Aqua Promarkers and gnashing cars!

I was lucky enough to win 40 Aqua Promarkers recently from a draw on the inspiring Kirsty Wisemans blog I was gobsmacked as it is the first time I have won anything since I was a child and my poster design won a road safety competition (and I stole the quote 'Watch out, watch out there is a car about' from the Humphrey milk marketing board adverts). But I wasn't going to point it out to the road safety competition organisers as I'm sure the picture I drew of a gnashing car swung it anyway!

On the 'In life's adventures...' tag I used shades of green and blue scribbled onto acrylic and then watered down and painted onto watercolour paper. I then tried stamping swirls and flourishes all over. This I did by dabbing the pens over the stamp and then misting with water. After adding an ATC size picture, quote and fibres I outlined the edge straight from the pen.

The 'Delight in the simple things' tag was coloured using the same technique as the first but the swirls were stamped using Stazon inks for a more pronounced design. This time to decorate it I used some scraps that I had been practising using clear UTEE with the fab 'Big and Juicy' ink pad and a Twinkling H2o painted butterfly.

So thanks Letraset and Kirsty for arranging the draw, I now feel redeemed of all guilt from my childhood misdemeanour's.

I heart my big and juicy!

Yep, I'm in love with my Big and Juicy Sunset ink pad. I just adore the pink, orange, mauve and yellow together in one big juicy pad.

I have tried a new way of using it this week, well it's not a new way but a slightly different way than usual. I found that if you stamp it onto a waterproof craft mat, spray with a LITTLE water, then pat the card over the top of it (don't swish),you end up with a lovely result. I used this method for some ATC's and then stamped a Morphic Dragonfly stamp in black ink over the top. Added some stickles glue on the wings and it was finished. Plain and simple and easy to do.

The other more usual way of using the pad is with a brayer. It takes a little time to get the knack but after practise you do get some good effects. So after covering some card with the ink a few times you get a nice deep colour. Next I stamped a Tim Holtz twig stamp over the card. I then cut out some printed ladies, used pro-markers to give a hint of colour and then stuck the picture on the card. Again simple but I like it.

I'm thinking of getting the Hydrangea Big and Juicy now but I am sure I can find some other ways to use the pad. Any ideas welcome. I would love you to leave a comment with your favourite ones.

Sunny days

What glorious weather we are having this summer, quite unexpected for England isn't it? Though the weathermen do announce an 'Indian Summer' most years which normally mean a week of hot,sunny weather, headlines of 'Cor, what a scorcher' (depending on which tabloid you read) and then the rest of the summer huddled in jumpers or avoiding showers.

You may be thinking that I am making the most of the hot weather and virtually living outdoors........well........have you seen my complexion? I only have to look at the sun and I am sporting a million freckles (which I don't mind because eventually they join up and from a distance you look brown) or start looking like a boiled lobster. So instead I have been indoors crafting.

It's nearly the end of term and many a 'thank you' or 'sorry you are leaving' card need to be made. A nautical theme has been running though the cards with bunting of red and blue. I have gone back to my ephemera photos for these and found a deliriously happy 50's swim suited lady for some teaching friends and moustached cyclist for my cycling assistant.

I have also been playing with Inkadinkado 'Morphic Bugs' stamps and twinkling H20 paints for these pretty lilac cards. These stamps are so detailed and look great just stamped straight onto card stock using my 'Big and Juicy' Sunset ink pad.

I do have to go outside occasionally (like going to work) and unfortunately my work does involve alot of the outdoors. Like today we had a nice little sweaty ramble around the nature reserve at the back of the school and even though there were some clouds it was surprisingly hot. See the photo at the top of the post, it looks hot doesn't it? So what are you going to do with the rest of your summer? Sun worshiping or sun dodging? Now where's my card stock.......

Goofing Around

I have been friends with Jackie since we first worked together as Teaching Assistants some eight years ago. We still work in the same school but only very occasionally work together as she is in KS1 and I'm in KS2. We joke that we are have been separated for bad behavour and not aloud to work together as we normally have too muich fun while teaching.

But I always know who to turn to if I need a ear to bend or a morale boost.and if we ever need a partner to help out with a club or trip we know each other will help. (I still haven't forgiven her for that evil , dissapointed look she gave me when I helped her with a display and it went a little wrong) I can go days without seeing her (it's a large school) but if there is a social event we are always together. So when a member of staff got married and we were invited to the evening reception, of course we went together. When we saw that there was a photo booth to capture the guests being silly, we couldn't resist.....we couldn't resist many times in fact. By the end of the evening we were thinking of even sillier and more entertaining ways of having our photo's taken. It helped that many hats and costumes were available. These photos were the first ones taken and are quite 'normal'.....but what were we so shocked to see?

I used the prompt posted this week from the new challenge blog chicken soup to create a patchwork effect layout, using My Minds Eye and Bo Bunny card stock. I also stamped some swirls and then offset the last photo to add a little interest.

Hmmmm, so what were we shocked to see........well that would be telling wouldn't it?

Good to swap.

Since being involved in the UKS ATC trail, I have met some very talented ladies. All of whom have such amazing talents and ideas that it can get quite addictive to keep swapping. So when I spotted this lovely ladies work on her blog http://craftyshe.blogspot.com/ and that SHE (her UKS name) had made some Alice in Wonderland ATCs I immediately wanted to swap. I have said it before and I will say it again that 'they are like mini works of art'. So with this in mind I framed these four together (see above). Good aren't they?

I made Mine by firstly starting with a cereal packet, covered in paper, inked with a couple of Tim Holtz inks then a Paper Artsy diamond background stamped over the top. As I did not have any Alice themed stamps that fitted an ATC, I looked online and then printed, cut out and chalked the images, covering with a layer of matt glaze. A few embellishments and they where finished (see below).

So if you feel like swapping or need a little motivation to get started in ATC's, hop on over now to the ATC Trail at UKS here http://www.ukscrappers.co.uk/boards/showthread.php?t=293266. See you there!