Fabric Brooch

Here is a pic of a Fabric Brooch I made as part of a swap. The swap was a 2-part swap. Part 1 required the swappers to send in six 4 x 4 inch pieces of assorted fabric. These were swapped and they each got back six different pieces not including any of their own.

Part 2 was to make a brooch using all six pieces of fabric which were again randomly swapped ! Quite a challenge really but very interesting and the quality of the workmanship and variety of designs which emerged was fantastic.

Anyway I had the idea that I would use my sewing machine to produce the basic brooch design because I had also bought a load (10 reels) of Guttermann threads to do just this, so I got out the beast to find that I had lost the foot control somewhere. I searched high and low but failed to locate it......... how annoying !! I ended up having to stitch the bits together by hand hence the rather untidy look to the stitches. However, it did the job.

Once the pieces were stitched together I embellished the flat piece of material with a little stamping of a ladies face (barely visible). This was then ironed onto some backing bump using vilene and a steam iron to give the material a little substance. Next this was applied to a piece of mountboard (2.5 x 1.5 inches) again with vilene and the corners wrapped over and stuck flat. A backing piece was made (out of the 6th piece of material) to cover the back of the brooch. Next I added some beading detail by hand.

I punched out 2 small flowers and used EP to give them some texture, cut out a leaf and adhered this as shown.

Final embellishment was with gold dimensional paint and glitter glue. I then added a self-adhesive brooch back to complete.

I was a little set back by not being able to machine sew, but heck I managed it in the end !

Hope the recipient likes it though !

'Vintage' ATC's

Here are a set of three ATC's I did for a swap. The theme was Vintage.

The first (from left) was made from a piece of serendipity paper that I had stamped on numerous times and I then heat embossed the stamp (from the 'pensive' plate by Cherry Pie) with blue glass EP finishing with an edging with iris chalk ink and the word EVIDENCE.

The second is on a background made from Moonglow mica sprays and templates. A few layers were applied over magenta cardstock and allowed to dry. The swirls stamp was from Crafty Individuals and was inked with Adirondack Eggplant ink. The collage element is another stamp from Cherry Pie (Klimt plate) and was finished with Alcohol Inks in various orangey colours and finished with black stazon on glossy cardstock. The card was edged with midnight blue obsidian EP from Moonglow.

The third uses another homemade background using blue Moonglow Glitz Spritz sprays. The flourish stamp was another from Crafty Individuals and was inked and stamped with denim Adirondack Ink. The image is another from Cherry Pie and was stamped in black Stazon on white glossy card, cut out and split three times before adhering to the background. The headress was made by applying glossy accents as a glue and then sticking on random black sequins and infilling with stickles glitter glue.

Hope the recipients like them :-)

'N' is for Numbers Tag

Yet another in the series of tags done as part of a challenge on UK Stampers Forum. This weeks the tag had to include numbers and the letter 'N'.

My inspiration came from relationships and 121's so a bit of a 'lurve' theme crept in !

I used Adirondack inkpads and Cut'n'dry foam to colour the background. Colours used were lettuce, butterscotch & oregano. The stamps are all from Crafty Individuals (particularly love the filigree heart) and I again used Adirondack terracotta & oregano inks for stamping with. The sentiment is a clear sticker from Making Memories and the numbers 121 are chipboards coloured with dark brown ink direct from the pad and then distressed with glass paper to achieve the worn look. They were adhered with glossy accents. Finishing touch was a metallic eyelet coloured with oregano alcohol ink and applied with the cropadile.

'Blue' Inchies

Someone asked 'Are you going through a blue phase?', and I think I am. I am running an inchie swap with the theme of blue this month and these are my inchies for that swap.

Background is Moonglow Glitz Spritz and the 'scrunch' technique on ordinary copier papier. Stamps are from a swirls set applied in Stazon and Brilliance. The embellishment is a holographic flower sequin with a blue dimensional blob of liquid applique. Each is edged with Iris chalk ink.

Et voila.......there you have it !

Tanda ATC's

Time for another ATC exchange with my friend in the USA, Diane. This time we decided to do three using Tanda stamps.

Diane first saw Tandas on a project on my blog and liked them so much that she bought some. These three were done using stamps from the Clarice Cliff and Mack plates. I have used a variety of techniques and colouring materials along with the stamps. The top one has a stamped background and the colours on the plate were achieved with Tiara pens from Sakura. Bottom left the background was made using a scrunch technique and Starburst Stains mica dabbers and so has a lovely iridescent effect. Bottom right was heat embossed with silver and coloured with Sakura gelly roll Glaze pens and a blue background wash using Adirondack denim ink as a base.

Do hope she likes them :-)

'B' is for Bird Tag

Here is my 'B' is for Birds tag. Just finished for my entry into the UK Stampers Sunday Challenge.

You already guessed the theme from the title so I used a recently bought stamp to make the birds. First I stamped onto a blue background paper with an Illusive Images flourish stamp and Brilliance Pearlescent blue Inkpad to make the background for the bird bodies. The wing background was stamped with Stazon Hydrangea ink and a field of sky stamp from Stamp In The Hand onto another background paper. These backgrounds were then stamped with bird bodies and wings stamps from Build a Bird plate from Stamp Camp in onyx black Versafine Ink. The wings and bodies were trimmed out with scissors ready to be added to the tag.

The tag was cut from plain cardstock and this was coloured with Distress Inks in Faded jeans, Dusty Concorde and Milled Lavender using an applicator tool and cut'n'dry foam. A square background stamp was then spritzed with water and applied onto the tag to wet the ink. This was then dried quickly with a heat gun to set. The letter B was stamped with a foam stamp and the Faded Jeans distress ink as shown.

The birds were assembled and stuck onto the tag as shown and were finished with the eyes and legs in the same onyx black ink using the component stamps. Three squares of the bird body background were punched out and folded in half and applied around the edge of the tag as shown. The letters were cut out from K & Co printed letters and applied as shown. The Fly Away Home was stamped twice in Iris Blue Chalk ink and once at the base with the onyx black Ink. The final flourish was to add an eyelet in cerise and a piece of tied pale blue velvet ribbon through it.

Rather like my bird stamps...........will definately use them again !

Hope you like the tag :-)

Butterfly Twinchies

Here are a set of 'Twinchies' done for the May swap over on UK Stampers Forum

All were done using Elusive Images stamps from Graphicus. I used a variety of inks, dye, chalk, Brilliance & Versafine. Some were heat embossed and I used a waterbrush and Marvey pens on others. Hope you like them :-)

'H' is for House Tag

Here is another in the series of Alphabet Tags, proposed each week by Gail over at UK Stampers Forum.

This weeks was the letter 'H' and the theme of house. I decided to do a slightly different take on the house theme (stamp of a house of some kind). I used a BINGO stamp as the basis, thinking that when you win at bingo you normally would shout 'HOUSE' to grab the attention of the attendant.

It's years since I went to bingo, by the way ! Just to clear up any misunderstandings that I am an avid fan. I also used a pen nib stamp, Distress Inks to colour, TH Stencils to mask, Brilliance copper to highlight, a brad and some self adhesive letters to spell out the word. Finishing touch was to set a dark brown eyelet into the hole of the tag.

Hope you like it :-)

Altered Pegs

That Hazel (Dansmum), from UK Stampers set a swap to alter a peg or pegs in any way that you like. Inspiration came late in the day so I converted a couple of wooden spring pegs into a sort of set of twin cats. Because they were joined at the hip I entitled the piece 'Siamese Pegs'. No offence is meant in doing so, it's all in the cause of crafting !

I first dismantled the pegs and painted the them with Sherrils Sorbets in blue and pink (not really my colours at all !) allowing to dry overnight. I then reassembled them and decorated the top halves of the pegs with permanent pen in the opposite colour to the base colour. I then stamped the word 'Siamese' on the front of the pink peg and 'Pegs' on the blue peg in black Stazon.

I then used a blue and a pink pipe cleaner to join the two pegs, twisting to tighten at the back and the front and trimming the ends to a suitable length. The pegs are not stuck together at all. I added a twin cat charm with mini sticky dots to one end of the pipecleaner at the front.

I edged the bottom, top and sides of the pegs with Krylon leafing pen in silver.



I then inked a Third Coast Stamp of a cat with Pumkin Stazon and stamped twice on light brown stout card, cutting out carefully with scissors. I painted with a waterbrush and distress inks and finished the eyes with Sakura souffle pens. The cats heads were simply gripped into the pegs (therefore they can be removed and rearranged as required). The pegs (ahem....cats?), do stand up with a bit of maneuvering and adjustment.

The piece was wrapped in fuschia tissue and tied with a blue satin ribbon.

It was really fun to make and I used things that I would not ordinarily use and it took me out of my safety zone too.

Wonder who will get it?

'J' is for Jewel Tag

This is the 'J' for Jewel tag I have done as part of a challenge on UK Stampers. The tag was cut from plain cream card. A Paperartsy crown stamp was stamped in Versamark and heat embossed with gold Embossing Powder. A swirl stamp was inked with Adirondack Ink in denim and latte and stamped as shown.

I wanted to have a cascade from the single flat backed gem that I added to one of the points in the crown flowing to the tails of the swirl which were embellished with more gems. Chalk inks were used for the background, direct to paper. The letters and words were cut from a magazine and the letter J is chipboard with blue glitter.

The tag was finished with a black eyelet and some blue organza ribbon tied through the hole.

Hope you like it :-)

'Blue' CJ

I am taking part in a CJ (Circle Journal) at the moment. Each of the circle has to choose a colour for their CJ along with a stamp. Each of the other members has to use that colour and the stamp in their entry.

This one belongs to one of the members and here is my entry. The front of the page is above and the back of the page is below. Just one page for each entry in this CJ. Obviously the colour theme is blue.

The front of the page was made from glossy card and a resist swirl background which was done with Resist Ink followed by application of Distress ink with cut'n'dry foam in Faded Jeans and Broken China (to form the resist) and then overstamped with a slight offset in the Broken China. The supplied stamp was stamped twice on blue card in Hydrangea Stazon and cut out. Eyelets were applied and this was mounted as shown on foam pads. The words Dr Blue? were applied with scrabble pieces, plastic rounds and a chipboard letter.

The back of the entry was embossed with a Cuttlebug embossing folder, rubbed with sandpaper to rub off colour back to the whitecore. The head from the supplied stamp was stamped as a bottom border in Broken China ink and a plate applied centrally.

Hope she owner likes it :-)

Black & White ATC's

Here are my three ATC's done for a swap on UK Stampers whose theme was 'Black & White'. I used some printed papers as the background, heat embossing with white powder, brads and fabric flowers.

Hope you like them :-)

'Flowers' Twinchies

These six 'Flowers' Twinches (2 inch squares) were done as a swap on UK Stampers hosted by Linda. I used various stamps, inks, embossing powder, paper, brads and embellishments to complete.

Hope you like them :-)

'Bling' Inchies

These are my 9 Inchies done for a swap. I used fantasy paper in various shades which I punched out in two sizes after stamping with a leaf stamp with Stazon Ink in Fuschia, Eden Green, Imperial Purple and Royal Blue. The centres were embellished with square acrylic gems and Stickles glitter glue. They were edged with mustard ink and backed with card to strengthen.

They are on their way to the swappers as I post this.

Hope you like them :-)

'Vintage' ATC's

Thes three 'Vintage' ATC's were done for a swap with my friend in the USA. I used glossy card and some photoreal stamps (Artchix Studio - Divas) to get the images. They were stamped with Adirondack inks and embellished with Sakura Souffle pens. I also used a floral stamp and some alphas to complete.

Hope she likes them :-)