December

November

October

September

April

Happy New Year!

I hope the coming year brings you happiness, health and peace. It's nice to be able to start using the calendar I made for the Craft Barn calendar challenge last year.

Looking forward...

to the year ahead...

Calendar Challenge - December

We have reached the end of the Craft Barn calendar challenge and I look forward to using my calendar from next month. I stick each month up on the wall by my work desk so I will not bind the calendar until I have finished using it. The final recipe is gold and trees. I heat embossed an old winter trees stamp and added some highlights with glamour dust. I lightly shaded some punched snowmen with weathered wood DI and added them to the scene. This was mounted onto some gold card (which looks quite green in this pic). I added some punched holly leaves.

Calendar Challenge - November

This month's recipe for the calendar challenge on the Craft Barn blog is Grey and Owls. I used a Sizzix die & stamp set called Autumn Owls for my 2 owls and a Memory Box die for the branch. They were all mounted onto some cloud patterned paper from My Mind's Eye. I used a different patterned paper to edge the top and bottom and used 2 scraps to hold the calendar in place to look like washi tape. I coloured in the beaks to give a pop of colour and added glossy accents to the eyes of the smaller owl and googly eyes to the larger one.

Calendar Challenge - September

We're on month 9 of the Craft Barn calendar challenge and this time the prompts are brown and leaves. I wanted the page to reflect the golden tones of Autumn rather than just the brown so I pulled out all my yellow/orange/brown DIs and got dabbing with some cut n  dry foam. I used brushed corduroy to edge the card with a bit of walnut stain. I then used a Dylusions stencil with peeled paint and gathered twigs along 2 sides of the card. The falling leaves were made from brown parcel paper scrunched up, inked with various DIs and spritzed with a gold shimmer spray. Whilst still wet, I smoothed it out and when dry I used a CB fall leaves die to cut some oak leaves.

Calendar Challenge - August

This month's recipe for the Craft Barn calendar challenge is pink and butterflies. I used a large butterfly background stamp by a company called Gourmet Rubber Stamps and stamped it in Brilliance starlite black (this is my go to ink pad when I want a soft grey). As the stamp was not large enough to cover the whole of my calendar page I placed it centrally and covered the unstamped areas with pink paint. I then used a Fiskars border punch top and bottom (the blue areas you see are actually holes) and added some tiny punched butterflies. The pink butterflies were stamped and cut from patterned paper and card and highlights added with a Wink of Stella pen.

Calendar Challenge - July

The weather continues to sizzle and makes me think longingly of a dip in the sea and the feel of sand between my toes. A couple of weekends ago we took a trip along the south coast from Brighton to Worthing and the memory of the beach huts I saw along the way was still fresh in my mind when I read that this month's recipe for the Craft Barn calendar challenge is turquoise and beach huts.
The only beach hut stamp I possess is by Craft Individuals (I suspect there may be several people in the same situation this month) so there was no long decision making as to which stamp to use. All the stamps used come from the same CI set except for the sand castle which is a very old Rubbadubadoo stamp. I used Adirondack butterscotch for the sand and various shades of blue/green DIs for the sea in the hope that one or a combination of them would be as close to turquoise as my ink supply could get. The seagulls and the beach hut windows were given a lick of wink of stella for a little sheen. So that's it for another month - I like to get my calendar done early but inspiration doesn't always strike.

Craft Barn Calendar Challenge - June

This month's calendar challenge on the Craft Barn blog asks for the colour lavender and dragonflies. I started with some floral embossed handmade paper which I had kept from a present I was given. I lightly spritzed some cobalt blue ink over a dragonfly mask. The effect was very subtle so I replaced the mask and brushed some shaded lilac and milled lavender DIs all over. I cut a dragonfly from Tim Holtz's fanciful flight die and used 2 sizes of punch for the other dragonflies. Because of the metallic silver card, it hasn't scanned very well so here's a close-up:

Craft Barn Calendar Challenge - May

Another month and another page for my calendar for next year. This month's recipe asks for magenta and flowers so I decided to make my flower magenta.
The flower in question is Chloe by Woodware which I heat embossed and painted with Twinkling H2Os on some scrap card. The background card was meant to have an ombré effect but it got lost in the subsequent layers. I used a stencil and some Ferro paste over the bottom third and brushed dusty concord DI through a stencil over the top two thirds. I stamped the flower image again onto the card and laid the cut out, painted flower over it. To finish I added black enamel accents to the stamens.

Craft Barn Calendar Challenge - April

This month's calendar page asks for the colour blue and umbrellas. Here is my entry using a stamp from Non Sequitur's kimonos and cranes set. For the background I mixed white & ultramarine Brushos with water to make a wash which I painted over some cloud shaped masks. When dry I stamped the Studio G border in Versafine crimson red. The main image was stamped separately, coloured with coloursoft pencils and cut out. I stamped an extra umbrella which I mounted on foam pads. A small piece of fabric tape was used to ground the image (although she still appears to have some clouds below her LOL, perhaps she's an oriental Mary Poppins!).
I will try and visit you all if I can but this month may be difficult.

Calendar Challenge - February

This month's calendar challenge on the Craft Barn blog has to use the colour red and have hearts on it, so far so predictable. I wasn't in the mood for a traditional Valentine's Day page so I had a play with a new Katzelkraft stamp set with the beguiling title of zigouigouis. I have coveted this stamp since I first saw it and as Katzelkraft were having a sale I decided to succumb to temptation.
Whilst playing around with the curly tentacle shape I thought I could make a heart shape by reversing it so I used a mirror image stamp (basically just a flat sheet of rubber). I used some of the other stamps in the set, cut them out and added them to the page. I was going for a very graphic, bold effect so kept the background plain. I used a heart corner punch on the calendar and added a few gems.
I finally managed to finish binding my book of last year's challenge entries. You can see it here.

Craft Barn Calendar Challenge 2015

This year's Craft Barn Challenge is going to consist of 2 separate challenges. The first is a 2016 calendar challenge which will run every month for 2 weeks. Every month 2 words will be given which will have to be incorporated into the calendar page. This month's words are aqua and snowflake. The second challenge will be revealed next month.
I decided to make a portrait orientated calendar 12 x 18cm. I usually have a year to a page calendar on the wall by my desk and also a separate calendar for the current month next to it. For this reason my calendar pages will not be bound until after the year has ended. I used a Marianne snowflake die set to cut some masks which I sprayed a blue shimmer spray over. I know it's not really what I would call aqua but it was the closest I could get. I edged the page with a Gelato that I felt was a better representation of the colour aqua.I then used white acrylic paint and a speckle stamp to add a little more 'snow'. While this was still wet I sprinkled Glamour Dust over. The houses are a Tim Holtz die brushed with spiced marmalade, ripe persimmon and festive berries DIs to give an ombré effect. The bird bringing in the New Year is from a KTZ set.
I hope to visit all the entries and see how many of my Quotes & Lyrics buddies are joining in this year.