Anyone for a Cup of Tea ? ~ New Post for Stamps and Stencils

Good morning! It's my turn to inspire you over on the Stamps and Stencils blog. If you'd like to see how I got from this......

 to this..........

then grab a cup of tea and hop over to the Stamps and Stencils blog, with this link, and I'll show you.
See you there x

Play Time !

Hi everybody! I've got altered wooden, book box for you today, inspired by the work of Andy Skinner. I've recently signed up for Andy and Tracey (Weinzapfel) 'Dare to Create' art retreat in July and I'm excited already ! I've been interested in Andy's work for sometime but I've managed to miss his last few UK workshops, so I'm thrilled to be going, and meeting not only Andy but Tracey too, Whoop, whoop! I thought I'd get in a little practice, by joining in with  Andy's Bold and Bright challenge. full details can be found over on his blog. I started off with a blank wooden Memory Box Book, I bought from The Works. 

Initially I painted it with Deco Art Media Fluid in Quinacridone Magenta. It's a gorgeous colour but I could see immediately that it was missing something.... Texture !  I used strips recycled tissue paper and adhered it to the surface with Deco Art Media Matte Medium, manipulating it to create texture as I went along.

I then painted the surface with Primary Yellow Fluid Acrylic. Once this was dry, I gave it a coat of Weathered Wood Medium and then a top coat of the Quinacridone Magenta, and waited for the magic to begin......

Here is the back and a panel I created for the inside to hold the cogs.

I mixed up a bit of Quinacridone Gold and Paynes Grey Media fluid with a dash of Antiquing Fluid, and brush.ed this over the surface to give it a bit of depth. Once this was dry I sealed it with Ultra-Matte Varnish.

Here is my selection of cogs, These are a selection of kraft card die cuts and metal cogs. I applied a thin coat of Deco art Crackle Paste to the surface of each one and then painted them with a selection of Media Fluid Acrylics. I finished  them off by brushing over some of the tinted Antiquing fluid I used on the box. I painted the metal cogs with Media Fluid Acrylics and whilst they were still wet , I applied clear embossing powder and heated until the powder and paint started to bubble.

I used heavy duty dimensional tape to attach the cogs to my prepared background, i also used the same tape to attach the panel inside the book.

I added some metal corners, and a label. The 'handle' is a butterfly nut, adhered to a couple of metal cogs. After puzzling about what to do with the sides of the box, I decided to use some strips of sheet music. I adhered it to the sides, and gave it a coat of the tinted Antiquing Fluid. As a finishing touch, to the sides, I painted on some  Deco Art Crackle Glaze, and rubbed  some black Antiquing cream into the fine cracks. 

and finally here's the inside.....

The back of the cog panel and a piece of card cut to fit the other side, were painted with Quinacridone Magenta, then stenciled with Andy's Serendipity stencil, and stamped over with his Industrial stamp set. I think that's everything.Well, I really enjoyed  altering this memory box, and giving it a kind of colourful, Steampunk restyle. I also enjoyed my two trips to Hobby Craft to arm myself with some lovely Deco Art products ! I'm going to enter this into Andy's Bold and Bright challenge where there are some awesome prizes and blog badges to be won. As my box book has a bit of  Steampunk style, I'm also going to post it over on Sandee and Amelie 's Steampunk Challenge blog for their 'Anything Goes Challenge, where there are also fab prizes by Deco Art and Boozy Bear ! Until next time... have fun ! x

Spring is in the Air ~ Stamps and Stencils ~ New Challenge

Well the months are starting to race away and I can barely believe it's March already! Still, at least it's now officially 'Spring'. The beginning of the month also heralds a new challenge over at Stamps and Stencils. Our fabulous host this month is Rachel and  her challenge title is 'Spring is in the Air'. This is what Rachel has to say.....

'I want you to think about what the coming of Spring means to you? Is it a colour burst, or maybe flowers? Whatever it is I would like you to show us in a mixed media piece, including stamping or stenciling or both !'

For me, Spring is the time of year when everything starts to come alive... including me! I'm definitely not a Winter person. So my project is reflection on the vibrancy of Spring. I started off by making four backgrounds.....

I sprayed four pieces of card with various shades of Dylusions Sprays. I then used a variety of background stamps and stencils in deeper shades of Distress Inks. Once everything was dry, I die cut the four pieces using a Sizzix Accordion die. It was nice to give this an airing as I haven't used it for a while.

I then used a selection of stamps from Indigo Blu and Artemio, to stamp the images onto each panel, using Black Archival ink. The die cuts were a little messy on the back where they had been splashed and spattered with ink, so I decided to cut four more in black card and adhere them together. This also made each piece a little more substantial. I then joined each of the pieces together to make the accordion card.

Whilst I love getting down and dirty with pastes and other tactile media, it's really nice to get back to some basic stamping and inking with a project like as this. So now it's over to you ! If you'd like to join in with our Spring is in the Air challenge, then hop over to the Stamps and Stencils blog where you'll find the challenge details as well as some fantastic inspiration by the rest of the design team. You have a whole month to get involved and we would love to see your projects!  So,until next time, happy crafting ! x

Twelve Tags of 2016 ~ Technique Remix ~ February

Hi everybody ! well we are nearing the end of the month and I thought it was about time I posted my February tag for Tim's Twelve Tags of 2016 challenge. I'm loving Tim's Technique Remix ! This month he has chosen to mix it up with Monoprinting and Embossed Texture Paste. You can see his gorgeous tag by following this link. I've stuck fairly closely to Tim's original idea and just used a few substitutes here and there. I've also used a rather long quote from a W B Yeats poem, a particular favourite of mine. It fits the story I have in my head, for the woman in the Photo Booth picture. I feel that she just has that look of vulnerability  in her eyes.

 Once again a great fun tag to make and a chance to brush up on some technique skills, Keep 'em coming Tim ! x

Splatter, Spritz, Smoosh ! ~ New Challenge for Stamps and Stencils

Hi everybody! It's time for our new February challenge over at Stamps and Stencils. Sue is our very talented host this month and she has chosen 'Splatter,Spritz, Smoosh'. I'm sure you'll agree, that this is a great challenge theme. After all, what piece of self respecting, mixed media work doesn't contain a bit of splatter,a touch of spritz and a swipe of smoosh ! I think there's a lot of fun to be had with this theme. I certainly enjoyed making this vintage style Valentine, accordion card. .

 I started off with a piece of card measuring 16 x 4 and scored it at 4 inch intervals. I then dabbed Distress inks on my craft mat, 'spritzed' them with water and 'smooshed' the card through the colours. This great technique from Tim Holtz, is the foundation of so many of my paper craft projects. I blended a little Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink around the edges to add to the vintage look.I rather cheated with my 'splatters' and used a set of Indigo Blu stamps, called Ink Splats. They're very cute and just the right size for this project.I used a few bottle tops to create some additional circles, and stamped the text using Tim's Ledger Script Stamps.....such a useful set of stamps. I made a little tag and a small envelope with the same technique, minus the text stamping.

The rather wistful image of woman, was something I downloaded from the internet. I made the heart with a piece of embossed, aluminium foiled, card. I 'splattered' some Distress Paint on the surface, left it to dry and then lightly sanded the surface.

The butterfly was made in the same way. Once all the elements were adhered to the card I tucked  a little stamp ticket into the envelope and a tag into the heart. A couple of finishing touches, such as the mother of pearl button on the heart and the game spinner on the butterfly and my valentine card is almost good to go. The back of the card is also rather splattered but not in a pretty way, so I shall cover it with some nice printed paper. Hmmmm! now who to send it to? I suppose after nearly 36 years of marriage, it better be my DH !
If you fancy having a bit of a Splatter, Spritz and Smoosh, hop over to the Stamps and Stencils blog where you'll see some fantastic work from the rest of the design team, as well as all the challenge details. Just remember to use some stamping or stenciling or both ! We'd love to see what you create !

Twelve Tags of 2016 Remix Challenge ~ January

Hi everybody ! I finally found some time to devote to making my first tag of the year, for Tim's Twelve Tags of 2016 Remix Challenge. This year, Tim has added to the challenge by combining two techniques from the previous year, in a what he describes as a 'technique remix'. This is a great idea as it will give us all a chance to revisit some fantastic techniques. You can see Tim's fabulous January tag and read about the the new challenge by following this link. For me this month has been a little bitter sweet, as Tim has combined one of my favourite techniques, Industrious Metal, with my least favourite, Chalkboard. So what can I say it's been a bit of a challenge. It took me several attempts  to conquer the chalkboard ! Do you think it's because I'm a teacher? maybe I've got an aversion to chalk !

 The ones that got away !

Having Fun with Gesso Over at Stamps and Stencils

Hi everybody! It's my turn to inspire you over on the Stamps and Stencils blog. I've chosen to have a play with gesso and I have to tell you, I'm pretty pleased by what I've discovered about this lovely stuff ! It's got so many possibilities. I can see that the big pot I've just been using to prime my canvasses, is going to get an awful lot more use now. If you'd like to know how you can get more out of your gesso, hop over to the Stamps and Stencils blog. You might just want to grab a cuppa first as there are lots of pictures! hope to see you there.x

Oh So Blue ~ Stamps and Stencils ~ New Challenge ~ January

Happy New Year everybody! I'm just wondering where the last year went. Still it's onwards and upwards and what better way to start the new year with, than a new challenge from Stamps and Stencils. Cec is our talented host this month and she has chosen the title 'Oh So Blue'. You can see her gorgeous journal page here. There's nothing like a bit of crafting to chase those January blues away!   My project consists of this mixed media canvas,using several different blue media. Unfortunately my camera was out of action during the making of this piece ( no panic just a very flat battery!) so, I'll zoom in and just outline the different processes I've used.

The canvas substrate was firstly painted with dark blue acrylic paint, once dry I added a coat of crackle paint medium and then added a top coat of Paperartsy Fresco Finish Paint, in Mermaid. Once all the lovely cracks had appeared, I decided to give it a deeper blue colour by brushing on a thinned coat of Luminarte Silks Acrylic Glaze. This also had the advantage of adding a nice pearly sheen.

The next layer is a piece of manila card which has been coloured with Ultramarine  Brushos. I embossed the card using one of my favourite Tim Holtz embossing folders, I then used Treasure gold to highlight the textured surface, and added a bit of vintaging around the edges with Distress Ink

 The heart was hand cut from corrugated card, and heat embossed, using the Wonderful Wendy Vecchi's  faux granite ware technique. Follow this link to learn from the master. After heat embossing it, I stamped over the surface using Black Archival Ink and a stamp from  Andy Skinner's 'Industrial' set. I really like this stamp as you can achieve an aged cracked effect in an instant.

I tucked a little piece of muslin behind the heart before securing it to the background. The butterfly, is a die cut from Tim's Butterfly Duo. This is a Bigz Die with a corresponding embossing folder. I initially heat embossed the butterfly, with copper embossing powder but felt I was moving too far away from Cec's 'blue' theme. I also wanted to give it a bit more oomph! I got out my Indigo Blu Flitter Glue and Winter Dawn Mega Flakes, and pulled out a few flakes that had some beautiful shades of blue and copper, I love the effect this has created. I used a rust finished pointer for the body and adhered the little gem for some added blueness!

 My final embellishment is the word 'Remember'. I used one of Tim's Framed Alpha Parts and gave it a rust finish. I chose this word as I have some happy memories of 2015. One in particular was the Wendy Vecchi workshop my bestest crafting buddy and I, attended in the summer. we had a a great weekend in London topped off with a super event where I was able to meet some of my UK crafting heroes. Our Sue being one of them ! So come on folks shake off those blues with a bit of total immersion. Hop over to the Stamps and Stencils blog where you'll find some fantastic inspiration by the team as well as all the challenge guidelines. I'm looking forward to seeing your creations ! x

Twelve Tags of 2015 ~ December ~ The Final Tag !

With hardly any time to spare, I have just completed my final tag of the year for Tim's Twelve Tags of 2015. You can see his fabulous December tag by following this link. It's been a great year for the Twelve Tags Challenge, with, as usual, some ingenious creative ideas from Tim. I'm pleased with myself  that I've managed to complete yet another year of tags. This one has a few improvisations. I haven't any of the lovely punches that Tim has used on his tag. It's sometimes hard for us in the UK, to keep up with new products as they are often in limited supply and you have to be pretty quick off the mark to grab them. Still I'm glad I was able to use the Box Wood Twine, I'd bought a while ago. I used the Poinsettia Layering Stencil in the background as this has been a firm favourite for my Christmas cards this year. I've given them some gold centres by dotting with a gold leaf pen. I made a lot of these little Christmas trees last year after they were sold out just about everywhere. I used sisal string, wire and a hand drill.This is one of three that were left over. I trimmed it so that it would lie flat and glued it on with my glue gun. This is what I did with the other two.....

I was thrilled when I saw Tim's trophy cup project, as it was perfect for these two little cups I bought earlier this year from our local junk shop. I knew they'd come in handy!

Well that's it for this year. Thank you Tim for all the inspiration you have given us this year. May you have a wonderful 2016 !!!! x

Grungy Christmas ~ New Challenge at Stamps and Stencils

Hello everybody ! It's time for our final challenge of the year over at Stamps and Stencils. If you've been over there, you may have seen that there are going to be some changes as we go into the New Year. Sadly we are saying good bye to three of our lovely team, the very talented ladies, Julia, Yvonne and Sharon are moving on. I'm sure that like me, you have enjoyed seeing their fabulous projects over the last year.  Luckily for the rest of our team we have manged to lure in not just three but four wonderfully talented ladies to step into those big shoes ! You may already know that Cec has joined us, and our other new teamies are, Autumn, Branka and Rachel. It's going to be a lot of fun getting to know them.
So now on to this month's challenge. Julia is our host and she has chosen a 'Grungy Christmas' as the theme. You can see by my altered gift box, that I definitely got stuck into the 'grungy' part of the title! I chose to alter an empty box, which originally had some posh soaps in. This was a Christmas present I received last year and try as I may, I just can't bring myself to throw a good box away! here is the 'before' picture......

I used a technique I learned at one of Finnabair's workshops, I love her distinctive style and this project pays homage to her. I gave the box a coat of black gesso before stencilling over the surface with thick gel matte medium.

Once this was dry, I applied more black gesso and then started to assemble all the bits and pieces I used to decorate the surface. I played around with a few arrangements and once satisfied, I adhered each piece, using a hot glue gun.

As you can see, there are a variety of different materials, metal, resin and plastic, chipboard and wood. Once everything was secured, I then painted everything with even more black gesso! once this was dry, I spritzed on a bit of gold spray.

I then painted selected areas with iron paint. This came as part of a two pack rusting kit. The kit contains a bottle of iron paint and a bottle of oxidising solution. The one I have is by Triangle Crafts and it's called Instant Rust Set. the great thing about it, is that it creates real rust and you never quite know how it's going to turn out ! 

Here's how it looked before I got started with some metallic pastes .....

I used Treasure Gold and Inca Gold to highlight certain areas, and buffed the surface to add a bit of sheen here and there. I added a few bits of bling  here and there using pearls, and gems. After all it wouldn't be Christmas without a bit of bling !

So there you have it my Grungy Christmas gift box ready to have some goodies put inside, Question is can I bear to part with it ? If you fancy some Grungy Christmas fun, hop over to the Stamps and Stencils blog and you'll find all the details of how to join in the challenge. You'll find some fantastic work by the rest of the current team and also have an opportunity to meet  Autumn, Branka and Rachel. 

Twelve Tags of 2015 ~ November

Back to normal here at craft dabbler central! Here I am, posting my November entry for Tim's Twelve Tags of 2015 challenge, with only hours to spare ! As it is so late, I felt as though I'd missed the opportunity to recreate Tim's fabulous Autumn tag, so I've skipped a season and gone straight into winter ! There are several things I love about the techniques Tim has shared this month. Firstly the 'linen look' background, very cool and I will certainly use that again. Next, the transfer foil used around the edges. I've gone with a silver holographic foil on this tag, it's something I've had for ages so it's great to give it some use. I also love the cut out letters, I've used a word from the Sizzix 'Happy Holidays' set I bought last year and cut it from a strip of shop bought, gessoed canvas. I think the ripped edges add an extra touch of frostiness. There's also a touch of glitter added to the snowflake, Let me know if anyone out there finally nails the secret to photographing glitter. It's there in my view finder! So there you have it!  Once again a great tag to make. Thank you Tim, we're almost there now, and I've got another fab tag to add to my growing collection! x

'Remember, Remember....' ~ Stamps and Stencils ~ New Challenge

Hi everybody ! It's the first Thursday of the month and that means it's time for a new challenge over at Stamps and Stencils. I hope you enjoyed our last challenge along with the blog hop. Many thanks to all of you that joined in and paid me a visit. Ruth is our talented host this month and she has chosen 'Remember, Remember'. This is what she has to say .......

Hi, Ruth here with this months challenge which is 'Remember, Remember'......it may be the 5th of November today (Bonfire Night in the UK) but for this challenge we want to see mixed media projects inspired by 'favourite memories', you can interpret this in any way you like as long as you include some stamping or stencilling in your mixed media piece. What we want to see is how a favourite memory has inspired you, so don't forget to mention this in your post. 

Roberta and Me and the Bumble Bee
When I started thinking about the challenge, I soon realised how lucky I am to have a lot of happy memories, from my childhood right up to the present day. You can't ask for more than that ! I decided to go with a memory that always makes me smile. I was about 6 years old and it was one of those endless summers that you only have when you're a child. My best friend Roberta and I, had been 'playing out', when we noticed that an 'enormous' bumble bee had landed on the skirt of her dress. Now, as inner city kids, all we knew about bees was that they made 'hunny' and if they landed on you, you had to stay very still or they would sting you. We stood perfectly still, for what seemed like hours. I can't begin to tell you how terrified we were! I'm not sure how our dilemma ended but needless to say neither of us was stung.
So my project is this journal spread of Roberta and I in our summer dresses. who knows it could even have been taken on the same day!

I started off by taping two pieces of watercolour paper, side by side, with masking tape. I then glued on various textured elements including some pieces of bandage and washi tape. Finnabair, showed us this technique during one of  her workshops I attended last year. Working on   both pages at the same time, helps the flow and balance. 

After coating the surface with white gesso, I stamped, using some of my homemade stamps, with fluorescent acrylic paint. 

I then sprayed here and there with Dylusions Sprays and encouraged some 'drippage' by spraying with water.

I added some stencilling and doodled around the flower with black and white pens. I'm still looking for the 'ultimate' white pen ! I also used a black Stablio pencil and water brush to add a bit of depth.

I then stamped Dina Wakley's bumble bee and coloured it with paint, and then added a bit more stamping around the edges, using black Archival ink. It was then time to remove the pages and try them in my journal. I adhered them with matte gel  and added a print of the photo and a few finishing touches. So now it's over to you, this has been a great fun challenge for me and I'm sure you'll enjoy it just as much as I have. 

Such happy care free days when all we were scared of was a bumble bee !

Twelve Tags of 2015 ~ October

Well here I am posting my October tag, for Tim's Twelve Tags of 2015 challenge, on the last day of the month ! I must confess I have been dragging my feet over this one. I love the new Monster dies that Tim has released and as tempted as I am, my crafty budget will just not stretch quite that far. So my tag this month is all about improvising and using my stuff ! I must say I'm quite pleased with the results. I followed the same techniques Tim used on his fabulous tag and made substitutions for the products I haven't got. The background paper is from Tim's  Laboratoire Paper Stack and the monster face features were cut with  Movers and Shapers 'Mini Silly Jack O Lantern dies. So that's it for another month, at least I won't have long to wait and see what Tim has in store for November ! Happy Halloween folks x

New Challenge for Stamps and Stencils ~ Make it 3d ~ Hop to it ! .........

Hi everybody, Its' time for a new Stamps and Stencils challenge. Sue is our host this month and her challenge title is 'Whatever it is Make it 3D'. She has also added to the  fun with a blog hop and a prize for one lucky person who discovers our secret word. If you've arrived here from Sharon's blog, you are in the right place to gather another letter to help you solve the puzzle. I hope you've been enjoying seeing the fabulous 3D projects made by my talented teamies. I decided to go for pure fun  with this Halloween home decor piece. I've had a great time putting this together, using dies, paints, inks, embossing powders, sprays, stencils, stamps, glitter and gems. In fact every thing but the kitchen sink  I'm looking forward to seeing what my little nieces and nephews think of it, when they come round for Halloween.  As this is a blog hop, I won't go into a lot of depth about how I made it, instead, here are a few pictures of some of the stages.......

 Now, you need to hop on over to Sues blog, with this link, where you'll find the final letter. Don't forget to leave a comment on each of the blogs, we always love to know what you think of our work and of course please join in with our 3D challenge, just remember to include some stamping or stenciling in your project.  Oh! and before I go you'll need this.... L ...... Happy hopping !