Startastic!

This little 4 x 4 box canvas is the simplest ART to make. I covered the canvas in Terra, but you can use any medium that has depth to it. Even polyfilla should work. Just layer on enough to give a bit of texture, and then I used the new star stamps. I wet the stamps and pressed them into the Terra, using the background one round the edge and a couple of the stars in the middle. Allow to dry.

I then sponged them with a mixture of blue Studio paints by Claudine Hellmuth. While the paint was still relatively wet, I took some of it off with a baby wipe. I love this very simple effect and did find it hard not to use my Glimmer Mists or Precious Metal colours!!

I figured less is more....Still tempted though. I feel another canvas coming on....

Distressed Flower Fever!

The title sounds like a song, or even an illness! In this case it is a tag , absolutely perfect for a present for a friend! I have a thing at the moment for flowers, and to fuel my passion, I designed more flower stamps for use with Grungepaper, or just ordinary patterned paper. I used two of the solid stamps, and one of the outline stamps from the  Flower Fever die sheet and lots of purple distress ink to make this little tag.
The solid stamps were stamped and then distress stickled in the same colours. Don't you love the fact that all the Adirondack colours go together , with the colours just slightly different depending on the medium?
I cut out the flowers in different sizes on Grungepaper , and inked them in Peeled Paint and Dusty Concord, and layered them on top of the ones on the tag adding a Idea-ology Flower  and long brad on each. A purple ribbon, and the tag is ready!

Have a Creative Day!

A Plethora of stars!

I have just uploaded the new stamps for the month onto the website, and you will see why I couldn't give you a sneak peek, as they are way to easy to guess!( well that is my excuse anyway!) There are two star backgrounds, a little sheet of stars in different formats and a brand new sheet of flowers perfect for making your own flowers with grungepaper or just paper!

Off now to play with the new stamps in the hope that some of the inspiration I have seen while blog hopping will transfer itself to my mojo!

Monochromatic Gothic Arch!

I have cheekily combined two challenges this week, and do hope that this qualifies for both! The first one, Gothic Arches , asked for a shrine, and for Gingersnaps colour challenge which is monochromatic, using shades of one colour. I did sneak in a little gold here, but only as highlights!
From time to time, I alter a book I started too many years ago to mention, and I thought I would make a shrine to the kiss, at the back. I cut out the middle of the pages, and glued them all together using Studio multi medium, which gives a lovely base to work on. I used The Kiss stamp in the middle , and this is actually stamped in blue Archival, and glued onto some chipboard.  Then I spread on some Terra, and used a little texture brush tool I have to give it texture. I then used a mixture of Studio blues paints to cover it. Lots of gold and blue Glimmer mist (ok, I succumbed and bought 2 bottles!) all over it. Finally I highlighted some of the book ( edges and curled paper) with gold precious metal colour. A little Fragile tag from 7 Gypsies, on the opposite page, and a set of heart and wings from the Maya Road minis, completed it.

I love the texture of it, and it is a very touchy feely piece. Do hope you like it, and thank you for the challenges.
Have a good day , and a very Happy Thanksgiving to my American friends. Enjoy your turkey!
Watch out tomorrow for new stamps ( no sneak peeks as they are way to easy to guess!) , but you never know I may do a give-away!

WOYWW

I have never shared my incredibly messy and small area of my workdesk, but for a bit of fun I thought I would today! Over on Julia's blog , What's on your Workdesk Wednesday is such a fun way of seeing what people have in their reach! This was actually taken this morning, and I had just removed a piece of artwork, which is now drying on the radiator ( just so I can work on it without having to wait too long! btw, this is tidy !  In case you are wondering why I have a cardboard roll in the midst... it is waiting for inspiration or is that paint! lol

Love to see what your desk looks like..

Have you been and visited?

If you love the stamps we have, and would like to do more with them, then you must check out the wonderful NEW members of our Creative Team, and their creations with  some of the Mabel Lucie Attwell stamps, and more...
Here are a few of their gorgeous and innovative creations

Chris

Jo

Joanne

Jacqui

Rachel

Lorraine

Julie

Have fun blog hopping! Back tomorrow :)

Pixie Alert!

The title of this post is totally obscure, but I spent a little time using the new Nature's Little Helper by Mable Lucie Attwell yesterday, and so wanted to add flower petals where the daisy is. I stamped the pixie onto a distressed background on one of the Maya Road Chipboard Houses, and then masked the pixie, to add the stamps ( Houndstooth and Chicken Wire) in distressed inks.
I painted the pixie in distress inks by wetting the brush and smooching the ink on my non stick craft sheet, and picking up the colour. You can get a good amount of colour to paint this way. Crystal Stickles went on the wings..love this effect! For the flower, I coloured up in distress ink ( painting them the same way) a white flower from Prima. A yellow button added the finish.

Let me know what you think. All answers on a postcard to... lol

The Holly and the ....

Over on Hels blog , this week's Sunday Stamper is "The Holly and the Ivy", and as luck would have it I spent yesterday making a card using the new Mabel Lucie Attwell stamp featuring Holly! I cut out the image, and coloured it in with distress inks and Prismas, and used the fabulous ruby slippers stickles for the holly berries. I did think it needed a lift so added glossy accents on the pixie and the leaves. The whole caboodle was layered on some Bazill Dotted Swiss Phoenix ( the kind of card you really want to stroke all the time!) , and then layered on a black card.

In case you wondered, the Merry Christmas is from a decoration, I picked a couple up in my favourite store, Heselden Hats, a must come and see place if you are ever in Faversham.

 Thank you Hels for the challenge, and if you read this , I really NEED that gorgeous piece you made! lol

Have a great Sunday!

New Mabel Lucie Attwell stamps!

Firstly a BIG thank you to everyone who joined in the guessing game! What wonderful comments which gave me a smile every time I read them!
I know you want to see what the new stamps are and I do hope we haven't disappointed!
This is Nature's Little Helper

 Followed by Holly

closely followed by "Care to Dance"

The winner of the first stamp is Sid for guessing correctly the stamp.. Congratulations!

The winner of the 2nd stamp is Katherine Yah! Congratulations!

And, the winner of the third stamp is Carolands Step onto the podium! Congratulations!

Please email me your snail mail addresses, so I can get the stamps into the post for you.

I have to say I wish I could give a prize to everyone, but if you want to look at the stamps, and the most wonderful goodies that are new on the website go here

We have the most fantastic sets of Prima Flowers, the new Claudine Hellmuth Craft Bucket, the new Utee colours from Suze Weinberg, Tim Holtz stamps and idea-ology, and lots of Maya Road Chipboard! We also only charge £2.25 for goodies under £20.00 and FREE postage over £20 to ANYWHERE in The World!

Finally I got arty last night and made a little tag/bookmark using the "Care to Dance" Fairy!

Have a great day!

Final guess!

This one is quite easy (at least I think so, but then I know what they are! lol), however to win this one you have try to guess what this actually is. I am horrid! lol

By the way yesterday there was a correct guess! I am sure that you will get this one very easily.

Have a Brilliant day!

Guessing Game Day 2

Well I am amazed as at least one person came up with the correct answer for yesterday with a 2nd close behind...lol This one is maybe a little more difficult.. up to you! Have you been trawling all those long forgotten Mabel Lucie Attwell books of yours?
You can still have a guess on yesterday's post if this is the first time you have visited, and there will be one more tomorrow. I love this because it gives me an excuse not to make any artwork, but I will be back!

If no-one gets it correct, I will give away to the nearest guess! You can post as often as you like.
Have a great day!

Can you guess and win!

On Friday we are releasing new stamps for our popular Mabel Lucie Attwell Range. Here is a chance to win one of them, and a chance to win them all through this week, by guessing the sneak peek. I love what everyone writes, so take a wild guess and if you guess right, the stamp is yours!

Happy Guessing!

Starry Starry NIght!

Over on Gothic Arch Challenges this week it is stars. I hummed and hahhed (not sure how you  spell this!) about this, and finally used a little stamp from CaroLines, and some charms and the 3 Kings from one of The Artistic Stamper Christmas Plates.
I distress inked the Arch with Faded Jeans , making the bottom very dark, and then made a mistake stamping! Disaster! So I quickly wiped it off, and along came the Arch top layer. So I re-inked it, and then stamped the stars in gold ink, and glued the metal charms on top of the stamped stars. I love the effect of this , despite the major mistake!

Thank you for the challenge.

Oh Christmas Tree!

Over on Hel's blog the Sunday Stamper Challenge is to use stamping and a Christmas Tree. I had an idea to use the dots stamp as snow and emboss it onto Printable acetate. However that didn't work as well as I would have liked, so I just embossed on top of the background trees. The tree is the small Stitchels Christmas tree , and where the stitches go round I used gold stickles. It doesn't seem to show up in the scan very well :( I just stamped the trees on some paper I bought from Costo ages ago, and mounted it all up. I see the dots playing a big part in my Christmas cards! lol

Watch this space next week for special Stamps being released in time for you to make Christmas cards ( that is if you haven't been efficient and made them!)
I have been playing with them this weekend, and I will be doing sneek peaks , so you can win one or two or even three!

Button Pin up!

Well I didn't keep up my "stamp everyday keeps the doctor away", but I have to confess my computer has been playing up, and work got in the way! However I found time last night to make a little pinboard from a recycled piece of corkboard to enter into the Gngersnaps Spicy Supply challenge. Here I painted the board in Tattered Rose Crackle paint, and then added distress inks to it, to make it look old. I did stamp very lightly on one side with one of Tim's stamps, and added a scan of a picture from the most wonderful isssue (1932) of Good Needlework magazine. If you would like the picture , let me know and I will email it to you.

Then I added ric rac (aged to look old with distress inks ) to the edges. The buttons were glued on top of Prima Flowers and then attached to drawing pins. I have several sheets of Junkitz stickers and matching frames left from a couple of years ago, and they fitted perfectly.

I do hope this fits in with the challenge, and thank you for letting me take part.

Happy Buttoning!

A Stamp a Day...

Keeps the doctor away! My aim this week (not sure if I will keep it up!) is to use a different stamp everyday on a recycled piece. Care to join me?
 Today I have used a label from a piece of clothing bought at Primark, one of the UK's cheaper clothes stores. I love Primark, and often go in there just for the jewellery which is so cheap, you can cut it up and use it for ART! This was the label before I put Terra on it.

While the Terra was still wet, I wet one of Mr Holtz's stamps and stamped right into it. I did that a couple of times and then  allowed it to dry naturally, and then rubbed Precious Metal gold all over it, followed by a blue Perfect Pearl, which I spritzed with water to set.

Think this will adorn a Christmas Present or even a blog candy.

So go on show me your stamp a day, and let's see if we can get a week of stamping with a different stamp on a recycled something? Just post on here if you have made anything , and you never know I may even give candy away...lol

Happy Stamping!