London's Calling by Emma

Hi everyone.

I hope that May had been good to you all, so far and isn't it going so fast? I can't believe it's already time for me to share my next post with you all and today, I thought I'd do something a little different to share with you all and here it is, my inky scrapbook layout.

The layout started life as a piece of white 12" x 12" which I spritzed with Dyan Reaveley's Dylusions Ink Sprays in Lime and Vibrant Turquoise. I then added strips of Symphony Tissue Tape onto the background before using the Harlequin Crafter's Workshop Template and inked areas of my cardstock with Tumbled Glass Distress Ink, before then adding some Gesso through the template and some splats of Shabby Shutters Distress stain, straight from the bottle.

I then used the Grid Background stamp and stamped onto the background paper with black Archival Ink. Next, I used a Manilla tag and applied some Shabby Shutters and Broken China Distress Stain onto my craft mat, before dragging the tag through it to give a good inky coverage. I then used the Circle Grid Crafter's Workshop Template and applied more Broken China Distress Ink through it. I inked up one of the stamps from the Borders A6 #2 stamp plate and stamped directly onto the tag with black Archival Ink. I then stamped London from the London stamp plate, onto the tag and added the word "calling" which I typed on the computer. I then attached the tag, together with my photo onto my spritzed background and added some twine and a Tim holtz Idea-ology piece.

I made the flower using Tim Holtz's Tattered Florals die, spritzed with some more of the Dylusions Lime Green Ink Spray and added a button in the centre. I finally stamped "Memories" from the Journaling Words II and added a Tim Holtz Muse Token and used some Alphaparts Newsprint for "2009".

Thanks for stopping by and taking a look at my scrapbook layout and I really hope you liked it!

See you all again soon and don't forget that we still have the Spots and Stripes Challenge running until the end of this month and we'd love to see your creations!!

Bye for now!

Emma x

Getting Messy by Sue West

I can't believe how quickly March has whizzed by, and that it's time for my third and final post as guest designer here at the Artistic Stamper Creative Team, and I am going to let you peek into some of my art journal pages.

For me one of the joys of keeping an art journal (actually I should own up to having four on the go) is that they allow me to play around with supplies that I am not always quite sure what to do with, or how they will work together.  At the moment I'm using a big sketch book, an old hardback book that I'm slowly altering and a couple of Moleskin journals for specific projects.

The first pages are from my big sketch book, and I've found that if the pages are a bit thin Mod Podge them together, and I nearly always gesso my pages, it makes the paper you are working on a lot more forgiving.

The background for this page is acrylic paint that is swiped on with a baby wipe (much easier than washing brushes). I have used the Swirls Splats and Dots stamp, and Journaling Words #1 to create my bubbly images, using Adirondack Inks in Pool and Lettuce. and the gold circles are a Gold Acrylic paint dabber, the words are stamped in black Archival Ink.  The Adirondack ink takes an age to dry on the acrylic, and takes on a slightly faded and textured quality, using a heat gun will help a bit in the drying process, but don't get the acrylic and gesso too hot or it will start to bubble up randomly.  The collage image is from my stash, and the wings are made from Tim Holtz tissue paper, that has been edged with some of that gold paint dabber.

For the second page I used Neocolour II water-soluble wax pastels (they look like wax crayons) which I scribbled over the page and then magically turned into a watercoloured background with a wet paintbrush. This time I've used acrylic paint to stamp the Splats and Swirls, and the words are from that same Journalling Words #1 set again stamped with Archival Ink.

Have some fun making paint splats using slightly watered down acrylic paint. The more random the better, though make sure you cover up the surrounding area, because if you're anything like me the splats won't just go on the page.

Finally here's a page from a travel themed journal that I'm making in a Moleskine notebook.  This picture reminded me of my Grandma when she used to go off on holiday with her pals in the 1960's. I'm not sure if she ever ate moules et frites or drank wine, but who knows? This page has been sprayed with Adirondack Colour Wash, which has run down the page ( and been mopped up at the bottom with kitchen towel) before using Archival Ink in Aquamarine and Black for all stamping. I've used the Travel Words and Labels  stamps on this page.

I really like having little bits sticking out of my journal and tags that I can write things under. Actually I just love journaling, and if things don't work out I can just cover them up with something else.  Have fun!

And thank you to Jennie and team for having me...
Sue x

No Mortals by Sioux Jenneys

It's that time again and I'm here to share a little journal page :)

1. I spritzed plain water all over the page in my 15 x 10.5cm journal book and then added some Adirondack Dye Ink wild plum to the top portion and fired brick re-inker straight from the dropper then used a brush to mix it all up before heat drying the page.

2. Spritz Perfect Pearls Mist in pearl all over the page......and don't forget to stock up on that pearly lushness whilst they are on special offer ;)

3. Stamp the bird head from Airmail Bird Collage Elements in Archival black and mask it before stamping one of the crowns from Crowning Glory in Archival aquamarine......leave both masks in place and stamp the calligraphic mat 13 all over the background in Distress Ink pine needles.

4. Stamp the Dreams from journaling words in Archival aquamarine using some sticky tape to mask off the smaller words.

5. Type up the phrase, print and cut up and adhere the "Dreams" and the words with Studio Multi Medium matte

6. I added some yellow neo colour round the word fragments and blended with a little water....drew round them with a Sharpie pen and hand wrote the author and work along the edge.

7. A touch of Inka Gold in a copper colour was added round the edges and a little blob of black Enamel Accents was put on the eye.

I'll be back next month so see you then!

xoxo Sioux

Winter Peace by Alison

Hello Stampers. I have a Wintry double journal page to share with you today. I've used the lovely snowflake stamp that's one of the free stamps you can get with every order this month. You can see them both HERE.

Ok, so I started off by sponging Claudine Hellmuth Black Gesso all over my pages. It's a wonderful dense black, that gives great coverage! I made it thicker in a couple of corners, & stamped into it with the snowflake stamp. Remember to spritz your stamp with water when doing this, & then clean it thoroughly straight after.

Once the gesso was dry, I dry-brushed it with Claudine's Studio Paints in Sky Blue, Smidge of Blue & Purple Palette, finally adding a few highlights with some Blank Canvas. It really highlights the texture on the pages, especially where I stamped into the Gesso.

I stamped the Bare Tree on the right-hand page, then some more Snowflakes onto both pages, using Black Stazon ink. I added some highlights to the tree with an Inkessentials white pen. I used Pearl Perfect Pearl mist to add splatters across my pages. I did this, by shaking the bottle thoroughly, then unscrewing the top, & flicking the tube that goes into the bottle of mist. Hope this makes sense! Lol!

I painted some Grunge letters with Silver Paint Dabber, & glued them to my pages. Then I used small alphabet stamps from the Scrabble & Tags Plate, to stamp words on the edge of some old music sheet. I used Studio Matt Medium to glue these to my pages, together with a couple of scraps of music sheet.

Finally, I used a black pencil to edge the words, & the music sheet scraps.

Thanks for looking!

Alison xxx

Balancing Act by Sioux Jenneys

I thought I'd take a break from the Christmas stuff and share a journal page today that uses one of the new background stamps.....although I have used the free icicle stamp as an added touch...it makes a great border for a page :)

1. Ink the large solid dancer in Archival black and kiss stamp using the numbers on the reflections set by Tim Holtz.  Draw a thick black line at an angle for the tightrope...
...cut a mask and apply to the image. Stamp the separate plain bodice onto card in Distress aged mahogany....cut out and apply glossy accents.

2. Stamp the watch background on most of the page in Archival black...
...stamp again onto some white card stock and cut some label shapes from this using the tiny tags and tabs die set and colour with Distress vintage photo.

3. Spritz some hand made Distress re-inker mixes (made using one full pipette of re-inker and topping up with water in a Ranger mini mister spray)...
...I used antique linen, peeled paint and faded jeans.

4. To tone down areas on the background apply some Distress stain picket fence.

5. Stamp the icicle stamp in Distress peeled paint and apply Distress stickles.

Don't forget that you can choose either this icicle or a snowflake stamp totally FREE with any order placed at The Artistic Stamper this month ;)

6. Stamp the word LIFE from journaling words in Archival aquamarine onto sticky backed canvas and apply to a black mat card.

7. Stamp the scrabble tiles in Archival crimson, cut out and apply to the tags....stamp the umbrella from T!m's umbrella man in Distress aged mahogany and cut out...

...Cotton thread was tied to the tags and a little dries clear glue was applied to stop them unravelling.



There is still plenty of room for some hand written words in the future too.

Hope your Christmas preparations are going smoothly :)

See you again just before the big day to share my final piece of the month.
Thanks for looking :)

xoxo Sioux

Guest Artist

Hello friends

Wow I just can believe how quick this month has gone!

For my last guest post I decided to create a very simple box made out 2 pieces of 6x6 inch cardstock in white.  I scored the card and set to work using Tim Holtz Distress stain in vintage photo, spritz with perfect pearls in heirloom gold. Then using the mini dot Background  I stamped  randomly over the card using Distress ink in vintage photo,

when it was completely dry I then constructed the box.

Too create the flowers I used the Flower Power stamp set, I stamped onto some text from an old book and distressed them using the vintage photo ink.

While the flowers were drying I distressed a small tag, I used the word Imagine from the Journalling words #1 set I stamped in Rangers black Archival ink

To finish off the box I used Tim Holtz Idea-ology corners.

(The keys/vintage buttons are from my own stash)

I would really like to thank Jennie and her design team at Artistic Stamper Creative blog for letting me lose for the month of November.....its been so much fun!

I really hope you like this box, feel free to leave a comment.

Wishing you a great week

stay inky

Kazxx