Altered Tin- Inspired by Van Gogh

This tin was for a swap on Zuzu's forum, and I was over a week late sending it because I had one of those last-minute ideas that complicated the project but I had to do it! Typical me! Originally, I was just going to decorate the outside of the tin and prettify the inside, but then I realised that the tin was the perfect size to fit slide-mounts (I have rather a lot of these, bought years ago and never used!). So I decorated the slide-mounts and joined them together to make a wallhanging.

Colour: Versamagic, Sharpies, watercolour crayons, Brilliance, Aurora ep, gilt wax, Distress Inks, Vivid Inks, Cosmic Shimmer powders, Barry M eyeshadow powders
Stamps: Paperartsy, Studio g alphabet, ISC butterfly
Other: Crackle Accents, Gesso, Galleria moulding paste, heavy florist's wire, bead, twig, metal from coke can, plastic slide mounts

The tin originally contained saffron, and had the pink flowers as part of the original decoration. I was inspired by a Van Gogh painting and was trying to capture the swirly effect of the background. The three slide-mounts all have Van Gogh paintings in. To capture the vibrancy of the originals I printed each painting on paper and on transparency- when you lay the transparency over the paper print, suddenly the image comes alive.
PS Plastic slide mounts do not like being heated with a heat gun....!
PPS I realise that many of the mediums I used are not supposed to be used on metal, but it's amazing what a few light coats of spray varnish enable you to do!

A Tag for a Forum Friend

I made this tag for a forum friend for her birthday, and on the day of her birthday I was delighted to receive a really gorgeous piece of mail art from her, using 'three in a round' from Stampotique, which is such a cool stamp. If I get permission to blog it, I will! This tag uses lots of Cosmic Shimmer powder, so you will need to squint at it and imagine the gorgeous interference mica effects it really has!

Colour: Distress inks, Cosmic Shimmer powders, Sharpies, Versamagic, Stazon, Brilliance, Liberon Gilt wax
Stamps: Tanda (feather) and Studio g (alphabet)
Other: Beads, fibre, metal corner, acetate, slide-mount, eyelet and wire, all from my stash.

The feather in the slide-mount is stamped twice; once with Stazon, then with Versamark brushed with Cosmic Shimmer. When I put the two images, I offset them slightly so that you see the shimmer behind the dark feather.

January's Inchie Swap- Let's Celebrate

These are super-simple, as I couldn't think what to do for this theme! February's theme is 'Oriental' so I should be able to do something more interesting.

Colour: Glimmer Mist, Distress Inks, Brilliance Ink, Stickles, Sakura silver Pen Touch pen
Stamps: Cherry Pie (Klimt star) and Stampendous
Other: Wording from the computer, star sequin waste used as stencil, eyelets from my stash (hammered for texture)

Colours CJ- Sid's Red Book

I'm still in catch-up mode at the moment with photos. This is last month's CJ entry, in Sid's book. Everyone had to choose a colour as well as a stamp, and Sid's is (obviously!) red. Well, I rose to the challenge, and don't think it could be more red if I tried! I was actually inspired by Gustav Klimt, as Sid's stamp is design from a Klimt nude. I tried to recreate the patterns created by Klimt in this painting, Medicine, but in a more textural way. I used texture paste, red embossing powder, paint and gilt wax to create the pattern, and the main image is triple embossed. I hope Sid likes it- it looks even better in real life, I promise!

Colour: goache, gold and red ep, Liberon gilt wax, Brilliance ink, stickles, Sakura pen
Stamps: Paperartsy and Cherry Pie
Other: Texture paste, red gems.

Angel

Now I have used that title, I have David Bowie's 'Golden Years' playing in my head. This is for this week's UK Stamper's Sunday challenge, and I actually made it on Monday night! I want to make her a sister too, an ice angel...

Colour: Distress Inks, Glimmer mist, Whispers dye ink, Stickles, Brilliance, Liberon gilt wax
Stamps: All Cherry Pie
Other: Metallic organza ribbon, Papermania jewel brad, old buttons from my tin, Maya Road wings, mountboard, star sequin waste as stencil

I have used two products here that are not my usual: the Whispers ink in black I wanted to use as I knew it would be quite sheer rather than a dark, opaque colour, and the Liberon gilt wax, which is fab for rubbing over anything to gild it. I have had the wax for years, and rediscovered it thanks to Linda Baldock, who does amazing things with her Treasure wax (same sort of stuff). On her blog are links to her Youtube Tutorials. Go and be inspired!

Diane's blog challenge

Diane from UK Stampers has put a challenge on her blog this week, and since I needed to make a card for my lovely Sister-in-Law's birthday, I decided to use the challenge to inspire me.
Here it is:

So, the challenge is that I'd like to see YOU make a card like the one in the other post. A maximum of two stamps, one colour of ink, one colour of embossing powder (can be the same or a tonal one). No pre-printed background papers!

It sounds so simple until you get going- just one colour of ink?! I usually use half a dozen! And then what do you do with the embossing powder? My solution was to use a Brilliance green ink, which dries on anything (with a little help from the heat gun), and to use the ep to do an intaglio effect. I like to think it looks a bit like fossilised leaves here.

Colour: Brilliance, Aurora embossing powder
Stamps: Paperartsy (panel), Cherry Pie (fern)
Other: Transparency, chipboard (for the intaglio) and white card- one layer was coloured with the ink, the other with the ep.

The closing date for this challenge is 25th October, and the prize is excellent. Thanks for the challenge, Diane!

UK Stampers Sunday Challenge no. 4- Leaf Tags

Gail did it again, and issued a challenge which, well, challenged me!

Sunday challenge no6

Summer is nearly over and the leaves are starting to fall.........Make 3 tags, each must be leaf shaped and use the colours of Autumn....other than that anything goes!
Post your challenges here on the blog or post a link.
Happy stamping!

I did this on Saturday night, as always- I tend to do my swap/card commitments first and do challenges if I have the time. It was fun creating something just 'because', and I have ended up with three little embellishments which I am sure to use. I also used this challenge to experiment with some different techniques, which is always useful!

Colour: Distress Ink, Glimmer Mist, Paint Dabbers, Embossing Powders, Brilliance, Versafine
Stamp: Cherry Pie leaf stamp
Other: Japanese newspaper (base for first leaf), alcohol inked background (base for second leaf), funky foam (base for third leaf), eyelets, raffia, leather thong, ribbon, all from my stash.

The top leaf is heat embossed on paper, the second is made by using different colours of powder on top of clear UTEE, and moving the colour about with the heat gun before pressing the stamp into the hot goo, and the third is funky foam, painted with Paint Dabbers, heated, stamped into then heated again for the curl. I *love* my heat gun :D

Do not adjust your set...

I did make this! It's colourful AND cute, and it is my entry for the UK Stampers' Sunday challenge for last week. The theme was monograms, and I thought I would save myself some time by using a wooden letter that my friend Vicky gave me a while back. I forgot, of course, that I can't do simple, so after I decorated the letter I decided it would make a great picture frame. It all works, and I can change the photo when I want.

Colour: Distress Inks, Ranger white pen, Stickles, Brilliance, Twinkling H2Os
Stamps: Paperartsy, Stampendous
Other: Acetate, ribbon, curtain ring, lots of card, staple gun.

The photo was taken late in the afternoon at Dan's first birthday party, and is quite funny to look at now. I was shattered, Paul had been scratched across the nose (by Dan), and Dan had not slept all day. It's still a good reminder of a great day, although this year I may have any photos done at the beginning of the party!

4" x 4" page and charm

Someone I know from UK Stampers has been very sick, in hospital, for some months. She became ill with a very rare disease (not cancer) a few months into our CJ, and has only just reached the point of having one short day out of hospital. She has a very good friend, Sarah, who has organised a way of us stampers saying 'we miss you- get well soon', which is a charm bracelet with each of us making a charm, plus a 4" x 4" page which will show her who made which charm. I am not a jewelry maker, although I love playing with shrink plastic, and I definitely love working on 4" x 4" pages!

Colour: Glimmer Mists, Distress Inks, Perfect Pearls, Brilliance Inks, copper embossing powder, Stickles, Moonshadow Mist, Paint Dabbers
Stamps: Elusive Images
Other: Caught in crystal background (click on the word in my label cloud for more on this), acetate, old book page, florist's wire, Papermania jewelled brad, Sizzix tag die, Crackle Accents, Cuttlebug embossing folder, semi-precious gemstone beads (sorry, I have forgotten what they are!), jewelry findings, shrink plastic.

The panel on the top of the page is inspired by Arts and Crafts ceramics, and the Cuttlebug panel is my version of faux aged copper. It looks even better in real life!

The original inspiration for this charm project is here. Scroll down the page and you will find it near the end. What a great idea; Thank you.

UK Stampers Sunday Challenge no. 3- Inchies

This is my entry for last week's Sunday Challenge. Here is what we were asked to do:

Sunday Challenge no3

The Olympics are in full swing so this weeks challenge is to create a set of 9 inchies with games as a theme...use gold, silver and bronze somewhere on them....Upload your finished challenges to the blog
Happy stamping

I haven't made a set of Inchies for ages, and was stumped for a while, until I cut out a piece of 3" x 3" cardstock and remembered that you don't have room for much on an inchie! I didn't have any really sporty stamps, so ended up using the ball (from a cheap set of baby stamps) and the word 'play' from an Inkadinkado set. I was slightly smug about the idea of tearing the red-coloured white paper to get the white stripes for the Union Jack flag- it's nice to be pleased with yourself every once in a while!

Stamps: Inkadinkado, Unknown (bought from 'The Works' bookshop!)
Colour: Distress Ink, Brilliance, Perfect Pearls (the balls are coloured with it for the medal colour theme), Versamagic
Other: Text from the computer

This week's challenge is up here, and it's easy to join UK Stampers to play- wherever in the world you live. Isn't the Internet great?!

Cherry Pie- Inched ATC swap

Eleven of these are currently winging their way to Florida, to Marina, who is hosting this swap. The idea was to use inchies on your ATCs- at least one, but as many as you like. I eagerly signed up to this, but then struggled to come up with a design I liked. In the end I fell back on my favourite face stamp, and a new butterfly stamp. I am pleased with the overall design, although I have no idea what I was trying to say with it!

Colour: Distress Inks, Versafine Sepia, pencil, Brilliance
Stamps: All Cherry Pie
Other: Silk dupion fabric, safety pin, staples, old(ish) paper from an A4 notepad, really old book page, textured watercolour paper, Sizzix tag die

The colour of the old book page hasn't been altered at all (except at the edge of the ATC), but everything else has been, to match. The turquoise colour is watercoloured Distress Ink, and the staples were grunged up with Brilliance. I got truly inky making these!

UK Stampers are doing Sunday challenges!

I know there are a lot of challenges out there, but it never hurts to have another choice! UK Stampers is now doing a challenge each Sunday, and the challenge is being set by Efemera, otherwise known as Gail, whose work you will have seen in last month's Craft Stamper. We have done two challenges so far. The first was to make something with your oldest and newest stamps. I used the bright card I made for my friend Vicky as the example of my newest stamps (those Inkadinkado flowers), and the top photo here is what I made with my oldest stamp, the Personal Impressions snowflake. I bought it in 1998, and used it originally to make that year's Christmas cards, before putting it away and forgetting about it. Using it again, on the triptych ATC, made me realise how pretty it is, and I may even use it this year for my cards!
The second challenge was to make two Oriental-themed tags, one in colour and one black and white. I found this really challenging, as I don't really 'do' oriental, even though I have a gorgeous set from Non Sequitur. I started by making some stamped paper, then I got so inspired by it that I made a little origami box! (The design for this is from CraftTV Weekly, although I made it smaller this time. Here is the last one I made) I then remembered to make the tags, and I quite like them. I think the black and white one is better, and my Husband likes the red. You decide!

Colour: ATC- alcohol inks, Stazon, silver embossing powder, Tags- Distress Inks, Vivid inks (to colour paper), Brilliance, Perfect Pearls (brushed on and made into a paint), watercolour pencils
Stamps: ATC- Personal Impressions, Non Sequitur, Tags- Non Sequitur, Judikins
Other: Japanese paper, free origami paper downloads from Canon, red card, gold card.

The kimonos were created by paper piecing, using the origami designs. The origami downloads were printed out at half size, so that the proportion was correct for the kimonos, and the Japanese paper was embossed with clear embossing powder to make it go transparent to give the look of a screen.

Birthday Cards- Inspired By...

...Sid and Jo!
I tend not to enjoy card-making at the moment, as I am finding it hard to reconcile my arty-farty, distressed side with the need to make pretty things for people who nothing about my hidden nature! I am quite pleased with these, though, as they have been made using arty and interesting techniques, even though they are essentially cute and pretty.
The first card features Robin Beam's Bandanna technique. Sid did a great step-by-step tutorial, which is on his blog, and he challenged me to have a go. I don't have a lot of solid image stamps, so I tried it with these Inkadinkado scribbled flower stamps, and I love the effect. The card is for a friend's nine-year old daughter, and I think she will like it, especially as I bedecked it with Stickles!
The flower on that card, and the flowers on the second card were made using a technique from Craft Stamper magazine last month, which was from Jo Capper-Sandon. The idea is that you scribble randomly on watercolour paper using water-soluble crayons. I used my ancient set of Caran D'Ache here. Once you have scribbled, you spritz with water, then use a straw to blow the colours around until you have an effect you like. You can keep adding colour and water until you are happy with the finish. I tried this on two different kinds of watercolour paper. The top flower was from a really heavy textured paper, and the effect was very bold. The colours didn't mingle very well. The second card is from the second try (which I remembered to photograph before cutting!), and is on a much smoother finished paper. I was much more able to create a blended effect. In both cases, I stamped in black and cut the flowers out.
Thanks for the inspiration and great tutorials, Jo and Sid!

Stamps: Inkadinkado (flowers), Heidi Swapp (sentiment)
Colour: Caran D'Ache watercolour crayons, Brilliance, Versacolour, Versafine, Ranger Inkessential white pen
Other: Ranger Stickles, braid from my stash.

This morning I have had a huge session cropping and sorting photos of things I have made. I will have lots to show next week! Bye for now!

Another Page for my Altered Board Book

This is the last page of my altered board book- I thought it was safest to work in from both ends, and then decided what to do in the middle if my maths is wrong! And it really isn't my style to start at the beginning and just work straight through to the end, like I should do! This page actually has no Glimmer Mist at all, although it does have Paint Dabbers, dabbed on to create lots of texture. It also uses some of my favourite Paperartsy stamps. stamped onto the letters to create a pattern, and onto the book itself. Everything else is pretty straightforward, for a change, I must have been having a calm and chilled out day!

Stamps: All Paperartsy
Colour: Versamagic, Brilliance, Paint Dabbers
Papers: Basic Grey, Crate Paper
Other: Sizzix Sizzlets alphabet (can't remember which one as it is my friend's), Chipboard letter from cheap shop.

Altered Board Book- Scrapping Project

It was scrapbooking that got me into crafting, and I do still scrap, although not as often. I stamp alone, but scrap best in company, so I get together with my best friend every so often so that I can do some serious scrapbooking (and yakking lol!). Most of my projects end up being given away (my husband loves having mini-books and other items with photos of our son- I think his desk at work must be heaving under the weight of them!), so I am making this book for me, not to be given away.
It started life as one of Dan's board books. It started to fall apart, plus the story was about how great little brothers are (he doesn't have one), so I decided to use it as the basis of this book. I felt really guilty when I gessoed the pages! There will be a page for each of the letters of his name, and obviously this is the first page. I am using chipboard letters on each page, so this will be really thick when finished; I am planning to bind it with big book rings. The pages are all green or turquoise, and I have used all of my favourite products to colour the edges. It will be a long project, I'm afraid, as we only scrap once or twice a month, but I am promising myself I will finish it!

Colour: Distress Crackle Paint, Glimmer Mist, Brilliance Inks
Stamps: Katzlecraft, Studio G (alphabet)
Papers: Basic Grey, Crate Paper
Other: Grungeboard Mini letters, Ellison Thin Cuts alphabet (Sunset), AMM tag, Me and My Big Ideas Designer Chipboard (introducing...), Chipboard 'D' from pound shop.

Altered Pringles tube

Would you believe this used to be a Pringles tube? Sid had the idea of doing a swap based on the idea of altering said tubes, and I hosted the swap on UK Stampers. It was quite a challenge to come up with a good idea, as I usually only decorate flat surfaces. I ended up buying some Windsor and Newton Galleria Modelling Paste, and used it to add texture to my tube, before using a silver paint dabber and alcohol inks over the whole thing (See Isa's blog for a step-by-step tutorial of this great technique). I then did my latest favourite technique, which is to use paint dabbers over metal foil which has been embossed with my Cuttlebug, wipe some of the paint off, then spray liberally with Glimmer Mist. The photos aren't brilliant here, as the light was appalling that day, but it looks a bit like distressed enamelling. Love it! I have another piece, also part of a swap, which uses the same technique, and tonight I'm making 'metal' themed ATCs, so guess what I'll be doing...

Colour: Alcohol inks, Paint Dabbers, Glimmer mist, Distress Ink, Versafine, Clear Sakura Stardust pen, Brilliance Ink (for edging)
Stamps: Tanda (alphabet), Cherry Pie (art), free love stamp
Other: Stampbord, felt from the alcohol ink applicator (perfect colour match!), silver-coloured wire, silver-coloured beads, newspaper, rock-crystal bead, butterfly heat-embossed on acetate (like the one on my header!), shrink plastic.

The swap was great fun, and this is the slide show. I got Petra's little tube, and I'm using it to store my mini-misters!

The Penultimate CJ Entry

So close now, this is the second-to-last entry in the UKStampers CJ. I am currently working on the final entry, and I feel like it needs to be the best of the lot (no pressure!!!) as I have met Tasha, and have spent the last nine months sending things to her.
It has definitely got much harder to do something original. The stamp for this journal is the face, and I kept having ideas, only to look at the (gorgeous) previous entries and find that my idea had already been realised. In the end, I took my inspiration from Cherry Pie, where I am a member of the Yahoo group. Last year, the group did an art doll swap, and the result of that swap was a plate of stamps which had the body and accessories for an ATC-sized art doll. This entry turned into a real technique-fest for me, as I used all of my newer craft products, and had lots of fun creating the individual elements.

Colour: alcohol inks, vivid inkpads, glimmer mist, paint dabbers, versafine, Brilliance
Stamps: face (unknown), Cherry Pie, Studio g (alphabet)
Other: Papermania jewel brads, acetate, silver detail embossing powder, printable magnet paper (used for doll and accessories), heavyweight watercolour paper, vellum, fibres and bead, all from my stash.