Learning the 3 Rs

In case you're wondering what the 3 Rs are - they are reading, writing and arithmetic. A concept remembered perhaps by the older British readers amongst us.

This is my contribution to the Small World of Inchies and Twinchies, whose theme is, of course, school. Unfortunately I wasn't able to post this due to my computer crashing whenever I went to the site, but the challenge for the beginning is June is ABC, and this is relevant, so I'll double up. I used the spraying-over-threads technique for the background.
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Stamps: Paper Artsy Frames 4 and Mini 23; Stampington Paris 1900

Inks: Sticky Fingers Sprays Pinks and Bluebell; DI Back Soot; Adirondack Sail Boat Blue and Watermelon

Extras: Thread; Prima Flower; Q&Co mini Crystal Gem

The direction of your dreams

I made this for the Graphicus May challenge, which is to use the colour blue and the theme of travel.

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Stamps: Elusive Images Boys on Bikes

Inks: Sticky Fingers Sprays in Bluebell and Delphinium; Adirondack Aqua; DI Refill Broken China; StazOn Ultramarine; DI Antique Linen; Adirondack Dabber Pool

Extras: Perfect Pearls 'Pearl'; Mini Grungeboard Arrow; Metallic RubOn in Copper; Suitcase Charm; Ribbon; BB Blue card; Blue Wire

Oriental bird

The Gothic Arches theme this week is turquoise - my favourite colour!!

I've added 3 extra challenges from 2Peas - a card of a different size, an unusual embellishment, and sparkle. I used the blue metallic RubOn on the coin to dull down the brightness of the gold. The difference in colour between a scan and a photo is amazing, but on my screen the scan is truer.

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Stamps : Simple Expressions The Orient

Inks : Sticky Fingers Sprays Aqua and Bluebell; DI Refill Antique Linen; Adirondack Stream; DI Tea Dye; Versamark Pen

Extras: Chinese Coin; Feather; Perfect Pearls Gold; Detail Gold EP; Metallic RubOns

Friends

I've made this for Godelieve, for being extremely kind to me - I'll post her card in the swaps and raks feature on the right later in the week.


This card fulfils the Friends 4x4 challenge set by Theme Thursday.

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Stamps : Crafty Individuals 84; HA Friends and A Real Flower Drooping

Inks : Sticky Fingers sprays Aqua and Bluebell; DI Refill Broken China; Archival Black; VersaColor Cyan and Lagoon; Adirondack Stream; DI Black Soot

Extras : Perfect Pearls Gold

A warm hello

The Tag You're It challenge this week is monochrome. As you can see I opted for pink! That makes 4 pink entries in a row - will have to get out some different colours tomorrow!

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Stamps: HA Friendly Greetings set; Paper Artsy SI mini 23

Inks : Adirondack ColorWash and ink in Wild Plum; Sticky Fingers Spray Pink; DI refill Milled Lavender; VersaMagic Pixie Dust

Extras : Perfect Pearls 'Pearl'; SGme Clear EP; Various Brads; fibres; PP by Fancy Pants; PM eyelet

All I want is a room somewhere

The Gothic Arches theme for this week is called Pretty in pink. In the process of clearing a cupboard at school I found the music for My Fair Lady, which inspired this arch. This image seemed just right for Eliza Doolittle.
Now that I've discovered how to let you enlarge my images, you can see the glimmer in all its glory! If you've experienced the same problem, let me know and I'll share the process with you.


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Stamps: Tim Holtz Nature's Moments

Inks : Adirondack Colorwash spray Wild Plum; Sticky Fingers Pink; Adirondack Slate and Wild Plum

Extras : Perfect Pearls Bronze; Image from Tuscan Rose 3 CD; Sequin Waste; Dymo Letratag machine

Guitar man

The 4x4 Friday challenge is to use stencils. I sprayed the background and then stenciled on top. This is just one of the patterns on my stencil sheet.

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Stamps : Paper Artsy Stagelights 3

Inks : Sticky Fingers Sprays Bluebell and Aqua; DI refill Milled Lavender; Adirondack Stream

Extras :Perfect pearls 'Pearl'; Purple Brads; Jade card; Funky Swirl Stencil from The Crafter's Workshop

Eurocycling, and winner

The winner of my 400th post giveaway is....

###Crafty Carol###

Congratulations - the stamps are on their way. Thank you to everyone for their encouraging comments.

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The Created byHand challenge is to include the word 'dream' on your work, which I have incorporated into one of the 3 transport 4x4 pages for a challenge on Lots to Do forum.

I wanted to choose a more unusual form of transport, but create the feel of a journey. There's something rather exotic and elegant about a penny farthing.

I had a ball with all my sprays, and still have clean hands, for once!!---

Stamps : Crafty Individuals 161 (script) and 116 (crackle); R&L Travel France set; Time Holtz Enjoy the Journey; SU Travel words 2582; Paper Artsy Travel 4; Judikins London cube

Inks : DI Antique Linen, Black Soot, Tattered Rose and Worn Lipstick; Archival Black; Glimmer Mists Olive Vine and Candy Apple Red; Sticky Fingers Sprays Aqua and Bluebell; DI Refills Broken China, Tea Dye and Mustard Seed; Ecoline pink; StazOn Olive Green, Ultramarine and Blazing Red

Extras : Tissue Paper; image from internet converted to b/w; PM Domed Stickers; Perfect Pearls Gold and Pearl; Black paper; Vellum Glue

Happy New Year for 2008

The TMTA challenge is Fireworks of Colour.

I think I would have enjoyed the fireworks at midnight had I been up, but I was trying to get to sleep as I'm playing in New Year's Day Viennese concert today. I'm very excited about this, as I will be playing with some string players from the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Think of me oom cha cha-ing to the Blue Danube, and other waltzes!

For this ATC I brayered with the kaleidacolor, clear embossed the firework stamp, and sprayed over the top. Then I ironed off the EP before embossing the sentiment.

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Stamps : Stampington Scripted Elements; Denami Starburst

Inks : Kaleidacolor Bouquet; Glimmer Mist Patina; Sticky Fingers Bluebell; Versamark; ColorBox Charcoal

Extras : Clear, Turquoise Candy, and Violet EP

Best friends

The Theme Thursday challenge is on friends, and the 4x4 Friday theme is blue & silver.

This image is from Flickr. Don't you just love the expression of the smallest girl!?

I have tried another Tim Holtz technique on this - mix together 1 pipette full of broken china ink refill with a small scoop of Perfect Pearls 'pearl' in a mini mister, and fill it 3/4 full with water. Shake thoroughly, and spray. The colours are my choice, but the variations are endless. Before this I sponged on Faded Jeans and sprayed with the Sticky Fingers inks. This is the same work; above it was scanned, and below it was photographed. As you can see on the 2nd image, the pearl comes out quite silvery. These colours are closer to the original.
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Stamps : AudDesign swirl; MSE Friends Always

Inks : Perfect Pearls 'pearl'; Sticky Fingers sprays Bluebell and Delphinium; DI Faded Jeans, and Broken China refill; StazOn Ultramarine

Extras : Peeloff borders; Paper Cellar Crystal Gems

Deck of Me, weeks 39 & 40

The prompt for week 39 was someone spesh...

Steve, you pick me up when I fall down; you bring me back to earth when I'm over the top; you are my rock, totally dependable. You are my special-est person. Thank you!

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Stamps : Stampington Facade; AudDesign

Inks : StazOn Olive green and black; DI Peeled paint

Extras : PP by BG

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Week 40's prompt was not anymore... How are you not anymore?

I was an unhappy child; lonely, and frequently withdrawing into a dream world. Once I discovered my gifts of music, creativity, and faith, I learnt to be happy with myself.

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Stamps : Paper Artsy One Penny 2

Inks : Sticky Fingers Spray antique gold, pink, Lilac and Bluebell; Moonglow Desert Moon Sunset Pink; StazOn Ultramarine

Extras : Tissue and tracing paper

Calligrapher

The theme for Saturday Stampers is tone on tone - ie, variations of one colour. The lighter BB card is much lighter irl.

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Stamps : Paper Artsy Letters 5; Stampers Anonymous Mosaic

Inks : H2Os in Cranberry, Icy Iris and Cranberry; DI Milled Lavender and Dusty Concord; Sticky Fingers spray Lilac; Archival Grape

Extras : BB in 2 shades of purple

Getting Corrugated

This is the theme of DCM's challenge today. After spending about an hour looking for corrugated card (and I know I've got a lovely sheet of gold somewhere!) I discovered a box which I pulled apart and painted.

The flower stamp was inked with Marvy pens and spritzed with water before stamping.

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Stamps : HA Meadow Petals and Happy Birthday

Inks : Adirondack dabber Pool; Marvy Pens Brilliant Yellow, Steel Blue and Oriental Blue; Sticky Fingers spray Aqua

Extras : gold paper; sheer ribbon

Moon and stars

The TMTA theme of moon and stars had me stumped a bit until I saw a picture of this weather vane on the internet. The roof tiles are from the mayang gallery of images. No stamping here, but I enjoyed making the shimmery background.

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Inks : Kaleidacolor Blue Breeze; Sticky Fingers spray Delphinium; MoonGlow spray Lapis Lazuli Fire; Black ink pad

Extras : images from the internet

Inchies

The Wednesday Stamper theme for this week is inchies - stamped 1 inch squares. It was good to try a new size, but hard to find stamps small enough! I have admired the inchies on other blogs, and it's about time I tried one.
The materials for the inchies are all scraps from other projects. As I'm bound to lose them I made them into a card.

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Stamps : Lakeland Ltd Ornate set; NonSequitur Greco-Roman Collage set; Crafty Individuals 21

Inks : Sticky Fingers Sprays Lilac, Delphinium and Bluebell; Moonglow spray Lapis Lazuli; Alcohol inks Terracotta and gold mixative; Archival Black

Extras : spaced dyed ribbon; PP by Basic Grey; CWC mini crystals; mini flower punch; black paper; MM blue eyelets; DCWV blue card

Masquerade

I've used Pierrot and Columbine for the mask theme for TMTA's challenge. This image is from the clipart gallery on Printmaster CDRom.

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Stamps : Invoke Arts backgrounds; HA Printer's Lowercase; AudDesign

Inks : Versamark; ColorBox Frost White; DI Fired Brick; Sticky Fingers Sprays Antique Gold and Firework Burst Red; Archival Black

Extras : Seafoam White EP

Kerria Raynerii

This rare plant has been brought out of hiding for the Gothic Arches exhibition on flowers. (lol!)

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Stamps : Bugawumps fern; Stampington Fresh Flowers Elements; Time to Stamp Beach Memoirs

Inks : H2Os Gold Dust and Olive Vine; DI Antique Linen and Mustard Seed; VersaColor Topaz and Bamboo; Marvy pens Vermillion and Jungle Green; Stick Fingers spray Marigold

Butterflies

The Wednesday Stamper theme for this week is Autumnal colours. The background is ecoline and gold spray - slightly richer irl. I thought I would try a pearl gold EP, as normal gold doesn't seem to scan well. This ties in with the Technique Thursday theme of embossing powders too.

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Stamps : Elusive Images : Butterflies

Inks : Ecoline inks in Forest Green, Burnt Sienna and Chartreuse; Fluid Chalk Burnt Sienna and Yellow Ochre; StazOn Olive Green; Versamark; Sticky Fingers spray Antique Gold

Extras : Pearl Gold EP

Watching the leaves turn

The Gothic Arch challenge is on the theme of Autumn/Fall. I wanted to recreate the wonderful colours of the leaves as they turn from greens to golds and rusts. The quote is by Elizabeth Lawrence.

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Stamps : BLine Design Botanical Fern

Inks : Ecoline Light Green, Chartreuse, Forest Green and Burnt Sienna; Sticky Fingers spray Antique Gold; Versamark; Versacolor Cocoa; Fluid Chalk Burnt Sienna

Extras : white thread; image from Vintage Photos and Ephemera; SGme clear EP; computer text

Sleeping forest

I wanted to try something a little different for the Saturday Stamper theme on trees. This atc has rather a bleak feel about it; somewhere I wouldn't like to go at night. (In fact Fangorn just came to mind from Lord of the Rings - I now wish I had used a single ring!) Trees are so amazing the way they change constantly. I like how the blue trees blend into the background.

The ribbon buckle was a very bright gold, so I dulled it a bit with the alcohol ink. I sprayed the inks on a tag - a perpetual moan now about the scanner not picking up the shimmer of blue and gold. Big thanks to my friend Rachel who came up trumps with the tree stamp when I appeared on her doorstep earlier on today!

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Stamps : tree stamp from encaustic wax retailer; Paper Artsy One Penny 2

Inks : Sticky Fingers sprays Aqua, Bluebell, Delphinium and Antique Gold; Moonglow spray Royal Lapis Laziuli Fire; Fluid Chalk Blue Iris; StazOn Olive and Black; Brilliance Galaxy Gold; AI bottle

Extras : ribbon buckle; tag; space dyed thread