WOYWW, Drunken Stampers, AND Grungy Monday

all rolled into one!  Wow, am I a cheater or what?!?  Nah, just multi-tasking.  funny storry, my 18 year old sister is famous for doing about fifteen things at once (reading, texting, playing a video game, more texting...you get the idea) and was constantly bragging about her multi-tasking skills.  So for Christmas, Mom got her a roll of Scotch tape that said right there on the label that it was "Multi-tasking Tape"!!  Too funny.    She hasn't mentioned it since...  But I digress.  Which is not unusual at all.  Nope, not even a little bit.  So the picture on the left is of my desk.  A veritable sea of stuff- can you name everything? 'cause I'm not sure I can.  But it is different stuff than last week, so kudos to me.  And on the right is my submission (finally, I know, I'm a slacker!) for Grungy Monday.  Click here to be whisked off to the lovely and talented Linda for the deets on Grungy Monday.  And the same card is also serving as my submission for the Drunken Stampers challenge by the Numbers.  And I do so appreciate that they aligned this challenge with my 20th wedding anniversary, that was so thoughtful of them, don't cha think? So thanks, Drunken Stampers for making the challenge so easy for me this week!  There is a lot of Tim goodness on the card, including the paper which is from the new Co'ordinations Distress Colors pack.  Plus tons of Ideaology, Distress Ink, and the new Tattered Banner die cut (which is too awesome by the way).  Have a lovely time browsing the desks (don't know what I'm talking about?  Then click here to be flown over the pond-without any turbulence at all- to the Queen of Desks Julia) I'm off to spend some more quality time with hubby on our anniversary.

House Mouse Challenge #95- May flowers

As I was merrily cruising the desks (and being jealous of all the nifty IKEA storage things) I came across a link to the House Mouse and Friends Challenge blog.  Huzzah and thrice!  I have about 50 assorted House Mouse stamps that stay on the shelves (but they make me happy!  and they are so cute!) so "aha," I say and pull one off to meet this challenge.  And coincidentally enough, I needed a birthday card today so serendipity works her magic and off I go merrily stamping.  The card is based on a design by Cambria Turnbow and kindly posted on SCS by Beate Johns.  Mine is  larger than the original to fit the stamped image and flower.  Mine is 12" long scored at 4" and 8" and is 5-1/2" tall. 

Opened once

Opened out full length

I added 1" of coordinating card stock to the back right hand edge to keep the look of the original, but didn't do the closure the way she had, I just tied a ribbon all around.  Thanks for stopping by!

my first attempt at a large altered canvas

I've been inspired by all the altered canvasses I've seen lately, and my 20th wedding anniversary is coming up next week, so I thought I'd try my hand at creating one for my hubby.  It started with the small "love" canvas at the bottom left and then it grew (rather like a mushroom!).  For my first attempt, I'm pretty pleased with it.  But I need to go somewhere and learn how to really apply the base coats, 'cause let me tell ya!  My first thought was Distress Stains!  After attempting the small canvas and realizing that the Stains didn't want to "stick" to the canvas, I prowled the art section of Michael's and found gesso.  Slapped on a coat and waited not only the prescribed 24 hours, but three whole days!  (I was busy...) Went to apply the Antique Linen and...well...not so much.  Wiped with a paper towel and tried again thinking it may just need a couple of coats...even dired with the heat gun!  Got a lovely color applied.  Laid on the Tim masks and sprayed a mix of Distress reinker and water.  Pulled up the masks and it was a mess.  The reinker didn't stick (yep I heat gunned it!)  and I wiped it off to discover that all the Distress Stain come off too!  EXCEPT where the masks were!  Okay, weird.  Reapplied the masks, 'cause it did look cool and sprayed with Tattered Angels Glimmer mists.  Oh yeah, that's awesome.  Except in that one place, I'll just fix it...nope.  I should have left it alone, it really didn't look that bad, so giving up on the spray thing, I painted on some brown acrylic paint.  Which immediately reacted with the remaining glimmer mist to become, um, ugly.  Wiped that off and here is the extra weird part...you can still see my original masked clock and gears!  Very strange.  But the brown seeped in some places so if you look closely it looks weathered and worn.  Resprayed the whole canvas with a blue skies Glimmer Mist, heat gunned, then masked and sprayed with sapphire glimmer.  Let it puddle to it's heart's content and walked away.  It was really hard to go eat dinner knowing there was undried mist soaking into the canvas, but I did it.  Came back and it was mostly dry so I helped it along with the heat gun and wow!  I really like the splotchy-ness.  Finally being satisfied with the background, on to create arty goodness.  Sprayed a smaller canvas with tuscan sun glimmer mist (no gesso!) and let it run and be splotchy. 

Inked a grungeboard heart with Fired Brick Distress Stains then top coat of gold Glimmer Mist.  Too much!  Toned down the gold with cranberry zing glimmer mist, more fired brick stain, and vintage photo stain.  Sapphire glimmer on the grungeboard wings, tiny attacher and an ideaology lock, all glued down with glossy accents.  Attached a regular screw eye to the bottom for the key.

The numbers are grungeboard covered in vintage photo distress embossing powder and then vintage photo distress stain.  And of course, there's lots of ideaology gears and a clock face and some corners.  The original canvas has a frame and an ickle bottle filled with hearts.  Sappy maybe, but it's been a great 20 years! 

I'm quite pleased at how it turned out, hope hubby likes it, as it will be going on the wall and he'll have to see it everyday!  Now I'm all fired up to create some more, hey Hels, what's that paint you use?  Traditional Tan or something right?  hehehe!

woyww...two days later...or almost three if you're in the UK...

I was going to post this last night (Thursday) when it would have been only a day late.  But our friend blogger must have been out on a bender 'cause he wouldn't let me.  Let me warn you, the desk is not for the faint of heart this week, it is an unholy mess. Well the left side and back at the top right.  I do have a space in the center.  But probably not for long.

I've actually been working!  Making the cards for my challenge group-which is what you see there in the center.  But only the back, 'cause they haven't seen it yet so it's only fair.  If I remember I'll post it on Sunday night or Monday.  The mess contains scraps of paper, whole sheets of card stock (I couldn't decide which color to use as the base so just got all 6 of our allowed colors out) that are stacked on top of who knows what- oh I do!  The serendipity squares that I was originally going to use on the cards.   I did the fronts for all five cards and then couldn't make the inside happen.  So after waiting for three days and still nothing was happening on the inside that was what I wanted, I ripped them all apart.  At least I did save the squares and the idea is (for now) still in my head.  Maybe it'll come together later.  So there's ribbon bits and buttons and brads and ink pads (top right under the in stitches mat) and ink applicators and scissors, and stamps and probably the Lost Ark of the Covenant is in there somewhere.  The picture does not do the pile on the left justice.  I'm pretty sure Jimmy Hoffa is under there.  But work has been done and art has been accomplished!  Now to make the other 4 cards... maybe I'll just lark about among the desks instead... click here to be transported to the lovely Julia, Duchess of Desks to find out what I'm on about.  :)

so I'm a lazy slob and have been back for a week

Hello all in Blogland! Thanks for all the nice comments on my journals, I am happy to report that Mom and Sis loved them! And the other kids in our group were jealous. :) Once we got out of the Newark, NJ airport (a harrowing tale of the filthyest, awfulest weather imaginable- we circled Newark for about 2 hours and they closed the airport 3 times, then rerouted us to Allentown, PA where they put us on a bus and drove us to Newark! 

Here we are on Saturday at 11 pm,not behind security, no food that we knew about, not even any chairs to sit in (!),and no hotel in sight. I have never slept on the floor at an airport before, but now I can mark it off the list.  And I can say that I don't recommend it.  At all.  Not even a little. Around about 3 AM we discovered the Dunkin Donuts downstairs so there was sugar to be had. No plane available yet. Well, one that left on MONDAY at 10pm! We would have lost both our London days! But our group leader persevered and got us out on Sunday after all. So we only lost 1 1/2 days.) BUT once we got to England, we had the absolute BEST weather...sunny, warm, beautiful! My mantra before leaving was "if I get too cold I'll buy a sweatshirt"  but didn't need to!  Quick tour of Windsor Castle on Tuesday.

Windsor

Then a "free day" in London, went to Westminster Abbey and the Tower, but couldn't resist the picture of Big Ben!  Well, the tower big Ben is in (is it St. Stephen's tower?).  Then the next days were filled with  lovely tours of Oxford, Stratford-upon-Avon, Hadrian's wall, York, and then there was Scotland.

Oxford

Stratford-upon-Avon

York

Oh lovely Scotland who provided us with the weather we had all been expecting...rainy and cold. 

Huzzah!  I got to wear the raincoat I had drug all over England for a week, AND I got to buy a sweatshirt!!  I was rather excited.  :)  All in all (except for that leaving the US part) it was absolutely great!  I will be sharing some more of my pics later, I took about 1300.  Don't worry, I won't post them all!  :P  

p.s.  Does anyone know why Blogger is a big pain when it comes to adding pictures?  And why they are always spaced so weirdly?  At least I got it to put three on a line this time, it will probably never happen again...

Simon Says Stamp and Show Me....Distressing (and WOYWW 97!)

Look, look!  I'm actually creating on my desk! Huzzah! Be warned that this is kinda long so if you are in a hurry, just look at the pretty pictures and then hop over to the fabulous Julia to be whizzed off to other desks.  If you've got some time, get a cuppa and a biscuit (I'm practicing for next week 'cause did I tell you I'm off to London?  And a whirlwind tour of Stratford, Yorkshire, and Edinburgh?)and get ready for some deets.

What I'm creating are journals for me, my Mom, and my Sister for the aforementioned tour (on SATURDAY!!!)  WOO HOO!  I'm so excited! And I just can't hide it...hands up...who's singing along?  I knew you were, my fellow children of the 80's.  So Simon Said to show distress, and distress I did.  Verily and indeedily!  (oh, I'm a lucky crafter indeed because I won at Simon for my last week's entry!!  
Can you say excited?  You bet I could! In a much higher pitch than my normal voice and several squeals to boot... thank you to the lovely people at Simon Says!)  I started with photos taken from the London Eye in 2006.  Stamped with some lurvely Tim stamps and Distress Inks, then distress inked around the edges.  The letters are a random alphabet set that I've had for yeeeaars and I don't know who made 'em.  Brushed over the front and back covers with Ranger's Glue n' Seal (quick tip-don't use Glue n' Seal over SU! Classic inks because they bleed... a lot!)and it doesn't show in the photo but the Glue n' Seal gave it a wonderful vintage look and feel.

The elastic is covered in Distress Stain ...it's awesome!!  one coat soaks through cool, cool, cool!... and attached on the back with the tiny attacher. Grungeboard hinge pieces (just the tops) slathered in Distress Stains and Inks to cover the staples.  Because I am not that bright, I had put the elastic and toppers on before putting on the Glue n' Seal so it darkened  places on the grungeboard, but it looks distressed so it's all good. Slapped on some gears and spinners (because really, why not?) and used the SU! paper distresser on the edges.  Inside the front and back cover I stamped the same Tim stamps and a random London postmark stamp on pieces of card stock so I could cover up all the brad ends from the gears and spinners on front, and then got a little crazy with a front piece.

Stamped a Tattererd Traveler (I think) compass stamp with Distress embossing ink and covered with clear powder.  Then smooshed various colors of SU! Craft ink onto my craft sheet, spritzed with water and dragged the tag through.  I wiped the tag with a paper towel and dipped again, repeated until I got the look I wanted.  Rubbed distress ink on another tag with a sponge, stamped the words with Distress Embossing and covered in black powder.  Torn edges inked with Vintage Photo, more gears and there you have it.  Whew.  If you actually read all my blatherings, thanks and you should get a medal of some sorts for patience.    Off to make matching pens for the journals and oh yeah, PACK!!  -hope I don't forget the camera...HA!  I shall have a sadly neglected desk next week, you should stop by so it will feel loved...

Simon Says Stamp and Show...Anything BUT a Card

And this is right bang alongside that!  I don't know where the box came from originally, I swapped a sadly neglected stamp set for it and i think I got the better part of that swap (insert smug smirk here).  The lid is...wait for it...metal!  I didn't even have to do anything to it to make it look like that...awesome!  For the bottom, I slathered on Tim's tissue tape and then alcohol inked with Denim, Terra Cotta, and Meadow.  and yeah, I forgot which direction I had stuck down the tape, so it kept pulling up and my fingers were a lovely shade of ick after all the re-sticking down.  I had just dabbed it on, you know , like you do, and didn't like how bright the colors were, it didn't work with the box top, so I went to just swiping the applicator over the box and then went back and randomly dabbed over in patches.  Trust me, it's awesome in person.  Really.  I then had the good sense (!) to glue the feet and knob on with Glossy Accents and leave it to dry overnight!  I know, it was really hard and I'm still amazed at my patience.  Today I did a little dance and let out a little squeal something along the lines of "my feet are stuck! my feet are stuck!" fortunately I was the only one in the house at the time, so not as embarrassing and "it's time to send her to the looney bin" as it could have been.
 

The lid has a 7 Gypsies gear (the gold one with the bling, it even came pre-blinged!); an Ideaology clock, gears, and spinner hands; a random clock that I think is a Spare Parts piece; random curls of wire; a memo pin; and two stamped pieces.  The clock is a Tim stamp and it's stamped on SU! Vanilla card stock with Distress Embossing ink and Vintage Photo Distress Embossing powder finished off with some Pumice stone, Antique Linen and Vintage Photo Distress Inks, then mounted on chipboard.
 

 
The piece in the memo pin is a Recollections stamp stamped on the same card stock in Stayz-On black ink.  The wings and crown were already a part of the stamped image and can you believe I found grungeboard ones that fit perfectly?!?  I was amazed and in awe of my stash (see hubby?  this is why I need all this stuff! so I'll have it when I need it!).  Covered them with Pearl and Gold paint dabber and stuck on with glue dots.  And remember that the lid is metal, so here is my dilemma: how do I get this memo pin to stay on?!?  After much experimenting (and, okay, a little tiny bit of inappropriate language) I use a HUGE pop dot that my friend found for me somewhere online.  Seriously, this thing is ginormous- a quarter of an inch thick!  So, I covered the outside with ribbon and colored the top with a brown Bic permanent marker!  The pin sticks in there like a dream.  Stuck another 7 Gypsies and Ideaology gear on the front and covered the inside with some pre-printed paper (on the sides, I think it's 7 Gypsies but I found it in a really random place-with glimmer misting stuff, not with the paper, don't know how it got there- so I'm not sure) and some that I covered with Antique Linen, Pumice Stone, and Vintage Photo Distress Inks and stamped with the Same Recollections stamp set from earlier.  Also used the SU! color spritzer 'cause there wasn't enough going on already.  And if you've made it all this way without giving up in despair, I salute you!