True Colours

Gingersnap Creations Challenge - Favourite Paper

2012-01-19T13:05:00.000Z

Gingersnap Creations is challenging you to use your favourite paper! I thought this would be a good opportunity to use the gorgeous Kaisercraft Bonjour paper and matching items that Pauline gave me for Christmas.I used a Kraft stepper card, and I picked the plainest of the papers so that I could stamp on it, using a script stamp all over in Bundled Sage Distress Ink, which I also sponged around the edge of the pieces. I used Sepia archival ink to stamp the blossom from the stamp set and added some text rub ons. I stamped the butterfly and then cut matching butterflies from one of the foiled 12 x 12 papers and cut them out and laid them over the top, but with the wings lifted on foam pads. I used a hydragea rub on, on the blossom. I finished off with one of the little birds.

The Stamp Man - Your Favourite Project of 2011

2012-01-12T13:10:00.002Z

The Stamp Man is having another wonderful challenge, and this time they are asking you to choose your favourite project from 2011. I thought this was a lovely idea as it is a chance to reflect on the past year and what you have achieved, at a time when the mojo is a bit low for making anything new!

For me, definitely my favourite project was The Tin Man in February last year, made with watch parts. I liked it as it was a bit different to my usual type of project, but also because I was away from home when I had the ideas, and I had to wait til I got home to see if it would work out. I think spending more time planning it was good for me, although it was frustrating as I normally like to rush in. My friend, Nancy, who runs Nancyz Crafts, has it in her shop, despite the fact that she has moved twice to a larger outlet, she has lovingly carried him with her each time and given him a good home.

However, I didn't want the Tin Man to be my entry as I had entered him to the challenge on the Stamp Man which was running at the time, and was lucky enough to be a runner-up, and also it wasn't a 'stampy' project. So I have chosen another favourite:-

I made this for Hallowe'en, which is something I haven't really made projects for before, and I was amazed at the dark and creepy side to my imagination! Who knew? I tried to achieve some depth with layers of stamping, and also used stamped shrink plastic for the bottles of poison. I added some extra creepyness with some fake cobwebs. I used the Apothecary stamps by Artistic Outpost which I got from Happy Daze (I shop there a lot). I had great fun weaving a ridiculous murderous tale in my blog posting!

What was your favourite project that you made in 2011? Let me know and I would love to come and visit it!

Gingersnap Creations Challenge - Use a Set

2012-01-05T14:58:00.000Z

Happy New Year! Sorry for being a little quiet, a combination of the bug which dragged on and then going up to stay with Colin's family for Christmas.

I was lucky enough to get some gorgeous crafting goodies from my play-date buddies, Pauline, Petra, and Jack, and I will be blogging what I make with them over the next few weeks. Pauline bought me some Hunkydory steam punk card and vellum, and a set by Kaisercraft called Bonjour, consisting of rub ons, papers, stamps, and die cuts, featuring Eiffel Towers, birds, and butterflies in ice cream colours - absolutely divine! Gingersnaps challenge is to Use a Set, so I thought this matching set would be ideal. I decided to make a trinket box as a thank you gift for Pauline:-

The wooden box itself was one of my presents from Colin, and he also gave me some of the new Fresco Finish paint colours. This lovely duck egg blue is called Beach Hut. I used the stamp set behind the apertures. The Eiffel Tower is a rub on, but I applied it to a piece of clear packaging material and then cut round it, so that I could overlap it.

I edged the box with gold pen, and decorated the sides with some of the co-ordinating die cuts.

Gingersnap Creations Blogspot Challenge - Wax

2011-12-14T06:11:00.012Z

This week's challenge starting today on Gingersnaps is Wax. I would like to thank my lovely, very dear friend, Jack, who showed me how to do candles a few years ago. It is such a nice technique to have up your sleeve and fairly quick but effective. If you are still making gifts for people or want a table centrepiece for Christmas Dinner, I would really recommend them.

I would also recommend the homemade pine cones because if you leave them on the cocktail sticks, you can plunge them into anything and they stay put. I quite fancy doing some in dry oasis as a table decoration, maybe with some fake connifer and berries. I got the fake connifer in a big pack for £1 at my local craft shop, Nancyz Crafts, which always seems to sell exactly what I want.

The other pine cones I have been putting on my blog over the last couple of weeks have been left plain, but this time I added fake snow to go with the snowy scenes on the candle. I don't have the Tim Holtz pine cone die but you can easily follow his instructions but without the die. At first I thought, well if he says you can use the die to make roses, how about turning that on its head and using a spiral flower die to make the pine cones! And I had one of those! So I started off using my Marianne Creatables die. I didn't have the Kraft Core but I thought, ok, if you are using dark brown Core-dinations, the core will be a light brown anyway. So I rang Nancy and she had 12 x 12 sheets in French Roast for 50p a sheet, which makes loads of pine cones!

Then I decided I wasn't making life difficult enough for myself so I made some without the die. I had a wavy edge pair of scissors which came free with a craft magazine. I cut a rough circle, then cut a spiral into it, letting it get a bit thicker nearer the centre so that the base of the pine cone would be a bit wider. It wasn't a very deep scallop design so I snipped just one millimetre with a pair of scissors between each scallop so that I could bend the 'petals' out further, like on a pine cone. I cut a nick into the centre the way Tim explains, so that it forms a base. The only other thing I did differently was to colour the cocktail sticks with a brown Pro Marker, which disguises it if any of it shows.

Finally I cut some snowflakes out of roasting tin foil. I used the Tim die for that - I'm not stupid enough to cut those myself!! I plonked them into the candle on memo pins. Everything is now falling off the kitchen cork board!

Another, maybe more conventional way, to do the same candle would be to have small evenly sized pine cones and to stick them into the candle in a continuous circle around the base, like a wreath. I was in the mood to have them jutting out at odd angles though!

I am entering this into The Stamp Man challenge which is to Create an Ornament.

Crafty Individuals' December Challenge - All Wrapped Up

2011-12-10T16:21:00.000Z

I made some little Christmas gift bags using Crafty Individuals' Christmas backing papers and stamps, for their December Challenge, which is All Wrapped Up. I hope you will join in.

Starry Nights on Gingersnaps

2011-12-07T15:13:00.001Z

I thought I was going to miss the deadline for this dt piece for the first time ever! I still have this horrible throat bug and conjuntivitis and have nearly lost my voice. The surgery are sending a prescription to my local chemist for my kind friend to pick up, but I am not holding out much hope of getting better quickly.

The Gingersnap theme launching today is Starry Nights, and I wanted to create a Christmas snowy and starry scene inside a bubble box. I used Crafty Individuals' Christmas papers and their Santa in the Sky stamp, CI254. I covered the box with the papers and used a gold pen around the edges. The fiddly bit was that I wanted the design of the paper to run continuously across the lid so I cut the square for the lid, drew the circle aperture in pen, then cut it out with a circle Nestie. I then stamped the image directly onto the circle of paper, and again onto plain white gloss card. I wanted the word 'Believe' to run under the sleigh and above the buildings, rather than being obscured by them. I cut out the buildings and matched them up over the top of the stamped image to make them stand out. I added Polar White flower soft at the bottom of the row of buildings and in dots over the globe, and also adhered silver stars to the underside of the globe with glossy accents but they are not very clear in the photo. Definitely don't feel like getting the camera out again at the mo. I added one of my DIY pine cones under the globe at the base, then sprinkled some around the box to take the photos.

A Christmas Card - and Tim Style Pine Cones

2011-12-02T14:43:00.000Z

I haven't got much to blog at the mo as I am lying on the sofa nursing a throat bug which is really grotty. It is very unlike me to catch anything. I don't feel well enough to do Tim's tags so my offering looks a bit pathetic, but I am enjoying seeing what everyone else is making. As you may know by now I don't hang from Tim's shirt-tails so it shows how inspirational he is that I jumped off the sofa yesterday to see if I could improvise from his brilliant pine cones video. The card is one that I think will be for Colin this year unless I can do better before then, so it's just a vehicle to show off the pine cones. (I used the Winter Distress Inks). I think bearing in mind I don't have the pine cone die or the Coredinations Kraft card I did ok.

Alice in Wonderland - in Fall Colours

2011-11-25T12:19:00.005Z

I couldn't resist joining in an Altered Alice challenge, as I need an excuse to make Alice in Wonderland artwork otherwise you will think I am just obsessed! I have been restrained for a long time now! The challenge this month is to use fall colours, and it seemed strange not to give Alice her customary blue dress, but it was fun once I got into it! You don't have to follow an Alice theme for the Altered Alice blog, but why wouldn't I?!

The image I had in my mind was of Alice falling down the rabbit hole into the hall of doors, taking the Autumn leaves with her. I had the perfect stamp for the hall, from the Eternity plate by Non Sequitur, which was just the right size for the little back to front canvas. The depth of the frame added to the sense of perspective, with the full size Alice on the edge, and the shrunk (shrink plastic) version where the corridor narrows. She has drunk from the 'Drink Me' bottle, a shrink plastic version of the bottle from the Vintage Apothecary set by Artistic Outpost from Happy Daze. Now that she has shrunk she cannot reach the golden key, made from a mould and friendly plastic, with some gold Inka Gold, from Happy Daze, rubbed on.

I started off by painting the frame and sides with bronze paint and gathered up some brown organza to represent the curtains, with a sequin trim at the top for the pelmet. I coloured the stamped corridor image with Pro Markers in shades of brown and orange, also used to colour Alice.

I finished off with some very brightly coloured Autumn leaves, in orange, bronze, and green, so I am also entering this for the Happy Daze challenge which is An Explosion of Colour, as that is what the trees outside my house look like at the moment.

Venice Papier Mache Mask

2011-11-23T13:34:00.000Z

My lovely friends, Jack and Pauline, were here yesterday and we had a great day. Jack very kindly brought me a papier mache mask so we could make them together. Hers are stunning! For mine I used metallic white paint and Mustard Seed Distress Ink. The stamps are by Oxford Impressions 'Venezia' and my favourite Crafty Individuals' scroll. I finished off with gem stone tears.

Another Purse - in Pistachio with Bird Cages

2011-11-20T16:08:00.000Z

I thought I'd better quickly blog this purse as I see it has popped up on the Crafty Individuals' blog. They have some blog candy at the mo, and there are some lovely things on there if you want to have a look. Paula, from Ephemera's Attic, whose bags had inspired me to make these has the most glorious pink bag on there!

I have made this purse with pistachio Lumiere paint, and two of the recently released Crafty Individuals' bird cage stamps.

Livestock - Gingersnap Creations Challenge

2011-11-16T08:30:00.000Z

Today's new challenge launching on Gingersnap Creations Blogspot is Livestock, as part of their On The Farm month. I only have one suitable stamp for anything of this kind and I'm not afraid to use it lots! It's the chicken stamp from Crafty Individuals, CI 289. I bought the little hen coop with its chicken wire door at my fave shop in France. I covered it with texture paste and painted it with green and purple paints - sorry there isn't some deep and artistic meaning behind my colour choice, I was just in a green and purple mood! I covered the roof with glue from my hot glue gun and slung the raffia on to mimic a thatched roof and added more to the floor for the chickens to lay their eggs on.

I stamped out the image twice and kept it whole for the back of the hen house. I coloured it with Pro Markers and glazed the wing feathers with Glossy Accents. Finally I stamped another image and cut out the chickens to run around outside.

I've never used raffia before and if I had had any sense I would have entered it for the Raffia challenge on GSC last week, but no that would be far too logical and would suggest I know in advance what I am going to make! It is a fun product though so I'm sure I will use it again.

Vintage Purse - Crafty Individuals' Bird Cages

2011-11-06T22:03:00.000Z

Just when you thought I wasn't going to make any more vintage bags, I am sneaking another one in! This is one of the purse size bags. I painted it with Fresco Finish paint in Vintage Lace, which has more of a mushroom tone than it looks in the photo. I stamped it front and back with some of the new bird cages from Crafty Individuals. I added rose net trim around the clasp.

I lined it with a serviette that reminds me of Paua Shell, and some black gathered lace.

Farm Fresh - Gingersnap Creations Challenge

2011-11-02T18:33:00.001Z

Today Gingersnaps are launching their Farm Fresh challenge for their On The Farm month. My contribution is this egg box featuring chickens from the Crafty Individuals' Farm Fresh Eggs stamp (CI 289). Hope you will join in!

Winter Wonderland - Crafty Individuals' November Challenge

2011-11-01T10:56:00.000Z

The Crafty Individuals' Blog November Challenge is now up. The theme, as chosen by the lovely Lynne, from Adorn, CI's newest recruit, is Winter Wonderland. Funnily enough, so far we have all chosen to use the winter stag for our contributions, the new CI 332 but it does show just how differently it can be used.

I used Paper Artsy Fresco Finish paint with a layer of crackle on the papier mache box and stamped a few CI Christmassy words around it. I pushed 9 one inch Stampbord tiles together and stamped and coloured the stag, and then added some silver cord to fill in the gap around the edge of the lid, and a bit of Polar White flower soft to give more of a wintry effect.

I hope you will join in this month - plenty of scope with this theme. The prizes are, I think, amongst the most generous in Challenge Land as five winners get to choose a stamp of their choice - how cool is that!

Hallowe'en Card - Download from Chocolate Baroque

2011-10-31T19:24:00.000Z

Chocolate Baroque have very kindly made available a free Hallowe'en paper download. I haven't done anything to speak of to this card, but I wanted to upload it to say Thank You to them for the freebie and I'm sure I will use it next year too. For those of you who have their lovely Edwardian Gentleman stamps, they also have a background paper available to go with it, also free.

I just added the bottle and poison label from the Artistic Outpost Apothecary stamps and some embossed numbers, and popped it on a mauve card blank.

Mr Forrest, The Farmacist!

2011-10-25T17:54:00.006+01:00

Meet Mr E Forrest, Pharmacist, known as Epping to his friends, who are few and far between, let me tell you. He is not a nice man and suspicion is rife in town that he is really a Poisoner. He has outlived four of his wives so far and rumour has it, he keeps his exes in the Attic. Well, look for yourselves! His last wife has been overcome with chloroform and then forced to drink from a bottle of poison, which she is still clutching in a dead man's grip. He doesn't have much in the looks department, with that overgrown moustache, but he lures them up the aisle by polluting the local well with his Love Potion. When his Elixir from the Fountain of Youth wears off, he trades them in for a younger model and switches the bottles for ones of strychnine. He keeps the skeletons in the attic amongst the cobwebs, the bats, and the mice, and eventually grinds down their bones to make more of his secret potions. The locals mistrust him for his cures but visit regularly when bothered by rats ....... He evades the long arm of the law as the local Sheriff, Sherwood, is his brother.

I wanted to create the feel of a sinister pharmacy in a wild west town, where the pharmacist mixes up his own tonics and potions from eye of newt and essence of bat. I have used the wonderful Apothecary stamps by Artistic Outpost from Happy Daze, and a wooden house curio box also from there. I painted it with Fresco Finish paint in London Night, then crackle, then Vintage Lace, and rubbed black ink around the edges. I lined all the sections with ledger paper from the Tim Holtz 'Lost and Found' paper stash, building up the design with a ledger stamp from Crafty Individuals, and some of the smaller stamps from the Apothecary set. I didn't want the whole piece to have a dead, monochrome look, but I didn't want it to be colourful either, so I have just added a touch of colour with Distress Inks in Stormy Sky, Shabby Shutters, and Barn Door, and a little bit more colour by cutting out some of the labels from the pharmacy themed paper from the same Stash.

The poor wife in the attic, amongst the bats and the spiders - and even a rat,
nibbling at her toes!

Rows of bottles and keys to the drugs cabinets. The bottle far left is
actually an empty lip gloss tube, with a bit of cut up cork.

A bottle of perfume, and Mr Forrest in front of his shop

Rows of blue bottles

Is that more skeletonized remains I can see?

I used an assortment of tiny bottles, with labels either from 7 Gypsies or from pieces of the Tim Holtz Stash, together with some shrink plastic bottles stamped in blue (like Neal's Yard blue bottles), with stamped labels made up from the stamp set.

I wanted depth, partly in the layers of stamping on the backgrounds, but also positioning the items at different levels in the compartments to look like deep shelves. Some of the stamped images were cut out with a tab on them, so they could be glued down standing up. Some of the shrink plastic bottles were curved slightly whilst they were still warm.

I didn't have any bats so I embossed some black card with a bat embossing folder and cut them out. The cobwebs from Brenda helped to create the spooky scene.

I am entering this for the Happy Daze 'Christmas and Hallowe'en' Challenge' and the Samuel Taylor challenge, who have a great prize of a Configurations box. I am also linking this up with the Artistic Outpost October Referral Programme. I am joining in My Mojo Monthly which this month has a wonderful interview with Tammy Tutterow and next month will be Jo Capper Sandon! We are invited to say a little bit about our inspiration and this piece was definitely one where the mojo was in good flow! That is down to Gingersnaps who have had some tremendously inspiring and spooky makes this month, for their Go Poe theme. It has really got me into the creepy zone! I am entering this for their Horror Stories challenge because although I had the chance to join in as a DT at the beginning of the month, I didn't think I knew any horror stories. Little did I know the creepy imagination that lurked within ........,!

Art Nouveau Frame - Altered Watch Bracelet

2011-10-20T14:47:00.001+01:00

When I went to the car boot sale on Sunday I picked up loads of bits of jewellery, including this watch (should have photographed it before I decorated it), which had a bracelet made of circular links with nothing in the centre, each link surrounded by diamontes although some have come away. The catch was broken but the watch still works. I had Pauline and Jack here yesterday and I was sorting through and cleaning the pieces I bought when I looked at the watch links and thought 'Circles - The Stamp Man challenge!'. Jack thought it would lend itself well to an Art Nouveau style so that got me started. I used a selection of 1920s lady stamps with hats, and this very Charles Rennie MacIntosh rose, all from The Artistic Stamper. The rose determined the colour palette. I then went through my Joanna Sheen Art Nouveau flowers paper pad and chose this Old Rose colour design.

First of all I stamped some ladies in hats and coloured them with Pro Markers and glued one behind each bracelet link (these are my Circles, for the challenge theme), and filled the centres with Glossy Accents. I then stamped the lady in the ermine coat and coloured the roses. I reversed a canvas so that I had the depth I wanted for the bracelet watch and covered the frame part with texture paste, then painted it with Old Rose paint. I stamped up the Roses, coloured them, and used them to decorate the frame. I then glued the paper inside the canvas and added the lady and the watch. To finish it off I added a chandelier earring from my car boot haul, to give the impression she is dancing in a ballroom. Finally I photographed it against a fur stole.

I am back on 'Pretty' after my foray into the dark side for Hallowe'en!

Gingersnap Creations Challenge - Ravens - 'Trick or Treat' Lantern

2011-10-19T06:01:00.003+01:00

Today Gingersnap Creations launch another Hallowe'en challenge theme - Ravens. I only have one Hallowe'en stamp and that is the spooky recently released raven in a churchyard with a full moon one from Crafty Individuals, which is CI 319. I had in mind I wanted to make an inexpensive lantern from a jam jar or similar, that children could take round the houses with them when they go Trick or Treating, or that you could have lit in the porch to show that you welcome Trick or Treaters and have candy! It would also work for parties in the garden.

I stamped the images twice on tissue paper and once on card and coloured them. I applied the tissue paper ones to the jar, which was an empty bath foam bottle which was perfect for the purpose, and cut the raven from the card one. I covered the lid with spiders web paper and added the card raven. I bought some skellingtons from Poundland and gave one to Brenda, she gave me the spiders webbing, and we split the pack of skull candles which we got at the car boot sale on Sunday - isn't it great to have friends you can share a cup of sugar or a skellington with?!

I filled a little bottle with blood (red Crystal Lacquer) for the skellington to clutch, and dribbled some everywhere! I gave him some black grungeboard wings to make him look like a really scary cross between a raven and a skellington - imagine him flying over your head! Except he won't be flying anywhere as he has had a nasty bash on the head, followed by being hung in a noose just for good measure! I fashioned some string around the lid to make a handle, and tied some 'barbed wire' around it. I added some raven table sprinkles (thanks again Brenda!), and popped an LED tea light inside. I used the skull tea lights to pose the photo. I forgot to photograph the side with a skellington hand charm on it.

All just a bit of fun but could make a cheap lantern just for the Hallowe'en period.

I am entering this for the Happy Daze October challenge which is anything Christmas or Hallowe'en.

Had some good news on Friday - I won the Stamp Man challenge for the Greco Roman box I made. I have given it to Col and he likes it! That is even more of a challenge!

Altered Bottle - Bird Cages

2011-10-17T13:15:00.000+01:00

For this altered bottle I have used a selection of Crafty Individuals stamps including the new Lady with Birdcage, CI331, Birdcages and Birds, CI329, and Bird Cage with Flowers, CI320. I've also used my favourite old set of flowers heads, CI206, and added some flowers cut from some beaded and sequinned trim.

The photos are awful so I've given you several: quantity rather than quality!

Gingersnap Creations Challenge - Alcohol Inks

2011-10-12T06:34:00.002+01:00

For Gingersnap Creations Alcohol Inks Challenge which starts today, I thought I would make another evening bag and use alcohol ink to change the silver chain and clasp to bronze. The Florodora stamp is by Crafty Individuals, CI148, surrounded by their flowers CI206. The fabric flowers are homemade. Around the clasp I used the lovely trim Petra gave me which I used on the Venice bag, and tied some into a bow at the centre. Of all the ribbon stash I have, this trim seems to be perfect for these bags.

The inside of these bags when you buy them is a white plastic washbag type of lining which is practical but not very nice for a vintage evening bag. This time I painted it with mushroom Paper Artsy Fresco Finish paint and it worked fine. Does anyone know when we will be getting new colours in this range as I find them so versatile?

Hope you won't get bored with these bags, as I am making some purse sized ones at the mo ......

A Nice Pear - for the Stamp Man

2011-10-06T13:02:00.000+01:00

The Stamp Man current challenge is to use Pears or a Pair of something in your submission. I have a gorgeous set of Non Sequitur stamps from them, called Greco Roman collage and I think I have used every stamp on this huge set for my entry! Janet, when she introduced the challenge, was saying what a pear represents in different cultures and that to artists it often represents the female shape. I guess that is why this set, which includes naked statues and women's faces, also includes a pear!

I don't normally stamp directly onto wooden boxes but I wanted to use my new Distress Stains as a wood stain, so I used Vintage Photo and Antique Linen, with a little Aged Mahogany Distress Ink, then stamped directly onto the box, all the way round, in Archival Sepia. Finally I varnished the box.

When I was in the charity shop the other day buying the vintage bag, I spotted this artificial pear for 20p, so I had to have it to pose my photograph!

Although this was hard to photograph, I am pleased with it IRL as I think it would make a good present for a man's study as it has the natural wood look and I haven't added any embellishments (for once!).

Charity Shop Bag - Before and After

2011-10-05T20:34:00.001+01:00

I have been itching to make another vintage bag (Nic liked it by the way), and yesterday spotted this bag in a charity shop for three quid. It is a bit yucky but it is silk inside and out, and it was easy to snip the flowers off.

I used the Paris Exposition stamps by Artistic Outpost from Happy Daze, and coloured the silver frame, clasp, and chain with a brown ProMarker to make it bronze. Once again I would like to say how inspired I was by the ones Julie and Paula made for Happy Daze, and now I am hooked!

This is the front, with flower sequin trim:-

The back is a little plainer but I might add some pearl trim when I get some more.

I filled in the corners by dabbing through some sequin waste but decided not to fill in the whole bag too much, but keep it plain, as the trim is quite busy.

Terry has just reminded me about linking to the Artistic Outpost Referral Programme when I use their lovely stamps - thanks Terry!

Crafty Individuals' October Challenge - Winged Things - Hallowe'en Bottle

2011-10-02T12:32:00.000+01:00

Crafty Individuals have just announced the theme for the October challenge which is 'Winged Things'. I hope you will join in! I decided to make something with a Hallowe'en feel to it, to be seasonal, and also to use the rather sinister-feeling raven stamp in a spooky churchyard which they recently brought out. I had also wanted for a while to make an altered bottle, so I have combined the two into this:-

I used grungepaper wings cut from a die kindly lent to me by Alison, and cut into them a bit more to make them look more like the ones on the stamp. The fake blood is red Crystal Lacquer, and to echo the barbed wire on the stamp, I wrapped the whole bottle in wire, cut some tiny pieces of it, and twisted them around at intervals. The skull and crossbones is a Grungeboard Element, and I added white opaque pen and red blood for some more definition, and a skull charm on the bottle top.

The fun thing about altering bottles is it is such a cheap and accessible medium, and very addictive (another one coming soon!).

This is a bit different to my normal style, I think!

Steam Punk Frame

2011-10-01T13:51:00.000+01:00

I made this frame some weeks ago but hadn't got around to putting anything in it. I covered a cheap frame with cog and propeller die cuts, then covered it with aluminium tape. Definitely something I will try again!

The stamp is a Paper Artsy one, which I stamped onto Steampunk Debutante cog paper then stamped the words on white and cut them out. The beautiful car stamp is from an Elusive Images set called Edwardian Gentlemen which was a birthday present from Jack. I finished it off with a zip flower which I made ages ago and then realized I had no idea what I intended to use it for!!

Thank you so much for the encouraging comments on the vintage bag. I am feeling very low today. I have been poorly all week and have had to pull out of the party tonight for John and Nic's 50th birthdays, where I was going to give Nic the bag. I am getting so fed up with my health problems. It takes the shine off the good things, and makes the bad things harder to cope with. I am going to try to pull myself together now and tidy up the mess I have made this week with my crafting - I don't think the mess is helping my mood! Thanks again for always being so supportive.

Gingersnap Creations Challenge - Blue, Turquoise, and Purple

2011-09-28T06:08:00.006+01:00

Gingersnap Creations Challenge, which launches today, is to use turquoise, blue, and purple. I made a box out of foam core board and cut a niche to fit the inside of a small matchbox, which I lined with the Crafty Individuals' Spring Paper in the colours of the challenge. I stamped the girl in the shrine from Crafty Individuals onto clay, dusted it with mica powders, and cut out the separate elements before baking. I then popped the girl into the matchbox, and the shrine around her, on the raised bit. I added a gold photo corner to highlight the shape of the roof. To finish, I glued turquoise sequinned beaded trim around the edge, and cut out some of the flowers from it to go around the image. Finally I added a tiny clay butterfly.

Vintage Evening Bag from Happy Daze

2011-09-26T15:11:00.001+01:00

I have made this Vintage evening bag for my sister in law as an extra birthday present and I am so hoping she will like it! It was inspired by the gorgeous examples by Julie and Paula from the Happy Daze Design Team on their blog, as the bag 'blank' comes from there. I wouldn't have had the confidence to attempt it if I hadn't seen their examples first.

I coloured the chain and clasp with brown alcohol ink to give a bronze effect as it was a bright silver to start off with. I coloured the bag with Vintage Lace, Orchid, and Mushroom Fresco Finish paints as it was very white. The stamps are the Venice set by Oxford Impressions - love this set! Petra gave me some trim which was perfect for the edges and I added pearl trim over the top of it, then tied some of the trim into a bow and added a mulberry flower.

I decorated the back with the same stamping but just with a simple pearl trim.

Gingersnap Creations Challenge - Shared Moments

2011-09-21T06:01:00.013+01:00

For this canvas I used Crafty Individuals' stamp CI 070 Mother and Child, Background CI 256 and Flourish CI200. I used some glass bead gel but it isn't very apparent unless you get in close, but it adds a bit of texture. I have also used pieces of flower sequin trim to bring out the peach and turquoise colours. The theme for today's Gingersnap Challenge launch is Shared Moments, and the mother and child image said that to me.

Sunday Stamper Challenge - Love - Papier Mache Heart

2011-09-10T07:20:00.001+01:00

I don't enter many challenges, but who can resist Love? This is the theme for this week's Sunday Stamper and I have made a papier mache heart. I used Crafty Individuals' CI256 for the background, and their flourish CI200.

I decorated both sides slightly differently.

Bird and Stampbord Canvas - Minus Chickens!

2011-09-08T11:30:00.001+01:00

Today I've made a canvas using Crafty Individuals' bird stamps. The canvas started life covered in chickens, and I bought three of them for 50p at a car boot sale. The chckens came off quite easily and may be used on another project, but they left a gluey splodge unfortunately.

My photos are terrible as I really struggled with the canvas being so wide so I have taken several, and I'm sure you get the general idea! I've used a background stamp (which I kept whole, not sure if you are meant to but I like it) CI256, and the birds CI182 and 183, and the flourish, CI200.

The flower to the left of the stampbord took longer to make than the whole canvas!
The tile is covered with Crackle Accents

Just wanted to show the sides with the background stamp

Crafty Individuals and Stampalot Challenges - Dressmaker's Shop Front

2011-09-03T21:44:00.001+01:00

I thought I would enter this frame for the Stampalot Challenge which is 'It's a Frame up', as I spent longer on the frame for this than on the rest of the piece. I had stamped and cut out lots of Crafty Individuals' images and had them all laid out in front of me with some embellishments too, and then thought, no, enough it enough! I wanted the crackle and shimmer of the frame, and the pink contrasting with the turquoise to show through rather than covering it up. The idea I had in mind was that this is the shop front of a dressmaking and corsetry shop in the 1920s. I stamped the two ladies on white card, then again onto Crafty Individuals' Spring Background papers, and cut out the dresses and hats(which was fiddly!) and paper pieced them back on, and added a very pale Pro Marker fleshtone to the skin. The header was stamped onto Spring Background papers and then cut with a Tim Movers and Shapers mini label die which followed the lines of the stamp and the top of the frame quite nicely. I added some brads and mounted it on silicone glue for a bit of dimension. I then added a clock face taken from a pocket watch, which again followed the shape of the frame, and edged it with German Scrap from Crafty Individuals. The stamps used are CI 324, 306, and 322 . I used Tim Holtz Distress Crackle paint on the frame and then a mixture of Distress Inks for depth of colour and mica shimmer sprays. I liked the pastel shades with the pastel colours of the CI papers. I think it fits quite nicely with the theme I have chosen this month for the Crafty Individuals' Challenge which is 'Hanging Around', as it has a hanging hook on the top. Von, Zoe, and Brenda were here when I was finishing this off and they between them agreed on the row of pearls as a finishing touch. Thanks girls!

Crafty Individuals' September Challenge

2011-09-01T13:30:00.000+01:00

Today Crafty Individuals launch their September challenge and I have been given the honour of setting the theme this time! I just checked their blog though, and the announcement isn't up yet so I thought I would post the photos of what I have made before I go to bed. I made two items but I will blog the other item on another day (on a quiet blogging day!). This one is a key cabinet and this is the inside:-

Some views of different sections:-

I used the Seaside Background papers, People and Places Book 2, Tando Chipboard Compass, and CI295, 294, and 272 stamps, all from Crafty Individuals. I've made pretty much all the elements myself apart from the compass, and the ship in a bottle.

Gingersnap Creations Blogspot - Tribute to Teens Challenge

2011-08-17T06:37:00.044+01:00

For this make for Gingersnap Creations Tribute to Teens challenge, which launches today, I have used an 8 x 8 frame from Happy Daze and CI 283 and CI 272 from Crafty Individuals, together with their Seaside background paper. I painted the outside of the frame with Paper Artsy Fresco Finish paint in Butternut, then a layer of their crackle, then a layer of Haystack. For the inside of the frame I just used the Butternut but unfortunately the colours weren't as contrasting as I had wanted.

The main images of the two girls, CI 283, I coloured with Pro Markers. As soon as I saw these stamps they made me think of two of my nieces, my two god-daughters. They are nine years apart in age but very close, and now that the youngest is 14 she is, of course, catching her older sister up in height. Whatever age they have been, they have always spent time together, and with their lovely brother too, who is between them in age. So these two stamps of the two same girls, but with the second stamp showing no difference in their heights, always makes me think affectionately about them, and also about a long walk on a North East beach we all had together a couple of years back.

I covered the frame and the backing paper with shells and wording from CI 272 in Archival Sepia, added some small real shells, and finally finished it off with some Angelina fibres in Gold Iris.

I thought this frame would fit well with the Happy Daze challenge for August which is 'Oh I do like to be beside the seaside'.

A Perfume Bottle for my Moulds Course

2011-08-09T11:41:00.000+01:00

When I was at Brenda's the other week she had picked up an ornate perfume bottle at a carboot sale. It is glass with a silver filigree pattern on both sides. I thought it would be perfect as an item for my moulds class so I took a mould of it. I have made it up in several forms but this is one I didn't use for the class, just to give you an idea of how it came out.

The moulds course has just started if you want to join in, but I am going to run it again probably in September for those who are on holiday now.

Gingersnap Creations Challenge - Babes and Tots

2011-08-03T06:39:00.002+01:00

Gingersnap Creations challenge 'Babes and Tots' starts today. I covered a frame with tissue tape and coloured it with metallic rub ons and stamped the Dream word in red. I stamped the little girl from the Crafty Individuals' set (CI292)directly onto the Butterfly Garden paper by Pink Payslee. I coloured her with Pro Markers and white opaque pen. I stamped the words 'Cute as a Button' and added a Princess crown to her head. I added some childish charms, and a Charlotte doll made from a home-made mould. Finally I added butterflies which were tissue tape applied to thick card, then cut out and glued on with silicone glue under the wings.

Crafty Individuals' August Challenge Bright and Beautiful

2011-08-01T22:37:00.014+01:00

I have made this teapot stand for the new Crafty Individuals' Challenge for August, starting today. I cut the brightest of the Spring background paper to fit the teapot template and stamped it with the tree CI 267 and the flourish. I edged it in turquoise and then added a teapot charm and some German Scrap. I then gave it three coats of Americana Gloss Sealer.

The theme is Bright and Beautiful. Plenty of scope there! Jean also has a sneak peek at some new stamps which look gorgeous.

On-Line Class on Mould-Making

2011-08-01T19:50:00.000+01:00

I've been a little quiet this past week as I have been busy preparing the tutorials and projects for my on-line class on mould-making. I have now sent out the product list to the students but there is still time to join in if you fancy it. I think it will be good fun! Brenda has been loving making the moulds since she came round to me and has put it to great use on her blog! E mail me at lucy@cedmondson.net if you are interested.

Later on this evening my contribution to the August Crafty Individuals' challenge will go on - just waiting for it to appear on their blog before I blog it myself! Also on Wednesday there will be my contribution for Gingersnaps next challenge. The only other bit of news from me is that I was very excited to win The Stamp Man challenge for my alcohol inked Steampunk Debutante shadow box.

See you later!

Steampunk Printers' Tray - and more info on my Moulds Course

2011-07-21T11:36:00.106+01:00

I quickly blogged this tray last night and thank you for the lovely comments. Here I am with a bit more detail. The 'Printers' Tray' was originally a wooden tray which had housed some (very sickly) sweetmeats such as marzipan fruits which were reduced in the French supermarket after Christmas last year, and this is the second resurrection of the tray. The reasons for making it were firstly that I wanted to enter Happy Daze's 'Dangling Things' competition because I love to have things that dangle on my projects, and secondly because I had already cut into the beautiful papers (Graphic 45 Steampunk Debutante) last week so I thought I would use them up. I did a PVA crackle first with some peach paint. You can just see a little crackle round the edges.

1. This section has the men from the Tim Holtz Steampunk stampset (thank you to Alison for letting me stamp them up). When I cut them out I cut a little ledge so I could glue them down to the front of the tray to add some layering. The photo corner is one of my home-made moulds, made up in clay. The teal-coloured clockface is from DezinaWorld, with some cogs and watch springs added.

2. This section has some vintage pen nibs, and in the middle a piece from the papers popped behind a Fragment. On the right is an actual mini pocket watch (it has a butterfly on the front which goes well with the design). I removed the watch mechanism and back of the watch and cut a circle of one of the paper designs and then popped the back on again. On the opposite face I made a clay watch face from a mould, glazed it, and added a game spinner.

3. For this section I popped some shrink plastic cogs onto the background paper and added the butterfly strip at the bottom. I painted and gold embossed a grungeboard flourish and cut out some of the tiny butterflies to add to it.

4. For one of my dangly bits I used some Primark chain and added a birdcage charm, a ring of keys, and a tiny deep recess frame - wonder if anyone can guess where the tiny image in the frame came from? You probably won't, but I will throw down the gauntlet anyway! I then filled it in with Glossy Accents. The butterfly to the left is another mould, and bottom left are some home-made flower and leaf moulds made from some Primark charms off a charm bracelet. Ok, now the Charlotte doll, not my best decision. It is a home-made mould and I stuck it on and added the home-made angel wings. So far, so good. Then I remembered I had seen a number of these on Vintage sites where they have very black hair and very rouged cheeks. So I decided to do this, 'in situ', after I had already glued it down, which made it fiddly. Unfortunately it looks a bit like Friar Tuck. I may take the whole section out and re-do it, but it's good for a laugh, for now. Added more shrink plastic cogs.

5. I love the paper in this section, so I kept it simple! I added a top hat, and as another dangly bit, a clock charm from a Primark charm bracelet. To cover the hook I carefully cut out some flowers from the paper and glued it across the corner of three sections, to give the effect that the lady is in a 'shady bower'.

6. I framed the beautiful lady's face with a heart shaped frame, a home-made mould made from a set of Poundland plastic frames. I gave her a bit of lippy because I never go out without it! I cut a hot air balloon from another piece of the paper and raised it on silicone glue (actually I used a lot of silicone glue on this project to utilize the depth of the sections and create layering). I thought she looked like she would wear a string of pearls so I just draped some bits of Primark pearl necklace around, and added some triple gold embossed die cut cogs and another shrink plastic one.

7. Centre stage for a bit more dangle, is this stunning bird cage which was a gift from Brenda as I fell in love with it when we went shopping together, and she popped back to get it for me on her way to the car as it was the last one. I was so touched, and I am going to move it back and forth across projects for now, so I can keep using it. Can you see the little birdy inside? Then I added two brown glass apothecary style bottles, decorated with 7 Gypsies labels. The smaller bottle is a 7 Gypsies one, but the one on the left is a Tisserand essential oils bottle. I use a lot of these so it will be a good source of bottles. I just put gold memory foil around the lid. I popped another of the images from the papers behind microscope glass and edged it with memory foil, and added a home-made mould crown. Crossing over the two sections is an ornate frame I cut from the TH tag die, cutting it in mountboard and them in some of the papers, and putting the lady on the chair behind it, and added two screwhead brads.

8. Very simple section as I wanted to balance the rather cluttered overall design. Just some shrink plastic and grungeboard cogs on a cog background.

9. Some of the corset design paper from the pad, with a corset image on the right behind a Fragment. The feathered birdy is bought, and I gave him a top hat and glazed it with Glossy Accents. His bird cage is a mould made from a shrink plastic version of the Tim die, then made up in clay and glazed. I had a tiny mirror charm sat on my workdesk and I thought he might like to look at himself, like canaries do, or is it parrots!

10. Getting to the end now! One of the papers is like a vintage newspaper and I liked this ad for paste to polish your trumpet (as you do!). I popped a circular Fragment over it but also carefully cut around the text above and below as I thought it added something. Of course I then had to add a trumpet. No, not a mould! I think it is a cake-decorating item. On the right to finish off is a cog made from a mould.

Phew! good job I didn't try to type all this up last night. Hope it wasn't too much boring detail. Thank you so much to those of you who have written to me in response to the on-line course on moulds. A few questions have arisen from this and I wanted to say that of course we are entering the holiday season but please don't worry as the course isn't timebound and you can do it at your own pace. If you are interested, please do get in touch at lucy@cedmondson.net - or just to say Hello!

Steampunk Printers' Tray

2011-07-20T23:15:00.000+01:00

Just waiting for the glue to dry on this Steampunk Printers' Tray I've been working on over the last couple of days. No daylight left to photograph it but if you like it, I will do some section by section photos tomorrow.

Gingersnaps Challenge - Planes or Trains - Fob Watch

2011-07-20T06:06:00.002+01:00

Today's make is embarassingly simple. The challenge starting today over on Gingersnap Creations Blogspot is to feature planes or trains, and I chose trains, and the over-arching theme for the month is Steampunk. I have had this steam train pocket watch for some time and wanted to decorate it simply so it could be worn as a necklace.

I prised the back off and removed the clock face and mechanism and replaced them with a sepia image of men in front of a steam train, from Crafty Individuals' People and Places book. I had to snip the word 'Locomotive' off the edge to make it circular, so I popped it back on beneath the train. For the facing niche I used a collage image I was lucky enough to get from Dezinaworld when I won a competion. It is a teal coloured clock with Roman numerals, and I added some watch springs and shrink plastic die cut cogs and then a layer of Glossy Accents.

This is a close up of the pocket watch when it is closed, showing the embossed steam train design, which I enhanced with rub-ons.

And then onto a chain to wear as a necklace.

Frame with Art Mould Elephant, More Moulds, and an On-Line Course

2011-07-15T21:56:00.000+01:00

This is a frame I made with the gorgeous new elephant stamp from Crafty Individuals. As soon as I saw it I thought it would go with my elephant art mould. I have used bronze mica powder on him. A couple of my friends have been crafting here this week and they both fancied this particular Krafty Lady mould (out of the millions I have collected over the years!). I love this new stamp as when I first saw it I thought it would be difficult to stamp out as the design part is in the recess so there is a lot of negative area to ink up, but in fact it stamped up perfectly the first time. I used Crafty Individuals' background papers (which I stamped directly onto) and their copper German scrap.

This next 'make' uses one of the very inexpensive mini frames from Crafty Individuals' Must Haves range. I covered it with tissue tape then smeared on some Rub Ons to add colour. The frame was made with one of my home-made moulds taken from a Tim Holtz ornate frame, and the fairy cameo is a beautiful mould kindly lent to me by Petra. I used the same Rub Ons on the raised areas.

I've have been giving this a lot of thought over the last couple of months and have decided to offer an on-line course. Several kind people have written to me asking for tutorials specifically on moulds and some of you are too far away to come over for a Play Date (although I will do an airport pick-up!), so I thought I would offer on-line tutorials for a very small charge to take account of my time in putting it together.

As you know if you have been on my blog before I use a lot of bought moulds but increasingly make my own. So I will cover both, as well as the different mediums you can use in your moulds, how to colour them, how to choose items that will mould well, and finishing off with some projects to use them in. I won't bore you with loads of items I have already blogged, but here are a few moulds I have picked out from my 'home-made 'bellies box'!

The little doll is a mould taken from the Tim Holtz fractured doll. Of course by making it yourself you can have whatever finish you want, and as it is flat-backed you can pop it on a wider range of projects.

As I was laying things out to photograph them I thought, 'how about the bird wings on the doll?'

Or Angel wings? This could be fun!

And finally, a little project made with a bird and a keyhole mould, and a home-made mould bird house!

I am going to offer another class on using tissue paper but I have gone on long enough for now. If you think you might be interested in either course and would like to know more, please do either leave me a message here, or e mail me at lucy@cedmondson.net

Steampunk Shadow Box with Alcohol Inks - The Stamp Man Challenge

2011-07-14T19:58:00.014+01:00

I am entering this Steampunk Shadow Box for The Stamp Man Alcohol Inks Challenge which closes tonight. It's only the second time I have entered but I remembered being so influenced by The Stamp Man shows on Create and Craft when I first started crafting, and I have learnt such a lot from them.

I painted the shadow box with a mix of Baltic Blue, Sky Blue, and Guacamole Fresco Finish paints to make a jade green to match the dominant colour in the Graphic 45 Steampunk Debutante papers, and used a piece of this paper as the backdrop. I cut a Tim Holtz Alterations Die mannequin out of roasting tin foil and embossed it with a Cogs embossing folder. I cut the stand off and then cut it in half lengthways then reattached it to make two legs. I alcohol inked it by dripping colour on so it was quite intense, and picking out the various colours from the background paper. I cut a couple of Bigz Flourishes as a base for my feather arms and added the head from the papers. I then added a pocket watch face at the neck and some shrink plastic cogs cut from the Alterations Die at the shoulders to pull the elements of the doll together.

Slightly angled view to show the depth of the box

On the backdrop there is a clock from Dezinaworld highlighted with a piece of curved glass, and I used another piece to highlight the woman's face, and added some more shrink plastic cogs. The lightbulb is a keyring and it does light up!

The light only comes on if I hold it down, lol! I think it is meant for finding your lock in the dark!

Bottom right I alcohol inked a microscope slide, concentrating the colour around the edge and placed the lady image behind it so that she was framed by AI colour but not concealed, and edged it with Memory Foil tape in Gold. The acetate butterfly was alcohol inked and I added a vintage pen nib. The cog above it has been made from a mould in clay, and then metallic rub on added to enhance the raised areas. Above that is a piece from a watch used to frame another image from the background paper book. To the left of this are some more shrink plastic cogs. I used a hand from the Tim Holtz steampunk stamp set to point to one of his ornate plates which has been alcohol inked, and the Steampunk word was taken from an Artistic Outpost steampunk set. I alcohol inked the word and the hand just so they weren't stark white and filled in the frame with Glossy Accents.

On the bottom of the frame are some more shrink plastic cogs, a different cog mould, and a mould I took of some wings which I then made up in clay. I would like to thank Petra for letting me stamp up some of her images last night, and Alison when she was here the other week, who also let me use the mannequin die. What good buddies!

UK Stampers Competition Vintage Photo

2011-07-13T16:26:00.001+01:00

I nearly forgot to blog this. It's my entry to a competition on UK Stampers Forum, which ends at midnight tonight. The challenge was to use at least two of the following: a Vintage Photo, Buttons, Pins, Fabric, Lace, and Glitter.

I used crackle paint and blue mica mist on the frame and popped a Crafty Individuals' image behind it. I made a couple of flowers from moulds and coloured them with mica powders. The flower top left is made from pieces of Poundland organza, held over a tealight. Actually I realize now I had originally put a button in the centre of the flower but then changed it for the flower mould so I think I lost the plot as it was a button for a reason! Duh!

I blobbed some Glossy Accents on the frame and 'sprinkled' with pearly beads. I bought some lace with a leaf design at the Newbury show the other week so I cut the leaves out and tucked them around the flowers. The cream 'sprigs' I absolutely love, and were cut from some beautiful fabric that lovely Lynne (Adorn) wrapped some presents to me one birthday and I saved it. I pushed a pin from Ribbon Girl through the fabric.

I don't often mention UK Stampers here but they are a group of lovely stampers and I really enjoy being part of the group - I don't join in as much as I should.

Gingersnaps' Challenge - Cogs, Gears and Watch Pieces - well, Watch Pieces at least

2011-07-13T06:25:00.002+01:00

Do you have the concept of The Man Drawer in your household? Well, the reason for my posing this photo with these tools is that Colin recently said, 'I'm just popping out. The Watchmaker's Tool Kit I wanted is now in stock'. Who knew? I questioned him about the purpose of this kit and he said it was to fix my prescription sunglasses, which he kindly did, but I was still suspicious. Well, he has now admitted that the tools came with a cute little compartmented box, with minute screws in ever decreasing sizes. He can now add it to the drawer of un-named items of ironmongery, and keys that don't actually fit anything, and will feel very secure in the knowledge that there is no job too small.

The box itself was an excuse to use this great Watchmaker's Stamp from Crafty Individuals CI 279, and I added the Watchmaker, one of the steampunk men from the Tim Holtz set which Alison kindly let me stamp up. You may remember Mum collecting eleven watches from around the house when I told her I was making a tin man, so I have garnished the box with some of the pieces. The tool-kit is great for getting the back off watches and pushing the springs out of the metal bracelets.

The giant key I have had for ages as it was out of a grungeboard elements set and I thought it was too huge to be useful. I decided my Watchmaker would have a huge key to wind up all the Grandfather clocks in his shop. It was also an excuse to stamp the Crafty Individuals' stamp onto this as well, so that if it is lost they have his address to return it to.

This dull photo is the box after I had painted it but before I decorated it, the reason being that I have had this cloudy blue colour in my head for ages, but found it difficult to achieve. I kept veering off into turquoise with everything I tried to make! So I thought I would photograph it at this stage in case it then went horribly wrong. It took about five different products to get the shade right and I have already forgotten what they were, so I can't tell you.

When the lovely Alison was here last week she also let me stamp up her butterfly plate. The text which goes with it actually says Clockmaker, Jewellers, and Silversmith on there, so I thought this went with my theme, although we seem to have shifted from Edinburgh to Paris suddenly. But it seemed just the right size to give me a neat bottom! The 'feet' are domino word tiles coloured with Pro Markers so my watchmaker is now a clever, serious, finicky, genius!

I decided I wanted to use one of the little Tim glass vials for him to keep his tiny watch springs in. I painted it with Paper Artsy paint which works brilliantly on glass, then cut off a piece of tissue tape with said Horlogerie, but I could only fit Horloge on it. I added some actual watch hands to one of the clock faces, and then another clock face bottom left. Top right is a little charm I added some chain too, to make it look like a pocket watch, and top left is an art mould clock face with a Tim game spinner.

Inside the box is a mirror for his lady customers to try on jewellery items, and it has lots of tiny compartments to keep tiny screws and springs in.

Over on Gingersnaps you can see the other items to help launch the challenge - they are wonderful and so varied. Hope you will join in!

Gift Box with Frame for Brenda

2011-07-11T21:26:00.000+01:00

I had a wonderful visitor today, a new friend, Brenda. We had such a great day and she is such a talented and warm person. I had made her a gift box to house some little feathered birds I had picked up. Sorry about the terrible photos but I suddenly realized this morning I hadn't photographed it and I think I should have put my glasses on!

I used Paper Artsy Fresco Finish paints in Pansy and Dolly Mix, and a layer of their crackle, and then stamped with Crafty Individuals' flourish stamps (CI 235) with purple ink. The main purpose of the box design was a vehicle for the frame art mould which I got a couple of weeks ago when I went to the Stamp Bug sale weekend. I just love it, but it is quite large and 'in your face' so it needed a plainish and quite large box to show it off. I used mica powders to colour the clay. Around the sides I used Crafty Individuals' flower stamps (CI 206), stamped onto their background papers and cut out, to look like they were coming off the fronds of the flourishes. In the centre of the frame is a Crafty Individuals' image from their People and Places image book, and I glazed it with Glossy Accents.

Crafty Individuals' Bird Cage in a Frame

2011-07-06T20:45:00.000+01:00

Crafty Individuals have brought out some great new stamps, two of 1920's style ladies, one of elephants, which I am working on at the moment, and this beautiful bird cage stamp, CI320. I coloured it with Pro Markers and then cut around the ornate frame, and set it against a sheet of Spring background paper. The shadow box frame was coloured with crackle paint and Silkies (from Imagination Crafts). The bird cage was made from a mould made from a Tim Holtz Alterations Die which was made out of shrink plastic, and then the mould made up with Fimo clay.

The flower top left was made from a mould made from part of a Primark necklace, then made up in friendly plastic, and likewise the centre of the lace flower bottom right. The lace had a flower pattern within it so I cut out just the flowers and layered them up and gathered them slightly. I then added a resin rose from a Primark bracelet which I coloured with alcohol inks, and the leaves are cut from a strip of lace which was mainly made up of a leaf pattern.

Crafty Individuals' July Challenge

2011-07-01T19:58:00.003+01:00

I have made this box for the Crafty Individuals' July challenge using CI 238 and 258, Spring Background Papers, and their Chocolate coloured German scrap, together with some cream lace, and crackle paint. I stamped the Spring papers with the background text stamp (one of my favourites!) and then glued it onto some grungepaper cut with the Tattered Florals die, so that the flowers had some shape and strength. The flower on the left is made of clay, from a home-made mould from some of my ubiquitous Primark jewellery!

I've just edited this post as I see the challenge is now up on the Crafty Individuals' blog. The theme is to use pink, brown, and cream, and to use at least one Crafty Individuals' product as usual. There is a good chance of winning a prize of your choice of stamp so do have a go! I have really enjoyed seeing what people have been making each month. If you haven't seen them yet, there are some gorgeous new stamps out including an ornate bird cage and some 1920s ladies.

Butterfly Box for Hazel's Birthday

2011-06-20T11:02:00.000+01:00

I should have blogged this ages ago, it's another box I made, filled with sequin trim, etc, for Hazel's birthday. It has one of the moulded perfume bottles on it to go with the wording on the Crafty Individuals stamp CI 148, and some sequins and fusible fibres. The butterfly is another of the ones from the roll of butterfly tape, applied to clear packaging material and then cut out.

Our Wedding Anniversary

2011-06-16T09:13:00.003+01:00

Today is Colin and my 27th wedding anniversary. In fact, this year we have been together for 30 years. It doesn't feel like it. This is the card I made for him:-

I used the ducks stamp from Crafty Individuals, CI 297, which may not seem a very romantic choice but it is meaningful to us. We have had many happy times together in France where we can feed the ducks just by leaning out of our window. When I'm at home and Colin is over there, I can hear them quacking when I am on the 'phone to him. Did you know it is the lady ducks who do the quacking? It is just as well we live in close proximity to them, otherwise what can you do with stale French bread?!

Gingersnap Creations Challenge - Bags and Tags - Have you got your Lunch Money?

2011-06-15T06:14:00.008+01:00

Today's challenge launch on Gingersnap Creations Blogspot is to use Bags and Tags, as part of their focus on Shopping month. I used a brown paper carrier bag which was one of a batch kindly given to me by Petra and they are lovely for decorating - no idea where you can get them from so I was very pleased to have some. The idea behind my make is that it is a children's school lunch sack, and there is a little envelope for Mum or Dad to pop their money for sweets.

I started off by stamping the text stamp CI 258 from Crafty Individuals all over the bag and added ribbon down the sides. I stamped the two children going to school from Think and Wonder by the Artistic Outpost (from Happy Daze if you're in the UK), cut away the background and adhered them to a distressed pocket money envelope. I added chipboard letters to spell ABC to go with my school theme and changed the colours slightly with Pro Markers to tie in with the other colours used, and added some pearl accents.

Top left is a Poundland crocheted coaster to which I have added a piece of fabric where I treated it with fabric stiffener and then cut around the rose and leaves design I wanted. The butterfly is an image transfer of a Crafty Individuals' image, using liquid clay in the oven then peeling the backing away. This gives you a lovely translucent clay embellishment, to which I added a little glitter. Top right is an art mould key made from friendly plastic tied on with a little piece of lace to match the coaster.

Bottom left is a Tim Holtz label cut from mountboard. I used one of his Adage tickets behind it - I chose Trust because that is what the two siblings convey to me - Giggle or Play didn't seem quite right. I added some pearl brads and some flowers cut from Crafty Individuals' flower stamps using a little book text. I finished off my design with a child's footprint charm on the envelope.

So, I had lots of little details and techniques going on, but although I was happy with how it turned out in the flesh, I now don't think it has much impact on the page, especially seeing my team members gorgeous entries. I sometimes find I make things and the ones that aren't that special can look better on the page - is that just me? Anyhow, although I have called this a children's lunch sack, it is actually Jack's gift bag for her birthday presents. I think when she actually sees it she will like it better than the photo - I hope so! Sorry Jack, there isn't any money in the envelope!

Crafty Individuals' Little Girl at Play Card - Jack's Birthday

2011-06-14T11:36:00.001+01:00

It's my very dear friend, Jack's, birthday today. This is her card. The background is one of the ones I made the other week with the Tinkerbella Inks. I added my favourite flourish from Crafty Individuals and their little girl stamp, and made some shabby flowers from their flower set. I cut a frame using the Alterations Tag die set and a Tim Holtz Adage Ticket. Happy Birthday dear Jack!

Tomorrow I will show you the gift bag.

Seaside Stepper Card

2011-06-13T16:58:00.000+01:00

On Friday I had a tutorial on Gingersnaps on using packaging materials to create a seaside wall hanging. I did a little stepper card to go with it:-

I used the same Crafty Individuals' seaside stamps as before.

Packaging Tutorial for Gingersnaps

2011-06-10T06:06:00.001+01:00

Over on Gingersnap Creations today I have a tutorial on using packaging materials in your art. I made this hanging using Crafty Individuals' stamps:-

If you would like to see what I used, do hop over to Gingersnaps and let me know what you think.

Gingersnap Creations Challenge - Packaging

2011-06-08T05:28:00.006+01:00

Today is the start of a new challenge on Gingersnap Creations, to use packaging materials in your crafting:-

Sometimes I struggle to think of ideas for a challenge, but this time I was spoilt for choice! I love recycling and I use quite a few packaging items in my crafting. I wanted to use as many of these items as possible but stop before I made a dog's dinner! For my card I used my current fave stamps, Think and Wonder by Artistic Outpost from Happy Daze, with Butterfly Garden background paper, also from Happy Daze. I stamped the children and coloured and cut them out, then die cut a piece of clear packaging material with my Baroque die, and embossed it with a numbers Cuttlebug embossing folder to go with my 'first day at school' theme. In my head, big sister is taking little brother to school, holding his hand, and she is wearing her favourite red beret! This is a role reversal as it would have been my lovely brother, John, taking me to school and making sure I was ok.

I made up a black shrinkplastic Jalopy from the Tim Holtz die and made the wheels with pieces of red wire tie from freezer bags, coiled around my jewellery pliers, as I figured they are packaging (or am I stretching a point?!).
I added Bingo style Alphabet tokens to spell Love, as I love my brother and it went with my idea of learning numbers and alphabets at school. I adhered the children to the centre of the clear packaging piece and stapled it in place as staples are often used on cardboard box packaging! To pull things together a bit I edged the card with Antique Linen, which I also used on a bit of bubble wrap (more packaging!) at points around the central image.

I am very excited as I have done a packaging ideas tutorial with a fun project for Gingersnaps on the 10th! Hope you will enjoy it.

Crafty Individuals Does Steam Punk!

2011-06-06T11:38:00.000+01:00

I made some cards using this gently steam punk influenced stamp by Crafty Individuals, CI296, with some extra butterflies cut from CI006. The reason for making these was that my kind student, Jean, brought me some gorgeous 6 x 6 papers the other day. I think they are called Funky Vintage, and this particular paper really spoke to me as going well with this stamp. I also thought it would work well with some of my Primark chain from earlier in the week, together with some shrink plastic cogs made from the Tim Alterations die.

Apologies that they are both quite similar, but the second one has a clock hand added. I used some of the cog stamps from CI294 to add to the background paper. I do hope Crafty Individuals will bring out some more steam punk inspired stamps, as they would be lovely with their pretty and soft style added to them.

I also used some chain hanging from a flower for this Ship card, using CI295. I never thought ships would particularly be my thing, but I love working with this collage stamp. I used a Gold Aqua Marker to bring out the pattern on the right hand border. The shell background paper is from Crafty Individuals Seaside background paper pack. I added a small ship from the Individual Elements set, CI294, the set with the cogs.

June Crafty Individuals Challenge - Vintage with Hearts - Memories Box

2011-06-01T20:24:00.000+01:00

Today is the launch of the June Crafty Individuals challenge, with a theme of Vintage and Hearts. I hope you will play along! Here is my contribution:-

The idea behind it was that a woman whose husband is away fighting in the war, keeps her letters from him and other mementos in this box. I started off by painting a lovely wooden casket which was a present from Alison, using Eco Green acrylic paint in Ocean:-

It's difficult to see in the photo that the surround on the lid of the box is actually a fabric frame, and I applied a little of the paint using a baby wipe, then stamped it with CI258 word stamp and adhered it to the top, with a piece of Travels in Italy paper behind it. The frame encases a picture of her husband, from the People and Places book of images, and the frame itself was a Poundland one which I took a mould of and re-made in friendly plastic and added some rub ons. Because of the curve of the casket it was difficult to adhere it so I softened it very gently with the heat gun to mould it into place. I made the flowers from a mould taken from some Primark jewellery, made up in friendly plastic. I edged the box with Distress Stain in Vintage Photo and some copper Viva Gold.

Here's a photo of all the contents of the box together

And another one!

This next photo shows some of the items in more detail. The locket was from a Primark charm bracelet and I added images from People and Places of the woman's wedding day and their children, carefully cut into heart shapes. The perfume bottle is made from a mould I took of a perfume bottle, the heart shaped padlock to lock the treasures away is another Primark charm, and the frame is a different shaped Poundland one made up in friendly plastic again, with a great grandfather image inside, again from People and Places.

These are the love letters he sent to her, tied with ribbon. I used CI214, together with the postcard, CI302:-

Here I used the Day Out ticket, CI022, and a mixture of tickets from CI239 as Mementos of his visits home. They are coloured with Distress Inks, and held together with a Primark hair clip. The cameo was made from a mould taken from a Primark ring, and dusted with mica powders:-

I added pieces of replica memorabilia, a pen nib, and a piece of her wedding dress veil to add to the story.

I had such fun making this, and I hope you will join in!

Another Primark Jewellery Haul!

2011-05-31T22:50:00.000+01:00

I've been sending all my forum friends off on the hunt for Primark jewellery as I got another great haul yesterday! It cost me £6.50 for the lot:-

A French poodle and an Eiffel Tower for an Ooh La La! Project, and a Crown too

Really pretty in the flesh, like shimmery mother of pearl buttons

Well, yes, I like Poodles and Eiffel Towers .......

Sapphire bling with a bit of a Fleur de Lys shape I thought

Loads of Tim Tassels but cheaper!

Come back tomorrow and I have a project using some of the last Primark jewellery!

Box with Zip Flower and Card with Shrink Plastic for Lynne's birthday

2011-05-30T09:11:00.037+01:00

This is another box I made, for a friend's birthday today. I used Eco Green Paint and an Eco Green butterfly stamp, and made one of my zip flowers which I made last year, just for a touch of quirkyness.

This was the birthday card, using the Think and Wonder stamps from the Artistic Outpost again, and the new postcard stamp CI 302 from Crafty Individuals, with the Pink Paisley papers and embellishments called Butterfly Garden from Happy Daze. I decoupaged the flowers on the postcard and added glossy accents. I made a shrink plastic piece from the little girl from the Think and Wonder plate and just wanted to mention that I used a great technique from Lin Brown's blog, using the wonderful new Paper Artsy Fresco Finish Paints which are so versatile. I spread a little Snowflake paint on both sides of the shrink plastic using Cut N Dry foam and let it dry, then stamped the image, shrank it, then coloured it with Distress Inks. I would really recommend this technique as it makes shrink plastic so much easier to colour and to work with. I had thought in the past that if you used acrylic paint on shrink plastic that it would shrivel unattractively because it doesn't shrink with the plastic, but certainly with these particular paints it works perfectly. And I am a big shrink plastic fan ......!

Crafty Individuals Vintage Card with Vellum

2011-05-28T13:42:00.000+01:00

I haven't blogged this week as I have been poorly, but have now managed to make a simple little card using some new Crafty Individuals stamps, CI 303 and CI 306. I just coloured the images with Pro Markers, and carefully cut round the frame. I used a piece of Spring Background Papers but muted the colours to give a more vintage look and prevent the designs fighting with each other by adding a layer of vellum.

More 'Think and Wonder' Cards

2011-05-20T20:11:00.002+01:00

I've been making some more cards with the Artistic Outpost 'Think and Wonder' plate, and the Butterfly Garden papers and Chipboard pieces, all from Happy Daze.

This one has a black shrink plastic Old Jalopy Alterations Die (thank you Alison for the loan!) and shrink plastic buttons for the wheels. The little girl is taking her little brother to school on his first day.

Backgrounds with Tinkerbella Inks

2011-05-17T19:36:00.000+01:00

I was at Deb's on Sunday and she kindly let me use her Tinkerbella inks to make some background papers:-

This is my favourite!

A couple adhered to scallop shaped card blanks, ready to be made into cards. Tricky edges to cut round!

One card finished so far!

Crafty Individuals Cards - Ships and Seaside

2011-05-16T20:49:00.000+01:00

I've been making a few more cards to top up my supply! As with the 'Think and Wonder' cards, these ones made themselves, with the beautiful collage stamps and 'The Seaside' background papers from Crafty Individuals. This one is CI 295, the Ship, with some of the navigation symbols from CI 294 around the edge, some twine, and a charm.

This one I think looks so different with the lighter paper, and this time I used some of the stamps from the seaside sets CI 278 and 272.

This next one is the same backing paper, but with the bather and beach huts from CI 278 - this set is so charming!

Think and Wonder Birthday Card and Box

2011-05-11T22:31:00.000+01:00

Recently I was lucky enough to win a voucher to spend at a wonderful on-line shop, Happy Daze, as the lovely owner, Moira, kindly donated it as a prize in a Valentine Card competition on UK Stampers. I knew immediately what I wanted as she is one of the few UK stockists of the Artistic Outpost stamps, and I have been particularly coveting the 'Think and Wonder' plate. They are really good quality stamps. I have recently ordered from her again as she seems to sell all the goodies I love, so I bought the Pink Paislee Butterfly Garden paper pack and chipboard embellishments. Together, they just about make a card on their own, without any help from me! So I made this card for the lovely Alison's upcoming birthday:-

Just added some braid and some shrink plastic buttons

For Alison's present I made a box and filled it with sequin trims, braid, and charms, and also gave her the collage I made last week. Here is the box:-

I used some gorgeous Eco Green Blue Patina paint which was a present from Lynne on my birthday (I can really recommend this paint), and an Eco Green set of stamps for the bird and the butterfly. The bird has been stamped on tissue paper, and the butterfly onto clear packaging material and then coloured from behind with Pro Markers.

Alison shares her birthday on the 24th with another dear crafting friend of ours, Hazel, and I hope they both have a wonderful day!

'Mon P'tit Ange' Collage

2011-05-04T17:51:00.000+01:00

When I was in France last week I bought this rather yucky plastic frame in a 2 Euros shop:-

I coloured the frame with alcohol inks and then stamped a variety of Crafty Individuals images onto their Spring backing papers:-

Crafty Individuals Bird Frame

2011-05-01T14:03:00.000+01:00

It was great to see how many people joined in the first Crafty Individuals challenge in April to support the lovely Jean's new blog! This month's challenge has now been posted here and the theme is 'Free as a Bird'. I have made this little frame using the bird, CI 183. I love these Small Collage Frames they sell as they are very solid and are only 77p! They are a great thing to have to hand when you want a quick project that has more impact than a card. I used some mother of pearl sprinkles around the frame, and added a metal embellishment to the top. I then doubled up a piece of beaded trim as I always like to have some dangly bits!

Crafty Individuals Venice Frame

2011-04-29T22:29:00.001+01:00

Just spotted this is up on the Crafty Individuals blog so thought I'd better blog it! I covered a cheap frame with texture paste and painted it with gold, copper, and black Lumiere paints. The background is one of the Spring Background papers, with a People and Places Venice Gondola image edged with gold German scrap (all from Crafty Individuals). The image on the right is from the same pack, Gondolas again, set into clear UTEE in a scallop shaped biscuit cutter, then the backing removed to make it more transparent.

On the left is one of the Tando gothic frames (again from Crafty Individuals), covered in Spring background papers, and the little heart at the top carefully cut out. I popped another Gondola image behind it, popping the insert piece back as a little door. I have shown it open and closed in the pictures. To add to the door image I stamped it with the door CI 249 . I really love all the CI products I used to make this!

Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens!

2011-04-22T09:56:00.002+01:00

Happy Easter! I am on one of my no-sugar drives at the moment, so no Easter eggs for me! Colin is spending the money on a pack of Pro Markers instead!

Easter seemed like a perfect opportunity to use this chicken stamp by Crafty Individuals. I did a Google Images search to try to get the colouring of the chickens right. I love the vintage background and the chicken wire design of this stamp. I dotted some sequins I bought in France around it for a bit of sparkle, and to match the chicken colours.

Inside the box are some cute fluffy chicks, which were a present from Lynne, and a nest of eggs which was a present from Petra. Thank you so much, both of you! I added a bit of blue mesh from a pack of tomatoes.

Gingersnap Creations Challenge - Far East - Fans Wall Hanging

2011-04-20T05:49:00.005+01:00

The theme for Gingersnaps for April is the Far East, and this week we are featuring Fans. The other week Deb and I went to a huge car boot sale and I bought these fan earrings for 20p with the challenge in mind. I liked the metal tassel as I thought it was quite 'Tim Holtz'.

I cut the Japanese calligraphy paper with the Tim Baroque die, and coloured the Geisha (Crafty Individuals) with Pro Markers in colours to match the background paper. I then added some shrink plastic flowers and a butterfly, and an I Ching coin made with friendly plastic in an art mould. I then cut a metal embellishment in half and used it top and bottom, added some hand dyed ribbon, and then added the earring at the bottom, to make a hanging.

Dezina World Free Background

2011-04-12T20:34:00.000+01:00

Over on Dezina World there is a gorgeous free background! Grab it while you can!

Art Chix Square Bird Box

2011-04-12T16:39:00.007+01:00

I made this box using Art Chix images and some gorgeous birds Alison kindly gave me for my birthday. Deb and Petra were here last night and thought the birds needed a crown each, and a bit of Precious Metal gold rubbed over them - definitely an improvement!

Crafty Individuals Square Bird Lantern

2011-04-07T22:47:00.000+01:00

Have you heard, Crafty Individuals will be having challenges on their new blog each month! This month the challenge is to make square shaped art, using any Crafty Individuals product. As a little bit of inspiration we have been asked to kick things off with a few ideas of our own. I made this little square shaped lantern:-

The metal bird on a branch has been alcohol inked

The butterflies with the lit cande beneath

The inside with the lit candle

The bird stamp CI 200 was stamped on Spring background paper on the door of the lantern. The butterfly is CI 061 and was stamped onto plastic packaging material and coloured with alcohol inks.

Gingersnap Challenge - Far East - Geisha Canvas

2011-04-06T05:50:00.036+01:00

This month's Gingersnap Creations challenges are all featuring the Far East, and this week it is the turn of Geishas. I must confess, I made this little canvas a long time ago but it seemed to fit the bill, and as it has never seen the light of day, I thought I would give it an outing. It was made with the Geisha stamps from the Stamp Attack, designed by Jo from JoZart. It has a little bit of everything on it.

Here's a side view showing the writing, and depth of the canvas.

Gingersnap Creations - Typewriters Challenge

2011-03-16T05:02:00.003Z

Gingersnap Creations have a new challenge starting today, incorporating Typewriters into your artwork, with a Work theme. I thought I would use a CD case to make a stand for a desk calendar. I used Darcies stamps from Craft Obsessions, and added a couple of pen nibs, which you can get from the Artistic Stamper or the Fruit Pixie. I then aged a calendar tab by crumpling it and using Distress Ink, and added it to the front with a bulldog clip. I added some typewriter style twill to the clip, also from the Fruit Pixie.

Mardi Gras - Laissez Les Bons Temps Rouler!

2011-03-08T05:24:00.002Z

Today Gingersnap Creations are having a Mardi Gras theme as today is Fat Tuesday, or Shrove Tuesday, the day we eat up all our fatty foods before the abstinence of lent.

I would like to have made something with more of a 'N'Orlins' Mardi Gras vibe, as we had an amazing holiday in the French Quarter of New Orleans many years ago, and I have aways wanted to return, especially for the Mardi Gras processions. I didn't have any suitable stamps unfortunately, so decided to opt for a Venice Carnival style, as I had the gorgeous 'Venezia' stamps by Oxford Impressions, and the Italy background papers from Crafty Individuals. I chose the paper with the masks on, but added another stamped mask and the words and cancellation mark. I then made an art mould of a mask and painted it in the traditional Mardi Gras colours of purple, green, and gold, and added jewel eyes. I then made it into a card and added feathers behind the mask.

Mr Tin Man Makes the Stamp Man Top Five!

2011-03-06T11:24:00.000Z

Mr Tin Man has been delighted to make it into The Stamp Man Challenge Blog Top Five and has claimed his Blinkie! He says Thank You from the bottom of his heart!

Clay Topped Box with Seam Binding Flower

2011-03-04T14:24:00.003Z

I recently discovered the art of a wonderful woman called Jean Franks Beck, and I loved her projects where she dyed seam binding. I tracked some down and got some for myself and Lynne M. I cut it into lengths and put them inside a pizza box and spritzed them with mica sprays, each piece in different colours. I scrunched them up tightly whilst waiting for them to dry. They keep their 'scrunch' really well. I then ran a running stitch along one side and gathered them up into a flower shape, securing them with a stitch in places.

I tried out various things in the middle of the flower and finally settled on one of the earrings from the Primark jewellery, which is like a little cameo but with a floral centre in peach tones. I think I am getting my money's worth from the things I bought!

I am also getting the most from the perfume bottle as this is the box it came in! (My Mum had a very poor childhood and says they used to eat every part of the pig, including the squeak, and I think I am like that with my crafting). I painted the box bronze and then tried another technique which is new to me. I rolled out a piece of Fimo oven bake clay, cut around the box lid to get the shape, then pressed an embossing folder into it. I then highlighted the pattern with mica powders and metallic rub-ons. It is by no means perfect, but definitely something I will try again, and try to improve as I like the effect

In this photo I've shown the side view because a few of the friends who have been at my house recently have said they liked this ribbon. I had bought it specially, no expense spared, for my advent calendar, and had a little bit left. I got it from Hobbycraft.

Work in Progress - A Self Portrait

2011-03-03T17:49:00.000Z

Some of you don't know me very well, and haven't met me, so I thought I would let you know that I am writing my autobiography. I have only just started it, but here it is so far:-

Well, Colin dared me!

(Seriously it is a children's board book which I am decorating as a project with my student, Jean, so will let you know when I have prettied myself up a bit!

Tissue Tape Tag Six

2011-03-03T14:23:00.002Z

Yes, I think this is Tag Number 6 - from the girl who doesn't 'get' tags! I think as Tim says, they are a good way to try out a new technique and as such they are very addictive. Petra was here the other day and kindly bought me some white filter papers as I only had brown. Recently Gingersnap Creations did various projects with filter papers and although I made an album, it was just filter paper shaped, and I hadn't realized how lovely the papers are to spritz. I may have mentioned a few times (!) that my lovely friend, Pauline, has bought me the Tattered Florals die for my birthday. It isn't even my birthday yet but I am using this loads, and putting it through its paces.

I went for a peach colour scheme to go with the Paris stamp on the tissue tape and spritzed the filter paper with mica sprays then dried it and put it through the die. Then I just layered them up with a bought flower in the middle and some die cut grungepaper leaves. I then added some co-ordinating fibres. I don't think Tim always puts fibres on his tags, does he? I like to add a bit of colour. I mentioned the other day that tissue tape is a good way of muting the colour of a cardstock you have and don't like too much. This was a horrible mandarin colour but just a peach blush comes through.

The colours are more 'true' in this close-up

Perfume Bottle Mould in Frame

2011-03-02T13:29:00.000Z

I know you have already seen this frame, but the first time I used the original perfume bottle, but showed some I had made up, where I had taken a mould of the bottle. I have now made up another one using air dried clay, painting it with Azure Precious Metal Colour, and using Silver Acrylic Paint to highlight the filigree flower and bottle cap. I was going to fire up the meltpot so I could get more of a transparent style, like glass, with UTEE and blue To Dye For ink, but it is difficult when you have reduced your crafting space to two square inches! I am really pleased with how similar the bottle is now to the original, anyway. I want to give the frame away but as the perfume bottle was a present, I hadn't wanted to use the original one.

Tissue Tape Tag Five

2011-03-02T13:23:00.000Z

Another tissue tape tag, this time using the two little boys with the tandem theme, CI 080 from Crafty Individuals. I just added a touch of colour with Pro Markers. To pick out the colour of the Paris stamp part of the tissue tape I used orange fibres, and also added a bit of chain to give a slightly steampunk look. I made up some shrink plastic cogs in white and black with the Alterations die, and used two of them on top of an orange felt flower, made from my new Tattered Florals die. Love this die!

Tissue Tape Tag Three and Four

2011-03-01T17:14:00.000Z

Another couple of tissue tape tags today. The one above was made with Crafty Individuals CI 061, coloured with Pro Markers and torn around the edge. The bird and photo corner are more moulds I have made, and then made up with friendly plastic. The bird cage is another of the moulds I made using a shrink plastic Alterations bird cage, then making it up with friendly plastic, and dangling some of the pearls from the never-ending Primark jewellery stash! I am a bit worried I am becoming obsessed as I met up with a couple of friends for coffee yesterday, non-crafters, and I was eyeing up their jewellery to see if I could make moulds from it!

I finished the tag off with fibres and one of the Anita butterfly stickers I like so much.

For the tag below, I made a flower from felt and fabric, using the Alterations Tattered Flowers die (which Pauline has bought me for my birthday, how cool is that!). I layered the flower up with some fibres and a flower shaped button.

Tissue Tape Tag Two

2011-02-28T10:10:00.000Z

This tag was made with the little girl tag stamp from Crafty Individuals, CI 101, coloured again with Pro Markers. I highlighted her sweet face by using one of the moulds I made from a Tim Ornate Frame, made up in Pewter friendly plastic, and added a dangle of pearls from the Primark jewellery, and some fibres. Just finished off with some buttons to pick out the colours used.

Tissue Tape Tags

2011-02-27T14:03:00.000Z

I really enjoyed watching Tim Holtz on QVC Craft Day on Tuesday; the demos were really inspiring and I picked up lots of tips and ideas. In particular I wanted to try out covering tags with tissue tape. If I had to nail my colours to the mast though, I am definitely more of a Crafty Individuals girl than a Tim Holtz girl, so I thought I would combine this idea with their pretty and delicate stamp designs - sort of Tim meets Jean!

This is the first one, and there will be loads!

This turned out to be a great way to use up card stock in colours you don't like, as just a little of the colour shows through the tissue tape, in this case pale blue. I have the Tim Holtz Alterations die which cuts the tags (mainly because it has the lovely book plates on there also) so because tissue tape doesn't adhere very firmly, I wrapped the ends around the back, then cut another identical tag to stick to the back. This makes it more robust but also covers any ink you pick up on your work surface along the way (not that I would be messy ......!). I found it worked best to have the tissue tape running in different directions.

I stamped the beautiful butterfly image (CI 061) and coloured it with Pro Markers. I am finding that the thicker end of the pens is lovely for colouring the backgrounds - do you do that, too? I then tore around the image and added some fibres, and then friendly plastic butterflies and a rose I made from the moulds of the Primark jewellery - do you think I have got my money's worth from my cheap jewellery yet, hee hee!

Queen of Hearts Frame

2011-02-24T10:06:00.001Z

I felt in the mood to make something girly using some lovely beaded trim I got on e bay. I used one of the small collage frames from Crafty Individuals, and painted it Bronze. I cut a piece of the trim carefully around the design and stopped it fraying with a dab of glue and adhered it to the top of the frame. I dabbed a little Mustard Seed and Tattered Rose Distress Ink on a 2 inch Stampbord tile to match the Spring background paper and stamped it with the Queen of Hearts stamp CI 139. I sanded around the edge of the tile.

The embellishments are two more of the moulds I have been making. The rose is from the Primark jewellery I bought the other day, and the heart is from a Tim charm.

Gingersnap Creations Challenge - Sapphire Frame

2011-02-23T05:00:00.002Z

Today's challenge launch on Gingersnap Creations is to use Jewel Colours in your crafting. I adore jewel colours, and today I have chosen Sapphire. I actually made the papier mache frame a few months ago, but I liked the colour and texture so much I didn't want to add anything, so it has sat there for a while. I had painted it with a sapphire blue Precious Metal paint, and then used Bronze Croco Crackling Colour over the top, to allow the sapphire to show through the cracks. Whilst it was wet I applied some torn pieces of sapphire Angelina film and then heat gunned it.

The beautiful blue glass perfume bottle, with a silver filigree flower and cap was a gift many, many years ago from my sister in law, but has been too beautiful to use, So I made a mould of it before I used it, so I can re-create it:-

The butterfly was made from this roll of butterfly packing tape which I bought for a £1 in my local Tiger. There must be hundreds of butterflies on the roll, in about five different designs. I popped one on acetate and one on grunge, cut them out and layered them and curled the petals.

Here's a closer shot of the background. It looks quite turquoise here, but it really is sapphire blue. I decided the perfume was going to be 'Violette Flor', so I popped this rub-on perfume label behind it.

I made some more moulds from the jewellery I bought the other day in Primark, to make two copper friendly plastic roses for the bottom corners, and added some of the chain and pearls.

Crafty Individuals Bird Cage Frame

2011-02-21T21:21:00.000Z

Crafty Individuals now have a Blog! Isn't that great news! I have made this little papier mache frame using one of their new collage stamps, CI301. I coloured the stamped image with Pro Markers and added glossy accents to the butterflies. I made silicone moulds from some of the jewellery I bought in Primark the other day - the bird from the ring, some flowers, and the butterfly. For the birdcage I used the Tim Holtz Alterations Bird Cage die on shrink plastic, which I have done quite a few times before, but this time I used the shrunk piece to make a silicone mould, then made it up with friendly plastic. That way you can have whatever finish you like on the piece. I used metallic rub ons on the flowers and birdcage, and mica powders on the bird and the butterfly.

The stamped image was exactly the right size for the centre of the papier mache frame. I painted it with acrylic paint and then added some crackle paint, and then different shades of Silkies. I stuck some torn pieces of Angelina film to the wet paint and heat gunned it. Then I splodged some glossy accents in places and sprinkled on some mother of pearl flakes, and some Deko Ice which I coloured with alcohol ink, to match the project. I added a glass nugget to the centre of one of the flowers, then superglued all the pieces in place, including a piece of brass chain for the bird cage.

Shopping Trip Part 2 - Primark

2011-02-18T07:36:00.000Z

These are the other part of my shopping trip. I was so pleased that Minxy put me on to buying jewellery from Primark for craft projects. It is a great source of dangling bits for wall hangings, and for charms and resin flowers which you can take moulds of so that you can make them up in different finishes. And it is very cheap!

Shopping Trip for the Tin Man!

2011-02-18T07:29:00.000Z

You know I said the biggest problem was getting a funnel for my Tin Man? Well, of course I will see them everywhere now!

I went into town (more of that later as I bought some bargains for other projects!) and asked on the off chance in the kitchen shop if they had tiny metal funnels. They are very helpful in there and they know me a little as I keep sending students in for meringue non stick craft sheets! Anyhow, I spied these cake decorations! I couldn't believe the axe, wish I'd seen that a few days ago, but why do people want one for the top of a cake?! The tiny candle holders would work well for the hat on a smaller version of the project, and for a larger one I thought I could take a mould of the two horns for future use, and then chop the end off for a funnel shape. The shoe would be perfect coloured with red alcohol ink or pro marker for a Ruby Slipper. The daft thing is, I don't know why I bought these as I am not planning a similar project, so let me know if they are any use to anyone!

Gingersnaps Crown Challenge - Is she a Queen of the future?

2011-02-16T05:24:00.003Z

This is my entry for the Gingersnaps challenge which starts today, for you to use Crowns in your artwork. I used this image from Lost Coast Designs and I always think this little girl looks very petulant. I think she might be going through that phase of elbowing her friends out of the way to get to her favourite toys. When they come round to play with the dressing up box she says, 'it's my house, so I get to wear the butterfly wings dress with the crown'! I decided she is a bit of a diva and wants to be Queen when she grows up! The words are from a set by Art Journey (the set with the image of Michelle from the French Resistance as I call her!) and you can use the background stamp in one piece, or cut out individual words as I have done here - I thought the words, 'Girl Today, Queen Tomorrow' went with my story for her!

The crown is from the Tim Holtz charms, made into a mould with Siligum then made up with clay and gold mica powder. The ribbon is coloured with ProMarker and sandwiched between layers of mountboard cut with a Nestie. The inner layer is a piece of home-made background paper cut with the next size down of Nestie.

The dangly bits are a pair of earrings. I got a necklace and earrings for £2 as I wanted the necklace but I don't have pierced earrings so I knew I could use them on a project. The butterfly is an Anita one. I don't use a lot of bought embellishments but I think these can't be beaten, and they are so well priced.

The all-important crown a bit closer up!

Thank You for the Tin Man Kind Comments!

2011-02-15T21:06:00.000Z

Thank you so much everybody for the kind comments on the Tin Man!

I mentioned I had been very unsure of how to tackle his face. Well, I was surfing tonight and I spotted what look like ideal faces if I wanted to do a similar project again - Yes, I know, always wise after the event! It is these Sarah Lawrence charms from the Fruit Pixie, either the Oval Face or the Moon Face. Might have to get some!

The Tin Man Has a Heart!

2011-02-14T21:53:00.004Z

A few weeks ago, one of my US forum friends was using an American set of stamps with a Wizard of Oz theme and it set me thinking what wonderful imagery the story has. I thought it would be a romantic idea for Valentine's Day to make a Tin Man, the thought behind it being that even he has a heart, and if you can find it, it is a precious thing.

I was away until the end of last week so I couldn't do anything to put my ideas into action, but they really started to take hold, so I had to make this otherwise the ideas wouldn't go away. The starting point was that I wanted his body to be made out of one of the blank 'Mint Tins' you can get, by Creative Expressions, and I wanted to have layers of watch parts and cogs, with a red beating heart in the middle! Recently I mentioned to my Mum that I love to use old watches and did she have any. The next time I saw her, she had collected 11 complete watches from family members. She doesn't understand what I want them for, but it was lovely that she humoured me!

As a back-drop to my Tin Man, I used a Wizard of Oz film poster inside a reversed canvas. I wanted the edges to look like a Yellow Brick Road, so I painted it yellow and used a stone wall mask, with some Vintage Photo on a tiny piece of foam, so I could just 'outline' the edges. I added some cogs, cut from a Tim die, mainly to cover the rough corners of the cheap canvas.

You can see the brick work here - used a stone wall mask

For the little tin, I flattened out square silver brads and glued them down the front like a placket, with rivet buttons. I made a shrink plastic heart and coloured it red, then a shrink plastic stop watch, and adhered these and added a little piece of ball chain. Inside, I did one layer of cogs and watch parts at a time, waiting for the Glossy Accents to dry overnight, and then added another shriink plastic red heart amongst them.

His working parts on show! I put the cogs and watch pieces in, in stages, leaving each layer of Glossy Accents to dry overnight. His neck says 'Stainless Steel' and is part of a watch clasp. I added a silver ribbon bow tie!

I had a lot of self-doubt about the face as I wanted it to be right. I had the idea that the Tin Man looked a bit 'simple' (Col said I should look in a mirror to get it right!), so I made the face out of clay and added some extra for the nose and poked my little finger nail into the clay at the edge of his mouth to give an upturned look. Once it was baked I painted it silver, added googly eyes, coloured the mouth red, and added a silver bow for a bow tie. The funnel was such a saga! I searched high and low in the house as I thought I had a metal perfume funnel somewhere. Eventually I found this Estee Lauder one, but I wanted a silver one. I did an extensive and fruitless search on e bay, and also tried Boots, Superdrug, etc. This was probably the most time consuming and problematic part of the project. In the end I decided on the copper one I had found in the first place. Colin said, 'but isn't it an expensive perfume one?'. Well, that wasn't going to stop me! I thought the funnel was important to the overall look, especially if the face wasn't quite right. I wanted smoke coming out of it but Col thought that was overkill. I positioned his head where the O of Oz is on the poster, to form an O.

Head made from Fimo and painted silver, added a red mouth and googly eyes!

I wanted the arms to be from a lady's metal watch strap, and legs from a man's one, each divided in half. The feet are the two clasp pieces, and the hands are the buckle end of a lady's leather watch strap. He only has one finger sadly, but that is enough to hold his axe, which was fashioned from a roasting tin and a coffee stirrer! Colin had the idea of cutting some semi-circular disks from the rest of the roasting tin to link the arms and legs to the body, in a suit of armour sort of way, and this made such a difference in pulling it together.

Axe fashioned from roasting tin and coffee stirrer. Heart pocket watch from shrink plastic, with a bit of Glossy Accents and some chain.

He had a heart hidden away in there all the time!


An angled view


The final canvas, with cogs at the corners

I hope you have enjoyed this bit of fun, and my metaphor for St Valentine's Day. It was fitting that Col helped me so much with this project, as he helps me with everything in life. I hope that, even if you have a Tin Man, you have found his precious heart!

Postscript - I am entering this for the Simon Says Stamp 'Anything but a card' challenge, and also Dezina World, and the Stamp Man Hearts Challenge. I am new to joining in Challenges but Jack suggested I join Theme Thursday's Challenge which is Crazy!

Happy Valentine's Day! A Card for Col

2011-02-14T09:48:00.000Z

This is the card I have made for Col for Valentine's Day today:-

I used a piece of red heart tape across the middle of a white A6 card blank in a landscape orientation, and then added various different kinds of hearts, at different heights. There is a shrink plastic one saying 'To the One I love', and art moulds made up in friendly plastic, together with some wooden hearts and heart gems and padded hearts. The one third from the left is a Tim charm made into a mould with Siligum, then made up in clay with a dusting of mica powder. I added a bit of dangling chain to grunge it up a bit. It is really a bit girly for Col overall, but he wouldn't want to have an un-girly wife, would he?!

And a sneak peek ........

What could this be?

I am posting this today as a sneak peek, for the sole reason that it has a Valentine theme, but it isn't finished yet! So I am wondering if you know what it is going to be? If you can't guess, I might post a clue!

Another Charm Piece

2011-02-09T09:00:00.003Z

When I was making the piece for Gingersnaps Charms challenge, I made this one as well. I wanted to try out using tissue tape to cover one of these little Crafty Individuals containers. I love the designs of tissue tape and the idea behind it, and the range of uses, but I get frustrated with it as it sticks when you don't want it to, but not when you do. It was fairly quick though, to cover the whole thing, and I then blended on a little Fired Brick as you need a strong colour on tissue tape as it comes out quite muted, and then sealed all the edges with watered down PVA.

I decorated the sections as before, adding some little children and love themed charms. The butterfly was made by stamping a butterfly onto book text twice then adhering to a piece of laminate left from laminating a stamp image sheet. When it was dry I cut them both out and layered them together. I filled each of the sections with glossy accents and left to dry overnight.

The back, showing the tissue tape more clearly

Charming - Gingersnaps Charms Challenge

2011-02-09T05:00:00.005Z

Today's challenge on Gingersnaps is to use charms in your creation. The charm at the top is an Art Mould, made up in gold friendly plastic.

I used the Baroque Sizzix die to cut two pieces of mountboard and two pieces of Vintage Shabby paper to give strength to the hanging and so I could sandwich the dangling charms in place, and neatly finish off the back. I used a selection of charming Art Journey children stamps, some of which I borrowed from Alison when she was here last week (thanks Alison!). I used some of the words on the background, then the images for the inside of the container, which was from Crafty Individuals.

I finished it off with some german scrap, again from Crafty Individuals, and an ABC charm.

The baby themed charms are hanging from a clothing tag, sandwiched between the layers of mountboard

A close up showing the Crown mould

Gingersnaps Challenge - Kings and Queens

2011-02-02T05:00:00.006Z

Over on Gingersnaps today they are starting a challenge, featuring Kings and Queens in your artwork.

I thought it would be fun to depict the Queen Bee as my entry. I used a mask from Creative Expressions on the card blank to represent honeycomb, put it through the Cuttlebug, then inked it up with Distress Inks to highlight the embossing. I cut a Baroque shape from mountboard and inked this up, and stamped it with the frame and the word Queen from a Pink Paislee set. There are three sizes of bee so I used the largest to depict the Queen Bee and highlighted her body by using Deko Ice in Amber. I used the small bee all over, including some secondary stamping. I wanted the sense of bees crawling over the honeycomb. I also inked through some sequin waste.

The crown is a Tim Holtz charm which I pressed into some moulding silicone to make a mould, then made it up with clay and gold mica powder. I finished it off with a few adhesive gems.

Birthday Card for My Renaissance Man!

2011-02-01T09:00:00.001Z

This is a card I have made for my lovely Col's birthday today:-

The stamps are from a gorgeous Katzelkraft da Vinci set which my dear friend Pauline gave me for Christmas, apart from the Mona Lisa which is a Tim Holtz one. I used both da Vinci and Calligraphy papers from Joanna Sheen, and then made the Mona Lisa and the round plaques with shrink plastic.

Leonardo, Vitruvian Man, and one of his drawings, on shrink

Mona Lisa on shrink plastic

Filter Paper Album - a Tutorial for Gingersnaps

2011-01-21T06:00:00.009Z

I have been a little quiet on the crafting front as we stayed with my in-laws in the North East for Christmas, and then went to France for New Year. Since I got back last week, I have been making this project for Gingersnaps, which I have enjoyed SO much! As there are lots of sections to it, I was worried about taking over their blog too much, so I thought I would post some of the individual pages and tags here, mainly just with captions, with the step by step tutorial over on Gingersnaps. Hope that will all make sense!

The stamps I have used are Oxford Impressions Bonbon and Afternoon Tea sets, Art Journey Celebrate, and Crafty Individuals CI 277.

Here's the final album, which has individual tags in each of the filter paper 'pockets':-

Two little girls in their best dresses, being taken to the chocolate shop

A selection of tea and coffee advertisements stamped to look like a vintage newspaper

Chocolate related images. I used gold pen for the chocolate cases

The tea pot sits on a white crocheted coaster. The other images are on shrink plastic to be in scale in relation to the tea pot, on my imaginary tea table! The tiny beads create brown sugar.

The little girl from Art Journey 'Celebrate' was a perfect fit to sit on the cup and saucer, again on a crocheted coaster.

Cupid and hearts, with some tiny heart embellishments

Kept this simple to show the chocolate wording in the paper!

More tea and coffee advertisments. I divided the 'poster' image into two sections, separating the images from the words

A tag with a little girl in her party frock, on shrink. The words at the bottom are on shrink, and the awning is German Scrap, from Crafty Individuals

Chocolate related advertisements/logos

A romantic couple taking tea together. The words have been used to frame the image.

More tea advertisements

The poster image, whole this time. Tea definition on shrink, bottom right

Chocolate price list and chocolates. Paper cases coloured with gold pen

Christmas Gift Boxes

2011-01-05T12:52:00.000Z

Col asked me just before we went away for Christmas if I would make a couple of little gift boxes as we were giving his Mum and Sister Pandora charms for their bracelets. The first one is a papier mache box which I painted with pink Viva Precious Metal Colour, and then added some bronze Viva Croco to the top. Whilst it was wet I 'stuck' a few tiny pieces of left over friendly plastic onto it and melted it in with the heat gun. I then made a grungepaper rose using Hels' Stitchels stamps from the Artistic Stamper, coloured with Distress Inks.

A side view to show the little pieces of Friendly Plastic

This one was a wooden magnetic clasp box and I painted it with a cheap shimmery blue/green paint and blasted it with the heat gun to make it blister, in the same way I did the notebooks recently. I added some Angelina fibres around the edge and some tiny blue beads. I then made a friendly plastic frame from my new Krafty Lady art mould, which I love. I added a Crafty Individuals Father Christmas image to the centre and filled it with Glossy Accents. I was quite surprised that my MIL and SIL liked the boxes as I thought they would just look at the gift inside, but they seemed to, which was nice. Although they don't do the same sort of crafting as we do, they are both very crafty and they take an interest in the things I make, which is lovely.

Slide Mailer Christmas Gift

2010-12-30T15:47:00.000Z

I made this slide mailer as part of Lynne's Christmas gifts. I painted it Bronze and then added some Angelina fibres and some accent beads. I made two large Fragments with Crafty Individuals stamped images, added some German Scrap wings, and two Cherubs made from a Krafty Lady art mould from the Stamp Bug.

Inside I added an image from an ATC Collection Pack, and then the two images behind the microscope slides which are from Crafty Individuals. I then filled in the little gaps top and bottom with Glossy Accents and Accent Beads. And Yes, the pink notebook was for Lynne - who else?!

I gave the advent calendar to my sister in law as she has three children so I thought she would appreciate it as they still have a tree and other decorations. She cooked us an amazing Christmas dinner which must have taken as look to prepare as my advent house did to make!

Happy Christmas

2010-12-24T15:01:00.000Z

Happy Christmas to all of you! Thank you so much for your support and encouraging words over the last year, and for the wonderful artwork that has inspired me so much on your own blogs.

As well as wishing you a wonderful day tomorrow, I also wanted to say that I very much understand that sometimes it can be a difficult time of year. I send my love and thoughts to those of you who have lost a dear one this past year, or for whom it is a difficult anniversary. I hope everyone is with those who love them over the next few days, that you are happy and safe, and in the warm.

Sending you peace and good wishes!

Caught in Crystal Tutorial

2010-12-12T08:00:00.002Z

I have a tutorial on Gingersnap Creations Blogspot today, using Tim Holtz Fragments with the Caught in Crystal technique. Here is a sneak peek of the project I then used it to create:-

I love little trays like this that you can do collages in, and this one was from Elaine at the Quixotic Paperie, who do lots of lovely bits and pieces!