PIECES OF YESTERDAY

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Back to my vintage roots with this one .... no surprises there! I really like this image of the two children (although I can't immediately remember where I got it), and to my delight it fitted rather well behind the arch. The background is a 7 Gypsies diamon paper with text stamped over it. The window itself is a Paper Artsy stamp which I've cut out, and the gold scrap border has been altered with chalk ink. I'm pleased with how it turned out because I managed to capture something of what was in my mind - that these old photos are windows on the past.

BRIGHT WINGS

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Made this for the Arty Girlz Challenge, which this week is "Wings". Although my first love will always be the vintage look, from time to time I do love to make something bright and funky - so guess which this is??

I used a Paula Best stamp, which I coloured with mica paints. The German scrap wings were pink but rather pale, so I coloured them deeper with an ink pad. The square motif is an Artchix freebie - and the inspiration for the colour scheme, and the spiky bits were done freehand.

She's up for trade if you like her - and can I just issue a reminder that all the ATCs shown here are available for trade unless marked as already gone. All you have to do is get in touch and ask to swap!

SWEET SISTERS

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Made this in response to the Sunday Stampers challenge on the theme of "Sisters". I used Basic Grey paper for the background and the images are from Lisa's Altered Art. I was going to give them wings but changed my mind and used the butterfly instead. I was wondering how these little girls turned out, and that got me thinking about becoming something and that led me on to butterflies.

MORE LITTLE HOUSES

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My thanks to all of you who took part in my Challenge - these are for one lucky person but I'm not saying who ..... ! Been in a bit of a blue mood since coming back from holiday, so decided to ditch the brown vintage look and make a blue set, and I'm quite pleased with them. They are such fun to make, I'm not surprised lots of people are doing it!

AT HOME TAG

Made this for the "Dans Ma Maison" challenge which this week is to use green. I love these coppery colours, especially the scrap in the copper shade. The background includes a script stamp, although you can hardly see it in this picture, and I've used a pre-raphaelite image and given her butterfly wings. Part of the challenge is of course to use the house shape, which was where the idea of "home" came from, and the crown is there because she is obviously a princess!

FAMILY TREE

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I suppose having just spent two weeks with my sister got me thinking about families and so on, plus the fact that when I sat down to play I automatically got out all the brown and vintage stuff I love so much. As ever I was making up a story in my head about the girl and the baby, and thinking about the unseen and unknown connections of which we are all part. The main image is from a Paper Whimsy collage sheet.

PEARL EARRING

I've always loved this portrait so was delighted to find it produced as a stamp by Chapel Road Artstamps. When TMTA set their weekly challenge on the theme of "Women in Art" it was a great opportunity to use the stamp for the first time. I've given it a relatively simple treatment so as not to distract attention from that serene face - I stamped it onto white card then watercoloured and cut it out to mount on the background. I used watercolour shading to make the face stand out. The famous pearl earring gets a bit lost somehow, so I gave her a gold one instead! I enjoyed working on this - something of her serenity seemed to transfer itself to me in the process - never a bad thing!!

CREATING AGAIN ...

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I was in a panic yesterday because although I'd been longing to get back to creating stuff again, when I sat down to play I couldn't seem to find any inspiration at all. You know how it is - you immediately think you'll probably never make anything ever again ......

Anyway a good night's sleep, being reunited with hubby, and going out to lunch seems to have done the trick (phew). Made this for the TGIF challenge to use up paper scraps. Having just come back from the Mediterranean that azure blue sea is still imprinted on my memory so it was slightly inevitable that this colour would feature strongly. I used a Paula Best stamp which I've coloured with mica paints. It's good to be back!! :D

I HAVE RETURNED!

At least my body has but my brain hasn't caught up yet! Thanks so much to all of you who are taking part in the little houses challenge - just get in touch for my address to post them to. I'll be putting up a proper post when I've got my head in gear .....

A CHALLENGE FOR YOU

I found some little houses on Kathy's Blog and was completely blown away by them, and wanted to make some myself. These are what I've managed so far, they are quite small but the taller one is a bit bigger than an ATC. As I'm about to go away for two weeks my challenge is to make some little houses to swap with me when I get back on 20th May. If lots of you take up this idea it may take me a little while to make all the swaps but I hope you won't mind waiting? See you soon I'm off to CRETE!

GOLD MONA

I've discovered that Cat's Eye chalk inks will colour German scrap - this is a brown one rubbed onto gold. I like the antique look it gives. This is a window frame with the centre strut taken out to give a better window for the Mona image. The background is made using a Gold glimmer mist spray, and I've added the fleur de lys background and a brass cherub charm.

Call back tomorrow for a Challenge to undertake while I'm away!!