Last Enchantment Altered Book Page - Dancing Unicorns

These pages are dedicated to the legend of the Moon Dancing unicorns as told by Meredith Ann Pierce in Birth of the Firebringer.  Each month the unicorns gathered at dusk to dance in a Circle under the full, dusky moon.

The unicorns are from Chocolate Baroque stamps and have been stamped in Black Archival Ink and then covered with Glossy Accents and glitter.  The foliage stamps are from Clarity and Lavinia Stamps.  The background has been made by masking and sponging with various Distress Inks.

Thanks for stopping by and do feel free to leave a comment, I appreciate them all.

Last Enchantment Altered Book Page - The Green Man

The image of the Green Man is a freebie from the very talented artist Jay's blog as drawing this would be way beyond my capabilities.  I have coloured the image with Derwent Inktense pencils and then used a crackle stamp from Sheena Douglass and a border stamp from Clarity Stamps to complete the design.  The poem on the opposite page is suitably creepy and called Green Man in the Garden by Charles Causley and has been coloured with Pan Pastels.  The pages have been coloured with Distress Stains and overstamped with green Archival ink with a flourish stamp from Fiskars.

Thank you for looking and do feel free to leave a comment, I appreciate every one.

Postcard Travels with Roland Poland - Week 50 Hawaii

Roland Poland is still waiting the arrival of his beloved Carmen and also keeping a lookout for any letters she may have sent him.  He is passing time watching old episodes of Hawaii Five-O on the television.

He writes to half-brother Malcolm,

Hi Malcolm,
Spending all my time waiting for the postman
and then it's a race to get to the door before the
Missus.  She tripped over me this morning and
said to Xui, "I am fed up of falling over this 
lovesick dog - make sure he has no nuts for 
Christmas".
What could she mean!!

RP

The postcard is my interpretation -  with brayer, stamp and copic markers of a photograph of Coconut Grove Beach at sunset.

This link will get you in the Hawaiian mood and is one of Roland Poland's favourites.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dkzdq-ktLws

Here are the pages we made in his travel book.

 We have included a scene of one of the lovely beaches, this time, not one of the imported golden sands but the natural black lava sand found all over these volcanic islands, a conch shell being sounded and a painting of King Kamehameha.  Obviously Jack Lord and Hawaii Five -O feature, as I was brought up on this series when I was growing up in Australia and have many happy memories.

Thank you so much for all your lovely comments and I do hope you will visit the other intrepid travellers who are still travelling the world. (link in sidebar).

DragonsDream TIO#116 - A Symphony of Flowers

An unusual sight for the far north of Scotland - a photograph taken in full on sunshine!  I think I have all the ingredients in the recipe for this tag, a pinch of greenery, button  butterfly.
The blue tag was washed in Distress stains, picket fence, milled lavender and victorian velvet.  Overstamped when wet with the vine border, floral edging and large cornflowers (stamps coloured with markers).  The large flower is one from a digi set from Caroline's and I added a scrap of music tissue tape from Tim Holtz to complete.  The smaller flowers and stems have been glazed for added bling.
Thanks for visiting me and do feel free to leave a comment - I enjoy them all.

Postcard Travels with Roland Poland - Week 6 Belgium

Today finds our ever optimistic hero, Roland Poland, very excited.  The Xong family have been invited to make a courtesy visit to the European Parliament in Brussels and will be travelling by train from their base in Paris.

He writes to his half-brother Malcolm

Hi Malcolm,

Getting excited cos we are going to Brussels.

Xui said something about all the MEP's jumping on the Gravy Train.

I hope we catch that one, so I'll take a big spoon just in case.  Well, you know how much I like gravy.

Got to go

RP

Here is the page I made in Roland Poland's travel book. It is based on famous Belgians.

The postcard has been made with a brayer and stamps from Creative Expressions and Clarity.

Thank you for joining Roland Poland on his journey and do feel free to leave a comment - he finds them most encouraging.

CD Sunday Challenge - Sea Life

I have used Joanna Sheen's Ivory Cats CD for the mosaic fishy backing paper and stamped the shells onto pale dusky pink pearl paper with maroon ink.  The nautilus shell is from Clarity and the scallop shell from Elusive Images.  The sentiment is from Crafty Individuals.   Apologies for the poor quality picture, but daylight is at a premium up here and almost entirely missing today!

Thank you for visiting and do leave a comment as I find them very encouraging.

Rainbow Lady's Challenge #183 - Angels

The inspiration for my card came from this free downloadable poem  I came across on  my blog travels today.  The backing paper is by Bearly Mine and the angel stamp, embossed in white, is from Clarity.  The acetate and vellum snowflakes are a left over concoction from a couple of years ago!  The edges of the poem and backing paper have been distressed to give a more casual look.

Thanks for visiting my blog and do feel free to leave a comment - I find them all very encouraging.  Thanks to all of you who left comments about Judy - I felt a bit daft reporting her passing as she was only a budgie - but she was one of our family and we loved her.

Rainbow Lady's Challenge - 177 - A Time to Remember with Poppies

My stamp is by Crafty Individuals and I have embossed it in white detail embossing powder onto kraft card.  The poppies and foliage have been coloured with pencils.  The mount is a Cuttlebug embossing folder Grace's frame that has been embossed onto the same kraft card and then sanded.  The base card has been edged with Distress Ink Worn Lipstick and shadow stamped with poppies by Clarity.

Reduced to artificial lights to take the photo, as it is a dark day here in the Highlands,  so apologies for the lighting on the photo.  Thanks for stopping by and do feel free to leave a comment - all of which are much appreciated.

DragonsDream TIO#96 - Dedicated Follower of Fashion

Tried something new to me this week and gone for the collage effect.  The lovely Gents Advertising Label from The Graphics Fairy (see sidebar) forms the basis of the tag, the two mini fashion pictures are from Joanna Sheen Fashion Boutique CD, the punk rocker is a clip art image transfer and the man with the natty whiskers is from Crafty Individuals.  The diamond stamp around the edge is from Clarity.  The top border of the tag has been coloured with copics, decoupaged and embossed for more dimension.  The safety pin, scissors and buttons are from my stash. Distress Inks used - Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain and Scattered Straw.
Hope you like it, and thank you for visiting.  Do feel free to leave a comment, I love to hear from you..

Rainbow Lady's Challenge #163 - Hand Made Flowers

I love having an excuse to make flowers!  Usually they are rather large and grungy but today I thought I would try and make some dainty ones for a change.  I have made them all using paper punches and out of 160gsm white paper, with the exception of the centres for the daisies which are 80gsm.
The paper punches used are Boho Blossoms from Stampin Up for the daisies and little blue flowers and a small sun-ray punch from Floral Punches for the centres of the daisies.  An ordinary single hole punch made the centres for the blue flowers.  I moulded them into shape using a deet tool and moulding mat after brushing the edges with either pink or blue ink.  The daisies are 3 layers and the blue flowers 1 layer only.  The more you make,  the quicker you get at making them!

The sentiment is from Clarity Stamps and the foliage punches are by Stampin Up (branch from bird and branch punch) and Tesco.  The white base card was inked around edges with DI Spun Sugar and embossed using a flourish background stamp (Stampin Up) and a sparkly pale pink embossing powder.

Thank you for visiting my blog and feel free to leave a comment, I appreciate every one.

CD Sunday - Dreams

Just got the boy for this card - my grandson James!  We can all live in hope, dream on son.
The boy and bicycle is a free digi from Beccys, the motorcycle is from Clarity Stamps and the sentiment is a freebie from the very talented Bethany .
My backing paper is from Joanna Sheens Victorian Companion CD3, the digi is coloured with Copics and the motorcycle has been embossed on patterned paper in black detail ep.  The sentiment is computer generated.
Thanks for stopping by and please feel free to leave a comment, I enjoy reading them all.

DragonsDream TIO #87 - Project Tim Holtz

I am delighted that we have an easy challenge this week over at TIO after the crippler that I set last week!  Dragonlady is asking for Tim Holtz inspired tags, using Ranger products and/or made in the style of Sir Tim of Holtz.  My tag is almost all Sir Tim influenced, however the style embraces the artist Beryl Cook (my DH says it is heavily influenced by the comedienne Beryl Reid - but I won't bother to explain to the younger readers out there!).
As always I have to make a picture and I just love anything to do with architecture or houses.  I was tempted to draw little people and chandeliers  in the windows but restrained myself.  The shapes are die cut with TH Artful Dwellings and Mini Openings and coloured with various Distress Inks and Distress Stickles.  The landscape is coloured with Distress Inks and I have used micro beads for the foliage at the base of the middle house.  They are fun to use and I love the effect and dimension they create but weird to watch rolling about as though they were magnetic.  The sentiment is from Clarity.  I hope you like my tag which, as always, is brightly coloured and not really very TH at all - more PlaySkool - but it is my interpretation of the theme.

I do hope you will join us this week and show us YOUR interpretation of  Project Tim Holtz over at DragonsDream TIO and I look forward to visiting to see your creations.

Bah! Humbug! #27 - Meeces

Mice sitting at the edge of their mousehole, silhouetted by the light of a frosty moon, watching Santa and his sleigh heading out to deliver gifts to all the boys and girls.  

I wonder how the story ends?

The mouse family is by Clarity Stamps, Santa and sleigh by Crafty Individuals, the rest of the scene is created by sponging shades of yellow, apricot and navy inks around a mask for the moon.  A bit of glitter was added with a Sakura Stardust pen. The Ho Ho Ho sentiment is by Docrafts.

Thanks for visiting and feel free to leave a comment - I love your opinion.

CD Sunday Challenge - Tassels

I've gone all formal with this one!  I had half a sheet of the lovely blue and gold metallic chinese paper from Joanna Sheen's Ivory Cats and was determined to use it somehow.  I cut out the tag shapes with my new TH  Artful Dwellings die, stamped half a Clarity diamond trio onto the sides of each point and embossed with gold ep.  With one of the smaller Clarity corners, I stamped into the point and embossed again with gold ep.  I attached my tassel through the smaller tag.  The gold mat is made with Grace's Frame Cuttlebug embossing folder and I used a royal blue base card to fix it to.  The gold flourish at the top is a Nestability Floral flourish and it is only about the second time I have ever used that set.

I hope you like my card, it is rather formal but sometimes this type of card comes in very handy.  Thanks for stopping by and do feel free to leave a comment - I love hearing from you.

CD Sunday Challenge - A Song in My Heart

What a lovely challenge this week. I have enjoyed making this as I have been able to delve into my friend Jen's box of stamps. The swan is by Clarity and has been coloured with Promarkers. The music stamp is by Kaisercrafts and the hearts are from Lavinia Stamps. The backing paper is from the Floral Fantasy CD by Artylicious.

Thank you for visiting and do feel free to leave a comment - they are always appreciated.

DragonsDream TIO #73 My Townscape Triptych

Never done a triptych before, especially not one in a hurry! I am off to London tomorrow for the Alexandra Palace craft show. So excited!

It was also difficult to photograph all three tags together as it has been a very dark and dismal day here in the Highlands.

I have used Sir Tim's Townscape die as my starting point and then stamped a Crafty Individuals street coloured with copics. The iron railings and gate are by the Unmounted Stamp Company and the trees are Clarity and Stampin Up. The gate sentiment is PaperArtsy. Bench and flowers are by Lavinia Stamps.

Thanks for stopping by and do feel free to leave a comment as they are much appreciated.

CD Sunday Challenge - Transport

Have reverted to what I enjoy doing the most - making pictures!

My base is a really useful sky background from Joanna Sheen's Baby Love CD.

I have masked and sponged the landscape using my favourite non-colours Memento London Fog and Desert Sand. The trees are coloured with Distress Inks Forest Moss, Brushed Corduroy, Crushed Olive and Pine Needles. The hot air balloons are from Stampin USA and Clarity. The sentiment is from Creative Expressions.

Thanks for visiting and do leave a comment as I enjoy reading them all and keeping in touch.

Hummingbirds

I have wanted to use this hummingbird stamp from Clarity for ages but never got around to it until a recent card swap on the Rainbows Forum. The theme was Love is all Around. I stamped the birds onto glossy black cardstock with Versamark and coloured them with Perfect Pearls to a lovely shimmery finish. The oriental vellum was from a tiny notepad book from Papermania and the ornate heart stamp, embossed in black was from Elusive images. All the images were mounted onto black card that was very roughly edged with gold embossing. A gold ribbon completes.

I hope you like my card, I thoroughly enjoyed making it.

DragonsDream TIO #70 - Delicate

I found this challenge very interesting and informative. I watched the video (link on DragonsDream TIO blog - see side bar) a few times and then sorted my stamps out, ink pads etc and had a go. My first effort was the one on the right. I used tattered rose DI for my main colour and scattered straw, bundled sage, dried marigold and shabby shutters for the overstamp. Unfortunately, I forgot to overstamp the background texture before overstamping the flowers. My second attempt is on the left hand side. This time the colours used were tattered rose as before, but then tumbled glass, dusty concord, scattered straw and bundled sage for the overstamped flowers. I think quite a bit of research is needed to find which colours go best together as the most unlikely colours take over when spritzing the stamp.

My stamps were a Clarity poetry stamp embossed in white, a Canvas background stamp from Stampin' Up and Queen Anne's Lace stamp from Penny Black.

DragonsDream TIO # 69 - Fun and Games

I need some fun at the moment! Thanks for lifting my spirits Frankie with this challenge. My main image is a vintage digi from TLC which has been coloured and cut out. I sponged the background using Bordering Blue (Stampin Up) and Bundled Sage DI. The trees from Clarity are stamped using Marvy Markers and the foliage is Peeled Paint on part of a Clarity larch tree.

The sentiments are from the very useful Alice in Wonderland set from Clear Art Stamps.

Thank you for dropping by and please feel free to leave a comment - all are always appreciated.