Wine O'Clock

Hello.  Welcome.  I rattled through my small hoard of Viva Las Vegas stamps and found a couple of stamps that seemed to go together and would also suit the challenge inspiration photo. 

Ho, ho, ho.  I coloured my background with Mustard Seed distress and used the edge of my acrylic block to add the brown stripes.  I stamped the lady and the sentiment, but lost definition when I water coloured, so I stamped, embossed, coloured and fussy cut.  The speech bubble is a spellbinders die.  I coloured the laundry in the washing machne burgundy cos she looks like a domestic godess who has her priorities right.  A washing machine full of red wine.........

Thanks for dropping by.  Hugz

Joining the fun at
VLVS January Challenge 
Penny Black and More Challenge - One For The Girls 
Stamping Sensations Challenge - Anything Goes With A Die 
The Artistic Stamper Creative Team Challenge - Anything Goes 
VSC Challenge 40 - Anything Goes With Your New Stash new stamps 
Share Joy Challenge 20 - CAS 

Hot Glue Bling

Hello.  Welcome.  The end of the month is nigh and I have decided to have a bit of a blog blitz.  Mojo this month has been a bit sporadic and UFO's litter my desk.  There are still many challenges I would love to play along with so I have decided to knuckle down and see if I can pull a few small miracles out of the chaos that I call my desk.....

I saw a lovely project by Cornelia where she used hot glue on a card.  I have a hot glue gun so I dusted it off and had a play.  

I started by making some lines of hot glue, drawing them out with a stylus and embossing with Midnight Sparkle embossing powder.  Yummy.

Then I coloured with Dylusions.  Got to admit I was not happy with the result!  So I decided you can't have too much sparkle and spritzed with W&N iridescent watercolour medium.  I moved onto something else so was a bit surprised when I picked it up today to see that the inks had reacted with the IWCM to create quite a lovely effect.  Small miracle.    

Cool.  I matted it up and mounted it on a bright orange base.  I added the Thanks sentiment from Stamplorations Birds and Blooms set and embossed with silver.  

Quite liking the final result.  Off to see what else is lurking.  Hugz

Joining the fun at
Stamplorations Spotlight Project Showcase 
Stamplorations January Challenge - CAS
Stamplorations Anything Goes Challenge
Stamplorations CAS Challenge - January
The Craft Barn Weekly Challenge - Triplets three lines of glue

You Need A Good Knife

Hello.  Welcome.  Looking around the Stamplorations blog and saw this lovely watercolour project by Deepti.  So here's my take

I used the well from Stamplorations Country Rustic and a stamp from Mixed Media Elements.  I watercoloured with distress inks and added a spritz of W&N irridescent watercolour medium for a bit of sparkle.  

Thanks for dropping by.  Hugz

Joining the fun at
Stamplorations Spotlight Project Showcase 
Stamplorations January Challenge - Sketch and CAS
Stamplorations Anything Goes Challenge
Stamplorations CAS Challenge - January
VSC Challenge 40 - Anything Goes with your New Stash  the well stamp is new

Raining Love

Hello.  Welcome. My man gave me a new camera today.  What a lucky girl I am.  So I made my project, took my pictures, plugged it into my laptop.  
AUTORUN.  
Do you want to download these pictures? 
Yes (singsong voice, frivolous key tapping).  
Do you want to delete after download?  
Yes (singsong voice, flamboyant key tapping).  
brrrrrrrrrrr, or maybe that's wrrrrrrrrrrr.  
And where are my pictures??  
ARRRGGGGGGG.  

After just hitting yes without thinking about it too much my pictures were downloaded somewhere.  I have searched for the file it says it downloaded them too and IT DOESN'T EXIST ON MY MACHINE.  FRUSTRATED...........   I spent 25 minutes searching before I decided to go downstairs and take them again and reset autorun to put them somewhere I can find them.  Doesn't help the step by step photo's that were also on there for an on-going project.......   Ah well, maybe they will turn up.........  If you have them please send them to craftynomad at gmail dot com bwahahahahahahaha

So it's Rudolf Days and I needed a christmas card.  But people are starting to think about the season of hearts and love so I decided instead of snow I would have a rain of hearts.  And blue.  Everything needed to be blue, with white, a bit of black and a tinsy tiny hardly noticable tint of orange.  And then I hit it all with a spritz of Windsor and Newton Iridescent Watercolour Medium.  Blizzard.......

I took this one at a funny angle cos I was afraid you wouldn't be able to see the blizz on the full frontal.  How wrong I was.....  Mr Frosty is from Rubber Dance, embossed and coloured with promarkers.  Sentiment from Rubber Dance Winter Wonderland.  Hearts from Rubber Dance Just a Note, embossed with blue powder.  The snowflake is a Spellbinders die.  

You can find all the stamps I used at Rubber Dance Stamps
Don't forget you can get 15% off your order with my code gail2016

Orders have worldwide flat rate shipping of only €4,50!! (less than $5 US!!)  Orders over €35 ship FREE!!!  

If you enter the challenge you can get a code for free shipping so get stamping with black and white plus 1 !! and maybe a tinsy tiny little bit of orange

Thanks for dropping by.  Hugz

Joining the fun at

Rudolph Days Challenge January 

Hjerteboden Januar Utfordring - Bruk Snøkrystaller 

Cards and Scrap Udfordring 110 - Hvid og Bla 

Emerald Creek Dare - Use Hearts in an Unusual Way

Scrapy Land Challenge 34 - Love is in The Air 

Creatalicious Challenges Challenge 83 - Snowflakes 

Critter Friends and A Winner

Hello.  Welcome.  I thought I'd share my CCC card for January that I sent to Toni in Washington.  Incidently, I was just cruising Toni's blog and she has some lovely shots of her crafty space and some great organising ideas.  I am so stealing the 'basket to put things in that need putting away' idea.  A stupidly simple thing that may very well revolutionise my 'use and shove' desk management system.  Stay tuned for updates......

So CCC, the Card Chain Challenge.  Make a card, send a card, get a card.  More fun that a box of chocolate frogs.  And the delightful Deborah does a full reveal on the first day of the following month so we can all ooh and ahh over the crafty amazingness that has been exchanged around the planet.   Here's the card I sent to Toni

I kinda started with the colours, but got a bit waylaid with the blue, so I'm claiming friendship as my theme.  I know that cat and bird are great friends.  At least Cat would like to be.......  I used the Bird Cage embossing folder on a pale grey panel and added Hickory Smoke distress highlights.  The cat is Cheery Lynn Funny Cat die paper pieced and I think I added some wink of stella as well.  I didn't have the right colour base card so I used a pale blue textured card and hit it with the Blueprint Sketch distress.  

If you would like to join this months CCC and exchange some happy snail mail with someone somewhere on planet earth sign up HERE 

Oh yes, before I forget, I have my winner to announce for my surprize giveaway.  Thank you to everyone who joined in with my little game.  You really gave me happy moments and lovely suggestions.  So, here's happy moments for one lucky player.  I consulted Mr Random and he picked

Kristiina  

Congrats Kristiina.  Send me an email with your details to craftynomad at gmail dot com and I will get your candy in the post.  Stay tuned cos I feel another candy coming on...... Thanks for dropping by.  Hugz

Joining the fun at
Cheery Lynn Designs Challenge 221 - Anything Goes 
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Best Friends
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Create With Critters 
Tando Creative January - Animals 

Something To Keep The Snow Off

Hello.  Welcome.  Well, who'd have thought.  Two days ago it's -12°C.  Today it's 6°C and they are saying tomorrow it might be 11°C!!  Double figures!  That's summer temperatures ROFL.  I can't keep up!!   Chickens glad though.  Snow is cold on the feet.  I put out some warm water for them to drink, cos it doesn't freeze so fast, and caught one of my hens standing in it!!  Foot bath.  And the snow is gone again.  Ah well.......

I raided the scrap box for some strips of blue and stuck them on a white card base.  I embossed with Cuttlebug Snowflake embossing folder.  Then I stamped, coloured and fussy cut Mark's Finest Papers Nutcracker stamp.  The sentiment is a Rubber Dance stamp from the Winter Wonderland set embossed with blue powder.  

Blue snow.  Cool.  Hugz

Joining the fun at
MFP Stamps Challenge 4 - Blue
The Craft Barn Weekly Challenge - Hats
Papirplaneten Utfordring 2 - Blatt og Hvitt 
Hjerteboden Januar Utfordring - Bruk Snøkrystaller 
Rediscover How To Play 2016 Jan Week 3  

Owl Pals

Hello.  Welcome.  I have succumbed to the lovey dovey vibes swirling around blogland. 

I used Unity Owl Pals coloured with distress inks.  I cut a panel with Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangle die.  I cut Cheery Lynn Love You More into the panel and backed the aperture with paper coloured with Worn Lipstick distress spritzed with shimmer mist.  Then I cut the Love You More heart from red card and fitted it in the aperture. 

Thanks for dropping by.  My giveaway closes tonight.  Hurry over and leave your best suggestions for a chance to win a mystery prize.  Hugz

Joining the fun at
Cheery Lynn Designs Challenge 220 - Sweethearts
The Unity Stamp Co Be Inspired Challenge
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Best Friends
Scrapy Land Challenge 34 - Love Is In The Air 
The Craft Barn Weekly Challenge - Hats 
Dies R Us Challenge 41 - Stitching, Real or Faux 

Davy Jones' Wallpaper

Hello.  Welcome.  Getting to grips with another of my altered playing cards and the letter B for the Craft Barn Dictionary challenge.  

This time I have gone with a BURGUNDY BUCCANEER.  Oh my, this is too much fun.  B is for BELLY, BELT, BUCKLE.  

I pieced my background from some patterned paper that was just a load of pirate buccaneer borders.  I cut them out and mixed them around to get what I envision the inside of a baby buccaneer's bedroom looks like.   And yes, of course baby buccaneers like glitter.  They are really into bling you know......  I stamped Kadoodle's Pirate Dan, coloured and fussy cut.  Definition courtesy of the Oxford English Dictionary.  BONES, BOATS (I claim poetic license) BARREL, BAREFOOT.  I feel another idea for a little competition coming on......

Thanks for your visit.  Have you checked out my Giveaway?  I will be counting comments up to the rise of the new moon.   Hugz

Joining the fun at
The Craft Barn Alpha/Dictionary Challenge 2016 - B 
The Craft Barn Weekly Challenge - Hats
One Crazy Stamper January Challenge - Anything Goes
Scrappelyst Utfordring for Januar - Glitter

Many Things Beginning With B

Hello.  Welcome.  I have decided to join the Craft Barn's Alphabet/Dictionary challenge.  Jane will be posting one letter every two weeks.  I tried this a few years ago and crashed and burned fairly early on.  I hope to do better this time.  The first thing to choose was my format.   I decided I would use a pack of giant playing cards.  I thought an ATC was a bit small.  These cards are 9 x 14 cm, so it gives a bit of space to work.  I have just completed on pack of these and am really pleased with them.  They were really nice to work with.  Will be trying to find some more of these next time I am in England.  I might try and do two for each letter, but will settle for getting one done.  So let's get going with the letter B

I chose the word BLOOM.  Definition courtesy of the Oxford English Dictionary.  I've been wanting to use these lovely metal sunflower charms from Korthobby so this seemed like a great opportunity.  The little girl is a Panduro stamp.  She actually is usually holding a BROOM but I adjusted the BROOMHANDLE to be a flower stalk.  Ooh look, BOOTS and a BERET.  The word bloom is a PaperArtsy stamp.  The background was coloured with BRUSHO's.  Only just realised that was a B as well.  What fun.  Small things make me happy.......

So, there's a start.  I actually have an idea for another B so I hope to get that finished soon.  

Thanks for dropping by.  Still a couple of days to enter my giveaway.  Hugz

Joining the fun at
The Craft Barn Alpha/Dictionary Challenge 2016 - B
The Craft Barn Weekly Challenge - Hats
Korthobby Januar Utfordringen - Alt Er Lov 
Kreativ Scrapping Utfordring 1 - Alt Er Lov 
Twofers Challenge 12 - Metal, Heavy or Not 

Dreams of Summer

Hello.  Welcome.  It's grey and snowing but luckily the -12°C we had yesterday has gone away.  So I decided I would think summer.  Tropical and exotic.  And since the guy with the hat was still on my desk.............

Technicolour brights!!  Had a little challenge trying to get the royal purple, navy blue and in your face orange balanced so please squint and imagine........  So I cut my brand new Die-Versions Beach House die from navy card.  Then I wasn't sure what to do with it so I tossed it on my desk and it landed on this purple card.  I may have to use that technique more often!!!!  I had an image of a glorious sunrise so I raided the scraps box for some orange, cut long thin triangle type shapes and arranged them behind my island diecut.  Then I coloured Unity's There Was a Boy in tropical shades and added him to the scene.  I want to be there too.........

Oh, and since Kay mentioned it.........  Trust me, sometimes there is just more cake than you can eat.

A typical selection of deserts at a family gathering.  I think we were 15 people.  That's half a cake each!! plus candy and chips and did I mention the pizza???

Thanks for visiting.  Still a couple of days to enter my giveaway.  Hugz

Joining the fun at
The Craft Barn Weekly Challenge - Hats
Die-cut Divas - New Technique/Die/Stamp/Colors
Rediscover How To Play 2016 Jan Week 2  
Nordsalten Hobbyklubb Utfordring 131 - Årtider somer
Stamping Sensations January Challenge - Anything Goes With a Die 
VSC Challenge 40 - Anything Goes With Your New Stash new die

A Grey Day

Hello.  Welcome.  Isn't it strange where inspiration comes from?  I have spent some hours in my craft room today with only UFO's to show for it.  So I decided to see what was new in blogland.  The lovely Jane has published The Craft Barns weekly challenge - Hats.  This was a two fold surprise because last week they started their Alpha/Dictionary challenge and it hadn't dawned on my tiny brain cell that the weekly challenges would be running as well.  Hurrah.  

Hats.  Hmmmm.  My first thought was I don't have many hats.  But looking through the stash I was amazed to find witch hats, snowman hats, top hats, cowboy hats, bowlers, caps and other assorted headwear.  What fun. 

It's been a bit of a day so I decided to keep it black and white.  I cut my tag using Sizzix Tag#2 die, stamped and embossed Unity's There Was A Boy.  Love this stamp.  He's so quirky.  I masked and applied versamark through a chevron mask and embossed with black powder.  I stamped various stamps from Stamplorations Mixed Media Elements and added a brad.  

Thanks for dropping by.  Technicolour transmissions will resume shortly.  Still a couple of days to enter my giveaway.  Hugz

Joining the fun at
The Craft Barn Weekly Challenge - Hats 
Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Stencil It
Stamplorations Mixed Media Challenge - January
Papirlosjen Utfordring 1 - Favoritt 

Snow More Cake

Hello.   Welcome.  This is going to be quick cos I have been to a family party and eaten too much cake and I need a little recovery time, but the Cheery Lynn challenge is about to close and I do so enjoy joining the fun at Cheery Lynn.

So I made a snowy ATC using a fun technique I used the other day, and also managing to get rid of some more plastic packaging.  I painty my ATC base with blue and white paint.  I embossed a piece of old packaging with Cuttlebug Snowflake ef.  I added a white Cheery Lynn Snowflake 2 and the sentiment is from Rubber Dance Winter Wonderland set.

Thanks for dropping by.  Hugz

Joining the fun at
Cheery Lynn Designs Challenge 219 - Snowflakes Theme
Rediscover How To Play 2016 Jan Week 2 
Scrapy Land Challenge 33 - Anything Goes 
Repeat Impressions DCC 113 - Winter Wonderland 
TCPTUES305 Challenge - Anything Goes 
Creatalicious Challenges Challenge 83 - Snowflakes 

Tribute to Nussi

Hello.  Welcome.  This is a re-post of my Rubber Dance DT post.  I made three cards using Rubber Dance stamps and EyeConnect Crafts chipboards.

I was inspired by this month's challenge at Rubber Dance which is:

We have a cat.  She's called Nussi.  She's black.  She's 18 years old.  The last year she has been doing lots of strange things.  I am sure she has a bucket list.  "Things to do before I die"  Or maybe she has just decided to see just how far she can push the rules.  Quite a long way it turns out!!  When I saw these cat totem chipboards from EyeConnect Crafts I thought of Nussi.  I did find out that is is just as difficult to take a picture of a black chipboard cat as it is to take a picture of a real black cat!!

I made a background using lime green paint and used stamps from Rubber Dance ATC Backgrounds 1 and Retro Beach with various green distress inks.

The cat chipboards consist of many parts that you fix together with brads.  I used a foam block that came with some supplies with a piece of double sided tape to hold the pieces while I embossed them with black powder.  A wine cork would also work. 

I used three layers of embossing to give the cats an enameled look.  Stamps from African Animals and Affirmations

I used the alphabet stamps from Alphabet Uno to make the letter layer.  The other stamps are from Sarcastic Superpower and Affirmations

This one is for Nussi.  I have stuck the cats to the card but because they are put together with brads the head, tail and some legs are still movable!  What fun.

You can find all the stamps I used at Rubber Dance Stamps
Don't forget you can get 15% off your order with my code gail2016

Orders have worldwide flat rate shipping of only €4,50!! (less than $5 US!!)  Orders over €35 ship FREE!!!  

If you enter the challenge you can get a code for free shipping so get stamping with black and white plus 1 !! 

These lovely cat chipboards plus many more fun designs can be found at EyeConnect Crafts.

Thanks for dropping by.  Still time to enter my GIVEAWAY ;-).  Hugz

Call Me Violet

Hello.  Welcome.  We have snow.  And a little sunshine today.

The view from the living room window

Thought you might like to see.

I am still playing with my acrylic blocks and ink.  Found a tiny one today.  2,5cm.  An inch.  Why would you want a one inch acrylic block?  For stamping really small stamps?  Really small projects?  An inchie stamper!!  For making patchwork backgrounds!  Ah, yes...

I was wondering how acrylic block stamping and kissing would get on together.  In this case kissing is a technique where you ink a stamp and press another stamp against it, known as kissing, to cause a contrast in the ink.  I decided to try using the stripes on MFP's Tiger.  There he is, in the real.  Isn't he gorgeous.  And the kissing technique worked really well.   Great texture.

I made my patchwork using Wilted Violet, something Lilac and Dusty Concord.  The dusty concord didn't make such a good impression, maybe cos it's old and well used and the other two pads are new and juicy. 

I decided I needed a wilted violet tiger.  And I also inked the edges of the panel and the base card with the same ink.

Thanks for dropping by.  My giveaway is still open.  You have until the full moon to play along.  I am really enjoying all your suggestions and there's a chance to win a surprize prize.  Hugz

Joining the fun at
MFP Stamps Challenge 2 - Acrylic Block Stamping
Scrappelyst Grublis for Januar - Dilla På Lilla
ODBDSLC269 - Something New Something Old new ink/technique, old stamp/ink
OCS January Challenge - Anything Goes 
Kreativ Scrapping Utfordring 1 - Alt Er Lov 

I Wish I Was

Hello.  Welcome.   

I decided to do a bit more acrylic block stamping, this time with a long thin block.  I used Stormy Sky distress and spritzed with the W&NIWM again for a bit of bling.  Then I stamped the palm trees and sentiment from Waltzing Mouse My Island set.  First time these guys have seen ink.  

The same, but different.....  I had some wet ink on my acrylic block still so tried a bit of second generation stamping.  Quite like the splodgy look.  

It's a twofer.  See, small miracles.  Still time to join my giveaway. Hugz

Joining the fun at
Repeat Impressions WIW Color Challenge - Navy, Light Blue and White
MFP Stamps Challenge 2 - Acrylic Block Stamping
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Something New new stamps
TCPTUES305 Anything Goes 
OCS January Challenge - Anything Goes 
Papirplaneten Utfordring 2 - Blatt og Hvitt 

Missing The B and S

Hello.  Welcome.   Over at Paperartsy the challenge is Transparent Art.  Hmmmmmm......  I saw Helen's post and started thinking about stamping behind acetate.  Then I found Rediscover How to Play.  Oh yes.....  Carolyn is asking us to play.  To create without worrying about a finished project.  To just do...... something.  I feel a breathe of new creativity.  So I played. 

I grabbed paper and brusho's.  I sprinkled black and yellow and spritzed.  Then I grabbed some of that plastic packaging that comes on so many dies and embossing folders.  The stuff that we should throw away, but it gets kept cos we might be able to do something with it one day.  Today is that day........

I embossed my plastic packaging with Sizzix Cracked embossing folder.  I stamped the word SHATTERED using Rubber Dance Alphabet Uno stamps, coloured with red sharpie and tried to outline with my white gel pen.  I added the embossed plastic and an artistic blob of red paint.  At this stage it was rectangular, but it didn't look right so I started chopping bits off with a pair of scissors.  A surprisingly therapeutic exercise.  Call it what you will.  I'm calling it finished.  Hugz

Joining the fun at
Paperartsy - Transparent Art
Rediscover How To Play 2016 Jan Week 1

Give It a Little Jingle

Hello.  Welcome.  Over at Mark's Finest Papers they are having a technique challenge - acrylic block stamping.  I've seen this done many times and done it myself once.  It was fun, quick and easy.  So I thought I'd have a play.  

I started by adding Barn Door distress ink to a 5cm square block and stamping a pattern.  Didn't like that so much so switched to a 10cm block and spritzed with water.  Grabbed the spritz with the W&N irridescent medium in by mistake.  Result - sparkle.  I like the variation in the pattern and also the instant border.  I discovered that most of my acrylic blocks have a bevelled and a straight side.  Stamping with the straight side gave a much more defined line.  Stamping with the bevelled side resulted in ink bleed.  Interesting.

I stamped the little santa head and a ho ho ho border from Mark's Finest Papers Holiday Tags set.  I added some glitter to his hat.  I was going to put him on a wobble dingsen but I have temporarily lost misplaced them.  

Thanks for dropping by.  Have you joined in my giveaway?  Not long til the full moon you know.  Hugz

Joining the fun at
MFP Stamps Challenge 2 - Acrylic Block Stamping
CHNC Challenge 263 - Red
TCPTUES305 Challenge - Anything Goes

Beautiful Brights

Hello.  Welcome.  The wind blows and a sprinkle of snow makes the world white.  We need some bright colours.  

I am sure no Oriole was ever this colour but artistic license rules tonight.  I saw Cornelia's card where she had embossed a flower in white and then brightly coloured it.  So I decided to use Stamplorations large oriole and coloured with galaxy markers.  I was trying to get a feathered look, so no, it's not just bad colouring!!  The hello is from Stamplorations Patchwork Frenzy set.   

Thanks for dropping by.  Hugz

Joining the fun at
Stamplorations Spotlight Project Showcase
Stamplorations CAS Challenge January
Stamplorations January Challenge - Stamps and CAS 
Stamplorations Anything Goes Challenge 
Twofers Challenge 11 - Birds 
CASology Week 179 - Simple 

Remaining Optimistic In The Face Of Determined Opposition

Hello.  Welcome.  I have decided I will not buy any new craft stuff this year and will instead bow down and worship Mr Random in the hopes that he will do his thing and draw my name from the realms of challenge entries.  Of course, this resolution, like so many before it, may fall by the wayside.  But since I have been putting into play another plan, to organise myself a little better, I have discovered much crafty stash sadly underused.  Yeah, even some items that I may never use or ones that look way too familiar because they are present more than once!!  If you haven't seen there is a giveaway on my blog and some of this underloved and overstocked stash could be yours.  Please read carefully and participate in my little game and maybe Mr Random will love you.  

As you know, you have to be in it to win it so here's a CAS card, heavy on the S

I hope this hasn't been done before but it punches buttons for Mark's Finest Paper Challenge where they want CAS with snow, and I am also hoping a sentiment counts as an image with my diecut snowflake playing best man.  The sentiment is a Crafty Individuals stamp embossed with silver powder.  The snowflake is Cheery Lynn Snowflake #2, cut in white to give that faux emboss look.  Done.  

Thanks for dropping by.  Hugz 

Joining the fun at
MFP Stamps Challenge 1 - CAS and Snow
Cheery Lynn Designs Challenge 218 - Winter Whites
CASology Week 179 - Simple
Hjerteboden Januar Utfordring - Bruk Snøkrystaller