I really should be careful what I say, shouldn’t I?  After what I said in my last post, maybe I invoked Murphy’s law because shortly after that, our phone line went out completely!  And it is still out completely – no voice line whatsoever, but lots of static and crackles on the line.  What is weird is that we occasionally get moments online, but never for very long.  (Apologies to everyone on chat last night – my visit was cut rather short.)  It turns out to be a major fault affecting not just us, but several houses in the area.

Anyway, we’re back safe and sound from a wonderful weekend in Amsterdam.  I taught a bouncy boingy card class at De Posthumus Winkel, a gorgeous shop in the heart of Amsterdam.  I will put some pictures up here when the connection is back up (my photos are at home, I’m at work … ), but I have to say a huge thank you to all the lovely ladies I met – those who looked after me and those who came along to the classes.  I really enjoyed my time, but I definitely want to learn Dutch now so I can understand what you are all saying!

Now as I don’t have any new photos to show you, I thought I’d show you an old halloween project.  This is a canvas that was published in the old Guild newsletter back in 2009.  It is made with a stamp set called Twilight Zone and I have included the original instructions for you.

You will need:

• Twilight Zone  Rubber Stamp set
• 5×7 inch canvas
• Chipboard or die cut letters
• Rub Ons
• Fern Punch
• Orange Stickles
• Sparkly embossing  powder
• Glossy Accents
• Soft Gel Matte or Glue ‘n’ Seal Matte
• Iridescent  gold paint
• Nestabilities Labels 4
• Spray Mists: purple and orange
• Copic Markers or ProMarkers
• Decorative napkin
• Tuxedo Black  Memento inkpad
• Black and white cardstock

1. Cut a large label from scrap cardstock with the Labels 4 die and stick to the canvas with soft gel.
2. Peel apart the printed napkin so you have just the top printed layer.  Apply a coat of soft gel to the canvas and scrunch up the napkin, then open it up and lay it over the canvas.  Press down and pat it down all over the front of the canvas, aiming for some texture.  Burnish it gently around the die cut, taking care as the napkin is quite fragile at this stage. Turn over the canvas and apply more gel to the sides and back, then wrap the napkin around and trim off any excess.
3. Leave for about 5-10 minutes for the gel to set, then paint a coat of gel over the top of the napkin, sides and back as well.  This seals and protects the napkin from being torn by further layers of paint.  Leave to dry thoroughly.
4. Stamp the spider’s web stamp onto white card using Tuxedo Black Memento.  Colour in the image using Copics or ProMarkers
5. Mat onto black cardstock then give it a light coat of Soft Gel Matte or Glue ‘n’ Seal.
6. Stamp the black cat with black Versafine and emboss with a sparkly embossing powder such as Black Glint or Clear Hologram.  Cut out then cover with Glossy Accents.  For the eyes, I fished out two tiny sequins from a jar of Beadazzles and dropped them onto the Glossy Accents – it’s a little difficult to control, so an alternative would be to add a couple of dots with a gold pen once the Glossy Accents is dry.
7. Using a large flat paintbrush, apply iridescent gold paint to the edges of the canvas, aiming to lightly skim the surface and highlight the texture of the napkin.
8. Spell out the word SPOOKY with the chipboard letters.  Mine were self adhesive, but because of the textured surface, I had to stick them down with gel or Glossy Accents.  Once dry, sand the surface of the letters to reveal some white, then colour over the white with an orange marker.
9. Use the same orange marker to colour over the iridescent gold paint around the letters and around the edge of the canvas.  The transparency of the Copic (or ProMarker) ink over the gold paint creates a beautiful glowing orange colour.
10. Punch about a dozen fern leaves from black cardstock.  Stick the stamped image to the canvas with gel, then arrange the leaves around the picture to create  a frame.  Stick them down with gel, then give them all a top coat of gel and leave to dry.
11. Lightly spray the bottom of the canvas with orange and the top with purple spray inks and blot off the coloured picture.
12. Apply vine rub ons to the corners and orange Stickles to the chipboard letters.  Finally, stick on the black cat and you’re done!

And while we’re on the subject of black cats, here’s another blast from the past – my Basement Cat album featuring the late, great Basil.

Click on the image to view the original blog post with more photos.

The good news is that a BT van was spotted heading for our house this morning, so who knows, we may get home to find a working line once again!