Pat's use of mystery gift

I was truly delighted to receive my mystery gift of stash from Sherry and decided to kill two birds with one stone and make my book for the Desert Island Discs CJ (although no birds were actually killed)!

I made some fabric paper using text paper pattern tissue and scrim  then altered the cream leather with alcohol inks for the spine and keyhole embellishment  I'm sure I will use the other products in future projects

Mystery Gift Swap Finished Tag

Here is my tag I made with some of the stash I got in the mystery gift swap. The quote I used is a bit blunt at the end so I hope it doesn't offend.

The four items I used from my parcel were some green suede paper that looked like a snooker table cover, a diecut playsuit shape and I stamped the diecut with the stamp I got as well. I also used the sequin waste for the texture paste on the tag.

I covered the tag with the green suede paper and then mod podged some silvery chiffon down. I wanted it a bit more shimmery so I added some Stampin Up shimmer paint but I was a bit heavy handed and the original green is fairly hidden now although I still think it adds depth to the tag. Next I used the sequin waste with the texture paste and then covered it with the silver metallic Adirondack paint dabber. I coloured the diecut with Worn Lipstick Distress Ink and then stamped it with the stamp with black Stazon. The image is from Elle magazine and the quote appealed to me as the tag developed. I had another one from Mae West but I'm going to save that for another time now. I added the crown and the small cog as an earring as well as a Maya Road rub on down the side.

 I'm really pleased with how she turned out in the end although my original idea was a Vargas girl theme as the green suede paper reminded me of that kind of club. I'm saving that for another tag now. TFL.x

Mystery Gift Received...

I was going to post this after I had made my item from my goodies which I'd hoped to do this weekend... but time is getting away from me so I shall post my thank you to the fabulous Donna for my parcel now and post my make during the week :)

I was gobsmacked, totally, by the gorgeous box of treats that arrived on my door step. The duckies made me laugh - I alter them and had just been saying to my Other Half during the week that I needed to get some more as it had been to long since I had altered one - Donna you must be psychic!

In amongst all these goodies were this beautiful domino dangly charm...

And this beautiful framed print of Donna's Red lady painting - which I have ogled for all the time I've been following her blog and that's a long time - in fact it is what led me to her blog in the first place! I just love it and this is hanging up in eye line of my desk right now!

Also in the box, a few of Donna's own rubber stamps - designed by her. Couldn't believe it. I've been drooling over these since she's been previewing them on her blog and feel extremely spoilt by these and everything else in the box. Thank you a million squillion Donna :) Be back in the week with what I have made with your stash!

Carmen x

Mystery Gift Time!

Hello everyone,

Lots going on at home, so please forgive me not posting this earlier- here's my mystery gift from the lovely Carmen- thank you very much Carmen, I'm full of ideas already!

This was a very 'mysterious' gift indeed, as the return address was listed as 'Lubecorp'... Plus, when I opened it, my eldest saw this:

And said "Cool! Is that a dead bird?"

It wasn't, it was this lovely couple, but he still thought they were 'cool', lol

Here are the rest of the contents- a very generous gift indeed...

And, finally, see that blue tissue paper up there^?

It was hiding this:

a gorgeous canvas that now hangs on my wall in my dining (craft) room :)

Thank you so much again Carmen, I'll be back with my make as soon as I can- have already started on the bracelet!

Stay arty! Leanne x

Mystery Stash Swap Sonja

I got a red card from the postie on Monday and my mum duly went and picked it up for me today while I was working. Imagine my surprise when I discovered it has a note on it saying attempted delivery 17/9/12. The poor parcel has apparently been lying for two weeks at my local PO and they definitely didn't leave a card originally. My poor stash sender must have been wondering what was going on with me never posting it had arrived. Here is a picture of it's loveliness and I have an idea already of what to make but it will be the weekend before I get a good go at playing with it.

Thank You Pat for my parcel. It has a lovely tag and little handmade book with pockets that will be good for holding tags. I'll be back with my made item photos soon. Thanks again :-)

Mystery Swap Parcel Received!

Oh yes, Christmas came early for me too today as my

mystery swap parcel arrived from the lovely Leanne.

I knew what it was straight away as she had

beautifully stamped the outside.

Inside was a fantastic selection of crafting goodies!

I've just about stopped drooling now!

For the handmade gift Leanne had decorated the

beautiful box she stored all the goodies in,

it's absolutely gorgeous.

I do love a storage box, especially one as pretty as this!

No time like the present so I got to work on making

something with some of the goodies received.

I made this postcard, using a few of the items as well

as those shown above.

This is the back - I loved using the autumn leaf stamp -

can you tell!

Many thanks again Leanne for the wonderful goodies - and box,

I love them all!

Thanks also to Sarah for organising this.

(I hope my mystery parcel was ok for the receipient as I 

haven't heard from her and she hasn't posted about it

although I know it was received from the list on the original post.)

MYSTERY GIFT AND WASN'T IT FUN

I don't think I've been so giddy to open a parcel as I was when I received my Mystery Gift in the recent swap on here, I know I'd had much fun putting the box of goodies for my swapee together, I was fairly ruthless as I went through identifying things I'd had an age and not used and I also loved the idea that someone else would see the items in a whole new light.  This thought was confirmed when I received my box of goodies in return, stuffed to the brim - this is what I found - I mean wow - really wow, there are stamps and papers, glitter, embellishments, mini canvases, a bag, chipboard pieces - you name it has it!

 And the gifts - this is absolutely gorgeous I adore it

and this, I just love all the detail and the depth and the colours

You can see the texture of it with this side shot!

Then the post card that let me know who my goodies were from - right at the bottom of the box

Thank you Effie - the box was amazing

 Now as we all know part of the challenge, wasn't just to sit and stroke the goodies and do a happy dance and then stroke the goodies a bit more, the challenge was to create something using at least three of the items within a couple of weeks of receiving.  Now I haven't done any scrapping for an absolute age and the pile of photos on the desk is growing by the second (not literally but you know what I mean) so I thought I'd do a layout for a change, so I grabbed some plain pink paper and stamped over it using a beautiful heart stamp Effie had sent me, then I grabbed a chipboard heart she'd sent, coloured it stamped on it with the heart stamp and then added some threads and the final item were the two gorgeous tickets that I used to put down my journalling.  I've loved using the items and am now on with the next layout with some of the goodies Effie has sent - so a big thank you - first up to Effie for sending me such an amazing amount of beautiful items to get me being creative and secondly for Sarah for having the brain wave in the first place!

Apologies for any shadows on this post it was a wee bit late when we photographed them!

Mystery Gift for Michelle

A big parcel arrived for me on Friday, full of wrapped up goodies....it was like Christmas!

Here are my wonderful new crafty bits, all laid out on my workdesk.  I love the Prima crystals (lots & lots!), the stamps all of them, the alphabets, the papers, the paints....well everything actually.

Here is my mystery gift a beautiful handmade journal, I LOVE IT sooooo much. Thank you my secret gifter (I still have no idea who you are!)

Well I just couldn't wait to make something with my new arty bits.

So I got straight to work on the first page in my gorgeous handmade journal.

I had to make something from 3 of my new items, so I used my new journal, the art butterfly stamp, and the making memories transfer letters (love these).

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you to my mystery giver. xx

I will treasure it forever. Michelle x

More mystery goodies.....

When I took a trip to the local sorting office this morning on my way to work, with a red slip in hand, I was expecting the parcel to be the school trousers I'm waiting on for my 10 year old.....but no.....it was MUCH better than that :)  It was my mystery swap parcel - yay!! :) :) :)

All the way from bonny Scotland - thank you so much Lou!

The first item out of the box was this fantastic mini canvas - I think he has something of the Mighty Boosh about him :)  He's currently being proudly displayed on my desk at work as that's where I opened up my parcel, but I will bring him home soon.

And then there was all this too:

Think we can safely say that I've been properly spoilt :)

Loads of goodness in there, but my favourites are the handmade paper, the boot stamp, the black and white spotted washi tape, the texture tool, the textured chipboard alphas, and, most of all, the amazing corrugated card mini album that you can see there in the middle of the photo.

Here's a better look at it, it's properly awesome!

It's all put together with co-ordinated travel themed papers and embellies, and it's in just my colours, I can't wait to add some photos to it, I think I'm going to make a geocaching themed mini book with some of our best caching pics.

But that won't be for a while, so I've done something different for my "use 3 things make" - a page in my pair journal

I've used the boot stamp, the copper Marvy pen, and the washi tape.  And I also used some dark blue tissue paper that had been used in the packaging of my mystery gift.

It has ended up looking a little different from my usual pages but that's what's fun about using stash that has been picked out for you by someone else, it's fun to be pushed outside your box a bit :)

But at the same time as saying that, it's also very "me" - I used to live in my Docs, and still have a few pairs.  None all pretty and tie dyed like these though .... although I wish they were!

Thanks again Lou for the great gifts

secret swap - Donna Louise Rodgers

if you know me from my blog you will know I can spin a yarn, and if I can be verbose I will, so I warn you this goes on and on....

Sarah (Flo) gave us loads of time to do a making using three items from our secret stash swap,
I received my packet on Saturday,  and I solemnly swear I was not going to open it until I had 'finished' other outstanding work.

 you can see I lasted five minutes

I think we all know the other man's chips taste better, his grass is greener, and he definitely has better stash than me,

so we were all always going to be winners when we decided to swap stash with each other...

Sonja not only sent me some beautiful stash,  she also made me a gorgeous ATC and a lovely little note too

I then thought immediately of a plan to use three items, mainly taking inspiration from a small trinket and a rose that brought to mind Rene Macintosh.  The third item?  a piece of something that I used as a mask and went crazy spraying using WATER based sprays (pigment dye ones and ones with mica)

 I pulled out an unused canvas that has been taking up space next to my desk for over a year...(I would have sent it in secret stash only it is toooo big)

each layer was left at least an hour to dry between each application a second mask  was used when the red colour was introduced - in total, five layers,  three colour/sprays.

Then I drew a macintosh woman in pencil.  You can then paint with a damp brush, using the pre-sprayed paint to create a focal image, using more or less water to create the 'solid' colour. Hence the need to use water based sprays.

I love it when it looks like magic...

 I cut roses from the paper from the secret stash, applied lace and the trinket ( third stash item used)

fiddled a little. sealed it with acrylic wax so I don't have to panic if it ends up outside in the rain...and called it 'done',

Luke says I should call her Onion Woman

thank you so much Sonja I loved making my thing using three of your items and I still have oodles of super stash, you have been very generous...

  I  DO like this early Christmas thing....

Dx