Maelstrom

Rainbows are very popular in the UK at the moment, as a symbol of hope for a better time and just to cheer people up with bright colours.

I took up the challenge(s) and this image evolved as the combination of the sense of being blown uncontrollably by a whirlwind and the hope that there are better days "At end of the rainbow".

I thought the Visible Image stamp set Ahead of our Time had everything to represent my idea!

I created my rainbow colours background with Gelatos on a piece of card prepared with Gesso.
Then I used the Visible Image Stencil Strobes to remove colour.
I added the "clock" stamp with Versafine and embossed it with clear EP.


I stamped the falling people with Brilliance Graphite Black as I wanted the image to stay matt but wasn't sure Versafine would dry on the Gesso'ed and Gelato'ed surface.
And although I had aimed for solid black silhouettes, the Gelatos had an odd effect on the ink, which I decided was a good thing!

Finally, also a mishap I accepted to live with, I stamped and embossed the "Future" with Wow Yellow EP only to realise that the colour wasn't opaque as I'd thought.... I overstamped with Versamark and applied Vanilla on top, which allowed the image to show but does give a grainy look...

Let's hope for better days...

Thanks for coming by,
I am entering the SSS Monday, Addicted to stamps, Stamping Sensations challenges.

Rainbow and butterflies

Join us today on the  STAMPlorations blog  for a tribute to Melissa Lane, who sadly passed away and is leaving a big hole in her family and all who knew her, including our Crafting community.

She loved butterflies and if you'd like to contribute, whether you knew Melissa in real life or just online, you will be able to add your butterfly makes on the blog.

Dare to Dream

The written word, our theme for the Country View Challenge this month, is perfect for Journalling, after all journals are originally all about words! Today I'm showing a journal page featuring stamps for my journaling instead of handwriting as I don't like my own…

A double Scoop of Gelatos

Me again... just in time to wish Happy Mother's day to the British mums with a card full of the joy of spring. After all the snow and cold weather last week,  I couldn't wait for a little bit of sunshine and I created my own from hot colours of Gelatos.

The double Scoop of the title comes from the design of this Mother's day card relying on stencils for both focal image and background. Unusually there is no stamping. At all!

Time for Gelatos

The holidays might be receding in our memories but I am still thinking about the vibrant colours and brilliant light of the summer...

I used a failed Gelli print as a base for my journal page and experimented with Gelatos in my favourite colour(s).

Come and see the details on the Craft Barn blog and, if you missed it, have a look at the Midori style book that contains this DIY journal here, my readers comments tell me this was quite the popular project... so many thanks to my followers for those encouraging words!

Have a lovely weekend,
I am entering the Inky Chicks challenge.

Inspired by Van gogh

This week we've all gone artistic at the Craft Barn and I took my cue from Van Gogh (loosely..).

In particular, I have taken inspiration from his Cottage paintings and the colours from his straw bale paintings... he liked his series!
Instead of drawing  I stamped my cottage, trust me it looks all the better for it, and I used crayons to "paint" the scene rather than oils.

Supplies:
Cottage stamp by Imagination Crafts
Linen cardtstock
Gelatos
Distress Crayons
Core'dination cardstock

A step by step awaits you on the Craft Barn blog where you can see how I have created the effect of a painting with none of the difficulties of the real thing.

Thanks for coming by,

Tea rose

A warm hello on this July day, hopefully a sunny one wherever you are in the world!

A new Stamplorations Theme & Sketch challenge starts today and you can choose to enter by following the theme and/or the sketch. For my first inspiration make of the month I have chosen to go with the theme.

Time has seriously got away from me these last few months and even though I've had the Cup of Roses stamp for a while this is the first opportunity I've had to blog this wonderful image!

I first stamped the image with black Versafine ink and stencilled Distress inks around it with the Shutters Mini - ARTplorations Stencil.

For strong, vibrant colours I chose to use Gelatos, which can be applied thickly.
My picture on the left shows a rose where I have just laid the colours with the sticks, and, the bottom rose where the colours have been spread and mixed with the help of a silicone tipped "brush". I would normally use fingers but for such a detailed image I needed a much more controlled application.

I considered (and rejected) several options for embellishing, framing etc... but the stamp is powerful, quite large too and I felt less was more and allowed the Cup of Roses to shine. I added one of the 2 sentiments included in the set and left it at that.

I hope to see plenty of entries in the Stamplorations Theme & Sketch  challenge whether you are following the sketch, the theme or even both!

Thanks for coming by,
I am  entering the Fashionable Stamping, Stamping Sensations, That's Crafty and Craft Stamper TIMI challenges.
 

Bouquet...

Inspired by the British sitcom Keeping Up Appearances (last aired in 1995 in the UK) I titled my make Bouquet... Like Hyacinth, the "lady of the house", I'm using a variant spelling but this time it stands for Bokeh.

This week the team at the Craft Barn is trying their hand at this technique born from the photographic effects. See the picture on the right to get an idea of what we are aiming for.

Supplies:
Stencil: DIY Circles stencil
Stamps: Paper Artsy EK02
Kaisercraft Love This
Versafine Black
Clear Embossing powder
Distress inks & crayons
Gelatos
White pigment ink

Come by the Craft Barn blog to see how I made it!

Thanks for coming by,
I am entering the Stamplorations MM, Vintage Journey and Creative Artist MMchallenges.

Christmas Town

I can't believe we are in December, Christmas is looming and another year has passed!

Yes, it's the 1st of the month, time for a new challenge at Country View Crafts and I made this Christmas card to kick off our theme hosted by Debs.

My inspiration was slow to come and it's only when I found a very old piece of cardstock that I finally had a brainwave. Any of you have ever encountered Stardream?

I checked and it still exist. This card is smooth, very thick and has a plastic feel to it. I thought that maybe it would work just like a gessoed surface... and it did work with my chosen medium the way I wanted so now I know how to use up my stock! The colour I have is Sapphire a deep blue that reminded me of a night sky.

I first applied some Gelatos and using my fingers spread it around the bottom of the card where I next stamped the Textured Houses (Rubber Dance) in Archival ink.


For the sky I used JOFY Mini 06 (Paper Artsy) and also the small star flurry motif form the Textured Feathers (also Rubber Dance) stamped and embossed in white.
I stamped the sentiment (Katzelkraft) in the same way.






To give the idea of the Milky way I added Distress crayon in white around the embossed stars, spreading the colour with my fingers. 
Finally, I matted my image on a contrasting colour of cardstock.

I have great difficulties in getting decent photos at this time of the year, especially with my Daylight lamp on the blink so I am including this picture taken with sunlight catching it.

So hop over to the Country View Craft challenge blog, admire what my teamies did and get a full tank of inspiration for your Christmas cards.  Just make sure you come back to link to our challenge and show us your beauties, you could win a £20 voucher!

Thanks for coming by,
Also entering the SSS Wednesday, The Artistic Stamper and Inkychicks challenges.

Tricks or Treats ?

Tonight's the night... the most spooky of nights is upon us and I am revealing my sorceries... mmmmmwwwwahahahahahahaha...

It is also the last day to enter our CountryView Spooky challenge hosted by my DT mate Corrie so get on your brooms pronto if you want to be in with a chance to win a £20 voucher to spend on crafting goodies!

Here's my 2nd DT make for the Spooky theme:

I started by preparing my tag with a layer of Gesso, applied lazily with a wipe. After drying I scribbled Gelatos in Orange, Red and Violet, blending with my fingers.

 

I then placed a stencil (Sunburst by DecoArt over the tag and sprayed water all over. Dabbing with a wipe I removed the colour, in places.

The stamps are 3 images from the Toxic set (Stampendous) inked with black dye ink and a freebie stamp from an old Craft Stamper magazine, a black cat.
Sometimes with clear stamps, especially the cheaper acrylic versions, it is difficult to get a good impression.

My first trick for you today is to sand lightly the stamp surface so that the ink has somewhere to grip onto without beading. This is especially essential when dealing with solid images such as this cat.


The second trick deals with slight defects on the back of the stamps (a bubble of air during manufacturing) preventing a good impression of a particular section.

Place a piece of paper to the rough shape of the defect underneath the stamp as shown in the photo. Here there is still plenty of surface for the stamp to adhere onto the acrylic block without problem.
Be sure to apply more pressure on top of the defective area.





Finally I stamped both texture images from the same Toxic stamp set using the method shown here:

There you have it, my best tricks...

They do work a treat and I hope they were a treat for you too!

Happy Halloween!





I am entering Nefertiti, That's Crafty, Stamplorations Mixed Media, Inkychicks, SSS Wednesday and Vintage Journey challenges.

House and Gardens

Paper Arsty's blog theme is Houses this fortnight and we've been treated to House makes in all kind of materials and even in 3D!
Wanting to join the challenge, but without getting involved in paper engineering, I chose to create a whimsical house and garden not unlike that drawn by children.

My base is thick white cardstock prepared with Gesso.
I stamped with black dye ink all the elements, masking the house. The house is an old set by Polkadoodles (Gazebo Neighbours)and the flowers are from the Paper Artsy EKC02 set.
I coloured sky and grass with Gelatos, flowers with gel pens in iridescent colours (difficult to see in the picture but they do shine in a certain light...) and the house and bench with watercolour pencils.

Thanks for coming by,
I am also entering the SSS Monday Challenge challenge.

Box

First let me thank all the lovely people who took the time to leave very flattering comments on my last post. My Dictionary challenge page seemed to have had great appeal, helped in large part by the giraffe's fluttering her eyelashes. She even managed to seduce a visitor into subscribing, Suchi, who receives my warmest welcome.

 

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I am having a hard time finding appropriate themes that say "Spring" without doing flowers or rabbits (there is a good chance you will see both of these in a future post!), so I am choosing what I think of spring colours for the Live & Love Crafts March challenge.

Crafty Individuals wanted to see Boxes of some kind (any kind) and I took up the challenge inspired by Nefertiti's upcycling of a cat's food container. I even pushed myself and fussy cut the little darlings (CI-449) just to show some willing in the face of her extensive scissor work!

The box comes from the recycling bin, and I used a sheet of paper from the Crafty Individuals Weekend in Seville pad (Background Paper Book 8)  and a piece of hand made paper (not by me!) on the lid. For the sides I used Tim Holtz Tissue tape and Trimcraft tape (Curiosity Corner collection), coloured with an alcohol marker in lavender.

A bit of Gelato smudged around the box creates a frame for my "picture".

For embellishments, I used very old purply blossoms from my stash and after a bit of shaping, glued several layers together to form the flowers you see here. I finished them with an adhesive dot.
A few die-cuts (coloured with the same Gelato), a piece of muslin and voilà... "c'est dans la boîte!"

Forgot to say, I gave dimension to my fussy cut pair with an embossing tool and a cardboard backing. It creates shadows around their bodies, really bringing them to life.

Now I need to decide if and who I give this to...

Also entering the Allsorts challenge.

TH March tag

Before showing you today's project I need to tell you that I have changed my blog title. When I chose it all those years ago I didn't really know what the title would be used for and now I think it is way too long and better as a description than a title.
Crafty Endeavours is what I have settled on, at least for now...

I'm not sure it will make a difference to you dear readers, although RSS subscribers might want to rename their links.
Do let me know if this is causing problems.

    On to the crafty stuff...

In March Tim Holtz is revisiting a Textured surfaces technique and mixing it with the Dimensional dies technique, taking the opportunity to try his Distressed Crayons.

In the cold light of day, well light full stop, the colours of my background do not quite gel with my top layer. Never mind this isn't going to anyone, let's call it a practice piece!

If you want to know about the techniques on this tag I'll refer you to the master here but here are some of the supplies I used:

- corrugated cardboard (from my recycling bin)
- Sizzix/Tim Holtz Mixed media Thinlits (last year's collection)
- Spellbinders labels dies 7
- Gelatos (no Distressed Crayons in my stash yet but it's under consideration)

As a finishing embellishment I used some twine with a key cut from black shrink plastic (Sizzix Hardware findings) and embossed with Vert-de-gris powder.

Thanks for coming by,

Also entering the SSS Monday Challenge challenge.

He-Art

Another make with hearts but this time NOT a Valentine. Phew!

Craft Stamper want to see script in the background for the February challenge so that was my starting point. I decided to combine an embossed script stamp (Calligraphic Mat 13 The Artistic Stamper) with a piece of recycled kraft cardstock (thank you Amazon!) and apply gelatos colours on top.

I stamped the brushes stamp (Rubber Dance) with black dye ink and drew the heart with Fresco paint. The "Altered Art" splat (Messy Art set - Artistic Stamper) has been stamped over the paint with a pigment ink which hasn't stamped as smoothly as it should have.
I used another stamp from the same set bottom left and in the heart with black dye ink and you can see the difference in colour as the fresco paint has absorbed the dye to leave a dark grey impression rather than black. With hindsight, I should have masked the splat or at least avoided it when stamping the script...

I used a stencil to add a bit of dimension, a linen stencil by Dutch Doobadoo in 2 corners.

Now for the fun bit... I scribbled some gelatos in blues, yellows, orange and pink and smudged them with a dry baby wipe.
On a whim I sprayed the corners with a fuchsia Starburst spray (lindy's stamp gang) followed by a fine mist of water to soften the effect.

I felt I needed an embellishments and, since I didn't have a brush, I plumped for the scissors as my most necessary arty item. I put it on a chain as I have seen seamstresses do in order to prevent them from straying...

Thanks for coming by

Also entering the The Artistic Stamper, Stamping sensations, SSS Monday, Stamplorations Mixed Media and the Craft Barn challenges.

Tim Holtz style

What if Tim Holtz did Art journaling... this is the theme of the Vintage Journey challenge this month and I was piqued. Indeed what would HE do, I mused.

I got around the journaling aspect by borrowing someone else's words and type (from the Rubber Dance Affirmations plate) as I hate my own handwriting.

For my background I used Gelatos on a shiny textured paper which allowed the pigment to glide well. Why Gelatos and not Distress inks you ask? Well for one the inks I have are of the grungy range not the cleaner, brighter hues of more recent releases and secondly they would not dry on this paper! But the effect is similar I think...

I used a Tim Holtz stamp (CMS 021 - Enjoy the Journey), chosen for its masculine and vintage feel. I added some old clock faces from a freebie set (Papermania) and a Flonzcraft set (True Gentleman).

I thought about adding some stamping to the background but with the paper texture small motifs (think script stamps) weren't working well.
I think Tim would have added lots more and gone further but for me it's enough!

Tell me what YOU think in your comments,
Have a crafting Sunday!

Also entering That's Crafty, The Artistic Stamper and Craft Barn challenges.

Sew Shabby (chic)

Stamping Sensations challenge's theme this month is Sewing inspired, which is my opportunity to test my latest Rubber Dance stamps!
I decided on a shabby chic style with lots of lace motifs which I found on the Live and Love Craft blog.

I used textured paste with a Prima doily stencil on the Kraft background, a printed paper which I punched with a Martha Stewart border punch.
I stamped my dress form on a piece of Prima paper (old collection) and gave it a bit of colour with a pink Gelato. A scrap of tulle and a bit of ribbon creates dress in progress on the dress form.

For embellishments I added real and faux buttons, a doily,  other stamped elements from the same Rubber Dance set and a scrap of gauze.

Thanks for coming by,

Also entering the Polka Doodle , Tando Creative and All Sorts  challenge.

Fireworks

You may get a sense of déjà vu with this page full of hot sunny colours but no,  it's not last Vintage Stamping Challenge piece but one I made for the July theme of Holidays and Travel.

There was no definite plan at the beginning and I let the page evolve as my focal image sparked my imagination when it made me think of summer nights fireworks.

 

My first layers on the page are from a Gelli print session, not particularly successful because of the texture of the paper so I added some more paint directly with a brayer.

 

I added some stencilling with Vanilla paint through stencils made with dies (Circles - Papertrey Ink, Twirly Circle - Memory Box) then, using the bump technique[1], overlaid orange Gelato. The twirly circle made me think of Catherine wheel, reinforcing the fireworks idea...

 

Finally I added some blue texture paste through a Crafters Workshop stencil and directly with a palette knife.

 

The focal image, available here and also as part of a full sheet of silhouettes,  has been stamped on glossy photo paper, a scrap for previous experiments, with dye ink. I tried Versafine but dye ink gives a better result.
I then sprayed water over the whole image and sprinkled some Brushos powders in orange at the top and black at the bottom to give a sunset feel.

What will YOU make for our Vintage Stamping challenge? Join us and you could win a lovely $20 to spend at the Flonzcraft shop. Remember your make doesn't need to be Vintage but it does need to have some stamping, NO DIGIS allowed!

Also entering the Tando Creative and the Craft Stamper challenge.

 

 

 

 

[1] The bump technique is applying a second stencil layer over the first one, in a different colour and slightly offset from the first.