I have had a tiny bit of free time to play with a couple of Crafty Individuals new releases in the past couple of days.  I have never made a halloween / spooky project before but CI-360 lent itself to the theme, hence the MDF tag creation above.  I layered paints, sprays onto the tag, overstamped crackle stamp, CI-213 then stamped the clock CI-354 roughly and embossed it with gold powder.  The webs were hand drawn with 'spider pens.  The bottles were stamped in staz-on, coloured with distress inks then embossed with UTEE.  I then cracked the embossing and added black distress inks to age them a bit more.  The word poison is a selection of alphabet embellishments and the man is an image from the CI people and places book.

 These two Christmas cards, which are just awaiting a sentiment, were so easy to make.  I made a background with Distressing ink pads, splattered water on it then stamped CI-359  London Scene in black Staz on over the top.

 Finally a bit of Art Journaling.  As MANY of you know, I have a handful of people who have inspired me greatly over the years and Dyan is one of them.  I can't remember how many years I have known her, but her talent and sense of humour never fail to amaze me.  A while ago now, I think it was February time, myself and a couple of friends attended an Art Journaling class, and that is where I took this hilarious photo! I am not totally 'into' art journaling.  I love the inky painty messy preparation of the pages but hate the writing!  Anyway, I just had to do a page in order to 'house' the photo.

The headscarf reminds me of my late Nanna, she ALWAYS wore a headscarf.  The teacups also remind me of days at my Nans house eating her home made baking and sipping tea from the posh china cups, which were not posh at all as they were always chipped!  We had very little in those days but we sure had lots of love to share!  What more could anyone ask for eh?

So Dyan, thanks so much for your inspiration and the laughs in your classes over the years!!!!!

Sue x

 I was pleased to receive a couple of new Craft Individuals masks a couple of days ago and set to 'playing' with them.  I used spray inks to create the bases to work on.  The sample above was created with the 'Victoria and Albert Corner' and stippling white dabbers over the mask. 

 Adding texture paste......

 Spraying........

 and texture paste again......  I then added simple embellishments to create a few cards.

 One for a new baby,

 One for a friend,

 and a thank you card.

 I had loads of sprayed card left so started a little 'Friends' book.  

I have added 'friends quotes' and have yet to add the embellishments so I'll do a bit more on it tomorrow.  

Sue xxx

Crafty Individuals 'Last Days of Summer' challenge

 The latest challenge for Crafty Individuals is entitled 'The Last Days of Summer'.  I decided to use the base of an old box and create a faux 'specimen' butterfly / moth display to remind me of the beautiful flying creatures we see during the summer months.  I painted the box, created an aged paper to line the base then stamped flowers from CI postcard stamp at the bottom, adding colour with Distress Inks. 

 I stamped various butterflies and moths onto tissue and added them to the base paper then stamped them again onto thin card, coloured them and added them on top of the flat images on 3d pads, leaving the wings 'in flight'.  I added extra detail by using tiny words under each butterfly and added a sentiment in a die cut book plate.

 My next design team piece was this altered CI frame.  I removed the 16 'inchie' inserts, painted it and mounted the frame only onto a square of painted card.  I cut out 16 paper 'inchies' from my last remaining pages of my 'summer' paper book to line the frame, made butterflies, hearts, leaves and flowers from off-cuts of the papers, stamped a bunch of postcards and put it all together as shown above.  I love these frames, they are so versatile. 

The slide mailer is an old project which I thought would fit in well with the challenge.  

All of the images are from CI summer images book and the ticket stubs are just two of many form a full plate of 'ephemera' images.

All of the images, stamped or printed are by Crafty Individuals and can be found on their website, along with more new stuff including dies and masks.   If you get time why not enter the challenge yourself?  There are prizes up for grabs!!!

Sue xxx