Twelve Tags of 2014 ~ September

Well there are a couple of days left of September and here I am posting my entry for Tim's Twelve Tags of 2014 Challenge. As usual this was a fun tag to make and gave me an opportunity to get out my rather neglected Alcohol Inks. These aren't usually my 'go to' medium of choice, but I always enjoy using them when I'm kind of forced into it ! One thing I do love using though, is this phrenology head, it crops up fairly regularly in my work. I used masking tape to mask the top of the head, before stamping. I  then masked the bottom half and turned the stamp at an angle to create this kind of hinged effect. Just right for setting these birds free !
There's not long to wait for another of Tim's tags, it's hard to believe that there will only be another three tags left for the 2014 challenge. Time sure does march on ! x

Compendium of Curiosities ~ Challenge 11 ~ Effect Powders.

I've just about got time to enter my piece into this fortnight's Compendium of Curiosities 3 Challenge 11. I must confess I've been watching Strictly Come Dancing on the TV, instead of finishing my project. The technique chosen by the Curiosity Crew this time is, 'Effect Powders'. All the details for this, can be found on page 52 of Tim's fabulous Compendium of Curiosities Volume 3. The Challenge this week is very generously  sponsored by Inspiration Emporium. There's also whole bunch of fab goodies supplied by Tim and Mario for the Crew's choice. I've made a Halloween themed canvas, and have used the Effect Powders on the lamp, trellis, raven and tree branches. it's great for creating a rusted finish and I've enhanced it with metallic paste and alcohol ink. 

The substrate for this piece is something that I'm sure will be re-occurring in my work. I found a roll of hessian wallpaper, circa 1970 something, tucked away in our 'junk' room, I remember my husband had said paper on one of the walls in his living room when I first met him. I remember thinking how cool it was. Now all these years later it's serving to be pretty cool all over again, but not on the walls! x

Vintage Style Heart

Hi everybody! I thought I'd share this chip board heart I made a couple of weeks ago as a gift for one of my lovely nieces. I am blessed with having 5 nieces and three lovely little great nieces. As the mother of boys who grew up with two brothers and no sisters, I feel very lucky to have all these lovely women in my life! I've noticed that there is a 'From the Heart' challenge over at Frilly and Funkie. and thought this might fit the bill. There's the added incentive of a lovely prize draw of a $25 spending spree for the Funkie Junkie Boutique. A Heart is such a wonderful symbol and it's nice to craft one without it even being anything to do with Valentine's Day! This one started out as a cheap and cheerful chipboard heart. It measures approximately 15cm x 17cm.

After gessoing the frame, I painted the surface with Paper Artsy Fresco Paint and then stencilled over with embossing paste, through a Wendy Vecchi Flourish stencil. Once dry I highlighted the flourishes with Inka Gold paste. I made the flowers with some off cuts of patterned papers and Tim's Tattered Florals die. I never, never, never, get tired of using this die. I hope I won't wear it out ! The centres and the 'spiky' flower have been made with a very nifty die by Cheery Lynn.

 The additional gold flourishes are also die cuts that have been embossed with gold embossing powder. To complete the project, I added a dyed bow. I didn't know how to make these big bows until Tim Holtz showed how to do it on his June 2014 tag and it seems it was Paula Cheney who showed him. Ahhhh! its all about learning and sharing and these two are masters! Thanks guys ! x

Compendium of Curiosities III ~ Challenge 10 ~ Assemblage Clock

A late night post again ! Somewhat ironic given that this is an Assemblage Clock ! You could say that once again I am just in the nick of time to get my post up for this fortnight's Compendium of Curiosities 3 Challenge. The Curiosity Crew have challenged us to have a go at altering one of Tim's Assemblage Clocks. This features on page 33 of The Compendium of Curiosities Volume 3. I've fancied having a go with one of these for some time so this seemed like a great opportunity. I've chosen a travel theme and used several stamped images as well as some travel labels from an Idea-ology 'Expedition' Ephemera Pack. 

There's lots of room in these empty clocks so it proved to be quite a challenge layering all the pieces, I got through a lot of sticky pads!

This fortnight's challenge is generously sponsored by The Funkie Junkie Boutique and as usual there is a another fabulous prize of a bunch of goodies from those lovely guys Tim and Mario, for the Curiosity Crews favourite piece. So what's not to love about that! If you hop over to Linda's Studio L3 blog, you'll find some wonderful examples from the Curiosity Crew, and by time you read this there will probably be full details of how to join in with the next challenge ! x

'Autumn Beauty '~ September ePlay Challenge ~ 'Fall'.

It's time for a new ePlay challenge over on The eclectic Paperie blog. Debbie is our hostess and she has chosen 'Fall' as the theme for September. You can see her fabulous layout by following the link here. For my design team piece, I've created an inside out canvas featuring a wonderful huge Donna Downey design stamp, that I've been wanting to use since Kim sent it to me a few weeks ago. Here's how I got started...

I chose a piece of corrugated card as my substrate and removed some of the surface before giving it a coat of  Studio Gesso. I then applied Distress Paints in various 'autumnal' colours and allowed them to marble together after spraying them with water. I then stamped the gorgeous face, onto a tissue with black Archival Ink. The stamp is called 'Windows to the Soul' by Unity Stamp Co. I separated the layers of tissue and adhered the image to the painted surface with Studio Matte Multi Medium. I left this to dry and set to work on my leaves. I coloured a few pieces of lightweight card with more Distress Paint and dried them with my heat tool.

I then used the Jumbo Tattered Florals Die to cut out lots of leaves. To make them more 'leaf-like'. I stamped each one with a crackle patterned stamp from my stash. I then folded them in half and ran a smudge of Vintage Photo Distress Ink down the middle to create a spine. 

I had great fun arranging the leaves and adhering them around the face to create my 'Autumn Beauty' Once I'd finished, I decided to add a little gold embossing to the edges. I then mounted the panel inside the back of an 11 x 8 canvas I'd had around for a while, I'd already painted the frame but decided to add a little Tarnished Brass Distress Paint. to complete my Autumn Beauty, I adhered a deep pink flower to her 'hair'.

 Well, There's certainly a touch of Autumn in the air here in the UK. The trees are starting to change colour and my garden is already littered with leaves, conkers and hazel nuts. The squirrels are having a ball! x

We'd love to see what fabulous 'Fall' creations you can come up with. There is a $25 gift certificate for Kim's wonderful eclectic Paperie shop, for one lucky winner. Hop over to the blog with this link where you'll find all the challenge details. Here are some of the products available from Kim's eP shop, which I've used on this project: 

Tim Holtz Distress Paint - Tea Dye	Tim Holtz Distress Paint - Peacock Feathers	Tim Holtz Distress Paint - Dried Marigold	Tim Hotlz Distress Paints - Evergreen Bough	Tim Holtz Distress Paint - Brushed Corduroy
Tim Holtz Distress Paints - Festive Berries	Tim Holtz Distress Paint - Aged Mahogany	Tim Holtz Distress Paints - Ripe Persimmon	Tim Holtz Distress Paints - Scattered Straw	Tim Holtz - Tarnished Brass Distress Paint
Tim Holtz - Antique Bronze Distress Paint	Tim Holtz Alterations - Bigz XL Die - Jumbo Tattered Florals	Claudine Hellmuth Studio-Multi-Medium Matte	Dina Wakely - Media Gesso - White	Ranger Heat It Craft Tool
Inksessentials - Non-Stick Craft Sheet