Short and Sweet

The distractions of the birth of a wedding and the death of a laptop leave me short on time today, so I'll just say that the postal system is once again graced with my custom - I'm almost caught up with the Postcard a Week challenge!

Here is what March brought: no great shakes, but I do seem to using the postcards to experiment with styles and techniques. Which doesn't always lead to success, but hey ho, on we go!

I Am Missing

I've been seeing a lot of counterfeiting going on lately on my blog friends' blogs - namely at Sian's and Sabrina's - and I've been a bit envious, to be honest. Normally, when I see photos of people's craft rooms, and I see how small my stash is in comparison, I can deal with it because I know I don't really enjoy spending money (I get that from my Grandad) - at least not too much. But the counterfeit kit challenge, which tasks you with creating from your own existing stash a new kit that has just been released by any given monthly club, makes me feel that my consumerism is lagging considerably. I'd never be able to recreate a whole kit from the products I have at my disposal - the range is just too small.

And while I relish the resourceful nature of this challenge, I also recognise that it requires a certain level of 'capital' in the first place. That's why I haven't played along so far. But, as ever, determined to do something and seeing that I have to strike out on my own, I have undertaken my own mini counterfeit challenge.

Recently I discovered Lily Bee Designs. (...pause while you browse their site...) Since then I have been obsessing (a bit too much?) over finding a stockist who would sell me the new lines. But it turned out I couldn't wait, and so meanwhile I created a mini collection from my existing stash based on the This and That collection. And, you know, it was so enjoyable!

Here is This and That:

And here is my counterfeit collection:

Not bad, huh? Do you want to see what I did with it?

I took this empty make-up compact and stripped it down, so that it was ready for covering.

I also made a layout:

I'm quite happy with it. Partly because I actually found a photo of my parents to scrap (living away from them and actually never thinking to use the camera when we're together means zero photos), and partly because the colours sit so well against the kraft-coloured Bazzill.

I probably don't tell the people in the picture that enough. But I'm pretty sure they know.

When I Was...

Not only is the April scraplift challenge about to go up over at the True XOXO Girls blog, the blog has also had a facelift and will soon be featuring posts from us Lipstick Chicks throughout the month to further inspire you.

My page for scraplifting this month is made - finally - from a kit supplied by the lovely Sandra at GottaCraft. The photo is from a couple of years ago, when I was interviewed by the BBC for an event I'd organised. My mum, of course, scrapped the photo straight away, but I kept it, not knowing how to. Then 'For the Record' came out, and suddeny it all made sense. I put the two together, and this is what I got:

I've included lots of close-ups, because I love this collection so much, and to show you how it has inspired me...

The gorgeous reds, yellows and greens are offset so strikingly by the black and white. I paired this with bakers' twine, painted flowers, a doily and a transparency.

I can't get enough of this collection. It's  a good thing, then, that there's still quite a lot of it left in my scraproom!

If you play along at True XOXO Girls, you are in with a chance of winning a yummy kit, as always, so get on over and get lifting! 

A Lady and Her Dress

I discovered something at the weekend - I can draw a bit. I was sketching and I thought to myself, wouldn't it be nice to be able to draw like a fashion designer? So I sketched some more, and then got all brave and took out a black Copic pen and committed. I drew strong lines over my pencil sketches and did not look back.

This is not what my wedding dress looks like by the way.

Then the trusty Copic markers came out - they're really quite good - and a bit of paper shaping, and voila - a lady and her dress.

A teeny smudge or a snub nose? You decide...

It's a postcard, which means I haven't given up on my Postcard a Week challenge. But it's a departure from mail art for sure, into the realms of I-know-not-what-I-can-do. It's inspired by the fact that a couple of weeks ago I collected my wedding dress from England, and it now sits in my wardrobe to be peeked at (only by me though) every other day. Which is all Rather Exciting. Especially as I also have all but one item of the rest of my outfit, meaning that I am going to be trying it all on about once a week from now until September.

I'm not brave enough to draw feet yet. But it was important to get the crinoline in there! 

I'll be working on catching up with the postcards this week - after this, who knows what I'll come up with?

Simply Mum

In the UK today it's a special day for mums. Not being one to share my feelings easily, especially in public, I'm going to be short on words and big on colour to (hopefully) show how much I appreciate my mum.

I made her card from scraps. It sounds horribly un-special, but in fact...

 

... I think it's quite special. I made the little flags from sandwich picks and cocktail sticks, and the pin is actually from my mum so she gets it back today.

Happy Mother's Day!