'Bling' ATC's

These ATC's have been done for a monthly swap over on UK Stampers Forum. This months is 'Bling' and I have decided to do a blend of blingy finishes instead of stamping.

I used Bedazzles, flatbacked gems and cabochons, Stewart Gill byzantia, Viva gold paint, Stickles, violet twinkle EP and Sakura white opaque pen to decorate with little swirls. The only stamp used was a swirl. The base was made from white card and coloured using a Tim Holtz stencil and homemade mica spray made with spiced marmalade distress reinker and cosmic shimmer iridescent pigment in cinquefoil red. This was mixed and applied with a mini-mister.

The ATC's were edged with dark brown chalk ink.

Hope you like them :-)

'Q' is for Queen Tag

Here is my design for the next tag in the UK Stampers Forum Sunday Challenge. This tag was made from a piece of orange cardstock which was stamped all over with latte Adirondack Ink and a Letters background stamp by Invoke Arts (funky ATC backgrounds plate).

The Queen photo-real stamp (Artchix Studio - Divas plate) was stamped onto a piece of the same card with onyx black Versafine ink. Whilst still tacky it was then heat embossed with clear embossing powder before trimming to leave a narrow border. This was set aside. Next a piece of old dictionary page with the queen definition was torn out and edged with a Ranger antique linen Distress inkpad direct to the edges. This was then adhered with gluestick. A border stamp from PaperArtsy was then inked with Veramark and this was stamped and heat embossed with pirate gold EP.

The edges of the queen image and the tag itself were then edged with Adirondack wild plum ink applied with cut'n'dry foam as shown. The letter 'Q' (Making Memories Foam Alpha) was stamped with wild plum as shown and this was also heat embossed with clear EP. The rest of the alphas were magnetic stamps again by MM and were stamped in Versafine onyx black.

The queen plate was then attached with a square brad and foam pads for depth. Gold Ranger stickles were used to decorate the 'Q' and parts of the embossed border stamp. An eyelet was applied with the crop-a-dile and a piece of magenta ribbon was added to finish.

Detail of 'Queen' plate

Hope you like it :-)

Altered Cutlery ?

Well this is it ! My weirdest creation yet. I have called it 'The Tree of Life'. It's made from a black plastic fork obtained with a salad from Subway last week. It is part of a swap run by Hazel on UK Stampers Forum in the altered art section.

I made the tree itself using a stamp from PaperArtsy which was heat embossed with violet pearl EP on a background made with Adirondack wild plum and red pepper inks applied with a piece of cut'n'dry foam. Once embossed the tree was cut out and left to one side. In the meantime I made three shrink plastic embellishements which were stamped in purple Stazon ink on white shrink plastic sheet. The bird stamp was also PaperArtsy. The bodies were coloured with pink chalk ink before cutting out and shrinking. A metal leaf was attached with a square silver brad and a hole punched with the cropodile on the bottom right of the tree. An eyelet was applied. The mini tag was coloured and written upon and threaded with a metal tree embellishment with the ball chain as shown. The three birds were applied with mini glue dots as shown

Detail of tree

Detail of Tag

Next was to cover the handle of the fork. I took a long strip of mediumweight black craftwire and threaded it with alternating gold and blue glass beades with silvered centres until I had a length of threaded wire long enough to spiral around the handle to hide it completely. One end of the wire was wrapped around the middle two prongs of the fork and the beads pushed down to the top of the handle. I then commenced wrapping the beaded wire round and round the handle to the base where the last coil was made to trap 3 pieces of coloured velvet ribbon before securing the wire into the last coil.

Handle base and ribbon detail

I used big sticky dots to attach the tree to the front of the fork prongs, hence the reason that the tree is curved slightly (following the contour of the prongs). The whole thing was wrapped in white tissue secured with three pieces of the same ribbon.

This was certainly a challenge for me ! Hope whoever gets it in the swap is happy with it :-)

'Froggy' ATC

I have not entered TMTA (Think Monday Think ATC) for a long time and I noticed that this weeks theme is for Frogs. I remembered I had a frog stamp from Kodomo and decided to use it to make my entry.

The background was sprayed with Moonglow Glitz Spitz in various shades of pink and red and allowed to dry before trimming to size. The stamp was inked in Versamark and heat embossed with opalescent green embossing powder. The foliage was stamped with a leaf stamp from Crafty Individuals in eden green Stazon. The edges were stamped with a diamond stamp in Brilliance galaxy gold. The word 'frog' was stamped with PaperArtsy alphas and Versamark and heat embossed with peach EP. A paper flower was painted with Viva metallic paint in gold (simply fantastic coverage and shine) and applied with glossy accents, the centre of which was embellished with Ranger gold Stickles. Final touch was to edge the card with Krylon gold pen.

Non-paper Background ATC's

These three ATC's are for another swap with my dear friend Diane across the pond. The challenge this time was to produce three ATC's using backgrounds which were not paper or card.

I ended up using (from left to right) laser plastic, plastic foam & grungeboard decorated with various stamps, alcohol inks, inkjet transparencies, brads, eyelets, inks, embossing powder & paint.

They are on their way now - Hope she likes them !

Brown CJ

Here is another of my CJ entries for our latest CJ on UK Stampers Forum. This one had an arrow stamp and a colourway of Browns. We just had to use the stamp and complete one side of a page within the Journal.

I first painted the background with a thick coat of bronze metallic paint applied with a fan brush in a rough manner to give some texture and light reflecting properties to the paint. Once dry a rubber stamp of a heart (Invoke Arts - Textured Hearts from Once Upon A Stamp) was inked with Versamark and stamped randomly over the painted background and this was then heat embossed with detail gold embossing powder.

Next, the stamp was inked with black Stazon and stamped onto some printed background paper, cut out and set aside. The arrow stamp was inked with Versamark on white coarse card and heat embossed with the detail gold EP. This caused bubbles to disrupt the surface which I liked. This was trimmed out and edged in gold ink. The main patterned heart was slit with a craft knife and the arrow threaded through the slit to give the 'arrow through the heart' effect. This was applied as shown with 1 mm foam pads to add a little dimension.

To finish, a Making Memories aluminium word 'Cherish' was treated with Ranger alcohol inks in juniper, sandal & pink sherbet applied with an applicator and felt. The colours were chosen to compliment the background colours in the printed paper. Basically, that was it ........ I thought there was enough going on and any more would have spoiled it. Sometimes I don't know when to stop !!




This shot shows some of the texture achieved with the paint and the EP. Hope the CJ'er likes what I have done.

'P' is for Party Tag

Another tag in the Alphabet series. This time it's 'P' for Party and rather than go for the usual party hats, clowns, baloons etc. I thought more Political and went for the Green Party - eco friendly so I though that green plants and flowers fitted the bill.

The tag was cut from oatmeal mottled card and was coloured with the wonderfully vibrant Nick Bantock inks from Ranger in chartreuse leaf and sapmoss green, applied with cut'n'dry foam and a swirling motion to achieve the shaded areas.

The stamps used on the body of the tag are a selection from PaperArtsy and Crafty Individuals. I wanted to achieve a relatively densely layered effect so I just overstamped many times using NB sapmoss green, Brilliance pearlescent ivy & starlight black inks. Some flower were stamped also and coloured with a waterbrush and Adirondack stream and cranberry inks as shown.

The main letter P was made from chipboard which was rubbed over with Versamark and triple heat embossed with dark green embossing powder. At the last layer the leaf stamp was inked with Brilliance sunflower yellow ink and whilst the EP was still molten the inked stamp was stamped into the EP on the letter and left for a few moments until the EP had set. Full instructions on triple heat embossing are available as a class on my blog by clicking HERE.

All the letters are K&Co and I trimmed them and edged with green chalk ink. These were stuck in place along with the main chipboard letter as shown. To finish a green eyelet was applied with the cropadile and a small piece of dry natural twig applied as a hanger. The tag was finished with an edging of green chalk ink.

This shot shows more detail of the letter P embellishment. :-)

'Ornament' ATC

Here is an ATC I have done to try out my new Adirondack 'Lights' Alcohol Inks which were bought from The Artistic Stamper. First I cut a piece of Glossy card to ATC size. I then applied alcohol inks with the applicator in lake mist and cool peri, pouncing and turning the applicator until sufficient colour was transferred. I then coloured a printed journalling tag from 3djean similarly but with more colour. I edged the tag with wisteria chalk ink.

The ATC background was then masked with an Idea-ology swirl mini mask (Regal), and french blue and wisteria chalk ink was applied direct over the masked area and the ATC edged with french blue chalk ink. The tag was glued in place as shown. I then cut three short lengths of mauve metallic cord and stuck them onto a piece of double sided tape adhering as shown and trimming to fit neatly. A small stamp was inked with hydrangea Stazon and stamped as shown. The word 'ORNAMENT' was trimmed from a pre-printed piece of vellum and adhered with two small blobs of glossy accents at the ends to finish the ATC.

Just adore the colours of the new alcohol inks the hues are so pastel and give a very light and subtle feeling to the background.

Hope you like it :-)

Summer Twinchies

Here are a set of Twinchies I have made for another monthly swap on UK Stampers Forum. The June theme was 'Summer' so I thought what is more Summery than flowers and foliage?

I chose pale blue card as the background and a single outline stamp from Rubber Stampede (All Over Floral) inked with black Stazon. Quite a big stamp this so I stamped several times and then cut out the twinchies on a rotary trimmer before hand colouring.

I used a waterbrush and Adirondack inkpads where I transferred some of the ink from the pad onto a non-stick craft sheet and used this as a palette with the brush. Colours used were: butterscotch, bottle, meadow, pesto, eggplant & cranberry. The stamens of the flowers and parts of the butterfly wings were gilded with a fine brush and Viva gold precious metal colour. The butterflies were additionally coloured with lilac Tiara Gelly Roll pen. The twinchies were then finally edged with Krylon Gold.

Just liked the simplicity of these.....they also have a slightly Oriental look about them don't you think !

Summer Inchies

These are a set of 9 'Summer' inchies done for a monthly swap I run on UK Stampers Forum.

Very simple to do this set but I thought the colours were quite Summery. I first coloured the background with cut'n'dry foam and Whispers dye inkpads in green and yellow and overstamped with Adirondack lettuce ink and a PaperArtsy squiggle stamp. These were then punched out using my trusty 1 inch square punch. Each was then stamped with a small sun stamp in Versamark from a set of mini wooden stamps and heat embossed with orange sorbet EP (Ranger). The centres of the suns were embellished with a gold brad and each inchie edged with tangerine chalk ink.

There we have it. Hope you like them :-)

'D' is for Diamonds Tag

Here is yet another tag in the series..........I suppose we will cover all the alphabet eventually but enjoying the challenge immensely ! This weeks challenge is 'D' for Diamonds. I chose the shape rather than the gemstone and used a variety of stamps. The little diamond is from a Non-Sequitur plate (No.9 Cranes) that I have had for at least 5 years ! This is the first time it has been used. The other stamp is a PaperArtsy stamp (Letters Plate 5). Both stamps were inked in black Stazon and applied as shown in a somewhat random manner. When the Stazon was dry the Tag (made from white card), was coloured using cut'n'dry foam and Distress Inks in dusty concorde, tattered rose and vintage photo. A little clear single diamond stamp was then used with galaxy gold Brilliance ink to highlight certain of the diamonds from the PaperArtsy stamp at random.

Following this the Non-seq stamp and the little diamond were reinked with Versamark and overstamped randomly followed by heat embossing with clear EP to highlight and darken. The edges of the tag were inked direct from the galaxy gold pad to add a distressed edge look.

The 'D' was made by adhering a chipboard D to a piece of card and covering with self-adhesive aluminium tape which was carefully burnished over the D with a ball embossing tool. The aluminium covered piece was then inked with Alcohol Inks in wild plum, eggplant and pitch black finishing with a little gold mixative to highlight the top-most surface. Some texture was added with the embossing tool by stippling and hatching the aluminium prior to inking.

Before applying the D embellishment the 'iamond' word was stamped with Versamark and Making Memories magnetic Alphas which were heat embossed with gold and eggplant EP as shown. The hole in the tag was cut and a black eyelet applied using the Cropadile and some black fibres tied throught the eyelet. Finally the embellishment was added with mini glue dots.





This shot shows the embellishment and more of the detail. Hope you like it :-)

Something Fishy is going on !

Here are three ATC's made to swap with my crafty friend Diane in the USA. Our theme was 'Fishy' this time, and she said it was a bit of a challenge for her. Well I suggested it and found it even more of a challenge. I found I really only had one fishy stamp and she had already used it in one of her swaps !!!

I succumbed to using images from the web, printed on the colour printer. The fish are all pictures of tropical fish that you can keep in a tank at home if you wish (not the paper ones of course !). I concentrated on the backgrounds using a variety of techniques and materials. Embossing features as does stamping with various Brilliance and Adirondack inks, paints and sequin waste. Rubber stamps are from various companies and sources.

Hope she likes them :-)

Stampbord Fridge Magnet

Here is my fridge magnet piece made out of Stampbord. The swap was organised by a member of UK Stampers Forum. I already had a selection of oval pieces and this one is relatively small (2.5 x 1.5 inches).

The background was coloured with Nick Bantock inks from Ranger ( Prussian Blue & Deep Turquoise) applied with a piece of cut'n'dry foam and set with the heat gun. The text stamp (Paper Artsy) was inked with Prussian blue and stamped onto the background. The wildflower stamp and the butterfly stamp were both from Crafty Individuals (wildflower plate). The flower was inked with Brilliance pearlescent ivy ink on its stem and pearlescent lilac on the flower. The butterfly was inked with Memories India Ink. When dry the stampbord was scratched through to reveal the white base as shown on the flower and the butterflies. The edge of the stampbord was coated with Versamark and gold Embossing Powder added and heated until melted to finish.

That's it, fairly straightforward, but I am pleased with the result.

Hope the receiver likes it :-)

'W' is for Wings Tag

Really enjoyed doing this tag. The challenge ( UK Stampers Sunday Challenge) was to make a tag in the theme of 'W' is for Wings. The cardstock was plain white and I used Adirondack inkpads and cut'n'dry foam to apply bottle, lettuce, meadow & oregano inks to make a background. These were set with a heat gun. Next I took a swirl stamp (Wendy Rhodes - swirly doodles collection plate) and inked with pesto ink and stamped 4 times as shown. This was again dried with the heat gun. I then took an angel stamp (Paper Artsy - Urban Snapshots Nature 1 plate), inked with Brilliance pearlescent rust ink and stamped bottom right. I used another rubber stamp background from Tanda Stamps (Altered Polka Dot) and inked in Brilliance pearlescent lime applying two uneven areas of dots bottom left and top right - not very noticeable in pic. Next the butterfly blank was stamped in Memories black India Ink onto the big swirl.

I made the two butterflies from Crafty Notions Fusible Films, which were layered and ironed (dry iron) over a butterfly stamp after inking the stamp with white and black inks. The butterflies wings were trimmed off and applied in position with glossy accents only at the wing bases. The words were stamped in Brilliance pearlescent purple ink and the tag finished with a green eyelet and some fibres in green and rust. The tag was finally edged in brown chalk ink.

Hope you like it :-)

Another Blue CJ

Right & Left Pages

Here are my two pages as my entry into one of our CJ'ers works of art. This one has a rubber stamp of an angel which has to be used in your entry and, apart from the colour 'Blue', you could do anything.

I wanted to keep a celestial theme so took two pieces of pale blue card and sprayed these with Moonglow mica sprays in various pale blues and silvers over a glimmer screen of a scroll until the desired effect was achieved. These were allowed to dry. I then rubber stamped clouds and the moon ( A stamp in the Hand) in Brilliance moonlight white across the skyscape I had previously sprayed. Very subtle effect, but if you look closely you will see these ! The main stamp of the angel was stamped in Brilliance mediterranean blue on the same blue card and cut out and given a light coat of Lumiere hi-lite blue paint. Before applying the cut out I selectively stamped just the wings in the same ink down the left hand side of the page as a border. The angel was adhered, leaving the wings free to curl and the finishing touches applied with gold calligraphy ink and a nib pen.

I liked the words I used, I had written them down in my little sayings book ages ago and they have never been used before. They were computer generated and printed onto a piece of ordinary copier paper. This was trimmed, edged with pale blue chalk ink and again given a coat of the Lumiere hi-lite blue paint. The edges were curled and the whole lot sprayed with hair lacquer to stiffen. This was applied as shown along with a couple of flourishes in the blue Brilliance ink. The page again has a border of wings.

The Sign-in Tag

To finish I decorated the supplied sign-in tag and applied a small piece of velvet ribbon in light blue.

Hope the recipient likes it :-)