing event. Sadly it is going to be the last OWOH ever... so it will be worth joining in!!! I think that last year there were over a thousand entries!!!




Anyways... that is me for today... I hope you don't mind me starting this weeks challenge early! We were supposed to be getting the drive finished today...but... *sad face* it is tooooo cold for the concrete... so fingers crossed Monday will be warmer and it will be done then. I am just excited to see the humungous stamp they will use! Have a grand weekend whatever you have planned... thanks for looking... TTFN

Hels x

Curiously Colourful...

...Layered... and fragmenty too! Yes, indeedily, it is time for the Compendium of Curiosities challenge again... devised and hosted by that lovely lass Linda - do hop on over to see the deets etc... tis a FAB challenge... and... there is candy too! This challenge has 35 weeks in total and... sob!... there are only 7 left now! What are we going to do once we have exhausted all the techniques in the book??? Perhaps we should start all over again??? Anyways... this weeks technique is one I haven't tried before... well, actually, that isn't technically true... I did try this once... and I didn't like it then either!!! LOL But, at the time I wasn't about to say that out loud... because the technique was actually taught to me by none other than the Duke of Distress himself!! I was lucky enough to take a workshop with him a couple of years ago... and I am so sure that if I had the right kit here in the Room of Stash, this would have been heaps easier.




So, I haven't got the "thingy's" needed for this technique... and I was crafting via Skype with Ellen and her suggestion was to use Cut & Dry nibs... well, we tried that and it didn't work... so I decided that I was going to ... erm... improvise!!! I have a lovely set of alcohol ink pens (now, don't tell anyone will you but they are called ProMarkers!!!) So, I... erm... improvised with those "pens" and made this fragment. It is one of the big oval ones... I had already faffed about with several small ones but none of them "worked". So, the stamp sheet on the top of the binder is the one with David on... and he stares at me all day long... and I always ignore him... I don't even say goodly morning to him... anyways, I took pity on him and decided that he needed a... erm... makeover! He was stamped, coloured and then stamped onto the tag, masked so I wouldn't have any colour under the fragment... and then I wrote the sentiment with alpha stamps. I made David into a "new romantic" (was supposed to be punk but I got carried away with the blue eyeliner LOL) the sentiment is supposed to be "clever" cos David is really old... and I have said he is a "new" romantic... geddit???


I am not sure if this tag will count towards the challenge but I am entering it anyway... well, if you don't try, you will never get anywhere will you. Speaking of trying... I had a shock yesterday afternoon... I suddenly realised that Ferdy is needing a service and the garage that I usually take him to his far too far away now we have moved. So, I went onto Mr Google and asked him to find me the nearest Fiat place... which he did... so I phoned them and asked how much a second service was... and I nearly fell off my perch when the bloke on the phone said £360 plus VAT!!! And then proceeded to ask me if I had air-conditioning (well, not me, Ferdy, but he doesn't know Ferdy's name.. you know what I mean!) So, I said yes, and he says... I need my air-con re-something-or-other-ing... and that is an extra £49 plus VAT!!!



So, I was...erm... a bit... annoyed... (I wasn't rude though...although I really could have been LOL) And then the bloke on the phone starts to patronise me and tells me I should have taken out a service plan and I could still do that although it wouldn't cover me for this service... cheek of it! Anyways... I rang around a few more places and found a lovely chap who is Fiat Approved (have to have that for the Warranty thingymajig) and can fit me in today... all for less than half the price! I still do not like parting with cash for anything other than stash but Ferdy needs his service so I have to do it... plus, you never know... the nice man may even give Ferdy a wash... something that doesn't happen very often ROFL Right... bedtime... I am reading a FAB book at the moment - it is called One Day and it is by David Nicholls so I plan to have a little read before I snoozle... thanks for looking.. have a... FAB day! TTFN

Hels x

Curiously Alcoholic...

...*not me!!* AND...Tinted...which is the theme for this weeks Compendium of Curiosities challenge which is hosted by none other than that loverly lady Linda... if you click on her name I have arranged for Blogger to give you a free trip to the US of A to see her blog...*see, I am good like that LOL* and her AMAZING NEWS!!!! BUT!!!! I am not going to gob off and tell everyone what it is... you will have to see for yourselves :O)) Tis so worth it, believe me!!!




I made another tag to go with the other 6 ... cannot believe it is week 7 already! Am not telling you what the technique is this week either... oh I am being so restrained here it is almost tooo much! Needless to say, I chucked a load of Distress inks, Fragments, Alcohol Inks, Lost & Found papers and some lace n ribbon at my tag... This is a technique I need to practice...all three Fragments have been done this way but the pics are naff as usual and they don't show up as well as they could... I know, I know, a poor crafter blames her camera and all that ... but you believe me... don'tcha??? ROFL




Cor blimey! Yesterday was BRILLIANT!!!! I was a lucky girlie and got taken to the theatre... in the West End of London... by Jennie, whose incredibly talented daughter is Asst Stage Manager on a new production of Shirley Valentine... starring Meera Syall... alone, on the stage... doing a monologue just as the play was written... Willy Russell certainly knew how to get inside the mind of a 40 plus year old woman... OMG she was A-MAYZ-ING! Funny, witty, comedic timing was perfect and with the right amount of melancholy too... and... her scouse accent was spot on... honestly, if you get chance, go and see this play... I have seen a fair few plays in my time but this one was by far the bestest I have seen. The play is running alongside Educating Rita... which I mentioned yesterday is one of my favest films... so *cough cough, hint hint* I would lurve to see that too ;o)) click HERE to see all the deets etc about the plays.




So, have you noticed that I am showing signs of refinement here??? Talking about films, plays... next I will be admitting my love of Shakespeare and Kipling...whoops I just did! don't worry though, I am still as common as muck and ate my fancy posh burger that we got afterwards in Covent Garden, with my fingers...and the onion rings too... but I did use a fork to get the chips into my chops, I mean, I am trying to be ladylike here ROFL Anyways.. time for me to head off into the kitchen to make a choccy birthday cake for my friends' daughters' 18th... then I need to do my roots... too much grey showing thru... a sign of... I was gonna say old age... but I shall take Shirley's view and say, a life lived :O)) So, whatcha up to today??? I hope whatever you are doing it is a goodly day for you and... don't forget to check out Linda's blog for the deets! Thanks for looking... TTFN

Hels x

Curious About Fragments...

...Week 2 of Linda's fab challenge to use the Compendium of Curiosities techniques to make some art and this week is to use Fragments... so, never being one for missing the opportunity to make a tag... and to get inky and messy... and to play with paper... and to get Glossy Accents ALL over my nails, I joined in.. and this is what I made:




I used the basic manilla tag that Tim uses - the actual ones he uses indeedily... the surface is super smooth and when you add water it doesn't do that horrid bobbly thing that some cardstock does. I made a bit of a collage from paper from the Vintage Shabby stack, some music score and an old book page - you know, the funny thing is, the book I have butchered was on my shelf for about 6 years, unread, untouched and very rarely dusted...when we moved, I took it apart and saved pages for artmaking... and now, I find myself reading the page before I use it to add to my artwork ROFL... I can see exactly what I am going to do.. I will go and buy another copy LMAO




I used Distress Inks to colour the tag and the papers, added some square, round and oval Fragments over images from the Lost & Found stack... all the deets on how to do this are on Page 62 of the C of C book BTW... then I added Tissue Tape and some stamping and finished with some Jute and Idea-ology. All the stashy bits used on the tag are available from The Stamp Attic. Thanks for looking... oh, and if you fancy joining in with the challenge, hop on over to Linda's Studio L3 Blog... there are lots of peeps playing and ...rumour has it there is some candy up for grabs for one lucky winner! Oh and... it is basic use of fragments cos the fancy use of them will appear later in the series of challenges...excellent!! Have a goodly day... TTFN

Hels x

Sunday Stampers - Week 95 - Bits & Pieces

Morning Stampers! and...Happy Mother's Day to all the UK Mummy's :O)) First of all, thank you very much everyone who joined in with the challenge last week...I did the Random.org jobby to pick a winner of the blog candy from last week... and the winner is...

Donna Mundinger - congrats to you - please can you email me your addy and I will pop the stamps into the post for you :O))

The theme this week is Bits & Pieces...anyone remember this old song??? Back to the 1960's and the Dave Clark 5 - so the theme is to use bits and pieces on your art - which pretty much means that you can use anything really :O)) To join in, all you need to do is make a piece of art, include the theme and some stamping, leave me a comment here with a link to the place you are showing your art...and then I can pop over and visit you.




I used lots of "bits" on my piece for today - the base is a wooden framed mirror, which I painted with Sable Claudine Hellmuth Studio paint, then used Timber Brown StaZon to stamp some scratches onto the frame.




While this was all drying I used some Fragments to make a collage over the entire frame surface...some of the Fragments were popped onto DooDad images and the rest were cardstock, coloured with Distress Inks and then stamped over...all of the stamps are from Mr T'Holtz's collection.





I used Superglue to stick the Fragments to the frame...and then rummaged through my junk boxes to find some odd bit and pieces to add to the frame...like the mini cameo which is bottom right hand side... and the 2 - which is, I think, from an army uniform number...I have a couple of these and they have ickle holes in them...which I figure is where they would have been stitched on.




I used a selection of Fragment shapes...and left some gaps between them so it didn't look too crowded on the frame for the end result. Again, another pain to take photo's of...why do I always make things that are so hard to get decent pics of....this time I didn't lay on the kitchen floor to get the pics though...I laid on the craft room floor instead...it has carpet so is warmer LOL I have to say....the pics are really rubbish...and this actually does look a lot nicer in real life...I think I will have to invest in a better camera...and take those photography lessons I so need :O))




Thanks for looking...have a great week...and I hope you have fun with this new theme...which will remain open until 23:00 Saturday March 20th 2010.

Hels x