Yellow !

The Crafty Boots Challenge this fortnight set by Faye is Yellow. Now I am not so sure about the colour yellow but a challenge is a challenge so here we go  - hope you can join  in too.

The background is made from swiping mustard seed and scattered straw distress ink onto my craft mat which I then spritzed with water before swiping a couple lines of wild honey distress stain next to it, I did the stain after as it is already in a liquid form so it didnt need the extra water. Once this was ready I swiped the tag through the colours a couple fo times to get the right effect.

When the tag was dry (with a bit of help from my heat gun) I inked around the edge in the mustard seed followed by walnut stain.

In the top left I stamped the scientific symbols from Tim Holtz stampers anonymous steampunk stamp set (this stamp gets used everywhere) in wild honey (I applied the stain direct to the stamp).

The flowers were cut using the Tim Holtz tattered floral die, the flowers were stamped using a grid stamp in Walnut stain before being slightly inked with mustard seed. the centres of the circles were hand cut and embossed with clear powder before being firmly inked with the mustard seed. I stamped some stalks in crushed olive before cutting them out and sticking them to the tag at the bottom before shaping the flowwers and sticking them on followed by the centres.

To finish I added some ricrac and matching button and some dragon fly brads as well as inking some white ribbon with the mustard seed and tying through the top with extra ricrac. Enjoy yourselves and lets get inky !

Tag #41 Musical Hall

I decided to have a play with my new IndigoBlu Music hall stamps and this was what I came up with.

I inked a tag using Scattered Straw, Seedless preserve and worn lipstick distress ink and vintage photo. I used the swirls from the stamp set and stamped them all over the background using the worn lipstick before stamping the beautiful lady using seedless preserve.

The musical hall poster at the bottom was stamped in vintage photo onto kraft paper beofe I gently inked it  a bit more with the vintage photo after cutting it out.

I attached some lace along the bottom and dabbed some crystal stickles in the ladies hat and flowers.

Just a quick blog as dinner is cooking :o)..

Tag #40 summer colours

The Sunday Stamper challenge #202 is Summer Colours so I decided to try and put together some of the colours I like to see in the garden during the summer and came up with this tag.

The colours I used throughout the tag were  - Scattered straw, tumbled glass, fired brick, gathered twig distress inks with some white paint thrown in.  I inked various patched of the three main colours on the tag before laying a piece of sequin remnant over the top and inking the same colours again through the holes.

The stamps I used were from the Paperartsy hotpicks set HP1024EZ.

The Flower sprig was stamped in white paint along with the edge of the tag and additional lines on the tag itself.

The butterflies were stamped in the brown ink and clear embossed and cut out before being inked with the bright colours,

The prima floweres were inked and then attached with brads before mounting the stamped verse and butterflies.

The ribbon was stained using fired brick to tie it all together.

Hope you like my bright colours of summer have a good week all. xx



My 1st Altered Book !!

Well I thought it was time to try it - that is ripping up an old book and seeing what happens.

As many of you crafters know it is very scary doing this as we have all been brought up to love and cherish books and when you start ripping out pages you feel very very naughty. My daughter Amy (18 and a dedicated book lover) was nearly in tears when she saw what I was doing.

I made two different layers as seen in the main two photos. I tried looking on different blogs for ideas but in the end I just decided to go for it. I created the main apperture a chapter into the book and gradually cut and  tore through the book making diaganol cuts with my craft knife and ripping around the edges.

Before sticking the edges down I inked the background page in shabby shutters distress stain and stamped some swirls and then gradually inked the edges in frayed burlap and tumbled glass stains as well as the green.  I then glued the edges of the main part of the book and left it to dry overnight. 

I created a garden using my tattered florals and leaves dies which were inked and spritzed before dipping the layers of the flowers in clear Utee to create my glossy enamel flowers.

With the first chapter I created a slightly smaller window to give a small taster of the garden beyond inking and sticking it as before.

I stamped and inked a verse for the left hand page and inked and heat embossed the key and padlock.

I have left some blank pages at the front as I may add to it as time goes by and I may even tackle the book cover but I think that will be a differnet adventure.
The photo below shows the first cut out before I started sticking everyhting down and cutting out the other chapter.

I hope you like it, it was definitely an adventure and one I may repeat when the occassion requires it, it definitely needs a lot more planning and thought than a tag !

I am entering this into the Simon says Stamp and Show - Anything goes challenge
The Stamp man challenge  - Shabby Chic or Distressed this book and my daughter are definitely "Distressed".
The Craft Room Challenge - Ink It

Tag #39 - Time waits for no Man

Hels Sunday Stamper Challenge 201 is MEN this week so I decided it was an ideal time to break open my new Umbrella Man Tim Holtz Die.

After my mamoth shopping spree at Ally Pally on Saturday I had been tidying my craft room and found some tags that I had previoulsy swished and misted in yellows and gold so decided to use one of these as a starter. I added a postcard background stamp in walnut stain and then inked the edges in walnut stain and black soot Distress Ink.

The clock was inked in Dried marigold stain and gathered twig before being roughly heat embossed with walnut stain distress embossing powder and gold powder The hands were also embossed like this.

Umbrella man was inked in gathered twig and black soot and then heat embossed with black soot.

The words were typed and printed on the computer and then inked up.

Thanks for the challenge Hels and it was great to see you.
x

Quintessentially English

For this fortnights Crafty Boots challenge No Girls Allowed we had to ensure that we didnt use any images of girls, so heres my go, hope you have fun making your creation and joining in the challenge with us.


For this tag I have used my new Indigo blu stamps Pomp and Pageantry that my lovely children ordered for me for Mothers day.

The tag was made from craft resist paper and washed in Ice blue fresco paint. The Union Jacks were stamped on the background  by applying broken glass and fired brick distress stain to the stamp carefully to try and ensure the colours were on the correct bit of the stamp.

The gentleman and big ben were stamped in black soot distress ink and the Great Britain circle in fired brick. the words and clock were inked further with faded jeans and a touch of fired brick around the edge.

Three brads were attached either end but I gave them a good bashing with the hammer as well to give them that worn look.

I found some stripey red white and blue ribbon that blended with the colours and cut it straight through the middle before tying it through the top so I have lots of fraying threads now !. My extra bit of something was some red memory wire I found in one of my boxes of bits, I curled one end round a pencil to make a spring before feeding the other end through the tag twisting it together and creating a second spring and then fed the crown Idealogy piece on to the spring.

Hey presto No girls but a tag that I can use for either a lady or a gentleman depending on the occcassion.  Happy Crafting xxxx.

Tag # 38 Love Music

For a trilogy of challenges I created a Love Music tag.
The Challenges this is for are:-
Stamp Man - Vellum
The Craft Room - Music
Simon Says Stamp And Show - A Tim Technique

I used a manilla tag cut using Tim Holtz Big Tag Die, I used a tim technique by swiping - scattered straw, frayed burlap and walnut stain on my craft mat before spritzing with water and then passing the tag through it a number of times (drying between each swipe).

I roughed up the edges of the tag and inked it with walnut stain and and the straw distress ink. The grid was roughly stamped with frayed burlap before stamping the guitar before painting it with the inks to bring out the colours.

I stamped vellum with music notes and heated it to set the ink before tearing and inking it again (this was also a Tim technique :0). The vellum was mounted behind an inked frame before attaching with brads roughly bashed and some was fixed into a memo pin.

The wings were cut from craft resist paper and inked with the scattered straw and walnut stain. Enjoy and hope youve all had a good Easter.

Tag #37 Numbers

Over at the Sunday Stamper this week it is Hels 200th challenge Wow how fantastic 200 challenges thanks Hels for keeping us inspired and also her offer of blog Candy this week. The challenge this week is numbers.

I used a white tag and swiped Walnut stain over the Tim Holtz textured fades Bingo embossing folder so that when I ran it through my cuttelbug the raised numbers and parts were inked.

I also inked the tag with a combination of shabby shutters, peeled paint, walnut stain and gathered twig distress inks.

The cogs were cut from the gadget gears die and then painted in Distress crakle paint frayed burlap and antique linen, when dry they were inked with gatherd twigs and black soot.

The keys were inked and then triple embossed with enchanted gold. The lions were stamped from my Indigo Blu Pomp and Pageantry stamp set, one was stamped in clear embossing ink before being covered with Distress powder weathered wood and the other in Walnut stain ink and clear embossing powder before lightly inking both with walnut stain.

The gold brads once attached were bashed with my hammer and gold ribbon threaded through the top. Enjoy and congratulation Hels on all your wonderfull work and inspiration.

Tag # 36 Flying High

The Sunday Stamper challenge - Week 199 is Transport so I had a dig round and decided to use my Hot air balloon stamp.

For the background I had a go at the tutorial Hels put on her blog on Saturday, The colours I used were broken china and wild honey distress stains with a touch of black soot around the edge. Once the tag was dry I stamped an air ticket from the Stampers Anonymous Air travel stamp set.

The hot air balloons were from a copy of Craft stamper and they were stamped on craft resist paper before being painted with distress inks.

The hinge die cut from a tim holtz die was inked and then roughly covered in bronze UTEE.

I added banner at the bottom and a memo pin with an idea-ology ticket before tieing string and ribbon through the top.

Ship Ahoy

Hi all this is my first ever design team entry for the Crafty Boots Challenge which this time is Nautical so I hope you enjoy it and get some inspiration for our challenge this fortnight.

I used Ice blue, Nougat and Mermaid PaperArtsy fresco paints and and a piece of cut n dry foam to dab multiple layers of the 3 colours on a tag.once dry I used the same colours and roughly stamped the background in a grid stamp at all sorts of angels.

Once dry I stamped the tag using gathered twig distress ink in compasses and mini worlds. I then swiped clear embossing ink over the whole tag and covered in clear embossing powder which was then roughly bashed off before heating.

I didnt have any specific nautical stamps so I decided to search the net and found a picture of ship and an anchor which were printed on photo paper.

I inked the ship in gathered twig and tumbled glass distress ink. I cut out the anchor and then used it as a stencil to cut out a grunge paper anchor. I inked the anchor in the gathered twigs and then stamped some swirls on it before covering in embossing ink and UTEE (Ultra Thick Embossing Powder) When the clear UTEE was still hot I sprinkled on some bronze as well to give that rusty look.
The leaves and banner were from the Tim Holtz Regal Crest die. The leaves were inked in crushed olive and the banner in the good old gathered twigs before being covered in the clear and bronze UTEE.

Once all stuck down the tag was finished with a couple of metal embellishements and a chunky piece of soft rope that I found in one of my boxes of stash which I roughly inked with the yes youve guessed it the gathered twigs.

Enjoy making your cards and creations.