Somewhere over the rainbow....

Yes, more Wizard of Oz inspired cards.....
I recently bought the retro style embossing folders set of Tim's and although I've never been a huge lover of embossing folders I am loving this rays one. I used it so much in the past couple of days. I went a bit mad with my spray inks on some watercolour paper here, loving bright colours at the moment.








As for this one, it is another stamp from the Oz Collage set from The Artistic Outpost. I have struggled coming up with an idea for the scarecrow so far but it was worth the wait, I really do like this one. The rays add such a nice feel to the background I find.

Check out The Artistic Outpost Blog and also their website for the latest stamps.

A bunch of challenges..... and new Wendy stamps

It's been a while since I've entered any of my favourite weekly challenges, so this week I just had to make the time.
First of all there is the Coffe and Cream Challenge at Simon says Stamp. Also the soon ending Compendium Challenge over at Studio L3, where we are using alcohol inks on metal embellies this week. And last but not least there is the Stripes challenge at Simon says Stamp and Show.

My card is a bit of a loose interpretation of the stripes challenge, I did make my own stripey background though, using one of Wendy's new sets.
Ok I admit it's a fairly quick card this but crafting time is still rare at the moment.

So excited I get to meet the one and only Tim Holtz on Friday, cant wait!!!!

I'm off to see the wizard yet again.....

As mentioned before I'm busy working on my Wizard of Oz cards at the moment and here is another 3 creations I rustled up yesterday. The idea with the brick embossing folder did come from the Artistic Outpost Website though, I love looking through their gallery for ideas, you should try it out some time!

Also check out the Artistic Outpost Blog for more great ideas and their referral program where you can win vouchers to their shop. I'm off to link my cards now!!

I also came up with a card for Glinda, it's a tall card, a format I don't really use much, but it works well here.

It's a plain white card with a small fairy and sprakly background and some gems. Quick and easy.

We're off to see the wizard....

Having been working on Wizard since the beginning of January means that I have not been able to get DING DONG THE WITCH IS DEAD out of my head! It is really rather annoying when you find yourself singing it over and over in your head. But hey, there's worse things I'm sure.

So I wish you all a Happy Valentine's Day and wanna share with you one of my wizard cards, of course it has to be the tin man with his lovely heart as it's valentine's day.
I'm currently busy making cards for everyone at work ready for opening night. Think I should really make a list and see how many I need.

Don't forget to check out The Artistic Outpost site with their fab stamps and their blog too! The set I've used here is called Oz Collage.

Break a leg in Kansas....

What an odd title you may think?! Well let me explain how these cards came to life....

I am currently working in the London production on "The Wizard of Oz" and we have been rehearsing since January and been very busy behind the scenes and for any of you who know the story, it starts in Kansas...
There was me browsing for lovely new stamps on the internet when I stumbled across this image by The Artistic Outpost and it immediately reminded me of our set on stage. So I simply had to buy them and thought they would make nice cards for opening night. And as you probably know we dont wish each other good luck as that would be bad luck so it's break a leg instead. All make sense now?





I've been playing around with distress inks and splattered the card ith water and used a distress background stamp, all making it look nice and vintagy and distressed, like our set on stage.

Of course I also had to buy the Wizard of Oz stamp set and I'll be showing my creations here soon so watch this space.

I have always loved the images used in Artistic Outpost Stamps but didn't own a set until now. It definitely won't be my last purchase from their range. And I can finally join in on the Referral Program to be in with a chance of winning more of their great stamps. Yeah! Check out the blog here.

Anikraft's Birthday Candy

UPDATE 1st MARCH: CANDY NOW CLOSED AND RESULT WILL BE POSTED SOON!!!

In a recent post I promised you a bunch of firsts including my first blogaversary candy, cause I could have sworn my blogaversary was in March, but then I checked and it's actually May, oops. But I do wanna keep my promise of some candy and as it's my birthday on Sunday 20th and I love getting presents I thought I share the love and have a birthday candy instead. It starts today and will run til the end of the month, 28th February. I will then pick a lucky winner out a hat.

Anyone is welcome to join in, i'll ship internationally. All you need to do is become a follower, post a link in your sidebar and leave me a comment. Make sure to leave your blog address or a way for me to contact you if you are a winner.

For this candy I have put together some of my favourite products - Hero Arts stamps. This set is really handy for any occassion cards - I use it a lot. And of course there is some distress ink and distress stickles to be won.

Good luck!

A quick and effective Valentines Card.....

Are there any crafty lovers out there with a severe lack of time at the moment? Well, there's me, still working endless hours and in need of a card for valentine's. So I took some inspiration from Tim's compendium and embossed some grungepaper and inked it all up nice and vintagy. Then used an ornate frame for the message. I used the painted metal technique here, it's this weeks task over at Studio L3's Compendium Challenge, which I havent joined in in ages so it was about time. I filled the frame with crackle accents. It's real quick and easy and I find very effective.

I am also entering this into the Simon says Stamp Challenge and Stamp and Show Challenge where the theme is LOVE this week.

Oh I have missed the challenges, cant wait to have more time to craft again.

Mini Canvas Frame Tutorial - Alter it monthly

This month is my first month with Alter it monthly and it's an honour to be part of such a fun blog! The theme this month is Shrines, Alters and Nichos... if that sounds like a fun challenge why don't you come and join in, there is a prize to be won.

A for my piece this month I used two mini canvases to make a deep frame and I just wanted to share with you how my piece was created.

This is my first little picture tutorial so any comments and ideas for improvement are more than welcome.

Get yourself some mini canvases, although this would work with any size canvas. Cut the canvas out of one of them and glue onto the back of the other one so you have a deep frame to decorate. In this case I covered it with Terra Texture paste, you can apply it as rough or smooth as you like. The reason why I like using a texture paste on the back of canvases, it's because it covers up and stapled bits of canvas or canvas edges very nicely.

When dry, paint in a neutral colour like Traditional Tan.

I then rubbed over some Inka Gold, this is an amazing product almost like shoe polish. I apply it with my fingers, bit messy but great fun. I just rub it over the frame to pick up bits of the texture.

Now find yourself some items you want to display in the frame or decorate it with. I had two old chess figures lying around. I painted one in Modern Masters Iron Paint and the other one in Modern Masters Bronze Paint. These come with different type activators......

For the Iron Paint I used a rust activator and for the Bronze Paint I used a blue patina activator. The effect is particularly visible where more activator was applied. Gives a nice aged effect, I love these paints. Next step is to place them in your frame and decorate to your liking, I used tissue tape to add a little playful touch.

Get some more embellies ready.

Assemble it all.

Lastly I sprayed the whole thing with a bronze shimmer spray.

Now get yourself some canvases and get making, it's great fun and as these are fairly small it is also a very quick project.