My entry into 'Good Old Days' CJ (UKSTAMPERS)

I am early again (by a week) !! must have had a sudden urge to meet & beat targets. I completed my entry into this CJ after wondering for a long time what exactly I should do. I plumped for a Divas theme and two colourways, one blue and one green. I used stamps from the Divas plate from www.artchixstudio.com .

I used versafine inks, Appli glue (coloured), Beadazzles, gold stars & ribbons to embellish. Also used a fan stamp and heat embossed with enchanted gold EP. All on background crackle paper.

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My entry in 'Wild West' CJ (UKSTAMPERS)

Well here we are again, my entry in the 'Wild West' CJ was finally completed on Monday. This time I could not boast being on time and was, in fact, a week late in sending it to the next recipient.

Here are the shots of both pages and also of the full spread. I used a variety of materials including some faux suede material in tan. On the left hand page I used background paper in terra cotta with tan stars as my base and applied the suede material in a fringe. I then used some brown gingham ribbon and held it in place with gold star brads. Above the fringe I applied a colour image of cowboys and indians and mod podged it in place (applying mod podge to the whole of the area above the fringe. I then bound a number of coloured feathers together with gold wire and applied the feather plume with a brown gingham ribbon knotted bow.

The right hand page had two sewn strips of the suede material applied top and bottom above which more gingham ribbon and brads was applied. I prepared a stampbord square which had been stippled with ink and embellished with a silhouette of a lone cowboy rider applied again with mod podge, and glued in place. The words 'lone, lone on the range' were stamped and applied in strips either side of the stampbord. Three ribbons tied in knots down the right hand side of the page completed the entry.

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Heart Box

This is one of my attempts at decorating a plain heart box.

First I used acrylic paint to prepare the surface (Colonial Green for the outside and French Mauve for the inside and base - both DecoArt Americana collection). I then used a fine leaf design stamp and stamped the top of the lid with Versamark and heat embossed with Pink Pearls EP (ensuring that the inside surface of the lid was well supported to afford a flat surface for the stamp before embossing).


Next I applied a string of blue/green metallic beads to the lid edge with a hot glue gun at small intervals. I cut pink flower sequins in half and applied the halves to the lid edge behing the beads. I cut extra beads from the string and applied these with pink 'pearly doodles' around the lid edge.


When dry I applied an acrylic rose motif to the centre of the top of the lid. I used Adirondack 'bottle' ink and a natural sponge to stipple an all-over pattern on the sides of the base of the box, drying with a heat gun.

I applied a printed satin ribbon to the bottom of the box side and used the hot glue gun to apply silver and pink flower beads at intervals. Finally filled the inside of the box with Stewart Gill Glitterati Filaments (Astral Blue).

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Latest ATC set

I have just completed this set of three ATC's, to be sent to another male swap friend in Australia. The theme is 'Chinese'. I have used similar materials in each case to keep the theme intact.

In all I used EP chinese gold, stamping with Adirondack (espresso), Stazon (blazing red), Acrylic paints (lime green, pink, fern & orange), gold backing paper, vellum, stamps from www.tandastamps.co.uk 'Far East Plate 3', fly image and Japanese lady with parasol, vellum, square bronze brads, peel-off clear squares & decorative fibres.


The weather has been dreadful today here in Manchester today so I stayed in and crafted to my hearts content. Should have seen the state of the kitchen at 6pm !!! more craft stuff about 3 inches deep on every surface.........so had a ready meal, (after clearing the space in front of the microwave).

C'est la vie !!!

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Clares 545 ATC Swap

Clare (Fairy), UKstampers forum suggested an ATC swap with 5 crafters each producing 5 ATC's in a series. Each crafter would then receive 5 ATC's back, one from each set.

This is my set, entitled 'Ladies In Waiting' (don't exactly know what they are waiting for though !). All have brayered backgrounds and are stamped with a series of my favourite stamps from 'Let's Face It' UM sheet from collagabilities. They are embossed with various moonglow & metallic EP's and finished with a swirl stamp using colours of Stazon.

Simple but effective I thought !

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Trish Bayley's background technique

Trish Bayley provided instructions in 'Simply Stamping' Magazine Issue 6 on Textured Alcohol Ink Backgrounds and I thought I would have a go.

I used kitchen towel, nylon fruit netting & clear adhesive tape as my background materials. The
PVA was an evo bond type which dried clear and shiny. I had a major problem though with the application of the alcohol inks with the felt pad. For some reason the PVA reacted to make a very sticky surface once the inks had been applied to the surface and the felt pad started to fluff and stick terribly. I resorted to using liberal amounts of Alcohol Blending Solution to try to overcome this and just about managed this. Next time I will use other means of spreading the ink.............not sure what though !!!




Anyway I have pics of three finishes I produced. The first included the fruit netting whilst the others just had clear adhesive tape and kitchen paper applied with the PVA.

Pic 1 used Cranberry, Wild Plum & Red Pepper Alcohol Inks. Pic 2 Pesto, Espresso, Caramel & Terra Cotta Alcohol Inks. Pic 3 Wild Plum, Denim, Stonewashed & Egglant Alcohol Inks.




Very Pleased with the results though !

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My entry into Flo's CJ (UKSTAMPERS)

Surprise, surprise.......I actually posted this one on time, he said smugly !!!! Yes it was my entry into Flo's CJ 'Dreams & Nightmares'. I pondered long and hard as to my subject matter and ended up with Money !!!!!!!!

Some might say it's a dream to have lots of it whilst others may think of it as a nightmare, especially if you don't have enough of it to pay the bills etc. In this light I produced a rather fussy 'moneyscape' entitled 'Money - mares', a kind of half way house between a lack of it and too much.

Here are the left and right page views of it........hope Flo likes it, and that all of the other CJ ers do too.

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Stampbord

It's been a while................time just flies and September seems to have passed me by.

The Autumn winds have started and the early mornings are cooler and more damp than we have been having lately. Soon the leaves will be falling !!!

I have been playing with Stampbord and produced a little 2 x 2 inch tile. I used TH Distress inks in 'Milled Lavender', 'Weathered Wood' & 'Broken China' direct to the tile and spritzed with a fine mist of water. Then dried off the inks with the heat gun and sprinkled some detail gold embossing powder onto the inks, again heating to melt. Then I used my favourite 'face' stamp from collagabilities 'Let's Face It' plate to stamp with black Stazon over the top.

I like the effect and will do a set to apply to a collage I have started.

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My entry into Kym's CJ (UKSTAMPERS)

Bad news is 'I missed the posting deadline again'. Good news is by only 2 days !!!!!!

Here are pics of my entry into Kym's CJ which is entitled 'Objects of Desire'. My objects of desire were 'Precious Metals' and I featured Platinum, Gold & Silver in my artwork.



Must admit I was at a loss as to where to start once I had hatched the original idea of precious metal. I needed a colour which would enhance the metallic theme of the entry...........and plumped for ORANGE. Don't ask me why but I just did. I was pleased that it seemed to enhance the metal look especially the Gold.

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UKSTAMPERS forum First CJ

Here it is...............................................................

I find crafters use a lot of acronyms for various activities. With that in mind just to clarify CJ stands for Circle Journal.






What a rush............just finalised my entry into the ukstampers first CJ. PHEW !! as always I left it to the very end to finish it, but on the whole I was pretty happy with the results. After all it was my first attempt at a CJ.

I realise I am working with a lot of very talented artists but 'what the heck', at least I am having a go !!!!! Anyway I took some pics of the CJ (in a hurry, of course), so the quality of photography is not that great so please bear with me. The title is 'ORIENT YOURSELF' which sort of speaks for itself........anything on an oriental theme.


Predominant colours are gold, red, black and orange. I have tried to capture some of the things I personally like about the orient.

Hope you approve. I would welcome any comments.

The CJ is on its way round the group now and I look forward to seeing everyones artwork in around 10 months time. I am sure it will be worth the wait. I now have my work cut out to complete entries in all other 9 journals. Thanks for looking.

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