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.

Dictionary challenge

The latest Letter of the Craft Barn dictionary challenge is V (no twist) and I chose Vintage. Before you think Vintage images, lace, Victorian, distressed... no not this time! There are many meanings attached to the word and Vintage is both a noun and an adjective. Here is the complete dictionary definition if you're interested, but for space purposes on my pageI have only printed my chosen meaning.

I have used a single stamp set from the magazine Creative Stamping (at least a year old if I remember correctly) and black Versafine.
I coloured the images with watercolour pencils (Stabilo) and a water brush.

The stamps are acrylic and do not stamp well if not "prepared", which I did, with a light sanding of the top surface. But considering how cheap they work out they were a good buy for a theme I am not going to use regularly and I would recommend them for a beginner to dip in the stamping waters.

So Vintage done, only 5 letters to go...
Thanks for coming by,
Also entering the That's' Crafty and Stamplorations CAS  challenges.

Pumpkins

Another spooky make...

This one is featuring at the Craft Barn today where you can catch a step by step.

Do pop over to see the details here,

Thanks for coming by,
I am entering the Fashionable Stamping challenge and Nefertiti's first challenge.

E is for...

The letter for the latest Craft Barn Dictionary challenge is E, and there was no hesitation for this one, I had known the stamp I wanted to use for a long time...

I First stamped the Elephant (from the African Animals plate by Rubber Dance) with black dye ink and used masking fluid to protect it.
Then I over stamped and embossed a small diamonds texture (also Rubber Dance) with Vanilla EP (WOW).
The texture under its feet is from the Toxic set by Stampendous, chosen because it reminded me of parched earth.

For colours I used 3 shades of Brushos at the top, graduating from Orange to Lemon via Yellow, going the full Autumnal colour scheme... For the ground, I used Infusion in Golden Sands and a little bit of Moss Green Brushos.

I coloured the elephant with watercolour pencils (Derwent) and a water brush.

I then had an irresistible urge to add this tree silhouette (Flonzcraft) and partially stamped it with dye ink,  dragging some of that ink with a wet brush to create a hill for it to "live" on.

As usual, letter and definition complete the page.

Once in a blue moon, a creation turns out the way I saw it in my mind and, luckily, this is one of those times... so I'm quite pleased with it!
Whether my vision was any good is another matter.... perhaps YOU can tell me...



I am also entering the  Rubber Dance, Inkychicks, Penny Black and more, Stamping Sensations and Craft Stamper TIMI challenges.

Dimensional

Today marks my debut as member of the Craft Barn DT... I am incredibly proud and happy to join the "other side"...

Come and say hello on the Craft Barn blog where I am showing how I made this :

As soon as I saw the Imagination Crafts Rice Paper I had to have some. They look like the collaged images I'd like to achieve with stamps, stencils and inks but better!
The paper is more sturdy than tissue paper but similar in opacity, and has a slight texture to it because of the embedded fibres.

As I liked it so much, of course I couldn't face covering any of it with a toppers or embellishments in card making... Eventually I found how to best use this beautiful piece of paper in an object I would handle everyday and would be just mine. My OH has a chocolate habit and brought back this lovely metal box with only 6 chocolates inside but the perfect size for a DIY makeup palette.

I don't know about you but I have a host of eyeshadows, blushers etc... in mono, duo, quads taking lots of space when really I'd like them all in one place to keep the time it takes me to get ready in the morning to the minimum.

I lined the inside with recycled magnet pieces as ou can see below and my metal pans don't budge:

You can catch the full project at the Craft Barn blog.

Thanks for coming by,

Sunday Souvenir

SSS Monday Challenge is about powders, and I fancied using my Brushos... Brenda at Floral Fantasies did a wonderful CAS card last year and I took inspiration from it to come up with this card, for a special Birthday.

The stamps are all from Katzelkraft, except the letters  forming the "On!!!" of the sentiment.

I first stamped the saxophone image and masked it before stamping the music score. Then, I spritzed some water and shook some Brushos  powders over the wet areas, trying to give the impression of the musical notes floating with the colour, as if it was a vapour.

I turned my white base card into an easel and added an embossed Whitewash Core'dination piece of card (a Cuttlebug border), sanded back.

The special number has been stamped on top a triple embossed piece of MDF from Calico Craft.
Hope you will like it and of course the recipient!

Also entering the Allsorts and SSS Wednesday challenges.

The Witching Hour

Boo... it's October, the month for spooky goings on... and the theme of the challenge at Country View chosen by Corrie.

I chose to create this scene that isn't scary in itself, but menacing all the same, leaving it to the viewer's imagination to summon whatever their nightmare of choice is...

I first created an evening sky with a brayer and Distress inks and stamped the main image in Versafine black (Stampendous "Beware Gate"). I added the moon and clouds with a Stampscapes stamp inked in Wilted Violet Distress and applied that same ink all around the panel die-cut with the Grand Rectangle Nestabilities.

With a wet brush I lightened the moon and areas in the moonlight, using Distress inks' water reactive properties.

I then framed the panel by cutting a Core'dination Black Magic mat with a larger size Nestabilitie and embossing with both dies in place to create a matching recess for the panel.

I embossed a Cuttlebug border, sanding back to the core shade of violet of the mat.

Finally I added the sentiment with a white gel pen.

What is your Halloween nightmare? Do come and show us on the Country View challenge, you could a win a £20 voucher to spend on crafting goodies...
Also entering the SSS Wednesday and Nefertiti's FIRST challenge, don't miss her blog, she's one talented stamper!

Leaf printing

Finally a minute to enter the latest Paper Artsy challenge, Autumn Leaves. Rather than stamping my leaves, today I stamped WITH them!

I decided to use old hand made papers and painted my leaf with a brush, applying several colours of watercolour paint (I used paint in tubes). The same leaf can be used over and over and one can quickly build up a stash of printed papers!
I added some leaf brads and, for no other reason than I had it close by at the time, this piece of ball chain, a broken remnant of something or other!

Thanks for coming by,
Also entering the SSS Wednesday challenge.

X rated Dictionary page

And there it is... the letter I dreaded... for the Craft Barn Dictionary challenge!

There aren't many common words starting with X, but, as luck would have it, I found this little gem which allowed me to be seasonal AND fulfil my Dictionary mission all at the same time. I give you xanthophyll:

I must be on a Clean & Simple kick at the moment because although I considered adding some stencilling, I left the stamps do the talking again. With the help of my hero inkpad, the Kaleidacolour - Autumn Leaves, discovered recently and so appropriate for my chosen word!

I used 2 sizes of leaves from the Twiggy Leaves set (Rubber Dance) to create a frame for my definition, which unusually take centre stage.

I hope you'll like my page, however simple it is!
Also entering the Casology, Paper Artsy, Uniko and Rubber Dance challenges.

Patina and alcohol resist techniques

In September Tim Holtz is revisiting Paint Patina and alcohol ink resist techniques. I love the look of patina but never tried Tim's technique so this was the time to experiment!

As usual I won't describe the step by step as Tim has done it better than I ever could HERE.

My  resist isn't as defined as I would have wanted it (did I leave it to dry too much?) but up close you can recognise the stamp, Family values from The Artistic Stamper.

I had to replace the alpha part by a die-cut, I used one of Sizzix/Tim Holtz Thinlits (Sentiments words) and decided to add a die-cut corner, also a Sizzix/TH thinlits (Mixed Media) on the upper left.
A hinge die-cut from black shrink plastic (Hardware findings Bigz - Sizzix) and a Tando arrow chipboard have been given the patina treatment to tie in.

For stencils I used Tim Holtz Layering stencil set 10 and TCW Mini Ledger.

As techniques goes, I really enjoyed the patina and love the effect, especially on the arrow:

but I'm less enamoured of the resist as it is more difficult to control!

Thanks for coming by,
Also entering the Stamps & Stencils, We Love To Create and Sandy & Amelie Steampunk  challenges.

Travel Mini book part 2

Glad to see you back here for Part 2 of my Travel Mini book!

Part 1 was all about the construction and part 2 is all about the fun things... such as stamping my pages. However, as I tried to write this post, I wasn't sure how easy to understand my project was, so I had a shot at making a video to show the completed project in action. Do forgive the lack of skills and equipment, although the quality of the picture from my phone camera is pretty good considering it's not top of the range.

Let's take a closer look at the pages and the details, starting with the cover:









I have embossed the cover with the Sizzix/Tim Holtz folder Eiffel Tower and rubbed some Treasure Gold in Onyxite, Amethyst and White fire to highlight some of the texture.






I showed the first page at the beginning of the month here.

The 2nd page uses stamps from the Paper Artsy set HP1208.

I stamped the 3rd page with a map, in black, and the Travel word embossed in WOW Vanilla embossing powder both from the Travel plate by Rubber Dance . I also overstamped and embossed 2 motifs from the Docrafts set All Aboard - Air Mail (Vanilla and Pomegranate Wow EPs).

 

On page 4 and 5 I have teamed up images from the Travel plate by Rubber Dance (stamped in black) with labels from the Carnaval Venise plate (Katzelkraft- KT55), which I have embossed in Vanilla EP. The tucked in "Polaroid photo " seen in the video is a stamp from the same Venise plate.

 

The stamps on my last 2 pages are all Katzelkraft from the Paris Monuments plate (KTZ-50).

 

The tags which I have tucked in the pockets are some of my pre-prepared "embellishments", and are standing in for ephemera.

You might have noticed that I have punched out semi circles where I have pockets so I can pull out the tickets stubs easily. I did this after the stamping so I would not end up trying to stamp over  a hole!

I hope you find this project inspiring and fun to make and will join us at Country View Challenges to share your Travel makes.

Thanks for coming by,


Also entering the WOW Embossing powders challenges.

Christmas in September

I have often seen challenges having a Christmas in July/summer theme and, with half of the world in winter in July, it does make some kind of sense... That's Crafty  are having a Christmas in September theme and this is a new one for me, so, as usual, I am being very literal and adding Autumn colours to a Christmas make!

In any case, I am so bored with red & green, why not these gorgeous shades of oranges?
Plus it happens to be one of the colour schemes for the Rubber Dance challenge (October 2015), who are celebrating their 2 years anniversary. I couldn't let that pass without entering, as I have entered that very first challenge and even made DT pick of the month ( if you missed it it's here).

To make this scene, I first stamped my snowman and masked him before overstamping with a medium sized leaf cluster and adding the sentiment. All stamps are from (Rubber Dance) and for inks I used a Kaleidacolour inkpad in Autumn Leaves.

I created a sun impression with a stencil made with the Twirly Circle die from Memory Box die and added a bit of texture stencilling through a Piestra tile die-cut (also Memory Box). A little bit of Distress Ink grounds my snowman on a small hill.

And in truth... I quite like my Christmas make in these colours! t me know what you think!

Also entering the SSS Wednesday, Memory Box, Uniko Studio, and Fashionable Stamping  challenges.