I love you Speckled Egg...

Hi my friends, after labelling, swatching and organising the new Speckled Egg goodies, it was time to play and first, I decided to make a Distress Custom Blend Ink Pad to use to create a background on a tag but what colours did I want to add to complement this beautiful soft Duck Egg Blue

One definitely was going to be Frayed Burlap and after much pondering and several cups of coffee I went for, from top to bottom...Antique Linen Distress Ink, Speckled Egg Distress Oxide, Old Paper Distress Ink and Frayed Burlap Distress Oxide. I smooshed the ink pad several times on to my craft mat, spritzed with water and laid the Distress Mixed Media HeavyStock tag on to the ink and after drying, spritzing with water and tapping back in to pick up the remaining droplets of ink, this was the result. When you choose colours to make a custom blend ink pad, you never really know what you're going to get but on this occasion I was super duper happy with my choices.

I decided to use the tag to make another project to add to my Collection Folio

I got a little carried away during the creative process so there are some steps that I didn't photograph. I trimmed Distress Mixed Media HeavyStock to 5" x 7", spritzed with water and sprayed with Vintage Photo Distress Spray Stain, Walnut Stain and Speckled Egg Distress Oxide Sprays, dried and spritzed with water again to create the waterdroplet effect. I inked the script stamp from Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Flower Shop with Speckled Egg Distress Oxide, stamped randomly on the background, sprinkled with Speckled Egg Distress Embossing Glaze and heat set

I fixed the tag to the panel and trimmed to create a border around the edge. I stamped the bird and nest images from Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Nature Walk and the script from Flower Shop inked with Ground Espresso

Inspired by my sweet friend Zoe's Speckled Egg tag, I stamped the eggs from Nature Walk inked with Speckled Egg Distress Ink on to a scrap of Distress Watercolor card over-stamped with the speckly detail stamp inked with Ground Espresso Distress Archival.

I used my trusty Fiskars Craft Knife to make a slit in the nest and yes, I know what you are thinking, should have done it before I fixed the tag to the panel and slipped the eggs into the nest.

I applied Speckled Egg Distress Oxide ink through Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Digits Mini Layering Stencil, sprinkled with Speckled Egg Distress Embossing Glaze and heat set. I added Idea-ology Field Notes Ephemera, coloured randomly with Vintage Photo and Speckled Egg Distress Spray Stain using a Distress Detailer Brush, sprinkled with the matching Distress Embossing Glazes and heat set. I added white splatters using a Posca Paint Pen.

I die-cut the flower from Distress Watercolor card using Tim Holtz/Sizzix Wildflower Stems 1 and coloured with Speckled Egg and Vintage Photo Distress Re-inkers using a Distress Detailer Brush.

I fixed the flower in place with Tim Holtz/Sizzix Mini Foam Adhesive to create dimension

added Idea-ology Field Notes Snippets and Clippings Stickers

and finished by distressing the edges of the panel using Tim Holtz Paper Distresser

The weather forecast is sunny and warm for the weekend, so have fun whatever you have planned and I'll see you all on Monday to share my DT project for Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge. But if you are heading over to Tim and Mario's place on Saturday night (6.00pm) if you're in the UK for another fun and inspiring Facebook Live party, I'll see you there.

Toodle-oo for now
Hugs Kath xxx

Where available I use compensated affiliate links which means if you make a purchase I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. You can find my affiliate and product disclosure HERE

Busy As A Bee...

Hi my friends, the weather in my neck of the woods has been glorious and it sure lifts your spirits to be able to spend time out in the fresh air, enjoying the garden, watching the chubby bumble bees going about their business as I partake of the first coffee of the day.
But I've also been a busy bee. I have lots of stuff I should be doing but I was so inspired by Tim's recent Facebook Live that I decided to have a Sunday playday, looked out my "neglected of late" Distress Spray Stains and just had fun, resulting in a pile of  backgrounds to use for future projects and very messy hands but nothing that a good scrub down in the shower didn't put to rights.

But I suspect they will remain in the backgrounds box for some time because a clutch of yummy Speckled Eggs has arrived in the cubbyhole, a big thank you to Tim, Mario and Ranger for their kindness and generosity and I can't wait to play.

 along with the cutest Distress Speckled Egg pin

I confess I was not a pin collector but guess what, I definitely am NOW and can't wait to add to my collection when the next new colour is released.

but before the inky fun can begin, my "Mrs Organised" head takes over and there's labelling and swatching to be done

and creating a Custom Blend ink pad but I may need a coffee and ponder a while on which colours to use along with the gorgeous Speckled Egg.

Have fun whatever you're doing today and I'll be back soon to share some Speckled Egg creations with you.

Hugs Kath xxx

Edited to add: I've had lots of folks message me about the letterboard. I got mine at Amazon, it's a corrugated felt board similiar to the one Tim showed on his Facebook Live, comes with loads of letters, numbers and symbols in white, black and gold and an easel if you don't want to hang it all on the wall

Simon Says - We're Going Around In Circles

Hi Everyone...welcome to another week on the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog. Thank you for joining us for last week's challenge and we hope you can join us this week too because

and the theme for this week is...
WE'RE GOING AROUND IN CIRCLES

I created an Art Journal page in my Dina Wakley Media Journal using Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Splotches and Halftone Layering Stencils with Ranger Translucent Matte Texture Paste,  to add circles to the background, coloured with Distress Crayons and added Tim Holtz/Idea-ology Urban Layers Ephemera, Baseboard Paper Doll and Clipping Stickers.

I began by trimming Dylusions Mixed Media Card to 6" x 8.1/2" and added torn strips of Tim Holtz Idea-ology Typeset Collage Paper fixed in place with Distress Collage Medium Matte. I added Ranger Translucent Matte Texture Paste through the Splotches Layering Stencil. Once the paste had dried, I applied a coat of Distress Collage Medium Matte over the whole panel. I scribbled Rusty Hinge, Shabby Shutters and Crushed Olive Distress Crayons over the panel, working in small sections and blending the colours with my fingers.

I removed the crayon from the Texture Paste Splotches using a slightly damp kitchen towel and rubbed over the Grid Dots Layering Stencil to remove the crayon from the background and create another layer of circles.

I stamped small images from Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous The Professor 2 and Mini Glitch randomly on the background, inked with Black Soot Distress Archival.

I sanded the edges of Tim Holtz/Idea-ology Urban Layers Ephemera, tapped the Distress Embossing ink pad randomly on the edges, sprinkled with Rusty Hinge and Peeled Paint Embossing Glazes and heat set

I fixed the Urban Layer Ephemera in place with Distress Collage Medium Matte, added an Idea-ology Baseboard Paper Doll and stickers from the Idea-ology Clippings Sticker Book, outlined with a permanent black marker pen.

To finish I added Black Soot Distress Paint to the edges of the panel using a piece of Ranger Cut 'n Dry Foam and fixed to a burlap page in the Media Journal.

You can find all the products I used over at Simon Says Stamp, just click on the links below

Why don't you pop over to the Monday Challenge Blog and check out the amazing creations from my very talented Design Team mates and as always you have until Monday 8am Ohio time...1pm UK time...2 pm CET to join in with the chance to win a $25 voucher to spend at Simon Says Stamp Online store.

You can also follow Simon Says Stamp on Instagram

and if you use Instagram...

please add #sssmchallenge to your entry uploads so we can see them on there too

I look forward to seeing what you create this week...

Have Fun and Happy Crafting

Hugs Kath xxx

Where available I use compensated affiliate links which means if you make a purchase I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. You can find my affiliate and product disclosure HERE

Clarence Memo Board

Hi my friends, I'm back on the Sizzix "The Making Journal" Blog to share a project with you using the adorable Clarence from the Tim Holtz/Sizzix Chapter 2 Colorize Collection release. They do say that elephants never forget so Clarence was the perfect choice to decorate a Memo Board for those of us that are somewhat challenged in the memory department. You can find all the details and a step-by-step photo tutorial on the Sizzix Blog HERE.

Happy Crafting

Hugs Kath xxx

Where available I use compensated affiliate links which means if you make a purchase I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. You can find my affiliate and product disclosure HERE

Confined to Barracks...

Hi my friends, With the weather putting a damper on my plans to spend the weekend in the garden, I retreated to the cubbyhole to try and make a dent in the box of backgrounds I've made, inspired by the amazing, fun and inspirational Saturday night Facebook Lives over at Tim and Mario's place. This is definitely the highlight of my "10 weeks confined to barracks quarantine" week, the in-place to be on a Saturday night if you are a Distress Lover. No need to dress up or spend hours applying the polyfilla, just turn up in your jammies with your Wurzel Gummidge hair, and enjoy a glass of wine, a bowl of snacks and all the demos in the company of lots of crafty friends.  So let's kick off with the Wrinkle Free Distress backgrounds, fun to make but they did require much pondering and several cups of coffee before I was in the "I know what I can make" zone

 and decided to make journal card pockets to use in my Collection Folio "floral theme" project.

Busy and colourful backgrounds make a great backdrop for a little bit of collage layering, so I spread out  the Field Notes Ephemera on my workdesk and arranged on the backgrounds until I was happy with each layout.

I fixed the Ephemera in place with Distress Collage Medium Matte and applied a layer over the entire background, lightly so as not to re-active the Distress inks. I added shadows around the Ephemera pieces using a Walnut Stain Distress Crayon.

I added splatters of White Gouache

Tim Holtz/Sizzix Stacked Circles Thinlits to die-cut a notch

and fixed the panels to kraft card to create the pocket.

On this one, before adding the Ephemera, I stamped the dragonfly from Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Classics #1 on to the panel, inked with Ground Espresso Distress Archival ink and coloured the wings and body using Rusty Hinge and Peeled Paint Distress Oxide inks using a Distress Detailer Brush. I tapped Black Soot Distress ink on to the back of the Halftone Layering Stencil, spritzed with water and pressed randomly on to the panel to create a mono print effect. I applied Distress Translucent Grit Paste through the Tangled Layering Stencil, sprinkled with Rusty Hinge and Peeled Paint Distress Embossing Glazes and heat set once the paste had dried.

 I tucked them safely into the Collection Folio until I'm ready to make a start

I've decided that this confined to barracks regime ain't so bad and think I am coping pretty well with the situation but you may not agree when I tell you that every morning for the last few weeks, while I enjoy my first coffee of the day, I've been having a conversation with a chubby thrush who, regular as clockwork, flies on to the grass, dances around to attract the worms to the surface and cheeps back at me while he gobbles his breakfast feast AND at around 4.00pm every day, a couple of wood pigeons fly on to the trellis and entertain me with their courtship ritual. Lots of bobbing of heads, shaking of tail feathers, neck snuggling and canoodling which sometimes leads to a bit of hanky panky, so who knows, they may soon be announcing the arrival of babies, taking my lockdown entertainment to a whole new level.

In the meantime, I'm going to have a go at the foiling techniques shared by Tim on his Instagram Story collaboration with Heidi Swapp, I don't have a Minc or Toner Ink and who knows, it may be an adapt and overcome triumph or a mega fail- watch this space, kind of a day.

Toodle-oo for now

Hugs Kath xxx

Where available I use compensated affiliate links which means if you make a purchase I receive a small commission at no extra cost to you. You can find my affiliate and product disclosure HERE