Small Paper (Part Three)

Hi everyone. Hope this Saturday finds you in a good place. It's been a busy week work-wise for moi so I'm posting something new made last weekend which fits in with the Little Paper theme at SSS&S (link below).

Some of that fab Bazzill card in use again (for info. the ranges I've been using recently are Ambrosia, Lucy's Crab Shack and MAC). Origami has been a passion for some time and as the aqua patterned design lent itself beautifully to a 50's modernist feel I went that way with the dress design.

Time to dig out my favourite Andy Skinner pattern stamp which is so crisp and transfers to tissue really well. Then the embossed card, which had previously been brayered with Metallic Distress Paints, was ink blended to coordinate (Victorian Velvet/Spun Sugar/Tea Dye). This would all have disappeared but for the Mulberry Paper frame which matched the belt on the dress. It looks really good when you use a brush to apply water to the edges and then gently tease some away.

Cutting out the strips of buttons (from the Sam Poole Vintage Sewing set, stamped with metallic ink and clear embossed) takes a while but is worth it. It's always a question of working out where the focal element is going and then piling on the extras around it in close proximity. Even a touch of stencilled texture paste got in on the act! A solid background would have been boring, so I drew rough sections on the reverse of the pink card and cut out with fancy scissors. A spot of faux stitching in a mix of gold and silver gel pen, and some Tea Dye distressing finished the patches. Originally they were laid onto aqua card but the contrast was too overpowering so I recoloured it with a white gel pen. This will get a sentiment, but I'm holding out for the TH Simple Sayings set to arrive soon (you will see a lot of that I suspect!)

You will have guessed by now that this is being entered into;

Simon Says Stamp and Show - A Little Paper

and with so much pink, Pan Pastel UK Challenge Blog - In The Pink is a must

And a quick heads up about a few things. First you NEED to see Trace Metcalfe's Friday Focus at Frilly and Funkie for the most amazing TH Movers and Shapers ideas - don't worry if your wish list grows as a result, Linda has a MASSIVE 35% DISCOUNT  on them this week HERE.

If you need more Alterations inspiration head over to Plucking Daisies where Amy Bowerman will treat you to some fabulous tutorials and a drool-worthy Pinterest board; this includes items from members the wonderful F&F DT as well as some of my favourite crafters (including Anita, Marjie, Anna-Karin, Tammy, Shelly, Candy, Terry and Alison).

And if that is not enough, Terry Wietsma-Girbes has produced a superb Step by Step today which will help you positively breath life into those tired looking pictures on the walls.

Right, that's the rest of your Saturday used up!! (soz - but SO worth it) Hope your weekend is wonderful. Take care of yourselves, hugs Jenny x

Small Paper (Part 2)

Hi everyone. Thanks for dropping by and huge hugs to all those who have been kind enough to leave comments - a return visit will happen but an all-day course yesterday scuppered plans to get totally up to date on the commenting front. However, a master plan has now been hatched to tackle this - it's the second Semi-Final of Eurovision tonight (on BBC Three at 8pm for those who need deets) so that provides the ideal opportunity to park in a chair and catch up!!! And now...

A friend of mine has requested a card for her sister (no! that wasn't obvious was it!!) and I've been 'die-ing' (seriously?) to use this lamppost die cut somewhere, so by combining it with the current Simon Says Stamp & Show Challenge - A Little Paper a plan started to come together.

Thrilled to bits with the Bazzill card (a bit of a bargain from a well known tv channel:) as it is such a good weight to play with. I love adding a spot of faux stitching combined with some ink distressing to age it and add some interest/a border. The purple layer used the Papillon background stamp with a mix of the Metallic Distress Paints on white card. This then acted as a resist to some Distress Inks.

My favourite layer is the brick wall one. A piece of brown card was die cut with the Cameo Frame and embossed with a brick wall folder. I used the Ranger Snowflake Embossing Tinsel (it adds a lovely texture) with Picket Fence Distress Stain to act as a resist to the Distress Inks and finished with some script stamping in Archival Ink. Now for that lamppost...

You'd never believe this started off white! It took a mix of Metallic Distress Paints, Distress Embossing Powder, Verdigris Vintaj Patinas and a sweep of Archival Ink to get it to that stage, each layer heated/dried carefully to give a weathered feel. Don't you just love that lamp? It occurred to me that the honey coloured card would look great at the top, and a touch of Glossy Accents made it shine beautifully.

The remaining elements were stamped and distressed in the usual ways and layered in my favourite scrapping style. The Funkie Junkie Boutique has the most amazing range of metal embellishments (including the filigree elements, flower and leaves) which look even better when aged with Vintaj Patinas/Distress Paints. The flower was layered with some Tattered Florals die cut calico petals (drenched in Seedless Preserves Distress Paints and some gilding wax) and it really stands out against the seam binding and lace.

As ever a list of challenges being entered;

Simon Says Stamp and Show - A Little Paper

Sunday Stamper - Simple Irresistible

Artful Times - Blooming Marvellous

Country View Crafts - How Does Your Garden Grow

Fashionable Stamping Challenges - Anything Goes

I've added links to many of the products used below rather than list them all in the description - if you've got any questions please just ask. This should all be about sharing and growing together. Wishing you all well, hugs as ever, Jenny xxx

Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Tea Dye	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Dusty Concord	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Fired Brick	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Peeled Paint	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Walnut Stain	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Paint - Seedless Preserve	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Paint - Picket Fence	Ranger Vintaj Patina Kit - Weathered Copper
Ranger Archival Ink - Coffee	Ranger Archival Ink - Sepia	Ranger Archival Ink - Jet Black	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Embossing Powder - Black Soot	Ranger Inkssentials Glossy Accents	Bronze Metal Daisies for Scrapbooking and Mixed Media	4 Piece Antiqued Bronze Filigree Pieces	6 Piece Bronze Leaf Embellishments
Tim Holtz Idea-ology Mini Fasteners	PRE-ORDER Tim Holtz Ranger Metallic Distress Paint - Brushed Pewter	PRE-ORDER Tim Holtz Ranger Metallic Distress Paint - Tarnished Brass	Rayon Seam Binding	Embroidered Sheer Lace - 1/2 Inch Wide	Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Papillon	Tim Holtz Sizzix Alterations Movers and Shapers Die - Cameo Frame	Sizzix Alternations Tim Holtz Holiday Lamppost BIGZ Die
Sizzix Alterations Tim Holtz Tattered Florals Die	Ranger Inkssentials Ink Blending Foam	Ranger Inkssentials Non-Stick Craft Sheet

Small Paper (Part 1)

Hi everyone. I'm sitting here with the Eurovision semi-finals playing in the background - sometimes it doesn't matter how bad something is, you get a huge compulsion to watch anyway?! For those of you outside Europe this may not mean anything - trust me, you are probably better off not knowing:)) And here, sat in my chair, with so many women (in white) warbling on as if their lives depended on it, I have a million (slight exaggeration) comments to leave, loads of friends to catch up on and my first entry for this week's Simon Says Stamp and Show Challenge - A Little Paper.

Why so confident this is only my first entry this week? It's because this challenge feels like it was written for me. Anyone who visits regularly knows my favourite projects are 6"x 6" cards - often using paper pads - in which I am increasingly interpreting scrapbook layout sketches. This is no exception. The paper (love the typewriter keys:) is a Bazzill cardstock, somewhat altered.

OMG! Just a quick Eurovision update, one woman has been brought onto the stage by a giant and now there are rapping spacemen!  What next?

Back to the card. The paper was great but needed attacking so I started by applying torn pieces of bookprint in a strip. A wash of gesso was brushed over the top and blended roughly onto the cardstock too. Next lots of fun stamping with Archival Inks and Distress Paints - some postal stamps were used and then I used a pen lid for the circles and the edge of a blending mat for the lines. The outer edges of the cardstock were ink blended slightly and had a faux sewing stitch applied. Then time to rip into it (best to do this with double-sided cardstock. You can see some coordinating cardstock and cotton lace peeping through. To finish I added some plain cream cardstock die cuts, a sentiment stamped on some TH faux verdigris card and another UTEE embellishment coloured to match.

Final Eurovision update - we've just seen a woman dressed up like a lava lamp and now there are topless Irishmen banging furiously - on very large drums! I wonder why this show is so big in Brighton...

OK, time to leave you and get one with those million comments. Don't forget tomorrow to look out for a new challenge at Frilly and Funkie and some amazing projects from the other half of the Our Creative Corner team. For now take care of yourselves, hugs Jenny x

The Player

Hi everyone and welcome. I've been experimenting again and using inspiration from some amazing people. Let me show you my card and then you can get the lowdown on where the ideas came from.

Sandra at Made by Sannie produced a fantastic canvas and posted the link to a video created by Drew HERE - so well worth watching. I'd already made the base of this card based on the background papers for the Wonderland collection designed by Finnabair (see her work with it HERE - she seems to have inspired pretty much everyone around the World!)

The main element used for the base was blank playing cards. As well as distressing the cards, other things like tissue and paper lace were added for texture. Next came a scattering of die cut cogs/sprockets, a punched ribbon and some metal embellishments. They were cut from a range of textures and were placed to balance the central cog/focal image.

So now for the colour. I've used Distress Inks before but you always need layers to get any depth of colour. Bring on the Distress Paints!! (in this case Fired Brick/Wild Honey/Salty Ocean were used).

My favourite method of application is to dab, spread, spritz and tip to allow for the colours to run and bleed into each other. The colours are rather bright at this stage and need knocking back. Having blended the edges with black ink I dry brushed the whole surface with layers of DP Black Soot (scary!) white gesso and finally Treasure Gold gilding wax. The beauty is they cover everything including metal. To complete the background I used the cogs stamp from the Time Travellers set dabbed randomly within the main cog.

The Player (I see him as something of a 'card shark' who frequents seedy poker joints:) was stamped onto coloured cardstock to compliment the background using Black Soot Distress Embossing Powder to add texture. He needed more work, so parts were painted with washes of DI Pumice Stone. And finally to add a nod to the playing card base I added a UTEE club shape coloured with TG and Black Soot paint (a heart didn't seem appropriate as I'm sure his is made of stone!)

And so to the challenges;
Simon Says Stamp and Show - Inspired By (think there's inspiration here)
SanDee & Amelie's Steampunk Challenge - Altered Playing Cards (the cards were blank but I hope this project still counts)

Finally a quick heads up - Nicecrane Designs are celebrating Mother's Day in the USA with a 40% off special Coupon Code (on orders over $5).

That's it for now. Hope you've enjoyed this instalment and get your chance to play today.
Take care of yourselves, hugs Jenny xxx

Metallic Paints Play Time

Hi everyone and welcome. It is the second week of the current challenge over at Frilly and Funkie - 'No Time to Waste' which means it's time to share my DT sample.

There was a fair amount of experimentation involved with creating this card as the basis is my new Metallic Distress Paints (and you'll never guess what - they seriously live up to expectations!!!)

Time is the theme but I didn't want to go for the obvious. One of the older 'collage style' Texture Fades embossing folders has a clock image on it in the bottom right-hand corner - result. Having used it on white card I spread the three Metallic Distress Paints onto my craft mat and rolled them onto the raised areas with a brayer. This gives a nice smooth finish though don't expect perfect coverage - it's paint after all but that just adds to the interest of the finished background.

Having added a layer of DS Antique Linen over the paint, patches of DI Bundled Sage, Stormy Sky and Shaded Lilac were blended on top and then spritzed/blotted with water to give a more mottled finish. The three panels were finished by distressing the edges, blending DI Walnut Stain around the sides and applying DS Brushed Corduroy to the edges.

The gentleman was created in a similar way to the puzzle pieces HERE using Brett Weldele's tutorial. You'll be able to see in the previous photo that the pocket watch was clear embossed to make it stand out. At this point it became clear that something else was needed in the background, so a viewfinder die cut piece was covered in Metallic DP's and Verdigris Embossing Powder was sprinkled in patches over the top. Alcohol ink coloured acetate was applied to the reverse to make it stand out more. Finally a sentiment and some filigree metal corners (covered with more Metallic DP and black Archival Ink) completed the look.

Hope you are inspired to play with these paints and create your own time inspired project for the Frilly and Funkie challenge. There's a winners badge and a $25 shopping spree at The Funkie Junkie Boutique up for grabs for those who do. For now, hop over to the challenge to see what the rest of the team have been up to  (you're in for a treat) and take care of yourselves, hugs Jenny x

PRE-ORDER Tim Holtz Ranger Metallic Distress Paint - Tarnished Brass	PRE-ORDER Tim Holtz Ranger Metallic Distress Paint - Brushed Pewter	PRE-ORDER Tim Holtz Ranger Metallic Distress Paint - Antique Bronze	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Shaded Lilac	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Stormy Sky	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Bundled Sage	Ranger Tim Holtz Distress Ink Pad - Walnut Stain	Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Stain - Antique Linen
Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Stain - Brushed Corduroy	Ranger Archival Ink - Jet Black	Ranger Archival Ink - Coffee	Ranger Embossing Powder - Verdigris Antiquities	Corner Filigree Metal Pieces	Ranger Inkssentials Non-Stick Craft Sheet	Sizzix Alterations Tim Holtz Picture Wheel BIGz Die	$17.95 Stampers Anonymous Tim Holtz Rubber Stamps - Time Travelers