I was given this award by 4 different bloggers in the last week… so thank you very, very much! Thank you Leona and Rubymay, Caroline and Simone. It’s much-appreciated and I’d love to share it with all the wonderful bloggers who are in my links because they inspire others, share their skills, talents, tips, secrets and photos. I have learned so much from Blogland - it’s helped me to grow, develop, share, laugh and enjoy art in all forms. I’ve made what I feel will be lasting contact with some amazing ladies, whose creative talents are only equalled by their sense of humour…

I’ve been working today and am tired, so tomorrow will be better (till I have go to work in the evening!) and I’m going to get a few chores out of the way and then get creative! Night all!

That’s the required element this week for 4×4 Friday… I used the lovely Cherry Pie Artstamps 3 muses image (well, that’s who they remind me of!) stamped onto a wax-resist painted background and added a couple of rather nice embellies - surprising how pretty purple and green look, isn’t it?

Personally, I think the kids’ Dymo labeller is one of the most useful gadgets I ever bought and I only ever use it for artlings! I used the punchinella again… d’you get fixated on things too?

Thats’ the “Weekend Taggers” theme this week and I had fun adding layers to this little tag. It’s amazing how much stuff you can build onto a plain shipping tag if your muse is pointing you in that direction!

I used distress inks and heart-shaped punchinella (thanks Ali!) to make the background, sponged over hearts CB folder, sanded down. Pure grunge and inky fingers. The red, white and blues are present too and the images are from very old stash, found at a car boot sale! Lucky me!

Seriously, to all of you celebrating Independence Day***, have a great 4th July and Holiday Weekend! xoxoxo

*** Great film and I love Will Smith to bits! Can’t wait to see his latest release!

This Thursday, it’s all about… being Clearly Clever - sponsored by Clevercut.co.uk! Now DH and DD brought me some frames back from market with them at the weekend and I decided to alter one of them using my alcohol inks and the beautiful Oak, Ash, Thorn stamp from Third Coast RS. Here’s the result:

I stamped the image onto the glass with black Stazon and left it to dry. I then used alcohol inks straight onto the chrome frame - red pepper, butterscotch, cranberry and a little sage. I would’ve used the mixatives but I haven’t got any yet!. The pic doesn’t do this justice, it’s gorgeously mottled in RL. The background was run through the cuttlebug script folder and then enhanced using metallic rubons. I did use a tiny touch of white sakura gellyroll pen on the back of the glass to her eyes and mouth. This is one of the most beautiful images I own - I think she’s completely dreamy!

That’s the challenge at Theme Thursday this week and I had fun with these 2 ATCs… in fact I got so engrossed in making ATCs, I nearly missed the last episode of “Heroes” (Volume 2) on BBC2. Luckily I managed to get downstairs in time to hit the pause button and freeze it!!! I can’t help it, I love that series! Anyway here’s my entry this week:

Stamp: Diva Impressions (don’t forget the Holiday weekend sale!).

Artygirlz chose “Your fave song” as their challenge this week and I have chosen Christina Aguilera’s ‘Beautiful…’ as one of mine. I’ve made a simple card in black, white and grey - for Created by Hand - using a gorgeous stamp from Diva Impressions.

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The image is stamped across 2 pieces of mountboard, simply as an experiment. It’s a bit like gridwork I suppose! I used Black soot distress ink and then added the sentiment with my Dymo. PP are by Dovecraft.

Layers of Color’s theme this week is “summer respite” and I took the opportunity to use one of the gorgeous fabric transfers I received from Annette in Oz. Look at this lovely Bathing Beauty, isn’t she a stunner?!

The beads are threaded onto fine wire (thanks Ali!) - some are from “You can craft” mag and the long blue shells are from a necklace DD gave me to recycle! Gotta love DD, haven’t you?!!

Here’s the original message:

Save from 10-20% on about HALF of the stamps on the website!! Just search through each and every category to find great savings!
And… for DI Subscribers and Yahoo Group Members…. spend just $30.00 (before shipping cost) and receive 4 FREE STAMPS (of my choice) - just enter code DI4FOR4 at checkout!
And…. that’s not all (yeah!)… For DI Subscribers and Yahoo
Groups Members only - 50% OFF SHIPPING! (50% of shipping charges will be refunded through Paypal After payment is made) ** Enter Code DI50 at checkout **
Now, that’s what I call a Celebration!! So, please visit http://www.DivaImpressionsRS.com to take advantage of this Super Sale.
** This offer is only good through 7/6/08 **
Happy Fourth of July and God Bless America!!

So if you’ve seen me using stamps you’d like, go check out Beth’s sale - remember, it’s on till 6th July.

Here’s my entry for Wednesday Stamper’s “newspaper” challenge this week. I used a new design I helped to create, by Sally (Aunty’s Forum, Bootiful Stampz). Read all about it HERE!

Now that’s a design I CAN work with! She’s really wicked, isn’t she?! Sally is making her available to download and Maud may also appear as a stamp too (I nearly said in rubber!!)

I used a page from our local free paper, distress inks and glimmer mist, and the scroll stamp by Crafty Individuals. Maud is coloured in with Derwent Metallic Pencils. I love how this turned out!

Lisa (Step outside your box Saturday) asked us to “Take chances, make mistakes and get messy” this week. Mixed Media Monday’s theme is “Dance” and I took a few risks, made a mess and was unsuccessful at transferring an image with hot wax. Tomorrow I shall ask the Group where I went wrong and I know they’ll have the answer, but in the meantime, here’s my Mixed media Dance Collage - which I really, really like. This one is a ‘keeper’!

I used emusion paint, gesso, acrylic paint, a glaze, hessian scraps, a bit of a wet wipe, fibres, foil, embossing powder and beeswax (candle layer!!). Then I took a pic of my fingers to prove to Lisa that I didn’t just sponge the stuff on!!