New stash

Well I've been sadly lacking in motivation to do much crafting just lately, as well as being distracted by other things, such as taking photos and filing them regularly, but there is nothing like some new stash to get you going again. There were several items that I have had my eye on for a while, but I lacked the finances for them before Christmas. I also spotted several items in new year sales offers, so I decided to treat myself to one or two of them. So this week I have had four lovely parcels arrive. Three came on Wednesday and I took this photo for What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday, but I didn't find the time to post it! In amongst this little lot you can see several different types of crafty notions sprays which are the most delicious colours, (you can see the quick trial samples under them) a Cheery Lynn small doily die, some rainbow drops, and a CD from Joanna Sheen. I had made up my mind not to buy any more CD's but this was a very good price, and Faye Wittaker's illustrations are just beautiful. The three clear 'rulers' are a clever system to ensure that you cut all mats and layers evenly. This will be very useful for me because die cut frames are often not quite the size I want, and as both my eyes and my hands are failing, all my hand-cut work is uneven or crooked. I think these will make a big difference. There is also a small pack of hearty clay, just to make a change from the air-drying clay I can buy out here, and some die-cut chipboard 'Twiddlybits'. The next day I also had a parcel containing three plates of Chocolate Baroque stamps, and another with a multi surface distressing tool, a little Christmas stamp (!) and some of Aileen's clear tacky glue.

So I thought I had better get on and make use of some of these things before they are lost in a cupboard. I started by printing our four toppers from the CD two or three times, and also some backing papers. Using glossy card stock and alcohol inks with a silver mixer, I swiped butterscotch and stonewashed ink across the card, wiping the felt across the surface rather than dabbing to give a smooth finish for the sand and sea. I then added a little denim to the stonewashed and swiped across the top of the card to give a darker tone to the sky.

For two of the cards (back left and centre), I used this as a background and cut out some of the CD images , lightly decoupaging the children's hats, collars and ribbons. I added some shadows, grassy dunes and the kite tail with promarkers. I cut and matted these toppers using nestie die frames, and added them to cards that I had covered with backing papers also from the CD. For the third card I used a complete topper from the CD, again printing it three times so that I could decoupage the girl's hat, teddy, collar and ribbon. I used the new layering rulers to give this a neat double mount - they really did help - and attached it to another card. The sentiment is from a Crafty Individuals stamp plate. For the last card I used a piece of blue card with a waves border along one edge. I backed this with a strip of the backing paper. I then used a larger topper, without decoupage this time, and again used the rulers to double mat it. I folded the card to fit a DL envelope, attached the topper to the left hand side and in the space on the right, I hung two sea-side charms on fine thread and attached them under a double baker's twine bow, held in place with the new tacky glue.

So my new stash has proved very useful already and I have made a good start to my resolve to hold a stock of cards instead of having a mad rush to make one every time it is needed.

I am linking this to the Make it Monday linky party 71. and,
Crafty Ann's Challenge 56 where we are encouraged to 'Let's Think Hot', and these sea-side images certainly have a touch of sunshine in them.