holidays and birds

It's the school holidays, so that means a bit more time for messing about. Combined with having no car for a week whilst mine was off the road, I got quite productive for me! I'm not quite sure why, but sometimes it takes me hours to do even the simplest atc, and other times they just fly out. Anyway, I'm on a bird phase at the moment - they are everywhere in all things crafty.

The background is distress inks, for the wire I used Tim Holtz's borderline mask, and the bird is also one of his new stamps. To emphasise the wire element, I wound wire and beads around a cocktail stick to make a border.

Continuing the bird theme, this atc was one that took me a fraction of the time that the previous one did, and my husband says he much prefers it to the other one.
I used Claudine Hellmuth acrylics for the background, a paperartsy stamp for the tree, and the free stamp from this months Craft Stamper magazine for the bird.

I also managed to get around to doing a journal page of our recent ski holiday. It was the first time my sporty husband had ever been skiing, and some time since I had been, so it was something of an experience for both of us. It is a long time since I have laughed as much, as often, and a long time since I have been quite so tired! I thought that getting some of the thoughts and memories down would be a good way of reminding myself of the things I need to remember for next year's holiday!

mediocrity complex?

My arty friend who continues to inspire me, not least for her ability to keep so many balls in the air at once, told me about art journalling. As someone who has kept a diary on and off since I was about nine, it sounded like a great idea to experiment with new ideas and get some of the clutter in my head out in the open. I have to say I have found it remarkably cathartic so far, it helped to clarify some things that I have been struggling with for a couple of weeks, although my husband is starting to worry that I am feeling overwhelmed at the moment, but as I reminded him, most of what I do is self-inflicted, and I only do it because I want to - I just wish there were more hours in the day or days in the week!

Wednesday stamper - skinny

This is my contribution to this weeks wednesday stamper challenge for a skinny. As I also had to make a birthday card for my friend who is 40 this week, I have combined the two. It just so happens that she too is skinny! The background papers are basic grey, and I have used a combination of acrylic paints and distress inks. The text stamps are from a making memories set and the other words are from a old book. The stamping around the edge is from one of Tim Holtz's new sets.

This is my submission for the Mittwochstempler "silhouettes" challenge. I used Tim Holtz distress inks (mustard seed, spiced marmalade, worn lipstick and fired brick) to create a sunset effect and then overstamped with some Lavinia stamps in black archival ink. I made a mask to suggest the sun sinking, maybe into the sea? Think I might need my David Bailey-esque husband to teach about taking photos though!

my first blog!

I had made it my new year's resolution to use some of the many craft goodies I have, instead of just buying them, and that I would create something from craft stamper magazine each issue. Then I discovered the wealth of blogs out there, and more specifically mittwochstempler http://www.wednesdaystamper.wordpress.com/ ! So here is my first attempt, with an atc for the 'shiny' category this week. I used alcohol inks to create the background (wild plum, slate and stream, with some pearl mixative) and stamped over with one of my new Tim Holtz stamps. The butterfly is from a set which I picked up really cheaply years ago, and I have stamped it onto the atc with black archival ink as well as onto some aluminium sheet with stazon.