In the round ....

Made a set of three Artist Trading Coins for a swap on UK Stampers Forum ....

I used recycled packaging to die-cut the bases of 2.5 ins diameter, I then covered with blue printed paper also die-cut.

The design was stamped in black Archival ink onto the paper and a further three designs stamped and coloured with Gelly Roll glitter pens, before trimming out and applying centrally on foam pads onto each Coin.

Each were finished withPosca white and dots applied with more Gelly roll pen.

Sid xx

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Fantasy Floral .....

A brand new Fantasy Floral Birthday Card made with stamps, watercolours die-cuts & sequins ....

It's for sale in my Etsy Shop ...... click HERE to go have a look .....

Sid xx

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Ferny Inchies ......

Hope you have all have had a wonderful Easter and that this Monday is super for you too !

Made this set of Inchies (1 x 1 inch squares) for a Swap over on UK Stampers Forum Facebook Group where you can join the Forum & join in if you like !

I used card from a cereal carton and punched out the blanks.  I then cut out some green heavy paper and stamped this with a set of fern stamps from Crafty Individuals in Archival black ink.  These were attached and embellished with some green gel pen dots.

The words were inkjet printed, trimmed out stuck in place and edged in green gel pen.

Sid xx

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Circles ......

This is a mailart postcard made for a Swap this month on UK Stampers Forum Facebook Group .... the theme this month is 'Geometric Shapes'

I used a set of Uniko stamps and stamped in archival black on a 6 x 4 inch card base.  I then used a set of pens to colour the images as shown.  The text is made with a label maker.  I also stamped some stars in Versamagic chalk inks and edged the postcard in purple ink to finish.

If you fancy joining in this popular monthly swap do click HERE and join the Forum to enter this months swap.

Sid xx

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Friendly Inchies .....

A set of Inchies made for the September Swap over on UK Stampers Forum Facebook Group.......

I punched out six 1 x 1 inch squares of kraft card as the base, followed by six more from white card coloured with Distress Oxides.

I stamped a flower in black Archival centrally on the kraft squares.  I then used a die and cut a square aperture in the centre of the coloured squares.

I then layered the coloured over the stamped kraft squares.  I stamped 'friend' (Papertrey Ink) in archival black as shown and used some gel pens to colour the central flower and the inner square frames.  I edged with turquoise chalk ink & finished with a fine black Micron pen.

Sid xx

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Rainy Day !!

This 6 x 4 postcard is my monthly entry for February in the Uk Stampers Forum postcard swap.  This months swap subject is 'The Weather'.

I chose the main stamp which is from Stampotique and I love it ! The background is a Gelli Plate print.

I stamped the main image in Memento onyx black ink.  The other stamp was from PaperArtsy and is the top of a clown hat.  I also used a swirl stamp in the background.

The rainy day sentiment was stamped in Versamark and heat embossed using Lapis Lazuli embossing powder.

I drew in the raindrops with glitter Jelly Roll.  Then I went a bit mad adding Posca marker colours, black Micron pen, more Gelly Roll and Alcohol inks to finish.

It will travel naked through the post so I sealed with matt acrylic spray.

Sid xx

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'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

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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:-)

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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:-)

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'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 :-)

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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 :-)

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'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 !

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'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 :-)

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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 !

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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 :-)

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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 :-)

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'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 :-)

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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 :-)

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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.

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'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 !

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