Three Wise Men Canvas

Alison came over for a play day yesterday, and as always, we had a great time. Alison was making some stunning metal work pieces, and some Christmas cards, and I was managing to dabble and not finish anything. The only thing I did finish was this little canvas using a set of Elusive Images stamps kindly lent to me by Alison.

'L' Is For Learner!

The amazing thing about these new Mabel Lucie Attwell stamps from the Artistic Stamper, is that I find myself thinking up stories and little characters everytime I work with them! I guess that was her magic when she drew these images! Whilst this little boy's sister was out splashing in the puddles, he was in his bedroom learning to drive his shiny green car! He likes everyone to know which is his room, so I made him this Learner Driver door hanger.

The 'L' was cut from mountboard and coloured with Brilliance Pearlescent Poppy, straight from the pad. I stamped the image in a similar way to the little girl, on plain card, and then again on a piece of green brayered glossy photo paper, cutting out the car and mounting it onto the other image, and then finishing off with some coloured pencils. The wheels are just a couple of bright shiny buttons!

Sunshine After the Rain

This gorgeous little girl is one of the new images which form part of the Mabel Lucie Attwell range of licensed products, launched today by the Artistic Stamper. It is a truly nostalgic range as, when I mentioned this children's book illustrator to my husband, he said, 'My Mum had one of her books when I was a kid'. I hope others will have the same sense of nostalgia.

My 'story' for this little girl is that she begged to be allowed out in the rain, so that she could wear her bright yellow raincoat and her floral Wellington boots, to stamp in the puddles. Just as she has gone outside, the sun comes out and there is a beautiful rainbow!

The rainbow was brayered onto glossy photo paper, and the puddle was made in the same way, but in shades of green, with rain drops represented by tiny crystals. I stamped the little girl once on plain white card, then a second time on brayered yellow glossy photo paper, cutting the raincoat out of the second image and adhering it to the first. I coloured in the remainder of her image with a touch of coloured pencil. In the actual stamp she is wearing little Mary Jane shoes, so I have turned these into floral Wellington boots, by cutting out this section in floral paper. This has given the impression that she is turning her feet inwards, in a gawky, little girl sort of way! I then glazed the umbrella and boots with clear nail varnish (I was away from home and didn't have my Glossy Accents to hand .....). I painted one of the chipboard flowers from the Artistic Stamper with yellow and orange acrylic paint to represent the sun, and added a gold button to the centre. I had intended to put this under the frame on the corner, and then decorate the frame, but I felt this detracted from the impression of a sun I wanted to create, so I have left it quite plain.

Gracious Lady Card

I made this card ages ago, maybe as long as two years ago, but had kept it for someone special. I have now sent it to Lynne along with a little gift of the Little Book with the Fabric Pages I made and blogged a couple of weeks ago. The Hero Arts Gracious Lady is one of my favourite stamps ever, and I know Lynne loves Flappers. I coloured the main image with coloured pencils and matted it onto a piece of French book text, and stamped another image onto a Stampbord domino and glazed it. The background paper is from K and Co and was stamped repeatedly with Hero Arts narrow Script stamp in Vintage Photo. I dyed the lace with the same ink, and then added an Art Mould key, made with friendly plastic. The whole lot was layered onto a 7 x 7 inch card blank.

A Little Bird House in my Soul!

I can't get that song out of my head! I bought this bird house to decorate ages ago, then last week when we were making faux metal pieces, I thought it would be perfect for the roof and sides, combined with Stitchels on glossy cardstock. I used the Allegro Cuttlebug Embossing Folder this time as I like to use music script with bird imagery. The bird feeder was made from a piece of mesh from a punnet of nectarines, filled with small brown beads to represent nuts. Unfortunately the mesh had wide holes - oh how I laughed as the beads fell out of the bottom for the third time! The solution was to add another layer of the mesh - Simples!

Metal Work Collage Man Notebook

This notebook was made with a piece of foil embossed in the Cuttlebug with Diamonds in the Rough embossing folder, dabbed with StazOn, which was also dabbed onto the glossy cardstock on which the Collage Man (from the Artistic Stamper http://www.theartisticstamper.com/) was stamped. I highlighted his white shirt collar with an Inkssentials White Pen from the Artistic Stamper, and finished it off with a piece of their tape-measure twill, then a friendly plastic art mould key, and mounted the whole piece onto a hard-backed notebook. It was difficult to photograph it because of the glare coming off the metal, and as a result I chose a photo where it looks less metallic than it actually does in the flesh.

Metal Work Trinket Box

I had a great day with Alison on Monday, and she kindly showed me how to emboss with kitchen foil. It's really rewarding and fun! Thanks Alison! I made loads of pieces of 'metal' but so far this is the only thing I have made it into, a little trinket box for jewellery. I used the paisley cuttlebug folder for the metal lid and sides, and also to emboss the velvet paper in the base (kindly given to me by my friend, Pauline). The elephant is from the Elusive Images Paisley Elephant set on glossy cardstock, and I added a fabric brad closure, some purple heart gems, and a mirror under the lid. The paisley paper is K and Co.

The First Noel!

This is my first Christmas offering for 2009, as I had to get into the mood for a magazine article. The stamp is a gorgeous new one from Crafty Individuals, with Santa on his Sleigh flying across a starry sky with the buildings below. It's actually their special offer stamp at the mo. I will be using this for loads of other projects over the next few weeks, as it has really conjured up so many ideas. This is a small canvas, used in reverse, with a distressy frame of image transferred Crafty Individuals Christmas papers. I decided not to disguise the staples, to add to the grungy look.

Friendship Card

I'm so lucky with the friends I have, and this gorgeous stamp set was lent to me by my dear friend, Hazel, and I used it to make a card for my dear friend, Lynne. The set is aptly called 'Friendship'! I think this counts as making the most of a loan as I seem to have stamped it on a domino, a frame, an alcohol inked background, and shrink plastic (the flowers, and 'girl with a fringe'). I used my Inktense pencils with water on the domino and frame, and then dry on the shrink plastic so it intensified to the same shade when shrunk. I don't make many cards these days but making embellishments is always rewarding!

Masculine Coaster Book - Artistic Stamper

I made this little coaster book yesterday with a huge range of Artistic Stamper stamps and their new backgrounds. I coloured the coasters with glimmer mists and distress inks then added different backgrounds - dots, stripes, harlequin, houndstooth, then the main images. The twill and ball chain and the watch pieces are from the Artistic Stamper, and the key and pillar are art moulds. This is a bit different to my usual style, a little bit quirky and lots of masculine imagery. Good to be able to get all these masculine stamps when you need them, though.