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 ! :-)

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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 !

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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 :-)

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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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'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 :-)

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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 :-)

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'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 :-)

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'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 :-)

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'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.

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'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 :-)

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