Swapped, not Abandoned!

Just a quick blog today.

A few weeks ago, I did a swap with a lovely lady in the USA who makes glass pendants.  She sent me a lovely necklace and I, in turn, sent her four bookmarks.

These bookmarks all have loops on them for hanging.

I couldn't decide which ones to send her, so all four were posted.

I received a message this morning to say they had arrived safely.  She is planning on hanging them in her studio, so instead of just one tag, she has a choice of four.

These were such fun to put together - now to make some more ready to abandon or give away.

Happy Crafting!

Live Laugh Love

Since today is overcast with a few rain showers around, I thought I would do a bit of crafting, so first up were more bookmarks to abandon, similar to last weeks, but with different background paper.  

I really like last weeks background paper but have run out,  

hmmm .... maybe I'll have to go back to the shop and hunt out some more!

Anyhow .....

..... "Ta Dah" and "Dwindled" thought they would come and play again.

I really love having background paper that doesn't need anything doing to it, except a bit of 'black soot' Distress Ink on the edges before being adhered to black cardstock.  A little piece of washi tape helps to ground them and the words are a combination of stamps and stickers.

"Boots" also thought she would join in the fun and hope someone nice picks her up.

Stamps

Stampotique - "Ta Dah"; "Dwindled"; "Boots"

JOFY - 33

Craft Stamper - freebie

 I'll be back again soon, so in the meantime ....

Happy Crafting!

Ponytail & Friends

Added to my list of challenges is 

Art Abandonment - make bookmarks

Last weekend, some ladies (various ages) from my church got together for a Craftanoon.  This was a very easy going time to spend together doing whatever crafts we chose to bring along.  Some brought crochet, some embroidery, some colouring books, one even brought mending and as for me, I brought along the beginnings of some new bookmarks to abandon.  It was a very relaxed afternoon enjoyed by everyone who came along.  Here's hoping another afternoon may happen in the next couple of months!

Anyhow .......

..... this is five more finished bookmarks ready to abandon.

Well, almost ...... I really, really liked one of them so it's been put aside for my own use!

This is the one that will be sharing my book as I read!

Hmmm ........ I may need to make another to abandon ..... what do you think?

Stamps

Stampotique - "Dwindled"

- "Ta Dah"

- "Queen of Everything"

- "Ponytail"

- "Grace"

JOFY 33

Challenges
Craft Stamper - 'Anything Goes'

Happy Crafting!

Ready to Abandon

I thought it was time to make some more bookmarks to abandon, 

so armed with a few Stampotique stamps, card cut to size and my prismacolor pencils,

I was ready to go!

 "Queen of Everything" & "Dwindled"

"Boots" & "Mela"

"Ta-Dah"

The background stamps are Stampin' Up! "French Foliage"

When I'm out and about, if I notice a suitable spot to leave one of these bookmarks and no one is watching, then it is abandoned in the hope that some lucky person finds and uses it.

Happy Crafting!

Ready to Abandon

I thought I would have a bit of a play with some new stamps, so what better way to 'break them in' then to make some bookmarks to abandon.

I've used "There are always flowers" from Carabelle Studio for this first set of bookmarks.  

They are coloured with Prismacolor pencils and although you can't see it in the photo, there is a touch of Wink of Stella in the centre of each flower.

This lovely horse is from "revolution" from Visible Image, along with the script.  The words are from Katzelkraft.  The background colours are a blend of Distress Inks spritzed with water.

This great guy is "Buru" from Stampotique.  I stamped him directly onto the bookmark, then masked him and blended Distress Inks over the top.  He is coloured using a variety of Prismacolor pencils. These bookmarks are also spritzed with water.

All these bookmarks are now in plastic bags and ready to abandon.

Happy Crafting!

Purrfectly Simple

Well, here I am back again - two days running - WOW!!!

The Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers have a new challenge
K is for Kitty
and I knew exactly which kitty I would use to play along.

Today I've used the alcohol inks on gloss card as my background, unlike yesterday when I stamped directly onto the card.  You never quite know what you are going to get when using alcohol inks, and this was no exception.  I hadn't quite gone to the edges and was thinking of cutting the card down so no white would show, but then I got looking at it and decided I'd leave the edge as it was.  It almost gives a two dimensional look but it is just one piece of card.

Anyhow, movin' along, I fell in love with this kitty as soon as I saw it and she/he has been in my stash of stamps ever since.

I stamped "Cat's Meow" from Stamp-It (2003) twice onto white card stock.  He/she is coloured with black, dark grey and light grey watercolour pencils, blending them with a blender pen.  I then cut both images out, although one image leaves off the tail and back legs.  The top of the cat down to the shoulders is glued directly over the first image and the legs are popped up on tiny foam squares to give a 3D appearance (although you'll have to take my word for that as it is hard to see in the photo).

As kitty needed something to sit on, a piece of sparkly lace washi (style) tape was added, leaving the white border.  "the Queen of everything" (Stampotique) was stamped down the side, kitty was glued into place and a piece of ribbon finished it off. 
This is more a bookmark than tag but I guess it could be used for either.

I really like how this bookmark turned out with the mottled background, so much so that I'll think I'll have another play with gloss card and alcohol inks!

Happy Crafting!
 

Be Yourself

Earlier this week I received my first ever stamp order from Katzelkraft.  I have seen these used by overseas friends, but to my knowledge they have never come on the Australian market.  So I was very excited when my order arrived and couldn't wait to have a play.

 They stamped beautifully straight away.  I also created masks for them, gave them backgrounds and added some appropriate words.

They are all so quirky and I simply cannot decide which is my favourite.

I edged each with 'black soot' Distress Ink and finished with a black ribbon.

These bookmarks will be left at random places as part of Art Abandonment - hope whoever finds them enjoys their uniqueness!

Happy Crafting!

 

Edith & Miranda

October has been a bit of a busy month which hasn't left much time to play, but that hasn't stopped me from buying some new stamps.  Last Saturday my friend and I headed off to the Penrith Papercraft Show to look at all the goodies on display, but you can't go to a craft show and not buy anything, right?  Hmmm .... these two lovely ladies accompanied me home - introducing

Edith & Miranda

These lovely stamps come from Eclectic Images, a company that I generally only find at craft shows.  I thought I'd start with something simple hence the bookmarks.  They are all stamped in Archival 'Jet Black' ink directly onto the card, with a second image stamped and cut out to form a mask.  The backgrounds were then stamped around them.

If Miranda had been at the Melbourne Cup yesterday, she could have taken out the award for best dressed!

Each of the girls was coloured using watercolour pencils and a blender pen.

These bookmarks will probably be placed somewhere for someone to find as Art Abandonment.

Be sure to come back again to see what other new stamps have made their way into my stash!

Happy Crafting!

 

Abandoned Bookmarks

You may recall in a recent post that I was happily abandoning ATCs in my local shopping centre and a couple of other places, however, upon finding one torn up and dropped in the carpark, I felt a bit disillusioned.  I then wondered if the people picking them up thought they were going to 'get something' but all they 'got' was a bit of card - after all, if you don't know what an ATC is, then it really isn't anything in particular,  
if you understand what I mean.

That got me thinking that perhaps I'd try abandoning bookmarks instead - people know what they are for, or if they don't, it's time they found out!

This cute bunny is called "Boots" and is one of my new additions from Stampotique.

I stamped and embossed the image and cut each bookmark 2 1/2" wide x 5 3/4" long.  

Each one is coloured using Gelly Roll pens and when diluted with a water brush, it creates a lovely pastel, shimmery look, a technique I came across recently when someone was asking about Wink of Stella pens.

I used Distress Inks to soften the edges and as there was quite a bit of white space, I added some background using SU "Confetti" and Distress Inks stamped off once.  I then looked in my ribbon basket and found some threads to match.

This set of bookmarks are a little bit narrower and were done this way to fit the decorative top, which is a SU punch.  The colouring is done the same way as described above.

I've used another new set of stamps called "Zinouk du jardin" from carabelle studio which were purchased from Time to Create.

Hopefully these will bring a little joy to whoever happens to pick them up, as well as being a practical addition to any books they may be reading.

Mr Mojo appears to have returned from his long absence so I'll see you here again soon!

Happy Crafting!!!