'Vintage' Inchies

Here are a set of 'Vintage' inchies I have made for a UK Stampers swap I am hosting.

I used:

• Mountboard
• Printed Papers (K & Co)
• Gelly Roll Souffle pens (assorted colours)
• Gold Artists Ink
• Stamps (SeeD's Vintage set)
• Versamark Inkpad (Onyx black)
• Punch (1 inch square, Woodware)
• Whispers Dye Inkpad (Dark Brown)

I punched out some suitable K & Co printed papers into nine 1 inch squares. These were then stamped with the stamps and Onyx Black Versafine. Dried with a heatgun and decorated with the Souffle Pens and allowed to airdry (about 5 mins). The gold ink was applied by fine brush selectively and allowed to dry.

The mountboard was cut on the rotary cutter into nine squares and the decorated squares adhered with glue stick. After a little trimming all edges were inked with the dark brown dye ink direct from the pad.

That's it. Hope you like them :-)

Postcard from Japan

This is another postcard in the series for a challenge over on UK Stampers Forum. This weeks challenge was to make a postcard from Japan. I wanted to achieve a sort of 'Floaty' feel for the background with the soft pinks of the Japanese Sakura.

I used:

• Card (light moss green cut to 6 x 4 inches)
• Whispers Dye Inkpad (Grand Cranberry, Port Wine)
• Stamps (Kodomo - Learning from Bamboo & Plum, SeeD's Morsels - little flower)
• Versafine Inkpad (Vintage Sepia)
• Gelly Roll Glaze Pen (Sakura - Plum)
• Paper Flower (Hand Crafted)
• Flower Mask (made from cardstock)
• Cream Paper
• Pink Pearl embellishment

The card was cut to size and the flower mask moved randomly over the whole card with ink applied by a piece of cut'n'dry foam to produce the flowery background. The Whispers Ink was used for this.

The Kodomo Plum stamp was inked with Versfine vintage sepia and stamped 3 times as shown. The flowers were coloured with the Gelly Roll Glaze pen and allowed to dry. The learning from bamboo stamp was inked similarly and stamped as shown along with the work from the plum stamp.

The home made paper flower was applied with sticky pads and the pearl applied with glossy accents. The word banner was printed on the computer on cream paper, stamped with the SeeD's morsels stamp, coloured with the Whispers Ink and applied as shown with double sided tape.

Hope you like it :-)

Postcard from Africa

Another week, another postcard............or so they say !! This weeks challenge on UK stampers was to make a 'Postcard from Africa'. So this is my entry.

I wanted to have a contemporary finish, hot colours and a 'Tribal' feel to this one.......

I used:

• Printed Background Card (Imaginisce - Rococo Loco - double sided)


• Mask Embellishment (home-made from polymer clay with mica applied)


• Rubber Stamp (African lady with plate - Third Coast Stamps)


• Brilliance Inkpad (Copper)


• Versamark Inkpad


• Embossing Powder (Judikins - Cloisonne)


• Rub-on (DCWV - seasons)


• Chalk Inkpad (Colorbox - peach)

The card was cut to 6 x 4 inches and a triangular piece cut as an overlay and turned over to reveal the opposite side. The stamp was inked with Versamark and stamped several time along the bottom edge of the main piece of card and this was heat embossed with the cloisonne EP. The same stamp was cleaned and the top portion stamped in Brilliance copper ink along the base of the triangle.

The pre-made clay mask was adhered as shown with glossy accents and the card finished with the rub-on as shown. All edges were edged with peach chalk inkpad.

Hope you like it :-)

'Mickey' ATC

This is my entry for the TMTA challenge for this week. The challenge was to craft an ATC in the theme of 'Comic'. It's the first I have done for a while but I enjoyed making it. I can't think of anyone who hasn't seen Mickey Mouse so I chose this character as my subject.

I used:

• Card (white cut to 2.5 x 3.5 inches)
• Whispers Dye Inks (Yellow & Orange)
• Versamark Inkpad
• Versafine Inkpad (Onyx black)
• Embossing Powder (Glitter Gold)
• Rubber Stamp (small outline star, Making Memories alphas)
• Brads (metallic red)Inkjet Transparency

The image of Mickey (from the sorcerers apprentice in Fantasia by Disney) was first printed onto Inkjet transparency film. The background of the card was coloured with cut'n'dry foam and Whispers dye inks in yellow & orange, applied in a sort of starburst effect. This was heat set.

The star stamp was inked with Versamark, stamped four times as shown and heat embossed with the gold sparkle embossing powder. Finally the acetate with the image was positioned over the background and affixed with four brads as shown. The acetate was then trimmed to size.

Hope you like it :-)

Butterfly Box for Mum

Well it's Mothers Day tomorrow so I decided to make a little box for my Mum. Its base is actually one of those travel sweets tins. I have simply covered the side and lid of the tin with K&Co printed papers and used a piece of sticky ribbon to decorate the edge of the lid. The papers were tinted with various pink and blue Whispers dye inks and a blending tool to mute the colours.

The top is decorated with a paper flower I made by stamping randomly onto plain copier paper a butterfly stamp from Elusive Images with vintage sepia Versafine ink. The flower was made by cutting out 3 large and 3 small flower shaped pieces of the stamped paper colouring with the same colour dye inks and curling with a pair of scissors before assembling with mini sticky dots and adding a pearl to the centre.

A little plate and sprig of violet flower buds was also added. The inside is coated with black velvet making it a good little box for keeping jewellery in !

Hope she will like it :-)

The inspiration for this came from one of the UK Stampers forum members, Angelnorth.

Spinner ATC's

Here are three ATC's done with the spinner machine. I am doing a swap with my crafty friend Diane over the pond in the USA. I used glossy paper and various alcohol inks and Inkabilities to provide the effects. I also stamped two with black Stazon ink to add interest.

I have also done a class on Spin 'n' Splash on the blog and have been asked to do Part 2 which is coming up very soon.

They are on their way.......hope she likes them :-)

Jeans Black CJ entry 'Black Magic'

As you probably know I am doing a CJ (Circle Journal) with a number of fellow crafters on UK Stampers Forum. This entry was in the 'Black' CJ originated by Jean who asked us to complete just one page in her CJ. The stamp which accompanied the CJ was a Zetti stamp of a catlike face with a weird hat. We had to use this stamp and any others we liked in the colour theme. I decided to do 'Black Magic' as my theme. My finished page is shown above, detached from the CJ itself.

To make it, I used:

• Card (silver grey)
• Versamark Inkpad
• Embossing Powder (Clear)
• Glass mosaic tiles (Black, sandblasted in two sizes)
• Shrink Plastic (Black)
• Stazon Inkpad (Cotton White)
• Glass faceted cabochons (Black)
• Die cut Alphas (made on cricut)
• Stamp (Calligraphy)
• Superglue
• Glossy Accents
• Gelly Roll Pen (Silver Tiara, Opaque white)

The grey card was trimmed and stamped with the calligraphy stamp inked with Versamark ink. This was then coated in clear EP and this was heat embossed with a heat gun. This was applied direct to the page with double sided adhesive.



Next the Zetti stamp was stamped onto the shrink plastic in Stazon cotton white ink four times and allowed to dry before cutting out and heating to shrink. These were set aside.




The black glass mosaics were selected and laid out as shown before adhering with the superglue. The shrink plastic pieces were adhered as shown with the glue, as were the faceted cabochons.




Finally the letters were die cut out of white card and these were adhered with Glossy accents after coating with the Silver Tiara Gelly Roll pen. Finally I added my nickname in the opaque white pen.




I do hope that Gail likes the entry and I was a bit worried about the weight of the mosaics, but they were not too heavy in the end.

Postcard from India

Here is my next postcard in the Postcard from...... series. This one, set by Gail over on UK Stampers forum was for India. I used:

• Card (Dark turquoise, cut to 6 x 4 inches & Cream)
• Stamps (Judikins - soul window cube, Paper Artsy - alphas words plate 3)
• Brayer
• Versafine Inkpad (Onyx black & Vintage sepia)
• Cuttlebug Embossing Folder (Damask)
• Inktense pencils
• Waterbrush
• Whispers Dye Ink (Brown)
• Natural sponge
• Pigment Inkpad (Colorbox gold)
• Embossing Powder (Detail gold)
• Decorative ribbon (gold embossed leaf on brown & gold)
• Krylon Pen (Gold)

The base card was trimmed and embossed with the cuttlebug embossing folder. I use my Sizzix to do the embossing. The gold pigment inkpad was rubbed over the relief and detail gold embossing powder was applied and heat embossed with a heat gun.

The Judikins eye stamp was inked with Versafine onyx black and stamped onto cream card. To get the opposite eye I inked up the stamp and rolled the brayer carefully over it to pick up the ink. The brayer was then rolled onto the cream card to produce the other eye (mirror image). The eyes were coloured with Inktense pencils and this was worked with the water brush. They were trimmed and edged on three sides with the gold Krylon.

The word 'India' was stamped in Versafine Vintage sepia ink onto another piece of cream card and trimmed. The brown Whispers inkpad was opened and a natural sponge tapped onto its surface then onto the word to give a mottled effect. The trimmed word was then edged with gold Krylon.

A piece of ribbon was cut and applied with double sided tape as shown. The whole card was edged with gold Krylon. The eyes and the word were backed with foam pads and appled as shown to finish.

Hope you like it :-)

'Art' ATC's

Here are the three ATC's done for the March swap over on UK Stampers Forum. Subject area this time was 'Art'. I chose stamps which had the word art in them and used a variety of materials including:

• Whispers Dye Inks
• Versafine onyx black Ink
• Moonglow moonshadow mists
• Gold Krylon
• Jo Sonja's opal dust
• Card

Hope you like them ! :-)

'Friends' ATC's

Here are my 3 ATC's for the UK Stampers Forum monthly swap. February's swap was entitled 'Friends' and these are my three entries.

I used a variety of stamps, Inks, sprays and embellishments to achieve the effects. Hope you like them !

Postcard from London

Here is my entry for the Sunday Challenge on UK Stampers Forum. This weeks postcard had to be from London.

I used:

• White card (cut to 6 x 4 inches)
• Inkjet transparency
• Stamps (Postage stamp - Crafty Individuals, centre moulding - ISC & calligraphy ?)
• Versafine Inkpad (onyx black & vintage sepia)
• Moonshadow Mist (Gossamer gold)
• Whispers Dye inkpad (brown)
• Brads (copper screw head)
• Glossy Accents

I searched online and found three images of London landmarks and collaged them on the computer which I then printed onto Inkjet transparency film. This was trimmed to allow a border around the collaged image to stick the transparency onto the card.

I stamped the moulding stamp and the calligraphy with the Versafine vintage sepia ink as shown. The stamped card was then sprayed with the Moonshadow Mist in gossamer gold to age and darken. Once dry the postal stamp was inked with the Versafine onyx black and stamped as shown. The card was edged with the brown Whispers dye inkpad, direct to card and the trimmed transparency adhered with a thin bead of glossy accents to the card. Finally the two brads were fixed as shown.

That's it.....very simple really ! Hope you like it :-)

Bottletop Canvas 'VALUES'

I decided to do small canvas to collage my bottletop art made for a swap run by my fellow crafter Hazel over on the UK Stampers forum. She challenged us to make a piece of artwork using at least one crown cork (beer bottle top). The collage is 7 x 5 inches in size.

Here is what I used to make it:

• Crown Corks (gold)
• 7 x 5 inch gessoed canvas
• UTEE (Clear)
• Embossed words
• Fabric Daisies
• Lumiere Paint (bronze, crimson)
• Glitz Spritz (Gold)
• Plastic flower stencil
• Stamps (squares background - docrafts, textured stripe - anitas, small leaf - see-d's morsels, postal stamp - crafty individuals, alphas - making memories magnetic)
• Brilliance Inkpad (platinum planet)
• Stazon Inkpad (cherry red & jet black)
• Swirl Chipboard
• Tissue paper (lilac)
• Paper Mod Podge (Matt)
• Metal Hinges
• Metallic snaps
• Printed card (calligrahy)
• Printed papers

Altered bottlecaps

I first made the altered bottlecaps. I selected some suitable colour printed images from magazines and cut out circles to fit inside the bottlcaps. These were stuck in place with glossy accents. Next I cut out some silver foiled words to fit inside the caps. I then added a small amount of clear UTEE and melted it with a heat gun (the cap was placed on a firebrick to protect surfaces from the heat). When the UTEE had melted I added another amount and again heated. This was repeated several times until the cap was nearly full with molten UTEE. The finished caps were allowed to cool completely before adhering to the selected fabric flowers with glossy accents.

The chipboard swirl was given a couple of coats of Lumiere metallic bronze paint and allowed to dry.

The printed calligraphy card was trimmed with fancy edge scissors into two pieces, these were edged with dark brown Whispers dye ink and stamped randomly with the postal stamp in gold ink.

The hinges were fitted with two snaps each applied with the cropodile.

The Canvas

The canvas was completely painted lightly with Lumiere crimson paint allowing brushmarks to show in an uneven manner. This was allowed to dry thoroughly. Next the plastic flower stencil was placed on the canvas and the rest masked off with paper. The gold Glitz Spritz spray was then generously sprayed over the stencil, removed carefully and dried with a heat gun. This was repeated as necessary. Next the textured stripe stamp was painted quickly with Lumiere bronze and stamped on the top left side of the canvas and allowed to dry (the paint was removed from the stamp quickly before drying). The squares background stamp was inked with Brilliance platinum planet ink and applied down the right hand side of the stamp. When dry a small leaf stamp was inked with Stazon cherry red ink and stamped in the centre of each of the squares.

The word 'VALUES' was stamped onto the lilac tissue paper in Stazon jet black, trimmed and applied as shown with the paper Mod Podge.

The canvas was then assembled as shown adhering the chipboard swirl and printed cards with glossy accents, the flowers with large glue dots and the hinges with super glue.

Hope you like it :-)

Postcard from the Seaside

Here is another postcard from our 'Send me a postcard from........' theme over on the weekly challenge at UK Stampers forum. This weeks was '....... the Seaside'.

I used:

• White card (trimmed to 6 x 4 inches)
• Blue card (for matt)
• Acrylic paints (Desert Sand, Blue Mist & Soldier Blue)
• Dye Ink pad ( Whispers - Butterscotch)
• Pigment Ink pads (Colorbox - Lime, Fresh Green, Apple Green, Celadon & Green)
• Versafine Ink pad (onyx black)
• Stamps (Dots background?, Tanda - Advert Plate 3, The Artistic Stamper - Shells plate)
• Embossing Powder (Clear)
• Marvey LePlume II Pen (Green)
• Gelly Roll Pen (Sakura opaque white)
• Decorative Chalks
• Chalk Ink pad (Colorbox blue iris)
• Hairspray
• Seed beads (clear amber)
• Glossy Accents
• Foam Pads

I painted the top half of the card blank with the Blue Mist paint and the lower half with the Desert Sand acrylic paints and allowed them to dry. I then dry brushed in a stippling action the Soldier Blue paint to form clouds in the sky and allowed this to dry thoroughly. The Gelly Roll opaque white pen was used to edge and shape the clouds in the sky.

The dots background stamp was inked with Whispers butterscotch dye ink and stamped randomly over the lower (sand) area of the card. The shells stamps were then inked with the Colorbox pigment inks in a random manner and these were stamped over the sand. The clear Embossing powder was applied and heated to melt with a heat gun.

The 'Cornish Riviera' stamp was inked with Versafine onyx black ink and stamped onto white card. Decorative chalks (blue, orange and yellow) were applied with a small brush to colour all but the girls dress, which was coloured with a Green Marvey brush pen. The coloured image was sprayed lightly with a cheap hairspray to seal on the chalks and then cut out with scissors. The image was matted onto the blue card and trimmed to allow a 1/8th inch border.

Glossy accents were applied on the base and the left hand side of the lower half of the postcard and amber glass seed beads were applied onto this. The matt was then applied as shown with foam pads. The whole card was edged with Colorbox chalk ink in Blue Iris to finish.