MrsBeez

Little Miss Autumn

Posted on September 1, 2013 by MrsBeez

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Pinch and Punch! So September begins and there is already a little autumnal feel in the air. Unusually, given that I live in England, I have been going about my business this summer without coat, waterproof or umbrella for the majority of the time. As my taxi driver in Barnsley commented the other day ” at least it feels like we had a summer,” and I’d have to agree. That said, I don’t mind the approach of Autumn and I even enjoy the nights drawing in!

Today I am sharing a little shadow box to celebrate the start of the meteorological autumn. As soon as I saw this image over at The Graphics Fairy I knew I wanted to use it. This wasn’t originally what I had in mind, but I hope you like it:

This is an altered matchbox. I covered the outside with some seam binding which I had dyed in autumnal colours. I placed a copy of the image in the base of the box and then used some Autumn Flowersoft on the inside edges.

On the bottom I used, surprise, surprise, some moss and added a piece of driftwood. Tucked in amongst the moss are some little golden stamens – they could be berries, nut, acorns or toadstools, you decide! The “miss Autumn” is from the original image.

I made four additional copies of the image and cut out 3 of the tree tops and four of the little girl then used glue gel to decoupage them on top of the original.

I added some Tando chipboard shapes, coloured with distress inks, to frame the box.

On the top I’ve added more ribbon, a bow and a gorgeous sun daisy.

I love this image and you may well see it again, possibly in the project I first thought of!

Thanks for buzzing by.

Buttons

Posted on August 31, 2013 by MrsBeez

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When I was younger, a lot younger, I had a collection of buttons that were kept in a faux porcelain container that once contained Avon body stuff. Family friends would donate buttons and I remember once buying a mixed bag from a junk shop. I used to spend many a happy hour (remember there were no computers in those days) sorting buttons in different ways. There was also something very comforting about running your fingers through a pile of buttons and the noise they make shuffling against each other. Simple pleasures and, happy days!

I was reminded of that collection when making this card:

This is one of my Design Team pieces for the Gecko Galz. The image is a digital stamp from the Sew Cute digi stamp set which I simple printed out and coloured in with Promarkers. I picked out one button, cut it out and then gave it a coat of Diamond Glaze before decoupaging over the original.

The image is layered on black cardstock and then onto a white card. I’ve added some faux stitching around the edge.

I stamped happy birthday on a piece of white card and added more stitching.

I don’t know what happened to my button collection, but I’m sure it would come in handy.

Thanks for buzzing by.

Vintage bling

Posted on August 30, 2013 by MrsBeez

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For those of you who followed my butterfly project to try and raise awareness of (and some money for) Amy and Friends you may interested to see a little video of the adorable little Knox who made the news over in the USA. You can watch it here. If you do, I think you’ll agree he is the cutest little chap. And, if you feel inclined. you can still help me raise money for Amy and Friends without it costing you a penny! All you need to do is simply email geckogalz@yahoo.com and place a vote for my butterfly bottle project which you can see here. The winning entry will receive a donation for their chosen charity, mine being Amy and Friends. There are just two days left to vote and I’d be so pleased if you were able to find the time and so would little Knox.

There is a gorgeous inspiration photo’ his week’s challenge over at Papercraft Star;

Anyone who knows me, knows that I love bling so I’ve been looking forward to participating in this challenge. Here’s what I came up with:

The pink paper, which picks up the deep pink of the cushion, is by Tim Coffey for K and Company. The complimentary paper is by Anna Griffin. I’ve layered them up and then used a beautiful image of a lady with a crown and lot of jewels from The Graphics Fairy.

The camera hasn’t picked up that I have glittered the crown, necklace and dress, using a gel pen.

The top of the card is decorated with an arrangement of coordinating ribbon and flowers.

I didn’t have matching ribbon so ran some Victorian Velvet distress stain over the top of some pink ribbon and it came out a perfect match!

At the bottom of the card I used a strip of ivory crochet lace, some more ribbon and another bow. The finishing touch was, of course, to add some bling.

Thanks for buzzing by.

Gingham and roses

Posted on August 29, 2013 by MrsBeez

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Last week I happened to mention what great partners gingham and strawberries are. Well this week I have discovered another new winning partnership – roses and gingham, which also happens to be the theme over at City Crafter Challenge Blog this week.

I had a long dither over what colour gingham to use, eventually settling on pink. I’ve used some pretty papers from the Gecko Galz Wild Roses paper pack and some leafy green cardstock for contrast. All the papers were edged with some Vintage Photo distress ink. I popped on some white crochet lace and a tucked in a little doily for good measure.

I made a little cluster of ribbon and roses in one corner, popping in some punched green branches. The ribbon is seam binding coloured with Shabby Shutters distress stain and crunched up to give it a vintage feel.

The finishing touches were to make a tiny bouquet from some miniature roses, add a little pink button and the sentiment which was stamped on to a tiny tag.

Thanks for buzzing by.

Being Lazy

Posted on August 28, 2013 by MrsBeez

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Today’s project is one I shall be sharing over at Sunday Stampers where the theme is metal.

You can probably tell that this started life as a scrap piece of corrugated card. I tore off some of the flat covering and then gave it a coat of black acrylic paint. Why black you may wonder? Well, pure laziness as I have a black paint dabber so didn’t need to mess around with a brush. Yes, shameful behaviour! Once dry I added a coat of pink metallic acrylic paint, wiping it off in places to allow the black to show through. Because of the black undercoat the pink ended up looking more purple than pink, but I didn’t mind that. Next, I stencilled some silver texture paste using a distressed diamond stencil from Dylusions. To tone the whole thing down I wiped on some more black paint over the top.

The flowers were created using one of Tim Holtz’ metallic sheets. I used a matching stamp and die set from Heartfelt Creations/Spellbinders. I first stamped the flowers, embossed the sheet, using an M’Bossabilities folder, then using the die to cut out the stamped flowers. It turned out I needn’t have stamped the flowers first as this became lost once the sheet was, but hey if you don’t try, you don’t learn. I have to say flowers were stunning, but very bright and shiny. I decided to colour them with some Vintaj alcohol inks in pink and purple then immediately wished I hadn’t! To try and correct my mistake, and again because I was being lazy and didn’t want to start all over again, I sanded the top of the flowers to reveal some of the silver and also added a touch of black paint. Now I like how these ended up, but I don’t love them as much as the original silver.

The bee was stamped onto some white muslin which I had frayed. I used watered down PVA to apply, adding a coat over the top. I couldn’t resist giving the bee a little crown.

The words were cut from a digital image that I have.The finishing touches were to add a couple of matching buttons and some seam binding.

I do like how this turned out but equally I would like to go back to the beginning and make one that was almost all silver, or as they would say in Sheffield, “I’d like to mek it reet shiny!” But do you know what? Today, I’m feeling just too lazy Thanks for buzzing by.

Do, re, mi – a yard of inchies

Posted on August 27, 2013 by MrsBeez

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Before I begin with today’s project, I have a little favour to ask. Voting has now begun on the Create for a Cause projects over at the Gecko Galz. The winning entry will receive a donation for their chosen charity, mine being Amy and Friends. You can vote for your favourite simply by emailing geckogalz@yahoo.com Of course I’d love it if you would vote for mine, and it would make Amy and Friends very, very happy.

This week’s word over at Every Inchie Monday is “song.” Having last week said that I can’t seem to make just one inchie, this week I have virtually a whole yard of them. That’s yard as in three feet (almost a metre if you work in metric) not a back yard! Actually, I’m exaggerating, but I did find that once I’d started I couldn’t stop. Here are the originals:

I decided to represent song by using notes and the syllables of the musical scale, made famous by the classic song in the Sound of Music. I hand drew these adding in decorative details. I probably should have done all seven but, to be honest, getting the first four right took me long enough! Once I had the four I decided it might be nice to experiment so I had a little play with some colour.

This design wasn’t my original idea, my first plan was to use swans and musical images (as in swan song) but it was hard to make four different ones. Anyway, I did get as far as making two, using images from The Graphics Fairy.

The swans are separate images which I cut out and glittered. I added blue Promarker to the music sheet images and a smidge of blue glitter which the camera doesn’t really pick up.

I never tire of watching The Sound of Music and when I was younger I was in love with Captain von Trapp/Christopher Plummer and thought making dresses out of curtains was a genius idea. I always struggle to remember whether Rolf gives them away whilst they are hiding in the convent. I still dream of recreating one particular scene from the film and Mr Beez worries that one day I will! Can you guess which?

Votive make over

Posted on August 26, 2013 by MrsBeez

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Another ridiculously early start, particularly as it’s a Bank Holiday Monday. This time it’s youngest Beez off on his travels so Mr Beez and he set off at 3am for Leeds/Bradford airport picking up the rest of the travel party en route. Had the car not been full up I would of course have gone with them for company. His leaving gift for me was of course, a big pile of washing – the gift that keeps on giving!

Today, I am sharing a candle votive makeover. I’ve had this set of candles for at least ten years, if not longer and as you can see from this picture, they are beginning to look a little worse for wear.

So time for a bit of a makeover. Here’s what they look like now:

These were so quick and easy to do and, if you can pick up some cheap votives, would make great gifts. Naturally, I have used an image from The Graphics Fairy and choosing just which image to use was the hardest part of this project. Love this vintage label with the little bee. I simply added colour to the background of the image, using Word, and then created a rectangle, with the same dimensions as the votive. I coloured the rectangle to match the label, combined the two together and printed them out.

I’ve run a strip of white crochet lace around the base of the votive, created matching bows and added a coordinating rose. The finishing touch was to pop a tiny black gem on the centre of the bow.

I just wish I’d had one more votive as I have also created a lilac label.

I will of course be sharing this over at The Graphics Fairy for this week’s Brag Monday linky party.

So, an early morning start and a pile of dirty washing - a perfect Bank Holiday eh?

PS – I have a favour to ask you. Voting has now begun on the Create for a Cause projects over at the Gecko Galz. The winning entry will receive a donation for their chosen charity, mine being Amy and Friends. You can vote for your favourite simply by emailing geckogalz@yahoo.com Of course I’d love it if you would vote for mine, and it would make Amy and Friends very, very happy. xx

Butterfly Bottle raising money for Amy & Friends – your vote counts

Fairy wish lantern

Posted on August 25, 2013 by MrsBeez

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This fortnight’s theme over at Anything But A Card is fairies. You will know that I love creating little fairy scenes so I was very excited about creating my design team piece.

I dithered A LOT about what sort of fairy project to do so I was thrilled when I came across this little lantern at a bargain price. I love the work of Nichola Battilana which inspired me to try this design.

The fairy image is from the Gecko Galz The Children’s Hour collage set and I gave her butterfly wings from the Pixie Children set. I printed the wings out in two different sizes and then glittered them. She has a silver crown and is holding a single glittery rosebud.

I’ve used lots of Icelandic light green moss both in and around the lantern plus some leaf ribbon trim and then dotted in some pink sweetheart blossoms and a glass toadstool bead that I picked up from Ebay. The words were made n my computer.

I couldn’t decide whether to allow the lantern to close or not, and in the end decided to leave it open which meant I could have the moss spilling out at the front and that I could also attach two pretty butterflies to the open door.

It was a shame that there was only one of these lanterns for sale as I would love to make a Halloween version…a Christmas version… a Valentine’s version… an Easter version … But you get the idea I’m sure!

Do take a look at what the rest of the Design Team have been up to over at Anything But A Card as there are some inspirational pieces. We’d love to see your fairy creations too. There’s also a link to a site where you can generate your own fairy name – mine was Juniper Vinetree -what’s yours?

Pink dragonfly

Posted on August 24, 2013 by MrsBeez

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Today I am sharing another of my Gecko Galz DT pieces that uses one of the beautiful images from the Book Covers ephemera collection:

The pretty dragonfly image is from the Darling Dragonflies collection. I’ve layered it on some super sparkly card and also added glitter to the dragonfly’s wings and body.

I also added some sparkle to parts of the book image using a Quickie glue pen and silver glitter.

I stamped Happy Birthday on to a piece of the book image and added some more glittery card.

The finishing touches were to add some ribbon, which was seam binding dyed with Worn Lipstick distress stain, and a little pink paper rose. I scrunched the ribbon up so it had a crinkly texture.

These pretty images seemed made for each other.

Thanks for buzzing by.

Crafting by numbers

Posted on August 23, 2013 by MrsBeez

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Why is that, if you are working, Friday just seems to go on forever? Add a Bank Holiday Monday into the mix and it’s even longer! Of course, Tuesday will arrive in a matter of moments and it’ll be nose to the grindstone again!

This week’s challenge at City Crafter Challenge has an interesting twist. You have to use 1 stamp, 2 designer papers and 3 embellishments. You are also allowed cardstock. I love these sorts of challenges but am terrified by the at the same time. I always worry I will infringe the rules in some way. So, here’s my entry:

I’ve used my bee stamp and Vintage Photo distress ink. Love the bee image using this ink – it has a nice vintage feel.

My first designer paper is some newsprint (this is from a designer paper pad, but I can’t remember where from!). This is great as by turning it sideways you get a different pattern.

My three embellishments are two sweetheart blossoms and a piece of ivory crochet lace.

The other designer paper is from my Tim Coffey collection. It the first outing for this particular paper, with lovely vintage bees, and it is the one that seduced me into buying the pad.

Thank you for buzzing by and enjoy the holiday weekend.