Good to be back...

Hi - well we returned from our hols after a glorious week of relaxation, sunshine and cocktails - and although I missed WOYWW here's a pic of what was on my table on Wednesday!

But it's back to reality now which means back to my craft room. Although I loved my holiday it was exciting coming home as waiting for me were my swaps from 'The Stamp Man' ATC swap, which were lovely, (thanks to Meggymay, Crafty Meg and Pam Atkinson) and I gained a couple of followers while I was away so Hello to you. Also waiting for me were some Tim Holtz stamps which had arrived the day before we left and I had not had a chance to play with. I've never been able to justify spending out on these stamps because there's always some in a set that I didn't think I'd get use out of and they are a bit pricey - but I was soooo chuffed to get a real E-Bay auction bargain and ended up with seven sets for about the price of two (and that included postage from the states!!)...oh and I love them.

The first thing I did was make my ATC's for this months Stamp Man ATC swap. The theme is 'travel' so the stamps were perfect and I combined them with the 'wrinkle free distress' technique on P33 of Tim's compendium of Curiosities book which just happens to be the one Linda has chosen for this weeks challenge over at Studio L3 - funny that.   

Here they are with just the backgrounds done.

And here are the finished ATCs - the stamps are all TH except for the Antique Map I've used on the two at the top which is from The Stamp Man, and the 'Are we there yet?' phrase  (not sure where that's from). The Bon Voyage phrase is a sticker I've had hanging around for ages.

I've stuck with neutral colours plus green and am entering these into the Colour challenge over at Gingersnaps creations as well as the Secret Crafter Saturday challenge where the theme is ' distressing'

My next project was also inspired by The Stamp Man but this time the 'Autumn' theme challenge. These are colours which I don't normally use so it was a good project to get me thinking - I used a skeleton leaf stamp from The Stamp Man and distress inks to create two different BPs and then delved into my new TH stamps for the umbrella man image, corners and sentiment. I distressed and inked the edges of the papers before layering them up keeping it fairly simple to let the backgrounds stand out. I have to admit this man was one of the images I couldn't see myself using, but actually he seemed to fit this card, which for me evokes thoughts of the Autumn arriving and the approaching end of another year - I think he is staring out from his umbrella contemplating.  Blimey I seem to have returned from my hols all reflective and thoughtful - that won't last !!

There seems to be no end of 'Autumn themed challenges about at the moment so this card will be finding it's way over to -

The Stamp Man - Autumn

Charisma Cardz - Autumn Colours

Allsorts - Inspiration from a song title - 'Forever Autumn' (Justin Haywood)

Stampin for the Weekend - 'Autumn Inspiration'

Simon Says Stamp and Show - Numbers (the Umbrella man has numbers on)

Secret Crafter Saturday Challenge - 'Distressing'

Well, I'm planning to work on something gothic/halloween colours tomorrow. I don't like Halloween itself but love the associated colours and so am hoping to play about for a couple of challenges. My range of gothic style stamps is non-existent though so really is going to be challenge!! Thanks for stopping by..  Esther xx