Sunshine and strawberry cheesecake in a box

This week I have had the dilema of creating a gift for a friend who has six children!

I didn't want to take the easy route of turning the photos to black and white so I enhanced them all with Picnik (a photo editing free programme).  This gave them all the same tones.

I made a photo cube from an old kit but you could easily copy it by cutting 6- 5x5 inch squares and punching 2 small holes in each corner for threading through. Make sure you pull your string or ribbon really tight inside the box.

I simply covered it with some of the Basic Grey SALE papers from Happy Daze and let their vibrant colours do all the talking. A few stickers, Prima flowers and jewel centres as minimal embellishments.

Quick, cheap and easy.....perfect for a recession at 45p per 12x12 sheet and you can't beat that personal touch.

Ruth x

The Sky is the Limit By Paula Tidman

My Little Black Dress is definitely stamping. I have stamped on paper and wood and this time I decided to  stamp on fabric. I frayed a piece of cream cotton then painted with white gesso to make it easier to stamp on. I used  the Artistic Outpost Bluebird stamp plate which is so pretty. I used a combination of distress inks and watercolours to paint the image. I mounted the stamped fabric onto a piece of thick card that I covered in some paper from my stash, die cut an edge and added some lace an pearls to finish.

There is still time to enter The Happy Daze Little Black Dress Challenge. You have until Midnight on 30th September when one winner will be drawn at random to win a  £15 voucher and free P&P to spend in the Happy Daze shop. Maximum of 3 entries per person & you must use at least one product which can be purchased in the Happy Daze shop.

• You can enter by blogging you address to the linky widget here, 
• emailing your picture to info@happy-daze.net
• uploading your photo to their facebook page

splashy dragonfly card by Joanne Wardle

This as a really simple card I made with Jo's new Dragonfly stamp (again) from stampotique. I created the simple background by doing a very small spray of adirondack sprays in 3 colours. I then used the same blue spray with a paintbrush to colour the dragonfly.

Butterfly Notebook By Carol Fox

A lovely quick and easy little project, using one of the Artistic Outpost set of stamps, Happiness, which can be found here in the shop.

I have coloured the background using distress inks and then over stamped it using the same colour ink and a background stamp. The Large Butterfly is from a very old collage sheet I have. The quote has been stamped in Jet Black Ranger ink and then I have used glossy accents to highlight some of the words. I stamped a large swirl as a filler on the bottom corner and then filled in any gaps with the Butterflys from the stamp sheet.

I have made my pad using a couple of bits of mount board and my Zutter, but this works just as well using a pre brought pad.

There is also plenty of time to enter into the challenge this month which is to use your favourite crafting item or technique on a project. Full details of how to enter can be found HERE on the blog.

Little Black Dress - London Underground Stamps by Gillian Simson

This month the DT have been showing you their "Little Black Dress" artwork whether it be a technique, product or tool. My little black dress must have has to be Stamps. One of my many favourite stamp sets is London Underground by Artistic Outpost. Of course any black dress needs accessories, so for mine, I have chosen Distress Stains,  Ideaology embellishments and a Wooden Arch

The arch was coloured using Weathered Wood & Faded Jeans, the stamps wered inked using Archival Ink (Jet Black) along with Distress Stains (Fired Brick & Faded Jeans).

• Blog your entry and use the Linky widget below to link to your blog entry HERE
• Load to the Happy Daze Facebook Page
• Sent a pic by email to info@happy-daze.net

My Pretty Little Black Dress By Ruth Philips

My little black dress must have is PAPER.....preferably patterned, sometimes textured, but always BEAUTIFUL!!

I have used My Minds Eye Portobello Road paper for this layout as it has all of those must have magical qualities about it.

A quality feel (a must have for paper strokers), intricate details and a splash of bling!! 

(click on the photo for better details)

Just like a LBD all it needed was a few accessories from my favourite manufacturer of flowers and butterflies

Prima Marketing Inc and a touch of second hand vintage.

If you would like to enter this months challenge please click HERE for details.

Ruth x

Pearly Queen By Paula Tidman

My sister has lived in the US for quite a few years now, and I know she still misses Blighty so I thought these fab Artistic Outpost Loverly London stamps were just the job for this folded card for her birthday, there is a good mix of images and text in this set. (see my blog for the tutorial link) The background paper is made by haphazardly applying watered down distress inks with a paint brush and stamping lightly with archival ink to achieve a faded effect. The pearly queen was coloured with watercolours and distress inks and of course a pearl necklace.

A triangular pocket was added to the inside of the card to store the bookmark. More images were stamped firstly onto the pocket embellishment and then onto the book mark (he looks very dapper don't you think?) which was then sealed with Ranger glue n' seal and finally a red tassel to complete.

my little black dress technique, by Joanne Wardle

Anyone who has visited my blog will know that my little black dress technique is pencil colouring on kraft card and using my home made stamp positioner to combine stamps to make one layer cards.

I've used these techniques with some of my new favourite stamps from Jo's new collection from Stampotique.
Stella and dragonfly are both fantastic stamps to use individually, but combined I think they create something quite magical.
To achieve this effect, stamp Stella first, then create a stella mask from a post-it note, use a stamp positioner to make sure that the dragonfly is in the correct place and stamp the dragonfly.
colour with pencils, and add the quote also from Jo's collection.

Dreamy butterfly tin by Julie Dandy

Well, I was already to share a cute altered domino necklace with you this week until I checked the blog and spotted that Moira and Carol had already beaten me to jewellery pieces!!! LOL

But never mind, it spurred me on to finish this sweet little tin instead :D

It started life as one of these plain little silver coloured hinged lid tins.

I covered the lid with Tim Holtz tissue tape in a random pattern to create a collaged effect. I used alcohol inks sponged on to the tape to colour it, then used a fine brush to add colour to the butterfly.

When it was completely dry I gave it a couple of coats of Lisa Pavelka resin - this is the stage that it has sat on my table for for about a month, not the resins fault as it was cured, I just couldn't decide where it was going next!!!

So I set it in front of me last night and stared it out for a while.

Then I had a look in my cupboard, then stared some more!

Then it hit me like a lightening bolt and I reached for my jewellery making boxes and hunted out the perfect metal leaf charms and lush lucite flower beads (I'm not sure what lucite is but they do look like plastic to me haha :D)

I added some pearls, buttons , lace and some teeny alphas and bobs your uncle - one sweet little tin that would be great to give a tiny gift in or just as a gift on its own .

Pop on over to Happy Daze to see most of the products I used on this project.

Hugs'n'snogs,

Julie xx

Little Black Dress, By Carol fox

Not a dress, but the challenge theme this month is the craft item you could not live without, in my case I cannot live without any of them, so I just dug through my wonderful stash from the happy daze shop and got to work.

This week I am still in love with the multi-medium and distress stain technique so I have made a little gift box using the stains, inks and medium to decorate it.

I co-ordinated the theme of the box to tie in with a pendant I have made using some the the charms and Tim Holtz ideology pieces for sale on the site.

First of all the box. I made the basic box using a box maker and a fairy sturdy card. I cut a piece of card to fit the lid, I first of all inked this using distress inks in chipped sapphire and spiced marmalade. I then choose my stamp. I have used the quote from the Artistic Outpost set Happiness. I put a small splodge of Multi medium onto my craft mat and then "inked up" the stamp with this before stamping it onto the inked square. I them heated this to dry it. Once dry I took my distress stain in dusty concord and applied this over the square of card ensuring that it had a good coverage. The multi medium resists the stain and the quote will show though in the distress ink colour, I love this bit, it's like magic.

I then glued the square to the lid of the box and inked the sides and cut edges of the square with the same distress inks and stain. I then thought it all looked a bit flat so I took my favourite stamp a basic crackle background (great for a filler), inked it up in the spice marmalade and randomly stamped it over the lid and sides.
The Pendant I have used one the large butterfly's as a base for this. (these are so popular that as soon as Moira gets them into stock they are all sold again, so do sign up for the email alerts to be informed when they come back into stock so you don't miss out as they are gorgeous)

I added a Tim Holtz ideology cog to the centre of the butterfly and topped this off with a reclaimed watch cog from my personal stash. I then attached chain to the top parts of the butterfly, adding Tim Holtz Ideology cogs and game spinners as shown, using jump rings to join them all together to form an interesting and decorative chain for the butterfly. This was really quick to make but it looks so effective that it could have taken you hours.

All the DT members are trying on their little black dresses this month and as usual this is linked to the monthly challenge and you can find all the details of this here.

Jewelley is my one of my Little Black Dresses by Moira Sutton

The challenege theme for Septemebr is "Little Black Dress" meanimg that stamp / technique / tool / material you can not live with out. I simply cannot reduce my loves to just 1 so in this post I'm featuring 2 - jewellery making and metal. The giant bottle top has a piece of Ten Second Studios metal which I've embossed with a Bingo pattern, a couple of charms from the Tim Holtz Ideaology Adornmnets Charms and some beadazzles complete it and it is filled with resin.

The domino has been coloured with Brilliance Ink which dries on dominoes if heat set. It has been over stamped in StazOn, and sealed with versamrk and clear embossing powder. A charm from the Tim Holtz Idea-ology Adornments Charms completes it.

For details of how to enter the current "Little Black Dress" challenge" click the link in the box in the right hand column.

September Challenge - My Little Black Dress by Paula Tidman

We all have that favourite ‘ little black dress’ crafting product / stamp / technique / tool that we use more than the others, the ones we couldn't be without and would replace f we lost or damaged.  For some it might be an old friend used many times and others a new discovery.  I have a bit of an obsession with stamps and one of my favourite sets is Labels by Lost Coast Designs. I have used them many times and this time I have made a simple notebook.

I stamped and masked the images & coloured with distress inks. Then glued to some card and cut to size.

"Little Black Dress" is the theme for our August challenge. You can enter in one of 3 ways:

• Blog your entry and use the Linky widget below to link to your blog entry
• Load to the Happy Daze Facebook Page
• Sent a pic by email to info@happy-daze.net

The current challenge ends at Midnight Friday 30 September 2011. Any type of work based on the theme is fine. One entry will be drawn at random to win a £15.00 Gift Voucher plus free P&P for the Happy Daze shop. Maximum of 3 entries per person. Entries must use at least one product which can be purchased in the Happy Daze shop.

We have a Winner

The winner of our August Challenge is Lucy Edmondson!

Congratulations Lucy and a £15 Gift Voucher is on its way to you