TGIF "All is New"

All is new is the theme at TGIF. I thought I would be too busy to post anything else, but couldn't resist using some of my new goodies on this challenge. Have called it New Beginnings.

Really enjoyed doing something totally none Christmassy with different colours for a change.

Theme Thursday "Christmas Tag"

Happy Christmas everyone!!!

After having cooked dinner for 15 people and a busy family afternoon, I felt it was time for a little me time. Here is the last of the many tags I made this Christmas.

I'm off the day after tomorrow and will see you all again in the New Year.

Back on January 7th. Hope you all will have a peaceful festive time and I wish everyone a creative New Year!

TMTA "Christmas"

The theme at Think Monday Think ATC is to show a Christmas ATC. This is the very last one I made. Faux leather paper background, embossed with cuttlebug etc. The wings are Grunge board.

I'm fairly sure this will be one of the last challenges i will be doing umtil well into the New Year, as I'm going away, so I want to use this opportunity to wish all visitors to my blog a very happy holiday season and thanks for all your encouragement!

Mixed Media Monday "Gold"

The theme at MMM is Gold. I started out with the full intention to NOT do something Christmassy for a change. I even has another image, but then after I had done the background it just asked for this little angel to finish it off, the other image just did not fit. So there we are, yet another Christmas card, I guess it'll either be a surprise card for someone or gather dust until next year as all my other cards are mosted out. (Just feeling smug:)

Most of the gold embossing has been lost in the scan as is the matting on gold mirri card...

TMTA "Lamps"

The theme at TMTA is lamps this week, this affords the freedom to either create something christmassy or not. As I just had the perfect Christmas stamp (bought in a closing down sale just last week) it turned out to be christmassy. Main image stamped in black archival ink, coloured with distress inks and water soluable pencils and then an image added from an old French Christmas card I got last summer in France at a fleemarket. Card was scanned obviously as I did not want to cut up the actual postcard. The snowflakes were added with a Ranger white gel pen

Sunday Postcard "Bright Colours"

Finally had some time to do the Sunday Postcard art challenge again. The theme is "Bright Colours", to cheer us all here in the Northern Hemisphere's cold and wintry weather.

My background was done with glimmer mists, the letters are schrink plastic. The colours have totally gone lost in the scan, so the result is rather boring I'm afraid:0(

Saturdays Workout "Design your canvas"

The theme at SaWo is to design a canvas. This week as it so happened i did a piece on a canvas for the first time. Painted with paint dabbers from Rangers, added some embossed metal, added texture with PVA and embossing powders etc. and added an image plus some grungeboard letters.

TGIF Santa is coming to town

The theme this week at TGIF is father christmas or santa as he is known.

I made a rather chunky christmas tag, soldered around slidemailer glass.

Think Monday Think ATC "Red"

The theme at TMTA is "Red". Here is my ATC

Gothic Arches "trees"

Trees is the theme at Gothic Arches this week. Another chance to create a christmassy arch.

Saturday's workout "Sprayed Backgrounds"

The theme at SaWo this week is to create a sprayed background. I used glimmermists for the background of the tag I made.

TGIF Skinnies

The theme at TGIF is Skinnies. I have combined my card with the image provided by Art creations Friday.

Wednesday Stamper - "Metal"

The theme at WS is metal. I created two ATCs with metal strips at the bottom, as Christmas greetings for crafting buddies. The strips are coloured with alcohol inks. The background paper was made using the faux leather technique.

Free downloads

The generosity among the crafting community never ceases to amaze me. Lisa Volrath is putting new digi collage sheets up for free every day between now and Christmas. Check them out they are brilliant! Just follow this link

Tim's tags

Anyone who loves creating tags or simply wants a bit of inspiration, - check out Tim Holtz's blog, he is doing his 12 tags of Christmas again. There are also great prizes to be won.

Think Monday Think ATC "Stone Angels"

The theme at TMTA is stone angels. Mine is created on the background provided by Vintage Wil's new challenge blog, "art on Friday". I had no time on Friday to create anything, but it is a wonderful background and I thought it would fit this theme also.

Gothic Arches "Snow"

My snow arch

Saturday's workout "Mosaic Technique"

The new technique at SaWo is to create something using mosaics, either stamped or with paper.

I decided to use paper and made a Christmas card

ATC album and inside page

TMTA "Cloth and paper"

The challenge at TMTA is to create an ATC using cloth and paper.
My background is a piece of batiked cotton. I added stamps, gold detail and an image. Unfortunatelt the scan does not do justice to the background at all which is actually much warmer in colour and golden shimmery.

Art Challenge on Friday 1

There is a new challenge blog on a Friday, run by a group of very creative Dutch ladies. Every Friday they will post a new image for anyone to create with. This weeks image is this lovely dreamy lady.

Saturdays Workout "Split negatives technique"

The theme at SaWo is Split Negatives, something I had never done before, but good fun to do something totally different for once. Mine is a quite traditional sort of card, that may get in handy one of these days as a gift card to someone...

TGIF "Vintage"

The theme at Thank God It's Friday is Vintage today. Most people seem to like Vintage. I suppose it brings warm fussy feelings of the past and supposedly better times. This seems to come up particularly around Christmas time.... As I am still busy doing Christmas cards, I made another vintage card.

Mixed Media Monday "ornamental Christmas

The theme at MMM is "Ornamental Christmas".
My contribution is a Gothic Arch which I made for a contest over at Gothic Arches. The frame is made of Polymer Clay, stamped and coloured with mica powders. The background is collaged, coloured with dye inks and overstamped and embossed. The image I had in my collection and I cannot remember where it came from.

Gothic Arches "Silhouette"

Silhouette is the theme at Gothic Arches. Really liked the idea of that, it gave me the chance to use a little silhouette stamp I got not that long ago. Mine has a wintery Christmas theme (as most of my things do at the moment. Background was done with Adirondack dye inks and a brayer.

Saturday's workout "Thread Technique"

The theme at SaWo is to create a background by using the thread technique. Great fun to do and dead easy. Unfortunately my background has almost disappeared, but right at the top you can just see it still.

TGIF "hats"

The theme at TGIF is "Hats" or headgear. Mine is a Christmas ATC. The image is from Digital Collage's ATC collection.

TMTA "Lilac"

The theme at Think Monday Think ATC is colour of the week and this week it's lilac. I love monochromes, and lilac always suggests something slightly dreamy to me. The image is from Digital Collage.

Gothic Arches "Buttons"

The theme at Gothic Arches is "Buttons". Buttons are not actually my thing, I never can quite see the point of them (no offence Dawne, your card is amazing!!) Anyway, as Gothic Arches is probably my favourite challenge site, I decided to use it as a real challenge. So I have used lots of little buttons, but kind of disguised them in my ladies hair band and as the centre of the flowers I used as embellishment.

Saturday's workout "Antique Paper"

The theme at SaWo is to antique paper. Really liked the idea of this theme, Sandy is so clever to think of something new every week.

Anything I do at the moment seems to eventually turn into a Christmas card. I made an antique heart, using mount board and sticking a little transferred image (using Golden gel medium) behind the aperture that I cut out. I used distress inks and then varnished everything with tea dye varnish to give it the antique look.Then like I said , I could not help myself and turned it into a Christmas card.

TGIF "Doors"

The theme at Thank God it's Friday is "Doors". I love doors as they can be so symbolic, being like a threshold between two worlds. Anyway, it's really too early for philosophy, so here is my door card. The rusty looking key is just grungeboard treated with some mica and embossing powders.

Wednesday Stamper - Angels

The theme at Wednesday stamper is angels. It's always hard for me to produce soemthing midweek, so all I managed was a little ATC. I have quite a few angel cards lying around, but i felt I wanted to create something new, so here's my modest contribution to the challenge

Mixed media Monday "Colours of Autumn"

The theme at MMM is Colours of Autumn". Decided to do a stamps only piece for a change using a brayer Ranger dye inks and stamps from clarity stamps.

Think Monday Think ATC "Angels"

The theme at TMTA is angels this week, to get us into Christmas mood. As Halloween really isn't my thing, I've started on Christmas cards and ATCs a while back already. I decided to make an angel triptych. The backgrounds are done with a mixture of acrylic pains, gesso and stamps. The images are collections I have gathered over the years

Gothic Arches "Vintage Children"

The theme at Gothic Arches is vinatge children.

Here is mine, the images are from Lisa's altered art.

Saturday's workout "Waxpaper or beeswax"

The theme at SaWo this week is to make something with either wax paper or to use beeswax. As I have neither wax paper nor a cuttlebug, the other thing necessary for the particular technique described in the "technique zone", I decided to use beeswax. I created a background using a resist technique involving clear embossing powder, as the effect is actually quite similar to the wax paper technique in some respects. You stamp a background using versamark and then emboss with clear embossing powder. You then colour your piece in whatever way, I sponged with adirondack inks from Ranger. The embossed images resist the colouring. Using some kitchen paper you then iron your piece, this melts the clear embossing, so that your stamp background now appears as a lightcoloured "resist". After that I collaged with melted beeswax from the melting pot. Collage images are from "Digital Collage".

Theme Thursday "Vintage"

The theme at theme Thursday is Vintage. Just made a lot of vintage Christmas cards, this is one of them

Wednesday Stamper - free theme

Wednesday stamper has a free theme this week. I decided to enter with a mixed media piece which i have titled "Friendly Witch". It is strongly influenced by Suzi Blu's techniques. It is mostly hand painted but contains various background stamps, even though in the scan these are hard to see.

Wednesday Stamper - altered favourite object

The theme at Wednesday stamper is to alter your favourite object. I love altering, but up until now i have never put any of my altered things on my blog. Mainly because i am a hopeless photographer and up until now, was unable to get things from my camera onto my computer. However, tonight with my OH lovingly hanging over me I decided it was time to get over my technophobia. So here is my altered object, a tobacco tin formerly belonging to said OH.

The stamping happened mainly on the polymer clay surround, but also a little on the tin itself.

Gothic Arches "paper Patchwork"

Paper Patchwork is the theme at Gothic Arches this week. A fun technique which I have used quite often, without knowing what it was called. The image I used is from Digital Collage.

Saturday's workout "Broken Glass)

The theme at Saturday's workout is actually a wonderful German proverb, that I know works in dutch too, but I have never actually come across in English, namely, broken glass or any chards really, bring luck! What a wonderful thought and a great comfort after you have, say, just broken your most favourite plate, glass or whatever. Anyway, the idea is to create a piece of art with "broken glass" in it. Decided to use the fake method of using Utee. I've had this happen to me a few times when I did not really want it to happen, so it was very satisfying, to do it purposely for once.

Make a Moo or Two "Arrows"

The theme at Make a Moo or Two is Arrows. Arrows actually really aren't my thing, but as I had quite a few unused arrows among my grunge board elements, i thaught I'd give it a go.

TGIF Favourite stamp

The theme at TGIF is "favourite stamp". Great theme, but I did find it hard as I have quite a number of "favourite stamps" (and loads and loads that I hardly ever use at all....)

As I have been busy starting on my christmas cards, i decided to choose one of my favourite Christmas stamps and use that. Obviously a vintage collage stamp, so no surprises there....

Mixed Media Monday "Purples and Blues"

The theme at MMM is Purples and Blues. The example by Rosie is just stunnings. Blues and purples always seem to evoke a kind of mystical feel. I decided to stick with Blues rather than purples, mainly because I have no decent purple colour at the moment. I've given my contribution the title "Feeling Blue"

Think Monday Think ATC "Ophelia"

The theme at TMTA this week is Ophelia. In a way I like this theme, as it will be interesting to see what people come up with, what essencially is the use of a particular stamp, at least I guess so. On the other hand, if you don't own that stamp, what can you do? Well, it will be interesting to see... I do own the stamp used in the example on the site. I did this ATC quite a while back and swapped it with a friend.

Gothic Arches "Haute Couture"

The theme at Gothic arches this week is "Haute Couture".

I probably did not actually meet the theme completely, but I had this gorgeous new digi collage sheet from Digital Collages who have just got a new website (it's great, check it out!). I really wanted to use some elements of that sheet, so used them for this arch.

Sunday Postcard "Men"

The theme at Sunday Postcard is "Men". My main image is a stamp from Oxford Impressions. The frame was a golden cardboard frame which I first covered in one coat of clear Utee. That gave it the kind of mottled effect that in this case I wanted. I then coloured it with perfect pearls to create a kind of faux metal effect. The background was then stamped with various background stamps and coloured with dstress inks

Tag challenge "Autumn"

The theme at "tag you're it" is Autumn. There are some super examples on the blog.

Here's mine.

TGIF "Dolls"

The theme at TGIF is "dolls". Would love to have made an art doll or something, but like usual time ran out, so my contribution is a modest little ATC.

Wednesday Stamper -

The theme at Wednesday stamper this week is to use brown in combination with another colour.

As brown is one of my favourite colours, this was kind of easy. I decided to make a 4 x 4. The main stamp I used was from "Clarity Stamps"