Toot! Toot!

Hello Everyone
June, as with previous months, has zipped past at an alarming rate. I intended to share this card with you long before now as I wanted to share it whilst the Crafty Individuals challenge, Tag, You’re It! was underway except here we are, (scheduled) for the last day of June, with barely hours left of this challenge.
Although I had created a team sample, a canvas, it was the perfect opportunity to ink up a stamp which until that point, embarrassingly, had not been inked up. The stamp being CI-405, a chunky tag stamp depicting a vintage car advertisement.
The card I made was in a similar style to one I made using the chunky tag with vintage train, taking a feminine approach to what is traditionally viewed as masculine themes.  As someone who passed their test at the age of 17, I have never taken it for granted.
The freedom driving allows is special, so imagine the experience for a woman, back in the day, sitting behind the wheel, allowing her the ability to be her own woman, travel where she wanted to travel, although the downside being, those women would be few and far between, obviously only those from wealthy households could experience this.  It is a beautifully detailed stamp which I also used to stamp repeatedly onto some stained cardstock (this  is a sheet that is similar to the one I used for the train card).  I stamped all the elements, including the CI-405 onto the remainder of the cardstock and stained the Crafty Individuals die-cut frame to co-ordinate.A Crafty Individuals image from one of their books appears from behind their die-cut frame.
The stamps I selected bring together the theme of travel but also postmarks and Postcard marks because, as with the train card (sorry, I know I keep referring to it!) I had this picture of friends, with the unwelcome extra passenger of the driver’s little sister,  piling into the car, driving for a day’s outing and the fun of sending postcards and generally having fun and frolics whether in a newly discovered city or at the beach. If you are super speedy then you might just find you have enough time to join the Crafty Individuals challenge. Scroll down to the relevant post for information to enter or simply visit the Crafty Individuals blog.
Have a lovely week and enjoy the last day of the month of June and one last thing, Thank You so much for your visits this past month and those of you who take the time to visit, post after post and leave lovely comments for me to read.  June saw me absent from blogland more than I anticipated, resulting in me not managing to visit your wonderful blogs as much as I would like to.
Hope to see you in July.
Wishes
Lynne

Queen For A Day

Hello Everyone
Welcome to the sneaky peek at my DT post over at the That’s Crafty Blog, this Sunday. A teeny tiny peek at the project which was actually made with a lovely friend in mind as she celebrated her birthday recently.
To view the complete project, please visit HERE.
Thank you for your visit.
Wishes
Lynne

All At Sea (That’s Crafty Challenge)

Hello
A new challenge theme has been announced at That’s Crafty Challenge, All At Sea.  They are asking for you to create artwork with a beach or seaside theme to it.   All details for entering can be viewed at the challenge site.
Always worthwhile entering as there is the chance of winning a £20 voucher to spend on-line at That’s Crafty.
Happy Crafting.
Lynne

The Gifts Continue

Hello Everyone
Before I share more beautiful gifts I received for my birthday I wanted to thank all of you who left a comment for my Darkroom Door & Art Journey Blog Hop  post and to say Hello and thank you to those of you who recently started to Follow my Blog. If you missed my previous post then there is still time to comment on the Blog Hop entries, therefore, still a chance to win a prize.
Now to share with you a surprise package which recently arrived from my lovely friend Chris (rubbaluvva). Chris and I connected via the Yahoo group, K.C.U.K. which I left, with a heavy heart, possibly two years ago now but at least Chris and I kept in contact with each other, especially for birthdays and Christmas.
With Chris’ permission I share with you, first of all this incredibly pretty card. Chris always combines the prettiest of images, papers and die-cuts. Now, take a look at this stunning altered clipboard with another beautiful image, flowing seam binding and take a look at that gorgeous lace edging the clipboard. If that were not more than enough, I also received this box, again, altered with another beautiful image, tucked into a window in the box’s lid. Nestled inside the box were all the goodies I could wish for:- lace, velvet ribbon, buttons, beads, etc. Chris, you already know how delighted I am with everything you gifted to me. At the moment, all are on display but I cannot wait to embellish my artwork with all those beautiful trims, buttons, etc.
If you have not visited Chris before then it would be lovely if you stopped by her Blog (link at top of post) to view her beautiful creations.
Thank You for your visit to this scheduled post.
Wishes
Lynne

Eyes of the Soul (Darkroom Door & Art Journey Blog Hop)

Hello Everyone
Welcome to the Darkroom Door and Art Journey blog hop! All 23 members of the Darkroom Door and Art Journey design teams have joined together to bring you a 5 day creative extravaganza! Each artist will inspire you with a project using stamps from both of these fabulous companies.”I appreciate this is a lengthy post so if possible, it would be wonderful if you stayed with me to the end as you need to keep reading if you would like to be in with a chance of winning.
This is the assemblage/mixed media art I created and yes, I did manage to include lace!  As I am a Darkroom Door DT member I received Art Journey stamps to create with, in particular the Baroque Swirl and Eyes set.  This is the first time I have worked with Art Journey stamps and I tried to make use of as many stamps from the Eyes set as possible and to also incorporate the Baroque Swirl.  Alongside those wonderful stamps I also wanted to incorporate at least one Darkroom Door stamp.  Scratches background stamp was the perfect stamp for the appearance I was aiming for, adding touches here and there, which is how I used it on both the canvas and the wooden cube.After painting and adding texture paste to the canvas and wooden cube, I set about stamping (onto tissue paper).
The main photograph doesn’t show the Baroque Swirl stamp so here is a side view of the canvas.   You can probably see the texture a little bit better in this photographs as well.  I really like how  the Eyes set also included sentiments. I was especially happy I was able to “stamp” the Eyes of the Soul stamp onto the lace. One of the eyes fitted perfectly on the faces of the wooden cube but of course,  it meant one eye facing only in one direction, that is until I stamped onto tissue paper, flipping  it over to allow me to create this effect.  I repeated this so that the eyes are also on the side of the cube that you cannot see in this photograph.
Glossy accents were added to all the tears giving wonderful dimension to the tear stamp.I didn’t want to leave the top of the cube blank, even though I knew the canvas would be glued to the wooden cube.

Giveaway News!

“Giveaway!! Darkroom Door and Art Journey will be giving away a few prize packs, with winners randomly chosen from ALL of the blog hop comments received by Sunday, June 29th. Lots of chances to win some goodies, just leave a comment on this post to enter!

Your next stop on the blog hop is
Joke

If you want to start from the beginning then visit the Darkroom Door Blog where all participants are listed, starting from June 23rd.
Thank You for your visit to this post and I hope you enjoy the Blog Hop.
Wishes
Lynne

Darkroom Door and Art Journey Blog Hop News

Hello Everyone
A small post to announce that Darkroom Door and Art Journey have joined forces for a Blog Hop.The Blog Hop is now underway and not only that, I believe there are prizes to win!
I need to be a little bit patient before I can share my Blog Hop offering because it isn’t my turn yet but if you visit the Darkroom Door Blog then you can start to join the fun.
Wishes
Lynne

My Story, My Secrets

Hello Everyone
Time to share my sneaky peek at my project for That’s Crafty this week.If you would like to view the full project along with instructions then please visit HERE.
Enjoy your Sunday.
Wishes
Lynne

The Generosity Continues

Hello Everyone
This is another post where I share the beauty of blogging friendships, the beauty of friends with generous hearts who continue to spoil me.
First I would like to share this beautiful birthday card which was the loveliest of surprises to receive in the mail.
Diane and I have visited each others blogs for some time now but it was through us both being DT members for Gecko Galz where we started to form a friendship.
If Diane’s name is new to you then why not visit her lovely Blog 1cardcreator
The sweet touches such as the decoupaged flowers and a sprinkling of what appears to be Flowersoft add lovely depth to her card. 
From my dear friend Dorthe, (Dorthe ) this very unexpected gift arrived. It took a great deal of willpower to photograph the gift before I actually opened it.  It was presented so exquisitely with that extravagant bow,to open up to reveal lace, trims and dried rosebuds. If that were not more than enough, Dorthe also included the sweetest of collages. Sometimes others generosity can be so overwhelming and that is exactly how I am feeling at this moment in time.
Diane and Dorthe, thank you both so much for your kindness. Diane, it is so lovely to now have a piece of your lovely art to treasure and Dorthe, to have another of your sweet collages to add to my collection and the fun I will have including the lace/trims in future art.
The generosity of both those friends has certainly touched my heart.
Wishes
Lynne

The Corset of Her Dreams

Hello Everyone
Not so long ago I shared with you two cards featuring Darkroom Door’s Corsetry set.  At that time I used grey, black and white with a touch of cream however I was keen to stamp up the set again, using some of the other stamps in the set and also working with my favoured brown tones.
A corset was definitely going to be the feature stamp on the canvas but I wanted to use the wonderful advertisement stamp in the set.  Of course, working on quite a small canvas I knew that the majority of the background would eventually be covered up however I ploughed ahead, staining the canvas and stamping the advertisement repeatedly to give me this as a base.I tend not to forward plan too much but I had to this time because I wanted to ensure that the woman would be visible once I had completed the canvas with the stamped art, embellishments, etc.The other piece of forward planning was with the corset. The corset, once stamped, actually faces to the right, however with the placement of the woman (above) I wanted my corset to face towards the left. Simply resolved by stamping onto tissue paper and flipping over before adhering to the stained cardstock.  This is it after I had taken those steps.I also combined stamps from the Dressmaker set.
A rather out of focus shot! To bring a touch of texture I wound some thread around the stamped thread card. The Dressmaker stamps work so well with the Corsetry set.
Here I folded the stamped measuring tape for some added dimension. Scraps of stained lace and seam binding were the only added extras, and a little button. Thank you for your visit to this most recent scheduled post.
Hope you are all having a lovely week.
Wishes
Lynne

Gratitude Part II

Hello Everyone
I cannot thank you enough for continuing to visit and comment on my Blog during my most recent absence, you are so loyal and I want you to know just how much I appreciate this loyalty. Thankfully I had a couple of posts scheduled however it has also meant that I am behind with posts I would ideally have shared before now.
This post is Part II of the post where I shared some of the beautiful gifts I received for my birthday.
First are the stunning cards from Rita and Ira.  Both of those lovely ladies also gifted me beautiful gifts which are amongst those shown in the photograph later on this post.  It is evident that they certainly know what I love because their gift choices could not have been more perfect.From another sweet friend, this time Annie ,who gifted me this incredible Venice inspired canvas panel. Also that gift bag, created by Annie herself, was brimming with ribbons and trims and that is not all, I also received a bounty of goodies to create with.
The cards I received highlight the incredible talent of each person.  Doli and Nicki don’t have Blogs but I wanted to include their cards.
Doli, Nicki, Alison,
Hazel, Penny and Darlene.
Alison also sent me an Ornate Frame pendant.  I really should have photographed it individually so you could see the detail on it.Finally, some of the fabulous gifts I received from Rita, Ira, Penny and Annie – items are laid upon other items so you probably cannot quite see all I received.  I also received goodies from my dear friends Doli and Debbie.So there we have it, another birthday passes but because of the kind hearts of each of my friends, they all made my day special.
Wishes
Lynne