Bottles

New Year new challenge at the Craft Barn... This year it's a dictionary challenge and the first letter we have been given is B. Coincidentally,  Paper Artsy's challenge first topic of the year is "Transparent" and Country View Crafts first challenge theme is Bottles, so without the need for imagination (my mojo is still not back to normal after the holidays) I had my theme!

For my background, a very loose "wall" was stencilled in blue Distress ink and a table top in Antique Linen. Both stencils were created with Tim Holtz Mixed Media Thinlit dies.
For the bottles, I used the stamps from Paper Artsy Hot picks 1203, 1204, 1205 with Archival ink on acetate.
I coloured my bottles with alcohol pen from the reverse and glued them on the background with glossy accents.

One last thing to finish this page... the dictionary definition.

Please tell me what  you think of this page in your comments!

Also entering the SSS Monday challenge.

Black & White and Another colour (Follow your heart)

Guess who's back on the Rubber Dance blog?!!! Yes, I was invited back and today I am showing a card I made with some of the stamps released in December which I am inking for the first time!
I have been wanting some Art themed stamps for a while and the Artist Plate is just perfect.

My make is following the Rubber Dance challenge's colours for January.

I stamped individually some of the brushes using masks and kept them in place for the background stamping of 2 textures stamps:

• in blue the Diamonds, one of the background from the ATC Backgrounds 1 plate and
• in black the grid pattern from  the Stitch and Frame set.

The sentiment is partially stamped on the card and the last word on a small wooden heart. This heart  came with my last Rubber Dance order and I thought it would be fun to include it here.

A pool of blue watercolour finishes the card, I chose Prussian Blue of course!
Thanks for coming by,

Also entering the Craft Stamper and SSS Wednesday challenges.

Metal and chalk

Tim Holtz is reviewing some of his "old" techniques in his 12 tags of 2016 and January is a very industrial mix of metal and chalkboard. I was inspired to try ...

For a complete step by step I will refer you to the master over here as I followed the steps fairly closely. My focal image, stamped on black cardstock, is an image by Katzelkraft, or rather a very small portion, and represents a helicoidal clock, which I thought could be suitable for a Steampunk vibe.

I tried to make it stand out a bit more by popping up the spiral with increasing heights of foam pads but not enough to show in the picture.

To emboss the tag I used a Docrafts Plaid embossing folder, as on metal I thought it looked industrial.

I replaced the metal embellishment by an embossed word on the same black cardstock as I felt I needed that extra contrast of stark white against black with the rest of the tag being so grey! (Yes I know it looks blue in the photo.... the weather is just not cooperative and the natural light is hard to come by)


Thanks for coming by,

Also entering the Sandy & Amelie Steampunk, WOW Embossing powder and We Love To Create challenge.

New Year, New stash

Don't you love January... After Christmas and crafty sales there is new stash to be tried and played with, yeah!! Hence the theme of the Vintage Stamping Challenges this month.

My new stash is the Tonic Studio Twined Lily Square Die set, although the Flonzcraft stamp I used is also on its first outing. It's  Drinking Tea, also available in the Art Nouveau Silhouettes sheet. Don't you love the oh so delicate details?

I die-cut my frame twice, once with black Core'dination and once with white cardstock, using the white inside for my stamping.
For the backing I used a Melissa Frances 6x6 paper and inked the edges with Distress inks.
A punched border from pink dotty paper (Martha Stewart) and an ivory ric-rac die-cut provide a bit of a colour contrast whilst a sheer ribbon bow adds that finishing touch for this very feminine card.

I hope this inspires you to pull out your stamping stash and to show us at Vintage Stamping Challenges what new supplies have excited you. You could win a $20 voucher to splurge at Flonzcraft, our lovely sponsor,  and your make doesn't need to be Vintage... it just needs to showcase some stamping (rubber, clear, foam etc...) but NO digis.

Thanks for coming by,

Also entering the Live & Love Crafts, Allsorts, Stamping Sensations, Penny Black and more, That Craft Place  and SSS Monday challenges.

Completed calendar 2016

Edited on 07/01 I have added pictures of all 12 pages

As a fitting post for this end of year I thought I would show you quickly my completed calendar 2016.


I used a small ring binder mechanism to hold my pages together but didn't fix it to a cover in case I want to use it again.
And now I can tell you without spoiling the surprise that I used the Spellbinder Grand Creative Book Pages set to die-cut my pages.

The increasing sizes of the pages and the acetate page allows glimpses of later pages.

I hope it all makes sense now!

And a quick reminder of all 12 pages:

Before I leave, I would like to point you in the direction of my Gallery, which you can access by clicking on the Gallery at the top of this page. There you will get a view on many projects at once and review my output for the year if you have time to kill...
For the Bloggers amongst you, you might like this set-up for your own blog. I have created a specific page for this "Dynamic view", called the Flipcard because, although I think it is interesting, the classic post view is better on a day to day basis for the regular readers.

Time to wish you a Happy New Year, full of creativity!

Storage part 2

I finally got inspiration to finish my second can of a trio (see the first one here) and seized the chance of doing a bit of crafting!

I used the same masterboard as last time and just added the stamping. I chose images from the KTZ-50 Paris Monuments stamp sheet and black dye ink.

One more to go...

I am entering the We Love 2 Create, Tando Creative and That Craft Place challenges

Frosty Trees

The theme for this card is provided by the Craft Barn and the technique by the SSS Monday challenge, "Just a pinch".
My pinch is clear embossing powder, as this is the closest to salt in appearance and was ideal to create a frosty look on a tree.

I inked the Crafty Individuals stamp (CI-429) with pens, which allowed me to avoid some of the branches (the "frosty" ones) and embossed with clear EP.
With a brayer I applied blue ink over the top, making sure the top of the sky is darker than the horizon.

And that is it really.... It looks a bit drab but winter landscapes do look grey and, of course, my photo is suffering of a lack of proper sunlight!


And with Christmas round the corner it's time for me to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year!

Also entering the Polka Doodle, That's Crafty and Allsorts challenges.

Calendar Challenge last page!

Yessss... made it! I now know how Hercules felt!
The theme this month was Tree and Gold/Silver and I chose an old freebie stamp set and stamped the tree in black Versafine and the some of the smaller motifs with glue (Flitter glue or similar).
When the glue was touch dry (but permanently tacky) I applied gold foil over the top.

Stamping with glue is not easy... It's transparent so there is no way of seeing how well it has stamped, in this case the gold motif have a "distressed" look about it, which is when one invokes the grunge inspiration...



There may be a bonus post with a few pics of my assembled calendar if Christmas preparations don't swamp me completely!

Also entering the Artistic Stamper and We Love To Create challenge.

Christmas shine

Christmas is the time where glitter is a pre-requisite rather than an afterthought so I decided to finally have a go at a glitter technique I have seen many moons ago (we are talking years here...).

It's a very simple technique, on a stamped image apply a double sided adhesive sheet, rubbing with a bone folder to ensure a perfect bond, then a fine glitter over the top. Preferably a white/transparent glitter... but mine is blue so the result is not as good as it should, let's face it, it does cover the image a little bit too much. However it SHINES!!!

I then decided to substitute glitter for mica powders as they are finer so should work better than my blue glitter. This was quite fun as I proceeded to "paint" the mica over the image with a brush, in different colours of mica. Rather successful experiment, I think. Although you'll have to look at the photograph below to actually see the design as, even with the cloudy weather, the mica just bounce the light at this angle!





For my last experiment I had the curiosity to try the double sided adhesive technique with a non shiny substance... Fun Flock, and although it does dampen the image's colours quite a bit I like the result.

And finally all tags together.

The Hollie Hobby Christmas stamp is an old freebie from a magazine and I coloured the images with alcohol markers.

What is your favourite result?

I am entering my glitter tag in the Live and Love craft, Bunny Zoe's Crafts and Tando Creative (W2) challenges.
And all of my tags enter the SSS Wednesday and Craft Barn challenges.

Bleu Blanc Rouge

I am making another appearance on the Rubber Dance blog today and I have made something quite different (for me).


From the title you might guess (correctly) that this is about the French flag. But those are also the colours of the Rubber Dance challenge this month.

Paris has a special place in my heart and with very little in the way of supplies I managed to get the page to "say" what I wanted to say.
Distress inks create a French flag background.
Marianne's Eiffel Tower die-cut is symbolic for Paris
The word Souvenir is both for Paris as a tourist destination and for the remembrance of the victims.


The word Always is illustrating famous Casablanca film quote "We'll always have Paris".
In combination these words also deliver their message.


Both stamps are from Rubber Dance, Souvenir from Travel and Always from Nostalgic Couples.




For those new to Rubber Dance stamps, if you want to try their stamps without breaking the bank check this blog post for special offers. And err.. yes I have been unable to resist so I got a big grab bag...



Thanks for coming by,

Also entering the Penny Black and more challenge.

It's....Frosty

It's now all hands on deck for a last flurry of Christmas cards... I realise now I may have underestimated the number I need so I must get on!























The background is a piece of white core cardstock embossed with a Fiskars Snowflakes plate and sanded back. A recycled tag brings some sparkle with the holographic word and a small gem. The door die-cut is from Memory box. I used stamps from my Rubber Dance grab bag (if you want yours I have a link top right), namely the silver embossed Winter wishes tag and Baby it's Cold sign both from the Winter Wonderland set. And behind the door...

It's Mr Frosty the snowman!!! also from Rubber Dance. I coloured the image with alcohol markers . Thanks for coming by,

Mr Frosty is entering the following challenges: SSS Wednesday Challenge, That Craft Place, Polka Doodle, SSS Monday Challenge, Inkychicks, WOW Embossing powders

Winter Trees

We have reached the final challenge for this year at Vintage Stamping Challenges  and I wanted to make something different, something a bit theatrical, a grand finale for Christmas. And the theatre box was born...

In my box I was trying to create the impression of looking through trees to the lit window of a house on that special night. I hope I have succeeded!

My lit window is the Girl with Bird stamp, from Flonzcraft also available in a large stamp sheet full of silhouettes.









I die-cut round apertures of increasing sizes in each of my panels and decorated them with die-cuts:
* stars: Papertrey Ink (centre of Snowflakes)
* Tree branches, Deer and Christmas tree: Memory Box
I cut the tree branches and Christmas tree from a piece of watercolour paper on which I had tested Brushos, not very successful as a background, but I loved the variegated look it gave the die-cuts. Quite pleased I saved it from the bin...

Hop over to the Vintage Stamping Challenge blog to see what the rest of the DT has made this month. Join us in showcasing some winter trees for the chance to win a $20 voucher for the Flonzcraft shop.  Remember your make doesn't need to be vintage but it does need to have some stamping (rubber, polymer, foam...), no digis allowed!
Thanks for coming by,

Also entering the Country View Crafts -Create a scene, Memory Box, Crafty Sentiments, Craft Stamper and That's Crafty challenges.