Nov 06

25 Days of Christmas Tags Guestie

Hello, good to see you after a long-ish break! Today I’m pleased to join my talented friend Tracey McNeely for a Day #4 of 25 Days of Christmas Tags feature on her blog.

Along with the daily inspiration from the talented guests, Tracey offers prizes from:

Reverse Confetti
Clearly Besotted
CAS-ual Fridays
Neat and Tangled
Paper Smooches
Lawn Fawn

You put your name in the draw by leaving comments on Tracey’s blog (see her blog for the details), plus I’m offering you another chance to win, by leaving a comment on this blog post.

You have until midnight on November 26th to comment and on the 27th I’ll randomly draw one name and forward it to Tracey who will put it in the prize draw. The winners of the whole event will be announced on the 28th. Sounds good?

Here is my contribution! …a set of three tags I made for my personal use for Christmas, with a variety of new and older WPlus9 product.

They’re all made using the same colour scheme and similar techniques - a subtle two-tone sponging (the pink fades into shimmery silver which was hard to capture on camera) and lots of die-cutting in action. The techniques are pretty self-explanatory so I’ll let you enjoy the photos without boring you with the text 😉 See below for the individual shots and ‘lists of ingredients’.

InLinkz.com

InLinkz.com

InLinkz.com

See you again soon, good luck with the drawing!

Sep 11

CASE Study Challenge #208

We’ve got a fantastic inspiration at CASE Study, coming from our new Muse Debby Hughes!

I used the newly released Punny Produce: Tomatoes stamp set from WPlus9, which is indeed hilariously punny and just so sweet. I watercoloured the fruit using Peerless watercolours and an aqua brush. Simple is good

Check out the blogs below for the Design Team’s takes on the challenge, or visit CASE Study for the full reveal!

Debby Hughes- September Muse
Amy Wanford (Aimes)
Anika Lerche
Anja Curvers
Anna Kossakovskaya (Umichka)
Gayatri Murali
Jill Foster
Jeanne Jachna
Julia Stainton
Michelle Williams
Silke Ledlow
Tasnim Ahmed

WPlus9 PUNNY PRODUCE: TOMATOES Clear Stamps	Versafine Onyx Black ink	PEERLESS Water Color Complete Edition Book	*Pentel AQUASH BRUSH 3 PACK Fine Medium Bold Point Watercolor 25104
*Maya Road SHINE GOLD TWINE Cording TC2140 Striped String 2012	Papertrey Ink Tag Sale #2 die	*GC-001 Spellbinders Grand Calibur Cut & Emboss Machine

InLinkz.com

Aug 28

CASE Study 4th Anniversary Blog Hop

After a month of managing the 4th Anniversary festivities at CASE Study from behind the scenes, I finally get to jump in the bandwagon, along with the rest of our talented Muses and Teamies! I hope you partook in the three previous Blog Hops and enjoyed the inspiration. Today marks the start of the last one and let me tell you, it’s been a heck on an event! I’m so proud of everyone and thankful for the line up no blog hop would shy away from

If you hop along with us this week and leave a comment on every blog, you will be eligible for one of the prizes from our sponsors.

Waltzingmouse Stamps
Ellen Hutson
Clearly Besotted Stamps
Verve Stamps

After you finish blog hopping, you can also join us for a special Anniversary challenge. The deadline for both is midnight on the following Tuesday (11.59 pm). Here’s the list of participants

Anja Curvers
Eva Dobilas
Danielle Flanders
Jill Foster
Silke Ledlow
Agnieszka Małyszek
Iwona Palamountain <— you are here
Torico
Julie Smith
Amy Wanford
Michelle Williams
Teneale Williams
Dawn Woleslagle

You know what the theme for this event is (if you don’t, check it out HERE first) so let’s get down to business!
I usually look for the inspiration for my new project, on Pinterest. My boards hold plenty of files I’m saving for tackling later (don’t we all??)
Since I’ve been dealing with a creative stupor, and making some decisions regarding my future blogging (see my previous post), I’ve been finding it hard to commit to a single project I want to make. That is, until I hit my mixed media folder and recalled how much I enjoy looking at she-art. Well, some of it at least

Mixed media pieces by Paulette from Adventures in Fiber are among my favourites (see them on Pinterest). I’ve been looking at them countless times, thinking how lovely it would be to be able to create this kind of art as well. And so I finally gave it a go

Disclaimer #1 I’m aware of the fact that there is more than one common denominator between Paulette’s artwork and my inspired piece - I took the elements from hers that I fancied but I made the piece mine, I hope it shows!
Disclaimer #2 I have ZERO practical knowledge of mixed media, she-art and art journaling. I used what I used because either a) it felt right or b) this is what I have on hand

My girl sleeps under the patterned paper blanket (old Basic Grey What’s Up collection). I drew her first with a pencil, then coloured with Copics. The background was watercoloured with Inktense pencils and stamped with the background from Stampers Anonymous Papillon set, using Iced Spruce Distress Ink. The flowers and butterfly are K & Company ephemera. A more detailed step-by-step is a bit further below. Here are the Copic markers I used:
skin: E41/50/13/93/04, YR000/00, R01
hair: E07/17

The journaling along the edge of her hairline says “let her sleep for when she wakes she will move mountains”. I find it quite powerful.

Here’s how I made it! Please note that I’ve been working on this piece in-and-out all day and hence the less than ideal evening light towards the end of the slideshow. You can see the true colours on the photos above.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

That’s it from me for now, you now should hop to Torico’s blog! Thanks for visiting, enjoy and good luck in the drawing!

InLinkz.com

Jul 11

A tag and a bit of yummy

Hello there! Thank you for the love, in the yesterday’s comments especially - that card is one of my current favourites and I’m glad you like it too. There’s a little sumthin’ that I’d like to share tonight, firstly a tag inspired by the CTS#84 sketch (below).

I inked the stamp sets from Altenew, Hennah Elements (flowers coloured using Derwent Inktense watercolour pencils and a waterbrush (Aquash)) and my fav Label Love. The white dots were added with Ranger Inkessentials white opaque pen, which so far looks much more promising than the Uniball Signo pen that I’ve been using in the past. In fact, it’s been giving me a major headache and that’s why I switched. Happy now!
Here’s the sketch:

InLinkz.com

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I’m also sharing a recipe for a delicious rhubarb cake that I put a photo of on my Instagram the other day, and which yielded requests for details (wink wink, Donna and Lucy!) I wrote there that this recipe wins so far in my cookbooks and I tried quite a few recipes for the rhubarb cake in particular; it’s a sort of a Polish old-style favourite. The recipe is translated from Polish as well, so please keep it in mind when using measurements - especially cups.

Rhubarb Cake

1 margarine / unsalted butter (250g), softened
4 eggs
1 cup sugar (250ml)
2 cups plain flour
1 cup potato flour
1 packet vanilla dusting sugar, or 1 generous tbsp
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 cup milk
1 tbsp oil
1 tbsp vinegar
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 kg rhubarb
extra 1 tsp flour for the rhubarb
icing sugar for dusting

Heat up the oven to 180°C (356°F). In a large bowl beat margarine with eggs and sugar. Add sieved flours, vanilla sugar, baking powder. Add milk, mix well. Add oil, vinegar and lemon juice.
Wash rhubarb, remove any hard fibres, cut into pieces of up to 1 cm thickness. Put in a bowl and bust with a teaspoon of flour.
Grease a big baking tray (30 x 40cm - I used 33 x 23cm and it was just fine), pour in the cake mixture and sprinkle the rhubarb over evenly. Bake 45 min to an hour, depending on the oven. Check the readiness with a wooden skewer after 45 minutes.
If you like, dust the top with icing sugar and leave to cool… or not. LOL!

It’s a lightweight, fluffy, lightly sour cake, perfect for an afternoon tea. Enjoy! xx

Feb 27

CASE Study Challenge #180

We’re rounding up another month at CASE Study, with the last portion of awesomeness from Danielle! I still don’t have enough & wish we kept her for a few weeks more, alas all good things come to an end. I hope you’ll all like this week’s inspiration

Floral theme & colours were my sure bets to follow but somehow I ended up venturing out so much that I’m not sure how much of the inspiration can be seen in my tag. I indulged in my shiny new PTI Doodlie-do stamp set, these designs make me ridiculously happy
I coloured the flowers with Copics and mounted over the tag which has stripes stamped on them (PTI Background Basics Super Stripes) as well as the sentiment from Doodlie-do.

Check out the blogs below for the Design Team’s takes on the challenge, or visit CASE Study to see it all in all place.

Danielle Flanders - February Muse
May Park, Caryn Davies - February Guest Designers
Amy Wanford
Andrea Ewen
Clare Buswell
Debby Hughes
Jeanne Jachna
Maureen Merritt
Silke Ledlow
Tasnim Ahmed

InLinkz.com

In other news:

Our newest online class, Basics & Beyond is now available.

Click here to learn more about Basics & Beyond.

It’s a wonderful resource for all stampers. Here’s what others are saying about it…

I have gone through 2 lessons so far and love the class. Wish it had been available before. Like any new skill, it is so important to build a strong foundation with the basics before adding all the embellishments. I like the way each lesson builds on the previous one. I also like the way it encourages you to work with stamps and supplies you have on hand. Great inspiration and ideas!!! SandyJ

I hope to see you there!

Nov 21

A Waltzingmouse Christmas - decor

Welcome to the special, four day event at Waltzingmouse Stamps, called A Waltzingmouse Christmas! It’s the last day today, and we’re sharing decor items made with WMS stamps. I’m sad to add that it’s also my last day on the Waltzingmouse Design Team As my girls grow bigger, I find myself wanting to spend more time with them, without having have to worry about the deadlines. I also embarked on a new exciting journey (details to follow later today, please tune up to my blog at 1 pm EST!) and something else unfortunately has to give.

I’m sharing today a shadow box frame, made with two gorgeous sets, Christmas Cottage and Nordic Winter. I absolutely adore both. The house is like taken straight from a Russian folk tale (which I *love*), and the style of the latter is right up my alley, which is not news for you if you know me a bit I coloured the house with Copics, dressed up with lots of glitter and a glitter ‘snowfall’, and added stamped borders with various Memento Luxe inks. The music sheet paper in the back, is from Simple Stories. The alpha stickers are October Afternoon‘s Mini Market in Black & Cream. I couldn’t find anywhere I could link them to.