Wendy Vecchi For The Lovely Rachel ....

It's the lovely Rachel's birthday soon (No. 1 son's girlfriend).  He has bought her a Spa Day for herself and four of her friends.  Now Matt always makes an effort and a few Sundays ago he had come for a visit and saw the plaque I had made a short while ago (see earlier post).  He thought it would be rather a wheeze for me to make him five invitations along similar lines.  So being the good mother that I am, I set to work .....

The base of the invitations is as before - chipboard shape (by tracing around a Tim Holtz Grungeboard book page), and covered with Basic Grey Porcelain papers.  This time the Studio 490 'Rules to Live By' are stamped on more BG Porcelain paper which was mounted on a Nesties Label chipboard shape (run the chip through the Wizard twice).  Then I went to town with the flowers, leaves, swirls and butterflies ......

Everything was stamped on Grungepaper and coloured with Distress Inks (the old ones - I have a few of the new ones but I'm still stroking them - lol) buttons of various sizes were added and finally a touch of a Glitter Pen here and there (love the way the Grungepaper curls if you heat it with a heat gun) ....

Here's another view ....

Here's the back of the plaque - with the actual invitation on another Nesties Label shape cut from chipboard with more Studio 490 stamps ....

Then it occurred to me - how to wrap them up.  So out come the Bind it All and I made a box (well a container really, 'cos it hasn't got a lid) ....

The box is cut from the last of my chipboard (adding to the NEC shopping list as I type - lol) and punched  away with the Bind It All.  Each side is covered with K & Co papers that I have had for ever and then it's all bound together with lengths of natural coloured raffia. The raffia was a bit of a pain 'cos it kept splitting  - but I do like a challenge - lol.

End result - a very sturdy 'container' - which will be handy for keys, loose change,  sweeties and other bits and bobs.  Thinking now that these would make nice pressies .....

More raffia was cut up to form a 'nest' inside for the invitations to stand in.  I was going to put some more Studio 490 flowers around the outside but decided to make 'tiles' of some of the definitions on the paper instead ....

And - voila - here's the completed pressie ....

I hope Rachel likes it - and you do too ....

Wendy Vecchi Meets Basic Grey ....

Many moons ago I bought a bunch of chipboard shapes on a piece of Bind-It-All O-wire - like a Tag Book  Also many moons ago I bought a pad of Basic Grey Motifica paper, which is seriously delicious.  Some of the papers have been used but on my desk I had a plastic wallet full of scraps.  I haven't been able to play for ages and I thought something small would be a good idea - so I put the two together and came up with this (mind you it's taken all week - lol) ....

All the stamps are Wendy Vecchi's Studio 490 ....

and all are stamped on Grungepaper (even the backs of the flowers and leaves which are curled and overhang are stamped with the larger background stamps) and coloured with Distress Inks ....

I like this - hope you do too ....

Clickety Clack ..... and Studio 490 ...

I was prowling round a well known book/mnagazine/all sorts shop on Reading Station a couple of weeks ago on my way to see Mum in hospital in Taunton and my eye fell on some knitting magazines. Great I thought, I could look at them with Mum, who is a keen knitter, and cheer her up. The mags proved to be a huge hit and we talked about heel turning on socks, the thumb method vs the two needle method of casting on and other such knitting stuff for at least a couple of hours .....

Now I haven't picked up the needles for years but was so inspired by Mum and the mags that I have been knitting for the last couple of weeks .....
This is what I made first of all - just to see if I could still do it .....I used a very old pattern (one of those Patons Great Bazaar Knits booklets - price 1/6d - lol) for the basic shape and then made up the pattern of garter and stocking stitch blocks. I spent yesterday afternoon trying to line it but couldn't get the lining quite right . The problem being that the bag is really stretchy and 'pleated' but c'est la vie - it is an unlined knitting bag ......

Then I made this ......This is for a 2 to 3 year and I think it's really pretty. As I am a bit of a loose knitter, I nipped over to see The Gorgeous One aka Finley William and used him as a model. He didn't mind trying on a girl's cardi and he really looked cute - I wish I had taken the camera - lol.
I have another cardigan on the go, and a caterpillar, knit and crochet flowers and a crochet ball. To say nothing of a beautiful pattern and wool I bought for another bag - but more of that another time ....

My problem now is that I have so many ideas - knitting, the new release of Studio 490, which the lovely Wendy over at The Stamp Attic is taking pre-orders for (to say nothing of the new Tim Holtz stamps), Christmas cards ...... how do I fit it all in - lol

And Yet More Studio 490 .....

So the question is - have I become obsessed. I think the correct answer has to be - yes .... Here is something I have made. It started as THIS ......THIS being a 2' 6" long by 3" wide by 1" deep canvas. There were three in the pack, which I bought ages ago, not really sure what I was going to do with it (them) and now I know - lol.

I used THESE ......And made THIS ...A Paper Artsy house and Studio 490 flowers and leaves; and moving up .....
Another Paper Artsy house and a Paper Artsy partridge and more Studio 490 flowers and leaves; and moving up ......
And at the top, another Paper Artsy house and patridge and Studio 490 flowers and leaves and a heart.
THIS is the whole canvas (I really must take photography lessons - lol) .....
I like this and I might even hang it up on the wall. Hope you like it too.
The next canvas is already prepared for something not Studio 490 ....

Houses and Clever, Inspiring People ....

Last weekend, on Saturday, I got it right and went to The Craft Barn Extravaganza on the correct day - lol - and had a great time. There were more clever people there than you can shake a stick at and it was just great to watch them all weave their magic. I don't want to single any one person out but Jenny from Hobby Art was as inspiring as ever, the lady from Kazelcraft Stamps had some great stuff, there was a very clever lady from the Craft Barn doing some beautiful stuff with metal (sorry can't remember her name) and I also managed to get quite near the front to see Leandra Franich (very popular lady).

Depite all that, I have to say that I spent by far the most time watching Sue Roddis. What a clever, clever lady and so friendly and sharing. I watched her for so long that when I left I popped into The Craft Barn and bought a pad of Basic Grey Porcelain papers and went home to make houses ...

(I did go in the shop before I went over the road to the Hall but I'm not saying if I spent, because my pal Sue (the one who hasn't got a blog but should have) will say "I told you so" - lol ....)
So here are two houses - inspired by Sue Roddis ....

Both have Paper Artsy doors. The one on the left has more Studio 490 flowers and leaves. The one on the right is a real mish mash of stamps, including the B-Line Designs Checkerboard. and the Stampers Anonymous Ledger Border.
On Sue R's originals, the tree trunk is a wooden dolly peg, I didn't have one of those, so mine is chipboard. The foliage is a fern stamp, stamped and cut out five times and arranged in a tree-like fashion. One great tip is to stamp on patterned paper, which is why I bought the Porcelain pad). This gives a hint of a background to the image rather than just an expanse of white card (you can just about see this if you click on the photo). Copious amounts of Distress Inks to smudge, edge and highlight were used, as well as loads of buttons ....
Had a great time making these and soon there will be a whole street .......
One final thing I met a blogging pal there - the lovely Alison. It was a bit of a shame but we didn't have much time together because I had to get off home. I hope we can meet up again ....

Never Forget The Power of You ....

Here is what I made with my Studio 490 flowers ....A Tag Book which was in a parcel of pressies that my friend Ed sent me. There are five chipboard tags and five acetate ones, but I've kept the acetate ones for something else. As I said in the last post the only things I used were Grungepaper and Distress Inks; apart from the quotes which are stamped in black StazOn, the Life letters, which are ordinary chipboard and some buttons.
All the stamps are the yummy Studio 490 ones, which have been released in two sets of seven, the last set coming out from CHA earlier this year.

I read recently that someone found the Distress Inks a bit 'dreary'. Well I have to say certainly not. To get the bright colour on some of the flowers, I swiped the pad on the Grungepaper, sprayed it with water, dried it off, swiped again and dried with a heat gun. For some of the leaves I used the textured side of the Grungepaper, which I suppose is the reverse but which gave a really nice effect. I just love the Grungepaper - you can bend and shape it and it stays that way, but even laid flat, it is stunning. It cuts really easily because it bends and best of all - it doesn't tear.
The tags are on a book ring at the moment but I'll be adding fibres and ribbons later ....
Hope you like it ....
And a couple of close ups ....And - as if all this wasn't enough there is to be a third release of another seven sets in July!!!! You can get the stamps from the lovely Wendy at The Stamp Attic - let's hope she's getting the new release ......

It's Now Sunday .... And No Paper In Sight ....

After yesterday morning's adventure, the rest of the day passed without serious mishap .... the runner beans got planted out, the salad growbag planted with seeds, a bit of snipping here and there in the garden, a surprise invitation to a BBQ over at my daughter's in the evening. The only thing that did happen was that while I was out at said BBQ, a cat had had a bit of a scratch in my growbag. I was not impressed .... so there I was in the rapidly failing light rigging up temporary netting - so we will have to see on that one.

I thought I would share what I have been playing with for the last couple of evenings. Back in March, my son forgot my birthday and Mother's Day and by way of apology gave me his credit card (again lol), a fixed sum and said 'Get some stamps'. So (again) quicker than you can say rubber, I was on the phone to the Stamp Attic and got myself these absoloutely beautiful and gorgeous Studio 490 stamps, designed by Wendy Vecchi. Matt bought me my first three sets (some apology eh - everyone wants him - lol) and after getting them I simply had to add to the collection ......Here are some of the flowers I have made so far and, no, there isn't a piece of paper there. All the flowers are made from Grungepaper. All of these in the photo, plus a few more leaves, have been made out of 1.5 sheets of the Grungepaper, so when you consider that there are three sheets in a pack - it goes a long way. The only inks I have used are Distress Inks, so this is a high scoring project on the mess front - lol. I'm not getting everything I own out - just the three elements.
Be back later to share what I have done with them .....