Sunday Stamper - Week 295 - And Your Bird Can Sing

Goodly Morning Stampers and a very happy Sunday to you all.  Many thanks for all your gorgeous diamond creations last week, it was great to see so many different interpretations of the theme.  The theme this week is rather poignant... more of that later... but first, the theme is... BIRDS.  To join in with the theme is simples: make a little something, it can be anything you like.  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 then I can pop over to visit you. If you haven't got a blog, you can join in via Facebook, simply tag my name... or via emailing a small res pic to me.  The challenge will remain open until 21:00 Saturday 22nd February 2014.

As I mentioned, a poignant theme for me this week... in memory of my dear Aunty June who sadly passed away last week after a short illness.  I could have chosen so many different themes that remind me of her... but birds was the theme that stuck with me because I share her love of our feathered friends, especially owls.  When I was a kid I spent many a happy summer holiday staying with her, my uncle and cousins in "that London"... being a northerner in the south during those hazy summer days whetted my appetite for all things southern and I eventually ended up living in the south.  Aunty June always spoilt me, when I was little her birthday and Christmas pressies were always a little bit special, like a fancy pair of socks with golden threads woven into them, a beautiful red leather purse (which was sadly stolen) and in later years she bought me silver charms for my charm bracelet, all of them had a special meaning too; the Owl & The Pussycat because she used to say that poem to me when I was a kid.   She was a very special woman in my life and this piece of art is dedicated to my Aunty June... and the happy memories she left with me.

I won't go into too great a detail on how I created this canvas as it is my class sample from my workshop yesterday at Neil Burley's The Studio.  Big thanks to the lovely ladies who came along to play and get painty with us... and again to Neil for hosting the class.  I used a selection of Kaisercraft paints to create the background colours - Eggshell, Wisteria and Eggplant... aren't they gorgeous colours?  I don't know what is going on with me this year but I seem to have turned a little purple!  I had actually chosen to use soft mossy tones with smidges of mocha but changed my mind at the last minute!!! And then spent half an hour trying to dull down the purples until I was happy with the colours.  The sentiment is from The Artistic Stamper - available HERE... I love these lovely big wordy stamps - perfect for a mixed media project like this.

I must away now - I am up at stoopid o'clock today (scheduling this late last night... ) to travel to Birmingham for the Stitches Trade Show at the NEC.   I am demo-ing for Creative Expressions for the next three days so I might not be about much (social media might be a bit scarce too as the signal in the NEC is pants!) And as I hinted earlier in the week... I shall be demo-ing a brand new product from Creative Expressions... I am hoping to be able to make up a few samples whilst at the show so I will be able to blog as soon as possible to share all the goss on this fabby new ***** .... whoops, nearly let the cat out of the bag then!   As ever, thank you for looking... have a great day all.  TTFN

Hels x

A New Month... A New Challenge...

...Cor blimey and thrice alive already! Who did it... go on, own up... it wasn't you was it... fast forwarded November and made it December already!! I say it every month but... time seems to be going a whole lot faster than it used to and I know you are going to say it is an "age" thing... but it can't be because I am only 24 *see Hels' nose grown very long* Anyways... enough waffling about time and all that... because... being as it is the first of the month, it means it is time to announce a fresh new challenge over on The Artistic Stamper Creative Team blog. This month we are focussing on all thing Christmas... a doddle of a challenge at this time of year yah? All the deets on how to join in are HERE and, as ever, there's a prize up for grabs for one lucky entrant.




So... another ickle snippet of info... during December for every order placed at The Artistic Stamper you will receive a little pressie... which is THESE fab stamps. I have used them on my entry for this months challenge... and here's how I made it: The frame is one of those really expensive (ahem) ones that come in a three pack from the Swedish Furniture Shop. Painted with Pitch Black Dabber and then sanded back in patches to show the wood again... which was then blended over with Gathered Twigs DI. (I know, I shouldn't have favourites but I can't help it... Gathered Twigs is my all time FAVE brown from the Distress Range... poor old Vintage Photo has been cast aside and can be heard, sobbing quietly to itself)



The insert for the frame is manila cardstock... I stamped the icicles using Snow Cap Dabber, rubbed Weathered Wood Stain all over the card, sploshed some water onto it and held the card up while I dried it so the water went into rivulets (cool word!) Then, I used Faded Jeans Stains to add some ink to the snowflake background, spritzed Forever Blue Perfect Pearls Mists onto my craft sheet, dipped the stamp into this and then stamped onto the card... ooolalala... I love the splashy look of the snowflakes. Then... I used Biscoti Perfect Pearls Mists, spritzed right along the top of the card and held it up again... more rivulets which I dried with the heat tool... and here's the pic before I added decoration to it.




I used lots of Alterations dies to make the embellies... starting with the Vintage Noel... which I cut from manila card, I pounced a Silver Dabber over the word and then used Silver UTEE to emboss it. I used a Jet Black StaZon and a bit of Cut & Dry foam to apply a smidge of black around the edges, just to age it and make it more of a pewter colour. The Tattered Pine Cones had lots of Picket Fence Stickles slapped onto them and the leaves had Rock Candy Stickles spread onto them. Finally, I added the little leaping reindeer, he is an Idea-ology charm, he was coloured with Caramel Alcohol Ink and popped into a Memo Pin... now, it could just be me but... I think that with his little loop on his back, he looks like a carousel pony... mmmm, just me then? lol




SO!!! Tis December 1st... and... that means... 12 Tag of Christmas time again. If you haven't heard about this amazing event, HERE are all the deets on Tim Holtz's blog... I wonder what amazingness he will dream up this year? Whatever it is, I am sure that everyone will be whipped up into a frenzy! Right, time for me to go and camp outside Tim's blog and wait for that first tag to make its debut... I heard a few whispers that it could be either 7am or 8am UK time... ohlalalaaaa, I better get a few zeds in before then then... (then then??? What an amazing command of the English language I have.....) Thanks for looking... have a great day! TTFN

Hels x

Sunday Stamper - Week 149 - Blue Bayou...PLUS... Candy!!!

Goodly Morning Stampers and a very happy Sunday to you all. First of all... thank you for all your wonderful entries last week! This week the Sunday Stamper is being sponsored by The Artistic Stamper. The prize, which will be given to one randomly chosen entrant, consists of two sets of the brand new ranges of stamps that have just been released this weekend... these sets will be of your own choice and... there is also Kling On to mount the stamps onto too!! Result!! So, without further ado (and I bet you have guessed already... ) the theme this week is .. BLUE. To join in all you have to do is make a little something... include the theme and some rubberstamping, leave a comment for me here with a link to the place you are showing your entry and I can then hop over to see you. AND... if you just leave a comment you will be entered once into the hat... if you also enter the challenge, you will be entered twice into the hat. The challenge will remain open until 21:00 Friday April 15th 2011 and the winner will be announced on Saturday April 16th 2011. I am closing the challenge a day earlier than normal because next Sunday is a very special day for me... and I will explain more then :O))




So... the theme being blue, I decided to use all my blue Distress Stains and alter a tag. I smooshed the Stains onto a craft sheet and spritzed with water... dipped the tag and dried it and then kept dipping until I had the look I wanted. I used Faded Jeans Stains to stamp the background script stamp... this gives a lovely splodgy look... and then used Broken China Stains to pounce and splat onto the tag.



The diamond stamp was stamped using Walnut Stain Distress Ink and I used a long sentiment from Tim's Stuff to Say set... stamping with Coffee Archival. The Glassine papers which were cut in the Tattered Florals die were also lightly coloured with Stains and then scrumpled up... and the Ticket was also splodged into more Stains. Oh and I used the Stains to colour the Idea-ology Trim ribbons too! Oh and I almost forgot to say... all of the stamps, products etc can be got from The Artistic Stamper...




I originally scheduled this post on Friday night but... hurrah and thrice... the hotel has WiFi so Lionel is working goodly... and I can do a bit more waffling about the show... which was busy busy yesterday ... it was lovely indeed to meet so many of you... and to meet up with old pals too... I had a bit of a mishap with the hat...erm... it is soooo top heavy and it kept falling down over my face so I took it off... Jennie did get a photo of me wearing it though!!! I actually suggested she took it... I know, I took leave of my senses for a few seconds... to late to delete it now too lol Anyways... hope to meet more of you today... Stand #49... do pop by to say HI!!! Thanks for looking...TTFN

Hels x

Sunday Stampers - Week 130 - Like A Butterfly

Morning Stampers and a very goodly day to you all... many thanks for the gorgeous entries last week, there were so many jolly Santa's out there... I didn't realise that there were that many stamps to choose from :O)) This week is an easy peasy (blimey, how old am I???) theme which is... from a song from my childhood by Mac & Katie Kissoon... BUTTERFLIES. As usual with the Sunday Stamper, all you need to do to join in is make anything - a card, ATC, tag, hanging art... tis up to you! Include the theme and some stamping and then once you have blogged it, leave a comment for me here and I will be able to hop on over to see you :O)) The challenge will remain open until 21:00 Saturday 27th November `10.



For my entry this week I have altered a 5" x 7" canvas, adding lots of texture to it using Viva Terra and then painting it with acrylic paints. I know I have said this before but... I loooove that Terra stuff... if you apply it sparingly it goes all warty when you heat dry it... loving that look!



The butterflies are made from an Artistic Stamper stamp with Grungepaper, Claudine's Canvas which was stuck onto metal and coloured with paint and the new Clearly for Art from Wendy Vecchi - WOW!! I have a new fave stash item! This stuff is FAB - stamping on it is easier than I thought, I thought the stamp would squish about but it didn't, I stamped using StaZon and then cut out the butterflies, I overstamped with a background stamp and then popped a thin layer of Gold Dabber onto the back of the butterflies. Once this had dried off, I used a HeatGun and gently heated the butterfly - then once it started to move about, I curled the wings with my fingers. I made some ickle bodies for the butterflies with some beads and wire and then stuck them in a swathe up the canvas...




So... does anyone know the collective name for butterflies? I think a swathe of butterflies sounds nice... or a flutter of butterflies... I shall have to go and ask Mr Google if he knows :O))



A quick update on the state of the Room of Trash... well, I spent some more time yesterday tidying away and had a bit of a sort out too... and I am happy to announce that the room is erm... still not finished!!! Well, I had to break off to make the Sunday Stamper... and watch X Factor (nuff said about that) and then I had to watch I'm A Celeb... blimey, that Gillian can't do anything can she? Can't walk, can't move, can't do it in general... but she could pull her top down when she had fainted... miraculous ROFL Anyways... enough of my waffling... thanks for looking... have a fabby day! TTFN

Hels x

Oooo, ooooo, I have just been to ask Mr Google what the collective name for Butterflies is... I am in lurve with this... it is... a Kaleidoscope of Butterflies... how perfect!!!!

Sunday Stamper - Week 122 - Paint It Black

Morning Stampers... hopefully Mr Blogger will be assisting me and popping this post on for me at the right time LOL Thank you ALL for your inspiring entries last week... lovely interpretations of the theme. This week is an easy theme... and it is... BLACK. To join in, all you need to do is make a piece of art, add in the theme and some stamping and then leave me a comment here to the place you are showing your entry. And... this week the challenge is sponsored by The Artistic Stamper... and the prize is... aha, I will keep you waiting a bit longer LOL The challenge will be open until 21:00 October 2nd and the winner will be chosen at random and announced on next weeks Sunday Stamper post.




I made a Shadow Box for my entry, using Ferro and Terra to make a texture on the frame and stamping in to it with some of the fab background stamps from The Artistic Stamper... don't forget that to go with the Cog stamps there are now some new SteamPunk images... oooh and a FAB SteamPunk Santa - cannot wait to play with him :O)) I used Claudine Hellmuth Studio Paints to colour the Ferro and Terra; Trad Tan (what else could I use?? LOL), Sable Brown mixed with Trad Tan, Sable Brown and finally Charcoal Black... this is such a deep pigmented black paint it just really colours whatever you are painting it onto. I used Cut & Dry foam to apply all the paints and once they had dried, I popped some Rock Candy Cracklepaint onto the barest bits... this just added that bit of extra texture.





I used Gold Dabber to add some metallic to the raised bits... then went over it lightly with more black paint and then added Viva Inka Gold... I loooove this stuff... it reminds me of hair fudge... don't worry, I haven't tried it on my luscious locks (tongue firmly in cheek there LOL) though.




I heated up some clear UTEE with a couple of dabbs of gold and white UTEE popped in on top, in the Melt Pot... this gives a really cool varigated look (I so know that varigated is not the word I need but my brain has gone blank... help please?? LMAO) Anyways... once the UTEE had melted I poured it into a little mould I made using Mold & Pour (this is the COOLEST owl in the WORLD and was a pressie from Ellen... I had to make a mould of it so I could use him again and again....) So, the ickle owl then had some black StaZon rubbed over him to emphasise the details on him... and I used him cos I think his eyes look a bit like cogs :O))




Right... so... the sponsored challenge this week... well, the prize is a set of the brand new SteamPunk stamps from The Artistic Stamper... speaking of which, all the stashy bits used on my piece today are available from there too :O)) Here is a pic of the prize... along with some KlingOn to mount your stamps onto. To be in with a chance of winning here is whatcha need to do: enter the challenge with a piece using stamping and the theme (reminder that it is BLACK), leave me a comment here with a link to the place you are showing your piece. You can also join in by clicking to follow my Blog and the Artistic Stamper Creative Team Blog... if you click on the name it will take you there... and there is a post there about this too - just leave me a comment to let me know you have become a follower (or already are!) :O)) And... as a double whammy, if you enter and use Artistic Stamper stamps you will be entered into the draw twice... double the chance of winning... coolio huh?



Right, I have taken up enough of your time... btw, it is Friday night at the moment... I am being soooo organised and have got everything ready for the weekend... oh and... my entry will be at Ally Pally with me if you would like to take a look at it :O)) Thanks for looking... have THE BEST day! TTFN

Hels x

Curiously Batty About...

...oooh, well that would be telling wouldn't it :O)) Today is Monday.. hurrah and thrice, cos it means it is a brand new page on the Compendium of Curiosities Challenge... hosted, devised and co-ordinated by that ever so intelligent and rather loverly Linda - click on her name and you will be transported away to the US of A... or if you are already in the US of A... lucky you :O)) There are prizes to be won and it is rather fun indeedily, joining in with several million other crafters who are all using the same technique.




So... in keeping with the rest of my entries, I have made a tag... this one is using the techique *which I ain't gonna say what it is or how it is done... you will have to go and see Linda to find out :O))* I used Old Paper, Pumice Stone, Aged Mahogany and Black Soot DI's for colourations... stamping using Tim Holtz collection stamps... adding on some Film Strip, behind which I had popped some ickle photo's from the Lost & Found stack... hey, I neeeed a new one of those... I have used nearly all of it already LOL
The little roses were made using the 2" square snips in the Lost & Found stack... the medium sized Flower Power flower (from the Artistic Stamper) and glued together to make some...*pauses for breath* paaaaaaper rooooooseeees, paaaaaper rooooosessssss... Hoot hoot, good job you can't hear me singing... did I ever tell you that an ex of mine once kindly said that I sang like Les Dawson played the piano??? As Eric Morcambe once said... all the right notes, just not necessarily in the right order... ROFL




So, where was I??? Ah yes, paper roses... three of them... with an Idea-ology Ornate Plate which I painted with Trad Tan and then sanded... I boshed the brads with a texture hammer to make them look a bit oldey too. Lastly, a ticket, cut using the Alterations die... and one of those new Tim Holtz Ticket stamps... did I mention the gold signed set I have??? Oh, I did, ah, well, I won't bore you again ;O))




So, check out my little fella... it has been horrendous weather this afternoon... a fair deluge of rain, so AlfieCat decided to spend some time with his Mummy in her Room of Stash.. usually he will sleep on his bed which is just behind my chair... but today he flopped out on the floor. Grim came in for a chat and Alfie did his "roley over onto his back for Daddy" and promptly fell asleep... he can't possibly be comfy like this... I couldn't resist sharing it with you though... oh, ignore that yukky folder, that was hidden under the unit but has slid out... I have this very bad habit of stuffing stuff I don't want under desks, units, beds etc... does anyone else do that or is it just me being a lazy slut again??? ROFL Thanks for looking... am offski to cook some dinner now... fancy some Yorkshire Puds and grrrravy...mmmmm... TTFN

Hels x

Sunday Stampers - Week 114 - Something Old, Something New...Plus Candy!

Morning Stampers! oooooh, tis a very exciting day today indeedily! First of all.. many many thanks for all the lovely entries last week :O)) Secondly, I am all of a dither with excitement because it is a few short moments until the brand new Artistic Stamper Creative Team Blog is going live! And... in conjunction with the new montly challenge over on the new blog... the theme for this weeks Sunday Stamper is... Old & New. All you need to do to join in is make a piece of art that contains some stamping and the theme... leave me a comment here with a link to the place you are showing your piece and then I can hop on over to see it. To be in with a chance of winning the Candy, which is sponsored by The Artistic Stamper and consists of two sets of the brand new stamps which are launching today... worth £15.. and the Kling On to mount them onto. If you also click to follow my blog here, and use Artistic Stamper stamps on your entry, you will be entered twice into the draw. And.. there is no limit on the amount of entries you can make either!




I have gone into greater detail over on the Creative Team Blog about how I made my entry for this week... so I won't bore you with lots of waffle... one thing I will say is that everything I used is available from The Artistic Stamper...except for the Letterpress Blocks...them's mine LOL




I hope that you get chance to pop on over to the CT Blog... there's more candy over there to be won... and again, the more times you enter, the more chances you have of winning :O))





So... tis an exciting day... a new blog launch, a new challenge launch and new stamps launching too... what are you up to today??? Will you be relaxing and taking it easy or will you be getting inky and messy *which is what I will probably be doing LOL* The Sunday Stamper challenge will run until 21:00 Saturday August 7th and the Candy winner will be announced on next weeks challenge... thanks for looking... have a goodly day! TTFN

Hels x

ReElly On A Roll...*Take II*

...mwhahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaa... she said in an evil laughy voice... my work is done... I have found the real Jennie and reinstated her into her workroom/studio/room so full of stash if I spent 100 days in there I would never see all of it ROFL, done my bestest to make a mess, leave a trail of Grungepaper cuttings behind me and erm... very nearly break her whizzy Big Shot thingy *and I mean... so close that I had visions of visiting the local A&E having said machine removed from an orifice ROFL* SO! I went to see Jennie yesterday - she did let me in after all, but only cos I was carrying a Grand Caffe Creme Frappuchino from StarBucks... *you see, if you say something a bit cheeky on your blog about someone it is always best to then approach them with a gift :O))*




Right, so, after sitting and faffing with bits of paper and then sitting and stuffing with a big plate of Nacho's it was time for the real Jennie to finally come out to play... yes, followers of WOYWW will have noticed a change in Jennie's deskily habits of late and I am afraid to report back that... she tidies up after each project! *I reckon that she has spent too much time in my Room of Stash and was so impressed with the tidy state of it that she made a resolve to be a neater crafter... mmmm, wonder how long that will last though LOL* Anyways, such was the tidyness (sp?) of her desk that I spotted a couple or three little wooden bobbins... and next to them were some Tattered Florals pre-cut shapes... light bulb moment... you know that I LURVE Mrs Wendy Vecchi and her fantabulous 490 range? Well, Jennie had fair begged me to let her touch my 490 set, so being the generous gal that I am, I let her play with a few (and it was just a few, yes, I truly am that possessive... only joking... as if I could carry a whole set!!) and you know that Mrs Wendy Vecchi is bringing out some new Art Parts soon... well, I am a total copycat and hold my inky paws up when I admit that the idea wasn't originally mine... it was Wendy's... and I borrowed it and tweaked it... and made a little piece that is totally inspired by the amazing art she has been blogging recently using her new Art Parts. Now, over in the UK we have to wait an inordinate amount of time before we can get new stash coming out at CHA... and me being ever so slightly impatient to try Wendy's new idea's and Art Parts... improvised!




Jennie's piece looks totally different to this one, for a start, there are butterflies on hers and none on mine... (if you click on her name you can be transported magically to her blog) I used a massive old jar to draw around to get the mountboard base, die cut a Tattered Floral big flower *nearly killing the Big Shot in the process...least said about that the better... all I will say is PHEW!* Slapped loads of DI's onto stamped and cut out flowers and leaves, used DI's on the bases, Trad Tan on the bobbin, tried to stamp on bobbin, goofed up the stamping, covered said goofed stamping in Tissue Tape... didn't like that too muchly so then wound some threads of knotted string around it... hey voila! A totally inpired by my favourite artist in the whole world ever... yep, that be Wendy V... arty piece... I love it! And now... CANNOT WAIT to get the Art Parts over here and into my room of stash... so pleeeeeeeease, Mr Maker of Art Parts, do some very quickly and very lots of them and bung 'em on a ship destined for my house! Grovel, beg and all of that! Anyways... again... thank you for looking and reading to *almost* the end of yet another shockingly long post...




I shall close by just telling you that Grim has been reading all your comments about "the chair". He is muchly amused by the little squabble that seems to have developed between Andrea and Jennie about who gets to sit on said chair... and he has told me that... he is going to build a fence around it for when peeps some to stay! *although, I know him best and just know that caramel shortcake will most deffo'ly be the best way to bribe him to take down said fence...* but come on ... can you imagine how it could be for me... shavings of wood all over the carpet, wood stain in the living room... and Grim sitting on his chair, fence all around him, watching TV thru a gate in it that no doubt would be deadlocked as soon as his bum left the seat! On that note I shall bid you all a very goodly day and say thank you for your WOYWW comments, I am going to get myself hopping around to see everyone this afternoon :O)) I'm off for a fag and a can of Quattro....hey, does anyone else listen to Absolute 80's? Oh, this is one of their jingles... obviously I wouldn't be having a can of Quattro cos they don't make it anymore... anyone remember it though? Vile fruity flavoured semi fizzy drink of the mid 80's... made from 4 different E numbers, I mean... fruits of course... see, I am off on one of my tangents again and shall wear your eyes out at this rate!!! Am off before I start again ROFL.... TTFN...

Hels x

Mad Hatter Day With The Gingersnaps ...

... Guess what??? Today is Mad Hatter Day! I have to admit, I sat there scratching my head at first when Laura suggested that the Gingersnaps have a Blog Hop today ... sitting there thinking, "why is it Mad Hatter Day???" You have probably sussed it straight away but if you are like me and baffled... it is 10/6 today... which is the number in the Mad Hatters hat! *A useless bit of info that you probably know already but... did you know the reason why they called Hatters mad? Well, in days of olde hat makers used to use Mercury in the lining of the hat - which after prolonged exposure to, sends you mad in the head!!!! And, did you know that Luton was the hat making centre of the UK... I used to live in Luton, Grim is a proper Lutonian... speaks volumes eh??? ROFL*




Anyways... enough of me pretending to be the font of all knowledge... here we go with the Blog Hop and all the details you need to know :O)) WELCOME to the Gingersnap Creations' Mad Hatter Day Blog Hop... you have reached HOP STOP #3. The Gingers are celebrating Mad Hatter Day and we hope that you will hop along with us - there are some awesome pieces of art along the way to look at too :O)) If you are already hopping then you will have just arrived from Elina's Blog... if you have just arrived here, don't worry, the hop is in a loop, so you can start anywhere!




At each Hop Stop you will need to pick up a word, there are 10 stops in all...starting and ending at the Gingersnap Creations Blog, where you can see the goodies that are on offer and also all the info you will need to be able to enter the Mad Hatter Giveaway. When you have all your 10 words, unscramble them to make them into a quotation from the classic Alice in Wonderland.





Once you have your answer, email it to gingersnapcreations@gmail.com before 25th June '10. One lucky winner will be chosen at random to win the Mad Hatter Goody Package - the winner will then be announced on 29th June '10. If you visit all the stops, you will have 10 words and you should end up back at the Gingersnap Creations Blog.




If you get lost along the way, jump back to the Gingersnaps Blog, there is a route guide there for you... and... this is the important bit for you... my word is DESK. The next stop on your Hop will be at Jean's Blog....Good luck everyone, thank you for visiting me and I hope you like the little pieces of art I have made to celebrate this day :O)) *incase you were wondering... the fabby Mad Hatter stamp is a Mabel Lucie Attwell sketch and is available from The Artistic Stamper* TTFN peeps...good luck!!

Hels x

Tick... Tock... It's...

Twelve O'Clock! Actually, it is a little past midnight but hey, who counts minutes when they have a massive, big, huge, enormous, terrifying and very scarey day ahead??? Mmmm, I am counting seconds now... Tis the big day, the day of the injection... and I fear for my skin, I truly do. Honestly, big strapping lass like me should be ok with a little bit of pain... but what I keep reminding myself is that I may be a big strapping lass, but I am "you know what" scared of neeeeeedles!! Big neeeedles!!! Eeeeeeks!!!! Big Eeeeeeeks!!!! So, I am sitting here and thought that I would do a post showing some of the tags I made at Ally Pally - I know, I am rather late with them, they were packed up and I found them the other day LOL




They were all made using those divine Artistic Stamper Cog and Time stamps... these are my new faves... they are Steampunky without being too "out there" .. if you know what I mean :O))




The colours are a combo of Distress Inks and the new Crafty Notions sprays, which are .. LUSH! The colours are perfect, and they have just the right amount of sparkle in there too. The moulds are made from Mold & Pour - and then I used a Tim clock to make one mould, one is a face and the other is a keyring that Jennie brought back from USA - tis Johnny Depp as The Hatter, it comes out fab with UTEE poured into it and then black ink to highlight the wiggly bits...



Ah well, time for me to say TTFN I think.. I shall bid you adieu and hope that I will be able to get here later... otherwise... I scheduled a post for tomorrow anyway.. tis my turn doing a Tut for the Gingers :O)) thanks also to everyone for your lovely comments and emails.. bless you all.. am still a big fat scaredy cat though ROFL

Hels x

PS - Just had a thought, I had better be here later, tis the very very very last Ashes to Ashes... *SOB* Is it just me or is anyone else upset/excited/can't wait to see how it all ends but wishes it wasn't ending??? :O))

Just Another ... Manic Monday...

... Cor, what a weekend! It was sooo lovely to see so many peeps at Ally Pally... thank you for coming to see me and saying lovely things and leaving me lovely comments on my Blog and for just being fab! Yesterday was sooo hot, at one point I had to escape from the stand and get some water...and I necked the whole bottle straight down...and...because I was forced to sit outside in the sunshine and chatter to my pals over a few sandwiches *er, thanks Minxy for letting me eat all yours too... hungry work this demo-ing lark LOL* I have ended up with the brightest red shoulder (yep, just the one, now that really does look ridiculous) and a very red chestickle too!!! It was glorious weather as usual for AP... anyway... today is going to be one of "those" days. We have the garden stuff being moved today - shed, all my pots and tubs, table n chairs, that kind of thing...and I have my results appt at the hospital too...so hopefully I will find out if I need more surgery on my poor old back...*here's hoping not!* and .. I have to start something today which I have been putting off for a month. Yep, today is the day I have to start packing up the Room of Stash! I did send a message up to the heavens...just a simple request that for the next week they make each day 36 hours long...not heard back from them yet, I think it is request denied!!




Anyways... firstly, sorry I haven't hopped all over the world to see you all...you have been wonderful and left me lovely comments and I have been awful and not returned the compliment...I shall try and set aside an hour a day to sit here and catch up. .. well, that is the plan LOL The pics here are a couple of the tags I made whilst demo-ing...using the fab Tim tags - yes the same ones he uses, Claudine's paints and canvas, Crafty Notions Sprays (which are to dye for...deffo have those on my wishy list) and Crafty Notions Jewel UTEE's...again, utterly glorious to work with... all of the products are available from The Artistic Stamper :O))



I have to go...I have just looked at the clock and realised the time... so...again, THANK YOU all for your lovely comments... I will try to get back here and keep on blogging :O)) Oh, I almost forgot....Remember I told you I had asked the Packing Fairy to help me??? Well, I got this message left for me;

Hels - I really wanted to be able to help you with your packing. In fact, I did help to pack up a few boxes the other day while you were out sunning yourself at something you have called Ally Pally. But, I had a look into a small room in your house and I saw, what I can only describe as total chaos. Never have I seen so much "stuff" crammed into one room. Once I had come round from my fainting spell, (thank you to the Bad Hair Fairy for the smelling salts BTW), I realised that I could only say one thing to you about that room. You are ON YOUR OWN! Best of luck, you will need it - The Packing Fairy (I am not leaving you a X because you have brought all of this on yourself and do not deserve one!)

So, whatcha think to that huh? The Packing Fairy has abandoned me in my time of need... ROFL *sob*... TTFN...Thanks for looking...

Hels x

Sunday Stamper - Week 98 - Agadoo!

Morning Stampers...thank you to everyone who joined in with the birdy theme last week...it was lovely to see so many new faces too :O)) This week the theme is tenuously linked to the song title...I bet you are wondering what on earth is she doing this time??? Well, the theme is....LACE...and cos I can't think of a song title with lace in it...we have Agadoo...by Black Lace LOL *remember way back in the 80's when we all pushed pineapple and shook trees..and then went on to grind some coffeeeee? * This week the Sunday Stamper is very kindly sponsored by Jennie from The Artistic Stamper...so we have some candy up for grabs and the winner will be chosen at random after the theme closes next Saturday at 21:00. The winner will then be announced on next weeks Sunday Stamper post. To be in with a chance to win, all you need to do is either make a piece of art that incorporates some lace..you can use lacey stamps, lace embellishments or even make a lace up part to your art... also include some stamping in your art and then leave me a message here with a link to the place you are showing your entry...I can then hop over to see you :O)) Or, you can enter by popping a link in your sidebar back to the Sunday Stamper - and if you don't already, click to follow me :O)) If you do both of these then you will be entered into the "hat" twice...which means double the chance of winning!




For my entry this week I used some old mountboard off cuts which I turned into fancy edged pieces using the new Tim Holtz Alterations "On the Edge" dies...and then used my BIA to make a fastener for them.




The pages are coloured with Distress Inks and then stamped with a variety of Lace Stamps from The Artistic Stamper and also some Tim Holtz collection stamps.




The front cover has some little Grungepaper roses on it...which were made using the Artistic Stamper's Flower Power sheet, medium size flower and overstamping with a small lace stamp.



The larger flowers on the other pages are made from either Grungeboard or Grungepaper covered in an old book page...then scooted thru the Bug with another of the Alterations Dies...this time the Tattered Florals..and again, Distress inked. I added on some Idea-ology bits and bobs and some old lace to the binding wires as a finishing touch...check out the cool Book Plate..this was made using Claudine Hellmuth Studio's Sky Blue paint..dabbled onto the metal and then dried...then sanded over...a fabby tip I saw in Tim's new Compendium of Curiosities.




The Candy that is up for grabs consists of all the new LACE stamps from The Artistic Stamper, which can be found if you click here All of the fabby products used on this piece are available from The Artistic Stamper...and as a special Easter gift .. they are offering FREE shipping on all orders WORLDWIDE!!! Cool huh? As well as the fabby lace stamps there will also be some KlingOn for you to mount them onto .. and I am adding in a big bar of Cadbury's choccy as an Easter pressie...I figured a bar of choccy is more than an egg...and easier to post too LOL

Thanks for looking and I hope you have fun with the new challenge...I am not uploading all the pics of the pages of the book cos Blogger seems to be playing silly beggars and I am getting as many pics on now as I can! Hope to be back later with the rest of them :O)) Have a great week everyone....TTFN

Hels x

Dancing In The Rain...

...I just love some of the sentiments that Mr T'Holtz has on stamps...and the one I used for this piece has to be one of my faves...so I used it today on a quicky piece I made...cos I felt the urge to get inky and also cos I haven't used his stamps for at least 36 hours now and I felt the withdrawal symptoms kicking in... you know them...furtive glances at the OH to see if he would miss you if you nipped off to the Room of Stash...those pangs of guilt that the poor stamps are sitting there, un-inked and unloved...and...most of all...clean fingers!!!




This piece is a plain wooden frame which is really good value...which I painted with...wait for it...Trad Tan paint...well, I have my favourite paint but I thought I had my favourite Distress Ink, until this evening when I have fallen madly in lurve with Victorian Velvet...the dusky pink of this is just so gorgeous...so I used this colour...and a bit of Antique Linen in the centre...and overstamped with black StaZon for the sentiment and Olive StaZon for the twigs and foliage.



The butterflies...oh, they are my fave new Tim stamp...are stamped onto Grungepaper which had been covered with an old book page...then inked with Vict Velv (see, I love it so much I have given it a pet name LOL) and then curled... finally, adding an old pearl to the centres of them.




The frame was coloured with Vict Velv and Forest Moss Distress inks, just to give it a bit extra rather than just plain old Tan :O)) All of the stash used on this piece can be bought from The Artistic Stamper :O)) That's all for now...I am off to make something waxy now...and thank you everyone for all your lovely comments and good wishes about my poor old back...sad to say, I am still bent double but hey! why let pain get in the way of a good crafty session!!

Hels x

Allsorts of Vintage...

...Over on the Allsorts Challenge there is a new theme - to ALTER something (yipppeeeee) and on the Lots To Do Challenge there is a new theme...which is VINTAGE....so I combined the two and altered a teensy frame...which really is teensy...about 1" x 2" in size...




I started off by painting the frame with my old fave Traditional Tan (Claudine Hellmuth's range) and then once this had dried, I spritzed it with Walnut Gold Glimmer Mists, heating as I spritzed, so I got a more dappled look. I used a rub on of a vintage lady to go in the middle and inked this with a bit of Brushed Corduroy DI to blend it in.




I then made the smallest rose in the world...cor, this was fiddly but it is worth the fiddling to make such a cute little embellishment. The stamp I used for the rose is on the Flower Power plate from The Artistic Stamper. I used some of the brilliant new Tim Holtz papers to stamp onto...these have got to be a brand new fave!!! I also used an Artistic Stamper script background...stamped with Timber Brown StaZon directly onto the frame ... which I think adds that something extra...and finally I stuck on a few pearls from my junk jewellry box.



Thanks for looking...don't forget, there is a brand new Sunday Stamper theme tomorrow...I am off to make it now LOL

Hels x

Sunday Stampers - Week 94 - White Rabbit *PLUS* Candy Giveaway

Morning Stampers...thanks to all who joined in with the scary clowns theme last week...I have overcome my fear of them...and that is down to you all making such lovely art :O) This week I have a double kinda theme...because the new Alice in Wonderland film has just been released in the UK (hurrah!) and because I have had this blinking song in my head for the past month or so, the theme is either Rabbits OR Alice In Wonderland...or .. both! To join in with the theme, just make a piece of art incorporating the theme and some stamping, leave me a comment saying where you are showing it and then I can come and visit you. ALSO, this week sees an exciting new release of some divine Mabel Lucie Attwell "Alice" themed stamps from The Artistic Stamper. These will be hopefully ready at the end of the week but are available to pre-order if you click HERE.



'Cos I am a lucky lass, I have been allowed to play with the new images already...and ... they are gorgeous! I started out with the intention of making a bit of an altered stylee page...which then led to me typing the lyric for White Rabbit by Jefferson Airplane, which then led to me making a Bind it All book. There are loads of pages...'cos I wanted to have all the verses and all the new images in it.




The base of the book and the pages are made up using off cuts of mountboard which I scruffed up around the edges and then used several different Distress Inks to colour the base and the cardstock the images are on.




The colouring of the images was done using a waterbrush and Distress Inks, which I swooshed onto a craft sheet and then picked up the colours...making the brush a bit drier to make the colours deeper for shading.




Check out the ickle bottle on the Drink Me page...this was a little glass vial which I added a couple of drops of Hazelnut Alcohol Ink and a couple of drops to Blending Solution to...hey...poison! Or, whatever it was that Alice drank to make her grow bigger and bigger...or was it smaller and smaller...I can't remember!!!!



The colours used primarily for the backgrounds are the new Distress Inks...the above one, you will probably recognise as Wild Honey and Rusty Hinge...oh, they are my fave colours, I reckon I will be needing the re-inkers soon LOL



The page below is actually quite tall and thin (oh how I wish I could say that about me!!) because this is Alice when she is bigger....and on the other side...




... is the larger version of the White Rabbit...how cool, the same stamp but one is bigger than the other...you will see a white rabbit on the front cover...he is the mini sized fella. I added a little watch face which still had hands attached...and stuck some mini beadychain on to make a pocket watch for the rabbit...who was running late all the time...




The colours used for the backgrounds on these next two pages are Antique Linen and Victorian Velvet...another fab combo together...




I am not so sure about putting a mouse in a teapot...imagine the taste of the tea!!!




The "candy" referred to in the title of the post is actually two of these new Alice images along with some Kling On to mount them on to. One of the stamps is the White Rabbit (large) and the other is the image above...the Mad Hatter and his perculiar taste in tea :O)



To be in with a chance of winning the candy all you need to do is this; click to follow my blog (if you aren't already) and link on your blog back to this post...then leave me a comment letting me know you have done this. AND...even better, join in with the theme this week...go on, you know you have a wascally wabbit somewhere in your collection...or you may even be a lucky stamper and have some Alice stamps already...whatever you use, as long as it is stamped and it is within the theme, leave me a comment and you will be entered into the hat. The winner will be chosen at random and announced on next weeks post.



The challenge is open until 23:00 Saturday 13th March '10, so you have all week to play. If you leave me a comment and link to this post AND join in by making some art, your name will be entered twice into the draw, which means you will have double the chance of winning :O)



Thanks for looking...have a brilliant week and remember to leave me a comment so I know that you are in for the candy :O))

Hels x