Gingersnap Challenge - Far East - Geisha Canvas

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.

Queen of Hearts Frame

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.

Art Journey Inchies Stampbord Mirror

I mentioned yesterday I had made loads of Stampbord Inchies with the new Art Journey set which I had intended to use on the copper frame for Petra, but decided it was over-doing it. So I have now made another of these mirrors, and apologies as I do seem to make these rather a lot! I dabbed the Stampbord pieces with Kaleidacolor Pastels, using more of the Peach and Pink on some, and more of the Mauve and Blue on others as I don't like the colours to merge with the ones next to them too much. Likewise I alternated between people images and abstract ones. I then sanded the edges, then edged them with StazOn in Gold, then glazed them with Glossy Accents and left them overnight, as I always dip my elbows into them otherwise! I then did my usual trick so that I could stick them together in a straight line, by turning them over and sticking them to each other with red line tape before sticking the mirror in place, otherwise it is really tricky. Who shall I give this to, I wonder?

A bit closer up!

 

 

 

Stampbord Little Boy in Copper Frame

I have made this frame with a Stampbord coaster in the middle as a gift for my dear friend, Petra. She has invited me to a cupcake tasting at her home this afternoon. Her baking is amazing and she grows the fruit she uses herself. I am very lucky to have a wonderful friend who bakes, crafts, is on the same design team as me, and lives only half an hour away! I hope she will like the frame which is not at all what I intended to make. It is one of the large papier mache frames from the Artistic Stamper and they are great value and you have the benefit of a wide frame to work with but also a deep recess, almost like having a shadow box. I had intended to decorate the frame with Stampbord inchies to co-ordinate with the design in the middle which is from two Art Journey plates, Writing and Inchies. My lovely friend, Alison, was very kind and ordered from Art Journey for the two of us as I am not brave enough to order in a foreign language in case there is some small print I haven't understood. In this instance, though, it does help if you know what Winkel means! Anyhow, when she came for the day and delivered my stamp set she also lent me her brand new Inchies set, how cool is that! I did make all the Inchies but they will be on a mirror which I will blog soon. I changed my mind because I liked the Viva Croco Copper background so much, I didn't want to cover it, so I just added a few pieces of the leaf stamp on Grungepaper, coloured with Pro Markers to pull it together with the central design.

For the coaster itself I coloured the Stampbord with Kaleidacolor shades from the Pastels set, and then stamped the little boy and the arithmetic from the Writing set, and the sentiment and the scrolls from the Inchies set, and then glazed it with clear embossing powder. I normally use Glossy Accents but it was such a big piece. As there was a slight gap between the coaster and the edge of the frame I wanted to fill this in some way and I tried out various colours of cord and braid which wasn't quite right, so I have used one of my fave products, Deko Ice glass glitter, from the Altered Element. I added a little extra on the frame to again try to pull the design elements together but I stopped after a few sprinkles as it was just buried against the copper background.

Sorry the photos are so dreadful but the glaze on the tile was causing a lot of glare, but I hope you get the general idea! I hope you like it, and I hope Petra will be able to find a little home for it. Off to have a bit of quiche now before I go out, as I need to have something savoury before I start on the cakes!!

Crafty Individuals Wooden Tray

I got this wooden tray with little compartments when I bought a set of felt alphabets in my favourite art and craft shop in France the other week. The challenge was that there were so many compartments in it that if I filled each one with a detailed image it would look very busy. This is particularly taxing for me as a 'more is more' girl but I am trying hard at the moment! Now that I have finished the project it looks really simple but I struggled with it and tried the pieces lots of different ways before I stuck them down.

I painted the box with pale yellow paint and then cut some squares from two pieces of the masterboards I made recently, one more predominantly pink, and one more yellows and blues. I had intended that the empty compartments would be the plain yellow paint ones, with the stampbord tiles sitting centrally on the masterboard backgrounds. I really liked the backgrounds, though, as I have this thing about inky sheets that look dribbly, if you know what I mean, so I didn't want to cover them up. I also preferred the assymetry of having the tiles positioned differently in each section. I wanted to have a few tiles that were abstract rather than focal images so that there wasn't too much detail fighting together.

I coloured the stampbord with Distress Inks and then pressed them into the sections of the Crafty Individuals' stamps that I wanted. Having stuck everything down, I then added copper hardware at the opposing corners.

I don't know about you but I find composition the hardest thing with my stamped work. I know when I am not happy with how it looks, and I know when I am happy, but don't always know what I need to do to get from A to B. So it was like a chess game last night, repositioning all the pieces and then going away and coming back to it later. And now it looks such a simple piece of work .......!

Collaged Oriental Tin

I mentioned before that we were sent such a generous box of items from the Altered Element DT this month that it was difficult to use them all in one project. The theme was stamping on different surfaces, and I still haven't used the Tyvek and the Metal so they will be for another day, but have used several of the materials provided for today's project.

For this tin, which will house a mini album, you will need the following items from the Altered Element:-

Translucent Shrink Plastic
Grungeboard
Angelina Fusible Film, Shimmering Raspberry
Stampbord Dominos
2 ins sq Canvas Board pieces
White Inkssentials Opaque Pen
Glass Tiles
Deko Ice, Amber
Artemio Clear Stamp Set, Bird and Butterfly
Alcohol Inks, Raspberry, Wild Plum, Sunshine Yellow, and Gold Mixative
Stickles or similar
Large Tin

Chipboard Squares
Distress Inks, Wild Honey, Worn Lipstick

I also used some pieces of card left over from the He Loves Me daisy game project.

What I did:-

1. Alcohol ink the tin.
2. Ink the canvas and stampbord pieces with co-ordinating colours of Distress Inks.
3. Stamp blossom and fronds onto stampbord.
4. Stamp the daisy on tissue paper and adhere to canvas. Fill centre with Deko Ice.
5. Make a butterfly with grungeboard and fusible film, layer together, and add Deko Ice to spine.
6. Stamp cherry blossom on rectangles of shrink plastic, shrink, and colour flowers.
7. Adhere pieces of card remaining from He Loves Me project to chipboard squares and behind glass tiles.
8. Stamp the bird on grunge in pink ink, cut out and add Stickles.
9. Add white pen where needed, and scratch back detail on Stampbord, to give white highlights.
9. Assemble as shown.

This was quite a quick project by my very slow standards. I feel collage is something I need to practice as I really admire people like Hels, who do it so well. I don't find it difficult from a technique point of view, just the composition and making sure there is a pleasing juxtaposition of colour and images. I left a few blank areas as I tend to over-do things, plus I aimed for a deliberate lack of symmetry. It is something I want to persevere with. I have a few of the components left over to make another tin, or similar, for a friend.

........And the Matching Box!

I thought before the trail goes cold I should quickly upload the matching box. The stampbord pieces were just offshoots of the mirror project. The wooden box was painted with Bronze Precious Metal Colour, then I went over the lid with Tarnished Brass Distress Crackle Paint (from the Artistic Stamper) then more of the Bronze to blend the colours together, then a little black ink rubbed into the crackle and wood grain for emphasis.

I am not sure whether it needs a little more? Maybe a 'handle' on the front, or something round the edge of the stampbord tiles? My husband says when I get to this point, stop, as I am a bit of a 'More is More' person!

Bird and Nature Themed Stampbord Mirror

Yesterday Alison came over and we had a brilliant day crafting. She is such a giggle, and always makes something amazing! A while ago I bought a pack of plain large mirror pieces and gave one to her, so she suggested we framed them with stampbord pieces. I'm sure she will be uploading hers later, and it is divine!

So here is mine. Not a very good photo as it is difficult not to get the reflection in the mirror. I used a selection of nature stamps from Crafty Individuals, including the brand new Bird plate, CI 265. It was this set which determined my choice of both domino and square stampbord pieces as I wanted to capture the birds' beaks (I'm sure Jack will tell me what kind of birds they are). So I kept the assymetry in the way I placed them on the frame, and also with the green accent beads. I did a little scratching back, but nothing too heavy.

I started a matching box yesterday so I hope to get that finished and blogged soon.

Venice Stampbord Block

This is an 8 x 8 Stampbord Block from the Artistic Stamper, and has been stamped with the Oxford Impressions Venezia set. The word 'Venezia' has been stamped on a Stampbord domino and then Crackle Glazed. I stamped the Santa Maria della Salute (I hope that is right, I have never been to Venice, although I would love to!) in a darker ink and did some scratching back of the detail, as I wanted this to be my focal image.