Two birds with one paint brush

I was asked to make a sympathy card, and so I thought I would use my new flower silhouette stamps. I made a watercolour wash for the background. Later, reading through my Blogroll, I found that DCM's challenge this week was to use paint on a card, so I am entering this.Grey background card and purple paper from a pad from Lidl, stamping layer is watercolour on hammered card, stamps are by Artemio and peel-off borders and text from stash.

My first challenge card...

...for Cute Card Thursday. The theme is Autumn or Fall.

I've been awarded this...

...by Marion. The rules of the award are:

1. The winner can put the logo on their blog.
2. Link the person you received your award from.
3. Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4. Put links of those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message on the blogs of those you’ve nominated.


Here's my seven;
Janet
KR
Eve
Myra
Gwyneth
Charlie
Lynn

Julie Candy Giveaways

Julie is giving away Alphabet Goodies and Perfect Pearls. Why not visit her and don't forget to check out her other Blogs.

Julie's Japes is also giving away SU goodies! She is celebrating her first Blogaversary, and she also runs SU Stampers Clubs if you are looking for more stamps!

I've been playing...

...with one of the Rachelle Ann Miller stamps. Last night I couldn't resist having a go, so I had a trial with the card and the stamp pad that happened to be out on my desk. The card was a coated card and took the image well, but when I tried to colour with pencils, they just skidded off the surface. Next I tried with watercolour. Well not watercolour as such, but felt tip markers scribbled onto the lid of the ice cream tub that they live in, and picked up with a brush. This was better, but the surface made it hard to control the paint, and the effect was rather blobby.Today I have stamped with the sepia pad again, but this time on to matte hammered card, and painted with paintbox watercolours. This is much less blobby. I think the colour of the hair is better in the first one, butI haven't figured out the best way to do the bows in her hair. Do I colour them, or leave them as strings?
This one was stamped with a black pad. I think I may need a new one! I have also found that the stamp is ever so slightly hollow in the centre. When I ink it, the centre doesn't get inked, and I have to dab at it with the corner of the pad. When I print with it, I have to have my card on a very spongy surface, and the lines are coming out thicker than they should be because of the extra pressure. Of course it could be my inexperience with stamping, and I may get better with practice. I filled in the missing lines with a propelling pencil.
Finally for today, here is a simple card I put together. I intended to sew around the edge, but half way along the first side, the thread shredded, and so I continued with an empty needle and drew in the stitches with a gel pen. The swirls are Inkadinkado, the dotty paper is a scrap of Pink Petticoat, and the flower was taken from a flower arrangement in the guest bathroom!

Goodies....

No, not Blog Candy, but Totty Treats! After 16 solid hours of sewing last week, I decided that I should spend some of the dosh on completely-non-essentials for a change. There are lots of Tildas around at the moment in the Cardbloggasphere, but I decided to go for something a little more whimsical. Having seen Rachelle Ann Millar illustrations used as Blog Headings, and finding that stamps were available, I searched for a local supplier. By following a trail to the Stampavie site and then to the one and only Spanish stockist, http://www.creactividades.es/tienda/catalog/ I found not only Lily and Milo stamps, but also Inkadinkado doodle stamps, some silhouette flower stamps, and some See-d's leaf stamps. I found lots of other stamps as well, but resisted the temptation. I thought the prices were reasonable as the doodle stamps were €9.99 and I have seen the same ones on UK websites at £12.99, so they were just a little over half price. The Lily stamps were €7.45 (£5.80) no different from the UK, but the postage was much less. Creatividades gives you two postage rates to choose from; the actual postage based on the weight of the package, and a price based on the value. The more you spend the less you pay; Spend more than €75 and no p&p to pay. My postage was a reasonable €6.15, seeing as it was sent registered post, and they even emailed me with a link to the Correos website and a tracking number. I ordered on Tuesday afternoon, the package was mailed the same day, was shown in transit yesterday, and when I checked this morning, was still in transit. I checked again at 4.30, just in case, and it had arrived, so I took my newly serviced car for a test drive, and just happened to pass the post office....

Another Dotee...

This time staying closer to the original concept.

Here she is...

My first attempt at a Dottee Doll, except that as usual, I can't stick to the instructions and she is a different shape and has a different face altogether from Dot's original design! I want to make Winter dolls, so I cut out three bodies, each slightly different in shape, from a piece of very soft white needlecord that had once been a shirt. I ironed a piece of bond-a-web to the back of the face area and marked the face oval and cut it out. I made three faces yesterday, two on Vilene and one on a scrap of cotton. This is Vilene, and the features are drawn with coloured pencil and permanent pen. The pencil colour has disappeared into the fabric overnight, so I think I shall have to add a little more colour with a fabric pen. I had intended to put some red fabric behind the Vilene to give it a more fleshy tint, but only remembered after I had stuffed and sewn up her bottom, so she is very much an Ice Maiden. Her head has been decorated in the prescribed manner with beads, sequins and embroidery, and the embroidery continues around her body to add a little interest. I found it an enjoyable little project that only took a couple of hours while catching up on my downloaded podcasts from the Beeb. If you would like to have a go, there are instruction videos galore on Youtube to help you.

Guess what I'm making...

Patchwork Book Cover

A while ago, I was lucky enough to receive a softie full of scraps from Paula, and I used some of them this afternoon, in a random sort of way, to make a book cover.
For the base I used a synthetic type of felt, sold here in rolls for use as dusters and cleaning cloths, but sturdy enough to use for stiffening postcards and as a base for foundation piecing. I laid my hard backed notebook open on the felt, marked two long sides and one short side, then holding the marked end in place, closed the book, flipped over the felt and marked it at the other short end. This gave me the extra width needed to allow for the wire ring binding. I then marked a working line half an inch outside this rectangle. This allows for a little take up when you sew on the fabric, and leaves a little overlap when finished that helps to protect the pages.

The next step was to cut two equal inner pieces, the same height as the book cover and an inch or so narrower than one cover, and to put these to one side. Then I started on the fun bit; covering the base in a random foundation piecing sort of way. The four triangles cried out to be corners, so I marked roughly where they would be, then filled the space in between. As usual, my camera has its own take on colours, because those blue looking patches on the left are green, and so are the blue ones in the picture below...
Having filled the whole of the area, I turned it over, back side up, and machined close to the edge. I then trimmed all the edges back to this line, and checked it for size against the book. I pinned my cover pocket pieces to each end and machined again over my line, double checked for size on the book, then did a close zig-zag all around the edge, enclosing all the raw edges and making the pockets for the book boards. I am quite happy with it as it is, but if I make another one, I shall probably cover the inside with a piece of material so that the stitching is not visible, and maybe attach some ties and somewhere to slot a pen or pencil.