Add a flower

Hi Everyone

What a busy time of year!! not too busy though to play with some Lavinia bits and bobs - especially her new range of dies!!  The theme this month is add a flower, and this is what I have done.  These dies cut like butter!  The dies are so intricate that they are the main focal point of the card, you really don't need to do too much else to it.  In the butterfly one I cut the die twice and snipped out the butterflies to give it a 3d look.  I've saved the remaining circle as it is so pretty - I am sure I will come up with a cunning plan to use it soon!

I hope you like both of them and I look forward to seeing your entries! Click here to be taken to the site

Love

Melissa

Snow and Sparkle at Lavinia

Hi!

So after scrubbing brush-gate I thought it best to stick away from household items for a little while, so for the Lavinia Stamps Snow and Sparkle Challenge  I  thought best to stick to crafty items.  However I still wanted to do something different from the norm.  I saw something similar to this in a magazine and as ever is my mantra "I could make that" I had a go!

I used crackle paste at the top and texture past with a hint of gold at the bottom.  Once these were dry I attacked it with some distress ink to get the colour down on the sky and then printed the images onto tissue paper, tore around the edges and glued them down with decopatch glue, otherwise there is no way you could have stamped over such a textured finish.  I then broke out the stickles and glittered it all up, which unfortunately doesn't photograph well - take my word for it, it does twinkle!

... but there again - ever doubtful of my skills, I thought I ought to do something more traditional as well, because this was a bit of a shock to the system even to me - I never to canvases!!  So I also did these two.  This first one was more to show off that Lavinia do some great sentiments as well as images

This second one was because Pauline Butcher makes so many cards with such fantastic colours in them I wanted to have a go - now this is no where near what Pauline does and it is well worth a visit to her blog, she is such a talented lady, but I am building myself up to using such fab colours!!

I hope that there was something here you liked, they area all very different and I can assure you I had hours of fun making them - if only I could learn to photograph sparkle!!

Love to you all

Melissa

Don't stand still in THIS house!

Hi!

The running joke is that if you stand still long enough in this house you will end up decorated! and there is only ONE person to blame for this and that is "Rhedd" herself.

There I was happily making my cards when she encouraged me to broaden my horizons and to look beyond paper.

So when there was a "MUM YOU'VE DONE IT AGAIN" bellowed through the house, followed by number two son and a scrubbing brush I can only blame her! "How am I meant to clean my rugby boots with THIS" my answer was, the same way you did before I "got" to it :)  I explained that he was not allergic to florals and NO just because I altered it, it did not mean that i had to clean the boots for him!


Well I bought the brush from Tesco and it had been lurking all sad and ugly by the sink, and then I had an idea that involved a Lavinia designed stencil from Sweet Poppy Stencils a Lavinia bee stamp and some waterproof glue :) now it seems to be a talking point.

This is my entry into this months Rhedds Creative Spirit Challenge

Love to everyone, hope you are happy and well

Melissa xx

Autumn Colours at Lavinia

Hi all

This months Lavinia Stamps Challenge is "Autumn Colours"  Now for a Gal that likes her pastels this can be a bit of a challenge!  However with a bit of encouragement from my teamies to keep adding the colour, this is my contribution!

If you haven't already had a look at the new Lavinia Stamp range - what are you waiting for they are amazing!!!!

Love

Melissa xx

SPOOOOOOOKY time

HI!

I thought I'd go a bit spooky for this month's Rhedd's Creative Spirit challenge and altered a dictionary and a Ceasar salad dressing bottle :)  I used the fantastic Graphic 45 papers as a base - my boys always suspected I was a Witch as I knew what they were up to before they told me (but we all know that is just Mum's intuition!)

Hope everyone is well

Love

Melissa xx

Lavinia stamps challenge

 The Lavinia Stamps Challenge this month is to add some ribbon. You can  also access this via www.laviniastamps.com and see some of the great new stamps that have been released - I am just waiting for mine to arrive!!!!!

Oh and now we can except email entries for those of you who want to play but don't have your own blogs


Anyway, here are two examples. One an up cycled jar and the other a tag

This is a before and then after we ate the cherries in liqueur !

This is front and back of a tag - I thought it would make a nice book mark


Hope you are all well

Love

Melissa xx

Altered Altoids!

Hi all

For this month's Rhedd's Creative Spirit Challenge I have altered a sweet tin.  I have used some Tim Holtz paper and bits and bobs

I always think Altoids sounds like a medical problem and not a nice mint sweet! They come in these very useful tins, so I up cycled it to store my brushes in







Hope all is well

Love

Melissa

Lavina sparkles

Hi again

Lavina Stamps Challenge this month is to add some sparkle!! Oh so easy with these delightful fairy stamps!

On my quest for crafting anew, I came across this kit and Lavinia'd it! a lot of what you see are just part of the stamps, like the edge of "Garden Spirit's" hair along the top of the backing plate and just parts of the boarder stamp on the lettering and swirls, of course there are some recognisable flower stamps too.

I hope you like my new fairy homes!

With such an easy theme I hope loads of you have a go - as always there is an amazing prize just visit

Love

Melissa

Altered Hanger

Hi All

I have joined an Altered Arts Challenge blog which is quite scary as I really don't know what I am doing! it is a venture into a whole new side of crafting which I think is good, it makes you think at things differently, sometimes you just get stuck in a rut.

Sooooo - I present to you my altered hanger!

I took an ordinary wooden hanger and decopatched it and then added some buttons, ribbon and flowers and hey presto ....

I hope you like it - watch this space for what happens next!!!  See the other entries and the fab prize on offer at http://rheddscreativespirit.blogspot.co.uk/ 

Love

Melissa xx

First venture into mixed media!!

Hi All

Whilst in the creative swing I thought I'd have a go at a mixed media canvas.  it seems that I have ended up with a pile of wooden shapes and not a clue what to do with them, so after some googling as to what mixed media actually was - I came up wit this!!! now I know there are much nicer examples out there but for a first go I was rather chuffed!

The wooden shapes are from Splodgeaway and if you can see the clouds in the background that was from one of their masks too!  I am now covered in ink and glue - what a happy girl am I!!

Oh what next to attack! I just watched a video on an altered bottle hmmmm
watch this space :)

have fun everyone

Love

Melissa xx

Playing with a chair!

Hi!

We have bought a new dining room set :) our old one is definitely past it.  So, as the chairs were going to be scrapped anyway I thought I could have a play and see where I ended up. Bearing in mind I don't really have a clue what I'm doing I was quite pleased!

this is a before and after

Lavina goes Summery

Hi

This months challenge for Lavinia Stamps is Summer Colours, bright is not usually my thing but with these stamps anything is possible.

Here is my first go -

but then one of the other teamies challenged me to go even brighter - well a dare is a dare!! Put your sunnies on!

These last few days have been manic sorting out for our 25th anniversary party on Saturday, but I think we are finally there - I made a load of bunting but it is not the most exciting thing to do! I have also been playing with lights on the tables, hopefully I will blog some pictures if you want to have a look!.

Rhedd and Rosie - Anything goes

Hi

The latest challenge from Rhedd and Rosie is an "anything goes" as it is being sponsored by Stitchy Bear's Digi Outlet  where the winner will het $10 to spend.


I don't usually use digi-stamps so I was a bit worried, anyway this is my offering! I printed it out a couple of times and layered it up to give it some depth.  The image was so detailed that i kept the rest of the card simple so that it remained the focal point,  It is coloured with good old pro-markers.  It was easy to colour and cut and something that I had been dreading actually turned out to be quite fun!!

Love

Melissa

Rhedd and Rosie go back in time

Hi all

What a strange week of weather! This week we've been trying to sort our ponds out - I say we, Nick has been doing it all, I have provided coffee and guidance!

The new Rhedd and Rosie Challenge is "vintage/back in time" Still trying to move away from just doing cards, I made a picture!

I covered the frame in rose decopatch paper, and then made the heart from a parchment craft pattern I had - I do like to have a go at different things! A bit of vintage lace and some embellishments and all was done.  It took me so long to do the heart I couldn't bring myself to cover it up and so I made it the focal point.

As ever, I hope that you like it and will join in there is a fab prize too!

Love

Melissa

Lavinia June Challenge - add beads and/or gems

Hi all

This months challenge is to add some beads or gems to your Lavinia Card.  This one took me 4hrs, a real labour of love! but once I've started I had to finish!

Because the image was so detailed I decided to keep the rest of the card fairly simple.  I do hope you like it :)

Love to everyone

Melissa

Rhedd and Rosie's "no Flowers" challenge

Hi

I never realised how many flowers I have on my cards either in the paper or stuck on, until I did the sample for this challenge!

My son has an aversion to anything floral or sparkly and so I thought he would be a good model for the card.  He is in the middle of his AS levels at the moment and so I hope I haven't jinxed him by making his exam congratulation card too early!

I used a script stamp directly on the card, then layered a book background stamp and lightly coloured a few and then Sheena Douglas stamps cut out coloured and then layered.

So this is my sample for the Rhedd and Rosie Challenge - as usual there are some great prizes to be won!

Love

Melissa

Lavinia celebrates Birthdays!

Hi Ladies

First off the Crafty Hands Challenge is no more :( but Lavinia's one is still going strong!!

This month's challenge is "Birthday Girl" a nice easy one as these stamps give you so much opportunity to create different things.  Anyway, here is my offering - a bit late (Sorry Eileen) I got caught up with the bank holiday and lost track of time, that and a panicking  16 year old with AS levels starting imminently! This house is a fun place to be!

Here it is :)  I used the cobweb corner stamp as a frame by stamping and embossing in gold and then my favourite fairy stamp - well one of them! she just looks so happy! sorry pic is a bit wonky!

Love

Melissa

Crafty hands fortnightly challenge is .. Travel!

Hi All

It has been a sad old time here with the loss of our grand old lady Mable, an apricot miniature poodle (not of the poofy kind) who we had from birth until she passed away at the age of 17 in my arms.  The other dogs keep looking for her and the house is a different place without her around.  Each pet is like a little person with their own traits and personalities she was the runt of the litter and we never expected her to survive, but in the end she outlived her brother.

Having said that, and on a more cheerful note, the theme for the latest challenge is "travel" so here is my entry all tied up with a piece of string!

I'd love to see your entries so pop on over to http://craftyhandsdevon.blogspot.co.uk/ and have a go as always there is a great prize to be won.

Love

Melissa xx

Crafty Hands - anything goes

Hi Guys

I've been waiting to blog this for a while, the basis of this was given to me by Eileen Godwin who is a stunning crafter and all round lovely lady.  This combined with my favourite graphic 45 paper that I couldn't bear to cut up seemed the ideal combination for the Crafty Hands Challenge!

I painted the frame and stamped it with a script stamp in gold and added a few bottles of glitter.  I looked at putting more on it but you run the risk of making it look too jumbled with that fab paper behind.

\
Love Melissa

Spring has Sprung at Lavinia

Hi All

Spring colours is the challenge at Lavinia Stamps and I ended up making a series of cards, never quite happy with each one, but hopefully showing the variety of cards you can make with these fab stamps.

Love

Melissa xx

Shabby Chic

The new Challenge on the Craft Hands Challenge Blog is "shabby chic" this had me stumped for a while as I tend to associate this with furniature rather than my normal car crafting. I have just taken down some dark blue wooden frames from my bathroom that had seaside postcards in them and so with these now being spare I took a leap of faith and shabby chic'ed one. As many of you know this is very far from my comfort zone, however I was very pleased with the result

First I used a teal, white and cream acrylic paint to give me the background colour.  Then I used a script stamp with silver ink over the top.  Then I went mad! The butterfly in the centre is a beauty from indigo blu.

I just wasn't able to leave this one alone - so I added some more!!

Lots of love

Melissa xxx

Something Pink for Lavinia Challenge

Hi All

Oh I am in trouble for publishing this late :( we've spent the weekend in Glasgow celebrating my mates surprise 60th birthday party.  It was a weekend of skulduggery and hiding in order to make the surprise work, but it was worth it just to see the look on his face when he walked in.

So I am home and I am shattered but I am going to start a scrapbook album for him today as a memory of the weekend - I hop he likes it!!

Anyway what I SHOULD have done is to show you my entrys for the Lavinia Stamps Challenge, add something pink

Hopefully these and the other great makes from the teamies will give you some inspiration to join in the challenge.  You can see that Lavinia stamps give you the options to colour, decoupage and generally have fun with different styles!

Love

Melissa xx

Music is in the air with Craft Hands!

Hi everyone

All is well in Latchem halls, Chris is doing his mock AS levels and to everyone surprise has actually revised! Poor old Mable is looking a very old poodle at the moment, but she's had a checkup and everything is fine, my little bald rescue is slowly growing back her hair, and the other terrible twoesome are having a ball as usual!

The latest challenge for Craft Hands is "music" and here is my entry - would love to see yours!!

I used one sheet of pre printed music paper and made the other backing papers myself with stamps and distress inks.  The image is a Kenny K, love her attitude :)

lots of love

Melissa

Valentine

I dcided I ought to make the old man a card fir valentines day :). And this is the result!

 

We went out for a meal and watched The Wolf of Wall Street, but driving home was scary with all that wind!

 

Love

Melissa xx

 

Posted with Blogsy

Crafty hands and Computer headaches!

Hi all

Well this has been an interesting week, my PC died and hubby, not wnting windows 8 decided to go Mac. Transfering stuff from one computer to another is hard, but trying to learn a new operating system as you go is enough to drive you dotty! All those things that took a micro second ti do before now requires some deep thought!

 

It is a good job I made my DT stuff a good while ahead or I'd have been in real trouble. In fact I made this at the end of last year, and then made over 50 oft them! The theme for the challenge is "heat or dry embossed background" and this fitted perfectly wih my invitations to my 25 wedding anniversary (although after this computer set up I wondered if we were going to make it!) I kept it simple because of the volume, I didn't like the standard peel off stickers for the wording so I put some silver card through my machine that makes the back sticky and then ran it through my Calibur. It took a while but I liked the results, for th dots on thhe "i"s I used tiny gems.

 

So hop on over to crafty hands to enter, there is a fab prize!

 

Love

Melissa

 

Posted with Blogsy

February Lavinia Challenge Lilac or Blue or Both!

Hi Lovely Lavinia Loverss

The February challenge has a new twist!! there will be a spot prize offered on the challenge blog for February... Anyone can enter ... all you need to do is Leave a comment under the Feb Challenge post and at the end of the month your name will go into a draw and the winner gets a £20 voucher to spend on Lavinia Stamps web shop. This will, of course, run in addition to the main Prize.

So get out your lilacs and blues with your Lavinia stamps and give it a go - this is my contribution.  This triple layer is easy to do.  Cut out all your mat and layers.  Put the mats to one side and put the blank layers on top of one another, I held them in place with a tiny drop of photoglue.  I used the ivy stamp in the background in a lighter colour and then the darker flower on top. Pull the layers apart and re-match them with their mats.  I then added a bit of twine and button and hey presto!

I have some very fed up poodles, they DO NOT like having a bath! but they do look lovely now they have been cut.  

Little bald Tilly has her hair growing back at a rate of knots but her skin is suffering, looking very dry, so in desperation to help her, I rubbed in Olive Oil.  This did work on her skin, but unfortunately for Tilly it seems that Betty loves the taste, so she was trying to follow her round licking it off!!

Love to you all

Melissa xx

New DT post!!

Hi

I am now on the Crafty Hands Challenge Blog!!as my time at Rhedd and Rosie is up.  I'm really looking forward to it and am very chuffed to be asked!

My first challenge for them is "shades of the same colour"  I thought the obvious were the sepia tones, so I decided to go green :) here is a tag with tattered angel wings.

Lots of love

Melissa

Rhedd and Rosie "No White"

HI

Oh what a sad day, this will be my last post on the Rhedd and Rosie Challenge team :( my time is up and I must depart...

On the flip side I can now enter myself and try and win some of those fab prizes!!

This new challenge is to create something coloured, no white on it at all and so I decided to whip out my aluminium tape and emboss and colour it along with a Kenney K stamp and some die cuts.

The other news of the day is that my little baldy poodle has grown a tiny patch of hair on her back!!

Love

Melissa