"I'm a rainbow today, all the colours of the world!"

"I am red today, hopping mad like a playground ball".  Anyone remember that song by Kira Willey?  It was used in some ad or other, I forget which, but you can hear it here if you're interested - cute song!

This weeks theme on the Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge is "One colour ... any colour" and to be honest I had a little trouble with it!  I started on it a couple of times and both times I didn't like what I'd done and scrapped them.  "3rd time lucky" they say (or "3rd time's the charm", if you're over the pond) and I am finally happy with this red card!  When I was making it I had a fairground fortune teller's tent in mind, so I hope that comes across a little :)

Last week's cutlery competition - I got no right answers!  Several people guessed Ikea, but I had asked for the person's name, which was Carl-Gustaf Jahnsson.  I feel a bit bad, perhaps it was harder than I thought!  I thought his name would be easily found on the Ikea web site, but maybe my cutlery wasn't easy to pick out on their site, based on my photo, so apologies for that!  I'll have another contest next week and I promise it will be easier!!

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $50 gift voucher as the prize again this week! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try? At the very least why not head over to the Challenge Blog to see how the other members of the design team have interpreted this weeks theme! :)

Stripey Lunch Goodness and a Prize Contest!

I had a few friends over for lunch earlier this week, and in an uncharacteristic moment of poshness, I decided to make placecards and co-ordinating napkin rings.  I know, I know, very Martha Stewart, lol  Knowing that this weeks theme on the Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge is "Stripes" I decided to tie them to the theme and kill two birds with one stone, as it were.

I have a little contest for you too!  All you have to do is tell me the name of the person who designed my cutlery (hint - it's a Swedish person, wink wink).  Leave a comment here telling me that you've entered and then email me the answer (you can use the Contact Me button at the top of the page).  I will randomly pick a winner from the answers and will send them some crafty goodies!  Note - answers entered as comments will not be published and won't be entered in the draw, you must email me so that I can mail you back to get your address if you win!  The winner will be revealed next Monday at 5.00am UK time - good luck everyone! :)

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $50 gift voucher as the prize again this week! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try? At the very least why not head over to the Challenge Blog to see how the other members of the design team have interpreted this weeks theme! :)

Wings Ain't What They Used to Be!

Don't you just hate it when the one-eyed flying cyclops hearts you've been keeping in an old bird cage finally chew their way out?  I know I do!  That's why, when I saw that this week's Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge is "Things With Wings" I decided to work through my frustration by making a piece about it!  :)  I know lots of you out there have the same problem, so believe me when I say I feel your pain! lol

This actually took me quite a few days to make, simply because I'm the world's slowest cutter-out!  All of the detail in the wings seemed to take forever to do, but it was worth it in the end :)

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $50 gift voucher as the prize again this week! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try? At the very least why not head over to the Challenge Blog to see how the other members of the design team have interpreted this weeks theme! :)

Wendy Boat Comes In!

I've cheated a bit with the title of this post, it doesn't really refer to Wendy Vecchi at all, but to a song my mother used to sing to me when I was a baby.  It's sung in the dialect and accent of the part of England where I live, any of you who are from far flung shores might want to check it out, you probably won't understand a word! LOL

The theme for this week's Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge is "Wendy Vecchi Style".  I figured that this was the opportunity for me to get a bit crafty with the sewing machine! :)  Just a couple of lines of stitching, but now that I've done it you may see more in the future, lol

Dontcha love the splat effect you get by dabbing a Distress Stain onto card, it looks so dramatic!  I used stains in aged mahogany, scattered straw and worn lipstick on this piece.  I have to say, the more I use them, the more I love 'em! :)  I spritzed the white background card with water and then applied the stains on top of that, it makes them blend together so hazily, I love the effect.

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $50 gift voucher as the prize again this week! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try? At the very least why not head over to the Challenge Blog to see how the other members of the design team have interpreted this weeks theme! :)

It's male Jim, but not as we know it!

The theme for this week's Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge is "Men Only".  I racked my brain on this one, and got to thinking about classic male portraits through history.  I finally settled on Micheangelo's undiscovered masterpiece "Jonah Lisa" as my inspiration, and here is my version of it :)

Though it looks flat in this photo, the frame is actually wood and is about 3/4 of an inch deep.  I covered it in copper metal which I had embossed with the Cuttlebug Clockworks folder.  "Jonah" is a Tim Holtz stamp coloured with Promarkers and the bowler had and moustache were hand-drawn by yours truly, then cut out and fixed in place.  Quite the jaunty fellow, dontcha think?  lol

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $50 gift voucher as the prize again this week! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try? At the very least why not head over to the Challenge Blog to see how the other members of the design team have interpreted this weeks theme! :)

Woman of Mystery

The theme for this week's Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge is "an ATC".  I used to make a lot of ATCs back in the day, and still have a binder full of beautiful ATCs that I've received in swaps.  It's quite some time since I last made one, and it was an interesting challenge to restrict myself to a 2.5 x 3.5 inch project again!

The background was spritzed with water and then Distress Stains were applied (Peeled Paint, Scattered Straw and Forest Moss).  I punched a circle out of white card and fixed it in place as the moon, then stamped the tree.  The Mona Lisa was stamped separately and coloured, then the tree was stamped over her face before fixing her in position on the ATC.  The bandana was coloured, stamped and outlined in white pen.  Finally the text was printed on the computer and fixed in place.

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $50 gift voucher as the prize again this week! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try? At the very least why not head over to the Challenge Blog to see how the other members of the design team have interpreted this weeks theme! :)

Steampunk Submarine Suggests Crafted Chronometer - Dutifully, Dan Divulges Details!

The theme for this week's Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge is "Steampunk", a style that I've always found inspiring. According to the Wikipedia definition of steampunk, "Perhaps the most well known example of steampunk is Captain Nemo's Nautilus submarine in Walt Disney's 1954 film version of Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea."

I've always loved that movie ever since I was a kid, so much so that when I was a student, studying computer animation and games development, I created a game inspired by the movie.  A screenshot from the game is shown above.  That's more years ago than I care to think about, so this steampunk stuff has been a favourite of mine for a loooong time! :)

I decided to create a porthole clock, inspired by the movie.  I started by cutting 2 circles from card and covering them with 10 Seconds Studio copper metal.  The bottom circle had first been embossed with the Clockworks embossing folder, as had the metal covering the square of card below it.

I inserted large silver brads into the smaller circle, to act as rivets marking the hour positions and then fixed the smaller circle to the larger one.  I used distress stains in a range of colours to age the copper a little.  I cut a circle of thick clear plastic from some packaging and stuck it behind the circles to be the glass in the clock.  The clock face was stamped and mounted behind the glass using black 3d foam, and the hands were held in place with a brad.

I painted the metal square with Claudine Hellmuth black paint and let it dry, then buffed it with a dry paper towel to reveal the silver of the metal in the raised areas.  I stuck the clock onto the square and then stuck that onto a larger square covered in plain copper.  That was then stuck to a square of Tim Holtz's Kraft Resist paper and then onto a square of chipboard covered in black card.

Finally, I stuck the "82" plaquette to the hanger, and a couple of cogs and brads onto the hanger's clips.  That, as they say, was that! :)

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $50 gift voucher as the prize again this week! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try? At the very least why not head over to the Challenge Blog to see how the other members of the design team have interpreted this weeks theme! :)

Simon Says Stamp STAMPtember Blog Hop!!!

For the second year in a row, Simon Says Stamp and Show & The Simon Says Stamp Challenge are joining forces to bring you a SUPER hop and treasure hunt to celebrate the approaching fall and winter holidays.

To help celebrate they will be giving a BIG BASKET OF CRAFTING GOODIES to the winner of this hop! PLUS 3 $25 VOUCHERS to the Simon Says Stamp Store ! The vouchers will be the  hidden treasure on 3 DT blogs and you have to find them.

The Blog hop will start at on August 31 st, 2011 on the Simon Says Challenge Blog

and will finish on September 5th, 2011 at on the Simon Says Stamp & Show Blog.

The theme for both challenges this week will be ANYTHING GOES. You can make anything you like … a card, an ATC, a Scrapbook layout … the possibilities are endless!

You will need to hop through each blog, find the little parcel of goodies and make a note on which designer’s blog you found them. You do not HAVE to comment on all the DT blogs but we would appreciate any comments you would like to leave. If you lose your way at any time a full list of all the participating blogs with links will be available on Simon Says Stamp Challenge and the Stamp and Show Challenge blogs

The last stop on the hop is the Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge blog. You will need to leave a comment there with the names of the 3 blogs with hidden treasure. The comments will be moderated so you will not be able to see the answers.

 For more details please refer to the Simon Says Stamp Challenge or the Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge blogs for more details.

If you arrived here from Becca's blog then you are going in the right direction otherwise you need to start at the beginning on the Simon Says Stamp Challenge.

My thoughts have turned to autumn already, probably because the UK hasn't really had a summer yet this year! Doesn't this autumnal triptych put you in mind of crackling log fires, falling leaves and pumpkin pie?

Products that I used included the Psychedelic Grunge, Bitty Grunge, Thankful Silhouettes and Pumpkin Galore stamp sets, along with Promarkers and Distress Inks.

Edit:  A few people have contacted me, asking for the names of the patterned papers I've used.  I just want to say, in case anyone else was wondering the same thing, the answer is "none"!  Everything on here has been stamped, using the stamps listed above.

From here you need to go to the super talented Jo's blog for more inspiration :-) I would appreciate a comment if you would like to leave one

Plane Sailing!

The theme for this week's Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge is "travel".  I've had this Tim Holtz aeroplane stamp for ages and never gotten around to using it, so today was the perfect chance!

I cut the back panel and the two cloud shapes from the world map sheet in Tim's Kraft Resist pack and applied distress stains to them (Picket Fence, Stormy Sky and Chipped Sapphire).  I also stamped the plane on the same paper and ran some picket fence over it to make it stand out a bit better.  I used two idea-ology washers and fed some paper twine through them.

And that's about it!  Not a complicated one, but effective - at least I think so!  A great "man's" card too, I think.

Our ever-generous sponsor Simon Says Stamp is offering a $50 gift voucher as the prize again this week! The winner will be chosen at random from those who enter the challenge, so why not give it a try? At the very least why not head over to the Challenge Blog to see how the other members of the design team have interpreted this weeks theme! :)

For the second year in a row, Simon Says Stamp and Show & The Simon Says Stamp Challenge are joining forces to bring you a SUPER hop and treasure hunt to celebrate the approaching fall and winter holidays.  Be sure to come back on August 31st to start the hop.  It will run through September 5th.  Simon Says Stamp is offering some great prize packages, and there will be other opportunities to win some blog candy, too!

Craft Room Wall Art

Isn't it amazing what you can do with 2 sheets of brown card, 3 of black, a Cricut with SCAL and 15 minutes? This is on the wall of my craft room, above my desk - hopefully it will inspire me! :)