Basic Grey 49 and Stampotique SDC34

Good evening, hope you all had a great Monday.  Over at Basic Grey the challenge is to use the sketch below and over at Stampotique its Flower Power.



My card is extremely loud!!!, I am entering challenges to get myself into practicing with colours and techniques, and try never to give up on a card, I'm wondering if this card should have been bin fodder at the beginning but I now think it would make a great card for a teenager.  I have some Dylusions sprays and I wanted to try out the hot pink and lime, they are really bright but beautiful.  I didn't like the flower sticker I used instead of ribbon so I tried to hide it by putting gems all over it, and then the image seemed too white so I masked it and sprayed it with the lime spray so it would mingle with the flowers, which to be honest I think I should have stopped before then.  Put on your sun glasses!!! here's my card

I used a stampotique stamp even though the challenge is any type, and the basic grey papers is green at heart (flower paper on base) and fruit cake jubilee/spearment which is the plainish green.
Hope you all have a crafty Tuesday, thanks for sharing. Kezzy xxx



Just Add Ink 177 and Colour Throwdown #151

Hi ya, hope you all had a fantastic weekend, (or still enjoying the last bit!).  Over at Just Add Ink the challenge this week is the sketch below and over at Colour Throwdown the colours are below.

This is the second time I have ever followed a sketch and first time on the colour pallette, and I have to admit, I'm never sure what you can and can't change on a sketch.  On my card I change the squares to circles and flower to a kit and I managed to get every colour in somewhere, even if it was just a bit.  The stamp is creative expressions, I used my mind's eye lime twist fly a kite patterened paper, ribbon scraps and bazzill stock.

Wish I could have taken pic in the day but the colour throwdown finishes in a few hours.
Thanks for sharing and I hope your week begins well.  Kezzy xxx

Craft Barn Challenge - Alcohol Inks

Hi, Over at The Craft Barn the challenge is using alcohol inks, and the DT did some amazing techniques.  I am late again and just going to make it in time, I completely forgot about the challenge until a few hours ago, which is a shame as I was planning to do a hanging piece with the technique of matte medium and bedazzles.  Instead I decided to do Gay's clean and simple card on glossy stock, I also painted with the alcohol inks (the balloons) that Gio did on acetate.  I used clarity stamps, alcohol inks, archival and andirondack inkpads, I also used to do the clouds a free template from a magazine.

 I really enjoyed doing this, as I only got out the bits above and played around, decided on one lot of stamps (clarity stamps as I thought initially I would do a silhouette) and then played with some templates.  And in the end I managed to do a one layer card which I thought would be hard.  It was nice not to mess with embellishments etc and I really enjoy working with alcohol inks now.  I am also making a technique swatches so I can see what I can do with them.  Thanks again to the DT at the craft barn who really work hard to teach and create fantastic techniques and projects.  Oops meant to say I won the last challenge and have my won challenge blinky thing on my blog, my very first one :-).
Have a fantastic evening and thanks for sharing. Kezzy xxx

WOYWW 111

Hi to all crafters joining in with WOYWW over at Julia's Blog, if your wondering what I am harping on about why don't you check out her blog and have a nosy at some brilliant crafty desks.  Wow I can't believe I am so early today, I just couldn't sleep, I have been wondering about since 4am and decided around 5am to take pics for WOYWW.  The lack of sleep is my bad back yet again but yipee they have put me in for some more steriod injections, which are fantastic and means I can walk without pain.  Normally I would blog towards the end of the day after doing some crafting so you can see a messy desk, but I had started getting bits out last night for a challenge I want to do so I took those pics this morning.  Onto my desks......

On my desk is a sketch for deconstructed sketch challenge blog, which I have just found and the stamps ready to use are lili of the valley for the challenge blog which is pink and blue, hence the papers on the desk.  Also on there is my faithful colour chart and a colour theory book.  I have major issues with colours and struggle to put colours together, alot of times I give up on the challenge or us plain card stock instead of my wonderful patterened papers.  I am addicted to patterened papers and have so much that I really need to use them so I have started studying colour.  I have just started but I am planning colour charts etc to see if this will help.  Also on my desk is some new whimsy and greeting farm stamps.

Last night it felt like I had a whole new colouring medium without them being new!!!  The other day Sheena Douglas was on Create and Craft, and I really like to follow her programs as she really inspires me, so I taped it and watched it on Monday.  She was selling whispers pens, and I was really impressed what they could do, and I was really tempted to go looking on the interent for these packs (3 packs at around £12 a pack).  Last night I was deciding what I would use as a colouring medium and noticed that I had these whispers pens, now initally I hadn't been at all impressed when I got them 2 years ago as the really left lines and didn't blend well at all, so a bit disappointed that the pens on Sheens's program were the same ones.  Then I remembered that Sheena talked about the right cardstock, I'm quite new to watercolour cardstock and wow they work, fantastically, I'm really impressed and excited that I get to have a go, I also can't wait to try my watercolour pencils and twinkling H2O's as well.  Also on my desk is a new journal as I am going to have a go at Kate Crane's monthly journal and I'm hoping to have my page ready to start at beginning of August.
I hope you all have a fantastic and crafty week, and a big thank you to all who have left lovely comments, I really appreciate them all, sometimes I don't get back to everyone each week as I try and spread through them all weekly, so normally by the end of the month I manage to get around everyone. Kezzy xxx

Stampman Challenge - Alcohol Inks

Over at the stampman challenge blog its alcohol inks.  I'm having to be quick as I think it shuts shortly, late as usual lol.  I have also took a pic of what I used as I thought that might be quicker (a bit of a cheat!).  I used alcohol inks doing the marble effect with water and colouring the shells.  I thought that you may have to use stampman products so I used aspect of design fancy flourishes. 

Thanks for looking.
Kezzy xxx

WOYWW 110

Hi to all the woyww's out there, hope you had a fantastic week, if your wondering what I'm on about go and have a nosey at the queen of desks Julia.  I have an apology to make, and I have no excuse, I didn't manage to visit anyone last week, how awful is that, I can't believe that Wednesday is here again, I guess good old life got in the way.  Ok on to my desk, now bear in mind that this morning my desks where spotless as last night I finished (well for the moment lol) sorting my craft room well sort off, I still have a few stamps to sort but I'm leaving them for a bit as I think I will scream if I have to do anymore lol.

Here is a pic of my sorted shelve with my unmounted stamps all in folders (ignore the still messy wooden stamp basket, you don't really see it, its a figure of your imagination!!).

What happened!!!  This was nice and clean this morning, I decided not to take a pic as I knew I would probably want to craft this afternoon, my goodness I didn't realise that when I craft I like to get everything out in one go.  Alot of challenges are alcohol themed at the moment so I thought why not I shall have a play, which you can see towards the top of the desk, I have even been blowing through a straw for splattered effects, also tried acetate, some of it is not bad but I think glass paints are better, mmmmmm I wonder what straws and glass paints would do? My faithful colour chart as I really do struggle with colour.  The card I'm making up has the alcohol background and a aspects of designs butterfly embossed on top, I hope to get the card in ready for the stampman challenge that finishes tomorrow.

And by the looks of things this is where I dump bits while I'm crafting lol.  As you can see, scraps of patterend paper and normal card stock, gesso (put this on the corrogated card so I could swipe alcohol inks over it, sweets (which I am finding that they seem to disappear when I'm not here so I think the OH is pinching them), tub of embossing powder (this is cosmic shimmer autum lustre) and my embossing powders swatches (the little square cards with flowers embossed on them), I actually find this really useful as I was going to use gold but after have a look through the swatches I decided on the autumn lustre on top.

Right I'm off, just noticed in the pic that I haven't put the lid on the tub of embossing folder so I better make sure I do that, I have many accidents, even once I was on the floor with bits of card that had versamark stamped images on so I wouldn't waste what had dropped! lol.
Have a brilliant productive crafty week, and I'm looking forward to visiting and having a nosy this week as its a less hectic week. Kezzy xxx

WOYWW 109

Hi to you all, this week I will be showing more pics then chatting as in the middle of causing choas in my craft room as I decided to replace drawers with bookshelves!!!  If you would like to see some fabby desks pop over to Julia's blog and have a nosey lol.  (Mmmm lol I always thought meant laugh out loud, but I have also heart that it can mean lots of love, now I do love you all but when I use it I mean ha ha ha lol lol lol).

My drawers used to hold all my wooden stamps and unmounted stamps

(sorry best pic I could find) so those pink drawers were not big enough and I decided I wanted to put all my unmounted stamps into files for easy access so......

I'm still sorting but I think (I hope!) it will be better, most stuff is just dumped on there.....

yep definitely just dumped as you can see from my wooden mounted stamps and lots more unmounted waiting to be catagorized

Pile of unmounted stamps needing to be put into the files and my desk.....

Feeling a bit unloved as I have been busy causing a mess elsewhere in the room.  The purple and pink bits at the front are servettes I found, more unmounted stamps to the left just popping out of the pic, to the right wooden stamps and in from the while silicone type stamps, I was asked last week what where they so I turned them over, I haven't used them yet but I will let you know what they are like, they are made from company called La Blanche and I got them from Joanna Sheen's online shop.  According to her they print really well.

Right I'm off now to get this whole mess sorted so I can get on with some more challenges and crafting, do you ever feel like maybe it was best left alone lol.
Have a fabby crafty week and thanks for sharing.
Kezzy xxx