'Y' is for Year Tag

Sunday again and it's time for a tag. This weeks challenge over on UK Stampers was to make a tag using the letter 'y' and the theme of Year. This is my entry and as you can see I was thinking of the days in a year.

The tag was cut from pale lemon cardstock and the bottom half stamped with a text stamp (?) in versafine vintage sepia ink. The top half of the tag was stamped with a gorgeous stamp (Tuscan Rose) in pumkin Stazon. The tag was then coloured with cut'n'dry foam and Distress Inks in old paper, tea dye & spiced marmalade. A mini mask of a swirl from Tim Holtz ideology was used on the lower half also. When happy with the results I then prepared the embellishments.

First I stamped the text stamp again in vintage sepia in Versafine on the pale lemon card and then overstamped in black Stazon the three numbers with stencil type stamps (?). These were trimmed out and edged in dark brown chalk ink before applying with foam pads to afford relief. The 'DAYS' and 'in a' words were stamped with Making Memories magnetic alphas and again trimmed out and stuck in place with Glossy Accents.

A chipboard Y was heat embossed with Rust Sparkle embossing powder and the rest of the letters in YEAR stamped directly in black Stazon using alphas from See D's. These have been glazed with Sakura Jelly Roll clear glaze pen.

Final touches were to add an orange eyelet and a piece of orange grosgrain ribbon stapled in place.

Sid xxx

Nature Card

Here is a rather grungy card I have entitled 'Nature'. I am on a spray background kick at the moment so the base card started off pale green. I then mixed some mica sprays in green, blue and copper using Cosmic Shimmer mica pigments and sprayed until the desired effect was achieved (drying between sprayings). The main stamp is from PaperArtsy and was stamped once as a mask and the second time on the sprayed background in vintage sepia Versafine ink. The mask was positioned over the original image and the foliage stamp (unknown) inked in cosmic copper Brilliance ink and stamped a few times over the mask to afford background around the main image but not into it. The image was hand painted with Adirondack inks in lettuce and cranberry applied with a waterbrush. The text (PaperArtsy) was stamped as shown in onyz black Versafine.





The flower embellishment is a mulberry flower from Hero Arts which I have coloured with dark pink ink and cosmic copper Brilliance. This was stuck in place as shown and a metal flower embellishment from Making Memories was applied in its centre.

The ribbon of plain light green grosgrain has also been stamped with the Brilliance cosmic copper before threading through a buckle from MM and sticking in place.

The whole card is a bit moody, but I wanted it to be that way. Hope you like it.

Sid xxx

'Numbers' ATC

Here is an ATC I have made using a background of home made mica sprays in blues and greens. I applied multiple layers of spray onto dark green paper and dried between coats. I used a variety of micas from Cosmic Shimmer and added drops of Distress re-inker from Ranger to intensify the depth of colour. Once I was happy with the effect I backed the paper with orange card and trimmed off the excess.

I then took a large chipboard N and sprayed with green and gold mica sprays drying with a heat gun. The edges of the letter were coloured with orange Copic marker before triple heat embossing with clear embossing powder.

The background was overstamped with a number stamp from PaperArtsy in olive green Stazon and an acrylic swirl flourish stamp from Li'l Davis Designs in pearlescent rust Brilliance ink. The strips were stamped in olive green Stazon using another PaperArtsy stamp onto some textured paper which had also been sprayed with orangey mica spray. The strips were applied with gluestick and the chipboard N with Glossy Accents. The other letters were coloured with the orange Copic Marker and applied as shown. Finally the whole ATC was edged with Versamagic pumpkin spice chalk ink.

Hope you like it. Sid :-)

Lizard ATC

This is an ATC I did for this weeks TMTA challenge. Reptiles was the theme so I made a black Fimo polymer clay lizard using a mould from Krafty Lady and applied mica powders before baking. The base is black card which has been stamped with galaxy gold Brilliance ink using a stone texture stamp from Judikins 'Artifacts' cube and sprayed with Moonglow gold glitz spritz. The letters are pre-printed by K & Co and attached with Glossy Accents. The ATC has been edged with gold Krylon pen.

One problem I found is as usual the shiny finishes on this card are very difficult to photograph so it looks much better in real life.

Sid:-)

'M' is for Mystical Tag

This tag is another in the series. This weeks challenge is 'M' for Mystical. I used a light sage green background card cut to size and stamped with a PaperArtsy swirl stamp on the Chipboard letter and the cards base. I used eden green Stazon on the letter and starlight black Brilliance on the background. Next a piece of background paper was stamped with a PaperArtsy text stamp in olive green. This was torn and edged with grey chalk ink before attaching to the base. A piece of dark green velvet ribbon with gold stars was cut and applied with double sided adhesive as shown. I used Nick Bantock sapmoss green ink applied with cut'n'dry foam at the bottom of the tag.

The wizard and 'Abracadabra' stamps are by Third Coast and were both stamped with Versamark and heat embossed with obsidian green Moonglow EP. The rest of the word 'Mystical' is stamped on the same base card using Making Memories magnetic alphas. This was cut out and edged with dark green chalk ink.

All elements were then assembled with the wizard and the word raised on sticky pads to provide some different levels on the tag. Finally a hole was punched and an eyelet applied with the crop-a-dile with a small piece of dark green satin ribbon tied through.

Sid:-)

Flower Power ATC

This is my entry into this weeks TMTA. The theme is Flower Power. The card was stamped with Hampton Arts flower stamps in Memento inks and infilled with Gelly Roll pens. The swirls were added by hand with Marvey Le Plume II pens and the words are stickers.

Sid:-)

King Tut ATC

Here is another Egyptian themed ATC I did recently. The stamp is from Tanda and was inked with black Stazon ink on a white slightly textured card cut to ATC size. The background uses Nick Bantock inks in damson plum & vermillion lacquer applied over the image with cut'n'dry foam. The highlighting was done with an opaque white Jelly Roll pen and the ATC was edged with gold Krylon.

Sid:-)

Simple Beauty Tiled Plaque

Here is a tiled plaque I have called 'Simple Beauty'. It is 8 ins x 9 ins in size. I have made the tiles mainly from Fimo Classic polymer clay. The base is made from mountboard which has had a piece of old book paper applied after tearing the edges. Pale blue acrylic paint was added and wiped off in places to let the text show through. The whole board was then given a very watered down coat of translucent gold glaze and allowed to dry.

All the other tiles are made from black classic Fimo apart from six small glass mirrored beads made by Guttermann. The clay has been rolled out through a pasta machine to condition before adding mica powders with my finger to leave the black deboss of the stamped design. I have used various stamps in text & swirls, cutting the shapes out with a thin clay blade. The tiles were then baked at 130C for 40 minutes and allowed to cool. The design was layed out on the base board until happy with the overall effect.

All the square tiles are made from black opaque glass, some have been painted gold with Viva metallic paint and some left unpainted. Some of the others have been embellished with faux pearl cabochons.

The main central picture was stamped (Cherry Pie Stamps) on plain copier paper, coloured with watercolour and a coat of transluscent gold glaze. Once dry cut out to size and stuck on the base board.

All other tiles were then stuck in place with clear glue gel as shown.

The two swirls were made from grungeboard and were treated with Viva gold crackle paint applied thickly and unevenly with a palette knife. Once this had dried dark blue chalk ink was applied direct from the pad to obtain a roughly coated finish. That crackle paint just looks like gold leaf once dry and adds a different texture to the swirls.

These were then stuck in place with Glossy Accents and the whole piece edged in the same dark blue chalk ink.

Sid:-)

'Pierrot' decorated jigsaw pieces

I recently ran a swap on UK Stampers Forum where players were sent two large jigsaw pieces to decorate in any way they liked. On my entry I decided to do a hanger with the two pieces joined. I used mainly diamond shapes and called my piece 'Pierrot' thinking about the diamond design often associated with the clown costumes.

I began by painting the two pieces separately with a grey/blue acrylic paint and gave the pieces two coats. I then joined them together and put some backing paper on the back to hold them together whilst I decorated them.

I used a foam diamond design stamp from Making Memories and painted metallic blue paint onto it and stamped this onto the pieces and allowed to dry. Next I used a text plaque stamp from Cherry Pie and inked this in Versamagic Chalk inks in oasis green & sea breeze and stamped over the diamonds 4 times. I then used Gelly Roll Souffle pen to outline some of the diamonds (green & grey).


I made the letter 'p' ages ago and it is a wooden letter triple heat embossed with metallic pearl embossing powders in black, blue, green & gold. A paper flower was coloured with metallic blue paint and the chalk inks and applied with adhesive after using a pastel blue brad to decorate its centre. The 'p' was stuck in place and the other letters coloured with Copic marker and placed as shown. the centre of the p and the letters were given a light coat with Stickles glitter glue in crystal. Some green oval cabochons were applied as shown.

Finally a piece of grosgrain ribbon was stamped with a single diamond in vintage sepia Versafine and dots of Stickles applied along the centre of the diamonds. This was attached with glossy accents at the back as a hanger.

Hope whoever gets it, likes it.

Sid:-)

My Beady Eye

Here we go again, more beads. This time I used Fimo classic black polymer clay which seems to pick up the mica much better. The mica was misty lavender by Jacquard Pearl-Ex and was applied with a soft brush before baking the clay at 110C for a minimum of 30 mins. The seed beads in between are glass and I didn't make them ........... a bit too fiddly for my fat fingers I expect.

I also conditioned the clay at least 10 times through a pasta machine (set at its thickest setting & reserved just for this stuff !) before rolling in the bead roller machine. I will be doing more and then will actually do a necklace, at this stage just seeing which clays are best.

Sid :-)

'Summer' Art Raffle piece

Here is my 'Summer' inspired piece for the 'UK Art Raffle' where you send in a piece of artwork of any type and the lucky winner gets all the art ! Costs nothing to enter and it's a fabulous idea and a fabulous prize to the winner each month.

This piece is made on a piece of artboard 4 x 5 inches in size. The background was first painted with pale blue acrylic paint and allowed to dry. I then applied two colours of distress Crackle Paint in faded jeans and weathered wood in a thick uneven coat down the left hand side of the board. Once dry the board was coloured around the edges with cut'n'dry foam and Adirondack inks in stonewashed & wild plum, going over the crackle finish to get some ink into the cracks.

The little house was cut from chipboard and covered in gesso. Once dry this was stamped in black Stazon with a PaperArtsy stamp and coloured with cut'n'dry foam in stonewashed Adirondack Ink. The roof was masked with sequin scrap and inked with Versamark and finally heat embossed with dark blue EP. A flower snap was added to the bottom left. The edges of the house and window were inked in dark purple ink. The lady in the window was stamped and applied behind the house with glossy accents and a flower covered in glitter with a flat backed gem as the centre was added on the roof.

The background was then stamped on the right side with swirl and bud stamps (Wendy Rhodes). The summer word ( Making Memories magnetic alphas) was stamped in black Stazon on a scrap of card, trimmed and clipped into place with a swirly clip.

The glitter flowers were applied in abundance as shown with glossy accents over the stamping and the house stuck in place also.

Good luck to the winner this month.

'G' is for Graffiti Tag

This weeks Sunday Challenge over on UK Stampers Forum is make a tag using the letter G in the theme of Graffiti. Not an easy one really !!

I cut the tag blank from bright orange cardstock and then stamped to my hearts content with a range of rubber stamps in Stazon and Brilliance inks.

The letters are pre-printed self adhesive and the 01 is grungeboard (stamped on and stuck in place with Glossy Accents). Last thing was to add a black eyelet and some spotty ribbon, stapled in place.

Sid :-)

'Fire' ! ATC

Here is another ATC, this one entitled 'Fire'. I have managed to try out my new Viva Ferro metal effect colours in bronze and copper. I love the texture and the way they spread and they are loaded with fine metal filings which add an even better surface finish too.

I cut the ATC from card and used a palette knife to spread two stripes of the Ferro, blending in the middle. The house and roof were cut from chipboard and first stamped with black Stazon using a Zettiology stamp. They were next coloured with distress inks in spiced marmalade and fired brick applied with cut'n'dry foam before edging with gold Krylon pen.

I then stamped (again in black Stazon) some feint images onto the dried background and they are hardly visible and added a small pool of glossy accents in the bottom left to which I adhered some old gold bugle beads and allowed to dry.




I then took a little opaque orange plastic tag and trimmed it to fit the top left of the card. I drew some flames onto it using orange Tiara Gelly Roll pen and stamped the word 'Fire' in black stazon. The card was then assembled as shown using glossy accents to adhere the house and the tag.

I am really impressed with the Ferro colour and will definately be trying it out on more artwork in the near future. Sid :-)