Wild Tag

Here we go with another tag in the Rolling Recipe series being run over on UK Stampers Forum.  This weeks ingredients are:

1. Tree/trees

2. Heat embossing

3. Stamped image of an animal

I started with a white card blank cut to size.  I used orange pigment ink and inked a tree stamp (PaperArtsy) and stamped it twice overlapping at the top of the tag.  This was then heat embossed with detail clear embossing powder.  I then used Impress dye inks in yellow and tangerine applied direct to the card from the pads and rubbed off excess ink lying on the embossing with a tissue.

I then applied more Impress ink in olive green to the bottom of the tag in a similar manner.  I then inked a roman numeral stamp (Stamp-It) with tangerine Impress and stamped at the top and then with emerald green Impress at the bottom.

The wolf image is from Lost Coast stamps and I have had it for ages and never used it.  It's quite a stunning image on its own !  I inked this with black Stazon and cut it out.  I coloured its eyes pale blue and pencilled in areas with silver and graphite derwent metallic pencils.  Finishing with Inktense graphite applied with a water brush.  A final spray with Moonglow Glitz Spritz in scintillating silver gave it a fab shimmer.  This was dried with a heat gun before applying with a glue stick.

The tag was edged with Colorbox chalk ink in orange and green and a grey eyelet applied with the crop-a-dile.  Some self adhesive letters were coloured with orange solvent ink to spell 'Wild'. A short length of silver cord was tied through the hole to finish.

Sid xx

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Memories ATC

This ATC was made by using self adhesive sheet, embossing powders, metallic flakes (Crafty Notions) and a new embossing folder from Sizzix by Tim Holtz (Artistic Stamper).The image of the couple is from Crafty Individuals, the bird is a Martha Stewart punch and the word stamp from 7 gypsies.  Some swirls have been stamped over the background in fuschia Stazon ink and a small adhesive gem added.

Sid xx

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Vintage ATC

This ATC started life as a piece of black card cut to size.  I painted it with Lumiere hi lite violet acrylic paint and allowed it to dry, this almost entirely obliterated the black but provided a fab interference colour.

I then inked a swirl stamp and stamped randomly in onyx black Versafine on a piece of scrap salmon pink textured card. Next I sprayed this with peacock mica spray and dried with the heat gun. Five squares were then punched out with a square punch.  These were edged in Stazon black and put on one side. I then sprayed the background card at the edges with the same mica spray which balled up to produce a mottled effect.  Next a Crafty Individuals stamp was inked with black Stazon and stamped as shown on the background.  The face was glossed with Sakura clear glaze pen. The squares made earlier were then adhered across the ATC as shown.

The swirl stamp was next inked with fuschia pink Stazon and stamped several times. A small piece of silk ribbon was frayed and adhered and embellished with a small adhesive gem. The edges of the card were inked in mauve chalk ink to finish.  It's much more metallic and shimmery in real life as these never photograph well.

Sid xx

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Charming !

These little key charms were made as part of a swap run over on UK Stampers Forum by the lovely Minxy.  She kindly hosted the swap and each participant (14 in total), made 14 charms which were sent to her.  She had the massive task of fixing all the different charms to a bracelet that she had made before sending back our fab finished works of art.

I used a key stamp from Elusive Images and stamped this on opaque shrink plastic with black Stazon.  I then used Sakura Moonlight pens to colour them before punching a hole with the crop-a-dile, cutting out and shrinking them.  I applied a small jump ring to each to finish.

I thought that they would be ideal because they were only 1 inch long and very lightweight too ! Click HERE to see the finished bracelets and all the charms.

Sid xx

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House and Home Tag

Here is my next tag in the Rolling Recipe series on UK Stampers forums weekly challenge.  This one had to have the following elements:

1. Acetate

2. Stripes

3. Stamped house/houses

I started with a white card blank and adhered some printed stripey paper to it.  I then took some old bookpaper, tore it, added some ochre chalk ink and adhered this at the top of the tag.

I then took a house stamp (Zettiology) and stamped this in onyx black Versafine onto more white card.  I then used a brayer and a shades of purple Dee Gruenig blending blox (Marvey) to colour the image, adding a little ochre chalk ink also.  Some glossy accents were added to one or two of the buttons on the roof !  This was allowed to dry and was then cut out.

Next I took some acetate and stamped a buttons border stamp (Lost Coast Designs) in Royal Purple Stazon along one edge.  This was trimmed and adhered on the left side of the tag behind some of the buttons with Glossy Accents.

In the meantime, some dots (Tanda Stamps) were stamped bottom right with the blending block ink and another image of the house was stamped on the tag top right with scattered straw Distress ink.

The stamped house was added as shown on foam pads and the word 'home' stamped in vintage sepia Versafine ink with clear polymer stamps.  Finishing touches were to add a piece of aubergine velvet ribbon at the top, held in place with a material covered brad which had been coloured with the same blending block ink.

Love the Purple Stazon on the acetate.......it really makes it pop !

Sid xx

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Butterfly Philosophy Tag

      

Here is Tag No.16 in the series of Rolling Recipe Tags hosted on UK Stampers forum by the lovely Efemera.  This week we had to include the following:

1. Stripes

2. Stamped Butterfly
3. Acetate

I started with white card, cut to shape.  The top section of the background was coloured with Distress ink in scattered straw and pumice stone applied with cut'n'dry foam.  I used a clear stamp from Li'l Davis Designs and inked this with more scattered straw Distress and stamped onto the background 2 or 3 times. I then chose some stripy paper and cut it at an angle with scallop decorative scissors and applied in lower half of the tag with glue stick.

I used pumice stone Distress ink to ink a solid butterfly background stamp (Elusive Images) and stamped this in the centre to act as a background for the acetate overlay which was stamped with another Elusive Images detail butterfly stamp in black Stazon and trimmed to size. This was adhered over the solid background in 4 places with Glossy Accents.

I then embossed the word 'philosophy' onto a strip of card and coloured again with scattered straw Distress ink, applying as shown.  I added a metal corner embellishment on the left.

                                

Finishing touches were made by applying a piece of silver braid, tied in a bow. A grey eyelet applied with the crop-a-dile and a length of grey decorative fibre tied through the eyelet.

I wanted to keep this one very simple and the colours of grey, straw and black seemed to do the trick.

Sid xx

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Spring has Sprung

It's been simply ages since I posted, somehow life got in the way ! This little number is my homage to Spring in that it makes me feel brighter and the sun is actually shining outside today.

I have had the mini canvas (2.75 x 2.75 ins) in my hands so many times and have never done anything with it to date. I used tissue paper, stamped images and napkins for the background, all adhered and held in place with Matt Mod Podge.

I had been sent a very lovely paper napkin as a RAK and tore the edges (which contained images of cherries) and adhered these with the Mod Podge and a soft brush. I then stamped some text onto pale pink tissue paper with Versafine vintage sepia ink, again tore this and adhered several pieces across the canvas using the same method. I finished off by stamping an image (free coverstamp from Craft Stamper Mag) with Cherry Red Stazon onto pink tissue and applied this as before. I left one or two bits of the canvas showing through too.

Next I cut the lady image from a mini postcard and edged with black ink. This was applied over the collaged canvas (once dry) with Glossy Accents as shown. A piece of pink velvet rik-rak ribbon was applied with glossy accents and this was embellished with a button tied through with a thin piece of dark green braid and adhered on a glue dot.

To finish I added a coat of victorian velvet Distress ink applied with cut'n'dry to the sides of the canvas. I love the way that tissue paper allows the other stamped layers to show through.

Hope you like it !

Sid xx

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'Rolling Recipe' Tag 4

This is the fourth tag in the challenge series, recipe for this one is:

1. A stamped floral image
2. Text
3. The colour red

I started by stamping a wood mounted floral stamp from Elusive Images with Versamark ink onto white cardstock. This was then heat embossed with detail black embossing powder. The embossd image was next coloured with a waterbrush and Caran D'Ache water soluble crayons before trimming out with fine scissors.

The base tag was cut to size and a piece of Japanese text applied to the top half with glue stick. The lower half was covered in a piece of torn red striped paper.

Peeled paint distress ink was applied in rough stripes on the text paper at the top and blazing red Stazon was applied on the red paper direct from the inkpad. Some green hand made paper was cut into strips with a pair of deckle edge scissors and two strips were applied as shown.

Next another swirl stamp (Elusive Images) was inked with blazing red Stazon and this was stamped at the top and on the red paper at the bottom.

Finally the flower image was stuck in place with glue stick and the word 'Bloom' (Elusive Images)stamped roughly in onyz black Versafine at the bottom.

Sid xx

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'Rolling Recipe' Tag 3

This is the third tag in the 'Rolling Recipe' series. This weeks had to have a stamped floral image, text and buttons.

Because it's so close to Valentines Day I decided to do a rather different Valentine Tag ........... all greens instead of the usual reds and pinks. All stamps are from Elusive Images.

The card base is white coated card and I have applied layers of Distress inks in shabby shutters, peeled paint and pine needles with a blending tool & cut'n'dry foam. I have then stamped some of the flourishes with the stamp moistened with just a spritz of water from a mini mister. This has almost had a bleached effect on the background colours (see below). Other flourishes were stamped with peeled paint Distress Ink until the effect was to my liking.

The heart was stamped on moss green card with black Stazon and then the design gone over with a Quickie Glue Pen and allowed to dry before applying green and gold transfer foils over the top. This was trimmed with scissors and mounted on foam pads as shown.

The word 'Love' was stamped twice with onyx black Versafine ink as shown.

Five lime green plastic buttons, graduating in size were stamped with the centre of a daisy stamp in olive green Stazon before sticking in place with Glossy Accents at the base of the tag. The holes were filled with sage Appli Glue.

Finishing touches were to add a lime flower eyelet with the crop-a-dile and a length of dark green eyelash yarn tied in a knot through the eyelet.

Sid xx

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Kind Thoughts Card

Christmas has now passed and the New Year is just around the corner so I decided a change was as good as a rest. One of my friends has not been too good over the break and I wanted to do a card to cheer her up.

I used a stamp called 'Natures Little Helper' from The Artistic Stamper which I won from the very kind Jennie. I used acetate, glitter and souffle pens to colour in the image (attributed to Mabel Lucie Attwell).

I took a mottled pale blue cardstock and trimmed/scored to make a 4 x 4 inch square card as the base.

I took a piece of acetate and stamped the image with black Stazon. I then used dries clear art glue and applied a number of colours of ultrafine glitters on the reverse of the acetate, allowing them to dry between colours. The body, ear and paint tin were coloured with Sakura Souffle pens and allowed to dry. I then trimmed out the image to leave around a 1/4 inch border.

Next I took a piece of K&Co printed cardstock trimmed as shown and cut an aperture top right with a large square punch. This was rubbed over with broken china Distress ink applied with cut'n'dry foam. This was then matted over some dark plum coloured card and the same aperture cut again with the punch.

The matt was applied centrally with DS tape, the acetate applied over the aperture with glue applied behind the glitter and the card finished off with a 'Thinking of you' sentiment mounted on foam tape and matted onto the same dark plum card.

Hope she likes it !

Sid xx

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Xmas ATC

This ATC was done as my entry for the open theme for Wednesday Stamper this week. I used a printed clocking-in card as the background which I coloured with Distress inks in shabby shutters and fired brick applied with cut'n'dry foam.

The background cone stamp is from PaperArtsy and was stamped as shown in vintage sepia Versafine ink. The white highlights were then added with a white pigment pen.

The plate was also coloured with the same Distress inks and stamped with black Stazon with a 'Dec 25' PaperArtsy stamp. The plate was trimmed and matted onto gold paper and trimmed again. Some white was added as before and the plate applied with foam pads as shown. The whole ATC was then edged with gold Krylon pen to finish.

Very simple but I liked the almost faded look on this one.

Sid xx

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Reindeer Tag

Just got a little time to spare this afternoon so decided to make another Xmas tag. I had a reindeer stencil and thought I would use this as a base design along with golden snowflakes. I used muted neutral colours to keep the whole tag soft but rich looking.

The white base card was cut to size. I then used scattered straw Distress ink and cut'n'dry foam to colour the background. I used a couple of coats and applied the second coat more heavily around the edges of the tag. I dried in between layers with a heat gun.

I then applied the reindeer stencil and used brushed corduroy Distress ink to colour the reindeer a nice brown. The card was then spritzed lightly with water in a mini mister and allowed to dry naturally. This provided a slight speckling over the applied inks.

When totally dry I rubbed over the inked surface with an anti-static bag and stamped a snowflake stamp (?) inked with Versamark in and stamped randomly over the tag. This was then heat embossed with gold embossing powder. Next a poinsettia stamp from PaperArtsy was inked with black Stazon and stamped twice on printed dark pink background paper. The images were cut out and applied as shown with a dark pink brad. These were enhanced with pink Stickles glitter glue.

Finally the word plate was stamped in black Stazon and coloured with the same two Distress inks. Before applying this with foam pads it was edged with burnt sienna Chalk Ink along with the outside edge of the tag. I added a couple of yellow flat-backed mirror cabouchons as reindeer eyes with glossy accents and added a few spots of white with a pigment pen to the corners of the plate.

Finally a piece of gold woven ribbon was trimmed, folded over and applied with 4 gold staples. I thought the rosy colour of the poinsettia just offset the neutral tones of the background nicely.

Sid xx

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12 Days of............Day 5

Here is my next entry for the 12 Days of............ Challenge ! This one is representing Day 5 (5 Gold Rings).

I actually had a gold ring (not real gold , of course !) which I wanted to include on the 4 x 4 inch square. I used a background of printed paper which was stamped with a Purple Onion stamp and emerald Impress Dye ink. I then used a text stamp (Purple Onion) and stamped this top right with autumn leaves Impress ink.

Next I stamped a swirly arch stamp (Purple Onion) several times in a line on the same background paper with black Stazon ink and cut this out, swiping with ultramarine Impress ink before applying with glue stick down the right hand side. This was trimmed to fit. Another Purple Onion stamp was used to add the spikey bits on the top left in Brilliance cosmic copper.

Next a metallic bronze No. 5 numeral was stamped over with the text stamp and black Stazon and stuck into place with Glossy Accents. The x ( See D's alphas) was stamped on blue card with Versamark and heat embossed with terracotta embossing powder. This was cut out and applied as shown.

Next the gold ring was applied as shown with Glossy Accents and surrounded by printed letters to spell 'Rings'. The whole card was edged with iris chalk ink and small amounts of frosted lace and crystal Stickles added to finish.

Sid xx

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12 Days of............Day 3

Well this is the third 4 x 4 inch plate done on the theme of 12 Days of Christmas. Day three represents '3 French Hens'. Will a parrot do? At least the words are French on the background.

I have used printed background paper and only one stamp on this piece.

The french script background paper was adhered to the base card and the left hand side was swiped with Impress peony purple inkpad. I then punched out two circles in another printed paper and two stars in the same french script paper. The circles were swiped with the Impress inkpad and edged in iris Colorbox chalk ink. The stars were edged with the same chalk ink. These were applied with glue stick as shown overlapping the edges of the card and trimmed to fit.

I then stamped a PaperArtsy stamp in black Stazon onto the patterned paper and cut this out and applied the image as shown.

The letters and number 3 are stickers picked out with a pink Sharpie pen and applied as shown and the whole plate edged in the iris chalk ink to finish.

That's about it and hope you like it !

Sid xx

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12 Days of ........... Day 1

We are doing a weekly challenge over on UK Stampers Forum. Gail (Efemera) came up with the idea of doing a plate a week for 12 weeks representing the 12 days of.............. !

By this I mean it's not necessarily Christmas but roughly follows your interpretation of the famous Xmas song. So day 1 was 'On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me - a partridge in a pear tree'. The plates are eventually to be ribbonned together to form an accordian book of 10 x 10 cm square.

I first cut the plate out of fairly heavy cardstock and covered this with a piece of decorative paper (Basic Grey). I then stamped directly onto this at the bottom with a punchcard dot stamp (?) using Memento ink in cottage ivy. Next I used a pear stamp from ISC and inked this with spiced marmalade Distress Ink onto another piece of blue/grey printed paper (Basic Grey). I then trimmed this out and edged with malted mauve Versamagic chalk ink before sticking down with glue stick as shown.

Next a piece of torn spotty mulberry paper was stuck in place on the right and I used a crow stamp (Time to Stamp) and inked this with black Stazon and stamped at the top as shown. The stencil alphas (?) spelling No 1 were inked with vintage sepia Versafine and stamped as shown. Once dry these were edged with souffle pen in peppermint green to give them more definition.

The whole card was edged fairly heavily in more of the mulled mauve Vesamagic chalk ink to finish.

Sid xx

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Grungepaper Flower

This is a Grungepaper flower made for a swap on UK Stampers Forum. I decided to do a fantasy flower made up of three layers. I inked a flower stamp from Studio g for the centre with black Stazon ink onto the Grungepaper and trimmed around it making some slits for the petals. This was then sprayed with a purple ink with mica powder added allowed to dry and some dusty concord Distress ink was applied with cut'n'dry foam.

The second layer was stamped in black stazon using a Funstamps gerbera stamp. Again this was trimmed out and coloured with Distress ink in spiced marmalade.

The third layer was made up from a hat stamp from Lost Coast Designs, which was stamped 8 times in a sort of circular format in black Stazon and cut out. This was then inked with cut'n'dry foam and Distress ink in faded jeans, tattered rose and dusty concord.

All the grungepaper was heated and shaped to form the petal shapes before holding the layers together with a square gem brad. Some dots of Stickles glitter glue were added to the outer spikes. I thought it slightly resembled a snowflake so I added a bit of thin velvet ribbon in purple applied to the back with glossy accents to act as a hanger.

Sid xx

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'X' Marks the spot Tag

Yet another tag for the Sunday Challenge over on UK Stampers Forum. This week was the letter 'X' - marks the spot (rather than Xmas or Xylophone).

The base tag is plain black card cut to the tag shape. This was then stamped with a grid stamp from Tuscan Rose inked with Versamark ink and heat embossed with Seafoam White embossing powder.

Then a moth stamp from PaperArtsy was inked with Versamark and heat embossed with Chinese Red EP on the same black card before cutting out the moth. The letter X was a chipboard letter which was inked with Versamark and double heat embossed with Red Sparkle EP.



The leaves (PaperArtsy) were inked with Versamagic Chalk Inks in three shades of green (Sage, Aloe Vera & Tea Leaves) in the bottom left of the tag. The top of the card was stamped with a cloud of sky stamp inked with two shades of blue (Aegean Blue & Sea Breeze) Versamagic Chalk Ink.

The words were stamped with a set of alphas in blazing Red Stazon on a strip of pale green card.

The tag was assembled with the moth on foam pads on the leaves, the X with and the word strip with Glossy Accents. A hole was cut and a blue eyelet applied with the crop-a-dile and some woven silk fibres tied through. The path of the moth to the leaves from the X was hand drawn in dotted line with a white Sakura souffle pen. The tag was edged with Versamagic perfect plumeria chalk ink.

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Crafty Class - 'Ohh Little Bird ! '

My friend and great source of inspiration Gail Milburn (Gails Blog) has, out of the goodness of her heart been very kind to me !

I was taken by a fabric bird that she did in the style of Jenni Horne in an article in the Summer 2009 edition of Sew Somerset inspired by an original by Betz White.

It's a long time since I did any hand sewing even though I only used blanket stitch on this one, but Gail sent me a piece of driftwood that she had collected from the beach (to use as a perch for my birdy), the patterns for the body pieces, the florists wire, the fabric (calico in this case) and the polyester fibre filling ! In fact everything I needed to make one. I had no choice really, did I?

So I set about making my little bird. I have set out my instructions in a class and the steps clearly show how you too could easily make one and call it your own by personalising it in your own unique style.

Class Instructions

You will need the following Materials:

• Bird Pattern (Click to request copy via email)
• Florists Wire
• Polyester Wadding
• Plain Calico
• Driftwood or Wood Dowel
• White Gesso
• Stazon Inkpad (Jet Black)
• Rubber Stamps
• Fabric Paints (Stewart Gill)
• Thread (Metallic Gutermann)
• Sewing Needle
• Decorative Brads
• Sequins (Gutermann)
• Stickles Glitter Glue
• Any Other Decorative Elements
  you want to use

Step 1

First take the template (Request by email) , which has all the parts to make your birdy
which consists of 2 body sides, one throat piece & 2 wings. Cut out the pieces on the template (they are actual size) and pin them to a piece of plain calico. Use a sharp pair of scissors to carefully cut out the pieces then remove the pins and save the pattern pieces for further use. If the cut calico frays a little, don't worry ........ once painted this will stop any further fraying and you can then trim them along the edges to make them as neat as possible.

The cut out calico pieces

The calico pieces then need a liberal coat of white gesso applied with a brush. The wings need it
on both sides. This primes the calico ready to take the stamping and paint and
also resists excessive fraying of the calico.

Step 2

When the gesso is dry take your selected stamps and using the Stazon jet black inkpad stamp the calico as desired. I used a selection of stamps from the ones shown. The finished stamped calico pieces are then shown.

The stamps I used.

The stamped pieces.

Next paint the stamped calico in any colours of fabric paint that take your fancy. I used a selection of Stewart Gill paint, both metallic and transparent to colour my calico. I used Pearlise and Metallica colours to do my thing ! Most fabric paints can be heat set, but I didn't do this (only necessary if you are going to be washing)

The painted pieces

Step 3

Next step is to attach the wings. I used two red metallic swirly brads through the wings and the body pieces bending over the legs of the brad on the inside to secure. I also added the teardrop crystal brads for the little fellas eyes at this stage. Once done, I then took some purple sequins and sewed these in place over some of the stamped circles on the breast body piece.

The pic shows one completed body piece and the breast body piece complete with
sewn on sequins.

Step 4

Next we need to sew all of the body pieces together leaving a small gap through which we will stuff the birdie with the polyester wadding. I sewed the back first using two strands with blanket stitch and the turquoise metallic thread.

My sewing is not perfect but with the metallic thread I don't
think it needs to be perfect

Here's another closer shot of the sewing.

Then I sewed in the breast piece taking care to position the throat correctly so the bird was not unbalanced.

This pic shows the back and breast piece sewn in.

This shows detail of the sewing of the breast piece.

The rest of the sewing was then completed, leaving a gap at the birds bottom end to allow me to stuff it with the polyester wadding. I did this with a ball tool until the bird was firmly filled and had shape. The final bit of sewing was then done to close the hole through which the stuffing had been done.

This pic shows the wadding ready to be stuffed

This pic shows the stuffed bird which has gained a nice plump shape !

Step 5

At this stage it's best to add any other embellishments that you desire. I just added some dots of Stickles glitter glue to outline the flowers, wings and flower centres. You could add faux gems, metal charms for example.

This pic shows the dots of Stickles I added.

Once these have dried it's time to add his beak and legs.

Step 6

Take a small length of your florists wire and simply bend into a U or V shape with your fingers or craft pliers. Cut off this shape from the wire with wire cutters and simply push into the bird between the stitches in an appropriate spot where the beak would be. The wire will stay in place as it is embedded in the wadding inside.

This pic shows the beak made of bent florists wire ready to be
cut off.

This pic shows the beak pushed into place in the wadding.

The legs are made by taking another suitable length of florists wire and bending it with the pliers into a V at right angles to the legs. This is then simply pushed through the calico of the breast piece, threaded through to the other side and pushed out again through the calico. Take care not to deform the V shape when you do this as the V acts as a stabiliser and stops your birdie flopping backwards or forwards. This is a bit fiddly but experiment until you are happy. The calico is very forgiving if you have to try it a few times before you are happy but only make one pair of holes to avoid damaging your little bird..

This pic shows the V with the legs ready to be threaded through
the breast piece of the bird.

This pic shows the legs threaded through the breast piece of
the bird.

Step 7

Finally we need to make the perch and attach the bird to the perch. Take your piece of driftwood or a piece of dowel cut to approx. 5 inches. Wind the ends of the birds legs around the central area of the wood tightly and cut off any excess wire with wire cutters. Then take another two pieces of florists wire and wind round the very ends of the wood to make the swing for the perch on which your little bird is sitting. This needs a bit of trial and error to get right but you will end up with your little bird firmly attached to a perch on a swing.

Well that completes the class. Remember you need to make it your own by using your own colours and embellishments. As you can see there are endless possibilities and variations that you could achieve, but whatever you do enjoy making one of your own. Hope you have found the
tutorial enjoyable and if you have been inspired I would love to see what you do
make.

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