Steam Fairie Craft: September 2014

Sunday, 28 September 2014

31 Days of Halloween Blog Hop - with prizes!!

Hi - just a quick post today to let you know that there is going to be a month long blog hop in October - the 31 Days of Halloween - organised by members of Smeared and Smudged a great forum where you can share about alternative, vintage and gothic art rubber stamping.

Definitely worth a look - and there are prizes too!!

You could be a Horrifying Hopper

What You Have To Do:

Hop through each of the Wicked Blogs that are participating and leave a comment on each project. No need to sign up, just start on the first day and work your way through all the blogs. All Horrifying Hoppers will receive a Survival Button at the end of the month to proudly post on their blog.

The Rules:You must leave a comment on EACH participating blog EVERY day in October to qualify for the grand prize drawing. Your comment should be about the project or something related (i.e.-no "Here's my comment for today" or "I'm here!"...these types of comments won't count!) If you miss a day or a blog, you will still qualify to receive a survival button, but will not qualify for the grand prize drawing.

Or a Sinister Lurker
What You Have To Do:
How To Win It:
Each person who successfully completes the 31 Days as either a Wicked Blogger or a Horrifying Hopper will receive one entry toward this prize drawing. If you successfully complete both, you will receive two entries. (Meaning if you are a Wicked Blogger and you comment on every blog every day, you have successfully completed both)

Some of you can't participate all month long, and that's okay! Only Wicked Bloggers and Horrifying Hoppers are up for the grand prize drawing, but if you can't do either of those you will still have the chance to win some Lurker prizes! We will be hiding scavenger hunt pictures randomly throughout the month on various participating blogs...if you find one on any given day, you will be put in for that day's freebie drawing. It may be a coupon, a free digi, or a Halloween goodie, who knows! We are working on some great sponsor prizes for the scavenger hunt this year, and it will be well worth your time to visit every once in a while.

The Rules:

Scavenger Items will be hidden randomly on the Wicked Blogs, and are not guaranteed to be available every day. You will have to visit blogs to find them. If you find one, you will email and let us know exactly where it was and your name will go into that scavenger item's drawing. Each person who finds the "hidden" picture will get one entry. The drawing for each scavenger prize will be the day after it was posted and winners will be chosen by random number based on who emailed. Wicked Bloggers are able to participate and find scavenger pictures as well, unless it is hidden on their own blog.

Grand Prize Drawing

Doesn't this all sound like fun? I know WE can't wait!!

But wait, I know you are now asking yourself "What huge prize drawing at the end of the month are they talking about?" In addition to some awesome scavenger prizes provided by some pretty amazing sponsors, we are offering up a glorious concoction of 31 Days goodies worth over $300!

Tuesday, 23 September 2014

The Creative Blog Hop

Hi there :o) Firstly I need to apologise for being a day late with this post (darned Fibro brain!!)

So what is the Creative Blog Hop? The idea is basically to provide a chance for bloggers to get to know each other better. We each answer 4 questions about ourselves and then introduce 3 more bloggers who will put up a post the following week.

Except that as I'm 'Special' I'm a day late and only introducing 2 other bloggers to you - still an interesting experience though!

I was tagged by Bev a lovely crafty lady whom I met through a swap group on Facebook. She has her blog here - http://bevscraftspace.blogspot.co.uk/ - please do take a look she, like me enters quite a few challenges and it's great to see her creations :o)

So - time for the questions!!

1. What are you working on now?

At the moment I'm playing catch-up on some of my craft swaps in order to get them done for the end of the month. So this is mostly ATCs - I really love this art-form - it's small yet lets you work in all different ways. You can use all mixed media, paints and texture pastes, or go with collage or stamps, or even a mixture of all of them! I've also got a part completed shadow box and some partially completed Halloween cards and tags for another swap.

2. How does my work differ from others in my genre? Really hard to answer this - I know that I am a bit of a last minute finisher - always have been with exams and coursework and the like. So I find that a deadline fires my imagination. I do have to often do things in little stages though - hence the part finished works - due to my illness, as I do get fatigued very easily, so try to pace myself, easier said than done though! A lot of my favourite internet crafters are ones I've come across working on the design teams for some of my favourite craft suppliers. For example Laura Carson (http://artfullymusing.blogspot.co.uk/) who is on the DT for Alpha Stamps she does make the most wonderful things!!

3. Why do you create what you do? The first aim of crafting for me (and indeed this blog) is to keep positivity in my life, so that on my lower days I can remind myself that I'm not completely useless and that I can do things!! Now that I've started this blog, I like to try and post roughly weekly as again that keeps me focussed more on the 'now'. The things I create are usually for swaps or challenges, although I did make a lot of presents last Christmas and I've done a few birthday presents too.

4. How does my creative process work? As I said above a lot of my work is done when inspiration strikes from a looming deadline! But I start by finding a swap I want to take part in, or by seeing what challenge themes are around. I then plan a lot out in my head before I actually start to make sure that I'm happy with my ideas - sometimes this involves sketching it out but only briefly, and then I like to get inky!!

So what happens next - my 'Tagees'

These are two ladies I have met through Facebook (what did we ever do without it?!?) I've 'met' a lot of people that way, by commenting on artwork they've shared or when they've commented on some of mine. You see the same names coming up in some of the groups you're in and you realise that you share similar tastes.

Firstly, Aly, she is in a couple of the same swap groups as me and makes some really lovely things that are right up my street! She runs her blog through a Facebook page here https://www.facebook.com/AlysCraftyHands .and shares her creations there. Her latest makes are some Halloween tags and some great mixed media hangings.

Secondly is Denise, again we met through the dreaded social media (!). Her blog is here - http://beautifulbouquets.blogspot.co.uk/ - she also enters a lot of challenges, Tim Holtz themed ones and created a lovely piece for a recent Clarity stamps one. She says she's always enjoyed crafting in a half hearted way but was really struck by the crafting bug last year - and you know once the bug's got you you can't stop!!

Please come back for the links next Monday and have a look at what they've got to share with you!

Thanks for reading
Stefanie x

Wednesday, 17 September 2014

My Workspace - Part of a project to share our studio tables

One of the blogs that I really enjoy following is Seth Apter's - The Altered Page - his work is amazing!! Just look at these beautiful photos of some of his work :

Anyway I saw that he was leading a collaborative project for crafters and artists to share their workspaces in their full glory. I think this is a great way to show that we are real - and move away from some of the almost clinical pictures that seem to be all over the net.

Whilst I am a very amateur crafter I thought I'd like to take part so I added my name to the list. Brilliant I thought - tonight though writing this brief post it feels a little daunting! My workspace in it's state of play - a little piece of me - the real me - eek!! Ah well here we go:

So there it is. My workspace - lovingly created for me by Phil :o) and covered in my mess ever since! You can perhaps make out my zutter bind-it-all, a partially completed shadow box, a tin waiting to be altered and a whole host of embellishments and papers.

And now, breathe - it's all over!! Please take some time to visit Seth's blog, (http://thealteredpage.blogspot.com.au/?m=1) and find out who else has braved the challenge to 'bare all' so to speak :o)

Thanks for popping by -

Stefanie xx

Tuesday, 16 September 2014

Delightful Day out having a bit of a Dabble!!

Just wanted to share a quick post after having a fantastic day out with my two closest friends Sarah and Wendy :o)

Amanda from Craftique in Hessle (http://www.studiocraftique.co.uk/) arranged a spectacular Dabble Day which provided the opportunity for mini taster workshops to showcase the many different styles of crafts she caters for.

The first 'Dabble' all three of us did together, it was a demonstration by Pauline Wheeler for IndigoBlu, we got to play with paint, Distress Inks and Flitter! For our second play we split up - Wendy and Sarah had a go at needle felting and made a cherry keyring with Caroline Hawkesford, and I got really inky with more Distress Inks making a Tim Holtz themed tag with Hels Sheridan. These are the results of our efforts:

In addition to the tasters we tried Sandra Botham was there (Dylusion's master - remember A little bit of Inky Fun?) Lynnda Worsnop (Oak House Studio) and Lynda Mills with a great giftwrap class.

We all had a brilliant time and are hoping that it won't be long before Amanda runs another one! If ever you're wanting a craft workshop Craftique is definitely worth a look.

Thanks for reading :o)
Steffi

Friday, 5 September 2014

A Little Box of Tags

The monthly swap theme for one of the Facebook groups I'm in was to make a little box with 4 matching tags, and being a little nervous of tags (as I've said before) I thought I should sign up and challenge myself.

I've only made one box before so I thought I'd start with the tags to get a rough idea of the size the box would need to be.

So I started by die-cutting the 4 tags from a piece of purple cardstock, and shaping the end using a Stampin'Up punch. The card had actually been used as packaging material on a couple of second hand stamps I bought recently, and I just loved the colour so had kept it for a special make.

I also stamped and then punched 5 'Just for You' labels to go on the tags and the box. I wanted a vintage feel to the tags, so I went through my stash until I found just the right vintage floral images, reminiscent of a summertime cottage garden, cut them out and then distressed the edges with scissors.

After seeing how much card I had left over (and keeping another sheet for later - lol!) I worked out that I'd be able to make the box and the cover for a mini-book too! So I trimmed up another 2 floral images for the book front and the box; and made a little accordion fold inner for the book.

I stamped the pages with a mixture of images and quotes and edged each page in a metallic purple to match in with the tags and box, and then glued them into place.

I layered up the tags by wrapping a bit of ribbon around the base, then placing the floral image on top, followed by the label and a little brass flower. I then tied some matching pink and purple ribbon through the tag opening. I used the same ribbon on the spine of the book and around the box, and added some more metal findings as embellishments. I'm really pleased at how it all came together and I think I'm finally overcoming my nervousness with tags!!

These are the lovely tags and box I received from Bev in return. She has a blog that's well worth a look here: http://bevscraftspace.blogspot.co.uk/

Thanks for reading :o)

Steffi

I wish to enter my make into the following challenges:

Vintage Stamping Challenge - Challenge 24 Anything Goes - here: http://www.flonzcraft.com/vsc/?p=1637

Frilly and Funkie - A Summer Garden - here: http://www.frillyandfunkie.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/a-summer-garden.html

Vintage Utfordring - Challenge 86 - Create or use a tag - here: http://vintageudfordring.blogspot.no/2014/09/utfordring-86.html

Divas by Design - Tags - here: http://divasbydesignchallenge.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/tags.html

Crafting by Design - September Anything Goes - here: http://craftingbydesigns.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/september-anything-goes-challenge.html

Sisters of Craft - September Anything Goes - here: http://thesistersofcraft.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/sisters-of-craft-september-anything.html

and

Reves2Scrap - Challenge No 4 with a colour twist - here: http://reves2scrap.blogspot.fr/2014/09/challenge-4.html