Thank You for your Input on the Domino Box

Just wanted to say, thank you for your thoughts on the domino box. I have tweaked it a little - not much, but enough to feel happier with it - so I have replaced the photo. I was going to decorate around the edge but Colin thought I might overdo it.

Domino Inlay Wooden Box

 

This is a bit of a work in progress, as I haven't stuck the pieces down yet, and I need to do a few tweaks. I am not sure about it though? I don't want to waste the box as it was an expensive one, although worth the money. I painted the box with acrylic paint, then added crackle paint around the lid and the base, then glimmer mists and distress inks. I glimmer misted the dominos, and a couple of word dominos to fit the space in the middle. I wanted an angel theme so I used a selection of Crafty Individuals stamps with a mixture of text and images. I didn't want the overall look to be too 'one colour' so I added some green to the peachy pinks, and used a green Sharpie around the edges of each domino.

Gingersnap Creations Birthday Card - Week 4 Romance Challenge

This is my entry for the final week of the Gingersnap Creations Romance Challenge, in conjunction with the Artistic Stamper and their new range of Twenties' Ladies stamps. As it is Gingersnaps birthday, I made an accordion card in black and white with a hint of pink, and used the Artistic Stamper flower stamp which reminded me of Charles Rennie Mackintosh in its style. I finished off the front of the card with ribbon which I coloured with a pink ink pad, and some metal beads.

 

Spring is in the Air - More Altered CD Case Frames

Thank you so much for the supportive comments on my CD Case idea. I have now made a couple more, this time stamping directly onto the front of the CD Case. I had wanted to do a white embossed flourish but it seems as though this surface won't take embossing. All the stamps and papers are from Crafty Individuals.

Gingersnap Creations Romance Challenge - Week 3 'Not Red or Pink'

We are into Week 3 of the Gingersnap Creations Romance Challenge, sponsored by the Artistic Stamper. This week the sub-theme was 'not red or pink'. I was probably being a bit contrary as I was determined to use this heart-shaped aperture tin, which was red! So my starting point was to colour it with black alcohol ink and a marker pen. I then used it as a template for an album, cutting the pieces slightly smaller so the finished album would fit inside. I cut the covers from mountboard, and the inside pages from a mixture of Graphix 45 double-sided papers, corrugated card, and acetate, as I wanted a mixture of textures. I carefully cut around the blossom aspects of the Fashionista paper and added these across the various pages to pull the design together. I added a smear of glitter glue to highlight these areas. I stamped various of the Artistic Stamper Twenties' ladies images on glossy cardstock, inked them, then cut them out and decoupaged them onto the various pages.

 

As my chosen colour scheme was black, copper, and caramel shades, I coloured the ornate frame and the book ring with a red Sharpie, to give a copper metal colour. I stamped the solid heart from the Love set with Cosmic Copper Brilliance ink three times onto black shrink plastic, punched a hole, shrank the pieces, and attached them to the book ring with copper wire, and added a piece of black lace. One of the ladies in a hat has been stamped onto glossy cardstock, sponged with ink, then covered with an oval Fragment, and adhered behind the Ornate Frame.

Here are some of the pages. I took the acetate sheet out to photograph it so I could put a piece of black card behind it as it was reflective. The acetate is a Hambly Screen Print with an orange ornate frame pattern, which was the perfect size to stamp and colour another lady in a hat.

  

This page has a continuous text stamped on it, which is the Artistic Stamper Collage Woman, 'She Walks in Beauty Like the Night' by Byron.

  

  

  

  

 

Let Me Take You To The Mardi Gras!

I guess that song shows my age! On Gingersnap Creations Blog they are challenging us to make art to celebrate Mardi Gras today, literally Fat Tuesday, and what we call Pancake Day I guess, when we eat up our store cupboard stocks before Lent. I made and photographed these cards a couple of years ago but thought they would fit the theme, especially as the challenge says Purple, Green, and Gold. The cards are both quite similar except one has an art mould of a harlequin mask, and the other a very large stamp, which has been stamped on shrink plastic. The lettering has been made with shrink plastic.

I bought this Harlequin stamp on my one and only ever trip to the Stamp Attic - wish I was nearer that shop!

Valentine Card - Harlequin Rose

 

I made this card for Valentine's Day for my husband, Colin. I used the Elusive Images Harlequin Rose set and made a gatefold card with the border design right across the front and the verse and small rose inside. On the front I stamped the words, 'My Soulmate', and I stamped the frond-edged rose onto alcohol inked glossy cardstock and carefully cut it out, and positioned it across the opening. I have kept the card simple as he likes minimalist designs.

Gingersnap Creations Challenge - Romance Week 2 - Lace

This is my entry for Week 2 of the Gingersnap Creations Romance Challenge, in conjunction with the Artistic Stamper Design Team. Again, I have used the new Twenties' lady stamps, this time one of the hats. The sub-theme this week was lace, so I inked the little oval box with copper ink and then covered some self adhesive paper lace with copper leaf, and adhered it to the edges of the lid and base of the box. I stamped two hat images onto glossy card and inked over the top, then stuck an oval Tim Holtz fragment to one image with Glossy Accents, and stuck it to the top of the box. It fitted almost exactly! Then I cut around the other image, added some French book page behind it, and stuck it to the back of a Tim Holtz oval Fragment Charm again using Glossy Accents, and added a mobile 'phone charm loop. The charm can then be popped into the little box and given as a Valentine Gift, perhaps to a dear friend. Most of the items I have used, apart from the little boxes which are from Hobbycraft, can be obtained from the Artistic Stamper who are sponsoring the Gingersnap Challenge for the whole of February.

Altered CD Case - Gingersnap Creations Romance Challenge

The CD box opens up to form a stand, but it encloses the 3d artwork to protect the pieces. The Twenties’ Lady has been layered, trapping the feather between the layers. A thin wash of gesso has been applied to a piece of French novel, and then stamped with Tim Holtz Eiffel Tower. The Eiffel Tower is made from an art mould, with friendly plastic. The backing paper is double sided – Graphix 45 Transatlantique Collection, Paris Post, so that the CD case shows different sides of the paper, but switched across for the header tab. The word Paris on the header tab has been cut from a piece of novel in the same way as for the main background image, but with just the word Paris cut out, and the same for the reverse. I used the holes in the side of the CD box to dangle a little string of co-ordinating beads. I finished off with a shabby chic flower, made by stamping Jennie’s Flower Power set but tearing rather than cutting out, to distress the edges, and edging with Distress Inks.

 

This is just a little pic of the reverse, just to give a neat finish and because I love this double-sided paper.

I am so delighted to enter this for the Gingersnaps Romance Challenge, in conjunction with my work for the design team for the Artistic Stamper, who are sponsoring this month's challenge, and have just launched some gorgeous new stamps, with a Twenties and a Valentine feel.