16 AT LAST!!

Well, we're nearing the end of the summer holidays and for us, that signifies Tom's birthday.

He's always been one of the youngest in his class and I suppose that's always going to be the case till he leaves education and starts out in the world of work!

But today, he's sweet sixteen!

 

I saw a fabulously apt image over at Mo's Digital Pencil, called Computer Guy.  Tom loves his computer and computing and it's one of the A levels he's going to be studying.

 

This is what I made him:

 

I painted the background with green, blue and soft gold acrylic paint.  Then, I inked a SplodgeAway steampunk mask with Versamark, ran it through my Grand Calibur and heat set it with black sparkle embossing powder.  I replaced the mask and highlighted certain areas with paint.  I also painted lightly through sequin waste.

 

I coloured the digistamp with promarkers and darkened the edges with acrylic paints.  To finish off, I stamped and embossed the '16' and 'today' using Clarity stamps.

 

Well, my summer holidays are nearly over (sob sob) and I'll soon be starting work again.  I cant complain though, we have had FANTASTIC weather this year and it has been so nice to spend time outside in the warm sun.

 

Hope you're having a fab week and if not, it's nearly the weekend yayy!!

 



Purple version of Best Friend card

Just a quick post from me tonight.

I made another Best Friend card and this time I used shades of purple Pan Pastels to colour it:

 

And then I used some of my lovely Spellbinders and a lovely Pink Petticoat sentiment to make this card.  

The flower is by Stamps By Chloe and I embossed it with silver Wow embossing powder and layered it up.

 

Hope you have a fab week xx



Something a bit different

Hello folks.  I hope the weather hasn't been too bad where you are today.  We've had torrential rain this afternoon, which has left our garden water logged again!!  I have heard that there's going to be another mini heat wave soon, so we'll look at this as a blip!

 

Now on to a recent project.  I decorated an MDF heart that I bought at the NEC last year.  I don't know why it takes me so long to use my new stash!  Is anyone else like this or is it just me?!!

 

I painted the heart with purple acrylic paint, then applied PVA glue and painted a layer of cream acrylic paint.  Heating with my heat tool gave me a lovely crackled effect.  I learnt this technique at a Sheena Douglass workshop and this is the first time I have got it right since!

Next, I stamped the Sheena Douglass swirls and butterflies with various Adirondack and Distress inks.  The final layer of stamping, including the sentiment, was with Brilliance pigment inks which I then embossed with clear powder.

 



 

I covered the back of the heart with a pretty mini daisy print paper and used the off-cuts to make roses and cut swirls with a Marianne die. 

For the finishing touches, I sprayed the plaque with a protective layer of gold Spray & Sparkle, then I coloured cream seam binding tape with Distress ink and attached it to the top of the heart.

 

This was a present for an incredibly brave family, for whom butterflies hold a special meaning.

 

I really enjoyed making this plaque and am looking forward to doing another one.

 

Hope you're all having a lovely, crafty weekend xx 



Bad bad bad bad blogger .... AGAIN!

Oh dear, I've turned into such a terrible blogger! 

In fact, I even wondered if I should carry on blogging. 

After a lot of thought, I decided to go with the flow ... blog when I have time and not feel guilty when I let things slip. After all, it's just for fun :)

 

I can assure you that, even though I've been a lazy blogger, I certainly haven't been a lazy crafter!

I have been really busy with commissions lately, so all is good.

 

Here are a few makes that I've made over the last *cough* month:

 

*You might want to sit down with a brew, as there are quite a few!!*

 

 

 

 

 

 

Told you!!

 

I've finished work for the summer holidays now, so I can spend more time at my craft desk ... I mean, cleaning!  Hope you are all OK and enjoying our lovely weather.

Thank you so much for coming back to read my blog.

Crafty hugs xx