CCC 34 - Dimensional Collage Fragments

I've been wondering what they did with January and February as these two months seem to have whizzed past in the blink of an eye. Ditto the thirty four Compendium of Curiosities Challenges set by Linda at her Studio L3 blog. This week we are working from page 63 of said book. Only one more technique for us to try. Thank you, Linda, for keeping us inking and cutting and painting and sticking, and to all the participants for letting us see such wonderful examples of the techniques. It has been such fun. I'm so pleased to have done all thirty four and am ready for number thirty five.

This time I've had DIs, clear embossing powder and old French dictionary pages out again for my background, and used Wendy Vecchi stamps. The collage bits from a Tim paper stack.

EDOW (Easily Distracted on Wednesdays) ... or any other day

In a previous post I mentioned having done a 'Serendipity' evening at our local stamp club. That was when we used lots of our scraps of card and paper to make a kind of masterboard which we then went on to stamp and embellish to use on cards, ATCs and other projects. Most of us in fact spent most of the evening just doing the masterboard bit. So I brought home several sheets to play with. However, I've only just got around to trying to use them, and on my desk today are two pieces I've cut with a jigsaw die ready to use on cards. To the left is another piece I've already started to cut to make ATCs. In the middle is a little heap of stamps I've been using recently. If you are reading this post, chances are you got here via Julia's Stamping Ground blog where you will get directions to visit other Wednesday workdesks.

I would have posted this earlier, but succumbed to yet another distraction. As I was loading my photo, She-who-must-be-obeyed started miauling loudly and insistently. She wanted to get into the shower room (one of the few rooms in the house that she hasn't managed to open the door to herself). I always leave a bowl of water in there for her. She likes to drink in different places around the house. Dripping taps are especially attractive, and I always leave the loo cover closed - just in case. Anyway, here she is asking , no demanding that the door be opened.

As I took the photo I noticed that the lovely sunshine outside was casting a pretty shadow of the climbing rose just outside on to the shower room door, and the next time I looked I saw that Daisby was bird-watching from the window !

What distracted me from using my Serendipity masterboard was the need to make some ATCs and to use my new Oxford Impressions stamp set.

And then Tim Holtz came on telly last week and distracted me from the new stamp set, and made me get out my bright coloured alcohol inks and embossing folders to play with.

And I had quite a few sessions with these. Stamps: Tim Holtz, Lily of the Valley, Dyan Reaveley, Sheena Douglass, Crafty Individuals and Crafty Secrets.

And of course now all of this is distracting me from what I really should be doing on this lovely sunny afternooon - a spot of gardening in the company of the snowdrops, crocuses and irises that are now hinting that Spring may be around the corner.

CCC 33 - Altered Metal Alcohol Inks

This is week 33 of the Compendium of Curiosities Challenge organised by Linda of Studio L3. It's Altered Metal Alcohol Inks as shown on page 56 of the book. As frequently happens, I found myself getting a bit carried away in my use of the required materials - in this case, alcohol inks. I had been watching Tim on TV on Tuesday, and loved the bright colours of the AIs he had chosen. And of course, he was also working with embossing folders on the Vagabond. So my background is white glossy card coloured with Red Pepper, Sailboat Blue, Sunset Orange, Clover and Gold Mixative and passed through the Big Shot with the Gem Flourish embossing folder. The embossing is highlighted with Inka Gold. The metal strip is from a Tim embossing folder and I've used the same AIs. The die-cut ticket, the metal flower and the grungeboard D are coloured with Red Pepper. The D is coated with Glossy Accents. Stamps are Oxford Impressions and Lily of the Valley.

I had planned to do more in the same vein - some ATCs, and to make a start on a new circle journal, but have lost all concentration. The troubles in Libya are disturbing: to see so much violence reported in the news; so many people living in fear. Then the earthquake in New Zealand. For the past ten years or so I have exchanged family history information with a third cousin once removed in NZ. We got to know one another, not in person, but via email, through our research. As soon as I learned where the earthquake had struck, I feared for her safety and had to email to make sure that all was well. Thankfully she and her family are safe and well, but their house is destroyed and they have lost everything. I can't begin to imagine the trauma people are suffering - those directly caught up in the disaster, those waiting for news of loved ones, and those whose homes are rubble. As always happens there are those who step up to the mark to help and care for those who are suffering. I just give thanks for these people and for all the things I normally take for granted.

CCC 32 - Inking and Stamping Masks and a Little Bit of This and That

I seem to have neglected the blog a bit this past week. Not that I haven't been busy with inks and paints. It's just that I don't seem to have had time to post anything. Last weekend I went to a couple of water colour workshops which were great fun. Of course we used DIs - pads and reinkers - as our water colours. Since then I've made lots of pieces which I've made into cards. This one uses resist/batik and tonal washes in Broken China.

Another memorable event since my last post was a trip to London to attend the Service of Thanksgiving for the life of Dame Joan Sutherland at Westminster Abbey. Some of the most moving moments were when recordings of Dame Joan singing 'Let the Bright Seraphim' and 'Casta Diva' were played in the Abbey.

After the service was over we took some time to walk around the Abbey as it had been some years since we had last visited. Here staff are tidying up the altar area and preparing to snuff out the candles.

The Great West Door where everyone entered and left the Abbey.

This week was also our local Stamp Club where the theme was Serendipity - using up all our little scraps, so a lot of work went into that - which I will post when I have more finished pieces.

And last, but certainly not least, this week is the Compendium Challenge. Linda at Studio L3 set us page 59 - inking and stamping masks. For the technique see Tim's book, and for lots of lovely examples call in at Linda's. Here I used Bundled Sage, Stormy Skies, Forest Moss and Walnut Stain, and stamps by Tim and The Artistic Stamper.

CCC 31 - Rusted Enamel

This week's challenge at Linda's Studio L3 blog is Rusted Enamel, the technique on page 41 of Tim Holtz' book, Compendium of Curiosities. I used Peeled Paint and Vintage Photo as my colours. The geisha images are Stampington, the blossom Kay Carley, and the other stamps don't have names on them and were acquired back beyond the mists of time.

As frequently happens, I had difficulty getting a good photo. Photography problems are usually down to shiny surfaces or my crafting assistant. This time both factors came into play. In the first photo, there's no shine, but you don't get the texture and colour.

So I tried again, but that's where the assistant came in. First of all she distracted me by jumping on the table and fishing about in a box that I'd been emptying of little scraps of paper.

She was on a mission, and eventually found what she was looking for. A nice shiny strip of TSS metal which she picked out of the box and brought to me in her mouth for my consideration. Oh, well, at least you can see the shine and some of the green colour.

Pop over to Linda's and see lots of great examples of the Rusted Enamel technique.

CCC 30 - Altered Metal with Paint

Linda at Studio L3 set us page 48 of the Compendium this week. I have been enjoying these challenges so much and latterly, as each week has passed, I have kept thinking that I didn't want them to end. Now we're in week 30 and the book has 35 pages of techniques, but Linda has just said that the end is not the end. What can she mean? Can't wait to find out. I'd happily do them all again !

So this week it's Altered Metal with Paint, and I went totally overboard with metal. In fact it's all metal apart from two small pieces of card and some clay. I used a piece of Ten Seconds Studio metal in Dark Chocolate cutting one end with a Tim die and the lacy circle with a Nellie Snellen die; and embossing the metal with TSS moulds. Then I sanded some of the raised bits on the brown metal to reveal the silver. Next I got busy with this week's technique on the metal, and got so carried away that I started looking round for other bits to receive the treatment ! A small old and slightly rusty key, a philosophy tag, and a Tim flower. Then I found a lovely little heart that I'd made from clay in a mould and had painted gold. So these items became the things that were washed up on the shore around the little girl who is coloured with DIs and Inktense pencils.

WOYWW 87

Well, that didn't take long .... for another January to pass. And here we are again, Wednesday, the day when we all nip over to Julia's blog to have a shufti at other folks' workspaces. Mine's returning to messiness again. There's the makings of my compendium challenge on the craft mat. Behind the red holdall thingy, there's an embossing folder and some card that I'm working on for another challlenge. The three tiered basket is positively groaning with stamps-to-be-put-away in the bottom basket, lots of diecuts-waiting-to-be-used-for-a-card in the middle, and at the top dabbers and Glossy Accents, yes, that's right, waiting to be put away.