Very distressed...

OK, so it's an old one, but it's distressed!! lol.. Even the triple embossed stamped rose is crackled! Linked to this week's Daring Card Makers challenge.


This was an experiment.. The background was sponged, and I used the edge of the inkpad to make some of the lines, and drew others with a pen and ruler. There's some doodling in there, and of course the roses are stamped and then I used a water brush to drag the ink around to colour them. The focal panel is triple embossed and allowed to cool, then crackled by bending it until it cracks. The rest is pretty self-explanatory.
Stamps used on this card:
Large Rose stamp ~ Stamps Happen Inc. ~ #80271 English Rose
On the tag:
Small rose stamp ~ Rubber Stampede ~ A1566E Romantic Rose Small Bouquet
Script stamp ~ A Stamp In The Hand ~ Q1771 Background
Teapot stamp ~ From Tim Coffey’s ‘Daisy Delight’ set for K&Co.

Last one before op...

I am frantically working through a list of things that have to be done before Monday, but I finished a commission from my mum for a card for my sister and b-i-l's silver wedding anniversary. (I will have time... just!... to make mine for them when I get back home again.)

So.. here it is... The background paper is from the Funky Seasons CD-rom from Funky Hand.

Celebrating Blog Candy & Awards!!!

WOOHOOO!!! Guess who won some blog candy then? MOI!!! :D

From Jo of Marking The Occasion. Bless 'er cotton socks! Thanks for the smile, Jo!! (Do go and check out her blog if you haven't already.. She is a fabulous mailart designer!)

But not only have I won some blog candy, I find that - as a member of the Funky Hand team - I am also the recipient of the fabulously prestigious Arte y Pico award, as shown on the right. The team were awarded this wonderful prize... from our Kath, who is another member of the team! lol.. So no bias there, then. ;o)

Right.. Enough blog-hopping for now. On with the day...

21st Birthday...

My niece, Laura, will be 21 on 4th May. One of these is my card for her, and my mother commissioned the other one.

Both cards use numbers, papers, etc, from Funky Hand CDs, and Pink Petticoat bugs.

Only one more card to make today, then I will have kept my promises before Monday! Woohoo!

Baby Boy...

Some friends of mine... Rob & Liz... have just had a baby boy, so I have been beavering away, and this is the result... Am thinking I might cut off Baby Kitty's whiskers, though, and possibly add another star, so he has something to look at.. What do you think?

The papers and letters are all from the V. Funky CD from Funky Hand. The lovely stamp is 'Baby Kitty' from Penny Black. Kitty's nappy has been subtly highlighted by painting irridescent glitter glue on top, and the 'boy' letters have been glazed with Glossy Accents.

Old cards...

I had not photographed these before, but managed to 'borrow' them from my mum with a promise to return them at the weekend...

This one was for mum & dad's golden wedding, two and a half years ago. Sadly, my dad didn't make it. He died just the year before. I still felt it was appropriate to mark the occasion.

It is an acetate card, which you can see if you look closely.

This one was for my mum's birthday this year. She had mentioned that she wanted to find a copy of this poem, so I found it and printed it for her on the inside.

The poem is called 'Warning', by Jenny Joseph. (Scroll down for the poem.)

WARNING

When I am an old woman, I shall wear purple,
With a red hat that doesn’t go and doesn’t suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin candles, and say we’ve no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I am tired,
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells..
And run my stick along the public railings,
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain,
And pick the flowers in other people’s gardens,
And learn to spit.

You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat,
And eat three pounds of sausages at a go..
Or only bread and pickles for a week,
And hoard pens and pencils and beer nuts and things in boxes.

But now we must have clothes that keep us dry,
And pay our rent and not swear in the street,
And set a good example for the children..
We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.

But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.

Jenny Joseph

Mojo...

There was a young mojo in blogland
Came to visit his pals at Funky Hand
He took just one look,
Then shuddered and shook
And said, “This is not what I planned!”

“They’re better by far, and will have to be banned!
If they’re this good without me, for sure I’ll be canned!
They’ll give me the hook,
My ass will be cooked,
And goodness knows where I will land!”
. . . . . . . . . . . . .

We-ell.. I promised you poetry!! lol ;o)

Today's creations..

... And no paper in sight!! lol ;o)

The top one is a present for my niece, Laura, who will be 21 in May. She wanted a marine theme. The second bracelet (which is awfully blurry and I must photograph again) is a present for me!! lol ;o) Mostly using Swarovski crystals.

Final two Funky creations for today...

Giftbag uses some exquisitely pretty papers from Funky Hands' 'Funky Seasons' CD-Rom...



The Funky Daisies card uses papers from the 'V. Funky' CD..

Scrap Layout..

My dad in his younger days, with a photo of his first car after he married my mum, and a spitfire, which inspired him to join the RAF. He was too young to have flown spits, and missed the war by a few years, as it was the fifties before he joined up.

The layout is an 8" x 8"... another sample using papers from the 'Funky Seasons' CD from - guess where? Funky Hand! lol (http://www.funkyhand.com/). The sentiment circles are from the 'Now That's Funky' CD. One of them has been used just for the lower half, so it's only showing 'The best' and the upper half is hidden behind dad's photo. I used Fontwerks stamps to echo the pattern from the circle dots paper.

Dad passed away 2½ years ago, but he was a handsome man in his youth, don't you think? :o) It is only looking back at old photos of my dad that you can see how he is the image of my brother, Steve... or should that be the other way around? ;o)

... And excepting that my brother is thinner, has brown eyes instead of blue, shaves his head and sports a goatee!! But other than that... lol ;o)

Dandelion Clock...

Latest creation for Funky Hand, using papers from the Now That's Funky CD, available from the Funky Hand web-site at http://www.funkyhand.com/.

Big Daisies...

OK... latest contribution to the Funky Hand Design Team is this little beauty.. What a pain! You know how sometimes what is in your head just doesn't translate well to paper, and it takes ages to hone it to what you dreamed? And THEN you realise that you weren't supposed to show stamped images, so I had to make something else to go in the middle, to obscure them.. because I was blowed if I was starting again! lol. But I think the script panel works OK, don't you?

You can't really tell from the pic, but the top layer is apertured, with another aperture underneath, slightly smaller, so the focal point was kind of 'sunk' into the card, if that makes any sense. The central script panel is raised on pads in the middle.

The papers (and paper ribbon) used are from the 'Now That's Funky' CD from Funky Hand. CD is available from http://www.funkyhand.com/ .

First design for Funky Hand...

This is using papers from the 'Hills of Heather' colour collection on the V.Funky CD-Rom from Funky Hand. (You can purchase the CD from this web-site.. http://www.funkyhand.com/).

Cards I have had published...

These are two to three years old now, and my style has developed since. A little, anyway! ;o)

Ohhh My.......

... What have I done? Oh well. Everybody else is doing it!! In for a penny...

Is everyone terrified the first time they set up a blog? Or is it just me? lol ;-)

Well, world.. here I am! Welcome to my Cosy Corner. Pull up an armchair, and make yourself comfortable.

OK.. What was the catalyst that made me start a blog, finally? I have been honoured to be chosen to design for Funky Hand, and their design team appear to be mostly keen bloggers. And if you can't beat 'em... ! ;-) Now I don't yet know how to add links behind words and turn them blue so you can click on them and get wafted magically through cyber space to their web-site/blog, or I would do that with the words Funky Hand. Sooo.. in the meantime... go here >> http://www.funkyhand.com/

Anice is the lovely, talented lady behind Funky Hand, and I have her to blame.. err.. THANK... for this! ;-)

So.. that's the start. This is just the beginning. Stick around and watch the fireworks...! :-/

Blessings,
Craftling xx