UK Stampers' Altered Art Challenge- Pegs

You may have picked up that I host an altered art swap on UK Stampers each month. Last month we did pegs, which I have wanted to do for a while. I had been sent a couple of pegs to play with (thanks, Ann!) and this was my opportunity. And since I don't do simple... this is also an altered matchbox!

Colour: The usual culprits- Distress Inks and Liberon Gilt wax, plus the book was covered with an old baby-wipe I had saved which had been used to clean up after paint and ink.
Stamp: Paperartsy swirl. It is faint, but I promise it is there!
Other: Book pages, cover from a match-box, mount-board, wire, beads, button, pins, Prima flower, vellum butterfly (free from 'Making Cards' magazine), and lots of PVA glue.

The book was a bit fiddly to make, but worth it to me. The ends of the pages are cut from my book and sized to fit inside the matchbox cover. They were gilded so that they would blend in with the front of the book, which is solid with 'pretend' pages. There was a gap between the two stacks of end pages which was big enough to take the peg doll. Then I made a book cover as I would for a real book. It even opens! You may need to click on the photos for more detail... :)

Lots to do challenge- Masks

I made these little tags to send off with the swaps- I don't normally blog these little RAKs, but this week the challenge on Lots To Do is 'masks'. I bought a Tim Holtz mask a while ago, but hadn't got around to using it. Tags are a brilliant way to experiment, so I got out that mask and away I went! I haven't entered a challenge for ages, but since this one came along at just the right time, I am entering.

Colour: Glimmer Mists, Distress Inks, Versafine (red and black), gilt wax
Stamps: All Elusive Images (the damask design is actually the corner flourish from the new Butterfly Daisy Collage plate)
Other: Mountboard shapes cut with Sizzix (thanks, Tasha!), Tim Holtz flourish mask, Prima flowers, gem shapes from Hobbycraft.

Stampbord brooch swap

Sid is hosting a Stampbord brooch swap at UK Stampers, and I was hit by inspiration for this one! I had been using my melt pot for another piece I have made (yes, for yet another swap!) and to use up the excess UTEE I poured it into some of my Krafty Lady Art Moulds. I loved the heart so much that it inspired the rest of the piece.

Colour: Dee Greunig Blending Blox (green), Stazon, Versafine, Gilt wax, Opals UTEE
Stamp: Hero Arts script
Other: Small Puffy Heart art mould, Grungeboard wings, Cuttlebug script embossing folder, Aurora Fusible Film, Stampbord, brooch pin, Pinflair glue gel

The colour of this is changeable, as I started with the Blending Blox before gluing and ironing on torn strips of Fantasy film. The wings were bent and glued on with a supporting blob of the Pinflair glue gel- my new favourite glue!

Altered Tin- Inspired by Van Gogh

This tin was for a swap on Zuzu's forum, and I was over a week late sending it because I had one of those last-minute ideas that complicated the project but I had to do it! Typical me! Originally, I was just going to decorate the outside of the tin and prettify the inside, but then I realised that the tin was the perfect size to fit slide-mounts (I have rather a lot of these, bought years ago and never used!). So I decorated the slide-mounts and joined them together to make a wallhanging.

Colour: Versamagic, Sharpies, watercolour crayons, Brilliance, Aurora ep, gilt wax, Distress Inks, Vivid Inks, Cosmic Shimmer powders, Barry M eyeshadow powders
Stamps: Paperartsy, Studio g alphabet, ISC butterfly
Other: Crackle Accents, Gesso, Galleria moulding paste, heavy florist's wire, bead, twig, metal from coke can, plastic slide mounts

The tin originally contained saffron, and had the pink flowers as part of the original decoration. I was inspired by a Van Gogh painting and was trying to capture the swirly effect of the background. The three slide-mounts all have Van Gogh paintings in. To capture the vibrancy of the originals I printed each painting on paper and on transparency- when you lay the transparency over the paper print, suddenly the image comes alive.
PS Plastic slide mounts do not like being heated with a heat gun....!
PPS I realise that many of the mediums I used are not supposed to be used on metal, but it's amazing what a few light coats of spray varnish enable you to do!

A Tag for a Forum Friend

I made this tag for a forum friend for her birthday, and on the day of her birthday I was delighted to receive a really gorgeous piece of mail art from her, using 'three in a round' from Stampotique, which is such a cool stamp. If I get permission to blog it, I will! This tag uses lots of Cosmic Shimmer powder, so you will need to squint at it and imagine the gorgeous interference mica effects it really has!

Colour: Distress inks, Cosmic Shimmer powders, Sharpies, Versamagic, Stazon, Brilliance, Liberon Gilt wax
Stamps: Tanda (feather) and Studio g (alphabet)
Other: Beads, fibre, metal corner, acetate, slide-mount, eyelet and wire, all from my stash.

The feather in the slide-mount is stamped twice; once with Stazon, then with Versamark brushed with Cosmic Shimmer. When I put the two images, I offset them slightly so that you see the shimmer behind the dark feather.

January ATCs- Metal, plus Craft Stamper Blog Challenge

I had fun with these! The backgrounds were experiments in finding different ways to add colour to metal, and to create texture. They started off as an ATC sized piece of Mirri card, then I added random strips of self adhesive metal and embossing powder before running them through the Cuttlebug. The top one was coloured using paint dabbers and glimmer mist, the second one with different colours of Sharpies pens and Stazon (which helps to blend), and the last one was good ol' alcohol inks.

Colour: Paint Dabbers, Glimmer Mist, Sharpies, Stazon, Alcohol inks, Stickles, Distress Stickles, Cosmic Shimmer, Gilt wax, Krylon pen, Sakura Souffle pen (for faces), Distress Ink
Stamps: Elusive Images and Cherry Pie
Other: Vellum, acetate, Silver mirri card and ep, text from the computer

I also had a challenge in mind when I made these; Craft Stamper's blog is running a technique challenge each month, and this month's is to use the Cuttlebug. Isa made a beautiful piece for the mag using a wax-resist technique with the Cuttlebug folders. I have tried this, but my efforts were nowhere near as good as Isa's, so I went back to my favourite metal instead. Hope it's OK!

Colours CJ- Morti's purple book

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Here is my second journal entry for this new CJ I am in. I can definitely say that this one is more challenging than the last as thinking of a colour theme that fits the stamp is hard! I love a challenge, though, so here is my entry in Morti's book. I was thinking of 'purple heart' for a while, and had decided how I wanted to do the background, but my original idea was to pin a tiny 'medal' to the art doll's chest. Well, as you can see, I was a little rough when cutting out, and pulled the poor creature's arm off! Perfect really, as she then was really a wounded soldier! The real purple heart medal has the phrase 'For Military Merit' inscribed on the back, so I had to change it to 'artistic merit'.

Colour: Dee Greunig Blending Blox, Distress Ink, Distress Crackle paint, Stickles, Versafine, Glimmer Mist, Stazon, permanent fineline pen, Liberon gilt wax
Stamps: Elusive Images, plus Morti's Paperartsy art doll
Other: Shrink Plastic, metal corners, ribbon, safety pin, all from my stash.

When I made the shrink plastic 'medal' I stamped on one side with Stazon, then sprayed the other with Glimmer Mist, not realising that the GM and the Shrink are not completely compatible! The back (the side I sprayed) has a very bobbley texture, and you can see this distorted the shape of the piece, too. However, I love the effect, as it looks less new and perfect than usual, so I may try this again!

Colours CJ- Sid's Red Book

I'm still in catch-up mode at the moment with photos. This is last month's CJ entry, in Sid's book. Everyone had to choose a colour as well as a stamp, and Sid's is (obviously!) red. Well, I rose to the challenge, and don't think it could be more red if I tried! I was actually inspired by Gustav Klimt, as Sid's stamp is design from a Klimt nude. I tried to recreate the patterns created by Klimt in this painting, Medicine, but in a more textural way. I used texture paste, red embossing powder, paint and gilt wax to create the pattern, and the main image is triple embossed. I hope Sid likes it- it looks even better in real life, I promise!

Colour: goache, gold and red ep, Liberon gilt wax, Brilliance ink, stickles, Sakura pen
Stamps: Paperartsy and Cherry Pie
Other: Texture paste, red gems.

All of my Christmas cards

This is all of the cards sent this year (minus a couple I forgot to photograph). The stamps are all Paperartsy and Cherry Pie, and I used all of my favourite products and techniques on them. Thanks for looking!

Angel

Now I have used that title, I have David Bowie's 'Golden Years' playing in my head. This is for this week's UK Stamper's Sunday challenge, and I actually made it on Monday night! I want to make her a sister too, an ice angel...

Colour: Distress Inks, Glimmer mist, Whispers dye ink, Stickles, Brilliance, Liberon gilt wax
Stamps: All Cherry Pie
Other: Metallic organza ribbon, Papermania jewel brad, old buttons from my tin, Maya Road wings, mountboard, star sequin waste as stencil

I have used two products here that are not my usual: the Whispers ink in black I wanted to use as I knew it would be quite sheer rather than a dark, opaque colour, and the Liberon gilt wax, which is fab for rubbing over anything to gild it. I have had the wax for years, and rediscovered it thanks to Linda Baldock, who does amazing things with her Treasure wax (same sort of stuff). On her blog are links to her Youtube Tutorials. Go and be inspired!