Crafting for pure pleasure!!!

Well, I have had a hectic couple of weeks!! It has been all go here, and there's lots of stuff I would normally have done that I havent done if you get my meaning.
First off I have now come down off the ceiling, I was overwhelmed by the response to my first ever application session to be on various design Teams. Some of the applications are due to run until the middle of February, so I dont expect to hear from anyone for a while, and in all honesty, am unsure wether I can commit to any more, 4 is more than enough!! I sent in 12 applications, missed on one, got accepted on 3 and was approached personally for another, the other 8 are still running, oops!!
So I had to miss out on WOYWW this week, due to the only thing I could have shown was a large cloth covering my Workdesk, as it was all DT work.
I have been very busy with the various projects I need to complete, and refine, so pure pleasure crafting has been missed, not that I am complaining, not in the least, as I have loved every minute of it, but it is different doing things someone else wants you to do, and something you decide to do for yourself.
I still have some work outstanding but I did take some me time in bits and bats, and did stuff for me, which I finally managed to finish today. And here it is..............

This is a wonderful Digi Stamp, by the very Talented Heather Valentin, Which I received as a gift from scrapbook stamp society . This is a line drawing  of an original work of Art by Heather Valentin, which I coloured with my promarkers, and added Crystal Glaze to the eyes.

I added some clear gems to the edge of the wings, and the bottom lid of the eyes, and used Cosmic Shimmer Mica inks on the lashes, black of the wings, and eyebrows.


All that remained for me to do was to trim around the wings, and Hair line, add some feathers to match the colours I had chosen to match the colours I had used and I had a mask.








Next the trick was deciding how to use/display it, which sent me hunting through all my CD's for inspiration. Inspiration hit, now did I have the CD or was it one I had decided not to buy? After a long search...........it was one I had decided not to buy!! Oh NO!!!!


Okay, then re-think.......okay center stepper card, so I took a piece of Black 300gsm card, and scored the centre stepper, at 5, and 16cms, then created a layer from some Bronze mirri board from my stash, as gold or silver would have been a bit too stark. Next I needed another layer..........a few weeks ago I popped over to Debees Cd's Challenge blog, and downloaded some free papers to create a card with, see the debbees free download page for details,and realised that the colours matched exactly. But I didnt particularly like the spots, and I wanted a combination of the 2 colours, so I dragged it into My Craft Studio, and swirled it!! Perfect!
So I layered that on, then it needed a bit more.............just a bit, not too much, but enough. So rummaging around.....ended up in the Peel off boxes. I know some people dont like peel offs, but I do think it depends entirely on how you use them. These are a flat Faux gem peel off, in a bronzy gold, with blacky browny centre's, I think they must have been one I got from the Glitter Girls, and they just finished the card, well apart from the big gaping hole on the bottom right that is!!
I have used some Papermania Portabello Rd stamps just lately, for other projects still under wraps, and one of them is an elongated Postage stamp, with Happy Birthday on it. Ideal for where it was going to go, as rectangular matched the style of the card best, and the sentiment needed an edge so that it didnt fade into the background.
So I stamped it with some Violet Pigment ink, and quickly covered it with some Purple embossing powder, and one day I WILL remember to dust it with anti-static before I Ink it!!!
Embossed, I cut it out, up to the edge of the stamp perforation, and it just needed something to take the while edge off, so I used a lime green gel pen to fill in the little holes around the edge, a perfect colour match, and the finishing touch.


I do hope you like it, and hope you will pop by the Scrapbook Stamp Society, and grab her for your self, 




Entered in the following Challenges:


Flutterby Wednesdays #186
catch the bug
Use 2 of something. Panpastel challenge




Lou,


xx