Sall the Crafty Baker

The challenge this time over at Ikes world challenges is creepmas AKA the dark side of Christmas.  This was a little tricky for me because to me Christmas is all about the sparkle and the colour for me.  I did however have an idea when I saw the nativity set in Ikes store. I printed the stable multiple times and coloured each one as I wasn't sure how much of each or where I was going to cut the decoupage lines to begin with.  I also printed, the star, stable doors, nativity, Holly fairy, Kings, herod, hay bales, angel and a large holly leaf.  I coloured it all using a combination of promarkers, inktense pencils, h2O's and colour soft pencils, oh and some weird glitter pens that I'm not sure I like, before I started fixing it together.  I started by sticking the flap of the door behind the nativity and gluing it all in. Then decoupaged the whole walls and roof of the stable.  The last level was just the walls and floor rock/bricks.  I a...

The theme at Ikes World Challenges this time is "It's raining cats and dogs"...I admit it's raining men would have been more fun...a little risque but fun all the same!  Anyway back to the point....using the theme raining cats and dogs I wasn't really sure what I was going to do...have dogs and cats sat under umbrellas?  Maybe not. In the mean time a card swap challenge came up and in my drugged {antibiotics; second set for long term chest infection} up state I chose the following for the swap: Theme Au Natural, Dry embossing, heat embossing,  white ink stamping or ink resist, no bought embellishments everything must be made by you, must contain an animal, two different colouring mediums, die cutting and the card must not be rectangle, square or circular.  You can see why my swap partner hates me can't you?  It was the different shaped card that 'inspired' me with Ikes theme.  I drew around my paisley die and labourisly cut it out ...

This week over at Ikes World Challenges we are being inspired by the photo and or colours.  I usually like a challenge like this as it's very much open to interpretation; which for me is what craft and creativity is all about. This is the photo to inspire you: I took the colours and tried to stick to them but occasionally I couldn't I just had to let my brain run away with itself.  I choose to take the inspiration of the dream catcher literally and made one...well Ike made it and I 'decorated' it. For this project I used:  Colour soft pencils, promarkers and liquid pearls. I literally just cut and coloured this before attaching 'scary' nightmare images of Ikes {sorry hunni they aren't that scary really I promise} and 'nice' images that had climbed through the dream catcher to become pleasant dreams.

I was in two minds about playing with the Clear it out challenge this week.  I haven't felt like doing much at all but today I felt the need to do some art journaling.  Due to unfortunate circumstances I have missed my balcony adventures in Brixham with a special friend so I dug out a Micheal Powell stamp and decided to have a little play on a nautical themed art journal page. The challenge requires I use three of the same thing and my three things are: three stickle buoys/porthole shapes Three sailing boats {hand made using promarkers and liquid pearls} Three pieces of ribbon Three waves using liquid pearl I have stamped and coloured the harbour image in inktense pencils, matted it on gold mirri card.  The paper is a christmas paper from DoCrafts but I like the nauticalish strips.  My Journaling reads: Why can't all towns and villages have bright coloured houses like coastal towns?

I decided that as I am VERY bored with resting but having a long standing chest infection {almost two months} and Pleurisy perhaps crafting would help keep me seated and therefore resting.  It has kind of worked.  I came across this challenge blog through an entrant into Ike's world Challenges and liked the look of it.  So today I popped over and saw that the Clear it out challenge appeared simple enough.  As soon as I knew it was called gearing up for winter I had an idea in my head and set about collecting all I would need in a basket {must stay seated as long as possible it helps the breathing} then after settling in the arm chair had a nap.  A few hours later I stamped and coloured some Tilly Day Dream stamps using inktense pencils.  I used a promarker for the skin.   The background paper is also Tilly Day Dream and the embossed winter/snowflake strip is coloured with peacock feathers distress ink.  I have added clear glitter for a ...

This time it's Halloween over at Ike's world challenges .  I had this crazy yet in my head wonderful idea for this project but I didn't quite pull it off.  I wanted to have a pumpkin fairy lifting the flap of a coffin to find Poe dead in bed...what I actually discovered was the practicalities of getting something to lift the flap did not match with the way in which my brain works.  However we all have the odd mishap/failure when crafting and perhaps my inability can inspire others to find a way around it so I have decided to share the project anyway. All images are Ike's and have been coloured with promarkers.  I've tried to use either 'realistic' or Halloween colours. I do hope to see you participating in the challenge.

The theme over at Ikes world challenges this week is "think pink".  This is mostly associated with the awareness of breast cancer so for my piece I have used the Ohhh la la image from Ikes Art .   To make this you will need: Pro markers Ohh la la image Paper {of your choice I used docrafts} Ribbon Either a very clever brain or the we r memory keepers bag punch board Glitter Gems Scissors Double sided tape Fabric {this is optional}   Glossy Accents Really tiny beads Liquid pearls I made the bag following the we r memory keepers bag punch board destructions {instructions for those of you intelligent enough to follow them}!  I punched holes in to the top using the cropodile and set them with eyelets before threading the ribbon through and tying it for handles. I printed and cut around the oohhh la la image.  I then coloured it and because I wanted to give the chair a luxurious feel I reprinted the image and cut the cushion ...

This week at Ike's world challenges we are off around the world.  There's a fabulous freebie over at the blog to help you along with your entry so please do join us.   For my piece I have decided I wanted to travel and subsequently went to Spain and Greece...okay I admit it I just couldn't choose between the images they are all stunning. I had a wooden tool box that I hated the colour was very hot pink and I am NOT a pink kind of girl.  So I started by covering it with several layers of Gesso...nope that didn't cover it so I took to using tissue paper as decoupatch papers...nope that wasn't going to cover it either so in the end I used eight layers of tissue paper to cover it but in the right light you can STILL see the darn pink base.   I covered the edge with washi tape/ribbon stuff and hoped it would stick, it does sometimes.  The handle is also covered in the same stuff.  I printed, cut and coloured the greek men and women b...

Firstly I'd like to point out that no Jam, Quiche or Bread burnt during the making of these projects...should evidence be required there will be a pic of the Jam and bread gift set on my facebook page The Crafty Baker .  Secondly I want to thank Ike for the amazing images, I have a minor oh okay a MAJOR addiction to these...THANK YOU! Anyway I have created three projects {all of them quick} with some of these wonderful images. My first project is a tag....okay an oversize tag.  I've used distress ink for the background and written with promarker {note for next time find a different pen the nibs too thick for my handwriting} "If I look dead will she leave me alone?".  My plan is to send this to a very good friend of mine who has to 'control' me when around fish.  The first time I went to her place I went and sat on the floor by her fish tank and tapped the glass talking to them.  Anyway I printed and coloured the fish bowl and the fish using promarkers, ...

Today im taking part in the creative blog hop. "Monday again! Okay I'm a day early but whilst I have the time I thought I'd get this done! The day where all kinds of  artists from many different genres, join in The Creative Blog Hop (TCBH) after being tagged by someone the previous Monday. The Creative Blog Hop is the brain child of a blogger, whose identity has been lost along the way. The intention is for us all, as bloggers, to get to know each other better and share ideas and inspiration. It is most commonly explained as similar to the playground game 'Tag' (you're it) but over a huge expanse of space (conceivably the whole world - or at least the parts of the world that have access to the internet). Each Blogger introduces their tagger and themselves, answers four questions about themselves and then they 'tag' three more Bloggers and it goes on and on (or at least that is the aim of the game)."   So this is where you need t...