Sunday Stamper - Week 362 - Mother Nature's Son

Goooodly Morning Stampers and a very happy Sunday to you all!  Thanks for your entries into last weeks birdy themed challenge - it is good to be back and thank you for your lovely comments too!  The song title and theme this time is all about... NATURE.   To join in with the challenge is simples: make a little something; a card, canvas, ATC, a piece of altered art, bring a bit of outdoors onto your artwork, use a nature themed stamp, use nature's colours... the choice.. it be yours! Add in the theme AND some stamping. Then hop back here, leave me a comment with a link to the place you are showing your entry and I can come see you.   If you haven't got a blog, you can join in via Facebook (just tag me name) or by emailing a small res.pic to me or by leaving me a link to your Pinterest or any other photo hosting site.  The challenge will remain open until 21:00 Saturday 19th September 2015.

My entry this week is a canvas I made as a "class sample" for a private class a few weeks ago.  It is an 8 x 8 canvas board and I used Pion Design papers - which I absolutely love, love, love because they have Lily of the Valley and birds printed onto them... and the colours worked perfectly with the colour palette I seem to prefer! Mmm. Blues.... again!!!  The stamps are by Darkroom Door... my very favourite butterfly set "Wings" and the sentiment is just about perfect I reckon.

I do love adding in bits of nature into my creations... the twigs are from a hebe that is getting a bit straggly and the feather is one I picked up on one of my wanderings... I am a bit of a womble so do tend to pick things up just in case they "come in" if you know what I mean!

Mr Mojo has been very ungallantry and has released himself from my desk (he must be Houdini) and has hidden himself away somewhere in the Room of Stash... I know he is here, just lurking slightly out of vision... you know when you see something out of the corner of your eye but when you turn to look there's nowt there?  Yep, that!!! But! What he doesn't know is that I have been drawing and sketching ideas for things to make so the very moment he pops his head back up, he is getting stapled back down onto that desk again!   I don't think I have ever had a dry spell such as this one... I guess outside influences and health issues do have a bearing on how juicy one's Mojo is... but enough is enough... I need to get back to making stuff regularly!!!  Perhaps having a room that resembles a landfill site isn't helping... I need to create order in the Room of Stash before I can actually relax and get creative... it is that mountain to climb first though.... not figuratively either... no!  The mountain of junk and general detritis that has built up over the months needs to be scaled and seriously, I fear for my safety!!!  I shall have to stop procrastinating and get active!  But maybe first a little cup of coffee..... ahem.... quite!!!

Anyways... whilst I go off and search through cupboards, shelves and several inches of dust, I shall leave you with my thanks for looking and reading and sticking with me whilst I seem to have dried up... and my greetings for a very goodly day!  TTFN!


Hels x

Sunday Stamper - Week 302 - Mother Nature's Son

Gooodly Morning Stampers and a very happy Sunday to you all!  A big thank you to everyone who entered into last week's challenge.   The theme is NATURE.  You can interpret the theme in many ways: nature's colours, insect, animals, plants... the list is endless!  *and yes, I have had this theme before... and yes, it was the same song title - this doesn't happen oft unless it is a particular fave theme and song!*    To join in with the challenge is simples: make a little something, it can be anything you fancy.  Add in the theme AND some stamping and then pop back here, leave me a comment with a linky to the place you are showing your entry and I will hop on over to visit. If you don't have a blog, you can email me your entry by attaching a small res. pic or alternatively, you can join in via Facebook - simply tag my name.  The challenge will remain open until 21:00 Saturday 12th April 2014

 My entry this week is all about nature.  Starting with the beautiful new Wallflower papers from Tim Holtz.  I have always loved the designs that Tim puts into his paper stacks... but this one, well, it surpasses all the others (and that is saying a lot from me, the self-confessed Crowded Attic freak!)   These papers are absolutely stunning... I highly recommend you save up some pennies and buy a pad for yourself... you won't be disappointed :O)   So, armed with these delish new papers, I set about making something naturified *uh-oh, new word alert!*   I started out with a rectangle Studio 490 Art Part frame, covering the frame with the papers and then making a little piece to go in the middle, adding some torn bits to create a bit of texture and then popping a couple of Tim's Layering Stencils over and blending Distress Inks over them.  I used Doily and Bubble Wrap stencils with Forest Moss and Walnut Stain DI.  I cut some more paper and stamped the sentiment (from Tim's Stuff to Say) and added some little dots from the Dot Fade Stencil, again using Forest Moss.

The flowers are Tim's papers stuck onto Clearly For Art Blackout modelling film (used Glue & Seal to stick them down)  The stamps are Tattered Flowers by Heartfelt Creations, stamped in black Archival, cut out, inked with Faded Jeans and Victorian Velvet DI's and then heated up from the blackout side and moulded into shape whilst warm.. I love Clearly for Art... did I ever mention that???   The leaves are cut from Kraft Core-Dinations using Tim's new Spring Greenery die... those ivy leaves are fab aren't they?   I added some embellies (don't I always!) the butterfly and sprig are from the new Adornments Idea-ology *swoon* which I painted Distress Paint (Victorian Velvet and Tumbled Glass) onto, dabbed off the excess and then buffed up a bit.  The ickle heart is a Heart Charm (Idea-ology) and I used a Remnant Rub to add my own little piccie to it and the buttons and pearl spray are new Creative Expressions goodies.    I am a bit cross with meself though!  I had planned to make this little frame into a hanging... but I am thick (and forgetful) and didn't punch holes in the Art Part before I assembled it... so I am planning on getting some mini bulldog clips, chucking them in a baggie with some Rust Alcohol Ink and then once they are covered, tying them with string.   I didn't do that yet though because I am out of time for faffing...

Speaking of out of time... tis now time for me to get myself to my bed... I am scheduling this post to publish as I needs to be up early in the morning, which, by now, is today... so actually I am probably already up and about and off on my way to Telford to Crafty Bunch to do an Indigo Blu card making class with Pauline Wheeler, tis going to be a grand day!   Hope you have a great day too... thanks for looking!  TTFN

Hels x

Gorra Lorra Bottle... Make It! Take It! Challenge

...uh-oh! I am showing me age aren't I?  Remember the milk advert in the 70's?  Anyways, the reason I am waffling on about bottles is because this is the theme for the new Craft Stamper Make It, Take It Challenge which starts today.  CLICK HERE to see all the deets on how to join in and also all the super arty creations the DT have made too.

My project is a diddly little glass bottle that I bought about 251 years ago... can't even remember where I got it - in fact, I got three of them and they have just lurked in a cupboard ever since!   There are lots of different ways to alter a glass bottle... use papers, alcohol inks, paints... but how about using the fabulous technique from the one and only Wendy Vecchi?  Oh yesh, cover said bottle with her Black Embossing Paste! How fab this looks!  I opted to go for a very metallic effect once the embossing paste had dried... but imagine if you got some greeny colour paints and made it look like lichen and moss growing on the bottle! Oh the ideas are really popping now!  The paste was applied with a palette knife and to get the scluoopy (new word!) bits, I just patted the palette knife against the paste to make it peaky.  Once set, I used Florentine and White Fire Treasure Gold, applied with a brush, to add some metal effects.    The flowers are made by sticking some of Tim's new Wallflower papers to Clearly For Art blackout modelling film.  I stamped the flowers (from Studio 490 Live & Make Art set) and cut them out, edging them with Frayed Burlap to tone them in, gluing together and adding a little button to the middle.  I added some jute around the neck of the bottle and then used a little shield from Tim's Thrift Shop Ephemera, stamping the words from Tim's Little Labels stamp set.  The butterfly is also paper on Clearly For Art, heated up, shaped and then popped onto the bottle side.

Now I have two more of these bottles... so I am thinking I shall alter them all and have a little set of them to sit on a shelf somewhere in the house.   Don't forget to pop on over the to Craft Stamper blog to see the challenge details... there be a prize on offer too!  Thanks for looking and have a grand day!  TTFN

Hels x

Favourite Things...

...blimey! Cor blimey in fact! It be Friday already!  Where did this week go to huh?  Well, my week has been spent mainly lounging around feeling a smidge sorry for meself because the old war wound has well and truly flared up again... so I have done the sum total of naff all... all week!  Well, until yesterday when I dragged my pained carcass, kicking and screaming, from its torpor on the sofa and forced meself into the Room of Stash.  Oh yes, the tidy *for a change!* but badly neglected Room of Stash!   Yes, it is tidy, thanks to some industrious activity last week but alas, the severity of this flare up has stopped me from even entertaining the idea of picking up a blending tool!  Oh ho, yes, I have been feeling well and truly sorry for meself I can tell you. 

So, how to get oneself feeling happy again?  Well, in my case it is simples!  Wave a few Distress Inks at me and a fistful of 490 and I am a happy bunny indeedily.  I decided on a "quick make" as I knew if I got involved in a big project, I wouldn't want to leave it be and then I would over do it and end up with even worse pain.  Setting myself a time limit usually helps the old Mojo kick start... and I was really strict with the ingredients for my tag too.  I was only allowed to use certain stamps and certain colours too.  Always pick your fave colours when you are doing a kick start, if you pick ones that clash with your brain, you will never like what you made.  Anyways, one hour later and I was happily covered in Broken China, Antique Linen and Salty Ocean Distress Inks... and I cheated a smidge too cos I added a bit of Forest Moss for the leaves too... well, cheating is allowed... isn't it?

The base of the tag had the Wrinkle Free Distress technique to apply the inks, I go back to this technique time and again, it is quick and it is also easy on the old arms and shoulders as there's not much blending to be done.   I overstamped the base with Antique Linen DI and the large background from Heirloom Art for a subtle pattern and then set about stamping a pop out background, this time using Jet Black Archival ink and the sprigs from Art Comforts.  A waterbrush assisted with the colourations of the sprigs, scooching DI onto the craft sheet and picking up the colour with the waterbrush.  Next up I stamped the large flower, from Forever Art, five times onto cream card.  The first image had the leaves stamped in Fern Green Archival Ink and the other four, I just stamped the flower head.  I cut them out in decreasing layers to get some decoupage layering going on and then coloured with Broken China and Salty Ocean DI's.  I grabbed a Paper Stump to puff the layers up so the finished effect, once assembled with the assistance of PinFlair glue, is a nice big blousy flower.  I then decided the leaves needed a bit of dimension too, so I stamped them again using Fern Green, cut them out and then coloured with Forest Moss, curling them slightly to make them pop too.  The sentiment is from The Purpose of Art, stamped onto a smaller piece of card I coloured the same way as the base tag.  A good old blend of Gathered Twigs around the edge of the tag and sentiment framed the design (yes, cheating with the colours again... ooopsies!)  Finishing touches were a bit of ribbon for the top of the tag and a little bit of Glossy Accents to highlight the flower... oh and the ickle butterfly - he is from Art For You and he is my most stamped stamp!  He is the one that I use all the time for arty kits for classes, the last class I did using him I had stamped him over 400 times just for that class, so yes, most stamped :O))  He is stamped with Jet Black Archival onto Clearly For Art modelling film and then heated up and shaped and a little dot of a pearl to finish him up nicely.

Today I am planning more gentle recouperations in the Room of Stash, I have some more Crackled Texture Paste to play with and some new Kaisercraft papers that I bought a couple of weeks ago and they are singing to me to cut them!  Fancy that!  Whatever you have planned today... hope it is a good one!  Thanks for looking... TTFN

Hels x

Sunday Stamper - Week 298 - A Stitch in Time

Gooodly Morning Stampers and a very happy Sunday to you all!  Thanks for so many fabby entries to last weeks challenge, it is a pleasure to hop around to all your blogs to see your grand creations.  This week the theme is... STITCHES/SEWING.  The theme invites you to add any kind of stitching into your creation, be it faux with stamping or doodling... or actual real stitching either by hand or machine!  To join in with the challenge is simples - make a little something, it can be anything you fancy.  Add in the theme and some stamping and then pop back here to leave me a comment along with a linky to the place you are showing your entry.  If you haven't got a blog, you can join in via Facebook - simply tag my name, or by emailing me a small res. photo of you creation.  The challenge will remain open until 21:00 Saturday 15th March 2014.

 This week I have been stealing time from the middle of the night!  Oh ho yesh, I have sussed out that time during the night is not only "free" it also appears to be when my Mojo is in full steam and I am at my most creative.  Mind you, it isn't hard to be creative when you have the right stashly goodies.  Of late, I have sadly neglected my Studio 490 stash, mainly because I haven't had time to play with it all.  So, during my nighttime playtimes, I have been dusting off the 490 stash and getting thoroughly covered in ink and paint.  This creation is a hanging piece I made, the base is chipboard that I covered with some new Kaisercraft Papers (Timeless collection, nom!) and then I got crackling... *see what I dids there? teehee*   Recently, the marvel that is Wendy Vecchi added a brand new embossing texture paste to her already great range. *click her name to be transported to her blog for amazing inspirations*  And if you saw last Sunday's Sunday Stamper you will have already seen this fabulous Crackled Texture Paste.   This time, instead of just slapping it onto the base "raw", I added a few drops of Geranium Archival Re-Inker to colour it.  Ohhhhlaaaalaaaa!  Check out those crackles!  I started by popping the Heart Stencil For Art onto the base, smidging on a thin layer of Black Embossing Paste and once dried (super fast as it was a thin layer) I replaced the Heart over the top and spread a nice thick layer of Crackled Paste over the top.  It was nice and dry and ready to use about an hour later... and whilst I loved the bright red, it was just a smidge too bright for how I wanted the piece to look.  To fix this, I grabbed some Cut & Dry Foam and blended Geranium and Watering Can Archival Inks over the top... voila, a grungier effect.

Now for the decorations.  The base looked fine but... a bit bare.  So after rummaging through my 490 stamps, I found the stitched scallop and stamped that around the edge of the base, then used Antique Linen and Gathered Twigs DI's to add a vintage look.  I stamped a few flourishes in Watering Can at the top of the heart (look closely, they are there, hiding under the flowers lol)  And then... ART PARTS!!!  Now, I love Art Parts more than most other things in my stash! They are sturdy, easily altered and they just add that perfect amount of dimension to any creation.  So, the leaves were painted with Forest Moss and Crushed Olive Distress Paints and then overstamped with a cool background using Fern Green Archival ink.  The Art Part word started out saying "wishes" but I didn't want the "es" so I chopped them off, slapped a layer of Rock Candy Cracklepaint onto the word and then once crackled, applied Black Soot DP over the top... subtle crackle on top of mega crackle. 
  

And now for the decorating bit!  It is no secret that I loves a nice flower bundle... in fact, the majority of the things I make have flowers on them.. and the Studio 490 stamps are just perfect for making said flower bundles.  I stamped all the flowers onto cream cardstock, cut them all out and then overstamped them with Geranium Archival and lots of different background stamps - again all Studio 490.  They were then inked with Antique Linen, Fired Brick and Gathered Twigs DI's.  I used the mini dotty butterfly and Jet Black Archival to stamp out onto Clearly For Art.  Now, Clearly For Art is one of the bestest things you can have in your crafty stash - it is a heatable modelling film that can be left clear, covered with papers, fabric, inks, die cut, stamped etc and once it is heated and moulded, it keeps its shape.  And if you hate your moulding? You can reheat it and it goes back to flat again!  Genius indeedily!  The addage of little pearls to the flowers and butterflies was my finishing touch, I didn't want to add any more embellies as I liked the look as it is.. and I know how mental I can go with the old embellies!

 I have had a great time this past week playing late at night... and this coming week I actually have a weekend off so... that means more time to play during the days too!  As ever, have a wonderful day... I hope you like the theme and get a chance to play along.  Thanks for looking... TTFN

Hels x

For Demonstration Purposes...

...aha, did you see what I dids there huh?  Demonstration purposes... 'cos... these offerings today are actually a couple of the several demo pieces I made whilst at Ally Pally last Sunday.  I was fortunate enough to be playing with my very favourite Studio 490 stamps, stencils and other goodies... along with the new Distress Paints and some delish That Special Touch stencils. 

I wish I could say I thunked up this technique but no, all credit must go to the wonder that is Wendy Vecchi - seriously, she is a wonder woman!  Creating art, coming up with new ideas and making new designs... I take me hat off to her!  HERE's her blog, take a trip over there and you can see tonnes of inspirations.  Anyways... this technique... genius!   Take an Art Part base, I used a large heart and the back of a Rectangle Frame.  Coat generously with Rock Candy Cracklepaint (the clear flavour).   

Let it completely set and crackle... and then go in with a couple of Distress Paint colours... and blend the two together... I use Cut & Dry foam to do this but you can use your finger too.   The Distress Paint will drop into the crackles and it gives the overall look a really chalky outsidey feeling.  You can see from the close up shots that patches of crackle are deeper, this is just where I added more to the base... it is a self levelling product so no need to worry about brush strokes being left either.  The word HAPPY was popped onto there using a 490 Stencil and Black Soot DP (applied gently with Cut & Dry foam)

The butterflies are book pages applied to Clearly For Art Blackout... stamped, cut out, coloured with DP and Distress Stains... and then heated and moulded to shape the wings... a few pearly bits for the bodies and there you go... simples!  The scribble around the edge of the heart was done using a Sakura Micron Pen... and the ickle heart is an Embellish Your Art piece, coloured with Distress Paint... I have yet to find a surface that the Paints won't go onto!

Anyways... I shall have to get a wiggldy-piggldy on, I am away to Sheffield this morning for a Dabble Day with Busy Bee Crafts... I love the Dabble Days indeedily - three groups of lasses (and lad) and three crafty teachers, all going around the room in rotation so they all get to do three 2 hour classes... brilliant idea!   Right, enoughs of my wafflings... don't forget to scroll down to the next post to leave a comment and be in with a chance of winning my giveaway.   Thanks for looking... have a grandly day!  TTFN

Hels x

Taggingtons...

... I really MUST stop with the adding of "ingtons" onto the end of every available word I can think of.  It all started with Alfie.  He talks you see... sometimes is in so foul of mouth I have to cover my ears but for the most time, we have lovely little conversations.   Well, being as I am home most of the time we have got ourselves into a little routine when it comes to Alfie's meal times.  He has his "breakie" and then comes the next meal... lunch,  or as I started calling it, lunchingtons.  And it has kind of stuck.  If I say to Alf "you want some lunch?" He just looks at me.  If I say to Alf "you want some lunchingtons?" He leaps up and looks very happy to see me!  And when he does his business in his litter tray, he has very oft been to "dumpingtons" or "poopingtons"  *depending on the severity lol*    See what I mean?  It is so easy to add "ingtons" onto the end of words.  Which is why I titled this post "taggingtons" because "tag" is just too short and not at all imaginative for a blog post title.  With all of that wafflingtons (snort) out of the way, here is a little tag(gintons) that I made whilst staying with Ellen.  I can't believe it is a whole week since I set off for home! Where did that go huh?  Oh and yes, the jet lag is almost over.. thanks for asking, it has been a nightmare(ingtons) *ahem*

So, my creation (I sooo want to say "tag" but you know what it will turn into... tis a compulsion) is a cacophony of new stuff!  Starting with the base, which is a new Studio 490 Art Part.  You all know my lurve of tags and how much I love Art Parts... so the GENIUS that is Wendy Vecchi has made tag from Art Part material!  Like I said: GENIUS!   I decided to give myself a time limit on this tag... Ellen and I had been making art Studio 490 stylee and I was finished with my piece but Ellen was still in Creatingtons (see what I mean, you can make a normal word a place name!) so I decided to do a super quick Art Part piece and finish around the same time as her.  Right, where was I?  Ah yes, the tag base, covered with new papers I got in Michael's.. they are lushingtons aren't they?  They are by My Minds Eye, the colour palette is so me... and muted enough to be able to add inking and stampingtons (this is getting a smidge daft now right?)  So the top part of the tag had the new gorgeous background from Heirloom Art overstamped in Coffee Archival.  I can see lots of possibilites with this background stamp, tis now a new fave!  On the bottom half of the tag I stamped out some of the new mini flourishes in Coffee Archival (from Daisy Art). 

The floral embellishment... well, what can I say?  Mrs V has excelled herself with the designing of this batch of Art Parts - she has only gone and designed etched Art Parts!!!  And yes, I am bouncing with excitement... not only are my fave Art Parts intricately cut and detailed, there's etching in them to add more dimension!  See, told ya she is a GENIUS!  The flower/leaf Art Part has a co-ordinating stamp... again from Daisy Art... I didn't use this on the Art Part basey bit though... what I did was covered some Clearly For Art with some of the MME papers and stamped the flower in Jet Black Archival and then cut that out, coloured it with Barn Door Distress Stain and gave it a zap of heat to dry it.  I then smudged a smidge (smudged a smidge? huh?) of Gathered Twigs DI on the edges. 

 
The base Art Part had the leaves coloured with Forest Moss DI and then I overstamped another new stamp - the chevrons (love them) in Olive Archival.  The flower/leaf Art Part is a two layered one, so I coloured the flower layer with more Barn Door, edged with Gathered Twigs, overstamped a lettery background with Jet Black and then sanded the edges to shabby them up a bit.   I heated up the Clearly For Art flower - from the CFA side as trying to heat through the paper takes a yonk - and curled the petals whilst still warm.  The flower in the centre is an Embellish Your Art resin bloom, coloured with Fired Brick Distress Marker and dried with a heat tool.   I stamped some wordy bits... the sentiments are in Jet Black Archival and of course, WISH had to be on there being as it is my word of 2013!  **btw, WISH is the Sunday Stamper theme this week... HERE are the deets!**    I painted the scallop trim with Pitch Black Dabber, dried it, sanded it, edged with Gathered Twigs and then overstamped with a dotty border stamp.  The ickle spidey is one of my fave 490 stamps, he just sits on any design perfectly.  I added little dashes around the edge for faux stitches and then added some pearly bits to finish.  

 I still wasn't happy with it... a bit plain I thought... so I grabbed an Idea-ology Curio Knob for the top of the tag and then finally... see the ickle black flower?  That is actually a fridge magnet!  Wendy Vecchi has teamed up with Blossom Bucket again and designed some home decor!  And I have seen the new stuff at CHA and I neeeeeds it all!  Anyways, the ickle flower... I picked it up in The Queen's Ink and knew I was going to be loving it... shame there weren't any more, I would have got them all!  I removed the magnet from the back and used Cosmic Glue to stick it onto the scallop trim.  And there you have it.  And yes, Ellen finished her Art Part piece looong before I had finished faffing lol

AlfieCat has been so cute this morning I have to share a couple of pics of him.  He is a typical cat, nose into everything and owns everything in the house... including my Room of Stash.  So I am halfway through doing some packaging up stuff to post and he decided to help... looking ever so innocent... right?  Yeah!! lol 

Right, I shall away!  I am suffering a smidge with the old war wound at the moment so I think I may need to go to *ahem* Relaxingtons today!    Thanks for looking... have a goodly day yourself!  TTFN

Hels x

Simon Says....

...I have had a few free days this week - what with the old jet lag catch up and all that - and I was mooching around my fave blogs and happened across the challenge that is Simon Says Stamp & Show.  This week they are asking for you to "show what you are known for"   Erm... well, I sat and had a thunk, and thunked a bit more... and decided that I didn't know exactly what I was known for.  Until the lovely Tracy Evans left me a nice comment saying "one of your trademark flowers"  Aha! Light bulb moment.  Yes, it is true, I do like to pop a flower or two onto everything I make.  So then I had a mooch through my blog and spotted that I am rather addicted to all things Studio 490.  There it is!  Studio 490 stuff and a flower!  So I whipped off to the *very tidy* Room of Stash and had a little play:

I was playing, as you do, with stuff on my desk and wondered what Rock Candy Cracklepaint would look like if it was popped onto Embellish Your Art pieces.  So I had another play and posted a photo of the result on Facebook and then decided to make another couple of flowers like this, so I did step by step pics... and here they are!  Here's what you will need:

STEP 1
Colour the EYA piece with Distress Marker.

STEP 2
Heat set the Marker until dry.

STEP 3
Blob Rock Candy Cracklepaint onto the flower and set aside to dry.

And there they are... I don't know if this will work with any other kind of marker... the Rock Candy reacts with the water based Distress Markers so they bleed a bit... I guess permanent markers will stay put... worth a try though!

Anyways... as usual, I have decorated the tag with lots of stuff... so I took a photo of it before decorating.  The background was achieved by layered scraps of book page over the tag, spreading a smidge of Traditional Tan paint over the top and drying.  Next I used Broken China, Evergreen Bough and Peacock Feathers Stains and coloured over the top of the tag and dried it.  Next I used the new Stencils for Art Diamonds and sprayed the new Dirty Martini Dylusions spray over the top.  I dried this and then used another Stencil for Art - Spots and Stream Colorwash spray to add more decoration to the tag base.  Finally, I added smidges of Black Marble Dylusions spray and a Crafters Workshop stencil.

I used some of my favourite Studio 490 Embossing Paste - Black flavour and added some stenciled flowers to the tag base and set this aside to dry.  Whilst drying I stamped the Art Part Phrenology Head with the corresponding Stampers Anon stamp and then coloured with Antique Linen Stain, dried this and then blended smudges of Barn Door DI for the cheeks.  The eyes are Peeled Paint Marker with a couple of white dots.  The specs and lips are Embellish Your Art pieces.  The Top Hat and Flower are also EYA - I added a little feather behind to jazz the hat up a bit too.  The Butterfly also had a smidge of Distress Marker and Rock Candy added to it and then I popped it onto the head as a bow tie.

Finishing touches are the flower - of course, I had to add a flower!  I glued some dictionary page to Clearly For Art and stamped out some flowers and leaves, cut them out and then coloured with Distress Stains... the middle is another of the EYA Rock Candied flowers and some Wordplay die cut letters covered with Black Embossing Paste spell the word ART.

Right, I shall away... I have got a day of ink in the Room of Stash - Grim is away to Norwich to see Luton Town playing in the FA Cup.... finger's X'd they will win... although they are most deffo the underdog!   Thanks for looking... TTFN

Hels x

I Challenge Thee... The Live Version...

..well, normally we are "live" but not so much "in the real" as we were the other day!  Oh yesh indeedily, whilst staying at Chez Vargo, Ellen and I took plenty of time to get inky and came up with a brand new I Challenge Thee Recipe... only, erm... once we had completed said recipe, Ellen was flicking back through her book and saw that, ahem, the last challenge we did?  Same recipe, different wording... rofl   Must try harder!!  Anyways, here's the recipe:

Size 10 Manila Tag
2 1/2 Inch cut off bottom of tag
Book Page collage
Tissue Stamped Collage
Scraped Paint technique
WORD/THEME - Friends
Distress Ink Blending
Three Embellies of choice in a row
Stencil & Spray inks
Decorations of choice

And here's what I came up with:

I cheated... I know, nowt new there then... but I am SO in lurve with the new Studio 490 Gold Embossing Paste that I had to use it... using one of the brand new Studio 490 Stencils for Art (diamonds) and just as it was set, I stamped into it.  My decorations of choice are made from Clearly For Art that was covered with patterned papers and then stamped with Studio 490 flowers and leaves.

Once the flowers were all cut out and layered, I got all exciteable with Turquoise Perfect Pearl Mists and Black Marble Dylusions spray and coloured them up a bit.   My butterflies are also Clearly For Art, these were coloured with Distress Inks - Bundled Sage and Broken China (cos I never use those... much lol) 

The letters are Alpha Parts that got a smidge of Treasure Gold rubbed onto them to make them a bit more blingy and the embellies are from Michael's... oh how I wish I had gotten more of those birdies... they are black metal, I just slapped Treasure Gold onto them and wow, how pretty they are!

I would love to say I am back to "normal" but alas, I am still reeling a bit... maybe a good sleep and I will be feeling more like me again... I hate how I get so jet-lagged, when I was driving trains and working daft shifts, I never got jet lagged you know... and Grim never suffers with it... maybe I should go back to working shifts, only doing them in the Room of Stash instead?  Let me think about that for a moment...erm... nope! I do not miss those 3am early starts at all lol   Right, I shall away... please do visit ELLEN, she is blogging her creation right this very minute too... hers, as ever, is totes-different... amazing how the same recipe can concoct different art... if you fancy using the recipe, please help yourself, just let us know so we can come and visit you!  Thanks for looking... TTFN!

Hels x

PS... back tomorrow with muchly requested photo's of the stash I dragged back from the US of A (teehee)

I Dreamed A Dream...

...oooh, that sounds like a song title *hahahaaa*  Anyways, last night a very strange thing happened!  I had a dream.  Not that strange really because most of us have dreams... but this was a particularly weird dream because for the first time ever, I dreamt that I was crafting!  And I was making a tag.  And I was using lots of my fave things on the tag.  I was a bit annoyed with my brain when it woke me up before I had finished my project I can tell you... so instead of snuggling back down, I got up, went downstairs and made meself a coffee and drew what I could remember of my dreamy tag.  And then I got all sensible again and went back to bed and tried to get back into the dream... but my brain was having none of it.  Next thing, I was dreaming again and I was eating a giant marshmallow and when I woke up, my pillow was missing... boom-boom... hahhaaa *whoops, made meself laugh again!*  Anyways... all of that waffle is to point you in the direction of The Stamp Attic blog where I have blogged my dreamy tag today. To see it in full and how I made it, please CLICK HERE.  In the meantime, here's a sneaky peek.

COR BLIMEY!  I am about to combust!  I have news!  Like probably the most boring news for you all and you will probably think "why you getting excited?" but... the news is... I have entered the 21st Century!  Oh yesh indeedily!  And how?  Well, I now am the proud owner of a... smartphone!  You see, Grim is the teckernologikal person of the house and he has had a smartphone for about 3 years.  And recently he had his upgrade to a posher, smarter phone.  And he said "would you like my old one?"   And I thought "yes! because my phone is steampowered and very slow and very annoying and I too want to be able to swish my fingers over my phone and make it do magic"   So, last night we decided to spend a few minutes setting it up for me... and showing me how to use it.  Well, those few minutes turned into an hour!  And then they turned into 2 hours... and then, finally, FIVE hours later, at 2am, we decided to quit.  I am up to speed with the basics, I can send texts (hurrah!) and I even know how to answer the thing if it rings!  And... more importantly for me, I can do Tweets without having to sit at the laptop or send one by text message... and I can also get onto yonder t'internet too!  It is indeedily a hurrah and thrice moment!   We hit a stumbling block when we tried to set up the Google account because it wouldn't let me do it because I needed to change my primary email addy to the gmail one.. but then the internet was saying my gmail couldn't be a primary email addy... all because Google ate Blogger... so after much hair pulling and grumbling, I finally changed all the email addresses, fixed up gmail and got it sorted into Outlook (believe me, that makes me tired just thinking about it... ) Anyways... it is sorted now (phew!) Now I just have to remember to charge the phone up regularly (apparently the battery life is rubbish)   Right, I shall away... things on the to do list because... it is now... THREE days to CHA!!!!  Thanks for looking... have a brill day! TTFN

Hels x

Spook-tag-stic

... I know, I know, it is only August but... Hallowe'en is fast approaching... and those brand new Tim Holtz Hallowe'en stamps are fab. I know we Brits don't go for Hallowe'en as much as our American cousins do but I can't help getting just a smidge excited by the whole spooky festival. When I was a kid, I used to get a swede and hollow it out (scoffing the hollowed out bits, I lurves swede - I know, strange child) I used to use a grapefruit spoon.... do they still make those? You know, like a teaspoon with a jaggedy edge on the pointy bit? Well, I used one of those and then chopped out the eyes and mouth (usually injuring myself in the process lol) and then a little stubby candle (the same one every year) and some string to make a handle. I was set then to go out and annoy the neighbours with my BFF Elaine - we had very angelic faces though and always came back with some booty.



Anyways, the reason for all that reminiscing is because I have been playing with those brand new Tim Holtz Collection Hallowe'en stamps. I have all of Tim's Hallowe'en stamps, collecting them over the years... I love the whole skelington, crow, skull thing. And now, even better, there's an owl! Yipyah and thrice, I do love owls and this little fella is especially cute. The sets I used are the Hallowe'en Cut Outs and the Apothecary sets - with a spidey and a border from the Mini Hallowe'en set.


The background was one of the tags that I made last week using the "mist with water and spray" Dylusions technique. The colours are the most gorgeous Squeezed Orange and Black Marble. I love how the sprays have dried into a swooshy effect.


An oft asked question I get asked is... "how do you get the stamping layers?" So, I thought that I would show you an inbetweeny stage, background dried and stamping started. The stamping was all done with Jet Black Archival Ink. I love Archival Ink because it is permanent and when set (with a smidge of heat) it is waterproof, so you can stamp first and then apply paints, inks, watery things over the top and it won't budge. You also get a really nice crisp image. As a rule of thumb I always heat set anything I have stamped using Archival. This is a good habit to get into - stamping onto normal card sometimes won't warrant a zap with the heat tool but you can guarantee that the time you don't set it, you will get a smudgy inky fingerprint. Best safe than sorry eh?


Anyways... back to the tag: the spiders were stamped onto one of my favest products: Clearly For Art from the fair hand of Wendy Vecchi's Studio 490. This stuff is fab, I used the clear flavour to stamp the spiders (again using Archival Ink and heat setting) Once dried I cut them out and then gave them another zap with the heat tool. Clearly For Art is heat reactive but doesn't shrink so you can mould it into lots of different shapes, very versatile. The finishing touches are some bits of ribbon (seriously, I bought about 20 sets of ribbon, all different colour families, about 103 years ago and I found it the other day, still unused lol) I added a Wire Pin and a gorgeous Idea-ology Owl, isn't he just goooooorgeous?!


Right, I had better get myself moving. I had a rotten night sleep so am feeling a bit like a zombie today - I think a little play with some paint and ink might perk me up though. Thanks for looking... TTFN!

Hels x

Sunday Stamper - Week 210 - This Boy

Goooodly Morning Stampers and a very happy Sunday to you all. Many thanks for all your lovely pink entries last week. Today is Father's Day here in the UK and tomorrow will be the 70th birthday of Sir Paul McCartney... so to honour both of these (and because it was my own dear old Dad who introduced me to The Beatles when I was a tiddly little nipper) the song this week is an old classic from The Beatles (any excuse to use them, I know lol) CLICK HERE to be transported off to Mr YouTube to see the Fab Four singing this song. So, the theme this week is.... MEN/MALE THEMED. To join in is simples - make a little something, it can be anything you fancy. Add in the theme and some stamping and then hop back here to leave me a comment with a link to the place you are showing your entry. If you haven't got a blog/Picassa/Flickr etc, you can enter on Facebook or by popping me and email over. I did have an entry last week that I couldn't leave a comment on because I haven't got an account with that particular web-photosharing jobbywotsit, but I did see it and loved it :O)) The challenge will remain open until 21:00 Saturday 23rd June 2012.


This week I have been playing with Studio 490 goodies and knocked up this little frame piece, using Distress Inks and Stains, Archival Inks and of course, lots of 490 stamping and embellies with a smidge of Idea-ology thrown in for goodly measures. The base was coloured with Black Soot Stain, dried, sanded and then blended with Frayed Burlap DI to make it look a bit old. I used a Gold Dabber to smudge around the edges to add a bit of metallicness (cool word huh?) to it.



The guy is an Art Part, stamped onto with Black Archival and then blended with more of the Frayed Burlap to colour him in a bit. The Cogs too are Art Parts, blended with Rusty Hinge DI, overstamped with the speckle background with Sepia and Jet Black Archival. The frame is coloured with Rusty Hinge and a smidge of Walnut Stain and I added some words and numbers to it with Black Archival. My fave bit is the car... now, I had stamped this onto Grungeboard and it looked ok but just didn't "do it" for me. Then, one of my lovely ladies in the class yesterday showed me the piece that she had been working on and she had stamped the car onto Clearly For Art, clear flavour. Aha, says I... I shall nab that idea... and yep, it looked heaps better. So, THANK YOU to Suzanne for allowing me to pinch that idea :O)) Check out the ickle telephone... how cute is that!!! It is one of the Blossom Bucket Embellish Your Art pieces... I LOVE it... loads! All of the goodies used on this piece are available from The Stamp Attic btw... just sayin ;o))



Right, I shall away... I have an early start for my Distress Master Class today, I made a boo-boo yesterday morning... I set my alarm for an hour later than planned... whooopsy-daisies... good job Grim is always up early eh? We all had a fab day playing with delish Studio 490 stash... I took my whole stamp collection with me (still not got them all.... I am planning on having the winning Lotto ticket SOON!) I think I can safely say there are a few more addicts to 490 now... plans for world domination continue to gather momentum lol Thanks for looking... whatever you are upto this week, have a good one! TTFN

Hels x

Inspired By...

...todays offering is totally inspired by the one and only Duchess of Distress, Wendy Vecchi. If you are new to all things Studio 490, allow me to point you in the direction of Wendy's blog so you can browse and be inspired yourselves. Did you know that Wendy has written 6 books already? I am a lucky lass and own them all and use them regularly to get inspiration and ideas. This piece today is a show sample from last weekend; made using the new Large Pages Art Parts, a Small Square Frame and a Scallop... along with some Grungepaper and Clearly For Art... oh and yes, a flower from the Not Just Flowers Art Parts set.


I won't go into great detail on how I made it because it is detailed in Wendy's Book #6 (available HERE) The papers I have used to cover the pages are my most treasured Jenni Bowlin papers, I LOVE LOVE LOVE these and every time I spot them in a shop, I whip them into my basket... they come in 12" and 4 x 4" - the ones I used are 12". I used Cosmic Shimmer Dries Clear glue (THE best IMO) to pop the papers onto the pages and then inked the Art Part frame and scallop with Frayed Burlap and Black Soot Stains respectively. The floral Art Part is coloured with Fired Brick Stain and overstamped using the smaller flower from Accents for Art. There's a Grungepaper flower, which is the same flower stamped in Archival and coloured with Fired Brick DI. I then added a Clearly For Art (clear flavour) flower to the layer and then a goooorgeous Embellish Your Art button to the centre.



Speaking of Embellish Your Art.... have you got yours yet? I spent a happy hour squealing and bouncing about this morning because I was chosing which ones to bring onto the next shows on June 2nd... all I will say is that they are LUSH! Can you imagine? Standing over all these boxes of Embellish Your Art goodies, I had to drag meself away I can tell you lol


Oooh and... Grim let me play with his power tool this morning! No, that isn't a euphemism, it really is a power tool... tis a whirry saw thingy that looks mighty vicious. I have to admit that I was very tentative and kept my hands, arms, feet, legs and hair out of the way, knowing how much damage I can inflict upon myself with a pokey tool, I know how dangerous I could be. I was a right wuss though and only cut one piece of wood and then handed it back to Grim, he is much more capable than me! And why were we cutting wood? Ohhhh, you will have to wait til the weekend to find that out... Right... I gotta go, there's some sunshine out there and a little spot that I need to occupy along with my scissors and a pile of Grungey flowers that need cutting out.. Thanks for looking... TTFN!

Hels x