New

On the 8th of October Twofers will become Always use Rubber!  Exciting times and we Jane, Christi and I are having a lot of fun preparing everything behind the scenes.    We hope that you will join us in the new format fortnightly challenge.

As the name suggests we are a stamping challenge be it rubber or polymer it is your stamping skills we want you to use, there are a few other rules but nothing surprising or unusual.   We know a lot of people like digis now but still have their older stamps and others like us prefer to use rubber/polymer stamps

Our first challenge will go live on Saturday 8th October at 09:00 BST.   Please join us and maybe between now and then help spread the word?   Thank you my friends it is going to be fun for us all.

Travel

This weeks theme at Go Tag Thursday.  Yes after all the excitement of last week it is back to normal now and once again I'm a regular follower.

So here is my Tag, I've used a Tando Grey board this time painted with DecoArt chalk paint.   The steam engine is a TH stamp which seemed perfect for the theme.   First stamped with Memento onto the tag and then onto card.    2nd impression has been coloured with ProMarkers, are these now owned by Windsor and Newton?    The tag and the topper were dusted with various raging shades of DI.  If you look to the right you will see the features of a face, this was added with a Tando mask and more DI the final colour is Stream dye based Adirondack ink also dusted on.

Butterfly Challenge Guest Designer

Well well well a challenge that I have come to enjoy recently has invited me to be their Guest Designer.   So this fortnight the challenge at Butterfly Challenge is W for White and/or Wire.

Mrs A asks her guest to select a letter from those so far un-used.  After a lot of thought I chose W expecting it to be White and Wood.   Well I'm half right and as I love White on White very happy, learning that the and/or is wire was a bonus.   So no stamping this time just lots of die cutting and some embossing and punching.   As you might know another crafting hobby of mine is making jewellery a wire work butterfly is the perfect fit.

Do you like butterflies?  Include them in your paper crafting projects?   Can you keep a project prominently white?   Perfect, your projects will be welcomed at Butterfly Challenge Mrs A is a sweetie to all her players.

I would also like to share this with

Dragonfly Dreams - Monochrome

Through the Craft-Room Door - Always ATG

Crafty Boots Guest Designer

It was such a wonderful surprise when Crafty Boots selected my entry in 1st place recently.   I was pleased with my project but just did not expect it to be chosen.   Even more of a thrill when I was asked to be one of their guest designers for this fortnights challenge All Squared Up.

Did not take me long to visualise this card using some older long cherished stamps and card.  The Happy Birthday stamp had only just been re-discovered during a long search for something else.   The square shadow stamp below it is another stamp that is not aired often enough.   With a colour scheme in mind, off white card stock Black and Red a couple of old Kanban mats came into the mix.   The daisy in a square is a Hobby Art stamp stamped in black with white pen highlights.

Fancy squaring up to Crafty Boots?

I'm also sharing this with
Allsorts - Black, White + 1
Crafty Catz - Red, White & Black

Go Tag Thursday Guest DT

I'm so pleased to be the Guest Designer at Go Tag Thursday this week.   It is a smashing weekly challenge with just one simply requirement, your project myst be a tag.   Any size any shape anything you like really that fits the tag format.   The theme this week selected by yours truly is Gothic.   Well I had just got this scrumptious face in the sky stamp from Stampendous and got me thinking about all those wonderful Victorian gothic novels such as Dracula and Frankenstein we still enjoy so much today.     

As usual with me the tag was coloured with dye based inks applied with Inkylicious Dusters.   Stamping in brown first the wonderful struck me that the foreground was a bit bare, just the right amount of space for the Clarity autumn woodland floor stamp.

Sharing my first tag with

Cards and More - No designer Paper

Crafting from the Heart - Always Anything Goes

Addicted to Stamps - Trees/Branches and/or Leaves

Sandra asked for two sample tags, keeping gothic in mind I dug out some older Basic Grey and Inkadinkado halloween stamps.

This time the background was made with Ken Oliver Colour Bursts over applied again but this time I wanted the result he is something rather mysterious about it.   The over-stamping  in black needed very little more.   The magical Basic Grey web was stamped again in silver, the skull filled with white pen into which the green colour burst bleed adding to the overall effect.

Sharing my second Tag with
Everybody Art - Anything Goes.
Fashionable Stamping - Use Autumnal Colours


Will you go Gothic at Go Tag Thursday?


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Card, Stamps and Ink

It's hot!  So nice to have good weather after the schools have gone back sort of pensioners revenge.

I've been in the craft room with the doors wide open and the cats basking.   Here is what I came up with.

First a birthday card for my brother, who never looks at my blog.   It is one layer and yes Poppies are my favourite flowers.   Got the WOW embossing powder out for this one super fine gold.   The colouring is all with Chameleon Pens the blue background makes full use of the blend ability of these pens.

This was of course made with Less in More in mind.  The challenge this week is one layer favourite flower.

I was astonished  to discover that my entry had been chosen by amusing challenge my project is so different from their usual style it was a lovely surprise, thank you.   The current challenge there is monochrome and I think these shades all belong to the same family.

The tag had amusing in mind along with Try it on Tuesday whose theme is Coffee and Cream (or any two colours) this is also a nod to the challenges original format as Tag Tuesday.   I also needed an entry for Go Tag Thursday where anything on a tag goes.

White tag cut with the TH tag die.   coloured all over with DI Old Paper and those brilliant brushes.   The old little stamp with a hot drink stamped in Adirondack Latte and then the sides of the tag given another brush over with Adirondack Expresso.  

Then I noticed The Crazy Challenge has a new challenge - use Burlap and or Twine

Still doing things with gem stones

I love Labradorite but it is difficult to photograph.  The wonderful flashes of colour that make this stone so very special very much depend on the angle of the light entering the stone.   You can see the wonderful blue hidden in these stones is shown here on the main piece and a little in some of the smaller rounds.   Labradorite has been paired with Moonstone another gem that reflects light displaying colour flashes in the right conditions.   Findings and spacers are Silver plated copper.

I've got another of those facetted irregular shapes that will be wired into a matching ring.   No earrings this time as I have lots of silver set Labradorite earrings already.   Now how do I convince Harley that the wire is not an interesting cats toy.