Buzzin Bees By Carol Fox

I have used my favourite Bee stamp again on a box.

I used

Stampotique Stamps : Bee
                                   Hexagon 
Bee's coloured with stickles and alcohol inks
stamped in black archival ink
box painted with acrylic paints

The word "dream" is also by Stampotique but it unfortunately is not one that Happy Daze stocks.

Soar to your Dreams by Carol Fox

Hello, I have a 6 x 4 postcard to share with you this week. I have used a variety of stamps from different companies. I have a full supply list at the end of this post if you scroll to the bottom you will find it with link to the items in the shop.

This is a quick run through of how I did it.

• Cut a piece of card to 6 x 4 inches and ink with walnut stain distress in.
• Used Brown Archival ink to stamp the background from the French flight plate to cover your card.
• Stamp the sprint quote from the Charles and Amelia plate as shown (cleaned the ink from the work fly at the end before stamping it). Fill in the word FLY using the large word from the same plate and positioning it as shown at the end of the quote.
• Mask off the quote and word and using black archival ink randomly stamp the cogs from the industrial background plate onto the stamped background.
• Cover the FLY word in glossy accents.
• Stamp the house and Icarus image onto white card, colour and attach to the postcard.
• Edge with a black dabber and draw lines with a pen and drawing ink.

I used

Artistic Outpost stamp sets: Charles and Amelia, Industrial Backgrounds, French Flight

Stampotique House Stamp

Lost Coast Stamp: Icarus

Distress ink

Archival ink pads

If you enjoy making postcards there is a weekly challenge site called Sunday Postcard Art, I am going to link my postcard to it.

Carol x

With Love...

...From me to you on Valentine's Day :0)

Here I used Bow Heart from my range at Stampotique and  Songbird by Prima.

Clean and simple designs are not always the easiest of cards to make. Keeping those tiny marks and smudges away are difficult (for me anyway lol) and wave back at you like a flag. I thought I would keep these in to show you that its those little 'errors' that make each card individual when handstamped. 

There are a couple of tiny dots I can see (just flecks) and also the bird could have left a darker imprint...but hey ho, thats how it goes....an original :0)

Happy Valentine's Day xx

love

Jo Capper-Sandon

ps...I see that currently the Prima stamp set Songbird is currently sold out. A similar idea to this card (altering the card proportions to maybe landscape/DL  or square) could also be created from the clear stamp set, also by Prima , Songbird No.1

Recyled Tag By Carol Fox

The theme for the current challenge is to use re-cycled items. Unusually for me I did not opt for an item but I went for a small pile of odds and sods that had been sitting in the corner of my desk for ages, sitting there just because they looked like they could be useful.

I had cut the tag ages ago from some packaging, ripped it in half to use one corrugated face for something and the other half had just sat there.....waiting. The text is the cut out section from an altered book that got missed when I put the rest away in a draw, so I stamped my image on this. A piece of scrap tissue wrap. some beaded ribbon from a cushion that got partly eaten by my washing machine. An organza flower made from a scrap of ribbon, dyed, went the wrong colour so was sent to live in the corner awaiting its moment to shine.

So here is my hodge podge of items assembled to become a tag along with some ink and paint to make it pretty.

Stamps I used

Queen Of Life
Quote from Miranda

Full details of this months challenge can been seen here.

Carol x

Little Bird House Photo Holder By Carol Fox

This is one of the little hanging bird houses from the shop. I cut the hanging loop of the top and added a memo pin in its place so it can be used as a photo holder or a christmas place setting for the table. I have just added a sentiment too mine so you can get an idea of what I mean.

It has been finished with snowflake charms and Frantage Glass glitter. These also look very pretty on your tree if you leave the loop on as the glitter catches the lights and looks very sparkly.

Carol x

Brrr, it's cold outside

In The Bleak Midwinter is this months challenge theme find all the details here, this canvas board represents a bleak winter to me. Using Stampotique's Angel Boy and lots of goodies from my stash.

Firstly I stamped Angel Boy on to some card and ripped it out. I glued him and some bits of book pages to the canvas board and then painted around his outline in white and blended that with the blue. I stamped all the details in paint, and glittered his wings with lots of diamond stickles and then coated the whole piece with beeswax. I distressed the beeswax and stamped in to it to add a bit of a grungy feel. 

To me he looks very cold and very bleak, lets hope someone somewhere has a hot flask of tea for him. 

Wishing you a warm day, Sam xxx

Bee Happy... By Carol Fox

For my 2nd DT Piece this month for Happy Daze I have use Stampotique Rubber stamps to alter a wooden box. I have had a couple of these boxes hanging around for ages since I brought them as a back up plan for something I was doing. Being a hexagon shape I think they work really well with the Bee Stamp.

The box was given a crackle finish and then all the stamping was done directly onto the box. The bee was coloured with Alcohol inks and stickles were added to the wings.

I used

Bee Stamp
Hexagon Stamp
Alcohol ink,  Alcohol Ink Pen,
Stickles

Carol, x

You may need sunglasses!

Our challenge for November is 'Brighten up the month' and with the clocks going back and a lack of proper daylight I was glad to get out the bright paints and feel summery.

I began by stamping the Mona Lisa stamp using Staz-on on to tissue paper, painting it with a skin tone paint on the reverse so she didn't look anaemic and using lots of PVA stuck her to the mini art canvas. I then went to town with the turquoise paint, flowers and sticky gems. Shrink plastic is becoming a firm favourite of mine so I stamped and shrunk Moon Girl and text from a Suzi Blu stamp.

Just a bit of fun! Hope you can join in the challenge,

Wishing you a happy day, Sam xxx

Chocolate Girl Tag.....By Moira Sutton

The background of this tag has been made using distress stains and the wrinkle free method.
The main image is Zetti, and the squiggle arms are by Stampotique. The dots are Silver Ferro used though a Dylusions Stencil "chequered Dots".

Batty about Halloween

Here's my third and final Spider Girl ATC for this months Spooky challenge theme, totally inspired by the Dogs Trust slogan, ' A dog is for life, not just Christmas '. For this ATC I stepped away from the typical halloween colours and went for one of my favourite colour combinations, pink and turquoise. I made it using the same template as the other atc's this month and and hand drew the bat.
I do hope you like it, thanks for looking.

Wishing you a happy day, Sam xxx

Spooky Sea...By Carol Fox

This large tag was first given a coat of gesso. Then the skull image from the Halloween cube was stamped in black ink. Various colours of paint were then, painted, splattered and splodged onto it.
I added Beadazzles and coloured crinkle free ribbon with distress stains and stuck these on around the main image. The main image is Smushallaum by Stampotique. A small charm was added with a swivel clasp.

The current challenge is open until the 31st october. Full details can be seen HERE

Trick or Trick?

Just lately I have fallen in love with ATC's all over again and just can't stop making them. Here's another featuring Spider Girl again, this time I've given her a pointy witches hat, simply cut out of black card and the stars stamped with white staz on. It's a distress ink background with some orange paint squished through a template, a shrink plastic star and the ground is another distress inked bit of paper which I embossed. It's very nice to stroke with lots of textures!. I couldn't resist giving her some green and yellow stripey socks.

Thanks for looking, wishing you a happy day, Sam xxx

Here's what I used:

Stampotique: Spider Girl and Jo's Star

Lost Coast Designs: Angel in Disguise (for the hat stars)

Distress Inks: Dusty Concorde and Brushed Corduroy

Crafters Workshop Template: Cherry Blossom

Claudine Hellmuth Studio Paint: Altered Orange

Me Wicked?

Fitting in with this months challenge theme I chose to make a spooky'ish ATC, I've been challenging myself lately to get more layers in to my makes, this is where the Crafters Workshop templates come in so handy, a quick swipe of modelling paste of paint and you have effortlessly added loads of detail and another layer. I thought Spider Girl would be perfect for this theme and here she is dangling a spider, I can't decide if she's teasing it by dangling it over a big drop or is getting ready to chase someone with it, hope it's not me as I REALLY don't like things with 8 legs!

Wishing you a happy day, Sam xxx

Don't forget to enter the challenge for a chance to win £15 to spend at Happy Daze, with free P&P!!! Wicked!!

Body Clock

'Steampunk. Steampunk. Steampunk.', that's what has been going round in my head. 

Steampunk things do not come naturally to me so thank goodness inspiration struck yesterday. When I think of Steampunk I think of cogs and then I think of clocks, so I thought of my body clock and how young my brain is even if the rest of me is starting to stop working, going grey or falling off!

I ended up making this ATC, hope you like it!

I started off with some white card and swooshed some purple and blue colour on with some Derwent Inktense pencils, added the die cut vintage lace at the bottom for some texture and to give my little lady something to stand on. Then applied a thin layer of gesso all over. I then stamped the Daisy and coloured, gesso'd again and stamped the checkerboard and gesso'd again. I stamped Lavendar Sprig, Butterfly, and Flying Girls, coloured and cut. For the body I melted some clear embossing powder and stuck some watch parts in. I then glued everything in place and wrote the sentiment.

Steampunk is the theme for the our challenge this month, here are the details, I hope you can join in with a chance to win £15!

Wishing you a happy day, Sam xxx

Hanging Beer Mat with Stampotique By Carol fox

An altered Beer Mat made into a little hanger by adding eyelets and a chain.

For the background I used The new Viva product from the shop through one of the crafters workshop masks. It was all then spritzed with color wash inks before I gave it a swish with Picket fence Distress stain, this makes all the colours go muted and very dreamy looking. I then gave it a coat of Glue and Seal. I added a tiny rub of inca gold to highlight the raised mask area.

The lavender sprig was stamped and coloured directly onto the background and the flower bits highlighted with stickles. The Dragonfly is stamped and then layered onto the background, again stickles were used on the wings. The word fly is stamped directly and then covered in Glossy Accents to make it pop a little bit. Trim was added to the bottom.

Round Altered Box By Carol Fox

I have altered a smaller sized cheese box using Copper Viva ferro paint through a mask to give some texture to the box lid. It was then painted with Verday paints. The "fly" word is by Stampotique.

As this is round it fits perfectly in with the challenge theme this month. For full details of the challenge have a look at the blog post HERE.

No longer something fishy

This empty tuna tin was really well washed before being decorated.

I was inspired by the night sky for this creation and just trying to capture a moment in time when all seemed really peaceful.

I began by painting the inside of the tin with Studio Paints, I pva'd some glitter and star sequins for some detail and texture on the back and stamped with white paint a flourish around the outside of the inside. The base for the houses is made of balsa wood, just painted black. The moon, stars and houses are all shrink plastic and coloured with Prismacolor pencils. There are some idea-ology cogs and a light bulb for extra details, and the wire is simply threaded with some pearl beads and suspended between two holes I made with a crop-a-dile. Finally I added two wooden beads so it wouldn't roll around.

Shopping List:

Stampotique, Jo's Star

Stampotique, Small Moon

Idea-ology, Light bulb

Idea-ology, Sprocket Gears

Idea-ology Game Spinners

Paper Bag Studios, Doorway House

Paper Bag Studios, Home Sweet Home

Paper Bag Studios, Newsprint House

Artistic Outpost, Serenity (for the flourish)

Studio Paints

There is still plenty of time to enter this months challenge with a chance to win £15 to spend at Happy Daze, details are here, good luck!

Wishing you a happy day, Sam xxx

A One Layer Postcard

One layer things are something I've not really tried before and this was great fun and a challenge because you have to think ahead when making one layer creations and also because I felt like a real artist because of the time I used a paint brush, don't you feel more arty with a paint brush in your hand?

Anyway I started off with plain white card cut to 6in x 4 in and then another piece of card to mask off the area where the main image is. I then stamped the shell stamps, using distress inks, randomly around the outside, removed the mask and stamped the Stampotique image. Then still using distress inks coloured in the sky, sea, sand and the girls details. To add a little distressed detail I used the brushed corduroy ink on the edges of the outside of the card and the main image. Finally I stamped the seagulls and wrote the sentiment.

Hopefully seeing this will make you feel a bit summery and a lot crafty and you'll join in with our current challenge 'We're all going on a summer holiday' details can be found here.

For this make I used:

Distress Inks in various colours

Stampotique Stamp; 3 Girls and of course some plain white card.

(the shell stamps were from my stash)

Wishing you a lovely day, Sam xxx

Who wouldn't like to live under a mushroom?

This creation was inspired by the TV show 'The Cube', for those who haven't seen the show, to cut along story short contestants go into a huge glass cube and can win BIG money by basically throwing balls in buckets! Saying that there is some skill involved!

Can you spot Marci?

Here's a step by step:

1  Stamp required characters and foilage stamps on to shrink plastic, colour and shrink.

2  To start construction on the cube glue each piece of memory glass to the edge of the next using super glue,   the super glue sets really quick so act fast! Firstly make the bottom and three sides so that you have access to the inside of the cube.

3  Glue your scene in place, I glued the Cheesey Moon directly to the glass at the back but Great Moon would look well, great!. I used super glue again for speed and reinforced with some glossy accents. It's important to make sure they are well stuck because once the cube is complete there is no way in!

4  When happy with your scene add extra little details, I used microbeads of green and gold in pools of Glossy Accents but Bedazzles would look fab too. 

5  Now it's time to add the front and top piece of memory glass, again using super glue. This bit is really important go over all the edges with glossy accents to make the joints stronger, if you don't when you start dipping the edges in the molten embossing powder the super glue melts and your cube will fall apart. Believe me, it happened to me twice! 

6  Dip the edges of your cube in the molten embossing powder, this strengthens the cube further and looks like faux soldering. Please note the cube will never be a really strong constuction. (Mine has been sitting on top of the microwave for 7 months and is fine, just don't drop anything on it or drop it)

7  Add a curio knob on top and some hitch fasteners for feet. Enjoy.

I used:

2in x 2in Memory Glass

Stampotique: Floral Flutter, Wee Owl, Marci, Mushroom Group, and Kitty

Shrink Plastic

Glossy Accents

Curio Knobs

Hitch Fasteners

Copper Embossing Powder

Melt Pot

The male character is called Head but any other male character from Stampotique in the Happy Daze range would be happy to be followed by Marci, I expect they are all fun-guys, get it? Funghi's. . . I've so enjoyed posting this I feel like making another, Stampotique stamps here I come!

Wishing you a very happy day, Sam xxx

No Bugs Please!

I confess to not liking spiders at all and have been known to squish them in the past so when I saw this months challenge theme is 'June Bug' I immediately thought of spiders. Yuk!

I thought I try something I'd not ever done before and made an easel ATC, it was really easy and it's a really cute size to work with.

Start off with some card 7 inches x 2 1/2 inches. Score at 3 1/2  inches and again at 5 1/4 inches, this gives you the basic easel ATC, then decorate as desired.

Firstly I glued on some old book pages and coloured with Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink, I then stamped Spider Girl on white card, coloured her and glued her on also. I stamped Floral Flutter on tissue paper and used PVA to stick those in place. Finally I used an old alphabet stamp set for the wording, which I stuck in place using foam pads, these give a raised surface for the easel bit to rest against.

 This is the same ATC lay down, almost flat, notice I used the Floral Flutter stamp on the inside without the butterflies saving them for the front.

It was a super quick project and I hope you try, it could quite possibly become another addiction for me as it gives ATC's a whole new perspective!

I used:

Stampotique Spider Girl

Stampotiqe Floral Flutter

Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink

White Card

Details of this months challenge can be found here go on join in the fun, with a chance to win £15 to spend in the shop!

Wishing you a happy day, Sam xxx