Black is not a colour !

Hello everyone,

and happy Wednesday. That must mean there is a new challenge over at the Stampotique Designers' Challenge blog ! Yay ! It is the lovely and very talented Sam's turn to host today and she tells us not to use black this week. This is what she had to say :

"The first thing I usually do after choosing which stamp I am going to use is reach for my black ink pad. So, I'm challenging myself and you to make anything you fancy so long as there is no black ink or paint etc. Have fun."

So that's what I did. I have seen a few people on YouTube do the no-line watercolouring and I had wanted to try that for a while now. Instead of watercolours I used my trusty Copic Markers though. So here is my tag :

I started with stamping this little guy with a light beige Memento Ink. I stamped it off first so the impression I got was very faint. I kept the stamp itself near so I could see the original print on the back for reference. I then started colouring with my Copics and I have to say it is quite difficult when you don't have the nice crisp black lines. I think he looks OK though... After I finished colouring I cut him out and set him aside to work on the tag. 

The tag was made from a piece of Tim Holtz pattern paper which was a warm gray with blue lines and scribbling on it. I added some stamping using blue, pink and gray inks and used a brayer and some Faded Jeans Distress Ink to get some colour on the tag. I then added the pink washi tape along the edges. When I was happy with the result I glued the little guy on the tag and was about to type the sentiment when I thought about the fact that my typewriter's ribbon is black !!! Oh, no.... hahaha

So I wrote it with my fancy fountain pen ! Lastly I added a bit of shading around him and put a ribbon throught the hole... 

That was it ! 

I used the following stamps:

Heart Throb

Fax to Wolfgang

Upholstered

Mash up 

I hope you will play along with us this week. You have all month to participate and to you will have a chance to win one of two $30 vouchers to spend in the SHOP. 

Just remember NO digi's and only one entry per person per challenge. Don't forget to add the challenge number to your Link-up... ie. #246.

Good luck and thank you for stopping by ! 

How do you do ?

Hello everyone,

and happy Tuesday ! For my DT post for Visible Image today, I have made an art journal to celebrate the UK release of the new Tim Burton film "Alice through the looking glass" on the 27th of May.

There is an awesome BONKERS OFFER going on too ! If you like the stamps, you'll have to have a look HERE

As I simply love Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum the choice what stamp to use was easy ! 

Yes, I know.... it is very bright ! haha... 

I had so much fun making this! For the background I used a technique shown by Leandra from Paperartsy on YouTube. You brayer the paint on. It is quick and easy and the result is different every time. I really liked this although I have used a lot more colours than I usually would. 

Anyway, when this had dried I used the 'Retro Dots' (now retired sadly) to stamp the background; using inks in similar colours. I used Archival and Distress for this. Next I took the script stamp from the 'Revolution' set and stamped that with black Archival Ink. 

I also drew a line around the page. I think this is becoming one of my trade marks... 

TweedleDee and TweedleDum were stamped on drawing paper and coloured with Faber Castell Polychromos and Carand'Ache Pablo coloured pencils. Normally I blend the colours 'dry' but today I used a blending stump and some Odourless Miniral Spirit to blend the colours together. 

I adhered the duo to the page and coloured some shade under their feet with the same pencils. Lastly I stamped their names on their chests and adhered the sentiment which was stamped on a separate piece of paper and cut out. I also doodled around the words. 

I have used the following stamps:

TweedleDee and Dum

Revolution

Retro Dots backgound

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Supernova

Hello everyone,

and welcome to my blog where, today, I am sharing a little tutorial about how I made this tag for my DT post for VivaLasVegaStamps! I had lots of trouble with it along the way, but I will explain what went wrong and how I rectified it with the photos.
So, get yourself a drink, sit down and enjoy !

As usual I'll start with the finished tag:

Most of the stamps I used for this tag are from the latest release April 2016. 

... and here's how :

I started with a tag that I cut myself. I have on Tim Holtz tag left from a pack and I just use that one as a template whenever I need a tag. I do have a die set but I hardly ever use it. It is just as easy to cut one by hand. 

 

Next I used a Crafter's Workshop stencil and some model paste and a palet knife to add some texture. 

I dried this with the heat tool. 

Next I painted a layer of gesso over it. 

I then coloured the tag with Distress Inks and a blending tool. 

Love these colours together... Mustard Seed, Picked Raspberry and Carved Pumpkin.

Looked good when it dried. Then I thought I'd better fixate this some how... So I used a spray fixative... first mistake....

It came out all mottled, which I kind of liked. So I decided to continue... 

I then thought the colours needed a bit more oomph so I added some Distress Crayon.... I think I really do not like them... This is the third time I've used them and I have a hard time with them.. 

Anyway.... I then found out that the Distress Ink I used for the first layer was still coming off when I rubbed it so I decided to use Tim's new Distress Collage Medium, crackle of over the top. Of course I knew it was going to smear but I thought that would be OK... This was how it looked and not a crackle in sight.. It might be because I didn't put it on thick enough or because I dried it with the heat tool.. Anyway, everything seemed fixed now. 

Next, the stamping, the fun part ! There is a full list of all the stamps I have used at the bottom of this post. 

Work in progress... 

I then used a white pen and doodled around the stamps.

I wanted to use this gorgeous new star stamp and when I saw this lady in my stamps I thought of putting her in it and that is what I did. 

The star with the lady was then adhered onto the one on the tag with dimensional tape. 

The last thing I did was  stamp the sentiment, cut it apart and adhered it to the tag. I doodled around the words and added a ribbon. 

And here is the finished tag again. I hope you liked my tutorial.... and have learned from my mistakes!

I have used the following stamps :

10488 - Bikini lady

19827 - Dooddle dots

19833 - Tired of trying to cram...

19822 - Squiggly star collage

19825 - Doodle Frame

Thank you so much for stopping by today ! 

Flying round in circles

Hello everyone,

and happy Wednesday yet again ! Kristen is our challenge hostess over at Stampotique Designers's Challenge today and she chose 'Circles' as her theme. This is what she had to say about it :

"I love to use circles in my projects, so this week, I am challenging you to get creative and show us what you can create with circles in you project."

Here is my postcard:

I was very lazy this time and used some patterned paper as a base. I did brayer some paint on to make it a little more interesting. I cut circles from some book pages with circle punches and glued them to the paper. I then used two bottle caps and the same green paint and some black paint to add circles around the circles. I used a stamp and some Leaf Green Archival ink to stamp the background here and there. Next I stamped the pig, coloured him and cut him out. I adhered him to the card. I then thought it would be nice to add some stitching around the edges so that's what I did. 

Lastly I typed the sentiment, cut it into strips, coloured the edges with a Copic Marker and adhered it to the card. 

I used only two stamps for this card:

Flying Pig

Fax to Wolfgang

Why not play along with us this week ! You could win one of two $30 vouchers to spend in the shop HERE... Just remember : NO digi's and only one entry per person per challenge. You have all month to participate.. Good luck ! 

Dreamer

Hello everyone,

For my post for Katzelkraft today I have made another art journal ! I love making art journals. I don't do it to journal as such but more to experiment with different materials and if the end result is a nice picture than I am a happy bunny !

When I say these birdhouses I saw this picture straight away ! So I started with a mini gelli plate 

(3" x 5") and some acrylic paint on a piece of paper. I also used a stencil by Dylusions. When I was happy I added some white paint through the same stencil over the top of the blue and green. Next I stamped all the elements on white card stock: the birdhouses, the cat, the tail of another cat, the umbrella and the sentiment. I coloured everything with Copic Markers, cut it all out and set it aside. 

I then stamped the branch with the birdhouses on the painted background using Archival Ink. I used a black pen to draw the branch bigger so it had room to hang the umbrella on. I painted the branch with brown acrylic paint and the leaves with a green and then drew in some details with a black pen. 

After this was all dry and I was happy I glued on the separately stamped images. 

I used the following stamp sets:

(if you click the link it will take you straight to the webshop)

KTZ156 - for the umbrella

KTZ169 - for the sentiment (part of)

KTZ170 - for the birdhouses

KTZ152 - for the cat and the tail 

Thank you so much for stopping by today ! 

Happiness

Hello everyone,

and happy Wednesday again !!!  It is time for a new challenge over at the Stampotique Designers' Challenge blog. Today, our hostess is the very talented Arwen and she chose 'scribbles' as her theme. This is what she said about her challenge:

"This week I want to see scribbles in your project. That can be scribbles by hand or with a stamp or stencil, you choose!"

I chose to scribble by hand and with a stamp in this art journal:

I really enjoyed making this. It is a little messier than what my normal stuff is but sometimes it's nice to be messy ! I started with a piece of Mixed Media paper that I cut in half (to be able to glue it on two pages in my journal. You could also cut it in half after you finish it) and gessoed. With a stencil and model paste I added the numbers.  I then used PaperArtsy Fresco paints to paint it. I drew a circle with a black pen and then wrote the quote around the circle by hand. It reads: Doing what you like is freedom, liking what you do is happiness. I had some room left so I added 'Freedom = Happiness! I stamped the background with various stamps and Archival inks. I used green, blue, black and grey inks. The coffee rings were stamped with white ink also but I find when it dries it becomes less bright so I poured white embossing powder over them and heat embossed them.  I used a white paint pen to add some splatters and a Stabile all pencil to add some shading around the numbers. I then stamped Mabel in the circle and also on a piece of white card stock on which I also stamped the word 'Happiness' from a sentiment stamp. Mabel was coloured with Copic Markers, cut out and adhered to herself in the circle. A few hand drawn lines along the edges finished it off. 

I used the following stamps: 

Upholstered

French Journal Page

Splattered Mug

Vintage bill

Mabel 

Happiness

Why not play along with us this week. You could win one of two $30 vouchers at the end of the month ! Just remember we don't allow Digi's and you can only enter once in each challenge. 

Good luck ! 

Thank you so much for stopping by today ! 

Dare !

Hello everyone,

and welcome to another post for Visible Image featuring the samples I made for the Create & Craft TV show from the 16th of April.

This first project was made with one of the awesome MDF Monoliths. I gessoed it and then put some white crackle paint on it. I love watching the crackles appear. Next I coloured it with Lindy's Stampgang Sprays. I sprayed some acrylic varnish over the top as Lindy's sprays are water soluble. 

Next I added more colours with Faber Castell Big Brush Markers as I thought it was to pale. These are permanent after drying. I then used my trusty credit card again and made some lines with black paint. I also used a background stamp from another set. 

A used a bottle cap and some more paint to add the circles on the right. 

The lips were stamped on tissue paper and then adhered to the Monolith. 

I did stamp the sentiment straight on but had to do some 'restoration' work with a black marker because the surface is oneven so I didn't get a good impression. 

The back was done much the same; I just added the circles with a stencil and heat embossed them with a dark pink embossing powder by Lindy's Stampgang. 

Here you can see that they are easy to mail too as you can take them apart. Of course when they have reached their destination they can be glued together. 

This card was really simple. I just cut four pieces of pattern paper and stamped the lips on each. I adhered the pieces to a card panel and matted it on black card stock. The whole thing was then added to a white card. The sentiment was made with sticky letters. 

This last card was made by glueing a piece of music paper that was torn not cut onto a card panel. I coloured the panel with water-soluble crayons and used the credit card yet again to create some lines with black paint. I also splattered some white an black paint drops on it. I stamped the lips on the card directly but that failed miserably so I had to do it again. As I didn't want to start again I stamped it on a piece of pattern paper with text on it, tore it out and adhered it. I liked it ! The sentiment was stamped directly onto the panel and doodled around with a white gel pen. 

I used the following stamps:

Sing

Dare to be different

and of course a

Monolith

 Social Media, Blog and monthly Challenge details :

Blog: http://visibleimage.co.uk/blog 

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