Cards for Haiti

A local group I am a member of had a bring & buy sale on Tuesday with proceeds going to Shelterbox's Haiti appeal. I made a batch of cards, some using alcohol inks, some using glimmer mist sprays, and took along. So far I have sold 19 and am in the process of making another batch.  I kept them simple so that I could churn them out - I played with the alcohol inks on a large sheet of glossy c/s and then cut it into 4" squares before matting and mounting on 5" square cards.  I did cut the c/s for the glimmer mist sprays first as I am mean with them and didn't want to have too much waste! I adore the heart & music stamp (by Stamps Happen) and have been mainly selling those cards for Valentines.

done with Alcohol Inks

done with Glimmer Mist Sprays

And a couple of close ups (unfortunately I didn't think to take photos until after I bagged them up!)

Altered Slide Mailer

I made this a couple of weeks ago but didn't want to post photos until I had sent it off to it's recipient. I used gold acrylic paint as the base, decopaged the front with part of a gorgeous napkin that I had been hoarding for a long time and had fun decorating inside with pictures and fibres from Lost Art Creations. Even my DH was impressed, although he didn't really know what it was! LOL!

Playing with alcohol inks .....

I love playing with alcohol inks and so was very happy when one of the groups I am a member of had a swap where we could make anything we liked using them.  This is what I made using stampbord as the base. After inking I embossed with UTEE, added in tiny gold beads then did a couple more layers of UTEE. I edged with gold embossing powder which melted into the UTEE and gave a lovely soft edge. 

This is the one I made for the swap:

with a close up:

and because I liked it, this is one I made to keep

Collage birthday card

Today I made a birthday card for my FIL. I've been hoarding all sorts of labels, tops etc from wine bottles for some time now so thought I'd make a collage of them. This is the result- scanned a bit wonky but that's due to the slices of cork - it's not really wonky, I measured, honest!

Snow Day = Playtime!

We woke up to find a fair bit of snow on the ground - I took a walk outside mid morning to see if I could possibly drive to work but it was waaaayyyy too slippery, so, after a bit of housework I had some play time in my craft room.  I have too many different ideas flitting around in my head at the moment so decided to ignore all of them and get out the alcohol inks.  And - what goes best with alcohol inks - Cherry Pie stamps of course!! I started by doing a test image on a scrap of alcohol inked cardstock which already had a flower cut out of it; I liked the result and decided to use it and do another 2 along the same lines. Funny how things like that happen isn't it?!

Here's the result.

The next two are similar, the first one is lighter and more subdued ...

the next one is darker and more grungy - I think I prefer it ....

 Another result of me playing was that I forgot I had a ham cooking in the oven and forgot that the log fire was alight. It wasn't until Ollie the cat came to tell me he was hungry and I walked back through the house that I reaslied - the smell of (very) well cooked meat and a virtually dead fire.  Ollie was NOT impressed that he took 3rd place in the proceedings of putting everything to rights!

A box .....

Today I finished my box for the local craft group's competition (theme - a box!). I thought most people would possibly make exploding boxes or similar and wanted to come up with something different ..... I think I managed it!  I do need to do a bit of trimming on one flap but now I have taken the photos I shall upload them. I'm not really into fiddly things; it doesn't come naturally, but I had fun doing this - and, of course, got into a bit of a mess at the same time. I wouldn't be me if I didn't get into a mess! LOL!

Taking a walk for inspiration ....

Yesterday was a beautiful sunny winter's day so we took a late afternoon walk around the lake where there were lots of photographic opportunities. I love water - the reflections, the movement, the shadows and the moodiness of it at this time of day.