My Fingers have gone Blue.

Hello Monday.  Hello days off.  Hello sunshine.  So why have my fingers gone blue?  Well, the challenge with  Hels this week is BLUE. 

Historically blue for me has always been associated with my mother who has a passion for blue and white china, Willow pattern and Spode types.  So this colour combination is well inside my comfort zone having made many a blue and white card for her birthdays.

I had dabbled with this particular design style in the past but was inspired by this weeks challenge to re-visit it.  And I am glad I did.

Blue and White

I am not a great fan of lace and doilys but somehow when teamed in this way they seem to work.  I have a collection of little doilys which are actually about 4" across.  They are meant for putting on your saucer when you are having 'posh' afternoon tea events. (Who has those anymore?) Anyway, I inked it up gently by smearing the ink pad across it.  This is where I got most of the blue on my fingers.

Using the same ink pad I stamped onto some inch square pieces of white card, making sure not to centralize the image.  I put the background card through the embosser and using a stamp with a woven pattern I stamped gently over it so as to only print on the raised bits of the embossing.

Assembly next, using ribbons and gems to finish off the design.  And look here, the glue is still wet so you know this is fresh. 

Wet Glue

So, challenge complete.  Check out the other BLUE entries on the blog  here.

The sun is out so maybe I shall be in the garden this afternoon.  Or maybe not...........

Kim xx  Forgot to say that I really like getting your comments.

No Blogging - Just Creating.

So, I seem to have neglected to blog just lately, but when you see what I have been doing I am sure you will realise that it has all been worth it.

Those that know me will already know that once I get 'into' something there is very little that will drag me away from it.

This happened to me again last week.  I got totally obsessed with what I have called Bead Bound Books.  You will have seen them before in some of my previous posts but the bug really took hold last week and I made quite a few.  

At the start of the week I knew I was going to be busy making these books and so off I went to the second hand shops to source beads.  I am sure I have enough already but more isn't a bad thing right?  (Need to point out that I have more stash than I know what to do with but just love the experience of shopping for more.)

Tattoo Flashback

Once home I spent a few hours finding nice phrases and sentiments to put in these books. Obviously there are lots out there but I needed to find ones that could transfer well into little books; short, to the point, a little bit 'earthy', phrases that matched with the overall technique and stamps available, and that were easily broken down to fit on the pages.

Dimension

I got totally engrossed in making these books and every spare moment was spent in my craft room.  I also spent the whole week with stained fingers which although might have looked a bit grubby, seeing the ink stains myself made me feel great.  Artist at work.

Inside - John Lennon Quote

I am not sure I am over this phase yet so don't be surprised if I am absent again this week. If you want to see more of these books they can be found on my Facebook page by clicking HERE.

As always your comments are much appreciated.

PS - Hasn't the weather been great this weekend?  Spring may finally have arrived.

Kim xxx

Squares

Nice weekend?  I was at work as usual but when I got home I went straight into my craft room and created something.  Such a great way to wind down after a hectic day.

Hels Sheridan has opened a challenge with the theme Squares and so I set about making something for this.  I had recently bought some plain rubber for carving my own stamps and so I decided to start with a very basic design just to get the feel of the rubber and carving tools.  I enjoyed the process of carving, it was very satisfying.  Knowing when to stop cutting is the key to a good stamp. A lot of careful carving can be ruined by that last cut.  My stamp ended up looking like a flower although I hadn't intended it to be flower.  If you look back at some of my biro art you will see what I was trying to create - an ethnic, random pattern.

Anyhow, on testing the stamp I used a piece of scrap multi-coloured paper to print on and this gave me the inspiration to use bright colours for making the real thing.

I covered some squares of card with thin water colour paper and dipped the edges into some Ranger ink.  The paper 'sucked up' the ink and bled onto the face of the square.  I find this better than covering the whole card in coloured paper as not only can you get an exact match of colour for your project but also you don't need to colour the whole piece if you are going to being covering most of the face of the card up anyway.

Next I coloured some water colour card with various Ranger inks in bright colours not really worrying about placement of colours, just letting it happen.  Once these pieces of card were dry I stamped my hand made image onto the card using black ink.  It is amazing how the bright colours and the black ink compliment each other.  I cut the images down to fit on the squares and then punched holes in opposite corners for the hanging thread.

I used a faux leather thong in purple and turquoise together with beads to string the squares together to make wall hanging.

The overall result is very hippy-chick I think (taking me back to the days of patchouli and cheesecloth shirts).

Hope you like it?  Feel free to leave a comment and go check out what other people create in the theme  Squares on Hels blog.

Back to crafting, it is my day off after all. 

Kim xx

Ouch! I Fell out of my Comfort Zone.

I simply had to break away from the little books and what better way to do this than by getting involved in another blog challenge? The wonderful Lavinia Stamps are still in play - can't get away from them.  However, I have had to step well out of my usual colour tones for this challenge - Bright and Beautiful.

Sadly this photo does not show the true colours, nor the shimmer.  I can assure you that it is very bright.  If I get a moment I shall upload a better picture.

The background was made using Adirondak inks on water colour card and some Tattered Angels glimmer mist. I then stamped the little fairy 'shrooms and some teeny tiny 'shrooms at either side.  Mounted on a matt gold card then a bright teal piece, I finished it off with a bright teal and lilac coloured organza bow, some glitter brads and a word staple.

Of course it had to go on a brown craft card base - anything else would have been a bridge too far.

So go see the other entries at Lavinia Stamps blog, enter yourself if you like.  I look forward to seeing all the other entries myself and as always I look forward to getting your comments.

Kim XxX

It's a Beautiful Day.

Well, as the title says, it is indeed a beautiful day.  Blue sky, sun, but better viewed from inside as it is bloomin' cold out there still.

I am once again deeply into a particular thing.  I can't stop making these little books. I am obsessed with PinFlair book binding glue, so much so that I have just taken delivery of another 5 tubs of the stuff.  Does it come in larger sizes, perhaps a five gallon drum?  It is great for a wrinkle free finish, it dries really quickly and it goes a long way.

Luckily I have plenty of pages of the Oscar Wild book left, and the Tim Holtz ink pads are still going strong despite being used and abused these past few weeks.

Nature - front cover - look closely in the middle of the seed head the word Nature can be seen - pure chance!!

This particular book was made for the challenge Mother Nature's Son now running on the Ink on my Fingers blog spot, by Hels Sheridan.  

It features another one of my obsessive products, Lavinia Stamps, the seed head silhouette collection.  And the obligatory moon.

The book is 2" x 2" square, inked with Tim Holtz Faded Jeans and Dusty Concord, and stamped with the seed heads in Tuxedo Black.  The binding is hemp cord adorned with hand made paper rolled beads also stained with the Tim inks.

The phrase 'Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.' is from a stamp I have but I printed the words out from the computer in a 'nicer' font as the original stamp uses a font I am not keen on.

Size 2" x 2"

I suppose I should try and move away from these type of items, lock up the Lavinia Stamps, hide my beads, and let my book binding glue go solid so that I can't make any more of these books.  But then again I do love 'em!!  Maybe a new colour or two?  Some more phrases? 

Is the craft shop open? 

See you later maybe, perhaps I will have discovered a new avenue?  But I wouldn't bet on it.

Kim X

PS - Your comments are always welcome.