Halloween Challenge - Bookmark

Hello there, oh dear, it's a bit cobwebby and dusty in here isn't it? ***wanders round with feather duster and hoover having a quick clean*** It really doesn't seem like a whole month since I posted last but apparently it is, I've been busy as usual which is always good and there's the odd major change too.

The first major change is Crafty Alchemy now has a brand new logo, one that's been properly designed by someone who knows what they're doing and I can look at it proudly instead of knowing it's not right. I have to say I love it lots.

The second huge change is that after 3 years and 8 months of great chat, fun and craftiness I have stepped down from Sarah Hurley's Design Team. The time had come where I really need to spend more time on Crafty Alchemy in order to keep moving forward, however it's not goodbye forever, I'm still going to be doing the occasional guest spot for Sarah and we're still in touch so all is good with the world there.

I do have quite a few projects left from my time on the team so I've still got some bits and bobs to share with you (along with a huge pile of my own crafty projects).

So I'll start with my last ever Sarah Hurley 365 Challenge piece....

The challenge is to create something on a Halloween theme so I knew it was going to involve my Zombie Girl Doodle Doll stamp, I was struggling what to do though until one night I went to bed at 2.30am (on a work night) as I was unable to put down the book I was reading, I find that if I don't read before bed, I can't sleep, so it helps me switch off, well that's the theory anyway, I randomly thought "I feel like a zombie" whilst yawning uncontrollably and the idea hit me, a bookmark. I used a strip of Grungeboard covered in Dusty Concorde Distress Ink then stamped a text background using one of Sarah's mini background stamps. The doodle doll Zombie Girl was coloured in with pale pink, lilac, grey & blush Promarkers, then I covered her dress in pale pink Stickles, even a Zombie needs some sparkle in her life. My bookmark was looking quite nice at this point, but Zombie's don't do nice and I wanted to scruff it up a bit so I decided to heat emboss the words Zombie Girl's Book, I chose to heat emboss it because it's something I never fail at doing messily, no matter how hard I try. I used Sarah's Block Alpha Stamps to create the wording.

And there you have it,one rather grungy Halloween bookmark. You can enter the challenge here on the Sarah Hurley 365 blog.

Well that's almost everything from me, can I ask a little favour please? Please can we all do an anti-rain dance on Friday morning, I desperately need to photograph my new Christmas sewing kits and so far rain and bad lighting is stopping play, so please pray for sun, do a little dance, whatever works for you and if all goes well I'll be back on Friday with some lovely new Christmassy goodies to share.

Thanks for stopping by and hope to see you again soon.

Claire xx

Nana's Birthday Card

Hello there, happy Sunday to you all.

I've been trying to get back into some sort of routine this week, not long now and H will be back to school and all normality (well as normal as it ever is around here) will be resumed.

I've been reorganising the studio a bit this week too, and already I've been quite productive, here's what I was making yesterday....

It's Nana's birthday tomorrow so I thought I'd make her a card, it's not a special birthday as such but when you get to a certain age every birthday becomes a bit more special than usual. I used papers from an assortment of Sarah Hurley kits, along with a heart stamp and rose stamp from the kits. I stamped the heart in grey ink all over the pink paper and used a scalloped border punch with the vanilla coloured paper. The roses were coloured using Marsh Green, Pear Green, Dusky Rose and Antique Pink Promarkers. I then used a scalloped circle punch and stamped Happy Birthday using Sarah' Sentiments stamps.

All of the edges have been inked with Pumice Stone Distress Ink and I used 3d foam pads to attach them all to the card.

Well that's all from me I've got loads to get through today and I'm feeling a little tired after going to see Mamma Mia at the Winter Gardens last night (it seriously rocked) H is feeling it too, she's asked if she can spend the rest of the day in her pjs on the sofa with my blanket watching DVD's, I said yes :D

Thanks for stopping  by and hope to see you soon.

Claire xx

Sarah Hurley 365 Challenge - Celebrate

Well hello there, how are you on this sunny Tuesday evening?

We have a new challenge over on the Sarah Hurley 365 blog this month and you still have time to enter. The theme for this month is ...

CELEBRATE 

There's a really great reason this theme was picked for this month, it was 4 years ago in July when Sarah started the original Sarah Hurley Challenges Blog, I joined the team 6 months later and Sarah's never been able to get rid of me since Bwahahaha!

I decided what better way to celebrate than to throw a party, and how do you announce a party? Why, invitations of course....

First thing I did was cut a piece of yellow cardstock to 6x4 inches and doodled a border around the edge, next I cut a piece of turquoise paper from one of Sarah's AFOMFT kit slightly smaller than 6x4 inches, I also doodled a stitched border around the edge. I made some bunting by folding small pieces of neon pink tape around pink and white bakers twine and then cutting out a little triangle from each to get the banner shape, I attached the bakers twine to the back of the turquoise paper using tape and then stuck this to the yellow card using double sided tape.

I stamped the Princess Girl Doodle Doll and coloured her in with Promarkers (Blush, Dusky Pink, Vanilla, Pastel Lemon, Mustard, Rose Pink & Orchid) I then used 3d foam pads to attach her to the card. 

I used the Block Alpha Stamp set to stamp "you are invited" onto scraps of paper from the AFOMFT kits, as a  finishing touch I sprinkled some silver stars over the top & glued them down where they landed.

All you need to do to enter is create something on a Celebration theme - remember there's an extra prize for using Sarah's products on your entry - and link up to this post here before midnight on 28th July. You can see all of the DT creations here too.

Thanks for stopping by & hope to see you soon.

Claire xx