'Enamelled Metal' Travel Journal.

Here is the project I've been working on for my design team post over at the eclectic Paperie blog.If you've not visited there yet, you can scroll down and see my piece for the current eP Team Picks Challenge, or follow my link which will take you straight there. There's always plenty of inspiration to be found on the eP blog from a very talented team of ladies! The promise of summer holidays on the not too distant horizon, has got me thinking. I always like to take a sketch book with me when I go away and have a little dabble with my pens and paints. The variety of journals and 'smash' books with all their pockets and different papers has made my plain old sketch book seem a little uninspiring so I've decided to make myself  something a bit more interesting. I've used Tim Holtz's 'enamelled metals' technique for the cover and the pages are made from off cuts of paper. I've made it nice and thick with different weights of paper and card, so that can stick bits in, draw, paint or write to my heart's content. I started off by embossing some metal foil tape using the Compass embossing folder from the Alterations Airmail and Compass Set. I attached this to a piece of card, this is how it looked.

I then painted it with a variety of Distress Paints and left it to dry completely. It looks a bit messy at this stage, but fear not! The magic happens when you start to sand it.

Using a sanding grip, I lightly sanded the surface removing some of the paint from the raised pattern. I really like this part, as it starts to come to life.

The next stage involves going over the surface with a blending tool and distress ink. I've used a mixture of Vintage Photo and Walnut stain. I then heat embossed it with clear embossing powder.

I cut a frame from a separate piece of card and used the same enamelled metal technique but this time using the 'ledger' Texture Fades embossing folder and just two colours. I treated the back cover in the same way.

 I've used my 'Bind it all' machine to assemble the journal and added a couple of embellishments. I particularly like the little wooden tag. Kim sent me these Maya Road tags in my DT package and I've been itching to use them. Although I've stamped the inside front and back covers, I want to do a bit of stamping and embellishing inside the journal before I use.

So roll on summer.......... now where did I put those holiday brochures..........x

Here's a list of supplies I've used available from the lovely eP store.

Tim Holtz Retractable Craft Knife	Idea-ology - Sanding Grip Block	Claudine Hellmuth Studio-Multi-Medium Matte	Tim Holtz - Tarnished Brass Distress Paint	Tim Holtz Distress Paint - Seedless Preserves
Tim Holtz Distress Paint - Peeled Paint	Tim Holtz Distress Paint - Mustard Seed	Tim Holtz Distress Paint - Chipped Shappire	Claudine Hellmuth Studio Paints - Dash of Red	Distress Ink Pad - Vintage Photo
Inkssentials Foam Blending Tool	Ranger Embossing Powder - Clear	Maya Road - Wood Shipping Tags	Tim Holtz Alterations - Airmail & Compass Set - Texture Fades	Tim Holtz (Stampers Anonymous) - Mini Blueprints #3 Stamp Set
Inkssentials� Surfaces Metal Foil Tape Sheets 6"x12"

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Mona,Tim and Dyan Meet Andy and Toni

Its time for another ePicks Challenge over at the eclectic Paperie blog. The host for this month is Julie and she's asking for us to use 'Gel Medium' in a project. You can see Julie's work here, as well as her fabulous video tutorial showing how to use gel medium to transfer an image to paper. I've chosen to create this Warhol inspired 10 by 12 inch canvas using Studio Gel Medium to adhere  stamped and sprayed tissue onto the surface. I started off by stamping onto pieces of white tissue paper with Tim Holtz's Mona Lisa stamp and black Staz On ink. I discovered that to get the best impression, it was better to lay the tissue on top of the inked stamp and gently brayer the surface.

This gave a nice dark print. I then sprayed each image with Dylusions Ink, in as many yummy colours as I have. I trimmed the images and played about with the arrangement of colours placing the images on my canvas which I'd previously coated with white gesso.

After stacking the images in order, I started to adhere them, one by one, to the canvas using matte Studio Multi Medium. once they were all stuck down I gave the whole surface a coat of Multi Medium, taking care not to over brush the surface in order to avoid any colour transfer, as the Dylusions Sprays are water soluble. Once the canvas was dry, I used some of the new Tim Holtz Remnant  Rub Ons Numbers to embellish the surface. I can't get enough of these, they went onto the surface so easily. 

I finally gave the canvas another coat of gel medium. Once dry, I added a wire hanger and a little Ideaology Token that says 'Altered' which I think just about sums it up. So now its over to you. Hop over to the eclectic Paperie blog where you'll find lots of inspiration from the design team. as well as guidelines for the challenge. You don't have to use products from the eP shop but we love it when you do. You may even win a prize that will help you stock up with some goods.

 Here is a list of the products I've used on this project which are available from the eP shop. 

Claudine Hellmuth Studio-Multi-Medium Matte	Claudine Hellmuth Studio Gesso	Dylusions Ink Spray - Vibrant Turquoise	Dylusions Ink Spray - Squeezed Orange	Dylusions Ink Spray - Pure Sunshine
Dylusions Ink Spray - Postbox Red	Dylusions Ink Spray - London Blue	Dylusions Ink Spray - Fresh Lime	Dylusions Ink Spray - Bubblegum Pink	Dylusions Ink Spray - Crushed Grape
Dylusions Ink Spray - Cut Grass	Idea-ology - Tim Holtz - Remant Rubs - Numbers

WOYWW #206

 It's a rather wet and dismal morning here and I should be getting ready for work but just wanted to post a quick picture of my chaotic desk as it remains after an afternoon of crafting. Why am I showing this chaos to the world? because it's time for the 206th episode of Whats On Your Work(desk/space) Wednesday or WOYWW as it is known throughout the world. It's hosted by the lovely Julia over at her Stamping Ground blog so nip over there and join in the fun. I've been working on a couple of projects to be blogged later so there's lots of stuff on my table. I should at this point say that the table is about 7ft long and the rest of it is similarly covered. Well I like a bit of creative chaos. Happy WOYWW everyone x

The Magnificent 6

Here's a tag I've made using a photo-realistic stamp from the Stampsmith African American Heritage set. I love this group of youngsters proudly posing in their sports kits with one of them holding a football. The background of the tag has been stamped in various shades of brown distress ink using the Tim Holtz 'Bitty Grunge' stamp set. This has then been toned down with white Distress Stain and once dry, Antique Linen Distress ink blended over the top with Vintage Photo and Walnut Stain applied around the edges. I then die cut the tag with an Alterations Clip Board die, I coloured this with Tarnished Brass Distress Paint. The photo of the boys has been stamped with black Archival ink. Once dry, I covered the surface with Versa Mark Ink and clear embossing powder. I think this makes it look more like a glossy photograph.

 A bit of scrunching up and a touch of Vintage Photo DI enhances the vintage look. I've added a metal number, a newspaper cutting from the sports section of our local paper, plus a couple of stamped tickets cut using the new mini tickets die and a stamped and die cut postage stamp. These are the mementos of the day depicted in the 'photo'. I'm entering this into the Stampsmith 'Tic Tac Toe' challenge as well as I've chosen the bottom row which is 'Manly, Metal and Distress'. I'm also entering it into the Our Creative Corner and Fashionable Stamping Challenges which are both holding an 'Anything Goes' challenge. x

WOYWW # 205

Where did the last week go? Well wherever it went it's Wednesday again and time for another What's On Your Work (desk/space) Wednesdayotherwise jnown as WOYWW. For further details of how to show off your work space to the world, hop over to Julia's Stamping Ground Blog and join in, it's a lot of fun. My table has had a bit of crafty action recently, as those of us in the UK were treated to a long weekend and I spent at least one whole day in my attic room. I felt a bit guilty as the weather has been gorgeous and I really should have been in the garden, still with the extra day off work I was able to spend Monday outside and lovely it was too. I've been having a play with a set of Stamp Smith stamps, they are the photo-realistic kind and the technique for getting a really good clear image needs a bit of practice, so there are several 'not quite right' images on my table. I've been making a tag  using lots of vintaging and distress, which is right up my street, I'll be blogging that later, the tags you can see today are the 'mop ups'. So have a mooch and see what else you can spot .By the way, the rather inky cloth on the right hand side is part of my efforts to save the planet and stop using baby wipes. Just a small token I know but you've got to start somewhere.Happy WOYWW x

3 Wishes Altered Bottle

At last!  Here is my DT entry for the new eclectic Paperie Get Altered Challenge. Donna Marie has set the the challenge this month and you can see her totally amazing altered bottle over on the eP blog here. Believe me it's stunning. The rest of the team are also adding their inspiring creations. So if you fancy having a go at altering a bottle or jar, hop over to the eclectic Paperie blog, follow the challenge guidelines and let us share in your amazing creativity. You may even win a $15 prize to spend in Kim's wonderful eclectic Paperie online shop.
The Challenge got me hunting around for a suitable vessel to alter. It had me rooting about in the fridge and emptying shelves of all those jars and bottles with just a few dregs of whatever left inside.

I finally decided on, a good old sauce bottle. I loved Donna Marie's project so much with all it's glitz and bling, that I decided to follow suit and go for an oppulent look. I started by dabbing on some 'Flitter Glue' and adding a few sheets of imitation gold leaf from my craft stash. It's a little tricky to handle when you have glue on your fingers, so if you try this keep some baby wipes and a towel handy. I used Distress Paint in tarnished brass to fill in the gaps and used Black, Vintage Photo and Frayed Burlap to add a bit of vintaging. As I worked on it I decided that it was going to be a 'Wish Bottle' and that I would make three wishes and seal them inside. To add some texture to the sides of the bottle, I smoothed on some Wendy Vecchi embossing paste through Donna Downey's  6x6 Turkish Grunge stencil.

Once this was dry, I added just about every gold medium I had to handfilling in any gaps and creating mre texture, this included Inca Gold paste, Tarnished Brass Distress Paint and Treasure gold paste. My hands were a picture, largely because I used my fingers as brushes, I was having a ball! Once these layers were dry, I broke open my new Tim Holtz Remnant Rub Ons and added groups of words to the surface. Now, I should have let the surface dry a whole lot more before doing this, as the rub ons wanted to stick to any sticky part of the surface and when I tried to remove the backing sheet some of the surface started to lift off still I persevered and although the words are a bit random in places I love the over all look.

The final stages were to add the embellishments. The metal corners are by Creative Expressions  and the gems are from my stash. The number is a die cut which has been heat embossed with 2 layers of Ranger UTTE, with gold leaf added over the enamel. All have been adhered to the surface with Glossy Accents. I had a brilliant afternoon working on this bottle and making my three wishes, now sealed inside the bottle. I think they are probably the same as people all over the world would wish for. Lets just hope that they come true, then again maybe they already have !x

So, why not get altering your own bottle or jar and join in with this fun challenge, we would love to see what you come up with! below are some of the supplies I've used that Kim stocks in the eclectic Paperie shop.

  

WOYWW # 204

It's time for another WOYWW post, as usual time seems to be flying by! If you are not already addicted to joining in with the weekly snoop around other crafter's work spaces, that constitutes the 'What's On Your Work (space) Wednesday', I suggest you hop over to Julia's Stamping Ground blog and get involved. I've still got loads of stuff on my table left over from a weekend crafty session. I've also got some 'new' stamps waiting to be mounted on Kling-on. In truth I've had them for a while but have been putting off the dreaded cutting and mounting task. You may also spy some die cuts from the new TH Alterations Pediments die, which I took delivery of this week, along with some other goodies which you might just spot at the back of the table, well it was pay day ! The small stamp at the bottom right is a little stamp I made myself which I use as a logo on the back of my cards. I will post a picture when I have a bit more time but for now,' Here's to a crafty long weekend' enjoy x