Anyone Home?

I've got another Class at the Craft Barn coming up in January called 'Anyone Home...?' Here's what we'll be making:

It uses Crafty Secrets stamps and Crafty Individuals stamps and you can have it standing on the mantelpiece or hang it on the wall. Should be a fun class - it's on Sunday 22 January, all day.

Thanks for looking and thankyou for all the lovely comments you've left.

Have a very happy Christmas!

Helen

And another 'All Wrapped Up...'

This time I've made an exploding box out of an old cardboard box.
It didn't quite turn out as planned as I couldn't decide what to put in the middle as it needs to have an all round view if you get my drift! I'd already decided on the fir trees and the little houses, but the very centre was tricky! In the end I made a little gold Christmas tree by fringing some gold painted card and sticking it to a tiny cone.
This is the box from the outside:

And then from the inside:

I've used the tree and house stamps from CI-257. Hop on over to the Crafty Individuals blog to find details of the challenge!

Thanks for looking!

Helen

December Challenge...

Yes, it's that time again over on the Crafty Individuals blog. The challenge this month is 'All Wrapped Up...'
I've made a very quick wrapped tealight holder using the Christmas stamps CI-257, red ink and tissue paper.

Thanks for looking!

Helen

Christmas card...

I've made my Christmas cards for this year - a one layer design with lots of sparkle! I can't believe I've managed to stick to one layer!

The main image is Crafty Individuals CI-332 with Autumn Leaves flourishes and a tiny background text from Prima.
Just got to write and send them now!

Thanks for looking!

Helen

Row Houses

Here's a project I made inspired by the Whimsical Melange Artistic Outpost stamps. The house frames are designed to work with lots of their other stamp sets. I've filled in with the Birds of a Feather set.and the Ephemeral Backgrounds set.

All stamps from Happy Daze.

Thanks for looking!

Helen

Winter Village

This is my second sample for the Crafty Individuals Challenge this month:

I really enjoyed making this with all the little twiddly bits! All stamps are from Crafty Individuals: Buildings CI-257; Angel CI-282; Snowflakes CI-241.

As always, thanks for looking!

Helen

Winter Wonderland...

The November Crafty Individuals Challenge is now on! The theme is 'Winter Wonderland' and this tag is my first offering:

I've used one of my favourite stamps to create a winter woodland scene.
Stamps used: Rabbit scene CI-202: Snowflakes CI-241.

Thanks for looking!

Helen

Spooky Tidings...

I forgot I hadn't posted this one!
Another Hallowe'en card made with Artistic Outpost Whimsical Melange and My Favourite Book stamps and Pink Paislee Phantom stamps. The house shapes in the Whimsical Melange set just have endless possibilities.

All stamps available from Happy Daze.

Thanks for looking!

Helen

Craft Barn Vintage Heaven class...

Well, this was yesterday up at the Craft Barn in Lingfield and I thoroughly enjoyed myself, so I hope everyone there enjoyed what I did!
Haven't really taught many classes before, so I just went along and did my thing!
The ladies were lovely and I was really pleased that they all did different variations of the basic project, choosing combinations of colours that they liked and mixing and matching the various stamps and embellishments etc.
Here are pics of the works in progress about halfway through (in no particular order):

:

I haven't put names to them as I know I'll get in a muddle!
We were using Crafty Individual stamps, Tando Creative chipboard and tissue paper with Distress inkpads and stains - all available from the Craft Barn.

Thanks for looking and thanks for making my first class such fun!

Helen

PS The Craft Barn's got some fab new charm embellishments - fantastic range and well priced.

Craft Barn Class

I'm teaching a class at the Craft Barn on Sunday using Crafty Individuals stamps, a wooden house thermometer, tissue paper, Tando Chipboard and lots of inky, painty stuff! Here's a picture of the more masculine version (I've made two so you get a choice, but forgot to photograph the other one!) - sorry it's a bit skew-whiff:

Really looking forward to it.

Thanks for looking!

Helen

Crafty Individuals - another winged thing...

Here's another sample for the Crafty Individuals blog challenge!

It uses: Crafty Individuals Stamps: Birds and Music CI-309;Butterfly CI-231; Text 'Fly' CI-329; Scroll Corner CI-184
Tiny scrap of some of the new papers for background and butterflies.
The jewellery part is something I picked up somewhere - a clear plastic faceted pendant with the pearly bit. Held together with Ranger silver Memory Foil. Oh, and the wings were cheap earrings!

Thanks for looking!

Helen

A Little bit of Magic...

Here's a card I've made for the Happy Daze DT using Artistic Outpost stamps and Pink Paislee Hocus Pocus papers:

I've turned the little girl into a witch by adding a witch's hat. The frame is stamped onto purple Hocus Pocus paper and edged in bronze paint that is heated to make it bubble. The scroll is stamped all round the edge of the card and coloured with pencils. The word 'BOO' is taken from the Book quote - I've just cut off the last letter!

Stamps used:
Little girl and frame: Artistic Outpost: My Favourite Book
Border Scroll: Artistic Outpost: Whimsical Melange

Thanks for looking!

Helen

Winged Things...

It's going to be Challenge time again over on Crafty Individuals blog and this month's theme is "Winged Things..."
I've made a bottlecap bracelet using lots of different bird images:

All stamps from Crafty Individuals: Background Grungy Swirl CI-237, Ferns CI-207; Birds CI-184, CI-329; Text CI-209

Thanks for looking and get entering!

Helen

One Layer Card...

I was inspired by Joanne Wardle's series on One Layer cards in Craft Stamper to have a go myself - I don't usually manage one layer cards simply because I never know when to stop, but they're actually quite addictive. The only drawback is that you have to keep your card very clean (no stray blobs or bits of ink) as you can't cut anything out to cover up the odd mistake which is what I usually do! This one did end up a bit smaller than originally planned as I cut off some of the top of the card where it went a bit wrong!

The bird is a Tim Holtz stamp and the grasses are Inkadinkado which I got from the Craft Barn (I'm teaching a class there in October but more on that later when I've sorted the projects out!)

Thanks for looking!

Helen

Wedding Bells...

I was asked to make a wedding card the other day which presented a challenge as I've never really made many and so haven't got any specific 'wedding' stamps!
In the end I used an old fashioned bouquet stamp from B Line Designs combined with an oval frame and some of the berry sprigs from the new Prima Pixie Glen stamps (lovely delicate designs these). The colour scheme for the wedding is mauve and purple (well, that's all I could get out of my daughter!) so I went for a sort of vintage look, with a bit of pale yellow to lift it.

Thanks for looking!

Helen

Just Hanging About...

I had a lot of fun choosing the winners for the August Challenge, though it was really difficult as there were so many lovely entries.
There's now a new challenge going up on the Crafty Individuals blog for September called 'Hanging about...' and here's the first of my ideas:

It's a diorama card using CI-230 Bird Postcard, CI-209 Trees and CI-234 Branches and Birdcage. I've coloured the background with some Ecoline pastel coloured inks.

Thanks for looking!

Helen
PS If anyone can tell me why all the stuff in the right hand column has shot off down to the bottom of my posts and seems to want to stay there, I'd be very grateful!
Ignore this - I've sorted it - it was an error in one of the previous post's links.

Not at all what I expected...

Do you ever get that - you start a project and it turns out completely differently to what you'd sort of planned? This was one of those - that's my explanation for a rather Hallowe'eny card in the middle of August!
It uses one of the new Crafty Individuals stamps, the crow one, which I saw and was immediately drawn to. So I stamped it and coloured it and then couldn't work out what to do next! (I think it was my very yellow moon that stumped me!)

Thanks for looking!

Helen

A couple more...

Here are a couple more ideas for the Bright and Beautiful Challenge over on the Crafty Individuals blog.
This first one uses the Travel to Paris stamp (CI-260), Postmark background stamps (CI-307), spray inks and colour taken out with bleach:

This second one uses an old piece of oval stampbord and the Girls on the Beach stamp (CI-284)

Thanks for looking!

Helen

Butterfly bright...

Here's another idea I had for the Crafty Individuals challenge 'Bright and Beautiful'
:

This is a card and uses the Steampunk Butterfly CI-296. Very versatile stamp this.

Thanks for looking and get entering!

Helen

Bright and Beautiful...

There's a new challenge going up for August on Crafty Individuals blog called 'Bright and Beautiful'
Here's the first of my samples - I thought I'd better make more than one as this is the challenge that I've chosen - you know how I love bright colours!
Here's a close-up:

Here's straight on and then slightly sideways so you can see it's made with a 3x4 inch deep canvas:

I've used the corset set of stamps CI-306 and the buildings CI-271.

For the colours I've used Kaleidacolor inkpads: Bouquet for the background (brayered every which way but loose!) and Calypso for the mannequins.

Thanks for looking!

Helen

Multo Bello...

Here's a birthday card I made using a PaperArtsy stamp, 7Gypsies Venice stamps and bleach:

Thanks for looking!

Helen

The Great Gatsby...

Here are another two cards I made using Gatsby plate from Artistic Stamper.
This first one uses the same face as in the previous post:

It's done on a Kaleidacolor background and ended up using colours of card I hadn't planned on!
This second one is again on a similar background and uses some handmade paper which, despite having loads of, I haven't used for ages!

So, both slightly unexpected outcomes!

All stamps available from Happy Daze.

Thanks for looking!

Helen

Happy Birthday

Here's a quick showing of the birthday card I made for my eldest daughter, Victoria.
Close up first:

and then it turned into this:

Stamps are Artistic Outpost Gatsby for the main image, available from Happy Daze.
The background stamps are Artemio Deco 10001074, available from That's Crafty

Thanks for looking!

Helen