Feeling a little Distressed?

No I'm not but these three are!

Here are three ATC's done as a swap on the theme of distress. Various techniques have been used and a range of inks, sprays, embossing and crackle paint used to create them. A stamped fabric flower, brad, metal corner and button are the embellishments used.

Sid xx

12 Days of............Day 4

Here is the next entry in the 12 Days of series. This one is Day 4 and represents 'Four Calling Birds'.

I couldn't resist doing this take on the theme and took an image of a girl on the telephone and cloned it several times and printed out on gloss photo paper to passport size, colouring in her blouse with coloured Sharpie markers. The images were cut out and stuck in place on the background.

The background was a 4 x 4 inch plain white card stamped numerous times with a number plate from PaperArtsy with Versamagic inks in oasis green, aegean blue & spring pansy. The plate was then embossed with a block embossing plate through the Sizzix Big Shot and the embossing picked out by rubbing over with the spring pansy pad again to highlight the texture.

One of the stamped number 4's was edged in black Sharpie and white dots added with a white pigment Signo pen. All the pics were edged in the same ink. The letters are self adhesive and some were coloured with a blue sharpie.

The plate was finished with edging using the purple hydrangea Versamagic pad.

Hoping it pleases you.

Sid xx

12 Days of............Day 3

Well this is the third 4 x 4 inch plate done on the theme of 12 Days of Christmas. Day three represents '3 French Hens'. Will a parrot do? At least the words are French on the background.

I have used printed background paper and only one stamp on this piece.

The french script background paper was adhered to the base card and the left hand side was swiped with Impress peony purple inkpad. I then punched out two circles in another printed paper and two stars in the same french script paper. The circles were swiped with the Impress inkpad and edged in iris Colorbox chalk ink. The stars were edged with the same chalk ink. These were applied with glue stick as shown overlapping the edges of the card and trimmed to fit.

I then stamped a PaperArtsy stamp in black Stazon onto the patterned paper and cut this out and applied the image as shown.

The letters and number 3 are stickers picked out with a pink Sharpie pen and applied as shown and the whole plate edged in the iris chalk ink to finish.

That's about it and hope you like it !

Sid xx

Spooky !

Just before the witching hour, here is a little innocent house in the country - looks very spooky to me, wonder what's going on inside !!

I used Distress inks again on the background, dusty concord & black soot for the sky and shabby shutters for the bushes which were masked off with some little swirly vinyl stickers before applying the ink with cut'n'dry foam. The masks were removed before applying the ink. The lot was sprayed with a fine spritz of water and dried quickly with the heat gun.

The house was stamped with black pigment ink and heat embossed with detail black embossing powder. The windows and door were outlined with purple Sharpie pen. The word 'spooky' and the moon were stamped with starlight silver Brilliance ink and this was also used direct to paper at the top of the card.

Sid xx

Happy Halloween Card

Here is a Halloween card featuring a cuttlebug embossing folder spiders web.

The card started off as a piece of light blue whitecore card which was folded and passed through the embossing folder to emboss. the raised embossing was sanded back to white with some fine sandpaper and a block. The web was rubbed over with a yellow Whispers dye ink pad to colour the revealed white then the front of the card was sprayed lightly with purple mica powder spray and dried with the heat gun.

The base of the card was stamped a number of times with a circular swirl stamp from PaperArtsy inked with pale blue Versamagic ink.

Next the pumpkin was diecut using a sizzix die and purple paper, and the crow diecut similarly with black card. The pumpkin was overstamped down one side with the same swirl stamp and chalk ink, backed with yellow mulberry paper and the eyes, nose and mouth glittered with Stickles glitter glue. The crow was stamped similarly and the eye highlighted in Signo white pigment ink pen.

Next the 'Happy Halloween' greeting was stamped using a clear stamp from Sizzix and onyx black Versafine ink onto purple mottled paper and this was matted onto plain purple paper.

All elements were then assembled with liquid glue as shown in the example. HAPPY HALLOWEEN everybody !

Sid xx

Boo !!!

Halloween is upon us and I had not made anything to represent it, so I made this little 5 1/2 ins square piece called 'Boo!!!'. I wanted to use a bat so I used bats wings and little legs to make a sort of bat-child who has just landed on the railings. Quirky I know, but it suited me at the time !

I started with a piece of white smooth card cut to size and stamped the fence with a polymer stamp (Sizzix) and Versafine onyx black ink. The rest of the background was coloured with cut'n'dry foam and Distress inks in shabby shutters, pine needles, dusty concord, faded jeans, broken china and black soot. This was then spitzed with water and a spray bottle and dried with a heat gun. I then stamped a field of sky stamp (A Stamp in the Hand) with azure Stazon to give a bit of depth at the top of the piece.

Next I used the face and legs from a plate by Paperbag Studios and the bats wings from Cherry Pie Stamps and stamped these with Versafine onyx black onto white card. They were all cut out and edged in black. The colour was applied using Marvey le Plume II pens and Sharpies. The watercolours being applied with a waterbrush. When happy with these pieces I stuck them together to form my bat-child.

I then used my Sizzix and diecut out the letters to spell Boo ! in brown card. These letters were then stuck into place as shown with a Zig glue pen and then they were edged with opaque white Signo pen. The fence was then edged with the same pen to simulate moonlight.

To finish the bat-child was applied as shown on foam pads and the whole piece matted onto lapis blue card which was embellished around the edge with dots using the white pen. The knobs on the fence were embellished with gunmetal Stickles.

Sid xx

Swirls ATC's

Here are three ATC's with the theme 'swirls' All three are made with printed acetate overlays with stamping and embossing on the card beneath.

I used a Graphicus CD to print onto inkjet acetate for the blue and red versions. Glossy accents were used to attach the acetate whilst brads were used to attach the yellow version.

Sid xx

12 Days of........... Day 2

Here is my Day 2 plate for the UK Stampers Challenge. This weeks song words are 'Two Turtle Doves'. So here is my interpretation of it.

I started by sticking a piece of old torn bookpaper over the left hand side of the plate. Then using Distress Inks and cut'n'dry foam to apply spiced marmalade and mustard seed for the background. I then used a leafy branch stamp (Crafty Individuals) inked with onyx black Versafine to stamp several times down the right hand side and bottom of the plate as shown.

Next another bird stamp (Crafty Individuals) was stamped three times in vintage sepia Versafine on moss green card. The base was the whole plate trimmed out, the next layer (applied on foam pads) was just the bird. The third again was the bird on its own. I highlighted the pattern with a grey souffle pen and edged with Versamagic Ink in pumpkin spice and night sky.

The number 2 (?) was inked in Versamark and heat embossed with tequila sunrise sparkle & sprinkle EP. The components were assembled as shown and stuck in place with glue stick. Finally three copper flower brads were added with the crop-a-dile and the whole plate was edged with more night sky Versamagic.

Hope you like it.

Sid xx