Same Elements Different Look & Handmade Monday

It's time for Handmade Monday over on the Handmade Harbour blog.  My post today looks at how you can use the same elements but make each card different and unique.

I don't know about you but I get bored making multiple card that look the same (unless they are for an order).  I also like to give my customers unique cards to buy.  

I made the following using some text paper which I had printed and cut into triangles and mounted onto co-coordinating background paper.  The circles are lengths of quilling paper from my quilling days many moons ago - I have quite a collection.  I like how the tight coils lend themselves to the design of the trees as baubles and tree trunks.

I added a silver snowflake which was cut from a tree garland and the greeting is a rubber stamp from Stampendous.

I made different size coils with the quilling paper and added them in a line to make them look like a tree. 

I've also linked up with the following blogs.

Creative Monday

Art Every Day

Have a wonderful and creative week.

Anita

It's Party Time Over At Handmade Harbour

It's time to get the party started (isn't that a line from a song?).  Anyway, it's that time of the week and we're partying over at Handmade Harbour so lets get our lovely sparkly outfits out and dance the night away..............well okay may be not quite so early.  I don't know about you but I'm so not prepared for Christmas.  I bought a couple of presents while I was out on Monday at the Christmas Market in Manchester so that's a start.  I finish work in a couple of weeks so I'll probably do most of it then.  

Have you started on your Christmas card making yet?  I know some people start theirs in January I think I'd probably forget where I'd put them if I started that early and everyone who knows me will think I'm not well :)

Well here are 2 different cards for the Papercraft Party over at Handmade Harbour.  I hope you like them and feel inspired to create your own cards with Wendy's lovely designs.  If you fancy joining in with the challenge and win yourself some digi stamps and a lovely badge to put on your blog all you have to do is create a card using one of Wendy's designs (not compulsory - although how can you resist some of the free digi stamps to wet your appetite?  

Whatever you decide to do I hope you have a lovely week.

You can find all the Christmas stamps here

If you fancy having a play with digi stamps you can find a couple of free images here

I do hope you'll join in the fun.

Anita

Lilac and Silver Christmas Trees.

It seems like ages since I used a rubber stamp in its own right.  So when I saw the challenge on the Artful Times Challenge Blog I knew I had to join in especially as the colour scheme is one of my favourites - lilac and silver.

One of the stamps I've used is from Penny Black called Xmas Constellation the other I'm not sure of as I'd taken it off the wooden block for better storage and the ink on the back where I had written the company name has smudged - if anyone recognises it please give me a shout so I can credit the designer.

This is the Xmas Constellation stamp from Penny Black.  I love all the swirls and fluidity of the design.

I liked this one for it's non traditional style again with the swirls - can you tell I like swirls?  

These cards are linked to the following blogs as well so why not pop over and have a nosey around at what everyone has been making.

Handmade Monday at Handmade Harbour

Creative Mondays 

Art Every Day

Artful Times Challenge 

Happy Crafting

Anita

Christmas Is Coming - Handmade Harbour Paper Craft Party

It's time to start thinking about Christmas!! Time to get your list ready for buying presents and cards.  The Christmas market starts this week (15 November) in Manchester and I can't wait I always enjoy browsing the handmade stalls and chatting to the traders and partaking in a glass of warm fruity cider - I'm not a fan of mulled wine.  

I've been busy this week making cards to sell at Emerge 3Rs pop up shop in Manchester so if you're visiting the market you should pop in and see the lovely handmade items on sale there.  You will find some of my cards and jewellery there to.

If you like to make your own cards then why not have a look at Handmade Harbour's digi stamps they are so cute.  Here are some cards I've made using the stamps - you can find them all here in the Christmas album.

I'm off to make my list......

....Anita

Handmade Monday & Art Every Day Month

Oooopppps I lapsed with the #AEDM the last couple of days but in my defense I have been busy making for Emerge 3Rs Pop Up Shop where I'll be selling some of my handmade cards and jewellery.  I've also been making cards for the Handmade Harbour Design Team so it's all go this week.

Here are some of the cards I've made for Emerge 3R.  The trees and abstract pieces are made from air-dry clay.  The design is made with a rubber stamp painted and with black and silver acrylic paint.

This cute robin has also made his way into the shop.  He's a digi stamp from Handmade Harbour and you can find him here #235 Robin with Stocking.  I like the way you can customise the design to make it look different every time you use it as you can see from the 2 cards above.

Pop over to Handmade Monday  Art Every Day Month and Creative Monday to see what other artists have been making.

Anita

Christmas Card Robin with Stocking .......Day 4 of Art Every Day Month

I'm sharing this lovely little chappy with you today.  He's waiting very patiently for Santa to come and fill up his stocking.  Isn't he cute? 

This is a digi-stamp from Handmade Harbour #235 Robin with Stocking you can find him here.  I've painted him with Polychromo pencils and added some glitter to his hat and the branch.  The parcels and text are done on the computer.  I 3D'd the hat with foam pads to give the card some dimension.

Art Every Day Month Challenge can be found here

Anita

Penguin Love Balancing Act.............Midweek Papercraft Party

Okay so it's nearly November just a day to go so I don't feel so guilty in saying the "C" word...............Christmas yay it's nearly here.  I love this time of year (apart from the cold weather and dark nights).  I love all the lights that go up around the cities and towns to make the market areas look festive and bright.  The walk around the Christmas market in Manchester and locally perusing the handmade gifts that are on sale -maybe partaking of some mulled wine or a glass of warm fruit cider.  Have I got you looking forward to Christmas yet?  

If the above hasn't then maybe my little penguin friend here delivering some presents will.

The image is from Handmade Harbour and is a new Digi Stamp #231 Penguin with Presents isn't he cute?  I've also used the #226 Christmas tags and Sentiments and the parcels on the bottom of the card are from #189 Birds and Gifts set of 10 images.  I think he can be used for a number of occasions not just Christmas.

Handmade Harbour 

Working With Fimo Air Dry Clay

I've been playing with Fimo air dry clay today I've not used this before and found it to be quite 'wet'.  I used a Teflon sheet to roll it out but it still stuck it.  I think I need to either add some oil or corn flour onto the surface before rolling.  

I found it too wet for using with the molds as well - they didn't lift out as easily as other clays I've used in the past (elephant and key) - maybe if I left it out to 'dry' for half hour it would work better.

I did however like to mold it in my hands (hearts).  I found it malleable and easy to use.  

These will be painted with acrylic paint once they are dry and if I like the final result I will be making some more of the hearts to take to Arizona in January for ARTzona where a group of talented artists will gather for a weekend of art, art and more art. 

Oh and I used a cookie cutter for the gingermen - they are a trial run for a swap over on ATCsforAll called 'twisted Christmas .  Not sure I'll be using these as I have another idea using felt to make them with.

I'm linking these to Handmade Monday over on the Handmade Harbour blog. 

Have a great week.

Anita

Angelberry and Robin

Here is my card for the Fairy Time digi-stamp challenge over on the Polkadoodles blog. I was sent a lovely free digi-stamp called Angelberry and Robin.  I printed our one image onto acetate and one onto cardstock. On the acetate wings I've added sparkly glitter which has tiny little stars in it.  I painted the card image with inktense watercolour pencils added the same glitter to the skirt edge and the boots.  There is a tiny gold heart brad on the skirt pocket and pearl gems as buttons on the jacket.  I was going to sew on some red beads in the hair but after cutting out the card image it was too fragile to put a hole in the card so I've added some red paint.

So here she is Angelberry and Robin.  I hope you like what I've done with her. If you'd like to see what other artists have made with their stamps then pop on over to Polkadoodles blog.

Happy Thursday crafting

Anita

Christmas Card Designs for 2012

New designs for Christmas 2012.

Another Piece of Wearable Art

Oh dear I'm late posting this today.  I was going to do it yesterday but woke up with a niggling headache - which didn't turn into a headache but you could feel it might do - yeah weird I know but there you go.  Anyway here we are at the start of another week and getting closer to Christmas.  It's quite frightening when you see someone post on twitter that there are only XXX amount of days left.  

I've been busy with a few craft fairs not many and I'm glad as I've had an absolutely amazing response to the Shrink art bracelet I posted last week.  I've already had people ordering and paying up front for them - which is great.  I've also been making quite a few Christmas cards for customers.


This week I made a necklace with some polyshrink that was left over from another project.  These bits make for unusual shapes which in turn makes the necklace impossible to recreate and totally unique.  I've used the same design on the pieces just because I like it and it was already out.  I've used doubled up lilac satin ribbon instead of using beads because I like the idea that you can adjust the length of the necklace to suit the outfit and neckline of your clothing.  

Lilac Shrink Art Necklace with Czech beads

Here is one of the cards I've been commissioned to make - 

So there you have it. Now that you've seen what I've made why not pop on over to Wendy's blog to see what all my fellow crafter's have been making. 

Anita