I'm a WYLDE Woman - and that's Official!

Thank you so much to Glenda for thinking of me when passing on this award. It is indeed an honour coming from someone who is so acclaimed, both in the blogging world and the world of Art and Crafts.

I am officially......

A [Wild] WYLDE Woman!

Purpose of the Award: To send love and acknowledgement to women who brighten your day, teach you new things and live their lives fully with generosity and joy.

Is this me? I'm not sure but I will certainly try hard to live up to it.

There are only two rules:
1. You can give it to one or one hundred or any number in between - it’s up to you. Make sure you link to their site in your post.

2. Link back to this blog site (http://tammyvitale.typepad.com/) so I can go visit all these wonderful women.

Of course, I just had to go visit Tammy's site to find out how this all started. If you have a minute (you'll need longer than that mind you) do stop by and take a look, there are some fabulous links which will take you in all sorts of different directions. She has some wonderful work on her blog site which is sure to inspire.

Receiving this award has caused me some serious consternation... just who am I going to pass it on to? Glenda, quite rightly, richly deserved it. She is constantly inspiring people, generous in sharing techniques and ideas and packs so much into a twenty four hour period that it frequently makes my head spin. It has made me think very seriously about the purpose of the award and who, in my opinion fulfills the criteria.

There are several people who do fit the bill but some don't have blogs, others have already received this award or have blogs which are by invitation only. So I am going to give it to someone who hasn't been blogging for very long but has been crafting for an eternity. Whenever I talk to her or see her demonstrating products, I learn something new. Nothing is ever too much trouble for her, she is infectiously happy, a constant source of inspiration, forever coming up with new ideas and really knows her stuff. Want to know who it is? I'm going to do 'a Glenda' and say take a look here!

So what have I been up to today?

Well for a start, this little lot has been playing in the studio..... loudly,

while I have been road testing Ranger's Inkssentials Opaque White Pen. They have just arrived in stock at Graphicus but I have a feeling that they are not going to last very long. They are absolutely fabulous!

I have several 'white' pens from different manufacturers. Some work reasonably well, others are very hit and miss. I usually use Sakura's white Souffle pen which I have had some good results from. The only draw back is that you have to wait for it to dry to finally see the results. It appears 'watery' or 'milky' when it first goes on but dries quite opaque.

Now this little beauty is everything I had hoped it would be. Trust 'Ranger' not to disappoint. It glides on very evenly with no striping. At first I was a little concerned about the thickness of the nib, I needn't have been as it is quite deceptive and I was able to achieve some very fine detail with it. The ink is a bright opaque white and doesn't take long to dry. It's very addictive and I found myself doodling away on anything and everything. Here are some of the results:

Dots and Dashes.... great for faux stitching effects.

And this is how well I was able to pick out very fine detail in a stamped image.
Depending on how you angle and pull the ink you can even taper your strokes.... nice effect!

I could have spent all day just doodling. I feel a 'Black and White' phase coming on.

This stamped image has been embossed with white embossing powder before attacking it with the Inkssentials pen so you don't get the contrast that you do when just stamping with a white ink pad.

This is 'Art Word' from the Elusive Elements range, stamped in white ink with a free hand doodle frame applied with the pen.

Finally, my old friend Grungeboard. This is my latest offering using an Elusive Images Script stamp from the Age of Chivalry themeplate in the background and over stamped with Impression Obsessions wood mounted Victorian Rose stamp which has also been used to create the Grungeboard flower and leaves.

I have used Stickles glue to accent the leaves and around the very edges of the petals on the rose. A small gem in the centre of the flower finished it off.

The inks used are Tim's Distress Inks and VersaFine Onyx Black for stamping the flowers on the tag background and the Grungeboard.That's all for now folks! But there's plenty more to come - I have a lot of catching up to do.