And the winner is ........

and my little trusted friend will pull out a name !
I see your still wearing your earrings calvin !
what are you like !


STEPH !!!!!! congratulations Steph - please email your address and i will send it off to you x

Thank you to all of you who left a comment and a link to my blog !

Dotties Challenge Card !

Well this is my last Dotties challenge card as a guest designer for dotties world ..and and just like to thank all you dottie fans for visiting me , please keep bobing back x and ofcourse the dottie design team for making me feel so welcome xxxxx. thank you girls xxxxxx I have throughly enjoyed playing with the downloads !

The challenge was set by karen and it was to have a dottie download interact with a picture - so here is mine !
It's of my 18 year daughter Sophia ! She laughed when she saw this !
check out the rest of the design team makes - they are really fab !

Not only is there some fabulous inspiration but also a free download image !
Did make me giggle it did !

Now be sure to check back later tonight - when i pick the earrings winner ! No doubt alittle somebody will be around to get in way !

maddy x

Tutorial - Fimo Snowmen Earrings ! plus giveaway !

Well its that time of year again when we start buying and making gifts ! ive put alittle tutorial together for you to make some fimo snowman earrings .These make fabulous gifts and they are also one of my best sellers at christmas fairs... The ladies tend to buy them for wearing when they are cooking the Christmas dinner ! Ah yes , you have to wear your novelty Christmas earrings - the day just wouldnt be the same ! lo So first i used fimo in white , green and orange - if you dont have any orange , just use white and paint it with orange acylic paint , its such a tiny bit you use it really wont matter. .. You will also need jewellery findings - they are here , at The Artistic Stamper
and fimo here also
tips for good makes in clay .. Always wash your hands before you use fimo and change colour. I keep a white towel nearby to wipe them on and use baby wipes to clean my hands between colours. ALWAYS soften your clay before use ... just roll and squish in your fingers until softer and it rolls into a smooth ball.

If you wish to recieve these earrings - please link me to your blog and let me know you have done it - i will draw out a name next sunday !



Instructions .
BEFORE YOU START - REMEMBER THAT THESE ARE GOING ON EARS , SO BEAR IN MIND YOUR WORKING ON A SMALL SCALE ! LOL

Step 1
Roll Two balls of white clay , just under the size of marrow fat peas ! lol
next roll a further two balls of white clay just a bit smaller . I know they dont look smaller on the picture , but they are in real.
Step 2. Tap with the pad of your finger the two larger balls - not to hard , but just enough so they dont roll around . Next place the smaller balls on top of each one , again just a gentle tap will secure. Step 3 roll 4 small balls of white clay into sausage shapes for the arms . step 4 Place the arms on the side - between where the two balls meet , and gently tap onto the side of the snowman.see pic below .. step 5
The scarf
roll a very small ball in red fimo and roll into a thin sausage shape . do the same with a piece of green fimo also . If you find this alittle tricky and it gets too long , you can roll two even smaller balls of red and two balls of green into sausage shapes and do each scarf separate.

Urm ... It appears i theres another fimo maker in the house ! Bless him !!


awwwwww he is concentrating so hard - his little tonque is hanging out ! lol !
I wondered were all my fimo was disappearing to !
anyway back to Step 6. put the two sausages together and hold one end with your thumb and index finger. Lift it up so it dangles. With your other thumb and index finger , begin twisting the clay from the bottom - not too much as it can snap.. If you are struggle doing this there is a video on the fairy album book post that includes me twisting the clay and how i do it .
Step 7. If you use just two balls of clay and twisted in a long length you need to cut it in half for each scarf. wrap around the neck and cut off any spare clay - i just pinch it off with my finger.
Step 8.
HAT.
for the hat roll two very small balls of green fimo. Then roll two SMALLER ones.
Flattern the larger ball slightly with the pad of your finger and then gently tap the smaller ball ontop of it , try not to squash the smaller ball too flat.

Step 9
Gently press onto the head of your snowman.

Step 10 .
roll 4 tiny red balls and gently tap on his belly for his buttons.

Step 11
roll a very very tiny orange ball of fimo and gently tap on his face, remember to leave a space between the hat and the nose for the indent eyes later.

Step 12 .
Cut your earring finding the size of the snowman as so - from his hat to just below the neck area.

Step 13 ,
using the end of the earring finding - indent two eyes on each snowman - try and get them to look the same.

Step 14 .
Gently hold your smowman , take your earring finding and with the round eyelet part facing front , and keeping it straight , push the finding through the top of the hat till it reaches the eyelet part.
If your an adult and are selling these, alittle drop of super glue on the hat helps to keep the finding in place better after baking.

Bake on a plate or tile.
Bake to the instructions on the fimo packet -

come on then Calvin mouse , lets see your earrings , dont be shy now !

Oh lovely - you know they really suit you !


Comment on this post and if you link me to your blog i will pick out a lucky blogger to recieve the earrings i have made - and dont forget to let me know you have linked me x
Next week a tutorial on santa earrings !

edited to say ....
Hels at ink on my fingers - has got a little visitor ! click find here to find out !
AND Donna has already made some !!!! and they are sooo cool heehee ! its lovely to see bloggers actually making the makes i put up for you all x thank you ~Donna !

GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED .

Thank you all soooo very much xxxxxxxxx

I would just like to say ............you have totally spoilt me with awards ! i know i havent been able to keep up with them - and for that i send you my sincerest appoligies if i havent responded to you and passed them on xxxxx so today i will attempt to do some !!!
here goes
The lovely Karen .

and the lovely Colleen
and also the very sweet friend Hazel
awarded me this award - thank you girls.


Now I have to pass it forward and these are the rules:

The winner may put the logo on their blog. Put a link to the person who sent you the award. Nominate 5 blogs and put links to their blogs and leave a message for your nominees.
which makes it 10 for me , but im just gonna do 5 for both , if thats ok . !! lol
Helenas blog - inspiring advent calenders
Irina my Russian crafty friend .
linda
chris
little Hollies blog.


Big Thank YOU to the lovely crafty gals below for giving me the award above.
Nikki
Donna
Chris
and i nominate below.

Trace
Kimmie
Sara
Iris Babao Uy
Karens cards


I am phisically unable to do each and every award .... you have all been sooooooo lovely and generous to me --- im sooo sorry if i have missed an award you have given me ... but i must be about 5 awards behind ...... and that would be more than 30 blogs to list as well as the ones above ... which means you will not be able to see my next project of snowmen earings cos my hands will have dropped off through typing !!!!!!! ROFL
Please forgive me if i have missed you xxxxx I do appeciate every award i receive off you lovely people .x
maddy x

Dottie about flowers !

Well its Sunday and that only means one thing ! The Dottie challenge !
Its Lou's turn this week to set the challenge and its all about flowers .
You HAVE to go over and look at the STUNNING cards and makes the rest of the design team for dottie have done WOW look here .

Well my card is totally plain in comparison ! I cut out the biggest flowers i could find on patterned paper ! and used felt for the middle .I used the Little birdie from the Animal Magic download.

Ive been totally flat out this week with my DT makes for Karen at Charmed Cards .... heres a little sneeky peek - to see the full version with a project you will have to click the link here ..



oh hold on ...... theres a squeak going on .........
Come on then if you MUST say hello ...

.

I see you have been making yourself at home ....... I noticed the additional blog list ! cheeky !

Prismas and whispers = great colour !

Now this is just a quick plain card to show you the colouring i have used ...

I have been itching to show you this ! but needed a little practice myself first !
I can't say im great at colouring in - i struggle with blending and light and shade , i think most people can relate to that at some point !

Whilst trying to get a different look to my colouring , i started experimenting and came up with this ... now my friends at craft club have seen these colouring comparisons and they said there was a big dirfference in depth and vibrancy .

Theres also a special little tool you use to get the effect as well - more about that later !

So im gonna show you a few comparisons first ...

here are some images i had started to colour.....




here we have whisper pens on the left and prismas on the right
although i try to imitate the whisper colouring with the prismas - there is still a slight difference.
now then ... look at this one .
.



you can see the difference and ive only been practicing a few times with this .

How did i do it ?
Well i started off with a great little find ..... these little beauties !These are an absolute must and my special tool !


cut and dry pens nibs - these where brilliant for this AND also just for blending in tricky areas that are too small to blend with paper stumps and prismas. You still need paper stumps for large areas - but i wouldnt do without these now .. You get 10 in a pack - but you can sharpen the other end , then snip it to a point , which means its really 20 your getting. They last alot longer than paper stumps and theres no having to file to a point everytime. A little snip after many colourings would bring the point back. These nibs are available from The Artistic Stamper here.

You know for some strange reason - i have this feeling im being watched ??????????? anyway lets get back to buisness shall we ?
First start as you normally would with you prismas.
draw heavily around the outline of the image and shade alittle in the middle lightly.

2. blend in the colour with a paper stump and sansador.Use small circular movements with the stump.



3. Next take a darker shade and go around the outline again and also where it would be shaded..
This time use the Pen Nibs , it is much more precise .

Now the special part !
Take your whisper pen ( pic 1) - chose a slightly darker shade than the prisma colour.
outline a small part , this is important - only do small areas at a time and work quickly

dip your cut and dry nib into sansador , and spread the whisper colour this time with strokes AND circular movements - sliding the ink away from the edge - the ink should sort of slide on the card. (pic 2) This is because you have used prismas and sansador first.
dont colour or go into the the lighter parts of the image.



Pic 2.



Do this again - building the depth up deeper with this layer and dipping the pen nib in sansodor - dont rub card as this will make it too wet.
TIP .. If coulouring with blue - rub some red onto a piece of plastic ( or acrylic block) and lift off the colour with the blue whisper pen - add that to the final outline and shading to jeans and wow if gives it a beautiful violet blue overtone !

So after your third layer of dark blue , take your white prisma pencil, and lighten all the parts that catch the light now because the vibrancy is strong with whispers colouring the white really does show up well.


continue in this manner until all the image is coloured .




Now i am going to show you how i made the little decorative brads in the middle of the flower stamps on the card.
there it is again - i have that same feeling im being watched !



Brads with fimo .. Fimo is available here


Right ... first thing is to roll two small balls of fimo and flattern with the pad of your finger
.

Next roll two smaller white balls of fimo and again flatten each one
.

Place ontop of the larger flattened balls .
Using a straw , push into the middle and twist out, do the same with the other end of the straw on the next flatterned ball. This will be your hole for the brad.

bake in the oven as per instructions on the packet ( very important to have right temperature !)
When baked push a brad into the middle .

Funny - i can hear a scratting noise in my craft room ? how odd !

next i used a mini stitchels stamp that Hels designed from The Artistic Stamper- they are here
and i outlined the image with a white pen - also available from The Artistic Stamper.

Now where have my stamps gone ??????????????

OH flippen Nora - Its CALVIN THE MOUSE with MY stamp ! Calvin mouse WHAT are YOU doing !!!!!! And is that INK ON YOUR FINGERS i see ??? Have you been playing with those alcohol inks again ?????? hmmmm? YOU shouldnt even be HERE ! Show me your hands and tell me where you should be Calvin !

Yes thats right ! thats it for you .... no more cheese - it just makes you hyperactive - look what you have done to my craft room and look at the state of your hands ! now get back in your box for posting - naughty mouse !

Prehaps i should explain .... this little pest of a mouse was parcelled up on his way to designer Hels - he seems to have however escaped from his box !

Very sorry about that .........
heres a close up ..


fimo, Stitchels mini stamps, cut and dry pen nibs white pen - all available at The Artistic Stamper !

From Ruff to Glamour Puss !!!

I made this little project for Dotties world ... it was meant to be for the challenge this week but a certain lady pinched it and kept it for today - ( lou your naughty !)

We have all been there haven't we ? we over indulge at christmas Partys and pig ourselves with another portion of christmas pud .... and you say those words every year ..... " NEVER AGAIN!"

This is the perfect Kit for helping you face the world the morning after !




I made the eyelashes from card and yes the malibu bottle is still full !



Well has there ever been a beauty product that can perform miracles ? lol .

NOW a bit of juicy gossip ...........
I have something comming up in the next day or two and if you are into stamping and colouring you may just want to see this .... heheee my lips are sealed to then !!

Guest DT for Dottie !

I was asked by the lovely and very talented Lousie Bridgen to be a guest designer for the next two weeks for Dotties world , how fab was that ? Ive never been a guest designer before !
This weeks challenge was set by Nicola and its "fur or feather"
So here is my very bright and colourful card using The Animal Magic download - and its pusskins !
That cat just looks as smug as my own cat !



I used The Blossoms and Butterflies DCWV papers . Ive been hoarding these papers since the beginning of summer lol You know when you buy gorgeous papers and in your head your thinking ooooooh they will look great on a card , but then when you get them home you just dont want to break into the packet ? lol . Im afraid im one of these people !
So Pusskins is sitting amongst my best papers ! which, may i add so does my own cat !!!

I cut out some flourishes from the paper and notice i didnt stick them flat to the card , i added some gorgeous little butterflies which where also in the colection.

I used my new primas too - did a bit of shopping i did ( shhhhh dont tell calvin - he's after some lol)

Question for you all - what do you think to my colouring in of pusskins ? does it look different from my usual ? if so why ? and do you like it ? ........ all will be revealed very shortly !!

here 's a very sneeky preview of dotties make ....... something a little bit different is comming up on dotties world on tuesday !.....










maddy x

Vintage Santa !

I recieved some gorgeous flourish stamps from The Artistic Stamper and ive been having alittle play ! I love cutting out flourishes and adding white dots and stitching to them . You dont always have to be perfect with flourishes when your cutting out . I leave a mm gap around the edge and use a coloured pencil around the outline.
The vintage Santa i just love and was coloured in with prismas pencils. He is here

I layered the flourishes with sticky fixer pads to add depth to the card.
Jenny designed these stamps herself - isnt she clever !

A Birdhouse Memo Pad

I made this birdhouse memo pad for a gift for my daughter and her boyfriend who have just moved housed - i thought it a perfect gift for the couples 1st christmas in thier new home.
I made it from the new Animal Magic Download designed by Louise Bridgen over at charmed Cards.
Edited to say ....
Theres also a challenge over at dotties world , Its all about colour so if you want to join in click here to check it out !

Heres the instructions on how i did it ...

what you need.
mountboard or thick card
2 medium chipboard/ cardboard hearts
pattern /plain card
brads
glue
dye to match / contrast your chosen card.
ribbon
lace
sticky fixers
book ring
colouring tools ie prismas , pens.

step
1 First i resized the birdhouse and resized two owls in word - (note you owls need to be small enough to fit on the hearts.

2. I printed one out on patterned paper ( light coloured) and one on plain white card OR you can just print two copies on white card.



3. Cut out the white card copy but leave a few mm between the printed image.



4. Draw around this on either mountboard or very thick card.You need two of these.Then cut both out.

5Colour your image as so , and also colour your owls too. If your not using pattern paper on the second image ,then colour both . Cut out all the elements you see coloured below.


.

6. Ink the mountboard edges in a colour that will match the birdhouse sides



7. Cut off the stripped edge on the bottom of your patterned paper .Glue on your patterned paper or your coloured in card.




8. If your using the patterned paper as your background colour the sides in add things like false stitching, white dots etc.



9.Start adding your elements you have cut out .Glue the stripped bottom , hearts and sticky fixer the birds and the roof - note the roof needs to be put alittle higher than the background (see photo)


10. Add the lace to the roof - make sure you can still see the little hearts.


2nd part .

11. Ink or cover with card /paper your two hearts and your 2nd mountboard /cardboard house shape. Add false stitching etc.

12, Pierce two holes in each of your mountboard hearts - on at the top and one at the bottom.

13. Turn your 2nd house shape upside down and mark the exact same holes onto each house ( see photo) brad each heart onto the upside down house and then sticky fixer your owls.



14. Add some more ribbon and lace to the middle.

15, Glue your note pad ( i used a mini post it pad) onto the middle and add primas to decorate.

16. For the holder on the back , places some masking tape through a book ring and glue onto the back at the top.