INKY FINGERS

Just a couple more simple cards I managed to complete. Hope to post more in the next few days.

Crafty Individuals birds and tree, Stamp Camp words. Clouds made by sponging over torn paper. Glossy Accents over birds to make them stand out.

Those Stampin’ up flowers again, but this time in three different shades to give the effect of a host of flowers :) And words from Stampinback – another of my favourite sayings. I half wish I hadn’t edged this one with black but left it clean and simple.

Dymphie, who makes wonderful books, has a birthday today and to celebrate is giving away her fiftieth book.  Her work is awesome and the blog well worth bookmarking.

To find out more, click the above picture, which is linked to her blog, then leave a comment before 6pm on 16 October.

The blues don’t quite match up (last layer and ribbon) but never mind – I like the effect.

This is resist a la Nancy Currie – I love her resist work.

I’m feeling way too lazy to put my stamps away, so I’ve just used a few which were already out, he, he. We all have our favourite stamps, don’t we and this verse is one of mine. Sadly, it’s an old PSX stamp which is no longer available. The background of the flower was bleached after embossing.

This purple card is for a purple friend – you know who you are :)

(and the Belated Birthday greeting should give a HUGE clue – not!)

This is another of my favourite word stamps – from Stamp Camp.

Just found this great and totally free Photoshop course and thought I’d sign up to hone my skills :) I used it a lot in stamp designing but have done very little with colour, so it should be interesting.

http://creativetechs.com/freephotoshopcourse

Here are a few more of the Ecoline colour madness cards. Nothing too complex but they have to be simple because of the vibrant colours behind them. Someone was wondering how to get the same effect without Ecoline inks and I really think Adirondack reinkers would work OR Stazon reinkers - or you could even brayer or sponge Stazon inks directly onto the card/paper.

Just found that I’ve been given an award by the lovely Anne E!! Thank you Anne – very much appreciated.

I need to pass this onto six people – h’mm, too difficult to choose right now, but I’ll give it some thought and get back to it.

Thanks again!

On KCUK the monthly challenge is to make card/s with your scratch (or you may call it scrap) paper – the paper you work on while applying inks, etc.

Here are my three cards:-

All made from the same piece of scratch paper.

A dear friend, Jo Pritchard (super duper inspirational crafter!) uploaded some of the artwork from this year’s Stempelmekka to KCUK and I fell in love with one display of cards, which I can only describe as a ‘riot of colour’. Of course, I had to have a play… and this is how it turned out.

Images and words, Stampin Up

Images and words from Jozart Birds (drawn by Jo, herself) available from Stamp Attack

Same plate of stamps as above, background stamp Inkadinkado.

The Saturday Surprise theme this week is 'Your Favourite Colour/Colours' so I've entered this one because I love 'rainbow colours'.

I used Ecoline inks (Magenta, Turquoise and Yellow, with a splash of green) on dictionary pages first of all, then decided to try them on watercolour paper (hot press, smooth) and wow did they pop, as you can see from the above background and from the words! I love the way the colours blend to give us violets, oranges and greens. I’ll do more of this because I love the effect.

Thought I’d better get my act together and do my swap, especially as I’m the hostess and they were supposed to be sent out yesterday.

The bookmark isn’t finished yet – needs to be prettied up, lol – but it’s a standard Versamark resist ‘with a twist’, which I was reminded of by Lynne. Can’t tell you how to do it yet because it may yet become part of our Stamp Club workshop next month. The card is just Versamark resist.

I’ve been semi laid up with a bad cold - shouldn’t be allowed – seriously interfered with my fun times! I did get to read a couple of really good books, though and I’ve been playing some great PC Adventure games :)

Just done some ATCs for a KCUK swap. Made a ‘mickey’ with one of them so it became a card for Dot, who’s hosting the swap…

My scanner doesn’t do 3D very well (yes, the charms make them 3D – duh!) so they do look better IRL – as do the gold edges and additions. Haven’t done Egyptian for years and enjoyed it. I even dusted off (literally) my Twinklers for this one – haven’t used those for about 4 years but they’re perfect for this, as they shimmer like sand.

Thanks to Vix for a wonderful award – given a couple of weeks ago but I simply haven’t had chance to get on here to post about it. Sorry, Vix but thank you very much indeed.

Rules for this one are:-

1) Thank the person who nominated you for this award
2) Copy the logo and place it on your blog
3) Link the person who nominated you for this award
4) Name 7 things about yourself people might find interesting
5) Nominate 7 Kreativ Bloggers
6) Post links to the seven blogs you nominate
7) Leave comments on all 7 blogs letting them know you nominated them

Seven things you may find interesting? Oo-er – don’t think there ARE 7 interesting things about me, but here goes…

1) After 16 years of being brought up a Catholic, I became a Christian – the most important thing that ever happened to me.

2) I used to sing and play guitar.

3) I have two grown up sons, Tony – aged 33 and Phillip, aged 32.

4) The thesis I chose to do for my Degree was ‘The Character of Lancelot (as depicted in the books we’d read in the Arthurian Literature module of Medieval French)’.

5) I’m a big Fantasy and Historical Fantasy Literature fan.

6) In other lives… I was a civil servant, a trained optical assistant, a PA, a French teacher and an Instructor/Assessor of IT, Keyskills & Basic skills AND of course, for almost 10 years, I was the owner of Katy’s Corner, selling rubber stamps and stamping accessories.

7) I’m currently working towards a Maths GCSE – failed the mock when 15 and didn’t need it for French, so never did it. Now, I want to retrain to teach Modern Languages in Primary School, so I need it. I HATE it with a vengeance.

The seven people I nominate for this award are:-

1) Lottie who loves crafting and loves to try out new things. Her egg hatching activity is interesting, too!

2) Neet who is incredibly versatile and creative!

3) Anke whose use of colour is really inspiring!

4) Dot whose colouring is incredible and who has some fab ideas!

5) Sylvia whose work has always been so precise, so creative and so inspiring!

6) Chris who loves trying out new techniques and has a lovely style!

7) Wendy who is very creative and very versatile!

Hope you enjoy visiting these inspiring blogs and thanks again to Vix for honouring me with this award.

Not here – though I really should get some ready to go…

But Anne on Stargrovesblog has some great blog candy on offer.  I’m not a big CUTE lover but I do like the look of these,  have to admit :)

My KCUK Musical Moments ATCs contribution :)

Finally finished my Musical Moments ATCs today (yes, they were due end of August, but thankfully, I’m still waiting for one more contribution before I swap them all out, lol.  Nothing too complicated, but I like the way they turned out – and I DID make 21 so that I could give one to every participant, so I think I deserve a treat :)

Just back from an evening with Mum and Dad – and brother Number 1.  Had a lovely time in Marbury Park in Cheshire, followed by a lovely pub meal and lots of silly childhood reminiscences. 

Out with Mum and Dad and all the family tomorrow, which will be bitter sweet because we’ll be saying goodbye to Mum and Dad yet again…  It’s a first for Neil (Brother No 1) because he was already in New Zealand when they left last year, but this time he’s back in the UK, theoretically for good, though sadly, I’m not sure he’ll settle here again.  He’s finding it hard to deal with, emotionally and is experiencing the emotional wrench I experienced last year.  It’s hard to say goodbye to family, no matter how little you may see them – especially because you can’t help but wonder if you’ll ever see them again.