Sunday 28 April 2013

Birthday Card

Two Posts in one day! just a quickie. This is a birthday card I've made for my husband's birthday which is on Wednesday. I really like to use this Graphic 45 stamp of the jazz band with a vibrant background as I think it adds to the already joyful image. The background has been created using stamps from Tim Holtz's Bitty Grunge collection. I've used a Kaliedacolor rainbow inkpad in Calypso and Tims enamelled stamping technique. The band have been stamped separately and cut out and mounted on dimensional pads. They've had a little colour added to them with Distress Markers. I'm entering this into The Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge which is all about 'Colour'. So that's me done for today. x

Twelve Tags of 2013 - April

I thought it was about time I got round to posting my April contribution to the Tim Holtz Twelve Tags of 2013 Challenge. This was a great tag to make with an opportunity to have a good dabble with those lovely Distress Paints. I had lots of fun splodging and mopping up different colour combinations, so have ended up with several backgrounds which I'm sure will come in useful for other projects. I've stuck quite close to Tim's original design as I really like all the elements and techniques he has used this month. As usual, there's a wonderful step by step of how to make this tag over at Tim's blog so I shall keep this post fairly short as I have another project to share. x

Wednesday 24 April 2013

WOYWW #203


Good morning everybody. This is my first WOYWW post for several weeks. It's been one of those times when everything seems to happen on a Wednesday! still here I am to share my rather untiy craft space with you. Why? because Julia over at  her Stamping Ground blog has been hosting this weekly opportunity to browse each others craft space and get inspired by what you see. Hop over there and get involved, it's great fun and pretty addictive. My table is just as I left it when I went off to cook the tea yesterday. I'd been having a go at the Tim Holtz tag for April, so there's Distress ink and paint every where, but mostly on the still uncleaned craft mat. I kept mopping it up with tags as I went along and have ended up with several useful but a bit dark background. Anyway one of the most interesting things on my table is a little jar with a massive dead bumble bee in it which I found in my garden. It's in perfect condition so I'm not sure why it died. I'm thinking of setting it in resin for posterity. Any way have a browse around 'cause I'm now off to the day job x

Monday 22 April 2013

A Stitch in Time.......


This is my latest  design team project I've made for the eclectic Paperie blog using my new goodies from the lovely eP shop. I ordered the new Tim Holtz Mini Blue Print Set 3 and the Mini Pocket Watch die, there were other things in my order but I'll share those at a later date. Boy I'll never be rich! The project I've made is a 'tag book sewing kit' and this is how I put it together. I started out by printing off some vintage sewing clipart from a Tim Holtz Distressables Elements CD I've had for ages.I also used some clip art I already had on my computer.
I glued my chosen pictures to a piece of paper from the Authentique Renew collection. I almost hate using these gorgeous papers as I have to decide which side to use and I always love  both sides! I then cut out the images and gave them a bit of Vintage Photo Distress Ink around the edges. Once dry, I added some sewing notions to each card, thread, needles, press studs and some vintage pearl buttons. I then turned my attention to making the tag backgrounds. I used some tags I already had in my stash, they measure 5" x 2 1/2". I splodged a variety of Distress Stains onto my craft mat and smooshed the tags through, first one side and then the other.
Once dry, I inked over them with Antique Linen Distress before  stamping over with the Mini Blue Print Stamps on both sides,using Gathered Twigs Distress ink and more Vintage photo around the edges.
I really like the way these stamps can be used to create a background pattern. I also used a tape measure stamp I had in my collection for one of the tags. my initial idea was to fold and sew the bottom of the tags to create a pocket to put the cards in, but it didn't show enough of the cards. So I had a rethink and decided to use some sticky backed Velcro spots.
These, I think, work really well. As you can see the whole of the card plus some of the tag background and the cards are quite securely attached but easy to remove.
I really like the way the sewing cards look like they're straight out of a vintage sewing basket. On the last tag which became the front cover, I used my new die to create a mini pocket watch. I die cut two shapes and punched out the centre of one of them with a 1 1/2" punch. I added Treasure Gold paste to the frame and stuck a piece of acetate on the back.  I then stamped the watch face onto a piece of manila card, cut it out and mounted onto the die cut shape I then glued the frame on top. I finished off by adding a computer print out of the age old saying " a stitch in time saves nine" wise words indeed.x

These are some of the lovely goodies I've used on this project which are available from the eclectic Paperie Shop.

Saturday 20 April 2013

Spring at Last ! ! Flowers for the 'e Team Picks April Challenge'

Hi everybody, it's time for another 'ePicks Challenge' over at the eclectic Paperie blog. Sherry is our hostess this month and you can see her gorgeous canvas as well as some of the other inspiring projects by following the link here. Sherry has chosen the topic of' 'flowers' for the April challenge so there is loads of scope for you to get creative. So why not make a project featuring flowers, hop over to the eclectic Paperie blog, follow the challenge guidelines and you could be in with a chance of winning a $15 gift certificate for Kim's wonderful online shop. I'm submitting this mixed media journal spread as my design team contribution. I've been seeing some fantastic journal pages by my fellow DT members lately that I really felt I wanted to get my rather neglected journal out and have a good play session. I started off by collaging the blank pages with various textured papers. I've use Claudine Hellmuth Multi Medium in matte finish for gluing the papers down. I then gave the pages a coat of white gesso which provided a great base for applying the layers of acrylic paints for the sun and sky background.
 I used Wendy Vecchi's white Embossing Paste through a Donna Downey  mask to create the flowers and one of Dyan Reavley's masks for the leaves. The raindrops have been made using a Prima Stencil with Ferro Paste in Old Gold. The colouring on the leaves and flowers has been done with Pan Pastels. These could be joining my growing list of favourite craft products, I hadn't realised just how lovely they are to use. The quote I've used is from the Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett, when describing spring " It is the sun shining on the rain and the rain falling on the sunshine" to me this perfectly describes a good old English spring!


Friday 5 April 2013

33 Years and Counting!


I thought you might like to see  my second DT post for the eclectic Paperie blog. For this I've been thinking way outside of my comfort zone and produced my very first scrap book page! I can't believe I've been crafting for so many years and not done any scrap booking, could be the start of something new. The page is in celebration of our 33rd wedding anniversary which just happens to be today! I've used this photo of Graeme and I as we are about to cut the cake. We're both laughing and as I recall, ( well it was a long time ago) we had a lot of laughs that day. We celebrated at home with all our family and friends and partied long into the early hours. OK so back to the layout. I started with a piece of chip board and sealed it with Studio Gesso, I then used a Wendy Vecchi  Dots and Stripes stencil, with  Embossing Paste to create texture
Once dry, I painted the board with  Paper Artsy Fresco Paint firstly in Sage and then over painted with a colour called Concrete.
Here's a closer shot of the Clip Board and Large Postage Stamp die cuts I used to mount the photo. These new Alterations dies are brilliant and I was pleased to find that they worked in my Cuttle Bug. I finally mounted them onto a distressed piece of paper from the gorgeous Authentique Renew pad. 
These flower embellishments were painted with Antique |Linen Distress paint, and the  leaves were free hand cut from a piece of  gorgeous Kraft Core Paper.The flourishes were cut from a Cheery Lyn die and embossed with gold embossing powder and given a coat of Perfect Pearls powder before heating again, just makes it a little more subtle. So there you have it my my first scrap book page. Most of the lovely supplies I've used can be brought from the e P store, so if you're inspired to try any of the techniques I've used, hop on over to here and stock up.







Thursday 4 April 2013

Steam Punk Altered Clock for 'Get Altered with eclectic Paperie'.


Good afternoon everyone on this cold and blustery day here in the UK. I've been cosily tucked away in my crafty attic, working on my design team piece for the 'Get Altered With eclectic Paperie Challenge'. The challenge starts on the first Thursday of every month and this month, it was the turn of the extremely talented Erin to choose a topic. No prizes for guessing what she picked, yes that's right 'Altered Clocks', but there is a prize of $15 for one lucky entrant to spend in Kim's wonderful eclectic Paperie shop. So dig those old clocks out, get altering and hop over to the eP blog, where you can link up your entry and see Erin's amazing work, along with some other fabulous design team creations. It's truly amazing how some of these clocks have been transformed. So here is my offering, those of you who visit me regularly, may recognize the resemblance to the Steam Punk Box I made a while ago. I so love using the embossed and inked metal foil tape method, that I couldn't resist matching my clock to the box. So here's a few pics to show how I got started. As usual I launched into the project before I reached for my camera, but the first photos show the clock in the initial paint stages with a few cogs placed on just to give me an idea of the look I wanted to achieve.
I used a cheaply bought clock and painted over the original design with Claudine Hellmuth Studio Gesso in white. I then painted a couple of areas with a Black Acrylic Paint Dabber. I cut a few cogs using the Spellbinders 'Sprightly Sprockets' die ( love that title) and used various mixes of Distress Embossing Powders and Stampendous Frantage to achieve a vintage rust look.
I then covered the clock face with strips of metal foil tape which I firstly embossed using the Tim Holtz Alterations, Texture Fades Riveted Metal embossing folder. After attaching it to  the areas I wanted, I then used Alcohol Inks in, Ginger, Expresso, Pitch Black and Gold Mixative to cover over the surface. Once dry, I used wire wool to remove most of the ink. I love the way it gets caught in the little indentations and creates that aged metal look, you never quite know how it's going to turn out. Here's a photo before inking, of course I forgot to take one of the inked surface!
The next stage was to paint the 'torn back' areas, I used a gold Paint Dabber for this, and attached the various cogs and gears with Glossy Accents once the paint was dry.
I cut the Roman numerals out of craft card, on my Pazzles Inspiration machine. I love it when I have the time to use this machine. The numbers have been given a coat of gold embossing powder and have been mounted on dimensional pads. Now, if You've managed to stay to the end of this post, I know it's pretty lengthy, I'll let you into a little secret.... All the way through altering this clock face, I took great care to not damage the clock hands, then just in my typical fashion, not knowing when to stop, I rashly decided to alter the hands which I have to say were a perfectly acceptable plain black finish. I carefully inked them up with Versa Mark and applied Aged Black Embossing Powder, treating each hand separately, I applied my heat tool and Voila!..... lovely looking but no longer working hour hand! As I held the clock up to admire my work the hand fell limply to the 6'o'clock position..... so disappointing after all that work. Not to be defeated I have ordered another clock movement and will fit it, as soon as it arrives. Still it reminds me of a quote I read made by Thomas Edison when asked about the secret of his success...."I owe my success to the fact that I never had a clock in my workroom." Brilliant! maybe I should just leave it as it is, set permanently to 'craft time' x