Something Blue

Art Creations Friday provided this stunning image

Over the weekend I made sure I found the time to work with this image. After preparing various pieces of lace and curtain net with dyes of tea and coffee I set to work layering the pieces. The base (panel cut from curtain net) was left without a backing. For the photograph I laid it against white curtain net.
Detail of this beautiful image
Other than the dyed pieces I added
a peach lace applique, ribbon slide, flower and blue ribbon (symbolising “something blue”, possibly from her garter!!).

Gift Wrapped

The idea behind this pillow box came from old movies where the women always carry beautifully wrapped packages. In their world items were always gift wrapped in the store, either tucked inside beautiful boxes and extravagantly tied with yards of ribbon or packaged into gift bags with a froth of tissue paper.
 I can imagine this Flapper from The Stampsmith’s Flappers #1 strolling down 5th Avenue during a Christmas shopping outing to Saks and Macys, clutching a mass of bags and a pile of gift boxes in her arms. Actually, she probably has a suitor within reach to do all the carrying while she spends her time looking glamorous!
After making the pillow box from black cardstock I  added  gems. “Merry Christmas” I stamped onto translucent shrink plastic (available from The Altered Element). Added black glitter to the edges of the Flapper image, layered this onto silvery/white glitter cardstock and the final touch is an extravagant silvery/white organza bow which is attached to silver elastic (thanks Dot!).

A Winter Morning

An appropriate title for this post as the past few mornings have certainly been wintry.  Although cold and frosty, as I type, the snow has not fallen heavily in my part of the world.
It has been some weeks since I last joined in the fun at Tag Tuesday. This week’s challenge is “Colours of Christmas - Navy, turquoise and Red”. As luck would have it I had The Stampsmith’s “Holly” stamped out with red ink, a great time saver!
As Holly is quite a large stamp I created an outsize tag covering it with turquoise paper and over stamping with a holly stamp (holly, cancellation mark and sheet music are all from Oxford Impressions). Layered stamped sheet music, Holly, cancellation mark and a red bow and cut glitter paper with scallop edge scissors which I layered from the rear of tag. Finally adding some decor holly and navy ric rac.

Play Time

Would you like a free image to download? Pop on over to Divas D’Este to download the latest freebie. Once you have created your art why not e-mail it to the Divas, there is always the possibility it will be displayed on their Customer Gallery.

TSSC Reminder - Yes, it is time for me to remind you that The Stampsmith Challenge “With Gratitude” is underway. There is still time to enter and remember, you could be the lucky winner. There is a $10 Gift Voucher for The Stampsmith Store up for grabs. Good Luck. Lynne x

Style Never Goes Out of Fashion

It may be said time and time again but it is absolutely true, trends may come and go but true style will always remain in fashion. Mention Haute Couture and the name that first comes to my mind is Coco Chanel. Her style remains timeless even in 2010. I decided to re-visit Coco for GSC Chestnut Theme Challenge “Haute Couture”.
By luck this image of Coco was in a magazine I was reading. With the image I made a charm, using the colours that most represent Chanel, black, cream and a hint of gold.
The glass rectangle is 3 cm x 2.5 cm (I have my BIL to thank for the glass pieces I have been using recently). Three pearls (2 are real) were attached to a head pin and once again (see “Unconditional Love”) I used ribbon instead of chain.  With the ribbon tied into a bow this piece measures approx 8.5″ from bow to tip of the third pearl.

The other week I was incredibly lucky to receive pearls and other pieces of jewellery (plus a whole array of goodies such as vintage buttons, ribbon, etc) from a friend of the family, Dot. Dot if you are reading this, again, many thanks, did I not say I would be able to make use of all the items you gifted to me. Lynne x

A Man’s World

Take A Word’s latest theme is “Man”. Normally I avoid masculine themes but then again that is what challenges are all about, making you do something different.
All stamps except for the pen nib are from one of my newer stamp sheets, “Times Past” from Oxford Impressions.
After stamping a variety of images onto the cardbase I inked scrap cardstock with Tea Dye ink, stamped the pocket watch and added Dimensional Glaze to the centre. Silicone glue was used to layer to the card. Tickets, pen nib, etc were stamped onto pattern paper and the numbers at the top stamped onto a scrap piece of cardboard (the piece removed from corrugated cardboard).
So this card is my take on a man’s life in the early 1900s, a man who is possibly a writer or aspires to become a writer and also one who travels, a man of means.

Step Back In Time

Through Katy’s Corner Yahoo Group I have made several friends, some of who I swap with. One such friend is Mel. Mel creates the most amazing art and periodically will host Bookie Joint Swaps at KCUK. In the past Mel and I have swapped A.T.C.s but we were looking for something a bit different and Mel was the one who had the idea of swapping flags. Recently I showed you (post “So Many Dreams”) one side of the flag I made for Mel (that is the image used in my new header).
Here is the most adorable flag that Mel created for me
I’d love to provide a link to her Blog but Mel doesn’t have one  I like how Mel used a map for the background which she has distressed in parts and such a cute image.
As I said before, the  flag I made for Mel  is double sided, purely because I was in an indecisive mood as to what image to select. I wanted to use images that meant something to me. For the front of the flag I used the image which is my Gravatar.
When I laid eyes on this image I knew it would become my Gravatar. She represents my favourite era in history, love the colours and her style.  I tore up pieces from a French novel and layered to the mat board then overstamped with “Paris” in large and small format. Onto painted cardstock I stamped labels.
The image was printed onto canvas paper, embellished with lace and gems. Added a Paris cancellation mark to the tip of the flag. The hanging was created with vintage velvet.
As I drafted this post it dawned on me that this side of the Flag fits in perfectly with the theme over at Dezinaworld this week. June has set the theme “Your Favourite Era”. For me the 1920′s (also into the 1930′s) is an era which fascinates me on so many levels. The shift in attitude, especially women who started to lead a more independent life, the fashion, music, dance (oh how I would love to be able to dance the Charleston), books (F. Scott Fitzgerald, “The Great Gatsby” in particular), travel, etc.  Imagine being a fly on the wall in Paris, or even better yet, to actually be on the dance floor, dancing the Charleston with a dapper gent, with my Flapper’s dress and newly bobbed hair.

“Joy”ful Winner & More

The name picked from the “hat” to win the “Joy” cone is……..
Krisha, if you could contact me with your details I will mail the cone and other bits ‘n’ pieces to you.
Thank You so much to everyone who participated. There will be another Giveaway coming up in December. Lynne x
A Few Reminders
The Stampsmith Challenge #4 - TSSC#4 is underway, the theme is “A Thank You Card”. Click the button on my sidebar to visit the Challenge Blog for details of entry.
Everyone Wins Papercrafts Prize Challenge - June has started a new challenge site and yes, everyone will be a winner. Visit her site for all the details as there is still plenty time to make something for this challenge. To make it even easier to participate, June has provided some freebie images to play with.

You’ve Got A Friend

LTD  theme this week is “Friends/Friendship”. This was a good chance to use The Stampsmith’s Girlfriends stamp (available in 2 sizes, I have the larger size) and a beautiful Friendship Quote by Anais Nin.
Layered up Paris Nights and Ella Blue papers. Absolutely love both sets of papers but as the papers have a linen, when stamping I found Versafine to give me the best results.

My oldest friend is one I have known since my late teens, we have shared so much over the years – memories that will never be forgotten, memories that can still make us laugh to this day. Through crafting I have been so lucky to have “met” new friends, friends who are as passionate about crafting as myself.  Lynne x

Unconditional Love

Over at Dezinaworld this week’s challenge is “Mother & Child”. The Mother & Child image I selected is from Divas D’Este To Mom With Love CS. If you look at this CS you will see the image I selected is the smallest on the sheet, begging to be made into a piece of jewellery.
Using the glass circle (glass circle is slightly smaller than a 20p piece) as a template I selected the part of the image I wanted then used some Glossy Accents to adhere the circle to the image. I trapped copper wire between the rear of the image and some greyboard (greyboard prepared with Gesso then painted and finally a sealer). I laid weights on top and left to dry overnight. This was now ready to add jump rings and beads. Maybe it is because I have a weakness for ribbons but I love jewellery made with ribbons/velvet/lace. I scrunched up some salmon pink ribbon and frayed the edges before forming a bow.
Using such images would make lovely jewellery for a Mum to be. On the rear initials or date could be added to personalise the piece.

Reminders -
i June has started a new challenge, Papercrafts Prize Challenge. Pop on over to read the rules for entry. Everyone will win and the deadline is 4th December.
ii There is still time to “win” my latest Giveaway (see the post “Joy”). The cone will be filled with little bits ‘n’ pieces. The winner’s name will be posted on 20th November.