February ATCs- Friends

I love to try variations on a theme for my 3 for 3 swap ATCs each month, and this month I was playing with Versamark resist, Blending Blox and brayering, and metal embossed in the Cuttlebug. I am also trying to use up old stash! The Papermania flowers were bought the year they came out, and I have given them a new look by embossing and shaping them. Expect to see more of the same- they came in a big pack! Now I just need to find a new look for my enormous box of metal-rimmed tags...

Colour: Distress Inks, Dee Greunig's Blending Blox, Whispers back ink, Stazon, Paint Dabber, Sakura glaze pen, black fineline pen
Stamps: Kathy Davies (flower), Crafty Individuals (words and flourish)
Other: Drinks can metal, Papermania metal flowers, seed beads, glossy card

Triptych ATC

I put this onto one of the forum galleries, but have never blogged it- mostly as the photo I had taken before did not show the effect of the acetate at all well. This is my first ever stamp, bought in 1998 and just used for that year's Christmas cards. I had forgotten how lovely it is.

Colour: alcohol inks with metallic mixative, silver detail ep, Stazon
Stamps: All Night Media, Non Sequitur (word)
Other: Mirri card, acetate, metal tape, Pebeo gem

January ATCs- Metal, plus Craft Stamper Blog Challenge

I had fun with these! The backgrounds were experiments in finding different ways to add colour to metal, and to create texture. They started off as an ATC sized piece of Mirri card, then I added random strips of self adhesive metal and embossing powder before running them through the Cuttlebug. The top one was coloured using paint dabbers and glimmer mist, the second one with different colours of Sharpies pens and Stazon (which helps to blend), and the last one was good ol' alcohol inks.

Colour: Paint Dabbers, Glimmer Mist, Sharpies, Stazon, Alcohol inks, Stickles, Distress Stickles, Cosmic Shimmer, Gilt wax, Krylon pen, Sakura Souffle pen (for faces), Distress Ink
Stamps: Elusive Images and Cherry Pie
Other: Vellum, acetate, Silver mirri card and ep, text from the computer

I also had a challenge in mind when I made these; Craft Stamper's blog is running a technique challenge each month, and this month's is to use the Cuttlebug. Isa made a beautiful piece for the mag using a wax-resist technique with the Cuttlebug folders. I have tried this, but my efforts were nowhere near as good as Isa's, so I went back to my favourite metal instead. Hope it's OK!

UK Stampers ATC's for October- Newest Stamps.

I realise these photos all seem to be taken at a really odd angle, but since these ATCs were all painted with a mixture of Perfect Pearls, Cosmic Shimmer and Stickles, I wanted to show the effect. My newest stamps at the time the theme was set were a set by ISC, which you may have seen on many other blogs- that face stamp is so beautiful that lots of stampers have it and use it well! It was nice to play around with effects, and I deliberately kept these simple, using straightforward stamping for a change! Don't worry, though, I have signed up for another CJ at UK Stampers, so expect to see me get carried away at least once a month!

Colour: Versamagic, Versafine, Cosmic Shimmer powders, Perfect Pearls (both used as paint), Stickles, Aurora ep, Stazon
Stamps: ISC
Other: Vellum printed with script (used for butterflies)

Playing with my Brayer

The good thing about making ATCs in threes is that you can have a play around with one image. This is for UK Stampers September swap, and the theme was 'Buildings or Structures'. I faffed around for most of this month, thinking up ideas and discarding them, and determinedly resisting Elusive Images new Paris stamps, and then last night I decided to use this Paperartsy stamp, which is a stand-alone ATC-sized image. I had bought a new brayer recently, and thought it would be the ideal stamp to use it with. Little did I know that it wasn't like using a paint-roller and tray- I had ink-pads flying around the room, and ended up with the inkiest blue hands ever! Then (after begging for help on the forum) Joanne came to my aid with a link to a Youtube video, and the penny dropped- you take the pad to the brayer, just like taking the pad to the stamp. Sarah came up with some good advice, too- I love forums :D !

Colour: Marvy 'Dee Greunig' Blending Blox, Distress Inks, Versafine, Sakura clear Stardust pen
Stamp: Paperartsy
Other: Woodware brayer

UK Stampers Sunday Challenge no. 7- Pirates!

Gail likes to do interesting themes for her challenges, and this week's was no exception!

Sunday challenge no7

Did you know that the 19th of September is International Talk Like A Pirate Day?.............
Well it is!This weeks challenge is to create something with a Pirate theme...It could be an eye patch, a hat (which you could wear on said day!) or something simple like a card or an ATC..Upload here on the blog or post a link
Happy stamping!

It took me all week to think of what to do for this, but in the end it was a shop window display that inspired me!

Colour: Glimmer Mist, Stazon, Distress Inks, Paint Dabber, Versafine
Stamps: Rubadubbado (map), PSX (alphabet)
Other: Thin leather thong, Cuttlebug embossing folder, Lucky Squirrel sanding block, Grungeboard mini, Redicut gems, 3D Jean corner embellishments.

I was originally going to do the Bandanna technique for the background, but I was inspired by a recent post on Glenda Waterworth's blog. She had been playing with white core card, embossing folders and Glimmer Mists, and so I cut out the white-core card stage and just used plain ol' white card! The red colour is Glimmer Mist, then I sanded, then inked the pattern with Stazon, and sanded again. There you have it, textured Bandanna!

ATCs- Children

This month's 3 for 3 swap on UK Stampers had a theme which most people jumped at, but I found quite hard: children. I am not a brilliant collage artist, and don't have a lot of children-y stamps, so I ended up buying a new stamp. I love these two little cowboys, and I can see this image being handy at birthday and party invite time; it's nice to find something arty and yet also suitable for children!

Colour: Distress Inks, Perfect Pearls (sprayed)
Stamps: Crafty Individuals, Studio G and PSX (alphabets)

My trick-of-the-day for these ATCs was to tap the edge of a rough old plastic ruler into my ink pads and then use it to add the 'scratches' to grunge up the work. I'm sure it's not a new idea, but it impressed my husband!

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!

July's ATCs- Metal

With this month's theme, I was initially excited, as I could use my favourite technique with the metal foil/Cuttlebug/Paint Dabbers, but then I was stumped! In the end, I made up the metal pieces, then coloured the ATCs, and just stared at them for an hour. My dear husband had recently bought me a set of sentiments stamps from Elusive Images (not the usual verses, but much more interesting), and I realised that three of the verses were not only appropriate, but the right size! Whoever gets these ATCs will think I had been drinking, though, as the stamp I use on the back for my details is upside down; I changed my mind about which way they looked best after making them (obviously before putting the verse on LOL!). Whoops!
The bottom photo is a close-up of the effect on the metal- bling, bling!

Colour: Distress Inks, Paint Dabbers, Glimmer Mist, Moonshadow Mist, Versamagic (on vellum)
Stamps: Elusive Images (verses), Crafty Individuals, Inkadinkado, Cherry Pie
Other: Vellum, Metal tape, Prima flowers, heart punch, old book page, Ranger crackle accents

ATCs- Black and White

These are my ATCs for UKStampers this month, to fit the theme of black and white. I went for simple, as you can see, and just used masking to get my cat in front of the background.

Colour: Versafine in Onyx Black
Stamps: All Cherry Pie
Other: Dymo labels, black velvet ribbon and brads from my stash.

'Quotations' ATCs

I am so tired tonight, so won't waffle too much, but since I have a very busy few days planned, I wanted to show these photos tonight, while I have the time. These are this month's ATCs for UK Stampers, with the theme of 'quotations'. After much dithering about which quotations to use, I turned to the stamps for inspiration and realised that my favourite Cherry Pie images were once again begging to be used. I also wanted to make clear acetate the main material, and I am really pleased with the result. The lettering is all from the computer- if you print onto the wrong kind of acetate (i.e. laser or photocopier transparencies using an inkjet printer) the ink does not dry, giving the chance to add embossing powder. And between the front and back layer of acetate, I have used a simple image transfer of newsprint onto clear packing tape, just to add a little texture. The main images are stamped onto newspaper, and I love the idea that they will yellow and age over time.

Stamps: Cherry Pie, Paperartsy
Colour: Versafine, Stazon
Other: Laser transparency, embossing powder, newspaper, clear tape

Thanks for looking, and a special thanks to everyone who has left a comment. It really inspires me, especially when time to craft or blog is limited. I'll try to keep posting!

This Month's ATCs

The theme for this month's ATCs over on UK Stampers was 'Incorporating a tag', and I actually started these with two weeks to go before the deadline, as I was feeling inspired. Not like me at all, (the early start, not the inspiration!) as I usually find that time pressure helps me to work. However, I found once I started that I was *really* inspired, and took my time over these. I am really pleased with the outcome; I really feel that I expressed myself artistically, and I can't believe I made them! Let's hope it wasn't a fluke ;-)
I even made a slide show, so all of the hidden details can be seen:

Colour: Distress Inks in Broken China and Vintage Photo, Versafine, Moonshadow mist, Silver detail embossing powder, Cosmic shimmer lustre pearl embossing powder
Stamps: Paperartsy, Inkadinkado, Crafty Individuals
Embellishments: Star gems from Hobbycraft, Turquoise gems by Pebeo, pins, beads, wire, and ribbon from my stash
Other: Sizzix originals tag die, Sizzlits mini-tags die, Making Memories metal sheets (used to make mini-tags), Vellum from Lakeland, Silk dupion from Fabric Land, Vintage paper from old book
Thanks for looking!

2 More ATCs

I did these ATCs last week, but I had a tummy bug that wiped me out for a couple of days! After feeling better from that, I had to catch up on all of my housework etc, so this is my first opportunity to post these pictures. As you can see, I'm still inspired by my new Paperartsy stamps, and I also had some fun with shrink plastic and heat embossing.
All details as previous post.

Love ATC

I love these new Paperartsy stamps sooooooo much! I am inspired by them at the moment, and I'm trying to make all of the things I can see in my head before I forget them! My DH is in Penzance at the moment, so that's helping. The house is tidy, the baby is asleep, and I'm just about to go do some more stamping now! Daytime stamping, how decadent!
This ATC is for UK Stampers January swap, which is an open theme. I have prepared the backgrounds for the other two I need to make. Hopefully I'll be able to post them tomorrow- day and night stamping!
Stamps: Paperartsy
Background: H20s
Inks: Brilliance
Other: White embossing powder, Polyshrink shrink plastic, and wire, ribbon, and letters from my stash.

Last month's ATCs- Wings and Crowns

I know a lot of stampers love wings and crown images, but this is my first time playing with them. I found it really challenging, just because there are so many great examples out there. I feel that I haven't tried to be really 'individual' with these, but it was quite relaxing to know where I expected to go with this theme.
All three ATCs use free collage images, and it had to be children for me, as they are little angels (awww!) The first uses printed vellum over a stamped background (that Anna Griffin stamp again), and Anna Griffin butterfly wings. The second is on a sparkly card, and uses the new Paperartsy Christmas stamps (don't you love that swirl!) heat embossed in white. The last one uses an Inkadinkado flower stamp on the background (in Brilliance ink) and for the wings, heat embossed in gold. Thanks for looking!

Think Monday, Think ATC- Metal

I have taken a couple of weeks off from doing challenges, as I felt like I was stretching myself a bit thin. I don't know why, but now the weather has turned more Autumnal, I feel like my energy has been renewed. So here is my entry to this week's TMTA, the theme for which is 'metal'.
The background of the ATC is the one I made before using the tape-lifted text technique, which was then coloured with alcohol inks. I stamped on it using a maple leaf stamp from Cherry Pie Art Stamps and black Stazon. When I made the background, I had also used the alcohol inks to colour some acetate. I stamped and embossed the acetate using the leaf stamp and gold embossing powder, and cut out the top half of the leaf. I layered this over the background to get a more intense colour, and added the leaf brads (Dovecraft, I think) and the corner embellishment.
It has turned out very textural again, but I like it! Autumn, I'm ready for you!

Better Late Than Never.

These are three ATCs I made for a swap at UK Stampers. The theme was 'image transfers', and I had originally started with an Autumnal theme in mind with this background here. For various reasons, this didn't happen (yet- I still plan to complete this!) and I found myself with limited time, having to do these ATCs with no clue as to what to do! I had a catalogue of beautiful rose images to play with, and no inspiration. But somehow, it all came together, and although I could do better, I think these are OK! They are quite textural, rather than detailed, but do fit with my idea of faded images.
I started with cream hammered card-stock, and stamped the flower (Inkadinkadoo) in Brilliance Inks in Pearlescent purple and crimson, plus a pink pigment ink. Then I coated the card with Windsor and Newton Matt Medium ( which is a gel medium) and added some torn pieces of cream mulberry paper for texture. Then I added my cut-out rose images (from David Austin's rose catalogue, the pictures are beautiful and I can recommend their roses!) to the coated card, face down, and burnished them hard on the back. I then left them overnight to dry, and in the morning rubbed the back with a wet finger until all of the paper came away and I was left with a transparent image of the roses. The transfers were better in some places than others, which fits my idea here, but I will practice for next time! I decided to coat the piece with a gloss medium as it gave the transfers a better finish, then I stamped my Hero Arts script stamp in Ancient Page Sandlewood and distressed the edges. I used Brilliance Crimson on the edges, and finally sprayed with a matt varnish to take the shine down a little.
I think I was surprised at how transparent the transfers actually are, with hindsight I would have been a bit more careful with where I used the Brilliance Crimson, as it overwhelms the images a bit. It was an interesting technique to play with, but I need to experiment more and plan better.
If you want to see some good examples of image transfers, try Carrie and Julie's blogs, they both really know how to work with this artform!

More Backgrounds, but this time that's all that's required!

I realise that I keep on showing backgrounds at the moment, but this time there is a good reason! I'm taking part in a 3 stage ATC jam at UK Stampers, where three people each do part of an ATC, then send it to the next person etc. (A bit like a circle journal). We've only just started, and so these are my two background, to be sent on to the next person on the list. The next time you see these, they will be unrecognisable!
For these, I used the craft mat/water technique with Nick Bantock Dye Inks in Prussian Blue and Chartreuse Green. Then I stamped in Versamark and brushed with Perfect Pearls. The Blue background is an Anna Griffin stamp with Gold Perfect Pearls, and the green background is a two Non Sequitur stamps with Copper Perfect Pearls. I know these are techniques I use a lot, but I thought it best not to be too experimental when someone else needs to be able to work on these!
I have just received some backgrounds to work on, and they are fab. I need to get my thinking cap on, as I want to do these right! We have three weeks to work on each stage but are ahead of ourselves already. I will work on them this weekend, if I get some time. This stage is quite difficult, as I have to leave room for the last person to contribute.
I have got more photos to show, but tomorrow, as they are for a birthday! I am still out and about making the most of this lovely weather, so the photos are building up a bit, waiting for a big hit!

Think Monday, Think ATC- Loving couples

This week's Think Monday, Think ATC challenge is 'loving couples'. How could I not use this stamp? The original of this is beautiful, but Marina from Cherry Pie has really caught the passion in her rendition for this stamp. Thanks Marina!
The border and text were computer generated, the main image was stamped in black Versafine. The Cherry Pie heart was reverse stamped in Versamark, using the flat plain square from Judikins' 'Carol's Cube' (ink up your stamp, stamp it onto the square, then stamp the square onto your paper. Voila, your image is reversed!). First it was heat embossed with gold detail powder, then I used Versacolour Cardinal Red direct-to-paper over the whole image, poured on clear embossing powder, then heated it. I don't know how this works, but the original embossing comes through the colour! Then I cut out the heart and glued it in position, and mounted the whole thing on black card. Oh, and the lips were coloured with Sakura Stardust then Glaze pens.
If anyone loves fonts, as I do, then check out Dafont.com. There are hundreds of amazing fonts in all different styles, perfect for the finishing touch for your projects. And they're free!

Think Monday, Think ATC- Holiday

I finally managed to finish my ATC for this week's Think Monday, Think ATC challenge. Boy, did I struggle with this one! I hope it's just because of this cold I have, but I really wasn't inspired, and this isn't my best work. However, I have decided to use it, even though I don't like it, as I am not ashamed to show I have off days! The important thing is to recognise when something isn't quite right. It would be far worse if I thought this was amazing!
Anyway, the faux postcard in the background was made with my Hero Arts script stamp, a Rubbadubadoo butterfly stamp, and Distress Ink in Vintage photo. Then there is a layer of torn Mulberry paper, then a photo of a French beach printed onto a transparency. Finally, a swirl stamp from Aud Design was stamped in black Stazon and highlighted with white pen, and I wrote "Wish you were here" to finish. Hmmm, not sure where I was going with this!