New Samples for Oyster Stamps !!!

Hello my Lovelies.....

Long time no Blog !!!

Well I went to the Oyster Stamps Retreat about a month ago and I had a fantastic time and along the way I managed to catch the Flu Virus that was doing the rounds..... Luckily for me I didn't get the Flu just a heavy cold but boy did it knock me for six !!!..... As I say I was one of the lucky ones as some of the Ladies got the Flu so badly that it saw them in bed for a week and suffering for another one too !!!

Well that is in the past, thankfully and for the last couple of weeks I have been making samples for Oyster Stamps Demo Day where I was demoing and what a fantastic time I had chatting to the Customers and helping them part with their money, Oh and I had some fun spending mine too !!!.....

Here are the samples I made and for the MDF Peacock Heart I used the beautiful HeartFelt Creations Rubber Stamp Set Peacock Swirl.... Code HCPC 3660 and also the HeartFelt Creations Feathery Peacock Stamp Set.... Code HCPC 3662 and they are both available from Oyster Stamps along with the MDF Hearts...... here's the link www.oysterstamps.co.uk ......
I mounted the Distressed inked stencilled background onto a MDF Heart and then layered the 5 hand painted and cut designs and cut away pieces to bring them to life with a 3D look.....The colours of the Distress Inks I used was Scattered Straw and Spun Sugar and then blend beautiful together to give make a lovely apricot colour..... I then used stickles to hi-light the centres of the flowers, feathers and leaves......pretty isn't it !!! .....

......and for the 3 Cards I made I have used the Penny Black Clear Stamp Set called "Stitches" and again they are available from Oyster Stamps..... This little set contains 3 super cute little Fairies and I really enjoyed making these cutesy characters and displaying them on the pretty backgrounds..... The Stamp set is a 5" x 6.5" Clear Set of Stamps and the Code for these is PB30303.....
The backgrounds were made using Aquawax stencilled through various stencils which then creates a resistance to the inks or in this case I used Brusho paints and in the flowers where I wanted to paint a different colour to make them stand out, I removed the colour with bleach and then painted them again with a contrasting colour in the Brusho's..... The Stamps I used for the background are PaperArtsy Jofy Stamps Collections 26 & 33..... Oh and I nearly forgot I used Ryn's Hibiscus Stamps for the large flower..... how could I nearly forgot them as they are just so beautiful.....

 

I am hoping that things will quieten down a little in the next few weeks once I have done demoing at the Sincerely Yours Paper Craft Show next Sunday 26th April at Maidstone and then the Sunday after on 3rd May I am doing my own Workshop at Oyster Stamps and how excited am I..... I just hope everything goes to plan, cross you fingers for me !!! ..... After that I will be back making more samples to give you some inspiration and until then be good and take care and thanks for popping by.....

Lots of love to you all

Marianne xxx

 

My Friend Eileen's Birthday Surprise !!!

Well..... I think it is about time sat and typed this as I was so pleased with this and to be honest I don't usually say that about my own work but this I really was chuffed to bits with and I believe Eileen was too when I gave it to her .....

I visited the Craft Barn down in Surrey on the last day of my Sick leave from work to cheer myself up as I know I was going to have a tough time going back to work after the Operation I had 3 months earlier..... Whilst I was in there looking for pretty papers for a Workshop I will be taking in May my Husband Steve and many of you will know him clapped eyes in a stamp that he thought looked like OTL who is Eileen's Husband..... If you need to know why he is called OTL you will have to tune into Daisy's Diary.... Here's the link..... http://daisyg.blogspot.co.uk/  Daisy is one of Eileen's Dogs and she writes a blog about her adventures with Holly who is her Sister, OTL and TM who is Eileen..... Please take a look it really is worth reading and following.... It has us is fits of laughter at all the things they get up to and I wouldn't miss my bedtime reading each evening.....

Anyway I looked at this stamp by Art Impressions called "Bud" and I thought I could do something with this to create a framed picture for Eileen's Birthday. So we then went hunt for a little Doggie Stamp as I had then a vision of what I wanted to do for Eileen. Well after turning the shop upside down and that's not hard for me as I do love a hunt around a Craft Shop and try not to miss anything..... Again Steve spotted another Stamp by Lindsay Mason called Sartorial Elegance that had just the legs and boots I needed and also it had a scruffy little dog which once painted up would look like Daisy and Holly..... I also purchased another Art Impression Stamp called "Bud" as I needed his hat to complete the image.....
I really was so excited and as soon as I got home I got to work as I knew I only had a couple of weeks to complete a card and the picture for Eileen which I would give to her at the Oyster Stamps Retreat that we were both going to along with a lot of other Friends and Crafters .....and I couldn't wait !!!

So I set to it stamping as usual..... I always stamp everything 5 times to give the image the correct depth which then will need painting 5 times and for Daisy and Holly 10 times as they is two of them. I used various colours of Distress Inks to paint them and also to create the background which I stencilled with 3 different Stencils..... 1. TCW Theory Cells..... 2. Donna Downey Stencil called Sunburst..... 3. TCW Mini Ferns.
I first used the Cells Stencil to make Pebbles and Sea on the card and then stencilled the Sun on top of them and then to the left of the Sun I stencilled the Fern leaves...... The reason I chose these was because OTL walks Daisy and Holly on the Beach everyday and then on occasion in the woods close by.....

Anyway I used the top of Bud to create the top half of OTL and the lower half of the boy on the Sartorial Elegance as I needed the shorts and boots which seemed to be just perfect.....

I couldn't wait to give Eileen her present and card and her face was a picture as I think she was so surprised with them both but especially OTL, Daisy and Holly.....

Anyway I have babbled on too much so here are the photo's of her picture and card..... Below is the card details and photo's for you to see......

 

Eileen's Card was created using another Art Impressions Stamp called "Girlfriends" and I then painted them to look like a few of our other Friends being (From Left to Right) Chris Hearn, Eileen Godwin, Martine Smith and Zoe Russell and all these Ladies attend Eileen's Craft Workshop in Allhallows Kent which is where I met them all and we have a fabulous time each time we attend...... I just love it !!!

Anyway that's enough for me today and I really hope you have enjoyed these as much as I did in making them......

Till the next time....
Thanks for having a look at my blog and hopefully you'll be back Soon

Lots of love to you all
Marianne xxx

Oliver's 18th Birthday .....

Afternoon All

I really hope you are enjoying your Good Friday which is the start of you Easter break.....

Unfortunately I have gone down with a Flu like virus that we all caught at the Oyster Stamps Retreat weekend last week and but except for getting this I had a wonderful time.....

I was asked a few weeks ago if I could make a card for Oliver's 18th Birthday card as I had made a sample card a few weeks before and the Lady who commissioned me to make this commented that it looked like her Son when he was younger..... and could I make it with a T-Shirt that he had back in his younger days..... So off I went with the challenge and came up with this card and a lot of you will remember it from my previous one.

TA Oliver's Mum was so chuffed with the card she had it framed and presented it to Oliver on his Birthday and he said he will take it with him when he goes off to University and put it on his wall !!!

What a compliment and I am so pleased you like it Oliver..... I hope you had a Wonderful 18th Birthday.....

New Lavinia Stamps Challenge for April - "Lemon and Lime"

I am a bit late sharing this with you all due to a Flu Virus I have picked up but April brings the start of a NEW challenge from Lavinia Stamps......." Lemon and Lime "........

You could win a Voucher worth a WHOPPING £40 to spend in the Lavinia Stamps Web shop.....

You have 4 days over Easter where you can grab some me time and create a piece of art to enter into this challenge..... So go on have a go and enter as it could be you that is the next winner.....

This month I made 3 DT projects features the following stamps......

1..... For my first card I used the Fairy playing a musical horn called Sky, The Spooky Tree in the Background, Vine Leaf and maple Leaf I used to frame the top of the card and for the foreground I used the pretty Lavender Stamp..... I used various shades of green and yellow Distress inks to create the card and I hope you like this..... I really enjoyed putting this card together as it made me use my imagination to combine the various stamps I used.....

2..... On my second card I used Freya's House and the Fairy Washing Line. The Words Stamps Home is Where, I stamped and cut up and staggered them on the card..... I decoupaged the hand painted stamped images onto a stencilled background to give more interest..... Another pretty card where I used various Green and Yellow Distress Inks.....

3..... My 3rd and final card is where I used Zen Maple Leaf and the Zen Angelic Words. For the Leaves I fussy cut these out and used 3d Glue Gel to stick these to the circular layered card and then added the random stamped words to finish off the card.....

On all my cards I stamped in Archival Black Ink and used Distress Inks to colour and paint...fussy cut out and decoupaged to give a 3D effect, then I used a glitter Gel Pen to enhance.......

Please visit our Lavinia Stamps Challenge Blog and see the super inspiration from the Design Team and get crafting!

You don't need a Blog. We accept Email Entries... and you can also find a contact form on the Challenge Page.

I'll be back very soon... with more things to share with you.

Thanks for strolling over to my Blog today.

Lots of love to you all...... and Happy Easter !!!

 

Marianne, Lavinia Stamps DT Member xxx