Lovely Ladies by Jennie Atkinson

Well here we are at the end of May and my last project.  Thank you all so much for your wonderful comments both here and on my own blog - you have all been so wonderfully supportive and encouraging and I have really appreciated it.

Some of you will know that I love making mini books and as I also love making collage style ATCS I was sure that the wonderful Gibson Girls plate would make a great vintage style accordian book. This is quite a long post so you may want to grab a cuppa before reading it all!

To create my series of ATCs I gathered my supplies:


Stamps:
Gibson Girls Plate
Time Plate
Calligraphy Plate
Hold Fast to Your Dreams Sentiment
Distress Inks:  Broken China and Vintage Photo
Archival Ink:  Coffee and Black
Glossy Card ATCs


I made my ATC backgrounds using the Tim Holtz Wrinkle Free Distress technique rubbing the two distress inks onto my craft sheet, misting them with water and then pressing the ATCs into the watery ink until I was happy with the look.  I love the way the glossy card picks up the ink, quite differently to smooth card.  Blending some Vintage Photo around the edges just finishes them off.

Next I made some text paper, stamping the Calligraphy Plate on a sheet of A4 white cardstock with Coffee Arcival ink.  I cut out four rectangles and blended Vintage Photo around the edges and dragged a gold calligraphy pen around the edges to create a border and give a little depth when stuck down.  I tore a couple of small pieces and again blended Vintage Photo around the edges.  The sentiment was stamped onto cream cardstock and cut up into various pieces to fit across the five ATCs and then mounted on to Kraft cardstock.

Then the wonderful ladies!  I stamped them on cream cardstock with Black Archival Ink and cut them out.  I then painted the hair and dresses with watery Vintage Photo, building up the layers until I was happy with the colours.

Then making sure I sought out supplies in the same colour palette I made my six ATCs.  I used the large clock and cogs from the Time Plate, punched a butterfly, and from my stash added some Tim Holtz tags, tape measure ribbon, magic mesh and pearl gems.  I made sure the layers were quite flat so that they would allow the book to close.

So then to the book - inspired by by friend Penny Bennington (A Penny for Your Thoughts).  I used some heavy watercolour paper which I bought from my local artshop and tore a strip 21" long and 4" wide (this is the paper they keep in the large drawers in art shops - so don't be afraid to ask!). 

I scored it from the right hand side at 4" intervals to make six panels and a 1/2" spine.  The cover is embossed using a Cuttlebug embossing folder and to get the lovely vintage look I painted the whole book, both sides, with cold tea.

Making some slots in the card I threaded around 28" seam binding ribbon (pre-dyed with Vintage Photo).   I finished the cover with another small piece of my torn text paper and a handmade flower using the Power Flower stamps and Vintage Photo Distress Ink (details are HERE on my blog).

You can click the link HERE where Penny has a detailed tutorial on how to make the book. 

I hope this project will inspire you to have a go at making a mini-book - they really are great fun to make and a great way to showcase your favourite ATCs or photographs and make lovely presents for family and friends.  ATCs also make wonderful toppers for cards and scrapbook pages and are just great fun to make.


I have had a really fantastic time sharing these projects with you and using a selection of Jennie's wonderful stamps.  My thanks to Jennie and Emma for inviting me to be here with you this month and thanks to Emma for all her help and guidance.  And and big thank you to all of you for looking at my projects and taking the time to write such lovely comments.


Best wishes and happy crafting!
Jennie x

Time Flies by Jennie Atkinson

Well here I am back again with another project – this month is just flying by!  Time - we never have enough of it, but I can't get enough of time based stamps and particularly the Time Clock Plate with all the wonderful clocks, cogs and words.  So I decided to use various parts of the plate to make this “Tick Tock” tag.

For the tag I used Distress Stains Wild Honey, Fired Brick, Shabby Shutters and Picket Fence and Tim Holtz’s Marbled Distress Stains technique.  Another combination of colours I love.  Once dry I edged the tag with Vintage Photo Distress Ink and stamped the words Tick and Tock on the tag and again on some vintage paper.  I also dyed some seam binding with Fired Brick Stain.

My plans for Phineas Pinchbeck didn’t quite materialise (isn’t that moustache just fantastic!). I was unfortunately losing too much of the detail against the other papers. So I decided to stamp him with Black Archival Ink on acetate and then again on white cardstock. I cut out the cardstock image concentrating only on the head, the clock and the sign (all in one piece) and then carefully stuck the paper on to the back of the acetate, making sure the text was aligned. And he just “popped” off the tag! This is a technique I use alot for detailed stamps and it is amazing what effects you can achieve by using different colours or textures on the "behind" stamping.

We’ve obviously all been playing with our UTEE this last month – first Frankie giving us some fantastic triple embossing techniques and then Alison’s wonderful Steampunk Canvas.  I was also playing with mine!  I coloured a piece of chipboard with Wild Honey Distress Ink and using the triple embossing technique embossed three layers of UTEE.  On the final layer whilst the UTEE was still hot I inked the small clock with Black Archival Ink and stamped it into the UTEE.   Once it had cooled I was able to cut around the shape with some sharp scissors.  I created the cog and the base in the same way but kept the base smooth without any stamping. The three layers create a very sturdy embellishment.

 The large clock on the upper part of the tag was stamped on Grungepaper with Coffee Archival Ink and coloured with Wild Honey Distress Ink.  Just goes to show how versatile these clocks and cogs are.

I got quite carried away with the UTEE and made an ATC encapsulating some Tissue Tape and stamped cogs and clocks under the triple layer of UTEE. I stamped the words Tick Tock into the hot UTEE at the end using Black Archival Ink.

I had great fun creating this tag and ATC using the Time Plate.   I hope you all have a great week and find time to have some fun too.  Thank you for looking and I look forward to bringing you my last project at the end of the month.

Love Jennie

Into Each Day by Jennie Atkinson

Hello Everyone! I am absolutely delighted, and excited, to be guest designer this month with the Artistic Stamper Creative Team. Thank you to Jennie and Emma, for inviting me. I hope to share with you three very different projects using a few of the great stamps produced by Jennie.

I have quite a passion for making my own flowers for my scrapbook pages, mini books and hangings.  So my first project is a hanging with a handmade flower and using this wonderful sentiment stamp - Into Each Day ..............

The hanging measures 7" x 5.5" and is made from a piece of mountboard scrounged from my local picture framer.  Unfortunately the board wouldn't take too much water, so I took a piece of smooth white card and used the Tim Holtz Wrinkle Free Distress technique rubbing Broken China and Dusty Concord Distress Inks onto my craft sheet, misting them with water and then pressing my paper into the watery ink until I was happy with the look, drying each layer with the heat tool before picking up more ink.  This is one of my favourite techniques and I am having a bit of a love affair with Broken China and Dusty Concord at the moment!

I gold embossed the large clock from the Tick Tock A5 Plate in the top left corner and balanced this with the Calligraphic Text 9 plate in the lower left.  Once I had stuck my paper to my board I blended Vintage Photo Distress Ink around the edge of the paper and used a gold calligraphy pen to give the hanging a gold edge.  I made a frame from Dusty Concord Core-dinations Cardstock and cut an aperture for the lovely Into Each Day sentiment stamp which I stamped with Black Archival ink.

My flower was made using the Flower Power A6 plate.  I stamped the largest, middle and small sized flowers lightly on smooth cream cardstock and cut out.  You need two of each.  Spritz them with water and roll and squeeze the outside petals over the handle of a small watercolour paintbrush.  When dry edge the petals with some Dusty Concord and layer them on top of each   For more details on making this flower, you can visit my blog and click on the “dahlia” tutorial. 

www.jennie-livethedream.blogspot.com

I cut two leaves from grungepaper using my Tattered Leaves die, embossed them with a Sizzix embossing folder and used Dusty Concord and Vintage Photo to give them colour.

Add a bit of lace, a couple of glass stick pins and some bendy wire and the hanging is complete.

Thanks for looking and I’ll be back with another project soon.

Jennie x