TCCC#3 Altered Dominoes - North Wind

Just in case I haven't mentioned it before, the fabulous Third Coast Rubber Stamp company have a new challenge blog - Third Coast Challenges.  As you can see from the above title, they're only on their third challenge.  The prize is usually a voucher to spend in their online store, and with prices starting as low as 50cents, its well worth stocking up (and you get quite a lot for your money too!)  The current challenge is TCCC#3 Altered Dominoes and you might have seen the start of the dominoes in my previous post yesterday... Well, today I have one of the pieces finished.

The stamp used is TCR's "North Wind"  - the reference code is ES-042-D and you can find it on their catalogue here.  It costs the princely sum of $3.00.  I love it, it's very versatile, and as you can see, fits nicely on my domino.

It kind of set the theme for the necklace, which I've been arty enough to actually call "North Wind" - and have created a piece that seems to float on your skin with a hint of the snow and ice of the north.  Well, that's my excuse and I'm sticking with it!

The image was stamped with black Stazon, on a background of denim, stonewash and silver alochol inks.  I then lifted some of the colour with a very fine paintbrush and a touch of alcohol blending solution.  If you're careful, you can manage it without smudging the stamping!  It ensured, though, that some of the important detail wasn't obscured (like the face).  I edged the domino with silver krylon and coated the face with glossy accents.

Hope you like it - I had fun doing it!  And stay tuned for the other two pieces I'm in the throes of making....

WOYWW 168 - here we go....domino!

Helloooo again!  Happy Workdesk Wednesday to you!  Again...If you've got here by accident, please head here for all the deets and a chance to add your own mess desk to the Linky List.

So, here we go again.  My desk this week is busy busy busy.  Pictures were taken Tuesday night - but there'll be no change on Wednesday!

I'm in the throes of making some altered dominoes to join in over at Third Coast Creative Challenges.  Feel free to go and join in if altering dominoes is your thang...  To be in with a chance to win, you need to use their stamps, but if you don't have any, you can still enter and possibly get spotlighted if your project is particularly gorgeous.

I love Third Coast, and whilst I only have a few (with a few more on the way) they were suitable for the challenge.  At the moment they're in the drying phase but I should be able to finish them tonight.  Yes, that's a dragon's eye.  And the bottom one is the North Wind.  Not particularly clear, as the glossy accents is semi-opaque at the moment, but I'll update you on the progress.  Top one is coloured with copics, bottom two have alcohol ink backgrounds, and the middle one I've added extra alcohol ink colour with a very fine brush.  The bottom one, I've actually taken some colour away with the same brush and some blending solution.  I'm looking forward to seeing how they turn out!

Here's a touch of obscurity for you.  The wonderful Mrs Dunnit was at crop, and she'd got these lovely border stickers.  Well, when you peeled the back off, you were left with waste that was equally lovely if a little plain.  It was headed for the bin, so like any good frugalista, I grabbed it, much to Mrs D's amusement, and took it home.  I've coloured it with the remains of the alcohol ink I was using - and it will shortly appear on a card near you....

You'll also have heard about Kraft Krazy moving.  Well, here's Shopkeeper Gal, and SG Jr, outside the rear entrance of their shop on opening day.  A fab time was had by all.....

....as some of us shopped whilst others attended a workshop by SG Jr.

Not everyone was keen on having their photo taken....

.... but many found the cupcakes hard to resist!

See you in a comments box near you!



Sketch Saturday 220

Oops...

I did it, but was three hours too late to enter the challenge!

Anyway, here's the sketch:

And here's what I did with it!

3D decoupage, embossing using sizzix embossing folders (Tim Holtz), sentiment stamped with Stamp Tapestry alphabet.... bling provided by card candi.

Maybe next time I'll finish in time for the end of the challenge! LOL...

WOYWW 167 - skin o' me teeth....

Woohooo!!! Happy WOYWW to y'all.... it's Wednesday again and time for more desk hopping mayhem courtesy of the delightful Mrs D...  If you think I've gone nuts and don't have a clue what I'm on about, visit here for all the info and Mr Linky if you want to join in.

Why "skin o' me teeth"? Because I *just* managed to visit everyone who visited me.  LOL.

So here we go again.

My desk?  Voilà!

Not a lot to see really.  The latest sketch from Sketch Saturday which I fancy having a go at this week, plus supplies.

However, I figured I should show what I did at the crop on Saturday, and thanks to Julia showing my ugly mug on her blog this week, and said pic showing me holding a layout involving her, I realised courtesy of BJ that I'd not actually blogged said layout when I did it.  Which was back in May.  And that was when said photo on said layout was said... lol.... taken I mean!  Heheheh.

So, four - yes FOUR - weeks' worth of Project Life, plus a double layout from two years ago (long awaited that one!) from the crop.

And the layout with LLJ and Julia.

 See you in a comments box near you!

WOYWW 166 - Keepin' it brief....

Happy WOYWW to you!  For all the deets visit Ms Julia here and join up with the weekly bloghopping wonder that is What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday.  And here is my effort....

Ta dah!

Nada....

I'm having a week off from crafting. 

But just so it doesn't look like I've done nothing - remember the mystery item?  Several of you guessed that it was a tissue box, but no-one guessed from the other items on my desk that it would be a little bit steam-punky, and look like this:

Least of all our LLJ for whom it was intended.  Having safely handed it over yesterday, I have now been able to reveal it.  Can't wait to do another!

Hoping you all have a lovely day today - I'm off to Glastonbury with Mr B and Lil Miss B, so if you see us at the top of the Tor, give us a wave!

The Great British Blog Hop, Day 2

Welcome to day 2 of the Great British Blog Hop, as organised by Nicola, aka Sunshine Girl....

I thought about what I was going to do for this, and to be honest, I didn't have to think long!  Most of my friends said that the one thing that is quintissentially British, is afternoon tea (and yesterday you'd have seen Tea @ The Ritz...LOL) so I decided to make a card which rocked cakes.... sorry about the pun.  I thought I'd make something not too fancy or flouncy, a bit British stiff upper lip, if you like....

Image is Pink Petticoat, papers are from Designer Digitals.  Frame is Spellbinders Floral Frames.  Sentiment, Papermania (Clare Curd collection).

You're off on your way to JAK now - if you get lost, use the button on my sidebar to take you back to Nicola's blog and the full circuit...

Enjoy your day and the Hop!

WOYWW 165....... WOOF!

LOL

Welcome back to another round of WOYWW, the weekly wonder that is set up by the fabulous JD herself.  I missed taking part last week but real life got in the way unfortunately.  Only so many hours in the day!

First up - Happy Birthday to ya, LLJ!  Hope you have a fabby day!

Secondly - here's my desk:

Bit of a mess, eh?  This was how I left it on Tuesday night, and I can't show what I was working on 'cos it's not finished and it's meant to be a surprise for someone!

I have worked on other things this last fortnight, including these two cards:

I don't know about you, but all the cards in the shops say "a new baby", "leaving to have a baby" or just "leaving".  What about those ladies intending to come back?  So I made the above for work.  Main topper courtesy of Crafts U Print.  Copious amounts of Stickles were employed, along with slap dash use of general bling.

And Lil' Miss B had a birthday too, so I made the following.  I see I missed a bit.... LOL

Lastly, meet the new member of our pack.  I won't go into the boring details, but he's a rescue from Hull and his name is Hamish.  Peeking out from under him is Arwen, and just to the right of the picture is Twig.  On the left, Mr B (but I guess you knew that already!) We've had him 10 days now, and he's starting to settle, though at not quite 4 years old, he's still quite a puppy in some ways, and has his nose in everything!

 Well, not quite as short and sweet as I would have liked, but heigh ho! 

It appears I'm taking part in the Great British Blog Hop on Thursday.  Eeek....

WOYWW 163

Hellloooo!!!  Here we are again!  Another round of What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday to amuse us and get us over the hump of the week.  For all the deets, head on over to The Stamping Ground where Ms Dunnit will tell all and offer up Mr Linky so you can join in.

My desk this week has some new Copics on - more on that in a mo.  Yes, I know I've pledged to Use it Up for 2012 but surely that only applies to consumables?  Copics are consumables?  Darn it....

The wrist is much better, thank you Shoshi for asking, so I've done a couple more squares (not in the pic).  The tissue box is now out of sight cos it's starting to look like something and I don't want someone seeing it....tee hee.... The mask hasn't had very much done to it - I've just triple embossed the cogwheel/eye with my own concoction of pewter and midnight sapphire obsidian embossing powders.  Looks fab - like rusty steel.  It's definitely going to be a freakiness on my wall once done.  He's not my own idea - I've magpied him from Snazzy Stamping  (where I spotted him on a visit) - and you can see him here at Inky Exploits.

Back to the Copics.  Now, I'm sure someone, somewhere, has already had this idea and done it, but I've not actually seen it on a blog.  I store my Copics in a cube, and there's no decent way to separate them into colour groups.  It's just a general mish-mash of shades in a group.  I'm too lazy to make a proper storage facility, but even if I did I wouldn't be able to pick out the exact three colours I need according to their shade number.  One of my biggest annoyances is that the Copic Sketch pens have the number written on the cap, but not the Ciaos.  Then it occurred to me to write the number on the lid myself.  Except you can't properly, because there's a dimple in the middle.  Cue the 8mm diameter label.  Colour it in with the colour your labelling, write on it with a fine tipped pen, and slap it on the end of the pen.  Voilà!  Now my pens go in the cube, and I can pull out the exact shade I require according to its number.  Cool or what?

Now, unless you've had your head in a bucket for the last 5 years, or maybe if you live somewhere a long way away, you might not have noticed that this little island somewhere right of the Atlantic, has got a small sporting event coming up.  Last Wednesday we got the opportunity to go and see the flame as it stopped in Salisbury for the night.  One of the girls in Lil Miss B's netball squad from school was carrying the torch, but we couldn't get into town to see her do her stretch of the run.  We got there in time to see the last handover, and Mr B hopped up onto the fence to get some fab photos for me.  I won't bore you with loads - just this one:

Lastly, last week I made some noises about a special event we might have been going to, and we actually did get to go.  We were fortunate enough to be invited to go to Tidworth Polo Club for the biggest match of the year - the Hackett Rundle Cup.  This is when the Army and Navy battle it out on horseback, chasing a small ball round the field.  We were invited because Mr B happens to be teaching the son of the Navy team's coach!  This year, we weren't as lucky as previous years had been - normally HRH Prince Harry (the Queen's Grandson) plays, but he wasn't here this year, more's the pity.

I managed to get some really duff shots, and some not so bad ones - this one came out ok, I think.  My camera isn't really built for high-speed sporting events.  One thing we definitely were lucky with was the weather - it held out right to the end...and then the heavens opened.

Anyways, enough rambling from me - time to head off on the blog hop....!!!  See you in a comments box near you...

WOYWW 162 - more Project Life...

Whoa! Where the heck did that week go? Oh, I know. Down the gutter with all the rain. And the country’s hopes, when Andy Murray lost at Wimbledon. Poor old Jonathan Marray though, overlooked as one half of the winning men’s doubles team.

Well, here we are again for another round of WOYWW – prepare thyself to do battle with Blogger, for she verily is a scurrilous knave and somewhat pesky in the posting department.

*shakes head to clear it*

Sorry, not too sure what happened there. LOL

Anyway, for the deets and Mr Linky, head over here.

My desk this week is not that interesting. I’ve not done an awful lot other than have a general push around and call it tidier. Mr Wobbly Man and his sidekick Junior are just hanging about doing not a lot (as per usual, nothing new there), and the tissue box hasn’t actually moved much further forwards. That would be because the Outlaws were here again, with Mr B heading off to the Fairford Air Show with Grandad B. The steampunked/industrialised mask has moved on a little bit further – not a lot, just a little.

I’m really getting into my Project Life though, having completed Week 3 and well on the way to finishing Week 4. At this rate, I will have caught up by the last week of December! (do the maths...). The crochet has taken a little bit of a backseat as it’s starting to set my carpal tunnel off. Mr B wants me to teach him next, so maybe we’ll be able to sit and crochet together – there’s love for you!

Well, we’re hopefully off to a special event on Saturday, weather permitting, and I will make sure I get photos for next week’s WOYWW...

In the meantime – watch out, watch out, there’s a Morti about. See you in a comments box near you!

WOYWW 161 - moving on!

Hellooooo!  Welcome to another WOYWW - honestly, where DOES the time go? Mind you, at the moment it feels like it's November from the miserable wetness outside, although it is still a few degrees warmer.

So.  WOYWW.  If you're not familiar with the term, head on over to Julia's place for all the deets.

As for what's on my workdesk this week - yup, there's a pile of squares.  And you're right, it IS a tissue box I'm working on, but nobody guessed as to what it was going to look like.  It's definitely a WIP as its going to need a couple of coats of paint first, but we're looking good so far!  I see little wobbly man is hanging out in the coffee cup.....tsk

Here's all the squares laid out.  The picture doesn't really do them justice cos it's warped the colours a little - the green is lovely and minty, the grey and the pink look quite 80s but I can assure you there will be other colours!  I'm just working my way through the collection of balls of wool, one ball at a time.  19 squares down, at least another 340 to go....

Also on my desk this week I've managed to complete week two of Project Life.  Hopefully, by next week I should get weeks three and four done too.  I'm starting to get used to working with Adobe Photoshop Elements, as you can see, I can overlay type and the like.  Mind you, I'm using quite a few of Cathy Zielske's templates which help - but my fingers are itching to break out and try my own thang...

Now, onto the small matter of Artstamps at Newbury.  I might be going, I might not.  I was thinking of going, and mooted the idea in JDs direction.  The trouble is, Mr B and Grandad B are off to the big air show that's on (RAF Fairford, I think), which leaves Lil Miss B and Grandma B at home with me.  Now, if Grandma and Lil Miss go shopping, it's going to leave yours truly in charge of the hounds, which I can't take with me.  Plus I have very little Moolar at the moment.  So, chances are, I'm not going so I'm sorry if anyone was getting their hopes up!

Ok, enough waffle, on with the hop!  See you in a comments box near you....