Thank God It's Friday .... Hats

On a bit of a roll now. This week's Challenge over at TGIF (gosh it's been such a long time) is Hats.
I got out virtually every stamp I have which has a hat on (bit silly really seeing as I have just tidied up - lol) and chose a few to make a collage type card.The stamps are from Oxford Impressions, Time to Stamp, B Line Designs and Tanda Stamps. So ... if you want to get ahead and get noticed - get a Hat .....

An Awfully Big Art Adventure ... Shrines ....

Rosie and Linda began their very exciting Awfully Big Adventure this week, with a brand new challenge - Shrines.

Being a huge fan of Linda's work and now Rosie's too, I just had to give this a go. The ladies very kindly said that they would email instructions for a basic shrine shape to those who asked. Did I email - of course not because, as usual, I thought I knew best - lol. The end result - another very, very late night, one very ruffled lady (I feel calmer now - lol), an extremely messy and untidy craft space - again and two pieces that I'm sure are not Shrines !!!

This is the first piece. I used a German Scrap shrine from Paper Artsy and the angel is a free download from a lady called Gaby. You must visit her blog because there are loads and loads and loads of free images, as well as some really lovely collage pieces. So - first I emptied one of those large boxes of cook's matches but didn't like that, it was too deep. Then I had a go at making a shallower box (I need to work on my box making skills). I thought I liked what I had made, went and made a coffee, came back and decided I hated it, so sent it flying across the room. After a bit of pacing, I unstuck my angel in his shrine from wonky box, said I was sorry and put him on a tag, surrounded by gold Rhonna Farrer swirls.And this is the second piece - which is even less of a Shrine. My inspiration came from Linda Brown at LB Crafts, who I saw at the South Stamp Show in Worthing a couple of weeks ago. The 'Shrine' is a Vintage Photo Frame by Melissa Frances. The frame was covered in metal and decorated with Ten Seconds Studio tools. The Mother and Child image is from the Oxford Impressions plate, Soul of the Rose.Lesson Learnt - if someone wants to share instructions - take them up on their offer ...
Anyway - writing this post has made me feel even more calmer - so off to tidy up and start all over again - lol .....

Saturday's Workout - Fold It ...

This week's Saturday's Workout challenge is - Fold It.....I saw this project demonstrated ages ago by Tim Holtz (on the TV I have to say - having never seen The Great One in person). The smaller one is folded from a sheet of A4 paper and the larger one a sheet of A3.

The stamps used were from the Oxford Impressions plate, The Dressmaker, and the Impressive Images plate, Sewing Notions; all decorated with sewing related embellishments.This is a really neat folding technique which gives a pocket on each page of the card/book,which can be filled with tags or messages; and the whole thing can be decorated to suit any occasion.

Hope you like it ....

In My Pocket ...There is a Message of Love

The In My Pocket Challenge this week from Hels is a Message of Love ...
The stamps are from the new Paperbag Studios plate - Knowing, which I got a couple of weeks ago from The Stamp Attic; and the tied bundle of letters from the Oxford Impressions Plate - Travel Poste. And don't you just love Michael Buble ......
Here is the inside ... Hope you like it ....

Thank God It's Friday Challenge .... Slide Frame

Over at TGIF this week, the challenge is Slide Frames ....
The body clock is still mis-behaving but to be truthful these two cards were in my box, made ages ago - ideal I thought !!!

The images are from the Oxford Impressions Plate - The Dressmaker.
I am so made up to have entered a Challenge on the actual day - does this bode well for the rest of the day?
Have a good one ....

In My Pocket ... There are some Ribbons

This week's Pocket Challenge from Hels is - Ribbons ....
Since Hels posted the Challenge all I've heard is THAT song - lol - and could I find a stamp of a suitable tree - of course not!!!). Anyway, here's my Pocket for this week ....

And this is the inside ...

The images on the front are from The Distinguished Gentleman Oxford plate by Oxford Impressions. The couple on the inside is from Photo Booth by Time to Stamp. The tree is a photograph of an 'iconic' tree near to where I work.
Hope you like it ...

Think Monday - Think ATC - Games

Another ATC - this time for this week's TMTA challenge ...

The Bingo Card image is from Stamps Happen. The ladies and the dice are from Oxford Impressions and the ticket from Invoke Arts. Each piece is stamped on cream card and coloured with Old Paper and Milled Lavender Distress Inks.
Hope you like it ....

Dans ma maison il y a ... la tour Eiffel ....

I loved doing this Dans ma maison challenge this week .....

My house is actually drawn free-hand by me (wow - 'cos this is not something that I do!) and is covered with K & Co Life's Journey paper. The main image and the tag are from a plate I bought years ago and I have no idea who they are from ... perhaps someone out there knows? The Post Mark stamp is from the Paris Poste plate from Oxford Impressions.
I hope you like it ....

Paris .... on a clipboard

This is a 'work in progress' that has been in progress for quite some while! I went to Paris once, ages ago, for the day - and loved it. Maybe I will go again, when I retire! Paris themes seem to come and go and this is one of my pieces .....

The masonite clipboard was bought from an office stationers and, despite being thick, can be punched with a Crop-a-Dile. The surface was painted with a very light brown acrylic paint and then with Paper Glaze Sheer Gold Glaze. The clip was dabbed with Wild Plum and Lettuce Alcohol inks.
The Paris word idea is from a back issue of Somerset Studio Gallery. It is cut from foamboard and covered with pages from a French book out of the libary, which were inked with Old Paper and Vintage Photo Distress Inks. The stamps used are from Tim Holtz - I See Paris; and the Oxford Impressions plates - Paris Poste and Travel Journal; and are all stamped with a Ranger sepia Archival ink pad.
Other images - the Parish metro map, Moulin Rouge, Mona and the French flag were all from the net.
Even though I say the piece is finished - everytime I look I think - does it need something else, that 'je ne sait quoi'. Post a comment and let me know what you think.......