Sunday 29 September 2013

Trouble

Hello fellow Crafters,

This is my second posting for today. I am just really late posting because the internet has been off all day. Annoying !!!!
Anyway, I made this art journal today. The idea for this was already there when I made 'Forget the rules'  10 days ago. So, here goes:


 
I gessoed the page and then put Distress Inks on it in Orange and Pink. This is one of  my favourite colour combinations at the moment as you probable have seen. I then stencilled the flowers on, again with pink and orange and did some background stamping. I then doodled over the flowers with a white gel pen.  All the teacups were stamped on scraps of patterned paper, cut out and clear embossed. Poor little 'Hunkhad to undergo surgery on his arm and his left leg to get him in the right position to keep the stack of cups from falling over....  On of the cups already fell on his head, another few tumbled on the ground !
You can imagine the Mad Hatters fright, he only came round for a cup of tea!
I made the sentiment on the computer and glued it on the page. Lastly I placed some bits of washi tape and glued everything down.
 
Thanks for stopping by !
 
Hope you like it ..

Happy

Hello fellow Crafters,

Today I made a quick tag. I already had the background ready because I smooshed it into left over ink the other day. So all I had to do is put some background stamping on and a focal image. I choose Twinkie today and he is happy !  Thanks for stopping by ! Hope you like it....


Saturday 28 September 2013

It's a strange magical world.

Hello fello Crafters,

This is my second posting for today, yes, I have been busy again. This one is an Artjournal. I used my itty bitty book again.
This is what I made :
 
 
 
 
I painted the page with watercolours and then softened it with gesso. I did some background stamping and stamped Stampotique's 'Angel Boy' on white paper with Versafine Ink and because this ink stays wet for a long time I though why not pour clear embossing powder over it and emboss it. That's what I did. It somehow makes black look blacker and colours more bright. Anyway, I coloured his face and hands and then used a silver and blue glitter pen to colour his wings. I wasn't satisfied with the amount of bling this gave me so I then decided to emboss the wings again with holographic embossing powder. (second photo). The sentiment is a Teesha Moore stamp and I thought that fitted Angel Boy perfectly. The last thing I did was glue him on the page after putting some washi tape down to 'anchor' him.
 
Thanks for stopping by.
 
Hope you like it......

My first attempt at ATC's

Hello fellow Crafters,

Today I thought I'd try and make some ATC's. My altered book is almost finished and I wanted some ATC's to put in it. After all, I made it for ATC and tags. So here goes:

 
This first one was started with glueing telephone book paper on it and then painting it with gold acrylic paint. I then stamped the numbers on it with Versamark and embossed it with clear embossingpowder. After that I painted the blue over everything and when this had dried I put some paper over it and ironed it so the embossingpowder melted again and took the blue paint off also. I like this effect where you can see both layers underneath. The picture I used came from a self adhesive collage sheet. Didn't stick very well though, I had to put some glue underneath as well. I made the little sentiment with my Dymo labeler and stuck it on over another bit of the collage sheet and put the staples throught for a bit more interest.  
 
 
 
For the second one I put modelling past through a letter stencil (Dylusions) and when this had dried I put a mixture of acrylic paint and some pink Dylusions on. I distressed the whole thing with black ink and glued the (stamped) bee and the photo of the witchy-looking lady on. Again the sentiment was made with my Dymo labeler. Lastly I doodled around some of the letters with a white gel pen and around the sentiment and the photo with a black gel pen. As an afterthought I put on the three rhinestones in the top right corner.
 
 
This third one was done with Distress Inks in yellow, orange and brown with a blending tool. I stamped a background stamp over it in brown to create a bit more interesting background. The butterfly is Tim Holtz and I stamped it on acetate and glued it on the ATC. Again the sentiment is made with the Dymo. The happy couple came from a photo with lots of people on; I decided just to use these two .
 
 
This 4th and last one was painted with acrylic paints in pink and turqoise. I then glued some tissue paper over that and with a blending tool put some Distress Ink over it to enhance the colours a bit. After that I rubbed the whole thing with some black ink to accentuate the wrinkles and the edges. I then put on the washi tape, cut out one extra butterfly form the same tape, stamped the image on gessoed booktext and glued it on. Lastly I attached the flowers.
 
Thanks for stopping by!

Hope you like them......
 


 
 






Friday 27 September 2013

Be happy, be bright, be you

Hello fellow Crafters,

This is my second post for today, yes I am definitely back in my craftroom aka Stamping HQ! Last week we took our friends to Amsterdam and whilst there I bought a tiny little Moleskine watercolour notebook. It really is small: 14 x 9 cm or 5,5 x 3,5 inches.  I would like the full size one and thought to get this one first to see if I like the paper and I do. This is what I made :

 
I used distress Inks to paint the page blue and did some background stamping as usual. The little man is called 'Framed' and is, of course, Stampotique. I stamped him 3 times on white paper and three times on the page. This way you even get the smallest details on your page and it is easier to cut out.(Thanks for the tip France Papillon!)
After stamping I painted him with watercolour pencils and clear embossed the images. The sentiment was made with a labeler and after some doodling with a white and black gel pen it was done !
Thanks for stopping by!
 
Hope you like it ......

Tag Along # 5, Autumn

Hello fellow Crafters,

Over at Mandy's Tag Along blog the theme is Autumn. I've really been struggling with this because I don't like Autumn. I am a Summer person. So making an Autumnal Tag was really out of my comfort zone. This is what I (finally) came up with :

 
You'll have to excuse the bad picture quality, I've tried using my phone and my big camera but the crow kept coming out blue. In real life he is obviously black. This is a no. 8 Manilla tag which I smooshed into yellow, orange and brown Distress Inks. I then dripped some water on it and dried it. After it was dry I put the leaf stamp all over it. The branch is actually the trunk of a Stampotique stamp called Tree. The crow, the little leaf at the bottom and the sentiment, which is a Japanese Haiku (poem), came from the internet. A bit of orange ribbon finished it off.
Thanks for stopping by!
Hope you like it ......

Thursday 26 September 2013

Head says hello

Hello fellow Crafters,

Over at the Stampotique Designer Challenge Blog this week, Astrid is asking us to use washi tape. I love washi tape and use it quite often, mostly as a base to put my little Stampotique people on. I made this card:
 
I started with a white cardbase on which I glued some bookpaper that I coloured with Dylusions Spray Ink and some watersoluble crayons on yellow. I stamped little Head on white paper and then again on grey and yellow polkadot paper. I watercoloured his head, hands and trousers and shoes and cut his jumper from the polkadot paper and glued it on. The sentiment is stamped in Archival black ink. I used washi tape in black and white to make the banner. The little flags are hanging on some bakers twine.
Thanks for stopping by!
Hope you like it....

Monday 23 September 2013

Today I am excited..

Hello fellow Crafters,

Here's another tag, can't stop making them....


I started off with a #8 Manilla tag which I painted with gesso. After drying it I sprayed it with yellow and pink Dylusions. I did my usual background stamping but I didn't use stencils this time. I added some doodling instead. Little Smile is one of my (many) favourite stamps from Stampotique and he was stamped with StaZon on booktext after which I cut him out and placed him on the tag on some pink and yellow washi tape. I found the sentiment on internet (I collected about 7 pages of sentiments now, very useful!!) and used sticky letters to put it on the tag. I used my white gell pen to doodle around the letters. Lastly I mounted the tag on  black cardstock, glued the flower on and threaded some ribbon through the hole.
Thanks for stopping by !
Hope you like it........

Sunday 22 September 2013

You're cute

Hello fellow Crafters,

I made a couple more tags a few days ago, this is one of them:

 
This is a Manilla #8 tag which I coloured by putting Distress Inks in yellow and green on my craftsheet and smooshing it in it a few times. Drying it in between smooshing. I then used a blending tool to put a bit bit more ink on in the same colours and a bit of orange in the top left corner and the right hand side. To make it more interesting I dripped some water on it and dried it with my heat tool.
I stamped some images on it with grey ink on the light background and black on the darkest colour. The butterflies are white embossed. The image is Stampotique's Marci, she was stamped on booktext and then placed on a bit of washi tape. I found the sentiment on the internet and thought it was very suiting to her.
Thanks for stopping by!
Hope you like it.......

Thursday 19 September 2013

True North

Hello fellow Crafters,

I watched a YouTube film last night about making a vintage tag {https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXM5EUQcKxk} by "Dancinggirlart"  and tried to replicate it today although I didn't have the same materials. My version looks like this :

 
I started with a #8 tag and put the Harlequins on it with a Dylusions stencil and red acrylic paint. I then put some gold paint over the harlequins. After that I put DI on the tag, Walnut stain on the top and Vintage Photo on the bottom. I used a blender tool. After that was done I dripped some water on it and dried it with my heat tool. When it was dry I stamped the polkadots with Versamark and then embossed them with gold embossing powder. I tried to make them look distressed by rubbing black ink over them but the result is  not as nice as the one from "Dancinggirlart".
The stamp is from Paperartsy designed by Lynne Perella and I coloured some bit of it and then clear embossed it. The True North is from the same stampset and was stamped with DI in Barn Door and clear embossed.
Thanks for stopping by!
Hope you like it.......

Forget the rules...

Hello fellow Crafters,

I spent this afternoon in my craftroom and I really enjoyed making this Art Journal page:



I started with Dylusion Spray Inks in Pink and Yellow; they make a perfect orange when they mix.
I did my usual stencilling and stamping.
I've been thinking about this cup and saucer from a stampset I can't even remember the name of, for ages. So I came up with this idea of making it into a hat.(I have another idea for the same cup and saucer, watch this space). 
I found this sentiment on Pinterest and it is made out of sticky back letters. Hunk was stamped on white paper and, as usual, painted with water colour pencils and a brush and water and clear embossed. I stamped the cup and saucer 3 times on patterned paper; I only used the cup of two stamped images. I stacked them together and put the Birdy and the Rabbit in the top one. They were treated in the same way as Hunk.
Thanks for stopping by !
Hope you like it......

Baby, you can drive my car.

Hello fellow Crafters,

Today over at the Tag Along blog the Challenge is 'Masculine'. I found this quite difficult as the stuff I make is usually far from masculine. But I gave it a go and this is what I came up with:

 
I started with a #8 tag and painted it with Ochre and Sapgreen Acrylic paints. I then stencilled the bricks on it with Walnut Stain DI. I stamped a ledger stamp from Paperartsy on the right and the bottom with Archival Sepia Ink with which I also distressed the edges. I cut out some 'man' words from an old dictionary and glued them on. The sentiment is the title of a Beatles song and I used rub on letters to put it on the paper. The car is a Tim Holtz stamp and I stamped it with black Archival Ink on a bit of patterned paper. Al the bits have been distressed with Walnut Stain DI. Lastly I used a few rub ons, some washi tape and some ribbon.
I then thought it would be a good idea to mount the tag on some of the same dictionary paper as the 'man' words before glueing it on the black cardstock.
Thanks for stopping by!
I hope you like it.......

Wednesday 18 September 2013

Happy birthday SDC 117

Hello fellow Crafters,

Today is Kim Heebner Howard's birthday over at the Stampotique Designers Challenge. Happy birthday Kim !!!!

So her challenge for this week is Birthday !
I made this:

 
I started out with a #8 tag and glued some patterned paper on it. I distressed the edges with grey StaZon and put the green ribbon on. I then stamped Birdy Up on white paper and coloured them with colour pencils and a brush with some water. After drying I clear embossed them so the colours are nice and bright. I then decided they might look nice hanging like a banner so that's what I did. Lastly I mounted the tag on pink and grey card, put some ribbon through with a bit of bling and that was it.
Thanks for stopping by!
Hope you like it......

Tuesday 17 September 2013

Never fully dressed.....

Hello fellow Crafters,

This is the second tag I made today:

 
I had some booktext left from another project and because I don't like throwing anything away I thought I'd glue it on a tag. Then really quickly this came about. The corset is a stamp a bought on a weekend away and hadn't used yet. I stamped it on patterned paper and glued a tiny bit of lace under the top. The flowers are a rub-on. I made the text with rub-on letters on parchment paper.
I put a bit of lacy ribbon on the bottom with 2 brads that I embossed with black embossingpowder because I didn't have black brads. Then I glued the corset and the text on there. I also rubbed my Archival black inkpad over the edges to distress them a little.
Lastly I matted the whole thing on black paper and put the ribbon through the top. The little flower is a leftover from my beading days.
Thanks for stopping by.
 
Hope you like it........

Rocket scientist

Hello fellow Crafters,

Today I made two tags, this is the first one : (seperate post for the second one)


 
 
 
 
The tag is made from watercolour paper and coloured with Dylusions. I stamped Heads with Versamark Ink and then embossed them with white embossing powder. I then used a stencil and some background stamps. I also put a Tim Holtz rub-on on the tag. I stamped  Hunk on acetate which I cut in the same shape as the tag. The word rocket scientist came from a Paperartsy stamp.
Lastly I mounted the tag on black paper and put a bit of ribbon through both the tag and the acetate.
Thanks for stopping by.
Hope you like it.....

Monday 16 September 2013

If the broom fits....

Hello fellow Crafters,

This is my second posting for today. Boy, I love retirement. How did I ever have time to go to work ?
Anyway, I also did some Art Jounaling today. This is the result:


 
I used my big Dylusions journal for this spread. I must say that I prefer to use my smaller Moleskine one these days. These big empty pages are sometimes very intimidating. It is also getting a bit wonky because it is getting full.
I started with pink paint and then used my CaranD'ache watersoluble crayons to darken the edges. I then did my usual background stamping and stencilling. For something different I used some white embossing powder with a numberstamp, which worked rather well.  I got the photo from the internet ages ago and thought this sentiment was rather apt. The photo was matted on a doily and the text was stamped on white paper. I distressed the edges with dark pink Distress Ink and then glued it on the page.
Anyway, thanks for stopping by. I hope you like it.... 

Art is good for the soul

Hello fellow Crafters,

I had this tag with pink and blue paint on it lying around for ages and as I hate throwing anything away I thought I'd do something with it.

 
As I said it had pink and blue paint on it from when I bought a few Tim Holtz Distress Inks to try them out. I stamped the brushes on there, again a TH stamp. I couldn't resist using Stampotique's  Midge again because she is so adorable. I stamped her on booktext that I gessoed. The sentiment was made with a label maker and a bit of ribbon and washi tape finished it off.
 
Hope you like it......

Sunday 15 September 2013

Morning person & the unimaginable..

Hello fellow Crafters,

I have been busy in my stamproom again today and made two Art Journal spreads. One I like, one I am not sure of.
Here is the first one, I like this one :





This one was started with Gesso and then I put pink paint over the top. I then sprayed it with Dylusions Bubblegum pink and hated it. So I wiped it off and used Distress Ink in Picked Rasperry instead. I liked that better. I then did my usual stencilling and stamping to make a nice background. I also went around the edges of the page with black ink. The girl is Stampotique's Sheer and I stamped her on white paper, coloured her with watercolourpencils and clear embossed her. The sentiment was printed with a computer and glued on strips of washi tape. Sheer was glued on the page and set on some washi tape as well.
Hope you like it.



The second page I did today was this one:


 
 
This page was started with turqoise paint. I then put some green watersoluble crayon around the edges. After stencilling and stamping the background I stamped Heart Throb on white paper and again coloured him with watercolour pencils and clear embossed him. The sentiment was made with a labelmaker. I am not sure I am keen on this one, don't know why.

Thank you for your visit !
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Saturday 14 September 2013

Relax...

Hello fellow Crafters,

On the 4th of August Mandy Chilvers started a blog called Tag Along where there is a challenge every week to make a tag. I thought this was a fab idea and decided to 'tag along' as well.
This week's challenge is Polka Dots and here is what I made:

 
I painted the tag with acrylic paint in yellow and orange and then put the polka dots over the top with Distress Inks in orange and red. I also white embossed some to give it a bit of interest. I then stamped some random script and some other stamps on the background with grey ink and put the rings on (a top from a tube) in black ink. The stamp 'Oh boys !' from Stampotique was stamped on white paper, coloured with watercolour pencils an glued on. The sentiment was made on the computer and printed out and glued on. A bit of ribbon and a black mat finished it off.
Hope you like it......

Friday 13 September 2013

More ticketstrips

Hello fellow crafters,

Today I also made some more of these tickets. I really like doing this at the moment.
Here they are:


 
First I stamped the ticket several times in a row. I then cut it out and stamped the birds on it. I coloured the birdies with colourpencils. I then stamped the rest ie. the bunting, the little seaweed tendrils, the Whotcha doing and the numbers. After colouring those the same way I used Distress Inks to colour the background. And that's it really.
 
Hope you like it.....

Thank you card

Hello fellow Crafters,

I went to visit a friend yesterday and had a really good time. So I made a card to thank her for this very enjoyable day.

 
I made the background by dabbing pink paint on white cardstock but left some small bits white. I then sprayed the whole thing with Dylusions spray ink in Bubblegum Pink and wiped most of it off with a baby wipe. The ink sticks in the bits that haven't been covered in paint and are darker then the rest of the card. I then used a background stamp with grey ink all over. Also used my O-ring stamp again. I then stamped a numberstamp on the edges with black ink. Hart Shirt was stamped on white paper and coloured with watercolourpencils and clear embossed. I glued him on after putting some washi tape down. Lastly I stamped the sentiment (thank you for a lovely day) and glued it on the card.
Hope you like it...

Wednesday 11 September 2013

Stampotique Design Team Call

Hi everybody,

Since making my own Christmas Cards last year I am hooked on rubberstamping. I used to paint but kept running out of wall space to hang everything. So stamping is so much better. Still, I feel the  benefits of my painting background in my work now. I love using acrylic paint, inks, colourpencils, stencils and of course Stampotique stamps.

I just kept thinking that I would like to do more with it and then there was the Design Team Call. I just had to go for it; I love mixed media, art journaling, making cards, tags, you name it. I publish my work very regularly on my blog and on the Stampotique Facebook page.
I love the challenges that force me to work out of my comfort zone and have been chosen as a favourite a few times.

If I get chosen, I would be equally happy on either team.
Fingers crossed !!!!


Here are some examples of my work; I hope they show my versatility and creativity.
 
 
 
 
An art journal with a detail photo.
 


 
A tag with a detail picture.
 
 
Another tag.
 
 
A birthday card.
 
 

 
And lastly some tickets and detail pictures.
 
Hope you like it.........


 



 

 
 
 
 
 

Take a nap !

Hello fellow Crafters,

Today I made a tag for the Stampotique Designers Challenge 116: Try a new technique.
Yesterday I took part in a workshop  and the techique we did was : resist with heat embossing.
So I thought I use this for this weeks Challenge.
Here is what I made:

I started with a Tim Holtz Manilla tag no. 8 and covered it in gesso. I then use an empty thread bobbin to stamp the circles in Versa Mark. I used clear embossingpowder and then heat embossed it. I then used Distress Inks in pink and purple to cover the tag. The embossed circles stayed white.
I then stamped some script on the tag and used my favorite ring stamp, home made with an O-ring. Midge was stamped on booktext and cut out after which I placed her on the tag on some washitape. I put some more washitape in the top left corner to balance the tag. The sentiment was computer generated and cut out, distressed and glued on the tag. A bit of ribbon and some staples finished it off. Hope you like it......
 
 

Sunday 8 September 2013

I don't wanna...

Hello fellow Crafters,

I also had to do something with one of my new stamps today. And I did, here is the result:

 
I started with gesso and then used my CaranD'ache watersoluble crayons and some Distress Ink. After that I stamped the eyetest chart on there and used a few stencils to make the background a bit more interesting. Heartthrob was stamped on white paper and coloured with watercolour pencils. I embossed the image with clear embossing powder. It makes the colours pop ! I used some washitape to anchor him on and some more on the top right to balance the pages. The sentiment was stamped on white paper and distressed with Vintage Photo distress ink.
Hope you like it....
 

Make magic wherever you go

Hello fellow Crafters,

I did another journal page but without any Stampotique stamps this time. I put orange acrylic paint on the page and then used some CaranD'ache watersoluble crayons, white gesso & Dylusions inksprays over the top. I then used some stamps and a stencil to make it a bit more interesting. The lady came from a catalogue and I gave her a new head, new eyes, some blusher, a pair of wings and a nice hat. She also has a pet fish. The sentiment was stamped with Tim Holtz alphabet stamps on bookpaper. Hope you like it.....

Friday 6 September 2013

Whatever !?!

Hello fellow Crafters,

I can't get enough of those Stampotique Birdies so I used them again today to make this :

 
I started with yellow acrylic paint and then sprayed Dylusions Spray Ink in green over it. I wiped most of that off and put CaranD'ache watersoluble crayons in blue and green over the edges. I also used those to colour the large booktext circles. I used a collage stamp with lightblue ink for the background and then stencilled yellow polkatdots over it. The little circles were coloured with Distress Ink in Mustard seed and cut out with a punch. The swirl is a Tim Holtz stamp. The birdies were stamped on white cardstock and coloured with watercolour pencils. A few rub-ons and sticky back letters then finished it off. I hope you like it......

Wednesday 4 September 2013

Stampotique Designers Challenge 115, lots of layers and more

Hello fellow Crafters,
Today is Wednesday, the SDC day. I always look forward to this but today even more as I received some Stampotique stamps yesterday and I couldn't wait to use them. I´ve enclosed a picture of them all at the bottom of this post.

I decided to use Birdy Up , after all this stamp was on my wish list the longest. The Challenge was set by Sue Davies and she wanted us to use lots of layers, so I did. I alway use lots of layers. First I smooshed DI on my craftsheet and rubbed my little Moleskine Journal in it and that was the background. I then used some stamps to create a bit more interest. The number stamp on the right is PaperArtsy and is turning into one of my all time favourites. There is also a number stamp on the left which is Tim Holtz. I also used some postage stamp stamps, also PaperArtsy. I then used some stencils on top of that and outlined the flower one with a white gelpen. The branch is part of a stampotique stamp called Tree by Daniel Torrente. The birds were stamped on white cardstock, coloured with watercolour pencils and clear embossed. I also used a bit of a dictionary for the word 'family' and a tag to put my sentiment on (rub-ons). The last thing was some lace rub-ons on the sides and that was it.


 
Hope you like it....
 
 
 
 
 

Tuesday 3 September 2013

Always know in your heart...

Hello fellow Crafters,
Today I received some new Stampotique stamps and I was so excited that I went straight up to my Craftroom to make something...



This stamp called "Heart shirt" has been on  my wishlist for quite some time. Finally he is in my (ever growing) collection. The tag was covered in booktext and gessoed after which it was painted randomly with Distress Paint. I then put some Distress Inks over this. I used some stamps to make the background a bit more interesting. I then stamped Heart Shirt on some more Booktext and cut him out and glued him on the tag. I used some washitape to stand him on. The sentiment is from a Tim Holtz stamp set and I stamped it on booktext that was gessoed and cut it apart before glueing it on the tag. A bit of ribbon and a little heart (which was tied to the string around the package I received today, so sweet!) and that was it. Hope you like it....

The Stamping Cottage Challenge

Hello fellow Crafters,

Today I made a card for a Challenge which was to use orange and green and at least one stamp from their shop. So this is what I made:

 
I used a bit of watercolour paper and DI to colour the background, used a stencil for the chevrons and a Paperartsy stamp for the numbers on the left. Of course I had to use my home made Circle stamp again. The little Goat Monster is from Stampotiqe, a brand they sell in the Stamping Cottage. I coloured him with watercolour pencils and put him on some washi tape and ribbon. Used my Dymo label maker for the sentiment and lastly I added some doodling with a white pen and some charcoal.
I hope you like it......

Sunday 1 September 2013

Hanging out

Hello fellow Crafters,

Today I finally had time to make my entry for this weeks Stampotique Designers Challenge which was set by Kaz. She wanted us to use 3 or more circles and this is what I came up with:
 
I made the background with DI and just stamps today, no stencils. I made the circles out of silver cardstock and used bakers twine to 'hang' them on the page. I stamped Batboy three times and did some surgery to spread out his arms, I painted him with watercolour pencils. The letters are rub-ons and a bit of doodling around the page finished it off. Hope you like it ......