Laura Rumble - Crafter

This layout uses an old sheet of black and white paper from My Minds Eye.  I bought it to colour in, which I did, and it then sat unused for a couple of years! It was inspired by a challenge from the Cut Shoppe to back a cut file.  I also fussy cut a few of the flowers and popped them in behind my photo. The labels are from Freckled Fawn and are another thing that have been in my stash for ages.  It feels good to get some of them used up.

I like to take part in swaps occasionally. When I do I like to give my swap partner personalised gifts. I transformed this plain notebook with a monogram and my Derwent Graphik paint pens.  The pens stay on virtually all surfaces so it is an easy and permanent way to give plain things a bit of pizazz.

I usually love working with sketches.  This one... not so much!  I must have a word with the designer... ;) I soldiered on though and on the fourth attempt this happened. I switched the ombre splodges on the sketch for sequins all picked out from my SpiegelMom Scraps stash.  I've stuck them down with mini glue dots from allthingssticky.co.uk My cluster is made up of bits and bobs.  Some patterned paper, a swatch of paint, scribble circle cut files, tissue paper and a tag. I edged the scalloped border cut file, tag and ribbon with a neon yellow pen for a little pop of contrasting colour. I abandoned the strip down the left and went for a line of mixed media work.  I used my Graphikliners from Derwent - they are good for messy scribbles and splotches.  To quote a friend 'I love their incontinence!' And in the end, I'm quite pleased with it!  Join us over at Stick It Down with your take on this terrible sketch, haha!!

Hi Folks, I'm here today using a mix of my like for ever kit, SpiegelMom Scraps sequins and flair from Accent Scrapbooking . The majority of the supplies came from my like for ever kit featuring Dear Lizzy.  The patterned paper was screaming out to be fussy cut! I love these flair.  You can find this pack here . I added a little colour to the washi tape with some Inktense pencils and a water brush. And also added a little colour to the fussy cut paper flower. And here is the layout in full... I used Lilac Twinkle sequin mix and the flowers from Sweet Pea . Thanks for stopping by!

Hey, I'm up with my first project from like for ever 's January kit 'Woodland' I received the add-on wood veneer and rather than being intimidated by it (it's huge!  What does one do with a 12x12 wood veneer?!) I decided to get straight to work! I took my cue from the colours in a paper and coloured parts of the veneer in.  I tested out a couple of techniques on the back to find the best way to apply the colour. The finish isn't perfect by any means... the colour spread a little along the grain of the wood, I smudged a few areas.  I love how it turned out, though. The rest is very simple - messy paper layers, an acetate frame, die cut leaves coloured in and tucked behind.  My finishing touches included some clear sequins and a piece of heart lace in 'gold' that matched the colour of the etched lines on the wood perfectly.  You can find the lace at Crafty Ribbons . Here is the process video.  I have so many ideas for this kit, i...

Hey there!  It is single page reveal day at Stick It Down and I had fun interpreting the sketch by Angelika... Let's see... I flipped it, switched the photo with the title - that's the great thing about sketches, they are so versatile.  I've interpreted the grid  as apertures and used some of the gorgeous Christmas ribbon from Crafty Ribbons to back them.  I kept the layout fairly flat using washi tape and pen work as my embellishments.  I resisted the urge to splatter with ink as if a stray ink droplet reached the ribbon it would ruin the page. Thanks for stopping by, and see you over at Stick It Down with your take on the sketch!

It is challenge day at Crafty Ribbons Challenges .  I have an art journal page for the theme of 'Use Ribbon or Lace'... I can't really talk you through the page - it is all blues and greens, and all 'left overs'.  When I am doing something like dying doilies I put them on a journal page to catch the extra spray.  When I have a coloured paste that cannot go back in its original pot I smudge it onto a page.  After a while you end up with a part background. I then grabbed some pens, washi, scraps and ribbon and just had fun.  I use this kind of creating as therapy in a way and the message I got out of creating this page was Remember the basics Let go of fear Breathe I used Chantilly Lace - Mary and Organza Swiss Dots from Crafty Ribbons.  I'd love to see you join us on the challenge blog... Thanks for stopping by

I was looking through my card blanks for a small card and came across this one.  Opinions on the deckle edging please?  I'm not sure... The watercolour splatters are my Derwent pencils and the rest of the supplies are from Pretty Little Studio. Thanks for dropping by!

So, I was a bit grumpy about this!  I had a double page spread in my dictionary free.  On one side was Jack Snipe and the other Kingfisher.  There were two suitable words that fitted with my self imposed nature theme - Jay and Jonquil.  BUT the Craft Barn requested that the J page include a dragonfly... well, that didn't fit at all.  I wrestled for a while and came up with a dragonfly on a jonquil leaf even though this would never happen as they are not around at the same time... And it turned out OK, I think.  I used my Inktense and Coloursoft from Derwent. I was happy with this chap.  I was reminded by research just how awesome the colours in dragonflies and damselflies are. And then the jonquil.  I'm less happy with this part, but after about 14 layers I realised it was the best it was going to be.  I've always struggled with daffs - I need to work in another sketching session! Thanks for stopping by!

This fortnight's letter at the Craft Barn is D... brilliant, I already know what I want to do I think to myself.  I can get back on track and link up with plenty of time to spare.  Ah, but there must be pink on the page - well, I couldn't find any pink ducks, (or pink does, or pink daws) to draw. Dove, though, are surprisingly pink!  There were a few species to pick from, but I plumped for Jambu Fruit Dove - isn't he beautiful?  Amazing feather colouration.  I do love my birds! Linking up at The Craft Barn. Thanks so much for stopping by!

Cactuses... they are everywhere at the moment.  I don't get it!  (And flamingoes too, why?!)  The latest scrapbook kit from like for ever had a few in and rather than putting them straight in the donate pile I vowed to use them... I'm no going to lie, I pulled everything catus-y and put it on one layout!  The background is a page from a colouring book.  The title is written with a water brush and then sprinkled with Brusho.  I can see myself doing a lot more of this type of thing now I have a few more Brusho colours. Piling up those cacti ephemera!!  There is even a pineapple cut in to three and spread around the page disguised as cactus! I kept the glueing to the middle of the paper so the edges lift up and leave shadows. And I popped my photos up to make them stand out a bit more. So, big tick!  I used all the cactuseses - I really should have looked up in the dictionary how to refer to them before I started writin...

Hello Hello!   Today I am featured on the SpiegelMomScraps blog.   I’m sharing a mini texture canvas with a Bible verse quote... The canvas is around 10 cm square, so it's quite a diddy little thing.  It is packed with texture from the stencil work, the dimpled canvas, felt and sequins. I hand wrote the Bible verse and cut each word out individually.  As it is stuck over the textured background it leaves lovely shadows adding depth to the piece. I have used: Felt feathers and Believee in You sequins from SMS as well as: Derwent art bars, stencil (I think it's from Julie Fei Fan Balzer?) and texture paste. Thanks for stopping by!

L is for lark.  This one is a shorelark.  He was painted with spectrum aqua pens, Derwent art bars and coloursoft pencils. Not completely sold on his beak, but the more I worked the worse it looked to me so I called it a day... it may look better tomorrow! I'm hoping to have a hop around and look at everyone else's entries soon! Linking up at The Craft Barn

This weeks smiles are courtesy of Dewent Coloursoft pencils...  They are sitting on my shelf in a glass pot looking all pretty and colourful and boy are they calling my name! Linking up at Friday Smiles :)

I'm back with the second instalment of 2016's alpha/dictionary/nature project.  Q is for quill.  It couldn't be anything else!  I had one and a half a pages of q words to chose from and none of the others were even remotely nature-linked or drawable! Lets talk brown pens.  This is outlined with an American Crafts Slick Liner.  I've tried the Staedtler fine liner and also tried every brown gel pen I could find.  To me they are not the right colour!  They are brown but not 'proper' brown.  Can you see what I mean?  The pen is slightly purple-claret based and next to the chocolate-earth tones in the feather and the old paper colours... I just feel it's just not quite right.  Help me out, won't you?   What are your favourite brown pens?  (It does show better in real life!) I had a play with my Derwent art bars as they were the perfect shades of brown.  I used them as watercolours though, rather than drawing with t...