Busy Bee Tag by Gemma

Hello

I have a tag to share with you all today, I made this tag using Artistic Stamper stamps, PaperArtsy paints, and chipboard.

My Process

Thank you

Gemma

Products from The Artistic Stamper

Dot Stamp

Honeycomb Stamp

Little travel case: By Zuzu

Hi, Zuzu here again
This weeks project is a little suitcase; they come in a set of two, and I have used the smallest one for this project.

I started by carefully taking off all the straps etc. using a craft knife to assist; this makes it easier to colour it if you are using an ink pad or something. I am a messy worker so it seemed the best plan. I inked up the straps separately. I wanted the case to look old and as if it had been in someone's attic for a while. You know the kind... they get paint splattered on them every time you decorate, so end up stuffed in the attic full of "interesting things you cant throw away but cant really use".  So to get that look, I splatted it with white acrylic paint (from a paint dabber). But I dont cope well with white lol. its too new and clean, so I distressed it down a bit with some brown ink.

Now I reassembled the case, before decorating, using PVA glue.
To make the labels, I used distress inks on crumpled paper, a nice, easy and popular Tim Holtz technique, and stamped out my 'Travelling words', (also in distress ink). I used 'Broken China' and 'Fired Brick'.I added some ribbon and charms to the back.

And of course to make it authentic I filled it with "stuff", including two large distressed maps, made using the Europe map background and more distress inks (broken china, fired brick and vintage photo.)

You can get a nice selection of vintage looking bits from The artistic stamper, including optical lenses similar to the one I have used and the large clock charm is also stocked. I have also used one of the little corked vials from the Idea-ology range. 

See you in a couple of weeks with a new project.
Z x

Professor Bumbles Magical Travelling Steampunk Suitcase By Carol Fox

Hi, I'm Carol fox, and I am very happy to be your guest on the DT for July. This altered suitcase is the first of three projects that I shall be sharing with you through the month. I really enjoyed making it and I hope you enjoy reading about it.

Professor Bumble is an avid traveller but like most of us he enjoys the arriving, but the journey can be a bit tiresome. So imagine his joy when he stumbled upon this magical travelling suitcase in the back of an old dingy shop. He would now be able to travel around the globe without having to spend to much time away from his beloved Emily.

I used one of these paper mache suitcases as the basis for my project. I started by giving it a couple of coats of Claudine Hellmuth Tan paint, both inside and out, then adding the detailing on the case with the Sable brown. I then randomly stamped the cog images from the Tick Tock Plate over the case using black archival ink. I then edged the case using a Black Acrylic Dabber.

I stamped images from the Labels Plate onto cream paper, inked them and then attached them to the case using multi medium. I stamped and added quotes from the Travelling Words plate in the same way.

I stamped the Slow and Fast image onto coated white card using archival ink, so it was nice and black and stood out well. I attached a game spinner to the centre over the stamped hand for extra detail. I layered this onto the case using sticky fixers.

On the back of the case I used the world image from the Round The World plate, colouring it with blue and brown distress ink.
I made the little wheels using oversized draught pieces from a childrens game, drilling holes in them before glueing Tim Holtz Sprocket gears onto them and adding large oversized brads to their centres.  I cut small round pieces of wooden dowling to act as axels to attach them to the suitcase. The propellor is hand made from metal and layered up with a large spring and a sprocket gear.

I added die cut cogs coloured with inka gold paste to give it a working steampunk appearance. The key is from my personal stash but the Tim Holtz ones in the shop are very similar.
I stamped odd tags and labels from the Ephemera plate and the Labels Plate onto shrink plastic,  colouring them in before shrinking and attaching them to the key and the handle of the suitcase with odd bits of chain and jump rings.

Inside the case attached to the lid for safe keeping is the travelling map by which Professor Bumble chooses his destination. He decided to glue it to the lid for safe keeping, after running into a tornado and nearly getting it ripped from his grasp.

I have used the Map of Europe, stamped using black ink and aged using old paper distress ink, before glueing to the lid.

The most prized possesion that travels with Professor Bumble is his old Phineas Pinchbeck Pocket Watch. He keeps a photo of his beloved Emily tucked into the back of the watch.

I have used the Watches Set stamps and the matching chipboard to make this watch. The white chipboard was too bright so I used Old paper Distress ink to age it before I started. I stamped the main watch image straight onto the chipboard and highlighted the hands and numbers with glossy accents. Then using glossy accents I attached a reclaimed pocket watch glass over the stamped watch face.

I then hinged the two pieces together at the bottom. I cut three pieces of white card to fit the circle area, and ran two through my bigshot with an embossing folder to add texture before colouring them with Inka Gold Paste to give them a lovely metallic finish. I then glued them to the back and the inside of the watch.

Onto the other piece I stamped the larger image from the Gibson Girl sheet and coloured it using distress ink pens on my craft mat picking up the colour with a paintbrush so the shades were faded. I glued this to the inside back of the watch. I coloured the edges with paint from a gold acrylic Dabber. I added a small shrink plastic tag featuring the  Phinease Pinchbeck image.

Professor Bumble never travels without his Moustache oil, carefully packaged into its box for safe keeping. I used the Goose Grease image on my box, masking it off before adding cogs from the Tick Tock Plate as a background. It is coloured with spiced Marmalade, Brick red and Mustard Seed Distress ink.

The small bottle has been covered in Rock candy Distress paint, once this was dry I coloured it using Butterscotch Alcohol ink. The shrink Plastic label was made in the same way as the tags for the suitcase.

Other little bits of ephemera he has collected on his travels include a voucher for 6d of  his favourite trousers, and the advert for them he took from his paper before he left home, along with a tape measure to ensure he gets a good fit and tickets collected on his travels.
These items feature images from the Open Road sheet and the Ephemera sheet, both of which can be found here.

I hope you enjoy my project and I shall be back in a couple of weeks.
Carol x

Phineas Pinchbeck's shop window.

Hi there. Zuzu here...
Well here I am with my very first full post as a member of the Artistic Stamper's Creative team... Cant tell you how pleased I am as it was on my mission statement a year ago. (A mission statement I announced only to a few close craft friends and it was more fairytale imagination that expectation.) So I MADE IT... lol

Today I have an altered shadow frame. Its made from one of the "papier mache 3D frames" (I used a deep one for this project).  I covered it on the inside with old book pages. I covered the frame part, with sheet music that I had rusted, in a rusty tray with vinegar, a few days beforehand. As its a Papier mache frame, I treated the papers I was covering it with in a similar way. I wasn't too precise and i put them on in bits, just forcing it to mould into shape by getting it wet with the glue.
when it was all dry, i stamped out the crow collage stamp on to another bit of text paper and collaged him on to the background.

The next step was preparing my jars. I used the chipboard shapes to go along with the stamps. I used some antique linen distress ink on them first, as they were too white for this project. I stamped the empty jar out on to the chipboard and then again on to paper to make a mask. I cut out the centre of the mask so that I could stamp the crow in to the jar. I then coated it heavily with Ultra thick embossing powder to give it a glass jar look, by coating it in Versamark ink first... now the crows head looks a bit like a specimen steeped in some chemical fluid inside an old jar. (well sort of lol)

I treated the second jar in much the same way but without the need to create a mask. I then stamped out Phineas Pinchbeck a few times and cut him out to mount him on my verdigris patina column. I used a second image of him to just cut out the clock part to mount it in front of the column to give a 3D look.. and a third image of him, was used to make the sign at the bottom (middle) of the frame.

Next i used some distress inks to colour a piece of plain cardstock (I used rusty hinge and scattered straw). when it was dry I stamped on some sheet music in brown (so that it carried on the theme from the music paper on the frame)  and then stamped on the bunting in black. I cut it out and glued it at an angle to the top of the frame. All that was left to do was fill the frame up with clock type items and rusty bits and bobs....

Z x


Supplies Used from The Artistic Stamper:

3D frame HERE
Phineas Pinchbeck stamp and Jar stamps HERE
crow stamp HERE  (scroll down )
Bunting stamp HERE
Music stamp HERE
Jar chipboard HERE
Distress inks HERE

Moon Woman by Alison

Hello Stampers. Today I have an art doll pendant to share with you.

Here's how I made her...

Moon Woman's body is made from a Chipboard Jar. I painted both sides with Black Acrylic Paint, then embossed the front with 3 layers of black ultra thick embossing enamel. I inked the Karantha Spiral Texture Stamp with Versamark embossing ink, then stamped into the last layer of black UTEE whilst it was still molten. I rubbed Lava Green Inka Gold onto the raised texture to highlight the design.

To make the face, I melted black UTEE in my Melt Pot, then poured it into the Karantha large Round Face Mould. Once it was set, I popped it out, then painted it with Watermelon Paint Dabber. When the paint was dry, I highlighted the design by rubbing the Lava Green Inka Gold on it. I glued the face to a large Ideaology Timepiece, then glued this to the top of the jar body.

I took 2 medium & 1 small Chipboard flowers, painted them with Watermelon Dabber, then stamped a Script Background with Black Archival Ink. I triple embossed the flowers with Clear UTEE, then stamped with the Karantha Spiral Texture stamp whilst the last layer was still molten. Again, I highlighted the texture with the Inka Gold. To make the 'wings', I cut 3 petals off the medium flowers, & glued the flowers to the back of the jar body. I layered the small flower with a Sprocket Gear & a pink gem brad, then glued it to the front of the body.

I punched 2 holes at the bottom of the body, with a Cropadile, then glued 2 large eyelets into them. I dabbed Watermelon Paint onto the Ideaology Word Sticks, rubbed most of it off, leaving the paint inside the words, then attached the 'legs' with Jump Rings.

I attached a bale to the back of Moon Woman, & added some Link Chain & a large Swivel Clasp. I coloured a Pearl Bauble with Watermelon Alcohol Ink, & attached it to the end of the chain as a finishing touch.

I hope you like my Moon Woman Art Doll, & it inspires you to make one of your own. It was great fun to make!

Thanks for looking,

Alison xox

Dance Plaque by Sioux Jenneys

Hello everyone! It's my turn again and I'm here to share an art plaque that I have been playing with :)

1. The base is piece of sticky back cork attached to some grey board and cut with the Mover and Shaper die.

2. The hanging banner bit is cut with the Regal Crest die using grey board which was then coloured with Distress Ink wild honey and over stamped with the Mini Polka Dot background in Distress Ink vintage photo.

3. I stamped and heat embossed the Inspiration jar image onto a matching chipboard shape with copper powder and coloured the lid with Distress Ink black soot and the jar itself with wild honey.

(I find it easier to line up if I lay my stamp on the table face up and apply the chipboard to it)

4. I then stamped the watch from the Watches Set with Archival coffee onto a chipboard shape and applied glossy accents to the watch dial.

5. I then cut one of the tags from Tiny Tags and Tabs using Claudine Helmuth sticky back canvas that had been coloured with a spray of ink and attached to some grey board and stamped the sentiment from the Dance plate in black Archival.

I do like all the different textures.

6.The dancer from the Dance plate was stamped onto some grunge board using black Archival and cut out.

7. I cut some letters from the word die using a piece of cardboard packaging but I forgot to turn it the other way up and was left with some of the printing on the letters but decided I liked the effect and kept it that way and added some colour using Distress Ink aged mahogany and brushed corduroy before applying some glossy accents.

8. Everything was assembled using either glossy accents or silicone glue and an adage ticket was fixed to a memo pin to finish off.

Ooh! Making that made me happy :) See you again soon!

xoxo Sioux

Kisses From Heaven by Alison

Merry Christmas Stampers! It's Christmas Eve, & here's my final post of 2011! I have altered a wooden heart, & made an icy Winter decoration. I have used the fab snowflake stamp, that you can get free with any order this month.



I began by priming the wooden heart with Studio Gesso, then painted it with Blank Canvas Studio paint. When it was all dry, I coated the heart with Rock Candy Crackle Paint. I left it to dry naturally, then dabbed Stormy Sky Distress Stains all over, to highlight the cracks. I stamped the Snowflakes with Black Stazon, then inked the edges of the heart with Walnut Stain Distress Ink.

I inked an Artistic Stamper Chipboard Flower with Versamark ink, then triple embossed it with Pearl UTEE. When the final layer was still molten, I stamped into it with a script stamp. I trimmed the excess UTEE, then inked the edges with Walnut Stain Distress Ink.



I used the Sizzix Tattered Florals die to cut some flowers out of tulle fabric, then layered these with the chipboard flower & a decorative brad. I glued the flower to the heart with Glossy Accents.

I used alphabet stamps from the Scrabble & Tags Plate, to stamp the phrase, cut them out, inked them with Walnut Stain DI, then glued them to the heart with Glossy Accents.

Finally, I punched 2 holes in the top of the heart, using a Cropadile, added silver eyelets, silver wire to hang, & a couple of pearl beads. I twirled the wire ends around a paintbrush to hold the beads in place.

Thanks for looking, & I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas & New Year!
Alison xxx

Bird Art by Sioux Jenneys

Hello everyone! It's my (Sioux) turn again and I'm here to share some Birdy art :)

1. I used one of the new light bulb chipboard bases, coloured it up with Distress spiced marmalade and peeled paint and stamped the cog Inspiration bulb on top with Archival sepia. Edged all round with a gold marker pen and added the word Art in Distress walnut stain.

2. Stamped the fabby bird from Airmail Bird Collage Elements in Archival black onto grunge board and cut out edged with a bit of Distress aged mahogany and added a bead of black enamel accents on the eye.

3. I then used one of the new flower pack chipboard bases and cut it in half for his head feathers....inked this half in Distress aged mahogany and spiced marmalade and added the "Free as a Bird" sentiment on each petal....then glossy accents added over. The remaining half of the flower I cut into two again for the feet and inked with Distress spice marmalade over stamping with the mini lattice wire background in Archival sepia.

4. The legs are two of the tags from scrabble and tags plate stamped onto some grungeboard that had a covering of tissue tape. These were attached to the body with pewter style screw top brads Then glossy accents used to attach the feet from the previous step and also on top.

5. The wings from the dance plate are again stamped onto tissue tape over grungeboard but this time I used Alcohol inks in purple twilight  and sailboat blue to colour and additionally some gold mixative around the edges.

6. All the parts were assembled using glossy accents as the glue.

Don't forget to grab some of that fab tissue tape on offer this month here.

Thanks for looking :) See you again soon!

xoxo Sioux

A light Journey! by Nicky Cresswell

Hay Stampers...

Just a humble card to share today

I have been playing with some of the new chipboard shapes that match some of the existing stamps that are available from the artistic stamper.

Namely the Inspiration lightbulb.. 

But instead of using it in it's original form I have turned it into a hot air balloon {i got this idea from Alison some months ago} by cutting it into 2 pieces and using some of the tim holtz mini game spinners as the connection between the 2.

The base for the card was created by firstly layering the entire surface of an 5¾" x 4" piece of card with script tissue tape from the hobgoblin set {which BTW is on offer this month HERE}

Next I coloured the base with mostly blue and a smidge of green distress stains to give the appearance of sky and land.

To further this idea I used some torn cor'dinations card to create some hills.

Then it was just a case of adding the bulb balloon and stamping the 'all of life' sentiment, which I did onto a mini chipboard tag. I then mounted the whole piece onto a 5"x7" card and hay hoe there you have it.

If you like my project then you'll love the projects from the other team members, why not scroll back and see what you might of missed.

Thanks for visiting

Retro starburst

It's almost the middle of the week, and I thought with my meltpot workshop just gone, and lots of new product in the shop, that I would show you a little brooch that I made with the new chipboard, and a little UTEE!
I used 3 of the new white faced chipboard flowers, and inked them up in 3 shades of Distress stain blue.

Then I stamped them with the new mini polka dots background stamp in Adirondack Dye ink Denim.

 I then cut the flowers in half with a craft knife, and covered them in Versamark, and then poured UTEE over them. Heat until melted, and repeat twice more.

As soon as the last layer is melted , take the mini polka dots (uninked) and put into the UTEE. leave until cooled, and remove the stamp. Add some gold Perfect Pearls , and glue together. I added a very retro button, and a brooch back.

 

Love this as it evokes the 1920's .
You even get another set to make one for your friend!
Have a very creative day
Jennie

Secret Love! by Nicky Cresswell

Seeing as February is the month of love and we have 'Love' as our challenge theme I thought I'd carry on sharing the love by making this little gift.

On the outside one might think this is a book, with it's barn door & aged mahogany distress ink coloured chipboard covers { I used 2 A6 book blanks, 1 whole and 1 cut in half}, and charcoal black paint stamped baroque background and fancy clasp.

But the inside reveals
 It is in fact
A photo frame!

Created by firstly folding a piece of red card in half, and folding the sides in to the middle, open out again and cut triangles from the top 2 sides which will create two pockets when you fold back up.

Cut a shape from the top middle section of the card, I used my slice and cut a heart but you can use any method or shape, and also do your stamping now, I used a selection of the Romance stamps, inked in both red and black and highlighted with a white pen.

Next you're going to want to fold your card back in half, and place a thickish piece of card inside the middle section slightly smaller in width, run an embossing tool along each edge to create not only the 2 strip spaces which are needed to glue your frame in place but also to give enough thickness to allow you to place a photo inside. Remove the thick card and glue the 2 channels you have just created.

{just to demonstrate i have added a pic, and yes it is me when i was about 8 and i absolutely loved A-HA!!}

Moving swiftly on.....
Then all that is needed is to glue your outer covers to the back and sides.

I hope you enjoyed my project today... 

Leave me a comment and i will pick one lucky person to win it! minus my photo of course lol 

I'll announce the winner next time I post which will be the 27th feb.

Until then stay crafty x

Copy Cat Stamping by Nicky Cresswell

Ello Stampers, it is I, the Minx, back for another helping of inky fun.

Now i could be wrong, but am I one of the only people in the entire universe to not own a set of Wendy Vecchi stamps.. {to be honest i think Hels brought them all so there were non left for me to buy!!}

But being the crafty mare I am I knew with a bit of fiddling I would be able to copycat the look using a selection of Jennie's stash.. namely the Flower Power, Flower fever & new Flower bloom stamp sets, 

oh not forgetting a few Backgrounds too.

Add them all together with a bit of ink and this is what you get.

For the base i used an A6 book blank chipboard piece, I cut 2 of the sides with the 'brackets' on the edge die.

Next i distress inked the top with bundled sage and the bottom with brushed corduroy, i stamped both sections with the dots background in the respective ink colour.

I stamped a strip of paper with the houndstooth, inked it over with a bit of  distress ink and gave it a scalloped edge with a border punch then placed it along the centre to cover where the 2 base colours met.
 I placed a very large grungeboard flourish that had already been inked with dried marigold across the whole piece.

To make the flower i stamped the largest of the flower power and the 2 largest of the flower fever sets onto grungepaper, I roughly cut round each one, gave it some brushed corduroy ink, then stamped with a different background, I used dots & gingham, but the possibilities for these are endless. I cut each one out and curled the edges. {I did the foliage in the same way, stamp, ink, cut out.}
I added an old wooden bingo chip that used to be red, but i inked black to complete the look.

All that was left to finish up was to stamp 'create art' using the sentiment from the flower bloom set {missing out the blooming from the stamp by just inking each word at a time, you could of course cut the sentiment into 3 to give you more freedom with placement} and there you have it, my copycat Wendy Vecchi piece.
I am actually going to make this into a little journal/notebook, I've already cut the back in the same shape as the front, just need some pages and to bind it together and hay presto.. Sadly I ran out of time but i'll try and pop a pic on my blog of the finished book later in the week for you.
Right thats me signing out.
Any questions feel free to contact me, I'm alway happy to help x