Life is Precious Stamping

I think what I love mostly with Stamps By Me stamps is the positive thinking in the wording of the stamps, I think no matter what life deals you, if you can try to stay positive and look for the good rather than the bad you will create positivity for others around you.

Beautiful wording and beautiful imagery a perfect combination.

I started with the Generation Inx, the are the Stamps by Me own brand of inks and ink pads. Blending the sides of my cards after masking off the center panel.

I over stamped the blending with the flowers from the Life is Precious stamp set and embossed them in gold glitter embossing powder.

I then painted the flowers with the Generation Inx and highlighted them with a white paint pen.

Now the eagle eyed amongst you may have noticed the Get Your Happy On sentiment, that is from the stamp set with the same name.

I used gilding flakes on the stamps sentiment, again did a bit of ink blending but kept it much lighter on the center panel, and to finish i outlined the panel with a couple of squiggly lines.

Here is the link to the Stamps by Me Stamp sets http://www.stampsbyme.co.uk/Create-and-CraftTV.php 

 

Powertex Steampunk

I needed a water pot for my brushes and likes and created one using bronze coloured Powertex medium a large jar, bits of cotton material and some clay cogs.

I love just how relaxing it is to work with Powertex, so much so that I will soon be teaching workshops with it. Don't worry I wont be leaving paper craft behind, I will be doing this alongside.

As you can see the pigments accentuate the creases and folds in the material and that is when the magic happens and the piece you have created comes to life.

I love to experiment with the colours of the pigments, quite often mixing them together to make other colours.

The beauty of this is that it will be fully waterproof in 3 weeks time, however, underneath the material and Powertex is a large Braston Pickle jar so I can use it right now.

Watercolour Card

Whilst I was watching Toni from Stamps By Me on Create and Craft this afternoon I was busy making a watercolour background with her Generation Inx and the Eureka 101 board.

 

I went on to using one of her stamps and gold embossing powder on top of the background and then on a seperate watercolour card I stamped in the flower image with Generation Inx ink-pads and overlaid the cut out petals on top of the gold embossing.

The white detail is chunky white embossing powder.

I love making watercolour backgrounds and the Generation Inx watercolours are so vibrant to work with.

You get a different background each time with watercolour depending how and where the water takes the ink.

You can see in the above image the over-layered pieces.

Simply beautiful products to work with.

 

Picture Making with Jack

Creating and making memories are an important part of growing up, so as a Grandparent we have an obligation to the children to help make and create these memories for them.

Jack and his Mam have recently had a wonderful holiday together in Fuerteventura and Jack collected some shells whilst he was on the beach to remember his holiday.

On his return I promised we would make a picture frame for his favourite holiday snap and we would add his shells to it.

So with a tube of pinflair glue gel and his collection of shells he made the perfect memory picture.

I think you'll agree with me in saying he did an amazing job.

Didn't,t he collect some pretty shells?

 

If you were wondering where Jack and his Mam got their matching swimwear it is a company called Oddballs which which has a foundation to raise money for testicular cancer, his Mam sent them this picture and they were featured on the Oddballs website and Instagram.

Totally love this boy.

 

Watercolour Stamping

Stamps By Me, no not actually by me but by Toni Darroch. Not only does this girl rock her designs in stamps but she also has designed her own watercolour ink pads, re-inkers and tools too. Check out her Eureka 101 stamping and watercolour platform.

http://www.stampsbyme.co.uk/index.php 

I dipped my toe in and did some stamping today with one of her stamps inks and using the Eureka101 for precision stamping being able to multi ink as many times as you want over the same piece of watercolour board allows you to become creative with colour.

I love the relaxed look of watercolour.

One stamp and two different looks just by changing up colours.

Well worth a look around Toni's shop and be sure to check out her gallery and tutorials.

Stamps By Me http://www.stampsbyme.co.uk/index.php 

 

 

Growing Blueberries

Growing your own fruit is very satisfying.

I never thought in a million years that I would be able to say that. Both my Mam and Dad were blessed with green fingers, I on the other hand can kill off even artificial plants.

I decided to try to grow some fruits in large pots on the decking, i wanted to grow raspberries but the nice man in our local garden center advised me against growing them in pots but told me blueberries thrive in pots so a blueberry plant it was.

Ive talked to it and cared for it and today I ate my first home grown blueberry.

It has loads of berry to come and quite a few of them will soon be ready for the picking.

My Dad would have been proud and I can't wait to show my Mam.

It's looking quite healthy.

The Art of Glass

Both Chris and I are fascinated by glass work, we spend most of our weekends watching a master at work, Davey Martin is a great friend and a glass blower at the National Glass Center in Sunderland, we could watch him all day.

If you havent yet been it is an absolute must, it is also free, you can get lunch in the cafe/restaurant, shop and watch live demonstrations, better still if you love the piece that is being demonstrated you can even buy that piece for yourself, we have several of pieces of Daves work and even a couple of my own from a 1 to 1 class.

This is a goblet that he made this weekend and I fell in love with it.

The shape and design are amazing.

 

We need to support this old craft and beautiful work and to watch it being crafted from start to finish is just mesmerising.

You can even book a workshop for yourself, one of the most popular is Christmas Baubles, I have a couple but may need to make a few more to fill a bowl that I have, mine can be seen in the bowl all year round as they are too beautiful to pack away.

I think you can see all of the shapes from these pictures, true craftsmanship don't you think?

Pop along and see for yourself, you wont be disappointed, its wheelchair friendly too.

 

Jack turns 8 years

Hard to believe our little man is 8 years old, time just flies by doesn't it?

I had to get creative and design him a card, nothing to babyish as he has out grown marvel characters and the likes.

So the only thing that would fit the bill was a football shirt in his favourite team colours (Sunderland)

So I set too creating a SVG cut file for my Silhouette Cameo and I have to say I was rather thrilled with the results.

I actually enjoyed the creating so much that I mad a good few in different styles for The perfect male cards.

Jack was thrilled with his card so a good result all round.

Happy Birthday Jack.