Patriotic May Tag

And so, a foray into the world of the Tim Holtz' 12 Tags of 2012 Challenge. I drew inspiration from Anne and used what I had in my crafty stash to create this entry.

To begin I stamped an Andy Skinner sewing image in navy onto greaseproof paper, and then glued it to some white card, wrinkling it up as much as possible without distorting the image too much. The sewing machine image from Sam Poole was stamped into the corner in red ink, and the edges of the card distressed with Walnut Stain. To finish the background another of Sam Poole's vintage sewing images, the dressform, was stamped and embossed in black Archival Ink.

The coat hanger was made out of a paperclip, and the metal charm started life as a piece of quiche tin, die cut and embossed using a Spellbinders charm die, and distressed lightly with black Archival Ink. I used a 'what if' moment to good effect to make the Union Jack button which adorns it - having quite a few plain white buttons it occurred to me that they could be altered using Promarkers. The hanger was then attached with coloured staples.

The tape measure was created by stamping another Sam Poole vintage sewing image on the reverse of a piece of grey ribbon using Stazon so it wouldn't bleed. To make it stand out I used red cotton and did a bit of hand-sewing (makes a change from repairing the holes in trouser knees or mending socks!!) The flowers were die cut (SB Rose Creations) using the smallest die in navy, red, white and green card, joined together with twisted silver wire and pearl beads, and given a couple of dunks in UTEE. Chopping up a cotton reel wasn't working, so I layered up cardboard, covered it with greaseproof paper and stamped it with a cotton reel image. Finally a safety pin was glued over the reel and extra staples were added.

Overall this piece came out pretty much as planned and taught me a few things along the way, which I guess is what Tim's challenges are all about.

Thanks to everyone who stops by, and huge thanks to those who leave such lovely comments. Slowly but surely my little blog is growing and I'm getting to discover the work of some uber-talented peeps. Hugs to you all, Buttons x

Ripples

Good evening everyone. Hope you all had a happy and productive weekend. So Hels Sheridan has set her next Sunday Stampers Challenge entitled 'Circles' and I have managed to create my entry today as this week is going to be busy.

The idea started with some plain white card and a TH embossing folder which reminds me of ripples on a pond. With that in mind I ran the card through the GC with Perfect Medium, covered it with Arctic Blue Cosmic Shimmer UTEE, then heated it, brushed Golden Malachite Mica Powder over the whole piece and reheated it to develop the shine.



To cover the raised parts, I wiped Perfect Meduim over lightly and brushed on Tropic Blue mica powder. Moss green ink was finally added to the edges to distress them slightly. The sentiment is a Creative Expressions one from a set of leaves and needed Archival Black to ensure it would stand out.

Once again the watery background reminded me of Monet's Waterlillies (if you ever get the chance to go to Paris, a visit to L'Orangerie is highly recommended) so I created some of my own. Small flower shapes from a Crafters Companion embossing board were cut out in lemon, pink, lilac and green card, secured in the centre with brads, softened with water and shaped. To finish them the tips of the petals were rubbed in Lavender Shine Cosmic Shimmer paint. Now, at this point I could have added them to the card and left it at that, but it needed something more.  So I mixed small amounts of acrylic paint to compliment the colours in the waterlilies and dribbled them onto the bottom section of the card. When dried the edges were again distressed with moss green ink.

So there we have it. In honour of Monet and all the talented artists and crafters who have inspired me to push boundaries and ask the question 'What if?' Thank you so much. Hugs, Buttons x

J'Adore

A quick one today as there are a million and one things that need doing (such is life). I wanted to enter The Stamp Man Challenge 'Your Favourite Technique' and the Make My Monday Challenge 'Flowers and Music' this week. My favourite technique is a mixed media version of faux cloisonne (see HERE for video link) which involves embossing powder, pearl or mica powder and gold stamping.

I used the Spellbinders Square Fleur de Lis set to create the frame and used this technique on it. It was then attached to a small piece of paper from my stash which had been sprayed liberally with mica mist previously and was also attached to an outer frame in whitewash Coredinations card.

The whole lot was then mounted on ivory pearl card because it needed a backing to make it work (so much for making small projects!) Next, the flowers. These started life as tins holding chicken and mushroom pies!!

They began their transformation with the Spellbinders Rose Creations dies in various sizes. They were then coloured with Ranger alcohol inks in Shell Pink, Butterscotch and White mixative. When dried they were stamped with an Artemio music background stamp using Ranger black archival ink. Lastly they were shaped with the end of a paintbrush and an embossing tool, glued into place and centred with some little flowers punched from the same Coredinations cardstock.

The leaves were punched from textured wallpaper as I wanted a slightly tattered look. They were then arranged to look like they were cascading from the frame (ish!) and the whole lot was mounted on a square white card.

OK, not as short a post as required so time to dash off. Hope you enjoy the video link. Thanks to everyone who has sent such lovely comments. They are gratefully received. Hugs, Buttons x

P.S. Just realised the Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge for this week is Anything Goes so I will enter this too as it always has some lovely entries to look at.

Glitter Queen For A Day

Welcome to post number two, and another Sunday Stampers challenge this week entitled Killer Queen. 'Killing' two birds with one stone, this project will also be entered into the inaugural J&C Creations challenge, 'All That Glitters'. There's a story to this one...

At Ally Pally recently I was privileged to watch the wonderful Maria Simms at work demonstrating the use of angel fibres and film with Clarity Stamps. Imagine my surprise when she handed me her beautiful creation (above) - I wore it with pride for the rest of the day and it is now one of my crafty treasures. On the day I promised to have a go myself, having previously been a little wary of this technique.

Mine came out slightly differently (apart from the obvious - a Dimension Fourth stamp). I used plain film for the top layer and white fibres for the 'underskirt' layer. Now she is more generous with her fibres (or I am stingy more like!!) and I found the bottom was a little thinner, so a layer of ruffled cotton lace was added underneath them to retain the occupant's dignity!

The background was created in gold and mauve using TH's enameled stamping technique (see CC2) edged with Stampendous Jeweled Gold embossing powder - gotta do more of this as the result is splendid if I say so myself! CS Golden Pearl PVA dots were added to the crown.



Finally the tag. This used mauve, pink and olive green ink with the TH faded layers technique (see CC2) and a TH mini mask. A few extra trimmings, including the stamped sentiment, and it was complete. Now recently I have decided to concentrate on creating smaller pieces, but this one needed something extra to make the colours work. So, glitter card stamped with Kanban crowns and some cardstock from my stash and hey presto! I could put it down!

That's it for tonight folks, except to say a HUGE thankyou to the Make My Monday team who awarded me the honour of a Top 3 in last week's challenge! You've truly made my day. Thanks also to everyone who has left such lovely comments again. I promise to do likewise as it is such a great way to 'share the crafty love'. See you soon, hugs, Buttons x

Shattered Butterflies

Good evening. The first of two posts from me tonight having worked like a ... worker bee (?!) over the weekend. I have created a little something for Linda Ledbetter's CC2 challenge, which this week features the TH 'shattered stains' technique. As mentioned in my last post, I was inspired by Hels Sheridan's hedgehogs and a piece of student artwork. The concept is butterflies emerging from a book...

I began by printing white paper and card with a basic script background image. This was then aged by using Memento Desert Sand direct to paper and watered down DI Walnut Stain splattered with a paint brush (take care! this covered the paper, card, me, the kitchen and the dog!!) Next I cut pages by folding the paper and card and cutting it using the largest Labels Sixteen Spellbinders die. The pages were distressed at the edges using the Walnut Stain again with a little Tsukeniko Ultimate Gold for good measure, and stamped with the a Creative Expressions swirl, again in Walnut.

And now for the magic. Having used a Crafters Companion embossing board to emboss butterfly shapes into a spare piece of the card, I cut them out and used the shattered stains method on them using the Walnut Stain again, this time with Spun Sugar. Confession time - my Rock Candy has gone quite gloopy but it gave a delicate texture when dry so I went with it. Four butterfiles were also embossed into the top pages (the card one for strength) and the wings cut out/bent back. The shattered butterflies were layered on top to look like they were emerging from the pages. Finally the pages were layered together, curled and raised apart using foam pads, extra butterflies launched from lower pages and ribbon applied to the centre. And so...

This is special to me because it is going to top a card for a good friend who will be leaving her role in education in a little while. Let's hope she likes it. Now to post number two...

Hugs, Buttons x

White Christmas Roses

The Make My Monday challenge this week calls for white flowers. Now I've created any number and variety of coloured flowers for projects, but white is a first; in fact it is so much of a first that when I first saw the challenge I thought "can't do that - no inspiration". However, five days later...

The background had been completed a while ago - lemon juiced background inked, embossed and highlighted with gold ink. Then one of those middle of the night "what if?" moments happened - I didn't want a black, gold or any other coloured edge to the flowers, but if stamping them, there would need to be an edge to cut round.





So, by stamping and embossing with clear embossing powder this effect could be achieved.  The perfect stamps for this came from a Creative Expressions set. It includes several sizes of lentern (Christmas) roses which typically have some delicate colouring in the centre. To achieve this effect I added pale gold and golden pear mica powder into the embossing powder, before heating it from underneath to melt the colour into it. Finally by cutting into the petal edges and curling them I was able to add some dimension to them.

I love the sentiment that is part of this set and stamped it in archival black. Finally for the leaves. There is a lovely spray of ivy in this set which fit perfectly. Flitter Glu and Morris Dance metal flakes on dark green card did the job nicely, and by stamping it twice I was able to decoupage them to add further dimension.

 And so there we have it - white flowers and an entry for the challenge completed !! Hurrah!!

 Now, I've just seen Linda Ledbetter's shattered stains challenge so that is going to require some thought... no, wait, combine it with Hels hedgebogs and an art project I saw recently and... inspiration hits!! See you soon and hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Hugs, Buttons x

Something Old...

Good evening all.  Another project to share with you which was created in part to enter the Simon Says Stamp and Show challenge 'Your Favourite Stamp', and partly to scratch an itch created by a project by the super talented Terry entitled 'Paris On My Mind'.  I love her use of the colour yellow in this piece - it's a colour I find scary normally.

I've had Adirondack Sunshine Yellow sitting untouched for over a year, but with Terry's inspiration I decided to use it in combination with one of my all time favourite Artemio manuscript background stamps.

The yellow was applied DTP on plain white card, distressed with umber and gold, and stamped using my background stamp and a combination of four inks (a range called Color Kiss that came from Japan - vine green, cobalt blue, red bronze and bright gold).  This was overstamped using clear embossing powder.

The floral panel was distressed and ink spattered with umber and gold, stamped in Archival black using a Rubber Stampede wooden stamp, and painted using the same colours as the manuscript background.  This panel was then glazed wth UTEE. 

The butterflies were embossed, cut out, covered in the same inks (heat set between each layer) and Rock Candy crackle glazed. To add that finishing touch, small antique cream beads were added to the centre of the butterflies, and the distressed card edges were inked with gold and colbalt blue.

Having tried something new with something old I'll definitely be reaching for this colour in future - the manuscript stamp will remain a staple in my crafting repertoire!!

Thank you for stopping by and for all the wonderful comments.  They make my day.

Hugs, Buttons x