UK Stampers' Altered Art Challenge- Pegs

You may have picked up that I host an altered art swap on UK Stampers each month. Last month we did pegs, which I have wanted to do for a while. I had been sent a couple of pegs to play with (thanks, Ann!) and this was my opportunity. And since I don't do simple... this is also an altered matchbox!

Colour: The usual culprits- Distress Inks and Liberon Gilt wax, plus the book was covered with an old baby-wipe I had saved which had been used to clean up after paint and ink.
Stamp: Paperartsy swirl. It is faint, but I promise it is there!
Other: Book pages, cover from a match-box, mount-board, wire, beads, button, pins, Prima flower, vellum butterfly (free from 'Making Cards' magazine), and lots of PVA glue.

The book was a bit fiddly to make, but worth it to me. The ends of the pages are cut from my book and sized to fit inside the matchbox cover. They were gilded so that they would blend in with the front of the book, which is solid with 'pretend' pages. There was a gap between the two stacks of end pages which was big enough to take the peg doll. Then I made a book cover as I would for a real book. It even opens! You may need to click on the photos for more detail... :)

At Last! April's Inchies

I have finally downloaded my camera and I am ashamed to say there is some quite old work on there. This photo is a month old! Hopefully it is still worth showing, even if the swap is over and done with. These are April's Inchies, and Sid set the theme of 'Bling'. Even though I was already starting to feel a bit stressed with work, I had to join in with this swap- it just said 'Stickles' to me! Mmmm, Stickles...

Colour: Glimmer mist, Distress Inks, Gold ep, Stickles, Sharpie pen
Stamps: Elusive Images (a borrow- thanks, Lucy, it is now on my 'must buy' list!)
Other: Err... nothing- for once!

I added the second photo to show all the bling- yummy!

Mother's Day

Before I start describing the top card, I just want to say that it wasn't that colour! My Mum loves coloured card, and so I used a soft turquoise card as the base. I have tried to get the colour back using various editing tools, and it wasn't happening, so I am sorry, you will have to imagine the real colour.

Anyway, this is the card and stampbord brooch I gave to my Mum for Mother's day. I used my new Elusive Images plate, which I absolutely love- expect to see a lot more using it as it is really versatile.

Colour: Card: Distress Ink, Whispers Dye Ink, Versafine (used on acetate then embossed), aurora ep, Sakura glaze and Stardust pens, Stickles; Brooch: Dee Greunig Blending Blox, Whispers Dye Ink, Stickles, Sakura Stardust Pens, Stazon, Opals UTEE, silver Paint Dabber
Stamps: All Elusive Images
Other: transparency, shrink plastic, wire, brooch back, blue card, Stampbord, butterfly charm.



I also wanted to share with you my own Mother's day card, made by my little budding artist. Inside it says 'Remember when you do my washing that I love you'. Bless! I couldn't eat the cookie as I am gluten intolerant, but my little boy was more than happy to eat it for me :)

Lots to do challenge- Masks

I made these little tags to send off with the swaps- I don't normally blog these little RAKs, but this week the challenge on Lots To Do is 'masks'. I bought a Tim Holtz mask a while ago, but hadn't got around to using it. Tags are a brilliant way to experiment, so I got out that mask and away I went! I haven't entered a challenge for ages, but since this one came along at just the right time, I am entering.

Colour: Glimmer Mists, Distress Inks, Versafine (red and black), gilt wax
Stamps: All Elusive Images (the damask design is actually the corner flourish from the new Butterfly Daisy Collage plate)
Other: Mountboard shapes cut with Sizzix (thanks, Tasha!), Tim Holtz flourish mask, Prima flowers, gem shapes from Hobbycraft.

Bottlecap swap- a few of my favourite things...

I really got carried away making this little piece for the February altered art swap on UK Stampers. Good job too; the standard was really high, as ever, so I would have been embarrassed if I hadn't gone that extra mile! I used all of my favourite techniques and products :)

Colour: Alcohol inks, Stickles, Distress Inks, Versafine, Sakura clear stardust pen, Opals UTEE in black and gold, Perfect Pearls
Stamps: Cherry Pie
Other: Two bottlecaps (flattened with a hammer and a block of wood), sheer ribbon, adhesive metal tape, Cuttlebug and embossing folder, buttons, Krafty Lady art mould, Melt Pot, Papermania adhesive gem

(If you can read the words, they are from Twelfth Night- another of my favourite things!)

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

CJ page for Gail

This is my attempt at humour for Gail's CJ, and I think it gets the point across, although I'm not too convinced about my execution! Her stamp is the shoes, which just made me think about the Wizard of Oz (plus those funny radio and TV ads featuring the Wicked Witch of the West and her best friend, Vicky, have inspired me). I coloured over the image with my watercolour crayons again- I love the texture they add (I was channelling tornado!). I hope Gail likes it.

Colour: Watercolour crayons, Stickles (on shoes), Stazon, Distress Inks
Stamp: Mad Rat?
Other: Image of old house, acetate

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.

Altered Domino Swap, plus mini-tutorial

This month's Altered Art swap on UK Stampers had the theme of dominoes. We each altered a domino, then incorporated it into a piece of work of our choice. I like this approach, as everyone has a different way of treating their domino. The pieces were all so different and gorgeous. See the slideshow here. My piece is a stamp book holder, and I have done a mini-tutorial for it (scroll down the page to see it). I call it mini because I didn't have time or a second pair of hands to be able to take any photos. First, the how-to of the decoration :)

Colour: Watercolour crayons/water-spray/drinking straw technique shown by Jo Capper-Sandon in Craft Stamper, Versafine, Versamagic, Distress Ink
Stamps: Stampin' Up, Crafty Individuals (postmark)
Other: Mountboard, old book pages, stamps (from a package sent to me by Marina from Cherry Pie), domino (the stamps are collaged on with beeswax using my Melt Pot).


My piece uses such simple techniques to construct it that I wanted to share them. I first came across the mitre trick when Tricia Morris showed it on Craft TV Weekly, which is sadly no more. I have used this technique before, to make a box file, and for the covers of my two circle journals. The trick is to treat your object as if it were a book, with two covers and a spine. I am giving the dimensions I used for this piece, but any variation will work.

What you will need:
Mountboard or greyboard
Cover paper and liner paper
Wet glue- I use white PVA
Something to spread the glue evenly- a foam brush or credit card is ideal
Ruler and pencil
Bonefolder

1. First of all, you need to decide your size and cut your mountboard pieces. My main pieces were: front 5cm x 8.5cm, base 3cm x 8.5cm, back 7cm x 8.5cm. I did not cut my sides or base at this point, as I wanted a really snug fit.
2. Work out the dimensions for your cover paper. Widthways is easy, as it needs to be 2cm bigger on each side than the mountboard. Lengthways, you will need to allow an extra 0.5cm each side of the spine for the piece to fold, plus 2cm each end. So my finished cover paper was 12.5cm wide x 20cm long. Decorate it, remembering that it is a wrap-around and the design needs to be multi-directional.
3. Mark your 2cm border on the back of the paper. Spread glue evenly on the mountboard pieces and glue down, making sure that they all line up at the top and bottom, and that you leave your 0.5cm gutters either side of the small spine piece.
4. Using your ruler as a spacer, draw a line across each corner of the cover paper, approx. 3mm from the corner of the cover, and at approx 45 degrees (you can do it by eye, it's OK to guess!) Cut along these lines.
5. Now we are going to fold in the long edges of our cover paper. First fold your flaps up without glue, to make a crease (just to make it easier to fold when covered in wet, sticky glue). Spread your glue along the first flap, making sure you get it right up to the edge of the mountboard. Lift up the whole piece, and press the edge against your work surface as you wrap your flap as tightly as possible around the mountboard (if you just use your fingers it won't be as even). You will know this is right if you can still see the shape of the mountboard- the paper shouldn't look domed. Repeat for the other side. Work the joints, smoothing the cover paper gently down into the gutters.
6. This next part is slightly fiddly. When you look at the corners of your piece, you will see that the cover paper overhangs the mountboard by 0.3cm on the long side. You need to use your bonefolder to tuck this excess around the corner and flatten it out. Do this on all four corners. Now you have a nice flat flap to fold up and glue, exactly like you did for the long sides, and when it is glued you will have a professional-looking mitre with no unsightly points.
7. Cut your liner paper 0.5cm smaller all round than your finished piece is (mine was 11.5cm x 19cm). Brush on your glue and, starting from the spine, smooth the liner down onto your piece, gently pushing the paper down into the gutters again. Now work the joins, and smooth it down anywhere it pops up, adding extra glue if necessary. Your covers are done!
8. To add sides and a base, simply measure your finished piece and cut your mountboard to fit. My sides have a slanted top edge, and my base is bigger by 0.5cm all round. Be aware that your cover paper will add bulk, so err on the smaller side when cutting. Add glue on three edges of the side pieces, and hold in position until the glue starts to set- with PVA this doesn't take long. Glue the base on, and leave the whole piece to dry overnight, using weights, clips or elastic bands if necessary to make a tight joint.

I hope this makes sense to you! If do you have any queries, please feel free to email me and ask- my email is on my profile. And if you make something using these instructions, link back to this post and I will come and admire your work!

Faux sea-glass no. 2

This is yet another present for a friend, and spookily, the day I handed it over, it co-ordinated with what she was wearing!

Colour: Dee Greunig blending blox, distress inks, versamark, Perfect Pearls, Paint Dabbers
Stamps: Elusive Images
Other: Stampbord, UTEE, Crop-a-dile.

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)

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!

Colours CJ- Morti's purple book

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Here is my second journal entry for this new CJ I am in. I can definitely say that this one is more challenging than the last as thinking of a colour theme that fits the stamp is hard! I love a challenge, though, so here is my entry in Morti's book. I was thinking of 'purple heart' for a while, and had decided how I wanted to do the background, but my original idea was to pin a tiny 'medal' to the art doll's chest. Well, as you can see, I was a little rough when cutting out, and pulled the poor creature's arm off! Perfect really, as she then was really a wounded soldier! The real purple heart medal has the phrase 'For Military Merit' inscribed on the back, so I had to change it to 'artistic merit'.

Colour: Dee Greunig Blending Blox, Distress Ink, Distress Crackle paint, Stickles, Versafine, Glimmer Mist, Stazon, permanent fineline pen, Liberon gilt wax
Stamps: Elusive Images, plus Morti's Paperartsy art doll
Other: Shrink Plastic, metal corners, ribbon, safety pin, all from my stash.

When I made the shrink plastic 'medal' I stamped on one side with Stazon, then sprayed the other with Glimmer Mist, not realising that the GM and the Shrink are not completely compatible! The back (the side I sprayed) has a very bobbley texture, and you can see this distorted the shape of the piece, too. However, I love the effect, as it looks less new and perfect than usual, so I may try this again!

Hello to you!

Hello to you! I am taking a little time out to blog, safe in the knowledge that the housework is mostly up to date, and Dan is happily asleep in his bed! This may not sound like much, but trust me, it is really amazing to me. On Christmas day, Paul's and my main present was Dan, in his sleeping bag (which is really restrictive), coming into our room to wake us up. He had learnt how to escape from his cot, and needed to have a bed, as the escaping was a pretty hair-raising process. Then we came across a new issue, that of keeping in his bed. To start with we were staying in his room to stop him from escaping, and I stopped being able to craft as I was spending up to three hours in there. I got really down, the housework suffered, and none of us was happy. Then I had the miraculous revelation of just leaving him to it (with locks on a couple of doors to prevent him from flooding the house!). So this week he is finally happy, falling asleep in his own time (occasionally on the landing) and leaving us time to be adults again.

Anyway, enough waffling, I usually try not to bore everyone with family stuff, so now about the card! It was only my second ever commission, and I really enjoyed making it. I used patterned papers from an Artylicious CD, and I can really say that it was worth getting, as the designs are beautiful and I could print off what I needed on the medium I wanted- great for a control freak like me! And I have the co-ordinating stamps, of course :D

Colour: Distress Inks, Sharpies, Versamagic, Stazon, Cosmic shimmer, Aurora ep
Stamps: Elusive images and Cherry Pie (butterfly)
Other: Artylicious Damask Delight CD rom, Vellum cardstock (used inside and for the butterflies), mountboard (for hand cut numbers), paper roses, selvedge of silver ribbon, jewel brads, poem from Internet, Fiskars border punch.

The vellum cardstock is amazing to look at, but you need to handle it with extreme care as any crease or mark shows as a white line. I managed OK for this, but will only use is when nothing else will do otherwise!

Shh, don't tell anyone I'm here...

I told Paul I was just checking my emails, but was overcome by the urge to blog! I have two last projects from before Christmas, and the other project requires a slide-show, so here is my notebook swap piece. This was a bit of a long-winded swap for various reasons, but worth waiting for when I saw all of the entries. Everyone started with two pieces of semi-opaque polypropylene, 3" x 5", and altered them however they wanted. Mine uses Paint Dabbers and Glimmer mist, and has images stamped on the front and back of each cover- the dark blue colour is showing through from the back.

Colour: Paint Dabbers, Glimmer Mist, Distress Ink, Stickles
Stamp: Elusive Images
Other: Embelliscrap butterfly, metal tape and cuttlebug folder, charm, ribbon selvedge, Bind-it-all

When I put the colour down, I started by spraying with Glimmer Mist, then painted over it with a Paint Dabber. Note to anyone else that tries this: seal it with spray varnish between the two mediums- the Glimmer Mist is not a stable surface and the paint flakes off! It took me three coats of paint before I thought to do this :D

If you want to see the rest of the notebooks, check out the UK Stampers Cyberblog

Jambalaya kit

Another pressie, this was a recipe card and the dry ingredients for making Jambalaya- one of our favourite New Orleans' dishes (we had a week there in 2004). All of the herbs and spices were individually wrapped in cellophane and labelled, so all the recipient needs to do is put them in a mortar and grind them up!

Colour: Distress Inks, Versafine, Ancient Page
Stamps: Paperartsy, MSE
Other: gold wire, raffia, stiff card for box, cellophane

PS This is the last time you will see my beloved (and old) MSE alphabet, as I left the word 'spice' on the block after I finished. Paul let me have a lie-in and gave Dan his breakfast, and when I looked at the block later it was empty! I found 2 letters on Dan's place-mat, and one in his cereal bowl, but the other two seem to be gone for good- and there was no way I was going to look in his nappy for them! Farewell, lovely alphabet, I suppose I will need to replace you at last!

Christmas presents- mini-albums

I actually made all but two of my Christmas presents this year- it was time-consuming, but worth it, as the gifts were really appreciated. My family are used to handmade things- I used to make all my pressies from an early age (mostly felt comb-cases and embroidered hankies!)- but I have never made anything for Paul's family before, apart from cards, as I didn't know if they would like what I do! These are the scrapbooking projects, and I will show all of the arty things later!

Stamps by Studio G and Paperartsy. The green concertina album is made using two used gift-cards for the covers.

All of my Christmas cards

This is all of the cards sent this year (minus a couple I forgot to photograph). The stamps are all Paperartsy and Cherry Pie, and I used all of my favourite products and techniques on them. Thanks for looking!

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!