Inks on Canvas

I love creating canvases! And this was one I made for a class I did using 1 stamp to create many different projects. The idea was to encourage peoples imaginations and help then look at their stamps in a whole new light, so that they get the most from them. One of my favourite techniques at the moment is using spray inks with stencils and masks. I especially like using pearlescent sprays just to give that little bit of va va voom!

In this project I used a variety of spray inks and masks to create the background and then painted the edge of the canvas with a co-ordinating colour to give it a neat finish. I then made 3 triple embossed tiles and stamped into them and layered onto co-ordinating mirri card and adhered to the canvas in a tryptych arrangment. Using a variety of sizzix dies, some of which were the Tim Holtz Alterations dies, I created the swirls and 3d roses from mirri card and old book pages. I then coloured the roses and leaves with inks and sprays and adhered to the canvas with silicone glue. To finish I added some obligitory bling (well, of course! I hear you shout! lol) and popped on 3 co-ordinating gems!

Stampotique Designers Challenge

This was the third challenge I decided to take part in, in the last week. I love Stampotique stamps so the thought of taking part in one of their challenges was very appealing. The Stampotique Designers Challenge blog can be found at http://www.stampotiquedesignerschallenge.blogspot.com/ and is a great place to get inspiration and ideas. This fortnight the challenge was to make something including animals, insect or bird so I made this card.
I used a Craftworks card blank and covered it in background paper I had made using pearlescent ink sprays and then using a mask with a bronze spray to create the pattern. I die-cut the bird and cage using a Tim Holtz die and coloured the birdcage with paint and sprays and the bird with left over background paper. I edged the card with Krylon pen and used a mixture of embellishements and fibres on the cage. I found a crown I had had for a while and thought that would suit the bird.
I look forward to hearing what you think.

Birthday Wishes!

Last week was my father-in-laws' 75th birthday! So I decided to make him a special card. For this I pulled out my new set of "Prague" Darkroom Door stamps and stamped the street scence image in black Archival ink over a backround made in alcoholic inks (I said I had really got back into my Alcoholic inks hadn't I?). I layered it onto some text scrapbook paper and embellished with ideology (of course!) metal corners, ribbon and a flower which I punched from an old book and the sentiment stamp onto some scrap patterned paper. I then distressed it all and put in onto a base card.
There you go all done...........Happy birthday Grandad!

Simon Says Stamp and Show

Another day another challenge! How's that....my first foray into online challenges earlier in the week and now I am hooked! This card is for the "Simon Says Stamp and Show" challenge at http://www.simonsaysstampandshow.blogspot.com/ , in which the design had to include stars.
I had just bought a pack of Dovecraft "Funky Vintage" paper in which I found the prefect background paper. I distressed it with Tim Holtz "scratchy" stamp and Coffee Archival ink. I wrapped around some twine and then added the topper using foam tape.
I made the topper by using nestabilities to die cut the shape and then stamped the design using Papersartsy and Tim Holtz stamps and Coffee Archival ink, I then sprayed it with Heirloom Gold Prefect Pearls mist. I shaded and distressed the topper with distress ink and attached it to the card. The card was embellished with Tim Holtz Ideology products.
I am really happy with the finished card, I only wish the photography had been better.

Spring Sketch Challenge

Well, this is me taking part in my first on-line challenge! I thought it was about time that I brought myself into the 21st (had to think for a minute there!) century and venture further into this area of crafting!

The challenge this month on Gill Mc Calls' blog "Creations by Gill M" at http://www.creationsbygillm.blogspot.com/ was to produce a card in a spring theme using the supplied sketch. As always, I have to alter things just a tad! So I flipped the sketch and put the sentiment to the bottom of the dividing line rather than the top. Because of these changes I decided to omit the 2 suggested embellishments.

The stamp I used was a Tina Higgins Do-Craft Papermania "Lilac" stamp. I think it looks lovely and "spring-like" stamped in these colours. I used the technique of dripping mulitple distress re-inkers onto baby wipes to create my own customised rainbow inkpad. And I am now a convert!

Hope you like it.

Craft Stamper Postcard Swap

I have recently started taking part in the Craft Stamper monthly swaps. This is only my 2nd entry so I haven't received anything back yet, but am really excited to get my first one in the post, so as to see what everyone else created.

This month the theme was "Postcards" so I decided to use some of my new Tim Holtz stamps, the "Haberdashery" set and "Slight Alterations" set, as well as my new Creative Expression set, "Vintage Sewing".

I got my alcohol inks out again to create the background (boy, I am really getting into my alcohol inks! I'm really loving the effects you can get with them and wonder why I ever put them away!). Once the background was dry, which is just a few seconds, I over stamped with the Tim Holtz "scratchy" image from his Slight Alterations set. Then I created a stamped collage with various sewing images. To add dimension I added some Distress Stickles to the dress form, gold fibres, a button and a press stud. I then layered the finished postcard on black card to frame it.

For the back of the postcard I used a smaller piece of white card which I distressed with Vintage Photo Distress Ink drew a line down the middle with brown ink and then using Tim Holtz stamps again stamped the "Postcard" image and a quote that appealed to me.

I'm really starting to get into these swaps and hope that the recipient enjoys what I have created. I am looking forward to seeing how other people interpret the themes and what they make.

ATC Swap for Feb and March

Here are my contributions to the UK Stampers ATC swaps for Feb and March. The three to your right are for the Feb swap, the theme for Feb was "heal, hope and happiness". You had to incorporate these words into the atcs in some way. Thus I created these three. After seeing the TSV on QVC when Tim Holtz was over I decided to get my alcohol inks back out and have a play. Got to say I love the colours! Then I thought of themes that might fir the words. I came up with "Travelling is happiness", Da Vincis Hopes" and "Time Heals all Wounds" and stamped Judikins images to suit.

The theme for the March swap was " In the Woods". So once again I pulled out the alcohol inks to create a background. And then stamped this Judikins image in Archival Black and added some Tim Holtz birds (seems almost impossible to do anything lately without adding something Tim Holtz to it!lol!) . I was quite happy with the finished product and really enjoyed using the alcohol inks again. think I will have to play with them more in the future.

My Little Princess

One of my favourite things is scrapbooking photos of my daughter Georgia, especially when I put them on canvas and I can hang them on the wall! This one was done using some gorgeous Teresa Collins papers I had got in class I did while I was home in Australia visiting my parents. As you may have guessed by now, I am not the fastest at using products that I collect along the way! I have to have time to admire and stroke them before I finally bring myself to use them! LOL!
This photo was taken when she was 9 monthes old. She is now 4 years old, so that gives you an idea of how long I needed to admire and stroke this bit of stash! As well as the papers I used Prima flowers and bling. I also used a journalling block that had an apt quote on it. All in all I am quite happy with the outcome of this piece of wall art. Hope you like it too.

Arstycrafts Part 2 - The BIG event!

So continuing on from the previous entry..........the second half of the day was with the man himself, T!m Holtz! As I have previously mentioned I had done the class at Art from the Heart the previous week and really enjoyed it! So, I was quite excited about what this class might entale. Well, I was not disapointed. The class was on his new configuration boxes and we got the large box and everthing we could possibly need to fill it! It was sooooooo much fun and we were taught the tricks for covering and lining the box and little boxes, as well as ideas for arranging the small box sections within the entire box. I LOVED doing this project and am already thinking of themes for other configuration boxes. OH! Help!Where am I going to put everything? I'm running out of room in my house for all these beautigful craft things! lol! Please post any suggestions you might have to solve my dilemma.

I can't begin to say how much I enjoyed this experience and to top the trip off that night I went out to dinner with some of the girls I met in the class and we had the biggest laugh I have had in a very long time! I feel as if I have made some new but very good friends and as if I have known them for ages. It amazing how similar interests helps when meeting people. I look forward to keeping intouch with everyone I met and sharing our passion for creating.

Artsycrafts Trip Part 1

I can't believe that it is a week since I got back from my trip down to Newton Pagnell for the Artsycrafts event that was T!m Holtz. I have eagerly awaited this class for so long that it seems almost unreal that it is over now, and I have nothing so exciting to look forward too! It's worse than Christmas and your birthday, because at least then you know you will have another one next year! LOL! Well, I am sure something will come along to fill the void! LOL!

The first part of the day was with Leandra and Lin. I have always wanted to do a arstycrafts event with these ladies and now I know that I will absolutely being booking on a weekend course with them it was brilliant! So well organised and so much fun. We used the new Paperartsy paints, metal card, metal and colour wash to creat this perfect little house with we decorated with ideology pieces and stamps. They are so clear with their teaching which makes the class so easy and yet they look like they are having so much fun! As shown in the photos! LOL!


At the end of the class we compare our project and as always I am amazed at the beauty of others work and how we all put our own twist on things. So even though we start out with the same components the end product is different and reflects our personalties!
What a day and this is only the morning! We still have the T!m holtz class to do...................................which I will continue in the next blog entry!

Dream

I had suggested a Tim Holtz inspired project as a topic for one of the classes I was taking at a local craft shop, but was struggling to come up with a concrete idea of what I was going to do. Which as you can imagine can be a BIG problem when you are trying to decide what you need! lol! Well, after my first T!m Holtz class at AFTH I came away inspired and this is what I made.

I guess I called it "DREAM" as I had always dreamed of doing a class with him and I got to do not 1 but 2 calsses, so I was over the moon!
Also my biggest dream is to have my work published and start to be able to do something with my passion! Well, dreams are free aren't they?

The cherry on the cake though was that I took the completed project with me to the 2nd class I had with Tim and showed it to him. He liked it and even signed the back for me! What a coup! I am so proud and will treasure it forever!

T!m Holtz at AFTH

On the 17th of Febuary I went to the T!m Holtz class at Art from the Heart (aka AFTH). It was a fabulous day! In fact it was such a great day I can't begin to describe it in words! Thanks so much to Dyan and Ben at AFTH they did an amazing job in getting everything organised and I will be forever grateful! In the class we made a journal. As you can see I made mine about the day with Tim. I wanted to make it into a technique jounal with samples of all that we did as well as photos and momentos of the day. The class was really a technique based class with us learning how to use a lot of the new products that Ranger has released as well as techniques that Tim uses in his craft.
The journal was made using Art Parts book pieces, a Ranger book binder and sticky back canvas, too easy! Then covered with inked craft resist paper. The pages were made with sheets from his Lost and found collection and then decorated with stamps, salvage stickers, die cut shapes and ideology bits'n'pieces.

We used his new glassine paper, ribbons, measuring tape and die cut shapes, as well as learning how to make a tissue tape flower. I wasn't convinced to start with but at the end I had to say I was quite happy with it.

We also had lots of fun playing with the distress inks and blending tools (my favourite) and got to try the new distress stains (lots of potential). Got to say my favourite new product (which I still can't get my hands on is the Kraft Resist paper! Aaaaaggghhh!!) lol:)

One of the things I included was a quote on a distressed ticket (which is in the photo to the left), it was something Tim kept saying all day, "Don't think, just create....in my opinion thinking is over-rated!" and it got me to thinking, well not too much as we now know it is over-rated!........you know, I think he has a point. I think we often over-think our art and that stops us just creating! So my new theory is to just go with the flow, and see where it takes me!

I was really chuffed with my journal, and though it isn't quite finished yet am really excited with the techniques and skills I have learnt and used. Hope you guys like it too.