Beautiful butterflies: part 2

I was determined that this week I was going to enter my first crafting challenge, so, after staring in awe at my Tim Holtz crowded attic papers for a few days, I got started.

So... here is my entry for the Anything Tim challenge at the Stamp Man Challenge Blog. There's already lots of stunning entries up there so I just hope my simple piece doesn't look too shabby next to them.
I'm also entering it into the Once in a Blue Moon - Gingersnapper's Choice challenge on Gingersnap Creations - inspired by the previous chestnut theme of wings.

I mostly used the crowded attic papers with brushed corduroy distress ink. I love the little 2x2 snippets in the paperstash - so useful when I just wanted a little bit of something to make the text without cutting up the big sheets. Even the letters from 'the' are cut from one of these snippets.
The darker background paper is from the Prime Moulin Rouge range and the 'journey' and 'remember' stamps were from a Making Memories Set.

Hope you like it.
xx

Beautiful butterflies

I've set myself the challenge of entering some challenges, so on Sunday afternoon I sat down with the aim of making something to enter into the Tim Holtz challenge on the Stamp Man challenge blog, and also the copper, ginger or rust challenge on the Gingersnap creations blog. I was planning to use the gorgeous new Crowded Attic papers from Tim Holtz which the postie delivered on Friday from Oyster Stamps - the butterfly and moth page is stunning.

But... I couldn't decide what to do with them and without a clear idea I just couldn't bring myself to start cutting.
Instead I found a little set of vintage images I'd forgotten I had and started playing around.

So, a few distress inks and Tim Holtz stamps later I came up with this tag. To be honest it's a bit more pretty and girly than I usually like, but I actually like it more than I expected to. It  might make a nice mothers day card for my mum.

I don't think I'll enter it in a challenge, but it has given me an idea of what to do with the Crowded Attic papers :0)

Simple pleasures

"I adore simple pleasures. They are the last refuge of the complex",  Oscar Wilde.

I just wanted to share a little frame thingie I made at the weekend. The cardboard frame was something I bought on impulse ages ago and never got round to doing anything with. That is until a fantastic article on altered books in this months Craft Stamper magazine inspired me. They created a frame from an old book covered with tissue paper stamped with script to give a really beautiful shabby chic effect.

Here I used some decorative tissue paper  (packaging from an online clothing purchase!) to cover the frame. The embellishments and central image are from the gorgeous Graphic 45 steampunk debutante range of papers. I finished it off with an 'Adore' stamp and wrote the Oscar Wilde quote above on the back - very fitting I think.

I'm quite pleased with the way its turned out, although I did make a bit of a mess of the stamping - enthusiasm winning over care and attention! Now I've got a little box frame that I think would work very well done in a similar way. Just got to find the time!

Weekly wishlist: Lets get anatomical!

In my day job I'm a psychologist working on the neuroscience of visual perception. I guess it's no surprise then that I find myself fascinated by images of eyes and brains and anything psychological, especially old textbook illustrations and diagrams which can be incredibly beautiful.  So... I thought I'd share a few cool crafty bits I've found on this theme.

First up on my wishlist is the oddities stamp set from Tim Holtz (and, while not strictly eye or brain related, the fab skeleton in the Haunted Mansion set must get a mention)

Etsy looks like it's a fantastic source for all sorts of anatomy related crafty ephemera:
Vision stamp from stampers anonymous - I love this one!
brain stamp
Blossom stamps has a few anatomical stamps including eyes and brains

Searching for phrenology also came up with some fab stuff, especially this amazing collage sheet

I could spend a fortune on digital collage sheets. There are so many wonderful vintage images available. Including these ones below from the magicpug and orangeclipart shops:

Thats enough for now. Remember your brain is beautiful! xx

Welcome! ...and Some fun with distressing inks

Hi everyone,
I'm really excited to be writing the first post on my blog. I've been meaning to do this for a while now, so here goes...

I see so much really amazing stuff out there on the web from so many really talented people sometimes I just want to say 'Wow! you've got to see this!' So now I can inflict this on someone other than my long-suffering husband.
I also wanted to share some of my card making, scrapbooking and ATC ideas as I start to, hopefully, get better at it.

Recently I've got slightly obsessed with distressing inks and everything Tim Holtz. I wish I could afford more of the beautiful stamp rubber stamp sets from his range. These are my first attempts at some ATCs (artist trading cards) using the Urban Grunge stamp set:




I loved the way these turned out even if they are just very simple.

I also did this valentines day card with the same stamp set. The backgrounds a bit messy, but I sort of think that adds to the distressed look of the card:



Enough from me for now, Many thanks for reading :0)