ever had one of those days

hi world

ever had one of those days when nothing goes right?

well i've just had 2.

 yesterday went horribly wrong and i'm not even going to say anymore now, except it involves a little bit of silver and a lot of swearing!

but today i tried to make a clear stamp for my daughters wedding invitations.
i have the new imagepac stamp making kit, to say i've had mixed results is an understatement. the problem i have is the art work . . . getting it printed black enough to make a good negative.
the first one i made didn't work at all and all i had was a lump of acylic with very little definition.
next i made a stamp with the artwork that came with it, bingo, that was fine.

i printed emma 's stamp again, it was ok but not really enough definition to make it look really good for the invites. i printed on inkjet acetate.
at least i'm not a quitter .... it's too expensive to give up now.
i tried something smaller this time. i had some really pretty clock hands i wanted as a stamp (like the lovely tim holtz ones). i scanned them and printed it on the expensive plastic 'paper' that came with the kit (and i only have a bit left ).

that did come out much better. they actually looked quite good when put one on top of the other.

anyway to finish on a high, i made good use of the first block i made. i die cut it with tim holt tattered flowers, so now i have a clear stamp of them and it has a very faint impression of the dandelion clock on it too (and you cant but that). so, not all bad in the end

but on the whole not a good weekend,
i'm going to 'make it' at farnborough next week so lots of shopping!!!! maybe i can buy some stamps.

WOYWW 89 . . . in the kitchen

hi everyone  at WOYWW89

i'm not actually working on my desk this week , i'm in the kitchen. . . .  not cooking!

i'm making a silver bracelet for my daughter (no2). it has been a bit scary as the silver is very expensive and i dont want to muck it up. i've only made small things before.

her boyfriend brought her a gecco bracelet when they were in minorca but all the silver came off after a while and turned her hand green. she asked me if i could replace it in pmc silver.
so far, so good as long as nobody touches it.
i am quite pleased with the geccos, i just hope that it all holds together ok and i dont break it, opps! shouldn't have said, that it's the kiss of death to tempt faith.
if you haven't seen pmc precious metal clay before , its brilliant. the special clay turns into 99% pure silver when heated with a cooks blow torch.... yes honestly,  look it up, its  a gorgeous medium to work with.

happy birthday lucy

hi world,

it was daughter no 3's birthday on monday.... yup valentines day! she used to hate sharing her day with the rest of the world when she was little. but now she's a big girl she thinks it is quite cool.

this is the card i made her. it is very similar to the last one i posted, my cards have definately changed since i brought the bigshot.

in this months craft stamper there was an article about dye-ing ribbon with alcohol inks. i decided to use it on lucy's card.

i was really pleased with the results.  i also made a background card with the same colours and over stamped on it with archival ink. i used watermelon, pink sherbert and sunshine yellow.

i think the little girl stamp is from kars and coloured in with aqua promarkers. but i left the ribbon at work so could not use it.

the shape on the base is mounted with foam pads because there is a hidden card inside . .  it's lucy's bump card, (she is expecting a baby in may). there is a pull tab to reveal it.

the sentiment just says happy birthday, but the hidden card says . . .   to my yummy mummy. she loved the card but i think she liked all the valentines stuff from her boyfriend more. how they change lol. 

england 59 someone else 13

hi world

well my visitors this weekend just had to watch the rugby and hubby was enjoying the sunshine by tidying up the garden, so, i disappeared into my sanctuary that is my craft room for an hour. i made some atc's.

a couple of weeks ago i had 27 atc books to do for uksn.

i had done about half and posted them off. 

BUT i forgot to record who i  made them for, so i was in a bit of a muddle, i got most of it sorted (isn't e mail wonderful!!) but still had a few to do. these are some of the results.  

i do like to make one off 's but dont like to spend too long on each one . . . there was a lot of them to do. i am liking the colour charts at the moment , they are very versatile. i embossed it with a tim holtz postcard folder and then rubbed distress inks gently over the top was just the raised area was coloured.

this stamp is one i  made from a self portrait my daughter did a couple of years ago.       the sentiments says . . . . every little girl wants to be a fairy.

oh and england won the rugby, the garden is ready for spring, we all had a good afternoon

happy birthday jan

hi world

last week was my best friends' birthday. i took some photos of the card i made her and then i  couldn't find which memory card they was on (lol) i'm such a muppet.

 i really like the easel style at the moment. the papers are from papermania. the stamps were free with a craft magazine recently, the flower shape and leaves are a die cut , i think they are mariannes or nellies or  something like that. the sentiment is from  crafty individuals. i was going to enter it into  some challenges but i never got around to it. where do you all get the time from. mine just seems to disappear.
tomorrow i have valentines cakes to make for the family and birthday cake for daughter no. 3 also on valentines day, but no hearts in sight. must make her a card!!!!!

midnight crafting

hi world

it's nice and quiet at 3.00 am, the perfect crafting time.

 when you cant sleep it's the best thing to do. i made some atc this morning.

i only made the first two, the other 2 i made later in the day, well there are limits to what you can do in the middle of the night, especially when it's cold too. 

it's better than tossing and turning trying to get to sleep.

the flower on the right was already made and re- used from another card, i just added the plastic letters ( well they need using up).

the atc on the right is also a re- make from other card, or maybe one i didn't finish and abandoned. atc are good for using left over stuff up. i added the crackle glaze coz i only brought it the other day and wanted to try it 

the atc on the left has been embossed with tim holtz music folder. i stamped the clef after embossing, this made it a bit wobbley so i filled in the gaps with sakura pens which added some glitter.

lets see what i can make tonight!!!!!!