Credit Crunch Gifts

Bought a blank photo frame and wine box from QD Stores and decopatched them. They make lovely, very inexpensive gifts.

NEC purchase

Had a trip to the NEC yesterday and saw these necklaces being made. The thread is made just like french knitting. Reminded me of my childhood doing french knitting on the wooden cotton reels that my Dad had hammered tacks into!

Enjoyed doing it and had it completed in about 45 minutes.

I dare you......................

swap continued.

Nicks challenge to me originally was to make something using materials not typically used for crafting. However, when I was at hers making my lovely box, she asked me if I wanted a real challenge. Now, I'm not sure quite what made me say "yes" but I did and she gave me a plain, wooden shoe stretcher to alter as I wished.

Officially, this swap was due to end 30 July but it was almost a challenge too far for me (Lol) and I've only recently completed said item. And I have absolutely no idea how it came about. It just evolved into what you see in the pics! Nicks did ask me if I wanted the other shoe but I gracefully declined the offer. I have little enough hair as it is! ;>)

I dare you swap...

...... continued. Carol challenged me to make a doll of some sorts. Originally, I was going to make several clothes peg dolls but they didn't go to plan. Anyway, after much hair tearing, I cut off half the round part of the top of peg and glued a clay face to it. Stuck a cotton wool ball to the back of the head and wrapped wadding around the length of the peg. Wrapped ribbon and material round and decorated with beads, buttons etc. She stands about 5 1/2 inches tall.

An altered slide mailer.......

..........for my father in law. Painted with crackle paint then added bits and pieces that represent his life, achievements and his hobbies such as cribbage, wood turning, am-dram, music, writing etc. Oh, and the odd beer! Lol!

A birthday gift

for Nicks. It's a box that I bought in a little craft shop in Morecambe. The box is hinged at the bottom and opens out into two compartments. Covered the whole thing in decopatch paper and then applied loads of tat! Lol!

Mugs!

OH now has an allotment and bought two white

tin mugs for the purpose of refreshments. Alcohol

inks and hey presto, white no longer. Although, I

think I could only be enticed down there if the

one for me had some alcohol on the inside as well

as the outside! Lol!

I dare you.................

Nicks organised a swap called "I dare you" with groups of five people. Each person in the group then sets a challenge to the other four. The idea is to get the others to do/work with something that they are not familiar with.

Dee challenged me to make a house using colours I wouldn't normally use. Well, I dont use a lot of pink or green so that's what I chose. The house is made from mountboard, painted and stamped. The heart and flourish are made from grungeboard. An embossed copper roof and three metal zip tags saying home, heart and abode finished it off.

Sian challenged me to make a house not using stamps or any moulded pieces. This was a challenge as I'm very fond of stamps and clay heads! Lol! Again the house is made from mountboard with an embossed copper roof. Painted a base coat of copper (no surprise there then!) and painted on a diagonal through sequin waste on the left and then just swirled the colours together on the right. Now I really liked the swirly paint bit so didn't want to cover it up too much so once the altered wooden frame with a picture of the lady of the house was added I just finished it off with some rusty bells.

Mesh, mesh and more mesh

These are ATCs for Sians Mesh Swap. My old favourites, clay and friendly plastic came out to play. Lol! I'd seen Liz Welch doing a demo on Youtube and wanted to have a go and the oozing through method on the hearts. Although, some stampboard and copper were used also. Wanted to use my new etching tool on the stampboard. Was really easy to use in comparison to the pricking tool I had previously tried to do it with. Rofl! I just need to practise a lot more with it!

Altered wooden box

Nicks http://nicksartystuff.blogspot.com/ very kindly did a mini workshop in preparation for a new venture http://yourcreativejourney.blogspot.com/ we altered a wooden box with paint and a piece of embossed metalwork. Now the metalwork has intrigued me for ages but with Nick's expert and patient tuition, I now understand how to do it. Thank you Nicks! Loved the workshop so much that when I got home I got straight on the internet and ordered the tools. Oh, and Nicks does a wonderful lunch too!

Now you wouldn't believe it but.......

............ these have taken me days and days to make! Things just didn't go to plan and somehow they have just evolved into what you see now! Lol! They are for a swap being hosted by Nicks on DC. The theme is ABSA. Alternative background (no card/paper allowed) and had to have an altered item on them.

The first one is a mirror and the text says "Art is in the eye of the beholder". The second is a keypad from an old mobile phone and the third is an optical lens. They're all done on thick plastic that came out of a new shirt. I really liked the way they come to life when held up to the light.

Gothic Arches

Have joined a Gothic Arches swap on a forum and these are my first two attempts. The Mona Lisa one is my first attempt at masked stamping. Easy when you know how! Duh! The base was coloured with alcohol ink rubbed around. The other is just a stamp and coloured with pens apart from the face which is watercoloured to give a more natural effect. Both really simple but I like them. You know what they say, "simple things please simple minds". That's me! Lol!

Chess Board

I saw these stamps on Ebay but was outbid at the last moment. It wasn't you was it? Lol! Anyway, once I'd seen them I had to have them. As you do! My trusty friend Mr Google located them for me and this is my first play with them. It's a magnetic notice board that I alcohol inked. For some reason when I stamped the chess squares, the ink lifted the alcohol ink. No matter; quite like the effect. The larger chess pieces are fimo and the smaller ones are shrink plastic. All the chess pieces have magnets attached so all the pieces can be rearranged.