Special Offers finishing tomorrow!

I have been a very bad blogger, but then I have an excuse! I must admit that the set up of the shop, and various other projects have left me very little time to create, and I fear Mrs Mojo has gone for a little holiday, enjoying a tad of sun, sea and sand!
I thought that I would remind you that The Artistic Stamper specials are all finishing tomorrow, and we will have some new ones next month. The TenSeconds Studio Moulds are half price!

 Can you believe September is just around the corner?! Eeek! that means the big "C" is looming!!
So if you fancy a real bargain check out these pages, and get your order in quick!
I promise to be back with a vengeance in September with my mojo nice and recuperated!
have a much more creative day than me :)
Hugs

Jingle bells.. jingle bells..

I have been busy making Christmas cards for my workshop today, and all the while I have been singing in my head Christmas songs! Santa baby is a frequent one! I love Christmas and the build up to it, and this year is no exception. I just wish that the days weren't so dark so early, and that the sun shone a bit more, but in Santa's words..hey ho!!
My ladies are in for a treat today, and if you are reading this early and want to come along, there are a couple of places left. Just come to Pickleberry Papercrafts near Faversham for 10am.
I always play with all mediums when creating for a workshop, and this one has Ten Seconds Studio metal  in pink and coloured with some Viva Decor paints for a base, some of Tim's Alterations , and an on the Edge die. The stamp used is from Tim's Holiday Wishes set.

If you would like a treat we have 15% off all orders on the website this weekend in honour of Guy Fawkes, you know the man who started fireworks, and bonfires! lol
I am off to get myself dolled up to meet my public.. that is getting on my old jeans, an old shirt and my apron, so I don't get messy!! you didn't expect me to come in my party dress, did you? rofl.
Have a very Creative and Christmassy day... she says singing Santa baby to herself!



Ali Baba and the 40 crafters!...woyww

I realised that every week on What's on Your workdesk, hosted by the delectable Mrs Dunnit, I show a different angle of my desk, and almost always there is never anything on it! How remiss of me! All you get to see is the bits and bobs I work with and absolutely nothing finished! So I have rectified it this week, and made something especially for you! I love my boxes, and even more so when I can alter/decorate them. Inspiration came yesterday when I watched the very hilarious videos from Cheryl and Megan  at Ten Seconds Studio, and this week's is glitta!, hence the title of the post, which came courtesy of Mal, when he saw the box!! ( he has a very obscure sense of humour)
I had already made my mind up, previous to the video that I was going to cover one of these papier mache boxes in metal using one of the new TSS moulds (no 13 to be precise). The next step wasn't hard... just cover the box in black Rock Star metal which I run through the Big Shot... believe me it took quite a few goes to figure out the sandwich scenario!! I ended up using 4 cutting mats, and a piece of rubber and a blue mat! I do really need to know what the correct sandwich for the Big Shot is.. please????? anyone???? lol
I then added humungo tape to the metal pieces and attached them to the box. I even went out and bought glitter for this project.. what do you mean don't I have any?.. yes, but please tell me where I put it!! I added the glitter with glossy accents... and also the desk, the guillotine (which is the glass thingy to the right of my picture which someone asked last week about), my clothes, the carpet, my face, my hands, the computer keyboard.. you get the picture!)

Anyways I have waffled and spouted enough.. here is my box, which I love... on my nearly tidy desk :)))

I also have to apologise, as all intentions were that I went round everyone's desk last week, but never quite made it.. absolutely gonna do it this week, or if not at the weekend.

Happy Woywwing day!

Musically speaking...

I just had time this weekend to create something for the Sunday Stamper hosted by the delectable Miss Sheridan! The theme this week is music, and I wanted to use the new empty jar stamp. I had an idea to stamp it into clear utee, and fill it with music, which I have done. Easy to say, not quite so easy to do, however! I did manage successfully to stamp the bottle into clear utee poured onto a craft sheet. While it was till relatively warm, I trimmed around the bottle, and bent it over a round form, so you get the bottle shape. The utee remains fairly fragile once it has cooled, so handle it with care. If you mess it up just remelt and start again!
 A smattering of perfect pearls coloured the bottle. I glued an old music sheet to the inside of it, and using my still going silicone glue ( I am truly amazed by this!), I glued it to a mini canvas , which I painted in Claudine's Modern Red Studio paint , and covered with gold Mica spray while still wet. A few of the teeny weeny flowers from the Flower blooms stamp set decorated the edge.

I made gold metal flowers backed on Sticky back canvas from Tim's Tattered Floral die, and ran them through an embossing die. Smoosh a bit of red paint on a non stick crafts sheet and whoosh the flowers through it to get the raised edges red. Do you like the terminology? lol smoosh and whoosh!!

 I love the texture from the canvas through the metal. I added wire to the flowers , and slid them inside the jar.
The photos definitely do not do this justice sad face:( It was seriuosly difficult to photograph!
Thank you Hels for the challenge :))
Have a creative day!

Love of my Life!

Great song, and a great challenge set by Hels this week on Sunday Stampers. I took a mini canvas, some stamps, Tim's Heart and wings die ( first time used! lol), and some Ten Seconds Studio metal, and put together this little piece.

I cut the heart out of a piece of reddish material and backed it with some card, and stuffed it with cotton wool..couldn't find my stuffing.. nothing unusual in that !!. I edged it in gold dabber, and did the same with the canvas. The canvas is painted with Claudine's paints in Modern Red. The little crown and wings were cut out in gold metal, added a little bit of red dabber to them, and ran through the embossing folders.

I hope it qualifies!
Thank you Hels for the challenge :))
Happy Creating!

It's a Bird week!

When I was at Port Sunlight on Saturday, I spent the day demonstrating Tim's new bird cage die, using Ten Seconds Studio metal and tags. I think I am hooked on them, and we have plenty in the shop. I distressed inked the tags, and then sprayed them with Crafty Notions mica sprays and let the tags dry. I then stamped on top with distress ink. I used a TSS mould to emboss the metal. Add the metal to some card and humngo tape to make a sandwich, and then run it through the Big Shot to cut out the bird. Easy Peasy! I even added the wing made from left overs. The metal was sprayed with Mica sprays and some Precious metal colour added to them too. I had great fun making these.

This one was made wby accident, and really does need a little more work, but the Birdcage was cut out by accident, and I just added it to the tag.

It is not often that I moan about shows, but sadly my little wooden book bird has gone missing. He was hanging up beside me, and I cannot find him anywhere :(. I fear he has flown to a new home, let's hope he is happy there and the person who has him looks after him....
Take flight today and be creative!
Hugs

On your metal!

We are off on our travels again today, this time to Port Sunlight Happy Stamper's Festival, and a show I always love doing. This is my sample for the show, and involves, lots of Ten Seconds Studio metal, and Mr Holtz's dies, amd Crafty Notions sprays. If you are coming along, I will be demonstrating this tag :) If not, then have a great weekend.

Hugs

GIngersnap GC53 Chestnut Theme-Read

Over on GIngersnap Creations, the Chestnut theme is Read!  You can interprete this anyway you like, using a well loved book as a starting point or text or anything you like!  I , in my normal jump straight in , don't worry about it, used some pages from an old book, which I bought especially to tear up! Many years ago I took a class at CHA on altering books, (and I am an avid lover of reading and books), and up to that point, desecrating them was an enigma to me! Tear up a book, turn over the corners, write in it! NEVER! But the class taught me to do just that, and although initially it was hard to tear out pages, and paint them and write all over them, I now can, and have done, and will continue to do so. In fact I have 2 altered books on the go, and love creating new works out of old discarded , unwanted pages.
My project for the theme was to grab some pages and glue them with Studio Multi medium direct to the wooden bird. I then used mica sprays, and gently sprayed  all over the text. Allow it to dry. The number 35 for the eye, just fitted perfectly. I did gently stamp over it with the open Sequin stamp.  I then used one of the wings from Mr Holtz's Fanciful Flight die to add to his tail. , and I had embossed some Ten Seconds Studio metal and made a sandwich with it sticking humungo tape to card and then the metal to the card, and running it through the big shot within an embossing folder. I cut them out , turning the metal upside down on the second cut to get a mirror image ( if you see what I mean). I added a little strip of embossed metal to the bottom of the bird. I also cut up a few pages and made a mini book to hang at the bottom of the bird. I did spray and add black paint to the metal to give it a bit of depth.

 So grab an old book from the charity shop, and just pull out one or two pages, and decorate them and enter Gingersnap Chestnut theme! Go on, I dare you!! lol

Happy April!

Today is the 1st of April, (where does the time fly?) , and I was thinking that I could tell you all that I had won the lottery, was giving up stamping, and was going to live in a wonderful hot country where the suns shines all day long, and the beach is on my doorstep. But this post is after 1pm, and so misses the deadline of midday when all April Fool's should traditionally be done, so instead I will let you into some great news. Over on Gingersnaps, there is a new DT team, and I am so proud and honoured to be asked to be a contributing artist, along with other great paper artists. The theme this month is copper, ginger or rust, and I created a 3Dish type of piece using the new Maya Road Dress Form, and Ten Seconds studio metal and moulds.
I covered the dress form in Terra Sahara, and stamped into it with the lace stamp . You need to wet the stamp before using. Allow it to dry thoroughly. I then sprayed it with copper mica spray, and let it dry.

Making the metal roses was fiddly, and involved lots of glue, and rust alcohol ink. I made them using the 6 petal technique with copper metal and the Flower Power middle size stamp , and just loved how they turned out. The other flowers are made with the Ten Seconds Studio Kabuka Mould 10 and barn red metal which I ran through the big shot, and then made a sandwich of Humungo Tape and thick card. I cut them out and added rust and ginger and copper alcohol inks to them.

Thank you so much to Ali and Shar for inviting me to Gingersnaps...I am looking forward to making ART!
Don't forget to pop over and meet the new Design Team, and have a very Creative April 1st!

Alcohol ink workshop

A very quick post tonight to say there is one space left on my workshop this Saturday learning all about alcohol inks at Pickleberry Papercrafts in Faversham Kent , just off the M2. Here is one of the pieces you will get to make while having fun and picking my brain! ( do I have one? lol) I made this metal piece with alcohol inks using one of the new Ten Seconds Studio moulds which will available from me at the very beginning of March.

Have a fun filled evening!
 

Living in a Box

Well actually as it says on the box this is for my Stickles, and I have made it to enter into Hel's Sunday Stamper. I like living on the edge and this entry is close to the deadline! I have had this box for yonks,  and it has been sitting there waiting to be decorated. I painted it black using Claudine's Studio paints, and the middle is Ten Seconds Studio metal with chipboard letters underneath and then I decorated the surface with wheels, and put stickles all over it! Most of the time this piece has been waiting to dry. I stamped in gold Dabber one of The Artistic Stamper calligraphic backgrounds, and where the stamp didn't quite touch the box, I have left it black. It is very hard stamping a box with no way of holding the back of it so it all stamps, especially a box that has bendy sides!

Thank you Hels for the challenge, at least now I have a box for my stickles!

Twilight

Over on Gothic Arches the theme this week is Twilight. I made a little gothic Arch to go with my set , which tied in nicely with the theme. I used one of my clock stamps and printed it on some Ten Seconds Studio metal, and gently pushed out the clock face. I had watched Leandra do this at Artisan, and wanted to try it myself. I think a little bit of practise is needed! I alcohol inked the metal first with lots of blues, and distressed inked the Arch in yellows. The wings are The Artistic Stamper chipboard wings, and I stamped them with a Tim Holtz wing stamp in blue. A couple of Idea-ology spinners, and  some chain, and twilight time was born!

I hope that you like it.
Have a great weekend, and if you are coming to Stamp Addicts tomorrow, come and say hi.

Blue Monday

Over on Hels' blog there is a challenge called Sunday Stampers. This week the theme is Blue Monday, and when I was away on holiday, I took a little (actually rather a lot!) of crafting stuff with me.
I made a blue canvas while I was there, so thought that would be perfect for this challenge.
I covered the 8 x 8 canvas in a music sheet from a pack of Vintage paper Ephemera, and used Claudine's studio multi medium matte mixed with a little sky blue paint.
I also took Ten Seconds Studio Kabuka moulds with me plus my big shot to use with them. All went fine, until I realised I really didn't have the right bits to use them through the machine. But I persevered, and eventually I managed to make a few pieces. I cut the Dijon metal to size first and then ran it through the big shot, which by the way I am replacing with a cuttlebug, as soon as I have time to buy one!!! This picture was taken in my window with the sun streaming through the net curtain.. thought it looked quite good :)
I coloured all the pieces of metal with blue alcohol inks, using a variety of colours (I even took them with me too!) . I then added a smoosh of Smidge of Blue from Claudine's Studio paints to some of them (took them as well!!!) After this I lightly sanded them. Then I stuck them down with double sided tape.
I love the middle piece. It didn't photograph very well, but has a kind of shine that is ethereal to it. This piece is really a work in progress, as I have to admit I didn't finish the sides as the Big shot really wasn't playing the game! grrrr
Thank you Hels for the challenge.

Alcohol Ink Bracelet

I suddenly realised yesterday that I hadn't published for a week! I am getting lax, but this week seems to have disappeared into oblivion, and it is the weekend again! Over at Rangerinklink ( a yahoo group) , there is a monthly challenge using the new Alcohol inks, my all time favourite. So sitting here typing with very pink fingers, I will show you what I made. I created a metal bracelet using copper metal, a Ten Seconds Studio mould ( no 13) , an old bangle (forgot to photograph it!), and three gorgeous new colours: Raspberry( think this is my all time favourite), Mountain Rose, and Pink Sherbet.

Firstly I cut a strip of copper to fit the bracelet all the way round. Then I worked it onto the mould , and moved the copper up as the mould wasn't long enough, so I had a strip that I had worked and cajoled over the mould. Does that make sense? You can run the solid moulds through a cuttlebug or big shot, but this mould is hollow, so that wasn't possible this time. I completely forgot to take photographs through the whole process, I was so engrossed in making it!

I then put a filler in the back to stop it collapsing, and when it was dry, I stuck it to a bigger copper strip. I then used one of the wheels in set A to finish the edges. Finally I bent it round the bangle, and stuck it in place with double sided tape.I moulded the metal over the edges of the bangle, and quite liked the look it gave me of the crumpled effect. If you haven't gathered a lot of my work is done in situ, and often although I will plan something, it will never quite look how I planned it. Finally the fun and messy part was adding the inks ( without blender ) onto the felt , and colouring the metal on the bracelet. I even coloured the inside using the felt , no handle, as the bangle was turquoise and plastic, and wow, the alcohol inks looked great over it! I have to say, consequently my fingers are now bright raspberry pink!

The last part, which I had planned, was to sand over the high points to reveal the copper. I am not sure the photos do it justice, ( the light this morning is very poor), but it was a fun project to do, and lovely and messy too! The wooden hand that I photographed the bangle on was a great find this week in one of the many charity shops in my town! If you haven't got any of the new alcohol inks, then they are a MUST, and are all available in stock in the shop. The pens are due in this week too!

Family

This week, the 1911 census was put online, and almost immediately the OH was there looking up his relatives! I also went on and found some of mine. It is amazing to see what your great grandfather or great grandmother's handwriting was like. Mine have family resemblances, or at least that is what I thought! I am sure my mother will disagree!!LOL.
It set me thinking about family, and how I could incorporate a picture I have of my great grandparents into a piece. This week I also got some Ten Seconds studio metal to play with ( coming soon in the shop), and some of Claudine Hellmuth's sticky back canvas( also coming to the shop in the future!).
Somewhere long ago I made stamps of a photo of my great grandparents, so I thought let's make a small piece that incorporates all the above elements. However nothing I make ever goes to plan. I wanted to alter a frame and printed out the photo on to the sticky back canvas. Then I covered the frame in appletini Ten Seconds studio metal, and put mini Grungeboard elements underneath, and shaped the pieces. I also wanted to add the word family, but couldn't find the right size stamps or stickers or even grungeboard, so have left the frame plain.... definitely needs more work on it!

Then I thought I will print out the canvas with a bigger picture, and fray the edges, and distress ink the picture! Err mmmm too much red ink, and a big splodge on Great Grandpa's face! I was very pleased with the grungeboard letters which I glued on backwards to the metal, and using tools I have from my jewellery days shaped it. I left the letters behind the metal. I then added a Tim Holtz idea-ology Hitch fastener, and pin and muse token. However the tin opens the wrong way!

 

There are just days when things go wrong and nothing looks right!.......I have entered it into Hel's Sunday Stamper Challenge, as it is green and a tin!