Twelve Tags of 2013 October ....What I learnt in School !

Talk about last minute! I finally got down to making my October tag for Tim's Twelve Tags of 2013 Challenge. You can see his fabulous tag by following the link here. I was a bit short of supplies for this one, so there are the usual improvisations. One thing I didn't have is that glorious looking Distress Glitter. It's now top of my shopping list. I'm really pleased with how the frame worked out, I used a technique Tim shared with us on CC102,  he calls it 'tarnished silver'. I changed it slightly by using gold embossing powder, and added a bit of gold glitter to the second heat embossing stage. This was great as it embeds the glitter into the surface. Can't wait to try it with distress glitter. Here's a close up....

I also got to use some of the layered stencil techniques as well. The spider is from a Halloween pack from the pound shop. Tim, you must visit one of these shops when your next in the UK, they're especially good at this time of year! I cover the spider with glossy accents and black glitter.

The fly's wings have also had a glittering with Clear Rock Candy Distress Glitter. Before completing this tag I started a couple of others, (as you do!) . I had a go at colouring the Clear Rock Candy Glitter with Egg Plant Alcohol Ink.

 Although I loved the effect, It just didn't seem to go with my spider and fly, so I changed it up and chose a more muted colour palette for my finished tag. The photos I'm afraid don't really do this one justice but it could just be my favourite tag I've made this year. Right, I'm off to carve a pumpkin, and bake a cake. I've got my lovely nephews and nieces and their children coming round for some Halloween fun. Enjoy everybody ! x

Watercolouring for The eTeam Picks Challenge

There's a great new 'e Team Picks' challenge on over at the eclectic Paperie blog. Giovanna is our host and she's chosen 'Water Colouring' as the theme. You can see her gorgeous card by following the link here  This fabulous challenge has given me the perfect opportunity to work on a few more of the alphabet cards I started a while ago. I had only got as far as 'a b c' so I've now added d, e and f. At this rate I should be finished in about 3 years time! The cards measure around 4.5 x 5 inches and are made of fairly heavy weight watercolour paper. Each of the images has been stamped with black Archival Ink and then painted using a Tim Holtz Water Brush with Distress Markers and Distress Ink pads. After painting  the image and the background, I administered a heavy dose of distress ink blending, with Old Paper, Antique Linen and Vintage Photo distress ink. I also used my favourite 'splash' stamp from Tim's Bitty Grunge stamp set, before adding the stamped letter. The alphabet stamps are from a Tim Holtz set of 'Foam Stampz' called Chronicles.   Here are some close ups of the cards I made today....

It's been really great to get reacquainted with my Distress Markers, I'd forgotten just how lovely they are to use. I scribbled my colours onto my craft mat, using the brush end of the pen and then spritzed with water before picking up the colour with my water brush. This prevents the colour from being too intense. If you'd like to try your hand at water colouring, why not hop over  to the eclectic Paperie blog, hit the 'e Team Picks Challenge' button and follow the challenge guidelines. While you're there have a look at some of the fabulously inspirational work from Giovanna and the rest of the team. We'd love to see what you come up with ! Many of the supplies I've used for these cards can be purchased at the brilliant eclectic Paperie shop. Kim is constantly adding to her product range and will do her best to get hold of additional supplies on request. Did I mention that there is also a prize of $15 worth of goods for one lucky winner? So what are you waiting for get those supplies out and start your water colour entry ! x

Tim Holtz Distress MarkersSet of 37 with ContainerGifts with purchase	Ranger - Watercolor Paper 8.5"x11"	Tim Holtz Water Brush - Detailer Brush	Inksessentials - Mini Mister 3-Pack	Inkssentials Foam Blending Tool
Distress Ink Pad - Old Paper	Distress Ink Pad - Antique Linen	Distress Ink Pad - Vintage Photo

Trick or Treat ?

I've had a bit  fun this afternoon making this bag. It started off as a trick or treat bag for halloween but evolved into an  iPad carry bag. I love my iPad and as it's one of the most expensive things I own, I'm a little paranoid about dropping it ! It's a long way up to my attic work room and I've usually got my arms full of stuff, so I thought it would be a good idea to have a bag that I can slip my iPad in, with handles that I can hook over my arm and voila! this is it. I started with one of my many Gelli prints. I used  the Tim Holtz skull to stamp the paper and masked it over before Gelli printing.

Here's the original print, I stamped a script stamp over the background with black archival ink, while the mask was still in place. After removing it, I used a bit of Antique Linen Distress ink on the skull. This gave it a much more bone like colour!  I then scanned the Gelli print,  and reversed the image before printing it onto a piece of tee shirt transfer paper. Gelli print, scanner and transfer paper,truly a marriage made in heaven! I can't wait to explore this further.

I then ironed this onto a piece of canvas fabric and constructed a simple bag which is just the right size for my iPad.

 

I Really like the way this turned out. The patterns on the Gelli print were achieved by firstly 'pulling' a plain yellow print, re-inking with deep red paint and then laying on some strips of very 'hairy' textural yarn, before pulling a second print on the yellow surface. I think it gives a rather flame like appearance, just right for the disembodied skull! I'm entering this into  The Simon Says Monday Challenge where the theme is 'Spooky'.x

What Would Michelangelo Say ?

I'm just about recovering from the marathon crafting session that was CC102. Fantastic fun and a great way to learn about what to do with all those lovely products. If you'd like to know how I incorporated  this paper napkin into a project, hop over to the eclectic Paperie blog and you'll see how I dabbled with a little Distress mixed media and put into practice some of the techniques I learnt in class x.

Creative Chemistry 102

Well it's been the last day of class today and I'm just posting my tags for day 2! Tim has once again excelled in providing some fantastic techniques in this years Creative Chemistry 102.It's been really great to get out all those distress products, stencils, and tools and have some really good instruction on how to get the best out of them.so here are the rest of my tags for day 2 which was all about stencils. 

and ...........

I think I mentioned that the class content has a lifetime access, so it's not too late to join in the fun and believe me it's a lot of fun ! x

WOYWW # 227

Good morning WOYWW'ers. Here is my ever decreasing work space. The position of the tag indicates the area I've just been working in. I'm taking part in the Creative Chemistry 102 and am already a day behind. If you'd like to see more messy desks and tables like this one, hop over to Julia's stamping ground blog and feast your eyes on crafter's tables from around the world. I've got to stop now and go to work but I shall hope to catch up with you all later. Have fun ! X

Creative Chemistry 102 Day One

Just a quick post to show you some of the fab textures Tim's had us creating for the tags, on day one of Creative Chemistry 102. Mr Holtz is certainly putting us through our paces with six great tags from day 1 and today there are eight to complete. Just as well there is a life time access to this course, as I'm already playing catch up! Why oh why do I have to go to work ? Strange but I think I know the answer to that question! x

WOYWW # 226

The weeks are flying by October already! Ahh well it'll soon be C......... no! I'll just stop there. Instead It's time for another WOYWW post. I've been a bit hopeless at joining in lately, my return to work coupled with a change in the days I work, have thrown me a bit and I'm finding it hard to get back into a routine. So excuses over.. Here is just a little part of my untidy work table.....

You can see the usual jumble of Distress Ink pads and left over bits and bobs, on the stand are some tags from the Tim Holtz 2013 Challenge, but I'd really like to draw your attention to the little packets of garden tags I picked up from a Home Bargains store. What a fab shop. The copper tags come in a pack of 10 for the princely sum of 39p The wooden plant markers were a bit more expensive just over £1 (can't remember exactly) Anyone who's into mixed media crafts will be delighted by having a mooch in this shop. Sorry Julia I know you don't like advertising but thought I'd like to share my finds. Now if you're asking 'who's this Julia?' Well she is the fabulous host of the stupendous Whats On Your Workdesk Wednesday. If you want to find out more about this great table sharing blog hop, then hop over to Julia's Stamping Ground Blog and find out how you can share your work space with the rest of the world. Until next time, happy crafting ! x,