Egyptian ATC's

Here are three ATC's I made to swap with my friend Diane in the USA. I have used stamps from Tanda and Judikins along with printed papers Versamark, Brilliance, Chalk, Versafine & Stazon Inks. Embossing powders and Viva metallic paints were also used including Krylon gold pen.

Hope she likes them ! :-)

Pin It

Polymer Clay Beads

When I was in John Lewis the other day, I came across a FIMO bead roller machine. Of course, I had to buy it and when I got back from my shopping spree had a go at making some beads. I used Sculpey clay as my base and also tried some Claydium (air or oven bake). Once I had made them I brushed them with a few different Moonglow mica powders before I baked them (15 minutes at 130C) - not forgetting to put a hole through with a wooden cocktail stick before doing so !

These are my first attempts and I must admit it's a bit addictive when you get going. I will be doing more I think after this trial so watch this space !

Pin It

Queen ATC

This weeks TMTA theme is King/Queen so I thought I would do a little abstract version as my Royal style entry.

I used 4 stamps. All stamped in black Stazon on a white card. The body stamp is from Cherry Pie, the face is from Invoke Arts and the crown and border from PaperArtsy. The background colour is Nick Bantock inks in chartreuse leaf, chrome yellow & sapmoss green (applied with a sponge) .The border stamp was inked with sapmoss green. The crown was stamped onto a separate piece of card and cut out. The remaining colours on the crown & face were from Marvey le Plume II pens and a waterbrush. The crown also has some gold paint (Viva) and some Stickles glitter glue applied. The crown has simply been stuck into place at a jaunty angle.

Hope you like it :-)

Pin It

Bottleton-on-the-Marsh !

Well here it is at last ! My July entry into a CJ being run on UK Stampers Forum. This CJ was originated by Chicken Licken (Tasha). She chose the colour green and also her chosen stamp was a bottle. I searched my mind for ideas and finally came up with this theme. Why not do a little hamlet called 'Bottleton-on-the-Marsh' and make little houses of the bottles?, I thought !

I basically chose two colours of cardstock, a mint green and a moss green. I then got to work and stamped numerous bottles onto each card in oregano Adirondack ink, cutting them out and edging in dark brown chalk ink. I then overstamped with a couple of numbers plates from PaperArtsy in the same ink. I then cut some smaller and some at an angle for a bit of variety and on some cut cut off the cork and bottle neck to act as a a chimney which I stuck back on afterwards.

Windows and doors were cut from the contrasting card in different shapes and a black pen was used to draw in window frames etc. I then used a white opaque Gelly Roll pen to embellish the roofs and highlight bits of the buildings. Two other bottles were used for journalling as shown on the pic above !

The background card was the mint green and onto this I prepared the base using green matt acrylic paint applied roughly with a wide brush and allowed this to dry. I chose some tree stamps from Tanda and then stamped the background with these in Adirondack bottle, lettuce, meadow & oregano inks overlapping as necessary. I then laid out the pages and positioned the pieces before applying them with glossy accents (some on foam pads to add relief).

Once satisfactorily applied a small flying bird trio stamp from Crafty Individuals was inked in vintage sepia Versafine and applied randomly into the sky area. I thought about adding some blue in the sky but thought it would detract from the overall green effect - blue was definately out. Some little grass clumps were added by hand as a final touch using Marvey le Plume II pen in pine green (fine end).

The last two pics just show some detail on the houses ! The pages were then stuck onto the CJ base and that was it done.

Overall very few materials were used on this entry and I am quite pleased with the overall effect not to mention the fun had in its making.

Hope she will like it :-)

Pin It

'Nature' Box

Here is a little box I have decorated for an altered swap over on UK Stampers Forum. The brief was to use something which had grown from the earth or in the sea and to turn it into a piece of art for swapping.

I had collected a piece of very lichen covered deadwood from under some trees ages ago and this has sat in my hall waiting to be used ! I had a plain box which is 8cm long x 6cm wide x 3cm deep. I painted it in a pale green semi-gloss acrylic all over and allowed to dry. I then used a couple of rubber stamps from Crafty Individuals (one a single bird and the other a branch with birds) in eden green Stazon on the top, 3 sides and all sides of the base of the box. Once dry I sprayed desert moon gecko green Glitz Spritz generously on all surfaces and allowed this to dry naturally. Once dry I added tiny blobs of pink Pearly Doodles dimensional paint to represent blossom on the leaves and branches on the top only. The words 'far and away' were stamped on the top of the lid in black Stazon. The mica shine does not show very well on the shots unfortunately, but they are quite shiny !




I then stamped 3 birds eggs (PaperArtsy) in vintage sepia and used a waterbrush and Marvey le Plume II pens to colour the eggs in green, blue and brown. Once dry I applied Versamark from the pen and heat embossed them with clear detail EP. I then trimmed them out carefully.

I wanted to make a leafy background and on a piece of beige paper stamped a leaf stamp (Crafty Individuals) onto a background made with Distress inks in pine needles, shabby shutters and peeled paint. Three of the leaves were trimmed out for decoration. The background was stuck in place with double sided tape.

I broke my twig into useable sized pieces and stuck these in place with clear silicone glue, arranging them to suit. The eggs and leaves were then shaped and also applied the same way to provide a 3D effect..........loosely resembling a birds nest ! I am quite pleased with the effect overall and its great to use natural pieces in your artwork too.

Hope you like it :-)

Pin It

Monochrome Twinchies

I am definately not a very 'Pink' person when it comes to crafting so I challenged myself to do a set of 'Monochrome' Twinchies in just that colour !!

It is part of a swap I am running on UK Stampers Forum. Each player has to do 6 twinchies (either all different or all the same).

The base card is pre-printed and embossed with a glaze containing holographic glitter. I have then die-cut 6 daisies from textured pink cardstock and stamped them with a chunky text stamp (don't know where from !) in fuschia pink Stazon. These have been edged with Marvey le Plume II pen in dark pink before adhering to the base cards and trimming off at the edges as shown. A pink brad has been added as shown through the centre of the die-cut. A piece of narrow velvet ribbon in bright pink has been backed with double sided adhesive and attached as shown (trimming to make neat at the edge). Each twinchie was then edged with pink chalk ink to finish.

Hope you like them :-)

Pin It

'Free Choice' Inchies

Here are my 'Free Choice' Inchies for this months swap over on UK Stampers Forum. I have simply used coloured backing card and adhered 4 small pearly mosaics in a colourway to each inch square with Glossy Accents. I then have stamped the mosaics with black Stazon with stamps from a set of SeeD's Morsels. Each inchie has been edged with appropriately coloured chalk ink to complete.

Simple is sometimes best....or so they say !! Hope you like them :-)

Pin It

'Blue Moon'

Here is my entry for the TMTA challenge this week. The theme is 'Moon' so I decided to go a little 'Blue'. Background is grey & silver mottled card. Stamps are by PaperArtsy and A Stamp In The Hand inked with black Stazon & starlite silver, pearlescent sky blue Brilliance. The alphas are Making Memories magnetic heat embossed with Versamark and Moon Glow madonna robe blue gold EP. The moon is coloured with Marvey le Plume II pen.

Hope you like it :-)

Pin It

'F' is for Face Tag

This is my 'F' is for Face Tag completed as a challenge over on UK Stampers Forum. The background was a grungy pale map and this was overstamped with a diamond stamp from Cherry Pie in vintage sepia Versafine. A few fine swirls were added with an unknown stamp inked with Adirondack oregano ink. The main image (Cherry Pie) was stamped on oyster card with onyx black Versafine ink and carefully cut out. The alphas were from PaperArtsy and were stamped on oyster card with black Versafine and coloured with ochre Marvey le Plume II pen. The tag and the alpha plate were then edged with dark brown Chalk ink.

The hole and eyelet were cut and applied with the Crop-a-dile and some mustard fibres added and knotted several times.

Pin It

'T' is for Time Tag

Here is my 'T' for Time tag done for the weekly challenge set by Efemera (Gail) on UK Stampers Forum. This time I decided to use masks and distess inks for the background. I cut the tag from plain cream cardstock and then applied Distress inks with cut'n'dry foam over Tim Holtz masks from the time sheet. I used dusty concord, tea dye, & aged mahogony on the body of the tag and black soot on the edges.

I spattered water unevenly over the background and after 15 seconds dried with a heat gun to set. Next I stamped a text stamp in aged mahogony top left and a small ruler stamp twice with dusty concord on the bottom right corner. Not sure where the stamps were from. I then stamped a 'No' stamp in Versamark and heat embossed with old gold embossing powder. The 'Time' stamp was stamped in dusty concord.

I then used a polka dot stamp from Tanda Stamps and stamped in versamark and heat embossed with pink EP bottom left. Finally a hole was cut with the crop-a-dile and a pink eyelet set. A purple satin tassel was then tied through the hole to finish. Most materials are available from The Artistic Stamper.

Hope you like it :-)

Pin It

'Fly' ATC

This is my entry for this weeks TMTA challenge. All rubber stamps are from a plate from A Time To Stamp with colours from Distress inks and Adirondacks with some Stazon too !! I used a waterbrush also.

Hope you like it :-)

Pin It

Acetate ATC's

Here are my three ATC for this months challenge over on UK Stampers Forum. 'Acetate' was the theme. The first two (from the left) have acetate overlays which have been heat embossed with white EP. The last one has been stamped with stazon and painted with metallics from behind.

Hope you like them :-)

Pin It

'Man in The Mirror' Decorated Mirror

Only called 'Man in the Mirror' because I am reflected, complete with camera in the mirror on this shot of a decorated mirror I made today at a class at Paddy's Stamping Place in Prestwich - Manchester.

Our host and very talented crafter was Neet Hickson, who was very patient and an excellent tutor during the all-day session.

The base frame was from Ikea (Malmo Mirror) and we first removed the mirror and then covered the raw pine with black acrylic or claybord ink using cut'n'dry foam.

We the used Makins air dry clay to produce the tiles which were stamped into with a host of stamps and then covered with mica powders applied sparingly with a brush. The resultant pieces were adhered to produce the all-over design, and allowed to dry before replacing the mirror. I used a few black clay base pieces but mainly blue for the rest. Each piece was rolled out by hand with a small roller and spacers so we didn't use a pasta machine either.

I always find shiny things difficult to photograph and hope the close-ups show enough detail. I love the finish as I always love blue themes anyway. I think the bit of green adds interest too !

Had a fantastic day and really achieved a lot thanks to Paddy and Neet who are both stars !! All materials except the mirror are available at Paddy's too !

Hope you like it :-)

Pin It

Wildflower ATC

Here is a little ATC I did using stamps from Crafty Individuals. They were stamped on a magenta background in various Stazon, Versafine & Brilliance inks with some being highlighted with Glossy Accents.

Hope you like it :-)

Pin It

Altered Backing Paper

This is one of nine 4 x 4 inch squares made from a single 12 x 12 sheet of backing paper which I have altered as part of a swap over on UK Stampers Forum.

We all have loads of 12 x 12 inch papers (don't we !!) so this is an ideal way to use some of that stuff that has been sat there for ages and that will NEVER get used as it is. This way, at least you can disguise what you have and then use it as a mat or on other projects.

The background print on the paper I used was a fairly small overall Victorian design in coffee on white. I have used a circle foam stamp and metallic paints in silver, old gold and copper which have been stamped randomly and unevenly over the whole sheet and allowed to dry thoroughly. The paper has been cut to size and then each piece stamped with Versafine vintage sepia with a PaperArtsy weather stamp covered in chocolate embossing powder and heat embossed with the heat gun. The field of sky stamp (A Stamp In The Hand) was then used to add some texture to the top left of the square with dark brown chalk ink. The same ink was used to edge each piece to finish.

Hope you like it :-)

Pin It

'U' for Unusual Tag

Here is my ' Very unusual for me tag!' Simply very unusual because I have used nothing but peel-offs for the background on this one. OK I have coloured, altered, cut and overlayed them but they are actually unrecognisable when used like this !

Detail of background

I took a piece of brown card, cut to shape, applied loads of gold peeloffs in a random fashion layering them over each other. Then I coloured with Alcohol Inks in butterscotch, ginger, terra cotta & cranberry. I inked up a dragonfly stamp with black Stazon and stamped this several times on top of the peel-offs (not easy to see in the pic). The U is a chipboard letter applied on foam pads over a mat made of gold card with a diamond heat embossed design in brown, a piece of torn print and a black material flower with button centre to embellish the mat.

The words are printed on the inkjet printer, matted on the brown card and applied with foam pads also. The hole and eyelet was cut and set with the crop-a-dile and some white fibres added through the hole.

Hope you like it !

Pin It

'Stars & Stripes' ATC

It's July 4th, so to celebrate Independance Day in the USA I crafted a little ATC I entitled 'Stars & Stripes'.

Simple Adirondack dye ink in red pepper & stream applied in stripes with cut'n'dry foam to a marbled white base card cut to size. The stamp is one from Third Coast Stamps and the central image was stamped with Versamark and heat embossed with detail silver embossing powder using a heat gun. Parts of the stamp were then inked with the Adirondacks in the same colours and some of the stars in the images inked in using opaque white Sakura Gelly Roll pen. The ATC was edged with silver Krylon pen.

Here's wishing all my friends in the USA a great celebration on the day !

That is it.....hope you like it !

Pin It

'Face' ATC

This ATC has been made as my entry into the TMTA 'Look into a face' theme for this week. The main stamp is from Cherry Pie and is stamped in black Stazon over a spray background and torn backing paper. A small dragonfly has been stamped in rocket red Brilliance ink and a script stamp was inked in sunflower yellow Brilliance and stamped at the top (not easily noticeable in this pic). The flowers were coloured using a waterbrush and red pepper /stream Adirondack dye inks. Finished with edging of iris chalk ink.

Pin It