ArtsyCrafts weekend

This past weekend, I was at ArtsyCrafts having a ball with paints and metal and a whole bunch of lovely people! Run by Lin from LB Crafts and Leandra of PaperArtsy fame, the weekend is a must for all of you who love altered art. From the minute we started at 8.30 on Saturday to the end of the day on Sunday we never stopped creating! What a way to spend a weekend!
All through the 2 days we worked on a clock which involved Ten Seconds Studio metal, Metallic paints, Glimmer mists, and more. Here is my clock in various stages of its completion. The face was covered in Terra, a wonderful medium which has texture, and can be stamped into. Lots of Glimmer mists ( which never show up in the pics) and Viva metallic paint applied by fingers finish it off. My hands were the normal, messy and stained by the time I had finished.

The rest of the clock had metal pices we woked on throughtout the weekend. We ran the meatl through the cuttlebug or worked on with  Ten Seconds Studio moulds. We glimmered and metallised the pices. The numbers were stamped with PaperArtsy stamps and textured with wheels and pointy tools, and sandwiched on card ( I shall show you this technique another time) . I have just noticed one of my numbers on the clock is upside down.. the 9 is the 6 and should be round the other way! Feel a fix coming on! The background board was covered in paint and glimmer mists and stamped on.

I will show you more tomorrow, and I have to say a big thank you to Lin and Leandra for letting me make a nuisance of myself! lol  It was a blast!
Have a great day!

Caught on Film!

Finally this week, the Film Strip Ribbon arrived from the States, and is now in the shop! Yah! It is so tiny, and there is masses of it in alittle tin...just perfect for capturing stuff on film!
Here I made a medium tag with a distressed ink background, stamping over it with the chicken wire stamp, and adding the tiniest little bugs from the Butterfly plate. A touch of my favourite glue of all time, Glossy Accents to the back of the film, a couple of the most gorgeous flowers from Prima, and a tag was born, perfect for that accent to a present....What would you do with it?

All the elements in the tag are available from The Artistic Stamper.
Happy Creating!

A big Welcome to...

the new members of our Creative Team. I am thrilled to introduce to you

Chris

Jacqui

Joanne

Jo

Julie

Lorraine

Rachel

Please do go and say hi, and look for the wonderful innovative artwork from them  for The Artistic Stamper next month.

Have a very Happy Saturday!

Dib Dab dob!

I know what a terrible title, but I was wondering did you get them out and try them.. the dabbers that is? Here are the two final tags, and we start with the letter T for wood effect. This is one of the techniques I learnt while at Ranger, and it is fab for distressed looks, and backgrounds and in this case a tree.
With a dragging movement flick your chosen colour dabber across the tag using up, down movements. Do not fill the whole tag, just random swipes. Allow to dry.
Take a darker colour distress ink, and ink over all the tag. Mist with water a cloth or paper towel, and wipe all over the tag. The distress ink will be removed from where the dabbers are, and voila! you have a wood effect.
I stamped the tree and birds over in the same colour distress ink, and the T was coloured in with the same colour dabber and highlighted with distress ink.

Fo rthe final letter E I used a gold dabber, and just stippled it all over the tag. Add more a nd build up the layers to create a fab hammered look. This is my attempt at Halloween, and the skulls come from the Mini Grungeboard. In fact all the grungeboard is covered in silver dabbers, and the skulls with black dabber. E for eeek???? lol

I have had great fun showing you these techniques, and if it has inspired you I am happy!

Have a Creative Day!

Dab a dab doo time!

Here is the second post on using those dabbers you have lurking in the drawer! It seems from the comments that most of you do have a dabber or two, and just don't use them! Shame, as they are wonderful products, and of course are in all the Adirondack colours too.
Today the letter E means Embossing! I stamped and embossed on a black chipboard tag in clear embossing powder.  Mix some colours of dabber on your non stick craft sheet, and using a piece of cut n dry dab all over the image and to the edges of the tag. I used gold. Allow to dry. Do NOT heat dry it, as the embossing will melt! When it is dry, spray some water from a mini mister onto a cloth, and gently dab away the dabber colour from the embossing. You will be left with a shabby chic look. This is the neatest and probably my favourite of the techniques. The grungeboard letter was dabbed in silver and gold.

A is for Crackle Glaze.. ok I now know I can't spell!! This technically isn't a dabbed piece , but you certainly can use Dabbbers on it. It kind of slipped into the set. Here I distress inked the tag with reds, and spritzed it with water. I then stamped onto it with one of Mr Holtz's bird stamps, using a darker distress ink. . If you wanted you could ink your stamp up with dabbers, and stamp as normal. Be sure that you clean the stamp with water immmediately, as it  will dry into the stamp and is more difficult to remove. I then distress crackled the entire tag with Rock Candy distress crackle paint. I love this product and have got through a couple of bottles already! A definite must for the craft box!!

I realised that the bird is on his side, and so even if I turn the tag picture, the A will be the wrong way round....I told you that sometimes I complete mess up, and this is one of those occasions! I will show the last two tomorrow, and if you have been inspired to get out those dabbers, and get messy, please show me, I always love to see.

Have a dab dabber do time!

Do you dab?

Over the weekend at Stamp Addicts I demoed Dabbers and Distress inks, and distress stickles and Grungeboard. To show some of the techniques, I made a set of chipboard tags, and I thought I would show you and explain some of the techniques over the next couple of days.
I used the word CREATE to do 5 tags..
C is for pearl! I know I cannot spell! 
Here I mixed Pearl Dabber and Pool Dabber on a craft mat and using Cut N Dry Foam, mixed them together and swooshed over the tag. Allow to dry naturally, although you can heat dry it. The effect, which gives a  fabulous pearly effect, does not show up on the scan sadly :( I used the same colours on the Grungeboard Letter and rubbed off the excess adding a little tiny bit of denim too. The stamp was inked in cobalt archival, and well I just had to add a grungepaper flower!! what else do you expect!

R-means masking .. bet you didn't know that! See I told you I couldn't spell! Here I have stamped the tag in The Artistic Stamper dots background using cobalt archival ink, and then laid on top one of Tim's Idea-ology mini masks. Using the same technique of putting some dabber colours on a craft mat, this time Pool and Aqua, I dabbed them over the mask moving the mask when it was dry. Make sure you clean the mask off thoroughly when you have finished. The Dabbers are water soluble, so water on a cloth works well.  The grungeboard letter was distressed inked in Faded Jeans and I rubbed Weathered Wood stickles over it.

A little tip make sure you shake the dabbers well before use, and if they are slightly dry them add water from a spritzer to them. These are techniques and not perfect pieces of art, and tomorrow I will show you letters A and E , that's Art and Embossing...lol

Have a Dabber of a Day ( sorry couldn't help it!)

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.

Circles

Over on The Sunday Stampers, Hels' song for the week is Circle in the Sand. I don't know the song, but if you hum it to me, I probably would sing it badly! However I needed to add to my little growing book of Gothic Arches, and circles in the form of clocks hopefully will fit the bill. I used one of the idea-ology masks (clocks) for the backgorund, and distressed inked in spiced marmalade and dusty concord. I added the clocks from The Artistic Stamper as background stamps, and then  crackle painted the watch face in Rock Candy and spiced it up with a little smidge of marmalade ink. The idea-ology metal pieces finished it off, and the wonderful spring came from my vintage watch pieces.

I hope it fits the bill, and thank you Hels for the challenge.
 

Simples!

I love that advert that uses the words "Simples" lol, and this is just a simple tag , with a very intense alcohol inked background, two of The Artistic Stamper backgrounds, and a very simple saying! "may all your Dreams come true". Please note there is not a grungepaper flower in sight!!! lol

By the time you read this, the Stamp Festival at Port Sunlight will be over and I will be trucking back down the motorway , eating chocolate to stay awake, and probably singing along to music on the radio!!! Hope Mal has his earplugs with him!

Tag Along!

Last week when I was demoing, I made several tags using alcohol inks and The Artistic Stamper backgrounds, and then when I got home, I added several elements to them. Here is the first one. Love the orangey feel to it. One of Tim's birds  and the words fitted perfectly onto another alcohol inked piece of card. Of course where would one of my tags be without a grungepaper flower! lol

Have an Inky Day!

Somewhere over the Rainbow

This is the title of the song that Hels has used for her Sunday Stamper Challenge this week. I love bright colours as most of you know, and so this challenge just screamed at me.. do something! I found my Colorbox large multi-coloured inkpad and brayed the the background onto one of my chipboard tags. However in my hurry I split my hot steaming mug of coffee and cream all over it, the desk, and the floor, so had to start again! Doh!
The dots stamps featured alongside the stitches and solid Stitchels too! All stamped in Archival Cobalt and Cranberry. the final touch was a Creative stamp, and best of all, a bird from a tangled necklace found in my DD bedroom ( please don't tell her, she will kill me! lol). The Flowers are Prima, (such lush flowers) on the website next week with some new products when I get time to load them up!

Thank you Hels for the challenge, tired as I am, inking and stamping always makes me feel better :)
Have a very Creative Day!

Hooked on Flowers!

At the weekend at Artisan, I spent most of the time demonstrating how to make grungepaper flowers! I had a lot of flowers and during the day I glued them onto a Frame which sat on my worktop. This is the final Frame.

 I am busy getting ready for HSNW Stamp Festival this weekend, and if you are coming stop by and say hi to myself, Mal and Amanda Bateman who will be there demonstrating. We will have all the Mabel stamps, all the new backgrounds, and hopefully the new metal colours from Ten Seconds Studio!
Happy Creating!

Gothic Arch 2

Just a quickie tonight as I continue my journey into Gothic Arches! This one is the key to the door! , and I have used distress inks for the background, and the Secret Key ( love these idea-ology trinkets) , and of course, what is a key without a lock.. especially to the door! Tim Holtz stamps and an Idea-ology book ring finish it off. The whole Arch was crackled with Rock Candy!

I do hope you like...
Have a great weekend

Workshop Preview

Hopefully while you are reading this we have arrived safely, and  I am setting up the shop at Artisan, while Mal fiddles, lol, with his till, and everything is going smoothly; I haven't forgotten anything, ( chance will be a fine thing!) , the samples have arrived in one piece, the van has behaved , I haven't been caught speeding , and at least one person has booked my workshop!
Here is what you will make if you are coming.. Please excuse the rather awful picture in the middle , as I used distress inks to colour Rainy Day, and they washed out too much! Patience is always a virtue, and I have very little! The workshop is a chance to play and learn how to make roses, as well as getting to know alcohol inks, and just having a little bit of fun in a short time!

Have a Great Friday

How many!

Yesterday was prepping day for the workshop at Artisan in Leamington Spa. I am doing a workshop there both days, and everything has to be ready! We packed bags and stamps, and inks, and frames, and of course the infamous Grungepaper Flowers..oh and the smell, old leather, paper, not sure what it is.. but it isn't unpleasant! The whole office smells of grungepaper even today! We cut hundreds!  lol So if you are coming or even thinking of coming.. here is a taster..

Oh, and here is a little taster of the frame...

such a tease I know...tomorrow I shall post the whole Frame!

A quickie note to everyone who sent me emails about joining the Creative Team... I have been so busy that I haven't had time to choose you yet.. so hang in there please...

Have a grungy day!

Gothic Arch

This morning I have been fiddling with a great set of chipboard gothic arches I got at Ally Pally from LB Crafts. This is probably the first one in a little set I will work on while doing other things! They obviously look like doors and the the ticket I foound in one of my Vintage Paper Ephemera bags works perfectly inside the Ornate Frame. The background is distressed inks Vintage Photo and Weathered  Wood, spritzed to give a soft look. The stamps are one of Tim Holtz's and the distressed background from The Artistic Stamper.

I am not sure if you are coming to Artisan at the weekend but if you are I have a workshop both days and as far as I know there are still tickets available. We will be making lots of grungepaper flowers and adding them to an alcohol inked Picture Frame. In my time honoured fashion, you will do too much in the given time (1 hour!). To book the workshop either do it at the show, or book here
Have an inky day!

A Bucket full of Roses!

I finally feel a bit more human, and have recovered from Ally Pally. It was a fab show , as always, with lots of friendly familiar faces, and great fun!
Hels and I demoed , the new Mabel stamps, and made lots of grungepaper roses and flowers using the Flower Power stamps and backgrounds. It is always hard work getting ready for a show, loading the van, unloading the van, setting up a mini shop, making sure we have everything. I always forget something, and this time was no exception...£1 coins and the rolls for the credit card machine! Hels rescued us with her stash of £1 coins and my friends from Craftynotions with the credit card rolls. Thank you :)
Here are a few of the flowers we made using alcohol inks, Claudine's studio paints , and of course grungepaper!

Now all I have to do is get ready for Artisan this coming weekend, and if you are thinking of being there, I am taking a workshop making a grungepaper flower picture frame. It should be great fun!
Off now to take a rest in front of the telly....
Have a great evening