cowboys and cowgirls

I decided to try a completely different challenge this week. I have been meaning to join in with the challenges over at Gingersnaps
for ages but as usual kept missing the boat !. The challenge I have done a card for is Cowboys and Cowgirls with a wild west theme. Unfortunately I don`t posess any stamps with that theme in my collection. Not to be detered I went along the theme of Saloon girls as I figured this stamp could be taken as a sassy saloon girl. I ran a piece of chocolate covered card through my Cuttlebug using the textile embossing folder to make it look like tooled leather. I did try running my versamark inkpad over it and embossing with clear embossing powder as in the article in Craft Stamper but just couldn`t get the powder just on the raised bits. Whether its because of the particular embossing folder I chose I don`t know. I used my distress inks to make a coloured background before stamping the lady over the top, the stamp is an inkadinkadoo one that I`ve had for ages and confession time, never used. I had also never tried bleaching before but gave it a go today and was pleased with the results. I think I`ve probably been a bit heavy handed with it, she possibly looks like she has vertiligo poor love but I couldn`t find a finer brush. I really enjoyed trying something completely different and hope I can join in with a few more different things. I`ll try to show a close up before I sign off

Thanks for looking x Lavinia

an award !

I`ve been given an award ! Its from one of the ladies in the Chocolate Baroque guild - Jean. She awarded it to me the other week but as usual life kind of gets in the way of crafting and blogging doesn`t it ?. So, I am supposed to give you 7 random facts about myself and pass the award on to 7 blogs. Right, 7 totally usless and random things about myself
1. I hail from Essex originally though I live in Peterborough now.
2. I cannot stand anything with cooked bananas in it though I like raw bananas.
3. I have three daughters, the eldest of which will be going up to senior school this Sept eeek, where did that time go ?
4. I am afraid of heights, seriously I cannot even stand on a chair.
5. I love my distress inks, truely, madly, deeply.
6. I have a very grumpy cat who came from the Cats protection league but is he grateful we gave him a permanant home, no he isn`t !!
7. Before I had children I used to think I was pretty organised but now I seem to be a state of semi chaos hence everything seems to be done at the last minute.

The 7 blogs I am passing this award onto are
1. http://messymeblogspot.com/
2. http://thepanachepixieblogspot.com/
3. http://margaretsartybits.wordpress.com/
4. http://craftshedgirl.blogspot.com/
5. http://vroncards.blogspot.com/
6, http://poppycottage.blogspot.com/
7. http://molly-diddle.blogspot.com/

Phew, think thats it. Now I need to try and fit in some crafting before work this afternoon. I had all good intentions this week but I`m lapsing. x Lavinia

bah humbug challenge

The challenge over at Bah Humbug this week was either to use something recyled or shades of green. I chose to go with shades of green. I used alcohol inks in bottle, oregano, lettace and sunshine yellow. I used the alcohol monoprint technique whereby you dribble the inks onto a craft sheet and swoosh your glossy cardstock through it. I must admit that I have tried this technique before but not being all that happy with the results. This time however, it didn`t come out too bad.The bird stamp I think is a Penny Black one. The large flourish in the corner is from Chocolate Baroques` Butterfly Dreams themeplate embossed with a moss green powder. I should really know better than to attempt such an ivory card though - I am just far too messy ! does anyone else find bits in their embossing powder when they tip it out like the backing off of those tiny foam pads or is that just me ? So there you go, shades of green but in no way a traditional Christmas card but I quite like that. I know I am too late now to submit this to the Bah Humbug blog but I tried to post this this morning but Blogger was having a hissy fit. Never mind, I still need to make my pile of Christmas cards grow. Thanks for looking x Lavinia

inchies and blogland inspiration

I cannot believe I haven`t posted anything onto my blog for this long !! Easter and all the bank holidays have got in the way of crafting for me big time. However, the children have now finally gone back to school and so today was the first time in ages I managed to actually sit down and attempt something.
Over at the Just for fun site this week the challenge is inchies. Can you spot mine ? its the tiny bee which I stamped onto a piece of stampboard. I will show you a close up

I used distress inks to colour the piece of stampboard and then stamped the bee in black versafine on top. I added rock candy distress stickles to his wings. I also want to link this post to Judiths blog
. Every week on a Friday she has a forgotten Friday post where the aim is to use stamps and stash you have forgotten about. I`ve had the stampboard inch squares for ages and have not used them till now, the same with the two stamps of the hydgrenga and bee. I`ve copied Judiths idea for the scrabble tiles except mine are paper . I really need to invest in some alphabet stamp sets as I always seem to struggle with finding ways to put on phrases that I want to. If you pop over to Judiths blog you will see where her inspiration came from and then mine in turn. Hope the next post will not take as long next time ! Thanks for visiting x Lavinia